and his reception by the Federalist leaders from New York and New
England was notably cordial. His argument before the Court, too, though
it did not in the end prevail, added greatly to his reputation. "His
head," said Rufus King, who heard the argument, "is one of the best
organized of any one that I have known."

Either in 1793 or early in the following year, Marshall participated in
a business transaction which, though it did not impart to his political
and constitutional views their original bent, yet must have operated
more or less to confirm his opinions. A syndicate composed of Marshall,
one of his brothers, and two other gentlemen, purchased from the British
heirs what remained of the great Fairfax estate in the Northern Neck, a
tract "embracing over 160,000 acres of the best land in Virginia." By an
Act passed during the Revolution, Virginia had decreed the confiscation
of all lands held by British subjects; and though the State had never
prosecuted the forfeiture of this particular estate, she was always
threatening to do so. Marshall's investment thus came to occupy for many
years a precarious legal footing which, it may be surmised, did not a
little to keep alert his natural sympathy for all victims of legislative
oppression. Moreover the business relation which he formed with Robert
Morris in financing the investment brought him into personal contact for
the first time with the interests behind Hamilton's financial program,
the constitutionality of which he had already defended on the hustings.

It was due also to this business venture that Marshall was at last
persuaded to break through his rule of declining office and to accept
appointment in 1797, together with Pinckney and Gerry, on the famous
"X.Y.Z. "mission to France. From this single year's employment he
obtained nearly $20,000, which, says his biographer, "over and above
his expenses," was "three times his annual earnings at the bar"; and the
money came just in the nick of time to save the Fairfax investment, for
Morris was now bankrupt and in jail. But not less important as a
result of his services was the enhanced reputation which Marshall's
correspondence with Talleyrand brought him. His return to Philadelphia
was a popular triumph, and even Jefferson, temporarily discomfited by
the "X.Y.Z." disclosures, found it discreet to go through the form of
paying him court--whereby hangs a tale. Jefferson called at Marshall's
tavern. Marshall was out. J