CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY DATE DUE .pfUHTl^nTTF' tr 4-ft- E302.6.B9°P27 "I's?? '" '"^'^ V.1 ^i™ii'iiiln,„f,,?,5^,.,fi"'^5 °' Aaron Bui olin 3 1924 032 753 406 e: Pa? Cornell University Library The original of tiiis bool< is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924032753406 ^^i^y^^ THE LIFE AND TIMES AARON BURR, LIEUTENANT-COLONEL IN THE ARMY OF THE REVOLUTION, UNITED STATES SENATOR, VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, ETC. JAMES PARTON, AUTHOR OF "life OF ANDREW JACKSON," "LIFE AND TIMES OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN," "GENERAL BUTLER IN NEW ORLEANS," ETC. ENLARGED EDITION, WITH NUMEROUS APPENDICES, CONTAINING NEW AND INTERESTING INFORMATION. VOL. I. BOSTON: JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY, Late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co. 1872. e mtmnx] Q Ca!' T Ki [1 © © © .g a ^ i|f iattg^tu. " As to Burr, these things are admitted, and, indeed, can not bo denied, that he is a man of extreme and irregular ambition; that he is selfish to a degi-ee which excludes al' social affections; and that he is decidedly profligate." Alexander Hamilton. " A great man in little things, while he (Burr) is really small in great ones." Thomas Jefferson. "I witness your extraordinary fortitude with new wonder at every new misfonune. Often, after reflecting on this subject, you appear, to me BO superior, so elevated above aU other men ; I contemplate you with such a strange mixture of humility, admiration, reverence, love and pride, that very little superstition would be necessary to make me worship you as a superior being; such 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." Theodosia Burr Alston, to her Father, Aaron Burr. " Our friends and our enemies draw us — and, I often think, both pictures are like." Thackeray. PREFACE TO ENLARGED EDITION. The publication of this work, in 1857, excited con- Biderable controversy, which had the effect of calling forth additional information respecting its subject. Several interesting, pieces were published in period- icals, and several more were sent to me, which would have been of use in the composition of the book. Since that time my collection of Burr papers has con- tinually increased, and some volumes have appeared which furnished new material, particularly the Blen- nerhassett Papers, edited by Mr. William H. Safford, of Cincinnati. The new information, though great in quantity, and considerable in interest, is not such as to warrant a re- casting of the entire work. It has, therefore, been added to the present edition in the form of appendices, and the work has been divided into two volumes. The opportunity has been embraced, also, to print some further passages from the correspondence of Col. Burr with his wife and daughter, a correspondence which exhibits him at his best. The continued demand for the work, after having been before the public seven years, appears to show Till PEBFAOE TO BXLAEGED EDITIOIT. that the people of the United States still feel some iu- terest in the eventful and melancholy story of a man who was, at once, gifted and unwise, generous and un- principled, amiable and deadly ; and hence, it has been deemed worth while to issue this new and enlarged edition. I suppose I ought to feel indebted to the many worthy and able gentlemen, who have animadverted upon the short-comings of this work, in the fear that the exhibition of a life that was so calamitous a failure might lure others to a similar ruin. I really supposed that the interests of virtue and civilization were duly cared for in the composition of the work. I thought that the story itself made it sufficiently manifest, that principle, not amiability, wisdom, not brilliancy, are the foundation of a life truly estimable and lastingly happy. Perhaps, however, this truth was not brought out as distinctly and impressively as it was felt, and it was proper, therefore, that the moral should be further elucidated by others. But I am still of the opinion, that, in estimating the character of a man like Aaron Burr, the most instruct- ive and warning consideration is, the great amount of good there may be in him. It is this which brings his example home to the great multitude who esteem themselves, and are esteemed very good people, but whose goodness is of the Burrian order — amiability, not fixed, intelligent principle — who are kept right by public opinion, and by a natural inclination to the easy PEEFACE TO ENLAEGBD EDITIOIT. IX and popular virtues', but who will not stand tlie test of time, and of "that fatal touchstone," Opportunity. Burr was gifted by nature with courage, generosity, and wit. The means of mental cultivation had been his, and he had an honorable profession. He was handsome, graceful, winning, and high-spirited^ as well as indefatigably diligent and enterprising. He was everything, he had everything requisite for the attain- ment of permanent welfare, except that which has been styled the One Thing ISTeedful — a Conscience enlightened and controlling. The additional light thrown upon Burr's character and conduct in these volumes places this truth in a still clearer light, since most of the new information tends to show that his natural inclinations were towards virtue and honor. But, then, those natural inclina- tions never became fixed and correct principles of con- duct. His conscience was not truly enlightened, nor was it controlling. He thought some things right which were profoundly wrong, and he did some things which were contraiy even to his own imperfect views of right. After doing full justice to his redeeming qualities, and after making proper allowances for his faults, we must still confess, that the popular judgment which ex- pelled him from society, and which still refuses to par- don him, is upon the whole, not unjust. Men may for- give such a man : the community can not ; for there X PEEFACE TO ENLAEGED EDITIOIT. could be no community at all, if tlie majority of mea were such as he. Every society properly expels a member that does not comply with its fundamental conditions : one of the most obvious of which is, that he should punctually pay his dues. This, Burr never did. He was always in debt, which, in an able man, is a certain sign of moral defect. PREFACE. The story of Aaron Burr's strange, eventful life, which naust possess interest for the American people always, I attempt to tell, because no one else has told it. Few men have been more written about than he ; but, generally, by partisans, opponents, or enemies. The life of Burr, by the late Mr. M. L. Davis, as it contains a great number of Colonel Burr's letters, aud many documents respecting him and his doings in the world, has a value of its own, whicb publications like the present can not diminish. But the story of the man's life is not to be extracted from those volumes, for the simple reason that it is not contained in them. One may read Mr. Davis's ■work, and Burr's European Diary, and the Keport of his Trial for Treason, making in aU more than three thousand octavo pages, and still be utterly unable to decide what manner of man he was, and what, in the great crises of his life, lie either did or meant to do. I can confidently appeal to any one who has gone through those six pond- erous volumes, to confirm the assertion, that they leave Aaron Burr, at last, to the consideration of the reader, a baffling enigma ! To have condensed the information contained in those XII PKBFACE. 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. Thirdly, 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 fhat 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. Xin last tliree years, I have been in the habit of conrersing 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 which it was embedded. Others, whose acquaintance with him was slight and XrV PBEFACB. 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 at last. If, here and there, my natural and just indignation at the unworthy treatment to which his name has been subjected, has biased me shghtly 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. XV most interesting in the history of the United States^ after the Kevolution. 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. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. JONATHAN EDTVAEDS, THE PATHBE OP AAKOK BUEK'S JIOTHEK. PAOB Hrn Bssn>SNCE in New Tobk in 1T22 — Beetch op ms Careeb — His Wira AND DitranTEES — Ebthek Edwaeds — The Edwakds Stock — Infltjenob op JOHATHAH EdWABDS 2B CHAPTER II. THE EETEEEND AAEON" BUEE, FATHEB OP AAEON BUEH. OXTTLINB OF HIS BAELT HlSTOBT — PASTOE OF NSWAEK CmjEOH — A GbEAT SonooLMASTEE — Pkesidknt OP Pbincetoit College — The Fiest Comsienoe- MENT — SUDDES MAEKLiQE OF THE PeESZDENT — Hl8 WfilTINQS — HlS POEXKAIT 81 CHAPTER III. AABOH BUER BOEN, AND LEFT AN OBPHAN. Bemoyai. to Pbinoetow — Last Laboes and Death op Fbesident Bitbb— Chaeaotee aud Death op Mes. Buke — The Obphahed Cbildeen — Sasas BtTBE <5 XnH CONTENTS, CHAPTER IV. THE EDTJOATION OP AAEON BUEK. PAOB EUZABETIITOWK — AnEODOTES OF BCTKK'b CnlLDHOOD — HlB CAEEF.B AT COIXKOB — GoE3 TO De. Bellamy's Theolooioal School — Eejkoib ihe Piteitasio The- OLOQT — F0SI> OP LadEEB^ SOdETY — STUDIES LA'W ^^ CHAPTER V. THE VOLUNTEEB. HlB Qttalifications ab a Soldiee — Joins tue Akmt Aeottkd Boston — Aenold'b ExPEDirioN TO Quebec — Buek's Secret Mission from Arnold to Mont ooMERr — Appointed Aid to General Montgomery — Tub Assault upon Quebec — Captain Bues eeaes off the Body of nis General — Appointed Aid to Geneeal ■WASniNQTON — Eeabons of ms Dibcontent in that Situa- tion 60 CHAPTER VI. AID-DE-OAMP TO GENEBAL PUTNAM. Thb Eeteeat FEOii Long Island — Buee saves a Beigalb — His Affaib ■wnu MiBS Monoeieffb — He£ Nabbative. t 65 CHAPTER VII. HE OOMHANDS A BEGIMENT. Appointed a Lieutenant-Colonel — Commands a Beoiment — Captubes a Brit- iBH Picket — roRiis an Acquaintance with Mes. Tueodosia Peevobt — Commands a Brigade at the Battle of Monmouiii— Anecdote. CONTENTS. XIX CHAPTER VIII. THE "WESTOHESTEB LINES. PAOB OoiIDITIOir OF TIIB COUNTET BEFOBE COLOHEL BlTBB TOOK THE COMMAND — SUP- PRESSES Plundeeing — Hffi Habits as a Soldier — Destroys toe Block Foet — Love Adtenttjrb bt Night — Resigns uis Commission — Testimony of the Men WHOM he Commanded — Anecdotes — Intebview with Mes. Arnold at Pabamus — Eeteots of the "Wab upon his Chabaoteb and Fobtune Ill CHAPTEH IX. ADUISSIOK TO THE BAB, AND MABBIAaE. Thk American Bae before the Eevolution — Bubb Eesumes ms Legal Studies — His Coerespondence wrrn Mrs. Pretost — Admission to tub Bar — Chab- acteb of Mes. Peevost — Theib Mabbiage — Bemotal to New Toek 180 CHAPTER X. AT THE NEW TOBK BAB. Mbw Toee: DflTSS — John Adams''s Impressions of the City — The Diffeeent kinds of Lawteks — Burr's Quality and Habits as a Lawyer — Anecdotes — Hamilton and Bube at the Bab — Emoluments of tub Bar then — The Tastes and Home of Bubb — Scenes at Bichmond Hill 143 CHAPTER XI. THE NEW YOKE POLITIOIAK. Thb Eapimtt op his Eise in Politics — Member op the State LEOiSLAximE — OproSE3 THE Mechanics' Bill — Votes foe the Abolition op Slateet — Paeties aftee the Peace — The Gbeat Families op the State — "Buek's Mtemidons" — The Eatification op the CoKSTiTnTiON — Biter's Eaelt Mote- ments in Politics — Appointed Attornet-Genkral op tue State — His Ee- rOBT ON THE EevOLUTIONAEY CLAIMS — SaLE OP THE STATE LANDS — ELECTED TO THE Senate op the United States •, 105 XX CONTENTS. CHAPTER XII. A SENATOR. PAGB ENTEE3 THE SeNATB — TlIE SeNATE'S INTERVIEW ■WTITI PRESIDENT "WASimTaTON — Bohe'b Adpeess to the Pkesidekt — Letter from the French Kino — The President forbids Colonel Biter to Examine the Eecords — Burb Talked of for tub GovERNORsnip of tue State — Burr's Opinion oh the Pisputed Canvass — Second Presidential Election — Burr a Candidate — Hamilton Opposes and Denounces hlm — Burr as a Debater — "Washinq- tok's Kefcsal to send ihm Ambassador to France — Third Presidential Election — Burr a prominent Candidate — Hamilton again Opposes niu — DouEsno I's Hxpeditioh to Quebeo 375 VI. Pro2i the Coeresposdenoe between Aaeon Burr aito ma Wife.,* S90 VII. F&OU THE COEEESPONDESOE BETWEES AaKON BouR AKD m3 DADOHTEB TH£ODOSU,.40S vni. Anecdote op Theodosia 425 IX. BiOHMOND Hill ahd Old Kew Yoes 428 X. IBS Election of ISOO 440 XI. Thb Election op JEFPEKSoif aitd BuER.i.t«*»?««»»»tt«7r«-.>3»«5jai.jiit?>«.«..iA,,,442 CHAPTER I. JONATHAN ED-WAEDS, THE FATHER OP AAEON BUBB'S MOTHEE. Sea EKsroENCE in New York in 1723 — Sketcii op ins Career — His "Wife and Daughters — Esther Edwards — Tue Edwards Stock — Influence of Jonatrui Edwards. In the autumn of 1722, when New York was a town of eight thousand inhabitants, and possessed some of the charac- teristics of a Dutch city, an English searport, 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 figure, 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 Jonathak Edwakds, 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." Jonathan Edwards was sent by a company of clergymen 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. Every thing was adverse to the spread of his faith at that time in New York, and the young clergyman, after a residence of only a few months, went home to resume his studies. Dearly 23 LIFE OF AAEON BUEK. 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 origmal 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 any thing 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. / used, to be eager to read pub- lic news-letters, mainly for that end ; to see if I could not Jina some news, favorable to the interest of religion in the world. I very frequently used 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 used to turn much on the advancement df 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 ft, 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 EDWAEDS. 2. every senter.ce, 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 descenaants 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 m 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 Yale College, and there occurred the events which decided his career. " Toward the latter part of my * The Life of President Edwards.— S. E. Dwight. New York : G. & 0. * H. Carvii; 1830. 28 LITE or A-aKOir BUEK. 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 Avas, for hia 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 efibrts of hia 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 Tale College for a year or two, and was then chosen pastor of the church at, Northampton. There, his preaching produced effects that. Lave 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 EDWAEDS. 29 first American author who achieved a European reputation ; while he was 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 uneqnaled 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 i^artake 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, wore 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 Chi-istian 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 cau^s 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 Prineipia 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 OP AAEON BUEE. dowed in person and mind, his daughters, beautiful and full of talent, made lace and painted fans, which were sent to Boston for sale. EsTHEE, 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, bu^t 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. Thi-ee generations of wor- thy, substantial persons, his descendants, lived in Connecticut. From Jonathan Edwards a surprising number of distinguished individuals have descend%d ; 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, made more dLstinct 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 BXJRR, PATHEE OP AARON BTJKK. Odtiine op ni3 eaelt IIibtoet— Pastoe or Newaek Cniraon— A Geeat Scnooi.- aiASTEE — Pbesident of Peinceton College — The First Cojuiencement — SimDEN Maebiage of tub Peesidemt — His Weitings — His Poeteait. 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 New England for three generations, and had given to those provinces clergymen, lawyers, and civilians of some eminence. He was born at Fairfield, in Connecticut, in 173 6, and graduated at Tale, 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 possessor to a maintenance at college for two years after grad- uating. "While he was pursuing his studies upon that endow- ment, he was arrested, as college students frequently were in those days, by a ' revival of religion.' He became a convert and a student of theology. " His human literature," to use the figure of one of his eulogists, " was thenceforward an obsequi- ous handmaid, ever ready to set off and embellish his mistress. Divinity." An account of his conversion, in his own words, has been pre- served. It is remarkable, among other narratives of the kind for its concise exactness of expression. " This year," he says " God saw fit to open my eyes and show me what a miserable creature I was. Till then I had spent my life in a dream, and as 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 BTJEE. 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, saw 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 gract 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 goveriior, "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 intrustei 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 boya 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 EEVEKEND AAEON BUEE. 33 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 N"ew 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 us 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, two 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- ♦ Pennsylyania Journal, December 8th, 1748. 2* 84 LIFE OF AAEOlSr B0EE. poration, desired, in the Englisli 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 ofiices 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 EEVEEEND AAEOIT BUEE. 35 as the firmest pillars of their church and State. That hence, very early, arose Harvard College, in New Cambridge, and afterward, Yale College, in ZSTew 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 alma 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, m,ore oratoria, 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, and 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 LIFir CF AAEOIT BtTEE. 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 qf 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- sufBoiency, 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, with 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 EEVEEHITT) AAEON BUEE. 37 m collecting funds for the college, and promoting lotteries foi its benefit. And such were his talents for the dispatch ot 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 file 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, afibrd 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. He 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 aside 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 New 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 afiair, which appeared in the New 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 AAEON BUEE. 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 2'7th 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 qualificar tions and properties. However, they say she is a very valuabL 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 affability 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 slncerest mutual affections with Mr, Burr." The marriage was speedily, but not rashly, concluded. The EBVEEBND AAEON BUEE. 39 president, it is probable, had not seen the young lady shice she was fifteen ; but at that age her father thought her woman 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 fi'iends, 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 unimposing 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 stiffness, 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, for Esther Edwards to learn that Mr. President Burr 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 years after the author's death. An occasional sermon of his was also pub- 40 LIFEOFAAEONBUEE. 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 theologio ban, and allowed to ex- iibit 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 vi^ritten 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, the 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'= 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 sufiicient 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 [i. 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. EBVBEEKD AAEON BUEE. 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 imder the burden of my important station. " I may in ray 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. Tennant 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 affairs were probably in by their long absence, may be sometliing of an excuse. I can testify that they retain a very lively sense of the most generous treatment y' 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 alarm'd and struck with astonishment at the news of his defeat, and some auaken'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 the same date, likewise contains som? comments on these transactions. He says, " I had opportunity to see and con 42 XIFE OF AAEON BUKE. " On the contrary, God was acknowledged 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 s 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« country from ruin, as has since more fully appear'd by the scheme y^ French general had laid. I gave [have given] this hint about Mr. Lyman because Mr. Edward Cole, one of y« officers, being offended yt he banished some lewd women from the camp y' he had brought with him, wrote a letter to scandalize him, hinting that he was a coward, tho' numbers that were in the verse irith ministers belonging to almost all parts of iJorth America ; and, among others, Mr. Davies of Virginia. He told me that he verily thought that General Braddook's defeat, the last summer, was a merciful dispensation of Divine Providence to those southern colonies. He 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 solemnized by the defeat of that army, and the death of the general, and so many of the otlier 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 vridely this army differed from the other, in the care that was taken to restrain vice and maintain rehgion ui it ; particularly by Major-General Lyman, the second officer in the army, a truly worthy man ; a man of distinguished abiUties and virtue, as well as uncommon martial endowments, who abovo any other officer was active in the time of the engagement." — Lelier to Dr. GiUies, December 12th, ItSS. EETEEEND AAEON BUEE. 43 engagement have fully establish'd his character as one of the bravest officers, who expos'd himself in the hottest fire of the enemy, animating his men. And General Johnson himself acknowledges y« 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 wiU forward nothing but what they are at the head of themselves. Several of the governors of the continent are now met at New York, to concert measures for the safety ot [the] country. Much will depend on the result of this meet- ing. When I consider y* 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 wife joins me in respectful and affectionate salutations to you and your son. I add but my poor prayers and ardent wishes y* your decKning days may be fiU'd with comfort and usefulness, y' you may have a late and an abundant entrance into y« 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 buUt 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 OP AAEON B0EE, 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 of all the portraits of Washington that were taken from life. The contrast 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 sjjectator to doubt the correctness of one or the other of these portraits. CHAPTER III. AARON BUEE EORK, AND LEFT AN OEPHAN. EkMOVAL to PETNCETOIf — LAST La£0K3 AND DEATH OP PRESIDENT BtTER — CnAB- AOTEK AND DbATH OP MrS. EurR — TuE ORPHANED CHILDREN — SaeAH BtTEE. Two children blessed the union of President Burr with Es- ther Edwards ; Sarah Burr, born May 3d, 1V54 ; and Aaeon BuEK, born February 6th, 1Y56. 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 New 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, was 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 1V56. 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, out-houses, etc., with a considerable quantity of pasture-ground and firewood, do also belong to the president." * History of the First Churoli at Newark, N. J., hj Eev. Dr. Steams. 46 LIFBOFAAKONBUEE. All this 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 Elizabethtown, 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. His wife besought him to be just to himself^ and decline the ofiioe. 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. Uncon- 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. He felt as- sured of immortality. On his death-bed he 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 pool'. 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, AAEON BTJEE'S BIETH AND OEPHANAGE. 41 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 ; biit, 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. My little son h9,s 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 he had lent, whenever he thought fit ; and that I had no reason to complain, or say that God was hard with me. This silenced me. But 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. I saw the fulness there was in Christ for little infants, and his Avillingness to accept of such as were offered to him. ' SuC fer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not;' were comforting words. God also showed me, in such a lively 48 LIFE OP AAEON BTJEE, 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 mo to say, 'Although thou slay me, yet will I trust in thee.' In this time of trial, I was 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 the 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. AAEOK BtTKE'S BIETH AND OBPUANAGB. 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 becometh 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- gard 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, and 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 3 50 LIFEOPAAEONBUEK. wide world whose chief concern it could be to see tLholed above for musketry, and pierced below for two twelve-pounders, which, charged with grape, commanded the narrow gorge up which an enemy must advance. It was not till the Americans had begun to remove the second row of pickets, that the British guard became aware of the presence of an enemy. Delivering one inefiectual fire, they fled to the block-house, and communicating their terror to the party within, who were mostly sailors and militia, the whole body fled without once discharging the cannon. But their panic, unfortunately, was not perceived by the Americans, and a de- lay, short but fatal, occurred. Masses of ice, left on the win- ter subsidence of the river, obstructed the ascent, and several minutes elapsed before a sufiicient number of men could clam- ber over these and form within the second picket to attack the block-house. In smoothing the pathway, the general him- self tugged at the great blocks of ice with furious energy. At length, two hundred men were formed in column. The gen- eral was at its head, as before. Burr was at his side. Two other aids, an orderly sergeant, and a French guide, corn- Dieted the group in advance. " Push on, brave boys, Quebeo THE VOLUNTEEB. 'jb is ours," cried Montgomery, as the column began to move up the ascent. On they marched to within foi-ty paces of the block-house. At that moment, a sailor who had fled from his post, surprised that the Americans did not advance, ventured back to discover the reason. Through one of the port-holes of the block-house he saw the advancing party, and turned to run away again ; but, as he turned, he performed an act which decided the fortunes of the day, and gave Canada back again to Britain. He touched off one of those grape-charged can- non. Forward fell the majestic form of Montgomery, never to rise again. Down went two of his aids, mortally wounded. The orderly sergeant, too, never saw daylight again. Every man that marched in front of the column, except Captain Burr and the guide, were struck down to death by the discharge of that twelve-pounder. The day was just dawning, and the sol- diers were soon aware of the whole extent of the catastrophe. The column halted and wavered. The command fell into incompetent hands. Priceless minutes were lost in those con sultations by which cowardice loves to hide its trepidation. At that critical time, when all but the staunchest hearts gave way, Burr was as cool, as determined, as eager to go for- ward, as at the most exultant moment of the advance. He was vehement, almost to the point of mutiny, in urging a re- newal of the attack. " When dismay and consternation uni- versally prevailed," testifies Captain Richard Piatt, who com- manded a New York company, among the most advanced in the column of attack, "Bui-r animated the troops, and made many efforts to lead them on, and stimulated them to enter the lower town ; and might have succeeded, but for the posi- tive order of the commanding officer for the troops to retreat." There was small need of order to that effect. The enemy re- turned to the block-house, and opened fire on the assailants. The retreat soon became a precipitate and disorderly flight. It was then that our young aid-de-camp made a noble display of courage and fidelity ; improving the opportunity which the brave know how to snatch from the teeth of disas- ter. There lay the body of his general in its snowy shroud. Id LIFBOI'AAEONBOEE. Down the steep, over the blocks of ice and drifts of snow, and along the river's bank, liis comrades were flying in disgraceful panic. From the block-house, the enemy were beginning to issue in pursuit. The faithful aid, a boy in stature, exerting all his strength, lifted the general's superbly-proportioned body upon his shoulders, and ran with it down the gorge, up to his knees in snow, the enemy only forty paces behind him. Burr's gallantry on this occasion, too, had a witness. Samuel Spring, bis college friend, the chaplain to the expeditionary force, was near the head of the assaulting column on this eventful morn- ing, and was one of the last to leave the scene of action. It was his friendly eyes that saw " little Burr," in the snowy dim- ness of the dawn, hurrying away before the enemy, and stag- gering under his glorious load. The chances of war separated those two friend.s there and then. From that hour, for fifty years, the reverend chaplain never saw the face of Aaron Burr. But the. picture was indelibly imprinted upon his memory, and he loved the lad for it while his heart beat ; and he looidd testify his love, after that lapse of time, when it required some man- liness in a clergyman even to accost Aaron Burr, and when Spring's own son, more worldly wise, besought the old clergy- man not to see the man who had " lost caste /" But to con- clude the adventure. "Little Burr" could not long sustain the burden. He reeled along with it till the enemy were close behind him ; when, to avoid capture, he was compelled to drop the body in the snow again, and hasten after the flying troops. BuD-'s behavior on this decisive day won him great distinc- tion, and laid the foundation of his fortune. His praises were warmly repeated among the troops, with whom he had before been a favorite. His extreme youth, his singular coolness and tact, the eclat attached to his position as a gentleman volun teer, his quick intelligence and courteous manners all conspired to win the regard of those rustic soldiers. Fourteen days after the assault, the news of its failure reached the lower provinces of New England and struck dismay to the heart of the most hopeful. But the brilliant deeds of valor which had marked the whole course of the expedition were a consolation THE VOLUNTEEE. 77 to the struggling patriots, wlio listened with greedy ears to the wondrous story ; and while the headlong courage and in- domitable perseverance of Arnold, the chivalric gallantry of Montgomery, the desperate bravery of --Morgan, all had their due of praise and reward, the romantic exploits of the boy aid-de-carap who bore his general's body from the enemy's fire were not forgotten. Ogden, soon after the action, went home with dispatches, and told his friends, told Congress, told General Washington, of "httle Burr's" bravery; and back to Quebec came a budget of congratulatory letters. It is pleas- ant to see how glad and proud Burr's young friends were that he had won distinction. liis sister, who had passed many weeks of agonizing suspense without any news of him what- ever, hearing now, at once, of his safety and his glory, was in eostacies of pride and delight. The American forces remained about Quebec till the spring annoying the garrison as best they could, and not without hope of starving it into a surrender. Arnold, who had been wounded in the assault, was again the officer in command, and appointed Burr to the post of brigade-major. Bun-, however, was not an admirer of the turbulent and daring apothecary. Arnold had an absurd idea of taunting and defying the enemy by parading the troops in sight of the fortress, and by sending letters demanding its surrender, practices most repugnant to the practical mind of Burr. A letter of this description Ar- nold desired Major Burr to convey to the British commander. He demanded to know its contents, and upon Arnold's object- ing, offered to resign his post, but refused, point-blank, to car- ry a letter of which he knew not the purport. Arnold then showed him the letter, which demanded a surrender of the fortress, and was couched in what Burr deemed most arrogant and insulting language. He still decUned to be the bearer of such a missive, and predicted that whoever should deliver it would meet only with contempt and derision. Arnold sent it by another officer, who was treated precisely as Burr had anticipated. In the spring, the Americans had to retreat before the new army under Burgoyne. They remained a short time at Mont- 78 LIFE OF AAEON B0EE. real, where Burr's dislike to Arnold increased to such a dc' gree that he determined to leave him and seek more active service nearer home. Even on the march through the wilder- ness, he thought. Arnold had not shared the privations of the troops as he ought ; and now, when the resources of a town were at his command. Burr was thoroughly disgusted with the general's all-exacthig meanness. " Arnold," Burr used to say, " is a perfect madman in the excitements of battle, and is ready for any deeds of valor ; but he has not a particle of moral courage. He is utterly unprincipled, and has no love of coun- try or self-respect to guide him. He is not to be trusted any- where but under the eye of a superior." On reaching the river Sorel, Major Burr informed Arnold of his determination to leave. Arnold, not in the best humor, objected. With the utmost suavity of manner, Burr said, " Sir, I have a boat in readiness ; I have employed four dis- charged soldiers to row me, and I start from such a point (naming it) at six o'clock to-morrow morning." Whereupon Arnold angrily forbade his departure, and Burr, in the blandest tone, reiterated his determination. In the morning, as the young soldier was about to step into his boat, he saw Arnold approaching. " Why, Major Burr, you are not going?" said he. " I am, sir," was the reply. " But," said Arnold, " you know it is against my orders." "I know," rejoined Burr, "that you have the power to stop me, but nothing short of force shall do it." Upon this, Arnold changed his tone, and tried to persuade his efficient brigade-major to remain. In a few minutes. Burr stepped into his boat, wished the general good-by and good fortune, and was rowed away without hinderance. As a volun- teer, who had remained with the corps as long as there was danger to be faced or fatigue to be undergone. Burr, discip- linarian as he was, felt that he had a right to leave. Arnold's unwillingness to let him go arose from the fact that a conipe tent brigade-major relieves a general from all the details of command ; as much so as a good mate the captain of a ship. To a man of Arnold's self indulgent habits, an officer like THB VOLUNTEEE. ^9 Burr, of sleepless vigilance, and of activity that nothing could tire, was a most important acquisition. On the Sorel, an incident occurred which frightened Burr's oarsmen, and still more a young trader with whom he shared the boat. As the boat rounded a point, there suddenly came into view a large brick house, with loopholes for the discharge of musketry, and an Indian warrior, in full costume, stand- ing at the door. The crew were for instant retreat, but Burr seeing that they were already far within rifle-shot, ordered them to go on. At this, the passenger, in a rage of terror, at- tempted to prevent the soldiers from rowing ; but Burr, draw- ing a pistol, declared he would shoot him if he interfered, and directed the men to row straight toward the portentous edifice. " I will go up to the house," he added, " and we shall soon learn who they are." Before the boat reached the land, the Indians came swarm- ing from the house, and presented an appearance as alarming as picturesque. Burr sprang ashore, walked toward them, and soon had the pleasure of learning that they were peace- fully disposed. In a few minutes he caused to be brought on shore a keg of whisky, which put the Indians into the high- est good humor, and they parted excellent friends. On reaching Albany, Burr learned that his services in Canada had greatly pleased the commander-in-chief Upon Ogden's visit to Philadelphia with dispatches, he had been in- formed by Mr. Reed that there was a vacancy on the staff of General Washington, to which he should be glad to recom- mend him. Ogden replied, that he preferred more active ser. vice, and proceeded to use all his eloquence and interest in procuring the staff appointment for his friend Burr. To Gen- era] Washington himself he extolled Burr's gallantry and talent with all the warmth of the most devoted friendship, and he soon had the delight of conveying to his friend a mes sage from the general. " General Washington," he wrote, " desires me to inform you that he will provide for you, and that he expects you will come to him immediately, and stay in his family. You will 80 LIFE OF AAEON BUKE. now want your horse," added Ogden; "I have sold him, and spent the money," etc. The letter, of which this is a part, passed Burr on his way to ISTew York ; it was from other friends that he first heard of General Washington's invitation. So long a period had elapsed since he had lieard from Ogden, that he began to think that gentleman must have forgotten, amid the multitude of his new friends, the companion, the brother, of his youth. And wliile Ogden was exulting at the success of his friendly endeavors. Burr was lamenting his apparent faithlessness and neglect. He wrote him a letter, upbraiding him in terms amusing for their young-inanish severity and loftiness. He dealt JRomanly with him. "There is in man,'''' said Burr, "a certain love of novelty; a fondness of variety (useful within proper limits), which in- fluences more or less in almost every act of life. New views, new laws, new friends, have each their charm. Tiuly great must be the soul, and firm almost beyond the weakness of humanity, that can withstand the smiles of fortune. Success. promotion, the caresses of the great, and the flatteries of the low, are sometimes fatal to the noblest minds. The volatile become an easy prey. The fickle heart, tiptoe with joy, as from an eminence, views with contempt its former joys, con- nections, and pursuits. A new taste contracted, seeks com- panions suited to itself. But pleasures easiest tasted, though perhaps at first of higher glee, are soonest past, and, the more they are relied upon, leave the severer sting behind. One cloudy day despoils the glow-worm of all its glitter. Should fortune ever frown upon you. Matt. ;' should those you now call friends forsake you ; should the clouds gather force on every side, and threaten to burst upon you, think then upon the man who never betrayed you ; rely on the sincerity you never found to fail ; and if my heart, my life, and my fortune can assist you, it is yours." Upon the receipt of Ogden's letter. Burr saw his en'or, and all was well again between the two friends. Ogden, in- deed, loved Aaron Burr with an unusual aflfection. In the very letter which told Burr of General Washington's favor, THB VOLUNTBKE. 81 Ogden mentioned that he had recently gone out of his way in the hope of meeting him, and declared that his failure to do so was the greatest disappointment he had ever experi- enced. In May, IIIQ, Major Burr reported hinaself in New York to General "Washington, "who at once invited him to reside in his family until a suitable appointment could be procured for him. The commander-in-chief was residing at Richmond Hill, then about two miles from the city, on the banks of the Hud- son, in a mansion which was afterward Burr's own country seat. It was a delightful abode, say the old chroniclers ; the grounds extending down to the river, and the neighborhood adorned with groves, gardens, ponds, and villas.* Burr, with alacrity, accepted General "Washington's invitar tion, and went immediately to reside at head-quarters. For about six weeks, he sat at the general's table, occasionally rode out with him, and performed some of the duties of aid- de-camp. Long before the expiration of even that short period, he became so disgusted with his situation, that in one of his letters to Governor Hancock, his own and his father's friend, he talked seriously of retiring from the service. Han- cock dissuaded him, and offered to procure him the appoint- ment of aid to General Putnam, then quartered in the city. Burr consented, and in July took up his abode with Putnam at the corner of Broadway and the Battery, where also Mrs. Putnam lived and kept her daughters busy spinning flax to help supply the soldiers with shirts. In this homely, noble scene. Burr was perfectly contented ; and as aid to the general employed in fortifying the city, he found the active employment he had desired. "My good old general," he was wont to style the soft-hearted, tough, indomitable wolf- killer. Of the minor events of Burr's life, none contributed more * The site of the old mansion is now the comer of Charlton and Tarick streets. Twenty years ago, a part of the house was still standing, and served as a low drinking shop. The vicinity, so enchanting in Burr's day, presents at this time a dreary scene of shabby ungentility, as passengers by the Sixth Avenue cars have an opportunity of observing. 82 LIFE OF AAEON BTJEE. to the odium which finally gathered round his name than this abrupt departure from the family of General Washington. It often happens, in the case of men respecting whom the public verdict is, upon the whole, noi unjust, that many of the specifications in the charge against them are unfounded. Good men, too, are praised for more virtues than they possess. Now, nothing could have been more natural, or more proper, than Burr's discontent as a member of Washington's family. The nature of the duties that devolved upon the general's aides dur- ing the whole of the war, is well known. Washington, with the affairs of a continent upon his shoulders, was burdened with a prodigious correspondence. The enemy was the least of his per- plexities. In managing and advising Congress, in getting the army organized, in stirring uj) the zeal of the governors and legislatures of the States, in reconciling the perpetual disputes about rank, his time and mind were chiefly emjDloyed. His aides, no less than his secretary, were often confined to the desk more hours a day than bank clerks. Burr was the most active of human beings. He had just come from an expedi- tion which had tasked all his powers, and given him the taste of glory. He was in the midst of a scene calculated to arouse the most sluggish. Staten Island was dotted all over with the tents of the enemy, and the bay was whitened with the sails of the most imposing fleet these shores liad ever beheld. The patriot force was straining every nerve to prepare the city for the expected landing of the enemy. Ogden, now lieutenant- colonel, with his regiment of Jerseymen, was in active service, and told Burr he was going to do honor to their native State. The townspeople were in dreadful alarm. When the British saluted an arriving ship, or when a sloop ran past General Putnam's batteries, cannonading as she went, women and children, as Washington himself records, ran shrieking into the sti-eets, in terror of a bombardment. Everywhere were seen the sights, and heard the sounds, that appal the citizen, and animate the soldier. It was in such circumstances, that Burr, the electric Burr^ the born soldier, the most irrepressi- ble of mortals, found himself sinking into the condition of a ckrk ! The situation was intolerable to him ; as it was, after- THE VOLUKTEKE. fc3 ward, to Hamilton,* who liked the post of General Washing- ton's aid little better than Burr did. Hamilton, however, learned, as he grew older, to value correctly the character of the commander-in-chief, and the immeasurable services which his caution and perseverance had rendered to his counti-y and to man. Burr never did. The prejudices against the general, imbibed during his short resi- dence with him at Richmond Hill, were strengthened by sub- sequent events into a settled dislike, which he carried with him through life. He thought George Washington was a bad general, and an honest, weak man. He said he knew nothing * Hamilton, in a letter to General Scliuyler, dated February 18th, 1781, gives the following aooouut of his break with General "Washington ; " Two days ago, the general and I passed each other on the stair§ ; he told me he wanted to speak with me; I answered that I would V/-ait upon him immedi- ate!. I went below and delivered Mr. Tilghman a letter to be sent to the commissary, containing an order of a pressing and interesting nature. Re- turning to the general, I was stopped on the way by the Marquis de la Fay- ette, and we conversed together, about a minute, on a matter of business. He can testify how impatient I was to get back, and that I left him in a man- ner which, but for our intimacy, would have been more than abrupt. In- stead of finding the general, as is usual, in his room, I met him at the head of the stairs, where, accosting me in an angry voice, ' Colonel Hamilton,' said he, ' you have kept me waiting at the head of the stairs those ten min- utes ; I must teU you, sir, you treat me with disrespect.' I replied, without petulancy, but with decision, ' I am not conscious of it, sir, but since you havo thought it necessary to tell me so, we part.' ' Very well, sir,' said he, 'if it be your choice,' or something to that effect^ and we separated. I smcerely 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., etc. Hamilton proceeds to say that he had long been discontented \vith the situation of aid, and had previously determined that if he ever did have a difference with General Washington, it should be final. He then adds : " The general is a very honest man ; his competitors have slender abilities and less integrity. His popularity has often been essential to the safety of America, and is still of great importance to it. These considerations have jifluenced my past conduct respecting him, and will influence my future : I think it necessary he should be supported." 84 LIFE OF AAEON BXTEE, of scientific warfare, and could therefore give no instruction of any value to a young soldier burning to excel in his profes- sion. He thought the general was as fond of adulation as he ■was known to be sensitive to censure, and that no officer could stand well with him who did not play the part of his worshiper. He could not bear near his person, said Burr, a man of an independent habit of mind. Washington's want of book-culture, too, would naturally surprise a youth who was born and reared amid books, and who was, to the last, an eager reader. In a word. Burr saw in this wise, illustrious man, only the thrifty planter, and the country gentleman ; a good soldier enough in Indian warfare, but quite at fault in the presence of a civil/zed enemy. The general, on his part, seems to have conceived an ill im- pression of Burr, but not the serious distrust of after years, when Burr was his political opponent. Burr always asserted that it was not an amour, nor any thing of that nature, but his mdependent manner of enforcing opinions, to which time added the sting of proved correctness, that made General "Washington his enemy. Burr, for example, was one of a considerable number of officers who thought that New York could not be held, and that to burn and abandon it was the best way to frustrate the British commander. No doubt the old young-man expressed this opinion with a confidence to which his age and his dimensions gave him no apparent title. But, at twenty, " little Burr" had been a man for some years ; at least in confidence in his own abilities. In one word, there was an antipathy between the two men , each lacking qualities which the other highly prized ; each possessing virtues which by the other were not admired. CHAPTER VI. AID-DE-CAMP TO GENERAL PUTNAM. TheEeTREAT FE03I LONG ISLAND — BuRB SAVES A BriQADE — IIl3 AFPAIE 'WITH MiSa MONCEIEFFE — IIeE NaeHATITE. It was the fortune of Major Burr, while serving as aid to General Putnam, to save a frightened brigade, and to win a virgin heart. During the disastrous days upon Long Island which pre- ceded the famous retreat of the American army, General Put- nam was in command, and his aid-de-carap was in the thick of events. To reach the scene of action, and to begin an accu- rate survey of it, were simultaneous occurrences with that intelligent young soldier. He rode about the American camp, and visited every post and out-post. He informed himself of the positions and strength of the enemy. He discovered that the American troops had as yet no idea of standing against the British in open fight ; that Bunker Hill was still their ideal of a battle, and breast-works their only reliance. His report to the general was unfavorable in the extreme, and he was more decided than ever in the opinion that General Washing- ton's true plan was, by retreating from the coast, to draw the British army away from their ships, which were an immense support to them, both morally and otherwise. He was utterly opposed to a general action, for the reason that a large pro- portion of the new troops, he was certain, would not stand more than one volley. When the American army crossed the East river, in the presence of the enemy, he was engaged during the whole night on the Brooklyn side, where his cool- ness and activity made a lasting impression upon the mind ot General McDougal, who superintended the embarkation. In later campaigns, Burr served under that general, who showed 86 LIFE OF AAEON BUBE. how he valued Burr's soldierly qualities by the use he made of them. But it was on that eventful Sunday, September the 15th, 1770, when the British landed on Manhattan island, and the American army fled before them to Harlem, that Major Burr most distinguished himself. He was in the rear of the retreat- mg troops ; as was also Captain Alexander Hamilton, with his company of New York artillery. Hamilton lost all his bag- gage and one gun that afternoon, but conducted his men gal- lantly and safely away. As Major Burr, with two horsemen, was riding toward Richmond Hill, on his way to Harlem, he came upon a small sod-fort, called Bunker's Hill, nearly on the line of what is now Grand-street. To his astonishment he found that a great part of an American brigade, left in the city by one of the numberless mistakes inevitable on such a day, had taken refuge in this structure. The British, it must be remembered, landed on the East river side of the island, nearly four miles above the Battery, with the intention to cut off the retreat of the Americans, and General Knox, who commanded this brigade, supjiosed that the enemy were already masters of the island, and that escape by flight was impossible. Major Burr rode up to the fort and asked who commanded there. General Knox presenting him- self, Burr inquired what he was doing there, and why he did not retreat. The general replied that the enemy were already across the island, and that he meant to defend the fort. Burr ridiculed the idea of defending a place which was not bomb- proof, and which contained neither water nor provisions. With one howitzer, he exclaimed, the enemy will knock it to pieces in four hours. He maintained that there was no chance but retreat, and urged the general to lead out his men. Knox declared it would be madness to attempt it, and refused to stir. While this debate was waxing warm, the oflScers of the brigade gathered round, eager to hear what was said. To them Burr addressed himself with the vehemence demanded by the occasion. He told them that if they remained where they were they would all be prisoners before night, or hung like dogs. He said it was better for half the corps to fall AID-DECAMP TO GKNEEAL PUTNAM. 87 fighting its way through the enemy's lines, than for all to be taken and rot in a dungeon. He added that he knew the roads of the island perfectly, and would lead them safely to the main body of the army, if they would place themselves under his direction. The men agreed to follow him, and they marched out. Burr riding in advance, on the side where an attack was to be feared, and returning at intervals to reassure the terrified troops. When they had gone two miles on their way, firing was suddenly heard at the right. Shouting to his men to follow him. Burr galloped directly to the spot whence the firing had issued, and soon discovered that it was a small advance-guard of the enemy, consisting of a single company, who, on seeing the Americans, fired and fled. Burr and his two horsemen rode furiously after them, and killed several of the fugitives. Galloping back, he found the troops had taken a wrong road, and were in sore trepidation. He guided them now through a wood, riding from front to rear, and from rear to front, encouraging them by his words, and still more by his cool, intrepid demeanor. With the loss of a few stragglers, for the march was of the swiftest, he led the brigade to the main body. He was ever after regarded by those troops as their deliverer from British prison-ships. This brilliant feat of the young aid-de-camp became the talk of the army. Soon after, on the surrender of Fort Washing- ton, another brigade was, by a similar accident, left behind; and of 2500 men that fell into the hands of the enemy, not 500 survived the treatment they received as prisoners. Ap- plauded by his comrades. Burr was not mentioned in the dis- patches of the commander-in-chief; which, then and always, he regarded as an intentional slight. For a short period after the retreat, he was comparatively at leisure. Among his letters, there is one written at this time from Kingsbridge to Mrs. Timothy Edvifards, the aunt who had been to him all of a mother that any but a mother can be to a child. She had written to him in great alarm, on hearing of the abandonment of ISTew York. His reply, so modest, so tenderly respectful, so sensible, would alone make it difficult to believe that at this time Aaron Burr was a bad 88 LIFE OF AAEON BUEE. m.-xn, whatever he may afterward have become. He tells hia aunt it had always been a thing conceded, that the sea-ports' of America were at the discretion of the tyrant of Great Brit- ain ; and that it was a great gain for the American army to be in a position where, to attack them, the British must leave the immediate support of their ships. Besides, the loss of the city was rousing the country from lethargy ; more effectual measures than ever were in contemplation to increase the army ; and a committee of Congress was then in camp to concert those measures with the commander-in-chief. " I do not intend by this, my dear aunt," he continues, " to deceive you into an opinion that every thing is already entirely secure ;" but " 1 hope, madam, you will continue, with your usual philosophy and resolution, prepared for the uncertain events of war, not anticipating improbable calamities." And as to the horrible stories in circulation about the barbarities of the Hessians, " most of them are incredible and false ; they are fonder of plunder than blood, and are more the engines than the authors of cruelty." And so he proceeds to calm the apprehensions of the good lady, writing her a letter which she would be proud to hand round the village, and which would encourage and stimulate the friends of the cause. His own exploits during the late battles and retreats he does not allude to. At Kingsbridge, about the date of this letter. Burr was en- gaged in an adventure little in harmony with the warlike scenes around him. The breaking out of the revolutionary war found a number of British oiEcers domesticated among the colonists, and con- nected with them by marriage. In New York and the other garrisoned towns, officers of the army led society, as military men still do in every garrisoned town in the world. When hostilities began, and every man was ordered to his post, some of these officers left their families residing among the people ; and it happened, in a few instances, that the events of war carried a father far away from his wife and children, never to rejoin them. The future Scott of America will know bow to make all this very familiar to the American people AID-DE-CAMP TO GENERAL PUTNAM. 