FOOTNOTES:

FOOTNOTES:[1153]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 298.Blennerhassett wrote this comment when the trial was nearly over. He said that two hundred men acted as a bodyguard to Burr on his way to court each day.[1154]Parton:Burr, 481.[1155]April 1, 1807, "Register," Plumer MSS. Lib. Cong.[1156]Swartwout was then twenty-four years old.[1157]Parton:Jackson,i, 335.[1158]Swartwout challenged Wilkinson after the trial was over.[1159]See brief account of this incident, including Swartwout's open letter to Wilkinson, inBlennerhassett Papers: Safford, footnote to 459-60.[1160]Wilkinson to Jefferson, June 17, 1807, "Letters in Relation," MSS. Lib. Cong.[1161]Jefferson to Wilkinson, June 21, 1807, Wilkinson:Memoirs,ii, Appendixxxx. Jefferson's letter also contains the following: "You have, indeed, had a fiery trial at New Orleans, but it was soon apparent that the clamorous were only the criminal, endeavouring to turn the public attention from themselves, and their leader, upon any other object.... Your enemies have filled the public ear with slanders, and your mind with trouble, on that account. The establishment of their guilt, will ... place you on higher ground in the public estimate, and public confidence."[1162]Burr Trials,i, 227-53.[1163]Ib.257-67. Wilkinson was then giving his testimony before the grand jury.[1164]Ib.268-72.[1165]Ib.276-77.[1166]Ib.277-305.[1167]Seesupra, 455-56.[1168]Burr Trials,i, 306.[1169]Ib.308.[1170]Irving to Miss Fairlie, July 7, 1807, Irving,i, 152.[1171]Burr Trials,i, 312.[1172]Ib.313-50.[1173]Burr Trials,i, 350-54.[1174]Ib.354-57.[1175]See Adams:U.S.ii, chap.i; Channing:Jeff. System, 189-94; Hildreth,iii, 402; and see vol.iv, chap.i, of this work.[1176]Jefferson's Proclamation, July 2, 1807,Works: Ford,x, 434.[1177]Randolph to Nicholson, June 25, 1807, Adams:John Randolph, 222.[1178]Wilkinson to Jefferson, June 29, 1807, "Letters in Relation," MSS. Lib. Cong.[1179]Jefferson to Congress,Annals, 10th Cong. 1st Sess. 9.[1180]At this time Jefferson wrote curious letters, apparently to explain, by inference, to his friends in France his want of energy in the Chesapeake affair and the vigor he displayed in the prosecution of Burr. "Burr's conspiracy has been one of the most flagitious of which history will ever furnish an example.... Yet altho' there is not a man in the U S who is not satisfied of the depth of his guilt, such are the jealous provisions of our laws in favor of the accused, ... that I question if he can be convicted." (Jefferson to Du Pont de Nemours, July 14, 1807,Works: Ford,x, 461; also see same to Lafayette, same date,ib.463.) It will be observed that in these letters Jefferson condemns the laxity of American laws instead of blaming Marshall.[1181]Burr Trials,i, 357-59.[1182]Irving to Miss Fairlie, July 7, 1807, Irving,i, 153. "The only reason given for immuring him in this abode of thieves, cut-throats, and incendiaries," says Irving, "was that it would save the United States a couple of hundred dollars (the charge of guarding him at his lodgings), and it would insure the security of his person."[1183]"Burr lives in great style, and sees much company within his gratings, where it is as difficult to get an audience as if he really were an Emperor." (Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 324.) At first, however, his treatment was very severe. (See Irving to Miss Fairlie, July 7, 1807, Irving,i, 153.)[1184]Burr to his daughter, July 3, 1807, Davis,ii, 409.[1185]Burr to his daughter, July 6, 1807, Davis,ii, 410.[1186]Same to same, July 24, 1807,ib.410.[1187]At a Fourth of July celebration in Cecil County, Maryland, toasts were proposed wishing for the grand jury "a crown of immortal glory" for "their zeal and patriotism in the cause of liberty"; hoping that Martin would receive "an honorable coat of tar, and a plumage of feathers" as a reward for "his exertions to preserve the Catiline of America"; and praying that Burr's treachery to his country might "exalt him to the scaffold, and hemp be his escort to the republic of dust and ashes." (Parton:Burr, 478.)[1188]See vol.iv, chap.i, of this work. Alsosupra, chap.iii.[1189]Marshall to the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, June 29, 1807, as quoted by Horace Gray, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, in Dillon,i, 72.[1190]Parton:Burr, 483.[1191]Burr Trials,i, 369-70.[1192]Ib.370-85.[1193]Ib.385-414.[1194]Burr Trials,i, 414-20.[1195]Hay to Jefferson, Aug. 11, 1807, Jefferson MSS. Lib. Cong.[1196]Burr Trials,i, 433-51.[1197]Hay had announced that Eaton's testimony would be to the same effect as his deposition.[1198]Burr Trials,i, 452-69.[1199]Burr Trials,i, 469-72.[1200]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 343.[1201]It was this farrago, published in every newspaper, that had influenced the country only less than Jefferson's Special Message to Congress.[1202]Commodore Decatur's testimony was almost identical with that of Truxtun. More convincing still, General Adair, writing before the trial began, told substantially the same story. (Adair's statement, March, 1807, as quoted in Parton:Burr, footnote to 493.)[1203]For the full Morgan testimony, seeBurr Trials,i, 497-506.[1204]Burr Trials,i, 514-18.[1205]Ib.518-26.[1206]Burr Trials,i, 527-28.[1207]Belknap was undoubtedly one of those whom Poole saw cross the stream. Woodbridge and Dana were the others.[1208]Burr Trials,i, 529.[1209]These young men were thinking of joining the expedition.[1210]The physician who accompanied the party.[1211]Burr Trials,i, 528-29.[1212]Ib.529.[1213]Burr Trials,i, 533-34.[1214]Ib.555-56.[1215]Burr Trials,i, 557.[1216]Ib.ii, 3-12.[1217]Ib.25.[1218]Ib.26-27.[1219]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 354-55.[1220]Alston's description inib.360.[1221]Burr Trials,ii, 42.[1222]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 360.[1223]The temperature was very high throughout the trial. One night Blennerhassett was overcome by it. (Ib.319.)[1224]Burr Trials,ii, 57.[1225]Ib.57-59.[1226]Burr Trials,ii, 61-65.[1227]Ib.92.[1228]SeeBurr Trials,ii, 96-98.For this famous passage of Wirt's speech, see Appendix E.Burr was vastly amused by it and it became "a standing joke with him for the rest of his life." (See Parton:Burr, 506.) But it was no "joke"—standing or otherwise—to the people. They believed Wirt's imagery to be a statement of the facts.[1229]"Wirt raised his reputation yesterday, as high as MacRae sunk his the day before." (Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 366.)[1230]Burr Trials,ii, 123-24.[1231]See Hay's complaint that Botts talked so fast that he could not make notes on his points. (Ib.194.)[1232]Burr Trials,ii, 128-35.[1233]Ib.168. Another story "propagated through the crowd" was that Burr had, by his "emissaries," attempted to poison with laudanum one of the Government's witnesses—this although the particular witness had been brought to Richmond to testify only that Wilkinson was not in the pay of Spain. (Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 367.)[1234]Burr Trials,ii, 164-73.[1235]Botts here refers to the public outcry against Jefferson, while Governor during the Revolution, that nearly resulted in his impeachment. (See vol.i, 143-44, of this work.)[1236]Burr Trials,ii, 135-92.[1237]Ib.224.[1238]Ib.192-236.[1239]Ib.193-94.[1240]Ib.200-19, 235.[1241]See vol.ii, 201, 428, of this work.[1242]Burr Trials,ii, 237-80.[1243]Blennerhassett, in his diary, makes frequent mention of Martin's drinking: "Martin was both yesterday and to-day more in his cups than usual, and though he spared neither his prudence nor his feelings, he was happy in all his hits." (Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 438.)"I ... recommended our brandy ... placing a pint tumbler before him. No ceremonies retarded the libation." (Ib.377.)"Luther Martin has just made his final immersion into the daily bath of his faculties." (Ib.463.)[1244]Burr Trials,ii, 260.[1245]Burr Trials,ii, 262.[1246]Ib.275-79; see also 339-42, 344-48.[1247]Burr Trials,ii, 334.[1248]Ib.377.[1249]One of those who told Martin this was Marshall himself. Seesupra, 401.[1250]Burr Trials,ii, 377-78.[1251]Randolph made another speech, but it was of no moment.[1252]Seesupra, footnote to 499.[1253]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 367.[1254]Burr Trials,ii, 401; also in 4 Cranch, 470.[1255]25th, of Edward III.[1256]Burr Trials,ii, 402-03; 4 Cranch, 470.[1257]Burr Trials,ii, 403; 4 Cranch, 471.[1258]Burr Trials,ii, 404-05; 4 Cranch, 472.[1259]The doctrine that accessories are as guilty as principals.[1260]Burr Trials,ii, 406-08; 4 Cranch, 476. This reference is to Jefferson's explanation of Marshall's opinion in Bollmann and Swartwout, which Giles and other Republican leaders were proclaiming throughout Virginia. It had been adopted by the grand jury; and it was this construction of Marshall's language under which they returned the bills of indictment for treason. Had the grand jury understood the law to be as Marshall was now expounding it, Burr would not have been indicted for treason.