Founding Fathers: Complete Biographies, Their Articles, Historical & Political Documents. Emory Speer
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of Savannah, by a committee of which Judge James M. Wayne and Gov. Richard W. Habersham were members. In 1833 he published the “Life and Writings of John Jay.” Its careful sketch of the peace negotiations of 1782, and its exposition of the hostility of France to the American claims was questioned by Dr. Sparks, but their accuracy was certified by Lord St. Helens (Mr. Fitzherbert), and has since been confirmed by the Vergennes correspondence and the “Life of Shelburne.” In October, 1832, President Jackson appointed Judge Jay a commissioner to adjust all unsettled matters with the western Indians; but the appointment, which was unsolicited, was declined; Judge Jay contributed a paper on the anti-slavery movement to the first number of the “Emancipator,” published in New York, 1 May, 1833. In October of the same year the New York city anti-slavery society was formed, and in December an Anti-slavery convention met at Philadelphia to form the American anti-slavery society. Each of these bodies, at Judge Jay's suggestion, disclaimed the right of congress to interfere with slavery in the states, while claiming for congress power to suppress the domestic slave-trade and to abolish slavery in the territories under its exclusive jurisdiction. The significance of the principles and action of these societies is illustrated by the interesting historic facts: first, that nullification in South Carolina in 1832, when a medal was struck inscribed “John C. Calhoun, First President of the Southern Confederacy,” was the precursor of the secession of 1861, showing that the pro-slavery policy during the interval was a part of the secession scheme; and next, that the anti-slavery movement, organized in 1833 on strictly constitutional grounds, culminated in the Republican party, by which slavery was abolished and the republic preserved. The same year, 1833, was noted for the persecution and trial in Connecticut of Prudence Crandall (q. v.) and for the decision of Judge Daggett that colored persons could not be citizens. Judge Jay's review of that decision and his able enforcement of the opposite doctrine were approvingly quoted by Chancellor Kent in his “Commentaries.” The years 1834 and 1835 were memorable for the attempt to arrest, by threats and violence, the expression of anti-slavery sentiments. Judge Jay, in a charge to the grand jury, called their attention to the prevailing spirit of lawless violence, and charged them that any law that might be passed to abridge in the slightest degree the freedom of speech or the press, to shield any one subject from discussion, would be null and void. He prepared also, for the American anti-slavery society, an address to the public, restating their views and principles, which was widely published throughout America and Europe. In 1834 Judge Jay published his “Inquiry into the Character and Tendency of the American Colonization and American Anti-Slavery Societies,” which was read “by scholars and statesmen and exerted a powerful influence!” “The work,” wrote Prof. E. Wright, Jr., “sells faster than it can be printed,” and it was presently reprinted in London. In December, 1835, President Jackson, in his message, assailed the character and designs of the anti-slavery movement, accusing the Abolitionists of circulating through the mails “inflammatory appeals addressed to the passions of the slaves, and calculated to stimulate them to insurrection and all the horrors of civil war,” and the president suggested to congress a law forbidding the circulation through the mails of incendiary documents. On 28 Dec. the executive committee addressed to the president what Henry Wilson called “an elaborate and dignified protest from the polished and pungent pen of Judge Jay,” denying his accusations, and offering to submit their publications to the inspection of congress.
