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 COLONEL AARON MJM, 
 
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 V ICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
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 i: M^ U B 1. 1 S II E I) I^E T T E R 
 
 r.TCU!:^ «.F Hi.-. e^ATiIER, REV, AAUON BUil... U.U. (W/ni PORTRAIT 
 A.ND AJTOGRAr-H), AND OF ffiS DAUOHTEn, THEODOSIA, WIFE 
 I .. <.OVE"N'f>R Mj|SiTON, or SOUT'T '\AROLfNA 
 
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 O'ER, 13 AND IS JACOB STREET, 
 
 1879. 
 
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• " LIFE 
 
 COLOML AAROK BURR, 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 SKETCHES OF REV. AARON BURR, D.D., PRESIDENT OF PRINCETON COLLEGE, 
 
 AND OF THEODOSIA, DAUGHTER OF COLONEL BURR AND WIFE 
 
 OF GOVERNOR ALSTON, OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 BY 
 
 OHAELES BUEE TODD. 
 
 EEPRINTED FROM THE AUTHOR'S "HISTORY OF THE BURR FAMILY." 
 
 New York : 
 
 S. W. GREEN, PRINTER, 16 AND 18 JACOB STREET. 
 
 1879. 
 
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 REV. AARON BURR, D. D. [46] 
 
 Ox the 4th of January, 1716, there was born to Daniel Burr 
 Esq., of Upper Meadow, a district in the northern limits of the 
 present town of Fairfield, Ct. a son, on whom the graces that preside 
 at birth, seem to have lavished all those gifts which they so charily 
 bestow on the majority of mankind. 
 
 He had a lively, intelligent, profound intellect, a handsome 
 person, equable temper, sufficient wealth, and all the advantages 
 of birth, breeding, and education, and still further to insure his 
 successful rearing, five hearty, healthy boys, and three merry girls 
 shared with him in the care and solicitude of his parents. 
 
 '* From childhood," says his biographer,* '' he had a strong in- 
 clination for learning, and early discovered tokens of that extraor- 
 dinary quickness of intellect which afterward distinguished him." 
 Fortunately his friends had the discernment to perceive this, and 
 early determined to give him a liberal education, with a view to 
 entering him later in some one of the learned professions. 
 
 Accordingly, in his eighteenth year, he entered Yale College, 
 then beginning to acquire that prestige as an educator of youth, 
 which had before belonged exclusively to Harvard, and after the 
 usual term of four years graduated with the highest honors of the 
 class. This occurred in 1738. He was particularly proficient in 
 Greek and Latin, and on receiving his first degree, was a candidate 
 for, and received the privileges of a resident graduate on the Berke- 
 ley foundation, which were only granted after competition, to the 
 three best scholars in Greek and Latin of the class. 
 
 The year after and while pursuing his post-graduate studies, 
 an event occurred which exerted a controlling influence on his 
 subsequent career. In this year he experienced that mys- 
 terious change which we call conversion, and which has changed 
 the life current of so many men,.-. A very interesting account 
 of this event is given, in the following extract from his private 
 papers : 
 
 " This year God saw fit to open my eyes, and show me what a 
 miserable creature I was. Until then I had spent my life in a 
 
 • Stearns' Hist, of First Church, Newark, 
 
 \\ 1909 
 
MEV. AARON BURB, D. D. 67 
 
 dream, and as to the greatdesign of my life had lived in vain. 
 Though before I had been under frequent conviction, and was 
 driven 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 my- 
 self, and almost concluded that my day of grace was passed. It 
 pleased God at length to reveal his Son to me as an all sufficient 
 Savior, and I hope, inclined me to receive him on the terms of the 
 Gospel." 
 
 His thoughts were now turned towards the Christian ministry, 
 as the worthiest, most sacred and most responsible pursuit of man, 
 and in September, 1736, he was licensed as a candidate for sacred 
 orders. His first parish was Greenfield, Massachusetts, a pretty 
 village in the valley of the Connecticut, a few miles above Spring- 
 field. 
 
 He remained there but a short time, and then removed to New 
 Jersey, and preached, as the old chronicles inform us, at a place 
 called Hanover ; while here, a wider sphere of action was opened 
 before him. 
 
 In 1677, a colony of Connecticut people, principally from New 
 Haven, had settled on the fertile banks of the Passaic, in New 
 Jersey. The church which they then founded had grown with 
 the years, until it had now become a numerous and wealthy so- 
 ciety, known as the First Church of Newark ; it was now without 
 a pastor, and having heard of the piety and eloquence of the 
 young preacher from Connecticut, they appointed a committee, in 
 Nov., 1736, to go down to Hanover and treat with him, "on the 
 subject of his becoming a candidate." Next month, Dec. 21st, it 
 was put to vote " whether the town desire Mr. Aaron Burr should 
 have a call for further improvement in the work of the ministry 
 among us, as a candidate for further trial, which was carried in 
 the affirmative, nemine contradicente.^^ They were cautious folk, 
 however, and engaged him at first, for but one year, commencing 
 Jan. 10, 1737. The connection proved mutually satisfactory, and 
 at the expiration of the year he was ordained as their pastor, by 
 the Presbytery of East Jersey, with which the church was then 
 connected. His emotions, on being inducted into this responsible 
 office, are thus referred to in his journal : ''Jan. the 25th, I was 
 set apart to the work of the ministry by fasting, prayer, and im- 
 position of hands. God grant that I may ever keep fresh in my 
 
68 FAIRFIELD BRANCH. 
 
 mind the solemn charge that was then given, and never indulge 
 trifling thoughts of what then appeared to me to be of such 
 awful importance." 
 
 The early part of his ministry was remarkable for that wonder- 
 ful religious movement, which, commencing at Northampton and 
 other towns in the Connecticut Valley, spread from town to town 
 and'from point to point, until nearly the whole country was em- 
 braced in its ever increasing circles. 
 
 Great Britain also presented, at the same time, a similar phe- 
 nomenon. This movement is known in religious annals as the 
 " Great Awakening." Whitefield and the Wesleys were its leaders 
 in England, and Whitefield, Edwards and Burr among its chief 
 promoters in America.* 
 
 The personal friendship and connection with Whitefield, begun 
 at this time, forms one of the most charming passages in the life 
 of this good man. The vessel in which the former took passage 
 for this country was bound to Newport, R. I., and as it happened 
 Mr. Burr was in that city when the vessel with its distinguished 
 passenger arrived. It is probable that he accompanied Whitefield 
 on his journey to Boston soon after ; at least he was in that city 
 while the latter was preaching there, and his letters of this date 
 contain many pleasant little scraps of information concerning the 
 great preacher and his sermons. 
 
 For instance, in one, the first of the series, he remarks, " To- 
 day I heard Mr. Whitefield preach in Dr. Coleman's church. I 
 am more and more pleased with the man." Again, <• on the 21st 
 I heard him preach on the Common to about 10,000 people. On 
 Monday visited him and had some conversation, to my satisfaction." 
 "On the 23d went to hear him preach in Mr. Webb's church, but 
 the house was crowded before he came. Same day Mr. Whitefield 
 preached at Mr. Gee's church, and in the evening at Dr. Sewall's. 
 On Saturday I went to hear him preach again, on the Common ; 
 there were about 8,000 there. 
 
 It was during Mr. Burr's stay in Boston at this time that an in- 
 cident occurred, which is related as showing his remarkable power 
 as a preacher. 
 
 One evening a young lady very wealthy and accomplished, but 
 a sceptic in religion, was passing by the church in which he was 
 
 • A letter from Newark at this period mentions Mr. Burr as one of the ministers whom 
 the good Lord had stirred up and inspired to water the seed sown by Mr. Whitefield in that 
 region. 
 
BEV. AARON BURR, D. D. 
 
 69 
 
 to preach, and attracted by the crowd that was pouring in, entered. 
 By and by Mr. Burr entered the desk. There being nothing 
 remarkable in his appearance, she regarded him with contempt, 
 and would have left the church had not a regard for appearances 
 restrained her. But with the first deep, melodious tones of the 
 preacher her interest was awakened; she listened with the most 
 breathless attention to the sermon which followed, and at its close 
 went out weeping and convinced. That evening dated a most 
 decided change in her character and life; she became a humble, 
 earnest Christian, and some years after died, in the triumphs of 
 
 faith. 
 
 After some weeks spent in Boston, Mr. Burr returned to his 
 
 parochial duties in Newark. 
 
 Some time after, in November, 1740, he was visited by Mr. 
 Whitefield, who preached in his church with the most gratifying 
 results. A correspondence was kept up, it is said, between the two 
 until Mr. Burr's death. 
 
 Two years after this visit, in June, 1742, the First Church of 
 New Haven honored Mr. Burr with an invitation to become their 
 assistant pastor with Mr. Noyes, and appointed a committee with 
 President Clapp at their head, "to go down to Newark and lay 
 the call before Mr. Burr, and at the same time to treat with the 
 good people of Newark and gain their consent to Mr. Burr's re- 
 moval." But both Mr. Burr and "the good people of Newark" 
 seem to have been perfectly satisfied with their mutual relations, 
 and the delegation was obliged to return home unsuccessful. Soon 
 after we may suppose that Mr. Burr returned their visit, as he 
 was chiefly occupied during this summer with sending the devoted 
 Bramerd on his long cherished mission to the Indian tribes of the 
 continent, and in the course of the summer made a long Journey 
 into New England and urged upon its people the duty and neces- 
 sity of christianizing the Indians about them, and also recom- 
 mended Mr. Brainerd as well fitted, both by nature and grace, for 
 the work. Other ministers seconded these efforts and the result 
 was that, in 1744, Brainerd was ordained and sent on a mission to 
 the Indians at the Forks of the Delaware. 
 
 A marked peculiarity of President Burr's character was the 
 large development in him of the paternal instinct,— a trait also 
 shared by his famous son. 
 
 He loved children, and had an instinctive desire to take every 
 bright active boy he saw, and " make a man of him." As an edu- 
 
70 FAIRFIELD BRANCH. 
 
 cator of youth, he was justly celebrated. Very early in his pastorate 
 at Newark he gathered a class of boys, eight or ten about him, 
 and instructed them in the principles of the English aud classical 
 languages. This was but the beginning. 
 
 On the 23d Oct., 1746, Jonathan Dickinson, John Pierson, 
 EGenezer Pemberton, and Aaron Burr, with an equal number of 
 lay associates, received a charter for a new college of New Jersey, 
 and which was organized the first week in May, 1747, at Elizabeth- 
 town. Of this institution Jonathan Dickinson was the first Presi- 
 dent. 
 
 In August, 1747, Mr. Dickinson died, and the students, eight in 
 number, were removed to Newark, and placed under the care of 
 Mr. Burr. The following September, Gov. Belcher granted a new 
 chai'ter, under which the college is at present conducted, and on 
 the 9th of November, 1748, Mr. Aaron Burr was unanimously 
 chosen the first President of the new college, "an office," says the 
 College Eecord, "which he was pleased modestly to accept, and 
 took the oath of office required by the charter." His devotion to 
 the interests of his new charge knew no bounds ; indeed, he is to 
 be regarded not only as the first President and true founder of 
 this sturdy giant of our day, but as its fostering parent as well. 
 
 "The college," says Dr. Stearns, "was at the time in a feeble 
 condition, and he not only contributed freely of his own means, 
 but by the weight of his own influence and personal efforts, he 
 was able to accomplish much in securing for it the patronage of 
 the liberal, here and in other parts of the world." 
 
 For the first three years of its existence, he received no salary 
 whatever as President, and his intense interest in its welfare is 
 shown in a letter of the period, which, after remarking that the 
 college had lately drawn £200 in a lottery, adds, "It hath given 
 the President such pleasure, that his spirits are greatly refreshed 
 which were before very low."* Mr. Burr remained President of 
 the college actively laboring in its behalf until his death in 1757. 
 Indeed, it is highly probable that his unparalleled labors in its be- 
 half were the main cause of his untimely decease. 
 
 In the midst of this life of activity, occurred his marriage with 
 Miss Esther Edwards, daughter of the Rev. Jonathan Edwards of 
 
 • The autograph which accompanies this sketch, is from a paper in the Connecticut State 
 Archives, praying the General Assembly for authority to hold a lottery in that State for the 
 benefit of the college, which power was denied them by the law of New Jersey. The paper 
 ie signed by Aaron Burr, Pres. of the college, as acting for the trustees. 
 
BEV. AARON BURR, D. D. 71 
 
 Stockbridge, Mass. This event, and the manner of its accomplish- 
 ment, created no small amount of gossip in the social circles of the 
 day. Mr. Burr was then thirty-seven, the young lady twenty-one. 
 His courtship, judging from the letters of a young gentleman then 
 a student in Princeton College, to his friends describing the affair, 
 was quite patriarchal. 
 
 The young letter-writer thus describes it : " In the latter end 
 of May, the president took a Journey into New England, and dur- 
 ing his absence he made a visit of but three days, to the Eev. Mr. 
 Edwards' daughter at Stockbridge ; in which short time, though 
 he had no acquaintance, nor had ever seen the lady these six years, 
 I suppose he accomplished his whole design, for it was not above a 
 fortnight after his return here, before he sent a young fellow 
 (who came out of college last fall) into New England to conduct 
 her and her mother down here. 
 
 " They came to town Saturday evening the 27th ult., and on 
 Monday evening following, the nuptial ceremonies were celebrated 
 between Mr. Burr and the young lady. As I have yet no manner 
 of acquaintance with her, I cannot describe to you her qualifica- 
 tions and properties. However, they say she is a very valuable 
 lady. I think her a person of great beauty, though I must say I 
 think her rather too young (being twenty-one years of age) for the 
 President." 
 
 A few weeks later, on becoming acquainted, he wrote again, 
 giving his impressions of the lady: 
 
 " I can't omit acquainting you that our president enjoys all the 
 happiness that the married state can afford. I am sure, when he 
 was in the condition of celibacy, the pleasure 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 education, 
 amiable in her person, of great affability and agreeableness in con- 
 versation, and a very excellent economist." 
 
 The marriage was solemnized, June 29, 1752. Two years later. 
 May 3, 1754, the old parsonage in Newark was enlivened by the 
 birth of a daughter, Sarah, and again, Feb. 6, 1756, by the ad- 
 vent of a son, Aaron. They were the only children of President 
 and Esther Burr. 
 
 In the autumn of 1756, the college buildings at Princeton 
 were completed, and the president removed thither, severing his 
 connection with the church which he had served to the great sat- 
 
72 FAIRFIELD BRANCH. 
 
 isfaction of all parties, for twenty years. But the career of this 
 busy and pious man was near its close. 
 
 In August, 1757, he made one of his swift journeys into New 
 England, penetrating as far as Stockbridge, the residence of his 
 father-in-law. He returned home much exhausted, but was 
 obliged to set off at once to Elizabethtown, to meet Governor 
 Belcher, on pressing business connected with the college. 
 
 At Elizabethtown he learned that the wife of the Rev. Caleb 
 Smith was dead, and hastened to condole with his bereaved 
 friend, and on his arrival was prevailed on to preach the funeral 
 sermon of the deceased lady. 
 
 On his return to Princeton, he suffered from attacks of inter- 
 mittent fever, but disregarding it, made a forced journey to Phila- 
 delphia, still on college business. 
 
 From this journey, he returned utterly exhausted, only to meet 
 fresh demands upon his energies, for Governor Belcher, his old 
 friend and ally, the firm friend and patron of the college, had died 
 siiddenly, and who but President Burr could fitly pronounce his 
 funeral eulogiurp. He spent nearly the whole of that night in pre- 
 paring it, and the next morning, nearly delirious with fever, travelled 
 to Elizabethtown, where the funeral ceremonies were to be held. 
 
 During the sermon his friends perceived with regret and alarm, 
 that he was nearly prostrated by his disease ; this -was his last ser- 
 mon. From Elizabethtown he returned to his home at Princeton, 
 where he expired from the effects of the fever, September 24, 
 1757. His funeral was celebrated in the college chapel, and his 
 remains interred in the college churchyard, where, eighty years 
 after, the body of his famous son was brought for burial. 
 
 Few men, probably, have been more sincerely mourned than 
 was President Burr. A large concourse of people, comprising 
 many of the magnates of the land, gathered at his funeral. A 
 glowing eulogium was pronounced upon him by Governor Living- 
 ston, of New Jersey,* and the press and the pulpit vied in paying 
 manly tributes to his virtue, talents and beneficence. 
 
 Of President Burr's personal appearance and habits we have 
 but few details, and they are chiefly supplied by his biographer. 
 Dr. Stearns, and by Gov. Livingston. 
 
 According to Dr. Stearns, he was small in stature, and of a 
 delicate frame but capable of great effort. 
 
 * Afterward published : a copy— and the only one that I have been able to find,— is pre- 
 eerved in the Library of the Mass. Historical Society, Boston. 
 
REV. AARON BURR, D. D. 73 
 
 " He was a small man, and very handsome, with clear dark 
 eyes of a soft luster, a slender, shapely person, and the style and 
 bearing of a prince," said the letter- writers of his day. 
 
 " To encounter fatigue," says Gov. Livingston, " he had a 
 heart of steel, and for the despatch of business the most amazing 
 talents. As long as an enterprise appeared not absolutely impos- 
 sible, he knew no discouragement, but in proportion to its diffi- 
 culty augmented his diligence, and by an insuperable fortitude, 
 frequently accomplished what his friends and acquaintances 
 deemed utterly impossible. In private intercourse he was modest, 
 easy, courteous and obliging." 
 
 A perfect master of the art of pleasing in company, his presence 
 threw a charm over every social circle. Temperate even to abste- 
 miousness, he was a lover of hospitality, and possessing ampler 
 means than most of his brethren, he distinguished himself as a 
 bounteous giver. 
 
 '•' As a pastor," says Dr. Stearns, " Mr. Burr was eminently 
 faithful and assiduous ; of winning manners and distinguished 
 skill in finding out and opening the avenues of the heart, he em- 
 ployed his address, learning, and activity for the promotion of the 
 moral improvement and spiritual welfare of the souls committed 
 to him." 
 
 Gov. Livingston also touches upon this topic. 
 
 " He was none of those downy doctors who soothe their hear- 
 ers into delusive hopes of Divine acceptance, or substitute exter- 
 nal morality in the room of vital godliness. On the contrary, he 
 scorned to proclaim the peace of God, until the rebel had laid 
 down his arms and returned to his allegiance. He was an am- 
 bassador that adhered inviolably to his instructions, and never ac- 
 ceded to a treaty that would not be ratified in the court of Heaven. 
 He searched the conscience with the terror of the law, before 
 he assuaged its anguish with the balm of Gilead, or presented the 
 sweet emollients of a bleeding Deity. He acted in short, like one 
 not intrusted with the lives and fortunes, but the everlasting in- 
 terests of his fellow mortals, and therefore made it his business to 
 advance the divine life, and restore the beautiful image of God 
 displaced by the apostacy of man." 
 
 This may seem like extraordinary eulogy, but there is evidence 
 that it was truth. 
 
 There are several portraits of President Burr in existence, but 
 all I believe copies of an original portrait, which was captured by 
 
74 FAIRFIELD BRANCH. 
 
 the British during the Revolution, and somewhat defaced, but 
 was afterward recovered and restored. The pamtmg rn the col- 
 lege librarv is copied from that portrait. , ,. , j 
 Mr Burr was not a voluminous writer. In 1752 he published 
 a Latin Grammar, known as the Newark Grammar, ani/v'''* 
 tas used in the college long after his death. He also publ.si.ed a 
 pamphlet of 60 pages called "The Supreme De.ty of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ Maintained ;" a fast day sermon, deliver d Jan. 1 
 iraS •' The Watchman's Answer to the Question, What of the 
 Night?" A sermon, 1756, and the funeral sermon on Gov. 
 
 ^"'t Ut^Oration by him on the death of Philip Doddrige, is 
 Btill preserved in manuscript in the college hbrary. 
 
 Fac-simile of Autograph ; 
 
 ^t 
 
 jU^ 
 
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 «.> ^'./>f^. 
 
 His monument in the Princeton churchyard, bears this in- 
 scription : ^ g 
 
 Reverend! admodum viri 
 
 AARONIS BURR, A.M. 
 
 Collegii Neo Caesariensis Praesidiis 
 
 Natus apud Fairfield Connecticuteusmm 
 
 IV Januarii A. D. MDCCXVI 
 
 S. V. 
 
 Honesta in eadem Colonia Familia oriundus 
 
 Collegio Yalensi innutritus 
 Novarc« Sacria innutritus MDCCXXXVIII 
 Anno circiter viginti pastoral! Munere 
 Fideliter Fructus 
 Collegii N. C. Presidium MDCCXLVIII accepit 
 In narli. Aulaux sub Finem MDCCLVI translatus 
 Defunctus hoc vico XXIV Septembris 
 A. D. MDCCLVII S. N. 
 ^tatis XLII eheu quam brevis 
 Huic Marmori eubjicitur quod mori potuit 
 Quod immortale vindicarunt coeli 
 Quseris viator Qualis Quantusque fuit 
 Perpaucis Accipe 
 
BEV. AARON BURB, D. D. 76 
 
 Vir corpore parvo ac tennui 
 
 Studiis vigiliis assiduis que laboribus macro 
 
 Sagacitate, Perspici cacitate Agilitate 
 
 Ac Solertia (si fas dicere) 
 
 Plus quam huinana pene 
 
 Angelica 
 
 Anima ferme totus 
 
 Omnigena Literatura instructus 
 
 Tbeologia prjestantior 
 
 Concionator volubilis suavis et suadus 
 
 Orator facundus 
 
 Moribus facilis Candidas et jucundus 
 
 Vita egregie liberalis ac beneficus 
 
 Supra vero omnia emicuerunt 
 
 Pietas ac Benevolentia 
 
 Sed ah ! quanta et quota Ingenii 
 
 Industriae Prudentiae Patientiae 
 
 Caeterarumque omnium virtutem 
 
 Exemplaria 
 
 Marmoris Sepulcliralis Augustia Reticebit 
 
 Multum desideratus multum dilectus 
 
 Humaui generis Deliciae 
 
 O ! infandum sui Desidarium 
 
 Gemit Ecclesia plorat accademia 
 
 At Coelum plaudit dum ille 
 
 Ingreditur 
 
 In Gaudium Domini Dulce loquentia 
 
 Enge bone et fidelis 
 
 Serve 
 
 Abi viator tuam respiee finem. 
 
