When under the auspices of the Union League, and by the authority of Secretary Stanton, colored regiments were raised, lie made an eloquent address to the second of these commands previous to its departure for the seat of war. His son, Colonel William Jay, who served from the beginning to the end of the war on the staffs of some of the most prominent generals, frequently received visits from his father, who was a witness of the destruction of several national vessels by the ironclad " Merrimac," and her subsequent defeat by the " Monitor," and accompanied President Lincoln, Mr. Stanton and Mr. Chase on their return to Washington from Fortress Monroe, a few days after the famous fight.

lu the fall of 1S(55 he again visited Europe, and presided at the Thanksgiving dinner at the Grand Hotel, in Paris, on the 7th of December, where, at his suggestion. Southern gentlemen who acquiesced ID the result of the war, were invited to take part in the festival.

During his absence Mr. Jay was elected president of the Union League Club, and when a disposition

was manifested on the part of some of its members to dissolve the organization, on the ground that its work was finished, his influence was given in behalf of the majority, who believed that the club had an important duty to perform in the future. In 18G7 he was appointed by Governor Fenton a commissioner to represent the State at the establishment of the National Cemetery on the battle-field of Antietam, and true to his nature, he was prompt to sustain the view that liberality and magnanimity alike required that the Confederate dead should also receive honoralJle burial. In April, 1869, he was nominated by President Grant to the important position of minister to Austria, a nomination which was unanimously confirmed by the Senate ; and at a meeting of the Union League, an address was delivered to their retiring president by Dr.