Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1850-08-03
Gelrrttons.
Jays Reply to Prof Stuart.


Reply TO REMARKS OF REV. Moses STu-
ART, late of Andover Theological Semi
nary, on Hon. JoHN JAr, and an Exami-
nation of his Scriptural Exegisis, contain
ed in his recent Pamphlet entitled, Con-
science and he Constitution
BY WILLIAM JAY.
Rev. SIR: In your late work, " CONSCIENCE
AND THE CONSTITUTION" you have by a
coarse and clumsy device attempted TO re-
buke me in the name of my bonored parent.
The character of your assault upon me is
intended to convey the impression, without
the responsibility of direct assertion, that
were John Jay now alive he would concur
with you in sustaining the course of Mr..
Webster, and in condemuing the doctrine of
the sinfulness of human bondage. / owe il
20 his memory TO save it from such a stig-
ma.
You refrain from quoting the declara-
TONS by which, as you assert, degrade
and vilify" my own parent and "hold him
up TO contempt" The justice which you
deny me, accord TO you, and give the Ian
guage OF which intend TO COMMENT
could not help thinking more pariicu-
larly on one great and good man, who took
an active part in all the formative process of
our General Government, and by skill and
wisdom saved our settlements ffomrhe hor-
rors of Indian aggression. Every one will,
of course, know that speak of the illustri-
GUS JoHN JAY. What il his portrait had
been hanging in the hall where the Anti
slavery Society recently met under tho pre-
siding auspices of his descendant? Would
it not have brought TO every mind the recol-
lection of what the Earl of Chatham said,
when addressing descendant then in the
House of Commons) of a noble ancestor,
whose picture was in full view? His words
were, From the tapestry that adorns these
walls, the immortal ancestor looks down and
frowns upon his degenerate offspring
must except, in my application of this dec
laration, the last two words. They should
not be applied to such n man as the Hon.
William Jay. But may say: Would not
his simmortal ancestor have looked down with
a mixture of sorrow and of ffowning, on
descendant who could exhort his country
men to disregard and trample under foot the
Constitution which his father had so signally
helped to establish; and who could pour
out an unTestrained torrent of vituperation
upon Mr.. Webster, who has taken up the
Constitution where MIR. jays ancestor had
left il, and stood ever since in the place of
the latter as its defender and expounder P
How would that agitated and frowning face
moreover have gathered blackness, when
the presiding officer of that meeting went on
TO say, that MIR. Webster had not made his
speech from any conviction of sentiment,
but because the cotton merchants and manu-
facturers of Boston demanded such views TO
be maintained, and these gentry had of course
given 1t their appreciation? This--all this
of such a man as Mr.. Webster. And all
oc sl.a bf
mended Mr.. Webster's speech! To one
who knows them as well as do, this is alb
solutely shocking. At all events, it is un-
gentlemanly; il is passionate; and what is
more than all-it Is. s.absoliaely false. To see
the Hon. w. Jay presiding over such a
meeting, and opening it with declarations
which degrade and vilfy his ilustrious an
cestor, and hold him up TO contempt, forces
from one the spontaneous exclamation: o
4liantitn nitatus ab lilo m p. 62.
There is, sir, throughout your book, a
freedom both of language and of censure,
and a recklessness of consequences both TO
yourself and others, that bespeak at least
great frankness. II is therefore singular,
1hat in the above passage you should shrink
from applying to me the epithet of "degene
rate offspring,"-an epithet most richly
merit, If what You say of me be true. Your
disclaimer is not in keeping either with
your language, or with your usual apparent
sincerity.
You think the portrait of John Jay, at the
late meeting, would have reminded all of
the words you quote from Chatham. The !
reason why presided over the Anti-slavery |
Society is, that now ! am old, do not de-
part from the way in which l was early |
trained by parental precept and example,
Tho first Anti-slayery Society ever formed |
IN New-York, assembled in 1875, under |
the presiding auspices" of JOHN JAY
The first clause of the preamble to its con-
stituton contained the following afirma- |
tion: h
"The benevolent Creator and Father of !
men having given to them all an equal right |
10 life, liberty and property, no sovereign |
power on earth can justly deprive them Of
either, but in conformity to impartial gov
ernment and laws to which they have ex-
pressly or tacitly consented"
Here, you perceive, sir, there is recog-
nition Of POwER above every constitution
and government on earth. And what in
ference was drawn from the asserted giif of