89 by the romantic and pathetic fictions which it will suggest to him. Margaret Moncrieffe, a girl of fourteen, but a woman in de- velopment and appetite, witty, vivacious, piquant and beauti- ful, had been left at Elizabethtown, in New Jersey, by her flither, Mnjor Moncrieffe, who was then with his regiment on Staten Island, and of course cut off from communication with his daughter. Destitute of resources, and anxious to rejoin her father, she wrote to General Putnam for his advice and assistance. General Putnam received her letter in New York about the time that Major Burr joined him, and his reply was prepared for his signature by the hand of his new aid-de-camp. The good old general declared in this letter that he was her father's enemy, indeed, as an officer, but as a man, his fi-iend, and ready to do any good office for him or his. He invited her to come and reside in his family until arrangements could be made for sending her to Staten Island. She consented, an officer was sent to conduct her to the city, and she wat> at once established in General Putnam's house. There she met, and became intimate with Major Burr. What followed from their intimacy has been stated variously by those who have written of it. Mr. Davis more than in- sinuates, nay, more than asserts, that Miss Moncrieffe was seduced by Burr, and that to him is to be attributed her sub- sequent career of sorrow and shame. In support of this accu- sation, he quotes from her autobiography, published after she had been the mistress of half a dozen of the notables of Lon- don, certain passages which, taken by themselves, do certainly corroborate the charge. Great indeed was my astonishment on recurring to the woi'k itself (Memoirs of Mrs. Coghlan) to find that her narrative, read in connection, not only affords no support to Mr. Davis's insinuations, but explicitly, and twice, contradicts them. As a reply to Mr. Davis's garbled extracts, here follows the entire passage relating to her connexion with the American army. It is known and conceded that the young officer whom she extols in such passionate language, and whom she miscalls 'colonel,' was Major Burr. Thus writes Mrs. Coghlan, nee Moncrieffe: 90 LIFE OF AAEON B TJ E K . " When I arrived in Broadway (a street so called), where General Putnam resided, I was received with great tender- ness, both by Mrs. Putnam and her daughters, and on the fol- lowing day I was introduced by them to General and Mrs. Washington, who likewise made it their study to show me every mark of regard ; but I seldom was allowed to be alone, although sometimes, indeed, I found an opportunity to escape to the gallery on the top of the house, where my chief delight was to view, with a telescope, our fleet and army on Staten Island. My amusements were few ; the good Mrs. Putnam employed me and her daughters constantly to spin flax for shirts for the American soldiers ; indolence, in America, being totally discouraged ; and I likewise worked for General Put- nam, who, though not an accomjjlished inuscadin, like our dlUetantis of St. James's-street, was certainly one of the best characters in the world ; his heart being composed of those noble materials which equally command respect and admira- tion. " One day, after dinner, the Congress was the toast ; General Washington viewed me very attentively, and sarcastically said, 'Miss Moncriefie, you don't drink your wine.' Embar- rassed by this reproof, I knew not how to act ; at last, as if by a secret impulse, I addressed myself to the ' American Com- mander,' and taking the wine, I said, ' General Howe is the toast.' Vexed at my temerity, the whole company, especially General Washington, censured me ; when my good friend, General Putnam, as usual, apologized, and assured them I did not mean to offend. ' Besides,' replied he, ' every thing said or done by such a child ought rather to amuse than affi-ont you.' General Washington, piqued at this observation, then said, ' Well, miss, I will overlook your indiscretion, on con- dition that you drink my health, or General Putnam's, the first time you dine at Sir William Howe's table, on the other side of the water.' "These words conveyed to me a flattering hope that I should once more see my father, and I promised General Wash- ington to do any thing which he desired, provided he would permit me to return to him. AID-DE-OAMP TO GENERAL PUTNAM. 91 " Not long after this circumstance, a flag of truce arrived from Staten Island, with letters from Major Monorieffe, de- manding me, for they now considered me as a prisoner. General Washington would not acquiesce in this demand, say- ing ' that I should remain a hostage for my father's good be- havior.' I must here observe, that when General Washing- ton refused to deliver me up, the noble-minded Putnam, as if it were by instinct, laid his hand on his sword, and, with a vio- lent oath, swore ' that my father's request should be granted.' The commander-in-chief, whose influence governed the Con- gress, soon prevailed on them to consider me as a person whose situation required their strict attention ; and, that I might not escape, they ordered me to Kingsbridge, where, in justice, I must say, that I was treated with the utmost tenderness. General Mifflin there commanded. His lady was a most ac- complished, beautiful woman, a Quaker. And here my heart received its first impression — an impression that, amid the sub- sequent shocks which it has received, has never been effaced, and which rendered me very unfit to admit the embraces of an unfeeling, brutish husband. " O, may these pages one day meet the eye of him who subdued my virgin heart, whom the immutable, unerring laws of nature had pointed out for my husband, but whose sacred decree the barbarous customs of society fatally violated. To him I plighted my virgin vovv, and I shall never cease to lament that obedience to a father left it incomplete. When I reflect on my past sufierings, now that, alas ! my present sor- rows press heavily upon me, I can not refrain from expatiating a little on the inevitable hori-ors which ever attend the frus- tration of natural afiections : I myself, who, unpitied by the world, have endured every calamity that human nature knows, am a melancholy example of this truth ; for if I know my own heart, it is far better calculated for the purer joys of domestic life, than for the hurricane of extravagance and dissipation in which I have been wrecked. " Why is the will of nature so often perverted ? Why is social happiness for ever sacrificed at the altar of prejudice ? Avarice has usurped the throne of reason, and the afiections 92 LIFE OF AAEON BUEH. of the heart are not consulted. "We can not command our de sires, and when the object of onr being is unattained, misery must be necessarily our doom. Let this truth, therefore, be for ever remembered : when once an affection has rooted itself in a tender, constant heart, no time, no circumstan(!e can eradicate it. Unfortunate, then, are they who are joined, if their hearts are not matched ! " With this conqueror of my soul, how happy should I now have been ! What storms and tempests should I have avoided (at least I am pleased to think so) if I had been allowed to follow the bent of my inclinations ! and happier, O, ten thou- sand times happier should I have been with him, in the wildest desert of our native country, the woods afibrding us our only shelter, and their fruits our only repast, than under the canopy of costly state, with all the refinements and embellishments of courts, with the royal warrior who Avould fain have proved himself the conqueror of France. " My conqueror was engaged in another, cause, he was am- bitious to obtain other laurels : he fought to liberate, not to enslave nations. He was a colonel in the American army, and high in the estimation of his country: his victories were never accompanied with one gloomy, relenting thought ; they shone as bright as the cause which achieved them ! I had communi- cated by letter to General Putnam the proposals of this gen- tleman, with my determination to accept them, and I was em- barrassed by the answer which the general returned ; he entreated me to remember that the person in question, from his political principles, was extremely obnoxious to my father, and concluded by observing, ' that I surely must not unite myself with a man who would not hesitate to drench his Bword in the blood of my nearest relation, should he be op- posed to him in battle.' Saying this, he lamented the neces- sity of giving advice contrary to his own sentiments, since in every other respect he considered the match as unexception- able. Nevertheless, General Putnam, after this discovery, appeared, in all his visits to Kingsbridge, extremely reserved ; his eyes were constabtly fixed on me ; nor did he ever ceasb to make me the object of his concern to Congress ; and, ail • ^ AID-DE-CAMP TO GENEEAL PUTNAM. 93 various applications, he succeeded in obtaining leave for my departure ; wben, in order that I should go to Staten Island with the respect due to my sex and fiimily, the barge belong- ing to the Continental Congress was ordered, with twelve oars, and a general officer, together with his suite, was dispatched to see me safe across the bay of New York. The day was so very tempestuous, that I was half drowned with the waves dashing against me. When we came within hail of tlie JEagle man-of-war, which was Lord Howe's ship, a flag of truce was sent to meet us : the officer dispatched on this occasion was Lieutenant Brown. General Knox told him that he had or- ders to see me safe to head-quarters. Lieutenant Brown re- plied, 'It was impossible, as no person from the enemy could approach nearer the English fleet ;' but added, ' that if I would place myself under his protection, he certainly would attend me thither.' I then entered the barge, and bidding an eternal farewell to my dear American friends, turned my back ok LIBERTY. " We first rowed alongside the Eagle, and Mr, Brown after- ward conveyed me to head-quarters. When my name was announced, the British commander-in-chief sent Colonel Sherifi:" (lately made a general, and who, during my father's life-time, was one of his most particular friends ; although, alas ! the endearing sentiment of friendship now seems extinct in his breast, as far as the unhappy daughter is concerned) with an invitation fi'om Sir William Howe to dinner, which was neces- sarily accepted. When introduced, I can not describe the emotion I felt ; so sudden the transition in a few hours, that I was ready to sink into earth ! Judge the distress of a girl not fourteen, obliged to encounter the curious, inquisitive eyes of at least forty or fifty people who were at dinner with the general. Fatigued with their fastidious compliments, I could only hear the buzz among them, saying, ' She is a sweet girl, she is divinely handsome ;' although it was some relief to be placed at table next to the wife of Major Montresor, who had known me from ray infancy. Owing to this circumstance, I recovered a degree of confidence ; but being unfortunately asked, agreeably to military etiquette, for a toast, I gave 94 LIFE OF AAEON BUEE, ' General Putnam.' Colonel Sheriff said, in a low voice, ' You must not give him here ;' when Sir "William Howe complai- santly replied, ' O ! by all means ; if he be the lady's sweet heart, I can have no objection to drink his health.' This involved me in a new dilemma ; I wished myself a thousand miles distant, and, to divert the attention of the company, I gave to the general a letter that I had been commissioned to deliver from General Putnam, of which the following is a copy. (And here I consider myself bound to apologize foi the bad siielling of my most excellent republican friend. Thi bad orthography was amply compensated by the magnanimity of the man who wrote it) : " '■Ginrale Putn.am's compliments to Major Moncrieffe, has made him a present of a fine daughter, if he don't lick her he must send her back again, and he will previde her with a good iwiff husband.' " The substitution of twig for whig husband, served as a fund of entertainment to the whole company." She proceeds to record the history of her marriage with Mr. Coghlan, who, she says, drove her into the arms of a paramour by the brutality of his conduct. She asserts that she had led a strictly virtuous life until, after being forced into a marriage with a man she loathed, she was subjected by him to harsh and cruel treatment. The statements of a woman notorious for her vices can not, of course, be regarded as evi- dence ; yet it seemed just to the memory of Burr for the reader to be informed that the story of her seduction by him has no corroboration in her own narrative. The man has enough to answer for without having the ruin of this girl of fourteen laid to his charge. Her story, it must be admitted, is not very probable. Burr was, to a considerable extent, his general's general ; and if he had really loved Miss Moncrieffe and she him, and each had desired marriage, I think that Gen- eral Putnam could have been easily dissuaded from making any serious opposition to it. Perhaps, if the young lady had known who it was that caused her removal from the city, she might not have been so easily captivated. According to a story told by the late AID-DE-CAMP TO GENEEAL rUTNAM. 95 Colonel W. L. Stone (author of the Life of Brant), it was no other than Bnrr himself. Before her arrival at General Put- nam's, it appears that Bnrr, though he was delighted with her wit and vivacity, conceived the idea that she might be a British spy ; and as he was looking over her shoulder one day, while she was painting a bouquet, the suspicion darted into his mind that she was using the " language of flowers" for the purpose of conveying intelligence to the enemy. He communicated his suspicion to General Washington, who thought it only prudent to remove her a few miles further inland, to the quar- • ters of General Mifflin ; where, after the evacuation of the city. Burr met her again, and, as she says, won her virgin af- fections. Colonel Stone was very intimate with Burr in his latter years, and had long conversations with him about revo- lutionary times. He may have derived this pretty tale fi'om Burr himself. CHAPTER YII. HE COMMANDS A REGIMENT. A.prOIWTEI> A LlKTTTEXANT-CoLONEL — COMMANDS A EeGIMENT — CAPTUnE3 A BrTTISH Picket — Forms an Acquaintance with Mrs. Tiieodosia Prevost — Commands A B&IGADE at the Battle op Monmouth — Anecdote. Major Burr continued to serve as General Putnam's aid for ten months after the retreat from Ne\7 York, and bore his part in the toils and dangers of that dismal period. In tho spring of I'll'I a new army was to be raised, but he had no hopes of a regimental appointment in it. In March, he wrote to his friend Ogden that he had not the least expectation of promotion either in the line or on the staff, but as he was "very happy in the esteem and entire confidence of his good old general," he should be piqued at no neglect, unless partic- ularly pointed, or where silence would be want of spirit. It was true, he said, his equals and even inferiors in rank had left him ; and assurances from those in power he had had, un- asked, in abundance ; but of those he should never remind them. We were not to be the judges of our own merit, and he was content to contribute his mite in any station. From this language Ave may infer that he thought himself an ill-used aid-de-camp. In July, lll'I, while at Peekskill with General Putnam, he was notified by General Washington of his promotion to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was one of the youngest who held that rank in the revolutionary army, or who has ever held it in an army of the United States; yet he thought the promotion unjustly tardy. In his letter of acknowledgment to the commander-in-chief, he said he was truly sensible of the honor done him, and should be studious to comport himself in HE COSraiANDS A REGIMENT. 07 bis new rank so as to secure his general's esteem ; yet he was constrained to observe that the late date of his appointment subjected him to the command of some officers who were his juniors last campaign ; and he should like, with submission, to know whether it was misconduct in him, or extraordinary merit in them, which had given them the preference. He wanted, he continued, to avoid equally the character of tur- bulent or passive, but as a decent regard to rank was proper and necessary, he hoped the concern he felt was excusable in one who regarded his honor next to the welfare of his coun- try. The general's reply to this letter has not been preserved. With the rank of lieatenant-colonel. Burr soon found him- self the sole commander of his regiment, his colonel not being a fighting man. To the strength of the patriot cause, every interest of the country had to contribute its quota ; rich men, money ; influ- ential men, weight and respectability ; efficient men, practical help. Many were, therefore, appointed to high posts in the army because they were persons of importance in civil life ; they gave their names to the cause. Among the reasons which made Washington the most complete exemplification of " the right man for the right place,'''' that history exhibits, one was that he was a great Virginia gentleman, who had vast plantations, hundreds of slaves, a fine mansion, and rode about in a chariot and six. " One of the finest fortunes in America," John Adams exultingly exclaims, in mentioning his acceptance of the command. And his exultation was just ; for such things have not merely a legitimate influence in hu- man aflTairs, but the fact of such a fortune being freely risked in the cause, showed the faith the owner had in its justice, importance, and chance of success. Colonel Malcolm, to whose regiment Burr was appointed, had been a leading merchant of Kew York, and was a man of wealth and influential connections. At the time of Burr's appointment, the regiment, such as it was, lay on the Ramapo, in Orange county, New Jersey, whither he at once lepaired, and found the colonel in command. Each surprised the other. Malcolm was amazed at the youthful appearance of ilS LIFE OF AAEON BUEE. his second in command, and besan to fear that he wonld bo continually getting him and the regiment into trouble. But over the Malcolms of the world nothing was easier than for Burr to gain a complete ascendency ; and, accordingly, a very few days sufficed for the lieutenant-colonel to inspire his chief with perfect confidence in his abilities. Burr, on his part, saw that Colonel Malcolm was an amiable gentleman, and no soldier. In a short time, the colonel removed with his family twenty miles from where the regiment lay, leaving Burr master of the situation ; saying, as he departed, " You shall have all the honor of disciplining and fighting the regi- ment, while I will be its father." He was as good as his word. During the whole war he did not once lead the regiment into action, nor personally command it more than four weeks. From the day he joined to the day he ceased to be a soldier, Burr was, to all intents and purposes, the regiment's chief ofiicer. Enjoying now an independent command, Colonel Burr sprang to his duties with an ardor that soon produced sur- prising results. The regiment was in a condition that would have been ridiculous if the cause had been less serious, and the enemy more remote. The men, of whom there were about two hundred and sixty, were of good material, but almost wholly unacquainted with their duty; and of the officers an imusual number were young gentlemen of the city, members of wealthy families, effeminate in character, and destitute of the faintest intimation of military knowledge. These were just the circumstances to call into exercise the strong and shining qualities of Colonel Burr. He drew tight the reins of discipline which Malcolm had held with an easy hand. Severe drills and rigorous inspections took the place of formal ones. Discovering at a glance the hopeless inefficiency of many of the officers, one of his first objects was to get rid of the worst of them. After some preliminary correspondence with Gen- eral Conway, and feeling his way in the regiment, he took the bold step of ordering several of the officers home, on the sim- ple ground of their utter uselessness. If any gentleman, Jio told them, objected to his dismissal, he, Colonel Burr, held HE COMMANDS A EEGIMENT. 99 himself personally responsible for the measure, and was ready to afford any satisfaction that might be demanded. He had read his men correctly. All of the dismissed sub- mitted to his decree without audible murmur, except one, who wrote an absurdly defiant reply to the autocratic colonel. Burr was as civil as an orange to the offended youth, inform- ing him with elegant brevity, that on a certain day, at a cer- tain hour, he should be at the village nearest the young gen- tleman's residence, where, at the tavern, he would wait any communication he might be pleased to send. To the minute, Colonel Buir was at the place. No one was there to meet him. After waiting awhile, he walked over to the family resi- dence of the dismissed, where, indeed, he was well known, and had often been a guest. The ladies of the family, of whom a large number were assembled, received him with cordiality and distinction ; the young officer, too, was ex- tremely polite, and the party sat down to dinner as though nothing had occurred. The colonel conversed with his usual gayoty and spirit until the conclusion of the repast, when he struck terror to the party by blandly requesting the young man, whom the ladies called Neddy, to walk out with him. They had not gone many steps from the house, before the la- dies, in a body, came shrieking after them. " O, Colonel Burr, what are you going to do with Neddy?" cried one of them. They protested that he had meant no harm, and that he would never write so any more. They would see to that if Colonel Burr would only forgive him. The colonel, amused at the turn the affair had taken, replied, in his politest manner, that nothing was further from his desire than to harm the young gentleman ; he would merely take occasion to advise him that when next he felt inclined to indite a swelling letter to a gen- tleman, he should submit the document to the perusal of the ladies before sending it. With this admonition the colonel handed Neddy over to the ladies, bowed, and took leave. Burr used to say that this incident gave no incorrect idea of the stuff some of the regimental officers were made of at the be- ginning of the Revolution. , Two months of incessant exertion on the part of the col- 100 LITE OF AAKON BUEE. onel brought the regiment to a tolerable state of discipline, and increased its effective force to over three hundred men. Burr was soon the idol of his troops, for he knew how to command them. Exacting the most prompt and implicit obedience, he commanded only what was right and necessary, and was prompt to notice and applaud good conduct. Not a blow was given in the regiment while he was at the head of it, though, at that time, corporeal punishment was a custom in the conti- nental army. He was a natural commander. Men knew by instih-t that he was competent to direct them ; they followed eagerly where they saw him lead, and bore gladly what they saw he never shrank from sharing with them. His eye was everywhere. The sick he cared for with the tenderness and constancy of a brother, often assisting them with his own hands, and oftener with his purse. " His attention and care of the men," says a subaltern of the regiment, " were such as I nevei «aw, nor any thing approaching it, in any other officer, though I served under many." Such was his vigilance, that some of his men thought him a kind of necromancer, or magi- cian, who could see one sentinel nod and another prowling about for plunder, when he was fast asleep in his bed. In the course of a campaign or two, Malcolm's regiment was one of the best disciplined in the army. In September, in the midst of his drilling and recruiting, a rumor ran through the neighborhood that the British, in great force, had marched out of New Yoi'k, and were laying waste the lower parts of Orange county, and driving off the cattle and liorses. The country people were panic-stricken and made instant preparations for flight. The rumor proved true, and. positive intelligence soon reached Colonel Burr that the ene- my, two thousand strong, were within thirty miles of him. To order out his whole force, to detail a small guard for his camp, and to march toward the enemy with the rest, was the work of the first hour of the afternoon ; and before the sun Bet, he had reached Paramus, sixteen miles distant. On the march he was met by an express from General Putnam, advis- ing him of the movements of the enemy, and recommending him to retreat, with the public stores in his keeping, into the HB COMMANDS A REGIMENT. 101 mountains. Observing that he would never run away from an enemy he had not seen, and that he would be answerable for the public stores and for the troops, he pushed on toward Paramus, with new energy. There he found a body of militia of the county, that had rendezvoused at Paramus on the first alarm, and were making confusion worse confounded by their ill-directed, frantic exertions. Among their other feats, they had pulled down most of the fences of the neighboring farms with a vague idea, dear to the minds of militia, of making breast-works with which to stay the conquering progress of the enemy. On Burr's arrival, he took the command of these disorderly troops ; and though, as one of them afterward said, he seemed but a boy, yet as he alone appeared to know what he was about, they obeyed him willingly. His own men he posted in a strong position, and took the usual measures to guard against surprise during the night. The militia, after first directing them to repair the damage they had done, he provided for in a similar manner. Then, selecting seventeen of his best men, he started, soon after dark, and marched with all the rapidity possible, and in perfect silence, towaid the scene of the enemy's devastations. He was determined on seeing for himself what there was there to run away from. About ten o'clock in the evening, when within three mile* of Hackensack, he received certain information that the most advanced of the enemy's pickets was one mile distant. His men, who had marched thirty miles since leaving camp, wei'e now extremely fatigued. He led them to a wood near by, and ordered them to lie down and keep perfectly silent until he should return. In a few minutes the whole party were asleep Colonel Burr now went forward alone to rcconnoiter. With the stealthy caution of an Indian, he glided toward the picket, and saw them at length, lying on the ground, guarded by two sentinels. He was near enough to overhear their watchword. He then made a wide detour, and ascertained that this picket was so far in advance of the main body as to be out of hear- ing. In making these observations, and thoroughly satisfying himself of their correctness, the greater part of the night passed, and before he agam reached his own party, it was 102 LIFE OF AAEON BUEB. within an hour of daybreak. He now quietly and quickly woke his men, told them in a few decided words that he was going to attack the enemy's picket, ordered them to follow at a certain distance, and forbade any man to speak, on pain of instant death. The little column pushed forward rapidly. So accurately had the colonel noted the locality, and calculated the positions of the sentinels, that he was able to lead his men between those two unsuspecting individuals at the mo- ment when they were farthest apart ; and he was almost upon the sleeping picket before a man of it began to stir. At the distance of ten yards, Burr, who was a pace or two in ad- vance, was challenged by a sentinel, whom he instantly shot dead, and then gave the word for the attack. With fixed bayonets his men rushed upon the drowsy foe, Avho were made prisoners before they were completely awake. One officer, a sergeant, a corporal, and twenty-seven privates fell into their hands on this occasion. Only one of the picket, beside the sentinel, made any resistance, and he was overpowered after he had received two bayonet wounds. He attempted to march away with his comrades, but, after going a short distance, was compelled to lie down, exhausted and fainting from loss of blood. " Go a little further, my good fellow," said Burr, " and we will get a surgeon for you." "Ah, sir," gasped the dying veteran, "all the doctors in America can do me no service, for I am a dying man ; but it grieves me sore to the heart to think I have served my king upward of twenty years, and at length must die with a charged musket in my hand." In a few minutes, surrounded by friends and foes equally sympathizing, the old soldier breathed his last. Of the attack- ing party not a man received a scratch. Instantly Colonel Burr, with the instinct of a true soldier, set about turning this slight and easy victory to the greatest possible advantage. He dispatched an express from the very scene of his exploit to the main body of his troops at Para^ mus, ordering them to march toward him immediately, with all the militia of the district. In various directions he dia- HE COMMANDS A EEGIMBNT. 103 patched messengers to rally the country to his support. The news of the night's adventure, magnified into a sjjlendid vic- tory over the red coats, flew like the wind, and displaced the panic of the day before by its natural consequence, an all-defy- ing confidence. At that time the patriots stood in such awe of the British regulars that the actual killing of a few, and the parade of a few more as prisoners, Avere events of a most inspiring nature, calculated to call forth every musket of the neighborhood in which they occurred. Before night, Colonel Burr found himself at the head of an imposing force, with ■which he continued to make such terrible demonstrations, that the enemy retreated with precipitation, leaving behind them the cattle they had collected. All night Colonel Burr was again on the alert, arranging his miscellaneous forces, and preparing to march on the morrow in pursuit. But in the morning, came peremptory orders for his regiment to join the main body of the army in Pennsylvania, where Washington was fighting hand to hand with the British for the possession of Philadel- phia, with large odds against him. For forty-eight hours he had not once closed his eyes, nor scarcely sat down ; yet nothing but the arrival of these orders could have held him back from an imjjetuous march after the flying enemy. For fifty years the events of these exciting days and nights "were narrated in the county ; where, to the last. Colonel Burr had devoted friends. In the army the story of his tak- ing off the picket so neatly gave him new popularity. In all his busy career, Colonel Burr could scarcely ever have been more absorbed in his duties than while thus drilling and fighting his regiment in Orange county, during the first weeks of his exercising independent command. Yet it was there and then that he formed an acquaintance with a lady who, if we may believe a lover's language, first made him respect the in- tellect of woman, and to whom he owed the happiest hours the happiest years, of his existence. At Paramus, sixteen miles from where his regiment lay, there lived, in modest elegance, a family of the name of Pro- vost, a branch of a family distinguished in the society and in the annals of England. Colonel Prevost was with his regi- 104 LIFE OF AAEON BUEK. ment in the West Indies, and at Paramus lived his wife, Theo- dosia Prevost, her sister Miss De Visme, and their mother, Mrs. De Visme, and the two little sons of Colonel and Mrs. Prevost. The ladies were accomplished and intelligent ; for a long time their house had been the center of the most ele- gant society of the vicinity, and after the Revolution had be- gun, oiEcers of rank in the American army still visited them. By the strict law of the state they would have been compelled to withdraw to the British army, and some of the severer Whigs wished the law to be enforced in their case, as it had been in others. But these ladies, besides being beloved in the neighborhood, guarded their conduct with so much tact that no very serious opposition was made to their residence within the American lines. The sudden death of Colonel Pre- vost in the West Indies gave them at length the right to embrace either party in the great dispute. When Colonel Burr took the command in that part of the country, the Pre- vosts held their old position, and their house was a favorite resort of the American officers. It is not unlikely that his ac- quaintance with the family began on that night of terror when the British threatened to lay waste the country, and the American militia attacked the farm fences. If so, the young soldier must have presented himself to the ladies in the char- acter that ladies love, that of a hero and protector ; a protec- tor from the ravages of troops who were there for the express purpose of plundering and destroying. Be that as it may, it is certain that about this time Mrs. Prevost and Colonel Burr conceived for each ether a regard which rapidly warmed into an ardent passion. But there was no time for dalliance now ; he at once began his march across New Jersey, using all his usual vigilance to avoid the enemy, who were known to be in motion, but for what object was uncertain. In November, 177Y, he joined the main army, twenty miles above Philadelphia, and after holding a position in advance for some weeks, went into winter quarters, with the rest of the troops, at Valley Forge. There, as elsewhere, his relations with the commander-in- ohief were unfortunate. He planned an expedition against the HE COMMANDS A EEGIMENT, 105 British posts on Staten Island, tlie localities and inhabitants of which had been familiar to him from childhood. He pro- posed the scheme to General Washington, and asked for two hundred men of his own regiment as a nucleus, relying on his ability to raise the countrj' in case he should appear there with- a respectable body of troops. General Washington re- jected the proposal ; and when, afterward, he acted upon the idea, gave the command of the expedition to Lord Stirhng, under whom it proved a failure. There, too, as elsewhere. Colonel Burr contrived to distinguish himself in circumstances that gave no promise of an opportunity. The American army, had gone into winter quarters after a succession of discom- fitures ; and being still in the neighborhood of a powerful en- emy, and far less able to cope with him than before, they were discouraged and nervous. Ten miles from the town of hovels in which the main body cowered, shivered and starved during that dreadful winter, there was a pass called the Gulf, from which the alarm was to be expected if the British army should menace an attack. A strong body of militia was stationed there to defend the pass and to watch the movements of the enemy. These militia fancied they heard the tramp of British columns in every nocturnal noise, and were continually send- ing false alarms to head-quarters, which obliged the general to get the troops under arms, and, frequently, to keep them on the alert during the whole night. These alarms, it was soon found, arose from the want of a proper system of observation, and from a general looseness of discipline in the corps. In these circumstances. General McDougal, who well knew the quality of Colonel Burr as a soldier, recommended General Washington to withdraw from the guard at the Gulf all officers superior in rank to Burr, and give him the command of the post. It was done. On taking the command. Colonel Burr proceeded at once to put in force a system of the most rigorous discipline. He was ubiquitous as usual ; visiting the most remote sentinels pre- cisely at the moment when he was least expected, and when his presence was least agreeable. The daily drills were severe and regular ; his detection of offenders magical and relentless. 5* 106 LIFE OF AAEON BtTEE, To militiamen, who had been accustomed, while in winter quarters, to lead lives of perfect idleness, to leave camp and return to it almost at their pleasure, and to regard all persons possessing property calculated to solace the tedium of a sol- dier's winter, in the light of Tories, whom it was patriotism to plunder, Colonel Burr's system was insupportable. The bet- ter class of the troops saw that this unaccustomed rigor was necessary ; but a majority were exceedingly discontented, and finally resolved, at any cost, to rid themselves of their com- mander. Burr was informed of their intention, and of the time when he was to receive his quietus. That evening, before or- dering out the detachment, he caused every cartridge to be withdrawn from the muskets, and provided himself with a well-sharpened sword. It was a bright, moonlight evening, and as he marched along the line he looked the ringleaders in the face, keenly watching for the first offensive movement. At length a man stepped from the ranks, leveled his musket at him, and cried out, " 'Now is your time, my boys." With a quickness and selfpossession peculiarly his own. Colonel Burr raised his sword and struck the arm of the mutineer above the elbow, breaking the bone, and leaving the limb hanging by little more than the skin. " Take your place in the line, sir," said the colonel, quietly. The man obeyed. In a few minutes the corps was dismissed ; the man went to bed ; the amputation of the arm was com- pleted by the surgeon ; and no more was heard of the mutiny. While Colonel Burr commanded at that post, the army slept in their huts undisturbed. There was not one false alarm. It was during this winter that the popularity of General Gates, and the discontents of some ofiicers nearer the person of General Washington, gave rise to the well-known cabal to supplant the commander in-chief During the previous autumn, while Washington had lost Philadelphia, and experienced lit tie but disaster, the fortune of war, rather than his own gene ralship, had given Gates the glory of Burgoyne's surrender, an event which electrified the world, and raised General Gates to a popularity disproportioncd to his merits. Colonel Burr was too young an officer to take a leading part in the move- HE COMMANDS A EKCilMENT. 107 ments against General "Washington ; but it appears to have had his sympathy. His dislike to the general was rooted ; and the general, though he trusted and valued Colonel Burr as an officer, is faid, even at this time, to have distrusted him as a man. With the commencement of active operations in the spring these intrigues ceased; and the murmurs against the com- mander-in-chief were soon drowned in the applause which re- warded his partial success at the battle of Monmouth. In that action Colonel Burr commanded, in the absence of his seniors, one of the brigades of Lord Stirling's division, the brigade consisting of his own regiment, and parts of two others. On this occasion, his activity and vigilance, his long-continued ex- ertions during three of the hottest days and nights of summer, came near proving fatal to him. All through the sultry night that preceded the battle, he was on the alert, surveying the ground and preparing for the fight. From before the dawn of the eventful day until late in the evening, his men were under arms, either engaged or waiting orders, exposed to a sun so powerful as to be only less fatal than the enemy's fire. Toward noon, while Stirling was thun- dering away with his artillery at the enemy. Colonel Bun perceived a detachment of the British issuing opposite him from the wood which hemmed in the small marshy plain in which the battle was fought. Before him was a morass over which a bridge had been thrown to the solid ground beyond. Eager for a share in the glory of the day, he instantly gave the word for his brigade to cross this bridge, and march to- ward the approaching enemy. When about half his force had crossed, and were within the enemy's fire, one of General Washington's aids galloped up to Colonel Burr and ordered him to halt his men, and hold them where they were until fur- ther orders. Burr remonstrated vehemently. He said it was madness to halt with his force so divided that it could not be formed, and though within range of the enemy's artillery could make no effectual resistance. The aid-de-camp replied that the order was peremptory and must be obeyed, then rode away, leaving Colonel Burr in a position most distressing. 108 LIFE OF AAKON BUEB. The cannon-balls soon began to roar above the heads of Lis men, and to strike with threatening proximity. Soon Colonel Burr saw brave men begin to fall about him, in consequence, as he thought, of blundering generalship ; and his feelings toward the commander-in-chief were deeply embittered. In a few minutes Colonel Dummer, second in comand to Burr, was killed ; and, soon after, at a moment when Colonel Burr had by chance thrown his leg forward, a ball struck his horse on the saddle-girth,' killed the animal instantly, and tumbled his rider headlong on the ground. Burr was up again in a moment uninjured. As no further orders arrived, the men who had crossed the bridge rejoined their comrades ; and what their commander had fondly hoped would have been a glorious and successful charge resulted in confusion, demoralization, and loss. Smarting under this disappointment, it is not sur- prising that Burr should have warmly taken the side of Gen- eral Lee in the contest which ensued between that officer and General Washington. It was in a letter to Burr that Lee made the remark frequently quoted, that he was going to resign his commission, retire to Virginia, and learn to hoe tobacco, " which I find," said tho irate and sarcastic general, " is the best school to form a consummate general." It was late in the night after the battle, before Colonel Burr threw himself upon the ground to sleep. What with the heat, and with his labors, which had been unremitted for forty hours, he was completely exhausted, and he sank into so profound a Bleep that he had lain for some hours in the morning sun be- fore he awoke. The effect of this exposure was extremely injurious. On getting up he could scarcely walk, so stiffened were his limbs ; and in the course of the day worse symptoms appeared. His constitution did not recover from the effects of those days and nights at Monmouth for more than five years, the disease having finally taken the form of chronic diarrhea, from which his abstemiousness in diet at length, but very gradually, relieved him. During the rest of the Mon- mouth campaign, it was with diffici Ity and pain that he pei"- formed the duties of his command. Immediately after the battle, he was dispatched by General HE COMMANDS A KBGIMENT. 109 Washington to move about in the vicinity of New York, to procure information respecting the motions and intentions of the enemy ; which latter it was of the first importance to as- certain. He was desired " to send one, two, or three trnsty persons over to the city to get the reports, the newspapers, and the truth, if they can," and " to employ three, four or more persons to go to Bergen Heights, Weehawk, Hoehuck, or any other heights thereabout, convenient to observe the motions of the enemy's shipping." This commission he exe- cuted to the satisfaction of General Washington, and, return- mg after an absence of some weeks to the main body, was ordered to march with his regiment to West Point, " with all convenient dispatch, marching ten miles a day, as water .and ground will permit." The regiment, however, marched with- out its commanding officer, as he was selected by General Washington to perform the delicate duty of conducting cer- tain influential Tories within the British lines. That done, he proceeded to West Point, his health being then completely broken. Finding himself in the autumn quite unfit for duty, he took a short leave, and spent a few weeks at his old home in Ellza- bethtown, greatly to the improvement of his health. Assured that nothing but some months of repose would place him be- yond tlie danger of relapse, he applied to General Washing- ton for leave " to retire from pay and duty" till the next cam- paign. " My anxiety to be out of pay," said he, " arises in no measure from intention or wish to avoid any requisite service. But too great a regard to malicious surmises, and a delicacy perhaps censurable, might otherwise hurry me unnecessarily into service, to the prejudice of my health, and without any advantage to the public." General Washington replied that this was carrying delicacy a little too far ; it was not custom- ary, and it would be unjust ; and, therefore, while he had the leave asked for, his pay would be continued. Upon the re- ceipt of the general's reply. Colonel Burr repaired forthwith to West Point, being unwilling to accept a furlough unless his pay was intermitted. During part of the winter he was the officer in command of 110 LIFE OF AAEON BTJBE. that impoi-tant post. He was now twenty-three years old, but the youthfulness of his appearance still gave rise to ludicrous incidents. One day, while he was at West Point, a farmer came to the works, and asked to see Colonel Burr. An or- derly sergeant conducted him to the apartment where Colonel Burr was. " Sir," said the farmer, "I wish to see Colonel Burr, as I have something to say to him." " You may proceed," was the reply, " I am Colonel Burr." The countryman looked incredulous, and said, " I suppose you are Colonel Burr's son." The sentinel at the door overheard this colloquy, and Burr thus acquired the nickname in the regiment of Colonel Jiurr^s CHAPTER VIII. THE "WESTCHESTER LINES. ConrimoN of the Codktkt before Colonel Bdee took the Command — Sttppeess- ES Plundering — His Habits as a Soldiee — Desteots the Block Fort — Love Adtentuee by Night — Resigns his Commission — Testimony of the Men wuom he Commanded — Anecdotes— Interview with Mrs. Arnold at Paeamcs — Effects of tub "War upon his Chaeactke and Fortune. In January, 1779, Colonel Buit was appointed to a post of greater importance and difficulty than any he had previously held, and one in which he acquired his greatest distinction as a soldier. He was placed in command of the " lines" in West Chester county. New York, a region lying between the posts of the British at Kingsbridge, and those of the Americans fifteen or twenty miles above them. This district of country, from the day the British were mas- ters of the city of New York, was more exposed to the worst ravages of war than any other portion of the United States A gentleman who lived in it during the first five years of the contest, says that the county was " a scene of the deepest dis- tress. From the Croton to Kingsbridge every species of rap- ine and lawless violence prevailed. No man went to his bed but under the apprehension of having his house plundered or burned, and himself or family massacred before morning. Some, under the character of Whigs, plundered the Tories ; while others, of the latter description, plundered the Whigs. Par- ties of marauders, assuming either character or none, as suited their convenience, indiscriminately assailed both Whigs and Tories. So little vigilance was used on our part, that em- issaries and spies of the enemy passed and repassed without in- terruption." What added to the evil was, that the lower part of the county contained a large number of houses of consider- able pretension, the residences of wealthy farmers or wealthiei 112 LIFE OF AAEON BTJRR. citizens. The region was one to reward enterprising ma- rauders. Colonel Burr entered upon the command of the " lines" on the 13th of January ; his head-quarters being at Wliite Plains, twenty-seven miles above the city. His line of posts xtended from the Hudson to the Sound, fourteen miles "White Plains being midway between the two waters. Hia great objects were to prevent unlicensed communication with the enemy, to keep their spies from reaching the upper coun- try, and to put a stop to the scenes of robbery and bloodshed for which the region was notorious. The very morning on which he assumed the command, an occurrence took place which let him into the secret of the disorders. On his arrival in camp, a few days before, he had discovered that of all the duties devolving on the force about to be under his command, the one most in favor with officers and with privates, with regulars and with militia, was scout- ing ; and that an expedition of the kind was then on foot, to be led by Colonel Littlefield, Burr's predecessor. Not wish- ing to begin his reign with an ungracious act of authority, he did not countermand the proposed excursion, though its advis- ableness was by no means apparent to him. On the contrary, he thought it ill-advised, and unnecessary. Nevertheless, on the very evening before he entered formally uj)on the duties of the station. Colonel Littlefield, with his scouting party of one hundred and fifty men, set out from White Plains, with the ostensible object of watching the enemy's movements in the neighborhood of New Rochelle. Colonel Burr was most strenuous in urging Littlefield to respect the property of friend and foe. The party were gone all night. In the morn- ing, to the equal astonishment and disgust of Colonel Burr, the troops came straggling in loaded with plunder, and lead- ing horses with mountains of bedding, blankets, and clothing on their backs. Officers and men seemed equally concerned in the robberies. Before the party had been in an hour, farmers from New Rochelle came into camp complaining piteously of the plunder of their houses and stables, asserting their friendliness to the patriotic cause, and imploring Colonel THE WESTCHESTEE LINES. IIJ Bliit to restore their property. " Sir," wrote that officer in his rtport to General McDougal, " till now, I never wished for arbitrary power ; I could gibbet half a dozen good Whigs with all the venom of an inveterate Tory !" Colonel Burr's resolution was instantly taken. The plunder, as it came in, was deposited by the plunderers in a certain pot, to await an equitable division among the zealous party. Burr seized the whole of it, and proceeded immediately to take measures for its restoration. He took so decided a stand on the occasion, and made it so evident that he was in earnest, and that he was a man to be obeyed, that this affair, appa- rently inauspicious, was the beginning of a new order of things in the Westchester lines. For the time, however, he was utterly disgusted ; particularly when he found that the offi- cers, nearly to a man, secretly or openly favored the system of plunder. " Truly an ominous commencement," he wrote to his general. " Is this the promised protection ? I read in the face of every child I pass ; for the whole honor of the ex- pedition redounds to me. I now perceive," he added, "from whence arose the ardor for scouting." The old general ap- proved his conduct, but advised him to deal tenderly with the plundei'ers, " as they are brave, and are very sore by the plun- dering of the Tories." Burr began that very day to set on foot a new system. He rode to every post before night set in, and announced his de- termination to protect all the peaceable inhabitants of the county, whether Whig or Tory, and to punish all marauders with the utmost severity of military law. Any officer who so much as connived at robbery he would send up to the general's quarters with a file of men, the hour the crime was discovered. He began, immediately, to make out a list of all the inhabit- ants of the district, and divided them into classes, Tories, Whigs, timid Whigs, spies, hcTse-thieves, and others, designat- ing each by certain secret marks opposite his name. He also made the outline of a map, on which, as his knowledge of the country increased, he marked the roads, swamps, creeks, woods, hiding places and by-paths, which might be made available by disaffected persons in escaping pursuit, or evading ol>- 114 LII-B OF AAEON BUEE. servation. He organized the respectable young men of tho county into a corps of horsemen, to serve without pay, and on special services when summoned, and in transmitting intelli- gence. So complete and efficient a system of videttes, patrols, and signals was established, that nothing of the slightest im- portance could take place in any part of the county without immediate information of it being dispatched to head-quarters, To prevent the intrusion of the enemy's spies, who had fre- quently come to head-quarters on frivolous pretexts, he would not allow any one who lived below his line of posts to pass them, but appointed a few well-known persons to receive their communications and complaints, and forward them to head- quarters. Another advantage of this regulation was, that it diminished the number of vexatious applications for redress, of slight or imaginary grievances, with which previous command- ers had been beset. Colonel Burr soon had an opportunity of showing the troops and the people that he would be as strict in enforcing his regulations as he was ingenious in devising them. A few days after the affair of the scouters, the house of one Gedney was robbed by night, and the family insulted and alarmed. The next morning, a son of Gedney, disregarding the rule that no one from below might go direct to head-quarters, made his way, by secret paths, to Colonel Burr, and laid before him his complaint. Burr's first act was to order the young man into confinement for breaking the rule; which done, he bent aU his energies and all the resources of his system to the de- tection of the plunderers. He rode over to the plundered house, where he learned that the marauders, having worn disguises, had not been recognized by Gedney or his family. By what means he detected them was unknown ; but before twenty-four hours had elapsed, every man of the party had been secured, and a great part of the stolen property recov- ered. Upon referring to his register. Colonel Burr found that Gedney was a Tory ; but he was known. to have taken no active part against the patriots ; and Burr had promised that all such should be protected. He therefore caused the robbers to be drawn up in presence of the troops, laden with their booty, THE WESTCHEBTEK LINES. 115 and then had them conducted by a company of soldiers to Gedney's house. There, he required them, first, to restore the stolen goods ; next, to pay in money for such as had been lost or damaged ; thirdly, he compelled each man to present Gedney with a sum of money, as a compensation for his fright and loss of time ; fourthly, be had each robber tied up and flogged ten lashes ; lastly, he made each of them ask pardon of the old man, and promise good behavior in future. All these things were done with the utmost deliberation and ex- actness, and the effects produced by them were magical. Not another house was plundered, not another family was alarmed, while Colonel Burr commanded in the Westchester lines. The mystery and swiftness of the detection, the rigor and fairness with which the marauders were treated, overawed the men whom three campaigns of lawless warfare had corrupted, and restored confidence to the people who had passed their lives in terror. That Colonel Burr was a wizard or necromancer, and could tell a thief by looking into his face, was the firm belief of a large number of his men ; an opinion which received frequent confirmation from the remarkable talent he possessed for hold- ing his tongue till the moment arrived for speaking. Among other incidents, the following was adduced as a proof of his supernatural powers. On the day of his arrival in camp, be- fore he had assumed the command, and before he had estab- lished any means of procuring intelligence, he visited all the posts, and took a wide survey of the country. On his return, he said to a lieutenant whom he knew, "Drake, that post on the North river will be attacked before morning; neither oflScers nor men know any thing of their duty ; you must go and take charge of it ; keep your eyes open, or you will have your throat cut." Lieutenant Drake went, and the event proved as Burr had predicted. The fort was attacked that night by a company of horse, whom Drake repulsed, with loss to them and honor to himself When he returned next morning to head-quarters, bearing with him the trophies of war, and told his story to his comrades, every one wonderingly asked, how could Burr know that ? 