EMINENT AMONG THOSE WHO ASSERTED THE LIBERTY
AND ESTABLISHED THE INDEPENDENCE
OF HIS COUNTRY,
WHICH HE LONG SERVED IN THE MOST
IMPORTANT OFFICES,
LEGISLATIVE, EXECUTIVE, JUDICIAL, AND DIPLOMATIC,
AND DISTINGUISHED IN THEM ALL BY HIS
ABILITY, FIRMNESS, PATRIOTISM, AND INTEGRITY,
HE WAS IN HIS LIFE, AND IN HIS DEATH,
AN EXAMPLE OF THE VIRTUES,
THE FAITH AND THE HOPES
OF A CHRISTIAN.
BORN, _Dec._ 12, 1745,
DIED, _May_ 17, 1829.
According to his expressed desire, the body of Mr. Jay was not deposited
in the family vault, but committed to the bosom of the earth. He always
strenuously protested against what he considered the heathenish attempt
to rescue the worthless relics of mortality from that dissolution, which
seems to be their natural and appropriate destination. Within the same
cemetery are also memorials to Sir James Jay, Peter Jay Munroe, Peter
Jay, Goldsborough Banyar, Harriet Van Cortlandt, and other members of
the family.
Pierre Jay, to whom the Jays of this country trace their origin, was one
of those noble and inflexible Huguenots who were driven from France by
the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, a measure which deprived that
kingdom of more than one-fourth of the most industrious and desirable
class of its population. His descendants, settling in this country,
retained the characteristics which had distinguished their forefathers,
and became among its most respectable and prosperous inhabitants. Peter
Jay, the grandson of Pierre Jay, and, like him, engaged in mercantile
pursuits, was married in the year 1728 to Mary, the daughter of Jacobus
Van Cortlandt, and was the father of ten children, of whom John was the
eighth. Seldom has a son been more fortunate in his parents. "Both
father and mother," we are told by the biographer, "were actuated by
sincere and fervent piety; both had warm hearts and cheerful tempers,
and both possessed, under varied and severe trials, a remarkable degree
of equanimity. But in other respects they differed widely. He possessed
strong and masculine sense, was a shrewd observer and accurate judge of
men, resolute, persevering and prudent, an affectionate father, a kind
master, but governing all under his control with mild but absolute sway.
She had a cultivated mind and a fine imagination. Mild and affectionate
in her temper and manners, she took delight in the duties as well as in
the pleasures of domestic life; while a cheerful resignation to the will
of Providence during many years of sickness and suffering bore witness
to the strength of her religious faith."
Under the tutelage of such a mother was John Jay educated till his
eighth year, and from her he learned the rudiments of English and Latin
grammar. Even at this tender age, the gravity of his disposition, his
discretion and his fondness for books were subjects of common remark.
When eight years old, he was committed to the care of Mr. Stoope, a
French clergyman and keeper of a grammar-school at New Rochelle, with
whom he remained for about three years. This gentleman being unfitted by
reason of his oddities and improvidence for the efficient supervision of
the establishment, left the young pupils, for the most part, to the
tender mercies of his wife, a woman of extremely penurious habits; by
whom, we are told, they were "treated with little food and much
scolding." Every thing about the house under the management of this
ill-assorted pair went to ruin, and the young student was often obliged,
in order to protect his bed from the drifting snow, to close up the
broken panes with bits of wood. Various other inconveniences fell to the
lot of young Jay, but it is probable that the rigid discipline of Mrs.
Stoope was not without its advantages. It had the effect of throwing its
subject on his own resources, and taught him to disregard those thousand
petty annoyances which, after all, are the chief causes of human misery,
and which often disturb the tranquillity of the strongest minds.
From Mr. Stoope he was transferred to a private tutor, and in his
fifteenth year entered King's, now Columbia College, at that time in its
infancy. Here, as might have been supposed, his conduct, exemplary
character and scholarship won him the esteem and respect of all. Beside
the improvement and expansion of his intellect, and the opportunity of
measuring himself with companions of the same age and the same studies,
he received other advantages from these four years of college training.
His attention being called to certain deficiencies which might impede
his future success, he at once set himself at work to remedy them. An
indistinct articulation and a faulty pronunciation of the letter L, he
was able by the constant study and practice of the rules of elocution
entirely to remove. Special attention was also paid to English
composition, by which he attained that admirable style, which in purity
and classical finish was afterwards not surpassed by that of any other
contemporary statesman, a style polished but not emasculate, and of such
flexibility as to adapt itself equally well to the vehemence of
patriotic appeal, the guarded precision of diplomatic correspondence, or
to the grave and authoritative judgments of the bench. He also adopted
Pope's plan of keeping by his bedside a table supplied with writing
materials, in order to record at the moment of its suggestion any idea
which might occur to him in waking.