COL. AARON BURR. [133] 
 
 It would be impossible in a work of this kind to ignore the 
 life and services of such a character as Aaron Burr, even if there 
 was any desire of doing so ; it would be equally impossible for 
 the compiler, having after careful study, reached certain conclu- 
 Bions regarding him, to ignore them, and write in the strain of 
 calumny and reproach, which has obtained with most writers in 
 treating of this remarkable man — for remarkable he was beyond 
 cavil — remarkable in his ancestry, his achievements, his un- 
 exampled misfortunes, and unexampled fortitude. His was a 
 strong character though a faulty one — a character that commands 
 respect and admiration, while at the same time one cannot avoid 
 noticing and commenting upon many defects. In this work the 
 compiler proposes to treat of him with independence, without 
 undue bias, and certainly without prejudice, stating only what he 
 believes to be the truth in regard to his life and character. 
 
 The reader will please remember that his object has been to 
 prepare a careful, accurate sketch of his distinguished subject, for 
 preservation in a family memorial, and that he disclaims any com- 
 petition in point of literary merit or finish, with the biogra- 
 phers that have preceded him ; and further, if any one feels im- 
 pelled to differ from the views herein advanced, he asks from them 
 fair and honorable treatment, deprecating the harsh invective and 
 coarse abuse that has hitherto assailed all who have dared express 
 a favorable opinion of Aaron Burr. 
 
 To gain the end desired, it will be necessary to treat of his 
 earlier career with almost the pitiless brevity of a compendium. 
 He was born in the parsonage of the First Church, Newark, Feb. 
 6, 1756. Before the second year of his life had passed, it was 
 clouded by the death of his father, mother, and grandparents, and 
 he was left to the hazardous experiment of being reared in an 
 uncle's family, who, however conscientious, was, it is evident, no fit 
 custodian for such a genius. 
 
 This uncle was Timothy Edwards, the eldest son of President 
 Edwards; he resided at Elizabeth town, N. J., and at the age of 
 three the little Aaron became an inmate of his family. Left an 
 
COL. AARON BURR. 81 
 
 ample patrimony, his uncle made free use of it in his education, 
 and provided for him an excellent tutor, Mr. Tappan Eeeve, who 
 some years later became his brother-in-law, and later still was 
 widely known as Chief Judge of the Supreme Court of Connecti- 
 cut, and founder of the Litchfield Law School. So precocious 
 was the boy. that at eleven he. was ready for college, and applied 
 to the faculty of Princeton for admission, but was refused solely, 
 as he himself said, "on account of his years and inches." He 
 contrived, however, to triumph over the faculty by entering the 
 sophomore class two years later, in 1769, and graduated with dis- 
 tinction in September, 1772. 
 
 The year that followed was spent partly at Princeton, among 
 his "books, and partly at Elizabeth town in pursuit of those manly 
 sports which young men of fortune sometimes affect. During this 
 year too, the subject of a profession was much in his thoughts. His 
 friends and the Presbyterian world generally expected him to choose 
 the profession which his father and grandfather had so adorned. 
 Conscience, and the silent influence of the dead impelled him in the 
 same direction. On the other hand, he had no doubt imbibed 
 much of the speculative French philosophy then so rife, and which, 
 while it questioned the truth of revelation, pointed to the attain- 
 ment of fame, and the indulgence of passion as the chief means of 
 obtaining happiness. In this state of indecision, he became in the 
 fall of 1774, an inmate of Dr. Bellamy's famous school at Bethle- 
 hem, Connecticut. This gentleman was the successor in theology 
 of President Edwards, and his reputation for learning and piety 
 attracted to his home so many candidates for the ministry, that it 
 assumed quite the character of a theological seminary. 
 
 Here Bui'r fought the great battle of Armageddon. 
 
 We cannot give the details of the conflict, or say how largely 
 the result was due to the absurd and repelling system of theology 
 then in vogue, but we know that the result of his studies was a 
 conviction, to use his own words " that the road to heaven was open 
 to all alike," and that he resolved there to maintain henceforth 
 an imperturbable silence on religious matters. There is however 
 no evidence that he adopted extreme atheistic views. 
 
 In the fall of 1774, we find him a law student with Tappan 
 Eeeve, now the proud husband of pretty Salhe Burr, and principal 
 of a law school at Litchfield, Conn., which had already become fa- 
 mous. For a few months only Burr pored over his musty law-books, 
 then the guns of Lexington summoned him to arms with thou- 
 6 
 
82 FAIRFIELD BRANCH. 
 
 sands of other gallant spirits, and buckling on his sword he set off 
 without delay to join the army at Boston. 
 
 It was in July, 1775 that Burr and his friend Ogden, — after- 
 ward Colonel. — joined the Continental army, and it was in August 
 of the same year that after five weeks of inaction, he rose from a 
 sick bed to volunteer in Col. Benedict Arnold's expedition then pre- 
 paring for its famous march through the wilderness of Maine to 
 strike Quebec and Canada. He armed and equipped a company 
 at his own expense, and taking command, with the rank of Captain, 
 marched them to Newburyport, Mass., where the little army was to 
 rendezvous. 
 
 On Tuesday the 19th of September, at ten in the morning, the 
 expedition 1,100 strong embarked and stood away for the mouth of 
 the Kennebec, which they reached on the 23d. From that point 
 they were to follow the Kennebec to Dead River, up that stream to 
 its source near Bald Mountain, then over a portage of a few miles 
 to Lake Megantic the source of the Chaudiere, which would lead 
 them to the St. Lawrence and Quebec. This journey was to be 
 performed through an unbroken wilderness 600 miles in extent. 
 On the 4th of October the army took leave of houses and settle- 
 ments, and plunged into this wilderness ; 27 days after, on the 31st 
 of October, they reached the settlements on the Chaudiere River. 
 These were days of the severest privations ; thirty times or more 
 the boats were unloaded and borne across portages, miles in length, 
 or hauled by main strength around rapids and falls. Once a sud- 
 den flood destroyed half the boats and provisions, and starvation 
 threatened the troops. For days they lived upon dogs and reptiles, 
 they even ate the leather of their shoes and cartridge-boxes, and 
 every thing that could afford nourishment. Many sickened, others 
 deserted, and when at last they approached the settlements it was 
 found that sickness, death and desertion, had reduced their num- 
 bers to barely 600 effective men. 
 
 Through it all our young soldier displayed the courage and en- 
 durance of a veteran. He animated the men with his sprightli- 
 ness and wit, or he led hunting parties in quest of game ; or in 
 the van of his division steered the foremost boat in its descent of 
 the turbulent river ; in all positions he proved himself a worthy 
 member of the gallant six hundred who marched with Arnold 
 through the wilderness, and came out strong in life and limb, be- 
 fore Quebec. 
 
 As the force approached the latter place a messenger was 
 
COL. AAEON BUBB. 83 
 
 needed to communicate with Montgomery, then at Montreal, 120 
 miles distant. No one volunteered for this perilous enterprise 
 until at last "little Burr" stepped out. Arnold, running his eye 
 over the stripling, demurred to sending such a youth, but Burr 
 persisted, and at length the commission was given him. 
 
 Fertile of expedient, he had already devised a plan for execut- 
 ing his mission. Knowing that the religious chiefs of the country 
 were opposed to British rule, he donned the garb of a young priest, 
 and sought an interview with the chief of a religious house near 
 by, and to him, after a few preliminaries, frankly unfolded his 
 plan ; this, the worthy prelate, after his astonishment had passed, 
 heartily seconded, and Burr was passed quickly and safely from 
 one religious house to another, in the disguise of a priest, until he 
 reached Montgomery, who was so delighted with his address and 
 gallantry that he made him his aid-de-camp on the spot, with the 
 rank of captain. 
 
 Twenty-four hours after, Montgomery, with his 300 available 
 men, was on the march to join Arnold at Quebec. They arrived 
 there December 1, 1775. The succeeding thirty days history has 
 made immortal. 
 
 There was, first, the council of war which decided on the as- 
 sault, and which gave to Burr the command of a forlorn hope of 
 forty men, whom he was to select and drill in the use of scaling 
 ladders, ropes, grapnels, and all the paraphernalia of the assault. 
 After the council came the long waiting for the midnight storm, 
 which burst upon them at last on the 31st of December. At five 
 in the morning the order to assault was given, the air then being 
 so thick with snow that every thing was hidden : 900 men an- 
 swered to the roll call. These were divided into four parties, two 
 for the attack and two to distract the enemy's attention by feints 
 at various points. 
 
 Arnold led one of the attacking parties and Montgomery the 
 other. Side by side with his general that morning marched 
 Captain Burr; beside them were two other aids, a sergeant and the 
 French guide, these six constituting the group in advance. The 
 column swept swiftly and silently along the St. Lawrence toward 
 the defences under Cape Diamond, and in a few moments struck 
 the first of these— a line of pickets firmly fastened in the ground. 
 These were wrenched away in an instant, and the column rushed 
 on to a second line. Here it was discovered by the British guard, 
 who fired an ineffectual volley and fled in dismay to a block-house 
 
84 fairfieldWranch. 
 
 a few yards in the rear. This latter was quite a fortress, built of 
 ponderous logs, loop-holed above for musketry, and pierced below 
 for two twelve-pounders, which, charged with grape and canister, 
 commanded the gorge up which the party was now advancing. 
 The garrison, wild with fear, fled precipitately without firing a shot. 
 Thus the gate to the city was thrown wide open, but the besiegers 
 failed to appear in the breach ; they were some yards below, strug- 
 gling with the huge blocks of ice which a winter flood in the St 
 Lawrence had left in their path. 
 
 At this critical juncture one of the fugitives ventured back to 
 the block-house ; peeping through one of the port-holes, he saw the 
 attacking column a few yards off and turned to fly again, but as 
 he did so, touched a match to one of those loaded cannon. That 
 simple act saved Quebec. Montgomery, the two aids, the sergeant, 
 every man that marched in front of the column, except Burr and 
 the guide, were stricken down by the discharge, and in a moment 
 the fortunes of the day were changed, and the victory which 
 seemed in the grasp of the provincials was turned into defeat. 
 " At this critical moment," says Mr. Parton, ''' Burr was as cool, as 
 determined, as eager to go forward as at the most exultant moment 
 of the advance." 
 
 ''When dismay and consternation universally prevailed," testi- 
 fied Capt. Piatt, an eye-witness of the scene, ''Burr animated the 
 troops and made many efforts to lead them on, and stimulated 
 them to enter the lower town." But the enemy reappeared in 
 force at the block-house and the commanding officer ordered a re- 
 treat, by this act giving Capt. Burr an opportunity to perform an 
 action that redeems humanity and proved him the impulsive, gen- 
 erous being that his friends knew him to have been. As the deed 
 itself has been called in question, I give an account of it in the 
 words of the Rev. Samuel Spring, Chaplain in Arnold's expedition, 
 and who was present at the assault. After describing the attack 
 ne says : " It was a heavy snow storm, Montgomery had fallen, the 
 British troops were advancing towards the dead body, and little 
 Burr teas hastening from the fire of the enemy, up to his knees in 
 snow, tuith Montgomery's body on his shoulders." Some forty- 
 yards he staggered on under his burden, and was then obliged to 
 drop it to avoid capture by the enemy. * see Appendix d. 
 
 Thirty years later his friends were fond of detailing this inci- 
 dent in the face of the clamor that arose against Aaron Burr the 
 traitor. 
 
COL. AARON BURR. 8 
 
 Captain Burr remained with the command until May, — a part 
 of the time performing the duties of brigade major — and then re- 
 signed and set out for New York, via. Albany. 
 
 He arrived in New York safely and served for a time as Wash- 
 ington's aid, but not liking the clerical duties which the position 
 imposed, he was soon after transferred, at the instance of Governor 
 Hancock, to the staff of Gen. Putnam, then busily engaged in 
 fortifying the city against the British force in the harbor. Put- 
 nam gave him work to do, the stirring active work of the soldier, 
 and with him he was perfectly contented. 
 
 A few days after, occurred the disastrous battles of Long 
 Island, and the famous retreat of the Americans from Manhattan. 
 
 In this retreat Capt. Burr was the hero of an action which 
 won him almost universal applause. He had been scouting in the 
 lower part of the island, and was flying in full gallop before the 
 enemy, when he came upon an American brigade, sheltered in a 
 mud fort, which stood on or about the present line of Grand Street. 
 " What are you doing here ?" Burr demanded. Gen. Knox the 
 commander explained that he had been left behind by mistake, 
 and deeming himself surrounded, he had determined to hold the 
 fort. Burr ridiculed the idea, and addressing the men, told them 
 if they remained there they would surely be in the British prison 
 ships before morning. He then led them by blind and circuitous 
 paths to the Hudson, and safely rejoined the main army, with the 
 loss of but a few stragglers. These men ever after regarded him 
 as their deliverer from British prison ships, and the whole army 
 rang with his praises, yet his name was not even mentioned in the 
 dispatches of the commander-in-chief. In 1777, Captain Burr was 
 promoted to the rank of Lieut. Colonel. His superior officer. Col. 
 Malcolm, was a New York merchant of no*military ability, and the 
 actual command of the regiment devolved upon Burr. This re- 
 sponsibility he cheerfully assumed, and in a few months brought 
 his men— all raw levies— into the most perfect state of discipline. 
 
 Through the fall of this year his regiment was detailed for 
 scouting duty in New Jersey, then the debatable ground between 
 the two armies. 
 
 Here he first met Mrs. Prevost, the widow of a British officer, 
 then residing at Paramus, and who afterward became his wife. 
 
 In November he joined the main army for the winter canton- 
 ment at Valley Forge, and through the winter was in command 
 of a very responsible post called "the Gulf," some ten miles dis- 
 
86 FAIRFIELD BKAJ^fp. 
 
 tant from the main body, and which would be the point first at- 
 tacked, should the enemy make a descent on the camp. He owed 
 this appointment it is said, to Gen. McDougal), who had been his 
 superior officer at the battle of Long Island. He next saw active 
 service at the famous battle of Monmouth. June 28, and 30, 1778. 
 Here he commanded a brigade in Lord Sterling's division and fully 
 sustained that reputation for address and gallantry which he had 
 before earned. After the battle, almost worn out with fatigue and 
 exposure, he was sent to New York with orders to watch the ene- 
 my's movements in that quarter and report, which task he per- 
 formed with the utmost spirit and success. Returned from this 
 duty, he was ordered to march at once with his regiment to West 
 Point ; the regiment, however, went forward without him, he being 
 detailed on the eve of departure, for the delicate service of con- 
 ducting several influential tories within the British lines. A few 
 weeks later he reported at West Point, but finding himself com- 
 pletely broken in health, he wrote to Washington, asking leave of 
 absence without pay, until the next campaign, and urging as a /, 
 
 reason his utter unfitness for military duty. Washington granted «j{ 
 
 him leave of absence but continued his pay. This, however. Burr 
 utterly refused to accept, and the matter was compromised by his ^ 
 
 being placed in command of West Point, where he remained until 
 his health was in a measure regained. He was now twenty-three 
 years of age. 
 
 About the 1st of January, 1779, Col. Burr received his last and 
 most important command, being placed in charge of the West- i 
 
 Chester " lines," extending from the Hudson to the Sound, a dis- 
 tance of 14 miles, traversing a section the most lawless and turbu- 
 lent in the country, and which former commanders had utterly 
 failed to control ; here Whigs plundered Tories, and Tories harried I 
 
 Whigs with the utmost impartiality, and both parties combined to ^^ I 
 
 plunder the peaceful Quakers, who formed by far the largest por- 
 tion of the population. To check these marauders. Burr pro- 
 claimed martial law, and proceeded to punish all offenders with J 
 the utmost rigor. His energy was untiring, and his vigilance 
 argus-eyed. 1 
 
 To protect his posts, he prescribed for himself and his subor- t 
 
 dinates a course of the extremest vigilance, and visited with the ' 
 
 severest penalties any departure from it. Next he prepared a list 
 of the inhabitants of his district, and divided them into their 
 several classes, such as Whigs, Tories, half whigs, spies and others ; 
 
GOL. ARRON BURR. 87 
 
 and further prepared an accurate map of the country, showing the 
 roads, creeks, swamps, woods and other avenues of escape for par- 
 ties flying from pursuit. To these safeguards, he added a perfect 
 system of scouts and espionage, and so managed all, that order and 
 quiet was restored to the whole region covered by his force. 
 
 If, during this winter he showed himself gallant in war, he 
 also proved himself no laggard in love, for twice during the period, 
 he contrived to visit Mrs. Prevost, at Paramus, thirty miles dis- 
 tant, on both occasions at night, and with such secrecy that his 
 absence from camp was not suspected. 
 
 But the labors of this command proved to be too exhaustive 
 a drain on a once splendid, but now enfeebled constitution, and 
 on the 10th of March, 1779, he was forced to send in his com- 
 mission to Gen. Washington, stating the circumstances of his 
 case, and asking a discharge ; in reply, "Washington wrote a letter 
 accepting his resignation, and regretting " not only the loss of a 
 good officer, but the causes which made it necessary." 
 
 Thus, after four years of active military life. Col. Burr became 
 again a private citizen. 
 
 Eighteen months were spent in recruiting his shattered health, 
 then he resumed the legal studies which four years before he had 
 laid down at the call of his country. His first tutor was Judge 
 Patterson, of New Jersey ; but not satisfied with his progress under 
 him he removed, in the spring of 1781, to Haverstraw, N. Y., and 
 took up his abode with Mr. Thomas Smith, a lawyer of note, for- 
 merly of New York, but now thrown out of business by the Brit- 
 ish occupation of that city. Here Burr pursued his studies with 
 the utmost dispatch, living abstemiously, and poring over his books 
 twenty hours out of the twenty-four. 
 
 There were sevei'al reasons for this intense application. His 
 splendid patrimony was all gone, spent largely with that inconsid- 
 erate generosity which was his bane, to feed, clothe, and arm the 
 destitute soldiers of his command, and his purse needed replenish- 
 ing. Again the success of the American cause, then well assured, 
 would give to the Whig lawyers all the business and emoluments 
 of the profession. Lastly, he contemplated marriage, and only a 
 lucrative practice stood in the way of home comforts and domestic 
 happiness. After reading law twelve months this man of wonderful 
 gifts thought himself competent to practice, and applied for admis- 
 sion to the bar ; but to his dismay he was confronted with a rule of 
 the court which required candidates to spend at least three years in 
 
88 FAIRFIELD ^ANCH. 
 
 the study of the law ; he could boast of but one, nor could he find a 
 lawyer disinterested enough to move a suspension of the rule. He 
 therefore uppeured in court and himself offered and argued the mo- 
 tion, reminding the court that but for his services in the field he 
 would long before have completed his studies, and that in his case at 
 least there were grave reasons for the suspension of the rule. The 
 judge, after hearing his plea, decided that the rule might in his 
 case be dispensed with, provided he could show that he possessed 
 the requisite qualifications, and a most rigorous examination hav- 
 ing proved his fitness, he was licensed an Attorney on the 19th of 
 January, 1782. 
 
 The young lawyer at once took an office in Albany and began 
 the practice of the law, and was so successful that in three months 
 he thought it prudent to marry. 
 
 The wedding accordingly took place July 2, 1782, in the Dutch 
 Reformed Church at Paramus, the Rev. David Bogart, pastor 
 of the church, performing the ceremony. This marriage certainly 
 gives no color to the popular belief that Col. Burr was a cold, 
 selfish, unprincipled schemer, with an eye always open to the main 
 chance. He was young, handsome, well born, a rising man in his 
 profession, and might no doubt have formed an alliance with any 
 one of the wealthy and powerful families that lent lustre to the 
 annals of their State. This would have been the course of a poli- 
 tician. But Burr, disdaining these advantages, married a lady 
 without wealth, position, or beauty, and at least ten years his senior, 
 simply because he loved her, and he loved her, it is well to note, 
 because she had the truest heart, the ripest intellect, and the most 
 winning and graceful manners of any woman he had ever met. 
 
 It was a favorite remark of his, in later years, that if he was 
 more easy and graceful in manner than other men it was from the 
 unconscious influence of her spirit and graces upon him. 
 
 I think it should be mentioned here — because the opposite has 
 been stated — that the marriage was conducive of great happiness 
 to both, and that Col. Burr was to the end the most faithful and de- 
 voted of husbands. The young couple at once began housekeep- 
 ing in a pleasant mansion in the city of Albany, and there they 
 continued to reside, (receiving in the first year of their marriage a 
 lovely daughter, Theodosia, to their home.) until, in the fall of 
 1784 Burr's increasing law business in New York necessitated his 
 removal to that city. In New York he took a front rank among 
 the leaders of the bar, and his reputation overwhelmed him 
 
COL. AARON BURR. 89 
 
 with business ; by many he was regarded as superior even to 
 
 Hamilton. 
 
