* - v v - li M iiK, W ^Cy ?r't%Vi>% - % ^ ' i i v, . r; * - Ainc - . - i .- ^n "V-j^:: '-' . A A ^ rsi / ' // > ' I * > 'I , ^ ? * . THE LIFE AND TIMES OP AARON BURR, LIEUTENANT-COLONEL IN THE ARMY OF THE REVOLUTION, UNITED STATES SENATOR, VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, ETC. BY J. PARTON, AUTHOR OP "ntTMOnOUS POETRY OF THE E X O L 1 8 H LANGUAGE, "LIFK OF HORACE GREELET," ETC. THIRTEENTH EDITION. NEW Y B K : MASON BROTHERS, 5 & 7 MERCER STREET. 1860. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the * ear 1S5Y, by MASON BROTHERS, In the Clerk's Office of tho District Conn for the Southern Oistri^t of New York. STIIKEOTTPEDBT PRINTEDBT T. B. SMITH & SON, C A. ALTORD, 82 A 84 Jieekman-slreet. 15 Vandewater-street TO OF t jpitg|rtn 2075511 Vlll PREFACE. thousands of pages into a single volume of convenient size and price, would have been itself a justifiable work. Much more than that has been done. To complete my informa- tion, I have resorted to the following additional sources : First, the Literature of the period, and, particularly, the Memoirs and Letters of public characters, who were the rivals and associates of Burr. The correspondence of Jefferson, Hamilton, and John Adams has, of course, been of the most essential service. Secondly, the newspapers of Burr's day. Great num- bers of these are preserved, among other priceless treas- ures, in the library of the New York Historical Society, for access to which I am indebted to Mr. Moore, the oblig- ing librarian of that institution. Thirdbj, Aaron Burr himself. I never saw Aaron Burr, though in my early childhood I have played marbles before his door, and looked with curiosity upon the old-fashioned dull brass -knocker that bore his name ; having vaguely heard that some terrible old man, whom nobody would speak to, lived there all alone. The information that I have derived from Burr himself comes to me through his surviving friends and connections So superior is spoken to written language, that a few hours' close conversation with people who were really in- timate with Colonel Burr, threw just the needed light upon his character and conduct, which ransacked libraries had failed to shed. But for such conversations, I should never have understood the man nor his career. During the PREFACE. IX last three years, I have been in the hahit of conversing fa- miliarly with many of those who associated with him dur- ing the last twenty or thirty years of his life, receiving at every interview some addition to my stock of anecdote and reminiscence. Burr had a remarkable memory, and, with persons whom he liked and trusted, was fond of convers- ing upon the events of his career ; the whole story of which, at one time and another, he told them many times over. With all his faults, he was never given to self-vin- dication. He was one of those men who naturally make themselves out to be worse than they are, rather than bet- ter. He told the anecdotes of his life merely as anecdotes. The impression which they made upon those, who heard them was such, that many of his stories they still relate in the very words he used, and with imitations of the look and gesture that accompanied each phrase. Burr's own view of the leading transactions of his life has thus been imparted to me. Neither of my informants knew what any other of them had told me, or would tell me. The general concurrence, as well of the facts they gave, as of the opinions they en- tertained of the man, and their feelings toward him, was remarkable. The discordance and contradictions begin only when the inner circle of those who know is left, and the outer one of those who have heard, is entered. To Burr's surviving friends, then, I chiefly owe it that I have been able to extricate his story from the falsehoods in \vhich it was embedded. Others, whose acquaintance with him was slight and X PBEFACE. accidental, and some who merely saw him in public situa- tions, have also given me interesting information. The patient courtesy of many distinguished gentlemen to a stranger who could never make the slightest return of their kindness, greatly enhanced the obligation which they conferred. Such are the sources from which the following narrative has been derived. All of them have been used none followed. It may occur to some readers, that the good in Burr is too conspicuously displayed, or his faults too lightly touched, in this volume. To such I desire to say that, in my opinion, it is the good in a man who goes astray, that ought most to alarm and warn his fellow-men. To suppress the good qualities and deeds of a Burr is only less immoral than to suppress the faults of a Washington. In either case, the practical use of the Example is lost. Who can hope to imitate a perfect character ? Who fears that he shall ever resemble an unredeemed villain ? Besides, Aaron Burr has had hard measure at the hands of his countrymen. By men far beneath him, even in moral respects, he has been most cruelly and basely belied. Let the truth of his marvelous history be told afc last. If, here and there, my natural and just indignation at the unworthy treatment to which his name has been subjected, has biased me slightly in his favor, the error, I trust, will not be thought unpardonable. Aaron Burr was no angel ; he was no devil ; he was a man, and a filibuster. The period during which Burr was a public man is the PREFACE. XI most interesting in the history of the United States, after the Eevolution. It was then that Old Things in this country really passed away. Then arose the conquering Democratic Party. Then America became America. We are still only reaping what was sown in those twelve years, and shall for a very long time to come. Nothing consid- erable has occurred in American politics since the election of Jefferson and Burr in 1800 though one or two con- siderable things have been gallantly attempted. 1* CONTENTS, CHAPTER I. JONATHAN EDWARDS, THE FATHER OP AARON BURR'S MOTHER. PAQB His RESIDENCE IN NEW YORK IN 1722 SKETCH OP ins CAREER Ilia WIFE AND DAUGHTERS ESTHER EDWARDS THE EDWARDS STOCK INFLUENCE OP JONATHAN EDWARDS 25 CHAPTER II. THE REVEREND AARON BURR, FATHER OP AARON BURR. OUTLINE OP HIS EARLY HISTORY PASTOR OF NEWARK CHURCH A GREAT SCHOOLMASTER PRESIDENT OP PRINCETON COLLEGE TUP. FIRST COMMENCE- MENT SUDDEN MARRIAGE OF THE PRESIDENT His WHITINGS Ilia PORTRAIT 81 CHAPTER III. AARON BURR BORN, AND LEFT AN ORPHAN. REMOVAL TO PRINCETON LAST LABORS AND DEATH OP PRESIDENT BURR CHARACTER AND DEATH OF MRS. BURR THE ORPHANED CHILDRKN SARAH BURR . 45 XIV CONTEXTS. CHAPTER IV. THE EDUCATION OP AARON BURR. PACK ELIZABETH-TOWN ANECDOTES OF BURR'S CHILDHOOD His CAREER AT COLLEGE GOES TO DR. BELLAMY'S THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL REJECTS THE PURITANIC THE- OLOGY FOND OF LADIES' SOCIETY STUDIES IAW 51 CHAPTER V. THE VOLUNTEER. ITis QUALIFICATIONS AS A SOLDIER JOINS THE ARMY AROUND BOSTON ARNOLD'S EXPEDITION TO QUEBEC BURR'S SECRET MISSION FROM ARNOLD TO MONT GOMF.RY APPOINTED AID TO GENERAL MONTGOMERY THE ASSAULT UPON QUEBEC CAPTAIN BURR BEARS OFF THE BODY OF HIS GENERAL APPOINTED AID TO GENERAL WASHINGTON REASONS OF HIS DISCONTENT IN THAT SITUA- TION . 66 CHAPTER VI. AID-DE-CAMP TO GENERAL PUTNAM. TIIF. RETREAT FROM LONG ISLAND BURR SAVES A BRIGADE His AFFAIR -WITH MlSS MoNCRIEFFE IlEB NARRATIVE. ..-. . 85 CHAPTER VII. HE COMMANDS A REGIMENT. APPOINTED A LIEUTENANT-COLONEL COMMANDS A REGIMENT CAPTURES A BRIT- ISH PICKET FORMS AN ACQUAINTANCE WITH MRS. TIIEODOSIA PREVOST COMMANDS A BRIGADE AT THE BATTLE OF MONMOUTII- ANECDOTE . 96 CONTENTS. XV CHAPTER VIII. THE WESTCHESTER LINES. PACE CONDITION OP THE COUNTRY BEFORE COLONEL BURR TOOK THE COMMAND SUP- PRESSES PLUNDERING His HABITS AS A SOLDIER DESTROYS THE BLOCK FORT LOVE ADVENTURE BY NIGHT RESIGNS HIS COMMISSION TESTIMONY OF THE MI:N WHOM HE COMMANDED ANECDOTES INTERVIEW WITH MRS. ARNOLD AT PARAMUS EFFECTS OF THE WAR UPON HIS CHARACTER AND FORTUNE Ill CHAPTER IX. ADMISSION TO THE BAB, AND MARRIAGE. THE AMERICAN BAR BEFORE THE REVOLUTION BURR RESUMES HIS LEGAL STUDIES His CORRESPONDENCE WITH MRS. PREVOST ADMISSION TO THE BAR CHAR- ACTER OF MRS. PREVOST THEIR MARRIAGE REMOVAL TO NEW YORK 130 CHAPTER X. AT THE NEW YORK BAR. NEW YORK IN 1738 JOHN ADAMS'S IMPRESSIONS OF THE CITY THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF LAWYERS BURR'S QUALITY AND HABITS AS A LAWYER ANECDOTES HAMILTON AND BURR AT THE BAR EMOLUMENTS OF THE BAR THEN THE TASTES AND HOME OF BURR SCENES AT RICHMOND HILL 142 CHAPTER XI. THE NEW YORK POLITICIAN. Tire RAPIDITY OF HIS RISE IN POLITICS MEMBER OF THE STATE LEGISLATUBE OPPOSES TliE MECHANICS' BILL VOTES FOR THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY PARTIES AFTER THE PEACE THE GREAT FAMILIES OF THE STATE "BURR'S MYRMIDONS" THE RATIFICATION OF THE CONSTITUTION BURR'S EARLY MOVE- MENTS IN POLITICS APPOINTED ATTOENEY-GENKP.AL OF THE STATE His RF.- PORT ON THE REVOLUTIONARY CLAIMS SALE OF THE STATE LANDS ELECTED TO THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.. . 105 XVI CONTENTS. CHAPTER XII. A SENATOR. PAGE ENTERS THE SENATE TUB SENATE'S INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT "WASHINGTON BURR'S ADDRESS TO THE PRESIDENT LETTER FROM THE FRENCH KING THE PRESIDENT FORBIDS COLONEL BURR TO EXAMINE THE RECORDS BURR TALKED or FOR THE GOVERNORSHIP OF THE STATE BURR'S OPINION ON TUB DISPUTED CANVASS SECOND PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION BURR A CANDIDATE HAMILTON OPPOSES AND DENOUNCES HIM BURR AS A DEBATER WASHING- TON'S REFUSAL TO SEND HIM AMBASSADOR TO FRANCE THIRD PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION BURR A PROMINENT CANDIDATE HAMILTON AGAIN OPPOSES HIM DOMESTIC LIFE DEATH OF Mia. BURR EDUCATION OF HIS DAUGHTER 181 CHAPTER, XIII. THE ERA OF BAD PEELING. Tire THREE PERIODS OF OUR HISTORY PARTIES BEFORE THE REVOLUTION PAR- TIES AFTER THE REVOLUTION EFFECT OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION UPON AMERICAN POLITICS HAMILTON JEFFERSON THE TONE OF SOCIETY ON JEF- FERSON'S RETURN FROM FRANCE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HAMILTON AND JEFFERSON RISE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY JOHN ADAMS PUBLIC EXCITE- MENT IN 1793 207 CHAPTER XIV. MEMBER OP THE ASSEMBLY AGAIN. BUP.R P.ETTRES FROM THE SENATE TflE FEDERALISTS IN POTTER PRE-EMINENT POSITION OF HAMILTON BURR IN THE ASSEMBLY His PREPARATORY MA- NEUVERS HAMILTON OPPOSES BURR'S APPOINTMENT TO A GENERALSHIP THE ARMY THE MANHATTAN HANK AFFAIR BURR'S FIRST DUEL, AND ITS CAUSE 229 CONTENTS. XVU CHAPTER XV. THE ELECTION OP 1800. PACK GLOOMY PROSPECTS OF THE REPUBLICANS BURR CONFIDENT FEDERAL ERRORS ARREST OF JUDGE PEOK HAMILTON'S SCHEME FOR CHEATING THE PEOPLE JOHN ADAMS'S NARRATIVE BURR'S TACTICS HE AViNS OVER GENERAL GATES JUDGE LIVINGSTON AND GOVERNOR CLINTON HAMILTON AND BURR AT THE POLLS Tuc: VICTORY HAMILTON'S UNWORTHY EXPEDIENTS BURR FRUS- TRATES rar.it THE TIE BETWEEN JEFFERSON AND BURR 248 CHAPTER XVI. THE TIE INTRIGUES. THE WORKS OF WASHINGTON, JEFFERSON, ADAMS AND HAMILTON LETTER FROM BURR TO WILKINSON LETTER FROM JEFFERSON TO BURR LETTER FROM BURR TO HON. S. SMITH, APPOINTING HIM HIS PROXY LETTER FROM HAMILTON TO SECRETARY WOLCOTT, DENOUNCING BURR THE FEDERALISTS BEXT ON ELECTING BURR PRESIDENT LETTER FROM OTIS TO HAMILTON, ASKING ADVICE RESPECTING THE PROJECT SECOND LETTER FROM HAMILTON TO WOLCOTT AGAINST BURR LETTER FROM JEFFERSON TO MADISON, DENOUNCING THE FEDERAL INTRIGUES HONEST LKTTF.B FROM GOUVERNEUR MORRIS LETTER FROM HAMILTON TO SEDG- WICK, DENOUNCING BURR LETTERS FROM HAMILTON TO MORRIS AND BAYARD, AGAINST BURR REPLIES OF MORRIS AND BAYARD TO HAMILTON LETTER FROM GENERAL GREEN TO HAMILTON LETTER OF GOVERNOR EUTLEDGE TO HAMILTON SEDGWICK'S REPLY TO HAMILTON LONG LETTER OF HAMILTON TO BAYARD HAMILTON TO MORRIS AGAIN THE ELECTION IN TUB HOUSE SCENE BETWEEN JEFFERSON AND ADAMS PROOF OF BURR'S POLITICAL INTEGRITY THB INAUGU- RATION .. 262 CHAPTER XVII. THE VICE-PRESIDENT. THE OFFICE or VICE-PRESIDENT MARRIAGE OF TIIEODOSIA HER SON BURR'S DELIGHT IN HIM His STYLK OF LIVING His COURTSHIP OF CELESTE His r..i'iM.A::iiY ANU GI:NI:RAL GOOD FOUTUNK '297 XV111 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVIII. CLOUDS GATHER. PAGE THE GREAT ERROR OF BURR'S PUBLIC LIFE DISTRIBUTION OF THE SPOILS ClIKETIIAM AND THE AMERICAN CITIZEN BuRIt'S COURSE ON THE JUDICIARY BILL THE SUPPRESSED HISTORY OP ADAMS'S ADMINISTRATION HAMILTON'S MORBID APPREHENSIONS BURR AT THE WASHINGTON BANQUET HAMILTON'S NE\V TACTICS CHEETHAM'S CALUMNIES TUEIR REFUTATION THE WAP, OF PAMPHLETS AND NEWSPAPERS DUELING THEN HAMILTON'S ELDEST SON FALLS IN A DUEL DUEL BETWEEN JOHN SWARTWOUT AND DE WITT CLINTON RO- BERT SWARTWOUT AND RlCIIARD RlKER's DUEL DUEL BETWEEN CoLEMAN AND CAPTAIN THOMPSON BURR RUNS FOR GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK THE CONTEST BURR DEFEATED 305 CHAPTER XIX. THE DUEL. THE GENERAL PROVOCATION THE PARTICULAR PROVOCATION THE HOSTILE CORRESPONDENCE THE CHALLENGE GIVEN AND ACCEPTED HAMILTON'S CON- DUCT, AND BURR'S LETTERS BEFORE THE MEETING THE BANQUET OF THE CINCINNATI THE LAST WHITINGS OF HAMILTON AND BUKR THE DUELING GROUND THE DUEL EFFECT ON THE PUBLIC MIND THE CORONER'S YEE- TICT DR. NOTT'S SERMON THE MONUMENT TO HAMILTON ON THE GROUND.. CHAPTER XX. THE FUGITIVE. BURH'S CONDUCT AFTER THE DUEL ANECDOTE BURR'S FLIGHT COMMODORB TRUXTON'S NARRATIVE BURR EMBARKS SECRETLT FOR ST. SIMON'S His RE- CEPTION AND RESIDENCE THERE BANQUET AT PETERSBURG CHEERED AT FUE THEATER His RETURN TO WASHINGTON HE PRESIDES AT THE TRIAL OF JUDGE CHACE His ELOQUENT FARF.WELL TO THE SENATE lire PECUNIARY CONDITION 304 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXI. HE SEEKS A NEW COUNTRY. PAGB LOUISIANA OURS BURR'S FRIENDS ix THE WESTERN COUNTRY GENERAL WIL- KINSON TUB GREAT WEST IN 1SU5 BCRR GOES WEST NARRATIVE OP MAT- THEW LYON THE VOYAGE DOWN THE OHIO BLENXERIIASSETT ISLAND GRAND llKCEI'TION AT NASHVILLE ARRIVAL IN NEW ORLEANS NEW ORLEANS THEN His LIFE TiiEiiE KETURN EASTWARD BURR SUSPECTED BY THE SPANIARDS JOURNEY THROUGH KENTUCKY LETTER OF CLARK TO WILKINSON INTEK- VIEW BETWEEN WILKINSON AND BURK MYSTERIOUS LETTER FROM BURR TO WILKINSON CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN BURR AND BLENNERHASSETT INTER- VIEW BETWEEN BCRR AND JEFFERSON FuETUEK SPANISH AGGRESSIONS 381 CHAPTER XXII. THE EXPEDITION. THE OBJECTS or THE EXPEDITION BURR'S CONFEDERATES SWAETWOUT DIS- PATCHED TO WILKINSON BURR'S FATAL VISIT TO THE MORGANS EXEHCISES A KEGIMENT AT MARIETTA VIGOROUS PREPARATIONS KUMORS BURR HKKORE THE COURT IN FEANKKOKT DEFENDED BY HENRY CLAY Ilia TRIUMPHANT AC- QUITTAL 408 CHAPTER XXIII. THE EXPLOSION. SWARTWOUT'S ARRIVAL IN GENERAL WILKINSON'S CAMP THE CIPHER LETTERS WILKINSON UKVEALS THE SCHEME SENDS INFORMATION TO TIIZ PRESIDENT TUB PROCLAMATION WILKINSON'S MEASURES THE PUBLIC FRENZY SCENES ON BLENNEIMIASSETT ISLAND DESCENT OF THE RIVER BURR SUR- RENDERS GRAND JURY KEFUSB TO INDICT IIisj His FLIGHT INTO TUB WIL- DEKNKSS .. 425 XIV CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. THE EDUCATION OF AARON BURR. PACK ELIZABETHTOWN ANECDOTES OF BURR'S CHILDHOOD II is CAREER AT COLLEGE GOES TO DR. BELLAMY'S TJIEO LOGICAL SCHOOL REJECTS THE PURITANIC THE- OLOGY FOND OF LADIES' SOCIETY STUDIES IIAW 51 C PI AFTER V. THE VOLUNTEER. ITis QUALIFICATIONS AS A SOLDIER JOINS THE ARMY AROUND BOSTON ARNOLD'S EXPEDITION TO QUEBEC BURR'S SECRET MISSION FROM ARNOLD TO MONT COMF.KY APPOINTED AID TO GENERAL MONTGOMERY THE ASSAULT UPOX QUEUEC CAPTAIN BURR BEARS OFF THE BODY OF HIS GENERAL APPOINTF.D AID TO GENERAL WASHINGTON REASONS OF HIS DISCONTENT IN THAT SITUA- TION 66 CHAPTER VI. AID-DE-CAMP TO GENEBAL PUTNAM. THE RETREAT FROM LONG ISLAND BURB SAVES A BRIGALE His AFFAIR WITH MlSS MONCRIEFFE HER NARRATIVE. . . '. 85 CHAPTER VII. HE COMMANDS A REGIMENT. APPOINTED A LIEUTENANT-COLONEL COMMANDS A REGIMENT CAPTURES A BRIT- ISH PICKET FORMS AN ACQUAINTANCE 'WITH MRS. TIIEODOSIA PREVOST COMMANDS A BRIGADE AT TUB BATTLE OF MoNilOUHI- ANECDOTE 96 CONTENTS. XV . CHAPTER VIII. THE WESTCHESTER LINES. PAGE CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY BEFORE COLONEL BURR TOOK THE COMMAND SUP- PRESSES PLUNDERING His HABITS AS A SOLDIER DESTROYS THE BLOCK FORT LOVE ADVENTURE BY NIGHT RESIGNS HIS COMMISSION TESTIMONY OF THE MEN WHOM HE COMMANDED ANECDOTES INTERVIEW WITH MRS. ARNOLD AT I'AKAML-S EFFECTS or THE WAR UPON HIS CHARACTER AND FORTUNE Ill CHAPTER IX. ADMISSION TO THE BAB, AND MAERIAGE. TUB AMERICAN BAR BEFORE THE REVOLUTION BURR RESUMES HIS LEGAL STUDIES His CORRESPONDENCE WITH MRS. PREVOST ADMISSION TO THE BAR CHAR- ACTER OF MRS. PREVOST THEIR MARRIAGE REMOVAL TO NEW YORK 130 CHAPTER X. AT THE NEW YORK BAR. Xr.w YORK IN 1733 JOHN ADAMS'S IMPRESSIONS OF THE Cmr THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF LAWYERS BUER'S QUALITY AND HABITS AS A LAWYER ANECDOTES HAMILTON AND BURR AT THE BAR EMOLUMENTS OF THE BAR THEN THE TASTES AND HOME OF BURR SCENES AT RICHMOND HILL... 142 CHAPTER XI. THE NEW YORK POLITICIAN. THE RAPIDITY OF HLS RISE IN POLITICS MEMBER OF THB STATE LEGISLATUBK OPPOSES THE MECHANICS' BILL VOTES FOR THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY PARTIES AFTER THE PEACE THE GREAT FAMILIES OF THE STATE "BURR'S MYRMIDONS" THE RATIFICATION OF THE CONSTITUTION BURR'S EARLY MOVE- VENTS IN POLITICS APPOINTED ATTOP.NEY-GENXRAL OF TUB STATE His RF.- PORT ON THE REVOLUTIONARY CLAIMS SALE OF THE STATE LANDS ELECTED TO THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 103 XXII CONTENTS. PAGE FUSED UNDER SURVEILLANCE OF THE POLICE PECUNIARY STRAITS CUT BY TIIE AMERICAN RESIDENTS INTERVIEW WITH TOR Due DE ROVIGO CORRE- SPONDENCE WITH THE AMERICAN CHARGE DES AFFAIRES BURR'S EXTREME POVERTY CURES A SMOKY CHIMNEY LETTERS FROM THEODOSIA EXPEDIENTS FOR RAISING MONEY 552 CHAPTER XXXI. HE ESCAPES. THE TICKET ADVENTURE ACQUAINTANCE WITH M. DENON AND THE Due DE BAB- SANO A BRIGHTER PROSPECT PASSPORTS PROCURED BASSANO'S GENEROSITY JOURNEY TO HOLLAND FURTHER DELAYS LEAVES PARIS FOREVER INCI- DENTS OF HIS DEPARTURE SAILS FROM HOLLAND CAPTURED BY A BRITISH FRIGATE IN LONDON AGAIN PENNILESS CHEERFULNESS IN MISFORTUNE DESPERATE EFFORTS TO RAISE MONEY LEAVES LONDON CHASE AFTER THE SHIP SAILS FOR BOSTON 570 CHAPTER XXXII. THE EXILE'S WELCOME HOME. ALONE IN THE SHIP GOES ON SHORE IN DISGUISE ADVENTURES AT THE CUSTOM- HOUSE DETENTION IN BOSTON INTERVIEW WITH THE OLD SOLDIER THE COLLEGE CLASSMATE RECOGNIZED BY A LADY GOOD NEWS FROM SWARTWOUT SAILS IN A SLOOP FOR NEW YORK FINDS RELATIVES ON BOARD STARTLING INCIDENT BURR NARRATES HIS ARRIVAL IN THE CITY CONCEALED FOR TWENTY DAYS ANNOUNCEMENT OF HIS ARRIVAL SUCCESSFUL BEGINNING OF BUSINESS DREADFUL NEWS FROM THEODOSIA DEATH OF TIIEODOSIA THE FATHER'S GRIEF ANECDOTE 586 CHAPTER XXXIII. ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES OF HIS LATER YEARS. POPULAR NOTION OF BURR'S LATER TEARS His DEBTS STARTS GENERAL JACK- SON FOR THE PRESIDENCY THE MEDCEF EDEN CASE REMARKABLE CASE OF INCEST INTERVIEW WITH HENRY CLAY SCENE BETWEEN BURR AND GENERAL SOOTT BURR REVISITS THE SCENE OF THE DUEL BURR'S MEETING WITH MRS. CONTENTS. XX111 PACK HAMILTON' BURR AND VANDERLYN THE PAINTER RECOLLECTIONS OF DR. WOODBRIDGE HlS RELIGIOUS BEUEP HlS OPINION OF THE BlBLE ANEC- DOTESGENEROSITY OF BURR ANECDOTES STORY OF BURR AND GENERAL JACKSON BURR'S OPINION OF JACKSON BURR'S HALE OLD AGE BURR AND FA.NNY KEMBLE... 603 CHAPTER XXXIV. HIS RELATIONS WITH WOMEN. 'THEY SAY'' ANECDOTE OF "WILBERFORCE THK ERRORS OF M. L. DAVIS TUB Two WILLS OF COLONEL BURR ANECDOTES LETTER OF COLONEL BUKR TO A YOUNG LADY THE AGE OF GALLANTRY His INFLUENCE OVER LADIES His MANNERS CAUSES OF nis BAD REPUTATION WITH REGARD TO WOMEN ADVENTURES ON THE COLD FRIDAY OTUEE ANECDOTES BURR NO SEDUCER.. 637 CHAPTER XXXV. HIS SECOND MARRIAGE. ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF STEPHEN JUMEL MADAME JUMEL'S VISIT TO BURR COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE BURR MISUSES HER MONEY THEIR SEPARATION.. C60 CHAPTER XXXVI. HIS LAST TEARS AND HOURS. STRICKEN WITH PARALYSIS His LAST AND BEST FRIEND ANECDOTES OF Hre SICKNESS DYING DECLARATION RESPECTING His EXPEDITION INTERVIEW n'lTii A CLERGYMAN His LAST MOMENTS FUNERAL MONUMENT 667 CHAPTER XXXVII. OTIISU FACTS, AND SOME REFLECTIONS... .. 6-f. CHAPTER I. JONATHAN EDWARDS, THE FATHER OF AARON BURR'S MOTHER. iVs KKSIDKNTF. IN NEW YORK IN 1722 SKETCH OF HIS CAREER His WIFE AND D \n;iiTEKS ESTHER EDWARDS THE EDWAKDS STOCK INFLUENCE OF JONATHAN EDWARDS. Ix the autumn of 1722, when New York was a to\vn of eight thousand inhabitants, and possessed some of the charac- teristics of a Dutch city, an English sea-port, a new settlement, a garrisoned town, and a vice-royal residence, there used to walk about its narrow, winding streets, among the crowd of Dutch traders, English merchants, Indians, officers and sol- diers, a young man whose appearance was in marked contrast with that of the passers-by. His tall, slender, slightly stoop- ing ligure, was clad in homespun parson's gray. His face, very pale, and somewhat wasted, wore an aspect of singular refine- ment, and though but nineteen years of age, there was in his air and manner the dignity of the mature and cultivated man. This was JONATHAN EDWARDS, who had just come from studying divinity at Yale College, to preach to a small con- gregation of Presbyterians in the city. New York had an ill name at that time among the good people of New England. "The Dutch of New York and New Jersey," said one of them, "are little better than the savages of our American deserts." Jqnathan Edwards was sent by a company of clergy men to this desperate place much in the spirit of those who, at the present day, send missionaries to Oregon or to the mining districts of California. Kvery thing was adverse to the spread of his faith at that time in Xew York, and the young clergyman, after a residence of only a few months, went home to resume his studies. Dearly 26 LIFE O F AARON BURK. loved and highly prized by some members of his little congre- gation in New York he certainly was ; but there is no reason to suppose that the preaching of the greatest of American clergymen attracted the slightest attention from the unintel lectual citizens of the place. Yet a happier, a more exultant youth, never trod the shores of this island than Jonathan Edwards. He had grasped the tenets of his sect not with the languid assent with which an inherited creed is frequently re- ceived, but with that eager, enthusiastic love which accompanies original conceptions. To him they were the most real of all realities. His manner was very calm and gentle. He spoke little, and kept apart from the busy life of the city. But the light of perfect benevolence and rapt-devotion rested upon his noble, thought-laden countenance, and a profound enthusiasm animated his heart. Of his life in New York, he writes in after years a brief account, which still exists to reveal to a canting age a soul devoted to the object of its love. How touching is this extract: "If I heard the least hint of anything that hap- pened in any part of the world that appeared, in some re- spect or other, to have a favorable aspect on the interests of Christ's kingdom, my soul eagerly catched at it ; and it would much animate and refresh me. I used to be eager to read f >>//>- lie news-letters, mainly for that end ; to see if I could not find .tome news, favorable to the interest of religion in the world. I very frequently nsed to retire into a solitary place, on the banks of Hudson's river, at some distance from the city, for contemplation on divine things and secret converse with God ; and had many sweet hours there. Sometimes Mr. Smith and I walked there together, to converse on the things of God: and our conversation nsed to turn much on the advancement A' Christ's kingdom in the world, and the glorious things that God would accomplish for his church in the latter days. I had then, and at other times, the greatest delight in the holy Scriptures, of any book whatsoever. Oftentimes in reading 5t, every word seemed to touch my heart. I felt a harmony between something in my heart and those sweet and powerful words. I seemed often to see so much light exhibited by JONATHAN ED WAKDS. 27 every sentence, and such a refreshing food communicated, that I could not get along in. reading ; often dwelling long on one sentence, to see the wonders contained in it ; and yet al- most every sentence seemed to be full of wonders." Through the obsolete phraseology of this passage, one easily discerns a fine disinterestedness of character which, unless tho human race should become wholly debased, can never become obsolete. The industry of one of his descendants has given the world a biography of Jonathan Edwards, which possesses historical interest.* Of the religion called " evangelical," he was per- haps, the most perfect exemplification that ever existed. The child was father of the man. We see him, as a boy of ten, building a booth in a swamp near his father's house, to which he and two of his companions used to go regularly to pray. In his eleventh year, we read of his demonstrating, with a kind of solemn jocularity, the absurdity of an opinion which had been advanced by a boy of his own age, that the soul was material, and remained in the grave with the body till the resurrection. At twelve, we find him beginning a letter to one of his sisters thus : " Through the wonderful goodness and mercy of God, there has been in this place a very re- markable outpouring of the Spirit of God." He proceeds to inform his sister that he " has reason to think it is in some meas- ure diminished, but he hopes not much, and that above thirty persons came commonly a Mondays to converse with father about their souls." At the same time, he exhibited in things not religious, an intelligence truly remarkable. He wrote, in his twelfth year, an elaborate description of " the wondrous way of. the working of the forest spider," which shows that he possessed a rare talent for the observation of nature. One of the great- est of natural philosophers was lost to the world when Jon- athan Edwards became a theologian. At thirteen, he was one of the thirty-one students who, in 1716, composed Vale College, and there occurred the events which decided his career. " Toward the latter part of my * Tho Life of President Edwards. S. B. Dwight. New York : G. & C. & H. Can-ill, 1830. 28 LIFE OF AAEON BURE. time at college," he wrote, " it pleased God to seize me with a pleurisy, in which he brought me nigh to the grave, and shook me over the pit of hell." Alarmed, the exemplary youth "made seeking his salvation the main business of his life" with the usual evangelical result. The other event was, for his country and the Protestant world, far more important. It was his reception of what theologians call the doctrine of election. From his childhood up, as he himself records, his ingenuous mind had revolted from the idea of " God's choosing whom he would to eternal life, and rejecting whom he pleased, leav- ing them eternally to perish and be everlastingly tormented in hell." But the time came when he thought he believed this doctrine. He could not tell how nor why. On a sudden, con- viction flashed upon his mind, and what had once seemed a horrible doctrine, he contemplated with delight. Henceforth, the leisure of his life, and the best efforts of his intellect, were devoted to its elucidation. His treatise on the " Freedom of the Will," by which he is chiefly known to the recent world, is an ingenious attempt to make that reasonable, which, not through his reason, he had himself received. To reconcile the orthodox tenets with the facts of nature and the reason of man is the task at which the brain of New England grew large and the chest narrow. Of those who have lived and died in that vocation, the greatest and the best was Jonathan Edwards. Nobler than any of his works was the life of this good man. He was one of those who have deliberately incurred obloquy and ruin for conscience' sake. After leaving New York, he was a tutor in Yale College for a year or two, and was then chosen pastor of the church at Northampton. There, his preaching produced effects that have never been surpassed. His church became the largest Protestant society in the world. He stood at the head of the clerical profession in New England. The "great awakening," of which so much appears in the writings of that day, began in his church at Northampton, and extended to the remotest colony in America, to England, and to Scotland. He was the JONATHAN EDWARDS. 29 first American author who achieved a European reputation ; while he \vas yet a young man, sermons and volumes of his were republished in Great Britain and widely circulated. At home, wherever he preached, crowds hung upon the lips of the great Mr. Edwards of Northampton. For twenty-three years he held this unequaled position, a shining light in the Protestant world, and dear to the pride of his own congregation. Then there arose a dispute between pastor and flock, whether saints and sinners were equally en- titled to partake of the sacrament, or saints only. The pastor was for excluding, the flock for admitting, sinners. The peo- ple appealed to the established custom of the parish ; the pastor, to the spirit and letter of the authoritative writings. The people grew warm, refused their minister a hearing on the point in dispute, and clamored for his dismissal. He was dismissed. Himself, his wife, his ten children, were suddenly deprived of the means of living, and in circumstances that made it unlikely that he would be again able to practice his profession. That a company of Christian people, after having had for nearly a quarter of a century the best instructions in the prin- ciples of their faith that any congregation ever had, and that instruction enforced by a perfect example, should have been able thus to reward their religious teacher, is a fact, which those who are curious in moral causes and effects will always deem worthy of consideration. On this trying occasion, Jonathan Edwards honored human nature by the quiet dignity and grand forbearance of his conduct. He accepted soon the humble post of missionary to the Indians of Stockbridge, and labored there, this ablest of living preachers and theologians, with no less zeal and devo- tion than he had shown in his prime of popularity. There, in the space of four months and a half, he wrote his treatise on the Will, which is the Principia of Calvinistic theology. He wrote it when he was so embarrassed that he procured with difficulty the necessary paper, and parts of the work, like Pope's Homer, were written on the backs of letters and the blank pages of pamphlets. His wife, a lady magnificently en- 80 LIFE OF AAEON BURR. dowed in person and mind, his daughters, beautiful and fall of talent, made lace and painted fans, which were sent to Boston for sale. ESTHER, the third of these lovely, industrious daughters, was already eighteen years of age when the family removed to Stockbridge. Two years after, came to her home, on the edge of the wilderness, one of the most renowned and bril- liant members of her father's profession. He stood over her, or sat near her, one may fancy, as she wove her lace or painted her fan-paper. He had an eye for a lady's hand, this clergy- man. He was not one of those grim-looking persons whose portraits form the hideous frontispieces to the religious books of that period, but a gentleman whose style and manner would have graced a court. He staid only three days at Stockbridge, but after his departure the young maiden made no more lace and painted no more fans for the Boston ladies. Such, at least, was the gossip of the time, as one reads in let- ters which chance has preserved for the perusal of a prying biographer. The Edwards stock is famous in New England. The re- motest known ancestor of the race was a London clergyman in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Three generations of wor- thy, substantial persons, his descendants, lived in Connecticut. From Jonathan Edwards a surprising number of distinguished individuals have descended ; men of worth, talent, and sta- tion : women, beautiful, accomplished, and gifted. Histories of the United States have been written in which his name does not occur ; but upon every person reared since his day in New England he has made a discernible impression, and he influences, to this hour, millions who never heard his name. The thing he chiefly did in his life was this : the church and the world, two hostile bodies, were beginning, as it were, to relent toward one another, to approach, to mingle. Jonathan Edwards, with his subtle, feminine intellect and resolute will, threw himself between the two bodies, kept them apart, mndo more distinct than ever the line of demarcation, and rendered compromise between the two, perhaps, for ever impossible. Such a man was the father of Aaron Burr's mother. CHAPTER II. THE REVEREND AARON BURR, FATHER OP AARON BURR. OUTLINE OF ins EAV.LT HISTORY PASTOR OF NEWARK CHURCH A GREAT SCHOOL- MASTER PRESIDENT OF PRINCETON COLLEGE THE FIRST COMMENCEMENT SUDDEN MARRIAGE OF THK PRESIDENT His WRITINGS His PORTRAIT. THE Reverend Aaron Burr was a conspicuous and important person in his day. He came of a Puritan family which may have originated in Germany, where the name is still common, but which had flourished in Ne\v England for three generations, and had given to those provinces clergymen, lawyers, and civilians of some eminence. He was born at Fail-field, in Connecticut, in 1716, and graduated at Yule, with great distinction, in his nine- teenth year. His proficiency in Latin and Greek enabled him to win one of the three Berkley scholarships, which entitled the ]>i>.xrs to the great design of my being, had lived in vain. Though before, I had been under frequent convictions, and was driven 32 LIFE OF AAEON BURR. to a form of religion, yet I knew nothing as I ought to know. But then I was brought to the footstool of sovereign grace, sa\v myself polluted by nature and practice, had affecting views of the divine wrath I deserved, was made to despair of help in myself, and almost concluded that my day of grace was past. It pleased God at length to reveal his Son to me in the gospel as an all-sufficient Saviour, and I hope inclined me to receive him on the terms of the gospel." Here is the whole body of Calvinistic divinity in a paragraph. At the early age of twenty-two he was the settled and pop- ular pastor of the Presbyterian church in Newark, New Jer- sey. Great 'revivals' followed his preaching. The placid but commanding eloquence of which he was, thus early in his career, a finished master, was, by many, more admired than the torrent-like vehemence of Whitefield, or the subtle argu- mentation of Edwards. We have a description of his mode of preaching from the pen of Governor Livingston of New Jersey, his friend in life, his eloquent eulogist after his death. "He was none of those downy doctors," said the governor, "who soothe their hearers into delusive hope of divine accept- ance, or substitute external morality in the room of vital godli- ness. On the contrary, he scorned to proclaim the peace of God till the rebel laid down his arms, and returned to his al- legiance. He was an embassador that adhered faithfully to his instructions, and never acceded to a treaty that would not be ratified in the court of heaven. He searched the conscience with the terrors of the law before he assuaged its anguish with the balm of Gilead, or presented the sweet emollients of a bleeding deity. He acted, in short, like one, not intrusted with the lives and fortunes, but the everlasting interests of hi fellow mortals." It was customary at that time for clergymen to receive pu pils for instruction in the classical languages. Mr. Burr's rep- utation for eloquence and learning brought him so many boys that his private class grew rapidly into an important school. He kept ushers. He wrote a Latin grammar for the use of his pupils, which, under the name of the "Newark Grammar," was long the standard at Princeton. His success in teaching EEVEKKND AAKON BURK. 3S was memorable. He possessed not only a happy method of giving instruction, but he had the rarer and higher art of in- fusing into his pupils his own enthusiastic love of learning and literature. He was an admirable teacher, jocund and winning, without losing or lessening his dignity or his authority. To his labors as pastor, schoolmaster, and author, were afterward added those of the President of the College of New Jersey, an infant institution which his toil and tact fostered to a healthy and vigorous growth. An article in an old news- paper,* published when George the Second was king, enables xis to see this excellent, indefatigable man on that triumphant day of his life when the college conferred its first degree, in the presence of the governor of the province, and a great con- course of people. With amusing particularity the writer nar- rates the august ceremonies of the day: " His excellency (the governor) was preceded from his lodgings at the president's house, first, by the candidates walking in couples, uncovered ; next followed the trustees, t\vo and two, being covered ; and, last of all, his excellency, the governor, with the president at his left hand. At the door of the place appointed for the public acts, the procession (amid a great number of spectators there gathered) was in- verted, the candidates parting to the right and left hand, and the trustees in like manner. His excellency first entered with the president, the trustees went following in the order in which they were ranged in the charter, and, last of all, the candidates. " Upon the bell ceasing, and the assembly being composed, the president began the public acts by solemn prayer to God, in the English tongue, for a blessing upon the public transac- tions of the day ; upon his majesty, King George the Second, and the royal family ; upon the British nation and dominions ; upon the governor and government of New Jersey ; upon all seminaries of true religion and good literature, and particularly upon the infant College of New Jersey. Which being con- cluded, the president, attended in the pulpit by the Rev. Thomas Arthur, who had been constituted clerk of the cor- * Pennsylvania Journal, December 8th, 1748. 2* 34 LIFE OF AAEON BURR. poration, desired, in the English tongue, the assembly to stand up and hearken to his majesty's royal charter, granted to the trustees of the College of New Jersey. Upon which, the as- sembly standing, the charter was distinctly read by the Rev. Mr. Arthur, with the usual endorsement by his majesty's at- torney-general, and the certificate, signed by the secretary of the province, of its having been approved in council with his excellency. After this, the morning being spent, the presi- dent signified to the assembly that the succeeding acts would be deferred till two in the afternoon. Then the procession, in returning to the president's house, was made in the order be- fore observed. " The like procession was made in the afternoon as in the morning, and the assembly being seated in their places and composed, the president opened the public acts, first, by an elegant oration in the Latin tongue, delivered memoriter, modestly declaring his unworthiness and unfitness for so weighty a trust as had been reposed in him ; apologizing for the defects that would unavoidably appear in his part of the present service; displaying the manifold advantages of the liberal arts and sciences in exalting and dignifying the human nature, enlarging the soul, improving the faculties, civilizing mankind, qualifying them for the important offices of life, and rendering men useful members of church and state. That to learning and the arts was chiefly owing the vast preeminence of the polished nations of Europe to the almost brutish sav- ages in America, the sight of which last was the constant ob- ject of horror and commiseration. " Then the president proceeded to mention the honor paid by our ancestors in Great Britain to the liberal sciences, by erecting and endowing those illustrious seminaries of learning which for many ages had been the honor and ornament of those happy isles, and the source of infinite advantages to the people there, observing that the same noble spirit had ani- mated their descendants, the first planters of America, who, as soon as they were formed into a State, in the very infancy of time, had wisely laid religion and learning at the founda- tion of their commonwealth, and had always regarded them KKVKKKND A A II ON li I' K It . :i"> as the firmest pillars of their church and State. That hence, very early, arose Harvard College, in New Cambridge, and afterward, Yale College, in New Haven, which have had a growing reputation for many years, and have sent forth many hundreds of learned men of various stations and characters in life, that in different periods have proved the honor and orna- ment of their country, and of which the one or the other had been the ului mater of most of the literati then present. "That learning, like the sun in its western progress, had now begun to dawn upon the province of New Jersey, through the happy influence of its generous patron, their most excel- lent governor. "These, and many other particulars, having, more oratorio,, taken up three quarters of an hour, and the Thesis being dis- persed among the learned in the assembly, the candidates, by command of the president, entered upon the public dispu- tation, in Latin, in which six questions in philosophy and theol- ogy were debated, one of which was, whether the liberty of acting according to the dictates of conscience in matters merely religious, ought to be restrained by any human power? And it was justly held and concluded that liberty ought not to be restrained. "Then the president, addressing himself to the trustees, in Latin, asked whether it was their pleasure that these young men who had performed the public exercises in disputation should be admitted to the degree of Bachelor of the Arts? Which being granted by his excellency in the name of all the. trustees present, the president descended from the pulpit, amf being seated with his head covered, received them two by two, and, according to the authority to him committed by the royal charter, after the manner of the academies in England, admitted his young scholars to the degree of Bachelor of the Arts. "In the next place, his excellency, Jonathan Belcher, Esq., governor and commander-in-chief of the province of New Jersey, having declared his desire to accept from that college the degree of .Master of Arts, the other trustees, in a just sense of the honor done the college by his excellency's conde- 36 LIFE OF AARON BURR. scension, most heartily having granted his request, the presi- dent, rising uncovered, addressed himself to his excellency, and according to the same authority committed to him by the royal charter, after the manner of the academies of England, admitted him to the degree of Master of Arts. " Then the president ascended the pulpit, and commanded the orator salutatorius to ascend the rostrum, who, being Mr. Samuel Thane, just before graduated Bachelor of the Arts, he in a modest and decent manner, first apologizing for his in- sufficiency, and then having spoken of the excellency, of the liberal arts and' sciences and of the numberless benefits they yielded to mankind in private and social life, addressed him- self in becoming salutations and thanks to his excellency and the trustees, the president, and the whole assembly, all which being performed in good Latin, from his memory, in a hand- some oratorical manner, in the space of about half an hour, the president concluded in English, Avitli thanksgiving to heaven and prayer to God for a blessing on the scholars that had received the public honors of the day, and for the smiles of Heaven upon the infant College of New Jersey, and dis- missed the assembly. " All which being performed to the great satisfaction of all present, his excellency, with the trustees and scholars, re turned to the house of the president in the order observed in the morning, where, after sundry by-laws were made, chiefly for regulating the studies and manners of the students, they agreed upon a corporation seal." The president was only thirty-two years of age when these scenes transpired. He was a man small of stature, very hand- some, with clear, dark eyes of a soft luster, quite unlike the piercing orbs of his son ; a figure compactly formed, but somewhat slender, and with the bearing of a prince. The fascinating manner and lofty style of Mr. President Burr are frequently mentioned in the letters of the period. On this great occasion we can well believe that there was an impress- ive charm in his movements and delivery. For eight years after his election to the presidency, he retained his church and his school, and traveled far and wide REVEREND AAROX BURR. 37 in collecting funds for the college, and promoting lotteries for its benefit. And such were his talents for the dispatch of business that, while both the school and the church continued to prosper, the college increased in ten years from eight stu- dents to ninety; and from being an institution without house, land, endowment, or reputation, to one having all these in sufficiency. A h'le of letters from one of Mr. Burr's pupils to his father, preserved by a happy chance among the papers of an old Philadelphia family, afford us, at this distance of time, an insight into the very class-room of the president. The be- loved, the zealous, the enlightened teacher is exhibited in these letters. A single fact revealed in them is enough to prove him a superior and a catholic mind. And that fact is, that though the president was, perhaps, the first classical scholar in the provinces, he was also warmly interested in natural science, and eager to interest the students in it. Pie taught them himself how to calculate eclipses. On one occa- sion, when, after a long negotiation, he had induced a lecturer by the offer of forty pounds, to come from Philadelphia and exibit his philosophical apparatus, all other studies were laid a.~ide for some weeks before the philosopher's'arrival, in order that the students might derive the greatest possible advantage from witnessing the experiments. The lecturer, it appears, excited so much interest in " the newly-discovered fluid called electricity," that some of the students set about making small electrical machines. In the midst of all this cheerful and wise activity occurred an event in Mr. Burr's history which gave the gossips of the province employment enough. Until his thirty-seventh year the president shamed the ladies of Xew Jersey by living a bachelor. In the summer of 1752, to the surprise of every one, and in a manner the most extraordinary, he wooed and wedded the lovely and vivacious Esther Edwards. Some hints of the oddity of this affair, Avhich appeared in the Xew York Gazette for the 20th of July, 1752, the letters of the young gentleman just referred to enable us to explain. The writer in the Gazette, after mentioning the marriage, with due 38 LIFE OF A All ON BUKU. praise of the wedded pair, remarked that he supposed there had not been for some centuries a courtship more in the patriarchal mode, and jocosely advised young gentlemen to follow the president's example, and endeavor to restore courtship and marriage to their original simplicity and design. The young letter-writer's version of the story is the follow- ing : " In the latter end of May the president took a journey into New England, and during his absence he made a visit of but three days to the Rev. Mr. Edwards's daughter at Stock- bridge ; in which short time, though he had no acquaintance with, nor had ever seen, the lady these six years, I suppose he accomplished his whole design ; for it was not above a fort- night after his return here, before he sent a young fellow (who came out of college last fall) into New England to con- duct her and her mother down here. They came to town on Saturday evening, the 27th ult., and on the Monday evening following the nuptial ceremonies were celebrated between Mr. Burr and the young lady. As I have yet no manner of ac- quaintance with her, I can not describe to you her qualifica- tions and properties. However, they say she is a very valuable lady. I think her a person of great beauty ; though I must say she is rather too young (being twenty-one years of age) for the president. This account you will doubtless communi- cate to mammy, as I know she has Mr. Burr's happiness much at heart." Two weeks later he writes to his " dear mammy" on the engrossing subject: "I can't omit acquainting you that our president enjoys all the happiness the married state can afford. I am sure when he was. in the condition of celibacy the pleas- ure of his life bore no comparison to that he now possesses. From the little acquaintance I have with his lady, I think her a woman of very good sense, of a genteel and virtuous edu- cation, amiable in her person, of great aifability and agree- ableness in conversation, and a very excellent economist. These qualifications may help you to form some idea of the person who lives in the sincerest mutual affections with Mr. Burr." The marriage was speedily, but not rashly, concluded. The K K V E n E N D AARON K U K U . 39 president, it is probable, had not seen the young lady since she was fifteen ; but at that age her father thought her \voin;ui enough to be a member of -his church, and it was a character- istic of that cultivated and spiritualized family to come early to maturity. Besides, the name of President Burr was a household word in the family of Jonathan Edwards. The two men, long as- sociated in schemes for Christianizing the Indians, were also formed by nature to be friends, because each could see in the other admirable qualities wanting in himself. Edwards was reflective and studious, without tact or knowledge of the world, full of matter, but not skillful in wielding it. lie la- mented his awkward address and un imposing presence. "I have a constitution," he says in a well-known passage, "in many respects peculiarly unhappy, attended with flaccid solids, vapid, sizy, and scarce fluids, and a low tide of spirits; often occasioning a kind of childish weakness and contempti- bleness of speech, presence, and demeanor, and a disagreeable dullness and stillness, much unfitting me for conversation." Here we see the Student, who bent over his books fourteen hours a day, who took his meat and his drink by weight and measure, and whose utter sincerity rendered him powerless to subdue or to manage a fractious congregation. Admirable to such a man must have seemed the alert and brilliant Burr, so thoroughly alive, with every faculty at instant command, of dauntless self-possession, with a presence and address that invited confidence and disarmed impertinence. Burr, on his part, had modesty and good sense enough to know that, with all his shining qualities, he was no more the superior of Jonathan Edwards, than an armory is superior to the mine of ore from which the polished weapons of a thousand armo- ries can be made. There was no need of a long courtship, then, tor Esther Edwards to learn that Mr. President Bun- was a man to make happy the woman he loved. Besides the " Latin Grammar," Mr. Burr published a con- troversial ''Letter" on the "Supreme Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ," which was reprinted in Boston thirty yea r s after the author's death. An occasional sermon of his was also pub- 40 LIFE OF AARON BURR. lished in his life-time. Two Latin orations by him have been preserved in manuscript, and many letters in English. One of these letters may close this chapter. The letters of the religious people of those good old days give little insight into the individuality of the writers ; hu- man nature being under a theologic ban, and allowed to ex- hibit itself as little as possible. But the following letter* is an interesting relic, as it is characteristic of the age, if not of the man. It was written to a Mr. Hogg, a merchant in Scot- land, where, by order of the kirk, a collection for the College of New Jersey was made in every parish. After acknowledg- ing the unexpected magnitude of the Scottish contribution, tho pious president proceeds : " We have begun a building at Princeton, which contains a hall, library, and rooms to accommodate about an hundred students, though it will not any more of it be finished than is absolutely necessary at present with an house for the presi- dent. " We do every thing in the plainest and cheapest manner as far as is consistent with decency and convenience, having no superfluous ornaments. There was a necessity of our having an house sufficient to contain y e students, as they could not lodge in private houses in that village where we have fixed the college ; which, as it is the centre of the province, where pro- visions are plenty and firewood will always be cheap, is doubt- less the fittest place we cou'd have pitch'd upon. The buildings prove more expensive than we at first imagin'd, from the best computations we could get; but by the smiles of heaven upon us we shall be able I think to compleat what we design at present; and have at least a fund left of 1,600 (sterling), which with the other income of the college, will be sufficient for the present officers and a little more, as money here will readily let for 7 per cent, interest with undoubted security. This fund will be encreased by what we get from Ireland, and a little more we expect from South Britain ['. e. England] ; and we hope by the help of some generous benefactors here * This letter was published, a year or two since, in-the Gentleman's Maga- zine, of London, merely as a curiosity accidentally preserved. REVEREXD AAEON BCKK. 41 and abroad to be able before long to support a Professor of Divinity. That office at present lies on the president, with a considerable part of the instruction in other branches of liter- ature. The trustees have their eyes upon Mr. Edwards, and want nothing but ability to give him an immediate call to that office. " The students in general behave well ; some among them that give good evidences of real piety, and a prospect of special usefulness in the churches of Christ, are a great comfort and support to me xinder the burden of my important station. " I may in my next give you a more particular account of the college. It is at present under flourishing circumstances in many respects; has grown in favor with men, [and] I would humbly hope [with] God also. 'Tis my daily concern that it may answer the important ends of its institution, and that the expectations of our pious friends at home and abroad may not be disappointed. " I shall not fail to acknowledge my Lord Lothian's gener- osity. I am sorry Messrs. Ten nan t and Davies neglected sea- sonably to acquaint their friends in Scotland of their safe arrival, etc. I hope their long and tedious passage, and the confusion their atfairs were probably in by their long absence, may be something of an excuse. lean testify that they retain a very lively sense of the most generous treatment y l they and the college met with in those parts. " The defeat of General Braddock was an awful but a season- able rebuke of Heaven. Those that had the least degree of seriousness left could not but observe with concern the strange confidence in an arm of flesh and disregard to God and religion that appear'd in that army. Preparations were made for re- joicing at the victory, as tho' it had been ensured, and a day appointed for the obtaining it. The whole country were alann'd and struck with astonishment at the news of his defeat, and some awaken'd to eye the high hand of God in it, who had tho't litle of it before ; and I can't but think God has brought good to the land out of this evil.* * A letter of Edwards, of nearly tho same date, likewise contains some comments on these transactions. Ho says, " I had opportunity to see and cou- 42 LIFE OF AARON BURR. " On the contrary, God was ackn owl edged in the army that went from Crown Point, vice and debauchery suppressed in a manner that has scarce been seen in this land, and was much admired at by those that saw it. This was much owing to Major-General Lyman, with whom I am well acquainted. He 8 a man of piety, and for courage and conduct, a spirit of government and good sense he has not his superior in these parts. He acquitted himself with uncommon bravery and good conduct in the engagement at Lake George, Sept. 8th, and it was owing to him, under God, y* the victory was ob- tain'd, which prov'd a means of saving y e country from ruin, as has since more fully appear'd by the scheme y e French general had laid. I gave [have given] this hint about Mr. Lyman because Mr. Edward Cole, one of y e officers, being offended y l he banished some lewd women from the camp y 1 he had brought with him, wrote a letter to scandalize him, hinting that he was a coward, tho' numbers that were in the verse with ministers belonging to almost all parts of Xorth America; and, among others, Mr. Davies of Virginia. He told me that he verily thought, that General Braddock's defeat, the last summer, was a merciful dispensation of Divine Providence to those southern colonies, lie said that notorious wickedness prevailed to that degree in that army, among officers and soldiers, and that they went forth openly in so self-confident and vain-glorious a man- ner, that if they had succeeded the consequence would have been a harden- ing of people in those parts, in a great degree, in a profane and atheistical temper, or to that purpose ; and that many appeared very much solemin/ed by the defeat of that army, and the death of the general, and so many of the other chief officers ; and some truly awakened. And by what I could learn it had something of the same effect among the people in New York and New Jersey. And the contrary success of the New England forces near Lake George, when violently attacked by Baron Dieskau and the regulars from France with him, who had been the chief French officer on the Ohio in the time of the engagement with General Braddock, one of which officers was killed by our forces and the other taken I say the contrary success of the New En- gland forces seemed to confirm the aforesaid effect ; it being known by all how widely this army differed from the other, in the care that was taken to restrain vice and maintain religion in it ; particularly by Major-General Lyman, the second officer in the army, a truly worthy man ; a man of distinguished abilities and virtue, as well as uncommon martial endowments, who above any other officer was active in the tune of the engagement.'' Ldter to Dr. Gi.lies, December 1 2th, 1755. BEVEREXD AARON BURR. 43 engagement have fully establish'd his character as one of the bravest officers, who exposed himself in the hottest fire of the enemy, animating his men. And General Johnson himself acknowledges y e honor of the day was due to Mr. Lyman. " The state of these American Colonies at present looks dark. We are divided in our councils. Some are of such a spirit that they will forward nothing but what they are at the head of themselves. Several of the governors of the continent are now met at Xew York, to concert measures for the safety ot [the] country, Much will depend on the result of this meet- ing. "When I consider y e crying iniquities of the day I cannot but tremble for fear of God's judgments that seem to hang over this sinning land. " I have lately had a letter from Stockbridge, Mr. Edwards and his family are in usual health, except his daughter Betty, who is never well, and I believe not long for this world. Theii situation is yet distressing, thro' fear of the enemy. My wite joins me in respectful and affectionate salutations to you and your son. I add but my poor prayers and ardent wishes y l your declining days may be fill'd with comfort and usefulness, y l you may have a late and an abundant entrance into y e everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen." This was the quality, these were the deeds of the father of Aaron Burr. The college at Princeton is his monument ; its very walls testify to his thoroughness and integrity. The interior of the main building has twice been destroyed by fire, but the build- ers who are restoring the edifice declare that no walls which they could now erect would equal in strength those which were constructed under the superintendence of President Burr. The house which he built for his own residence has been occupied by the presidents of the college ever since. Its solid structure, and spacious, lofty apartments, seem still to testify to the liberal mind and hand of him who planned it. The portrait of President Burr, which is preserved in the college library, is a careful copy of an original that was lost and injured during the Revolution, but afterward discovered 44 LIFE OF AARON BU II K. and restored. Fineness of fiber, refinement, and utter purity of mind, energy, serenity, and seraphic benevolence, are equally expressed in this picture. Near to it leans upon the wall Peale's vast portrait of Washington, the most physical ot all the portraits of Washington that were taken from life. The conti'ast is striking. That one of these men should be universally accepted, without questioning, as our greatest and best, while the other is scarcely known, compels the spectator to doubt the correctness of one or the other of these portraits. CHAPTER III. AARON BURR BORN, AND LEFT AN ORPHAN. EKMOVAI, TO ruiNCKTox LAST LABORS A:ND BKATH OP PRESIDENT BITER CHAR- ACTER AXD DEATH OP MKS. BUKR THE ORPHANED CHILDREN SARAH BURR. Two children blessed the union of President Burr with Es- ther Edwards; Sarah Burr, born May 3d, 1754 ; and AARQX BrKK, bom February 6th, 1756. Newark, in New Jersey, was the birth-place of both these children. The college buildings at Princeton were nearly completed when Aaron was born. In the autumn of that year, the re- moval took place ; the college of Xew Jersey added a local habitation to its well-earned name. The president, to the great sorrow of his congregation, resigned the pastorship of the Newark church, which he had served for twenty years with the ever-growing love of its members. The good people would scarcely let him go. They said that the connection between pastor and flock, like that between husband and wife, Avas indissoluble, except by death or infidelity. To this day, the First Presbyterian church* of Newark cherishes with affectionate pride the memory of this man, eminent among the many eminent men who have stood in its pulpit. To Princeton, then, the president and his family removed late in the year 1756. A letter by one of the trustees of the college at that time, sets forth that " the salary of the presi- dent is two hundred pounds proclamation money, with the perquisites, amounting at present to about thirty pounds, and yearly increasing ; a large, well-finished dwelling-house, gar- dens, barn, oat-houses, etc., with a considerable quantity of pasture-ground and firewood, do also belong to the president." * History of the First Church at Newark, N. J., by Rev. Dr. Steams. 46 LIFE OF AAEON BUKR. All tliis was, probably, equal to an income of three thousand dollars at the present time. And now, having lived to establish on a firm foundation the College of New Jersey, President Burr's work on earth was done. The manner of his death was in keeping with his char- acter. At the end of the summer of 1757, in very hot weather, he made one of his swift journeys to Stockbridge. What it was to travel, a hundred years ago, is sufficiently known. Returning rapidly to Princeton, he went imme- diately to Elizubethtown, a hard day's ride, to procure from the authorities there a legal exemption of the students from military duty. The next day, though much indisposed, he preached a funeral sermon at Newark, five miles distant. Then he returned to Princeton. In a few days he went to Philadelphia on other business of the college, and, on his re- turn, was met by the intelligence that his friend, and the col- lege's friend, Governor Belcher, had just died at Elizabeth- town, and that himself had been designated to preach the funeral sermon. Plis wife besought him to be just to himself, and decline the office. But he, accustomed to subdue obsta- cles, and desirous to do honor to his departed friend, sat down, all fatigued and feverish as he was, to prepare his ser- mon. Before he slept, it was finished. That night he was delirious, but in the morning he set off for Elizabethtown ; and on the day following, with a languor and exhaustion he could no longer conceal, he preached the sermon. ITncon- quered yet, he next day returned home, where his fever, from being intermittent, became fixed and violent. At the ap- proach of death, he was resigned and cheerful. lie felt as- sured of immortality. On his death-bed lie gave orders that his funeral should be as inexpensive as was consistent with decency, and that the sum thus saved should be given to the poor. On the 24th of September, 1757, in the forty-second year of his age, this good man died. His death was widely and sincerely mourned. His funeral sermon ; the eulogiums pronounced upon him by the Governor of New Jersey; the notices of his death in the public journals, and many private letters in which the sad event is mentioned, A A B O N BUIili'S BIETII AND OBPIIANAGE. 47 have come down to us; and all speak of him in terms that would seem extravagant eulogy to one unacquainted with the noble heart, the brilliant intellect, the beneficent life of Presi- dent Burr. In the letters of his wife, it is easy to see through the pious phraseology of the day, the heart-broken woman. " O, dear madam," writes the poor bereaved lady to her mother, "I doubt not but I have your, and my honored father's prayers, daily, for me; but, give me leave to intreat you both, to request earnestly of the Lord that I may never despise his chastenings, nor faint under this his severe stroke; of which I am sensible there is great danger, if God should only deny me the supports that he has hitherto graciously granted. O, I am afraid I shall conduct myself so as to bring dishonor on my God, and the religion which I profess ! No, rather let me die this moment than be left to bring dishonor on God's holy name. I am overcome. I must conclude, with once more begging that, as my dear parents remember them- selves, they would not forget their greatly-afflicted daughter (now a lonely widow), nor her fatherless children." A letter to her father, written a month after the above, besides being very pathetic, contains allusions to her boy, then twenty-one months old: "Since I wrote my mother a letter, God has carried me through new trials, and given me new supports. 3Iy little son has been sick with a slow fever, ever since my brother left us, and has been brought to the brink of the grave ; but, I hope in mercy, God is bringing him back again. 1 was enabled, after a severe struggle with nature, to resign the child with the greatest freedom. God showed me that the children were not my own, but his, and that he had a right to recall what lie had lent, whenever he thought n't ; and that I had no reason to complain, or say that God was hard with me. This silenced me. But O how good is God. He not only kept me from complaining, but comforted me, by enabling me to offer up my child by faith, if ever I acted faith. J saw the fulness there was in Christ for little infants, and his willingness to accept of such as were offered to him. 'Suf- fer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not;' were comforting words. God also showed me, in such a lively 48 LIFE OF AAEON BURR, manner, the fulness there was in himself of all spiritual bless- ings, that I said, ' Although all streams are cut off, yet so long as my God lives, I have enough.' He enabled me to say, 'Although thou slay me, yet will I trust in thee.' In this time of trial, I Avas led to enter into a renewed and explicit covenant with God, in a more solemn manner than ever be- fore ; and with the greatest freedom and delight, after much self-examination and prayer, I did give myself and my children to God, with my whole heart. Never, until then, had I an adequate sense of the privilege we are allowed in covenanting with God. This act of soul left my mind in a great calm, and steady trust in God. A few days after this, one evening, in " talking of the glorious state my dear departed husband must be in, my soul was carried out in such large desires after that glorious state, that I was forced to retire from the family to conceal my joy. When alone I was so transported, and my soul carried out in such eager desires after perfection and the full enjoyment of God, and to serve him uninterruptedly, that I think my nature would not have borne much more. I think, dear sir, I had that night, a foretaste of heaven. This frame continued, in some good degree, the whole night. I slept but little, and when I did, my dreams were all of heavenly and divine things. Frequently since, I have felt the same in kind, though not in degree. This was about the time that God called me to give up my child. Thus a kind and gracious God has been with me, in six troubles and in seven." In these utterances of a broken heart struggling against the impiety of despair, there is no trace of the peculiar character of Aaron Burr's mother. Of th'e children of Jonathan Ed- wards, not one was a common-place person, and scarcely one even of his grandchildren. But Mrs. Burr was, perhaps, the flower of the family. One of her relations has written of her these sentences : " She exceeded most of her sex in the beauty of her person, as well as in her behavior and conversation. She discovered an unaffected, natural freedom, toward persons of all ranks, with whom she conversed. Her genius was much more than common. She had a lively, sprightly imagination, a quick and penetrating discernment, and a good judgment. AARON BURR'S BIRTH AND ORPHANAGK. 49 She possessed an uncommon degree of wit and vivacity ; which yet was consistent with pleasantness and good nature ; and she knew how to be facetious and sportive, without trespass- ing on the bounds of decorum, or of strict and serious religion. In short, she seemed formed to please, and especially to please one of Mr. Burr's taste and character, in whom he was ex- ceedingly happy. But what crowned all her excellences, and was her chief glory, was RELIGION. She appeared to be the subject of divine impressions when seven or eight years old ; and she made a public profession of religion when about fif- teen. Her conversation, until her death, was exemplary, as X'corneth godliness. She was, in every respect, an ornament to her sex, being equally distinguished for the suavity of her manners, her literary accomplishments, and her unfeigned re- unrd to religion. Her religion did not cast a gloom over her mind, but made her cheerful and happy, and rendered the thought of death transporting. She left a number of manu- scripts, on interesting subjects, and it was hoped they would have been made public; but they are now lost." Death had only begun his fell work in their family. Jona- than Edwards was immediately elected to succeed Mr. Burr in the presidency of the college. Soon after his arrival at Princeton, he heard of the death of his father, a venerable clergyman of Connecticut, in the eighty-ninth year of his age. Two months after, before he had fully entered upon his duties as president, died Jonathan Edwards himself, of a fever which followed inoculation for small-pox. Sixteen days after, of a similar disease, Mrs. Burr died. Her two orphaned children were taken from her funeral to the house of an old friend of the family in Philadelphia, where they remained six months. In the fall of the same year, the widow of Jonathan Edwards went to Philadelphia with the intention of conveying the little orphans to her own home, and bringing them up with her own children. At Philadelphia, she was seized with the dysentery, ami she too died. Thus within a period of thirteen months, these children were of father, mother, great grandfather, and grand parents, all bereft ; and there was no one left in the 50 LIFE OF AARON BURK. wide world whose chief concern it could be to see that they received no detriment. All but the great grandfather lie buried at Princeton, where the virtues and graces of the two presidents are elaborately set forth in lapidary Latin. Strange to say, some of the letters respecting the carving of President Burr's tomb-stone have es- caped the chances of destruction for a hundred years, and are still legible to the biographic eye. President Burr left his children considerable property ; enough for their independent maintenance, even in maturity. They were reared at Elizabethtown, New Jersey, in the family of the Hon. Timothy Edwards, President Edwards's eldest son. A private tutor, Mr. Tappan Reeve, afterward Judge of the Supreme Court of Connecticut, superintended their ear- liest studies, and in due time fell in love with his pretty pupil, Sarah Burr, and when she was seventeen married her. That she loved her brother deai'ly, is all that is known of Sarah Burr's childhood. One of Aaron's early correspondents says that she approved of her brother's going to the war in 1775, which, he adds, " is a great proof of patriotism in a sister so affectionate as yours." She was of a noble, commanding, face and figure. As she Avas for many years an invalid, and died at a comparatively early age, she had little to do with her brother's life, though she left upon his memory a tender recol- lection of her worth and loveliness, which he cherished and spoke of to his dying day. NOTE. Since the publication of the first edition of this work, it has been discovered that the private journal of Aaron Burr's mother is still in exist- ence. The following is her description of Aaron when he was thirteen months old: "January 31, 1758. Aaron is a little, dirty, noisy boy, very different from Sally almost in everything. He begins to talk a little; is very sly and mischievous. Ho has more tprightliness than Sally, and most say he is handsome, but not so good tempered. He is very resolute, and re quires a good governor to bring him to terms." CHAPTER IY. THE EDUCATION OF AARON BUKB. ELIZABETHTOWX ANECDOTES OF BURK'S CHILDHOOD His CAKEEB AT COLLEGE GOES TO DR. BELLAMY'S THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL REJECTS THE PUKITASIO THEOLOGY FOND OF LADIES' SOCIETY STUDIES LAW. ELIZABETHTOWX was then, as it is now, a village containing an unusual proportion of polite families. It had been the resi- dence of the governor and other officials of the province. The vicinity is a level, red-soiled, unattractive region ; but a little river flows through it, emptying, at a point one mile from the village, into Staten Island Sound, which is part of the intricate system of waters that affords so many beautiful highways to the city of New York. That city is fifteen miles distant. Within excursion distance is Staten Island, where, during Aaron Burr's childhood, large bodies of British troops were frequently encamped. From the three anecdotes of Burr's childhood, which have come down to us, we may infer that he was a troublesome ward to his reverend uncle. That gentleman, a strict and conscien- tious Puritan, tried the system of repression upon a boy who could not be repressed ; and the result was, that the young gentleman was frequently in a state of rebellion. The author- ity for these anecdotes was Colonel Burr himself, who used to relate the two principal ones with great glee. When he was four years old, he took offense at his tutor and ran away. He contrived to elude the search for three or four days, and there the story ends. About his eighth year, the following incident occurred : He was in a cherry-tree in his uncle's garden, one fine after- noon in July, when he observed, coming up the walk, an el- derly lady, a guest of the house, wearing a silk dress, which 52 LIFE OF AARON BUKB. was then a rare luxury. The prim behavior and severe mo- rality of this ancient maiden had made her a somewhat odious object in the sight of the boy. Concealed in the tree, he amused himself by throwing cherries at her: upon observing which, she angrily sought Uncle Timothy, to tell him of Aaron's misconduct. The boy was summoned to the study, where the case was treated in the severe Puritanic method. First came a long lecture upon the enormity of the offense ; which was followed by a long prayer for the offender's reformation. From the beginning of these ceremonies, the boy well knew how they were to end, and he could, form an idea of the se- verity of the coming punishment from the length of the prayer and exhortation. A terrible castigation followed ; or, as Burr used to phrase it, " he licked me like a sack." Those were the days, it should be borne in mind, when the old received something like homage from the young. The children of Jonathan Edwards, for example, rose at the en- trance of their parents ; and when they met in the street a clergyman or old person, they stood aside, took off their hats, and bowed, and waited till the reverend individual had gone by. In the eyes of Uncle Timothy, therefore, the boy's affront to his elderly guest would seem a crime of audacious magni- tude. At the age of ten, Aaron had the fancy which besets most active boys once during their childhood, to go to sea. A sec- ond time he ran away. He went to New York, took the post of cabin-boy on board a ship getting ready for sea, and actu- ally served in that capacity for a short time. But, one day while he was at work on the quarter-deck, he spied a sus- picious clerical-looking gentleman coming rapidly down the wharf, who, he soon saw, was his uncle, bent on the capture of a cabin-boy. He sprang into the rigging, and before his imcle got on board the ship, had climbed to the mast-head. He saw his advantage, and resolved to profit by it. He was ordered down, but refused to come. As his uncle was a gen- tleman who would have been nowhere less at home than at the mast-head of a ship, the command had to soften itself into an entreaty, and it became, finally, a negotiation. Upon the THE EDUCATION OF AARON BUBB. 53 condition that nothing disagreeable should befall him in con- sequence of the adventure, the runaway agreed to descend, and go home again to his books. These little stories exhibit the rebel merely. A decisive fact or two of an opposite nature has been preserved. Pier- pont Edwards, another uncle of Aaron Burr's, but only six years his senior, was his schoolfellow for a while at Elizabeth- town. One of Pierpont's letters, written when Aaron was seven years old, contains this sentence : " Aaron Burr is here, is hearty, goes to school, and learns bravely." The fact of Pierpont Edwards being Burr's schoolfellow, and one who, from his age, talents, and relationship, would be likejy to exert great influence upon him, should be noted ; for Pierpont Edwards, besides being a great lawyer, was also a remarkably free liver. There is other testimony to Aaron's diligence as a student. At the age of eleven he was prepared for college, and apply- ing for admission at Princeton, was rejected on account of his youth. He was not only too young, but the smallness of his stature made the application seem ridiculous. He was then a strikingly pretty boy, very fair, with beautiful black eyes, and such graceful, engaging ways as rendered him a favorite. What the qualifications were for admission into college, at that time, may be inferred from another remark in the letter of Pierpont Edwards just quoted. " I am reading Virgil and Greek grammar," he says; "I would have entered college, but my constitution would not bear it, being weak." A boy .able to read Virgil, and who knew the Greek alphabet, could have obtained admission into the Freshman class at Princeton at that time. But, considering the imperfect aids to the ac- quisition of the language which schoolboys then had, we may assign the character of a forward and industrious boy to one who was ready for college at the age of eleven. This rejection on account of his want of years and inches was a source of deep mortification to the aspiring lad. He did his best, however, to frustrate the college authorities by mustering at home the studies of the first two college years, and then, in his thirteenth year, applying for admission into 54 LIFEOFAABONBUEE. the Junior class. This, too, was denied him ; and, more as a favor than as a right, he was allowed to enter the Sophomore class. He should have been fifteen years old to have joined the Sophomores. It was in 1769, during the presidency of Dr. Witherspoon, a Scotch clergyman, in whose veins flowed the blood of John Knox, that Aaron Burr began his residence at Princeton. His career at college was similar to that of thousands of American youth. He went to Princeton with extravagant ideas of the acquirements of collegians ; but with a resolution to be equal with the foremost. The first year he studied excessively hard. Finding that he could not acquire as well in the afternoon as in the morning, and attributing the fact to his eating too much, he became very abstemious, and was then able to study sixteen, and occasionally eighteen, hours a day. He became pale, and was supposed to be in ill health. When the day of examination came, he found himself so much in advance of his classmates, that the motive to such extra- ordinary exertions no longer existed, and, thenceforward, he was as idle as he had formerly been industrious. It has been said, and apparently on his own authority, that he was dissipated at college ; but his dissipation could scarcely have been of an immoral nature. Princeton was then a very small village, nearly surrounded by dense forests, in the midst of a region containing, at wide intervals, a settlement of Quakers or Dutch. There was no large town or navigable water within many miles. The village was the half-way sta- tion, on the high road between New York and Philadelphia, travelers to either of which would usually stop at Prince- ton at night. A coach load of people, and several other trav- elers, were at the tavern nearly every night in the week. For their amusement, a billiard table was kept in the place, but Burr played only one game. On that occasion, it chanced that he won a small sum, and on going home, he felt so de- graded by the circumstance, that he resolved never more to play at any game for money ; and he kept his resolution. At the tavern, too, the students could procure the luxuries of the table. But Burr, then and always, was a Spartan in eating THE EDUCATION OF AARON B U R K. 5f> and drinking. And with regard to guiltier pleasures, he was hut sixteen when he graduated; the place of his residence was rustic and Puritanic Princeton; arid the time was not fin- removed from the days of the " Scarlet Letter." It was not till after he had left college that he adopted the opinions which took the reins of passion out of the hands of conscience, and gave them into those of prudence. Part of Burr's dissipation in college was merely a dissipa- tion of mind in multifarious reading. That he was versed in the polite literature of the day, is evident in his compositions. lie was, also, a constant reader of the lives and histories of great military men. During Burr's boyhood, the fame of Frederic the Great filled the world. The Seven Years' Wai- began when he was in the cradle, and the most brilliant achieve- ments of the great captain were fresh in men's minds while the youth was in his susceptible years. As the supposed cham- pion of Protestantism against the leagued Catholic powers, Frederic was greatly admired in tlm American provinces, and the splendor of his reputation may have had its share in giving Burr his life-long love for the military profession. The old French war, too, was not concluded when Burr first saw the light. The provinces were full of wild tales of that most romantic of contests, during all of his earlier years. And long before he left college, were heard the mutterings of the coming storm which was to summon from their retirement, and crown with new laurels, so many of the rustic soldiers who had won distinction in that toughly-contested forest war which secured this continent to the race which holds it now. A college freak of Burr's excited a great deal of mirth among the students at the time. He was a member of a lite- rary club, the Clio-Sophie, the members of which presided at its meetings in rotation. On one occasion, when Burr was in the chair, a professor of the college, from whom he had re reived many an unwelcome admonition, chanced to come in after the business of the evening had commenced. Burr, as- suming as much of professorial dignity as his diminutive stat- ure admitted, and with that imperturbable self-possession for which he was distinguished, ordered the professor to rise. lie 56 .LIFE OF AAliON BUR II. then began to lecture the delinquent upon his want of punctu- ality, observing that the older members of the society were expected to set a better example to the younger, and conclud- ing with a hope that he should not be under the necessity of recurring again to the subject. Having thus given the profes- sor a parody of one of those harangues which preceptors are prone to bestow upon neglectful pupils, he informed him that he might resume his seat ; which the astonished gen- tleman did, amid the merriment of the society. This story used to be told of Burr at Princeton, years after he had left college. His college compositions, of which several have been pre- served, indicate an unusual maturity .in a youth of fifteen years. Style is the subject of one of them, the burden of which is to recommend conciseness and simplicity, which were always the characteristics of his own writings. " A labored style is labor even to the hearer," observes the young critic, " but, a simple style, like simple food, preserves the appetite." He contends for a colloquial manner, and mentions Sir Thomas Browne's Treatise on " Vulgar Errors" as an example of ab- surd pomposity. " There is no such thing," remarks the youth, " as a sublime style ; sublimity is in the thought, which is ren- dered the more sublime by being expressed in simple lan- guage." This is not the usual tone of a college composition. Another of Burr's college essays, is on The Passions. He could not have read Goethe's oft-declaimed observation, "Man alone is interesting to Man." because Goethe at this time was himself a college student at Strasbourg ; yet Burr opens his discourse upon the passions quite in the spirit of the Goethean maxim. Nor could he have known the office assigned the passions by phrenologists, for Gall was then a boy three years old ; yet he says that the grand design of the passions is to rouse tur choice,' or something to that effect, and we separated. I sincerely believe my absence, which gave so much umbrage, did not last two minutes. In less than an hour after, Mr. Tilghman came to me, in the general's name, assuring me of his confidence in my ability, integrity, usefulness, etc., and of his desire, in a candid conversation, to heal a difference which could not have happened but in a moment of passion. I requested Mr. Tilghman to tell him. first, that I had taken my resolution in a manner not to be revoked," etc., et<\ Hamilton proceeds to say that he had long been discontented with the p. tuation of aid. and had previously determined that if he ever did have a ace with General Washington, it should be final. He then aurr valued himself little upon his oratorical powers, and lie used to say that he had seldom spoken witli pleasure or satisfaction to himself. His pleadings at the bar were more in the style of conversation than oratory, it is said ; the con- versation, however, of a well-bred, thoroughly-informed man of the world. He never declaimed. He was never diffuse ; a long speech he never delivered in his life. In concise, pre- cise, and, therefore, simple language, he contrived to clothe the essential points of his argument, and to lodge them in the mind of judge and jury so firmly that no bursts of eloquence i'.-om the other side could remove them. There was a vein of quiet sarcasm in some of his speeches, which, it is said, wa exceedingly effective. With a manner always serious, he occa- sionally rose to be impressive, and produced effects upon the minds of his hearers that were long remembered. It is cer- tain, from the writings of the time, that he was regarded as 152 JLIFE OF AAEOST BURR, a great speaker ; as great in his way as General Hamilton was in bis ; and it was raid that the extremely interesting charac- ter of Burr's speeches, no less than their conciseness, made it difficult to report them. The courtliness of his manner, the air of perfect breeding that invested him, and the singular composure of his hearing, all contributed, doubtless, to the effect of his public addresses. From the traditions still pre- served in old Presbyterian families respecting the eloquence of President Burr, I infer that the son's style of speaking was extremely like that of the father. To Alexander Hamilton, his friend and rival, Colonel Burr freely conceded the palm of eloquence. He did justice to the powers of that able man, with whom he contended for the honors of his profession and the prizes of public life, for twenty years. To the strength and fertility of Hamilton's imagination, to his fine rhetorical powers, to his occasional flashes of poetical genius, and to the force of his declamation, Colonel Burr paid the tribute of admiration. The two men were antagonists by nature ; but, during these happy years, each had a high, if not an exaggerated opinion of the other's talents. An aged member of the bar described to me the manner of the two men in their public addresses. Hamilton's way waa to exhaust a case ; giving ample statement to every point ; anticipating every objection ; saying every thing that could fairly be said in the fullest manner. He would speak for two or three hours, enchaining the attention of court and jury by his fluent and, sometimes, lofty eloquence. Burr, in replying, would select two or three vulnerable, yet vital points of Ham- ilton's speech, and quietly demolish them, and leave all the other parts of his oration untouched. In a twenty minutes' speech, he has been known completely to neutralize the effect of one of Hamilton's elaborate and ornate addresses. Burr began practice upon the principle of never undertaking a cause which he did not feel sure of gaining ; and I am assured by another venerable lawyer of this city, who was frequently engaged with Burr, that he never in his life lost a case which he personally conducted. It is, at least, certain, AT THE NEW TORK BAB. 153 that he gained over Hamilton some signal and unexpected triumphs.* On his arrival in Xew York, Colonel Burr seems, at once, to have taken his place among the leaders of the bar, and he retained that position for nearly a quarter of a century, though, during that period, the bar of Xew York trebled its numbers. With the single exception of Hamilton, no lawyer in the State held so high a position as he, and none in the country held a higher. With regard to the income derivable from the practice of the law at that time, it is difficult to obtain information. At the present day, a lawyer is considered to be in good practice who has a clear gain of four thousand dollars a year. Ten thousand dollars is thought a very large revenue : it is ques- tionable if there are one hundred lawyers in the United States who earn so much. An average income of twenty thousand is as great as the half dozen leading lawyers of the country can boast ; though, occasionally, a lawyer will make that sum by a single case, or even twice as much. In early times, profes- sional incomes could scarcely have been as large as they are now. Among the letters of Alexander Hamilton there is one from a Xew York merchant, retaining the services of Hamil- ton in any suits the merchant might have for five years. In- closed in the letter was a note for a thousand dollars, payable at the end of the five years, with interest at five per cent. * General Erastas Boot who was weH acquainted with Burr in Use height of his celebrity, was with him in the Assembly and in Congress, and often heard him speak in the courts, gyves the foDowingopmioaof rhepowersof the two men: " As a lawyer and as a scholar Burr was not inferior to Hamilton. His reasoning powers were at least equal Their meda of argument were Terr different. Hamilton was TOT diffuse and wordy. Bis words woe so wen cho8?n, and his sentences so finely finned into a swelling eminent that the hearer would be captivated. The listener would admire, if he was not convinced. Burr's arguments were generally methodhcd and compact. I used to say of them, when they woe rivals at the bar, that Burr would say as much in half an boor as Hamilton in two boors. Burr was terse and oon- Yincing. while Hamilton was flowing and rapturous. Ttoey were much the greatest men in this State, and perhaps the greatest men in the United States." Hammamtls History cf fOOieal Pbrtia Oe %Bfe<^A 7 cw Iferfc. 154 LIFE OF AAEON BUCK. Upon the letter is an indorsement, in Hamilton's hand, to the effect that the note had been "returned, as being too much.' 1 '' Certainly the present leaders of the New York bar would not take so modest a view of the value of their services. William Wirt, of Virginia, a very brilliant and successful lawyer, prac- ticing in the dominant State of the Union, mentions, that in 1802, he had an income of twelve hundred pounds a year. A few years later, while passing through New York to try a cause in Boston, he visited some of the New York courts, and inquired respecting the fees of the lawyers. He was astonished at their smallness, and said a Virginia lawyer would starve on such fees. From such indications as these, it is perhaps safe to infer that Hamilton and Burr may have had professional in- comes of ten thousand dollars a year, but not more, on an average. Burr used to say that he had made forty thousand dollars from one cause, but whether it was as a lawyer or a speculator that he gained so much, is not clear. Speculation in lands was much the rage among the leading men of the country during the first twenty years after the Revolution, and no one was fonder of that fascinating game than Burr. Fre- quently he united, in his land transactions, the characters of Lawyer and of speculator, receiving lands in payment for pro- fessional services, and then disposing of them to the best ad- vantage he could. His style of living kept pace with his increasing income. In a few years we find him master of Richmond Hill, the mansion where Washington had lived in 1776, with grounds reaching to the Hudson, with ample gardens, and a consider- able extent of grove and farm. Here he maintained a liberal establishment, and exercised the hospitality which was then in vogue. Talleyrand, Volney, Louis Philippe, and other strang- ers of distinction, whom the French Revolution drove into exile, were entertained with princely profusion and elegance at Richmond Hill. With Talleyrand and Volney, Burr became particularly intimate. The one particular in which Richmond Hill surpassed the other houses of equal pretensions, was its library. From his college days, Colonel Burr had been .1 zealous buyer of books, and his stock had gone on increasing AT THK NKW YO11K H A It . 155 till, on attaining to the dignity of householder, he was able to give to his miscellaneous collection something of the com- pleteness of a library. It was customary then for gentlemen to have accounts with booksellers in London, and the arrival of the English packet was an event of interest to persons of taste from the literary treasures it usually brought. Colonel Burr was one of those who had their London bookseller ; to whom he was an excellent customer. It is evident enough, from his correspondence, that his favorite authors were still those whom the " well-constituted minds" of that day regarded with admiring horror. The volumes of Gibbon's History were appearing in those years, striking the orthodox world with wonder and dismay. They had a very hearty welcome in the circle at Richmond Hill. Colonel Burr read them, and often, while absent from home at some distant court, reminds his wife of their excellence, and urges her to study them with care. Indeed, Gibbon was an author quite after Aaron Burr's own heart. Another name of horror, a few years later, was William, Godwin (Charles Lamb's friend), the most amiable of the human species, and, one would now suppose, the most harm- lie was one of those lovers of his kind who believe in man as saints once believed in God. A passionate lover of justice, a passionate hater of wrong, he waged a well-meant, inelFectual warfare against the State of Tilings. He held opin- ions respecting the Rights of Woman, Marriage and Divorce, and the Administration of Justice, which are peculiarly ob- noxious to persons of a conservative cast of character. Bun- liked this man and his writings. In one of the letters in which Hamilton recounts the enormities of Burr, he says, by way of climax, that he had heard him talk rank Godwinism! Of Mary Wolstoncroft, the wife of William Godwin, Burr had an exquisite portrait among his few pictures. Jeremy Bentham was another of his favorites. At a time when the mere name of the great Apostle of Utilitarianism was known only to half a dozen of the most intelligent minds on this side of the Atlantic, Colonel Burr was a reader of his works, and conceived for their author the highest opinion. 156 LIFE OF AAEON BUER. Benthamism has had its day ; it only excites wonder in us now that so estimable a man should have found delight in such dreary doctrine ; but it is certain that to be a reader of Bentham during the period now under consideration, was to be a partaker of the most advanced thought of the time. Benthamism was, as a great critic has remarked, " a deter- minate being, what all the world, in a cowardly, half-and-half manner, was tending to be." " An eyeless heroism," the same writer styles it. Along with Burr, Albert Gallatin was a lover of Bentham ; and it is likely enough that Burr de- rived his first knowledge of Bentham through Gallatin. The " Edinburg Review," Scott's early poems, the Macken- zie's and Miss Burnett's novels, in a word, all the attractive literature of the day, found its way, very soon after publica- tion, to Richmond Hill. What happy years were those which Colonel Burr passed in the practice of the law in New York, before he was drawn into the political vortex ! His wife was full of affection and helpfulness, making him the happiest of men while he was at home, and superintending, with wise vigilance, his office and his household when he was abroad. Her two sons were stu- dents at law in Colonel Burr's office, and aided him most essentially in the prosecution of his business. One of them frequently accompanied him on his journeys as an amanuensis and clerk, while the other represented him in the office in New York. Little Theodosia, a lovely, rosy-cheeked child, all grace and intelligence, was the delight of the household. The letters that passed between Colonel Burr and his wife, after they had been several years married, read like the pas- sionate outpourings of Italian lovers in the first month of their betrothal. Once, in telling him of the safe arrival of a packet of his letters, she draws an enchanting picture of a happy home. It was just before dinner, she says, when the letters arrived, and the children were dispersed at various employments. " I fur- nished the mantelpiece with the contents of the packet. When dinner was served up they were called. You know the usual eagerness on this occasion. They were all seated but Bai'.ow, AT THE NEW YORK BAR. 157 when he espied the letters ; the surprise, the joy, the excla- mations exceed description. The greatest stoic would have forgot himself. A silent tear betrayed me no philosopher. A most joyous repast succeeded. We talked of our happiness, of our iirst of blessings, our best of papas. I enjoyed, my Aaron, the only happiness that could accrue from your ab- sence. It was a momentary compensation ; the only one I ever experienced." Then she tells him how happy his letter had made her. " Your letters," she adds, " always afford me a singular satisfaction ; a sensation entirely my own ; this was peculiarly so. It wrought strangely on my mind and spirits. My Aaron, it was replete with tenderness ! with the most lively affection. I read and re-read, till afraid I should get it by rote, and mingle it with common ideas. Profane the sacred pledge ! Xo ; it shall not be. I will economize the boon." In another letter she describes the inane behavior of some foolish guests with whom the family had been bored, and tells him how rejoiced she Avas to observe that the children all had sense enough to despise them. "I really believe, my dear," she proceeds, " that few parents can boast of children whose minds are so prone to virtue. I see the reward of our assi- duity with inexpressible delight, with a gratitude few experi- ence. IMy Aaron, they have grateful hearts; some circum- stances prove it, which I shall relate to you with singular pleasure at your return." Another passage, acknowledging the arrival of letters, is very remarkable. It was written when they had been five years married. " What language," she exclaims, " can express the joy, the gratitude of Theodosia ? Stage after stage with- out a line. Thy usual punctuality gave room for every fear; various conjectures filled every breast. One of our sons was to have departed to-morrow in quest of the best of friends and fathers. This morning we waited the stage with impa- tience. Shrouder went frequently before it arrived ; at length returned no letter. We were struck dumb with disappoint- ment. Bartow set out to inquire who were the passengers; in a very few minutes returned exulting a packet worth the treasures of the universe. Joy brightened every face; all 158 LIFE OF AARON BURR. expressed their past anxieties; their present happiness. To enjoy was the first result. Each made choice of what they could best relish. Porter, sweet wine, chocolate, and sweet- meats made the most delightful repast that could be shared without thee. The servants were made to feel their lord icas well, are at this instant toasting his health and bounty ; while the boys are obeying thy dear commands, thy Theodosia flies to speak her heartfelt joys : her Aaron safe, mistress of the heart she adores ; can she ask more ? has Heaven more to grant ?" Her letters are not all in this ecstatic strain. She talks of business, of books, of passing events. Catharine of Russia was then filling the world with the noise of her exploits. Mrs. Burr writes : "The Empress of Russia is as successful as I wish her. What a glorious figure will she make on the his- torical page ! Can you form an idea of a more happy mortal than she will be when seated on the throne of Constantinople? How her ambition will be gratified ; the opposition and threats of Great Britain will increase her triumph. I wish I had wit and importance enough to write her a congratulatory letter. The ladies should deify her, and consecrate a temple to her praise. It is a diverting thought that the mighty Emperor of the Turks should be subdued by a woman. How enviable that she alone should be the avenger of her sex's wrongs for so many ages past. She seems to have a\vakencd Justice, who appears to be a sleepy dame in the cause of injured inno- cence." Colonel Burr's replies to these warm epistles are couched in the language of sincere and joyous love. Before the mar- riage there was a certain peremptoriness of tone in his letters to her, not usual, and not quite pleasing, in the letters of a lover. His letters after marriage were more tender, without being less considerate. A few sentences will suffice to give an idea of their usual manner. The following is perfectly characteristic : " This morning came your kind, your affectionate, your truly welcome letter of Monday evening. Where did it loiter so long? Nothing in my absence is so flatterng to me as your health and cheer- ATTIIEXEWYOUKBAR. 1 a 9 fulness. I then contemplate nothing so eagerly as my return ; amuse myself with ideas of my own happiness, and dwell on the sweet, domestic joys which I fancy prepared forme. Noth- ing is so unfriendly to every species of enjoyment as melan- choly. Gloom, however dressed, however caused, is incom- patible with friendship. They can not have place in the mind at the same time. It is the secret, the malignant foe of senti- ment and love." He writes much respecting the children. "The letters of our dear children are a feast. Every part of them is pleasing and interesting. * * * To hear that they are employed, that no time is absolutely wasted, is the most flattering of any thing that can be told me of them. It insures their affection, or is the best evidence of it. It insures, in its consequences, every thing I am ambitious of in them. Endeavor to pre- serve regularity of hours ; it conduces exceedingly to industry. * * * My love to the smiling little girl. I received her letter, but not the pretty things. I continually plan my return with childish impatience, and fancy a thousand incidents which render it more interesting." Going to Albany was a serious undertaking in those days. From Albany, on one occasion, he writes: "The headache with which I left Xew York grew so extreme, that, finding it impossible to proceed in the stage, the view of a vessel off Tarry town, under full sail before the wind, tempted me to go on board. We reached West Point that night, and lay there at anchor near three days. After a variety of changes from sloop to wagon, from wagon to canoe, and from canoe to sloop a<;ain, I reached this place last evening. I was able, however, to land at Rhinebeck on 'Thursday evening, and there wrote you a letter." One of Colonel Burr's letters to his wife, written in the sev- enth year of their married life, gives us an idea of the playful badinage for which his conversation was remarkable, but which appears (infrequently in his letters. He had had some thoughts of buying a romantic spot, called Fort Johnson, de- sirable, also, as property. She, it appears, was not in favor of the purchase, and advised him not even to revisit the lovely 160 LIFE OF AARON BTTKK. scene, lest he should be tempted to buy it. But he did visit it, and wrote her a very pleasant, and humorous account of the result : " O Theo. ! there is the most delightful grove so dark ened with weeping willows, that at noonday a susceptible fancy like yours would mistake it for a bewitching moonligh evening. These sympathizing willows, too, exclude even the prying eye of curiosity. Here no rude noise interrupts th softest whisper. Here no harsher sound is heard than the wild cooings of the gentle dove, the gay thrasher's animated warbles, and the soft murmurs of the passing brook. Really, Theo., it is charming. " I should have told you that I am speaking of Fort John- son, where I have spent a day. From this amiable bower you ascend a gentle declivity, by a winding path, to a cluster of lofty oaks and locusts. Here nature assumes a more august appearance. The gentle brook, Avhich murmured soft below, here bursts a cataract. Here you behold the stately Mohawk roll his majestic wave along the lofty Apalachians. Here the mind assumes a nobler tone, and is occupied by sublimer ob- jects. What there was tenderness, here swells to rapture. It is truly charming. " The windings of this enchanting brook form a lovely isl- and, variegated by the most sportive hand of nature. This shall be yours. We will plant it with jasmins and wood- bine, and call it Cyprus. It seems formed for the residence of the loves and the graces, and is therefore yours by the best of titles. It is indeed most charming. " But I could till sheets in description of the beauties of this romantic place. We will reserve it for the subject of many an amusing hour. And besides being little in the habit of the sublime or poetical, I grow already out of breath, and begin to falter, as you perceive. I can not, however, omit the most interesting and important circumstance; one which I had rather communicate to you in this way than fhce to face. 1 know that you was opposed to this journey to Fort Johnson. It is, therefore, with the greatest regret that I communicate AT THE NEW YORK BAE. 161 the event ; and you are not unacquainted with my induce- ments to it. " In many things I am indeed unhappy in possessing a sin- gularity of taste ; particularly unhappy when that taste differs in any thing from yours. But we can not control necessity, hough we often persuade ourselves that certain things are ur choice, when in truth we have been unavoidably impelled to them. In the instance I am going to relate, I shall not ex- amine whether I have been governed by mere fancy, or by motives of expediency, or by caprice ; you will probably say the latter. " My dear Theo., arm yourself with all your fortitude. I know you have much of it, and I hope that upon this occasion you will not foil to exercise it. I abhor preface and preamble, and don't know why I have now used it so freely. But I am well aware that what I am going to relate needs much apol- ogy from me, and will need much to you. If I am the un- willing, the unfortunate instrument of depriving you of any part of your promised gayety or pleasure, I hope you are too generous to aggravate the misfortune by upbraiding me with it. Be assured (I hope the assurance is needless), that what- ever diminishes your happiness equally impairs mine. In short, then, for I grow tedious both to you and myself; and to procrastinate the relation of disagreeable events only gives them poignancy ; in short, then, my dear Theo., the beauty of this same Fort Johnson, the fertility of the soil, the com- modiousness and elegance of the buildings, the great value of the mills, and the very inconsiderable price which was asked for the whole, have not hiduced me to purchase it, and prob- ably never will : in the confidence, however, of meeting your forgiveness. I am, etc., etc." One who reads this warm and tender correspondence re- ceives the impression that it gushed from hearts that confided in one another, and that were worthy one another's confidence. It was a very happy family. Parents, children, servants, seemed all to have delighted in one another, and to have been animated by a common desire for the happiness of the whole circle. To his two step-sons, Colonel Burr was liberal in the 162 LIFE OP AARON BURR. extreme, and took the liveliest possible interest in their ad- vancement. The little Theodosia was now beginning her edu- cation, every step of which was thoughtfully superintended by her father. From her earliest years, she began to manifest a singular, almost morbid fondness for her father, who, on his part, was resolved that she should be peerless among the la- dies of her time. Courage and fortitude were his darling virtues. He began to teach his daughter these, at an age when most parents are teaching their children effeminacy. He would encourage her to go alone in the dark, to the least frequented parts of his large rambling house, and to sleep in a room by herself. He urged her to restrain her cries when she was hurt, and to overcome her appetite for injurious deli- cacies. To such an extent did he carry discipline of this kind, that visitors sometimes received the impression that he was a hard, unloving father ; as people will of those rare parents who prefer to promote the lasting good of their children, even at the expense of their present pleasure. The servants of the family, most of whom were slaves, were taught to read. In these years, there was not a spot upon the brightness of his good name. A rising lawyer, devoted to business, avoid- ing politics, happy at home, honored abroad, welcome in the most refined and elevated circles, and shining in them with all the luster of a striking person, graceful manners and a pol- ished wit who would have predicted for him any thing but a career of still increasing brilliancy, a whole life-time of hon- orable exertion, and a name that would have been distinction to all who bore, or should inherit it ? True, a discerning person, a man who should have seen him much, and observed him closely, would have noted that in much of his intercourse with others, there was a flavor of false- hood. Women he always flattered. He did it on principle. He said their ruling passion was vanity, which, he always main- tained, was a harmless and amiable failing. He flattered them with an adroitness seldom equaled, contriving always to praise those qualities, upon the fancied possession of which they most valued themselves ; which is, of all flattery, the most irresisti- ble. But this habit was, by no means, altogether insincere AT THE X E W YORK BAR. 163 with Colonel Burr. He really liked women, and all their lovely ways, and had a great opinion of their taste and ca- pacity, lie preferred their society to that of men, at all pe- riods of life which is not a good sign. And women, with scarcely one exception in all his life, were warmly his friends which is not an infallibly good sign. The men whom men respect, the women whom women approve, are the men and women who bless their species. Burr's intercourse with men, too, was not always character- ized by the heartiness and directness which are dear to the Saxon heart. He succeeded best with young men and with un- sophisticated elderly gentlemen. He had a rare faculty of in- spiring young men with his own ambition, and with his own contempt of danger, luxury, and ease. Many young men loved him almost with the love of woman, and made him their model, and succeeded in copying his virtues and his faults. He, on his part, was really attached to them, would take in- finite pains to form and advance them ; and succeeded in so imprinting his own character on theirs, that their career in life was like his glorious at the beginning, disastrous, if not disgraceful, at the close. The same discerning observer would have lamented Colonel Burr's carelessness with regard to money. He was excessively given to making presents, to making expensive additions to his house and grounds. His hospitality was sometimes pro- fuse in the extreme. Once, while a certain Major Prevost was gone to England, his whole family of young children were entertained at Colonel Burr's house. There was not that instinctive counting gf the cost which marks the character destined to live and die in prosperity. And, still worse, there was not that instinctive shrinking from debt, that caution not to incur obligations respecting the punctual discharge of which there is any reasonable doubt, which indicates the entirely honest man. At this period, however, this cardinal fault had not exhibited itself to a degree approaching immorality. Profuseness of expenditure was then, as now, the prevalent vice of New York, and in conforming to the bad custom Col- 1G4 LIFE OF AARON BURR. onel Burr did only what most of his neighbors did. Hamilton himself, after fifteen years' successful practice of the law in the same courts with Burr, died scarcely solvent. v * In a former erlition it was stated that Rums King was one of the public men of that day who mismanaged their private interests. This was an error. 1 learn that Mr. King, eminently faithful as he was to the public interests in the various high offices which he filled, was a remarkably prudent manager of his private fortune. After a lifetime of generous expenditure, he left a considerable estate to his children. CHAPTER XL THE NEW YORK POLITICIAN. THE RAPIDITY OP HIS RISK IN POLITICS MEMBER OF THE STATE LEGISLATURE OPPOSES TIIK. Mr.ciiANH-a' BILL VOTES FOR THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY PAR- TIF.S AFTER THE PEACE TlIF. GREAT FAMILIES OP THE STATE " BURR'S MYRMIDONS 11 THE RATIFICATION OF THE CONSTITUTION BURR'S EARLY MOVEMENTS IN POLITICS APPOINTED ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF THE STATE His REPORT ON THE REVOLU- TIONARY CLAIMS SALE OF TUB STATE LASDS ELECTED TO THE SENATE OF TUB UNITED STATES. COLONEL BURR'S rise to eminence in the political world was more rapid than that of any other man who has played a conspicuous part in the affairs of the United States. Over the heads of tried and able politicians, in a State where leading families had, for a century, nearly monopolized the offices of honor and emolument, he was advanced, in four years after fairly entering the political arena, from a private station, first to the highest honor of the bar, next, to a seat in the national councils, and then, to a competition with Washington, Adams, Jeiferson, and Clinton for the presidency itself. This point he reached when he was but thirty-six years of age, without having originated any political idea or measure, without being fully committed to either of the two leading parties. To his cotemporaries, no less than to recent writers of political history, the suddenness of his elevation was an enig- ma. John Adams thought it was owing to the prestige of his father's and grandfather's name. Hamilton attributed it to Burr's unequaled wire-pulling. Some thought it was his military reputation. Others called it luck. His own circle of friends regarded his elevation as the legitimate result of a superiority to most of his rivals in knowledge, culture, and talents. No doubt all of these were causes of his success. Perhaps some of the mystery will vanish before a concise statement of his political career. 