During his senior year, the young student had occasion to display that
decision and firmness which at a later period shone so conspicuously in
affairs of greater moment. Certain mischief-making classmates, perhaps
to avenge themselves on the steward, undertook to break the table in the
college hall. The noise produced by this operation reaching the ears of
Dr. Cooper, the President, that arbitrary personage suddenly pounced
upon them without leaving them a chance of escape. The young men were at
once formed in a line and two questions--"Did you break the table? Do
you know who did?"--were each answered by an emphatic "No," until they
were put to Jay, the last but one in the line, who had indeed been
present at the disturbance but took no part in it; to the first question
he replied in the negative, to the second his answer was "Yes, sir," and
to the further inquiry--"Who was it?"--he promptly said, "I do not
choose to tell you, sir." The remaining student followed Jay's example.
The two young men, after resisting the expostulations of the President,
were summoned before the Faculty for trial, where Jay appeared for the
defence. To the allegation that they had been guilty of violating their
written promise, on their admission, of obedience to the college
statutes, Jay responded that they were not required by those statutes to
inform against their companions, and that therefore his refusal to do so
was not an act of disobedience. Reasonable as this defence might appear,
it, of course, failed to satisfy judges, clothed with executive powers,
and anxious to punish the least disregard of their own authority, and
the two delinquents were at once rusticated. At the termination of his
sentence Jay returned to college, where his reception by the instructors
proved that he had suffered no loss of their esteem. On the 15th of May,
1764, he was graduated with the highest collegiate honors.
On leaving college, Jay entered the office of Benjamin Kissam, in the
city of New-York, as a student at law. Between this gentleman and
himself a degree of familiarity and mutual respect existed, quite
remarkable considering their relative positions and their disparity of
years. For two years in the office of Mr. Kissam, he was the fellow
student of the celebrated grammarian, Lindley Murray, with whom he
formed an enduring friendship, and who, in a posthumous memoir of
himself, thus alludes to his companion: "His talents and virtues gave,
at that period, pleasing indications of future eminence; he was
remarkable for strong reasoning powers, comprehensive views,
indefatigable application, and uncommon firmness of mind. With these
qualifications added to a just taste in literature, and ample stores of
learning and knowledge, he was happily prepared to enter on that career
of public virtue by which he was afterward so honorably distinguished,
and made instrumental in promoting the good of his country." Murray was
a tall, handsome man, the son of Robert Murray, a venerable quaker of
New-York, the location of whose farm at the lower part of the city is
still pointed out by the antiquarian. Mr. Jay was admitted to the bar in
1768, and in the pursuit of his profession so extended his reputation
that he was soon after appointed secretary of the commission named by
the king to determine the disputed boundary between the States of
New-York and New Jersey. In 1774 he was married to Sarah, the youngest
daughter of William Livingston, an eminent supporter of the American
cause during the Revolution, and afterwards for many years governor of
New Jersey.
The limits to which we are confined allow us to take but a brief notice
of Mr. Jay's numerous and most valuable public services, extending over
a period of twenty-eight years, and terminating with his retirement in
1801 from the office of governor of his native State. In no one of the
colonies had the cause of resistance to the mother country less
encouragement than in New-York, and in no other could Great Britain
number so many influential allies, yet, on the receipt of the news of
the enforcement of the Boston Port Bill, Mr. Jay took a decided stand on
the side of the patriots. At a meeting of the citizens of New-York, May
16, 1774, we find him on a committee of fifty appointed "to correspond
with the sister colonies on all matters of moment." Young as he was, he
was required to draft the response to the proposal of the Boston
committee for a Congress of deputies from "the colonies in general." In
the first Congress in the same year, he was a member of some of the most
important committees. The "Address to the People of Great Britain," the
distinguishing act of that Congress, was drafted by Mr. Jay. This
eloquent document was pronounced by Jefferson, then ignorant of its
author, to be "the production certainly of the finest pen in America,"
and Mr. Webster considered it as standing "at the head of the
incomparable productions of that body [the first Congress], productions
which called forth the decisive commendation of Lord Chatham, in which
he pronounced them not inferior to the finest productions of the master
minds of the world."
In the interim between the close of the first, and the opening in May
1775 of the second Congress, Jay was incessantly engaged in the service
of his country; and when the delegates had reassembled, his pen was
again employed in the preparation of the two addresses to the
inhabitants of Jamaica and of Ireland. Some reluctance being shown on
the part of wealthy and influential citizens to serve in a military
capacity, he, without hesitation, sought and accepted a commission as
colonel of a regiment of the new militia; but his legislative ability
and eloquence were too highly valued to allow of his absence from
Congress, and he never actually joined his company. A second address of
Congress to the king having been treated with insult, and all hope of
accommodation being abandoned, he became one of the foremost advocates
of warlike measures; and, while on a committee for that purpose, devised
a series of plans for crippling the resources of England, which were
adopted by Congress in March 1776, nearly three months previous to the
formal act of severance in the Declaration of Independence. At the
adoption of this measure, in consequence of his election to the
Provincial Congress of New-York in April of that year, Jay was unable to
affix his signature to that instrument, but, as chairman of the
committee to whom the subject had been referred, he reported a
resolution, pledging that State to its support. Shortly after came the
most gloomy period of the revolutionary cause in New-York; a hostile
army was invading the State from the north, inspired by the defeat of
the American forces on Long Island, the city was in possession of the
enemy, and what was worse, treachery and despair existed among the
people themselves. A committee of public safety was appointed by the
Provincial Congress, clothed with dictatorial powers, of which Jay acted
as chairman. At this juncture also, Mr. Jay, by appointment, put forth
the thrilling address of the convention to their constituents, an appeal
written in the most exalted strain of patriotic eloquence, in which he
rebukes the defection and stimulates the flagging hopes of the people
with the zeal and indignant energy of an ancient prophet.