 He was the most successful lawyer that ever plead, and it is said 
 never lost a case in which he was alone engaged. Yet the general 
 verdict is that he was not a great lawyer. Perhaps not. He cer- 
 tainly never affected greatness. A soldier by nature and profession, 
 he regarded the end from the beginning and carried his soldierly 
 tacticts into the courts ; he always used the means best calculated 
 to gain his ends. If learning and eloquence were necessary, he 
 could be both learned and eloquent. If appeal, argument, sarcasm, 
 invective promised to be more effective, he used them, or he would 
 win by showing the weak points of his adversary's case rather than 
 the strong points of his own. 
 
 He was careful to go into action thoroughly furnished ; his 
 weapons were always at command, and his armor without flaw ; 
 like most lawyers, he at times skirmished pretty close to the cita- 
 del of truth, but it can not be proved that he ever resorted to 
 dishonorable means to gain an end, while it must be said in his 
 praise, that he was keenly alive to the interests of his clients, and 
 was never known to betray a professional trust. 
 
 His legal practice covered a period of nearly sixty years- 
 one of the longest on record, and many of his cases and opinions, 
 notably the Medcef Eden case, and the opinion on the contested 
 election in New York, in 1792, attracted national attention. 
 
 One thing which I have observed in regard to Col. Burr, is, 
 that as a lawyer he is held by the New York bar in the greatest 
 respect, and his influence for good, both in shaping laws and pro- 
 moting justice, is freely admitted. 
 
 ■ His first appearance in politics was in 1784, when he was elect- 
 ed to a seat in the New York Assembly. He filled the same po- 
 sition in 1785. In 1789, Gov. Clinton appointed him Attorney 
 General of New York. In March, 1790, the legislature named 
 him one of the three commissioners, to decide and classify the 
 claims of individuals who had rendered services, or sustained 
 losses in the Eevolutionary War. 
 
 The next year he was placed on a commission with the Gov- 
 ernor, Secretary, Treasurer and Auditor, to sell the waste and un- 
 claimed lands of the State, the proceeds to be applied to liquidating 
 its war debt and claims. The ability with which he performed 
 the duties of these positions, was the main cause of his subse- 
 quent marvelous political advancement. 
 
90 FAIRFIELD 9tANCH. 
 
 In January, 1791, two years after his entrance upon public 
 life, he was elected to represent the State of New York 
 in the National Senate, and on the 24th of October — the 
 first day of the session — he took his seat as a member of 
 that body. The day after, he received a very flattering recognition, 
 being appointed chairman of the committee to draft the senate's 
 reply to the President's annual address. 
 
 Of Col. Burr's course in the senate, we have only the most 
 meagre details. That body, patterned after the English House of 
 Lords — then sat with closed doors, and little more than the record 
 of votes was given to the public. We know, however, that he served 
 the full term of six years, that he acted generally with the Kepub- 
 lican party, that he was the acknowledged leader and champion of 
 that side of the House, that he advocated among other important 
 measures, an open session of the senate, lower rates of postage, 
 substantial aid to the French people in their struggle for liberty, 
 and the gradual abolition of slavery. He also gained a great re})u- 
 tation as an orator, although no utterance of his now exists. A 
 great speech delivered by Col. Burr against the ratification of Jay's 
 treaty with Great Britain, in 1795, is mentioned by the newspapers 
 of that day, but no report of it is given. 
 
 As the election, in April, 1792, of a Governor for the State 
 of New York drew near, Col. Burr was frequently mentioned as 
 a candidate, but Hamilton's adverse influence prevented his 
 nomination. 
 
 In 1791. Gov. Clinton nominated him to the bench of the Su- 
 preme Court of his State, but he declined the honor, preferring 
 his seat in the Senate. 
 
 In November, 1792, the young nation was to elect for the sec- 
 ond time a President and Vice President. 
 
 Washington, it was well known, would fill the first oflBce ; as to 
 the incumbent of the second, some uncertainty existed. John 
 Adams was the candidate of the Federal party ; in the Kepublican, 
 the choice lay between George Clinton and Mr. Burr, but Mr. 
 Burr's claims were in the end set aside, and Mr. Clinton was 
 nominated. 
 
 In the succeeding presidential election, however, our hero came 
 more prominently before the country, as a candidate for these 
 high ofiices. In that canvass, John Adams received 71 votes, 
 Thomas Jefferson 68, Thomas Pinckney 59, and Aaron Burr 30. 
 About this time, and while he was in the Senate, he sustained "n 
 
COL. AARON BURR. ^^ 
 
 irreparable loss in the death of his wife, from cancer, after a long 
 and painful Illness. 
 
 How much Col. Burr's subsequent misfortunes were due to 
 the loss of this estimable lady, can not be determined, but it is 
 certain that, had she lived, his career would have had a very dif- 
 ferent ending. She died in the spring of 1794. On the 4th of 
 March, 1797, Col. Burr's term in the Senate expired, and he was 
 succeeded by Gen. Philip Schuyler, the Federal party being then 
 in the ascendant in New York. 
 
 Burr returned to his law business in the metropolis, without 
 however losing his hold on national politics. On the contrary he 
 had formed the design of destroying at a blow Federal supremacy 
 in the United States. For two years he worked in silence, then 
 in April, 1800, the time came for him to show his hand. 
 
 The fourth presidential election was but six months distant, 
 and the rival parties were already in the field. They were two— 
 the Federal, a party of old renown, strong in the prestige of vic- 
 tory, conservative, arrogant, English in everything but in name, 
 and clinging tenaciously to class privileges and class domination. 
 
 Its great rival, the Republican party, was liberal and progres- 
 sive in the extreme. It was the popular party, par excellence, and 
 as much French as the other was English. It advocated an open 
 senate, a free press, free speech, free schools, and free religion. 
 Its leading principle was that so pithily expressed by Mr. Seward, 
 "the emancipation of the masses from the domination of classes." 
 Of this party Thomas Jefferson was the nominal leader, the 
 historical figure-head, but its real imperator was Aaron Burr, the 
 man who, in the conflict which we are now to consider, taught it 
 how to win. In those days the legislature of each State cast the 
 vote of its State for President. It early became apparent that 
 New York would decide the presidential contest. It was also ap- 
 parent, that if the Eepublicans could secure the New York legis- 
 lature, (to be chosen in April, 1800,) the national •ssue was al- 
 ready decided, and to attain this object Burr had planned and 
 toiled during the two previous years, and now redoubled his ex- 
 ertions. 
 
 It was a mistake of Hamilton's that made his great rival's tri- 
 umph possible. That chieftain strong in Federal supremacy, gath- 
 ered his friends together a few weeks before the election, and made 
 out a list of his candidates from the city for assemblymen. They 
 were all his personal friends and men of but little weight in the 
 
92 FAIRFlELD^ttANGH. 
 
 community. Burr, when the slate was brought to him, perceived 
 at once his adversary's great mistake, and proceeded to profit by it. 
 He immediately sat down and prepared his list of candidatcg. At 
 its head he placed George Clinton, so long Governor of the State. 
 Then came Gen. Gates, Brockholst Livingston, and other names 
 of national reputation. The next and more difficult step was to 
 persuade these gentlemen to allow their names to be used, but by 
 bringing his matchless powers of persuasion to bear, he succeeded 
 in this also. Then a public meeting was held and the ticket rati- 
 fied with immense enthusiasm. 
 
 Simultaneously Burr began organizing his army for the cam- 
 paign. The strictest discipline was ordered and enforced. '"Every 
 member was obliged to submit to the will of the majority," and 
 "that majority was made to move at the beck of committees, 
 which concentrated the power in the hands of a few individuals." 
 Ward and general meetings were held almost daily. Complete 
 lists of the voters were made out with the political history and 
 affiliations of each ; pamphlets and political speeches were dissem- 
 inated, and no means left untried that might lead to success. 
 The polls opened April 20th, and closed May 3d, at sunset, and 
 before the city had sunk to rest, it was known that the Republican 
 cause had won in the city by a majority of 490 votes. This decided 
 the election throughout the State. 
 
 Hamilton seems to have been nearly frantic over his defeat, or 
 he never would have adopted the mean expedient which he did, to 
 wrest from his opponents the fruits of their hard won victory. 
 He at once called a caucus of his party, and with its concurrence, 
 wrote to Governor Jay, urging him to call an extra session of 
 the old legislature, which was still in existence, that it might take 
 the power of choosing presidential electors from the legislature 
 and give it to the people, thus leaving the whole case to be de- 
 cided again by the ballot. This letter was sent, and the next day 
 a complete expose of the whole plan, with an account of the cau- 
 cus, and the contents of the letter were published in the Repub- 
 lican journals, to the no small astonishment of the "caucus," 
 which had concocted it. Governor Jay, however, refused to sanc- 
 tion any such proceedings, and the scheme proved futile. 
 
 A few days after the New York election, a Republican caucus 
 at Philadelphia nominated Thomas Jefferson for President, and 
 Aaron Burr for Vice President of the United States. 
 
 The election which followed in November, resulted in the well 
 
COL. AARON BURR. 93 
 
 known tie,* Jefferson having 73 votes. Burr 73, Adams 65, Pinck- 
 ney 64, and made a choice by the House of Kepresentatives neces- 
 sary. Then ensued a contest such as was never known before in 
 the comparatively peaceful history of parties. 
 
 The politicians were painfully active, and the country fairly 
 ablaze with excitement. The main interest centered of course on 
 the rival chiefs, who remained at their posts, Jefferson at Wash- 
 ington, aud Burr at Albany, quietly performing his duties as As- 
 semblyman. 
 
 "Had Aaron Burr not aroused prejudice by marrying a Brit- 
 ish wife, he would have been elected President by a large major- 
 ity," was the remark of a prominent State official, to the writer. 
 Perhaps so : smaller things have ere this changed the popular 
 vote and the gentleman spoke with authority, his father having 
 been the fellow aid de camp, and intimate friend of Col. Burr. 
 
 But whether this be true or not, it is certain that at any time 
 between the declaration of the vote and the House's decision 
 thereon, the merest whisper on his part, the lifting of a finger 
 even, would have placed him in the seat of Washington and of 
 Adams. The Federal party was almost a unit in his support. 
 Alike from his antecedents and his political record, they argued 
 that his ascendency would be less detrimental to Federalism and 
 the public good, than that of Jefferson. In a file of the " Con- 
 necticut Courant,"for 1801, published at Hartford, and the organ 
 of the Federal party in New England, I find a long article on 
 this "crisis," which forcibly and even vehemently urges Burr's 
 claims. "Col. Burr," remarks the writer, "is a man of the first 
 talents, and the most virtuous intentions." "A man who resolves 
 while others deliberate, and who executes while others resolve." 
 In the same article the writer speaks of Jefferson in terms much less 
 complimentary. But Connecticut always was partial to Burr ; 
 she had not forgotten the services of his fathers. Cabot of Massa- 
 chusetts, Carroll of Carrollton, Secretary Wolcot of Connecticut, 
 and many others openly expressed their preference. 
 
 He had a strong following too in his own party. Gov. Clinton 
 favored him. His friends in New York, Swartwout, Van Ness, 
 and others repeatedly begged permission to work for his interests. 
 But Burr, in the first moments of the contest, seems to have de- 
 cided to act according to the dictates of honor and probity. 
 
 * At that time the candidate who received the greatest number of votes was declared 
 President. 
 
94 FAIRFIEL^B RANCH. 
 
 Dec. 16th,, the day after the tie was declared, he wrote to a 
 friend, dischiiming all competition. '' As to my friends," said he, 
 *' they would dishonor my views, and insult my feelings bv a sus- 
 picion, that I would submit to be instrumental in counteracting 
 the wishes and expectations of the United States." 
 
 That he maintained this position all through the contest is 
 shown by the letters of his cotemporaries, many of them his per- 
 sonal and political enemies. Thus Feb. 12th, Judge Cooi)er of 
 New York, father of the novelist, wrote from Washington (where 
 the day before the House had convened), '* We have postponed 
 voting for the President until to morrow." "All stand firm, Jeffer- 
 son 8, Burr 6, divided 2. "Had Burr done anything for himself 
 he luould long ere this have been President.''^ 
 
 Also Bayard of Delaware who gave the casting vote for Jeffer- 
 son, wrote to Hamilton soon after the event, giving the reasons 
 for his action, and after stating certain considerations which 
 would have induced him to vote for Burr, he proceeds, ''but I 
 was enabled soon to perceive that he (Burr) was determined not 
 to shackle himself with Federal principles," and further on in the 
 same letter he says, " The means existed of electing Burr, but 
 this required his cooperation : by deceiving one man, (a great 
 block-head) and tempting two (not incorrupt), he might have se- 
 cured the majority of the States." 
 
 Other testimony might be advanced to disprove the charge 
 often made, that during this contest Col. Burr intrigued for the 
 Presidency. The result disproves it, for had he intrigued at all 
 he might easily have won ; as it was, the house, after seven days of 
 balloting and debate, by a majority of one State, declared Thomas 
 Jefferson President. Aaron Burr receiving the next highest num- 
 ber of votes became of course Vice-President. 
 
 For the next four years we behold our hero at the summit of 
 his power. As Vice-President, he was presiding officer of the Sen- 
 ate, and never before, it is said, were the duties of that position 
 performed with such grace, dignity, and impartiality ; indeed 
 this impartiality, in a strictly partisan contest, in the Senate, laid 
 him open to the censure of his party, and contributed not a little 
 to his ultimate political downfall. 
 
 This contest occurred during the session of 1801, over the 
 repeal of a Judiciary bill, which had been rushed through at the 
 close of the last Congress, and by which the Federal judges had 
 been increased by twenty-three. These life judgeships Mr. ivvi- 
 
COL. AARON BURR. / 95 
 
 ams, in the last hours of his official life, had, with most indecent 
 haste, filled, and by this action so exasperated the Republicans, 
 that they determined to abolish them ; hence this bill. 
 
 At one stage of the debate upon it, the Senate was tied, apd it 
 became the duty of the President to give the casting vote. His 
 decision was against the Republicans, and elicited no little hostile 
 criticism from the party organs. At a later period he gained the 
 ill will of the Federalists from the same cause. Equally consci- 
 entious and honorable was his course in the impeachment trial of 
 the Federal Judge Chase, charged with grossly abusing the au- 
 thority of the bench in certain political trials, and which occurred 
 toward the close of the session of 1805. Commenting upon his 
 course in this trial, Mr. Parton says, " The dignity, the grace, 
 the fairness, the prompt, intelligent decision with which the Vice 
 President presided over the august court, extorted praise even 
 from his enemies." "He conducted the trial with the dignity 
 and impartiality of an angel, but with the rigor of a devil," said 
 an eye-witness. We shall find further evidence as we proceed, as 
 to the scrupulous impartiality with which he performed the du- 
 ties of this office. 
 
 As Vice-President, Col. Burr, his friends, and the country, ex- 
 pected that he would succeed Jefferson in the Presidency. In this 
 manner Adams had succeeded Washington, and Jeiferson, Adams. 
 That he did not was due to the politicians, and not to his 
 own acts, nor because the people had lost confidence in him. 
 The election of 1800 had shown his commanding position in na- 
 tional politics, and served to combine against him three great 
 factions of the Republican party, — the Virginian faction led by 
 Thomas Jefferson, and the Clinton and Livingston families of 
 New York. These united their forces to crush him as an inter- 
 loper, and at the Republican Convention in 1804 he was quietly 
 shelved ; his name not even being mentioned in connection with 
 public affairs. 
 
 Burr attributed this defeat to the politicians, and resolved to 
 appeal to the people. Accordingly in the New York election of 
 that year, he was announced as an independent candidate for Gov- 
 ernor. The Republican party nominated Judge Lewis ; the Fed- 
 eral party made no nominations. 
 
 Hamilton threw the weight of his great influence in favor of 
 the Republican candidate: so did Jefferson ; but despite these fear- 
 ful odds. Burr polled a vote of 38,000, against his adversary's 
 
96 FAIRFl^D BRANCH. 
 
 35,000 ; but he was beaten. This was his last appearance in poli- 
 tics, one more tilt and he quitted the political field forever. 
 
 This event was his taking formal leave of the Senate, wliich 
 occurred March 2, 1804. It is described as one of the most inter- 
 esting and affecting ever witnessed. The Senate had not then 
 opened its doors to the public, and our only account of the scene 
 is that derived from a report in the Washington Federalist, ''ob- 
 tained from the relation of several Senators as well Federal as Re- 
 publican." The report opens with a summary of the speech, which 
 was. it says, "the most sublime, dignified and impressive ever ut- 
 tered." Its concluding sentiments only we have room to present : 
 
 " But I now challenge your attention to considerations more 
 momentous than any which regard merely your personal honor and 
 character — the preservation of law, of liberty, and the constitu- 
 tion. This House, I need not remind you, is a sanctuary ; a cita- 
 del of law, of order, and of liberty ; and it is here — it is here, in 
 this exalted refuge — here, if anywhere, will resistance be made to 
 the storms of political frenzy, and the silent arts of corruption ; 
 and if the constitution be destined ever to perish by the sacrile- 
 gious hands of the demagogue, or the usurper, which God avert, 
 its expiring agonies will be witnessed on this floor. I must now bid 
 you farewell. It is probably a final separation, a dissolution, per- 
 haps forever, of those associations, which I hope have been mutu- 
 ally satisfactory. I would console myself, and you, however, with 
 the reflection, that though we be separated, we shall still be en- 
 gaged in the common cause of disseminating principles of freedom 
 and social order. I shall tilways regard the proceedings of this 
 body with interest and solicitude. I shall feel for its honor and for 
 the national honor so intimately connected with it, and now take 
 my leave of you with expressions of personal respect, and with 
 prayers and good wishes." 
 
 " At the conclusion of this speech," proceeds the report, "the 
 whole Senate were in tears, and so unmanned that it was half an 
 hour before they could recover themselves sufficiently to come to 
 order and choose a Vice President jt?ro tern. 
 
 " At the President's on Monday, two of the Senators were relat- 
 ing these circumstances to a circle which had collected round 
 them. One said he wished that the tradition might be preserved, 
 as one of the most extraordinary events he had ever witnessed. 
 Another Senator, being asked, on the day following that on which 
 Mr. Burr took his leave, how long he was speaking, after a mo- 
 
COL. AARON BURR. 97 
 
 ment's pause, said he could form no idea : it might have been an 
 hour and it might have been but a moment ; when he came to his 
 senses, he seemed to have awakened as from a kind of trance. As 
 soon as the Senate could compose themselves sufficiently to appoint 
 a President j9ro tem., they came to the following resolution. 
 
 Eesolved, unanimously, That the thanks of the Senate be pre- 
 sented to Aaron Burr, in testimony of the impartiality, dignity, 
 and ability with which he has presided over their deliberations, 
 and of their entire approbation of his conduct in the discharge of 
 the arduous and important duties assigned him as President of the 
 Senate. 
 
 Thus passed this " well graced actor " from the political scene. 
 He was a free man once more. What will he do next ? What 
 new project will his busy brain and hand carve out ? were questions 
 which every tongue in the country was now anxiously asking. 
 
 But before passing to the later events of his career, we must 
 pause to notice an event which had occurred a few months before, 
 and which exerted a powerful influence on his subsequent fortunes. 
 This event was the duel with Hamilton. 
 
 Public opinion, the judgment of apparejit facts, is sometimes 
 correct, often unjust, but none the less necessary. Whether or not 
 the public opinion which held Burr so strictly accountable for the 
 death of Hamilton was just or unjust, a careful consideration of 
 the facts anterior to, as well as those connected with the duel, in 
 the calm unbiased spirit that time has made possible, will do much 
 to determine. 
 
 It would not be strange if we should find, that, in his case, the 
 popular judgment was both harsh and unjust, that he was as 
 averse to the duel as Hamilton himself, that he used every (except 
 dishonorable) means to avoid it, and that he only fought when 
 absolutely forced to it, by the course of his rival and the cruel 
 dictum of society ; and we may further agree and conclude, that 
 he was the real victim of that tragedy, and not the brilliant genius 
 who fell beneath his fire. 
 
 But for the facts. And first as to the provocation. Without 
 pausing to notice the unsoldierly conduct of Hamilton toward 
 Burr, while both were in the army, we will pass at once to the pe- 
 riod when they came prominently into view as candidates for the 
 highest honors of the State. 
 
 In the presidential canvass of 1792, Hamilton's almost insane 
 7 
 
98 FAIRFIE^ BRANCH. 
 
 jealousy led him to write thus of the man against whose fair fame 
 hardly a breath of suspicion had been raised : '' I fear the other 
 gentleman (Burr) is unprincipled both as a public and private man. 
 . . . In fact I take it he is for or against anything, as it 
 suits his interest or ambition. He is determined, as I conceive, to 
 make his way to 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 
 circumstances may permit. Embarrassed, as I understand, in his 
 circumstances, with an extravagant family, bold, enterprising and 
 intriguing, I am mistaken if it be not his object to play the game 
 of conspiracy, and 1 feel it to be a religious duty to oppose his ca- 
 reer.'^ Sept. 26, he wrote again to ail^ther friend, Rufus King : 
 " Mr. Burr's integrity as an individual, is not unimpeached, and 
 as a public man, he is one of the worst sort. . . . in a word, 
 if toe have an embryo Cmsar in the United States, it is Burr."" 
 These words were not the confidential utterances of one friend to 
 another, they were written /or effect, for in a few days King writes 
 back, that " Care has been taken to put our friends at the east- 
 ward on their guard." 
 
 In 1794, Col. Burr was nominated by his party as Minister to 
 France, but Washington refused to ratify the nomination. *' It 
 was," he said, "the rule of his public life, to nominate no one for 
 public oflBce of whose integrity he was not insured." But when 
 had Burr's integrity been questioned, except by political rivals ? or 
 when had he ever betrayed a trust, public or private ? The in- 
 stance cannot be found, and Washington's distrust at this time, 
 may readily be traced to the potent influence of Hamilton, then 
 the confidential man of his administration. 
 
