interesting, as it gives evidence of the diffi culties attending the travel from one court to another; of the ignorance of the officers of the courts of the proper manner of per forming their duties; of the doubts of the Chief-Justice whether the court had met or could properly meet the obligation of its office in the very trying circumstances which surrounded it, and with their limited knowl edge of the law involved in the cases of trea son submitted to them. Robert Morris held his position for less than two years. In 1779 he resigned and retired to private life, until 1790, when, on the death of Judge Brearley, General Wash ington made him Judge of the United States District Court for New Jersey, which position he held until his death, in 18 15. During the last year of his life he was in in firm health; and often his court, in conse quence, would not be held at the regular terms. This occasioned very little incon venience, as the business was very small, and rarely required the attendance of the judge more than a day at each term. The Associates — or, as they were then called, the second and third Justices — with Chief-Justices Morris and Brearley, were Isaac Smith and John Cleves Symmes. Of Isaac Smith very little can be said. He was not a lawyer; he was educated at Princeton College, where he graduated in 1758, when only eighteen years old. He then studied medicine, and became a practising physician. During the troubles with England, and as early as 1776, he strongly identified himself with the cause of the colonies, and com manded a regiment in the continental army. He soon became distinguished as an efficient officer, and obtained an elevated rank as a patriot. His talents were of a very high order, and he was especially noted* for his wisdom and sagacity. In February, 1777, the joint meeting of the Legislature raised him to the office of second justice, and he assumed the duties of the position at once. Although he had no legal education and had never practised law, his native ability and his
untiring industry soon made him a good law yer, and he became able to decide the cases submitted to him with judgment and ac curacy. He was thrice re-elected, and held the position longer than any other As sociate Justice. In 1803, at the expiration of his fourth term, the political party opposed to him came into power, and he failed in ob taining a re-appointment. He then retired to private life, made his home at Trenton, and became the President of the Trenton Banking Company, which position he re tained until his death, in 1807. John Cleves Symmes was born at Riverhead in New York, in 1742, and received a good, sound education, but never graduated at any college. In early life he was a teacher and a surveyor, but subsequently studied law, was licensed, and began the practice 0/ his profession in his native State. At the breaking out of the Revolution he became an intense patriot, was a member of the Pro vincial Congress of New Jersey in 1776, and in September of that year was appointed one of two commissioners to visit the troops of the State, which were serving in New York, to learn their condition " and their disposition farther to engage in the service in the new establishment." He subsequently entered the army as Colonel of the Third Battalion from Sussex County, was present at several severe battles, and aided at that of Saratoga. At the beginning of the war he was a resident of Newton in Sussex County, New Jersey. In 1776 he was elected a mem ber of the Provincial Congress, and was put upon the Committee which framed the Con stitution. In February, 1777, he was ap pointed third Justice of the Supreme Court, and retained the office until 1788. In 1784 he was sent as a Delegate from New Jersey to the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, still retaining his office as third Justice. In 1788 he was appointed a Judge of the Fed eral Court in the Northwest Territory. He removed to Ohio, and in company with some other Jersey men, attempted to purchase from the Government a tract of about one
