DEATH OF JUDGE JAY.--HIS POSITION AMONG ANTISLAVERY MEN.--HIS OTHER
PUBLIC AND PHILANTHROPIC INTERESTS.--HIS PRIVATE LIFE.--HIS
CHARACTER.
Judge Jay was not destined to live to see the triumph of the antislavery
cause and of the constitutional 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 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 maintain 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 Republican party in 1854,
and maintained until real union and real liberty were won together.
The antislavery movement was begun and supported by those whom Lincoln
called "the plain people." Men of "property and standing" were generally
passively if not actively hostile. It received little help from the
churches, from the learned professions or the wealthy mercantile
classes. It was a very unpopular cause, denounced by politicians,
merchants, 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 independent 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 antislavery men was the
nature of the work which he performed. Without health sufficient to make
long journeys at a time when travelling was difficult, seldom leaving
his country home, he was rarely seen at the meetings and conventions of
the abolitionists. He was a voice, speaking words of reason, moderation
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 Representatives in that celebrated 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 antislavery
movement. Constant resort was made to him for information and advice,
which was always given with frankness and care.[E]
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 liberal benefactor. Against the fierce onsets
of popular abuse he was our shield; against governmental intrigue and
oppression he was our learned, able, 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 religion, he was a
perpetual and burning rebuke."
Besides his work for the negro race, William Jay had various public and
philanthropic interests. Prominent among these were the duties of judge
of Westchester 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 R. R. Voorhis, Aaron Ward, William Nelson, Peter
Jay Munro, J. W. Strong, Minot Mitchell, 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 commanded attention, from their clear
exposition of the law without the slightest concession to the popular
currents of the day and with careful regard to constitutional rights,
morality, and justice." These charges were frequently requested for
publication as timely reminders of legal and moral truths, the relation
of which to current events was being overlooked. Judge Jay's conduct on
the bench caused his reappointment term after term by governors of
opposing political 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 acknowledged, 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 members and the Northern
men whose business interests 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 religious newspaper was the safest printed
matter for a Northern man to have in his possession when travelling 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 pulpit
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 shutting 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 communion. 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 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 God.
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 livestock; 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 himself--all these gave occupation in pleasing
contrast to that of the library. The public roads in the neighbourhood
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 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 thoroughness 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 fortunate. His wife lived to
be his sympathetic companion until 1856, when he himself was near his
end. Her accomplishments, especially in reading and drawing, 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 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."
[Illustration: Augusta Jay]
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 member of the State Assembly. On his death, in
1843, high tributes to his ability as a jurist and to his character as a
public-spirited citizen were paid by Chancellor Kent, Chief-Justice
Samuel Jones, and David B. Ogden. As a member of the Assembly, he was
conspicuous in the advocacy of various important measures, 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 prominent in
the antislavery cause, but he was generally in sympathy with his
brother's work.
The Right Reverend A. Cleveland Coxe, Bishop of Western New York, was a
frequent visitor in his youth at Bedford. Some extracts from a letter
written 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 Republic who inherited
sound views of its constitutional system from your illustrious
grandfather, and from personal acquaintance with some other fathers of
the nation who were high in the confidence of Washington 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 preservation 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 pursuit of personal ends, stood aside and devoted himself with
intrepidity to unpopular principles, of which he foresaw the utility,
while he was hardly less prophetic of the cruel war which must be the
consequence 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 admitted to its enjoyments. It was in 1836 that, with
our beloved friend Hobart, I was invited to spend the Christmas
holidays at Bedford. We were boys together at that time, and I remember
to what hours we prolonged our recreations, with no other restriction
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 yourselves.'
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 servants attending and sharing in the
responses. After-evening prayers in those early days, we enjoyed a 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
infrequently 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 character, 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 beautiful example of her
gracious sex, in all characteristics 'wherein there is virtue and
wherein there is praise.'
"I feel, at this distance of time, that I owe much to 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 rebuke! 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'? I have frequently reflected upon
them as I find myself approaching the end. His lofty example 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
Colonization, 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 contained
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
Protestant 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 Governments,
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.
Letter to Rev. R. 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
Westchester Farmer, 1821.
Letter to Bishop Hobart occasioned by the Strictures on Bible
Societies 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.
Published 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.
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.
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., 159.
----, 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, Duc de, 63, 126.
Brown, David P., 54.
