JOHN JAY.

FIRST CHIEF-JUSTICE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT, 1789-1794.*

PIERRE JAY, great-grandfather of John, was a Protestant merchant at Rochelle, in France.

Augustus, eldest son of Pierre, was born in 1665, became a merchant, emigrated to New York, and was married in 1697 to Ann Maria, daughter of Balthazar Bayard, whose grandfather was a Protestant professor of Theology at Paris, in the reign of Louis XIII., and under the persecuting spirit of popery went with his wife and children to Holland. Mr. Jay continued his mercantile pursuits in the city of New York to an advanced age. "He was remarkable for uniting vivacity and good humor to unaffected devotion."

He left three daughters and one son.

Peter Jay, son of Augustus, was born 1704, was sent to Bristol, England, in his youth, and placed in the counting-house of his uncle. After his return to New York, he married in 1728, Mary, daughter of Jacobus Van Cortlandt. He pursued the occupation of his father and grandfather, declining to participate in the politi cal disputes of the times. Enriched through his mercantile operations, and through property obtained by inheritance and marriage, when little more than forty years old he retired to a farm at Rye, on the shores of Long Island Sound. He had ten children. A son and a daughter were attacked in infancy with small-pox, and through this disease deprived of sight.

John Jay, the subject of this sketch, the eighth child of Peter and Mary Jay, was born in the city of New York, December 12, 1745; died at Bedford, Westchester County, N. Y., May 17, 1829.

* "Life and Writings of John Jay," two volumes; New York, 1833.

"Both his father and mother were actuated by fervent piety; both had warm hearts and cheerful tempers, and both possessed under varied and severe trials, a remarkable degree of equanimity." The subject of this memoir often declared, that "he had never in a single instance, heard either of his parents use towards the other an angry or unkind word."

John was sent to a grammar school at New Rochelle, "kept by the pastor of the French Church, in whose family he was a boarder." He afterwards studied under a private tutor, and in 1760, when fourteen years of age, entered Kings or Columbia College. His articulation at this time was indistinct, and his reading was so rapid as to be understood with difficulty. To correct this fault, he read aloud to himself, making a full stop after every word, and thus acquired complete control of his voice.

In the last year of his course an offence occurred, and he with others was brought before the President. The offenders were arranged in line, and questioned. Beginning with the first it was asked: "Did you break the table?"—"No." "Do you know who did?"-"No." Passing along the line the same questions were asked and received, until Mr. Jay's turn, who was the last but one. To the first question he answered "No." To the second-"Yes, sir." "Who was it?" "I do not choose to tell you, sir." The student below gave the same answers. The President urged and threatened, but in vain. The students were suspended. Mr. Jay had signed obedience to the college statutes, but claimed that these statutes did not require him to inform against his companions. At the expiration of his sentence, he returned, was cordially received by the President, and graduated with his class in 1764, receiving the Latin Salutatory.

He entered the law office of Benjamin Kissam in New York City, two weeks after taking his degree. "On commencing his clerkship, he asked his father's permission to keep a riding horse. 'John, why do you want a horse,' was asked. "That I may have the means of visiting you frequently,' was the reply. The horse was procured; and during the three years of his clerkship, he made it a rule to pass one day with his parents at Rye every fortnight." In 1768, he was admitted to the Bar. His devotion to his profession began to affect his health, and his physician

advised him to take outdoor exercise. He accordingly took lodgings six miles from his office, and for a whole season came to town every morning 'on horseback and returned in the evening, thereby establishing his health.

Mr. Jay was Delegate to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1777. Being recalled from Congress in 1776 to aid in forming the government of New York, he was not present to sign the Declaration of Independence. In 1779 he was appointed Minister to Spain, and in 1789 he was appointed by Washington Chief-Justice of United States Supreme Court. He was appointed Minister to Great Britain, April 19, 1794, and effected the treaty which bears his name November 19 of the same year. He held the office of Governor of New York from 1795 to 1801.

In 1774 Mr. Jay was married to Sarah, youngest daughter of William Livingston, who became Governor of New Jersey.

The following domestic correspondence refers to his departure as Minister to England.

"To MRS. JAY:

war....

“PHILADELPHIA, April 15, 1794.