110 LIFE OP AAEON BUBE, The habits of the man, too, were the theme of admiration among the troops. His diet was simple and spare in the ex- treme ; he slept as lightly as a hare, and a wondei'fiilly short time. He would throw himself npon a couch of buffalo sllly instructed in the use of those agents of destruction. Forty volunteers were to form the party of attack, twenty of whom carried the inflammables and the ladders. Early in the evening the expedition left camp, and reached a place one mile from the fort about two o'clock in the morning. Here the party halted. Colonel Burr now disposed of his men so as to cut off the escape of the garrison, and ordered Captain Black, with the party of volunteers, to advance silently and swiftly to the fort, disregarding the challenge of the sentinels, to place the ladders, and throw into each port-hole a mass of the combustibles with a slow match attached. The plan succeeded to admiration. Before the garrison was awake, the fort was on fire past extinguishing. Hand-grenades were then thrown Il3 LIFE OJP AAEON BUEK. into tlie upper port-holes, whicli drove the troops below. In a very few minutes they were glad enough to escape from tho burning house and surrender. The fort was completely de- stroyed, and Colonel Burr reached camp soon after daybreak, -with a long file of prisoners, and without the loss of a single man of his own party. The success of this little enterprise, and its audacity, gave new eclat to the name of the oiEcer ■who planned it. Colonel Burr's night rides have been mentioned above, and an allusion made to the fact that on two nights of the wintei he was otherwise engaged. The story of his adventures on those nights he used to tell with peculiar pleasure, and it is surprising that so singular a narrative should not have been given to the public by some of the collectors of revolutionary incidents. The tale strikingly exemplifies Burr's executive talent. Over the Hudson river, fifteen miles or more from the shore, lived the accomplished and charming Mrs. Prevost. From his outpost on the Hudson, Colonel Burr could see the hills among which nestled the home of this beloved family, but be- tween them rolled a river, two miles wide, and infested with the gun-boats and sloops of the enemy, while beyond it stretched an expanse of country, held sometimes by one party, sometimes by the other, but either of whom would prevent or delay the progress of a soldier bound on an errand of love. The duties of Burr's command, too, were onerous and incessant. By day, he was an autocratic magistrate, hear ing complaints, deciding disputes, writing reports, inspecting troops, sending ofi" prisoners, purchasing supplies. We see him sending up a number of prisoners handcuffed in couples and, as they start, the guard being greatly outnumbered by them, he sends a sergeant along the line to cut the strings of their breeches, which obliged them to employ their other hand in holding up that important garment. Again, he writes to the general, "There are a number of women here of bad char- acter, who are continually running to New York and back again ; if they were men, I should flog them without mercy." Then, he is scouring the country, far and near, for shoes, for THE WESTCHBSTEE LINES. 119 molasses, for wheat, for rum ; which, last, he tells the general he can buy at White Plains at twfenty dollars a gallon. By night he was riding among his posts and sentinels, knowing well that only vigilance like his kept the guards from being surprised ; as was sufficiently proved when that vigilance was withdrawn. Yet in spite of these difficulties, he contrived twice during the winter to visit Paramus. In achieving these visits, he equaled Leander in daring, and surpassed him so much in in- genuity as to get over his Hellespont with a dry over-coat, and to go glowing, instead of dripping, into the arms of his Hero. Six of his trustiest troopers, men whom he knew were devoted to him, he sent early in the evening to a place on the banks of the Hudson, since and for ever made classic ground by the residence of Washington living. Under the lofty bank of the river, there he had caused an ample barge to be moored, well furnished with blankets and buffalo skins. Earlier by some hours than usual. Burr left his quarters at White PlainSj mounted on a small, swift horse, and galloped rapidly to the river side, visiting posts and sentries as he went. His perfect manner of procuring intelligence had made him certain that nothing requiring his presence would occur befoi-e morningj yet he provided for every probability and possibility of dan- ger, and for any unforeseen delay that might occur in his re- turn. At nine in the evening, his faithful troopers at the barge heard the clattering of hoofs, and in a moment their command- er stood in their midst, bridle in hand. Instantly, and with- out the interchange of a syllable, the girth was unloosened, ropes were adjusted about the body of the panting steed, and, by the method well known to farriers, the animal was gently thrown and bound ; then lifted by main strength and placed on the bed provided for him in the boat. Burr stepped aboard; the men plied the muffled oars with a will; and, within half an hour, the boat grazed the opposite shore. In the same silence, and with the same celerity, as before, the horse was lifted out, unbound, and got upon his feet. A little rubbino' and walking up and down restored the animal to his wonted condition. The boat was drawn snugly up on tho 120 LIFE OF AAEON BUBR. shore ; the men laid down in the bottom of it to sleep ; while Burr mounted and rode rapidly away up the hill toward the home of his heart. Before midnight, he was there. Two hours of bliss flew fast — how swiftly, lovers know. Then again to horse. About four in the morning, he was with his faithful crew on the river's bank, when the poor nag was astonished once more in the manner just described, and the party re- crossed the river. Arrived on the other side. Colonel Burr mounted, rode over to camp, which was seven miles from the river, challenging sentinels, visiting posts, and comporting him so exactly in his usual manner, that not the slightest suspicion arose of the singular way in which he had passed the night. A little before daylight, quite in his accustomed style, he gave up his horse and threw himself upon his couch. Except the two or three individuals to whom the secret was necessarily confided, not a man even of those who had aided him, knew the object of that night excursion. Twice, as before stated, he visited Mrs. Prevost in the same manner, and with equal success, while he commanded the lines of Westchester. But no constitution could long bear such exhausting efforts, and Burr's was serioush'' impaired when he began them. As the spring drew on, the attacks of his disease became more fre- quent, and he was corajjelled to the conclusion that only a very long period of repose could render him fit for the duties of a campaign. On the 10th of March, 1'779, he wrote to Gen- eral Washington resigning his commission, giving as the rea- son, his physical inability to perform the duties of his com- mand. General Washington, in accepting his resignation, observed that " he not only regretted the loss of a good ofiicer, but the cause which made his resignation necessary." And so, after four years "of active service. Colonel Burr ceased to belong to the army. What occurred in Westchester after his retirement show? in a striking light the value of his services there. Samuel Young, who lived in the county during the war, and was one of Burr's troop of irregular horse, and after the peace held the office of surrogate, writes with more minuteness on this point than any other of Burr's fellow-soldiers. He says that during THE WESTCHESTER LINES 121 the period of Burr's command, only two attempts were made \)j the enemy to surprise our guards, in both of which they were defeated ; but after he left. Colonel Thompson, " a man of approved bravery," succeeded, and, in open day, the enemy surprised him at hefid-quartei-s, took him prisoner, killed or captured all his men, except about thirty, who ran away Soon after, Mr. Young's father's house was burned by a party of the enemy ; and, ere long, the American lines were moved twenty miles beyond those which Burr had so completely de- fended. And even there the posts were not safe from sur- prise. The next year Colonel Green, who then commanded in the lines, and had his head-quarters near the Croton river, was attacked and killed, together with his second in com- mand, and a large number of oificers and men. Mr. Young concludes a long narrative of Colonel Burr's achievements in "Westohester county, in the following words : " Having perused what I have written, it does not appear to me that I have conveyed any adequate idea of Burr's military character. It may be aided a little by reviewing the effects he produced. The troops of which he took command were, at the time he took the command, undisciplined, negligent, and discontented. Desertions were frequent. In a few days these very men were transformed into brave and honest de- fenders ; orderly, contented, and cheerful ; confident in their own courage, and loving to adoration their commander, whom every man considered as his personal friend. It was thought a severe punishment, as well as disgrace, to be sent up to the camp, where they had nothing to do but to lounge and eat their rations. During the whole of this command there was not a single desertion, not a single death by sickness, not one made prisoner by the enemy ; for Burr had taught us that a soldier with arms in his hands ought never, under any circumstances, to surrender ; no matter if he was opposed to thousands, it Avas his duty t^ fight. After the first ten days there was not a single instance of robbery. The whole coun- try under his command enjoyed security. The inhabitants, to express their gratitude, frequently brought presents of such articles as the country afforded ; but Colonel Burr would ac- G 122 LIFE OF AAEON BFEE. cept no present. He fixed reasonable prices, and paid in cash for every thing that was received, and sometimes, I know, that these paj'ments were made with his own money. Whether these advances were repaid, I know not. Colonel Simcoe, one of the most daring and active partisans in the Bi'itish army, was, with Colonels Emerick and Delancey, opposed to Burr on he lines, yet they were completely held in check. But per- haps the highest eulogy on Colonel Burr is, that no man could be found capable of executing his plans, though the example was before them. When Burr left the lines a sadness over- spread the country, and the most gloomy forebodings were too soon fulfilled." Richard Piatt, who was adjutant-general to General McDou- gal at the time, speaks of Colonel Burr's conduct in similar terms. The officers, the soldiers, and the inhabitants, he says, though all unknown to Colonel Burr before, " were inspired with confidence by a system of consummate skill, astonishing vigilance, and extreme activity, which, in like manner, made such an impression on the enemy, that after an unsuccessfu' attack on one of his advanced jDOSts, he never made any othei: attack on our lines during the winter. His humanity, and constant regard to the security of the property and persons of the inhabitants from injury and insult, were not less conspicu- ous than his military skill. 'So man was insulted or disturbed. The health of the troops was perfect. Not a desertion during the whole period of his command, nor a man made prisoner, although the colonel was constantly making prisoners. A country, which for three years before had been a scene of rob- bery, cruelty, and murder, became at once the abode of seen rity and peace. Though his powers were despotic, they were exercised only for the jjeace, the security, and the protection of the surrounding country and its inhabitants." Colonel Burr had not yet done with war. In June, when a large force of British troops seemed to threaten West Point, Colonel Burr was at Newburg, a guest of General McDou- gal, who was in great alarm because of his repeated failures to get word to General Washington of the movements of the en- emy. The English general had stationed troops and Tories in THE -WESTCHESTBE LINES. 123 the passes of the mountains, who captured or killed the mes- sengers. In these circumstances, General McDougal, who well knew Burr's ability, requested him, as a personal favor, to undertake the mission. Colonel Burr, sick as he was, and dangerous as was the errand, consented, and succeeded. He carried no written dispatch, but gave General "Washington a verbal account of the critical position of affairs, which induced him to march forthwith toward the Highlands. In making the journey across Orange county, he had a ludicrous contest with a mule, which he was fond of describ- ing for the amusement of children ever after. The country had been swept of its horses, and arriving at the Townsend iron works with his horse completely worn out, he could pro- cure no substitute but a half-broken mule called " Independ- ence," notorious for its obstinate and vicious disposition. There was no choice but to attempt this animal ; and, accordingly, Burr, in the presence of a number of the country people, mounted, and urged him onward. The mule was true to his name, and would not move. The rider whipped and spurred, the by-standers pulled and shouted, the mule kicked and reared. After a minute or two of these proceedings, the in- furiated beast bolted from the crowd, and ran up a steep bank, and reached the top before his rider could stop him. On arriving there. Burr managed to turn him round, and was trying every argument to induce him to descend, when the mule appeared suddenly to conceive an idea. About half way down the hill there was a platform, with a large opening in it, through which charcoal was accustomed to be " shot," a pro- digious heap of which had accumulated below on the side of the hill. The mule, with malice in his mind, made for this aperture, and leaped through it upon the coal. But the rider was not to be thrown so easily ; and, down the -mountain of charcoal, the mule and the man slowly slid together, amid clouds of dust, and the laughter of the crowd. When they reached the bottom, the animal showed signs of being more tractable, and, after being led a mile or two, went perfectly well ; and was ever after a tolerably behaved mule. This journey cost him dear. He went immediately after to 124 LIFE OF AAEON BUEK. Connecticut, where, at Kew Haven, he was compelled to take to his bed, and spend some days in complete quiet. While still extremely debilitated, he heard of the landing of two thousand of the enemy's troops, one thousand at East Haven, and the others at West Haven. Governor Tryon, Burr's old acquaintance, commanded the force which landed at East Haven, where he distinguished himself, in his usual style, by setting the town on fire and allowing his men to commit dis- graceful excesses. The people of New Haven were in dread- ful alarm. The women and children were liurried from the town. The roads leading to the country wei-e crowded with fugitives and vehicles, hastily loaded with household goods. Hearing that the enemy were actually approaching. Colonel Burr rose from his bed, dressed himself, and proceeded to a part of the town where he was informed the militia of the place had assembled. Finding them panic-stricken and about to fly, he addressed them, and oifered to lead them against the enemy ; but terror jjossessed their souls, and in a few minutes the whole body melted away and vanished from the scene. He was then told that the students of Yale College had organized themselves into military companies, and were now drawn up on the College green. He galloped to the spot, and reining up his horse in front of the youthful corps, he told them who he was, urged them to set an example, to march out against the ruthless foe, and defend the rights of which they would soon become the inheritors, or the loss of which it would soon be theirs to dejjlore. The exploits of Aaron Burr were familiar at least to every young man in New England ; and when, at the conclusion of his speech, Colonel Burr asked them to receive him as their leader, and, under his command, attack the enemy, there was no hesitation or faltering among them. They marched into the town, where they were joined by a small body of militia, and then advanced boldly toward the enemy. On coming near them, some shots were ex- changed, and Governor Tryon, not knowing how great a force might be opposed to him, halted, and then fell back a little to wait for his artillery. Colonel Burr thus kept him from ad- vancing for three or four priceless hours, during which all the IHE WESTCHESTEE LINES. 125 women and children, the sick, and immense quantities of valu- able property were removed to places of safety. When, at length, Tryon, with all his force, began again to move toward the town, Burr led off his regiment of boys in excellent order. The old soldier delighted to tell this little story. He was a lover of young life, and proud of the confidence which the young ever reposed in him. Nothing in his military career gave him such pleasure to look back upon as this compara- tively trivial incident. The excitement of this adventure sustained him while it lasted, but he dismounted from his horse only to go again to his bed. During; the suoceedino; autumn and winter he did little but take care of his shattered constitution, and form plans for the prosecution of his legal studies. In the summer of 1780 he was in New Jersey once more, and making such frequent visits to the house of Mrs. Prevost, as to excite a general belief among his friends that he was paying his court to the sister of that lady. Miss De Visme. Colonel Troup, as we read in one of his letters, tells Burr in June of this year, that the Miss Livingstons had inquired about him in a very friendly manner, and since he had been with them, he had had an opportunity of removing the sus- picion they had of his courting Miss Visme. " They believe nothing of it now," adds Colonel Troup, " and attiibute your visits to Paramus to motives of friendship for Mrs. Prevost and the family. Wherever I am, and can with propriety, you may be sure I shall represent this matter in its true light." From this it would appear that Colonel Burr had not yet con- fided his real object to his friends, of whom Colonel Troup was then one of the most intimate; and remained such, through all vicissitudes, for nearly seventy years. In September, it was Colonel Burr's fortune to witness at the house of Mrs. Prevost a memorable scene. The news of Arnold's treason was flying in awful whispers over the country. Soon after the first shock of the discovery, came touching descriptions of Mrs. Arnold's grief at her hus- band's crime, of which, it was universally believed, she had been ignorant up to the moment of his flight from West ',26 LIFB OF AAEON BUEE. Point. The historic reader is familiar with Hamilton's high- flowij narrative of the scene which transpired under his own eyes. " Arnold, a moment before setting out," wrote Hamilton to Colonel Laurens, " went into Mrs. Arnold's apartment, and informed her that some transactions had just come to light ■which must for ever banish him from his country. She fell into a swoon at this declaration ; and he left her in it to con- sult his own safety, till the servants, alarmed at her cries, came to her relief. She remained frantic all day ; accusing every one who approached her with an intention to murder her child (an infant in her arms) ; and exhibiting every other mark of the most genuine and agonizing distress. Exhausted by the fatigue and tumult of her spirits, her frenzy subsided toward evening, and she sank into all the sadness of aflEliction. It was impossible not to have been touched with her situation. Every thing affecting in female tears, or in the misfortunes of beauty ; every thing pathetic in the wounded tenderness of a wife, or in the apprehensive fondness of a mother ; and, till I have reason to change the opinion, every thing amiable in the sufferings of innocence ; conspired to make her an object of sympathy to all who were present. She experienced the most delicate attention, and every friendly office, till her departure for Philadelphia." This was the romantic falsehood of the affair. It was fitted to deceive the good-hearted Hamilton, who was then himself a lover, and therefore full of tenderness for all women ; and the story was one which a young gentleman of a rhetorical turn, and who indeed owed his advancement to " the flowers of his pen," would delight to tell. It fell to Burr's lot to be- come acquainted with the repulsive truth. He was sitting one evening with Mrs. Prevost, when the approach of a party of horse was heard, and soon after, a lady vailed, and attired in a riding-habit, burst into the room, and hurrying toward Mrs. Prevost, was on the point of addressing her. Seeing a gen- tleman present whom, in the dim light of the apartment, she did not recognize, she paused, and asked in an anxious tone, " Am I safe ? Is this gentleman a friend ?" THE -WESTCHESTEE LINES. 12'? " Oh, yes," was Mi-s. Prevost's reply, " he is my most partic- ular friend, Colonel Burr." "Thank God !" exclaimed Mrs. Arnold, for she it was; 'I've been playing the hypocrite, and I'm tired of it." She then gave an account of the way she had deceived General Washington, Colonel Hamilton, and the other Amer- can ofBcers, who, she said, believed her innocent of the trea- son, and had given her an escort of horse from West Point, She made no scruple of confessing the part she had borne in the negotiations with the British general, and declared it was she who had induced her husband to do what he had done. She passed the night at Paramus, taking care to resume her acting of the outraged and frantic woman, whenever strangers were present. Colonel Burr's relations with the Shippen family, of which Mrs. Arnold was a member, had been of the most intimate character from childhood. They had been his father's friends ; and the orphan boy had been taken from his mother's grave to their home in Philadelphia. He stood toward this fascinating, false-hearted woman almost in the light of a j'ounger brother, and he kept her secret until she was past being harmed by the telling of it. With this scene the history of Colonel Burr's military career may fitly close. He had borne well his part in the revolutionary struggle. That combination of qualities and de- fects which fits a man to be a successful military commander, he possessed in a more remarkable degree, perhaps, than any other American who has won distinction in war. If he had been as much in the eye of Napoleon as he was in Washing- ton's, the emperor would have made a marshal of him, and he would have shared with Napoleon his splendid immortality. But for that, as for so much else, Aaron Burr had the misfor- tune to be born on the wrong continent. During the four years of his connection with the army, his fortune was greatly impaired. Every officer who had any thing to lose, suffered in his circumstances in the Revolution, and Burr more than most. He had the popular and fatal vice of improvidence. At the age when Washington was f arning three guineas a day in the woods, glad of the oppor- 128 LIFE OF AAEON BUEK. tunity to do so, and rather proud of the fact than otherwise, .Burr was spending, with inconsiderate generosity, the capital of his patrimony. With amazing talents for gaining money, he had an equally wonderful facility for getting rid of it. It slip23ed through his fingers ; it ran out of his pocket ; it would not stay with him. To see a fellow-soldier in distress, and to empty his purse for his relief, were simultaneous actions with him. N"or did he spare expense in forwarding any scheme of his own, whether of pleasure or advantage. From his corre- spondence at this time, it is plain that he was a frequent lender of money to embarrassed friends. Colonel Tronp tells him on one occasion tliat he had received from Mr. Edwards a thousand pounds of Burr's money, a part of which, says Troup, I shall take the liberty of borrowing, and send the rest to the owner. Ogden, as we have seen, sells Burr's horse, and writes to him that he can not send him the proceeds, for the excellent reason that he has spent them. These are fair examples of Burr's looseness in affairs pecuniary. It is a pleasant way enough while the money lasts ; but it never does last. No fortune can stand the drain of an unoaloulating im- providence. And a worse feature of the case is, that a man who is careless of mewm is in frightful danger of losing some portion of his regard for tuuin, also. " TAe loorth and dignity of gold,'''' was one of the regenerating phrases with which Goethe set right his age. The strong, slow characters that support the social fabric, know its truth by an instinct which they too often want who adorn, and cheer, who move and ad- vance the race. Generous we may truly call Colonel Burr. But there is a nobler generosity than that exercised by hira ; it is allied with frugality, and becomes possible through frugality. Burr was, at all periods of his life, extremely liable to be imposed upon, His feelings M-ere easily moved ; his acuteness utterly failed him the moment his tenderness was awakened ; and he gave freely of what he never really felt the value to reheve dis- tresses which he could not witness without pain. Another tendency of his nature was strengthened by the THE WESTCHESTEE LINES, 129 war. It is the soldier's art to instantly adapt means to ends; it is his duty, by all means, to gain his ends. His object, the destruction of the enemy, is simple, obvious, unmistakable ; and, in compassing it, he not merely may, but must, be deaf to the cry of anguish. He is not merely released from the moral restraints of peace, but he is obliged to trample them imder foot. He destroys without compunction ; he kills with- out compassion. His mind is fixed upon his object ; he burns merely to succeed. Victory alone, victory always, is accepted as proof of his ability. But in peace it is not always glorious to succeed ; for then we estimate success chiefly by the means used to attain it. Aaron Burr, like his father before him, was a man who had by nature a marvelous faculty of bringing things to pass. He saw his object with eagle clearness and he had a^ wonderful intuitive sense of the means, and all the means, aiid, particu- larly, the readiest means, by which that object could be reached. This faculty will be abundantly exeraplified,by-and- by. It is alluded to here, merely for the purpose of suggest- ing that four years of a soldier's life may have had the two- fold effect, first, of intensifying his perception of objects to be gained, and, secondly, of diminishing his scrupulousness with I'egard to the use of means. 6* CHAPTER IX. ADMISSION TO THE BAR, AND MABEIAGK The Ameeioak Bae befoee the Eetoitition— BtrnE Eesumes nis Legai Studies— Hia Correspondence witu Mrs. Peevost — Admission to the Bar — Charaotek of Mrj. Prevost — Their Marriage — Eemotal to New York. Next to war, the law had been, from an early period in the history of the colonies, the favorite profession with their young men of spirit. John Adams, in 1756, when he had just begun his legal studies, writes to a friend in justification of the choice he had made of a profession. One of his reasons was, that " the students in the law are very numerous, and some of them youths of which no country, no age, would need to be ashamed. And if," he adds, " I can gain the honor of treading in the rear, and silently adrairiug the noble air and gallant achievements of the foremost rank, I shall think myself worthy of a louder triumph than if I had headed the whole army of orthodox ministers." After the termination of the old French war, the law began to be a lucrative profes- sion also. Joseph Reed, of Philadelphia, writing in 1767, when he had been but two years at the bar, mentioned that his professional income was a thousand pounds a year. He was, no doubt, unusually fortunate. But, at that time, there were not many occupations carried on in the colonies, in the exercise of which, a young man of two years' standing, could have earned so much. The legal system, was, of course, in all respects, that of the mother country. The wig and gown were worn by lawyers and judges ; and much is implied in that trivial circumstance. Young men of fortune thought their studies incomplete until they had resided two years at one of the Inns of Court in London. In the Temple Church may still be seen, or ADMISSION TO THE BAR, AND MAEEIAGE. 131 might, a few years ago, some tablets erected to the memory of American students who died while pursuing their studies in London before the Revolution. If Aaron Burr had come upon the stage of action a few years earlier, it is likely enough that, with his pecuniary means, he would have sought, by such a residence abroad, to have hastened his ascent to the highest walks of the profession at home. For it was a great thing, and an honorable, in those days, even to have seen the coun- try which the colonists were proud to call their own. For eighteen months after leaving the army. Colonel Burr was an invalid, and he did little but visit his friends, read French, write letters, and wait upon Mrs. Prevost. In the autumn of 1780, his health having greatly improved, he be- gan to study law in earnest, under Judge Patterson, of New Jersey. Judge Patterson was a thorough lawyer, and desired to make his pupils such, by grounding them well in the prin- ciples of the law, and not till afterward instructing them in the practice. Burr desired to reverse this order, and acquire the practice first. There were reasons why he wished to hurry into the practice of his profession : he was in love ; his purse needed replenishing, or would soon need it ; and it was certain, that if the independence of the colonies were secured, of which there seemed little doubt. Whig lawyers would mo- nopolize the business of the profession, and the offices to which the profession leads. With the intention of attempting a short cut to the bar, he left the office of the methodical Patterson in the spring of 1V81, and went to reside at Haverstraw, in New York, with Thomas Smith, a city practitioner of note, but now suspended from business by the war. Mr. Smith had a good library, and plenty of leisure. With him Burr made a peculiar and characteristic arrangement. For a certain sum, the lawyer agreed to devote a specified time to his pujDil every day, and to answer any questions he might propose. Burr now read law, literally, day and night, sometimes spending twenty hours at his books out of the twenty-four; taking notes as he read ; reserving doubtful points to be elucidated by his instructor, and endeavoring, in all ways, to acquire the familiar use of the weapons with which lawyers war with one 132 LIFE OP AAEON BUKE. another and with justice. To become expert, not profound, was the ohject of his immediate exertions. Of such students it may be observed, that having become proficient in the prac- tice, they are never drawn to meditate deeply upon the theory of their profession. His letters, duiing the year, show that his favorite authors hen were Chesterfield, Voltaire, and Rousseau. There was much studying of French in Burr's circle. The family of Mrs, Prevost was of Swiss origin, and French had been their na- tive language. The " Hermitage," the family seat of the De Visme's, where Mrs. Prevost now resided, had a considerable library of French books, which nourished Burr's French tastes, and introduced to his notice several authors of whom he had been ignorant. In his letters to Mrs. Prevost, his favorite authors were frequently the theme of remark ; to which she, as often, gracefully replies. She says on one occasion, that his favorable opinion of Voltaire pleased her, because it showed that he had a mind of his own. " The English," said she, "from national jealousy and envy to the French, detract him ; but, without being his disciple, we may do justice to his merit, and admire him as a judicious and ingenious author." In another letter, she extols religion, and declares that " worlds should not purchase the little she possessed." To something Burr had said about Chesterfield, she replied, that the indulg- ence which he applauded in that author was the only part of his writings she thought reprehensible, but that only when all the world turn envoys, will Chesterfield be their proper guide. In one letter, she tells him, that their being the subject of much inquiry, conjecture, and calumny was no more than they ought to expect : " My attention to you," she adds, " was even pointed enough to attract the observation of all Avho visited the house ; but your esteem more than compensated for the worst they could say." Burr's reply to this letter is characteristic. He tells her that the calumniator shall one day repent his insolence and in the mean time, they must be more cautious in preserving ap- pearances. " Suaviter in modo,fortiter in re, is a maxim," he Bays, " which would bear sheets of comment and days oj re- ADMISSION TO THE BAK, AND MARRIAGE. 133 ■flection^'' They must not mind these trifles. "That mind," he adds, "is truly great which can bear with equanimity the trifling and unavoidable vexations of life, and be affected only by those events which determine our substantial bliss. Every period, and every situation has a portion of those trifling crosses ; and those who expect to avoid them all, or conquer them all, must be wretched withont respite." This train of remark was habitual with Colonel Burr all his days. To pre- sent a panoply of steel to the minor shafts of misfortune, to be quick to discern the event of real importance, to be neither elated nor depressed by whatever might occur, to bound lightly up after the farthest fall, to acquire every kind of de- gree of selCcontrol, were what he chiefly enjoined upon his children, his pupils, and his protegees. Selfcontrol, Burr would say, was the means of self-indulgence, and the con- dition of controlling others. After reading law for six months at Haverstraw, he thought himself competent to practice ; an opinion to which an event of the time probably contributed. In November of this year, the legislature of New York passed an act disqualifying all the Tory lawj'ers from practicing in the courts of that State. Burr no sooner heard of this than he resolved to make an effort to realize part of its benefits himself, and, a few days after, he was in Albany for the purpose of applying for ad- mission to the bar. But difficulties arose. The rule of the court was, that candidates must have spent three years in the study of the law before admission, and Colonel Burr could scarcely pretend to more than one year's study. Nor could he find a lawyer in the State willing to make a motion for th court to set aside the rule. In these circumstances, the can didate undertook the management of the case hin;iself. Hav- ing first conciliated the good will of the judge in private, and made him acquainted with the grounds of his application, he ap- peared in court at the proper time, made the requisite motion, and gave the reasons why he thought it should be granted. He said that he had begun his studies before the Revolution, and should long since have been entitled to admission to the bar, but for the service he had rendered as a soldier. " No 134 LIFE OF AAEON BUKB. rule," he observed, "could be intended to injure one whose only misfortune is having sacrificed his time, his constitution, and his fortune to his country." The court decided that tlie rule with regard to the period of study might, for the reasons given, be dispensed with, provided the candidate could show that he possessed the requisite knowledge. The examining counsel, as may be imagined, gave him no indulgence. They wished his failure. But after an examination, prolonged, criti- cal, and severe, which he passed triumphantly, he was licensed as an attorney. This event occurred on the 19th of January, 1'782. On the I'Zth of April following, he was admitted as counselor. He was then twenty-six years of age. He took an office in Albany, began the practice of the law, and seems almost immediately to have been immersed^m busi- ness. He had acquired celebrity in the State as a soldier, and no man of his years had a wider circle of acquaintance among the class who indulge in profitable suits at law. The old Tory lawyers, who had enjoyed all the best business, before the Revolution, were now thrown out of the ranks of the profes- sion by an act of the legislature, and Whig lawyers of any standing or promise were, at the moment, extremely few. Burr's engaging manner,, distinguished origin, indefatigable devotion to business, and honorable fame, would, in any circum- stances, have rendered his advancement in the profession cer- tain and rapid. But in the actual state of things, they obtained for him in a very few months as profitable a business as was enjoyed by any lawyer in the State. Before he had been in practice three months, he felt so sure of his position and so satisfied with his prospects, that there seemed no longer any necessity for delaying his marriage. That Colonel Burr, the most rising young man in the State of New York, handsome, fascinating, well-born, and famous, whose addresses few maidens in the country would have been inclined to repulse, should have chosen to marry a widow ten years older than himself, with two rollicking boys (one of them eleven years old), with precarious health, and no great estate, was a circumstance which seems to have been incom- prehensible to his friends at the time, as it has since proved a ADMISSION TO THE BAE, A N u MAEEIAGE. 135 puzzle to the writers of biographical gossip. Upon the theory that Burr was the artful devil he has been said to be, all "whose ends and aims were his own advancement, no man can explain such a marriage. Before the Revolution he had re- tiised, point-blank, to address a young lady of fortune, whom his uncle, Thaddeus Burr, incessantly urged upon his atten- tion. During the Revolution he was on terms of intimacy with all the great families of the State— the Clintons, the Liv- ingstons, the Schuylers, the Van Rensselaers, and the rest; alliance with either of whom gave a young man of only aver age abilities, immense advantages in a State which was, to a singular extent, under the dominion of great families. But no considerations of this kind could break the spell which drew him, with mysterious power, to the cottage at remote and rural Paramus. The lady was not beautiful. Besides being past her prime, she was slightly disfigured by a scar on her forehead. It was the graceful and winning manners of Mrs. Prevost that first captivated the mind of Colonel Burr. She was, indeed, in all respects, an estimable lady, affectionate, accomplished, well- versed in« literature, and as much given to the practice as averse to the profession of piety. But it was in her character of LADT and woman of the world that she proved so irresist- ably pleasing to him on their first acquaintance. He used, in after years, to say, that in stj'le and manners, she was without a peer among all the women he had known, and that if his own manners were in any respects superior to those of men in general, it was owing to the insensible influence of hers. The reader may, perhaps, have observed that young men of spirit and intelligence, who have been brought up in the severe, un gracious way of the stricter Puritans, are sometimes too keenly susceptible of the charm of manner, and are apt to attach to it an excessive importance. But a more lasting charm of this lady was her cultivated mind. Burr was a lover of books, a lover of pictures, a lover of every thing which distinguishes man from the Puritan ; and it was rare, indeed, in those days, to find a lady in America who had the kind of culture which sympathizes with such 136 LIFE 01" AAEON BUEE, tastes. In Europe, women were only beginning to emerge fi-om the gross ignorance which was thought to be their proper condition ; and in America, if they were not ignorant, few had the knowledge interesting to a man like Burr. Among his own female relatives there was penetrating and brilliant in- ellect enough; but bow perverted, how repressed ! Some of the most renowned ladies of the time, with a thousand virtues, scarcely ever looked into a book. Mrs. Putnam was mighty at the spinning-wheel ; Mrs. Washington (as we lately learn from Mrs. Kirkland's pleasant pages) was a devotee of the knitting-needle ; and the wife of another famous general was not a little proud of her patchwork quilts. Burr had met few ladies, in his earlier life, who, like Mrs. Prevost, were familiar with the most recent expressions of European intellect, who could talk intelligently with him about Voltaire, Rousseau, and Chesterfield, and could appreciate those authors with- out becoming their disciples. It was not mere compliment, when Burr told Mrs. Prevost that it was from knowing her that he had first learned to believe in the understanding of woman. The two sons of Mrs. Prevost, so far from bein^ regarded by Colonel Burr as an obstacle to his marriage, were really an inducement to it. He inherited his father's passion for training the young. He was not merely fond of children, but took the liveliest possible interest in their education. There was no period in all his long life when he had not a protege under training. His system of education was, indeed, with all its merits, and with all the pains he bestowed in applying xt, fatally defective ; as was his own system of life. But that he took a most real and ardent interest and delight in the de- velopment of the youthful character, and spared no pains in promoting what he thought to be the right education of his protege*?, there can be no doubt whatever. With a Saxon moral character, Aaron Burr might have been a schoolmaster of unheard-of excellence — such as the world waits for Nothing, indeed, was more natural to. him than the tone of ;bo instructor. Some months before he was married he con- i-DUISSION 10 THE 15AK, AND MAEEIAGE. 131 eludes one of his letters to Mrs. Prevost in language which illustrates what I mean : " You wrote me too much by Dom. I hope it was not from a fear that I should be dissatisfied with less. It is, I confess, ather singular to find fault with the quantity, when matter nd manner are so delightful. You must, however, deal less n sentiments, and more in ideas. Indeed, in the letter in an- swer to my last, you will need to be particularly attentive to this injunction. I think constantly of the approaching change in our affairs, and what it demands. Do not let us, like chil- dren, be so taken with the prospect as to lose sight of the means. Remember to write me facts and ideas, and don't torment me with compliments, or yourself with sentiments to which I am already no stranger. Write but little, and very little at once." In another letter he recommends her to buy one of the new Franklin stoves, and suggests the room in wliioh it should be placed. After enlarging, in a style not common in love let- ters, upon the various good qualities of the stoves, and tell- ing her that, as her little boy would be certain to burn him- self at least once with it, it might be best to teach him the danger by slightly burning him, he concludes as follows : " I confess I have still some transient distrusts that you set too little value on your own life and comfort. Remember, it is not yours alone ; but your letters shall convince me. I waive the subject. I am not certain I shall be regularly punc- tual in writing you in this manner every day when I get at business ; but I shall, if possible, devote one quarter of an hour a day to you. In return, I demand one half of an hour every day from you ; more I forbid, unless on special occasions. This half hour is to be mine, to be invariably at the same time, and, for that purpose, fixed at "an hour least liable to interruption, and as you shall find most convenient. Mine can not be so regular, as I only indulge myself in it when I am fatigued with business. The children will have each their (Sheet, and, at the given hour, write, if but a single word. Burr, at this half hour, is to be a kind of watchword." While Burr was preparing for his examim,tion, his slavo 138 LIFE OF AAEON B0EK. Carlos was going very frequently between Paramus and Al- bany, bearing letters and gifts. His letters were mostly in the decisive, commanding manner of the extracts just given, though sufficiently tender and considerate. A notorious ca- lumniator has recently, in a work of great pretensions,, insin- uated that Colonel Burr, during this winter in Albany, lived on terms of scandalous intimacy with his landlady. The state- ment is false. Soon after his arrival in Albany, Burr was called upon by Mr. Van Rensselaer, the head of the distin- guished family of that name. The two young men soon be- came intimate. Van Rensselaer was dissatisfied with Burr's lodgings, and in a spirit of friendliness and hospitality offered to find him better. Burr soon wrote to Mrs. Prevost that Van Rensselaer had succeeded perfectly to his wish. " I am with two maiden aunts of his," he said, " obliging and (in- credible!) good-natured, the very paragons of neatness. Not an article of furniture, even to a tea-kettle, that would soil a muslin handkerchief I have two upper rooms." In these apartments it was that he daily wrote such woixls as the fol- lowing to a lady with whom he was anticij3ating a speedy marriage : " Though I write very little, it is still half my business; for whenever I find myself either at a loss what to do, or any how discomposed or dull, I fly to these sheets, and even if I do not write, I ponder upon it, and in this way sacrifice many hours without reflecting that time passes away." On the 2d of July, 1782, by the Rev. David Bogart, of the Reformed Dutch church, Aaron Burr and Theodosia Prevost were married. They were forthwith established in an ample residence at Albany, where Colonel Burr relieved the monot- ony of business by assisting in the education of the two boys. One of the first uses he made of his new dignity of house- holder was to give a temporary home to a friend who was in love, and had a project of marriage which it was necessary for some reason to conceal. That friend was the well-known Major Pophara, who was married at Colonel Burr's house, and who, fifty-four years after, held the pall which covererl Burr's yo'nains as they were borne to the grave. ADMISSION TO THE BAE, AND MAKEIAGE. 139 Carlos made no more hurried journeys to Paramus. The charm of the " Hermitage" had departed from it. It may in- terest some readers to learn that traditions of the old house, and of the family who inherited it, still exist in the vicinity. Some of the walls of the house are standing, and serve as part of a modern structure. Some relics of its elegant contents, a picture, among other things, adorn a neighboring tavern. Stories of the grand company that used to assemble at the Hermitage are vaguely told by the older inhabitants ; and descendants of Mrs. Prevost reside a few miles from the old estate, in an elegant abode, which contains interesting memo- rials of the olden time. At Albany, in the first year of his marriage, was born Col- onel Burr's only legitimate child, a daughter, whom he named Theodosia. She bad a joyful welcome- into the world, the beautiful child who was to have so terrible an exit from it. A father, ever fond, if not ever wise, received to his arms the infant who was to be to him so much more than a daughter, when her indomitable fidelity was all that linked him to the family of man. Colonel Burr practiced law in Albany for more than eight- een months, with the greatest success possible in the circum- stances of the time. As soon as peace was declared, he made arrangements for removing to New York. A house was hired for him in Maiden Lane, at two hundred pounds a year, the " rent to commence when the troops leave the city." That event, as New Yorkers are still annually reminded by parades and festivities, occurred on the 25th of November, 1783 ; soon after which date Colonel Barr removed his family to the city and began his career as a New York lawyer. The preparatory peiiod of Colonel Burr's life was now com pletely past. As a finished man and practiced lawyer he en- ters upon the new scene to cc)ntend with his equals for the honors of his profession and the prizes of society. Up to the present time his character and conduct have appeared only in an honorable light, because only the qualities in which he really excelled have been exhibited — his courage, his activity, his generosity, his address. John Adams testifies of him that 140 LIFE OP AAEON BUEE. he came out of the revolutionary war " with the character of a knight, without fear, and an able officer," and the fact that so many excellent and discerning gentlemen admired and loved him, and that so many amiable ladies were his friends, IS confirmatory of the assertion. I am convinced that society had nothing serious to charge him with up to the time of his joining the bar of this city. I am sure he had not been " profligate." The probabilities are in favor of the opinion that he had not yet had one amour of a criminal kind, nor in- curred an obligation which he had not discharged. It is important to bear this in mind, for the instructive and impressive moral of his story depends upon its truth. They who describe good men to be faultless, and bad men as devils, rob mankind of the benefit of their example. Tho good ex- ample discourages, and the bad one does not alarm us. We despair of imitating the one, and are not in the least afraid of cominc: to resemble the other. But when a good man is truly delineated, every one sees the simplicity and attainableness of goodness, and how many faults a man may have, and yet his character be essentially just and noble. How encouraging this to a youth who has sense enough to be conscious of his faults, and who aspires to emulate the sublime characters of history. So of bad men. "When their characters are tridy drawn, we are more likely to be surprised at the number of good qualities they possessed, than horrified at their bad ones. And this is, in truth, of all the facts in the case, the most ap- palling ! That a man may be so good, and yet not good ; that he may come so near excellence, and yet so fatally miss it ; that he may be so little removed in moral quality from many who pass the ordeal of life with little reproach, and yet incur so deep a damnation — these are the facts which move and scare us when we know aright and fully the men who figure in history as atrocious characters. Carlyle's delinea- tion of Robespierre is the finest example, perhaps, of this cor- rect portrayal of a bad man's character that has been given to the world. The frightened reader, as he closes the awful Btory, has no maledictions for the wretched tyrant ; but sigh- ing, says, " J, too, might have been a Hobespierre." ADMISSION TO THE BAE, AND MAKEIAGE. 