Newspaper Report of Pennsylvania Convention Proceedings (December 11, 1787)

JAMES WILSON: Mr. Wilson again adverted to the subject in the following manner. "I will, Mr. President, take some notice of a circumstance, which, for want of something more important, has made considerable noise. I mean what respects the assertion of the member from Westmoreland that trials by jury were known in Sweden. I confess, sir, when I heard that assertion it struck me as a new and contrary to my idea of the fact, and, therefore, in as decent terms as I could, I asked for the honorable member's authority. The book in which it is found convinces me I must before have read it, but I do not pretend to remember everything I read. This remark is made more for the sake of my colleague, who supported my opinion, than for my own. But I will add, sir, that those whose stock of knowledge is limited to a few items may easily remember and refer to them; but many things may be overlooked and forgotten in a magazine of literature. It may therefore with propriety be said, by my honorable colleague, as it was formerly said by Sir John Maynard to a petulant student who reproached him with an ignorance of a trifling point: "Young man, I have forgotten more law than you ever learned."