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��THE GRANITE MONTHLY.
��his majesty's councillors. He was a man of naturally genial and social temperament, yet he would sometimes under perplexities and annoyances become irascible. His anger, how- ever, was usually brief. " He was opposed to oral prayer," says Mr. Brewster, in his " Rambles," " deem- ing those who thus pray hypocrites. Rutin church, on one Sunday, his voice was heard in response above all oth- ers. He had been much annoyed by encroachments on the boundaries of some of his extensive estates in the interior, and went to church with a vexed mind from that cause. In the course of the service, when ' Cursed be he who removeth his neighbor's landmark,' was read, 'Amen,' respond- ed Jaffrey, with a loud voice and hearty good will. At one time the Rev. Arthur Brown chanced to come abruptly upon him when he was utter- ing a volley of oaths. ' I am sur- prised sir,' said the worthy doctor, ' that you should, so soon after de- nouncing praying men as hypocrites, be found offering to God a petition.' " Councillor Jaffrey was strongly op- posed to the change in the govern- ment. He not only refused to sign the association test, but he was pro- nounced in his toryism. In this he had the company of a great many good men. Perhaps the time has not come even yet when the part taken by the loyalists or tories, in our war for independence, can be fairly estimated. Strange as it may seem at first sight, it is actually easier to obtain an atten- tive and sympathetic hearing for an exposition of the aims and motives which actuated the seceding States during our civil war. But the truth is that secession is recognized as only an extravagant application of the doc- trine of State rights, which is still ar- dently upheld by a large and influ- ential part of the Northern people, while even those who take an extreme Federalist view of the powers vested in our national government feel con- strained to conciliate the inhabitants of the Southern States. Accordingly,
��although secession may be a lost cause, its champions are treated with a consideration almost unparalleled in the history of civil contests.
But the tories have no friends. They are not only discredited, but extinct. For a century the tide of public opinion has set so strongly against them that even their descend- ants are at pains to disguise what they have learned to think a blunder or a crime on the part of their ancestors, and historians have abandoned the well-nigh hopeless effort to modify the popular judgment. Few commenda- ble endeavors have been made to sup- ply the requisite material for a more accurate and equitable estimate of the motives and actions of the loyal col- onists during the Revolutionary strug- gle. We do not propose to enter upon their defence here. There are always two sides to a question, and when there are honorable and noble men found embracing a cause it is proof positive that there must be some good in it, however we may lean to the opposite. George Jaffrey, holding office under the crown, would natu- rally side with that power from which he received his honors, both from a sense of gratitude and from the fear of being punished if found unfaithful and the royal cause triumphed. But he was actuated by other and nobler principles as well. By sentiment and conviction he was a tory. Unlike his friend and neighbor, Jonathan War- ner, he never willingly accepted the results of the war for independence. Several years after the declaration of peace, calling one day at a goldsmith's shop to have his silver buckles mend- ed, the workman observed : " I sup- pose you prize this highly not only for its intrinsic value, but also for its tower-mark and crown stamp?" "Yes, yes," answered the colonel, bringing down his cane with violence, "and we ought never to have come off — never."
The grand old house that he lived in all his life still stands conspicuous among the noble mansions on Daniel street. It is a unique structure, and
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