[663] These arguments are well worth perusal. (See Farrar, 28-206; also 65 N.H. Reports, 473-624.)
[664] For instance, Mason's argument, which is very compact, consists of forty-two pages of which only four are devoted to "the contract clause" of the National Constitution and the violation of it by the New Hampshire College Act. (Farrar, 28-70; 65 N.H. 473-502.)
[674] Webster was then thirty-six years of age.
[675] Goodrich's statement in Brown: _Works of Rufus Choate: With a Memoir of his Life_, I, 515.
[676] They were Rufus Greene Amory and George Black of Boston, David B. Ogden and "a Mr. Baldwin from New York," Thomas Sergeant and Charles J. Ingersoll of Philadelphia, John Wickham, Philip Norborne, Nicholas and Benjamin Watkins Leigh of Virginia, and John McPherson Berrien of Georgia. (Webster to Sullivan, Feb. 27, 1818, _Priv. Corres_.: Webster, I, 273.)
[677] Brown, I, 515. Story makes no comment on the argument of the Dartmouth case--a pretty sure sign that it attracted little attention in Washington. Contrast Story's silence as to this argument with his vivid description of that of M'Culloch _vs._ Maryland (_infra_, chap. VI). Goodrich attributes the scant attendance to the fact that the court sat "in a mean apartment of moderate size"; but that circumstance did not keep women as well as men from thronging the room when a notable case was to be heard or a celebrated lawyer was to speak. (See description of the argument of the case of the Nereid, _supra_, 133-34.)
[678] For example, in M'Culloch _vs._ Maryland, Luther Martin spoke for three days. (Webster to Smith, Feb. 28, 1819, Van Tyne, 80; and see _infra_, chap, VI.)
[679] See vol. III, chap, IV, of this work.
[680] The College Trustees at first thought of employing Luther Martin to assist Webster in the Supreme Court (Brown to Kirkland, Nov. 15, 1817, as quoted by Warren in _American Law Review_, XLVI, 665). It is possible that Hopkinson was chosen instead, upon the advice of Webster, who kept himself well informed of the estimate placed by Marshall and the Associate Justices on lawyers who appeared before them. Marshall liked and admired Hopkinson, had been his personal friend for years, and often wrote him. When Peters died in 1828, Marshall secured the appointment of Hopkinson in his place. (Marshall to Hopkinson, March 16, 1827, and same to same [no date, but during 1828], Hopkinson MSS.)