this Congress, as a member of the committee, he drafted the address that was issued to the people of Canada, warning them that the oppressive measures being enacted against the colonies, if permitted to be successful, would later be made to apply to Canada, and urging the Canadians to unite with the colonies, thus making all America one in opposition to the demands of the mother country. Some of the delegates to this Congress were in favor of immediate resistance, but Mr. Jay took ground in favor of making one more appeal to the king and the people of England, and so great was his influence that he won Congress to his views, and the appeal was made, Jay being its author. Of this appeal Mr. Jefferson said it was the production "of the finest pen in America." The purity of its style, its lofty sentiments and impressive eloquence made a great impression both in this country and in England. Mr. Jay was also the author of the appeal made by this Congress to the people of Jamaica and Ireland. The object of the address was to explain to the people of those countries the cause of the cessation of trade, and incidentally to make friends for the colonies in Jamaica and Ireland. He was also a member of the secret committee to correspond with the friends of the colonies in Great Britain and other countries, his colleagues being Franklin, Harrison, Johnson and Dickinson. He served on a number of other important committees raised by the Congress, all giving evidence of the high regard in which he was held by the members, notwithstanding his comparative youth. In 1776 he was a member of the Provincial Congress of New York. It was this Provincial Congress that instructed the New York delegates in the Continental Congress to sign the Declaration of Independence. The next year he was a member of the committee appointed to draft a constitution for the state of New York, and during the deliberation of the committee he strongly urged that the constitution should provide for voting by ballot. This was the first move in this country looking to the substitution of the secret ballot for the old system of viva voce voting at elections. Under the new constitution of New York Mr. Jay was appointed Chief Justice of the newly established Supreme Court. In 1778 the legislature, desiring his services in the approaching session of the Continental Congress, elected him a delegate, declaring by resolution that a "special case had arisen" justifying his appointment as delegate without his vacating his office as Chief Justice. Owing to some disagreements with some of the members of the Congress, Henry Laurens, of South Carolina, resigned as president of the Congress. Stormy scenes followed this action of Mr. Laurens. Mr. Jay was elected to the vacancy, and served with great distinction, and to the entire satisfaction of the delegates, until he was appointed minister to Spain, in September, 1779. The main object of his mission to Spain was to secure financial and other help for the colonies in their struggle against Great Britain. The mission proved to be practically a failure owing to the diplomatic habit of the Spanish to delay action, and to the further fact that the demands of Spain were such Mr. Jay would not consent to grant. While he was still in Spain hoping for some more favorable turn of events Mr. Franklin sent for him to join him in Paris, as there were some prospects of peace negotiations. Proceeding to Paris he there joined Mr. Franklin as one of the peace commissioners on the part of the colonies. Almost at once Mr. Jay took the lead in the preliminary negotiations, and although hampered by the instructions of Congress strenuously refused to follow the advice and counsel of the French ministry. When the papers were exchanged between the American commissioners and Mr. Oswald, the leading commissioner on the part of Great Britain, Mr. Jay discovered the commission of Mr. Oswald was to treat with the United States as colonies and not as an established government, but he was authorized to concede, in the first article of the treaty, their independence if the American commissioners insisted on it. Mr. Jay promptly and energetically refused to treat on any such terms, declaring the negotiations and the treaty must be between independent sovereignties-in other words, that the envoys should meet on equal terms, and as equals. He boldly announced that the United States were an independent nation by their own act, and needed no formal recognition of their independence in a treaty. All this was against the advice of the French minister, but Mr. Jay was obstinate; he would treat on his own terms or not at all. The British envoy returned to London and obtained a new commission in which the American states were recognized as being independent sovereignties. This action of Mr. Jay was taken without consulting Mr. Franklin, who was sick at the time, and without awaiting the arrival of Mr. Adams, the third commissioner, who was detained in Holland. Mr. Jay determined upon another bold step. He early saw that France and Spain were endeavoring to delay the making of a treaty, in hopes they might gain some advantage, and he at once determined to treat direct with Great Britain, regardless of the advice of the ministers of France and Spain, and of the instructions of Congress to take no step without the approval of the French minister. At the first meeting with the British envoy, after his receiving his new commission, Mr. Jay handed him a plan for a treaty, and its terms were quickly accepted. This was the great treaty of 1783. It was a great diplomatic triumph for America. The effect in France was highly complimentary to the skill of the American commissioners. M. Vergennes, the French prime minister, in speaking of it, said the English had rather bought a peace than made one, that their concessions exceeded anything believed possible. Lecky, the English historian, says: "It is impossible not to be struck with the skill, hardihood and good fortune that marked the American negotiations. Everything the United States could, with any show of plausibility, demand from England they obtained; and much of what they obtained was granted them in opposition to the two great powers by whose assistance they triumphed." Of the services of Mr. Jay, John Adams, one of the commissioners, wrote: "The principal merit of the negotiations was Jay's. A man and his office were never better united than Mr. Jay and the commission of peace. Had he been detained in Madrid, as I was in Holland, and all left to Franklin, all would have been lost." On the conclusion of his duties in connection with the peace negotiations Mr. Jay returned to America, reaching New York on July 24, 1784, after an absence of five years. He was welcomed by the citizens of New York with great pomp and pageantry, and the freedom of the city was presented to him in a gold box. Two months before his arrival Congress had appointed him Secretary of Foreign Affairs. This office had been created in 1781 and first filled by Chancellor Livingston. The position, under the circumstances following the conclusion of peace with Great Britain, was one of great importance. Congress readily yielded to Mr. Jay's direction in all matters relating to our intercourse with foreign powers. He became, in