yer" in the Convention; and he was placed with Rutledge, Randolph, and Ellsworth upon the important committee of detail. The report of this committee outlining the judiciary system was adopted, essentially unchanged, by the Convention.

It has been seen that in the constitution of the three great departments of the government of the United States, Congress, the Presidency, and the Judiciary, in the main the plan of the Nationalists was executed. Thus at last the sovereignty of the people was asserted against the supremacy of the States, and the fabric of republican liberty was fixed upon a sure foundation. Englishmen, though in exile, had maintained their capacity for government.

It is not possible here to expatiate upon the services of James Wilson in this great work. Enough has been said to show that they were unique. No one of his associates was so well constituted for usefulness. It is true that Hamilton shared with Wilson the advantage of foreign birth, whereby they were able to regard these momentous problems in politics with minds comparatively free from state prejudice and local jealousy. But in the case of the former this advantage was qualified by a lack of sympathy with local institutions, and by an outspoken prejudice against republican government. He was therefore deemed an unsafe leader. As Lansing expressed it, Hamilton " was praised by everybody, but supported by none." Madison, like Wilson, had a deep faith in a general government based on the people, and together they were the chief agents in its realization. But by Wilson the idea was more clearly and thoroughly conceived, more readily and consistently developed. With at least equal learning and experience, Wilson was the more fervid, more eloquent advocate. Bancroft calls Wilson "the most learned civilian," and Madison "the most careful statesman," of the Convention.

The part taken by James Wilson in the Convention of 1787 was not his final service in behalf of the Constitution of the United States. That was his timely and decisive influence in securing its ratification by Pennsylvania, a work the more valuable because it involved a final and victorious struggle against error and misrule in local politics. The character of the state government, the circumstances of its origin, together with the party strife to which they gave rise, have already been described. This strife now revived with even greater bitterness and intensity over the question of ratifying the Constitution of the United States. The government framed for the nation was in many respects directly opposite to that existing in Pennsylvania, and the ratification of the former would inevitably lead to the amendment or downfall of the latter; hence it was resisted to the utmost by those of the patriot party who upheld the existing system.

Congress, they caused a convention to be called for its consideration, and thus precipitated a discussion which for warmth and virulence had scarcely been equaled in American history. The chief medium was the newspapers. In the Independent Gazetteer, or Chronicle of Freedom, attacks upon the Constitution appeared in rapid succession, obser

vations by Philadelphiensis, the celebrated letters by Centinel, and squibs by Columbus, Gouvero, Tom Peep, ByeStander, Tar-and-Feathers, etc.; while in the Pennsylvania Packet and other papers these attacks were answered over names equally striking, including Plain Truth, Conciliator, and the New Roof.

In this campaign James Wilson was one of the chief actors. Some of the more able and temperate letters were attributed to his pen ; and he was selected as the champion of the Federalists publicly to present their views. According ly, in a speech at the State House, Philadelphia, he examined and refuted the objections to the Constitution, and explained and elucidated many of its principles and provisions. Though frankly confessing that in some respects he would have had it different, he asserted that on the whole "it is the best form of government which has ever been offered to the world."

According to Bancroft, "this speech was promptly reprinted in New York as a reply to the insinuations of Lee, and through the agency of Washington it was republished in Richmond." Its effectiveness in Pennsylvania was shown by the means used to break its force. When argument had been vainly exhausted, resort was had to vituperation. Wilson was called a haughty aristocrat and nicknamed James the Caledonian, while the Constitutional Convention itself was described as the Dark Conclave.

The use of such methods disclosed the weakness of the opposition, a fact that became quite evident upon the assembling of the state convention. Among

the delegates, the Federalists outnumbered their opponents nearly two to one. Nevertheless, as this was the first state convention to consider the Constitution, they deemed it proper to permit a fair, open, and candid discussion. Accordingly, for three weeks the Anti-Federalists were allowed to present every objection that ingenuity could devise or exasperation suggest.