 Again in 1798, when French insolence had provoked the young 
 republic to warlike measures, and an army had been voted, and 
 new general oflBcers appointed, it was Hamilton again that bhghted 
 Burr's honest military ambitions. Sturdy John Adams gives the 
 details in a letter written in 1815, and published in the tenth vol- 
 ume of his works. "I have never known," he writes, "the pre- 
 judice in favor of birth, parentage and descent, more conspicuous 
 than in the instance of Col. Burr. That gentleman was connected 
 by blood with many respectable families in New England. . 
 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 religious partialities, and this military and juridical 
 
COL. AARON BURR. 99 
 
 reputation, it is no wonder that Governor Clinton and Chancellor 
 Livingston should take notice of him. They made him Attorney 
 General, and the legislature sent him to Congress, where, I believe, 
 he served six years. At the next election, he was, however, left 
 out, and being at that time somewhat embarrassed in circumstan- 
 ces, and reluctant to return to the bar, he would have rejoiced in 
 an appointment in the army. 
 
 "In this situation I proposed to "Washington, and through him 
 to the triumvirate* to nominate Col. Burr for a brigadier-general. 
 Washington's answer to me was, ' By all that 1 have known and 
 heard. Col. Burr is a brave and able officer ; but the question is 
 whether he has not equal talents at intrigue.' How shall I de- 
 scribe 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 (Hamilton) the most restless, impatient, artful, inde- 
 fatigable, 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 however pro- 
 pose it, at least to Hamilton. But I was not permitted to nomi- 
 nate Burr. If I had been, what would have been the consequences ? 
 Shall I say that Hamilton would have been now alive, and Hamil- 
 ton 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 the Senate was certain." This letter is interesting as 
 giving Adams' estimate of the two men ; it also shows Hamilton's 
 marvelous facility for inoculating every one he met with his own 
 disease of Burrophobia. 
 
 In 1800, when there was a possibility of Burr becoming Presi- 
 dent, Hamilton renewed more openly and bitterly his attacks. 
 Dec. 17, 1800, he wrote a letter to Mr. Wolcott of Connecticut, 
 in which he says, " Let it not be imagined that Mr. Burr can be won 
 to Federal views ; it is a vain hope ... to accomplish his end, he 
 must lean upon unprincipled men, and will continue to adhere to 
 the myrmidons who have hitherto surrounded him. To these 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 par- 
 ties, and to prosecute projects which wise men of every descrip- 
 tion will disapprove. These things are to be inferred with moral 
 
 * WasMiigton, Hamilton, and Pinckney. 
 
100 FAIRFIE^ BRANCH. 
 
 certainty from the character of the man. Every step in his career 
 proves that he has formed himself upon the model of Catiline, 
 and that he is too cold-blooded and too determined a conspirator 
 ever to change his plan. Alas, when will men consult their rea- 
 son rather than their passion ? Whatever they may imagine, the 
 desire of mortifying the adverse party, must be the chief spring 
 of the disposition to prefer Mr. Burr . . . Adieu to the 
 Federal Troy, if they once introduce this Grecian horse into their 
 citadel. " 
 
 The August before, he had written to Senator Bayard of Dela- 
 ware : •"There seems to be too much probability that Jefferson 
 or Burr will be President. The latter is intriguing with all his 
 might in New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont. He counts 
 positively on the universal support of the anti-Federalists, and 
 that by some adventitious aid from other quarters he will over- 
 top his friend Jefferson. Admitting the first point, the conclusion 
 may be realized, and, if it is so, Burr will certainly attempt to re- 
 form the Government a la Buona'parte. He is as unprincipled and 
 dangerous a man as any country can boast — as true a Catiline as 
 ever met in midnight conclave.^'' 
 
 These letters read like the ravings of a monomaniac ; thev are 
 but samples of many, sown broadcast over the country for the lole 
 purpose, as we must conclude, of blighting the prospects and repu- 
 tation of Aaron Burr. With his tongue Hamilton was even more 
 busy and venomous. What its effect was on the community — 
 coming from so eminent a source — may be imagined. All this 
 time the victim was ignorant and even unsuspicious of his rival's 
 conduct ; the two men were apparently on terms of friendship ; 
 they met in professional consultations, and dined at one another's 
 tables. It was in 1802, I believe, that Col. Burr first heard of 
 Hamilton's manner of conducting political campaigns, and he at 
 once sought a personal interview and demanded an explanation. 
 This Hamilton gave, and admitted that in the heat of a political 
 canvass he had spoken hastily of Col. Burr, and in terms not usual 
 with gentlemen, and promised to be more careful in future. But 
 in the succeeding campaign of 1804, partisan rivalry was most 
 intense, and Hamilton's unguarded expressions more violent and 
 bitter than ever before ; so much so that Cheetham, editor of the 
 American Citizen^ the organ of the Clintonian Republicans, paraded 
 in the columns of his newspaper the query. Is the Vice-President 
 sunk so low as to submit to be insulted by General Hamilton ? 
 
COL. AARON BURR. 101 
 
 while at the same time the thousand gossipy tongues of society 
 were taking up and repeating the same question. 
 
 Eeports of Hamilton's conduct were brought to Burr at the 
 close of the campaign by certain renegade Federalists driven from 
 the ranks by their chiefs arrogance ; but he seems to have taken 
 no action in the matter, and awaited further developments. At 
 length his attention was called to a letter, — written by Dr. Charles 
 D. Cooper, of New York, and published in the newspapers dur- 
 ing the campaign — which contained, among others, the following 
 sentences : 
 
 " Gen. Hamilton and Judge Kent have declared in substance, 
 that they looked upon Mr. Burr to be a dangerous man, and one 
 who ought hot to be trusted with the reins of government," and 
 "I could detail to you a still more despicable opinion, which Gen. 
 Hamilton has expressed of Mr. Burr." Col. Burr quietly marked 
 the obnoxious passages, and sent them by the hafid of his friend, 
 William P. Van Ness, to Gen. Hamilton, with a note which con- 
 cluded as follows : 
 
 '•'You must perceive, sir, the necessity of a prompt and un- 
 qualified acknowledgment or denial of the use of any expres- 
 sions which would warrant the assertions of Mr. Cooper." The 
 correspondence which followed is too voluminous for insertion 
 here. In it Burr maintained the position taken in his first letter. 
 Hamilton denied in part, equivocated, hedged, but absolutely re- 
 fused to make the unqualified acknowledgment and denial asked 
 for by Col. Burr. Such a course would have reinstated his rival 
 in public confidence, and destroyed the work of years. Society too 
 might have considered it an apology from necessity rather than 
 principle. Burr, on his part, all the lion in him roused by Ham- 
 ilton's repeated and treacherous attacks, receded not a whit from 
 his original demand. In one of his letters on the subject he most 
 admirably defined his position : 
 
 " Political opposition," said he, " can never absolve gentlemen 
 from the necessity of a rigid adherence to the laws of honor, and 
 the rules of decorum. I neither claim such privilege, nor indulge 
 it in others. The common sense of mankind affixes to the epithet 
 adopted by Dr. Cooper the idea of dishonor. It has been publicly 
 applied to me, under the sanction of your name. The question is 
 not whether he has understood 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 
 
102 FAIRFIELD^RANCH. 
 
 by uttering expressions or opinions derogatory to my honor.*' And 
 again in liis last paper drawn up for the guidance of his second he 
 enlarges upon this point. 
 
 " Aaron Burr, far from conceiving that rivalship authorizes 
 a latitude not otherwise justifiable, always feels great delicacy in 
 such cases, and would think it meanness to speak of a rival, but 
 in terms of respect ; to do justice to his merits, to be silent of his 
 foibles. Such has invariably been his conduct toward Jay, 
 Adams, and Hamilton, the only three who can be supposed to 
 have stood in that relation to him. 
 
 "That he has too much reason to believe that in regard to Mr. 
 Hamilton there has been no such reciprocity. For several years 
 his n%me has been lent to the support of base slanders. He has 
 never had the generosity, the magnanimity, or the candor to con- 
 tradict or disavow. Burr forbears to particularize, as it could only 
 tend to produce new irritations, but having made great sacrifices 
 for the sake of harmony, having exercised forbearance until it ap- 
 proached humiliation, he has seen no effect produced by such con- 
 duct, but a repetition of injury. 
 
 '' He is obliged to conclude that there is on the part of Mr. Ham- 
 ilton, 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 alternative 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 depreda- 
 tion on his fame and character. But these things must have 
 an end." 
 
 These are hardly the words of a vindictive, blood-thirsty villain, 
 and indeed they are not, for a more amiable, generous, and genial 
 man than Col. Burr never lived, but he could and would protect 
 himself when wronged beyond endurance. The paper last quoted 
 was Burr's ultimatum, and Hamilton declaring its terms inadmis- 
 sible, both parties prepared to fight, and never perhaps since the 
 institution of the code was a meeting so inevitable as between these 
 two. Both were soldiers, devotees of honor and men of society. 
 Both had recognized the code by their presence, either as princi- 
 pals or seconds, at several affairs of honor, and both were well 
 aware that their position in politics and society depended on their 
 not showing the white feather at this particular crisis. If either 
 
COL. AARON BURR. 103 
 
 of the principals were the more culpable,, it was Hamilton, for he 
 was the aggressor, and a few words from him might have prevented 
 the meeting. But thoughtful men will find the real culprit in the 
 barbarous blood-thirsty public opinion of the day, that made such 
 Golgothas as that at Weehawken both necessary and honorable. 
 The challenge was given and accepted. With the result of that 
 meeting the world is acquainted. Burr escaped unharmed, the 
 ball from his adversary's weapon, cutting the twigs near his head. 
 Hamilton received a mortal wound, from which he died after 
 thirty-one hours of intense suffering.* 
 
 The popular clamor that then arose against Burr, unjust and 
 indecent as it was, made a temporary retirement from New York 
 necessary, and early in July he set out on a southern tour, visiting 
 his daughter, Theodosia, at her home at the " Oaks," and spending 
 several weeks with old political friends in South Carolina and 
 other southern States ; from this tour he returned at the sitting of 
 Congress, in the fall of 1804, to resume his duties as President of 
 the Senate, as before related. 
 
 In the spring of 1805, Col. Burr set out on a six months' tour 
 through the western and southern States. On his return, he com- 
 menced preparations for the execution of one of the most brilliant 
 and stupendous plans of empire ever conceived. What that plan 
 was, we, in the light of later developments, are enabled definitely 
 to determine. 
 
 In a few words, he proposed to wrest Mexico — ignorant, op- 
 pressed and degraded — from the rule of the hated Spaniard, and 
 to rear there an empire of progress and civilization, with himself 
 at its head. This plan was perfectly feasible. War with Spain 
 seemed inevitable. The bent towards southwestern acquisition in 
 this country was large. The Mexican people were ripe for revolt, 
 and at the first unfurling of his standard on the Mexican frontier, 
 Burr might safely have counted on enrolling a band of gallant ad- 
 venturers drawn from every quarter of the land. With this army 
 he proposed to invade the country, and after a short and brilliant 
 campaign, Mexico would have been his. Then what? 
 
 Pen can scarcely portray the unrivalled future which would 
 have been Mexico's, had Burr been '*' let alone " to realize his 
 
 * The writer, in what has been said, has no desire to belittle the talents or services of 
 Alexander Hamilton, but since, in the effort to make him a demi-god, it was found neces- 
 eary to paint Aaron Burr in the lurid colors of the pit, both jastice and truth demand that 
 the above facts should be stated. 
 
104 FAIRFIELD BRANCH. 
 
 splendid dreams of conquest, A man of rare energy and of great 
 executive force, he would have formed there a strong and stable 
 government, superior to faction, and which might have solved the 
 great problem of how to maintain at once, a strong, and yet popular 
 government — a problem which we have been unable to solve. 
 
 Liberal in sentiment, he would have made education universal ; 
 the arts and sciences would have been encouraged us never before ; 
 religion he would have left untrammelled and uncontrolled ; the 
 revenues of tlie mines would have been spent in the construction 
 of public works and for the glory of the State ; canals and rail- 
 roads, piercing the mountains, would have joined sea to sea, and 
 swift steamers sailing east and west, have poured into her lap the 
 products of all nations. Her unequalled history, too, would have 
 been written; the world's scholars penetrating her secret cloisters, 
 would have unearthed the wealth of manuscript there hidden, and 
 from the temples of Usmal, Palenque, and the thousand buried 
 cities of plain and forest, we might have gleaned the history of 
 that marvelous race, who, from the ruins of Toltecart, constructed 
 an empire of civilization which was vigorous with age when our 
 oldest political systems were in the weakness of infancy. 
 
 These and many other glowing visions were, no doubt, present 
 in the brain of this remarkable man at this stage of his career ; 
 how far legitimate were the methods by which he hoped to realize 
 them, let the casuist determine. He has been called a filibuster 
 and an adventurer ; but then there was never a ranker set of fili- 
 busters than those brought to these shores by the Mayflower, and 
 them we revere, and rightly, too, as most perfect models of cor- 
 rectness ; in fact, the whole history of the race is little more than 
 a record of the filibustering of the strong against the weak. 
 
 But to return to our subject. His plan was predicated largely 
 on the fact of a war with Spain. Jefferson's prudence averted 
 that war, and Burr turned his energies toward advancing a second- 
 ary scheme which he had formed, should the first prove impracti- 
 cable. This was the establishment of a colony on the Washita 
 River near Texas, to be used as a base of operations in future at- 
 tempts upon Mexico. General Wilkinson, then Governor of the 
 new territory of Louisiana, Daniel Clark, a wealthy New Orleans 
 merchant, Andrew Jackson, Governor Alston, General Adair of 
 Kentucky, Colonel Dupeister, and hundreds of other prominent 
 persons were cognizant of this scheme, and interested in it. As a 
 preliminary step 50,000 acres of land on the Washita River, known 
 
COL. AARON BURR. 105 
 
 as the " Bastrop Lands," were bought by Col. Burr's agents, and 
 preparations for colonizing it were urged forward. Provisions were 
 bought, recruits enlisted, and boats wherewith to descend the Mis- 
 sissippi, contracted for. The rendezvous was at Blennerhasset's 
 Island, — an historic spot, and one demanding more than a passing 
 mention. 
 
 No locality in the land is better known, and not alone in fo- 
 rensic contests have its velvet lawns and quiet glades, its gardens 
 and fountains, and shrubberies "which Shenstone might have en- 
 vied," been held up to the gaze of an admiring and pitying public. 
 The owner of this " earthly paradise," too, has received his full 
 share of adulation ; fifty years ago no subject was more fascinating 
 to the average writer, male or female, than Heman Blennerhas- 
 set and his alleged wrongs, and no tragedy of that day was thought 
 complete which did not present this unfortunate man as the Ami- 
 able Victim, and Aaron Burr as the Heavy Villain of its dramatis 
 person(B. 
 
 In point of fact, the story of Burr's connection with Blenner- 
 hasset is a very prosaic one. They first met in 1805, when Burr 
 was on his western tour. He was journeying down the Ohio with 
 a friend, in a row boat, and passing the island, landed from mo- 
 tives of curiosity, having heard that it was the home of an eccen- 
 tric foreigner. He was kindly received, pressed to stay to tea, re- 
 mained, spent the evening with his entertainers, and resumed his 
 voyage late at night. The two did not meet again until Col. Burr 
 came west on his scheme for colonizing the Washita Lands. 
 
 Such is a plain statement of the facts concerning their first 
 meeting ; nor did Blennerhasset need any persuasion to enter 
 heartily into Burr's plans of conquest. An idle, shiftless, roman- 
 tic Irishman, he had spent a moderate fortune in improving his 
 island, and now nearly bankrupt, embraced eagerly any plan that 
 promised to repair his shattered fortunes, without much risk of 
 exertion on his part. His "island," the paradise of the historical 
 romancers, was a narrow strip of land in the Ohio Kiver, fourteen 
 miles below Marietta, three or four miles in length and compris- 
 ing about 270 acres of land. 
 
 It was neither picturesque nor romantic, certainly not an Eden. 
 Here it was, that in the summer of 1806, preparations were busily 
 made for colonizing the tract on the Washita. On the 4th of 
 August, these were so far advanced that Col. Burr with his ac- 
 complished daughter Theodosia, left the island for the Cumber- 
 
106 FAIRFIELD ^^NCH. 
 
 land River, where another detachment was rendezvoused, leaving 
 Blennerhasset to complete the preparations on his island, and 
 then join his chief late in the fall, at the mouth of the Cumber- 
 land, where the united force would proceed down the Mississippi 
 on its enterjirise. But before these plans could be carried out, 
 Burr was surprised to learn, from the President himself, that his 
 colonization scheme was treasonable. 
 
 On tlie 25th of November, 1806, Jefferson received from Gen. 
 Wilkinson (Burr's ancient friend and ally, and then commanding 
 the department of Louisiana,) a cipher letter, purporting to be from 
 Burr to him (Wilkinson,) proposing that he should use the army 
 under his command to provoke a war with Spain, and also hinting 
 at the erection of a great Southern empire. This letter, grossly ex- 
 aggerated and altered as it was, was accompanied by such repre- 
 sentations from Wilkinson as to raise in the mind of the President 
 the direst visions of treasons and stratagems ; his action on receipt 
 of it was that of a man bereft of sober judgment, for nothing could 
 be more absurd than to suppose that so shrewd and politic a man 
 as Aaron Burr, would entertain, for a moment, the project of se- 
 ducing from its allegiance the great West, then the strongliold of 
 republicanism and devotedly attached to the administration. To 
 the President and his Cabinet, however, it was evident that a heavy 
 conspiracy was already on foot in the West ; and on the 27th of 
 November, the former issued a proclamation, declaring that unlaw- 
 ful enterprises were under way in the Western States, and warning 
 all persons to withdraw from the same, under penalty of incurring 
 prosecution "with all the rigors of the law." 
 
 We who have been made so familiar with treason that its as- 
 pect is no longer frightful, can hardly realize the ominous and 
 hateful sound of the word in 1800, nor the excitement and fear 
 which convulsed the country on the publication of the President's 
 ridiculous proclamation. Latent patriotism effervesced, and spent 
 its force, from lack of other vent, in denunciation of tlie supposed 
 traitors. The President sent a special message to Congress de- 
 nouncing Burr as a traitor, and asking for an act to suspend the 
 writ of habeas corpus, which was granted by the Senate, but 
 rejected by the House. Military companies paraded daily, and 
 crowded their offers of assistance upon the General Government ; 
 forts and arsenals were put in warlike trim, the navy was strength- 
 ened, and the newspapers and the administration vied with each 
 other in circulating the wildest rumors and most palpable untruths; 
 
107 
 COL. AAEON BURR. 
 
 in short popular hatred and mistrust was brought to the highest 
 pitch and there held suspended-a sort of moral avalanche ready 
 to be'hurled upon the luckless wight who should be even suspected 
 o the odious cHme of treason. MeanwhUe Col. Bux.. a peaceful 
 citizen of the United States, was pursuing his peaceful and laud- 
 Twe^ihemes on thebanksof the Ohio. The ^-^ -^ ^, P-^^Th^ 
 tion reached Blennerhasset's Island early m Decembei On the 
 4th Blennerhasset learned that a detachment of nnhtia from Wood 
 County, Va., would make a descent on the island the next day, and 
 capture himself, the'boats, stores, and all the property of .the ex- 
 ped on ; and that night, secretly, with four boats and thiry men 
 Tastilv collected, he left the island and fled -th^- ^^-^ ^P-f^ 
 down the river. At the mouth of the Cumberland, he met his 
 :Zt and the combined flotilla proceeded on down the Mississippi 
 Had a cunning limner like our Nast been present, he might have 
 found material fo^r a dozen spirited cartoons m this first insui^e - 
 tionarv expedition against the government. There were the flat- 
 boTts thirteen in number, borne by the sluggish current, and 
 guided by sixty red-shirted backwoodsmen. Prominent objects on 
 ?heii- decks were the chicken-coops and pig-barracks wih their 
 noisy occupants. Sacks of flour, barrels of bacon, ^^^^^ ^iln-dr ed 
 corn! hams, and other munitions of war, with siich deadly instru- 
 men s as ploughs, spades, hoes, pots, skillets and the hke, ormed the 
 Lk of the clrgo. On lines stretched across the deck hung seed- 
 ears and slices of pumpkin drying in the sun ; children played un- 
 terrified about this grim array ; and near at hand, their mothers 
 sewed and gossipped ; the linnet and canary sang m their gilded 
 cages, and the antics of a pet monkey joined to the strams of a 
 superannuated banjo, relieved the tedium of the vopge. 
 
 In this manner, day after day the grim armament floated down 
 the river, carrying terror and dismay wherever it penetrated. At 
 Bayou Pierre, thirty miles above Natchez, a crisis occurred The 
 Natchez militia, 275 strong, hearing of Burr's arrival, marched out 
 to meet him. Drawing near his encampment, they were reinforced 
 by a battalion of cavalry, and halting, sent a peremptory summons 
 to Burr to surrender. The latter talked freely with the messen- 
 gers, declared his mnocence of any treasonable designs, and pro- 
 tsted against such high-handed and arbitrary proceedmgs. But 
 the officers persisted in their demand, and at last Burr agreed to 
 meet Gov. Mead next day, and surrender his entire force, with the 
 stipulation, however, that he should not be handed over for trial 
 
108 FAIRFIELI^RANCH. 
 
 to the military authorities. He was then conveyed to the neigh- 
 boring town of Washington, a grand jury was hastily impaneled, 
 and he was brought before them for trial — but on what charges ? 
 The grand jury struggled with this question for days, but were 
 unable to answer it ; and a higher tribunal a few weeks later fared 
 no better ; but at length, after numberless motions and discussions 
 in which Burr completely captivated the populace with his displays 
 of learning and eloquence, the grand jury returned that "'on a 
 due investigation of the evidence brought before them, Aaron Burr 
 has not been guilty of any crime or misdemeanor against the laws 
 of the United States." They also went further and presented as 
 a grievance, ''the late military expedition, unnecessarily, as they 
 conceive, fitted out against the person and property of Aaron 
 Burr." They also presented as a grievance, destructive of personal 
 liberty, the late military arrests made without warrant, and as 
 they conceive, without other lawful authority. Thus ended the 
 first attempt to indict Col. Burr for the crime of treason. 
 