166 LIFE OF AARON BURR. Late in the autumn of 1783, Colonel Burr, as we have seen, became a resident of the city of New York. In the spring of 1784 he was elected a member of the legislature, and on the 12th of October following, took his seat. During the first session, he was not a diligent, nor, as it would seem, a promi- nent member ; attending only when important votes were taken, and leaving the burden of legilsation to members of more leisure than himself. But, at the second session, he took a stand on a certain bill which made him at once the most conspicuous of the members, and an object, out of doors, of equal hatred and admiration. A company of mechanics applied for an act of incorpora- tion, by which they would be enabled to hold land to an un- limited extent, and to wield power which, Colonel Burr thought, would finally endanger the independence of the city government. A great and wealthy GUILD, unless limits were fixed to its growth and authority, would arise, he said, to direct the votes of the most numerous class in the community, and thus to overawe the government. Alone, among the members from the city, he opposed this bill. His course cre- ated an intense excitement among the mechanics, some of whom threatened violence against his person and property; thus creating the circumstances in which, of all others, Aaron Burr was most fitted to shine. To danger he was constitu- tionally insensible, lie stood firm in his opposition. When his friends oiFered to protect his house from assault, he adroitly said that lie had no fear of violence from men of the Rev- olution, who had just made such sacrifices to conquer the right of governing themselves ; and that, Avhatever might occur, he was able and prepared to protect himself. The bill passed ; but was returned from the Council of Revision witb Colonel Burr's objections, and was, therefore, lost. The citi zens generally sided with Burr, and the mechanics themselves, it is said, were, at least, so far convinced of the correctness ot his views as never to renew the application. Conduct like this, in a young and rising lawyer, popular already for his gallantry as a soldier, could not but add to hi? reputation for courage, a general confidence in his firmness and THE NEW YORK POLITICIAN. 107 address. It was calculated to win him friends among his legis- lative associates, among the propertied citizens, and among the very class whose wishes he had opposed, Avho are not apt to like a man the less for boldly and courteously setting them right. It must also be borne in mind that a town of thirty thousand inhabitants is a theater upon which a shining action does not escape observation. At the same session, a bill was introduced into the legisla- ture for the gradual abolition of slavery in the Stale. Burr was in favor of a speedier extinction of the anomaly, and moved to amend the bill so as to totally abolish slavery after a certain day. His amendment having been rejected, he voted for the original bill, which was lost. Then followed three years of political calm in the State of New York, during which the name of Aaron Burr does not appear in politics. During the period that elapsed between the conclusion of peace in 1783, and the formation of the Constitution in 1787, the question upon which parties in this State were divided was this : What are the rights of the Tories in this common- wealth ? Shall we Whigs, triumphant over them after a seven years' contest, regard them as defeated enemies or as mis- taken fellow-citizens? Shall the animosities and disabilities of the war be kept up and' cherished, or shall the victors mag- nanimously let bygones be bygones? In this controversy, there were three parties. First, the Tories themselves, some of whom were blind enough to think that England, after breathing awhile, would attempt, and successfully too, to regain her colonies, the lost jewels of her diadem. Others, less infatuated, hoped, that after the first soreness of the war was over, the Tories would enjoy in the State the preeminence they had had in the colony Others, disfranchised for their active hostility to the Revolu- tion, were humble suitors for a restoration to estates and em- ployment. All of these were, of course, for granting the Tories all the rights and privileges of citizenship. Secondly, the Whigs, who had borne the burdens and hard- ships of the war ; many of whom had lost fortune, health, re- 168 LIFE OF AARON BUKR. lations, friends, in the struggle ; all of whom having seen that struggle prolonged and embittered by Tory machinations, had learned to hate a Tory worse than a British soldier. These men were indignant at the idea of conceding any thing to Tories. They demanded to enjoy the fruits of their triumph without sharing them with the enemy. Thirdly, between these extreme parties, there was, as usual, a class of people who were in favor of making some concessions to the Tories, and of gradually restoring all who would pro- fess loyalty to the new order of things, to equal privileges with the Whigs. Colonel Burr was a Whig of the decided school, one of those who were called violent Whigs. This was the popular party of that day. That he took an open and active part in the discussion of the various Whig and Tory questions, does not appear, but he was classed with the extreme Whigs, and acted afterward, and on other questions, with that party. As there were three parties, so there were three groups of leading partizans. There were, first, the Clintons, of whom George Clinton, Governor of the State, was the important person. He was the undisputed leader of the popular party. He had been gov- ernor since 1777, and was re-elected, every other year to that office, for eighteen years. The Clintons, as a family, were not, at this time, either numerous or rich ; but George Clinton, an able, tough, wary, self-willed man, wielding, with unusual tact, the entire patronage of the State, and dear to the affections of the great mass of the people, is an imposing figure in the pol- itics of the time, and must ever be regarded as the Chief Man of the State of New York, during the earlier years of its in- dependent existence. De Witt Clinton, a nephew of the gov- ernor, was a student in Columbia College at this time. The Clintons were all strong characters, retaining something of the fiery, obstinate, north-of-Ireland disposition which their ances- tor brought with him from over the sea, in 1719. They were thorough Whigs, all of them, though, it was said, the founder of the family was a royalist in the time of Charles I., and fled to Ireland to avoid the enmity of the Roundheads. THE NEW YORK POLITICIAN. 169 Then there were the Schuykrs, with General Schuyler at their head, and Alexander Hamilton, his son-in-law, for orna- ment and champion. General Schuyler was formed for un- popularity. Rich, of an imposing presence, austere in man- ners, a very honest, worthy man, he had no real sympathy with the age and country in which he lived. No more had Hamilton, as Hamilton well knew, and bitterly confessed. But not to anticipate, it is enough here to say that the Schuyler party, as used and led by Alexander Hamilton, was the one most directly opposed to the Clintons. General Schuyler had been a competitor with George Clinton for the governorship in 1777, and his disappointment, it was thought, was still very fresh in the general's recollection. But there was a third family in the State, which, merely as a family, was more important than the Clintons or Schuylers. This was the Livingston family rich, numerous, and influen- tial. At the time we are now considering, there were nine members of this family in public life politicians, judges, cler- gymen, lawyers of whom several were of national celebrity. And besides those who bore the name of Livingston, there were distinguished and aspiring men who had married daugh- ters of the family. The Livingstons had been rooted in the State for more than a hundred years, and the circle of their connections embraced a great proportion of the leading peo- ple. Robert R. Livingston, a member of Congress in 1776, one of the committee who drew up the Declaration of Inde- pendence, a conspicuous framer of the Constitution, afterward its stanch supporter, in later years the patron of Robert Ful- ton, and therefore immortal, was at this period the head and pride of the Livingston family. These were the three families. The Clintons had poicer the Livingstons had numbers, the Schuylers had Hamilton. Neither of the three was strong enough to overcome the other two united, and any two united could triumph over the third. Such statements as these must, of course, be taken with proper allowance. A thousand influences enter into politics, and general statements are only outline truths. Nevertheless, 170 LIFE OF AARON BUKK. in a State where only freeholders have a vote, and where there are not more than twelve or fourteen thousand freeholders, the influence of great families, if wielded by men of force and tal- ent, will be, in the long run, and in great crises, controlling. It was so in the State of New York for twenty years after the Revolution. For some years after coining to New York, Colonel Burr held aloof from these factions. Absorbed in the practice of his profession and the education of his family, he was not reckoned among the politicians. And when, at length, he entered the political field, it was not as an ally of either of the families, but as an independent power who profited by their dissensions, and wielded the influence of two to crush the more obnoxious third. He had a party of his own, that served him instead of family connections. Gradually certain young men of the town, who had nothing to hope from the ruling power, am- bitious, like himself, were drawn into his circle, and inspired with his own energy and resolution. They were devoted to their chief, of whose abilities they had an extravagant opinion. In every quarter, they sounded the praises of the man who, they said, was the bravest soldier, the ablest lawyer, and the most accomplished gentleman of his day; endowed with equal valor and prudence ; formed to shine in every scene, and to succeed in every enterprise. Burr's myrmidons, these young gentlemen were styled by General Hamilton. The T< nth Legion, they were proudly called by Theodosia, the daughter. They were not as numerous as the young lady's expression would imply, but they were such efficient co-workers with their chief, that the Bui-rites formed a fourth party in the State, and were a recognized power in it years after the leader had vanished from the scene. This party, as far as I can ascertain, was a merely personal one; its objects, victory and glory. Consisting at first of half a dozen of Burr's personal friends, it grew in numbers with his advancement, until, as just intimated, it became a formidable " wing" of the great Republican party. During the summer of 1787, all minds were fixed upon the proceedings of the convention that was forming the Coustitu- THE NEW YOKK POLITICIAN. 171 tion under which we now live. The science of government never had such a thorough discussion as it then received at the hands of editors, pamphleteers, and way-side politicians. Shall we have a strong and splendid central government, reducing sovereign States to the rank of departments ; or shall these sovereign States merely form a federal Union, for mutual de- fense ? That was the question. In September, the Constitu- tion, which was a compromise between the two systems, and which, therefore, was quite satisfactory to nobody, was sub- mitted to the States for each to ratify or reject. How eagerly and how long, with what ability and learning, the question of ratification or rejection was discussed in this State, need not be recounted here. Governor Clinton, proud of the State he governed, and foreseeing its destiny, thought it was required by the new Constitution to concede too much to the central authority, and to throw away the magnificent advantages of its position. He led the party who opposed ratification. Hamilton, who may almost be called the author of the Con- stitution, Avas of course its ablest champion. Jay, Robert K. Livingston, General Schuyler, the Van Rensselaers, were all strenuous in its support, and it was the union of the Living- ston influence with the Schuyler, ou this great question, that added New York to the States that had accepted the Con- stitution. William Livingston, the reader is aware, was one of the framers of the instrument. It is a significant fact that there should be no trace of Aaron Burr in a controversy so interesting and so vital as this. Mr. Davis says he was " neutral" on the question. Hamilton says his "conduct was equivocal." He was in no position that obliged him publicly to espouse either side of the question, and his was not the kind of intellect to shine in the pages of " The Federalist." His letters show, that while this subject was in agitation, he was immersed in law business. In common with most of the leading men of that time, including the framers of the Constitution, and particularly Hamilton, he had a low opinion of the merits of the new system, as a piece of political machinery. Conversing with a gentleman on the sub- ject, toward the close of his lite, he used language like this: 172 LIFE OP AARON BU BE. "When the Constitution was first framed," said he, "I pre- dicted that it would not last fifty years. I was mistaken. It will evidently last longer than that. But I was mistaken only in point of time. The crash will come, but not quite as soon as I thought." Though the New York Convention accepted the Constitu- tion by a majority of only three members, in a House of fifty- seven, yet, after the question was disposed of, there was a powerful reaction in favor of the Federal party. The feeling was general that the Constitution must be supported, and fairly tried. In the city, the anti-Federalists, as a party, were almost annihilated, and it was many a year before they gained the ascendancy. It was in the spring of 1788, when the Federal majority in the city was overwhelming, and in the State considerable, that Colonel Burr first appears in political history as the candidate of the anti-Federal party. On the walls of the city, in the month of April, appeared a handbill announcing to the shat- tered remnant of the popular party, that "THE SONS OF LIBERTY, WHO ARE AGAIN CALLED UPON TO CONTEND WITH THE SHELTERED ALIENS, WHO HAVE, BY THE COURTESY OF OUR OWN COUNTRY, BEEN PERMITTED TO REMAIN AMONG US, WILL GIVE THEIR SUPPORT TO THE FOLLOWING TICKET: WILLIAM DEMING, MELANCTHON SMITH, MARIMUS WlLLET, AND AARON BuRR." With this nomination, I presume, Colonel Burr had little to do. The ticket was probably run merely to keep the party together. Yet, as after making every allowance that even charity requires, Colonel Burr's course as a politician can not be praised, it is only fair to bear in mind that when the popu- lar party seemed hopelessly crushed, was the time when he first allowed his name to be identified with it. The next year, 1789, there was an election for governor, and the victorious Federalists, under Hamilton, had hopes of ousting Governor Clinton, who was a candidate for reelection. Clinton, however, was so rooted in the affections of the peo- ple, that Hamilton despaired of electing an opposition candi- date by direct means. He therefore resorted to a maneuver, THE NEW YORK POLITICIAN. 173 which he would have eloquently denounced if it had been de- vised by Burr. Chief Justice Morris, it was generally sup- posed and desired, would have been the regular Federal candidate. But six weeks before the election, Hamilton called a meeting in New York of moderate men of both j-arties, who nominated, as the opposing candidate, Judge Yates, an anti-Federalist, but a man, it was thought, Avho would be supported by enough Federalists to accomplish Hamilton's object, the downfall of Clinton. Judge Yates was one of Burr's most intimate friends. When Colonel Burr was at Albany in 1782, endeavoring to conquer the opposition of the lawyers to his premature, irregular admission to the bar, Judge Yates rendered him essential service, which laid the foundation of a lasting and cordial friendship between them. On every political question since, Colonel Burr and Judge Yates had felt and acted together. With Governor Clinton he had no particular relations. In this movement, therefore, to elevate his old and venerated friend, Colonel Burr joined, and his name appears, with that of Hamilton, William Duer, and Robert Troup, as one of the committee of correspondence appointed to promote the object. Yates accepted, and Morris was induced to decline the nomination. The Federalists is- sued an address, in which with singular absurdity, they avow a preference for Morris, but a determination to vote for Yates, as Yates was the only man to beat Clinton with. The trick nearly succeeded. Clinton received 6,391 votes ; Yates, , 5,962 : majority for Clinton, 429. This is the only instance in which Hamilton and Burr ever acted in politics together. There is a tendency in human na- ture to heap obloquy upon a public man who is irretrievably down and, accordingly, I find writers, who give an account of this election, attributing political inconsistency and maneu- vering to Burr. On the contrary, it was Hamilton who was inconsistent, and who maneuvered. As yet Burr was no poli- tician. Nothing was more natural or more proper than his support of an old friend, with whom he was in political ac- cord. Governor Clinton was evidently of that opinion, for, four 174 LIFE OF AARON BURP months after the election, he offered Burr the Attorney-Gen- eralship of the State. This was a tribute to the lawyer merely. The office was important and lucrative, but it was not given, at that day, as a matter of course, to a partizan. For some days after the offer was made, Colonel Burr hesitated to accept it, not from any dislike to the office, as he informed the gov- ernor, but from other circumstances known to both, and there- fore not mentioned. September 25th he signified his wil- lingness to accept, and on the 27th he was appointed. It. is conceded, I believe, by every one, that during the two years that Colonel Burr held this office, its duties were performed by him with punctilious correctness and efficiency. In March, 1790, the Attorney-General was named one of three commissioners, upon whom the legislature devolved the duty of classifying and deciding upon the claims of individuals for services rendered and losses sustained in the revolutionary war. These claimants were numberless. Some of them had served in the State militia, some in the Continental army, and some in both. Others had supplied provisions to both de- scriptions of troops. Many had had their estates overrun, their houses pillaged or burnt by the foe. Some of the claims were for many thousands of dollars, others for the value of a few bushels of oats or tons of hay. Of course, in the throng of rightful elaimaints mingled not a few rogues, whose ac- counts needed the closest scrutiny. And when the justice of a claim was established, it was often a difficult point to decide whether it was the general government, or the State govern-, ment that ought to discharge it. In many cases both seemed liable, and the commissioners had to decide in what propor- tion. The investigation was continued at intervals for the period of two years, at the expiration of which the Attorney- General drew up a report, which was presented to the legisla- ture, and accepted by that body without opposition or amend- ment. The report was chiefly remarkable for its. clear and concise statement of the principles upon which claims had been allowed, rejected, or excluded from consideration. Those principles were made the basis of all future settlements with revolutionary creditors in this State, and Colonel Burr gained THE XEAV YORK POLITICIAN. 175 much in reputation from the ability with which they were de- veloped in the report. The Attorney-General in 1791 Avas appointed to serve on another commission of great importance, the issue of which was not productive of reputation to any one. The State, at this time, was in pressing need of money, and exceedingly rich in land. At the close of the war, there were seven millions of acres of land belonging to the State, that were still wild and waste. The magnih'cient and productive region now known as western New York, the garden of the northern States, was then a wilderness inhabited by Indians, and traversed only by Indian trails. Indeed the entire State ot New York, except its southern extremity and the shores of the Hudson river, was in the same primeval condition. It was one of the great questions of State policy, from 1783 to 1791, how to get the wild lands sold and settled. Various laws had been passed to facilitate the object, but it had progressed with provoking slosvness, until, in 1791, the State treasury being in extreme need of replenishment, and a whole army of creditors waiting only the award of the commissioners to present and press their claims, it was resolved to force the lands to a sale. To this end, the legislature, by a vote nearly or quite unan- imous, authorized the Commissioners of the Land Office to " dispose of any of the waste and unappropriated lands in the State, in such parcels, on such terms, and in such manner, as they shall judge most conducive to the interests of the State." 1'owers more unlimited were never confided to any body of men. The Commissioners were, the Governor, the Secre- tary of State, the Attorney-General, the Treasurer, and tho Auditor. Then followed some of the most extraordinary land sales that even this richly-landed continent has known. In the course of the summer, the Commissioners sold the enormous quantity of five and a half millions of acres, at an average price of about eighteen cents per acre. It was sold in pro- digious tracts, the number of purchasers not exceeding the number of millions of acres disposed of. One tract brought three shillings an acre; another, two shillings; another, one 176 LIFE OF AARON BURR. shilling. The most astounding sale of all was one to Alex- ander McComb of more than three million six hundred thou- sand acres, at the seemingly ridiculous price of eight pence per acre, to be paid in five annual installments! The sum re- alized by all the sales was a million and thirty thousand dol- lars, not more than half of which was immediately available. When these sales were made public a great outcry arose in all parts of the State, and resolutions of censure were moved in the legislature. It was everywhere charged that Governor Clinton had a personal interest in the Macomb purchase. Colonel Burr, it was shown, had had no part in effecting the sales, as he was absent on official duty when they had taken place. At the time, therefore, he escaped the odium of the transaction, and it was reserved for subsequent periods of political contention to connect his name with them. The Com- missioners replied, first, by denying, point-blank, that any of their number had the slightest personal interest ineither of the sales ; which was, unquestionably, the fact. They said, too, what no one could deny, that they had not transcended the power confided to them by the legislature ; that no better terms could be obtained for the lands ; and that the chief ob- ject of the State in selling was to bring private interest to bear upon getting the lands sold to actual settlers. The Com- missioners were, at length, completely exonerated, and the sales which they made really had the effect of hastening the settlement of the lands. Experience, I believe, has proved that if there must be speculation in wild lands, the people's own domain, it is a less evil to sell it in tracts too large to be retained in the hands of the speculator, than in quantities which are likely to be held by individuals till the toil of sur- rounding settlers has enhanced their value. In January, 1791, occurred what is regarded as the great mystery of Colonel Burr's political career. He was elected to represent the State of New York in the Senate of the United States. Rufus King and Philip Schuyler were the first Uni- ted States Senators chosen by the State of New York ; and, as General Schuyler had drawn the short term, his seat would become vacant on the 4th of March, 1791. He was a candi- THE NEW YORK POLITICIAN. 177 date for leelection. Beside being in actual possession of the seat, he had the advantage of old renown, influential connec- tions, and the powerful aid of Hamilton, now the confidential man of Washington's administration, and in the full tide of his great financial measures. Above all, the Federalists had a majority in the legislature which was to elect the Senator, and Schuyler was the most federal of Federalists. Aaron Burr was a young man of thirty-five, not known in national politics, with no claims upon either party, and with few advantages which were not personal. Yet, upon General Schuyler's nomination, he was at once, and decisively, rejected ; and, immediately after, when Aaron Burr was proposed, he was, upon the first vote, in both Houses, elected. Sixteen Senators voted, of whom twelve voted for Burr. In the Assembly, Burr's ma- jority was five. The newspapers of the time throw no light upon the causes of Burr's election, They record the vote, without a word of comment. Xo cotemporary record or memoir explains it. Mr. Davis says nothing about it. In the pamphlet war of 1804, Burr's vituperators frequently taunt him with having gained this great step without having done any service enti- tling him to it, but they do not as much as hint at the means by which it was gained. Of recent historians, the amiable and fair-minded Dr. Hammond (History of Political Parties in the State of New York) attributes Burr's success to his supposed moderation in politics, to his reputation as an orator, and to the contrast his fascinating manners presented to Schuyler's austerity. He adds that Morgan Lewis, a connection of the Livingstons, succeeded Burr as Attorney-General, and suggests that this may have been "foreseen" at the time of the elec- tion. Mr. Hildrcth conjectures that the election of Burr to the Senate may have been a bid from the Federalists to win him over to their side ! But would the Federalists, as a party, have defeated Hamilton's father-in-law for such an object? The only glimmer of light thrown on the affair in the cor- respondence of the period, is shed by the following passage of a letter from Schuyler to Hamilton, dated January 29th, 1792 : " As no good," says the general, " could possibly result from Q* 178 LIFE OF AARON BURR. evincing any resentment to Mr. Burr for the part he took last winter (when the election for Senator occurred), I have on every occasion behaved toward him as if he had not been the principal in the business." What business? If the reference is to the election, we learn from 'it that General Schuyler at- tributed his defeat to Burr's personal exertions; and if the general was correct in his supposition, then we may conjecture that, in some mysterious way, Colonel Burr contrived to unite in his own support the influence of the Clintons and the Liv- ingstons. The Livingstons, as a family, it is now well known, resented the splendid elevation of the young adventurer, Alexander Hamilton, a man not native to the soil ; while Robert R. Livingston, the head of their ancient house, a statesman distinguished in the country's annals while yet Hamilton was a merchant's clerk in the West Indies, was suf- fered to languish in obscurity. Bun 1 played upon this string a few years later with great effect. It may have been touched in 1791. Apart from these impenetrabilities, there is no difficulty in plausibly accounting for Colonel Burr's election to the Senate. General Schuyler was personally unacceptable. He was no speaker. He was a thorough-going partisan, and bore the scars of former political contests. He was identified with Hamilton, whose financial system was rending the nation into factions, and whose towering eminence dwarfed so many of his cotemporaries. Against Schuyler a direct party oppo- sition would probably have failed. Burr was a new man, which is, in politics, often an overwhelming advantage. He was thought to be a moderate man, who would represent the State ably, fairly, and faithfully. He was an educated man, in a community where a collegiate education was a valuable distinction, and one of the rarest. He stood before the people in the untarnished luster of powers whose speciality it was to shine. Except Hamilton, he was thought to be the finest or- ator in the State, as well as a man of peculiarly effective tact. He was master of an address and manner which could be im- pressive or pleasing as the occasion required. Some members were, doubtless, proud to send to Philadelphia so fine a gen- THE NEW YOKK POLITICIAN. 179 tleman as Colonel Burr ; for, in that day, more than now, manner was power. I have conversed with men who were captivated with the presence and style of the man when he was nearly fourscore, and had both legs in the grave. What power, then, there must have been in his presence when he was in the prime of his years ! Just at that time, too, the Xew York legislature was agitated on the subject of the United States Senate sitting with closed doors; one of the great little questions of the day. Schuyler, haughty old sol- dier that he was, was the man to insist upon excluding the vulgar public from the deliberations of a body that felt itself to be the American House of Lords. Complaisant and popular Burr, who had enough of the Napoleonic intellect to see the immeasurable importance of little things, was, then and after- ward, an advocate of an open Senate. Thus conjecture attempts to supply the want of informa- tion. If the causes of Burr's elevation are uncertain, the conse- quences of it are not. Schuyler felt his defeat acutely, and Hamilton was painfully disappointed. It was of the utmost possible importance to the Secretary of the Treasury to have a reliable majority in Congress ; and the presence of a devoted father-in-law, in a Senate of twenty-eight members sitting with closed doors, was convenient. From 1791 dates Hamilton's repugnance to Burr, and soon after his letters begin to teem with passages expressive of that repugnance. The two families were on terms of politeness, then and always. The two men were, to all appearance, cordial friends enough down to the last month of Hamilton's life. But from this time, in what- ever direction Burr sought advancement, or advancement sought him, his secret, inveterate opponent was Alexander Hamilton ; until at length the politics of the United States was resolved into a contest between these two individuals. The effect upon Burr's own mind of his election to the Senate is dimly visible in his correspondence. He seems now to have accepted politics as his vocation. His wife writes to him a few weeks after the election, and some months before he took his seat, that he ought to take measures to reestablish 180 LIFE OF AAEON BTJKK. his health before turning politician. His own letters contain scarcely an allusion to politics. Once, he advises Mrs. Burr not to travel, if possible, with a political partizan, but rather with an opponent. Occasionally he says that he dares not trust the public mail with political secrets. When he does write upon politics, it is in ciphers. He requests 18 to ask 45 whether, for any reasons, 21 could be induced to vote for 6, and, if he could, whether 14 would withdraw his opposition to 29, and 11 exert his influence in favor of 22. The reader will, however, remember that this mode of correspondence was common at that day between politicians. Though Burr was, perhaps, the most mysterious politician of them, all, yet all politicians were, more or less, mysterious. CHAPTER XII. A SENATOR. ENTERS THE SEN-ATE THE SENATE'S INTERVIEW -WITH PRESHDENT WASHINGTON BURR'S ADDRESS TO THE PRESIDENT LETTER FROM THE FRENCH KING Tllfe Pl'.ESIDKNT FORBIDS COLONEL BlTRR TO EXAMINE THE RECORDS BtTRR TALKED OF FOR THE GOVERNORSHIP OF THE STATE BURR'S OPINION ON THE DIS- PUTED CANVASS SECOND PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION BURR A CANDIDATE HAM- ILTON OPPOSES AND DENOUNCES HIM BURR AS A DEBATER WASHINGTON'S ItEFrSAL TO SEND HIM AMBASSADOR TO FRANCE TlIIRD PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION BURR A PROMINENT CANDIDATE HAMILTON AGAIN OPPOSES HIM DOMESTIC LIFE DEATH OF MRS. BURR EDUCATION OF HIS DAUGHTER. Ox the first day of the session, October 24th, 1791, Colonel Burr " took the oaths and his seat." The next day President Washington, as the custom then was, delivered his annual Speech to both Houses assembled in the Senate Chamber. The Speech was composed after the model of the English king's speeches to Parliament, which it resembled also in brevity. First, the President addressed his "Fellow-citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives ;" then, the " Gentlemen of the Senate ;" then, the "Gentlemen of the House of Representa- tives;" and lastly, the "Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives." When the ceremonial was over, and the Senators were left in possession of their chamber, a com- mittee of three was appointed to draw up the usual address in reply to the President, and Colonel Burr, their new and youngest associate, received the compliment of being named chairman of that committee. He prepared the address, Avhich, on being read to the Senate, was accepted without amendment. The committee were next ordered to wait on the President to ask when and where he would receive the Senate's reply to his speech. Colonel Burr, on their return, reported Monday, at noon, at the President's own house. At the time ap- 182 LI FE OF AARON BUR K. pointed, the Senators went in procession to the President's, and were received with that serious and stately courtesy which was then in vogue among persons in high office. Fancy a long dining-room, with the tables and chairs re- moved. Before the fire-place stands a tall and superb figure, clad in a suit of black velvet, with black silk stockings and silver buckles. His hair, white with powder, is gathered be- hind in a silk bag. He wears yellow gloves, and holds a cocked hat adorned with cockade and plume. A sword, Avith hilt of polished steel and sheath of white leather, further re- lieves the somber magnificence of the President's form. The Senators enter, with Vice-President Adams at their head, and form a semicircle round the President while Mi-. Adams reads the address. As a relic of an extinct usage, the reader may be gratified to see the address prepared by Colonel Burr for this occasion. It reads as follows : " SIR : The Senate of the United States have received with the highest satisfaction the assurances of public prosperity contained in your speech to both Houses. The multiplied blessings of Providence have not escaped our notice, or failed to excite our gratitude. " The benefits which flow from the restoration of public and private confidence are conspicuous and important ; and the pleasure with which we contemplate them is heightened by your assurance of those further communications which shall confirm their existence and indicate their source. " While we rejoice in the success of those military opera- tions which have been directed against the hostile Indians, we lament with you the necessity that has produced them ; and we participate the hope that the present prospect of a gene- ral peace, on terms of moderation and justice, may be wrought into complete and permanent effect ; and that the measures of government may equally embrace the security of our front- iers and the general interests of humanity. Our solicitude to obtain which, will insure our zealous attention to an object so warmly espoused by the principles of benevolence, and so highly interesting to the honor and welfare of the nation. A SENATOR. 183 " The several subjects which you have particularly recom- 7nemU'- peared scarcely sensible that she was speaking to you ; or, at the most, replied with a cold remercie, without even a look of satisfaction or complacency. A moment's reflection will con- vince you that this conduct will be naturally construed into ar- rogance ; as if you thought that all attention was due to you, A SENATOB. 203 and as if you felt above showing the least, to any body. 1 know that you abhor such sentiments, and that you are inca- pable of being actuated by them. Yet you expose yourself to the censure without intending or knowing it. I believe you will in future avoid it. Observe how Natalie replies to the smallest civility which is offered to her." That, too, is sound morality. But there is, occasionally, a passage in his letters to her which has the Chesterfieldian taint. The worst example of this kind is the following : " In case you should dine in com- pany with Mrs. , I will apprize you of one circumstance, by a trifling attention to which you may elevate yourself in her esteem. She is a great advocate for a very plain, rather ab- stemious diet in children, as you may see by her conduct with Miss Elizabeth. Be careful, therefore, to eat of but one dish ; that a plain roast or boiled : little or no gravy or butter, and very sparingly of dessert or fruit : not more than half a glass of wine ; and if more of any thing to eat or drink is offered, decline it. If they ask a reason Papa thinks it not good for me, is the best that can be given." Theodosia rewarded her father's solicitude by becoming the best educated woman of her time and country, as well as one of the most estimable. She never, of course, com- pleted the conquest of Latin or Greek, but French she made entirely her own ; and wrote an English style that could be elegantly playful, or correctly strong, as the subject required. On one occasion, during her father's public life, she translated, for his use, the Constitution of the United States into French. She also, at his request, undertook the translation of one of Bentham's works from French into English, and partly exe- cuted it. Her father never ceased, while she lived, to direct and urge the further improvement of her mind. From the deepest abyss of his misfortunes, he could still siy to her, " Be what my heart desires, and it will console me for all the evils of life." And what a daughter was she to him ! From the age of fourteen, the engaging mistress of his household, the companion of his leisure, the friend of his mind! In other days, his eloquent, persistent, fearless, indomitable champion f 2C4 LIFE OP AARON BURR. Colonel Stone, in his Life of Brant, the Indian chief, gives us a pleasant glimpse of Theodosia Burr in her fourteenth year. She was then a grown woman, and reigned supreme over her father's house during his long absence at the seat of government. Brant, during one of the closing years of Burr's senatorship, visited Philadelphia, where, for some time, the magnificent Indian was a fashionable lion. Colonel Burr gave him a dinner party, which Yolney, Talleyrand, and other nota- bilities attended. The incidents of that entertainment used to be related by Burr for forty years after they occurred, and they have been communicated to me almost in his own words-. But, unfortunately, the chief's English, though innocent, and infinitely amusing to the guests, can not be repeated to a fastidious public, and, therefore, the humors of that banquet must remain for ever unrecorded. Suffice it to say, that the Frenchmen were delighted with the lion, who roared his best for their pleasure. Before Brant's leaving Philadelphia for Xew York, Colonel Burr gave him a note of introduction to his daughter, in which he requested her to show him every attention. " Miss Theodosia," says Colonel Stone, who derived the in- formation from Burr himself, "received the forest-chief with all the courtesy and hospitality suggested ; and performed the honors of her father's house in a manner that must have been as gratifying to her absent parent as it was creditable to her- self. Among other attentions, she gave him a dinner party, selecting for her guests some of the most eminent gentlemen in the city, among whom were Bishop Moore and Doctors Bard and Hosack. In writing to her father upon the subject, she gave a long and sprightly account of the entertainment. She said that, in making the preliminary arrangements, she had been somewhat at a loss in the selection of such dishes as would probably suit the palate of her principal guest. Being A savage warrior, and in view of the many tales she had heard, of " ' The cannibals that each other eat, Tho anthropophagi, and men whose heads Do grow beneath their shoulders,' A SEXATOK. 205 she added, sportively, that she had a mind to lay the hospital under contribution for a human head to be served up like a boar's head in ancient hall barbaric. But, after all, she found him a most Christian and civilized guest in his manners." During these years of greatness, Colonel Burr, like most other persons in his sphere, was an owner of slaves, who were employed as household servants. That he was a kind and con- siderate master to them, his letters to Theodosia, and their letters to him, give touching evidence. "Poor Tom," he writes of a servant who had met with an accident, " I hope you take good care of him. If he is confined by his leg, he r in H.xt pay the greater attention to his reading and writing.' 1 '' One of his letters from Philadelphia to Theodosia, concludes thus : " Alexis often bids me to send you some polite and respectful message on his part, which I have hitherto omitted. He is a faithful, good boy ; upon, our return home he hopes you will teach him to read." Another letter alludes pleasantly to two of liis servants. " Mat's child," he tells Theodosia, " shall not be christened until you shall be pleased to indicate the time, place, manner, and name. I have promised Tom that he shall take me to Philadelphia, if there be sleighing. The poor fel- low is almost crazy about it. He is importuning all the gods for snow." He corresponded with his servants, when away from home. Their letters to him are very artless and pleasing. " We are happy to hear," says " Peggy" in one of her letters, " that Sam and George and the horses are in good order, and all the fam- ilv gives their love to them." Another of Peggy's epistles concludes thus: " But, master, I wish to beg a favor of you ; please to grant it. I have found there is a day-school, kept by an elderly man and his wife, near to our house, and if mas- ter is willing that I should go to it for two months, I think it would be of great service to me, and at the same time I will not neglect my work in the house, if you please, sir." Peggy received an immediate answer, granting her request. She re- plies in a few days : " I go to the school, since master is will- ing, and I like the teacher very much. He pays great atten- tion to my learning, and I have teached Nancy her letters ever 206 LIFE OF AARON BURR. since you have been gone, which I think will be of as much service to her as if she went to school. We are all well at present, and I hope that you are the same." She tells her master, iu the same letter, that there has been a report in the taper that he had been wounded in a duel, and that the family were all very uneasy about it, though the story was not be- ieved in the town. He replies immediately that he is per- fectly well, and has had no quarrel with any one. He urges her to go to school punctually, thanks her for teaching Xancy, and says he shall soon go home and give them all New Years' presents. All this is very amiable. There never lived, indeed, a more completely amiable man than Aaron Burr. Generous, thought- ful for the pleasure of others, careless of his own, a pleasant, composed, invincibly polite person, credulous even, easily taken in by plausible sharpers, but with these softer qualities relieved by courage, tact, and industry who could have'fore- seen for such a character the destiny he encountered, the in* famy that blackens his name? But, in this difficult world, in this justly-ordered universe, to be amiable is not enough. An anecdote, related with great animation by himself, of this period of his life, will suffice to indicate one of his faults against society. He Avas sitting in his library reading one day. A lady entered without his perceiving her, and going up softly behind his chair, gave him a slap on the cheek, say- ing, " Come, tell me, what little French girl, pray, have you had here ?" The abruptness of the question, and the positive manner of the lady, deceived him, and he doubted not she had made the discovery. He admitted the fact. Whereupon, his fair inquisitress burst into loud laughter at the success of her artifice, which she was induced to play off upon' him from the mere circumstance of having smelt musk in the room. Upon this and other points there will be time to enlarge when we reach the expiatory years of his life. At present, we must attend to the affairs of the nation. CHAPTER XIII. THE ERA OF BAD FEELING. TOR THREE PERIODS OP OUR HISTORY PARTIES BEFORE TUB REVOLUTION P\RTIES APTKR TUB KEVOLfTION EFFECT OF TUB FRENCH IZEVOLUTTOX UPOX AMERICA* POLITICS HAMILTON' JEFFEKSOX THE TONE or SOCIETY ox JEFFERSON'S RK- TI-RX FKOM FRANCE THE DIFFERENCES HETWEEN HAMILTON AND JEFFERSON KISE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PAUTY Joux ADA.MS PUBLIC EXCITEMENT IN 1793. IT was the fortune of Aaron Burr to contribute, in a re- markable manner, to the first triumph of his party. That the reader, not fresh in the 'early history of his country, may un- derstand the importance of that triumph, it is necessary that be should be informed or reminded of the state of parties, and the feeling of the country, and of the character of certain lead- ing persons who flourished at that time. This chapter, then, is to be a digression to be skipped by a reader who is in haste. " Whig and Tory belong to natural history," Mr. Jefferson used to say. This truth, that free communities naturally di- vide into two parties, one in favor of keeping things as they are, the other strenuous for making them better than they are, simplifies the study of political history, and should always be borne in mind by the student. It is not an infallable guide through the labyrinth of party politics, but it greatly assists the groping explorer. An historian might divide our political history into three periods. The first began with the adoption of the Con- stitution, and ended with the election of Jefferson ; a period which, in the recent language of Mr. Seward, " gave to the country a complete emancipation of the masses from the dom- ination of classes." The second began with Jefferson, and ended with the annexation of Texas. This was the period of peaceful democratic rule, the fruit of Jefferson's ideas and 208 LIFE OF AAEON BURR. Burr's tactics. The third period began with Texa, and will end with the final settlement of the slavery problem. We have now to do only with that eventful twelve years when the new democratic ideas contended with old Custom and old Thought in this country. It w to the time of his leaving France, the Revolution had worn only its nobler aspects, and he sympathized with it, heart and intellect. He reached Virginia, and was summoned soon by General Washington to the office of Secretary of State. With un feigned reluctance (for he was an enthusiast in agriculture) he left his ample estates and came to New York to join the ne\v government. There he met with a surprise. But let us quote his own language : "I returned from the French mission," says Mr. Jefferson, "in the first year of the new government, having landed 10 218 .LIFE OF AAKON BUER. in Virginia in December, 1789, and proceeded to New York in March, 1790, to enter on the office of Secretary of State. Here, certainly, I found a state of things which, of all I had ever contemplated, I the least expected. I had left France in the first year of her Revolution, in the fervor of national rights and zeal for reformation. My con- scientious devotion to those rights could not be heightened, but it had been aroused and excited by daily exercise. The President received me cordially, and rny colleagues, and the circle of principal citizens, apparently with welcome. The courtesies of dinner parties given me, as a stranger newly arrived among them, placed me at once in their familiar soci- ety. But I can not describe the wonder and mortification Avith which the table conversations filled me. Politics were the chief topic, and a preference of kingly over republican government was evidently the favorite sentiment. AnTapos- tate I could not be, nor yet a hypocrite ; and I found myself, for the most part, the only advocate on the republican side of the question." Mr. Jefferson records part of the conversation which passed at a cabinet dinner at this period present, himself, Mr. Adams, and Mr. Hamilton : " After the cloth was removed, and one question argued and dismissed, conversation began on other matters, and by some circumstance was led to the British Constitution, on which Mr. Adams observed, ' Purge that constitution of its corruption, and give to its popular branch equality of representation, and it would be the most perfect constitution ever devised by the *" wit of man.' " Hamilton paused and said, ' Purge it of its corruption, and give to its popular branch equality of representation, and it would become an impracticable government : as it stands at present, with all its supposed defects, it is the most perfect government which ever existed.' " And this was assuredly the exact line which separated the political creeds of these two gentlemen. The one was for two hereditary branches, and an honest elective one ; the other, for a hereditary king, with a House of Lords and Com- THK KKA OF BAD FEELIXG. 219 mons corrupted to his will, and standing between him and the people. Hamilton was indeed a singular character. Of acute understanding, disinterested, honest, and honorable in all pri- vate transactions, amiable in society, and duly valuing virtue in private lite, yet so bewitched and perverted by the British example, as to be under thorough conviction that corruption was essential to the government of a nation. Mr. Adaras had originally been a Republican. The ^lare of royalty and no- bility, during his mission to England, had made him believe their fascination a necessary ingredient in government." Hamilton and Jefferson could not be an harmonious pair of cabinet ministers. Hamilton hated, Jefferson loved, the French Revolution.* Hamilton approved, Jefferson detested the monarchizing forms of Washington's administrations. Hamilton was for a strong and overshadowing federal gov- ernment; Jefferson was strenuous for the independence of the States. Hamilton was in favor of high salaries and a gen- eral liberality of expenditure ; Jefferson, liberal with his own money, was penurious in expending the people's. Hamilton desired a powerful standing army ; Jefferson was for relying chiefly upon an unpaid, patriotic militia. Hamilton would have had our embassadors live at foreign courts, in a style similar to that of the courtly representatives of kings ; Jefferson was opposed to any diplomatic establishment. Hamilton had a * Like the Bourbons, the New York Federalist learns nothing, and forgets nothing. While writing this page, my eyes wandered for a moment to the newspaper which contained Senator Wadsworth's speech on the Trinity Church question (delivered in March, 1857). Mr. Wadsworth claimed to speak aa the representative of "the Jays, the Hamiltons, and the Kings," whom he evi- dently regards as the elect of the human race. Alluding to the gentleman who thought that the vestry of Trinity should not have unchecked control of the church's great estate, the honorable and unlearned Senator said, " Neither Jack Cade nor Ledru Rollin ever proposed any thing bolder. All Jacobinism stands without its parallel The attacks upon the noblesse of France, when untold millions of property fell the prey of plebeian rapacity, furnishes the only fit illustration which my mind can recall to express my abhorrence of this outrageous proposition." This is eminently Hamiltonian. But for Hamilton to speak in that manner of the French Revolution was excusable, as he died before the labors of scores of historians and biographers had flooded that pe- riod with light. 220 LIFE OF AAEON BURR. great opinion of the importance of foreign commerce ; Jeffer- son knew that home production and internal trade are the great sources of national wealth. Hamilton gave a polite assent to the prevailing religious creed, and attended the Episcopal Church ; Jefferson was an avowed and emphatic dissenter from that creed, and went to the Unitarian chapel. And finally, Hamilton, the ex-clerk, was a very tine gentle- man, and wore the very fine clothes then in vogue ; Jefferson, the hereditary lord of acres, combed his hair out of pig-tail, discarded powder, wore pantaloons, fastened his shoes with strings instead of buckles, and put fine-gentlemanism utterly out of his heart for ever. " Hamilton and I," said Jefferson, long after, " were pitted against each other every day in the cabinet, like two fighting- cocks." No wonder. They soon became, as all the world knows, personally estranged, and Hamilton, never too scrupu- lous in political warfare, assailed his colleague by name in the newspapers. From the cabinet the contention spread to the farthest confines of the nation, and became at length the an- griest and bitterest this nation has known. A few passages from the writings and reminiscences of the time will show the state of public feeling during this contest between the new and old ideas. Of the excitement caused by General Washington's cool re- ception of absurd Genet, the French embassador, who made a triumphal progress through the country in 1793, John Adams wrote to Jefferson in after years : " You certainly never felt the terrorism excited by Genet in 1793, when ten thousand people in the streets of Philadelphia, day after day, threatened to drag Washington out of his house, and effect a revolution in the government, or compel it to declare war in favor of the French Revolution, and against England. The coolest and the firmest minds, even among the Quakers in Philadelphia, have given their opinions to me, that nothing but the yellow fever, which removed Dr. Hutchinson and Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant from this world, could have saved the United States from a fatal revolution of government. I have no doubt you were fast asleep, in philosophical tranquil- THE ERA OP BAD FEELING. 221 lity, when ten thousand people, and perhaps many more, were parading the streets of Philadelphia on the evening of my fast day ; when even Governor Minim himself thought it his duty to order a patrol of horse and foot to preserve the peace ; when Market street was as full as men could stand by one another, and even before my door; when some of my domes- tics in frenzy, determined to sacrifice their lives in my defense ; when all were ready to make a desperate sally among the mul- titude, and others were with difficulty and danger dragged back by the rest ; when I myself judged it prudent and nec- essary to order chests of arms from the war-office to be brought through by-lanes and back doors, determined to de- fend my house at the expense of my life, and the lives of the few, very few domestics and friends within it." The delirium of the public during the early years of the French Revolution, is strikingly shown in a letter which Mr. Adams wrote to his wife in 1794. "The rascally lie," wrote the Vice-President, " about the Duke, of York in a cage ; and Toulon and all the English fleet in the hands of the Republic- ans, was fabricated on purpose to gull the gudgeons ; and it completely succeeded, to my infinite mortification. An at- tempt was made to get me to read the red-hot lie to the Sen- ate, in order to throw them into as foolish a confusion as that below them ; but I was too old to be taken in, at least by so gross an artifice, the falsehood of which was to me palpable." This lie, palpable as it was, not only threw the House of Rep- resentatives into confusion, but set all the bells of Philadel- phia ringing, and made the city, for a few hours, the scene of vociferous rejoicing. Graydon, in his Memoirs of this period, tells a story that gives us a lively idea of the popular feeling. "I remember," says he, " one day at the table of General Mifflin, at this time President of the State (Pennsylvania), when the Parisian courtezans were applauded for contributing their patriotic gifts. I ventured (Graydon was a thorough-going Federalist, and ' gentleman of the old school'), to call in question the immense merit of the proceeding. I was stared at by a pious clergyman for the shocking heterodoxy of my sentiments, and 222 LIFE OF AARON BURR. should probably have been drawn into an altercation, no less disagreeable than indiscreet, had not the general, in a friendly manner, pacified the parson by whispering him in the ear, that I was perfectly well-disposed, and only sporting an opinion. So overwhelming was the infatuation, that even this godly personage had quite forgot that incontinency was a sin. He * could have hugged the wicked sluts they pleased him /' " During this contest between young Democracy and old Cus- tom, a very marked change took place in the costume, the manners, and the minor morals of the people. The feeling of equality expressed itself in dress. John Jay, among others, alludes, in one of his letters, to the effect of the French Revo- lution in banishing silk stockings and high breeding from the land. Pantaloons became the outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible republicanism. Hair-powder, pig-tails, and shoe-buckles began to disappear ; and the polite observ- ances that had grown out of the old-world distinctions of rank, were discontinued by the more ardent republicans. The re- cently published Recollections of Peter Parley, contain much precious and pleasantly-given information respecting the gradual change that came over the spirit of the country in the time of Jefferson. The excellent Parley is a sad Federal- ist, it is true, and his sympathies are much more with the good old time, than with the better new time ; but he is a faithful and agreeable narrator. Before the Jeffersonian era, he tells us, travelers who met on the highway saluted each other with formal and dignified courtesy ; and children stopped, as they passed a grown person, and made the bow they had been practiced in at school for such occasions. But as democracy spread, these grand salutations " first subsided into a vulgar nod, half ashamed and half impudent, and then, like the pendulum of a dying clock, totally ceased." Another little fact mentioned by Mr. Goodrich is signifi- cant. "Pounds, shillings, and pence," says he, " were clas- sical, and dollars and cents vulgar, for several succeeding gen- erations. ' I would not give a penny for it,' was genteel ; ' I would not give i oent for it,' was plebeian." Among the benefits bestowed upon the country by Jefferson, one was its THE ERA OF BAD FEELIXG. 223 admirable currency ; which, if he did not invent, he so advo- cated as to insure its adoption. A ludicrous anecdote related bv the same author, though * of a somewhat later stage of the democratic triumph, has an historic value. " A Senator of the United States," says Mr. Goodrich, " once told me that at this period all the barbers of Washington were Federalists, and he imputed it to the fact that the leaders of that party in Congress wore powder and long queues, and of course had them dressed every day by the barber. The Democrats, on the contrary, wore short hair, or, at least, small queues, tied up carelessly with a ribbon, and therefore gave little encouragement to the tonsorial art. One day. a< the narrator told me, while he was being shaved by the leading barber of the city who was, of course, a Federal- Ht the latter suddenly and vehemently burst out against the nomination of Madison for the presidency by the democratic party, which had that morning been announced. ' Dear me !' said the barber, ' surely this country is doomed to disgrace and shame. What Presidents we might have, sir! Just look at Daggett, of Connecticut, or Stockton, of Xew Jersey! What queues they have got, sir as big as your wrist, and powdered every day, sir, like real gentlemen as they are. Such men, sir, would confer dignity npon the chief magis- tracy; but this little Jim Madison, with a queue no bigger than a pipe-stem ! sir, it is enough to make a man forswear Uitrv !' " The reader, I hope, is one of those who will see in these ex- tracts proof that what democracy destroyed was either s/t>ti, or so mingled with sham, as to be irreparable from it. But many of our sedate and stately forefathers could not see this. Jefferson was a name of horror in Xew England for many a year ; clergymen preached against him, and prayed against him, even by name. There was great activity of mind at this time. At the .'lining of the revolutionary war, there were forty news- papers published in the colonies. The number had not in- creased when the Constitution was adopted, in 178^ ^During Washington's first term, several new papers were started, but 224 LIFE OF AAROX BURR. in his second term, and in the first half of Adams's administra- tion, the number of newspapers doubled. There wore more daily papers published in Philadelphia in 1798 than there are in 1857. In the heat of the warfare between the Federalists and Republicans, the political papers went rabid, and foamed personalities and lies. AYhat Jefferson says of the press, after some years of this madness had spoiled it for every good purpose, may be quoted here : " Nothing," wrote Mr. Jefferson, in 1807, " can now be be- lieved which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day. I really look with commiseration over the great body of my fellow-citizens, who, reading news- papers, live and die in the belief that they have known some- thing of what has been passing in the world in their time ; whereas the accounts they have read in newspapers are just as true a history of any other period of the world as of the pres- ent, except that the real names of the day are affixed to their fables. General facts may indeed be collected from them, such as that Europe is now at Avar, that Bonaparte has been a suc- cessful warrior, that he has subjected a great portion of Europe to his will, etc., etc. ; but no details can be relied on. I will add, that the man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them ; inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehood and errors. He who reads nothing will still learn the great facts, and the details are all false. " Perhaps an editor might begin a reformation in some such way as this ; Divide his paper into four chapters, heading the 1st. Truths, 2d. Probabilities, 3d. Possibilities, 4th. Lies. The first chapter would be very short, as it would contain little more than authentic papers, and information from such sources as the editor would be willing to risk his own reputation for their truth. The second would contain what, from a mature consideration of all circumstances, his judgment should con- THE EEA OF BAD FEELING. 225 elude to be probably true. This, however, should rather con- tain too little than too much. The third and fourth should be professedly for those readers who would rather have lies for their money than the blank paper they would occupy." Jefferson, however, knew the value of the press, and the services it had rendered. He wrote the passage just quoted after the great fight was over, and before the press had begun to recover from the demoralization which is one of the results of warfare. In 1793, when Washington seemed to wish Jef- ferson to dismiss Captain Freneau (democratic editor-in-chief) from the post of translating clerk to the Secretary of State (salary, two hundred and fifty dollars a year), Jefferson said to one of his intimates : " I won't turn him out. His paper has done more to save the democratic system than any thing else." The period which I have called the "era of bad feeling," began with those game-cock encounters between Jefferson and Hamilton in the cabinet of General Washington, and contin- ued, with yearly-increasing acrimony, till democracy and Jef- ferson triumphed in 1800. The struggle would naturally have lasted longer, for Federalism had immense advantages, and every new horror of the French Revolution was strength to the party that had always denounced it. The two circum- stances which, more than all others, hastened the republican triumph, were, as it seems to me, Burr's management, and John Adams's want of management. The part which Burr played in effecting the discomfiture of Hamilton and his party, will be stated fully in the next chapter. Here, a few words respecting Adams may be permitted. Glorious, delightful, honest John Adams! An American John Bull ! The Comic Uncle of this exciting drama ! The reader, if a play-goer, knows well the fiery old gentleman who goes blustering and thundering about the stage, grasping his stick till it quivers, throwing the lovers into a terrible consternaion, hurrying on the catastrophe he is most solicitous to prevent, pluming himself most of all upon his sagacity, while he alone is blind to what is passing under his very nose ! Such is something like the impression left upon the mind of 10* 226 LIFE OF AARON BURR. one who becomes familiar with the characters of this period, respecting the man who, as Franklin well said, was always honest, often great, and sometimes mad. Think of a President of the United States, who, while his countrymen were in the temper of 1797 and 1798, could, in a public address, allude to Lis having had the honor once to stand in the presence of the British king! It is simply amusing now to read of his having done so ; but, to the maddened Republicans of that era, it seemed the last degree of abject pusillanimity toward England, and arrogant insult to the people of America. Think also of a President of the United States who could see, without in- terference, a fellow-citizen prosecuted, convicted, and fined a hundred dollars, for wishing that the wadding of a certain cannon, fired to salute the President as he passed through Newark, had lodged upon an ample part of the President's ample person ! One of his own cabinet told Hamilton that the " chief was a man who, whether sportful, playful, witty, kind, cold, drunk, sober, angry, easy, stiff, jealous, careless, cautious, confident, close, or open, is so almost always in the wrong place, and to the wrong persons." Alien laws, sedition laws, and stamp duties, came naturally enough to such a Pres- ident. John Adams must never be judged by his administration. None of the men of the Revolution came out of the storm and stress of our era of bad feeling quite unscathed. It was too much for human nature, In the revolutionary period, this high-mettled game-cock of a John Adams appeared to glorious advantage, made a splendid show of fight, animated the patriotic heart, and gave irresistible impetus to the cause. But he was ludicrously unfitted to preside with dignity and success over a popular government, which must do every thing with an eye to its effect upon the people. His own cab- inet intrigued against him. They regarded Hamilton as their real chief; and Hamilton, far more than Adams, was the influ- encing mind of the government. One who would understand and like John Adams must read his Diaries and Letters ; which, of all the writings of that time, are the most human and entertaining. Pickwick is not funnier. Pickwick, in the THE ERA OF BAD FEELIXG. 227 office of prime minister of England, would not have been more the wrong man in the wrong place than John Adams was in the chair of Washington. Adams and Hamilton agreed in one thing, abhorrence of the French Revolution ; and in another, admiration of the English government ; and in another, distrust of the ma-y Burr as visionary. " At first, I confess, I was strongly disposed to give Jeffer- son the preference; but the more I have reflected, the more I have inclined to the other; yet, however, I remain unpledged, even to my friends, though I believe I shall not separate from them." January 10th. A long letter from Hamilton to Gouveneur Morris about the ratification of the convention with France, concludes: "So our eastern friends want to join the armed neutrality and make war upon Britain. I infer this from their mad pro- TUK TIE INTRIGUES. 279 pensity to make Burr President. If Jefferson has prejudices leading to that result, he has defects of character to keep him back. Burr, with the same propensities, will find the thing necessary to his projects, and will dare to hazard all conse- quences. They may as well think to bend a giant by a cob- web, as his ambition by promises." January loth. Burr's own letters during this period are quite in his usual manner, light, jocular, and brief. An allu- sion to the tie occurs in a note to his son-in-law, Mr. Joseph Alston, of South Carolina. "The equality of Jefferson and Burr excites great speculation and much anxiety. I believe that all will be well, and that Jefferson will be our President." The subject is not mentioned in any other of his published letters. January IQth. The importance of Mr. Bayard, as a mem- ber of the House holding the entire vote of a State, induced Hamilton to try all his power to bring him over to his opinion. To Bayard, accordingly, he now writes the most carefully elaborated letter that the crisis elicited. It is the most com- plete expression of Hamilton's feelings as a patriot and as a partisan, that has come down to us. " 1 was glad to find, my dear sir, by your letter," he began, " that you had not yet determined to go, with the consent of the Federal party, in support of Mr. Burr; and that you were resolved to hold yourself disengaged till the moment of final decision. Your resolution to separate yourself* in this instance, from the Federal party, if your conviction shall be strong of the unfitness of Mr. Burr, is certainly laudable. So much does it coincide with my ideas, that if the party shall, by sup- porting Mr. Burr as President, adopt him for their official chief, I shall be obliged to consider myself as an isolated man. It will be impossible for me to reconcile with my motives of honor or policy, the continuing to be of a party which, ac- cording to my apprehension, will have degraded itself and the country. " I am sure, nevertheless, that the motives of many will be 280 LITE OF AAEON BUKB. good, and I shall never cease to esteem the individuals, though I shall deplore a step which I fear experience will show to be a very fatal one. Among the letters which I receive, assigning the reasons, pro and con., for preferring Burr to Jef- ferson, I observe no small exaggeration to the prejudice of the latter, and some things taken for granted as to the former which are at least questionable. Perhaps myself the first, at some expense of popularity, to unfold the true character of Jefferson, it is too late for me to become his apologist. Nor have I any disposition to do it. " I admit that his politics are tinctured with fanaticism ; that he is too much in earnest in his democracy ; that he has been a mischievous enemy to the principal measures of our past administration ; that he is crafty and persevering in his ob- jects ; that he is not scrupulous about the means of success, nor very mindful of truth, and that he is a contemptible hyp- ocrite. But it is not true, as is alleged, that he is an enemy to the power of the executive, or that he is for confounding all the powers in the House of Representatives. It is a fact, which I have frequently mentioned, that, while we were in the administration together, he was generally for a large construc- tion of the executive authority, and not backward to act upon it in cases which coincided with his views. Let it be added that, in his theoretic ideas, he has considered as improper the participations of the Senate in the executive authority. I have more than once made the reflection that, viewing himself as the reversioner, he was solicitous to come into the possession of a good estate. Nor is it true, that Jefferson is zealous enough to do any thing in pursuance of his principles, which will contravene his popularity or his interest. He is as likely as any man I know to temporize ; to calculate what will be likely to promote his own reputation and advantage, and the probable result of such a temper is the preservation of systems, though originally opposed, which being once established, could not be overturned without danger to the person who did it. To my mind, a true estimate of Mr. Jefferson's character war rants the expectation of a temporizing, rather than a violent system. That Jefferson has manifested a culpable predilection TUB TIE INTRIGUES. 281 for France is certainly true ; but I think it a question whether it did not proceed quite as much from her popularity among us as from sentiment ; and in proportion as that popularity is diminished, his zeal will cool. Add to this that there is no fair reason to suppose him capable of being corrupted, which is a security that he will not go beyond certain limits. It is not at all improbable that, under the change of circumstances, Jefferson's Gallicism has considerably abated. " As to Burr, these things are admitted, and indeed can not be denied, that he is a man of extreme and irregular am- bition ; that he is selfish to a degree which excludes all social affections ; and that he is decidedly profligate. But it is said, 1st, that he is artful and dexterous to accomplish his ends; 2d, that he holds no pernicious theories, but is a mere matter- offact man ; 3d, that his very selfishness is a guard against mischievous foreign predilection ; 4th, that his local situation has enabled him to appreciate the utility of our commercial and fiscal systems, and the same qualities of selfishness will lead him to support and invigorate them ; 5th, that he is now disliked by the Jacobins ; that his elevation will be a mortal stab to them, breed an invincible hatred to him, and compel him to lean on the Federalists ; 6th, Burr's ambition will be checked by his good sense, by the manifest impossibility of succeeding in any scheme of usurpation, and that, if attempted, there is nothing to fear from the attempt. "These topics are, in my judgment, more plausible than solid. As to the first point, the fact must be admitted ; but those qualities are objections rather than recommendations, when they are under the direction of bad principles. As to the second point, too much is taken for granted. If Burr's con- versation is to be credited, he is not very fur from being a visionary. He has quoted to me Connecticut* as an example of the success of the democratic theory, and as authority, serious doubts whether it was not a good one. It is ascer- tained that in some instances he has talked perfect hdwinum. I have myself heard him speak with applause of the French * The colonial government of Connecticut was more democratic than that of tho other colonies. 282 LIFE OF AARON BUKK. system, as unshackling the mind, and leaving it to its natural energies ; and I have been present when he has contended against banking systems with earnestness, and with the same arguments that Jefferson would use. (Note iDy Hamilton. " Yet he has lately, by a trick, established a bank, a perfect monster in its principles, but a very convenient instrument of profit and influence."} "The truth is, that Burr is a man of a very subtle imagin- ation, and a mind of this make is rarely free from ingenious whimsies. Yet I admit that he has no fixed theory, and that his peculiar notions will easily give way to his interest. But is it a I'ecommendatiori to have no theory? Can that man be a systematic or able statesman who has none ? I believe not. No general principles will hardly work much better than erroneous ones. " As to the third point, it is certain that Burr, generally speaking, has been as warm a partizan of France as Jefferson j that he has, in some instances, shown himself to be so with passion. But if it was from calculation, who will say that his calculations will not continue him so? His selfishness, so far from being an obstacle, may be a prompter. If corrupt, as well as selfish, he may be a partisan for the sake of aid to his views. No man has trafficked more than he in the floating passions of the multitude. Hatred to Great Britain and at- tachment to France in the public mind will naturally lead a man of his selfishness, attached to place and power, to favor France and oppose Great Britain. The Gallicism of many of our patriots is to be thus resolved, and, in my opinion, it is morally certain that Burr will continue to be influenced by this calculation. " As to the fourth point, the instance I have cited with respect to banks, proves that the argument is not to be relied upon. If there was much in it, why does Chancellor Living- ston maintain that we ought not to cultivate navigation, but ought to let foreigners be our carriers? France is of this opinion too ; and Burr, for some reason or other, will be very apt to be of the opinion of France. " As to the fifth point, nothing can be more fallacious. It THE TIE INTRIGUES. 283 is demonstrated by recent facts that Burr is solicitous to keep upon of man, that friend of the most loveable gentleman of Ins day, Charles Lamb, is ineffably absurd. If Burr really said that great souls do not much regard the minor moralities, he ut- tered as deadly a falsehood as ever fell from lips. Great souls, indeed, know no minor morals ; to them all morals are great, august, controlling. They know no degrees in right and wrong. Hamilton, in his letter to Governor Jay, advising the defeat of the Republicans by a governmental trick, utters sentiments not unlike that which he here attributes to Burr. But no man who knows men will judge of what a ican will do by what, in unguarded moments, he says.* With regard to Hamilton's chronic dread of Burr's usurping the government, it was only one of the symptoms of the JGurr- iphobid under which he labored. Scheming for a reelection, is enough to keep an ambitious man amused in the presiden- tial chair. Two things, however, strengthened Hamilton's fear of usurpation. One was the recent example of Bonaparte ; the other, the very general opinion among the wealthier classes in the United States, that the Constitution had been tried and found wanting. Hamilton was of that opinion. Of the two, Hamilton was more likely to have made an attempt to subvert the government than Burr ; for Hamilton was al- ready convinced of the necessity of its subversion. If Burr had formed any thing like a purpose, however vague, however remote its probable execution, to seize the supreme authority, he would not have begun by awakening the suspicions of the man who would certainly be the first to lead an outraged peo- ple against the usurper. January (Xo date named, but probably about the 20th). Hamilton writes, in hot haste, to Gouveneur Morris, at * Jefferson's integrity, as a man, has never been disputed, I believe. But in one of his letters to Dr. Rush, dated January 3, 1808, the following pas- sage occurs : " Thus I estimate the qualities of the mind : 1st Good Humor, 2d. Integrity, 3d. Industry, 4th. Science. The preference of the first to the second quality may not at first be acquiesced in ; but, certainly, we had all rather associate with a good-humored, light-principled man, than with an ill- tempered rigorist in morality." 2?e LIFE OF AAEON BURR. "Washington, to communicate some information for use against Burr. " I hasten," he says, " to give you some information which may be useful. I know, as a fact, that overtures have been made by leading individuals of the Federal party to Mr. Burr, who declines to give any assurance respecting his future in- tentions and conduct, saying that to do it might injure him with his friends, and hinder their cooperation ; that all ought to be inferred from the necessity of his future situation, as it regarded the disappointment and animosity of the anti-Feder- alists ; that the Federalists, relying upon this, might proceed in the certainty that, upon a second ballot, New York and Tennessee would join him. It is likewise ascertained that he perfectly understands himself with Edward Livingston, who will be his agent at the seat of government. " Thus you see that Mr. Burr is resolved to preserve him- self in a situation to adhere to his former friends, engage- ments, and projects, and to use the Federalists as tools of his aggrandizement. " He will satisfy them that he has kept himself free to con- tinue his relations with them, and as many of them are secretly attached to him, they will all be speedily induced to rally un- der his standard, to which he will add the unprincipled of our party, and he will laugh at the rest. "It is a fact that Mr. Burr is no\v in frequent and close con- ference with a Frenchman, who is suspected of being an agent of the French government, and it is not to be doubted that he will be the firm ally of Buonaparte. "You are at liberty to show this letter to such friends as you think fit, especially Mr. Bayard, of Delaware, in whose principles and sound sense I have much confidence. " Depend upon it, men never played a more foolish game than will do the Federalists, if they support Burr." From this letter we learn, that Hamilton's information re- specting an opponent must be received with the same caution as his opinion. Edward Livingston was no agent of Burr's. He was, at this time, as will soon appear, true to himself and to his party, and one of Jefferson's most confidential friends. THE TIE INTRIGUES. 287 January 21s/. A hurried letter from Hamilton to Sedg- wick. Refers him to his long letter to Bayard. Begs him to reconsider his preference for Burr. Adds: "I never was so much mistaken as I shall be if our friends, in the event of their success, do not rue the preference they will give to that Cati- line." Hamilton's warnings were little heeded by the Federalists. His denunciations of Colonel Burr were attributed to profes- sional jealousy, or personal enmity, and the Federal members burned with desire to disappoint the Republicans by electing Burr. The day for the election in the House of Representatives arrived. The House consisted of one hundred and six mem- bers, of whom a majority were Federalists. There were then sixteen States in the Union ; a majority of the States was necessary to an election ; and the House was limited in its choice to the two candidates who had received the highest number of electoral votes. If a simple majority of the mem- bers would have sufficed, Burr would certainly have been elected on the first ballot. Before proceeding to the great business of the day, the House resolved not to adjourn till a President had been chosen which, John Randolph says, was a Federal expedient designed to starve or worry the unde- cided members into voting for Burr. During the balloting, the public were excluded from the galleries, but, on the floor of the House, seats were provided for the Senators and the President. It chanced that some of the members were sick at the time for them sofas were provided. One gentleman, who was seriously ill, was attended in the House by his wife. On the first ballot eight States voted for JeiFerson, namely, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, North Carolina, Vir- ginia, Kentucky, Georgia, and Tennessee. Six States voted for Burr, namely, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Isl- and, Connecticut, Delaware, and South Carolina. Vermont and Maryland were divided equally between the two candi- dates. Neither on this ballot, nor on any future one, did Jef- ferson receive more than fifty-one votes. The balloting con- 288 LIFE OF AAKON BUIIK. tinned, at intervals, all that day, all through the night, and until noon of the day following. The vote was taken twenty- nine times without the slightest change or prospect of change. Then the exhausted members evaded their resolution not to adjourn, by agreeing to take a recess. Dogged obstinacy sat on every countenance. For seven days the country was kept in suspense, and Rumor, with all her tongues, was busy. During this period, and im- mediately after it, certain letters were written, and entries made in private journals, the perusal of which will complete the reader's knowledge of the Tie, and the Tie intrigues. February IQth. On the first day of the balloting, Judge Cooper of New York (father of J. Fennitnore Cooper), a re- markably 'highflying Federalist,' and, at that time, a member of the House, wrote as follows to his friend Thomas Morris: " We have this day locked ourselves up by a rule to pro- ceed to choose a President before we adjourn. * * * We shall run Burr perseveringly. You shall hear of the result instantly after the fact is ascertained. A little good manage- ment would have secured our object on the first vote, but now it is too late for any operation to be gone into, except that of adhering to Burr, and leave the consequences to those who have heretofore been his friends. If we succeed, a faithful support must, on our part, be given to his administration, which, I hope, will be wise and energetic." Two days after, Judge Cooper writes again to Mr. Morris : "We have postponed, until to-morrow 11 o'clock, the voting for President. All stand firm. Jefferson eight Burr six divided two. Had Burr done any thing for himself, he would long ere this have been President. If a majority would answer, he would have it on every vote." February 10th. This was the second day of the balloting. Jefferson, who was then in his place as President of the Sen- ate, enters in his diary the following gossip : " Edward Livingston tells me that Bayard applied to-day or last night, to General Samuel Smith, and represented to THE TIE INl'llIGUES. 289 him the expediency of his coming over to the States who vote fur Burr, that there was nothing in the way of appointment which lie might not command, and particularly mentioned the secretaryship of the navy. Smith asked him if he was author- ized to make the oiler. He said he was authorized. Smith told this to Livingston, and to W. C. Nichols, who confirms it to me. Bayard in like manner tempted Livingston, not by offering any particular office, but by representing to him his, Livingston's, intimacy and connection with Burr; that from him he had every thing to expect, if he would come over to him. To Dr. Linn of New Jersey, they have offered the government of New Jersey." The part which Bayard took in the business will be narrated by himself in a moment. Upon the publication of the volume of Mr. Jefferson's work which contains the above, General Smith, then a Senator from Maryland, declared in the Senate that no such proposition was made to him by Mr. Bayard. February 14th, Jefferson records the following: "General Armstrong tells me that Gouveneur Morris, in conversation with him to-'lay on the scene which is passing, expressed him- self thus. 'How comes it,' says he, 'that Burr, who is four hundred miles oif (at Albany) has agents here at work with great activity, while Mr. Jefferson, who is on the spot, does nothing?' " A year or two after the " scene" was over, it became the subject of conversation, one day, at Jefferson's table. After dinner, Jefferson wrote in his diary as follows : " Matthew Lyon noticed the insinuations against the Republicans of Wash- ington, pending the presidential election, and expressed his wish that every thing was spoken out which was known ; that it would then appear on which side there was a bidding for votes, and he declared that John Brown of Rhode Island, urging him to vote for Colonel Burr, used these words, ' What is it you want, Colonel Lyon ? Is it office, is it money ? Only say what you want, and you shall have it.' " Who can believe a man to whom such a proposition could have been even remotely hinted? Jefferson shows himself \\cak in recording stuff of this kind. 13 290 LIFE OF A A II ON BUKE. That every thing against Burr may appear, I copy the follow- ing from Ji-fferson's diary of a still later date, January, 1804: " Colonel Hitchlmrn of Massachusetts reminded me of a letter he had written me from Philadelphia, pending the presidential election, says he did not therein give the details. That he \vas in company at Philadelphia with Colonel Burr and : that in the course of the conversation on the election, Colonel Burr said, ' We must have a President, and a constitutional one, in some way.' 'How is it to be done?' says Hitchburn ; ' Mr. Jefferson's friends will not quit him, and his enemies are not strong enough to carry another.' ' Why,' says Burr, ' our friends must join the Federalists, and give the President.' The next morning at breakfast, Colonel Burr repeated nearly the same, saying, ' We can not be without a President, onr friends must join the Federal vote.' ' But,' says Hitchburn, 'we shall then be without a Vice-President, who is to be our Yice-President ?' Colonel Burr answered, ' Mr. Jefferson.' " This sounds like the toadying tale of an office-seeker. February 15th. Mr. Jefferson writes to his friend Monroe : " If the Federalists could have been permitted to pass a law for putting the government into the hands of an officer, they would certainly have prevented an election. But we thought it best to declare, one and all, openly and firmly, that the day such an act passed, the middle States would arm ; and that no such usurpation, even for a single day, should be submitted to. This first shook them ; and they were completely alarmed at the resource for which we declared, namely, to reorganize the government, and to amend it. The very word convention gives themtne horrors, as in the present democratical spirit of America they fear they should lose some of the favorite mor- sels of the Constitution." One of Mr. Jefferson's letters to Dr. Rush records a scene that occurred, during this terrible week, between himself and President Adams : " When the election between Burr and myself," wrote Jef- ferson, " was kept in suspense by the Federalists, and they T1IE TIE INTRIGUES. 29* were meditating to place the President of the Senate at the head of the government, I called on Mr. Adams, with a view to have this desperate measure prevented by his negative. He grew warm in an instant, and said, with a vehemence he had not used toward me before, " ' Sir, the event of the election is in your own power. You Lave only to say you will do justice to the public creditors, maintain the navy, and not disturb those holding offices, and the government will instantly be put into your hands. We know it is the wish of the people it should be so.' " ' Mr. Adams,' said I, ' I know not what part of my con- duct, in either public or private life, can have authorized a doubt of my fidelity to the public engagements. I say, how- ever, I will not come into the government by capitulation I will not enter on it but in perfect freedom to follow the dic- tates of my own judgment.' "I had before given the same answer to the same intima tion from Gouveneur Morris. " ' Then,' said he, ' things must take their course.' "I turned the conversation to something else, and soon took my leave. It was the first time in our lives we had ever parted with any thing like dissatisfaction." February 22(7. The great question had been decided, but Hamilton had not heard the news. He writes to-day, a last letter to a friend at Washington, mentioning a fact which, he hoped, would utterly defeat the election of Burr. As one of the hundred proofs of Burr's consistency and integrity, as a politician, it deserves attention. Hamilton says : " After my ill success hitherto, I ought perhaps, in prudence, to say nothing further on the subject. But situated as things now are, I certainly have no advice to give. Yet I may, with out impropriety, communicate a fact it is this : "Colonel Burr is taking an active personal part in favor of Mr. Clinton, against Mr. Van Rensselaer, as Governor of this State. I have, upon my honor, direct and indubitable evi- dence, that between two and three weeks past, he wrote a very urgent letter to Oliver P/ielps, of the western part of 202 LITE OF AAKON BUEE. this State, to induce his exertions in favor of Clinton. Is not this an unequivocal confirmation of what I predicted, that he will, in any event, continue to play the Jacobin game ? Can any thing else explain his conduct at such a moment, and under such circumstances ? I might add several other things to prove that he is resolved to adhere to, and cultivate his own party, who lately, more than ever, have shown the cloven foot of rank Jacobinism" To what a ridiculous pitch Hamilton's feelings were wrought during the struggle, is shown by his subsequent avowal to Mr. Bayard : "It is believed to be an alarming fact, that while the question of the presidential election was pending in the House of Representatives, parties were organizing in several of the cities, in the event of their being no election, to cut off the leading Federalists and seize the government /" March 8th. After seven days of occasional dogged ballot- ing, the excitement in the country ever on the increase, and threatening to become serious, the struggle was terminated by Mr. Bayard. The manner in which he did this he related at the time in a letter to Hamilton, which letter is an import- ant link in Burr's vindication. " Your views," wrote Mr. Bayard, on the 8th of March, " in relation to the election differed very little from my own, but I was obliged to yield to a torrent, which I perceived might be diverted, but could not be opposed. "In one case I was willing to take Burr, but I never consid- dered it as a case likely to happen. If by his conduct he had completely forfeited the confidence and friendship of his party, and left himself no resort but the support of the Federalists, there are many considerations which would have induced me to prefer him to Jefferson. But I was enabled soon to dis- cover that he was determined not to shackle himself with Federal principles ; and it became evident that if he got in without being absolutely committed to his own party, that he would be disposed and obliged to play the game of M'Kean upon an improved plan and enlarged scale. " In the origin of the business, I had contrived to lay hold THE TIK INTRIGUES. 293 of all the doubtful votes in the House, which enabled me, ac- cording to views which presented themselves, to protract or terminate the controversy. " This arrangement was easily made from the opinion read- ily adopted from the consideration that, representing a small State without resources which could supply the means of self- protection, I should not dare to proceed to any lengths which would jeopardize the Constitution, or the safety of my State. When the experiment was fully made, and acknowledged upon all hands to have completely ascertained that Burr was re- solved not to commit himself, and that nothing remained but to appoint a President by law, or leave the government with- out one, I came out with the most explicit and determined declaration of voting for Jefferson. You can not well imagine the clamor and vehement invective to which I was subjected for some days. We had several caucuses. All acknowledged that nothing but desperate measures remained, which several were disposed to adopt, and but few were willing openly to disapprove. We broke up each time in confusion and dis- cord, and the manner of the last ballot was arranged but a few minutes before the ballot was given. Our former har- mony, however, has since been restored. "The public declarations of my intention to vote for Jeffer- son, to which I have alluded, were made without a general consultation, knowing that it would be an easier task to close the breach which I foresaw, when it was the result of an act done without concurrence, than if it had proceeded from one against a decision of the party. Had it not been for a single gentleman from Connecticut, the eastern States would finally have voted in blank, in the same manner as done by South Carolina and Delaware ; but because he refused, the rest of the delegation refused ; and because Connecticut insisted on O * continuing the ballot for Burr, New Hampshire, Massachu- setts, and Rhode Island refused to depart from their former vote. " The means existed of electing Burr, but this required his cooperation. By deceiving one man, (a great blockhead), and tempting t>so (not incorruptible}, he might have secured 294 LIFE OF AARON BUKR. a majority of the States. He will never have another chanco of being President of the United States ; and the little use he has made of the one which has occurred, gives me but an humble opinion of the talents of an unprincipled man." Thus ended the great struggle, during which the Constitu tion was subjected to the severest strain it has ever known, and bore it without one moment's real danger of giving way. Its history has been here given in the language of Colonel Burr's bitter enemies. The impression which that history so related will leave on the mind of the reader, can not be fore- seen. It was the diligent reading of Burr's political history in the letters, pamphlets, and newspapers of his enemies and opponents, which convinced me that, as a partizan, he acted throughout with the strictest honor and consistency! The 4th of March, 1801, was a day of rejoicing throughout the United States. After a period of painful anxiety, the coun- try breathed again. Processions, orations, and banquets tes- tified, in the larger cities and towns, to the public joy. The inauguration was happily achieved at the usual hour. In the evening, President Jefferson and Vice-President Burr received the congratulations of gentlemen of both parties at the presi- dential mansion, where all but a few of the most bigoted Fed- eral Senators and Representatives were to be seen in the throng that gathered round the victorious chiefs. The in- auguration speech had lulled the apprehensions of the Feder- alists, and the new order of things was accepted with a good grace. Far away, at Albany, the Republicans of the New York legislature were banqueting hilariously. In reporting the proceedings of this occasion, the Albany Register informed the world that the company " did not forget the important success of the Republicans in the choice of that firm and tried patriot, Aaron Burr, as Vice-President of the United States." Next to the toast given in honor of the President, the follow- ing was offered : "Aaron Burr, Vice-President of the United States ; his uni- THE TIE INTRIGUES. 295 form nnd patriotic exertions in favor of Republicanism eclipsed only by his late- disinterested conduct." Not a whisper of dissension was heard. De Witt Clinton, who had held aloof from the great campaign of ISuO, was present at the banquet, and offered this toa>t : " Our Republican brethren of the South may we always bo united with them in the elevation of patriots, and the promo- tion of good principles." Fiery John Adams could not submit with decent dignity to his liite. "The last day," says Jefferson, u of his political power, the last hour, and even beyond midnight, were em- ployed in tilling all offices, and especially permanent ones, with the bitterest Federalists, and providing for me the alter- native, either to execute the government by my enemies, whose study it would be to thwart and defeat all my meas- ures, or to incur the odium of such numerous removals from office as might bear me down." By daybreak on the morning of the inauguration the ex-President had left the seat of gov- ernment for ever.* The Federal party tasted the sweets of power no more. The leaders continued, and continue, to forebode the country's ruin, while they enjoy the lion's share of its prosperity. Hamilton bought a few acres of land near the city, and re- lieved the monotony of law by improving his grounds. When next he wrote to General Pinckney, he begins his letter by requesting his friend to send him some Carolina melon-seed * John Adams went to hia grave without understanding the nature of tho revolution which ousted him. In 1811 he wrote to Dr. Rush : " In point of Republicanism, all the difference I ever knew or could discover between you and me, or between Jefferson and me, consisted, " 1. In tho difl'erence between speeches and messages. I was a monarchist because I thought a speech more manly, more respectful to Congress and the nation. Jefferson and Rush preferred messages. " 2. I held levees once a week, that all my time might not be wasted by idle visits. Jefferson's whole eight years was a levee. " 3. I dined a large company once or twice a week. Jefferson dined a dozen every day. " 4. Joflerson and Rush were for liberty and straight hair. I thought curled hair was as Republican as straight." 290 LIFE OF AAEON BUER. for his new garden, and some Carolina parroquets for his daughter. " A garden, you know, is a very usual refuge for a disappointed politician," said he. His letters, indeed, wore still full of politics, but they were often couched in the lan- guage of despair. " Mine is an odd destiny," he wrote to Gouveneur Morris. " Perhaps no man in the United States has sacrificed or done more for the present Constitution than myself; and, contrary to all my anticipations of its fate, as you know, from the very beginning. I am still laboring to prop the frail and worthless fabric. Yet I have the murmurs of its friends, no less than the curses of its foes, for my re- Avard. What can I do better than withdraw from the scene? Every day proves to me, more and more, that this American world was not made for me." The country was at peace. The strife of parties, for the moment, ceased. The real wish of the people was so com- pletely satisfied by the election of Jefferson, that, for twenty- four years he and his friends kept possession of the govern- ment without serious opposition. Jefferson inherited the errors of Adams and the able devices of Hamilton ; by aban- doning the former, and retaining the latter, and, above all, by paying homage to the republican idea in the minor arrange- ments of his house and administration, he won a vast and im- movable popularity. Minor arrangements, do I call them ? Of all the facts that contributed to the popularity which America enjoyed in Europe, down to the beginning of the present contention be- tween Democracy and Slavery, a popularity which peopled 'the free States, no tale was so captivating to the European im agination, sick of tawdry relics of barbarous ages, sick of courts and their stupid usages, as this : In America any mar may go and see the President, and shake hands with htm . Cheap land was not the attraction. Land was cheap in Aus- tralia, in Canada, in Brazil, in Virginia. It was that little fact, and what it implied, which freighted our homeward-bound ships with wealth in its most condensed and productive fo2 % m, namely, honest, stalwart human beings ! CHAPTER XVII. THE VICE-PRESIDENT. THE OFFICE OF YIOE-PRF.SIDENT MARRIAGE OF THEODOSIA HER SON BURR'S n- LIGHTIN HIM His STYLK OF LIVING His COURTSHIP OF CELESTE His POPU- LARITY AND GENERAL GOOD FORTUNE. behold our hero now upon the summit of his career. At the age of forty-five, ten years after becoming known in national politics, he stands one step below the highest place to which by politics a man can rise. The office of Vice-President of the United States, besides the chance which gives it importance, has, in any case, an odor of nationality about it which gives it dignity. Impetuous John Adams called it an insignificant office. But that was when the old war-horse heard the noise of battle in the House of Representatives, or saw it waging before him in the Senate, and longed, as of old, to plunge into the thickest of the fight. Adams really enjoyed the safe honors of the place as well as any man. At that day, something of the old sanctity still clung to high office, and it was more to be Vice-President than it is now. Burr, too, stood in the line of succession. Adams rose from the second office to the first, and Jefferson had just done the same. That Aaron Burr should in like manner be advanced, was what precedent indicated, what his partisans counted on, and what the people naturally looked for. Mean- while, he wore his honors with the airy dignity which be- longed to the man. It is apparent in his merry, sprightly correspondence, that he took pleasure in filling a place that called into conspicuous exercise the very qualities in which he excelled all the public men of his time. He was happy in his domestic circumstances. His two step-sons, to whom he had ever shown more than a father's 13* 298 LIFE OF AAEON BUEE. liberality, had prospered well in life. One of them was now Judge Prevost, Recorder of the city of New York ; the other, a country gentleman of competent estate in Westches- ter county. A young lady of French extraction, whom he had, in effect, adopted, and who had grown up and been edu- cated with Theodosia, and whom lie loved only less than his own child, was married, about this time, to a young man of a distinguished southern family. And Theodosia was married. While the politicians supposed that Colonel Burr was full of the alleged tie negotiation, and some of them imagined that he was intriguing with all his might for the presidency, he was, in reality, occupied with the marriage of his daughter with Joseph Alston of South Caro- lina,, which occurred while the great question was pending. This*, with his duties in the legislature, absorbed his thoughts and time. It was a marriage in every respect fortunate and suitable. Mr. Alston was twenty-two years of age, a gentle mau in all the senses of the word, and possessed of considerable property in rice plantations. He was also a man of talent, as is evident from his subsequent career, and from the elegance, ingenuity, and force of his letters to Theodosia. When first he became her accepted suitor, he was merely the young man of fortune, without any definite object in life. He had been admitted to the bar, it is true, but had never had nor sought professional employment. Colonel Burr fired him with his own ambition, stimulated his powers, urged and directed his studies, advised his occasional appearance in the courts, and induced him to enter the political arena. Mr. Alston soon made himself prominent in the politics of his native State, of which, in due time, he became governor. " Burr was a princely father-in-law," says a gentleman still living, who was intimate with both families. I can well believe it. " You know," he wi-ote to Theodo- sia, after she had gone to her southern home, " that you and your concerns are the highest, the dearest interest I have in this world, one in comparison with which all others are insig- nificant." Father and daughter were on delightful terms with o o t one another : he playful tender, considerate, wise, confiding THE VICE-PR ESI DENT. 299 everything to her; she amusing him with her graceful wit, cheering him with her affection, reposing in him an absolute trust. lie still direct e- pear, tunneled, excavated, shantied, and every way disfigured by the advance-guard of the marching metropolis, can not recognize Theodosia's description of the scene as it was in 1802. After returning to her father's town-house one day, from a visit to Richmond Hill, which excursion she called " a ride into the country," she wrote to her husband thus : " Never did I behold this island so beautiful. The variety of vivid greens ; the finely-cultivated fields and gaudy gardens ; the neat, cool air of the cits' boxes, peeping through straight rows of tall poplars, and the elegance of some gentlemen's seats, commanding a view of the majestic Hudson, and the hi^h, dark shores of New Jersey, altogether form a scene so lively, so touching, and to me now so new, that I was in constant rapture." In due time her boy, her only child, was born, whom she named after her father. Henceforth this boy, next to Theo- was the dearest object on earth to Aaron Burr. Surely, 300 LIFE OF AAEON BURK. never was grandchild so loved as this grandchild was by him. He was never weary of its company. He could never hear enough of its ways and words. Theodosia filled whole letters with narratives of the boy's small exploits and quaint sayings ; and her father would answer : " You are a dear, good little girl to write me so, and of dear little Gampy, too, so much ; yet never enough. God bless thee." Gampy was the child's mode of pronouncing Grandpa, and Burr never called him by any other name, unless it was Gampillus, Gampillo, Gamp, or some other variation of the same word. How proud they all were of the child's robust beauty and his quick intelligence, and, what the grandfather valued above all virtues, his cour- age. One scene of his early years gave Burr inexpressible de- light to witness, and, in after times, to describe. The boy was playing alone in a field, with a stick in his hand, as tall as him- self, while his parents and grandfather were looking on from a distance. Suddenly, a goat that was grazing near the child began to make hostile demonstrations, lowering his head and sideling up to the boy, in the way usual with irate goats before making an assault. The boy was evidently frightened. Still, he faced the enemy. The goat advanced close to him, when, just as the animal was about to open an attack, little Gamp lifted his stick with a mighty effort, and brought it down whack upon the goat's head, which so astonished the beast that he ran away. The child was only in his third or fourth year when this occurred. Words can not express the rapture with which the grandfather saw the boy's gallantry. From that hour he bore him in his heart of hearts, and loved all the children in the world better for this one's sake. To add to his good fortune, his pecuniary prospects bright- ened, on his accession to office. New York was then a city of 65,000 inhabitants, and was advancing with great rapidity. Theodosia herself remarks, in one of her letters, that " in ten or twenty years, a hundred and thirty acres of land on New York Island will become a principality." Colonel Burr owned a large tract of land about Richmond Hill. His grounds ex- tended to the North River, and, nearer the city, there was a piece of water upon his estate which elderly inhabitants may still THE VICE-PRESIDENT. 301 remember as the favorite skating-place of their boyhood. It was called " Burr's Pond" years afler it ceased to be his, down even to the time when it was filled in, and built over. The progress of the city raised the value of all the land on the island, and particularly of that which, like Richmond Hill, lay within half-an-hour's ride of the city. About this time, Colonel Burr Avas much occupied with negotiating with Mr. John Jacob Astor for the sale of part of his Richmond Hill estate. At length, Mr. Astor bought all but the mansion and a few acres around it, for the sum of one hundred and forty thousand dollars. The bargain, for some reason, was afterward can- celed. But, finally, the sale was completed, and Colonel Burr was, for the time, delivered from his pecuniary embarrass- ments. He even had thoughts of buying another estate fur- ther up the island. It is evident that his style of living was such as was then supposed to become an elevated station. Halt' a dozen horses, a town-house and country-house, a nu- merous retinue of servants, and a French cook, were among the sumptuosities of his establishment. Jerome Bonaparte, then on the eve of his marriage with Miss Patterson, was en- tertained at dinner and at breakfast by the Vice-President, who invited large companies to meet the future monarch, in whose ante-chambers Burr was, one day, to kick his heels, a suppliant for an audience. Richmond Hill was without a mistress. In these fortunate years it was that Colonel Burr paid his court to one of the loveliest of Philadelphia's ever lovely belles, and had the nar- rowest escape from a second marriage. They met, 'twas in a crowd ; and each was smitten with the other's pleasant qualities. Again, he saw her at her father's table, where his attentions were equally pointed and welcome. A tete-a-tete, which he sought was interrupted by the entrance of lepere, but her manner seemed to beckon him on. He was almost in love. Summoning her father to his apartments by note, and the old gentleman appearing within the hour, the enamored one came to the point with a promptness and self- possession impossible in a lover under forty. " Is Celeste engaged ?" 302 LIFE OF AARON BURR. " She is not." " Would it be agreeable to her parents if Colonel Burr hould make overtures for her hand ?" "It would be most agreeable." The lady had gone to spend some days six miles into the Country, and thither her lover rides the next morning, with an eager, but composed mind. Celeste enters the drawing- room, though he had not asked especially for her. Conversa- tion ensues. She is all wit and gayety ; more charming than ever, the lover thinks. He tries to turn the conversation to the subject nearest his heart ; but she, with the good-humored graceful malice of lovely woman, defeats his endeavors, and so at last, quite captivated, he takes his leave. The same hour on the following morning finds him, once more, tete-a-tete with the beautiful Celeste. Conversation again. But, this time, the great question was put. To the surprise of this renowned lady-killer, Celeste replies that she is firmly resolved never to marry ! " I am very sorry to hear it, madam ; I had promised my- self great happiness, but can not blame your determination." She replied : " No ; certainly, sir, you can not ; for I recol- lect to have heard you express surprise that any woman should marry, and you gave such reasons, and with so much elo- quence, as made an indelible impression on my mind. The disappointed swain received the rebuff' with perfect courtesy and good humor. They parted the best friends. " Have you any commands to town, madam ? I wish you a good morning." Two days passed. Then, a note from Celeste surprised the Rejected, informing him that she was in town for a few hours, and would be glad to see him. He was puzzled, and hastened to her for a solution. The interview lasted two hours, in the course of which the tender subject was daintily touched, but the lover forbore to renew his suit; and the conversation ended without result. Next day, another note from the lady, sent in from the country, expressing " an unalterable determi- nation never again to listen to his suit, and requesting that the subject might never be renewed." Late in the evening THE VICE-PRESIDENT. 303 of the same day, on returning to his lodgings, the Vice-Presi- dent learned that a boy had been three times that afternoon to deliver a message to him, but had refused to say from whom il came. At last Colonel Burr's servant had traced the boy to the town residence of Celeste. Early next morning the message came; Celeste requested an interview. Post-haste the Viee-President hied to the presence of his beloved. He found her engaged with a visitor, but observed that she was agitated upon his entrance, and impatient for the departure of her guest. At length they were alone, and he waited for her to state her reasons for desiring to see him. With ex- treme embarrassment, she stammered out, after several vain attempts to speak, that she feared her note had not been couched in terms sufficiently polite, and she had therefore wished for an opportunity to apologize. She could utter no more. He, expecting no such matter, stared in dumb aston- ishment, with an absurd half-grin upon his countenance. As she sat deeply engaged in tearing to pieces some roses, and he in pinching new corners in the rim of his hat, she all blushes and confusion, he confounded and speechless, the pair, he afterward thought, would have made a capital subject for a painter. He was the first to recover power to articulate. Denying roundly that the fatal note was any thing but polite and proper, lie offered to return it, proposed that it should be considered canceled, and begged to be allowed to call the next morning, and renew his suit. To this she objected, but faintly. Waiving his request for a formal permission, he changed the subject, and, after an hour's not unpleasant conversation, took his leave. He now confessed to Theodosia, to whom the affair had been circumstantially related, from day to day, that he was in the condition of a certain country judge before whom a cause had been too ingeniously argued by the lawyers. " Gen- tlemen of the jury," said the judge, "you must get along with this cause as well as you can ; for my part, I'm swamped." But the sapient Theodosia was not puzzled in the least. "She meant," wrote Theo., "from the beginning to say that a\vfl word, yes ; but not choosing to say it immediately, she told 304 LIFE OF AAEON BURR. yon that you had furnished her with arguments against matri- mony, which in French means, Please, sir, to persuade me out of them again. But you took it as a plump refusal, and walked off. She called you back. What more could she do ? I would have seen you to Japan before I should have done so much." However, the offer of marriage was never renewed. The lover was probably himself undecided as to the desirableness of the match. But between him and Celeste there was always a tender friendship, and for many months it seemed likely enough that at some unexpected moment the conclusive word would be spoken. To complete his good fortune, he began his official life a very popular man. He was popular with his party for giving it victory. He was admired by vast numbers of honorable men, because he had disdained to seek his own elevation by defeating the will of a majority of his countrymen. The eclat of office was added to his reputation as a soldier and as a politician ; and he, of all men, seemed to be the one most likely soon to have at his disposal the favors which a President can confer. There chanced to be in 1801, before the Vice- President had yet presided over the Senate, a convention in the State of New York to make certain amendments to the Constitution. Upon the meeting of the convention the Vice- President was made chairman by a unanimous vote. Up to this time, Aaron Burr had known little but good for- tune. He had been a successful soldier, a more successful lawyer, a most successful politician. Fortunate and happy in his domestic relations, he was strengthened now by the alliance of his daughter with an ancient and wealthy family. His own estate was ample and improving. His rival and enemy was distanced. Still in the very prime of his days, there was but one more honorable distinction for him to gain, and that seemed almost within his grasp. High in the esteem of his own party, he enjoyed also the general respect of the Fede- ralists, as being a more moderate partisan than other leading Republicans. Such was the position of Aaron Burr in the year 1801. CHAPTER , XVIII. CLOUDS GATHER. TUB GEEAT ERROR OF BURR'S PUBLIC LIFE DISTRIBUTION OF THE SPOILS CHEKT- HAM AND THE AMERICAN CITIZKN BURR'S COURSE ON THE JUDICIARY BILL TUB SUPPRESSED HISTORT OF ADAMS'S ADMINISTRATION HAMILTON'S MORBID APPRE- HENSIONS BURR AT THIS WASHINGTON BANQUET HAMILTON'S NEW TACTICS CHEETHAM'S CALUMNIES TIIEIR REFUTATION THE WAK or PAMPHLETS AND NKWSPAPERS DUELING THEN HAMILTON'S ELDEST Sox FALLS IN A DCEL Dl'EL BETWEEN JOHN SWARTWOUT ANO DE WlTT CLINTON ROBERT SWARTWOUT AND RICHARD RIKER'S DUEL DUEL BETWEEN COLEMAN AND CAPTAIN THOMPSON BURR RUNS FOR GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK THE CONTEST BURR DEFEATED. BUT Fortune was now tired of befriending this man. His position was imposing, but hollow. As a politician, he never had any real basis ; such as great ideas, strong convictions, important original measures, a grand policy; nor were his pe- culiar gifts of a nature to charm the multitude. Aaron Burr should never have touched politics. He had no business with politics. Having made up his mind at old Dr. Bellamy's, that Honor was the god for a gentleman, and that Chesterfield was one of his prophets, he should have been con- tent to practice law, get a fortune, shine in society, make the tour of Europe, patronize the fine arts, give elegant dinners ; and so have been the inane and aimless individual that the rich American, since the Revolution, has usually plumed him- self upon being. Or, he should have emigrated to France. In soldiers, Frenchmen, and children, ambition is a nearly in- evitable incentive to exertion, and therefore pardonable. But for the citizen of a free State to seek or accept high public office for any smaller object than the public good, is not pardonable, but pitiable. The fatal day in the life of Aaron Burr was not on which he and his amiable foe both fell on the field of honor, never to rise, but on that on which he resolved, for j tarty and personal reasons chiefly, to turn politician. 