the peace of 1783 he was made a judge of South Carolina's chancery; became a maker of the Federal constitution; and one of the first associate justices of the supreme court at Washington. He resigned the Federal judgeship to become South Carolina's chief justice and in five years more again resigned that trust in order to hold the same post in theFederal supremecourtwhere hesucceeded John Jay, and after brief service was at his death succeeded by Oliver Ellsworth. His few opinions in the early reports show that he modelled them upon the best style — re markably clear and cogent — of Great Britain's scholarly Lord Stowell. Timothy Picker ing was another colonial lawyer whose professional fame is obscured by his military and po litical renown. He was a Massachusetts Salemite, a Harvard graduate, and an ac tive practitioner TIMOTHY when his country be came his principal client. When Salem was made a port of entry for Boston, and the latter in punishment for the tea outrage was closed to shipping, Pickering gave opinion that Salem should not receive favors at the expense of their Boston neighbors, and went to that city as counsel for Salem, to make argument before Governor-General Gage against the Boston port bill. Soon afterwards he figured as the very first provincial — before Concord and Lexington men rallied — to resist King George's troops. A body of red-coats on a Sunday had landed at Marblehead to march
on Salem so as to seize there some contra band stores. Pickering ran to the three churches where sermons were being de livered, roused the minutemen of the congre gations, who soon confronted the red-coats at the Salem drawbridge and frightened them back. This was as early as February 25, 1775. Two months afterwards town meeting elected him judge of the court of Common Pleas in which he held two terms, at the end of which inter arma silent leges; and he ad journed the court to intercept Lexing ton's invaders. But he exercised the duties of the judge ship for one year after Lexington and then he led 700 Revolutionary sol dierly litigants to join Washington's army in New York. He became after wards adjutant, and then quartermastergeneral. In later years he succes sively filled in the Washington admin PICKERING. istration three cabi net posts — post master-general, secretary of war and secre tary of state; and in all of these his legal acquirements shone preeminent. He finally died at Salem during John Quincy Adams' administration in his eighty-fourth year. Joseph Reed, sometime private secretary to General Washington, after having studied law with Richard Stockton upon his gradua tion from Princeton at the unexampled age of sixteen, was the utterer of the historical words, " I am not worth purchasing : but such as I am, the king of Great Britain is not rich enough to do it." He was then (1778)
