Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1836-11-02
LETTER OF JUDGE JAY.


BEDFORD, Goth Sept 1886
REV. S1R,-ln my letter to YOU last
November accepting the office of Presi-
dent of the New Y ork AntiSlaverY So
cietyI remarked, "the distance ofmy res
idence from the place in which the bust
ness of the Society is to be conducted, will
render my Office nearly nominal, and l
should therefore decline it, were it not Tor
the efforts now making to brighten Amer
lean citizens into the surrender of their
dearest and most undoubted rights Un-
der existing circumstances my duty both
as Christian and republican, in my
opinion, requires me to avoid even the
appearance of shrinking from the main
tenance of those rights and therefore
cheerfully accept the place with which it
has pleased the Convention to honor me-
Believing that my motives will not
now be liable to misconstruction, beg the
favor of you, sir, to submit this my resig-
nation ofthe Office to the Society, at its ap-
preaching anniversary 1t seems to me
ID be good general rulethat no one should
hold an office the duties of which he is un-
able to discharge, and l feel too deep an
interest in the welfare Of the Society, will
ingly to deprive it of the services it may
derive from an efficient President.
On retiring from the chair, | will take
the liberty of making few remarks on
the character of the struggle in which we
are engaged. We commenced the pres
ent struggle to obtain the freedom Of the
slaye-we are compelled to continue it to
preserve our own. We are now contend
ing, not so much with the Shareholders of
the South about human rights, as with the
political and commercial aristocracy Of
the North, for the liberty of speech, ofthe
press, and of copst fence Our politicians
are selling our constitutions and laws for
southern votes--cur great capitalists are
specializing, not merely in lands and banks,
but also in the liberties ofthe people. We
are called to contemplate spectacle new
er, believe, before Wltnessed--the veal
thy portion of the community, striving to
introduce anarchy and violence on a cal
cuIaton of profit, making merchandise Of
peace and good order! In Boston, we
have seen the editor Of a newspaper led
through the streets with halter, by :" gen
tlemen of property and sts ndine." The
New York mobs were excited not by the
humble penny press, but by the malig
nant falsehoeds and insurrectionary ap
peals Of certain commercial journals
have recently, at a public meeting, pro
claimed Lynch law, and through thei
influence printing press devoted to free
dom has been destroyed, and the whole al
fair, we are coot1y~ and most truly told
was business transaction.
? The rioters in Utica, who insulted tn
: Common Council, and bid defiance to it.
authority, and who forcibly dispersed
meeting ofpeaceabIe and religious men
voted themselves to be "good and repu
table citizens u Until lately, it was sup
f posed that the political influence of wealth
was conservative, and that the rich woult
array themselves on the side of law an
order, for their own security Ii is, how
" ever, a fact no less wonderful than melan
s cholv, that the Jacobins of the prcscn
o day, are to be found among the rich ant
powerful, and that our peha laws seen
made on? y for the poor and despistd.-
Journeymcn mechanics, are indicted an,
G punished for violations Of law utterly in
significant in their character and tenden
cy compared with the outrages COMMITTEE
last year at Utica. Yet the first Judge c
Oneida, one of the perpetrators of thos
J. outragcs remains on the bench, anothe
gentleman, distinguished by his vioenc
on that occasion, has been elevated to tn
place of Attorney General Of the State
New-G ork, in which capacity he will n
= doub: be ready to assist, when required, i
" prosecutions against Trades Unions?
? Il can not be, it is not in human natur,
= that Judges, and lawyers, and rich mel
Ell chants, will long enjoy the exclusive pri,
e, i!ege oftrampling upon the laws. Thcs
men are sowing the wind, and they wi
y reap the whirlwnd. They may See III
- buildings of their harvest in the recent a,
= sauIts on the Holland Land Company
n, When the tempest of anarchy they al
now raising. shall sweep over the land,
will not be the humble abolitionist but tt
l6Fy sossessor of power and fortune WI
will first be leveled by the blast.
70 The dangers which now threaten Ii
tranquility of society, the security
- property, and the continuance of freedor
ne unite in calling upon abolitionists to p
ur forth all their energies in extending Il
~ knowledge and influence oftheir tru
+ conservative principles Founded as OF
Anti-Slavery Societies are, upon the gre
prccepts of Christianity, occupied in e
re planning and intoxicating the rights
&C. man, acknowledge the obligations of h
3: man laws in all cases not contravenr
&c the injunctions of the Supreme Lavgive
as and amid insult and OUTRAGE. ayenoir