In 1777, Jay, from a committee appointed the year before, drafted a
State Constitution, which received the sanction of the legislature.
There were certain provisions which he desired to introduce in that
instrument, and which he thought more likely to be adopted when proposed
in the form of amendments than if they should be incorporated into the
first draft; but a summons to the side of his dying mother prevented the
realization of his wishes. One of the amendments which he intended to
urge, was a provision for the gradual abolition of slavery within the
limits of the State. Under the new constitution, having been appointed
to the office of Chief Justice, he was ineligible by that instrument to
any other post, except on a "special occasion," but, in consequence of a
difficulty arising between his own, and the neighboring State of
Vermont, the legislature took advantage of the exception, and elected
him delegate to Congress. Without vacating, therefore, his judicial
seat, he complied with their appointment, and soon after his entrance in
Congress became its presiding officer. The impossibility, however, of
doing full justice to both his judicial and legislative duties, induced
him to resign his seat on the bench. Congress now employed his pen in
writing the circular letter to the States, urging them to furnish
additional funds for the war. This statesmanlike exposition of the
government's financial condition closes with a noble appeal to the
national honor.
"Rouse, therefore, strive who shall do most for his country; rekindle
that flame of patriotism, which, at the mention of disgrace and slavery,
blazed throughout America and animated all her citizens. Determine to
finish the contest as you began it, honestly and gloriously. Let it
never be said that America had no sooner become independent than she
became insolvent, or that her infant glories and growing fame were
obscured and tarnished by broken contracts and violated faith, in the
very hour when all the nations of the earth were admiring and almost
adoring the splendor of her rising."
In 1779, accompanied by his wife, he sailed for Spain, as minister
plenipotentiary, in order to secure the concurrence of that kingdom in
the treaty with France, recognizing the independence of the United
States; and though his diplomatic negotiations were conducted in the
most honorable spirit, and with consummate prudence and ability, the
object of his mission was finally frustrated by the selfish policy of
the Spanish government, in requiring America to surrender the right of
navigating on the Mississippi. It was during his residence at the
Spanish court, that the desperate financial embarrassments of Congress
prompted a measure equally unjust to their representative abroad and
hazardous to the national credit. Presuming upon the success of his
mission, they had empowered their treasurer to draw on Mr. Jay bills
payable at six months, for half a million of dollars. As these bills
came in, the minister was placed in a situation of extreme perplexity,
but his regard for his country's reputation overcame all private
considerations; he adopted the patriotic but desperate expedient of
making himself personally responsible for their payment, and his
acceptances had exceeded one hundred thousand dollars before any relief
came to hand. Mr. Jay's residence in Spain also subjected him to other
trials, only less severe than the one just mentioned; the vexatious
obstacles placed in way of his negotiations by the Spanish government;
the insufficiency of his salary at the most expensive court in Europe;
the frequent removal of the court from place to place, at the royal
pleasure, involving the absence of his wife, whom, for pecuniary
reasons, he was unable to take with him; the death of his young child,
and his anxiety for the family whom he had left at home, exposed to the
dangers of war, and from whom, for more than a year, not a line had been
received, might well have harassed a less sensitive nature than his. The
fortitude with which he sustained these annoyances may be seen in a
letter written by him about this time to his friend, Egbert Benson, of
New-York. It commences thus:
"DEAR BENSON:
"When shall we again, by a cheerful fire, or under a shady tree,
recapitulate our juvenile pursuits or pleasures, or look back on the
extensive field of politics we once have trodden? Our plans of life
have, within these few years past, been strangely changed. Our country,
I hope, will be the better for the alterations. How far we individually
may be benefited is more questionable. Personal considerations, however,
must give way to public ones, and the consciousness of having done our
duty to our country and posterity, must recompense us for all the evils
we experience in their cause."
