But when he had them there before him, those same men, in the Senate or in the High Court of Impeachment, they respected him, they obeyed him, they could not deny his power and dignity, they wept to see him go. He was always to entrance, to captivate, to hypnotize. And to mystify. They believed him capable of every artifice, supposed him possessed of every guile, imagined him endowed with every skill-when really he was not so clever. He was not profound, he was not prudent, he was not learned with all his culture; for all his reputation as a lawyer he was not a great jurist; the politician in him was not a statesman; in the midst of all his imperial schemes he could not manage his own affairs, he was a poor judge of men, he never deceived another soul quite as much as he deceived himself. He never awoke from the wizardry of his own spells. He was, in many ways, astonishingly simple; one of the most fatal delusions of his mind was that which caused him to think himself a paragon of cunning.
He was an actor who never discarded his rôle, who was never out of character, whose features, and speech, and bearing were always attuned to the scene. He liked best to play those parts in which he portrayed the lavishly generous host, the patron of grateful protégés, the man of mysterious intrigues, the romantic lover, the exalted personage. In these rôles he excelled, in them he lived until they were become the realities of his existence, in them he dramatized himself to the utter dumbfounderment of his contemporaries, the entire bewitchment of his most intimate associates, the complete infatuation of himself. But the scene must always be pre
pared for him, and carefully restricted; when he
improvised he floundered, and was trash.
He was, consequently, at his best when his mode
of life, the requirements of his station, contributed
most fully to the gratification of his theatrical nature,
to the interpretation of his fondest impersonations.
Mr. Hamilton was wrong; Aaron Burr was not dan-
gerous in public life, in the chair of authority, hedged
around with precedent and publicity, with the neces-
sity of meticulous behavior, the opportunity of
impressive self-display-on the contrary, there came
to him then a harmony of purpose, an indulgence of
conceit, a fulfilment of personal grandeur, which
nourished him with repose, clothed him in content
and anointed him with genius. Then, for a while,
one saw what manner of man he might have been.
It was only when he was cast adrift, when he was no
longer given a stage upon which to play his rôles,
when the reservoir of his energies began to overflow
for lack of any appropriate outlet, it was then that
he became dangerous...
He lived thirty-one years too long. After 1805, they could find nothing to inscribe upon his epitaph -nothing but tragedy, and grief, and suffering, and these they did not consider worth recording. It has been said that the bullet which struck Alexander Hamilton killed Aaron Burr. That is not true; he had perished already in 1801, he had been marked for destruction, and the hand which was not raised to save him was that of Thomas Jefferson.
And after those thirty-one years, after a hundred
years, he remains tantalizing, challenging, disturbing. The central figure in a drama which can scarcely now be comprehended; for however faithfully one records the facts, however closely one follows him down the Mississippi, shadows fall upon the page, shadows of men who unexpectedly appear-Edward Livingston, John Adair, Daniel Clark, Andrew Jackson-men who shared a certain understanding, and kept silent. Shrouded in doubt, embalmed in secrecy, coffined in fantastic sorrows, entombed in mystery, Aaron Burr cannot rest in peace. And when his uneasy soul passes, one seems to hear a whispering of many great names inseparable from his, to catch a glimpse of countless honored shades aroused to ancient, private dread, to feel the presence of that host of choice spirits which were once, for good or evil, the witnesses of his venture.
A little man who felt, perhaps, that he must contradict his stature before the tall ones of his day, and raise his head above the shoulders of ordinary men.
"I am not a libertine," he said in his last years. "I am not a murderer; I am not a traitor. I never broke a promise to a woman in my life. I did not intend to kill Hamilton and did not shoot first. I never got within ten thousand leagues of a wish to break up the United States by a separatist or a secessionist movement, though I did hope to establish an empire in Mexico and to become its emperor.
Tormented spirit, sitting alone in a chamber filled with echoes, the door of which had swung quite open.
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Adair, General John, ii, 43, 94, 95,
134, 143, 151, 155
Adams, Abigail, i, 122, 123, 151-2,
153, 154, 229
Adams, Henry, ii, 22, 26
Adams, John, i, 68, 122, 150; elec-
tion to Presidency, i, 169; quoted
on proposal for appointment of
Burr to army in 1798, i, 174-5;
his opinion of Hamilton, i, 175;
criticism of, by Hamilton, i,
198-9; antagonizes members of
his party, i, 200; attack on, by
Hamilton in pamphlet, i, 201;
defeated for reëlection in 1800,
i, 203; suppression by Burr of
John Wood's history of his ad-
ministration, i, 242-3; letter
concerning General Miranda, ii,
9-10; quoted on Burr's expedi-
tion, ii, 138, 139
Adams, John Quincy, i, 319, ii, 227,
228, 229, 323
Adams, Judge, description of Burr
at time of his expedition, ii, 163-4
Alexander, James, ii, 133, 143
Alfred the Great, descent of Ed-
wards family from, i, 4
Alien Bill, New York, and Holland
Land Company affair, i, 178 ff.
Alien and Sedition Bills of 1798,
i, 188, 189
Allbright, Jacob, testimony of, at
the Burr trial, ii, 208–9
Allen, Colonel Ethan, capture of
Fort Ticonderoga by, i, 43
Alston, Aaron Burr, son of Theo-
dosia Burr Alston, i, 225, 226,
227, ii, 202, 242; death of, ii,
296
Alston, Joseph, marriage to Theo-
dosia Burr, i, 222; letter of Burr
to, preceding his duel with Ham-
ilton, i, 286-7; subscribes to
Burr's western enterprise, ii,
69; denies implication in Burr's
projects, ii, 200; at Richmond at
time of trial, ii, 202; letters of,
to Burr on death of his son, and
loss of Theodosia at sea, ii, 296,
298; Governor of South Caro-
lina, ii, 296; attempts of Blen-
nerhassett to collect money from,
ii, 302-4; death of, ii, 304
Ames, Fisher, i, 156, 164, 257
Armstrong, John, American min-
ister at Paris, ii, 27, 29; hostility
to Burr, ii, 255, 256
Arnold, Benedict, expedition to
Quebec, i, 42 ff.; wounded in
attack on Quebec, i, 54; failure of
assault, i, 54-5; retreat of, i, 55-6
Arnold, Mrs. Benedict, i, 86-7
Augusta, Me., Arnold's expedition
at, i, 45
Back Countries, the, ii, 4 ff.