[1261]Burr Trials,ii, 409; 4 Cranch, 476.[1262]Burr Trials,ii, 409-13; 4 Cranch, 477-80.[1263]Burr Trials,ii, 415; 4 Cranch, 481.[1264]Burr Trials,ii, 415-23; 4 Cranch, 482-88.[1265]Burr Trials,ii, 425; 4 Cranch, 490.[1266]This part of Marshall's opinion (Burr Trials,ii, 425-34; 4 Cranch, 490-504) is reproduced in full in Appendix F.[1267]Burr Trials,ii, 426; 4 Cranch, 492.[1268]Burr Trials,ii, 429; 4 Cranch, 494.[1269]Burr Trials,ii, 430; 4 Cranch, 495.[1270]Burr Trials,ii, 436; 4 Cranch, 500.[1271]Burr Trials,ii, 436-37; 4 Cranch, 500. These paragraphs furnish a perfect example of Marshall's method of statement and logic—the exact antithesis plainly put, the repetition of precise words with only the resistless monosyllables, "if" and "then," between them.[1272]Burr Trials,ii, 437; 4 Cranch, 501.[1273]Burr Trials,ii, 443; 4 Cranch, 506.[1274]Burr Trials,ii, 444-45; 4 Cranch, 507.[1275]Burr Trials,ii, 446.[1276]Burr Trials,ii, 446-47. Martin was right; the verdict should have been either "guilty" or "not guilty."[1277]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 339.[1278]Burr Trials,ii, 447.[1279]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 356-58; and see Adams:U.S.iii, 448, 464-65. Duane was known to have unbounded influence with Jefferson, who ascribed his election to the powerful support given him by theAurora.Government agents also tried to seduce Colonel de Pestre, another of Burr's friends, by insinuating "how handsomely the Col. might be provided for in the army, if his principles ... were not adverse to the administration." De Pestre's brother-in-law "had been turned out of his place as Clerk in the War Office, because he could not accuse the Col. of Burr-ism." (Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 328-29.)[1280]Burr Trials,ii, 448-49.[1281]Ib.455.[1282]Jefferson to Hay, Sept. 4, 1807, as quoted in Adams,U.S.iii, 470; and seeJefferson: Randolph,iv, 102.[1283]Adams:U.S.iii, 470.[1284]Seeinfra, 524.[1285]Burr Trials,ii, 473-80.[1286]Ib.480. This statement of Botts is of first importance. The whole proceeding on the part of the Government was conspicuously marked by a reliance upon public sentiment to influence court and jury through unceasing efforts to keep burning the fires of popular fear and hatred of Burr, first lighted by Jefferson's Proclamation and Message. Much repetition of this fact is essential, since the nature and meaning of the Burr trial rests upon it.[1287]Burr Trials,ii, 481-503.[1288]Van Santvoord:Sketches of the Lives and Judicial Services of the Chief-Justices of the United States, 379. Yet popular sentiment was the burden of many of the speeches of Government counsel throughout the trial.[1289]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 402.[1290]Burr Trials,ii, 504.[1291]Ib.511.[1292]Jefferson to Hay, no date; but Paul Leicester Ford fixes it between August 7 and 20, 1807. It is, says Ford, "the mere draft of a letter ... which may never have been sent, but which is of the utmost importance." (Works: Ford,x, 406-07.) It would seem that Jefferson wrote either to Marshall or Judge Griffin personally, for the first words of his astounding letter to Hay were: "Theenclosed letteris written in a spirit of conciliation," etc., etc. Whether or not the President actually posted the letter to Hay, the draft quoted in the text shows the impression which Marshall's order made on Jefferson. (Italics the author's.)[1293]Burr Trials,ii, 513-14.[1294]Ib.514-33.[1295]This remark of Marshall would seem to indicate that Hay had tried to patch up "a truce" between the President and the Chief Justice, as Jefferson desired him to do. If so, it soon expired.[1296]Burr Trials,ii, 533-37.[1297]Hay to Jefferson, Sept. 5, 1807, Jefferson MSS. Lib. Cong.[1298]The printed record does not show this, but Jefferson, in his letter to Hay, September 7, says: "I received, late last night, your favor of the day before, and now re-enclose you the subpœna."[1299]Jefferson to Hay, Sept. 7, 1807,Works: Ford,x, 408.[1300]For some reason the matter was not again pressed. Perhaps the favorable progress of the case relieved Burr's anxiety. It is possible that the "truce" so earnestly desired by Jefferson was arranged.[1301]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 394.[1302]"Today, the Chief Justice has delivered an able, full, and luminous opinion as ever did honor to a judge, which has put an end to the present prosecution." (Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 403.)[1303]Annals, 10th Cong. 1st Sess. 416-19.[1304]This appears from the record itself. (See Wilkinson's testimony,ib.512-44; also testimony of Major James Bruff,ib.589-90.) Blennerhassett, who usually reported faithfully the general impression, notes in his diary: "The General exhibited the manner of a sergeant under a courtmartial, rather than the demeanor of an accusing officer confronted with his culprit." (Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 422.)[1305]Ib.418.[1306]Record, MSS. Archives U.S. Circuit Court, Richmond, Va.[1307]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 404.[1308]Ib.409-10.[1309]Ib.416.[1310]Ib.412-13.[1311]Daveiss: "A View of the President's Conduct Concerning the Conspiracy of 1806."[1312]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 465-66.[1313]Ib.502.[1314]The brother of John Thompson, author of "The Letters of Curtius" which attacked Marshall in 1798. (See vol.ii, 395-96, of this work.)[1315]Thompson's "view" was published as a series of letters to Marshall immediately after the trial closed. (Seeinfra, 533-35.)[1316]Jefferson to Thompson, September 26, 1807,Works: Ford,x, 501-02.[1317]Plumer, Aug. 15, 1807, "Diary," Plumer MSS. Lib. Cong.[1318]Hay to Jefferson, Oct. 15, 1807, Jefferson MSS. Lib. Cong.[1319]This statement is lucid, conspicuously fair, and, in the public mind, would have cleared Burr of any taint of treason, had not Jefferson already crystallized public sentiment into an irrevocable conviction that he was a traitor. (SeeAnnals, 10th Cong. 1st Sess. 766-78.)[1320]Ib.[1321]Burr to his daughter, Oct. 23, 1807, Davis,ii, 411-12.[1322]Hay to Jefferson, Oct. 21, 1807, Jefferson MSS. Lib. Cong.[1323]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 301. If this were only the personal opinion of Burr's gifted but untrustworthy associate, it would not be weighty. But Blennerhassett's views while at Richmond, as recorded in his diary, were those of all of Burr's counsel and of the Richmond Federalists.[1324]No wonder the Government abandoned the case. Nearly all the depositions procured by Hay under Jefferson's orders demonstrated that Burr had not the faintest intention of separating the Western States from the Union, or even of attacking Mexico unless war broke out between Spain and the United States. See particularly deposition of Benjamin Stoddert of Maryland, October 9, 1807 (Quarterly Pub. Hist. and Phil. Soc. Ohio,ix, nos. 1 and 2, 7-9); of General Edward Tupper of Ohio, September 7, 1807 (ib.13-27); and of Paul H. M. Prevost of New Jersey, September 28, 1807 (ib.28-30).[1325]Seeinfra, 536.[1326]Marshall to Peters, Nov. 23, 1807, Peters MSS. Pa. Hist. Soc.[1327]Hay, for the moment mollified by Marshall's award of two thousand dollars as his fee, had made no further complaint for several days.[1328]Seesupra, chap.i, 35-36; also vol.ii, 429-30, of this work.[1329]Jefferson's Seventh Annual Message, first draft,Works: Ford,x, 523-24.[1330]See notes of Gallatin and Rodney,Works: Ford,x, footnotes to 503-10.[1331]Jefferson's Seventh Annual Message, second draft,Works: Ford,x, 517. Blennerhassett, and probably Burr, would not have grieved had Marshall been impeached. It would be "penance for that timidity of conduct, which was probably as instrumental in keeping him from imbruing his hands in our blood as it was operative in inducing him to continue my vexations [the commitment of the conspirators to be tried in Ohio], to pacify the menaces and clamorous yells of the cerberus of Democracy with a sop which he would moisten, at least, with the tears of my family." (Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 465.)[1332]See vol.ii, 464-71, of this work.[1333]"Portrait of the Chief Justice," in the RichmondEnquirer, Nov. 6, 1807. This article fills more than two closely printed columns. It discusses, and not without ability, the supposed errors in Marshall's opinions.[1334]Enquirer, Nov. 24, 1807.[1335]Marshall'sLife of Washington.[1336]See vol.ii, 395-96, of this work.[1337]"Letters to John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States," in theAurora, reprinted in theEnquirer, Dec. 1, 1807.[1338]Enquirer, Dec. 4, 1807.[1339]Ib.Dec. 8, 1807.[1340]Seesupra, 525-26.[1341]Enquirer, Dec. 12, 1807.[1342]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 475.[1343]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 477.