California 
 gional
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 AN 
 
 EXAMINATION 
 
 OF THE VARIOUS CHARGES EXHIBITED AGAINST 
 
 AARON BURR, Esq. 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES ; 
 AND A DEFELOPEMENT 
 
 OF THE . 
 
 CHARACTERS AND VIEWS 
 
 OF HIS 
 
 POLITICAL OPPONENTS. 
 
 Br ARISriDES. 
 
 -^ 
 
 u / am not of the number of thofe men <who are perpetually 
 troubling and dijlurbing you ; I hold not any office of trujl or of 
 adminijlration in the Jlate ; /, therefore, come forward with 
 confidence^ and denounce tranfa3ions and crimes Hie thefe." 
 
 PRINTED BY WARD and GOULD, oppofite the CITY-HALL. 
 1803.
 
 AN EXAMINATION, 
 
 1 HE fubjeft of the following pages has fo long occupied 
 the attention of the public, that I can fcarcely hope for a can- 
 did perufal of their contents. The patience of fome is no 
 doubt exhausted, and the prejudices of others have been rouf- 
 ed by the numerous and elaborate productions, which have fuc- 
 ceffively been offered to their confideration. The attack on 
 the vice-prefident has been conducted with a zeal and an earneft- 
 nefs, calculated to make an impreffion favorable to the hopes 
 and views of its authors, efpecially on thofe who wjere ignorant 
 of their real motives. Thefe I flull attempt to explain. Hav- 
 ing truth alone in view, I (hall endeavor to place the controverfy 
 fairly before the public, that its merits may be examined, and 
 the purpofes of jufticr be accomplifhed. 
 
 IF Mr. Burr has been guilty of the conduct ascribed to him, 
 I have no difpofitiou to (hicld him from the indignation of the 
 people; but if the teftimony which has been incidentally and 
 voluntarily difclofed, is Efficiently explicit to mew that his con- 
 duct has been uniformly honorable and correct, it is the duty of 
 every friend to the government to clear his character from the 
 mab'gnant afperfions of his undeferved and wicked enemies. 
 
 THOUGH I may difcover lefs zeal and talents in the invefti- 
 gation of this fubjecV than thofc whofe productions I am to 
 
 I 
 
 197056
 
 6 
 
 analyze, my intentions are more correct- Though I may ex- 
 hibit no brilliant teftimonials of an a&ive genius, or fail to 
 pleafe by the fplendid effufions of a lively fancy, fomething 
 like conviction may be produced, by an examination of fatls, in 
 plain and intelligible language. 
 
 To thofe who are at a diftnnce from the field of controverfy, 
 it will be impoflible to convey a difthicl undurftanding of the 
 caufes that have produced divifions among us, without leading 
 their attention back to circumilances and fa&s anterior to the 
 eleclion, which raifed Mr. Burr to the vice-prefidency. In 
 tracing the evils that afflict us to their fource, we may meet 
 perhaps with the caufes that have, produced them. By unco- 
 vering the fecret fprings that have moved to action our jealous 
 ftatesmen, and difclofing the ambitious views of oppofing in- 
 terefts, we may develope the myfterious jnconfiftencies that 
 have occafionally marked our political career, and explain the 
 queftions that now divide the republican intereft. Although 
 thefe points have already been the fubjeft of difcufiion, there is 
 fomething fo ufeful in recurring to tranfaclions intimately con- 
 nected with the prefent controverfy, that I hope bccafional re- 
 petitions will be received without cenfure. 
 
 IF in my progrefs I mould digrefs into the examination of 
 individual characters, who have rendered themfelves confpicu- 
 ous by their conduct upon this occafibh,' I truft it will be par- 
 doned. A knowledge of the men who have inftituted this 
 ';y into the political condnct of the vice prefident, will 
 tend directly to explain their motives. 
 
 AMONG the evils incident to free governments, none are 
 more to be feared than the virulence of party fpirit, and the 
 violence of political animofities. The nature of our political 
 eftablifhments, the intricate andcxtenfive concerns of a confed- 
 erated union, feem well calculated to generate thofe national 
 difunions, which by dimjiiifhirig our ftrength, will inevitably 
 fink our dignity abroad, while they endanger our happinefs
 
 and fafety at home. But much as the intemperance of politi- 
 cal opponents is to be deprecated, I fear a difference of feuti 
 ment relative to the general conduct of the adminiftration, and 
 upon the principles of national policy, will terminate only with 
 the exiftence of our government. It has been faid that national 
 parties often anfwer falutary purpofes. This is an opinion cer- 
 tainly entitled to refpecl:, but unnecefiary to be here difcufled. 
 No advantage that my mind is able to conceive can refult from 
 fuffering the conftitution to be fufpended, on a pedeftal, to fuf- 
 tain the attacks of contending parties, or from leaving the laws 
 and the complicated machinery of our civil inftitutions, to float 
 on the furface of political controverfy. Nothing ufeful certainly 
 can arife from permitting every conftitutional injunction to be 
 tortured, by the arbitrary conftrulions of ambitious and op- 
 pofing ftatefmen ; from fuffering familiar deviations from con- 
 ititutional rules ; or permitting the pafiions and prejudices of 
 afpiring politicians, to proftrate the barriers that mould circum- 
 fcribe their views, and aflign limits to the hopes of human pride. 
 Though thefe divifions by roufing the paflions, may enliven the 
 fentiments of freedom, and by the collifion of adlion brighten 
 the chain of our union, continual convulfions may alfo impair 
 the ftrength, and diflblve the bands that bind the body politic 
 together. 
 
 SINCE the eftablifhment of the federal government, no ftate 
 in the union has been more agitated by the efforts of contending 
 parties, than the one in which we live. After tracing back its 
 political hiftory to the adoption of the federal conftitution, few 
 I believe, will be difpofed to doubt the juftice of this remark. 
 They will find its caurfe occafionally marked by violence that 
 brought the fundamental principles of the government in quef- 
 tion, and " liberty to the brink of ruin." They will fee that 
 the conftitution has been tortured, and the laws violated, by the 
 ftiamelefg inconfiftencies of party fpirit. It was at that period
 
 that the line was drawn between the two parties that have alter- 
 nately prevailed, and the mifchievous diftinctions have been 
 continued under various modifications to the prefent day. 
 
 THOSE who advocated the adoption of the conftitution as it 
 had been prepared by the convention at Philadelphia, with all 
 its manifelt imperfections, affumed the name of federalifts.-r- 
 Others, who though convinced of the imbecility of the old ar- 
 ticles of confederation, and of their incompetency to fecure the 
 fafety and integrity of the American empire, ftill urged the in- 
 troduction of amendments, were termed anti-federalifls. Though 
 this appellation might have been charadteriftic at that moment, 
 it foon after the fuccefs of their opponents, ceafed to be appli- 
 cable. When an adequate number of the ftates had exprefied 
 their approbation of the conftitution, many of thefe men not 
 only abandoned their hoftihty to it, but became its fmcere and 
 genuine fupporters. 
 
 THE framers of the present constitution, have certainly mani- 
 fested proofs of their political sagacity. It is highly republi- 
 can, and seems well calculated to resist most of the evils, which 
 human wifdom can forefee. The reprefentative Jyftem is ex- 
 tended as far as the imperfections of humanity will juftify. But 
 there is a want of precifion in its provifion, and of definiteness 
 in its reftrictions, that render it capable of being fo adminifter- 
 cd, that under different adminiftrations it will affume oppofitc 
 complexions. The executive is armed with fufficient powers 
 to adminifter the government with vigor and activity, and to 
 check the pernicious deviations of temporary agitation. But a 
 chief magistrate, poflefTcd of a fpeculative mind, of an amiable 
 and benevolent difpofition, not convinced of the extreme depra- 
 vity of human nature, but indulging vifionary fchemes of re- 
 formation, and Cghing for the happy days of man's perfecti- 
 bility, may relax the reins of government till its democratic in- 
 gredients gain the afccadancy, and in their eccentric operations
 
 9 
 
 facilitate the introduction of the moft hazardous principles of 
 modern philofophy. 
 
 THE anti-federal, or what is now more properly called the 
 republican party, hare ever wifhed for a chief magiftrate, who 
 would obferve a proper medium between the extremes of top 
 lax and too rigid an adminiflration. Their opponents on the 
 .contrary have fought every occafion to arm the executive not 
 . only with all the power which the conilitution fairly gave, but 
 with all that could be extracted from it by confirmation; they 
 created while in power new fources of influence, manifeilly 
 contrary to the letter of the inftrument, odious to its fpirit, and 
 dangerous to the freedom of the people. This I conceive 
 forms the true diitin&ion between our national parties. The 
 difference appears to me not to relate to the foundnefs of the 
 fundamental principles of our government, but to the fpirit 
 which (hall be infufed into it by men in power. I fhall not 
 purfue thefe obfervations, becaufe they may lead the attention 
 of the reader from the queftion, which alone it is my object to 
 elucidate. 
 
 THE acrimony which has ever prevailed among our leading 
 politicians, fprung from the animated difcuffions which took 
 place in the contention of 1788. It was there our ftatefmen 
 avowed their principles, and displayed their eloquence. On 
 the one fide Governor Clinton and Mclanfton Smith, pointed 
 out the odious principles of the conftitution, and urged, though 
 in vain, the introduction of amendments, calculated to meet the 
 approbation of the people, the guardians of whofe rights they 
 . were. They met with ftrenuous opposition from Mr. Hamil- 
 ton and Chancellor Livingfton, who obftinately advocated the 
 pernicious and unpopular provifions of the conftitution, and 
 finally fruflrated all the efforts of their opponents. The fo- 
 philtry of the one, concealed the deformity of the inftrument, 
 and the inexhauftible fancy of the other, painted iu glowing 
 colors the golden days that were to come.
 
 10 
 
 THI irritating influence produced by the warmth of conflict- 
 ing opponents in the convention, extended to their constituents, 
 pervaded ever)' clafs of fociety, and fettled decifively the charac- 
 teriilic features of the parties which have ever fince, with un- 
 ceafing activity, ftruggled for dominion and grafped at the helm 
 of state. With religious perseverance each fought for converts 
 and propagated their peculiar tenets. The ftandards of party- 
 were erected throughout the ftate, and every knave and every 
 fycophant, warmed by pafiion or by prejudice, rufhed to the 
 fupport of the one or the other, as his inclinations or his intereft 
 prompted. 
 
 WITH a fpirit of persecution that dishonored their country 
 and their caufe, that proftrated every rule of right, and bid defi- 
 ance to the operations of reafon and reflection, each adhered 
 to its leaders, though tortured by conviction of their errors. 
 
 THE fpirit of parties continued to increafe to the deftruction 
 of private friendmip, and the interruptionof focial intercourfe, till 
 the return of the election in the year 1 792. A conteft for the 
 chief magistracy then enfued, between Mr. Clinton and Mr. 
 Jay, that before its determination fliook the government to its 
 centre. To form an adequate conception of the malignity of 
 oppofing interefts at that period, it will only be necefiary for 
 the reader to advert to the conduct of the perfons appointed to 
 canvafs the votes taken at that election. 
 
 THE popularity of Governor Clinton, from a combination 
 of circumstances unnecessary to enumerate, had so far declined 
 since the convention of 1788, that many of the most powerful 
 republicans in the state, encouraged the nomination, and ad- 
 rocated the election of Judge Yates in 1789. 
 
 THE federal interest, however, was then fo inconfiderable, 
 that Mr. Clinton was again the fuccessful candidate. The sub- 
 sequent events in the department of the land-office, so rapidly 
 reduced his influence, that Mr. Jay, his opponent in 1792,
 
 II 
 
 would infallibly have been elected, had not the votes of several 
 counties, constituting a majority in his favor, been set aside by 
 the canvassers, because not returned precisely according to law. 
 
 THE number of independent suffrages destroyed upon that 
 occasion, would have ensured the success of the federal candi- 
 date. Though among the warmeft fupporters of the republi- 
 can party at that period, I did then, and while poflefled of a 
 mind capable of reflection, ever (hall, condemn the proceedings 
 alluded to, which excited the fenfibility and high indignation of 
 the people. The difTatisfaclion and diflentions which the ill- 
 judged meafures of Mr. Clinton's adminiflration had produced 
 among the republican party, had fo far divided, and diminished 
 its ftrength, while it invigorated the efforts of its opponents, 
 that in 1795 tne government paffed into the hands of the fe- 
 deralifts. 
 
 THIS year Judge Yates was the republican, and Mr. Jay the 
 federal candidate for the chief magiftracy. Mr. Clinton, from 
 a variety of circumftances, had found it prudent to decline a 
 nomination. Upon examining his pretenfions, with fomc ac- 
 curacy, it will no doubt appear fingular to many, that the reins 
 of government remained fo long in the hands of this gentleman. 
 Many events which though within the knowledge of the writer, 
 it is impofiible here to detail, contributed to continue him in 
 office. 
 
 IT is undeniably true that there is always a reluctance in the 
 public mind, to change public officers, while they remain of 
 the fame political fentiments with a majority of the people, and 
 retain their vigor and energy of mir.d. To difpofitions like 
 thefe, and to his meritorious conduct during the revolution, 
 Mr. Clinton was indebted for his continuance in office. 
 
 IT is well known that in the early days of our independence, 
 when the recollection of paft perils and public troubles was 
 frefh ia the maids of the people, when every heart glowed with
 
 12 
 
 gratitude to thofc who had encountered the hardfhips of war, 
 and had afiifted in eftablifhing the freedom of their country, 
 that revolutionary fervices received the juft tribute of refpeft 
 from every clafs of fociety. It was a flrong and lively remem- 
 brance of thefc fervices, and not his political talents, that 
 raifed Mr. Clinton to the chief magiftracy of the ftate. It 
 was thefe fervices, and the elevated station which he then held, 
 that laid the foundation of his fubfequent influence. He would 
 certainly have remained an infignificant individual, had not the 
 bravery he difplayed in the armies of his country, entitled him 
 to refpeft, and placed him in the executive chair of the ftate, 
 which he held till he retired in 1795. 
 
 As his retirement from office was apparently voluntary, and 
 no farther evils could be apprehended from his adminiftration, 
 the federal party, who had uniformly oppofed the meafures of 
 his government, relaxed in the fevcrity of their inve&ives, and 
 thofe who had fupported his political conduct, were happy of 
 an opportunity to confign his errors to oblivion, which had oc- 
 efafionally received the independent cenfures of Mr. Burr, and 
 the fevcreft animadverfions of his eloquence. 1 too mould have 
 left them undifturbed, had he not again appeared upon the 
 theatre of political action, exhibiting lamentable inftances of 
 the imbecility of his mind, and of blind fubmiffion to the dic- 
 tates of a perfecuting faftion. Apparently heedlefs of the 
 public good, with criminal irrefolution, he is fuffering the ge- 
 neral welfare to be undermined and jeopardized by the fliame- 
 ful machinations of particular ambition. If he has not difcern- 
 ment enough to difcover the evil tendency of the meafures, to 
 which he has been driven by a few defperate adventurers, he is' 
 unfit to be the chief magiftrate of the ftate. If he does per- 
 ceive the evils that will infallibly refult from them, and has nei- 
 ther the virtue nor the firmnefs to make a bold refiftance to men, 
 trhofe felftfh and difhonourable fchemes are involving us in ruin,
 
 13 
 
 he is criminal, and deferves no lenity from thofe who under- 
 take to animadvert upon the prefent alarming dificntions among 
 the republican party. 
 
 AFTER what has been faid, the reader will clearly perceive* 
 both from the nature of the oppofition in 1789, and from 
 the manner in which it was found neceflary to declare him 
 governor in 1792, that Mr. Clinton's popularity at that time 
 was very equivocal. What it became afterwards, and is now, 
 will be flievvn hereafter. From the republican fupport given 
 Judge Yates at the firft period alluded to, and the flate of the 
 fubfequent election, it appears conclufively, that he never has 
 been that idol of the party, which his unblufhing eulogills wifli 
 the world to believe. 
 
 IN the fupport of Governor Clinton, the republican party- 
 were influenced by a rcfpedt for his character during the war, 
 which infpired them with a hope, that he would continue to 
 fupport the principles he then profefled. They now fee with 
 mingled aftonifhment and concern, that he has dwindled into 
 the mere inftrument of an ambitious relative, and his mercenary 
 adherents; that a paltry and contemptible faction, alike deiti- 
 tute of talents and of worth, are fheltcring themfelves under his 
 name, availing themfelves of the imbecility of his age, and 
 converting him into a convenient tool, through whom they imy 
 difpofe of the honors and offices of the flate for their own pro- 
 fit and aggrandizement. 
 
 I AM aware, that by my mode of .treating the fubject under 
 examination, the charge of digreffion may be incurred. It h 
 true that to delineate the conduct and motives, or to point out 
 the alternate preponderancy of the two parties that have e::- 
 ifted in this ftate, fince the eftablilhment of the federal govern- 
 ment, is not directly relevant to the fubject I have undertaken to 
 elucidate. The immediate object of my enquiry is, to explain 
 the factious difpofitions, and fubordinate interefts, which have 
 
 C
 
 1 1- 
 
 introduced inveterate evils among thofe who have hitherto ap- 
 peared to afibciate upon principles of general policy. To ac- 
 complifh this, I have deemed it primarily neceflary, to take a 
 retrofpective view of tranfa&hns, which are either direftly or in 
 their confequences, connected with our prefent differences. 
 
 IN a work entitled " A View of the political conduct of 
 Aaron Burr, Efq." and which I fhall prefently make the fub- 
 ject of examination, it is unequivocally, though falfely ftated, 
 and his fupport of Judge Yates in 1789 given as the founda- 
 tion of the aflertion, that Mr. Burr began his political career 
 on the fide of federalifm. Though I think it of no importance 
 at this moment, {tuTno inference of this kind can be warranted 
 by the circumftance in queftion. It is a fadl which defies con- 
 tradiction that many republicans, who had rendered as import- 
 ant fervices to the country during the revolution, and to the 
 caufe of freedom afterwards, as Governor Clinton or any of hi$ 
 connections, had no confidence in his talents, and warmly advo- 
 cated the election of his opponent. But as ft is now, fo was it 
 then, the immediate adherents of Mr. Clinton, deemed his right 
 to the chief magiflracy so divine and indefeafible, that every 
 man who had the audacity to refufe him his fuffrage, no matter 
 how low or elevated his Italian, how humble or dignified his 
 character, was branded with every odious epithet their ingenuity 
 could devife. 
 
 F*OM this early period may be dated the hatred and enmity 
 which the Clinton family h'.'.ve uniformly borne towards the 
 vice-prefident. They have occafionally difplayed fome bold- 
 nefs n;.d vigor in their ivarfare, but always have been eng-zged 
 in a daftardty and infidious manner, to undermine his influence 
 and his power. Confcious of the impurity of their motives, 
 and the iniquity of their conduct, in darknefs they have medi- 
 tated his destruction, and like cowards, fought to blaft his reputa- 
 tion. Oiie, in confidential correfponiiencxs, would hazard iiifin 7
 
 15 
 
 uations calculated to roufe impatience and anxiety; another 
 would whifper fufpicions into the ears of a friend, with painful 
 caution, and much folicitude as to the degree of truth to be at- 
 tached to them. In this torturous and hidden courfe, have 
 they purfued the character of a man whofe energy and talents 
 they dreaded, and in whofe prefence th;y humbly acknow- 
 ledged their inferiority. 
 
 SOON after this period, arofe a diftinft intereft, if it may fo 
 be termed, originating in a preference for the talents and poli- 
 tical knowledge of Mr. Burr. A preference confirmed by the 
 impolitic conduct of Mr. Clinton towards thofe who were un- 
 friendly to his ek&ion in 1789. With thefe men he never 
 could be reconciled, and againft them he directed the whole 
 force of his official influence. Accordingly in 1792, we fee 
 Mr. Burr folicited, though unfuccefsfully, to be a candidate 
 for the government. This unmanly and incautious jealoufy of 
 Mr. Clinton, alienated from him a powerful portion of the 
 party, and produced the critical ftate of the election that took 
 place in that year. It was impoflible any longer to unite the 
 republican force in his fupport, and this was the true caufe of 
 his resignation in 1795; which, though apparently voluntary, 
 was not proclaimed until he was convinced that his re-election 
 was impracticable. So far had his admin iftration deranged the 
 whole republican intereft, that even the moft popular mas_ fn 
 the party, could not fucceed in his ele&ion. This failure was 
 attributable to no other caufe than the diftra&ion produced by 
 the contracted and partial policy of the retiring chief magi- 
 ftrate. 
 
 THOSE whofe political concerns and information were con- 
 fined to the city of New-York, will perhaps be difpofed to 
 doubt my accuracy on this fubjecl. But others, who like the 
 writer, had an opportunity of mingling at that time with the 
 great body of the people, will readily recogni/e the truth of
 
 16 
 
 Kiy afTerlion; nay, will not hefitate to admit that there then 
 prevailed throughout the ilate, an urmfual folicitude and im- 
 patience for the termination of Mr. Clinton's o Jicial elevation. 
 THAT Mr. Burr, for feveral years fubfequcnt to the revolu- 
 tion, bore no uncommon fliarc in the civil concerns of the (late, 
 is admitted without hefitation. But that his political inactivity 
 proceeded from infenfibility to the welfare and profperity of 
 his country, is an inference as uncharitable, as it is unfounded. 
 The infinuation could only have originated in a ihameful ma- 
 lignity of heart, and grofs ignorance of his early purfuits. The 
 turbulence of war, and the convulsions of the revolution, that 
 vibrated with vigor through the land, that invaded the abodes 
 of domeftic peace, and rouzed the patriotic fpirit of the ftudent 
 and the foldier, interrupted his literary career, and the unfocial 
 found of the drum impelled him, at an inaufpicious period, to 
 the field. At the moment of returning peace, he rcfumed the 
 cultivation of his mind. At once afpiring at profefiional emi- 
 nence, with unequalled ardor he grafped at erudition, and ad- 
 hered to his legal purfuits, with a zeal and an ambitious induf- 
 try, that raifed him with rapidity to the head of his profeffion, 
 in which elevated fphere he moved with fplendor and applaufe, 
 till he was felected, in 1791, to reprefent this ftate in the 
 fenate of the union. In this exalted {ration, we recognize in 
 him the deportment of a ftatefman, dignified and firm. With 
 manly perfeverance we find him advocating the caufe of freedom, 
 and with characterise activity, devifing means to fave the coun- 
 try from federalifm and from ruin. The treaty propofed with 
 Great-Britain, which threatened the degradation of the union, 
 he oppofed with eloquence and vigor. The uniformity of his 
 v conduct, during the whole of his -ienatorial term, eftablifhed 
 haracler as a firm republican. The prefent fccretary of the 
 treafury, Mr. Gallatin, has frequently declared, that he had 
 examined with care and attention the journals of the fenate of
 
 17 
 
 the United States, and could not difcovcr that Mr. Burr had 
 ever given an anti-republican or even an equivocal vote, while a 
 member of that body; and his nomination for the vice-prefi- 
 dcncy, in 1797, is indubitable evidence of the high eftimation 
 in which he was held by his party. His fellow fenators, who par- 
 ticipated in his labors, and the high official characters at the 
 feat of government, all of whom had the means of detecting 
 his want of attachment to the principles of the republican par- 
 ty, proclaimed him worthy of the fecond office in the govern- 
 ment; and none but the penetrating author of THE VIEW, it 
 feems, could difcover in him " the want of a fteady uniform 
 principle." 
 
 THE year in which Mr. Burr's feat in the fenate expired, 
 which was in 1 797, he was cliofen to reprefent the city of New- 
 York in the ftate legiflature. 
 
 NOTWITHSTANDING the ingenuity with which the author of 
 THE VIEW has, through the whole of his work, diftorted the 
 conduft, and difcoloured the motives of Mr. Burr, he has not 
 been able to point out a fpecific inilancc, during the feffion of 
 the legiflature which took place in this year, that was excep- 
 tionable to the republican party. Was it ignorance, or want of 
 induftry in refearch, that has prevented this ingenious gentle- 
 man from amufing the public with a minute detail of fome trea- 
 fonable practices in the feffion of 1797. No part of Mr. Burr's 
 life appears fo barren and uninterefting. Surely a year could 
 not elapfe without difclofing to the fagacious and penetrating 
 author of the View, fome fchemes to fubvert the conftitution, 
 or for elevating the federalifts on the ruins of republicanifm. 
 But it feems Mr. Burr " exhibited neither firmnefs nor activity 
 in the legiflature. He rarely attended republican meetings," 
 and in the opinion of his Impartial biographer, " wrote not a line 
 in fupport of freedom."* Proof politive, certainly of treafon. 
 * See View, &c. />. 24.
 
 18 
 
 It is impoffible that in retirement he could have been en- 
 gaged in any thing but mifchicf. What! abfent from a pub- 
 lic meeting, and not plotting'againil the welfare of the ftatc ? 
 Oh ! prepofterous ! When inattentive, and not writing in 
 fupport of freedom? Is not the natural inference, that he was 
 meditating the overthrow of the government? Surely this pe- 
 riod of Mr. Burr's political life, merited more attention, and a 
 flri&er examination. Prefumptions numerous and violent, could 
 have been raifed, to prove that he was not attached to the 
 principles of his party, but meditated the elevation of their op- 
 ponents. The author of THE VIEW muft have laboured under 
 fome temporary imbecility of mind in examining thefe proceed- 
 ings of Mr. Burr, or has been guilty of grofs injuftice to his 
 employers. 
 
 BUT the fucceeding year, (1798) was pregnant with porten- 
 tous events. A lift of the vice-prefident's political tranfgref- 
 fions are here prefented, long enough to bear conviction to the 
 moft obdurate and incredulous mind. In this year the triennial 
 election for governor again occurred. Mr. Burr, however, it 
 feems mamfefted no difpofition on this occafion, to be held up 
 as a candidate. It is left for the author of the' View to recon- 
 cile this with his " immeaiurable ambition." 
 
 To gratify the extreme anxiety and officious folicitude of 
 Chancellor Livingfton, as well as to pacify the clamorous vanity 
 of his relatives, the republican party after much iiefitation, 
 agreed to fupport that " learned" perfonage for the chief ma- 
 giftracy. His want of popularity was fo well known that no- 
 thing could have induced this inexpedient meafure, but a defire 
 to fliew the futility of his pretenfions, and thus in future avoid 
 his hitherto unceafmg importunities. For about this period, 
 this gentleman, and his numerous connections, though notori- 
 oufly deftitute of claims upon the public, and of all attachment" 
 to the principles of republicanifm, ftrenuoufly advanced claims
 
 19 
 
 to power; founding their pretenfions upon the rirtues of an 
 ancient name, and hereditary- wealth. Although at the period 
 that ftttled the coaftitution of the ftates, they had boldly 
 fought under the banners of federalifm, they had conveniently 
 changed with times, and become zealous friends of the people, 
 the better to deceive them ; unperceived to climb the ladder of 
 ambition, and ufurp political authority. The juft odium, at- 
 tached to their inftability of principle, and their perfevering in- 
 duftry, in interefted purfuits, to the exclufion of honeft views, 
 to the infraction of private engagements, and the violation of 
 public truils, had hitherto excluded them from the confidence 
 of the people, and almoft from all participation in the honors 
 or emoluments of public offices. The juft eftimation of their 
 pretenfions is perhaps the moft decifive inftance of found judg- 
 ment that chara&erifed the former adminiftration of Mr. Clin- 
 ton. And notwithstanding the late apparent reconciliation 
 with him, which I fhall prefently notice, it has made impreflions 
 that nothing can eradicate. It has engendered a hatred in 
 their bofoms that no time can cool, nor no ingenuity can long 
 conceal. The refult of the election terminated as was forefeen, 
 in the defeat, and mortification of Mr. Livingfton, and confirm- 
 ed the conviction of the party, that the people had no confi- 
 dence in his political integrity, and had been difgufted by his 
 unwarrantable expectations. 
 