From Spain, by order of Congress, Jay proceeded to Paris to arrange, in
conjunction with Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, and Laurens, the Definitive
Treaty of Peace with England,--the most important diplomatic act of the
eighteenth century; and we have the testimony of Mr. Fitzherbert, then
the English minister resident in Paris, that "it was not only chiefly
but SOLELY through his means that the negotiations of that period
between England and the United States were brought to a successful
conclusion." Mr. Oswald had arrived in Paris with a commission, in which
the United States were mentioned under the designation of "colonies,"
but Jay, although his associates did not participate in his scruples,
refused to begin negotiations without a preliminary recognition on the
part of England of the Independence of the United States; and owing to
his firmness a new commission was obtained from the king, in which that
most essential point (as the sequel proved) was gained. Declining the
appointment now tendered him by Congress of commissioner to negotiate a
commercial treaty with England, Jay returned to his country. On arriving
at New-York he was welcomed by a most enthusiastic public reception, and
was presented by the corporation of New-York with the freedom of the
city in a gold box. The office of Secretary for foreign affairs, which,
for the want of a suitable incumbent, had been vacant for two years, was
at this time urged by Congress upon his acceptance, and he did not feel
at liberty to refuse his services. He was now virtually at the head of
public affairs. The whole foreign correspondence of the government, the
proposal of plans of treaties, instructions to ministers abroad, and the
submission of reports on all matters to which Congress might call his
attention, came within the scope of his new duties.
Mr. Jay was among the first of our statesmen to perceive the defects of
the confederation, and to urge the necessity of a new and more efficient
system of government. Besides his contributions to the Federalist, he
wrote an address to the people of New-York, then the very citadel of the
opposition to the proposed Constitution, which had no unimportant effect
in securing its adoption. In the State Convention, which had assembled
with only eleven out of fifty-seven members in its favor, Jay took a
most influential part, and mainly owing to his exertions was it finally
ratified. At the commencement of the administration of Washington, he
was invited by that great man to select his own post in the newly-formed
government. He was accordingly appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court, and well did he justify, in his new capacity, the glowing
eulogium of Webster, that "when the spotless ermine of the judicial robe
fell on John Jay it touched nothing less spotless than itself." In the
performance of his duties as the first Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court, much was accomplished by him in organizing the business of the
court, expounding the principles of its decisions, and in commending
them to a confederacy of sovereign States, already sufficiently jealous
of its extensive but beneficent jurisdiction. His decision in the novel
case of a suit instituted against the State of Georgia by a citizen of
another State, is a memorable instance of his firmness and judicial
ability.
The year 1794 opened with every prospect of a disastrous war between
Great Britain and the United States. The Revolution did not terminate
without leaving in the minds of Americans a strong and perhaps an
unreasonable antipathy to the mother country, which was stimulated by
the unwise interference of Genet, the French minister, in our politics,
and by the exertions of a large class of British refugees, who had
escaped to our country still smarting under the oppressions which they
had experienced at home, and who were extremely desirous of plunging the
American government into the contest which was then raging between
France and England. There were also certain substantial grievances
universally admitted by our citizens, which would give some countenance
to such a measure on the part of America. Among these were enumerated
the detention in violation of the treaty of the posts on our western
frontier by British garrisons, thereby excluding the navigation by
Americans of the great lakes, the refusal to make compensation for the
negroes carried away during the war by the British fleet, the exclusion
and capture of American vessels carrying supplies to French ports, and
the seizure of our ships in the exercise of the pretended right of
search. These, and other outrages, were justified by Great Britain, on
the ground of certain equivalent infractions of the treaty by the
American nation. Washington however could not be induced to consent to
hazard the national interests, by transgressing that neutrality so
necessary to a young republic only just recovering from the severe
experience of a seven years' war, and he saw no other honorable means of
averting the impending danger than the appointment of a special envoy,
empowered to adjust the matters in dispute. For this purpose, on his
nomination, Mr. Jay was confirmed on the 20th of April, 1794, by the
Senate, as Minister to England, at which country he arrived in June of
that year. The treaty was signed in November following, and the
negotiations of the two ministers, Lord Grenville and Mr. Jay, were
greatly facilitated by their mutual esteem and the good understanding
existing between them; and their correspondence, which was characterized
by signal ability on both sides, affords an instance of diplomatic
straightforwardness and candor almost without a parallel in history. It
as not consistent with the plan of our sketch to speak of the provisions
of the treaty thus secured: it was not, in all respects, what Jay, or
the country desired; but in view of the immense advantages to our
commerce obtained by it, the complicated and delicate questions
adjusted, and the disasters which would have befallen the nation had it
been defeated, it will challenge comparison with any subsequent
international arrangement to which the United States have been a party.
Yet, incredible as would seem, the abuse and scurrility with which both
it and its author were loaded, discloses one of the most disgraceful
chapters in the records of political fanaticism. By an eminent member of
the opposing party, he was declared to have perpetrated "an infamous
act," an act "stamped with avarice and corruption." He himself was
termed "a damned arch-traitor," "sold to Great Britain," and the treaty
burned before his door. Enjoying the confidence of the illustrious
Washington, and of the wisest and best men of his country, in his
course, and above all, the inward assurance of his unswerving rectitude,
Jay might well forgive these ebullitions of party spleen and await the
sanction which has been conferred on his actions by the impartial voice
of posterity.
