NEW YORK COMMITTEE TO JAY. 1 - John Jay, The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, vol. 3 (1782-1793) [1891]
Edition used:
The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, ed. Henry P. Johnston, A.M. (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1890-93). Vol. 3 (1782-1793).
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NEW YORK COMMITTEE TO JAY.
To the Honorable John Jay, Esquire, Chief Justice of the United States:
Sir:
Permit us in behalf of ourselves and the very respectable body of our fellow citizens, which we have the honor to represent, to congratulate you upon your safe return to this City from the Eastern Circuit.
The friends of liberty have ever entertained a lively sense of the important services which you have rendered to your country in every situation in which you have been placed. Whether they examine your conduct as a Member of the General Congress at the most trying periods of the late war, and of the Convention which framed the Constitution of this State, or consider your agency in negotiating the treaty which secured to America the blessings of peace, liberty and safety—they find a continued display of abilities and virtue which will hand your name down to remote posterity as one of the illustrious defenders of the rights of Man.
It was this sense, Sir, of your public services which induced the independent freeholders of the State to nominate and support you at the last election as a candidate for the office of their Chief Magistrate, and procured you a decided majority of votes. Thus called to enjoy one of the highest honors in the power of a grateful people to bestow, it was not to be expected that you would have been deprived of it by the machinations of a few interested and designing men. In contempt, however, of the sacred voice of the people, in defiance of the Constitution, and in violation of uniform practice and the settled principles of law, we have seen a majority of the canvassing Committee reject the votes of whole Counties for the purpose of excluding you and making way for a Governor of their own choice. This wanton and daring attack upon the invaluable rights of suffrage has excited a serious alarm amongst the electors of the State, and united them in measures to obtain redress. In the pursuit of an object so interesting we shall like freemen act with moderation and order; but at the same time with zeal and perseverance. Whilst we respect the laws, we respect ourselves and our rights and feel the strongest obligations to assert and maintain them. The cause in which we are engaged being the cause of the people we trust that it cannot fail of success; but in every event we entreat you to believe that you will retain a distinguished place in our affections, and that we shall embrace every opportunity to manifest the unbounded confidence which we repose in your talents and patriotism.
By order of the Committee,
Nicholas Cruger,
Chairman.
New York, July 13th, 1792.
Jay reached New York July 10th. The Advertiser of the 11th reports his reception as follows.
“Yesterday afternoon, the committee appointed at a meeting of the Friends of Liberty, attended by a very great and respectable concourse of citizens, on horseback and in carriages, proceeded to Harlem heights where they met Mr. Jay and escorted him into town. When the procession arrived at the two-mile stone, they were received by loud huzzas from a very great number of citizens on foot assembled at that place. As they approached the town, at the head of Chatham street a federal salute was fired and a painting exhibited, on which was written, ‘John Jay, Governor by the Voice of the People.’
“The procession moved through Queen, Wall, Broad, Beaver streets, and Broadway, to Mr. Jay’s house, amidst repeated huzzas and plaudits from his fellow citizens. At his own door he was conducted into his house by the Committee, where he was affectionately received by his family and friends. Before he entered his house, he attempted to say something on the occasion expressive of his feelings, and to make an acknowledgment for the partiality shewn him, but the loud and repeated plaudits of the People prevented his being heard.
“In several conspicuous places flags were displayed; a salute was fired at the Battery, and the bells were rung in all the Churches in the city.”
On the 13th the committee of the Friends of Liberty formally congratulated Mr. Jay in the terms of the above address, and on the 19th an “elegant entertainment” was tendered him at the City Tavern by some two hundred citizens. Fifteen toasts were offered at this “feast of freedom and friendship,” as described by the Advertiser, which closed with one from Jay himself as he retired—“May the people always respect themselves and remember what they owe to posterity.” The company then formed in procession and waited upon him to his house.
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