 IN returning to Mr. Burr, and his conducl during the legif- 
 lative feflion of 1798, as detailed in the " View* we have a 
 picture prefented fo diverfified and curious, as to captivate the 
 moft capricious attention, fo bold and ftriking, fo vigorous and 
 rariegated, as to amufe the moft juvenile fancy, and confound 
 the fcber gravity of age. We find him reprefented at the fame 
 time as " fliff and referved, diftrufted ! y the federalifts, and 
 fufpefted by his own party. On delicate queftions, backward 
 in exhibiting his sentiments. OccafionaZly manifefting a dou-
 
 20 
 
 ble front, and furniming abundant reafon, to fufpe& the purity 
 of his intentions, and the fincerity of his political proftffions."* 
 
 THESE vague affertions are certainly unworthy of notice, un- 
 fupported as they are by circumftances, or a fingle fact; they arc 
 infidious furmifes, calculated to prejudice the mind of the rea- 
 der, and prepare it for more ferious infmuations, and the re- 
 ception of bolder falflioods. The common fenfe of every man, 
 who poffefTes the fmalleft knowledge of the political tranfac. 
 tions of that day, will at once difcover the malignity of the mind 
 that conceived and gave them to the world. 
 
 To fubftantiate all thefe charges, one inftance of " double deal, 
 ing" is attempted to be fhewn. And what is it ?' Why when 
 the council of appointment was to be chofen, Mr. Burr was 
 not in the houfe. Conclufive teftimony, triumphant proof in- 
 deed, for this fapient author. Unfortunately for him however, 
 eleven other members it appears were abfent, befides Mr. 
 Burr, and his vote would not have varied the refult of the 
 choice that was made. Col. Burr however, muft be refponfi- 
 ble for the lofs of the election at all events, becaufe it will an- 
 fwer the infidious purpofes of his vindictive enemies. Upon 
 fuch circumftances, fuch incidents, fuch accidental occurren- 
 ces, is the reputation of this gentleman to be torn to pieces, 
 and fcattered before the winds of heaven, the fport of every 
 malicious rival, and mechanical traducer. 
 
 THE reader will perceive that to purfue the author of the 
 View through the wide field of abufe and calumny in which he 
 has wandered, to refute all the futile and ill-conceived objedli- 
 ons, which his fertile fancy has created, againft the political 
 conduct of Mr. Burr, would involve me in endlefs labour, and 
 far exceed the limits which I have prefcribed to the examination 
 of thefe fubordinate charges. 1 (hall therefore only notice a 
 few of thofc which appear molt deferving of attention. 
 
 * Ste View, p. 25.
 
 THE appropriation of twelve hundred thoufand dollars, mor- 
 ed by Mr. Burr in the extra meeting of the legislature in Au- 
 gufl 1798, d^ferves the approbation of the country. Thedc- 
 fcnceLfs and expofed ftate of one of the moft important ports 
 in the union, is a difgrace to the general government, and a 
 reproach upon the public fpirit of the ftate. It is matter of 
 aftonifhment to every intelligent traveller, and of regret to every 
 friend to the fafety and dignity of his country, that a city* 
 \vhofe natural advantages are fuperior to any in the United 
 States, whofe political importance to the federal union is incal- 
 culable, and which annually pays into the national treafury one 
 third of the whole revenue of the country, may be laid under 
 contribution by a fingle frigate, or be infulted, laid wafte and 
 burnt by every petty pirate that either caprice, or the hopes of 
 plunder may lead within its harbor. 
 
 EVERY fchool boy, who has read the conftitution, knows 
 that it is the duty of the general government to provide for the 
 general defence. But the author of The V'w knows, or 
 ought to know, that it had been applied to in vain, alledginj 
 as an excufe, a difputed balance of a million of dollars due from 
 this ftate to the union ; that it was after many fruitlefs at- 
 tempts had bren made to iutereft the national government in 
 our fafety, to awaken its anxiety for our welfare, and when 
 federal policy had nearly involved us in a foreign war, that the 
 legiflature were exprefsly called for the purpofe of taking into 
 confideration the afpect of our foreign affairs, and to adopt 
 means for our fecurity. It was in this critical conjuncture, un- 
 der the preffure of thefe peculiar and untoward circumftanccs, 
 that Mr. Burr's propoiition for an appropriation, adequate to the 
 probable exigencies of the public, was made. 
 
 THE author of The View, if he is fane, will not contend I 
 prefume, that if the work of fortifying our harbor was at all 
 undertaken, that the fum propofed w<* too large ; particu- 
 
 e
 
 22 
 
 larly as under the then arrangements all fums expended for this 
 purpofe, were to extinguifli fo much of our fuppofed debt to the 
 union. 
 
 THE prefent fortifications in our harbour and their garrifons, 
 are a mockery of military force, and have juftly become a fub- 
 Jeft of ridicule. The effect they would infallibly produce in 
 perilous times would be pernicious. They would tend to footh 
 the apprehenfions ofthofe unacquainted with the nature of mi- 
 litary power, and paralize the efforts of the inhabitants of the 
 city. Not till danger and death approached their habitations 
 would they be roufed to exertion, or abandon a fruitlefs depen- 
 dancc on a force, barely fufficient to alarm the timidity of in- 
 fancy or dotage, or to found the alternate approach of darknefs 
 and of day. For this act of his public life, therefore, Mr. Burr 
 mould feel no remorfe, and may claim with fafety the approba- 
 tion of his fellow citizens. 
 
 IF at the period of which I have been fpeaking, it was ru- 
 moured that Mr. Burr was to receive a military commiilion 
 from the prefident of the United States, it did not reach the 
 ears of the writer. And furely fuch a mark of refpecl could 
 not have been difhonorable. 
 
 THE neceflhy of an office to fuperintend the exaction of ef- 
 cheats, has long been admitted, and if inftituted at the period 
 propofed by Mr. Burr, would have been extremely falutary in 
 its operations. It would have reftrained corporate bodies 
 within the limits of their charters, and that it would have in- 
 creafed materially the revenue of the flate, muft be manifeft to 
 the meaneft capacity. 
 
 THE oppofition made by Mr. Burr, to the celebrated amend- 
 ment propofed by the ftate of MafTachufetts to the federal 
 conftitution, has extorted the reluctant approbation of this 
 modern cenfor. It is the only folitary aft in the annals of this 
 memorable feffion thafc has efcaped cenfure. This temporary
 
 23 
 
 candor is ingenioufly affe&ed, for the purpofe of giving addi- 
 tional poignancy to the fcurrility and (lander that enfues. 
 
 IF on this fubject the writer mould vary in opinion from the 
 author of The Viciv, it will not, he trufts, be ascribed to perverfe- 
 nefs of temper, or a fixed determination to combat the juftnefs 
 of his fentiments. Such a difpofition cannot ferve the purpofes 
 of truth. Inftead of elucidating, it would tend to embarrafs 
 the enquiry he has begun. Difclaiming all perfonal motive?, 
 and undue attachment to individuals or fe&s, he will freely be- 
 fto\v applaufe where applaufe is due, and difapprobation where 
 h thinks it is deferved. He will not blindly advocate the po- 
 litical infallibility of any man, however exalted may be his fta- 
 tion. Mr. Burr's political life furnifhes much to applaud and_ 
 fomething to cenfure. Upon many occafions he has manifefted 
 a zeal and patriotic attachment to the true interefts of his coun- 
 try, that merit the livelieft language of panegyric. But not 
 exempt from human infirmity, he has occafionally erred in ad- 
 vocating meafures not calculated to advance the profperity of 
 the nation. Though poflefled of a mind fingularly perfpicacious, 
 let us not fo far forget the imbecility of human wifdom, as to 
 fuppofe that Mr. Burrs difcernment could adequately compre- 
 hend upon the preffure of every occafion, the true interefts of 
 his country, in all their minute combinations, or anticipate the 
 future effe&s of operating caufes. Unlike thofe diurnal fcrib- 
 lers who have finifter purpofes to accomplish, I think it as fair 
 and charitable to afcribe his fupport of meafures which appear 
 to me impolitic, to the errors of his judgment, as to improper 
 feelings of his heart. 
 
 Upon the subject of the MafTachufetts amendment, I mall 
 therefore, with great deference to the fuperior talents and expe- 
 rience of Mr. Burr, queftion the foundness of his opinions. His 
 conduct upon that occafion proceeded no doubt from the pur- 
 ft motives, from a liberal and benevolent difpofition. But the
 
 21- 
 
 principles he advocated, I hold are pregnant with mifchiefs ; in 
 their operation they will poifon the fources of our happinefs, 
 and ere long demolifh the proud monuments of our freedom. 
 
 THE terms of the propofed amendment are not now before 
 me, nor can I recollect them with accuracy. If viewed, ab- 
 ftra&ed from national objector as directed at an individual, it 
 was certainly unworthy of fupport. But if confidcrcd as in- 
 volving a great political principle, it merits mature inveftiga- 
 tion. 
 
 I LAY it down as a maxim, that a fimilaiity of opinions upon 
 the principles of government, and a congeniality of political 
 feelings, are indifpenfably necefiary to cnfure the peace, har- 
 mony and integrity of our federal union. 
 
 THE variety of principles efpoufed by thofe who have either 
 been expelled from European countries, by the wanton power 
 of a crowned oppreflbr, or battened from their native foils by 
 the apprehenfions of a guilty conference, and who adventure hi- 
 ther in fearch of better fortunes, muft in their unreftrained ope- 
 rations, generate evils, that by floxv but fure effecls, will work 
 corruption and infufe poifonous tendencies into our moral and 
 political arrangements. 
 
 THE principles upon which our civil inftitutions are founded, 
 are fo mild in their nature, the immunities they grant and the 
 privileges they fecurc fo extenfive and diverfified, that their va- 
 lue to the native fons of American liberty muft diminifli, in the 
 proportion that turbulent and interefted foreigners are introdu- 
 ced among them. The greater variety of ingredients, radically 
 different in their nature, which are unguardedly admitted into 
 our country, and our national councils, the lefs harmony and 
 unity of defign will prevail. 
 
 THESE apprehenfions are certainly r.tional, and amply juf- 
 tified by the fyflematic plans which thofe poifonous l"hoots of 
 European corruption have lately inilituted, under the eye of
 
 25 
 
 our government, and in the very centre of our country, to ac- 
 quire an undue influence in our political operations. Encou- 
 raged by the countenance of congrefs, they are flocking from 
 every quarter of the world, in crouds more dreadful and alarm- 
 ing than the approaching torments of peililence and famine. 
 Their hearts warm with theprofpect of plunder, they haften to 
 the arm$ of their naturalized brethren, who are already preying 
 on the vitals of their adopted country; who, after having been 
 protected by our laws, and participated iu our privileges, arc 
 already conceiving, maturing and purfuing defigns to eilablifh 
 a permanent foreign influence, diftinct from the power of our 
 native citizens. It is beyond controverfy true, that in this city, 
 and Several others in the union, they have formed affociations 
 for the cxprefs purpofe of influencing elections, and favouring 
 the elevation of individuals who will fupport their views. 
 
 IT is alfo well afcertained that correfponding focieties are in- 
 ftitutcd, for the exprefs purpofe of communicating to the dif- 
 affected fubjects of European governments, the facilities that 
 here attend their naturalization, and for inviting them to this 
 land of promife. Even particular individuals, diftinguifhed 
 abroad, in the annals of fraud and fedition, have been honored 
 with direct applications. Thus encouraged and elevated by the 
 .flattering profpect, painted in lively colours to their view, Ame- 
 rica becomes the object of their loathfome affections; their be- 
 loved paradife, where they are kindly told that villainy is un- 
 reftrained in its purfuits ; where (kill in fraud, conftitutes the 
 value of the man, and robbery is ranked among the inalienable 
 rights of the citizen. 
 
 . SINCE the ruinous and impolitic act which was pafled by our 
 n ational legiflature in 1801, lias been in operation, we have 
 been furnifhed with unufual importations of thefe fugitive pa- 
 triots. Our fea ports have been infefled with thefe hardy fons 
 f foreign corruption ; tome the legitimate property of the gib-
 
 26 
 
 bet, and others with the crimfbn (tripes of infamy frefli upon 
 'their backs, have already, with native ingenuity, invaded indt 
 vldual property, and with heroic zeal are grafping at political 
 importance. 
 
 THE controul of newfpapers is their favourite object. If 
 they find a diftinguifhed individual hoftile to their iniquitous 
 projects, they mark him out for deitruction. He is inftantly 
 aflailcd with all the falfhoods and flanders their conjunct inge- 
 nuity can devife. A double objedt is thus accomplifhed, the 
 power of an enemy is wounded, and their own importance in- 
 creafed by the concentration of public attention. This was 
 the mode by which Burke and Cobbet fought to acquire Same, 
 and to influence public fentiment. This too is the mode pur- 
 fued by Cheetham and Duane, to accomplifh fimilar purpofes, 
 but more extenfive, deep and daring in their nature. 
 
 I ASSERT, without the fear of contradiction, that all the 
 local difientions of a political nature, with which we have been 
 afflicted, originated exclufively, with men of this defcription. 
 And unlefs fome efficacious mode is adopted of checking their 
 pernicious career, they will not only paralize the operations of 
 the government, but foon involve us in all the horrors of in- 
 teftine war ; unlefs they are held in proper fubordination, by 
 the general deteftation of Americans or controuled by law ; un- 
 lefs they are excluded from places that facilitate their operations, 
 the people of this country muft prepare to furrender their 
 rights, and fuffer their opinions to be regulated, not by their 
 own good fenfe, but by a few defperate and licentious for 
 jreigners. 
 
 IT will perhaps be unneceflary to obferve, that the remarks 
 in the preceding pages, are not meant to extend indifcriminately 
 to thofe who are not native citizens. There are, no doubt, 
 many foreigners among us, who emigrated with, juft views, and 
 for hoaeft purpofes j who have become yaluablc ckiz^ns, and
 
 27 
 
 whofe worth I duly appreciate. But in the dcfcription which 
 has been given, I mean to include the general mafs of Europeans 
 who have arrived fince the revolution, and who are daily pour- 
 ing in upon us for the purpofe of pecuniary fpeculations, and 
 with political views manifeftly hoftile to the fpirit of our go- 
 vernment. 
 
 I AM aware that the opinions here advanced, are not popular 
 with the party to which I am attached ; but it is firmly believ- 
 ed, that an attentive inveiligation of the fubjecl, would imprefs 
 the impartial individuals of every party, with the propriety of 
 my fentiments ; would terminate in a conviction that the terms 
 of the prefent naturalization aft are highly dangerous, and me- 
 rit the attention of the government. 
 
 REFLECTING men will allow that its provifions are calculated 
 to introduce into the bofom of our country, a fpirit of licen- 
 tioufnefs, at variance with the wholefome rules of American 
 policy ; mingled with a profligacy, fprung from the worft prin- 
 ciples of modern philofophy, and which when uncontrolled 
 will operate upon the body politic, like poifon infufed into the 
 human fyftem. 
 
 So far therefore, as Mr. Burr is an advocate for the equal 
 privileges of foreigners, after the fhort probationary period pre- 
 fcribed by the prefent aft, he receives my moil hearty difappro- 
 bation. 
 
 ALTHOUGH the conduct of the vice-prefident relative to 
 the amendment in queftion, as alfo upon the Virginia and Ken- 
 tucky refolutions was gratifying to the author of The Vle<w, he 
 has not the candor to acknowledge it. His remarks even here, 
 are mixed with a malignity that betrays his defign. The merit 
 of ability is fcarcely allowed Mr. Burr. He fpoke ably upon 
 one queftion, fays this faftidlous gentleman, becaufe he was evi- 
 dently in the majority. On the other he difplayed no eloquence, 
 no zeal, becaufe it was fuppofed a majority of federalifts were
 
 28 
 
 oppofed to him. So that whether Mr. Burr fpoke or not, 
 whether he was eloquent or othenvife, whether inactive or 
 zealous, cenfure equally awaits him. Nothing can fave him 
 from the charge of favoring federalifm. The matchlefs penetra- 
 tion of his biographer, difcovers a treafonable defign in every 
 aft, a fpectre in every bufh. All however was hid from 
 vulgar vifion. It was permitted none, but the fagacious au- 
 thor of The View, to penetrate the heart, to analyze the inten- 
 tions, and elucidate the myflerious conduct of Mr. Burr. Po- 
 licy however, mould have taught him to withhold cenfure, when 
 applaufe was manifeftly due. But bafenefs and iniquity, arc 
 doomed by Providence to bear within themfelves the means of 
 detection, and the unerring finger of juflice will point to their 
 fecret views, and lead to the punifhment of guilt. 
 
 THE talents of Mr. Burr are next called in queftion. From 
 the terror however which his enemies exhibit, I am difpofed to 
 doubt their fincerity. The hardieft among them tremble, when 
 he is induced to exercife and difplay them. They view his ge- 
 nius with humility, and fhrink from competition. But as it is 
 foreign to my purpofe, and certainly needlefs, to examine the 
 extent of Mr. Burr's abilities, I muft be permitted to confine 
 royfelf to thofe occafions upon which his principles and motives 
 have been the fubjefts of animadverfion. 
 
 His induftry in inftituting and obtaining a charter for the 
 Manhattan Company, needs no comment. Its utility is fo well 
 known, and admitted, that the approbation of tke community 
 cannot now be diverted from its projector. If he derived pecu- 
 niary advantages from it, many others certainly did the fame. 
 But as ufual wherever any evils arife, either from the nature of 
 the tranfadlion, or from its progreffive effecls, they are afcribed 
 to Mr. Burr, and none of its advantages muft. be allowed him. 
 Thus though the Manhattan Company, upon every rational cal- 
 culation promifed innumerable benefits to the citizens of New-
 
 29 
 
 York, many of which hare certainly been realized; yet it af- 
 forded Mr. Burr pecuniary accommodations, and the Jlreets of 
 the city have not been purified. It has therefore been introduced 
 into the " View of his political conduft" as an objed of cen- 
 fure. Oh! fhame, where is thy blufh ! 
 
 ALTHOUGH the tax law, which it is faid originated with the 
 vice-prefident, has not been found perfectly convenient in its 
 practical provifions, I think it would embarrafs the ingenuity of 
 his enemies, to find aught like treafon in it, or to fhew that the 
 ait for the relief of infolvent debtors had any connection with, 
 fcJcralifm. 
 
 THESE charges fhould have been pa tied over with the con- 
 tempt they merit, had I not felt a conviction that the charge of 
 evafion, would hereafter have been urged agaimt me. It is cer- 
 tainly unneceflary to pay them any farther attention, as the 
 moft common capacity can difcover the malice that gave them 
 birth. 
 
 WE have now travelled through the celebrated ftffion of 
 1798, and (lightly touched upon the points raifed by the au- 
 thor of The Vh'w, to (hake the well-earned popularity of Mr. 
 Burr. We fhall foon proceed to a more interefting period; 
 here, Amply requefting the reader to imprefs upon his mind^ 
 that all the circumftances which have been referred to, the 
 wavering conduct afcribed to Mr. Burr, and which we have 
 been told rendered him not only fufpe&ed by, but obnoxious to 
 his party, are ftated to have occurred two years before he was 
 in nomination for the vioprefidency. Mr. Burr's instability 
 of principle, therefore, muit have been perfectly known to the 
 author of The Ficw'm 1798, and in 1800 he not only wifhed 
 for, but afiillcd in railing him to the fecund office in the go. 
 vernment. 
 
 IF Mr. Burr in 1798, had manifefted a want of attachment 
 to republican principle, and fo coufpicuouily favoured federal 
 
 E
 
 f 
 
 30 
 
 fchetnes, would he in 1 800 have been advanced to the elevated 
 ftation he now holds? Would not his political defection have 
 been circulated throughout the union, and the remoteft borders 
 of the country have refounded the anathemas of the friends he 
 had betrayed? Or was there no patriotic voice to proclaim his 
 -infamy ; to warn the people of their danger, and fave them from 
 difgrace ? The author of The F"ieiv t &c. that guardian of the 
 public weal, was furely in our land, and from the proofs he has 
 furnifhed of his induflry, it cannot fairly be inferred that he fo 
 /hamefully (lumbered at his poft. If Mr. Burr's conduct, at 
 that period, had been fuch as is now represented, it could not 
 have efcaped his attention. No one who has not fallen a viftim 
 to infanity, will believe, that if the circumflances now fo mi- 
 nutely detailed, had occurred in 1798, that they would have 
 been buried in oblivion until 1802. No difcerning mind can 
 refift the perfuafion, that all the aflertions we have noticed, are 
 bafelefs fabrications, without even the femblance of probability 
 to ftipport them, conjured up by malignity and fraud, to de_ 
 ceivc the public andanfwer the purpofes of proud and unprin- 
 cipled ambition. 
 
 IT is true, as ftated, that in 1799, the vice-prefident was not 
 in the legiflature. From the infidious manner in which this cir- 
 cnrr.ftance is mentioned, it is evidently intended to raife a pre- 
 fumption in the mind of the reader, that his conduct in the pre- 
 ceding year, had deprived him of the confidence of the people, 
 and was the caufe why he was not again returned; while the 
 truth is, that Mr. Burr was nominated, and placed at the head 
 of the republican ticket. This clearly evinced that the efteem 
 in which he had been held by his fellow-citizens, was undimi- 
 ', and exhibits another inftance of the mamelefs audacity 
 of this afiaffin of private worth and public virtue. By an un- 
 forefeen concurrence of circumftances however, the whole re- 
 publican ticket was loft at this election. Federalifm triumphed
 
 for a moment, and threatened the proftration of republicanifm 
 in the ftate, and a continuance of the terrific reign of 1798. 
 This circumftance, and the awful afpcd of public affairs, alarm- 
 ed the energy, and at the enfuing election, called forth tl 
 
 tivity and talents of Mr. Burr. 
 
 " IT has been attempted, and with fome ingenuity, to depn 
 Mr. Burr of the applaufe he merited upon that occafion, and 
 W hich was cheerfully yielded by every clafs of his fcllow-c 
 I*: who witneCed his exertions. With the infidioufnefs that 
 naffe of the produaion under examination, it has 
 T ftTed ,h t he v ice .^ M ent was not in the legiflature in 
 and ha'the a ro ,^,nen,s for the annual cledions, are 
 
 S f-asit rdate, to the eWion of members rfdfanWy. 
 - T Ls indeed been ufual beiore the rifing of the legitou, 
 
 the tme objea of elevens. The el . rf 
 
 "~ j 
 
 an 
 
 tolratcdbya fenfible and enlightened
 
 32 
 
 WITH great poirp are the people annually told, that the 
 corflitution and laws of our country have recognized them, as 
 the fource from which all political confequence and power is to 
 emanate. But to what purpofe has this right been confirmed to 
 them, if they fuffer themfelves to be enfnared by the electioneer- 
 ing tricks of a faction, cajoled into the fupport of meafures in 
 direct hoftility to their own rights, and influenced to return as 
 members of the legiflature, men defignated by the legislature 
 itfelf ? It behoves the electors of the fenatorial diilricb, to 
 check this iniquitous procedure, to afiert and exercife their 
 exclufive right of nominating, as well as electing fenators to re- 
 prefent them. 
 
 IN vain it will be faid, thatthefe informal feleclions, made at 
 the feat of government, are promulgated only as recommenda- 
 tory meafures, and that the people may rejecl them if they 
 plcafe. Every one who underftands the combinations of po- 
 litical power, the force with which opinions circulate, and the 
 unthinking hafte with which the expediency of a meafure is ac- 
 knowledged, when aided by fuch an influential impulfe, will 
 readily perceive the futility of this fuggeftion. Experience has 
 fhewn the evil confequences of this legiflative interference in 
 proceedings which mould originate with, and be conducted ex- 
 clufively by the people. Practice has conclufively evinced that 
 it fnould be difcontinued, by evolving the perilous effects it is 
 calculated to produce. 
 
 IN confequence of thefe premature and unauthorifed arrange- 
 ments, the fenatorial diftridls of the ftate frequently have been 
 reprefented by men who were not only dcilitute of claims to 
 their confidence, but obnoxious to a majority of the electors. 
 Ambrofe Spencer, a man as notorioufly infamous as the legiti- 
 mate offspring of treachery and fraud can pofiibly be, has twice 
 been thus impofed upon the middle diftricl as its fenator, when 
 not a folitary town in any of the counties that compofe it, could
 
 be found to nominate him. Nurfed from his infancy in the lap 
 of corruption, he difgraced his conftituents, and with the fmile 
 of a traitor on his face, uniformly betrayed their interefts. With 
 a heart " corrupt and rotten to the very core," nothing but a 
 " quid pro quo" could coerce him into the path of honor. He is 
 governed by no principles or feelings, but thofe which avarice and 
 unprincipled ambition infpire. The whole courfeof his life ex- 
 hibits an unvaried fcene of vulgar deceit and bafe-born villainy, 
 unequalled in the liveliefl hiftory of human vice. Having at 
 the commencement of his political career, attached himfelf to 
 the- federal party, he ailed faithfully with them until the end of 
 oar 1798. At that period he was a member of the coun- 
 cil of appointment, and with charafleriftic ferocity, advifedthe 
 iudifcriminate ejection of republicans from office, and is his own 
 peculiar and elegant phrafeology declared, that with him* " re- 
 publican and rafcal were fynonimous terms." 
 
 EARLY in 1799, impreffed with a conviction that he had 
 ferved his party and its principles with fidelity, he fought, as 
 ufual, a compensation for his fervices. 
 
 ABOUT this period, the office of comptroller was vacant, by 
 the refignation of Mr. Jones, and on that the patriotic Mr. 
 Spencer fixed his hopes. Mr. Jay, however, underflood his 
 character, and rejected his application with difdain. Mortified 
 and difappointed, moved by malice, and fired with refentment, 
 he burft the frail ligaments that bound him to his party, and 
 leapt at once into the bofom of his former enemies. By them, 
 to their fhame, he has been cheriflied. And by the worft com- 
 bination of individual folly, with the perverfenefs of party fpirit, 
 he has been hurried through a variety of lucrative and honorable 
 appointments. Without the aid of genius, or a fingle virtue, 
 lie has been raifed to an elvated ftation, by which the reputa- 
 tion of the party has been heedlefsly endangered, its honor 
 degraded and betrayed. For what purpofes this infult has been 
 
 * / a:n informed i'jefe "Mere his preclfe words.
 
 offered to the dignity of the ftate, cannot be conjectured. For 
 none certainly that can juftify this outrage upon the feelings of 
 the public. Difcerning men, however, anticipate fome falutary 
 effects from it. For as in ancient times vice was rendered odious 
 by expofing its deformity; fo now, it is to be hoped, the exhi- 
 bition of this difgufting monument of human depravity, will 
 neutralize vicious fpirits, and correct the moral fentiments of 
 the people. 
 
 BY beftowing fo much attention upon an object notorioufly 
 unworthy of it, I have deviated a little from the confined plan 
 I had intended to purfue ; and mall return to the confideration 
 of the election in 1 800, in which Mr. Burr bore fo confpicu- 
 ous a part. 
 