But no statesman of that time had, on the whole, less reason to complain
of popular ingratitude than Jay; before he reached his native shore, a
large majority of the people of New-York had expressed their approbation
of his conduct by electing him to the office of Governor. While in this
office, the appropriate close of his public career, besides suggesting
many useful measures in regard to education and internal improvements,
the benefits of which are experienced to this day, he had the happiness
of promoting and witnessing the passage by the Legislature of the act
for the gradual abolition of slavery in his native State. Of this
measure he was one of the earliest advocates, having served as the first
President of the Society of Manumission, which had been organized in
1786 by a number of the most respectable gentlemen in New-York, and to
whose disinterested exertions the success of the anti-slavery cause was
mainly due. On accepting the seat tendered to him in the Supreme Court,
Jay, fearing that the presidency of the society might prove an
embarrassment in the decision of some questions which might come before
him, resigned the office and was succeeded by Hamilton, who continued to
discharge its duties till the year 1793.
At the expiration of his second gubernatorial term in 1801, Jay,
contrary to the importunities of his friends, retired from public life,
having, for twenty-seven years, faithfully served his country in every
department of legislative, diplomatic, and judicial trust. Declining the
office of Chief Justice, which was again pressed by the President upon
his acceptance, he prepared to enjoy that congenial seclusion under the
shade of his patrimonial trees, which, through all the varied and
agitating scenes of political life, had been the object of his most
ardent desires. In accordance with this design, he had built a
substantial house at Bedford, about forty-four miles from New-York, on
an estate embracing some eight hundred acres, which had come to him by
inheritance. Here, in one of the most delightful localities in the
fertile county of Westchester, in the care of his family and estates, in
the society of his friends and his books, in the discharge of the duties
of neighborly benevolence, and in the preparation for those immortal
scenes which he had reason to suppose would soon open upon him, he
passed the tranquil remainder of his days. But his enjoyments were not
destined to exempt him from those bitter but universal visitations,
which, at times, overthrow the happiness and frustrate the most pleasing
anticipations of our race. In less than twelve months after his
retirement, the partner of his joys and sorrows, who, by her
accomplishments, her unobtrusive virtues and solicitous affection, had
been at once his delight and support, was taken from him. At the final
hour, Jay, as the biographer tells us, stood by the bedside "calm and
collected," and when the spirit had taken its departure, led his
children to an adjoining room, and with "a firm voice but glistening
eye" read that inspiring and wonderful chapter in which Paul has
discussed the mystery of our future resurrection.
Considering its natural advantages and its connection by railway with
the great metropolis, Bedford, the ancient half shire town of
Westchester County, can hardly be praised on the score of its
"progressive" tendencies. At the time of Jay's residence there, the
mail-coach from New-York, employing two long days in the journey,
visited the town once a week, and even now the locomotive which thunders
through it perhaps a dozen times a day, hardly disturbs its rural
quietude. It may, however, claim considerable distinction in the annals
of Indian warfare, for, within its limits, on the southern side of
Aspetong Mountain, is still pointed out the scene of a bloody conflict
between the savages and the redoubtable band of Captain Underhill, in
which the latter coming suddenly at night on a village of their foes,
slaughtered them without mercy to the number of five hundred; "the
Lord," as the record goes, "having collected the most of our enemies
there, to celebrate some festival." Bedford was formerly under the
jurisdiction of Connecticut, and the apparent thrift and independent
bearing of its farming population are decided indications of their New
England descent. Its situation is uncommonly pleasant and healthful, and
although the surface of the country is somewhat rocky and uneven, the
soil is excellently adapted for agricultural purposes. The higher
grounds display an abundant growth of all varieties of oak, elm, ash,
linden, chestnut, walnut, locust, and tulip trees, while its fertile
valleys and its sunny hillside exposures furnish ample spaces for
pasturage or cultivation. A number of beautiful streams water the
meadows, of which the two largest, the Cisco or Beaver Dam, and Cross
River, after flowing for a long distance separately, just before leaving
the town, wisely conclude to unite their forces and bear a generous
tribute to the waters of the Croton. The Beaver Dam derives its name
from having once been the favorite haunt of the beavers, who in former
times found a plentiful sustenance in the bark of the willows, maples
and birches which still linger on its banks.