[1344]Gathering a few dollars from personal friends, Burr sailed for England, hoping to get from the British Government support for his plans to revolutionize Mexico. At first all went well. Men like Jeremy Bentham and Sir Walter Scott became his friends and admirers. But the hand of Jefferson followed him; and on representations of the American Minister, the British Government ordered him to leave the United Kingdom immediately.Next he sought the ear of Napoleon; but again he was flouted and insulted by the American diplomatic and consular representatives—he was, they said, "a fugitive from justice." His last sou gone, ragged and often hungry, he managed at last, by the aid of one John Reeves, to secure passage for Boston, where he landed May 4, 1812. Then he journeyed to New York, where he arrived June 30 in abject poverty and utterly ruined. But still his spirit did not give way.Soon, however, fate struck him the only blow that, until now, ever had brought this iron man to his knees. His passionately beloved little grandson, Aaron Burr Alston, died in June. In December, another and heavier stroke fell. His daughter sailed from Charleston, South Carolina, to join and comfort her father and be comforted by him. Her ship was lost in a storm, and Theodosia the beautiful, the accomplished, the adored, was drowned. Then, at last, the heart of Aaron Burr was broken.Of the many ridiculous stories told of Burr and his daughter, one was that her ship was captured by pirates and she, ordered to walk the plank, did so with her child in her arms "without hesitation or visible tremor." This absurdity was given credit and currency by Harriet Martineau. (See Martineau:Western Travels,ii, 291-92.) Theodosia's child had died six months before she sailed from Charleston to go to her father, and she embarked in a pilot boat, about which no pirate would have troubled himself.The remainder of Burr's long life was given to the practice of his profession. His industry, legal learning, and ability, once more secured for him a good business. In 1824, Marshall ruled on an application to restore an attorney named Burr to the bar of the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia from which he had been suspended for unprofessional conduct. (Ex parteBurr, 9 Wheaton, 529-31.) It has often been erroneously supposed that this applicant was Aaron Burr: he was, however, one Levi Burr, a local practitioner, and not related to Aaron Burr.It is characteristic of Burr that he remembered the great lawyer who voluntarily had hastened to defend him at Richmond, and Luther Martin—aged, infirm, and almost deranged—was taken to the home of Aaron Burr and tenderly cared for until he died. Burr's marriage, at the age of seventy-eight, to Madame Jumel was, on his part, inexplicable; it was the only regrettable but not unworthy incident of the latter years of his life. (See Shelton:Jumel Mansion, 170-74.)Burr's New York friends were loyal to him to his very last day. His political genius never grew dim. He early suggested and helped to bring about the nomination of Andrew Jackson for the Presidency. Thus did he pay the debt of gratitude for the loyalty with which the rugged Tennesseean had championed his cause against public opinion and Administration alike.During the summer of 1836 his last illness came upon him. When his physician said that he could live but a few hours longer, a friend at his bedside asked the supposedly expiring man "whether in the expedition to the Southwest he had designed a separation of the Union." Believing himself to be dying, Burr replied: "No! I would as soon have thought of taking possession of the moon and informing my friends that I intended to divide it among them." To a man, his most intimate friends believed this statement to be true.Finally, on September 14, 1836, Aaron Burr died and was buried near his father at Princeton, New Jersey, where the parent had presided over, and the son had attended, that Alma Mater of so many patriots, soldiers, and statesmen.For two years his burial place was unmarked. Then, at night-time, unknown friends erected over his grave a plain marble shaft, bearing this inscription:AARON BURRBorn Feb. 6, 1756Died Sept. 14, 1836Colonel in the Army of the RevolutionVice-President of the United States from 1801 to 1805(Gulf States Historical Magazine,ii, 379.)Parton'sLife of Burris still the best story of this strange life. But Parton must be read with great care, for he sometimes makes statements which are difficult of verification.A brief, engaging, and trustworthy account of the Burr episode isAaron Burr, by Isaac Jenkinson. Until the appearance of Professor McCaleb's book,The Aaron Burr Conspiracy, Mr. Jenkinson's little volume was the best on that subject. Professor McCaleb's thorough and scholarly study is, however, the only exhaustive and reliable narrative of that ambitious plan and the disastrous outcome of the attempted execution of it.[1345]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 480-82; also seeBaltimore American, Nov. 4, 5, 6, 1807.[1346]Annals, 10th Cong. 1st Sess. 108-27.[1347]The bill passed the Senate, but foreign affairs, and exciting legislation resulting from these, forced it from the mind of the House. (See vol.iv, chap.i, of this work.)[1348]John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, Samuel Maclay of Pennsylvania, Jesse Franklin of North Carolina, Samuel Smith of Maryland, John Pope of Kentucky, Buckner Thruston of Kentucky, and Joseph Anderson of Tennessee. (Annals, 10th Cong. 1st Sess. 42.)[1349]Smith had been indicted for treason and misdemeanor, but Hay had entered anolle prosequion the bills of indictment after the failure of the Burr prosecution. (Memoirs, J. Q. A.: Adams,i, 481.)[1350]Adams had been indulging in political maneuvers that indicated a courtship of the Administration and a purpose to join the Republican Party. His course had angered and disgusted most of his former Federalist friends and supporters, who felt that he had deserted his declining party in order to advance his political fortunes. If this were true, his performance in writing the Committee report on the resolution to expel Smith was well calculated to endear him to Jefferson. Adams expressed his own views thus: "On most of the great national questions now under discussion, my sense of duty leads me to support the administration, and I find myself of course in opposition to the federalists in general.... My political prospects are declining." (Memoirs, J. Q. A.: Adams,i, 497-98.)The Federalist Legislature of Massachusetts grossly insulted Adams by electing his successor before Adams's term in the Senate had expired. Adams resigned, and in March, 1809, President Madison appointed him Minister to Russia, and later Minister to Great Britain. President Monroe made the former Federalist his Secretary of State. No Republican was more highly honored by these two Republican Presidents than was John Quincy Adams.[1351]Adams did not, of course, mention Marshall by name. His castigation of the Chief Justice, however, was the more severe because of the unmistakable designation of him. (SeeWritings, J. Q. A.: Ford,iii, 173-84; alsoAnnals, 10th Cong. 1st Sess. 56-63.)It must be remembered, too, that this attack upon Marshall comes from the son of the man who, on January 20, 1801, appointed Marshall Chief Justice. (See vol.ii, 552-53, of this work.) But John Quincy Adams soon came to be one of the stanchest supporters and most ardent admirers that Marshall ever had. It was peculiarly characteristic of Marshall that he did not resent the attack of Adams and, for the only time in his judicial career, actually interested himself in politics in behalf of Adams. (See vol.iv, chap.ix, of this work.)[1352]Adams's colleague Senator Pickering was, of course, disgusted (see his letter to King, Jan. 2, 1808, King,v, 44), and in a pamphlet entitled "A Review of the Correspondence Between the Hon. John Adams and the late William Cunningham, Esq." which he published in 1824, Pickering wrote that the resolution "outraged ... every distinguished lawyer in America" (see p. 41 of pamphlet). King thought Adams "indiscreet" (see his letter to Pickering, Jan. 7, 1808, King,v, 50). Plumer declared that the report "had given mortal offence" in New Hampshire (seeMass. Historical Society Proceedings,xlv, 357). John Lowell asserted that "justice ... was to be dragged from her seat ... and the eager minister of presidential vengeance seemed to sigh after the mild mercies of the star chamber, and the rapid movements of the revolutionary tribunal" (see his "Remarks" as quoted inWritings, J. Q. A.: Ford,iii, footnote to 184).[1353]Jan. 28, 1808,Memoirs, J. Q. A.: Adams,i, 508; see alsoWritings, J. Q. A.: Ford,iii, footnote to 184.[1354]"He poured himself forth in his two speeches to-day.... It was all a phillipic upon me." (Jan. 7, 1808,Memoirs, J. Q. A.: Adams,i, 501.)[1355]Ib.[1356]Annals, 10th Cong. 1st Sess. 324.[1357]"Mr. Giles, in one of the most animated and eloquent speeches I ever heard him make, declared himself ... against the resolution for expulsion. He argued the case of Mr. Smith with all his eloquence, and returned to the charge with increasing warmth until the last moment." (April 9, 1808,Memoirs, J. Q. A.: Adams,i, 528.)[1358]Annals, 10th Cong. 1st Sess. 321-24.