 WITHOUT the fear of contradiction, I afcribe to Mr. Burr 
 the fuccefs of that election. Convinced that a majority of the 
 citizens of New- York were then, as they are now, infpired 
 with correct political opinions, I am far from believing that 
 this aufpicious victory was obtained by any fudden or extraor- 
 dinary converfions. But it was the unequalled activity, the tm- 
 ceafing zeal and laborious induflry of Mr. Burr, that roufed the 
 latent republicanifm of the community. It was his happy ar- 
 rangements, and a mod minute attention to their execution, 
 that brought every republican elector to the polls. His elo- 
 quence animated the old, and inflamed the young. His per- 
 fonal remonftrance and example, moved to action each dejected 
 patriot, and gave vigor to every movement. 
 
 THE f election of gentlemen to compofe the ticket, was alfo 
 originally made by colonel Burr, and fubfequently fanctioned 
 by a general meeting of the citizens. The choice was peculi- 
 arly fortunate. It was neceflary to fccure the confidence of the 
 people, by foliciting their fufFrages for men of acknowledged 
 merit, whofe attachment to the original principles of the revo- 
 lution could not be queftioned, and in whofe fupport all repub- 
 licans would probably be united. Several gentlemen, however,
 
 35 
 
 influenced by unmanly doubts of fuccefs and fear of the ani- 
 madverfions of political opponents, withheld their names to 
 the lad moment ; a moment on which they knew the fate of 
 the party was fufpended. Nothing but the livelieft reprefenta_ 
 tion of public necefiity, and the critical conjuncture to which 
 the affairs of the country were progreffing, could have induced 
 them to become candidates upon that occafion. 
 
 INFLUENCED by thefe confiderations, even the hero of Sara- 
 toga, left for a moment his retirement, and added his refpe&ed 
 name to the lift of candidates, as a pledge of his unabated zeal 
 for the public good. Governor Clinton, however, remained un- 
 moved by the moft earned folicitations; and with matchlefs 
 firmnefs refifted the arguments of Mr. Burr, who forcibly af- 
 ferted, that it was a right inherent in the community, to com- 
 mand the fervices of an individual when the nature of public 
 exigencies feemed to require it. He was inflexible to the laft, 
 and then was nominated and elected without a diftindl exprefiion 
 of his approbation. Juftice, however, induces me to acknow- 
 ledge that the reafons he affigned for the reluctance with which 
 he acted, were plaufible and potent. He explicitly declared, 
 that he had long entertained an unfavorable opinion of Mr. Jef- 
 ferfon's talents as a Jlatefman and his Jirmnefs as a republican. 
 That he conceived him an accommodating trimmer , who would 
 change with times and bend to circumjlances for the purpofes of ' per- 
 fonal promotion. ImpreJJed <wilh thefe fentiments, he could not, 
 with propriety, he faid, acquicfce in the elevation of a man dejlituie 
 of the qualifications ejfcntial to the good admitijlration of the go- 
 vernment; and added other expreffions too vulgar to be here re- 
 peated. But, faid he, with energy, ;/ Mr. Burr was the can- 
 didate fo'- the prefidential chair, I would al with pleaf are and 
 with vigor.* 
 
 * Irisfo notorious that th'f? were Grvernor Clinton's fenti- 
 menis, that it is fcarcely neceJJ'ary to '/ oduce authority to prove if.
 
 36 
 
 AN unreftrained, but decent exprcffion of individual opinion, 
 is a right I have always cherifhed, and ioved to exercife. The 
 language of Mr. Clinton, therefore, upon this occafion, I can- 
 not cenfure. At any other time it would have been manly and 
 correct. But as the general principles of his party were pecu- 
 liarly involved in that controverfy, his conduct was impolitic, 
 unjmlifiable, and weak. 
 
 WHAT has been advanced relative to the election of 1800, 
 to the conduct of Mr. Burr, and that of Mr. Clinton, is ftrictly 
 juil and impartial. A witnefs to the trar.faftions of that day, 
 and knowing the truth of the facts here related, I cheerfully in- 
 rite inveftigation. 
 
 THE fuccefsful refalt of the election in the city of New- York, 
 decided the political character of the ilate; and by direct con- 
 fequences gave a republican adrainiflration to the government of 
 the union. When the vaft accsffion of ftrength to the repub- 
 lican caufe, derived from the fuccefs of our ftate election, is juftly 
 eftimated, I believe the accuracy of this afiertion will not be 
 queilioned. The exertions and fervices of Mr. Burr therefore, 
 when confidered in all their important effects, cannot be fuffici- 
 
 To remove loivner every dc:d-t from the reader's mind, I will re- 
 fer him to Mr. David Geljlon, Mr. John Mills, Mr. J. Swart- 
 wr.it, or Mr. M. L. Davis, In whofe prefence theft fintimenta, 
 and many others more dlfrefpetlful, If pojf.lle, were uttfcd. It 
 was at the hoitfe cf Mr. Burr, who anticipating the evil confe- 
 quences that at that critical moment would refult from fuck caniluct 
 in Governor Clinton, Infjled before he left the houfe, that J:e JJjouhl 
 promifi his friends to dzftjl from vfing fuch language, previous to or 
 during the cLti':in. Ibis was very reluSantly compiled with on the 
 fait of Mr. Clinton. 
 
 NOTWITHSTANDING this, thty were continually reiterated ly his 
 fan, who publicly and loudly animadverted ufcn toe character of 
 Mr. Jejferfon, with the mojl vulgar fiverltv. Slrnlar fmt'r^entt 
 were certainly entertained by all Govern?,- Clinton's cur.necr.-r.s, as 
 then- cvndiiti- dunr.g the eleZlon-c' Z/<? Witt 
 
 Clinton ttrcugb the whole ccntejl never (ipp~.nd at the c/!, 
 obferved ih: mojljhamrful indifference and Inactivity.
 
 cnt\y appreciated. They deferve the applaufe .and^ratitude of 
 every .patriot, and the general admiration of the country. 
 
 THAT the author of The Vkw mould declare, that Mr. Burr 
 Jiad " no claim- to a fliare of the. merit of the .general fuccefs," 
 is not Angular. That writer.has forfeited all claims to integrity 
 and truth. His .general undifcriminatiqg invetlives, defeat the 
 
 effects of his.malignity. .But that n man, who. has fome reputfl- 
 tion to fave, and a character to fuftaiu, mould repeat the calum- 
 ny, is marvellous. 
 
 MR. QSGOOD, that pious expounder of the. prophecies, has 
 
 .been, heard to declare with the folamnity of a Turi, that Mr. 
 Burr's exertions, at the ekction.in 1800, were uneffcntial, anjd 
 
 .gave not a vote to the republican candidates. When a man is 
 the iimocent-inltrument of promulgating a falftiood, he defervs 
 compaffion; but when he. is actuated by malice, aud.propagates 
 
 it for thejpurpofes of flander and impoH'i-ion, he merits chaftife- 
 
 :inent. Where was this gentleman's confciwice, \vhen he uttered 
 
 -this aflertion? -Had-it flown to Washington in fearchof an of- 
 fice ? Or did his envy and malice fet all moral obligations at defi- 
 ance ? "'Tell the truth, ami lie not," is an injiinclioq, which it 
 
 was to be'hoped, he:had met with, in his, religious refearchcf, 
 and would have retrained the effervefcence of his native propeo- 
 fity; would have checked his invidious inliauatious, aad his^/Ty 
 
 ^departures from -rectitude of thought. But fome men are bom 
 
 chypocrites. Neither the pure and energetic eloquence of the 
 gofpel, nor the dread of univerfal deteftation can force them out 
 
 fof tlie creaked path of raifchief and deceit."* 
 
 * THIS man, with whom the Clinton family are conneSed ly 
 marriage, and -who now -wtftes to derogate from the merit nf Mr. 
 JBvrr.vpan the occafitn dlbidal to, although -be /Mid been ieluaaiitly 
 nominated as a candidate, uftd every effort to frujlraie the election 
 of the republican ticket. He declared : publicly tiat exer lions were 
 vfelefs; that t/xre <aj as no .profpeS of fuccefs ; .and tliat-to. caniexd 
 i tbe.fideralijis, was a wiki-projeS yf Mr. Burr, t&at 
 F
 
 55 
 
 HOWETER tenacious a gentleman may be of his reputation* 
 it can derive no injury from treating with due refpeft, the ho- 
 fieft and upright naen of every denomination. Such conduct is 
 laudable and proper. It manifefts an enlarged mind, a generous 
 difpofition, and an eftimable liberality of thought. But that a 
 profejjed lover of religion, fhould brealfajl, dine, and fup with 
 James Cheetham, an open blafphemer of his God, a reviler of 
 his Saviour, and a confpirator againft the religious eftablifhments 
 of his country, is a proof of hypocrify, that mould banim him 
 from all religious fociety. That a man who proclaims his at- 
 tachment to the do ctrines of chriftianity, mould the moment he 
 has clofed the facred volume of truth, affift in framing and dif- 
 feminating the moft envenomed fcurrility, is ample teftimony of 
 the fhamelefs infmcerity of his profeffions, and at variance with 
 every known principle of moral juftice. It is, however, for Mr. 
 Ofgood to reconcile this conduct to his confcience. If after htf 
 has read thefe obfervations he remains callous to remorfe, I mall 
 attempt more potent applications, and hope by perfeverance to 
 convert him. 
 
 I HATE noticed this afiertion of Mr. Ofgood, for the fatisfac- 
 tion of thofe only, who did not witnefs the proceedings at our 
 election in 1 800. Thofe who did, know its fallacy. 
 
 THIS year Mr. Burr was elected a member of the legislature, 
 by the patriotic county of Orange. A county celebrated for 
 its attachment to the found principles of the revolution, which 
 it has ever fupported with firmnefs and alacrity. 
 
 IN the month of May 1800, which was foon after the fuccefs 
 of our ftate elections was known, the nominations for the pre- 
 fidency and vice-prefidency were made at Philadelphia, the 
 the feat of government. It is ftated by the author of The 
 
 terminate in defeat. This if one of the men, ivho now refufes Mr. 
 Burr any credit upon that occajion, and ivho are endeavoring to dt- 
 him of the honort tbatjbould have rtfulttd from his labors.
 
 s 
 
 Flttv, &c. that " it was deemed expedient, that the candidate 
 for the vice-prefidency, mould be taken from among the citizens 
 of New- York." That Governor Clinton had declined to fecve; 
 that the deafnefs of Chancellor Livingfton was an infuperable 
 objection to his nomination, and that Mr. Burr was chofen, be- 
 caufe his character was little known." This is a novel reafon, 
 to be fure, for elevating a man to the fecond office in the govern- 
 ment. It is a direft infult upon thofe who made the feleclion. 
 Equally prepofterous is it to fuppofe, that a gentleman who wa 
 twice in fucceffion, nominated for the vice-prefidency, who had 
 been in the fenate of the union, mould be fcarcely known be- 
 yond the limits of his native flate. 
 
 THESE pitiful attempts to detract from the celebrity and me- 
 rit of the vice-prefident, will be eafily perceived by the intelli- 
 gent men in diftant ftates. To them their malignity muft be 
 manifeft. For them, however, they were not intended by their 
 author. They were calculated for domeftic purpofes. To im- 
 pofe upon the inhabitants of our own ftate ; thofe particularly, 
 who from their local fituation cannot be minutely acquainted 
 with the political operations of the general government, or dif- 
 cern with accuracy the motives that influence great political ar- 
 rangements. I am perfuaded, however, their good fenfe will 
 detect thefe fmifter views, and rejeft with difdain the impref- 
 fions thefe attempts were intended to produce. 
 
 THOSE who have vifited the remote parts of the United 
 States can teftify, that there was no private gentleman in the 
 union, who was more univerfally known, whofe political cha- 
 racter was better underftood, and whofe fervices in the caufe of 
 the republican party, were more readily acknowledged and more 
 highly eftimated, than thofe of Mr. Burr. It was a knowledge 
 of thofe fervices, of his exalted talents, and of his attachment 
 to correct principles of government, that produced his nomina- 
 tjon to the vice-prefideucy; that gave him an equality of votes
 
 \viih Mr. Jefferfon, and" placed 1 him in the fecond offlte in the 
 government. If he was unknown, it was only to that band of 
 bafe and hired calumniators, with whom he refufcd to hold com- 
 munion ; whom he has ever confidered as pells to fociety; whofe 
 deftructive and diforganizing projects he has uniformly oppofcd', 
 whofe hatred he has incurred; whofe malice and refentment he 
 has thus drawn down upon him. Before this examination is- 
 clofed, thefe remarks will be elucidated, and, I truft, to the {sa- 
 tisfaction of the public. 
 
 WHETHER Jeafnrfs was among the influential objections to 
 Chancellor Livingiton's nomination, I do not know. But that 
 there prevailed an uncommon want of confidence m his political 
 {lability, is certain. He was fuppofed, and juftly r deftitute of 
 that folid and ufeful knowledge fo effential to the character of 
 a ftatefman. Inftead of a man poflefifed of ata energetic, vigor- 
 ous mind, capable of fteady application, and forcible inquiry, he 
 was deemed a capricious, vrfionary tbeorift, cternaHy wandering 
 in fancy's fairy fields. Heedlefs of important and laborious pur- 
 
 fuits, at which his frivolous mind revolted, he was believed la- 
 
 
 
 mentably deficient in the practical knowledge of a politician. 
 Although it was well known to his friends that thefe fentiments 
 were generally entertained, fo great was their lolicrtude upon 
 the occafion, that with the confent of Mr. Burr, Mr. Living- 
 fton was firft propofed to the meeting at Philadelphia, and re- 
 jected by a large majority. 
 
 BY whom it was underftood that Govelmor Clinton '* had de- 
 clined to ferve as vice-prefident," I do $flt know. He may to 
 be fure fqueamifhly, though juftly have remarked, that he was 
 ' too old, and that it was an honor to which he was not enti- 
 tled." But I very well know, that he actually fighed for that 
 nomination. That his connections were indefatigable to obtain 
 it, until they found that the republicans in this rtate, as well as 
 abroad; had conclufively determined in favor of Mr. Burr.
 
 41 
 
 They had deliberately examined the talents and pietenfions of 
 the two gentlemen, and as Mr. Brockholft Livingfton, with 
 great propriety obferved, " after taking all things into confi- 
 deration, it was deemed moil expedient to recommend the no- 
 mination of Mr. Burr." 
 
 RESPECT for the feelings of an old man, required that thofe 
 proceedings fliould be conducted with delicacy. The connec- 
 tions of governor Clinton, with cheerfuhiefs therefore, were al- 
 lowed to declare that he had declined the nomination ; but 
 the feelings which this difappointment infpired could not be 
 concealed. About this period I heard Mr. George I. Eacker 
 declare, with much afperity, (rather iucautioufly to be fure) 
 that Mr. Clinton had been treated with great injuftice, that he 
 wifhed to hare been nominated for the vice-prefidency, and ought 
 tohave been gratified. This gentleman is an intimate and devoted 
 friend to the governor. Independent, therefore, of the know- 
 ledge of thofe who were confulted upon that occafion, and of 
 all pofitive proof, this collateral circumftance alone, is amply 
 fufficient to eftablim the fact in queftion. It exhibits moft de- 
 cifively the wounded and reftlefs jealoufy of Mr. Clinton's advo- 
 cates. It accounts fatisfactorily for the abufe they have fince 
 fo liberally beftowed upon Mr. Burr. This difappointment 
 confirmed their long cheriihed enmity. It exafperated their 
 envy. It wounded their malice, and on the altar of ambition 
 they fwore revenge. They have accordingly profecuted their 
 nefarious purpofes with a zeal unequalled in the black annals of 
 ambition. No means, however difhonorable or dark have been 
 left uneflayed, to ruin the reputation of Mr. Burr, thus to 
 gratify their wounded pride, to allay their thiril for power, and 
 footh the irritable vanity of dotage. 
 
 IN the month of October in this year (1800) the legiflaturff 
 met at Albany, for the purpofc of choofing the electors for prefi- 
 dcnt and vice-prefideat of the United States. That object wa
 
 42 
 
 accompli filed. The federalifts having loft their majority in the 
 legiflature, twelve republican ele&ors were fele&ed. 
 
 As the legiflature had been convened exprefsly for this pur- 
 pofe, no other bufmefs of importance was tranfa&ed, except 
 choofing a new council of appointment. Although fomc 
 doubts were entertained as to the conftitutionality of making the 
 choice at that time, Mr. Burr and a majority of the legiflature 
 were in favor of the meafure. A council was accordingly elect- 
 ed. Mr. De Witt Clinton was taken from the fouthern, and 
 Ambrofe Spencer from the middle diftrift. Thefe gentlemen, 
 aware of the importance of this appointment, at the moment 
 the government was to pafs from the hands of the federaliflt 
 into thofe of the republicans, had fpared no pains to fecure 
 their election. From the important powers veiled in the coun- 
 cil, they fondly hoped to derive an extenfive influence. Ele- 
 vated with the intoxicating profpe&s of foon emerging from 
 obfcurity, and becoming the inflrurnents to difpenfe public fa- 
 Tors, they in a moil humiliating manner, folicited every confpi- 
 cuous member of the legiflature for his vote and influence. Mr. 
 Burr was not left unharrafied for a moment, until fatigued with 
 importunities he incautioufly aflented to the meafure. Although 
 convinced that they were inimical to his approaching elevation, 
 and jealous of his political importance, yet he had no concep- 
 tion of the mifchief they meditated. It was impoffible to anti- 
 cipate the extent of their iniquitous defigns. No reafonable 
 man could fuppofe, that this cafual confequence would at once 
 be converted into an engine to accomplifli the purpofes of pri- 
 vate ambition. That the interefts of the flate would be heed- 
 lefsly abandoned, the oaths of office difregarded, and all public 
 confiderations trampled under foot, or fwallowed up in the de- 
 ftruftive vortex of individual perfidy. Thofe who knew the 
 characters of thefe men, oppofed their election. They knew 
 them deftitute of all honor, probity, or talents, of all attack
 
 Kent to the general welfare, abftra&ed from private intercft. 
 They knew that no obligations, however facred, could reftrain 
 them from violating, without remorfe,thofe plain and eternal pre- 
 cepts of juftice which even favagcs refpedl. 
 
 PARTY fpirit too, at this period, was yet at its heighth. The 
 fpirit of the times, it was thought, required the employment of 
 agents who would march with hardihood over the barriers that 
 moral duty, private honor, or political rectitude might oppofe 
 to the accomplishment of given purpofes. For operations of 
 this kind, Mr. DC Witt Clinton and Ambrofe Spencer were 
 peculiarly adapted. Since the author of The View, &c. ha 
 ftudioufly avoided, and for the befl of reafons, all animadver- 
 fions upon their official proceedings, a fhort view of their con- 
 duct may not be unwelcome to the reader. 
 
 As Mr. Clinton is believed to have been mofl inftrumental in 
 directing the proceedings of the council of appointment, if I 
 devote a few moments attention to him, I hope it will not be 
 eonfidered as a mark of refpeft. That is a fentiment to which 
 he is not entitled. It is his public ftation, and not his intrinfic 
 merit, that juftifies this attention. 
 
 THERE is a fpecies of character deflined for obfcurity, but 
 fome times rendered confpicuous by fortuitous circumftances ; 
 which, though it cannot command refpeft by bold and deci- 
 five iniquity, bids defiance to contempt. Such is Mr. Clin- 
 ton's; and fince he has for fome time apparently pofTefled a 
 mare of popular favor, and progreffed with fome rapidity ia 
 the road to political eminence, it may be ufeful and intereftiiig 
 to review his public conduct; the mode in which he obtained 
 the confidence of the people, and the fidelity with which he 
 has difcharged the important trufts repofed in him. As he hag 
 avowed himfelf the leader of a faction, which, with wild and 
 favage impetuofity, is afiailing at once the peace of the union 
 and the eftablifhed fyftem of our eivil policy; wkich is rapidly
 
 advancing in its revolutionary labours, and with irreligious zeal 
 difleminating the principles of infidelity, and propagating new 
 political dogmas, rending to the deftruclion of morality and the 
 diflblution of the federal compaft, I fhall be juftified, I hope, 
 in bellowing upon his merit and character, a few moments dif- 
 .paffionate confideration. 
 
 THE man who is the acknowledged leader of a band of hired 
 calumniators, is in a great meafure refponfible for their -guilt. 
 Their conducl, and its confequences, muft be afcribed to him; 
 ^nd whatever evils may be produced, he .muft juftify them, or 
 fmk under the weight of .public indignation.. The refultj th$re- 
 -fore, of the attack on the vice-prefident, will determine Mr. 
 Clinton'* fate. -He will either be exalted as a monument of 
 fuccefsful iniquity, or be re-configned to infignificance and CGR- 
 r tempt. From the period that elapfed between the conception 
 of the plan and the commencement of hoftilities, from the pre- 
 paratory arrangements that %vere made, and -the fecrei aflbcia- 
 tions that were formed, whetluer at New-York or elfewhere, it 
 was eafily forefeen that the authors of the .calumnies againft Mr. 
 Burr, would, if poffible, conceal their names, that in the event 
 -of fiiccefs, the honor might be fafely claimed, or of defeat,, that 
 popular odium might be eluded. Thefe determinations were 
 -certainly the refult of found difcretion. But in the moment of 
 *' intemperance," warm in the purfuit of viftory, -and {anguine 
 -in' his hopes, ignorant of the firmnefs of his advcrfaries, f the 
 juftice and intelligence of the people, Mr. Clinton has 'pro- 
 claimed himfelf the hero here; and with confidence I afiert, that 
 -he will ere long be compelled to abandon the conteft, to rety 
 'for fefety on the " humanity" of the country, or fcek in-ok- 
 J fcuty, refuge from difgrace. 
 
 THOVGH his afual ingenuity may bare prompted -the wcpe- 
 
 'Jdient of having fome abandoned relative or tvorthlefs infidel, 
 
 ready to affume the refponSbiiity of every libeLhe
 
 *hice> I ever hate, and hereafter (hall confider Mr. Clinton as 
 the real author of two late publications, entitled A Narrative^ 
 Ac. and A View of the Political ContluQ of Aaron Burr. In 
 doing this, I am warranted by high and direft authority, cor- 
 roborated by the internal evidence the works afford, by the lan- 
 guage he has uttered, and the conduct he has invariably pur- 
 fued. 
 
 IN free governments h is a wife and faUitary maxim, dictated 
 by prudence, and a juft and rational apprehenfion, that men in 
 salted Rations, ftould ever be viewed with jealoufy ; that their 
 public conduct and opinions mould be examined with freedom. 
 But the exercife of this right fhould be governed by public 
 principles. The welfare of the ftate fhould never be hazarded 
 fcy proftitirting it to the vile purpofes of perfonal envy. The 
 great interefts of the nation, ftiould not be blended with the 
 meaner objects of private refentment. The real friend of his 
 Country, will fuft'er no fuch unworthy confederations to influence 
 his conduft. When the government which he loves, is in dan- 
 ger, he will ftand forth ks open and manly advocate, he will 
 proclaim himfelf the eneroy of fecret treachery, claim in per- 
 fon the affiftance of the people, and rely on their virtue for lup- 
 port. The mean, ambitious intriguer, will choofe the mode 
 Mr. Clinton has purf-ud. He will feek, by malicious whifpers 
 and ififidious charges, which it is impoffible to difprove, to rain 
 the reputation of eve. y popular man, and reduce the character 
 of every fuperior to a level with his own. 
 
 WHEN I mall have completed my examination of his import - 
 2nt productions, and examined the pretended difcoveries they 
 contain, thefe will appear to be the " unworthy motives," that 
 have influenced Mr. Clinton in the controverfy with Mr. Burr. 
 A controverfy which in its afpeft has become fo important a< to 
 attract the attention of America, and in its confequencea may 
 tend to a -diffoltttton of the unioa. Jzi^jtani-ke-has rciidercd 
 
 G
 
 it. He has called on every litigious fcoundrel in the country to 
 blow the horn of civil difcord. Clerks, furrogates and atton. 
 nies, have been enlifted under his banners, and bought by of- 
 fices, to cry like parrots, treafon and defertion. When he was 
 elevated by accident to a feat in the council of appointment, 
 thefe creatures were cheriflied, and fwarmed round the council 
 room, like reptiles on the banks of the Nile. Yes, thefe ver- 
 min, who have been engendered in the funfhine of executive 
 favor, and are feeding on the public bounty, now dare to pro- 
 fcribe the patriots of '76 and of '98 ; men who bled for 
 their country's freedom, and fubfequently refilled the introduc- 
 tion of noxious principles and of federal policy. 
 
 I REPEAT that he was not chofen a member of the council 
 for his talents or integrity. Deftitute of both, I know he was 
 artfully fele&ed by a few, to accomplish vile and wicked pur- 
 pofes. To effect objects, from which every honeft man would 
 have flirunk with horror. But his mind, matured by the prac- 
 tice of iniquity, and unalloyed with any virtuous principle, 
 pointed him out as fit for every vice. It was at this period, 
 until which he had been unnoticed, that his character began to 
 unfold; and in his official conduct he has fince manifefted a de- 
 gree of guilt, fufficiently daring to alarm the (lumbering fears of 
 the community, and diffipate the willing blind nefs even of his 
 friends. In concert with his great compeer in perfidy, he com- 
 menced a fyftem of corrupt and favage perfecution, at variance 
 with the conflitutional. policy of the ftate, and ungrateful to 
 the eflential principles of our civil inftitutions. 
 
 IF the welfare of the country required a revolution in the 
 catalogue of public officers, the procedure mould have beea 
 vindicated upon fair and manly principles. Juftice and integri- 
 ty mould have marked the triumphant fteps of the government. 
 Mildnefs and impartiality mould have proclaimed the reftoratiom. 
 f public freedom. But forgetting all duty to the laws, and ref-
 
 47 
 
 ponfibility to the people, in a courfe of the moft abandoned pro- 
 fligacy that ever difgraced a man in the fervice of his country, 
 Mr. Clinton proceeded to proftitute the honor of the govern- 
 ment ; polluting, without fear, the purity of juftice, and fub- 
 Terting with unhallowed hands, the fair fabric which patriots 
 had erected. With callous hardihood, that bade defiance to 
 the whifpers of reafon and of virtue, he facrificed the interefts 
 and fafety of the people to gratify his own inordinate ambition. 
 THIS pafiion had feized his mind, from the firft moment he 
 was introduced to public notice, by the officious interference of 
 his uncle, who was then governor of the ftate, and whofe whole 
 perfonal and official power was exerted to raife this degenerate 
 youth from the low occupations, for which alone his clumfy and 
 ferocious mind was formed. Every effort was made to reflect a 
 little confequence upon him, and give him precedence to hi 
 cotemporaries, moft of whom were infinitely his fuperiors. Al- 
 though without talents, or any promifing traits of character, 
 he derived fome importance from thefe circumftances, and wa* 
 foon offered to the citizens of New- York as a candidate for a 
 feat in the ftate legiflature. At this early period the native 
 Ticioufnefs of his mind was difcovered. Though at an age 
 when generous and correct fentiments fhould have influenced hia 
 conduct, he manifefted a total difregard to the principles he 
 profeflcd, and to the means by which his objects were attained. 
 This zealous and humble patriot, who now affects to ftiudder at < 
 the name and iniquities of federalifm, then boafted that he had 
 made fecret arrangements with fome federal characters for their 
 fupport, and that his election was fafe, though the other re- 
 publican candidates would probably be loft. 
 
