LETTER
TO
HON. WILLIAM NELSON, M. C.,
01N
F   IR 0 
WILLIAM3 JAY.
WILLIAM H ARNED, 6 1 JOHN STREET.
Price 2 cts, single; 1834 cts. a dozen; $1 00 a hundredc
1850,








LETTER.
NEW YoRK, 16th March, 1850.
MY DEAR SIR:-Availing myself of your kind invitation
to give you my sentiments at any time, on topics occupying
the attention of Congress, I wrote to you a few weeks ago,
in relation to the compromise proposed by Mr. Clay. Since
the date of that letter, you, and I, and indeed the whole
nation, have been astounded- by the strange course pursued
in the Senate by Mr. Webster.  I inquire not into his motives; to his own master he standeth or falleth: but certainly it must be admitted by friends and foes, that his
recent somerset is one of the boldest and most extraordinary
ever thrown by a political tumbler.  I will not inflict upon
you a minute examination of his lamentable speech, but I
will take the liberty to call your attention to a few of its
prominent points.
Gen. Cass frankly confessed that, with regard to the
Wilmot proviso, " a change had come over him"; but Mr.
Webster, wbile his personal identity is almost wholly destroyed, while scarcely a fragment of the former man
remains, is under the hallucination that he is the same
Daniel Webster as before, and while denouncing and ridiculing the proviso, professes to be as much devoted to its
principle as ever 
He now pours contempt, not only upon legislative instructions, but also upon legislative expressions of hostility to




4                   JAY S LETTER A'
the extension of slavery.  "I should be unwilling to receive from the Legislature of Massachusetts any instructions
to present resolutions expressive of any opinions whatever, on
the subject of slavery, for two reasons: first, I do not consider that the Legislature of Massachusetts has anything
to do with it; and next, I do not consider that I, as her
representative, have anything to do with it."
On the 1st of March, 1847, he read in the Senate certain strong anti-slavery resolutions of the Massachusetts
Legislature, and announced that they had been passed
unanimously.  Did he then rebuke the Legislature of his
State, for meddling with what was none of their business?
IHear him: "I THANir her (Massachusetts) for it, and
am PROUD of her, for she has denounced the whole object
for which our armies are now traversing the mountains of
Mexico.  If anything is certain, it is that the sentiment of
the whole North is utterly opposed to the acquisition of
territory to be formed into new slaveholding States." —Cong.
Globe, p. 555.
In 1819, Mr. Webster, as one of the committee, submitted to a Boston meeting two resolutions, viz.: "That the
Congress of the United States possess the constitutional
power, upon the admission of any new State created beyond the limits of the original territory of the United
States, to make the prohibition of the further extension of
slavery or involuntary servitude in such new State a condition of its admission;" and that "It is just and expeclient that this power should be exercised by Congress upon
the admission of ALL new States erected beyond the original limits of the United States."  Now Mr. Webster, as
the representative of iMassachusetts in Congress, does not
consider that he has anything to do with the subject of
slavery!
When it was ascertained, during the war, that new territory would be acquired, and when it was openly avowed
that it was to become slave territory, the House of Representatives passed Mr. Wilmot's proviso, expressly excluding
slavery from  the territory to be thus acquired.  This, as
we all know, led to a violent political agitation. What part
did Mr. Webster take in this agitation? In 1847, he ad



WEBSTER S SPEECHOi                 S
dressed a meeting of his own party, and declared, " There
is not a man in this hall IHo HOLDS TO THE PRINCIPLE Or
THE. WILMOT PROVISO MORE FIRMLY THAN I DO."  The principle of the proviso was the exclusion of slavery, by act
of Congress, from the territory to be acquired lfrom   exico;
and that territory, we all know, was none other than NewMexico and California.
The agitation waxed fiercer and fiercer.  The Whig
party at the North pledged themselves to the proviso; the
Legislature of Massachusetts, as we have seen, unanimously
declared for the exclusion of slavery from New-Mexico and
California, and Mr. Webster publicly thanked his State, and
was proud of her for so doing.  The Whig party in Massachusetts nominated Mr. Webster for the Presidency, and
he stood before the country as the Weilmotproviso cancidate.
General Taylor was ultimately selected as the Whig candidate, and was supported by the Northern Whigs, on the
pledges made by his friends, that he would not veto the
proviso.  General Cass, on the other hand, was the avowed
anti-proviso candidate, and as such, was opposed by the
whole Whig party at the North. The great issue on which
the election turned in the free States, was the prohibition
or permission, by Congress, of slavery in New-Mexico and
California.  After the candidates were nominated, and
while the whole country was convulsed with this issue,
what was the course of Mr. Webster?  Did he dissent
from his Northern friends? Did he tell them the issue they
had made was a nonsensical one?  Hear him once more.
On the 10th of August, 1848, after New-Mexico and California were acquired, he rose in the Senate and thus delivered himself: "My opposition to the increase of slavery
in this country, or to the increase of slave representation,
is general and universal. It has no reference to the lines
of latitude or points of the compass.  I SHALL OPPOSE ALL
SUCH EXTENSION AT ALL TIMES AND UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES, EVEN AGAINST ALL INDUCEMENTS, AGAINST ALL
SUPPOSED LIMITATION OF GREAT INTERESTS, AGAINST ALL
COMBINATIONS, AGAINST ALL COMPROMISES."'
To what, let me ask, did this solemn, emphatic, unqualified asseveration refer?  Did he then know that there was
1*.~




