Diversity Jurisdiction, MDL and History

I was just rereading Henry Friendly’s Essay on the history of diversity jurisdiction. 

There he quotes from remarks by George Mason:

“What!” he exclaimed, “carry me a thousand miles from home — from my family and business, where perhaps, it will be impossible for me to prove that I paid it [a bond]? … Suppose I have your bond for £ 1000 — if I have any wish to harrass you, or if I be of a litigious disposition, I have only to assign it to a gentleman in Maryland.”