 THIS is the man who now claims purity of republican charac- 
 ter ; who after having thus betrayed his party, and fougLt 
 federal fupport in his election, attempts to denounce Mr. Burr 
 for exchanging with his political opponents the common civili-
 
 \ 
 
 ties oflife. Though Mr. Clinton folicited the fupport of fede- 
 ralifts, and Mr. Burr reje&ed it when offered, yet becaufe it is 
 not known that he drove the mefTenger with violence from his 
 door, Mr. Burr is branded with ever)- odious epithet that malice 
 can fuggeft. 
 
 THUS too in 1798, when Chancellor Livingfton was a can- 
 didate for the government of the ftate, and himfelf for fenator 
 of the fouthern diftrict, Mr. Clinton in his letters difcounte- 
 nanced the eleftion of the chancellor, and fent meflengers to the 
 polls, for the purpofe of electioneering, with pofitive inftnic- 
 tions to abandon the other republican candidates, that his own 
 election might be fecured. To fuch means he was then, and 
 ever has been indebted, for the fuccefs of his unprincipled pro- 
 jects. His good fortune has hitherto concealed his bafenefs, 
 for " the world ne'er thinks him guilty who fucceeds." 
 
 INFLATED with pride at the unmerited attention he received, 
 his vanity rendered him a fubject of ridicule, and his deportment 
 produced univerfal difguft. He was infupportably troublefome 
 to the party, and jealous of every influential member of the le- 
 giflature. His envy and felfifhnefs were never more unjuflly 
 roufed, nor more intempcrately expreffed to his correfpondents 
 than upon the following occaCon. Mr. M'Cord, a very correct 
 and patriotic member of the legiflature from the county of 
 Orange, introduced a refolution for the purpofe of inftrudling 
 our reprcfentatives in Congrefs, to attempt a repeal of the ftamp 
 aft, which had excited much uneafmefs and diflatisfa&ion 
 throughout the ftate. Mr. Clinton thought this propofition 
 would meet with the approbation of the people, and as he be- 
 lieved himfelf entitled to the exclujive privilege of introducing 
 all popular meafures, he was exceffively irritated on the occaiion ; 
 and vented his fpleen in fecretly abufing Mr. M'Cord. He 
 wrote to his correfpondent in this city, that Mr. M'Cord was 
 actuated by felffii motives, and that his only object was, to ac- 
 quire a little popularity and applaufe.
 
 a few fpecimens of the patriotic difpofition and 
 
 is candidate for public favor, previous to the year 
 
 thers which no doubt he hopes have been buried 
 
 K fubmitted to the confideration of the public 
 
 ca\ 
 
 min<. 
 
 when 
 
 gentlen 
 
 Inflated 
 
 fondly ho^ 
 
 and that all 
 
 ments, could 
 
 ponent. The i 
 
 the mind of thii 
 
 and which had be 
 
 prefidency, was no\ 
 
 itfelf upon every occ. 
 
 neither the Clinton no 
 
 with fuccefs the well- 
 
 Clinton's election as a member of the 
 it, he found it prudent to obferve fome 
 T to Mr. Burr. The imbecility of his 
 \ have funk into total infignifkance 
 -ith the talents and power of that 
 this event he threw off all reflraint. 
 ved by the levity of youth, he 
 -ontroul, the power of the ftate, 
 n the council for their appoint- 
 vcs againft any defignated op- 
 vhich had been infufed into 
 ung man from his infancy, 
 uncle's lofs of the vice- 
 neration, and difplayed 
 ver, foon found that 
 r mgly, could oppofc 
 ..d influence of Mr. 
 . luggefted and obtained, 
 After fome deliberation, 
 
 Burr. An interview thi 
 
 between the leaders of eac. 
 
 the preliminaries were fettled, and a regular aflbciation formed, 
 
 for the laudable purpofe of ruining the reputation and proftrat- ' 
 
 ing the power of Mr. Burr. 
 
 THIS party, compofed of materials difcordant and odious, 
 organized upon principles more wicked than any that had ever 
 arifen in the ftate, foon commenced their deftrulive operations. 
 With aftonifhment it was obferved that no man, however virtu- 
 ous, however unfpotted his life or his fame, could be advanced 
 to the moft unimportant appointment, unlefs he would fubmit to
 
 50 
 
 abandon all intercourfe with Mr. Burr ; vow oppofition to hit 
 elevation, and like a feudal vaffal, pledge his perfonal ferviceg 
 when called for, to traduce his character, and circulate all the 
 flander that was given him, from one end of the ftate to t c 
 other. The fullen frowns of poverty influenced fome, avarice 
 and the luft of power corrupted others, and the fterneft virtue 
 yielded to the profpeft of political eminence and promotion. 
 Ordinary vifion was dazzled by the fplendid difplay of power 
 vefted in the council of appointment, which was now more con- 
 fpicucnfly manifefted than ever. The whole ftate was to be re- 
 yelutionized, and purged of all impurities. By a fudden exer- 
 tion of public ftrength, it was to be at once delivered from a 
 ftate of fin and mifery, into one of perfect tranquility and blifs. 
 The council was the inftrument that was to effect thefe glorious 
 purpofes. But upon viewing the materials of which it was com- 
 pofed, good men defpaired, and funk under the conviction that 
 all the ends of their labor, all the wifhes of the people would be 
 fruftrated and defpifed. Inftea 1 of keeping fteadily in view 
 the honor of the government, and making wholefome reforma- 
 tions in the difpofition of political power, the members of the 
 council were governed by a mean, fordid, and felfifli policy, me- 
 ditating alone their own aggrandizement, and the eftabliflimeot 
 of extenfive political influence. Principle was proftrated, virtue 
 and talents ridiculed. 
 
 THESE obfervations are intended to apply particularly to the 
 two champions, who have uniformly claimed the fole honor of 
 having conducted the operations of the celebrated council of 
 which I am fpeaking. The third republican member, though un- 
 doubtedly uprightinhis views, was deluded by ingenious artifices, 
 and the confufion of the times. It is aifo deemed expedient, (and 
 I believe univerfally pra&ifed) for the members of the council to 
 concede to each other the exclufive right of nominating for the 
 o they reprefent. The two moil fouthcrn diftricls, repre-
 
 51 
 
 fented by De Witt Clinton and Ambrofe Spencer, were the 
 feat of the moft mifchievous machinations. As the firft of thefe 
 gentlemen has always boafted of an abfolute controul over the 
 other, I mall afcribe to him chiefly, the arrangements in that 
 portion of the (late, thefe diflricts embrace, and to him exclu- 
 fively, all the appointments in the fouthern diftrict. Here he 
 originated and purfued a fyftem of intrigue, of favoritifm and 
 perfecution, fo extenfive and diverfified, as to defy elucidation, 
 and ftagger all human fpeculation. Thofe alone who have wit- 
 neffed the difientions and confufion that have prevailed among 
 us, can eftimate the iniquity of his conduct. 
 
 To trace Mr. Clinton through all the fcenes of intrigue in 
 which he has been engaged, would be a tafk too laborious for 
 ordinary iuduftry and patience to accomplifh. With talents cer- 
 tainly not above mediocrity, he has difturbed the peace of the 
 country, and under pretences notorioufly falfe, roufed the ear- 
 rieft apprehenfions of many honeft men. Was it not difgraceful 
 to political controverfy to drag forth each immaterial defedl of 
 private character, I would develope the dark and gloomy difor- 
 ders of his malignant bofom, and trace each convulfive vibration 
 of his wicked heart. He may juftly be ranked among thofe, 
 who, though deftitute of found underftandings, are ftill rendered 
 dangerous to fociety by an intrinfic bafenefs of character, that 
 engenders hatred to every thing good and valuable in the world ; 
 who with barbarous malignity view the prevalence of moral 
 principles, and the extenfion of benevolent defigns ; who, foes 
 to virtue, seek the subverfion of every valuable inftitution, and 
 meditate the introduction of wild and furious diforders among 
 the fupporters of public virtue. 
 
 His intimacy with men, who have long fmce difowned all re- 
 gard to decency, and have become the daring advocates of every 
 fpecies of atrocity, certainly deferves fome notice, and will en- 
 fure him the deteftatioR of the community. His indiffolublc
 
 eonaexion with thofe who by their lives, as well as the precept! 
 they inculcate, have become finifhed examples of profligacy and 
 corruption ; who have fworn enmity, fevere and eternal, to the 
 altar of our religion, and the profperity of our government, 
 muft infallibly exclude him from the confidence of reputable 
 men. What fentiments can be entertained for him, but thofe 
 of hatred and contempt, when he is feen the conftant aflbciate 
 of a man, whofe name has become fynonymous with vice ; a dif- 
 folute and fearlefs aflaffin of private character, of domeftic com- 
 fort, and of focial happinefs ; when he is known to be the bo. 
 fom friend and fupporter of this profligate and abandoned liber- 
 tine, who, from the vulgar debauches of the night, and the cuf- 
 tody of civil officers, haftens again to the invafion of private pro- 
 perty. Who, through the robbery of the public revenue, and 
 the violation of private feals, hurries down the precipice of 
 deep and defperate villiany. 
 
 CAN he have even claims to companion, while he boldly ex- 
 tends his confidence and friendmip to another wretch, whofe life 
 has been a continued fcene of perfidy and fraud ; whofe def- 
 tructive grafp, neither friends nor foes, not even the wandering 
 ftranger, can efcape ; by whom fwindling has been reduced to 
 a fcience, and fuccefs in treachery to mathematical certainty ? 
 From pure congeniality of foul, it is prefumed he has affumed 
 the name of " Lyfander" the moft corrupt and abandoned vil- 
 lain ever born in Greece. The feverity of this language may 
 offend the delicacy of Mr. Clinton's friend, and roufe the tender 
 fympathies of his patron. But it is proper, becaufe merited. 
 The fociety in which he lives will applaud the chaftifement, and 
 even Mr. Eden bear teftimony to its juftice. 
 
 To enumerate more particularly the reprobates who form the 
 circle of Mr. Clinton's friendly and confidential aflbciates, mall 
 be the occupation of another moment. However painful and 
 degrading it may be, a due regard to juftke, apd a faithful de-
 
 53 
 
 lineation of his cliara&er, will lead me to exhibit him as the 
 humble and conltant companion of men whofe characters are 
 abhorred, whofe fentiments and conduct have long fince received 
 the dc-cifive fentence of public condemnation. 
 AN odious phoenomenon in the fchools of impiety, without 
 talents to lead him to an energetic invefligation of truth, he is 
 poffcfTed of a zeal in the profecution of mifchief, and an ardor 
 in vice calculated to engender and cherifh difciples of confufion 
 and diforder. His efforts have accordingly been crowned with 
 correfpondent fuccefe. From every impure fource he has at- 
 tracted the votaries of corruption, and formed a veteran phalanx 
 that never can diflionor the unequalled vicioufnefs of his mind. 
 Such then are his companions, fuch the fearlefs patriots who 
 claim the protection of our- country, and audacioufiy demand 
 the honors of the ftate. Familiar with fo much profligacy, it 
 was natural to fuppofe that his ingenuity would be exercifed to 
 raife the political confequence of congenial characters ; to fcat- 
 ter the feeds of irreligion and confuf\on until they operated .the 
 deftnichion of all- moral and political obligations, relaxed at- 
 tachment to the laws, and engendered difTentions deilrudtive 
 and incurable, among the fupporters of a wholefome govern- 
 ment. Scenes like thefe alone could give him confequence, or 
 raife a malignant mifanthrope from obfcurity. 
 BUT perverfe indeed, or feeble, muft be the mind which can- 
 not difcern that the days of political delufion v and. anti-Jcjcial 
 confpiracies are paffed away; that the true age of.reafon is de- 
 veloping to man the real interefts of fociety. Difordered mull 
 be the zealot who does not believe, that the good feufe of Ame- 
 ricans will lead them to defpife the mad adherents to vifionary 
 fchernes of policy and irreligion; who does "not perceive daily 
 pvoofs of their attachment to the ftable benefits of a free and 
 well organized government, and that they never will jiiffer its 
 foundations to be. fubvertcd, and.the privileges which they che- 
 
 H
 
 54- 
 
 rife and love to exercifc, torn up by the unhallowed liands of a 
 Few defpcrate adventurers. One moment's exercife of even Mr. 
 Clinton's flender capacity, would yield him this conviction. 
 Why then is his time devoted to fociety that will inevitably en- 
 tail difgrace and infamy upon the character of a gentleman ? I 
 he attracted by an innate congeniality of fonl, or does he def- 
 pife an honorable effort at reformation? Some attribute his pre- 
 dilection for corrupt and profligate companions, to the weaknefs 
 of his underftanding; his enemies, to malice and mortal enmity 
 to the fociety of honeft men. If neither are correct, let him 
 manifeft at lead one proof of firmnefs ; for the honor of huma- 
 nity, he mould conceal, if he cannot conquer, the vicious pro- 
 penfities of his heart. Let him make one earneft effort to ef- 
 cape from ruin ; to abandon his horrid communion with 
 " vulgar vice, and bafe-born profligacy ;" to vindicate the 
 dignity of his nature, and fave, though it were by the locks, the 
 drowning honor of his name. 
 
 THE tranfition is eafy, from moral to political depravity ; 
 from private bafenefs to atrocious perfidy in public life. The 
 characteriftic traits of Mr. Clinton's mind have been manifefted 
 in whatever fituation he was placed ; whether in the humble 
 fphere for which he was defigned by nature, or enveloped in 
 the deceptive grandeur of fortuitous elevation. Thofe who 
 had marked the progrefs of his profligacy, foon difcovered 
 caufe for alarm, and were not furprifed at the iniquity of his 
 public conduct. He has verified the predictions cf the fufpi- 
 cious, and filenced the moft credulous part of the community. 
 An acknowledged novice in the fcience of government, and a 
 ftranger to elevated principles of policy, it was hoped by thofe 
 to whom he was unknown, that though he might prove incom- 
 petent to take an enlarged view of the political relations of the 
 ftate, or conceive any comprthenfive plan for the regulation of 
 its various intereffo, that Hill he would difcover integrity, and
 
 55 
 
 exercifc due induftry and discretion in difcharging the duties of 
 an appointment, which he had meanly condefcended to folicit. 
 BUT thofc who were fanguine enough to indulge thtfe vifion- 
 ary hopes, were unmindful of the invincible propenfities to vice 
 that had marked every moment of this man's political life. 
 They thought it impartible that a perfon fo young could be re- 
 gardlefs of every upright principle, and callous to remorfe; or 
 that the practice of iniquity could fo foon have banifheu every 
 honorable fentiment of his heart. But the illufion was foon dif- 
 fipated, and they beheld him an adept as well in political as in 
 moral turpitude, profoundly Ikilled in all the combinations of 
 treachery and fraud ; a diflblute and defperate intriguer, whom 
 neither fear, nor fhame, nor dread of punimment could reftraia. 
 Where, it may be aflced, was his wonted prudence, and where 
 his boafled honor, when he caufed it to be proclaimed to candi- 
 dates for office, that perfonal devotion to a few ambitious indi- 
 viduals had become the ftandard of political merit? What elevated 
 patriotifm was it that induced him to employ two abandoned 
 hypocrites, to purfue candidates through the town, to afcertain 
 their perfonal attachments and political prejudices, and kindly 
 to infinuate, that unlefs fatisfatlory afiurances were given of fu- 
 ture fupport in the political projects of himfelf and friends, and 
 of ilrenuous oppofition to the elevation and popularity of the 
 vice-prefident, every avenue to promotion would be obftinately 
 clofed? With what temporary derangement of intellect could 
 he have been afflicted, when he perfonally folicited General Al- 
 ner and Mr. Ezekiel Robbins refpedively, on the fame day, to 
 accept the appointment of furrogate for the city and county of 
 New- York ; to both folemnly pledged his fupport ; betrayed 
 both, and fubfequently gave it to a third? Here is the effence 
 of treachery, pure and fublimated. Examine the annals of 
 corruption, karch the records of villainy from immemorial 
 time, and no parallel c.an be found for pcvftJy Hke this. From
 
 56 
 
 this difgrace he cannot efcape, by alledging a want of power, 
 or the imbecility of his intereft, nor hope for " indemnity to 
 himfelf from community in crimes." Thofe who had been 
 initiated into the myfteries of the council, or difcovered by ac- 
 c-klviit the arrangements of the day, are ready to confront him. 
 Constraint cannot be urged, and treachery thus juftified ; nor 
 can he plead the calamity of the times, and that " care may 
 retract vows made in pain as violent and void." His conduct 
 was as voluntary as it was bafe, and ferves to elucidate the tor- 
 turous criminality of his character. 
 
 BY what " noble and elevated confiderations" could Mr. 
 Clinton have been influenced, when he deliberately fold the of- 
 fice of fecretary of the Itate for a vacancy in the fenate of the 
 union ? When he bafely abandoned the interefts of his confti- 
 tuents, and left the city he represented, expofed to the threat- 
 ened horrors of anarchy and confufion ? Deftitute of a local 
 government or an efficient magiftracy, the lives and fortunes of 
 the citizens were equally at ftake. At this gloomy and inau- 
 fpicious moment, they applied for relief to the fovereign autho- 
 r of the ftate, and relied on the exertions of thofe whom they 
 had bcnoTYu with their fuffrages and their confidence. But Mr. 
 Clinton difregarded thei;- darger; he fmiled at their folicitude, 
 and by the moft unprincipled intrigue, raifed himfelf above 
 controul. The moment was at hand that was to terminate 
 at once his feat in the fenate and the council ; he dreaded the 
 juftice of the people, and dared not meet the awful fcrtitiny of 
 his conftituents. Confcious of his guilt, he knew that at the 
 expiration of the period for which he was elected, he would 
 have been driven from his elevation, hated and difgraced. That 
 the men whom he had injured and Jnfulted, would have held 
 him up to the execration of the world, as an abominated mo- 
 nument of human depravity. ** Reluctant and unrepenting," 
 he would have been compelled to retire to a fecluded foot, link-
 
 57 
 
 ing under the accumulated deteftation of the people ; and though 
 he may have derided the impotence of the laws, and in his re- 
 tirement malignantly rejoiced at the evils he had produced; 
 though he may have efcaped the arm of public vengance, he 
 would have been configned to the difgrace he merited ; defpifed 
 and unnoticed, except when pointed out as an object of fcorn 
 to every honeft man. 
 
 THIS treachery was aggravated by a mameful difregard to 
 the qualifications of the perfon, thus advanced to an important 
 office. The office of fecretary of the ftate was beftowed on a 
 man deftitute of talents, and notorioufly unworthy of the pub- 
 lic confidence. A contemptible muffling apothecary, who with- 
 out talents to profit by the purfuit of an honeft profefiion, or 
 even to deal out medicine by the ounce, has fucceffively aflumed 
 every character defignated by human actions. To accomplifh 
 hypocritical purpofes, he has travelled round the whole circle 
 of religious denominations ; he has alternately embraced every 
 feet, and fubfcribed every creed, from outrageous methodifm, 
 to the harmlefs and inoffenfive ceremonies of the Baptift, until 
 he has terminated his career in the fports of the turf, in dealing 
 in horfes, and in political fvvindling ; without ingenuity to de- 
 vife, or fpirit to purfue any fyftematic plan of iniquity. 
 
 MR. CLINTON certainly difplayed fome management in mak- 
 ing his arrangements with Tillotion and Armftrong. Therefigna- 
 tion of this latter gentleman, and Mr. Clinton's elevation to the 
 vacant feat, was the only poffible mode in which he could efcape 
 humiliation, and arreft the expreffion of difapprobation which 
 his conftituents were pepared to pronounce at the then approach- 
 ing election. In the hour of danger he had abandoned their 
 intereils. When local animofities and party virulence threaten- 
 ed derangement to our municipal regulations ; when the city 
 was upon the eve of being left vvatchlefs and unprotected ; when 
 dark and midnight fpirits prowled about the ftreets, meditating
 
 8 
 
 deeds of " darknefs and difafter," he remained unmoved by the 
 menacing calamity. Confcious of the fate that awaited him, 
 he fixed his views on a feat in the fenate of the United States, 
 aud efcaped the indignation of his conflituents by ftepping into 
 the place he had induced Armilrong to abandon. 
 
 THIS lazy apoftate had alternately efpoufed the do&rines and 
 advocated the principles of the different parties in the ftate. Af- 
 ter vibrating between each, in quefl of favor and promotion, 
 he at length fettled permanently, as he faid, on the fide of the 
 republicans, and they, as ufual, rewarded his treachery with a 
 feat in the national fenate. At Wafliington, however, he found 
 nothing congenial with his warlike temper, nor any thing within 
 the influence of his mifchievous difpofition. There no tumult 
 or rebellion could be raifed. DiftrefTed and hungry foldiers are 
 the only fubjefts on which he can operate with fuccefs, and for 
 his attempts at the clofe of the revolution, he fhould have re- 
 ceived a fate which fimilar incendiaries feldom have efcaped. 
 Far above the fphere in which he was formed to move, unheed- 
 ed and defpifed, Mr. Clinton found it eafy, I prefume, to in- 
 duce him to abandon a place where neither apoflates nor advo- 
 cates for rebellion were received with confidence or refpecl:. His 
 propofition was made at a judicious moment ; a propofition, 
 ivhich by its fuccefs, at once difgraced the national legiflature, 
 by the introduction of a knave and an infidel, and increafed the 
 dangerous difTentions in the ftate, by reftoring to its bofom an 
 incendiary, whole only occupation and amufement has ever 
 been to excite domeilic broils and village mifchief. 
 
 TILLOTSON, the worthy relative of this honorable man, had 
 travelled the country round, like a hungry fpaniel, begging an 
 office as he went. He journeyed to Washington to folicit in 
 perfon the colle&orfhip of New- York. The futility of his 
 claims, and the ferioufnefs and addrefs with which he urged 
 than, formed a fubjed of ridicule to the adminiilration for *
 
 month. No fooner was this favorite fcheme fruftrated, than he 
 ranfacked Maryland, and offered to honor his native ftate with 
 his refidence if any thing worthy of his attention could be of- 
 fered. There fortunately he was known, and nothing was pre- 
 fented to induce his return. This adtive knight returned front 
 his romantic expedition, curfing the vice-prefident, proclaiming 
 him a federalift, and a traitor to his party, fimply for having re- 
 commended another gentleman for the office of collector for the 
 port of New- York. 
 
 THIS prevx chevalier began his life with a laudable determi- 
 nation to make his fortune. He pra&ifed with unlimited fuc- 
 eefs upon the Livingfton maxim, 
 
 Rem facias, rent 
 Si po/Ju reSe, Ji non, quocunque modo rem. 
 
 To him it was immaterial whether it was fqueezed from the 
 pockets of honeft and induftrious tenants, or whether it was pil- 
 laged from a relative by the glorious chicanery of the law, or 
 whether derived from the public treafury as an equivalent for 
 fervices he is utterly incapable to perform. Inflamed with a zeal 
 for office and governed by thefe mercenary views, Tillotfon foli-f 
 cited the office of fecretary of the ftate as his laft refource. His 
 worthy brother was interefted in his behalf, and refigned his feat 
 in the fenate of the un>on.* The council gave Tillotfon the 
 office he defired, and Mr. Clinton was chofen to fill the fcafc 
 which Armftrong had abandoned. This fhameful tranfa&ioa 
 needs no farther comment. 
 
 THE appointment of clerk to the mayor's court is fufficient to 
 confirm all the obfervations I have made, relative to. the views- 
 with which the officers for the fouthern diftrift were felecled. 
 
 * T'Wotfon and Armjlrong are Irotbers 'in law. Boifi married 
 Jiftert of Chanrtllor Livingjlon.
 
 60 
 
 This elegant perfonage is a living monument of the patience 
 with which Americans will fuffer themfilves to be abufed and 
 infulted by men in power. An execrable compound of every 
 fpecies of vice, he is at this moment an object with whom tvery 
 decent man fcorns to aflbciate. The curious who wifh to view 
 human nature in its moft degenerate date, will in this man find 
 a fit object of contemplation. To the natural enquirer he will 
 afford an interefting fubject of fpeculation. He will be found 
 in the loweft clafs of creatures recognized as rational, if not the 
 very link that joins the animal to the human race. This " pefti- 
 lent pauper" was raifed by the council from the filth in which 
 he wallowed, to the moft lucrative office in the ftate. When 
 called on to juflify this outrage upon the honor and dignity of 
 the city, Mr. Clinton increafed the atrocity of his conduct, by 
 exulting in the mifchief he had done. " Though he is a great 
 fcoundrel he has been of fervice to the party, and ought to be 
 rewarded," were the words he uttered. Here is a direct 
 avowal of the principles upon which he acted. A complete 
 confirmation of the charges which have been urged againft him. 
 It is irrefiftable evidence that the public good had no influence 
 in determining his conduct. It is the " ne plus ultra" of po- 
 litical depravity, and eftablifties his guilt in every mind, that i 
 not impenetrable to conviction. 
 
 THE perfon felected to fill the office of diftrict attorney has 
 uniformly been a fubject of ridicule to our political opponents, 
 and a difgracc to the council that appointed him. The <jif- 
 guft and diflatiofaction which this appointment has produced, 
 fhould certainly excite a pang in the bofom of Mr. Clinton, if 
 it was fufceptible of any. But however aeeply involved in mif- 
 chief, the world will do him the juftice to acknowledge that no 
 emotions of forrow, repentance or remorfe, were ever known 
 to enter there. This imbecile and obfequious pettifogger, aban- 
 doned the federal ilandard on the third dav of the election ia
 
 61 
 
 i8oo. On the firil he voted for the federal candidates, on the 
 fecond he began to perceive that his party would be defeated, 
 and ou the third he boldly avowed himfelf a republican. This 
 vain and contemptible little peft, whofe political fentiments like 
 a weather vane are regulated by every intercfted breeze that 
 blows, has been advanced to honorable and lucrative employ- 
 ment, in preference to men cf fterling and acknowledged merit; 
 men whom, in the days that " tried men's fouls," combated with 
 vigor the principles he then efpoufed. But 
 
 " Pigmies are pigmies Jiill, though perch' d on Jllps." 
 
 Neither the office which he holds, nor his having become the 
 " depofitary of Mr. Clinton's honor," nor being the favorite 
 companion of Mr. Cheetham, can raife this elaftic puppet above 
 contempt. While he is in office his ignorance and incapacity 
 will expofe him to difgrace. 
 
 THE appointment of juflices of the ten pound court, was 
 equally unfortunate. Inftead of regarding as he ought the 
 claims of thofe who had afted as magiftrates under the old law, 
 and who had been deprived of their office by the eftabliihment 
 of the new fyftem, Mr. Clinton preferred young men, fomc of 
 whom were ftrangers to the party, and deftitute of claims to 
 public favor. Two of them were but juft ftript of their fwad- 
 dling cloaths, and their legal knowledge is ftill incompetent to 
 the juft decifion of the fimpleft cafe. But he deferves fome cre- 
 dit for adopting means, apparently well calculated to enfure fuc- 
 :efs to the object he had in view. Upon his return from Albany, 
 Mr. Clinton declared that the appointments had been made with 
 a view of rendering thb court in queflion unpopular, and thus to 
 prepare the way for its abolition. There is an unfortunate fa- 
 tality attending all his attempts to juftify his conduct upon thefe 
 occalions. The very motives by which he profefles to have 
 fe.;en p;onrned> mould, if poffible, have been concealed. When 
 
 1
 
 62 
 
 public men aft upon motives like thefe, and have the hardihood 
 to avow them, it evinces a fpirit of depravity repugnant to the 
 nature of our government, and pregnant with incalculable mif- 
 chiefs. 
 