141 Youth is the lovely robe beneath -which the character is concealed while it forms ; or it is the flower which precedes the fruit, and which is often as beautiful on the tree that is going to bear ill fruit, or none, as upon that which will yellow the plain with its abuudaut golden showers. CHAPTEE X. AT THE NEW YORK BAK. Kew TOEK IN lTS3—JonN Adams's Impeessioms op toe City — The Diffekem BINDS OF LaWYT.RS — BURR'a QffALITY AND IIabITS A3 A LaWTEE— ANECDOTES — Hamilton and Buer at the Bae — Emoluments of tue Bak tuen — TuE Tastes AND Home op Buek — Scenes at Kicuuond Hill. Colonel Buee had removed to what we should now call a small town. From 1722, when Jonathan Edwards had been accustomed to go out beyond the suburbs of New York to the banks of " Hudson's river," and meditate with ecstacy upon the deep things of his theology, to 1783, when his grandson moved down from Albany to his fine house in Maiden Lane, to prac- tice law in the liberated city, was a period of sixty-one years, during which New York had increased in population from eight thousand to twenty-five thousand. It was the second city in the United States, Philadelphia having a population nearly twice as numerous. The State of New York, at that time, had less than three hundred thousand inhabitants, about a third of the number which now the city alone contains. In the year 1800, the city could only number sixty thousand in- habitants, and the State about half a million. The contract- edness of Burr's sphere of labor it is necessary to bear in mind. When John Adams made his triumphal progress from Bos- ton to Philadelphia to attend the first Congress, he stopped a few days in New York, which he then saw for the first time, and described in his Diary. He says that he walked to every part of the city in one afternoon, and. after seeing every thing in it worthy of a stranger's attention, went to the Coffee House and read the newspapers. His remarks, however, indi- AT THE NEW TOEK BAR. 143 cate the wealth of the city. He speaks of the elegant country Beats on the island; of the Broad Way, a fine street, very wide, and in a right line from one end to the other of the city ; of the magniticent new church then building, which was to cost twenty thousand pounds ; of the new hospital, a fine structure of stone ; of a ship-yard, where a Dutch East India ship ot eight hundred tons was building; of the "beautiful ellipsis of land, railed in with solid iron, in the center of which is a statue of his majesty on horseback, very large, of solid lead, gilded with gold, on a pedestal of marble, very high." The streets of the town, he adds, are " vastly more regular and elegant than those in Boston, and the houses are more grand, as well as neat. They are almost all painted, brick buildings and all." In the course of a day or two, the observant and plain- spoken patriot had an opportunity of seeing the interior of one of the elegant country seats, near " Hudson's river." From what he says of the sumptuosity of his entertainment, we may infer that then, as now, the New Yorkers were pro- fuse and ostentatious in their style of living. "A more ele- gant breakfast, I never saw," he writes ; " rich plate, a very large silver coffee-pot, a very large silver tea-pot, napkins of the very finest materials, toast, and bread and butter, in great perfection. After breakfast, a plate of beautiful peaches, another of pears, and a muskmelon, were placed on the table." Napkins and silver plate, in 1774, were rare luxu- ries in all but the very highest circles of European nobility. The rich furniture of the New York houses excited the con- tinual wonder of the honest Bostonian ; but the people of the city pleased him not. " With all the opulence and splendor of this city," says he, " there is very little good-breeding to be found. We have been treated with an assiduous respect but I have not seen one real gentleman, one well-bred man, since I came to town. At their entertainments there is no conversation that is agreeable ; there is no modesty, no atten- tion to one another. They talk very loud, very fast, and all together. If they ask you a question, before you can utter three words of youi" answer, they will break out upon you 144 LIFE OF AAEON B0EK. again, and talk away." New York strikes the Bostoniaa of to-day very much as it did John Adams in 1V74. The Ilevolution did not essentially change the character of the place, nor, as I conjecture, much retard its progress in wealth. But when the British troops evacuated the city, many of the wealtliiest Tory families, all the British officials, and, ndecd, most of those who had been regarded as the " society," of the town went with them, leaving it more exclusively a commercial city than it was. When we read in the letters and memoirs of the time allusions to the fascination of Colonel Burr's manners, and of the great things he accomplished merely by the charm of his address, we should, perhaps, at- tribute part of the effects to the general absence of personal style in the people. The honest, kindly, unornamental class of men were those over whom Ijis sway was most absolute; and it was in a bustling, trading town, that he ran the brilliant part of his career. Nor had he many competitors for the higher business of his profession. The history of the American bar remains unwritten, though the subject, to a writer able to handle it, presents unrivaled capabilities. We are left, therefore, to conjecture the strength of the legal profession when Bun- rose to eminence in it. John Adams, in the part of his amusing Diary just referred to, speaks of two or three lawyers in the city to whom he was introduced, and whom he mentions as persons of importance. One of the handsome houses that adorned " the Broad Way," was pointed out to him as the residence of the famous lawyer " Mr. Smith," and it was Mr. Scott, " an eminent lawyer," whose " very large silver tea-pot" and " very large silver coffee-pot," excited Mr. Adams's aston- ishment. It is very evident that the law was a lucrative and important profession in New York before the Revolution. It is equally certain that the disfranchisement of all the Tory law- yers, and the complicated suits growing out of the laws con- 'iscating the estates of Tories, gave to an able and active awyer, just after the Ilevolution, a most productive field of exertion. Aaron Burr was a man to improve such an oppoi- tunity. He came here a practiced lawyer. His name and AT THE NEW TOEK BAE. 143 iineage were of vast use to hira. The memory of President Burr was fragrant in the adjacent States ; and wherever men and women in those days were trying to live nobly, the name of Jonathan Edwards was a name of power, a name honorable and august. Hamilton and Adams looth testify that, as well in politics as in law, the celebrity of Burr's father and grand- father contributed powerfully to his early success. Yet in later times we often find other leading federalists sneerinir at him as a man without connections ; and nothing could moro clearly prove the ignorance which prevailed in that party of the country they aspired .to govern. As New England under- stood the word, no man had siich connections as he. Scarcely a family in that country but would have esteemed it an honor to receive nnder their roof the descendant of Jonathan Ed- wards and President Burr. Colonel Burr came to N"ew York, apparently, with no inten- tion to take any part in politics. As soon as the British had left the city, there was high excitement among the leading citizens relative to the offices which were to be filled. The State government had been organized long ago, and George Clinton was governor. But the city, remaining in the posses- sion of the enemy, had deprived the governor of his choicest patronage, which now was to be bestowed, all at once, upon long-expectant Whigs. Some influential friends at Albany, Avho had a great opinion of Colonel Burr's talents for the dis- patch of business, urged hira to apply for an appointment in the city. He said, in reply, that he was unwilling to be a competitor with any gentleman for an office. Then, said Judge Bogart, you must be contented with the character of a private gentleman, for there are long lists of applicants for all the offices in the city and county of New York. And a pri- vate gentleman he remained. The steps by which he was gradually drawn from the exclusive pursuit of his profession to mingle in political strife, will be narrated in a subsequent chapter. It is convenient now to regard him only as a lawyer, in which character he chiefly presents himself during the first eight years of his residence in New York. True, he served for two sessions, those of 1784 and 1785, in the State legisla- 7 146 LIFE OP AAEON B0EK. tnre ; but he attended the chamber only at important crises. From 1Y83 until 1791, the practice of the law absorbed the greater part of his time and attention. He was an ambitious man, then as always. But, until the formation of the general government in 1789, what was there in politics to excite desire in a man of ability ? Aaron Burr, a soldier by nature, a lawyer from necessity, was the same man at the bar as he had been in the field, and conducted a suit precisely on the principles which he liad ap- plied to the cai)ture of a fort, and the defense of the West- chester lines. Lawyers may, perhaps, be divided into three classes. To the first belong the great souls, who love justice, and who love law as the means by which justice is done. Of such lawyers, few everywhere, the American bar can boast, at least, its fair pro- portion. The second class comprises the majority of prac- titioners, whose single consideration it is to serve their clients by all the means which the bar stamps legitimate. If they triumph, it is well, whether justice triumphs with them or not, whether their triumph is due to a recognized legal trick, or to a right interpretation of the law. The third class are simply unscrupulous. They hang upon the outskirts of the profession and prey upon its ofFal. It is their trade to assist, to protect, and to deliver villains. To be a lawyer of the first description, and to excel in it, demands a broad, comprehen- sive, noble UNDERSTANDING. The second class requires a quick, acute intellect, tact, adroitness, self-possession, and great phys- ical stamina, together with a certain moral obtuseness, which enables a man to do in his professional, what he would not do in his private capacity. The third kind of lawyer is merely a scoundrel, cunning enough to obtain the rewards of crime without incurring its risks. To a place among the greatest lawyers, Aaron Burr has no title. He had not weight of metal enough for that. He was a light person ; tough, elastic, polished, penetrating, a perfect rapier, not a broadsword ; successful, while he did rapier's work, failing when a heavier blade was needed in his place. As a lawyer of the second grade, as a mere practitioner at the AT THE NEW TOEK BAE. 147 bar, I presume his equal never lived. In his hands, the law was a whole armory of weapons, in the use of which, as weapons, his daring was only equaled by his skill. In preparing his causes for trial, he was simply indefatigable. While there was an authority to be examined, while there was evidence to be procured, while there was an expedient to be devised, his efforts were never relaxed. And he gave no rest to his adversary, pursuing him with notices, motions, and appeals, improving every advantage, and exhausting all the means of annoyance ; until, from very weariness and despair, sometimes, the enemy has capitulated. Colonel Burr not only labored himself to the uttermost of the powers of man, but he had the art of exacting from his assistants an equal diligence. There was no resisting his requirements. Assistant-counsel would receive notes from him at midnight, when they were asleep, demanding instant replies, which obliged the drowsy men of law to refer to authorities and examine papers. On the day of trial, he had his evidence, arguments, and author- ities, marshaled in impenetrable array. Every possibility had been provided for. No man at the bar could ever boast of discovering a flaw in his preparation, or of carrying a point against him by surprise. Where no amount of legitimate preparation would avail, he had no scruples to employing a legal ruse. Indeed he delight- ed to surprise his adversary, to lay an ambuscade for him, and carry a case by an ingenious stroke before the other side could recover their self-possession. It is related, that, in an eject ment suit to recover a valuable house in New York, the oppo- sing counsel had expended their whole strength in proving the-genuineness of a will, supposing, of course, that that was the only point susceptible of dispute. What was their surprise to find, that Burr's main attack was against the authenticity of an ancient deed, one of the links in the title, which, having never before been disputed, had been provided with merely formal proof! The jury pronounced the deed a forgery, and Burr's client lived and died in possession of the property. Two courts have since pronounced the deed authentic. No means were too trival for him to employ, if he thought 143 LIFE OP AAEON BtTKE. them likely to promote his purpose. He used to say that ha had once saved a man fiom being hanged by a certain arrange- ment of tlie candles in a court room. He referred to a tiial for murder, in which both Hamilton and himself defended the prisoner, and which excited intense interest at the time. At first, the evidence against the prisoner seemed conclusive, and, I think, Burr himself thought him guilty. But as the trial proceeded, suspicions arose against the principal ■witness. Colonel Burr subjected liim to a relentless cross-examination, and he became convinced that the guilt lay between tlie wit- ness and the prisoner, with the balance of probability against the Avitness. The man's appearance and bearing were most unprepos- sessing. Besides being remarkably ugly, he had the mean, down look, which is associated with the timidity of guilt. HaraLlon had addressed the jury with his usual fluent elo- quence, confining his remarks to the vindication of the pris- oner, without alluding to the probable guilt of the witness. The prosecuting attorney replied, and it was now Burr's province to say the last word for the prisoner. But the day had Avorn away, and the court took a recess till candle light. This was extremely annoying to Colonel Burr, as he meditated enacting » little scene, to the success of which a strong light was indis- pensable. He was not to be balked, however. Through one of his satellites, of whom he always had several revolving around him, he caused an extra number of candles to be brought into the court-room, and to be so arranged as to throw a strong light upon a certain pillar, in full view of the jury, against which the suspected witness had leaned through- out the trial. The court assembled, the man resumed his ac- customed place, and Colonel Burr rose. With the clear con- ciseness of which he was master, he set forth the facts which bore against the man, and then, seizing two candelabras from the table, he held them up toward him, throwing a glare of light upon his face, and exclaimed, " Behold the murderer, gentlemen !" Every eye was turned upon the wretch's ghastly counte- nance, which, to the excited multitude, seemed to wear the AT THE NEW TOEK BAE. 149 very expression of a convictecl murderer. The man reeled, as though he had been struck; then shrunk away behind the crowd, and rushed from the room. The effect of this incident was decisive. Colonel Burr concluded liis speech, the judge charged, the jury gave a verdict of acquittal, and the prisoner was free. A ruse which he once played on General Hamilton, Burr re- lated to a legal friend, who told it to me. It occurred early in his practice at the New York bar, when he and Hamilton Avere in tlie first flush of success, and neither was disposed to concede superiority to the other. Both were engaged, for the first time, on the same side of an important cause, and it was a question which of the two should first address the jury. The etiquette of the bar assigns the closing speech to the leader of a cause, but it was not clear in this case who was the leader. Hamilton, who was certainly not an excessively modest man, hinted, in a rather ungracious manner, as Burr thought, that his friend Colonel Burr would open the argu- ment. With that imperturbable politeness that never forsook him. Burr assented to the arrangement without a word of ob- jection. Pie was nettled, however, and hit upon a little scheme of harmless revenge. He knew well the character of Hamilton's mind, and, from repeated conversations with him on the cause in which they were engaged, he knew every point which Hamilton would be likely to make in his speech. Burr prepared liimself with great care. When he came at length to address the jury, besides using his own arguments, he anticipated all of Hamilton's. He absolutely exhausted the case. There was nothing left for Hamilton to advance. The consequence was that that gentleman appeared to much less advantage than usual, and never afterward exhibited an undue desire to assume the place of honor in suits which he con ducted conjointly with Colonel Burr. A few of Burr's maxims respecting the practice of the law have been preserved. His sarcastic definition of law, as dealt out by courts, has been often quoted to his disadvantage. "Law," said he, "is whatever is boldly asserted and plausibly maintained." Whether the sarcasm is, or was deserved, let 150 LIFE OF AAEON BCBE. lawyers decide. Another of his sayings related to the man- agement of a case, after the enemy had proposed to capitnlate. Until that point was reached, he was for giving them no rest. But when a proposition for compromise had been received, he would say, " Now move slowly, never negotiate in a hurry." But the best of all his observations, at least, the most strik- ing and novel, was the following : " There is a maxim," said he, " ' Never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day.' This is a maxim for sluggards. A better reading of it is, Never do to-day what you can as well do to-morrow • because something may occur to make you regret your premature ac- tion." He used also, to say, that the art of using men con- sisted in placing each in the position he was best fitted for ; a vosiou of the recent phrase, " The right man for the right place." Ho showed unequaled tact himself in placing his men. Before selecting his assistants in a cause, he would ascertain and carefully calculate all the opposing influences — prejudice, interest, indifference, ignorance, political, local, and family feeling — and choose the men likeliest to combat them with effect. If there was a crank in the mind of a judge, he would find the hand that could turn it to his advantage. If there was a prejudice in the mind of a jury, he would con- trive, by some means, to bring it to bear in favor of his cli- ent. If learning and eloquence were essential, he would enlist their aid also. But his forte was in playing upon the amiable weaknesses of human nature. Above these, the great man lifts his hearers; for the time, makes them noblo and reasonable ; and while they are so, convinces thum. To Aaron Burr this majestic kind of mastery over men was not given. As in the battle-field, so in the crises of a suit, his compos- ure was perfect. The most unexpected event could not star- tle him. One day, as he and two other lawyers were arguing, in the court of chancery, a case in which he appeared for a very intimate friend of many years' standing, and in which he himself had an interest, a letter was handed him by a messen- ger. Apologizing, and requesting the lawyers to proceed iu AT THE NEW YOKE BAE. 151, their debate, he opened the letter, read it carefully, and then, quite in liis usual manner, refolded it, and laid it on the table with the address downward. The discussion proceeded for bout ten minutes longer. Colonel Burr listened with his usual attention, and, when a pause occurred, asked in his gen- lest and quietest tone, as if merely to solve a legal doubt wliich had casually risen in his mind, " What effect would the death of my client have on the suit ?" The lawyers started, and eagerly inquired his reason for asking. " He is dead," replied Burr, " as I learn from this letter ; will the suit abate ?'» From the strictness of his practice, he has been called a legal martinet. He asked no favors, and granted none. He defied an opponent to catch him tripping, and he never failed to subject his opponent's argument to just such treatment as he lind taken infinite pains to guard his own against. So fond was he of the technicalities of the law, that occasionally he indulged in them to the detriment of his client. At the same time, no man was more observant of the proper courtesies of the bar ; like a true knight, all complaisance, till the lists were joined, and the signal given for the fight; then the time had come for hard blows and rapid thrusts. Burr valued himself little upon his oratorical powers, and he used to say that he had seldom spoken with 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 from 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 LIFE OF AAEON BUEE. a great speaker ; as great in his way as General Hamilton wa3 in his ; and it was caid 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 bearing, 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 was 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 undei'taking 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 TOEK BAE. 153 that he gained over Hamilton some signal and unexpected triumphs.* On his arrival in New 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 New 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 New 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 Erastus Root, who was well acquainted with Burr in the height of his celebrity, was with him in the Assembly and in Congress, and often heard him speak in the courts, gives the following opinion of the powers of the two men: "As a lawyer and as a scholar Burr was not inferior to Hamilton. His reasoning powers were at least equal. Their modes of argument were very different. Hamilton was very diffuse and wordy. His words were so well chos3n, and his sentences so finely formed into a swelling current, that the hearer would be captivated. The listener would admire, if he was not convinced. Burr's arguments were generally methodized and compact. I used to say of them, when they were rivals at the bar, that Burr would say as much in half an hour as Hamilton in two hours. Burr was terse and con- vincing, while Hamilton was flowing and rapturous. They were much the greatest men in this State, and perhaps the greatest men in the United States." — SammonSs History of Political Parties in the State of Hew York 154 LIFE OF AAEOK B0EK. Upon tlio letter is an indorsement, in Hamilton's hand, to tho effect tliat the note had been " returned, as being too much:^ Certainly the present leaders of the New York bar would not take so modest a view of the value of their sei'vices. William Wirt, of Virginia, a very brilliant and successful lavvyer, 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, bnt whether it was as a lawyer or a speculator that he gained sq much, is not clear. Speculation in lands was much the rasre amon" the leadins: 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 sjpeculator, 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 Pludson, 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 la vogue. Talleyrand, Volney, Louis Philippe, and other strang- ers of distinction, whom the Fi-ench Revolution drove into exile, wei'e 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 a zealous buyer of books, and his stock had gone on increasing AT THB NEW TOEK BAB. 155 till, on attaiaing 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 fixvorite 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 Avorld 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- less. He was one of those lovers of his kind who believe in paan as saints once believed in God. A passionate lover of justice, a passionate hater of wrong, he waged a well-meant, ineffectual warfare against the State of Things. 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. Burr 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 ra7i7c Godminism! 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 OTT AAKON BUER. Benthamism has had its day ; it only excites wonder in us now that so estimable a man sliould have found delight in such di-eaiy doctrine ; but it is certain tliat 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 gi'eat 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 Bun-, Albert Gallatin was a lover of Bentham ; and it is likely enough that Burr de- rived his first knowledge of Bentham through Gallatin. Thf! " Edinburg Review," Scott's early poems, the Macken- zie's and Miss Burnett's novels, in a word, all the attractive literature of the da3', 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 aifection 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 accomjjanied 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 liome. It was just before dinner, she says, when the letters arrived, and the childien 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 Bar'.ow, AT THE KEW TOEK BAE. 157 when he espied the letters ; the surprise, the joy, the excla- mations exceed description. The greatest stole would have forgot himself. A silent tear hetrayed me no philoso2yher. A most joyous repast succeeded. We talked of our happiness, of our first 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 liim how liappy 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 sliould get it by rote, and mingle it with common ideas. Profane the sacred pledge! No ; it shall not be. I will economize the boon." In another letter she describes the inane behavior of some foolish guests with M'hom the family had been bored, and tells him how rejoiced she was 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 ai'e so prone to virtue. I see the reward of our assi- duity with inexpressible delight, with a gratitude few experi- ence. My 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 lemarkable. 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 fi^lled 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 returued^ — 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 eveiy face ; all 158 LIFE OF AAKON BUKK. expressed their past anxieties; their present happiness. To enjoy was the first result. Eacli 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. Tlie servants were made to feel their lord loas 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 Pleaven 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 tliat 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 80 many ages past. She seems to have awakened 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 m 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 AT THE NEW YORK BAE. 159 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 for me. Noth- ing is so unfriendly to every species of enjoyment as melan- choly. Gloom, however dressed, however caused, is incom- jDatible 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 New York grew so extreme, that, finding it impossible to proceed in the stage, the view of a vessel ofi" Tarrytown, 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 again, 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 badinaire for which his conversation was remarkable, but which appears unfrcquently in his letters. He had had some thouo-hts 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 AAEON BTTEE. scene, lost he should be tempted to buy it. Bat 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, which 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 fill 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 face to face. I 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 BAK. 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 fail 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 jsleasurc, 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 induced 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 LITE OF AAKON IJUKK. extreme, and took the liveliest possible interest in tlieir ad- vancement. The little Theodosia was now beginning her edu- cation, every step of which was thonglitftilly 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 wei-e his dai-ling virtues. He began to teauh his daughter these, at an age when most parents are teaching their chi'dien effeminacy. He would encourage her to go alone in the dark, to the least frequented parts of his lai'ge rambling house, and to sleep ia 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 NEW TOEK BAE. 163 with Colonel Burr. He really liked women, and all their lovely ways, and had a great opinion of their taste and ca- pacity. He preferred their society to that of men, at all pe- I'iods 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 me}i 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 whicii 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 of 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- 1C4 LIFE OF AAEON BtTEK. 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.* * In a former edition it was stated that Rufus King was one of the pxiblic men of that day who mismanaged their private interests. Tliis was an error. I learn that Mr. King, eminently faithful as he was to the public interests in the various Liijh offices which he fiUed, was a remarliably prudent manager of his private fortune. After a lifetime of generous expenditure, he left a considerable estate to bis children. CHAPTER XI. THE NEW YORK. POLITICIAN. Thb Sapidity of ms Eisb in Politios — Member of the State Legislatubb — Opposes the MEniiANics' Bill — Votes for the Abolition of Slavery — Par- ties AFTER tue Peace — TuE Great Families op the State — " Burr's Myrmidons" — The Ratification of the Constitution — Burr's Early Movements in Politics — Appointed Attorney-General of the State — His Eeport on the Kevolu- TioMARY Claims^ Sale of the State Lands — Elected to the Senate of tub United States. Colonel Buee'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, Jefferson, 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 grandfa,ther's name. Hamilton attiibuted it to Burr's unequaled wire-puUing. 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 AAEON BUKR. 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. He stood firm in his opposition. When his friends ofi"ered to protect his house from assault, he adroitly said that he 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, whatever might occur, he was able and prepared to protect himself The bill passed; but was returned from the Council of Revision with 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, populaj already for his gallantry as a soldier, could not bat add to hi? reputation for courage, a general confidence in his firmness anJ THE NEW YORK POLITICIAN. 167 address. It was calculated to win him friends amons his lesris- latue associates, among the propertied citizens, and among the very class whose wishes he had opposed, who 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 tlie same session, a bill was introduced into the legisla- ture for the gradual abolition of slavery in the State. 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, lie 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- 108 LIFE OF AAEON BUEB. 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 weie 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 vaiious 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 tho fiery, obstinate, north-ol-Ireland disposition which their ances- tor brought with hiin 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. THB NEW TOEK POLITICIAN. 169 Then there were the Schiiylers, 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 Plamilton 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 J 777, 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 fixmily, was more important than the Clintons or Schuylers. This was the Livingston family — rich, numerous, and influen- tial. At the lime 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 franier of the Constitution, afterward its stanch supporter, in later years the patron of Robert Ful- ton, and therefore immortal, was at this j)eriod the head and pride of the Livingston family. These were the three families. The Clintons had joower the Livingstons had 7iumbers, 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, 8 170 LIFE OP AAEON BUKE. in a State where only freehi Iders have a vote, and where there are not more than twelve oi 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 iu the State of New York for twenty years after the Revolution. For some years after coming to New Yorlc, Colonel Burr held aloof fiom these factions. Absorbed in tlie 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 thii'd. 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 iiis day ; endowed with equal valor and prudence ; formed to shine in every scene, and to succeed in every enterprise. Iiurr''s myrmidons, these young gentlemen were styled by General Hamilton. The Tenth 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 efiicient co-workers with their chief, that the Burrites 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 1707, all minds were fixed upon tha proceedings of the conventicn that was forming the Constitu- THE NEW TOKK POLITICIAN. 171 lion under Mhich we now live. The science of government never had svTch a tliorough discussion as it then received at the hands of editors, pamplileteers, and way-side politicians. Shall we have a slronf; 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 Consl-.tu- 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 tlie State he governed, and foreseeing its dcstinj^, 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 i-atification. Hamilton, who may almost be called the author of the Con- stitution, was of course its ablest champion. Jay, Robert R. 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, on 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 fraraers 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 m agitation, he was immersed in law business. In common with most of the leading men of that time, includmg 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 life, he used language like this: 172 LIFE OF AAEON BUBE. ""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 raistalien only in point of time. The crash will come, bat 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 Coloi;fcl Bui-r 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 " Tub Sons of Liberty, who ake again called upon TO contend with the sheltered aliens, avho have, by the COURTESY OF OUR OWN COUNTRY, BEEN PERMITTED TO REMAIN AMONG US, WILL GITE THEIR SUPPORT TO THE FOLLOWING ticket: William DBsriNo, Melancthon Smith, Marimus WlLLET, AND AaEON BuKE." 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 reflection. Clinton, however, was so rooted in the afiections of the peo- ple, that Hamilton despaired of electing an opposition candi- date by direct means. He therefore resorted to a maneuver, THE NUW YORK POLITICIAN. 173 which he would have eloquently denounced if it had been dft vised by Burr. Chief Justice Morris, it was generally sup- posed and desired, would have been the regular Federa. candidate. But six weeks before the election, Hamilton called a meeting in New York of moderate men of both parties, who nominated, as the opposing candidate, Judge Yates, an anti-Federalist, but a man, it was thought, who would be supported by enough Federalists to accomplish Hamilton's object, tile downfall of Clinton. Judge Yates was one oi 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 ajjpointed 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 ^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 6,891 votes ; Yates, 6,962 : 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 doion ; and, accordingly, I find writers, who give an account of this election, attributing political inconsistency and mancu- verino- to Burr. On the contrary, it was Hamilton who waa 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 i74 LIFEOFAABONBUBP months after the election, lie offered Burr the Attorney-Gen- eralship of the State. This was a tribute to the lawyer merely. The office was important and hicrative, but it was not given, at that day, as a matter of course, to a pnrtizan. For some days after the offej- w.as made. Colonel Burr hesitated to accept it, not fi'om any dislike to the office, as he informed the gov- ernor, but from other circumstances known to both, and there- fore not mentioned. September 2oth he signified liis wil- lingness to accept, and on the 2'rth he was appointed. It is conceded, I believe, by every one, that during the two years that Colonel Bun- held this office, its duties were performed by him with punctilious correctness and efficiency. In March, 1790, the Attorney-General was named one ot 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. Tiiese claimants were numberless. Some of them had served in the State militia, some in the Continental army, and some in both. Others had supplied jjrovisions 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 claimaints 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 oases 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 i^resented 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 NBW TOEK POLITICIAN. IVS mncli in reputation from the ability -witli -which they ■were de- veloped in the report. The Attorney-General in 1791 was 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 ricli 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 magnificient and productive region now known as westei-n New York, the garden of the northern States, was then a wilderness inhabited by Indians, and traversed only by Indian trails. Indeed the entiie 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 slowness, until, in 1791, the State treasury being in extreme need of re23lenisliment, and a whole army of creditors waiting only the award of the commissioners to present and press tlieir 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 terras, and in such mannei', as they shall judge most conducive to the interests of the State." Powers 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 the 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 LIFB OF AAEON BUKK. shillinsr. 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, comiDletely 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 Januar}', 17 31, 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 N"ew York ; and, as General Schuyler had drawn the short term, his seat would become vacant on the 4th of March, 1V91. He was a candi- THE NEW YORK POLITICIAN. 1V7 date fo? leSlection. 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 fall tide of hia 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. No coteniporary 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. Hildreth 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 s* 178 LIFE OP AAEON BtTEB. evincing any resentment to Mr. Burr for the part ht 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. Burr played upon this string a few years later with great efifect. 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 partizan, 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 qould be im- pressive or pleasing as the occasion required. Some members wjre, 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 New York legislature was agitated on the subject of the Xrnited States Senate sitting with closed doors ; one of the great little questions of the day. Schuyler, haughty old sol- dier that lie 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 OP AAEON BUEK. 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 wag 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. CHAPTEE XII. A SENATOR. Ektees TnB Senate — Tiib Senate's Interview wrTn Presfdent "WASiriNOTon — Burr's Address to the President — Letter prom the Frexcii Kino — • The President forbids Colonel Burr to Examine the Records — BuaB Talked op 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 Refusal to send him Ambassador to France — Third Presidential Election — Burr a prominent Candidate — Hamilton again Opposes him — Domestic Life — Death of Mrs. Burr — Education of his Daughter. On 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, which, 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 rej)ly to his speech. Colonel Burr, on their return, reported Monday, at noon, at the President's own house. 4t the time ap- 182 LIFE OP AAEON BUBE. 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, with 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 Mr. 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 publio 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- mended, and those which remain of former sessions, will en- gage our early consideration. We are encouraged to prose- cute them with alacrity and steadiness, by the belief that they will interest no passion but that for the general welfare ; by the assurance of concert, and by a view of those arduous and important arrangements which have been already accom- plished. " We observe, sir, the constancy and activity of your zeal for the public good. The example will animate our efforts to promote the happiness of our country." To this address, the senatorial record informs us, the Presi- dent was pleased to make the following reply : " Gentlemen : This manifestation of your zeal for the honor and the happiness of our country derives its full value from the share which* your deliberations have already had in pro- moting both. " I thank you for the favorable sentiments with which you view the part I have borne in the arduous trust committed to the government of the United States ; and desire you to be assured that all my zeal will continue to second those further efforts for the public good which are insured by the spirit in which you are entering on the present session." Whereupon, we may presume, the Senate made a formal and ceremonious exit, and then returned to their chamber. The session thus imposingly begun, lasted more than six months, but no spectator witnessed, and no corps of reporters recorded, the proceedings. The official record exists, but it is little more than a formal statement of votes. In Mr. Benton's valuable abridgment of the Congressional Debates, the pro- ceedings of this Senate, from October to May, occupy only five pages. On one of those pages the name of Colonel Burr occurs in connection with an affair which even now has a touching, interest. How grateful the people of the United States were to the French, and to the French king, for the timely help afforded by them in the late war, can not be realized by the present luxurious generation j nor how passionate and universal was 184 LIFE OF AAEON BITEE. the sympathy of the delivered nation with the subsequent struggle of the French for freedom. No sooner was America free, than France aspired. In the summer of 1789 the news of the Bastile's immortal storming thrilled the young repub- lic. Soon, the excesses of the Parisians, in their delirium of terror and desire, shocked the world, and gave pause to the more conservative even of Americans. The flight of the king iu 1V90, appears in the memoirs and letters of that age as a terrible event ; one which lost the revolutionists the sympa- thy of millions. But the king was brought back to Paris ; a grand reconciliation with the people he had misunderstood was enacted; the king accepted the constitution ; and France, for a week, was in ecstacies. Down to this period, and be- yond it, the great mass of Americans were ardent sympa thizers with the Revolution. But Washington, Hamilton, Adams, Rufus King, and other leading conservatives, began to be quite decided in the opinion that the French Revolu- tion was essentially diabolical, and could issue in no good to the French, or any other people. In March, 1792, the President sent a message to Congress worded with his usual caution, but so worded as to betray his own opinion. "Knowing," said he, " the friendly interest you take in whatever 7)%ay promote the happiness and prosperity of the French nation," he laid before them a letter just re- ceived from his Most Christian Majesty. The letter which poor Louis had sent his " very dear great friends and allies," was the following : " We make it our duty to inform you that we have accepted the constitution which has been presented to us in the name of the French nation, and according to which France will be henceforth governed. We do not doubt that you take an in- terest in an event so important to our kingdom, and to us and that it is with real pleasure we take this occasion to renew to you assurances of the sincere friendship we bear you. Whereupon, we pray God to have yon, very dear, great friends and allies, in his just and holy keeping." This letter having been read in the Senate, a difference arose as to the manner in which its reception should be ac A SENATOE. 185 knowledged. First, a frigid resolution was proposed, to the effect that the President be informed, that the Senate have received the news contained in the king's letter with satisfac- tion. This resolution was rejected by a vote of six to twenty- one ; Colonel Burr voting against it ; his colleague, Mr. King, for it. The resolution was then amended, so as to request the President to make known to the Icing that the Senate had re- ceived the tidings with the highest satisfaction. This was passed. Colonel Munroe, a few days after, revived the subject of the Senate's sitting with closed doors, and moved that, dur- ing the recess, galleries be constructed in the chamber for the accommodation of the public, who should, after the present session, be admitted to witness the proceedings. This propo- sition was rejected by a vote of eight to seventeen. Colonel Burr, who always favored the measure, and afterward assisted to carry it, was absent, I presume, when this vote was taken, as liis name does not appear in the record. Though Colonel Burr began his senaorial cai'eer by being the medium of the Senate's high courtesy to General Wash- ington, yet, before the session was over, he came into disa- greeable collision with the President. Burr was Business incarnate. His activity was irrepressible. Being now cut off from his ordinary emj^loyments, and having deliberately turned politician, he was eager to acquire knowledge respect- ing state-craft. It was one of his projects, too, to write a History of the American Revolution. For these reasons, he was often busy, during his first winter in Congress, among the records in the Department of State, of which his friend Jef- ferson was then the chief. Always an early riser, he was ac- customed, for a time, to go to the department as early as five in the morning. He emploj'ed a messenger to make a fire, a confidential clerk to assist him in searching and copying, a servant to bring him his breakfast ; and so, from five until ten o'clock, the business went vigorously on. This practice was continued till nearly the close of the session, when operations were interrupted by a peremptory order from the President, forbidding his further examination. Desiring to complete 186 LIFE OF AAEON B0EE. his knowledge respecting the late surrender of the western posts, he addressed a note to Mr. Jefferson, requesting permis- sion to make that particular examination. The Secretary re- plied that " it had been concluded to be improper to commu nicate the correspondence of existing ministers." Burr ap- pears to have regarded this as an uncalled-for and arbitrary- proceeding. It was in accordance with the system of the time ; but from what we tiow know of the relations of the persons concerned, and the scenes daily transpiring in the cab- inet, we may infer that if the searcher of the records liad been a Senator approved and trusted by the Secretary of the Treas- ury, he would not have been denied access to them — at least, not in a peremptoi-y manner. In April, 1792, there was to be an election for governor in the State of New York, and Colonel Burr was frequently men- tioned as a candidate. At that time, the respectable salary and immense patronage of the governor, rendered the office more imposing and more desired than a seat in the Senate. Burr was thought of as a candidate, first, by the Republican party, who feared to try the field again with Governor Clin- ton ; secondly, by the Federalists, who were not confident of succeeding with a candidate fully identified with their party ; thirdly, he was proposed as an independent candidate, on the ground that he belonged to no parti/, and would be supported by the moderate men of all parties. The truth is, that Colonel Burr was then a very popular man, and both parties would have liked to secure the advantage of his name and talents. While it was still uncertain whether he would run for the governorship, some of Hamilton's friends were of opinion that the best policy of the Federalists would be to support Burr, and they wrote to Hamilton to that effect. Mr. Ledyard, February 1, wrote from New York, that on his arrival in the city, he found that " a tide was likely to make strongly for Mr. Burr. Mr. Schuyler," he continues, " supposes that if Mr. Clinton and Mr. Burr were the only competitors, and his (Schuyler's) friends thrown out of the scale, it would be doubt- ful which succeeded." After showing that, to beat Burr, the Federalists must either support Clinton or run a third candi- A SENATOE. 187 late, neither of which was advisahle, Mr. Ledyard adds the following observations : " If Burr finally succeeds, and you have not the merit of it, it would be an event extremely dis- agreeable to me. With this impression, I have sought re- peated interviews with him, until I could procure an artless declaration of his sentiments, both with respect to the union n present grounds, and also with respect to you. He has expressed a sincere regard for the safety and well-being of the former. "With respect to your-self, he expresses an entire confidence in the wisdom and integrity of your designs, and a real personal friendship ; and which he does not seem to sujJ- pose you doubt of, or that you ever will, unless it may arise from meddling interveners." The next day after this letter was dispatched, James Wat- son, another leading Federalist, writes to Hamilton in a sim- ilar strain. Burr's chances, he thought, were good, and, if the Federalists should go for him, strong. Had they not better support him ? If they do not, will it not make him an oppo- nent of the Federal party, if he is not now ? If they do, will it not attach him to the Federalists ? And if he should turn traitor, will it not so destroy his popularity as to deprive him of the power of doing harm ? " Whenever," says Mr. Wat- son, " I imagine how much easier it is to embarrass and ob- struct the benign operations of government than to give it the requisite tone and vigor, I am solicitous to remove talents, perseverance, and address, as far from the opposition as pos- sible." "The absence of evil will continue to be desirable until the public mind becomes more quiet, and federal habits take deeper root. I shall only add that the cautious distance observed by this gentleman toward all parties, how- ever exceptionable in a politician, may be a real merit in a governor." Upon the proposal thus plausibly urged, Hamilton, the un- questioned loader of the Federal pai-ty in the State, placed his veto. A word from him would, in all probabihty, have made Aaron Burr Governor of New York in 1792. But that word was not spoken. The Federalists nominated the virtuous John Jay, the Republicans adhered to their old standard- 188 LIFE OF AAKOK BUEE. bearer, Governor Clinton, and the contest was a sti-ictly party one. It was the closest and angriest the State had yet seen, and the issue, instead of calming, exasperated parlies more than he strife itself. There was an informality in the canvass, and loth sides claimed the victory. The canvassers were eleven n number, of whom seven thought that Clinton had carried the State by a mnjority of one hundred and eight, while the remaining four were for giving the victory to Jay. After many stormy discussions, the canvassers agreed to request the opinion of the Senators, Rufus King and Aaron Burr, upon the point in dispute, which was the following : The law then required that the votes of a county should be sealed up by the inspectors of election, delivered into the hands of the sheriff, and by him or his deputy conveyed in- tact to the Secretary of State. Now, it chanced that the county of Otsego, on this occasion, had no sheriff. R. R. Smith had held the office, but his term had expired. Another gentleman had been ajJiJointed sheriff, but had not yet been sworn in ; and during the brief interregnum, the important business of receiving and conveying the votes had presented itself In these circumstances, Mr. Smith, the late sheriff, as was natural, performed the duty. But he was not the sheriff. Nay, he had been elected to the board of sujpervisors, an office mcompatible witli that of sheriff, and had actually taken his seat at the board, and performed official acts. Tiie question was, whether the votes received and sent by him could be le- gally canvassed. If yes, the Federalists had triumphed, and John Jay was governor. If no, the Republicans were in the ascendant, and George Clinton retained the power he had wielded for sixteen years. Every head in the United States that had a smattering of law in it was given up to the consideration of this great ques- tion in the spring of 1792. The two Senators, upon confer- ring, discovered that an irreconcilable difference of opinion existed between them on the subject. Colonel Burr proposed that they should, for that reason, decline advising the can- vassers. But as Mr. King avowed an intention of giving his A SENATOR, 189 own opinion, nothing remained but that Colonel Burr should give his also. The two opinions were given. Both wore able, clear, and brief. Mr. King's, which was for admitting the votes, carried conviction with it to every Federal raind in the country ; while Colonel Burr's, which was for rejecting tnera, was equally convincing to the Republican intellect. Indeed, it was, considering all the circumstances, a question really difficult to decide, and the best lawyers of that day dif- fered upon it, as doubtless would the best lawyers of the pres- ent day if it were submitted to them. Before giving his own, Colonel Burr obtained the written opinion of Edmund Ran- dolph (Attorney-G-eneral), Pierpont Edwards, Jonathan D. Ser- geant, and other eminent legal friends, all of whom coincided ■with him. On the other hand, Rufus King could exhibit an imposing array of names in support of his opinion. Mr. King was for having justice done ; Burr, for having the law ob- served. Both opinions were doubtless as sincere as they were characteristic* The canvassers, thus compelled to choose between two opinions diametrically adverse, decided, of course, to follow that which accorded with the political preferences of the ma- * The following is the material paragraph of Colonel Burr's opinion, which, he declared, was never answered, except by abuse; " There are instances of offices being exercised by persona holding under an authority apparently good, but which, on strict legal examination, proves defective ; whose acta, nevertheless, are, with soTne limitations, considered as valid. Thia authority is called colorahle, and the officer, in such cases, is said to be an officer cb facto ; which intends an intermediate state between an exercise strictly law- ful, and one without such color of right. Mr. Smith does not appear to me to have holden the office of sheriff, on the 3d of March, under such color or pretense of right. The term of his office had expired, and he had formally expressed his determination not to accept a reappointment ; after the expi- ration of the year he accepted, and e^en two days before the receipt of tho ballots, openly exercised an office incompatible with that of sheriff ; and it ia to be inferred, from tho tenor of the affidavits, that he then knew of the ap- pomtment of Mr. Gilbert. The assumption of this authority by Mr. Smith, does not even appear to have been produced by any urgent public necessity or imminent public inconvenience. Mr. Gilbert was qualified in season to have discharged the duty, and, for aught that is shown, his attendance, if really desired, might have been procured still earlier." 190 LIFE OF AAEON BTJEE. jority of their number. They pronounced George Clinton duly elected. The exasperation of the Federalists, upon the promulgation of this decision, was such that, for a time, the State seemed in danger of anarchy. For many years the dream of that party had been to see Clinton defeated, and a Federalist in the executive chair. He had been defeated, but the scepter which they were just about to grasp, they now saw snatched away from between their eager hands. Nothing but the moderation of Mr. Jay, and the general regard for law, which prevailed in the most order-loving of parties, saved the State from temporary confusion. As each Senator had decided in favor of his own party, the motives of both were assailed. Colonel Burr, it was charged, was an adherent of Governor Clinton, and wished to ingratiate himself with the Republicans. In a letter to a friend, written soon after he had given his opinion, he alludes to these accu- sations. " Upon the late occasion," he says, " I earnestly wished and sought to be relieved from the necessity of giving any opinion, particularly from a knowledge that it would be disagreeable to you and a few others whom I respect and wish always to gratify. But the conduct of Mr. King left me no alternative. I was obliged to give an opinion, and I have not yet learned to give any other than which my judgment directs. It would, indeed, be the extreme of weakness in me to expect friendship from Mr. Clinton. I have too many rea- sons to believe that he regards me with jealousy and malevo- lence. Still, this alone ought not to have induced me to re- fuse my advice to the canvassers. Some pretend, indeed, but none can believe, that I am prejudiced in his favor. I have not even seen or spoken to him since January last." Nevertheless, three months after these words were written, Governor Clinton nominated him to the bench of the Supreme Court of the State. Colonel Burr preferred to retain his seat in the Senate, and declined the judgeship. The attention of the public was soon drawn from questions affecting a single State to one in which all the States were equally concerned. For the second time, the young nation was to choose chief magistrates ; or, to speak more correctly, A SENATOR. 191 a Yice- President, for there could be no competition for the first office in the people's gift, while George Washington was willing to serve them in it. There was an opposition, it is true ; but its force was directed chiefly against Hamilton's measures ; and as soon as it was known that General Wash- ington had consented to serve another term, the hopes of the opposition were limited to the election of a Vice-President, in place of Mr. Adams. At that time, the reader must bear in mind, no one was directly nominated for the office of Vice-President. The Constitution required each presidential elector to vote for two persons to ffil the two highest offices ; the man who received the greatest number of votes was declared President, and he who received the next highest number was declared Vice- President. At the first presidential election ever held, the vote of the electoral college was as follows : For George Washington, 69 votes (the whole number) ; John Adams, 34; John Jay, 9 ; Robert H. Harrison, 6 ; John Rutledge, 6 John Hancock, 4 ; George Clinton, 3 ; Samuel Huntingdon, 2 ; John Wilton, 2 ; James Armstrong, 1 ; Edward Telfair, 1 ; Benjamin Lincoln, 1. Mr. Adams, therefore, became Vice- President though he received one less than a majority of the whole number of votes. At that election there was nothing like an organized opposition. Every elector's first choice was General W^ishington ; and for the second office named the favorite son of his own State, or a man particularly admired by himself. But now there was opposition ; of which more will be said m another chapter. At present the object of that opposition, as just remarked, was to elevate one of their own party to the Vice-Presidency. George Clinton, Governor of the State of New York, the man distinguished above all others in the Uni- ted States for his opposition to the adoption of the federal Constitution, was the candidate upon whom a majority of the party fixed their hopes, and upon whom its strength was finally concentrated. But, among the names mentioned in private circles and in public prints for the office, was that of Aaron Burr. Indeed, for a short period, it seemed uncertain who 192 LIFE OF AAEON BtJEE. would be the cnndidate of the opposition in some of the northern Stntes, Clinton or Burr ! Rufus King began to be alarmed for the success of Mr. Adams. September 17, 1792, we find him writing to Hamil- ton in this manner : " If the enemies of the government are secret and united, we shall lose Mr. Adams. Burr is industri- ous in his canvass, and his object is well understood by our antis. Mr. Edwarda is to make interest for him in Connecti- cut, and Mr. Dallas, who is here, and quite in the circle of the governor and the party, informs us that Mr. Burr will be sup- ported as Vice-President in Pennsylvania. Should Jefferson and ]]is friends unite in the project, the votes of Mr. Adams may be so reduced, that though more numerous than those of any otlier person, he may decline the office, Nothing which has heretofore happened so decisively proves the inveteracy of the opposition. Should they succeed in degrading Mr. Adams, much would be to be apprehended in respect to the measures which have received the sanction of government." It is but common fairness to remind the reader that this let- ter was written by a political opponent, who could not bejijer- sonally cognizant of Burr's movements as a politician. In reading letters, to be hereafter quoted, the same fact is to be constantly kept in view by those who wish to know the truth respecting the man and his times. Hamilton replies to Mr. King that he is astonished to hear of Burr's appearance as a candidate. The Secretary of the Treasury was evidently puzzled, and, perhaps, a little alarmed. A few days after, he wrote to a friend (whose name has not been revealed by the editor of his works) a long letter depre- cating the advancement of Burr, and denouncing him in the strongest language that even his vigorous pen could command. After saying that he was not yet quite sure that " Burr's ap- pearance on the Btage was not a diversion in favor of Mr. Chnton," he proceeds as follows : " Mr. Clinton's success I should think very unfortunate ; I am not for trusting the government too much in the hands of its enemies. But still, Mr. C. is a man of property, and in private life, so far as I know, of probity. I fear the other A SENATOE. 