 He was a free man again, but not secure, for orders had already 
 been issued by the President, " to take the body of Aaron Burr 
 alive or dead, and to confiscate his property ." Finding himself in 
 the power of a military despotism, he determined to escape, and 
 crossing the Mississippi, made the best of his way southward, to- 
 ward the port of Pensacola where lay a British man-of-war, on 
 which he hoped to find refuge. 
 
 Some days after these events, two travellers miglit have been 
 seen descending a hill near the residence of Col. Hinson, in the 
 town of Wakefield, Alabama ; these persons were Col. Burr and 
 his guide. At the foot of the hill they were intercepted by a file 
 of dragoons led by Capt. Gaines, commanding Fort Stoddard, near 
 by. Capt. Gaines rode forward. " I presume, sir," said he, '' that 
 I have the honor of addressing Col. Burr." "I am a traveller in 
 the country," replied the person addressed, "and do not recognize 
 your right to ask such a question." " I arrest you at the instance 
 of the Federal Government," was Gaines' rejoinder. *•' By what 
 authority do you arrest travellers on the highway, bound on their 
 own private business," asked the stranger. '''I am an officer of 
 the army ; I hold in my hands the proclamation of the President 
 and Governor directing your arrest," was the reply. " You are a 
 young man, and may not be aware of the responsibilities which re- 
 sult from arresting travellers," said the person addressed. " I am 
 aware of the responsibility, but I know my duty," said Gaines. 
 
COL. AARON BURR. 109 
 
 It was all in vain that Col. Burr protested his innocence, de- 
 clared that all this arose from the malevolence of his enemies, and 
 pointed out the liabilities the captain would incur by arresting 
 him. " My mind is made up," said Gaines, and the former Vice 
 President was arrested and duly lodged within the walls of a mili- 
 tary fortress. 
 
 For two weeks Col. Burr remained at Fort Stoddard : then in 
 charge of a file of soldiers under command of one Perkins, he 
 was sent overland to the city of Richmond, where the Government 
 had decided his trial should take place. One incident only of this 
 diflBcult and perilous journey shall be narrated. After the party 
 had passed the wilderness, and had come to the outposts of civil- 
 ization, the utmost care was taken to prevent the prisoner from 
 communicating his situation to his friends, and through them ap- 
 pealing to the civil authorities for relief. Perkins had carefully 
 avoided the large towns in his way, and while passing through 
 Chester, in South Carolina, they chanced to ride near a small 
 tavern, in front of which quite a group of citizens had collected. 
 This was Burr's opportunity and he embraced it. 
 
 Suddenly throwing himself from his horse, he exclaimed with 
 a loud voice, "I am Aaron Burr, under military arrest, and claim 
 the protection of the civil authorities." In a moment Perkins 
 sprang to the ground and, presenting his pistols to Burr's head, 
 sternly ordered him to remount. "I will not," Burr shouted de- 
 fiantly, whereupon Perkins, a perfect specimen of a backwoods- 
 man, seized him around the waist, and threw him forcibly into his 
 saddle, a soldier then seized his bridle, and the whole cavalcade 
 swept off into the foi*est before the astonished people had time to 
 comprehend the situation. 
 
 It is said that Burr, thus a second time kidnapped, was almost 
 wild with excitement : "The indifference of the people," says Mr. 
 Parton, ''the indignity he had suffered, the thought of his inno- 
 cence of any violation of the law, the triumph his enemies were 
 about to have over him, all rushed into his mind, and for the 
 moment unmanned him. For the first and only time, amid all his 
 unexampled misfortunes, his iron fortitude forsook him, and he 
 burst into tears." 
 
 This, however, lasted but a moment, then the prisoner's usual 
 imperturbability of manner returned, and the journey was finished 
 as it had been conducted, without a murmur or word of complaint 
 from him. The party arrived in Richmond on Thursday, the 26th 
 
110 FAIRFIE^ BRANCH. 
 
 of March, 1807. On Monday the prisoner was brought before Chief 
 Justice Marshall for examination previous to commitment, and 
 after three days of argument was committed for misdemeanor only, 
 the Judire leaving the charge of treason to be considered by the 
 Grand Jury. 
 
 He was arraigned before the Grand Jury May 22, 1807. Never 
 before or since, perhaps, has the country witnessed a trial of such 
 magnitude, conducted by such an array of talent, and the progress 
 of which was followed with such intense interest by the whole 
 country. All the magnates of Virginia. Gen. Jackson, John Ran- 
 dolph, Senator Giles, distinguished public men, fair ladies with- 
 out number, crowded the court-room. The sympathies of the 
 people of Eichmond, and of the ladies especially, were with the 
 prisoner, and many expressions of sympathy and regard were ten- 
 dered him during his forced stay in the city. Two judges con- 
 ducted the trial, John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States, 
 and Cyrus Griffin, Judge of the District Court of Virginia. Burr 
 was fortunate in his cliief judge. ''The soul of dignity and 
 honor,'' says a contemporary, '• prudent, courageous, alive to cen- 
 sure, but immovably resolute to do right, John Marshall was the 
 Washington of the bench, an honest man and just judge." It was 
 to his firmness and judicial impartiality no doubt that Bnrr owed 
 his life, or at least, liberty. The lawyers employed were worthy of 
 the occasion. Engaged in the prosecution, were George Hay, Mon- 
 roe's son-in-law, William Wirt the renowned orator, and Alexander 
 McRae, Lieut. Governor of Virginia. 
 
 For the defence appeared Aaron Burr, the Launcelot of this 
 legal tournament, Edmund Randolph. Washington's Attorney 
 General and Secretary of State, Wickham, called the ablest lawyer 
 at the Richmond bar, Luther Martin of Maryland, Jefferson's 
 '* Federal bull-dog," and Benjamin Botts of Virginia. 
 
 At the opening of the trial it was found that an impartial jury 
 could not be obtained. Of the whole panel summoned, all admit- 
 ted that they had formed an opinion adverse to the prisoner. " I 
 prav the court to notice," remarked Burr, while the jurors were 
 being challenged, '"'from the scene before us, how many attempts 
 have been made to prejudice my cause." 
 
 At length, late in the afternoon, a jury was obtained, not one 
 of whom but had admitted his conviction of the prisoner's guilt. 
 Of the trial, or rather trials that followed, it is impossible for us 
 to speak in detail. A report of it was published in two large octavo 
 
COL. AARON BURR. Ill 
 
 volumes, and may be found in any well-stocked law library. Mr. 
 Davis and Mr. Parton also give able summaries. The trial was 
 divided into two parts, one before the grand jury on a motion for 
 a commitment of the prisoner on a charge of treason, the other 
 was the trial for treason itself after a true bill had been found. 
 Between the two was an interval of some six weeks. 
 
 The trial was opened by Col. Burr, who addressed the court, 
 as to the admissibility of certain evidence which he supposed 
 would be offered. Hay replied, "hoping the court would grant 
 no special indulgence to Col. Burr, who stood on the same foot- 
 ing as any other man who had committed a crime." 
 
 '• Would to God," was the retort of Burr, " that I did stand on 
 the same footing with any other man. This is the first time I 
 have been permitted to enjoy the rights of a citizen. Howhave I 
 been brought hither ? " 
 
 In the speech that followed, he made many other strong points, 
 and eminently Burrian ; but the strongest, and that which most 
 thoroughly demoralized the prosecution, was the stand taken in 
 the very first stages of the trial, that before any evidence as to the 
 prisoner's guilt could be admitted, the act of treason must first 
 be proved, just as it would be manifestly absurd to indict a man 
 for murder until the fact of the hilling was first established. 
 
 In the course of the argument on this point, Mr. Botts de- 
 fined in a masterly manner, the act of treason. '' First," said 
 he, " it must be proved that there was an actual war ; a war of acts 
 and not of intentions. Secondly, the prisoner must be proved 
 to have committed an overt act in that war. Thirdly, the overt 
 act must be proved to have been committed in the district where 
 the trial takes place. Fourthly, the overt act must be proved by 
 two witnesses," and this view of the crime of treason was sustained 
 by the court. 
 
 The prosecution could not conceal the dismay and confusion 
 which this decision caused in their ranks. To prove the prison- 
 er's guilt, they had relied chiefly on ex parte evidence, suspicious 
 facts, the prisoner's acts, and his own unguarded words. Now 
 they were forced to go back of all this, and before a syllable of 
 evidence in regard to the prisoner or his acts could be admitted, 
 must prove the fact that actual war had been levied against the 
 United States. However, gallantly recovering from this contre 
 temps, they at once set to work to establish the overt act. Wilkin- 
 son was sent for from New Orleans, Gen. Eaton brought from 
 
112 falrfM^d branch. 
 
 New Jersey, and the Morgans from Kentucky. Hardly a person 
 that had written or spoken to Col. Burr during the past two years 
 but was brought to the witness stand, in the effort to prove that 
 war had actually been levied against the United States. Even post 
 offices were broken open and rifled of his papers ; it was all in vain, 
 however, no war was to be found, or as Col. Burr pithily expressed 
 it in a speech to the court on the third day of the trial : 
 
 •' Our President is a lawyer and a great one, too. He certainly 
 ought to know what it is that constitutes a war. Six months ago 
 he proclaimed that there was a civil war, and yet for six months 
 have they been hunting for it. and still cannot find one spot where 
 it existed. There was, to be sure, a most terrible war in the news- 
 papers, but no where else. When I appeared before the grand 
 jury in Kentucky, they had no charge to bring against me. When 
 I appeared for a second time before a grand jury in the Mississippi 
 territory, there was nothing to appear against me, and the Judge 
 even told the United States Attorney, that if he did not send up 
 the bill before the grand jury, he himself would proceed to name 
 as many of the witnesses as he could, and bring it before the 
 court. Still there was no proof of war. At length, however, the 
 Spaniards invaded our territory, and yet there was no war. But, 
 sir, if there was a war, certainly no man can pretend to say that 
 the Government is able to find it out. The scene to which they 
 have now hunted it, is only three hundred miles distant, and still 
 there is no evidence to prove this war." 
 
 At length, after thirty-three days of argument, the grand jury 
 brought in an indictment against Aaron Burr for treason, and 
 also an indictment for misdemeanor. Blennerhasset was also 
 indicted for the same offences. 
 
 The trial for treason began on the 3d of August ; the same 
 judges and counsel were in attendance. Here the same difficulty 
 was experienced in securing an impartial jury. Fourteen days 
 were spent in the effort. Of the first venire of 48, but four were 
 found unprejudiced, of a second venii'e of 48 summoned, all ad- 
 mitted that they had formed opinions unfavorable to the prisoner. 
 The defence even moved to quash the trial on the ground that an 
 impartial jury could not be obtained. The matter was at length 
 compromised by allowing the defence to choose eight from the 
 venire last summoned, which, added to the four chosen from the 
 first, made up the required number. 
 
COL. AARON BURR. 113 
 
 The second trial was in many respects a repetition of the first. 
 The witnesses chiefly relied on to prove the overt act, were Gen. 
 Eaton, an old army officer, the Morgans, and Gen, Wilkinson. 
 
 Eaton and the Morgans gave an exaggerated account of Burr's 
 wild talk of severing the union — words that he certainly would 
 never have uttered had he really entertained such designs. Wil- 
 kinson produced the famous cipher letter, which had raised the 
 tempest, but which proved nothing, except that the two men had 
 had a prior agreement as to certain objects to be attained. It 
 should be remarked here that Wilkinson hy his own confession 
 was a perjurer as well as traitor. At the trial he swore that the 
 letter produced was the otie received from Burr and unaltered, af- 
 terward he admitted that he had made some slight alterations in 
 it. Burr declared after the trial, that thirty of the fifty witnesses 
 examined, had perjured themselves. On the 29th of August, the 
 debate was concluded by Mr. Randolph. On the 30th, the judge 
 delivered his opinion. On the 31st, the jury brought in their 
 verdict — the most irregular and cowardly ever returned by an 
 American jury. "We of the jury," so the verdict ran, ''say 
 that Aaron Burr is not proved to be guilty under the indict- 
 ment hi/ any evideiice submitted to us. We therefore find him not 
 guilty." It was the Scotch verdict of 7iot proven, and was de- 
 signed to fasten still more firmly in the minds of the people, their 
 conviction of the prisoner's guilt. 
 
 Scarcely was the reading of the verdict concluded, when Col. 
 Burr was on his feet, and vehemently protested against such a 
 verdict, and it was only after an animated debate, that he suc- 
 ceeded in having it entered as simply " not guilty." 
 
 There yet remained the trial for ' misdemeanor, and on this 
 charge he was also acquitted. Col. Burr was now legally free ; 
 but his position in the land for which he had done and suffered so 
 much had become unendurable. The Government still breathed 
 out threatenings against him and the belief of his guilt was firmly 
 fixed in the minds of the people. It has been demonstrated that 
 nothing but time and Almighty power can remove a popular 
 prejudice. Burr was too wise to attempt it ; he did better, he left 
 it behind him. Early in June 1808, threatened with a second 
 arrest by the Government, he sailed in disguise under the name of 
 Edwards, in the British mail-packet Clarissa bound from New 
 York to Liverpool, The Clarissa left port on the 9th of June, and 
 on the 14th of July she arrived at Liverpool. 
 
I 
 
 114 FAIRFIEl^ BRANCH. 
 
 Of Col. Burr's four years' wandering in the old world, we can- 
 not speak with any degree of particularity. He remained in Eng- 
 land nearly a year, or until April, 1809 ; then, induced by the rep- 
 resentations of the American Minister, Lord Liverpool addressed 
 him a polite note, which stated that the presence of Col. Burr in 
 Great Britain was embarrassing to his majesty's government, and 
 that it was the wish and expectation of the government that he 
 should remove. Burr, who had been dined and f^ted by most of 
 the literary and society magnates of London, had visited the tomb 
 of Shakespeare and travelled about the kingdom as far as to Edin- 
 burgh, was quite ready to make his majesty's mind easy by leaving 
 the inhospitable isle ; and accordingly on the 24th of April, 1809, 
 sailed for Gottenburg in Sweden, not deeming it safe at that time 
 to visit France. He remained in Sweden five months, enjoying 
 Swedish hospitality to the full, and received as a distinguished 
 guest even by royalty itself. Late in October he sot out with two 
 companions, Americans, for Paris. The party proceeded by easy 
 stages to Elsinore, from Elsinore to Copenhagen, and from thence 
 to Hamburg, on the confines of French territory. Here they 
 waited for passports to the French capital. 
 
 While detained at Hamburg he made a short excursion into 
 Germany, visiting Hanover, Gottingen, Weimar, Frankfort, and 
 other places. At Weimar he met Goethe, Wieland, the Baroness 
 De Stein, and other eminent persons. Keturning to Mayence, 
 where the passjjorts were to be sent, he waited a few weeks until 
 they arrived, and then proceeded without further incident to Paris. 
 In Paris Col. Burr lived fifteen months; the last ten months spent 
 in trying to get away, for Jeiferson had now become a private citi- 
 zen and the thought would obtrude itself that he might return in 
 safety to his native land. 
 
 But the representations of the American Minister had made 
 him an object of suspicion to the French Government, and he was 
 refused permission to leave the country. At length, however, in 
 July, 1811. the government was induced to remove its surveillance, 
 and wringing a reluctantly given passport from the American 
 " charge des affaires," through an accidental acquaintance with 
 some of that gentleman's doubtful transactions, he betook himself 
 to Amsterdam, where lay the *' Vigilant," Capt. Combes, and about 
 to sail for America. The captain, a gallant, generous son of the 
 sea, gladly gave the ex- Vice President passage, and on the 1st of 
 October, 1811, Aaron Burr bade adieu forever, and we may iraa- 
 
COL. AARON BURR. 115 
 
 gine without regret, to the continent of Europe. But outside the 
 harbor a crushing misfortune awaited him, for the Vigilant was set 
 upon by a Britisli cruiser and carried into the English harbor of 
 Yarmouth, and held as a prize, subject to the decision of the 
 admiralty. Burr at once proceeded to London and there remained 
 six months awaiting an opportunity to return to America. Few ves- 
 sels were then returning, and the captains of those that were, were 
 easily persuaded by the American consul to refuse him a passage. 
 At length, however, he found a Captain Potter, of the ship Aurora, 
 who agreed to land him in Boston for the sum of thirty pounds. 
 
 Burr again paid his passage money, received his passports from 
 the British Government, now all friendliness, and five weeks there- 
 after was safe in Boston Harbor. A month later, in May, 1812, 
 the second war with Great Britain was declared, and the Atlantic 
 became a dangerous highway for American vessels. 
 
 With the return of Col. Burr to his native country ends our 
 brief resume of his public career. The story of the remaining 
 twenty-five years of his life is a pitiful one, — a mere record of 
 slights and scorns — a continued kicking of a man who was down, 
 by the immaculate society of the day. 
 
 Immediately on his return he opened a law-office in New York, 
 and much of his former business returned to him., but he never 
 regained his social or political status ; and he never sought to re- 
 gain it. Conscious of the injustice done him, and retaining his 
 pride of character to the last, he disdained to make explanations, 
 and repaid scorn for scorn, and contempt with indifference. 
 But to the few friends who remained faithful, he was the same 
 brilliant, genial, fascinating man as of old, and these he was wont 
 to entertain for hours, when off duty, with vivid descriptions of 
 the men and things of a former generation, interspersed with bril- 
 liant ancedotes, and profound observations on pending issues in 
 politics and statesmanship. Nothing, it is said, could be more val- 
 uable and interesting than these recollections, and it is to the in- 
 calculable loss of American literature that they were not preserved 
 in print. Burr did entertain such a project at one time, and 
 would probably have carried it out, but for the loss of his most 
 valuable papers in the same shipwreck that bereft him of his 
 daughter, and rendered him dead to ambition or any worldly 
 interest. 
 
 Before passing to narrate the closing scenes of his life, a few 
 notes as to the appearance, character, and habits of our distin- 
 
116 FAIRFIE^ BRANCH. 
 
 guished subject will be thought necessary and interesting. A 
 writer in the New York Leader thus describes him as he appeared 
 in the later years of life : 
 
 •' I knew him personally, from my boyhood, and saw him often 
 in the quiet scenes of domestic life, in the house of a gentleman 
 who was always his friend. His personal appearance was peculiar. 
 Under the medium height, his figure was well proportioned, 
 sinewy and elastic, appearing in every movement to be governed 
 more by the mental than mere physical attributes. His head was not 
 large, but as phrenologists say, well proportioned. His forehead 
 was high, protruding, but narrow directly over the eyes, and wid- 
 ening immediately back. The head was well, even classically, 
 poised upon the shoulders ; his feet and hands were peculiarly 
 small ; the nose rather large, with open, expanding nostrils ; and 
 the ears so small as almost to be a deformity. But the feature 
 which gave character and tone to all, and which made his presence 
 felt, was the eye. Perfectly round, not large, deep hazel in color, 
 it had an expression which no one who had seen it could ever for- 
 get. No man could stand in presence of Col. Burr, with his eyes 
 fixed on him, and not feel that they pierced his innermost thoughts. 
 There was a power in his look — a magnetism, if I may be allowed 
 the expression, — which few persons could resist. 
 
 "The expression of his face when I knew him, it was first in 
 1823, bore in repose a sad and melancholy air, yet the features were 
 mobile, and when addressing ladies, uttering some pleasantry or 
 "witticism, the smile around his mouth was literally beautiful, and 
 his eyes would lose their piercing look, and become tender and 
 gentle. His voice was not powerful, but round, full, and crisp, and 
 though never loud, was tender or impressive as the case required. 
 His elocution in conversation was perfect, always precisely suited 
 to the occasion and the style of thought to which he was giving 
 expression. His language was terse, almost epigrammatical, and 
 he rarely indulged in illustration or metaphor ; his words were al- 
 ways the most apt that could be used, and he had command of a 
 vocabulary which would make Roguet of the Tesaurus envious. His 
 manners were polished, his motions graceful and easy, yet he never 
 for a moment lost his noble and dignified bearing. In mere phys- 
 ical beauty, in elegance of face or figure, in brilliancy of the eye, 
 I have seen many men superior to Col. Burr, but in a bearing and 
 presence which you felt to be something beyond other men, with 
 character in every motion and expression, in a life of over forty 
 
COL. AARON BURR. 117 
 
 years, and after seeing all the great men of the country during that 
 period, I have never seen his peer. He wore his hair — which till 
 quite late in life, was long and thick, excepting on the front of the 
 head, — massed up on the top held by a small shell comb, the whole 
 head profusely powdered. . . His usual dress was a single blue- 
 breasted coat, with standing collar, a buff vest, and dark pants ; 
 in winter he wore a fur cap and buckskin mittens." 
 