 IT needed not the aflertion of Mr. Clinton, to convince the 
 world that the council of appointment were actuated by im- 
 proper views, and influenced by motives hoftile to the public 
 good. Every county in the ftate exhibits ample teftimony of 
 the faft. With pain the people faw them yielding to the preffure 
 of wicked allurements, and in effect, becoming the retailers of 
 eommifiions, for which, pliancy of principle, blafted reputation 
 and enmity to the vice-prefident, were the molt acceptable equi- 
 valents. Thefe were manifeftly the principles that governed 
 .the appointments in the fouthern diftrift. As Mr. Clinton dic- 
 tated them, the refponfibility muft reft exclufively on him. 
 
 I HAVE pointed out a few of the moft odious feleftions that 
 were made in that portion of the ftate ; to enumerate them all 
 would fill a volume, and far exceed the limits to which I am 
 neceffarily confined. After the observations I have made, it may 
 with juftice be enquired, what foundation fuftainsMr. Clinton's 
 claims to integrity? Is it a fyftematic determination to violate 
 every promife, however facred, or a total difregard to thofe ties 
 of honor which bind alike the chriftian and the favage ? Where, 
 it may be afked, are we to fearch for proofs of his difcernment? 
 He will point, no doubt, triumphantly, to his companions, and 
 fome civil officers who have been taken from the loweft clafs of 
 debafed humanity. In what aft of his life can we recognize his 
 attachment to the welfare of the government, or the princi- 
 ples of virtuous freedom? Will he refer us to the proftitution of 
 the power with which he was for a moment inverted ; to his itin- 
 erant efforts to difpofe of offices to thofe who would fwear eter- 
 nal oppofition to Mr. Burr; or to that fyftem of felfifh policy 
 which at an early period was adopted by himfelf, and thofe on
 
 63 
 
 whom his tranfient influence immediately depended ? a fyftem 
 which has laid the foundation for lading and ruinous diforders 
 in the ftate. View our political condition, and compare it with 
 what a wife and judicious adminiftration of the government 
 might have rendered it. Inflead of harmony and union among 
 the friends of freedom, inftead of a confolidation of the repub- 
 lican intercft, calumny and diflentions are rapidly producing 
 fymptoms of decay and difTolution. Every part of the country 
 is manifefting the moft anxious folicitude, and the apple of dif- 
 cord, rolling through the land, is every where generating dif- 
 content, diforder and confufion. Thefe fcenes are hazardous 
 and alarming, and derogatory to the dignity of a government. 
 They are the awful annunciations of diflblution to our party, 
 with whofe ruin will difappear, the bright profpects of hnppinefs 
 which have but juft beamed upon the people. That enlighten- 
 ed fyftem of national policy which has its origin in the princi- 
 ples that prevailed at the revolution, will be prematurely ter- 
 minated by the hands of intemperate foes, and the caufe we 
 efpoufe overwhelmed in its infancy, while federalifm rifes trium- 
 . phant on its ruins. 
 
 THESE are the apprehenfions of one who reflects on the con- 
 fequences of political conduct. They are fears common to thofc 
 
 - who view with attention, the unimportant incidents that often 
 deftroy attachment to political eftablimments, and influence the 
 direction of popular opinion. But Mr. Clinton, no doubt, can 
 view with unconcern the poifonous divilions which have been in- 
 troduced among us, becaufe he has not fagacity to forefee the 
 evils they may engender ; becaufe he has neither the candor to 
 avow, nor the fenfibility to lament his errors or his crimes. The 
 portentous clouds that occalionally float through the atmof- 
 phere, or hang on the political horizon, excite no emotioiib of 
 forrow in hia bofom, becaufe no change can gender him more 
 
 - dious to the community, or fhorten the duration of h;s ap-
 
 64 
 
 pointment. But let this Felix tremble, for it is well faid, that 
 " he who fows the feeds of ruin, his is the harveft of iniquity." 
 Ke will one day be called to atone for the evils he has produced. 
 However late, th t period muft arrive. He has hazarded the 
 profperity of the party, and fported with the welfare of the 
 pe pie. The d^- of retribution muft come, and he mould pre- 
 pare for the awful fentence that awaits him. He fliould review 
 the erratic vibrations of his political life, and with contrite zeal 
 folicit the indulgence of thofe he has infulted and betrayed. A 
 patient community, by an honeft reformation, may be moved to 
 pity, and fave him from oblivion. If ever he was influenced 
 by patriotic motives in the attack on Mr. Burr, if ever he feltH 
 laudable folicitude for truth, he mould be reconciled to the no- 
 vel emotion, fubdue his reluctance, and proclaim it to the world. 
 His friends I know will accufe him of treachery, and defert him 
 as dimonored. But he will find refuge in the fympathies of the 
 people, and if he cannot conceal, they will pardon his fenfe of 
 fliame. 
 
 THE conduct which Mr. Clinton has hitherto purfued in this 
 important controverfy, and the confequences it is likely to pro- 
 duce, has authorized the public to demand upon what principles 
 he has proceeded. Deilitute of perfonal resolution, proofs of 
 which have been abundantly exhibited, in a manner difgrace- 
 ful to himfelf, and o/enjtve to his friends, he will perhaps mrink 
 from a talk fo arduous and delicate. But no apology will be 
 received. He {hall be called for judgment before the tribunal 
 authorized to pronounce his fentence. He mail hereafter 
 djriv-j no advantage from feclulion, and if he is wife, never 
 \vill return to his retired habitation. It has already gene- 
 rated in his bofom all the malignant paflions incident to hu- 
 man nature. The ferenity of rural retirement is ill fuited 
 to the tempeftuous vicioufnefs of his heart. If he rejects 
 *iotmy friendly admonition, he will bid adieu for ever, to his
 
 65 
 
 u-ool retreats and fnady bowers; they cannot be congenial to the 
 turbulance of his fpirit. His attachment to them is prophetic. 
 To the oid-, traitors have often been fufpended, and a villain 
 can never be cneriflied in its fliade. Cruel by nature and form- 
 ed for mi'fchief, 'he has become morofe without dignity, mean 
 and contracted without the advantages it ufually produces. 
 His deportment has rendered him an object of derifion and dif- 
 guft. "His vanity is as confpicuous as his wickednefs is noto- 
 rious ; he fiiould recollect the hand that raifed him from indi- 
 gence, and ceafe to proclaim the "Jlabithy" of his fortune. It 
 was neither obtained by induftry nor inheritance, but lavifhed 
 on him by the wayward caprices of female weaknefs. He 
 mould reftrain therefore the puerile ebullition of his vanity, 
 and rely on other confiderations for public favor. 
 
 IN the picture which I have haftily drawn, the friends of Mr. 
 Clinton will no doubt recognize a juft refemblance'. Though it 
 has not been finiflied with the delicate hues, and happy touches 
 of a mafter, a few rude lines it is hoped, have given the cha- 
 racteriftic features of the original. I always defpaired of mak- 
 ing the delineation perfect ; a complete and faithful reprefen- 
 tation of his character, would defy all human ingenuity, arid 
 fruftrate the livelieft efforts of the mind. Though I may have 
 been unfuccefsful, as truth is my guide, the information of the 
 public, and Mr. Clinton's reformation my only object, the at- 
 tempt will perhaps produce fome good. 
 
 IT will naturally be afked, why, in my remarks on the pro- 
 ceedings of the celebrated council of 1800 and 1801, Mr. 
 Spencer has not been more minutely noticed. He is not entitled 
 to particular attention, becaufe Mr. Clinton has uniformly de- 
 clared, and the affertion has never been doubted, that Spencer 
 acted entirely under his controul ; that he was a mere engine 
 fet in motion to execute the clumfy plans which himfelf had 
 neither courage nor Ikill to accomplish. He has moreover bt-
 
 f ^ 
 
 Oo 
 
 come fo odious in the county in which he relldcs, and through- 
 put the Hate, that to attempt to render him more contemptible 
 would be an idle \vafte of time. I have already ftated, that this 
 celebrated gentleman, emerged from obfcurity by the iniquity 
 of his conduct ; that in the triumphant days of our political 
 .opponents, he was the mod outrageous and perfecuting fede- 
 ralifl. in the ftate. Difappointed however j.n his views, and 
 tempted by the extravagant rewards which the republican 
 party offered to federal deferters, he, like Armftrong, quit their 
 camp, and became a zealous fupporter of the men he had lately 
 perfecuted. The animofity of an apoftate cannot be controuled. 
 Savage and relentlefs, he thirfls for vengeance ; every public 
 confideration is fwallowed up in the deftruclive vortex of pafllon 
 and revenge. With malignant compofure he would view the 
 tumbling ruins of his country, if his enemies were crufhed be- 
 neath them. Such is emphatically the temper of Ambrofe 
 Spencer, who, after his convcrfion, was introduced to a feat in 
 the legiflature, by his new friends, for the exprefs purpofe of 
 perpltxing and perfecuting his old ones. This tafk was faith- 
 fully perrormccl. With fiend-like perfeverance he purfued his 
 former affociates, and left nothing uneflayed to torment the 
 party he had betrayed. If his oppofition to the federal party 
 had flown from a conviction of their errors, he would have me- 
 rited applaufe, as far as it was honorably conducted. But be- 
 ing manifeflly the refult of corrupt views, and interefted motives, 
 he mould have been driven from the fociety of republicans ; and 
 for the honor of the party, appearances juftify the hope, that 
 this will foon be done. His infolence and pride have been to- 
 lerated much longer than his detcfted character or his talents 
 will juftify. 
 
 INFLATED with political confequence, and occafionally 
 cloathed with a little brief authority, this raving apoftate 
 lias long beeu infupportably iufolent and haughty to his equals.
 
 67 
 
 But prudently recollecting from whence he fprung, he is ever 
 humble and obfequious to his fuperiois. An inflexible profeffor 
 of virtuous cowardice, he has, with Job-like patience, fubmitted 
 to chaft ifement, until his furface has become impenetrable to 
 the fevereft operations of the cow-lkin or the cane. Pointed at 
 wherever he goes by the finger of fcorn, tortured by the recol- 
 le&ion of his crimes, and finking under the deteftation of all 
 who know him ; he fometimes exhibits, it is faid, fymptoms of 
 depreffion and defpair. The black catalogue of his vices has 
 occafioned apprehenfions of his deftiny. 
 
 A PRESENTIMENT of a future fate is not Uncommon; it is 
 fometimes derived from a gloomy and difordered fancy, and 
 fometimes generated in a vicious mind. Spencer, like Dr. Dodd, 
 I have heard, is occafionally tormented with apprehenfions of 
 an ignominious death ; a gibbet at times floats before his trou- 
 bled vifion, and alarms his fullen foul. Prognofticators hare 
 pronounced it indicative of his fate. Though I do not, fome 
 honed men and firm friends to their country, beliere, that if 
 there be juftice left on earth, and the honor of the ftate is ever 
 to be vindicated, the prediction will certainly be verified. It is 
 not my defire, prematurely to alarm the feelings of this gentle- 
 man, by remarking either on the profpeft or improbability of 
 this event. I (hall leave him to be punifhed by the terrors of 
 conviction, and the convulfions of his own bofom. The moft 
 hardened criminal is not above contrition, and ferious reflections 
 may ferve to turn him from his ways, and warn him to repent. 
 
 As the reader muft by this time be difguftcd with the fcenes 
 ef depravity which have been prefented to him in the cha- 
 rafters of De Witt Clinton and Ambrofe Spencer, I mail not 
 again introduce them to his notice. Particularly as I propofe 
 prefenting to the public a fketch of our political tranfa&ioni 
 during the years 1801 and 18^2, in which the conduft of thefe 
 worthy compeers will be more minutely analyzed. As they
 
 6S 
 
 merit the fevereft reprobation, they fliall not be permitted to 
 Hide out of public notice unchaflifed. They (hall receive the 
 fame fate, and be linked in infamy together. 
 
 IF any thing in the preceding pages mould bear the appear- 
 ance of undue feverity, paffion, or invective, the nature of the 
 fubject muft plead my apology. In political controverfies I am 
 ready to allow that perfonalities mould be avoided except in ex- 
 treme cafes. Abandoned and heedlefs profligacy, proceeding 
 not from the way wardnefs of the times, but from inherent pro- 
 penfities to mifchief, cannot be checked, but by a direct and po- 
 tent application to the very fource from which it fprings. Def- 
 perate difeafes, require violent remedies. In them, no cure can 
 be effected without cutting to the bone. Whatever therefore 
 of personality may offend the reader, it will be juftified I hope, 
 by the provocation which has been given, and the object I have 
 in view, which is to correct deep and obftinate evils, and if poffi* 
 ble whip two hardy offenders into the path of honor. 
 
 I SHALL now return to the main fubject of thefe pages, and 
 briefly examine the allegations which have been urged againit 
 the vice-prefident, and the proof by which it has been attempted 
 to fupport them. I fliall do this as concifely as poflible, per- ' 
 fuaded that a flight investigation is fufficient to convince every* 
 candid reader, that the whole tranfaction has originated in a pre- 
 meditated plan to ruin the reputation of Mr. Burr. In fome 
 parts of the voluminous publications which have appeared upota 
 the fubject, we find bold affertions without a particle of proof 
 to fupport them; in others infidious infinuations calculated to 
 miflead the judgment of the reader, premifes arbitrarily affumed, 
 and concluiiona drawn from them flill more arbitrary and falfe, 
 We are every where urged to accept the iimple ipfe dixit of an 
 unknown author, as indubitable testimony of the truth of what 
 he (lutes. Thus, contrary to the juft and fimple maxim, that 
 every man is to be deemed innocent until he is proved other-
 
 69 
 
 n-ife, contrary to ever)' rule cf right reafbning, and fair argu- 
 rnent, the fecond officer in the government is to be pronounced 
 guilty of difhonorable conduct, and robbed of his fame upon 
 the bare fuggettion of an anonymous writer. 
 
 Tt'K real authors* of thefe productions, though known, 
 have never dared to avow their names ; they a&ed a more deep 
 aud fubtle part. At firft they contented tliemfelves with pre- 
 paring the credulity of the public by vague furmifes, for the 
 reception of the calumnies that were to follow. When thefe 
 appeared, they for a while affected ignorance of their fource, 
 but exprefied violent fufpicions that there was caufe for alarm, 
 which foon terminated in a conviction that Mr. Burr had aban- 
 doned the principles he profcffed, had betrayed his party, and, 
 that w patriots they were bound to aid in the deflru&ion of a 
 man who had becpme dangerous to the liberties of their btl-j-ccd 
 country. The tocfm of alarm was founded. Mr. Burr's guilt 
 w.f, proclaimed far and wide, while he was at a diftance from 
 the frene of action, and unable even by a denial to check the 
 prugrefs cf His defamation. Thoufands were deceived by thefe 
 artifices., They did not know what ingenious preparations had 
 been made. They did not know that all the printers in the 
 ftatc who were eahcr dhectly, or indirectly under the influence 
 of the government, had been previously engaged to circulate 1 
 the flinders \vl.icU wer originated in New-York ; that the mod | 
 perfonal and abufive manufcripts were prepared in this city and 
 icnt to country editors, to be publiflird either as communica- 
 tions or editorial remai-ks; and that \vl\atappeai-edto them, 
 the expreffion of the public fcntiment, was notuiag but the ef- 
 fecc of pre-concert, and an artful combination among the per- 
 fonal enemies of Mr. Burr. When Mr. Burr was nominated 
 to the vicc-pn-fidency, the government of the ftate, by. hie o\rn 
 aid and exertions, was placed in the hands of his enemies, who ] 
 
 * De Witt Clinton aided by Samuel Ofgood. 
 K
 
 70 
 
 converted it into an engine to effect his ruin. The pamphieft 
 in which he was calumniated, were circulated under the patron- 
 age of the officers of the government, and conveyed by every 
 pofiible channel into the remoteft corners of the Hate. 
 
 THUS aided, the author of The f^ieiu, advantageoufly com- 
 menced his attack on the vice-prefident, and has fmce continu- 
 ed his labours. Thefe it is believed will be more properly ap- 
 preciated, after his productions mall have been analyzed. I 
 mall refume the examination of The View, &c. where I left it. 
 
 IN the 43d page of that production is the following para- 
 graph. 
 
 " THE moment he (Mr. Burr) was nominated, he put into 
 operation a moft extenfi ve, complicated, and wicked fyftem of in- 
 trigue, to place himfelf in the prefidential chair. He fet to work 
 all his inventive powers, and in fome inilances, employed men to 
 carry his plans into execution, who neither perceived their na- 
 ture nor extent. In the furtherance of his intrigues, he fpared 
 no pains, nor was he parfimonious of expence. The exprcffes 
 kept on foot, the men he employed, and the expences of their 
 various agencies, muft have coft him a fum little lefs than one 
 year's falary of his office. Mr. Burr feems to have carried on 
 zfecret correfpondence with the federalifts from the period of 
 his nomination." 
 
 THE fafts adduced to fupport this charge fliall be noticed i 
 the order in which they occur. 
 
 IN the fiiib place it is faid that Mr. Burr fent political agents 
 to the different Hates. What were the particular objects with 
 which thefe agents were charged, is not ftated. If their ob- 
 jects were, to effect the election of Mr. Burr to the prefidency 
 it fhouldhave been fliewn that they tampered with the electors 
 after they were chofen, and attempted to divert their votes from 
 Mr. Jcfferfon. If this is not done, the aflertion that Mr. Burr 
 I>d agents in the different ilatea, if proved, amounts .to nothing.
 
 71 
 
 But unfortunately for the author of The View, &c. whenever 
 he is fo incautious as to refer to gentlemen by name, they dif- 
 prove and falfify the very charges which it was his object to efta- 
 blifh. Mr. Abraham Bifhop, he fays, was Mr. Burr's agent at 
 Laucafter. This gentleman in two publications addrefled to 
 the editors of the American Citizen, and published in their pa- 
 per, the firft on the third, and the other on the iQth^of Augufl, 
 1802, explicitly denies that Mr. Burr fent him to Lancafter, 
 or that he went there for any purpofes perfonally or politically I 
 regarding that gentleman.* But admitting for a moment that ' 
 Mr. Bilhop had gone to Pennfylvania at the requeft of Mr. Burr, 
 he could manifeftly have had no other object iu view, than to in- 
 duce the fenate of that ftate to yield to the aflembly, and fuffcr 
 fifteen republican electors to be appointed. This indeed is the 
 only object afcribed to him by the author of The V\eiu> &c. 
 and was it not one, the accomplimment of which was devoutly 
 wilhed for, by every man who felt an intereft in the momentous 
 tranfactions of that day; in as much as it would have effected, 
 beyond the poffibility of defeat, the election of the republican 
 candidates for the two firft offices in the general government. 
 But in that cafe, fays the author of The Fie-w, &c. " the federal- 
 ills would have had no hopes of fuccefs, and Dr. Smith of New- 
 Jerfey was fecretly to have voted for Mr. Burr, and thus made 
 him prefident of the United States." To this infinuation Dr. 
 Smith replied in the following manner : 
 
 " Princeton, July 29, 1802. 
 
 " TO THE EDITOR OF THE EVENING POST. 
 SIR, 
 
 " IN your paper of Monday July 26, under the article 
 entitled, A Vieva of the political conduct of Aaron JSurr, Efq. by 
 
 * Tkefe publications would have been infertcil here t tut tuiif 
 length renitrs it ncccjjkry t-i 9>nit them.
 
 72 
 
 the author of the Narrative, I obferve feme very grofs mifre- 
 pn fLntatiom, which I conceive it to be a duty that I owe to 
 Mr. Eurr, the New-Jerfey electors, and myfclf, to declare to be 
 abfolutely falfe. Mr. Burr never vifited me on the fubject of 
 the late election for prefrdent and vice-prefident Mr. Burr ne- 
 rer converfed with me a fmgle fecond on the fubject of that elec- 
 tion, either before or fiace the event. No project or plan of the 
 kind mentioned in that paper was propofed or hinted at among 
 the eleftors of New-Jerfey. I am afTured that Mr. Burr held 
 no intrigue with them, on that occafion, either collectively or 
 individually. They were men above intrigue; and I do not 
 know that he was difpofed to ufe it. At their meeting, they 
 ufianimoufly declared that a fair and manly vote according to 
 their fentiments was the only conduct which was worthy of then- 
 own characters, or of their caufe. 
 
 SAML. S. SMITH." 
 
 HERE then fails every thing that has been afierted, relative to 
 the New-Jerfey electors. Dr. Smith's integrity) Ws public and 
 deliberate afiertior, I truft, will not be doubted. From this it 
 manifcflly appears, that the electors of New-Jerfey were not to 
 have voted for Mr. Burr in any poffible cafe, and that he never 
 aL'.^/Tipted to influence their conduct upon that occafion. If 
 even Mr. Burr had attempted to throw the whole weight of 
 Pennfylnraia into the republican fcale, he would have been per- 
 fectly juftifiable, and merited the approbation of the party. 
 But every thi'ig which has been infmuated againft the vice-pre- 
 fident with regard to his interference with the proceedings of 
 that ftate, and his intrigues with the New- Jerfcy -electors, has 
 been fully and decifively denied by Mr. Bifhop and Dr. Smith. 
 
 THIS charge, therefore, againft Mr. Eurrmuft be abandoned, 
 not only as unfupported, but as proved to be totally erroneous 
 *nd falfe.
 
 IT is urged with a zeal bordering on madnefs, that from the 
 moment of Mr. Burr's nomination to the vice-prefidency, he ex- 
 erted all his talents and ingenuity to obtain an equality of votes 
 with Mr. Jefferfon. It is not even pretended that he attempted 
 to influence a fingle elector to drop Mr. Jefferfon, which would 
 have fecured to him the chief magiftracy of the United States. 
 This obvious mode of accomplishing his defigns, any one who 
 was not an ideot, would certainly have adopted. Can the mon- 
 ftrous abfurdity be for a moment believed, that a man of Mr. 
 'Burr's difcernment, actuated by the ambitious feeling-; afcribed 
 to him, would hazard a reliance on the remote probability of 
 influencing a majority of rcprefentatives from three ftates in 
 congrefs, rather than attempt to bring a folitary elector into his 
 vic\vs. This can certainly never be prefumed; efpecially as it is 
 well known in this ftate, that two or three at leaft, of the elec- 
 tors would have dropped Mr. Jefferfon, if Mr. Burr had ex- 
 preffed a wim to that effect. Let it be therefore fhewn that 
 Mr. Burr intrigued with fome of the electors; that he attempt- 
 ed U> divert their ftiffrages from Mr. Jefferfon, and the contro- 
 verfy with him, is at an end. But no, this attempt the political 
 enemies of Mr. Burr dare not make. This plain and fimple 
 conduct cannot further their defigns. To affift their purpofes 
 they muft torture the plaineft language, the moil immaterial 
 circumftances into prefumpl'mc teftimony, to create a fufpicion 
 that Mr. Burr wiflied to be prefident of the United States. 
 Like able conjurers, they envelope the enchanted witneffes of 
 their machinations in a cloud of myfterious nonfenfe, and agitate 
 their affrighted imaginations, until convulfed with terror, they 
 fee fpectres at their elbows, and monfters threatening them with 
 ruin. The fears of the community muft be awakened, fufpicion, 
 which they know is next to ruin, muft be attached to the cha- 
 racter of Mr. Burr, or their pretended proofs can produce no 
 impreffion. Like the drunken and maniacal revolutionifts of
 
 74 
 
 France, they firit utter imprecations agaipft their victim, and 
 tear up his reputation by the roots, then fcatter falfhoods in the 
 (hape of accufations, and call it proof. Let the elector who was 
 folicited at the late election, to withhold his vote from Mr. Jef- 
 ferfon be named, and then their afiertions will be worthy of at- 
 tention. 
 
 WHILE on this fubjedt, it may not be improper to notice fome 
 insinuations which are fcattered throughout the publications 
 that have appeared againfl Mr. Burr, relative to his conduct in 
 this ftate. They are intended to excite a fufpiclon that fome 
 underftanding exifted between Mr. Burr and one of the electors. 
 To jufUfy this fufptclon, Cheetham in his feventh letter to Mr. 
 Burr, Pcates, that Mr. Lifpenard in a converfation at Hudfon, 
 fubfequent to the day on which the electors had given their fuf- 
 frages, faid, " that if he had fuppofed, that Mr. Jefferfon- and Mr. 
 BUIT would have had an equal number of votes, he would have 
 dropped Mr. JcfFerfon."* Whether this ftatement is true or 
 not, I fhall not inquire. If correct, it is conclufive evidence of 
 the rectitude of Mr. Burr's conduct. It is allowed that Mr. 
 JLifper.ard is a very intimate and perfonal friend of Mr. Burr; 
 if therefore, he had entertained any defign of fupplanting Mr. 
 JefFtrfon, Mr. Lifpenard would certainly have been the firft 
 elector to whom his wifhes would have been difclofed. Agreea- 
 ble to Mr. Cheetham's ftatement, if Mr. Lifpenard had been 
 informed that there would probably be an equality of votes be- 
 tween the two candidates, he would have dropped Mr. Jefferion. 
 It follows then, that the profpect of fuch an event was never 
 Juggefted to Mr. Lifpenard, and that no deiire was ever ex- 
 prefled, that Mr. Burr alone fhould be voted for. According, 
 therefore, to every rational deduction, it mull be evident to the 
 reader, that nothing like intrigue was attempted with the elec" 
 
 * See pamphlet contain' rg nine Utters of jfamet Chcciham t 
 Burr, fi^f 30.
 
 tors of this ftate. This is a poiition which, however indubita^ 
 ble it may be, is in itfelf unfufceptible of proof. It is fufficient 
 that the vague afiertions on this fubject, are not warranted by 
 any tcftimony whkh has appeared. The authors therefore of 
 the calumnies againft the vice-prefldent are fet at defiance, and 
 folicited to reduce their idle furmifes to fpecific charges, and 
 to prove them. Confcious that Mr. Burr's conduct relative to 
 the choice of electors was uniformly unexceptionable, and that 
 no attempts were made to rtftrain or counteract the voluntary* 
 exprcflion of their fentiments in the choice of a prefident, the 
 enemies of Mr. Burr have wifely abandoned this ground, and 
 infift that his ingenuity was fteadily exerted to obtain an equality 
 of votes with Mr. JtfFcrfon. 
 
 As they have determinined to afcribe this courfe to Mr. Burr, 
 it will be well to examine what circumitanccs are relied on to 
 bear them out. Though this pofition, by the perfeve.-ance of 
 the federal minority in congrefs, and a variety of other circum- 
 ftances, has bee:i rendered more advantageous to the iniquitous 
 projects of a few ambitious men, and to the .progrefs of well 
 arranged and preconcerted calumnies, ilill upon a tair invejliga- 
 tioirit will certainly prove equally untenable. 
 
 FIRST, it is dated, that in order to induce the foutheru 
 ftates to give the two candidates an equal number of votes, it 
 was reported by the friends of Mr. Burr, that in Rhode-Ifland, 
 Mr. Jcfferfon would have one or two votes, and Mr. Burr 
 none ; thus to diffipate fouthern jealoufy, and prevent a diver- 
 fion in their votes. 
 