193 gentloman is unprincipled, both as a public and a private man. When the Constitution was in deliberation, his conduct was equivocal ; but its enemies, who, I believe, best understood him, considered him as with them. In fact, I take it he is for or against nothing, but as it suits his interest or ambition. He IS determined, as I conceive, to make his way to be the head of the popular party, and to climb, per fas aut nefas, to the highest honors of the State, and as much higher as circumstan- ces may permit. Embarrassed, as I understand, in his circum- stances, with an extravagant family, bold, enterprizing, and intriguing, I am mistaken if it be not his object to play the game of confusion, and I feel it to be a religious duty to oppose his career. *' I have hitherto scrupulously abstained from interference in elections; but the occasion is, in my opinion, of suiBcient im- portance to warrant, in this instance, a departure from that rule. I therefore commit my opinion to you without scruple ; but in perfect confidence. I pledge my character for discern- ment, that it is incumbent on every good man to resist the present design." This was written on the 21st of September. On the 26th, he writes to another unnamed person in the same strain. "Mr. Burr's integrity as an individual," says Hamilton, " is not un- impeached," and, " as a public man, he is one of the worst sort. Secretly turning liberty into ridicule, he knows as well as most men how to make use of the name. In a word, if we have an embryo Caesar in the United States, 'tis Burr." These letters were not designed for the amusement of the Secretary's correspondent. In a few days, Rufus King writes back to him, that " care has been taken to put our friends at the eastward on their guard.'''' The letters produced effects, we see. To General C. C. Pinckney of South Carolina, Hamilton writes to the same purport, and urges him to promote the elec- tion of men friendly to the administration. As he denounced Burr in his northern letters, he assails Jefferson in his south ern — Jefferson, his colleague in the cabinet. '"Tis suspected by some," he says, "that the plan is only to divide the votes 9 ]94 LIFE OF AAEON BUEE. of the northern and middle States to let in Mr. Jefferson by the votes of the South. I will not scruple to say to you, in confidence, that this also would be a serious misfortune to the government. That gentleman whom I once very much es- teemed, but who does not permit me to retain that sentiment for him, is certainly a man of sublimated and paradoxical im- aginations, entertaining and propagating opinions inconsistent with dignified and orderly government." Five days later, the active Secretary of the Treasury writes another letter upon Burr, but in a much more guarded man- ner. "My opinion of Mr. Burr," he remarks, with admirable consistency, " is yet to foem, but according to the present state of it, he is a man whose only political principle is to mount, at all events, to the highest legal honors of the nation, and as much further as circumstances will carry him. Impu- tations, not favorable to his integrity as a man, rest upon him, but I do not vouch for their authenticity." On the 21st of September, then, he was willing to pledge his character for discernment, that Burr was an embryo Csesar. On the 15th of October, his opinion of the individual was yet to form. The good Hamilton was a man of very ardent feel- ings ; he was devoted to the support of the system he had created ; and was apt to give way to a too sweeping denunci- ation of the men whom he disapproved. And besides, his cor- respondent of September was, probably, a man he could more implicitly trust, than he could him of October. But these denunciations might as well have been spared. It is certain, that neither Burr nor his friends entertained a serious thought of his competing for the Vice-Presidency He received just one vote. Of the eight electors of South Carolina, seven gave their second vote for John Adams; one for Aaron Burr. The number of electors had increased, in four years, from 69 to 132. George Washington again re- ceived the whole number. For John Adams, 77 votes were cast ; for George Clinton, 50 ; for Thomas Jefferson, 11; for Aaron Burr, 1. This single vote, given by a personal friend, probably, may have been of some importance to Burr, in asso- ciating his name, in the popular mind, with the office. A SENATOR. 195 For six yeai's, Colonel Burr played a distinguished, and occasionally, a conspicuous part in the Senate of the United States. And that is nearly all we know of him as a Senator. He was renowned as an orator, but no speech of his exists, except in faint outline. John Taylor writes a note to him, on one occasion, in which he uses this language : "We shall leave you to reply to King : first, because you desired it ; second, all depends on it ; no one else can do it ; and the audience will expect it." There are allusions in the political papers of the day to a great speech delivered by Burr in opposition to Jay's treaty, which evidently gained him much applause. It is spoken of as though every one was acquainted with it ; as we should allude to one of the well-known speeches of Clay or Webster. Rufus King, I am enabled to state, was of opinion that Burr's talents as a debater were overrated. In conversing upon those times, Mr. King would say that Burr had a rare faculty in summing np a discussion, but that he added to it few ideas of his own. He never opened a debate. But where a question had been discussed to exhaustion, he knew how to use well the vast stores of information which had been elicited, and to set in new and dense array the argu- ments that had been used by others. This faculty, aided by his persuasive and emphatic manner, made him a favorite speaker ; and the more, as he never wearied an audience by prolixity. That he was an industrious member is indicated by the number of committees upon which he served. The records show, however, that he was not generally in his place during the first and last days of a session. We may infer from his correspondence that he was full of occupation of some kind in Philadelphia. He fi-equently alludes to the heaps of unopened letters upon his table. He acted with the liberal, or Republican party, invariably. He contended for an open Senate, session after session, till, in 1794, the measure was carried by a vote of nineteen to eight. He supported the resolution that " every printer of newspapers may send one paper to each and every other printer of news- papers within the United States, free of postage, under such 196 LIFE OF AAEON BUliK, regulations as the Postmaster-General shall provide." He fa^ vored the admission of Albert Gallatin to serve as a Senator, ■which was opposed on the ostensible ground that he had not been a citizen of the country for the requisite nine years. He took the lead in opposing Chief Justice Jay's mission to En gland, for the twofold reason that it was unnecessary to send any minister at all to England at that time ; and that it was contrary to the spirit of the Constitution, impolitic and unsafe, to select an embassador from the bench of the Supreme Court. All measures tending to the support and comfort of the Fi-ench in their struggle with the leagued despotisms of Europe, found in Burr an advocate. In a word, he was a leader and cham- pion of the party which acknovvledged Jeflferson as its chief, and boasted the adherence of Madison and Monroe. After Burr's downfall, Jefferson used to say that he had never liked him ; and that, at the very height of Burr's pop- ularity, be had habitually cautioned Madison not to trust him too far. " I never," wrote Jefferson once, "thought him an honest, frank-dealing man ; but considered him as a crooked gun, or other perverted machine, whose aim or shot you could never be sure of." But this was in 1807. There is abundant proof, that, in the full tide of his senatorial career. Burr's standing, both with the leaders and with the masses of his party, was only second to that of Jefferson himself Take this incident, for example. In 1794, the unpopular- ity of Gouverneur Morris, the American minister in France, was at its height. The republicans of Paris, and the repub- licans of the United States, were aware of his utter want of sympathy with the Revolution, and were clamorous for his recall. General Washington had let fall an intimation of his willingness to yield to their desire, and to appoint a member of the opposition in his place. Accordingly, a caucus of the Republican Senators and Representatives was called to select a candidate to be proposed to the President for the mission. The caucus agreed to recommend Colonel Burr. Mr. Mad- ison and Ml-. Monroe were members of the committee ap- pointed to wait upon General Washington, and communicate the preference of the caucus ; and in the interview with tho A SENATOE. 197 President, Mr. Madison was the spokesman. After hearing the message, General Washington was silent for a few mo- ments. Then he said, it had been the rule of his public life never to nominate for a high and responsible office a man of whose integrity he was not assured. He had not confidence in Colonel Burr in that respect, and therefore must decline nominating him. The committee retired, and reported the result of the interview. The caucus unanimously resolved to adhere to their nomination, and requested the committee to inform the President of the fact. General Washington was evidently irritated by the second proposal of an offensive name, and replied with warmth that his decision was irrevo- cable. He added, apologetically, "I will nominate yon, Mr. Madison, or you, Mr. Monroe." Madison replied that he had, long ago, made up his mind not to go abroad. The committee, upon reporting the result of the second confer- ence to the caucus, found it more inflexible than ever ; and were instructed to go a third time to the President, and say that Colonel Burr was the choice of the Republican Senators and Representatives, and that they would make no other rec- ommendation. This message was delivered to the Secretary of State, who, knowing the President's feelings on the sub- ject, declined delivering it. Colonel Monroe was finally selected. Reflecting upon this circumstance, the idea will occur to the individual long immersed in the reading of that period that this invincible distrust of Colonel Burr was perhaps im- planted, certainly nourished, in the mind of General Washing- ton by his useful friend and adherent, Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton was not a person to conceal from General Washing ton his repugnance to the man whose career he felt it a relig ious duty to oppose. Washington had trusted and applauded Burr in the Revolution. Whence this utter, this resolute dis- trust, if not derived from the minister in whose sagacity and honesty the President had such absolute faith? Another suspicion steals over the immersed intellect. The remarkable pertinacity of the democratic caucus may have been partly owing to the desirableness of removing an unmanageable 198 LIFE OF AABON BFEK. candidate three thousand miles from the scene of the next presidential election. From that contest the preeminence of General Washington was to be removed, and a President was to be chosen. Jeffer- son was the choice of a majority of the Republicans ; but, since the last election, Burr had made surprising advances in popularity and importance. George Clinton was eclipsed. Burr was everywhere spoken of as the Republican choice for the second office, and there were certainly a respectable num- ber of persons in the country who preferred him for the first. We find numerous indications of this in the letters and papers of the time. A gentleman writes from Boston to Hamilton, December 9th, 1796: "Your Judge Smith sent letters to some of our electors, and, I believe, to New Hampshire, soliciting votes for Burr very strongly, and rather pressing for Jeffeison." Hamilton writes to Rufus King (then in Eu- rope), December 16th, 1796 : " Our anxiety has been extreme on the subject of the election for President. If we may trust our information, which we have every reason to trust, it is now decided that neither Jefferson nor Burr can be Presi- dent. * * * The event will not a little mortify Burr. Vir- ginia has given him only one vote." We may infer from this language, that there was a period of the canvass when Hamilton, the brains and nerve of the Federal party, apprehended the possibility of Aaron Burr's succeeding General Washington in the presidential chair ! But, not to dwell upon this campaign — since a more stirring and a more decisive one awaits us — the result of it was as fol- lows : John Adams received VI votes ; Thomas Jefferson, 68 ; Thomas Pinckney, 59 ; Aaron Burr, 30 ; Samuel Adams, 15 ; Oliver Ellsworth, 11 ; George Glintonj V ; John Jay, 5 ; James Iredell, 2 ; George Washington, 2 ; John Henry, 2 ; Samuel Johnson, 2 ; C. G. Pinckney, 1. So John Adams became Pres- ident, Thomas Jefferson, Vice-President; and Aaron Burr was conspicuously before the country as a candidate for those coveted places. Of the 30 electoral votes cast for Burr, Ten nessee gave him 3 ; Kentucky, 4 ; North Carolina, 6 ; Vir ginia, 1 ; Maryland, 3 ; Pennsylvania, 13. Not a vote did he A SENATOE. 199 get from a Puritan State ; nor did Jefferson. New England "was as Federal as she was Puritanical, and had no vote for the anti-Federal grandson of her Puritan-in-chief. This fact does not countenance John Adams's emphatic assertion, that the capital upon which Burr embarked in the business of politician was the fame of his father and grandfather. While thus Colonel Burr had been striding toward the high places of the world, events of importance had occurred in his own household. Before entering upon the decisive period of nis political life, let us pause here for a moment and see how he appeared, in the day of his glory, as a husband, as a par- ent, and as a master. As years rolled on and cares increased, the letters of Mrs. Burr to her husband became longer, and less in the style that Juliet would have used in writing to banished Romeo. But they were warm, confiding, and elegant ; as his were to her. They were the letters of a careful and devoted wife to a hus- band she was proud of, and desired above all things to help and gratify. To her he confided every thing. His business was left partly in her care, and with her he conversed upon his political plans. He sometimes gave her information to be communicated to his political friends in 'Sew York. Occar sionally, during the session of Congress, he would hurry away upon the adjournment of the Senate on Friday, to meet hia wife at Trenton, and after spending Saturday and Sunday in her society, return on Sunday night to Philadelphia. To the last, she was a happy wife, and he an attentive, fond husband. I assert this positively. The contrary has been recently de- clared on many platforms ; but I pronounce the assertion to be one of the thousand calumnies with which the memory of this singular, amiable, and faulty being has been assailed. No one now lives who can, of his own personal knowledge, speak of the domestic life of a lady who died sixty-two years ago But there are many still living whose parents were most inti mately conversant with the interior of Richmond Hill, and who have heard narrated all the minute incidents of the life led therein. The last of the old servants of the family died only a short time ago ; and the persons best acquainted with 200 LIFE OF AAEON BURR. the best part of Burr's character are still walking these streets. His own letters to his wife — all respect, solicitude, and affec- tion^confirm the positive asseverations of these. I repeat, therefore, that Mrs. Burr lived and died a satisfied, a confid- ing, a beloved, a trusted wife. Soon after her husband "turned politician," her health, never vigorous, began to fail, and her maladies at length con- centrated into a cancer of the most virulent and ofiensive de- scription. She lingered long in anguish. Her husband, both by personal attentions and by the advice which he sought from the most eminent physicians, did much to relieve her suf- ferings — did all that mortal aid could do. He studied her case. He described her symptoms to his friend. Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia, and concerted with him a new treat- ment. But nothing availed to stay the ravages of the disease. He proposed at one time to leave Congress, that he might de- vote himself exclusively to attending upon her. She besought him not to do so, and he remained in Philadelphia till her dis- ease assumed a form that threatened speedy dissolution. She became, at length, an object most pitiable to contemplate ; and in the spring of 1794, death relieved her sufierings, and de- prived of their mistress the heart and home of Aaron Burr. They had lived together twelve years — twelve happy and tri- umphant years. Burr was not given to sentiment. It was his principle not to mourn over an irrevocable calamity. " The best compliment you can pay me," he used to say to his wife, " is to be cheerful while I am absent." If he did not visibly grieve over her death, to the last day of his life he spoke of her in terms of emphatic and unqualified admiration. Among the very last words he ever spoke, was a sentence like this : "The mother of my Theo. was the best woman and finest lady I have ever known." His daughter, a rosy little girl of eleven, was all that now made his house a home. From her infancy his heart and mind had been interested in that most fascinating of employ- ments, the culture of a being tenderly beloved. With what unwearied assiduity he pursued the sweet vocation! His let- A SENATOE. 201 lers, ^Tl•itten from his senatorial desk at Philadelphia, snow that his homo thoughts were divided between the sick mother and the studious child ; and when the mother's sufferings were over, the daughter's improvement absorbed his care. lie pur- sued this darling object intelligently. " Cursed effects of fashionable education !" he writes to his wife, in Theodosia's tenth year, " of which both sexes are the advocates, and yours eminently the victims. If I could foresee that Theo. would become a mere fashionable woman, with all the attend- ant frivolity and vacuity of mind, adorned with whatever grace and allurement, I would earnestly pray God to take her forthwith hence. But I yet hope, by her, to convince the world what neither sex appear to believe — that women have souls !" He appears to have gone to the opposite extreme. In her tenth year she was reading Horace and Terence, in the orig- inal Latin, learning the Greek grammar, speaking French, studying Gibbon, practicing on the piano, taking lessons in dancing, and learning to skate. Like all her race, she was precocious, and was accounted a prodigy, and she really was a child of superior endowments ; but no girl often could pursue such a course of study without injury. Doubtless, the deli- cacy of her health, in after years, was due to this excess of study in childhood. As a child, however, she seemed to thrive upon the too luxurious diet ; for though she had the family diminutiveness, she was a plump, pretty, and blooming girl. The moral precocity, which is so much more deadly than mental, she escaped, as it appears she told fibs, begged off from practicing, and was excessively fond of a holiday ; which may have kept Horace and Gibbon from destroying her. The plan of her education was not merely devised by her father, but he personally aided in carrying out eveiy part of it. He explained her lessons, he gave minute directions to her nu- merous instructors, he would have nothing learned by rote, he encouraged her with commendation, he gently ridiculed or sharply rebuked her indolence. When he was in Philadelphia, he required her to write to him frequently. He replied as often, mentioning each of her mistakes in spelling and gram- 9* 202 LIFE OF AAEON BUEE. mar, remarking upon tlie writing and style of bar last letter, comparing it with former efforts, and awarding praise or blame, as lie thought she deserved. His letters to her are very kind, very thoughtful, very ingenious, often very wise and good. Burr inherited the true pedagogical instinct. One of his epistles he concludes thus : " Let me see how handsomely you can subscribe your name in your next letter, about this size." In another, he tells her how much pleasure it would give him if she could contrive to lug into her letters occasionally a scrap of Terence, apropos. Sometimes he exults over the correct- ness of her last letter, telling her he had showed it to Dr. Rush, or some other friend, who thought it must have been written by a girl of sixteen. He reminds her to sit up straight, €]se she will go into a consumption ; and then " farewell papa, farewell pleasure, farewell life." He gives her the most mi- nute directions respecting the style and arrangement of her letters; tells her that he never permits one of hers to remain unanswered a single day, and demands of her the same promp- titude. The moral advice which he gives her is, most of it, very excel- lent. He insists upon her treating her governess with the most perfect respect and consideration. "Remember," he says, " that one in the situation of madame has a thousand things to fret hei- temper ; and you know that one out of humor for any cause whatever, is apt to vent it on every person that happens to be in the way. We must learn to bear these things ; and, let me tell you, that you will always feel much better, much hap- pier, for having borne with serenity the spleen of any one, than if you had returned spleen for spleen." Nothing could be better than that. In the same letter he remarks : " I have often seen madame at table, and other situations, pay you the utmost attention, offer you twenty civilities, while you ap- 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 SKNATOE. 203 and as if you felt above showing the least to any body. I 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 Mfer 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 yoii 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 say to her, " JBe 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 I 204 LIFE OF AAEOU BUEE. Colonel Stone, in his Life of Brant, the Indian chief, gi\ e8 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 hifti a dinner party, which Volney, 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 commmiicated 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 New 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 Hosaok. 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^ The anthropophagi, and men whose heads Do grow beneath their shoulders,' A SENATOE. 205 Bhe added, sportively, that she bad 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 lie is confined by his leg, he mustpay the greater attention to his reading aoidwriting.'" 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 his 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 lie 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 G-eorge and the horses are in good order, and all the fam- ily 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 !N"ancy her letters ever 206 LIFE OP AAEON BUEE. 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, in the same letter, that there has been a report in the )aper 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 Nancy, 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 was 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 bad 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 BRA OF BAD PEELING. Tub three Periods op ottr History — Parties before the Eetoltttion — Parties AFTER TUB EeVOLUTION — EfFEOT OF THE FeENCH REVOLUTION DPON AMERICAN Politics — Hamilton — Jefferson ^Tiie tone op Society on Jefferson's re- turn FROM France — The Differences between Hamilton and Jefferson — Rise op the Democratic Party — John Adams — Public Excitement in 1798. It was the fortune of Aaron Burr to contribute, in a re- marlcable 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 he 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. Jefierson 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 Jefierson ; 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 BUEE. Bnri-'s tactics. The tyiird 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 was eminently a period of " bad fseling ;" as periods are apt to be in which narrow opinions and the narrow virtues that grow out of them, are rudely as- sailed by the larger, half-comprehended ideas of a greater time coming. To give an adequate picture of that eventful and most interesting time would require a volume, and a genius. A few glimpses are all that can be afforded here. Until George III. began to reign (1760), the political parties of the American colonies were about the same as those of England. John Adams, who could himself remember as far back as 1745, has a great deal to say, in his diaries and letters, about parties and partizans in America before the Revolution. Besides "Whigs and Tories, he records there was a party for the Pretender in the colonies. One of his letters contains the following passage : " You say, our divisions began with Fed- eralism and anti-Federalism. Alas ! they began with human nature ; they have existed in America from its first plaatation. In every colony divisions always prevailed. In New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Massachusetts, and all the rest, a court and country party have always contended. Whig and Tory disputed very sharply before the Revolution, and in every step during the Revolution. Every measure in Con- gress, from 1774 to 1787 inclusively, was disputed with acri- mony, and decided by as small majorities as any question is decided in these days." In another letter of Mr. Adams's, the following interesting statement occurs : " It was reported and believed (in the colonies) that George II. had uniformly resisted the importu nities of ministers, governors, planters, and projectors, to in- duce him to extend the system of taxation and revenue in America, by saying, that ' he did not understand the colonies ; he wished their prosperity. They appeared to be happy at present ; and he would not consent to any innovations, the consequences of which he could not foresee.' " THE EEA OF BAD PEELING. 209 Sensible king ! But, early in the next reign, the " minis- ters, governors, planters, and projectors" began to have their way ; and from that moment began the histoiy of parties in America. How slow the loyal colonists were to resist, or even to remonstrate ! " No king," wrote Joseph Reed, in 1'7V4, "ever had more loyal subjects, nor any country more affectionate colonists than the Americans were. I, who am but a young man, remember when the king was always liien- tioned with a respect approaching to adoration, and to be an l£nglishman was alone a sufficient recommendation to any office or civility. But I confess, with the greatest concern, that those happy days seem swiftly passing away." In the year preparatory of the Revolution, Whig and Tory were words of meaning. Shall we submit ? Shall we re- sist ? The issue was marked. Beginning with a minority of one, the party for resistance gathered strength with every new aggression, till, in lY'ZB, two thirds of the native colo- nists, as John Adams computed, were in favor of independ- ency. Tmo thirds ! not more ; as any student of the period will soon discern. In 1777, it is questionable if the Whigs were even in a majority. We read without surprise, for hu- man nature is human nature even in the most heroic times, that when the British army was approaching, people hastened to nail a rag of Tory red to their front doors, and when the patriot army marched by, the rags of the whole region turned Hue. The war ended. Blue was in the ascendant, and Red was nowhere. The active rich Tories fled ; the active poor To- ries, cowed and suppliant, became, as we have seen, a bone of contention with the exultant Whigs. Human nature asserted itself, and again there were two parties in the country. In the numberless suits and questions that arose in the State of New York respecting the property and rights of the ex-Tories, Hamilton and his Schuylers were the champions of a defeated, a prostrate faction. Burr and the Clintons were the defend- ers of the doctrine that to the victors belonged the spoils of victory. Next arose the great question of the acceptance or rejec- 210 LIFE OF AAEON BUEE. tion of the Constitution. After a period of doubt and strug- gle, the intensity of which the average modern reader can know nothing about, because the historian has not yet emerged who can tell the story, the Constitution was ac- cepted, and set in motion. The battle then subsided, but did not cease. The anti-Federalists still clamored for amendments. They thought the central government too strong, too impos- ing, too British. It reduced the importance of the States. A Governor, who had held his head high above all men's, was an insignificant official in comparison with the Peesident of THE United States ! The Federalists, on the contrary, thought the government fatally inefficient. It became, however, the general desire, that the Constitution, such as it was, should have, at least, a fair trial. With that feeling, Washington turned his back upon the home where he was alone a contented man, and journeyed with heavy heart to New York to organ- ize the new government. It must be mentioned that the country was still very En- glish. Social distinctions were marked and undisputed^ and a gentleman was a gentleman. Thei'e were great land-owners in the interior who held the position in society that country gentlemen now do in England. They had numerous tenants ; they were justices of the peace ; they were elected, as a matter of course, to the legislature ; they were the gentry of the country, to whom the country, without a rebellious thought, took oiF its hat. "Society" in the cities was exclusive. It consisted of a few great families, who admitted within their circle only officials and other consequential persons. A gentle- man was really an imposing figure at that day. Years after the Revolution, John Hancock dressed in a style that now, even upon the stage, we should think rather extravagant. Upon his powdered and pig-tailed head, he wore a cap of red velvet, which covered, without concealing, one of white cambric ; the cambric being turned over the velvet, and forming a border two inches wide. A blue damask gown, lined with silk, a white stock, a white satin embroidered waistcoat, black satin breeches, white silk stockings, red morocco slippers, silver buckles at knee and instep, were other articles of his attire. THE EEA OF BAD FBELIIfG. 2H Above all there was in Ws manner a mingled dignity and sweet- uess, which was not rare at that time, but the very tradition of which is now scarcely known to the people of the United States. Politeness was one of the exclusive, superficial good things which democracy had rudely to destroy, in order that a deeper and better politeness might become possible and uni- versal/ a politeness without any lies in it. The power of the "gentry" was, of course, lessened by the Revolution. They had never been a numerous class in the colonies ; and the Revolution ruined perhaps one half of them. The peace drove a large number to Canada and En- gland. The young nation, therefore, over which Washington presided, was a nation of rustics, but rustics who had, as yet, but dim perceptions of their rights and power, rustics habitu- ated to take oif their hats to gentlemen who were got up re- gardless of expense, and who rode about in chariots drawn by four horses, or by six. The French Revolution woke the dozing giant. The first delirium over, the French had to fight a continent in arms, and during that enormous contest there could not be a neutral heart. American politics, in those years, resolved themselves into this all-including question. Which side shall toe take ? Or, which nation shall our young republic adopt as ally and exemplar, France or England ? Fear intensified the excitement with which this question was discussed ; for the nation was not yet powerful ; it was a boy looking on while giants wrestled. Every one feared for the stability of the new, the untried government. Some thought it would dissolve into anarchy ; others, that it would degenerate into monarchy; some lived in terror of war; others foreboded national bankruptcy. Nothing but an all- pervading and constantly-operating fear could, I think, have wrought uf> the two parties into such a frenzy. This genera- tion has witnessed the landing on these shores, amid the salute of a thousand guns, and the cheers of two hundred thou- sand excited spectators, of the orator Kossuth. From that great furore, judge of the nation's delirium when, to its natural Bympathy with a beloved nation struggling against despots, 212 LIFE OF AAEON BURB, was added a feai- of being drawn into the maelstrom of their prodigious warfare. The ardent souls, I know, desired '.his ; as the same temperaments were for drawing the sword in de- fense of Hungary. But the nation knew better ; knew that peace was its only policy. In time, too, came slights, insults, injuries, first from one belligerent, then from the other, to mingle rage with the other inflamed passions. At the seat of government, during this excitement, there were four men of more importance than any others, as well from their great characters as their great places. These were Washington, Hamilton, Adams, and Jefferson. Of Washing- ton I need not speak. For sixty years, the object of the un- disorirainating eulogy of politicians and rhetoricians, who have sought to use his vast popularity*for their own purposes, the character of the man has been so obscured, that to only the most studious eyes can it now become discernible. By claim- ing for him every excellence known to human nature, his true glory is sacrificed, and the benefit of his great example squan- dered. But I am not to speak of him, and need not, for the part he played in this drama was more passive than active. He was the Rock to which the ship of State was moored. The great measures of his administration were devised by Hamil- ton, his first Secretary of the Treasury, who was the real ruler of the country during all these twelve years' of democracy's struggle for supremacy. Alexander Hamilton was a shining specimen of a class of characters which Great Britain produces in numbers : men of administrative ability, of active, suggestive intellects, but of understandings that will not admit a revolutionary idea — that is, an idea really in advance of their time. These men wield the tools of government with dexterity ; with pertinacity they cling to the old methods. Hamilton, it must be ever remem- bered, was no American; he never understood America ; and, as he himself confessed, he was " not the man for America." The English government was his ideal ; his dream was to make America a larger and better England. He was foi- a * Rufiis King -wrote to Hamilton from London, that the most popular men m England were, first, George III., and, next to Mm, George Washiugton. THE EEA OP BAD FEELING. 213 strong, a- regular, an imposing government ; he supported General Washington in his levees, his state dinners, his speeches to Congress, his birth-day celebrations, and the other forms which reminded the Republican party of a royal court. He thought the interested support of the wealthy classes was necessary to a strong government. He was exactly as much of a Democrat as George IH. or William Pitt. In the people he had no faith ; and thought it vain to attempt to convince them by argument and fact ; the mob was an unreasoning child, to be coaxed, flattered, used, and, above all, governed. This enormous blasphemy against God's image he repeats, in great variety of phrase, in his jDrivate letters. " You are your own worst enemies," he once said, in a stump speech, to the people of this city. The basis of Hamilton's moral character was noble and dis- interested ; no man more honorable in his feelings than he ; none more generous or more kind. He loved the country of his adoption, and would have died to save it ; that is, to con- vert it jDcrmanently to his way of thinking. He was confident that the " crazy old hulk of a Constitution," as he used to term it, could not last. A crisis was approaching. When it arrived, then the Federalists would save their country by giv- ing it a government that could govern. But Hamilton was an honorable man : he would stand, he said, resolutely by the Constitution till the old hulk did go down ; it should have the fairest of fair trials. He was morbidly in earnest. Gouverneur Morris, who loved the man, says, in one of his letters, " Our poor friend, Hamilton, bestrode his hobby, to the great an- noyance of his friends." Hamilton had no gi*eat hold upon the people except as the man trusted and preferred by Washing- ton. I think Washington liked him better than any man in the United States ; for Hamilton, too, was an honest man, and he had, what the Pi-esident had not, a rapidly-suggestive mind, and a fluent tongue. Honest, I say ; but not honest as Wash- ington was honest. In the maddest party contentions, Wash- ington's integrity was never shaken, nor questioned, except by fools. But in the strife of parties, Hamilton did, more than once, more than twice, advise measures which no man will 214 LIFE OF AAEON BUEI5. now defend. He had the foible, so common in this country- after the Revolution, of valuing himself chiefly upon his mili- tary talents. He had also the soldierly weakness with regard to women. His passions were warm, and he indulged them ; but not, as is often whispered, and sometimes printed, to the extent of profligacy. He loved lovely women, and lovely wo- men loved him. In one notorious instance, probably in other instances, his passions led him astray. The full-length portrait of Hamilton, painted by Trumbull for the city of New York, which used to adorn the old Ex- change, and was snatched, damaged, from the great fire ot 1835, is preserved at the Library of the New York Historical Society. The picture is precious, and should be either re- stored or copied. Within these few years, Mrs. Hamilton stood before it, and pronounced it " a good likeness of the general." On the torn canvas, we discern a slight, erect, under-sized, elegant figure, with a bright, rosy face ; a man, one would think, more fitted to shine on the battle-field and in the drawing-room, than in an oflioe with a hundred clerks around him.* A writer who saw Hamilton, describes him in these words : " He was expected one day at dinner, and was the last who came. When he entered the room, it was apparent, from the respectful attention of the company, that he was a distin- guished individual. He was dressed in a blue coat, with bright buttons; the skirts of his coat were unusually long. He wore a white waistcoat, black silk small-clothes, white silk stockings. The gentleman who received him as a guest, in- troduced him to such of the company as were strangers to * The bust of Hamilton by Cerraoci in the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts showa us a different face. . The features are good enough, but not liber ally disposed ; a somewhat contracted countenance, with slightly overhang- ing forehead, and a mass of propelling force behind the ears. There is also a miniature of Hamilton in this city, painted from life, which exhibits a sensual fullness of cheek and chin. It is an instance of the unreliableness of history, that of the six most accessible portraits of Hamilton, only two (and thosa the worst pictures) look as if they were designed to resemble the same person. THE KKA OF BAD FEELING. 215 him ; to each he made a formal bow, bending very low, the ceremony of shaking hands not being observed. The fame of Hamilton had reached every one who knew any thing of public men. His appearance and deportment accorded with the dignified distinction to which he had attained in public opinion. At dinner, whenever he engaged in the conversa- tion, every one listened attentively. His mode of speaking was deliberate and serious ; and his voice engagingly pleasant. In the evening of the same day he was in a mixed assembly of both sexes ; and the tranquil reserve noticed at the din- ner table, had given place to a social and playful manner, as though in this he was alone ambitious to excel." A man thus endowed, and possessing a Scotch tenacity of pur- pose, can not but powerfully affect the opinions of the society of. which he is a leader and an ornament. Hamilton did. Be- sides being the soul and intellect of the Federal party, he gave to the upper society of the cities its tone and tendency. But there was another man of ideas, of will, and of talent, acting conspicuously upon the scene ; Thomas Jefferson, Sec- retary of State. This man, a gentleman by birth, a Demo- crat from conviction, a reflective philanthropist by disposition,* had been abroad from 1785 to 1789, and so escaped the travail of Constitution-making. He left his country while its natural tendencies to Republicanism were at full tide. He found France heaving with the coming earthquake. With his own eyes he saw the haggard, thistle-eating peasants. With hiS' own hand he felt and weighed the sorry morsels of black bread that mothers gave to hungry children. In his journeys through fair France, he was much in the joeasants' hovels, and looked with a wrathful brothei-'s eyes upon those mean abodes. On the sly, when the good woman's face was turned, we see this singular gentleman feeling the bed upon which he had taken care to sit, to ascertain its material and quality, and looking into the pot to see what the poor wretch was cooking for her children's dinner. His office of embassador made him a resident of chateaus and a frequenter of courts, and he could see precisely how much of natural right the puny seig- neurs and stolid monseigneurs had to lord it over the sons of 210 LIFE OF AAEON BUEB. toil. The '''■folly of heaping importance upon idiots" became exceedingly clear to Thomas Jefferson. He was one of those rare Americans whom a European tour has instructed and confirmed in humane principles, not effeminated and befooled. In person, as in character, Jefferson was a contrast to Ham- ilton. He was a tall man, six feet one in stature, it is said ; well enough proportioned, but not of a compact, energetic build. His legs were long, and seemed loose-jointed. His Welsh extraction showed itself in reddish flaxen hair, a light complexion, blue eyes, and a general Celtic cast of features. His manner, says tradition, was plain and friendly, not polished nor imposing. He was a good-tempered man, and his writings, as we see, are calm and flowing. But there was fire in Thomas Jefferson. Under the cold surface of some of his letters, wo can see the lava of his convictions flowing white hot. He was no orator : he never made a speech, I believe. His influence was owing entirely to his character, his social rank, and, above all, to the accordance of his convictions with the instincts of the people of the United States. Jefferson was eminently a man of opinions, as distinguished from action, as Hamilton was a man of action, as distinguished from oj^inion. " Thought," says Goethe, " expands : action narrows." Jefferson had all the breadth and liberality which enlightened opinion bestows ; but in devising measures and carrying on the actual business of governing a State, he would have been excelled, perhaps, by Hamilton. In the revoluiionary war, the ardent, executive spirits of the country sought glory in the field. But Jeffer- son, the scholar, the philosopher, the jurist, remained a civilian to the last, and served his country only with his name, his mind, and his pen. This fact, in connection with another, namely, that he was only thirty years old when the war broke out, indicates the man of books. At all periods of his life, war and violence were abhorrent to this contemplative lover of his species. It is the fashion now to underrate Mr. Jefferson. In the saloons of our Historical Societies, in the volumes of Mr. Hil- dreth's History of the United States, and, indeed, in most polite circles and books of the present time, the character of THE EEA OF BAD FEELING. 217 the Great Democrat fares ill. The polite circles and hooka of the United States have never sympathized with what alono makes the United States a nation of promise. And Thomas Jefferson, like General Washington, has heen for fifty years the victim of incessant eulogy. The student of history, there- fore, sits down to the investigation of his life and character with a feeling of weariness and disgust, expecting to find him as complete a disappointment as other great names of that period prove to be on close examination. But no ; Jefferson, to the surprise of the reader of his works, is discovered to be a person of original and solid merit. He more than shared the enlightenment of the foremost man of his age ; he was in ad- vance of his age ; his country has not yet come up to Thomas Jefferson. If to General Washington, more than to any other man, this young nation owes its existence, to Thomas Jeffer- son, more than to any other man, it owes the peaceful preser- vation of its grand peculiarity. Faults, indeed, he had, and faults he committed. An inexecutive man in an executive sta tion is sure to make mistakes. But his merits and services, immense and various, almost beyond example, fill me with grat- itude and admiration — sinner as he was against my poor hero. Longing for his native fields, Jefferson left France in the glorious year of the Bastile, and came home to Virginia. He had no misgivings about the Revolution : he understood and loved the Revolution. Before that purifying storm had burst upon an astounded world, he had watched and hailed the signs that foretold the coming vindication of the rights of man. Up 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 new 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 AAEON BUEK. in Virginia in December, IVsg, 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 my 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 with which the table conversations filled me. Politics were the chief topic, and a preference of kingly over republican government was evidently the favorite sentiment. An apos- tate I could notbe, 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 bi-anch equality of rejjresentation, 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- THUS EBA OF BAD FEELING. 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 life, 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. Adams had originally been a Republican. The glare 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. Plamilton 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. Plamilton 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 as the representative of "the Jays, the Hamiltous, and the Kings," whom he evi- dently regards as the elect of the human race. AUuding to the gentleman who thought that the vestry of Truiity should not have unchecked control of the church's great estate, the honorable and unlearned Senator said, "Neither Jack Cade nor Ledru Eollin ever proposed any thing bolder. All Jacobinism stands without its parallel. The attacks upon the noblesse of Prance, 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 HamUtonian. But for Hamilton to speak in that manner of the French Eevolution was excusable, as ho died before the labors of scores of historians and biographers had flooded that pe- riod with hght. 220 LIFE OP AAEON BtTEE. 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 ; Jeiferson was an avowed and emphatic dissenter from that creed, and went to the Unitarian chapel. And finally, Hamilton, the ex-cle,rk, was a very fine 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 Philadelj)hia, have given their opinions to me, that nothing b-ut 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 ErtA OF BAD PEELING. 221 lity, when ten thousand people, and perhaps many more, irere parading the streets of Philadelphia on the evening of my fast day ; when even Governor Mifflin himself thought it his duty to order a patrol of horse and foot to preserve the peace ; svhen 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 exjsense 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 Dulce 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 AAEON BUEE. should probably have been drawn into an altercation, no less disagreeable than indiscreet, had not the general, ia a friendly manner, pncified 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. Ho ' 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 outwai'd and visible sign of an inwai'd 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 Jeiferson. 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 httle 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 cent for it,' was plebeian." Among the \)enefits bestowed upon the country by Jefferson, one was its THE EEA OP BAD FEELING. 223 admirable currency ; which, if he did not invent, he so advo- cated as to insure its adoption. A ludicrous anecdote related by 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, as the narrator told me, while he was being shaved by the leading barber of the city — who was, of course, a Federal- ist — 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 JSTew 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 upon 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 his country !' " The reader, I hope, is one of those who will see in these ex- tracts proof that what democracy destroyed was either sham, or so mingled with sham, as to be insejiarable from it. But many of our sedate and stately forefathers could not see this. Jefferson was a name of horror in New 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 beginning 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 1787. During Washington's first term, several new papers were started, but 224 LIFE OP AAEON BUEE. in his second term, and in the first half of Adams's administra- tion, the number of newspapers doubled. There were more daily papers published in Philadelphia in 1798 than there are in 1857. In the lieat of the warfere between the Federalists and Republicans, the political papers went rabid, and foamed personalities and lies. What Jefferson says of the press, after some years of this madness had spoiled it for every good purpose, may be quoted here : i " 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 Icnown 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 Ijnown 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 war, 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 infornied 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 risl< his own reputation for their truth. ThtJ second would contain what, from a mature consideration of all circumstances, his judgment should con- THE EEA OF BAD FEELING. 223 ducle 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 tho 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 1 Such is something like the impression left upon the mind o-f 10* 226 LIFE OF AAEON BUEE. 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 wi'ong 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 ujDon 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 THS EEA OF BAD FEELING. 227 office of prime minister of England, would not have bean 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 he French Revolution ; and in another, admiration of the English government ; and in another, distrust of the masses of the people. " You thought," said Adams to a correspond- ent, " the French Revolution a minister of grace : I knew it to be, from the first, a goblin damned." One of his letters to his wife contains a characteristic passage on equality. " By the law of nature," he writes, " all men are men, and not angels — men, and not lions — men, and not whales — men, and not eagles — that is, they are all of the same species ; and this is the most that the equality of man amounts to. A physical inequality, an intellectual inequality, of the most serious kind, is established unchangeably by the Author of nature ; and so- ciety has a right to establish any other inequalities it may judge necessary for its good. The precept, however, do as you would be done by, implies an equality which is the real equality of nature and Christianity." In one word, John Adams was not in unison with the hu mor of the age ; and, being a passionate, dogmatical, obsti- nate John Bull of a man, he took not the slightest pains to conceal the fact, or to conciliate the people with whom he had to do. During his presidency it was, that party animosities reached their height. He was elected by a very small plu- rality. The Republicans of I'TOS were nearly as much elated and encouraged by their defeat as were the Republicans of 1856 by theirs. Events in France gave the President signal advantages, which another man would have turned to such account as to secure the supremacy of his party for years after. Adams continued to fan the flames of party spirit by all that he did, and by all that he did not do. The state of public feeling in 1797 and 1798, may be in- ferred from these sentences from the letters of Thomas Jeffer- son : " The passions are too high at present to be cooled in our day. You and I have formerly seen warm debates and high political passions. But gentlemen of different politics 228 LIFE OF AAEON BFEK. would then speak to each other, and separate the business of the Senate from that of society. It is not so now. Men who have been intimate all their lives, cross the street to avoid meeting, and turn their heads another way, lest they should be obliged to touch their hats." To another friend he writes : "At this moment, all the passions are boiling over, and one who keeps himself cool and clear of the contagion, is so far below the point of ordinary conversation that he finds himself insulated in every society." To another : " The interruption of letters is becoming so notorious, that I am forming a reso- lution of declining correspondence with my friends through the channels of the post-office altogether." With these very miscellaneous and inadequate notices of the stirring and eventful period during which America became America, we must resume the story of the man whose dili- gence and tact assisted the people of the United States to realize their fond desire for a government which should truly represent them, and heartily execute their will. CHAPTEE XIV. MBMBEB, OF THE ASSEMBLY AGAIN. BUItR EETmES FROM THE SENATE — TflE FEDERALISTS IN PoTTER — Pre-EMINENT POSI- TION OF IIaMTLTON — BUBB IN THE ASSEMULY — HiS PREPARATORY MANEUVERS — Hamilton Opposes Biter's appointment to a Generalship — The Army — Tna Manhattan Bank Atfaib — Burr's First Duel, and its Cause. Ik Greenleaf's New York Journal and Patriotic Register for February 2cl, 1797, amid whole pages ablaze with the vic- tories of Bonaparte's Italian campaign, and bristling with the short, sharp bulletins and proclamations of that portentous conqueror, may still be seen a little paragraph which records, in the fewest words possible, an event of some interest to us, which had taken place in Albany nine days before. The para- graph reads thus : " On the 24th ult., Philip Schuyler was unanimously (excepting one vote in the Assembly and one in the Senate) elected to the office of Senator of the United States by the two Houses of the legislature of this State, for six years, from the 4th of March next, on which day the seat of Aaron Burr, one of our present Senators in Congress, be- comes vacant." The services of the old soldier, then, were recognized at last. The Federalists were in the ascendant, and the Repub- licans, as I conjecture, chose to gratify a war-worn veteran with their votes, rather than throw them away upon a candi date of their own party. Schuyler was touched with the unanimity of the vote. He was a member of the State Sen ate at the time, and he took occasion to express his feelings in a bhort speech, full of honest, manly feeling. The Federalists, as just observed, were in the ascendant in the State of New York. John Jay was governor. He had recovered much of the popularity lost by negotiating that 230 LIFE 01" AAEON BTJEK. famous treaty with Great Britain, for defending which on tho stump Hamilton had been hooted and stoned in the streets of New York a year before. The party looked strong, and was strong. France had become a by-word and a taunt, to which the Republicans had hardly the faith or face to reply. The Federalists had only to use their victory in a conciliatory pirit, and the State was permanently their own. One important loss, however, they had sustained, which led afterward to other damaging defections. The Livingstons had gone over, enfamiUe, to the Republican party. The story is, that the family were chagrined, that Chancellor Liv- ingston, who had powerfully assisted both to form the Consti- tution and to get it adopted, should have been overlooked in the distribution of the great offices ; a circumstance which they attributed to the jealous enmity of Hamilton. The irate Chancellor, it is said, caused the family to be convened ; and from that evening, it was observed, the Livingstons, except some remote and rural members of the family, voted and acted with the Republicans. Accordingly, we find the Chan- cellor, at the banquet given in New York in 1796, to celebrate tlie ninth anniversary of the alliance between France and the United States, offering the following toast : " May the present coolness between France and America produce, like the quar- rels of lovers, a renewal of love." If this account of the cause of Chancellor Livingston's change of politics be correct — and it is given by Dr. Hammond, the charitable historian of New York parties, on what he states to be high authority — it only proves that General Washing- ton was right in thinking Chancellor Livingston an unfit pei'- son for the office of Chief Justice of the United States. Let us admit, however, that the opinion was general, at that time, that Hamilton used his influence with Washington to crush the enemies and rivals of the house of Schuyler, and it was doubtless trying to feudal human nature for the head of the Livingstons to see himself debarred from coveted distinction by a foreign adventurer's influential word. Hamilton was now approaching the summit of his career. Triumphant in his own State, strengthened at Philadelphia by MEMBEE 01" THE ASSEMBLY AGAIN. 