506 LIFE OF AARON BURR. Accursed be Politics for ever ! The maelstrom that has drawn in and engulfed so many able and worthy men. What talent it absorbs that is so needed elsewhere! How many fair reputations it has blasted ! What toil, what ingenuity, what wealth, what lives have been wasted upon it ! How lean are political methods and expedients, and how absurdly lisproportioned are political triumphs to their cost ! Politics can never be reformed. To abolish politics altogether is perhaps the atonement America is going, one day, to make to an out- raged world, for sinking to the deepest deep, and wallowing in the filthiest filth of political turpitude. Colonel Burr was now in several people's way, and meas- ures were to be adopted to get him out of the way. While a party is in opposition, any body who can help is welcome, and, if possible, rewarded. But when that party gets into power, and has all the great prizes to bestow ; when a party nomination is equivalent to election ; and when, above all, no man's help is felt to be necessary ; the claims of the leading partizans are apt to be more closely scrutinized, and the force hitherto expended in securing triumph for the party, is devoted to gaining supremacy for the clique ! Colonel Burr was not the man that Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia politicians wanted to be the next democratic President. James Madison, then Secretary of State, and a man of immense family interest in Virginia, was the predes- tined candidate of the southern Republicans. Madison was Jefferson's neighbor, friend, an:l disciple. In New York, the Republican party, composed of three factions Clintons, Liv- ingstons, and Burrites had been kept together by Colonel Burr's masterly management while there was a Federal party to be vanquished ; but no\v that the victory was won, the ele- ments of discord so long latent, burst into vigorous life. The Republican party of the State of New York was a unit no longer. Each of the three factions was jealous of the others, and aspired to sway the party. But, for the present, the Clin- tons and the Livingstons were disposed to unite their forces lor the purpose of destroying Burr and his band of followers. Thus against our hero and his " myrmidons," three great pow- CLOUDS GATHER. 307 ers were soon to be secretly or openly leagued ; namely, tirt, tliu Virginia politicians, one of whom wielded the patronage of the Federal government ; secondly, the Clintons, one of whom was Governor of the State of New York, while young ])e Witt Clinton was a member of the United States Senate ; and, lastly, the numerous and wealthy family of the Living- stons. Each of these had darling objects, to the attainment of which Colonel Burr's present commanding position and peculiar powers were the chief obstacle. Down icith tlie interloper, was now the whisper that circu- lated among the magnates of the party, both at Washington and at Albany In the distribution of the "spoils" of victory, many import- ant friends of Colonel Burr were passed by, while the mem- bers and adherents of the two great families were loaded with favor. Edward Livingston was appointed mayor of the city, Chancellor Livingston went embassador to France. Brockholst Livingston and Smith Thompson, whose wife was a Living- ston, were elevated to the bench of the State Supreme Court. Morgan Lewis, Dr. Tillotson, and General Armstrong, all con- nected by marriage with the same family, were well provided for. George Clinton was governor, De Witt Clinton was in the Senate. A large proportion of the minor city offices were given to Clintonians. The Federal offices, too, were bestowed in accordance with the same general plan of excluding the friends of Burr. Soon, Colonel Burr and John Swartwout, through Clintonian influence, lost their seats, after a hotly-con- 1 election, as directors of the Manhattan Bank ; and the influence and power of that institution were used against the man to whom it oweci its existence. It soon became apparent that the American Citizen, the organ of the Republican party in the city, owned by a cousin of De Witt Clinton's, was conducted wholly in the interest of that politician. It was edited by a scurrilous dog of an En- glishman, named Cheetharn, who began life as a hatter, and who knew :is much of American politics as De Witt Clinton chose to tell him. This Cheetham fancied he had a talent for invective, and, nothing pleased him better than to make a 308 LIFE OF AAEON BURR. set-attack on some public character, in what he supposed to be the manner of Jimius. Hamilton, too, had an organ, the newly-established Evening Post, edited by William Coleman, a lawyer, a good writer, and a gentleman. In these circumstances, the friends of Burr, in the summer of 1802, assisted to establish the Morning Chronicle, which supported the administration, but was especially friendly to the Vice-President. This Morning Chronicle ceased, long ago, to exist, but its name, through a happy accident, will be remem- bered for many generations to come. It was edited by Dr. Peter Irving, and, in its columns, a younger brother of the editor, WASHINGTON IRVING, first appeared as a writer for the public. Mr. Irving was a youth of nineteen when Colonel Burr used to cut out his Jonathan Oldstyle essays from the Chronicle, and inclose them in his letters to Theodosia, with the remark that they were very good for so young a man. He was fortunate in having such a contributor. But Burr needed a fighting newspaper. Dr. Irving, in contending with such a fellow as Cheetham, labored under the crushing disad- vantage of being a gentleman and a scholar. Thus the weapons of warfare were prepared. Colonel Burr soon gave dog Cheetham an opportunity to howl the alarm. On his way to the seat of government, in the autumn of 1801, to take his seat in the chair of the Senate, the Vice- President received from certain citizens of Baltimore one of those adulatory addresses of which Mr. Adams was so fond, and which it had been a specialty of the Republican party to denounce and ridicule. To this address Colonel Burr re- sponded thus : " Time will not allow me to return a written answer, but I must be permitted to state my disapprobation of the mode of expressing public sentiment by addresses." This answer was in the strictest accordance with the Repub- lican feeling of the time. But it was needlessly abrupt, and gave offense to many. It savored of Federal haughtiness, thought some, and was unbecoming a public servant. But this was a trifle. The great measure of the session was the repeal of a judi- ciary bill, which passed at the close of the last Congress, by CLOUDS GATHElt. 309 which the number of Federal judges was increased by twenty- three. This bill had been passed by a party vote, the Re- publicans going against it in a body. But what made it inexpressibly odious to the new administration, and to the Republican party, was the indecent haste with which Mr. Adams, in the very last hour of his presidency, had appointed the new judges. These were the "midnight appointments" of which Mr. Jefferson so wrathfully spoke in a letter pre- viously quoted, and which were the more offensive as the judges were appointed for life. What President, what party, could see, without disgust, twenty-three keenly-coveted life- judgeships, stolen, as it were, from the hard-won "spoils" of victory? Twenty-three such offices, skillfully bestowed, were a reserve of political capital that would suffice, alone, to turn the scale in a close contest, whether in caucus or at the polls. Enough. The party was resolved on repealing the bill, and thus annihilating the judgeships which it created. This was done, but only after a long period of exciting and acrimonious debute, during which the Vice-President, by the utter impar- tiality of his conduct, gave offense to both parties. The Senate was nearly tied on the question, and thus it happened that at a certain stage of the bill the Vice-President had to give a casting vote. On a motion to refer the bill to a committee for amendment, the vote was fourteen to fourteen, the Federalists favoring the reference. The Vice-President said : " I am for the affirmative, because I never can resist the reference of a measure where the Senate is so nicely balanced, and when the object is. to effect amendment that may accom- modate it to the opinions of a large majority, and particularly when I can believe that gentlemen are sincere in wishing a reference for this purpose. Should it, however, at any time appear that delay only is intended, my conduct will be differ- ent." This vote produced a "sensation." The ultra Republicans condemned it, of course ; and Cheetham made it the object of vituperation. The ultra Federalists rejoiced over it. Mod- erate men of all parties saw in it the simple discharge of an 310 LIFE OF AARON BURR. obvious duty. As it happened, however, the vote had no re- sults, for the arrival of a Senator, a day or t\vo after, restored the Republican majority, and the bill was taken out of com- mittee forthwith. At other stages of the bill, the Vice-President's course was severely disappointing to the Federalists. On this point we have the unequaled authority of Gouveneur Morris, who, as a Federal Senator, fought for the preservation of the judge- ships with all the energy of honest and disinterested convic- tion. He believed the nation would be disgraced by depriv- ing men of offices which the Constitution gave them for life, and which they had accepted on that condition. Gouveneur Morris, when all was over, wrote thus to his friend, Chancellor Livingston: "There was a moment when the Vice-President might have arrested the measure by his vote, and that vote would, I believe, have made him President at the next elec- tion ; but 'there is a tide in the affairs of men,' which he suf- fered to go by." This reserve of power on the part of Colonel Burr was the more creditable to him from the fact that he was rather op- posed to the repeal than otherwise. It is evident from his correspondence at the time, that he made the legality of the repeal a special subject of investigation, and, according to his wont, of consultation with the eminent lawyers of his ac- quaintance. To Barnabas Bid well, he writes: "The power thus to deprive judges of their offices and salaries must be ad- mitted ; but whether it would be constitutionally moral, if I may use the expression, and, if so, whether it would be politic and expedient, are questions on which I could wish to be further advised. Your opinion on these points would be par- ticularly acceptable." To his son-in-law he expresses the same doubts, and adds " Read the Constitution, and having informed yourself of the out-of-door talk, write me how you view the thing." Mr. A. J. Dallas of Pennsylvania, a zealous and able Democrat, gave the Vice-President a decided opinion against the repeal of the bill, and in favor of amending it. Jefferson, it appears, took about the same view of the repeal as Burr, and, as the Vice- CLOU DS G A Til K II. 31 J President forbore to defeat it by his casting vote, the Presi- dent refrained from killing it by his veto. Before Cheethara had done ringing the changes on the Vice-President's alleged inconsistency on the judiciary bill, Colonel Burr gave him another subject upon which to exercise his talents. A certain John "Wood, of New York, toward the close of the year 1801, sent to press a voluminous pamphlet, entitled, " A History of the Administration of John Adams." Stupid- ity, Ignorance, and Falsehood combined their several powers in the production of this indigested mass of tedious lies. It was a sort of " campaign life" reversed ; that is, instead of being all puff, it was all slander or misrepresentation. One sentence from this precious work will suffice to give the reader an idea of its character, and of the good it was likely to do to the Republican cause. After berating John Adams for many a weary page, Mr. Wood proceeded to inquire why it was that Connecticut should have been so persistent and unani mous in support of such a madman. This, he says, naturally excites our wonder and astonishment. " But the surprise of the reader will vanish when he is informed that in no part of the world the bigotry of priesthood reigns so triumphant, and that the dark shades of superstition nowhere cloud the un- derstanding of man in such a degree, as among the unhappy natives of Connecticut." The volume contained labored eulogies of Jefferson and Burr. The puff of the Vice-President concluded with these words : "It is impossible to draw a character of Colonel Burr in more applicable and expressive terms than Governor Liv- ingston has done of his father : 'Though a person of a slender and delicate make, to encounter fatigue he has a heart of steel ; and for the dispatch of business, the most amazing talents joined to a constancy of mind that insures success in spite of e.very obstacle. As long as an enterprise appears not abso- lutely impossible, he knows no discouragement, but, in pro- portion to its difficulty, augments his diligence ; and by an in- superable fortitude, frequently accomplishes what his friends and acquaintances conceived utterly impracticable.' " 312 LIFE OF AARON BURR. Colonel Burr read this work in the sheets. He saw at one glance that its publication would do the Republican party harm instead of good ; particularly in New England, where he was most of all solicitous to gain adherents. He began, by this time, to understand that his future, as a politician, depended upon the Republican party's gaining such an in- crease of strength in New England as to counterbalance the undue influence of Virginia. With his usual promptness, but net with his usual completeness of success, he attempted to suppress the book. Twelve hundred and fifty copies had been printed. He agreed with author and publisher to pay a cer- tain sum, on condition that the whole edition should be burned and the secret kept. Before the bargain was consum- mated, however, it was ascertained that information of the ne- gotiation had been given to Duane, of the Philadelphia Au- rora, and to cur Cheetham, of the New York Citizen, and that certain copies had been handed about. As one of the pub- lishers of the book had been tutor in General Hamilton's fam- ily, it may be that in this affiiir Hamilton repaid Burr, in kind, for his maneuvers in 1800.* Be that as it may, Burr refused to pay for the edition, and let the matter take its course. Cheetham, first by hints and innuendoes, then by broad and reiterated assertion, assailed the Vice-President, maintaining that he had attempted to suppress the book for the sake of shielding his new friends, the Federalists, from the just odium which its general circulation would have excited. Here was another proof, said Cheetham, if other proof were needed, of the faithlessness of the Vice-President to his party, etc., etc. Duane, of the more decent Aurora, joined at last in the cry, though, at the time, he had approved of the suppression, as a letter of his to Colonel Burr still shows. His letter, dated April 15, says it was fortunate "Wood's pamphlet had not ap- peared, and it would be still more fortunate if it should never appear. His paper of July 12th expresses the opinion that if the motives for the suppression of the book were not satisfac- * Hamilton had no objection to a publication which tended to justify big nvn opposition to Adams. When, soon after, Wood got into prison for debt, He was released by Coleman, the editor of Hamilton's organ CLOUDS (iATHEK. 313 torily explained to the public, Colonel Burr's standing with the Republican interest was gone. No explanation at all was vouchsafed to a credulous public. Burr was careless of public opinion to a remarkable degree, and he was full of that pride, so common in his day, which disdains to notice newspaper comment, or any other form of popular clamor. One of the maxims which he used to recom- mend to his proteges was, never to apologize for or explain away a public action which might be disapproved, but let its results speak. Once, after reproving his daughter for some slight neglect, he adds, "No apologies or explanations I hate them." Alluding to one of Cheetham's lies, he wrote to Theodosia : " They are so utterly lost on me that I should never have seen even this, but that it came inclosed to me in a letter from New York." In another letter he speaks of "some new and amusing libels against the Vice-President," which he had thought of sending her. This is, doubtless, the right temper for a man who has no favors to ask of the public ; but to one whose career in life absolutely depends upon the multitude's sweet voices, it will certainly, sooner or later, prove fatal. Besides, it was only this summer that Dr. Irving had got his Morning Chronicle fairly under way, and by that time Cheetham's calumnies had struck in past eradication. But these were only preliminary scandals. The main at- tack was to come. Before proceeding to that, however, let us see what new gorgons the Vice-President's conduct was conjuring up in the morbid mind of Hamilton. The celebration of Washington's birth-day was then more a party than a national custom, and one which the Federalists were not likely to neglect in the first year of a Republican administration. The usual banquet was held at Washington. A few days after, the rumor circulated in New York that the Vice- President had actually been present at that festival, and given a toast. " We are told here," wrote Hamilton to Bay- ard, " that at the close of your birth-day feast, a strange ap- ]n-!fion, which was taken for the Vice-President, appeared among you, and toasted 'the union of all honest men.' I often hear at the corner of the streets important Federal se- 14 314 LIFE OF AARON BUKJl. crets of which I am ignorant. This may be one. If the story is true, 'tis a good thing if we use it well. As an in- strument, the person will be an auxiliary of some value ; as a chief, he will disgrace and destroy the party. I suspect, how- ever, the folly of the mass will make him the latter, and from the moment it shall appear that this is the plan, it may be de- pended upon, much more will be lost than gained. I know of no important character who has a \essfonnded interest than the man in question. His talents may do well enough for a particular plot, but they are ill-suited for a great and wise drama. But what has wisdom to do with weak men ?" That remark about Burr's talents being better adapted to a particular plot, than to a " great and wise drama," is one of the truest ever made by Hamilton of his antagonist. To Gouveneur Morris, Hamilton writes in a similar strain. He fears that some new intrigue is hatching between Burr and the Federalists. If not, what meant the " apparition ?" He adds, that if Burr should form a third party, " we may think it worth while to purchase him with his flying squadrons." 1 - Hamilton's main idea was : Let us use Burr as a means of out elevation, not let him use us as a means of his own. It was again the sensible Mr. Bayard's privilege to allay Hamilton's apprehensions. In reply to the latter's " appari- tion" letter, he wrote as follows : " The apprehensions you appear to entertain of the effect of the intrigues of a certain person, if you will take my word for it, are wholly without ground. In fact, little has been attempted and nothing ac- complished. I answer only for the time present, because I believe the gentleman is waiting to see the result of the new slate of things more completely developed before he decides upon the course he will pursue. The apparition in the after piece was not unexpected, but the toast was. "An intimation was given that, if he was sensible of no impropriety in being our guest upon the occasion, his com- pany would be very acceptable ; our calculation was that he had less chance of gaining than losing by accepting the invi- tation. We knew the impression which the coincidence of cir- cumstances would make on a certain great personage, how CLOUDS GATHER. 315 readily that impression would be communicated to the proud and aspiring lords of the ancient dominion, and we have not been mistaken as to the jealousy we expected it would excite through the party. " Be assured, the apparition was much less frightful to those who saw it than to many who heard of the place where it ap- peared. The toast was indiscreet, and extremely well calcu- lated to answer our views. It will not be an easy task to im- pose upon the Federalists here, united and communicative as they are at present; and you may rely, that no eagerness to recover lost power will betray them into any doctrines or com- promises repugnant or dangerous to their former principles. We shall probably pay more attention to public opinion than we have hitherto done, and take more pains not merely to do right things, but to do them in an acceptable manner." That such a pother should arise from a Vice-President of the United States attending a banquet in honor of George Washington, gives the modern reader an idea of the reality of the political differences of that day, which we can the bet- ter understand from the fact, that such differences are again becoming real. Colonel Burr had a reason for attending this banquet of a personal kind. The Federal members. of the House who gave the banquet, and wbo invited the Vice-Pres- ident to attend it, were the very men who, a year ago, had sat a week trying to make him President. Who was the in- tr/Z The truth about all this is now sufficiently apparent. The President and Vice-President were on about the same terms as before. Colonel Burr dined at the White House twice a month, and with the members of the cabinet about once a year. Between himself and Mr. Madison there was an ap- pearance of friendliness, and a growing reality of reserve. Theodosia and the beautiful Mrs. Madison seem to have been on terms of considerable intimacy. But Jefferson, partly for personal, chiefly for patriotic reasons, wished the Virginia politicians to continue the democratic rule. It was apparent to Burr that their political projects were incompatible, and he began to look, more and more, to the northern States for sup- port, knowing that nothing but the impossibility of carrying an election without him would secure him the support of the Virginians. The two chiefs were, therefore, at cross purposes, so far as party management was concerned ; and there is no question that Jefferson now felt that repugnance to Burr which their uncongenial natures must, in almost any circum- stances, have generated. But they never quarreled. Down to Burr's last visit to Philadelphia, in 1806, he called on and dined with the President quite as usual. Burr, it must be 318 LIFE OF AARON BUEB. remembered, could not be, like Madison or Monroe, a satellite. His aim was to be an independent power in politics. To return to Cheetham. Continuing his attack on the Vice-President, he brought out his most damaging accusation, which was, that Colonel Burr, during the tie period, had in- trigued for electoral votes, with the design to defraud Jeffer- son of the presidency. The charge was made with staggering positiveness, and desperate pertinacity. This scandal was Cheetham's master-piece, and the public mind, by his previous efforts, though not convinced, had become prepared to receive it. The better to effect his purpose, he wrote a series of " Nine Letters," in which he professed to give a history of Colonel Burr's political life, but every page of which showed the man's ignorance of the subject upon which he was writing. These letters were afterward published in a pamphlet, which became, for awhile, the town-talk, and had a considerable cir- culation at all the political centers. For the purpose of showing the caliber and style of Cheetham, and his slight acquaintance with the political his- tory of the times, I will copy a passage from his fifth epistle, which is in his very best Junius style. It contains just that mixture of truth and falsehood which marks the productions of unscrupulous scribes, who are hired to clothe with words the ideas of their masters. Cheetham was a boy of seventeen when Colonel Burr began his political life. He was just of age when Burr went to the Senate, and was never in a position to have any personal knowledge of interior politics. Thus Cheetham, in his fifth epistle : " Your activity," said this Junius Americanus, addressing the Vice-President, " was uniformly apportioned to your selfishness. You were never active but when you had personal favors to expect. At the election for governor, in 1792, after the Federalists refused to accept you as their candidate, you were not to be seen, and scarcely to be heard of. In 1795, when the Republicans made choice of Judge Yates in preference to yourself, you retired in dudgeon, and neither moved your lips nor lifted your pen in favor of his election. In 1796, you rendered no assistance to the Republicans at the election for Assembly-men. In 1797, CLOUDS GATHEB 319 you manifested some concern for, and contributed your mite to the success ofj the Republican ticket ; but let it be remem- bered that you were that year a candidate for the Assembly ! In 1798, the darkest period the Union has seen since the Rev- olution, you neither appeared at the Republican meetings nor at the polls, you neither planned in the cabinet nor acted in the field. If you were then eloquent, it was the eloquence of the grave. At that portentous period, when the greatest ex- ertions were made necessary, you manifested none. In 1799 you were still in your shell ; you were neither seen at the Ward assemblies nor on the election ground. But in 1800 you were all activity and zeal. Every ligament of your frame was brought into action. You devoted night and day to the success of the Republican ticket. You attended all our meet- ings, and harangued the assembled citizens at most. You even stood at the polls and challenged voters. All this was admired, since, without looking at the motive, it was service- able. We give you full credit for your zeal and activity on the occasion, especially as it was the first time you exhibited either. But even here you were the same man. You were peculiarly interested in the success of the election. You knew that you would be a candidate for the Vice-Presidency, and you, with the country at large, were of opinion that the success of the presidential election depended principally on our triumph in that of our city. You had made nice calcula- tions on this subject, and very clearly foresaw the necessity for herculean exertions. Accordingly, you were all anima- tion. You were first at the meeting, first at the polls. While our citizens applauded your conduct, they were ignorant of your motives ; they knew little of your real character ; it had been carefully enveloped in mystery. Like theirs, they fondly imagined that your zeal and industry were the effect of pure and disinterested patriotism. Alas ! sir, they knew you not. And so ou, from the beginning to the end of the nine let ters. Cheetham's main charge may be divided into two counts ; first, that Colonel Burr intrigued for Federal votes ; secondly, that he intrigued for Republican votes. Than the first count, 320 LIFE OF AARON BURR. no accusation made against a politician was ever so slenderly supported by evidence, or refuted by evidence so various, so unequivocal, so lavishly superfluous in quantity. In the course of the discussion which arose, every person who could have been concerned in the alleged intrigue Burr's intimate friends, the leading Federalists, members of the House who held optional votes denied in terms positive and unequiv- ocal, in the public press and over their own signatures, that they had either taken part in, or had any knowledge of, any intrigue or bargain between Colonel Burr and the Federalists, or between the friends of Colonel Burr and the Federalists, during the period referred to, or at any time preceding it. David A. Ogden was accused of having been an agent of the negotiation. In the Morning Chronicle of November 25th, 1802, Mr. Ogden said: "When about to return from the city of Washington, two or three members of Congress, of the Federal party, spoke to me about their views as to the election of President, desiring me to converse with Colonel Burr on the subject, and to ascertain whether he would enter into terms. On my return to New York I called on Colonel Burr, and communicated the above to him. He explicitly declined the explanation, and did neither propose nor agree to any terms. I had no other interview or communication with him on the subject ; and so little was I satisfied with this, that in a letter Avhich I soon afterward wrote to a member of Congress, and which was the only one I wrote, I dissuaded him from giving his support to Colonel Burr, and advised rather to acquiesce in the election of Mr. Jefferson, as the less dangerous man of the two." Edward Livingston, John Swartwout, William P. Van Ness, Matthew L. Davis, and others, declared the innocence of Bun in language equally explicit. Hamilton himself publicl} avowed, in the Evening Post, that he had no personal knowledge of, or belief in, the existence of any negotiations between Colonel Burr and the members of the Federal party Mr. Bayard of Delaware, who had been in a position to know more of the tie affair than any other man, and who had finally given the election to Jefferson, re-stated all that had CLOUDS GATHER. 321 occurred in the most minute and circumstantial manner, in a formal affidavit. " I took pains," said Mr. Bayard, " to dis- close the state of things (in the Federal caucus) in such a manner that it might be known to the friends of Mr. Burr, and to those gentlemen who were believed to be most dis- posed to change their votes in his favor. I repeatedly stated to many gentlemen with whom I was acting, that it was a vain thing to protract the election, as it had become manifest that Mr. Bun- would not assist us, and as we could do nothing without his aid. I expected, under those circumstances, if there was any latent engines at work in Mr. Burr's favor, the plan of operations would be disclosed to me ; but, although I had the po\ver, and threatened to terminate the election, I had not even an intimation from any friend of Mr. Burr's that it would be desirable to them to protract it. I never did dis- cover that Mr. Burr used the least influence to promote the object we had in view. And being completely persuaded that Mr. Burr would not cooperate with us, I determined to end the contest by voting for Mr. Jefferson. * * * I have no reason to believe, and never did think that he interfered, even to the point of personal influence, to obstruct the elec- tion of Mr. Jefferson or to promote his own." On another occasion, Mr. Bayard deposed : " Early in the election it was reported that Mr. Edward Livingston, the representative of the city of New York, was the confidential agent for Mr. Burr, and that Mr. Burr had committed him- self entirely to the discretion of Mr. Livingston, having agreed to adopt all his acts. I took an occasion to sound Mr. Living- ston on the subject, and intimated that, having it my power to terminate the contest, I should do so, unless he could give me some assurance that we might calculate upon a change in the votes of some of the members of his party. Mr. Living- ston stated that he felt no great concern as to the event of the election, but he disclaimed any agency from Mr. Burr, or any connection with him on the subject, and any knowledge of Mr. Burr's designing to cooperate in support of his election." This volume would not contain the printed matter which Cheetham's accusation called forth. Mr. Van Ness wrote a 14* 322 LIFE OF AAKON BUEK. vigorous, nay a savage, pamphlet in reply to Cheetham, which added fuel to the flames of passion, but, probably, effected little else. To argument, to solemn deposition, to circumstan- tial affidavit, Cheetham's too effectual response was an endless reiteration of the charge. For awhile, Colonel Burr main- tained his usual silence. Late in September, when the mean contest had been waging for several weeks, he was induced to write a brief denial in a letter to his friend, Governor Bloomfield of New Jersey. "Yon are at liberty," he said, "to declare from me that all those charges and insinuations which aver or intimate that I advised or countenanced the opposition made to Mr. Jefferson pending the late election and balloting for President ; that I proposed or agreed to any terms with the Federal party ; that I assented to be held up in opposition to him, or attempted to withdraw from him the vote or support of any man, whether in or out of Congress; that all such assertions and intimations are false and ground- less." With regard to Cheetham's second count, namely, that Burr intrigued for Republican votes, a few words must be added. It is equally unsupported by evidence. It is, I am convinced, equally false. General Smith, of Maryland, who was Burr's proxy in the House, declared in the Evening fast, while the controversy was in full tide : " Mr. Burr never visited me on the subject of the late elec- tion for President and Vice-President Mr. Burr never con- versed with me a single second on the subject of that election, either before or since the event." That Burr himself was passive that he observed rigor- ously the morality and the etiquette of a situation novel and bewildering, is a fact which became apparent to me by read- ing the writings of his enemies, and will become apparent to any candid person who will take the same trouble. But it is true that John Swartwout, General Van Ness, and others of Burr's set, most ardently desired the elevation of their chief to the presidency. It is true that they believed he ought to be elected, rather than have no President. It is true, as John Swartwout, with his usual frankness publicly avowed, that CLOUDS GATIIEU. 328 they thought it would not have been in the least dishonorable, it' they had promoted and secured his election. It is prob'tMi/ true, that, after several fruitless ballotings had spread abroad the impression that Jefferson could not be elected, both Swartwout and Van Xess wrote letters to Republican mem- bers of the House, urging them to give up Jefferson and elect Burr. Of this they were so far from being ashamed, that they gave permission to all their correspondents to publish any letters of theirs on public subjects, which had been written during the time it was alleged the intrigue had occurred. Readers who have reached the prime of life, can look back to the time when John Quincy Adams was elected President by the House of Representatives, through the casting vote of Henry Clay, who was immediately appointed Secretary of State by the new President. They can remember how, during the next four years, the opposition press rang with the charge of "bargain and corruption." That charge, mean, and ground- less as it was, turned one of the two men out of the presi- dency, and kept out the other, through twenty years of such popularity as no other partisan has ever enjoyed with the en- lightened portion of the American people. From that, we of this generation may form an idea of the effect which Cheet- hain's accusation, taken up by other papers and ceaselessly re- peated, had upon the political fortunes of Aaron Burr. He had not the wealth of popularity to draw upon which gathered round Henry Clay's magnificent form and generous, gallant heart; and if Clay's electric name was not proof against IIUM- and baseless scandal, is it wonderful that the luster of Burr's not untarnished fame should have been diminished by it be- yond remedy ? Bitter and deadly, beyond what the modern reader can imagine, were the political controversies of that period. The law of the pistol was in full force. In 1801, Hamilton's eldest son, a high-spirited youth of twenty, fell in a duel which amsc from a political dispute at the theater. " lie was murdered in a duel," said Colcman. of the Evening Post, who that very month had threatened Cheetham with a challenge, and who, 32 i LIFE OF AABON BUBE. the next day spoke of " the insolent vulgarity of that base wretch."* The duel between John Swartwout and De Witt Clinton, which occurred amid the heat and violence of 1802, was the most remarkable conflict of the kind which has ever occurred, this side of the Emerald Isle. Clinton was a strong-headed and bitter-tongued politician. Swartwout was a frank-hearted, brave man, devoted to Burr with a disinterested enthusiasm, that stood all the tests to which friendship can ever be sub- jected. He saw with furious disgust the efforts of De Witt Clinton's creatures to blacken Burr's reputation, and had him- self experienced the effects of his hostility. Clinton hearing that Swartwout had accused him of opposing Burr on grounds personal and selfish, called him " a liar, a scoundrel, and a vil- lain." This was reported to Swartwout, and a duel was the result. What occurred at the ground at Weehawken, was stated in the newspapers of the day by Colonel Smith, Swartwout's second : " The gentlemen took their stations were each pre- sented with a pistol, and, by order, faced to the right, and fired, ineffectually. At the request of Mr. Riker, I asked Mr. Swartwout, ' Are you satisfied, sir ?' He answered, ' I am not.' The pistols then being exchanged, and their positions resumed, by order, the gentlemen faced to the right, and fired a second shot, without effect. At the request of Mr. Riker, I again addressed Mr. Swartwout, 'Are you satisfied, sir?' He an- swered strongly in the negative, we proceeded, and a third shot was exchanged, without injury. At the request of Mr. Riker, I again asked Mr. Swartwout, ' Are you satisfied, sir?' He answered, 'I am not neither shall I be, until that apol- ogy is made which I have demanded. Until then we must proceed.' I then presented a paper to Mr. Riker, containing * The following epigram appeared in the Evening Post, a little later : " Lie on Duane, he on for pay, And Cheetham, lie thou too ; More against truth you can not say, Than truth can say 'gainst you." CLOUDS GATHEE. 325 the apology demanded, for Mr. Clinton's signature, observing, that we could not spend our time in conversation ; that this paper must be signed or proceed. Mr. Clinton declared lie would not sign any paper on the subject that he had no animosity against Mr. Swartwout would willingly shake hands and agree to meet on the score of former friendship. " Mr. Swartwout insisting on his signature to the apology, and Mr. Clinton declining, they stood at their posts and fired a fourth shot. Mr. Clinton's ball struck Mr. Swart wont's left leg, about five inches below the knee ; he stood ready and collected. At the request of Mr. Riker, I again addressed Mr. Swartwout, 'Are you satisfied, sir?' He answered, that ' It was useless to repeat the question my determination is fixed and I beg we may proceed.' Mr. Clinton repealed that he had no animosity against Mr. Swartwout was sorry for what had passed proposed to advance, shake hands, and bury the circumstance in oblivion. During this conversation, Mr. Swartwout's surgeon, kneeling by his side, extracted the ball from the opposite side of his leg. Mr. Swartwout stand- ing erect on his post, and positively declining any thing short of an ample apology, they fired the fifth shot, and Mr. Swart- wout received the ball in the left leg, about five inches above the ancle; still, however, standing steadily at his post, per- fectly composed. At the request of Mr. Riker, I again ad- dressed Mr. Swartwout, 'Are you satisfied, sir?' He forcibly answered, ' I am not, sir ; proceed.' Mr. Clinton then quit his station, declined the combat, and declared he would fire no more. Mr. Swartwout declared himself surprised, that Mr. Clinton would neither apologize nor give him the satisfac- tion required ; and addressing me, said, ' What shall I do, my friend ?' I answered, ' Mr Clinton declines making the apol- ogy required refuses taking his position and positively declares he will fight no more ; and his second appearing to acquiesce in the disposition of his principal, there is nothing further left for you now, but to have your wounds dressed.' The surgeons attended, dressed Mr. Swartwout's wounds, and the gentlemen in their respective barges, returned to the citv." 326 LIFE OF AARON BURR. An on dit of the day was, that Clinton said, during the prog- ress of the duel, " I wish I had the principal here," referring to Colonel Burr. The next year, De Witt Clinton was challenged by Senator T onathan Dayton, of New Jersey, another of Burr's intimates, but the affair was peacefully arranged. The year following, Robert Svvartwout fought with Richard Riker, a zealous Clin- tonian, who had served as second to Clinton in his duel with John Swartwout. In this duel, Riker was severely wounded, but he recovered to sit for many years on the Recorder's bench in the city of New York. The same year, Coleman of the Evening Post, provoked beyond endurance by an at tack of surpassing malignancy in the American Citizen, for- got himself so far as to challenge Cheetham. But the cur could not be brought to bay. " Friends interfered," a truce was patched up, and Cheetham agreed to behave better in future. Out of this affair, however, another quarrel grew, which led to one of the most diabolical duels ever fought. Captain Thompson, harbor-master of New York, loudly espoused Cheetham's cause, and gave out that it was Coleman, not Cheetham, that had showed the white feather. Coleman heard of it, and challenged him. The twilight of a winter's evening found the parties arrayed against each other in lonely "Love- lane," now called "Twenty-first-street." It was cold, there was snow on the ground, and it was nearly dark. A shot or two was exchanged without effect, and then the princpals were placed nearer together, that they might see one another better. At length Thompson was heard to cry, " I've got it," and fell headlong on the snow. Coleman and his second hur- ried away, while the surgeon raised the bleeding man, exam- ined his wound, and saw that it was mortal. On learning his fate, Thompson, at the surgeon's suggestion, promised never to divulge the names of the parties, and, with a heroism worthy of a better cause, he kept his word. "He was brought, mortally wounded, to his sister's house in town : he was laid at the door, the bell was rung, the family came out, and found him bleeding and near his death. He refused to name his CLOUDS GATHER. 327 antagonist, or give any account of the affair, declaring that every thing which had been done was honorably done, and desired that no attempt should be made to seek out or molest his adversary."* To such lengths can political fury drive men of honor, edu- cation and humanity. Let us hasten past these deplorable scenes. Three years of Colonel Burr's Vice-Presidency passed in these contentions. They told upon his popularity. As the time for selecting candidates for the presidential campaign drew on, it became manifest that he could not secure the un- divided support of the Republican party for a second term. His career was interrupted. He must pause a while. By some other, and longer, and more circuitous path he must continue his ascent to that top-most, dazzling height, which lias lured so many Americans to falseness of life and meanness of aim. The course which he pursued, in these circumstances, was precisely what fidelity to his party would have dictated. Toward the close of January, 1804, he requested a private interview with the President. On the designated evening, the two chiefs met, and had a long conversation. The ac- count which Mr. Jefferson left of this interview is doubtless, in the main particulars, correct, but some of the minor cir- cumstances are evidently colored by his natural dislike of a man who, he thought, had been his rival without being his equal. No man can write quite fairly of one whom he hates, despises, or fears. Colonel Burr began the conversation by sketching his politi- cal career in New York, dwelling particularly on the late cru- sade against him. He proceeded to say, among other things, that his attachment to Mr. Jefferson had been sincere, and that he had keenly enjoyed his company and conversation. His feelings had undergone no change, although "many little stories" had been carried to him, and, he supposed, to Mr. Jefferson also, which he despised. But attachment must be reciprocal or cease to exist, and therefore he desired to know whether any change had taken place in the feelings of Mr. * " Reminiscences of tbo Evening Post." By W. C. Bryant 328 LIFE OF AARON BURR. Jefferson toward himself. " He reminded me," says Jefferson, " of a letter written to him about the time of counting the votes, mentioning that his election had left a chasm in my ar- rangements ; that I had lost him from my list in the adminis- tration, etc. He observed, he believed it would be for the interest of the Republican cause for him to retire ; that a disadvantageous schism would otherwise take place ; but that were he to retire, it would be said he shrunk from the public sentence, which he would never do ; that his enemies were using my name to destroy him, and something was necessary from me to prevent and deprive them of that weapon, some mark of favor from me which would declare to the world that he retired with my confidence." The President replied at great length. Waiving Burr's in- quiry respecting his personal feelings, he said, that, as lie had not interfered in the election of 1800, so he was resolved not to influence the one which was then impending. He did not know who were to be candidates, and never permitted any one to converse with him on the subject. With regard to the attacks which the press had made upon the Vice-President, he had noticed them but as the passing wind. He had seen complaints that Cheetham, employed in publishing the laws, should be permitted to eat the public bread, and abuse its second officer. But the laws were published in some papers Avhich abused the President continually, and, as he had never thought proper to interfere for himself, he had not deemed it his duty to do so in the case of the Vice-President. " I now," continues Mr. Jefferson, " went on to explain to him verbally what I meant by saying I had lost him from my list. That in General Washington's time, it had been signified to him that Mr. Adams, the Vice-President, would be glad of a foreign embassy ; that General Washington mentioned it to me, expressed his doubts whether Mr. Adams was a fit charac- ter for such an office, and his still greater doubts, indeed, his conviction, that it would not be justifiable to send away the person who, in case of his death, was provided by the Consti- tution to take his place ; that it would, moreover, appear indecent for him to be disposing of the public trusts in ap- CLOUDS GATHEK. 329 parently buying off a competitor for the public favor. I con- curred with him in the opinion, and if I recollect rightly, Hamilton, Knox, and Randolph were consulted, and gave the same opinions. Tiiat when Mr. Adams came to the adminis tration, in his first interview with me, he mentioned the neces- sity of a mission to France, and how desirable it would have been for him if he could have got me to undertake it ; but that he conceived it would be wrong in him to send me away, and assigned the same reasons General Washington had done; and, therefore, he should appoint Mr. Madison, etc. That I had myself contemplated his (Colonel Burr's) appointment to one of the great offices, in case he was not elected Vice-Pres- ident, but that as soon as that election was known, I saw that it could not be done, for the good reasons which had led Gen- eral Washington and Mr. Adams to the same conclusion ; and, therefore, in my first letter to Colonel Burr after the issue was known, I had mentioned to him that a chasm in my ar- rangements had been produced by this event. I was thus par- ticular in rectifying the date of this letter, because it gave me an opportunity of explaining the grounds on which it was written, which were, indirectly, an answer to his present hints. He left the matter with me for consideration, and the conver- sation was turned to indifferent subjects." Mr. Jefferson concludes this day's journalizing with the fol- lowing remarks : " I had never seen Colonel Burr till he came as a member of the Senate. His conduct very soon inspired me with distrust. I habitually cautioned Mr. Madison against trusting him too much. I saw, afterward, that, under Gen- eral Washington's and Mr. Adams's administrations, whenever a great military appointment, or a diplomatic one was to be made, he came post to Philadelphia to show himself, and, in fact, that lie was always at market, if they had wanted him. He was, indeed, told by Dayton, in 1800, he might be Secre- tary at War ; but this bid was too late. His election as Vice- President was then foreseen. With these impressions of Col- onel Burr, there never had been an intimacy between us, and but little association. When I destined him for a high ap- pointment, it was out of respect for the favor he had obtained 330 LIFE OF AARON BURR. with the Republican party, by his extraordinary exertions and puccesses in the New York election in 1800." Mr. Jefferson's memory was a little at fault here. While the Republican party was slowly working its way to a major- ty, and the effective help of Colonel Burr was given freely to he cause, Jefferson's manner toward him was cordial to a omewhat marked degree. In June, 1797, for example, he began a long and unsolicited letter to Colonel Burr, with these words : " The newspapers give so minutely what is passing in Congress, that nothing of detail can be wanting for your information. Perhaps, however, some general view of our situation and prospects since you left us may not be unac- ceptable. At any rate, it will give me an opportunity of re- calling myself to your memory, and of evidencing my esteem for you." A few slips of this kind are all the Federal writers have to support their charge against Jefferson of insincerity. One needs little observation of life, and less charity, to give them a very different interpretation. And, after all, the discrep- ancy is not great. In 1797, he had an esteem for Colonel Burr; in 1804, he says he had never liked him, and had cau- tioned Madison against trusting him too far. Liking and es- teeming are sentiments so different that either may exist in a high degree without the other. In 1804, it is plain, Jef- ferson's dislike of Burr was extreme, perhaps morbid, and De Witt Clinton himself was not more averse to his further po- litical advancement. Jefferson admits, in one of his later let- ters, that upon learning Burr's designs, after their interview, it was he who caused information of the same to be sent to the Clintons in New York. Repulsed by the chief, hated by the Republican leaders in his Own State, distrusted by large numbers of the party, Col- onel Burr and his friends resolved upon an appeal to the peo- ple. In February the plan was matured, and Burr was an- nounced as an independent candidate for the governorship of New York. A small caucus of members of the legislature for- mally nominated him on the 18th of February, and on subse- quent days the nomination was ratified by public meetings in CLOUDS GATHER. 331 Albany and New York. " Say to your husband," wrote Burr to his daughter, on the 16th, " that the Clintons, Livingstons etc., had not, at the last advice from Albany, decided on their candidate for governor. Hamilton is intriguing for any can- didate who can have a chance of success against A. B. He would, doubtless, become the advocate of even De Witt Clin- ton, if he should be the opponent." This was true. Hamilton saw the tilterior advantages which the election of Burr as governor would give him, and he op- posed it in all ways, and with the whole weight of his influ- ence. The Federal party, reduced now to a faction, had no serious thoughts of even nominating a candidate, and Hamil- ton's efforts were concentrated on the single object of defeat- ing Burr. Governor Clinton declined a reelection. Lansing, a politician of long experience and high respectability, was the candidate first named by the Republicans, and Hamilton was strenuous, in caucus and out of caucus, in urging the Federal- ists to vote for him. A short article of Hamilton's on this point, which has been thought worthy of republication in his works, gives eight reasons "why it is desirable that Mr. Lansing, rather than Colonel Burr, should succeed." To com- plete the evidence in the great case of Hamilton against Burr, this catalogue of " Reasons" is here inserted: " 1. Colonel Burr has steadily pursued the track of demo- cratic politics. This he had done either from principle or from ciili-i/.lntlnn. If the former, he is not likely now to change his plan, when the Federalists are prostrate, and their enemies predominant. If the latter, he will certainly not at this time relinquish the ladder of his ambition, and espouse the cause or views of the weaker party. " 2. Though detested by some of the leading Clintonians, he is certainly not personally disagreeable to the great body of them, and it will be no difficult task for a man of talents, in- trigue, and address, possessing the chair of government, to rally the great body of them under his standard, and thereby to consolidate for personal purposes the mass of the Clintoni- ans, his own adherents among the Democrats, and such Fed- 332 LIFE OP AARON I.UKK. eralists, as, from personal good-will or interested motives, may give him support. " 3. The effect of his elevation will be to reunite, under a more adroit, able, and daring chief, the now scattered frag- ments of the democratic party, and to reinforce it by a strong detachment from the Federalists. For though virtuous Fed- eralists who, from miscalculation, may support him, would afterward relinquish his standard, a large number, from various motives, would continue attached to it. " 4. A further effect of his elevation, by aid of the Federalists will be to present to the confidence of New England a man already the man of the democratic leaders of that country, and toward whom the mass of the people have no weak pre- dilection, as their countryman, as the grandson of President Edwards, and the son of President Burr. In vain will certain men resist this predilection, when it can be said that he was chosen Governor of this State, in which he was best known, principally, or in a great degree, by the aid of the Federal- ists. " 5. This will give him fair play to disorganize New England, if so disposed ; a thing not very difficult, when the strength of the democratic party in each of the New England States is considered, and the natural tendency of our civil institutions is duly weighed. " 6. The ill-opinion of Jefferson, and the jealousy of the am- bition of Virginia, is no inconsiderable prop of good principles in that country. But these causes are leading to an opinion, that a dismemberment of the Union is expedient. It would probably suit Mr. Burr's views to promote this result, to be the chief of the northern portion ; and placed at the head of the State of New York, no man would be more likely to suc- ceed. " 7. If he be truly, as the Federalists have believed, a man of irregular and insatiable ambition, if his plan has been to rise to power on the ladder of Jacobinic principles, it is natural to conclude that he will endeavor to fix himself in power by the same instrument ; that he will not lean on a fallen and falling- party, generally speaking, not of a character to favor usurpa- CLOUDS GATHER. 333 tion and the ascendency of a despotic chief. Every day shows, more and more, the much to be regretted tendency of gov- ernments entirely popular, to dissolution and disorder. Is it rational to expect that a man, who had the sagacity to foresee this tendency, and whose temper would permit him to bottom his aggrandizement on popular prejudice and vices, would de- Bert the system at the time when, more than ever, the state of things invites him to adhere to it ? " 8. If Lansing is governor, his personal character affords some security against pernicious extremes, and at the same time renders it morally certain that the democratic party, already much divided and weakened, will molder and break asunder more and more. This is certainly a state of things * favorable to the future ascendency of the wise and good. May it not lead to a recasting of parties, by which the Fed- eralists will gain a great accession of force from former oppo- nents? At any rate, is it not wiser in them to promote a course of things by which schism among the Democrats will be fostered and increased, than, on a fair calculation, to give them a chief, better able than any they have yet had, to unite and direct them ; and in a situation to infuse rottenness in the only part of our country which still remains sound, the Federal Stati-s of Xew England ?" This article was written too soon ; for, in a few days, Mr. Lansing, much to Hamilton's regret, declined, and Chief Just- ice Lewis was nominated in his stead. Lewis was a more decided partisan, and a less acceptable man than Lansing, and his nomination was supposed to be favorable to the prospects of Colonel Burr. " From the moment Clinton declined," wrote Hamilton to Rums King, "I began to consider Burr as having a chance of success. It was still, however, my reli- ance that Lansing would outrun him ; but now that Chiet Justice Lewis is his competitor, the probability, in my judg- ment, inclines to Burr." To defeat him, Hamilton's first scheme was to run Rums King as the regular candidate of the Federal party. That abandoned, he confined his exertions to keeping as many Federal voters as possible from supporting the detested candidate. 334 LIFE OF AARON BUKK. I need not dwell on the contest, the result of which is only too well known. Like nine out often of our State, and seven out of ten of our national elections, it was a contest without an idea ; a preposterous struggle to put another man in a place already well-filled. The Address put forth by the Bui-rites dwelt upon their candidate's being a single man, with no train of family con nections to quarter upon the public treasury ; upon his tal ents and revolutionary services ; upon the stand he had made against the British treaty ; upon the recent endeavors, on the part of wealthy factions, to destroy, by unprecedented calum- nies, the confidence of the people in the Vice-President's integ- rity ; upon his liberal patronage of science and the tine arts ; upon the recent sale of part of his estate, and the payment of his debts ; upon his known generosity and disinterestedness ; and, finally, upon the character of his great ancestors, Presi- dent Burr and President Edwards, the best traits of both of whom, said the Address, were blended in the character of Colonel Burr. It was an animated and very acrimonious contest. Burr's friends, it is true, conducted their canvass with decorum, and never once assailed the private character of the opposing can- didate. But Cheetham teemed with lies. For two months, his paper was chiefly devoted to maligning and burlesqueing the character of Burr and his adherents. Jefferson gave the weight of his great name to the Cliutonian candidate. A con- versation in which the President was represented as declaring that the " Little Band" (Cheetharn's nickname for Burr's set) was not the real democracy, was printed in capitals in the American Citizen, and kept standing during the three days of the election.* Not content with what his paper could effect, Cheetham, on the second day of the election, printed a handbill, setting forth that Burr was a remorseless and whole- sale seducer ; that the brothels of New York were filled * One of Cheetharn's fables was, that on the night before the election, the Yice-President, through Alexis, his slave, had given a ball to the colored voters at Richmond Hill, and that he had himself led out to the dance a buxom wench. This story was given as a ballad in the American Citizen. CLOUDS GATHER. 335 with his victims ; and that the father of one of them was at that moment in the city burning to wreak a deadly vengeance upon the seducer's head. This handbill Cheetham distributed with his own hands at the polls. But the " Little Band" were confident of success, and worked for it as men seldom work for the advantage of an other. Burr himself was, as usual, imperturbable. March 28th he wrote to Theodosia : "They are very busy here about an election between Morgan Lewis and A. Burr, the former supported by the Livingstons and Clintons, the latter per se. I would send you some new and amusing libels against the Vice-President, but, as you did not send the speech," etc. April 25th, which was the second day of the election : " I write in a storm ; an election storm, of the like you have once been a witness. The thing began yesterday and will termi- nate to-morrow. My head-quarters are in John-street, and I have, since the beginning of this letter, been already three times interrupted. * * * Both parties claim majorities, and there never was, in my opinion, an election, of the result of which so little judgment could be formed. A. B. will have a small majority in the city if to-morrow should be a fair day, and not else." The morrow was a fair day. A. B. did have a small majority (about one hundred) in the city. For a few hours, the Burrites exulted ; but returns from the country soon changed their note. Five days after, among the gossipy para- graphs of an unusually gossipy letter from Burr to his daughter, occurred this single line about the election : " The election is lost by a great majority ; so much the better." Lewis had, in fact, received 35,000 votes ; Burr, 28,000 ; majority for Lewis, 7,000. He was beaten, but, by no means, destroyed, as is usually represented. A large number of his original supporters had abandoned him ; but, besides his own peculiar adherents, he was now strong in the confidence of the more moderate Fed- eralists, and nothing but Hamilton's vehement opposition had prevented that party's voting for him en masse. He had, also, this advantage the libels which had destroyed his standing, 336 LIFE OF AAEON BURK. for the time, with his own party, were not only false, but were known to be false by the leaders of both sides. The truth was likely to become manifest, and a reaction to set in, which might bear him in triumph over all opposition to more than his former elevation. The spectacle of a man who owes his fortune to his own exertions, contending singly against an- cient wealth and powerful families, is one which appeals to the sympathies and to the imagination of Anglo-Saxons. With tact such as his, with friends so devoted, with partisans so warm, with enemies so feebly united that they only awaited his downfall to war with one another, who could say what he might not efl'ect before another presidential election came round ? It is a mistake, too, to suppose that the result of this elec- tion rendered Colonel Burr morose and gloomy. Colonel Burr, in all his long life, never knew a gloomy day nor a morose hour. One who applies such epithets to him shows by that fact alone, that he is ignorant of the man's character. His spirits rode as buoyantly and as safely over all disasters as a cork over the cataract of Xiagara. There was not in him the stuff out of which gloom is made. He was of Damascus quality ; his elasticity was inexhaustible. Cheetham was not very wrong, perhaps, when he said that Burr was elated by the result of the election ; as it showed him his strength as an independent candidate, and gave him new hopes of being able to form a great democratic, anti- Virginia party. Would that he could have paused here, and buried in oblivion political aspirations and animosities. A bright career was still before him in the law. Hamilton had won great glory this very spring, by defending at Albany, before the Su- preme Court, with unparalleled eloquence, an editor who had been indicted for a libel on the President. His grand object was, by annihilating the maxim, " The greater the truth, the greater the libel," to establish on new and broad foundations the liberty of the press. "After all, came the powerful Hamil- ton," wrote a correspondent of the Evening Post. " No Ian- .guage can convey an adequate idea of the astonishing powers evinced by him. The audience was numerous, and though CLOUDS GATHEK. 337 composed of those not used to the melting mood, the effect produced on them was electric. * * * As a correct argu me- nt for a lawyer, it was very imposing, as a profound com mentary upon the science and practice of government, it hag never been surpassed." Here was glory ; here was triumph. Burr's eminence at the bar was such that, on all cases of com- manding interest, he was the man likely to be selected to op- pose Hamilton or to aid him. For any thing that is now known, Burr may have meant to confine himself to the peaceful triumphs of the bar. B"t, alas ! the curse of having made a false step in life is, that it necessitates worse ! 15 CHAPTEE XIX. THE DUEL. . TUB GENERAL PROVOCATION THE PARTICULAR PROVOCATION THE HOSTILE COR BRSPONDKNOE TlIE CHALLENGE. GIVEN ASD AcCEPTEP HAMILTON'S CONDUCT, AND BURR'S LETTERS BEFORE THE MEETING THE BANQUET OP THE CINCINNATI THE LAST WRITINGS OP HAMILTON AND BURR THE DUELING GROUND THE DUEL EFFECT ON THE PUBLIC foiND THE CORONER'S VERDICT DR. NOTT'S SERMON THE MONUMENT TO HAMILTON ON THE GROUND. As habit is second nature, dueling must formerly have seemed a very natural mode of settling personal disputes, for few public men passed through life without being concerned in, at least, one " affair of honor." Gates, De Witt Clinton, Randolph, Benton, Clay, Jackson, Decatur, Arnold, Walpole, Pitt, Wellington, Canning, Peel, Grattan, Fox, Sheridan, Jef- frey, Wilkes, D'Israeli, Lamartine, Thiers, and scores of less famous names, are found in Mr. Sabine's* list of duelists. In all that curious catalogue, there is not the name of one politician who received provocation so often-repented, so irri- tating, and so injurious, as that which Aaron Burr had re- ceived from Alexander Hamilton. Burr was not a man to resent promptly a personal injury, even when what he called his " honor" impelled him to do so. The infidelity of a comrade cut him to the heart ; to be doubted by a friend, was, as he once said, " to have the very sanctuary of happiness invaded ;" the disapproval of his own set he would have felt acutely. But, to the outcry of the outer world he was comparatively indifferent, and the inju- rious attempts of enemies he usually disregarded. Aaron Burr, whatever faults he may have had and he had grievous and radical faults was not a revengeful man ; there has sel- dom lived one Avho was less so. He had to be much persuaded * " Notes on Duels and Dueling." By Lorenzo Sabine. ;x of the pamphlet \var of 1802, received a note from Colonel Burr, requesting lim to call at Richmond Hill on the following morning. He went. At the request of Burr, he conveyed Dr. Cooper's let- ter to General Hamilton, with the most offensive passage marked, and a note from Colonel Burr, which, as briefly as possible, called attention to the passage, and concluded with the following words f " You must perceive, sir, the ir-ressitv of a prompt and unqualified acknowledgment or denial of the use of any expressions which would warrant the assertions of Mr. Cooper." Hamilton was taken by surprise. lie had not, before that moment, seen Cooper's letter. Having read it, and the note of Colonel Burr, he said that they required consideration, and he would send an answer to Mr. Van Xess's office (Van Ness was a lawyer) in the course of the day. Late that evening he called at Mr. Van Xess's residence, and told him that a press of business had prevented his preparing a reply, and would prevent him for two days to come ; but on the 20th he would give him a communication for Colonel Burr. In that communication, which was very long, Hamilton de- clined making the acknowledgment or denial that Burr had demanded. Between gentlemen, he said, despicable and more <1< *l,'i,', was not worth the pains of distinction. He could not consent to be interrogated as to the justice of the in- ferences which others might have drawn from what he had said of an opponent during fifteen years' competition. But he stood ready to avow or disavow explicitly any (li-jin/i-: opinion which he might be charged with having expressed re sped ing any gentleman. He trusted that Colonel Burr, upon further reflection, would see the matter in the same light. If not, he could only regret the fact, and abide the conse quences. This letter was oil upon the flames of Burr's indignation 342 LIFE OF AAEON BURR. His reply was prompt and decided. Hamilton's letters can generally be condensed one half without the loss of an idea, Burr's compact directness defies abbreviation : " Your letter of the 20th inst.," wrote he, " has been this day received. Having considered it attentively, I regret to find in it nothing of that sincerity and delicacy which you pro- fess to value. Political opposition can never absolve gentle- men from the necessity of a rigid adherence to the laws of honor and the rules of decorum. I neither claim such privi- lege nor indulge it in others. The common sense of mankind affixes to the epithet adopted by Dr. Cooper the idea of dis- honor. It has been publicly applied to me under the sanction of your name. The question is not, whether he has under- stood the meaning of the word, or has used it according to syntax, and with grammatical accuracy ; but, whether you have authorized this application, either directly or by uttering expressions or opinions derogatory to my honor. The time ' when' is in yonr own knowledge, but no way material to me, as the calumny has now first been disclosed, so as to becom% the subject of my notice, and as the effect is present and pal- pable. Your letter has furnished me with new reasons for re- quiring a definite reply." Hamilton seems to have read his doom in that letter. He said to Mr. Van Ness, who brought it, that it was such a letter as he had hoped not to receive ; it contained several offensive expressions ; and seemed to close the door to reply. Pie had hoped that Mr. Burr would have desired him to state what had fallen from him that might have given rise to the infer ence of Dr. Cooper. He would have done that frankly, and he believed it would not have been found to exceed justifiable limits. And even then, if Mr. Burr was disposed to give another turn to the discussion, he was willing to consider his last letter undelivered. But if that were not withdrawn, he could make no reply. Mr. Van Ness detailed these ideas to Colonel Burr, and received from him a paper of instructions to guide him in replying, verbally, to General Hamilton. This paper ex- presses with force and exactness the view of this affair then TIIE DUEL. 343 taken, and always adhered to, by Colonel Burr. It read as follows: U A. Burr, far from conceiving that rival ship authorizes a latitude not otherwise justifiable, always feels greater delicacy in such cases, and would think it meanness to speak of a rival but in terms of respect; to do justice to his merits; to be silent of his foibles. Such has invariably been his conduct toward Jay, Adams, and Hamilton ; the only three who can be supposed to have stood in that relation to him. " That he has too much reason to believe that, in regard to Mr. Hamilton, there has been no reciprocity. For several years his name has been lent to the support of base slanders. He has never had the generosity, the magnanimity, or the candor to contradict or disavow. Burr forbears to particular- ize, as it could only tend to produce new irritations ; but, having made great sacrifices for the sake of harmony ; having exercised forbearance until it approached to humiliation, he has seen no effect produced by such conduct but a repetition of injury. He is obliged to conclude that there is, on the part of Mr. Hamilton, a settled and implacable malevolence ; that he will never cease, in his conduct toward Mr. Burr, to violate those courtesies of life ; and that, hence, he has no al- ternative but to announce these things to the world ; which, consistently with Mr. Burr's ideas of propriety, can be done in no way but that which he has adopted. He is incapable of revenge, still less is he capable of imitating the conduct of Mr. Hamilton, by committing secret depredations on his fame and character. But these things must have an end." Upon meeting General Hamilton for the purpose of making the above explanation, Mr. Van Ness was informed by him, that he had prepared a written reply to Colonel Burr's last letter, and had left it in the hands of his friend Mr. Pendleton. Tlie verbal explanation was therefore withheld, and General Hamilton's letter conveyed to Colonel Burr. It was as fol- lows: "Your first letter, in a style too peremptory, made a demand, in my opinion, unprecedented and unwarrantable. My answer, pointing out the embarrassment, gave you an op- portunity to take a less exceptionable course. You have not 344 LIFE OF AARON BURR. chosen to do it ; but by your last letter received this day, con- taining expressions indecorous and improper, you have in- creased the difficulties to explanation intrinsically incident to the nature of your application. If by a ' definite reply' you mean the direct avowal or disavowal required in your first letter, I have no other answer to give, than that which has already been given. If you mean any thing different, admit- ting of greater latitude, it is requisite you should explain." This letter, as might have been expected, produced no effect ; as Mr. Van Ness hastened to inform General Hamil- ton's friend. Van Ness added, that what Colonel Burr de- manded was this : a general disavowal of any intention on the part of General Hamilton, in his various conversations, to con- vey impressions derogatory to the honor of Burr. Pendletou replied, that he believed General Hamilton would have no objection to make such a declaration ! Hamilton, of course, declined making the disavowal. But he gave Van Ness a paper, in his own hand, the purport of which was that if Colonel Burr should think it proper to in- quire of General Hamilton the nature of the conversation with Dr. Cooper, General Hamilton would be able to reply, with truth, that it turned wholly on political topics, and did not attribute to Colonel Burr any instance of dishonorable con- duct, nor relate to his private character. And in relation to any other conversation which Colonel Burr would specify, a frank avowal or denial would be given. A " mere evasion," said Burr, when he had read this paper. Other correspondence followed, but it is too familiar to the public, and too easily accessible, to require repetition here. Throughout the whole of it we see, on the one hand, an ex- asperated man resolved to bring the affair to a decisive and final issue ; on the other, a man striving desperately, but not dishonorably, to escape the consequences of his own too un garded words. Burr's final recapitulation, drawn up for th guidance of his second, was as follows : "Colonel Burr (in reply to General Hamilton's charge of indofiniteness and inquisition) would only say, that secret whis- pers traducing his fame, and impeaching, his honor, are at least THE DUEL. 345 equally injurious with slanders publicly uttered ; that General Hamilton had, at no time, and in no place, a right to use any such injurious expressions; and that the partial negative he is disposed to give, with the reservations he wishes to make, are proofs that he has done the injury specified. "Colonel Burr's request was, in ihe first instance, proposed in a form the most simple, in order that General Hamilton might give to the aftair that course to which he might be induced by his temper and his knowledge of facts. Colonel Burr trusted with confidence, that, from the frankness of a soldier and the candor of a gentleman, he might expect an ingenuous declaration. That if, as he had reason to believe, General Hamilton had used expressions derogatory to his honor, he would have had the magnanimity to retract them ; and that if, from his language, injurious inferences had been improperly drawn, he would have perceived the propriety of correcting errors, which might thus have been widely diffused. With these impressions, Colonel Burr was greatly surprised at receiving a letter which he considered as evasive, and which in manner he deemed not altogether decorous. In one expec- tation, however, he was not wholly deceived, for the close of General Hamilton's letter contained an intimation that, if Colonel Burr should dislike his refusal to acknowledge or deny, he' was ready to meet the consequences. This Colonel Burr deemed a sort of defiance, and would have felt justified in making it the basis of an immediate message. But as the communication contained something concerning the indefinite- ness of the request, as he believed it rather the offspring of false pride than of reflection, and as he felt the utmost reluct- ance to proceed to extremities, while any other hope re- mained, his request was repeated in terms more explicit. The replies and propositions on the part of General Hamilton have, in Colonel Burr's opinion, been constantly in substance the same. " Colonel Burr disavows all motives of predetermined hos- tility, a charge by which he thinks insult added to injury. He. feels as a gentleman should feel when his honor is in.peachetl or assailed ; and, without sensations of hostility or wishes of 15* 3-16 LIFE OF AAEON BUBE. revenge, he is determined to vindicate that honor at such hazard as the nature of the case demands." The letter concluded with the remark that the length and fruitlessness of the correspondence proved it useless " to offer any proposition, except the simple message which I shall now have the honor to deliver." The challenge was then given and accepted. Ten days had elapsed since Colonel Burr had first sent for Mr. Van Ness, and it was now the 27th of June. Mr. Pendleton stated that a court was then sitting in which General Hamilton had much business to transact ; he \vould require also a little time to arrange his private affairs; and, therefore, some delay was unavoidable. Tin's was assented to, and the next morning ap- pointed for a meeting of the seconds to confer further on time and place. At that meeting Mr. Pendleton presented a paper which, he said, he had received from his principal, and which con- tained some remarks upon the matters in dispute. Van Ness replied that, if the paper contained a specific proposition for an accommodation, he would receive it with pleasure ; if not, he must decline doing so, as his principal considered the cor- respondence completely terminated by the acceptance of the challenge. Pendleton replied that the paper contained no such proposition, but consisted of remarks upon Van Ness's last letter. Mr. Van Ness, therefore, refused to receive it,* and Pendleton retired, promising to call again in a day or two to make the final arrangements. The seconds conferred sev- eral times before these were concluded ; but, at length, July * This paper was an earnest endeavor, on the part of General Hamilton, to avoid a hostile meeting. The material passage was as follows : " Mr. Pen- dleton is authorized to say, that in the course of the present discussion, writ- ten or verbal, there has been no intention to evade, defy, or insult, but a sin- cere disposition to avoid extremities, if it could be done with propriety. "\Vith this view General Hamilton has been ready to enter into a frank and free ex- planation on any and every object of a specific nature ; but not to an3wer a general and abstract inquiry, embracing a period too long for any accurate recollection, and exposing him to unpleasant criticisms from, or unpleasant discussions with, any and every person who may have understood him in an unfavorable sense " THE DUEL. 347 IHh, at seven in the morning, was fixed upon as the time; the place, Weehawken ; the weapons, pistols ; the distance, ten paces. Thus, between the time when Colonel Burr sent for Van Ness and the day appointed for the meeting, twenty- four days elapsed, during the greater part of which the secret was known, certainly, to seven persons, and, probably, to as many as ten. During this long period, the principals went about their daily business as usual. Hamilton, as was afterward fondly remembered, plead his causes and consulted his clients, with all his wonted vigor, courtesy, and success. Around his table at the "Grange," day after day, he saw his seven children and his tenderly beloved wife, with a ceaseless consciousness of the blow that was suspended over them all. A whisper could have saved him, and saved them, but how impossible it was to litter that whisper! Burr was residing at cedar-crowned Richmond Hill, and found the great mansion there somewhat lone and chilly. On June 23d (the very day upon which it became certain that the affair with Hamilton could only be terminated by a duel) Theodosia's birth-day came round again, a day on which Rich- mond Hill, for many a year, had known only the sights and sounds of happiness and mirth. Burr was an observer of fete davs and family festivals. On this occasion, he invited a party to dinner, who, as he wrote the next day to Theodosia, " laughed an hour, and danced an hour, and drank her health." He had her picture brought into the dining-room and placed at the table where she was accustomed to sit. But, added he, " as it is a profile, and would not look at us, we hung it up, and placed Xatalie's (his adopted daughter) at table, which laughs arid talks with us." The letter in which these particu- lars are given is remarkable for containing a suggestion which has since been admirably improved. " Your idea," wrote he, "of dressing up pieces of ancient mythology in the form of amusing tales for children is very good. You yourself must write them. Send your performances to me, and, within three weeks after they are received, you shall have them again in print. This will be not only an amusing occupation, but a 348 LIFE OF AAEON BUEE. very useful one to yourself. It will improve your style and your language, give you habits of accuracy, and add a little to your stock of knowledge. Natalie, too, must work at it, and I'll bet that she makes the best tale. I will be your ed- itor and your critic." The reader is aware how well this 4 idea" has since been carried out by Mr. Kingsley and others. His letters to his daughter, at this period, contain but a sin- gle allusion, and that a vague one, to the impending conflict. On the 1st of July, he began a letter with these words : " Having been shivering with cold all day, though in perfect health, I have now, just at sunset, had a fire in my library, and am sitting near it and enjoying it, if that word be appli- cable to any thing done in solitude. Some very wise man, however, has exclaimed, " ' Oh I fools, who think it solitude to be alone.' This is but poetry. Let us therefore drop the subject, lest it lead to another on which I have imposed silence on myself." The rest of the letter is cheerful enough. He says he is im- patient to receive the " Tales," recommends her to subscribe for the Ed'niburg Review, and to be forming a library for her son. On the Fourth of July, Hamilton and Burr met, for the last time, at the convivial board. It was at the annual banquet of the Society of the Cincinnati, of which Hamilton was presi- dent and Burr a member. Hamilton was cheerful, and, nfc times, merry. He was urged, as the feast wore away, to sing the only song he ever sang or knew, the famous old ballad of The Drum. It was thought afterward, that he was more re- luctant than usual to comply with the company's request ; but after some delay, he said, " Well, you shall have it," and sang it in his best manner, greatly to the delight of the old soldiers by whom he was surrounded. Burr, on the contrary, was reserved, mingled little with the company, and held no in- tercourse with the president. He was never a fluent man, and was generally, in the society of men, more a listener than a talker. On this occasion, his silence was, therefore, the less THE DUEL. 349 remarked ; yet it was remarked. It was observed, too, that IK- ]>aid no attention to Hamilton's conversation, nor, inde.'d, looked toward him, until he struck up his song, when Burr turned toward him, and, leaning upon the table, looked at the singer till the song was done. This difference in the behavior of the two men was doubt- less owing partly to their different positions at the banquet. Hamilton, as the master of the feast, was in the eye of every guest, while Burr could easily escape particular observation. The object of both was, of course, to behave so as not to ex- cite inquiry. On the 9th of July, Hamilton executed his will, leaving his all, after the payment of his debts, to his ' dear and excellent wife.' " Should it happen," said he, " that there is not enough for the payment of my debts, I entreat my dear children, if they, or any of them, should ever be able, to make up the deficiency. I, without hesitation, commit to their delicacy a wish which is dictated by my own. Though conscious that I have too far sacrificed the interests of my family to public avocations, and on this account have the less claim to burden my children, yet I trust in their magnanimity to appreciate as they ought this my request. In so unfavorable an event of things, the support of their dear mother, with the most re- spectful ami tender attention, is a duty, all the sacredness of which they will feel. Probably her own patrimonial resources will preserve her from indigence. But in all situations they are charged to bear in mind, that she has been to them tlu most devoted and best of mothers." A few hours more brought them to the day before the one named for the meeting. In the evening, both the principals were engaged, to a late hour, in making their final prepara- tions, and writing what each felt might be his last written words. The paper prepared by Hamilton on that occasion, in the solitude of his library, reveals to us the miserable spec- tacle of an intelligent and gifted man, who had, with the ut- most deliberation, made up his mind to. do an action which his intellect condemned as absurd, which his heart felt to be cruel, which his conscience told him was wrong. He said that 350 LIFE OF AARON BURK. he had shrunk from the coming interview. His duty to his religion, his family, and his creditors, forbade it. lie should hazard much, and could gain nothing by it. He was conscious of no ill-will to Colonel Burr, apart from political opposition, which he hoped had proceeded from pure and upright mo- tives. But there were difficulties, intrinsic and artificial, in the way of an accommodation, which had seemed insuperable ; intrinsic, because he really had been very severe upon Colo- nel Burr ; artificial, because Colonel Burr had demanded too much, and in a manner that precluded a peaceful discussion of the difficulty. " As well," this affecting paper concluded, " because it is pos- sible that I may have injured Colonel Burr, however convinced myself that my opinions and declarations have been well founded, as from my general principles and temper in relation to similar affairs, I have resolved, if our interview is conducted in the usual manner, and it pleases God to give me the oppor- tunity, to reserve and throw away my first fire, and I have thoughts even of reserving my second fire, and thus giving a double opportunity to Colonel Burr to pause and to reflect. It is not, however, my intention to enter into any explanations on the ground. Apology, from principle, I hope, rather than pride, is out of the question. To those who, with me, abhor- ring the practice of dueling, may think that I ought on no account to have added to the number of bad examples, I an- swer, that my relative situation, as well in public as in private, enforcing all the considerations which constitute what men of the world denominate honor, imposed on me (as I thought) a peculiar necessity not to decline the call. The ability to be in the future useful, whether in resisting mischief or effecting good, in those crises of our public affairs which seem likely to happen, would probably be inseparable from a conformity with public prejudice in this particular." Doing evil that good may come, though not the crime it is to do good that evil may come, is a dreadful error. It was the vice of Hamilton's otherwise worthy life. It proved fatal to him at last. In the long letters which Burr wrote that evening, there O O * THE DUEL. 351 are no signs that the gentle Wood of Esther Edwards was revolting in the veins of her erring son against the morrow's deed. There is a tender dignity in his larewi-ll words to The- odosia, but no misgivings. He gives her a number of minute directions about the disposal of his papers, letters, and serv- ants. She was enjoined to burn all such letters as, if by acci- dent made public, would injure any person. This, he added, was more particularly applicable to the letters of his female correspondents. To his step-son, "poor dear Frederic," to Natalie, to various friends, he requested her to give certain tokens of his remembrance. His faithful housekeeper, Peggy, was to have a lot of ground and fifty dollars, and the other servants Theodosia was urged to adopt as her own. His letter concludes with these touching words: "I am indebted to you, my dearest Theodosia, for a very great portion of the happiness which I have enjoyed in this life. You have com- pletely satisfied all that my heart and affections had hoped or even wished. With a little more perseverance, determination, and industry, you will obtain all that my ambition or vanity had fondly imagined. Let your son have occasion to be proud that he had a mother. Adieu. Adieu." In a postscript, he tells her, upon her arrival in New York, to open her whole heart to his step-son, Frederic, who loves him, he says, almost as much as Theodosia does, and loves Theodosia to adoration. He also gives her a seal of General Washington's, which he possessed, and says she may keep it for her son, or give it to whom she pleases. He wrote a long letter to her husband, recommending to his regard and care -the friends to whom he was most attached. " If it should be my lot to fall," he said, in conclusion, " yet I shall live in you and your son. I commit to you all that is most dear to me my reputation and my daughter. Your talents and your attachment will be the guardian of the ono your kindness and your generosity of the other. Let me entreat you to stimulate and aid Theodosia in the cultivation of her mind. It is indispensable to her happiness, and e^rn tial to yours. It is also of the utmost importance to your son. She would presently acquire a critical knowledge of 352 LIFE OF AARON BURR. Latin, English, and all branches of natural philosophy. Alt this would be poured into your son. If you should differ with me as to the importance of this measure, suffer me to ask it of you as a last favor. She will richly compensate your trouble." Two very characteristic postscripts are appended to this letter. In the first, he commends to Mr. Alston's special re- gard, Frederic Prevost. " Under the garb of coarse rustic- ity you will find, if you know him, refinement, wit, a delicate sense of propriety, the most inflexible intrepidity, incorrupti- ble integrity, and disinterestedness. I wish you could know him; but it would be difficult, by reason of his diffidence and great reluctance to mingle with the world. It has been a source of extreme regret and mortification to me that he should be lost to society and to his friends. The case seems almost remediless, for, alas ! lie is married /" The other postscript was as follows : " If you can pardon and indulge a folly, I would suggest that Madame , too well known under the name of Leonora, has claims on my recollection. She is now with her husband at St. Jago, of Cuba." Late at night Colonel Burr threw off his upper garments, lay down upon a couch in his library, and, in a few minutes, was asleep. At daybreak, next morning, John Swartwout entered the room, and saw his chief still lying on the couch. Well as he- knew Colonel Burr, he was astonished, upon approaching him, to discover that he was in a sound and tranquil slumber. He awoke the man who had better never again have opened his eyes upon the light of this world. Van Ness was soon ready. Matthew L. Davis and another friend or two arrived, and the party proceeded in silence to the river, where a boat was in readiness. Burr, Van Xess, Davis, and another embarked, and the boat was rowed over the river toward Weehawken, the scene, in those days, of so many deadly encounters. Few of the present generation have stood upon the spot, which was formerly one of the places that strangers were sure to visit on coiling to the city, and which the events of this THK DUEL. 353 day rendered for ever memorable. Two miles and a half above the city of Hoboken, the heights of Weehawken rise, in the picturesque form so familiar to New Yorkers, to an el- evation of a hundred and fifty feet above the Hudson. These heights are rocky, very steep, and covered with small trees and tangled bushes. Under the heights, at a point half a mile from where they begin, there is, twenty feet above the water, a grassy ledge or shelf, about six feet wide, and eleven paces long. This was the fatal spot. Except that it is slightly en- cumbered with underbrush, it is, at this hour, precisely what it was on the llth of July, 1804. There is an old cedar-tree at the side, a little out of range, which must have looked then very much as it does now. The large rocks which partly hem in the place are, of course, unchanged, except that they are decorated with the initials of former visitors. One large rock, breast-high, narrows the hollow in which Hamilton stood to four feet or less. Inaccessible to foot-passengers along the river, except at low tide, with no path down to it from the rocky heights above, no residence within sight on that side of the river, unless at a great distance, it is even now a singularly secluded scene. But fitly years ago, when no prophet had yet predicted Hobo- ken, that romantic shore was a nearly unbroken solitude. A third of a mile below the dueling-ground there stood a little tavern, the occasional resort of excursionists ; where, too, du- eling parties not unfrequcntly breakfasted before proceeding to the ground, and where they sometimes returned to invig- orate their restored friendship with the landlord's wine. A short distance above the ground, lived a fine-hearted old Captain, who. if he got scent of a duel, would rush to the place, throw himself between the combatants, and never give over persuading and threatening till he had established a peace or a truce between them. He was the owner of the ground, and spoke \\ ith authority. He never ceased to think that, if on this fatal morning, he had observed the approach of the boats, he could have prevented the subsequent catas- trophe. But, for the very purpose of preventing suspicion, it had 354 LIFE OF AARON BURR. been arranged that Colonel Burr's boat should arrive some time before the other. About half-past six, Burr and Van Ness landed, and leaving their boat a few yards down the river, ascended over the rocks to the appointed place. It was a warm, bright, July morning. The snn looks down, directly after rising, upon the Weehawken heights, and it was for that reason that the two men removed their coats before the ar- r.val of the other party. There they stood carelessly break- ing away the branches of the underwood, and looking out upon as fair, as various, as animated, as beautiful a scene, as mortal eyes in this beautiful world ever behold. The haze- crowned city ; the bright, broad, flashing, tranquil river ; the long reach of waters, twelve miles or more, down to the Nar- rows ; the vessels at anchor in the harbor ; misty, blue Staten Island, swelling up in superb contour from the lower bay ; the verdant flowery heights around ; the opposite shore of the river, then dark with forest, or bright with sloping lawn ; and, to complete the picture, that remarkably picturesque promon- tory called Castle Point, that bends out far into the stream, a mile below Weehawken, and adds a peculiar beauty to the foreground ; all these combine to form a view, one glance at which ought to have sent shame and horror to the duelist's heart, that so much as the thought of closing a human being's eyes for ever on so much loveliness, had ever lived a moment in his bosom. Hamilton's boat was seen to approach. A few minutes be- fore seven it touched the rocks, and Hamilton and his second ascended. The principals and seconds exchanged the usual salutations, and the seconds proceeded immediately to make the usual preparations. They measured ten full paces; then cast lots for the choice of position, and to decide who should give the word. The lot, in both cases, fell to General Hamil- ton's second, who chose the upper end of the ledge for his principal, which, at that hour of the day, could not have been the best, for the reason that the morning sun, and the flashing of the river, would both interfere with the sight. The pistols were then loaded, and the principals placed, Hamilton looking over the river toward the city, and Burr turned toward the THE DUEL. 355 heights, under which they stood. As Pendleton gave Hamil- ton his pistol, he asked, " Will you have the hair-spring set?" " Not this time," was the quiet reply. Pendleton then explained to both principals the rules which had been agreed upon with regard to the firing; after the word present, they were to fire as soon as they pleased. The seconds then withdrew to the usual distance. "Are you ready," said Pendleton. Both answered in the affirmative. A moment's pause en- sued. The word was given. Burr raised his pistol, took aim, and fired. Hamilton sprang upon his toes with a convulsive movement, reeled a little toward the heights, at which mo- ment lie involuntarily discharged his pistol, and then fell for- ward headlong upon his face, and remained motionless on the ground. His ball rustled among the branches, seven feet above the head of his antagonist, and four feet wide of him. Burr heard it, looked up, and saw where it had severed a twig. Looking at Hamilton, he beheld him filling, and sprang toward him with an expression of pain upon his face. But at the re- port of the pistols, Dr. Hosack, Mr. Davis, and the boatman, hurried anxiously up the rocks to the scene of the duel ; and Van Xt-sjj, with presence of mind, seized Burr, shielded him from observation with an umbrella, and urged him down the steep to the boat. It was pushed off immediately, and rowed swiftly back to Richmond Hill, where Swartwout, with feelings that may be imagined, received his unhurt chief a chief no more ! Mr. Pendleton raised his prostrate friend. Dr. Hosack found him sitting on the grass, supported in the arms of his second, with the ghastliness of death upon his countenance. "This is a mortal wound, doctor," he gasped ; and then sunk away into a swoon. The doctor stripped up his clothes^ and saw at a glance that the ball, which had entered his right side, must have penetrated a mortal part. Scarcely expecting him to revive, they conveyed him down among the large rocks, to the shore, placed him tenderly in the boat, and set off for the city. The doctor now used the usual restoratives, and the fl56 LIFE OF AAEON BUKR. \vouncled man gradually revived. " He breathed," to quote the doctor's words; "his eyes, hardly opened, wandered without fixing upon any object ; to our great joy, he at length spoke. ' My vision is indistinct,' were his first words. His pulse became more perceptible, his respiration more regular, his sight returned. Soon after recovering his sight, he happened to cast his eye upon the case of pistols, and observing the one that he had had in his hand lying on the outside, he said, ' Take care of that pistol ; it is undischarged and still cocked ; it may go off and do harm. Pendleton knows' (attempting to turn his head toward him) ' that I did not intend to fire at him.' " Then he lay tranquil till he saw that the boat was approach- ing the wharf. He said, 'Let Mrs. Hamilton be immediately sent for; let the event be gradually broke to her, but give her hopes.' Looking up we saw his friend, Mr. Bayard, standing on the wharf in great agitation. He had been told by his ser- vant that General Hamilton, Mr. Pendleton, and myself had crossed the river in a boat together, and too well he conjec- tured the fatal errand, and foreboded the dreadful result. Perceiving, as we came nearer, that Mr. Pendleton and myself only sat up in the stern sheets, he clasped his hands together in the most violent apprehension ; but when I called to him to have a cot prepared, and he at the same moment saw his poor friend lying in the bottom of the boat, he threw up his eyes, and burst into a flood of tears and lamentation. Hamil- ton alone appeared tranquil and composed. We then con- veyed him as tenderly as possible up to the house.* The dis- tress of his amiable family were such that, till the first shock had abated, they were scarcely able to summon fortitude enough to yield sufficient assistance to their dying friend.' " By nine in the morning the news began to be noised about in the city. A bulletin soon appeared on the board at the Tontine Coffee House, and the pulse of the town stood still at the shocking intelligence. People started and turned pale as they read the brief announcement : * Hamilton's town residence was 52 Cedar-street ; Burr's, 30 Partition- Btreot (now Fulton). Bayard's house, to which Hamilton was taken, was at Greenwich, within half a mile of Richmond HilL THE DUEL. 357 " GENERAL HAMILTON WAS SHOT BY COLONEL BURR THIS MORNING IN A DUEL. TlIE GENERAL IS SAID TO BE MORTALLY WOUNDED." Bulletins, hourly changed, kept the city in agitation. All the circumstances of the catastrophe were told, and retold, and exaggerated at every corner. The thrilling scenes that were passing at the bedside of the dying man the consulta- tions of the physicians the arrival of the stricken family Mrs. Hamilton's overwhelming sorrow the resignation and calm dignity of the illustrious sufferer his broken slumbers during the night the piteous spectacle of the seven children entering together the awful apartment the single look the dying father gave them before he closed his eyes were all described with amplifications, and produced an impression that can only be imagined. He lingered thirty-one hours. The duel was fought on Wednesday morning. At two o'clock, on Thursday afternoon, Hamilton died. A notice was immediately posted for a meeting of the mer- chants, at the Tontine Coffee House, that evening ; when they resolved to close their stores on the day of the funeral, to order all the flags of the shipping at half mast, and to wear crape for thirty days. The bar met next morning, and agreed to go into mourning for six weeks. The military companies, the students of Columbia College, the Tammany Society, the Cincinnati, the St. Andrew's Society, the General Society of Mechanics, the Corporation of the city, all passed resolutions of sorrow and condolence, and agreed to attend the funeral. On Saturday, the funeral took place. Business was utterly suspended. The concourse in the streets was unprecedented. The cortege comprised all the magnates of the city, and nearly every body of men that had a corporate existence. The friends and partisans of Colonel Burr made it a point to test- ify, by their presence in the procession, that they shared in the general respect for the fallen statesman, and in the general sorrow at his untimely end. While the procession was mov- ing, the minute-guns of the artillery in the Park and at the Battery, were answered by minute guns from a British frigate, the British packet, and two French men-of-war that lay at 358 LIFE OF AARON BUEK. anchor in the harbor. For two hours, the booming of so many guns deepened the melancholy of the occasion. Gov- ernor Morris, on a platform at Trinity Church, pronounced a brief eulogium, which penetrated every heart ; for on the same platform stood the four sons of the departed, the eldest sixteen, the youngest, four. The newspapers, everywhere, broke into declamation upon these sad events. I suppose that the " poems," the " elegies," and the "lines," which they suggested would fill a duodecimo volume of the size usually appropriated to verse. In the chief cities, the character of the deceased was made the subject of formal euloginm. The popular sympathy was recorded indeli- bly upon the ever-forming map of the United States, which bears the name of Hamilton forty times repeated. The funeral solemnities over, the public feeling took the character of indignation against the immediate author of all this sorrow and ruin. In a few days the correspondence was published, and from that hour Burr became, in the general estimation of the people, a name of horror. Those prelimi- nary letters, read by a person ignorant of the former history of the two men, are entirely damning to the memory of the challenger. They present Burr in the light of a revengeful demon, burning for an innocent victim's blood. Read aright read by one who knows intimately what had gone before read by one who is able to perceive that the moral quality of a duel is not affected by its results read, too, in the light of half a century ago and the challenge will be admitted to be as near an approach to a reasonable and inevitable action, as an action can be which is intrinsically wrong and absurd. But not so thought the halt-informed public of 1804. They clamored for a victim. The coroner's jury shared in the feeling which was, for the moment, all but universal, and after ten or twelve days of investigation, brought in a verdict to the effect, that " Aaron Burr, Esquire, Vice-President of the United States, was guilty of the murder of Alexander Hamil- ton, and that William P. Van Ness, and Nathaniel Pendleton were accessories." Mr. Davis and another gentleman, for re- fusing to testify, were committed to prison. The grand jury, THE DUEL. 059 a few days after, instructed the district attorney to prosecute. The parties implicated fled, in amazement, rather than terror, from these unexampled proceedings. Need it be told that Cheetham rose with the occasion, and surpassed himself? The fables he invented during the month following the duel have not been excelled since the love of scandal was implanted in the heart of man. Three of Burr's myrmidons, he said, had sat day and night, ransacking news- papers for the grounds of a challenge, and had borne Dr. Cooper's letter to their chief, exulting! Burr, he continued, had learned from a paragraph in the Chronicle, published ten days before the duel, that a girl in England, who had been shot in the breast, had escaped unharmed from the bullet's striking upon a silk handkerchief. Whereupon, says Cheet- ham, the valorous colonel orders a suit of silk clothes to fight in, and went to the iield in an impenetrable panoply of silk. No, replied the Chronicle, his coat was of bombazine, and his pant- aloons of cotton. Cheetham then called upon "the ingenious and philosophical Peter Irving," to favor the public with a disquisition upon the nature of bombazine, and, meanwhile, informs them that its woof is of silk, and its warp of mohair. A discussion on the fabric of the waistcoast runs through a few numbers of each paper. Cheetham further averred that while Hamilton lay dying, surrounded by his agonized family, Burr sat at table with his myrmidons drinking wine, and jocu- larly apologizing to them for not having shot his antagonist through the heart. Another of his inventions was, that Colo- nel Burr had, for three months, been at daily practice with the pistol, and had passed the morning of the 4th of July, before going to the banquet of the Cincinnati, in shooting at a mark in the grounds of Richmond Hill. The truth \v;is, that Colonel Burr was inexpert with the pistol from want of practice. He was a fair shot, because he was fearless and self-possessed. A great shot he never was. Such vitality may there be in lies planted at the right mo- ment in the right place, and in the right manner, that these foolish tales have still a certain currency in the United States. Many old Federalists and Clintonians believe them, and think 360 LIFE OF AARON BURK. it ignorance in one who does not. A poem, designed for Hamilton's monument, written a few months after the duel, speaks " Of persecuted greatness, that provoked The practiced aim of Infamy." All but the most devoted friends of Burr were overawed by the storm of popular indignation thus shamelessly stimu- lated. For two weeks, even the Chronicle was nearly silent. Then a short series of articles appeared palliating and excus- ing Burr's conduct. A pamphlet, signed "Lysander," was published in August, with the same object. There was a slight reaction, after the first month ; and, gradually, a con- siderable number of the extreme Republicans came to regard with a certain complacency the man who had removed the great Federalist from the political field. In the Far West, and in some parts of the South, Burr gained a positive in- crease of popularity by the duel. But in the States where his chief strength had lain, and from which he may have hoped for future support against the Virginians, he sunk to a deeper deep of unpopularity than any American citizen has reached since Benedict Arnold's treason amazed the strug- gling nation. This duel had the good effect of rousing the public mind of the free States to a sense of the execrableness of the practice of dueling. General C. C. Pinckney, Vice-President of the Cincinnati, proposed to the New York division, that the so- ciety should thenceforth set their faces resolutely against the practice. The legislature was memorialized for more string- ent laws upon the subject, and the clergy were besought to denounce the murderous custom from the pulpit. A large number of them did so, among whom was Samuel Spring, of Nevvburyport, Burr's college friend, and fellow-adventurer at Quebec. Dr. Kott, then pastor of a Presbyterian church in Albany, now the venerable President of Union College, made the fall of Hamilton the subject of a sermon, which is still justly celebrated. As the strongest expression of feeling which the event elicited, I append here its concluding pas- sages : THE DUEL. 361 " Guilty, absurd, and rash, as dueling is, it has its advo- cates. And had it not had its advocates had not a strange preponderance of opinion been in favor of it, never, O lament- able Hamiltwi ! hadst thou thus fallen, in the midst of thy days, and before thou hadst reached the zenith of thy glory ! " O that I possessed the talent of eulogy, and that I might be permitted to indulge the tenderness of friendship in paying the last tribute to his memory ! O that I were capable of placing this great man before you ! Could I do this, I should furnish you with an argument, the most practical, the most plain, the most convincing, except that drawn from the man- date of God, that was ever furnished against dueling, that horrid practice, which has in an awful moment robbed the world of such exalted worth. * " I know he had his failings. I see on the picture of his life, a picture rendered awful by greatness, and luminous by virtue, some dark shades. On these let the tear that pities human weakness fall ; on these let the vail which covers human frailty rest. As a hero, as a statesman, as a patriot, he lived nobly : and would to God I could add, he nobly fell. "Unwilling to admit his error in this respect, I go back to the period of discussion. I see him resisting the threatened interview. I imagine myself present in his chamber. Various reasons, for a time, seem to hold his determination in arrest. Various and moving objects pass before him, and speak a dis- suasive language. " His country, which may need his counsels to guide, and his arm to defend, utters her veto. The partner of his youth, already covered with weeds, and whose tears flow down into her bosom, intercedes! His babes, stretching out their little hands and pointing to a weeping mother, with lisping elo- quence, but eloquence which reaches a parent's heart, cry out, ' Stay, stay, dear papa, and live for us !' In the mean time the specter of a fallen son, pale and ghastly, approaches, opens his bleeding bosom, and, as the harbinger of death, points to the yawning tomb, and warns a hesitating father of the issue. " He pauses. Reviews these sad objects : and reasons on 16 302 LIFE OF AAKON BTJKR. the subject. I admire his magnanimity. I approve his rea- soning, and I wait to hear him reject with indignation the mur- derous proposition, and to see him spurn from his presence the presumptuous bearer of it. " But I wait in vain. It was a moment in which his great wisdom forsook him. A moment in which Hamilton was not himself. " He yielded to the force of an imperious custom, and, yielding, he sacrificed a life in which all had an interest ; and be is lost lost to his family lost to us. " For this act, because he disclaimed it, and was penitent, I forgive him. But there are those whom I can not forgive. " I mean not his antagonist, over whose erring steps, if there be tears in heaven, a pious mother looks down and weeps. If he is capable of feeling, he suffers already all that humanity can suffer : suffers, and, wherever lie may fly, will suffer, Avith the poignant recollection of having taken the life of one who was too magnanimous in return to attempt his own. Had he but known this, it must have paralyzed his arm while it pointed at so incorruptible a bosom the instru- ment of death. Does he know this now ? his heart, if it be not adamant, must soften ; if it be not ice, it must melt. But on this article I forbear. Stained with blood as he is, ii: he be penitent I forgive him ; and if he be not, before these altars, where all of us appear as suppliants, I wish not to ex- cite your vengeance, but rather, in behalf of an object ren- dered wretched and pitiable by crime, to wake your prayers. ****** " Ah ! ye tragic shores of Hoboken, crimsoned with the richest blood, I tremble at the crimes you record against us, the annual register of murders which you keep and send up to God ! Place of inhuman cruelty ! beyond the limits of reason, of duty, and of religion, where man assumes a more barbarous nature, and ceases to be man. What poignant, lingering sorrows do thy lawless combats occasion to surviv- ing relatives ! " Ye who have hearts of pity, ye who have experienced the anguish of dissolving friendship, who have wept, and still THE DUEL. 363 weep, over the moldering ruins of departed kindred, ye cau enter into this reflection." Not in vain did these words ring out with such emphasis from that Albany pulpit. The sermon was widely circulated and reached the national conscience. Since that day, no man, in the civilized States of this Union, has fought a duel without falling in the esteem of his countrymen. The custom is now abolished in those States, never to be revived. A few months after the duel, the St. Andrew's Society of New York erected upon the spot where Hamilton, their presi- dent, fell, a marble monument, and surrounded it with an iron railing. For many years, while the monument stood, the place was visited by thousands of people in the course of every summer. It was never known by what irreverent hands the railing was first broken down, and the whole struct- ure gradually removed ; but, for thirty years past, no trace of the monument has existed on the ground which it com- memorated. The slab which bore the inscription was pre- served, until very recently, in an out-house of the mansion where resides the historical family who are proprietors of the spot. But, upon searching for it, two years ago, the steward of the estate discovered that even that last relic had disap- peared in the same mysterious manner as the rest. At pres- ent there is not so much as a path leading to the scene of the duel, and no one can find it, among those tangled and pre- cipitous heights, without a guide. CHAPTER XX. THE FUGITIVE. BURR'S CONDUCT AFTEB THE DUEL ANECDOTE BITER'S FLIGHT COMMODORE TRUX- TON'S NARRATIVE BURR EMBARKS SECRETLY FOR ST. SIMON'S His RECEPTION AND RESIDENCE THERE BANQUET AT PETERSBURG CHEERED AT THE THEATER His RETURN TO WASHINGTON HE PRESIDES AT THE TRIAL OF JUDGE CHACE His ELO- QUENT FABBWELL TO THE SENATE His PECUNIARY CONDITION. ON the morning of the duel it chanced that one of Burr's cousins arrived in town from Connecticut, and made his way, about eight o'clock, to Richmond Hill. Alexis, the factotum of the establishment, obeyed his summons at the door, and showed him into the library, where he found Colonel Bun-, alone, and engaged in his usual avocations. Burr received his young relative cordially, and, in every respect, as usual. Neither in his manner nor in his conversation was there any evidence of excitement or concern, nor any thing whatever to attract the notice of his guest. Except the master of the house, not a soul in Richmond Hill yet knew aught of that morning's work ; nor indeed could it be said, in any sense of the word, that the master himself knew what he had done. In a few minutes breakfast was announced, and the two gentlemen went to the dining-room and breakfasted together. The conversation was still quite in the ordinary strain, Burr inquiring after friends in the country, and the youth giving the information sought. After breakfast, the guest bade his host good-morning, and strolled off toward the city, which he reached about ten o'clock. As he walked down Broadway, lie fancied he observed in passers-by the signs that something extraordinary had occurred or was expected. Near Wall- street, an acquaintance rushed up to him, breathless, and said, " Colonel Burr has killed General Hamilton in a duel this morning." THE FUGITIVE. 