ial correspondent and Attorney-General in his Cabinet,
organizer of the political movement which built up Mr. Jefferson's
power in New England in the beginning of the last century,
was not, I believe, a member of the Society himself. But
his sons were, and many of his descendants and connections
by marriage, certainly twelve or fifteen in all. When the
office of Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
became vacant, by reason of the death of Mr. Justice William
Cushing of Massachusetts, September 13, 1809, Levi Lincoln
the elder was appointed, confirmed by the Senate and commissioned
to fill the vacancy. Mr. Jefferson earnestly desired and
urged his appointment. President Madison accompanied the
offer of the office with a letter urging Mr. Lincoln to accept
it in spite of a malady of the eyes from which he was suffering.
Mr. Madison says he had got along very well as Attorney-
General and he thinks he would find less inconvenience in
discharging the duties of Judge. But Mr. Lincoln declined
the office. He lived until 1820, retaining his health and
vigor, except for the trouble with his eyes.

He was a very able man. He argued the case in which it was
decided by the Supreme Court of Massachusetts that slavery
was abolished in that State by the Constitution, in 1780.

Judge Story was appointed in his place. If Mr. Lincoln had
accepted, it is likely that the great judicial fame of Judge
Story would be lacking from American jurisprudence. Story
would have devoted himself, probably, to professional or political
life. At any rate he would not have been appointed to the
Bench before 1820.

There can be no doubt that if Lincoln had accepted the seat
upon the Bench, he would have been a thorn in the flesh of
Marshall. He doubtless shared Mr. Jefferson's dislike for
the great Chief Justice. The case of Dartmouth College _v._
Woodward was decided in 1819. There was in fact but one dissent,
but any person who reads Shirley's book on the history of
that case will be inclined to believe that without Judge Story
Dartmouth College _v._ Woodward would not have been decided
as it was.

More interesting and important is the relation, to Mr. Webster's
seat in the Senate, of the second Levi Lincoln, son of him
of whom I have just spoken, himself a member of the Worcester
Club that has been referred to. He was Governor of Massachusetts,
Judge of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, and a Member
of the National