To John Jay from Peter Augustus Jay, 23 February 1810
From Peter Augustus Jay
New York 23d. Feb. 1810
Dear Papa,
Your Shingles should have been sent up long since but that the Sinsing Boats have not been down.
The Washington Society1 requested me to deliver an Oration on their Anniversary & as you advised me not to be an insignificant Member I was induced to Consent, & accordingly spoke one Yesterday. I have of course been for some time busy in preparing it & have on that account pressed the Furnace Business less than I should otherwise have done. The Celebration of yesterday has occasioned much exultation among the federalists. The Society walked in procession & amounted to more than two thousand. Many Gentlemen kept aloof, but it was one of the most respectable assemblages of people that I have ever seen. It consisted of substantial Shopkeepers & Mechanicks of Men of the middling Class who & of a considerable Number of old Revolutionary Officers & Soldiers— Almost all of them possess Influence & can bring to the poll other votes besides their own— In the Evening a Grand Ball was given, not by the Soc[iet]y. but by Subscription.2 I was not at it— The Managers sent an Invitation to Mr. Jackson,3 but it being feared that his presence on such an Occasion would give much discontent certain Gentlemen called on Col. Barclay4 & desired him to call on Mr J[ackson]. & request that he would not attend— He accordingly sent an Apology— He has been visited by most of the federal Gentlemen— I have not been, because it appears to me not perfectly proper to declare to him, our Disapprobation of the Measures of our Govt.
Col. Barclay readily promised to forward your letter to Mr Wilberforce5 with his own by the next opportunity & he promised to inclose it to Mr Robert Barclay the Brewer who is the intimate friend of Mr Wilberforce & will see to its Delivery—
Poor Aunt Munro still continues in the same Situation, occasionally a little better or a little worse but upon the whole without much alteration. My best love to Wm. & Nancy— I am my dear father Your Affect: Son
Peter Augustus Jay
John Jay Esqr
ALS, NNC (EJ: 06149). Addressed: “John Jay Esqrr/Bedford/Westchester County—”. Stamped: “[illegible] / FEB / 23”. Marked: “10”. Endorsed ”…and. 26 Feb. 1810 / oration &c”. HPJ, 4: 326–27.
1. The Washington Benevolent Society, founded in 1808, was a Federalist political club, whose purpose was to gain support for Federalist candidates. Such clubs spread throughout the middle states and New England.
2. Peter Augustus Jay, An oration delivered before the Washington Benevolent Society in the city of New-York, on the twenty-second of February, 1810 (New York, 1810; Early Am. Imprints, series 2, no. 20445). WJ wrote his father on 1 Mar. 1810 that the Oration would be printed soon and that “it is much admired.” ALS, NNC (EJ: 09655).
The Commercial Advertiser (New York) published a full account of the procession on 23 Feb. 1810. The procession included a “BANNER OF INDEPENDENCE, flanked by two smaller banners, inscribed with the dates of the captures of the Hessians and Burgoyne, born and supported by MILITARY AND NAVAL CHARACTERS OF THE REVOLUTION;” thirteen banners bearing the names of “DECEASED PATRIOT[S] OF THE REVOLUTION” including McDougall, Schuyler, Montgomery, and Hamilton; and the “WASHINGTON STANDARD” flanked by banners with the dates of the capture of Cornwallis and the adoption of the federal Constitution. Marching bands and trumpets accompanied the procession, which went from Rose Street to the junction of Pearl and Cherry Streets, where it was met by Captain Bogert’s Troop of flying Artillery and a troop of horse. The Society’s president presented Bogert with a banner bearing Washington’s likeness, and speeches extolling Washington and Federal values were exchanged. The procession then moved its way up to Mott Street and the Zion Church (formerly the English Lutheran Zion Church; the congregation converted to Episcopalian in 1801). Prayers and music were delivered, and PAJ gave his “very interesting and elegant Oration”. Ships displayed their colors in the harbor, and a Federal salute was fired at sunrise and sunset. Toasts reported at the “ten or twelve dining parties” lauded Washington, the Society, Federalism, and Hamilton, and commented on the current political situation with France and England, including: “Thomas Jefferson, embargo, non-intercourse—May the United States never again be oppressed by either of them.” See also advertisement for PAJ’s oration. Commercial Advertiser (New York), 20 Mar. 1810.
3. Francis James Jackson (1770–1814), minister plenipotentiary from Great Britain to the United States.
4. Thomas Barclay (1753–1830), the New York-born British consul at New York and relative of the brewer Robert Barclay.
5. Letter not found. See William Wilberforce to JJ, 18 Jul. 1810, below.