365 " Why no he hasn't," replied the young gentleman, with the utmost positiveness, " I have just come from there and taken break (list with him." " But," replied the other, "I have this moment seen the news on the bulletin." The cousin, reflecting for a moment on the absolute serenity f Burr's manner, and concluding that he would certainly have mentioned so interesting an occurrence if it had taken place, was still utterly incredulous, and, denouncing the report as false, went on his way. Before turning into Wall-street, he found the whole city astir, and soon had reason to suspect that the bulletin was only too true. So completely could Burr command his features and conceal his feelings. Colonel Burr remained at or near Richmond Hill for eleven days after the duel. He was wholly unprepared for the excite- ment that arose. It never, before the duel, seemed once to have occurred to him that the public, which had seen with comparative indifference so many sanguinary conflicts of the kind, would discover any thing extraordinary in this one, whatever might be its result. He supposed, and had good reason to suppose, that, on the day before the duel, he was a more popular and a more important man than Hamilton. Was he not Vice-President ? Had he not just been voted for by a majority of the freeholders of the city, in spite of Hamil- ton's most strenuous exertions ? Yet, the day after the duel, the dying Hamilton had the heartfelt sympathy of every crea- ture in the town, and Burr began to be regarded with abhor- rence. " No one," said embittered John Adams, " wished to get rid of Hamilton in that way." Soon after Hamilton died, Burr found it would be best for him to retire awhile from the scene of excitement. On Fri- day, he wrote thus to his son-in-law : " General Hamilton died yesterday. The malignant Federalists or Tories, and the em- bittered Clintonians, unite in endeavoring to excite public sympathy in his favor, and indignation against his antagonist. Thousands of absurd falsehoods are circulated with industry. The most illiberal means are practiced in order to produce ex- citement, and, for the moment, with effect. 366 LIFE OF AAKON BUKR. "I propose leaving town for a few days, and meditate also a journey of some weeks, but whither is not resolved." A week later, he wrote to the same person, that the duel had driven him into a sort of exile, and might terminate in an actual and permanent ostracism. " Our most unprincipled Jacobins," he continued, " are the loudest in their lamenta- tions for the death of General Hamilton, whom, for many years, they have uniformly represented as the most detestable and unprincipled of men the motives are obvious. Every sort of persecution is to be exercised against me. A coroner's jury will sit this evening, being the fourth time. The object of this unexampled measure is to obtain an inquest of murder. Upon this a warrant will be issued to apprehend me, and, if I should be taken, no bail would probably be allowed. You know enough of the temper and principles of the generality of the officers of our State government to form a judgment of my position. " The statement (by Van Ness) in the Morning Chronicle was not submitted to my perusal, I being absent at the time of the publication. Several circumstances not very favorable to the deceased are suppressed ; I presume, from holy reverence for the dead. I am waiting the report of this jury ; when that is known, you shall be advised of my movements." On Saturday evening (July 21st), a barge lay off a little wharf behind Richmond Hill. At ten o'clock, Burr, sur rounded by a party of his friends, left his residence, and walked down to the river. The barge came alongside, when Burr, accompanied by his xmswerving friend Swartwout, and a favorite servant, stepped on board. The boat was imme- diately pushed off, and its prow turned down the river. All night the bargemen plied their oars, while Burr and his com- panion lay in the stern, and, at intervals, slept. By nine o'clock on Sunday morning the boat was opposite the lawn of Commodore Truxton's residence at Perth Amboy, in Xew Jersey. What occurred there was related by the gallant commodore himself in a letter, which was published in the Evening Post a few days after. " On Sunday morning," wrote Commodore Truxton, " be- THE FUGITIVE. 367 tween the hours of nine and ten o'clock, I was engaged in my study, when a servant came and said a gentleman wanted to see me. Supposing it to be one of my neighbors, I desired him to ask the gentleman to be seated in the drawing-room for a few minutes, and I would wait upon him. Soon after Mrs. Truxton came in, and told me it was the Vice-President. I immediately went down stairs, and a negro boy walked up to me, whom I did not at that moment recognize ; he said that Colonel Burr was in a boat, and wished to see me. I went out, and discovered the boat that landed the boy laying off at a short distance from the shore, and the bargemen on their oars, keeping a position opposite to my landing-place. " As soon as I approached near enough to the boat, the Vice-Presideut and myself exchanged salutations. The boat then came in, when he landed immediately, as did Mr. Swart- wont, whom he introduced me to, never having seen that gen- tleman before. "In walking up to my house, the Yice-President told me they had been most of the night on the water, and a dish of good coffee would not come amiss. I told him it should be furnished with pleasure. As soon as we got on the piazza, I ordered breakfast, which was soon prepared, as the equipage of that meal was not yet removed below. " After breakfast, Mr. Swartwout returned to New York, and the Vice-President asked me if horses were to be pro- cured to take him on his journey further southward. Not be- lieving, as it was Sunday (and as I was afterward informed), that he could be accommodated with convenience in this re- Kpt'ct, I told him so, and that he must content himself where he was. On Monday morning, however, I ordered up my own horses and carriage, and took him to Cranberry, about twenty miles from this place, where he hired a carriage and horses to proceed with him to the Delaware, and I returned home. During the time Colonel Burr was with me, but little was said of the duel ; delicacy on his part, as well as mine, prevented such conversation. lie appeared to me to feel much more sorrow and regret than I have observed in any other person on the occasion, though I have seen many 368 LIFE OF AAEON BURR. who expressed unfeigned regret, and I was certain that they felt it. " In conversation I took an opportunity of observing my own feelings on the subject, and that General Hamilton I had esteemed as an invaluable friend, statesman, and soldier ; that as a politician, I admired him always, and, in fact, loved him as a brother. These expressions were made rather involun- tarily, and I was sorry I made them, as they excited an in- creased emotion in the breast of Colonel Burr, which ought not to have been made by me, but it seemed unavoidable. I added, at the same time, that I had, and always had, an un- feigned and sincere regard for Colonel Burr, and that while I regretted the past event. I at the same time gave him a hearty welcome, as I should have done General Hamilton, had the fate of their interview been reversed, and he had made me a visit. I have taken time and pains to recollect and relate, as nearly verbatim as possible, every material expression on the subject, introduced in consequence of the unfortunate catas- trophe, or that passed between us ; and hope it will prevent any further misrepresentation, at least as far as you can pre- vent it. " The difference of these two gents' political opinions, I could not but know ; but notwithstanding this difference, I had often met them together when the demon of discord, in no instance, excited an expression or gesture in the one that could disturb the harmonious feelings of the other. But I al- ways observed in both a disposition when together to make time agreeable, according to the end intended by such meet- ings in society, at the houses of each other, and of friends and it was never, until the unhappy affair of a duel was an nounced here, that I could have believed such a business wa in contemplation between those gentlemen. " No man, sir, can lament this sad event more sincerely than I do ; and particularly since I have examined the correspond- ence and other papers on the subject. But let the melan- choly lesson teach the inconsiderate that while any gentleman may express his opinion of men and things as he pleases, whether by letter or otherwise, under his own responsibility, THK FUGITIVE. 369 that he should be cautious how he implicates or commits others ; who in good faith, perhaps, and in private conversa- tion, communicate sentiments never intended for the public ear. That such conversations daily happen among gentlemen, there can be no doubt ; but for the honor of society, they are but seldom promulgated to the world without permission, or by some uncommon accident." From Cranberry, Colonel Burr was conveyed in a light wagon to the ferry at Bristol, whence he crossed into Penn- sylvania, and so, by back roads, made his way, incog., to Phil- adelphia. News traveled slowly at that day. At a tavern in Pennsylvania, the landlord, who knew the fugitive, accosted him by name, but was immediately silenced, and put on his guard. Burr found that the duel, which had been fought thirteen days before, had not yet been heard of in the village. Reaching Philadelphia in safety, he was welcomed to the house of his old friend, Dallas, and, at once, appeared in the streets, on foot and on horseback, exactly as if nothing was the matter ; or, to use the language of the Trenton Federal- ist, " he had the hardihood to show himself in the streets." A slight indisposition having withdrawn him from public ob- servation, for a day or two, he was reported to be danger- ously sick. " What !" exclaimed the pious Cheetham, " has the vengeance of God overtaken him so soon ?" The last days of July wore away, and Burr was still wait- ing to hear the result of the coroner's inquest. This was not rendered till the 2d of August, at two o'clock in the morning. John Swartwout immediately dispatched an express to Van Ness who was secreted in the country, and to Burr at Phila- delphia. He added, that the excitement was subsiding in New York, and that Burr's old friends were " rapidly traveling back to 1800. Governor Lewis," he said, " speaks of the proceed- ings openly as disgraceful, illiberal, and ungentlemanly. In short, a little more noise on their side, and a little further magnanimity on ours, is all that is necessary. In all this bustle, judicious men see nothing but the workings of the meanest passions." Warrants were immediately issued for the arrest of the 16* 370 LIFE OF AAKON BUKE. principal and the two seconds. Burr foresaw that, in the pres- ent state of the public mind, Governor Lewis would be com- pelled to demand his surrender from the Governor of Penn- sylvania, who would be obliged to order his arrest. In this extremity, he offered to surrender on condition of receiving a guaranty that he should be released on bail. This could not be. In the midst of a pleasant renewal of his flirtation with Celeste, which promised now to have a serious issue, he was compelled to make preparations for an immediate flight. " If any male friend of yours," he wrote to his daughter, " should be dying of ennui, recommend to him to engage in a duel and a courtship at the same time." He tells her that the stories afloat in the papers of attempts to assassinate him are all fables. "Those who wish me dead prefer to keep at a very respectful distance." Had he no feeling, then ? Did he not deplore the domestic ruin which the duel had caused ? The reader who desires to be as just to an execrated as to an honored name, will give due weight to the circumstances of the man. Before the better feelings of the heart had time to wake, he became him- self an object of what he thought persecution, and persecu- tion set on foot by political enemies for party purposes. Even John Adams thought that the prodigious demonstrations of respect and sorrow which the death of Hamilton elicited, were paid to the federalist more than to the man. It was, more- over, one of the ruling principles of Burr's life, inculcated by word and example, to make little of life's miseries, and much of its pleasures. The man who made that wife a widow, and those children fatherless, was not, as he thought, Aaron Burr, but Alexander Hamilton ; and if a similar or equal bereave- ment had occurred to himself, he would have accepted the inevitable stroke, and gone on his way silent and composed. He always made light of such unavoidable calamities as death. A letter which he wrote during one of the yellow-fever periods in New York, began like this : " We die reasonably fast. Mrs. Jones died last night ; but then Mrs. Smith had twins this morning ; so the account is even." This soldierly hard- THE FUGITIVE. 371 ness of character he cultivated, and recommended, and, per- haps, sometimes affected, The charitable mind that reflects upon this duel will curse anew that wretched system of morals which puts Honor for Honesty, and Pride for Principle ; but will not too severely condemn the man who, in common with thousands of the bright- est spirits of his time and country, received that system for lack of a better, and lived up to it to his ruin. About the middle of August, Colonel Burr, accompanied by Samuel Swartwout (a younger brother of the indomitable John), and attended by his favorite slave, Peter, a good- humored blunderer of fifteen, secretly embarked for St. Si- mon's, an island off the coast of Georgia, then the residence of a few wealthy planters. He had old friends upon this island, and the arrival of a Vice-President was itself an event to ex- cite the few inhabitants of a place so remote from the great world. He was welcomed, on his arrival, to a mansion luxuri- ous and hospitable, and the resources of the island were placed at his disposal. He was serenaded by the island's only band of music. He saw no more averted faces and low- ering brows, and heard no more muttered execrations, as he passed. His southern friends, he found, had very different feelings with regard to the duel from the people at the North, and the society of St. Simon's bestowed every mark of consid- eration upon him that hospitable minds could suggest. " You have no idea," he wrote to Theodosia, " of the zeal and ani- mation, of the intrepidity and frankness, with which Major Butler (his host) avowed and maintained but I forget that this letter goes to Savannah by a negro, who has to swim half a dozen creeks, in one of which, at least^ it is probable he may drown, and that, if he escape drowning, various other acci- dents may bring it to you through the newspapers, and then how many enemies might my indiscretion create for a man who had the sensibility and the honor to feel and to judge, and the firmness to avow ." After a month's detention at St. Simon's by the devastations of a hurricane, he crossed to the main land, and made his way, with immense difficulties, traveling four hundred miles of the 372 LIFE OF AARON" BUKK. distance in an open canoe, to his daughter's home in South Carolina. He was almost black from exposure when he ar- rived. Theodosia had passionately longed for his coming. She and her husband were devoted to him, believed in him utterly, and saw the late aft'air only with his eyes. Ten days of happy repose, and cordial, intimate intercourse, passed too swiftly. Then he set out on the long land-journey to Wash- ington, where he was resolved to appear on the assembling of Congress, and perform his duty as President of the Senate. At Petersburg, in Virginia, Burr was surprised by the warmth of his reception. The hot Republicans there, headed by a Mr. O'Keefe, renowned for the fury of his politics and of his temper (he afterward fell in a political duel) arranged a demonstration for the destroyer of the arch-foe of democracy. An invitation from the Republican citizens of the place to a public dinner, was communicated to Burr through the mayor, and couched in terms audaciously flattering, and intended to reflect on the contrary feeling that prevailed in the northern States. Burr accepted. The dinner was attended by fifty or sixty Republicans, who received, toasted, and listened to the Vice-President with enthusiasm. After dinner, twenty of the hilarious Democrats accompanied him to the theater, where the audience rose at his entrance and cheered. " Virginia," he wrote to his daughter, " is the last State, and Petersburg the last town in the State, in which I should have expected any open marks of hospitality and respect." While these scenes were passing in Virginia, two other States were waiting to try him for murder. The duel having been fought in New Jersey, certain Federalists of that State succeeded, three months after, in getting Dr. Mason, one of the clergymen who had attended Hamilton, to give testimony on which to found an indictment. Burr was indicted accord ingly. In New York, the evidence had been given by Bishop Moore, who administered the communion to the dying man. But for those two clergymen's second-hand testimony, there would never have existed a word of legal evidence that the duel had been fought. On reaching Washington, he was greeted with the tidings THE FUGITIVE. 373 of this new indictment. " You have doubtless heard," he wrote to his daughter, "that there has subsisted for some time a contention of a very singular nature between the two States of New York and New Jersey. * * * The subject in dispute is, which shall have the honor of hanging the Vice- President. * * * You shall have due notice of time and place. Whenever it may be, you may rely on a great con- course of company, much gayety, and many rare sights." But the question was never decided. Commodore Biddle and Attorney-General Dallas, wrote a joint letter to Governor Bloomfield of New Jersey, who was himself a particular friend of Burr's, urging him not to prosecute. The leading Repub- lican Senators addressed a similar letter to the governor. It was soon understood, that though nothing favorable to Burr could be openly done, he should not be molested. Among the officials, and in the society of Washington, during his last winter there, he was received with, at least, as much consider- ation as before. The President seems to have been more com- plaisant than usual. He gave one or two appointments to Burr's particular friends, this winter. General Wilkinson was made governor of the newly-acquired territory of Louisiana, and Dr. Brown secretary ; the latter appointment being cer- tainly made at Burr's request. For the exit of this " well-graced actor" from the drama of public life, an imposing pageant was preparing. The Sen- ate, during this session, was to try Judge Chace, who had been impeached by the House of Representatives. Chace was a Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, an able, prejudiced, arrogant man, who, it was charged, had grossly abused the authority of the bench in certain political trials. The impeachment created an intense interest, and the trial attracted a concourse of people to Washington. Under the direction of the Vice-President, the Senate Chamber was fitted up in superb style, with seats and subdivisions for all the dignitaries of the nation, as well as for foreign embassadors and spectators. The Senators, as judges of this high court, were placed in a grand semicircle, on each side of the Vice- President, an awful array of judicial authority. Temporary 374 LIFE OF AARON BUKK. galleries were erected, and draped with blue cloth, part of which the Vice-President, with his usual gallantry, appro- priated to the ladies. The scene presented, while the trial was in progress, as described minutely in the papers of the day, must have been extremely striking. The trial began on the 4th of February, and ended, in a verdict of acquittal, on the 1st of March. The dignity, the grace, the fairness, the prompt, intelligent decision with which the Vice-President presided over the august court, extorted praise even from his enemies. " He conducted the trial," said a newspaper of the day, " with the dignity and impartiality of an angel, but with the rigor of a devil." There was a ris- ing tide of reaction in his favor, during the closing days of his public life, which, taken at the flood, might have led, if not to fortune, yet to an endurable existence among his country- men. The day after the conclusion of the trial, the Vice-President took formal leave of the Senate, in a speech which produced an unexpected and profound sensation. I find an imperfect report of it copied into Federal and Republican papers of the time, and in a monthly magazine published in New York. It appeared, also, in European papers, both English and conti- nental ; for the late events had made the names of Hamilton and Burr familiar to the whole world. The Washington Federalist gave the original report, which was prepared, at the editor's request, by an unknown hand. The following is a copy : "On Saturday, the 2d of March, 1805," began the reporter, " Mr. Burr took leave of the Senate. This was done at a time when the doors were closed ; the Senate being engaged in executive business, and, of course, there were no spectators. It is, however, said to be the most dignified, sublime, and im- pressive that ever was uttered ; and the effect which it pro- duced justifies these epithets. I will give you the best account I have been able to obtain, from the relation of several Sena- tors, as well Federal as Republican. " Mr. Burr began by saying that he had intended to pass the day with them, but the increase of a slight indisposition THE FUGITIVE. 375 had determined him then to take leave of them. He touched lightly on some of the rules and orders of the House, and rec- ommended, in one or two points, alterations, of which he briefly explained the reasons and principles. " He said he was sensible he must at times have wounded the feelings of individual members. He had ever avoided en- tering into explanations at the time, because a moment of irri- tation was. not a moment for explanation ; because his position (being in the chair) rendered it impossible to enter into ex- planation, without obvious danger of consequences which might hazard the dignity of the Senate, or prove disagreeable and injurious in more than one point of view; that he had, therefore, preferred to leave to their reflections his justifica- tion ; that, on his part, he had no injuries to complain of: if any had been done or attempted, he was ignorant of the authors ; and if he had ever heard he had forgotten, for, he thanked God, he had no memory for injuries. " He doubted not but that they had found occasion to ob- serve that to be prompt was not therefore to be precipitate ; and that to act without delay was not always to act without reflection ; that error was often to be preferred to indecision ; that his errors, whatever they might have been, were those of rule and principle, and not of caprice ; that it could not be deemed arrogance in him to say that, in his official conduct, he had known no party no cause no friend ; that if, in the opinion of any, the discipline which had been established ap- proached to rigor, they would at least admit that it was uni- form and indiscriminate. " He further remarked, that the ignorant and unthinking affected to treat as unnecessary and fastidious a rigid attention to rules and decorum ; but lie thought nothing trivial which touched, however remotely, the dignity of that body; and he appealed to their experience for the justice of this sentiment, and urged them in language the most impressive, and in a manner the most commanding, to avoid the smallest relaxation of the habits which he had endeavored to inculcate and estab- li,h. " But he challenged their attention to considerations more 376 LIFE OF AARON BUKR. momentous than any which regarded merely their personal honor and character the preservation of law, of liberty, and the Constitution. This House, said he, is a sanctuary ; a cita- del of law, of order, and of liberty ; and it is here it is here, in this exalted refuge here, if any where, will resist- ance be made to the storms of political frenzy and the silent arts of corruption ; and if the Constitution be destined ever to perish by the sacrilegious hands of the demagogue or the usurper, which God avert, its expiring agonies will be wit- nessed on this floor. "He then adverted to those affecting sentiments which at- tended a final separation a dissolution, perhaps for ever, of those associations which he hoped had been mutually satisfac- tory. He consoled himself, however, and them, with the re- flection that, though they separated, they would be engaged in the common cause of disseminating principles of freedom and social order. He should always regard the proceedings of that body with interest and with solicitude. He should feel for their honor and the national honor so intimately con- nected with it, and took his leave with expressions of personal respect, and with prayers and wishes. " In this cold relation a distant reader, especially one to whom Colonel Burr is not personally knoxvn, will be at a loss to discover the cause of those extraordinary emotions which were excited. The whole Senate were in tears, and so un- manned that it was half an hour before they could recover themselves sufficiently to come to order, and choose a Vice- President pro tern. " At the President's, on Monday, two of the Senators were relating these circumstances to a circle which had collected round them. One said that he wished that the tradition might be preserved as one of the most extraordinary events he had ever witnessed. Another Senator being asked, on the day following that on which Mr. Burr took his leave, how long he was speaking, after a moment's pause, said he could form no idea ; it might have been an hour, and it might have been but a moment; when he came to his senses, he seemed to have awakened as from a kind of trance. THE FUGITIVE. 3V7 "The characteristics of the Vice-President's manner seemed to have been elevation and dignity a consciousness of supe- riority. Nothing of that whining adulation ; those canting, hypocritical complaints of want of talents ; assurance of his endeavors to please them ; hopes of their favor, etc. On the contrary, he told them explicitly that he had determined to pursue a conduct which his judgment should approve, and which should secure the suffrage of his own conscience, and that he had never considered who else might be pleased or displeased ; although it was but justice on this occasion to thank them for their deference and respect to his official con- duct the constant and uniform support he had received from every member for their prompt acquiescence in his decis- ions ; and to remark, to their honor, that they had never de- scended to a single motion of passion or embarrassment ; and so far was he from apologizing for his defects, that he told them that, on reviewing the decisions he had had occasion to make, there was no one which, on reflection, he was disposed to vary or retract. "As soon as the Senate could compose themselves suffi- ciently to choose a President pro tern., they came to the fol- lowing resolution : " Resolved, unanimously, That the thanks of the Senate be presented to Aaron Burr, in testimony of the impartiality, dignity, and ability, with which he has presided over their de- liberations, and of their entire approbation of his conduct in the discharge of the arduous and important duties assigned him as President of the Senate ; and that Mr. Smith, of Mary- land, and Mr. White, be a committee to wait on him with this resolution. " To which resolution Colonel Burr returned the following answer to the Senate : " Next to the satisfaction arising from a consciousness of having discharged my duty, is that which is derived from the approbation of those who have been the constant witnesses ol my conduct, and the value of this testimony of their esteem is greatly enhanced by the promptitude and unanimity with which it is offered. 378 LIFE OP AARON BURR. " I pray you to accept my respectful acknowledgments, and the assurance of my inviolable attachment to the interests and dignity of the Senate." In remarking upon this report, Burr wrote : " It is true, that I made a talk, as was decent and proper, to the Senate on leaving them formally. There was nothing written or pre- pared, except that it had been some days on my mind to say something. It was the solemnity, the anxiety, the expecta- tion, and the interest which I saw strongly painted in the countenances of the auditors, that inspired whatever was said. I neither shed tears nor assumed tenderness; but tears did flow abundantly. The story in this newspaper is rather awk- wardly and pompously told. It has been gathered up, I pre- sume, from different relations of the facts. This newspaper has been for months past, and, for aught I know (for I read none of them), still is, one of the most abusive against A. Burr." Some of the Senators were not long in regaining their com- posure ; for the usual resolution granting a perpetuity of the franking privilege to the retiring Vice-President, was not passed unanimously as such resolutions generally are. It was doubtful, for a time, whether it would pass at all ; but was finally passed by a vote of 18 to 13. On the 4th of March, Jefferson, with the acclamations of a party, that was then almost the nation, was sworn, a second time, into the presidential office. George Clinton, the head of the family whom Burr regarded as his chief enemies, became Vice-President. Aaron Burr vanished from the political arena, never to re-appear thereon, except in the persons of those whom he formed and influenced, and through whom, a quar- ter of a century later, he overturned the Virginian dynasty. During his absence at the South, Richmond Hill had been forced to a sale for twenty-five thousand dollars, and the amount appropriated to the payment of his debts. The sum realized was not enough ; he still owed between seven and eight thousand dollars in the city, for which his person would be liable if he should appear there. A few thousands were owed to him, which, as affairs then stood, could not be col- THE FUGITIVE. 379 looted. His library and wine were still unsold. Probably, if a balance had been struck, it would have been found that he was about five thousand dollars less than solvent ; but, in effect, he was worse off than that ; for his debts Avere unequiv- ocal, his assets unavailable, his income nothing, his practice gone, his native and his adopted States both closed upon him lie was what is commonly called a ruined man. "In New York," he wrote to his son-in-law, "I am to be disfranchised, and in New Jersey hanged. Having substan- tial objections to both, I shall not, for the present, hazard either, but shall seek another country. Yon will not, from this, conclude that I have become passive, or disposed to sub- mit tamely to the machinations of a banditti. If yon should you would greatly err. and his clan affect to deplore, but secretly rejoice at and stimulate the villainies of all sorts which are practiced against me. Their alarm and anxiety, however, are palpable to a degree perfectly ridiculous. Their awkward attempt to propitiate reminds one of the Indian worship of the evil spirit. God bless you ever." He was full of confidence in himself and hope for the future. Many of his old friends went from New York to Philadelphia on purpose to visit him, after his return from Washington, and they found him the same gay, busy, indomitable Burr they had known in the palmiest days of his past career. What next, then ? Ay, What next ? Every lover of gossip in the United States, or, in other words, every sane inhabitant of the United States, was asking this question in the spring of 1805. What will Burr do now ? Where will he go ? For ten years past, he had filled a large place in the public view, ai\d recent events had fixed all eyes upon him. In every part of the country, he had strong per- sonal friends, men who had supported and worked hard for him in hotly-contested campaigns women who had loved his black eyes, and thought him a knight wkhout fear and with- out reproach. His portrait hung upon walls, his bust stood upon mantels. Always a man of whom anecdotes were told, ho was now the subject of a thousand preposterous rumors, and the hero of a thousand groundless or exaggerated tales. 380 LIFE OF AARON BUEB. He was regarded as a mysterious being, a man of unfathom- able purposes, and able to bend all things and persons to his will. The public mind was prepared to believe any tiling of Burr, provided only that it was sufficiently incredible ! The reader is entreated to give due consideration to the fact just mentioned, for it is a clew which may guide us through the laybrinth we are about to attempt. I have groped in it long, as others have before me. It is tortuous and heaped with falsehoods, as surely no other * passage' of history ever was before. I invite the reader to enter, and follow the path which lead me to what looks like daylight. CHAPTER XXI. HE SEEKS A NEW COUNTRY. LOUISIANA OCRS BURR'S FRIENDS IN THE WESTERN COUNTRY GENERAL WILKINSON THE GREAT WEST IN lSi'5 BURR GOES WEST NARRATIVE OF MATTHEW LYON THE VOYAGE DOWN THE OHIO BLENNERHASSETT ISLAND GRAND RE- CEPTION AT NASHVILLK ARRIVAL is NEW ORLEANS NEW ORLEANS THEN His LIFE THERE KETURN EASTWARD BURR SUSPECTED BY HIE SPANIARDS JOURNEY THROUGH KENTUCKY LETTER OF CLARK TO WILKINSON INTERVIEW BETWEEN WILKINSON AXD BURR MYSTERIOUS LETTER FROM BURR TO WILKIN- SON CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN BURR AND BLENNERIIASSETT INTERVIEW BB- TWKEN BURR AND JEFFERSON FURTHER SPANISH AGGRESSIONS. ON Monday the 29th of December, 1803, at noon, the tn- colored flag of France, which floated from the staff" in the public square of New Orleans, and upon which the eyes of expectant thousands were fixed, began to descend. At the same moment, the stars and stripes of the American Union appeared above the crowd, and slowly mounted the staff". Midway, the two standards met, and, for a minute or two, were lost in each other's friendly folds. Then, amid the thun- ders of cannon, the music of Hail Columbia, the cheers of the spectators, the waving of handkerchiefs and banners, the tri- color continued its descent to the ground, and the flag of the United States soared rapidly aloft, and flung out its folds to the breeze on the summit of the mast. Louisiana was ours ! The mouths of the Mississippi were free ! The prosperity of the great valley was secure ! The tide of emigration, for sixteen years held in check by the in- tolerance of the Spaniards, was now free to pour itself into the most productive region of the earth ! The insolence of the Dons, whom every western man had learned to despise and detest, was signally rebuked ! Colonel Burr, now without a country, was one of the thou- sands who were looking westward, as the scene of a new 382 LIFE OF AAEON BURR. career. He was resolved, at least, to see the region which seemed to present to men of energy such boundless opportu- nities. He had many friends at the West old army acquaint- ances, members of Congress with whom he had acted, Senators over whom he had presided. In 1796, when the Federalists had delayed the admission of Tennessee into the Union, Bun- had been zealous in her cause, and thereby won great popu- larity in the new State. General Jackson had appeared on the scene as her representative in Congress ; " a tall, lank, un- couth-looking personage, with long locks of hair hanging over his face, and a queue down his back tied in an eel-skin ; his dress singular, his manners and deportment those of a rough back- woodsman."* With him, it was natural that Burr should be- come intimate. Dayton, formerly Speaker of the House, recently a Senator from New Jersey, a near relative of Burr's old Elizabethtown friend, Matthew Ogden, went westward in the spring of 1805. John Smith, a self-made man of spirit and talent, lately a Senator from Ohio, now one of the chief men of that vigorous young State, was another of Burr's friends. Matthew Lyon, a noted ultra Democrat of that day, who had been estranged from Burr during the two intrigues of 1801, but was now well-disposed toward him because he thought him a persecuted man, had also removed to the far West. All over the valley of the Mississippi, there were men who resented the late proceedings in New York and New Jersey, and were ready to go all lengths in showing respect to a man whom they regarded in the light of a martyr to Federal machinations and puritanic bigotry. Burr's oldest friend in the West was General Wilkinson commander-in-chief of the army, and recently appointed Gov ernor of Louisiana. Wilkinson and Burr had climbed to gether the heights of Quebec, and formed, amid those scenes the friendship which fellow-soldiers know. They had seldom met since, but had corresponded, confidentially and in cipher, at intervals, for many years. In 1787, Wilkinson had emi- grated to New Orleans, then a Spanish port, where, till 1791, * Eecollections of Albert Gallatin, quoted by Mr. Hildredth in his History of the United States. HE SEEKS A NEW COUNTRY. 383 he had traded in tobacco, a subject, by residence, of the King of Spain. Not prospering in trade, he resumed his military career in 1791, and obtained command of the western posts. The character of this man was not unblemished. It is cer> tain that he was extravagant, fond of the table, fond of show, boastful, and otherwise weak. It was Wilkinson, the reader may remember, who, as aid-de-camp to Gates in 1777, blubbed to Lord Stirling an expression used by Conway to Gates, dis- paraging the generalship of Washington, which led to Con- way's ruin, and to much other embarrassment and difficulty. There is strong (but not convincing) evidence, that while hold- ing a commission in the American army, he had been a pen- sioner of the King of Spain. There was a party in the West, in 1796, who favored a separation of the western States from the Union. Wilkinson was of that party, and had dreams of loading the revolt, and becoming, to use his own words, "the Washington of the West." The Spanish viceroy favored a project calculated to weaken a neighbor that was growing portentously powerful, and of whom the home government was beginning to stand in dread. Unless the evidence on this point is flat perjury (which, indeed, it may be), Wilkinson was paid by the Spanish to promote the scheme, and drew up, for the viceroy, a list of the leading citizens of Kentucky known to be disaffected to the Union, who, he thought, would also accept money for the same purpose. Daniel Clark swears that he saw this list in Wilkinson's hand-writing, and that Wilkinson confessed, in effect, that he had been himself a pensioner.* The reader must be reminded that, during the administra- tion of John Adams, the Union, to backwoodsmen, had not the sacred charm it has since possessed. The noise of party contention filled the land. The Union, as Wilkinson himself * There is a portrait of General Wilkinson in- the Hall of Independence at Philadelphia, which represents him as a portly, red-faced individual, dressed in the blue and yellow uniform of the Revolution. The portrait con- firms the impression, derived from the writings of the time, that he was a bon vivant, merry, extravagant, boastful the last man for a conspirator, though of easy virtue enough. 384 LIFE OP AAEON BUKR. said, seemed to hang together by a thread, which any mo- ment might break. Western men could not but speculate upon the effect a disruption would have upon their own polit- ical condition. Wilkinson may have thought of.hastening the catastrophe, of founding a western republic, and of becom- ing its Washington, without being, in any sense of the word, a traitor. Nor, in 1805, was the great West quite content. The ac- quisition of Louisiana had reduced the malcontents to a very inconsiderable minority, bxit there were still those who were dissatisfied with the monopolizing of the great federal offices by the politicians of the East, and who thought it absurd and undesirable to be connected with a government whose capital was a two months' journey distant. Nine tenths of the people, however, though they may all have grumbled a little, were attached to the Union, were proud of its President, were fer- vently devoted to the democratic ideas which he had made familiar to their minds. And now Aaron Burr was to traverse this magnificent do- main. A variety of projects lay half-formed in his mind projects of land speculation, of canal-making, of settling in some rising city of the West in the practice of the law, of be- ginning anew his political life as the representative of a new State in Congress. If more ambitious schemes agitated him, they were concealed ; neither in his diary, nor in his volumi- nous correspondence, published or unpublished, is there the slightest reference to any but ordinary and legitimate objects during the year 1805. The project of getting himself elected a member of Congress, was not, it seems, his own idea. On this point we have the testimony of Matthew Lyon, who, when all the world was exculpating itself from participation in Burr's plans, wrote a graphic narrative of certain events which pre- ceded Burr's departure for the land of promise. Amid the heaps of dull, false, and semi-false statements which the events of the following year called forth, this narrative of a disinter- ested witness is particularly interesting. I quote the mate- rial part of Mr. Lyon's deposition : "Some time in the winter, 1805, coming one morning (to HE SEEKS A NEW COUNTRY. 385 V Washington) from Alexandria, by way of the navy-yard, and passing by the house where General Wilkinson lived, he called on me to come in ; after congratulating him on his appoint- ment as governor, and some other conversation, Colonel Burr's name was mentioned. Colonel Burr had no claim to friendly attentions from me. I had no acquaintance with him before the contest concerning the presidential election. I had re- sisted the solicitations of my friends, who wished to introduce me to him in March, 1801, on account of his misconduct in that affair ; yet when I saw him persecuted for what I con- sidered no more than fair play among duelists, I advocated him ; this brought about an acquaintance, by no means inti- mate. In the course of the conversation between the general and myself, we regretted the loss of so much talent as Colonel Burr possessed ; we viewed him on the brink of a precipice, from which, in a few days, he must fall ; from the second sta- tion in the nation, he must fall to that of a private citizen. "The general entered warmly into his praise, and talked of a foreign embassy for him. This I assured him could not be obtained. The general then asked me if I could not think of something which would do for the little counselor ? I replied, that he might very readily become a member of the Congress, which was to meet the coming winter, and in the state of par- ties, considering the eclat with which he was likely to leave the Senate, he might very probably be Speaker. " The general was anxious to know how he could be elected to Congress. I explained. Let Colonel Burr mount his horse the 4th of March, and ride through Virginia to Tennessee, giving out that he intends settling at Nashville, in the practice of the law. Let him commence the practice, and fix himself a home there ; his renconter with General Hamilton will not injure him. Let him attend the courts in that district. Let him in July next intimate to some of the numerous friends (his preeminent talents and suavity of manners will have made for him) that he would willingly serve the district in Congress. They will set the thing on foot, and he is sure to be elected ; there is no constitutional bar in the way. " As I finished this explanation, the general rose, and, in a 17 386 LIFE OF AARON BUKR. seeming ecstasy, clapped his hands on my shoulders, exclaim- ing with an oath, 'This will do! it is a heavenly thought worthy of him who thought it !' He rang the bell, ordered his boots, and said he would go instantly and inform the little counselor, and would call on me in the House in the course of two or three hours. He did so, and informed me he had, at Colonel Burr's request, made an appointment for me to call on him. " I was punctual. Colonel Burr lived at Mr. Wheaton's, near the north side of Pennsylvania Avenue, not far from Rhoades's. It was in the evening. I knocked, or pulled the bell, several times, before a servant came, who informed me that Colonel Burr was not to be seen, he was engaged with company. I gave the servant my name, and directed him to go and tell Colonel Burr that I had called. Colonel Burr came, and invited me up stairs, and requested me to sit with Mrs. Wheaton half an hour, when he would be with me. In about three quarters of an hour he came, and apologized for his delay. I observed to him that he had a large company, among whom I recognized the voices of Generals Wilkinson and Dayton, although I had not heard of the latter gent's being in town. I hoped he had not hurried himself from them on account of seeing me ; that I had been well enter- tained by Mr. and Mrs. Wheaton, and would have been so an hour or two longer, if he wished to remain with his company. "Colonel Burr said the meeting was about some land con- cern in the western country ; that they had gone as far as they could with it at that time ; ray coming had been no in- terruption ; he was very glad to see me, and soon commenced on the subject of the coming election in Tennessee. I re- peated what I said to General Wilkinson. He admitted the possibility of success in the course I pointed out ; but did not seem to be so much enamored with the project as General Wilkinson. He said he was obliged on the 4th of March to go to Philadelphia ; from thence he would go to Pittsburg, and thence to the western country by water. I offered him a passage in my boat from Pittsburg, if he should be there when I should have done my business on the Monongahela, HE SEEKS A NEW COUNTRY. 387 and descended to Pittsbnrg. I assured him, however, all chance of obtaining the election in Tennessee, would be jeop- ardised, if not lost, by such a delay. He told me he had ordered a boat prepared for him at Pittsburg, and he talked as it'his business at Philadelphia was indispensable, as well as liis voyage down the Ohio. " In stating this conversation, I give the substance of all the other conversations I had that winter with Colonel Burr, at Washington, except that, in some of them, the embassy was talked of. He observed, that m;- friend Wilkinson thought I would be a proper person, in a blunt way, to mention it to th-j President. He asked me, if I dared tell the President that he ought to send Colonel Burr on the foreign embassy talked of? I told him very bluntly, I would not." This ended the intercourse of the three friends in Wash- ington. Lyon started homeward. About the 10th of April, Colonel Burr left Philadelphia for Pittsburg, where he arrived after nine-teen days' riding. The boat which he had ordered was ready, and on the fol- lowing morning he found himself floating down the Ohio. His boat was a rude floating house, or ark, sixty feet long and fourteen wide, containing four apartments, a dining-room, a kitchen with fire-place, and two bed-rooms, all lighted by glass windows, and the whole covered by a roof, which served as a promenade deck. The cost of this commodious structure, he found, to his astonishment, was only a hundred and thirty- three dollars. Of propelling power it had none, but merely floated down the swift and winding stream, aided occasion- ally, and kept clear of snags and sand-banks, by a dexterous use of the pole. In the spring, the current of the Ohio rushes along with surprising swiftness, carrying with it an ark or raft eight miles an hour. It would be a resistless torrent at that season but for its innumerable bends. Along its whole course, hills steep, picturesque, and lofty, rise almost from the bed of the river, and pour their streams headlong into it, whenever the rain falls or the snow melts. For hundreds and hundreds of miles, this most monotonously beautiful of rivers winds and coils itself about among those never-varying, seldom-receding hills, 388 LIFE OF AAKON BURR. skirted by a narrow fringe of bottom lands. Those hills, soon to be " vine-clad," were then one forest ; those bottoms, now smiling with farms, or disfigured by the shabbiest of towns and villages, were then destitute of inhabitants, for hundreds of miles at a stretch. Colonel Burr was always a swift traveler. Lyon had nearly two days' start, but was overtaken by him in a day and a half. The two boats, in the social fashion of the time, were then lashed together, and floated in company for four days. Passed Wheeling on the 3d of April, a neat, pretty village, of sixty or eighty houses ; where Burr observed several well-dressed women, who had the air of fashion and movements of "you others on the coast." Passed Marietta on the 5th ; where he saw houses that would be called handsome anywhere. The leading gentlemen of the place called to offer civilities and hospitalities. The voyagers all walked several miles to see the mounds and other antiquities near Marietta, which quite puz- zled the voyager in chief as they have wiser men. At Mari- etta the two boats parted company, and Burr continued his voyage alone. A few miles below Marietta, is the far-famed Blennerhassett Island. It is an island nearly three miles long, but so narrow that it contains less than three hundred acres of land. The river on each side is narrow enough to admit of conversation between the island and the shore. Beyond the river, on each side of it, swell aloft, like dark clouds, the picturesque hills of the Ohio, forest-covered and forest-crowned, shutting in the little island from all the world. Here it was that Harman Blennerhassett, an eccentric, romantic, idle, ' shiftless' Irish- man, had contrived to expend forty thousand dollars (nearly all his fortune) in building a house of original ugliness, and in laying out grounds remotely resembling those of country houses in the old country. The picture of this celebrated mansion suggests, to one who has not read Mr. Wirt's oration upon it, the idea of a semicircular barracks. A fair-sized, very plain, two story wooden house, with curved wings of one Btory, the front connected into a whole by a piazza is the brief description of this celebrated abode. The semicircular HE SEEKS A NEW COUNTRY. 389 front was one hundred and four feet from tip to tip. A lawn surrounded with trees and encircled by a carriage road, lay in front of the house. Further off there were gardens, groves, fields, and bits of primeval wilderness ; the whole forming a pleasant, but by no means a very sumptuous or beautiful, resi- dence. After spending eight years in subduing the island wilderness, Mr. Blennerhassett still saw his work incomplete, and, what was worse, he was beginning to catch glimpses of the end of his purse. Colonel Burr had heard vaguely that some eccentric for- eigner lived upon this island, and, from curiosity only, landed, and moored his floating home to the shore. Learning that the lord of the isle was absent, he and his companion strolled about the grounds awhile, and was about leaving when Mrs. Blennerhassett sent a servant to invite the strangers to the house, as her husband would soon return. Burr replied by sending his card, and declining the invitation, as he said curi- osity alone had induced him to land. The lady, upon learning the name of the stranger, came out to see him, and so press- ingly invited him to stay, that he yielded, dined with the family, conversed with them till eleven in the evening, and then continued his voyage. Mrs. Blennerhassett was an ener- getic, accomplished, amiable woman, but not remarkable for beauty or style. She was exceedingly pleased with her visitor, and remained his fast, admiring friend, through all the long series of events that followed this first interview. Her hus- band was equally captivated. Three hundred miles below is Cincinnati, then a town of fifteen hundred inhabitants (now two hundred thousand), which he reached in six days' floating. There he spent a day at the house of ex-Senator John Smith, and met his friend Day- ton, whose fortunes were to be bound up with his own. From the chief people of the place, he received the attentions which had greeted him everywhere west of the Alleghanies. At Louisville, then called the Falls of the Ohio, he again overtook Matthew Lyon. " There," continues Mr. Lyon, " I repeated to him that the delay he had made had ruined his prospect of election, as that prospect depended solely on 390 LIFE OF AAEON BURK. domestication. At the falls, he changed his flat for a small boat, which he ordered to Eddyville (where I live), and rode to Nashville. "The newspapers described his arrival and reception there as one of the most magnificent parades that had ever been made at that place They contained lists of toasts, and great dinners given in honor of Colonel Burr, every body at and near Nashville seeming to be contending for the honor of hav- o o ing best treated or served Colonel Burr. "This I had expected; and when Colonel Burr called on me, on his way from Nashville to his boat, I inquired if any thing had been said about the election. He answered, ' Not one word.' I observed that he ought to think no more of it. In answer, he said he had little doubt of being elected delegate from Orleans Territory, but he would choose to be a member, and insisted that I should write to a friend of mine (who had paid him the most marked attention) to see if the thing could be yet set afloat, and to inform him he would be a resident in Tennessee. At the time of the election, he requested me to communicate the answer to him at Natchez. I complied with his wishes, the answer I received being unfavorable to him." Mr. Lyon adds, that what he did for Colonel Burr in the election, was done chiefly to oblige General Wilkinson. Being asked whether, in his opinion, Burr was sincere in desiring an election, Lyon replied : " No doubt he would have been sin- cerely rejoiced to have been elected." But he added, " There seemed too much mystery in his conduct. I suspected him to nave other objects in view, through which I could not pene- trate. These objects I then believed were known to General Wilkinson." At Nashville, he was the guest of General Jackson, " one of those prompt, frank, ardent souls whom I love to meet," said Burr. He staid four days at Nashville. On the 3d of June, in an open boat provided by the general, he and his companion-secretary embarked ; and floated down the Cum- berland, two hundred and twenty miles, to its mouth, where they found the ark, and resumed their voyage down the Ohio. Sixteen miles below the mouth of the Cumberland was Fort Ill-: SEEKS A NEW COUNTKY. 391 Massac, a place of renown in the olden time, long one of the outposts of civilization. There he found General Wilkinson, on his way to his government, and spent four days with him. The subjects of their conferences at this time, Wilkinson says, were perfectly legitimate. Himself, Burr, Dayton, and others, he declares, were deep in the project of making a canal round the rapids of the Ohio, at Louisville ; and this was much dis- cussed between them whenever they met. Land speculations were also talked of, and, more than all, the scheme of getting Burr into Congress. Wilkinson gave him letters of introduc- tion to his friends in New Orleans, and, to expedite his voy- age, fitted him out " an elegant barge, sails, colors, and ten oars, with a sergeant and ten able, faithful hands." The eight hundred miles from Fort Massac to Natchez, were accomplished in seven days. "Natchez," he wrote to his daughter, " is a town of three or four hundred houses ; the inhabitants traders and mechanics, but surrounded by wealthy planters, among whom I have been entertained with great hospitality and taste. These planters are, many of them, men dt' education and refinement ; live as well as yours, and have generally better houses. We are now going through a settled country, and during the residue of my voyage to New Or- leans, about three hundred miles, I shall take breakfast and dinner each day at the house of some gentleman on shore. I take no letters of introduction ; but, whenever I hear of any gentleman whose acquaintance or hospitalities I should desire, I send word that I am coming to see him, and have always met a most cordial reception." June the 25th, sixty-seven days after leaving Philadelphia, the voyager, whose occasional delays had been more than made up by his rapidity when in motion, landed on the levee of New Orleans. He was strongly prepossessed in favor of the place. " I hear so many pleasant things of Orleans," he wrote to his daughter, "that I should certainly (if one half of them are verified on inspection) settle down there, were it not for Theodosia and her boy ; bnt these will control )>t>/ fute" The city then contained about nine thousand inhabitants. Three hundred sea-going vessels, and six hundred river flat- 3D2 LIFE OP AARON BURR. boats arrived annually at its levees. Four forts, one at eacn angle of the city, half a mile apart, defended the city. Two of these were regularly-constructed fortresses, with fosse, glacis, and drawbridge. The two behind the city were stock- ades. Since the departure of the Spaniards these fortifications had been partly dismantled, but were capable, in a few weeks, of being restored to their original strength.* In 1805, the * The following is a description of New Orleans under Spanish rule, from a "Journal of a Tour in Unsettled parts of North America in 1796 and 1797," by the late Francis Baily, P.R.S. It partly explains the hatred of the Spaniards which prevailed in the western country in the early time : " Their houses are generally built of wood, and boarded very plain in the inside, and made very open, that there may be a free circulation of air ; consequently they avoid all the inconvenience and expense of paper, carpets, fires, cur- tains, and hangings of different kinds. The bedrooms are fitted up in the same plain style, and are furnished with nothing but a hard-stuffed bed, raised very much in the middle, and covered with a clean, white sheet ; and over the whole there is a large gauze net (called a 6ar), which is intended as a de- fense against the mosquitoes, and serves tolerably well to keep off those tor- menting creatures. On this sheet (spread upon the bed, and under the net) you lie down without any other covering, and (if it be summer-time) with the doors and windows open, so intolerable is the heat of the climate. During several days when I was here, the thermometer was at 117 in the shade. The dress of the inhabitants is also correspondent to the furniture of their houses : being clothed in the lightest manner possible, and every one in the manner which pleases him best, there is not (iu these new countries) that strange propensity to ridicule every one who deviates from the forms which a more established society may have prescribed to itself; but every one, in this respect, ' doeth that which is right in his own eyes.' Some will wear the short linen jacket of the Americans , others, the long flowing gown, or the cloak of the Spaniards; some, the open trousers and naked collar; others, the more modern dress, of tight pantaloons and large cravats ; some, with the white or black chip hat ; others, with the beaver and feathers, after the man- ner of the Spaniards : and so in respect to all other minutiae of dress. * * * There is but one printing press in the place, and that is made use of by the government only. The Spanish government is too jealous to suffer the inhab- itants to have the free exercise of it; for, however strange it may appear, yet it is absolutely true that you can not even stick a paper against the wall (either to reco\er any thing lost, or to advertise any thing for sale) without its first having the signature of the governor, or his secretary attached to it : and on all those little bills which are stuck up at the corni >rs of the streets you see the word ' Permitted' written by the governor or his agent. * * * As to the diversions of the place, they consist principally in billiards, of which HE SEEKS A NEW COUNTRY. 3P3 chief defense of the place was a volunteer corps of Americans and Creoles, commanded by Daniel Clark, the great merchant of the city, the founder of that prodigious fortune for which his daughter, Mrs. Gaines, has so long contended in the courts. Daniel Clark had emigrated from England in 1786, and had grown in wealth with the ever-growing prosperity of the city. He had been ardent for the transfer of the province to the United States, was now the leader of the American party in Xew Orleans, and seemed to be a zealous friend of the Union. To him Colonel Burr presented the following letter of introduction from General Wilkinson : " MY DEAR SIR : This will be delivered to you by Colonel Burr, whose worth you know well how to estimate. If the persecutions of a great and honorable man can give title to generous attentions, he has claims to all your civilities and all your services. You can not oblige me more than by such conduct, and I pledge my lite to you it will not be misapplied. To him I refer you for many things improper to letter, and which he will not say to any other. I shall be at St. Louis in two weeks, and if you were there, we could open a mine, a commercial one at least. Let me hear from you. Farewell, do well, and believe rne always your friend." This epistle produced the effect desired. Burr became inti- mate with Clark, as with all the important persons of the place. He was received everywhere as the great man ! Gov- ernor Claiborne (governor of Orleans Territory) gave him a grand dinner, which was attended by as distinguished a com- pany as New Orleans could assemble. Banquet followed there are several tables in the town. This practice I presume they have adopted from the Americans, who (in the southern part of that continent) follow this amusement very much. They have a playhouse, which is rather small. It consists of one row of boxes only, with an amphitheater in the middle, which is raised above the pit, and over the whole there is a gallery. The plays are performed in French, and they have a tolerable set of actors. The inhabitants arc also musical, but this lies chiefly among the French. The gentlemen of the place often perform in the orchestra of the theater : in fact, there is no other music there but such as thev obtain in this voluntary wav." 17* 394 LIFE OF AAEON BUKB. banquet ; fete succeeded fete ; ball followed ball. The French air that surrounded every thins:, the French manner and tone of society, were as pleasing as they were novel to the traveler. The days flew swiftly by. A. la Sante Madame Alston, was the first toast at nearly every table. Even the Ursuline nuns sent him an address congratulating him upon his arrival ; and, upon their receiving his polite reply, an invitation to visit their convent. He went. "The bishop conducted me to the cloister. We conversed, at first, through the grates; but presently I was admitted within, and I passed an hour with them, greatly to my satisfaction. None of that calm monot- ony which I expected. All was gayety, wit, and sprightliness. * * * At parting, I asked them to remember me in their prayers, which they all promised with great promptness and courtesy." If Burr ever meant to settle at the West, in the practice of the law, it was this banqueting and lionizing, in my opinion, which made it (morally) impossible for him to execute that intention. He should have resolutely declined to appear in the West as a great personage. How could a man of Burr's cast of character, after figuring at the head of cavalcades, after shining at balls and banquets, the observed of all observers, smiled upon by ladies, toasted, cheered, and followed by men ! how could he take a little office at Nashville or New Or- leans, hang out a little tin sign, and subside into an ordinary attorney and counselor at law ? A wise man could. But who is wise ? There is no position in human life more embarrass- ing, or more likely to be corrupting, than that of a man who is compelled to move in the conspicuous and costly spheres without possessing the requisite sum per annum ! To be a poor man is nothing is the lot of nearly all the men that live. But a crownless king, a penniless prince, an ex-Vice- President, without home, country, employment, income these are pitiable persons. They are dangerous, too. It is such who plan Boulogne expeditions, usurp thrones, start mad enterprises, and turn the world upside down. Burr staid tkree weeks in New Orleans. Wilkinson said in his letter of introduction, that Burr would make communica- HE SEEKS A NEW COUNTRY. 395 tions to Clark which were " improper to letter." What were they ? Burr was not a person to waste three weeks in mere feasting and playing the great man. Wherever he was, what- ever he was, he was busy. He had the quickest, most active mind that ever animated five 'feet six inches of mortality. It is certain that he did something at New Orleans during those three weeks. What ? The question has been answered, first, by Wilkinson in his ponderous Memoirs ; secondly, by Clark in his angry octavo, entitled, ''Proofs of the Corruption of General James Wil- kinson, and of his Connection with Aaron Burr ; thirdly, by Matthew L. Davis, speaking for Burr himself. Wilkinson, says the reference in his letter of introduction, was simply to the election scheme. Clark declares that Burr confided noth- ing to him whatever. He says he liked Burr exceedingly, in- vited him to dinner, showed him every possible civility, but had not a syllable of confidential conversation with him. In the most positive and circumstantial manner, he denies that he had then, or ever had, any participation in, or knowledge of, Burr's designs.* Davis, on the contrary, asserts that Clark and Wilkinson were both ardently engaged with Burr ; and that Clark agreed to advance fifty thousand dollars in further- ance of the great project. Other friends of Burr say that * Clark's own comments on "Wilkinson's letter are as follows: " The things which it was improper to letter to me are pretty plainly expressed in a com- munication made about the same time (by Wilkinson) to General Adair. The letter is dated, Rapids of Ohio, May 28th, 1805, 11 o'clock, and contains these expressions : 'I was to have introduced my friend Burr to you, but in this I failed by accident. He understands your merits, and reckons on you. Re- pair to me and I will tell you alL We -must have a peep at the unknown world beyond me.' The letter to me I think fully proves that some secret plan of Burr's was known to Wilkinson in May, 1805. That to General Adair leaves no doubt on the subject. Immediately after this he went to St. Louis, where his very first act, before lie had broken bread in the territory, was an endeavor to bring Major Bruff into his plans. He tells him that ho had a 'grand scheme,' that 'would make the fortunes of all concerned ;' and though Major BrufTs manner of receiving this overture put a stop to any fur- ther disclosure, yet we may judge of its nature, for it was introduced by a philippic against democracy, and the ingratitude of republican govern- ments." 396 LIFE OF AAEON BURR. Clark made two voyages to Vera Cruz, to spy out the ene- my's country. Clark admits having made the voyages (one in September, 1805, the other in February, 1806) ; admits having collected information in Mexico respecting the strength of the fortresses, the rtumber of the garrisons, and the disposition of the people ; but asserts that his voyages had none but commercial objects, and that his inquiries were only prompted by curiosity. A witness deposed to having heard Clark say, that he would willingly join in a private scheme for the conquest of Mexico, provided the adventurers could turn their backs for ever on the United States. " You, for example, might be a duke," was one expression which the witness swore he had heard Clark use in the course of the same conversation. The difficulty of arriving at certainty on this subject arises from the fact, that most of the existing evidence was given after the explosion! It was amusing, says Burnet (in his "Notes"), to see men who before the President's proclama- tion appeared, had been loudest in Burr's praises, and deepest in his schemes, making haste, after that bolt had shivered the project to atoms, to denounce the traitor at every corner, and running to oifer their services to the governor in defense of a distracted and imperiled country. My own impression, after reading all the procurable docu- ments, is, that neither Clark nor Wilkinson were really em- barked in Burr's Mexican scheme ; though both, up to a cer- tain point, may have favored it. Nor do I think that, during this visit to New Orleans, Burr hjmself did more than collect information, and cast a very wistful eye across the river to the domain of the hated Spaniards, who still held the western bank of the Mississippi. Of all the men in the territory, Clark and Wilkinson were the best informed respecting the affairs of Mexico. Both had traded with the Dons. Wilkinson, for many a year, had indulged the dream of leading an army to the capital of the Montezumas, and had made minute inquiries respecting the routes. All these stores of information were freely poured into the ear of a man fond of adventure, habitu ated to distinction, and destitute of resources. HE SEEKS A NEW COTJNTBT. 397 He could see for himself that the tie which bound the prov- ince of Louisiana to the Union was not strong. The French population, who had for a few months enjoyed a reunion with their mother country, and had hoped that that reunion would be perpetual, merely acquiesced in the recent cession. The Spaniards could not give up the hope of regaining the prov- ince. Sixty years before, the map of what is now the United States, reflected glory chiefly upon the Spanish name. Except that along the Atlantic coast there appeared a narrow red stripe denoting the British colonies, that map was one ex- panse of green, the northern part of which was called Canada, the southern, Louisiana ; and the whole was claimed by the French. A few years later, the latter province, embracing the most productive part of the valley of the Mississippi, and the mouth of the river, upon which the value of all the rest de- pended, was ceded to Spain. After half a century of posses- sion, the Spaniards had lost all their domain east of this river, but still hoped that the next European peace would give it back to them. Some of the Spanish officials remained in New Orleans for eighteen months after the cession, in expectation of that event. The American population, composed chiefly of young, ad- venturous men, had taken some umbrage at the central gov- ernment, and Burr must have heard expressions of this during his stay. Toward the close of July, he bade farewell to his friends in New Orleans, promising to return to them ere long. To as- cend those great rivers of the south-west was scarcely possible at that day. Daniel Clark furnished him with two horses, and a servant to bring them back, who attended him as far as Natchez. In the gay society of that place, he lingered a week ; then, taking a guide, plunged into the dreary wilder- ness that lay between Natchez and Nashville, a distance of four hundred and fifty miles. The path, where there was a path, was a famous Indian trail, \vhieh wound around stagnant lakes, along sluggish streams, and through dismal swamps. At certain seasons, it was infested by robbers who used to lay 398 LIFE OF AAKON BUKE. in wait for boatmen returning to the Ohio laden with the pro- ceeds of their last voyage to New Orleans. Tired and worn with this miserable journey, performed in the hottest season of the year, the traveler reached Nashville on the 6th of August, and was once more domiciled with General Jackson. Again, he was overwhelmed with attentions. He was com- plimented, too, with a public dinner, which was attended by all that Nashville could boast of distinction and talent. He remained a week at the general's hospitable mansion. A two weeks' tour in Kentucky followed, during which, be- sides traversing another wilderness of a hundred and fifty miles, he visited Louisville, Frankfort, and Lexington, at all of which he was entertained with fatal distinction. lie formed an acquaintance with Henry Clay, then in the dawn of his renown. Clay was strongly attracted to a man whom he, in common with most western men, regarded as the victim of persecution, and whose talents he admired. It was during this very tour in Kentucky that the antipathy of the men of the West to their Spanish neighbors was kindled to fury by what is known as the " Kemper difficulty." Baton Rouge, though chiefly inhabited by Americans, was still held and garrisoned by Spaniards. The Americans, in the course of that summer, had formed a plot to " shake off the Spanish yoke," and to annex themselves to their countrymen on the other side of the Mississippi. For want of a competent leader, the plot failed, and the Spaniards, with their usual stupidity, were eager, not to conciliate, but to punish the "rebels." The three brothers Kemper, who had been the leading spirits of the rebellion, fled to the American side, where they estab- lished themselves. In their own houses, at midnight, they were seized by a party of Spanish troops, and conveyed across the line. They were soon re-captured; but this impudent violation of American soil touched the pride of the border States keenly, and it was while every man was breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the insolent Dons, that Burr was traversing those States. 1C then, he had done what next year he attempted, the issue might have been different could not but have been different. HE SEEKS A NEW COUNTRY. 399 Meanwhile, the impression arose that Burr's presence in the West had something to do with these Spanish troubles, and a rumor to that effect soon found its way to the Spanish author- ities, who still had prisoners on the American soil. Septem- ber 7th, we find Daniel Clark writing to General Wilkinson, a letter upon the subject. That epistle has been thought a master-piece of dissembling. The reader may try his pene- tration upon it : " Many absurd and wild reports are circulated here, and have reached tlie ears of the officers of the late Spanish gov- ernment, respecting our ex-Vice-President. You are spoken of as his right-hand man, and even I am now supposed to be of consequence enough to combine with Generals and Vice- Presidents. At any other time but the present, I should amuse myself vastly at the folly and fears of those who are affected with these idle tales ; but being on the point of setting off for Vera Cruz, on a large mercantile speculation, I feel cursedly hurt at the rumors, and might, in consequence of Spanish jeal- ousy, get into a hobble I could not easily get out of. Entre nous, I believe that Minor, of Natchez, has a great part in this business, to make himself of importance. He is in the pay of Spain, and wishes to convince them he is much their friend. This is, however, a matter of suspicion on my part, but the channel through which the information reached me, makes me suppose it. Power, whose head is always stuffed with plots, projects, conspiracies, etc., etc., etc., and who sees objects through a mill-stone, is going to Natchez, next week, to un- ravel the whole of this extraordinary business, and then God have mercy on the culprits, for Spanish fire and indignation will be leveled at them. What in the name of heaven could have given rise to these extravagances? ' Were I sufficiently intimate with Mr. Burr, and knew where to direct a line to him, I should take the liberty of 'writing to him. Perhaps, finding Minor in his way, lie was endeavoring to extract something from him. He has amused himself at the blockhead's expense, and then Minor has retailed the news to his employers. Inquire of Mr. Burr about this, and let me know at my return, which will be in three or six mouths. The 400 LIFE OF AARON BUBK. tale is a horrid one, if well told. Kentucky, Tennessee, the State of Ohio, and part of Georgia and Carolina, are to be bribed with the plunder of the Spanish countries west of us, to separate from the Union. This is but a part of the business. Heavens ! what wonderful things there will be in those days. But how the devil I have been lugged into the conspiracy, 01 what assistance, I can be to it, is to me incomprehensible Vous, qui savez tout, can best explain this riddle. Amuse Mr Burr with an account of it, but let not these great and import- ant objects, these almost imperial doings, prevent you from attending to my land business. Recollect that you, if you in- tend to become kings and emperors, must have a little more consideration for vassals ; and if we have nothing to clothe ourselves with, for we can be clothed by the produce of our lands only ; and if Congress take the land for want of formal- ities, we shall then have no produce, and shall make a very shabby figure at your courts. Think of this, and practice those formalities that are necessary, that I may have from my Il- linois lands wherewith to buy a decent court-dress, when pre- sented at your levee. I hope you will not have Kentucky men for your masters of ceremonies." To this letter Wilkinson briefly replied ; but only alluded to the rumor as " the tale of a tub of Burr," and passed to other subjects. About the middle of September, Burr reached St. Louis, where General Wilkinson was. What passed between them has been told only by Wilkinson, who says that he was then struck and alarmed by the altered manner of his friend. " Burr seemed," says he, " to be revolving some great project, the nature of which he did not disclose. Speaking of the im- becility of the government, Colonel Burr said, 'it would molder to pieces, die a natural death,' or words to that effect ; adding ' that the people of the western country were ready for revolt.' To this I recollect replying, that if he had not profited more by his journey, he had better have remained at Washington or Philadelphia. For surely, said I, my friend, no person was ever more mistaken ! The western people dis- HE SEEKS A NEW COUNTRY. 401 affected to the government ? They are bigoted to Jefferson and democracy! and the conversation dropped." Other conversation of this kind followed, and Wilkinson, according to his own account, began to fear that Burr had conceived some dangerous and desperate enterprise. More than ever, therefore, he bestirred himself to promote his election to Congress. As evidence of this, Wilkinson adduces a letter of his to Governor Harrison of Indiana, dated September 19th. The part of it relating to Burr is as follows ; " Shall I say in return I have a boon to ask of you, of no ordinary import ? No, I will not ! because the commutation would dishonor my application ; but I will demand from your friendship a boon, in its influence coextensive with the Union ; a boon, perhaps, on which that Union may much depend ; a boon which may serve me, may serve you, and dis-serve neither ; a boon, which from my knowledge of men, motives, and principles, will be acceptable to those whose politics we are bound to support. If you ask, what is this important boon which I so earnestly crave ? I will say to you, return the bearer to the councils of our country, where his talents and abilities are all-important at the present moment. But, you continue, how is this to be done ? By your fiat ! Let Mr. Parke adhere to his profes- sion ; convene your Solomons and let them return him (Col- onel Burr) to Congress. If you taste this proposition, speak to him, and he will authorize you to purchase, if necessary, an estate for him in your Territory." Wilkinson says that, besides writing this letter, he warned a member of the cabinet, about the same time, to " keep an eye upon Burr." But he also admits that between September, 1805, and May, 1806, he received six letters in cipher from Colonel Burr, all of which contained expressions calculated to inculpate him (Wilkinson). Specimens of these will be given in a moment. In October Burr had left the for West. On his way east- ward, he called again at Blennerhassett Island, but found the master absent. In November he passed a week at Washington, when he was received as of old, dined with the President, and gave au 402 LIFE OF AARON BURR. account of his western travels to the company. In the course of conversation, at the President's table, he chanced to men- tion that a certain military road, which figured on a map pre- pared by, or for General Wilkinson, had no existence in re- ality. The next day, fearing- that this fact might injure the general in the President's estimation, he made a point of call- ing at the White House to explain it away. From members of the cabinet, he learned that there would be no war with /Spain. From Washington he went South to meet his son-in-law and Theodosia ; returning in December to Philadelphia. There he wrote one of his mysterious letters to Wilkinson, of which the following is a copy. The date is December 12th : " About the last of October our cabinet was seriously disposed for war with the Spaniards ; but more recent accounts of the increas- ing and alarming aggressions and annoyances of the British, and some courteous words from the French, have banished every such intention. In case of such warfare, Lee would have been commander-in-chief; truth, I assure you ; he must, you know, come from Virginia. The utmost now intended is that sort of marine piracy which we had with the French under the former administration. Burr passed a week at Washington, and has been here ten days. Reception as usual. He had discovered nothing which excites doubts of the con- firmation of Wilkinson's appointment. Secretary of Navy apprehended no difficulty. Military establishment will not in- crease nor diminish. On the subject of a certain speculation, it is not deemed material to write till the whole can be com- municated. The circumstance referred to in a letter from Ohio remains in suspense ; the auspices, however, are favora- ble, and it is believed that Wilkinson will give audience to a delegation composed of Adair and Dayton in February. Can 25 * * * be had in your vicinity at some few hours' notification ?" One would certainly suppose that men who corresponded thus were acquainted with each other's plans. In this same month of December, Burr wrote his first letter to Blennerhassett. It was a very innocent communication, HE SEEKS A NEW COUNTRY. 403 though the contrary has been asserted. It began with regrets that he had not had the pleasure of meeting Blennerhassett on the island, and inquired where and when they coilW conic to- gether. Its main purport was that Blennerhassett was too much of a man to be satisfied with the common-place delights of rural seclusion. He should aspire to a career in which his powers would be employed. His fortune, already impaired, would gradually dwindle away, and his children be left desti- tute. The world was wide; he should go forth from his ener- vating solitude in pursuit of fortune and of honor. The letter produced precisely the effect intended. Flattered by the notice of a distinguished man, anxious for his decaying fortune, iired with a desire for distinction, Blennerhassett re- plied that he should be glad to participate in any enterprise in which Colonel Burr might think proper to embark. He ad- mitted, upon his trial, that in making this advance to Colonel Burr, he had in view two objects; namely, the procuring of lauds in the South-west, and a military enterprise against the Spaniards. He said that he supposed the administration shared the universal indignation against the Spaniards, and that a war with Spain was impending; in which case Colonel Burr's mili- tary talents could not but be called into requisition. This letter was dated December 21st, 1805, but did not reach Colonel Burr until the middle of February, 1806. At that time his plans were in suspense, and he was in some doubt whether lie should be ever able to accomplish them. For two months Blcnncrhassett's letter lay in his desk unanswered. MeMMrbile, he had turned his thoughts in another direction. Once more, he sought the public service. In Jefferson's Anas, under the date of April 15th, 1806, occurs the narrative of Colonel Burr's second application to the President for an appointment. This narrative is doubtless essentially true, but Jefferson admits that it was written under feelings of resentment. Some of Burr's partisans in New York had been agitating this spring a project for his return to that State, again to play the leading part in its politics. Among other means employed (but not by him), was the re- vival of Burr's suit against Cheetham for libel ; the object 404 LIFE OF AARON BTTKB. being to procure demonstrative proof thnt Burr did not, in any manner whatever, intrigue for the presidency in 1801. Some of t^ depositions taken for this purpose seemed to re- flect upon Jefferson, and it was while smarting under one ol these, that he penned the following " ana :" "About a month ago, Colonel Burr called on me, and en- tered into a conversation, in which he mentioned, that a little before my coming into office, I had written to him a letter, intimating that I had destined him for a high employ, had he not been placed by the people in a different one ; that he had signified his willingness to resign as Vice-Presiclent, to give aid to the administration in any other place ; that he had never asked an office, however; he asked aid of nobody, but could walk on his own legs, and take care of himself; that I had always used him with politeness, but nothing more ; that he aided in bringing on the present order of tilings; that he had supported the administration ; and that he could do me much harm. He wished, however, to be on different ground. He was now disengaged from all particular business willing to engage in something should be in town some days, if I should have any thing to propose to him. "I observed to him that I had always been sensible that he possessed talents which might be employed greatly to the ad- vantage of the public, and that, as to myself, I had a confi- dence, that if he were employed, he would use his talents for the public good ; but that he must be sensible the public had withdrawn their confidence from him, and that in a govern- ment like ours it was necessary to embrace in its administra- tion as great a mass of public confidence as possible, by em- ploying those who had a character with the public of their own, and not merely a secondary one through the executive. "He observed that if we believed a few newspapers, it might be supposed he had lost the public confidence, but that I knew how easy it was to engage newspapers in any thing. " I observed that I did not refer to that kind of evidence of his having lost the public confidence, but to the late presi- dential election, when, though in possession of the office of Vice-President, there was not a single voice heard for his re- HE SEEKS A. NEW COUNTRY. 405 taining it. That, as to any harm he could do me, I knew no cause why he should desire it, but at the same time, I feared no injury which any man could do me ; that I neffer had done a single act, or been concerned in any transaction, which I feared to have fully laid open, or which could do me any hurt, if truly stated ; that I had never done a single thing with a view to my personal interest, or that of any friend, or with any other view than that of the greatest public good ; that, the IT to re, no threat or fear on that head would ever be a motive of action with me. " He has continued in town to this time ; dined with me this day week, and called on me to take leave two or three days ago. " I did not commit these things to writing at the time, but I do it now, because in a suit between him and Cheetham, he has had a deposition of Mr. Bayard taken, which seems to have no relation to the suit, nor to any other object, except to calumniate me." It is not surprising that Burr's friends should still resent this " ana." Doubtless, the mode of Burr's application is not as favorably stated as it would have been by Colonel Swart- wout. But I beg to say that Jefferson's reply was unanswer- able and noble, worthy of the best and ablest American then living. Burr was right, too, in laughing it to scorn. He was himself deceived as to his position and popularity by the en- thusiasm of his reception at the West. But the West was not then, is not yet, though it is going to be, the Nation. Vir- ginia, New England, Pennsylvania, and New York were the Nation in 1804, and in them it could with truth be said that Colonel Burr had lost the public confidence as a politician, and much of the public respect as a man. From the time of this interview, Colonel Burr set his face westward, resolved, if possible, to execute the enterprise to which his recent correspondence had so often alluded. On the very day that Jefferson wrote the narrative just quoted, Burr replied to Blennerhassett's letter. He said he had pro- jected, and still meditated, a " speculation" precisely of the character Blennerhassett had described. " It would have been 40(3 LIFE OF AARON BURR. submitted to your consideration, in October last, if I had then had the good fortune to find you at home. The business, however, irf some degree depends on contingencies not within my control, and will not be commenced before December, if ever. From this circumstance, and as the matter in its pres- ent state can not be satisfactorily explained by lettei-, the communication will be deferred till a personal interview can be had. With this view, I pray to be informed of your in- tended movements the ensuing season, and in case you should visit New Orleans, at what time and at what port you may be expected on the Atlantic coast. But I must insist that these intimations be not permitted to interrupt the prosecution of any plans which you have formed for yourself. No occupa- tion which will not take you off the continent can interfere with that which. I may propose. * * * We shall have no war unless we should be actually invaded." The "contingencies" referred to in this letter were chiefly pecuniary. All depended on the possibility of his raising a considerable sum in cash, and a larger one in paper. The day after answering Blennerhassett, he wrote another letter in cipher to General Wilkinson, of which the following is a copy : "The execution of our project is postponed till December. Want of water in Ohio rendered movement impracticable : other reasons rendered delay expedient. The association is enlarged, and comprises all that Wilkinson could wish. Confi- dence limited to a few. Though this delay is irksome, it will enable us to move with more certainty and dignity. Burr will be throughout the United Slates this summer. Administration is damned, which Randolph aids. Burr wrote you a long let ter last December, replying to a short one deemed very silly. Nothing has been heard from the Brigadier since October. Is Cusion et Fortes right ? Address, Burr, at Washington." The " Brigadier" was Wilkinson. " Cusion," was Colonel Gushing, second in command under Wilkinson. " Fortes" was Major Porter, another of the brigadier's officers. This letter confirms the impression, that "our project," whatever it was, was one in which Wilkinson was as much HE SEEKS A NEW COUNTEY. 407 implicated as Burr. But of all things in the world, circum- stantial evidence is the most deceptive. That Wilkinson knew what Burr proposed, I can not doubt ; but that he had unequivocally engaged to join in the projected speculation, is a question upon which there may be two well-sustained opin- ions. As the spring advanced, affairs in the South-west looked more and more threatening. The Spaniards added aggression to in- solence. It had been agreed between the two governments, that until the boundary line should be settled by negotiation, each party should retain its posts, but establish no new ones, nor make any military movements whatever within the limits in dispute. But after making several petty encroachments, the Spanish commander, early in June, advanced a force of twelve hundred men to within twenty miles of Nachitoches. In- stantly, General Wilkinson took measures for the defense of the frontier. He had only six hundred regulars under his com- mand, most of whom were hurried forward to the scene of expected warfare. The forts of New Orleans were hastily re- paired. Every militiaman in the West was furbishing his ac- coutrements, and awaiting the summons to the field. On the 4th of July, 1806, there were not a thousand persons in the United States who did not think war with Spain inevitable, impending, begun ! The country desired it. A blow from Wilkinson, a word from Jefferson, would have let loose the dogs of war, given us Texas, and changed the history of the two continents. But Napoleon, now stalking toward the summit of his power, had intimated that a declaration of war against Spain would be considered a declaration of war against him. Pitt, his great enemy, had just died. For the moment, Napoelon's word was law everywhere in the world, out of the range of British cannon. CHAPTER XXII. THE EXPEDITION. THE OBJECTS OF THE EXPEDITION BURR'S CONFEDERATES SWARTWOUT DISFATCHEU TO WILKINSON BURR'S FATAL VISIT TO THE MORGANS EXERCISES A KEGIMKNI AT MARIETTA VIGOROUS PREPARATIONS RUMORS BCBR BEFOP.E THE COURT i* FRANKFORT DEFENDED BY HENRY CLAY llis TRIUMPHANT ACQUITTAL. PRECISELY when, precisely where, it was that Burr con- ceived the enterprise upon which his heart was now fixed, ho could not perhaps himself have told. From an early day, schemes for revolutionizing the ill governed Spanish provinces of America, had been familiar to the people of the United States. During the Revolution, General Miranda was much in the American camp, firing the young officers, Hamilton par- ticularly, with his own enthusiasm on this subject; and Burr must often have heard Miranda's plans talked over by the camp-fire. In this very year, 1800, Miranda sailed from New York to Venezuela, with an expedition, to realize the dream of his youth to execute the purpose of his life. He failed; and tailed again ; and perished at last in a Spanish dungeon. It was to this expedition that Wilkinson alluded, when he said to Burr at St. Louis, that he feared Miranda had taken the bread o~it of his mouth. Burr used to say, that Wilkinson suggested the plan of his expedition not Miranda. It was no dream of republicanizing an oppressed people that prompted Burr's enterprise. He had had enough of re- publics. His design was to conquer Mexico from the Span- iards ; to establish in that fine country, a strong, liberal, enlight- ened government ; to place himself at the head of that govern- ment; and, if fortune favored, to extirpate the Spanish power on the continent. That done, it would be for the States west of the Alleghanies, in the exercise of their right as independ- THE E X T E D I T 1 O X . 409 ent powers, to decide whether they would remain in the Union, or join the new empire. If they should choose the latter, Burr might select New Orleans for his capital, and rule from thence the whole of the vast valley of the Missis- sippi. If they should prefer the former, the city of Mexico would be the center and seat of his power. But these details were merely dreamed of. The conquest of Mexico, the de- liverance of her people from an exacting and tyrannical gov- ernment, the establishment of a dynasty worthy to rule so magnificent an empire, the formation of a court, which Theo- dosia should .adorn by her beauty, and enliven by her talents, and where her boy should figure as the heir-apparent these were the great objects of Burr's thoughts and endeavors dur- ing the year 1806. Whether the execution of the project should be attempted, soon, or late, or never, depended upon the turn which affairs might take on the south-western frontier. If war broke out, nothing would be easier than to organize an expedition against Mexico. Thousands of adventurous spirits would hasten to enroll themselves under the banner of a popular chief^ and the people of Mexico* were known to be disaf- fected. Burr had received assurances that the priests would be passive if the church and its possessions were held inviolate. From certain commanders of Spanish militia, he had obtained * One of Jefferson's letters to John Jay, dated Marseilles, May 1787, contains some interesting information respecting the inhabitants of Mexico at about the period of the American Revolution, derived from a Mexican whom Mr. Jefferson met in Paris. The following is an extract : " He (the Mexican) classes and characterizes the inhabitants of the country as follows: 1. The natives of old Spain, possessed of most of the offices of the govern- ment, and firmly attached to it. 2. The clergy, equally attached to the gov- ernment. 3. The natives of Mexico, generally disposed to revolt, but with- out instruction, without energy, and much under the dominion of their priests. 4. The slaves, mulatto and black; the former enterprising and intelligent, the latter brave, and of very important weight into whatever scale they throw themselves ; but he thinks they would side with their masters. 5. The con- quered Indians, cowardly, not likely to take any side, nor important which they take. 6. The free Indians, brave and formidable,, should they interfere^ but not likely to do so, as being at a great distance." 18 410 LIFE OF AAKON BUKE. promises that the moment he should appear in Texas with a respectable body of troops, they would order out their forces and join him en masse. Could there but be a beginning of war made, or even a plausible show of it, he saw his way cleai to the halls of the Montezumas to the throne of the Merits zumas ! But there might be no war, or it might be long delayed. To provide for both these contingencies, a large purchase of land was contemplated, far to the south-west, beyond tht Mississippi, on the banks of the river Washita, a branch of the Red river. There the choice spirits of the expedition would have, at least, a rendezvous and a refuge. There the chief could, if necessary, fortify and maintain a position. There, if the grand scheme should fail or be abandoned, he would found a colony composed of persons of wealth, education refinement and talent, who would embark capital in the mosl productive region of the South-west, and form the most bril liant, accomplished, and enlightened society on the continent In July, 18C6, this purchase was made. It comprised four him dred thousand acres, for which Burr was to pay forty thousand dollars, the first installment of which, five thousand dollars, he did actually pay. In this purchase, several persons partici- pated, most of whom were near relatives or connections of Burr. One of his relatives in Connecticut, a descendant of Jonathan Edwards, advanced a great part of his savings for this purchase. Mr. Alston, probably, furnished money ; it is certain he endorsed paper ibr his father-in-law. Burr's con- nections in New York were not backward in aiding him. From one soure and another, a sum was raised which, as I conjecture, did not exceed forty thousand dollars, though more was to be forthcoming, when needed. Who were his confederates ? Before all others, his daugh ter, who was devoted to the scheme heart and soul. To achieve a career, and a residence, which she, her husband, and her boy could share, M r ere the darling objects with which Burr had gone forth to seek a new country. She caught eagerly at his proposal. She saw in it the means whereby her father could win a glorious compensation for the wrongs she THE EXPEDITION. 411 felt he had endured, and obtain a conspicuous triumph over all his enemies. Her husband, whose mind Burr had aided to form, and who tenderly loved Theodosia, entered into the enterprise with energy. In New York, it found ad- herents among the young ambitious men who had surrounded him in the days of his glory. The Swartwouts were in it. Marinus Willet, who was afterward Mayor of New York, was one of its promoters. A score or two of other New Yorkers were involved, in a greater or less degree. Doctor Erich Bollman, a German, who had distinguished himself by a gallant attempt to rescue Lafayette from prison, was one of Burr's most trusted confederates. Dayton was another. Colonel Dupiester was one of the leading spirits. General Jackson, a thorough-going hater of Spaniards, was enthusiastic in the cause. General Adair, of Kentucky, deep in Burr's con- fidence, approved his plans heartily, but was not personally en- gaged in them. Blennerhassett was completely captivated by an enterprise which was to enrich him and his children without his being subjected to disagreeable exertion. Upon his island the first rendezvous was to be made. Mrs. Blennerhassett, no less ardent, was preparing to entertain the chief and his daughter at her fantastic mansion ; for it was settled that Theodosia should accompany her father, and that both she and Mrs. Blennerhassett should go with the expedition as far as Xatchez or New Orleans ; there to await the issue. Alston was to follow in a few weeks. Probably, five hundred persons in all, knew something of Burr's plans, and had entered into some kind of engagement to follow his fortunes. There were, also, four or five thousand whose names were on Burr's lists, and who, he thought, would hasten to his standard, as soon he should obtain a foothold on Spanish soil. During the first half of the year 1806 Burr resided at Philadelphia, in a style and situation more obscure than was formerly his custom. He sought the society of men who had had cause to be dissatisfied with the government, such as Commodore Truxton, who had been struck from the navy list, and General Eaton, who could not get his claim against the government paid. To these men, as to others, he spoke in 412 LIFE OF AARON BUKK. contemptuous terms of the administi-ation ; he said a separa- tion of the western States must come, sooner or later ; he un- folded his own plans, and urged them to unite their fortunes with his. Mr. Davis says that Burr had repeated conferences with Mr. Merry, the British minister at Washington, who communicated the project to his government, and that Colonel Charles Williamson, a well-connected Scotchman, went to En- gland to promote the business. " From the encouragement which he received," adds Mr. Davis, " it was hoped and be- lieved that a British naval squadron would have been furnished in aid of the expedition. The Catholic bishop of New Or- leans," he adds, " was also consulted, and prepared to promote the enterprise. He designated three priests of the order of Jesuits as suitable agents, and they were accordingly em- ployed. * * * The superior of the convent of Ursuline nuns, at New Orleans, was in the secret. Some of the sister- hood were also employed in Mexico." There is a vagueness about these statements which looks in- tentional, and lessens their credibility. The following is more positive: "At this juncture (January 6, 1806), Mr. Pitt died. Wilkinson must have heard of the death of the premier late in the spring of 1806. From that moment, in Mr. Burr's opinion, Wilkinson became alarmed, and resolved on an abandonment of the enterprise, at the sacrifice of his associ- ates." It may have been the news of Pitt's death, then, that produced the temporary suspension of the scheme, during which Burr applied to the President for employment. Omitting conjectures on points which the issue rendered of no importance, nothing remains but to narrate the events of the latter half of 1806, as they occurred. Never was an ad- venturer more sanguine of success than Burr was in July and August of that year. The plot seemed well laid. The excel- lence of it was that both his schemes icere genuine. He really had two strings to his bow. If war broke out, he would march into Mexico ; if not, he would settle on the Washita ; and wait for a better opportunity. In either case, he was go- ing westward never to return. In either case, a career opened THE EXPEDITION. 413 up before him which he believed in, and could have been sat- isfied with. At the end of July, his preparations at the East being com- plete, his first movement was to send forward Samuel Swart- wout, with a packet of letters and communications, in cipher, to General Wilkinson, for the purpose, as he said, of securing concert of action between them. On the 29th of July, Swartwont, accompanied by another adventurer, young Og- den, a son of Matthew Ogden, of New Jersey, set out on his long journey to the lower Mississippi. Six days after, Burr and his daughter, with two or three friends, and a servant or two, followed, taking what they sup- posed to be their last farewell of the eastern world. As they floated down the Ohio, Burr would occasionally make detours into the adjacent country for the purpose of procuring recruits, and feeling the western pulse. It so chanced, that one of the first, if not the first, visit of this kind, had consequences of the utmost importance. It was to the house of Colonel Morgan, a name of renown in the West, a valiant old campaigner, who lived, with two stalwart sons, near Cannonsburg, Ohio, that this fatal visit was made. Civilities had passed between Morgan and Burr in former years, and the old patriot had conceived for Burr a very warm friendship, which his misfortunes and " persecu- tions" had strengthened. As his custom was, Colonel Burr gave notice of his coming, and the old gentleman, bursting with hospitality, sent forth his two sons to meet the expected guests. Colonel Burr rode with one of the sons, and Colonel Dupiester with the other. Burr's conversation surprised the young gentleman. Among other things, he said the Union could not last long ; a separation of the States must ensue, as a natural consequence, in four or five years. He made minute inquiries respecting the militia and arms of the coun- try, and the character of the officers. One of Morgan's work- men, a fine stout fellow, chanced to pass, and Burr vsaid he wished he had ten thousand such. After dinner, in the presence of a considerable company, Burr talked in a strain that shocked and puzzled these good 414 LIFE OF AAKON BITER. people still more, " I spoke," deposed Colonel Morgan, " of our fine country, I observed that, when I first went west, there was not a single family between the Alleghany mount- ains and the Ohio ; and that, by and by, we should have Con- gress sitting in this neighborhood or Pittsburg." " No, never," said Colonel Burr, " for in less than five years you will be totally divided from the Atlantic States." " God forbid !" exclaimed the old gentleman ; " I hope no such thing will ever happen, at least not in my time." The conversation then turned to Burr's favorite topic of the imbecility of the Federal government. The narrative of Colonel Morgan continues thus : " Colonel Burr said, that with two hundred men he could drive Congress, with the President at its head, into the river Potomac ; or that it might be done ; and he said with five hundred men, he could take possession of New York. He appealed to Colonel Dupiester, if it could not be done : he nodded assent. There was a reply made to this by one of my sons, that he would be damned if they could take our little town of Cannonsburg with that force. Some short time after this, Colonel Burr went out from the dining-room to the pas- sage, and beckoned to my son Thomas. What their conversa- tion was, I can not say. Soon after, a walk was proposed to my son's mill, and the company went out. When they returned, one (or both of my sons) came to caution me, and said, ' You may depend upon it, Colonel Burr will this night open himself to you. He wants Tom to go with him.' After the usual conversation, Colonel Burr went up stairs, and, as I thought, to go to bed. Mrs. Morgan was reading to me (as is usual, when the family have retired), when, about eleven o'clock, and after I had supposed he had been an hour in bed, she told me that Colonel Burr was coming down, and as she had heard my son's conversation, she added, ' You'll have it now.' Colonel Burr came down with a candle in his hand. Mrs. Morgan im- mediately retired. The colonel took his seat by me. He drew from his pocket a book. I suppose it was a memoran- dum-book. After looking at it, he asked me if I knew a Mr. Vigo, of Fort Vincent, a Spaniard. I replied, yes ; I knew THE EXPEDITION. 415 him ; I had reasons to know him. One was, that I had rea- sons to believe that he was deeply involved in the British con- spiracy in 1788, as I supposed ; the object of which was to separate the States ; and which General Neville and myself had suppressed. I called it a nefarious thing to aim at the division of the States. I was careful to put great emphasis on the word ' nefarious? Colonel Burr, finding what kind of man he had to deal with, suddenly stopped, thrust into his pocket the book which I saw had blank leaves in it, and retired to bed. I believe I was pretty well understood. The next morning Colonel Burr and Colonel Dupiester went off before breakfast, without my expecting it." In short, Colonel Burr, on this occasion as on others, com- ported himself precisely as a man having " treasonable" de- signs would not comport himself, unless he were mad or intoxicated. Xot so thought Colonel Morgan. He thought there was danger in what he had heard. There was a court sitting in the neighborhood ; he invited two of the judges to dinner, to whom he detailed all that Burr had said and done. These gentlemen wrote a joint letter to the President, giving him the same information, and advising that Burr's future move- ments be watched. Jefferson expressly says that this letter gave him the first intimation of Burr's designs. He acted upon the judges' suggestion by forwarding information to confidential persons in the western country, and, soon after, by detaching a government clerk, named Graham, with orders to go in pursuit of Burr, and ascertain, if possible, what his plans were. But in those days operations of this kind were slow. It was not until nearly the end of September thct the judges' letter reached Washington ; and two months, there- fore, passed before Burr began to experience the results of his indiscretion ; during which his affairs went on without inter- ruption. In these days, a telegraphic dispatch would have finished the business in two hours. Marietta was Burr's next halting-place. It happened that he arrived there on the day of a general training of the mili- tia. Riding to the field, he exercised a regiment in a few 416 LIFE OF AAEON BURR. evolutions, and, by his prompt, energetic manner, gave the multitude a high idea of his military talents. In the evening, he and Theodosia attended a ball, where he completed the conquest of Marietta by the courtly grace of his manners. The belief was general that he was engaged in an expedition of some kind. The belief was equally general, that that ex- pedition was sanctioned, or would be sanctioned, by the gov- ernment, and he was at no loss for recruits in Marietta. How far Burr guiltily inculcated the falsehood, that his ulterior designs were known and approved by the President, is still somewhat uncertain. Davis, who knew him intimately for forty years, says he never knew him to tell a direct lie / and other friends of Burr have given me the same informa- tion. But Davis admits, that " by innuendoes or otherwise, Burr induced some to believe that his arrangements for the invasion of Mexico were with the knowledge, if not the ap- probation of the government." Strange perversion of morals, which could deem an indirect, or acted, falsehood, less un- worthy of a gentleman than a bold and downright lie ! Mr. Jefferson, who, with all his admirable qualities, must be pronounced a credulous man, and who certainly burned and strove for Burr's conviction to a degree extraordinary and unaccountable, sent the following to the prosecuting attor- ney during the trial at Richmond: "It is understood that whenever Burr met with subjects who did not choose to em- bark in his projects, unless approved by their government, he asserted that he had that approbation. Most of them took his word for it, but it is said that with those who would not, the following stratagem was practiced. A forged letter, pur- porting to be from General Dearborne (Secretary of War), was made to express his approbation, and to say that I was absent at Monticello, but that there was no doubt that on my return, my approbation of his enterprise would be given. This letter was spread open on his table, so as to invite the eye of whoever entered his room, and he contrived occasions of send- ing up into his room those whom he wished to become wit- nesses of his acting under sanction. By this means he avoided committing himself to any liability to prosecution for forgery, THE EXP EDITION. 