 In regard to the character of Col. Burr, the verdict of the hon- 
 est and intelligent student of his career will be much more favor- 
 able than is the popular judgment. Of him it may be said more 
 truly than of any other, that circumstances made him bad, where- 
 in he was bad, and that party rancor and sectarian bigotry painted 
 the portrait which has come down to posterity ; in proof of the 
 truth of these assertions I will present a paper which was read by 
 Judge John Greenwood, of Brooklyn, before the Long Island His- 
 torical Society, begging the reader to observe that the author's in- 
 timate acquaintance with Col. Burr, his thorough integrity, and 
 judicial training, render his judgment unassailable, whereas the 
 idle and vicious tales from which the adverse judgment has been 
 formed, are without parentage and cannot be substantiated by any 
 proof that would be received in a court of law. The italics in the 
 paper are our own. They mark the passages which treat — very 
 delicately and yet very satisfactorily — of Col. Burr's relations with 
 women, and make farther remark on the subject unnecessary, ex- 
 cept to say that all with whom the writer has conversed, and who 
 were from their position best calculated to judge, take substan- 
 tially the same view of the case as that expressed by Judge Green- 
 wood. The paper is given nearly entire : 
 
 "As to Col. Burr I enjoyed peculiar advantages of knowledge, 
 having been, for a period of about six years, namely, from about 
 1814 to 1820, a clerk and student in his office, and in constant 
 intercourse with him, and this at a period of my life when the 
 strongest impressions were likely to be made upon me. The dark 
 side of Col. Burr's character has been very often presented, and it 
 is unnecessary that I should make another exhibition of it. It 
 gives me pleasure to be able to bring into the light, features upon 
 which it is more agreeable to dwell, and some of which, indeed, 
 may be contemplated with advantage. Let me speak first of his 
 temperance in eating and drinking. It would be natural to sup- 
 pose that a man somewhat unrestricted, as it must be admitted he 
 was, in one respect which may be regarded as in some degree cor- 
 
118 FAIRFIEL^BRANCH. 
 
 relative, would not be very much restrained in the indulgences of 
 the table. But the fact is otherwise. His diet was very light : a 
 cup of coffee and a roll, with but seldom the addition of an egg, 
 and never of meat or fish, constituted his breakfast. His dinner, 
 in a majority of cases, consisted of roasted potatoes, seasoned with 
 a little salt and butter, or perhaps of some thickened milk (called 
 sometimes ' boymy clabber ') sweetened with sugar. A cup of black 
 tea with a slice of bread and butter, was the last meal ; and these 
 constituted as a general thing, his whole sustenance for twenty- 
 four hours. The exception was when some friend was invited by 
 him to dinner. He was very fond, when seated at table, of having 
 his favorite cat near him, and it was a pleasant thing to see puss 
 sit on the arm of his chair and keep him company. As to spiritu- 
 ous liquors, I have no hesitation in saying from personal knowledge, 
 that he never used them. His usual beverage was claret and water, 
 sweetened with loaf sugar. His wine he bought by the cask, and 
 had bottled at his residence. The result of his abstemious course 
 of living was, that he enjoyed uniform good health, which was sel- 
 dom, if ever, interrupted. 
 
 "His industry was of the most remarkable character. Indeed 
 it may with truth be said that he never was idle. He was always 
 employed in some way, and what is more, required every one under 
 him to be so. Sometimes in coming through the office, and ob- 
 serving that I was not at work, as I might not have been for the 
 moment, he would say, "Master John, can't you find something to 
 do ? ' although it is safe to say that no clerk in an office was ever 
 more constantly worked than I was. 
 
 " He would rise at an early hour in the morning, devote himself 
 to the business of the day — for he had a large general practice — 
 and usually retired to rest not sooner than twelve, or half-past 
 twelve at night. In this way he would accomplish a vast amount 
 of work. His perseverance and indefatigability, too, were strik- 
 ingly characteristic. No plan or purpose once formed was aban- 
 doned, and no amount of labor could discourage him or cause 
 him to desist. To begin a work was, with him, to finish it. How 
 widely, in this respect, he differed from some professional men of 
 his own and the present day, I need hardly. say. I could recur to 
 some, greatly his juniors in years, who were and are his very op- 
 posites in this respect. He was for having a thing done, too, as 
 soon as it could be, and not, as some have supposed, for seeing 
 how long it could be put off before it was begun. 
 
COL. AARON BURR. 119 
 
 " But I must say a word of his manner in court. He seemed in 
 the street and everywhere in public, to be strongly conscious that 
 he was a mark of observation, not indeed in the sense in which 
 Hamlet is spoken of, as ' the observed of all observers,' but as an 
 object, to some of curiosity, to others of hostile or suspicious re- 
 gard. Carrying this feeling into the court-room his manner was 
 somewhat reserved, though never submissive, and he used no un- 
 necessary words. He would present at once the main points of his 
 case, and as his preparation was thorough, would usually be suc- 
 cessful. But he was not eloquent. If he thought his dignity 
 assailed in any manner, even inferentially, his rebuke was wither- 
 ing in the cutting sarcasm of its few words, and the lightning 
 glance of his terrible eyes, which few could withstand. I may 
 say in this connection, that his self-possession, under the most 
 trying circumstances, was wonderful, and that he probably never 
 knew what it was to fear a human being, 
 
 "If there was anything which Burr's proud spirit supremely 
 despised, it was a mean, prying curiosity. He early inculcated on 
 me the lesson, never to read even an opened letter addressed to 
 another, which might be lying in my way, and never to look over 
 another who was writing a letter. It was one of my duties to 
 copy his letters, and 1 shall never forget the withering and indig- 
 nant look which, on one occasion, he gave to a person in the 
 oflSce who endeavored to see what I was copying. Neither would 
 he tolerate any impertinent gazing or staring at him, as if to spy 
 out his secret thoughts and reflections. 
 
 " You will be glad to hear me say something of his very fascina- 
 ting powers in conversation. It may seem strange, if not incredi- 
 ble, that a man who had passed through such vicissitudes as he 
 had, and who must have had such a crowd of early and pressing 
 memories on his mind, should be able to preserve a uniform 
 serenity and even cheerfulness, but such is the fact. 
 
 " His manners were easy and his carriage graceful, and he had 
 a winning smile in moments of pleasant intercourse, that seemed 
 almost to charm you. He would laugh, too, sometimes, as if his 
 heart was bubbling with joy, and its effect was irresistible. No- 
 body could tell a story or an anecdote better than he could, and 
 nobody enjoyed it better than he did himself. His maxim was 
 suaviter in modo fortiter in re. Yet, where spirits and a deter- 
 mined manner were required, probably no man ever showed them 
 more effectively. Although comparatively small in person, and 
 
120 FAlRFlEL^iRANCH. 
 
 light in frame, I have seen him rebuke, and put to silence, men 
 of position in society greatly his superiors in physical strength, 
 who were wanting in respect in their language toward him. 
 
 *' Col. Burr was a social man, that is, he liked the company of a 
 friend and would spend a half hour in conversation with him very 
 agreeably. Occasionally one with Avhoui he had been on intimate 
 terms, and who had shared his adventures, like Samuel Swart- 
 wout, or William Hosack, would call and have a pleasant time. 
 Dr. W. J. McNevin was also intimate with him. He was very 
 fond of young company. Children were delighted with him. He 
 not only took an interest in their sports, but conciliated them, and 
 attached them to him by presents. The latter, I may observe, was 
 also one of his modes of pleasing the more mature of the gentler 
 sex. 
 
 *'He was very fond of alluding to events in his military life. 
 Indeed I think he cliiefly prided himself upon his military char- 
 acter. His counsel was much sought by foreigners engaged in 
 revolutionary enterprises, who happened to be in New York ; and 
 during the period of the revolution in Caraccas, Generals Carrera 
 and Eibas, who took part in it, and during its existence visited 
 New York, were on very intimate terms with him. The former 
 was a gentleman of great talent but of modest and retired bearing. 
 "There ax"e some who suppose that Col. Burr had no virtues. 
 This is a mistake. He was true in his friendships, and would go 
 any length to serve a friend, and he had also the strongest affec- 
 tions. 
 
 " I shall never forget the incidents concerning the loss of his 
 daughter Theodosia, then wife of Gov. Alston of South Carolina. 
 Soon after Col. Burr's return from Europe to New York, he ar- 
 ranged for her to come on and visit him, and she set out, as is 
 known, from Georgetown in a small schooner, called the Patriot. 
 Timothy Green, a retired lawyer in New York, a most worthy 
 man, and an old friend of Col. Burr, went on by land to accom- 
 pany her. The fact of the departure of the vessel, with his daugh- 
 ter and Mr. Green on board, was communicated by letter from 
 Gov. Alston to Col. Burr, and he looked forward with anticipa- 
 tions of joy to the meeting which, after so many years of separa- 
 tion, was to take place between himself and his dear child. A full 
 time for the arrival of the vessel at New York elapsed, but she 
 did not come. 
 
 " As day after day passed and still nothing was seen or heard of 
 
COL. AARON BURR. 121 
 
 the vessel or of his daughter, that face which had before shown no 
 gloom or sadness, began to exhibit the signs of deep and deeper 
 concern. Every means was resorted to to obtain information, but 
 no tidings were ever heard of the vessel, or of her upon whom all 
 the affection of his nature had been bestowed. ' Hope deferred,' 
 did indeed in this case, make sick and nearly crush the heart. 
 
 " His symbol, which he loved occasionally to stamp upon the 
 seal of a letter, was a rock in the tempest-torn ocean, which nei- 
 ther wind nor wave could move. But his firm and manly nature, 
 which no danger or reverse, nor any of the previous circumstances 
 of life had been able to shake, was near giving way. It was inter- 
 esting though painful, to witness his struggle ; but he did rise su- 
 perior to his grief and the light once more shone upon his counte- 
 nance. But it was ever after a subdued light. 
 
 '•' Something will be expected to be said by me, with regard to 
 his duel with Gen, Hamilton. So much has been written on this 
 subject already, that I can add nothing to the history of the trans- 
 action. Every one will form an opinion for himself as to who was 
 to blame in that unfortunate affair. I will say, however, that it was a 
 matter to which Col, Burr, from delicacy, never referred. He was 
 no boaster, and no calumniator, and certainly he would have no 
 word of censure for his dead antagonist, I will relate, however, anan- 
 ecdote told me by him, indicating the degree of hostility felt to- 
 wards him by some after that transaction, and at the same time his 
 own intrepidity, although to the latter he seemed not to attach 
 the slightest importance, 
 
 " He was travelling in the interior of the State, and had reached 
 a country tavern where he was to stay for the night. He was 
 seated by a table in his room engaged in writing, when the land- 
 lord came up and announced that two young men were below and 
 wished to see him, and added that their manner seemed rather 
 singular. He had heard that two very enthusiastic young gentle- 
 men were on his track, and he was not therefore surprised at the 
 announcement. Taking out his pistols, and laying them before 
 him, he told the landlord to show them up. They came up, and 
 as one was about to advance into his room Burr told them not to 
 approach a foot nearer. Then addressing him he said, ' What is 
 your business?' The foremost said, 'Are you Col, Burr?' 
 'Yes,' said the Colonel, 'Well,' says the young man, 'we have 
 come to take your life, and mean to have it before we go away. 
 Upon this. Burr, laying his hand upon one of his pistols, replied. 
 
122 FAIRFIEL^BRANCH. 
 
 * You are brave fellows, are you not, to come here two of you 
 against one man ? Now if either of you has any courage, come 
 out with me, and choose your own distance, and I'll give you a 
 chance to make fame. But if you don't accept this proposal,' 
 bringing the severest glance of his terrible eyes to bear upon them, 
 
 * I'll take the life of the first one of you that raises his arm,' 
 They were both cowed, and walked off like puppies. 
 
 '■■ It may not be out of place here to relate another incident, illus- 
 trating Col. Burr's remarkable presence of mind, which occurred 
 while he was in Paris, He had received a remittance of a consid- 
 erable sum of money, and his valet formed a plan to rob him of it 
 by coming upon him, unawares, with a loaded pistol. Burr was 
 engaged in reading or writing in his room at a late hour at night, 
 when the fellow entered with pistol in hand. Burr recognized 
 him in a moment, and turning suddenly around, said to him 
 sternly, 'How dare you come into the room with your hat on ?' 
 The valet struck with sudden awe and the consciousness of hav- 
 ing violated that decorum, which had from habit virtually be- 
 come a part of his nature, raised his arm to take off his hat, when 
 Burr rushed upon him, tripped him down, wrested the pistol from 
 him, and calling for aid, had him secured and carried off. 
 
 •'Col. Burr, as is well known, was what is termed 'a good shot 
 with a pistol. To illustrate his skill in this respect, I will relate a 
 circumstance told me by an old colored man named ' Harry,' 
 who was in the habit, while I was with Col. Burr, of coming to his 
 house, to clean his boots, and do little jobs. ' Harry ' had lived 
 many years with the Colonel while the latter's residence was at 
 Eichmond Hill in the upper part of New York. The Colonel 
 often had dinner parties, and after dinner the gentlemen would go 
 out upon the back piazza, to enjoy the air, and would amuse them- 
 selves by firing with a pistol at apples which Harry would throw 
 up for them. Said Harry, laughing in the way peculiar to an old 
 African, ' De Colonel would hit em' almos ev'ry time, while de 
 oder gentlement couldn't hit 'em at all.' 
 
 " The charge against Col. Burr of treason has formed a promi- 
 nent part of his history. All the facts developed on the trial have 
 been long since published, and it will not of course be expected 
 that I should refer to them. I will say, however, that this was a 
 subject upon which he was always disposed, whenever proper, to 
 converse with those who were intimate with him. I myself have 
 conversed with him upon it. He said he had been entirely mis- 
 
COL. AARON BURR. 123 
 
 represented and misunderstood as to the object which he had in 
 view. He had never, he stated, any design hostile to the United 
 States or any part of it. His object was, as he said, to make him- 
 self master of Mexico, and place himself at the head of it, and 
 if they had let him alone he would have done it. He seemed to 
 entertain a great contempt for Gen. Wilkinson, who was in com- 
 mand at the South at the time, considering him a very weak man. 
 
 " Colonel Burr, like other great men, had some remarkable eccen- 
 tricities of character. He was very fond of all sorts of inventions, 
 and always trying experiments. He puzzled his brain for a long 
 time to get some motive power which would avoid the necessity of 
 using fire or steam, of which Livingston and Fulton then held the 
 monopoly. He had models made, and I also got my ambition ex- 
 cited about it. 
 
 '' But his efforts, and my own philosophical powers and chemical 
 knowledge fell short, after a hard trial, of accomplishing the ob- 
 ject. One great end which he desired to attain in housekeeping 
 was to save fuel, not money ; and I have known him to go to an 
 expense, I should judge, of forty or fifty dollars in contrivances 
 to save five dollars in the value of wood consumed. 
 
 •' He was very liberal and even reckless in spending money for 
 certain purposes, while in others, such as bills of mechanics, he 
 was very particular and scrutinizing. He liked to have a bill 
 looked over very carefully, and reduced to as low an amount as 
 the case would admit of, but, so far as I know, never practiced 
 any dishonesty or refused to pay any just debt which he had in- 
 curred. 
 
 " I have forborne thus far to refer to a matter connected with the 
 character of Col. Burr, and identified almost with his name, and 
 although not within the plan with which I started in this notice, I 
 ought not perhaps to omit it. I allude of course to his gallantries. 
 This is a topic upon which it would be impossible to speak with 
 any particularity without transcending that limit of propriety 
 within which all public discussions should be confined. I shall 
 therefore speak of it in the most general terms. I do not believe 
 that Col. Burr was any worse in this respect, than many men of 
 his men and of the present day, who pass for letter men. 
 
 " The difference between them is, that he was much less disguised 
 and that he did not pretend to be what he was not. / think he 
 was quite as much sought after hy the other sex as he was a seeker. 
 There seemed indeed to be a charm and fascination about him which 
 
124 FA IRFIEI^ BRA NCH. 
 
 continued to a late period of his life, and which was too powerful 
 for the frail, and sometimes even for the strong, to resist. I know 
 that he has been charged with much wrong in this respect, and it 
 may be with truth. I feel no disposition to justify iiim in his 
 course, or even to palliate what must be regarded in its best aspect 
 as a vice. But I have heard him say, and if it be true it is cer- 
 tainly much in his favor, tliat he never deceived or made a false 
 promise to a woman in his life. This is much more than many 
 can say, who have a much better name than he has. 
 
 " His married life with Mrs. Prevost (who had died before I 
 went into his office) was of the most affectionate character, and his 
 fidelity never questioned. There is another thing, too, which I 
 will add to his credit. He was always a gentleman in his language 
 and deportment. Nothing of a low, ribald, indecent or even in- 
 delicate character ever escaped his lips. He had no disposition to 
 corrupt others. One other thing I will add in this connection: 
 Col. Burr, in everything relating to business, and indeed in all his 
 epistolary correspondence with men, had a special regard for the 
 maxim that 'things written remain,' and was very careful as to 
 what he wrote. But with regard to the other sex, such was his 
 confidence in them, that he wrote to them with very little restraint. 
 I must point you to one admirable and strong characteris- 
 tic in him. He sought with young men, in whom he felt an in- 
 terest, to graft them as it were, with his own indomitable will, en- 
 ergy and perseverance. I can truly say that, althougli I was often 
 overtasked beyond my powers, and even to the injury, no doubt, 
 of my health, so that his course seemed to me to be over-exacting 
 and oppressive, yet that he constantly incited me to progress in all 
 the various modes and departments of mental culture, even in mu- 
 sic, the influence of which he deemed of great importance, although 
 he had but little taste for, and no knowledge of it himself ; and 
 that my success in life, as far as I have succeeded, has been owing 
 to the habits of industry and perseverance which were formed un- 
 der his training. 
 
 "As to the character of his mind, it would be probably pre- 
 sumptuous in me to attempt to analyze it. If I should express an 
 opinion, it would be that it was not large, comprehensive, and 
 philosophical, but rather quick, penetrating and discerning. He 
 was a shrewd planner, and indefatigable and persevering in carry- 
 ing out his plans, although he did not always succeed in accom- 
 pli.-^hing them. He was a good scholar, acquainted with polite 
 
COL. AARON BURR. 125 
 
 literature, and spoke the French and Spanish — the former fluently. 
 I think his heart was not in the profession of the law, and that he 
 followed.it principally for its gains. He was, however, a good 
 lawyer, was versed in the common, civil, and international law ; 
 acquainted generally with the reports of adjudicated cases, and, in 
 preparing important cases, usually traced up the law to its ancient 
 sources. But political and military life seemed to interest him 
 more than anything else, although he never neglected his business. 
 He prided himself probably more upon his military qualities than 
 upon any other, and if he could have gratified his ambition by 
 becoming Emperor of Mexico he would no doubt have been in his 
 glory." 
 
 Concerning Burr's habits in regard to money, the following 
 pleasant anecdote is related by Mr. Parton in his life of the 
 Colonel. " An anecdote," says he, " related to me by the wife of 
 one of Burr's partners, will serve to illustrate his infirmity with 
 regard to the use of money. He may have been seventy yeai's old 
 when the circumstances took place. The lady chanced to be sit- 
 ting in the office one morning, when Burr received a large amount 
 of money in bills, and, as his habits with regard to money had 
 often been the subject of remark in the house, she watched his pro- 
 ceedings with curiosity. She saw him first take a law-book from 
 an upper shelf, put a fifty dollar note between its leaves, and re- 
 place the book on the shelf. The rest of the money he deposited 
 in the middle of his table as usual. He had, on that morning, an 
 extraordinary concourse of begging visitors, of whom no one 
 seemed to go empty away, and by three o'clock in the afternoon, 
 the well was exhausted. An hour later. Col. Burr looked at his 
 watch, sprang from his chair, and began hastily to pack his port- 
 manteau with law papers, in preparation for a journey to Albany, 
 where he had business in the courts. When he was ready, he 
 looked into his receptacle for money and discovered that it was 
 empty. An examination of his pockets disclosed only a few coins. 
 ' Bless me! ' he exclaimed, ' I have to go to Albany in half an hour 
 and have no money.' Could madame lend him ten dollars ? 
 Madame could not. Would madame oblige him by stepping over 
 and asking her good mother to lend him the amount ? Madame 
 was of opinion that her good mother would not lend Col. Burr any 
 more money. He was at his wit's end; at length she said, "But, 
 Colonel, what are you going to do with the fifty dollar bill in that 
 
126 FAIRFIEJ^ BRANCH. 
 
 book yonder?' ' 0! I forgot,' he said ; ' I put it there this morn- 
 ing on purpose. What a treasure you are to remind me of it."' 
 
 The following reminiscence from a New York newspaper will 
 be found interesting. " Just round the corner (from Broadway) 
 in Reade Street — we believe on ground now occupied by Stewart's 
 — was the office, for many of the later years of his life, tenanted 
 by Aaron Burr. We, when a boy, remember seeing iiim there 
 often. It was a dark, smoky, obscure sort of a double-room, typi- 
 cal of his fortunes. Burr had entirely lost caste for thirty years 
 before he died, and whatever may be said of his character and 
 conduct, we think nothing can excuse the craven meanness of the 
 many, who, having fawned around him in the days of his eleva- 
 tion, deserted and reviled him in the aftertime of misfortune. 
 Burr had much of the bad man in him (faith, we'd like to see 
 the human mould that has not), but he was dauntless, intellectual, 
 and possessed the warm temperament of an artist. Yes, we re- 
 member well that dry, bent, brown-faced little old man, polite as 
 Chesterfield himself, that used to sit by an ancient baize table, in 
 the half-light of the dust-covered room, there — not often with 
 work to do- — indeed he generally seemed meditating. 
 
