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Subject Area: Political Theory
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

1816. - John Jay, The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, vol. 4 (1794-1826) [1893]

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. 4 (1794-1826).

Part of: The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, 4 vols.

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1816.

JAY TO REV. JOHN M. MASON, D.D.

Bedford, 22d May, 1816.

Dear Sir:

Accept my thanks for the friendly letter, and for the book1 which you were so obliging as to send me by my son. I have made some progress in reading it. The principle I approve, and am glad it has employed a pen very able to do it justice.

Had all uninspired expositors been content with the simplicity of the gospel, and not been wise above what is written, the Church would probably have suffered less than it has from worldly wisdom and scholastic subtleties.

With the best wishes for the health and prosperity of yourself and family, I am, dear sir,

Your friend,

John Jay.

JAY TO REV. DR. ROMEYN.

Bedford, 12th June, 1816.

Rev. Sir:

Your letter of the 1st inst., informing me that I had been elected one of the vice-presidents of the American Bible Society, arrived by the last mail.

I rejoice in the institution of that national society, and assure the Board of Managers that I am very sensible of the honour they have done me in thus connecting me with it.

The events and circumstances under which such societies have been established and multiplied, in my opinion, indicate an origin which makes it the duty of all Christians to unite in giving them decided patronage and zealous support.

I have the honour to be, with respect and esteem, Rev. sir,

Your obedient servant,

John Jay.

JAY TO SIR JOHN SINCLAIR.

Bedford, Westchester County, N. Y.,
8th August, 1816.

Dear Sir:

I have received the papers which you were so obliging as to send me. Accept my thanks for them. Gratitude is due to those who employ their time and talents in promoting the common welfare. Your exertions to improve agriculture, and render it more productive, are known and acknowledged. The paper on “mildew in wheat,” I have sent to New York to be published. The multitude of interesting facts which have been collected during the last twenty years doubtless furnish materials for a comprehensive system of husbandry; such a work, ably executed, would be useful.

Credit is also due to your endeavours to make known and excite attention to the means which conduce to health and longevity. The proposed edition of the code on these subjects, in one octavo volume, will be better calculated for general use and extensive circulation, than the larger work from which it is to be extracted. I hope it will soon be finished and find its way to this country. It must be an agreeable reflection to you, that you have been “diligent in well-doing.”

My health has for years been declining, and my age reminds me that the re-establishment of it is not to be expected. What you have written of the flesh-brush will induce me to use it more frequently. It can do no harm and may do good, and that is no inconsiderable recommendation.

With the best wishes that your health and longevity may be such as to give additional weight to your remarks respecting them,

I am, dear sir,
Your faithful and obedient servant,

John Jay.

JAY TO JOHN MURRAY, JUN.

Bedford, 12th October, 1816.

Accept, my good friend, my thanks for your kind letter of the 22d ult., and for the pamphlets enclosed with it. They came to my hands on the 2d inst. The state of my health is such, that I can read or write but little at a time without fatigue; and, therefore, I cannot prudently venture on the task you recommend.

Whether war of every description is prohibited by the gospel, is one of those questions on which the excitement of any of the passions can produce no light. An answer to it can result only from careful investigation and fair reasoning.

It appears to me that the gospel not only recognizes the whole moral law, and extends and perfects our knowledge of it, but also enjoins on all mankind the observance of it. Being ordained by a legislator of infinite wisdom and rectitude, and in whom there is “no variableness,” it must be free from imperfection, and therefore never has, nor ever will require amendment or alteration. Hence I conclude that the moral law is exactly the same now that it was before the flood.

That all those wars and fightings are unlawful, which proceed from culpable desires and designs (or in Scripture language from lusts), on the one side or on the other, is too clear to require proof. As to wars of an opposite description, and many such there have been, I believe they are as lawful to the unoffending party in our days, as they were in the days of Abraham. He waged war against and defeated the five kings. He piously dedicated a tenth of the spoils; and, instead of being blamed, was blessed.

