THE CHICAGO LAW TIMES.

VOL. I.]

JULY, 1887.

JOHN JAY.

[No. 3.

John Jay, first Chief Justice of the United States, was born in the City of New York, on the 12th of December,1745. He was the son of Peter and Mary Jay, and the eighth of ten children. His ancestors had chosen to abandon their country rather than their religion; his great grandfather, Pierre Jay, and also Augustus Jay, his grandfather, having on account of religious persecution, fled from Rochelle to England.

His mother's ancestors were also compelled by persecution to abandon their country, Bohemia, and seek refuge in Holland and afterward, in America.

His childhood was passed in the country, under the quiet but inspiriting influence of a close communion with nature.

There he was taught the rudiments of knowledge by his mother, and under her tuition, was prepared to enter a grammar school. As a child, he was remarked for his serious and studious disposition.

At eight years of age, he was sent to the grammar school at New Rochelle, a village but a few miles distant from Rye, where his parents resided. The inhabitants were mostly of French extraction, and spoke their native tongue, so that the lad had here an opportunity to become familiar with a language which was to be of such importance in his subsequent diplomatic career. At the age of eleven, he returned home, and was placed under the instruction of a private tutor, with whom he remained until prepared for college.

In 1760, in his fifteenth year, he entered King's (now Columbia) College.

The details of his college life, though meagre, are highly honorable to him. He was studious and persevering. He was troubled with an indistinct articulation which finally, by incessant care and attention, he succeeded in overcoming. Other natural defects he cured, in a similar manner.

During the last year of his college course, having fixed upon the law as his future profession, he read, in the original, the immortal work of Grotius, De Jure Belli et Pacis. A few weeks before the close of his college life some of the students, as an act of mischief, broke a table in the college hall. Young Jay, though not one of the parties, witnessed the proceeding. He admitted, when summoned before the faculty, that he knew the perpetrators, but refused to disclose their names. For this refusal he was suspended. At the expiration of the sentence he returned, and received the degree of Bachelor of Arts, on the 15th of May, 1764, when he was nineteen years of age.

Two weeks after leaving college, we find him installed in the office of Benjamin Kissam, Esq., as a law student. Mr. Kissam was a warm hearted, genial man, and accorded to his young friend his full friendship and sympathy.

In 1768, Jay was admitted to the bar, and formed a partnership with Robert R. Livingston, who was afterward, for twenty-four years Chancellor of New York. He obtained a respectable share of business from the first; and the second year after his admission, Mr. Kissam requested him to take charge of his cases. His active professional life continued only six years.

About the 1st of May, 1774, he was married to Miss Sally Livingston, daughter of William Livingston, Esq., of Elizabethtown, East Jersey. Mr. Livingston had now retired from the bar, and had fixed his residence in New Jersey, in the affairs of which State he was destined to act a conspicuous part.

At the same time Jay entered upon his political career. The American Revolution was now in active progress.-The Boston Port Bill became a law on the 31st of March, 1774. Intense excitement everywhere prevailed. Mr. Jay was on

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the popular side, but was opposed to precipitate action. He was eminently a man of prudence and caution. He was slow to adopt aggressive measures, but immovably firm when any step had been taken. The citizens of New York held a meeting and appointed a committee of fifty-one, to correspond with the colonies in all matters of moment. Mr. Jay was on the committee. A small majority of the committee was in favor of moderate measures, and Jay was of the majority. He gradually advanced, however, with the current of opinion, and finally took his position among the most resolute of those opposed to the ministry.

On the 4th of July, 1774, the committee met and nominated Philip Livingston, John Alsop, Isaac Low, James Duane and John Jay, to represent New York in a General Congress. After an exciting contest, and the appointment of various confusing committees, these gentlemen were finally elected members of the Congress.

The Congress of 1774 met on Monday, the 5th of September, in Philadelphia. The proceedings of this Congress, in which Mr. Jay, who was then only twenty-nine years old, took an active part, have gone into the history of the country. On the 11th of October, Mr. Lee, Mr. Jay and Mr. Livingston were appointed a committee to prepare the draft of a memorial to the people of British America, and an address to the people of Great Britain. The preparation of the latter was entrusted to Mr. Jay. He brought the whole force of his mind to the composition of that paper, which has since attracted great attention. After some amendment, it was approved and adopted.