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.
----, Reuben, 41, 159.
Cummings, John, 13.
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 R., 129.
Gladstone, W. E., vi.
Goodell, William, xvii, 27, 40, 107, 159.
Gouverneur, Samuel L., 65.
Gray, William, 12.
Grayson, William, 20.
Green, Rev. Beriah, 60, 159.
Green, Oliver, 30.
Griffin, George, 12.
Grimke, Misses, xvii, 91, 159.
----, Thomas Smith, 4.
Grundy, Felix, 12.
Habersham, R. 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 philanthropic work, 10;
advocates Bible Societies, 10;
conflict with Bishop Hobart and High-Church party, 10, 11, 13;
organizes American Bible Society, 11, 12;
takes prize for essay on the Sabbath, 13;
for essay on duelling, 13;
appointed judge, 14;
early adoption of antislavery 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 Antislavery 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 irrelevant doctrines into
antislavery societies, 84, 86, 100;
protests against unconstitutional doctrines, 87, 90;
defeats Alvan Stewart's resolution, 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;
resigns membership in American Antislavery Society, 103;
views on the woman question, 103, 104;
his "View of the Action of the Federal Government," 105;
his "Condition of the Free People of Colour," 106;
his "Violation of the Right 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 conduct 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.
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, Richard 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.
McDuffie, 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.
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, Amos 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.
Rensselaer, 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.
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 R., 4.
Stowe, Harriet B., xvii.
Strong, J. W., 160.
Sturge, Joseph, v, 130, 131, 144, 159.
Stuyvesant, Peter G., 61.
Sumner, 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, Richard, 12.
Vaux, Robert, 159.
Vergennes, Count de, v.
Villamarina, Marquis de, vi.
Voorhis, R. R., 160.
Walewski, Count, vi.
Walworth, Chancellor, 48.
"War and Peace," v, 130, 131.
Ward, Aaron, 34, 160.
----, Samuel R., xvii.
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, Ransom 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.
REPRESENTATIVES 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; Rev. H. W. Bellows, 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. Ruggles, 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.
Cullen 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, _President of the Chamber of Commerce_;
John Austin Stevens, Jr., _Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce_;
Geo. T. Strong; John C. Green; Richard M. Hunt; Geo. W. Blunt; John
A. Weeks; Otis D. Swan; Col. L. G. B. Cannon; Theodore Roosevelt; C.
E. Detmold.
Among the distinguished guests invited to meet Professor Goldwin
Smith, the following gentlemen were present:
Rev. 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; Rev. S. Osgood, D.D.;
Hon. E. D. Morgan; Rev. H. Ward Beecher; Rev. A. P. Putnam; Rev. A.
Cleveland Coxe, D.D., _Assistant Bishop-elect of the Western Diocese
of 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_; Rev. G. L. Prentiss, D.D.
Among the letters of regret were notes from Lincoln, Fessenden,
Major-General Halleck, and Attorney-General Bates.
FOOTNOTES:
[A] The title of M. de Circourt's work is:--"_Histoire de l'action
commune de la France et de l'Amerique pour l'Independence des Etats
Unis._" Paris, 1876.
[B] In view of their historic significance, their names are given in
the Appendix.
[C] 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,
Townsend, Goodhue, Sedgwick, Field, Griswold, and Hyslop families
and many leading merchants of New York. The call was subsequently
presented by John Jay to the New York Historical Society, for
preservation in its records. A letter was read from Chancellor Kent
denouncing 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 doubtful, wrote, under its influence,
his letter to Hammett objecting to annexation. But an annexation
meeting was held in Richmond to counteract that at New York, and
when the Democratic Convention met at Baltimore an adroit change of
policy in regard to nominations displaced Van Buren and nominated
Polk.
[D] The later history of international arbitration is set forth by
Sir Lyon Playfair in the _North American Review_ for December, 1890.
[E] Among those with whom Judge Jay was most often in communication
may be mentioned: Arthur and Lewis Tappan, Rev. S. S. Jocelyn, 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., Rev. Dr. Morrison of England,
Gov. R. W. Habersham, W. W. Anderson of Jamaica, W. I., 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 Hornblower,
J. G. Palfrey, and John P. Hale.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:
Text in italics is surrounded with underscores: _italics_.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation have been retained from
the original.
Punctuation has been corrected without note.