e                  JAY S LETTER ON
not a foot of territory in the United States, over which it
was not morally and physically impossible to extend slavery?
Was he promising, in these impressive terms, to oppose
what he was conscious would never be attempted?  Did
he make this pledge before his country, with a mental reservation to unite hereafter with General C ass and the
slaveholders, in denouncing and scorning the proviso? Did
he mean to deceive his own Party?  Did he desire to keep
up an angry agitation, throughout the nation, for electioneering purposes, and did he thus intimate his belief in the
danger of the extension of slavery and slave representation,
when he well knew that the fiat of the Almighty had rendered such extension impossible?  Was he then acquainted
with the "law of physical geography," which would render the proviso "a re-enactment of the will of God?" And,
did he purposely conceal the secret of this law in his own
breast, when, by revealing it, he might have stilled the
raging billows of popular passion which threatened to engulf the Union?  To suppose all this, would be to impute
to Mr. Webster a degree of trickery and turpitude rarely
paralleled even among politicians.  Hence we are bound to
assume that the law of nature, on which he now relies, is a
recent discovery, subsequent'at least to the 10th August,
1848
It is, however, extraordinary, that a gentleman of his acquirements did not sooner become acquainted with this "LAW
OF PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY —THE LAW OF THE FORMATION OF
THE EARTH, THAT SETTLES FOR EVER, BEYOND ALL TERMS OF
HUMAN ENACTMENT, THAT SLAVERY CANNOT EXIST IN CALIFORNIA oR NEw-MExIcO."  It is to be regretted that Mr.
Webster did not condescend to demonstrate the existence
of this law, and to explain the mode of its operation.  He,
indeed, tells us that our new territories are "Asiatic in.
their formation and scenery;" but this fact does not prove.
his law, since slavery has existed for ages amid the scenery
of Asia; it exists in the deserts of Africa, has existed in
every country of Europe, and now exists in the frozen regions of Russia. This law, moreover, must have been enacted by the Creator since 1824, or its operation must have.been previously suspended in deference to the Spanish gov



WEBSTER'S SPEECH.                  7
ernment; for under that government, negro slavery did
exist in New-Mexico and California, and it ceased in 1824,
not by the law of 1" physical geography," but by a Mexican
edict.  Thousands of slaves are employed in the mines of
Brazil, and Mr. Webster does not explain how his law forbids their employment in the mines of California.  Mr.
Webster ridicules the application of the proviso to Canada,
in case of annexation. I neither see nor feel the point of
his wit-slavery is already prohibited by the local law of
Canada, but were it not, most certainly it ought to be proh3ibited as a condition of annexation. New-York adjoins
Canada, and Mr. Webster probably regards the prohibition
of slavery in our recent Constitution as the height of absurdity.  In 1790 there were 21,000 slaves in New-York,
and on the 4th of July, 1827, about 10,000 slaves were
emancipated, not by Mr. Webster's law, but by act of the
Legislature, and the number would have been much greater,
had not laws for their gradual emancipation been in operation since 1796.  For a long period, slavery flourished in
New-York undisturbed by abolitionists.  i'he absence of
all anti-slavery agitation was as perfect as Mr. Webster's
heart could desire.  Stray negroes were caught with almost as much ease as stray pigs.  Neither pulpit nor press
ruffled the happy serenity of the slaveholders.  But this
blissful repose was suddenly broken in 1741, by rumors of
an intended insurrection.  Courts and executioners were
immediately put into requisition, and in pursuance of judicial sentences, thirteen slaves were burnt alive at the stake
in the city of New- York, eighteen were hanged, and seventy-one were exported to foreign markets.  Mr. Webster
is unnecessarily distressed by the supposed unhappy influence of the anti-slavery agitation upon the condition of the
slaves. They were never better treated, were never less
miserable than at the present moment. The more public
observation is directed to the conduct of the masters,, the
less reprehensible will that conduct be.
The promulgation of the law of "physical geography"
seems to make no impression on the slaveholders, as they
continue as ravenous as ever for the new territories. But
with one accord they unite with the pro-slavery Democrats




