Jay was frequently called upon to defend in the courts persons arrested as fugitive slaves. In the peculiar state of feeling which then existed, the defense of these cases could not fail to attract public attention in all sections of the country, and the reported cases, among which may be mentioned "In re Kirk," "la re Da Costa " and the famous " Lemon Case," which were conducted by him with matchless ability, must ever be an important chapter in the legal hi.story of the times.

In 1848 Mr. Jay, accompanied by his wife, made a visit to Europe, and during his travels formed many acquaintances among the most prominent men of the day. While in France he did not fail to visit what was to him a spot endeared by ancestral tradition, the "City of the Huguenots." Upon his return he resumed his labors for the cause of freedom, and when the country was agitated by the proposal to rejieal the Missouri Compromise, he was among the first to gird for

THE BENCH AND BAR.

the coming struggle, and a call prepared by himself, and headed by the significant words, " No violation of [ilighted faith," "No repeal of the Missouri Compromise," filled the Broadway Tabernacle, on the evening of January 30, 18j4, with the best citizens of New York. The resolutions drawn by him were adopted by acclamation, and the opinions thus expressed found a ready response in every free State throughout the Union. A succession of meetings organized by him for the same object served to intensify this feeling, and resulted in the establishment of the Republican party, of which Mr. Jay was justly considered one of the most prominent founders. In the Presidential campaign of 1856 he could not fail to take a conspicuous part, and a speech delivered by hira at Bedford on the 8th of October, " America Free or America Slave," was one of the most efficient political documents of the time.