The Translation of James Wilson

Abstract

The Translation of Janies Wilson David W. Maxey You adde earth to earth in newpurchases, and measure not byAcres, but by Manors, nor by Manors, but by Shires;And there is a little Quillet, a little Close, worth all these, A quiet Grave.1 -John Donne By his own standards Janies Wilson failed to make it. He reached for glory and for wealth; yetboth in the end eluded hisgrasp. He died a tormented man, on the run from his creditors and on the verge of impeachment. More than a century would pass before an attempt was made to rehabilitate him in a secular rite that entailed the removal of his remains from that quiet gravewhich John Donne commended to all thosewho coveted the things of this world. “The love of honest and well earned fame,” Wilson proclaimed, “is deeplyrooted in honest and susceptibleminds.”2 Itwas certainly deeply rooted in his, and under different cir­ cumstances, his achievements, which were far from meager, would have entitled him to a prominent place in the American pantheon. Hebelonged to an elitecategoryofpatriotswho signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution; in the drafting of the latter document, his role was a fundamental one, second only, it is often said, to that of Madison. He was a lawyer to whom clients flocked, a philosopher and a teacher of the law, and a member ofthe firstSupreme Court ofthe United States. As much as he loved honors, of equal importance to him — and this passion proved his undoing - was the accumulation of “private landed property,” that visible sign of success which he, the son of a poor Scottish farmer, of parents imbued with Calvinist prin­ ciples, sought in emigrating to America. Such, after all, he would remind himself, was the reward given in the glorious age of republican Rome when “the farmer, the judge, and the soldier were to each other a reciprocal orna­ ment” and when the Roman magistrate, his public career concluded, might savor the secu­ rity of “a rural and independent life.”3 Absorbed during his lifetime in erect­ ing his monument and composing his epitaph, Wilsonhas dwelt in relative obscuritythese two centuries since his death. Robert McCloskey, an admirer ofWilson, conceded that he was an unlikely candidate for resurrection, even though, intheprefacehesuppliedtothe modern edition of Wilson’s Works. Professor McCloskey did his elegant best to revive him as a subject for sympathetic appreciation. That the judgment ofhistoryhasbeen lessthangenerous toWilson may be explained by the simple fact that many ofhis contemporaries did not feel comfortable with him, or, to put it more bluntly, they often mistrustedhim. Iftheywere forcedto acknowl­ edge his formidable learning and his profes­ sional skills, they also took measure of his ambition and greed. Fame, Professor McCloskey points out, is not easily fabricated: “...the great whom the present recognizes tend to be those who were thought of as great in their time. Tomorrow may enhance or diminish yester­ day’s reputation; it does not often create a wholly new one.”4 It is, in short, his own generation’s hesitancy about Wilson that has significantlyaffected the viewwe have ofhim in a longer perspective. Suspicion about his motives originated as early as the debates in the Second Continen­ tal Congress when Wilson, as a member of a badlysplitPennsylvaniadelegation, pleaded for 30 JOURNAL 1990 a postponement until the instructions of the Pennsylvania delegates could be clarified on the crucial vote for independence. However clear his calling as a lawyer to provide the oppressed a defense, Wilsonwould later win no friends -- indeed he stirred up enmity in an easily excited populace -- when he came to the aid of beleaguered loyalists.5 Nearthe end ofthe Revolution, he ran the risk of offending Washington by extracting an exorbitant sum, “much higher than was usu­ ally paid to the other gentlemen of the bar [in Philadelphia],” in agreeing to accept Washing­ ton’s nephew, Bushrod, as a student in his law office. IfWashington was offended, he gave no immediate evidence of it; on the contrary, he overrode his nephew’s “intention...of entering some other office on account of that differ­ ence” and impressed on him the value of the training he would get under Wilson...