LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 DAVIS. 
 
47 
 
WILLIAM JAY 
 
 AND 
 
 THE CONSTITUTIONAL MOVEMENT FOR 
 THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY 
 
 BY 
 
 BAYAED TUCKEEMAN 
 
 WITH A PREFACE BY 
 
 JOHN JAY 
 
 NEW-YORK 
 
 DODD, MEAD & COMPANY 
 1894 
 
 LIMKARY 
 UNIVEKSIT Y ^AL 
 
 DAVIS 
 
Copyright, 1893, 
 BY DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY. 
 
 JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. 
 
 
PREFACE 
 
 BY JOHN JAY. 
 
 A PROLONGED illness, added to other causes, has dis 
 appointed my hope of completing an elaborate biog 
 raphy of my father. 
 
 This memoir by Mr. Tuckerman is devoted chiefly 
 to the part borne by Judge Jay in the antislavery 
 work, to which his time and thoughts were so long 
 given. In this connection the memoir develops his 
 personal characteristics, with the constitutional prin 
 ciples and national policy advocated by him in that 
 historic contest; while of necessity it touches but 
 lightly on his home life, his varied correspondence, 
 and his judicial charges, one of which assisted to 
 avert the passage of a pro-slavery legislative act in 
 fringing the liberty of speech and of the press ; and 
 the scope of the volume forbids its dwelling on his 
 writings on other topics, some of which are still sub 
 jects of discussion. 
 
 Judge Jay's memoir on the formation of a National 
 Bible Society, which in 1816 so warmly encouraged 
 the hopes of the venerable Boudinot, was followed by 
 
 iii 
 
jy PREFACE. 
 
 spirited controversial pamphlets with an antagonist 
 as able and eminent as Bishop Hobart. The corre 
 spondence after Jay's first letter was marked by an 
 unusual sharpness, which happily did not prevent my 
 cherished and lamented friend, the son and namesake 
 of the Bishop, from becoming in later years sincerely 
 attached to his father's antagonist. It was a contest 
 in which Jay vindicated the right of Churchmen to 
 assist in the distribution of the Bible, and anticipated 
 in this his similar efforts for a lifetime to secure the 
 united action of all good citizens, without regard to 
 creed or politics, in practicable schemes for the eleva 
 tion and happiness of mankind. Among his earlier 
 essays were two on " Sunday : Its Value as a Civil 
 Institution, and Its Sacred Character " ; while a third, 
 upon "Duelling as a Relic of Barbarism," was hon 
 oured, when the authorship was still unknown, by a 
 medal from an anti-duelling association at Savannah. 
 
 THE LIFE OF JOHN JAY. 
 
 Judge Jay, in the life of his father, which was wel 
 comed as an important addition to our American 
 biography of the Revolution, vindicated, by a careful 
 presentation of the historical evidence then available, 
 the soundness of the judgment of Jay and Adams, as 
 peace commissioners at Paris in 1782-83, regarding the 
 policy of the French court as unfriendly to the Amer 
 ican claims to the boundaries, the fisheries, and the 
 Mississippi. That judgment, afterwards acquiesced 
 in by Dr. Franklin in the joint violation by the com- 
 
PEE FACE. y 
 
 missioners of the instructions of Congress a violation 
 that enabled them to obtain from England boundaries 
 and concessions far greater than either Congress or 
 France expected had been roughly criticised and de 
 nied, even in volumes of diplomatic correspondence 
 claiming an official sanction. Its vindication by 
 Judge Jay has recently been more than confirmed 
 by the ample proofs published by M. de Circourt in 
 the secret correspondence of the Count de Vergennes 
 with his able corps of diplomatic agents, as well as 
 by the interesting revelations in Lord Edmond Fitz- 
 maurice's " Life of Lord Shelburne " ; and these vol 
 umes have dissipated a cloud of error which for half 
 a century travestied the facts and dimmed the glory 
 of the closing act of the American Revolution.* 
 
 JAY'S "WAK AND PEACE," AND INTEKNATIONAL 
 ABBITEATION. 
 
 Judge Jay's little book on " War and Peace," with 
 a plan of stipulation by treaty for international arbi 
 tration which subsequently led to his becoming the 
 president of the American Peace Society, and which 
 before its publication attracted the attention of that 
 sturdy advocate for peace, Joseph Sturge, during his 
 visit at Bedford, seems entitled to special notice as 
 one whose scheme is still agitated in the governmental 
 and national councils of Europe. The plan promptly 
 received the approval of the Peace Society of London, 
 
 * The title of M. de Cireourt's work is : "Histoire de Vaction com 
 mune de la France et de VAmerique pour V Independence des Etats Unis." 
 Paris, 1876. 
 
yi PREFACE. 
 
 and of English statesmen like Richard Cobden and 
 the indefatigable Henry Eichard. It exercised a 
 European influence in the highest quarters when its 
 spirit, under the leadership of Lord Clarendon, re 
 ceived the sanction of the great powers of Europe 
 who signed the Treaty at Paris in 1856. Its endorse 
 ment, while cautiously expressed, was recognized as 
 having a new and profound significance. The Proto 
 col No. 23 declared the wish of the signatory govern 
 ments that states between which any serious misun 
 derstanding might arise should, before appealing to 
 arms, have recourse, as far as circumstances might 
 allow, to the good offices of a friendly power ; it be 
 ing understood that the wish expressed by Congress 
 should not in any case oppose limits to that liberty 
 of appreciation which no power could alienate in 
 questions that touched its dignity. With that limita 
 tion the recommendation, in advance of a resort to 
 war to have recourse to a friendly power, was intro 
 duced by the Congress to the International Code of 
 Europe; and among those great diplomatists were 
 the Count Walewski and Baron Bourgueny, on the 
 part of France; Count de Buol-Shauenstein and 
 Baron de Hubner, on the part of Austria; Lord 
 Clarendon and Lord Cowley, on the part of Great Brit 
 ain ; Count Orloff and Baron de Bruno, on the part 
 of Russia ; and Count Cavour and the Marquis de 
 Villamarina, on the part of Sardinia. The action of 
 the Congress was subsequently confirmed by that of 
 the lesser states of Europe. Mr. Gladstone pro- 
 
PREFACE. yii 
 
 nounced the protocol " a very great triumph, a power 
 ful engine in behalf of civilized humanity." The late 
 Earl of Derby referred to it as " the principle which 
 to its immortal honour was embodied in the protocols 
 of the Conference at Paris " ; and the Earl of Malmes- 
 bury pronounced the act " one important to civiliza 
 tion and to the security of the peace of Europe." The 
 idea that this scheme is more and more regarded as 
 widely applicable to international disputes, as easily 
 practicable and profoundly important to the peace 
 of nations, would seem probable from the extent to 
 which, as the century approaches its completion, the 
 scheme has occupied more and more the attention of 
 both the statesmen and of the masses who are the 
 most interested in discovering a substitute for war. 
 
 For a time after the Geneva award, the moral weight 
 and value of international arbitration seemed to be 
 more doubted than ever. It was said that while the 
 scheme had in that case avoided war, it had suggested 
 the probability of claims so extravagant and inad 
 missible as almost to force the opposing party to 
 break the treaty under the cover of which they were 
 advanced, even at the risk of increased hostility 
 and a resort to war ; and that the escape of both na 
 tions from such a catastrophe by the action of the 
 Genevan Court in dismissing without argument the 
 American claims for indirect damages was but a 
 happy accident. But this idea seems to have been 
 succeeded by the happier thought that an appeal to 
 international arbitration is an appeal to the fairness 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 of the world, and that the question for the parties, 
 judges, and spectators is so clearly one of honour, that 
 no nation can afford to ask what the justice of the 
 world candidly disapproves. In the case of the Gene 
 va Congress, while the rejected claims were presented 
 in the name of the President, General Grant himself 
 subsequently denied their justice and approved their 
 rejection. Sir Lyon (now Lord) Playfair, who per 
 haps appreciates the entire subject of arbitration as 
 thoroughly as any living statesman, gave an interest 
 ing sketch of its recent progress, both in Europe and 
 America, in a paper entitled, " A Topic for Christmas," 
 in the North American Review for December, 1890. 
 Three years before, Sir Lyon had headed a deputation 
 of members of the English Parliament who came to 
 present to the President of the United States a me 
 morial from 234 members of the House of Commons, 
 with delegates from English Trades Unions represent 
 ing 700,000 workingmen. Congress in response con 
 currently resolved to invite from time to time, as fit 
 occasion might arise, negotiations with any govern 
 ment with which the United States has or may have 
 diplomatic relations, to the end that any differences 
 or disputes arising between the two governments 
 which cannot be settled by diplomatic agency may 
 be referred to arbitration and be peacefully adjusted 
 by such means. Although Europe is supposed by 
 many to be awaiting a war of gigantic magnitude, 
 Sir Lyon, referring to the approval of arbitration by 
 the Pan-American Congress by continental parlia- 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 IX 
 
 ments and international assemblies at Paris and Lon 
 don, said that the legislatures which had already 
 passed resolutions in favor of arbitration represented 
 150,000,000 of people, and remarked that the exten 
 sion of that feeling would be a better force than an in 
 ternational police to secure the observance of treaties. 
 The excess of war preparation already endangering 
 national credit and threatening national bankruptcy 
 is quoted as proving that the arbitration idea will be 
 insisted upon, and in the anticipated movement the 
 United States is described as fitted to be the leading 
 champion of arbitration. Sheridan is quoted among 
 others as saying : "I mean what I say when I express 
 the belief that arbitration will rule the world." The 
 scheme is now represented as likely to be accepted 
 by thinkers who reject the thought of Kant, Bentham, 
 and Mills for an international Congress ; and Sir Lyon 
 Playfair, in connection with the idea of arbitration, 
 quotes the remark of Mazzini that " thought is the 
 action of men and action the thought of the people." 
 
 "THE WAK WITH MEXICO," AND ANTISLAVEKY PAPEKS. 
 
 The "Review of the War with Mexico" stands 
 among Judge Jay's volumes unexcelled by exactness 
 of congressional, diplomatic, and, to some extent, mil 
 itary research ; and by plainness of speech in regard 
 to national outrages and perfidy without a name, per 
 petrated in the cause of slavery ; and his writings gen 
 erally on this subject show the same accurate inquiry 
 and outspoken frankness. It was on the varied phases 
 
x PREFACE. 
 
 of our treatment of the coloured people, free and slave, 
 at our own doors, the cruel wrong so full of injustice 
 to the blacks, of scandal to Christendom, and of men 
 ace to the republic, that Jay wrote with deepest ear 
 nestness, the most exacting research, and a fearless 
 pen. His inquiry into " The American Colonization 
 and the Antislavery Societies " and " The Action of 
 the Federal Government in Behalf of Slavery," de 
 veloped facts which implicated prominent politicians 
 of both parties, and aroused at once their surprise 
 and indignation, while the disclosure directly ap 
 pealed to the pride and conscience of the American 
 people. The same judicial, dauntless, and defiant 
 spirit marked the appeals which he prepared for the 
 Antislavery Society against the calumnies of the 
 press, and the dignified protest against the libellous 
 charges so unworthily made by President Jackson in 
 his message to Congress. The same spirit animated 
 his address on " The Condition of the People of Colour 
 in the United States " ; the "Appeal to the Friends 
 of Constitutional Liberty, on the Violation by the 
 House of Representatives of the Eight of Petition n ; 
 his supplement to "The Reproof of the American 
 Church," by Bishop Wilberf orce of Oxford ; the ex 
 posure in the letter to Bishop Ives of the clerical 
 efforts to sanctify slavery and caste; and his ear 
 nest demand for the equal admission of the coloured 
 churches to the Diocesan Council of New York. So, 
 too, with the critical analysis of Mr. Clay's "Com 
 promise Bill," including the Fugitive Law and Mr. 
 
PREFACE. Xl 
 
 Webster's " Theory of Physical Geography"; his ad 
 dress to the inhabitants of New Mexico and Califor 
 nia, so timely distributed in English and Spanish, and 
 so happily followed in California by a free constitu 
 tion, urging them to resist the domination of slavery 
 with its ignorance and degradation, and to secure, by 
 their own manly independence and just statesman 
 ship, a glorious future of power and happiness; his 
 address to the antislavery Christians ; and his plain 
 reminders to the Protestant Episcopal Church, and 
 to the Tract and other societies, of the inconsistency 
 and evil influence of their compromising pro-slavery 
 policy. 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL PEINCIPLES AN HISTOKIC PAKALLEL. 
 
 The part of Jay's life pictured by Mr. Tuckerman 
 not only exhibits these characteristics, but shows the 
 Antislavery Society to have been founded by his care, 
 in 1833, on constitutional principles so just and so 
 clearly defined, that in 1839 sixteen hundred and 
 fifty auxiliary societies had been established on the 
 same basis, educating the rising generation, on whom 
 was to rest the destiny of the country in the near 
 future. It was an education of the quiet and effective 
 influence of which the pro-slavery leaders seemed un 
 conscious, although to some it may recall the thought 
 of Dr. Storrs, when he said : " When I think of a mil 
 lennium in our time, in our civilization, my thought 
 rests and fastens on the promise, 'a little child shall lead 
 them.' " The charge had already been made against 
 
x ii PEEFACE. 
 
 the opponents of slavery of a disregard of constitu 
 tional obligations of a desire to dissolve the Union 
 and to encourage slave insurrection. The society de 
 clared the exclusive right of each slave State to legis 
 late in regard to slavery ; the constitutional right of 
 Congress to abolish slavery in the District of Colum 
 bia, to prohibit it in the Territories and new States, 
 and to control the domestic as well as the foreign 
 slave trade ; and it disclaimed the idea of countenanc 
 ing the slaves in vindicating their rights by resort 
 ing to physical force. And here is suggested, by the 
 action and the anticipation of the Slave Power, an in 
 teresting historic parallel. The formation of the An- 
 tislavery Society in December, 1833, followed closely 
 upon Mr. Calhoun's Nullification in South Carolina 
 in 1832, when, as Mr. Pollard tell us, a medal was 
 struck inscribed, " John C. Calhoun, First President 
 of the C. S. A." A counterpart of this medal in gold 
 is said to exist at Richmond, with the name of Jeffer 
 son Davis as the first president of the Southern Con 
 federacy, and " 1861 " on the reverse side. 
 
 These incidents seem to emphasize the fact that the 
 constitutional principles adopted by the Antislavery 
 Society in 1833, and so widely circulated by the press 
 and its auxiliaries before the war, although often 
 assailed, were, in 1854, made the basis of the Repub 
 lican party, which, as Americans of all sections may 
 now with mutual regard and affection thank God, 
 maintained the Union and abolished slavery. Such a 
 revolution in public opinion is a forcible reminder of 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 the truth that every principle contains within itself 
 the germ of a prophecy, and it is a thought fraught 
 with hope and confidence to reformers even when 
 they seem to be threatened with disaster and defeat. 
 
 THE EARLY SCHEME FOE A SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY. 
 
 The determination to found a confederacy with 
 slavery as its cornerstone appears as a fundamental 
 feature in the policy of the Slave Power for some 
 thirty years before the outbreak of the Civil War. Mr. 
 Calhoun's idea of secession, apparently suggested by 
 the tariff, General Jackson predicted would be renewed 
 on the question of slavery. The novel of Prof. Bev 
 erly Tucker in 1835, entitled, " The Partisan Leader ; 
 or, Twenty Years After," foreshadowed the steps at 
 home and abroad which were taken in forming the 
 new confederacy ; and in the South Carolina Conven 
 tion in 1860, Southern politicians like Ehett, Parker, 
 Keith, and Inglis said that the matter had nothing 
 to do with Mr. Lincoln or the Fugitive Law, but had 
 been culminating for a long series of years. The 
 thought of a Southern Confederacy may have stimu 
 lated the policy of using the power of the Republic, 
 while it lasted, in the interest of the Confederacy that 
 was to succeed it ; supplying a motive for the Texan 
 Rebellion, the War with Mexico, the effort to secure 
 Cuba, the filibustering expeditions to Central Amer 
 ica, the determination to reopen the African slave- 
 trade, and the pro-slavery action of the Buchanan 
 administration. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 NOETHEBN AND EUROPEAN SYMPATHY WITH SLAVERY. 
 
 It would be hardly fair to the Southern leaders to 
 assume that they found no reason for their hope of 
 effecting the dissolution of the Union in the sym 
 pathy and aid promised from the North and from 
 Europe. The secret conferences with Lord Lyons 
 of Northern sympathizers with slavery were dis 
 closed by the despatches of that eminent diplomatist. 
 Mayor Fernando Wood's proposition that New York 
 should become a free city, independent both of the 
 States and the nation, showed in no slight degree the 
 temper of the citizens whom he represented; while 
 the later appeal of so eminent and popular a leader 
 as Governor Horatio Seymour to the citizens of the 
 State was equally significant when he said, " In the 
 downfall of the nation, and amid its crumbling 
 ruins, we will cling to the fortunes of New York." 
 Such utterances enforced by leaders of the prom 
 inence of Franklin Pierce and Vallandingham ; the 
 political action of sympathizers with slavery and 
 the anti-draft riots in New York, supplemented by 
 the unfriendliness of European governments; and 
 the escape of the "Alabama" all these circum 
 stances tended to encourage the hopes that were 
 doomed to disappointment. Nor in considering the 
 antislavery movement should we overlook the effect 
 of the antislavery opinion of our country in ending 
 the danger of European intervention, which had been 
 unwittingly encouraged by Mr. Seward's too hasty 
 
PREFACE. xv 
 
 assurance to our minister in France (April 22, 1861), 
 that " the revolution was without a cause, without a 
 pretext, and without an object ; and that the condi 
 tion of slavery in the several States would remain just 
 the same, whether it should succeed or fail." The 
 antislavery policy, first of enlistment and then of 
 emancipation, so earnestly urged upon Mr. Lincoln 
 and adopted by him with conscientious caution, en 
 lightened Europe as to the true meaning of the con 
 test in our recognition of the equal right to free 
 dom and the equal dignity of labour, and forbade 
 its rulers to assist in the establishment of a slave 
 confederacy ; and the historian Lessing, when allud 
 ing to the cordial reception by his holiness the Sov 
 ereign Pontiff of the diplomatic agents of Mr. Jeffer 
 son Davis, and the Papal letter recognizing and com 
 mending " the illustrious President of the Southern 
 Confederacy," remarks that this was " the only official 
 recognition of the chief conspirator by the head of 
 any government." Nor should the right appreciation 
 by the abolitionists of the prospect of freedom for the 
 slaves be forgotten. The fidelity of the negroes during 
 the war, both to the families with whom they lived, to 
 which Yice-President Stephens bore distinct testi 
 mony, and to the Northern army, from which they 
 expected emancipation, was no less honourable and 
 conspicuous than the devotion and gallantry they con 
 stantly exhibited in the war, as at Fort Hudson and 
 Fort Wagner, at Milliken's Bend and Lake Providence, 
 at Newbern and at Olustee, where their rear-guard 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 saved the army. Their conduct, whether at home or 
 in the field, justified the conviction of their steadfast 
 friends in the safety of immediate emancipation, and 
 added untold force to the sacredness of the pledges so 
 often given during the war, and still, to the national 
 discredit, unfulfilled of national aid to State educa 
 tion, so as to secure to every child of our coloured 
 citizens the ability to read his Bible and the Constitu 
 tion, to fulfill his duties and protect his rights. 
 
 As time and reflection impress upon the American 
 mind a clear comprehension of the changes, national, 
 social, and political, that a triumph of the Slave Power 
 would have brought to America and its effect as a 
 set-back to the civilization of the world, an increased 
 interest will be felt in the beginnings of the contest, 
 and in the men and causes that shaped its end. 
 
 THE LESSON FOE TO-DAY. 
 
 I cordially recommend Mr. Tuckerman's memoir to 
 the students of the antislavery contest, as throwing 
 light on that interesting and but partially written 
 chapter of American history, in which my father bore 
 a part ; and on the character and policy of the sturdy 
 band with whom he was associated, including Arthur 
 and Lewis Tappan, Joshua Leavitt, James Gr. Bir- 
 ney, G-errit Smith, and their true-hearted compa 
 triots ; while a wider view would include a group of 
 noble women, who, if differing as to means, were 
 united in devotion, headed by the honoured names 
 of Maria Weston Chapman and Harriet Beecher 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Stowe, Lucretia Mott, Lydia Maria Child, and the sis 
 ters Grimke. 
 
 Among our citizens who will be long remembered 
 as early and fearless opponents of slavery, leading and 
 acting with energy and independence, according to 
 their personal convictions and occasionally in differ 
 ing ways, were the venerable Isaac T. Hopper, William 
 Lloyd Garrison, whose life has been so faithfully re 
 corded by his sons, John Greenleaf Whittier, whose 
 old Huguenot spirit lives in his verse as in his name, 
 Ellis Gray Loring, Lovejoy, the martyr of the west, 
 "Wendell Phillips, with his matchless eloquence, Theo 
 dore D. Weld, with his trenchant pen, Elizur Wright, 
 Jr., Samuel E. Ward, William Goodell, S. S. Jocelyn, 
 Gamaliel Bailey, Jr., Edmund Quincey, S. H. Gay, 
 Oliver Johnston, James S. Gibbons, and others, who 
 opened the way sometimes by devious and diverg 
 ing paths for the party of the Union and Eman 
 cipation. 
 
 As the contest advanced from the field of politics 
 to that of war, came Union men from different points 
 whose names will live in our history with those of 
 John A. Andrew, John C. Fremont, John P. Hale, 
 Chase, Sumner, Seward, Preston and John A. King, 
 Wilmot, Giddings, Wade, Holt, and Edwin D. Stan- 
 ton. In New York, where mob law had prevailed, 
 the Union League Club upheld the loyalty of the 
 city, the credit of the nation, and the sanitary com 
 mission ; raised troops for Hancock in addition to its 
 own coloured regiments ; stimulated the ardour of our 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 soldiers and the patriotism of the country ; welcomed, 
 of the army, Grant and Sherman, Mead and Sheridan, 
 Hancock and Hooker, "Warren and Burnside, and of 
 the navy, Farragut, Dupont and Rogers, Winslow 
 and the youthful Gushing ; verifying in its spirit and 
 action the remark of Vice-President Colfax that on 
 the Union League Club Lincoln had leaned in the 
 darkest hours. 
 
 The Club did not forget, neither will the truthful 
 historian forget, that amid the European plots and 
 intrigues in the interest of slavery, we had friends 
 high and low, from Alexander of Eussia, the emanci 
 pator of twenty millions of serfs who, like Lincoln, 
 fell by assassination to the humble peasants, who 
 instinctively recognised the hostility to the rights of 
 labor inherent in the slavery system, whose vicious 
 features had been exposed by John Bright with such 
 masterly effect. 
 
 G-oldwin Smith, the historic scholar of Oxford, who 
 at home had denounced those who would have made 
 England an accomplice in "the creation of a great 
 slave empire, and in its future extension from the 
 grave of Washington to the Halls of Montezuma," in 
 his reply to the greetings of the eminent citizens who 
 had asked him to the club and who assembled to meet 
 him,* said, " Your cause is ours ; it is the cause of the 
 whole human race." The same idea, in almost the 
 same words, was expressed by the Count de Cavour 
 
 * In view of their historic significance, their names are given in the 
 Appendix. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XIX 
 
 a few days before his death, in a despatch to the 
 Italian Minister at Washington, when he said "that 
 ours was the cause not only of constitutional liberty, 
 but of all humanity." 
 
 The antislavery story from the Calhoun medal, 
 struck to commemorate the supposed birth of a slave 
 empire to the constitutional abolition of slavery, 
 concerned humanity, and has lessons of warning 
 and encouragement for the men and women of to 
 day, on whom rest the hopes of the country, and 
 who, against odds that seem as formidable as those 
 presented by the Slave Power at its culmination, are 
 bravely striving for the advance of humanity, the 
 purification of our politics, and the preservation of 
 American institutions. They may well adopt the in 
 spiriting legend of G-eneva to which the antislavery 
 contest of America has given a new radiance, " Post 
 tenebras lux." Our institutions, no longer endan 
 gered by slavery, are assailed with skilful intrigue 
 in their own strongholds, the public school and the 
 polls, especially of our great cities, where a corrupt, 
 irresponsible, secret rule recalls the Council of Ten 
 and the Lion of Saint Mark, and now it is charged 
 that our very legislation at times is not simply par 
 tisan but fraudulent. The incompatibility of such 
 proceedings with American principles and American 
 rights recalls with emphatic force the warning so dis 
 tinctly and repeatedly given us by Dr. Orestes A. 
 Brownson, that eminent and philosophic representa 
 tive of our citizens of the Roman Catholic faith who 
 
XX 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 stand squarely by the American constitution and 
 American institutions, of the danger of allowing for 
 eigners to meddle with our public schools when he said 
 that American civilization was " the farthest point in 
 advance yet reached by any age or nation, and that 
 foreigners who come to educate according to their 
 civilization necessarily educate for a civilization be 
 hind the times and below that of this country." 
 
 The enlightening effect of an impartial study of the 
 antislavery contest on an independent and philosophic 
 critic can be read in the interesting and instructive 
 pages of Yon Hoist ; and a review of that contest, 
 from the first presentment of the principles of the 
 Antislavery Society to the parting scene of Grant 
 and Lee at Appomatox, and the adoption of the con 
 stitutional amendment of emancipation, affords, step 
 by step, amid whatever mistakes and blunders, evi 
 dence which becomes the more striking and conclu 
 sive, as time passes, of what was accomplished in the 
 antislavery struggle for humanity and the world in 
 shaping the future of the Eepublic, by calm resolve, 
 a faithful adhesion to truth and principle, patient per 
 severance, unflinching courage, faith in the triumph 
 of right, American manliness, and far-sighted Chris 
 tian statesmanship. 
 
 BEDFORD HOUSE, Katonah, 
 New York, May, 1893. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Birth and Education of William Jay. His Early Philanthropic In 
 terests. Appointed Judge of Westchester County I 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Early Opposition to Slavery. Growth of the Slave Power. The 
 Missouri Compromise. Jay begins Political Agitation for the 
 Abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia 18 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Development of the Antislavery Movement. Organization of Anti- 
 slavery Societies. Anti- Abolition Riots. Jay publishes his 
 " Inquiry " 39 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Continued Efforts to suppress the Antislavery Movement by Force 
 and Intimidation. Favourable Effect upon the Public Mind 
 produced by Jay's Writings 63 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Gradual Decline of Riotous Demonstrations against the Abolition 
 ists. Changes occur in the Doctrines and Methods of the 
 American Antislavery Society. Judge Jay resigns his Mem 
 bership, while continuing his Efforts on Behalf of Emancipa 
 tion 82 
 
 xxi 
 
xx ii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Judge Jay continues to support the Antislavery Cause by his Ad 
 vice and Writings. In Consequence of his Opinions he is de 
 prived of his Seat on the Bench. His Visit to Europe. His 
 Views on the Liberty Party. On the Annexation of Texas. 
 His "Review of the Mexican War." His Advocacy of Inter 
 national Arbitration as a Remedy for War. His Work in the 
 Episcopal Church 112 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Unpopularity of the Abolitionists. The Compromises of 1850 and 
 the Fugitive-Slave Law. Jay's Reply to Webster's 7th of 
 March Speech. The Attitude of the Episcopal Church. The 
 Abrogation of the Missouri Compromise. Disunion 135 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Death of Judge Jay. His Position among Antislavery Men. His 
 other Public and Philanthropic Interests. His Private Life. 
 His Character 156 
 
 Bibliography 171 
 
 Index 175 
 
 Appendix 184 
 
WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BIKTH AND EDUCATION OF WILLIAM JAY. HIS EAKLY 
 PHILANTHROPIC INTERESTS. APPOINTED JUDGE OF 
 WESTCHESTEK COUNTY. 
 
 WILLIAM JAY, the second son of John Jay, the first 
 Chief-Justice of the United States, and his wife, 
 Sarah Van Brugh Livingston, was born in the city 
 of New York the 16th of June, 1789. New York was 
 then the seat of the Federal Government, and the 
 year is memorable as that in which the National 
 Constitution superseded the Articles of Confedera 
 tion, while the inauguration of "Washington marked 
 a new era in American history. 
 
 During the absence of John Jay in England, while 
 negotiating the "Jay treaty," he was elected Gov 
 ernor of New York, and returned home to assume 
 that office in 1795. 
 
 William, then eight years old, was placed at school 
 with the Rev. Thomas Ellison, the rector of St. Peter's 
 Church, Albany. There he received an old-fashioned 
 training. In 1801 he wrote to his father : " Mr. Elli- 
 
2 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 son put me in Virgil, and I can now say the first 
 two eclogues by heart, and construe and parse and 
 scan them." And later on: "I learn nothing but 
 Latin." Among his schoolmates was J. Fenimore 
 Cooper, who afterwards drew a portrait of their old 
 instructor in one of his " Sketches of England," ad 
 dressed to Jay : 
 
 " Thirty-six years ago you and I were schoolfellows 
 and classmates in the house of a clergyman of the 
 true English school. This man was an epitome of 
 the national prejudices and in some respects of the 
 national character. He was the son of a beneficed 
 clergyman in England, had been regularly graduated 
 at Oxford and admitted to orders ; entertained a 
 most profound reverence for the King and the nobil 
 ity ; was not backward in expressing his contempt 
 for all classes of dissenters and all ungentlemanly 
 sects ; was particularly severe on the immoralities of 
 the French Revolution, and though eating our bread, 
 was not especially lenient to our own ; compelled 
 you and me to begin Virgil with the eclogues, and 
 Cicero with the knotty phrase that opens the oration 
 in favour of the poet Archias, ' because these writers 
 would not have placed them first in the books if they 
 did not intend people to read them first ' ; spent his 
 money freely and sometimes that of other people ; 
 was particularly tenacious of the ritual and of all the 
 decencies of the Church ; detested a democrat as he 
 did the devil; cracked his jokes daily about Mr. 
 Jefferson, never failing to place his libertinism in 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 3 
 
 strong relief against the approved morals of George 
 III., of several passages in whose history it is chari 
 table to suppose he was ignorant ; prayed fervently 
 on Sunday, and decried all morals, institutions, 
 churches, manners, and laws but those of England 
 from Monday to Saturday." 
 
 Still, Jay and Cooper were indebted to Ellison's 
 thoroughness in the classics for much of the mental 
 training, the correct taste, and the pure English 
 which marked their subsequent intellectual efforts. 
 
 Jay was prepared for college by Henry Davis, 
 afterwards president of Hamilton College. The boy 
 as he appeared at this time was thus described by his 
 cousin, Susan Sedgwick: "As I look back to that 
 fresh spring-time of life, there rises clearly before me 
 a vigorous, sturdy boy, full of health and animation, 
 with laughing eyes, cheeks glowing and dimpled, and 
 exhibiting already marked traits : with a strong will, 
 yet easily reduced by rightful authority; in temper 
 quick, even to passion, but never vindictive; the 
 storm easily raised as soon appeased, thus fore 
 shadowing him at that later period, when, however 
 capable of self-control, his fearless resistance to 
 wrong and uncompromising advocacy of right par 
 took of the same vehement character, happily ex 
 pressed by his friend, Mr. Fenimore Cooper, who, in 
 reference to his then recently published denunciation 
 of the evils of war, addressed him playfully, l Thou 
 most pugnacious man of peace.' " 
 
 "William entered Yale College in January, 1804, in 
 
4 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 his fifteenth year. Upon the college roll during his 
 four years were names afterwards well known in our 
 history. There were trained side by side boys who 
 were soon to be arrayed against each other in 
 religion, politics, and in the momentous conflict of 
 slavery with freedom, which, passing from the senate 
 to the field, their sons and grandsons were to termi 
 nate by the sword. From the State of South Carolina 
 came John C. Calhoun, who significantly chose for 
 the subject of his graduating oration, " The Qualifi 
 cations Necessary for a Perfect Statesman ; " Chris 
 topher Edward Gadsden, afterwards bishop of his 
 native State; and Thomas Smith Grimke, eminent 
 at the bar, in scholarship and philanthropy. Among 
 the Northern students was the Rev. John Pierpont, 
 known as the reformer and poet, who at the age of 
 seventy- six went to the front during the Civil War 
 as chaplain of a Massachusetts regiment ; Hon. Henry 
 Randolph Storrs, of New York, the jurist ; Rev. Dr. 
 Nathaniel William Taylor, of the Calvinistic school 
 of Edwards and D wight ; Dr. Thomas H. Gallaudet, 
 of Huguenot descent, who devoted himself to the 
 education of deaf-mutes ; Dr. Alexander H. Stevens, 
 of New York ; Rev. Dr. Samuel Farmer Jarvis, the 
 learned professor of oriental literature; Rev. Dr. 
 Gardiner Spring, of New York, the famous Presby 
 terian divine; the Hon. William Huntington, of 
 Connecticut; Jacob Sutherland, of New York; and 
 James A. Hillhouse, of New Haven, one of the most 
 scholarly of our poets, whose generous hospitality at 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 5 
 
 his beautiful home, Sachem's Wood, with its avenue 
 of stately elms planted by his father and himself, 
 was for many years the delight of his friends. At 
 Yale Jay met Cooper again, and strengthened a 
 friendship which lasted through life. It was during 
 a visit at Bedford, about 1825, while sitting on the 
 piazza with Chief-Justice Jay, smoking and talking 
 of the incidents of the Revolution, that Fenimore 
 Cooper learned the adventures of a patriotic Ameri 
 can, who was apparently attached to the royal cause, 
 but who constantly warned of danger the Continental 
 Army in Westchester and was especially useful dur 
 ing the sitting of the State convention at White 
 Plains. The services and escapes of this man were 
 reproduced in " Harvey Birch, the Spy of the Neutral 
 Ground," which achieved so great a success at home 
 and in Europe, where it still holds its place, having 
 been honoured by more translations, including the 
 Persian and Arabic, than any similar work written in 
 English until the appearance of " Uncle Tom's Cabin." 
 In a letter to his grandson, William Jay, in 1852, 
 Judge Jay gave some particulars of his college 
 course, which show the simplicity of life in those 
 days and the still lingering influence of English 
 habits : " Through the influence of a professor with 
 whom I had previously lived, I was placed in the 
 room of a resident graduate. The resident graduates 
 were denominated l Sirs ' ; they had a pew in the 
 chapel called the Sirs' pew; and when spoken of in 
 college always had Sir prefixed to their names. My 
 
6 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 room-mate was Sir Holly (Dr. Horace Holly). As a 
 mere freshman I looked up to my room-mate with 
 great respect and treated him accordingly. We had 
 no servants to wait on us, except that a man came 
 every morning to make our beds and sweep the 
 room, and once a week to scatter clean white sand 
 on the floor. I rose early generally before six in 
 winter made the fire, and then went, pitcher in 
 hand, often wading through snow, for water for Sir 
 Holly and myself. At that time the freshmen 
 occupied in part the place of sizers in the English 
 universities, and they were required to run errands 
 for the seniors. Our meals were taken in a large 
 hall with a kitchen opening into it. The students 
 were arranged at tables according to their classes. 
 All sat on wooden benches, not excepting the tutors ; 
 the latter had a table to themselves on an elevated 
 platform whence they had a view of the whole com 
 pany. But it was rather difficult for them to attend 
 to their plates and to watch two hundred boys at the 
 same time. Salt beef once a day and dry cod were 
 perhaps the most usual dishes. On Sunday morn 
 ings during the winter our breakfast-tables were 
 graced with large tin milk-cans filled with stewed 
 oysters; at the proper season we were occasionally 
 treated at dinner with green peas. As you may 
 suppose, a goodly number of waiters were needed in 
 the hall. These were all students, and many of them 
 among the best and most esteemed scholars. About 
 half-past five in winter the bell summoned us from 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 7 
 
 our beds, and at six it called us to prayers in the 
 chapel. We next repaired to the recitation-rooms 
 and recited by candle-light the lessons we had 
 studied the preceding evening. At eight we had 
 breakfast, and at nine the bell warned us to our 
 rooms. At twelve it called us to a recitation or a 
 lecture. After dinner we recommenced our studies 
 and recited for the third time at four o'clock. During 
 study hours the tutors would frequently go the 
 rounds, looking into our rooms to see that we were 
 not playing truant. Before supper, we all attended 
 evening prayers in the chapel." 
 