417 and gave another proof of being a great man in little things, while he is really small in great ones. I must add General Dearborne's declaration, that he never wrote a letter to Burr in his life, except that when here, once in a winter he usually wrote him a billet of invitation to dine." How much truth there may be in this, I can not tell. Some- thing resembling sucli a trick may have been resorted to once, and for some special purpose but not for the purpose of overcoming the conscientious scruples of patriots. Patriots of conscientious scruples never read letters which they find lying open in the apartments of others*. Nevertheless, Jeffer- son's main charge is undeniably true, namely, that the idea, in some way, was given out, that the government secretly ap- proved of what Burr was doing. Burr would reply to this, that his plans were based on the certainty of war ; and in time of war, private expeditions, designed to injure the enemy, can not but be approved by government. Leaving his daughter upon Blennerhassett Island, Burr bent all his powers to preparing for the expedition. Contracts for fifteen large batteaux, to be capable of transporting five hun- dred men, were entered into at Marietta, and the work forth- with began. Quantities of flour, pork, and meal were pur- chased. On the island kilns were constructed for drying the corn. Men were daily added to the rolls. They appear to" have been engaged for an object which was to be explained to them afterward, but all were to come equipped and armed, and to each was promised, as part of the compensation for his services, one hundred acres of land on the Washita. Blen- nerhassett was busy enough. To prepare the western mind for future contingencies, he wrote a series of articles in a neighboring newspaper, in which the advantages of a separa- tion of the western States from the eastern were discussed and exhibited. His island resounded with the din of preparation. Mrs. Blennerhassett, happy in the society of Theodosia, full of confidence in her father's talents, was all a-glow with pleasant expectation. Burr was everywhere ; now at Marietta ; now at Chillicothe ; then at Cincinnati ; through Kentucky and Tennessee; everywhere gaining adherents, and enlarging his 18* i!8 LIFE OF AARON BURR. acquaintance with men of influence ; received always as the great man. Six boats were set building on the Cumberland, and four thousand dollars deposited with General Jackson to pay for them. In October, Mr. Alston arrived, and soon after, lie, Theodosia, and Blennerhassett, journeyed, by easy stages, to Lexington, in Kentucky, leaving the energetic wife of Blennerhassett upon the island, to superintend the great con- cerns there going forward. On their journey they found the country full of rumors respecting Burr, and some scheme he was said to have in hand ; but they also observed that these rumors were generally believed to be groundless ; and attrib- uted to the malice of Burr's old enemies, the Federalists. Before long, the press began, in a confused and doubtful tone, to sound the alarm. In the Western World, a news- paper published at Frankfort, Kentucky, there appeared some articles, in which, along with many errors, Burr's scheme was shadowed forth, and he himself denounced as a traitor. The writer descanted on the disunion party of 1796, re-stated its plan of disunion, denounced anew the surviving members of that party, some of whom were in high place, and asserted that a gigantic conspiracy had been formed to revive and carry out the plan. All this, he avowed, was done through Spanish agents, who kept in pay some of the leading men of Kentucky. This farrago of truth and falsehood, though it convinced few, yet added fuel to the flame of popular excite- ment. On the 3d of November, at Frankfort, Mr. Daviess, Attor- ney for the United States, rose in court, and moved that Aaron Burr be compelled to attend the court, to answer a charge to be made against him, of being engaged in an enter- prise contrary to the laws of the United States, and designed to injure a power with which the United States were at peace. This movement took every one by surprise. Daviess was a noted Federalist, and the motion was at once concluded to be a mere manifestation of party spite. As the news flew about the town, nine tenths of the people, it is said, sided instantly with Burr, and indignantly denounced the attorney. Judge Innis evidently sympathized with the popular feeling, and, THE EXPEDITION. 419 after deliberating on the motion for two days, denied it. The interesting scenes which followed this decision at Frankfort, are spiritedly related by an eye-witness, or from information given by eye-witnesses, in Collins's History of Kentucky. "Colonel Burr was in Lexington at the time, and was in- formed of the motion made by Daviess in an incredibly -short space of time after it was made. He entered the court-house shortly after Innis had overruled the motion, and addressed the judge with a grave and calm dignity of manner which in- creased, if possible, the general prepossession in his iiivor. He spoke of the late motion as one which had greatly sur- prised him ; insinuated that Daviess had reason to believe that lie was absent upon business of a private and pressing na- ture, which, it was well known, required his immediate atten- tion ; that the judge had treated the application as it de- served ; but as it might be renewed by the attorney, in his absence, he preferred that the judge should entertain the mo- tion now, and he had voluntarily appeared in order to give the gentleman an opportunity of proving his charge. " Nowise disconcerted by the lofty tranquillity of Burr's manner, than which nothing could be more imposing, Daviess promptly accepted the challenge, and declared himself ready to proceed as soon as he could procure the attendance of his witnesses. After consulting with the marshal, Daviess an- nounced his opinion that his witnesses could attend on the en- suing Wednesday ; and, with the concurrence of Burr, that day was fixed upon by the court for the investigation. " Burr awaited the day with an easy tranquillity which seemed to fear no danger, and on Wednesday the court-house was crowded to suffocation. Daviess, upon counting his wit- nesses, discovered that Davis Floyd, one of the most import- ant, was absent, and, with great reluctance, asked a postpone- ment of the case. The judge instantly discharged the grand jury. Colonel Burr then appeared at the bar, accompanied by his counsel, Henry Clay and Colonel Allen. Colonel Burr arose in court, expressed his regret that the grand jury had been discharged, and inquired the reason. Colonel Daviess renlied, and added, that Floyd was then in Indiana, attending 420 LIFE OF AARON BUEK. a session of the territorial legislature. Burr calmly desired that the cause of the postponement might be entered upon the record, as well as the reason why Floyd did not attend. He then, with great self-possession, and with an air of candor dif- ficult to be resisted, addressed the court and crowded au- dience upon the subject of the accusation. His style was with- out ornament, passion, or fervor ; but the spell of a great mind, and daring, but calm spirit was felt with singular power by all who heard him. He hoped the good people of Ken- tucky would dismiss their apprehensions of danger from him, if any such really existed. There was really no ground for them, however zealously the attorney might strive to awaken them. He was engaged in no project inimical to the peace or tranquillity of the country ; as they would certainly learn whenever the attorney should be ready, which he greatly ap- prehended would never be. In the mean time, although pri- vate business urgently demanded his presence elsewhere, he felt compelled to give the attorney one more opportunity of proving his charge, and would patiently await another attack. "Upon the 25th of November, Colonel Daviess informed the court that Floyd would attend on the 2d of December following, and another grand jury was summoned to attend on that day. Colonel Burr came into court attended by the same counsel as on the former occasion, and coolly awaited the expected attack. Daviess, with evident chagrin, again announced that he was not ready to proceed ; that John Adair had been summoned, and was not in attendance, and that his testimony was indispensable to the prosecution. He again asked a postponement of the case for a few days, and that the grand jury should be kept impanneled until he could compel the attendance of Adair by attachment. "Burr, upon the present occasion, remained silent, and en- tirely unmoved by any thing that occurred. Not so his coun- sel. A most animated and impassioned debate sprung up, in- termingled with sharp and flashing personalities, between Clay and Daviess. Never did two more illustrious orators encoun- ter each other in debate. The enormous mass which crowded to suffocation the floor, the galleries, the windows, the plat- THE EXPEDITION. 421 form of the judge, remained still and breathless for hours, while these renowned and immortal champions, stimulated by mutual rivalry, and each glowing in the ardent conviction ot right, encountered each other in splendid intellectual combat. Clay had the sympathies of the audience on his side, and was the leader of the popular party in Kentucky. Daviess was a Federalist, and was regarded as persecuting an innocent and unfortunate man from motives of political hate. But he was buoyed up by the full conviction of Burr's guilt, and the delu- sion of the people on the subject ; and the very infatuation which he beheld around him, and the smiling serenity of the traitor who sat before him, stirred his great spirit to one of his most brilliant efforts. All, however, was in vain. Judge Innis refused to retain the grand jury, unless some business w;is brought before them ; and Daviess, in order to gain time sent up to them an indictment against John Adair, which was pronounced by the jury ' not a true bill.' The hour being late, Daviess then moved for an attachment to compel the presence of Adair, which was resisted by Burr's counsel, and refused by the court, on the ground that Adair was not in contempt till the day had expired. On the motion of Daviess, the court then adjourned to the following day. " In the interval, Daviess had a private interview with the judge, and obtained from him an expression of the opinion that it would be allowable for him as prosecutor to attend the grand jury in their room, and examine the witnesses, in order to explain to them the connection of the detached particles of evidence which his intimate acquaintance with the plot would enable him to do, and without which the grand jury would scarcely be able to comprehend their bearing. When the court resumed its sitting on the following morning, Daviess moved to be permitted to attend the grand jury in their room. This was resisted by Burr's counsel as novel and unprecedent- ed, and refused by the court. The grand jury then retired, witnesses were sworn and sent up to them, and on the 5th of the month, they returned, as. Daviess had expected, 'not a true bill.' In addition to this, the grand jury returned into court a written declaration, signed by the whole of them, in 422 LIjFE OF AARON BUKK. which, from all the evidence before them, they completely exonerated Burr from any design inimical to the peace or well-being of the country. Colonel Allen instantly moved the court that a copy of the report of the grand jury should be aken and inserted in the newspapers, which was granted. The popular current ran with great strength in his favor, and the United States' attorney, for the time, was overwhelmed with obloquy. " The acquittal of Burr was celebrated at Frankfort by a brilliant ball, numerously attended ; which was followed by another ball given in honor of the baffled attorney, by those friends who believed the charge to be just, and that truth, for the time, had been baffled by boldness, eloquence, and delusion. At one of these parties the editor of the Western World, who had boldly sounded the alarm, was violently attacked, with a view of driving him from the ball-room, and was rescued with difficulty. " Before Mr. Clay took any active part as the counsel of Burr, he required of him an explicit disavowal, upon his honor, that he was engaged in no design contrary to the laws and peace of the country. The pledge was promptly given by Burr in language the most comprehensive and particular. ' He had no design,' he said, ' to intermeddle with or disturb the tranquillity of the United States, nor its territories, nor any part of them. He had neither issued, nor signed, nor promised a commission to any person for any purpose. He did not own a single musket, nor bayonet, nor any single article of military stores, nor did any other person for him, by his authority or knowledge. His views had been explained to several distin- guished members of the administration, were v/sll understood and approved by the government. They were such as every man of honor, and every good citizen must approve.'" Mr. Clay, there is reason to believe, went to his grave in the belief that each of these assertions was an unmitigated falsehood, and the writer of the above adduces them merely as remarkable instances of cool, -impudent lying. On the con- trary, with one exception, all of Burr's allegations were true ; and even that one was true in a Burrinn sense. He did not THE EXPEDITION. 423 own any arms or military stores. By the terms of his * * * ment with his recruits, every man was to join him armed, just as every backwoodsman was armed whenever he went from home. He had not issued nor promised any commissions ; the time had not yet cpme for that. Jefferson and his cabinet un- doubtedly knew his views and intentions up to the point where they ceased to be lawful ! That is to say, they knew that he was going to settle in the western country, and that if the expected war should break out, he would head an on- slaught on the Dons. His ulterior views may have been known to one, or even two, members of Jefferson's cabinet, for any thing that can norc be ascertained. The moment the tide really turned against this fated man, a surprising ignorance overspread many minds that had before been extremely well- in^vmed respecting his plans. To several other persons, Burr held similar language about this time. He told John Smith of Ohio, that if Bonaparte with all his army were in the western country, with the ob- jects attributed to himself, he would never see salt water again. November 27th, he wrote to Governor Harrison: " Considering the various and extravagant reports which cir- culate concerning me, it may not be unsatisfactory to you to be informed (and to you there can be no better source of in formation than myself) that I have no wish or design to at- tempt a separation of the Union, that I have no connection with any foreign power or government, that I never medita- ted the introduction of any foreign power or influence into the United States, or any part of its territories, but on the con- trary should repel with indignation any proposition or meas- ure having that tendency; in fine, that I have no project or views hostile to the interest or tranquillity or union of the United States, or prejudicial to its government, and I pledge my honor to the truth of this declaration. It is true that I am engaged in an extensive speculation, and that with me are associated some of your intimate and dearest friends The objects are such as every man of honor and every good citizen must approve. They have been communicated to several of the principal officers of our government, particularly to one 424 LIFE OP AAKON BUKR. in the confidence of the administration. He has assured me my views would be grateful to the administration. Indeed, from the nature of them, it can not be otherwise, and I have no doubt of having received your active support, if a personal communication with you could have been had." After his acquittal at Frankfort, Burr proceeded, with flying colors, to Nashville, where he was again received as a conquer- ing hero, and where another grand ball celebrated his deliver- ance from " Federal machinations." He addressed himself to the task of completing his preparations, fondly supposing that now every obstacle was removed. The plan was, for Blenner- hassett and his party to float down the Ohio, in the fifteen batteaux that were building at Marietta ; and for himself and the Tennesseeans to descend the Cumberland. At the mouth of the Cumberland the parties were to unite, Burr to take the command, and the whole flotilla to proceed down the Missis- sippi in quest of what fortune might have in store for them. But alas! never was a fly more completely entangled in a spider's web than was this adventurer in the meshes of his own plot, at the moment when every body was congratulating him on his triumph, and when he saw the path to fortune and glory clear and bright before him. CHAPTER XXIII. THE EXPLOSION. SWARTWOTTT'S ARRIVAL IN GENERAL WILKINSON'S CAMP Tire CIPHER LETTERS - \VILKIXSON KEVEALS TIIK SCHEME SENDS INFORMATION TO THE PRESIDENT- THE PROCLAMATION WILKINSON'S MEASURES THE PUBLIC FRENZY SCENIC* ON BLENNERHASSETT ISLAND DESCENT OP THE RIVER BURR SURRENDERS GEAND JURY KEKUSE TO INDICT HIM His FLIGIIT INTO THE WILDERNESS. THE summer of 1806 was a busy one indeed with General Wilkinson. What with fortifying New Orleans, transporting troops to the Sabine, calling out the militia, preparing them for the field, and writing long dispatches to the Secretary of War, the portly general had had his hands full. He had never before been so important a personage. Beside being the gov- ernor of a Territory, he was the commander-in-chief of the army ; and the critical relations subsisting between Spain and the United States fixed upon him, for the time, the eyes of two nations. It was this not Pitt's death which made him a traitor to Burr, if he was a traitor to Burr. Toward the close of September, he repaired in person to the neighborhood of the Sabine, where, for several weeks, a body of his troops had been confronting the Spanish camp. Every thing wore a more warlike aspect than ever, and the American soldiers were impatient to be led against the enemy. Wilkinson himself expected battle, so he said ; was expecting it daily ; when an event occurred which totally and instantly changed the current of his plans. This was the arrival in camp of Samuel Swartwout. If Wilkinson's account be true, the very means which Burr adopted to precipitate war, was the direct and only cause of its prevention. Misled by false information respecting the general's move- ments, Swartwout and his companion had been traveling for 426 LIFE OF AAEON BURR. nine weeks, with all the rapidity possible in the year before Fulton went to Albany in his steamboat. Leaving Ogden to continue his journey to New Orleans, Swartwout, on the 8th of October, came in sight of Wilkinson's quarters at Nachi- toches, and inquired for Colonel Gushing, the second in com- mand. He was conducted to the quarters of that officer, which were, indeed, at head-quarters. To him he presented a letter from Dayton, which introduced Ogden to Cushing's acquaintance, but mentioned Swartwout as Ogden's traveling companion. What followed the reading of this letter has becMi related by Colonel Gushing himself in a formal deposi- tion : "The gentleman informed me," he deposed, "that he was the Mr. Swartwout mentioned in the letter, and I pre- sented him to General Wilkinson as the friend of General Dayton, and requested him to take a seat with us at table, which he did. Mr. Swartwout then observed that Mr. Ogden and himself, being on their way to New Orleans, had learned at Fort Adams that our troops and some militia were assem- bling at Nachitoches, from whence they were to march against the Spanish army, then in our neighborhood ; and that the object of his visit was to act with us as a volunteer. He re- mained with us for some time, and conversed on various topics, but said nothing which could excite a suspicion against him ; and he left us, with a strong impression, on my mind that his business to New Orleans was of a commercial nature, and could be conducted by Mr. Ogden during his absence. While he was in my quarters, I was called out on business, and was absent from five to ten minutes." During this brief absence of Colonel Gushing from the room, Swartwout seized the opportunity to give the general the important packet of which he was the bearer. As a speci- men of the flat contradictions with which every part of the evidence respecting Burr's expedition abounds, it may be men- tioned that Wilkinson asserts that the packet was slyly slipped into his hand ; while S wart wont swears that, being alone with the general, he presented the packet to him in the ordinary manner. It was received in silence, and, soon after, Swart- left the general and strolled about the camp, comport- THE EXPLOSION. 427 ing himself, in all respects, as became his assumed character of volunteer. It was not till evening that Wilkinson had time and oppor- tunity to examine the important packet. He found it to con- sist of three letters, t\vo of them in cipher, and one in ordinary \vriliiig. First, there was the following letter from Burr to Wilkinson, introducing Swartwout. This was in common Jiand: "Dear Sir, Mr. Swartwout, the brother of Colonel S., of New York, being on his way down the Mississippi, and presuming he may pass you at some post on the river, has re- quested of me a letter of introduction, which I give with pleasure, as he is a most amiable young man and highly re- spected from his family and connections. I pray you to afford any friendly offices which his situation may require, and beg you to pardon the trouble which this may give you." Secondly, the packet contained the celebrated cipher letter from Burr to the general, a copy of which, as given in Wil- kinson's Memoirs, is as follows: " Yours, post-marked 13th of May, is received. I, Aaron Burr, have obtained funds, and have actually commenced the enterprise. Detachments from different points, and under different pretenses, will rendezvous on the Ohio, 1st Novem- ber every thing internal and external, favors views ; protec- tion of England is secured. T is going to Jamaica to arrange with the admiral on that station ; it will meet on the Mississippi. , England, , navy of the United States are ready to join, and final orders are given to my friends and followers : it will be a host of choice spirits. Wilkinson shall be second to Burr only, Wilkinson shall dictate the rank and promotion of his officers. Burr will proceed westward, 1st August, never more to return ; with him goes his daughter; the husband will follow in October with a corps of worthies. " Send forth an intelligent and confidential friend with whom Burr may confer ; he shall return immediately with further interesting details ; this is essential to concert and harmony of movement. Send a list of all persons known to Wilkinson, west of the mountains, who may be useful, with a note delin- eating their characters. By your messenger send mo four or 428 LIFE OF AARON BURR. five commissions of your officers, which you can borrow under any pretense you please ; they shall be returned faithfully Already are orders to the contractors given to forward six months' provisions to points Wilkinson may name : this shall not be used until the last moment, and then under proper in- junctions. The project is brought to the point so long desired. Burr guaranties the result with his life and honor, with the honor, and fortunes of hundreds of the best blood of our country. "Burr's plan of operation is, to move down rapidly from the Falls on the loth of September, with the first 500 or 1,000 men in light boats, now constructing fur that purpose, to be at Natchez between the 5th and 15th of December; there to meet Wilkinson ; there to determine whether it will be expe- dient in the tirst instance to seize on or pass by Baton Rouge. On receipt of this send an answer. Draw on Burr for all ex- penses, etc. The people of the country to which we are going, are prepared to receive us. Their agents, now with Burr, say, that if we will protect their religion, and will not subject them to a foreign power, that in three weeks all will be settled. The gods invite to glory and fortune; it remains to be seen whether we deserve the boon. The bearer of this goes express to you; he will hand a formal letter of introduc- tion to you from Burr. He is a man of inviolable honor and perfect discretion ; formed to execute rather than to project ; capable of relating facts with fidelity, and incapable of relating them otherwise. He is thoroughly informed of the plans and intentions of Burr, and will disclose to you as far as you in- quire and no further. He has imbibed a reverence for your character, and may be embarrassed in your presence. Put him at ease, and he will satisfy you." Thirdly, as though to make assurance doubly sure, the fol- lowing letter from. Dayton was brought to bear on the gen- eral's mind : " Dear Sir It is now well ascertained that you are to be dis- placed in next session. Jefferson will affect to yield reluct- antly to the public sentiment, but yield he will. Prepare yourself, therefore, for it. You know the rest. You are not THE EXPLOSION. 429 a man to despair, or even despond, especially when such pros- pects offer in another quarter. Are you ready ? Are your numerous associates ready ? Wealth and glory, Louisiana and Mexico ! I shall have time to receive a letter from you before 1 set out for Ohio. OHIO. Address one to me here, and another in Cincinnati. Receive and treat my nephew affectionately as you would receive your friend DAYTON." It was late at night before Wilkinson had deciphered these letters sufficiently to have an idea of their drift. His resolu- tion was taken without delay. Burr had overdone it ; had put more upon the general than he had the strength to exe- cute. The continuation of Colonel Cushing's deposition shows that, within a few hours after Wilkinson had mastered the con- tents of the packet, he committed himself to an exposure of the scheme. "The next morning," says Gushing, "I was walking on the gallery in front of my quarters, when General Wilkinson came up, and taking me aside, informed me that he had something of a very serious nature to communicate to me. So much so that, although it was necessary to hold it in strict reserve for the present, he begged me to bear it in mind, that I might be able to make a fair statement of it at any future period. He then asked me if I knew, or had heard, of any enterprise being on foot in the western States. I replied that I had heard nothing on the subject, and asked him what the enterprise was to which he alluded. He then said, ' Yes, my friend, a great number of individuals possess- ing wealth, popularity, and talents, are, at this moment, asso- ciated for purposes inimical to the government of the United States. Colonel Burr is at their head, and the young gentle- man who delivered you the letter last evening, is one of his emissaries. The story of serving as a volunteer is only a mask. He has brought me a letter from Colonel Burr, which, being in cipher, I have not yet been fully able to make out; but I have discovered that his object is treasonable, and that it is my duty to oppose him by every means in my power. He assures me that ho has funds ; says the navy is with him ; offers to make me second in command, and to give the officers of the army any thing I may ask for them ; and he requests 430 LIFE OF AARON BUKJK. me to send a confidential friend to confer with him at Nash- ville, in Tennessee. In fact, he seems to calculate on me and the army as ready to join to him.' " I tlien asked the general whether he had received any in- formation or instruction on this subject from government, to which he replied that he had not, ajjd that he must therefore adopt such measures as, in his judgment, were best calculated to defend the country. He said he would immediately march to the Sabine, and endeavor to make such terms with the Span- ish commander as would justify him in removing the greater part of his force to the Mississippi ; and that the moment this could be effected, he would send me to New Orleans in a light barge, with orders to secure the French train of artillery at that post, and to put the place in the best possible situation for defense, and that he would follow with every man that could be spared from Nachitoches, with all possible exped : - tion. He told me that he would give the information he had received, to the President of the United States, and solicit particular instructions for his government, but as delay might prove ruinous, he would pursue the course before suggested, as the only means in his power, to save the country, until the pleasure of the President could be known." At the last moment, then, Wilkinson shrank from the work expected of him. The probability is strong that he always meant to do so. That he was a weak, vain, false, greedy man, is likely enough. That carried away by the magic of Burr's resistless presence, and hoping the scheme would never involve him in its folds, he suggested, encouraged, and aided it, is very probable. That he had given Burr to understand, in some vague way, that he would strike a blow which would begin a war, whenever it should be needed, is also probable That he chose the part he did choose from a calculation of ad vantages to himself, from motives mean and mercenary rests upon evidence that convinces.* Nevertheless, the fact rc- * The charge that "Wilkinson sent a confidential agent, "Walter Burling, to Mexico, to demand of the Viceroy a compensation of two hundred thousand dollars for his services in suppressing Burr's expedition, is supported by the following evidence: 1. The Vice-Queen of Mexico, in 1816, after her hus- THE EXPLOSION. 431 mains, that he did not " strike the blow ;" he did not involve two nations in war ; he did not shape his course according to the wishes of Aaron Burr, instead of the orders of Thomas Jefferson. If he was a traitor, he was a traitor to his confed- erates, not to his country, his commission, his flag. True, the country, particularly the western States, desired war, and would have applauded him for beginning it. But to a soldier, his country speaks only through the commands of its chief. For ten days Swartwout remained in camp, during which Wilkinson seemed to favor and applaud the project, and ex- tracted from him all the information he possessed. Swartwout, conversed freely, replying to all of Wilkinson's questions, with- out suspicion of his treachery. " I inquired," says Wilkinson, in his Memoirs, " what would be their course ? He said, this territory (Louisiana) would be revolutionized, where the people were ready to join them, and that there would be some seizing he supposed, at New Orleans ; that they expected to be ready to embark about the 1st of February, and intended to land at Vera Cruz, and to march from thence to Mexico. I observed that there were several millions of dollars in the bank of this place, to which he replied, We know it full well ;' and on remarking that they certainly did not mean to violate private property, he said they ' merely meant to bor- row, and would return it; that they must equip themselves in New Orleans; that they expected naval protection from Great Britain ; that Captain , and the officers of our navy were so disgusted with the government, that they were ready to join ; that similar disgusts prevailed throughout the ^band's death, asserted it repeatedly to Colonel Richard Raynal Keene, an Irish gentleman in the Mexican service. 2. Dr. Patrick Mangan, an Irish priest and professor, who served as interpreter, bet ween the Viceroy and Burling, testi fied, in writing, to the same effect, adding, that the application was contempt uously refused by the Viceroy, and Burling ordered out of the country. 3. Colonel Keene, who afterward practiced law in New Orleans, deposed to having heard the statements of the Vice-Queen, as aforesaid ; and placed on permanent and legal record in New Orleans, a declaration of the Vice-Queen's to the same effect, signed with her own hand ; also, a formal statement by Dr. Mangan ; and lastly, his own affidavit. All of these documents are duly preserveil in New Orleans at the proper office. 432 LIFE OF AAEON BTJKR. western country, where the people were zealous in favor of the enterprise, and that pilot-boat built schooners were con- tracted ibr along our western coasts for their service.' " Ssvartwout left the camp on the 18th of October, and pro- ceeded on his way down the river, nothing doubting. Wil- kinson then set about sending information to the President. To conceal his object, he caused Lieutenant Smith to resign his commission on pretense of a desire to return to his home in the East ; and to him Wilkinson intrusted dispatches for the President. To pay his expenses to Washington, he fur- nished him with five hundred dollars ; none too large a sum for a journey upon which a man might have to buy a boat or two, and wear out two or three horses. The messenger left camp on the 21st of October, and de- livered his dispatches to the President on the 25th of Novem- ber. On the 27th, Jefferson issued his proclamation, and sent it flying through the States, paralyzing the enterprise as it flew, and tilling the country with consternation. It is notice- able, that neither in Wilkinson's dispatches, nor in Jefferson's proclamation, was the name of Burr mentioned. Wilkinson, indeed, expressly and falsely wrote that he did not know who the prime mover of the conspiracy was. He admitted, after- ward, that he wrote a letter to Burr after the receipt of the cipher, but, upon reflection, pursued the letter and destroyed it. The President's proclamation merely announced that un- lawful enterprises were on foot in the western States ; warned all persons " to withdraw from the same without delay," " as they will answer the contrary at their peril, and incur prose- cution with all the rigors of the law ;" and commanded all officers, civil and military, to use their immediate and utmost exertions to bring the oflending persons to condign punish- ment. While Wilkinson was still in some doubt what course to pursue, he i-eceived a letter from an acquaintance in Natchez, which (as he says) decided him. It stated that a well-authen- ticated rumor was afloat, " that a plan to revolutionize the western country has been formed, matured, and is ready to explode; that Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Orleans, and In THE EXPLOSION. 433 diana, are combined to declare themselves independent on the loth of November. That proposals have been made to some of the most influential characters of St. Louis, by an accred- ited agent of the conspiracy, to join in the plan." And pages more to the same effect. Then it was that the general, perceiving the golden oppor- tunity, fully resolved to set up in the character of Deliverer of his Country. He went to the Sabine, patched up an ar- rangement with the Spaniards, put every thing in train for the withdrawal of the troops (who retired cursing the general for ordering them away from an enemy they were eager to en- gage), sent forward an officer to begin the work of preparing New Orleans for defense, and, on the 24th of November, ar- rived there himself to deliver a devoted province from spolia- tion and ruin. Prodigious was his zeal, enormous were his labors, terrible and ridiculous was the excitement he created. The current belief was, that the " conspiracy" extended from one end of the Union to the other, embracing immense numbers of the most wealthy and influential citizens ; that seven thousand armed men were on their way to the scene ; and that Burr, with a vanguard of two thousand, was then descending the river, and might be expected at any moment to fall upon the town ; that the city swarmed with his adherents, who only awaited his arrival to throw off the mask and assist in the re- duction of the place. Martial law was proclaimed. Wilkin- son dispatched a lieutenant to the British admiral at Jamaica, to put him on his guard against Burr's emissaries. A public meeting was held, at which Wilkinson harangued the excited multitude, and gave them a narrative of Swartwout's mission, and of the dread secrets his actiteness had drawn from that agent of treason. Governor Claiborne, too, addressed the meeting, exhorting every citizen to stand to the defense of a country toppling on the verge of ruin. The volunteer bat- talion offered their services ; its ranks were swelled by hun- dreds of recruits ; and, dividing itself into companies, it paraded by day, and patrolled by night, giving the city the appearance of a garrisoned town. New stockades were con- 19 434 LIFE OF AAKON BURK. structed in all directions. A party of sixty men were sta- tioned at a point some distance above the city, and ordered to stop and thoroughly overhaul every descending craft. Business was at a stand-still. The crews of the vessels in port, American and foreign, volunteered to aid in the defense of the city. Emboldened by the general terror, and Supported by orders from the President, Wilkinson soon began to make arrests. Swartwout, Bollman, Ogden, and Adair, were seized, and in- continently shipped, per schooner, to Baltimore. A hundred men gallantly surrounded the hotel where General Adair lived, and, seizing him as he sat at table eating his dinner, bore him off in triumph to head-quarters. There were secret sessions of the legislature ; there were proclamations from Governor Claiborne, and from the governors of the adjacent territories. The Spaniards were in alarm. As the news sped on its way to Mexico, guards were doubled, forts were repaired, and gar- risons were increased. The western States, agitated all the summer by rumors, soon caught the infection of this new frenzy, and increased its virulence. A month passed. The new year was at hand. No signs of the flotilla yet. Wilkinson began to be uneasy. He was growing ridiculous, and he felt it. Burr's adherents, who comprised the elite of the young American residents, particu- larly the members of the bar, recovered from the stunning effect of Wilkinson's vociferation, and ventured to oppose his violent and arbitrary proceedings. Half the month of Janu- ary passed, and still no flotilla. The alarm subsiding, we find the grand jury presenting Wilkinson's measures as illegal and unconstitutional. The press denounced him too. Comforted, however, by a very long, complimentary, and confidential let- ter from Jefferson, he held his course, and ruled the territory with a high and mighty hand to the wrathful disgust of majority of the American residents. By this time the eastern States had caught the alarm. Jefferson had received full particulars of Swartwout's mission. Bollman and Swartwout had reached the seat of government, had been examined, and discharged for want of evidence as THE EXPLOSION. 435 well they might be, for not one unlawful act had been com- mitted by them. Special messages from the President, attrib- uting to Burr designs the most treasonable, were sent to Congress, where they provoked excited discussion. Military companies of Xew York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Boston wrote to the President, offering their services. The Senate actually passed an act suspending the writ of Habeas Corpus; but the House, recovering its serenity in time, rejected the measure by one hundred and thirteen to nineteen. While the public excitement was at fever heat, General Eaton came forward with a deposition which raised it to the boiling point, and turned the tide of feeling so strongly against Burr that it was never reversed in his life-time, and has not been reversed to this day. With General Eaton, Burr had conversed in the same style as that which had so shocked the honest Morgans ; and with the more freedom, as lie knew that Eaton felt himself aggrieved by the govern- ment's delaying to compensate him for his services and dis- bursements in Barbary. Very few weeks elapsed, after this deposition had been made, before Eaton's account with the government was settled by the payment of ten thousand dol- lars. In the trial, Eaton's evidence will be given at length. Here it is only necessary to say that his wildly-exaggerated version of Burr's wild talk about a separation of the western Si airs, and throwing Congress into the Potomac, was the tes- timony which, in connection with the cipher to Wilkinson, convinced the people of the United States that Aaron Burr was a traitor. To return to Blennerhassett Island. Graham, the government's confidential agent, in the per- formance of the duty intrusted to him, reached Marietta, where the batteaux were building, about the middle of No- vember, and immediately obtained an interview with Blen- nerhassett. Passing himself off as one of Burr's confederates, he soon got from that unsuspecting gentleman the informa- tion he desired. He found Blennerhassett all enthusiasm, and unconscious that the enterprise in which he was engaged could be seriously objected to by any one. It was the settle- 436 LIFE OF AAKON BUKK. ment on the Washita that seemed to engage his attention most ; the expedition to Mexico being a secondary and con- ditional object. Graham, supposing him to be a deluded man, the tool of artful conspirators, presented himself, at length, in his true character ; did his utmost to persuade Blennerhassett to abandon the enterprise, and informed him that any attempt to descend the Ohio with an armed force would be prevented by the authorities. Blennerhassett's ardor was cooled for a day or two by this interview with Graham, but the opportune arrival at the island of a " corps of worthies," young adven- turers from the city of New York, revived his hopes. His wife, too, who was more eager for the scheme than he had ever been, adding her eloquence, all his old enthusiasm was soon rekindled, and he longed for the day of their departure. Graham, meanwhile, completed his inquiries at Marietta, and went to Chillicothe, then the capital of the State of Ohio; and, laying his information before the governor, asked the aid of the State in suppressing the enterprise. The legislature was in session. The governor sent them a secret message, to which they promptly responded by passing an act empower- ing him to use the resources of the State for the purpose de- sired. He proceeded to act with energy. The militia of the district, under command of a major-general, were called out, and marched to Marietta, where they captured the fifteen bat- teaux. To intercept parties from above, they were stationed along the banks of the river, where they occupied themselves with drinking whisky and playing upon one another practical jokes. They were as rude, undisciplined a horde of young backwoodsmen as have ever been assembled for mischief or for pleasure. The company in charge of the captured boats were so careless that an attempt of a party of Burr's men to retake them came within an ace of succeeding. One of the boats was got safely away, but before the others could be set aiioat, the militiamen were roused, and the party had to fly. The islanders, astounded and dismayed by these events, knew not what course to take. Blennerhassett Island, like all the islands of the Ohio river, being part of the State of Vir- ginia, they felt themselves safe from the authorities of Ohio. THE EXPLOSION. 437 Bat enrly in December, the President's proclamation reached the neighborhood. Under its authority, the colonel of a mi- litia regiment in Wood county, Virginia, called out his men, AS'ith the intention of marching to the island, arresting the vhole band of confederates, and seizing their arms and stores. News of this movement was brought to Blennerhassett the day before the one named for its execution. As soon as night fell, four boats were hurriedly loaded, and the whole party of confederates, thirty or forty in number, embarked and made the best of their way down the river, leaving Mrs. Blenner- hassett and her two little boys, with some servants, to abide the storm of the morrow. It was arranged that she should procure their " family boat" from Marietta, and follow the fly- ing band in a few days. The next morning, the expected irruption of wild militia took place. The colonel, finding the island deserted, left a small party in charge, and marched across one of the giant " bends" of the Ohio to intercept the fugitives at the mouth of the Great Kanawha. Ascertaining that the boats had not yet passed that point, he stationed a company on the bank of the river with the strictest injunctions to watch all night. It was a cold evening in December, however ; the whisky-flask circulated ; a drunken debauch ensued ; the flotilla glided si- lently by, and, before daylight, was beyond pursuit. A day or two after, a party of fourteen young men on their way down the river to join the expedition, were arrested near the island, and conducted to it for safe keeping. A ridiculous ex- amination took place, in one of Blennerhasset's grand apart- ments, before three county justices, to whom the young city gallants paid small respect. Nothing whatever appearing against them, they were discharged. It was during this examination that the spirit of license, and riot broke out among the militiamen. The lady of the mansion had gone herself to Marietta to demand her boat of the authorities, and the colonel of the militia, who was a gentleman and a soldier, was also absent. First of all, the men broke into the wine-cellar, and there drank themselves into Vandals. Then, they ranged *,he house, destroying or dis- 438 LIFE OF AARON BUEK. figuring wherever they went ; firing rifle-balls through painted ceilings, tearing down costly drapery, and dashing to pieces mirrors and vases. Then they rushed, like so many savages, about the grounds, destroying the shrubbery, and breaking down trellises and arbors. The ornamental fences were torn away, piecemeal, to make fires for the sentinels at night. In the midst of this riot and destruction Mrs. Blennerhassett re- turned ; but the embarrassments of her situation, and her anxiety for the success of the expedition were such, that she surveyed the ruin of her abode with indifference. She had been refused the boat. In this dilemma, the party of young men who had just been released, and who were pre- paring to continue their journey, offered her an apartment in theirs. In a few hours she was ready, and, December 17th, left her island in the hands of the lawless crew who had laid it desolate. Burr was still at Nashville. Graham learning that boats for the expedition were building on the Cumberland, hast- ened, after rousing Ohio and Kentucky, to put the powers of Tennessee on the alert. An express with the President's proc- lamation reached the Governor of Tennessee on the 19th, and preparations were made immediately to seize the boats and arrest the men. But timely information reached the chief. On the 22d, with two boats and a few men, armed only ac- cording to the custom of the country, he dropped down the Cumberland. The next day Graham himself arrived at Nash- ville, to find the " conspirators" beyond his reach. At the mouth of the Cumberland, the parties met; in all, thirteen boats and about sixty men. Colonel Burr here briefly addressed the band of adventurers, drawn up on the bank of the Ohio. He said he had intended here to make an exposi- tion of his designs and plan of operations, but the events which had occurred obliged him to defer doing so to a future oppor- tunity. He should go forward, and had still confidence in the success of their enterprise. Ignorant of Wilkinson's treachery, away went -Burr with his flotilla down the Ohio, down the Mississippi, stopping boldly at the forts on the banks, asking and receiving favors, THE EXPLOSION. 439 and occasionally picking up a recruit or two. He wore a smil- ing face, and reassured every one by the cheerful serenity of his bearing. It was not until he reached Bayou Pierre, about thirty miles above Natchez, that he heard of the course which had been pursued by Wilkinson, and of the prodigious excite- ment which his measures had created in the lower country. There, too, he read the proclamation of the Governor of Mis- sissippi, charging him and his followers with being conspira- tors against their country, and calling on. the officers of the government to renew their oath of fidelity to the United States, and give their best efforts toward crushing this nefari- ous plot. Whatever his feelings may have been at the discovery, Col- onel Burr never for one moment lost his self-possession ; but proceeded, on the very instant, to grapple with this new com- plication of difficulties. He wrote a public letter denying the truth of the governor's allegations, and asserting that he had no objects but such as were lawful and honorable. " If," said he, " the alarm which has been excited should not be appeased by this declaration, I invite my fellow-citizens to visit me at this place, and to receive from me, in person, such further ex- planations as may be necessary to their satisfaction, presuming that when my views are understood, they will receive the countenance of all good men." This letter, he requested, might be read to the militia, who were assembled for his ar- rest. But the excitement had risen to a height which could not be allayed by fine words. The news of Burr's arrival at Ba- you Pierre reached Natchez on the 14th of January, when the whole militia force of the neighborhood, who had been for weeks expecting the summons, seized their arms, and hurried to the rendezvous. In a few hours, two hundred and seventy- five men were ready to embark. All one cold and dismal night they worked their way up the river to a point near where the dread flotilla was moored. There disembarking, they were joined by a troop of cavalry, and were soon in readiness to march against the foe. It was thought best, however, first to ascertain if Colonel Burr was disposed to resist this formidable 440 LIFE OF AARON BURR. array, or would surrender peacefully to the lawful authorities. For this purpose, George Poindexter, the Attorney-General of the Territory, and Major Shields of the militia, visited the flo- tilla, and had an interview with its commander. A letter from the acting governor was handed to Burr, who read it, and spoke with some contempt of the public alarm to which it alluded. " As to any projects," said he, " which may have been formed between General Wilkinson and myself, heretofore, they are now completely frustrated by the perfidi- ous conduct of Wilkinson ; and the world must pronounce him a perfidious villain. If I am sacrificed, my port-folio will prove him to be such." He declared that, so far was he from hav- ing any design hostile to the United States, he had intended to meet the governor at the general muster at Bayou Pierre. Upon the Attorney-General's urging him to surrender, he de- manded an interview with the governor. After some further colloquy, the parties separated, Burr agreeing to meet Gover- nor Mead on the following day at a designated house near by. The governor came at the time appointed, and, after meet- ing Burr, demanded his unconditional surrender, and that of his whole party, to the civil authorities, and gave him fifteen minutes to decide. Resistance being out of the question, Burr only requested that if Wilkinson should attempt to get posses. sion of his person by a military force, it might be resisted. He then surrendered, and was conducted to the neighboring town of Washington, where two citizens became sureties for his appearance at court on the following day, in the sum of ten thousand dollars. His men remained in the vicinity of the flotilla. A court of justice was to Aaron Burr what his native heath was to MacGregor. On that field he was invincible. It was only after warm discussions that it was concluded that he could be lawfully tried in the Territory. The next step was to get him indicted for some offense. A grand jury was impan neled, and witnesses were sent in to them. Imagine the feel ings of the Attorney-General when he read the result of all his toils in the following presentments : "The grand jury of the Mississippi Territory, on a due in- THE EXPLOSION. 441 vestigation of the evidence brought before them, are of opin- ion that Aaron Burr has not been guilty of any crime or misdemeanor against the laws of the United States, or of this Territory ; or given any just cause of alarm or inquietude to the good people of the same. " The grand jurors present, as a grievance, the late military expedition, unnecessarily, as they conceive, fitted out against the person and property of the said Aaron Burr, when no re- sistance had been made to the civil authorities. " The grand jurors also present, as a grievance, destructive of personal liberty, the late military arrests, made without warrant, and, as they conceive, without other lawful author- ity ; and they do sincerely regret that so much cause has been given to the enemies of our glorious Constitution, to rejoice at such measures being adopted, in a neighboring Territory, as, if sanctioned by the Executive of our country, must sap the vitals of our political existence, and crumble this glorious fabric in the dust." It was of no avail for the Attorney-General to declare that such presentments were a disgrace and an outrage, nor for the judge to pronounce them impertinent and useless. The peo- ple were with the prisoner. Nothing approaching or resem- bling a breach of the law had been committed by him ; and, in short, the grand jury had made up its mind, and would not recede from its position. His companions were at perfect liberty. A Natchez news- paper of the time, commenting on this attempt to indict, says that " Burr and his men were caressed by a number of the wealthy merchants and planters of Adams county ; several balls were given to them as marks of respect and confidence." Also, " that the proceedings against the accused were more like a mock trial than a criminal prosecution, and that, during the trial, Judge Bruin appeared more like his advocate than his impartial judge." All of which is extremely probable. Having, as he thought, fully complied with his recognizances, Colonel Burr demanded a legal release from the court. Thi? was refused. Learning that further and more arbitrary pro- ceeding? were intended against him by the government ofli- 19* 442 LIFE OF AAEON BUEE. cials, and perceiving the utter hopelessness of attempting to proceed, and that his presence must embarrass, but could not assist this band, he resolved to fly. Disguising himself in the dress of a boatman, he crossed to the eastern side of the Missis- sippi and disappeared in the wilderness. At the meeting of the court on the following morning, he, f course, did not present himself, and there was a great show of surprise. The governor, who, it is said, had connived at his escape, promptly offered two thousand dollars for his arrest. Two or three days passed without any tidings of the fugitive, though the surrounding country was scoured by parties in search. At length, a colored boy was seen, opposite where the flotilla lay, riding one of Burr's horses, and wearing an overcoat that had been his. He was seized forthwith, and thoroughly searched. Sewed in the cape of the coat was found a note addressed to " C. T. and D. F." (Comfort Tyler and Davis Floyd, leading men in the expedition), which read as follows : " If you are yet together, keep so, and I will join you to-morrow night. In the mean while, put all your arms in perfect order. Ask no questions of the bearer, but tell him all you may think I wish to know. He does not know that this is from me, nor where I am." In consequence of this discovery, Burr's men were arrested, placed under guard, and kept as prisoners until the alarm was over. But no further trace of the chief was seen in the neigh- borhood. He had left the vicinity, and was making his way through a dismal wilderness, toward the port of Pensacola, where lay a British man-of-war, in which he hoped to find a temporary refuge. Blennerhassett, after his discharge from custody, returned homeward, and had reached Kentucky, when he was again arrested and committed to pi-ison, on a charge of treason. Others of Burr's confederates, who had the means, returned to the eastern States, and forgot the dream of glory in the pur- suits of civil life. A large number of the band remained in the Territory, supplying it, as the Attorney-General afterward remarked, with a superfluity of school-masters, music-masters, and dancing-masters, for many years. The narrative of these TUB EXPLOSION. 443 events, published in all the newspapers of the land, drew pub- lic attention to the south-western Territories of the Union, and attracted (says Dr. Monette, the historian of the Valley of the Mississippi) thousands of emigrants thither from the At- lantic and western States. CHAPTER XXIY. THE ARREST. BURR KECOGNIZED THE PURSUIT BOHR CAPTIYATES THE SHERIFF INTERVIEW BETWEEN BURR AND CAPTAIN GAINES THE ARREST BURR'S DEPORTMENT AS A PRISONER His DEPARTURE yROxi FORT STODDART THE JOURNEY THROUGH THE WILDERNESS ANECDOTE BURR'S APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE ARRIVAL AT RICH- MOND EXAMINATION BFORE CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL BURR DEFENDS HIM- SELF ADMITTED TO BAIL JEFFERSON. ON a cold evening in February, two young lawyers were playing backgammon in a cabin of the village of Wakefield, Washington county, Alabama. The hour of ten had arrived, and they were still absorbed in the game, when the distant tramp of horses arrested their attention. T\vo travelers rode up to the door, one of whom, "without dismounting, inquired for the tavern. It was pointed out to him. He then asked the road to Colonel Hinson's, a noted resident of the vicinity. One of the lawyers, Perkins by name, replied that the house was seven miles distant, the road exceedingly difficult to find, and there was a dangerous creek to be crossed. While he was explaining the road, the light of their pine- wood fire flashed occasionally upon the countenance of the traveler, who had asked the questions. Perkins gazed upon the face as though it fascinated him. The eyes of the stranger sparkled like diamonds, as he sat, composed and erect, upon a superb horse, better caparisoned than was usual in the wilder- ness. His dress was the rude homespun of the country, but the quick eye of Perkins observed that his boots were far too elegantly shaped, and of materials much too fine, to accord with the coarse, ill-cut, pantaloons from which they protruded. The travelers rode on. Perkins's suspicions were aroused. The striking features of the man with whom he had conversed, the incongruity of his dress, his superior air, the lateness of THE ARREST. 445 the hour for strangers to be abroad in a region so wild and unknown, all confirmed the impression which had been left on his mind. Rushing into the cabin, lie exclaimed, " That is Aaron Burr ! I have read a description of him in the proclamation. I can not be mistaken. Let us follow him to Hinson's, and take measures for his arrest." His companion, not so easily moved, ridiculed the project of pursuing a traveler at so late an hour, merely on a conjec- ture ; and, in short, refused to go. But Perkins, not deterred from his purpose, hastened to a neighboring cabin, roused the sheriff of the county, and told him his story. In a few min- utes the two men were equipped and mounted, and rode off at a rapid pace through the pine woods. The mysterious travelers, meanwhile, made their way to Colonel Hinson's residence. Hinson was absent from home. His wife, roused by their halloo, rose, peeped through a small window, and, seeing by their holsters and accoutrements that they were strangers, made no reply to them, but quietly closed the window, and returned to bed. The strangers alighted and entered the kitchen, where a cheerful fire was still burning. Shortly after Perkins and the sheriff came in sight of the house. The former remained behind in the woods, while the sheriff went forward to reconnoiter, agreeing to return to Perkins as soon as he should have discovered any thing ot importance. According to custom, the sheriff hailed the house, when the lady, reassured by hearing a well-known voice, descended to entertain her midnight guests. The sheriff entered the kitchen, the strangers eyeing him keenly. Supper was soon ready, and the party sat down to it, Perkins, meanwhile, shivering in the woods, and wondering that his confederate did not return. As the meal progressed, the traveler with the sparkling eyes led the conversation in so sprightly a manner, was so polite and grateful to the lady, and made himself so agreeable generally, that the heart of the sheriff relented. He came to arrest, and remained to ad- mire. The lady, too, was charmed with her guest's amiable manners. The repast ended, the captivating stranger returned to the kitchen fire, leaving his companion at the table. Now 446 LIFE OF AAEON BUKK. was the sheriff's opportunity. Whispering his suspicions to the lady of the house, he induced her to make the important inquiry. " Have I not," said she to the traveler who still sat at the table, " the honor of entertaining Colonel Burr, the gentle- man who has just walked out ?" The individual addressed (a country guide) not being an adept in diplomacy, showed palpable signs of embarrassment at the question. He made no reply whatever, but immedi- ately rejoined his companion in the kitchen. The subject was not resumed. After some further, and very agreeable courte- ous conversation, the strangers went to bed, and the sheriff, unwilling to encounter the impetuosity of Perkins, and re- solved to take no part in arresting so amiable a gentleman, stretched himself before the fire, and slept. In the morning the traveler breakfasted, inquired the road to Pensacola, thanked the lady, again and again, for her hospitable atten- tions, and rode off, the sheriff actually accompanying them as their guide for a short distance before returning home. Perkins remained at his post in the woods until his patience was exhausted. Suspecting, at last, that his confederate had fallen a prey to the blandishments of a man reno\vned for his seductive manners, this indomitable son of the wilderness was only the more resolved upon effecting the arrest. Riding, with furious haste, to Mannahubba Bluff, he borrowed a canoe and a negro from a friend, paddled down the Alabama, and arrived, as the day was breaking, at Fort Stoddart. Rushing into the fort, he informed the commandant, Captain Gaines (afterward the well-known Major-General Gaines) of his sus- picions. Gaines entered into Perkins's project with such spirit, that by sunrise, with a file of dragoons, he and Perkins rode out of the fort toward the Pensacola road. About nine in the morning, they met the two travelers de- scending a hill, not more than two miles from Hinson's house, when Captain Gaines rode forward and addressed the suspected personage. " I presume, sir," said he, " that I have the honor of address- ing Colonel Burr." THE AKKEST. 447 "I am a traveler in the country," replied the stranger, "and do not recognize your right to ask such a question." Whereupon, Gaines said, "I arrest you at the instance of the federal Government." " By what authority do you arrest a traveler upon the highway, on his own private business ?" asked the stranger. "lam an officer of the army," answered the captain. "I hold in my hands the proclamations of the President and tho Governor, directing your arrest." " You are a young man," rejoined the traveler, " and may not be aware of the responsibilities which result from arresting travelers." " I am aware of the responsibilities," said Gaines, " but I know my duty." The traveler now broke into an animated and eloquent de- nunciation of those proclamations, protesting his innocence, asserting that the charges against him originated in the ma- levolence of his enemies, and pointing out to Gaines the liabil- ities he would incur if he should arrest him. But Gaines, assuming a severe aspect, replied, "My mind is made up. You must accompany me to Fort Stoddart, when; you shall be treated with all the respect due to one who has been Yice-President of the United States, so long as you make no attempt to escape from me." The traveler looked at him for a few moments, apparently surprised at this unwonted firmness; then, with an inclination of the head, indicated his willingness to accompany the young officer. He bade good-by to his guide, who returned to Wakefield, wheeled his horse round, and rode by the captain's side towards the fort, conversing on the way, with his usu:i| nonchalance, on ordinary topics. Arriving at the fort early in the evening, Colonel Burr for Colonel Burr it was was shown to a room, where he dined alone, and sat reading to a late hour, while the tread of the sentinel was heard without. In the night, it is related, he heard a groan in the room ad- joining. He left his book, and, entering the apartment, saw the sick brother of Captain Gaines lying in bed. He spoke tenderly to the sufferer, inquired his complaint, felt of his 448 LIFE OF AARON BURR. pulse, told him he had traveled ranch, and knew something of medicine, and offered his services. The sick man revived under his gentle touch and encouraging tones, and entered into conversation with his distinguished nurse. Burr made many inquiries of the patient, who was a Choctaw trader, re- specting the Indians, their ways, and commerce. The conver- sation was singularly cheerful and pleasant, and completely won the good will of the sick merchant. The next day Colonel Burr was presented to the wife of the commandant, dined with the family, played several games of chess with the lady, and bore himself, in all respects, as he would have done in a drawing-room of Philadelphia or New York. Every night he sat by the bedside of Mr. Gaines, ad- ministering his medicines, and cheering him by his animated, intelligent conversation. The patient became warmly at- tached to him, and mourned deeply over his many misfor- tunes ; but, with all their intimacy and fondness, not the slightest allusion to Burr's situation ever passed the lips of either. Day by day, the prisoner mingled gayly in the nar- row circle of the fort, played his games of chess, won every one's heart, and appeared to give himself no concern respect- ing the future. Two weeks passed. Captain Gaines had resolved to send his prisoner direct to the seat of government, a thousand miles distant, four or five hundred miles of which lay through a nearly unbroken wilderness. He had been busy during those two weeks in preparing an expedition for the safe con- duct of the prisoner, and on the 5th of March his arrange- ments were complete, and the journey was begun. The tears of the ladies residing at the fort fell fast as Colonel Burr, es- corted by a file of soldiers, went down to the shore and em- barked on board the boat provided for the ascent of the Alabama. He had no enemies there. The men could have no ill-will to one whose offense had been a desire to terminate the hateful rule of the Spaniards ; and women were always and everywhere his friends. As the boat, with its crew of soldiers, glided past the few houses on the river's bank, all the ladies, it is said, waved their handkerchiefs, except those who THE ARREST. 4J<) were obliged to put those weapons to a tenderer use. One of the ladies of the Alabama named her infant Aaron Burr ; and he was not the only young gentleman in the South-west who bore through life a similar record of the events amid which he was born. Above Lake Tensau, the party disembarked, and the pris- oner was formally given into the custody of the guard who were to conduct him through the wilderness to the Atlantic States. This guard consisted of nine men, commanded by the redoubtable Perkins, who had selected and equipped the party. Before taking the final plunge into the forest, Perkins, fearful of Burr's fascinating powers, and mindful of their re- cent effect upon his friend the sheriff, took his band aside, warned them of the danger, required from each a solemn promise to steel his soul against the prisoner's winning arts, and indeed to avoid all conversation with him, except such as should be strictly necessary. All having given their word of honor to the effect required, the order was given to prepare for an immediate start. The prisoner still wore the dress in which he had fled from the Mississippi. It consisted, we are told,* of coarse, home- spun pantaloons of the color of copperas, a jacket of common drab cloth, and an old hat, with a broad, flapping brim. It was said, as he bestrode the superb horse which he had ridden at the time of his capture, his hat hanging over his face, but not concealing his brilliant eyes, that his appearance and bearing were as distinguished as when, seated in the chair of office, he had presided over the Senate of the United States. When the guard had mounted, and the word was given to march, he said good- by to the few by-standers in a cheerful voice, and took the place assigned him in the file. The party struck into the woods by the Indian trail, and marched, from necessity, in the Indian manner the gigantic Perkins at the head of the line, the prisoner in the middle. * Most of the facts and incidents relating to Burr's arrest, were derived from the excellent history of Alabama, by Mr. A. J. Pickett, who collected them from eye-witnesses, or from persons to whom they had been related by eye-witnesses. 450 LIFE OF AARON BURR. At night, the only tent carried by the party was pitched and assigned to Burr, who slept guarded by armed men and lulled by the howling of innumerable wolves. He slept soundly. Rising with the dawn, the first to be in readiness for the day's march, he took his place with alacrity in the line. The men were very attentive to his wants, and treated him Avith the respect due rather from an escort than a guard. He, on his part, was most courteous to them, and a kind of silent friend- ship grew up between them. It was a perilous and fatiguing march. For several days in succession, the chilling spring rains fell in torrents upon the unprotected horsemen, swelling the rivulets to rivers, and the creeks to rushing floods. Sometimes, the whole party were swimming their horses over a rapid stream. Often, they toiled wearily through mire, more dangerous than the flood itself. Hundreds of Indians thronged their pathway. But, amid angry elements, wild beasts, vast swamps, boundless for- ests, and treacherous savages, the dauntless Perkins held his course, marching swiftly at the head of his company, and urg- ing them along at the rate of forty miles a day. In the journey through Alabama, says the historian of that State, the party always slept in the woods, near swamps of reeds, upon which the horses, "belled and hobbled," fed during the night. "Af- ter breakfast, it was their custom again to mount their horses and march on, with a silence which was sometimes broken by a remark about the weather, the creeks, or the Indians. Burr sat firmly in the saddle, was always on the alert, and was a most excellent rider. Although drenched for hours with cold and clammy rain, and at night extended upon a thin pallet, on the bare ground, after having accomplished a ride of forty miles, yet, in the whole distance to Richmond, this remarka- ble man was never heard to complain that he was sick, or even fatigued." It was ten days before they reached again the abodes of the white man. Occasionally, as they approached the settlements, they would find an Indian in possession of a crossing place on a river, with canoes for the conveyance of travelers. Then, they would place their stores in the canoes, and paddle over, THE AKBEST. 45J leading their swimming horses. The first roof that sheltered the party was that of a small tavern, near Fort Wilkinson, on the river Oconee, about eighty miles from the boundary line between Georgia and South Carolina. The arrival of so ex- traordinary a party at this remote place of entertainment seems to have astonished the landlord. While breakfast was getting ready, and the guard and their prisoner were sitting quietly around the fire, he began to ask them a series of ex- tremely disagreeable questions. Learning that they came from the Tombigbee settlement, he hit at once upon the pre- vailing topic, and asked the news respecting Aaron Burr, the traitor! Had he yet been arrested? Was he not a very bad inn u ? Was not every body afraid of him? To these and other questions of the kind, Perkins and his men could make no reply, but hung down their heads in extreme embarrass- ment, full of sympathy for their captive. Burr, who was sit- ting in a corner near the fire, raised his head, and, fixing his blazing eyes upon the unsuspecting landlord, said, "I am Aaron Burr what is it you want with me ?" The poor landlord, amazed at the information, and struck with the majestic manner of the man, stood aghast, and, with out a syllable of reply, glided about the house, offering the party the most obsequious attentions. Two days more brought them to the confines of South Car- olina, where Burr from of old had been a popular favorite, and where, on his visits to Theodosia, he had ever been warmly welcomed, and made many personal friends. Per- kins knew the difficulty he should have in conveying, with such a force as his, a prisoner like Burr through that State, and he exhorted his men to renewed vigilance. By keeping well to the north, he avoided the larger settlements until he reached the district of Chester, which was only one day's march from North Carolina. As he approached the principal village of this district, he halted the party, and changed the order of their march, placing two men in front of the prisoner, two more behind, and one at each side of him. In tin's manner they proceeded, without incident, until they passed near a tavern, before which a considerable number of persons were 452 LIFE OF AARON BURR. standing, while mnsic and dancing were heard from within. Here, Burr threw himself from his horse, and exclaimed in a loud voice, " I am Aaron Burr, under military arrest, and claim the pro- tection of the civil authorities." Perkins snatched his pistols from his holster, sprang to the ground, and in an instant was at the side of his prisoner. With a pistol in each hand, he sternly ordered him to re- mount. " I will not /" shouted Burr in his most defiant manner. Perkins, unwilling to shed blood, but resolute to execute the commission intrusted to him, threw his pistols upon the ground, caught the prisoner round the waist with the resist- less grasp of a frontiersman, and threw him into the saddle. One of the guard seizing the bridle of Burr's horse, led him rapidly away, and "the whole party swept through the village in a mass, and disappeared, before the group of spectators had recovered from their astonishment at the scene. A mile or two beyond the village, Perkins halted the party to consult with his comrades. Burr was wild with excitement. The indifference of the people, the personal indignity he had suffered, the thought of his innocence of any violation of the law, the triumph his enemies were about to have over him, all rushed -upon his mind, and, for a minute, unmanned him. Perkins used to say that, when the party halted, he found his prisoner in a flood of tears, and that the man who led his horse, touched by the spectacle of fallen greatness, was also crying. It may have been so. Never had mortal man to en- dure more of what is called mortification than Aaron Burr at that moment ; and if, for an instant, he lost that amazing self- command which he exhibited all through his unexampled mis- fortunes, it was pardonable, and it was but once. After conversing with his men, Perkins sent them forward with the prisoner, under the command of his lieutenant, and returned himself to Chester, where he bought a gig, and re- joined the party before night. Burr was then transferred to the vehicle, with one of the guard to drive, and, in that man- ner, traveled the remainder of the distance. At Frederics- TUB ABKEST. 453 burg, Perkins was met by orders from Washington to con- vey the prisoner to Richmond, where the party arrived on the 26th of March. They had accomplished the journey in the remarkably short period of twenty-one days. Arriving on the evening of Thursday, the prisoner was taken to the Eagle Tavern, where he remained, under guard, until Monday morn- ing. The morning after his arrival, he wrote a short note to his daughter, announcing the fact. "It seems," he added, "that here the business is to be tried and concluded. I am to be surrendered to the civil authority to-morrow, when the ques- tion of bail is to be determined. In the mean time, I remain at the Eagle Tavern." A letter which he wrote to her some days after is worthy of note. It was long a puzzle in my mind, whether the fol- lowing passage was written in joke or earnest. It was un- doubtedly written in earnest. He really felt just so respecting his own character and conduct : " You have read to very little purpose if you have not remarked that such things happen in all democratic governments. Was there in Greece or Rome a man of virtue and independence, and supposed to possess great talents, who was not the object of vindictive and unre- lenting persecution ? Now, madarne, I pray you to amuse yourself by collecting and collating all the instances to be found in ancient history, which you may connect together, if you please, in an essay, with reflections, comments, and appli- cations. * * * I promise myself great pleasure in the perusal, and I promise you great satisfaction and consolation in the composition." Theodosia, as may be imagined, was overwhelmed by this new calamity. How fondly she had indulged in the dream that tier father's misfortunes were at an end, and that she should see him the glorious and powerful head of a nation created by his own genius ! Or, if not that, yet the leading spirit of a prosperous and refined community, of which she, too, should be a member ! For many days, she forgot her father's count- less exhortations to fortitude, and remained stupefied with sorrow. She recovered her serenity, ere long, and had then 454 LIFE OF AARON BURR. no thought but to fly to Richmond to be at his side during the scenes that wf>re before him. In a few weeks she and her husband began their melancholy journey northward. On Monday, Major Scott, the marshal of the district, at- tended by two deputies, waited upon the prisoner, and, with the utmost respectfulness of manner, conducted him, " through an awfully silent and attentive assemblage of citizens," to an- other apartment of the hotel, where he was brought before Chief Justice Marshall for examination. This examination was merely preliminary to commitment, which was strenuously opposed by Burr and his counsel. In a brief but forcible speech, Colonel Burr denied that there was the smallest ground for even an accusation against him. The country, he said, had been causelessly alarmed. Wilkinson had alarmed the President, and the President had alarmed the country. He appealed to facts which were known to all ; to the history of his arrangements in the West ; to the promptness with which he had met every charge ; and to the unanimity with which juries had acquitted him. If there had been any cause of alarm, it must have been known to the people in that part of the country where his offense was said to have been committed. The manner of his descent of the river was proof enough that his object was purely peaceable and agricultural. He declared that all his designs were hon- orable, and calculated to be beneficial to the United States. His flight, as it was termed, had been mentioned as a proof of guilt ; but it was only from the resistless arm of military despotism that he had fled. Was it his duty to remain sur- rounded by armed men assembled for his unlawful capture ? He thought not. He took the advice of his best friends, pur- sued the dictates of his own judgment, and abandoned a country where the laws had ceased to be the sovereign power. The charge stated in a handbill, that he had forfeited his re- cognizance, was false. He had forfeited no recognizance. If he had forfeited any recognizance, why had no proceedings taken place for the breach of it ? If he was to be prosecuted for such breach, he wished to know why he was brought to this place ? Why not carry him to the place where the THE ARREST. 455 breach happened ? More than three months had elapsed since the order of government had issued to seize and bring him to that place ; yet it was pretended, that sufficient time had not been allowed to adduce testimony in support of the prosecu- tion. He asked why the guard, who conducted him to that place, avoided every magistrate on the way, unless from a con viction that they were acting without lawful authority ? Why had he been debarred the use of pen and ink, and paper, and not even permitted to write to his daughter ? In the State of South Carolina, where he happened to see three men to- gether, he demanded the interposition of the civil authority ; it was from military despotism, from the tyranny of a military escort, that he wished to be delivered, not from an investiga- tion into his conduct, or from the operation of the laws of his country. After an argument of three days' duration, the Chief Just- ice decided to commit the prisoner on the charge of misde- meanor only, leaving the charge of treason to be investigated by the grand jury. By this decision Colonel Burr was freed from the immediate apprehension of imprisonment. Fiv gen- tlemen of Kidnnond gave bonds in the sum of ten thousand dollars for the appearance of the prisoner at the next circuit court of the United States, to be held at Richmond on the 22d of May. He was then discharged from custody. Innocent as he was of the slightest infraction of the law, he now saw that it was necessary to prepare for an arduous c-on- tlict in the court. It was not merely that the deposition of Eaton and the dispatches of Wilkinson had turned the tide of public opinion so strongly against him, that an unbiased jury could not be found in all Virginia. The serious circumstance was, that the President, by his proclamations and by his mes- sages to Congress, had conspicuously committed himself to the opinion of Burr's guilt. He had so frightened the country from its propriety, that to escape being overwhelmed with ridicule, he must get his prisoner convicted of the fell designs which he had publicly attributed to him. Not that Jefferson had the least doubt of Burr's guilt. His familiar letters written in the spring of 1807, show that he implicitly believed the 456 LIFE OF AAEON BUKE. story he had told the people. "Burr's enterprise," wrote Jefferson, January llth, "is the most extraordinary since the days of Don Quixote. It is so extravagant that those who know his understanding would not believe it if the proof's ad- mitted doubt. He has meant to place himself on the throne of Montezuma, and extend his empire to the Alleghany, seiz- ing on New Orleans as the instrument of compulsion for our western States." How nonsensical is this ! What impossibilities does this closet-wise man attribute to his late companion and rival ! By what means imaginable could the western States be compelled to yield submission to a usurper at New Orleans ? The States of this Union are so constituted and circumstanced, that trea- son of the kind attributed to Aaron Burr is a simple and man- ifest impossibility ! There is no part of Jefferson's long and glorious career in which he appears to so little advantage as during the period we are now considering. His mind was absurdly excited. One of his letters to Senator Giles, written a few days after Burr's first examination at Richmond, speaks of the tricks of the judges in hastening the trial so as to clear Burr ; rails at the Federalists, saying that they were disap- pointed at Burr's failure to rend the Union. If, said he, Burr had succeeded ever so partially, the Federalists were ready to join him in the attempt to overthrow " this hated republic," and introduce " their favorite monarchy." At first, he adds, the Federalists accused the President of permitting " treason to stalk through the land in open day ;" but now, they com- plain because he crushed it before it had ripened to an overt act. "As if an express could go to Natchez, or to the mouth of the Cumberland, and return, in five weeks, to do which has never taken less than twelve." He proceeds to denounce the federal judges, of whom John Marshall was the chief, in a man- ner which shows that philosophers are sometimes angry, and that sages are not always wise. He wrote also to Governor Pinckney of South Carolina, telling him that Alston was im- plicated with Burr, had traveled, solicited, endorsed for Burr; and inquiring whether it would be advisable to take any meas- ures against him. In one word, the real prosecutor of Aaron THE AREEST. 457 JJurr, tliroughout tliis business, was Thomas Jefferson, Presi dent of the United States, who was made President of the United States by Aaron Burr's tact and vigilance, and \vho was able therefore to wield against Aaron Burr the power and resources of the United States. It was not without truth, then, that Colonel Burr wrote in the early stages of the trial : " The most indefatigable indus- try is used by the agents of government, and they have money at command without stint. If I were possessed of the same means, I could not only foil the prosecutors, but render them ridiculous and infamous. The democratic papers teem with abuse against me and my counsel, and even against the Chief Justice. Nothing is left undone or unsaid which can tend to prejudice the public mind, and produce a conviction without evidence. The machinations of this description which were used against Moreau in France were treated in this country with indignation. They are practiced against me in a still more impudent degree, not only with impunity, but with ap- plause ; and the authors and abettors suppose, with reason, that they are acquiring favor with the administration." 20 CHAPTER XXY. THE INDICTMENT. THE CONCOURSE AT RICHMOND GENERAL JACKSON DENOUNCES JEFFERSON WIN- FIELD SCOTT I!f THE ColTKT-ROOM THE LAWYERS GEOEGE HAY WlLLIAM WIRT MACRAE BURR'S MANNER AND APPEARANCE IN COURT EDMUND RAN- DOLPH WILLIAM WICKHAM LUTHER MARTIN BENJAMIN BOTTS JACK BAKER THE GRAND JURY MOTION TO COMMIT THE ARGUMENT WIKT'S SPEECH BURR'S REPLY WAITING FOR WILKINSON TREASON DEFINED THE SUB- i-cBNA DDCES TECUM INDICTMENTS FOUND BURK IN PRISON TIIEODOSIA'B ARRIVAL BARNEY'S RECOLLECTIONS. THE court convened on the appointed day, May 22d, 1807. Richmond, itself a city of six thousand inhabitants, and the social metropolis of Virginia, was thronged with strangers all eager to witness the opening scenes of a trial more remark- able than any which had yet taken place in the infant repub- lic. Besides the magnates of Virginia, General Jackson was there, full of wrath against the administration for its perse- cution of his innocent friend, the prisoner. The story that Colonel Burr, in his later years, used often to tell of General Jackson's mounting the steps of a corner grocery at Rich- mond, and declaiming furiously against Jefferson for the part he had taken in crushing the expedition and its author, is confirmed by the testimony of the most distinguished of the living public men of the United States. " As I was crossing the court-house green," said this gentleman to the writer, " I heard a great noise of haranguing at some distance off. Inquir- ing what it was, I was told it was a great blackguard from Ten- nessee, one Andrew Jackson, making a speech for Burr, and damning Jefferson as a persecutor." Besides Jackson, there- were a number of Burr's friends from New York, and a host of persons from the West who had been his confederates, and who were now summoned as witnesses against him. Includ- THE INDICTMENT. 459 ing witnesses, jurymen, and lawyers, there were not less than t\\o hundred persons in Richmond who had some official con- nection with the trial. The struggles for admission to the hall were terrible. So great was the number of distinguished persons claiming seats within the bar, that lawyers of twenty years' standing were excluded from their accustomed places, and thought them- selves fortunate to get within the walls. John Randolph, Sen- ator Giles, and many other public' men, were present. Among the young gentlemen of the town who had succeeded in forc- ing their way into the room was Winfield Scott, then just ad- mitted to the bar. He stood on the massive lock of the great door, above the crowd, in full view of the prisoner, who ob- served and long remembered the towering form of the most magnificent youth in Virginia. Two judges sat upon the bench, John Marshall, Chief Just- ice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and Cyrus Griffin, Judge of the District of Virginia. The Chief Justice, in his fifty-flecOnd year (one year older than the prisoner), was a tall, slender man, with a majestic head, without one gray hair, with eyes the finest ever seen, except Burr's, large, black, and brilliant beyond description. It was often remarked dur- ing the trial, that two such pairs of eyes had never looked into one another before. The soul of dignity and honor, prudent, courageous, alive to censure, but immovably resolute to do right, John Marshall was the Washington of the bench. Not a brilliant man, not a great man, but an honest man, and a just judge. Jefferson, with his strange convictions of Burr's guilt, could not, and never could, comprehend the decisions of the Chief Justice upon this trial. He so far forgot himself as to insinuate that party feelings influenced those decisions of the Chief Justice; as though John Marshall, the Federalist, could be biased in favor of the man who had deprived his party of its chief, and himself of an honored and valued friend ! Gentlemen of the profession who witnessed the trial, who saw the effective dignity with which the judge presided over the court, who heard him read those opinions, so elabo- rate and right, though necessarily prepared on the spur of 460 LIFE OF AAKON BURK. the moment, regarded it as the finest display of judicial skill and judicial rectitude which they had ever beheld. The counsel employed in the case comprised the ablest men of the bar of Virginia, with one powerful recruit from Mary- land. First in technical rank, but neither first nor second in ability, was George Hay, the prosecuting attorney. He was Colonel Monroe's son-in-law ; a warm Jeffersonian ; much ad- dicted to the production of those long-winded political disqui- sitions of which the readers of that age were so fond ; a most respectable and zealous man, but, on this occasion, " over- weighted." He did his best with an impossible cause, against five of the ablest lawyers of the day ; but, with the aid of almost daily letters from Jefferson, teeming with suggestions for the conduct of the case, he showed incompetence at every stage of the proceedings. He was assisted by William Wirt, then only thirty-five years of age, just rising into eminence, but greatly and justly admired at the Richmond bar for his splendid declamation. Among the lawyers assembled that day within the bar, there was not one whose rising to speak so instantaneously hushed the spectators to silence as his. A handsome, fortunate, happy, brilliant, high-minded man was William Wirt, the toil of whose life-time it was to achieve those solid attainments which alone make brilliancy of utter- ance endurable in a court of justice. At the personal request of Jefferson himself, Mr. Wirt undertook to aid the prosecu- tion, and he did it yeoman's service. Alexander MacRae, the third on the side of the government, was the son of a Scotch parson who was distinguished in the revolutionary war, first, for being himself a hot Tory, and, secondly, for being the father of seven sons, all of whom were ardent Whigs. MacRae was a lawyer of respectable ability and a sharp tongue sharp from ill-nature more than wit. At the time of the trial he was Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia. On the other side, the array of celebrity and talent was imposing in the extreme. The real leader of the defense was Burr himself, though the burden of the work fell upon others. Not a step was taken, not a point conceded, without his ex- press concurrence. He appeared in court attired with scru- THE INDICTMENT. 461 pulous neatness, in black, with powdered hair and queue. His manner was dignity itself composed, polite, confident, im- pressive. He had the air of a man at perfect peace with him- self, and simply intent upon the business of the scene. It was observed that he never laughed at the jokes of the counsel, which, at some stages of the trial, were numerous and good. Ills speeches were short, concise, exact. They were uttered with such impressive distinctness that there are rneii now alive, who, after the lapse of fifty years, can repeat phrases and sentences which they heard fall from his lips during the trial. He was at home again. He was handling familiar weapons. The valley of the Mississippi was too much for him ; but in a court of justice, with the law all on his side, with a judge who would decide according to law, and with such opponents as Hay, Wirt, and MacRae, he was master of the situation. He had four assistants, each of whom were preeminent at the bar for some one qualification, or set of qualifications, cal- culated to be of service in the defense. Edmund Randolph, (second cousin of John Randolph) was the leader on Burr's side. He had been Attorney-General and Secretary of State under Washington ; he had been Governor and Attorney- General of Virginia ; he was an elderly man of great experi- ence, much learning, some talent, and over-awing dignity of manner. John Wickham, another of Burr's defenders, was perhaps, upon the whole, the ablest lawyer then practicing at the Richmond bar. He had learning, logic, wit, sarcasm, elo- quence, a fine presence, and a persuasive manner. In single endowments he was excelled, but no other man possessed such a variety of talents and resources as Wickham. Another great man on Burr's side was Luther Martin, of Maryland, who, in the single particular of legal learning, was the first lawyer of his day. His memory was as wonderful as his read ing, so that his acquirements were at instantaneous command. Burr had become acquainted with him at Washington three years before, during the trial of Judge Chace, in whose de- fense Martin had greatly distinguished himself. He entered into the defense of Colonel Burr with a zeal which Jefferson 402 LIFE OF AAEON BTTEE. thought so indecent and outrageous, that he could only account for it on the supposition that Martin was implicated with Burr. He was, indeed, a somewhat coarse man, more loud than elo- quent, and a mighty drinker ; resembling, in many respects, Professor Porson, the capacious Oxford receptacle of Greek and wine. Another of Burr's counsel was Benjamin Botts (father of the well-known John Minor Botts, of Virginia). Mr. Botts was the youngest man on the side of the defense, but already eminent. His speciality was courage, nerve ; the " bravest of all possible men," I have heard him described by a cotem- porary. There was also a certain " Jack Baker," a lame man with a crutch, a merry fellow with plenty of " horse-wit" and an infectious laugh, no speaker and no lawyer, but the best of good fellows who appeared at a later period of the trial as counsel for one of the accused. The report of the trial, of which a brief account is now to be given, tills more than eleven hundred closely-printed oc- tavo pages, and, of course, only the leading points, and the most interesting scenes can be given in the few pages that are appropriated to the subject in this volume. The court was opened at half-past twelve. The very first proceedings showed how general and how decided was the conviction of the prisoner's guilt. The gentlemen who had been summoned to serve on the grand jury, upon being ques- tioned, all admitted that the proclamations of the President, and the deposition of General Eaton, had given them strong impressions against the prisoner. One of them was Senator Giles, who had moved in the Senate the suspension of the Habeas Corpus ; another was an old political and personal en- emy of Burr's ; and all were prepared to believe him a traitor. One of the jurymen even volunteered the statement that, upon reading Eaton's deposition in the newspapers, he had ex- pressed himself with great warmth and indignation upon the subject, and, therefore, feeling that it would be indelicate and improper for him to serve on the grand jury, begged to be ex- cused. Colonel Burr said : " Under different circumstances I might think and act differently ; but the industry which luis been THE INDICTMENT. 403 used through this country to prejudice my cause, leaves me very little chance indeed of an impartial jury. There is very little chance that I can expect a better man to try my cause. His desire to be excused, and his opinion that his mind is not entirely free upon the case, are good reasons why he should be excused ; but the candor of the gentleman, in excepting to himself, leaves me ground to hope that he will endeavor to be impartial. I pray the court to notice, from the scene before us, how many attempts have been made to prejudge my cause. On this occasion I am perfectly passive." This gentleman was, accordingly, not excused. To Mr. Giles and a few others of the most prejudiced among tho panel, Colonel Burr objected, and they were withdrawn. The celebrated John Randolph, being added to the panel from among the spectators, begged to be excused for the same rea- son, namely, that he had an impression that the prisoner was guilty of the crimes charged against him. He was retained, however, and named foreman of the jury. Late in the aftei- noon the requisite number of jurors was obtained, and, hav- ing been duly sworn and charged, were conducted to the a'partment prepared for them. Colonel Burr then addressed the court, and, in doing so, gave an intimation of the mode in which he had resolved to conduct the defense, and in which he did conduct it from first to last. He asked the court to instruct the grand jury as to the admissibility of certain evidence which, he supposed, would be laid before them. Mr. Hay objected, and hoped the court would grant no special indulgences to Colonel Burr, who stood on the same footing with every other man who had committed a crime. " Would to God," exclaimed the pris- oner, " that I did stand on the same footing with every other 7uan ! This is the first time I have been permitted to enjoy the rights of a citizen. How have I been brought hither?" The Chief Justice interposed, observing that such digressions were improper. The day being for spent, it was agreed that argument respecting the duty of the court to instruct the grand jury further, should be postponed. The court then ad- journed to the following morning ; the multitude dispersed 464 LIFE OF AARON BURR. and the prisoner, accompanied by his counsel, returned to his lodgings. Second Day (Saturday). Nothing was done except recog- nizing some newly-arrived witnesses. No witnesses were sent in to the grand jury. It now appeared that nothing effectual could be done until the arrival of General Wilkinson, who had been summoned, and was daily expected. It was thought by some that he would not dare to confront the man he was sup- posed to have betrayed ; and meanwhile, the questions of the day at Richmond were, Has Wilkinson arrived ? Has Wil- kinson been heard from ? What can have become of Wilkin- son ? Wilkinson was the great Expected the Coming Man. Third Day. Mr. Hay was compelled again to announce that he had received no tidings of the general. He made an important motion, however, which excited one of the most eloquent debates of the whole trial. The prisoner, as the reader has been informed, was held to bail, on his first exami- nation, merely on the charge of misdemeanor, in having in- cited a hostile attempt against a nation with which the United States were at peace. To-day, the prosecuting attorney moved the court that he be committed on the charge of high treason ! " On his examination," said the attorney, " there was no evidence of an overt act, and he was committed for a misdemeanor only. The evidence is different now." The ef- fect of this motion, if granted, would be the immediate intro- duction of vivd voce evidence, and the commitment of the prisoner to jail, if the judge should deem the evidence suffi- cient to warrant it. It was a home-thrust, and the defense summoned all its energies to parry it. Mr. Botts denounced the motion as a violation of an agree- ment which had been made between the opposing counsel, that each side should give the other notice of motions in- tended to be made. The counsel for the defense had not been notified of the present motion. "The fact is this," replied Mr. Hay, " Mr. Wilkinson is known to be a material witness in this prosecution ; his arrival in Virginia might be announced in this city before he himself reached it. I do not pretend to THE INDICTMENT. 465 say what effect it might produce upon Colonel Burr's mind ; but certainly Colonel Burr would be able to effect his escape, merely upon paying the recognizance of his present bail. My only object then was to keep his person safe, until we could have investigated the charge of treason ; and I really did not know but that, if Colonel Burr had been previously apprised of my motion, he might have attempted to avoid it. But I did not promise to make this communication to the opposite counsel, because it might have defeated the vei-y end for which it was intended." Mr. Wickham, Mr. Randolph, and Mr. Botts were positive and vehement in opposing the motion, as unprecedented, un- lawful, unjust, and cruel. Colonel Burr, they said, was in court, ready to go on with the investigation. The prosecu- tion had had months to prepare their case, and to assemble their witnesses ; and still they were not ready. They desired to waive the prosecution, and institute, in its stead, an oppres- sive inquisition, against which the prisoner would have no means of defense. In reply to these gentlemen, Mr. Wirt, for the first time, addressed the court, and spoke with remarkable fluency and animation. That he believed Colonel Burr a guilty man, is shown by the harshness of his manner whenever, throughout the trial, he had occasion to refer directly to him. " Where is the crime," said Mr. Wirt, " of considering Aaron Burr as subject to the ordinary operation of the human passions ? Toward any other man, it seems, the attorney would have been justifiable in using precautions against alarms and escapes : it is only improper when applied to this man. Really, sir, I recollect nothing in the history of his deport- ment, which renders it so very incredible that Aaron Burr would fly from a prosecution. "Sir, if Aaron Burr be innocent, instead of resisting this motion, he ought to hail it with triumph and exultation. What is it that we propose to introduce '{ Not the rumors that are floating through the world, nor the bulk of the multi- tude, nor the speculations of newspapers : but the evidence of facts. We propose that the whole evidence, exculpatory as 20* 466 LITE OF AARON BURB. well as accusative, shall come before you ; instead of exciting, this is the true mode of correcting prejudices. The world, which it is said has been misled and inflamed by falsehood, will now hear the truth. Let the truth come out, let us know how much of what we have heard is false, how much of it is true ; how much of what we feel is prejudice, how much of it is justified by fact. Whoever before heard of such an appre- hension as that which is professed on the other side ? Preju- dice excited by evidence ! Evidence, sir, is the great corrector of prejudice. "Why then does Aaron Burr shrink from it ? It is strange to me that a man, who complains so much of being, without cause, illegally seized and transported by a military officer, should be afraid to confront this evidence. Evidence can be prorootive only of truth. I repeat it then, sir, why does he shrink from the evidence ? The gentlemen on the other side can give the answer. On our part, we are ready to produce that evidence. "The gentleman assures us that no imputation is meant against the government. Oh, no, sir ; Colonel Burr indeed has been oppressed, has been persecuted ; but for be it from the gentleman to charge the government with it. Colonel Burr indeed has been harassed by a military tyrant, who is l the instrument of a government bound to a blind obedience;' but the gentleman could not by any means be understood us intending to insinuate aught to the prejudice of the govern- ment. The gentleman is understood, sir; his object is cor- rectly understood. He would divert the public attention from Aaron Burr, and point it to another quarter. He would, too, if he could, shift the popular displeasure which he has spoken of, from Aaron Burr to another quarter. These re- marks were not intended for your ear, sir ; they were intended for the people who surround us ; they can have no effect upon the mind of the court. I am too well acquainted with the dignity, the firmness, the illumination of this bench, to appre- hend any such consequence. But the gentlemen would bal- ance the account of popular prejudices ; they would convert this judicial into a political question ; they would make it a question between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr. The THE INDICTMENT. 467 purpose is well understood, sir ; but it shall not be served. I will not degrade the administration of this country by enter- ing on their defense. Besides, sir, this is not our business ; at present we have an account to settle, not between Aaron Burr and Thornas Jefferson, but between Aaron Burr and the laws of his country. Let us finish his trial first. The administra- tion, too, will be tried before their country ; before the world. They, sir, I believe, will never shrink, either from the evidence or the verdict. " Why is not General Wilkinson here ? The certainty that Aaron Burr would be put upon his trial, could not have been known at Washington till the 5th or Gth of April. Now, sir, let the gentlemen on the other side make a slight calculation. Orleans is said to be fifteen hundred or sixteen hundred miles from this place. Suppose the United States mail, traveling by a frequent change of horses and riders, a hundred miles per day, should reach Orleans in seventeen days from the fed- eral city, it would be the 24th or 25th of April (putting all accidents out of the question) before General Wilkinson could have received his orders to come on. Since that time until this, he has had thirty days to reach Richmond. Could a journey of fifteen hundred or sixteen hundred miles be reas- onably performed in thirty days? Who can bear a journey of fifty miles per day for thirty days together." Mr. Hay followed in an elaborate speech. To him, as to Mr. Wirt, the counsel for the defense, replied, and Colonel Burr concluded the debate in a ten minutes' speech. He de- clared himself, not only willing, but anxious to proceed but not to proceed in the way proposed. On a motion for com- mitment, ex parte evidence alone would be introduced, and he would not submit to go on at such disadvantage, when the re- sult involved such consequences to himself. " My counsel," said he, " have been charged with declamation against the gov- ernment of the United States. I certainly, sir, shall not be charged with declamation; but surely it is an established prin- ciple, that no government is so high as to be beyond the reach of criticism; and it is particularly laid down, that this vigilance is more peculiarly necessary, when any government 463 LIFE OF AAKOST BUER. institutes a prosecution ; and one reason is, on account of the vast disproportion of means which exists between it and the accused. But, if ever there was a case which justified this vigilance, it is certainly the present one, when the government has displayed such uncommon activity. If, then, this govern- ment has been so peculiarly active against me, it is not im- proper to make the assertion here, for the purpose of increas- ing the circumspection of the court." He observed, that he meant by persecution, the harassing of any individual, contrary to the forms of law ; and that his case, unfortunately, presented too many instances of this de- scription. His friends had been everywhere seized by the mil- itary authority ; a practice truly consonant with European despotism. Persons had been dragged by compulsory process before particular tribunals, and compelled to give testimony against him. His papers, too, had been seized. And yet, in England, where we say they know nothing of liberty, a gen- tleman who had been seized and detained two hours in a back parlor, had obtained damages to the amount of one thousand guineas. He said that an order had been issued to kill him, as he was descending the Mississippi, and seize his property. And yet, they could only have killed his person if he had been formally condemned for treason. Even post-offices had been broken open, and robbed of his papers, in the Missis- sippi Territory ; even an indictment was about to be laid against the postmaster. He had always taken this for a felony ; but nothing seemed too extravagant to be forgiven by the amiable morality of this government. " All this," said Colo- nel Burr, " may only prove that my case is a solitary excep- tion from the general rule ; that government may be tender mild, and humane, to every one but me. If so, to be sure it is of little consequence to any body but myself. But surely I may be excused if I complain a little of such proceedings." There seemed to be something mingled in those proceedings, which manifested a more than usual inclination to attain the ends of justice. " Our President is a lawyer, and a great one too. He cer- tainly ought to know what it is that constitutes a war. Six THE INDICT 31 EXT. 460 months ago he proclaimed that there was a civil \v.tr. And yet, for six months have they been hunting for it, and still can not find one spot where it existed. There was, to be snre, a most terrible war in the newspapers ; but no where else. When I appeared before the grand jury, in Kentucky, they had no charge to bring against me, and I was consequently dismissed. When I appeared for a second time, before a grand jury in the Mississippi Territory, there was nothing to appear against me ; and the judge even told the United States Attorney, that if he did not send up his bill before the grand jury, he himself would proceed to name as many of the wit- nesses as he could, and bring it before the court. Still there was no proof of war. At length, however, the Spaniards in- vaded our territory, and yet, there was no war. But, sir, if there was a war, certainly no man can pretend to say that the government is able to find it out. The scene to which they have now hunted it, is only three hundred miles distant, and still there is no evidence to prove this war." He concluded by reminding the judge, that if he should then be committed to prison, he would be obliged by law to remain there until the next term of the court, which would involve a delay of six months. The argument then rested, and the court adjourned for the day. Fourth Day. The Chief Justice decided, with avowed re- luctance, that " if it was the choice of the prosecuting attor- ney to proceed with the motion" he might open his testimony ; but " the court perceives and regrets that the result of this motion may be publications unfavorable to the justice and to the right decision of the case." Mr. Hay then said that he was struck with the observation of the court respecting " publica- tions," ami he was willing to enter into negotiations with the counselor for the defense with a view to avoid that "inconve- nience;" that is to say, if they would consent to an amount of bail sufficiently large to insure the prisoner's appearance, lie would forbear to avail himself of the decision just rendered. Colonel Burr's counsel demanding time for reflection, the court adjourned. Fifth Day, Mr. Hay said he had received a letter from 470 LIFE OF AARON BURR. the counsel for the defense, positively refusing to give additional bail. He deemed it his duty, therefore, to go on with the ex- amination of witnesses, for the purpose of securing the com- mitment of Colonel Burr on the charge of treason. Now arose, as might have been foreseen, the vital question, what evidence was admissible ? A field-day of argument ensued, in the course of which Mr. Botts, in a manner plain to the comprehension of non-legal au- ditors, stated the law of the United States respecting the crime of high treason. First, he said, it must be proved that there was an actual war; a war consisting of acts, not of intentions. " In England," said Mr. Botts, " where conspiring the death of the king was treason, the quo animo formed the essence of the offense ; but in America the national convention has con- fined treason to the act. We can not have a constructive war within the meaning of the Constitution. An intention to levy war, is not evidence that a war was levied. Intentions are always mutable and variable; the continuance of guilty inten- tions is not to be presumed." Secondly, the war must not only have been levied, but the prisoner must be proved to have committed an overt (open, not covert] act of treason in that war. " A treasonable intention to cooperate is no evi- dence of an actual cooperation. The act of others, even if in pursuance of his plan, would be no evidence against him. It might not be necessary that he should be present, perhaps; he must be, at the time of levying the war, cooperating by acts, or, in the language of the Constitution, be committing overt acts." Thirdly, the overt act by the accused, in an ac- tual war, must be proved to have been committed within the district in which the trial takes place. Fourthly, the overt act must be proved by two witnesses. The court sustained this view of the crime of treason, and refused to hear evidence of treasonable intention, until it wn first proved that an overt act of treason had been committed. Just as in a case of murder, the fact of the kitting must be shown before other evidence has any relevancy. That the counsel for the prosecution were mortified and perplexed by this decision, they took no pains to conceal. They appeared to THE INDICTMENT. 471 have drawn up their list of witnesses in the historical order ; intending, first, to show the state of the prisoner's mind when the alleged treason was conceived, and then to narrate its pro- gressive development in the order in which the events were supposed to have occurred. The decision, besides excluding all their choicest morsels of evidence, disarranged this com- modious scheme. Two of Blennerhassett's servants were examined respecting the events that took place on the island ; an affidavit from New Orleans was offered as evidence, but rejected ; and then, without having made the slightest progress, the court ad- journed. Sixth Day. Luther Martin appeared, and took his place among Colonel Burr's counsel. The prosecuting attorney be- ing convinced, to-day, of the futility of his efforts to commit the prisoner at the present stage of the case, and the Chief Justice having expressed a strong desire that "the personal appearance of Colonel Burr could be secured without the necessity of proceeding with this inquiry," Colonel Burr agreed to give bail, " provided it should be understood that no opinion, on the question even of probable cause, was pro- nounced by the court by the circumstance of his giving bail." This was agreed to, and the bail was doubled. One of the new sureties was Luther Martin, who declared in open court that he was happy to have this opportunity to give a public proof of his confidence in the honor of Colonel Burr, and of his conviction that he was innocent. Days passed, and still there were no tidings of the portly Wilkinson. Here were nine of the ablest lawyers of the country, however, and the eyes of an excited nation were fixed upon them. Need it be said that there were motion enough, and talk interminable ! There was talk desultory talk animated, talk violent, talk to the purpose, and talk di- gressive. Martin roared against the administration, like the "Federal bull-dog" that he was; and Wirt retorted in pol- ished and glowing declamation. Wiekham, Botts, and Ran- dolph went, by turns, into the arena, and won tiie applause of the bar and the crowd. One of the longest arguments was 472 LIFE OP AAKON BU/IR. tipon a motion made by Burr, that the court issue a subj-tcena ditces tecitm to the President, requiring him to furnish cer- tain papers to the counsel for the defense, namely, Wilkinson's letter to the President, dated October 21st, and the orders issued by the government to the army and navy during the late excitement. These, papers (copies, of course) had been applied for by Colonel Burr himself during a recent visit to Washington. They were refused. His counsel had since ap- plied, but they had not been obtained. The letter applied for was the one in which Wilkinson said he did not know who the prime mover of the conspiracy was, and the orders to the army and navy were such as, in the counsels' opinion, would have justified resistance on the part of Colonel Burr and his companions. " We intended to show," said Luther Martin, " in one of his vehement harangues, " that these orders Avere contrary to the Constitution and the laws, and that they entitled Colonel Burr to the right of resistance. We intended to show that by this particular order his property and his person were to be destroyed ; yes, by these tyrannical orders the life and property of an innocent man were to be exposed to destruc- tion. We did not expect the originals themselves. But we did apply for copies ; and were refused under presidential in- fluence. In New York, on the farcical trials of Ogden and Smith, the officers of the government screened themselves from attending, under the sanction of the President's name. Perhaps the same farce may be repeated here ; and it is for this reason that we apply directly to the President of the United States. Whether it would have been best to have ap- plied to the Secretaries of State, of the Navy and War, I can not say. All that we want is, the copies of some papers, and the original of another. This is a peculiar case, sir. The President has underatken to prejudge my client by declaring, that ' of his guilt there can be no doubt.' He has assumed to himself the knowledge of the Supreme Being himself, and pretended to search the heart of my highly respected friend. He has proclaimed him a traitor in the face of that country which has rewarded him. He has let slip the dogs of war, the TUB INDICTMENT. 