Going to the city of Washington, he was there arrested as a fugitive slave and advertised for sale, to pay the expenses of his arrest and imprisonment. Providentially, a copy of the newspaper containing the advertisement came into the hands of Judge Jay, and he made ajiplicatiou to Governor De Witt Clinton to demand his release as a free citizen of the State of New York. This was one of the first events in the history of the great struggle against slavery, which ended only when battle-fields had been stained with the blood of its supporters. Throughout this long contest Judge Jay Avas ever active with tongue and pen in behalf of liberty. In 1835 an effort was made by the slavery power, through I'resident Jackson, to prevent the circulation of Abolitionist documents by means of the United States mails. This effort, so repugnant to the principles upon which our government was founded, was met by the American Anti-Slavery Society with a dignified and earnest reply, which was written by

' Tbis sketch was prepared and inserted by tlie editor.

to

Judge Jay, and was one of his ablest efforts. When the Legislature seemed about to pass laws intended to crush the efforts of the Abolitionists, by prohibiting the publication and circulation of Anti-Slavery documents, he charged the grand jury of the county that any laws tending to prevent freedom of speech or of the press were null and void. The official manifesto of the American Anti-Slavery Society was also written by him, and was signed by men whose names are now famous in history.