 The presidency of the college was then occupied 
 by Dr. Timothy D wight, who also gave instruction 
 in belles-lettres, oratory, and theology. To him Jay 
 wrote in 1818: "I retain a grateful recollection of 
 your kind attention to me, and I have, and trust will 
 ever have, reason to acknowledge the goodness of 
 Providence in placing me under your care, when 
 many of my opinions were to be formed and my prin 
 ciples established." Still later, he wrote to a college 
 friend : " Your remarks on Dr. D wight are grateful 
 to my heart. I cherish his memory as one of the best 
 friends I ever had." 
 
 In his senior year Jay took part in debates among 
 the students, presided over by Dr. Dwight. Some 
 of the subjects discussed were: "Ought infidels to 
 be excluded from office!" "Ought religion to be 
 supported by law?" "Would a division of the Union 
 be politic ? " " Would it be politic to encourage manu- 
 
8 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 factures in the United States?" On the last ques 
 tion Dr. Dwight remarked: "We shall always buy 
 things where we can get them the cheapest ; we will 
 never make our commodities so long as we can buy 
 them better and cheaper elsewhere." Jay displayed 
 his natural inclination for the law by contributing a 
 series of articles on legal subjects, over the signature 
 of "Coke," to the Literary Cabinet, the students' 
 paper. He took his degree in September, 1807, hav 
 ing injured his eyesight in his efforts to attain a 
 high standing in his class. " During the winter of 
 my junior year," he wrote in warning to his grand 
 son William, "I was struggling hard for honours, 
 and trying to make up for lost time ; I used to rise 
 about four o'clock, light my fire, and sit down to the 
 study of conic sections. I brought on a weakness in 
 niy eyes which lasted several years. Be sure you 
 never rise before the sun and study your Latin and 
 Greek by candle-light or gas-light." 
 
 After graduation Jay went to Albany and began 
 the study of the law in the office of John B. Henry. 
 On the 3d of September, 1812, he married Augusta, 
 daughter of John McVickar, a merchant of New 
 York, and vestryman of Trinity Church. The diffi 
 culty with his eyesight, which had seriously inter 
 fered with his legal studies, became so pronounced 
 as to compel him to abandon his profession for some 
 years. During this period he retired with his wife 
 to his father's country seat, "Bedford," in West- 
 chester County, and there devoted himself with 
 
FARMING AT BEDFORD. 9 
 
 energy to agricultural pursuits. The farm included 
 about eight hundred acres, part of a tract purchased 
 by Jacobus van Cortlandt from Katonah Sagamore 
 and other Indian chieftains in 1700, and confirmed 
 by patent of Queen Anne in 1704. It had come to 
 Chief-Justice Jay partly through his mother, Mary 
 van Cortlandt, the wife of Peter Jay, and partly 
 through her sister, Eve van Cortlandt, the wife of 
 Judge John Chambers. 
 
 Of the forty fields into which the farm was 
 divided, Jay kept a separate account: showing the 
 tillage and produce, the drainage and fencing, the 
 dates of planting and reaping. A volume of this 
 kind, begun in 1816, contained entries as late as 1857, 
 the year before his death. He perfected himself in 
 grafting and budding, and was particularly success 
 ful with peaches, with cherries, pears and plums, 
 some of them with Huguenot names and memories, 
 and with muskmelons from Persian seed, brought 
 to him from the East by a friend. He raised horses 
 from imported stock, Merino sheep, and superin 
 tended the curing of hams from a Westphalian 
 recipe, furnished by an old Hessian farm hand one 
 of the hirelings who had come to conquer and re 
 mained to cultivate the country. In 1818 Jay and 
 Fenimore Cooper drafted the constitution for an 
 agricultural society of which Governor Jay was the 
 first president and General Pierre van Cortlandt the 
 second an institution of great use in the develop 
 ment of Westchester County. 
 
10 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 In 1815, when twenty-six years of age, Jay entered 
 upon that course of active philanthropy which for 
 the next forty years employed his thoughts and pen. 
 His first effort was directed to the improvement of 
 his native town of Bedford in the organization of 
 the Society for the Suppression of Vice. By means 
 of this society, of which he was the secretary, he 
 did much to restrain the liquor traffic and to dimin 
 ish intemperance. Later on, as a judge, he used all 
 the power of the law to the same end ; and it was he 
 who suggested the law, still in force, which forbids a 
 tavern-keeper to supply drink on credit. 
 
 An interesting incident in this early period of his 
 life was the part which he bore in founding the 
 American Bible Society, in organizing its machinery 
 for the immense work it had to perform, and in vin 
 dicating the principles of the society against the at 
 tacks of the opposing party in his own church. In 
 this struggle Jay proved the independence of char 
 acter and courage of conviction which afterwards 
 distinguished him through the seemingly hopeless 
 years of antislavery effort. The general distribution 
 of Bibles in our day makes it difficult to appreciate 
 the limited supply, the high cost, and the consequent 
 rarity of the Bible when this society began its 
 work. The High-Church party in New York were 
 opposed to the association of Episcopalians with 
 other Christians to circulate the Bible, and opposed 
 even to the distribution of the Bible, unless accom 
 panied by the Prayer-book as an interpreter. In 
 
THE AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY. \\ 
 
 these views they were vigorously supported by 
 their distinguished leader, Bishop John Henry Ho- 
 bart. Jay, who had inherited with his Huguenot 
 blood a faith in the Bible not to be restrained by 
 ecclesiastical assumption, was an officer of the West- 
 chester Bible Society and deeply interested in the 
 work. On the appearance of a pastoral letter from 
 Bishop Hobart in which the High-Church views 
 were expressed, he published a pamphlet showing 
 that it was " the interest and duty of Episcopalians 
 to unite with their fellow-Christians of all denomi 
 nations in spreading the knowledge of the Word of 
 God." This pamphlet brought him into an active 
 conflict with the eminent bishop which lasted for 
 several years, and taught him that a philanthropic 
 cause, even so plainly meritorious, was not to be 
 carried on without the opposition of powerful con 
 servative interests. 
 
 Convinced that a national society could accom 
 plish more than the local and scattered State Bible 
 societies, Jay published a pamphlet in 1816 which 
 showed the imperative importance of the work, 
 and urged united action. At the same time the 
 venerable Elias Boudinot of New Jersey was ex 
 erting himself to the same end. "When he received 
 a letter from Jay enclosing the pamphlet, he thus 
 welcomed his youthful ally: "These precious mo 
 ments I have devoted to a full consideration of one 
 of the greatest and most interesting subjects that 
 has ever concerned the children of men. Weak and 
 
12 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 feeble and scarcely able to think or write, my efforts 
 promised but little in the cause, when your welcome 
 and unexpected letter was brought in. My drooping 
 spirits were raised and my mind greatly revived. I 
 could not help giving glory to God for the great en 
 couragement afforded me to press on in this glorious 
 cause, when I thus beheld His special mercy in rais 
 ing up so powerful a support in this joyous work 
 and labour of love." In the same year the American 
 Bible Society was formed with the assistance of the 
 best names in the country. Elias Boudinot was 
 chosen president, with John Jay and Matthew 
 Clarkson, a gallant officer of the Eevolution, as vice- 
 presidents. Others on the roll were : John Langdon, 
 the statesman of New Hampshire; William Gray, 
 the eminent merchant of Boston ; the scholarly John 
 Cotton Smith, of Connecticut, with the blood of the 
 Cottons and the Mathers of colonial history; Will 
 iam Tighlman, the jurist of Pennsylvania; William 
 Wirt and Bushrod Washington, of Virginia ; Charles 
 Cotesworth Pinckney, of South Carolina; Governor 
 Worthington, of Ohio; John Bolton, of Georgia; 
 Felix Grundy, of Tennessee ; and of New York : Dr. 
 John B. Eomeyne ; Colonel Richard Varick, Wash 
 ington's aide; Daniel D. Tompkins, the Governor 
 who obtained the abolition of slavery in the State ; 
 John Pintard, John Aspinwall, Jeremiah Evarts, 
 Frederic de Peyster, George Griffin, De Witt Clinton, 
 the Patroon Stephen van Eensselaer, and Colonel 
 Henry Rutgers. 
 
EAELY WRITINGS. 13 
 
 Notwithstanding the honourable support given to 
 the society, it had to resist a carefully organized 
 assault on the part of Bishop Hobart and an influ 
 ential portion of his clergy aimed at the vital prin 
 ciple on which the success of the movement de 
 pended the cordial union of all Christians. Jay's 
 previous training in the same field of controversy, 
 his staunch devotion at once to his cause and to his 
 church, designated him as the proper person to carry 
 on, in behalf of the society, the war of letters and 
 pamphlets which ensued. Although pitted against 
 an adversary to whom age, experience, and station 
 gave great advantages, he acquitted himself with 
 credit, displaying literary and reasoning powers 
 which were soon to exert a potent effect upon the 
 great moral issue of our time. 
 
 Other questions of a philanthropic character occu 
 pied his pen. The Synod of Albany having offered a 
 prize for the best essay on the observance of the 
 Sabbath, Jay competed for it with success. A more 
 notable incident of the same sort occurred in 1828. 
 The Savannah Anti-duelling Association offered a 
 medal for the best argument against duelling. The 
 committee appointed to judge the essays were : John 
 Cummings; James M. Wayne, subsequently ap 
 pointed by President Jackson a justice of the 
 Supreme Court; E. W. Habersham, afterwards 
 Governor of Georgia ; William Law ; and Matthew 
 Hall McAllister, mayor of Savannah and an oppo 
 nent of Nullification in 1832. That in 1828 these 
 
14 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 Southern men were seeking to root out the habit 
 of duelling, and that the prize should have been 
 awarded by them to William Jay, is a curious com 
 mentary on the connection between slavery and 
 duelling. At this time both practices had their 
 opponents at the South who were allowed to express 
 their opinions. As the grip of slavery increased in 
 strength and closed the mouth of every objector, 
 anti-duelling sentiment was simultaneously extin 
 guished. Both barbarous practices were to increase 
 and to perish together. Jay's essay could then find 
 praise among men who a few years later would not 
 tolerate in their homes any product of his pen. 
 
 In May, 1818, Jay was appointed one of the judges 
 of Westchester County. The mention of the fact in 
 his diary closed with the words, " May I have grace 
 to discharge with fidelity the duties of the station." 
 Two years later a commission from Governor 
 Clinton made him the first judge of the county, an 
 office which he held until 1823, when the adoption of 
 the new constitution terminated all offices under the 
 old one. Fenimore Cooper then wrote to him, "I 
 see that you are unhorsed with other clever fellows." 
 But in response to a general demand, Governor 
 Clinton reappointed him under the new constitution, 
 and he continued to hold office under successive 
 governors of different parties until 1843, when he 
 was displaced by Governor Bouck at the demand of 
 the pro-slavery wing of the democracy. A decision 
 of Jay's, rejecting a witness who declared his un- 
 
JUDGE OF WESTCHESTEE COUNTY. 15 
 
 belief in God, occurred when De Tocqueville was in 
 the United States, and was commented upon by the 
 distinguished Frenchman as having been accepted 
 by the press without comment, and as showing that 
 the American people combined the notions of Chris 
 tianity and of liberty so intimately that it was im 
 possible to make them conceive of the one without 
 the other, and that they held religion to be indis 
 pensable to the maintenance of republican institu 
 tions. In 1862, soon after Jay's death, when an 
 attempt was made by a pro-slavery faction in the 
 county to remove his portrait from the court-house 
 at White Plains, it was defeated by a protest of the 
 members of the bar. "Many of us," they said, 
 "were well acquainted with Judge Jay, and can 
 speak from personal knowledge of those high quali 
 ties which have given him an historic celebrity. 
 Whilst he entertained and vigorously vindicated 
 decided opinions on certain questions which have 
 much divided society and produced much acrimony 
 of feeling in which many of us did not sympathize 
 with him yet we can all bear testimony to the 
 noble frankness and sincerity of his nature, to his 
 deep interest in all questions tending to advance the 
 interest of the race, and to the extraordinary intel 
 lectual strength displayed by him on all occasions in 
 giving expression to his convictions." 
 
 In the early years of Jay's life, it appears that his 
 mind turned naturally toward philanthropic subjects. 
 His moral sense was largely developed, his con- 
 
16 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 science active, his humanity aggressive. His own 
 comfortable circumstances did not close his heart to 
 the sufferings of others. His generous nature longed 
 to replace evil by good. And in the cause which his 
 conscience approved, no obloquy nor social unpopu 
 larity could impede his progress. At the same time, 
 there was about him nothing of the intemperate 
 agitator. He was a judge and brought to his philan 
 thropic labours a judicial habit of mind. Indeed, it 
 was this habit of mind which distinguished him 
 among his fellow-workers in the antislavery cause. 
 It was his mission to urge emancipation with the 
 Constitution in his hand; to meet in conflict that 
 portion of society which silenced its uneasy con 
 science by a repetition of constitutional provisions, 
 and at the same time to combat those who were 
 inclined to seek emancipation by unconstitutional 
 means. 
 
 His quiet country life, in which healthful out-of- 
 door pursuits were mingled with the study and 
 reflection of his library, particularly fitted him to 
 look at this all-important question with calmness, 
 with consideration for both sides, and yet with the 
 vigour of a mind free to work exhaustively on a sub 
 ject involving many conflicting theories and dutieSo 
 He brought to his task real talents, literary and 
 polemic; a style ready and concise; a reasoning 
 enlivened by an effective vein of irony. He had a 
 refined and benevolent countenance, a pleasing 
 
JUDGE OF WESTCHESTEE COUNTY. ]J 
 
 manner, a temper even, but easily roused to indigna 
 tion at the sight of injustice. Before considering his 
 first connection with the antislavery movement, we 
 may glance at its situation in the early manhood of 
 William Jay. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 EARLY OPPOSITION TO SLAVEKY. GROWTH OF THE SLAVE 
 POWER. THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. JAY BEGINS 
 POLITICAL AGITATION FOR THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY 
 IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 THE movement which culminated in the Civil War 
 and the total abolition of slavery in the United 
 States was first humanitarian, and subsequently 
 political. Philanthropists prepared the way for the 
 statesman and the soldier. 
 
 The humanitarian movement had begun before the 
 time of William Jay and his fellow-workers. To 
 find its beginnings, we must look back into the 
 colonial days of the eighteenth century. There, 
 among the first, was George Keith, of Pennsylvania, 
 denouncing the system on grounds of both Chris 
 tianity and public policy. And Samuel Sewall, 
 Chief-Justice of Massachusetts, who, in his pam 
 phlet, " The Selling of Joseph," quaintly testified to 
 the truth. " These Ethiopians," he said, " as black as 
 they are, seeing they are the sons and daughters of 
 the first Adam and the offspring of God, they ought 
 to be treated with respect agreeable." Ealph San- 
 diford, Benjamin Lay, William Burling, Anthony 
 
 18 
 
EAELY ANTISLAVEEY MEN. 19 
 
 Benezet, the Huguenot, were men who spoke as 
 sincerely as later abolitionists and whose words were 
 heard. There was John Woolman, of New Jersey, 
 who pointed out "the dark gloominess overhang 
 ing the land, the spirit of fierceness and love of 
 dominion," resulting from this iniquity; and Dr. 
 Samuel Hopkins, of Newport, E. I., whose eloquent 
 exhortations banished the slave trade from a congre 
 gation growing rich on its spoils ; and Dr. Benjamin 
 Rush, of Philadelphia, who foretold that "future 
 ages will be at a loss which to condemn most, our 
 folly or our guilt in abetting this direct violation of 
 nature and religion." The legislatures of Virginia, 
 South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts in 
 turn attempted to restrict the slave-trade ; but their 
 efforts were annulled in England, where the slave 
 interest, through its champion, Lord Sandwich, for 
 bade any interference with " a traffic so beneficial to 
 the nation." 
 
 The colonies had no sooner achieved their in 
 dependence than they found themselves face to face 
 with the great question, and on the threshold of 
 their national life a great change was perceptible in 
 the attitude of the people towards slavery. The old 
 seventeenth century idea, that to drag a negro from 
 his heathen wilds to labour unrequited in a Christian 
 community tended to the benefit of his soul, had 
 passed away. The slave-trade was generally rec 
 ognized as indefensible. There were men who de 
 nounced slavery itself as an abominable evil. Even 
 
20 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 those most determined to maintain the institution 
 took the ground that it was an unfortunate neces 
 sity, but that it must be preserved to avoid greater 
 evils. In 1787, through the noble efforts of Thomas 
 Jefferson, Timothy Pickering, Eufus King, Nathan 
 Dane, William Grayson, and Eichard Henry Lee, 
 Congress passed the great ordinance which forbade 
 slavery to cross the Ohio Eiver into the Northwest 
 Territory. 
 
 The struggle between right and wrong had begun, 
 but the opposing forces were very unequal. On one 
 side was humane sentiment ; on the other was deeply 
 rooted habit, pecuniary interest, the pressure of 
 political questions of seemingly overriding impor 
 tance. Among the great leaders of the time there are 
 two whose opinions and practice give an excellent 
 illustration of the prevailing antislavery feeling: 
 John Jay of New York, Patrick Henry of Virginia. 
 There is no disagreement as to the moral elevation 
 of John Jay's character. Abroad and at home, offi 
 cially and unofficially, he was always the opponent 
 of slavery. Yet Jay purchased and held men as 
 slaves. To obtain domestic servants otherwise was 
 extremely difficult. After his slaves had served him 
 sufficiently long and faithfully to return to him 
 what he considered the value of his outlay, he gave 
 them their freedom. He believed that slavery in 
 principle was wrong, but he yielded so far to con 
 venience and custom. Patrick Henry was an anti- 
 slavery man and placed his position on record in 
 
EAELY ANTISLAVEEY MEN. 21 
 
 the following words: "Is it not amazing that, at a 
 time when the rights of humanity are defined and 
 understood with precision, in a country above all 
 others fond of liberty, in such an age, we find men 
 professing a religion the most humane, mild, meek, 
 gentle, and generous adopting a principle as repug 
 nant to humanity as it is inconsistent with the Bible 
 and destructive of liberty 1 Every thinking, honest 
 man rejects it in speculation, but how few in prac 
 tice, from conscientious motives! "Would any one 
 believe that I am a master of slaves of my own pur 
 chase f I am drawn along by the general inconven 
 ience of living without them. I will not, I cannot, 
 justify it; however culpable my conduct, I will so 
 far pay my devoirs to duty as to own the excellence 
 and rectitude of her precepts and lament my want 
 of conformity to them. I believe a time will come 
 when an opportunity will be offered to abolish this 
 lamentable evil ; everything we can do is to improve 
 it, if it happens in our own day ; if not, let us trans 
 mit to our own descendants, together with our 
 slaves, a pity for their unhappy lot and an abhor 
 rence of slavery." 
 
 Such being the character of antislavery senti 
 ment, its chances of success seem hopeless enough 
 when we hear the other side. When Congress was 
 considering the Articles of Confederation, Wilson, of 
 Pennsylvania, said: "Dismiss your slaves, freemen 
 will take their places." The reply of Lynch, of South 
 Carolina, showed the existence of men willing to 
 
22 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 sacrifice everything to the preservation of slavery. 
 " Our slaves are our property," said he ; " if that is 
 debated, there is an end to confederation." 
 
 Thus, at this crisis in the national history, there 
 first distinctively appeared that aggressive, uncom 
 promising party, afterwards to be known as the 
 Slave Power an association of men then forming a 
 minority even in the South, but determined to carry 
 its point at all hazards; men who were willing to 
 sacrifice every consideration of the public good to 
 the permanence of a system profitable to them 
 selves, but which reduced human beings to the level 
 of beasts. Against a party so resolute, antislavery 
 opinion of the Patrick Henry variety could not 
 prevail. Moreover, the distracted state of the coun 
 try, the imperative necessity for union, made every 
 other question seem secondary to the majority of 
 patriotic statesmen. In the Constitutional Conven 
 tion, the Slave Power, then chiefly represented by 
 South Carolina and Georgia, by threatening to de 
 feat the establishment of a stable government and by 
 making the preservation of slavery a sine qua non 
 to the Union, obtained the concessions so big with 
 future disaster. 
 
 The struggle over this subject in the days of the 
 formation of the government was the beginning of 
 the "irrepressible conflict." The Slave Power had 
 come into being as a distinct force, aiming to dom 
 inate the rest of the community in the interest of 
 property in man. On the other hand, the opposition 
 
EAELY ANTISLAVERY MEN. 23 
 
 began to organize. Several abolition and manumis 
 sion societies were formed. The oldest of these 
 was that of Pennsylvania, which in 1787 chose 
 Franklin for its president. A society was formed in 
 New York in 1785 with John Jay as president and 
 Alexander Hamilton as secretary; in Rhode Island 
 in 1789, under the lead of Dr. Hopkins. In 1791, 
 before the Connecticut society, Jonathan Edwards 
 the younger maintained the doctrine of immediate 
 emancipation. Similar associations were at work in 
 New Jersey, Virginia, and Maryland. Antislavery 
 men were thus uniting in their cause, but unfortu 
 nately they were, with rare exceptions, devoid of the 
 earnestness which characterized their opponents. 
 Their hostility to the system was a sentiment rather 
 than a principle. It could hasten somewhat eman 
 cipation at the North; but it had no force to con 
 tend against the pecuniary interests which were 
 daily binding tighter the bonds of the negro in the 
 South. There, in the early years of the present 
 century, the cotton-gin, which had been invented 
 in 1793, gave an impetus to the production of cotton 
 which nearly doubled the value of slaves. At the 
 North the profits of the African trade which sup 
 plied this increased demand for negroes gave to the 
 Slave Power allies almost as determined as them 
 selves. 
 
 The year 1808, fixed by the Constitution as the 
 limit of the duration of the slave-trade, witnessed 
 the next contest. The result was a definite prohi- 
 
24 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 bition of the trade by law. But it was a barren 
 victory for the cause of humanity. The interests 
 involved in both Northern and Southern States had 
 grown so large and influential as to make the law 
 a dead letter. The trade continued with unabated 
 vigour, and marked by even greater cruelties to the 
 wretched cargoes. The Slave Power was growing 
 in strength and determination, bent on controlling 
 the national government, influencing our foreign 
 relations, reaching out already to grasp new slave 
 territory. 
 
 From 1818 to 1821 continued the great contest 
 over the admission of Missouri as a slave State, in 
 which was involved the question whether the exten 
 sion and encouragement of slavery was to be the 
 permanent policy of the United States government. 
 Men and words were not wanting to expose and 
 condemn the contemplated evil. But the Slave 
 Power had grown to too great proportions. Henry 
 Clay, who had believed "slavery to be a wrong, a 
 grievous wrong, which no contingency can make 
 right," now, at the behest of slaveholders, threw his 
 great influence against the cause of humanity. As 
 in the days of the Constitutional Convention the 
 Slave Power had secured the perpetuation of its 
 system by threats of preventing a union of the 
 States, so in 1821 it obtained the principle of the 
 extension of slavery by threats of dissolving the 
 Union. Thomas Jefferson, so faithful an advo 
 cate of freedom, was now appalled by the sound 
 
GROWTH OF THE SLAVE POWEE. 25 
 
 of a strife which, "like the fire-bell at midnight," 
 announced disaster, and he counselled concession. 
 Even John Quincy Adams was on the same side, 
 "from extreme unwillingness to put the Union in 
 hazard." So passed the so-called Compromise, 
 which allowed slavery to break its bounds and to 
 spread over Arkansas and Missouri. The Slave 
 Power had won a great victory and had shown 
 immense growth. The old apologetic position that 
 the system, although wrong, could not be abolished 
 without entailing greater evils, was now exchanged 
 for the bold doctrine that slavery was a good thing, 
 to be extended and strengthened. 
 
 The struggle was growing fiercer and was becom 
 ing more clearly an issue between North and South, 
 but the bone of contention was yet the extension, 
 not the abolition, of slavery. The Slave Power, 
 warned by the opposition it had met with in Con 
 gress, that a new spirit was arising in the North, 
 instinctively felt that its position could be main 
 tained only by further aggression. None but slave 
 holders were allowed to represent the South in Con 
 gress, where every public measure was considered 
 first in the light of its effect upon the institution of 
 slavery. At home, such humane laws regarding the 
 blacks as still existed were repealed, new and more 
 cruel enactments were passed, the manumission of 
 slaves by grateful or repentant masters was pro 
 hibited. 
 
 While at the South opinion tended towards united 
 
26 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 and vigorous action, the sentiments of the people 
 at the North were divided. The majority, although 
 disliking slavery "in the abstract," were so fearful 
 of the outcome of the contention, were so anxious 
 to see some settlement which would put an end to 
 agitation, that they were disposed to accept the line 
 drawn by the Missouri Compromise as the best 
 solution possible, and to resent any further anti- 
 slavery expression as an element of profitless dis 
 turbance. In this class there grew up a dislike of 
 the negroes, a hatred of the questions involved in 
 their existence among us, a general prejudice against 
 colour, which tended greatly to the support of the 
 Slave Power. Many persons who preserved aboli 
 tion views were lulled into repose of conscience by 
 support of the Colonization Society, an organization 
 formed in the South to get rid of free coloured 
 persons by shipping them to Africa, but skilfully 
 made to appear as a philanthropic scheme to solve 
 the slavery problem. Men of the highest character 
 and with the best intentions had joined this society 
 in the belief that therein might be found the means 
 of uprooting slavery.' The ten years following the 
 Missouri Compromise were unpromising for the 
 cause of the slave. The Southern States were cease 
 lessly strengthening themselves. Eace prejudice, 
 the fear of business disturbance, apathy, made the 
 North acquiescent. Cotton was king, and to that 
 authority conscience submitted. 
 
 Still there were signs of light and materials for 
 
EAELT ANTISLAVEEY MEN. 27 
 
 improvement. In 1822 the exciting struggle for 
 the establishment of slavery in Illinois resulted in 
 favour of freedom. There existed in the country one 
 hundred and forty antislavery societies, of which 
 one hundred and six were in the South. In 1826 
 was held in Baltimore a convention at which eighty- 
 one of these societies were represented. There was 
 not enough "fight" among these antislavery men 
 to make much impression. Their views were di 
 rected towards preventing the extension of slavery, 
 towards its abolition in the District of Columbia 
 (where its existence involved recognition by the 
 United States government) and its " gradual " cessa 
 tion elsewhere. The fact of their holding the con 
 vention in Baltimore indicates the still lingering 
 sympathy of a considerable party in the South, 
 and it shows also that the Slave Power did not look 
 upon them with much concern. It is not until anti- 
 slavery stands upon the platform of abolition as an 
 immediate duty that it is swept from the face of the 
 Southern States. 
 
 There were earnest men already engaged in a 
 new and more vigorous crusade: Elias Hicks, the 
 Quaker, who proclaimed boldly the sin of owning 
 men or condoning the practice in others ; Eev. John 
 Rankin, of Tennessee, who removed with his con 
 gregation across the Ohio Eiver, rather than ac 
 quiesce in slavery; William Goodell, of Providence, 
 beginning a career of forty years; above all, Ben 
 jamin Lundy, who sacrificed to the cause all that 
 
28 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 men hold dear. Between 1815 and 1818 four aboli 
 tion papers were being published, The Emancipator 
 in Tennessee, The Abolition Intelligencer in Ken 
 tucky, The Liberalist in Louisiana, and, most im 
 portant, Lundy's Genius of Universal Emancipation 
 in Maryland. All of these papers were published 
 in the South, and the majority of the manumission 
 societies were there. Thus, in 1826, when William 
 Jay began his labours, the line between freedom and 
 slavery was not yet drawn. A few slaves were still 
 held in New York. Many antislavery people were 
 to be found at the South and many pro-slavery 
 people at the North. The United States was a 
 slaveholding nation. 
 
 Jay was a deeply interested observer of the con 
 test in Congress which resulted in the Missouri 
 Compromise. In 1819, when he was thirty years of 
 age, his attitude towards the extension of slavery 
 was stated in a letter to Elias Boudinot : 
 
 " I have no doubt that the laws of Grod, and, as a 
 necessary and inevitable consequence, the true in 
 terests of our country, forbid the extension of slavery. 
 If our country is ever to be redeemed from the 
 curse of slavery the present Congress must stand 
 between the living and the dead and stay the plague. 
 Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salva 
 tion. If slavery once takes root on the other side 
 of the Mississippi, it can never afterwards be ex- 
 timinated, but will extend with the future Western 
 Empire, poisoning the feelings of humanity, check- 
 
FIRST ANTISLAVEEY EFFORTS. 29 
 
 ing the growth of those principles of virtue and 
 religion which constitute alike the security and 
 happiness of civil society." 
 
 In the year 1826 occurred an incident which 
 marks the beginning of a new phase in the anti- 
 slavery struggle the movement which demanded 
 abolition in the District of Columbia. There, on 
 territory exclusively under the jurisdiction of the 
 National Congress, it could be claimed justly that the 
 question of States rights was not involved and that 
 the constitutional provisions did not apply. In this 
 movement, which continued until its object was ac 
 complished in April, 1862, William Jay was a pioneer. 
 
 In August of the year 1826 John Owen, the 
 proprietor of a paper-mill at Croton Falls, near the 
 Jay farm at Bedford, received a parcel from New 
 York which happened to have been wrapped in a 
 Washington newspaper, The National Intelligencer, 
 of the 1st of August. On looking it over his eye 
 was caught by the following advertisement : 
 
 " Was committed to the jail of Washington County, Dis 
 trict of Columbia, on the 22d of July last, a runaway negro 
 man by the name of Gilbert Horton. He is five feet high, 
 stout made, large full eyes, and a scar on his left arm near 
 the elbow ; had on when committed a tarpaulin hat, linen 
 shirt, blue cloth jacket and trousers ; says that he was born 
 free in the State of New York near Peekskill. The owner 
 or owners of the above-described negro man, if any, are re 
 quested to come and take him away, or he will be sold for his 
 jail fees and other expenses, as the law directs." 
 
30 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 There is a sort of grim humour about this adver 
 tisement, appearing, as it did, according to law, in 
 the capital of the great free republic of the world, 
 under a flag supposed to typify human liberty. It 
 declared that a man who claimed to be and actually 
 was a citizen of the State of New York was held 
 in jail without any charge and would be sold into 
 lifelong slavery unless claimed as a slave by an 
 owner who did not exist. It declared, in short, that 
 a free citizen of the United States who had any 
 negro blood in his veins would be reduced to slavery 
 by the act of setting foot in the capital of his 
 country. Here was an issue which involved the 
 rights of the State of New York, but could not be 
 said to be an attack on those of Virginia or South 
 Carolina. 
 
 Mr. Owen recognized in the Gilbert Horton thus 
 described a free man who had worked in his neigh 
 bourhood. He lost no time in mounting his horse 
 and riding over to Bedford to submit the matter 
 to Judge Jay. By the latter's advice a letter was 
 despatched at once to the marshal of the District 
 of Columbia, giving proofs of Horton's freedom, and 
 a meeting was called of the citizens of Westchester 
 County to take action on the subject. This meet 
 ing, held on the 30th of August, with Oliver Green 
 in the chair and William Jay as secretary, passed 
 the following resolutions : 
 
 " I. That this meeting view this procedure with the indig 
 nation becoming men who have a just sense of the value of 
 
CASE OF GILBERT HORTON. 31 
 
 personal liberty, and a proper abhorrence of cruelty and 
 oppression. 
 
 ' ' II. That the evidence aff ords unequivocal proof of the 
 freedom of Horton. 
 
 "III. That the secretary is hereby desired to transmit to 
 his Excellency the Governor the evidence above referred to, 
 and, in the name of this meeting, to request his Excellency 
 to demand from the proper authorities the instant liberation 
 of the said Horton as a free citizen of the State of New York. 
 
 " IV. That by the fourth article of the Constitution of the 
 United States the citizens of each State are entitled to all the 
 privileges and immunities of the several States, and that it is 
 the duty of the State of New York to protect its citizens in 
 the enjoyment of these rights without regard to their com 
 plexion. 
 
 "V. That the law under which Horton has been impris 
 oned, and by which a free citizen without evidence of crime 
 and without trial by jury may be condemned to servitude for 
 life, is repugnant to our republican institutions, and revolt 
 ing to justice and humanity; and that the representatives 
 of this State in Congress are hereby requested to use their 
 endeavours to procure its repeal. 
 
 " VI. That the secretary, with John Owen, Esq., be a com 
 mittee to prepare and to present to the citizens of this county, 
 for their signatures, a petition to Congress for the immediate 
 abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. 
 
 "VII. That the proceedings of this meeting be signed by 
 the chairman and secretary, and published." 
 
 On receiving from Judge Jay the Westchester 
 resolutions, Governor Clinton submitted them im 
 mediately to President John Quincy Adams, who was 
 paying a summer visit to his home at Quincy, Mass., 
 
32 WILLIAM JAT. 
 
 with a respectful demand for the liberation of Gil 
 bert Horton as a free man and a citizen. The 
 President sent the papers with a letter from him 
 self to Henry Clay, then Secretary of State. Henry 
 Clay was absent at the time, and the Chief Clerk 
 of the department wrote to Governor Clinton that 
 the instructions of the President had been an 
 ticipated by the discharge of Horton by the mar 
 shal of the District. The committal had taken 
 place under an old law of Maryland, "which was 
 adopted by Congress with the other general laws 
 then in force in that State for the county of Wash 
 ington upon its assuming exclusive jurisdiction 
 over the territory." 
 
 This disposal of the case left the principle at issue 
 untouched, and Jay could not be satisfied with such 
 a result. His views are expressed in a letter writ 
 ten in September to Hon. Charles Miner, a member 
 of Congress : " Since I read a resolution introduced 
 by you in relation to slavery in the District of 
 Columbia, the subject has been scarcely absent from 
 my mind, and the late imprisonment in "Washington 
 of a citizen of this county afforded an opportunity 
 which I gladly embraced of obtaining an expression 
 of public opinion. I do not entertain the slightest 
 hope that our petition will be favourably received, 
 nor the slightest apprehension that the cause we 
 espouse will not finally triumph. The history of 
 the abolition of the slave-trade teaches us the neces 
 sity of patient perseverance, and affords a pledge 
 
SLAVERY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 33 
 
 that perseverance will be ultimately crowned with 
 success. We have nothing to fear, but much to 
 hope, from the violence and threats of our oppo 
 nents. Apathy is the only obstacle we have reason 
 to dread, and to remove this obstacle it is necessary 
 that the attention of the public should be constantly 
 directed to the subject. Every discussion in Con 
 gress in relation to slavery, no matter how great 
 may be the majority against us, advances our cause. 
 We shall rise more powerful from every defeat." 
 
 Jay's next step was to draft the memorial to 
 Congress ordered by the Westch ester resolutions. 
 It declared : 
 
 "The outrage offered to a citizen of this county, and a 
 violation of the constitutional rights involved in that out 
 rage, affords to the meeting new and strong evidences of 
 the impropriety of the continuance of slavery in the District 
 of Columbia. As citizens of the republic, professing to ac 
 knowledge that all men are created equal, and that they are 
 endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, and 
 that among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi 
 ness, your petitioners cannot but regard it as derogatory to 
 the government of the country that its laws should violate 
 any of these rights in a territory under its exclusive jurisdic 
 tion. To your honourable body was given by the Constitu 
 tion the exclusive jurisdiction in all cases whatever over that 
 District, and your right and ability to grant the prayer of 
 these petitioners cannot be called in question, and the con 
 fined limit of the District and the comparatively small num 
 ber of slaves it contains obviates the objections sometimes 
 urged against sudden emancipation. 
 
34 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 "Your petitioners therefore earnestly entreat your honour 
 able body that the government of this great republic, glory 
 ing as it does in acknowledging and protecting the rights of 
 mankind, diffusing the blessings of freedom, may no longer 
 by law withhold these rights and blessings from any portion 
 of the inhabitants of its own immediate territory, but in the 
 exercise of your prerogative you will immediately provide for 
 the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia in such 
 manner as in your wisdom may seem best." 
 