 "We can no?^' understand it all. though he seemed a strange 
 personage then. What thoughts must have burned and whirled 
 through that old man's brain — he, who came within a vote or two 
 of seating himself as a successor of Washington. Even to our boy- 
 ish judgment then, he was invested with the dignity of a historic 
 theme. He had all the air of a gentleman of the old school, was 
 respectful, self-possessed and bland, but never familiar. He had 
 seen a hundred men morally as unscrupulous as himself, more 
 lucky, for some reason or other, than himself. He was down; he 
 was old. He awaited his fate with Spartan calmness — knowing 
 that not a tear would fall when he should be put under the sod." 
 
 At my request, Mr. Parton kindly transmitted to me the Burr 
 papers which had collected since his work was published, with 
 full permission to use them as I thought best. Among them I fiind 
 this interesting extract, from a religious journal, concerning Col. 
 Burr's early education: 
 
 " The oldest son of President Edwards congratulating a friend 
 on having a family of sons, said to him with much earnestness, 
 * Remember there is but one mode of family government. I have 
 brought up and educated fourteen boys, two of whom I brought, 
 or rather suffered to grow up without the rod. One of those was 
 
COL. AARON BURB. 127 
 
 my youngest brother,* and the other Aaron Burr, my sister's only 
 son, both of whom had lost their parents in childhood, and from 
 my observation and experience, I tell you, sir, a maple-sugar gov- 
 ernment will never answer. Beware how you let the first act of 
 disobedience in your little boys go unnoticed, and unless evidence 
 of repentance be manifest, unpunished.' " f 
 
 No doubt, the stern puritan was but an indifferent master for 
 so headstrong a youth, still it was evident that Col. Burr's many 
 serious faults were not all the result of a defective education. 
 Some of them were perhaps inherited. Thoroughly furnished as 
 he was, mentally and physically, there was yet something lacking 
 in his moral make-up, otherwise he would have been perfect. It 
 would be curious too, if we should be able to find the cause of 
 this. 
 
 The genealogist will remember that the Edwards blood was 
 not without taint, that the grandmother of Jonathan Edwards was 
 insane, and that several of her family were victims of the same 
 distressing malady. Whether this had any effect upon the tem- 
 perament of her remote descendant, Col. Burr, we neither main- 
 tain nor deny. The fact is mentioned as affording food for 
 thought to the curious. 
 
 Among the papers above referred to I also found a letter from 
 Col. Burr to a legal friend in New York, which, as showing the 
 sprightliness and vivacity of his spirit, that even age could not 
 tame, I feel moved to produce here. It is dated at Albany, March 
 15th, 1814. 
 
 '' I pray you never again to be silent, in hopes, etc. That 
 apology has been worn out more than 1000 years ago ; from you 
 something original is expected. Letters which require and de- 
 serve to be answered at all, should be answered immediately. 
 Your pleadings, though not very technical, are in substance good 
 as to the point charged, but not altogether satisfactory as to the 
 subsequent period. Keep a better lookout. Yes, send copies of 
 my letters to Graves and Mad. F. by the Cartel about to sail for 
 Gottenburg. To the letter of Mad. F. add 
 
 ' P. S. 17eme Mars, 1814, 
 
 *Le sauvage est actuellment a cent lieues dans I'interieure 
 
 * Pierrepont Edwards. 
 
 t This is not in character with what Col. Burr used to relate as to his uncle's mode of 
 government, for we have Burr's own testimony, that on one occasion, at least, his uncle 
 " licked him like a sack." 
 
128 FAIRFIMf) BRANCH. 
 
 8ur une affaire tr^s int^ressante pour lui et poar A. H. C ; on aura 
 le resultat au bout d'un mois.'* 
 
 " Still, my dear John, I am a sceptic about your health. You 
 have not been pleased to name your Hippocrate. I can at this 
 distance give no instruction, other than that you observe a very 
 temperate diet. About three weeks ago I enclosed you twenty 
 dollars, i. e., ten for Nancy, and ten for contingencies, the receipt 
 has not been acknowledged. I no longer hear anything of the 
 employment of your time. It is feared that things do not go 
 well.t A. B." 
 
 From "Personal Recollections of Aaron Burr," published in a 
 late issue of the Cincinnati Commercial, I extract the following : " I 
 once heard Hon. Edward Everett relate an incident that occurred 
 in Albany in his presence, that forcibly displayed his power over 
 minds the most strongly biased against him. It was immediately 
 after his secret and sad return from Europe. A case of great 
 pecuniary importance, if I remember right, of the Van Rensselaers 
 against the city, in which the plaintiffs had apparently made no 
 preparations for an advocate, only employing a young lawyer to 
 prepare and present the case. Surprise at this fact became indig- 
 nation, when it was whispered about that Aaron Burr had returned 
 from Europe and was employed in the case. Such was the indig- 
 nation that court and bar conspired to put him down with coughs, 
 hisses and Jeers, — that they would not hear him, — as an advocate 
 lynch him. The trial proceeded, and at the proper time a side 
 door opened, and a little figure walked silently in, and addressed 
 the court. Not a cough, hiss, stamp, scratch of a pen, or even 
 breath, or apparently a wink, disturbed that calm musical voice 
 during a long speech, and the case was won." 
 
 A few years before his death Col. Burr married Madame Jumel, 
 a wealthy lady of New York, and many years his junior. The 
 marriage resulted unhappily, and after a few months was annulled. 
 
 In December, 1833, while Col. Burr was walking in Broadway 
 with a friend, he was stricken with a paralysis, which confined 
 him for some weeks to his room. He recovered from this attack, 
 however, almost wholly, and was seen about the streets as usual. 
 
 * This " poBtscript " might be freely translated, " The savage is actually away a hun- 
 dred miles in the interior, on an aHair very interesting to himself and to A. H. C. ; one may 
 expect to hear the result by the end of the month." 
 
 Perhaps some one who remembers the men and things of that period, can tell us who the 
 " savage " and A. H. C. were. 
 
 t For other letters of Col. Burr, gee Appendix C. 
 
COL. AARON BURR. 129 
 
 This was followed in a few months by a second stroke, which de- 
 prived him forever of all use of his lower limbs ; two years of inac- 
 tion then followed, during which, although his mind was as active 
 and strong as ever, his physical powers were gradually failing. 
 During these years he was the honored guest of a lady, whose 
 father had been his intimate friend, and who had herself known 
 him from childhood. This lady proved to be a true Samaritan, 
 one of those rare souls who embody the truths of Christianity in 
 their lives. Unmindful of the construction put upon her acts by 
 society, she cared for the old man with tender assiduity, as long as 
 life lasted, and after his death used both tongue and pen in defend- 
 ing his memory. 
 
 In the spring of 1836, he grew rapidly weaker, and it became 
 evident to all that he had not many months to live. It chanced 
 that the house occupied by his kind benefactress was to be pulled 
 down that summer, and the Colonel was removed for the season to 
 Port Eichmond, on Staten Island. Here he died on Wednesday, 
 the 14th of September, 1836, aged nearly eighty-one years. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Vanpelt of the Dutch Reformed Church fre- 
 quently visited him during his last days and administered spirit- 
 ual consolation ; and Col. Burr always received his visits with 
 courtesy and thankfulness. On one of these occasions, in answer 
 to the Doctor's queries as to his view of the Holy Scriptures, he 
 responded, ' ' they are the most perfect system of truth the world 
 has ever seen." At his last visit the clergyman inquired as to his 
 faith in God and his hope of salvation through the merits of 
 Christ, to which he responded with evident emotion, *'that on 
 that subject he was coy," meaning as- the Doctor thought, that on 
 a subject so momentous, he felt cautious about expressing an 
 opinion. 
 
 A small party of friends accompanied the body to Princeton, 
 where, in the college chapel, the funeral ceremonies were per- 
 formed. The funeral sermon was preached by Dr. Carnahan, 
 then President of the college. It was charitable in tone, and was 
 delivered before a large audience, composed of the townspeople 
 and the college students. 
 
 His remains were followed to the grave by the faculty and Cli- 
 osophic Society of the college, a large body of citizens and by a de- 
 tachment of the Mercer Guards of Princeton, who fired over his 
 grave the customary volleys. 
 
 His grave is near those of his honored father and grandfather, 
 9 
 
130 FAlRFI^p BRANCH. 
 
 and is marked by a simple and unpretentious monument of marble, 
 "which bears this inscription : 
 
 AARON BURR. 
 
 Born February 6th, 1756. 
 Died September 14th, 1836. 
 
 A Colonel in the Army of the Revolution. 
 Vice President of the United States from 1801 to 1805. 
 
THEODOSIA BURR ALSTON. [256] 
 
 BoEN at Albany, 1783, lost at sea in January, 1813 — between 
 the two dates fill in such joy, brilliant promise, beauty, accom- 
 plishments, intense sorrow, and tragic fate, as never woman 
 knew before, and one has the history of this remarkable lady 
 in epitome. 
 
 No daughter ever received a heartier welcome to the home and 
 hearts of her parents, and none ever awakened greater parental 
 care and solicitude than did she. Her father was so constituted, 
 that while he would have been proud of, and honored a son, a 
 daughter called out all the strength and affection of his nature, 
 and he devoted himself to her care and education with a zeal and 
 assiduity that knew no cessation. With the earliest glimmering 
 of reason, her education began. She was taught to sleep alone in 
 the rooms of the great mansion at Richmond Hill, to be prompt, 
 diligent, and self-reliant, polite and mannerly to all, kind and con- 
 siderate to her inferiors, and was grounded in all the elements of 
 a solid and ornamental education. At the age of ten, ••' she was 
 precocious, like all her race, and was accounted a prodigy ; and she 
 really was a child of precocious endowments." She is also spoken 
 of at this time as having the family diminutiveness, and as being 
 a plump, pretty, and blooming girl. Her father had the utmost 
 horror of her growing into the mere fashionable woman of society, 
 and, while a senator at Philadelphia, thus wrote to his wife on 
 the subject — "Cursed effects of fashionable education, of which 
 both sexes are the advocates, and yours the victims ; if I could 
 foresee that Theo. would become a mere fashionable woman with 
 all the attendant frivolity, and vacuity of mind, adorned with 
 whatever grace or allurement, I would earnestly pray God to take 
 her forthwith hence." There was not much danger of her becom- 
 ing so, for at the time that letter was written, she was reading 
 Horace and Terence in the original, mastering the Greek grammar, 
 studying Gibbon, speaking French, practicing on the piano, and 
 taking lessons in dancing and skating. 
 
 At the age of fourteen, she became the mistress of her father's 
 
132 FAIRFimm BRANCH. 
 
 mansion at Richmond Hill, and entertained his numerous guests, 
 — senators, judges, grave divines, foreign notabilities — with the 
 most charming grace and dignity. At that early age she was hei 
 father's friend and counsellor. She wrote letters that displayed 
 a masculine force and directness. She translated grave political 
 treatises from English to French, was familiar with the philo- 
 sophical and economical writers of her day, and proficient in the 
 Greek, Latin, and German tongues, and was, what she is freely 
 admitted to have been, the most charming and accomplished 
 woman of her day. In her eighteenth year she was married to 
 Joseph Alston of South Carolina, then twenty-two years of age, a 
 gentleman of large wealth and assured position, and a lawyer by 
 profession, though he had never entered into practice. 
 
 It was the gossip of the day, and still believed by some, that 
 she was forced into this marriage by her father, from political and 
 prudential reasons chiefly, while she was really in love with a 
 young writer of the town, one Washington Irving, whose articles 
 in the newspapers of the day were then attracting much attention. 
 But the story lacks confirmation. Irving and the lovely Theo- 
 dosia were acquaintances, it is true, and frequently met in society, 
 but there is no proof of any intimacy between them. 
 
 Immediately after her marriage, the bride accompanied her 
 husband to South Carolina, and the happy pair took up their resi- 
 dence at the Oaks, the patrimonial estate of Mr. Alston, and one 
 of the most charming of South Carolina homes. Soon after his 
 marriage, the young husband, spurred by Col. Burr's vigorous 
 mind, entered public life, and in a few years, by the aid of his tal- 
 ents and position, was elected Chief Magistrate of the State. To 
 add to the young wife's happiness, a beautiful boy was born in 
 the first year of her marriage, which was christened Aaron Burr 
 Alston, around whom the liveliest hopes of the parents and of 
 the far-ofE grandfather as well, clustered. This event we may 
 suppose completed the sum of her happiness ; indeed her life, for 
 the first five years of her marriage, was all brightness and sun- 
 shine. An honored wife and proud mother, beautiful, accom- 
 plished, and fascinating, a Vice President's daughter, and a Gov- 
 ernor's wife, leading the society of two States, petted and adored by 
 all — who could at this time have foreseen her coming misfortunes 
 and tragic fate. 
 
 In the summer of 1806, she spent some weeks with her father 
 at Blennerhasset's Island, and on the Cumberland. In the fall 
 
THE0D08IA BURR ALSTON. 133 
 
 they parted ; he to plant his colony on the Washita, and if events 
 favored, to seat himself on the throne of the Montezumas ; she to 
 return to South Carolina, and wait. The winter passed. In May 
 she was horrified to learn that her father was in jail at Richmond, 
 and about to be tried for his life on a charge of treason, but let- 
 ters from her father which swiftly followed the news, allayed in 
 some measure, her apprehensions. They assured her of his inno- 
 cence, that his arrest was the work of his political enemies, and 
 that they would be foiled, and himself completely exonerated from 
 all charges. 
 
 But the devoted daughter felt that she must be with her father 
 in this hour of adversity, and at once set out for Richmond ; she 
 arrived a few days before the trial began, and remained until it 
 was concluded by the acquittal of her father, spending most of 
 the time in the prison with him, and proudly sharing the odium 
 that was gathering about his name. 
 
 What she thought, and how she felt in regard to her father's 
 alleged crime, and the labors of his enemies, is very frankly stated 
 in the following letter written to a friend at the conclusion of the 
 trial : 
 
 "I have this moment received a message from court, announc- 
 ing to me that the jury has brought in a verdict of acquittal, and 
 I hasten to inform you of it, my dear, to allay the anxiety which, 
 with even more than your usual sweetness, you have expressed in 
 your letter of the 22d of July. It afflicts me, indeed, to think that 
 you should have suffered so much from sympathy with the im- 
 agined state of my feelings ; for the knowledge of my father's in- 
 nocence, my ineffable contempt for his enemies, and the elevation 
 of his mind, have kept me above any sensations bordering on de- 
 pression. Indeed, my father, so far from accepting of sympathy, 
 has continually animated all around him ; it was common to see 
 his desponding friends filled with alarm at some new occurrence, 
 terrified with some new appearance of danger, fly to him in search 
 of encouragement and support, and laughed out of their fears by 
 the subject of them. This I have witnessed every- day, and it 
 almost persuaded me that he possessed the secret of repelling dan- 
 ger as well as apprehension. Since my residence here, of which 
 some days and a night were passed in the penitentiary, our little 
 family circle has been a scene of uninterrupted gayety. Thus you 
 see, my lovely sister, this visit has been a real party of pleasure. 
 From many of the first inhabitants, I have received the most un- 
 
134 FAIRFJ^J) BRANCH. 
 
 remitting and delicate attentions, sympathy indeed, of any I ever 
 experienced." 
 
 Nor did her devotion falter during subsequent years, when her 
 father was an exile, and in his own country everywhere spoken 
 against. She gladly shared his reproach, as she had his honor, 
 and for those who, without a particle of evidence, and in the face 
 of his triumphant vindication by the courts, could condemn and 
 ostracize the innocent, she expressed only the most unmitigated 
 contempt. Meantime slie wrote letters of womanly tenderness and 
 cheer to the exile, and eagerly watched the political horizon for 
 signs of an abatement of the popular resentment. She also ad- 
 dressed letters to eminent public men, pleading her father's cause, 
 and asking their opinion as to his safety should he venture to re- 
 turn to his native land. Some idea of the style and force of these 
 epistles may be gathered from the following, addressed to Mrs. 
 James Madison, wife of the President, on this subject, and with 
 whom she had been quite intimate in brighter days : 
 
 Rocky River Springs, June 24th, 1809. 
 
 Madam : — You may perhaps be surprised at receiving a letter 
 from one with whom you have had so little intercourse for the last 
 few years. But your surprise will cease when you recollect that 
 my father, once your friend, is now in exile ; and that the Presi- 
 dent only can restore him to me, and to his country. Ever since 
 the choice of the people was first declared in favor of Mr. Madison, 
 my heart, amid the universal joy, has beat with the hope that I 
 too should soon have reason to rejoice. Convinced that Mr. Madi- 
 son would neither feel, nor judge, from the feelings or judgment 
 of others, I had no doubt of his hastening to relieve a man, whose 
 character he had been enabled to appreciate during a confidential 
 intercourse of long continuance, and whom he must know incapa- 
 ble of the designs attributed to him. My anxiety on this subject 
 has, however, become too painful to be alleviated by anticipations 
 which no events have yet tended to justify, and in this state of in- 
 tolerable suspense, I have determined to address myself to you, 
 and request that you will, in my name, apply to the President for 
 a removal of the prosecution now existing against Aaron Burr. I 
 still expect it from him, as a man of feeling and candor, as one 
 acting for the world and for posterity. 
 
 Statesmen, I am aware, deem it necessary that sentiments of 
 
TEE0B08IA BURR ALSTON. 135 
 
 liberality, and even justice, should yield to considerations of policy, 
 but what policy can require the absence of my father at present ? 
 Even had he contemplated the project for which he stands ar- 
 raigned, evidently to pursue it any further would now be impossible. 
 There is not left one pretext of alarm, even to calumny. For be- 
 reft of fortune, of popular favor, and almost of friends, what could 
 he accomphsh ; and whatever may be the apprehensions, or clamors 
 of the ignorant and the interested, surely the timid, illiberal sys- 
 tem which would sacrifice a man to a remote and unreasonable 
 possibility that he might infringe some law founded on an unjust, 
 unwarrantable suspicion that he would desire it, cannot be ap- 
 proved by Mr. Madison, and must be unnecessary to a President 
 so loved, so honored. Why then, is my father banished from a 
 country for which he has encountered wounds, and dangers, and 
 fatigue, for years ? Why is he driven from his friends, from an 
 only child, to pass an unlimited time in exile, and that, too, at 
 an age when others are reaping the harvest of past toils, or ought 
 at least to be providing seriously for the comfort of ensuing 
 years ? I do not seek to soften you by this recapitulation. I wish 
 only to remind you of all the injuries which are inflicted on one 
 of the first characters the United States ever produced. Perhaps 
 it may be well to assure you, there is no truth in a report lately 
 circulated, that my father intends returning immediately. 
 
 He never will return to conceal himself in a country on which 
 he has conferred distinction. To whatever fate Mr. Madison may 
 doom this application, I trust it will be treated with delicacy. Of 
 this I am the more desirous, as Mr. Alston is ignorant of the step 
 I have taken in writing to you, which, perhaps nothing could ex- 
 cuse but the warmth of filial affection. If it be an error, attrib- 
 ute it to the indiscreet zeal of a daughter whose soul sinks at the 
 gloomy prospect of a long and indefinite separation from a father 
 almost adored, and who can leave nothing unattempted, which of- 
 fers the slightest hope of procuring him redr«ss. What indeed 
 would I not risk once more to see him, to hang upon him, to 
 place my child upon his knee, and again spend my days in the 
 happy occupation of endeavoring to anticipate his wishes. Let me 
 entreat, my dear madam, that you will have the consideration 
 and goodness to answer me as speedily as possible ; my heart is 
 sore with doubt and patient waiting for something definite. No 
 apologies are made for giving you this trouble, which I am sure 
 you will not deem it irksome to take for a daughter, an affec- 
 
136 fairfiWd branch. 
 
 tionate daughter thus situated. Inclose your letter for me to 
 A. J. Frederic Prevost, Esq., near New Rochelle, New York. 
 That every happiness may attend you is the sincere wish of 
 
 Theo. Burr Alstob". 
 
 To Mm. James Madison, Washington, D. C. 
 
 It was from assurances received in answer to this letter, that 
 Col. Burr, in 1810, began to think once more of his native land. 
 In the spring of 1812 her father arrived in Boston, but hardly had 
 the news of his arrival reached her, when she was called upon to 
 suffer a bereavement, beside which those that had preceded it 
 seemed trifles light as air. Her boy, her only child, a handsome 
 promising lad of eleven years, the "little Gamp" so frequently 
 mentioned In Burr's letters, sickened and died. This blow shat- 
 tered in an instant the hopes of years, and plunged both parents 
 and grandfather in the deepest depths of affliction. 
 
 "But a few miserable days past,*' wrote the poor bereaved 
 mother to her father, announcing her loss, " and your late letters 
 would have gladdened my soul, and even now I rejoice at their 
 contents, as much as it is possible for me to rejoice at anything ; 
 but there is no more joy for me. The world is a blank. I have 
 lost my boy. My child is gone forever. He expired on the 30th 
 of June. My head ^ not sufficiently collected to say anything fur- 
 ther. May heaven by other things make you some amends for the 
 noble grandson you have lost. He was eleven years old." The 
 mother never recovered from the effects of this shock. 
 
 For years her health had been delicate, owing in some meas- 
 ure, no doubt, to the unfavorable influence of the climate, and as 
 early as 1805, she had been forced to admit the probability of an 
 early death, and at that time prepared a letter to be given to her 
 husband after her death, and which was found among her effects 
 after her decease in 1812. This letter, so natural, and so charac- 
 teristic, conveys a better idea of the life and character of this re- 
 markable woman, than could pages of studied description and 
 eulogy. It was intended for one eye alone, but as it has been before 
 published, and as it exhibits its author in a most favorable light, 
 there can be no impropriety in reproducing it here. 
 
 The following is the letter : 
 
 Aag. 6, 1805. 
 