8                 JAY S LETTER ON
at the North, and with our Northern politicians and merchants eager for Southern votes and Southern trade, in
lauding and glorifying him, not for his discovery of a new
law of nature, but for his discovery of a NATIONAL PLEDGE
to receive into the Union THREE SLAVE S'TATEs to be formed
out of the Texan territory-for his denunciation of the
proviso, and for his promised aid in catching the future
Latimers who may be found on the soil of MAssSACHUsETTs.
Congress by the Constitution may admit new States at
discretion, and hence new States have been admitted on
various conditions. The joint resolutions admitting Texas
imposed restrictions on this power.  Congress may, with
the consent of Texas, admit one State north of 360 30', but
if admitted, it 9must be as a free State.  Congress may admit three States, with the consent of Texas, south of that
line; but if admitted, no restriction in regard to slavery can
be imposed on them. Mr. Webster now finds in these resolutions what had escaped the knowledge of both the
North and the South, viz., a NATIONAL PLEDGE to admit
THREE SLAVE STATES. AS no State can be admitted without the consent of Texas, and as that consent will be withheld for a State north of 36~ 30', it follows, according to
Mr. Webster, that we have made a one-sided bargain; of
the four contemplated States, we must have three with slavery, but are to be cheated out of the one with freedom.
This discovery, which has taken the whole nation by surprise, is, like the discovery of the geographical law, of recent date.
On the 22d March, 1848, Mr. Webster was ignorant of
this national pledge! In his speech in the Senate, on that
day, alluding to the joint resolutions, he remarked:"If you refer to the resolutions providing for the
annexation of Texas, you find a proviso that it shall be
in the POWER, OF CONGRESS hereafter to make four new
States out of the Texan territory-present and prospective
five new States; ten new Senators MAY come into the
Union out of Texas."-Houston's Reports, p. 403.
Mr. Webster pledges himself to vote for the bill now
pending in the Senate, for the recovery of fugitive slaves,
by which a citizen of Massachusetts may be converted into




W'EBSTER9 S SPEEC-I. 
a beast of burden, and by which any man or woman may
be made to pay $1,500, and be confined six monthsin
prison, for the crime of giving food and lodging, harlboring
and concealing a fellow-being, and perhaps a fellow-Christian, guiltless of crime, and thus aiding him in the pursuit
of life, liberty and happiness.  Possibly Mr. Webster may
hlereaftear discover a law of human nature that will render
this pledge as worthless as his geographical law has rendered his proviso pledge. Let us inquire into the practical
working of this proposed law.  As Mr. Webster is to vote
for it, he, of course, can have no conscientious objection to
aid in executing it.  Let us then imagine a scene in perfect consistency with the position he has assumed.
On his return from Washington, he is followed by Messrs.
Bruin and Hill, who retain him in a prosecution they have
commenced against a Boston matron.  She had harbored
their beautiful slave, for whom they had lately demanded
eighteen hundred dollars, and who had effected her escape
from bondage and outrage. The cause is ready for trial, not
before a postmaster or other solitary official, but, as in this
case it mizst be, before a BosroY, JURY. The Court is opened, and the jury empanelled; but the room is thronged to
suffocation, and an anxious multitude without is striving for
admittance.  A  cry is heard-To FANEUIL IALL!  The
Court yields to the wishes of the people.  The lady,
guarded by constables, and DANIEL V EBSTER, locked arm
in arm with his Alexandria clients,'wend their way to the
Hall. The judges and jury have taken their seats, the old
Cr-adle of Liberty is filled to its utmost capacity with citizens of Boston, the silence of the grave pervades the vast
assembly, but men's hearts are beating with unwonted
violence, and scorn and indignation are distorting the lineaments of every countenance.  DANIEL WEBSTER rises as
counsel for the prosecution, and Hancock and Warren, and
the Adamses, and other apostles and martyrs of New-England liberty, seem to look down upon him from their canvas
with unnatural sternness.  The feed advocate of the slave
traders turns to the jury with some little embarrassment
of manner, some tremor of muscle.  He commences his address with a learned exposition of the Constitution.  Next