473 hell-hounds of persecution, to hunt, down my friend. And would tins President of the United States, who has raised all this absurd clamor, pretend to keep back the papers which are wanted for this trial, where life itself is at stake? It is a sacred principle, that in all such cases, the accused has aright to all the evidence whicli is necessary for his defense. And whoever withholds, willfully, information that would save the life of a person charged with a capital offense, is substantially a murderer, and so recorded in the register of heaven." To which Mr. Wirt replied : " I beg to know what gentle- men can intend, expect, or hope, from these perpetual philip- pics against the government ? Do they flatter themselves that this court feels political prejudices which will supply the place of argument and innocence on the part of the prisoner ? Their conduct amounts to an insinuation of the sort. But I do not believe it. On the contrary, I feel the firm and pleas- ing assurance, that as to the court, the beam of their judg- ment will remain steady, although the earth itself should shake under the concussion of prejudice. Or is it on the by-standers that the gentlemen expect to make a favorable impression ? And do they use the court merely as a canal, through which they may pour upon the world their undeserved invectives against the government? Do they wish to divide the popular resentment and diminish thereby their own quota? Before the gentlemen arraign the administration, let them clear the skirts of their client. Let them prove his innocence ; let them prove that he has not covered himself with the clouds of mys- tery and just suspicion; let them prove that he has been all along erect and fair, in open day. and that these charges against him are totally groundless and false. That will be the most eloquent invective which they can pronounce against the pror- ecution ; but until they prove this innocence, it shall be in vain that they attempt to divert our minds to other objects, and other inquiries. We will keep our eyes on Aaron Burr until l,r vitislies our utmost scruple. I beg to know, sir, if the course which gentlemen pursue is not disrespectful to the court itself? Suppose there are any foreigners here accus- tomed to regular government in their own country, what can 474 LIFE OF AARON BURR. they infer from hearing the federal administration thus re- viled to the federal judiciary ? Hearing the judiciary told that the administration are " blood hounds, hunting this man with a keen and savage thirst for blood ; that they now sup- pose they have hunted him into their toils, and have him safe.' Sir, no man, foreigner or citizen, who hears this language ad- dressed to the court, and received with all the complacency at least which silence can imply, can make any inferences from it very honorable to the court. It would only be inferred, while they are thus suffered to roll and luxuriate in these gross in- vectives against the administration, that they are furnishing the joys of a Mohammedan paradise to the court as well as to their client. I hope that the court, for their own sakes, will compel a decent respect to that government of which they themselves form a branch. On our part, we wish only a fail- trial of this case. If the man be innocent, in the name of God let him go ; but while we are on the question of his guilt or innocence, let us not suffer our attention and judgment to be diverted and distracted by the introduction of other sub- jects foreign to the inquiry." After some days of debate, the Chief Justice gave a very elaborate opinion on the point, and decided that the subpoena duces tecum might issue. If the object of this motion was to annoy the President, it certainly accomplished its purpose completely. Mr. Jefferson was disgusted with the motion, disgusted with the debate, and disgusted with the decision. " Shall we move," he Avrote to Mr. Hay, "to commit Luther Martin as particeps cri-minls with Burr? Gray ball will fix upon him misprision of treason at least, and, at any rate, his evidence will put down this un- principled and impudent Federal bull-dog, and add another proof that the most clamorous defenders of Burr are all his accomplices. It will explain ' why Luther Martin flew so hastily to the ' aid of his honorable friend,' abandoning his clients and their property during a session of a principal court of Maryland, now filled, as I am told, with the clamors and ruin of his clients." The Chief Justice's opinion was not less offensive to the THE INDICTMENT. 475 President than Martin's philippics. He descanted, at length, upon a passage which intimated that even the bodily pi'esence of the President might be compelled by the court. He emphatically denied this. "The Constitution," wrote the J 'resident, " enjoins the President's constant agency in the con- cerns of six millions of people. Is the law paramount to this which calls on him on behalf of a single one ? Let us apply the judge's own doctrine to the case of himself and his breth- ren. The sheriff of Henrico (Judge Marshall's residence) sum- mons him from the bench to quell a riot somewhere in his county. The federal judge is, by the general law, a part of the posse of the State sheriff. Would the judge abandon major duties to perform lesser ones ? * * * The leading principle of our Constitution is the independence of the legis- lature, executive, and judiciary of each other, and none are more jealous of this than the judiciary. But would the exec- utive be independent of the judiciary, if he were subject to the commands of the latter, and to imprisonment for diso- bedience, if the several courts could bandy him from pillar to post, keep him constantly trudging from north to south, and east to west, and withdraw him entirely from his constitutional duties ? * * * The judge says, ' it is apparent that the President's duties as chief magistrate do not demand his whole time, and are not unremitting.' If he alludes to our annual retirement from the seat of goverment, during the sickly season, he should be told that such arrangements are made for carrying on the public business that it goes on as unremit- tingly there as if we were at the seat of government. I pass more hours in public business at Monticello than I do here every day and it is much more laborious, because all must be done in writing." These passages show the more than official interest that Mr. Jefferson took in the events that were transpiring at Rich- mond. They show who was the real prosecutor of the prison- er, and who inspired the eloquence and zeal of those who were delegated to conduct the cause. At length on the 15th of June, twenty-four days after the opening of the court, General Wilkinson, who had arrived on 476 LIFE OF AARON BUKR. the 13th, exhausted with the fatigue of his journey, appeared in court. His bearing, it was said at the time, was serene and commanding, while the countenance of the prisoner wore an expression of ineifable contempt. Business now proceeded with more celerity. Witnesses were sworn and sent to the grand jury in scores. Prodigious efforts were made by Col- onel Burr and his counsel to exclude and vitiate the testi- mony of General Wilkinson. But, on the 24th of June, while Mr. Botts was in the very act of ui'ging the attachment of Wilkinson for procuring evidence by means violent, unlawful, and corrupting, the coming of the grand jury was announced, bearing the result of their investigations. With their distin- guished foreman at the head of the procession, they marched into the court-room and took their places, amid the hushed and intense expectation of a crowded auditory. The grand jury, Mr. Randolph said, had agreed upon several indictments, which he handed to the clerk of the court. The clerk took them, and read aloud the endorsements upon them, which were as follows : " An indictment against Aaron Burr for treason ;" " an in- dictment against Aaron Burr for a misdemeanor ;" " an indict- ment against Herman Blennerhassett for treason ;" " an indict- ment against Herman Blennerhassett for misdemeanor." The eyes of the auditors sought involuntarily the counte- nance of the prisoner. It was utterly unmoved ; his manner differed in no degree whatever from that which he had exhib- ited at every stage of the trial. A Richmond newspaper of the following day, however, announced to a country hungry for exciting intelligence, that when the clerk read the first en- dorsement, the prisoner was thrown into a state of indescrib- able consternation and dismay. The grand jury retired. Mr. Botts concluded his speech. An attempt was made to show that the prisoner might still be held on bail ; but after debate, the Chief Justice decided that he was " under the necessity of committing Colonel Burr." Late in the afternoon, through a concourse of hundreds of spec- ators who looked on in silence, Colonel Burr was conducted by the marshal of the district to the city jail of Richmond. TIIK INDICTMENT. 477 His first thought on being conducted to his apartment in the prison was to allay the apprehensions which, he well knew, the news of his imprisonment would excite in the mind of his daughter. He wrote her a letter, showing the absurdity and groundlessness of the indictments for treason. He said, they were founded on the allegations, that " Colonel Tyler, with twenty or thirty men, stopped at Blennerhassett's Island on their way down the Ohio ; that though these men were not armed, and had no military array or organization, and though they did neither use force nor threaten it, yet having set out with a view of taking temporary possession of New Orleans on their way to Mexico, that such intent was treasonable, and therefore a war was levied on Blennerhassett's Island by con- struction ; and that, though Colonel Burr was then at Frank- fort on his way to Tennessee, yet, having advised the measure, he was, by construction of law, present at the island, and levied war there." He declared, that of the fifty witnesses who had been examined by the grand jury, thirty had perjured them- selves. " I beg and expect it of you," he said in conclusion, "that you will conduct yourelf as becomes my daughter, and that you manifest no signs of weakness or alarm." On the following day, the grand jury indicted ex-senators Dayton and Smith, Comfort Tyler, Israel Smith, and Davis Floyd for the same offenses. Hour after hour, the lawyers talked their best, and occasionally, their loudest, upon the motion to attach General Wilkinson for contempt. In vain. The next day, on the opening of the court, the counsel of the prisoner presented a paper to the judges, stating that the city jail, where their client was confined, was unhealthy and inconvenient, and was so constructed that he could not have a room to himself, which rendered it almost impossible for his counsel to consult with him. They therefore prayed that bet- ter quarters might be provided. The Governor of the State, under the advice of his counsel, having offered apartments in the penitentiary near Richmond, the Chief Justice ordered the pri>oner's removal thither. This proceeding seems to have tilled up the measure of Jefferson's disgust. " Before an im- partial jury," he wrote to Mr. Hay, " Burr's conduct would 478 LIFE OF AAEON BUEE. convict himself, were not one word of testimony to be offered against him. But to what a state will our law be reduced by party feelings in those who administer it ? Why do not Blen- nerhassett, Dayton, and the rest, demand private and com- fortable lodgings ? In a country where an equal application of law to every condition of man is fundamental, how could it be denied to them ? How can it ever be denied to the most degraded malefactor?" On the 13th of June, the court, having been occupied for nearly two months in getting the prisoners simply indicted, rested from its labors, and adjourned to meet again on the 3d of August. The proceedings thus far were immediately pub- lished in a thick, three-shilling pamphlet, which seems, if we may judge from the newspapers of that day, to have confirmed the country in its impressions of the prisoner's guilt. For example at a Fourth-of-July celebration in Cecil county, Maryland, the following were among the toasts : "The grand jurors lately impaneled at Richmond to in- dict the traitors of their country. May their zeal and patriot- ism in the cause of liberty secure them a crown of immortal glory, and the fruits of their labor be a death-wound to all Conspirators. " Luther Martin, the ex-attorney-general of Maryland, the mutual and highly respected friend of a convicted traitor. May his exertions to preserve the Catiline of America procure him an honorable coat of tar, and a plumage of feathers that will rival in finery all the mummeries of Egypt. "Aaron Burr, the man who once received the confidence of a free people. May his treachery to his country exalt him to the scaffold, and hemp be his escort to the republic of dust and ashes." To these elegant effusions of patriotic hilarity, Luther Martin replied with a spirit and audacity never employed by public men of the present day in addressing the sovereign People. " Who is this gentleman," said he, " whose guilt you have pronounced, and for whose blood your parched throats so thirst ? Was he not, few years past, adored by you next to your God? I mean your earthly god; for whether you THE INDICTMENT. . 479 believe in a deity who has any government over your ' repub- lic of dust and ashes,' I know not. Were you not, then, his wannest admirers? Did he not then possess every virtue ? Had he then one sin even a single weakness of human na- ture ? He was then in power. He had then influence. You would then have been proud of his notice. One smile from him would have brightened up all your faces. One frown from him would have lengthened all your visages ! "Go, ye holiday, ye sunshine friends ye time-servers ye criers of hosannah to-day and crucifiers to-morrow go, hide your heads, if possible, from the contempt and detesta- tion of every virtuous, every honorable inhabitant of every clime !" In Richmond itself, however, Colonel Burr had found friends enough. From the day of his arrival, he had been growing in the esteem and good-will of those who attended the court and saw his uniform urbanity and good humor. His situation in the penitentiary was extremely agreeable. He had a suite of three rooms in the third story, extending one hundred feet, where he was allowed to see his friends without the presence of a witness. His rooms were so thronged with visitors, at times, as to present the appearance of a levee. Servants were continually arriving " with messages, notes, and inquiries, bringing oranges, lemons, pineapples, raspberries, apricots, cream, butter, ice," and other articles presents from the ladies of the city. In expectation of his daughter's arrival, some of his friends in the town provided a house for her ac- commodation. The jailor, too, was all civility. Colonel Burr often laughed at the recollection of a conversation that took place between himself and the jailor on the evening of his arrival. " I hope, sir," said the jailor, " that it would not be dis- agreeable to you if I should lock this door after dark ?" " By no means," replied the prisoner ; " I should prefer it, to keep out intruders." " It is our custom, sir," continued the jailor, " to extinguish all lights at nine o'clock. I hope, sir, you will have no objec- tion to conform, to that." 480 -LIFE OF AARON BUKK. " That, sir," said Burr, " I am sorry to say, is impossible, for I never go to bed till twelve, and always burn two candles." " Very well, sir, just as you please," replied the jailor. " I should have been glad if it had been otherwise ; but, as you please, sir." Toward the close of July, he received notice of Theodosia's approach. " Remember," he wrote to her, " no agitations, no complaints, no fears or anxieties on the road, or I renounce thee." And again : " I want an independent and discerning Avitness to my conduct and to that of the government. The scenes which have passed and those about to be transacted will exceed all reasonable credibility, and will hereafter be deemed fables, unless attested by very high authority. I re- peat, what has heretofore been written, that I should never invite any one, much less those so dear to me, to witness my disgrace. I may be immured in dungeons, chained, murdered in legal form, but I can not be humiliated or disgraced. If absent, you will suffer great solicitude. In my presence you will feel none, whatever may be the malice or the power of my enemies, and in both they abound." And again : "I am informed that some good-natured people here have provided you a house, and furnished it, a few steps from my town-house. I had also made a temporary provision for you in my town- house (city jail), whither I shall remove on Sunday ; but I will not, if I can possibly avoid it, move before your arrival, having a great desire to receive you all in this mansion (the penitentiary). Pray, therefore, drive directly out here. You may get admission at any time from four in the morning till ten at night. Write me by the mail from Petersburg, that I may know of your approach." Upon the letter last quoted was written in Theodosia's own hand : "Received on our approach to Richmond. How happy it made me /" She arrived the same day, and was thence- forth, until the end of the trial for treason, his companion and housekeeper. Her husband, faithful always to her and to her father, was with hei-, and sat by the side of her father when he was arraigned for treason. THE INDICTMENT. 481 The recollections of the late John Barney, formerly member of Congress from Maryland, confirm the view here given of Colonel Burr's position at Richmond during his trial. Mr. Barney was employed by Colonel Burr as his amanuensis, and lived in habits of intimacy with him for several weeks. With an extract from Mr. Barney's narrative, I conclude the pres- ent chapter : "In 1803, 1 witnessed the dignity, impartiality, and winning grace with which Aaron Burr presided in the Senate of the United States during the trial of Judge Chace, impeached for partiality and injustice toward John Fries, indicted under the alien and sedition law. " I attended his trial at Richmond, when he himself was indicted for treason. His prominent counselor was Luther Martin, of Baltimore, my father's lawyer, neighbor, and friend. " His daughter Maria, afterward celebrated as Mrs. Rich- ard Raynal Keene, invited my sister and self to dine with Col- onel Burr. He was then living in a house standing alone, around which was a patrol of guards. " The dinner was superb, abounding in all the luxuries which Virginia's generous soil yields in lavish abundance. Twenty ladies and gentlemen of rank, fortune, and fashion, graced the festive board. " He was esteemed a persecuted martyr. Distress, in every form and shape, makes an irresistible appeal to woman's sym- pathy ; her tears often flow for the suffering of the criminal who expiates his crimes on the gibbet. " On this occasion, Burr's fascinating flatteries were lav- ished indiscriminately on the sex in general. .Man he had ever found treacherous woman always true to sustain him in adversity, solacing in affliction, and giving a charm to life, without which life itself was not worth possessing. "The grand jury finding a true bill, he was forthwith re- moved to the State prison. There we followed him ; he re- ceived us in his usual bland, courteous manner ; apologized for our being introduced into his bed-chamber his drawing- room being then deranged by the fitting up of his ice-house, 21 482 LIFE OF AARON BURR. which was in fact in his chimney-corner. Iron gratings pre- vented his egress, admitting free circulation of light and air, I felt pride and took pleasure in being permitted to become his amanuensis. Each day as I rode along the streets my curricle was freighted with cake, confectionery, flowers, redo- lent with perfume, wreathed into fancy bouquets of endless variety. " The trial was tedious and prolonged. I traveled on to the borders of North Carolina, lingered for awhile at the no- ble mansion of Lady Shipwith. On my return, I found the persevering Attorney-General, George Hay, fatigued, worried. " ' Would that I could only hang upon a gate, and have a little negro to swing me to and fro all day. The law's delay the special pleadings of the bar, its interminable controver- sies have worn out and exhausted me. I shan't be able to hang Burr, but will be content to hang myself on a gate.' Thus spoke George Hay, than whom never lived a purer pa- triot, or a more upright, conscientious man." CHAPTER XXYI. THE TRIAL. FOURTEEN DAYS SI-KMT IN GETTING A JITRY GENERAL EATON'S TESTIMONY COM- MODORE TRUXTON'S TESTIMONY PKTKR TAYLOR'S TESTIMONY JACOB ALL- BKKJHT'S TESTIMONY THE NINE DAYS' DEBATE ON TIIE ADMISSIBILITY OF INDI- BKCT EVIDENCE \V HIT'S CELEBRATED SPEECH BLENNEKIIASSETT'B DIARY DECISION OP TIIE CHIEF JUSTICE THE VEKDICT LETTER OF THEODOSIA'S THE TRIAL FOE MISDEMEANOR l!rr.i: IN BALTIMORE. THE court met on the 3d of August. Present, the same judges as before. Present, the same counsel. Present, an equal throng of auditors flushed with expectation. Present, more than one hundred and forty witnesses, and a panel of forty-eight jurors. Blennerhassett had arrived, and was in prison. Burr had been brought from his " country house" to a building in the city near the court-room, where he was guarded vigilantly, night and day. He entered the court- room accompanied by his son-in-law, Governor Alston, of South Carolina, and exhibited all his wonted serenity of man- ner. Fourteen days elapsed before the jury were sworn. Some of these days were wasted in waiting for the arrival of wit- nesses, but most of them were consumed in attempting to find among the mass of jurors twelve who had not formed and ex- pressed &n opinion of the prisoner's guilt. One man confessed to having said that any one who did what Colonel Burr had done ought to be hung. Another had expressed the opinion that Colonel Burr had done something wrong, and seduced Blen- ncrliassett into it; but that he (Burr) was so " sensible" a man, that if there was any hole left he would creep out of it. An- other had long thought that the prisoner was a very bad man. Another believed him guilty of treasonable intention, but had doubts whether an overt act had been committed, because he 484 LIFE OP AARON BURR. believed Colonel Burr to be a man of such " deep intrigue as never to jeopardize his own life until thousands fell before him." Another said that his bad opinion of Colonel Burr had been confirmed by what he had heard from his own lips in court. With one of the panel, the prisoner had the following conver- sation in open court : "Have the rumors (mentioned by the juror) excited a prej- udice in your mind against me ?" asked Colonel Burr. " I have no prejudice for or against you," was the reply. Mr. Botts asked, " Are you a freeholder ?" "Yes," said the juror; "I have two patents for land." " Are you worth three hundred dollars?" inquired one of the counsel. " Yes ; I have a house here worth the half of it." " Have you another at home," inquired one of the counsel, jocosely, " to make up the other half?" A general titter followed this question, which nettled the gentleman. " Yes," said he, " four of them." Then, turning to the spectators, he continued, " I am surprised that they should be in so much terror of me. Perhaps my name may be a terror, for my first name is HAMILTON !" " That remark," said Colonel Burr, with memorable dig- nity, " is a sufficient cause for objecting to him. I challenge him peremptorily." And this was his only peremptory chal- lenge. In short, out of the whole venire of forty-eight, but four men were found whose opinions were sufficiently undecided to admit of their acceptance as jurors; and of those four, all but one admitted that they had been prejudiced against the prisoner. A second venire of forty-eight were summoned ; all of whom, it was soon discovered, had formed unfavorable opinions. An attempt was made by the counsel for the de- fense to quash the trial, for the simple reason that an impar- tial jury could not be obtained, and the law requires that every prisoner shall be tried by an impartial jury. At length, the prisoner was allowed to select eight jurors from the last venire to add to the four obtained from the first. Some even of these confessed to being decidedly prejudiced, confessed to having THE TEIAL. 485 warmly denounced the prisoner on many occasions. They were accepted, however, and sworn, on the 17th of the month. Proclamation was then made in the usual form. The pris- oner stood up, while the indictment was read. Mr. Hay then rose and opened the case with a speech of great length, in which he discoursed upon the nature of treason ; and, briefly, upon the treason committed by the prisoner at the bar. It would be proved, he said, that the prisoner meant to take New Orleans, and that the proceedings at Blennerhassett Island were the beginning of the execution of that scheme. Much more would be proved, but that alone was enough to convict the prisoner of treason. He concluded by bestowing a swell- ing panegyric upon General Wilkinson, as the saviour of the American people from the horrors of civil war. General Eaton was the first witness called. He appeared and was sworn, when Colonel Burr objected to that order of examining witnesses. General Eaton was called, he said, to prove treasonable intentions, before it had been proved that any overt act of treason had been committed. No testimony of that kind, he contended, was admissible until the overt act had been established. This question was argued in an earnest and able manner by the counsel on both sides, for several hours, Luther Martin distinguishing himself by his familiar- ity with precedents and authorities. The day was consumed in this critical debate. On the following morning, the court gave its decision, as follows : " So far as General Eaton's testi- mony relates to the fact charged in the indictment, so far as it relates to levying war on Blennerhassett's Island, so far as it relates to a design to seize on New Orleans, or to separate by force the western from the Atlantic States, it is deemed rele- vant and is now admissible ; so far as it respects other plans to be executed in the city of Washington, or elsewhere, if it indicate a treasonable design, it is a design to commit a distinct act of treason, and is therefore not relevant to the present in dictment." Eaton was then placed upon the stand, and examined at length. He was permitted to tell his story in his own way, 486 LIFE OF AAEON BURK. with little interruption. As it was Eaton's evidence which had most to do with convincing the public of Burr's own day that he was a traitor of the deepest dye, it is thought due to truth and to Aaron Burr, that the whole of that evidence should here be given. I omit only a passage in which the witness wandered from Burr to Barbary, and descanted upon the disappointments and wrongs he had endured in that part of the world. "During the winter of 1805-6," he began, "Aaron Bun- signified to me that he was organizing a military expedition to be moved against the Spanish provinces, on the south-western frontiers of the United States: I understood under the author- ity of the general government. From our existing controver- sies with Spain, and from the tenor of the President's com- munications to both Houses of Congress, a conclusion was naturally drawn, that war with that power was inevitable. I had just then returned from the coast of Africa, and having been for many years employed on our frontier, or a coast more barbarous and obscure, I was ignorant of the estimation in which Colonel Burr was held by his country. The dis- tinguished rank he held in society, and the strong marks of confidence which he had received from his fellow citizens, did not permit me to doubt his patriotism. As a military char- acter, I had been made acquainted with none within the Uni- ted States, under whose direction a soldier might with greater security confide his honor than Colonel Burr. In case of my country's being involved in a war, I should have thought it my duty to obey so honorable a call, as was proposed to me. Under impressions like these, I did engage to embark myself in the enterprise, and pledged myself to Colonel Burr's confi dence. At several interviews, it appeared to be his intention to convince me by maps and other documents, of the feasi bility of penetrating to Mexico. At length, from certain indis- tinct expressions and innuendoes, I admitted a suspicion that Colonel Burr had other projects. He used strong expressions of reproach against the administration of the government : accused them of want of character, want of energy, and want of gratitude. He seemed desirous of irritating my resent- THE TRIAL. 487 mont by dilating on certain injurious strictures I had received on the floor of Congress, on account of certain transactions on the coast of Tripoli ; and also on the delays in adjusting my accounts for advances of money on account of the United States ; and talked of pointing out to me modes of honorable indemnity. " I listened to Colonel Burr's mode of indemnity : and as I had by this time began to suspect that the military expedition he had on foot was unlawful, I permitted him to believe my- self resigned to his influence, that I might understand the ex- tent and motive of his arrangements. Colonel Burr now laid open his project of revolutionizing the territory west of the Alleghany ; establishing an independent empire there ; New Orleans to be the capital, and he himself to be the chief; or- ganizing a military force on the waters of the Mississippi, and carrying conquest to Mexico. After much conversation, which I do not particularly recollect, respecting the feasibility of the project, as was natural, I stated impediments to his operations; such as the republican habits of the citizens of that country, their attachment to the present administration of the govern- ment, the want of funds, the opposition he would experience from the regular army of the United States stationed on that frontier, and the resistance to be expected from Miranda, in case he should succeed in republicanizing the Mexicans. Col- onel Burr appeared to have no difficulty in removing these obstacles. He stated to me, that he had in person (I think the preceding season), made a tour through that country ; that he had secured to his interests, and attached to his per- son (I do not recollect the exact expression, but the meaning, and, I believe, the words were), the most distinguished citi- zens of Tennessee, Kentucky, and the Territory of Orleans ; that he had inexhaustible resources and funds; that the army of the United States would act with him; that it would be re- inforced by ten or twelve thousand men from the above-men- tioned States and Territory ; that he had powerful agents in the Spanish territory, and ' as for Miranda,' said Mr. Burr, facetiously, ' we must hang Miranda.' In the course of sev- eral conversations on this subject, lie proposed to give me a 438 LIFE OF AAEON BUEE. distinguished command in his army ; I understood him to say, the second command. I asked him who would command in chief. He said, General Wilkinson. I observed, that it was singular he should count upon General "Wilkinson ; the dis- tinguished command and high trust he held under govern- ment, as the commander-in-chief of our army, and as governor of a province, he would not be apt to put at hazard for any prospect of precarious aggrandizement. Colonel Burr stated that General Wilkinson balanced in the confidence of his country ; that it was doubtful whether he would much longei retain the distinction and confidence he now enjoyed ; and that he was prepared to secure to himself a permanency. 1 asked Colonel Burr if he knew General Wilkinson. He said, yes ; and echoed the question. I told him that twelve years ago I was at the same time a captain in the wing of the legion of the United States, which General Wilkinson commanded, his acting brigade-major, and aid-de-camp, and that I thought I knew him well. He asked me, what I knew of General Wil- kinson. I said, I knew General Wilkinson would act as lieu- tenant to no man in existence. ' You are in an error,' saic Mr. Burr, ' Wilkinson will act as lieutenant to me.' From tht tenor of much conversation on this subject, I was prevailed on to believe that the plan of revolution meditated by Colonel Burr, and communicated to me, had been concerted with General Wilkinson, and would have his cooperation ; for Col- onel Burr repeatedly, and very confidently expressed his be- lief, that the influence of General Wilkinson with his army, the promise of double pay and rations, the ambition of his officers, and the prospect of plunder and military achieve- ments, would bring the army generally into the measure. I pass over here a conversation which took place between Colonel Burr and myself respecting a central revolution, as it is decided to be irrelevant by the opinion of the bench." "Mr. HAY. You allude to a revolution for overthrowing the government at Washington, and of revolutionizing the eastern States." " I was passing over that to come down to the period when THE TRIAL. 489 I supposed he had relinquished that design, and adhered to the project of revolutionizing the West." " Mr. WICKHAM. What project do you mean ?" "A central general revolution. I was thoroughly con- vinced myself that such a project was already so far organ- ized as to be dangerous, and that it would require an effort to suppress it. For in addition to positive assurances that Colo- nel Burr had of assistance and cooperation, he said that the vast extent of territory of the United States, west of the Al leghany mountains, which offered to adventurers, with a view- on the mines of Mexico, would bring volunteers to his standard from all quarters of the Union. The situation which these communications, and the impressions they made upon me, placed me in, was peculiarly delicate. I had no overt act to produce against Colonel Burr. He had given me nothing upon paper ; nor did I know of any person in the vicinity who had received similar communications, and whose testimony might support mine. He had mentioned to me no person as principally and decidedly engaged with him but General Wil- kinson ; a Mr. Alston, who, I afterward learned, was his son- in-law ; and a Mr. Ephraim Kibby, who, I learned, was late a captain of rangers in Wayne's army. Of General Wilkinson, Burr said much, as I have stated ; of Mr. Alston, very little, but enough to satisfy me that he was engaged in the project ; and of Kibby, he said that he was brigade-major in the vicin- ity of Cincinnati (whether Cincinnati in Ohio or in Kentucky, I know not), who had much influence with the militia, and had already engaged the majority of the brigade to which he be- longed, who were ready to march at Mr. Burr's signal. Mr. Burr talked of this revolution as a matter of right, inherent in the people, and constitutional ; a revolution which would rather be advantageous than detrimental to the Atlantic States ; a revolution which must eventually take place ; and for the operation of which the present crisis was peculiarly favorable. He said there was no energy to be dreaded in the general government, and his conversations denoted a confi- dence that his arrangements were so well made that he should meet with no opposition at New Orleans, for the army and 490 LIFE OF A.AEON BUKR. chief citizens of that place were now ready to receive him. On the solitary ground upon which I stood, I was at a loss how to conduct myself, though at no loss as respected my duty. I durst not place my lonely testimony in the balance against the weight of Colonel Burr's character ; for by turning the tables upon me, which I thought any man, capable of such a project, was very capable of doing, I should sink under the weight. ! resolved therefore with myself to obtain the re- moval of Mr. Burr from this country in a way honorable to him ; and on this I did consult him, without his knowing my motive. Accordingly, I waited on the President of the United States, and after a desultory conversation, in which I aimed to draw his view to the westward, I took the liberty of suggesting to the President that I thought Colonel Burr ought to be removed from the country, because I considered him dangerous in it. The President asked where we should send him ? Other places might have been mentioned, but I believe that Paris, London, and Madrid, were the places which were particularly named. The President, without positive ex- pression (in such a matter of delicacy), signified that the trust was too important, and expressed something like a doubt about the integrity of Mr. Burr. I frankly told the President that perhaps no person had stronger grounds to suspect that integrity than I. had ; but that I believed his pride of ambition had so predominated over his other passions, that when placed on an eminence, and put on his honor, a respect to himself would secure his fidelity. I perceived that the subject was disagreeable to the President, and to bring him to my point in the shortest mode, and at the same time point to the dan- ger, I said to him that I expected that we should in eighteen months have an insurrection, if not a revolution, on the waters of the Mississippi. The President said he had too much con- fidence in the information, the integrity, and attachment to the Union of the citizens of that country, to admit any appre- hensions of that kind. The circumstance of no interrogatories being made to me, I thought imposed silence upon me at that time and place. Here, sir, I beg indulgence to declare my motives for recommending that gentleman to a foreign mission THE TRIAL. 491 at that time ; and in the solemnity with which I stand here, I declare that Colonel Burr was neutral in my feelings ; that it was through no attachment to him that I made that sugges- tion, but to avert a great national calamity which I saw ap- proaching ; to arrest a tempest which seemed lowering in the West ; and to divert into a channel of usefulness those con- summate talents, which were to mount ' the whirlwind and direct the storm.' These, and these only, were my reasons for making that recommendation. "About the time of my having waited on the President, or a little before (I can not however be positive whether before or after), I determined at all events to have some evidence of the integrity of my intentions, and to fortify myself by the ad- vice of two gentlemen, members of the House of Representa- tives, whose friendship and confidence I had the honor long to retain, and in whose wisdom and integrity I had the utmost faith and reliance. I am at liberty to give their names if required. I do not distinctly recollect, but I believe, that I h.-itl a conversation with a Senator on the subject. I devel- oped to them all Mr. Burr's plans. They did not seem much alarmed. " Little more passed between Colonel Burr and myself, rel evant to this inquiry, while I remained at Washington ; yet, though I could perceive symptoms of distrust in him toward me he was solicitous to engage me in his western plans. "I returned to Massachusetts, to my own concerns, and thought no more of Colonel Burr, or his projects, or revolu- tions, until, in October last, a letter was put into my hands at Brumfield, from Mr. Belknap, of Marietta, to T. E. Danielson, of Brumfield, stating that Mr. Burr had contracted for boats which were building on the Ohio." The cross-examination of this witness elicited nothing of importance. Colonel Burr took care to bring out the fact that General Eaton, who had been clamoring in vain for a set- tlement of his accounts for many months, was paid the sum of ten thousand dollars a few weeks after making the deposi- tion respecting his conversation with Burr. That deposition appeared during the delirium of the public mind in January, 492 LIFE OF AARON BURR. while Congress was debating the suspension of the Habeas Corpus, and Avhile the military companies of New York, Phil- adelphia, Baltimore, and Boston were offering their services to the President in defense of a country supposed to be threat- ened, at once by foreign and domestic foes. Colonel Burr, by a quiet question or two, also called attention to the absurd- ity of a man's setting up for a patriot who tried to induce the President to promote a traitor to high and responsible office, and who, cognizant of that traitor's fell designs, could go home and think no more about them ! Nothing but the ex- citement which prevailed in the spring of 1807 could have blinded people to the palpable and gross irreconcilabilities of Eaton's testimony. Commodore Truxton was the next witness. He testified that Colonel Burr had explained to him his designs upon Mexico, and his intention to settle the lands on the Washita, and had invited him to join ; but he had declined. "I asked him," said the commodore, "if the executive were privy to or concerned in the project. He answered, emphatically, that he was NOT." The following is part of Commodore Truxton's testimony : Truxton. Colonel Burr said, that after the Mexican expe- dition, he intended to provide a formidable navy, at the head of which he intended to place me : that he intended to estab- lish an independent government, and give liberty to an en- slaved world. I declined his propositions to me at first, because the President was not privy to the project. He asked me the best mode of attacking the Havana, Cartha- gena, and La Vera Cruz ; but spoke of no particular force. Question by Colonel Burr. Do you not recollect my tell- ing you of the propriety of private expeditions, undertaken by individuals in case of war ; and that there had been such in the late war, and that there is no legal restraint on such expeditions ? Mr. Hay objected to this question as improper. Colonel Burr insisted on its propriety, and that the gentle- men for the prosecution had set an example far beyond it. Commodore Truxton answered You said that Wilkinson, THE TEIAL. 493 the army, and many of the officers of the navy would join, and you spoke highly of Lieutenant Jones. Colonel Burr. Were we not on terms of intimacy ? Was there any reserve on my part, in our frequent conversations? and did you ever hear me express any intention or sentiment respecting a division of the Union ? Answer. We were very intimate. There seemed to be no reserve on your part. I never heard you speak of a division of the Union. Colonel Burr. Did I not state to you that the Mexican expedition would be very beneficial to this country ? Answer. You did. Colonel Burr. Had you any serious doubt as to my inten- tion to settle those lands ? Answer. So far from that, I was astonished at the intelli- gence of your having different views, contained in news- papers received from the western country, after you went thither.* Peter Taylor, formerly a gardener on Blennerhassett Island, was next examined. The only part of his evidence which threw light on the case, was a conversation which had taken place between himself and Blennerhassett in October, 1806. About that time, said Taylor, Blennerhassett " began to in- quire for young men that had rifles; good, orderly men, that * It is right to add that Commodore Truxton's evidence is confirmed by General Adair, who was thoroughly possessed of Burr's real designs. Adair was not examined on the trial, but he wrote, in March, 1807, the following statement: "So far as I know or believe of the intentions of Colonel Burr (and my enemies will agree I am not ignorant on this subject), they were to prepare and lead an expedition into Mexico, predicated on a war between the two governments ; without a war he knew he could do nothing. On this war taking place he calculated with certainty, as well from the policy of the measure at this time as from the positive assurances of Wilkinson, who seemed to have the power to force it in his own hands. This continued to be the object of Colonel Burr until he heard of the venal and shameful bar- gain made by Wilkinson at the Sabine river ; this information he received soon after the attempt to arrest him in Frankfort. He then turned his atten- tion altogether toward strengthening himself on the Washita, and waiting a more Civorable crisis." 494 LIFE OP AAKON BUEB. would be conformable to order and discipline. He allowed that Colonel Burr and he and a few of his friends, kad bought eight hundred thousand acres of land, and they wanted young men to settle it. He said he would give any young man who would go down the river one hundred acres of land, plenty of grog and victuals while going down the river, and three months' provisions after they had got to the end ; every young man must have his rifle and blanket. I agreed to go myself, if I could carry my wife and family, but he said he must have further consultation upon that. When I got home I began to think, and asked him, Avhat kind of seed we should carry with us ? He said we did not want any, the people had seeds where we were going. I urged that subject to him sev- eral times ; at last he made a sudden pause, and said, ' I will tell you what, Peter, we are going to take Mexico ; one of the finest and richest places in the whole world.' He said that Colonel Burr would be the king of Mexico, and Mrs. Alston, daughter of Colonel Burr, was to be the queen of Mexico, whenever Colonel Burr died. He said that Colonel Burr had made fortunes for many in his time, but none for himself; but now he was going to make something for himself. lie said that he had a great many friends in the Spanish territory ; no less than two thousand Roman Catholic priests were engaged, and that all their friends too would join, if once he could get to them ; that the Spaniards, like the French, had got dissatis- fied with their government, and wanted to swap it. He told me that the British also were friends in this piece of business, and that he should go to England, on this piece of business, for Colonel Burr. He asked me if I would not like to go to England. I said I should certainly like to see my friends there, but would wish to go for nothing else. I then asked him what was to become of the men who were going to settle the lands he talked about ? Were they to stop at the Red River, or to go on ? He said, ' O, by God, I tell you, Peter, every man that will not conform to order and discipline, I will stab ; you'll see how I'll fix them ;' that when he got them far enough down the river, if they did not conform to order and discipline, he swore by God he'd stab them. I was aston- THE TBIAL. 495 ished : I told him I was no soldier, and could not fight. He said it made no odds ; he did not want me to fight ; he wanted me to go and live with Mrs Blenncrhassett and the children, either at Natchez, or some other place, while he went on the expedition. I talked to him again, and told him the people had got it into their heads that he wanted to divide the Union. He said Colonel Burr and he could not do it them- selves. All they could do was to tell the people the conse- quence of it. He said the people there paid the government upward of four hundred thousand dollars a year, and never received any benefit from it. He allowed it would be a very fine thing if they could keep that money among themselves on this side the mountains, and make locks, and build bridges, and cut roads." The witness further testified that he had never chanced to see Colonel Burr on the island, and that the preparations made there for the expedition were merely the drying of corn and the packing of provisions. There was no " warlike array." The Morgans, father and two sons, were then examined. They testified as stated in the former chapter. Jacob Allbright was next called, and led off thus: "The first I knew of this business was, I was hired on the island to help to build a kiln for drying corn ; and after working some time, Mrs. Blennerhassett told me that Mr. Blennerha. tt and Colonel Burr were going to lay in provisions for an army for a year. I went to the mill, where I carried the corn to be ground after it had been dried. I worked four weeks in that business on the island. Last fall (or in September), after Blennerhassett had come home (he had been promising me cash for some time), I slept up to him. He had no money at the time ; but would pay me next day, or soon. Says he, 'Mr. Allbright, you are a Dutchman.' But he asked me first and ibremost, whether I would not join with him and go down the river ? I told him I did not know what they were xipon ; and he said, ' Mr. Allbright, we are going to settle a lu-w country.' And I gave him an answer that I would not like to leave my family. He said he did not want any fami- lies to go along with him. Then he said to me, ' You are a 496 LIFE OF AARON BUKB. Dutchman, and a common man ; and as the Dutch are apt to be scared by high men, if you'll go to Xew Lancaster, where the Dutch live, and get me twenty Or thirty to go with us, I will give you as many dollars.' New Lancaster was some dis- tance off. I went home then, and gave him no answer upon that. In a few days after the boats came and landed at the island. The snow was about two or three inches deep, and I went out a hunting. I \vas on the Ohio side ; I met t\vo men ; I knew they belonged to the boats, but I wanted to find out ; and they asked me whether I had not given my consent to go along with Blennerhassett down the river ? As we got into a conversation together, they named themselves Colonel Burr's men, belonging to the boats, landed at the island. When they asked me whether I had not consented to go down with Blennerhassett, I put a question to them. I told them I did not know what they were about ; and one of the gentle- men told me they were going to take a silver mine from the Spanish. I asked the gentlemen whether they would not allow that this would raise war with America ? They replied, no. They were only a few men ; and if they went with a good army, they would give up the country, and nothing more said about it. These men showed me what tine rifles they had going down the river with them." The witness testified further that the men assembled on the island were armed with rifles and pistols, according to the custom of the country. There were no bayonets; no un- usual store of powder or bullets ; no military drill or organi- zation. Blennerhassett's groom gave similar testimony. The build- ing of the boats and the purchase of provisions were proved by the persons concerned in those transactions. Dudley Wood- bridge, partner and agent of Bleunerhassett, testified, that that gentleman was worth, excjusive of his island and his five negroes, not more than seventeen thousand dollars ; that he was totally unacquainted with military affairs ; that he was so short-sighted as not to be able to distinguish a man from a horse at the distance of ten paces ; and that the greater part of the expense incurred in buying the provisions and THE TRIAL. 497 building the boats, was paid, not by Blennerhasset, but by Burr. The evidence of the alleged overt act here rested. It is rot necessary to say that no overt act had been proved ; nothing like an act of treason had been proved. The prose- cution being now about to introduce evidence collateral and indirect, the counsel for the defense objected. Here they had resolved to take a position, and try all the resources of their talents, their learning, and their powers of endurance, in resist- ing the introduction of one word more of testimony, unless to prove the overt act. It was the 20th of August (and the seventeenth day of the trial) when the debate on this ques- tion began, and it lasted nine days. It was, doubtless, the finest display of legal knowledge and ability of which the his- tory of the American bar can boast. The report of it fills a large volume. It all turns upon the simple question so often stated, whether, until the fact of a crime is proved, any thing may be heard respecting the guilty intention of the person accused. The counsel for the defense contended, first, that no overt act had been committed ; and, secondly, that if an overt act had been committed, the evidence pointed to Blennerhassett as the principal, and to Burr only as a possible accessory. Wickham, Martin, Hay, Randolph, Botts, MacRae, all won honor in this keen encounter ; but as they confined themselves chiefly to the law of the question, and aimed solely to con- vince the clear-headed judge who was to decide it, their speeches are not interesting, nor always intelligible to the un- professional reader. In the popular view, William Wirt was the hero of the occasion. One famous passage in one of his speeches in this debate, has obtained the last honors of Amer- ican literature it has got into the school-books, and is de- claimed on exhibition days. Perhaps nothing ever written about Aaron Burr has done more to make and keep him odi- ous than this piece of fluent, sounding rhetoric. Familiar as it is to many readers, whom it has aided to carry off the hon- ors of the platform, it must be printed here once more ; au J printed entire. 498 LIFE OF AARON BURR. " Having shown, I think," said Mr. Wirt, " on the ground of law, that the prisoner can not be considered as an accessory, let me press the inquiry, whether on the ground of reason he be a principal or an accessory ; and remember that his project was to seize New Orleans, separate the Union, and erect an independent empire in the West, of which he was to be the chief. This was the destination of the plot, and the con- clusion of the drama. Will any man say that Blennerhassett was the principal, and Burr but an accessory ? Who will be- lieve that Bun-, the author and projector of the plot, who raised the forces, who enlisted the men, and who procured the funds for carrying it into execution, was made a cat's paw of? Will any man believe that Burr, who is a soldier, bold, ardent, restless, and aspiring, the great actor, whose brain conceived, and whose hand brought the plot into operation, that he should sink down into an accessory, and that Blennerhas-ett should be elevated into a principal ? He would startle at once at the thought. Aaron Burr, the contriver of the whole conspiracy, to everybody concerned in it was as the sun to the planets which surround him. Did he not bind them in their respective orbits and give them their light, their heat, and their motion? Yet he is to be considered an accessory, and Blennerhassett is to be the principal ! "Let us put the case between Burr and Blennerhassett. Let us compare the two men and settle this question of prece- dence between them. It may savo a good deal of troublesome ceremony hereafter. " Who Aaron Burr is, we have seen in part already. I will add, that beginning his operations in New York, he associates with him men whose wealth is to supply the necessary funds. Possessed of the main spring, his personal labor contrives all the machinery. Pervading the continent from New York to New Orleans, he draws into his plan, by every allurement which he can contrive, men of all ranks and descriptions. To youthful ardor he presents danger and glory ; to ambition, rank, and titles, and honors; to avarice, the mines of Mexico. To each person whom he addresses he presents the object udapted to his taste. His recruiting officers are appointed. THE TRIAL. 499 Men are engaged throughout the continent. Civil life is in- deed quiet upon its surface, but in its bosom this man lias con- trived to deposit the materials which, with the slightest touch of his match, produce an explosion to shake the continent. All this his restless ambition has contrived ; and in the autumn of 1806 he goes forth for the last time to apply this match. On his occasion he meets with Blennerhassett. ' Who is Blennerhassett ? A native of Ireland, a man of let- ters, Avho fled from the storms of his own country to find quiet in ours. His history shows that war is not the natural element of his mind. If it had been, he never would have exchanged Ireland for America. So far is an army from furnishing the society natural and proper to Mr. Blennerhassett's character, that on his arrival in America, he retired even from the popu- lation of the Atlantic States, and sought quiet and solitude in the bosom of our western forests. But he carried with him taste, and science, and wealth; and lo, the desert smiled! Pos- sessing himself of a beautiful island in the Ohio, he rears upon it a palace and decorates it with every romantic embellishment of fancy. A shrubbery, that Shenstone might have envied, blooms around him. Music, that might have charmed Calypso and her nymphs, is his. An extensive library spreads its treas- ures before him. A philosophical apparatus offers to him all the secrets and mysteries of nature. Peace, tranquillity, and innocence shed their mingled delights around him. And to crown the enchantment of the scene, a wife, who is said to be lovely even beyond her sex, and graced Avith every accomplish- ment that can render it irresistible, had blessed him with her love and made him the father of several children. The evi- dence would convince you that this is but a faint picture of the real life. In the midst of all this peace, this innocent sim- plicity and this tranquillity, this feast of the mind, this pure banquet of the heart, the destroyer comes ; he comes to change this paradise into a hell. Yet the flowers do not wither at his approach. No monitory shuddering through the bosom of their unfortunate possessor warns him of the ruin that is coin- in fj upon him. A stranger presents himself. Introduced to their civilities by the high rank which he had lately held in his 600 LIFE OF AAEON BURK. country, he soon finds his way to their hearts, by the dignity and elegance of his demeanor, the light and beauty of his con- versation, and the seductive and fascinating power of his ad- dress. The conquest was not difficult. Innocence is ever sim- ple and credulous. Conscious of no design itself, it suspects none in others. It wears no guard before its breast. Every door and portal and avenue of the heart is thrown open, and all who choose it enter. Such was the state of Eden when the serpent entered its bowers. The prisoner, in a more engaging form, winding himself into the open and unpracticed heart of the unfortunate Blennerhassett, found but little difficulty in changing the native character of that heart and the objects of its affection. By degrees he infuses into it the poison of his own ambition. He breathes into it the fire of his own courage; a daring and desperate thirst for glory ; an ardor panting for great enterprises, for all the storm, and bustle, and hurricane of life. In a short time the whole man is changed, and every object of his former delight is relinquished. No more he en- joys the tranquil scene : it has become flat and insipid to his taste. His books are abandoned. His retort and crucible are thrown aside. His shrubbery blooms and breathes its fra- grance upon the air in vain : he likes it not. His ear no longer drinks the rich melody of music ; it longs for the trumpet's clangor and the cannon's roar. Even the prattle of his babes, once so sweet, no longer affects him ; and the angel smile of his wife, which hitherto touched his bosom with ecstacy so un- speakable, is now unseen and unfelt. Greater objects have taken possession of his soul. His imagination has been dazzled by visions of diadems, of stars and garters, and titles of nobil- ity. He has been taught to burn with restless emulation at the names of great heroes and conquerors. His enchanted island is destined soon to relapse into a wilderness ; and in a few months we find the beautiful and tender partner of his bosom whom he lately ' permitted not the winds of' summer ' to visit too roughly,' we find her shivering at midnight, on the winter banks of the Ohio, and mingling her tears with the torrents, that froze as they fell. Yet this unfortunate man, thus deluded from his interest and his happiness, thus seduced THE TBIAL. 501 from the paths of innocence and peace, thus confounded in the toils that were deliberately spread for him and overwhelmed by the mastering spirit and genius of another this man, thus ruined and undone, and made to play a subordinate part in this grand drama of guilt and treason this man is to be called the principal offender, while Ae, by whom he was thus plunged in misery, is comparatively innocent, a mere accessory ! Is this reason? Is it law? Is it humanity? Sir, neither the human heart nor the human understanding will bear a perversion so monstrous and absurd ! so shocking to the soul ! so revolting to reason ! Let Aaron Burr then not shrink from the high destination which he has courted, and having already ruined Blennerhassett in fortune, character, and happiness for ever, let him not attempt to finish the tragedy by thrusting that ill- fated man between himself and punishment. "Upon the whole, sir, reason declares Aaron Burr the prin- cipal in this crime, and confirms herein the sentence of the law ; and the gentleman, in saying that his offense is of a derivative and accessorial nature, begs the question and draws his con- clusions from what, instead of being conceded, is denied. It is clear from what has been said, that Burr did not derive his guilt from the men on the island, but imparted his own guilt to them ; that he is not an accessory, but a principal ; and therefore, that there is nothing in the objection which demands a record of their conviction before we shall go on with our proof against him." In curious contrast with this oration is a passage in a letter from Mrs. Blennerhassett to her husband, written on the 3d of August, which he received during the debate of which Mr. Will's brilliant fiction was a part. He might, indeed, have been reading it at the very moment that Wirt was in the full flow of his oratorical romance. " Apprise Colonel Burr," she wrote, " of my warmest acknowledgments, for his own and Mrs. Alston's kind remembrance ; and tell him to assure her she has inspired me with a warmth of attachment which never can diminish. I wish him to urge her to write to me." In contrast only less striking is the diary of Mr. Blenner- hassett, which he kept during the trial, while he was in con- 502 LIFE OF AARON BUKE. finement. When Blem;erhassett wrote the passages about to be quoted, he was already in dispute with Burr and with Als- ton respecting the proper apportionment of their common pe- cuniary loss. Yet he could write of him in terms like these : " The vivacity of Burr's wit, and the exercise of his proper talents, now constantly solicited here, (at Richmond) in pri- vate and public exhibition, while they display his powers and address at the levee and the bar, must engross more of his time than he can spare from the demands of other gratifica- tions; while they display him to the eager eyes of the multi- tude, like a favorite gladiator, measuring over the arena of his fame with firm step and manly grace, the pledges of easy victory." ******:* "I visited Burr this morning. He is as gay as usual, and as busy in speculations on reorganizing his projects for action as if he had never suffered the least interruption. He ob- served to Major Smith and me, that in six months our schemes could be all remounted ; that we could now new model them .in a better mold than formerly, having a better view of the ground, and a more perfect knowledge of our men. We were silent. It should yet be granted, that if Burr possessed sen- sibility of the right sort, with one hundredth part of the en- ergies for which, with many, he has obtained such ill-grounded credit, his first and last determination, with the morning and the night, should be the destruction of those enemies who have so long and cruelly wreaked their malicious vengeance on him." ****** " I was glad to find Burr had at last thought of asking us to dine with him, as I was rather curious again to see him shine in a partie quarrie, consisting of new characters. We therefore walked with him from court ; Luther Martin, who lives with him, accompanying us. The dinner was neat, and followed by three or four sorts of wine. Splendid poverty ! During the chit-chat, after the cloth was removed, a letter was handed to Burr, next to whom I sat. I immediately smelt musk. Burr broke the seal, put the cover to his nose, THE TRIAL. 503 and then handed it to me, saying 'This amounts to a dis- closure.' I smelled the paper, and said, ' I think so.' The whole physiognomy of the man now assumed an alteration and vivacity tliat, to a stranger who had never seen him be- fore, would have sunk full fifteen years of his age. ' Tins,' said he, 'reminds me of a detection very neatly practiced upon me in Xew York.' (He then related the story of the musk-scented note, given in a former chapter.) ****** "After some time Martin and Prevost withdrew, and we passed to the topics of our late adventures on the Mississippi) in which Burr said little, but declared he did not know of any reason to blame General Jackson, of Tennessee, for any thing he had done or omitted. But he declares he will not lose a day after the favorable issue at the capitol (his acquittal), of which he has no doubt, to direct his entire attention to set- ting up his projects (which have only been suspended) on a better model, ' in which work,' he says, ' he has even here made some progress.' " *****# " I have seen a complete file of all the depositions, made before the grand jury, in Burr's possession. It must be con- fessed that few other men, in his circumstances^ could have procured these documents out of the custody of offices filled by his inveterate enemies. Burr asserted, to-day^ in court, that he expected documents that would disqualify Eaton as a witness." ***** x " As we were chatting, after dinner, in staggered the whole rear-guard of Burr's forensic army I mean, the celebrated Luther Martin, who yesterday concluded his fourteen hours' speech. His visit was to Major Smith, but he took me by the hand, saying there was no need of an introduction. I was too much interested by the little I had seen, and the great things I had heard, of this man's powers and passions, not to improve the present opportunity to survey him in every light the length of his visit would permit. I accordingly recom- mended our brandy as superior, placing a pint-tumbler before 504 LIFE OF AAEON BURR. him. No ceremonies retarded the libation ; no inquiries so- licited him upon any subject, till apprehensions of his with- drawing suggested some topic to quiet him on his seat. Were I now to mention only the subjects of law, polities, news, et cetera, on which he descanted, I should not be be- lieved, when I said his visit did not exceed thirty-five minutes. Imagine a man capable, in that space of time, to deliver some account of an entire week's proceedings in the trial, with ex- tracts from memory of several speeches on both sides, includ- ing long ones from his own ; to recite half columns verbatim of a series of papers, of which he said he is the author ; to caricature Jeiferson ; to give a history of his acquaintance Avith Burr ; expatiate on his virtues and sufferings, maintain his credit, embellish his fame, and intersperse the whole with sententious reprobations and praises of several other charac- ters ; some estimate, with these preparations, may be formed of this man's powers, which are yet shackled by a preternat- ural secretion or excretion of saliva which embarrasses his de- livery. In this, his manner is rude, and his language ungram- matical ; which is cruelly aggravated upon his hearers, by the verbosity and repetition of his style. With the warmest pas- sions, that hurry him, like a torrent, over those characters or topics that lie most in the way of their course, he has, by practice, acquired the faculty of curbing his feelings, which he never suffers to charge the 'enemy till broken by the superior numbers of his arguments and authorities, by which he always out-flanks him, when he lets loose the reserve upon the center, with redoubled impetuosity. Yet fancy has been denied to his mind, or grace to his person or habits. These are gross, and incapable of restraint, even upon the most solemn public occasions. This is, at all times, awkward and disgusting. Hence, his invectives are rather coarse than pointed ; his eu- logiums more fulsome than pathetic. In short, every trait of his portrait may be given in one word he is ' the Thersites of the law." 1 " " Wirt spoke very much to engage the fancy of his hearers, to-day, without affecting their understanding. For he can THE TEIAL. 505 not reason upon the facts before him, and can no more con- duct a law argument than I could raise a temple ; as Junius says of the king : ' The feather that adorns him supports his flight ; strip him of his plumage, and you fix him to earth !' " ***** " I called on Burr this morning, when he at last men- tioned to me, during a short tete-a-tete, that he was prepar- ing to go to England ; that the time was now auspicious for him, and he wished to know whether I could give him letters. I answered that I supposed, when he mentioned England, he meant London, as his business would probably be with people in office ; that I knew none of the present ministry, nor did I believe I had a single acquaintance in London. He replied that he meant to visit every part of the country, and would be glad to get letters to any one. I said I would think of it, that I might discover whether I had any friends there whom it would be an object worth his attention to know, and took leave. We can only conjecture his designs. For my part, I am disposed to suspect that he has no serious intent of rerir- ing any of his speculations in America, or even of returning from Europe if he can get there." Thus Blennerhassett. It may as well be further stated, that Blennerhassett was not ruined through his connection with Burr, but by his own indo- lence and folly, aided by Jefferson's embargo, and the war of 1812. After the trial was over he went home to find his shrub- bery that Shenstone might have envied, etc., laid waste by the Vandals of the Ohio river, who had taken advantage of the mas- ter's absence to gratify their abhorrence of elegance and taste. He removed afterward to Mississippi, where he bought a cot- ton plantation of a thousand acres, which his wife managed, and for a while made profitable. But the continuance of the em- bargo, and the war which followed it, depressed the cotton interest, and completed the ruin of the Blennerhassetts. If Blennerhassett had never seen Aaron Burr, he must have run through his fortune in a few years for he was living far beyond his income, and was singularly destitute of the ability to add to his capital. Moreover, he probably lost less in pro- 22 506 LIFE OF AARON BURR. portion to his means than any other of Burr's leading confed- erates. The passage from Mr. Wirt's .speech, which is quoted above, al \vays appealed strongly to Burr's sense of the ridiculous. It was a standing joke with him for the rest of his life. He laughed over the recollection of it a thousand times. In the company of familiar friends, he would repeat the most exag- gerated parts of the speech, and then narrate, with a kind of humorous exactness, the actual facts of his connection with Blennerhassett, which were as different from Wirt's version of them as fact ever is from romantic fiction. But to return to the court-room. On Saturday evening, August 29th, the great debate was concluded in an impressive speech by Mr. Randolph. The court adjourned. On Monday morning, the Chief Justice was ready with his decision, which every one felt would de- cide the case, as well as the motion to exclude further testi- mony. An overt act had certainly not been shown ; and if the prosecution were debarred from adding testimony show- ing criminal intention, the case must go at once to the jury, who could not hesitate a moment to acquit the prisoner. The breathless interest with which the bar, the prisoner, and the auditors, listened to the great judge's clear and cogent reas- oning, may be imagined. " The question now to be decided," he began, "has been argued in a manner worthy of its importance, and with an earnestness evincing the strong conviction felt by the counsel on each side that the law is with them. A degree of elo- quence seldom displayed on any occasion, has embellished a solidity of argument and a depth of research, by which the court has been greatly aided in forming the opinion it is about to deliver*". With this brief introduction, he proceeded at once to grapple with the subject, and discussed it in so mas- terly a manner, that one ignorant of law may read the de- cision still with interest, and pleasure, merely as an essay on the nature and evidence of treason. The reading lasted nearly three hours. As he was about to close, the Chief Just- ice alluded to the remarks which had fallen from all the coun THE TRIAL. 507 sel at different times, respecting the political considerations which might sway the mind of a judge in deciding a case like that then before the court. He made this allusion with excel- lent taste and judgment. The reader will peruse with admi ration the closing paragraphs of this celebrated decision. " Much has been said in the course of the argument on O points on which the court feels no inclination to comment par ticularly ; but which may, perhaps, not improperly receivt some notice. " That this court dares not usurp power is most true. That this court dares not shrink from its duty is not less true. No man is desirous of placing himself in a disagreeable situation. No man is desirous of becoming the peculiar subject of cal- umny. No man, might he let the bitter cup pass from him without self-reproach, would drain it to the bottom. But if he have no choice in the case, if there be no alternative pre- sented to him but a dereliction of duty or the opprobrium of those who are denominated the world, he merits the contempt as well as the indignation of his country who can hesitate which to embrace " That gentlemen, in a case the most interesting, in the zeal with which they advocate particular opinions, and under the conviction in some measure produced by that zeal, should on each side press their arguments too far, should be impatient at any deliberation in the court, and should suspect or fear the operation of motives to which alone they can ascribe that de- liberation, is perhaps a frailty incident to human nature ; but if any conduct on the part of the court could warrant a senti- ment that it would deviate to the one side or the other from the line prescribed by duty and by law, that conduct would be viewed by the judges themselves with an eye of extreme severity, and would long be recollected with deep and serious regret. " The arguments on both sides have been intently and de- liberately considered. Those which could not he noticed, since to notice every argument and authority would swell this opinion to a volume, have not been disregarded. The result of the whole is a conviction, as complete as the mind of the u08 LIFE OP A AEON BURK. court is capable of receiving on a complex subject, that the motion must prevail. " No testimony relative to the conduct or declarations of the prisoner elsewhere and subsequent to the transaction on Blennerhassett's Island can be admitted ; because such testi- mony, being in its nature merely corroborative, and incompe- tent to prove the overt act in itself, is irrelevant until there be proof of the overt act by two witnesses. " This opinion does not comprehend the proof by two wit- nesses that the meeting on Blennerhassett's Island was pro- cured by the prisoner. On that point the court for the pres- ent withholds its opinion for reasons which have been already assigned ; and as it is understood from the statements made on the part of the prosecution that no such testimony exists. If there be such, let it be offered ; and the court will decide upon it. "The jury have now heard the opinion of the court on the law of the case. They will apply that law to the facts, and will find a verdict of guilty or not guilty as their own con- sciences may direct." When the judge ceased, and the irrepressible buzz of ex- citement which arose in the court-room had subsided, Mr. Hay requested time for himself and his associates to reflect upon the decision. No one objecting, the court adjourned until the next morning, when Mr. Hay intimated his willing- ness to let the case go to the jury without further remark. The jury retired. In a few minutes, they returned with the following irregular verdict, which was read by the foreman : " We, of the jury, say that Aaron Burr is not proved to be guilty under the indictment by any evidence submitted to us. We, therefore, find him not guilty." Colonel Burr rose and, in a manner more like vehemence than he had before exhibited, protested against the form of the verdict, and demanded that it be rendered in the usual terms. An animated conversation arose, in which prisoner, judge, counsel, and jury, all took part ; and, at length, as some of the jury would not consent to an alteration, the matter was THE TRIAL. 509 compromised by accepting the verdict as rendered, but enter- ing it on the record, simply, " not guilty." A messenger bore the news of the acquittal to Theodosia. While her father was insisting upon his right to a more ample vindication at the hands of the jury, she was writing the intelligence to a dear friend, the wife of one of her mother's sons, in whose family archives it is still preserved. I am per- mitted to copy the part of it which relates to Colonel Burr : " I have this moment received a message from court an- nouncing to me that the jury has brought in a verdict of ac- quittal, and I hasten to inform you of it, my dear, to allay the anxiety which, with even more than your usual sweetness, you have expressed in your letter of the 22d of July. It afflicts me, indeed, to think that you should have suffered so much from sympathy with the imagined state of my feelings for the knowledge of my father's innocence, my ineffable contempt for his enemies, and the elevation of his mind, have kept me above any sensations bordering on depression. In- deed, my father, so far from accepting of sympathy, has con- tinually animated all around him ; it was common to see his desponding friends filled with alarm at some new occurrence, terrified with some new appearance of danger, fly to him in search of encouragement and support, and laughed out of their fears by the subject of them. This I have witnessed every day, and it almost persuaded me that he possessed the secret of repelling danger as well as apprehension. Since my residence here, of which some days and a night were passed in the penitentiary, our little family circle has been a scene of uninterrupted gayety. Thus you see, my lovely sister, this visit has been a real party of pleasure. From many of the first inhabitants I have received the most unremitting and delicate attentions, sympathy, indeed, x>f any I ever experi cnced." The news was received by Mr. Jefferson with very different feelings. He wrote immediately to Mr. Hay, telling him to let no witness depart without taking a copy of his evidence, which, said he, is "ow> more important than ever!" thus in- timating, that the real object of the prosecution was not so 510 LIFE OP AARON BUKR. much to convict Aaron Burr of treason, as to acquit Thomas Jefferson of precipitate and ridiculous credulity. " The crim- inal," continued the President, " is preserved to become the rallying-point of all the disaffected and worthless of the United States, and to be the pivot on which all the intrigues and con- spiracies which foreign governments may wish to disturb us with, are to turn. If he is convicted of the misdemeanor, the judge must in decency give us respite by some short confine- ment of him ; but we must expect it to be very short. Be assured yourself, and communicate the same assurance to your colleagues, that your and their zeal and abilities have been displayed in this affair to my entire satisfaction and your own honor." But the prisoner was not convicted of " the misdemeanor." The day after being acquitted of treason he was released from prison on bail, and the proceedings on the charge of misde- meanor began. Colonel Burr and his counsel contended, in a debate of many hours, that a man can not lawfully be tried twice for the same offense ; and that the verdict of the jury entitled him to a complete discharge. It was decided other- wise, nowevei', and the new trial lingered day after day, week after week, with reams of argument upon every point, until the last week in October. Wilkinson was examined, and told his story. Much has been made by the friends of Burr of Wilkinson's admission that he made certain slight alterations in the cipher-letter, and then swore that his version of it was a true deciphering of the original. The admission may con- demn Wilkinson, but does not exonerate Burr, because the alterations do not affect the general drift of the letter do not affect the fact that Aaron Burr, who plumed himself upon his soldierly honor, tried to induce a soldier to adopt a course of proceeding which was contrary to the known policy of the goverarnent, whose commission he held, and whose uniform he wore. Not hastily would I condemn a man whose errors were expiated as no man's ever were expiated before, and upon whom the craven rhetoricians have delighted to heap oppro- brious epithets. But so much must be admitted : As long as the cipher-letter, as deciphered by the grand jury, exists unex- THE TRIAL. 511 plained, so long must Aaron Burr be denied a place in the catalogue of those who have attempted great enterprises by honorable means alone. lie was acquitted of the charge of misdemeanor, on the ground that the offense was not committed in Virginia, but in Ohio. Burr communicated the result to his daughter, who had returned to South Carolina, in these words : " After all, this is a sort of drawn battle. The Chief Justice gave his opinion on Tuesday. After declaring that there were no grounds of suspicion as to the treason, he directed that Burr and Blennerhassett should give bail in three thousand dollars for further trial in Ohio. This opinion was a matter of regret and surprise to the friends of the Chief Justice, and of ridicule to his enemies all believing that it was a sacrifice of princi- ple to conciliate Jack Cade. Mr. Hay immediately said that lie should advise the government to desist from further prosecution. That he has actually so advised, there is no doubt." Thus, eight months after his arrest in Alabama, and six months after the commencement of his trial at Richmond, he was free once more. The trial had not restored his good name. The ardent Jeffersonians, and all who had any thing to hope from the favor of the administration, denounced him without mercy or moderation the papers in the interest of the government, of course, leading the cry. If the Federal- ists seemed to give him a faint support, it was only because to defend Burr was to disgust Jefferson. He was a ruined man. There was no resource left for him in his own country, even if there was a place in it where his person would be safe. Late in the autumn, he went to Baltimore, where he was entertained in princely style by Luther Martin. Mr. Barney tells an anecdote or two respecting his stay in Baltimore. One day, while he was dining with a large company at Luther .Martin's house, a military company, with a band playing a lively air, passed the house. It was supposed that the com- pany intended to compliment Colonel Burr, who, accordingly rose from the table, threw open the window, and gracefully bowed to them. 512 LIFE OF AARON BURR. " Why, colonel," exclaimed a humorous fellow in the room, " they are playing the Rogue's March, with charged bay- onets !" The windows were quickly closed, the company returned to their wine, and voted the captain of the company to be a very officious individual. "The next day," continues Barney, " strolling down Market-street, arm in arm with my persecu- ted friend, Mr. Hughes overtook us. 'Colonel,' said he, 'pass Light-street without looking down Fountain Inn is sur- rounded by groups of your admiring friends. Captain Fraily is out of uniform to-day, but there is a general desire mani- fested to give you a warm reception in citizens' clothes. You must take your departure without further civil or military honors being conferred upon you.' With his accustomed ce- lerity of action and excellent judgment, the colonel called a hack and jumped into it. " * Colonel, my friend Barney will accompany you. You will have a pleasant drive out to Herron's Run. I will secure a seat in the stage coach, take charge of your baggage, swop you for my friend Barney, bring him home, and send you on your way to rejoice escaping being hustled by a Baltimore mob.' " Colonel Burr intimated that he was too old a soldier to run away, in that manner, from a lawless mob. 'That is all fine bravado,' said Hughes ; ' Barney and I have no desire to shoot down, or be shot by our fellow-citizens. You may throw your life away, colonel, but this bright world has too many attrac- tions for us to throw away ours in defending you, when a pleasant ride of half an hour will save you from danger, and restore us to our affectionate parents.' " He yielded, and was seen no more in Baltimore. CHAPTER XKYII. THE EXILE. HIS RESIDENCE IN ENGLAND. BAILS FOR ENGLAND PARTING WITH THEODOSIA INTERVIEWS WITH CANNING, CASTLE- REAGH, AND Mri.GRAVE THREATENED WITH EXPULSION FROM ENGLAND CLAIMS TO BE A BRITISH SUH.TECT His SUCCESS IN SOCIETY CHARLES LAMB BENTIIAM AxKrnoTK* OF BURR AND BENTIIAM Hie OCCUPATIONS IN LONDON PLANS FOB RETRIEVING HIS FORTUNES SAMUEL SWARTWOUT'S SCHEME BURR'S TOUK IN TUB NORTH A MONTH IN EDLNUUKG THREATENED WITH ARREST. AT that time, as now, British mail-packets sailed from New York and called at Halifax on their way to England. The Clarissa was the packet for June, 1808. Among the twenty- six passengers who overcrowded the cabin of the Clarissa on that voyage, was a silent, reading, gentlemanlike person, who appeared in the passenger list as G. II. Edwards. He occu- pied a third part of a small state-room, and paid sixty guineas for his passage. There was no Mr. Edwards on board when the ship left her wharf at New York, but as she lay at anchor one evening in the lower bay waiting for a fair wind, a pilot- boat swept round her bows, and lay to while a skiff conveyed another passenger to her side. It was known to no one but the captain that this passenger, announced as the expected Mr. Edwards, was Aaron Burr. For a month previous he had been concealed in New York, or its vicinity, at the houses of his friends. His movements during that period were shrouded in mystery. His conduct was that of a man fearing arrest for a capital offense, rather than that of one who had just been acquitted. Theodosia was in the city. Letters passed between the father and daughter daily, in which plans for meeting were discussed with the cau- tion of conspirators. He wrote every note apparently in fear that it would be intercepted. " If we should not meet to-day," 22* 514 LIFE OP AAEON BtTKK. he tells her on one occasion, " I shall write something in which I shall speak of you in the third person, under the name of Anne." During this hurried and anxious month he is still his daugh- ter's tutor and thoughtful adviser. He gently reproves her for not acknowledging the receipt of each article of his last enclosure, and says he thought she was long ago cured of that negligent way of answering a letter. He praises the fortitude with which she supports the agony of the coming separation. He commends her epistolary style. " There is," he says, " a selection, an energy, and aptitude in your expressions, which, to use the vulgar male slang, is not feminine." He tells her, that while he is in Europe he may put her in correspondence with literary characters, and cautions her against taking the tone of one who feels herself flattered by such a correspond- ence. Of all animals, he says, authors are the vainest ; no eulogies of their works can be too gross, or too often repeated. Yet he advises her to be discriminate in her praise, selecting the real merits of a work for remark, which will both prove her discernment and save her sincerity. All such letters, he adds, will be sure at some time or other to get into print. He tenderly prepared her for the last interview, which he feared would be more than she could bear. One whole night, he assures her, they shall be together before the final separa- tion. " Make haste," he said, " to gather strength for the oc- casion ; your efforts on the late interview were wonderful, and God grant they may not have exhausted you !" The dreaded evening arrived. The last words of love, and grief, and hope were spoken; the father tore himself from his daughter's arms, and stole away to the boat that was in waiting to convey him down the harbor to the Long Island shore. Burr used every precaution to conceal his departure. He left with Mrs. Alston the outline of a paragraph to be set afloat in the papers after the ship had sailed, to the effect that on a certain day Colonel Burr, with one Frenchman and two Americans, had passed through a designated place on his way to Canada. He left the city on the 1st of June, but the ship did not sail till the 9th. Those days of waiting he passed on THE EXILE 515 the shores of the harbor, crossing occasionally from Long Isl- and to Staten Island, and visiting such friends in the neigh- borhood as were in his secret. Like a criminal, he fled from the country which had once delighted to honor him from the city in whose counsels his voice had been potential, and of whose society he had been esteemed an ornament. At Halifax he received letters of introduction from Sir George Prevost to his family and friends in England ; also, a passport certifying that " G. H. Edwards was bearer of dis- patches to the Right Honorable Lord Castlereagh, at whose office he was immediately to present himself on his arrival in London." Thirty-five days after leaving New York, the packet anchored in the harbor of Falmouth, and on the 16th of July, 1808, Colonel Burr was in London. On his arrival, he was at once domesticated in the family of the Prevosts, the relatives of his late wife, and of Theodosia. On the very day which brought Colonel Burr within sight of the cliffs of Albion, Joseph Bonaparte entered Madrid as King of Spain. This was the first public news of importance that reached London after Burr's arrival. He must have heard the intelligence with dismay, for a man so acute as he must have discerned that such an event was death, or long postponement, to his dearest hopes. He went to Europe with the design of laying before the cabinet of England, or the Emperor of France, his plans for the independence of Mexico, and of procuring, at least, the authorization of one of them for carrying out his schemes of personal aggrandizement and elevation in that country. But Joseph Bonaparte's assumption of the Spanish throne was precisely the event, of all others conceivable, to absolutely close the ears of both governments to such an application. England, before on ill terms with Spain, promptly took the part of the dethroned king, and sent the flower of her armies to the Peninsular war. England was publicly and irrevoca- bly committed to the cause of the exiled monarch, and, of course, to the integrity of his dominions. To ask Napoleon's consent to the independence of Mexico would have seemed something like soliciting his consent to the partition of the 516 LIFE OP AAEON BUEE. French empire. Mexico was part of the kingdom which he ruled through his brother Joseph. Mexico was his. If he had been disposed to give it away, an adventurer from fur off America would not have been the selected recipient. A mul- titude of political combinations can be imagined which would have rendered one or the other of the hostile governments an eager listener to the bland and able representations of Aaron Burr. Unfortunately for him, perhaps unfortunately for Mex- ico, affairs took the turn which excluded his proposals even from consideration. But Burr was not a man to yield without an effort. He proceeded immediately to business. He had interviews with Mr. Canning, Lord Castlereagh, Lord Mulgrave, and many other official persons, to whom his plans were made known. He received not the slightest encouragement. One of his first letters to his daughter announced, that "Mexico had been abandoned." " This certainly was inevitable," replied the fond Theodosia ; '' but I can not part with what has so long lain near my heart, and not feel some regret, some sorrow. No doubt there are many other roads to happiness, but this appeared so perfectly suitable to you, so complete a remune- ration for all the past, it so entirely coincided with my wishes relative to you, that I cherished it as my comfort, even when illness scarcely allowed me any hope of witnessing its com- pletion. My knowledge of your character, however, consoles me greatly. You will not remain idle. The situation in which you are placed would excite apathy itself, and your mind needs no external impulse." It was not even certain that the adventurer would be per- mitted to reside in England. After a few weeks of active ex- ertion in London, he received one day, as he was leaving for the country, a very pointed request from Lord Hawkesbury, one of the Secretaries of State, that he should present himself forthwith at the Home Office. He went. What transpired is not precisely known. But his right to live in England was so seriously called in question, that he was driven to demand it on the ground that he was born, and still remained, a British, subject. Lord Hawkesbury pronounced the claim monstrous. THE EXILE. 517 But Burr was the better lawyer of the two, and knew well the peculiarities of British laws respecting citizenship. The question puzzled the whole cabinet, was referred to the la\v officers of the crown, and was some months in arriving at set- tlement. Meanwhile, the claimant lived and wandered in En- gland at his pleasure. Such a claim, from a man who had been for four years in arms against the King of England, and who had filled the second office in that victorious republic, whose creation dismembered the British empire, was an amus- ing instance of Burr's lawyerly audacity.* Colonel Burr, then, was not a historical person in Europe, the great events of the time submerging his public schemes. Yet I think it worth while to narrate with some minuteness his personal adventures in the old world, because many of them were highly curious and characteristic, and the narrative affords an occasional glimpse of the most stirring time this century has known, Europe was in arms. Every human interest was subordi- nate to the gigantic Napoleonic wars. Napoleon was near the pinnacle of his greatness. During this very autumn, Burr's first season in Europe, the French emperor was the central figure of that dazzling congress of Erftirth, where he and the Czar Alexander met on the raft in the middle of the river, and vowed eternal friendship, two armies looking on. Baffled England was still resolute to hurl the parvenu down. Before the year closed, Napoleon was in Spain, driving before him Sir John Moore and the English army, in that terrible re- treat which Wolfe's song has made familiar to posterity ; and England had diplomatized a neAV coalition against the con- queror which summoned him from victory in the Peninsula to * The most absurd reports of his designs in England readied America. Jefferson wrote, October 17th, 1808 : "Burr is in London, and is giving out to his friends that that government offers him two millions of dollars the mo- ment he can raise an ensign of rebellion as big as a handkerchief. Some of his partisans will believe this, because they wish it. But those who know him best will not believe it the more because he says it. For myself, even ir. his most flattering periods of the conspiracy, I never entertained ono moment's fear." 518 LIFE OP AARON BURR. victory more splendid on the Danube ; to victory Avhich placed the Austrian empire at his mercy, and gave him the fatal hand of Marie Louise. The breach between England and the Uni- ted States was widening, and the war of 1812 was casting its baleful shadow before. The British attack on the American frigate Chesapeake, and the consequent embargo, were recent events. The passage by Congress of the non-intercourse act was only one year distant. Communication with every part of the world was difficult, and traveling on the continent of Europe was obstructed, where it was not impossible. During the years of Colonel Burr's residence in Europe, no essential change occurred in the politics or the position of the great powers. The world was filled with the noise of war. Burr's success in the society of the British metropolis may be called brilliant. The men best worth knowing were among his intimate friends ; and in the most exclusive circles he was a frequent and welcome guest. His fame had gone before him. He was sometimes introduced as " the celebrated Col- onel Burr." His " affair with Hamilton" was well known in London, as were also his recent high rank in the United States, his downfall, and his trial for treason. With many of the higher officers of the government we find him intimate during the whole period of his stay in Europe. He had the entree of Holland House, then the center of a brilliant opposition, and the resort of wit and genius. He was intimate with the Earl of Bridgewater, son of the earl famous for his devotion to the canal system. Godwin was his frequent associate, to whom he owed an acquaintance with Charles Lamb. There is this too brief narration of Lamb in Burr's Diary : " Agreed with Madame Godwin for rendezvous at Mr. Lamb's rooms. He is a writer, and lives with a maiden sister, also literaire, in a fourth story." Lamb was then but in his thirty-third year, and known only to a literary coterie. Faseli, the painter, was another of Burr's acquaintances in London. With the higher powers he had influence enough, during his first three months in England, to procure a midshipman's warrant for the son of a lady whom he wished to oblige. The reader will, indeed, observe that into whatever city or country Colonel Burr went, THE EXILE. 51'J he took his place at once in its highest circle, and associated chiefly with the people most truly eminent. This was tin- case-, too, when his lodgings were not nameahle to West-End ears, when he lived upon potatoes, and was hungry because his stock was gone, and his exchequer, reduced to two half pence, could not afford a replenishment. Jeremy Bentham was Burr's dearest friend in England, though it was only by accident that he became acquainted with him. Bentham was a man of fortune who devoted the leisure that wealth confers to pursuits which dignify, if they do not justify, the possession of independent wealth. The greatest h>ij>]ii.ness of the greatest number was a phrase which his youth- ful eye had caught from "the tail of one of Priestley's pam- phlets," and his life was spent in writing treatises which applied that principle to the laws and institutions of States.* The philosopher was now more than sixty years old, but (so slow is the growth of a lasting fame), his works were known only to the thoughtful few. Burr used to say that no one in the United States appreciated Jeremy Bentham's ideas except himself and Albert Gallatin. To Theodosia, in happier days, lie had been accustomed to speak of Bentham as " second to no man, ancient or modern, in profound thinking, in logical and analytic reasoning." The fortunate accident which brought him into personal relations with his favorite author is related by M. Dumont, who translated Bentham's works into French. " I have met," wrote Dumont to Bentham, " with a person in London enjoying a celebrity which is somewhat embarass- * " Bentham himself, and even the creed of Bentham, seems to me compar- atively worthy of praise. It is a determinate Icing what all the world, iu a cowardly, half-and-half manner, was tending to be. Let us have the crisis ; we shall have either death or the cure. I call this gross steam-engine utili- tarianism an approach toward new faith. It is a laying down of cant ; a saying to one's self, ' Well, then, this world is a dead iron machine, the god of it Gravitation and selfish Hunger ; let us see what, by checking and bal- ancing, and good adjustment of tooth and pinion, can be made of it. 1 Ben- thamism has something complete, manful, in such fearless committal of itself to what it, linds true; you may call it Heroic, though a Heroism with its eyef put out." CARLYLE: Heroes and Hero Worship. 520 LIFE OF AAEON BURK. ing to him, and from which he has retreated into a capital two thousand leagues from his home. This is Mr. Edwards in Lon- don ; in America, it was Mr. Bun 1 . We met at dinner ac- quaintance was soon established between us; and as soon as he heard me named, he inquired with an air of surprise and of satisfaction, if I were the person to whom he was indebted for his acquaintance with the writings of Bentham. He had read 'Principles,' and 'Usury,' and as soon as he saw the an- nouncement at Paris, had sent for sundry copies. He spoke of them with the strongest admiration said they were the only works on legislation where there was philosophical method ; that, compared to these, Montesquieu's writings were trifling, etc. He added that, in spite of his recommen- dations, they were little read in America, where any tiling requiring studious application is neglected. Nobody but Gal- latin had felt all their merit, and Gallatin was the best head in the United States. Mr. Burr was anxiously desirous of knowing the author of passing a day with him; this, said he, would be a satisfaction for the rest of his life. He passes all the autumn in England, but does not know how long be- yond. If you are disposed to receive him, whether in town or country, let me give him the happy news, and I think you will not be sorry you have seen him. You may tell me, his duel with Hamilton was a savage affair; but he has no desire whatever to break your head." Bentham, who was extremely susceptible to appreciation, made the desired response. Colonel Burr was invited to Barrow Green, near London, where the sage was then stay- ing, and " great," says Bentham's biographer, " was his joy on receiving the invitation." Bentham ordered a horse to be sent to London to convey him to the country, but Burr had provided a horse of his own. In Bentham's own reminiscences, we find only brief allusion to his intimacy with Burr. " I was brought acquainted," he says, "with Colonel Aaron Burr thus: he had given a gen- eral order to a bookseller to forward whatever books I should publish. I was then very little known. Tin's was very good evidence of analogy between his ideas and mine. He came THE EXILE. 521 here expecting this government to assist his endeavors in Mexico ; but the government had just then made up their quarrel with Spain. We met ; he was pregnant with interest- ing facts. He gave me hundreds of particulars respecting Washington. In those days, I used to go to Oxstead, where there is a handsome gentleman's house, called Barrow Green, which was occupied by Koe's eldest brother. Burr went there with me ; and once, when I went to Barrow Green, I lent him my house in Queen Square Place. He really meant to make himself emperor of Mexico. He told me I should be the legislator, and he would send a ship of war for me. He gave me an account of his duel with Hamilton. He was sure of being able to kill him ; so I thought it little better than a murder. He seemed to be a man of prodigious intrepidity ; and if his project had failed in Mexico, he meant to set up for a monarch in the United States.* He said the Mexicans would all follow like a flock of geese." These temperate words (written years after) give no idea of the warmth of their friendship. In a few days, we find Colonel Burr living at Bentham's house, on the most affec- tionate terms with its master. His letters of this period are filled with allusions to. his " great and good friend, Jeremy Bentham," of whom he seldom spoke but with enthusiasm. To Theodosia he said : " I am now writing in Mr. Bentham's room, and by his side. He wills it so, insisting that there is a sort of social intercourse in sitting near, and looking now and then at one another, though we are separately and ever so intensely employed. It is certainly so." In another letter, he told Theodosia that " Mr. Bentham's countenance had all that character of intense thought which she would expect to find ; but it was impossible to conceive a physiognomy more strongly marked with ingenuousness and philanthropy. He is about sixty, but cheerful even to playfulness." To Gov- ernor Alston, he wrote : " He is, indeed, the most perfect model that I have seen or imagined of moral and intellectual excellence, lid is the most intimate friend I have in this coun- * The old gentleman's memory was at fault here. b22 LIFE OF AARON BURR. try, and my constant associate." To Mrs. Prevost : " He must be dead a hundred years before he will be known ; and then he will be adored." Burr made every body whom ho loved love his daughter ; and so we soon see Bentham sending a set of his " combusti- bles" (works) to " my dear little Theodosia." She read them with delight. She caught her father's enthusiasm. One of the books, as yet, existed only in the French language, and Theodosia, in that graceful manner which invested all she did with a peculiar charm, solicited the privilege of translating it into English. The sage was enchanted, and the translation was begun. It is evident that Colonel Burr stood very high in Ben- tham's regard. John Bowring, Bentham's biographer, says that the philosopher, in consequence of his communication with Colonel Burr, seemed seriously resolved on taking up his abode for some years on the table-lands of Mexico, and was only dissuaded by the extreme difficulty of getting there, and the representations of his friends. Bentham quaintly makes this project known to Lord Holland in a letter, dated October 31, 1808: "I feel myself," he wrote, "so pinched by the cold of our Eriglish winters, that a great part of the time that would otherwise be employed in driving the quill, is consumed in thinking of the cold, and endeavoring, but in vain, to keep off that unpleasant sensation without bringing on worse. But is there no heat in tire ? Yes; but as it comes from our En- glish fire-places, such is the heat, as neither my eyes, nor other parts about me, are able to endure. Between eyes and feet, perpetual quarrel about heat ; feet never can have enough, eyes never little enough a new edition of the old parable of the members. Mexico, from a variety of authorities, pri- vate, as well as public, I have learned to consider as affording a climate by which all such differences would be kept at rest. Temperature just what any body pleases. If you want it warmer, you go down a few hundred yards ; if cooler, you go up" That so cordial a feeling should have existed between two men who, in some particulars, were as complete contrasts as the THE EXILK. 523 world could furnish, may well excite our surprise. In the very letter to Lord Holland just quoted, Bentham truly de- scribes himself as " completely disqualified for every thing that in French is called Intrigue, or in English Politics." He was also so absent-minded as scarcely to be trusted in the streets alone. An instance of this infirmity used to be related by Colonel Burr, with a keen relish of its absurdity. The phi- losopher and himself were walking one day in Hyde Park, en- gaged in grave discourse upon subjects of high import, when, suddenly, the voice of Bentham ceased. Burr looked up. The sage stopped, mused a moment, turned upon his heel, and without one word of explanation, broke into a kind of gentle trot, and trotted homeward, never once looking back to his deserted companion. Burr gazed after him with wonder, but soon guessing the cause of this curious proceeding to be an " idea," merely, he continued his walk alone, and, in the course of an hour or two, went home to Bentham's house. He met the philosopher quite as usual, and neither Bentham nor him- self ever alluded to the occurrence. Burr said that any one who should meet Bentham without knowing who he was, would have supposed him to be "a little touched in his upper story." Bentham himself seems to have been struck by the oddity of such a friendship, and scarcely knew what to make of it. " I do believe," he wrote to Burr, at the end of one of the three-sheeted letters he used to send to him occasionally, "I do believe, that of the regard you have all along professed for me, no inconsiderable part is true. But a man must have his eyes well about him, when he has to deal with leaders of fac- tions and professed men-catchers." And again : " To know that you were in any situation that could turn talents such as yours to the benefit of any considerable part of mankind would afford me the most heartfelt pleasure. In any other I should h:ivc said, on the opposite expectation, I can not even profess to give you any good wishes. For the trade of throat-cutting I can not see any openings. Cabbage-planting would be bet- ter, if, haply, any ground were to be got for it." Bentham's letters to Burr were gossipy and rambling, and amazingly 524 LIFE OF AAEON BURR. long equivalent, some of them, to fifteen or twenty pages of foolscap. Bentham never knew of Colonel Burr's pecuniary straits. Two or three years later, when he was reduced to the last ex- tremity of indigence, he never breathed a syllable of his cir- cumstances to Jeremy Bentham, who was then himself tem- porarily embarrassed. He visited the sage as usual, but could not tell him, as he did Godwin, the secret of his squalid lodg- ings. But this is anticipating. For the present, Colonel Burr passed his time pleasantly enough. Tt was the era of mechanical inventions. The dream of the day was to do what Fulton had recently done, revolu- tionize a new branch of industry by a new application of steam. The memoirs and letters of that period, show it to have been the fashion to take an interest in things mechani- cal. Burr, besides the interest, which a man so intelligent as he could not but feel in the inventions of the time, had the idea that by some lucky hit of the kind he might retrieve his own fortunes. The mansion of the Earl of Bridgewater was then the resort of men with mechanical ideas, and we find Colonel Burr staying there a week at a time listening to their expositions. He confesses that he fonnd it a bore. But it became the possible emperor of Mexico to understand the canal system, and he forced himself to attend, and to make the remarks expected of him. On one occasion, he speaks of going out of his way to see the new railroad, on which he be- held with wonder, four horses draw forty-four tons of mer- chandise. One night he was sleepless with an idea of improv- ing the steam engine.* * The following letter from Samuel Swartwout (who was also in London) to Burr, is worth inserting on many accounts. It is from tho valuable auto- graph collection of F. J. Dreer, Esq., of Philadelphia, to whose courtesy I am indebted for permission to copy it. The letter is dated London, Thursday, 26th August, 1808, and is addressed to "Colonel Burr, at Mr. Bentham's, Barrow Green." " DEAR Silt : I called yesterday at Mr. Smith's lodgings, Great Marlborough- Btreet, but he was not in town. I left your letter with my address, request- THE EXILE. 525 He led an active life. "We catch glimpses of him, in his swift diary, rushing from office to office ; " walking fifty miles" to mid a suitable present for " Gampillo;" dining with "the ladies of Holland House;" going to the play with the Godwins ; talking politics with Bentham ; expounding Mexico ing to know when I should see him. I have heard nothing since. I shall call again to-day. " I have had a long conversation this morning with a young gentleman, a partner with Strong & Davis, New York, who has come over on business for them, iu the last packet. He knows you. His name is John Mills. In the course of conversation he mentioned that the article of cotton bayyiny, which is prohibited by the late law of the United States, is, in the southern States, and in the Territories of Orleans and Mississippi, a dollar a yard. Here it may be bought for 6d. sterling. Pray, could not a quantity, say, 200,000 yards, be sent from this country to Mobile or St Mary's ; and thence got into the islands and Territories by smuggling ? If your knowledge of the ground en- ables you to manage such a speculation, perhaps it might be accomplished. The immense advance in this article, and its being one of the specially prc- nibited articles, which, in case the embargo is raised will but increase in price, encourages me to hope that some great speculation might be made in it. Mr. Mills was lately in Charleston, where he purchased a quantity of cotton at 13 cents nearly 500 bales and he says the planters will not be able to put up their next crop for want of bagging. The price is now 600 per C'/nt. a1x>ve the cost here, and the expenses of transportation and in case the embargo should be taken off, the demand for cotton and the want of bag- ging will raise it perhaps double what it now is. The immense profit can not be doubted. ' Would the hazard be greater, or so great, in any other part of the United "Would not the collector at New Orleans let a schooner in with 200,000 yards on board for a couple or three thousand guineas ? St. Mary's, I think, would be another charming place to try it. The cost of a whole ship-load, or of 200,000 yards, would be only four to five thousand pounds. A thousand or twelve hundred pounds more, would fit out the vessel, and if she succeeded in getting safe into port and in selling her cargo, the profits would bo ira- 600 per cent. This laid out in cotton there, at the present low price, would make another 100 per cent. so that in all it would be one of the greatest speculations ever made ; if, as said, it could be effected. li Have the goodness to let mo know by return of the mail, what you think of my wild scheme. I inclose a letter and two cards which will explain themselves. " Ever affectionately and devotedly yours, "S. SWARTWOUT" 526 LIFE OF AARON BUKK. to men whom the next change of ministers might bring into power ; undergoing tortures with his peruke ; writing law- papers in support of his claim to be considered a British sub- ject ; reading all literature, from Milton on Divorce to the last French farce ; conversing with all men, from cabinet min- isters to barbers ; gallanting all women, from duchesses to chambermaids. Theodosia Avas languishing, meanwhile. In November came eloquent, melancholy letters from her to her father. Sarato- ga, whither she had gone after his departure, had not relieved her depressing complaint. The failure of her father's plans, the uncertainty of his future, and, in particular, the non-pay ment of a large sum of money due him in New York, on which he depended, racked her noble heart with anxiety. " Return to me," she cried to him across the sea, " or tell me that you are engaged in a pursuit worthy of you." " O, my guardian angel, why were you obliged to abandon me just when en- feebled nature doubly required your care ! How often, when my tongue and hands trembled with disease, have I besought Heaven either to reunite us, or let me die at once. Yet do not hence imagine that I yield to infantine lamentations or im- patience. As soon as relief from pain restored me in some measure to myself, I became more worthy the happiness of being your daughter." She speaks of her return to New York for the winter, and adds : " My situation will not have the charms we supposed. Indeed, I find that your presence threw a luster on every thing around you. Every thing is gayer, more elegant, more pleasant, where you are." But this was not all the reason why " dear New York," as she sometimes called the home of her happy childhood, was no longer agreeable to her. The daughter had to share the father's odium, though that daughter was the lovely and ac- complished Mrs. Alston. " The world," she wrote, "begins to cool terribly around me. You would be surprised how many I supposed attached to me have abandoned the sorry losing game of disinterested friendship." One regrets to see at the end of such letters the signature of "Mary Ann Edwards," and " dear brother" at the beginning ; " X" for THE EXILE. 