Memoirs of Aaron Burr Part 61

With regard to our manners; if there is any state which has a claim to superior refinement, it is certainly South Carolina. Generally speaking, we are divided into but two cla.s.ses, very rich and very poor; which, if no advantage in a political view, is undoubtedly favourable to a polished state of society. Our gentlemen having large fortunes, and being very little disposed by the climate to the drudgery of business or professions, have full leisure for the attainment of polite literature, and what are usually called accomplishments; you therefore meet with few of them who are not tolerably well informed, agreeable companions, and completely well bred. The possession of slaves renders them proud, impatient of restraint, and gives them a haughtiness of manner which, to those unaccustomed to them, is disagreeable; but we find among them a high sense of honour, a delicacy of sentiment, and a liberality of mind, which we look for in vain in the more commercial citizens of the northern states. The genius of the Carolinian, like the inhabitants of all southern countries, is quick, lively, and acute; in steadiness and perseverance he is naturally inferior to the native of the north; but this defect of climate is often overcome by his ambition or necessity; and, whenever this happens, he seldom fails to distinguish himself. In his temper he is gay and fond of company, open, generous, and unsuspicious; easily irritated, and quick to resent even the appearance of insult; but his pa.s.sion, like the fire of the flint, is lighted up and extinguished in the same moment. I do not mention his hospitality and kindness to strangers, for they are so common they are no longer esteemed virtues; like common honesty, they are noticed only when not possessed. Nor is it for the elegance of their manners only that the South Carolinians are distinguished; sound morality is equally conspicuous among them. Gaming, so far from being a fas.h.i.+onable vice, is confined entirely to the lower cla.s.s of people; among gentlemen it is deemed disgraceful. Many of them, it is true, are fond of the turf; but they pursue the sports of it merely as an amus.e.m.e.nt and recreation, not a business. As to hunting, the country gentlemen occasionally engage in it, but surely there is nothing criminal in this! From my education and other pursuits I have seldom partic.i.p.ated in it myself; but I consider it, above all exercises, the most manly and healthful.

But come, let us dismiss the gentlemen and their amus.e.m.e.nts, and take up the female part of the community.

The ladies of Carolina, I confess, are not generally as handsome as those of the northern states; they want that bloom which, in the opinion of some, is so indispensable an ingredient in beauty; but their paleness gives them an appearance of delicacy and languor which is highly interesting. Their education is perhaps more attended to than anywhere else in the United States; many of them are well informed, all of them accomplished. For it would be far more unpardonable in a girl to enter a room or go through a congo ungracefully, than to be ignorant of the most common event in history or the first principles of arithmetic. They are perfectly easy and agreeable in their manners, and remarkably fond of company; no Charleston belle ever felt "ennui" in her life. In the richness of their dress and the splendour of their equipages they are unrivalled.

From their early introduction into company, and their constant and unreserved intercourse with the other s.e.x, they generally marry young; and if their husbands want only companions for the theatre or the concert-room, or some one to talk over the scandal of the day with when at home, they make tolerable wives. As we have now brought them to the "ne plus ultra" of human happiness, marriage, we will leave them there, and so finish our description.

The reason of your not hearing from me so long after your return to New-York was this: not knowing till you wrote me from b.a.l.l.ston how my letters would be received, I was really afraid to venture writing.

You ask how Miss P. walks? If it is your object, as you say, from knowing bow you stand with her in point of forces, to preserve better what you have won, receive a general lesson. "Continue in every respect exactly as you are, and you please me most."

You wish me to acquire French. I already understand something of it, and, with a little practice, would soon speak it. I promise you, therefore, if you become my instructress, in less than two months after our marriage to converse with you entirely in that language. I fix the period _after_ our marriage, for I cannot think of being corrected in the mistakes I may make by any other person than my wife.

Suppose, till then, you return to your Latin, and prepare to use that tongue with me, since you are averse to one understood by all the canaille. Adieu. I have literally given you a folio volume.

Yours, my dear Theodosia,

JOS. ALSTON.

P. S. The arrangement you speak of proposing in your letter for an interview has determined me. I shall there fore sail certainly in a few days. Winds be propitious!

Miss BURR.

In April, 1799, the federal party were triumphant in the State of New-York. The city was ent.i.tled to thirteen members of a.s.sembly. They were federalists, and were elected by an average majority of 944; the whole number of votes being about 6000. Colonel Burr during this year was not in public life, but he was not an idle spectator of pa.s.sing events. The year following a President of the United States was to be elected. It was now certain, that unless the vote of the State of New-York could be obtained for Mr. Jefferson, he could not be elected.

It was equally certain, that unless the city could be carried by the democratic party, the state would remain in the bands of the federalists.

During the winter of 1799 and the spring of 1800, Colonel Burr commenced a system of party organization for the approaching contest.

The presidential electors were at that time chosen by the legislature, meeting in joint ballot. His first object was to secure such a committee of nomination for the city and county of New-York as, in the selection of candidates for the a.s.sembly, would be influenced by his recommendation. His opinion, often expressed to his confidential friends during the winter of 1800, was, that without a most powerful ticket there was no prospect of success; with such a ticket and proper exertions it could be elected. He entertained no doubt (and the result proved that he was correct), that on the city and county of New-York were suspended the destinies of the country, whether for good or whether for ill. These views and these opinions were presented and enforced by him for days, and weeks, and months previous to the election upon all the young and ardent politicians of the city with whom he had any intercourse. The effect of which was, that when the crisis arrived, every member of the party seemed to feel the great responsibility which rested upon him.