Among the Federalist delegates, James Wilson alone had assisted in framing the Constitution: hence upon him, ably seconded by Dr. Benjamin Rush and Chief Justice McKean, fell the burden of its defense; and this opportunity he made in many respects the greatest occasion of his life. First examining and refuting every objection, however weak or petty, he would rise to the situation and the subject. With great dignity and eloquence he described the difficulties under which the framers had labored, the spirit with which they had been inspired, the purposes which they had kept in view, and the results which they had accomplished. Taking up the Constitution itself, he not only explained its provisions in detail, but also traced its underlying principles and broad features, - and that with a reach of view comprehending the history and politics. of foreign nations as well as the hopes and possibilities for the United States. James Wilson's speeches before the Pennsylvania convention should be ranked with the letters of Hamilton, Madison, and Jay in The Federalist as political classics and commentaries on the Constitution. Professor James Bryce, in his recent book, The American Commonwealth, expresses the opinion that the speeches of Wilson "in the Pennsylvania ratifying convention, as well as in the great Convention of 1787, display an amplitude and profundity of view in matters of constitutional theory which place him in the front rank of political thinkers of his age."

At the outset and repeatedly in the

"What are the devils at now ? burst out the startled matron.

A noise of footsteps and a murmur of voices in the street interrupted them. The begum looked nervously around, and dropped her veil. Directly the sound died away she rose to take leave.

"What is this you tell me?" asked the anxious mother. "What is on foot? Give me something to act upon."

"There is danger,-danger all about, like a tiger in the jungle. Now it Now it crouches to spring. You are warned, it is enough. Go speed your bird. Bid him spread his wings to the north," with a significant look. "Every minute lost is sorrow."

With a quick obeisance, half salaam, half courtesy, the speaker turned to go. Madam followed to the door, fruitlessly protesting. In the shadow of the stoop outside she saw a slave waiting. "Stay, you have no lantern." "No, no. The darkness is a friend," and, slipping out, the little figure was directly lost in the gloom.

That night a supper-party was assembled in the Philipse manor. The cloth had been removed; a huge punchbowl, flanked by a tray of glasses, stood in the midst of the heavy oaken table. The guests sat about, smoking pipes and talking, but plainly in no convivial mood.

Outside not a ray of light broke the darkness. The wind held high carnival. Shutters, doors, window-casements, hayricks, fences, dead limbs, and withered leaves, each and all played some creaking, shrieking, rattling, banging part in the great wind - symphony, while the cavernous chimneys, like huge bassoons, softened the discord with perpetual roar. The host and one of his guests had stepped out on the stoop for a weather prognosis. They came in talking.

"Not yet, not yet; the time is not ripe," said Philipse, expostulating against some suggestion. "Let him run his course."

"What, stand and look on while he lays waste our estates and murders our families?"

"It will never come to that, colonel, never fear. He is at the end of his rope already. The people will not bear it much longer."

Bayard turned; it was the ex-mayor who had joined the pair.

"Bear it!" he said. "Will they not? They are a flock of sheep without a bell-wether. They dare not stir while the dog stands over them with his band of cut-throats."

"They will stir in due time; have patience," said Philipse calmly. "Wait. The evil will work its own cure."

"Wait!" The tone was frankly contemptuous. "Wait until the brutal boor has scourged, imprisoned, or driven away every honest man from the place, -until he has destroyed the city and laid waste the province !"

"What would you, then, advise? It was a fourth who chimed in, as they resumed their seats about the table.

"Well put, French. What would you do, colonel? Let us have everybody's voice. 'Tis that we are here for."

"I would get together a hundred stout fellows, meet outside the walls on the first dark night, overpower the guard, make a rush on the fort, and seize the hog in his sty. One bold dash and the day is ours."

Steenie, sitting at the foot of the board, leaned forward, with glistening eyes. His blood was stirred by these bold words.

Philipse shook his head, and puffed his pipe with an air of forbearance. It was Van Cortlandt who spoke :

""Tis not so easy. The fellow knows his danger. Day and night he is on the alert. Every approach is doubly guarded. A surprise is impossible."

"March down, then, in open daylight, with banners flying, and fight it out to the death," said the colonel recklessly.