The traveller who wishes to survey the mansion of "the good old
governor," as Mr. Jay is still called by those villagers who remember
his liberality and benevolent interest in their welfare, leaves the
Harlem railroad at Katona, the northwest portion of the town, so called
from the name of the Indian chief, who formerly claimed dominion of this
part of the country, and proceeds in a southeasterly direction along a
road somewhat winding and hilly, tiresome enough certainly to the
pedestrian, but occasionally relieving him with exhilarating prospects
on either side of farmhouses with well-stored and ample barns, wooded
hills with green intervales, waving fields of grain, and pastures of
well-fed, contemplative cattle, who shake their heads as if their
meditations were a little disturbed by his presence. Every thing about
the farms has the aspect of good order and thrift, and nothing mars the
general impression except the occasional sight of some happy family of
swine, who appear to exercise a sort of right of eminent domain among
the weeds and roots on the roadside. A snow-white sow with thirty
snow-white young, according to an ancient poet, was the immediate
inducement to AEneas in selecting the site of his future city; whether
such an attraction would prove equally potent in our own times, is more
questionable. As one approaches the estate of Jay, the marks of superior
taste and cultivation are apparent; the stone walls are more neatly and
compactly built, and the traveller is refreshed by the grateful shade of
the long rows of maples and elms which were planted along the road by
Jay and his descendants, some of whom still make their summer residence
in Bedford. After proceeding for two or three miles from the railroad
station, we turn up a shaded avenue on the left, which winds round the
southern slope of the hill, at the top of which stands the modest
mansion of John Jay. This is a dark brown wooden two-storied building,
facing the southwest, with an addition of one story at each end, the
main building having a front of forty-five feet, along which is extended
a porch of ample dimensions. Passing through the hall we find in the
rear a background of magnificent woods, principally oak and chestnut,
though nearer the house are a number of gigantic willows still
flourishing in the strength and verdure of youth. Concealed in the
foliage of these woods, a little to the west, is the small school-house
of stone erected by Jay for his children, and on the other side of the
mansion, towards the northeast, are the barns, carriage-house, and the
farm-house, occupied by a tenant, who has supervision of the estate.
These tenements are almost screened from view by a grove of locust
trees, for which Jay showed a special partiality, and whose snow-white
robe of blossoms in the latter part of spring affords a pleasing
contrast with the light green of the tasselled chestnuts, and the dark
and glossy shade of the oak and walnut foliage behind. In front of the
barn, on the eastern side of the house, is the garden, which, though not
making any pretension to superiority in its extent or its cultivation,
displays an excellent variety of fruits and flowers, for the most part,
such as thrive easily in that soil, and are most useful and appropriate
to the wants of an American household. Jay, though for his period
uncommonly versed in horticultural matters, did not, in his
old-fashioned simplicity, choose to waste much time in transplanting
those contumacious productions of foreign countries which "never will in
other climates grow." Ascending the hill a short distance, we come again
to the house, immediately in front of which, without obstructing the
view, stands a row of four handsome lindens. Before the dwelling, which
is nearly half a mile from the main road, stretches the green lawn
irregularly diversified with groups of trees, and beyond is seen the
sightly ridge of "Deer's Delight," once the resort of the beautiful
animal from which it takes its designation; and certainly the choice of
such a delectable locality would have done credit to creatures far more
reasonable. This spot is crowned with the elegant country-seat of Mr.
John Jay, a grandson of the Chief Justice, who, in taking advantage of
its natural beauties, and adapting it to the purposes of his residence,
has shown a degree of taste which has rarely been surpassed. On the
western slope, which is somewhat more abrupt than the others, is the
orchard, and from a thatched arbor on the brink of the descent, the eye
surveys a large part of that circle of hills in which Bedford appears to
be almost inclosed. A most enchanting rural landscape is here spread
out, embracing a wide extent of country dotted with thriving farms and
villages, graceful declivities wandered over by numerous herds of
cattle, valleys and pellucid streams, glimmering at intervals from thick
and overshadowing foliage. Further towards the west is the long line of
hills just shutting off the view of the Hudson, and overlooked by the
still loftier range of the highlands on the other side of the river,
conspicuous among which towers the Dunderberg or bread-tray mountain.
From this spot the magnificent variations of sunset are seen to great
advantage. No man endowed with the least susceptibility to the charm of
outward nature, can contemplate without enthusiasm the broad suffusion
of crimson blazing along those western hills, gradually passing into
orange and purple; and finally closing with a deep glowing brown, while
the clear brilliant sky above pales and darkens at the almost
imperceptible coming on of night.
The interior arrangements of the house have not been essentially varied
since the lifetime of its first illustrious occupant. They all bear
marks of that republican simplicity and unerring good taste which were
among his distinguishing characteristics. The furniture, though of the
best materials, was obviously chosen more for use than ornament, and is
noticeable chiefly for an air of antique respectability and comfort,
which, in spite of the perpetually changing fancies in such matters, can
never go out of fashion. On the right of the hall, as one enters, is the
dining-room, an apartment of perhaps some twenty feet square; in this
and in the parlor opposite, which has about the same dimensions, are
several interesting family portraits, the works mostly of Stewart and
Trumbull, among which are those of Egbert Benson, Judge Hobart, Peter
Jay, John Jay, and Augustus Jay, the first American ancestor of the
family, the artist of which is unknown. Passing through the parlor, we
enter the small room at the west end of the house, occupied as a
library, and containing a well-assorted but not extensive supply of
books. Here were the weighty folios of Grotius, Puffendorf, Vattel, and
other masters of the science of international law, besides a number of
standard theological and miscellaneous works, with the classic authors
of antiquity, among whom Cicero appears to have been his special
favorite. In the library hangs a portrait of Governor Livingston, the
father-in-law of Jay; a vigorous manly boy, the characteristics of whose
youthful features have been retained with singular distinctness in those
of his descendants. He is represented as dressed in the full-sleeved
coat and elaborate costume of his time, and with a sword hanging at his
side, an outfit hardly in accordance with so tender an age. The oaken
press and strong-bound chest of cherry wood are also in this room, the
latter the receptacle perhaps of Jay's important papers;--these ancient
heirlooms are presumed to have crossed the ocean more than a century and
a half ago.
