servants,' says his son, 'became more common, he was gradually relieved from the necessity of purchasing slaves.' Such being his practice, he would hardly prescribe a different rule for others. He would hardly say, that whilst he might reimburse himself for the purchase of these people, others were under an obligation to manumit them, without any regard to their own interests whatever.

In 1785, Mr. Jay was chosen the President of a society formed in New York, 'for promoting the manumission of slaves, and protecting such of them as have been, or may be, liberated.' This society, Mr. William Jay tells us, neither expected nor attempted to effect any sudden alteration in the laws relating to slavery, but its exertions were chiefly directed to the protection of manumitted

be as free to all intents and purposes as if he had never been a slave. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, at Chaillot, the 21st day of March, in the year of our Lord, 1784.' 'JOHN JAY. [L. S.]' humanity of Mr. Jay, one While in Spain in 1781, he

We may insert here, as evidence of the or two additional extracts from his letters.

is informed that a number of armed robbers had taken from his father's family their money, plate, &c. He wrote to his brother on the occasion, and referring to the condition of the family, he says: On considering the state of the family, I am really at a loss to see how the number of it can be considerably reduced. As to the old servants, who have expended their strength and youth for the family, they ought and must be taken good care of, while we have the means of doing it; common justice, and, I may say, gratitude, demands it.'

In reply to a letter from his friend Robert R. Livingston, dated May 22d, 1782, informing him of the death of his father, Mr. Jay, who was then at Paris, writes, under date of August 13th, as follows: 'I hear my father has given some of the servants freedom, and that some other of the older ones have been put out. Old servants are sometimes neglected. Desire Mr. Benson to keep an eye over them, and not let any of them want; and, for that purpose, place fifty pounds in his hands, which he will apply at his discretion, as necessity may, from time to time, require. He must also reimburse himself for any expenses he may be at on this account.'

slaves, and to the education of colored children. Mr. Jay continued at the head of this society until he became Chief Justice of the United States, when, thinking it possible that questions might be brought before him in which the society was interested, he deemed it proper to dissolve his official connection with it.'

It will be recollected that Mr. Jay was absent when the Constitution was adopted. Omissions were made which he regretted, and additions which he disapproved. In a letter to his friends R. R. Livingston and Gouverneur Morris, dated April the 29th, he thus indicates his opinions: The difficulty of getting any government at all,' he says, 'you know has long been an apprehension of little influence on my mind, and always appeared to be founded less in fact than in a design of quickening the pace of the House. The other parts of the Constitution I approve, and only regret that, like a harvest cut before it was ripe, the grain has shrunk. Exclusive of the clauses which I have mentioned, and which I wish had been added, another material one has been omitted, viz., a direction that all persons holding offices under Government should take an oath of allegiance to it, and renounce all allegiance and subjection to foreign kings, princes, and states, in all matters ecclesiastical as well as civil. I should also have been for a clause against the continuation of domestic slavery, and for the support and encouragement of literature, as well as some other matters, though perhaps of less consequence. Though the birth of the Constitution was, in my judg ment, premature, I shall, nevertheless, do all in my power to nurse and keep it alive, being far from approving the Spartan law, which encouraged parents to destroy such of their children as, perhaps by some cross accident, might come into the world defective or misshapen.'

'Life of John Jay, vol. i., p. 235.

Ibid, p. 69. Sparks' Life of Morris, vol. i.

2

But whatever the real or supposed defects of the Constitution, it was received with very general favor. 'Our Constitution is universally approved,' wrote Jay to Gansevoort on the 5th of June, 1777, 'even in New England, where few New York productions have credit.' As we have already mentioned, it continued in existence nearly half a century. Meanwhile, a new condition of things had arisen, obvious changes had taken place, new ideas prevailed, the schoolmaster had been abroad, and the Convention which assembled at Albany in the summer of 1821, scarcely left untouched a single tile or stone of the venerable fabric erected by the patriots of the revolution.2

'Life and Writings of John Jay, p. 12.

2 The debates in this Convention were conducted with great ability. Several of the most eminent men who have done honor to their times and country were members. Among the number were Rufus King, Henry Wheaton, Chancellor Kent, Chief Justice Spencer, Martin Van Buren, Stephen Van Rensselaer, Peter R. Livingston, and Daniel D. Tompkins. There is scarcely one of the doctrines advocated by Mr. Calhoun in the latter part of his life, and supposed to be peculiar to him, that was not held by one or other of the speakers in the course of these discussions.

CHAPTER IX.

1777-1778.

A MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL OF SAFETY, AND CHIEF
JUSTICE OF NEW YORK.

It will be recollected that the Constitution was adopted on Sunday, the 20th of April. The same day, Livingston, Scott, Morris, Yates, Jay, and Hobart were appointed a committee to report a plan for organizing the new Government. Their report provided for holding elections, and the provisional appointment of officers necessary for the distribution of justice. They also recommended a Council of Safety, clothed with all the powers requisite for the safety and preservation of the State, until a Governor and Legislature should be duly chosen and in a condition to act. The Convention, by their resolution of the 8th day of May, adopted the recommendations of their committee, and on the 13th dissolved.

The Council of Safety, thus clothed for a season with absolute power, consisted of only fifteen men; but they were not sunshine patriots. Their souls were formed of nobler materials. They had every claim to public confidence, and they did not abuse it. Their names, in the order in which they stand in the resolution of the Convention, were John Morin Scott, Robert R. Livingston, Christopher Tappen, Abraham Yates, Jr., Gouverneur Morris, Zephaniah Platt, John Jay, Charles De Witt, Robert Harper, Jacob Cuyler, Thomas Tredwell, Pierre

Van Cortlandt, Matthew Cantine, John Sloss Hobart, and Jonathan D. Tompkins.'

Such was the authority the Convention had provided to guide the ship of state amid the appalling dangers that threatened her. We have now arrived at the period when the fortunes of New York touched their lowest point of depression. Great as had hitherto been her distresses, she was now threatened with overwhelming calamities. The campaign of the present year had in view, on the part of Great Britain, her utter prostration. The design was, to penetrate the State with two separate armies from the North and South, and thus cut off the communication between New England and the Middle and Southern States. The means provided to accomplish this object were on a grand scale. The whole southern district of the State was already in possession of the enemy. Burgoyne, with a well-appointed army of ten thousand men, advanced through the Lakes towards the Hudson. Ticonderoga was abandoned at the approach of the invader. Colonel St. Leger, with a large force of regulars, Indians, and tories, attacked the State on her western frontier, filling the settlers along the banks of the Mohawk with terror and dismay. The disaffected were everywhere aroused into activity. Even the welldisposed, in many instances, were disheartened at the gloomy prospect of affairs. There was never, perhaps, in the history of a free people struggling for their liberties, a more portentous crisis. We were driven in on every side. The extremities of the State were destroyed. There was no pulsation but at the heart. Every thing seemed to be lost but hope, virtue, and trust in the Providence of God.'2

1

Chancellor Kent: Discourse before the New York Historical Society. 2 Ibid. In the course of this campaign there was not a county in the State, as it then existed, which escaped a visit from the arms of the enemy.