10                 JAY S LETTER ON
follows a soul-stirring eulogium upon our GLORIOUS UNION
-the last hope of freedom, the refuge for the oppressed
of all the nations upon earth. Most earnestly does he protest that no man abominates slavery more than he does;
and to prove his sincerity, he quotes from his old speeches,
and repeats his old pledges.  But ne has a sacred duty to
perform, and fearlessly will he discharge it. The cause of
human freedom and of human rights, and the preservation
of our glorious Union, upon which that freedom and those
Lights depend, require, imperatively require, that this lady,
virtuous and benevolent as she may be, shall be torn from
her husband and children, and immured with felons in Leverett street Jail, for six montlhs.  He intimates, that this is
only a portion of the punishment due to the crime of the
prisoner.  His injured clients are entitled to one thousand
dollars from the husband of the lady, and the insulted majesty of the Union claims from the same source satisfaction
to the amount of five hundred dollars. After a highwrought peroration on the obligations of justice and good
faith, he calls a witness to prove the guilt of the prisoner.
At this point he is interrupted by the opposite counsel, who
informs the jury he will not detain them by the examination of witnesses. The prisoner freely, cheerfully admits
the act with which she is charged.  It is true that she saw
in the panting fugitive at her door a representative of HIm
who said, " inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of
these, my brethren, ye did it unto AIE."  She did take her
in, she did feed, and clothe, and lodge, and conceal her.
If, in thus obeying the law of God, she had broken that of
man, she is willing, if needs be, to suffer bonds in His
cause who gave His life for her.  He then maintains that
the Constitution imposes upon the States the obligation to
surrender fugitives, and gives Congress no authority to
visit private individuals with pains and penalties for not assisting in their apprehension.  In proof of the corre3tness
of this construction of the Constitution, he reads the opinion
of the learned counsel for the prosecution, expressed in his
late speech in the Senate. But he rests the defense of the
prisoner on higher grounds than constitutional law.  He
appeals to the LAw OF LOVE written upon the human heart,




WEBSTER S SPEECHI.               11
and proclaimed by the voice of the Son of God, and if the
Constitution of the United States abrogates this law, then
is it a conspitrhy against the virtue of man and the government of Jehovah, and therefore null and void. The cause
is submitted by the Court, with a brief intimation to the
jury, that in a criminal case they are the judges of the law
as well as of the fact.  The jury, without leaving their
box, return a verdict of NOT GUILTY. As the words are
caught by the attending multitude, their pent-up feelings
find vent in loud and prolonged hurrahs; and the once favorite son of Niew-England blanches as he hears in the
triumphant shouts of the PEOPLEi, the knell of his own
fame and power.
Be it, that all this is fiction.  Alas! it is fiction founded
on FACT —-founded on Mr. Webster's broken pledgesfounded on his open apostasy from the cause of freedomfounded on his proclaimed intention to vote for a law outraging alike the personal security of the citizen and the
obligations of the Christian.  Mr. Webster treats with disrespect the Legislatures of fourteen States of the free North,
which have protested against the extension of slavery to
the new territories, not by questioning the binding force of
their instructions, but by virtually rebuking them all forexpressing c"iany opinion whatever" in relation to slavery,
and by insisting that they l"have nothing to do" with a
question occupying the thoughts and enlisting the feelings
of every citizen, and involving the honor, power and prosperity of our country, and the happiness or degradation of
unborn millions of the human race.
He pays a sorry compliment to the common sense of the
people in offering to them at the eleventh hour, a new and
unheard-of law of "6 physical geography," together with the
"Asiatic scenery and formation" of the conquered territories, as an excuse for violating the faith he had plighted, in
behalf of the proviso.  He has shocked the moral sense of
a large portion of the community, by giving in advance his
sanction to a law which suspends the liberty or bondage of
a citizen on the affidavit of a slaveholder, and the judgment
of a postmaster-a law which converts sympathy for guilt



12        JAY'S LETTER ON WEBSTER S SPEECH.
less misery into crime, and threatens to tenant our jails witlh
our most estimable men and women.
Mr. Webster underrates the intelligence and moral sensibilities of the masses. Relying on the Southern affinities
of our commercial cities, on the subserviency of politicians,
on the discipline of party and on his own great influence,
Mr. Webster looks down upon the people; but the time is
probably not far distant when the people will cease to look
up to him.  Parties will accept of any leaders who can acquire. for themn the spoils of the day; but in the political
history of our country, the people have never placed their
affections upon any man, in whose stability and consistency
they did not confide.
I remain, dear sir, yours truly,
WILLIAM JAYO
JOHN A. GRAY, PRINTER, 15 SPRUCE STREET.