[1153]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 298.Blennerhassett wrote this comment when the trial was nearly over. He said that two hundred men acted as a bodyguard to Burr on his way to court each day.

[1153]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 298.

Blennerhassett wrote this comment when the trial was nearly over. He said that two hundred men acted as a bodyguard to Burr on his way to court each day.

[1154]Parton:Burr, 481.

[1155]April 1, 1807, "Register," Plumer MSS. Lib. Cong.

[1156]Swartwout was then twenty-four years old.

[1157]Parton:Jackson,i, 335.

[1158]Swartwout challenged Wilkinson after the trial was over.

[1159]See brief account of this incident, including Swartwout's open letter to Wilkinson, inBlennerhassett Papers: Safford, footnote to 459-60.

[1160]Wilkinson to Jefferson, June 17, 1807, "Letters in Relation," MSS. Lib. Cong.

[1161]Jefferson to Wilkinson, June 21, 1807, Wilkinson:Memoirs,ii, Appendixxxx. Jefferson's letter also contains the following: "You have, indeed, had a fiery trial at New Orleans, but it was soon apparent that the clamorous were only the criminal, endeavouring to turn the public attention from themselves, and their leader, upon any other object.... Your enemies have filled the public ear with slanders, and your mind with trouble, on that account. The establishment of their guilt, will ... place you on higher ground in the public estimate, and public confidence."

[1162]Burr Trials,i, 227-53.

[1163]Ib.257-67. Wilkinson was then giving his testimony before the grand jury.

[1164]Ib.268-72.

[1165]Ib.276-77.

[1166]Ib.277-305.

[1167]Seesupra, 455-56.

[1168]Burr Trials,i, 306.

[1169]Ib.308.

[1170]Irving to Miss Fairlie, July 7, 1807, Irving,i, 152.

[1171]Burr Trials,i, 312.

[1172]Ib.313-50.

[1173]Burr Trials,i, 350-54.

[1174]Ib.354-57.

[1175]See Adams:U.S.ii, chap.i; Channing:Jeff. System, 189-94; Hildreth,iii, 402; and see vol.iv, chap.i, of this work.

[1176]Jefferson's Proclamation, July 2, 1807,Works: Ford,x, 434.

[1177]Randolph to Nicholson, June 25, 1807, Adams:John Randolph, 222.

[1178]Wilkinson to Jefferson, June 29, 1807, "Letters in Relation," MSS. Lib. Cong.

[1179]Jefferson to Congress,Annals, 10th Cong. 1st Sess. 9.

[1180]At this time Jefferson wrote curious letters, apparently to explain, by inference, to his friends in France his want of energy in the Chesapeake affair and the vigor he displayed in the prosecution of Burr. "Burr's conspiracy has been one of the most flagitious of which history will ever furnish an example.... Yet altho' there is not a man in the U S who is not satisfied of the depth of his guilt, such are the jealous provisions of our laws in favor of the accused, ... that I question if he can be convicted." (Jefferson to Du Pont de Nemours, July 14, 1807,Works: Ford,x, 461; also see same to Lafayette, same date,ib.463.) It will be observed that in these letters Jefferson condemns the laxity of American laws instead of blaming Marshall.