reality, the executive head of the Confederation. One of the questions that were proving very troublesome at that time was the navigation of the Mississippi River, which Spain controlled. The negotiations with Spain were left solely in the hands of Mr. Jay, unlimited powers being given him by the decisive vote of seven states to five to negotiate a treaty. Mr. Jay was among the first of American statesmen to recognize the inadequacy of the continental system, and he strongly urged the necessity for a more complete union of the states, with stronger powers given to the central government. He was not a member of the convention which framed the Constitution, but was a member of the convention called in New York to pass upon the question of ratification. At first a large majority of the people of the state were opposed to its ratification, and Mr. Jay issued an address to the people which had a most astonishing influence, and was mainly instrumental in securing the final consent of the convention to the ratification of the Constitution. While the question of the ratification of the Constitution was before the people of the various states, Mr. Jay, with Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Madison, wrote that series of remarkable political papers known as "The Federalist," Mr. Jay being the author of six of the papers. When General Washington became President he offered Mr. Jay his choice of the federal offices and he selected the chief justiceship. At the earnest request of President Washington Mr. Jay continued to act as Secretary of Foreign Affairs until the arrival of Mr. Jefferson from i France, and he so served in the cabinet of President Washington until March 21, 1790. During his short service as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States few important cases came before the court for adjudication, but among them were some that in the decision of the questions involved the court set its seal on the powers of the court under the Constitution by rulings that have been followed ever since. In 1792 Mr. Jay was nominated for Governor of New York. He received a large majority of the popular vote, but the canvassing board, which was under the influence of Governor Clinton, took advantage of some slight irregularities in the method of transmitting the returns to Albany from three of the counties and threw out the votes of those counties, electing, by this means, Governor Clinton. By 1794 our relations with Great Britain and some of the continental powers of Europe became complicated and President Washington appointed Chief Justice Jay a special envoy to negotiate a treaty of commerce with Great Britain. The treaty he succeeded in negotiating is now admitted to have been a masterpiece of diplomacy on his part, but when it was published in this country it awakened a storm of indignation, Mr. Jay being burned in effigy in many of the cities and towns. In Boston, on the fence surrounding the residence of one of the most influential citizens, was long maintained a placard showing the feeling of the community. It read: "Damn John Jay! Damn every one that won't damn John Jay! Damn every one who won't put lights in his windows and sit up all night damning John Jay!" Of this treaty the late President Roosevelt, in his book "Winning of the West," said: Jay's treaty was signed late in 1794 and was ratified in 1795. The indignation of the Kentuckians almost amounted to mania. They denounced the treaty with frantic intemperance and even threatened violence to those of their own number, headed by Humphrey Marshall, who supported it; yet they benefited much by it, for it got for them what they would have been absolutely powerless to obtain for themselves-that is, the possession of the British posts on the Lakes. In 1796 the Americans took formal possession of these posts, and the boundary line in the Northwest as nominally established by the Treaty of Versailles became in fact the actual line of demarcation between the American and British possessions. The work of Jay capped the work of Wayne. Federal garrisons were established at Detroit and elsewhere, and the Indians who had already entered into the Treaty of Greeneville were prevented from breaking it by this intervention of the American military posts between themselves and their British allies. Peace was firmly established for the time being in the Northwest, and our boundaries in that directions took the fixed form they still retain. In 1795 Mr. Jay was elected Governor of New York and served until 1800. In 1800 President John Adams nominated him for his old place as Chief Justice, but owing to his failing health the offer was declined. At the close of his last gubernatorial term Mr. Jay retired to private life, making his home on a farm near New York city. T THOMAS JEFFERSON HOMAS JEFFERSON-Secretary of State from March 22, 1790, to December 31, 1793. Born April 2, 1743, at Shadwell, Albemarle county, Virginia. Son of Peter and Jane (Randolph) Jefferson. Educated at William and Mary College. Married, January 1, 1778, Mrs. Martha Skelton. Died at Monticello, Virginia, July 4, 1826. 1763-Justice of the Peace for Albemarle county, Virginia. 1775-Delegate to the Continental Congress. 1776-Elected a member of Joint Commission to France; declined. 1779—Governor of Virginia. 1781-Elected a member of the Peace Commission; declined. 1783-Member of the Continental Congress. 1784-Minister to France. 1790-Secretary of State. 1797-Vice President of the United States. 1805 President of the United States. The ancestors of Thomas Jefferson were among the earliest settlers of Virginia. His father, Peter Jefferson, had but limited opportunities to secure an education, but by his own unaided efforts in the pursuit of knowledge became one of the influential men of the colony, and was held in high esteem by his fellow-colonists. Thomas was born on his father's estate in Albemarle county, Virginia, locally known as "Shadwell." At the early age of five years he began his school life, displaying an eager desire for learning and a persistence in application to his studies. When nine years of age he began the study of Latin, Greek and French, the latter proving of especial help to him in his later career as minister to France. His father died in 1757, leaving a large family of children, but he was able to provide liberally for each one of them, giving to each a fine estate. Thomas received the plantation of Shadwell, on which he was born, and Monticello, which was his favorite home and where he died. In 1760, at the age of seventeen years, he entered William and Mary College, remaining in that institution for two years, displaying the same eagerness for learning and the same industry in acquiring knowledge so characteristic of his days at school. At college he developed the talent for writing so conspicuous in his after career. It was while he was a student at William and Mary he became an adept at violin playing, a recreation he enjoyed throughout his long and busy life. His college life was just at the time when the colonies were in a fever of excitement over the aggressions of the king and Parliament, and young Jefferson was sedulous in attending the sittings of the Virginia House of Burgesses, paying the closest attention to all the arguments pre |