THE FIRST COURT AND THE CIRCUITS
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upon the capacity and ability of those who may be employed in the Judiciary. … The common voice of the people here points out Mr. Lowell as a gentleman well qualified to fill one of the seats upon the Superior Court. … It is an office which, to fill with honour and dignity, requires an honest heart, a clear head and a perfect knowledge of law in its extensive relation."[1] When it became known that Washington was considering passing over Lowell and appointing William Cushing, the Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, a strong and interesting protest was made by Christopher Gore in a letter to Rufus King of New York:[2]
The appointments to the Judicial seats will soon be made. We flatter ourselves in Massachusetts that one of the Supreme Court will be taken from this State. The general expectation is that our friend Lowell will be appointed an Associate Judge; and no doubt was ever entertained of this event till we heard that our Chief Justice was in nomination. Should the Chief Justice be appointed, we shall lose an excellent man whose talents are peculiarly fitted for the place he fills, without rendering any great service to the United States; and a very good man will be extremely mortified. The Chief Justice, now 66 years of age, cannot long be an active member of the Court, and he has new habits and new modes of legal decision to acquire. On these grounds, I much doubt if he would be an acquisition to the Union, or at least so great an acquisition to the Government as Lowell; but in addition to all
- ↑ See letter of July 18, 1789, from Lincoln, also indorsement of Lowell by Elbridge Gerry, Calendar of Applications (1901), by Gaillard Hunt; Office Seeking during Washington's Administration, Amer. Hist. Rev. (1896), I, 270. Fisher Ames also favored the appointment of Lowell, letter of Aug. 12, 1789, Works of Fisher Ames (1854), I.
- ↑ King, I, letter of Aug. 6, 1789. Cushing's appointment was opposed by the strong Federalists in Massachusetts, who feared that his removal from the State Bench would give to Governor John Hancock, an Anti-Federalist, an opportunity to appoint the determined foe of all Federalists, James Sullivan; see letter of Stephen Higginson to John Adams, Amer. Hist. Ass. Rep. (1896), I, 767; William Cushing, by Arthur P. Rugg, Yale Law Journ. (1920), XXX.