231 the election of his father-in-law to the Senate, known to be the favorite of the nation's favorite, the unquestioned leader, though not the head of the dominant party, and the confidential ad- viser of the cabinet, Hamilton was playing a great part in the national aifairs. It has been before remarked, that, during the first twelve years of the young nation's existence, it was he who really administered the government. For four years, as Secretary of the Treasury, he devised the great measures; for four years, as Washington's adviser and word-furnisher, as popular essayist and party-intriguer, he supported the system himself had created ; for four years, his was the mind to which Mr. Adams's ministers looked for suggestion and advice. Can- did John Adams, when all was over, declared, that during his presidency, Hamilton was "commander-in-chief of the House of Representatives, of the Senate, of the heads of Department, of General Washington, and last, and least, if you will, of the President of the United States." He had won distinction in many of the pursuits, wherein to excel is counted peculiarly honorable First, orator and pamphleteer; then soldier, law- yer, statesman, author, in swift succession, and in each capacity unrivaled. In society too, who so welcome as the young and handsome chief of the gentlemen's party, who knew how to lay aside in the drawing room the cares of State, and to charm the gentler sex with the grace of his manners, the sprightliness of his wit, the warmth of his homage ? What wonder that the amiable man should have felt his importance. Let it be ever remembered, to his honor, that through all these years of suc- cess and glory, his most constant thought was for the supre- macy of the system which he conscientiously believed to bo essential to the prosperity, and even to the prolonged exist- ence of the Union. The election of Schuyler to the Senate could not, of course, take Colonel Burr by surprise. Before that event was an- nounced, he had matured plans for getting the State of Ifew York out of the hands of Hamilton and the Federalists. His first ?,tep was to secure his own election to the State legisla- ture which was the easier from the fact that the city, oven then was more inclined than the rural counties to the demo- 232 LIFE OF AAEON BUEE. cratic party. Accordingly, General Schuyler, about the time be was conning his speech of thanks to the State Senate for their suffrages, wrote to Hamilton, in alarm, to the following effect : " Mr. Burr, we are informed, will be a candidate for a seat in the Assembly ; his views it is not difficult to appreci- ate. They alarm me, and if he prevails, I apprehend a total change of politics in the next Assembly — attended with other disagreeable consequences." He did prevail. But nothing particular came of it, so far as could be seen by the uninitiated eye. In the years 1797 and 1798, Colonel Burr seemed absorbed in law and speculation. To a great extent he was so. His inactivity was even a sub- ject of- complaint with some members of the party; but it is probable that his unnoticed exertions during those two years contributed as much to the final victory as his more obvious efforts at a later day. With the people, a presidential cam- paign means merely the few months of turmoil just previous to the election; but the politician knows that the first three years of a presidential term, when the people are occupied with their own pursuits, is the period for him to maneuver in. This was more the case then than now, because then only freeholders voted, and leading individuals had far more con- trol over votes than they can have where universal suffrage prevails. The fact, too, that presidential electors were chosen, not by the people, but by the legislature, gave an immense opportunity to a man skilled in jDolitical management. In a political assembly, though on a test question one party may be sure of a majority, yet there will always be a certain number of men whose jiartizan feelings are weak, and who are therefore open to influence. It was upon these intermediate members that Colonel Burr knew how to play, particularly the influential country members, who brought to Albany the purest intentions, unsophisticated minds, and an inflammable vanity. A member of uncouth manners, and homespun dress, whom a dainty Federalist would have thought beneath his notice. Burr was aware might be the great man of a western county, and carry its vote in his pocket. Such a member, bursting with desire perhaps to hear his own voice in the MEMBEE OF THE ASSEMBLE AGAIN. 233 chamber, and to show his constituents his name in the news- papers, Colonel Burr would request to introduce a resolution, or to do some other formal business, that would flatter his sense of personal consequence. Judge Peck, for example, was subjected to this kind of treatment. Burr was extremely de- sirous, for a while, that the presidential electors should be chosen directly by the people, as he supposed the State could be more easily revolutionized in that way. Peck was selected to introduce the resolutions asking for a committee on the subject, though there were a dozen members better able to support them. " Judge Peck," says Dr. Hammond,* " although a clear- headed, sensible man, was an uneducated emigrant from Con- necticut. His appearance was diminutive, and almost disgust- ing. In religion he was fanatical, but in his political views he was sincere, persevering, and bold ; and, though meek and humble in his personal demeanor, he was by no means desti- tute of personal ambition. He was an itinerant surveyor in the county of Otsego, then a new and uncultivated part of the State. He would survey your farm in the day time, exhort and pray in your family by night, and talk on politics the rest of the time. Perhaps on Sunday, or some evening in the week, he would preach a sermon in your school-house. No man knew better the political importance of such a man, in a society organized as the society of the western counties then was, than Colonel Burr, and lie spared no pains to cause Mr. Peck to be identified with the Republican party. Various anecdotes have been related to me, which exhibit the care which Colonel Burr took to shape trifling matters in such a way as to act on the mind of Judge Peck and others, so as to produce the great result at which he aimed. The selection of Judge Peck to ofier the electoral resolutions, flattered his vanity ; it called out upon him the malediction of leading Fed- eralists ; and in that way widened the breach between him and his old political friends. Mr. Burr, it is said, with equal skill and perseverance, applied himself to General German, then a plain, but strong-minded and highly popular farmer of * History of Political Parties lq the State of New York. 234 LIFE OF AAEON BUEE. Chenango. The support of the democratic cause by these two men was of great importance to the success of the Re- publican party in April, 1800. I do not think it too much to say, that had it not been for the papers circulated by Judge Peck and General German, and their personal exertion and in- fluence, the western district, in the year 1800, would have been Federal." The electoral scheme failed in the Senate, through the op position of the Federal Senators, and nothing remained for the Republicans but to concentrate their efforts upon securing a Republican majority in the legislature to be chosen in April, 1800. Before entering upon that campaign, there are a few personal incidents of Burr's life at this period to be related. In the summer of 1797, Monroe and Hamilton had an angry correspondence growing out of Hamilton's amour with Mrs. Reynolds. A duel at one time appeared inevitable, and Mon- roe named Colonel Burr as his second. The affair, however, was otherwise arranged. In the winter of 1798, Colonel Burr sat in the Assembly at Albany, engaged in pushing private bills, and preparing the way for future operations. A grand coup which he had meant to try at this session,^ was, for reasons now unknown, deferred till the next. The year 1798 was the time when the insolence of the French Directory toward the United States provoked the government to measures of retaliation, which, for the moment, were concurred in by a great majority of the people, and gave an imposing show of strength to the Federal party. An army was voted ; General Washington was named commander- in-chief; Hamilton was made his second in command ; a num- ber of brigadiers were appointed. That there might be no sign wanting of coming war, a commercial revulsion set in, and the prisons, as Jefferson records, were full of the most reputable merchants. Hamilton, now inspector-general, was the foremost man of all the nation (for "Washington was to take command only in case of actual hostilities), and about the first use he made of his new authority, was to defeat the honorable ambition of Colonel Burr for a military appoint- MEMBBB OF THE ASSEMBLY AGAIN. 235 inenl. In the lately published tenth volume of the works of John Adams, there is a long letter upon Hamilton's intrigues, written in 1815, in which occurs the following statement re- specting this matter : " I have never known," wrote the ex-President, " in any country, the prejudice in favor of birth, parentage, and de- cent-more conspicuous than in the instance of Colonel Burr That gentleman was connected by blood with many respecta- ble families in ISTew England. He was the son of one presi- dent, and the grandson of another president of ISTassau Hall, or Princeton University ; the idol of all the Presbyterians in New York, New England, ISTew Jersey, Pennsylvania, Mary- land, Virginia, and elsewhere. He had served in the army, and came out of it with the character of a knight without fear, and an able officer. He had afterward studied and practiced law with application and success. Buoyed up on those relig- ious partialities, and this military and juridical reputation, it is no wonder that Governor Clinton and Chancellor Liv- ingston should take notice of him. They made him Attor- ney-General, and the legislature sent him to Congress, as a Senator, where he served, I believe, six years. At the next election he was, however, left out ; and being at that time somewhat embarrassed in his circumstances, and reluctant to return to the bar, he would have rejoiced in an appointment in the army. In this situation, I proposed to General Wash- ington, in a conference between him and me, and through him to the triumvirate (Washington, Hamilton, and Pinckney) to nominate Colonel Burr for a brigadier-general. Washington's answer to me was, ' By all that I have known and heard. Colonel Burr is a brave and able officer ; but the question is, whether he has not equal talents at intrigue ?' How shall I describe to you my sensations and reflections at that moment. He had compelled me to promote, over the heads of Lincoln, Clinton, Gates, Knox, and others, and even over Pinckney, one of his own triumvirates, the most restless, impatient, artful, indefat- igable, and unprincipled intriguer in the United States, if not in the world, to be second in command under himself, and now dreaded an intriguer in a poor brigadier ! He did, how- 236 LIFE OF AAKON BUKE. ever, propose it to the triumvirate, at least to Hamilton. But I was not permitted to nominate Burr. If I had been, what would have been the consequences ? Shall I say that Hamil- ton would liave been now. alive, and Hamilton and Burr now at the head of our affairs ? What then ? If I had nominated Burr without the consent of the triumvirate, a negative in Senate was certain." The biographer of John Adams (the grandson of that im- petuous old patriot), gives other particulars. He says that during the presidency of Mr. Adams, while the French ex- citement was at its height, and war seemed certain, Hamilton, Knox, and C. C. Pinckney were nominated as next in rank to General Washington in the army then forming. But it was left uncertain who of the three should be the second in com- mand. The Federalists clamored for Hamilton. (Hamilton himself declared, in effect, that he would accept of nothing less.) The President invited Washington to decide the ques- tion. But between the general's preference for Hamilton, and his reluctance to wound the feelings of the veteran Knox, he hesitated so long that the intriguers of Adams's cabinet adopt- ed an expedient to hasten his decision. " In the casual con- versations of the cabinet," says Mr. Francis Adams, " the President had let drop some intimation of a ■jvish to give a share of the commissions to leading military men of the op- position. Among the names mentioned by him were those of Aaron Barr, and Peter Muhlenburg, of Pennsylvania. Knowing the strong dislike entertained of the former by Washington, intimations were soon given him of the tenden- cies of the President, and the possibility that he might be lia- ble to have Burr forced upon him as quarter-master-general, or in some other confidential post." This was enough. Ham- ilton was soon named second in command, and Knox resigned in disgust. Thus, again, Hamilton triumphed, and in a signal manner, over his rival, whom, indeed, he seemed now to have finally distanced. From a story told by General Wilkinson, who visited New York about this time, we may infer that Hamilton himself had come to regard Burr in the light of a spent poll- MBMBKE OF THE ASSEMBLT AGAIIT. 237 tician. Wilkinson paid his respects to General Hamilton aa soon as he arrived in the city, when the following conversa- tion took place between the two officers : " "Well, sir," said Wilkinson, " having fatigued you with my prattle, I now propose to visit an old friend whom I have not seen for several years ; but I hope there is no disagreement between you which might render the renewal -of my acquaint- ance with him indecorous to ray superior officer." Hamilton asked if he meant Colonel Lamb. "No," said Wilkinson, " Colonel Burr." " Little Burr !" exclaimed Hamilton, " O no ; we have al- ways been opposed in politics, but always on good terms. We set out in the practice of the law at the same time, and took opposite political directions. Burr beckoned me to fol- low him, and I advised him to come with me. We could not agree, but I fancy he now begins to think he was wrong and I was right." This is in a different strain from the " embryo Ccesar" epis- tle of a few years before ; but Hamilton was now talking to Burr's particular friend, his brother aid-de-camp in the Que- bec expedition, and his confidential correspondent ever since. Besides, he only said he was on " good terms" with " little Burr." The tone of condescending superiority and conscious triumph in the words used by Hamilton in speaking of Burr, is the noticeable feature of Wilkinson's story. At the next session of the legislature, 1799, Colonel Burr obtained a signal advantage over the wealthy Federalists of the city. At that time there was, besides a branch of the Bank of the United States, but one banking institution in the city of New York, and that was controlled by Federalists, who, as the Republicans alleged, used their powers for the furtherance of the Federal cause. Both of these banks were, to a considera- ble degree, the creation of General Hamilton, and both were inclined to support and advance the author of their existence. The Republican merchants, it is said, had long been accus- tomed to see their Federal competitors " accommodated" by the banks, while their own applications for aid were supercil- 238 LIFE OF AAEON BUEB. iously refused ; and it was their cherished scheme to estab- lish a bank which should be as complaisant toward thom as the " Bank of New York" was supposed to be to traders of the other party. But this was difficult. Besides a chronic prejudice against banks in the popular mind, they had to con- tend against a Federal majority in the legislature, which alone could grant a charter. In these circumstances. Colonel Burr, by an ingenious maneuver, accomplished what, by direct means, could not have been done. The yellow fever had recently made dreadful ravages in the city, and impressed upon the people the importance of secur- ing a supply of better water than that furnished by the brack- ish wells in the lower part of the island. Burr availed him- self of this state of public feeling. The legislature were asked to charter the Manhattan Company, formed for the ostensi- ble purpose of supplying the city with water, but the real ob- ject of which was to supply Republicans with the sinews of war. It was uncertain, the petitioners said, how much capital the proposed water-works would require, but as it was highly desirable not to risk failure by a deficiency of capital, they asked authority to raise two millions of dollars. In all proba- bility, they added, this would be too much, and, therefore, they proposed to insert in the charter a provision that " the surplus capital might be employed in any way not inconsist- ent with the laws and Constitution of the United States, or of the State of New York.'''' The bill passed both Houses as a matter of course, few members even so much as reading it, and none, except those who were in the secret, susj)ecting that "Manhattan Company" meant Manhattan Bank. Burr gained great applause among the leading Republicans for his adroitness in this affair, but he lost character with the people, and the act stands justly condemned in the records of the time. These are the naked facts of the affair ; but there were palliating circumstances, beside the alleged misuse of the cap- ital of the other bank. It was proposed in the select commit- tee of the Senate, to which the bill was referred, to strike out ttie clause relating to the use of the surplus capital; where- MEMBEE OF THE ASSEMBLY AGAIN. 239 upon a member of the committee applied to Colonel Burr for an explanation. Burr avowed the design of using the surplus capital to establish a bank, or an East India Company, or any- thing else the directors might choose, since merely furnishing city of fifty thousand inhabitants with water would not re- munerate the stockholders. The bill was afterward referred to the Chief Justice of the State, who advised its rejection on account of the unlimited powers conferred by the surplus clause- Means were found, however, to overrule his objections, and Governor Jay signed the bill. Nevertheless, the great fact remains, that, in this business. Colonel Burr sought one object under cover of another, a kind of political management which can never be commended, and seldom excused. Whether any show was ever made of bringing in the water, does not appear ; but the hanlc was immediately established, and soon became an institution of the first importance. And though it was one of the engines of Burr's political destruc- tion, yet, in after years, when he was obscure and powerless, the Manhattan bank, as I have been told, was not unmindful of the man to whom it owed its establishment, and showed him favors which it would not have granted to any other in his situation. The immediate effect of the Manhattan afifair was injurious to the Republican party. In the spring of 1799, Burr was a candidate for reelection to the Assembly, but before the elec- tion occurred, the secret of the Manhattan company escaped, and a prodigious clamor arose. A pamphlet appeared de- nouncing banks in general, and in particular the means by which Burr had sprung a new one upon a bank-fearing city. The newspapers took up the story, and meetings denounced the dexterous maneuver. The result was, that Burr lost his election, and, what was worse, the whole Republican ticket was defeated, and the Republican cause, which before had been gaining ground, received an ominous check. This was the more serious from the fact that, in twelve months more, the legislature was to be elected upon which would devolve the duty of choosing presidential electors ! 240 LIFE OF AAKON BITEB. In the summer of 1799, Colonel Burr fought his first duel. There was a piece of scandal set afloat in the State, to the eifect that, for legislative services rendered, the Holland Land Company had canceled a bond held against Burr for twenty thousand dollars. A gentleman named John B. Church, had spoken with so much freedom respecting the rumor, as to elicit from the slandered legislator a challenge to mortal combat. At Hoboken, on the 2d of September, the parties met, attended by their seconds and a surgeon. A ridiculous incident varied the well-known routine of the proceedings, and furnished the town-gossip with a joke and a by-word for many a day. Be- fore leaving home, Colonel Burr had been particular to explain to his second. Judge Burke, of South Carolina, that the balls were cast too small for his pistols, and that chamois leather, cut to the proper size, must be greased and put round them t' make them fit. Leather and grease were placed in the cas., with the pistols. After the principals had been placed. Burr noticed Judge Burke vainly endeavoring to drive in the ram- rod with a stone, and at once suspected that the grease had been forgotten. A moment after, the pistol was handed to him. With that singular coolness which he was wont to ex- hibit at critical moments, he drew the ramrod, felt of the ball, and told the judge it was not home. " I know it," replied the second, wiping the perspiration from his face, " I forgot to grease the leather ; but, you see, your man is ready ; don't keep him waiting. Just take a crack as it is, and I'll grease the next." Shots were exchanged without effect. Mr. Church then made the requisite apology, and the parties returned to the city in the highest good humor. This affair of the Holland Company's bond was never ex plained to the pubhc by Colonel Burr, though the means of doing so were at hand. He never in his life took pains to re- fute a calumny in a public manner, or showed much regard for what is called public opinion. This was both a point of pride and a constitutional peculiarity. It was a quality which alone must, some time or other, have made him an unavailable can- MEMBEE OF THE ASSEMBLY AGAIIT. 241 didate for an office in the gift of the people ; for the attain- ment of popularity in a republic, is a study, a pursuit, a thing about which a man must never be careless. Hence in repub- lics, after the old virtue is exhausted, and before the new virtue acquires strength, only nonentities and hypocrites are available ; since, to true men, the very idea of seekiug popu- larity is loathsome. Burr was not, indeed, a downright straight-forward^o\\\\c\2iXi, such as every one admires and no one supports; but he never descended to the mean arts of making personal capital. With regard to this scandal, he had but to show that the canceling of the bond was a perfectly legitimate transaction, by which he lost, not gained — facts known to half a dozen per- sons whose word no one would have doubted — and it would never more have been mentioned to his discredit. But this slight concession his pride refused. To a friend who asked for an explanation, he stated the facts of the case, and added these words : " This, sir, is the first time in my life that I have condescended (pardon the expression) to refute a calumny. I leave it to my actions to speak for themselves, and to my char- acter to confound the fictions of slander. And on this very subject I have not up to this hour given one word of explana tion to any human being. All the explanation that can be given amounts to no more than this — That the thing is an absolute and ahominahle lie.'''' It does not appear that his silence with regard to the rumor did any perceptible damage to Burr at the time. Before his own party his character shone with all its previous luster, and no well-informed Federalist could believe a story so ground- less and improbable. Nevertheless, any whisper against man's honor, whether probable or improbable, whether be lieved or scouted, prepares the way for the slanders that blast his good name for ever. The circumstances of Colonel Burr at this time were, as Mr. Adams stated, embarrassed. This was chiefly owing to the unfortunate issue of certain land speculations in which he had participated, and to his devotion to politics. His practice, however, was so large that, with proper care and average for- 11 242 LIFE OF AAEON BUBE. tune, he would have recovered his losses, and founded an estate. But just now, more than ever, there was a demand for all the resources of his mind in preparing for the impending Struggle between the two great parties. To this contest ho had devoted himself. CHAPTER XV. THE ELECTION OF 1800. flLOOirr Prospects of the Eepubucans — BmtR Confident — Fedek /VL Ekroks — 1r- KEST OF Judge Peok — Hamilton's Scheme for Cheating the People — John Adams's Narrative — Burr's Tactics — He "Wins over General Gates — Judgb Livingston and Governor Clinton — Hamilton and BuRa at the Polls — Thb Victory — Hamilton's Unworthy Expedients — Bitrr Frustrates thesi — Thb Tie Between Jefferson and Burr. It was Aaron Burr who tanght the democratic party ho-w to conquer. The prospect was gloomy. As the time for choosing presi- dential electors drew near, it became apparent that the State of New York would decide the contest in the Union, and that the city would decide the contest in the State. To every leading Republican in the country, except one, defeat looked inevitable. John Jay, in 1V98, had been elected governor over Chancellor Livingston by a majority of 2,382, which was then a great majority. In 1799, the Republican ticket in the city, headed by the name of Aaron Burr, had been defeated by a majority of 900. In April, 1800, the electing legislature was to be chosen. Jefferson might well say, as he did say, one month before the New York election, that he considered the contest more doubtful than that of 1796. But Burr would not admit the idea of failure. He breathed the fire of his own sanguine disposition into the hearts of his followers, and kept every faculty on the alert to take instant advantage of the en emy's mistakes. His house became the rendezvous of the more ardent and resolute members of the party, who were proud of their chief and confident that in the abounding resources of his ingenious intellect alone lay the means of victory. Mr. Davis tells ua that this devoted band was composed of young men of gal 244 LIFE OF AAEON BtTEB. lant bearing and disinterested views, who beheld in Colonel Burr a patriot hero of the Revolution, who had mingled with their fathers on the battle-field, and periled his all in their country's cause. In this circle no local or personal interests were allowed to be discussed. One object alone was ever mentioned or considered, and that was the t/iumpli of the Re- publican party. The talents, the energy, the reckless courage, and the reckless generosity of the young politicians, whom the fascinating manner and chivalrous sentiments of Colonel Burr had attracted and leagued around him, are testified to by many writers of the time. Then it was that the party began to submit to that disoi- pUne which gave it twenty-five years of victory. " All who numbered themselves as its members," says Professor Ren- wick (Z-ife of De Witt Clinton), " were required to yield implicit obedience to the will of its majority ; that majority vras made to move at the beck of committees, which concen- trated the power in the hands of a few individuals. Denunci- ation as a traitor was the fate of him who ventured to act in conformity to his individual opinion, when it did not meet with the general sanction." This omnipotent organization was not completed in a campaign, but it began in 1799, and grew out of the precepts and the example of Aaron Burr and his ' myrmidons.' The efforts of Burr and his friends were most opportunely assisted by the errors of the Federalists. The government was exasperating a loyal nation by its stringent enforcement of the Alien and Sedition Laws. Thirty thousand Frenchmen and five thousand " United Irishmen," refugees from political storms at home, now felt themselves unsafe in the land which had been extolled as the asylum for the oppressed of all na- tions. They were loud and furious against the law which empowered the President to banish aliens whom 7ie should deem dangerous to the peace of the United States. Amono- the victims of the Sedition Law was the pious politician. Judge Peck, who was prosecuted for merely circulating a bitterly. VI o-cAedi petition for the repeal of the odious laws. Nothing better could have happened for the Republicans. A bench- THE ELECTION OP 1800. 245 wan-ant was issued. Peck was arrested in Otsego, and con- veyed all the way to New York, affording to the State an un- paralleled and rousing spectacle. " A hundred missionaries in the cause of democracy," remarks Dr. Hammond, " stationed between New York and Cooperstown, could not have done so much for the Republican cause as the journey of Judge Peck, a? a prisoner, from Otsego to New York. It was nothing less than the public exhibition of a suffering martyr for the free- dom of speech and the press, and the right of petitioning, to the view of the citizens of the various places through which the marshal traveled with his prisoner." Yet such was the horror of democracy in the northern States, after the total failure of the French Revolution, and such was the strength of old habits and ideas, that even events like these were not sufficient to change the politics of the nation. But there was trouble brewing between the Federal lead- ers. In spite of his cabinet, Mr. Adams had made peace with France, and thus frustrated the military aspirations of General ..Hamilton. Besides, Adams was a most unmanageable man. He did not like Hamilton, and Hamilton could not endure him, and was determined, by fair means or by foul, to get rid of him. By fair means, this could not have been done, for, in New England, the home and stronghold of Federalism, Adams was the strongest man. Hamilton's scheme was, that John Adams and C. C. Pinckney should be the Federal candi- dates for President and Vice-President, but Pinckney should, by secret maneuvers, be made to receive a vote or two more than Adams, and thus be elected to the first office. The peo- ple were to he deliberately cheated. They were to be deluded with the idea, that, while voting for certain legislators, they were voting John Adams into a second term of the Presi- dency ; but their votes were really to have the effect of put- ting Adams back again into the Vice-Presidency, and of making General Pinckney President ! John Adams's own graphic version of the story is as fol- lows: "Hamilton made a journey to Boston, Providence, etc., to persuade the people and their legislatures, but without sue- 246 LIFE OP AAEON BUEK. cess, to throw away some of their votes, that Adams might not have the unanimous vote of New England; consequently, that Pinokney might be brought in as President, and Adams as Vice-President. Washington was dead, and the Cincinnati were assembled at New York to choose Hamilton for their new President. Whether he publicly opened his project to the whole assembly of the Cincinnati or not, I will not say ; but of this I have such proof as I can not doubt, namely, that he broached it privately to such members as he could trust ; for the learned and pious doctors, Dwight and Badcock, who, having been chaplains in the army, were then attending as two reverend knights of the order, with their blue ribbons and bright eagles at their sable button-holes, were heard to say repeatedly in the room where the society met, ' We must sacrifice Adams^ ' 'We must sacrifice Adams.' Of this fact I have such evidence that I should dare to appeal, if it were worth while, to the only survivor. Dr. Dwight, of New Haven University. " About the same time, walking in the streets of Philadel- phia, I met on the opposite sidewalk, Colonel Josej)h Lyman, of Springfield, one of the most amiable men in Congress, and one of the most candid men in the world. As soon as he saw me he crossed over to my side of the street, and said, ' Sir, I cross over to tell you some news.' ' Ay ! what news ? I hope it is good !' ' Hamilton has divided the Federalists, and proposed to them to give you the go-by, and bring in Pinck- ' ney. By this step he has divided the Federalists, and given great offense to the honestest part of them. I am glad of it, for it will be the ruin of his faction.' My answer was, ' Colo- nel Lyman, it will be, as you say, the ruin of his faction ; but it will also be the ruin of honester men than any of them. And with these words I marched on, and left him to march the other way.' " I was soon afterward informed, by personal witnesses and private letters, that Hamilton had assembled a meeting of the citizens and made an elaborate harangue to them. He spoke of the President, John Adams, with respect 1 But with what respect, I leave you, sir, to conjecture. Hamilton soon aftei THE ELECTION OF 1800. 24T called another and more secret caucus to prepare a list of representatives for the city of New York, in their State leg- islature, who were to choose electors of President and Vice- President. He fixed upon a list of his own friends, people of Kttle weight or consideration in the city or the country. Burr, who had friends in all circles, had a copy of this list brought to him immediately. He read it over, with great gravity folded it up, put it in his pocket, and without uttering another word, said, ' Now I have him hoUoio.'' " And he really had him hollow. In a moment, the means of carrying the city, upon which all depended, flashed upon his mind, and he proceeded forthwith to execute the scheme. His first step was to prepare a list of candidates to represent the city in the Assembly. But a difficulty arose at the very outset : Hamilton's whole heart was in this election, and it was certain that he would take an active personal part in the campaign ; and that, particularly, during the three days of the election, his harangues to the peo25le weald be more efiect- ive than ever before. Burr, too, must be on the ground. It was also thought indispensable to the complete success of the plan, that he should be a member of the legislature. But if his name were on the city ticket, it would neutralize his ex- ertions, as he would seem to be electioneering and haranguing for himself. Some votes would also be diverted from the Re- publican side by the recollection of Burr's agency in the Man- hattan Bank afiair. In this dilemma, it was suggested that he should be a candidate for the Assembly in Orange county, where he was better known and more popular than in any other county. This part of the plan was confided to influen- tial Democrats of that county, and, it may as well be stated at once, was successful. This matter disposed of, the city ticket was drawn up. With matchless audacity. Burr proposed to his confederates the following persons as candidates for the Assembly. At the head of his ticket, he placed the name of George Clin- ton, so long the Governor of the State, now retired from all public employments, and declining into the vale of years. Next came the name, not less distinguished, of the conqueror 248 LIFE OP AAEON BUEE, of Burgoyne, General Horatio Gates. Then followed Samuel Osgood, Henry Rutgers, Elias Neusen, Thomas Storm, George Warner, Philip J. Arcularius, James Hunt, Ezekiel Robbing, Brockholst Livingston, and John Svvartvvout ; all of them gen- tlemen who, for one reason or another, added peculiar strength to the ticket. Osgood, for example, had been a member of Congress, and Washington's Postmaster-General, and was a man of the highest estimation in the city. Livingston was a very eminent lawyer, afterward Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was a son of that Governor of New Jersey whose noble eulogy of Burr's father I have elsewhere quoted. Swartwout, very popular for his manly bearing and amiable qualities, was Burr's most devoted friend. The name of Rutgers is still familiar in a New Yorker's ear, as it lives in that of the street where he resided. In a word. Burr's ticket, from the celebrity of some of its names, the eminent respect- ability of others, and the peculiar popularity of the rest, was the strongest ever offered for the popular suifrages in this State. Above all, it was an obvious and striking contrast to Hamilton's. To draw up an imposing catalogue of names is not a diffi- cult feat. To induce those gentlemen to stand was a matter beset with difficulties, such as, perhaps, no man in the world could have overcome but Aaron Burr. The consent of the nine less known persons Avas obtained without much trouble. But Clinton, Livingston, and Gates, each representing a fac- tion of the great Republican party, each with personal aims, claims and jealousies, neither disposed to act with the others, were, for a long time, deaf to arguments and to entreaties, and immovable in their resolve not to allow their names to be used. Gates was one of Burr's peculiar adherents, and ex- tremely averse to Hamilton and Schuyler, with whom he had been ill friends ever since the time of the cabal in the revolu- tionary war. Yet neither his friendship for Burr nor his en- mity to Schuyler, nor his party spirit, nor all these together were strong enough to overcome his repugnance to being a candidate. Livingston proved the most tractable. After re- peated interviews, Burr wrung from him a reluctant consent THE ELECTION OF 1800. 249 to run, provided Governor Clinton and General Gates were candiiiates also. This Avas a great point gained. Burr now applied himself to Gates with redoubled energy. There are vague traditions that the art with which Burr worked upon the foibles and judgment of Gates was among the finest displays of his pecu- liar talent. "When all other expedients failed, he resorted to importunate persuasions, and the general was induced at last to say that he would stand, if Governor Clinton would. But Clinton was the hardest case of all. Clinton's friends called him a very firm man ; his opponents thought him very obstinate. His portrait shows the strong, downright, immov- able, north-Ireland character of the man. He had thick bushy eye-brows, a well developed lower face and double chin, a closed large mouth, a scrutinizing look out of the eyes, a good medium forehead, with his scanty gray hair combed up to hide its bald summit. It is the plain, shaggy-looking face of an honest, wary north-of-Irelander. ITow Clinton himself had pretensions to the presidency. In 1793, when he received iifty electoral votes out of a hundred and thirty-two, and Jef- ferson had but four, it was Clinton, not Jefferson, that seemed to be on the high road to the presidential mansion. The rea- sons that induce a party to change its standard-bearer seldom convince the man who is displaced. In a word, George Clin- ton did not like Thomas Jefferson. He was now solicited to stand for the Assembly, for the sole j)urpose of helping Jeffer- son into the presidential chair ; and he was asked to do this by the man who, though a stripling aid-de-camp when George Clinton was the foremost man of the State, and a person of national importance, had in 1797 received thirty electoral votes to Clinton's four ! Governor Clinton was an able and patriotic man, but such personal considerations as these have an influence over all but the very best of the species. Burr never had a harder task than to win over this strong, prejudiced, determined man to the purposes of the party. Clinton said that he did not think highly of Jefferson's states- manship, and had not faith in his sincerity as a Republican, nor even in his integrity as a man. He thought him a trimmer ; 11* 250 LIFE OF AAEON BUEE. and so thinkin'^, he said he could not conscientiously support him for the highest office. " But," said the governor, on one occasion, "if you, Mr. Burr, were the candidate for the pres- idential chair, I would act with pleasure, and with vigor." To such objections as these. Burr replied in his mild, persuasive way, with not the smallest ajDpoarance of effect. Committees and suVcoramittees and individuals, by turns, besieged the governor's ear, for three days. There was a final interview at length, between the governor and the nominating com- mittee, at Burr's own house. All the old arguments were used, and new ones offered. The committee expostulated, and the committee entreated, but the tough old soldier stood to his purpose with a pertinacity worthy of his race. Burr then said, that it was a right inherent in a community to command the services of an individual at a great crisis, and declared the intention of the party to nominate and elect Governor Clinton, without regard to his inclination. The governor at last made this sliglit concession, that he would not publicly repudiate the nomination. He afterward agreed that, during the canvass, he would refrain, in his ordinary conversation, from denouncing Jefferson in the style that had become habitual to him. The old man was true to his promise, but neither he nor his rising nephew, De Wilt Clinton, nor his son, nor any of liis connec- tions, personally assisted in the campaign, as they had been wont to do in previous contests. The curtain was now lifted. A public meeting under im- posing auspices was held, at which the ticket was announced and ratified with enthusiasm. It gave life and hope to the despairing Republicans. It alarmed the Federalists, who, till now, had been confident of a victory. In arranging the details of the campaign, Burr's skillful hand was employed with good effect. The finance committee had prepared a list of the wealthy Republicans, with the sum which they proposed to solicit attached to each name. On looking over the list. Colonel Burr observed that a certain rich man, equally remarkable for zeal and parsimony, was assessed one hundred dollars. " Strike out his name," said Burr, "for you will not get the THB BLKCTION or 1800. , 251 money ; and from the moment the demand is made upon him, his exertions will cease, and you will not see him at the polls during the election." The name was erased. Lower down in the catalogue, he noticed the same sum placed opposite the name of another man who was liberal with his money, hut incorrigibly lazy. " Double it," said he, " and tell him no labor will be ex- pected from him, except an occasional attendance in the com- mittee-rooms to help fold the tickets. He will pay you the two hundred dollars, and thank you for letting him off so easily." This was done. The result, in both cases, proved the ti-uth of Burr's prediction. The lazy man paid the money without a demur, and the zealous man worked day and night. Last of all, Colonel Burr devoted himself to operating di- rectly on the public mind. He provided for a succession of ward and general meetings, most of which he himself attended and addressed. He kept the canvass all alive by his indefat- igable activity. He declared everywhere that the party really had a majority in the city ; and it was only necessary to awaken such an interest in the election as would draw out every Re- publican vote, and the victory was theirs. This was no ran- dom assertion. By means of lists of the voters, with the polit- ical history of each, appended in parallel columns, which were incessantly added to and corrected, as new information was obtained, he had reduced the important department of polit- ical prophecy almost to certainty. He would have made it quite certain, but for circumstances which, though they often decide elections, can not, in the nature of things, be foretold. The weather of election day is one of these. In Burr's lists, not only a man's opinions were noted, but his degree of zeal, his temperament, his health, his habits, all these things were taken into account, to ascertain what quantity of excitement or inducement was necessary to overcome the fatal propensity of the comfortable citizen to neglect voting. Thus, on onv occasion, when Colonel Burr was running for office, and the first two days of the election had passed without either can didate getting a decided advantage, he said, " If it is a fins day to-morrow I shall get a small majority in the city ; if not, 252 LIFE OP AAEON B0EE. not." The. day was fine, and the event justified his confident prediction. The leaders of the party in the city, knowing tho accuracy and extent of his information, received his prophe- cies of success on the present occasion more as information than as prediction. They were buoyant with hope, that the party, after twelve years of defeat, was now on the eve of a national triumph.* The polls opened on the morning of April 29th, and closed at sunset on the 2d of May. During these three days, the exertions of both parties were immense. Hamilton was in the field animating his followers with his powerful declama tion. Burr addressed large assemblages of liepnblicans. Some- times both champions appeared on the same platform, and addressed the multitude in turn, upon the questions in dispute. On these occasions, their bearing toward one another was so gracefully courteous, as to be remembered by many in the crowd they addressed, long after the matter of their siJeeches was forgotten. The contest closed. Before the rival chiefs slept on the night of the 2d of May, the news was brought to them that the Republicans had carried the city by a majority of 490 votes. Hamilton was not prepared for defeat, and the news struck him like a blow. Nothing but some desperate expedient * Colonel Knapp, author of a short memoir of Burr, written in a friendly spirit, says a few words respecting the manner of Burr's intercourse with tho party out of doors, which may be quoted here. I copy it the more willingly, because the great mass of what I quote from others respecting Burr was con- ceived in enmity or repugnance to him. "Colonel Burr," says Mr. Knapp, "never courted the mob by mingling with them, and sharing their move- ments ; for it was seldom they met him. He made no converts by pewter mug stories, and they liked him the better for all this abstraction from the great body of democracy ; but whenever he came in contact with tho hum- blest of his admirers, it was well known that he treated them so blandly that his manners were remembered when the whola conversation was forgotten. His manners were the most courtly of any one of his age. He had not the parade of Morris, nor the gravity of Jay ; but he never for a moment forgot himself by assumption or too much familiarity. The self-possession which he always sustained gave him great advantages over other men who are vas- sals to their passions, and at times can not hide then: weaknesses." THE ELECTION OF 1800. 253 could now save the Union from falling into the hands of tho Philistines ; and in the frenzy of his disappointment he re- solved upon trying a desperate expedient. The next day, while the city was in the first flush of excite- ment at the news, Hamilton called together a few of the most influential Federalists, and laid before them his scheme ; which was, to induce Governor Jay to call an extra session of the old legislature (whose term of service had still eight weeks to run), for the purpose of changing the mode of choosing presidential electors. Two years before, Burr had at'^erapted to carry a bill through the legislature, providing .hat the electors should be chosen directly by the people, v<,ting by districts. His object, since he then despaired of getting a Re- publican majority in the legislature, was to seciwe jyart of the electoral college of the State for the democratic candidate at the next presidential election. The Federalists saw hi? object, and defeated it, though a juster measure was never proposed. Hamilton, a sudden convert to this policy, was now bont on accomplishing, by unworthy means, what Colonel Burr had honorably endeavored before him. The Federal caucus jumped at the mean expedient, and Hamilton, the next day, wrotf* an elaborate letter to the governor, unfolding the plan, and urg- ing its instant execution. The anti-Federal party, he wrote, was a composition of very incongruous materials, but all of them tending to mischief ; some to the emasculation of the government, others to revolu- tionizing it in the style of Bonaparte. The government must not be confided to the custody of its enemies. True, the mea- sure proposed was open to objection. But a popular govern- ment could not stand if one party called to its aid all the resources which vice could give, and the other, however pressing the emergency, felt itself obliged to confine itself within the ordinary forms of delicacy and decorum. These forms were valuable ; but they ought not to hinder the taking of a step strictly legal and constitutional, to prevent an atheist in religion and a fanatic in politics fi'om getting possession of the helm of State. The letter was dispatched. Judge of the consternation of 254 LIFE OF AAEON BUKB. its author and his caucus when they read, in a Republican newspaper of the foUoioing day, a full exposure of the scheme, including an account of the caucus, its proceedings, and the measure it had concluded to recommend. The public read this article with incredulity. Even the Federal editors, who were not in the secret, denounced it as the basest of slanders. "Where is the American," exclaimed one of them, "who will not detest the author of this infamous lie ? If there is a man to be found who will sanction this publication, he is worse than the worst of Jacobins!" No doubt, many a Federalist went to his grave in the belief that the story was a weak invention of the enemy. Among the papers of Governor Jay, Hamil- ton's letter was found, with this honest indorsement, in the governor's hand : '■'■Proposing a measure for party purposes, which I think it would not become me to adopt." For party purposes, says the candid governor, summarily disposing of Hamilton's self deceiving array of fine motives. That Hamilton should have deliberately made such a pro posal, shows more than the limitedness of his understanding, and his ignorance of the state of things in which he lived. It shows that, with all his gentlemanliness of demeanor and feel- ing, he was not a thorough-hred gentleman ; a character, the distinguishing and essential quality of which is, a love of fair PLAT. He had, of his own free will, gone down into the arena, and accepted battle on the known and usual conditions. He was beaten fairly. Then he attempted, by a secret and unworthy maneuver, to steal the laurel from the victor's brow while he slept. But the victor was not asleep. Before the election, Burr had obtained an intimation from some quarter that if the Re- publicans should carry the city, means would be found to de- prive them of the fruits of their triumph. Upon this hint he acted. From the moment the polls closed every movement was watched. The counting of the votes was closely scrutin- ized. The goings and comings of the leading Federalists were observed, and thus the meeting of the caucus was ascertained, and its schemes exposed and bafSed. The particular means by which the proceedings of the caucus were discovered, I THE ELECTION OF 1800. 255 nave not been able to ascertain. The whisper at the time was that Hamilton and Burr were both enamored of the same frail woman, who really loved Burr, but endured Hamilton only that she might beguile him of secrets with which to ingratiate herself with his rival. I utterly disbelieve this wretched gos- sip. Nearly every such tale of noted men proves, when exam- ined, to be a fable. Neither Hamilton nor Burr was blameless toward women ; but neither of them, I am sure, ever addicted himself to the kind of debauchery which is implied in the story referred to. The news of the result of the New York election took the country by surprise. To Jefferson all eyes were now turned as the man destined soon to wield the power and patronage of the government. The Federalists had been so long accus- tomed to conquer, and the Republicans to be only a vehe- ment, despised, and hopeless opposition, that the probability of the two parties changing positions, produced an effect which may be imagined. Mr. Jefferson, in one of his letters to Dr. Rush, records the effect of the startling intelligence upon the mind of President Adams. * " On the day," wrote Jefferson, " on which we learned in Philadelphia the vote of the city of New York, which it was well known would decide the vote of the State, and that again the vote of the Union, I called on Mr. Adams on some official business. He was very sensibly affected, and accosted me with these words : ' Well, I understand that you are to beat me in this contest, and I will only say that I will be as faith- ful a subject as any you will have.' " ' Mr. Adams,' said I, ' this is no personal contest between you and me. Two systems of principles, on the subject of government, divide our fellow-citizens into two parties. With one of these you concur, and I with the other. As we have been longer on the public stage than most of those nonliving, our names happen to be more generally known. One of these parties, therefore, has put your name at its head, the other mine. Were we both to die to-day, to-morrow two other names would be in the place of ours, without any change in 256 LIFE OF AAEON BUEE. the motion of tlie macliineiy. Its motion is from its principle, not from you or myself.' " ' I believe you are right,' said he, ' that we are but pas- sive instruments, and should not suffer this matter to affect our personal' dispositions.' " Hamilton did not yet despair. One of his first letters, writ- ten after the loss of New York, concedes the probability of a Republican success, but he adds that his scheme of secretly supporting Pinckney for the presidency, instead of Adams, " is the only thing that can save us from the fangs of Jeffer- son." A few days after, he writes to the same friend, that " under Adams, as under Jefferson, the government will sink." A week or two later, to another gentleman, he quotes Frank- lin's character of Adams ("always honest, sometimes great, but often mad"), and adds that Adams is honest indeed, but only " as far as a man excessively vain and jealous, and igno- bly attached to place, can be." Thenceforth Hamilton's ef- forts were directed to the single object of concentrating upon Pinckney the entire strength of the Federal party, north and south. For this he schemed, and wrote, and talked, and toiled, and traveled during the summer and autumn of 1800. But he had a nimble, a dexterous, a sleepless adversary. Toward the close of the summer, Hamilton prepared a pamphlet, in which he stated his reasons for objecting to the reelection of the President, descanting freely upon his public conduct, and his personal infirmities. This pamphlet was en- titled : " A Letter from Alexander Hamilton, concerning the Public Conduct and Cliaracter of John Adams, Esquire, Pres- ident of the United States." It was designed, first, to serve as a circular letter to very confidential friends in New En- gland, and, secondly, to be disseminated extensively in the South, particularly in South Carolina, at so late a period of the canvass that the double-play could not be known at the North till the election was over. The pamphlet was sent to the printer, under the most stringent stipulations that the work should be executed secretly, and every copy delivered into Hamilton's own hands. The story goes, that Colonel Burr, who was ever an early riser, was walking in the streets THE ELECTION OF 18 0'. 257 near Hamilton's house, very early one morning, when he met a boy carrying a covered basket. " What have you there, ray lad ?" asked Burr, who was prone to accost young people that he met in the streets. " Pamphlets for General Hamilton," replied the boy, not knowing tlieir importance. Burr asked for one, and the boy complied without hesita- tion. Burr took the pamphlet, and, at one glance, saw what a prize chance had thrown in his way. This is the current story • but it is improbable. Mr. Davis merely says, that Colonel Burr, having ascertained that such a pamphlet was in press, made " arrangements" for procuring a copy as soon as the printing should be completed. How he obtained the pamphlet is, therefore, uncertain, but the essential fact re- mains, that he obtained it. In the evening of the same day, he summoned to his house three of his confedei-ates, John Swartwout, Robert Swart- wout, and M. L. Davis, to whom he read the pamphlet, and unfolded the plan he had formed of hurling it, a hissing bomb- shell, into the camp of the enemy. He simply proposed to give the leading contents of the pamphlet sudden and univer- sal publicity. Extracts were accordingly made on the spot, and Davis was chai'ged with the duty of procuring their simultaneous insertion in one of the principal Republican journals of New England, and in the Aurora of Philadelphia. The extracts appeared. They produced all the eifect the bit- terest enemy of the Federal party could have desired. Aston- ishment and incredulity, by turns, beset the Federal intellect, but the publication of new passages, from time to time, to- gether with the popular recognition of Hamilton's style, soon banished all doubt that the great leader had been playing a double game. He thought it best, at length, to publish the pamphlet entire, and a few days before the presidential elect- ors were to be chosen it appeared. This exposure destroyed the last hope of the Federalists. " It rent the party in twain," as a writer truly observes. A month after the pamphlet appeared, "William Duane, editor of the Aurora, thaf terror of the respectable Federalists, sent 258 LIFE OF AAEON BURB, a copy of it to General Collot, of Paris. Chance preserved that copy, and, within these few years, brought it back to the United States, with the note that originally accompanied it, which reads thus : " Citizen-Generai. — This pamphlet has done more mis- chief to the parties concerned, than all the labors of the Aurora. William Duane." Adams said of it, that "if the single purpose had been to defeat the President, no more propitious moment could have been chosen." And again : " One thing I know, that Cicero was not sacrificed to the vengeance of Antony by the unfeel- ing selfishness of the latter triumvirate, more egregiously than John Adfims was to the unbridled ambition of Alexander Hamilton in the American triumvirate !" John Adams was, indeed, so thoroughly disgusted with Hamilton's treason to the head of his party, that, down to a late period of his life, he could seldom write his name without adding to it an epithet of repugnance. Burr he always men- tions with respect. Hamilton's conduct in this business was utterly unjustifiable. Not a thousand voters in the country had so much as thought of Pinckney for President. In the newspapers, and the public meetings, Adams, and only Adams, was named as the Fed- eral candidate for the first ofiice. Hamilton's intrigue was therefore a design to frustrate the people's will by putting into the presidential chair a man who had not even been named for the ofiice before the people. Two palliating cii-curastanees, however, may be mentioned. One is that Hamilton, being a Tory by nature, had really no conception of what Democrats mean by the rights of the people. Another is, that, at that day, presidential electors were not quite the mere formality they have since become ; but were supposed to nave, in some degree, a right of choice. It may also be said of Alexander Hamilton, that if he intrigued dishonorably, he did so from an honorable motive. Of his rival, we may say, that he intrigued, for the most part, honorably and for good purposes, but with- out being animated by public spirit. No one, I think, can long read the writings of Hamilton without feeling himself to THE ELECTION OP 1800. 