could restrain their tears. He was attended to with a silence and interest never before known,' wrote the VicePresident, and he made an impression that terrified the hardiest, and will never be forgotten. Judge Iredell and I happened to sit together. Our feelings beat in unison. 'My God! how great he is,' says Iredell, 'how great he has been!' 'He has been noble,' said I. After some time Iredell breaks out, 'Bless my stars, I never heard anything so great since I was born!' 'It is divine,' said I; and thus we went on with our interjections, not to say tears, till the end. Tears enough were shed. Not a dry eye, I believe, in the House, except some of the jackasses who had occasioned the necessity of the oratory. These attempted to laugh, but their visages 'grinned horribly ghastly smiles.' 1 A single extract from that justly-admired speech will close this chapter. The honor of the United States was saved, not forfeited by treating. The treaty itself, by its stipulations for the posts, for indemnity, and for a due observation of our neutral rights, has justly raised the character of the nation.' 1 Letters of John Adams, April 30th, 1796, vol. ii., p. 225, 226. The speech was delivered on the 28th. Mr. Ames was very feeble, and scarcely able to stand, but his health from this time improved. CHAPTER XVI. GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK. 1795-1801. THE result of the last State election, one candidate receiving a majority of the votes for governor, and the other, nevertheless, filling the post, produced, as we have seen, great excitement and exasperation.' A very natural desire was entertained to repair the injustice Jay was supposed to have suffered on that occasion. As the time for the next election approached, meetings were held in various parts of the State, at which he was again brought forward as a candidate. He was in England, and it appears that his friends put him in nomination without his knowledge or consent. However, as he yielded to their wishes at the previous election, they were warranted in supposing that he would do no less at the ensuing one. His former competitor, governor Clinton, declined a re-election. His present one was Chief Justice Yates. Jay was elected by a large majority. The result was officially declared on the 26th of May. On the 28th, Jay arrived at New York. We have seen how cordially he was received. Scarce one 'little month' elapsed, before from among the same population that had vied with each other to do him honor, were found those who heaped upon him the most unmerited abuse. He was burnt in effigy, his character traduced, and his motives impeached The outcry that followed on the publication of his treaty 'Ante, p. 399, 400. 2 Ante, p. 412. was not a favorable omen for the tranquillity of his administration. One of the first of his official acts was, to recommend a day of public thanksgiving, in consequence of the recent cessation of the yellow fever in the city of New York. His proclamation, containing this recommendation, did not escape the shafts of malevolence, and distempered party zeal. Wit, ridicule, and even more serious weapons, were employed to assail it. It was invading the province of the clergy, and assuming an authority unwarranted by the Constitution. Am I mistaken,' inquired Judge Hobart, in a playful letter to the governor, in which he parodied several of the objections urged against the proclamation, 'or do my glasses magnify too much when I fancy I see the cloven foot of monarchy in this business? Alas! where are the direful effects of this extraordinary envoyship to end?-the benefits of our commerce transferred to Britain-the usurpations of its monarchy transferred to us.'1 We do not propose to review all the acts of Governor Jay's administration. The detail would rather fatigue and disgust the reader, than amuse or instruct him. The prominent features of his gubernatorial term alone invite our attention. The Legislature met on the 6th of January, 1796. To regard my fellow-citizens with an equal eye,' said the governor in his opening speech, 'to cherish and advance merit wherever found, to consider the National and State governments as being equally established by the will of the people, to respect and support the constituted authorities under each of them; and, in general, to exercise the power vested in me with energy, impar tiality, and freedom, are obligations of which I perceive and acknowledge the full force.' The practice of removing subordinate officers, on a change of administration, had not yet been introduced. 'Hobart to Jay, Nov. 18th, 1795. Life of Jay, p. 386. Governor Jay dismissed no officer during the six years of his administration on account of his political opinions. On one occasion he was urged to remove a member of his own party, who had little or no influence, to make room for one of the opposite party, who possessed a great deal, and would, if appointed, use it in favor of his new connections. And do you, Sir,' replied the governor to this unusual application, advise me to sell a friend that I may buy an enemy?'1 He recommended to the Legislature the passage of laws providing for the defence of the State, for the amelioration of the penal code, for the reformation and employment of criminals, and for a retiring pension to the Chancellor and Judges of the Supreme Court. Though Jay was an opponent of a sanguinary code, and successfully urged its abolition, yet when the law affixed a penalty to an offence, he was not disposed to shield an offender from its operation by means of the pardoning power. This branch of his authority he considered as a trust to be executed, 'not according to my will and inclination,' he said, 'but with sound discretion, and on principles which reconcile mercy to offenders with the interests of the public.' No solicitation, however pressing or affecting, or however high the source whence it came, could move him from this line of conduct. In April, 1798, another election of governor was held. It occurred in the midst of the excitement growing out 'Life of Jay, p. 392. Mr. Hammond, in his Political History of New York, (vol. i., p. 127,) a work, so far as I have observed, written with candor, supposes that changes were made, in one or two instances, on political grounds, during Jay's administration. As this supposition, however, is founded on inferences, and not on facts, I can perceive no reason for doubting the accuracy of the statement contained in the text. In filling offices that became vacant, the Governor was quite content with the merit he found in his own party, without making any particular search for it in other directions. At all events, none but Federalists, except, I believe, in one instance, were appointed to office during his term. VOL. I.-27 416 was not a f ministration One of th a day of pul cent cessatio York. His 1 tion, did not tempered part rious weapons, the province of unwarranted by quired Judge H in which he p against the proc much when I fa this business? extraordinary e commerce transi monarchy trans We do not pr Jay's administr and disgust the prominent feat our attention. 1796. To r said the gove tuted aut tiality, a The |