527 Mexico, and " 60" for Aaron Bnrr. But she was obliged to write so. The father's anxiety was aroused. He consulted the most celebrated physicians of London, who seconded the thought his wish had fathered, in recommending a voyage to Europe for the sick lady. Burr's heart was instantly set upon his daughter's joining him. Preparations were made for her re- ception with his usual promptness. At every port where she could possibly land measures were taken against her arrival. Bentham offered her his house. General Sir Samuel Bentham, brother of the author, was to take " Gampillus" home to be educated with his own children, whom Burr declared to be the best brought up of all the children he had ever known. The most minute directions were forwarded to Theodosia re- specting the voyage, and the course to be pursued on landing. To travel post from Falmouth to London, he tells her, will cost twenty-five guineas ; but the canal boats from Liverpool have neatly-furnished rooms with fire-places, and go forty or fifty miles a day for less than half the expense of travel by land. He writes to Governor Alston to insure his consent to the voyage, and offering to pay half the expense out of his slender means; for planters were then embarrassed. His care and forethought for her were, indeed, all that the most affec- tionate of fathers could bestow upon the most beloved of daughters. In one of his letters to her, written about this time, there is a touching passage. He is telling her that he is always in danger of being too late with his letters for Am- erica. " My letters to others," he adds, " are always ready ; but toward you, a desire to say something at the last moment; a reluctance resembling that of parting but all this you know and feel." His project was never carried out. As the winter drew on, her disease took a favorable turn, and the proposed voyage was given up. How much better it might have been for both father and child if they had come together then ! In the spring she went home to South Carolina, whence three times the climate had driven her. "I would not have tried a fourth experiment of the kind upon a dog," wrote Colonel Burr in 528 LIFE OF AARON BURR. wrath when he heard the news. Her health, however, was permanently improved, and his fears were never realized. Colonel Burr lived- in London nearly six months. He was in doubt what to do, or whither to go. To stay in Europe seemed useless; yet nothing had occurred to tempt him home. His desires pointed homeward, and he seems to have hoped to return ere long. Meanwhile, he resolved on making the grand tour of the kingdom, and on the morning of December the 22d, 1808, he set out on his journey northward in the Ox- ford coach. The page of his diary in which he describes his departure from the metropolis and his adventures on the road to Oxford, may serve as an illustration of his mode of journalizing. He was too late for the coach, but pursued and overtook it. He continues: "Found in it one man. Having preserved per- fect silence for a few minutes, by way of experiment, I re- marked that the day was very mild, which he flatly denied, and in a tone and manner as if he would have bit me. I laughed out heartily, and very kindly inquired into his morn- ing's adventures. He was old, gouty, and very fat. No hack being to be had at that early hour, or, what is more probable, choosing to save the shilling, he had walked from his house to the inn, had fallen twice, got wet and bruised, and was very sure that he should be laid up with the gout for six months. I sympathized with his misfortunes. Wondered at the com- placency with which he bore them, and joined him in cursing the weather, the streets, and the hackney coachmen. He be- came complacent and talkative. Such is John Bull. We took in another fat man, a Avoman still fatter, and a boy. After- ward, a very pretty, graceful, arch-looking girl, about eighteen, going on a visit to her aunt, Lady W. But mademoiselle was reserved and distant. At the first change of horses she agreed to take breakfast, which we did, tete-a-tete. I w y as charmed to find her all animation, gayety, ease, badinage. By the aid of drink to the coachman, our companions were kept three quarters of an hour cooling in the coach. They had break- fasted. When we joined them the reserve of my little siren returned. After various fruitless essays, and at first without THE EXILE. 529 suspecting the cause, finding it impossible to provoke any thing beyond a cold monosyllable, I composed myself to sleep, and slept soundly about eight hours, between London and Oxford, where we arrived at eight this evening. (There must be some- thing narcotic in the air of this island. I have slept more du- ring my six months' residence in Great Britain than in any preceding three years of my life since the age of fourteen.) Took leave of my little Spartan. 3Iem. To write an essay, historical and critical, on the education and treatment of wo- men in England. Its influence on morals and happiness." He remained a day or two at Oxford, receiving the requi- site attentions from residents to whom he had brought letters. He thought "every thing there was more for ostentation than for use." At a dinner given him by one of the Oxonians he agitated the serene atmosphere of the place by praising Ben- thaiu. The mention of that name was enough to revive in- terest in all the great, dividing subjects. Burr found his Oxford friends prepared to concede Bentham's greatness as a legislator, but not as a moralist ; whereas he extolled his morality and benevolence above all things. The discussion, it appears, grew warm. The subject of divorce came up, Burr defending Bentham's opinions. Religion was discoursed of, Burr arguing against the Gospel according to Oxford. " We then," he says, "got upon American politics, geography, etc., on all of which a most profound and learned ignorance was displayed. The evening wound up pleasantly, and we parted with many expressions of courtesy." Of his entertainer on this occasion, he adds this remark : " Though he speaks of Bentham with reverence, and, probably, prays for him, I pre- sume that he thinks he will be eternally damned, and I have no doubt he expects to be lolling in Abraham's bosom with great complacency, hearing Benthara sing out for a drop of water. Such is the mild genius of our holy religion." Continuing his journey northward, he is entertained on the road to Birmingham by " a pretty little comely brunette," who had read all the novels and seen all the lions, and whose rank he puzzled himself in vain to determine. At length they put her down at a respectable farm house, Burr handed her 23 530 LIFE OF AAEON BUKB. in, was introduced to the family as a "gentleman who had been extremely polite to me on the road," and was warmly pressed to stay, and to call on his return. Such an easy power had this man to ingratiate himself with the fair. He went to Stratford to see the tomb of Shakespeare, concerning which visit he only remarks, that the bar-maid gave him a very de- tailed account of the late Shakespearean jubilee. At Birming- ham he enters in his diary some mysterious hints of a gay street adventure which cost him twenty-eight shillings, for which he tells Theodosia he atoned by taking a cheap outside place to Edinburg, instead of a dear inside one. At Edinburg, where he remained a month, his life was a ceaseless round of gayety. His London letters and his own celebrity combined to insure him a welcome among the elite of the society at the Scottish capital. At Edinburg, then a place of brilliant intellect and easy vir- tue, Colonel Burr was a drawing-room and dinner-table lion. Parties, balls, assemblies, dinners, plays, succeeded one another. Edinburg, he said, was the most social and hospitable place he had ever seen : they meet to amuse and to be amused, and they succeed. He gave himself up to the enjoyments of the hour to a degree not usual with him. He told Bentham, to whom he wrote nearly every day, that in his present " state of nullity," he wished to be forgotten by alt his friends, till he could " rise to view" in a form worthy of their hopes. For a month, business was forgotten. With the legal and the literary magnates of the town he soon became intimate. Mackenzie, author of the " Man of Feeling," was then at the height of his reputation, and Walter Scott was in the Marmion period of his literary career. "I met both frequently," wrote Burr to Theodosia, " and from both received civilities and hospitalities. Mackenzie has twelve children ; six daughters, all very interesting, and two very handsome. He is remarkably sprightly in company amiable, witty ; might pass for forty-eight, though certainly much older. Scott, with less softness than Mackenzie, has still more animation ; talks much, and very agreeably. May be about forty." He found warm friends among the lawyers THE EXILE. 531 and judges of Edinburg, with some of whom he continued to correspond for years after. At one dinner party, composed chiefly of legal gentlemen, he spoke so convincingly in praise of Bentham, that most of the company took a list of his works on the spot. He was the champion of Bentham where- ever he went. He wrote to the philosopher : " When I tind a man who knows nothing of you, which (with blushes be it said) has sometimes happened, I pity him ; but when one, pretending a knowledge of your works, uses ' very able, very ingenious,' or any such trite epithets, I hate him, and am dis- posed to quarrel." This month in Edinburg was the most triumphant, if not the happiest, period of Colonel Burr's long residence in Europe. Besides being " loaded with civilities" there, he heard that Cobbett,* " deeply impregnated with the magnitude of his talents as a statesman and soldier," was consulting with other friends in London how the ex-Vice-President of the United States could be brought into the British Parliament. Bentham shook his more sagacious head, however. He thought the oath of allegiance taken by Burr to the American govern- ment was a circumstance fatal to the project ; which, indeed, was never more than talked of. From the gayeties of Edinburg, Colonel Burr was unex- pectedly summoned by letters from London, which gave him a gleam of hope. Back he flies to London at the beginning of February, and is at once immersed in " X.'s affairs." We find him soon closeted with Lord Melville, a man famous in the politics of that day, who had expressly, and unsolicited, invited Colonel Burr to his house for the purpose of learning more of his plans. The interview was long, and agreeable to both. " Lord Melville," said Burr, afterward, " is a man I understand, and by whom I could be understood." Nothing of importance, however, came of the interview, or could come of an interview with any man in Europe, while European af- fairs remained as they were ; and the decisive change was still five years distant. Transient, indeed, was this revival of his dream. In March, Burr wrote that he saw clearly that his * Cobbett had been a H-iend of Burr's in the United Suitoa 532 LIFE OF AARON BUEK. longer stay in Europe was useless, and announced his inten- tion to return to America after the arrival of the next packet. The packet came, but still the adventurer lingered. It was in these days that he caught his first glimpse of that demon of Impecuniosity, which afterward haunted him so per- tinaciously, and which he battled with such indomitable gay- ety and spirit. He had bought some books for Governor Alston of a London bookseller, the remittance for the pay- ment of which had not arrived, and Burr was threatened with arrest for the amount. But his exchequer was running low. (The very passage-money which brought him to England was borrowed from Dr. Hosack, who accompanied Hamilton to the scene of the duel.) A month ago he had told Theodosia, in his dark manner, that " 59 was not immediately wanted, though the want of him had prevented an experiment he wished to make in X.'s affairs ;" a communication which be- comes intelligible when we substitute the word money for " 59." But the payment of such a sum as two hundred pounds was out of the question. He accordingly removed his residence from the hospitable house of Jeremy Bentham to lodgings much more obscure, and changed his name to Kirby. " The benevolent heart of 'J. B.," said Burr in his diary, " shall never be wrung by the spectacle of Gamp's arrest." The af- fair was compromised soon after, and " Gamp" was never arrested for debt. Early in the following month occurred an event which obliged him to come to a very prompt decision with regard to his future course. Cobbett must have smiled when he heard of it, and thought of his consultation with Bentham upon the practicability of getting Burr into Parliament. CHAPTER XXVIII. EXPULSION FROM: GREAT BRITAIN, AND RESIDENCE IN SWEDEN. His ARREST COMPELLED TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY LETTER TO LORD LIVERPOOL SAILS FOR SWEDEX ARRIVAL IN STOCKHOLM His RESIDENCE is STOCKHOLM His IMPEESSIOXS OF SWEDES PLEASANT INCIDENT. IT was the 4th of April, 1809. Mr. "Kirby" had been for some weeks in his new lodgings. Certain indications of his being under surveillance had not escaped his notice, and a vague sense of impending disaster had oppressed him at times. The feeling grew so strong that, on the morning of the day above named, he resolved to remove to another part of the town. lie had packed up his clothes and papers, and was about to seek other apartments, when he was surprised by the entiance, unannounced, and without knocking, of four coarse- looking men, who bluntly informed him that they had a Avar- rant tor his arrest, and for the seizure of his papers. He asked to see the warrant. They refused to show it. He pe- remptorily demanded to know by whose authority they acted. Upon this, they produced tfoe warrant, and permitted him to glance over it, but not to read it through. He saw that it was signed Liverpool^ the name of the premier. He was a pris- oner of state. The men took possession of his trunks, ransacked the room. for papers, and threw all that they found, with all other loose articles, into a sack. Then, calling a coach, they conveyed the prisoner and his property to the alien office, the head of which, Mr. John Reeves, was one of Colonel Burr's most intimate friends. The prisoner, refusing to leave the carriage, sent in a note to Mr. Reeves, stating what had occurred, and asking an explanation. N"o answer for an hour. It was a cold after- noon, and the prisoner grew impatient. He sent another 534 LIFE OF AARON BUKB. note urgently requesting Reeves to come to the carriage, and spare him the mortification of entering the office as a prisoner. Mr. Reeves appeared, but lie could give no explanation, and, after advising the prisoner to be patient, reentered the office. After another half hour of waiting, orders came for him to be taken to the house of a Mr. Hughes, one of the government messengers, who was to be responsible for his safe-keeping. Upon hearing this, Colonel Burr alighted, and went to the office of one of .the under secretaries, in the same building, bent on discovering the cause and motive of his arrest. But neither the under secretary nor any of the clerks would re- cognize him ; though, says Burr to Theodosia, " every devil of them knew me as well as I know you." He saw that his detention was a thing resolved upon, and not to be avoided, and submitted with a good grace. About four o'clock in the afternoon, he drove away to his temporary prison, at Xo. 31 Stafford Place, leaving his effects at the alien office, to be ex- amined by the authorities at their leisure. He dined agreeably enough, with the messenger and his pretty young wife, and afterward read the only two readable books in the house, the play of the Secret, and the Agricola of Tacitus. Then, discovering that his polite jailor played chess, he sat down with him to the game, and played till the man was almost crazed with excitement. Toward morning, he wrote in his diary a brief history of the day's adventures and went to bed. The next day, no change. No one was permitted to see him. He was anxious only on account of his papers ; not, lie averred, because there were any plots or treasons in them, but because of his " ridiculous journal," and his peculiar corre- spondence. Chess again with Hughes till the small hours of the morning. On the third day, an official summons came from the alien office ; whither, at ten o'clock in the morning, the pi'isoner was conducted. Lord Liverpool did not appear, but sent an apol- ogy and a message. The apology related to his sudden and unceremonious arrest ; the message, couched in the blandest terms, as disagreeable messages frequently are, was to the RESIDENCE IN SWEDEN. 535 Affect that the presence of Colonel Burr in Great Britain was embarrassing to his majesty's government, and that it was the wish and expectation of the government that he should remove. A disposition was professed to treat him with personal respect and courtesy. Passports should be furnished ; a free JK, to any port where British ships might go, was tendered ; but the request for his prompt departure was decided. Burr, as- tonished, desired to be informed of the reasons of this extra- ordinary conduct. In what had he offended ? What was the purpose of his banishment ? To all such questions, neither then, nor ever, was any answer whatever vouchsafed. Burr attributed this summary measure to a desire on the part of the English cabinet to conciliate, by one easy and in- expensive act, the American government and the Spanish Juntas. He said, in a letter written just after his arrest: " Mr. Jefferson, or the Spanish Juntas, or probably both, have had influence enough to drive me out of this country." Perhaps this supposition was correct, and it derives probabil- ity from the fa-.-t that publicity was immediately given to the whole transaction in the newspapers. Theodosia first heard of her father's expulsion from Great Britain through the news- papers, though he wrote to her by every ship, Yet the rea- son assigned by Lord Liverpool was sufficient, in those days, to account for the step. His presence must have been embar- rassing in the extreme. Here was an erratic, mysterious per- son, known to have revolutionary political designs, an object of suspicion to two governments, both of which Great Britain wished to propitiate ; an able, efficient man, moving in the highest circles, changing his name without apparent cause, concealing his residence, and vailing all his movements in silence and ciphers. An embarrassing person truly, particu- larly in times so critical. AVho could tell what schemes were revolving in that active brain ? Lord Liverpool, had there been no Mr. Jefferson to soothe and no Juntas to mollify miirht have felt the presence of such a man embftrrMSHig. Colonel Burr at once signified his willingness to comply with the " wish and expectation" of the government. In ex- plaining the reason of his ready acquiescence, he used to say 536 LIFE OF AARON BUKK. that it would have been easy for him to set the government at defiance, and to maintain his residence ; but the political situ- ation of the United States and Great Britain, and some pri- vate considerations, induced him to comply. He was then set at liberty, and his effects were restored to him uninjured. But whither to go ? This question was much discussed be- tween Colonel Burr and the government. A formal letter written by him to Lord Liverpool upon the subject may be in- troduced here in continuance of the narrative. The writing of this epistle seems to have cost him an effort. He told Jer- emy Bentham that when he sat down to write it, and essayed to begin, " My lord," his pen stuck in his fingers. " I tried in vain, but could not get it out ; so I adopted the stiff, dip- lomatic third person. My lady or his lordship does not stick in my savage throat; but my lord the Lord deliver me!" The letter to Lord Liverpool, dated April 20th, 1809, was as follows : "Mr. Burr's respectful compliments. He lately received from Lord Liverpool an intimation that his (Mr. Burr's) pres- ence was embarrassing to his majesty's government, and that it was the wish and the expectation of the government that he would remove. Without insisting on those rights which, as a natural-born subject, he might legally assert ; without permitting himself to inquire whether the motives to the or- der were personal or political, or whether the apprehensions expressed were real or factitious, and without adverting to the unprovoked indignities which had preceded the order, or to the personal inconveniences which it would impose on him, Mr. Burr at once expressed his determination to gratify the wishes of the government by withdrawing. It being under- stood that he could not, consistently with his personal safety, visit any country under the control or influence of France, Sweden was thought the most proper asylum ; and the gen- tleman who spoke in his lordship's name, having represented Heligoland as a place whence passages to Sweden could read- ily be found, Mr. Burr, relying on this assurance, assented to that voyage, and passports were made out accordingly. But it is now ascertained that this assurance was predicated in RESIDENCE IN SWEDEN. 53"7 error ; that there is, in fact, no direct communication between Heligoland and any part of Sweden, and that no such passage could probably be found within many months. Under siu-h circumstances, Mr. Burr presumes that Lord Liverpool will permit the destination to be changed to Gottenburg, and will have the goodness to direct passports to be made for that port. He has reason to believe that the minister of his Swed- ish majesty to this court will not object." The point was yielded. The Swedish minister, so far from objecting, took pains to secure him a friendly reception in Sweden. On the 24th of April he sailed from Harwich in the packet, which, in six days, bore him to Gottenburg, a Swedish port three hundred miles from Stockholm. He was soon es- tablished in lodgings which, he said, were " commodious," with the single exception that not a soul in the house spoke one word of any language with which he was acquainted. He experienced the usual exhilaration of being for the first time in a foreign country, and sallied eagerly forth to see the town. He found his way to the theater, where he understood not a word, but was " amused by two young girls in boy's clothes, tight pantaloons and short waistcoats, who played ad- mirably" in the pantomime. He adds in his swift, brief way : "Out at ten. Got home, but could not make my host under- stand that I wanted a dish of tea. After laboring in vain for a quarter of an hour, was obliged to take him out to the house of a Frenchman, who spoke Swedish, and who explained for us. Tea was got very cheerfully. A long pipe and tobacco." In a few days he left Gottenburg for Stockholm, where he intended to reside during his stay in Sweden. He reached the capital late in the evening of the llth of May, and find- ing the inns full, was indebted to a fellow traveler for getting him a room in the house of a mechanic in an alley near the Exchange. The next day, on presenting some of his letters, he received in superfluity all those attentions which a stranger in a strange land requires. He was soon established as an inhabitant of Stockholm ; and played with his usual easy grace the part of the Distinguished Guest in its highest circles. It is a proof 23* 538 LIFE OF AARON BITRE. of the facility with which he made his way in society, that before he had been in Stockholm a week, he was dining mag- nificently with the most exclusive club in the kingdom, and was running about the city trying to borrow a cocked hat and sword to wear on his presentation at court. His mastery of the French stood him in good stead here. An ofiicer of rank, at one of his early parties in Stockholm, told him that he spoke French better than English, and asked him which of the European languages the language of the Americans most re- sembled ? Burr's cool audacity was shown at another grand dinner party, where, on being asked for a toast, he gave, The Royal Prisoners, meaning the exiled royal family of Spain. This was for the Spanish embassador, who was present, and who, says Burr, received the toast with exquisite sensibility, and was moved even to tears. He passed his time chiefly in society, his only serious employments being the study of the Swedish laws and the learning of the language. He was al- most severed from his former life. There was with him his young friend and coadjutor, Hosack (younger brother of Dr. Hosack) who came with him from London, but they resided apart. Once in Stockholm he was agreeably reminded of his country by learning that t\vo American captains and a young American traveler were in the city, and wished to meet him. The five Americans dined together, " a 1' Americaine, on beef- steaks, fish, and potatoes." Once, he conceived suddenly the idea of returning to America and establishing himself at Charleston, near Theodosia; but second thoughts condemned the idea. Occasionally, but not nearly as often as before, he received letters from his daughter. She had no good news to cheer him with. She tells him of her continued disappoint- ment with regard to the receipt of the money which he had meant for his support in Europe. She was " stunned" upon hearing of his " removal from England," and could not enough admire the gay fortitude of his demeanor under circumstan- ces, the mere contemplation of which racked her soul with anxiety. These are her words : " The accumulated difficulties which pour in upon us would absolutely overwhelm any other being than yourself. Indeed, BESIDENCE IN SWEDEN. 539 I witness your extraordinary fortitude with new wonder at every new misfortune. Often, after reflecting on this subject, you appear to me so superior, so elevated above all other men ; I contemplate you with such a strange mixture of humility, admiration, reverence, love, and pride, that very little super- stition would be necessary to make me worship you as a su- perior being : nuch enthusiasm does your character excite in me. When I afterward revert to myself, how insignificant do my best qualities appear. My vanity would be greater if I had not been placed so near you ; and yet my pride is our relationship. I had rather not live than not be the daughter of such a man." He was, indeed, a man invincible. In all the mass of his journals and letters, there can not be found one word indica- tive of repining, repentance, or melancholy. Not one. Cir- cumstances often controlled and thwarted, but never for one instant subdued him. Colonel Burr lived five months in Sweden ; three months at Stockholm, and two in traveling about the country. He liked Sweden, and the lively Swedes liked him. To Mr. Gahn, the Swedish consul at New York, a warm and firm friend, to whom he owed the introductions which made his residence in Sweden so pleasant, he wrote in glowing terms of the country. " I have never known," he said, " in any country or at any time, five months of weather so uniformly fine. The excel- lence of the roads has been a constant subject of admiration to me ; much superior to those of England, and all free of toll. In traveling more than twelve hundred English miles, I have never found a bridge out of order, nor an obstruction in the road which could retard your progress for a second. There is no country in which traveling is at once so cheap, expeditious, and secure. All travelers have borne testimony to Swedish honesty, but no one has attempted to discover the cause of a distinction so honorable. I have sought for it in their laws, in tlteir social and municipal institutions, particularly in the judicial department. There is no country with whose jurisprudence I am acquainted in which personal liberty is KO 1 none in which tho viol-it i"n "fit H punHi"J 540 LITE OF AAEON BTTEE. with so much certainty and promptitude ; none in which civil justice is administered with so much dispatch and so little expense. These are strong assertions, but I shall bring with me the proofs. It is surprising, it is unaccountable, that a system differing so essentially from every other in Europe, and so fraught with valuable matter, should have remained to this day locked up in the Swedish and Runic tongues, and that not the slightest information on this interesting subject could be found either in English or French. I should have thought that some Swede, from national pride, if not from philanthropy, would have diffused the knowledge of them throughout Europe." He liked the sensibility of the cultivated Swedes. Of a concert which lie attended at Stockholm, he writes in his diary: "Every part was executed extremely to my satisfac- tion ; but what most interested me was the perfect attention, and the uncommon degree of feeling exhibited by the au- dience. I have nowhere witnessed the. like. Every counte- nance was affected by those emotions to which the music was adapted. In England you see no expression painted on the visage at a concert. All is somber and grim. They cry ' bravo ! bravissimo,' with the same countenance that they * G d damn.' To one Swedish custom, however, he objects. " Do remind me," he writes to Theodosia, " to give you a dissertation on locking doors. Every person, of every sex and grade, comes in without knocking. Plump into your bedroom. They do not seem at all embarrassed, nor think of apologizing at find- ing you in bed, or dressing, or doing no matter what, but go right on and tell their story as if all were right. If the door be locked and the key outside (they use altogether spring locks here), no matter ; they unlock the door, and in they come. It is vain to desire them to knock ; they do not com- prehend you, and if they do, pay no manner of attention to it. It took me six weeks to teach my old Anna not to come in without knocking ; and, finally, it was only by appearing to get into a most violent passion, and threatening to blow out her brains, which she had not the least doubt I would do RESIDENCE IN SWEDEN. 541 without ceremony. I engage she is the only servant in nil Sweden who ever knocks. Notwithstanding all my caution, I have been almost every day disturbed in this way, and om-o last week was surprised in the most awkward situation iniag- inable. So, madam, when you come to Sevenska, remember to lock the door, and to take the key inside."* One more mad entry in his journal. He was assailed by bed-bugs: "Got up, and attempted to light candle, but in vain. Had flint and matches, but only some shreds of punk, which would not catch. Recollected a gun which I had had on a very late journey ; filled the pan with powder, and was just going to flash it, when it occurred that, though I had not loaded it, some one else might. Tried, and found it a very heavy charge. What a fine alarm it would have made if I had fired. Then poured out some powder on a piece of paper, put the shreds of punk with it, and, after fifty essays, suc- ceeded in firing the powder ; but it being quite dark, had put more powder than intended ; my shirt caught fire ; the papers on my table caught fire ; burned my fingers to a blister, the * To show how differently the same thing affects different minds, I quote the following from one of Bayard Taylor's recent letters from Sweden : "There is something exceedingly primitive and unsophisticated in the man- ners of these northern people a straightforward honesty, which takes the honesty of others for granted a latent kindness and good-will which may at first be overlooked, because it is not demonstrative, and a total uncon- sciousness of what is called, in highly civilized circles, 'propriety.' The very freedom of manners which, in somo countries, might denote laxity of morals, is here the evident stamp of their purity. The thought has often recurred to me which is the most truly pure and virginal nature, the fastidious Ameri- can girl, who blushes at the sight of a pair of boots outside a gentleman's bedroom door, and who requires that certain unoffending parts of the body and articles of clothing shoujd be designated by delicately circumlocutions terms, or the simple-minded Swedish women, who come into our bedrooms with coffee, and make our fires while we get up and dress, coming and going during all the various stages of the toilet, with the frankest unconsciousness of impropriety ? This is modesty in its healthy and natural development not in those morbid forms which suggest an imagination ever on the alert for prurient images. Nothing has confirmed my impression of the virtue of the northern Swedes more than this fact, and I have rarely felt more respect for woman, or more faith in the inherent purity of her nature." 542 LIFE OF AAEOX BUBE. left hand, fortunately. It seemed like a general conflagration. Succeeded, however, in lighting my candle, and passed the night, till five this morning, in smoking, reading, and writing this." The last incident of his Swedish experience was the most agreeable one. A young man, Luning by name, had formed an enthusiastic friendship for Colonel Burr at Stockholm. Something led the warm-hearted Swede to suspect that his friend was embarrassed for money, which, indeed, was the fact toward the close of his residence in Sweden. His purse ran low enough to alarm a man less confident in the resour- ces of his wit. A few days after he had left the country, and left it never to return, he received a letter from Mr. Lu- ning which, in his broken English, ran thus : " It may very easy be the case, that by the behaviour of your agent, who took the rix-dolls., or by the interruption of correspond- ence between Germany and England, you may come in any embarrassment, I take myself the liberty to send you the in- closed letter, at the producing of which Mr. H. Brauer will pay you one thousand marks, Hamburg currency, which you'll please to reimburse when you arrive in England or America. I can not tell you how much I am thankful to Providence for having given me the pleasure to get acquainted with a man whom I admired long ago. I esteemed you before, now I love you." " Did you ever hear of any thing to equal this, except in novels ?" wrote Burr in his diary that night. As he was leaving Sweden, he learned that he had been the subject of discussion in the newspapers for a considerable time. But his heart and his skin were hardened against newspapers, and he had not the curiosity to inquire what the Swedish editors had to say about him! CHAPTER XXIX. LOVE-CHASE IN GER1LLNY, AND JOURNEY TO LEAVES SWEDES Two WEEKS AT COPENHAGEN AT HAMBFEG Ccr BT THS AXE*- ICASS THE LADT DENTIST PASSPOCTS DELATED Tore IN GEKXAMT AT WEI- MAX GOETHE WIELAND THE DCCAL COCTT GOETHE'S THEATEK ODD EEN- OONTEE WITH THE DCCIIESS A SEBlOrS PASSION ANECDOTE AT GOTHA HlS FAIIIUAMTT WITH THE DCKE THE PEIXCESS LOUISE INCIDENTS AT THE FKAXK- roRT BALU COLONEL BCKR had taken the bold resolution of attempting to reach Paris, jiving out that he feared the Stockholm winter, and was going to Paris as a traveler merely. He left Sweden on the 21st of October, 1809, in company with the two young New Yorkers, Hosack and Robinson, and .1 in an open boat to Elsinore on the coast of Denmark. On the magnificent terrace there, fronting the sea, he saw with interest the square stone pillar, four feet high, which enjoys the lucrative reputation of marking the tomb of Hamlet. For a day or two the party lingered in the curious, ancient town, and then proceeded to Copenhagen. Burr spent two weeks at that interesting capital. As was his wont, he became acquainted with every body of import- ance and saw every thing of interest. Here, too, he found himself to be a well-known person, the leading facts of his life being familiar to well-informed Danes. His stay was rendered the more agreeable by the friendship and hospitality of Mr. Olsen, whom Colonel Burr had formerly known as the Danish erabassador to the United States. The libraries and scientific collections of Copenhagen occupied much of the travelers' at- tention ; they are on a stupendous scale considering the re- sources of the kingdom, and attest its ancient culture. He was makinsr a little collection of coins for his grandson, and 544 LIFE OF AARON BUKK. happening to inquire where such things were sold, it wns noised abroad that he was learned in the coin-science ; a repu- tation which he found awkward in a city which boasts a collec- tion of forty thousand specimens, and where the subject wns pursued with enthusiasm. He was much in the courts of Co- penhagen. The " Committees of Conciliation," a feature of the Danish legal system which he greatly admired, were mi- nutely inquired into by him, and he told the learned judge who gave turn the information on the subject, that he intended, on his return home, to recommend his countrymen to adopt the idea. But perhaps it was the possible emperor of Mexico who made these inquiries. From Copenhagen, by easy stages in a wicker wagon, the three Americans made their way to Hamburg ; or rather to Altona, the Danish port which adjoins Hamburg. Hamburg itself, being more decidedly under French influence at that time than Denmark, Colonel Burr thought it best to h'x his residence in the Danish city, the gates of the two places being only a third of a mile apart. He had now to encounter a complication of hostile circum- stances. For the last six months, he had been out of the great ' O movements of the time, in a safe and peaceful haven. But Hamburg was within the circle of activity, and many Ameri- cans were there, merchants, captains, travelers, and others, all of whom proved inimical to him. The ex-Vice-President was cut by them all, and other marks of disrespect were shown him. " What a lot of rascals they must be," he wrote, when lie heard of their hostility, "to make war on one whom they do not know ; or one who never did harm or icis/ied harm to a human being ! Yet they, perhaps, are not to be blamed, for they are influenced by what they hear." He heard, too, that the news of his intended journey had been announced in the Paris newspapers, and " in a manner no way auspicious." He applied in form for passports to Paris, and discovered that passports to Paris were more easily asked for in those conten- tious times than obtained. He was kept long waiting for a decisive answer. Weeks slipped by, and his stock of money was exhausted. At one time, in Hamburg, he was literally EXILE. 545 penniless. It was then that, against his will and contrary to his intention, he used the bill for a thousand marks sent him by the generous Liming. He was in doubt whether he could continue his journey to the French capital ; England was closed against him; his own countrymen abhorred him; he was des- titute of resources. It is no wonder that in such circumstan- ces he shrunk from writing home. " What can I write ?" he said. "To be silent as to my intended movements would be strange, and to tell the true state of things afflicting to my friends." But never was he in better spirits. His diary, always lively, becomes, during this period, frolicksome and comic. Pages of it are filled with the ludicrous history of a toothache that racked him for days and nights. He narrates all the various means tried for quelling the rebellion, till he was driven to the only remedy that never fails. He was directed to the resi- dence of a dentist, where he was received with excessive polite- ness by a gentleman and lady ! The lady approached him in a lively, officious manner, and was about to apply her hands to his face. Not relishing such an advance at that particular moment, he begged her not to trouble herself, and informed her that he had come to have a tooth drawn. " Very well, monsieur, it is I who will do the business for you." " You, madam ? " Yes, I." " But, really, is there strength enough in those little hands of yours ?" " You shall see, monsieur." He submitted. The tooth was drawn with dexterity, and he rewarded the fair operator with a ducat and a kiss. The best society of Hamburg and Altona threw open wide its doors to the celebrated traveler. Judges, advocates, cm- bassadors, city officials, professors, with their families and friends, were the daily associates of the man whom his coun- trymen shunned, and who had been lately obliged to pawn his pencil, for lack of the sous wherewith to pay the toll of a bridge. His most interesting acquaintance was Professor 546 LIFE OF AAROX BTTRR. Ebeling, a man prodigiously versed in the statistics of the United States. "His library of American books is nearly as large as all the Richmond Hill library," wrote Burr to his daughter. To this vast collection Colonel Burr was able to add some recent statistics, and a valuable map of Carolina, which were of great use to the learned professor. A warm feeling sprung up between them. Ebeling sent Theodosia a set of his works, and gave Burr valuable introductions to scholars in Germany, whither he was preparing to go. One of these was to " Mr. Niebuhr," whom Ebeling described as "the son of the celebrated Arabian traveler," who is now chiefly known to the world as the father of the historian. Nie- buhr was then privy councillor to the king, and had not yet lectured on Roman history. After much negotiation, and many interviews with embas- saclors and other magnates, permission to visit Paris reached Colonel Burr, just as he was leaving Denmark for a short tour in Germany. He continued his journey, notwithstanding, and passed six exciting weeks in Germany. He visited Hanover, Brunswick, Gottingen, Gotha, WEIMAR, Frankfort, and inter- mediate places ; at each of which he saw the most interesting persons. At Gottingen, he became intimate with Professor Heercn, then in the prime of his celebrity. " Professor Heeren," he Avrote in his diary one evening, " told me two very important articles of news. 1st, The divorce of emperor and empress. The manner of it is noble and worthy of him. 2d, The empe- ror's assent to the independence of Mexico and the other Span- ish colonies. Now why the devil didn't he tell me of this two years ago ?" And why did Aaron Burr linger in Germany when, at last, it was told him ? We shall see in a moment. Weimar he reached on the 2d of January, 1810. Five de- lightful days he passed at that illustrious abode of genius, and saw the great men and great personages, whose residence at Weimar immortalized its name. Goethe, then in his majes- tic prime, our traveler met several times, and attended an even- ing party at his house ; but, unfortunately, adds not a word to the bare mention of the fact. He became somewhat intimate EXILE. 547 with " the amiable and good Wieland." He enjoyed a tete-i- tete with the Baroness De Stein. He was presented at court, dined with the ducal family, and took tea with the princely la- dies, "all in calico and enfamitte." "The princess Caroline would be happy to see him any morning," said la Baronne De Stein. At the theater, the celebrated theater, Goethe's theater, he saw a "serious comedy" performed "perfectly to his satisfaction," while the duke, Goethe's duke, sat in his lit- tle open side box, without an attendant, and in plain clothes. A curious renconter he had in the streets of Weimar. Pass- ing along, he saw a little girl three years old, making a stand, and refusing to move. Two ladies were trying in vain to pre- vail on her to go on. The gallant American crossed over to try his powers of persuasion, which were potent with children. One of the ladies, he perceived, was a countess he had met at court, and bowed to her. The other lady he did not recog- nize at all, nor in any way salute. Soon after, he met the Bar- oness De Stein, and told her that he had just seen one of the little princesses with the Countess De Peyster and a "joliejille de e/iambre." It happened that the "jolie fille de chambre" was no less a personage than the Grand Duchess of Weimar, to whom Madame De Stein told the story. Colonel Burr, on meeting the duchess at dinner that evening, at the palace, was humorously rallied by her on his oversight. It is evident that Burr was in remarkably high favor in the courtly circles of Weimar. But why was he there ? It was not the fame of Goethe and Wieland, and the duke, that attracted Aaron Burr to Weimar; but an amour, a serious passion for a lady of rank. " Wei- mar, Weimar," he wrote, " for which I have gone seventy miles out of my way ; have expended so much time and money ; and all this for the lovely D'Or. I shall, at least, have the satisfaction of having performed my engagement, perhaps the only reward." Then, as the recent intelligence from Paris crosses his mind, he adds, " How little did I know how much I should regret the time !" The lady was a mem- ber of the court circle of Weimar. He was with her con- stantly there, and appears to have been no unwelcome cava- 548 LIFE OF AAEON BUEE. lier. His passion grew as the days passed on, till he became so completely captivated, as to be tempted to abandon his long-cherished projects, and devote himself for ever to the object of his idolatry. He saw his danger, and sought safety in a precipitate flight. He was engaged to dinners, to parties, to balls ; but, without waiting even to send excuses or farewells, or to receive letters that had been promised him, he hurried away from the sphere of the " sorceress." " Another interview," wrote he to his daughter, " and I might have been lost ; my hopes and pro- jects blasted and abandoned. The horror of this last catas- trophe struck me so forcibly, and the danger was so imminent, that at eight o'clock I ordered post-horses ; gave a crown ex- tra to the postillion to drive like the devil, and lo ! here I am in a warm room, near a neat, good bed, safely locked within the walls of Erfurth, rejoicing and repining. If you had been near me, I should have had none of this trouble." As he was writing the above sentences, an incident occurred fhich showed that the struggle through which he had passed had left him in no very amiable temper. " About one o'clock in the morning," he says, " an ill-looking fellow opened my door without knocking, and, muttering in German something which I did not comprehend, bid me put out my candle. Be- ing in no very placid humor at the moment, as you see, I cursed him, and sent him to the lower regions, in French and English. He advanced, and was going to seize the candle. My umbrella, which has a dirk in the handle, being near me, I seized i% drew the dirk, and drove him out of the room. Some minutes after I heard the steps of a number of men, and, looking out of my window, saw it was a corporal's guard. It then occurred to me that this Erfurth, being a garrison town, with a French governor, there might, probably enough, be an order for extinguishing lights at a certain hour, and I had no doubt but the gentlemen I had just seen in the street were coming to invite me to take a walk with them. So I bundled up my papers, and put them in my pocket to be ready for a lodging in the guard-house. It was only the relief of the EXILE. 549 sentinels going round ; and who the impertinent extinguisher was I have not heard." We find him next at Gotha, where he remained three or four days, and made an extraordinary impression upon the reigning family. The duke, in particular, himself a brilliant man, was charmed with the urbane and agreeable American. Burr almost lived at the palace. He spoke one evening of Theodosia, and chanced to mention that he had a portrait of her at his hotel. Nothing would content the duke but an im- mediate sight of the picture, and an usher was dispatched to bring it to the palace. The duke liked Theodosia, but not the portrait. "In the original," said he, "there must be dignity, majesty, genius, gentleness, and sensibility ; all discernible in the picture, but imperfectly expressed." Burr, on his part, was charmed with the duke's daughter, the princess Louise, a lovely girl of ten years. Before leaving Gotha, lie demanded a souvenir of the little princess. " What should it be ?" she asked. lie proposed a garter, which greatly amused the group. But she sent him a drawing of a bouquet, " executed wonderfully for her years." On examining it, he found no name or inscription to " verify the important transaction," and sent it back to have the omission supplied, which was very gracefully done by the little princess.* * The following is the note in which Colonel Burr made the request : " TO MADEMOISELLE LA BAROXXE DE DALWIGK. " I beg pardou, in the first place, for writing to you at all In the next, for writing in English ; but great exigencies defy the restraint of forms. " I have received, with enthusiasm aiid delight, the elegant bouquet made by the beautiful hand of my lovely Princess Louisa ; but I have searched in Vain for a name, a date, an address, an inscription, something to denote the donor and the occasion. Alas 1 all is blank and silent. Allow me to intreat your influence with my adored princess to induce her to add her name and a date. The bouquet is sent for the purpose by the bearer of this, who will wait your orders. " On another subject, interesting to yourself, be assured of my punctuality and zeal. It is with regret that I bid adieu to Gotha I shall bear with mo to my native forests the recollection of the charms and hospitalities of its court. " A. BUBH." 550 LIFE OF AAEOX BURK. At Gotha, as everywhere else in Germany, he found peo- ple familiarly acquainted with his career ; " duels, treasons, speeches, gallantries," to use his own language. The Baron Strick, for example, chamberlain to the King of Prussia, whom Burr met at the court of Gotha, had read his farewell speech to the Senate, and conceived for the speaker an admi- ration approaching the enthusiastic. No American, in a word, has had such success at the refined courts of Germany as Col- onel Burr. He remained a few days at Frankfort-on-the-Main, before entering the dominions of the emperor. Well supplied with introductions from his friends in Gotha and Weimar, he wag at once at home in the court society of the city. At the Ca- sino there occurred two or three ridiculous incidents. " Who is that beautiful creature with the blanche bon ?" asked Burr of a grand duke whom he knew. " That, sir, is my daughter ; shall I have the honor to pre- sent you ?" A few minutes after, his attention was attracted by another lady. " Pray, count," said he to an acquaintance, " what fine, vo- luptuous woman was that you were just now talking with?" " Who, the very tall one, with the bon rouge ?" " Exactly ; a most striking figure." "That, sir, is my wife. Ha! ha! Come here, my dear, Monsieur le Colonel Burr wishes to know you." This, said he, was too much for one evening ; and having two other engagements, he soon left. Returning later, he found the ladies promenading the floor, while the gentlemen were seated at cards. This struck him as being an odd ar rangement of the company, and addressing a young lady, he said, "Is there any law forbidding a gentleman to walk with a lady ?" " O ! nonsense ; how could there be such a law ?" " Well, then, is it contrary to good manners ?" " By no means." " May I then walk with you ?" " Certainly." EXILE. 551 And so he did for an hour, though no gentleman dared fol- low his example. From Frankfort he went to Mayence, where his Paris pass- ports were to be sent. To his dismay, he found they had not arrived. He learned further, that his intention to visit Paris had been extremely ill-received by the American minister, and he was earnestly advised not to put, his person into the power of the French authorities. He was not dissuaded, but began anew negotiations for the indispensable passports. Fearing a long delay, he withdrew from society, and went to reside in cheap lodgings, observing that ducats were of more value to him just then than dinners. To his inexpressible relief, how- ever, the passports soon arrived, and on the 16th of February, 1810, he was in Paris. CHAPTER XXX. IN PARIS UNDER SURVEILLANCE. INTERVIEW WITH THE DlTC DE CADORE FRUITLESS ATTEMPTS TO REACH THE F\I- PEEOR LETTER TO FOUCIIE THE KING OF WESTPHALIA PASSPORTS REFUSED UNDER SURVEILLANCE OF THE POLICE PECUNIARY STRAITS CUT HY TUB AMERICAN RESIDENTS INTERVIEW WITH THE Dire RE Eovioo CORRESPOND- ENCE WITH THE AMERICAN CHARGE DBS AFFAIRES BURR'S EXTREME POVERTY CURES A SMOKY CHIMNEY LETTERS FROM THEODOSIA EXPEDIENTS FOR RAISING MONEY. UNTIL Colonel Burr heard from Professor Heeren that Na- poleon had consented to the independence of the Spanish prov- inces in America, he had no intention of attempting to reach the ear of the emperor. The news of that event changed him once more from a traveler into a politician, and though he could not break away immediately from the fascinations of German society, yet having once done so, he pursued his ob- ject with all his own intensity. It was his last hope. The morning after his arrival in Paris he began operations by dispatching a note to the Due de Cadore, Napoleon's min- ister for foi'eign affairs, hinting at his object in coming to Paris, and asking an interview. In the evening came a civil reply, appointing a day and hour for the purpose. At the appointed time, Colonel Burr went to the office of the minister, and applied for admission. But the porter, on referring to the list of persons to be that day received, found not the name of Burr, and refused to admit him. This was not a promising sign. The applicant, too, had neglected to bring the due's note granting the audience. " Fortunately" says the diary, "the porter of the day was a woman," and "after much nego- tiation, got admission to the ante-chamber." He sent in his card and was received ; had half an hour's conversation with the due, in the course of which he gave him an outline of his IN PAEIS UNDER SURVEILLANCE. 553 views and plans. How incapable the ministers of Napoleon were of independent action, how literally they Avere the min- isters of their master's will, is known. The Due de Cadore, on this occasion, could only listen politely to the statements of the applicant, and give an official promise to submit his pro- jects to the consideration of the emperor. Colonel Burr was not elated by this interview, and, indeed, it had no result whatever. He waited a few days, and then applied to other ministers, but received no answer. To less important officials he pro- cured admittance, but met with no encouragement. He found, what so many adventurers had to discover during Napoleon's reign, that every avenue from the outer world to the emperor's cabinet, was beset with difficulties. The King of Westphalia, Avho had been superbly entertained at Richmond Hill in other days, was then in Paris, and Colonel Burr danced attendance in the ante-chambers of his hotel, in the hope of obtaining an audience. He \vrote a memorial to the emperor himself, and gave it in charge to an official of the court to present. No response. On the ministers' "public days," he occasionally got the ear of one of them for a few minutes, and made, in some instances, a favorable impression ; but nothing followed to give him hope. Five weeks passed in these fruitless endeavors. He then addressed to the Due d'Otrante (Fouche) the following letter : " Mr. Burr, from the United States of North America, hav- ing some months ago seen published in the Moniteur the expression of his majesty's assent to the independence of the Spanish American colonies, came to Paris to offer his services t> accomplish that object and others connected therewith, lie :isked neither men or money. He asked only the author- ization of his majesty. "Mr. Burr has had conversations Avith persons near the government, and through Avhom he had presumed that the communications would have passed to the emperor. Having received no answer, he proposes shortly to take his departure. But being persuaded that his communications have not been understood, and doubting Avhether they have at all been pre- 24 554 LIFE OF AAKON BUKK. sented to his majesty, Mr. Burr should, with very great re- gret, leave the country without having had a few minutes' conversation with his excellency the Duke d'Otrante, for whose talents he has long entertained the highest veneration, and by whom Mr. Burr is convinced that the value of his views would be promptly and justly appreciated. " He takes the liberty of asking an audience at any hour his excellency may be pleased to name, and begs leave to offer assurances of his profound consideration and respect." The interview was granted. But the Due d'Otrante could do no more for him than the Due de Cadore. The King of Westphalia being still in Paris, it occurred to Colonel Burr, that through him he could gain access to the emperor. After attempting again to procure an interview through the officers of his court, he wrote directly to the king himself: " Sire I take the liberty of asking an interview with your majesty, as well to oifer personally my homage as to make a communication, of the value of which your majesty will determine in a few minutes' conversation." He received for answer the information that the king was about to leave Paris for twenty days, and that nothing could be done until his return. It does not appear that the audience was ever granted. It were useless to narrate all the efforts made by Colonel Burr to obtain consideration for his projects at the French court. He had small expectation of success after the first eight days of his stay in Paris ; but it was not till he had spent five months of active exertion, without receiving from any source the slightest encouragement, that he finally abandoned all hope of accomplishing tire object for which he had come to Europe. How indefatigably he attended the audience-chambers of min- isters ! What letters and memorials he wrote ! How per- fectly he maintained his dignity, in circumstances that made him a constant solicitor! If his task had been to gain over the ministers of Napoleon, his success would have been easy and speedy ; and if he could have stood face to face with Napoleon for half an hour, he could not have failed to mako an impression on a man who had a keen eye for discerning IN PARIS UNDER SURVEILLANCE. 555 executive force, and knew how to render it available for his own purposes. If the boy.-soldier, Aaron Burr, had begun his career in the French service, and had stood as near to Napo- leon as he did to Washington, the Great Soldier would have seen in the intrepid, impetuous lieutenant, the stuff to make a marshal of. Burr missed immortal glory by being born on the wrong continent. The disappointed adventurer now determined, at all hazards, to return to the United States, and applied for the requisite passports. They ^cere refused! No explanation was given him, except that he could go to any part of France he wished, but that his departure from the empire was positively forbid- den. He was under the surveillance of that perfect police Avhieh could make the empire as impassable a prison as a walled and moated fortress. " Behold me," he cried, " a pris- oner of state, and almost without a sous." Henceforward, for many a tedious month, his only serious occupation was to get out of France. " All this vexation," he thought, " arose from the machinations of our worthy minister, General Armstrong,* who has been, and still is, indefatigable in his exertions to my prejudice; goaded on by personal hatred, by political rancor, and by the natural malevolence of his temper." His first care now was to provide the means of subsistence. He had intended to remain a month in Paris, and had come provided with money for that period. At first he had lived, as was necessary, in a tolerable hotel, and, for the sake of appearances, had kept a valet. Half a year of this mode of life, though he economized to the point of going without sugar (then a dollar a pound in Paris), had reduced his finan- ces to the lowest ebb, and his situation was really serious. "Winter was approaching, and there was no prospect either of his leaving the empire, or of being able to live in it. He was by no means friendless, however. The celebrated Count Volney he had known and entertained in America, and was * Armstrong was an old New York politician, connected by marriage with the Livingstons, and now devoted to Jefferson. It was Armstrong, doubtless, that influenced Talleyrand (another of Burr's New York guests) against tho exile. 556 LIFE OF AARON BU11R. now his frequent associate in Paris. "With Mrs. Robertson, the widow of the Scotch historian, -he was extremely intimate. He soon had a large circle of admiring friends in the upper ranks of the Bureaucracy, and was evidently regarded with a favorable eye by two or three of the Napoleonic dukes. But in his extreme need, it was to a countryman that he made known his circumstances, and applied for help. Even at that early period, there was a considerable number of American residents in Paris, a city which was peculiarly dear to the men who could remember the Revolution as a recent event. Upon the arrival of Aaron Burr, the American residents entered into a combination against him. It was agreed that any American citizen who should converse with, speak to, or salute him, should be " cut" by all the rest ; and that no captain of a vessel, or merchant, should convey any letter or parcel for him. The messenger to whom were en- trusted dispatches from the American minister to the govern- ment at Washington, was instructed to take no letter or parcel from Aaron Burr, and to require every one handing him a letter or parcel, for delivery in the United States, to pledge his honor that it contained nothing from Aaron Burr. In spite of these vindictive measures, he had friends and partisans among the Americans in Paris, one of whom was Edward Griswold, formerly a member of the New York bar, and now a speculating resident of Paris, and a man of fortune. To him, as the last louis was gliding from his purse, Colonel Burr frankly and fully revealed his situation, and asked a loan of a hundred and fifty guineas. The man of wealth was him- self temporarily embarrassed, but contrived to advance about half that sum, which enabled Burr to exist during the winter. But only to exist. lie lived in the cheapest lodgings, and denied himself nearly every luxury. Frequent in his diary are such entries as this : " It is now so cold that I should be glad of a fire ; but to that I have great objections ; for what would become of the fifty plays, and something, I won't tell what, which I meditate to buy for Gampillo, that will make his little heart beat." Or this : " I never spend a livre that I do not calculate what pretty thing it might have bought for IN PAKIS UNDER SURVEILLANCE. 557 you (Theodosia) and Gampillo." Or this : " I was near going to bed without writing to you, for it is very cold, and I have only two little stumps (of wood) about as big as your little fists. But then I thought you would so pout; so I mustered courage, and have wrote you all this, hussy." Or this: "1 wear no sin tout, for a great many philosophic reasons ; prin- cipally, because I have not got one. The old great coat which I brought from America, still serves for traveling, if I should ever travel again." While he was thus shivering in his gar- ret, one day, he read in an American paper that Aaron Burr had entered the service of the Emperor Napoleon, at a salary of two thousand pounds per annum ; and, in an English paper that the same individual was engaged in a project for dismem- bering the United States ! It was not without many an effort that he yielded to the necessity of remaining in Paris. When, through the aid of Mr. Griswold, he had once more the means of returning to the United States, his exertions to obtain a passport were in- ' month*, which, he said, was better than starving. The most singular circumstance of this scheme was, that the work 568 LIFE OF AAKON BURR. contained, to use his own words, " a quantity of abuse and libel on A. Burr." The work was probably " Lambert's Trav- els in North America," upon reading which, Burr had made the following entry in his journal : " To give the character of A. Burr, he copies part of Will's speech on the trial at Rich- mond." It is needless to say the project of translating was not carried into execution. But he was (he man to have translated all the " abuse and libels" with literal fidelity, and without adding a note of denial or qualification. At other times, we see him hurrying about Paris investi- gating a new mode of extracting vinegar from wood, or going to see a new plan of raising water, which he said he should use in supplying Charleston with that element, or inspecting the process of making and inserting artificial teeth, or trying experiments in the roasting of coffee, or rushing from official to official for tickets of admission to galleries and reviews. He gave Theodosia a ludicrous account of the delights of walking in the streets of Paris at that time. " No sidewalks. The carts, cabrioles, and carriages of all sorts run up to the very houses. You must save yourself by bracing flat against the wall, there being, in most places, stones set up against the houses to keep the carts from injuring them. Most of the streets are paved as Albany and New York were before the Revolution, with an open gutter in the middle. Some arched in the middle, and a little gutter each side, very near the houses. It is fine sport for the cabriole and hack drivers to run a wheel in one of these gutters, always full of filth, and bespatter fifty pedestrians who are braced against the wall. The gutters or conduits for the water from the eves of the houses are carried out a few feet from the roofs, and thus discharge the rain- water over your head. In most places there are no such pipes, and then you have the benefit of the water from the eaves. This was a great ridicule against the city of Albany about twenty years ago ; but Albany has reformed the evil." The last few months of his stay in Paris he was put to all those shifts for eking out the means of subsistence which gen- tlemen in difficulties are wont to employ. He borrowed when he could, and pawned when he could not. Into Gampillus'g IN PARIS UNDEK SURVEILLANCE. 569 collection of coins, he made sad inroads. Sometimes he sold a parcel of books. Often he was penniless, and in debt to every body. But all things have an end. Colonel Burr, at length, made his escape from Paris. A detail of the events which led to his deliverance will give the reader a momentary glimpse of the state of things in France under Napoleon the First. CHAPTER XXXI. HE ESCAPES . THE TICKET ADVENTURE ACQUAINTANCE WITH M. DENON AND THE Drc DE BASSANO A BRIGHTER PROSPECT PASSPORTS PROCURED BASSANO'S GKNEROSITT JOURNEY TO HOLLAND FURTHER DELAYS LEAVES PARIS FOR EVER INCIDENTS OF iiis DEPARTURE SAILS FROM HOLLAND CAPTURED BY A BRITISH FRIGATK IN LONDON AGAIN PENNILESS CHEERFULNESS IN MISFORTUNE DF.SI-ERATK EFFORTS TO RAISE MONEY LEAVES LONDON CHASE AFTER THE SHIP SAILS FOR BOSTON. THE Baron Denon, who accompanied Bonaparte to Egypt, and wrote the celebrated book upon that expedition, was Di- rector of the Fine Arts during the reign of Napoleon. He enjoyed, but never used the confidence of the emperor ; as Napoleon himself testified at St. Helena. With the ministers of the emperor he had influence, particularly with the Due de Bassano (Maret), the Minister for Foreign Relations, who also began his career as a literary man. When Colonel Burr was in Paris, Baron Denon's house was a resort for the rank, learning, and celebrity of the French metropolis. It was an act of gallantry that led Burr to an acquaintance with this gentleman. A certain Madame St. Claire, whom Burr extremely wished to gratify, asked him to procure for her a ticket of admission to the Louvre. Among Burr's in- timate friends in Paris was the Duchess d'Alberg, wife of the Grand Duke of Frankfort, to whom he had brought letters from the Grand Duke of Gotha. From the duchess Colonel Burr readily enough obtained the promise of the desired ticket ; but on going to receive it, found that she had neglected to procure one. The duke then gave him a note to the Di> rector of the Fine Arts, the source of tickets to all the impe- rial galleries. M. Denon received him graciously, and on be- HE ESCAPES. 571 ing complimented by Burr upon his book, became more gra- cious, and gave him a ticket for two persons. Burr was rushing eagerly away to Madame St. Claire, "sure of a very kind reception," when he met Mr. Griswold, who said to him : " Sir, I am in the most distressing dilemma. A lady, whom I wish very much to oblige, asked me to procure her a ticket for the Louvre, and I promised to do it, but have been totally disappointed, and dare not see the lady's face ; can you put me in the way to extricate myself?" " Ve&at" exclaimed Burr, producing the ticket, and giving it to Griswold, who went on his way rejoicing, not suspecting that he had only bestowed the "most distressing dilemma" upon his friend. That day Burr did not venture into the pres- ence of the defrauded St. Claire ; and when he saw her on the day following, she was in a humor which nothing but a ticket to the Louvre could appease. Away went Burr again to the Baron Denon for another ticket ; and this was the most fortu- nate of all his many visits to persons of note in Paris. His for- t unos were at the lowest ebb. He had not one sous in the world. The day before, he had had to make a considerable detour to avoid passing a place where sat a woman to whom he owed two sons for a cigar. He found a dozen persons in M. Denon's hall of audience, and the great man had not yet appeared. " I doubted," says Colonel Burr, " whether be would recollect my name or per- son. On entering, he passed by the rest, sought me out, took me by the hand, and led me into his cabinet, and asked me to excuse him a few minutes till he should dismiss the persons in waiting. Gamp was justly surprised at a reception so un- usual. On his return, he took my hand again with both his, insured me of the pleasure he had in meeting me, and his de- sire to be useful unto me. I took him at his word ; told him the business which had brought me to France ; the memoir I had presented, and the ill success ; that is, the silence ; and that my wishes were now confined to a passport. He offered to speak of my memoir to M. Maret (le Due de Bassano), sup- posed to be the most intimate counselor of the emperor, and begged me to permit him to peruse my memoir. Agreed ; 572 LIFE OF AARON BUKK. to-morrow morning, at ten, appointed for the purpose. Got my ticket and came off in triumph, that I could now fulfill my engagement to St. Claire." These professions of regard were sincere, those promises were performed, and M. Denon continued his good offices till they had accomplished Colonel Burr's release. A lew days after, Burr and the Due de Bassano were brought together at the house of M. Denon. The occasion was one of those grand breakfasts, which were fashionable at that time in Paris. The due had evidently been prepossessed in favor of Burr, and on sitting down at the table (at half-past three in the afternoon) invited him to a seat next his own, the duchess and other ladies sitting opposite. Colonel Burr and the due conversed much together during the repast ; and, be- fore they separated, the exile had told his story, and awakened in the minister a real interest in his fortunes. They talked much of Mexico. Burr said, " it was not yet too late /" but if Mexico were out of the question, he had but one favor to ask, permission to leave the empire. On leaving the saloon, the due showed Colonel Burr very particular marks of favor, and "hoped he should have the honor soon to meet him again." From that day, he -had a powerful friend at court, and the prospect of a return, one day, to his own country began to brighten. Three months more of ante-chamber life elapsed before any thing decisive was done. M. Denon was zealous, Bassano was interested, Burr was importunate ; but the emperor, then fondly anticipating the birth of the King of Rome, was, per- haps, not easily induced to attend to business of small import- ance to himself. At last, however, not far from the very birth-day of the imperial infant, Colonel Burr received, witli unbounded delight, the official assurance that "his majesty had consented to his departure !" The Due de Bassano, learn- ing through M. Denon that Burr, in consequence of his long detention, was penniless and in debt, made the emperor's per- mission available, by lending him ten thousand francs. One would suppose that his troubles were now over, and that nothing remained but to pay his debts, say good-by to HE ESCAPES. 5V3 his friends, take passage in the diligence to the nearest sea- port, and sail in the h'rst ship to New York. Doubtless he thought so himself. But never were reasonable anticipations more tamalbingly disappointed. The passport wrung from the reluctant Russell was, as we have seen, of no avail until it had received the authorization of the French authorities, to obtain which it had to pass through three offices. Through the first, the document passed quickly enough, and was duly transmitted to the second, where it remained immovable for fourteen days. At the end of that period, Burr received a paper certifying, in the usual form, that the passport had passed the second office, and had been sent to the third. To the third he forthwith repaired, and, on applying for the passport, was handed an officially-written declaration that it had not been received. In inquiring from office to office for the missing passport, he spent Jive weeks, without getting any tidings of it whatever. He was then told that it was probably lost, and that the only thing to be done was to get another passport, and begin again. He did so. Contemplating now a delay of six weeks, and being still haunt- ed with visions of wealth from the Holland Company, he re- solved to improve the time by going to Holland. That coun- try having been recently made an integral part of the French empire, there was no difficulty in his obtaining a passport for the journey. He went to Holland, and invested seven thousand francs in Holland Company shares, with what result does not appear. He also endeavored to get access to the directors of the com- pany, and to lay certain plans before them for the enhance- ment of its prosperity. The answer he received was, that the directors of the Holland Company would " hold no con- ference, nor have any intercourse with A. Burr ;" a fact which he records in his diary without remark. After spending a few days in Amsterdam, he made a rapid tour of the country, and, returning, had a very agreeable ad- venture. An American ship had been recently brought in, the Vigilant, Captain Combes, and was threatened with long detention, if not confiscation. On Burr's first visit to Amster- 574 LIFE OF AAEON BUKK. dam, he had met Captain Combes, and heard the story of his misfortunes but, on his return, he found the captain exult- ing over a permit to sail, and eager for Colonel Burr to return in his ship to America. He expressed an unbounded regard for Burr, said he had laid awake whole nights thinking of him ; promised to fit up a cabin on any plan he might prefer, and declared that nothing would please him more than to serve him. The ship was a stanch and new one, of four hundred tons, and Burr accepted the captain's offer. Back he flew to Paris to get his passport, and complete his business there. He found the passport just where he had left it. But now a new difficulty arose. The passport given him by Russell was made out for Bordeaux, from which port he had intended to sail. He now returned the document to the charge, and requested him to change the port of departure to Amsterdam, stating his reasons, and informing him that there was no like- lihood of a ship sailing from Bordeaux for many months. That obliging individual refused, point blank, to make the alteration. This was, for a moment, a crushing disappointment, as in those days an " opportunity for America" from a port under control of the French emperor, was a very rare event, and the day named for the sailing of the Vigilant was close at hand. Burr consulted Baron Denon, who promptly informed the Due de Bassano of the new dilemma. The due, who was now very warmly interested for Burr, chanced to possess a piece of information respecting Russell, which enabled him to bring to bear upon his virtuous mind a controlling influence. The due told M. Denon that there was a person through whom he could reach Mr. Russell, but that she was at the moment out of town. The due wrote to the lady. She returned to Paris instantly, and, on the very day of her return, the due received the passport. The next day Burr received it, with all the requisite official signatures, and on the day following, July 20th, 1811, he left Paris for ever. This last difficulty had detained him a month in Paris, during which he saw the fetes and reviews that accompanied the christening of the King of Rome. HE ESCAPES. 575 One incident of his departure tempts us to linger for a mo- ment. He received a note from a lady inclosing a parting present of a metallic pen, a novelty at that time. " May it be instrumental," she wrote, "in showing to posterity how much you have been the victim of the envy and injustice of your countrymen." His reply, in the style of the last century, when tine gentlemen were all adoration to fine ladies, is a good instance of the mode. " It is quite impossible for me, madame," he began, " to express, in a language of which I am ignorant, how much I was surprised and flattered by your charming little note, and the pen which accompanied it. Could I write the French like a Parisian, it would even then be equally difficult. I have read and re-read the note at least twenty times, and examined the pen. This was my amuse* ment for one long day, which still appeared short. The next day, having to write to the minister, I determined to test the inspiration of this pen. At first I had much difficulty in per- suading myself to use it, it was so beautiful, so brilliant. At last I filled it with ink, and sat myself down to write ; but all ray ideas (if I had any) were wandering. I could think but of you. Having in vain ransacked my brains for half an hour, I gave up the business for the time. The same result followed the second attempt. I have come to the conclusion, therefore, that the pen ought to be consecrated to friendship and senti- ment, and never should be sullied by appropriating it to mat- ters of business. The most interesting service in which it ever will be employed will be to express to you the devotedness with which I am your friend." He went to Amsterdam, where a new obstacle to his de- parture presented itself. The long detention of the ship had run Captain Combes so deeply in debt that he could not leave without raising a considerable sum of money. Burr was his only resource, out of all the fifty passengers that were going in the ship ; and Burr himself had not a third of the money. But he contrived to procure the necessary sum ; and he tells Theodosia, in a very touching manner, how he procured it. " But how did I raise it ? The reply contains a dreadful dis- closure. I raised it by the sale of my little ' meublea' and 576 LIFE OF AAEON BUEK. loose property. Among others, alas ! my dear little Gamp's ; it is shocking to relate, but what could I do ? The captain said it was impossible to get out of town without five hundred guilders. He had tried every resource, and was in despair. The money must be raised, or the voyage given up. So, after turning it over, and looking at it, and opening it, and putting it to my ear like a baby, and kissing it, and begging you a thousand pardons out loud, your dear, little, beautiful watch was was sold. I do assure you but you know how sorry I was. If my clothes had been salable, they would have gone first, that's sure. But, heighho ! when I get rich I will buy you a prettier one." He now went to Helder, the port where the ship lay, and took up his quarters on board, lie exulted at the prospect of departure. " I feel," he said, " as if I was already on the way and my heart beats with joy. Yet, alas ! the country which I am so anxious to revisit will, perhaps, reject me with hor- ror * * * jyjy w indows look over the ocean ; that ocean which separates me from all that is dear. With what pleasure I did greet it after three years' absence. I am never weary of looking at it. There seems to be no obstacle between us, and I almost fancy I see you and Gampy with the sheep about the door, and he ' driving the great ram with a little stick.' " There were still some days of agonizing detention. But about the 1st of October, 1811, the Vigilant sailed, and Aaron Burr looked for the last time on the continent of Europe. Between the time when he received the emperor's permission to go and the time of his actual departure from his majesty's dominions, six. months elapsed six months of scarcely remitted exertion directed to the sole object of getting away. That he should think ill of continental Europe, and, partic- ularly, of the Napoleonic government, was but natural. " It is a melancholy fact, my friend," he wrote soon after to Lord Balgray, " that Europe is fast, very fast, rebarbarizing ; retro- grading with rapid strides to the darkest ages of intellectual and moral degradation ; all that h'as been seen, or felt, or heard, or read of despotism ; all other, past and present, is faint and feeble; it is freedom and ease compared with that which now HE ESCAPES. 577 desolates Europe. The science of tyranny was in its infancy ; it is now matured. "Within the last fifteen years, greater rav- ages have been made on the dignity, the worth, and the ra- tional enjoyments of human nature, than in any former ten cen- turies. All the efforts of genius, all the nobler sentiments and finer feelings, are depressed and paralyzed. Private faith, per- sonal confidence, and the whole train of social virtues, are con- demned and eradicated. They are crimes. And you, my friend even you, with all your generous propensities, your chivalrous notions of honor, and faith, and delicacy, were you condemned to live within the grasp of the tyrant, even you would discard them all, or you wouM be sacrificed as a dangerous subject." What a cruel disappointment now awaited him! Before the ship sailed, he had been haunted by a vague fear that something might still happen to prevent the voyage ; nor was it entirely without apprehension that he had observed from his cabin windows, British men-of-war cruising off the harbor. But the captain was confident of being allowed to pass, and Burr's fears subsided. But no sooner had the Vigilant put to sea than she was boarded by a British frigate. Officers and men came on board, and the ship was taken to Yarmouth, there to abide the decision of the admiralty, whether she should be condemned as a prize, or permitted to resume her voyage. Thus, after all his labor, anxiety, and expenditure, Burr found himself again on the coast whence he had been driven more than two years before. With characteristic audacity, he wrote forthwith to the superintendent of the alien office for permission to land and to go to London. He stated the cause of his presence at Yar- mouth, and described himself as being " on board a small ship, very badly accommodated, with fifty -four passengers, of whom a majority were women and children, thirty-one sailors, thirty- three boys, and about one hundred other quadrupeds and bipeds." To his surprise, as well as delight, he promptly re- ceived the desired permission ; and, what was still less to have been expected, he alone, of passengers and crew, was allowed to leave the ship. To London he went, where he received from Bentham, and his other London friends, a joyful and '25 578 LIFE OF AARON BURR. affectionate welcome. As there seemed no near prospect, nor any certainty whatever, of the Vigilant 1 s release, after wait- ing some weeks, he removed his effects from her, and was once more established as a resident in London. The ship was afterward released, but her destination was changed to New Orleans, where Colonel Burr had no wish to appear. He lost his passage money, and had no resource but the very scanty remains of the Due de Bassano's loan, and the property that had survived the many sans-sous periods of his residence in Paris. For a short time, however, he was the guest of Jere- my Bentham, but soon resumed, in lodgings of his own, the character of a gentleman in difficulties. Now followed a struggle with misfortune that would have been terrible to any man in the world but Aaron Burr. To him it was not terrible in the least. It was soon apparent that a passage to America had become an affair of extreme difficulty. Few ships ventured to sail ; and not every captain would have Aaron Burr for a passenger. In ships bound for New Orleans, he thought it undesirable to go. One or two " opportunities" for northern ports, he lost by accident. Twenty others slipped by because he had not the money to improve them. And thus it happened that he was detained in London nearly half a year. One by one, the few articles of value which he possessed, his books, his watch, the few presents he had saved for his daughter and her boy, were pawned or sold. It soon became a fight for mere existence. He removed to furnished lodgings in Clerkenwell Close, "at eight shillings a week ;" only the Godwins and one American friend being admitted to the se- cret. The weekly problem was, how to pay the rent, and lay in the week's stock of provisions and fuel. Scores of such entries as the following occur in the diary of this period : " On my way home discovered that I must dine. I find my appetite in the inverse ratio to my purse ; and I now conceive why the poor eat so much when they can get it. Considering the state of my finances, resolved to lay out the whole in- stantly in necessaries, lest some folly or some beggar should rob me of a shilling. Bought, viz., half a pound of beef, HE ESCAPES. 579 eightpence ; a quarter of a pound of ham, sixpence ; one pound of brown sugar, eightpence ; two pounds of bread, eightpence ; ten pounds of potatoes, fivepence ; having left, elevenpence, treated myself to a pot of ale, eightpence ; and now, with threepence in ray purse, have read the second vol- ume of Ida. My beef was boiled so bought, I mean, and cooked my potatoes in my room. Made a great dinner. Ate at least one half of my beef. Of two great necessaries, coffee and tobacco, I have at least a week's allowance ; so that, without a penny, I can keep the animal machine agoing for eight days." Occasionally, we see him taking a chop at the " Hole in the Wall." Once he speaks of the gentlemen being shown into the parlor of a tavern, while he and other impecunious individuals were regaled with cold beef and pickles in the kitchen. At another time, he wrote : "Have left in cash two half-pence, which is much better than one penny, because they jingle, and thus one may refresh one's self with the music." Sometimes he could not write to Theodosia, because he had not " four and sixpence" to pay the postage. Often, he had nothing to eat but potatoes or bread. Once, he bought a pound of rice, and told Theodosia how "it grieved him to find rice retailed at fourpence." How little he could have anticipated, on Theodosia's brilliant wedding-day, that he should ever con- template her husband's rice plantations from such a point of view ! He was all activity in London, and tried many a curious ex- pedient for getting money. In Paris he had had made a set of artificial teeth by the most celebrated dentist in Europe. He observed the process closely, became very intimate with the operator, brought with him to London a thousand of his teeth, and, in his extremity there, attempted to sell both the teeth and his own knowledge of the art of inserting them. But he found that the London dentists were not inferior to the French, and that they regarded the French teeth with contempt. Another of his projects was to test in England the process he had heard of in France, of making vinegar out of the sap of wood. He happened to mention the subject one i>80 LIFE OF AAEON BURK. day to Brunei, the celebrated engineer, who was at once struck with the idea, and offered to engage with Burr in the experiment for their joint benefit. Down to Yarmouth rushed Burr instantly, to get a pamphlet on the subject which he had left on board the ship. It was lost. Not dismayed, he pushed his inquiries for some weeks, but never succeeded in making practicable vinegar. He had a dream, too, of making a grand improvement in the steamboat, which, on his last visit to New York, he had seen navigating the Hudson at the rate of five miles an hour. It was a rage then to invent improvements in the steamboat. Burr's idea gave him no peace for several days. " Ruminat- ing," he says, " after going to bed on the state of the treas- ury, the thing came up again, and engrossed me for at least three hours. I found it perfect ; applied it to sea-vessels, to ships of war ; in short, to every thing that floats. Sails, and masts, and rigging, and, the whole science of seaman- ship, are become useless. My vessels go at the rate of twenty miles an hour, and am in hopes to bring them to thirty. From Charleston to New York will be a certain passage of thirty hours ; from New York to London, of six days ; but to tell half I did would fill a quire of paper." He could think of nothing else. He saw himself a millionaire, succoring dis- tressed friends in London, bestowing fortunes upon " the faith- ful in the United States," and raining beautiful presents upon Gampillo. But, unfortunately, as he was walking one day in London, thinking out the details of his invention, suddenly an objection occurred to him. " It struck me," he says, " like electricity: my poor vessels lay motionless. It was just op- posite Somerset House ; I stopped short, and began to sacre and diable till awakened by the bustle of the passing crowd. The subject then lay pretty quiet till last night ; during my vigils I found a complete remedy, and now away we go again. An experiment shall be made, very privately, however, and, if it fail, there shall be no one but you to laugh at me." As the Atlantic has not yet been crossed in six days, it may be presumed that the experiment did fail. Another subject greatly interested Lim about the same . HE ESC APES. 581 time. It was the Lancasterian method of instruction, which was just then coming into vogue in London. He visited the schools conducted on that system, and was delighted with what he saw. He also bought Lancaster's book, and sent it, with warm commendations, to his daughter. Nor was Mexico forgotten ; he never forgot it, while he had breath. But the English government, though it now ex- hibited no unfriendliness toward him, and, indeed, conceded to him every personal favor that he solicited, yet never showed the slightest interest in his plans, nor any wish to avail itself of his knowledge of Spanish American affairs. As the spring of 1812 advanced, his desire to get to the United States became vehement. He began to believe that war between England and the United States was now, in spite of the reluctance of the American cabinet, a possible event, and it was very evident that he must get home before hostili- ties commenced, or be detained in Europe, perhaps, for many years. In the beginning of March he fell in, in the course of his ship-hunting, w r ith one Captain Potter, of the shipylwrora, who offered tc take him to Boston for thirty pounds, to keep the secret of his name, and to defy the wrath of the American consul, who had already dissuaded more than one captain from receiving Colonel Burr as a passenger. He determined to go, and, though nearly penniless, proceeded with his prep- arations for the voyage with the utmost confidence. But des- perate was the struggle to get the money. Nearly every article he possessed that could be sold for money, was sold. Then he borrowed of the few friends with whom he was on terms that admitted of his asking such a favor. Bentham, alas ! had himself fallen into difficulties, and was threatened by an illib- eral government with a ruinous prosecution. One ten pound note, he got in an unexpected and not quite pleasant manner. He was with Mr. Reeves, the superinten- dent of the alien office, and it occurred to him to offer Reeves his copy of Bayle's dictionary for ten pounds. Reeves asked why he wished to sell it. " I want the money," said Burr. Reeves agreed to buy the book, placed ten pounds in Burr's hands, and said, " You had better keep your Bayle, and send 582 LIFE OF AAKON BURR. , me the ten pounds when you please." " The thing was so sudden," wrote Burr, " that I was not prepared to say any thing." But he had not money enough yet. His fair friends were, as ever, active in his behalf. One of them ran about London all one day offering for sale a ring and watch of his. But her report was that the town Avas full of watches and bijouterie in the hands of distressed French and German nobles, and no jeweler would look at such things. Every resource had failed. He resolved now upon what he called "a desperate and humiliating expedient." "I went," he said, " direct to Reeves, and told him that the ship was gone to Gravesend, and that I must lose my passage unless I could have twenty pounds. Without a word of reply, he drew a check on his banker for twenty pounds ; and how I did gal- lop across the park to the said banker's to get my twenty pounds." His last regret was, that certain presents which he had long kept for Theodosia and her son, he could not re- deem from pawn. And now he was really going. His preparations were com- pleted ; his passage was secured ; the ship was to sail to-mor- row. At midnight, he wrote in his diary as follows: "And now, at twelve, having packed up my little residue of duds into that same unfortunate white sack, and stowed my scat- tered papers into my writing-case, I repose, smoking my pipe, and contemplating the certainty of escaping from this country, the certainty of seeing you. Those are my only pleasing antici- pations. For as to my reception in my own country, so tar as depends on the government, if I may judge from the con- duct of their agents in every part of Europe, I ought to ex- pect all the efforts of the most implacable malice. This, how- ever, does not give me a moment's uneasiness. I feel myself able to meet and repel them. My private debts are a subject of some little solicitude; but a confidence in my own industry and resources does not permit me to despond, nor even to doubt. If there be nothing better to be done, I shall set about making money in every lawful and honorable way. But again, as to political persecution. The incapacity, for every purpose HE ESCAPES. 583 of public administration, of our present rulers, and their total want of energy and firmness, is such, that it is impossible that such feeble and corrupt materials can long hold together, or maintain themselves in power or influence. Already there are symptoms of rapid and approaching decay and dissolution. Tell M. (Mr. Alston) to preserve his State influence, and not again degrade himself by compromising with rascals and cow- ards. My great and only real anxiety is for your health. If your constitution should be ruined, and you become the vic- tim of disease, I shall have no attachment to life or motive to exertion." The next morning at eight, he was at the office of the Graves- end coaches, where a few friends met him to say farewell. Gravesend, where the ship lay, and whence she was to sail at noon, is twenty miles from London. To the horror of the whole party, it was found that the morning coach had gone ! The hours of departure had been recently changed. There was no other public conveyance of any kind till one o'clock. What was to be done? A friend suggested a post-chaise, but that would cost three guineas, and Burr had not a quarter of that sum. The same friend offered to lend the money "But," says Burr, " he is so poor, and having a wife and two children, that I could not in conscience take it, especially as Graves said the wind was ahead, and the ship could not possibly stir." So he waited for the one o'clock coach. He reached Gravesend at five in the afternoon. The ship had started at noon, and was now five hours on her way down the river ! There was not a moment to be lost. He ran to the alien office to get his passport completed ; for passports were then necessary for foreigners leaving England. The office was shut ! He hunted up the clerk, got his signature to the passport, and hurried to the custom-house for an officer to examine his sack and writing-desk. That done, he hastened to the river to en- gage a boatman to row after the ship and put him on board. Nnt a boatman would stir under four guineas; as on such oc- casions, they combined to extort from a desperate voyager an enormous fee. Burr had not a single guinea ! In this extremity, 584 LIFE OF AAEON BURR. lie found a boatman not in the plot to extort, who offered to put him on board for one guinea, provided he overtook the ship within twelve miles ; if not, for two guineas. Burr had an acquaintance with him at Gravesend, who consented to cash an order for three guineas on his poor friend in London whose oifer of a loan Burr had so considerately refused in the morn- ing. His purse thus replenished, he embarked, just as the sun was setting, in a small skiff, rowed by two men, for a ehase after the ship. It was a cold evening in March. Burr, with no overcoat, was chilled to the bone, as the boat shot down the river in the wind's teeth. When the twelve miles were passed, he was told that the ship was ten miles further. By this time lie was so benumbed with cold that he could neither stand nor move; and he induced the boatmen, by a promise of some grog, to stop at a little tavern by the river side for him to warm himself. He had to be lifted out of the boat ; but a good fire and a cup of tea soon restored him, and they again embarked. This time he was perfectly comfortable, as he bought a bundle of straw and placed it in the boat for a bed, and the boatmen lent him their overcoats for a covering. In five minutes lie was fast asleep, and remained unconscious of any thing till midnight, when the boatmen woke him to announce the delightful fact that they were alongside the Aurora. They had rowed twenty- seven miles, and demanded three guineas for their labor. He paid it, and went on board the ship without one penny. The captain got up to receive him ; they sat talking for an hour, and then Colonel Bun 1 , refreshed by his three hours' sleep on board the boat, went to his cabin and wrote an ac- count in his journal of the day's thrilling adventures. " I hope," he concluded, " never to visit England again, unless at the head of fifty thousand men. I shake the dust off my feet ; adieu, John Bull. Insula inhospitabilis, as it was truly called eighteen hundred years ago." Men must be allowed to speak of the market according to the demand in it for their own wares. He found the captain and passengers alarmed lest war should be declared before they reached Boston, and thus the ship be HE ESCAPES. 585 exposed to capture. " But," said Burr, " I have no such ap- prehensions. I believe that our present administration will not declare war. If the British should hang or roast every American they can catch, and seize all their property, no war would be declared by the United States under present rulers. When Porter's war resolutions first came, I considered them mere empty, unmeaning wind ; and that all the subsequent measures are merely to keep up the spirits and coherence of the party till the elections should be over ; those elections for State legislatures which will decide the next presidential elec- tion. But J. Madison & Co. began this game too soon, and I doubt whether all the tricks they can play off will keep up the farce till the month of May. I treat their war-prattle as I should that of a bevy of boarding-school misses who should talk of making war ; show them a bayonet or a sword, and they run and hide. Now, at some future day, we will read this over, and see whether I know those folks. I did not dare write any such things while on shore, for I never felt perfectly secure against another seizure." Just sixty-three days after this confident prophecy was writ- ton, namely, on the 18th of May, 1812, war was declared. But, by that time, the good ship Aurora was safe in Boston harbor. Colonel Burr sailed under the name of Arnot, for the as- sumption of which he had the express permission of the author- ities of the British alien office. The captain kept his secret. ' Mi - . Arnot," wrote Burr, " is a grave, silent, strange sort oi animal, insomuch that we know not what to make of him." May 4th, he wrote : " A pilot is in sight, and within two miles of us. All is bustle and joy, except Gamp. Why should he rejoice ?" That afternoon, after a passage of five weeks, the Aurora was made fast to one of the Boston wharfs. Every passenger but one went immediately on shore. The captain and mate also left the ship in the course of the afternoon. 25* CHAPTER XXXII. THE EXILE'S WELCOME HOME. A.LONE IN THE SlTIP GOES OX SlIORE IX DISGUISE ADVENTURES AT THE CUSTOM- HOUSE DETENTION IN BOSTON INTERVIEW WITH THE OLD SOLDIER TUB COL- LEGE CLASSMATE RECOGNIZED BY A LADY GOOD NEWS FROM SWARTWOITT SAILS IN A SLOOP FOR NEW YORK FINDS RELATIVES ON BOARD STARTLING INCIDENT BURR NARRATES ins ARRIVAL IN THE CITY CONCEALED FOR TWEN- TY BAYS ANNOUNCEMENT OF HIS ARRIVAL SUCCESSFUL BEGINNING OF BUSINESS DREADFUL NEWS FROM THEODOSIA DEATH OF TIIEODOSIA THE FATHER'S GRIEF ANECDOTE. IT was the silent Mr. Arnot who remained on board the Aurora. After sending letters to the post-office, one directed to Theodosia, and another to Samuel Swartwout, that " strange" individual dined with the pilot and second mate on salt beef, potatoes, and sea-biscuit, and then fell with far keener appetite upon a file of Boston papers. All that day, and through the succeeding night, a storm of wind, rain, and hail raged round the ship with a fury seldom seen so late in the spring, even at Boston. The ship broke from her moorings, and was dashed with violence against an- other vessel. The deck and bulwarks were glazed with ice, and the wind roared through the icy rigging. But Burr sat late over his papers in the cabin quite absorbed for he had a world of news to learn, and his fate might be foreshadowed in a paragraph. As the night drew on, the last sailor stole away over the ship's side, and went to seek his pleasure in the town ; and long before Burr " turned in," he was alone in the Aurora. Not a creature slept in the ship but him. Such was the returning exile's first welcome to the country which his fathers had honored, and which had once been well pleased to honor him. He thought lightly of it. When a more furious gust than usfial thundered above his head, it oc- THE EXILE'S WELCOME HOME. 587 curred to him what an absurd voyage he should make if the ship should bo blown out to sea, and he all alone in her. The next morning, as he found there was neither fuel, food, nor cook on board the ship, he was compelled to go on shore. During the voyage, by the sale of some books, he had con- trived to raise thirty-two dollars, and to buy or borrow of one of the passengers a large, old-fashioned wig. He had, also, devoted leisure moments to the development of as much whisker as his countenance was capable of. His clothes, too, were selected with a view to giving him a different air and contour from those he had been wont to exhibit. Disguised thus with wig, whiskers, and strange garments, Mr. Arnot went on shore, and took board in a small, plain boarding- house, near the wharf, kept by the widow of a sea-captain. His disguise was soon subjected to a terrible test. It was necessary to go to the custom-house and get a permit to land his effects, signed by the collector. On inquiry he learned that the collector was Mr. Dearborn (a son of General Dear- born, Jefferson's Secretary of War), who had sat often with Colonel Burr at his father's table, and knew him as well as he did his own brother. The Dearborn family, moreover, had shown particular animosity to Burr since his misfortunes, and it was certain that if the collector recognized him, he would instantly send the news of his arrival to Washington. Let Burr tell the story of this adventure. " I took with me," he wrote in his diary, " a young man to show me the way to the custom-house, and entered with all possible composure ; passed under the nose of Mr. Dearborn into the adjoining room, where the first part of the business was to be done. The officer to whom I was directed asked me to enumerate my effects; for this I was not prepared, sii|>- posing that the list of them would be taken from the manifest. Nevertheless, I repeated them off as fast as he could write, though they consisted of eighteen different articles ; trunks, boxes, portmanteaus, bundles, rolls, etc. He then bade me sign my name to it, which I did, thus: A. Arnot ; I think that is very like it. Then he directed me to take it to the col- lector, who would sign it : here was the rub. I told the young 588 LIFE OF AAEON BUEE. man, my conductor, to take it and get it signed for mo, for that I was obliged to run as fast as possible to see after my things, the ship being just about to haul out. He took it, and I got out as fast as I could, passing again under the nose of Dearborn. I do assure thee that I felt something lighter when I got down into the street. But my trouble and danger were not yet ended. "When I got to the wharf, all ray effects were already lying pell-mell on the ground, and two tide- waiters there, ready to examine them on the spot. As every body here is now idle by reason of the embargo, there were collected more than five hundred people to see what was go- ing forward. Trunks, boxes, bundles, every one opened, and rummaged to the bottom. In many of the books my name was written, but it happened that he did not open in that page. Every parcel of letters showed also the name of A. Burr ; but, as I assisted in the search, I took care how I pre- sented these parcels to him. The ceremony lasted about two hours, and I was another hour repacking ; working and sweat- ing like a horse, the mob crowding round to see the strange things. Of the number present, it is probable that more than half had seen me before ; and I expected every minute to hear some /one exclaim, ' Colonel Burr, by !' But I heard nothing. Finally, got all to my lodgings, the whole expense being six dollars." But why such extreme fear of recognition ? There were excellent reasons for it. The government prosecutions still hung suspended over his head ; and Madison, who had beeu so importunate sixteen years before, in urging General Wash- ington to send Burr as embassador to France, had imbibed all Jefferson's aversion to him. And secondly, two of Burr's largest creditors in New York held executions against him, and would probably throw him into jail for debt the very hour he should appear in the city. It was therefore necessary for him to remain concealed in Boston until the receipt of in- formation from his friends in New York through Swartwout. In 1812 it required five days to get an answer from New York through the mail. The five days passed ; no letter. A week ; no letter. Knowing well the promptness of Swart- THE EXILE'S WELCOME HOME. 589 \votit and his impregnable fidelity, he concluded that the let- ter had miscarried, and wrote again. Two weeks passed ; still no answer. Meanwhile, his stock of money was running frightfully IDW. Tt was very characteristic of the man, that in this crisis of his fate, when he had just twenty-six dollars in the world, he lent sixteen dollars to his landlady. " How very prudent," he wrote. "But don't scold. I am sure they will repay it." It was repaid, just as his store was reduced to a five cent piece. Then a fellow passenger called to borrow ten dollars of Mr. Arnot, which that gentleman lent with the air of a Vice-President. In the very nick of time, that, too, was repaid. He attempted to raise a little money on one or two articles of jewelry which he had tried in vain to sell in London ; but no one was willing to give any thing like their value for them. Something must be done, or he would soon be so deeply in debt as not to be able to leave the town. Borrowing a directory not a voluminous work at that day he pored over its pages to find the name of some person whom he could trust some one among the thousands that would have been proud to welcome him ten years before, who would not spurn and betray him now. He lighted upon the name of a man who had been under his command on the Que- bec expedition in 1775. He had not seen him since; but as he had never known a man that had served under him in war, who was not ever after his devoted friend, he determined to call upon this old soldier. Burr used to relate this interview with infinite glee. Going up to the door of a handsome house, he plied the knocker, and an infirm old gentleman soon appeared. " Does Mr. live here ?" He did. I- he at home?" He was at home. " Can I see him ?" " I am the person," said the old gentleman. Burr bowed, and lowering his voice, said, " I am Aaron Burr." " What ! the Aaron Burr who was Vice-President of the United States ?" 590 LIFE OF AAEON BUBB. " The same." " You baint /" exclaimed the old soldier, astounded and be- wildered at the intelligence. In a manner much too deferential for Burr's present purpose, he invited him in. They went into the parlor, where Burr soon learned that the old man, after a life of industry, had now retired from business with a decent independence. But he treated his former commander with such extreme respect, that Burr was compelled, much against his will, to play the great man and distinguished guest, and actually came away, without so much as mentioning the object of his visit. The old soldier returned his call, and showed him many friendly attentions, but they never reached the awful subject of pecu- niary aid. Recurring to the directory, he found the name of a college classmate, who, up to the time of his departure for Europe, had always professed friendship for him. To this man, who was very rich, he sent a note, announcing his presence in Bos- ton, and requesting an interview. The rich man replied that he had great respect for Colonel Burr and bore him much good will; but, but his position was very delicate he would think of it, and, if he did not call he would write. Burr made the following comment in his diary : " Now, I engage he will do neither one nor the other. When a man takes time to consider whether he will do a good or civil ac- tion, be assured he will never do it. The baser feelings, the calculations of interest and timidity, always prevail. But did you ever hear of such meanness? This very J. Mason was at Richmond during the trial, saw all the vile persecutions which I encountered, and spoke of them with indignation and contempt; came often to see me, and openly avowed a friend- ship for me. He is immensely wealthy, and not a candidate for any office. What should restrain such a man from ex- pressing his feelings ? Timidity." He was correct in his pre- diction. Mason neither came nor wrote. In his dire extrem- ity Burr wrote again, requesting him to advance a sum of money upon his books, some of which were rare (in America) and valuable. Mason coldly replied, that " he had retired TUB EXILE'S WELCOME HOME. 591 from mercantile business, and it was therefore inconvenient for him to make advances." How admirably Burr bore such cruel, cutting slights ! If, for an instant, he was stung into anger, reflection soon came to his aid, reminding him of the allow- ances always to be made for uncultivated human nature, subjected from infancy to the twin tyrants, FEAR and DE- SIRE. He called upon a lady whom he had known and benefited in other days, whom he had not seen for sixteen years, and Avho was now infirm and half blind. At the first glance, she penetrated his disguise. With an air of astonishment and de- light, she called him by name, seized his hand, welcomed him with enthusiasm, summoned her son, and showed him all pos- sible respect and attention. But she was poor, and she was a lady, and the financial problem was not spoken of between them. Fifteen days after his arrival, came the letter from Swart- wont, breathing hope and promise. His old friends in New York, Swartwout assured him, were still true and warm ; his old enemies not inclined to be vindictive. The two creditors, however, were inexorable ; nothing would satisfy them but payment or approved security. He was strongly inclined to go at once to New York, let the executions take their course, and submit to reside within the " limits." " To this," he wrote to his daughter, " I should have no great repugnance in point of pride or feeling, but there are t\vo objections pretty cogent ; first and principally, you. I fear your little heart would sink to hear that Gamp was on the limits. To be sure, if you could come there mid see how gay he was, be supported by the light of his countenance, and catch inspiration from his lips, you would forget that he was not in paradise." Besides, he had a project of matrimony, which would be defeated by his con- finement within the limits. " You have already," he added, u suffered too much on my account, and I come now to sacri- fice myself for you in any way and every way ; that of mar- riage is one, and no hope of that while a prisoner; and as to the payment of my debts, if I am confined to the mere prac- tice of the law, debarred from all those speculations in which 592 LIFE OF AAEON BUEE. I might engage if at large, it will be the work of many years, and in all that time I could do you little or no good." What were his surprise and delight to read in Theodosia's first letter, not merely that she could bear his going into con- finement, but that she spontaneously recommended it. He was resolved. He would go to New York, whatever the con- sequences. It was the treasury of Harvard University that had the honor of paying Colonel Burr's passage, per sloop, from Bos- ton to New York. The old soldier had communicated, in the strictest confidence, of course, the fact of Burr's presence in Boston to a select circle of friends, among whom was Dr. Kirkland, the President of the University. He also intimated to the doctor, that Burr, as he conjectured, had more books and less money than was convenient. Whereupon the doctor having expressed a desire for an interview, and a willingness to buy for tho 'college library Burr's Bayle and Moreri, he was gratified in both particulars. He passed an hour tete-a-tete with Colonel Burr, and paid him forty dollars for the books, leav- ing it to the seller's choice to take back the books and accept the money as a loan. The next day found him on board the sloop, his debts discharged, his passage (twenty dollars) paid, waiting for wind and tide to waft him on his way. No\v, he had chosen this mode of traveling for the purpose of avoiding recognition, and had selected this particular sloop because neither captain, crew, nor passengers belonged to New York. His feelings may be imagined when he found that the captain and most of the cabin passengers were his own relctr tions people from Fairfield, Connecticut, where his father was born, and where he had spent some of the happiest days of his own youth. The captain's wife, in particular, was won- derfully like his own sister. " The same large mouth, replete with goodness, sweetness, and firmness ; the same large, aqui- line nose, contour of face, and the two dimples; and, when disturbed, knits the brow and forehead in the same singular manner ; the form of the eye the same ; very long ; the color not quite so dark. There is only wanting the broad forehead of ma sooeur to be perfect. The same commanding figure THE EXILE'S WELCOME HOME. 593 of her attitudes and movements, of which, you know, every human being has something peculiar. I look at her for hours together with an inexpressible interest, particularly while sleeping ; but I speak not for fear of betraying myself. She must be a relative; bat, thus far, I have not learned her fam- ily name. I dare not question any one, from apprehensions of being questioned in return." This lady, he found, was his cousin. One day, some one asked her for whom a boy's hat which she had in her hand was intended. " Fur J?;v," she replied. " Your brother ?" inquired Burr. " No ; my nephew." At Fail-field, while the sloop was at anchor, he was asked by his cousin, Thaddeus Burr, to- go fishing. He declined, of course. After looking for many hours with longing eyes upon the familiar coast, he ventured to go ashore. " I strolled three or four hours round some miles in the neighborhood. Every object was as familiar to me as those about Richmond Hill, and the review brought up many pleasant and whimsical associa- tions. At several doors I saw the very lips I had kissed and the very eyes which had ogled me in the persons of their grandmothers about six-and-thirty years ago. I did not ven- ture into any of their houses, lest some of the grandmothers might recollect me." He afterward went to the captain's house, where a startling incident occurred. He was sitting reading a newspaper, when a voice behind him suddenly ex- claimed, "Ah ! Burr, how goes it ?" He looked round with doubtful glance, and discovered, to iiis great relief, that the individual addressed was one whose middle name was Burr, and who was commonly called by it. The voyage lasted nine days. At twilight on the 8th of June, the captain of the sloop, fearing to vim through Hurl Gate at so late an hour, came to for the night at a wharf out- side, to Burr's infinite disappointment; for it was essential to his plan that he should reach New York after dark. The 594 LIFE OF AARON BURR. last page of the diary narrates with graphic brevity the inci- dents of this evening. "To add to my chagrin, there came to the wharf from the house an old man, who asked if any of us would walk up. The voice was very familiar to me, and I desired the mate, who was near me, to ask who kept that tavern. " Billy Manner," says the same voice ; a fellow who had known me familiarly since I was eight years old. At this moment there hove in sight a very small sail-boat, standing down. The sloop's barge being alongside, I engaged two of the men for a dollar to put me on board that sail-boat, which was done, and thus I found myself again v> ith the prospect of arriving at the hour I wished. The sail-boat proved to be a pleasure-boat belonging to two young farmers of Long Island. They were not bound to New York, but to the Narrows, but very kindly agreed to put me on shore in the city. When we got opposite the city the wind wholly failed us ; and 4 the tide, now very rapid, set us "over to the Long Island shore ; and we, having no oars, were wholly at its mercy. It seemed inevitable that I must make a voyage to the Narrows, for they could not now get to the Long Island land so as to set me on shore. When we were nearly opposite the Battery I heard the noise of oars, and hailed ; was answered ; and I begged them to come along- side. It proved to be two vagabonds in a skiif, probably on some thieving voyage. They were very happy to set me on shore in the city for a dollar, and at half past eleven I was landed ; and S. S. having given me his address, 66 Water- street, thither I went cheerfully, and rejoicing in my good for- tune. I knocked and knocked, but no answer. I knocked still harder, supposing they were asleep, till one of the neigh- bors opened a window and told me that nobody lived there. I asked where lived Mr. S. Of that she knew nothing. I was now to seek a lodging. But very few houses were open. Tried at two or three taverns, all full ; cruised along the wharf, but could find no place. It was now midnight, and nobody to be seen in the street. To walk about the whole night would be too fatiguing. To have sat and slept on any stoop would have been thought no hardship ; but then, the THE EXILE'S AVELCOJrE HOME. 595 danger that the first watchman who might pass would take me up as a vagrant and carry me up to tlj,e watch-house, was a denouement not at all to my mind. I walked on, thinking that in the skirts of the town I might meet at that hour some charitable personne, who, for one or two dollars and 1'amour de Dieu, would give me at least half a bed ; but seeing in an alley a light in the cellar of a small house, I called and asked for a lodging ; was answered yes ; shown into a small garret, where were five men already asleep; a cot and a sort of cover- lid was given me. I threw open the window to have air, lay down, and slept profoundly till six. Being already dressed, I rose, paid for my lodging twelve cents, and sallied out to 66 Wat or- street, and there had the good luck to find Sam. alone, lie led me immediately to the house of his brother Robert, and here I am, in possession of Sam. 