104
THE GREEN BAG
follows: on letter from the president of the North Carolina Convention and the memorial from it (Feb. 4); on communication from the Governor of Connecticut in re the four New England states (Feb. 5); on conferences with General Gates and General Green (March 21); as to sundry Pennsylvania matters (March 26); on steps for opposing the enemy's at tempt to penetrate through New Jersey (Apr. 9); on ways and means to aid the recruiting service and prevent abuses therein (Apr. 12); "on rewards for destroying the enemy's ships of war" (Apr. 14); on "suppressing the spirit of Toryism" in Massachusetts (Apr. 17); on "ways and means for speedily reenforcing General Washington's army" (Apr. 23); "to prepare an address to the inhabitants of the thirteen United States on the present situa tion of public affairs" (Apr. 30) — this was a committee of three of which Wilson was chairman, as he was of numerous other com mittees; Wilson, a committee of one, on the memorial of the Commissary General (May 22); to confer with the Pennsylvania author ities concerning complaints from the Indians (May 23); on miscellaneous matters (June 28); to take into consideration the state of Georgia (July 25); to examine certain corre spondence of the committee on secret corre spondence (Aug. 1 ); to consider the state of affairs in the Northern Department (Aug. 2); on memorial from John Jay and Gouverneur Morris (Aug. 8); on communication from General, Washington and the memorial of the general officers, Wilson chairman (Aug. 11); to define the powers of the Inspector General of ordnance and military manufacturies, Wilson chairman (Aug. 11). During August, an earnest effort was made by and on behalf of the former Proprietory Governor of Pennsylvania, "John Penn, Esq.," as he is referred to in the Journal of Congress, to prevent his removal to Virginia, as directed by Congress, and he made a per sonal appeal by letter to be admitted to parole, and this Wilson successfully opposed. Other committee appointments were: to take into consideration the state of the West
ern frontiers and the Northern Department (Aug. 16); to consider the state of South Carolina and Georgia (Aug. 21); on com munication from the Governor of Connecticut (Sept. 8). Wilson's last act during September, 1777, so far as recorded in the Journal of Congress, was to record his vote on September rr, in favor of a resolution, which Congress adopted, to import twenty thousand Bibles from Hol land, Scotland, and elsewhere, into the dif ferent states of the Union. Three days later, September 14, 1777, the relentless arm of an unpatriotic party ma chine, reaching out from Pennsylvania, de prived the young nation of the services of its ablest champion in Congress, striking down James Wilson in the full vigor of his valiant fight for American liberty, independ ence, and nationality. It was a blow aimed at the growing prestige of the young Pennsylvanian, who, in addition to his labors in Congress, had voiced an irreconcilable oppo sition to the miserable makeshift of a Con stitution, without counterchecks or balances, which had been adopted by Pennsylvania in 1776, and in the framing of which Wilson had had no part. It was a blow which was intended to destroy one whose growing pop ularity and influence meant the eventual overthrow of those in Pennsylvania who otherwise considered themselves sufficiently entrenched in power under the Constitution of '76; but it was a blow which struck the nation — a blow from which, perhaps, it could never have recovered had not Wilson, before his removal, succeeded in leading Congress into bestowing almost dictatorial powers upon Washington. With Wilson gone from Congress and the reorganization of the Board of War shortly afterwards, lack of harmony soon developed between the civil authorities and the military, and the friction continued until July 31, 1781, when James Wilson was appealed to by Congress to go to Washington's headquarters with Robert Morris, then the Superintendent of Finance, and Richard Peters, of the Board of