 THAT a report of this kind prevailed is certainly true, but 
 that it originated in difhonorable motives, is notorioufly falfe. 
 My knowledge of the circumftances on which it was founded, 
 enables me to make this declaration. It is aflerted as a fact, 
 which dare not be denitd, thr.t the governor of Rhode-Iflaud, 
 who expected to have been one of the electors, told Col. \Vil-
 
 lett, the revolutionary officer alluded to in The View,* as well 
 as others, that he would vote for Mr. Jefferfon, but not for Mr. 
 Burr, and alfo that he had declared this to Mr. Burr himfelf, 
 whom he faid, approved of his intentions. Col. Willett wrote 
 this to feveral of his friends, which gave rife to the report in 
 queftion, and on what better foundation could it reft ? It is cer- 
 tainly fufficient to exonerate thofe who repeated it from impro- 
 per views. Whether it had any influence in determining the 
 conduct of the electors in the fouthern flates is not known, nor 
 is it material. But according to The View, Mr. Burr was de- 
 termined at all events not to have a greater, but an equal num- 
 ber of votes with Mr. Jefferfon. With this view, it is faid, 
 " the Rhode-Ifland report was circulated, and the better to en- 
 force its truth and enfure fuccefs to this favorite object, Mr. T. 
 Green was fent to Columbia, and correfponded with the vice- 
 prefident on the fubjel of the then approaching election, under 
 cover to Mr. Swartwout. To this charge thefe gentlemen re- 
 ply in the following manner : 
 
 " New-Tori, Oftober 1 1, 1802. 
 
 " MESSRS. DF.NNISTON & CHEETHAM, 
 
 " IN the American Citizen of this day, yon have made a 
 publication, to which you have affixed your names. In this 
 you have ftated, ift, that Timothy Green, of this City, was 
 difpatched as an agent to Columbia, the feat of government of 
 the flate of South-Carolina, by the vice-prefident. 2dly, That 
 he was the eulogift and interceflbr for the vice-prefident. S^ly, 
 That he fent the vice-prefident difpatches regularly, addrefled 
 to Mr. John Swartwout of this city, under cover. 
 
 " Now, as you have been moft egregioufly impofed upon by 
 fome diforganizing perfons, it is your duty, and mine, that the 
 public be immediately furnifhed with both what were and what 
 were not my inducements and motives, in making a journey in 
 
 "* See View, page 47..
 
 November 1 800, to Columbia, and of my conduit while there. 
 For this purpofe, you will pleafe to infert in your paper of to- 
 mofrdw, the following corrections to your ftatement : 
 
 " I ft, 1 AVER, that I never went on any mefiage of a political 
 nature to Columbia, in South Carolina, or to any other place, 
 for the vice-prefident, or any other perfon; neither was I ever 
 requefted or defired by the vice-prefident, or by any other per- 
 fon, to go to Columbia, in South Carolina, or any other place, 
 on any political or electioneering miffion, of any name or nature 
 tvhatfoever. On the contrary, my journey to Columbia, in 
 South Carolina, in the year of our Lord one thoufand eight 
 hundred, and my engagements until my return in -1801, was 
 wholly unfolicited by any perfon (except my debtors in South 
 Carolina;) and were folely of a commercial nature, and for 
 which I. had been preparing eight months before. 
 
 - " 2dly, THAT I never wrote a letter to the vice-prefident of 
 a political nature ; neither did I write him any information re- 
 lative to the prefidential election in South Carolina, neither did 
 I ever enclofe a letter, directed to the vice-prefident, in a letter 
 or cover directed to Mr. John Swartwout. 
 
 " 3dly, THAT my letters to Mr. Swartwout while in South 
 Carolina were unfolicited, and written folely with the motive to 
 relieve the minds of my friends from the anxiety necefiaril a f - 
 tendant on a (late of fufpenfe, while an important event is hourly 
 expected to take place. 
 
 " 4thly, THAT I never was in the habit of eulogifing public 
 men, neither did I vary from my ufual manners while in South 
 Carolina. I had no occafion to intercede for the election of 
 Gol. Burr : all the fear I had while there, was left a compro- 
 mife might take place, as the political parties were nearly ba- 
 lanced in the ftate legiflature. This I did, as far as in my pow- 
 er, conicientioufly endeavor to prevent ; knowing that if union 
 and good faith were not inviolably prefervcd among th
 
 78 
 
 tutional republicans, our past, prefent and future exertion* 
 would be entirely unavailing. 
 
 " TIMOTHY GREEN." 
 
 THE information contained in this letter, explicit as it is, is 
 confirmed and corroborated by the following one of Mr. Swart- 
 wout : 
 
 " FOR THE AMERICAN CITIZEN. 
 " Meflrs. DENNISTON & CHEETHAM, 
 
 " IN your feventh letter addrefled to Aaron Burr, Efq. vice- 
 prefident of the United States, published in the American Citi- 
 zen of the i ith inftant, I notice the following paragraph, viz. 
 
 ' MEANTIME, fir, you had your eye on South-Carolina, you 
 difpatched an agent, Mr. Timothy Green of this city to Co- 
 lumbia, the feat of government of that Hate. It was queftion- 
 able whether South-Carolina would give you a fingle vote. At 
 that period you were fcarcely known in the ftate. Mr. Green 
 was at Columbia at leaft two months. He was your eulogift ; 
 your iqterceffor ; he fent your difpatches regularly; they were 
 addrefled to Mr. John Swartwout of this city under cover, and 
 by him communicated to you.' 
 
 ". You will pleafe to inform the public, through the medium 
 of your paper, that the above paragraph, fo far as relates to 
 iny receiving letters under cover, or communications from Mr. 
 Timothy Green for Aaron Burr, is utterly deftitute of truth. 
 
 " JNO. SWARTWOUT. 
 
 Nfsa-Tork, October 13, l8o2." 
 
 BY this time I think the reader muft be convinced that Mr. 
 Burr never attempted to influence the fuffrages of any of the 
 electors, or to withhold a fingle vote from Mr. Jefferfon, and 
 that the equality of votes between them, was purely the refult 
 of acccident and good faith. This clearly appears from the 
 tiew which has been taken of the fubjecl; thus far, and the to-
 
 79 
 
 tal want of teftimony to juftify the infinuattons which have beca 
 made. 
 
 I SHALL now proceed to examine the juftice of the cenfures 
 which have been fo abundantly and fcurriloufly laviflied upon 
 the vice prefident, in confequence of his conduct fubfequent to 
 its being known that he had an equal number of votes with Mr, 
 Jefferfon. 
 
 IT will not be denied, I prefume, that in all cafes where fpe- 
 cific charges are made againft an individual, the burthen of proof 
 refts upon the accufing party. All juft rules of inveftigation, 
 demand that he fhould prove his afTertions. It never can be ex- 
 pected that the other fhould prove a negative pofitton; that he 
 fhould prove his innocence, which is almoft univerfally impracti- 
 cable. Nor ought thofe whofe province it is to decide upon 
 the truth or falfhood of any given accufations that involves the 
 private and political reputation of an eminent and ufeful indi- 
 vidual, to be fatisfied with declarations that more than pre- 
 fumptlve teftimony cannot be adduced. This is peculiarly for- 
 bidden by the nature of the cafe under examination. The 
 enemies of the vice-prefident, after reiterating for months, the 
 moft injurious charges againft him, and daily offering to prove 
 them in a court of juftice, declaring to individuals and the pub- 
 lic, that the moft indubitable teftimony was in their pofTeflion, 
 now do not blufh to allow, in their own publications, that po- 
 fitive proof cannot be obtained. Infilling at the fame time, 
 that the ingenuity of Mr. Burr, and the intricacy of his cha- 
 racter, are fuch, that evidence ought to be accepted inferior to 
 that which would be requifite to convict any other man of dif- 
 honorable conduct. The modefty of thefe gentlemen, certain- 
 ly deferves applaufe. That Mr. Burr's charafter fhould appear 
 intricate to them, is not fingular. The condud of an honeft 
 man is always unaccountable in the view of knaves. Driven 
 to this humiliating confcffion, they have no other refource than
 
 80 
 
 to attempt, by an artful exhibition of circumftances, to juflify 
 their fufpicions, to fix a ftigma upon his character, and fhield 
 themfelves from thejuft indignation of the public. Convinced 
 that the difpofition of the human mind is prone to fufpicion, 
 that it cheriflies a credulity favorable to the introduction of ca- 
 lumny, and that it often catches at the probability of circum- 
 ftances as a fure and fubftantial ground of faith, incidents the 
 moft trivial in their nature and accidental in their occurrence, 
 have been conjured up to increafe the quantity, if not the value 
 of their teftimony. 
 
 THE country has at length been fo deluged with ingenious 
 and wicked publications, under the name and in the form of 
 evidence, that the people are bewildered by thefe fophiftical ef- 
 forts of exafperated enmity. With flagitious levity they have 
 been led into the wide field of conjecture, and without a ray of 
 light to direct their Heps, have been left to wander in the laby- 
 rynth prepared to perplex them, until, exhaufted with unavail- 
 ing efforts to arrive at truth, they have refted on inferences 
 drawn from unfupported aflertions, and rejoice to call them 
 proofs. In fhort, rather than continue the labor attendant on 
 an accurate inveftigation into the nature and origin of the con- 
 troverfy in queftion, and the manner in which it has been con- 
 ducted, a great portion of the people have encouraged the dan- 
 gerous influence of firfl impreflions, and yielded to the current 
 of abufe, which has been impelled from its fource, by the con- 
 vulfions of difappointed ambition. If I (hall be fo fortunate as 
 to difpel this mental indolence, and awaken an accurate and 
 impartial examination into the evidence, which has been pro- 
 duced to prejudice the public mind againft Mr. Burr, by his 
 political opponents, I humbly hope to make manifeft their ma- 
 lice and his integrity. 
 
 ALL the indulgence I mall folicit on this occafion, is that 
 thofe who have commenced the attack on the vice-prefident,
 
 81 
 
 (hall not be allowed to impeach the credibility of their own wit- 
 nefles. When they refer to perfons by name, as having a full 
 knowledge of the tranfactions of which they fpeak, and call 
 on them to fupport their ftatements, and thefe very perfons un- 
 equivocally deny the truth of their aflertions, it is but reafona- 
 ble that they fhould be concluded by their evidence, and not be 
 permitted to accufe them of prevarication and falfehood. It 
 will eafily be perceived that if this privilege is not withheld, no 
 controverfy can ever be terminated; for an endlefs number of 
 perfons may be referred to, and the period of acquital be pro- 
 tracted beyond the ordinary period of human exiftence. It is 
 believed that the pofition here contended for, will be readily re- 
 cognized as juft. At all events, the leaft that can be granted 
 is, full credit to thofe who have favored the public with any 
 communications on this fubject, particularly as in point of cha- 
 racter they are all fuperior to thofe who are oppofed to them. 
 
 IN examining this part of the charges againfl Mr. Burr, I 
 {hall not hazard the imputation of prolixity, as I am perfuaded 
 it is fufceptible of a brief and concife refutation. 
 
 HITHERTO I have confined myfelf to the order in which the 
 accufations againft the vice-prefident have been ftated in the 
 " View of his Political Conduct." But as the nine letters ad- 
 drefled to that gentleman by James Cheetham, are moft relied 
 on by their author, I fliall attack him in this his boafted fortrefs, 
 and begin by analyzing his eighth letter. The firfl feven are 
 copied verbatim, from The View juft mentioned. 
 
 THIS elaborate production commences, as ufual, with a page 
 or two of vague and abufive declamation againft the general 
 character of Mr. Burr. Then is ftated the allegation which 
 is now to be examined, and Mr. Burr's denial, which are a 
 follows : 
 
 " MR. BURR, while in the city of New- York, carried on a 
 " negotiation with the heads of the federal party at Wafting-
 
 19 
 
 ." ton, with a view to his election as prefident of the United 
 " States. A perfon was authorifed by them to confer with him 
 " on the fubject, who accordingly did fo. Mr. Burr affented 
 " to the propofitions of the negociator, and referred him to his 
 ' confidential friend to complete the negociation. Mr. Burr 
 " ftated, that after the firft vote taken in the houfe of repre- 
 * fentatives, New- York and Tcnneflee would give in to the fe- 
 " deralifts." View, p. 57 8. 
 
 Mr- Burr's denial of this charge is couched in the fuccetding 
 terms : 
 
 " You are at liberty to declare from me, that all thofe charges 
 " and infmuations which aver or intimate that I advifed or coun- 
 *' tenanced the oppofition made to Mr. Jefferfon pending the 
 " late election and balloting for prefident ; that I propofed or 
 " agreed to any terms with the federal party ; that I affented to 
 *' be held up in oppofition to him, or attempted to withdraw 
 *' from him the vote or fupport of any man, whether in or out 
 " of congrefs; THAT ALL SUCH ASSERTIONS AND INTIMA- 
 
 " TIONS ARE FALSE AND GROUNDLESS." 
 
 Mr. Burr's letter to Governor Bloom- 
 feldy dated Sept. 21, 1 8 02. 
 
 THIS denial, explicit and peremptory as it is, coming from 
 a man high in office and in the eftimation of the world, whofe 
 veracity has never been called in queftion, is entitled to great 
 confideration, and full credit, unlefs the moft irrefiftible evi- 
 dence is produced to prove its fallacy. In it we find nothing 
 like evafion. No attempt to elude any charge, but a full and 
 fair denial of them all. No ingenious and complicated tales 
 therefore, no vague furmifes fhould be allowed to counteract its 
 force. Of thefe however is this epiflle entirely compofed. Not 
 a particle of direct teftimony does it contain. 
 
 THE next article in this production that arrcfts our attention 
 is an anonymous commuaication, furniflied as is faid by a gentle-
 
 man of unlhmi/bed cLaraSer y and a friend of Mr. C&cet&am. 
 How far this is compatible, the inhabitants of this city can 
 readily decide. It has now become impoflible for a man to 
 fuftain a fair reputation, and be the companion of James Cheet- 
 ham. His intimacy blafts the faireft fame. " His acquaint- 
 ance is infamy." His fociety fixes indelible difgrace upon thofe 
 who tolerate his prefence. Even thofe who have goaded him 
 on in his career of wickednefs and folly, flirink from a faluta- 
 tion in the ttreet, and fteal to his refidence in the filent hours of 
 the night, when innocence and virtue feek repofe, but when 
 the fpirits of the vicious are mod turbulent and active. 
 
 THE communication in queftion is certainly too trifling to 
 excite any other emotion than that of contempt for its author. 
 But as it has been given to the public with an air of importance 
 and myftery, it may be well perhaps to give it a few moment* 
 confideration. It begins thus: 
 
 < Jr.r.e 25, 1802. 
 
 " DR. LIKN- and the Reverend Mr. Abeel of this city told 
 me, in a converfation I had with them, that they believed Aaron 
 Burr had correfponded with federal members of congrefs to get 
 himfelf elected prefident of the United States, and that he had 
 agreed to come into their meafures." 
 
 THESE gentlemen may have believed what they are here made 
 to fay. But if in the fequel it mould appear that their impref- 
 fions were received from vague report, derived from whifpera 
 and furmifes floating in the circles of Mr. Burr's political ene- 
 mies, their belief on this occafion will certainly be of little mo- 
 ment. From the very communication before us, it clearly ap- 
 pears that they had no fpecific information to fupport their 
 opinions. 
 
 THIS is evident; for when this obliging communicator 
 firft oonverfed with thefe reverend gentlemen, they leTieved that 
 Mr. Burr had correfpondcd with federal members of congref*,
 
 84 
 
 for the purpofe of obtaining the prefidency of the United 
 States. " Sometime after, however," fays this honeft friend 
 of Mr. Cheetham, " I faw Mr. Abeel, and he faid it was a mlf- 
 take that Mr. Burr had correfponded with federal members of 
 congrefs, but he had made a verbal agreement with them, and 
 that if I wanted an inveftigation of the bufinefs, the perfon was 
 then in town, who would prove the fact." 
 
 AND why did not this patriotic gentleman proceed immedi- 
 ately to " inveftigate the bufinefs," by a direct application to 
 the fource from which this report was faid to iflue ? If he 
 had for a moment been influenced by public confiderations, and 
 not by malice or private enmity; if the good of the community . 
 had been his object, this affertion of Meffrs. Linn and Abeel 
 might have been examined, and if true, fubftantiated in the 
 fpace of a very few days. But no! Conduct thus candid, fuited 
 not the purpofes of Mr. Burr's political enemies. An equivo- 
 cal complexion was firft to be given to the political integrity of 
 Mr. Burr. This information was carefully concealed from his 
 friends, and privately communicated to Mr. Cheetham, who 
 through the medium of his paper was firft to poifon the public 
 mind, and predifpofe it to believe all the calumnies that were 
 in embryo and were foon to be given to the world, for the pur- 
 pofe of proftrating Mr. Burr's political confequence. The re- 
 mainder of this communication is fo extremely puerile and irre- 
 levant, that it is unworthy of attention. The contemptible 
 fource from which it is derived forbids every attempt to point 
 out the mifrcprefentations it contains. In this city where he is 
 known, the author is juftly notorious for want of veracity and 
 ftability of principle. It is well known that he has never told 
 the fame ftory twice in fuccefllon, and that the reverend gentle- 
 men in queftion have frequently had occafion to reftrain his im- 
 petuofity in the caufe of Cheetham, and forbid any references to 
 them for the truth of what he uttered.
 
 85 
 
 AFTER a few remarks on this communication much is faid in 
 the letter under examination, about an application which is faid 
 to have been made by Mr. Burr to Mefirs. Linn and Abeel for 
 a certificate, ftating, that their information, relative to Mr. 
 Burr's fuppofed negociations with the federalifts, had been de- 
 rived from " common report." That fuch an application was 
 ever made by Mr. Burr or any of his friends, is fo utterly falfe, 
 that even thofe who know the character of Cheetham, were 
 aftonilhed at this initance of his audacity. If it mould be aiked 
 why this denial of its truth is not fanclioned by the declaration 
 ef Meflrs. Linn and Abeel, I anfwer, that the circumftances un- 
 der which I write did not allow an application to them on my 
 part. And above all, that it is not my duty to difprove, but 
 Mr. Cheetham's to fubftantiate the truth of what he advances. 
 
 I SHALL now proceed to that part of Mr. Cheeth^m's eighth 
 letter, which exhibits a more direct but equally impotent attempt 
 to prove the charge he has advanced. 
 
 THE reader will bear in mind, what Mr. Burr has been 
 charged with, to wit, that " he entered into a negociation with 
 federal members of congrefs, to obtain the prefidency of they 
 United States. That a perfon being authorized by them t 
 confer with Mr. Burr on the fubjeft, he affented to the propofi- 
 tions of the negociator, and referred him to his confidential 
 friend; ftating alfo, that after the firfl; vote taken in the houfe 
 of reprefentatives, New- York and TennefTee would give in to 
 the federalifts." 
 
 THOUGH it required uncommon patience and great labor, I 
 have rnoft diligently fought for- fomething like proof in this 
 eighth letter, to fupport thefe bold allegations, but in vain; no- 
 thing but vague aflertions reward the perfeverance of the reader. 
 
 ALL the collateral charges which it contains, have been in- 
 vented as auxiliaries to the main accufation, and are totally un- 
 fupported. That Mr. Ogden was requefted by federal gea- 
 
 M
 
 86 
 
 tlemen at Wamington, to converfe with Mr. Burr on the fub- 
 ject of the then approaching election, is undoubtedly true ; but 
 what matters it whether he, or a thoufand more had been thus 
 deputed. Mr. Burr cannot be made refponfible for the afts of 
 the federal party. He could notcontroul their conduct. The 
 only queftions to be determined are, whether Mr. Burr accepted 
 any propofitions that were offered ? Whether he entered into any 
 engagements to adminifter the government upon principles dic- 
 tated by the federal party, and in violation of his own opinions 
 and judgment? Or whether he rejected the advances that were 
 made? That he did fo, fully and unequivocally, and even re- 
 fufed to receive their fupport, appears by the following letters : 
 " SIR, 
 
 "THOUGH I have not the pleafure of a perfonal aquaintance 
 with you, 'I flatter myfelf that the contents of this letter will 
 preclude the neceffity of an apology for addrefling you. 
 
 " IT has been aflerted in various publications that Mr. Burr, 
 during the late election for prefident and vice-prefident, entered 
 into negociations and agreed to terms with the federal party, or 
 with certain individuals of that party, with a view to advance 
 himfelf to the office of prefident, to the exclufion of Mr. Jef- 
 ferfon. Mr. Burr, in a letter to Governor Bloomfield, dated 
 the 2ift September laft, declared that all fuch allegations were 
 falfe and groundlefs; and the charges have been renewed in 
 more recent publications, which point to you by name, as the 
 perfon through whom fuch negociations were carried on and 
 terms concluded. It has now become interefting to a great 
 portion of the community to be informed how far thefe affertion* 
 and charges have been authorized by you, or are warranted by 
 your knowledge of facts. 
 
 " HAVING received frequent anonymous communications for 
 the Morning Chronicle, relative to thefe matters, and being un- 
 willing to occupy the paper with vague and unfubftantiated con-
 
 Je&ures or remarks on a fubjecl: of fuch importance, I am in- 
 duced to apply directly to yourfelf as an authentic fource of in- 
 formation. I do this with the more confidence, from a perfua- 
 fion that you can have no wifh to fuffer falfe reports to circulate 
 under the authority of your name, for mere party purpotes; 
 and that, in the actual pofture of things, you cannot be averfe 
 to declare publicly and explicitly your agency, if any, in the 
 bufmefs. I take the liberty therefore of reque fling your written 
 declaration to the points above ftated, together with any cir- 
 cumftances you may be pleafed to communicate, tending to 
 cftablifh the truth or falfehood of the charges in queflion. 
 " I have the honor to be, 
 " very refpectfully, 
 
 " your obed't ferv't,. 
 
 P. IRVING. 
 ** New-Tori, Nov. l^th, 1802. 
 " DAVID A. OGDEN, Efq." 
 
 " New-Tori, Nov. 2tfb, 1802. 
 " SIR, 
 
 " THOUGH I did not conceive it to be incumbent upon me, 
 or in itfelf proper to notice a publication in a newfpaper, in 
 which my name was ufed without my permifiion or knowledge, 
 yet I have no objection to reply to an enquiry which comes in 
 the mape of that contained in your letter, and from a perfon of 
 your Handing in fociety. 
 
 " I DECLARE that my journey to the city of Wafhington, in 
 the year 1 800, was purely on private bufmefs, and without any 
 underftanding or concert whatever with Col. Burr, whom I met 
 at the ftagc-office on his way to Trenton, not having had before 
 the kaft intimation of fuch a meeting ; and that I was not then, 
 or at any time, charged by him with any commifiion or errand 
 of a political nature. In the courfc of our journey no political
 
 converfation took place but of a general nature, and in the pre- 
 fence of the paffengers. 
 
 " WHEN about to return from the city of Washington, two 
 or three members of congrefs, of the federal party, fpoke to me 
 about their views as to the election of prefident, defiring me to 
 converfe with Col. Burr on the fubject, and to afcertain \vhether 
 he would enter into terms. On my return to New-York I 
 called on Col. Burr, and communicated the above to him. He 
 explicitly declined the explanation, and did neither propofe nor 
 agree to any terms. I had no other interview or communica- 
 tion with him on the fubject, and fo little was I fatisned with 
 this, that in a letter which I foon afterwards wrote to a member 
 of congrefs, and which was the only one I wrote, I difluadcd 
 from giving fupport to Col. Burr, and advifed rather to acqui- 
 efce in the election of Mr. Jefferfon, as the lefs dangerous man 
 of the two, to that caufe with which I believed the public in- 
 tereft to be inseparably connected. 
 
 / " THERE are no facts within my knowledge tending to efla- 
 ' blifh the truth of the charges fpecified in your letter. 
 " With due refpect, 
 
 " I am, fir, your obed't ferv't, 
 
 . DAVID A. OGDEN. 
 " Dr. P. IRVING." 
 
 HERE then, is a complete acquittal of Mr. Burr. His cori- 
 du& upon the occafion, if Mr. Ogden is to be believed, was 
 not merely correct, but highly honorable to himfelf. From the 
 unreferved language of Mr. Ogden's letter, it was rational to 
 expect that its publication would have terminated the contro- 
 verfy with Mr. Burr, and convinced every impartial man that 
 he had been bafely calumniated by an ambitious, corrupt and 
 felf interefted faction; whofe members, to raife themfelves into 
 confcquence and power, have by violence and falfehood attempt- 
 ed to blaft the reputation of the moft faithful and indefatigable
 
 89 
 
 republicans in the ftate. Previous to its appearance, the com- 
 munity, with great juftice exclaimed, that Mr. Ogden's decla- 
 ration on this fubject., would eftablifh the truth or falfehood of 
 the charge advanced by the enemies of Mr. Burr. They were 
 determined to reft the decifion of the controverfy on the con- 
 tents of his communication, whatever they might be, and view- 
 ed him now as the only remaining fource from which authentic 
 information could be derived. Aware of the importance of Mr. 
 Ogden's difavowal or recognition of the truth of their afiertions, 
 the editor of the American Citizen and his coadjutors, adopted 
 every mode their ingenuity could dcvife, to induce him to re- 
 main iilent. They alternately flattered and menaced him in 
 their paper. They declared to the world, that if he denied the 
 corre&nefs of their charges, they would prove him to be a man 
 deftitutc of veracity; and implored him, if he valued his repu- 
 tation, to abftain from all interference in the prefent contro- 
 verfy. Regardlefs, however, of their threats and impotent de- 
 nunciations, having no object in view but a true elucidation of 
 the tranfa&ion in which he was concerned, Mr. Ogden, when 
 addrefled by Dr. Irving, gave the public a concife, but correct 
 and explicit detail of the circumftances that occurred in his in- 
 terview with colonel Burr. And I defy the moft faftidious 
 cafuifl to point out any thing that occurred on this occafion, 
 either exceptionable, equivocal or fufpicious. Mr. Ogden ilates 
 exprefsly, " That his journey to Washington was purely on 
 private buiinefs, without the leaft concert or underftanding with 
 colonel Burr, whom he met accidentally at the ftage-office, on 
 his way to Trenton; that he was not then charged with any er- 
 rand or commiffion of a political nature ; that while at Wafli- 
 jngton he was defired by fome federal gentlemen to converfe 
 with Mr. Burr on the fubjecl: of the eleftion for prefident ; that 
 when he returned to New-York he did call on Mr. Burr as re- 
 qnefted." Thus far it will be conceded I truft, that no cenfure
 
 90 
 
 tould poffibly attach to Mr. Burr. What anfwer then did Col. 
 Burr return to Mr. Ogden's proportion? He ftates without 
 hefitation " that Mr. Burr explicitly declined any explanation 
 upon the fubjeft, and did neither propofe nor agee to any 
 terms." How then, I afk, in the name of juftice and reafon, 
 has Mr. Burr been faithlefs to his party? That he was thus 
 explicit in his anfvvers to Mr. Ogden, appears from the fucceed- 
 in<r part of that gentleman's letter, in which he fays " that he 
 was fo little fatisfied after his interview with Col. Burr, that he 
 wrote to Wafhington difluading the federalifts from fupporting 
 Mr. Burr. That he did write thus is known to be a facl, inde- 
 pendent of Mr. Ogden's aflertion, and mews mod conclufively, 
 that all his advances were totally rejected. 
 
 THE concluding fentence of Mr. Ogden's letter ftates moft. 
 clearly, that he knows of no circumftances, tending to eitablim. 
 the truth of the charges exhibited againft Mr. Burr. 
 