 The publication of the Westchester resolutions 
 elicited no unfavourable comments at the North, 
 but it gave no little disquietude to Southern editors, 
 two of whom declared that black persons travelling 
 in the South should carry proofs of their freedom, 
 as whites in Europe were compelled to carry pass 
 ports. The introduction of the subject into Con 
 gress, even at that day, when there was no excite 
 ment at the North on the subject of slavery, brought 
 out the susceptibility and dictatorial tone of the 
 slaveholding interest which marked all subsequent 
 debates up to the election of Lincoln. 
 
 Soon after the assembling of Congress in 1827, Mr. 
 Aaron Ward, representing Westchester County, in 
 troduced the resolution: "That the committee on 
 the District of Columbia be directed to enquire 
 whether there be in force in the said District any 
 law which authorizes the imprisonment of any man 
 of colour and his sale as an unclaimed slave for 
 gaol fees, and if so to enquire into the expediency 
 of repealing the same." Mr. Ward accompanied his 
 
SLAVERY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 35 
 
 resolution with remarks of a moderate character, 
 referring to the circumstances of Horton's arrest, the 
 fact of his being a citizen of New York, and the 
 danger in which he stood of being sold as a slave ; 
 he contrasted the law under which such proceedings 
 could be had with the provisions of the national 
 Constitution; and he concluded by saying: "The 
 jurisdiction of the District, sir, ought to be exhibited 
 to the country and to the world without a stain. 
 Its object should be not to oppress but to vindicate 
 the rights of freemen, and if there is a spot on 
 earth where these rights are to be held sacred that 
 place is the District of Columbia." 
 
 For a Northern man merely to touch upon the 
 rights of coloured persons was enough to arouse 
 the leading Southern members of the House to angry 
 opposition. John Forsythe, who as minister to 
 Spain had arranged the session of Florida, James 
 Hamilton, already an extreme advocate of States 
 rights and afterwards Governor of -South Carolina, 
 Charles A. Wickliffe, afterwards Postmaster-General 
 under President Tyler, and George McDuffie, of 
 Georgia, all took pains to throw ridicule upon the 
 resolution, or to oppose its consideration. They 
 considered, no doubt correctly, that to have any 
 negroes spoken of in Congress otherwise than as 
 property was an indirect blow at slavery. W. L. 
 Brent, of Maryland, said that the resolution as it 
 stood was calculated to excite only angry debate 
 and irritated feelings. If the mover would omit 
 
36 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 the words " being a citizen of any State," the most 
 objectionable part would be removed. Mr. Ward 
 consented to this emasculation and his resolution 
 was then carried. The committee reported on the 
 16th July, that in the District of Columbia, "if a 
 free man of colour should be apprehended as a run 
 away, he is subjected to the payment of all fees and 
 rewards given by law for apprehending runaways; 
 and upon failure to make such payment, is liable 
 to be sold as a slave." " That is," said Judge Jay, 
 "a man acknowledged to be free and unaccused of 
 any offence is to be sold as a slave to pay fees and 
 rewards given by law for apprehending runaways. 
 If Turkish despotism is disgraced by an enactment 
 of equal atrocity, we are ignorant of the fact." The 
 committee thought the law rather hard, and recom 
 mended such an alteration of it as would make such 
 charges payable by the corporation of Washington. 
 But even this alteration was never made. "The 
 code of Washington," Jay said some years later, " is 
 yet polluted by unquestionably the most iniquitous 
 statute in Christendom." And the fact continued 
 that a coloured citizen of a free State could be sold 
 into slavery if found in Washington. Convinced 
 that no reform could be expected except by the 
 total abolition of slavery on United States territory, 
 convinced, too, that this was the first necessary 
 step in a campaign against slavery itself, Jay set 
 on foot a movement for popular petitions to Con 
 gress and for legislative expression in behalf of 
 
SLAVERY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 37 
 
 their consideration. The Pennsylvania Legislature 
 passed such resolutions in January, 1829; the New 
 York Assembly followed soon afterwards, when 
 Jay wrote to his friend Charles Miner : " The mail 
 this evening brings the news that resolutions in 
 structing our representatives in Congress to vote 
 for the abolition of slavery in the District of Colum 
 bia have passed our Assembly by a vote of 57 to 39. 
 In the fulness of my heart I thank God and take 
 courage." Among his co-workers at this time was 
 Henry D. Sedgwick, to whom he wrote in 1831 : " I 
 have read your pamphlet with much interest ; your 
 ideas on the abolition of slavery correspond with 
 those I have long entertained and expressed. Duty 
 is the only safe rule of expediency. No nation ever 
 has suffered, and none ever will, for doing justice 
 and loving mercy. But moral considerations apart, 
 I have no doubt it would be wise policy in the 
 Southern States immediately to emancipate their 
 slaves. The period must arrive when slavery must 
 cease on this continent. The progress of knowledge 
 and religion, the example of St. Domingo, the aboli 
 tion of slavery in Mexico and South America, the 
 decreasing value of slave labour, and the rapidly 
 augmenting coloured population in the South, all 
 combine in rendering this event inevitable. But 
 the slaves will either receive their freedom as a 
 boon, or they will wrest it by force from their 
 masters; and the evils attending these two modes 
 of emancipation certainly bear no proportion to 
 
38 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 each other. You remark, 'Our country fought for 
 justice and should be ready to render the justice 
 which it demanded.' I observe a similar sentiment 
 in a letter written by my father from Spain to 
 Judge Benson during the contest to which you 
 allude. Speaking of the abolition of slavery, he 
 says, "Till America comes into this measure her 
 prayers to Heaven for liberty will be impious.' This 
 is a strong expression, but it is just. Were I in 
 your Legislature I would prepare a bill for the pur 
 pose with great care, and would never cease moving 
 it till it became a law or I ceased to be a member. 
 I believe that God governs the world, and I believe 
 it to be a maxim in His Court, as in ours, that 
 those who ask for equity ought to do it. I do not 
 think the free States guiltless of upholding slavery 
 while, through their representatives, they tolerate 
 it in the District of Columbia. Were the free States 
 to will it, slavery would cease at the capital of the 
 republic, and an example would be set that could 
 not fail of having a salutary influence." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 DEVELOPMENT OF THE ANTISLAVERY MOVEMENT. 
 ORGANIZATION OF ANTISLAVERY SOCIETIES. ^ANTI- 
 ABOLITION RIOTS. JAY PUBLISHES HIS " INQUIRY." 
 
 CHIEF-JUSTICE JAY died at Bedford in 1828, and his 
 son William occupied his leisure during the fol 
 lowing five years in preparing " The Life and Letters 
 of John Jay." This work was published in two 
 octavo volumes in 1833, and was highly praised for 
 both thoroughness and impartiality. 
 
 Meanwhile events were occurring which raised 
 antislavery sentiment from the torpor in which it 
 had fallen after the excitement of the Missouri Com 
 promise, and which brought the whole question 
 before the people as a live issue which compelled 
 attention. Between the years 1829 and 1832 took 
 place a remarkable series of debates in Virginia on 
 the subject of slavery, brought about by dissatis 
 faction with the State constitution and by the Nat 
 Turner massacre, in which a number of slaves had 
 risen against their masters. In these debates the 
 evils of slavery were exposed as clearly as they were 
 afterwards by the Abolitionists, and with an out 
 spoken freedom which, when indulged in by North- 
 
 39 
 
40 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 era men, was soon to be denounced as treasonable 
 and incendiary. These Southern speakers were 
 silenced by the Slave Power. But there were men 
 in the North who thought the same and who would 
 not be silenced. Chief among these was William 
 Lloyd Garrison. He had begun his memorable 
 career by circulating petitions in Vermont in 1828 in 
 favor of emancipation in the District of Columbia. 
 Having joined Lundy in Baltimore in editing the 
 Genius of Universal Emancipation, he had suffered 
 ignominy in the cause in a Southern jail; drawing 
 from persecution and hardship only new inspiration, 
 he began the publication of the Liberator at Boston 
 in January, 1831. In the following year, under his 
 leadership, was formed the New England Anti- 
 Slavery Society, which placed itself on the new 
 ground that immediate, unconditional emancipation, 
 without expatriation, was the right of every slave and 
 could not be withheld by his master an hour without 
 sin. In March, 1833, the Weekly Emancipator was 
 established in New York, with the assistance of 
 Arthur and Lewis Tappan, and under the editorship 
 of William Goodell. In the same year appeared at 
 Haverhill, Mass., a vigorous pamphlet by John 
 G. Whittier, entitled "Justice and Expediency, 
 or Slavery considered with a View to its Eightful 
 and Effectual Eemedy, Abolition." Nearly simul 
 taneously were published Mrs. Lydia Maria Child's 
 " Appeal in Behalf of that Class of Americans called 
 Africans," and a pamphlet by Elizur Wright, Jr., a 
 
IMMEDIATE EMANCIPATION. 41 
 
 professor in the Western Eeserve College, on " The 
 Sin of Slavery and its Remedy." 
 
 These publications and the doctrines of the Lib 
 erator produced great excitement throughout the 
 country. The South had been able to hear the 
 words ''gradual emancipation" with a confident 
 equanimity, and only a few years before had toler 
 ated a convention in Baltimore gathered to forward 
 that object. But the word "immediate" now pre 
 fixed to emancipation acted as a firebrand to gun 
 powder. Southern newspapers and politicians could 
 not find epithets strong enough to denounce the 
 fanatical incendiaries who said that slavery, being 
 wrong in itself, should cease at once. A reward was 
 offered by a Southern Legislature for the person of 
 Garrison, dead or alive. For lending Whittier's 
 pamphlet to a white man Dr. Reuben Crandall was 
 tried for his life at Washington on the charge of " cir 
 culating Tappan, Garrison & Co.'s papers encourag 
 ing the negroes to insurrection." 
 
 The lives of the abolitionists were safer at the 
 North, but their principles were condemned there in 
 terms quite as decided. To say that slavery ought 
 to be immediately abolished was sufficient cause for 
 the clergyman to lose his pulpit and the merchant 
 his credit. The new doctrine was too sound to be 
 ignored, and its agitation was disorganizing, vexa 
 tious, injurious to business, destructive of private 
 and political peace. The North agreed with the 
 South that slavery was not a subject to which the 
 
42 WILLIAM JAT. 
 
 right of free speech applied. The abolitionists were 
 accused of injuring the cause of the blacks by their 
 proceedings. And indeed, at the South the treat 
 ment of the slave became harsher, and at the North 
 the prejudice against the free negro was intensified. 
 In 1833 Miss Crandall, a Quaker lady, endeavoured 
 to establish a boarding-school for the education of 
 coloured girls in Canterbury, Conn. A commit 
 tee of the inhabitants waited upon her, who rep 
 resented "that by putting her design into execu 
 tion she would bring ruin and disgrace upon them 
 all." Three town meetings were held in one week to 
 discuss ways and means to suppress a scheme which 
 would render "insecure the persons, property, and 
 reputation of our citizens." The State of Con 
 necticut passed a special law to forbid the establish 
 ment of such a school. Under it, Miss Crandall was 
 tried and convicted. The constitutionality of the 
 law was called in question and the case was ap 
 pealed. But the inhabitants of Canterbury thought 
 the crisis too serious to depend on legal technicali 
 ties. Miss Crandall was driven from the town by 
 persecution. The shops would sell her no food ; her 
 well was filled with manure, and water from other 
 sources refused; her house was smeared with filth 
 and finally set on fire. The trustees of the Noyes 
 Academy in Plymouth, N. H., having consented to 
 the admission of coloured pupils, the respectable 
 people of the town avoided the contemplated dis 
 grace by moving the school building from its f ounda- 
 
IMMEDIATE EMANCIPATION. 43 
 
 tions and depositing it in a swamp. In 1835 a 
 wealthy coloured man bought a pew on the floor of 
 Park Street Church in Boston. His neighbours nailed 
 up the door of the pew, and so many "aggrieved 
 brethren n threatened to leave that the trustees were 
 obliged to prevent the threatened contamination of 
 the sanctuary by excluding the coloured pew-holder. 
 A hundred similar cases might be cited to show that 
 before the emancipation of the slaves could gain 
 even a hearing, the North had to be educated to con 
 sider the negro race as human beings capable of 
 improvement and deserving of humane encourage 
 ment. 
 
 In May, 1833, Judge Jay contributed to the first 
 number of the Emancipator a letter which sets forth 
 his own views of the problem of American slavery 
 at that time and also some of the difficulties in the 
 path of the emancipationists : 
 
 " The duty and policy of immediate emancipation, although 
 clear to us, are not so to multitudes of good people who abhor 
 slavery and sincerely wish its removal. They take it for 
 granted, no matter why or wherefore, that if the slaves were 
 now liberated they would instantly cut the throats and fire 
 the dwellings of their benefactors. Hence these good people 
 look upon the advocates of emancipation as a set of dangerous 
 fanatics, who are jeopardizing the peace of the Southern 
 States and riveting the fetters of the slaves by the very at 
 tempt to break them. In their opinion the slaves are not fit 
 for freedom, and therefore it is necessary to wait patiently 
 till they are. Now, unless these patient waiters can be 
 brought over to our side, emancipation is hopeless ; for, first, 
 
44 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 they are an immense majority of all among us who are hostile 
 to slavery ; and, secondly, they are as conscientious in their 
 opinions as we are in ours, and unless converted will oppose 
 and defeat all our efforts. But how are they to be converted? 
 Only by the exhibition of Truth. The moral, social, and 
 political evils of slavery are but imperfectly known and con 
 sidered. These should be portrayed in strong but true colours, 
 and it would not be difficult to prove that, however incon 
 venient and dangerous emancipation may be, the continu 
 ance of slavery must be infinitely more inconvenient and 
 dangerous. 
 
 " Constitutional restrictions, independent of other consid 
 erations, forbid all other than moral interference with slavery 
 in the Southern States. But we have as good and perfect a 
 right to exhort slaveholders to liberate their slaves as we have 
 to exhort them to practice any virtue or avoid any vice. Nay, 
 we have not only the right, but under certain circumstances 
 it may be our duty to give such advice ; and while we confine 
 ourselves within the boundaries of right and duty, we may 
 and ought to disregard the threats and denunciations by 
 which we may be assailed. 
 
 " The question of slavery in the District of Columbia is 
 totally distinct, as far as we are concerned, from that of 
 slavery in the Southern States. 
 
 "As a member of Congress, I should think myself no 
 more authorized to legislate for the slaves of Virginia than 
 for the serfs of Russia. But Congress has full authority to 
 abolish slavery in the District, and I think it to be its duty 
 to do so. The public need information respecting the abom 
 inations committed at Washington with the sanction of 
 their representatives abominations which will cease when 
 ever those representatives please. If this subject is fully 
 and ably pressed upon the attention of our electors, they 
 
ANTISLAVEEY SOCIETIES FORMING. 45 
 
 may perhaps be induced to require pledges from candidates 
 for Congress for their votes for the removal of this foul stain 
 from our National Government. As to the Colonization 
 Society, it is neither a wicked conspiracy on the one hand 
 nor a panacea for slavery on the other. Many good and wise 
 men belong to it and believe in its efficacy." 
 
 In the summer of 1833 the abolitionists of Great 
 Britain succeeded in obtaining the act of emancipa 
 tion for the 800,000 slaves in the West Indies. In 
 June Arthur Tappan wrote to Judge Jay asking 
 for his "opinion as to the expediency of forming 
 an American Antislavery Society and of doing it 
 now. The impulse given to the cause by the move 
 ment in England would, it appears to me, aid us 
 greatly here." Jay replied very cautiously. A New 
 York society, he thought, might be desirable im 
 mediately. The constitutions and proceedings of 
 such societies demanded great caution and pru 
 dence ; they must blend the wisdom of the serpent 
 with the harmlessness of the dove. The Southern 
 people affected to apprehend an unconstitutional 
 interference with their property, as they called it, 
 by the Northern abolitionists, and no ground for 
 such pretended fear should be given. With this 
 view, he suggested the incorporation into the con 
 stitution of antislavery societies a distinct declara 
 tion, such as the following : " We concede that 
 Congress, under the present National Compact, has 
 no right to interfere with any of the slave States in 
 relation to this momentous subject. But we main- 
 
46 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 tain that Congress has a right and is solemnly 
 bound to suppress the domestic slave-trade between 
 the several States and to abolish slavery in those 
 portions of our territory which the Constitution 
 has placed under its exclusive jurisdiction." He 
 further suggested that the two subjects, the Coloni 
 zation Society and the political condition of the 
 free blacks, should be avoided. " Duty and policy," 
 he said, "in my opinion demand the emancipation 
 of our slaves, but they do not demand that immedi 
 ately on their emancipation they shall be invested 
 with the right of suffrage." 
 
 On the 2d of October the New York City Anti- 
 slavery Society was successfully organized, despite 
 an active and organized effort to prevent it. A 
 call had been issued for a meeting of the friends of 
 immediate emancipation at Clinton Hall. A counter- 
 notice was published, signed "Many Southerners," 
 inviting a meeting at the same time and place. The 
 proprietors of Clinton Hall, alarmed at the situation, 
 refused to let it to the abolitionists, who then 
 applied to the Clinton Hotel, where they were also 
 refused. The Southerners and their Northern sym 
 pathizers, finding Clinton Hotel closed, held a meet- 
 ting at Tammany Hall, with General Bogardus, the 
 United States Marshal, in the chair, with speeches 
 and resolutions against the abolitionists, when a 
 report that the abolitionists were in session at 
 Chatham Street Hall sent them there in haste, 
 only to find the Hall closed and dark. An eye- 
 
NEW YOEK ANT1SLAVEEY SOCIETY. 47 
 
 witness described the crowd assembled by the South 
 ern call as " a genuine drunken, infuriated mob of 
 blackguards of every species, some with good clothes, 
 and the major part the very sweepings of the city." 
 The public was amused the next morning by a 
 leading editorial in the Courier and Enquirer, con 
 gratulating the country on the failure of the " disor 
 ganizing fanatics to organize a society fraught with 
 danger to the Union and based upon an open viola 
 tion of the United States Constitution ; " while the 
 advertising column of the same sheet contained 
 the official proceedings of the abolitionists at the 
 Chatham Street Chapel, where with promptness, 
 energy, and order they had received the report of a 
 committee, adopted a constitution, elected officers, 
 adjourned and closed the building before the arrival 
 of the rioters from Tammany. The successful 
 management of the affair was due chiefly to the 
 coolness and skill of Lewis Tappan, to whose devo 
 tion and energy the antislavery cause was from 
 this time constantly indebted. The peaceful and 
 lawful aims of the society, its frank acknowledgment 
 of the rights of the Southern States were set forth in 
 its constitution : 
 
 " While it admits that each State in which slavery exists 
 has, by the Constitution of the United States, the exclusive 
 right to legislate in regard to its abolition in said State, it 
 shall aim to convince all our fellow-citizens, by arguments 
 addressed to their understandings and consciences, that slave- 
 holding is a heinous crime in the sight of God, and that 
 
48 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 the duty, safety, and best interest of all concerned require its 
 immediate abandonment, without expatriation. The society 
 will also endeavour in a constitutional way to influence Con 
 gress to put an end to the domestic slave-trade and to abolish 
 slavery in all those portions of our common country which 
 come under its control, especially in the District of Colum 
 bia, and likewise to prevent the extension of it to any State 
 that may hereafter be admitted to the Union. 
 
 " The society shall aim to elevate the character and condi 
 tion of the people of colour, by encouraging their intellectual, 
 moral, and religious improvement, and by removing public 
 prejudice, that thus they may according to their intellectual 
 and moral worth share an equality with the whites of civil 
 and religious privileges; but this society will never in any 
 way countenance the oppressed in vindicating their rights by 
 resorting to physical force." 
 
 Notwithstanding the distinct and moderate lan 
 guage in which the society set forth its lawful 
 objects, pro-slavery prejudice was aroused to violent 
 opposition. A week later a meeting was called to 
 protest against the " reckless agitations of the aboli 
 tionists." Theodore Frelinghuysen, United States 
 Senator from New Jersey, declared that " nine tenths 
 of the horrors of slavery were imaginary," that " the 
 crusade of abolition" was "the poetry of philan 
 thropy," that emancipationists were " seeking to dis 
 solve the Union." Chancellor Walworth came down 
 from Albany to say that they were " reckless incen 
 diaries " and their efforts unconstitutional. David B. 
 Ogden declared the doctrine of immediate emancipa- 
 
AMERICAN ANT1SLA VERY SOCIETY. 49 
 
 tion to be " a palpable and direct nullification of the 
 Constitution." 
 
 On the 29th of October, 1833, a circular invitation 
 was addressed to Judge Jay and others to attend a 
 convention at Philadelphia on the 4th December to 
 form a National Antislavery Society, This step 
 was taken in concurrence with the views of the 
 friends of immediate emancipation in Boston, Provi 
 dence, New York, and Philadelphia. Among the 
 motives for organizing such a society without delay 
 it was argued that union is strength ; that the advo 
 cates of the immediate abolition of slavery, though 
 comparatively few and much scattered, were many 
 in the aggregate, and could act, when combined, with 
 irresistible power ; that the cause was urgent, public 
 expectation excited, its friends to some extent com 
 mitted to such a movement during the present year ; 
 that they had the example of similar organizations, 
 which, though feeble and condemned by public 
 opinion in the outset, had speedily risen to great 
 influence, and had been the means under God of 
 immense benefit to the human race, especially in the 
 case of the National Antislavery Society of Great 
 Britain, and of the American Temperance Society. 
 The invitation was signed by a committee consist 
 ing of Arthur Tappan, Joshua Leavitt, and Elizur 
 Wright, Jr., all officers of the New York Antislavery 
 Society. 
 
 At the same time Judge Jay received a letter from 
 
50 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 Rev. Samuel J. May urging him to be present. 
 " This is a cause," wrote May, " in which our wisest 
 and best and most prudent men ought to engage. 
 There never has been in our country so great a 
 demand for the exertions of true patriots and real 
 Christians. . . . Let me beg of you to be there, at 
 the convention. I have heard the hope that you will 
 be there expressed most fervently by many." 
 
 Jay replied to the committee that he could not be 
 present. " It would perhaps be uncandid to conceal 
 from you," he said, " that the expediency of the pro 
 posed attempt to form a National Society at the 
 present time seems to me to be at least questionable. 
 May it not increase the irritation and hostility exten 
 sively felt towards abolitionists without promoting 
 their objects more effectually than local societies? 
 If, however, a National Society is to be formed, it 
 is to be hoped its proceedings will be marked with 
 great prudence and moderation. The great objection 
 made to antislavery associations is that they aim at 
 an unconstitutional interference with slavery. This 
 objection, false as I am persuaded it is, has never 
 theless an extensive and injurious influence, and 
 unless it be removed success will be hopeless. It 
 seems to me, therefore, of the utmost importance 
 that correct constitutional principles on this subject 
 should not only be entertained, but explicitly and 
 unequivocally avowed by every antislavery society. 
 This avowal might be made in the preamble of their 
 constitution in some form like the following : 
 
AMERICAN ANTISLAVERT SOCIETY. 51 
 
 "'The object of this society is to promote the abolition 
 of slavery in the United States. As all legislation relative to 
 slavery in the several States in which it exists can be con 
 stitutionally exercised only by their respective Legislatures, 
 this society will endeavour to effect its object, so far as re 
 lates to these States, by argument addressed to the understand 
 ing and conscience of their citizens. But inasmuch as the 
 Federal Constitution confers on Congress the exclusive right 
 to legislate for the District of Columbia, this society will 
 use all such lawful and constitutional means as may be 
 deemed advisable to induce Congress to abolish slavery in 
 that District without delay.' 
 
 "I am very sensible that the friends of emanci 
 pation hold these principles, but not having given 
 them sufficient prominence in their writings they 
 have subjected themselves to much injurious sus 
 picion." 
 
 Judge Jay's letter was read on the first day of the 
 Antislavery Convention held in Philadelphia in 
 December, 1833; and in the declaration of princi 
 ples, reported by William Lloyd G-arrison, John Gr. 
 Whittier, and Samuel J. May, and unanimously 
 adopted by the convention, appeared the following 
 clauses, by which the abolitionists were enabled to 
 repel the charge, so persistently made, that they 
 sought to accomplish their ends by unconstitutional 
 means, by asking Congress to exceed its power by 
 meddling with slavery in the States : 
 
 " We fully and unanimously recognize the sovereignty of 
 each State to legislate exclusively on the subject of slavery 
 
52 WILLIAM JAT. 
 
 which is tolerated within its limits; we concede that Con 
 gress under the present National Compact has no right to 
 interfere with any of the slave States in relation to this 
 momentous subject. 
 
 " But we maintain that Congress has a right and is solemnly 
 bound to suppress the domestic slave-trade between the several 
 States, and to abolish slavery in those portions of our terri 
 tory which the Constitution has placed under its exclusive 
 jurisdiction/' 
 
 In 1838 an energetic attempt was made by Alvan 
 Stewart, of Utica, to strike out the clause in the con 
 stitution of the American Antislavery Society which 
 recognized the rights of the Southern States under the 
 United States Constitution. Jay perceived the in 
 jury that such a course would inflict on the position of 
 the abolitionists. It would, indeed, have committed 
 the society to the doctrine that Congress could 
 continue slavery in the States. He opposed the 
 change with vigour during a debate of two days and 
 succeeded in maintaining the all-important clause. 
 
 Looked at by the light of subsequent events, the 
 importance of placing the antislavery movement on 
 a strictly constitutional basis cannot be overrated. 
 Upon the principles thus distinctly avowed rested 
 the moral and political strength of the movement 
 during a struggle of nearly thirty years. And these 
 principles became, in 1854, under the guidance of the 
 founders of the Republican party, the chief plank in 
 the platform of that great organization, under whose 
 sturdy lead, aided by citizens of all parties, the 
 
MOB VIOLENCE. 53 
 
 supremacy of the national Constitution was main 
 tained, the integrity of the national territory was 
 preserved, slavery was ended, and the republic 
 saved. 
 
 Judge Jay was not yet officially connected with 
 the antislavery societies, but his sympathy was close 
 with them and their officers. At the request of the 
 Executive Committee of the New York society, he 
 drafted a petition for abolition in the District of 
 Columbia for circulation in New York, in which he 
 again distinctly drew the line between the power of 
 Congress over the District and its want of power as 
 regarded the States. This careful discrimination had 
 no weight with the many who were unwilling to 
 admit that anything said or done by the abolitionists 
 was right. But it succeeded with more liberal men, 
 among them the good Chancellor Kent. The Chan 
 cellor, whose reputation as a jurist was second to 
 none, signed the petition, which he declared to con 
 tain " no unconstitutional doctrine." 
 
 The first anniversary of the American Antislavery 
 Society was held at the Chatham Street Chapel in 
 the beginning of May, 1834. Arthur Tappan pre 
 sided, and addresses were made by Elizur Wright, 
 Jr., Rev. Amos A. Phelps of Boston, James A. Stone 
 of Kentucky, a delegate from the Lane Seminary, 
 Robert Purvis of Philadelphia, Eev. Henry Gr. 
 Ludlow, Wm. Lloyd Garrison, and Charles Stewart. 
 The meeting met with disorderly interruptions ; the 
 newspapers contained abusive attacks upon the 
 
54 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 abolitionists and appealed against them to the 
 passions of the lowest and most ignorant class in 
 the community. "All this violence and obloquy," 
 remarked Judge Jay, "are not without an object, 
 and that object is intimidation." The truth of this 
 observation was soon disgracefully verified. When 
 the Fourth of July was celebrated at the Chatham 
 Street Chapel by an antislavery oration from David 
 Paul Brown of Philadelphia, the disorderly elements 
 evoked by the press against the blacks and aboli 
 tionists responded in large force and with increased 
 lawlessness. On the 9th of July a mob assembled at 
 the Chapel, broke open the doors, passed resolutions 
 in favor of the Colonization Society and by a 
 suggestive vote adjourned until the next meeting of 
 the Antislavery Society. The mob then proceeded 
 to the Bowery Theatre to avenge some expressions 
 attributed to an English actor, and next to the house 
 of Mr. Lewis Tappan, which was attacked with bricks 
 and stones, the furniture broken up and burned in 
 the street. The riots continued for several days 
 with little hindrance from the city authorities. Six 
 churches were attacked and a large number of 
 houses occupied by abolitionists or by coloured 
 people. Against the latter the fury of the mob was 
 especially directed. The same scenes of riot and 
 cruelty toward the helpless blacks occurred in Phila 
 delphia, where forty-five houses were destroyed. It 
 was evident that the arguments of the abolitionists 
 could not be met except with violence. The mobs, 
 
MOB VIOLENCE. 55 
 
 as usual, were cowardly. In some cases the deter 
 mined action of the abolitionists afforded them the 
 protection refused by the police. It was announced 
 that among the houses to be attacked was that of 
 Dr. Abraham L. Cox, in Broome Street, a few doors 
 east of Broadway. John Jay, then a student at 
 Columbia College, was living in the house. Some 
 members of the New York Young Men's Antislavery 
 Society, with guns and pistols, were gathered within 
 and notice was given publicly that an attack would 
 be repelled by force. Late that night the mob in its 
 lawless career passed close to Dr. Cox's house, but 
 did not dare to molest it. Similar preparations for 
 defence saved the store of Arthur Tappan. 
 
 While the New York mob, as the Commercial 
 Advertiser said, were " now nightly engaged in deeds 
 of violence," the same paper distinctly took the 
 ground that the abolitionists should not enjoy " the 
 protection of the law and the aid of the military," 
 except " on condition that the causers of these mis 
 chiefs shall be abated and the outrages upon public 
 feelings from the forum, the pulpit, and the press 
 shall no more be repeated by these reckless incen 
 diaries." The Courier and Inquirer of the same day 
 said: "Now we tell them [the abolitionists] that 
 when they openly and publicly promulgate doctrines 
 which outrage public feelings, they have no right to 
 demand protection of the people they insult," and 
 they must understand "that they prosecute their 
 treasonable and beastly plans at their own peril." 
 
56 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 Such was the view taken of American freedom of 
 speech by the pro-slavery party. The manly traits 
 of American character seemed to be lost in the pre 
 vailing atmosphere of race prejudice, cowardice, and 
 injustice. Politicians of both parties, representa 
 tives of the commercial and professional classes of 
 the North, acquiesced in a policy which they thought 
 would advance their views, but which was destruc 
 tive of the fundamental principles of American 
 liberty. The highest and the lowest had joined 
 hands to assail the coloured people and their friends. 
 Names honoured in the Church and the State, which 
 should have helped to elevate public opinion and to 
 guide it in the path of justice, obeyed the mandates 
 and echoed the denunciations of the Slave Power. 
 For a time was presented an alliance in behalf of 
 slavery of the highest classes with the scum of poli 
 ticians and criminals. The intrepid William Leggett 
 was one of the few who dared to publish the truth. 
 "The fury of demons," he wrote in the Evening 
 Post, " seems to have entered into the breasts of 
 our misguided populace. The rights of public and 
 private property, the obligations of law, the author 
 ity of its ministers and even the power of the mili 
 tary are all equally spurned by these audacious 
 sons of riot and disorder." Candid and cautious 
 thinkers began to take alarm at the disregard for law 
 which seemed to be spreading through the country. 
 " These mobs," wrote Dr. Channing, " are indeed most 
 dishonourable to us as a people, because they have 
 
JOINS ANTISLAVEEY SOCIETIES. 57 
 
 been too much the expression of public senti 
 ment, . . . because there was a willingness that the 
 antislavery movement should be put down by force." 
 
 The conduct of the mobs, and the encouragement 
 given to them by the press, aroused the spirit and 
 stimulated the energy of the abolitionists. "These 
 crimes," said Judge Jay, "abundantly prove the 
 extreme cruelty and sinfulness of that prejudice 
 against colour which we are impiously told is an 
 ordination of Providence. Colonizationists, assum 
 ing the prejudice to be natural and invincible, pro 
 pose to remove its victims beyond its influence. 
 Abolitionists, on the contrary, remembering with the 
 Psalmist * that it is He that hath made us, and not 
 we ourselves,' believe that the benevolent Father of 
 us all requires us to treat with justice and kindness 
 every portion of the human family." 
 
 Although he had been an earnest emancipationist 
 for ten years, Judge Jay had had doubts of the 
 wisdom of forming antislavery societies at so early a 
 period in the movement. He had feared that un 
 measured and unconstitutional doctrines might be 
 adopted which would set the cause in a false light 
 before the country. His advice had been sought and 
 followed, as we have seen, and there was no longer 
 any reason why he should not become an active 
 member. In 1834, immediately after the riots and 
 when the outlook seemed darkest, he took a place on 
 the Executive Committee of the National Society. 
 
 "In that season of feverish excitement," wrote 
 
58 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 Hon. Henry Wilson, " Judge William Jay, inheriting 
 not only the honoured name, but the principles 
 and purity of the illustrious Chief-Justice, at first 
 declined an office in the new society, deeming its 
 organization premature," but now "sought to take 
 his share of its labours and responsibilities. His 
 name gave prestige ; his talents, learning, and integ 
 rity afforded strength, while his cautious and ready 
 pen laid precious gifts upon its altar." 
 
 In February, 1835, was published Jay's " Inquiry 
 into the Character and Tendency of the American 
 Colonization and American Antislavery Societies." 
 The book bore upon its title-page the words of 
 Milton, " Give me liberty to know, to utter, and to 
 argue freely, according to my conscience, above all 
 liberties" a sentiment considered treasonable in 
 America by the . Slave Power. This work had a 
 powerful effect upon public opinion, not only on ac 
 count of the arguments it contained, but largely on 
 account of the character and position of its author. 
 It was the policy of the pro-slavery party to repre 
 sent the abolitionists as ignorant and reckless agi 
 tators, with nothing to lose. But here was a man of 
 family and fortune, a judge on the bench, high in 
 the counsels of the Episcopal Church, who set forth 
 the detested doctrines with judicial moderation and 
 unanswerable logic. 
 
 Jay began by an exposure of the Colonization 
 Society. He showed that it was merely a scheme to 
 get rid of the free blacks at the South, where they 
 
HIS "INQUIRY" 59 
 
 were regarded as a nuisance ; that its officers repre 
 sented it at the North as a solution of the slavery 
 question to quiet emancipationists and to obtain 
 their subscriptions. He set forth the constitutional 
 and merciful objects of the American Antislavery 
 Society. He showed that abolitionists were neither 
 acting in opposition to law, nor were in any man 
 ner exciting the slaves to insurrection; that the 
 opinions they professed were such as had been 
 freely uttered by Jefferson, Franklin, and numerous 
 Southern statesmen within fifty years. He exposed 
 the cruel character of American slavery, the beastly 
 degradation, physical, moral, and mental, to which it 
 condemned the blacks ; the horrors of the interstate 
 slave-trade, tearing husband from wife and children 
 from their mothers to be sold into distant places ; he 
 pointed out the national disgrace involved in the 
 fact that in the city of Washington, under the stars 
 and stripes, slave-dealers were licensed to ply their 
 trade in human flesh, leading the chained " coffles " 
 of black wretches about the streets. The concluding 
 chapters were devoted to showing that emancipation 
 could be accomplished with safety, and that the real 
 danger to the country lay in the continuation of 
 slavery. 
 
 The welcome extended to this book by the avowed 
 abolitionists is illustrated by the following extract 
 from the annual report of the Massachusetts Anti- 
 slavery Society in 1836 : " We know it will not be 
 thought invidious towards others who have greatly 
 
(30 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 contributed by their excellent writings to help on 
 our glorious enterprise, if we make especial mention 
 of the volume from the pen of the Hon. William Jay 
 of New York. His ' Inquiry' was published in the 
 early part of last year. Coming from him, a man 
 extensively known, and highly respected and beloved 
 by all who know him, it could not fail to command 
 the public attention. The very rapid sale of the 
 first and second editions evinced the eagerness of 
 thousands to know the results of his inquiry into the 
 sentiments and plans of the two societies which had 
 stood from the birth of the latter in the attitude of 
 opposition. It is a book so full of pertinent facts 
 and carefully drawn conclusions that it could not 
 fail to impart the convictions of its author to other 
 minds. No book on the subject has probably been 
 read by more persons, nor has any one been instru 
 mental to the conversion of more." 
 
