The New York herald., 1921-02-06

the Government in international affairs he
will be joining group the eminence Of
whose members is excellent testimony to
The high character of American statesman
ship.
John Jays Legal Powers
Helped Form This Country
The first Secretary of State, John Jay
was one of the great legal and diplomatic
minds that formed the Republic. He was a
delegate to the first Congress and one OF
the authors of the celebrated Address To
the People of Great Britain" In l777, when
he was only 80 years old he drew the first
Constitution of the State of New York and
was the first Chief Justice of the State. In
1779 he went to Spain as Minister. After the
war he joined Benjamin Franklin and John
A6ams as a Commissioner to negotiate
peace with Britain Before Jays return to
America, in 1884. Congress elected him Sec
retary for Foreign Affairs, then the most i'm
portant individual post in the country. This
place he held until the formation of the
Federal Government in 1889. When Gen.
Washington became President he offered to
Jay any place he might wish, and Jay be-
came Chief Justice OF the Supreme Court. AS
Jefferson, who was appointed to succeed Jay
+. the control OF State affairs, had not re-
turned from France, Jay acted as Secretary
o. State until Jeffersons arrival In 1894
Washington sent Jay as a special envoy to
England. There he framed the celebrated
Jays Treaty" which provided for the sur
render to the United States of the North
western military posts and the determine
ton of the northern boundary. From 1876
to 1901 Jay was Governor OF New York. On
leaving that Office he declined his former
place as Chief Justice and spent the re-
m n eofa ot 2o1f
in Westchester county.
Thomas Jefferson breathed the true spirit
of the American statesman when Washing
ton offered him the State portfolio. task
which he did not desire: "It is not for an
individual TO choose his post. You are to
marshal may he best for the public
good" jefferson had then achieved every
thing. short of the Presidency, that man
could ask. Indeed, the drafting of the Dec
laration gave him fame eternal Yet he had
also been a member of the Congress- Gov
ernor of Virginia. and Franklin's successor
as plenipotentiary to France. While Jeffer-
sons performances az Secretary of State
were most creditable, he found himself Ill
at ease in a Cabinet which included his po-
litical opposite, Alexander Hamilton. Their
disagreements led to Jefferson's resignation,
but 1t Is noteworthy that after Hamilton
left the Cabinet Washington asked JefYer-
son to return to his former position. When
he became President In 1901 Jefferson
formed Cabinet In which there was little
dissension and kept it intact for two terms.
It was not as Secretary of State that JEFF
ferson shone most brightly. History knows
him better as the author of the Declaration,
the far visioned President who acquired the
Louisiana territory and the Democrat who
took pains to abolish every official usage
that savored of royalty.
The Great Jurist Marshall
Before the Secretarysiip
When John Marshall took the Office of
secretary of State under President Adams
he had not yet gained fully that prestige as
jurist which puts him at the head of
all our judges. But his record as a public
man had been superb soldier of the Revo-
luton, the greatest lawyer i'm Virginia the
defender of the Constitution, the supporter
OF Washington and the profound student of
International law-such he had been when
President Adams sent him, with Charles c.
pinckney and Elbridge Gerry, as joint en-
voys to France, where their friendly ad-
vsnces were met with nothing better than
Taleyrand's attempt to hiackmail them and
the United States. Yet Marshall handled
this unfortunate situation well that his
return TO this country was n triumph. Upon
the removal of Pickering from the office of
Secretary of State. in 1893. Marshall ac-
cepted the post and served with distinction
TO the end of John Adams's Administration.
tit was still Secretary OF state when he took
his place as Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court of the United states. n position which
he held for thirty-five years, and which he
adorned so magnlncently that in the history
of law his name stands beside those OF Sir
Matthew Hale and Lord Mansfield. or all
the men who have been nj the head OF the
state Department. Marshall and Webster
i'nk highest in purely intellectual power.
Msdfson's Career in Cabinet