". . . . I expect, my dear Sally, to see you sooner than we expected. There is here a serious determination to send me to England, if possible, to avert a This is not of my seeking; on the contrary, I regard it as a measure not to be desired, but to be submitted to. . . . If the nomination should take place, it will be in the course of a few days, and then it will appear in the papers; in the mean time say nothing on the subject. If it should please God to make me instrumental to the continuance of peace and in preventing the effusion of blood, we shall both have reason to rejoice. Let us repose unlimited trust in our Maker; it is our business to adore and to obey. My love to the children.

"With very sincere and tender affection,

Again to Mrs. Jay, while this question is pending, April 19. "No appointment ever operated more unpleasantly upon me; but the public considerations which were urged, and the manner in which it was pressed, strongly impressed me with a conviction, that to refuse it, would be to desert my duty for the sake of my ease, and domestic concerns and comforts. The court has unceasingly

engrossed my time. We did not adjourn until nine last night. I feel fatigued in body and mind. But reflections of this kind are not to be indulged. . . . I shall have rest in time, and for that rest I will not cease to prepare."

...

He writes to Mrs. Jay on Sunday evening, April 20th.

"God's will be done; to Him I resign-in Him I confide. Do the like. . . . Your indisposition affects me. Resist despondency; hope for the best. Yesterday the Senate approved of the nomination by a great majority."

From Mrs. Jay, New York, April 22, 1794.

"MY DEAR MR. JAY:

"Yesterday I received your two kinds letters of Saturday and Sunday. I do indeed judge of your feelings by my own, and for that reason forbore writing while under the first impression of surprise and grief.

Your superiority in fortitude, as well as every other virtue, I am aware of; yet I know too well your tenderness for your family to doubt the pangs of separation. Your own conflicts are sufficient; they need not be augmented by the addition of mine. Never was I more sensible of the absolute ascendency you have over my heart. When, almost in despair, I renounced the hope of domestic bliss, your image in my breast seemed to upbraid me with adding to your trials. That idea alone roused me from my despondency. I resumed the charge of my family, and even dare hope that by your example, I shall be enabled to look up to that Divine Protector from whom we have indeed experienced the most merciful guardianship.

"The children continue well. They were exceedingly affected when they received the tidings, and entreated me to endeavor to dissuade you from accepting an appointment that subjects us to so painful a separation. "Farewell my best beloved.

"Your wife till death, and after that a ministering spirit."

In 1801, at the expiration of his duties as Governor of New York, Mr. Jay removed to his estate in Bedford, Westchester County. This inheritance came down to the family through his mother, Mary Van Cortlandt, "being part of what was formerly Cortlandt Manor." The post road, on which a mail was then carried to and from New York once a week, passed within three miles of his house. He was in his fifty-sixth year, and he here lived in retirement twenty-eight years, "occupying himself in the

care of his farm, in works of benevolence and charity, in the study of the Bible, and in advancing the interests of religion." "For twenty-seven years he had been engaged in the service of his country. To many of his friends his retirement was a matter of surprise, and still more his seclusion from the busy world in the spot he had chosen for his residence. He had received appointment the December previous, to the position of Chief-Justice of the United States, but even this opportunity to return to his old post could not induce him to alter his plan."

In the month of May, six weeks before the close of his term of office as Governor, he left Albany for his new home, accompanied by one of his daughters, Mrs. Jay's health being feeble. In a letter to her, a month after his arrival, he observed: "The noise and hurry of carpenters, masons, and laborers, in and about the house are inconveniences to be submitted to, but not to be chosen by convalescents or invalids. I hope, before the conclusion of the year we shall all be together again. Except going to meeting on Sundays, I have not been even once from home since I came here. I find myself engaged by and in the business now going on, from morning till night."

In the course of a few months, Mrs. Jay's health was sufficiently restored to permit her to repair to Bedford. "A large portion of her life had been unavoidably passed in the gay and fashionable world. Shortly after her arrival at Bedford, in a letter to a friend, she remarked: 'I can truly say I never enjoyed so much comfort as I do here.'"

In less than twelve months after her removal to this new home, she was taken with a severe illness, which in a few days terminated fatally. "Mr. Jay, calm and collected, was watching by her side when she expired. Immediately on perceiving that the spirit had taken its flight, he led his children into an adjoining room, and with a firm voice, but glistening eye, read to them the fifteenth chapter of I. Corinthians."

The immediate cultivation of the farm he committed to an overseer; but all the improvements were conducted under his own superintendence, and he took much pleasure in overlooking and directing his workmen. When his health and the weather permit