May 13, 1775, he took his seat in the second Congress. During this session he prepared a letter to the inhabitants of Canada, which was written in a style not unworthy the pen that wrote the address to the people of Great Britain. During the same session, also, he wrote an address to the people of Ireland, and a declaration to be published by General Washington, upon his arrival at the camp before Boston.

On the 25th of May, 1776, Mr. Jay took his seat as a mem ber of the Provincial Congress of his own State. His inclina

tion to serve his State rather than the nation, was shown, not only on this occasion, but subsequently, when he left the Supreme Bench of the United States, in order to become Governor of New York.

The Declaration of Independènce having been reported to the Continental Congress on the 28th of June, on the 2d of July the New York delegates wrote a pressing letter, asking instructions how to vote on the question of independence. There not being time to receive an answer to this letter, the New York delegates said, they were for the declaration themselves, and were assured their constitutents were for it; but as they had no authority to act upon the question, they asked to be excused from voting; which request was granted.

The New York delegates enclosed a draft of the declaration to the Provincial Congress. It was received and read on the day Congress assembled. It was immediately referred to a committee of which Mr. Jay was a member. Mr. Jay drafted several resolutions which were immediately adopted. The first declared that the reasons assigned by the Continental Congress for declaring the united colonies free and independent States, were cogent and conclusive; and while they lamented the cruel necessity which rendered that measure unavoidable, they approved the same, and would, at the risk of their lives and fortunes, join with the other colonies in supporting it.

Thus Mr. Jay, though he had not the honor of affixing his name to the Declaration of Independence, seized the first opportunity to give it his sanction.

The war was now fairly commenced. Two British ships had sailed up the Hudson River. Mr. Jay and five others were appointed a secret committee to devise and carry into execution such measures as to them should appear most effectual for obstructing the channel of the river, or annoying the enemy's ships. The duties of the committee were arduous, and 5,000 pounds sterling were appropriated to defray the expenses.

Mr. Jay did not resume his seat in the Provincial Congress until after the ships returned down the river, on the 18th day of August. He continued to perform valuable services to his State, many of which were of a military character.

Now came a gloomy aspect in military affairs. A large and well appointed army of the enemy had possession of New York City. The State was threatened with a formidable invasion on its Northern frontier, and many of the tories were emboldened, also to take up arms. Calm and inflexible, Mr. Jay stood unmoved amid all the violence of the storm, discharging his duties to the Commonwealth with unsurpassed fidelity. Rigorous measures were taken against the tories, and these he uniformly advocated and supported.

To arouse the inhabitants from the gloom and despondency into which they had sunk, the Convention of New York, on the 23d of December, published an address to their constituents. It was drawn by Mr. Jay and is one of the most admirable papers from his pen. Congress earnestly recommended it to the serious perusal and attention of the inhabitants of the United States, and ordered it to be translated and printed in the German language, at the expense of the country.

On the 15th of October, it was ordered by the Convention that Mr. Jay have leave of absence, to assist in removing his aged parents, with their effects, out of danger of the enemy. He repaired to Rye, and succeeded in removing them to Fishkill, where his excellent mother died early in the following year. The family estate at Rye soon after fell into the hands of the enemy, and was not regained until after the war. These various employments and responsibilities prevented him for two years from returning to the Continental Congress, in which he appears still to have been entitled to a seat.

In 1776-7, Mr. Jay, as a member of the Constitutional Convention, took an active part in framing the Constitution of New York. He and his coadjutors happily succeeded in reconciling the discordant sentiments of individuals, and in satisfying the demands of the time. Mr. Adams pronounced it the best constitution that had yet been framed. As finally adopted, it was chiefly the work of Mr. Jay.

He was an advocate of gradual emancipation, and strenu ously urged the insertion of an article in the Constitution, recommending the future Legislature of the State to take effectual measures for abolishing domestic slavery, as soon as it