The next object with Colonel Burr was to inculcate harmony in the party and concert in action. It was known that a most unconquerable jealousy existed between the Clinton and Livingston families and the adherents of those factions. The Clintons and their supporters were anti-federalists. The Livingstons were not less distinguished as federalists, until some time after the organization of the general government under the new const.i.tution. Colonel Burr enforced, in mild and persuasive terms, the necessity of sacrificing all prejudices and partialities; of surrendering all personal and ambitious considerations; of standing shoulder to shoulder, and uniting in one great effort to rescue the country from misrule. By the most unceasing perseverance he succeeded in both these objects.

Every section of the democratic party felt the necessity of Colonel Burr's being a member of the legislature that was to choose the electors; but a difficulty arose. It was understood that General Hamilton would personally attend the several polls during the three days of election; that he would counsel and advise with his political friends, and that he would address the people. Here again all seemed to feel that Colonel Burr was the man, and perhaps the only man, to meet General Hamilton on such an occasion. But if his name was on the a.s.sembly ticket as a candidate, his personal exertions during the election would be lost to the party. To place him in that situation appeared to many like abandoning the field without a struggle to the federalists. In this dilemma, the county of Orange patriotically came forward and nominated him as a candidate on their a.s.sembly ticket, thus leaving him free to act in the city of New-York; and by the people of Orange Colonel Burr was elected a member of the legislature.

All the details connected with the formation of the a.s.sembly ticket in April, 1800, for the city and county of New-York, will be given hereafter. The result is known. It succeeded. The legislature was democratic. Presidential electors of the democratic party were appointed. Colonel Burr's services were appreciated by the democracy in every section of the country, and he was nominated on the ticket with Mr. Jefferson for the offices of President and Vice President of the United States. By the const.i.tution, as it was originally adopted, the person who had the greatest number of votes, provided they were a majority of the whole number given, was president; and the person having the next highest number, with the like proviso, was vice-president. When the ballots were examined, it appeared that Mr.

Jefferson and Colonel Burr were the two highest candidates, and that their votes were equal. By the provisions of the const.i.tution, it devolved upon the House of Representatives of the United States, voting by states, to designate which of these gentlemen should be president, and which vice-president.

On proceeding to the ballot a contest ensued, which lasted for several days, producing the most implacable and bitter animosities; a contest which terminated in the election of Mr. Jefferson and the ruin of Colonel Burr. Until within a few years that scene has been completely enveloped in mystery. A part of the incidents connected with it, however, in a fugitive form, are before the world. But the period has arrived when the question should be met with manly firmness; when the voice of history should announce to posterity the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so far as it can be ascertained. The generation which were the actors in those scenes have pa.s.sed away. The parties immediately interested are sleeping the sleep of death. Few, very few indeed now living, understand the nature of that contest. The curtain shall be drawn aside. The doc.u.ments which develop its character, and which are scattered in fragments, will be brought together, and recorded (it is hoped) in a permanent and tangible form.

It will be seen that the immediate friends and advisers of Mr.

Jefferson, until within a few hours of the balloting, had no confidence in certain leading and distinguished members of Congress, whose names shall be given, but who, on his coming into power, promptly received the most substantial evidence of his kind feelings by appointments to office. The clearest evidence will be presented that Mr. Jefferson entered into terms and conditions with the federal party or some of their leaders; that the honourable James A. Bayard, of Delaware, acted on the part of the federalists, and the honourable Samuel Smith, of Maryland, at present mayor of Baltimore, on the part of Mr. Jefferson; and that terms and conditions were agreed upon between them before Mr. Jefferson could be elected; while, on the other hand, it will be demonstrated that the charges which have been made against Colonel Burr of having intrigued and negotiated with the federal party to obtain the office of president were as unjust as they were groundless. But "_I come to bury Cesar, not to praise him_."

Footnotes:

1. Ma.n.u.script poem of my own.

2. From the same.

[Frontispiece: Theodosia]

MEMOIRS OF AARON BURR.

WITH MISCELLANEOUS SELECTIONS

FROM HIS CORRESPONDENCE.

BY MATTHEW L. DAVIS.

"I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him."

IN TWO VOLUMES

VOL. II.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1836, by

MATTHEW L. DAVIS,

in the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York.

CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME.

CHAPTER I.

Colonel Burr's study of the law; shortness of his study; different opinions respecting his law learning; his definition of law; his manner of preparing causes and of conducting suits; his maxim for sluggards; tendency to mystery in his practice; fondness for surprising an opponent; an ill.u.s.tration of this remark; his treatment of a.s.sociate counsel; nice discrimination in the selection of professional agents; their various characteristics; the same acuteness displayed in politics; anecdote on this subject that occurred during the contested election in 1800; great coolness and presence of mind in civil as well as military life; an example in the death of Mr. P.; commenced practice at the close of the revolution under the most favourable auspices; multiplication of his papers; condensation a peculiar trait in his mind; never solicited a favour from an opponent; a strict pract.i.tioner; character of his mind; manner of speaking; accorded to General Hamilton eloquence; an incident in relation to Hamilton and Burr in the cause of Le Guen _vs_. Gouverneur and Kemble; letter from John Van Ness Yates explanatory of Chief Justice Yates's notes on that occasion; the effect he produced as a speaker; his display of extraordinary talents on his trial at Richmond; his legal opinions on various important occasions; a letter from him evincing his great perseverance when nearly eighty years of age