would have exhausted the patience of a man of a less equable temper of mind. But Jay bravely faced every difficulty, withstood all things, endured, conquered all. On his landing at Cadiz, the Spanish government invited him to Madrid, but refused to recognize him, in a formal character. "Pains were taken," he says in a letter to a friend, "to prevent any conduct towards me that might savor of an admission or knowledge of American independence." It seemed to be the policy of Spain rather to amuse than to aid the United States. She desired to injure Great Britain, and would, therefore, at the right time and on the proper occasion, render such assistance to the revolted colonies as might accomplish that result, but such aid was to be rendered only for a consideration. Certain concessions were required to be made, among which was the right of the United States to navigate the Mississippi. This Jay peremptorily declined, acting on the advice given by Franklin, then in France :'Poor as we are, yet as I know we shall be rich, I would rather agree with them to buy at a great price the whole of their right on the Mississippi than sell a drop of its waters. A neighbor might as well ask me to sell my street door." In this Franklin manifested his accustomed good sense. Alluding to Jay's discouragements and difficulties in Spain, he counsels him to continue "the even good temper you have hitherto manifested." "Spain," remarks the philosopher, in his usual sententious style, "owes us nothing; therefore, whatever friendship she shows us in lending money or furnishing clothes, &c., though not equal to our wants and wishes, is, however, tant de gagne."

But, in the mean time, how were the hopes, the wishes, nay the absolute expectations, prompted by inevitable necessity, of Congress to be realized! Money must be had somewhere. The supplies from the states did not come in; the continental currency continued rapidly to depreciate; the military chest. was empty. Without money, without resources, without credit, absolute bankruptcy was staring them in the face. In this emergency Congress took an extraordinary step which nothing but desperation could have prompted. Without the slightest surmise of what might be Jay's reception or prospects of success in Spain, nay, without even apprising him of the step taken, it was resolved to draw upon him

bills to the amount of half a million, payable in six months. The Spanish government, after authorizing the acceptance of these bills to the amount of a few thousand dollars, informed Mr. Jay that no more would be paid unless America agreed to furnish ships of war as an equivalent, or cede to Spain the sole right of navigating the Mississippi, but offered to guaranty the payment of $150,000 in three years, if Mr. Jay could effect such a loan. The conditions imposed by Spain were rejected; Jay attempted to effect the loan, but failed. In this emergency, he resolved upon a step of extraordinary boldness, it might be called rashness, a step, however, not hastily determined on, but one which his calm judgment dictated, and his reason approved. Without any present prospect of meeting these demands as they fell due, but with unshaken confidence in himself, his country, and its cause, he resolved to accept all bills presented to him, at his own risk. Prudence and caution were eminently characteristics of the mind of John Jay; a wise and cool discretion marked his general conduct in life, but when the crisis occurred which demanded prompt, bold, and daring action, few men were more ready to step resolutely forward and assume the responsibility. In him, that caution which usually governed his actions, was not the result of timidity; it tempered but did not impair the higher qualities of a resolute and courageous mind.

This, however, did Still he continued still he pressed his

The result of this bold and daring act fully justified his best expectations. The first cheering intelligence he received, was the arrival of $25,000 from Dr. Franklin, at Paris. not nearly equal the amount of his acceptances. to accept every bill that was presented, and importunities upon the Spanish Government. At length in December, 1780, the sum of $150,000 was promised him; but the money was not paid, and the American envoy was not yet relieved from his financial embarrassments.

In April of the following year we find him writing to Dr. Franklin at Paris, and inclosing him a statement of the desperately hopeless condition of affairs. Not more than $35,000 of the Spanish loan had been paid in. He had then outstanding acceptances to the amount of $231,000, the largest portion of which must be paid in two months. His situation, he says, was a cruel one. It was ren

dered more annoying from the fact that he had never received a dollar of salary from America, and at one of the proudest courts in Europe was obliged to contract debts and live on credit. Still, however, Jay bore manfully up, and continued zealously and faithfully his labors at the Spanish court. By dint of almost superhuman exertions, he was enabled for a long time to meet his liabilities, and sustain the credit of the country. At length, in the month of March, 1782, the inevitable crisis came. The Spanish Government, after the payment of the $150,000, agreed to guaranty to a banker the amount necessary to liquidate the remainder of the bills accepted by Mr. Jay; but the transaction was not completed, through the want of faith, it is believed, of the Government itself; and Jay was subjected to the mortification of seeing the bills protested, and his own and his country's credit annihilated.

The misfortune, however, was soon retrieved. During the next month Jay received from Franklin the following welcome letter:

PASSY, April 22, 1782.

