VARIOUS PROPERTIES
JAY, JOHN, President of the Continental Congress, Chief Justice. Autograph letter signed ("John Jay") as Governor of New York, to Col. Robert Troup, Albany, 28 December 1799. One page, 4to, fold break affecting two letters, adhesive strip from old mount on verso, a five-line passage scratched out at end.
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JAY, JOHN, President of the Continental Congress, Chief Justice. Autograph letter signed ("John Jay") as Governor of New York, to Col. Robert Troup, Albany, 28 December 1799. One page, 4to, fold break affecting two letters, adhesive strip from old mount on verso, a five-line passage scratched out at end.
JAY ON THE DEATH OF WASHINGTON: "THAT SINGULARLY VIRTUOUS AND GREAT MAN"
Writing a scant nine days after Washington's death, Jay discusses how best to memorialize his departed friend, colleague and President. Troup, his correspondent, had begun his career as a junior in Jay's law practice: "I have been fav[ore]d with yours of the 23d Inst. and with the one mentioned in it. The subject of them both is indeed an afflicting and unexpected one. I perfectly concur in the sentiment that we should transmit to our Posterity the most honorable proofs of the veneration in which we hold the memory of that singularly virtuous & great man whose Death we lament. The idea of the [City] Corporation respecting an oration, meets with my approbation: and from the talents and taste of the gentleman who is to compose & pronounce it [Gouverneur Morris], I expect it will be such an one as it ought to be. I hope it will not be hurried. It had better be a little delayed, than not be finished."
Washington's death on 14 December 1799 "called forth a spectacle of universal grief which was remarkable in its magnitude even by modern standards" (Carroll and Ashworth, George Washington, New York 1957, 7:648). In the United States alone at least 300 eulogies are known to have been delivered in different cities, towns and villages: "Massachusetts...led with 106 orations in 59 places, twenty of them in Boston alone, and Connecticut could claim thirty-one....New York heard eight eulogies: there were twenty-two others elsewhere in the state..." (ibid. p. 651 fn.). The oration discussed in the present letter, proposed by the New York City Corporation, was delivered by Gouverneur Morris in St. Paul's Church on 31 December. Morris described Washington's character in high-flown oratory: "Born to high destinies, he was fashioned for them by the hand of nature....His judgement was always clear because his mind was pure....Knowing how to appreciate the world, its gifts and glories, he was truly wise...." Timothy Pickering's son, present on the occasion, believed Morris to have been the most accurate of the eulogists (ibid, p.652 and fn.).
JAY ON THE DEATH OF WASHINGTON: "THAT SINGULARLY VIRTUOUS AND GREAT MAN"
Writing a scant nine days after Washington's death, Jay discusses how best to memorialize his departed friend, colleague and President. Troup, his correspondent, had begun his career as a junior in Jay's law practice: "I have been fav[ore]d with yours of the 23d Inst. and with the one mentioned in it. The subject of them both is indeed an afflicting and unexpected one. I perfectly concur in the sentiment that we should transmit to our Posterity the most honorable proofs of the veneration in which we hold the memory of that singularly virtuous & great man whose Death we lament. The idea of the [City] Corporation respecting an oration, meets with my approbation: and from the talents and taste of the gentleman who is to compose & pronounce it [Gouverneur Morris], I expect it will be such an one as it ought to be. I hope it will not be hurried. It had better be a little delayed, than not be finished."
Washington's death on 14 December 1799 "called forth a spectacle of universal grief which was remarkable in its magnitude even by modern standards" (Carroll and Ashworth, George Washington, New York 1957, 7:648). In the United States alone at least 300 eulogies are known to have been delivered in different cities, towns and villages: "Massachusetts...led with 106 orations in 59 places, twenty of them in Boston alone, and Connecticut could claim thirty-one....New York heard eight eulogies: there were twenty-two others elsewhere in the state..." (ibid. p. 651 fn.). The oration discussed in the present letter, proposed by the New York City Corporation, was delivered by Gouverneur Morris in St. Paul's Church on 31 December. Morris described Washington's character in high-flown oratory: "Born to high destinies, he was fashioned for them by the hand of nature....His judgement was always clear because his mind was pure....Knowing how to appreciate the world, its gifts and glories, he was truly wise...." Timothy Pickering's son, present on the occasion, believed Morris to have been the most accurate of the eulogists (ibid, p.652 and fn.).