DEATH OF COL. BURR, THIRD VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
He was one of the few who, entering the war of independence with
ardor and brilliant prospects, disappointed the expectations he
had created, dishonored the cause he had espoused, and ended in
shame the career which he had opened with splendor. He was in the
adventurous expedition of Arnold through the wilderness to Quebec,
went ahead in the disguise of a priest to give intelligence of the
approach of aid to General Montgomery, arrived safely through many
dangers, captivated the General by the courage and address which
he had shown, was received by him into his military family; and
was at his side when he was killed. Returning to the seat of war
in the Northern States he was invited by Washington, captivated
like Montgomery by the soldierly and intellectual qualities he
had shown, to his headquarters, with a view to placing him on his
staff; but he soon perceived that the brilliant young man lacked
principle; and quietly got rid of him. The after part of his life
was such as to justify the opinion which Washington had formed
of him; but such was his address and talent as to rise to high
political distinction: Attorney General of New-York, Senator in
Congress, and Vice-President of the United States. At the close of
the presidential election of 1800, he stood equal with Mr. Jefferson
in the vote which he received, and his undoubted successor at
the end of Mr. Jefferson's term. But there his honors came to a
stand, and took a downward turn, nor ceased descending until he was
landed in the abyss of shame, misery, and desolation. He intrigued
with the federalists to supplant Mr. Jefferson--to get the place
of President, for which he had not received a single vote--was
suspected, detected, baffled--lost the respect of his party, and was
thrown upon crimes to recover a position, or to avenge his losses.
The treasonable attempt in the West, and the killing of General
Hamilton, ended his career in the United States. But although he
had deceived the masses, and reached the second office of the
government, with the certainty of attaining the first if he only
remained still, yet there were some close observers whom he never
deceived. The early mistrust of Washington has been mentioned: it
became stronger as Burr mounted higher in the public favor; and in
1794, when a senator in Congress, and when the republican party
had taken him for their choice for the French mission in the place
of Mr. Monroe recalled, and had sent a committee of which Mr.
Madison was chief to ask his nomination from Washington, that wise
and virtuous man peremptorily refused it, giving as a categorical
reason, that his rule was invariable, never to appoint an immoral
man to any office. Mr. Jefferson had the same ill opinion of him,
and, notwithstanding his party zeal, always considered him in
market when the federalists had any high office to bestow. But
General Hamilton was most thoroughly imbued with a sense of his
unworthiness, and deemed it due to his country to balk his election
over Jefferson; and did so. His letters to the federal members of
Congress painted Burr in his true character, and dashed far from
his grasp, and for ever, the gilded prize his hand was touching.
For that frustration of his hopes, four years afterwards, he
killed Hamilton in a duel, having on the part of Burr the spirit
of an assassination--cold-blooded, calculated, revengeful, and
falsely-pretexted. He alleged some trivial and recent matter for the
challenge, such as would not justify it in any code of honor; and
went to the ground to kill upon an old grudge which he was ashamed
to avow. Hard was the fate of Hamilton--losing his life at the
early age of forty-two for having done justice to his country in
the person of the man to whom he stood most politically opposed,
and the chief of the party by which he had been constrained to
retire from the scene of public life at the age of thirty-four--the
age at which most others begin it--he having accomplished gigantic
works. He was the man most eminently and variously endowed of all
the eminent men of his day--at once soldier and statesman, with a
head to conceive, and a hand to execute: a writer, an orator, a
jurist: an organizing mind, able to grasp the greatest system; and
administrative, to execute the smallest details: wholly turned to
the practical business of life, and with a capacity for application
and production which teemed with gigantic labors, each worthy to
be the sole product of a single master intellect; but lavished in
litters from the ever teeming fecundity of his prolific genius.
Hard his fate, when, withdrawing from public life at the age of
thirty-four, he felt himself constrained to appeal to posterity for
that justice which contemporaries withheld from him. And the appeal
was not in vain. Statues rise to his memory: history embalms his
name: posterity will do justice to the man who at the age of twenty
was "the principal and most confidential aid of Washington," who
retained the love and confidence of the Father of his country to the
last; and to whom honorable opponents, while opposing his systems
of policy, accorded honor, and patriotism, and social affections,
and transcendental abilities.--This chapter was commenced to write a
notice of the character of Colonel Burr; but that subject will not
remain under the pen. At the appearance of that name, the spirit of
Hamilton starts up to rebuke the intrusion--to drive back the foul
apparition to its gloomy abode--and to concentrate all generous
feeling on itself.