decided. A good Judiciary is highly useful/' ^ To
the Bench, the appointment was evidently not so satis-
factory; and Judge Iredell wrote that he thought it
would cause Judge Wilson to resign. "The kind
expectations of my friends that I might be appointed
Chief Justice were too flattering. Whatever other
chance I might have had, there could have been no
propriety in passing by Judge Wilson to come at me.
The gentleman appointed, I believe, will fill the office
extremely well. He is a man of excellent understanding
and a man of business."
Before the Senate had acted on the Rutledge ap- pointment, another vacancy on the Court occurred through the resignation of John Blair of Virginia in the early summer of 1795. "Why did Judge Blair re- sign?** wrote William Plumer to Jeremiah Smith. "From the little acquaintance I have had with him, I consider him as a man of good abilities, not indeed a Jay, but far superior to Cushing, a man of firmness, strict integrity and of great candour, qualities es- sentially necessary to constitute a good Judge.** * Edmund Randolph who appears to have desired the position,' and to whom it was apparently oflFered by the President in July, 1795, had finally decided not to ac- cept, only a few weeks before his forced resignation as Secretary of State owing to the Fauchet letter scandal. James Innes, the leader of the Virginia Bar, was strongly recommended for the Blair vacancy by John Marshall and by Washington*s intimate i>ersonal friend, Edward
^ lAJe qf Jeremiah Smith (1845), by John H. Morison, letter of Smitli to Samuel Smith, Biarch 5, 1796; Plumer Papers MSS^ letter of Plumer to Smith, March 81. 1706; Ireddl, II, letter of March 25, 1796.
Ellsworth was confirmed by the Senate on March 4, 1796, by a vote of twenty-one to one.
- WiUiam Plumer Papers M88, letter of Feb. 19, 1796. Charles Simms, a leading lawyer of Alexandria, Va., was an applicant for appointment in Blair's place; letter of Dec. 25, 1795. Calendar of Applicatume (1901), by Gaillard Hunt.
- WaekiMgUm Paper* M88, letter to Randolph from Washington, July 7, 1795.