Notwithstanding the infirmities of the last twenty years of his life,
Jay enjoyed an old age of remarkable tranquillity and happiness. He set
an example of undeviating punctuality; the hour and the man always came
together, and in his habits he was extremely regular. In order to assist
him in rising early, an aperture, shaped like the crescent moon, was
made in the solid oaken shutter of his apartment, by which a glimpse
might be caught of the first rays of the uprising dawn. The reading of
prayers was succeeded by breakfast, after which the greater part of the
day was commonly spent in attending to the affairs of his extensive
farm. Most of the time when thus engaged, he rode on the back of a
favorite sorrel mare, of the famous Narraganset breed, now extinct. This
faithful creature died in 1819, after a service of twenty-three years.
Two of the same stock belonging to Mr. Jay had died in succession
previously, the grandam having been given by his father in 1765. It was
probably of the latter animal that he wrote from Europe in 1783, under
the apprehension that she might have fallen into the hands of the enemy.
"If my old mare is alive, I must beg of you and my brother to take good
care of her. I mean that she should be well fed and live idle, unless my
brother Peter should choose to use her. If it should be necessary to
advance money to recover her, I am content you should do it even to the
amount of double her value."
At half-past one came the dinner hour, after which he was wont to
indulge moderately in smoking. A few of his long clay pipes are still
preserved. They were imported for him from abroad, and were considered
in their time an unusually select and valuable article. His evenings
were devoted to reading and the company of his family and neighbors.
Once or twice a year, Judge Benson, Peter Jay, Monroe, or some other old
friend, would take a journey to his hospitable home to pass a week in
living over, in conversation, their long and varied experience, and
occasionally some stranger from foreign lands, attracted by his
wide-spread reputation, would receive at his hands a cordial yet
unostentatious welcome. Though possessed of a large landed property from
which he enjoyed a respectable income, his family expenses and the
management of his estate were regulated by a judicious and liberal
economy. Remarkably affectionate in his disposition and solicitous for
the welfare of his children, his demeanor towards them was marked with
unvarying equability and decision. An extract from a letter to Mrs. Jay,
dated London, 5th Dec., 1794, illustrates his views on this head:
"I hope N---- will amuse herself sometimes with her spinning-wheel. God
only knows what may one day be her situation. Polite accomplishments
merit attention, useful knowledge should not be neglected. Let us do the
best we can with, and for our children, and commit them to the
protection and guidance of Providence."
By his servants, his poorer neighbors, and all who were in any way
dependent on him, he was reverenced and loved. He promptly and liberally
responded to all movements calculated to promote the general good. In
one instance of this kind, he showed an adroitness in his beneficence
which is somewhat amusing. The townspeople were about to erect a
school-house, and it was apprehended that from mistaken considerations
of economy, the building would be less substantial in its construction
than was desirable. When, therefore, the subscription list was presented
to Jay, he put down a liberal sum against his name "if of wood, if of
stone, _double_." Another example occurs in his dealings with his less
fortunate neighbors, evincing the union of austere and inflexible regard
for public justice with the most sensitive sympathy with individual
suffering, which is cited in Professor McVicar's appreciative and
eloquent sketch of Jay's life. The case referred to is that of "a poor
blacksmith in his neighborhood, who had encroached with his building on
the public highway, and refused to recede; Jay prosecuted him to the
extreme rigor of the law, and having duly punished the _offender_,
proceeded to make it up tenfold to the _poor man_ by deeding to him an
acre or two of ground from his own farm, in order that his necessities
might be no plea for any further breach of the law."
A pleasing reminiscence of Jay has been told by the son of the recipient
of his bounty, a poor widow, whose utmost exertions were barely
sufficient for the support of her family. Some time after the Governor's
death, she received a note from Mr. William Jay, the occupant of the old
mansion, requesting her to visit him as he had some pleasant news for
her. In great perplexity as to the nature of the promised communication,
the good woman complied, and on arriving at the house, was thus
addressed by that gentleman: "My father, before he died, requested to be
buried in the plainest manner; 'by so doing,' said he, 'there will be a
saving of about two hundred dollars which I wish you to give to some
poor widow whom you and your sister may consider most worthy, and I wish
you to get the silver money and count it out now,' and," continued Mr.
Jay, "my sister and I have selected you and here is the money." The
gratitude of the widow found no answer but in tears as she bore away the
treasure to her dwelling. The recollection of deeds like these is the
imperishable inheritance which Jay has left to his descendants, and it
is a distinction besides which mere heraldic honors fade into
insignificance, that, from the beginning to this day, the great name of
Jay has been inseparably linked with the cause of the neglected and
oppressed against the encroachments of unscrupulous power.