[1181]Burr Trials,i, 357-59.

[1182]Irving to Miss Fairlie, July 7, 1807, Irving,i, 153. "The only reason given for immuring him in this abode of thieves, cut-throats, and incendiaries," says Irving, "was that it would save the United States a couple of hundred dollars (the charge of guarding him at his lodgings), and it would insure the security of his person."

[1183]"Burr lives in great style, and sees much company within his gratings, where it is as difficult to get an audience as if he really were an Emperor." (Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 324.) At first, however, his treatment was very severe. (See Irving to Miss Fairlie, July 7, 1807, Irving,i, 153.)

[1184]Burr to his daughter, July 3, 1807, Davis,ii, 409.

[1185]Burr to his daughter, July 6, 1807, Davis,ii, 410.

[1186]Same to same, July 24, 1807,ib.410.

[1187]At a Fourth of July celebration in Cecil County, Maryland, toasts were proposed wishing for the grand jury "a crown of immortal glory" for "their zeal and patriotism in the cause of liberty"; hoping that Martin would receive "an honorable coat of tar, and a plumage of feathers" as a reward for "his exertions to preserve the Catiline of America"; and praying that Burr's treachery to his country might "exalt him to the scaffold, and hemp be his escort to the republic of dust and ashes." (Parton:Burr, 478.)

[1188]See vol.iv, chap.i, of this work. Alsosupra, chap.iii.

[1189]Marshall to the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, June 29, 1807, as quoted by Horace Gray, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, in Dillon,i, 72.

[1190]Parton:Burr, 483.

[1191]Burr Trials,i, 369-70.

[1192]Ib.370-85.

[1193]Ib.385-414.

[1194]Burr Trials,i, 414-20.

[1195]Hay to Jefferson, Aug. 11, 1807, Jefferson MSS. Lib. Cong.

[1196]Burr Trials,i, 433-51.

[1197]Hay had announced that Eaton's testimony would be to the same effect as his deposition.

[1198]Burr Trials,i, 452-69.

[1199]Burr Trials,i, 469-72.

[1200]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 343.

[1201]It was this farrago, published in every newspaper, that had influenced the country only less than Jefferson's Special Message to Congress.

[1202]Commodore Decatur's testimony was almost identical with that of Truxtun. More convincing still, General Adair, writing before the trial began, told substantially the same story. (Adair's statement, March, 1807, as quoted in Parton:Burr, footnote to 493.)

[1203]For the full Morgan testimony, seeBurr Trials,i, 497-506.

[1204]Burr Trials,i, 514-18.

[1205]Ib.518-26.

[1206]Burr Trials,i, 527-28.

[1207]Belknap was undoubtedly one of those whom Poole saw cross the stream. Woodbridge and Dana were the others.

[1208]Burr Trials,i, 529.

[1209]These young men were thinking of joining the expedition.

[1210]The physician who accompanied the party.

[1211]Burr Trials,i, 528-29.

[1212]Ib.529.

[1213]Burr Trials,i, 533-34.

[1214]Ib.555-56.

[1215]Burr Trials,i, 557.

[1216]Ib.ii, 3-12.

[1217]Ib.25.

[1218]Ib.26-27.

[1219]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 354-55.

[1220]Alston's description inib.360.

[1221]Burr Trials,ii, 42.

[1222]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 360.

[1223]The temperature was very high throughout the trial. One night Blennerhassett was overcome by it. (Ib.319.)

[1224]Burr Trials,ii, 57.

[1225]Ib.57-59.

[1226]Burr Trials,ii, 61-65.

[1227]Ib.92.

[1228]SeeBurr Trials,ii, 96-98.For this famous passage of Wirt's speech, see Appendix E.Burr was vastly amused by it and it became "a standing joke with him for the rest of his life." (See Parton:Burr, 506.) But it was no "joke"—standing or otherwise—to the people. They believed Wirt's imagery to be a statement of the facts.

[1228]SeeBurr Trials,ii, 96-98.

For this famous passage of Wirt's speech, see Appendix E.

Burr was vastly amused by it and it became "a standing joke with him for the rest of his life." (See Parton:Burr, 506.) But it was no "joke"—standing or otherwise—to the people. They believed Wirt's imagery to be a statement of the facts.

[1229]"Wirt raised his reputation yesterday, as high as MacRae sunk his the day before." (Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 366.)

[1230]Burr Trials,ii, 123-24.

[1231]See Hay's complaint that Botts talked so fast that he could not make notes on his points. (Ib.194.)

[1232]Burr Trials,ii, 128-35.

[1233]Ib.168. Another story "propagated through the crowd" was that Burr had, by his "emissaries," attempted to poison with laudanum one of the Government's witnesses—this although the particular witness had been brought to Richmond to testify only that Wilkinson was not in the pay of Spain. (Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 367.)

[1234]Burr Trials,ii, 164-73.

[1235]Botts here refers to the public outcry against Jefferson, while Governor during the Revolution, that nearly resulted in his impeachment. (See vol.i, 143-44, of this work.)

[1236]Burr Trials,ii, 135-92.

[1237]Ib.224.

[1238]Ib.192-236.

[1239]Ib.193-94.

[1240]Ib.200-19, 235.

[1241]See vol.ii, 201, 428, of this work.

[1242]Burr Trials,ii, 237-80.

[1243]Blennerhassett, in his diary, makes frequent mention of Martin's drinking: "Martin was both yesterday and to-day more in his cups than usual, and though he spared neither his prudence nor his feelings, he was happy in all his hits." (Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 438.)"I ... recommended our brandy ... placing a pint tumbler before him. No ceremonies retarded the libation." (Ib.377.)"Luther Martin has just made his final immersion into the daily bath of his faculties." (Ib.463.)

"I ... recommended our brandy ... placing a pint tumbler before him. No ceremonies retarded the libation." (Ib.377.)

"Luther Martin has just made his final immersion into the daily bath of his faculties." (Ib.463.)

[1244]Burr Trials,ii, 260.

[1245]Burr Trials,ii, 262.

[1246]Ib.275-79; see also 339-42, 344-48.

[1247]Burr Trials,ii, 334.

[1248]Ib.377.

[1249]One of those who told Martin this was Marshall himself. Seesupra, 401.

[1250]Burr Trials,ii, 377-78.

[1251]Randolph made another speech, but it was of no moment.

[1252]Seesupra, footnote to 499.

[1253]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 367.

[1254]Burr Trials,ii, 401; also in 4 Cranch, 470.

[1255]25th, of Edward III.

[1256]Burr Trials,ii, 402-03; 4 Cranch, 470.

[1257]Burr Trials,ii, 403; 4 Cranch, 471.

[1258]Burr Trials,ii, 404-05; 4 Cranch, 472.

[1259]The doctrine that accessories are as guilty as principals.

[1260]Burr Trials,ii, 406-08; 4 Cranch, 476. This reference is to Jefferson's explanation of Marshall's opinion in Bollmann and Swartwout, which Giles and other Republican leaders were proclaiming throughout Virginia. It had been adopted by the grand jury; and it was this construction of Marshall's language under which they returned the bills of indictment for treason. Had the grand jury understood the law to be as Marshall was now expounding it, Burr would not have been indicted for treason.

[1261]Burr Trials,ii, 409; 4 Cranch, 476.

[1262]Burr Trials,ii, 409-13; 4 Cranch, 477-80.

[1263]Burr Trials,ii, 415; 4 Cranch, 481.

