1861 JOHN JAY. The Great Conspiracy. Great Britain Fueling Slavery & Civil War to Destroy America.

Very rare address issued less than 60 days after the opening of the Civil War and on the occasion of the Fourth of July. For Jay, this could not have been a more appropriate occasion. The Revolution freed America from British tyranny. The Civil War would free America from British meddling. 

According to Jay [Wendell Phillips went even further, charging England with wanting to see America destroyed], there would be no Civil War without England. England only benefited from a weakened United States and by the continuation of slavery. The agitation around slavery kept American goods cheap on the exchange and provided large supplies of cotton and tobacco at affordable prices because of cheap slave labor. England may have ended her own slavery, but they didn't mind benefiting from it in America. According to Jay, there were spies, mis-information, and a plot that went to the Crown itself to keep America embroiled in a Civil War.

In retrospect, Jay may have been more right than wrong, but at the time, his views were considered radical and, well, a conspiracy theory, by many.

John Jay was grandson of the original Founder, John Jay. He was head of the Antislavery Society of New York, a signal supporter of the Underground Railroad, defending fugitive slaves in court cases, etc., 

Last auctioned, 1921. No copies on the market. 

Jay, John. The Great Conspiracy. And Address Delivered at Mt. Kisco Westchester County, New York, On the 4th of July, 1861, The Eighty-Fifth Anniversary of American Independence. New York. James G. Gregory. 1861. 50pp.

A very good copy, bound in wraps, generally solid, generally bright pages with toning throughout.