's room in Stone-street, in the city of New York, on this 8th day of June, anno Dom. 1812. Just four years since we parted at this very place." The day was spent in quiet consultation. In the evening, Colonel Burr went to the house' of a lady in Nassau-street who had been his fast friend through all his misfortunes. She was overjoyed to see him. It was as though he had dropped from the clouds. The family gathered round, overwhelming him with congratulations and welcome. He told the lady his design, to begin again the practice of the law, to forswear politics, to toil for his creditors and for Theodosia. Her reply was: " Colonel, here shall be your office ; that suite of rooms is yours, as long as you need or desire them." The frank and gallant offer was accepted. He lay concealed for some weeks, until assurances were re- ceived that the government would not molest him, and until means were found to mollify the rigor of his creditors. It was not till twenty days after his arrival in New York that the newspapers gave the first intimation of his presence in the country, when the following paragraph appeared in the New Yrk Columbian: "Colonel Burr, says a Boston paper of Wednesday, once so celebrated for his talents, and latterly so much talked of for his sufferings, arrived at Newburyport 5P6 LIFE OF AARON BTJRK. from France and England, and passed through this town on his way to New York." The next day, the editor added that Colonel Burr had spent ten days in Boston incog. After that, no further allusion to his arrival appears the papers and the public mind being full of the declaration of war, the assassination of Mr. Perceval, and the proposed nomination of De Witt Clinton, Burr's triumphant rival, to the presidency. At the right moment he caused a line to appear in a news- paper to the effect that, " Aaron Burr had returned to the city and had resumed the practice of the law at Nassau- street." Its appearance electrified the city. Before Colonel Burr slept that night, five hundred gentlemen called upon him. The feeling for the moment seemed to be general throughout the city, that he had been treated with undue severity, and that the past should be buried in oblivion. Colonel Troup, whom Burr had assisted with money and with books to get into the profession of the law thirty years before, and who had since made a fortune by its practice, and retired, now in part repaid his early benefactor by lending him his law library. Burr had a very small tin sign, bearing only his name, nailed up in front of the house, and commenced business. Begin- ning with a cash capital of less than ten dollars, and that bor- rowed, he received, for opinions and retaining fees, in the course of his first twelve business days, the sum of two thou- sand dollars ! It was a time of trouble to the community, and, therefore, of harvest to lawyers, and clients were eager for the services of the man who never lost a case. The future began to wear a brighter hue of promise than it had known for many a year. The father wrote cheerfully to the daugh- ter, acquainting her with the happy turn his fortunes had taken, and anticipating the day when they should meet again after the longest separation they had ever known. Alas ! misery was impending over him, so acute and ir remediable, so far transcending all he had yet experienced, that it4nay be truly said of him in this month of June, 1812, that his sorrows were yet to begin ! A strange fortune was Aaron Burr's, to have uninterrupted success and prosperity in THE EXILE'S WELCOME HOME. 597 the first half of his life, and then nothing but failure and dis- aster, in ever accumulating force, until, the very capacity to suffer being exhausted, nothing could touch him further! About six weeks after his return to New York, he received Theodosia's reply to his cheering letters, in these heart-rend- ing words : " A few miserable days past, my dear father, and your late letters would have gladdened my soul ; and even now I rejoice at their contents as much as it is possible for me to rejoice at any thing ; but there is no more joy for me ; the world is a blank. I have lost my boy. My child is gone for ever. He expired on the 30th of June. My head is not now sufficiently collected to say any thing further. May Heaven, by other blessings, make you some amends for the noble grand- son you have lost." Governor Alston added : " One dread- ful blow has destroyed us ; reduced us to the veriest, the most sublimated wretchedness. That boy, on whom all rested ; our companion, our friend he who was to have transmitted down the mingled blood of Theodosia and myself he who was to have redeemed all your glory, and shed new luster upon our families that boy, at once our happiness and our pride, is taken from us is dead." It was a dreadful blow, indeed. The boy, only eleven years old, had shown all those early signs of talent and courage which were peculiarly dear to Colonel Burr and his daughter. Tradition reports him to have been a beautiful child, and of an air so superior that he had, even at that age, acquired a kind of celebrity in the narrow circle of South Carolina soci- ety. Burr was passionately fond of him. The boy was always in his thoughts. Wherever he went, he spoke of his noble, gallant little grandson, and told little stories of his courage, wit, and tenderness. How many hundreds of miles he had walked in Paris and London to procure books, coins, and trin- kets for him, and how many hundreds more in rescuing them from pawnbrokers and jewelers ! What dreams he had in- dulged of Gampillo's future greatness ! He was to be the per- fect man. In Am, at length, were to be blended strength and gentleness, intelligence and grace all worthy qualities, and all shining ones. He was to realize Chesterfield's beau ideal 598 LIFE OF AAKOJf BUKK. a man of Saxon heart, brain, and muscle, with Celtic quick- ness, wit, and polish ! And this boy was dead. The stricken grandsire shed few tears, but he ceased to mourn his loss only with his life. The mention of the subject would start the tear, but this man of iron would fold his arms tightly over his breast, as if, by the exertion of mere physical strength, to repress the rising tide of emotion. He tried to console the bereaved mother, but she was inconsolable she would not be comforted. "Whichever way I turn," she wrote, a month after the event, " the same anguish still assails me. You talk of consolation. Ah ! you know not what you have lost. I think Omnipotence could give me no equivalent for my boy ; no, none none." But he had not drained the cup. A deeper and bitterer draught was yet in reserve. Theodosia languished. She waited some months at her home in the South, for a safe and suitable opportunity to journey noi'thward, to draw strength and hope from the source that had never failed her her father's inspiring pi'esence. But her husband was now Governor of the State and general of militia. The country was at war with Great Britain, and he could not leave his post. She would have come alone by land in her own carriage, but it chanced that their coachman was a drunkard, and needed the eye of a master. It was resolved, at last, that she should go by sea, and her father sent a physi- cian from New York to superintend the embarkation and at- tend her on the passage for she was, by this time, sadly emaciated, and very weak. Her passage was taken in a small schooner named the Patriot, which, after a privateering cruise, had put into Charleston, and was about to return to New York with her guns stowed below. She was commanded by an experienced captain, and had for sailing master an old New York pilot, noted for his skill and courage. The vessel was famous for her sailing qualities, and, it was confidently ex- pected, would perform the voyage to New York in five or six days. She sailed with a fair and gentle wind from Charleston, on the last day but one of the year 1812, Theodosia, her physician, and her maid, occupying the principal cabin. THE EXILE'S WELCOME II O il E . 599 The Patriot was never seen nor heard of again ! A few days after she left Charleston, a storm of extreme violence raged along the whole coast ; during which* in all probability, the vessel with all on board went down off Cape Hatteras. The agonies of suspense endured by the husband and thu father, the eager letters written by each to tell the other she had not arrived, the weary waiting for the mail, the daily hope, the daily despair, the thousand conjectures that arose to give a moment's relief all this can neither be imagined nor described. For months, the agonized father could not go upon the Battery, then the chief promenade of the city of New York, without looking wistfully down toward the Nar- rows, with a secret pining hope that even yet the missing vessel might appear. It was long before he could relinquish the idea that some outward-bound ship might have rescued the passengers, and carried them away to a distant port, whence soon the noble Heart would return to bless her fath- er's life. By-and-by, some idle tales were started in the news papers, that the Patriot had been captured by pirates, and all on board murdered except Theodosia, who was carried on shore a captive. " No, no," said Burr to a friend who mentioned the ground- less rumor, " she is indeed dead. She perished in the miserable little pilot-boat in which she left Charleston. Were she alive, all the prisons in the world could not keep her from her father. When I realized the truth of her death, the world became a blank to me, and life had then lost all its value." To his son-in-law he wrote that he felt " severed from the human race." During the period of suspense, he never expressed his feel- ings in words. He went about his daily business wearing a serene countenance, for he held it to be an affront to exhibit to others a face of gloom. When he could no longer resist the feeling of certainty that Theodosia was lost, he quietly put out of sight every object which was peculiarly associated with her, every thing which her tasteful hands had made or adorned, every thing that had once been hers. For a long time, Theodosia was a name banished from the vocabulary of 600 LIFE OF A A It ON BUKK. his house. Two or three years after her loss, he received from South Carolina a large box containing articles which had be- longed to her, and some relics of her mother which she had preserved all her life. lie opened the box and recognized the familiar tilings. Then, going intu an adjoining room, where a very intimate friend was sitting, he said, "I have something to show you." He led him by the hand to the open trunk, and, in a voice shaken with emotion, said, " What a fate, poor thing!" He closed the trunk, without another word, placed it out of sight, and made no further allusion to it for a long time. Some of the objects which so deeply moved him upon that occasion are still in existence, and in the possession of indivi- duals to whom he gave them twenty years later, and to whom they are a precious possession. Theodosia was a nearly complete realization of her father's ideal of a woman. With a great deal of wit, spirit, and talent, and possessing the elegant vivacity of manner Avhich he so much admired, and a face strikingly beautiful, and strik- ingly peculiar, she also inherited all that a daughter could inherit of her father's courage and fortitude. In both solid and elegant accomplishments she was very far superior to the ladies of her time. After shining in the circles of New York, she led the society of South Carolina, until the time of her father's misfortunes, when she shared his ostracism in both places, and was proud to share it. Her love for her father was more like passion than filial affection. Her faith in his honor and in his worth was absolute and entire. Immovable in that faith, she could cheerfully have braved the scorn, the derision of a world. She would have left all to follow him. She would have renounced her husband, if her husband had faltered in his duty to a father-in-law whose fault, whatever it was, he had shared. No father ever more loved a child, nor more laboriously proved his love, than Aaron Burr. No child ever repaid a father's care and tenderness, with a love more constant and devoted than Theodosia. That such a woman could so entirely love and believe in him, was the fact THE EXILE'S WELCOME HOME. 601 which first led the writer of these lines to suspect that the Aaron Burr who actually lived and walked these streets must have been a very different being indeed from the Aaron Burr of the popular imagination. Not necessarily a good man, in the noblest sense of that greatest of words ; but, certainly, not the monster he is thought. It was a maxim of the " Burr School" (as surviving friends of Colonel Burr still call his system of life), to accept the In- evitable without repining. He held it weakness to mourn, ami wisdom to enjoy. After losses, he maintained, we should hold all the faster to what is left, and enjoy it. This was his principle ; and he acted upon it ; and was prone to undervalue those who did not. If it had been his fortune to go before his daughter to the other world, he would have told her with his dying breath that if she desired truly to honor his memory, she must be happy, and a source of happiness when he was gone. Therefore, though the loss of his daughter and her boy had taken from his life its object and its charm, he exhibited to the world a composed demeanor, and strove, in all ways, to enjoy the passing hour. Time heals or assuages all wounds. He put his grief away from him. He would not be sorrow- ful. It seemed as though, to the end of his life, he was more tender and loving to all the children he ever met for Gampil- lo's sake. Some months after these events, he chanced one day, on a journey to Albany, to visit some very old friends near Newburg, whom he had not seen for a long time. He knocked at the door of the house two or three times, and no one came ; when, presuming on his intimacy with the family, he pushed open the front door, and entered a parlor. There he was shocked to see, lying in an open coffin, the body of a child whom he had known as the delight of the household, and of whose sickness even he had not heard. He was ob- served by a servant to gaze with singular intensity upon the countenance of the dead child, and to sit down by its side, covering his face with his hands. Then he rose and left the house. A few days after, he wrote a letter to the afflicted 26 602 LIFE OF AARON BURR. family, apologizing for his strange behavior. " Ever since the event," be wrote, " which separated me from mankind, I have been able neither to give nor to receive consolation." That "event," they supposed, was the duel with Hamilton so little did they know of the man they had known so long. CHAPTER XXXIII. ANECDOTES AXD REMINISCENCES OP HIS LATER TEARS. PorrL.vp. XOTION OF Bn-.R's LATER TEARS His DEBTS STARTS GENERAL JACKSON FIJI: -niK riiKsiiiF.xcv THE MEDCEF EDEN CASE REMARKABLE CASE OP INCEST INTERVIEW \V1TII HENRY CLAY .SCENE BETWEEN BlTRR AND GENERAL SCOTT Bui:i: KKVISTTS THE S-ENB OF Tiin DUEL BURR'S MEETING WITH MBS. HAMIL- TON BIT UK AND VANHERLYN THE PAINTER KECOLLECTIONS OF DR. WOODBRIDGE His RELIGIOUS BELIEF His OPINION OF THE BIBLE ANECDOTES GENER- OSITY OF BURR ANECDOTES STORY OF BURR AND GENERAL JACKSON BURR'S OPINION OF JACKSON BURR'S HALE OLD AGE BURR AND FANNY KEMBLE. TIIKRE is no part of the long life of Aaron Burr, respecting Avhich the popular idea is more at variance with the truth, than the period which we now enter upon. That popular idea is forcibly expressed by the concluding words of a writer in the old New York Review (January, 1838) a writer whose pro- fession and whose errors should have conspired to render just, it' not charitable : " With the recklessness pi-oduced by a present which had no comfort, and a future which had no hope, he (Aaron Burr) surrendered himself without shame to the groveling propen- sities which had formed his first step on the road to ruin, until at last, overcome by disease, in the decay of a worn-out body, and the imbecility of a much-abused mind, he lay a shattered wreck of humanity, just entering upon eternity with not enough of man left about him to make a Christian out of. Kuiiu'd in fortune, and rotten in reputation, thus passed from the busy scene one who might have been a glorious actor in it ; and when he was laid in the grave, decency congratulated itself that a nuisance was removed, and good men were glad that God had seen fit to deliver society from the contaminat- ing contact of a festering mass of moral putrefaction." It would be difficult to put into words a statement more false than this sounding, shameful, pitiless paragraph. It 604 LIFE OF AARON BUKR. would have been so easy to find out the truth about Colonel Burr's last years in 1838. It has not been very difficult in 1857 ; for there are still several persons living whose recollec- tions of him in those years are full and accurate, and who have been more than willing to tell what they know. Groveling propensities ! A more delicate creature never lived in mascu- line form than Aaron Burr. A man of refined appetite ; in no bad sense a sensualist ; abhorring gross pleasures, pursuits, and persons. Look at his face ! Is it the face of a sensualist ? But I reserve this subject for consideration in another chap- ter, and proceed to narrate here .such events and incidents of this period of his life as seem worthy of brief record. Observe, first, the circumstances of the man. He is declin- ing into the vale of years ; he is fifty-seven years old. He is alone in the world. The excitement produced by his sudden arrival in the city soon subsided, and the old odium gathered thick about him. From the first, he took the honorable, the right resolution of knowing those only who first recognized him. Thus he acquired the habit, which many will remember, of glancing under his eyelids at an approaching acquaintance to see whether or not he meant to cut him. Usually the ap preaching acquaintance had that intention, and was deprived of the opportunity by Colonel Burr's looking another way. Thus the circle of his acquaintance grew ever narrower, imtil it included few beside his clients and his tried friends, whose friendship dated back to revolutionary times. For, if there is a noble element in human nature which inclines us to take the weaker side, there is a base principle, too, which urges us to join in a hue and cry. He made not the slightest endeavor to set himself right with the public. He never sought friends. Besides the general causes of odium, half a dozen influential families of the city imagined that it was part of their duty to the dead to heap obloquy upon the living. There was a " set" who took the infamy of Aaron Burr in charge, and nursed it, and never let it cease growing until it filled the world. He was beleaguered with creditors, some of whom had bought expedition debts for a fraction of their face, and were clamorous for payment. A large proportion of the immense ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES. 605 expenses incurred during his trial had never been paid. There were his debts, too, to the Due de Bassano, and others in Europe, which had peculiar claims ; and, beside, there was a silent, but needy company of relations and near connections who had advanced money they could ill spare in aid of the expedition. Of old debts incurred in prosperous days, there were several thousand dollars. Many had been ruined by the failure of the expedition, whom Colonel Burr felt bound to assist in their extremity, and from whose application he could never, to his last breath, turn away. The least meritorious of his creditors were, of course, the most relentless; and he re- solved, from the beginning, not to attempt to pay, until he could pay justly until he saw a prospect of paying a propor- tion to all. The largeness of the sum which he had received in the first fe\v clays of his practice, was due to a variety of unusual cir- cumstances ; a large part of it was payment for services yet to be rendered, The most prudent of men, in his situation, could not have saved for his creditors more than a very few thousands a year, and Aaron Burr, in his use of money, \vas never prudent. He was one of those who are constitutionally incapable of driving a good bargain for himself through whose fingers money slips in an unaccountable manner. Desperate were his first struggles with this mass of indebt- edness. Without capital to speculate with, his only source of income was the practice of his profession in a city where it soon became a disgrace to be seen in his company. For three or four years, the utmost efforts of his ingenuity could do no more than keep him out of jail. His legal services were in request particularly his opinions in real estate cases, and he earned considerable sums ; but his debts were so numerous and so enormous, that merely to defeat the attempts of credit- ors to confine his person, absorbed his income and tasked his powers. Many times he was kept out of the dreaded " lim- its" by some wealthy friend giving bail for his appearance. It was a life-long battle. The greater debts were never paid. Even the sum due to the Due de Bassano is ordered, in his 606 LIFE OP AARON BURR. last will, to be paid if he should die possessed of property suf- ficient for the purpose. The details of this too unequal strife need not be dwelt upon. It formed the business and shifting basis of his life. Wearied, at length, with the endeavor to accomplish the im- possible task, it is not to be denied, that, with advancing age and decaying powers, he grew indifferent to it, and often gave away in charity sums of money that might have appeased a creditor. This was wrong, of course, but the demands upon his charity were very numerous and pressing, and some of them were of the nature of debt itself. For example, Colonel Burr, upon his return to New York, found Luther Martin a ruined man ruined through high living and deep drinking. He owed Luther Martin much money for his legal services, and more gratitude for his generous championship ; and he paid both debts by taking him into his house, assigning him a per- manent apartment, and maintaining him in comfort and dig- nity, until he died in 1826 at the age of eighty-one. Another example was that of a relative of Dr. Hosack, who fell into drinking and destitution in his old age, to whom Colonel Burr O O / gave aid and shelter. One day, when some dastard soul rebuked him for aiding men who had disgraced themselves by bad habits, he made this reply: "They may be black to the world. I care not how black. They were ever white to me !" The only important act of Burr's later life was his sugges- tion of a course of political action which resulted, finally, in ending the supremacy of the Virginia politicians and electing General Jackson to the presidency. He knew all political secrets, as before, and had much more to do with advising political measures than would now be willingly confessed by certain politicians of that day who still linger on the stage. In the fall of 1815, he ascertained that James Monroe would be nominated for the presidency by the democratic congres- sional caucus. He was opposed to the system of nominating candidates by congressional caucuses, as being " hostile to all freedom and independence of suffrage ;" he was opposed to Virginian supremacy ; he was opposed to James Monroe. "A ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES. 607 certain junto," he wrote to Governor Alston, "of actual and factitious Virginians, having had possession of the govern- ment for twenty-four years, consider the United States as their property, and, by bawling ' Support the administra- tion,' have so long succeeded in duping the republican pub- lic." In the same letter he drew a very unflattering sketch of Colonel Monroe: "Naturally dull and stupid; extremely illiterate ; indecisive to a degree that would be incredible to one who did not know him ; pusillanimous, and, of course, hypocritical ; has no opinion on any subject, and will be al- ways under the government of the worst men ; pretends, as I am told, to some knowledge of military matters, but never commanded a platoon, nor was ever tit to command one. * He served in the revolutionary war /' that is, he acted a short time as aid-de-camp to Lord Stirling, who was regularly * * *. Monroe's whole duty was to fill his lordship's tankard, and hear, with indications of admiration, his lord- ship's long stories about himself. Such is Monroe's military experience. I was with my regiment in the same division at the time. As a lawyer, Monroe was far below mediocrity, lie never rose to the honor of trying a cause of the value of a hundred pounds. This is a character exactly suited to the views of the Virginia junto." The remedy he proposed was the nomination of a popular character like Andrew Jackson, the hero of the late war, and then in the flush of his boundless popularity. " The mo- ment," continued Burr, "is auspicious for breaking down this degrading system. The best citizens of our country acknowl- edge the feebleness of our administration. They acknowledge that offices are bestowed merely to preserve power, and with- out the smallest regard to fitness. If, then, there be a man in the United States of firmness and decision, and having stand- ing enough to afford even a hope of success, it is your duty to hold him up to public view : that man is Andrew Jackson. Nothing is wanting but a respectable nomination, made before the proclamation of the Virginia caucus, and Jacksoii's suc- is inevitable. If this project should accord with your views, I could wish to see you prominent in the execution of 608 LIFE OF AAEON BUEE. it. It must be known to be your work. Whether a formal and open nomination should now be made, or whether you should, for the present, content yourself with barely denounc- ing, by a joint resolution of both Houses of your legislature, congressional caucuses and nominations, you only can judge. One consideration inclines me to hesitate about the policy of a present nomination. It is this that Jackson ought first to be admonished to be passive : for, the moment he shall be an- nounced as a candidate, he will be assailed by the Virginia junto with menaces, and with insidious promises of boons and favors. There is danger that Jackson might be wrought upon by such practices ." From that time General Jackson, as every one knows, was the popular candidate, par exellence, with ever-improving chances of success; until, in 1828, Colonel Burr saw his sug- gestion realized, and his old confederate and champion seated in the presidential chair. Then, the old soldier was in a posi- tion to aid, in another manner, the subjugation of the Span- iards in Texas ! Then, he could give eifect to the bent toward south-western acquisition which he had derived from Aaron Burr thirty years before ! The absorbing occupation of Burr's life for several years after his return from Europe, was the suit in chancery, well known to lawyers as the Medcef Eden case. His manage- ment of this cause was so remarkable and characteristic, that an outline of its history may interest the reader. Medcef Eden was a New York brewer who made a great fortune, and, dying in 1798, left his two sons a large amount of real estate upon the island of Manhattan. The two sons were to share the property equally, and if either died childless the survivor was to inherit the deceased's share. These young men, partly through their own extravagance, but chiefly through the dishonest sharpness of creditors, ran through their property in two or three years, and becoming bankrupts, were reduced to utter poverty. Their case was submitted afterward to the two leaders of the New York bar, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, and the question was proposed, whether the estate could be recovered. Hamilton said it ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES. 609 could not ; Burr was of opinion that it could. Hamilton's opinion was adopted : no proceedings were attempted ; the maUi-i- was forgotten ; and the Edens lived on in poverty. A year after Burr's return, he was reminded of the case by hearing of the death of one of the brothers. Meanwhile, the estate had enormously increased in value. Inquiring for the surviving brother, be found him in Westchester county, im- mersed in debt, and residing within debtors' " limits." The result was, that Burr, moneyless and in debt as he was, under- took to recover the estate, Eden agreeing to follow his advice in all things to be, in fact, a passive instrument in his hands. Eden, his wife and two daughters, Burr brought to the city, established them in his own house, sent the daughters to school, and amused his leisure hours, for ten years, by laboring with the same assiduity for their mental improvement as he had done in former times for Theodosia's. He went to work craftily. The valuable parts of the estate lay in the city itself, several lots being held by banks and other wealthy corporations. He let those alone, for a while, and confined his first efforts to the recovery of a small farm in the upper part of the island, his object being to get the j>rii/<-iple quietly established, upon which to found the more important suits. The owner of the farm was informed of this intention, and it was further intimated to him, that if he would not too seriously contest and prolong the suit, he should be allowed to buy back his farm on his own terms. Burr won the suit. The case was appealed. He was again successful. Then he came down upon the holders of the city lots with a pelting storm of writs of ejectment to their equal surprise and alarm. The litigation was then fairly begun, and the courts were kept busy at it for many years until it became as familiar as the cause of " Jarndice and Jarndice." Among those who assisted Burr in the conduct of these suits was Martin Van Buren. Burr won suit after suit, and recovered, in time, a very large amount of property. But, unfortunately, he began the war destitute of its " sin- ews," though his opponents were bountifully provided with the same. The suits were long, and some of them very expensive. 26* 610 LIFE OF AARON BUEE. On the faith of the first decisions in his favor, he induced money-lenders, by the payment of excessive usury, to advance money upon property still in dispute, and thus it sometimes happened that neither he nor his client gained any pecuniary advantage from decisions which assigned them valuable houses and lands. Nevertheless, he gained enough to amply repay him for his trouble and toil, and his client was maintained with every comfort until he died, leaving Burr the guardian of his children. The daughters, it may be added, became accomplished women, and contracted respectable marriages. One case, in which Burr was the leader, would furnish the groundwork of a thrilling romance. A brother and sister, the children of an ancient house in England, were led, by an ex- traordinary chain of circumstances, to suppose that they were not related, but were brought up as brother and sister to pre- vent their forming a tenderer relation. They fell in love, eloped, married, and fled to America. Hither their guardian followed them, and, the better to secure their separation, had them arrested on the charge of incest, and thrown into prison. In the old stone jail that formerly stood in the Park, between the City Hall and Broadway, Burr found the deluded pair and their daughter, a child of strange beauty. They protested their innocence and implored his aid. Entering warmly into the cause, he soon obtained the release of the beautiful un- happy mother, and her wonderfully lovely child. He gave them a home in his own house. The child grew to the age of three or four, when, fortunately for itself and its parents, it died. After a long confinement, the husband-brother was released in consequence of the death of the guardian who brought the suit. Both being then convinced of their error, the lady went to reside in Paris, and the gentleman returned to England, where he still resides. All this was done by Col- onel Burr without fee or reward, for his clients were then destitute of resources; but, in after years, when he was a very old man, the gentleman, who had inherited a large fortune, sent him a considerable, though inadequate, fee. A beautiful woman came to him one day to engage his serv- ices in a suit for divorce, which she was about to bring against ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES. 611 her husband. After hearing her story, he was averse to bring- ing the suit, and dissuaded her in terms like these : " Madame, your cause will have to be tried by twelve men all sinners. They will have a fellow-feeling with the sinner ; and, you know, a fellow-feeling makes us wondrous kind. These men will have to be told, that for a long time past your husband has not been permitted to enjoy your society. They will see you and pity him ! I assure you, my dear madame, it will be ex- tremely difficult to get a verdict in your favor." The lady was convinced. As a general rule, he was treated by the bar with distant respect. He was an antagonist to be afraid of. On one occa- sion, a lawyer of some note refused to be employed in an im- portant cause in conjunction with Colonel Burr. The company who brought the suit deliberated awhile, and determined to adhere to Burr, to whom the papers were then confided. It was known to be his custom never to undertake a cause which lie was not sure of winning, and it was known, too, that he had never lost a cause in his life which he had attended to himself. The opposing party waited with anxiety to hear whether Burr had accepted the case, and, on learning that he had, made an immediate offer to compromise. Mr. Epes Sargent, in his (" campaign") Life of the great Kentuckian, tells us, that on his return from Ghent, Henry Clay visited the federal court-room in the city of New York. " On entering the court-room in the City Hall," says Mr. Sargent, " the eyes of the bench, bar, officers, and attendants upon the court, were turned upon Mr. Clay, who was invited to take a seat upon the bench, which he politely declined, and took a position in the bar. Shortly after, a small gentleman, apparently advanced in years, and with bushy, gray hair, whom Mr. Clay, for an instant, did not recognize, approached him. He quickly perceived it was Colonel Burr, who tendered his hand to salute Mr. Clay. The latter declined receiving it. The colonel, nevertheU'ss, was not repulsed, but engaged in con- versation with Mr. Clay, remarking, that he had understood, that, besides the treaty of peace, the American commissioners had negotiated a good commercial convention with Great Brit- 612 LIFE OF AAEON BURR. ain. Mr. Clay replied coldly, that such a convention was con- cluded, and that its terms would be known as soon as it was promulgated by public authority. Colonel Burr expressed a wish to have an hour's interview with him, and Mr. Clay told him where he stopped but the colonel never called." These were busy years, as indeed were all the years of this man's life. A gentleman who spent some time in his office at this period, has described to me his manner of employing the day. He rose at the dawn. A breakfast of an egg and a cup of coffee sufficed for this most abstemious of men ; after which he worked among his papers for some hours before his clerks and assistants arrived. He was a hard taskmaster : he " kept us all upon the jump." All day he was dispatching and receiv- ing messages, sending for books, persons, and papers; expecting every command to be obeyed with next-to-impossible celerity, inspiring every one with his own zeal, and getting a surprising quantity of work accomplished. " He was business incarnate" said my informant. About ten in the evening he would give over, invite his companions to the side-board, and take a sin- gle glass of wine. Then his spirits would rise, and he would sit for hours telling stories of his past life, and drawing brief and graphic sketches of celebrated characters with whom he had acted. Often he was full of wit and gayety at such times ; "the liveliest fellow in the world;" "as merry as a boy;" " never melancholy, never ill-natured." About midnight, or later, he would lie down upon a hard couch in a corner of his office, and sleep " like a child," until the morning. In his personal habits he was a thorough-going Spartan eating lit- tle, drinking little, sleeping little, working hard. He was fond of calculating upon how small a sum life could be sup- ported, and used to think that he could live well enough upon seventy-five cents a week. And here may be introduced such fragments of his conver- sation as are still remembered. His conversation upon the past was remarkable for its can- dor, humor, and charity. He denounced no one not even General Wilkinson, of whom he spoke more severely than of any one else. Pie used to assert, in the most positive manner, ANECDOTES AND B E il I N I S CE N C E S. 613 that Wilkinson had unequivocally betrayed him. Against Jefferson lie did not seem to be embittered, though the pub- lication of the "Anas" gave him a passing disgust. He de- scribed him as a very agreeable man in conversation ; a man of no " presence ;" a plain, country-looking man ; a sincere and thorough "Jacobin" in opinion. He thought Jefferson's " leveling principles," as he called them, were very absurd, and had done great harm. Of the republican form of govern- ment, as here established, with its entirely fatal element of " rotation in office," he had an ill opinion, and was sure it could not last. One day, some gentlemen were conversing upon the subject in his presence, when one of them chanced to use the phrase, " expounders of the Constitution." At the moment a noisy crowd of electioneering Democrats were pass- ing. Burr, who had stood silent for some time with his hands behind him, holding his hat (his favorite attitude), pointed to the mob, and said, " They are the expounders of the Consti- tution !" General Washington he underrated to the last. Himself the quickest of mortals in apprehending and deciding, he could not admire a general who was so slow to make up his mind. He thought Washington, as before recorded, a very honest and well-intentioned country gentleman ; but no great soldier, and very far indeed from being a demi-god. Burr disliked a dull person next to a coward, and he thought gen- eral Washington a dull person. Hamilton and other young scholar-soldiers of the Revolution were evidently of a similar opinion, but Hamilton thought that the popularity of the gen- eral was essential to the triumph of the cause, and, accord- ingly, he kept his opinion to himself. Burr, less prudent, less disinterested, perhaps, made no secret of his. Carlyle declares, that the very stupidity of John Bull is wiser than Other people'* wisdom; and it may be remarked of General Washington, that, though he could not make a ban mot, nor always spell one when it was made, his dullness was brighter than the brilliancy of Hamilton and Burr. Let Burr, however, be commended for his candor in not affviimj an admiration for a popular idol, with regard to whom it is 614 LIFE OF AAEON BURR. considered unpatriotic to have an opinion. His harmless crit- icism of his commander is less offensive and less immoral than the canting adulation of self-seeking politicians, who have suc- ceeded in concealing the interesting traits of the man, and obscuring his real claim to the admiration of posterity. People were often startled by the utter nonchalance with which Colonel Burr would allude to passages in his past life, which were generally thought to be infamous. The following scene, derived from an eye-witness, is an example : It has been mentioned that on the opening of the trial at Richmond, young Winfield Scott occupied a conspicuous posi- tion above the audience. Before the trial had progressed far, he left Richmond, and never saw Colonel Burr again until after his return from Europe. On the evening of the day on which he was first named General Scott, he found himself at the house of a distinguished politician in Albany, where a little supper was to celebrate his promotion. " Have you any objection, general, to be introduced to Col- onel Aaron Burr?" inquired the giver of the feast. "Any gentleman whom you choose to invite to your house," replied the general, "I shall be glad to know." Colonel Burr entered ; the introduction took place ; the party sat down to whist, until supper was announced. At the table, the old colonel and the young general sat opposite each other, but no particular conversation occurred between them for some time. Meanwhile, General Scott, ever as courteous as brave, forbore to pronounce the word Richmond, or even Virginia, lest it should excite painful feelings in the mind of a fallen man. Suddenly, Colonel Burr looked up and said, " General Scott, I've seen you before." "Have you, indeed ?" rejoined the general, supposing that lie referred to some military scene, or other public occasion, in which he had figured. " Yes," continued Burr, "_Z" saw you at my trial." He then described the position and dress of the young gen- tleman in the court-room, and proceeded to converse about the scenes that transpired at Richmond precisely in the tone and manner of a casual spectator. The general was both ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES. 615 astonished and relieved. It was during the war of 1812 that this scene occurred, and the old soldier expressed cordial ad- miration of General Scott's gallantry and conduct. On the same occasion, Colonel Burr asked, " Why don't the folks at Washington employ General Jack- son ?" Some one said that Jackson had a command in the militia, and would soon be called into active service. Burr said: "I'll tell you why they don't give him a com- mission ; he's a friend of mine ; that's the reason." He talked with perfect freedom respecting his Mexican en- terprise, particularly its comic incidents. Commenting on the charge that he had descended the river "in warlike array," he used to give a humorous description of his boats and their crews. Nothing is accurately enough remembered of his de- scription to be given here, except that the manner of the de- scent was most ludicrously different from what is understood by the phrase " warlike array." What with the pranks of a large monkey and the music of a violin, his men seemed to have had a very merry voyage of it. He spoke kindly of Blennerhassett. He was not a bad man, Burr would say, though a weak one ; a man of some knowledge, and no sense; who required no persuading to enter into the South-western scheme, but was madly eager to embark in it the moment it was mentioned. After Burr's return to America, he wrote to Mrs. Blennerhassett (in Ireland) for the letters and documents in her possession relating to the enterprise. She demanded a great price for them, which Burr was not in circumstances to give. He sent her two or three sums of money, however, in her destitution, the amounts of which are not remembered by my informant, though he is positive as to the fact of money being sent to her. He conversed with equal freedom of the duel with Hamil- ton. He never blamed himself for his conduct in that affair Despising the out-cry made about the duel, he would indulge, sometimes, in a kind of defiant affectation respecting it. " J/// ffli-ml Jft time he had visited our uncle, for whom he had a profound reverence, since his return from Europ<-. " Burr is a conspicuous character in American history ; and, as I felt the most intense curiosity to make his acquaintance, and study his mind, I had several interviews with him during this visit of two or three days. His conversation was instruct- ive and fascinating, and, joined to his bearing, conveyed to my mind the impression that he was made by the God of Na- ture to put forth a commanding agency in human affairs. His language w:is clear as light. His conversation was senten- tious and condensed, and I never knew a man convey as much meaning in as few words. I heard him sketch the character of a number of our revolutionary patriots and heroes in a won- derfully graphic manner, and I thought him a great moral painter. " My uncle told me that, after Burr came home from his Canadian campaign, he described to him the character of Ben- edict Arnold. ' Arnold,' said Burr, ' is a perfect madman in the excitement of battle, and is ready for any deeds of valor; but he has not a particle of moral courage. He is utterly un- principled, and has no love of country or self-respect, to guide him. He is not to be trusted anywhere but under the eye of a superior officer.' C24 LIFE OF AARON BURR. "The day after Burr left our uncle's I called at the house, to talk over the impressions of this unwonted visit. My aunt was a venerable and pious woman. 'I want to tell you, cousin,' said she, ' the scene I passed through this morning. When Colonel Burr's carriage had driven up to the door, I asked him to go with me into the north room, and I can not tell you how anxious I felt, as I, an old woman, went through the hall with that great man, Colonel Burr, to admonish him, and to lead him to repentance. After we were by ourselves, I said to him, " Colonel Burr, I have a thousand tender memories as- sociated with you. I took care of you in your childhood, and I feel the deepest concern over your erring steps. You have committed a great many sins against God, and you killed that great and good man, General Hamilton. I beseech you to re- pent, and fly to the blood and righteousness of the Redeemer for pardon. I can not bear to think of your being lost, and I often pray most earnestly for your salvation." The only reply lie made to me,' continued the excellent old lady, ' was, " O, aunt, don't feel so badly ; we shall both meet in heaven yet ; meanwhile, may God bless you." He then tenderly took my hand, and left the house.' " He often received, in the course of his life, similar well- meant admonitions, and invariably replied to them with thank- fulness and respect. Letters, anonymous and other, reminding him of his mother's dying wishes respecting him, and urging him to repent, were found among his papers. One of these, written by a lady who had known and loved his mother, was eloquent and touching. She inclosed a fragment of a letter which she had received from his mother sixty years before, in which the most ardent desires were expressed for the spiritual welfare of her infant son. "I have often reflected," continued the lady, "on your trials, and the fortitude with which you have sustained them, with astonishment. Yours has been no common lot. But you seem to have forgotten the right use of adversity. Afflictions from heaven ' are angels sent on embassies of love.' We must improve, and not abuse them, to obtain the blessing. They are commissioned to stem the tide of impetuous passion ; to check inordinate ambition ; to AXECDOTES A X D BEMIXISCEXCES. Gl>5 show us the insignificance of earthly greatness ; to wean our affections from transitory things, and elevate them to those realities which are ever blooming at the right hand of God. When affliction is thus sanctified, ' the heart at once it hum- bles and exalts.' " Was it philosophy that supported you in your trials ? There is an hour approaching when philosophy will fail, and all human science will desert you. What then will be your substitute ? Tell me, Colonel Burr, or rather answer it to your own heart, when the pale messenger appears, how will you meet him ' undamped by doubts, undarkened by de- spair ?' "The inclosed is calculated to excite mingled sensations both of a melancholy and pleasing nature. The hand that penned it is now among 'the just made perfect.' Your mother had given you up by faith. Have you ever ratified the vows she made in your behalf? When she bade you a long fare- Avell, she commended you to the protection of Him who had promised to be a Father to the fatherless. "The great Augustine, in his early years, was an infidel in his principles, and a libertine in his conduct, which his pious mother deplored with bitter weeping. But she was told by her friends that 'the child of so many prayers and tears could not be lost ;' and it was verified to her happy experience, for he afterward became one of the grand luminaries of the church of Christ. This remark has often been applied to you; and I trust you will yet have the happiness to find that ' the prayers of the righteous' have ' availed much.'" Burr was no scoffer. He was desirous, while condemning the severe theology of his fathers, not to be thought an unbe- liever. A lady informs me that if he chanced to enter a room while she was hearing her children say their prayers, he would stand silent in an attitude of reverence till the exercise was done. He occasionally went, with a lady, to the Episcopal church, and would have gone oftener but for his impatience of a dull or denunciatory sermon. As he was coming out of St. John's one fine Sunday afternoon, his companion asked him what he thought of the sermon, which had borne hard upon 27 C26 LIFE OF AAEON BURK. erring mortals. " I think," said he, " that God is a great deal better than people suppose. I, at least, am a believer in his goodness. I say with Pope : " ' Submit; in this or any other sphere, Secure to be as blessed as thou canst bear : Safe in the hand of one disposing Power, Or in the natal, or the mortal hour.' " He thought the Bible to be by far the most valuable of books, and admired the Psalms of David particularly. On being asked to name his favorite authors in the order in which he esteemed them, he replied : " The Bible, of course, it is the Book ; after that, Shakespeare, Burns, Pope. lie had little relish, in his later years, for the French authors who had pleased him so much in his youth. He used to say of Rousseau that he was well named " a self-torturing egotist." He also outgrew any fondness he may have had for Voltaire. Of hi? ancestor, Jonathan Edwards, he used often to say that ht " was the clearest head of America. How the race has do generated," he would say, with a humorous shrug. As the years passed, his reputation was more and more blackened by the idle, calumnious tales that were circulated respecting him. He bore it with surprising equanimity. Know- ing well the utter hopelessness of attempting to restore his good name, he submitted to the wrong in silence, and grew at last almost indifferent to it. For many years, indeed, he cherished the hope that the publication of his story, after his death, would set all right at last, and to secure this was one of his latest cares. But for his own life-time he knew the case was hopeless. " I don't care what they say of me," he said to one who showed him a scurrilous paragraph ; " they may say whatever they please ; I let them alone, I only ask to be let alone." On a similar occasion, a lady said to him, " Why, colonel, if they were to accuse you of murder, I don't think you'd deny it." He replied, " O, no, my child, why should I? What good would it do ? Every man likes his own opinion best. He may ANECDOTES AND K K M I N I S C E N C K S. 027 not have a hundred thousand dollars, but lie has his opinion. A man's opinion is his pride, his wealth, himself. As far as I am concerned, they may indulge in any opinion they choose." One day in his office, a gentleman talked in the usual half- true manner of the evils of war. Burr remarked, " Slander has slain more than the sword." To a friend who censured him for allowing so many hun- dreds of injurious paragraphs to circulate without contradic- tion, he replied that he had formerly supposed that his char- acter was strong enough to bear such petty assaults, and he had felt himself safe in treating them with contempt. "But," he added, "I fear I have committed a great error; the men who knew their falsity are mostly dead, and the generation who now read them may take them for truths, being uncon- tradicted. I admit I have committed a capital error, but it is too late to repair it." " Poor Burr !" exclaimed the recorder of the remark last quoted, "he was a man of many griefs ; but he was a child of genius a brave, intellectual, brilliant man and had within hin. self many of the noblest qualities which adorn his species. But he had his weaknesses, and his petty vices in addition. Who has not? He was the victim of a combination of cir- cumstaiiees, rather than of his own fault." Occasionally, Burr's revilers would receive a telling rebuke. One of his English friends, a colonel in the British army, came to this country with his wife and daughters, and hastened to renew his acquaintance with Colonel Burr. A few days after his arrival, some officious individuals to whom he had brought letters, and who had seen Burr walking in the street with him and his party, felt themselves called upon to put the stranger on his guard. " Really, Colonel , you mustn't know Burr," said one of these friendly provincials. " No one in society thinks of knowing Burr ; he is held in a kind of abhorrence. I wouldn't for the world have my wife and daughters seen speaking with him." " Wouldn't you," said the jolly Briton ; " for our part, we think Colonel Burr's acquaintance a privilege and an honor." 628 LIFE OF AARON BUKE. "Bat," said another of the officious ones, "Aaron Burr is the greatest villain on earth." " Gentlemen," was the soldier's quiet reply, " we like vil- lains," and turned on his heel. Burr himself was provoked once to notice a public affront. It was at Jamaica, on Long Island, when he was a very old man, on one of the last occasions of his appearing in a court- room. The news of his coming preceded him, and such was the general desire to see so renowned a character, that the schools were dismissed, and people walked many miles to at- tend the court. A lawyer, fifty years his junior, thought to make capital for himself by roundly abusing Colonel Burr in his opening speech. On rising to reply, Colonel Burr, in his very blandest tones, said, "I learned in the Revolution, in the society of gentlemen, and I have since observed for myself, that a man who is guilty of intentional bad manners, is capable of crime." The remark is not a very striking one, but it is said to have produced a great effect upon the auditors, and to have com- pletely quelled the young lawyer's insolence. The manner of the man must have been powerful in the extreme, for so many of his words to be remembered after the lapse of so many years. One of Burr's law-partners relates an anecdote which also shows how his words cling to the memory of those who heard them. The circumstance occurred about forty-two years ago. A gentleman entered the office and brought the news that a friend of Colonel Burr's, who had at a critical period written a pamphlet in his vindication, had fallen dead in the street a few hours before. " Do me the favor," said Burr, turning to his partner, " to send for a carriage ; Ave must go and see how this is !" On reaching the house, they found the family in great dis- tress, and the sheriff in possession of the body for a debt of two hundred and fifty dollars. Looking upon the face of the dead man, Burr said, "This may be law, but it is not Christian chanty !" Turning to his partner, who was the cashier of the concern, ANECDOTES AND B E 31 1 X I S C E N C E S. 629 he added, " This must not go on. This man must be buried. You have the money of the privateersmen (clients) in your hands; pay the debt. His prudent partner demurred, saying the money might be called for before they could replace it." " Sir," replied Burr with decision, " that man once did me a kindness ; give them the money and I will borrow as much to-morrow of the Black Prince." The body was delivered, and both Burr and his partner at- tended the funeral. Black Prince was the nickname of one of Burr's staunch friends. As he grew older, the habit of indiscriminate giving grew upon him to a most remarkable degree. During his more active years he usually had a partner who managed the finan- cial affairs of the firm; for he was not fit himself to have the control of money, and he knew it. There were certain claims upon him which he could never resist. Old soldiers of the Revolution and their children, men who had lost by the fail- Tire of the expedition and their children, men who had stood by him to the last in his political career and their children, were the people who had but to apply to him for assistance, to get from him, if necessary, his last dollar. Literally, his last dollar; nay, his last cent; for he has been known to ex- amine all his pockets and drawers, and bestow every coin he could find upon a needy friend. When he received a sum of money of his own, he used to make a kind of well of books for its reception in the middle of his large, crowded table ; and then lucky was the applicant who made the first claim upon it! He gave, and gave, and gave, until the well ran dry, and was filled in again with law papers and books; when, too often, a creditor would present himself, and go away again disappointed. " Burr was not a man," says one who knew more about his pecuniary affairs and habits than any body else, " to loorry about a debt, though he liked to pay when he could." A creditor would say, " This bill has been running a long time, colonel." " It has indeed," he would reply. 630 LIFE OF AARON BURR. " I should like to have the money," the creditor would con- tinue. "And I should like to pay you," the colonel would rejoin. And if, when the applicant called again, there was money in the well, he would pay it with pleasure. Never was there a front door in New York so beset with solicitors for charity as his. To avoid the rush of suitors, he removed at one time to Jersey City, thinking that the obstacle of the river would, at least, diminish the crowd of applicants. He resided there for some years. These ceaseless gifts it was, that made him an extravagant man, and kept him poor. Upon himself he spout little. He lived chiefly upon fish, bread, weak coffee, claret and water, and other simple articles. He could scarcely have had a clerk whose personal expenses were so little as his own. Heaps of miscellaneous pieces of paper from Burr's desks and drawers, have been offered to my inspection ; they show how constantly he was solicited for pecuniary aid, and how frequently that aid was afforded. Notes payable to him that have never been paid ; applications for small loans ; acknowl- edgments of money borrowed; thanks for similar favors; fill up the interstices between larger documents. He could not say No, at last. He could scarcely choose but give. An anecdote related to me by the wife of one of Burr's partners will serve to illustrate his infirmity with regard to the use of money. He may have been seventy-five years old when the circumstances took place. The lady chanced to be sitting in the office one morning, when Burr received a large amount of money in bills, and as his habits with regard to money had often been the subject of remark in the house, she watched his proceedings with curiosity. She saw him first take a law-book from an upper shelf, put a fifty dollar note between its leaves, and replace the book on thjfr shelf. The rest of the money he deposited in the middle of his table, as usual. He had on that morning an extraordinary concourse of begging visitors, of whom no one seemed to go empty ' away, and by three o'clock in the afternoon the well was ex- hausted. An hour later, Colonel Burr looked at his watch, ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES. 631 sprang from his chair, and began hastily to pack his portman- teau with law-papers, in preparation for a journey to Albany, where hi- had business with the courts. When he was ready, he looked into his receptacle for money and discovered that it was empty. An examination of his pockets produced only a few coins. " Bless me !" lie exclaimed, " I have to go to Albany in half an hour, and have no money." Could madame lend him ten dollars ? Madame could not. Would madame oblige him by stepping over and asking her good mother to lend him the amount ? Madame was of opin- ion that her good mother would not lend Colonel Burr any more money. He was at his wit's end. At length she said, " But, colonel, what are you going to do with the fifty dol- lar bill in that book yonder?" " O ! I forgot," he said ; " I put it there this morning on purpose. What a treasure you are to remind me of it !" The year 1829 saw General Jackson President of the United States. He was not unmindful of his old friends of 180G. To Samuel S\vartwout he gave the collectorship of New York. He could not do any thing openly for Colonel Burr, as his early connection with that terrible person had been one of the strong points made against him during the canvass. But he did grant him favors indirectly ; he gave commissions and minor appointments to several of Burr's friends and proteges, at Burr's personal request. He also had a secret interview with Burr in Xe\v York when he made his first triumphal visit to the metropolis. At a later date, however, the general played his old confederate a sorry trick as shall i>ow be briefly related. About the year 1828, an act of Congress was passed, pro- viding for the relief and remuneration of certain revolutionary soldiers. Besides having received no pay for his services in the Revolution, Colonel Burr had expended considerable sums in aid of the cause, and, in fact, through his connection with the army, had lost the greater part of his inheritance. His ac- counts had never been settled. Old age was now upon him. Ho had a revolutionary pension of six hundred dollars a year, 632 LIFE OF AAKON BUKK. and two annuities, yielding about fifteen hundred more ; but with his habits and debts, this income was insufficient, and lie had a dread of being a poor old man. He therefore prepared a statement of his expenditures during the Revolution, and made a claim, under the new act, for the sum, with interest, the amount being nearly one hundred thousand dollars. Be- fore proceeding, he submitted his case to two or three of the first lawyers of New York and New Jersey, who pronounced his claim just, and within the provisions of the act. To make assurance doubly sure, he intrusted the business to a special agent, a gentleman who had studied law in his office, who spent some months in Washington urging the claim. From this gentleman I obtained the story. The papers were duly presented to the Secretary, who soon rejected the claim on the ground that the applicant had not served to the end of the war, as the act required. Not dis- heartened, he asked time to show that, though he had re- signed before the end of the war, yet he had done service, at General Washington's request, after his resignation, and had served as long as there were actual hostilities in the States where his regiment was stationed. His illness, too, in conse- quence of his exertions at Monmouth, had alone caused his res- ignation. New evidence was obtained, to which Burr added a masterly argument, and the case was again laid before the department. "JRes adjudicatur," was the prompt reply of a new Secretary. The agent succeeded, however, in inducing the official to admit further argument, and the case reposed for awhile in the departmental pigeon-holes. Burr now brought his peculiar tactics to bear. In answer to inquiries, he learned that the Secretary had two daughters, one of whom was sought in marriage by a young lawyer who held an appointment in one of the government offices. Retain him, wrote Burr, and offer him ten thousand dollars to get the claim allowed. This was done. The case having now a powerful friend at court, made evident progress in the Secre- tary's good opinion, and, in all probability, the money would have been obtained, but for a most unlooked-for occurrence. As the Secretary entered the President's room at the White ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES. 633 House, one morning 1 , he was greeted by General Jackson with the following observations : "Mr. ," roared the general, "I understand that Colonel Burr lias an application before your department. Don't have any thing to do with it, sir. There's rascality in it, sir." Xothing remained for the luckless agent but to pay his hotel bill and go home. On hearing the issue of the business, Burr expressed no resentment whatever against the general, attributing his interference solely to the supposed necessities of his political position. Among those who did what they could to promote Colonel Burr's just claim on this occasion, were members of the celebrated Biddle family of Pennsyl- vania, whose early fortunes he had taken great interest in ad- vancing. "Jackson," Colonel Burr would say, "possesses all the attributes of a President fit to rule such a people. He is a man of an iron will a will of pure well-wrought iron no base cast metal." " Is he a scholar ?" some one asked. " It is not necessary," replied Burr, " for the President of the United States to be a scholar. Andrew Jackson does not rule by books ; he is a man of sound sense, and rules by will." Jackson's famous oath, " By the Eternal," was a by-word in Burr's house long before it became familiar to the public. He afterward changed it to "By General Jackson," and so swore many a time ; foiywith all his good temper, he needed, and always had by him, a convenient expletive or two. A cheerful, active, hale old man was Aaron Burr ; none more so ever lived on this crowded, busy island. Young men, spirited women, new books, new events, new inventions, pleas- ant excursions, and rare adventures, he enjoyed, and keenly enjoyed, down to the seventy-ninth year of his age. He loved an open, blazing fire, and all open, bright, pleasant things, and, in all companies, was the animating spirit. At the age of seventy-eight, we find him writing as follows to his partner from Albany : " Arrived this evening between six and seven o'clock, having been forti/fiw hours in the stage 27* 634 LIFE OF AARON BUKK. without intermission, except to eat a hearty meal. Stages in very bad order roads excellent for wheels to Peekskill, and thence very good sleighing to this city. The night was un- comfortable ; the curtains torn and flying all about, so that we had plenty of fresh air. The term was closed this day. Xel- son will hold the special court to-morrow morning have seen both Wendell and O'Connor this evening all ready came neither fatigued nor sleepy." A clipping from a New York newspaper of some years ago gives us a glimpse of the polite old man, as he looked to the large eyes of an imaginative boy : "Just round the corner (from Broadway) in Reade-street we believe on ground now occupied by Stewart's was the office, for many of the later years of his life tenanted by Aaron Burr. We, when a boy, remember seeing him there, often. It was a dark, smoky, obscure sort of a double-room, typical of his fortunes. Burr had entirely lost caste for thirty years before he died. And whatever may be said of his char- acter and conduct, we think nothing can excuse the craven meanness of the many, who, having fawned around him in the days of his elevation, deserted and reviled him in the after- time of misfortunes. Burr had much of the bad man in him (faith ! we'd like to see the human mold that has not), but he was dauntless, intellectual, and possessed the warm temper- ament of an artist. "Yes, we remember well that dry, bent,- brown-faced little old man, polite as Chesterfield himself, that used to sit by an ancient baize table, in the half-light of the dust-covered room there not often with wort to do indeed he generally seemed meditating. We can now understand it all, though he seemed a strange personage then. What thoughts must have burned and whirled through that old man's brain 7ie, Avho came within a vote or two of seating himself as a succes- sor of Washington ! Even to our boyish judgment then, he was invested with the dignity of a historic theme. He had all the air of a gentleman of the old school was respectful, self-possessed, and bland, but never familiar. He had seen a ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES. 635 hundred men, morally as unscrupulous as himself, more lucky, for some reason or other, than himself. He was down ; he u r :is old. He awaited his fate with Spartan calmness know- ing that not a tear would full when he should be put under the sod." A little adventure which he had in one of these last years will serve to show how completely he retained the youthful spring of his spirits and muscles to an age when old men generally are willing prisoners of the arm-chair and chimney-corner. He was still living at Jersey City when Fanny Kemble and her father played their first engagement in New York. They created, as many will remember, a " sensation," and the news- papers teemed with articles laudatory of their acting. Burr, who took a lively interest in all that was passing, went to see them perform in the play of the Hunchback, accompanied by a young gentleman, a student of law, to whom I am indebted for the story. At that period, the ferry-boats stopped run- ning soon after dark, and Burr engaged some boatman to be in waiting at the dock to row them back to Jersey after the play was over. The theater was densely crowded. It was whispered about that Aaron Burr was present, and he was soon the target of a thousand eagerly curious eyes ; but no one saluted the man who was " severed from the human race." He sat out the play, admired the acting of Miss Kemble, remarking, among other things, that she " was a fine animal." Meanwhile the weather had changed, and by the time they reached their boat, an exceedingly violent storm of wind and rain was raging, and it w:is very dark. The waves dashed against the wharf in a manner that was not at all inviting to the younger of the two adventurers, who advised Burr not to cn>ss. " Why !" exclaimed the old gentleman, as he sprang lightly into the boat, " you are not afraid of a little salt water, are you? This makes an adventure of it. This is the fun of the thing. The adventure is the best of it all." His companion embarked, and they pushed off. The waves broke over the boat, and drenched them both to the skin in the 636 LIFE OF AAEON BURR. first five minutes. On they went, against wind, waves, and tide, and, after an hour's hard rowing, Burr all the while in hilarious spirits, they reached the shore. Such a tough, merry, indomitable old man was Aaron Burr on the verge of fourscore ! CHAPTER XXXIY. HIS RELATIONS WITH WOMEN. "THEY SAY" ANECDOTE OP "WILBERFOKCE THE ERRORS OF M. L. DAVIS Tim Two WILLS OF COLONEL BURR ANECDOTES LETTER OF COLONEL BURR TO A YOUNG LADY THE ACE OF GALLANTRY His INFLUENCE OVER LADIES His MANNERS CAUSES OF ins BAD REPUTATION WITH REGARD TO WOMEN ADVEX- TURES ON TUB COLD FRIDAY OTHER ANECDOTES Bl'RK NO SEDUCER. OXE morning, near the close of his life, as he lay upon his bed prostrate with paralysis, a lady said to him in a bantering way : " Colonel, I wonder, now, if you ever were the gay Lotha- rio they say you were ?" The old man turned his eyes, the luster of which was un- diminished still, toward the friend who made the remark, and lifting liis trembling linger, said in his quiet, impressive whis- per, which still lingers in her ears, and which brought tears to her eyes, twenty years after, as she repeated the words: " They say ! they say ! THEY SAY ! Ah, my child, how long are you going to continue to use those dreadful words? Those two little words have done more harm than all others. Never use them, my dear. Never use them!" Wonderful, past all imagining, are the slanderer's triumphs in this good gossip-loving world. Where is the D'Israeli who will glean from history and literature such a startling book-full of the Curiosities and Tragedies of Calumny, as shall teach us all never more to believe ill of one another, except upon evidence which leaves no rational ground for doubt a book that shall deal the death-blow to that fell destroyer of reputa- tions, THEY SAY? Almost as I write, this parapraph afloat just now in the newspapers, catches my eye : " Wilberforce relates that at 638 LIFE OF AARON BURR. one time he found himself chronicled as ' St. Wilberforce,' in an opposing journal, and the following given as 'an instance of his Pharisaism :' ' He was lately seen,' says the journal, ' walking up and down in the Bath Pump Room, reading his prayers, like his predecessors of old, who prayed in the corners of the streets, to be seen of men.' 'As there is generally,' says Mr. Wilberforce, 'some slight circumstance which perverse- ness turns into a charge of reproach, I began to reflect, and soon found the occasion of the calumny. It was this I was walking in the Pump Room, in conversation with a friend a passage was quoted from Horace, the accuracy of which was questioned, and as I had a Horace in my pocket, I took it out and read the words. This was the plain ' bit of wire' which factious malignity sharpened into a pin to pierce my reputa- tion.' How many ugly pins have been manufactured out of even smaller bits of wire than even thatv"' Ay, indeed ! and not " pins" merely, but darts, barbed and poisoned, that torture, rankle, and kill ! Here, perhaps, as conveniently as anywhere, may be said the little that must be said respecting the gallantries of Colonel Burr ; a subject difficult to treat aright, impossible to avoid. Notorious in his life-time for his amours, and made doubly in- famous since his death by the statements of a biographer, Aaron Burr is now universally regarded as the greatest mon- ster of licentiousness that ever lived in the United States. It is no wonder that he is so regarded. On a subject so inter- esting to the imagination as illicit love, people always exag- gerate. And writers seem to think that the popular way of treating it is to overstate a brother's delinquencies, and shed torrents of virtuous indignation over them. That is not the course which is going to be pursued on the present occasion. As I have ascertained the truth respecting this matter, and all the truth, the truth shall be told, and told with the addition of every palliating circumstance that fairly belongs to it. The task of throwing stones at the sinner shall be left to those who feel themselves to be without sin. First, shall be stated what if not t>"ie respecting Burr's re- lations with women. Secondly^ j>/>?>''<'Me to the letters (>;' in*/ j'lui'iL correspondents." In 1834, when he was seventy- nine years of age, he made another will, in which he left his papers to Matthew L. Davis, to be used according to his dis- 640 LIFE OF AARON BURE. cretion. To this will, a few months before his death, he added a codicil which contains the following words : " I direct that all my private papers, except law papers appertaining to suits now defending, be delivered to my friend Matthew L. Davis, Esq., to be disposed of at his discretion, DIRECTING him, never- theless, to destroy, or to deliver to parties interested, all such as may, in his estimation, be calculated to affect injuriously the feelings of individuals against whom I have no com- plaint." Of this will Mr. Davis was an executor. How he could have brought himself to omit all mention of the injunc- tions just quoted, and to assume to himself alone the virtue of destroying the papers, is something inexplicable. His statement is objectionable, too, from its indefiniteness. He speaks of " a mass of letters and copies of letters." On a subject like this, to be vague is to exaggerate. How easy to have given the dimensions of the " mass" or the number of the letters. Every one knows how soon an ordinary corre- spondence, if all the letters are preserved, presents an impos- ing " mass" of spoiled writing paper. And it is to be further observed, that a man may have a very warm correspondence with a lady, may make and receive protestations of attach- ment, without incurring or intending guilt. Granting that this " mass" of letters was of mountainous bulk, it is still no proof of a corresponding criminality. " Not a vestige of it now remains," adds Mr. Davis, ex- plicitly and positively. That this, too, is an error, I am in a position to prove. After the work of Mr. Davis had been published for some time, he not only had a packet of these letters in his possession, but lent them to an acquaintance to read. The acquaintance referred to is a gentleman eminent in character and in station, and one whose word it would be insulting the community which honors him to doubt. He lias himself assured me of the facts. Mr. Davis told him he had found this packet after the solemn burning related in his pref- ace, and, tossing it xipon his friend's desk, gave him permis- sion to read the letters. His friend did read a few of them. Some of the letters were evidently the production of illiter- ate women ; but some, written in the French language, were HIS RELATIONS WITH WOMEN. 641 extremely elegant, both in composition and in sentiment. Nothing particular is recollected of their contents, except that they appeared to be letters of gallantry as well they might seem to one who carelessly looked over them with a pre- vious impression that they were such. Other evidence that the letters were not all destroyed opportunely reaches me. In Harper's Magazine for July, 1857, the following story de- rived from, the recollections of the late Hon. John Barney, of Maryland, is repeated. Besides showing that the letters (one of them at least) were retained and used, it shows the cruel injury which Mr. Davis's preface has done to Col. Burr's memory : " There never," begins the story in Harper, " was a greater villain than Aaron Burr never! What is written of him what has become history and world talk is nothing to the nn written, untold deeds of darkness that he was ever perpetrat- ing. His whole life was intrigue. Woman was his spoil. He lived before the world as an aspirant, for power : in social life he lived to triumph over the weakness of the sex. His treach- ery, his infamous exposure of confidential letters addressed to him by ladies of rank and fashion, his utter heartlessness are now well known ; but the chapters of his love affairs, if pub- lished, will make the most extraordinary revelations that have over yet appeared in connection with the name of this remark- able man. " The late honest, but poor Matthew L. Davis, his executor, received from him, while living, trunks full of feminine cor- respondence, by which Burr sought to make Davis's fortune, but which were generously returned, without fee or reward, to the grateful recipients. "Lobbying now an anomaly was then in full force. Several important bills had passed the Xe\v York Legisla- ture, and some were so uncharitable as to intimate that im- proper influences had been resorted to. Davis was accused of bein27. Arcount with London bookseller. 532. Blenner- lias>ett demands money. 5Gti. Announces death of his son, 597. Letter from Burr upon Jackson, f< >7. Anecdotes. Of Burr's childhood, 51, 52. Burr and the Princeton professor, 65. Jean Paul and the Corrector of Hof. 61. The Litchtield riot, 65. Burr's encounter with Indiana on Sorrel river, 79. Miss Moncrieffe and Gen. Washington, 9<). Burr and Neddy, 99. Qucll's mutiny near Val- ley Forge, 1(16. Col. Burrs son, 110. Gedney redressed, 114. Visits his lady- love by night, 119. Burr and the mule, 123. Burr and the murderer, 14,3. Ruse upon Hamilton, 149. Sudden death of a client, 151. The little French girl. 206. The Paris courtezans, 221. The Philadel- phia barber, 22=3. Hamilton, Wilkinson, and "Little Burr," 247. Incident of duel between Burr and Church, 240. Election anecdotes, 251. Gamp and the gout, 3 Kk The judge swamped, 3.13. After duel, 364, The border landlord, 451. Burr's appeal to people in S. (.'.. 452. Burr and the jailor, 479. Burr and the juror, 454. The Hague* March. 512. Bentham's absence of mind, 523. The lady dentist, 545. Burr and the sentinel at Erturth, 513. Ball at Frar.k- fort, 550. Burr ami the old soldier, 5S9. Incidents on Fairfield sloop, 593. Thco.'s trunk, 6i0. Burr and the dead child, 601. Advice to lady seeking divorce, 610. Ex- pounders of the constitution, 613. Burr and Gen. Scott, 614. Wax-works exhibi- tion, Olii. Burr challenged by J. A. Ham- ilton, 616. Visit to scene of duel, 616. Meeting of Burr and Mrs. Hamilton. 618. Dead shot at Utica, 619. Story of Van- derlyn, 620. Burr and the ladies, 622. Burr and his protege, 623. Burr and hia aunt. 624. Opinion of God's goodness, 626. Indifference to censure, 626. Burr and English colonel, 627. Scene in Court, C.2S. The corpse in custody, 62S. The fifty dollar note, 630. Goes to see Fanny Kem- ble, 635. " They say." 637. Wilberforce, 637. Lady and M. L. Davis, 641. The lock of hair, 648. Acknowledging the child, 653. Miss K. yet, 654. Burr and old woman, 655. Another, 657. Denies seduction. 659. Burr and BrilNh officer, 663. Burr and Texas, 670. The phren- ologist, 671. Sterne and Voltaire. 673. Burns quoted, 674. Stories of Burr's last days, 675, 676, 677, 67S, 6T. INDEX. Arcularius, Philip J., 248. Armstrong, James. Candidate for first vice- president, 191. Quoted by Jefferson, 2S9. Provided tor, 807. Inimical to Burr in Paris, 555. Arnold, Benedict. Commands expedition to Quebec, 68. Appoints Burr to convey message to Montgomery, 71. Lost Quebec by treason of an Indian, 72. Appoints Burr Brigade Major, 77. Burr's opinion of Arnold, 78. Arnold, Mrs. Scene at Mrs. Prevost's, 126. Arthur, Kev. Thomas, 33, 34. BADCOCK, Dr., 246. Baily, Francis. Describes New Orleans, 892. Baker, Jack, 462. Bak-ray. Lord. Letter from Bnrr, 576. Bank of New York. Fac-simile of check, 237. Bard, Dr. Entertained by Theo., 204. Barney, John. Burr's amanuensis during trial, 481. His narrative, 481, 511, 641. Barrow, Green, 520. Baton Rouge, 393, 428. Bassano, Due de. Minister of Napoleon, 570. Lends Burr money, 572. Aids Burr to get passport, 574. Never repaid. 605. Bayard, James A. Letter from Hamilton on the tie, 271. Reply, 272. Second letter from Hamilton on same, 279. Elects Jef- ferson, 292. Letter to Hamilton on Burr at Washington banquet, 314. Correspon- dence with Hamilton on Chris. Constitu- tional Soc., 315, 316. Defends Burr against Cheetham, 321. Bayou. Pierre, 439, 440. Belcher, Jonathan. Governor of New Jer- sey. Receives degree of M. A., at Prince- ton, 85. His death, 46. Bel knap, Mr., 491. Bellamy, Dr. Joseph. His theological school attended by Burr, 61. His method of in- struction, 61. Bentham, Jeremy. Burr admires his writ- ings. 155. Burracquainted with, 519. Car- lyle's opinion of. 519. Narrates his meeting Burr, 520. Burr's opinion of, 521. Letter to Lord Holland about Mexico, 522. Opinion of Burr, 523. Absence of mind, 523. Ex- tolled by Burr at Oxford. 52ity, 1'2?. ttesumes the law, 131. His favorite au- '.hors, 13-2. Admitted to bar, 134. His fi.ndness of proteges, 13(5. Marries Mrs. I'revost, 13S. Removes to Now York, 139. His character as a lawyer, 146. His in- come, 153. Style of living, 154. His fa- vorite authors, 155. His domestic happi- ''. Elegant letter to his wife, itjo. Elected to legislature, 166. Opposes Me- chanics' Guild, 166. The Burrites 170. His opinion of the federal constitution, 172. Espouses anti-federal party, 172. Supports Gates for governor, 173. Ap- pointed attorney general, 174. Commis- sioner on revolutionary claims, 174. Com- missioner of land office, 175. Elected U. S. senator. 176. Takea his scat, 181. His address to president, 182. Forbidden to search archives. 1S<;. Proposed for gov- ernor. 1S6. His opinion on the disputed election, 1S9. Declines judgeship, 190. Gets one vote for vice-president, 194. Thir- ty votes iu 17!'2. iy>. His tenderness to his wife. -''<>. Educates his daughter, 201. C'are of his servants, 2o5. Lo?e,s re-elec- tion to senate, 229. Returns to assembly, Manhattan bank, 233. Lost election in consequence, 239. Duel with Church. -.'40. Election of 1800, 247. - Hamilton's scheme toelect Pinck- nev. -2~>~. laminated vice-president, 259. Tile tie, 261. Letter to Wilkinson, 264. Letter to S. Smith on tie, 266. To Alston on same. I' 1 .'. Elected vice-president, 292. T..uted at Albany, '294. As vice-president, 297. As tather-in-!aw, 29 S. Courts Celeste, No basis in politics, 305. Disap- at Washington banquet, 313, 814. Denies. intrizuing for presidency. 822. Interview with" Jefferson, 327. Nominated governor of N. Y., m>. The contest, 834, 885. "f duel with Hamilton, 839. Hos- tile correspondence. 340. Meets Hamilton at banquet of Cincinnati. -543. Last letters before duel. 851. Duel, 855. Coroner's verdict, 858. Coolness- after duel, 364. Flight, 366. Sails for St. Simons, 371. Visits Theo.. 372. Tries Judge Chace, 878. Leaves senate. :t74. Goes west, 3-7 Blenner At New Orleans, 891. Returns to Nashville, 898. Meets Wilkin- son at St. Louis. 400. Dines with Jeffer- son, 401. Asks Jefferson for appointment, 404. Plan of expedition to Mexico, 403, ;12. Semis Swartwout to Wilkinson, 413. Follows, 413. Frightens the Morgans, 415. His veracity, 416. Proceeded airainst by -. 41v Acquitted, 422. The cipher letter to Wilkinson. 427. Descends Cum- berland, 438. Surrenders. 440. i wilderness, 442. Arrested, 447. Starts eastward, 448. Reaches Richmond, 458. Examined, 454. Admitted to bail, 455. Jefferson his prosecutor, 456. His appear- ance in court, 461. Speech, 467. Indicted, 476. Imprisoned, 477. Arraigned. 4 >.">. Acquitted, 50S. Leaves Baltimore. M2. Sails for Europe, 518. Claims British citizenship, 516. Meets Bentham, 520. Sends for Theo., 527. Travels northward, 523. Arrested, 538. Letter to Lord Liv- erpool, 586. Arrives at Stockholm. " '7. Leaves Sweden, 543. At Weimar, 546. At Gotha, 549. At Frankfort, 550. At Paris 551. Passports refused, 555. Ad- dresses emperor, 559. Poverty. 562. Cures chimney, 562. Betrayed, 567. Meets Denon. 570. Bassano, 572. Visits Holland, 578. Carried to England, 577. Poverty in London, 576. Reaches Boston, 585. At Custom House, 5S7. Reaches New York, 594. Begins business, 596. Death of grandson, 597. Death of Theo., 599. His debts, 604. Medccf Eden case, 60*. In- cest case, 610. His habits, 612. Yi-it to scene of duel, 616. Meets Vanderlyn. 620. His protege*, 622. Receives warning let ter, 624. "Money habits, 629. Journey to Albany, 634. Burr in his office, 6; ; Fanny Keinble, 635. Will quoted, 639. Letter to daughter of old friend, C44. Man of gallantry, 651. Married to Madame Juinel, 663. Separated, 665. Struck with paralysis, 667. His last friend, 669. Death, 682, Monument, 685. Phrenological char- acter, 687. Burr, Rev. Aaron. Birth and education, 81. Account of his conversion, 81. His preach- ing described, 32. Character as a teacher, 88. Presides at first commencement of Princeton College, 33. His L-itin s|>eech, 34. Personal appearance, 86. Attainments, 37. Marriage. 87. Oddity of the court- ship, 33. Compared with Jonathan Ed- wards, 89. His publications 89. Letter to Mr. Hogg, 40. Portrait, 43. Removes to Princeton, 45. Death, 46. Burr. Sarah. Born, 45. Her career, 50. De- scribed by Burr, 692. Burr, Thaddeus, 63, 593. Burr, Theodosia. Born. 189. As a child, 155. Her education, 162, 201, 202, 203. She entertains Brant, 204. Married, 298. Describes Manhattan Island, 299. Explains Celeste, 803. Intimate with Mrs. Madison, 817. Letters from Burr upon election for governor of N. Y., 385. Letters from Burr before duel with Hamilton, 847, 351. After duel, 87o. 371. Visited by Burr after duel, 872. Toasted at New Orleans 394. Promoted expedition, 410. Goes west with Burr, 413. Attends ball at Marietta, 416. Reaches Blennerhuseett Island, 417. Letters from Burr on his reaching Richmond, 4M. Letters during trial. 4SI. Arrives at Richmond. 480- To have been Queen of Mexico, 494. Letter announcing acquittal, 509. Letter from Burr on trial for misdemeanor, 511. Part- in" with her father. M4. letters from him in Europe, 516, 520, 540, B6S, 575, 576, 579. Corresponds with Bentham, 522. Letter* 700 INDEX. to Burr, 526, 538, 564. Letter to Gallatin, 505. Announces death of her son, 597. Her death, 599. Character, GOO. CABOT, Senator, 261. Cadore, Due de. Burr meets, 552. Cambridge. Condition of the camp there in 1775, 67. Cannonsburg, O., 413. Cnrlyle. Quoted, 62, 519, 613. Carnalian, Kev. Dr., 682. Carroll, of Carrollton. Preferred Burr to Jefferson, 261. Castlereagh, Lord, 515, 516. Catharine of Russia, 158. Celeste. Courted by Burr, 301, 370. Chace, Judge. Trial of, 373. Chester, S. C., 451. Cheetham, James. Editor of Am. Citizen, 307. Denounces suppression of Wood's pamphlet, 312. Nine letters against Burr, 818. Challenged by Coleman. 326. Op- poses Burr for governor of N. Y., 334. Taunts Burr with Hamilton's insults, 339. Assails Burr after duel, 359. Sued by J}urr for libel, 403. Chillicothe, 417, 436. Chimney. Burr cures of smoking, 5G2. Church," John B. Duel with Burr, 240. Cincinnati, 3S9, 417. Cincinnati, The, 246, 343, 360. Clai borne. Go v. Entertains Burr, 393. Ad- dressed meeting in N. O., 433. Proclama- tion, 434. Clark, Daniel. Testimony against Wilkin- son, 333, 395. Entertains Burr, 393. Goes to Mexico, 396. Furnishes horses to Burr, 397. Letter to Wilkinsoa respecting ru- mors of Burr, 399. Clay, Henry, 323. Meets Bnrr, 39S. Coun- sel for Burr, 419. Burr's avowal of inno- cence, 422. Meets Burr in N. Y., 611. Clerkenwell Close, 578. Clinton, De Witt. A college student, 168. Inactive for Jefferson's first election, 250. Toasted Jeffer .on and Burr, 295. A sena- tor, 3J7. Cheetham his tool, 307. Duel with J. Swartwout, 324. Proposed for president, 596. Clinton, George. Origin of the family, 163. His character, 168. Opposed federal con- stitution, 171. Re-elected governor in 1789, 173. Appoints Burr attorney-gen- eral, 174. Pvo-elected in 1792, 188. Nom- inates Bnrr to Supreme Court, 190. Can- didate for vice-president in 1792, 194. Eclipsed by Burr, 19S. Person and char- acter, 249. Induced by Burr to stand for assembly, 250. Set aside in favor of Burr, 259. Burr supports him in 1801 for gover- nor, 291. Succeeds Burr as vice-president, 378. Clio-Sophie Society. Bnrr presides, 55. At- tends Burr's funeral, 682. Cobbett, William. Proposes Burr for Par- liament, 531. Coghlnn. Mrs. Narrative of her connection with Burr, 90. Coleman William. Editor of Evening Post, 308. Duel with Thompson, 826. College of New Jersey. Founded, 83. First commencement, 33. The buildings, 40, 43. Salary of the iirst president, 45. Tombs of the presidents, 50. Burr enters, 54. John Adams' remarks upon, 235. Collins" History of Kentucky. Quoted, 419. Collot, Gen., 258. Combes, Captain, 573. Cooper, Charles D. Causes duel between Hamilton and Burr, 340. Cooper, Judge. Letter to Thomas Morris on the tie, "268. Copenhagen. Burr's visit to, 543. Cushing, Col. Narrates Swartwout's arri- val in camp, 426, 429. D'ALBERG, Duo, 553, 570. Dallas, A. J. Opinion on the judiciary bill, 310. Entertains Burrat'ter duel, 369. In- tercedes for Burr, 373. Danielson, T. E., 491. Daviess, J. H. Moves Burr's arrest, 413. Davis. Matthew L. Errors respecting Miss Moncrietfe, 89. Quoted respecting elec- tion of 1800, 244, 257. Defends Burr against Cheetham, 320. Accompanies Burr to duel with Hamilton, 352. Im- prisoned, 35S. Quoted respecting I). Chick, 895. Expedition, 412. Burr's veracity, 416. Errors refuted, 639, 644, 643. Dayton, Jonathan. Challenges De Witt Clinton. 326. Goes west," 382. Meets Burr, 389, 391. Aids expedition, 411. Cipher letter to Wilkinson, 428. Indicted, 477. Dead River. Mishap therein, 70. Dearborne, Gen , 416. Dearborne, Mr. 587. De Dalwick, La Baronne. Letter from Burr, 549. Denon, Baron. Burr visits, 570. Aids Burr, 574. Delancey, Col., 122. De Peyster, Countess. Burr meets, 547. De Stein, La Baronne. Burr meets, 547. De Visine, Miss, 104, 125. De Visine, Mrs., 104. D'Or. Burr loves, 547. D'Otrante, Due, 553. Drake, Lieut. Serves under Burr, 115. Dreer, F. J., 524. Dunne, William. Note to Gen. Collot, 258. Turns against Burr, 312. Duels. Between Church and Burr, 240. Death of Hamilton's son in duel, 325. John Swartwout and De Witt Clinton, 324. R. Swartwout and Hiker, 326. Colo- man and Thompson, 326. Burr and Ham- ilton, 355. Duer, William, 173. Duke of York, 221. Dumont, M. Moots Bnrr, 519. Dimmer, Col. Killed at Monmoutk 108. Dupiester, Col., 411. 413, 414. Dwight, Dr., 62, 246. EATON WILT.TAM. Enticed by Burr, 411. Makes his deposition, 435. His testimony 486. Ebeling, Professor, 546. INDEX. 701 Eden, Mcdcef. Suits in chancery, b08 Edinburgh. Burr's visit to, 530. Bdwwda, Esther. Visited by President Burr at Stockbridge, 30. Married to President Burr, 37. Mourns her husband's death. 47. Her character, 48. Death, 49. Anxiety for her son. li'-'i. Edwards, G. 1L, 513, 515. 5-20. Edwards, Jonathan. Residence in New York, 25. Sketch of his life. 27. His de- scendants, 8ll. Compared with President Burr, :J'.. Death, 49. Advantage to Burr of his grandfather's celebrity, 145. Burr's opinion <>t: 026. Edwards, Mary Ann, 526. Edwards, Oirden. Attends Burr dying, 079. Edwards, Pierpont. At school with Aaron Burr, 53. His opinion on disputed elec- tion, ls9. His foible, 652. Edwards. Mrs. Timothy. Correspondence with liurr in revolution, 87. Edwards, Hon. Timothy. Guardian to Aaron and Sarah Burr, 50. System of education. 51, 52. Catches the runaway, 53. Dissuades Burr from Quebec expedi- tion, 69. Elections. For governor of N. Y. in 17S9, 17'.'. For governor of N. Y. in 171*2. 1--. First presidential, 191. State election of 17U9. '-'39. Presidential of 1SOO, 243. The victory, 252. In House of Representa- tives 2-7. 21*2. Elizabethtown. Described, 51. Ellsworth, Oliver. Candidate for third vice- president, 193. Elsinore. Burr's visit to. 543. Emeriek, Col.. 122. Erlurth, 517, 548. F AIRFIELD, CT. Burr visits, 593. Fen wick. Madame. Burr cures her chim- ne\. Floyd. Davis. 419, 442, 477. Fort Ma-ssae, 391. Fort Stoddart. 44**,. Fort Wilkinson, 451. Fouch . Frankfort. Ky., 393, 418. Fredricksburgh, 452. Frederick the Great. His popularity in American provinces, 55. Freneau, 225. GAIIX, Mr., 539. Gaines, E. P. Arrests Bnrr, 44T. Gaines. Mr. Nursed by Burr, 447. Galiatin, Albert. Admires Hentham, 156, 519. Supported by Burr in senate, 196. Letter from Theo., 565. Gates, (ten. Horatio. The cabal against Washington, 1m;. Induced by Burr to stand for assembly. '.M*. Gedney. His house plundered, 114. Genet, 290. 1 1.. 33, 208. German, Gen. Played upon by Burr, 233. Gibbon. Burr admires, 155. Gil.'-. Senator. Letter from Jefferson against Burr, 456. At Burr's trial, 459, 4> 12 Godwin, William. Burr admires him, 155. Burr's acquaintance with, 519. Goethe. Burr meets, 546. Life quoted, 649. Goodrich, 8. G. Quoted respecting change of manners in I', s.. 222. Gotba. Burr visits, 549. Gotha, Duke of. Burr meets, 549, 670. Gottenburah. Bnrr reaches, 537. Graham, Mr. Sent by Jefferson to discover Burr's plans, 415. Interview with J51en- nerhassett, 435. Proceeds against Burr, 436,438. Gravesend. Burr sails from, 584. Graydon. Quoted, 221. Great Canawha, 437. Green, Col., 121. Griffin, Cyrus, 459. Griswold, Edward. Aids Burr In Paris, 556, Gtinn, James. Letter to Hamilton on the tie, 27 4. HAMBURGH. Bnrr visits, 544. Hamilton, Alexander. His break with Washington, 83. Commands artillery during retreat from N. Y., 86. His nar- rative of Mrs. Arnold, 126. Burr ap- plauds his eloquence, 152. Compared with Burr at bar, 152. Ketnrns fee as being too much. 153. No sympathy with his age, 169. Attempts to oust Governor Clinton in 1739, 172. Associated with Burr, 172. Resents Burr's election to senate, 179. Opposes him for vice-prest- dent, 193. His character. 212. Portraits, 214. Appearance. 214. Compared with Jefferson, 219. His great influence, 231. Inspector-general of army, 234. Opposes Burr's appointment as brigadier, 234. Conversation with Gen. Wilkinson, 237. Scheme to elect Pinckney president, 245. On the hustings with Burr, 252. Dishon- orable letter to Jay, 253. Pamphlet upon John Adams, 256. His intrigue unjusti- fiable, 258. Bitterness against Burr, 260. Ilia works, 202. Apparent friend of Burr, 264. Letters on the tie, 207. 271. 272. 27 S 279, 285. 291. Letter from Bayard excul- pating Burr. 292. Retires to the country, 295. Letter to Gouvernenr Morris on worthlessness of constitution, 296. To Bayard on Bnrr at Washington banquet, 313". To Gouvencnr Morris, on same. 314. To Bayard proposing Chris. Constitu- tional Soc., 815. To King on quarrel between Jefferson and Burr, 816. De- fends BurragainstCheetham, 820. Against Burr for governor of N. Y., 331. Great libel speech, 336. Hostile correspondence with Burr, 841. Meets Burr at banquet of Cincinnati, 348. Will. 849. Duel, 855. Death, 357. Funeral, 857. Monument, 863. Burr to Bentham upon duel, 521. How Burr spoke of duel, 615. Burr's visit to ground, 6l6. Hamilton's licen- tiousness. 649. Hamilton, Mrs. Meets Burr on steamboit, 618. Hammond, Dr. Quoted, 177. Quoted upon Judge Peck, 283, 245. 702 INDEX. Hancock, John. Friend of Burr, 81. Can- didate for first vice-president, 191. llis costume. 210. Harpers' Magazine. Quoted, 641. Harrison, Kobert II. Candidate for first vice-president, 191. Harrison. W. II. Letter from Wilkinson about Burr, 401. From Burr declaring his innocence, 423. Haverstniw. Burr lives there, 181. Ilawkesbury, Lord, 516. Hay, George. Letter from Jefferson upon Burr's artifice, 416. Attorney against Burr, 460. His fatigue, 482. Letter" from Jefferson on Burr's acquittal, 509. Heeren, Professor, 546. Helder. Burr sails from, 576. Henry, John. Candidate for third vice- president, 193. Hermitage. Mrs. Prevost's residence, 139. Hildreth, Mr. Quoted, ITT, 382. Hinson, Col., 444. Ilitchburn, Col., 290. Holland. Burr visits, 5T& Holland House, 513, 525. Holland Land Company. Scandal respect- ing, 240. Burr speculates in, 566, 5T3. S lighted by, 5T3. Holland, Lord. Letter from Bentham, 522. Hosack, Dr. Entertained by Theo_ 204. At duel betwven Hamilton and Burr, 355. His narrative, 353. Lends Burr money, 532. Hosack, William. With Burr in Sweden, 538, 542. Burr aids, 606. Hughes, Mr. Burr's jailor in London, 534. Huntingdon, Samuel. Candidate for first vice-president, 191. Hunt, James, 248. Hutchinson, Dr., 220. INCEST. Case of, 610. Innis, Judge. Denied motion to summon Burr, 419. Iredell, James. Candidate for third vice- president, 198. Irvine. Peter. Editor of Morning Chroni- cle, 308. Defends Burr after duel, 360. Irvinsr, Washington, 119. Wrote first in Chronicle, 808. JACKSON, ANDREW. First appearance in Conuress, 38-2. Entertains Burr, 390, 398. Holds money for Burr's boats, 418. De- fends Burr at Richmond, 458. Exoner- ated by Burr, 503. Named for presidency by Burr,' 60T. President, 6=31. Defeats Burr's application for money, 632. Burr's opinion of, 683. Jay. John. Advocates federal constitution, iTl. Nominated for governor, 1ST. Can- didate for vice-presidency in 1T89, 191. His mission to England opposed by Burr, 198. Candidate for third vice-president, 198. Refuses to call legislature to defeat republicans, 254. Receives one vote in 1800 for president, 261. Letter from Jef- ferson on Mexico, 409. Jefferson, Thomas. Excludes Burr from vice-president, 194. His opinion of Burr, 196. Elected vice-president, 19S. Origin of his democracy, 215. His person, 216. Character, 216. Services, 21T. Conversa- tion between Jefferson, Hamilton, and Ariains, 218. Jefferson and Hamilton compared, 219. Jefferson upon news- papers, 224. Upon heat of parties in 1798, 227. Conversation with Adams, 255. His works, 262. Letter to Burr on tie, 2(55. Hamilton's opinion of Jefferson, 279. Jef- ferson on the tie, 288, 2S9, 290. Letter to Monroe on same, 290. To Rush on same, 290. How elected president, 292. Quoted on midnight appointments, 295. Inter- view with Burr, 327. Opinion of Burr 329. Opposes Burr for governor of N. Y., 334. Re-elected, 878. Last interview with Burr, 403. Letter to Jay on Mexico 409. Receives information of Burr's de- signs, 415. Letter to Hay upon Burr's artifice, 416. Proclamation against Burr. 433. Supports Wilkinson, 434. Eager to convict Burr, 455. Letters showing it, 456, 474, 475, 477. Interview with Eaton, 490. Disgusted at Burr's acquittal, 509. Letter upon Burr in Europe, 517. De- scribed by Burr, 613. Johnson, Samuel. Candidate for third vice president. 198. Jumel, Madame. Separated, 665. 667. Married to Burr, 663. Her kindness to Burr, Jumel, Stephen. His career, 660. KEEXE, RICHARD RAYNAL, 431, 481. Ketnble, Fanny. Burr sees act, 635. Kemper Brothers, 398. Kibby, Ephraim, 488. King of Rome. Born. 574. King, Rut'us. First senator from N. Y., 176. His opinion on the disputed election, 189. Warns Hamilton against Burr, 192. His opinion of Burr as a debater. 195. Letter from Hamilton on Burr and Jefferson's difference, 316. Proposed as governor of N. Y., 333. Letter from Hamilton on Burr's campaign for governor of N. Y.. 333. Kingston, N. Y. Burr meets Vanderlyn, 620. Kirby, Mr., 532. Kivkland, Dr. Aids Burr in Boston, 592. Knapp, Col. Quoted, 252. Knox, General. In retreat from N. Y., 86. Offended by Hamilton's elevation, 236. LAKE TESSAW, 449. Lamb, Charles. Burr acquainted with, 518. Lamb, Col., 237. Lansing, Mr. Proposed for governor of N. Y., 881. Lee, Gen. At battle of Monmouth, 108. Ledyard, Mr. Letter to Hamilton, 186. Leonora, 352. Lewes, G. II. Quoted, 649. Lewis, Morgan. Succeeds Burr as attorney- general, 177. Provided for in 1801. 307. Nominated governor of N. Y., 333. Elect- ed, 335. Quoted, 869. the archives, 1S6. Candidate for second j Lexington, battle of. Effect of the news, 65 I NDEX. Lexinston, Ky., 393, 413. Lincoln, Benjamin. Candidate for first vice-president, 191. Linn, Dr.. -J-'.t. Litchfteld. Kiot there in 1774, 65. Littlefleld, Col., 112. LiviT]>oi)l, Lord. Orders Burr's arrest, r>33. Letter from Burr on his arrest, 686. Livingston, Brockholst. Induced by Burr to stand for a-seinbly, 249. Judge of Supreme Court, 307. Livingston, Edward. Not agent of Burr, 988. Quoted by Jefferson, 2S3. Mayor ofN. Y.,307. Defends Burr, 820. Quoted by Bayard, 321. Livin-sfon, Kobert E. His family. 169. His position, 169. Advocates federal constitu- tion, 171. Kesents Hamilton's elevation. 17s. Joins republican party, 230. Why not nominated vice-president, 259. Am- bassador to France. :!o7. Livingston, William. Governor of New Jersev. Describes preaching of Rev. A. Burr." 32. Louisa. Princess, 549. Louisiana. Annexed to United States, 351. Discontented, 397. Burr's designs upon, 481. Louis Philippe. Entertained by Burr, 154. Louisville. :W9, 39S. Liming, Mr. Generosity to Burr, 542. Lvman, Joseph. 24il. Lyon, Matthew. Quoted by Jefferson, 2S9. Went west, 3S2. Narrative of Burr's journey westward, 3=4. Continuation of same, 8S9. MAC Dorfi.vL. General. Superintends em- barkation after battle of L. I., 85. Re- commends Burr to Washington, 105. Bii rr's general, 113. Sends Burr to Wash- initton, !_'!. Mac Kne, Alexander. Counsel against Burr, !, i. Consul in Paris, 560. M'i'lison, James. Supports Bnrr for Minis- t'-r to France, 197. Story of his queue, 1 'referred by Jefferson. 306. Cool to Burr, 317. Burr's opinion of his ad- ministration, io.'i. Malcolm. Col. Commander of Burr's regi- ment. 97. Gives up regiment to Burr, 93. Maniran. Dr., 431. Manhattan Company, 233. Manhahubha Bluff. 446. Maret. See Due de Bassano. Marietta, :!-*. 415. 417, 435, 436. Mariner. Billy, 594. Marshall. Chief Justice. Examines Bnrr, 454. Described, 459. Decision. 469. De- nounced by Jefferson. 475. Final decis- ions, 506, 511. Martin, Lather. Counsel for Burr, 460. Snre- ty for IJurr, 471. Speech. 472. Denounced by Jefferson. 474. Defends Burr against ',7-v Described by Blennerhassett, I'.ntertains Burr after trial, 511. Supported by Burr, 606. " M-ison. Dr., 372. Mayence. Burr visits, 551. Mazzei. Letter from Jefferson, 276. McComb, Alexander. Great land purchase, 176. Mead, Governor, 440. Melville, Lord, 531. Mercantile Library, 262. Merry, Mr.. 41:.'. Mexico. Clark's voyages to, 896. Burr's desisns upon, 4'i9. Described by Jeffer- son, "409. Burling's mission to, 430. Ex- citement about Burr, 434. Political con- dition in 1308, 515, 521, 546. Mifflin. Governor, 221. Mills, John, 525. Minor, 399. Miranda, General. 408, 4ST. Moncrieffe, Margaret. Her acquaintance with Burr, 89. Her narrative, 90. Monette, Dr. Quoted, 4*3. Monmouth, Battle of. Burr commands a brigade, 107. Monroe, James. Supports open senate, 185. Supports Burr for minister to France, 196. Letter from Jefferson on the tie, 290. Burrs opinion of, 607. Montgomery, Gen. Richard. Commands army in Canada. CS. Appoints Burr his aid. "72. His death, 75. His body borne off by Burr, 76. Mooro,'Bishop. Entertained by Theo., 204. Testifies to duel, 372. Moore, Sir John. 517. Morgan. Col. Entertains Burr, 418. Sends information to Jefferson, 415. Testifies at trial, 495. Morris, Gouvernenr. Minister to France, 196. Letter to Hamilton on the tie, 270. Another, 272. Letter from Hamilton on same, 285. Letter from same on the con- stitution, 296. Letter to Livingston on Burr's course on judiciary bill, 310. From Hamilton on Burr at Washington ban- quet, 314. Orator at Hamilton's funeral, 853. Morris. Chief Justice, 178. Morris, Thomas. Letter from Judge Cooper on the tie, 288. Muhlenburgh. Peter, 236. Mulgrave, Lord, 516. NACIHTOCIIES, 407. Nashville. Burr's receptions, 390, 898, 424. Natchez. Described, 391. Excited about Burr, 439. Neddy. Anecdote of, 99. Neusen, Elias, 248. Neville, General, 415. Newark. Rev. A. Bnrr settled, 82. First Presbyterian church, 45. Newbursh, 122. New Haven. Gov. Tryon's attack, 124. New Orleans. Ceremony of annexation of Louisiana, 381. Arrival" of Burr. 391. City described, 392. Excitement about Burr, 483. New Rochelle, 112. Newspapers. Before revolution, 228. Dur- ing Washington's administration, 224. Jefferson's remarks upon, 224. American Citizen, 807. Evening Post, 308, 386, 388, 704 IN DEX. 683. Morning Chronicle, SOS. Aurora, 312. Trenton Federalist, 369. Washing- ton Federalist, 374. Western World, 418. New York Columbian, 595. Greenleafs N. Y. Journal and Patriotic Register, 228. Presbyterian Herald, 6s3. New York City. Condition in 1T22, 25. Retreat from in revolution, 87. Evacu- ated by British, 139. Described in 17S3, 142. John Adams's visit in 1775, 143. Described by Theo. in 1801, 299, 300. Theo. fond of, 526. New York Review. Quoted, G03, 683. Nichols, W. C., 289. Niebuhr, 546. North American Review. Quoted, 6S4. Nott, Dr. Sermon on death ot'Haniilton, 361. OCONEE EIVEK, 451. Ogden, David A., 320. Ogden, Matthias. At college with Burr, 59. Joins the army with Burr, 67. Goes with Bnrr on expedition to Quebec, 68. Reports Burr's bravery to Congress and Washington, 77, 79. "Misunderstanding with Burr, 80. His son, 413. Son arrest- ed, 434. Ohio River. Described, 387. O'Keefc, Mr., 372. Olsen, Mr., 543. Osgood, Samuel, 248. Oxford. Burr's visit to, 529. PARAMITS. Burr and the British picket, 101. The Provosts, 101. Burr's nocturnal visits, 119. Mrs. Arnold there, 126. Paris. Burr reaches, 651. Describes, 5C8. Parke, Mr., 401. Parties. After revolution, 167. The Burr- ites, 170. Acceptance of the constitu- tion, 171. Parties before revolution, 208. During revolution, 209. After revolution, 211. In 1798, 227, 229. Party drill in 1800, 244. Factions in 1801, 306. Patterson, Miss, 301. Patterson, William. At college with Burr, 59. Receives Burr as a student, 131. Peck, Judge. His character, 233. Played upon by Burr, 233. Prosecuted for sedi- tion, 244. Peggy, 205. Pendleton, Nathaniel. Hamilton's second in duel with Burr, 343. Pensacola, 442, 446. Perkin's, Col. Recognizes Burr, 445. Com- mands guard, 449. The march through wilderness, 450. Petersburgh, Va. Burr's reception there after duel, 372. Phelps, Oliver, 291. Pickett, A. J. Quoted, 449. Pinckney, C. C. Hamilton denounces to him Jefferson and Burr, 198. Candidate for third vice-president, 198. Appointed feneral, 236. Hamilton's scheme to elect im president, 245. Its failure, 261. Op- poses duelling, 360. Letter from Jeffer- son against Burr, 456. Pinckney, Thomas. Candidate for vioe- - president, 198. Pittsbnrg, 887. Pitt, William, 412. Platt, Captain Richard. Testifies to Burr's bravery at Quebec, 75. To Burr's effi- ciency in AVestchester lines, 122. Poindexter, George, 440. Popham, Major. Married at Burr's house, 138. Potter, captain, 581. Power, 399. Prevost, Frederic, 351, 353. Prevost, Mrs. Tlieodosia. Meets Burr, 104. Visited by Burr, 118. Interview with Mrs. Arnold, 126. Corresponds with Burr, 132. Her character, 135. Burr's love letters, 137. Married to Burr, 138. Her happiness with him, 156, 157, 199. Her sickness and death, 200. Burr's opinion of her, 200. Prevost, Judge, 298. Prevost, Sir George, 515. Princeton. Described, 54. Burr buried, 682. His grave, 685. Putnam, General. Bnrr appointed his aid, 81. Receives Miss Moncrietfe, 89. Her narrative, 90. Letter from Putnam to Major Moncrieffe, 94. Sends information to Burr of Governor Try on, 117. Putnam, Mrs. Her industry, 81. QUEBEC. Assaulted by Montgomery, 74. RANDOLPH, EDMUND. His opinion on dis- puted N. Y. election, 189. Counsel for Burr, 461. Randolph, John. Quoted, 287. At Burr's trial, 459, 463. Reed, Joseph. His income at bar before revolution, 130. Quoted respecting loy- alty of Americans, 209. Reeve, Tappan. Marries Sarah Burr, 50. Entertains Burr in 1774, 63. Reeves. John. Friend of Burr, 533. Lends Burr money, 581, 582. Reflections. Upon Burr's looseness in money matters, 123. Upon good and bad men, 140. Upon lawyers, 146. Upon whig and tory, 207. Upon democracy, 296. Upon politics, 306. Calumny, 637. Immorality of last century, 654. Charac tei of Burr, 692. Renwick, Prof. Quoted. '244. Richmond Hill. Washington lives there, 81. Burr owns it, 154. Preture of, 154. Sold, 378. Richmond, Va. Burr arrives a prisoner, 453. Arraigned, 458. Burr popular, 479. Riker, Richard. Duel with Robert Swart- wout. 326. Robhins. K/ekiel, 248. Robertson, Mrs., 536. Robinson, Mr. With Burr in Europe, 543. Root, Erastus. His opinion of Burr, 153. Rousseau. Burr's opinion of, 626. Rovigo, Duke. Burr's interview with, 557. Rush, Benjamin. Letter from Jefferson on the tie, 290. Russell, Jonathan. Refuses passports to Burr, 560. Grants passports. 574. Rutgers, Henry, 248. INDEX. 705 Rutledge, John. Candidate for first vice- president, 191. Letter to Hamilton on the tie, 274. SABIVE RIVER, 425. Sargent, Epes. Quoted, 611. Scbuyler, Gen. His character, 169. Loses re-election to senate, 177. Elected to senate, 2-29. Scott, Major, 454. Scott, Sir Walter. Burr meets at Edin- burgh, 530. Scott, Winflcld. At Burr's trial, 459. Meets Burr in Albany, 614. Sedgwick, Theodore. Letter from Hamilton on the tie, 271. Letter to Hamilton on same, 275. Letter from Hamilton on same, 287. Sedition Law. 244. it, Jonathan D.. 189, 220. Se.wanl, W. II. Quoted, 207. Shields. Major, 440. Simcoe, Col., 122. Smith, Col., 324. Smith, Israel, 477. Smith, John. Senator from Ohio, J Meets Burr, 889, 428. Smith, Lieut Sent by Wilkinson to Jeffer- son, 432. Smith, II. K. Sheriff of Otsego, 188. Smith, Samuel. Burr's proxy, 266. Quoted, !89. Defends Burr against Cheetham, 882. Smith. Thomas. Burr studies law under him, 181. Sorrel River. Burr's encounter with In- dians, 79. frprin-:. Rev. Samuel. At college with Burr. "'.'. <;<>cs with Burr on Quebec expedi- tion. TH. St. Andrew's Society, 863. St. Claire. Madame, 570. Stirling, Lord. At battle of Monmouth, 107. iK'sri-ibed by Burr, 607. St. Louis, 400. Stockholm. Burr reaches, 587. Stone, W. L. Anecdote of the language of flowers, U5. His story of Theo. Burr, 204. Storm, Thomas, 248. Stratford upon Avon. Burr's visit to, 530. Stiiek, Baron. 550. St. Simons. Burr's residence there, 371. Swartwout, John. Elected to assembly, 248, 252. Assists Burr to frustrate Ham- ilton, 257. Loses scat in Manhattan Bank. '''. Defends IJnrr against Cheetham, :!_'". In favor of I'.urr for president. :',>>. Duel with De Witt Clinton. :>24. Wakes Burr on morning of duel with Hamilton, 852. Flies with Hurr, 306. Aids expedi- tion. 411. Faithful to Burr, 5fi4. Swai-twout, Robert. Assists Burr against Hamilton. '257. Duel with Riker, 3'26. ATds expedition, 411. Entertains Burr, 595. Swartwout, Samuel. Accompanies Burr to St.. Simons, 371. Aids expedition, 411. Bears packet from Burr to Wilkinson. 413. Arrives in camp, 426. Questioned by Wilkinson, 481. Arrested, 484. Let- ter to Burr proposing speculation, 524. Burr announces arrival at Boston. 586. Welcomes Burr, 591. Lodges Burr, 595. Sweden. Burr's opinion of 539. TAI.I.YEKAXD. Entertained by Burr, 154, 204. Taylor, Bayard. Quoted, 541. Taylor, John. Letter to Burr, 195. Taylor, Peter. Testimony at Burr's trial, 493. Telfair, Edward. Candidate for first vice- president, 191. Thane, Samuel, 86. Thompson. Col., 121. Thompson, Smith, 307. Thorburn, Grant. Quoted, 660. Three Rivers. Burr concealed there, 72. Tillotson, Dr., 307. Troup, Col. Letter to Burr, 125. Borrows Burr's money, 128. Associated with Burr in politics, 173. Lends Burr his law li- brary, 51G. Truxton, Commodore. Narrative of Burr's flight after duel, 366. Meets Burr in Phil- adelphia before expedition, 411. Testi- money at trial, 492. Tryon, Gov. Commands marauders in Westchester, 116. Attacks New Haven, 124. Tyler, Comfort, 442, 447. URSALINE Nuxs. Entertain Burr at N. Or- leans, 394. Implicated with Burr, 412. VALLEY FORGE. Burr posted near, 105. Quells mutiny, 106. Van Benthuysen, 266. Vanderlyn, John. Story of, 620. Van Ness,William P. Defends Burr against Cheetham, 320. Wrote pamphlet for Burr, 321. In favor of Burr for president, 822. Burr's second in duel with Hamil- ton, 341. Asserted that Hamilton fired first, 617. Van Pelt, Rev. P. J. Attends ^urv living, 679. Van Rensselaer, Mr. Finds lodgings for Burr in Albany, 188. Opposed in i*il by Burr, 291. Venezuela, 408. Vera Cruz, 896, 481, 492. Vigilant, The. Detained in Holland, 578. Captured, 577. Vliro. Mr., 414. Volney. Entertained by Burr, 154, 204. Burr's friend in Paris, 555. WADSWORTII, Senator. Quoted, 219. Wakefield. Ala., 444. Warner, Gco., 248. Washington, George. His portrait at Princeton, 43. Invites Burr to reside in his family, 79. Ills trials in revolution, vj. llis'difference with Hamilton, 88. Reproves Mi MonerienV. !M. Ills great fortune, 97. Declines Burr's proposal for expedition to Stolen Island, 105. Ap- points I'.urr to post near Valley Forge, 105. The Oatos cabal, 106. At battle of roe INDEX. Monmonth, 108. Sends Bnrr to watch New York, 109. Grants leave of absence to Burr, 109. Mode of his opening Con- gress, 181. Forbids Burr to search archives, 133. His vote for first presi- dency, 191. For second presidency, 194. Refuses to nominate Burr for Minister to France, 197. Keceives votes for third presidency, 198. Victim of eulogy, 212. Threatened by mob, 22;). Names Hamil- ton inspector-general, 236. His writings, 262. Quoted by Jefferson respecting Adams, 323. Burr's opinion of, 613. Washita River, 410, 41T, 436. Watson, .Tames. Letter to Hamilton, 1ST. Webster, Noah. 265. Weehawken. Described, 353. Weimar. Bnrr visits, 546. Weimar, Duchess of. Burr meets, 547. Westchester Lines. Burr in command, 111. Gedney plundered and redressed, 114. Lieut. Drake, 115. Mr. Young's narrative, 121. Westphalia, King of, 553, 554. West Point. Burr in command there, 109. Wlieaton, Mr. and Mrs., 386. Wheeling, 33S. White Plains. Burr's head-quarters there, 112. Wickham, John. Counsel for Bnrr, 461. Wit-land. Bnrr meets, 546. WMberforce, William. Quoted, 637. Wilkinson, Gen. James. Accompanies ex- pedition to Quebec, 70. Conversation with Hamilton, 237. Letter from Burr, 264. Appointed governor of Louisiana, 373. Life and character, 3S3. Conversa- tion with Lyon about Burr, 385. Meets Burr at Fort Massac, SCI. Introduces Burr to Clark, 893. Testifies against Clark, 395. Letter from Clark about ru- mors of Burr. 399. Meets Burr ;it St. Louis, 409. Letter to Gov. Harrison for Burr, 401. Mysteriius letters from Burr, 402, 406. Prepares for Spanish war, 407. Stisrsrested expedition, 40$. Alarmed by Pitt's death, 412. Goes to the Sabine. 425. The cipher letters, 427, 428. Deserts Burr, 430. Hastens to N. O., 433. Denounced by Burr, 440. Delay in reaching Rich- mond, 464. Appears in court, 476. Eaton's opinion of, 488. Testimony, 510. Burr's declaration respecting, 613. Willot, Marinus, 411. Williamson, Charles, 412. Wilton, John. Candidate for first vice- president, 191. Wirt, William. His income at bar, 154. Counsel against Burr, 460. Speech, 465, 473, 497. Witherspoon, Dr. President of college of N. J., when Burr enters, 54. His advice to Burr respecting th *V'' f *' f 4 r isi''-'?^ " * " ' ' r" A ' ff^ r ~ l -i^. ' 1/9