Judge Jay's next work, “A View of the Action of the Federal Government in Behalf of Slavery” (1837), made a deep impression, and had a rapid sale. This was followed in 1839 by a startling presentation of facts on “The Condition of the Free People of Color in the United States,” in 1840 by an address to the friends of constitutional liberty on the violation by the house of representatives of the right of petition, and a review from his pen of the case of the “Amistad” negroes was read by John Quincy Adams in congress as a part of his speech on the subject. In 1842 Judge Jay reviewed the argument by Mr. Webster on the slaves of the “Creole.” The two subjects to which Judge Jay's efforts were chiefly devoted were those of war and slavery. His writings on the first, both before and after he became president of the American peace society, had no little influence at home and abroad. In his volume entitled “War and Peace; the Evils of the First, with a Plan for securing the Last” (New York, 1848), he suggested stipulation by treaty referring international disputes to arbitration, as a plan based upon obvious principles of national policy, and adapted to the existing state of civilized society. The suggestion met with the warm approval of Joseph Sturge, the English philanthropist, who visited Judge Jay at Bedford while the work was still in manuscript, and it was embodied by Mr. Sturge in a volume published by him on his return to England. The plan was heartily approved by Mr. Cobden, who wrote to Judge Jay: “If your government is prepared to insert an arbitration clause in the pending treaties, I am persuaded it will be accepted by our government.” The main feature of the plan, arbitration, after approval by successive peace congresses in Europe (at Brussels in 1848, at Paris in 1849, at London in 1851) was virtually recommended by Protocol No. 23, of the Congress of Paris, held in 1856 after the Crimean war, which protocol was unanimously adopted by the plenipotentiaries of France, Austria, Great Britain, Prussia, Russia, Sardinia, and Turkey. These governments declared their wish that the states between which any serious misunderstanding might arise should, before appealing to arms, have recourse, as far as circumstances might allow, to the good offices of a friendly power. The honor of its introduction in the congress belongs to Lord Clarendon, whose services had been solicited by Joseph Sturge and Henry Richard, and it was supported by all of his colleagues in the congress. It was subsequently referred to by Lord Derby as worthy of immortal honor. Lord Malmsbury pronounced it an act “important to civilization and to the security of the peace of Europe,” and it was somewhat later approved by all the other powers to whom it was referred, more than forty in number. Among Judge Jay's other writings on this subject are his letter on the “Kossuth Excitement” (1852); an address before the American peace society at Boston (1845), and a petition from the society to the U. S. senate in behalf of stipulated arbitration (1853). Perhaps under this head should be included his historic and searching “Causes and Consequences of the Mexican War” (Boston, 1849). In 1846 Judge Jay republished, with an elaborate preface, the concluding chapter of Bishop Wilberforce's “History of the Church in America,” which had been announced by two American publishers who relinquished the design when it was found to contain a reproof of the American church for its course on slavery. This was followed by a letter on the same subject to Bishop Ives, of North Carolina. “The Calvary Pastoral, a Tract for the Times,” rebuked the attempt to convert the Episcopal church into a popish church without a pope. In 1849 appeared “An Address to the Non-Slaveholders of the South, on the Social and Political Evils of Slavery.” This was in part embodied in an Address to the people of California, which was effectively circulated on the Pacific coast in English and Spanish. In 1850 Judge Jay addressed a letter to William Nelson, on Clay's compromise measures; and this was followed by a review of Mr. Webster's declaration that slavery was excluded from California and New Mexico by the law of physical geography. Subsequent letters and addresses included one to Samuel A. Elliott, in reply to his apology for the fugitive-slave bill, an address to the anti-slavery Christians of the United States, and in 1853 several letters and reviews of the conduct of the American tract society in the interest of slavery. The same year a volume of Judge Jay's miscellaneous writings on slavery was published in Boston. In 1854 he had the satisfaction of seeing the Republican party founded on the anti-slavery principles that he had early advocated. Of his anti-slavery labors Horace Greeley said: “As to Chief-Justice Jay, the father, may be attributed, more than to any other man, the abolition of negro bondage in this state [New York], so to Judge William Jay, the son, the future will give the credit of having been one of the earliest advocates of the modern anti-slavery movements, which at this moment influence so radically the religion and the philanthropy of the country, and of having guided by his writings, in a large measure, the direction which a cause so important and so conservative of the best and most precious rights of the people should take.” He left in manuscript a commentary on the Bible. — Peter Augustus's son, John Clarkson, physician, b. in New York city, 11 Sept., 1808, was graduated at Columbia in 1827, and at the College of physicians and surgeons in 1831. In addition to his practice of medicine he made a specialty of conchology, and acquired the most complete and valuable collection of shells in the United States. This and his costly library on this branch of science were purchased by Catherine Wolfe and presented, in memory of her father, to the American