[1264]Burr Trials,ii, 415-23; 4 Cranch, 482-88.

[1265]Burr Trials,ii, 425; 4 Cranch, 490.

[1266]This part of Marshall's opinion (Burr Trials,ii, 425-34; 4 Cranch, 490-504) is reproduced in full in Appendix F.

[1267]Burr Trials,ii, 426; 4 Cranch, 492.

[1268]Burr Trials,ii, 429; 4 Cranch, 494.

[1269]Burr Trials,ii, 430; 4 Cranch, 495.

[1270]Burr Trials,ii, 436; 4 Cranch, 500.

[1271]Burr Trials,ii, 436-37; 4 Cranch, 500. These paragraphs furnish a perfect example of Marshall's method of statement and logic—the exact antithesis plainly put, the repetition of precise words with only the resistless monosyllables, "if" and "then," between them.

[1272]Burr Trials,ii, 437; 4 Cranch, 501.

[1273]Burr Trials,ii, 443; 4 Cranch, 506.

[1274]Burr Trials,ii, 444-45; 4 Cranch, 507.

[1275]Burr Trials,ii, 446.

[1276]Burr Trials,ii, 446-47. Martin was right; the verdict should have been either "guilty" or "not guilty."

[1277]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 339.

[1278]Burr Trials,ii, 447.

[1279]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 356-58; and see Adams:U.S.iii, 448, 464-65. Duane was known to have unbounded influence with Jefferson, who ascribed his election to the powerful support given him by theAurora.Government agents also tried to seduce Colonel de Pestre, another of Burr's friends, by insinuating "how handsomely the Col. might be provided for in the army, if his principles ... were not adverse to the administration." De Pestre's brother-in-law "had been turned out of his place as Clerk in the War Office, because he could not accuse the Col. of Burr-ism." (Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 328-29.)

Government agents also tried to seduce Colonel de Pestre, another of Burr's friends, by insinuating "how handsomely the Col. might be provided for in the army, if his principles ... were not adverse to the administration." De Pestre's brother-in-law "had been turned out of his place as Clerk in the War Office, because he could not accuse the Col. of Burr-ism." (Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 328-29.)

[1280]Burr Trials,ii, 448-49.

[1281]Ib.455.

[1282]Jefferson to Hay, Sept. 4, 1807, as quoted in Adams,U.S.iii, 470; and seeJefferson: Randolph,iv, 102.

[1283]Adams:U.S.iii, 470.

[1284]Seeinfra, 524.

[1285]Burr Trials,ii, 473-80.

[1286]Ib.480. This statement of Botts is of first importance. The whole proceeding on the part of the Government was conspicuously marked by a reliance upon public sentiment to influence court and jury through unceasing efforts to keep burning the fires of popular fear and hatred of Burr, first lighted by Jefferson's Proclamation and Message. Much repetition of this fact is essential, since the nature and meaning of the Burr trial rests upon it.

[1287]Burr Trials,ii, 481-503.

[1288]Van Santvoord:Sketches of the Lives and Judicial Services of the Chief-Justices of the United States, 379. Yet popular sentiment was the burden of many of the speeches of Government counsel throughout the trial.

[1289]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 402.

[1290]Burr Trials,ii, 504.

[1291]Ib.511.

[1292]Jefferson to Hay, no date; but Paul Leicester Ford fixes it between August 7 and 20, 1807. It is, says Ford, "the mere draft of a letter ... which may never have been sent, but which is of the utmost importance." (Works: Ford,x, 406-07.) It would seem that Jefferson wrote either to Marshall or Judge Griffin personally, for the first words of his astounding letter to Hay were: "Theenclosed letteris written in a spirit of conciliation," etc., etc. Whether or not the President actually posted the letter to Hay, the draft quoted in the text shows the impression which Marshall's order made on Jefferson. (Italics the author's.)

[1293]Burr Trials,ii, 513-14.

[1294]Ib.514-33.

[1295]This remark of Marshall would seem to indicate that Hay had tried to patch up "a truce" between the President and the Chief Justice, as Jefferson desired him to do. If so, it soon expired.

[1296]Burr Trials,ii, 533-37.

[1297]Hay to Jefferson, Sept. 5, 1807, Jefferson MSS. Lib. Cong.

[1298]The printed record does not show this, but Jefferson, in his letter to Hay, September 7, says: "I received, late last night, your favor of the day before, and now re-enclose you the subpœna."

[1299]Jefferson to Hay, Sept. 7, 1807,Works: Ford,x, 408.

[1300]For some reason the matter was not again pressed. Perhaps the favorable progress of the case relieved Burr's anxiety. It is possible that the "truce" so earnestly desired by Jefferson was arranged.

[1301]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 394.

[1302]"Today, the Chief Justice has delivered an able, full, and luminous opinion as ever did honor to a judge, which has put an end to the present prosecution." (Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 403.)

[1303]Annals, 10th Cong. 1st Sess. 416-19.

[1304]This appears from the record itself. (See Wilkinson's testimony,ib.512-44; also testimony of Major James Bruff,ib.589-90.) Blennerhassett, who usually reported faithfully the general impression, notes in his diary: "The General exhibited the manner of a sergeant under a courtmartial, rather than the demeanor of an accusing officer confronted with his culprit." (Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 422.)

[1305]Ib.418.

[1306]Record, MSS. Archives U.S. Circuit Court, Richmond, Va.

[1307]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 404.

[1308]Ib.409-10.

[1309]Ib.416.

[1310]Ib.412-13.

[1311]Daveiss: "A View of the President's Conduct Concerning the Conspiracy of 1806."

[1312]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 465-66.

[1313]Ib.502.

[1314]The brother of John Thompson, author of "The Letters of Curtius" which attacked Marshall in 1798. (See vol.ii, 395-96, of this work.)

[1315]Thompson's "view" was published as a series of letters to Marshall immediately after the trial closed. (Seeinfra, 533-35.)

[1316]Jefferson to Thompson, September 26, 1807,Works: Ford,x, 501-02.

[1317]Plumer, Aug. 15, 1807, "Diary," Plumer MSS. Lib. Cong.

[1318]Hay to Jefferson, Oct. 15, 1807, Jefferson MSS. Lib. Cong.

[1319]This statement is lucid, conspicuously fair, and, in the public mind, would have cleared Burr of any taint of treason, had not Jefferson already crystallized public sentiment into an irrevocable conviction that he was a traitor. (SeeAnnals, 10th Cong. 1st Sess. 766-78.)

[1320]Ib.

[1321]Burr to his daughter, Oct. 23, 1807, Davis,ii, 411-12.

[1322]Hay to Jefferson, Oct. 21, 1807, Jefferson MSS. Lib. Cong.

[1323]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 301. If this were only the personal opinion of Burr's gifted but untrustworthy associate, it would not be weighty. But Blennerhassett's views while at Richmond, as recorded in his diary, were those of all of Burr's counsel and of the Richmond Federalists.

[1324]No wonder the Government abandoned the case. Nearly all the depositions procured by Hay under Jefferson's orders demonstrated that Burr had not the faintest intention of separating the Western States from the Union, or even of attacking Mexico unless war broke out between Spain and the United States. See particularly deposition of Benjamin Stoddert of Maryland, October 9, 1807 (Quarterly Pub. Hist. and Phil. Soc. Ohio,ix, nos. 1 and 2, 7-9); of General Edward Tupper of Ohio, September 7, 1807 (ib.13-27); and of Paul H. M. Prevost of New Jersey, September 28, 1807 (ib.28-30).

