Page:The Supreme Court in United States History vol 1.djvu/430

 the Court adjourned in 1810, it became known that Judge Cushing was dying. He was an old man of seventy-eight ; he had served for twenty-one years on the Court, and for the past few years had been somewhat senile.^ When his death occurred on September 13, 1810, the choice of his successor became a matter of National interest to the country and of political interest to the party then in power. Theretofore, except at the time of Chief Justice Rutledge’s appointment, there had been little public interest in the appointment of Supreme Court Judges and almost no attention had been paid by the public press to the question. Now, however, the Federal Judiciary had become a live issue in connection with problems of the day. It was seen that the status and rights of a United States Bank in Georgia, the rights of land claimants in Kentucky and Virginia, the regulation of commerce through embargoes, non-intercourse laws, steamboat monopolies, and many other questions on

^ For the best account of Cushing, see article by Chief Justice Arthur P. Rngg in Yale Law Joum, (1920), XXX ; the New England Palladium, Sept. 18, 1810. said : " As a Judge, the deceased united the learning of the scholar wiUi the science of the lawyer. He sought truth on whatsoever side she was to be found — alike regardless of the frowns of the great or the clamour of the many. . . . He was characterized for possessing uncommon patience of hearing, quickness of perception and deep investigation . . . ; in pronouncing the last judgment of the law his manner was peculiarly interesting and impressive."

David Howell of Rhode Island wrote to Madison, Nov. 26, 1810, that the Federalists had prevailed on Judge Cushing " to retain his office* for several years under the failure of his powers, kst a Republican should succeed him.*' Madimm PaperM M88.