299 be in contact with a nature essentially good ; but narrow and inflexible for that expanding age ; that era of hope, idea, and invention; that glorious dawn of abetter Day than the world has ever known. He saw that democracy is a resolving of society back again into its original elements ! Democracy is chaos he would say. True, Democracy contending with Privi- ege is chaos. But after chaos comes ceeation ! A President and Vice-President were now to be chosen by the electors. Among the Republicans there was but one name mentioned for the first oiEce, and that was Thomas Jefferson. But for the second there were competitors. In those dajs, what we now accomplish by nominating conventions, was done by party caucuses of the members of Congress. A few days after the news of the great New York election reached Phila- delphia, a Republican caucus was held for the purpose of de- ciding upon a candidate for the vice-presidency. A nominar tion was equivalent to an election, and the caucus therefore proceeded cautiously. At the first meeting it was only set- tled that the candidate should be selected from New York, as it was New York that had just made the final victory more than probable. A gentleman was appointed to converse with the leading politicians of that State and report to the caucus their preferences. The choice, it was found, lay between three men. Chancellor Livingston, George Clinton, and Aaron Burr. It was at once concluded that Chancellor Livingston's deafness was an insuperable objection to an officer who would have to preside over a deliberative body, and he was set aside. Clin- ton and Burr were the two remaining. Of the negotiation which resulted in the selection of Burr various accounts have been given. The probable version is that George Clinton de- sired the nomination, and that his family and friends demanded It for him ; but that the Burrites, urging the palpable fact, that to Burr, and Burr alone, the democratic victory was due, claimed it strenuously for their chief. In '96, they might have urged, he had received thirty electoral votes ; and oS the party used his name when success was scarcely hoped for by the most sanguine, it was but fair that it should be taken up when success was nearly certain. Burr was nomi- 2C0 LIFE OF AAKON BUKK. nalecl. Clinton was soon after elected once more to the gov- ernorship of the State. Hamilton was dreadfully embittered against Burr by the events of this summer. The rage of his " faction," says John Adams, " appeared to me then, and has ever since appeared, an absolute delirium." In August, we find Hanailton writing to his friend Bayard, of Delaware, in the following strain upon the prospects of the campaign : " There seems to be," said he, " too mnch probability that Jefferson or Burr will be President. The latter is intriguing with all his might in New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Ver- mont ; and there is a possibility of some success in his in- trigues. He counts positively on the universal support of the anti-Federalists ; and that by some adventitious aid from other quarters, he will overtop his friend Jefferson. Admitting the first point, the conclusion may be realized, and, if it is so. Burr will certainly attempt to reform the government a la Suona- parte. He is as unprincipled and dangerous a man as any country can boast — as true a Catiline as ever met in midnight conclave." Hamilton's assertions respecting the movements and char- acter of his opponents, are absolutely worthless as evidence. They show nothing but the liveliness of his imagination, the intensity of his feelings, and the smallness of his information. The passage quoted is about as credible as a story published in the Boston Independent Chronicle, in the summer of 1800, to the effect, that General Hamilton had been heard to say that "if Mr. Pinckney was not elected President, a revolution would be the consequence, and that, within the next four years, he should lose his head, or be the leader of a triumph- ant array." I do not say that what Hamilton says of Burr was certainly not true, but that it is not to be believed because Hamilton says it. Other leading Federalists had no such horror of our dexter ous hero. Some , despairing of their own candidates, even en- tertained the thought of giving him Azotes enough to elect him President over Jefferson. Senator Cabot, of Massachusetts, wrote to Hamilton upon this project, in the month of August ■ THE ELECTION OF 1800. 261 " The question has been asked," said Cabot, " whether, if the Federalists can not carry their first points, they would not do well to turn the election from Jefferson to Burr. They conceive Burr to be less likely to look to France for support, than Jef- ferson, provided he could be supported at home. They con- sider Burr as actuated by ordinary ambition, Jefferson by that and the pride of the Jacobinical philosophy. The former may be satisfied by power and property, the latter must see the roots of our society pulled up, and a new course of cultiva^ tion substituted ; certainly it would have been fortunate for the United States if the second candidate on the Jacobin side had been one who might be safely trusted." The venerable Carroll, of CarroUton, would have preferred Burr, as he supposed Burr would " act with more decision than Jefferson, and go better with his party." With either, however, the old gentleman thought the country on the road to ruin ; Jacobinical chaos or Bonapartean usurpation was sure to overtake the doomed republic, sooner or later. Among the ultra Federalists this opinion was universal. About the middle of December, the leaders of both parties knew how the election had gone. The result struck both sides Avith disappointment : Jefferson, 13 ; Burr, 73 ; Adams, 65 ; Pinckney, C4 ; Jay, 1. Such was the doubtful issue of so many years of labor, of so much honorable effort, and so much not-vei-y-honorable maneuvering. The tie, of course, threw the election into the House of Representatives. The politicians, instead of resting from their toils, were suddenly stimulated to such an activity of intrigue as never was known before. The country was ■wild with excitement. Aaron Burr soared at once into a po- sition of national importance such as he had never before held. CHAPTER XVI. THE TIE INTRIGtrES. The "Wokks of "WAsmNGTOif, Jefferson, Adams and Hamilton — Lettee from Burr TO Wilkinson — Letter from Jefferson to Bure — Letter from Burr to Hon. 3. Smith appointing dim nis Proxy — Letter from Hamilton to Secretary Wolcott denouncing Burr — The Federalists bent onelecting Bure President — ^Letter FROM Otis to Hamilton asking Advice respecting tub Project — Second Letter FROM Hamilton to Wolcott against Burr — Letter from Jefferson to Madisok denouncing tub Federal Intrigues — Honest Letter from Gouverneur Morris — Letter from Hamilton to Sedgwick, denouncing Burr — Letters from Hamiltoit f-o Morris and Bayard against Burr — Replies of Morris and Bayard to Ham- iXTON — Letter from General Green to Hamilton — Letter op Governor Rut- ledge to Hamilton — Sedgwick's Reply to Hamilton — Long Letter of Hamilton to Bayaed — Hamilton to Morris again — Tub Election in the House — Scenb between Jefferson and Adams — Proof of Burr's Political Integrity — I he Inauguration. What occurrea among the politicians from the middle of December, 'tvhen the tie was first known, to the middle of February, when the House voted upon it, shall he, as far as possible, shown, not told. The publications of the last few years enable us to read the history of that time in the very words of its leading personages. Among the volumes which " no gentleman's library is com- plete without," and which, in most gentlemen's libraries, slum- ber on the shelves with uncut leaves, are the forty ponderous octavoes, containing the works of George Washington, Thomas Jefierson, John Adams, and Alexander Hamilton. That these volumes should be so utterly neglected as they are is not creditable to the national intelligence. In the Mercantile Library of the city of IsTew York, which counts its subscribers by thousands, the condition in which these books were found by me, two or three years ago, was as follows : the first vol- ume of each set showed marks of having been taken out and looked through, two or three times. The second volume had evidently been handled by some one adventurous person, and THE TIE INTEIGtTES. ' 20u about half of its leaves were cut. Beyond the second volume, no traces of the hand of man were discovered ; a boundlebg continuity of virgin pages gave the reader a pleasing con- sciousness that he was the exjilorer of untrodden regions. Tet it is by the perusal of these works, aided by the memoirs of the time, that alone a knowledge of the country's history, during the period in which alone it had a history, can be ob- tained. Along with much that the modern reader may skip, with many essays upon government that once were vital and glowing, but can not now be read by any mortal, these worlss contain a mass of reading, instructive, interesting, and suggest- ive. The letters and diaries are the best part of them. These are full of life and nature. Some of them are eloquent and impressive, the offspring of vigorous minds, wrought up to their highest strain by having to grapple with distractingly dif- licult circumstances. The letters correct one another. None of the writers, except Washington could make due allowance for one another's errors and foibles, and they often speak of political adversaries in terms of bitter depreciation. Hamilton is especially vituperative. He had the fine, declamatory tal- ent which is often possessed by men of ardent feelings and limited understandings ; and be used that talent in denouncing his opponents. In this chapter, I propose to extract such passages of the letters written by leading politicians during the sixty days of the Tie excitement, which throw light upon the character and history of Aaron Burr, or upon the complicated events in which he now played a passive but conspicuous part, or upon the state of things in the country at this great crisis of the contention between the Old and the 'New. By thus bringing to a focus many scattered rays, the tkuth, so long obscured, will, I trust, become visible to all but unwilling eyes. The extracts shall be arranged in the order of their dates. It may be as well to mention that, during the greater part of these sixty days, Hamilton was in New York, Jefferson at Washington, and Burr at Albany. Colonel Burr, it may be remembered, was a member of the State legislature. So far 264 LIFB OP AAEON BUEB. from being "shrouded in mystery" at Albany, as two historians have it, he was there for the simple purpose of performing his duty in the Assembly, of which body he wa3 always a busy member. Another fact should he borne in mind. Up to this time, and for years after, Hamilton and Burr were, to all appearance, excellent friends. They consulted together on points of law. They met at the houses of common friends. Hamilton dined at Burr's table occasionally, and Burr at Hamilton's. The lovely Theodosia visited Mrs. Hamilton and her daughters. Many gentlemen who knew both Hamilton and Burr, and knew them, as they supposed, intimately, had no knowledge of Hamilton's embittered feelings against Burr. Burr him- 8clf liad not. With all his acuteness and dexterity he was remarkably confiding ; and though he was aware of Hamil- ton's intense partisan feelings, he did not, at this time, know the manner in which his rival was accustomed to write and speak of him. Far indeed was he from supposing Hamilton capable of using against him the careless words that fell from his lips at his own hospitable table ! But to proceed. October 10th, 1800. First I will copy enti]-e a letter* writ- ten by Burr to General Wilkinson, after the democratic vic- tory was known, but before the tie had been announced. It may serve as a specimen of his cautious manner of writing to confidential friends. It was written at Ballston, in the State of New York : "That through Biddle, and the other of the 29th, came safe to me at Albany yesterday, p.m., just as I was mounting my horse to ride hither for my daughter, who has been ])assing a few days with a friend in this neighborhood, while I was at- tending on public duties at Albany. Having made electors, and a Senator, all democratic, the legislature adjourned, to meet on the last Tuesday in January, when I shall be again in Albany. To-morrow I m.ove toward New York ; and shall remain there for at least two months. From all this you will * This letter is from the Appendix to the sooond volumo of Wilkiason's 'Memoirs." THB TIE INTEIGUES. 265 know how to address me ; and as to the mode of conveyance, I take the mail to be the most secure. Our post-offices in New York and in Albany are perfectly safe. If yours in Washington, or where else you may be, should be safe, you may Write fully. My curiosity as to S., is indeed gratified, even to Batiety. I wish her well, and something more. I regret the book for the injury it will do (has done) to the reputation of one honest man, and the feelings of another. John's pride will be much wounded. In Jersey, I suspect, Adams will not have a vote. Among the electors I see some of his known political enemies, not Democrats, but high-going Feds. Vir- ginia is pledged as far forth as faith and honor can bind men. You must be deceived as to S. C. When I receive your cypher and your address, you shall hear from me. Till then, "Adieu. A. Bure." " Noah Webster, the printer, has, I am told, published a letter against A. II. I have not seen it." December 15th, 1800. — Jefferson, who had been for four or five years, a correspondent of Burr's, writes him to-day a con- gratulatory letter upon the happy result of the election. The exact result was not yet known ; but there was no doubt the Republicans had triumjDhed. The tie was dimly fore- shadowed. After some preliminary observations of no import- ance now, Mr. Jefferson proceeds thus : " It was badly managed not to have arranged with certainty what seems to have been left to hazard. It was the more ma- terial, because I understand several high-flying Federiilists have expressed their hope that the two Republican tickets may be equal, and their determination in that case to prevent a choice in the House of Representatives (which they are strong enough to do), and let the government devolve on a President of the Senate. Decency required that I should be so entirely j)assive during the late contest, that I never once asked whether arrangements had been made to prevent so many from dropping votes intentionally as might frustrate half the Republican wish ; nor did I doubt, till lately, that such had been made. 12 260 LIFB OF AAEON BUBE. " While I must congratulate you, my deal- sir, on the issue of this contest, because it is more honorable, and, doubtless, more grateful to you than any station within the competence of the chief magistrate ; yet, for myself, and for the substan- tial service of the public, I feel most sensibly the loss we sus- tain of your aid in our new administration. It leaves a chasm in my arrangements which can not be adequately filled up. I had endeavored to compose an administration whose talents, integrity, names, and dispositions should at once inspire un- bounded confidence in the public mind, and insure a perfect harmony in the conduct of the public business. I lose you from the list, and am not sure of all the others. Should the gentlemen who possess the public confidence decline taking a part in their affairs, and force us to take persons unknown to the people, the evil genius of this country may realize his avowal that 'he will beat down the administration.' The re- turn of Mr. Van Benthuysen, one of your electors, furnishes me a confidential opportunity of writing this much to you, which I should not have ventured through the post-office at this prying season. We shall, of course, see you before the 4th of March." The " evil, genius of this country," according to Mr. Jeffer- son, was Alexander Hamilton, and, doubtless, he was the indi- vidual referred to in this epistle. At a later and calmer day, Jefferson was juster to Hamilton. December \%th. — One day after the above was written, and three or four days before it could have reached its destina- tion, Colonel Burr wrote a letter to Mr. S. Smith, a membei of the House of Representatives from Maryland, the materia part of which was the following : " It is highly probable that I shall have an equal number ol votes with Mr. Jefferson ; but, if such should be the result, every man who knows me ought to know that I would utterly disclaim all competition. Be assured that the Federal party can entertain no wish for such an exchange. As to my friends, they would dishonor my views and insult ray feeliigs by a sus- picion that I would submit to be instrumental in counteracting THE TIE INTEIGUBS. 267 the wishes and the expectations of the United States. And I now constitute you my proxy to declare these sentiments if the occasion should require." As this letter came, afterward, to be thought insincere, it ia proper to mention that, at the time, it was highly applauded by the Republicans. At public dinners and other meetings, it was quoted as a proof of Burr's respect for the will of the peo- ple. He also received addresses and letters, applauding it. December 16i/t. — Hamilton, too, writes a letter to-day. Wolcott, Secretary of the Treasury under Washington and Adams, and a ' high-flying Federalist,' was the individual ad- dressed. This letter contains a passage relative to Burr and the tie, that breathes the very spirit of meanness. After stat- ing, among other things, that Burr was " bankrupt beyond i-edemption, except by the plunder of his country," which was at least an exaggeration, he opposes the Federal project of sup- porting Burr, and adds the following despicable words : " Yet it m.ay be well enough to throio out a lure for him, i?i order to tempt him to start for the plate, andthen lay thefowi- dation of disunion between the tioo chiefs.'''' December I'ltJi. — But, among the Federalists, there had sprung np a perfect furore for electing Burr over Jefferson — so abhorrent to them was the prospect of seeing the arch- Democrat in the presidential chair. To-day, Mr. Otis, of Mas- sachusetts, writes to Hamilton, the "father-confessor" of the Federal party, to ask his opinion how the Federalists could best improve the accident of the tie. " It is palpable," wrote Mr. Otis, "that to elect Burr would be to cover the opposi- tion with chagrin, and to sow among them the seeds of a mor- bid division." Shall we, he continues, open negotiations with Burr ? If yes, how ? Will he stand to his engagements ? We in Massachusetts do not know the man. You do. Ad- vise us. December 11 th. — On the same day, Hamilton writes a sec- ond letter to Wolcott, rebuking vehemently the proposal to 268 LIFE OF AAEON BUEB. elect Burr President by Federal votes. If the Federal party, he says, succeeds in electing Burr, "it will have done nothing more nor less than place in that station a man who will possess the holdness and daring necessary to give success to the Ja- cobin system, instead of one who, for want of that quality, will be less fitted to promote it. " Let it not be imagined that Mr. Burr can be won to the Federal views. It is a vain hope. Stronger ties and stronger inducements than they can offer, will impel him in a different direction. His ambition will not be content with those ob- jects which virtuous men of either party will allot to it, and his situation and his habits will oblige him to have recourse to corrupt expedients, from which he will be restrained by no moral scruple. To accomplish his end, he must lean upon unprincipled men, and will continue to adhere to the myrmi- dons who have hitherto surrounded him. To those he will, no doubt, add able rogues of the Federal party, but he will em- ploy the rogues of all parties to overrule the good men of all parties, and to prosecute projects which wise men of every de- scription will disapprove. " These things are to be inferred, with moral certainty, from the character of the man. Every step in his career pi-oves that he has formed himself upon the model of Catiline, and that he is too cold-blooded, and too determined a conspir- ator ever to change his plan. " What would you think of these toasts and this conversa- tion at his table within the last three or four weeks ? 1st. The French Republic ; 2d. The Commissioners on both sides who instigated the Convention (between France and the United States) ; 3d. Bonaparte ; 4th. La Fayette. " What would you think of his having seconded the posi tions that it was the interest of this country to allow the belli- gerent powers to bring in and sell their prizes, and build and equip ships in our ports ? Can it be doubted that a man who has, all liis life, speculated upon the popular prejudices, will consult them in the object of a war, when he thinks it is expe- dient to make one ? Can a man who, despising democracy, has chimed in with all its absurdities, be diverted from th« THE TIE INTEIGUES. 269 plan of ambition which must have directed his course ? They who suppose it must understand little of human nature. * * * Alas ! when will men consult their reason rather than their passions ? Whatever they may imagine, the desire of morti- fying the adverse party must be the chief spruig of the dispo- sition to prefer Mr. Burr. * * * Adieu to the Federal Troy if they once introduce this Grecian horse into their cit- adel !» Hamilton's horror of Burr's innocent and characteristic toasts (which, in another letter, he says he himself heard Burr give at Burr's own table), strikes the modern I'eader with sur- prise. The toasts were simply those of the ultra Democrats, They were strictly party toasts. Bonaparte had, indeed, usurped the government, but the French Republic still lived in name, and the American Republicans could toast the First Consul as " the armed soldier of democracy," and the great enemy of tJieir great enemy, England. Burr, as a military man, could not but admire the greatest of soldiers. That Hamilton should have held up as monstrous such toasts as these, shows something of the humor and the caliber of the man, and of his party. It shows that, at that day, the ultra Federalists looked upon democratic opinions, as common-place clergymen regard heretical opinions, not merely as an errone- ous way of thinking, but as a flagrant moral offense. A significance was then attached to toasts of which, in these unconvivial times, we can form little idea. Toasts were among the missive weapons of party warfare. By toasts, the sentiments of party were expressed, and the measures of party foreshadowed. December \^ih. — Jefferson writes to his friend Madison, an- nouncing and deploring the tie ; which, he says, "has produced great dismay and gloom on the Repubhcan gentlemen here (Washington), and exultation in the Federalists, who openly declare they will prevent an election, and will name a Presi- dent of the Senate joro tern, by what, they say, would only be a stretch of the Constitution," 270 LIFE OF AAEON BUEE, December I9t7i. — To-day was written the only honest, and, therefore, the only sensible letter, which was written by a Federalist during the Tie controversy. The writer was GouvENETTE MoREis, a name ever to be held in respect from his having jjenned this epistle. The letter appears to have been written at Washington or Philadelphia. After mention- ing the tie, and saying that there was a likelihood of the Federalists taking up Burr, but that some j^roposed prevent- ing an election altogether, and putting the government upon a President of the Senate, Mr. Morris proceeded thus : " Not meaning to enter into intrigues, I have merely ex- pressed the opinion, that, since it was evidently the inten- tion OF OUE FELLOV/-CITIZENS TO MAKE Mk. JeFFEESON TIIEIE Peesident, it seems peoper to fulfil that intention. "The answer is simple, and, on mere reasoning, conclusive, but it is conclusive only to unirapassioned sentiment. Let the representatives do what they may, they will not want arguments to justify them, and the situation of our country (doomed perhaps to sustain, unsupported, a war against France or England) seems, indeed, to call for a vigorous, practical man. Mr. Bnrr will, it is said, come hither, and some who pretend to know his views think he will bargain with the Federalists. Of such a bargain I shall know noth- ing, and have declared my determination to support the con- stitutionally appointed administration, so long as its acts shall not, in my judgment, be f-issentially wrong. My personal line of conduct gives me no difficulty, but I am not without se- rious apprehension for the future state of things. " The anti-Federal party is, beyond question, the most nu- merous at present, and should they be disapipointed in their expectations as to the President, they will generally, I believe, oppose the government with embittered rancor. The best Federalists will, I appreheiui, support but feebly a man whom (unjustly, perhaps) they consider as void of principle ; and a government whose force lies in public opinion, will, under such circumstances, be critically situated." In all Hamilton's correspondence on this subject, not one allusion can be found to the onli/ right reason for preferrina HE TIE INTEIGUES. 211 Jefferson, wliicli is so well stated by Gouvcneuv Morris in the above letter. December 22d. — Hamilton writes to Theodore Sedgwick of Connecticut, formerly a friend and correspondent of Burr's. To Sedgwick he says, that "the appointment of Burr as Pres- ident will disgrace our country abroad. No agreement with him could be relied upon." And more to the same effect. December 24t7i. — Hamilton replies to Morris, briefly repeat- ing his denunciations of Burr. December 2(M/i. — A similar letter from Hamilton to Morris, in which he " trusts the Federalists will not be so mad as to vote for Burr." " If," he adds, " there be a man in the world I ought to liate, it is Jefferson. Wit/i Hurr I have always been personally well. But the public good must be paramount to every private consideration." December 21111. — To-day, Hamilton writes a long and very earnest letter to Mr. Bayard of Delaware, a member of the House, who cariied the vote of his State in his pocket. He denounces his friend Burr, as "a voluptuary by system," and adds the foUowdng : "No eno-aorement that can be made with him can be de- pended upon ; while making it, he will laugh in his sleeve at the credulity of those with whom he makes it ; and the first moment it suits his views to break it, he will do so. Let me add, that I could scarcely name a discreet man of either party m our State who does not think Mr. Burr the most unfit man in the United States for the office of President. Disgrace abroad, ruin at home, are the probable fruits of his elevation. To contribute to the disappointment and mortification of Mr. Jefferson, would be, on my part, only to retaliate for unequiv- ocal proofs of enmity; but in a case like this, it would be base to listen to personal considerations." In this letter Hamilton repeats the toasts, before quoted, wliich he had heard from Burr's lips, when, as he now says, 272 LIFE OF AAEOK BTTEE. "I dined with him lately." He adds: "The peculiarity of the occasion will excuse my mentioning, in confidence, the occurrences of a private table." January 5ih, 1801. — Gouveneur Morris replies to Hamilton. In the course of his letter, he says : " Some, indeed most, of our eastern friends, are warm in support of Burr, and their pride is so much uj) about the charge of influence that it is dangerous to quote an opinion." He adds that the excitement among the politicians is fearful, and his own position of calm spectator difficult to support. " You who are temperate in drinking," he observes, " have never, perhaps, noticed the awkward situation of a man who continues sober after the company are drunk." January 'Ith. — We are now getting into the interior circles. To-day Bayard, who held the power to decide the question by his single vote, replies to Hamilton at length, and with great apparent candor. He acknowledges Hamilton's letter, and thanks him for it ; mentions Burr's letter to Mr. Smith, of Maryland, declining to frustrate the people's intention ; and then proceeds thus : " It (Burr's letter to Smith) is here (Washington) under- stood to have proceeded either from a false calculation as to the result of the electoral votes, or was intended as a cover to blind his own party. By persons friendly to Mr. Burr, it is distinctly stated that he is willing to consider the Federalists as his friends, and to accept the office of President as their gift. I take it for granted that Mr. Burr would not only gladly accept the office, but will neglect no means in his power to secure it." He then calculates his chances, and adds: "I assure you, sir, there appears to be a strong inclination in a majority of the Federal party to support Mr. Burr. The current has already acquired considerable force, and manifestly increasing. The vote which the representation of a State en- ables me to give would decide the question in favor of Mr. efferson. At present I am by no means decided as to the TUB TIE UTTEIGTTES. 2T3 object of pvcference. If the Federal party should talce up Mr. Burr, I ought certainly to be impressed with the most un- doubting conviction before I separated myself from them. Willi respect to the personal quality of the competitors, I should fear as much from the sincerity of Mr. Jefferson (if he is sincere), as from the want of probity in Mr. Burr. There would be really cause to fear that the government would not survive the course of moral and political experiments to which it would be subjected in the hands of Mr. Jefferson. But there is another view of the subject which gives me inclination in favor of Burr. I consider the State ambition of Virginia as the source of present party. The faction who govern that State aim to govern the United States. Virginia will never be satisfied but when this state of things exists. If Burr should be the President, they will not govern, and his acceptance of the ofiice, which would disajjpoint their views, which depend upon Jefferson, would, I apprehend, immediately create a schism in the party, which would soon rise into open opposition. " I can not deny, however, that there are strong consid erations which give a preference to Mr. Jeiferson. The sub ject admits of many doubtful views, and before I resolve or. the part I shall take, I shall wait the approach of the crisis, which may probably bring with it circumstances decisive of the event. The Federal party meets on Friday, for the pur- pose of forming a resolution as to their line of conduct. 1 have not the least doubt as to their agreeing to support Burr. Their determination vrill not bind me, for though it might cost me a painful struggle to disappoint the views and wishes of many gentlemen with whom I have been accustomed to act, yet the magnitude of the subject forbids the sacrifice of a strong conviction. " I can not answer for the coherence of my letter, as I have undertaken to write to you from the Chamber of Representa- tives, with an attention divided by the debate which occupies the House. " I have not considered myself at liberty to show your let- ter to any one, though I think it would be serviceable if you could trust my discretion in the communication of it." 12* 274 LIFE OF AAEON BUBK. January 9th. — Geneva! Gunn, a leading Federalist of Geor- gia, acknowledges to-day a letter from J-Jamilton on the en- grossing topic, and adds some interesting statements. He writes from Washington : "On the subject of choosing a President, some revolution- ary opinions aie gaining ground, and the Jacobins are deter- mined to resist the election of Burr at every hazard — most of the Jacobin members will be instructed not to vote for Colonel Burr. I have seen a letter from Mr. Madison to one of the Virginia representatives, in which he says, that, in the event of the present House of Representatives not choosing Mr. Jefferson President, that the next House of Representa- tives will have a right to choose one of the two having the highest number of votes, and that the nature of the case, aided with the support of the great body of the people, will justify Jefferson and Burr jointly to call together the mem- bers of the next House of Representatives, previous to the 3d of December next, for the express purpose of choosing a President, and that he is confident they will make a proper choice." In other parts of his letter, he speaks of America be- ing degraded by the attempt to elect Burr President. " What eay you, my friend ? the little Virginian must have been a lit- tle ferocious at the time he wrote to his friend. I am confi- dent the present House will not elect Colonel Burr, and am persuaded the Democrats have taken their ground with a fixed resolution to destroy the government rather than yield their point. I fear some of our friends have committed them- selves by writing improperly to Burr. We know the man and those who put themselves in his power will repent their folly." January lO^A. — Governor John Rutledge of South Carolina, replies to a letter from Hamilton, in a way to enhance poster- ity's contempt for the Federal party of 1800. "My determination," he says, "to support Mr. Burr has been shaken by your communication, and I shall make, among those who with you are anxious to preserve public order at this crisis, all the use of it that its seasonableness and value THE TIE INTRIGUES. 275 will enable me to do. Vipwing Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Burr separately, each appears improper for the presidency ; but looking on them together, and comparatively, the Federalists think their preferring Burr will be the least mischief they can do. His promotion will be prodigiously afflicting to the Vir- ginia faction, and must disjoint the party. If Mr. B.'s presi- dency be productive of evils, it will be very easy for us to ex- cite jealousy respecting his motives, and to get rid of him. Opposed by the Virginia party, it will be his interest to con- ciliate the Federalists ; and we are assured by a gentleman who lately had some conversation with Mr. B. on this subject, that he is disposed to maintain and expand our systems. Should he attempt a usurpation, he will endeavor to accom- plish his ends in a bold manner, and by the union of daring spirits — his project in such a shape can not be very formidable, and those employed in the execution of it can very easily be made way with. Should Mr. Jefferson be disposed to make (as he would term it) an improvement (and as we should deem it, a subversion) of our Constitution, the attempt would be fatal to us, for he would begin by democratizing the people, and end by throwing every thing into their hands." January lOth. — Theodore Sedgwick replies to Hamilton's letter of December 22. The wrong-headedness of the Federal leaders is conspicuously shown in this epistle. Mr. Sedgwick begins by saying that all the Democrats are for Jefferson, and most of the Federalists for Burr. He then admits, that the people's intention was, that Jefferson should be President. But why did the people prefer Jefferson ? " Because," says Mr. Sedgwick, " he was known to be hos- tile to all those great systems of administration, the combined effect of which is our national prosperity, and all we possess of national character and respectability ; because he is a sin- cere and enthusiastic Democrat in principle, plausible in man- ner, crafty in conduct, persevering in the pursuit of his object, regardless of the means by which it is attained, and equally regardless of an adherence to truth, as demonstrated by his 2^6 LIFE OF AAEON BTTKB. letter to Mazzei,* his declaration in the Senate, on his first taking his seat there, etc., etc. ; because he is known to be de- voted to the views of those men in his State, whose unceasing effort it has been, and is, to reduce in practice the adniinis- tration of their government to the principles of the old con- federation, in which that State, by her numerous rejircsenta tives, and the influence which she has on surroimding States, will be the dictator ; because he is known to be servilely de- voted to one foreign nation, under any form of government, and pursuing any system of measures, however hostile to this country, and unrelentingly hostile to another nation ; and those the two nations with which we have the most interest- ing relations, and with which it is most important to preserve an equal and impartial regard. Ought we, then, to respect the preference which is given to this man from such motives, and by sudh friends P " As to the other candidate, there is no disagreement as to his character. He is ambitious, selfish, profligate. His ambition is * Mazzei waa a learned Italian, who had resided in Virginia, near Monti- cello, where he became intimate with Jefferson. Upon his return to Europe he wrote to Jefferson. Jefferson's reply, by some means, got into the news- papers, and made a prodigious clamor. Of this letter, dated April 24, 1795, the following is the part relating to pubMo events : " The aspect of our politics has wonderfully changed since you left us. In place of that noble love of liberty and repubhcan government, which car- ried us triumphantly through the war, an Anglican monarchical aristocratical party has sprung up, whose avowed object is to draw over us the substance, as they have already done the forms, of the British government. The main body of our citizens, however, remain true to their republican principles; the whole landed interest is republican, and so is a great mass of talents. Against us are the Executive, the Judiciary, two out of three branches of the Legisla<- ture, all the officers of the government ; all who want to be officers, aU timid men, who prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty. British merchants, and Americana trading on British capital, speculators and holders in the banks and public funds, a contrivance invented for the purpose of corruption, and for assimilating ua in all things to the rotten as well as the sound part of the Britisli model. It would give you a fever were I to name to you the apostates who have gone over to these heresies, men who were Samsons in the field and Solomons in the council, but who have had their heads shorn by the harlot England." THE TIE INTEIGUBS. 277 of the worst kind ; it is a mere love of power, regardless of fame, but as its instrument ; his selfishness excludes all social affec- tion,* and his profligacy unrestrained by any moral sentiments, and defying all decency. This is agreed, but then it is known that his manners are plausible — that he is dexterous in the ac- quisition and use of the means necessary to effect his wishes. Nothing can be a stronger evidence of this than the situation in which he stands at this moment — without any pretension from connections, fame, or services — elevated by his own indepen dent means to the highest point to which all those can carry the most meritorious man in tiie nation. He holds to no previous theories, but is a mere matter-of-fact man. His very selfishness prevents his entertaining any mischievous predilections for for- eign nations. The situation in which he lives has enabled him to discern, and justly appreciate the benefits resulting from our commercial and other national systems, and thij same selfish- ness will afford some security that he will not only patronize their support, but their invigoration. " There are other considerations. It is very evident that the Jacobins dislike Mr. Burr as President — that they dread bis appointment more than even that of General Pinckney. " On his part, he hates them for the preference given to his rival. He has expressed his displeasure at the publication of his letter by General Smith. This jealousy, and distrust, and dislike, will every day more and more increase, and more and more widen the breach between them. If then Burr should be elected by the Federalists against the hearty opposition of the Jacobins, the wounds mutually given and received will probably be incurable. Each will have committed the un- pardonable sin. Burr must depend on good men for his sup port, and that support he can not receive but by a conformity to their views. "In these circumstances, then, to what evils shall we expose ourselves by the choice of Burr, which we should escape by the election of Jefferson ? It is said that it would be more * Tlie reader will observe, that many of the leading Federalists, in denounc- ing Burr, use Hamilton's own phrases — so familiar had Hamilton made those phrases by repetition. 278 LIFE OF AAEOK BUBK. disgraceful to our country, and to the principles of our gov- ernment. For myself, I declare I think it impossible to pre- serve the honor of our country or the principles of our Con- stitution, by a mode of election which was intended to secure to prominent talents and virtues the first honors of our coun- try, and for ever to disgrace the barbarous institutions by which executive power is to be transmitted through the organs of generation. We have at oue election placed at tlie head of our government a semi-maniac (Adams), and who, in his soberest senses, is the greatest marplot in nature ; and, at the next a feeble and false enthusiastic theorist (Jeiferson) and a profligate (Burr) without character and without property, bankrupt in both. But if there remains any thing for us, in this respect, to segard, it is with the minority in the presiden- tial election ; and can they be more disgraced than by assent- ing to the election of Jefferson — the man who has proclaimed them to the world as debased in principle, and as detestable and traitorous in conduct ? Burr is indeed unworthy, but the evidence of his unworthiness is neither so extensively known nor so conclusive as that of the other man. " It must be confessed that there is part of the character of Burr more dangerous than that of Jefferson. Give to the former a probable chance, and he would become a usurper. The latter might not incline, he certainly would not dare, to make the attempt. I do not believe that either would suc- ceed, and I am confident that such a project would be rejected by Burr as visionary. " At first, I confess, I was strongly disposed to give Jefier- son the preference ; but the more I have reflected, the more I have inclined to the other; yet, however, I remain unpledged, oven to my friends, though I believe I shall not separate from them." January lOfA. — A long letter from Hamilton to Gouvenenr Moi-i-is 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- THE TIE INTEIGTJES. 279 pensity to make J?«rr President. If Jeiferson has prejudices leading to that result, he lias 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 15th. — 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 \&tli. — 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, ho now writes the most carefully elaborated letter that the crisis elicited. It is the most com- plete expression of Hamilton's feelings as a p.atriot and as a partizan, that has come down to us. " I 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 pai-ty, 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 \\\\\ 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 LIFE OF AAEON BTJEE. 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 cow., for preferiing Burr to Jefi 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 THE TIE INTEIGITES. 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 deoided] y 2}roJli(/ate. 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 situatioii 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 fitab to them, breed an invincible hatred to liira, 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 far 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 Godioinism. I have myself heard him speak with applause of the French * The colonial government of Connecticut was more democratic than that of the other colonies. 282 LIFE OF AAEON BFEE. system, as unshaclsling 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 JeiFerson would use. (Note by Hamilton. " Yet he has lately, by a trick, established a hanh, 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 recommendation 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 ; 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 selKshness, 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 THB TIE IKTEIGUBS. 283 is demonstrated by recent facts that Burr is solicitous to keep upon anil-Federal ground to avoid compvomitting himsielf by any engagement with the Federalists. With or without such engagement, he will easily persuade his former friends that he does not stand on that ground ; and after their first resent- ment, they will be glad to rally under him. In the mean time, he will take care not to disoblige them ; and he will always court those among them who are best fitted for tools. He will never choose to lean on good men, because he knows that they will never support his bad projects ; but, instead of this, he will endeavor to disorganize both parties, and to form out of them a third, composed of men fitted by their characters to be conspirators and instruments of such projects. " That this will be his future conduct, may be inferred from his past plan, and from the admitted quality of irregular am- bition. Let it be remembered that Mr. Burr has never ap- peared solicitous for fame, and that great ambition, unchecked by principle, or the love of glory, is an unruly tyrant, which never can keep long in a course which good men will approve. As to the last point, the proposition is against the experience of all times. Ambition, without principle, was never long under the guidance of good sense. Besides that, really, the force of Mr. Burr's understanding is much overrated. He is far more cunning than wise, far more dexterous than able. ['■'■Very, very confidential. — In my opinion he is inferior in real ability to Jefferson. There are also facts against the sup- position. It is past all doubt that he has blamed me for not having improved the situation I once was in to change the government. That when answered that this could not have been done without guilt, he replied, Les grands antes se sou- cient 2^eu des petits moraux ;'* that when told the thing was never practicable, from the genius and situation of the coun- try, he answered, ' That depends upon the estimate we form of the human passions, and of the means of influencing them.' Does this prove that Mr. Burr would consider a scheme of Usurpation as visionary ?] " The truth is, with great apparent coldness he is the most * Great souls care little for the minor morals. 284 LIFE OF AARON BUEE. sanguine man in the world. He thinks every thing possible to adventure and perseverance; and though I believe he will fail, I tliink it almost certain he will attempt usurpation, and the attempt W'ill involve great mischief. " But there is one yjoint of view which seems to me decis- ive. If the anti-Federalists, who prevailed in the election, are left to take their own man, they remain responsible, and the Federalists remain free, united, and without stain, in a situa- tion to resist with effect pernicious measures. If the Federal- ists substitute Burr, they adopt him, and become answerable for him. Whatever may be the theory of the case, abroad and at home (for so from the beginning it will be taught), Mr. Burr must become, in fact, the man of our party ; and if lie acts ill, we must share in the blame and disgrace. By adopting him, we do all we can to reconcile the minds of Federalists to him, and we prepare them for the effectual operation of his acts. He will, doubtless, gain many of them; and the Federalists will become a disorganized and contemptible party. Can there be any serious question between the policy of leaving the anti-Federalists to be answerable for the elevation of an objec- tionable man, and that of adopting ourselves, and becoming answerable for a man who, on all hands, is acknowledged to be a complete Catiline ? 'Tis enough to state the question to indicate the answer, if reason, not passion, presides in the de- cision. " You may communicate this and my former letter to dis- creet and confidential friends." Upon this letter a remark or two may be permitted. A man who, after knowing Jefferson as intimately as Hamilton had, could deliberately pronounce him " a contemptible hypo- crite," was no judge of men ; and nothing, therefore, which he says of an opponent has any value. Jefferson still lives in the history of his administration — lives in the stamp he left upon his country's intellect — lives in the nine volumes of his letters. Read all these, and learn whether Thomas Jefferson was or was not a contemptible hypocrite, or in any sense contempt- ible. The horror which Hamilton expresses of Godwin, that gentle-hearted enthusiast, that passionate lover of justice and THE TIE INTRIGUES. 285 of man, that friend of the most loveable gentleman of Ms day, Charles Lamb, is ineffably absurd. If Burr really said that great souls do not much regard the minor moralilies, he ut- tered as deadly a falsehood as ever fell fiom 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 Govei'nor Jay, advising the defeat of the Ilepublicans 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 man will do by what, in unguarded moments, ho says.* With regard to Hamilton's chronic dread of Burr's usurping the government, it was only one of the symptoms of the JBurr- ipliobia 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 anything like a,27urpose., 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 agaiust the usurper. January (No date named, but probably about the 20th). Hamilton writes, in hot haste, to Gouveneur Moriis, 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 quahties 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, lightprincipled man, than with an ill- tempered rigoriat in morality." 2eP LIFE OF AAEON BUER. "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 then- 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 ol 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 now in frequent and close con- ference with a Frenchman, who is suspected of being an agent of the Fiench 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 U.nxaiMovi's, information re- specting an opponent must be received with the same caution as his ojyinion. 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 INTEIGUES. 287 Jamiarij list. — A hm-ried letter from Hamilton to Sedg- wick. Kefers him to his long letter to Bayard. Bogs 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. Tlie 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 Umited 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 Jefierson, 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 Je:^ ferson receive moi-e than fifty-one votes. The balloting con- 288 LIFE OF AAEON BUEE. tinned, at intervals, all that day, all through the night, and nnlil noon of the day following. The vote was taken twenty- nine times without the slightest cliange 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 lOt/i. — On the first day of the balloting. Judge Cooper of New York (father of J. Fennimore 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 Utile 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. Sad Burr done any thing for himself, he woidd long ere this have been P.resident. 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 INTEIGtrES. 289 him the expediency of his coming over to the States who vote for Burr, tliat there was nothing in the way of appointment which he might not command, and particularly mentioned the secretaryship of the navy. Smith asked him if he was author- ized to raahe the offer. He said he was authorized. Smith told this to Livingston, and to W". C. Nichols, who confirms it to me. Bayard in hke manner tempted Livingston, not by offering any particular office, hut 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 lith, Jefferson records the following: "General Armstrong tells me that Gouveneur Morris, in conversation with liim to-day on the scene which is passing, expressed him- self thus. 'How comes it,' says he, 'that Burr, who is four hundred miles off (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 weak in recording stuff of this kind, 13 290 LIFE OF AAEON BUEE. That eoefry thing against Burr may appear, I copy the follow- ing from Jefferson's diary of a still later date, January, 1804 : " Colonel Hitchburn 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 was 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.' ' Plow is it to be done ?' says Hitchburn ; ' Mr. Jefferson's friends will not quit him, and hia 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, our friends must join the Federal vote.' 'But,' says Hitchburn, 'we shall then be without a Vice-President, who is to be our Vice-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 them the 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 Federali*^;", and they THB TIB INTEI6UES. 29x 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 yom- own power. You Lave only to say you will do justice to the public creditors, maintain the navy, and not disturb those holding oiEces, 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 ray 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 lid. — 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. Tet I may, with out impropriety, communicate a fact — it is this : "Colonel Burr is taking an ^aMwe. 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 Phelps, of the western part of 292 LIFE OF AAEON BUEE. tbis State, to induce his exertions in favoi- of Clinton. Is vmX, this an unequivocal confirmation of wliat 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 Iii3 own party, who lately, more than ever, have shown the cloven foot of rmik Jacobinism." To what a ridiculous pitch Hamilton's feelings were wrought during the struggle, is shown by liis subsequent avowal to Mr. ' Bayard : "It is believed to be an alarming fiict, 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 liad completely forfeited the conBdence 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 TIE INTRIGUES. 293 of all the doubtful votes in the House, which enalled me, ac- cording to views which presented themselves, to protract or terminate the controversy. " Tliis arrangement was easily made from the opinion read- ily adopted from the consideration that, representing a small State witliout resources which could supply the means of selfr 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 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, hut this required his cooperation. By deceiving one man {a great blockhead), and tempting tiso (not incorrvptible), he might have secured 294 LIFE or AAEON BUEE. a majority of the States. He will never have another chancd 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 pavtizan, 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 tilings was accepted with a good grace. Far away, at Albany, the Republicans of tne New York legislature were banqueting hilariously. In reporting the proceedings of this occasion, the Albany Megister 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 INTEIGUES. 295 form and 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 1800, was present at the b.anquet, and offered this toast : " Oar Republican brethren of the South — may we always be 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 fate. " The last day," says Jefferson, " of his political power, the last houi', and even beyond midnight, were em- ployed in filling 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 dovvn." 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 his grave without understanding the nature of the revolution which ousted him. In 1811 he wrote to Dr. Eush : " In point of Kepublicanism, aU the difference I ever knew or could discover between you and me, or between Jefferson and mo, consisted, " 1. In the difference 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 dmcd a dozen every day. " 4. Jefferson and Rush were for Uberty and straight hair. I thought curled hair was an Republican as straight." 29C LIFE OF AAEON BUEE. for liis 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, were Btill 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 fi-ail and worthless fabric. Yet I have the murmurs of its friends, no less than the curses of its foes, for my re- ward. 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 populai-ity. 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 ^eo^sfedJ 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 loith him . 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 form, namely, honest, stalwart human beings ! CHAPTER XVII. THE VIOE-PKESIDENT. Tire Office of Vice-Prksident — Maertage op Titeodosia — IIer Sos — Burets »»• LIGHT IN IIi.M — llis Style of Living — His Couetsuip of Celeste — llis Popu- LARITI AND GENERAL GoOD FORTUNE. We behold our hero now upon the summit of his careev. 