Baker, John, one of counsel for
Burr in his trial, ii, 182
Baltimore, Md., congratulatory ad-
dress to Burr by citizens of, in
1800, i, 236; demonstrations of
populace in, after the Burr trial,
ii, 224
Bartow, Theodosius, i, 89, 91
Bastrop project, the, ii, 69, 70, 71,
72, 87, 88, 96, 146, 152, 219
Bayard, Congressman Richard, i,
213, 214, 215, 237
Bayou Pierre, Burr at, ii, 160
Bellamy, Rev. Joseph, i, 33, 34
Benson, Egbert, i, 142
Bentham, Jeremy, ii, 240, 274,
275, 281
Biddle, Charles, i, 274, 291, 292,
303, 304, 306, ii, 69, 70, 102, 225,
226, 268
Blennerhassett, Harman, ii, 41-3,
86, 88, 89, 146, 147, 152, 167,
199, 202, 206, 210, 211, 212, 220,
222, 224, 229, 230, 266; enlist-
ment in Burr's western enterprise,
ii, 73-5; his departure from his
island, ii, 148-9; wrecking of his
house, ii, 150; indictment of,
ii, 177, 197; attempts to collect
money from Alston, ii, 302-4;
death of, ii, 304
Blennerhassett, Mrs., ii, 41, 42, 148,
149, 150
Blennerhassett's Island, prepara-
tions for Burr's expedition at,
ii, 87
Bollmann, Dr. Justus Erich, ii, 78,
81, 119, 123, 127, 129, 132, 133,
143, 146; in the Burr trial, ii,
190-1
Bonaparte, Jerome, at Richmond
Hill, i, 127; refuses to receive
Burr in Paris, ii, 261
Bonaparte, Napoleon, Spanish in-
trigues of, and re-cession of Louis-
iana to France, ii, 17-19; sells
Louisiana territory to the United
States, ii, 22; Burr refused access
to, ii, 261
Boone, Daniel, ii, 4
Botts, Benjamin, one of counsel for
Burr in his trial, ii, 182, 212-13
Bradford, Gamaliel, i, 12
Bradhurst, Samuel, duel with Burr,
i, 285
Brant, Colonel (Thayendanegea,
Indian chief), at Richmond Hill,
i, 128
Brooklyn, battle of Long Island
at, i, 63
Broome, William T., law partner of
Burr, i, 103
Brown, Dr. Joseph, i, 91
Brown, Katie, i, 128
Bruin, Judge, ii, 160, 163
Bullock, Catherine, i, 31
Burdett, Charles, supposed adopted
son of Burr, ii, 310, 311, 312, 315
Burr, Rev. Aaron, father of Aaron
Burr, i, 3; marriage and ances-
try of, i, 8; ministries and ser-
mons of, i, 9-10; President of
College of New Jersey, i, 14; re-
moval to Princeton, i, 16; death
of, i, 18-19
Burr, Aaron, ancestry of, i, 3-4, 8;
birth of, i, 11; life with Timothy
Edwards, after death of his
parents, i, 22-3; admitted to
Princeton College, i, 24; career
in college, i, 26-32; graduation,
i, 32; undertakes study of theol-
ogy, i, 33-4; turns to the law,
i, 34; associations with the fair
sex, i, 35-8; attempted elope-
ment, i, 38; enlists in army at
outbreak of Revolution, i, 41-2;
in Arnold's expedition to Que-
bec, i, 42, 44 ff.; carries message
from Arnold to Montgomery,
i, 52-3; made a captain, i, 53;
in assault on Quebec, i, 54-5; re-
turns from Quebec, i, 56-8; on
Washington's staff, i, 59; opin-
ion of Washington, i, 59-60, 68-9,
72, 79; aide to General Israel
Putnam, i, 61 ff.; Lieutenant
Colonel of Malcolm's Regiment,
i, 65 ff.; at Valley Forge, i, 68-
70; plot to murder, i, 70; horse
shot under at battle of Mon-
mouth, i, 71; letter of General
Charles Lee to, i, 72-3; in com-
mand of lines from the Hudson
to the Sound, i, 75-7; ability
as a commander, i, 77; resigns
from army because of ill health,
i, 77; in defense of New Haven,
i, 78; ill health of, i, 83-4; re-
sumes study of law, i, 84-5; court-
ship of Mrs. Prevost, 85 ff.; goes
to Albany for bar examinations,
i, 94; admitted to the bar and
opens office in Albany, i, 97;
marriage to Theodosia Bartow
Prevost, i, 97-9; removes to
New York City, i, 101-2; part-
nership with William T. Broome,
i, 103; birth of children of, i,
103-4; letters between, and
Mrs. Burr, i, 105-12; death of
Mrs. Burr, i, 112-13; standards
of education and passion for in-
struction and criticism, i,_115;
supervision of education of Theo-
dosia Burr by, i, 116-21; Rich-
mond Hill estate of, i, 121-3, 125-
6; one of leaders of New York
bar, i, 131; legal ability of, i,
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