In 1798 Adams offered to Marshall the seat on the Supreme Bench, made vacant by the death of James Wilson. He declined it; and it went to his old associate at William and Mary College, Bushrod Washington. Marshall did yield, however, to General Washington’s urgent request to stand for Congress that year. He held out long against Washington’s arguments, and only yielded, at last, when that venerated man called attention to his own recent sacrifice in accepting the unwelcome place of lieutenant-general of the army. When that went into the scale it was too much. Marshall was then on a visit to Mount Vernon, whither he had been invited in August or September, in company with Washington’s nephew, the coming judge. On their way to Mount Vernon, the two travelers met with a misadventure which gave great amusement to Washington, and of which he enjoyed telling his friends. They came on horseback, and carried but one pair of saddlebags, each using one side. Arriving thoroughly drenched by rain, they were shown to a chamber to change their garments. One opened his side of the bags and drew forth a black bottle of whiskey. He insisted that he had opened his companion’s repository. Unlocking the other side, they found a big twist of tobacco, some corn bread, and the equipment of a pack-saddle. They had exchanged saddlebags with some traveler, and now had to appear in a ludicrous misfit of borrowed clothes.[15] The election of Marshall to Congress excited great interest.[16] Washington heartily rejoiced in it. Jefferson, on the other hand, remarked that while Marshall might trouble the Republicans somewhat, yet he would now be unmasked. He had been popular with the mass of the people, Jefferson said, from his “lax, lounging manners,” and with wiser men through a “profound hypocrisy.” But now his British principles would stand revealed. The New England Federalists were very curious about him; they had been alarmed and outraged, during the campaign, by his expressing opposition to the alien and sedition laws; but they were much impressed by him. Theodore Sedgwick wrote to Rufus King that he had “great powers, and much dexterity in the application of them.... We can do nothing without him.” But Sedgwick wished that “his education had been on the other side of the Delaware.” George Cabot wrote to King: “General Marshall is a leader.... But you see in him the faults of a Virginian.... He thinks too much of that State, and he expects that the world will be governed by rules of logic.” But Cabot hopes to see him improve, and adds, “He seems calculated to act a great part.” In the end, the Northern Federalists were disappointed in finding him too moderate. He held the place of leader of the House, and passed into the cabinet in May, 1800. On January 31, 1801, he was commissioned as Chief Justice. Chapter II ARGUMENTS AND SPEECHES; LIFE OF WASHINGTON; RELATIONS WITH JEFFERSON There is little room for quotations from Marshall’s speeches or dispatches.