[1325]Seeinfra, 536.

[1326]Marshall to Peters, Nov. 23, 1807, Peters MSS. Pa. Hist. Soc.

[1327]Hay, for the moment mollified by Marshall's award of two thousand dollars as his fee, had made no further complaint for several days.

[1328]Seesupra, chap.i, 35-36; also vol.ii, 429-30, of this work.

[1329]Jefferson's Seventh Annual Message, first draft,Works: Ford,x, 523-24.

[1330]See notes of Gallatin and Rodney,Works: Ford,x, footnotes to 503-10.

[1331]Jefferson's Seventh Annual Message, second draft,Works: Ford,x, 517. Blennerhassett, and probably Burr, would not have grieved had Marshall been impeached. It would be "penance for that timidity of conduct, which was probably as instrumental in keeping him from imbruing his hands in our blood as it was operative in inducing him to continue my vexations [the commitment of the conspirators to be tried in Ohio], to pacify the menaces and clamorous yells of the cerberus of Democracy with a sop which he would moisten, at least, with the tears of my family." (Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 465.)

[1332]See vol.ii, 464-71, of this work.

[1333]"Portrait of the Chief Justice," in the RichmondEnquirer, Nov. 6, 1807. This article fills more than two closely printed columns. It discusses, and not without ability, the supposed errors in Marshall's opinions.

[1334]Enquirer, Nov. 24, 1807.

[1335]Marshall'sLife of Washington.

[1336]See vol.ii, 395-96, of this work.

[1337]"Letters to John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States," in theAurora, reprinted in theEnquirer, Dec. 1, 1807.

[1338]Enquirer, Dec. 4, 1807.

[1339]Ib.Dec. 8, 1807.

[1340]Seesupra, 525-26.

[1341]Enquirer, Dec. 12, 1807.

[1342]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 475.

[1343]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 477.

[1344]Gathering a few dollars from personal friends, Burr sailed for England, hoping to get from the British Government support for his plans to revolutionize Mexico. At first all went well. Men like Jeremy Bentham and Sir Walter Scott became his friends and admirers. But the hand of Jefferson followed him; and on representations of the American Minister, the British Government ordered him to leave the United Kingdom immediately.Next he sought the ear of Napoleon; but again he was flouted and insulted by the American diplomatic and consular representatives—he was, they said, "a fugitive from justice." His last sou gone, ragged and often hungry, he managed at last, by the aid of one John Reeves, to secure passage for Boston, where he landed May 4, 1812. Then he journeyed to New York, where he arrived June 30 in abject poverty and utterly ruined. But still his spirit did not give way.Soon, however, fate struck him the only blow that, until now, ever had brought this iron man to his knees. His passionately beloved little grandson, Aaron Burr Alston, died in June. In December, another and heavier stroke fell. His daughter sailed from Charleston, South Carolina, to join and comfort her father and be comforted by him. Her ship was lost in a storm, and Theodosia the beautiful, the accomplished, the adored, was drowned. Then, at last, the heart of Aaron Burr was broken.Of the many ridiculous stories told of Burr and his daughter, one was that her ship was captured by pirates and she, ordered to walk the plank, did so with her child in her arms "without hesitation or visible tremor." This absurdity was given credit and currency by Harriet Martineau. (See Martineau:Western Travels,ii, 291-92.) Theodosia's child had died six months before she sailed from Charleston to go to her father, and she embarked in a pilot boat, about which no pirate would have troubled himself.The remainder of Burr's long life was given to the practice of his profession. His industry, legal learning, and ability, once more secured for him a good business. In 1824, Marshall ruled on an application to restore an attorney named Burr to the bar of the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia from which he had been suspended for unprofessional conduct. (Ex parteBurr, 9 Wheaton, 529-31.) It has often been erroneously supposed that this applicant was Aaron Burr: he was, however, one Levi Burr, a local practitioner, and not related to Aaron Burr.It is characteristic of Burr that he remembered the great lawyer who voluntarily had hastened to defend him at Richmond, and Luther Martin—aged, infirm, and almost deranged—was taken to the home of Aaron Burr and tenderly cared for until he died. Burr's marriage, at the age of seventy-eight, to Madame Jumel was, on his part, inexplicable; it was the only regrettable but not unworthy incident of the latter years of his life. (See Shelton:Jumel Mansion, 170-74.)Burr's New York friends were loyal to him to his very last day. His political genius never grew dim. He early suggested and helped to bring about the nomination of Andrew Jackson for the Presidency. Thus did he pay the debt of gratitude for the loyalty with which the rugged Tennesseean had championed his cause against public opinion and Administration alike.During the summer of 1836 his last illness came upon him. When his physician said that he could live but a few hours longer, a friend at his bedside asked the supposedly expiring man "whether in the expedition to the Southwest he had designed a separation of the Union." Believing himself to be dying, Burr replied: "No! I would as soon have thought of taking possession of the moon and informing my friends that I intended to divide it among them." To a man, his most intimate friends believed this statement to be true.Finally, on September 14, 1836, Aaron Burr died and was buried near his father at Princeton, New Jersey, where the parent had presided over, and the son had attended, that Alma Mater of so many patriots, soldiers, and statesmen.For two years his burial place was unmarked. Then, at night-time, unknown friends erected over his grave a plain marble shaft, bearing this inscription:AARON BURRBorn Feb. 6, 1756Died Sept. 14, 1836Colonel in the Army of the RevolutionVice-President of the United States from 1801 to 1805(Gulf States Historical Magazine,ii, 379.)Parton'sLife of Burris still the best story of this strange life. But Parton must be read with great care, for he sometimes makes statements which are difficult of verification.A brief, engaging, and trustworthy account of the Burr episode isAaron Burr, by Isaac Jenkinson. Until the appearance of Professor McCaleb's book,The Aaron Burr Conspiracy, Mr. Jenkinson's little volume was the best on that subject. Professor McCaleb's thorough and scholarly study is, however, the only exhaustive and reliable narrative of that ambitious plan and the disastrous outcome of the attempted execution of it.

Next he sought the ear of Napoleon; but again he was flouted and insulted by the American diplomatic and consular representatives—he was, they said, "a fugitive from justice." His last sou gone, ragged and often hungry, he managed at last, by the aid of one John Reeves, to secure passage for Boston, where he landed May 4, 1812. Then he journeyed to New York, where he arrived June 30 in abject poverty and utterly ruined. But still his spirit did not give way.

Soon, however, fate struck him the only blow that, until now, ever had brought this iron man to his knees. His passionately beloved little grandson, Aaron Burr Alston, died in June. In December, another and heavier stroke fell. His daughter sailed from Charleston, South Carolina, to join and comfort her father and be comforted by him. Her ship was lost in a storm, and Theodosia the beautiful, the accomplished, the adored, was drowned. Then, at last, the heart of Aaron Burr was broken.

Of the many ridiculous stories told of Burr and his daughter, one was that her ship was captured by pirates and she, ordered to walk the plank, did so with her child in her arms "without hesitation or visible tremor." This absurdity was given credit and currency by Harriet Martineau. (See Martineau:Western Travels,ii, 291-92.) Theodosia's child had died six months before she sailed from Charleston to go to her father, and she embarked in a pilot boat, about which no pirate would have troubled himself.

The remainder of Burr's long life was given to the practice of his profession. His industry, legal learning, and ability, once more secured for him a good business. In 1824, Marshall ruled on an application to restore an attorney named Burr to the bar of the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia from which he had been suspended for unprofessional conduct. (Ex parteBurr, 9 Wheaton, 529-31.) It has often been erroneously supposed that this applicant was Aaron Burr: he was, however, one Levi Burr, a local practitioner, and not related to Aaron Burr.