 The importance of the "Inquiry" to the anti- 
 slavery cause is illustrated by the diverse character 
 of the men whose attention was attracted by it 
 men whose conservative habits of mind, whose busi 
 ness and professional interests caused them to 
 ignore if not to condemn the abolitionists. " Your 
 book," wrote Eev. Beriah Green, who presided at 
 the organization of the American Antislavery Society 
 in Philadelphia, "will command a large circle of 
 readers who could not be persuaded to examine a 
 paragraph written by any of us who have so long 
 been known and hated and execrated as abolitionists. 
 
HIS "INQUIRY." 61 
 
 To many of these, your arguments, so skilfully 
 arranged, so powerfully described, so happily con 
 ducted to so triumphant a conclusion, must prove 
 convincing. They must abandon their i miry clay,' 
 and, aided by your hand, take a position 'on the 
 rock.'" Among leading men influenced by Jay's 
 " Inquiry " may be mentioned Dr. Alonzo Potter, after 
 wards Bishop of Pennsylvania, and Peter G. Stuy- 
 vesant, a representative of the solid Knickerbockers 
 of New York. Edward Delavan, of Albany, wrote: 
 " You have done the cause of humanity an incalcu 
 lable amount of good by the work." Mrs. Theodore 
 Sedgwick wrote from Stockbridge : " We are reading 
 your book on American slavery with great interest. 
 You have rendered an invaluable service to the 
 country and to the cause of humanity." The appro 
 bation most welcome to Jay was probably that of 
 the eminent Chancellor Kent. "I have read the 
 volume," he said, "with equal interest and aston 
 ishment. You have accumulated a mass of facts of 
 which a great part were to me unknown, and they 
 are of a surprising kind. I do not well see how your 
 argument on any material point can be gainsaid. 
 You have amply vindicated the character and inten 
 tions of the American Antislavery Society from all 
 injurious imputations. The details of the slave-trade 
 and its accompanying atrocities, as carried on at 
 Washington, are horrible, and your work must go far 
 towards opening the eyes and disabusing the minds 
 of the public. I have, from the very beginning, had 
 
62 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 doubts and misgivings as to the efficacy and results 
 of the American Colonization Society, and for some 
 years past I have become satisfied that the scheme 
 was in reality but an Utopian vision, though I had 
 supposed until now that its fruits were better. Per 
 mit me to add that I have been much pleased, not 
 only with the clearness, force, simplicity, and pre 
 cision of the style, but with your fearless, frank, and 
 manly, but courteous vindication of the cause of 
 Truth and Justice, and with your striking appeals to 
 the conscience and responsibilities of the Christian 
 reader." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CONTINUED EFFOKTS TO SUPPRESS THE ANTISLAVEKY 
 MOVEMENT BY FORCE AND INTIMIDATION. FAVOUR- 
 ABLE EFFECT UPON THE PUBLIC MIND PRODUCED BY 
 JAY'S WRITINGS. 
 
 THE second anniversary of the American Anti- 
 slavery Society was held at the Presbyterian Church 
 at Houston and Thompson Streets in New York on 
 the 12th of May, 1835. James Gr. Birney, of Kentucky, 
 Greorge Thompson, of England, and William Lloyd 
 Garrison made addresses. Judge Jay was appointed 
 foreign corresponding secretary, and instructed to 
 convey to the Due de Broglie, president of the 
 French Society for the Abolition of Slavery, the 
 sympathy of American abolitionists. 
 
 The increasing activity and strength of the anti- 
 slavery movement were not unnoticed by the par 
 tisans of the Slave Power, both North and South, 
 and an incident occurred at Charleston, S. C., on the 
 night of July 29th, which illustrated the temper and 
 methods of the party. The American Antislavery 
 Society had directed their publishers to forward a 
 
 63 
 
(34 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 number of their periodical papers presenting facts 
 and arguments on the subject of slavery to various 
 Southern gentlemen of distinction in the hope of 
 inspiring a spirit of inquiry among persons of in 
 fluence and character. "But it was precisely this 
 spirit of inquiry," said Judge Jay, "that the advo 
 cates of perpetual bondage feared might be fatal to 
 their favourite institution. Hence they affected to 
 believe that the papers sent to the masters were 
 intended to incite the slaves to insurrection." The 
 fact that a considerable number of antislavery publi 
 cations had arrived at Charleston became known, and 
 a mob broke into the post-office and burned the mail 
 in the streets. Arthur Tappan, William L. Garrison, 
 and Rev. Samuel H. Cox were burned in effigy. 
 Mass meetings were held at Charleston and Bich- 
 mond to approve the action of the mob, and aroused 
 great excitement throughout the country. A com 
 mittee was appointed at Charleston to take charge of 
 the Northern mail on its arrival and to see that no 
 antislavery papers should reach their destinations. 
 The postmaster advised the postmaster-general that 
 under existing circumstances he had determined to 
 suppress all antislavery publications, and asked for 
 instructions. Amos Kendall, Jackson's postmaster- 
 general, whose sworn duty it was to preserve the 
 sanctity of the mails, was only too willing to act as 
 the tool of the Slave Power. " "We owe," he replied, 
 "an obligation to the laws, but a higher one to the 
 communities in which we live, and if the former be 
 
DESTRUCTION OF THE MAILS. 65 
 
 perverted to destroy the latter, it is patriotism to 
 disregard them. Entertaining these views, I cannot 
 sanction and will not condemn the step you have taken." 
 These novel and dangerous doctrines, by which the 
 laws of the republic were to be set aside by public 
 officers for political purposes, received the sanction 
 of President Jackson. 
 
 The postmaster at New York, Samuel L. Gouver- 
 neur, proposed to the American Antislavery Society 
 that it voluntarily desist from sending its publica 
 tions by mail, but the Executive Committee properly 
 refused to yield the legal rights which they possessed 
 in common with their fellow-citizens. The post 
 master announced that antislavery papers would 
 not be forwarded until further notice, and wrote to 
 "Washington for instructions. Kendall replied that 
 he was "deterred from giving an order to exclude 
 the whole series of antislavery publications from the 
 Southern mail only by a want of legal power." Such 
 a power, he admitted, vested in the head of the post- 
 office department, would be fearfully dangerous and 
 had been withheld properly; but he added, with 
 more regard to the public opinion of the moment 
 than to the principles of the Constitution, " If I were 
 situated as you are, I would do as you have done." 
 Some members of the Executive Committee wished 
 to test the action of the New York postmaster in the 
 United States courts, but Judge Jay opposed the 
 plan for reasons which he gave in a letter to Elizur 
 Wright, Jr. : " The action must be brought and tried 
 
66 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 in the city of New York in that city in which this 
 same gentleman, after his offence had been publicly 
 proclaimed by himself in the newspapers, addressed 
 thousands of the citizens in the Park and was 
 received by their applause. Nor is this all. His 
 conduct is commended by his superior, who is a 
 member of the President's cabinet and probably acts 
 with the approbation of General Jackson. Under 
 such circumstances, I think it improbable that a 
 prosecution would be attended with any result bene 
 ficial to our cause. We have not surrendered our 
 rights, but they have been violently wrested from 
 us. ... Festina lente is sometimes a safe maxim. 
 Fidelity to our principles and prudence in our con 
 duct will, in time, through the blessing of God, 
 crown our labours with success. You think it is 
 hardly to be supposed that the people of the North 
 are willing to give up the right of the post-office. 
 Certainly they are not willing to give up their own, 
 but they are willing at present to give up our right 
 to it." 
 
 The South, recognizing the growing strength of 
 antislavery opinion, began its appeals to the North 
 to save the Union by suppressing the abolitionists. 
 A public meeting in Virginia requested that this 
 might be done "by strong yet lawful, by mild yet 
 constitutional means " terms which recalled the in 
 quisitor of the Holy Office handing over condemned 
 heretics to the executioner with the ironical request 
 
PRO-SLAVERY VIOLENCE. 67 
 
 that he would deal with them tenderly and without 
 blood-letting. In deference to the Slave Power the 
 post-office had been made to nullify the freedom of 
 the press, and freedom of speech was now to be sup 
 pressed, if possible, by mob violence. The situation 
 of abolitionists in this year may be inferred from 
 letters written from Brooklyn during the summer by 
 Mrs. Lydia Maria Child : " I have not ventured into 
 the city, nor does one of us dare to go to church 
 to-day, so great is the excitement here. You can 
 form no conception of it. 'Tis like the times of the 
 French Eevolution, when no man dared trust his 
 neighbour. Private assassins from New Orleans are 
 lurking at the corners of the streets to stab Arthur 
 Tappan; and very large sums are offered for any 
 one who will get Mr. George Thompson into the 
 slave States. I tremble for him. He is almost a 
 close prisoner in his chamber, his friends deeming 
 him in eminent peril the moment it is ascertained 
 where he is. . . . Five thousand dollars were offered 
 on the Exchange in New York for the head of 
 Arthur Tappan on Friday last. Elizur Wright is 
 barricading his house with shutters, bars, and bolts. 
 Judge Jay has been with us two or three days. He 
 is as firm as the everlasting hills." 
 
 The popular feeling against the abolitionists was 
 growing daily, and from every quarter they were 
 charged with " unconstitutional, insurrectionary, and 
 diabolical designs." To attempt to disabuse the com- 
 
68 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 munity of the false impressions received from pro- 
 slavery speakers and newspapers seemed the most 
 important duty at this time. The following anony 
 mous letter, signed " A Eeturning Southerner," was 
 received by Arthur Tappan, and placed the necessity 
 for such action in a strong light : 
 
 " Though, we are unknown to each other, yet the friend 
 ship I feel for you induces me to address you. I have been 
 where you have not, and have heard what you have not, and 
 believe that great prudence is requisite on your part. I do 
 not ask you to remit your philanthropic efforts. Heaven and 
 and future ages, if not the present, will appreciate them. 
 
 " I do not pretend to advise, but have often thought that 
 you and your friends do not take sufficient means to disabuse 
 the public of the ceaseless charges of a multitude of papers. 
 
 " A vast majority in this city have never seen one of your 
 papers, and countless multitudes, not only here but through 
 our vast republic, believe without a doubt, for they have 
 seen it unceasingly asserted and never contradicted, that you 
 ardently wish your incendiary publications to excite the 
 slaves to rebellion and bloodshed, massacre and rapine in 
 their worst forms. While this impression is so common, or 
 rather so universal, I was glad to see in circulation, as tend 
 ing in some measure to your safety and the safety of this 
 association, that you address not the slave but his master a 
 fact well enough known by your vengeance-seeking foes, but 
 not known by those whom they intend to use as instruments 
 of violence. I only presume further to suggest a card, to be 
 inserted at least a week in the Courier and Inquirer, stating 
 in brief terms that you do not advocate the violence imputed 
 to you ; that you address the reason of white men, not the 
 passions of slaves." 
 
HIS ADDEESS TO THE PUBLIC. QQ 
 
 The Executive Committee of the American Anti- 
 slavery Society resolved to ask Judge Jay to prepare 
 such a statement as the crisis called for. Jay was on 
 a tour through the White Mountains at the time, 
 but immediately on his return he prepared the fol 
 lowing address, which was published in September, 
 1835, and was widely circulated in America and 
 Europe : 
 
 "To the Public. 
 
 " In behalf of the American Antislavery Society we solicit 
 the candid attention of the public to the following declara 
 tion of our principles and objects. Were the charges which 
 are brought against us made only by persons who are in 
 terested in the continuance of slavery, and by such as are 
 influenced solely by unworthy motives, this address would be 
 unnecessary ; but there are those who merit and possess our 
 esteem, who would not voluntarily do us injustice, and who 
 have been led by gross misrepresentations to believe that we 
 are pursuing measures at variance not only with the consti 
 tutional rights of the South but with the precepts of humanity 
 and religion. To such we offer the following explanations 
 and assurances : 
 
 " 1st. We hold that Congress has no more right to abolish 
 slavery in the Southern States than in the French West 
 India Islands. Of course we desire no national legislation 
 on the subject. 
 
 "2d. We hold that slavery cannot be lawfully abolished 
 except by the Legislatures of the several States in which it 
 prevails, and that the exercise of any other than moral influ 
 ence to induce such abolition is unconstitutional. 
 
 " 3d. We believe that Congress has the same right to abolish 
 
70 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 slavery in the District of Columbia that the State govern 
 ments have within their respective jurisdictions, and that 
 it is their duty to efface so foul a spot from the national es 
 cutcheon. 
 
 "4th. We believe the American citizens have the right to 
 express and publish their opinions of the constitutions, laws, 
 and institutions of any and every State and nation under 
 heaven; and we mean never to surrender the liberty of 
 speech, of the press, or of conscience blessings we have in 
 herited from our fathers, and which we intend, so far as we 
 are able, to transmit unimpaired to our children. 
 
 "5th. We have uniformly deprecated all forcible attempts 
 on the part of the slaves to recover their liberty ; and were 
 it in our power to address them we would exhort them to ob 
 serve a quiet and peaceful demeanour, and would assure them 
 that no insurrectionary movement on their part would receive 
 from us the slightest aid or countenance. 
 
 " 6th. We would deplore any servile insurrection, both on 
 account of the calamities which would attend it and on ac 
 count of the occasion which it would furnish of increased 
 severity and oppression. 
 
 "7th. We are charged with sending incendiary publica 
 tions to the South. If by the term ' incendiary ' is meant 
 publications containing arguments and facts to prove slavery 
 to be a moral and political evil, and that duty and policy 
 require its immediate abolition, the charge is true. But if 
 this term is used to imply publications encouraging insurrec 
 tion and designed to excite the slaves to break their fetters, 
 the charge is utterly and unequivocally false. We beg our 
 fellow-citizens to notice that this charge is made without 
 proof, and by many who confess that they have never read 
 our publications, and that those who make it oifer to the 
 public no evidence from our writings in support of it. 
 
HIS ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC. 71 
 
 "8th. We are accused of sending our publications to the 
 slaves, and it is asserted that their tendency is to excite in 
 surrections. Both the charges are false. These publications 
 are not intended for the slaves, and were they able to read 
 them,, they would find in them no encouragement to insur 
 rection. 
 
 "9th. We are accused of employing agents in the slave 
 States to distribute our publications. We have never had 
 one such agent. We have sent no packages of our papers 
 to any person in those States for distribution,, except to five 
 respectable resident citizens at their own request. But we 
 have sent by mail single papers addressed to public officers, 
 editors of newspapers, and clergymen. If, therefore, our ob 
 ject is to excite the slaves to insurrection, the masters are 
 our agents ! 
 
 "10th. We believe slavery to be sinful, injurious to this 
 and to every other country in which it prevails ; we believe 
 immediate emancipation to be the duty of every slaveholder, 
 and that the immediate abolition of slavery, by those who 
 have the right to abolish it, would be safe and wise. These 
 opinions we have freely expressed, and we certainly have no 
 intention to refrain from expressing them in future, and 
 urging them upon the consciences and hearts of our fellow- 
 citizens who hold slaves or apologize for slavery. 
 
 " llth. We believe that the education of the poor is re 
 quired by duty, and by a regard for the permanency of our 
 republican institutions. There are thousands and tens of 
 thousands of our fellow-citizens, even in the free States, sunk 
 in abject poverty, and who, on account of their complexion, 
 are virtually kept in ignorance, and whose instruction in 
 certain cases is actually prohibited by law. We are anxious 
 to protect the rights and to promote the virtue and happiness 
 of the coloured portion of our population, and on this ac- 
 
72 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 count we have been charged with a design to encourage in 
 termarriage between the whites and the blacks. This charge 
 has been repeatedly and is now again denied ; while we re 
 peat that the tendency of our sentiments is to put an end 
 to the criminal amalgamation that prevails wherever slavery 
 exists. 
 
 " 12th. "We are accused of acts that tend to a dissolu 
 tion of the Union, and even of wishing to dissolve it. We 
 have never 'calculated the value of the Union/ because we 
 believe it to be inestimable, and that the abolition of slavery 
 will remove the chief danger of its dissolution ; and one of 
 the many reasons why we endeavour to preserve the Consti 
 tution is that it restrains Congress from making any law 
 ' abridging the freedom of speech or of the press. ' 
 
 " Such, fellow-citizens, are our principles. Are they un 
 worthy of Christians and of republicans? Or are they in truth 
 so atrocious that in order to prevent their diffusion you are 
 yourselves willing to surrender at the dictation of others the 
 invaluable privilege of free discussion, the very birthright of 
 Americans? Will you, in order that the abominations of 
 slavery may be concealed from public view, and that the 
 capital of your republic may continue to be as it now is, 
 under the sanction of Congress, the great slave-mart of the 
 American continent, consent that the general government, in 
 acknowledged defiance of the Constitution and laws, shall 
 appoint throughout the length and breadth of your land ten 
 thousand censors of the press, each of whom shall have the 
 right to inspect every document you may commit to the post- 
 office, and to suppress every pamphlet and newspaper, whether 
 religious or political, which in his sovereign pleasure he may 
 adjudge to contain an incendiary article? Surely we need 
 not remind you that if you submit to such an encroachment 
 on your liberties the days of our republic are numbered, and 
 
HIS ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC. 73 
 
 that although abolitionists may be the first, they will not be 
 the last victims offered at the shrine of arbitrary power. 
 " (Signed) 
 
 " ARTHUR TAPPAN, 
 "JOHN KANKIN, 
 . " WILLIAM JAY, 
 " ELIZUK WEIGHT, Jr., 
 "ABRAHAM L. Cox, 
 " LEWIS TAPPAN, 
 " JOSHUA LEAVITT, 
 " SAMUEL E. CORNISH, 
 " SIMEON S. JOCELIN, 
 " THEODORE S. WRIGHT. 
 "NEW YORK, September 3d, 1835." 
 
 The effect of Jay's address to the public was thus 
 described by Elizur Wright, Jr.: "The Southern 
 papers are copying it extensively, and most of them 
 charge us with having disclaimed in it our real mo 
 tives a proof that our real sentiments were before 
 misunderstood. In a large number of Northern 
 papers it is copied with more or less approbation. 
 Indeed, none but the determined pro-slavery presses 
 fail to speak of it as a candid, firm, and honourable 
 if not convincing document." "It has had a most 
 beneficial effect," wrote Lewis Tappan. "What a 
 contrast to the ebullition of public meetings ! " 
 
 A movement was begun in the year 1835, on the part 
 of the Southern press and Southern Legislatures to 
 induce penal legislation in the North against the ex 
 pression of antislavery sentiments. The Richmond 
 Whig revealed its opinion of its Northern allies 
 
74 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 when it said : " Depend upon it, the Northern people 
 will never sacrifice their lucrative trade with the 
 South so long as the hanging of a few thousands 
 will prevent it." In obedience to these demands, 
 pro-slavery men in the North were actually to be 
 found proposing legislation intended to destroy the 
 freedom of the press and to make antislavery ex 
 pression a criminal offence. Judge Jay took occa 
 sion to meet this movement in a charge which he 
 delivered to the Westchester Grand Jury, in which 
 he said : " Any law which might be passed to abridge 
 in the slightest degree the freedom of speech or of 
 the press, or to shield any one subject from dis 
 cussion, would be utterly null and void; and it 
 would be the duty of every genuine republican to 
 resist with energy and decision so palpable an out 
 rage on the declared will of the people." These 
 remarks were widely published and did much to dis 
 courage the pro-slavery agitators. 
 
 But other illegitimate and violent schemes to 
 reduce to silence antislavery men were soon brought 
 into play. South Carolina having inaugurated the 
 assault upon the constitutional rights of the North 
 through the post-office, Alabama followed in a yet 
 bolder step against the personal security of aboli 
 tionists. Governor Gayle, of that State, demanded 
 of the Governor of New York that Ransom G. 
 Williams, the publishing agent of the Antislavery 
 Society, should be surrendered to him to be tried 
 under the laws of Alabama on an indictment found 
 
THE INDICTMENT OF WILLIAMS. 75 
 
 against Mm by the Grand Jury for publishing in the 
 Emancipator ', in the city of New York, the follow 
 ing sentiment : " God commands and all nature cries 
 out that man should not be held as property. The 
 system of making men property has plunged two 
 and a quarter millions of our fellow-countrymen into 
 the deepest physical and moral degradation, and 
 they are every moment sinking deeper." This ex 
 pression was the most offensive which the Alabama 
 Grand Jury could discover in the documents of the 
 society on which to base the indictment and demand, 
 and as the one which came nearest to anything 
 resembling an attempt to incite the slaves to insur 
 rection. Williams had never been in the State of 
 Alabama, was never subject to its laws, had never 
 fled from its jurisdiction, and these facts were 
 admitted by the Governor when he made requisition 
 for "Williams as a "fugitive from justice." While 
 the American Antislavery Society was considering 
 what action it should take for the protection of its 
 agent, Lewis Tappan wrote to Judge Jay (8th 
 September) suggesting that he should get the opin 
 ion of two or three eminent lawyers on the sub 
 ject to be circulated by the society. Jay replied: 
 "The Southern papers have intimated that North 
 ern abolitionists may be indicted in the courts and 
 then demanded of the State executives, and you 
 request my opinion whether it would be advisable 
 to obtain and publish the legal opinion of eminent 
 counsel on this novel doctrine. The doctrine is so 
 
76 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 monstrous, so utterly at variance with all our ideas 
 of constitutional and State rights, that it shocks the 
 understanding and moral sense of the community, 
 and I verily believe that there is not one Northern 
 governor who would dare to arrest a citizen on such 
 a demand. But if we manifest alarm at this doctrine 
 and get lawyers to controvert it, there will be found 
 rival presses, venal lawyers, and corrupt politicians 
 to support the other side of the question ; the com 
 munity will begin to discuss the subject, passion and 
 interest and prejudice will believe whatever they 
 want to believe. My opinion, therefore, is that the 
 less we say on this subject the better, and that we 
 should not give a factitious importance to the 
 doctrine." Jay's advice was followed and proved to 
 be wise. Governor Marcy could do nothing but 
 refuse the request of Governor Gayle, although he 
 softened his refusal by abuse of the abolitionists. 
 
 Under the leadership of Alvan Stewart a conven 
 tion was called to meet at Utica on October 21, 1835, 
 to form a New York State Antislavery Society. 
 About six hundred delegates were present. The 
 spirit of mob violence, which was being encouraged 
 by pro-slavery orators and presses throughout the 
 country to suppress the abolitionists by force, was 
 relied upon to prevent the meeting of the conven 
 tion. The mob having occupied in advance the 
 room in the court-house prepared for the meeting, 
 the delegates repaired to a Presbyterian Church, 
 where they had barely enough time to organize and 
 
MOB VIOLENCE. 77 
 
 elect officers before the riotous supporters of slavery 
 broke into the church and violently dispersed the 
 convention. The lawless tyranny to which the dele 
 gates were subjected and their courageous conduct 
 attracted to their cause many persons who had held 
 aloof hitherto. Chief among these was Grerrit Smith, 
 who from this time gave to the antislavery move 
 ment unstinted contributions of money and intelli 
 gent labour. Judge Jay, notwithstanding his un 
 avoidable absence from the convention, was elected 
 president of the society then formed. 
 
 At about the same time as the Utica riots occurred 
 the mobbing of "William Lloyd Garrison, in Boston, 
 by " gentlemen of property and standing." And all 
 over the North were enacted scenes of violence, 
 encouraged by a large portion of the press, which 
 were intended to gratify the Southern demand that 
 abolitionism should be put down at all hazards. 
 The sanctity of the mails, the constitutional right of 
 free speech and of lawful assemblage, were forgotten 
 by a large portion of the people. And they were 
 forgotten by the President of the United States him 
 self. In December, 1835, Andrew Jackson, in his v 
 message to Congress, gave a tacit approval to mob 
 rule, to the suppression of the freedom of the press, 
 and to the oft-exposed falsehood that the aboli 
 tionists distributed documents among the slaves 
 intended to incite them to insurrection; and he 
 recommended the closing of the mails to antislavery 
 people. 
 
78 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 The position taken by President Jackson was so 
 unjust, so unconstitutional, and so calculated to 
 aggravate the situation, that the American Anti- 
 slavery Society determined to make an official reply 
 to it. Judge Jay was chosen to answer the Presi 
 dent on behalf of the society, and he prepared an 
 address which was signed by all the officers. This 
 document was a complete exposure of the falsity of 
 the charges made and of the unlawfulness of the 
 restrictive measures which Jackson proposed to 
 Congress. 
 
 "You have accused," said Jay, "an indefinite number of 
 your fellow-citizens, without designation of name or resi 
 dence, of making unconstitutional and wicked efforts, and of 
 harbouring intentions which could be entertained only by the 
 most depraved and abandoned of mankind ; and yet you care 
 fully abstain from averring which article of the Constitution 
 they have transgressed; you omit stating when, where, and 
 by whom these wicked attempts were made; you give no 
 specification of the inflammatory appeals which you assert 
 have been addressed to the passions of the slaves. You well 
 know that the ' moral influence ' of your charges will affect 
 thousands and tens of thousands of your countrymen, many 
 of them your political friends some of them heretofore 
 honoured with your confidence most, if not all of them, of 
 irreproachable character ; and yet, by the very vagueness of 
 your charges, you incapacitate each one of this multitude 
 from proving his innocence. ... It is deserving of notice 
 that the attempt to circulate our papers is alone charged upon 
 us. It is not pretended that we have put our appeals into 
 
EEPLY TO PEESIDENT JACKSON. 79 
 
 the hands of a single slave, or that in any instance our en 
 deavours to excite a servile war have been crowned with suc 
 cess. And in what way was our most execrable attempt 
 made? By secret agents, traversing the slave country in dis 
 guise, stealing by night into the hut of the slave, and reading 
 to him our inflammatory appeals? You, sir, answer this 
 question by declaring that we attempted the mighty mis 
 chief by circulating our appeals through the mails ! And are 
 the Southern slaves, sir, accustomed to receive periodicals by 
 mail? Of the thousands of publications mailed from the 
 antislavery office for the South, did you ever hear, sir, of one 
 solitary paper being addressed to a slave? Would you know 
 to whom they were directed, consult the Southern newspapers, 
 and you will find them complaining that they were sent to 
 public officers, clergymen, and other influential citizens. 
 Thus, it seems, we are incendiaries who place the torch in 
 the hands of him whose dwelling we would fire ! We are con 
 spiring to incite a servile war, and announce our design to 
 the masters and commit to their care and disposal the very 
 instruments by which we expect to effect our purpose ! . . . 
 To repel your charges and to disabuse the public was a duty 
 we owed to ourselves, to our children, and, above all, to the 
 great and holy cause in which we are engaged. That cause 
 we believe is approved by our Maker; and while we retain 
 this belief, it is our intention, trusting to His direction and 
 protection, to persevere in our endeavours to impress upon 
 the minds and hearts of our countrymen the sinfulness of 
 claiming property in human beings, and the duty and wis 
 dom of immediately relinquishing it. When convinced that 
 our endeavours are wrong, we shall abandon them, but such 
 conviction must be produced by other arguments than vitu 
 peration, popular violence, or penal enactments." 
 
80 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 In 1836 Judge Jay resigned the presidency of the 
 New York State Antislavery Society. The distance 
 of his home from the headquarters of the society 
 made the office nearly nominal, and he thought that 
 it should be filled by a person more favourably situ 
 ated for usefulness. "We commenced the present 
 struggle," he wrote in his letter of resignation, "to 
 obtain the freedom of the slave ; we are compelled to 
 continue it to preserve our own. We are now con 
 tending, not so much with the slaveholders of the 
 South about human rights, as with the political and 
 commercial aristocracy of the North, for the liberty 
 of speech, of the press, and of conscience. Our poli 
 ticians are selling our constitutions and laws for 
 Southern votes. Our great capitalists are specu 
 lating, not merely in land and banks, but in the 
 liberties of the people. We are called to contemplate 
 a spectacle never, I believe, before witnessed the 
 wealthy portion of the community striving to intro 
 duce anarchy and violence on a calculation of profit ; 
 making merchandise of peace and good order! In 
 Boston we have seen the editor of a newspaper led 
 through the streets with a halter by gentlemen ' of 
 property and standing.' The New York mobs were 
 excited, not by the humble penny press, but by the 
 malignant falsehood and insurrectionary appeals of 
 certain commercial journals. Rich and honourable 
 men in Cincinnati have recently at a public meeting 
 proclaimed lynch law, and through their influence a 
 printing-press devoted to freedom has been destroyed, 
 
CtAs? 
 
THE CONSEQUENCES OF VIOLENCE. gl 
 
 and the whole affair, we are coolly and most truly 
 told, was a business transaction. 
 
 "... It cannot be, it is not in human nature that 
 judges and lawyers and rich merchants will long 
 enjoy the exclusive privileges of trampling on the 
 laws. These men are sowing the wind and they will 
 reap the whirlwind. They may see the buddings of 
 their harvest in the recent assaults upon the Holland 
 Land Company. When the tempest of anarchy they 
 are now raising shall sweep over the land it will not 
 be the humble abolitionist, but the lofty possessor of 
 power and fortune, who will first be levelled by the 
 blast. . . . The obligations of religion and of patriot 
 ism ; the duties we owe to ourselves, to our children, 
 the cause of freedom, and the cause of humanity all 
 require us to be faithful to our principles, to per 
 severe in our exertions, and to surrender our rights 
 only with our breath. Duties are ours and conse 
 quences are God's, and while we discharge the first 
 we may be confident that the latter will be entirely 
 consistent with our true welfare." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 GRADUAL DECLINE OF EIOTOUS DEMONSTRATIONS AGAINST 
 THE ABOLITIONISTS. CHANGES OCCUR IN THE DOC 
 TRINES AND METHODS OF THE AMERICAN ANTISLAVERY 
 SOCIETY. JUDGE JAY RESIGNS HIS MEMBERSHIP, WHILE 
 CONTINUING HIS EFFORTS ON BEHALF OF EMANCIPATION. 
 
 THE effort to suppress the antislavery movement 
 by force, which was carried on by Northern people 
 at the instigation of the South, continued through 
 the years 1837 and 1838. The incidents which 
 attracted the most attention were the murder of 
 Love joy at Alton and the burning of Pennsylvania 
 Hall in Philadelphia by a mob. By assassination 
 and arson a considerable portion of the American 
 people sought to destroy the right to free speech and 
 free assemblage guaranteed by the American Con 
 stitution and cherished hitherto as a birthright. 
 The right of free discussion, wrote Alexander H. 
 Everett at the time, " is not only endangered, but for 
 the present, at least, is actually lost." "The news 
 papers of every day," he continued, "bring to our 
 view the account of some new case in which a print 
 ing-press has been seized and thrown into the river ; 
 a public meeting broken up; a citizen tarred and 
 
 82 
 
DIFFERENCES AMONG ABOLITIONISTS. 83 
 
 feathered, scourged too often, I add with horror, 
 put to a violent death by a lawless mob for no other 
 cause or crime than the free discussion of the subject 
 of slavery." The impunity with which these crimes 
 were committed, the connivance or leniency of the 
 authorities whose sworn duty it was to uphold the 
 laws, made this time a critical one for the security of 
 American liberties. In pursuing their lawful course 
 undaunted through this "reign of terror," when so 
 large a portion of their fellow-countrymen seemed to 
 have forgotten the obligations of citizens to estab 
 lished law, the abolitionists not only maintained the 
 existence of their cause, but they preserved those 
 rights which Americans value above all others. 
 That free speech continued to exist in the United 
 States was due to their indomitable courage. Such 
 a state of affairs could not endure long. Lawless 
 feeling exhausted itself in fruitless violence. Anti- 
 slavery societies increased in numbers and member 
 ship. Comparative order and toleration gradually 
 displaced the disgraceful passions which had placed 
 the liberties of the country in hazard. 
 
 As opposition diminished and their path becamo 
 easier, abolitionists began to differ among themselves 
 as to the best means to attain their ends and as to 
 the fundamental principles of their cause. In New 
 York State a tendency was developed, under the lead 
 ership of Grerrit Smith, to adopt political methods. 
 In Boston moral agitation remained the accepted 
 means. But here novel theories on other subjects 
 
84 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 were being adopted by leading antislavery people 
 and thus associated in the public mind with anti- 
 slavery itself. Garrison adopted and recommended 
 in the Liberator his no-government and non-re'sist- 
 ance doctrines. He put forth new and not gener 
 ally accepted views regarding the observance of 
 Sunday. He took pains to declare that he adopted 
 these theories in his private capacity, and not as an 
 abolitionist. But he had many followers who did 
 not discriminate so carefully. The public mind 
 became confused and began to associate abolitionism 
 with a variety of novel and unpopular opinions. 
 The cause was thus obstructed and divisions occurred 
 among those who laboured for the emancipation of 
 the negro. Up to this time women had not taken 
 part in public meetings, and to many persons the 
 idea of their doing so was repugnant. The admission 
 of women to membership and office in the same 
 societies as men was determined in Boston in 1838, 
 after a struggle and amidst much objection. 
 
 " I have observed," wrote Jay in a private letter in 
 1838, " frequent attempts to use abolition as a pack- 
 horse to carry forth into the world some favourite 
 notion having no legitimate connection with the an 
 tislavery cause ; and have witnessed the dissensions 
 caused in our ranks by such inconsiderate and dis 
 honest assumptions. Thus I have known an official 
 document, under the signature of a secretary of a 
 State society, pass a high eulogium on a particular 
 form of Church government; and I have seen an 
 
DIFFERENCES AMONG ABOLITIONISTS. 85 
 
 editorial article in an official antislavery periodical 
 recommending a decoction of dried currants as a 
 substitute for the fermented juice of the grape in 
 the observance of the Lord's Supper ! All such per 
 versions of antislavery influence appear to me to be 
 dishonest in their character, and dangerous in their 
 consequences to the continuance and efficiency of 
 our organization. No one is more strenuous than 
 myself for the right of opinion and discussion ; but 
 common justice and fairness require that we should 
 not make others responsible for our peculiar opin 
 ions, nor seek to propagate them by means entrusted 
 to us for very different purposes. 
 
 u The practice of passing numerous resolutions at 
 our antislavery meetings strikes me as a growing 
 and pernicious evil. Too many seem to think that 
 all our objects are to be effected by resolutions ; and 
 amid the vast multitude that are proposed and 
 adopted with little reflection, it is not surprising, 
 yet deeply to be deplored, that some are false in fact, 
 more false in sentiment, and very many coarse and 
 vulgar in expression. Falsehood is not the less im 
 moral for being employed in a good cause, and it is 
 very unwise to impair the charms of Truth by array 
 ing her in vulgar attire. It is to be wished that our 
 meetings may in future be less prodigal of their 
 resolutions, and more circumspect as to the matter 
 and language." 
 
 Judge Jay looked with dismay upon the novel 
 doctrines on other subjects which were becoming 
 
86 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 associated with antislavery in the public mind. He 
 deplored the loss of strength which must result 
 from a departure from the singleness of purpose 
 announced in the declaration of principles at the 
 founding of the American Antislavery Society. And 
 there were differences of opinion arising on the 
 fundamental principles of the cause which troubled 
 him still more. As has been shown in these pages, 
 he had joined the American Antislavery Society only 
 after a deliberate examination of its constitution and 
 the conviction that its principles were in strict 
 accordance with the Constitution of the United 
 States. He was as strong an advocate of emancipa 
 tion as lived, but to him the Constitution was the 
 supreme law under which all benefits could be and 
 must be obtained. Efforts to seek the abolition of 
 slavery by arguments or conduct in violation of the 
 Constitution seemed to him wicked in themselves 
 and fatal to the cause. Such efforts he had now to 
 combat. 
 
 At the sixth anniversary of the Massachusetts 
 Antislavery Society, held in January, 1838, the busi 
 ness committee, composed of Messrs. Garrison, Phelps, 
 May, and Fairbanks, reported the following resolu 
 tion: 
 
 " Resolved, That in order to bring our coloured friends 
 within the brotherhood of this nation, we will encourage them 
 in petitioning to Congress, in their own names, for the re 
 dress of their grievances, and, if not successful, then we will 
 lend them our aid in bringing their cause before the court of 
 
THE CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION.. g? 
 
 the United States to ascertain if a man can be held in bond 
 age agreeably to the principles contained in the Declaration 
 of Independence or the Constitution of our country." 
 