 Thus is demolimed the huge mafs of incoherent matter which 
 ingenuity, wickednefs, and falflioood, had collected to oppofe 
 the progrefs of Mr. Burr's political elevation. Defeated in 
 every point which was fufceptible of elucidation, minds influenc- 
 ed by ordinary malice, would have been fatisfied with the diilrac- 
 tion which had been every where produced, and abandoned the 
 profecution of their nefarious deiigns. But the calumniators of 
 Mr. Burr, tortured by a deadly malignity that ftt all public 
 -coniiderations at defiance, inflamed with the bright prof- 
 pect of proftrating every local enemy, and rioting in the ruins 
 of their fame, they difdained the inglorious ihackles of convic- 
 tion, and unccafingly reiterated refuted falfhoods and exploded 
 afperfions. They boldly accufed Mr. Ogden of falfhood, and 
 hoped for momentary fafety from this laft and fhameful " refuge 
 of defeated argument." His unblemifhed character too they 
 hoped would be withered by their peftiferous approach. Thofe 
 who are acquainted with that gentleman can juftly appreciate
 
 91 
 
 thefe fcurrilous infinuations againft his veracity. But for the 
 fatisfation of thofe to whom it is unknown, it will be proper 
 to examine the reafons they affign for having accufed him of 
 difhonorable evafion in his letter to Dr. Irving. 
 
 WHY, fay they, did Mr. Burr refer Mr. Ogden to his confi- 
 dential friend, if he had no defign to encourage the federalifts 
 in their oppofition to Mr. Jefferfon's election? Before this 
 queftion was afked, it would have been prudent for them to 
 have afcertained whether Mr. Ogden was referred to any perfon 
 as the friend of Mr. Burr. Had they obferved a little caution, 
 they might have derived fome advantage from concealing the 
 name of this fuppofed confidential friend. But with their ufual 
 imprudence they declare that Mr. Edward Livingfton was the 
 perfon who was in pofleflion of Mr. Burr's fecret and confidence 
 on this occafion, and was to co-operate in raifing him to the 
 prefidency. By this aft of indifcretion, they have defeated 
 their purpofes, and enabled me to prove the falfehood of their 
 aflertions by the following letter, which will be found in the 
 Morning Chronicle of the 28th April, 1803. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 " IN confequence of certain infinuations lately circulated, I 
 think it proper to declare, that you did not, in any verbal or 
 written communication to me, during the late prefidential elec- 
 tion, exprefs any fentiment inconfiftent with thofe contained in 
 your letter to General Smith which was publiihed, or evincing 
 any defire that the vote of the ftate mould be transferred from 
 
 Mr. Jefferfon to yourfelf. 
 
 " I am, very refpeftfully, 
 
 " your moft obed't ferv't, 
 (Signed) " EDW. LIVINGSTON, 
 
 " The Vice-Preiident of the U. S." 
 
 AGAIN it is afked why Mr. Burr declared that New-York 
 and Tenneflee, on a fecond ballot, would yield to the federal-
 
 92 
 
 ifts? To this I anfwcr, that not a fhadow of teftimony has been 
 adduced to prove that Mr. Burr ever made that declaration. It 
 is peremptorily denied that he ever uttered fuch an infinuation. 
 
 THUS then, the main accufation againft Mr. Burr, inftead of 
 being fubftantlated by thofe who preferred it, has been com- 
 pletely difproved by pofitive and unimpeachable evidence, fuch 
 evidence as the moft captious and incredulous mind cannot re- 
 fift, and fuch as bids defiance to the efforts of fophiftry and 
 malice. 
 
 So feeble are the grounds on which it has been attempted to 
 fuftain the charges againft Mr. Burr, that even his enemies 
 have formally and publicly declared the impoffibility of fupport- 
 ihg them by pofitive proof. Mr. Burr's ingenuity, fay they, 
 is fuch, that wherever he is a party, circumftantial evidence 
 fhould be deemed fufficient. This is affuredly the moft impu- 
 dent attempt to influence the decifion of an important public 
 queftion, ever exhibited in this country. It may be congenial 
 with the fpirit of the corrupt governments of Europe, or the 
 fanguinary maxim of eaftern defpotifm ; but can never be tole- 
 rated in a country where not only the perfons and property, 
 But the reputation of individuals, are protected by the "equita- 
 ble fpirit of mild and impartial laws. 
 
 THE good fenfe of the community renders it unneceflary to 
 dwell on the meannefs and injuftice of thefe pitiful artifices; 
 and left it may be faid that any part of the works under ex- 
 amination, have been left unnoticed, I mall proceed to notice 
 the remainder of what the calumniators of Mr. Burr call their 
 elrcumjlantial evidence. 
 
 DURING the controverfy with Mr. Burr, much reliance has 
 been placed on the contents of a letter, faid to have been writ- 
 ten at Wafhington, and dated the 2 pth of January 1801. 
 
 THE whole tenor of this letter, the time when, and thefm- 
 gular civcumftances under which it was communicated to the
 
 93 
 
 public, forcibly indicate that it was the refult of preconcert 
 and collufion between thofe who have produced it, and written 
 long- after the day it bears date. It is a perfed echo of the ob- 
 fervations and charges contained in The View, &c. and if 
 written at the period alledged, why was it not communicated 
 in that publication ? Is it probable that the enemies of Mr. 
 Burr would have withheld any document which could bear, 
 however remotely, on a charge which it was their whole defign 
 to eftablifh ? 
 
 THE information contained in the letter I am alluding to, is 
 faid by Mr. Cheetham (no matter how corre&ly) to have been 
 communicated to Wafhington by Gen. Hamilton. It is per- 
 fectly immaterial whether it was derived from a federal or demo- 
 cratic opponent of Mr. Burr. The only queftion to be deter- 
 mined, is, whether he was authorifed thus to write. That he 
 was not, is clearly fliewn by the preceding teftimony which I 
 have noticed, from which it undeniably appears that the con- 
 tents of this letter are untrue. What motives may have influ- 
 enced the writer of that communication, I mall not undertake 
 to determine. But it is as unjufl as impoflible, that Mr. Burr 
 fiiould be made refponfible for what different individuals pleafe 
 to write concerning him. All that can be required of him, is, to 
 fliew, that their afTertions are not founded in truth. This has 
 been amply done by the* fatisfaftory declaration of Mr. Ogden, 
 on whom Mr. Cheetham himfclf relied for final proof. What 
 can be more abfurd, than that Mr. Hamilton mould have co-ope- 
 rated with Mr. Ogden, or the federal party on this occafion, as 
 it is a well known fact, that he uniformly and flrenuoufly op- 
 pofed the eleftion of Mr. Burr to the prefidency, which I am 
 prepared to prove. 
 
 THE folemn and formal manner in which it is ftated, that Mr. 
 Ogden was commiflioned by the federal gentlemen at Warning- 
 ton to treat with Mr. Burr, is done to give the whole tranfac- 
 
 it
 
 tion a greater appearance of probability, and the more readily 
 to prejudice the opinions of the people. It is evident from 
 Mr. Ogden's folemn declaration, that he did not go to Wafhing- 
 ton to obtain this authority, but that he was taken there by 
 private bufinefs exclufively. That before his departure, he was 
 requefted to procure an interview with Mr. Burr, and afcertain 
 whether he would enter into the views of the federal party. 
 That he would not enter into their views is unequivocally fhewn 
 from Mr. Ogden's letter and conduct. He immediately wrote, 
 as he himfelf declares, to Wafhington difiuading the federal 
 party from fupporting Mr. Burr. And why ? The conclufion 
 is irrefiftable : Becaufe Mr. Burr would not come into their 
 meafures. I afk with confidence any reafonable man whether 
 Mr. Ogden would have thus written, if he had not completely- 
 failed in his undertaking ? If Col. Burr had not rejected the 
 proffered terms, if he had not decifively refufed to aid the fede- 
 ralifls in their attempts to make him prefident, would the very 
 man who had undertaken to treat with him, have departed from 
 the proportions he himfelf had made ? Of what confequencc 
 then are the letters which Mr. Hamilton or any other gentle- 
 men may have written ? I believe every friend of candid dif- 
 cuffion and fair argument, will affent to the propriety of reject- 
 ing all this irrelevant and incidental matter, and be governed in 
 their judgments by information which is authentic, and can be 
 relied on. This is the only mode in which he can arrive at 
 truth. 
 
 THE next fubject which is raifed for difcuflion in this " eighth 
 letter," is the conduct of W. P. Van Nefs, whom it is faid in 
 his correfpondence with the prefent mayor of this city, then its 
 reprefentative in congrefs, attempted to influence his fuffragc 
 in the choice of a prefident. . This gentleman from motives too 
 evident to be miltaken, has frequently been the fubject of the 
 mod virulent abufe. But as the perfons from whom it is knows
 
 95 
 
 to emanate have long been the objects of public contempt, and 
 of individual abhorrence, their invectives can neither excite un- 
 eafinefs, nor attach diflionor. Whether he wrote the letters 
 attributed to him, I am unable to decide ; nor is it material to 
 his j unification, or necefiary to eftablifh the innocence of Mr. 
 Burr. But for the prefent, and for the fake of argument, I mall 
 allow Mr. Cheetham the full benefit of his aflertion. 
 
 IT is faid, that the letter to Mr. Livingfton advifed him, af- 
 ter the firft or fecond ballot in the houfe, to abandon Mr. Jef- 
 ferfon and vote for Mr. Burr; ftating alfo, that this was the 
 prevailing wifh of the republicans at Albany. The latt afler- 
 tion was true, to an extent that warranted the exprcflion, and 
 the firft can be juftified upon principle. It is well known that 
 the conftitution of the United States, provides no mode for de- 
 fignating at a prefidential election, what candidates are intend, 
 ed for the firft or fecond office in the government. That in 
 cafe more than one mould have a majority of all the votes given, 
 and alfo an equal number, that the houfe of reprefentatives {hall 
 immediately chufe, by ballot, one of them for prefident. Hence 
 it evidently follows, that in fuch a conjuncture, the people, in 
 their popular capacity, lofe all further controul over the elec- 
 tion. Their right to elect a prefident is lapfed, and inftantly 
 vefts in the houfe of reprefentatives. To them is transferred 
 the fole and exclufive right, of giving a chief magiftrate to the 
 union. They then quo ad that tranfaction, do not act in the ca- 
 pacity of reprefentatives of the people, but as a tribunal de- 
 fignated by the conftitution, under given circumftances, to per- 
 form a fpecific object, foreign to their ordinary duties. Every 
 member of that tribunal is abfolved from any previous impulfe 
 he may have received, and at full liberty to purfue the dictaies 
 of his own judgment in choofmg a chief magiftrate. When 
 two candidates are prefented for his choice, he is not to enquire 
 who was intended for the executive office, but which is moil
 
 96 
 
 proper to fill that exalted ftation, and whofe adminiftration will 
 probably be productive of the greateil public good. Thefe 
 confiderations alone mould govern his decifion. By him the 
 election is to be confidered in an incipient ftate, totally abftract- 
 ed from the influence of all previous tranfactions. Should he 
 fuffer himfelf to be influenced by extrinfic confiderations, and 
 purfue what was ftated, whether correctly or not, to be the- 
 public opinion; if in violation of his own conviction, in direct 
 hoflility to his own conference, he mould raife, by his own voice, 
 a man to the prefidential chair, through whofe incapacity and 
 injudicious adminiftration of the government, his country fliould 
 be involved in a train of evils, that mould terminate in its ruin, 
 how could he juflify it, to his confcience, to his God, or the 
 world ? It would be directly contrary to all juftifiable rules of 
 moral conduct; and that policy which is at war with moral juf- 
 tice, rarely advances the fubftantial happinefs of a nation. 
 
 THAT in his decifion he hadpurfued the public voice, would 
 be no j unification. The fentiments of the people are certainly 
 entitled to refpect when they can be fairly and fully afcertained: 
 but the noife of a faction is too often miftaken for the public 
 voice. Though a majority of the people are always honeft in 
 their views, ftill they are liable to impofition, and through want 
 of correct information, often err. The doctrine of the infalli- 
 bility of the people is not verified by experience. It is a fpe- 
 cies of cant, by which the moft flagrant proceedings are often 
 purfued and juftified. The political dogma, that the people 
 can do no wrong, is as abfurd, when applied to the popular 
 fovereign of America, as to the hereditary monarch of England. 
 That the people are politically omnipotent, is true, but that 
 they have a moral right to will their own deftruction, is pre- 
 pofterous, and could never have originated, but in the heated 
 brain of a maniac. Whenever the people, through want of 
 correct information, the artifices of defigning men, or the pre-
 
 97 
 
 railing deliifions of the times, warmed by paffion, and enliven- 
 ed by collifion, are urging meafures in direct hoftility to the folid 
 interefts of the country, it behoves good men to oppofe the 
 heedlefs torrent, and fave their fair inheritance from defolation. 
 
 THESE obfervations will doubtlefs appear to every reader un- 
 neceflary, becaufe felf-evident ; and I certainly fhould not have 
 made them, had not the iniquity and treachery of oppofing a 
 majority of the people, been painted in glowing colours, and 
 flared us in the face from every page of the publications againft 
 Mr. Burr. Fortunately the very men who profefs fo much fen- 
 iibility and folicitude on this fubject, are the laft who mould 
 have introduced it. How, it may be afked, was the admini- 
 ftration of the government transferred from federal to republican 
 hands, but by a fyftematic oppofition to the prevailing party, 
 by uncealing exertions to expofe the errors of a majority of the 
 people ; and with due deference to their majefty be it fpoken, I 
 am not yet prepared to fubfcribe to their infallibility, notwith- 
 ftanding the induftry of the wife men who have lately been im- 
 ported, and their affectionate efforts to enlighten them. 
 
 IF therefore, Mr. Livingfton had been duly impreffed with the 
 rectitude of his views and intentions, he would have been per- 
 fectly jufufiable in transferring his vote from Mr. Jefferfon to 
 Mr. Burr, and Mr. Van Nefs in urging that meafure. 
 
 BUT it is faid that Mr. Jefferfon was intended for the prefi- 
 dency by the party, to which Mr. Van Nefs was attached, and 
 their wifhes he was bound not to counteract. This is a pofition 
 weaker and infinitely more dangerous than the firft. That a 
 man is bound to purfue indifcriminatcly the meafures of his 
 party, however unjuft in themfelves, or dangerous to the com- 
 munity, is a doctrine not novel in this country, but not the lefs 
 wicked. That in defiance of his own conviction he fhould be 
 driven by an exafperated party, to the fupport of meafures which 
 he deems hoftile to the profperity and happinefs of the nation,
 
 08 
 
 fuppofcs too outrageous an attack on mental independence, to 
 be tolerated for a moment. If Mr. Van Nefs differed in opinion 
 on this occafion from his party, who can doubt that he was cor- 
 rect in attempting to give effeft to his fentiments. In a country 
 where there are no tyrannical rules to reilrain, nor bloody inqui- 
 fition to punifh the freedom of opinion, men are accuftomed to 
 triumph in the uncontrouled expreflion of their fentiments, and 
 will think differently. If he deemed the political talents of Mr. 
 Burr, fuperiorto thofe of Mr. Jefferfon, and that the government 
 would derive a vigor and dignity from his adminiftration, which 
 the indecifion of Mr. Jefferfon's character could not give it, he 
 *ras certainly not fingular. The fame fentiments may be traced 
 to many of the belt republicans in the country, and as it is exclu- 
 iively a matter of opinion, which is to be referred to the judg- 
 ment of individuals, who will prefume to criminate or pro- 
 fcribe thofe who profefs it ? It is not within my defign to 
 draw at prefent a comparifon between the characters of thofe 
 gentlemen, nor mall I ever arraign the integrity of thofe who 
 may differ from me on the fubjeft. It is a fpeculative opinion, 
 unconnected with principle. 
 
 IF there exiiled the mofl remote obligation to adhere to Mr. 
 Jefferfon as the candidate of a party, it certainly ceafed after 
 he had received the fair fupport of that party throughout the 
 United States, and had been rejected by the houfe of reprefen- 
 tatives. Upon that rejection every incidental obligation that 
 could have arifen from party confiderations was diflblved, and 
 the two candidates afTumed a new and diftinft character. There 
 is nothing novel in this opinion. That it prevailed at Albany 
 is unqueftionably true. It was prevalent among ^hofe, who 
 were there deemed leading and confpicuous men. They openly 
 contended that Mr. Jefterfon and Mr. Burr were prefented to 
 the houfe of reprefentatives upon equal grounds, with equal 
 claims, and expreffcd a flrong defire that Mr. Burr mould be
 
 99 
 
 chofen. Among the warmed advocates of this opinion was Mr. 
 Brockholfl Livingfton, that honorable man who now profefle* 
 great abhorrence of fuch iniquitous conduct. I aflert this upon 
 indubitable authority, and if he has the hardihood to deny it, 
 it (hall be fupported by fuch teftimony, that if he is not infen- 
 fible to mame, will probably raife the firfl blufh his countenance 
 has ever exhibited. There were many others at that time loud 
 and bold, in their profeffions of fimilar fentiments, but now dare 
 not fupport them, and tremble under the rod, which is fufpended 
 over them, by factious calumniators and governmental agents. 
 
 IT will be perceived, that the remarks which have been made 
 on Mr Van Nefs's letter to Mr. Edward Livingfton, are equally 
 applicable to thofe which are faid by William S. Pennington to 
 have been written to a gentleman at Poughkeepfie. The letter 
 of this Pennington to Dennifton and Cheetham, and his con- 
 dul during the late prefidential election, exhibits a compound 
 of folly, hypocrify, vanity, and villainy, which have been rarely 
 equalled, and I believe never proclaimed to the world, by the 
 very man in whom thefe qualities are fo eminently united. ' A 
 man who after wandering for years from ftate to ftate, and from 
 one village to another, without talents to procure a fubfiftence; 
 an itinerant pugilift, who if known at all, has ever been indebted 
 for his fame to his talents for defamation; who has ftained the 
 records of the country in which he lived, and the books of every 
 attorney within reach of him, with profecutions for aflaults, 
 batteries, and {landers; and whofe veracity where he was known, 
 has ever been infufficient to give credit to the moft ordinary 
 tale, is certainly not a fuitable perfon to calumniate and pro- 
 fcribe men, whofe reputations are unfpotted, and whofe patriot- 
 ifm cannot be queftioned. This William S. Pennington, whom 
 Dennifton and Cheetham, no doubt at his exprefs defire, have 
 publifhed as an executive counfellor of New-Jerfey, has the con- 
 fummate vanity and impudence to boaft of the arts and frauds
 
 100 
 
 by which he obtained political preferment, and to efleem him- 
 fclf fo elevated above the mafs of mankind, and the ordinary po- 
 liticians of the day, as to be wholly ignorant of fuch men as 
 Mr. Swartwout and Mr. Van Nefs. 
 
 THERE is a fpecies of wickednefs fo wanton and reftlefs as 
 often to fruflrate its own purpofes. This obfervation is cor- 
 reftly exemplified in the character of this remarkable perfonage. 
 His conduct upon the occafion to which I have already alluded, 
 merits a few moments confideration. That his letter to Den- 
 niflon and Cheetham is an ingenious fabrication, conjured up for 
 the exprefs purpofe of furthering the views of Mr. Burr's ene- 
 mies, cannot be doubted. Knaves often affeft accuracy and 
 candor, to impofe more fuccefsfully upon the credulity of thofe 
 they mean to deceive. But when they are detected in direct 
 and palpable falfehoods, thefe ferve only to evince more clearly 
 the evil motives by which they were influenced. In this dif 
 graceful fituation do we find William S. Pennington. While 
 he is detailing with apparent minutenefs, the contents of a letter 
 or letters, which he fays were written by Mr. Swartwout at Alba- 
 ny to Mr. Williams at Poughkeepfie, who would believe him fo 
 abandoned to all wickednefs, fo deftitute of fhame, as to be the 
 fole fabricator of what he ftates? This however clearly and 
 irrefiftibly appears by the following letter, published in the 
 American Citizen : 
 
 TO THE PUBLIC. 
 
 " THE falfe colouring given by the relation of one William 
 S. Pennington, in a letter to Dennifton & Cheetham, which 
 appeared in the American Citizen of the 2 ad inft. and their fub- 
 fequent malicious remarks, oblige me once more to afk pardon 
 for obtrudiug myfelf on the public attention. 
 
 " I DECLARE, on my honor, that I did not, at any time, advifc 
 the election of Mr. Burr, as prefident of the United States, to 
 the exclufion of Mr. Jefferfon ; nor did I ever write to any per-
 
 101 
 
 fon or pcrfons to that effect; and I hereby authorife Mr. Ro- 
 bert Williams to publifh any letter or letters he may have receiv- 
 ed from me on the fubjedt of the late prefidential election. I am, 
 induced to contradict the bafe flanders of thofe exclufive patri- 
 ots, by a regard to truth only, and not from a conviction that 
 it would have been either difhonorable to me, or difadvanta- 
 geous to the country or the republican party to have promoted 
 the election of Mr. Burr to the prefidential chair." 
 
 " JOHN SWARTWOUT. 
 " New-Tor k, January 23." 
 
 THE reader I believe can have no difficulty now in pro- 
 nouncing this ftatement of Pennington falfe throughout. One 
 fart of it having been fhewn to be a grofs violation of truth^ 
 the other can certainly be entitled to no credit. 
 
 IT is to be lamented that this ingenious gentleman while on 
 the fubject, was not more circumstantial in giving us the contents 
 of his own letters upon the fubject of the late prefidential elec- 
 tion. He has glanced at them to be fure, but very wifely did 
 not enter into detail. Sufficient has been given however, to di- 
 rect us in detecting his own malice and bafenefs. 
 ' IN the fecond paragraph of his letter addreffcd to Dennifton 
 and Cheetham, and dated 2yth December, 1802, he fays, " In 
 the winter of 1 800 and 1 80 1 I refided with my family at Pough- 
 keepfie. The fubject of the prefidential election, as it was na- 
 tural it fhould do, engaged much attention, and excited much 
 anxiety. For my own part, I did not think that the federalifts- 
 were fmcere in their attempt to make Mr. Burr prefident, but^ 
 that their plans were calculated to prevent Mr. Jefferfon's elec-r 
 tion, that they might have a pretence for creating an executive 
 officer of their own party; and thereby either retain in their own 
 hands the executive power, or in cafe it was denied them, to dif- 
 turb the repofe of the union." Immediately after he fays, that 
 he wrote to- feveral of the New-Jerfey members in congrefs* 
 
 O
 
 102 
 
 particularly to Mr. Linn, and endeavored to imprefs the opinion 
 on their minds, that Mr. Burr fhould be elefted, rather than 
 the public tranquility put at hazard; and that the letters, which 
 h e fays were written by Mr. Van Nefs to Mr. Williams, only 
 tended to encourage him in the meafures he was purfuing. 
 Here in almoft the fame breath, this honeft and confident gen- 
 tleman tells us, that he did not believe, that the federalifts were 
 fincere in their attempts to elect Mr. Burr, and in the next, that 
 he wrote to members of congrefs urging the propriety of yield- 
 ing to the federaliils in the ele&ion of Mr. Burr, rather than 
 hazard the tranquility of the union. Admitting therefore for 
 a moment, and merely for the fake of argument, that Mr. Van 
 Nefs had written to Mr. Williams, as ftated by Mr. Pennington, 
 I will afk, where is the difference between Mr. Pennington's 
 letters to Mr. Linn and others, and Mr. Van Nefs, on the fub- 
 jedt of the prefidential election ? 
 
 THE only difference is, that one was written under an impref- 
 fion, that it would be hazardous to perfift in the election of Mr. 
 Jefferfon, and the other, as Mr. Pennington himfelf tells us, un- 
 der a conviction that the federalifts would not ferioufly attempt 
 the election of Mr. Burr, and confequently, to adhere to Mr. 
 Jefferfon, could not endanger the repofe of the country. Does 
 not this indicate fome finiftrous views, fome object which he is 
 now felicitous to conceal? Does it not decifively manifeft a de- 
 fire that Mr. Burr fhould be elected at all events ? This infer- 
 ence is irrefiftible, and renders the fubfequent conduct of this 
 man more fhameful and unprincipled. The interrogatories 
 which were moft abufively and inaptly put to another gentle- 
 man, may now with much greater propriety be fubmitted to 
 the ferious confideration of Mr. Pennington. Why did he ad- 
 yife the election of Mr. Burr at all, if he did not fuppofe him 
 qualified to fill the prefidential chair, and if he was convinced 
 that no danger would refult from adhering to Mr. Jefferfon ?
 
 103 
 
 NOTWITHSTANDING all the artifices by which Pennington 
 has attempted to elude detection, the truth, unfortunately for 
 him, has long been known; and his conduct, fo far from being 
 cenfurable, would have merited approbation, if he had not, from 
 interefted views, renounced the fentiments he then held, and 
 proclaimed his infamy, by manifefting the impurity of his 
 motives. The truth is, that he wrote feveral letters to mem- 
 bers of congrefs, urging the election of Mr. Burr to the prefi- 
 dency, afiigning numerous reafons to fupport the propriety of 
 the meafure, fome of which were not very flattering to the ta- 
 lents and political character of Mr. Jefferfon. His correfpon- 
 dent betrayed him, by fubmitting thofe letters to the perufal 
 either '\)f the prefident himfelf, or fome of his perfonal friends. 
 Soon after the prefident was chofen by the houfe of reprefenta- 
 tives, Pennington applied for the office of attorney of the dif- 
 trict of New-Jerfey. In confequence of the letters he had 
 written on the fubject of the election, or fome other, doubtlefs, 
 good caufe, the prefident, in his wifdom, deemed it expedient 
 to beftow that office upon a rival candidate. Pennington at firft 
 difcovered fome refentment and fpirit upon the occafion. He 
 reproached his correfpondent with bafcly betraying his confi- 
 dence, and offered to enter into a public difcuffion, to juftify 
 the rectitude of the principles upon which he had acted. His 
 warmth, however foon abated. He yielded to his invincible de- 
 fire for political elevation and pecuniary emolument, and fought 
 every mean, however diflionorable or bafe, to appeafe the wrath 
 of the ruling powers. No expedient, however humiliating, was 
 left untried to effect this purpofe. As opinions and principles 
 were with him, trifles light as air, he boldly threw confequences 
 behind him; and as the moft effedual mode of fuccefs, left 
 New-Jerfey, to feek an interview with James Cheetham, who, 
 to the honor of the government, boafted of being its organ in 
 New-York. He made Cheetham his father confeffor, and freely
 
 104 
 
 acknowledged that he felt feme "compunctious vifitings of con- 
 fcience," and was defirous of atoning for the crimes he had com- 
 mitted ; that if he now could be of fervice in calumniating the 
 vice-prefident, or afliil in the attack which had been commenced 
 on Mr. Burr and his friends, he was ready to yield his affiftance. 
 He accordingly received the forgivenefs of the Pope, and the 
 thanks of his emanuenfis Mr. Cheetham, who informed him, he 
 would foon be applied to, for information on the fubjecl to- 
 which he had alluded. This forlorn and weeping penitent re- 
 turned from his pilgrimage to his folitary home, which had 
 not yet been blefled with the enlivening influence of govern- 
 mental patronage. Cheetham wrote for the information which 
 had been promifed, and his new pupil, with humble and contrite 
 zeal, furnifhed the letter which is now under review. As a fpe- 
 cimen of the truths it contains, the reader will have the good-. 
 nefs to compare the firft fentence with the above recital, every 
 word of which is undoubtedly correct. The fentence to which 
 I allude is in thefe words: " It is a thing that has ever been very 
 foreign from my expectations, that any thing which pafled be- 
 tween Mr. Robert Williams and myfelf, on the fubjedt to which 
 you allude, would ever become a matter of public inveftigation." 
 The public may now form an accurate eflimate of the veracity 
 and character of this mamelefs afibciate of James Cheetham. . 
 THERE is another gentleman whom it will perhaps be proper 
 to notice here, as in fome meafure connected with this part of 
 the fubjecl. His condudt has been fuch as has evinced the 
 molt confummate hypocrify, or at leait a puerile and contempti- 
 ble mutability of opinion. From his late conduit it is not per- 
 haps generally known, that Mr. Gilbert Livingfton wrote letters 
 to Wafliington of the fame tenor, as thofe of Mr. Pennington. 
 Indeed his unreferved cenfure of the fentiments contained in 
 thefe letters, was calculated to fupprefs any fufpicion that he 
 had ever attempted to propagate them. I approach this gen-
 
 105 
 
 tJeman with 'reliance, as it is the cuftom of his friends to fave 
 him from animadverfion, by interpofing the fandity of his cha- 
 racter. Piety is entitled to reverence, wherever it is found, and 
 even hypocrify if well affumed, or prejudices, though unfortu- 
 nately aflbciated with ftupidity, are entitled to fome refpedt. 
 But outward purity alone fhould never be allowed to fave from 
 expofure, a multitude of fins. A mantle pervious to the fee- 
 blefl vifion, fhould not be permitted to arreft the fearch after 
 truth. The ridiculous and inconfiftent conduct of this man 
 ferves to mew that his mind is too feeble to form, and adhere to 
 any decifive opinion upon the moft ordinary fubject, or to refill 
 his propenfities to vibrate from truth to error. Although from 
 outward appearances he has derived a character fuperior to Pen- 
 nington's, he has by an attachment to his temporal intereft, and 
 the artifices of defigning men, been betrayed into the fame con- 
 duct. At one moment he has been the eulogift, and at another 
 the fevere calumniator of Mr. Burr. At New- York he has 
 profefled entire fatisfaclion with his conduct, and avowed a con- 
 viction of his innocence. At Poughkeepfie he has pronounced 
 him guilty of the charges exhibited againft him, and of deep de- 
 figns to fubvert the liberty of his country. This conduct has 
 already rendered him a miferable object of ridicule, and will foon 
 confign him to oblivion and contempt. Some attribute this 
 puerile inftability to the weaknefs of his mind, which, light as a 
 goflamer, flutters in every breeze, and yields without reliftance 
 to its impulfe 
 
 " Which makes them tale him for a tool 
 That knaves do work with, caWd a fool " 
 OTHERS to a bufy and rettlefs property to be engaged in 
 petty broils. It is a juft remark, that " old fools are babes 
 again," and his neighbours would do well to furnifh this pcr- 
 fon, with a rattle or a ftraw, to divert his attention from pri- 
 vate mifchief and political fcdudion.
 