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 Jefierson 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 be had ever shown more than a father's 13* 298 LIFE OF AAEON BUEK. 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 eftect, adopted, and who had grown up and been edu- cated with Theodosia, and whom he loved only less than his own child, was married, about this time, to a young man of a distitiguished 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. Thiii, with his duties in the legislature, absorbed his thoughts and time. It was a marriage in every respect fortunate and suititble. Mr. Alston was twenty-two years of age, a gentle man in all the senses of the word, and possessed of considerable proj^erty in rice plantations, lie 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. " Ton know," he wrote 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 one another : he playful^ tender, considerate, wise, confiding THE VICE-PEESIDKNT. 299 every thing to her ; she amusing him with her graceful wit, cheering him with her affection, reposing in him an absolute trust. He still directed her studies. Indeed, the burden of his advice to her always was : Never cease to improve your mind ; better lose your head than your habits of study. " The longer I live," she writes to him, " the more fi-equently the truth of your advice evinces itself, that occupation is necessary to give us command over ourselves." That is an eminently Burr-ian maxim. Her removal to a State which was then twenty days' journey from New York, was a drawback to his happiness in her mar- riage. But, during these happy years, Theodosia's visits to the home of her childhood were frequent and long. And who so much caressed as the beautiful young matron from South Carolina, the daughter of the Vice-President ? She led the society of two States ; and was worthy to lead it. It is not difficult to discover that she preferred her northern home. She declared that the society of New York was so superior to that of the South, that a woman must be a fool who denied it. Even our scenery was incomparably finer, she thought. One who only knows the outskirts of New York, as they now ap- 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 ]802. 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 vaiiety 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 high, dark shores of New Jersey, altogether form a scene so lively, 60 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- dosia, was the dearest object on earth to Aaron Burr. Surely, 300 LIFE OF AAEON B0EB. never was grandcliild so loved as this grandchild was by hiiH. He was never weary of its company. lie could never hea.i' 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, an.d of dear little Gampy, too, so much ; yet never enough. God bless thee." Gmnpy 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. IIow 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 liis hand, as tall as him- selfj 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, be 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 efibrt, and brouglit 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 hi? accession to oflnce. New York was then a city of 65,000 inhabitants, and was advancing with great rapidity. Theodosia herself I'emarks, in one of her letteis, 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 py^iiQ of water upon his estate which elderly inhabitants may still THE VICE-PEESIDENT. 301 remem'ber as the favorite slvating-place of their boyhood. It was called " Burr's Pond" years after it ceased to be liis, 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 particulaily of that which, like Richmond Hill, lay ■within half-an-hour's ride of tlie city. About this time, Colonel Burr was 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 afterwaid can- celed. But, finall)', the sale was completed, and Colonel Burr was, for the time, delivered from liis 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. Half 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 liis mariiage 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 "^hoso 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 eqnally pointed and welcome. A teted-iete, 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 pi-omptness and self- possession impossible in a lover under forty. " Is Celeste engaged ?" 302 LIFE OF AAEON BUKE. " 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, tlie 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, iete-d-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 : " ISTo ; 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 rebufl" 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, Bent 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 tbe 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 it 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 Vice-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, he 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 awfiil word, yes ; but not choosing to say it immediately, she told S04 LIFE OF AAEON BTTEE. 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 desii-ableness 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 victoiy. 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 la 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. CHAPTEE XYIII. CLOUDS aATHEB. The Great Erroti of Burr's Pubuo Ltfb — Btstributio^ of tiie Spoti^ — CnEFi- IIAM AND TiiR American Citizen — Burr's Course on the Judiciary Bill — TilH Suppressed History of Adams's Administration — TIamii-ton's Morbid Appre- hensions — Burr at the Washington Banquet — IIamilton's New Tactics — Cheetham's Calumnies — Their Eefutation — The War of Pamphlets and Newspapers — Dueling then — Hamilton's Eldest Son Falls in a Duel — Duel between John Swartwout and De Witt Clinton — Eobert Swartwout AND Richard Kikek's Duel — Duel between Coleman and Captain Thompson — Busr Runs foe 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 party and personal reasons chiefly, to turn politician. S06 LIFE OF AAEON ETTEE. 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 air 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, and 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 now 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 foi-ces for the purpose of destroying Burr and his band of followers. Thus against our hero and his " myrmidons," three groat po w- CLOUDS GATHER, 30"? ers were soon to be secretly or openly leagued ; namely, first, the Virginia politicians, one of whom wielded the patronage of the Federal government ; secondly, the Clintons, one of Avhom was Governor of the State of New York, while young De 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 with the 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- tested election, as directors of the Manhattan Bank ; and the influence and power of that institution were used against the man to whom it owed 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 Cheetham, who began life as a hatter, and who knew as 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 BtTEE. set-attack on some public character, in what he supposed to be the manner of Junius. Hamilton, too, had an organ, the newly-established Eoening Post, edited by William Coleman, a lawyer, a good writer, and a gentleman. In these circumstances, the friends of Burr, in the summei of 1802, assisted to establish the Morning Chronicle, which supported the administration, but was especially fiiendly to the Vice-President. This Morning Chronicle ceased, long ago, to exist, but its name, throngh 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 tho 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 Tlieodosia, 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 j)ropared. 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 ceitain citizens of Baltimore one of those adulatory addresses of which Mr. Adams was so fond, and which it had been a specialty of the Reptiblican 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 GATHEU. 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 jiidges. 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. Wliat President, what party, could see, without disgust, twenty-three keenly-coveted life- judgesliips, stolen, as it were, from the hard-wou "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 debate, 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 AABON BUEK. obvious duty. As it happened, however, the vote had no re- sults, for the arrival of a Senator, a day or two 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 wo 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-Pj-esident 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 Bidwell, 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 politio 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 tho 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- CLOUDS GA.TIIEK. 311 President fortore to defeat it by his casting vote, the Presi dent refrained from killing it by his veto. Before Cheetham 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 pamplilet, 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 weaiy 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, naturallj excites our wonder and astonishment. "But the surprise ol the reader will vanish when he is informed that in no part of the world the bigotry of priesthood reigns so triumjDhant, 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 Yice-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 every 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 friendfl and acquaintances conceived utterly impracticable.' " 812 LIFE OF AAEON BUEE. 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 \e 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 not 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 cojDies 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 affair 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 jsarty, 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 satisfao- * Hamilton had no objection to -^ publication which tended to justify his own opposition to Adama. "When, soon after, Wood got into prison for debt, he was released by Coleman, the editor of Hamilton's organ CLOUDS GATHEK. 313 torily explained to the public, Colonel Burr's standing with the llepublican 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 ajjologize 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 uj) 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 fii'st 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- parition^ which was taken for the Vice-President, appeared amono- you, and toasted 'the union of all honest men.' I often hear at the corner of the streets important Federal se- 14 ai4 LIFE OF AAEON BtJEE. 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 \&%s founded 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 Goiiveneur 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.''- Hamilton's main idea was : Let us use Burr as a means of om7 elevation, not let him use ^ls as a means of his own. It was again the sensible Mr. Bayard's privilege to allay Hamilton's apijrehensions. 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 state 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 GATHEE. 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-rresident 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 who 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- triguer in this business. Bayard or Burr ? Hamilton's rejoinder to Bayard, is one of the most charac- teristic epistles he ever wrote. It is eminently amiable and absurd. He says that Bayard's explanation has allayed his fear. He then proceeds to divulge an elaborate plau for bring ing the country back again to its former Federal princijDles. We must change our tactics, he begins. We have relied too much upon the mere excellence of our measures. Men are reasoning, but not reasonable creatures. While we have appealed solely to the reason, our opponents have flattered the vanity of the people, and the consequence is we are prostrate, and they are triumphant. We must be vnove poUtio, my dear sir. Nothing wrong must be done, of course ; but we must S16 LIFE OF AAEON B0BE. meet art with art, and defeat tiick with trick ; that is, as far as we can do so innocently. After a prologue of this de- cription, comes the play. He suggests the formation of a "Christian Constitutional Society," .with a president and coun- cil of twelve at Washington, a vice-president and sub-council of twelve in each State, and as many local branches as may be necessary. The object of this grand association was to be, ostensibly, first, the support of the Christian i-eligion ; sec- ondly, the support of the Constitution of the United States The real object, of course, was to turn out the vulgar, odious "Jacobins," and raise to power once more the virtuous and polite Federalists. This was to be done by diffusing informa- tion, by getting good men elected to office, and by promoting charitable institutions, particularly in cities. As a proof how much the cities needed looking after, Hamilton revives the story of the 2^^ot which was said to have been formed, during the presidential suspense of ISOl, to seize and "cut off" the leading Federalists. This reads very much like imbecility. One would have supposed the Federalists had had enough of secret societies, in their early experiences with regard to the Cincinnati. And how Hamilton had denounced the American imitations of the French Jacobin clubs I Bayard set him right once more, by telling him decidedly that his Club scheme would not do. Let us wait, said Bayard, and the enemy will soon show the country that we are the party to give it prosperity. The country, meanwhile, was obstinately prosperous, and unreasonably peaceful, and madly confident of the ability and patriotism of the administration. But there was a gleam of hope for the Federalists still. In the summer of 1802, a rumor was flying about among them that there was division in the enemy's camp ; the President and Vice-President had quar- reled ! In June, Hamilton writes a doleful letter to Itufua King about affairs political, which thus concludes : " There is, however, a circumstance which may accelerate the fall of the present party. There is certainly a most serious schism between the chief and his heir-apparent ; a schism absolutely incurable, because founded in the hearts of both, in * CLOUDS GATHER. 317 the rivalship of an insatiable and unprincipled ambition. The effects are already apparent, and are ripening into a more bit- ter animosity between the partizans of the two men than ever existed between the Federalists and anti-Federalists. "Unluckily, we are not as nentral to this quarrel as we ought to be. You saw, however, how far our friends in Con- gress went in polluting themselves with the support of the second personage for the presidency. The cabal did not ter- minate there. Several men, of no inconsiderable importance among us, like the enterprising and adventurous character of this man, and hope to soar with him into power. Many more, through hatred to the chief, and through an impatience to re- cover the reins, are linking themselves to the new cliief almost without perceiving it, and professing to have no other object than to make use of him ; while he knows that he is making use of them. What this may eud in, it is difficult to per- ceive." 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 liimself 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 repngnance 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 mS LIFE OF AAEON BUEB. tt remembered, could not be, like Madison or Monroe, a satellite. His aim was to be an independent power in politics. To return to Cheatham. 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 battel- 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 thai)' masters. Cheatham was a boy of seventeen whan Colonel Burr began his political life. He was just of age when Burr want 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 wei-e 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 ware 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 he Republicans at the election for Assembly-men. In 1797 CLOUDS GATHEB 819 you manifested some concern for, and contributed your mite to the success ofi 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 Jirst 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 calculti- 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 on, from the beginning to the end pf the nine let ters. Cheetham's main charge may be divided into two counts ; first, that Colonel Burr ntrigued for Federal votes ; secondly, that he intiigued for Republican votes. Than the first count, 320 LIFE OF AAEON BUEE. 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 I'eferred 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 leturn to New York I called on Colonel Burr, and communicated the above to him. lie 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 which 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. Jeiferson, 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 publiclj avowed, in the JEoening Post, that he had no personal knowledge of, or belief in, the existence of any negotiations between Colonel Barr 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 GATHBE. 321 occiivred 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 tlie 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. Burr 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 power, 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 A'iew. And being completely persuaded that Mr. Burr would not cooperate with us, I determined to end the contest by voting for Mr. Jefierson. * * * J 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. Jefierson or to promote his own." On another occasion, Mr. Bayard deposed : "Early in the election it was reported that Mr. Edward Livingston, tha 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 powef to terminate the contest, I should do so, unless he could give me some assurance tliat 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 ot 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 "NTess wrote a 14* 322 LIFE OF AAEON 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 Repuhlican 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 Post, 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 appai'ent to any candid person who will take the same trouble. But it ia true that John Swartwout, Genei-al 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 ho ought to be elected, rather than have no President. It is true, as John Swartwout, with his usual frankness publicly avowed, that CLOITDS GATIIEE. 32S they thoMght it woiild not have been in the least dishonorable, if th'.'3' had promoted and secured his election. It h probably true, tl)at, after several fruitless ballotings had spread abroad the impression that Jefferson could not be elected, both Swartwout and Van Ness 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 periuission 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 liave reached the prime of life, can look back to the time when John Quincy Adams was elected President by the House ot Representatives, through the casting vote ot 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 tlie charge of " bargain and corruption." That chai-ge, mean, and ground- less as it was, turned one of the two men out of the presi- dency, and keiyt 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- ham's accusation, taken up by otiier 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 base 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 modem 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 arose from a political dispute at the theater. " He was murdered in a duel," said Coleman, of the Euening Post, who that very month had threatened Cheetham with a challenge, and who 324 LIFE OB' AAEON BUEE. the next day spoke of " the insolent vulgarity of that base wretch."* Tlie duel between John Swartwout and De Witt Clinton, which occuiTed amid the iieat 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-lieaded 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 BuVr's reputation, and had him- self experienced the effects of his hostility. Clinton hearing that Swartwout had accused him of opposing Burr on grounci.. personal and selfish, called him " a liar, a scoundrel, and a vil- lain." This was reported to Swartwout, and a duel was the result. Whu-T:iiAL Pcovooatioh — The PAr.ncti.Au PnoTOOATion — Tub TIostile Ooe EKSPOXUENOE — TlIS CHALLENGE GiVEN AND ACCEPTED — HAMILTON'S CoNDtTOT.^ AND BuEii's Letters BEFORE the Meetinu — The B vnquet of the Cincinnati^ The Last Writings of Hamilton and Borr — The Dueling Ground — Tink Duel — Effect on the Public Mind — The Coeoneh's Verdict — Dr. Non't SEEiioN — The Monument to Hamilton on the Guoukd. 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 " aifair 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-repeated, so irri- tating, and so injurious, as tliat 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 ho had grievous and radical faults — was not a revengeful man ; there has sel dom lived one who was less so. lie had to be much persuaded * " JSTotes on Duels and Dueling." By Lorenzo Sabine. THE DUEL. S39 before he would sue Cheetham for libel, and the suit was lan- guidlj' prosecuted. Cheetham himself, in January of this very year, 1804, had taunted him for allowing Hamilton to speak and write of him as it was then notorious he was in the habit of doing. " Is the Vice-President sunk so low," said this wretched calumniator, "as to submit to be insulted by General Hamilton ?" At e\'ery step of Burr's political career, without a single exception, Hamilton, by open efforts, by secret intrigue, or by both, had utterly opposed and forbidden his advancement. He hnd injured him in the estimation of General Washington. He had prevented Mr. Adams from giving him a military ap- pointment. His letters, for years, had abounded in denun- ciations of him, as severe and unqualified as the language of a powerful declaimer could convey. From Burr's own table, he had carried away the unguarded sallies of the host for use against the political opponent. The most offensive epithets and phrases he had so habitually applied to Burr, that they had become familiar in the mouths of all the leading Federal- ists ; who, as the reader may have observed, denounced Colo- nel Burr in Hamilton's own words. And, finally, he had just succeeded in frustrating Burr's keen desire for vindication at the people's hands ; and, in doing so, had made it only too evident to all the influential politicians, that for the success of any plans of political advancement which Burr might in fu- ture form, it was, above all things else, essential that Hamil- ton's injurious tongue should be either silenced or bridled. The two men had already been near collision. I think it was in 1802 that Colonel Burr, having obtained some imper- fect knowledge of Hamilton's usual mode of characterizing him, had had a conversation with him on the subject. Ham ilton (so said Burr in later years), had explained, apologized, satisfied Burr, and left upon his mind the impression, never effaced, that thenceforth Hamilton was pledged to refiain fi-ora speaking of him as he had been accustomed to do. They parted with cordiality, and had ever since been, apparently, very good friends. Burr considered then, and always, that be had made prodigious sacrifices, as a man of honor and a 840 LIFE or AAEON BUEK. gentleman, for the sake of avoiding a hostile meeting that could not but injure both as candidates for the public confi- dence. From the hour Burr learned that Hamilton still used bis former freedom, he ceased to respect him; he held him in contempt, as a man insensible to considerations of Jionor and good filth. Burr's new Federal friends, renegades from the Harailtonian part)', had given Jiim new information respecting the Burriphobia under which their former leader labored, and the language in which it was accustomed to find vent. Consider the force of another circumstance uf)on a mind like Burr's, whose religion was, fidelity to comrades. Men who proudly looked up to him as more than their political chief — as the preeminent gentleman, and model man of the world, of that age — had fought in his quarrel, and fought with a reckless courage which he had first inspired, and then com- manded. If the occasion should arise, could chief decline the encounter with chief, after the subalterns had so gallantly con- tended ? And this consideration had equal weight with Ham- ilton. Beside having sanctioned the practice of dueling, by serving as second to Colonel Laurens in his duel with General Lee, his own son had fallen, three years ago, in what the lan- guage of that day called the vindication of his father's honor. In short, newer, since the duello was invented, were two men, if the requisite technical provocation should arise, so peculiarly and irresistibly bound to fight, as were Aaron Burr and Alex- ander Hamilton in the summer of 1804. During the late election for governor, a letter from Dr. Charles D. Cooper to a friend, found its way into the papers, which contained two sentences relating to Colonel Burr. One was this : " General Hamilton and Judge Kent have declared, in sub stance, that they looked upon Mr. Burr to be a dangerous man, and one who ought not to be trusted with the reins of government." This was the otlier : "I could detail to you a still more des- picable opinion which General Hamilton has expressed of Mr, Burr." THE DUEL. 341 Six weeks after the election, the paper containing this letter was put into Colonel Burr's Lands, and his attention called to the allusions to himself. In the afternoon of June I7th, Mr. William P. Van Ness, me of Burr's staunchest friends, the Aristldes of the pamphlet vYar of 1802, received a note from Colonel Burr, requesting .im to call at Richmond Plill on the following morning. lie went. At the request of Burr, he conveyed Dr. Cooper's let- ter to General Hamilton, with the most oflfensive passage marked, and a note from Colonel Burr, which, as briefly as possible, called attention to the passage, and concluded with the following words : " You must perceive, sir, the necessity of a prompt and unqualified acknowledguient or denial of the use of any expressions which would warrant the assertions of Mr. Cooper." Hamilton was taken by surprise. He had not, before that moment, seen Cooper's letter. Having read it, and the note pf Colonel Burr, he said that they required consideration, and he would send an answer to Mr. Van Ness's office (Van Ness was a lawyer) in the course of the day. Late that evening ho called at Mr. Van Ness's residence, and told him that a press of business had prevented Jjis preparing a reply, and would prevent him for two days to come ; but on the 20th he would give him a communicaiion 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 despicable was not worth the pains of distinction. He could not consent to be interrogated as to the justice of the in- ferences which others miglit liave drawn from what he had said of an opponent during fifteen years' competition. But he stood ready to avow or disavow explicitly any definiti opinion which he might be charged with having expressed re specting 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. 34'J LIFE OP AAEON BTJKK. His repl^ 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 snch privi- lege nor indulge it iu 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 tlie sanction of your name. The question is not, whether he has imder- 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 ojoinions derogatory to my honor. The time ' when' is in your own knowledge, but no way material to me, as the calumny has now first been disclosed, so as to become the subject of my notice, and as the effect is pi'eaent 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 lettei'. 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. He 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 THE DUEL. 343 taken, and always adhered to, by Colonel Buvr. It read as follows : "A. Buvr, far from conceiving that rivalship 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 I'elation 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 supjjort 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. Pie 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 Mi'. 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, j)ointing out the embarrassment, gave you an op- portunity to take a less exceptionable course. You have not 844 LIFE OF AAEON BUKE. 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. Pendleton replied, that he believed General Hamilton would have no objociion 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 rejily, 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 wc 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 1he first instance, proposed in a form the most simple, in order that General Ilaniiltoa might give to the afiiiir that course to which he might be induced by his temper and his knowledge of ficts. 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 dei-ogatory 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 wliolly deceived, for the close of General Hamilton's letter contained an intimation tliat, if Colonel Burr should dislike his refusal to acknowledge or deny, he was ready to meet the consequences. Tliis Colonel Burr deemed a sort of defiance, and would have felt justified in makinii; it the basis of an immediate message. But as the communication contained something concerning the indetinite- 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 impeached or assailed ; and, without sensations of hostility or wishes of ]5* 340 LIFE OF AAKOTSr BUKE. 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 friiitlessness of the correspondence jaroved it useless " to offer any proposition, except the simple message which I shall now have the honor to deliver." Tlie 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 would require also a little time to arrange his private affairs; and, therefore, some delay was unavoidable. This 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 wliich 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 tiie cor- respondence completely terminated by the acceptance of the challenge. Pendleton replied tlrat the paper contained no such proposition, but consisted of remarks upon Van Ness's last letter. Mr. Van Ness, therefore, refused to recei\e it,* and Pendleton retired, promising to call again in a day or two to make the final ariangements. 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 u, 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. With 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 answer a general and abstract inquiry, embracing a period too long for any accurate recollection, and exposing bim to unpleasant criticisms from, or unpleasant discussions with, any and every person who may have understood V.im in an unfavorable sense " THE DUEL. 347 lUh, at seven in the morning, was fixed upon as the tira^; the place, Weehawken ; the weapons, pistols; the distance, ten paces. Thus, between the time when Colonel Burr sent for Van Kess 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 utter 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 days and family festivals. On this occasion, he invited a party to dinner, who, as he wrote the next day to Tlieodosia, "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 Natalie's (his adopted daughter) at table, which laughs and 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 amusino- 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 yonr 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 tliat she makes the best tale. I will be your ed- itor and your critic." The reader is aware how well this '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 da}^, tliough in perfect health, 1 have now, just at sunset, liad a fire in my library, and am sitting near if and enjoying it, if that word be appli- cable to any thing done in solitude. Some very wise man, however, has e.vclaimed, " ' Oh 1 fools, who think it solitude to he 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 lie is im- patient to receive the "Talcs," recommends her to subscribe for the Ed'inhurg lievieio, 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, at 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 remavked ; yet it was remarked. It was observed, too, that he paid no attention to Hamilton's conversation, nor, indeed, looked toward hira, 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 difl'erence 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 hiquii-y. 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 thei-e is not enough for the payment of my debts, I entreat my dear children, if they, or any of them, sliould 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 ouglit this my request. In so unfavorable an event of things, the support of their dear mother, with the most re- spectful and 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 tht 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 AAEON BUEE. he had shnink from the coming interview. His duty to his religion, liis family, and his creditors, forbade it. He 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 fiom pure and upright mo- tives. But there were difficulties, intrinsic and artificial, in the wa}' 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 exjjlanations 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 ia to do good that evil may come, is a dreadful error. It waa 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 THE DUEL. 351 are no signs that the gentle hlood of Esther Edwards was revolting in the veins of her errina; son against the morrow's deed. There is a tender dignity in his farewell 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 coi-respondents. 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 Thoodosia was urged to adopt as her own. His letter concludes with tliese 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 one — 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 essen tial to yours. It is also of the utmost importance to your son. She would presently acquire a critical knowledge ol 352 LIFE OF AAEON' B0EE. Latin, English, and all branches of natural philosoj)hy. Ali 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 tiivor. She will richly compensate your trouble." Two very characteristic postscripts are apjiended to this letter. In the first, he commends to Mr. Alston's special re- gard, Frederic Pievost. " 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 lias 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 ! he 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, ol 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 inorning, 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 Ness, 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 foi'merly one of the places that strangers were sure to visit on coming to the city, and which the events of this THE DUEL. 353 (lay renderecl 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 Yorkei's, to an el- evation of a hundred and fifty feet above tlie 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. Tills was the fatal spot. Except that it is slightly en- cumbered with underbrush, it is, at this hour, precisely what it was on the 11th of July, 1804. There is an old cedar-tree at the side, a little out of range, which must have looked then very much .us it does now. The large rocks which partly hem in the place are, of course, nrchanged, 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, M'ith 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 fifty 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 unfrequently 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 tho 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 with 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 AAEON BUBE. been arranged that Colonel Burr's boat shoulil arrive somo 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 carelesiily 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 Avorld 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 rooks, 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 flasliing 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 tho THE DUEL. 355 heights, under which they stood. As Pendleton gave Ilamil ton his pistol, he aslced, " 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 yon ready," said Pendleton. Both answered in the affirmative. A moment's pause en- sued. Tlie word M^as given. Bnrr raised his pistol, took aim, and fired. Hamilton sprang upon his toes with a convulsive movement, reeled a litlle toward the heights, at which mo- ment he 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 Ness, 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 tlia 050 LIFE OP AAEOIT BUEK. wounded 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 npon 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 hira) '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 scai-cely 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 Partitioc- street (now Fulton). Bayard's house, to which Hamilton was taken, was al Greenwich, within half a mile of Eiohmond TTill. TnE DUEL. 357 " General IlAinLTOx was shot by Colonel Bukr this MORNIXG IN A DUEL. TlIE GeNEEAL IS SAID TO BE MOIiTALLY 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 sori-ow — the resignation and caln\ 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 C.ncinnati, 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 shai-ed in the general respect for the fallen statesman, and in the general sorrow at his untimely end. While the procession was mov- in signals.' "My friend stopjicd at some of the shops to make inquiries concerning the ancient inmates. At length I licard him ask- ing for Adonis. ' Pray/ said I, ' who is this modern Adouis 434 LIFE OF AAEON BURE. for -whom you are inquiring ? some" smooth rose-cheeked boy" doubtless, like him of Mount Libanus.' ' This Adonis,' replied Mr. Viellecour, ' is neither a " smooth nor rose-cheeked boy," being in fact a black old man, or rather gentleman, for a gen- tleman he is every inch of him, although a barber. I say is, for I hope lie is still alive and well, although I have not seen him for some years. In th!^ sneaking, fashion-confonning, selfish world, I hold in high honour any man who for the sake of any princiijle, important or trifling, right or wrong, so it be without personal interest, will for years submit to incon- venience or ridicule. Adonis submitted to both, and for principle's sake.' " '■ Principle's sake ! — upon what head ? ' " ' Upon his own, sir, or upon Louis the Sixteenth's, just as you please. Adonis was an old French negro, whom the con- vulsions attendant in the West Indies upon the French re- volution, threw upon our shores, and who held in the utmost horror all Jacobinical and republican abominations. He had an instinctive sagacity as to what was genteel and becoming in manners and behaviour, as well as in the cut of a gentle- man's hair, or the curl of a lady's. He had attended to the progress of the French revolution with the greatest interest, and his feelings were excited to the highest pitch when he heard of the beheading of the French king, and the banish- ment of the royal family. He then deliberately renounced the French nation and their canaille, parvenu rulers, and in testimony of the sincerity of his indignation and grief, took off his hat and vowed never to put it on again until the Boui:- bons should be restored to the throne. This vow he faith- fully kept. For twenty years, through all weathers, did he walk the streets of New York, bare-headed, carryincr his Iiat under his arm, with the air of a coinlicr, filled with combs, scissors, and other implements of his trade, until liis hair, which was of the deepest black when lie first took it off, had become as white as snow. For my part, I confess, I never saw him on my occasional visits to the city, walking to the houses of his customers witliout his hat, but I felt inclined to take off my own to him. Like all the rest of the world, I EICHAr.OND HILL AND OLD ITEW TOEK. 435 took it for granted that the loyal old negro would never "wear his hat again. At length in the year 1814, the French armed Bchooner , with the white flag flying, arrived in the port of Now York, bringing the first intelligence of the return of the Bourbons to their throne and kingdom. Adonis would not believe the report that flew like wild-fire about the city ; he would not trust the translations from the French gazettes that were read to him in the American papers by his custom- ers, but walked down to the battery, with the same old hat under his arm which he had carried there for twenty years, saw the white flag with his own eyes, heard the news in French from the mouth of the cook on board the vessel, and then waving his hat thi'ee times in the air, gave three huzzas, and replaced it on his head, with as much heart-felt pride as Louis the 18th could have done his. crown.' " I could not help smiling at the earnest gravity of the old gentleman's eulogy upon Adonis. ' I fear,' said I, ' that your chivalric coiffeur owes a little of his sentimental loyalty to your own admiration of every thing generous and disinter- ested. When you are excited on this head, sir, you often remind me of what old Fnseli, in his energetic style, used to say of his great idol Michael Angelo— " All that he touched was indiscriminately stamped with his own grandeur. A beg- gar rose from his liands the Patriarch of poverty ; the very hump of his dwarf is impressed Avith dignity." I suspect you have been unconsciously playing the Michael Angelo in light- ing up such a halo of consecrated glory round the bare and time-honoured head of old Adonis. I am afraid I cannot do quite as much for another tonsorial artist of great celebrity who flourished here in our days, but whom, as at that time you were not niudi in the habit of coming to town, pcrliaps you do not remember. lie made no claim to chivalry or romance, his sole ambition was to be witty and poetical ; and witty he certainly was, as well as the vehicle and conduit of innumerable good i^lcasantries of other people. I mean John Desborus Huggins.' « ' Huo-o-ins— Huggins,* said Mr. De VieUecour. ' I knew 436 LIFE OP AAEON BUEE. a young lady of that name once, she who is now Mrs. , the fashionable milliner.' " ' Oh, yes — that incident of your life cannot easily lose Its place in my memory. But John Desborus Iluggins was no relation of hers. He was of pure English blood, .and liad no kindred on this side of the Atlantic. At the beginning of this century, and for a dozen years after, he was the most fashionable, as well as the most accomplished artist in this city for heads, male and female. He had a shop in Broadway, a low wooden building, where now towers a tall brick pile opposite the City Hotel. This was liter.illy the head-quarters of fashion, and fortune, as usual, followed in the train of fashion. But Huggins had a soul that scorned to confine its genius to the external decoration of his customers' Iieads. He panted after wider fame ; ho had cut Washington Irving's hair, he had shaved Anacreon Moore, when he was here, and Joel Barlow, on his first return from Fr.ance ; from them ho caught the strong contagion of authorehip. One day ho wrote a long advertisement, in wliich he ranged from his own shop in Broadway to high and bold s.itire upon those who held the helm of state at Washington, mimicked Jefi'crson's style, and cracked some good-humoured jokes upon Giles and Randolph. He carried it to the Evening Post. The editor, the late Mr. Coleman, yon know, was a man of taste as well as a keen politician. He pruned off Huggins' exuberances, corrected his English, threw in a few pungent sarcasms of his own, and printed it. " ' It liad forthwith a run through all the i^apers on the federal side of the question in tlie United States, and as many of the others as could relisli a good joke, though at the ex- pense of tlieir own party. The name of Iluggins became kno^vn from Georgia to Maine. Iluggins tried a second ad- vertisement of the s.ame sort, a third, a fourth, witli equal success. His fame as a wit was now cstablislicd ; business flowed in upon him, in full and uncbbiiig tide. Wits ancl would-be wits, fashionables and would-be fashionables, thronged his shop ; strangers from north and south had their heads cropped, and their chins scraped by him, for the sake of EICHMOND HILL ATTD OLD NEW TOKK. 437 saying on their return home that they had seen Huggins ; whilst during the party-giving season, he was under orders from the ladies every day and hour for three weeks ahead. But alas, unhappy man ! he had now a literary reputation to support, and his invention, lively and sparkling as it had been at first, soon began to run dry. He was now obliged to tax his friends and patrons for literary assistance. Mr. Coleman was too deeply engaged in the daily discussions of grave topics to continue his help. In the kindness of my excellent friend, the late Anthony Bleecker, he found for a long time a never- failing resource. You were not much acquainted with Blescker, I think — the most honourable, the most amiable, and the most modest of human beings. Fraught v/ith talent, taste, and literature, a wit and a poet, he rarely appeared in public as an author himself, whilst his careless generosity furnished the best part of their capital to dozens of literary adventurers, sometimes giving them style for their thoughts, and sometimes thoughts for their style. Bleecker was too kindly tempered for a partisan politician, and his contribu- tions to Huggins were either good-natured pleasantries upon the fashions or frivolities of the day, or else classical imita- tions and spirited parodies in flowing and polished versifica- tion. Numerous other Avits and witlings, when Bleecker grew tired of it, some of whom had neither his taste nor his nice sense of gentlemanly decorum, began to contribute, until at length Huggins found himself metamorphosed into the regu- lar Pasquin of New York, on whom, as on a mutilated old statue of that name at Rome, every wag stuck his anonymous epigram, joke, satire or lampoon, on whatever was unseemly in his eyes or unsavoury in his nostrils in this good city. I believe he was useful, however. If his humanities had not been too much neglected in his youth to allow him to quote Latin, he might have asked with Horace — Bidmtem dicere verum — .' " ' My dear sir,' interrupted the old gentleman, ' if you will quote, and I see you are getting into one of your quoting modes, you had better quote old Kats, my maternal grand- mother's favoui-ite book, the great poet of Holland and com- 438 LIFE OF AAEON BFEE. men-sense. He has said it better than Horace : ' Haar lage- hend coysheid laert, haar spelend vormt ter deuyd.' You ought always to quote old Kats, whenever you can, for I sus- pect that you and I, and Judge Benson, are the only natives south of the Highlands who can read him. But to retm-n to your barber-author. ' " ' Huggins became as fond and as proud of these contribu- tions as if he had written them all himself, and at last col- lected them together in one goodly volume, entitled, Hug- giniana, illustrated with designs by Jarvis, and wood-cuts by Anderson. He was now an author in all the forms. Luckless author ! His ' vaulting ambition overleaped itself.' He sent a copy of his book to the Edinburgh Review, then in the zenith of its glory, and the receipt was never acknowledged. He sent another copy to Dennie, whose Port Folio then guided the literary taste of this land, and Dennie noticed it only in a brief and cold paragraph. What was excellent in a news- paper jeu d'esprit, whilst events and allusions were fresh, lost of course much of its relish when served up cold, years after, in a clumsy duodecimo. Besides, not having been able to prevail on himself to part with any thing which had once appeared under his name, much very inferior matter was suf- fered to overlay those sprightly articles which had first given him eclat. Then the town critics assailed him, and that 'most delicate monster,' the public, who had laughed at every piece, good, bad, and indifferent, singly in succession, now that the whole was collected, became fastidious, and at the instigation of the critics aforesaid, pronounced the book to be ' low.' Frightful sentence ! Huggins never held up his head after it. His razors and scissors lost their edge, his napkins and aprons their lustrous whiteness, and his conversation its soft spirit and vivacity. His affairs all went wrong thence forward, and whatever might have been the immediate cause of his death, which took place a year or two after, the real and effi- cient reason was undoubtedly mortified literary pride. 'Around his tomb,' as old Johnson says of Archbishop Laud— - " Around Iiis tomb, let arts and genius weep, But hear liis death, ye blook-heade, hear and sleep." EICHMOND HILL AND OLD NEW TOKK. 43D " "We had now got far down into the old part of the city, when, turning up Vesey street from Greenwich, Mr. Do Viellecour made a sudden pause. ' Ah,' said he, ' one more vestige of the past. There,' pointing to a common looking' old house, 'there, in 1790, was the atelier of Ceracchi, when he was executing his fine busts of our great American states- men.' " ' Indeed ! ' answered I — ' I have often thought of it as a singular piece of natural good fortune, that at a time when our native arts were at so low an ebb, we had such an artist thrown upon our shores to perpetuate the true and living likenesses of our revolutionary chiefs and sages. Ceracchi's busts of Washington, Jay, Alexander Hamilton, George Clinton, and others, are now as mere portraits above all price to this nation ; and they have besides a classic grace about them, which entitle the artist to no contemptible rank as a statuary.' " 'It was not a piece of mere good fortune,' said my friend. ' We have to thank the artist himself for it. Ceracchi was a zealous republican, and he came here full of enthusiasm, anx- ious to identify his own name in the arts somehow or other with our infant republic — and he has done it. He had a grand deslo'n of a national monument, which he used to show to hia visitors, and which he wished Congress to employ him to execute in marble or bronze. Of course they did not do so, and, as it happened, he was much more usefully employed for the nation in modelling the busts of our great men.' " ' He was an Italian, I believe a Roman, and had lived some time in England, where ho was patronized by Reynolds, Sir Joshua (no mean poof of his talent) sat to him for a bust, and a fine one I am told it is. Ceracchi came to America enthusiastic for liberty, and he found nothing here to make him change his principles or feelings. But the nation was not ripe for statuary — a dozen busts exhausted the patronage of the country, and Congress was too busy with pounds, Shu- lino's, and pence, fixing the revenue laws, and fimding the debt to think of his grand allegorical monument. Ceracchi could not live upon liberty alone, much as he loved it, and 440 LIFE OF AAEON BITEE. when the French revolution took a very decided character, he went to France, and plunged into politics. Some years after he returned to Rome, where he was unfortunately hilled in an insmTection or popular tumult, growing out of the uni- versal revolutionary spirit of those times.' " ' May his remains rest in peace,' added I. ' Whatever higher works of art he may have left elsewhere — and he who could produce those fine classic, historical busts, was un- doubtedly capable of greater things — whatever else he may have left in Europe, here his will be an enduring name. As long as Americans shall hold in honoured remembrance the, memory of their first and best patriots — as long as our sons shall look with reverend interest on their sculptured images, the name of Ceracchi will be cherished here : " And while along the stream of time, their name Expanded flies and gathers all its fame ; Still shall his little barque attendant sail, Pursue the triumph and partake the gale.' " Wo had now finished our long walk, and as the old gen- tleman was going into his lodgings, I took leave of him." X. THE ELECTION OF 1800. FouE notes, written by Burr at New York to his relation, Pierpont Edwards of New Haven, in the very crisis of the presidential election of 1800, have come to light. To some readers they will be interesting. THE ELECTION OP 1800. 441 " Tluirsday, 20tli (Fov.) Ev'g. — If you have survived the letter which I wrote you this morning, you will have lived to hear better tidings. This afternoon, arrived in six days from Georgia, Mr. Jones, member of congress from that state and a very intelligent man. He considers the vote of S. C. as undoubtedly republican — saw General Pinkney in Savannah about ten days ago — says that the Genei-al appeared to enter- tain no other hope than that of compromising so as to run his own name with Jefferson — that in Georgia there are but five federal men in the two houses of legislature. — He (Jones) disbelieves the account which I transmitted you yesterday respecting X. C., and says that we cannot have less then seven votes. "21st Nov. — ^We have now the assurance of six votes in Maryland and a confirmation of the favorable temper of the Legislature of S. C. — After all there is no certainty without R. I. " The Legislatui-e of Maryland have postponed until their next session the appointment of a Senator to Congress in the place of Lloyd. — As an entire election of their State Senate will intervene, there is little room to doubt of a republican in Lloyd's stead. Yours A. B. " Will your electors be unanimous for Pinkney ? " I have little hope of any good from Penn'a, — ^they talk and write a great deal but do little." "New York, Nov. 26, 1800. — ^You despond without rea- son. If we have R. I., Jefierson will have a majority even without Penn'a or S. C. — ^but in S. C. there is every reason to believe that lie will have the whole eight. " You do not answer my enquiries as to the votes which A. will have in N. England. Yours A. B." "Nov. 20, ICOO. — S. C. will probably give au unanimous vote for Pinckney and Jeiferson, — Maryland 5 and 5, — N. C. 8 and 4, — ^Penn'a probably no vote. If your people (New- England) leave out P. fi-om 2 or 3 votes, J. will be Prcs't,— otherwise doubtful. " What became of Williams' suit? A, B." 442 riFE OP AAEON BTJEK. "New Toi-k, Dec. 1, 1800.— I receive this morning your letter of the 2 6-2 7th. It is highly probable that P. will have the votes of S. C. — ^but A. will in no event have a vote there. In Maryland we have five only and in IST. C. eight. — Penn'a nothing. — Advise me of the votes of your electors as soon as given and known. " Wm. Burbridge arrived yesterday in good order. I like his physiognomy. " I expect to be at home on the 12th and thenceforth till Jan. Yours A. B." XI. THE ELECTION OF JEFFERSON AND BURR. A cuEiotrs relic of party strife is a Fourth of July oration, deUvered at New Haven in 1801, a few months after the ac- cession of Jefferson and Burr, by Theodore Dwight, brother of the celebrated president of Yale College. The following are extracts : — " It is probable that the persons who compose this audience, have never met to celebrate the anniversary of American In- dependence, with sensations, similar to those which they ex- perience this day. Since the last year, the Administration of our national government has gone into the hands of men, whom the generality of the people of New England have long viewed as its enemies — men whose princifiles and practices we have both feared and reprobated. A change of this sort in a country like this, could not have been wrought without a violent struggle. One side grasping at power and emolu- ments ; the other eagerly endeavouring to save their constitu- THE SiLECTIOW OF JEPPEESON AHD BUKE. 443 tion and country, exhibit to our view a state of things which presupposes passion, strife, and tumult, success having crowned the exertions of the party which -with no small share of par ade assumes the title of Republican ; but which in more cor- rect phraseology, is called Jacobinical. "That government, which the collected wisdom, virtue, and patriotism of the United States, originally planned, and which we flattered ourselves, was established in its operations, under the auspices, the skill, the fire-eminent virtue, and singular talents of the fathee of his cotjntet, is now the sport of popular commotion — is adrift without hehn or com- pass, in a tm-bid and boisterous ocean. "The great object of Jacobinism, both in its political and moral revolution, is to destroy every trace of civilization in the world, and to force mankiud back into a savage state That is, in plain English, the greatest villain in the com- munity is the fittest person to make and execute the laws. Graduated by this scale, there can be no doubt that Jacobins have the highest qualifications for rulers. " We have now reached the consummation of democratic blessedness. We have a country governed by blockheads and knaves ; the ties of marriage with all its felicities are severed and destroyed ; our wives and daughters are thrown into the stews ; oui- childi-eri are cast into the world fi-om the breast forgotten; filial piety is extinguished and our sur- names, the only mark of distinction among families, are abohshed. Can the imagination paint any thing more dread- ful this side hell? Some parts of the subject are indeed fit only for horrid contemplation."