 Judge Jay wrote a letter to Mr. Ellis Gray Loring, 
 March 5th, asking for more definite information as 
 to the true intent of the society in passing the reso 
 lution. 
 
 "Who are the coloured friends alluded to?" he asked. 
 " Obviously slaves, because if Congress does not redress their 
 grievances, then the society is to lead them into the court of 
 the United States to ascertain whether a man can be held in 
 bondage. 
 
 " What grievances are the slaves, under the encourage 
 ment of the society, to petition Congress to redress? Obvi 
 ously those they suffer as slaves, because if Congress does not 
 redress them, redress is to be sought in the court, by de 
 manding if a man can be held in bondage, that is, as a slave. 
 
 "What slaves are intended by the resolution? No qualifi 
 cation or limitation whatever is expressed or implied. The 
 Society, no doubt, recognizes the slaves of Georgia as its 
 coloured friends as well as the slaves of the District of Colum 
 bia. The resolution is the tenth of a series of resolutions re 
 ported by the committee, and in none of them is any men 
 tion made of the District of Columbia, and, moreover, the 
 question to be decided by the court is not whether an inhabi 
 tant of the District can be held as a slave, but whether a man 
 can be held in bondage agreeably to the principles of the Dec 
 laration of Independence and the Constitution of our country, 
 and the tribunal to decide this question is not the court of the 
 District but the court of the United States. 
 
 " Members of Congress take an oath to support the Consti- 
 
38 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 tution of the United States. If, therefore, the society believe 
 the Constitution does not authorize Congress to redress the 
 grievances of its coloured friends, it has pledged itself to en 
 courage those friends to petition Congress to commit perjury. 
 Hence it appears to me that the true meaning of this resolu 
 tion, expressed in plain language, is, ' Resolved, That in our 
 opinion Congress possesses the constitutional power to abolish 
 slavery throughout the United States, and that we will en 
 courage the slaves to petition Congress for an act of emanci 
 pation, and should no such an act be passed we will aid them 
 in suing for their freedom in the Supreme Court of the United 
 States/ 
 
 "It is to be regretted that the society did not announce 
 the means they intend to employ to encourage the slaves to 
 send petitions to Congress. The pledge has been solemnly 
 given. Is it to be redeemed by sending among them secret or 
 avowed agents? It is singular also that if the society believes 
 the * court of the United States ' can give liberty to the slaves, 
 it should not make an immediate application for its beneficent 
 interposition, but should resolve to postpone such application 
 not only until it has succeeded in prompting them to petition 
 Congress for a redress of their grievances, but also until a 
 sufficient time has elapsed to learn the result of this moral 
 experiment. Permit me now, sir, to call your attention to 
 the past professions of some of the gentlemen who reported 
 this resolution, and of the society which adopted it. 
 
 " On the 4th December, 1833, Messrs. Phelps, Garrison, and 
 May, as members of the Philadelphia Convention, signed the 
 following declaration : * We fully and unanimously recognize 
 the sovereignty of each State to legislate exclusively on the 
 subject of slavery which is tolerated within its limits. We 
 concede that Congress has no right to interfere with any slave 
 State in relation to the momentous subject.' 
 
THE CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION. 89 
 
 " Mr. Garrison afterwards, in an editorial article in the 
 Liberator, thus expresses himself: ' Abolitionists as clearly 
 understand and as sacredly regard the constitutional powers of 
 Congress as do their traducers, and they know, and have again 
 and again asserted, that Congress has no more rightful author 
 ity to sit in judgment upon Southern slavery than it has to 
 legislate for the abolition of slavery in the French colonies.' 
 
 " On the 17th of August, 1835, at a meeting of the Massa 
 chusetts Antislavery Society, duly held in Boston, an address 
 to the public was adopted, professing to set forth the true 
 principles and objects of the society ; and to give this state 
 ment a stronger claim to the confidence of the community it 
 was authenticated by the signatures of thirty-one of the prin 
 cipal officers and members of the society, including your oivn 
 and those of three of the committee who reported the late 
 resolution, viz., Messrs. Garrison, May, and Fairbanks. The 
 opinion of the society at that time on the power of Congress 
 was in that document thus explicitly stated : ' We fully ac 
 knowledge that no change in the slave laws of the South 
 ern States can be made unless by the Southern Legislatures. 
 Neither Congress nor the Legislatures of the free States have 
 authority to change the condition of a single slave in the slave 
 States.' Yet the society now stands prepared to encourage 
 the slaves to petition Congress for a redress of their griev 
 ances ! And now, sir, the object of this letter is to ascertain 
 whether the resolution I have quoted does in truth represent 
 the present opinion held by your society on the power of Con 
 gress, or whether the resolution was intended to be confined 
 to slaves in the District of Columbia and the territory of 
 Florida. 
 
 "It cannot be necessary to dwell on the vast importance 
 of an explicit declaration by your board on this subject. In 
 dependent of the deep concern I feel in the harmony, integ- 
 
90 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 rity, and consistency of the abolition party, I have a personal 
 interest in the inquiry I now make of you. An enlarged edi 
 tion of my book is ready for the press, but the late resolution 
 of your society compels me to suspend its publication. I had 
 treated the charge that abolitionists desired Congress to inter 
 fere with slavery in the States as calumnious, and in refuta 
 tion of it had appealed to their solemn disclaimers. I need 
 not say, sir, that until the late resolution is satisfactorily ex 
 plained, or its doctrine disavowed by your society, I cannot 
 in my new edition deny the charge, but must as an honest 
 man substitute for my confident assertions and triumphant 
 appeals most painful and humiliating confessions. Permit 
 me to suggest that it is highly desirable that your board 
 should act explicitly on this subject before the meeting of the 
 American Antislavery Society, that, if possible, no inquiries 
 or investigation may then arise to mar the harmony of the 
 meeting and retard the progress of abolition. 
 
 " I flatter myself, sir, that your sentiments on the consti 
 tutional question remain the same as when you signed the 
 address of 1835, and that you comprehend and appreciate the 
 motives which have prompted this letter. I shall await your 
 answer with extreme anxiety." 
 
 On receipt of this letter Mr. Loring communicated 
 with a number of the members of the board of 
 managers and endeavoured to hold a meeting of the 
 board for the purpose of rescinding or repudiating 
 the resolution ; but it was not until the 14th that he 
 succeeded in getting a quorum together. After Mr. 
 Loring had read Judge Jay's letter to the board, 
 they promptly passed the following resolution : 
 
THE CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION. 91 
 
 " Resolved) That as said resolution was submitted to the 
 meeting just at its close, when but few delegates were pres 
 ent, and was adopted without deliberation or discussion, this 
 board recommend its reconsideration at the next quarterly 
 meeting of the society. 
 
 "Resolved, As the sense of this board, that Congress has 
 no power to abolish slavery in the several States of this 
 Union." 
 
 In a letter dated the 15th of March, enclosing a 
 copy of the above resolution, Mr. Loring said: "I 
 can hear of but one or two persons here who believe 
 in the power of Congress over slavery in the States, 
 viz., the Misses Grimke, Mr. Alanson St. Clair, and 
 perhaps Mr. May and Mrs. Chapman. Several, how 
 ever, and those influential persons (Mr. Grarrison 
 among them), think slavery unconstitutional, and 
 believe it would be so pronounced by the Supreme 
 Court of the United States if the point should ever 
 be made. In this opinion I can by no means agree." 
 
 The "unfortunate resolution," lie continued, was 
 offered by a " silly officious person " at a moment of 
 much haste and confusion just as the meeting was 
 breaking up, and had been approved without proper 
 consideration by the committee whose duty it was 
 to revise all resolutions. "It seems, however, to 
 have been understood by those who voted for it 
 as applying only to free coloured persons whose 
 rights might be infringed by Southern laws or to 
 slaves in the District of Columbia; and the pledge 
 
92 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 given to try the question of slavery in the United 
 States Courts seems to have arisen from the notion 
 that the question of the accordance of slavery with 
 the Constitution might be incidentally raised and 
 determined even in a case in which the party whose 
 rights are to be vindicated is free." 
 
 In conclusion Mr. Loring said that this question 
 would assume an important aspect at the future 
 meetings of the Antislavery Society, and earnestly 
 hoped wise and honest counsel would prevail. He 
 thought it would be sufficient ground for dissolving 
 the Union were the United States Supreme Court 
 to assume power over slavery in the several States. 
 " The honesty and common sense of the nation," he 
 wrote, " would revolt against such a doctrine and 
 against those who should maintain it." 
 
 In his reply, dated the 29th of March, Judge Jay 
 congratulated Mr. Loring on the service he had 
 rendered the cause of abolition by procuring the 
 passage of the resolutions from the board of mana 
 gers. " In the fulness of our zeal," he wrote, " we 
 are all liable occasionally to stray beyond the line of 
 propriety, and it evinces more devotion to duty to 
 acknowledge and correct errors than to avoid com 
 mitting them." 
 
 At the fifth annual meeting of the American Anti- 
 
 A 
 
 slavery Society, held at the Broadway Tabernacle on 
 the 2d of May, 1838, Alvan Stewart of Utica, 
 N. Y., offered a resolution, vigorously supported by 
 himself and others, to the following effect : 
 
THE CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION. 93 
 
 " That the clause of the second article of the constitution 
 of this society be struck out which admits ' that each State in 
 which slavery exists has, by the Constitution of the United 
 States, the exclusive right to legislate in regard to its aboli 
 tion in said State/ ' 
 
 This motion was equivalent to a declaration on 
 the part of the society that Congress had the right, 
 under the Constitution, to abolish, slavery. Judge 
 Jay had previously declared that Stewart's doctrine 
 was false, untenable, and hurtful to the cause. The 
 arguments by which it was supported he considered 
 absurd. For two days of continued debate he ex 
 posed its fallacy and danger and was rewarded by 
 the defeat of the resolution. But such attempts to 
 change the original articles of belief upon which the 
 society was founded gave him great uneasiness for 
 the future. His feelings upon this subject were 
 shown in a letter to the secretary of the Young Men's 
 Antislavery Society who had invited him to preside 
 at its convention : 
 
 "On uniting with the American Antislavery Society some 
 years since I remarked, with the letter requesting that my 
 name might be enrolled among its members, that I had atten 
 tively considered its constitution, and expressed my convic 
 tion that in joining the society I was acting consistently with 
 my obligations as a Christian and a citizen. The great moral 
 principles advanced in the constitution perfectly accorded, in 
 my opinion, with the precepts of the Gospel, and the meas 
 ures proposed, by which those principles were to be carried 
 into practice, equally accorded with the obligations of the oath 
 
94 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 I had taken to support the Constitution of the United States. 
 I embarked in the antislavery cause with a firm determina 
 tion to support the principles and measures avowed by the 
 society at the hazard of obloquy, persecution, and, if neces 
 sary, even life itself; and never in advocating the cause to 
 sacrifice truth and principle to expediency. How far I have 
 acted up to this determination others must judge. I am not 
 myself conscious of having departed from it. 
 
 " The constitution of the society contains an express ad 
 mission that ' each State in which slavery exists has, by the 
 Constitution of the United States, the exclusive right to 
 legislate in regard to its abolition ; ' and the object of the 
 society in regard to slavery in the States is declared to be to 
 effect its abolition by ( arguments addressed to the under 
 standings and consciences of our fellow-citizens/ Notwith 
 standing these explicit declarations we were accused of aiming 
 to effect our object by inducing Congress to invade the rights 
 of the States by abolishing slavery within their limits ; and 
 it was justly argued that such an attempt was unconstitu 
 tional, and would, if successful, lead to civil war and a sev 
 erance of the Union. So gross and unfounded were the 
 calumnies circulated against us, that it was deemed expedient 
 by the executive committee of the society, of which I was 
 one, to publish an address to the public, pledging our 
 individual characters and responsibility as to the real objects 
 and principles entertained by our association. This address 
 bore my signature among others, and contained, as nearly as I 
 can recollect, the following passage : ' We hold that Congress 
 has no more right to abolish slavery in the States in which it 
 exists than it has to abolish slavery in the French West India 
 Islands; consequently we desire no national legislation on 
 the subject.' We were justified in giving this pledge by the 
 declaration of the convention which formed the society, by 
 
ALVAN STEWART'S DOCTRINE. 95 
 
 the constitution of the society itself, by the constitutions of 
 the several State societies, and by the uniform language of 
 antislavery publications. Few persons have been more con 
 versant with the writings of abolitionists than myself ; yet I 
 can truly aver that until the appearance of Mr. Stewart's 
 extraordinary argument I was not aware that there was a 
 man or woman belonging to an antislavery society who en 
 tertained a different opinion. This gentleman, holding the 
 responsible station of chairman of the executive committee 
 of the State society, avowing in its constitution the inability 
 of Congress to abolish slavery in the States, published an 
 article in the official paper of the society, asserting the con 
 stitutional power of Congress immediately to emancipate 
 every slave in the United States, declaring that abolitionists 
 had ' but one thing to do ' which was to petition Congress 
 to exercise this power ; thus repudiating the moral means they 
 had prescribed for themselves, viz., ( arguments addressed to 
 the understandings and consciences of our fellow-citizens ' ; 
 and virtually recommending the employment of force, the 
 power of the general government as the sole agent in effect 
 ing the abolition of slavery. 
 
 "I had supposed that sentiments so utterly at variance 
 with the solemn asseverations of abolitionists, so repugnant 
 to the constitutional pledges of their societies, would have 
 excited universal indignation; but I was mistaken. After 
 the publication of these sentiments, Mr. Stewart was selected 
 as one of the orators of the American Society at their ensuing 
 anniversary. At the annual meeting in May last he moved 
 to purge from the constitution the concession I have quoted, 
 thus giving the society the constitutional right of discharg 
 ing what he had proclaimed the sole duty of abolitionists, 
 that of petitioning Congress to abolish slavery in the States ; 
 and in supporting his motion he ridiculed the idea of effect- 
 
96 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 ing our object by addresses to the understanding and con 
 sciences of slaveholders. On taking the question a majority 
 of the society was in favour of expunging ; and the admission 
 respecting the power of Congress still stands in the constitu 
 tion only because it required a vote of two thirds to cancel it. 
 Mr. Stewart was afterwards elected a manager of the society. 
 A State society since organized has by a formal vote refused 
 to insert the usual admission into its constitution, and 
 another previously organized has since stricken it from its 
 constitution. 
 
 "From this state of facts it is apparent that the pledges 
 given to the public in our constitution, and in the address of 
 the executive committee to which I have referred, that 
 abolitionists admitted that Congress had no right to interfere 
 with slavery in the States, that hence arguments were the 
 only means they intended to use for its abolition, have been 
 flagrantly falsified. So far as I was concerned, and unques 
 tionably many more, the pledge was given in good faith, and 
 however others may belie it, I mean honestly to abide by it. 
 In my opinion, Congress has no more right to pass a general 
 emancipation law than to direct how Broadway shall be 
 paved; and without intending to impeach the motives of 
 others, I must take the liberty to say that I would regard 
 such a law as a most wicked and detestable act of usurpation 
 an act that would inevitably and properly sever the Union 
 and necessarily result in bloodshed and national calamity. 
 
 " It seems to me, moreover, inconsistent with Christian 
 sincerity and plain dealing for our societies to profess in their 
 constitution a belief in great and important principles, and 
 to promise to regulate their measures in accordance with 
 those principles, and at the same time to retain in communion 
 with them and elevate to office men who openly repudiate 
 and ridicule those principles and avow a wish to introduce a 
 course of action utterly repugnant. 
 
DIFFERENCES AMONG ABOLITIONISTS. 97 
 
 " On discovering from the proceedings of last May that the 
 American Society and its auxiliaries no longer considered 
 their avowed principles binding on their members, but that 
 they might be treated with insult and ridicule without incur 
 ring a loss of either confidence or office, and that in the bosom 
 of the society opinions were entertained utterly at variance 
 with public and solemn professions, and in their practical 
 consequences hostile to the welfare of the country and incon 
 sistent with the oath I had taken to support the Constitution 
 of the United States, I deemed it my duty no longer to share 
 in the responsibilities of their measures. I have not since 
 taken part in the meeting of any antislavery society, and the 
 recklessness with which the pledge given by myself and other 
 officers of the society has been falsified, warns me to be cau 
 tious how I again become identified with the promises and 
 declarations of these associations. These considerations in 
 duce me very respectfully to decline your kind invitation. 
 
 " My attachment to the cause of abolition, and to the 
 principles avowed in the constitution of the American Society, 
 was never stronger than at this moment; and I shall ever 
 regard it a duty and a privilege to labour for the abolition of 
 slavery in every manner consistent with propriety and my 
 moral and political obligations. 
 
 "Although my confidence in the integrity and singleness 
 of purpose of antislavery societies is weakened, I have not the 
 most distant wish to interrupt their harmony or impede their 
 usefulness. I have thus, sir, frankly but with much pain 
 stated my sentiments. These sentiments I have no desire to 
 conceal or to obtrude upon others ; and you are at liberty to 
 suppress this letter or make any use of it you may think 
 proper." 
 
 The annual meeting of the Connecticut Antislavery 
 Society was held at New Haven in May, 1840, com- 
 
98 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 mencing on the 20th. The society considered this 
 meeting to be of vital importance to the prosperity 
 of the cause in that State on account of the Legis 
 lature being in session there at that time, many of 
 the members of which were expected to attend. 
 
 In April Judge Jay received an invitation from 
 the Committee of Arrangements to deliver an address 
 on the " Action of the Federal Government in Behalf 
 of Slavery," on which subject the Committee felt 
 convinced that Judge Jay could " give the society as 
 well as our legislators some valuable information." 
 
 Other engagements compelled Judge Jay to decline 
 the invitation. In his letter to the Committee of 
 Arrangements informing them of his inability to 
 comply with their request, Judge Jay assured them 
 that the interest he had theretofore professed to feel 
 in the antislavery cause had suffered no diminution ; 
 and his conviction of the truth of the great principles 
 set forth in the constitution of the American Society 
 had, if possible, grown stronger from continued re 
 flection and observation ; but as to the singleness of 
 purpose and the efficiency and integrity of the pres 
 ent antislavery organization his opinion had under 
 gone a change. 
 
 " In joining the organization," he wrote, " I had good 
 cause to believe that I would not be called upon to co-operate 
 with men who condemned any of its avowed principles, or 
 with men who would seek to render it an instrument for 
 promoting other objects than the abolition of slavery. 
 
 " One of the principles laid down in the constitution of 
 
DIFFERENCES AMONG ABOLITIONISTS. 99 
 
 the American Society, and a most important one as limiting 
 its operations, is that by the Constitution of the United 
 States Congress has no right to legislate for the abolition of 
 slavery in the several States in which it exists. Yet a gentle 
 man was in 1838 chosen by the society one of its officers 
 after having both in print and in the presence of the society 
 denied this doctrine and contended that it was the duty of 
 abolitionists to petition Congress to pass a law for the im 
 mediate emancipation of all the slaves in the United States. 
 The expulsion of this gentleman from the society was in my 
 opinion required by the respect it owed itself, and by the 
 good faith it owed both to the public and to its members. 
 The course pursued was an emphatic declaration on the part 
 of the society that its professed principles, however useful 
 they might be in conciliating public confidence and in ac 
 quiring funds, were by no means binding on its members. 
 Having sworn to support the Constitution of the United 
 States, and regarding the proposed mode of emancipation a 
 most palpable violation of it, and seeing that the avowed 
 principles of the society were in fact no security for its con 
 formity to them in its conduct, I then determined never 
 again to take a part in its meetings or in those of its auxil 
 iaries. Subsequent events have given me no cause to regret 
 this determination. 
 
 " One of the great objects for which the American Society 
 was avowedly formed was to eifect the abolition of slavery in 
 the District of Columbia and of the American slave-trade by 
 Congressional legislation. Yet men belonging to the society, 
 and even some of its officers, are now publicly maintaining 
 that all compulsory laws are sinful, and of course that it 
 would be a usurpation of the divine prerogative for Congress 
 to suppress by penal law the abomination of slavery in the 
 capital of the republic, and the nefarious traffic in human 
 
100 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 flesh of which the capital is the great depot. I cannot as an 
 abolitionist act with those who reprobate all enactments, not 
 merely for the abolition of slavery where it exists, but even 
 for preventing its re-establishment on soil from which it has 
 been extirpated; and also for protecting the poor coloured 
 man, his wife, and children from the merciless kidnapper. 
 
 " Certainly the founders of the society did not intend to 
 effect by it any alteration in the social relations of the sexes ; 
 and not the most distant hint of such a design can be found 
 in the Constitution ; yet it is in vain to deny that an attempt 
 is now making to render antislavery societies instrumental in 
 advancing certain theories respecting the rights of women. 
 
 " The American Society was intended as a central organi 
 zation by which the contributions and efforts of abolitionists 
 were to be concentrated and directed; and for some years 
 it discharged its functions with wonderful zeal, energy, and 
 success. But at last the managers of certain local societies 
 imagined that the vitality of the extremities of the system 
 would be quickened by arresting the pulsations of the heart ; 
 and accordingly measures were adopted, and with perfect suc 
 cess, to paralyze the parent institution. 
 
 " For a while abolitionists exhibited a pattern of Christian 
 and disinterested benevolence in behalf of the oppressed 
 which commanded the secret admiration even of their ene 
 mies, and conciliated the favour of the good. Latterly a strong 
 desire has been evinced to change the antislavery enterprise 
 from a religious into a political one, and a scramble for the 
 loaves and fishes has already commenced. 
 
 "Unwilling to take a part in the bitter feuds which now 
 divide abolitionists, and not choosing to assume any responsi 
 bility for principles and measures I cannot approve, I deem 
 it most consistent with my obligations as a Christian and a 
 citizen to absent myself from an arena in which I can do no 
 
THE WOMAN QUESTION. 101 
 
 good and in which I can no longer appear without being 
 engaged in unprofitable conflict. But most cheerfully will I 
 again enlist in a new antislavery organization (if any such can 
 be devised) that will offer a fair promise of avoiding the 
 errors which have destroyed the efficiency and moral character 
 of the present. 
 
 " I beg you to be assured that in the preceding remarks I 
 have had no particular reference to the Connecticut Society, 
 not being aware that it is open to censure. 
 
 " I have no desire either to conceal or to obtrude my 
 opinions respecting the existing state of the antislavery 
 enterprise, but I deemed it due to myself to state frankly 
 and without reserve the considerations which induce me to 
 pursue a course apparently at variance with my former public 
 vindication of the American Antislavery Society." 
 
 Among abolitionists there was a great diversity of 
 opinion as to whether women should be admitted to 
 membership in antislavery societies and permitted to 
 hold office and generally to enjoy the same privileges 
 as men. This question was the cause of much 
 feeling and was destined to create an unfortunate 
 division in the antislavery ranks. 
 
 The subject was first voted upon in the New Eng 
 land Society, where, in 1838, it was resolved to per 
 mit all persons, whether men or women, who agreed 
 with them on the subject of slavery to participate in 
 the meetings as members. An attempt having been 
 made in vain to rescind this vote, a protest was 
 drawn up by Amos E. Phelps, Charles T. Torrey, and 
 five others, disclaiming all responsibility for it, and 
 
102 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 denouncing the action of the society as injurious 
 to the cause of the slave by connecting with it an 
 entirely foreign subject and by establishing a danger 
 ous precedent. 
 
 At the sixth annual meeting of the American Anti- 
 slavery Society, held in New York, May 7, 1839, it 
 was voted, 180 ayes to 140 nays, "that the roll of 
 the convention be made up by placing upon it the 
 names of all persons, male or female, who are dele 
 gated from any auxiliary society, or members of this 
 society." 
 
 The seventh annual meeting of the American 
 Society was fixed for the 12th of May, 1840. It was 
 generally realized that on this occasion a definitive 
 settlement of the woman question would be made. 
 The board of managers of the Massachusetts Society 
 made strenuous efforts to insure a large attendance 
 of members sharing their views. A large steamboat 
 was chartered which conveyed G-arrison and his 
 party to New York, and it was soon manifest that 
 they had mustered a majority sufficient to carry 
 their point. 
 
 Arthur Tappan, the president of the society, 
 anticipating " a recurrence of the scenes witnessed 
 last year, and resolved not to be found contending 
 with his abolition brethren," did not attend the meet 
 ing, and Francis Jackson presided in his place. 
 Among the persons nominated by the chairman as a 
 business committee was Miss Abby Kelley. After 
 a long and exciting debate Miss Kelley was elected 
 
THE SCHISM. 103 
 
 by a vote of 557 to 451. Immediately after the result 
 was announced, Lewis Tappan, Charles W. Denison, 
 and Amos Phelps, members of the business com 
 mittee, asked to be excused from serving upon it. 
 
 After the meeting had adjourned those members 
 who had voted against the admission of women met 
 and organized a new society under the name of the 
 " American and Foreign Antislavery Society." Arthur 
 Tappan was chosen president, James G. Birney and 
 Henry B. Stanton, secretaries, and Lewis Tappan, 
 treasurer. The Executive Committee was composed 
 of Gerrit Smith, Judge Jay, John G. Whittier, 
 Joshua Leavitt, and other leading abolitionists. 
 
 On June 1st Judge Jay wrote a note to Mr. J. C. 
 Jackson, the recording secretary of the American 
 Antislavery Society, asking that his name be stricken 
 from the roll as a member. In stating his reasons 
 for resigning, he said that the proceedings at the late 
 meeting of the society had convinced him that the 
 institution was being used, by those who had recently 
 acquired control of it, as an instrument for advanc 
 ing the doctrine of the equality of the sexes in all the 
 relations of life. "Married women without their 
 husbands," he said, "were associated with men in 
 the Executive Committee a committee to which is 
 confided the management of the society, and whose 
 meetings have hitherto been, and will probably con 
 tinue to be, both frequent and private." 
 
 The principle thus officially avowed by the society 
 Judge Jay declared had not the remotest connection 
 
104 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 with the true objects for which the society was 
 formed, nor was it sanctioned by the constitution. 
 " However grievous some women may find the yoke 
 imposed upon them by the opinions usually enter 
 tained on the subject," he continued, " that is not the 
 yoke which abolitionists associated to break." The 
 claims now set up by the society in regard to "the 
 rights of women" appeared to him necessarily to 
 involve their participation in the sacred ministry, 
 their exercise of the elective franchise, and their 
 entire independence in the conjugal relation. Irre 
 spective of the soundness of these claims, it did not 
 appear by what right the society called upon its 
 members to support them. Judge Jay contended 
 that "any association for the professed purpose of 
 abolishing negro slavery may with as much pro 
 priety prescribe the form of baptism and the Lord's 
 Supper as it may insist that women are authorized 
 to administer these ordinances." Fully convinced 
 that the society as thus managed was exerting an 
 influence not only very injurious to the antislavery 
 cause, but contrary to domestic order and happiness 
 and inconsistent with the precepts of the Gospel, 
 Judge Jay deemed it his duty to sever his connection 
 with it. 
 
 In our time, when the admission of women to 
 participation in nearly every form of activity is 
 universally accepted, it may seem extraordinary that 
 the American Antislavery Society should have 
 divided upon such an issue. But what is now a 
 
THE SCHISM. 105 
 
 familiar custom was then a strange doctrine, the con 
 sequences of which were unknown and were dreaded 
 by conservative people. The abolitionists whose 
 votes admitted women to equal rights with men con 
 tended that women were among the most useful and 
 influential workers for the cause and that they should 
 have a corresponding position in the councils of the 
 party. It was denied that active participation in the 
 meetings of the societies was inappropriate to their 
 sex. On the other hand, it was believed by many 
 persons earnestly and usefully engaged in the cause 
 of emancipation that the antislavery society should 
 pursue its end unimpeded and undisturbed by out 
 side issues. The emancipation of woman might be 
 a highly desirable reform, but it should be sought 
 separately from the emancipation of the negro. An 
 individual should be allowed to labour for the slave 
 without being forced to support untried theories 
 regarding woman's rights and the sinfulness of 
 human government. 
 
 At this period Judge Jay was especially active 
 with his pen. In 1839 was published his " View of 
 the Action of the Federal Government in Behalf of 
 Slavery." This work was the first effective exposure 
 of the manner in which the United States Govern 
 ment had been used for many years by pro-slavery 
 statesmen to carry out their own ends. Judge Jay 
 showed the shameful position in which the National 
 Government had been placed before the nations of 
 the world when the President and his diplomatic 
 
106 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 representatives were forced by the Slave Power to 
 demand the return of fugitive slaves and compensa 
 tion for their loss when shipwreck had allowed them 
 to attain liberty on a foreign shore ; when the armies 
 of the United States were sent to Florida at enor 
 mous expense to capture alleged runaway private 
 property ; when the power of the Government was 
 strained to prevent abolition in Cuba and to intro 
 duce slavery into Texas. The efforts to suppress the 
 right of petition and freedom of debate in Congress 
 were thoroughly described. An account, humiliating 
 to every American, was given of the condition of 
 the national capital itself, converted by the fostering 
 protection of the United States Government into the 
 chief slave-market of the Union. 
 
 Judge Jay's next publication was entitled, "On the 
 Condition of Free People of Colour in the United 
 States." He showed that they were denied the right to 
 the franchise, to liberty of locomotion, to the lowest 
 employment in the public service ; that their educa 
 tion was impeded almost to prohibition and that even 
 their industry was hampered by cruel restrictions. 
 Worst of all, they might at any time be seized and 
 sold into slavery without recourse to law. In 1840 
 appeared his pamphlet on "The Violation by the 
 House of Eepresentatives of the Eight of Petition." 
 These writings had a wide circulation among persons 
 not reached by the ordinary aiitislavery literature, 
 and their influence was highly beneficial. 
 
 Although the woman question was the ostensible 
 
THE LIBERTY PAETT. 107 
 
 cause of the schism of 1840, there were several other 
 differences which tended quite as much to divide 
 the abolition camp. While the Garrison party con 
 tinued to depend solely upon moral agitation and 
 opposed all political effort, a numerous and powerful 
 body in the antislavery ranks began to look to the 
 ballot-box as the instrument of reform. In 1840, 
 under the leadership of G-errit Smith, Alvan Stewart, 
 Myron Holley, Elizur Wright, Joshua Leavitt, and 
 William Goodell, a convention at Albany organized 
 the Liberty party by the nomination of James G. 
 Birney, of Kentucky, for President, and of Thomas 
 Earle, of Pennsylvania, for Vice-President. Out of a 
 total of about two and a half million votes cast at 
 this election, the candidates of the Liberty party re 
 ceived a little over seven thousand. W. H. Harrison, 
 the whig candidate, defeated his democratic oppo 
 nent, Martin Van Buren. Although the abolition vote 
 was not large, it gave the party great encouragement, 
 and an address was issued congratulating the friends 
 of the slave that a new power to overthrow slavery 
 had been found in " the terse literature of the ballot- 
 box." 
 
 Judge Jay's attitude towards the formation of the 
 Liberty party appears in a correspondence which 
 took place between him and Gerrit Smith in July, 
 1840. " I suppose you have come, as well as myself," 
 wrote Smith, " to the conclusion that whilst American 
 slavery exists our national political parties will be 
 essentially and irrevocably pro-slavery parties, and 
 
108 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 that abolitionists cannot, therefore, vote consistently 
 for the candidates of such parties. If you have come 
 to this conclusion, you of course admit that we are 
 under the necessity of designating our own candi 
 dates for law-makers and that the object of the Free 
 man's State Convention to be held in Syracuse the 
 first Wednesday in August is proper. Now, when we 
 come together in that convention there is one thing 
 which, next to the blessing of Heaven, we shall need 
 far more than any other. I mean your consent that 
 we shall put you in nomination for governor. Will 
 you enable me to insure the convention of that con 
 sent 1 If you will, you will in so doing render a very 
 great service to our holy cause a service which I 
 see not how we can well dispense with. If there be 
 anything selfish in your heart, we have, of course, 
 nothing to address to it. We do not expect to elect 
 you, and we are well aware that your nomination 
 would expose you to pro-slavery ridicule and hatred. 
 If you give your consent to the nomination, we 
 know that such consent must proceed from your dis 
 interested and self-sacrificing love for the antislavery 
 cause. Do, my dear sir, give us your name ; we can 
 rally about it those who will be dead to the power of 
 any other name." 
 
 To this strong appeal Jay gave the following 
 reply : 
 
 " I was last evening favoured with your letter of the 20th 
 inst. asking me to consent to be the abolition candidate for 
 governor at the ensuing election. The request implies a 
 
THE LIBERTY PAETY. 109 
 
 confidence in the strength and sincerity of my attachment 
 for the abolition cause that demands my acknowledgments. 
 I cannot now embrace the opportunity afforded by your letter 
 of entering at large into the question of a distinct abolition 
 party ; but justice to myself and respect for you induce me to 
 mention some general principles which I think applicable to 
 the present case. 
 
 "An abolition political party supposes a union for the 
 election of rulers without regard to the sentiments of the 
 associates or their candidates on any other subject than that 
 of slavery. Of course the party and the rulers elected by 
 them may have the most opposite and irreconcilable opinions 
 on every topic but one of local and national interest ; yet it 
 is supposed such discordant materials will form one homo 
 geneous mass. Abolitionists give but little promise of such 
 wonderful unity in the future. I doubt the practicability of 
 forming such a party ; and I moreover question whether such 
 a party would be consistent with our obligations as citizens. 
 It is evident that this party could effect its professed object, 
 the abolition of slavery, only in a course of years, and in the 
 meantime it is to neglect and disregard every other interest. 
 The party as such can have no opinion and exert no influence 
 either in elections or elsewhere in relation to the trade, the 
 finances, internal improvements, foreign affairs, or the mili 
 tary power of the nation, and no inquiry is to be allowed 
 into the opinions of candidates on these most important topics. 
 
 " I fear the very attempt to form such a party will prove 
 injurious to the antislavery cause. It excites dissensions 
 among ourselves. On this point I will not enlarge. It will 
 present in its results a false and disheartening estimate of the 
 number of abolitionists; because as many antislavery men 
 will refuse to support the abolition candidates, the canvass 
 will represent us as far less numerous than we really are. 
 
HO WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 Moreover, the abolitionists who are thus called out of the 
 political parties can of course exercise no more influence in 
 them. We are depriving the parties of the little salt that 
 keeps them from utter putrefaction. Had the whig aboli 
 tionists in the last Legislature been nominated by an aboli 
 tionist party they would not have been elected and we should 
 not now have the glorious and blessed jury law. 
 
 "I have never approved under present circumstances of 
 any further organized interference by abolitionists with elec 
 tions than the official questioning of candidates. Under that 
 system every abolitionist might exert a powerful influence 
 merely by withholding his vote, without giving his suffrage 
 for one to whom he was politically opposed. The experiment 
 failed, but by whose fault? Seward and Bradish, Marcy and 
 Tracy, dealt frankly with us. Yet abolitionists made but 
 little difference between the friends and foes. Had Bradish 
 had 20,000 votes more than Seward the conversion of our 
 politicians to abolition would have been general and instan 
 taneous, and slavery would have received an irremediable 
 wound. And can we believe that if abolitionists would not 
 then refrain from voting for the party, they will now consent 
 to vote against it? 
 
 " I am very far from thinking that it can never be right 
 and proper to set up abolition candidates without regard to 
 party preferences. Had the question of emancipation been 
 almost equally poised in the British Parliament it would have 
 been patriotic to turn the scale by a temporary abandonment 
 of the contested objects and the election of antislavery mem 
 bers. And so also I can readily conceive of circumstances in 
 which it may be the duty of the abolitionists of a particular 
 State or district to suspend for a time their labours for the 
 slave in order to unite with the friends of temperance to 
 carry some great point. But taking into consideration the 
 
THE LIBERTY PARTY. 
 
 existing circumstances of the antislavery cause, I am not clear 
 that the formation of an abolition political party, disregard 
 ing all the other interests of the country, is consistent with 
 either duty or policy, and of course it becomes me to decline 
 the request with which you have honoured me. May God 
 enlighten and direct us, and when we cannot think alike 
 may He give us the graces of meekness and charity." 
 
CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 JUDGE JAY CONTINUES TO SUPPOET THE ANTISLAVERY 
 CAUSE BY HIS ADVICE AND WRITINGS. IN CONSEQUENCE 
 OF HIS OPINIONS HE IS DEPRIVED OF HIS SEAT ON 
 THE BENCH. HIS VISIT TO EUROPE. HIS VIEWS ON 
 THE LIBERTY PARTY. ON THE ANNEXATION OF TEXAS. 
 HIS "REVIEW OF THE MEXICAN WAR." HIS ADVO 
 CACY OF INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION AS A REMEDY 
 FOR WAR. HIS WORK IN THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
 
 AFTER the division in the ranks of the antislavery 
 societies in 1840, Judge Jay ceased to take an active 
 part in their proceedings, preferring to support the 
 cause independently by his writings. But he was 
 continually applied to by the societies to assist them 
 by his advice, to give legal opinions on the positions 
 which they wished to take, and to prepare documents 
 which required special judgment and ability. 
 
 In April, 1842, Jay prepared an address to the 
 British Antislavery Society, at the request of Mrs. 
 Lydia Maria Child, who wrote on behalf of the 
 American Antislavery Society. A little later, again 
 by request of Mrs. Child, he gave a legal opinion on 
 the advisability of carrying to the Supreme Court 
 the cases of three men who had been condemned in 
 
 112 
 
POLICY OF ANTISLAVEET SOCIETIES. H3 
 
 Missouri to twelve years' imprisonment for aiding 
 slaves to escape. 
 
 He continued his membership in the American and 
 Foreign Antislavery Society in New York. Here he 
 laboured unceasingly to keep the society fast to its 
 declared purpose, and to prevent it from adding new 
 doctrines and objects which he believed must result 
 in further divisions injurious to the cause. 
 
 In April, 1841, he wrote on this subject to Lewis 
 Tappan : 
 
 " I am glad the society will not be concerned in establish 
 ing a missionary station in Africa. The great vice of our 
 antislavery societies has been, and is, meddling with things 
 they have no right to meddle with, and this they have done 
 on a most vicious principle, that the end sanctifies the means. 
 In general, abolitionists mean well ; but they grievously mis 
 take when they think themselves authorized to pursue, in 
 their associated capacity, whatever benevolent or religious 
 plan they individually approve. They unite for certain 
 specified purposes, and receive money expressly to forward 
 those purposes; and to employ their associated influence or 
 their common funds for other distinct purposes is not, in 
 my opinion, consistent with strict morality." 
 
 In August, 1841, Judge Jay was requested by the 
 Executive Committee of the American and Foreign 
 Antislavery Society to allow his name to be an 
 nounced as a regular contributor to the society's 
 organ, the Reporter. He took this opportunity to 
 repeat his warnings against the departure of the 
 abolitionists from the line of action which they had 
 
WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 marked out for themselves in the early days of the 
 agitation. 
 
 "As an abolitionist I have deeply deplored the dissensions 
 which have marred our harmony and almost annihilated our 
 moral influence; and I have constantly and resolutely ab 
 stained, as far as my sense of duty would permit me, from 
 aggravating those dissensions by partaking in them. The 
 obvious tendency of the announcement contemplated by your 
 resolution is to impress the public with the belief that the 
 gentlemen who are held forth as the future contributors to 
 the Reporter maintain the principles and approve the course 
 of that paper. Such an impression, so far as regards myself, 
 would be most strictly accurate were the principles and 
 course of the paper to continue such as they have hitherto 
 been. To the American and Foreign Antislavery Society I 
 did fondly look as a refuge for such abolitionists as had been 
 expelled from the old society by the faithlessness of those who 
 converted it into an instrument for spreading other than 
 antislavery doctrines. I did, notwithstanding past experience, 
 regard the constitution of the new society as affording a 
 guarantee that its members would not be required to support 
 any other principles and measures than such as were indicated 
 in that instrument. In consequence of this belief I did not 
 decline office in the society, and I aided in defraying the ex 
 penses and in filling the columns of the Reporter. The paper 
 was conducted with ability and honesty, promised to exert a 
 happy influence in restoring peace and harmony to our ranks. 
 The society was pledged by its constitution ' carefully to ab 
 stain from all the machinery of party political arrangements 
 in effecting the objects,' and the Reporter faithfully con 
 formed itself to this pledge. But in the very last number we 
 are informed that at the last meeting a vote of the society, 
 
POLICY OF ANTISLAVEEY SOCIETIES. H5 
 
 ' nearly unanimous,' was taken in favour of striking this 
 pledge from the constitution, but that inasmuch as the notice 
 required by Article X. had not been given, the amendment 
 was not constitutionally adopted. The pledge is therefore 
 virtually, although not formally, withdrawn; and we have 
 every reason to believe that at the next meeting it will be 
 expunged from the constitution. It is therefore obvious that 
 the society, instead of being a rallying point for abolitionists, 
 is henceforth to be a mere partisan organization, excluding 
 from its fellowship multitudes of honest, zealous, and con 
 sistent abolitionists because they cannot adopt the maxim 
 now promulgated in certain quarters, that the friends of 
 immediate emancipation should labour to secure for them 
 selves all the loaves and fishes in the gift of the republic 
 the power and emoluments of every office, from that of Presi 
 dent of the United States to that of Path Master of a ward 
 district. The vote of the society just mentioned is tanta 
 mount to a declaration that it will as soon as possible employ 
 all the machinery of party political arrangement for the ex 
 clusive elevation of abolitionists to political power. This 
 is not an object for which I have associated with aboli 
 tionists, nor is it one in which I intend to co-operate with 
 them. But the Reporter, I am bound to believe, will be used 
 as an instrument to effect this object, because I am bound to 
 believe that the official organ of the society will not fail to 
 advocate and pursue its avowed policy. Hence I cannot and 
 ought not to give it in advance my confidence and counte 
 nance by complying with the request with which you have 
 honoured me. 
 
 " I have thus frankly stated my sentiments without intend 
 ing to impeach the motives of others, and without meaning 
 to assume a hostile attitude towards the friends and support 
 ers of what is denominated the Third party. With that 
 
WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 party I cannot conscientiously and consistently unite, but I 
 have purposely abstained from publicly mingling in the con 
 troversies to which it has given rise, and I have now expressed 
 my dissent from it only because I could not otherwise explain 
 my refusal of your polite invitation. 
 
 "In justice to myself, permit me to remark that my 
 opinions on slavery and abolition have undergone no change, 
 and that every principle I have ever avowed as an abolition 
 ist is still cherished by me with no other difference than 
 possibly a stronger conviction than formerly of its truth and 
 importance. 
 
 " That we may all be guided by wisdom from above and 
 be enabled not merely to break the bonds of the slaves, but 
 in our conduct to adorn our Christian profession, is my fer 
 vent wish." 
 
 The antislavery societies, by the admission into 
 their proceedings of projected reforms having no con 
 nection with their ostensible object, had gradually 
 become divided and weakened. Jay had protested 
 unceasingly against this course, but the tendency 
 had been irresistible. "Our antislavery societies," 
 he wrote in 1846, " are, for the most part, virtually 
 defunct. Antislavery conventions are whatever the 
 leaders present happen to be ; sometimes disgustingly 
 irreligious, and very often Jacobinical and disorgan 
 izing ; and frequently proscriptive of such of their 
 brethren who will not consent to render abolition a 
 mere instrument for effecting certain political changes 
 having no relation whatever to slavery." 
 
 The antislavery societies had accomplished the 
 noble and seemingly hopeless task of arousing the 
 
THE LIBERTY PAETT. 117 
 
 national conscience from its lethargy. Their labours 
 had started and given irresistible impulse to a move 
 ment on behalf of the slave which was not to rest 
 until emancipation was attained. But the active 
 conduct of this movement was now passing from 
 their hands into the domain of politics. The contest 
 had become a national issue, to be fought out in 
 legislative halls and to be determined at the polls. 
 
 In August, 1843, the national convention of the 
 Liberty party was held at Buffalo. This convention 
 was more largely attended than the first, every free 
 State excepting New Hampshire having sent dele 
 gates. James Gr. Birney was again nominated for 
 President, and Thomas Morris, of Ohio, for Yice- 
 President. The canvass was carried on with great 
 vigour and spirit. The Birney vote in 1843 showed 
 a large increase, amounting to 60,000. It caused the 
 election of Polk and gave to the abolitionists the 
 balance of power in New York and Michigan. 
 
 Judge Jay had never considered himself as belong 
 ing to either the Whig or the Democratic party. He 
 believed that his judicial position should debar him 
 from active partisanship. Above all, his disapproval 
 of the policy adopted by both political parties towards 
 the slavery question disinclined him to be a member 
 of either. His attitude towards the Liberty party, 
 on its formation in 1840, was set forth in the letter 
 written to Gerrit Smith declining the nomination 
 for governor, which was quoted at length in the last 
 chapter. Judge Jay then doubted the expediency of 
 
118 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 a separate political party making abolition its article 
 of faith and test of membership. But as events pro 
 ceeded, as both the great parties seemed irrevocably 
 pledged to the support of slavery, above all, as both 
 favoured the annexation of Texas, Jay became a pro 
 nounced and active member of the Liberty party. 
 
 He viewed the annexation proceedings with horror, 
 as the death-knell of emancipation and as a scheme 
 of wicked injustice which must react injuriously 
 upon the whole nation. In March, 1843, he wrote to 
 Dr. H. J. Bowditch, of Boston : " The full and entire 
 triumph of the antislavery cause is near and certain, 
 provided that Texas is kept out of the Union. On 
 this point are centred all my fears. I am not dis 
 heartened by the corruption of politicians, nor the 
 deathlike apathy of the community, so long as we 
 remain independent of the renegade republic. Give 
 us time and we can arouse the community from its 
 stupor, we can change public opinion, and politicians 
 will bellow aloud for abolition the moment they find 
 it popular. The danger is that before this change is 
 effected the slaveholders will demand the annexation 
 of Texas as the price of the presidency and that one 
 or more of the candidates will consent to pay it." 
 
 When Birney was nominated in 1843, Jay wrote to 
 G-errit Smith : " I congratulate you upon this result. 
 Birney is a man for whom Christians and patriots can 
 consistently vote. He shall have my cordial support. 
 In my opinion, the selection is creditable to the Lib- 
 
THE LIBEETY PAETT. 119 
 
 erty party, and if it continues to give us candidates 
 of this character, it will be a blessing to our country 
 ... To that party I shall be true so far, and so far 
 only, as it shall be true to itself. May God direct its 
 measures for the protection of our own rights and 
 for the ultimate liberation of the slave." 
 
 Judge Jay was as anxious that the Liberty party 
 should keep faithfully to its antislavery purpose as 
 he had been in the case of the antislavery societies. He 
 believed that the party must end in failure if it allowed 
 extraneous and dividing policies to be admitted to its 
 platform. On this subject he wrote in September, 
 1845, to Henry B. Stanton, who had invited him to a 
 convention in Boston : 
 
 " Notwithstanding the annexation of Texas, great good may 
 result from the Liberty party, provided it be faithful to itself, 
 and be wisely conducted. Hence I am distressed by whatever 
 threatens to impair its integrity and usefulness. You are not 
 ignorant, I presume, of the strenuous efforts now making to 
 change its character and to convert it from an antislavery 
 party into one for matters and things in general. 
 
 "It is proposed by men of talents, energy, and influence 
 that the party shall in future maintain : 
 
 " That the Federal Government has the Constitutional 
 power to abolish slavery in the States. 
 
 " That the clergy shall be subject to all the burdens and 
 enjoy all the privileges of other citizens. This is aimed at the 
 clergy of New York who are not eligible to office, but ex 
 empted, to a great extent, from taxation. No man is here 
 after to be acknowledged to belong to the Liberty party unless 
 
120 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 he objects to the State showing any indulgence to the minis 
 ters of religion. They must be enrolled in the militia, and, 
 like others, called out to work on the highway. 
 
 " That custom-houses be abolished, and with them all pro 
 tective duties. 
 
 " That the salaries of the President and Congressmen be re 
 duced. 
 
 " That the legal profession is a privileged caste and should 
 be abolished. 
 
 " That the public lands be given away. 
 
 " That all monopolies, by which I understand incorporated 
 companies, banks, railroads, etc., be abolished. 
 
 " That women should exercise the right of suffrage and be 
 eligible to office, etc., etc., etc. 
 
 " It is needless to say that if these tests of membership of 
 the Liberty party be adopted, we shall drive from us all whose 
 judgment or whose consciences revolt at them, while thos^e 
 who remain in the party will regard the removal of slavery as 
 a very subordinate object of their labours. My purpose of 
 troubling you with this letter is to suggest to you the expe 
 diency of the convention adopting a resolution in which, with 
 out alluding to the efforts making to change the character of 
 the party, it shall declare that the sole objects of the party are 
 the abolition of slavery, the deliverance of the Federal Govern 
 ment from its influence, and the elevation of the coloured race 
 to equal rights with the whites ; and inviting all who approve 
 of those objects to co-operate with us, whatever may be their 
 opinion on questions of State or national policy. " 
 
 < 
 
 At the Liberty party convention held at Newburg 
 in October, 1845, Judge Jay was unanimously nom 
 inated as a candidate for Senator. In his letter 
 
THE LIBERTY PAETT. 121 
 
 accepting the nomination, he took occasion again to 
 urge the exclusion of irrelevant subjects from the 
 platform of the party. 
 
 " Eecent circumstances induce me to accompany my ac 
 ceptance of this nomination with some remarks. Attempts 
 are making to render the Liberty party subservient to other 
 objects than the overthrow of slavery and the elevation of 
 the coloured people. To these attempts I can lend no aid. 
 While I most explicitly accord to every abolitionist the right 
 of expressing his own opinions on every political and religious 
 subject, I as explicitly deny the right, and shall strenuously 
 resist the attempt, to make me and other members responsible 
 for opinions not necessarily involved in the great objects for 
 the attainment of which the party was formed. In the pur 
 suit of those objects I will cordially and honestly co-operate 
 with others from whose sentiments I dissent ; but I cannot 
 co-operate with them in promoting religious and political 
 changes which I believe to be wrong, in order to increase the 
 influence and hasten the triumph of the Liberty party. To 
 do so would be to act upon the principle, as wicked and 
 detestable as slavery itself, that the end justifies the means. 
 The fact that many good men who unite in abhorrence of 
 slavery entertain conflicting views of the expediency and 
 morality of various proposed reforms seems to me a sufficient 
 reason why the Liberty party should not permit itself to be 
 distracted by the other questions which agitate the commu 
 nity, and which in truth are of but little moment compared 
 with the great evil with which we are struggling." 
 
 In 1846 Jay wrote again on this subject : "I shall 
 leave the Liberty party whenever it makes abolition 
 
122 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 a pack-horse to carry favourite measures unconnected 
 with slavery, whether those measures are of whig or 
 democratic origin." 
 
 Early in the year 1843 the antislavery opinions 
 and labours of Judge Jay caused the loss of his seat 
 on the bench of Westchester County, which he had 
 occupied for more than twenty-five years with such 
 general approval as to cause his steady reappointment 
 term after term by governors of the State who were 
 his political opponents. The circumstances of his re 
 moval are described in a letter which he wrote to 
 Mr. Minot Mitchell, in May, 1843 : 
 
 " I thank you for your friendly letter in relation to my re 
 moval from the bench. The loss of an office which I had 
 held for about a quarter of a century (and which I had con 
 templated resigning in the course of the present year) is not 
 a matter of personal regret. My motive in holding for so 
 long a time a situation which subjected me to no little in 
 convenience and yielded no emolument was a desire to be 
 useful, and a belief that I could exert on the bench a whole 
 some moral influence. How far that belief was well founded 
 is for others to decide. To myself, it is grateful to know that 
 my official conduct, whatever mistakes I may have made, has 
 been pure, unbiased by personal partialities, and uninfluenced 
 by any fear except that of my Maker. 
 
 " To the gentlemen of the Westchester bar generally, as 
 well as to yourself in particular, I am deeply indebted for the 
 uniform kindness and courtesy with which I have been treated ; 
 and had I known at the December term that we were not to 
 meet again, I would have embraced the opportunity of pub 
 licly acknowledging my obligations to them, and of bidding 
 them an affectionate farewell. 
 
EEMOVAL FROM OFFICE. 123 
 
 " Under the circumstances of the case, it would be an af 
 fectation of humility to ascribe my loss of office to any dis 
 satisfaction with my official conduct on the part of the bar or 
 the public. The New York Plebeian, amid all its vituperative 
 clamour for my dismissal, does not even hint a charge against 
 me as a judge, and the editor of the WestcJiester Herald, not 
 withstanding his blind devotion to his party, bears a nattering 
 testimony to my ability as a ' jurist/ and admits that my 
 ' moral worth' is not questioned, as he believes, ' by any man 
 in the country.' 
 
 "Nor have I been proscribed on account of my political 
 opinions. Those opinions belong to the old Washington 
 school I have never concealed them ; and they are the same 
 now as they were when I received office from Governors Tomp- 
 kins, Clinton, Throop, and Marcy, and when President Jack 
 son tendered to me an important and lucrative appoint 
 ment. 
 
 " For twenty years or more I have had no connection with 
 party politics, and have attended no party meeting. It ap 
 peared to me unbecoming a judge to be a political partisan ; 
 and I, moreover, observed so much profligacy, venality, and 
 hypocritical profession in both parties, that I could not con 
 scientiously identify , myself with either. I have for years 
 voted for those I believed to be the most honest of the can 
 didates offered for my suffrage, without regard to the party 
 dogmas they professed. 
 
 " That the people of Westchester had lost their confidence 
 in me and wished me to descend from the bench is not pre 
 tended. On the contrary, I have the most abundant and 
 gratifying proofs of the correctness of your remark, that my 
 removal has occasioned in the county, with all political par 
 ties, unusual dissatisfaction and complaint. 
 
 " If, then, my removal has been effected contrary to the 
 wishes of the county, and not because I lacked in ability or 
 
124 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 integrity, nor even on account of my politics, it becomes a 
 matter of public interest to inquire with what motives and 
 with what views the chief magistrate of New York dispenses 
 the patronage intrusted to him by the constitution for the 
 good of the State. 
 
 " Governor Bouck has, in this instance, as in another far 
 more important, only acted as the instrument of a faction 
 which, while prating about equal rights, is ever ready and 
 eager to barter the welfare, honour, and freedom of the North 
 for Southern votes. 
 
 "You may recollect that previous to my last appointment 
 I was permitted to hold over for a year after my term of office 
 had expired. This extraordinary delay in filling a vacancy 
 on the bench was not the result of accident or inadvertency. 
 It arose from doubts entertained by the leaders at Albany 
 whether the party would gain more at the South than it would 
 lose in Westchester by my removal. Mr. Van Buren was then 
 a candidate for the presidency, and I was shown a confiden 
 tial letter from one of his particular friends at Albany to 
 an influential democrat of this county, discussing the expe 
 diency of my removal. The letter was put into my hands by 
 the gentleman to whom it was addressed. It was admitted by 
 the writer that my conduct as a judge was irreproachable, and 
 that there were no other objections to my reappointment than 
 my antislavery sentiments. My only fault in the eyes of this 
 champion of equal rights was that I was opposed to convert 
 ing men and women into beasts of burden. Still, he was ap 
 prehensive that my removal for such a cause might savour of 
 persecution for abstract opinions; in other words, might be 
 unpopular ; and he wished to know what the party in West- 
 Chester deemed most expedient. After a year's deliberation 
 and hesitation, I was reappointed. Mr. Van Buren is again 
 a candidate, but now he has a Southern democrat for a com- 
 
VOYAGE TO EUROPE. 125 
 
 petitor ; and his party in the State being so strong that he can 
 well afford to risk a little dissatisfaction in Westchester, it is 
 deemed prudent to propitiate the demon of slavery by offering 
 a victim, however humble, on his altar. The Plebeian, de 
 voted to Mr. Van Buren's election, avowed with unblushing 
 frankness that my reappointment would be calculated to prej 
 udice the Democratic party ' in the eyes of our Southern 
 brethren.' 
 
 " Thus, it seems that in order to elevate Mr. Van Buren 
 to the presidency the magistrates of the free, sovereign, and 
 independent State of New York are to be selected with refer 
 ence to the good pleasure of Southern slaveholders. 
 
 ' ' Pardon, my dear sir, the egotism of this letter. I have 
 been compelled to speak of myself in order to expose the cant 
 ing profligacy of our demagogues, and to illustrate one of the 
 numberless accursed influences of slavery. This abhorred sys 
 tem, which in the South makes merchandise of the souls and 
 bodies of men, is at the same time trafficking in the politics, 
 the religion, and the liberties of the North, and putrefying 
 whatever it touches. Against this system I have contended, 
 as did my father before me, and the leisure Governor Bouck 
 has given me shall be faithfully devoted to a continuance of 
 the warfare." 
 
 The " leisure " given to him by Governor Bouck had 
 first to be used by Jay in an attempt to restore his 
 health, which for several years had been failing. In 
 the autumn of 1843 he determined upon a visit to 
 Egypt, and on the 1st of November lie sailed from 
 New York in the " Victoria," of 1100 tons, accompa 
 nied by his wife and his daughters Maria and Augusta. 
 After a short visit to London, the party sailed from 
 
126 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 Southampton for Malta in the " Great Liverpool " of 
 the Oriental Line, with passengers and mail bound to 
 India. At Malta Jay was interested in meeting the 
 famous wit, scholar, and diplomatist, John Hookham 
 Frere, who entertained him at his house outside the 
 walls of the city. 
 
 While in England, Jay had been requested by John 
 Beaumont, on behalf of the British and Foreign Anti- 
 slavery Society, to take charge of a quantity of anti- 
 slavery tracts printed in the Arabic language, and to 
 insure their distribution. After his arrival in Cairo, 
 Jay gave packages of the tracts to several persons 
 whose facilities for distributing them in Egypt were 
 greater than his own. Others he disposed of himself. 
 " During the short time I was in Egypt," he said in 
 a letter, " I distributed tracts in the slave market, in 
 the bazaars, in a public coffee-house, in the hotels, 
 and to persons in the streets." And he was much 
 struck with the fact that what he could do peacefully 
 in Egypt, in a portion of his own country would have 
 endangered his life. 
 
 On his return home, Jay visited Paris, and while 
 there communicated to the Due de Broglie the motives 
 of the Southern statesmen in seeking the annexation 
 of Texas, and made no secret of his hope that France 
 would oppose the proceedings.* 
 
 * During Judge Jay's absence in Europe a striking anti-annexation 
 Texas meeting was held at the Tabernacle in New York, on the 24th 
 of April, 1844. It had been called by members of the King, Duer, Town- 
 send, Goodhue, Sedgwick, Field, Griswold, and Hyslop families and 
 many leading merchants of New York. The call was subsequently pre- 
 
ANNEXATION OF TEXAS. 127 
 
 The events leading up to the annexation of Texas 
 and the Mexican War were followed by Jay with the 
 closest attention. The injustice and cruelty with 
 which Mexico was treated throughout these proceed 
 ings by the United States Government excited his 
 warmest indignation. He was deeply grieved at 
 events which seemed to postpone indefinitely the 
 emancipation of the slaves ; his fears were aroused 
 for the security of free institutions in the North by 
 the great impetus given to the Southern spirit of 
 domination. But above all he felt the disgrace in 
 curred by his own country in forcing upon a weak 
 and friendly power a desolating war for the sole ob 
 ject of wresting from it a territory to be peopled by 
 slaves. The result of Jay's minute knowledge of this 
 dark page in American history was embodied in a 
 volume entitled " A Review of the Causes and Conse 
 quences of the Mexican War," which was published 
 
 sented by John Jay to the New York Historical Society, for preserva 
 tion in its records. A letter was read from Chancellor Kent denounc 
 ing the annexation of Texas without the consent of Mexico as a breach 
 of national faith which would be universally condemned. Speeches were 
 made by Theodore Sedgwick and D. D. Field. But the most imposing 
 feature of the manifestation was the presence in the chair of Albert 
 Gallatin, the last survivor of Jefferson's cabinet, who, despite his age 
 and infirmities, had been carried to the meeting to protest in his own 
 name and in that of his historic chief against so flagrant a violation of 
 national honour and public faith. The appeal of Gallatin for a time 
 promised to be successful. Van Buren, whose views had been doubt 
 ful, wrote, under its influence, his letter to Hammett objecting to an 
 nexation. But an annexation meeting was held in Richmond to coun 
 teract that at New York, and when the Democratic Convention met at 
 Baltimore an adroit change of policy in regard to nominations dis 
 placed Van Buren and nominated Polk. 
 
128 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 in 1849. In this searching " Eeview " Jay exposed the 
 parentage of the movement for the acquisition of 
 Texas in the desire of the South to extend the terri 
 tory devoted to slavery, with the twofold object of 
 creating a new market for slave-breeders and of giv 
 ing to the slave States an overwhelming control of 
 Congress. He traced the devious paths of intrigue by 
 which a rebellion was fomented in Texas by Ameri 
 cans settled there for that express purpose ; the en 
 couragement and aid given secretly to the rebels by 
 the United States ; the recognition of their independ 
 ence ; and finally the subterfuges adopted to achieve 
 the annexation in violation of international rights 
 and the Constitution itself. Jay set forth plainly the 
 fact that hostilities were begun by the United States 
 troops ; he described the military operations by which 
 a weak and defenceless people were reduced to con 
 sent to a dismemberment of their country ; he showed 
 the enormous cost in life and money involved in this 
 war undertaken to furnish a new market for slaves 
 and new power to slaveholders. Jay's " Eeview of the 
 Mexican War " is a contribution to the history of the 
 country which students cannot afford to pass unread. 
 The views expressed in it are painful to patriotism 
 for the reason that they are dictated by the pure 
 patriotism which would make known the whole truth 
 as a warning to posterity. 
 
 The book on the Mexican War was written origi 
 nally for the American Peace Society, which had 
 offered a prize for the best work on the subject. The 
 
THE MEXICAN WAE. 129 
 
 committee appointed to pass judgment on the disser 
 tations presented in competition awarded the prize to 
 Jay's book on condition that he should expunge from 
 it all " general censures on the Whig party." Jay 
 refused to comply with this condition and the prize 
 went to another. But the Peace Society recognized 
 that the value of Jay's book lay in its impartial char 
 acter and caused it to be published as the exposition 
 of the society's views. 
 
 As nearly all the newspapers of both parties had 
 supported the war, they were loth to notice a book 
 which placed the object of their encomiums in so un 
 pleasant a light. But many private letters were re 
 ceived by Jay which showed him that he had the ap 
 proval of the best minds. Joshua E. Giddings wrote : 
 " Thanks be to Him who rules the destiny of nations 
 that we have among us competent and faithful men 
 who possess the moral courage to stand forth and 
 chronicle, in the language of truth, the barbarities of 
 which the nation is guilty. The history of this age 
 will speak to those who come after facts which will 
 cause our descendants to blush. Your ' Eeview of 
 the Mexican War' is faithful and just. ... In writ 
 ing it you have performed a service to your coun 
 try and to mankind infinitely greater than was ever 
 performed by any military officer." 
 
 "Every portion of it," wrote Charles Francis Adams, 
 " commands my unqualified assent. That in the 
 course of God's providence good may be ultimately 
 educed out of evil is the only compensating reflection 
 
130 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 which we can draw from the observation of so nmch 
 wrong. It may be that out of the very measures so 
 wickedly devised to sustain a system of crime may 
 come the means by which it will be overthrown. 
 That your book will do great service in combining 
 and perpetuating the evidence bearing upon this 
 portion of American history, I do not for a moment 
 doubt. It is my profound conviction that there 
 never was a more wicked and unjustifiable war, pro 
 moted by one party and connived at by the other, 
 than the late war with Mexico." 
 
 The prevention of war was a subject which had 
 occupied the mind of Judge Jay for a number of 
 years. The result of his reflections was that system 
 of international arbitration which has become since 
 his death so efficacious a method of settling inter 
 national disputes. A pamphlet entitled "War and 
 Peace : the Evils of the First and a Plan for Preserv 
 ing the Last" was still in manuscript in his desk 
 when, in 1841, Joseph Sturge, the celebrated English 
 philanthropist, visited Bedford. Jay read the pam 
 phlet to Sturge, who was so much struck by the work 
 that he embodied a portion of it in a book which 
 he published on his return to England. The views 
 of Jay attracted the attention of the English Peace 
 Society, who published the whole pamphlet in Lon 
 don in 1842. Jay's plan for the prevention of war 
 was exceedingly simple. It provided that a stipula 
 tion should be made in every treaty that future inter 
 national differences should be referred first to arbitra- 
 
INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION. 
 
 tion, to attempt a peaceful settlement. The idea was 
 heartily approved by Cobden, who wrote to Judge 
 Jay : " If your government is prepared to insert an 
 arbitration clause in the pending treaties I am per 
 suaded that it will be accepted by our government." 
 The scheme of arbitration thus proposed by Jay, and 
 supported by Joseph Sturge and his friends of the 
 English Peace Society, was approved by peace con 
 gresses held in Brussels in 1848, in Paris in 1849, and 
 in London in 1851. Having thus attracted general 
 attention, it was recommended by protocol No. 23 of 
 the Congress of Paris held in 1856 after the Crimean 
 War, which protocol was unanimously adopted by 
 the plenipotentiaries of France, Austria, Great Brit 
 ain, Prussia, Eussia, Sardinia, and Turkey. These 
 governments declared their wish that the States 
 between which any serious misunderstanding might 
 arise should, before appealing to arms, have recourse, 
 as far as circumstances might allow, to the good offices 
 of a friendly power. The honour of the introduction 
 of this measure in the first Congress belongs to Lord 
 Clarendon, whose services had been solicited by Joseph 
 Sturge and Henry Eichard. It was subsequently 
 referred to by Lord Derby as worthy of immortal 
 honour. Lord Malmsbury pronounced it an act " im 
 portant to civilization and to the security of the peace 
 of Europe." The protocol was afterwards approved 
 by all the other powers to which it was referred, more 
 than forty in number. The plan thus suggested by 
 Judge Jay for the prevention of war bore fruit during 
 
132 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 his life, and was destined in after-years to become 
 established in the mind of the civilized world as the 
 true remedy for the greatest scourge of nations.* 
 
 Judge Jay was an earnest and active member of 
 the Episcopal Church, but he was never blind to its 
 imperfections. He deplored as much as any man the 
 countenance given by the church to slavery, but he 
 believed that reformation must and would come from 
 within. He had no sympathy with the "come-outers." 
 Concerning them he wrote in 1846 : " Infidelity is 
 now vigorously availing itself of the conduct of the 
 clergy in relation to this subject to assail the blessed 
 religion of which they are the ministers. A sect is 
 forming who profess to believe that the church is 
 so corrupted by slavery that good men are required 
 to separate from her. These people call themselves 
 4 come-outers.' Lecturers are enlisted in their ser 
 vice, and the clergy, as identified with the cause of 
 human bondage, are daily held up to public detesta 
 tion as heartless hypocrites." Jay would not deny 
 the justice with which the attacks on the clergy were 
 made, and he laboured to place the church where it 
 belonged, in the front rank of the great humanitarian 
 movement. To his efforts were largely due the ad 
 mission of coloured clergy to the conventions of the 
 church, and the gradual abolition of that spirit of 
 caste which prevented a white clergyman from recog 
 nizing a black one as fit to deliberate with him on 
 
 * The later history of international arbitration is set forth by Sir Lyon 
 Playfair in the North American Review for December, 1890. 
 
THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 133 
 
 matters relating to their common religion. To de 
 stroy this race hatred, so contrary to the spirit of 
 Christianity, and to arouse the church to its duty of 
 active opposition to slavery, were Jay's constant en 
 deavours in the conventions of the church. His pen 
 also was frequently occupied with the same subject. 
 His " Letter to Bishop Ives " of North Carolina was a 
 severe yet just arraignment of clergymen who justi- 
 tified slavery from the Scriptures, and it exposed the 
 wickedness of their course in language and with ar 
 guments to which they and their sympathizers were 
 unable to reply. 
 
 When a "History of the American Church," by Sam 
 uel Wilberforce, was published in England, there was 
 naturally in America much curiosity to see the work. 
 Two American publishers announced their intention 
 of reprinting it. But time passed and no reprint 
 appeared. The explanation is given in the words of 
 Jay : "The author of the ' History' in the course of 
 his work advances certain doctrines on the subject 
 of ' slavery ' and of l caste in the church ' which it is 
 thought inconvenient to discuss, and which cannot 
 be admitted in this republic without sealing the con 
 demnation of almost every Christian sect among us 
 and overwhelming our own church with shame and 
 confusion. There are, it is to be feared, but few among 
 our twelve hundred clergymen who, on reading the 
 4 History,' would not find their consciences whispering, 
 ' Thou art the man,' and who would not be anxious to 
 conceal the volume from their parishioners. Hence 
 
134 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 its suppression." Jay was determined that the truths 
 regarding the Episcopal Church in America set forth 
 by the celebrated Dr. Wilberforce should not be quite 
 unattainable by the clergy and laity especially con 
 cerned. In 1846 he caused those passages of the " His 
 tory " relating to slavery to be printed, and introduced 
 them with forcible remarks of his own in the pam 
 phlet entitled " A Reproof of the American Church 
 by the Bishop of Oxford." 
 
&A/7 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 UNPOPULARITY OF THE ABOLITIONISTS. THE COMPRO- 
 MISES OF 1850 AND THE FUGITIVE-SLAVE LAW. JAY'S 
 
 REPLY TO WEBSTER'S 7th OF MARCH SPEECH. THE 
 
 ATTITUDE OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. THE ABROGA 
 TION OF THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. DISUNION. 
 
 THE prospect was dark for the antislavery cause in 
 1850. Its friends had increased steadily in numbers 
 and in earnestness. But the Slave Power had mus 
 tered all its forces in an aggressive campaign which 
 aimed to make slavery a national instead of a local 
 institution, to introduce it into territory hitherto free, 
 and to browbeat the North into submission to every 
 demand of the slaveholder. The compromise meas 
 ures adopted this year in Congress above all, the 
 Fugitive-Slave Law marked the successful advance 
 of arrogant Southern dictation. In the North, the 
 dislike of antislavery men and the willingness to sat 
 isfy the South at the expense of conscience was ex 
 pressed in such scenes as the attack of the Eynders 
 mob on the meeting of the American Antislavery 
 Society in New York and the passive attitude towards 
 it adopted by the authorities. Although the plan of 
 putting down the abolitionists by force had proved 
 
136 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 impracticable, no efforts were spared to make their 
 lives uncomfortable by the attacks of the press and 
 by the pressure of social disapproval. " Our politi 
 cians," wrote Jay to Charles Sumner, "may pride 
 themselves on their adroitness in pandering to popu 
 lar prejudices, and in acquiring power and influence 
 by seasonable changes of opinion and conduct. But 
 a day is coming when their motives and actions will 
 be judged by a very different tribunal than public 
 opinion, and when a single act of benevolence, a sin 
 gle sacrifice of personal consideration to the cause of 
 truth, will outweigh a whole life of obsequiousness 
 and political trickery. 
 
 "The truths we advocate are unpalatable to the 
 two extremes of society. We shock the coarse, vulgar 
 prejudices of the rabble, while the disinterested be 
 nevolence we profess is to them an enigma to be solved 
 only by the imputation of fanaticism. At the same 
 time we disturb the tranquil consciences of the rich, 
 thwart the calculations of politicans, and interrupt the 
 harmony subsisting between our merchants and their 
 Southern customers. Hence the upper classes look 
 upon us as impertinent and exceedingly ungenteel, 
 and unfit to move in the higher circles. I cannot tell 
 how far your personal experience coincides with mine, 
 but I know whereof I affirm. I have advanced no 
 ultra-fanatical doctrines in politics or religion. On 
 the subject of slavery I have but reiterated the opin 
 ions of many of the best and greatest men in England 
 and in our own country. I have adyocated no con- 
 
COMPROMISES OF 1850. 137 
 
 gressional action except such as Mr. Webster, in his 
 better days, pronounced constitutional, and I have 
 condemned all forcible resistance to the Fugitive- 
 Slave Law. Yet solely on account of my antislavery 
 efforts, I find myself nearly insulated in society." 
 