"DEAR SIR-I have undertaken to pay all the bills of your acceptance that have come to my knowledge, and I hope in God no more will be drawn upon us but when funds are first provided. In that case your constant residence at Madrid is no longer necessary. You may make a journey either for health or pleasure, without retarding the progress of a negotiation not yet begun. Here you are greatly wanted, for messengers begin to come and go, and there is much talk of a treaty proposed, but I can neither make nor agree to propositions of peace without the assistance of my colleagues. Mr. Adams, I am afraid, cannot just now leave Holland. Mr. Jefferson is not in Europe, and Mr. Laurens is a prisoner, though abroad upon parol. I wish, therefore, you would resolve upon the journey, and render yourself here as soon as possible. You would be of infinite service. Spain has taken four years to consider whether she would treat with us or not. Give her forty, and let us in the mean time mind our own business. I have much to communicate to you, but choose rather to do it viva voce than trust it to letters.

"I am ever, my dear friend, yours most affectionately,

"BENJAMIN FRANKLIN."

The foregoing letter explains itself. Mr. Jay's mission to Spain. was about to end. It had been fruitless in respect to the proposed treaty, although Congress, to the astonishment and mortification of Jay, had some time before passed a resolution instructing him to yield the claim to the navigation of the Mississippi. And he had drawn up and presented a treaty to that effect. A longer residence at the Spanish court was therefore unnecessary. He repaired to France to act in conjunction with Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, and Laurens, the commissioners appointed by the United States in negotiating a peace.

This commission was extremely distasteful to Mr. Jay, not on account of the difficulty and responsibility attending it, but by reason of what he conceived to be the humiliating conditions attached to it. At the instigation of the French minister, Mr. Adams, who had been appointed American plenipotentiary, had been instructed in negotiating a peace," to make the most candid and confidential communications upon all subjects to the ministers of our generous ally the King of France; to undertake nothing in the negotiations for peace or truce without their knowledge or concurrence," &c. Subsequently, at the requisition of the French minister, the additional commissioners were appointed, and the following added to their instructions: "And ultimately to govern yourselves by their (the ministers of the King of France) advice and opinion." It was in reference to these instructions that Mr. Jay protested, in a dignified letter to the President of Congress, in which, while reluctantly accepting the commission, he entreated to be relieved of it as soon as practicable. The following are the concluding sentences of this letter:

"Thus circumstanced, and at such a distance from America, it would not be proper to decline this appointment. I will, therefore, do my best endeavors to fulfil the expectations of Congress on this subject; but as for my own part, I think it improbable that serious negociations for peace will soon take place, I must entreat Congress to take an early opportunity of relieving me from a station where, in character of their minister, I must necessarily receive and obey (under the name of opinions) the directions of those on whom I really think no American minister ought to be dependant, and to

whom, in love for our country, and zeal for her service, I am sure that my colleagues and myself are at least equal."

Jay accordingly repaired to Paris, where he arrived on the 23d June, 1782. Here he met Dr. Franklin, and these two mainly conducted the negotiations on the part of the United States. Jefferson was detained in America; Adams did not arrive till the 26th of October, after the preliminary articles were agreed upon between the Americans and Mr. Oswald, the British commissioner; and Col. Laurens reached Paris the 29th November, the day before the preliminary articles were signed.

It is not my design here to sketch the progress of this negotiation, or to discuss its merits. It has become a part of the history of the country, and is familiar to every one versed in the diplomatic events of that period. We are doing but justice to Mr. Jay in claiming for him a large share in the successful results of the negotiation— results upon which Jefferson himself in the warmest language congratulated him ;-"The terms obtained for us," he remarks in the confidence of a friendly letter, "are indeed great, and are so deemed by your countrymen, a few ill-designing debtors excepted." Hamilton, also, highly complimented him. "The peace," he says, "which exceeds in the goodness of its terms the expectations of the most sanguine, does the highest honor to those who made it." These terms, however, and this successful negotiation, were not achieved without the most painful anxiety and difficult labor. England was of course prepared to grant but few concessions to her revolted colonies, and France, "our generous ally," had her own designs to subserve, and was as dangerous to America in diplomacy as she had been formidable to England in war. At the outset, too, Mr. Jay had the misfortune to differ with his then sole colleague, Dr. Franklin. The British commissioner, Mr. Oswald, had been authorized to treat with any commissioner or commissioners appointed by the thirteen colonies or plantations in North America. Jay regarded the independence of the colonies as already a fact not to be controverted even by implication; and he refused to treat with the British commissioner except upon terms of equality. The French minister, Vergennes, urged a compliance; Franklin himself thought "it would do;" but nothing could shake the firmness and sense of propriety