 106 
 
 IT is fomewhat fingular that this Mr. Livingfton and hii 
 friend Pennington, after having been the firft to avow and pro- 
 pagate the fame fentiments as thofe afcribed to Mr. Van Nefa 
 and Mr. S\vart\vout, mould alfo have been the firft to condemn 
 them. They muft either have deemed thofe fentiments correct, 
 or not. If they did purfue the di&ates of their own under- 
 ftandings, their conduct was unexceptionable, and cenfure at- 
 taches to them only for not daring to juftify it. If not, they 
 have afted like knaves and hypocrites, for having attempted to 
 lead others into error, and afterwards reprobating the very mea- 
 fures they recommended, and the arguments they urged to in- 
 fluence their decisions. This is hypocrify in its moft pure and 
 vitious Hate. It has been well obferved, that when men have 
 fo far corrupted the chaftity of their minds, as to attempt the 
 accomplimment of objects which they believe to be improper, 
 merely to advance their perfonal interefts, they are prepared 
 for the practice of every fpecies of corruption and vice. 
 
 THESE very men who have been fo felicitous to trace the 
 letters which they moft officioufly choofe to afcribe to Mr. 
 Van Nefs and Mr. Swartwout up to Mr. Burr, will certainly 
 not admit that they were operated upon by the fame influence. 
 Why then is it to be prefumed that others were ? The anfwer 
 again recurs, becaufe the political character of Mr. Burr was to 
 be proftrated, and all thofe who would probably refift fuch an 
 iniquitous attempt, were to be involved in his fate. Befides 
 there is evidence apparent on the face of the tranfaftion, that 
 thefe letters were unauthorifed by Mr. Burr. 
 
 BUT independent of the inferences which arife from thefe 
 fads, 1 have inveftigated this fubjeft as far as the circumftances 
 under which I write will allow, and unequivocally ftate, and if 
 necefiary will prove, that Mr. Burr had no knowledge of fuch 
 letters as have been fpoken of by Mr. Pennington. 
 
 IF Mr. Burr in this advance ftage of the election, (for it has
 
 107 
 
 been /hewn that he did not before) had attempted to compafa 
 the prefidency, it is impoflible that he fhould have reforted to 
 fuch inefficient means. 
 
 His enemies allow that he has ever been judicious in the 
 choice of means to accomplish his purpofes. If he had been 
 difpofed to become a competitor for the prefidency, would he 
 not inftead of going to Albany, have appeared upon the field 
 of action, and have fupported his pretenfions by his prefence, 
 at lead. No man of reflection who was attentive to the events 
 of that period, can poflibly doubt, that if he had purfued this 
 conduct, he would now have filled the prefidential chair. This 
 opinion it may be faid, is derogatory to the characters of fome 
 of the then reprefentatives of the people ; be it fo, their own 
 conduct has juftified the cenfure. It is undoubtedly true, that 
 feveral members of the houfe of reprefentatives were difpofed to 
 abandon Mr. Jefferfon and vote for Mr. Burr, or that they 
 were at leaft fufpected of fuch intention by the friends of the 
 latter gentleman. It is alfo true, that thofe members continued 
 to vote for Mr. Jefferfon, and that they fubfequently received 
 lucrative and honorable appointments. Nay more, I believe 
 there would be no difficulty in proving that a member of that 
 congrefs, declared after the conteft was terminated, that he 
 would have abandoned Mr. Jefferfon, if the federalifts had of- 
 fered him fufficient inducements. With this ftrong, direct, and 
 irrefiftible coincidence of circumftances before them, who can 
 doubt that the prefidency was up for fale, and would have been 
 (truck off to the higheft bidder that if Mr. Burr had been on 
 the fpot, and could have defcended fo far as to promife political 
 preferment, or official emoluments and honors, he would now 
 have adminiftcred the government of the United States. Thefc 
 remarks may be deemed derogatory to the dignity of an Ame- 
 rican Congrefs. No one refpects that body more than I do, 
 But when corruption or even its inftrumcnts, arc permitted to
 
 108 
 
 tfnter its facred walls, infamy mould await them and with the 
 Satis which I have before me, part of which only have been enu- 
 merated, I do not fear to inveftigate the fubjeft. 
 ' I THEREFORE invite the accufers of Mr. Burr to fhew, that 
 any approaches were made to individual members of congrefs, 
 that any political preferment, any offices of honor or emolu- 
 ment, were promifed either directly or indirectly by Mr. Burr or 
 any perfon authorifed by him. With fuch fubje&s to operate 
 upon, if Mr. Burr could poffibly have attempted to obtain the 
 prefidency without reforting to thefe means, if others did not 
 fucceed, he muft have been worfe than an ideot ; and unlefs it 
 can be (hewn that he did, he ftands aquitted of the charges ex- 
 hibited againft him. 
 
 IT will now be proper to recapitulate what has been faid upon 
 the fubjeft of Mr. Burr's political conduft, and prefent to the 
 reader in a condenfed form, the charges which have been exhi- 
 bited againft him, and the evidence by which they have been 
 repelled. 
 
 IN the firft place, it is evident from what has been faid in the 
 former part of this work, that all the aflertions and insinuations 
 which have been made by the enemies of Mr. Burr relative to 
 his political conduct previous to the year 1800, are falfe and 
 malicious. That they are defigned for no other purpofe than 
 to prejudice the public mind ; and thus difpofe it to acquiefce 
 in the principal charges againft him. 
 
 adly. IT has been {hewn moft conclusively that Mr. Burr 
 never attempted to divert a fingle electoral fuffrage from Mr. 
 JefFerfon. I beg leave to imprefs upon the mind of the reader, 
 that this has never been brought forward againft Mr. Burr in 
 the mape of a diftinA charge; certainly becaufe no poffible evi- 
 dence could be adduced to fupport it. And alfo, that this of 
 all others, was the mode Mr. Burr ought and undoubtedly would 
 have purfued, if he had formed a defign to Cupglant Mr. Jeffer- 
 fon in the government.
 
 109 
 
 3dly. IT was ftated in 7he View, &c. that previous to the 
 prefidential election, " Mr. Burr difpatched political agents to 
 the different ftates; viz. Mr. Bifliop of New-Haven to Pennfyl- 
 vania, and Mr. Timothy Green of New- York to South-Caro- 
 lina. This has been fhewn to be totally untrue; ift. by two 
 letters of Mr. Bifliop, publifhed in the American Citizen on the 
 3d and ipth of Auguft 1802; and 2dly. by one of Mr. Green 
 given in the 7 6th page of this pamphlet. 
 
 4thly. IT was infinuated that Mr. Burr had tampered with 
 Mr. Lifpenard, one of the electors of this ftate. This is de- 
 cively repelled in the 74th page of this work. 
 
 5thly. THAT Dr. Smith of New-Jerfey was, under certain 
 circumftances, to have voted for Mr. Burr. This is clearly dif- 
 proved by Dr. Smith's letter contained in page 71. 
 
 6thly. THAT to induce the fouthern ftates to give Mr. Burr 
 an equal number of votes with Mr. Jefferfon, it was reported 
 that the latter gentleman would have two votes in Rhode-Ifland, 
 and Mr. Burr none. This is explained and repelled in page 75. 
 UPON an impartial inveftigation of the fubjecl thufar, I be- 
 lieve no candid mind can refift the conviftion that Mr. Burr's 
 conduct previous to the meeting of the electors was honorable 
 and fair. This is too evident to be urged farther. That he 
 continued to aft with good faith throughout, and never deviated 
 from the fentiments exprefied in his letter to General Smith, 
 previous to the commencement of the conteft in the houfe of i\> 
 prefentatives, appears conclusively from the ftatement contained 
 in the preceding pages, confirmed and corroborated by the cor- 
 refpondence of Meflrs. Ogden and Irving, contained in page 
 86, and the letters of Mr. E. Livingfton and Mr. Swartwout. 
 
 I HERE clofe the difcuffion of this pirt of the fubjcct, per- 
 fuaded that Mr. Burr's conduft through the whole of the left 
 prefidential election has been unexceptionable, and that the pub- 
 lic will properly appreciate the views of his enemies: that they 
 
 P
 
 110 
 
 will clearly difcern the interefted motives that impelled them to- 
 the attack on the vice-prefident, and in the end do juftice to hi* 
 reputation. 
 
 THERE are a few inferior charges which have been made 
 againfl Mr. Burr, not immediately connected with the late elec- 
 tion, but which have been introduced to anfwer the general pur- 
 pofes of calumny. I foment that the limits to which I am 
 confined, compel me to omit a minute difcuffion of them here. 
 But they mail be noticed to the complete fatisfa&ion of the 
 community, in another publication, which will alfo comprife an 
 inveftigation of other local topics, connected with our political 
 fituation. 
 
 I WAS by no means fbny to fee the firft fymptoms of indig- 
 nation that were manifefted by the people againft the vice-pre*. 
 fident. It evinced a laudable jealoufy of the privileges they 
 enjoyed under their happy conftitution, and a proud determina- 
 tion to protect it againft the invafions of ambition. It is true 
 that this jealous fpirit when uncontrouled; is often irritated for 
 improper pnrpofes, by factious and defigning men, and when 
 unattended by a love of inveftigation, degenerates into tyranny. 
 But when by proper patience and mild demeanor, a fpirit of in- 
 quiry can be excited, this danger ceafes. No evil is to be ap- 
 prehended when the people will take the trouble to examine for 
 themfelves, and not rely upon the aflertions of thofe whofe in- 
 tereft and dcfign it is to deceive them. When they are deter- 
 mined to proceed with moderation and temper, to examine into 
 the truth of any reported defigns againft their fafety, juftice 
 will certainly be done; and that a juft judgment may be formed, 
 it will be extremely ufeful to examine from what quarter and in 
 what fhape the fubjedl is brought before them. 
 
 WHEN the character of an eminent individual is aflailed, and 
 the accufations againft him involved in myftery, and confounded 
 with a multitude of known falfehoods, it is a convincing proof
 
 Ill 
 
 that they have originated in defigns deeper than thofe that arc 
 avowed. When they are attended with bitter and rancorous 
 invedlives, when paflion and malice are apparent, it difcovers an 
 impurity of motive, that requires the mod rigid explanation. 
 When too they originate with men deftitute of ftabjlity and 
 ilanding in fociety, who have neither refpe&ability of name, nor 
 weight of fortune to fupport them, but have always been found 
 among the factious and unworthy part of the community, a 
 hafty decilion (hould be avoided. This is emphatically applica- 
 ble to the attack which has lately been made on the vice-prefi- 
 <ient. Inftead of a fair and temperate invefligation of a fubjedl 
 which was fufceptible of a fpeedy and eafy elucidation, the moil 
 undiftinguifhing abuie has been lavifhed on ham, and his friends, 
 through every medium calculated to convey it. Newfpapers, 
 pamphlets, nay, volumes have been devoted to the deftruttion of 
 Mr. Burr's reputation, and that of thofe, who were difpofed to 
 defend him againft fuch unmanly treatment. 
 
 THE laws of decorum have been mamefully violated. Thofe 
 who were honeft enough to refill this wicked combination, were 
 ridiculed and infulted. All this was fubraitted to with a be- 
 coming moderation and temper. No meafures were purfued 
 that could irritate the public mind, which, already heated by the 
 collifion of various interefts, and prejudiced by volumes of falfe- 
 hoods, could neither be direfted nor controuled. When the 
 fenfibihty of the people is highly excited, the doctrines of a 
 political feel may fometimes obtain an afcendancy, however ridi- 
 culous they may be in theory, or dangerous in practice. But 
 it can only continue, until the cafual circumftances which have 
 produced it, are removed by the operations of returning reaforu 
 At this moment therefore, when the mitts of error are difperling, 
 and a fpirit of fober enquiry beginning to prevail, I have pre- 
 fumed*to folicit a few moments attention. As far as the con- 
 Iroverfy with Mr. Burr is perfonal, it gives me no concern; but
 
 J12 
 
 when indignities arc offered to the understandings of the people, 
 and impofitions pra&ifed upon them, involving momentous con- 
 fequences to our common country, patriotifm demands an effort 
 to refent and deleft them. 
 
 THE agents that were employed on this occafion, were well 
 calculated to accomplifh the obje&s their fuperiors had in view. 
 Two defperate and notorious offenders againft the laws and go- 
 vernment of their native country, engaged with alacnty in infe- 
 rior mifcliief. Thefe hireling trumpeters of faction who write 
 and calumniate for bread, goaded on by their daftardly em- 
 ployers, have infulted and convulfed the nation, by a feries of 
 the moft unbridled licentioufnefs ever countenanced in a coun- 
 try that boafls of a well organized government. 
 
 THIS ftate has been the principal theatre of action, where 
 factious fpirits have indulged in mifchief with impunity, and 
 where the fyftem of profcription has begun. The agitations 
 that have occafionally appeared in Pennfylvania and elfewhere, 
 are only branches of the fame corrupted flock. This unhappy 
 ftate, by the unguarded admiffion of foreign fugitives, has be- 
 come the fountain of evil, from which flow a thoufand dreams, 
 that pervade and poifon the whole country. 
 
 IN Pennfylvania, Duane has attempted to renderthegovernment 
 fubfervient to his diforganizing fchemes, and is now denounc- 
 ing its officers, for juilly refifting his pernicious projects. We 
 there find men who have grown grey in honorable fervice, who 
 have either obtained laurels in the field, or honor in the cabi- 
 net, and mould find their reward in the gratitude and attach- 
 ment of their country, afTailed by a foreign renegado, who has 
 here found refuge from the refentment of every country, in 
 which he has ever dared to feek an afylum. 
 
 THIS wretch, who it is faid is infenfible to difgrace, tho* 
 not " unwhipt of juftice," boafls of controuling the politics 
 of the ftate in which he lives, and of having the power to ele* 
 vate or deprefs, every political character at pleafure.
 
 113 
 
 THESE ebullitions of his vanity and infolence, are colle&ed 
 from letters now before me, and coincide with verbal commu- 
 nications to which I am ready to refer. 
 
 ALTHOUGH Duane in the attack which has been made on 
 the character of Mr. Burr, has only appeared as the fatellite of 
 Cheetham, and the humble copyift of his (landers, he has oc- 
 cafionally tranfgreffed the limits which his prudence or his cun- 
 ning had prefcribed. Confcious that the calumnies againft the 
 vice-prefident, could not be fupported, he at firft abftained 
 from any direct interference, but perceiving that they were 
 treated with filence and contempt, he affumed more confidence, 
 and ventured to give them fome collateral fupport. A moft 
 infidious editorial article appeared in the Aurora of the I3th 
 of June 1802, which ftates that the editor a few days before, 
 had been invited to breakfaft at Mr. Matthew L. Davis's in 
 New-York. That he there found Mr. Swartwout and Mr. 
 Van Nefs. That in converfation on the fubject of the publi- 
 cations, which had appeared againft Mr. Burr, he (Duane) 
 " recommended explanations, and wifhed for fuch explanations, 
 as might prevent divifions and further jealoufies. But it was 
 evidently too late, for Mr. Davis attacked the prefident in very 
 unworthy language, for which he was reprimanded."* 
 
 THE friends of Mr. Burr have certainly been criminally in- 
 different to the flanders of this common libeller. I examined 
 into the truth of this ftatement at the time the article in quef- 
 tion appeared, and moft unequivocally aflert, that no fuch lan- 
 guage was ufed upon that occafion, and that every thing 
 ftated in the paragraph juft quoted, is falfe. 
 
 IF Duane (hall think it expedient, to contradict what is 
 here faid, I (hall convict him before the public, of having de- 
 liberately fabricated and pubh'med a direct and palpable falfe- 
 hood. 
 
 * See Aurora, June 13, 1802.
 
 Ill 
 
 INNUMERABLE falfehoods like thefe, have been circulated 
 through the country, and many by conftant repetition have at 
 length paffed for truths. By an unvaried perfeverance in fuch 
 diabolical mea fares, the enemies of the vice-prefident, have 
 donbtlefs fucceeded in fome places, in producing impreffions un- 
 favourable to his political reputation. It is impoflible that the 
 faireft fame could rcfift fuch fyftematized abufe. For as in the 
 natural world the hardefl bodies wear away by conftant colli- 
 fion, fo in the moral, the pureft character may be ruined by 
 bold and unceafing calumnies. Confcious that while his influ- 
 ence continued, it would be exerted to oppofe their diforganiz- 
 ing projects, the firft and favorite objects of the opponents of 
 Mr. Burr was, to deprive him of the confidence of the admi- 
 niftration. The moft abfurd deceptions were attempted to be 
 pra&ifed upon Mr. Jefferfon, and the friends of Mr. Burr re- 
 prefented as inimical to all the officers of government. The 
 common rights of citizens were almolt denied them. The pri- 
 vilege of difcuffing the meafures of government, when exer- 
 cifed, was deemed indicative of defigns to proftrate thofe io 
 power. By thefe means has the influence of the government, 
 at leaft partially, been brought in, to fupport the meafures of a 
 fa&ioru 
 
 SURELY Mr. Jefferfon cannot be fo far deceived, or fo illi- 
 beral, as to believe that every man who differs from him in opi- 
 nion upon mere fpeculative fubje&s, or fuch queftions as daily 
 arife in the progrefs of public bufinefs, are either his perfonal 
 foes, or enemies to the government which he adminifters. If 
 he does, he fhould at leaft have the firmnefs to avow it. If not, 
 he mould drive from his confidence that band of knaves and 
 fycophants, who are infufing thofe poifonous ideas into hi* 
 bofom. Men of virtue cannot affociate with them, and while 
 they continue to revolve clofe around the center of public 
 power, every honefl citizen will withdraw, and view with deter-
 
 115 
 
 mined, though forrowful indifference the evils they produce. 
 It is time for him to aroufe from his inactivity, and make off 
 Uiofc pefts that hang around him, and that in the end will de. 
 prire him of the efteem of his fellow citizens. The people in 
 general, and more efpecially thofe, who have been held up to 
 the world in falfe and odious colours, have a right to demand 
 a deciiion on this fubject, from the chief magiftrate of their 
 country. 
 
 BEFORE however he determines, ultimately to act, and on 
 whom to rely for fupport, he mould view with compofure, the 
 parties that are arrayed againft each other. On the one fide he 
 will find revolutionary merit ; men too proud to bend the knee 
 to power, too honeft to aflbciate with rogues, and too brave 
 to be driven from the independent exercife of their opinions, 
 by any faction in the country. On the other, a fet of dif- 
 organizing cowards, who fctk to profit by the confufion they. 
 create, who if pofllble will lead him into error, and betray, 
 when they can no longer affift him. Above all let him remem- 
 ber who placed him where he is, and he will find they are not 
 thofe, who arc denouncing Mr. Burr. 
 
 THESE remarks are intended for the ferious confideration of 
 Mr. Jefferfon. To me the refult of his reflections upon this 
 fubject is immaterial ; but to him it may be important. He is 
 certainly interefted, and deeply too, in the divifions that pre- 
 vail. Upon mature inveftigation, he will find that the publi- 
 cations againft Mr. Burr, have iu truth, no connection with a 
 defence of the adminiftration; but that the queftion is, whether 
 a few factious individuals mall monopolize the honors and emo- 
 luments of the government, or whether Mr. Burr {hall retain 
 that ftation and influence to which his talents and political know- 
 ledge juftly entitle him? He will find that in this ftate, the 
 opponents of Mr. Burr dare not meet him on the true ground 
 of difpute, but that they refort to the gorcrnment to fight the
 
 116 
 
 battles which they are unable to fuftain ; that there is a wide 
 diftin&ion between the men who have wrefted the government 
 from federal hands, and the miferable minions 'of De Witt'Clinton. 
 He fliould refort for information to other fources,than a news-pa- 
 per, which is fupported by private funds for the exclufive pur- 
 pofes of flander. He would then be informed that James 
 Cheetham, who has hitherto received fupport from the general 
 government, is the tool of individuals, who know no motives 
 of action, but fuch as are founded in indifcriminate oppofition 
 to Mr. Burr. All refpe&able men, who have been deluded by 
 the fophiftry and profeffions of this man, are withdrawing their 
 countenance, and again embarking in the fupport of thefe ge- 
 nuine principles of freedom that firfl faved us from flavery, and 
 then from the pernicious tendencies of federal policy. 
 
 MR. BROCKHOLST LIVINGSTON ftill remains the moft inti- 
 mate aflbciate and coadjutor of James Cheetham. As this 
 gentleman however is rapidly travelling round the circle of in- 
 confiftencies, his fupport is as precarious, as it is'unimportant. 
 From the views which he has lately indulged, it is almoit time 
 for him to change his pofition. Verfed in calculation, and 
 fkilful in his movements, he changes fides, and wheels, with 
 all the agility of a veteran in political difcipline. 
 
 UPON what principles Mr. Livingfton means to juftify his in- 
 timacy with this man, remains yet to be explained. In June 
 1802, he pronounced James Cheetham the greateft rafcal in the 
 country,* and in the courfe of a very few months, we beheld 
 him his conftant companion. " The honorable judge Living- 
 fton," was referred to almoft daily, as the friend of the editor, 
 and the obliging author of information that graced the columns 
 of the American Citizen. From thefe circumftances it is fair 
 to infer, that he aided in preparing for the fame paper, a fketch 
 
 * / can prove that lit then made this declaration.
 
 117 
 
 uf the negotiations of colonel Burr with the Manhattan" Com- 
 pany. Mr. Livingfton was at that time a director of that bank. 
 
 A MORE fair and honorable negociation than the one in quef- 
 tion was never tranfafted. The bank was fecured by property 
 to nearly double the amount of the money advanced, unincum- 
 bered and moft rapidly increafing in value. Mr. Livingfton's 
 conduA in relation to that tranfaction, was as difgraceful as 
 indifcreet. Animadversions upon it, came peculiarly ill from 
 him, as at that very period, he was engaged in a loan from the 
 company to nearly the fame amount without having given any 
 other fecurity than his name. Befides, a man who has been 
 extricated from debts, to an incalculable amount, by means 
 which have never been explained, but is now rioting in luxury 
 and wealth, mould be cautious how he interferes in the pecu- 
 niary concerns of other men. A recurrence to the paft fcenes 
 of his life, mould" iinpofe filence upon fuch fubjefts. The re- 
 collection of ruined widows and of fuffcring orphans, whofe 
 tears have not yet ceafed to flow, is furely enough to harrow 
 op the very foul of knavery itfelf, and make it Ihrink back 
 with horror from every thing, that can revive the fad remem- 
 brance of their fate. Though the world through the influ- 
 ence of a mild demeanor, may be difpofed to bury fuch tranf- 
 a&ions in oblivion, there are thofe by whom they can never be 
 forgotten ; who in moments of diftrefs, muft behold with for- 
 row the fmiles of fortune lavifhed on the wicked, while her 
 frowns obfcure the deftinies of the good. But thefe are fub- 
 jec~b that mall be referved for future notice. This gentleman 
 has long moft afllduoufly fought popularity, and if he fucceeds 
 in obtaining public confidence while I live, he mall mount to 
 official dignity, with his portrait by his fide. 
 
 THERE are ftill a few men left, who have acted the fame un- 
 worthy part, and merit the fame chaftiiement, as the gentleman 
 I have juft named. But to enumerate them all, and examine: 
 
 Q
 
 118 
 
 their individual characters, would be " making war with bed- 
 lam." In due time, however, they fhall feel the rod, as it is im- 
 poffible long, to view in filcnce, the misfortunes that afflict our 
 unhappy ftate. 
 
 GOVERNED, as it has been for the laft three years, by an old 
 man, who, through the inevitable imbecility of age, has loft, 
 not only the fagacity necefiary to detect the frauds that arc 
 practiced upon, but the vigor to punifh the bafe inftruments 
 who have led him into error, it has experienced all the evils of 
 a wicked, as well as an incapable adminiftration. Oppreffed 
 by the withering hand of time, and finking under infirmities of 
 every kind, this gentleman is rejoiced to efcape from the duties 
 of bis office, and transfer the burthen of government to other 
 hands. It is his misfortune to have felected men deftitute of 
 virtue and of talents; to have been furrounded by creatures 
 who are notorious for their political crimes ; who are ready to 
 defert him in diftrefs; and who, when " fhorne of his honors," 
 would be the firft to calumniate and betray him; who with all 
 the levity of intoxicated folly, now boaft of directing the go- 
 vernment of the ftate, and of afting alternately as Secret Go- 
 vernor to his Excellency. 
 
 THAT men of probity and character, have been excluded 
 from his councils and his confidence, the diforders that have 
 difgraced his adminiftration, will teftify. That knaves and fy- 
 cophants have held the reins of government, and driven us to 
 the brink of ruin, muft be evident to every man converfant with 
 our political concerns. But the people are becoming fcnfible of 
 the evils that opprefs them, and the period is approaching, 
 when the united efforts of honeft men will proftrate this pha- 
 lanx of iniquity, and reftore the honor and dignity of the ftate.
 
 ERRATA. 
 Page 56, line 7, for care read eafe, 
 
 94, line 29, for prefent mayor read late may or*

 
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