 The Compromise measures of 1850 were repulsive 
 and disheartening to the antislavery men in the North. 
 And no circumstance connected with them was more 
 discouraging than the change of front made by Dan 
 iel Webster his abandonment of the Wilmot Proviso 
 and his concession to the Southern demand for the 
 extension of slavery into the new territory acquired 
 by the Mexican War. Webster's speech of the 7th 
 of March was answered by Judge Jay in a letter to 
 the Evening Post of March 20th, and was afterwards 
 published as a pamphlet and widely circulated. In 
 this letter Jay recalled the eloquent and positive dec 
 laration of Webster made in the Senate on August 
 10, 1848, after New Mexico and California had been 
 acquired : 
 
 " My opposition to the increase of slavery in this country, or 
 to the increase of slave representation, is general and univer 
 sal. 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 combina 
 tions, against all compromises." 
 
 These words were contrasted by Jay with Webster's 
 present excuse for abandoning opposition to the ex 
 tension of slavery on the ground that the laws of 
 
138 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 " physical geography " made slavery impossible in the 
 new territory and to forbid its existence there was 
 merely " to re-enact the will of Grod." 
 
 " To what/' asked Jay, " did this solemn, emphatic, unqual 
 ified asservation refer ? Did he then know that there was a foot 
 of territory in the United States over which it was morally 
 and physically impossible to extend slavery? Was he promis 
 ing 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 Cass and the slaveholders in denouncing and scorn 
 ing 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 be 
 lief in the danger of the extension of slavery and slave repre 
 sentation, when he well knew that the fiat of the Almighty 
 had rendered such extension impossible? Was he then ac 
 quainted with the law of physical geography which would 
 render the Proviso 4 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 ingulf the 
 Union? To suppose all this would be to impute to Mr. Web 
 ster 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 geogra 
 phy the law of the formation of the earth , that settles forever, 
 beyond all terms of human enactment) that slavery cannot 
 exist in California or New Mexico.' It is to be regretted 
 
HIS EEPLT TO WEBSTEE. 139 
 
 that Mr. Webster did not condescend to demonstrate the exist 
 ence 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 suspended in deference 
 to the Spanish government ; for under that government negro 
 slavery did exist in California and New Mexico, and it ceased in 
 1824, not by the ( law of physical geography,' but by a Mexi 
 can 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. . . . 
 
 " 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 the Fugitive-Slave Law, which makes the liberty or bond 
 age of a citizen depend on the affidavit of a slaveholder and 
 the judgment of a post-master a law which converts sympa 
 thy for guiltless misery into crime, and threatens to tenant 
 our jails with our most estimable men and women. But Mr. 
 Webster underrates the intelligence and sensibilities of the 
 masses. Eelying on the Southern affinities of our commer 
 cial cities, on the subserviency of politicians, on the discipline 
 of party, and on his own great influence, Mr. Webster looks 
 doivn upon the people ; but the time is probably not far dis 
 tant when the people will cease to look up to him. Parties 
 
140 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 will accept of any leaders who can acquire for them the spoils 
 of the day, but in the political history of our country the peo 
 ple have never placed their affections upon any man in whose 
 stability and consistency they did not confide." 
 
 To give such assistance as lie could to a fugitive 
 slave had always been regarded by Judge Jay as a 
 duty. "The slaveholders," he had written, "with 
 their accustomed impudence and mendacity, apply 
 the term theft to the humane and Christian efforts to 
 assist a slave in escaping from his home of bondage. 
 In their sense of the expression, I glory in being a 
 slave-stealer, and I inculcate upon my children the 
 duty, the Christian duty, of this kind of theft." He 
 had sheltered and aided many runaways at his home 
 at Bedford, and his will contained a bequest of a thou 
 sand dollars to be used for this purpose. His son John 
 gave his services as a lawyer constantly and success 
 fully to prevent the return of fugitive slaves. 
 
 When the Fugitive- Slave Bill became a law Judge 
 Jay was applied to by many individuals, societies, and 
 periodicals to give his views concerning it. "The 
 law," he said in a private letter, " is an outrage upon 
 the Constitution of our country and the precepts of 
 our religion. It is a burlesque on justice and on all 
 the acknowledged rules of evidence in the trial of is 
 sues. The demand it makes upon individual citizens 
 to aid in hunting and enslaving their fellow-men is 
 diabolical. I have made up my mind to suffer im 
 prisonment and the spoiling of my goods rather than 
 hazard my soul by rendering any active obedience to 
 
THE FUGITIVE-SLAVE LAW. 
 
 this sinful law. It is horrible that so many of our 
 fashionable cotton divines are now preaching up the 
 supremacy of human law and virtually dethroning 
 Him whose ambassadors they profess to be." 
 
 " In my opinion, every Northern slave-catcher is a 
 base man, and every lawyer who takes reward against 
 the innocent is a disgrace to a noble profession. I 
 myself shall offer no forcible resistance against the 
 execution of this most wicked law, but I trust that, 
 through the grace of God, I would go to the scaffold 
 sooner than obey it." 
 
 Concerning the constitutionality of the law, Judge 
 Jay wrote to Josiah Quincy: "The fugitive- slave 
 clause in the Constitution is of course obligatory, 
 but there is a wide distinction between the fugitive- 
 slave clause and the fugitive-slave law. The Con 
 stitution gives no power to Congress to legislate on 
 the subject, but imposes on the States the obligation 
 of rendition. Chief- Justice Hornblower, of New York, 
 and Chancellor Walworth, of New York, long since 
 pronounced the fugitive law of '93 unconstitutional 
 on this very ground." 
 
 The demoralization caused by the execution of the 
 law was described by Jay in a letter to G-errit Smith : 
 " It is scoundrelizing our people. Cruelty and injus 
 tice are cultivated as virtues, Christian love and sym 
 pathy with human suffering are treated as prejudices 
 to be conquered, and zeal in hunting slaves is made 
 the test of patriotism and of fitness for office. But the 
 most diabolical effect of the law is the competition it 
 
142 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 has excited among our politicians to offer the blood 
 of their fellow-citizens in exchange for Southern 
 votes." 
 
 To a committee of free coloured men who asked 
 Judge Jay's advice regarding the propriety of arm 
 ing themselves to prevent being kidnapped under the 
 law, he said : " Most deeply do I sympathize with you 
 in your unhappy state. With your wives and chil 
 dren, you are now placed at the disposal of any villain 
 who is ready to perjure himself for the price you will 
 bring in the human shambles of the South. With less 
 ceremony and trouble than a man can impound his 
 neighbour's ox, you may be metamorphosed from a 
 citizen of the State of New York into a beast of 
 burden on a Southern plantation. On leaving your 
 house in the morning you may be enticed into an 
 other, where one of the newly appointed commission 
 ers, after reading one affidavit, made a thousand 
 miles off, and another that you are the person named 
 in the first, or on the bare oath of the kidnapper him 
 self, may inform you, to your amazement and horror, 
 that you are a slave. The fetters previously prepared 
 are placed on your limbs, and in a few minutes you 
 are travelling with railroad velocity to a Southern 
 market. Never again will you behold your wife and 
 children, nor will any tidings from them ever reach 
 your ear. The remainder of your life is to be one 
 of toil and stripes. . . . Yet," he continued, " leave, I 
 beseech you, the pistol and the bowie-knife to South 
 ern ruffians and their Northern mercenaries. That 
 
THE FUGITIVE-SLAVE LAW. 143 
 
 this law will lead to bloodshed I take for granted, 
 but let it be the blood of the innocent, not of the 
 guilty. If anything can arouse the torpid conscience 
 of the North, it will be our streets stained with human 
 blood shed by the slave-catchers." 
 
 The Fugitive- Slave Law, in Jay's opinion, was the 
 natural sequence to the attempt to put down the anti- 
 slavery movement by force : " For years, most stren 
 uous efforts, prompted by commercial and political 
 views, were made to deprive the opponents of slavery 
 of their constitutional privileges by lawless violence. 
 The right of petition was suspended, the freedom of 
 debate interrupted, the sanctity of the post-office 
 violated, public meetings dispersed, printing-presses 
 destroyed, furious mobs excited, churches sacked, 
 private houses gutted, and even murder perpetrated. 
 All this violation of rights was regarded with com 
 placency by many who had much at stake, so long as 
 abolitionists alone were the victims. But the spirit 
 of aggression thus raised and fostered is seeking new 
 subjects on which to exercise its power. ' Gentlemen 
 of property and standing ' are now beginning to feel 
 alarmed about socialism, anti-rentism, agrarianism, 
 etc. Hence, of late we hear much of the importance 
 of conservatism, as it is called. The political move 
 ments of the last few months seem to indicate that 
 our landlords and cotton lords and merchant princes 
 regard an alliance with the aristocracy of the South 
 as at least in some degree a security against the 
 violation of vested rights, sequestration of rents, op- 
 
144 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 press! ve taxation, unequal laws, etc. To the influ 
 ence of gentlemen of this class the late slave law 
 owes its passage. 
 
 " And is it indeed believed that the rights of the rich 
 will be protected by familiarizing the populace with 
 the practice of injustice and cruelty towards the poor 1 
 Will the sight of innocent men seized in our streets and 
 sent in fetters to till the broad fields of great landown 
 ers increase the reverence felt for land titles ? Is it 
 wise to give the people practical lessons in the demoli 
 tion of all the barriers raised by the common law for 
 the protection of the weak against the strong ? Is it 
 true conservatism to obliterate in the masses the 
 sense of justice, the feelings of humanity, the distinc 
 tion between right and wrong ? " 
 
 The tacit support given to slavery by the Episco 
 pal Church at large and the active support given to it 
 by many individual clergymen was a source of con 
 stant grief to Judge Jay and a frequent subject of 
 his thoughts. " You well know," he wrote to Joseph 
 Sturge, " what a mighty effort has been made by our 
 Northern traders in Southern votes and merchandise, 
 under the leadership of Daniel Webster, to roll back 
 the antislavery tide. To a certain extent they have 
 succeeded. The commercial interest in the great 
 towns, through a rivalry for the Southern trade, has 
 professed great alacrity in slave-catching, and politi 
 cal aspirants for office under the Federal Government 
 find it expedient to make slave-hunting the test of 
 patriotism. But the religious feeling of the common- 
 
THE EPISCOPAL CHUECH. 145 
 
 alty that is, of those who are not pre-eminently gen 
 tlemen of property and standing is shocked by the 
 enormous cruelty and injustice of the fugitive law. 
 To overcome this feeling, which in its demonstrations 
 is exceedingly inconvenient to our merchants and 
 office-seekers, the clergy have been urged by the press 
 and other agencies to come out in support of the law 
 in other words, to give the sanction of the gospel 
 of Christ to the enslavement of innocent men. Some 
 pastors who preach in fine churches to rich and fash 
 ionable city congregations have complied. You must 
 understand that many of our brokers, merchants, law 
 yers, and editors were exceedingly scandalized by the 
 opposition of religious people to this vile law, and 
 they have trembled for the honour of our holy relig 
 ion when some of its professors contended that an 
 impious law was not binding on the conscience." 
 
 The position of the church was strongly stated by 
 Jay in a letter to Eev. Hiram Jelliff : " It is one of 
 the most melancholy circumstances of the condition 
 of the coloured people that so many of the ministers 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ are among their most influ 
 ential enemies. The church of the living God is the 
 great buttress of slavery and caste in the United 
 States. If any plea can be urged in behalf of infidel 
 ity, it is that Christianity as represented by multi 
 tudes of its official teachers authorizes the abrogation 
 of all its precepts of humility, justice, and benevo 
 lence in the treatment of persons to whom God has 
 given a coloured skin. Look at the conventions of 
 
146 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 New York and Pennsylvania excluding ministers and 
 disciples of the crucified Eedeemer merely because 
 they are poor and despised ! I confess, my dear sir, 
 that were I a young man, with no early religious im 
 pressions and about to decide on the truth or false 
 hood of revelation, I fear I should be strongly tempted 
 to believe that a religion such as it is practically ex 
 hibited by your cotton-parsons could not and did not 
 proceed from a just and benevolent being. I have 
 had great opportunities of knowing the effect pro 
 duced by the countenance given to slavery and caste 
 by the church on the faith of many kind-hearted and 
 conscientious people, and in all sincerity I declare 
 that our pro-slavery clergy, our negro-hating clergy, 
 our slave-catching clergy, are the most successful 
 apostles of infidelity in the country. I write thus 
 freely to you because your course is in direct opposi 
 tion to those I condemn. The Saviour eat, drank, and 
 lodged with the Samaritans, who were the negroes of 
 Judea, a despised, degraded caste, from whom a Jew 
 disdained to receive even a cup of water. . . . May 
 God bless and reward your labours." 
 
 Occupying, as Judge Jay did, a position of leader 
 ship in both the Episcopal Church and the antislav- 
 ery movement, it was to him that men most fre 
 quently turned for advice on subjects relating to the 
 connection between the church and slavery. From 
 mature minds, such as that of Senator Salmon P. 
 Chase, from divinity students and young men con 
 templating connection with a religious body, came 
 
THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 147 
 
 inquiries regarding the duty of joining the church or 
 of remaining a member. To a young man Jay wrote 
 in 1854: "I shall say nothing of the claims of the 
 Episcopal Church as arising from her doctrines, forms, 
 and government, except that I know of no church 
 which, judged ty its authorized standards, is more 
 scriptural and more conducive to holiness in this life 
 and to salvation in the next. You desire to enter this 
 church but have not been able to overcome the objec 
 tion arising from its connection with slavery, and 
 would like to know, for your information, how I recon 
 cile my continuance in this church with my antislavery 
 opinions. Assuredly I could not belong to a church 
 which exacted of its members an admission of the law 
 fulness of human bondage. Of such a sin and folly 
 the Episcopal Church is guiltless. No sanction of 
 slavery can be found in any of her standards, and 
 hence I can very consistently hold the doctrines of the 
 church and join in its prayers and rites and at the same 
 time regard American slavery as the sum of all villain 
 ies. There are in the church slaveholding bishops, 
 clergymen, and communicants, plenty of them. But I 
 am not responsible for their presence. . . . There 
 never has been, and I suppose there never will be, a 
 widely extended church without unworthy pastors and 
 members. A pure church composed of fallible and 
 sinful men is a figment of the imagination. . . . 
 Many popish doctrines and practices are occasionally 
 advocated by our Puseyites. But I, as a private mem 
 ber of the church, am in no degree responsible for the 
 
148 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 heresies of Puseyism nor the more disgusting heresies 
 of cotton-divinity. ... In my opinion, in nine cases 
 out of ten an antislavery Christian can do more good 
 to his own soul, to the cause of Christ, and to the inter 
 ests of the slave by remaining in his church and there 
 battling for truth and justice, than by going in search 
 of a pure church. It often happens when an aboli 
 tionist abandons an alleged pro-slavery church he 
 finds no other that suits him. Hence the public wor 
 ship of God and the Sacraments are neglected. Grad 
 ually he and his family learn to live without God in 
 the world, and finally enter upon that broad road 
 which leads to destruction." 
 
 The position assumed by the Episcopal Church 
 towards the rights and elevation of the blacks was 
 indicated by the refusal of the Diocesan Council of 
 New York to admit the coloured church of St. Philip, 
 although the parish was constitutionally entitled to 
 be represented and her minister and delegates were 
 entitled to seats and votes. Judge Jay opposed ear 
 nestly a majority report from a committee on the 
 question of their admission, which contended that the 
 applicants belonged to a race " socially degraded, and 
 improper associates for the class of persons who at 
 tend our conventions." Such an apology for the vio 
 lation of the constitutional rights ordained by the 
 State, and such a presentation of the theological 
 views entertained by the committee on the unity of 
 the church and the catholic brotherhood of its mem 
 bers, was not calculated to strengthen the opposition 
 
THE EXTENSION OF SLAVERY. 149 
 
 to St. Philip's; and the Christian world breathed 
 more freely when, after a nine years' struggle to obtain 
 a vote on the question maintained by Judge Jay and 
 his son, the coloured parish was admitted by a large 
 majority of both orders. 
 
 In 1854 Southern aggression had nearly reached 
 its culminating point. The Missouri Compromise was 
 abrogated ; the Kansas-Nebraska Bill threw open to 
 slavery an immense territory hitherto free, under the 
 subterfuge invented by General Cass and Senator 
 Douglas of " popular sovereignty." Slavery was thus 
 to extend over the vast regions in the centre of the 
 continent. An indefinite number of new slave States 
 were to be admitted into the Union, which would give 
 the control of the Senate, and consequently of all leg 
 islation, forever to the Slave Power. 
 
 In February, 1854, Judge Jay received an invita 
 tion to address the Anti-Nebraska Convention of the 
 Free Democracy of Massachusetts. His age and 
 health prevented a journey to Boston, but he wrote 
 to the committee of invitation as follows : 
 
 "It is meet and right that the stupendous iniquity now 
 about to be perpetrated should be resisted by the true-hearted 
 citizens of that State which, more than any other in the con 
 federacy, has debauched the moral sentiment of the nation and 
 prepared the community for submission to the most insolent 
 usurpation yet attempted by the Slave Power. The present 
 effort to extend the dominion of the whip to the northern 
 limits of the United States is the legitimate consequence of 
 the disastrous and disgraceful concessions of 1850. Those 
 
150 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 concessions were effected more through the ability and labours 
 of the late distinguished senator from Massachusetts than 
 of any of his coadjutors. Mr. Webster, avowing the entire 
 constitutionality of the Wilmot Proviso and having voted for 
 it in relation to Oregon, objected to its application to the 
 newly conquered territories on the ground that their Asiatic 
 scenery and geographical conformation rendered it physically 
 impossible for negro slavery ever to exist in them. Unhappily 
 for his novel and extraordinary theory, numerous slaves were 
 at the time he spoke held in California. . . . Slaves are at 
 this day held in New Mexico. 
 
 " Mr. Webster, in giving his earnest and cordial support to 
 the atrocious Fugitive-Slave Act, candidly acknowledged on 
 the floor of the Senate that in ' his judgment ' Congress had 
 no constitutional power to legislate on the subject, the obli 
 gation of surrendering fugitives resting on the States. Yet 
 he scrupled not in his subsequent addresses to speak in terms 
 of unmeasured obloquy of every lawyer who presumed to deny 
 the constitutionality of that horrible law. He admitted the 
 right of Congress to grant the fugitive a trial by jury, yet 
 was unwearied in his advocacy of a law denying to the most 
 helpless of mortals that important safeguard of personal 
 liberty. . . . 
 
 " The course of this gentleman at a moment when the dear 
 est principles of liberty, justice, and humanity were vehe 
 mently assailed was rapturously applauded by the monied, 
 the literary, and the ecclesiastical aristocracy of Massachusetts, 
 and the New England Church has to a great extent canonized 
 his memory. 
 
 " The ardour evinced by the city of Boston in the surren 
 der of Simms, and the intense servility and degradation accom 
 panying that surrender, together with the emphatic endorse 
 ment of Mr. Webster's conduct, have exerted an influence in 
 
THE EXTENSION OF SLAVEEY. 
 
 behalf of human bondage and in derogation of Christian obli 
 gation far beyond the bounds of Massachusetts. The moral 
 bulwark raised at the North against slavery in times past by 
 the religious sentiment and the respect for the rights of man 
 is nearly demolished. 
 
 " The Slave Power, taking advantage of the present paraly 
 sis of the Northern conscience and the frantic cupidity of our 
 demagogues and merchants for Southern votes and Southern 
 trade, is about placing its yoke on willing and bending necks. 
 
 " Think not that Nebraska is to be the terminus of slave- 
 holding encroachments. New slave States are from time to 
 time to be carved out of Mexico. Cuba is to be wrested from 
 Spain and St. Domingo re-enslaved and annexed. As the 
 field for slave labour widens and widens, the supply will be 
 found inadequate to the demand. The discovery will then 
 be made that both religion and policy require the repeal of 
 the prohibition of the African slave-trade. We shall be told 
 of the Christian duty of bringing the pagans of Africa to our 
 own civilized shores and of preparing them for heaven by the 
 discipline of the whip and the teachings of slave-drivers, while 
 politicans and political economists will insist on the removal 
 of the restriction as essential to the development of our 
 national wealth and enterprise. In vain will Virginia and 
 the other breeding States strive to retain their present lucra 
 tive monopoly of the human shambles. The cotton and 
 sugar States, together with the newly acquired slave States, 
 aided by Northern politicians, will establish free trade in the 
 bodies and souls of men. 
 
 " The Southern Church is almost without exception the 
 unblushing champion of slavery, while the Northern Church, 
 adopting a time-serving, heartless, and often hypocritical neu 
 trality, and holding in its fraternal embrace slave breeders 
 and slave-traders, has virtually taught that the vilest outrages 
 
152 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 on both the civil and religious rights of the black man are 
 perfectly compatible with the highest sanctity in his white 
 oppressor. Some of our religious journals are sadly grieved 
 and scandalized by the alleged discovery that certain oppo 
 nents of slavery are infidels. For my own part, I know of no 
 form of infidelity so hideous as that which impiously claims 
 the authority of Almighty God for abrogating all His laws in 
 behalf of justice and mercy in reference to our conduct to 
 wards millions of our countrymen not of the same colour as 
 ourselves. This cutaneous Christianity, so insulting to the 
 Deity, so disastrous to man, is fast becoming the national 
 religion. 
 
 " The present crisis is indeed an awful one. While various 
 causes have aided in producing it, its immediate origin is to 
 be traced to the lamentable defection, in 1850, of so many of 
 the rich and influential from truth and justice, liberty and 
 humanity, under the fallacious plea of saving the Union. 
 Well may the Free Democracy of Massachusetts, with their 
 hands and consciences undefiled by oblations on the altar of 
 the American Moloch, now strive to avert the calamity im 
 pending over the country. May a long-suffering God bless 
 their efforts and rescue a guilty nation from the punishment 
 it seems anxious to inflict upon itself." 
 
 " As to the wickedness of the whole Kansas busi 
 ness," Jay wrote to Charles Sumner, in March, 1856, 
 " I most fully agree with you, and I do not wonder 
 that amid such abounding iniquity you are at a loss 
 what atrocity to assail first. I am very much inclined 
 to look upon every Northern member of Congress who 
 voted for the repeal of the Missouri Compromise as 
 a rascal. This may seem harsh it is certainly not 
 
THE EXTENSION OF SLAVERY. 153 
 
 polite and yet I am utterly unable to assign a good, 
 honest, religious motive for the vote, or to reconcile 
 it with the fear of God or with love to man. . . . Let 
 us fight on, with all our heart and mind and soul. 
 God is with us, approves our efforts, and whether He 
 shall crown them with success or not, He will not 
 forget our work of faith and labour of love. I have 
 full faith in an ultimate triumph, although you and I 
 may not live to enjoy it. My belief is, that as soon 
 as the North ceases to tremble before the slave- 
 drivers, the non-slaveholders of the South will pro 
 claim their independence and insist upon free speech 
 and a free press, and as soon as these are obtained 
 the doom of slavery is sealed." 
 
 The repeal of the Missouri Compromise was the 
 beginning of the end, the fatal step of the South on 
 its road to destruction. Throughout the North the 
 conviction grew that Union and slavery could not 
 exist much longer together. On the 4th of July, 
 1854, Garrison publicly burned a copy of the Consti 
 tution of the United States with the words, " The 
 Union must be dissolved ! " He represented only an 
 extreme sentiment. But the people at large began to 
 calculate the value of this Union for which so many 
 sacrifices had been made. Slavery became odious to 
 many persons hitherto indifferent to the subject, on 
 the ground that it persistently and selfishly placed 
 the Union in peril. 
 
 In the summer of 1857 Judge Jay received a cir 
 cular calling for a National Disunion Convention, to 
 
154 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 be held at Worcester, signed by T. W. Higginson, 
 Wendell Phillips, Daniel Mann, and W. L. Garrison. 
 To this circular he replied at length, giving his views 
 on the question of separation as it then appeared to 
 him. 
 
 " The subject you propose for consideration/' he said, 
 "has long been to me one of deep and painful interest. 
 Although fully conscious of the many social, commercial, and 
 political advantages derived from the Federal Union, I am 
 nevertheless convinced that it is at present a most grievous 
 moral curse to the American people. To the people of the 
 South it is a curse by fostering and strengthening and per 
 petuating an iniquitous, corrupting institution. To the mill 
 ions of African descent among us it is a curse by riveting the 
 chains of the bondman and deepening the degradation of the 
 free man. To the people of the free States it is a curse by 
 tempting them to trample under foot the obligations of truth, 
 justice, and humanity for the wages of iniquity with which 
 the Federal Government has so abundantly rewarded apostates 
 from liberty and righteousness. 
 
 "In my opinion, while the Union continues to be thus a 
 curse it will be indissoluble ; if it ever ceases to be a curse, 
 it will be converted into a blessing. 
 
 " What possible reason have you to expect that those in 
 church and state who have surrendered their consciences to 
 the seductions of the Union will listen to your call and aid you 
 in breaking a power which they glory in saving? While I 
 believe you are doomed to disappointment, I nevertheless re 
 joice in every exposure of the demoralizing influence of the 
 Union. I rejoice in such exposure, not as tending to bring 
 about dissolution, but to render it unnecessary. When the 
 
DISUNION. 155 
 
 people of the North cease to idolize the Union, they will 
 cease to offer on its altar their rights and their duties. 
 When released from their thraldom to the Slave Power, they 
 will cease to place its minions in office. When no longer 
 covetous of the votes and the trade of the South, they will no 
 longer be bullied into all manner of wretchedness and all 
 manner of insult by the idea and ever-repeated threats of dis 
 solution. But when this happy time arrives, the Union will 
 be converted from a curse into a blessing. Our divines, in 
 stead of vindicating cruelty and oppression, and denouncing 
 as fanatics those who consider the will of God a higher law 
 than an accursed act of Congress, will become preachers of 
 righteousness. Democrats, seeing the Federal patronage 
 wielded by the opponents of slavery, will, in the rapidity 
 and extent of their conversion to truth and justice, eclipse 
 all the marvels of New England revivals ; and men who for 
 years have been bowed to the earth by spinal weakness will 
 as by miracle stand erect. When all this happens, the North 
 will continue its Union with the South ; and you yourselves 
 will have no wish to see that Union severed. 
 
 " At the close of the war, Washington, solicitous that the 
 divine favour might rest on the new-born nation, publicly 
 offered the prayer that God would dispose us all to do justice 
 and love mercy. May the Union, when exerting an influence 
 in accordance with this prayer, be indissoluble ; but may God 
 forbid that it may ever be saved by promoting, extending, and 
 perpetuating injustice and cruelty, by invoking the wrath of 
 Heaven, and becoming a proverb and a reproach among the 
 nations of the earth." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 DEATH OF JUDGE JAY. HIS POSITION AMONG ANTISLAV- 
 EBY MEN. HIS OTHEE PUBLIC AND PHILANTHEOPIC 
 INTERESTS. HIS PEIVATE LIFE. HIS CHAEACTEE. 
 
 JUDGE JAY was not destined to live to see the 
 triumph of the antislavery cause and of the consti 
 tutional principles to which he had devoted his life. 
 Several years of failing health preceded his death, 
 which took place at Bedford, October the 14th, 1858. 
 
 His career in the antislavery cause, dating from the 
 Missouri Compromise in 1821, was in several respects 
 unique, and among the leaders of the movement his 
 position continued to be distinctive. 
 
 His first active efforts in favour of the slave, the 
 presentation to Congress in 1826 of petitions for the 
 abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, were 
 marked by a careful regard to the provisions of the 
 United States Constitution. At the first formation 
 of antislavery societies he feared that philanthropic 
 enthusiasm might place the movement in a wrong 
 position by a failure to recognize those provisions. 
 His advice was asked by the men who organized the 
 American Society in Philadelphia, and it was carried 
 into effect by the insertion into the constitution of 
 
 156 
 
HIS CAREEE. 157 
 
 the society of a complete recognition of the supreme 
 national law, in strict accordance with which, only, 
 the objects of the society should be sought. To main 
 tain the abolitionists in the impregnable position thus 
 adopted was the constant and characteristic labour 
 of Jay's life. This position, consistently held by 
 him against unconstitutional doctrines advanced by 
 both abolitionists and slaveholders, was the position 
 adopted by the Eepublican party in 1854, and main 
 tained until real union and real liberty were won 
 together. 
 
 The antislavery movement was begun and sup 
 ported by those whom Lincoln called " the plain peo 
 ple." Men of "property and standing" were gener 
 ally passively if not actively hostile. It received 
 little help from the churches, from the learned profes 
 sions or the wealthy mercantile classes. It was a 
 very unpopular cause, denounced by politicians, mer 
 chants, and lawyers, despised by many of the clergy, 
 certain to bring social and business injury, if not 
 active persecution, to whomsoever adopted it. Hence 
 the championship of William Jay derived a special 
 importance. His judicial and social position, his in 
 dependent means, his active membership in the most 
 aristocratic of churches, made him a leader of peculiar 
 value. His advocacy of the cause could be attributed 
 neither to ignorant fanaticism nor to disorganizing 
 tendencies. He set an example to the class most able 
 and least willing to oppose the curse of slavery. 
 
 A third peculiarity of Jay's position among anti' 
 
158 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 slavery men was the nature of the work which he 
 performed. "Without health sufficient to make long 
 journeys at a time when travelling was difficult, sel 
 dom leaving his country home, he was rarely seen at 
 the meetings and conventions of the abolitionists. 
 He was a voice, speaking words of reason, modera 
 tion and authority in times of blind excitement; a 
 voice which spoke at the right moment and was 
 always heard with respect. Jay's activity lay in his 
 pen. In a crisis when the judicious course of action 
 or the accurate view of events was obscured by doubt 
 and passion, a pamphlet or a public letter from Judge 
 Jay cast a clear and steady light. His writings were 
 consulted by the most eminent men when considering 
 subjects connected with slavery. Of this a notable 
 instance was the use made of Jay's argument on 
 the " Amistad " case by John Quincy Adams when 
 addressing the House of Eepresentatives in that cele 
 brated cause. These writings form a continuous and 
 lucid commentary on the history of the long and 
 varied struggle between the forces of slavery and of 
 freedom. 
 
 The published works of Judge Jay present but a 
 part of the fruits and the influence of his pen. His 
 correspondence was voluminous and extended to the 
 rank and file as well as to the leaders of the anti- 
 slavery movement. Constant resort was made to him 
 for information and advice, which was always given 
 with frankness and care.* 
 
 * Among those with whom Judge Jay was most often in communica 
 tion may be mentioned : Arthur and Lewis Tappan, Rev. S. S. Jocelyn, 
 
HIS CAEEEE. 159 
 
 We may close appropriately our review of Jay's 
 antislavery work with remarks made after his death 
 to the coloured people of New York by Frederick 
 Douglass, who escaped from the slave-driver to urge 
 with native eloquence the emancipation of his race : 
 " In common with you, my friends, I wear the hated 
 complexion which William Jay never hated. I have 
 worn the galling chain which William Jay earnestly 
 endeavoured to break. I have felt the heavy lash, and 
 have experienced in my own person the cruel wrongs 
 which caused his manly heart to melt in pity for the 
 slave. ... In view of the mighty struggle for freedom 
 in which we are now engaged, and the tremendous 
 odds arrayed against us, every coloured man and 
 every friend of the coloured man in this country 
 must deeply feel the great loss we have sustained in 
 this death, and look around with anxious solicitude 
 for the man who shall rise to fill the place now made 
 vacant. With emphasis it may be said of him, he 
 was our wise counsellor, our firm friend, and our lib 
 eral benefactor. Against the fierce onsets of popu 
 lar abuse he was our shield; against governmental 
 intrigue and oppression he was our learned, able, 
 
 Rev. A. A. Phelps, Robert Vaux, E. Wright, Jr., Joshua Leavitt, Samuel 
 J. May, Reuben Crandall, James G. Birney, Theodore Sedgwick, Beriah 
 Green, Gerrit Smith, John Scoble of England, Mrs. L. M. Child, Miss 
 Grimke, Wm. Goodell, G. Bailey, Jr., Eev. Dr. Morrison of England, 
 Gov. R. W. Habersham, W. W. Anderson of Jamaica, W. L, Joseph 
 Sturge of England, Jabez D. Hammond, Geo. W. Alexander of England, 
 William Slade, John Quincy Adams, Wm. H. Seward, S. P. Chase, 
 Prof. C. D. Cleveland, Thomas Clarkson of England, Sir W. Colebrook, 
 governor of New Brunswick, Charles Sumner, Chief-Justice Horn- 
 blower, J. G. Palfrey, and John P. Hale. 
 
160 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 and faithful defender ; against the crafty counsels of 
 wickedness in high places, where mischief is framed 
 by law and sin is sanctioned and supported by relig 
 ion, he was a perpetual and burning rebuke." 
 
 Besides his work for the negro race, William Jay had 
 various public and philanthropic interests. Promi 
 nent among these were the duties of judge of West- 
 chester County, which he exercised for more than 
 twenty-five years. Jay revised the rules of the court, 
 which had been handed down almost unchanged 
 since 1728 ; and he introduced a strict observance of 
 forms, which, combined with his prompt and explicit 
 decisions, made the Westchester court one of the most 
 dignified in the country. The sittings were held 
 alternately at White Plains and at Bedford, the half- 
 shire towns of the county. Jay also attended to 
 chamber business in other towns. At that period the 
 Westchester bar embraced many lawyers of marked 
 ability, such as E. E. Yoorhis, Aaron Ward, William 
 Nelson, Peter Jay Munro, J. W. Strong, Minot Mitch 
 ell, and James Smith ; and from New York, Alexander 
 McDonald, William M. Price, and Peter Augustus Jay 
 frequently appeared among them. It has been said of 
 Judge Jay's charges to grand juries that " they com 
 manded attention, from their clear exposition of the 
 law without the slightest concession to the popular 
 currents of the day and with careful regard to consti 
 tutional rights, morality, and justice." These charges 
 were frequently requested for publication as timely 
 reminders of legal and moral truths, the relation of 
 
HIS CAREER. 
 
 which to current events was being overlooked. Judge 
 Jay's conduct on the bench caused his reappoint- 
 ment term after term by governors of opposing polit 
 ical parties ; and after his death, when a pro-slavery 
 faction endeavoured to remove his portrait from the 
 court-house at White Plains, members of the bar who 
 disagreed with Jay's abolition opinions were foremost 
 in preventing any act of disrespect to his memory. 
 
 Jay's philanthropy was religious in its motive and 
 practical in its activity. A life-long worker in the 
 cause of temperance, his efforts produced substantial 
 results, as in the legislation proposed by him which 
 forbade the sale of intoxicating liquors on credit. 
 
 For many years a member and president of the 
 Peace Society, he was not satisfied with exposing the 
 evils of war. His mind sought and found a remedy 
 for it in the system of international arbitration, of 
 which the practicability was immediately acknowl 
 edged, and towards which the civilized world has 
 since turned with constantly growing confidence. 
 