The personal appearance of Jay, at the age of forty-four, is thus
described by Mr. Sullivan: "He was a little less than five feet in
height, his person rather thin but well formed. His complexion was
without color, his eyes black and penetrating, his nose aquiline, and
his chin pointed. His hair came over his forehead, was tied behind and
lightly powdered. His dress black. When standing, he was a little
inclined forward, as is not uncommon with students long accustomed to
bend over a table." With the exception of the mistake as to the color of
his eyes, which were blue and not black, this is probably an accurate
picture. But it gives no idea of the blended dignity and courtesy which
were apparent in his features and his habitual bearing, to a degree,
says a venerable informant, never witnessed in any other man of that
time. His general appearance of reserve was sometimes misconstrued by
those who were little acquainted with him into haughtiness. This was
undoubtedly native, in some measure, to his character, but much, we have
reason to suppose, existed more in appearance than in reality, and was
the unavoidable expression of one long and intensely engaged in affairs
of great moment,
"Deep on whose front engraved
Deliberation sat, and public cares."
Not without a keen sense of the ludicrous, he rarely indulged in jocose
remarks; yet he is said, at times, when much importuned for certain
information or opinions which he did not care to reveal, to have shown a
peculiarly shrewd humor in his replies, which baffled without irritating
the inquirer. Perhaps a delicate piece of advice was never given in more
skilfully worded and unexceptionable phraseology than in his answer to a
confidential letter from Lord Grenville, inquiring as to the expediency
of removing Mr. Hammond, the British Minister at Washington, who, for
some reason or other, had become extremely distasteful to the government
there. As Mr. Hammond was a personal friend to Jay, the inquiry was
naturally embarrassing, but he still deemed it his duty to advise the
minister's recall. Accordingly, in his reply, after first declaring his
friendship for Mr. Hammond and his entire confidence in that gentleman's
ability and integrity, he refers to the unhappy diplomatic difficulties
of that gentleman, and concludes by saying, "Hence I cannot forbear
wishing that Mr. Hammond _had a better place_, and that a person well
adapted to the existing state of things was sent to succeed him."
As William Penn said of George Fox, Mr. Jay was "civil beyond all forms
of breeding;" the natural refinement and purity of his disposition were
expressed in his appearance and manners, and perhaps we might apply with
propriety the remainder of Penn's description:--"He was a man whom God
endowed with a clear and wonderful depth,--a discoverer of other men's
spirits and very much the master of his own. The reverence and solemnity
of his demeanor and the fewness and fulness of his words often struck
strangers with admiration." In his character, the qualities of wisdom,
decision, truthfulness, and justice held a supreme and unquestioned
sway. Under their direction, he was often led into measures which seemed
at first to hazard his own interests, as when at Paris he violated his
congressional instructions for the benefit of his country; but these
measures were adopted with such deliberation, and pursued with so
unhesitating perseverance that their results invariably justified the
course he had taken. The three most important concessions ever gained by
America from foreign countries, the concessions which now our country
most values and would be least willing to surrender, namely, the
Navigation of the Mississippi, the Participation in the British
Fisheries and the Trade with the West Indies, are due almost solely to
the foresight, the diplomatic ability and the firmness of John Jay. When
we consider the comparative insensibility of Congress at that time, and
the country at large, to the incalculable value of these rights, we may
feel assured that had America sent abroad an agent of different
character, the wily diplomatists of Europe would have found little
difficulty in wresting them from us. Jay was moreover a man of deep and
fervent piety--not that merely occasional ecstasy of devotional feeling,
which, although perfectly sincere, is compatible with an habitual
violation of all laws human and divine, but a constant sense of
responsibility to a Supreme Being for every action of his life, under
which he labored
"As ever in the Great Taskmaster's eye."
It was this combination of attributes, "inviting confidence, yet
inspiring respect," setting him apart from other men, yet drawing the
multitude after him, that accounts for the constantly recurring demands
upon his public services. The people felt that they could trust a man
whose patriotism was not a temporary passion, but a well-defined and
immovable principle, and they were never disappointed. In the complete
harmony of his moral and intellectual qualities, so wholly free from the
disturbing influence of painful and dangerous eccentricities and the
considerations of self, he approached nearer than any other statesman of
his age to the majestic character of Washington, and on no one of his
illustrious coadjutors did that great man place so uniform and so
unhesitating a reliance.
Jay had already exceeded the longest period allotted by the psalmist to
the life of man, in the enjoyment of all those satisfactions which
comfortable outward circumstances, the affection of friends and kindred,
and the honor and reverence of a country whose vast and still enlarging
prosperity were so much due to his exertions, can supply, when he
received the unmistakable premonitions of his end. On the 17th of May,
1828, having previously summoned the numerous members of the family to
his bedside, and having bestowed on each his parting advice and
benediction, he resigned his soul to the care of its Maker; and now, in
the quiet grave-yard at Rye, near the spot where he passed the early
years of his life, repose the august remains of John Jay.
=Hamilton.=
[Illustration: Ball Hughes' Statue of Hamilton]