From John Jay to John Vardill, 23 May 1774
To John Vardill
[NYork 23d May 1774—]
Dear Vardil
In a Town filled with Politics, and with a Mind crouded with many indigested Ideas, I have taken up my Pen in order to acknowledge the Reciept of your very friendly Letter of the 5th: Ap: last.1 It bears evident Marks of Attention and Attachment, for which recieve my Thanks. The several Topics you mention require more Thought than I can now bestow upon them. I returned from the northern Counties Yesterday, and found myself one of the Committee appointed by the City to take into Consideration the Measures of Parliament relative to Boston and consult upon the most effectual Methods to advance the Interest of the common Cause. We sat four Hours P Day and have agreed to attempt a Congress of Deputies from all the Colonies, as the most probable Means of effecting a general Union and Consistency of Councils—Four (of which Number I am one) are appointed to prepare Dispatches for Boston.2 I leave Town Tomorrow to attend the WestChester Court—Many collateral Matters will come before the Committee this Evening that require much thought and Circumspection—judge therefore whether it is possible for me at this Juncture to think clearly, or write with that Precision which is necessary to do Justice to the Subjects you recommend. Upon some of them indeed I have bestowed much Thought, And shall employ the first Leizure Hour I have in communicating my Sentiments fully.
As to the Office you mention—it is doubtless honorary, but my Circumstances will not admit of accepting it, unless it be rendered in some Degree lucrative in which Case I would chearfully resign the Toil of my Profession for Otium cum Dignitate.3 Altho Governor Tryon has been civil to me, I have taken too little Pains to conciliate his particular good Graces, to expect his Recommendation to that Place. But there is another Matter which I believe he has at Heart and in which I fancy he would interest himself in my Favor—It is this.
In every County there is established by ordinance of the Governor & Council a Court, called an inferiour Court of Common Pleas authorized to try all Causes of five Pounds and upwards (the supreme Court being restricted to Causes above twenty pounds)—In this Court—actions are prosecuted at very little Expence, and are therefore very numerous. In the each of these Courts there are three or four Judges. There being but few Gentlemen of Law or even liberal Education among us, and of those, very few indeed who reside in the Country; these Judges are taken from among the Farmers, who have no other Guide to direct them through the Mazes and Intricacies of the Law than the mere natural Sagacity they may happen to possess—Whence it happens that their Adjudications are constantly fluctuating and what is determined Law to Day, declared otherwise Tomorrow. This Ignorance exposes them to the Neglect if not the Contempt of the Bar, & not knowing the Extent of, or when to exercise their Powers, find themselves incapable of supporting that Dignity of Office so necessary to render it respectable, and I may say useful. Add to this—that the Judges and Justices are appointed by the Recommendation of the Representatives of the County, who are determined in their Choice less by Ability, than Attachment to particular Parties and Interest. These Considerations induced Mr. Livingston & myself to propose to Govr. Tryon, that certain Gentlemen of the Law should be appointed to visit these Courts, and preside in Term Time. The Judges of the Supreme Court recommended the Measure, and it would have taken Place had not the DeLancey Party in Council been against it—you know the Motives of this opposition. Gov. Tryon has promised Mr. Livingston to lay the Plan before the Ministry, and endeavour to interest them in its Favor—he also mentioned me as a proper Person to be one of the Number. 3 are sufficient—If the Govt. were to establish this Office and provide for its Support, it would evince why an Attention to the Interest of the Colony that would not only be useful to the People, but place the Ministry in somewhat a more favorable point of View than they now appear to the Inhabitants of the Province. The due Distribution of Justice being of the highest Moment to any Country.4
These Hints may furnish you with Materials for further Measures. And whether they be productive of advantageous Consequences or not, I shall think myself equally indebted to the friendly Attention that called them forth—
Your Brethren of the Gown are quiet, and as yet no Schemes are forming among them disadvantageous to you. I will give you the earliest Notice of any Alarm: since your absence I have laid such a Train for Intelligence that nothing meditated against you can long remain a Secret. The College Club exists, and my Endeavours shall not be wanting to support that or any other Institution of publick Utility—Adieu my Dear Vardill I am your Friend
John Jay
ALS, UkLPR: AO 13/105 (EJ: 5021). After his graduation from King’s College in 1766, John Vardill (1749–1811) became a tutor at the college and an active propagandist for the Anglican cause in New York; in 1773 he was chosen professor of natural law at the college, and in 1774 he sailed to London for ordination as a minister. Although appointed Regius Professor of Divinity at King’s College, Vardill remained in England throughout the Revolution. During this time, he was paid £200 annually by the Crown, earning his pension by writing pamphlets and newspaper pieces and doing intelligence work among Americans and American sympathizers in London. In 1783 he submitted a petition to the Loyalist commissioners, cataloging his services to the Crown. Among his supposed accomplishments, according to this petition, was furnishing the “government with much and valuable Information, from an extensive Correspondence with Congress-Leaders,” including JJ. “One effect of this Correspondence,” his petition continued, “was to secure to Government the interest of two Members of the Congress by the promise of the office of Judges in America. But the Negotiation was quashed by the unexpected Fray at Lexington in Apr. 1775.” In support of this assertion, Vardill submitted two letters from JJ, one published here and that of 24 Sept. 1774, below. These letters were filed with Vardill’s petition of 16 Nov. 1783 in PRO: AO 13/105.
1. Letter not located.
2. See New York Committee of Correspondence to the Committee of Correspondence, Boston, 23 May 1774, and notes, above.
3. Ease with dignity.
4. Although the law partnership of JJ and Robert R. Livingston Jr. was virtually dissolved by 1771, the two young attorneys had continued to work together on a program of judiciary reform. A proposal to name JJ and Livingston as “advisors” of a sort to judges of the Courts of Common Pleas was apparently made to Governor William Tryon in 1772, for in November of that year Tryon submitted the proposal to the provincial council. Livingston was to be “judge itinerant” for Tryon, Albany, Ulster, and Dutchess Counties; JJ, for Orange, Westchester, and Richmond. During council discussions of the proposal in December 1772, Tryon was less than ardent in defending the project. Even though JJ and Livingston offered to serve without pay, the measure was defeated in the council and was never submitted to the assembly. , 1: 129–32.