 " Whether it is the effect of extreme debility and disordered 
 nerves, or whether it is really presentiment, the existence of which 
 
TEE0D081A BURR ALSTON. 137 
 
 I nave often been told of and always doubted, I can not tell ; but 
 something whispers me that my end approaches. In vain I rea- 
 son with myself ; in vain I occupy my mind and seek to fix my 
 attention on other subjects ; there is about me that dreadful heav- 
 iness and sinking of the heart, that awful foreboding of which it 
 is impossible to divest myself. 
 
 '• Perhaps I am now standing on the brink of eternity, and ere 
 I plunge in the fearful abyss, I have some few requests to make. 
 I wish your sisters (one of .them, it is immaterial which) would 
 select from my clothes certain things which, they will easily per- 
 ceive, belong to my mother. These, with whatever lace they find 
 in a large trunk in a garret-room of the Oaks House, added to a 
 little satin-wood box, (the largest, and having a lock and key) and 
 a black satin embroidered box with a pin-cushion ; all these things 
 I wish they would put together in one trunk, and send them to 
 Frederic Prevost, with the enclosed letter." 
 
 Then follow several bequests, after which the letter continues : 
 
 " To you, my beloved, I leave my child, the child of my bosom, 
 who was once a part of myself, and from whom I shall shortly be 
 separated by the cold grave. You love him now, henceforth love 
 him for me also. And oh, my husband, attend to this last prayer 
 of a doting mother. Never, never, listen to what any other per- 
 son tells you of him. Be yourself his judge on all occasions. He 
 has faults ; see them and correct them yourself. Desist not an 
 instant from your endeavors to secure his confidence. It is a 
 work which requires as much uniformity of conduct as warmth of 
 afiection toward him. 
 
 "I know, my beloved, that you can perceive what is right on 
 this subject, as on every other. But recollect, these are the last 
 words I can ever utter. It will tranquillize my last moments to 
 have disburdened myself of them. I fear you will scarcely be 
 able to read this scrawl, but I feel hurried and agitated. Death is 
 not welcome to me ; I confess it is ever dreaded. You^have made 
 me too fond of life. Adieu then, thou kind, thou tender husband. 
 Adieu, friend of my heart. May heaven prosper you, and may we 
 meet hereafter. Adieu, perhaps we may never see each other 
 again in this world. You are away; I wished to hold you fast, and 
 prevent you from going this morning. 
 
 " But He who is wisdom itself ordains events ; we must submit 
 to them. Least of all should I murmur. I on whom so many 
 blessings have been showered, whose days have been numbered by 
 
138 FAIRFIELD BRANCH. 
 
 bounties, who have had such a husband, such a child, and such a 
 father. Oh, pardon me, my God, if I regret leaving tliese. I re- 
 sign myself. Adieu once more and for the last time, my beloved. 
 Speak of me often to our son. Let him love the memory of his 
 mother, and let him know how he was loved by her. 
 
 Your wife, your fond wife, 
 
 Theo." 
 
 This letter was written in the summer of 1805. In this sum- 
 mer of 1812, her malady had greatly increased. She sank into a 
 listless apathetic state, pitiful to see and from which it was diffi- 
 cult to rouse her. Her boy was dead, henceforth life was a blank, 
 and existence a burden. 
 
 In the fall," her father, alarmed, insisted that she sliould come 
 North ; he even sent an old friend to her home to accompany her 
 on the journey. It was manifestly impossible for her in her en- 
 feebled state to make the journey by land, and the party, com- 
 prising Theodosia, her maid, her physician and Mr. Green, pro- 
 ceeded to Charleston, and embarked on a small schooner called the 
 Patriot. The vessel sailed on the 30th of December, 1812, and 
 was never again heard of. 
 
 It was the commonly received opinion that she foundered off 
 Hatteras. in a heavy storm that visited the coast a few days after 
 she left port ; but forty years after, a paragraph appeared in a 
 Texan newspaper and went the rounds of the press, giving a differ- 
 ent version of her fate. 
 
 This paragraph purported to be the confession of a sailor who 
 had recently died in Texas, and who declared on his death bed 
 that he was one of the crew of the Patriot in December 1812, and 
 that during the voyage the sailors mutinied and murdered all the 
 officers and passengers, Mrs. Alston being the last to walk the 
 plank. 
 
 To this statement the Pennsylvania Enquirer added corrobora- 
 tive evidence as follows : 
 
 "An item of news just now going the rounds relates that a sailor, 
 who died in Texas, confessed on his death bed that he was one of 
 the crew of mutineers who, some forty years ago, took possession of 
 a brig on its passage from Charleston to New York, and caused all 
 the ojQBcers and passengers to walk the plank. For forty years the 
 wretched man has carried about the dreadful secret, and died at 
 last in an agony of despair. 
 
THE0D08IA BURR ALSTON. 139 
 
 ** What gives this story additional interest is the fact that the 
 Tessel referred to is the one in which Mrs. Theodosia Alston, the 
 beloved daughter of Aaron Burr, took passage for New York, for 
 the purpose of meeting her parent in the darkest days of his exist- 
 ence, and which, never having been heard of, was supposed to 
 have been foundered at sea. 
 
 *' The dying sailor professed to remember her well, said she was 
 the last who perished, and that he never forgot her look of despair 
 as she took the last step from the fatal plank. On reading this ac- 
 count, I regarded it as a fiction ; but on conversing with an officer 
 of the navy he assures me of the probable truth, and states that on 
 one of his passages home some years ago, his vessel brought two 
 pirates in irons, who were subsequently executed at Norfolk for 
 recent offences, and who, before their execution, confessed that 
 they had been members of the same crew and participated in the 
 murder of Mrs. Alston and her companions. 
 
 " Whatever opinion may be entertained of the father, the memory 
 of the daughter must be revered as one of the loveliest and most 
 excellent of American women, and the revelation of her untimely 
 fate can only serve to invest that memory with a more tender and N 
 
 melancholy interest." 
 
 And this is all that can be certainly known in regard to her 
 death. The reader will draw his own conclusions ; but in either 
 case what a tragic fate was hers ! 
 
 To her father this was the "event that separated him from the 
 human race." To her husband thus doubly bereaved, it proved 
 a blow from the effects of which he never fully recovered. He 
 survived his wife and child but a few years, dying at Charleston, 
 Sept. 10th, 1816, at the early age of thirty-eight years. 
 
APPENDIX 0. 4:19 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 Letters from Col. Aaron Burr to Ms sister Mrs. Reeve, found in 
 the garret of the old Reeve mansion at Litchfield, Gt. , and never 
 before published j also two letters from Mrs. Prevost, afterward 
 wife of Col. Burr. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 ^ „ Cambridge, August 36th. 
 
 Dear Sister, 
 
 This is the fourth Letter I have wrote you — and two I have 
 sent to Mr. Keeve since I have been here — and yet Mr. Phillips 
 tells me you complain grievously that I never write — I hope then 
 you will allow me to freeze a little, for I have not reed a single 
 Line from either of you since I have been at this Place — I am 
 told indeed there are Letters in Town for me brought by the 
 Litchfield Post, but no mortal knows where he has laid them — 
 pray direct him to leave my Letters for the future at Pomeroy's 
 opposite the College — there I lodge — 
 
 You sha'n't have one word of Politicks in this Letter for 
 several Eeasons — one is I am just out of Bed rouz'd by Mr. 
 Phillips — and have not yet my Eyes open — much less my Senses — 
 and furthermore — Mr. Phil- goes off in ten Minutes to Roxbury and 
 is doubtful whether he will return to this Place again — if he does, 
 I shall have another Letter to give him ; if not this must suffice. 
 
 Yesterday I reed a Letter from T. Edwards, very urgent for 
 me to go to Stockbridge and from thence with him to attend an 
 Indian Congress to be holden at Albany — but I think I shall take 
 no notice of his Invitation — his Letter was dated August 2'Zd all 
 well — but I fear Mr. Ph's Patience is exhausted — remember me 
 with Abundance of Love to my Brother. 
 I am dear Sister 
 
 your Affte Brother &c. 
 
 A. B. 
 
 Yon shall receive a Letter by every Post if you will direct him 
 to me. 
 
 letter II. 
 
 Camp before Quebec, 2nd Feb. 7 1 /76. 
 I have just time my dear Sister once more to assure you that I 
 am your Brother, tho' in Canada — I have been anticipating half a 
 
420 APPimpix a 
 
 Dozen Letters from you by the next Post — they will be to me 
 like — like what shall I compare them to ? like a Eind of Pork in 
 the Wilderness — I had thoughts of giving you a little sketch of 
 my manner of Life — but perhaps you will have it from Mr. Ogden, 
 and at any Rate I see no very good end to be answered by it — be 
 it enough for you, that I am dirty, ragged, moneyless and friend- 
 less and no Prospect of bettering myself very speedily — 
 
 Litchfield seems to mc like some ideal Region in the Moon, 
 some place I have visited in Vision and tasted a thousand Rap- 
 tures — do write of the old Raschals and the new, who are up and 
 who down — I think I could with no small pleasure — but I'll say 
 no more for fear you'll think I've some female in my eye — apropos 
 of females — I think this a good opening to finish the Affair of 
 Gallantry I began in my last — I began as I informed you I should 
 — made regular Approaches — I flash'd out so inimitably that the 
 Torrent was too mighty ; it bore her off — I had next Day the Pleas- 
 ure of hearing (second handed) that I was an exceeding genteel 
 young Fellow — now hear the Improvement — I am resolved never 
 again to expose myself to be entangled in a similar scrape, or in 
 other words that I will at no Time or on any Occasion whatever 
 utter a syllable in the Presence of a French Lady that can un- 
 derstand me — for I am confident that no Art, no Hypocrisy can 
 surmount my natural Bluntness — and one rash Word might 
 forfeit more than a whole Fortnight's Penance can retrieve — but 
 I'm running on as wildly as if I had Ages for nothing but to 
 write in & had I — I could not employ them better than in telling 
 you how sincerely I am your Affecte. Brother &c. Aaron Burr. 
 
 Remember me suitably to all my Acquaintance, but be cau- 
 tious to whom you give my Love. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 Peekskill, 8tb June, 1777. 
 
 My Dear Sister : 
 
 I am at length within a single Days Journey of you, a single 
 Day surely can't separate us long — I was left at Princeton unwell, 
 but have joined the Army again in perfect Health. Mr. Bradley 
 was with me a few Days past and acquainted me that you were 
 much recovered. 
 
 Edward Bujue, the faithful Fellow who has attended me for 
 near a year past, will wait on you with this and some of my winter 
 
APPENDIX a 421 
 
 oloathes. If I have with you any Handkerchiefs, Liunen, Cotton 
 or Silk Stockings, pray send them me by Ned's Eeturn, which 
 will be in about three Weeks. 
 
 I am starved for Letters, not a single snip can I get from any 
 Friend in any Quarter — my faithful Correspondent, my best, my, 
 almost, only Friend, is, alas, no more — J. Bellamy's Death gave 
 me Feelings, which few Deaths can ever renew. 
 
 But why this to a Sister who feels more for a Brother than 
 herself — my Pen and Heart you know were ever nearly allied. I 
 left our worthy Aunt at Eliz'eth Town last Monday — her in- 
 creasing Troubles have almost worn her out. She still enjoys a 
 tolerable Share of Health — Mr. Pollock grows weaker in Mind 
 but may live these 7 years. 
 
 Our Army increases fast, are in good health and Spirits. The 
 Prospect of public Affairs brightens to my View, but we may yet 
 expect Clouds. — We are yet in Doubt whether Philada is the 
 object of the Enemy, — a very short Time will probably determine. 
 
 I want much to see you and some Litchfield Friends — I know 
 not when to promise myself that Happiness — but I think this 
 Month. 
 
 With much Love to my Brother 
 
 I am Dear Sister 
 
 Affectionately Yours, 
 
 A BUER. 
 
 Desire Mr. Eeave to let me know how much Money he re- 
 ceived for me, and whether he has disposed of it. 
 
 My Aunt Pollock presents you with ^ lb. of Bohea Tea — An 
 English officer made a Present of 1 lb. of Grreen Tea when I was 
 lately with a Flagg — what is left of it I now send you — make 
 much of it — 3 pr. Waiscoats, 2 pr. Breeches, 4 pr. Stockings. 
 
 lettee iv. 
 Deak Sally 
 
 I am just returned from Philada and To-morrow pursue 
 my Eoute Eastward — (not yet to Litchfield) that happiness must 
 be a few Days more suspended — not on military Business — for I 
 have no intention to rejoin the Army or any Branch of it — 
 
 I spent the last evening with Doctor Jones of N. York, eminent 
 for his good sense, his Politeness, but particularly for his Skill and 
 Experience as a Physician. He has politely offered his advice and 
 
422 APPNjwnrx a 
 
 endeavours in your Behalf — If you had the opinion which I have of 
 his Abilities you would not fail to improve it ; he will be at Goshen 
 (in this State) these two Months. It was our Sister P's Represen- 
 tation unknown to me that drew his attention and interested him 
 in your Welfare. When I have an Interview with you, I can urge 
 many Reasons, (some of which I know you will feel) why I am 
 the more anxious you should not delay to consult Doctor Jones — 
 my conclusions are the Result of Reason, not Whim or Sanguine 
 Fancy. 
 
 I am on my way to Boston — the Brother of our Sister P. is 
 there a Prisoner — how happy if I am his Deliverer ! I return thro' 
 Litchfield — for several Reasons I cannot take it in my Way there 
 — I expect to bring our Brother with me — then to take you to 
 Goshen or remain at Litchfield while Mr. Reeves eschorts you — 
 or attend you both — I am so bent on the experiment that nothing 
 can divert me — nothing I will not encounter or do to effect it — 
 the Ride will be of service at any Rate. 
 
 I wrote you the Beginning of this Month from White Plains. 
 Old Tetard will certainly live with me this Summer — if he comes 
 in my Absence take good care of him and keep him alive till 
 I come. 
 
 I shall use many Arguments to induce Mr. Reeve to go imme- 
 diately to Jersey — think of it seriously — 
 
 With the warmest Affection of a Brother I am Dear Sister 
 
 Your A. B. 
 
 Mrs. Reeve. 
 Pekkskill 25th April 1780. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 24th July ; —80 
 Honest Hull is tired of this Dutch Wilderness & on his Jour- 
 ney home will deliver you this — The little mare and Saddle goes 
 with him — She does not at present do justice to Fredericks at- 
 tendance & care of her, he has been really a faithful nurse. 
 
 This is my third letter all of which I suppose you have reed — 
 & and from a consciousness of guilt, I fancy the Light of my hand 
 must be terrible to you, as it renews the conviction of your own 
 negligence — I am not yet at the springs, but shall be this week — 
 I was deterred by accounts of Robbers, Horse thieves, &c — at pres- 
 ent I have a Security from those Apprehensions by a good honest 
 boy who is to be my Companion & who is as much afraid of 
 
APPENDIX a 423 
 
 Rebels as I am of Refugees — Thea is at my elbow & is this mo- 
 ment pinching my Ear, because I will not say any thing about 
 her to you — 
 
 Not one word from you directly or indirectly since I left you — 
 The Litchfield air gives me not a few anxious reflections — I am 
 still distrustful of it — & I am not the only one that feels inter- 
 ested for you — I am still a skeleton & excepting less flesh — am 
 neither better or worse than when with you — I have settled my 
 plans with Troup — he is now at Pattersons & I shall join him 
 there when my health will allow — 
 
 Gen. Wayne on the 21st Inst, with 1800 foot, a Regt.of Horse, 
 and some Artillery, attacked a Block house in the English Neigh- 
 bour, Defended by some refugee Negroes & tories — We were re- 
 pulsed with the Loss of abt. fifty killed — If my trunk has come 
 from Middletown I wish you would send me when you have an 
 oppty the four Vols of Gril Bias which you will find in the trunk — 
 If you can send them either to this place or Bartolfs at Rama- 
 pough by a safe oppty I shall get them — 
 
 My love to Patty. 
 T. Reeve Esqr. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 [no date.] 
 Dear Brother, 
 
 I have written you many letters within a few months, princi- 
 pally on the subjects of Beer and money — The Beer is in Statu quo 
 to wit, in my Cellar — and will be forwarded you as soon as pos- 
 sible — Thea has almost broke her heart about it Since the certainty 
 of peace, of which we are this evening informed — Money becomes 
 more than ever necessary — I must go as soon as possible to N. 
 York & must for that purpose have cash — Pray endeavor to nego- 
 ciate the Treasurers Note which I took in Mothers behalf at Hart- 
 ford and also the small tax Note — Perhaps Stirlings Master 
 (whose name I forget) will discharge his Note — If not you must 
 sell it at the best price. 
 
 Judge Hobart will set off from Sharon for Albany, I suppose 
 on the 14th of April — If you should be able to procure me any 
 cash by that time, you must forward it by him — if you are obliged 
 to send to Sharon on purpose — If you can on any terms procure a 
 sum of money on loan (beside the notes &c I have just mentioned, 
 I beg you will do it — 150£ in this way would be very convenient — 
 indeed I must at all events have a sum of money from you — 
 
424 APP^BIX C. 
 
 Phil behaves so ill that she is for sale — you know her qualities 
 as a seamstress &c — I wish you would inquire for a purchaser — 
 her price is 60£ your money, cash — I shall send you Castor as soon 
 as possible. — Children are all well — talk forever of little Burr. 
 Love to Sally. 
 
 Yrs, &o. A.B. 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 [no date.] 
 It is my real opinion that if I did not write to you in a twelve 
 month, the thought of writing to me would never enter your head — 
 but I hear from you frequently even in spight of yourself — I am 
 told the brat begins to pick up — I wish he may be a much cleverei 
 fellow than his father. 
 
 The winter has I think been favorable to Sally — pray tell me 
 what prospect there is of her recovery — I think often of the re- 
 move to Carolina, though I should lament the necessity — I heard 
 she was threatened with a swelling on the foot — how is this — my 
 health is nearly established, and will be quite so when I hear of 
 yours & hers — any news of my trunks or sleigh yet, or of Bradley's 
 money — if you have an opportunity any time this spring, write 
 him a civil letter on that subject — 
 
 Mrs. D. V. has begged me to make inquiry after her affairs — If 
 you can get a letter into the post office it will meet me — direct it 
 to the care of the post master at Morristown. 
 
 1st March. Ys. A. B. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 I inclose a copy of a Bond which I request you immediately to 
 prosecute in such way as will most speedily produce the money, 
 you see by the memorandum that the sum in the Bond is secured 
 by a mortgage of Lands in Sharon. It is very interesting to me 
 that you should bring this Business to a speedy conclusion — pray 
 do not fail to acknowledge the receipt of this by first post — 
 
 We are all well, are surprised we have not heard from you, 
 or seen Burr — 
 
 We have lost our youngest child, our Sally — a beautiful lovely 
 Baby. Your affec. 
 
 A. B. 
 
 12th October, 1786. 
 
APPENDIX G. i25 
 
 LETTEK IX. 
 
 From Mrs. Theodosia Prevost to Mrs. Sarah Reeve. Litchfield. 
 The writer was proiaily engaged to Col. Burr at the time. 
 
 Deak Madam 
 
 As you are no stranger to the partial friendship your amiable 
 Brother honors me with, nor to my want of skill in the art of 
 writing, I will not apologize for my present attempt — Although I 
 can with propriety accuse him of a breach in confidence for hav- 
 ing exposed the ignorance of his friend to a lady of your superior 
 sense. 
 
 Your ill health my Dear Madam has given me the utmost 
 concern, and anxiety. Though I have not the happiness of a 
 personal acquaintance. As the sister of my inestimable friend you 
 are justly entitled to my highest regard and attention. Give me 
 leave to assure you, I feel sincerely interested for your recovery — 
 as your physician recomends exercise with change of air, I flattered 
 myself with the hope of seeing you with Mr. Eeeve at the Hermi- 
 tage, The Variety may perhaps produce a happy effect — You will 
 find a sympathizing friend who would feel a singular pleasure to be 
 in the smallest degree conducive to your recovery — who would treat 
 you with the familiarity of a sister that wishes to cultivate your 
 friendship. Believe me my Dear Mrs. Eeeve, your acceptance of 
 my wellmeant invitation will be esteemed a particular favor con- 
 fered on Your sincere friend and very 
 
 Humble Servant 
 
 THEODOSIA PREVOST. 
 Hermitage, June 5th, 1770. 
 
 My Best respects wait on Mr. Reeve. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 From Mrs. Prevost to Mrs. Reeve. 
 Dear Sally, 
 
 I have waited impatiently ever since the departure of Mr. Reeve 
 to hear of your health, and whether he suffered no injury from 
 the rain — I was in hopes the violence of the storm would have re- 
 tained him my prisoner that day — but he disappointed my expec- 
 tations even at the risque of his health — His desire to return 
 evinced the sacrifice he had made to friendship in quitting his 
 
426 APPmrDlX O. 
 
 Sally ; & redoubled my gratitude to both, for their kind at- 
 tention — 
 
 Our dear Reeve flattered me with the prospect of a visit from my 
 lovely sister — The family employ themselves numbering the days, 
 and rejoicing every evening to be nearer that wished for period — 
 I am desirous it should arrive before the boy returns from nurse — 
 as I am apprehensive you will not then, have resolution to quit 
 home — 
 
 Mv boys have our brothers leave to request from among his 
 books, Martins Grammar & Virgil — they & their sisters join in 
 every assurance of affection to you & yours — Adieu my dear Sally, 
 Hygiaea & peace attend Thee — 
 
 THEOD PREVOST. 
 Sharon, August 3d. — 81 
 
 Dr. S. has become a very good neighbor. 
 
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