It is characteristic of Burr that he remembered the great lawyer who voluntarily had hastened to defend him at Richmond, and Luther Martin—aged, infirm, and almost deranged—was taken to the home of Aaron Burr and tenderly cared for until he died. Burr's marriage, at the age of seventy-eight, to Madame Jumel was, on his part, inexplicable; it was the only regrettable but not unworthy incident of the latter years of his life. (See Shelton:Jumel Mansion, 170-74.)

Burr's New York friends were loyal to him to his very last day. His political genius never grew dim. He early suggested and helped to bring about the nomination of Andrew Jackson for the Presidency. Thus did he pay the debt of gratitude for the loyalty with which the rugged Tennesseean had championed his cause against public opinion and Administration alike.

During the summer of 1836 his last illness came upon him. When his physician said that he could live but a few hours longer, a friend at his bedside asked the supposedly expiring man "whether in the expedition to the Southwest he had designed a separation of the Union." Believing himself to be dying, Burr replied: "No! I would as soon have thought of taking possession of the moon and informing my friends that I intended to divide it among them." To a man, his most intimate friends believed this statement to be true.

Finally, on September 14, 1836, Aaron Burr died and was buried near his father at Princeton, New Jersey, where the parent had presided over, and the son had attended, that Alma Mater of so many patriots, soldiers, and statesmen.

For two years his burial place was unmarked. Then, at night-time, unknown friends erected over his grave a plain marble shaft, bearing this inscription:

AARON BURRBorn Feb. 6, 1756Died Sept. 14, 1836Colonel in the Army of the RevolutionVice-President of the United States from 1801 to 1805

(Gulf States Historical Magazine,ii, 379.)

Parton'sLife of Burris still the best story of this strange life. But Parton must be read with great care, for he sometimes makes statements which are difficult of verification.

A brief, engaging, and trustworthy account of the Burr episode isAaron Burr, by Isaac Jenkinson. Until the appearance of Professor McCaleb's book,The Aaron Burr Conspiracy, Mr. Jenkinson's little volume was the best on that subject. Professor McCaleb's thorough and scholarly study is, however, the only exhaustive and reliable narrative of that ambitious plan and the disastrous outcome of the attempted execution of it.

[1345]Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 480-82; also seeBaltimore American, Nov. 4, 5, 6, 1807.

[1346]Annals, 10th Cong. 1st Sess. 108-27.

[1347]The bill passed the Senate, but foreign affairs, and exciting legislation resulting from these, forced it from the mind of the House. (See vol.iv, chap.i, of this work.)

[1348]John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, Samuel Maclay of Pennsylvania, Jesse Franklin of North Carolina, Samuel Smith of Maryland, John Pope of Kentucky, Buckner Thruston of Kentucky, and Joseph Anderson of Tennessee. (Annals, 10th Cong. 1st Sess. 42.)

[1349]Smith had been indicted for treason and misdemeanor, but Hay had entered anolle prosequion the bills of indictment after the failure of the Burr prosecution. (Memoirs, J. Q. A.: Adams,i, 481.)

[1350]Adams had been indulging in political maneuvers that indicated a courtship of the Administration and a purpose to join the Republican Party. His course had angered and disgusted most of his former Federalist friends and supporters, who felt that he had deserted his declining party in order to advance his political fortunes. If this were true, his performance in writing the Committee report on the resolution to expel Smith was well calculated to endear him to Jefferson. Adams expressed his own views thus: "On most of the great national questions now under discussion, my sense of duty leads me to support the administration, and I find myself of course in opposition to the federalists in general.... My political prospects are declining." (Memoirs, J. Q. A.: Adams,i, 497-98.)The Federalist Legislature of Massachusetts grossly insulted Adams by electing his successor before Adams's term in the Senate had expired. Adams resigned, and in March, 1809, President Madison appointed him Minister to Russia, and later Minister to Great Britain. President Monroe made the former Federalist his Secretary of State. No Republican was more highly honored by these two Republican Presidents than was John Quincy Adams.

The Federalist Legislature of Massachusetts grossly insulted Adams by electing his successor before Adams's term in the Senate had expired. Adams resigned, and in March, 1809, President Madison appointed him Minister to Russia, and later Minister to Great Britain. President Monroe made the former Federalist his Secretary of State. No Republican was more highly honored by these two Republican Presidents than was John Quincy Adams.

[1351]Adams did not, of course, mention Marshall by name. His castigation of the Chief Justice, however, was the more severe because of the unmistakable designation of him. (SeeWritings, J. Q. A.: Ford,iii, 173-84; alsoAnnals, 10th Cong. 1st Sess. 56-63.)It must be remembered, too, that this attack upon Marshall comes from the son of the man who, on January 20, 1801, appointed Marshall Chief Justice. (See vol.ii, 552-53, of this work.) But John Quincy Adams soon came to be one of the stanchest supporters and most ardent admirers that Marshall ever had. It was peculiarly characteristic of Marshall that he did not resent the attack of Adams and, for the only time in his judicial career, actually interested himself in politics in behalf of Adams. (See vol.iv, chap.ix, of this work.)

It must be remembered, too, that this attack upon Marshall comes from the son of the man who, on January 20, 1801, appointed Marshall Chief Justice. (See vol.ii, 552-53, of this work.) But John Quincy Adams soon came to be one of the stanchest supporters and most ardent admirers that Marshall ever had. It was peculiarly characteristic of Marshall that he did not resent the attack of Adams and, for the only time in his judicial career, actually interested himself in politics in behalf of Adams. (See vol.iv, chap.ix, of this work.)

[1352]Adams's colleague Senator Pickering was, of course, disgusted (see his letter to King, Jan. 2, 1808, King,v, 44), and in a pamphlet entitled "A Review of the Correspondence Between the Hon. John Adams and the late William Cunningham, Esq." which he published in 1824, Pickering wrote that the resolution "outraged ... every distinguished lawyer in America" (see p. 41 of pamphlet). King thought Adams "indiscreet" (see his letter to Pickering, Jan. 7, 1808, King,v, 50). Plumer declared that the report "had given mortal offence" in New Hampshire (seeMass. Historical Society Proceedings,xlv, 357). John Lowell asserted that "justice ... was to be dragged from her seat ... and the eager minister of presidential vengeance seemed to sigh after the mild mercies of the star chamber, and the rapid movements of the revolutionary tribunal" (see his "Remarks" as quoted inWritings, J. Q. A.: Ford,iii, footnote to 184).

[1353]Jan. 28, 1808,Memoirs, J. Q. A.: Adams,i, 508; see alsoWritings, J. Q. A.: Ford,iii, footnote to 184.

[1354]"He poured himself forth in his two speeches to-day.... It was all a phillipic upon me." (Jan. 7, 1808,Memoirs, J. Q. A.: Adams,i, 501.)

[1355]Ib.

[1356]Annals, 10th Cong. 1st Sess. 324.

[1357]"Mr. Giles, in one of the most animated and eloquent speeches I ever heard him make, declared himself ... against the resolution for expulsion. He argued the case of Mr. Smith with all his eloquence, and returned to the charge with increasing warmth until the last moment." (April 9, 1808,Memoirs, J. Q. A.: Adams,i, 528.)

[1358]Annals, 10th Cong. 1st Sess. 321-24.

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