 The organization of the American Bible Society in 
 the face of the opposition of the authorities in his own 
 church displayed in Jay's early life the self-reliance 
 and independence of character which gave so much 
 strength to his later career. Always true to his 
 church, he never compromised his convictions to fit a 
 position in which that church was untrue to itself. 
 During the antislavery movement the churches were 
 hostile. Fearful of alienating their Southern mem 
 bers and the Northern men whose business interests 
 
152 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 demanded subserviency to the Slave Power, hardly 
 any ecclesiastical organization was guiltless of lending 
 a passive support to slavery. Theological students, 
 on leaving their seminary, were cautioned by their 
 instructors to avoid the troublesome topic if they 
 would be successful ministers of Christ. Clergymen 
 who preached that property in man was sinful were 
 disciplined by ecclesiastical superiors or cast off by 
 outraged Christian congregations. An orthodox relig 
 ious newspaper was the safest printed matter for a 
 Northern man to have in his possession when travel 
 ling in the South. The Episcopal Church had its 
 slaveholding bishops and ministers, not a few of whom 
 justified slavery from the Scriptures. It had in the 
 North its " cotton divines," who enjoined from the pul 
 pit obedience to the odious law which sought to make 
 slave-catchers of Christian men and women. It went 
 so far as persistently to infringe its own laws by shut 
 ting the doors of its conventions upon legally chosen 
 delegates of congregations composed of free coloured 
 men. The church of Christ was turned into a social 
 club which did not hesitate to exclude a black man 
 as an "unfit associate." Shocked at this attitude, 
 many conscientious men withdrew from the commun 
 ion. But such a course was inconsistent with Jay's 
 character. False and repulsive as was to him such a 
 conception of the Christian religion, he refused, as a 
 churchman, to accept it. He remained in the ranks, 
 striving by his own conduct to show that a man 
 could be a good churchman and hate slavery at the 
 
HIS PRIVATE LIFE. 153 
 
 same time. Fearless in his expression of Christian 
 truth, he was for twenty years a thorn in the side of 
 pro-slavery churchmen, and a rallying-point for those 
 who understood better the spirit of Christianity and 
 recognized the brotherhood of man before G-od. 
 
 Jay's private life was happy and peaceful. The 
 library at Bedford, with its book-shelves crowded to 
 the ceiling and its windows looking out over the hills 
 of Westchester to the blue outlines of the Catskills, 
 claimed a considerable portion of every day. The 
 hours there passed in reflection and in literary labour 
 were hours of pleasure, enhanced by the desire and 
 the hope of usefulness. 
 
 Out-of-doors were the avocations of a country life, 
 which Jay was well constituted to enjoy : the farm, 
 with its interesting record of crops and growing live 
 stock ; the garden, where a great variety of flowers 
 and vegetables flourished within hedges of old box ; 
 the lawn, with its trees planted by his father and him 
 self all these gave occupation in pleasing contrast to 
 that of the library. The public roads in the neigh 
 bourhood of the Jay farm are now adorned and shaded 
 by noble trees planted by the Judge. Along these 
 roads and over the Westchester hills he loved to ride on 
 horseback, an exercise and pleasure which he enjoyed 
 until the last year of his life. Judge Jay preferred 
 to consider Bedford as a farm rather than as a country 
 seat, and he observed to Bishop Coxe in this regard 
 that a farm without a gate or a fence out of repair 
 was more to his taste than an ornamental estate. The 
 
164 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 weak eyesight and somewhat delicate health which in 
 his youth seemed a misfortune as debarring him from 
 a career of activity in the city turned in the end to 
 his advantage. A happier life than that at Bedford 
 could hardly have been devised for him; and it is 
 probable that the studious retirement of his country 
 library gave to his views on public questions a thor 
 oughness and moderation greater than could have 
 been attained amidst the hurry and distraction of a 
 great city. 
 
 In his family relations, Jay was still more fortu 
 nate. His wife lived to be his sympathetic compan 
 ion until 1856, when he himself was near his end. 
 Her accomplishments, especially in reading and draw 
 ing, her grace, gentleness, and goodness, her natural 
 charity, added immeasurably to the happiness of Jay's 
 life. " I have always regarded her," said the late Rev. 
 J. W. Alexander, " as one of the happiest specimens 
 of a Christian lady that it has been my lot to meet. 
 Intelligent, graceful, pious, gentle, sportive in the 
 right place, generous and catholic, she awakened a 
 sincere respect and attachment, and our memory of 
 her is blessed." The late Bishop Horatio Potter of 
 New York, speaking of her later life, said: "The 
 serene composure, the sweet simplicity and dignity, 
 bespoke a peaceful and elevated spirit, and made an 
 impression on the most transient visitor never to be 
 effaced." Dr. John Henry Hobart, son of the Bishop, 
 wrote to John Jay: "Your mother, always gentle, 
 placid, and cheerful, with an unfailing smile and 
 

HIS pair ATI: LIFE. 165 
 
 pleasant words for her young guests, sympathizing 
 with their boyish enthusiasm for poetry and romance, 
 and tempering their ardour with counsel and caution, 
 which her own sensitive spirit conveyed in the most 
 delicate forms of her I must speak thus feelingly ; 
 it only indicates the debt of gratitude I owe to her 
 memory." 
 
 Judge Jay had one brother, Peter Augustus Jay, 
 who was thirteen years his senior. Between the 
 brothers there continued through life an uninterrupted 
 affection and confidence. Peter Augustus led an 
 active professional and social life in New York City, 
 holding office as judge, as recorder, and as a mem 
 ber of the State Assembly. On his death, in 1843, 
 high tributes to his ability as a jurist and to his char 
 acter as a public- spirited citizen were paid by Chan 
 cellor Kent, Chief -Justice Samuel Jones, and David B. 
 Ogden. As a member of the Assembly, he was con 
 spicuous in the advocacy of various important meas 
 ures, among which may be mentioned his efforts to 
 extend the right of suffrage to black citizens of the 
 State. Peter Augustus Jay was not himself promi 
 nent in the antislavery cause, but he was generally 
 in sympathy with his brother's work. 
 
 The Eight Eeverend A. Cleveland Coxe, Bishop of 
 Western New York, was a frequent visitor in his 
 youth at Bedford. Some extracts from a letter writ 
 ten by him to John Jay afford an interesting view of 
 the domestic life of the Judge's home : 
 
 " William Jay was one of those true sons of the 
 
156 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 Republic who inherited sound views of its constitu 
 tional system from your illustrious grandfather, and 
 from personal acquaintance with some other fathers of 
 the nation who were high in the confidence of Wash 
 ington and shared his just and lofty ideas of national 
 policy. Your father was one of those born statesmen 
 who breathed under the inspiration of such ideas, 
 and was animated by them to efforts for the preser 
 vation of the Constitution itself in degenerate days. 
 Those were the days when the ' spoils-system ' had 
 begun to act with corrosive effect on public affairs 
 and public men. The science of true statesmanship 
 seemed ready to perish. The country fell into the 
 hands of mere politicians, with whom legislation was 
 a trade and a struggle for personal aggrandizement. 
 The epoch had little use for men of pure patriotism, 
 but your father, incapable of ambition or the pur 
 suit of personal ends, stood aside and devoted him 
 self with intrepidity to unpopular principles, of which 
 he foresaw the utility, while he was hardly less pro 
 phetic of the cruel war which must be the conse 
 quence of popular indifference and blindness to the 
 national perils. He was little seen, but greatly felt, 
 and has left a mark on the diplomacy of his time 
 which is a gain to humanity and to civilization. 
 
 " I cannot forget the charms of that domestic life 
 which he made so attractive to his children and to 
 the large circle of kindred and friends who were ad 
 mitted to its enjoyments. It was in 1836 that, with 
 our beloved friend Hobart, I was invited to spend the 
 
HIS PEIVATE LIFE. 167 
 
 Christmas holidays at Bedford. We were boys to 
 gether at that time, and I remember to what hours 
 we prolonged our recreations, with no other restric 
 tion than your father's cheerful injunction, as he bade 
 us good-night : ' Young gentlemen, please remember 
 not to laugh too loudly ; it might deprive some of us 
 of the sleep which you seem not to require for your 
 selves.' How merrily we 'saw the old year out 
 and the new year in,' that Christmas-tide ! I often 
 thought of Irving's ' Bracebridge Hall ' as realized in 
 America, in the home of your happy boyhood. Year 
 after year, winter and summer, through college life, 
 you led me to renew my holidays in Bedford. How 
 much I learned from your father's condescension to 
 boyhood in conversing with his boy- visitors as if they 
 were men ! He drew out our opinions and encouraged 
 us to state them frankly when he suspected that we 
 had the boldness to prefer our crude ideas to his own 
 judicial and grave conceptions of fact and principle. 
 He played chess with his youthful guests, but never 
 permitted them to beat him, as that would have been 
 no compliment to lads who worked hard and wished 
 to win in a fair game. 
 
 " I have rarely seen a household in which family 
 life was ordered more particularly with reference to 
 religion. There was much of the Huguenot in the 
 piety of the Judge, but nothing of the Puritan. 
 Family prayers were observed twice a day, the ser 
 vants attending and sharing in the responses. After 
 evening prayers in those early days, we enjoyed a 
 
168 WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 few cotillons and contra-dances, Mrs. Jay presiding 
 at the piano. And when the ladies had withdrawn, 
 chess-playing and other games occupied us, not in 
 frequently until after midnight. Sundays in the old 
 homestead, after church-going, were like other days, 
 save in the chastened cheerfulness of conversation 
 and employment. A feature of Sunday evenings was 
 the custom for every member of the family to recite 
 something in prose or poetry; and the Judge often 
 closed such recitals by reading selections from Bishop 
 Heber, Mr. Milman, and other favourites of those 
 times. In the third decade of this century, the 
 daughters of 'the governor,' Mrs. Banyer and Miss 
 Jay, were often the guests of their brother. They 
 would have been interesting figures in any society, 
 and were eminent in New York for their Christian 
 virtues and devotion to every good work. The elder 
 sister, born in Spain, seemed to preserve in her face 
 and carriage something borrowed from her native 
 climate, while Mrs. Banyer, born in France, was not 
 less conspicuously marked by characteristics of her 
 French ancestry. While the only son of Judge Jay 
 is a recognized type of his father's principles and char 
 acter, his daughters not less resembled their mother 
 a lady whose memory I hold in very great respect, 
 with an affectionate estimate of her worth as a beau 
 tiful example of her gracious sex, in all characteris 
 tics i wherein there is virtue and wherein there is 
 praise.' 
 
 " I feel, at this distance of time, that I owe much to 
 
HIS PRIVATE LIFE. 169 
 
 the friendship of Judge Jay, apart from the pleasures 
 it conferred upon me. How much he taught me ! 
 How often his maxims led me to correct my faults, 
 though he never seemed to instruct, much less to re 
 buke ! Even in his decline, and when he was nearing 
 the end, he favoured me with an occasional letter. 
 Need I say that, while entirely free from cant and 
 pharisaic professions, such letters were models of 
 Christian submission, and not less of ' faith, hope, 
 and charity ' 1 I have frequently reflected upon them 
 as I find myself approaching the end. His lofty ex 
 ample leads me to say with the inspired moralist: 
 'Mark the perfect man and behold the upright, for 
 the end of that man is peace.' " 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 THE LIFE OF JOHN JAY. With Selections from his Correspondence and 
 
 Miscellaneous Papers. In two volumes, 1833. 
 WAR AND PEACE. The Evils of the First and a Plan for Preserving the 
 
 Last. London, 1842. 
 A REVIEW OF THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE MEXICAN WAR, 
 
 1849. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS ON SLAVERY, 1853. In which are collected : 
 Inquiry into the Character and Tendency of the American Coloniza 
 tion, and American Antislavery Societies. 
 
 A View of the Action of the Federal Government in Behalf of Slavery. 
 On the Condition of the Free People of Colour in the United States. 
 Address to the Friends of Constitutional Liberty, on the Violation 
 by the United States House of Representatives of the Right of 
 Petition. 
 
 Introductory Remarks to the Reproof of the American Church con 
 tained in the recent " History of the Protestant Episcopal Church 
 in America " by the Bishop of Oxford. 
 
 A Letter to the Right Reverend L. Silliman Ives, Bishop of the Prot 
 estant Church in the State of North Carolina. 
 
 Address to the Inhabitants of New Mexico and California, on the 
 Omission by Congress to provide them with Territorial Govern 
 ments, and on the Social and Political Evils of Slavery. 
 Letter to Hon. William Nelson, M. C., on Mr. Clay's Compromise. 
 A Letter to the Hon. Samuel A. Eliot, Representative in Congress 
 from the City of Boston, in Reply to his Apology for voting for 
 the Fugitive-Slave Bill. 
 
 An Address to the Antislavery Christians of the United States. 
 Signed by a number of clergymen and others. 
 171 
 
172 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Letter to Rev. E. S. Cook, Corresponding Secretary of the American 
 
 Tract Society. 
 Letter to Lewis Tappan, Esq., Treasurer of the American Missionary 
 
 Society. 
 
 PAMPHLETS. 
 
 Report of the Bedford Society for the Suppression of Vice, 1815. 
 
 Letter to Venders of Ardent Spirits, 1815. 
 
 Answer to Bishop Hobart's Pastoral Letter on the Subject of Bible 
 
 Societies, by an Episcopalian, 1815. 
 Memoir on the Subject of a General Bible Society, by a Citizen of 
 
 New York, 1816. 
 Appeal in Behalf of the American Bible Society, by a Lay Member 
 
 of the Convention, 1816. 
 Dialogue between a Clergyman and a Layman on the Subject of Bible 
 
 Societies, by a Churchman, 1817. 
 Remarks on a Petition to the Legislature praying for the Repeal of 
 
 the Acts for Improving the Agriculture of this State, by a West- 
 
 chester Farmer, 1821. 
 
 Letter to Bishop Hobart occasioned by the Strictures on Bible Soci 
 eties contained in his late Charge to the Convention of New 
 
 York, by a Churchman, 1823. 
 Letter to Bishop Hobart in Reply to the Pamphlet addressed by him 
 
 to the Author under the Signature of " Corrector," by William 
 
 Jay, 1823. 
 Reply to a Second Letter to the Author from Bishop Hobart, with 
 
 Remarks on his Hostility to Bible Societies, by William Jay, 1823. 
 Essay on the Importance of the Sabbath considered merely as a 
 
 Civil Institution, 1826. 
 
 Essay on the Perpetuity and Divine Authority of the Sabbath. Pub 
 lished by the Synod of Albany, 1827. 
 Remarks on the Proposed Changes in the Liturgy and Confirmation 
 
 Service, 1827. 
 The Office of Assistant Bishop inconsistent with the Constitution of 
 
 the Protestant Episcopal Church, 1829. 
 Essay on Duelling, 1830. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 173 
 
 Address to the Inhabitants of Westchester County on Temperance, 
 
 1834. 
 Addresses to the Westchester County Auxiliary Bible Society, 1836, 
 
 1839, 1841, 1845, and other years. 
 
 Address before the New York Female Bible Society, 1840. 
 Letter of Hon. William Jay to Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen on 
 
 Slavery, 1844. 
 
 Address before the American Peace Society, 1845. 
 \ Trial by Jury in New York, 1846. 
 
 Address to the Non-Slaveholders of the South, on the Social and 
 
 Political Evils of Slavery, 1849. 
 
 The Calvary Pastoral, with Comments, a Tract for the Times, 1849. 
 Reply to Mr. Webster's 7th of March Speech, 1850. 
 v Reply to Remarks of the Rev. Moses Stuart in his pamphlet entitled 
 
 "Conscience and the Constitution." J. A. Gray, New York, 
 
 1850. 
 
 The Kossuth Excitement, 1852. 
 
 The Bible against Slavery. J. K. Wellman, Adrian, Michigan, 1852. 
 Petition of the American Peace Society to the United States Senate 
 
 in behalf of Stipulated Arbitration, 1853. 
 An Examination of the Mosaic Law of Servitude, " The Statutes of 
 
 the Lord are right Psalm xix. 8." M. W. Dodd, New York, 
 
 1854. 
 " The Eastern War," an Argument for the Cause of Peace. Address 
 
 before the American Peace Society, 1855. 
 A Letter to the Rev. Wm. Berrian, D.D., on the Resources, Present 
 
 Position, and Duties, of Trinity Church, occasioned by his late 
 
 Pamphlet, " Facts against Fancy." A. D. Randolph & Co., New 
 
 York. 
 Judge Jay left in Manuscript an elaborate Commentary, the work of 
 
 many years, on the Old and New Testaments. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abolition Intelligencer, the, 28. 
 Abolition movement, its early history, 18 et seq. 
 Abolition societies, early, 23, 27. 
 Abolitionists, hatred of, 41, 42, 56, 67, 135, 136. 
 
 , differences among, 83, 103. 
 
 Adams, Charles Francis, 129. 
 
 , John Quincy, 25, 31, 158, 159. 
 Alexander, George W., 15G. 
 
 , J. W., 164. 
 
 American and Foreign Antislavery Society, formation of, 103. 
 
 American Antislavery Society, formation of, 49, 50 ; division in, 103. 
 
 Anderson, W. W., 159. 
 
 Anti-Annexation Meeting, in New York, 126. 
 
 Antislavery movement, development of, 39 et seq. 
 
 Antislavery societies, formation of, 45. 
 
 Antislavery Society of New York City, 46, 47. 
 
 Aspinwall, John, 12. 
 
 Bailey, G., Jr., xvii, 159. 
 
 Banyer, Mrs., 125, 167. 
 
 Bedford, 8, 9, 163. 
 
 Benezet, Anthony, 19. 
 
 Benson, Judge, 38. 
 
 Bible Society, iii, 10, 11, 12. 
 
 Birney, James G., xvi, 63, 103, 107, 117, 118, 159. 
 
 Bogardus, General, 46. 
 
 Bolton, John, 12. 
 
 Bouck, Gov., 14, 124, 125. 
 
 Boudinot, Elias, iii, 11, 12, 28. 
 
 Bourgueny, Baron, vi. 
 
 Bradish, Luther, 110. 
 
 Brent, W. L., 35. 
 
 Broglie, Due de, 63, 126. 
 
 Brown, David P., 54. 
 
 175 
 
176 INDEX. 
 
 Brownson, Dr. Orestes A., xix. 
 Brune, Baron, vi. 
 Buol-Schauenstein, Count, vi. 
 Buren, Van, Martin, 107, 124. 
 Burling, William, 18. 
 
 Calhoun, John C., xii, 4. 
 
 Canterbury, persecution at, 42. 
 
 Cass, Lewis, 149. 
 
 Cavour, Count, vi, xviii. 
 
 Chambers, John, 9. 
 
 Channing, W. E., 56. 
 
 Chapman, Mrs., xvi, 91. 
 
 Chase, Salmon P., 146, 159. 
 
 Chatham Street Chapel, 47, 53. 
 
 Child, Mrs. Lydia Maria, xvii, 40, 67, 112, 159. 
 
 Circourt, M. de, v. 
 
 Clarendon, Lord, vi, 131. 
 
 Clarkson, Matthew, 12. 
 
 Clarkson, Thomas, 159. 
 
 Clay, Henry, 24, 32. 
 
 Cleveland, C. D., 159. 
 
 Clinton, De Witt, 12, 14, 31, 32. 
 
 Clinton Hall, 46. 
 
 Cobden, R., vi. 
 
 Colebrook, Sir W., 159. 
 
 Colonization Society, 26. 
 
 Commercial Advertiser, 55. 
 
 Compromise of 1850, 137. 
 
 Constitutional questions, xi, 86, 87, 89, 91, 99. 
 
 Cooper, J. Fenimore, 2, 3, 5, 9, 14. 
 
 Cornish, Samuel E., 73. 
 
 Cortlandt, Van, Eve, 9. 
 
 , Jacobus, 9. 
 
 , Mary, 9. 
 
 , Pierre, 9. 
 
 Cotton-gin, the, 23. 
 Courier and Inquirer, 47, 55. 
 Cowley, Lord, vi. 
 Cox, Abraham L., 55, 73. 
 Cox, Samuel H., 64. 
 Coxe, A. Cleveland, 165. 
 Crandall, Miss, 42. 
 
 , Eeuben, 41, 159. 
 
 Cummings, John, 13. 
 
INDEX. 177 
 
 Dane, Nathan, 20. 
 Davis, Henry, 3. 
 
 , Jefferson, xii. 
 
 Delavan, Edward, 61. 
 Denison, Charles W., 103. 
 Derby, Lord, vii. 
 Disunion, 153, 154, 155. 
 Douglas, Senator, 149. 
 Douglass, Frederick, 159. 
 Duelling, essay on, 13. 
 Dwight, Timothy, 7. 
 
 Earle, Thomas, 107. 
 Edwards, Jonathan, 23. 
 Ellison, Thomas, 1. 
 Emancipation, gradual, 41. 
 
 , immediate, 23, 40, 41, 43. 
 
 , in West Indies, 45. 
 
 Emancipator, the, 28, 75. 
 
 Episcopal Church, its attitude towards slavery, 132, 133, 144, 145, 147. 
 
 Evarts, Jeremiah, 12. 
 
 Everett, Alexander H., 82. 
 
 Fitzmaurice, Lord Edmond, v. 
 Forsythe, John, 35. 
 Franklin, Benjamin, iv, 23. 
 Frelinghuysen, Theodore, 48. 
 Frere, John Hookham, 126. 
 Fugitive-Slave Law, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144. 
 
 Gadsden, Christopher Edward, 4. 
 
 Gallatin, Albert, 127. 
 
 Gallaudet, Thomas H., 4. 
 
 Garrison, William L., xvii, 40, 51, 53, 63, 64, 77, 84, 86, 89, 102, 153, 154. 
 
 Gay, S. H., xvii. 
 
 Gayle, Gov., 74. 
 
 Genius of Universal Emancipation, 28. 
 
 Gibbons, James S., xvii. 
 
 Giddings, Joshua E., 129. 
 
 Gladstone, W. E., vi. 
 
 Goodell, William, xvii, 27, 40, 107, 159. 
 
 Gouverneur, Samuel L., 65. 
 
 Gray, William, 12. 
 
 Grayson, William, 20. 
 
 Green, Eev. Beriah, 60, 159. 
 
178 INDEX. 
 
 Green, Oliver, 30. 
 
 Griffin, George, 12. 
 
 Grimke, Misses, xvii, 91, 159. 
 
 , Thomas Smith, 4. 
 
 Grundy, Felix, 12. 
 
 Habersham, E. W., 13, 159. 
 Hale, John P., 159. 
 Hamilton, Alexander, 23. 
 
 , James, 35. 
 
 Hammond, J. D., 159. 
 Harrison, W. H., 107. 
 Henry, John B., 8. 
 
 , Patrick, 20, 21. 
 
 Hicks, Elias, 27. 
 Higginson, T. W., 154. 
 Hillhouse, James A., 4. 
 Hobart, Bishop, iv, 11, 13. 
 
 , John Henry, 164. 
 
 Holley, Myron, 107. 
 Holly, Horace, 6. 
 Hopkins, Samuel, 19, 23. 
 Hopper, Isaac T., xvii. 
 Hornblower, Chief-Justice, 159. 
 Horton, Gilbert, case of, 29, 30, 31. 
 Hubner, Baron, vi. 
 Huntington, William, 4. 
 
 Immediate Emancipation, first proclaimed as a duty, 23, 
 International arbitration, v, 130, 131. 
 Ives, Bishop, x. 
 
 Jackson, Andrew, 77. 
 
 , Francis, 102. 
 
 , J. C., 103. 
 
 Jarvis, Samuel F., 4. 
 
 Jay, John, iv, 1, 5, 9, 12, 20, 23, 38, 39, 127. 
 
 , John, 2d, 55. 
 
 , Miss, 125, 167. 
 
 , Peter Augustus, 160, 165. 
 
 Treaty, iv. 
 
 , William, his birth, 1 ; education, 2 ; at Yale College, 4, 6 ; studies 
 
 law, 8; marriage, 8; begins life at Bedford, 8, 9; begins philan 
 thropic work, 10 ; advocates Bible Societies, 10 ; conflict with Bishop 
 Hobart and High-Church party, 10, 11, 13; organizes American 
 
INDEX. 179 
 
 Bible Society, 11, 12 ; takes prize for essay on the Sabbath, 13 ; for 
 essay on duelling, 13 ; appointed judge, 14 ; early adoption of anti- 
 slavery cause, 28 ; espouses cause of Gilbert Horton, 29 ; begins 
 movement for abolition of slavery in District of Columbia, 29, 32, 
 34, 36, 37; writes "Life of John Jay," 39; his view of slavery 
 problem in 1833, 43, 44 ; consulted regarding formation of American 
 Antislavery Society, 45 ; advises acknowledgment of constitutional 
 provisions, 45, 46 ; invited to join in organizing the American Anti- 
 slavery Society, 49 ; his views on such an organization, 50 ; suggests 
 a definite avowal of constitutional principles, 50, 51; becomes a 
 member of Executive Committee of American Antislavery Society, 
 57; publishes his "Inquiry," 58; its influence, 60, 61; appointed 
 foreign corresponding secretary, 63 ; gives advice on right to use 
 the mails, 65; his "Address to the Public," 69; elected president 
 of New York State Antislavery Society, 77 ; his reply to President 
 Jackson's message, 78 ; protests against the introduction of irrele 
 vant doctrines into antislavery societies, 84, 86, 100 ; protests against 
 unconstitutional doctrines, 87, 90 ; defeats Alvan Stewart's resolu 
 tion, 93 ; his opinion of the danger of unconstitutional doctrines, 
 90, 94 ; his opinion of Stewart's position, 95 ; his loss of faith in 
 the usefulness of antislavery societies, 97, 100 ; placed on Executive 
 Committee of American and Foreign Antislavery Society, 103 ; re 
 signs membership in American Antislavery Society, 103 ; views on 
 the woman question, 103, 104 ; his " View of the Action of the Fed 
 eral Government," 105; his "Condition of the Free People of Col 
 our," 106 ; his "Violation of the Eight of Petition," 106 ; his attitude 
 towards Liberty party in 1840, 107, 108, 109 ; his attitude towards 
 antislavery societies after the schism, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116 ; his 
 attitude towards Liberty party in 1843, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121 ; his 
 views on the annexation of Texas, 118, 127, 128; nominated for 
 Senator by the Liberty party, 120 ; deprived of his seat on the 
 bench, 122; his visit to Europe, 125; his "Review of the Mexican 
 War," 127, 128; his "War and Peace," and plan for international 
 arbitration, 130, 131 ; his attitude towards the "come-outers," 132 ; 
 his work in the Episcopal Church in favour of the slave, 132, 133, 
 144, 145, 147, 162 ; "Letter to Bishop Ives," 133 ; reply to Webster, 
 137, 138 ; attitude towards the Fugitive-Slave Law, 140, 141, 142, 
 143; views on the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 149, 150, 152; views on 
 disunion, 153, 154, 155; his death, 156; his distinctive position 
 among antislavery men, 156, 157, 158 ; his writings, 158 ; his con 
 duct as judge, 160 ; other philanthropic work, 161 ; his position as 
 a churchman, 161, 162 ; his life at Bedford, 163, 164 ; his family 
 life, 164, 165, 166. 
 , William, 2d, 5, 8. 
 , Mrs. William, 8, 164. 
 
180 INDEX. 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas, 20, 24. 
 
 Jelliff, Hiram, 145. 
 
 Jocelyn, Simeon S., xvii, 73, 158. 
 
 Johnston, Oliver, xvii. 
 
 Jones, Samuel, 165. 
 
 Katonah, 9. 
 Keith, George, 18. 
 Kelley, Miss Abby, 102. 
 Kendall, Amos, 64, 65. 
 Kent, James, 53, 61, 127, 165. 
 King, Rufus, 20. 
 
 Langdon, John, 12. 
 
 Law, William, 13. 
 
 Lay, Benjamin, 18. 
 
 Leavitt, Joshua, xvi, 49, 73, 103, 107, 159. 
 
 Lee, Eichard H., 20. 
 
 Leggett, William, 56. 
 
 Liberalist, the, 28. 
 
 Liberator, the, 40. 
 
 Liberty party, 107, 117, 118, 119. 
 
 Lincoln, Abraham, xiii, xviii, 157. 
 
 Loring, Ellis Gray, xvii, 87, 90, 91. 
 
 Lovejoy, Elijah P., 82. 
 
 Ludlow, Henry G., 53. 
 
 Lundy, Benjamin, 27, 40. 
 
 Lyons, Lord, xiv. 
 
 McAllister, Matthew H., 13. 
 
 McDonald, Alexander, 160. 
 
 MeDuffie, George, 35. 
 
 McVickar, John, 8. 
 
 Mails, destruction of, 64. 
 
 Malmsbury, Lord, vii, 131. 
 
 Mann, Daniel, 154. 
 
 Marcy, Governor, 76, 110. 
 
 May, Samuel J., 50, 51, 86, 91, 159. 
 
 Miner, Charles, 32, 37. 
 
 Missouri Compromise, 24. 
 
 Mitchell, Minot, 122, 160. 
 
 Mobs, 56, 82, 135. 
 
 Morris, Thomas, 117. 
 
 Morrison, Dr., 159. 
 
 Mott, Lucretia, xvii. 
 
 Munro, Peter Jay, 160. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Nelson, William, 160. 
 Noyes Academy, 42. 
 
 Ogden, David B., 48, 165. 
 Orloff Count, vi. 
 Owen, John, 29. 
 
 Palfrey, J. G., 159. 
 Peyster, de, Frederic, 12. 
 Phelps, Ainos A., 53, 86, 103, 159. 
 Phillips, Wendell, xvii, 154. 
 Pickering, Thomas, 20. 
 Pierpont, John, 4. 
 Pinckney, Charles C., 12. 
 Pintard, John, 12. 
 Playfair, Sir Lyon, viii, 132. 
 Potter, Alonzo, 61. 
 
 ^Horatio, 164. 
 Purvis, Robert, 53. 
 
 Quincy, Edmund, xvii. 
 Quincy, Josiah, 141. 
 
 Rankin, John, 27, 73. 
 
 Eensselaer, Van, Stephen, 12. 
 
 Reporter, the, 113. 
 
 Republican party, 52. 
 
 "Review of the Mexican War," ix. 
 
 Richard, Henry, vi, 131. 
 
 Riots, pro-slavery, 46, 54. 
 
 Romeyne, John B., 12. 
 
 Rush, Benjamin, 19. 
 
 Rutgers, Henry, 12. 
 
 St. Clair, Alanson, 91. 
 St. Philip's Church, 148. 
 Sandiford, Ralph, 18. 
 Sandwich, Lord, 19. 
 Scoble, John, 159. 
 Sedgwick, Henry D., 37. 
 
 , Susan, 3. 
 
 , Theodore, 127, 159. 
 
 , Mrs. Theodore, 61. 
 Sewall, Samuel, 18. 
 Seward, W. H., xiv, 110, 159. 
 
182 INDEX. 
 
 Simms, 150. 
 
 Slade, William, 159. 
 
 Slave Power, growth of, 135. 
 
 Smith, Gerrit, xvi, 77, 83, 103, 107, 118, 141, 159. 
 
 , Goldwin, xviii. 
 
 , James, 160. 
 
 , John Cotton, 12. 
 
 Spring, Gardiner, 4. 
 
 Stanton, Henry B., 103, 119. 
 
 Stephens, A. H., xv. 
 
 Stevens, Alexander H., 4. 
 
 Stewart, Alvan, 52, 76, 92, 95, 96, 99, 107. 
 
 , Charles, 53. 
 
 Stone, James A., 53. 
 
 Storrs, Henry E., 4. 
 
 Stowe, Harriet B., xvii. 
 
 Strong, J. W., 160. 
 
 Sturge, Joseph, v, 130, 131, 144, 159. 
 
 Stuyvesant, Peter G., 61. 
 
 Simmer, Charles, 136, 152, 159. 
 
 Tabernacle, the Broadway, 92. 
 
 Tappan, Arthur, xvi, 40, 45, 49, 53, 55, 64, 67, 68, 73, 102, 103, 158. 
 
 , Lewis, xvi, 40, 47, 54, 73, 75, 103, 113, 158. 
 
 Taylor, Nathaniel W., 4. 
 Thompson, George, 63, 67. 
 Tighlman, William, 12. 
 Tocqueville, de, A., 15. 
 Tompkins, Daniel D., 12. 
 Torrey, Charles T., 101. 
 Tucker, Beverly, xiii. 
 
 Utica Convention, 76. 
 
 Varick, Eichard, 12. 
 Vaux, Eobert, 159. 
 Vergennes, Count de, v. 
 Villamarina, Marquis de, vi. 
 Voorhis, E. E., 160. 
 
 Walewski, Count, vi. 
 Walworth, Chancellor, 48. 
 "War and Peace," v, 130, 131. 
 Ward, Aaron, 34, 160. 
 , Samuel E., xvii. 
 
INDEX. 183 
 
 Washington, Bushrod, 12. 
 
 , George, 155. 
 Wayne, James M., 13. 
 Webster, Daniel, 137, 139, 144, 150. 
 Weekly Emancipator, 40. 
 Weld, Theodore D., xvii. 
 Whittier, John G., xvii, 40, 51, 103. 
 Wickliffe, Charles A., 35. 
 Wilberforce, Samuel, 133, 134. 
 Williams, Eansom G., 74, 75. 
 Wilson, Henry, 58. 
 Wirt, William, 12. 
 Woman question, the, 103, 104, 105. 
 Woolman, John, 19. 
 Worthington, Governor, 12. 
 
 Wright, Elizur, Jr , xvii, 40, 49, 53, 65, 67, 73, 107, 159. 
 , Theodore S., 73. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 EEPRESENTATIVES OF ANTISLAVERY OPINION IN NEW YORK IN 1864. 
 
 A COMPLIMENTARY breakfast was given to Professor Goldwin Smith 
 at the rooms of the Union League Club, on Union Square, New York, 
 on Saturday morning, the 12th November, 1864. 
 
 The following gentlemen joined in the invitation : 
 
 Jonathan Sturges, President of Union League Club, New York; Charles 
 Butler; John C. Hamilton; Wm. Curtis Noyes, LL.D. ; Hon. Horace 
 Greeley, Editor of the New York Tribune ; Hon. H. J. Raymond, Editor 
 of the New York Times; Eev. H. W. BeUows, D.D., President of United 
 States Sanitary Commission; Francis Lieber, LL.D., Professor of History 
 in Columbia College; Vincenzo Botta, Ph.D.; Elliot C. Cowdin; Col. 
 James McKaye; Wm. H.Webb; Geo. C. Ward; Isaac Ferris, D.D., 
 Chancellor of the University ; Wm. Allen Butler ; Hon. Samuel B. Bug 
 gies, LL.D. ; Hon. Wm. E. Dodge ; Wm. H. Osborn ; A. Gracie King ; 
 C. A. Bristed ; Cyrus W. Field ; T. B. Coddington ; Wm. J. Hoppin ; 
 Charles H. Marshall ; Alfred Pell ; Horace Webster, LL.D., Principal of 
 the Free Academy; John Jay; Wm. Cull en Bryant; Wm. M. Evarts; 
 Parke Godwin, Editor of the Evening Post; F. A. P. Barnard, LL.D., 
 President of Columbia College; W. T. Blodgett; Geo. Griswold; Hon. 
 Chas. P. Kirkland ; James Brown ; John E. Williams ; A. A. Low, Presi 
 dent of the Chamber of Commerce; John Austin Stevens, Jr., Secretary of 
 the Chamber of Commerce ; Geo. T. Strong ; John C. Green ; Eichard M. 
 Hunt ; Geo. W. Blunt ; John A. Weeks ; Otis D. Swan ; Col. L. G. B. 
 Cannon ; Theodore Eoosevelt ; C. E. Detmold. 
 
 Among the distinguished guests invited to meet Professor Goldwin 
 Smith, the following gentlemen were present : 
 
 Eev. Dr. Thompson ; John A. Stevens ; Prof. John W. Draper ; Maj.- 
 Gen. B. F. Butler, U. S. A ; M. Auguste Laugel, of France ; Hon. Geo. 
 Bancroft; Geo. P. Putnam; Dr. Willard Parker; Eev. S. Osgood, D.D. ; 
 Hon. E. D. Morgan ; Eev. H. Ward Beecher ; Eev. A. P. Putnam ; Eev. 
 A. Cleveland Coxe, D.D., Assistant Bishop-elect of the Western Diocese of 
 
 184 
 
APPENDIX. Ig5 
 
 New York; Prof. H. B. Smith, D.D., Professor of Systematic Theology in 
 Union Theological Seminary, New York; Chas.King, LL.D. ; Peter Cooper, 
 Founder of the Cooper Union ; G. W. Curtis ; Geo. L. Schuyler ; Prof. 
 Theo. W. Dwight, LL.D., Law Professor in Columbia College; Eev. G. L. 
 Prentiss, D.D. 
 
 Among the letters of regret were notes from Lincoln, Fessenden, 
 Major-General Halleck, and Attorney-General Bates. 
 
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