What should we think of a human legislator who should authorize or encourage infractions of his own laws? If wars of every kind and description are prohibited by the moral law, I see no way of reconciling such a prohibition with those parts of Scripture which record institutions, declarations, and interpositions of the Almighty which manifestly evince the contrary. If every war is sinful, how did it happen that the sin of waging any war is not specified among the numerous sins and offences which are mentioned and reproved in both the Testaments?

To collect and arrange the many facts and arguments which relate to this subject would require more time and application than I am able to bestow. The aforegoing are hinted merely to exhibit some of the reasons on which my opinion rests.

It certainly is very desirable that a pacific disposition should prevail among all nations. The most effectual way of producing it is by extending the prevalence and influence of the gospel. Real Christians will abstain from violating the rights of others, and therefore will not provoke war.

Almost all nations have peace or war at the will and pleasure of rulers whom they do not elect, and who are not always wise or virtuous. Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.

The sentiment expressed in the extract from your brother’s letter corresponds with his benevolent disposition. He has been “diligent in well-doing,” and his works will not cease to receive, as well as deserve, commendation. When you write to him, assure him of my esteem and regard.

I thank you for the kind wishes expressed in the conclusion of your letter. They refer to topics on which I have been accustomed to meditate, and are far more important than any which belong to this transient scene.

With the best wishes for your welfare, in the most enlarged sense,

I remain, your obliged friend,

John Jay.

JAY TO GOUVERNEUR MORRIS.

Bedford, 28th October, 1816.

Dear Morris:

Having heard much of your discourse before the New York Historical Society, it gave me pleasure to receive a copy of it, and to find from the direction that I owed it to your friendly attention. It abounds in interesting remarks; the diction is elevated throughout, perhaps in some instances beyond the proportion which the topics bear to each other. In landscape, we prefer hill and dale to a plain, however ornamented; and in a field of eloquence it is agreeable to behold sublimities sloping down into Attic simplicity. I doubt the correctness of saying that Franklin averted thunderbolts from protected dwellings. In my opinion, the invention of steamboats is a subject on which it is less difficult to say handsome than sublime things. To me it does not appear probable that the sight of them on Asiatic waters can so powerfully affect the feelings of the Genius of Asia, as to impel him to bow with grateful reverence (not gratulation) to the inventive spirit of America; and that, too, at the very moment when his eye, glancing over the ruins of cities, which for ages had concurred in proclaiming his superiority in the arts, must remind him of his dignity. I make no apology for these hints; you know what prompts them.

Your strictures on the defects of history, and the causes of them, are well founded. Whether future historians, with all their advantages, will excel their predecessors in accuracy, and caution, and candour, is a point on which my expectations are not sanguine. For my part, I believe there neither is, nor will be, more than one history free from error.

Of that history the discourse has availed itself very ingeniously, deducing from it lessons instructive to all, and new to many. I have often wished that the accounts given in it of the primitive ages had been more particular. We know but little about them, and our curiosity must remain ungratified while we remain here. I say here, because when we join our ancestors, we shall doubtless learn from them all that we may wish to know respecting the affairs and events of their days. In this and other respects I promise myself much satisfaction from their society, and that at a period which cannot be very distant. The term of my lease has expired, and I have no reason to expect that my continuing to hold over will be of more than ordinary duration. It is consoling to reflect that we tenants are informed where and how we may go and settle in perpetuity, and are assured that our possessions and enjoyments there, instead of being precarious and transitory, will be certain and permanent.

That you and I, and those who are near and dear to us, may be enabled to say with the poet, but in a higher and better sense, “omnes metus, strepitumque Acherontis avari subjecit pedibus,” is the fervent wish of your affectionate friend,

John Jay.

I hope our little boy advances in strength, and growth of body and mind.

[1 ]“A Plea for Catholic Communion.”