Chapter 37

TO JOSEPH ALSTON.

New-York, July 13, 1804.

GENERAL HAMILTON died yesterday. The malignant federalists or tories, and the imbittered Clintonians, unite in endeavouring to excite public sympathy in his favour and indignation against his antagonist. Thousands of absurd falsehoods are circulated with industry. The most illiberal means are practised in order to produce excitement, and, for the moment, with effect.

I propose leaving town for a few days, and meditate also a journey for some weeks, but whither is not resolved. Perhaps to Statesburgh. You will hear from me again in about eight days.

A. BURR.

TO JOSEPH ALSTON.

July 18, 1804.

The event of which you have been advised has driven me into a sort of exile, and may terminate in an actual and permanent ostracism. Our most unprincipled Jacobins are the loudest in their lamentations for the death of General Hamilton, whom, for many years, they have uniformly represented as the most detestable and unprincipled of men--the motives are obvious. Every sort of persecution is to be exercised against me. A coroner's jury will sit this evening, being the _fourth_ time. The object of this unexampled measure is to obtain an inquest of murder. Upon this a warrant will issue to apprehend me, and, if I should be taken, no bail would probably be allowed. You know enough of the temper and principles of the generality of the officers of our state government to form a judgment of my position.

The statement [1] in the Morning Chronicle was not submitted to my perusal, I being absent at the time of the publication. Several circumstances not very favourable to the deceased are suppressed; I presume, from holy reverence for the dead. I am waiting the report of this jury; when that is known, you shall be advised of my movements. At present I have decided on nothing. Write under cover to Charles Biddle, Philadelphia.

A. BURR.

TO THEODOSIA.

July 20, 1804.

La G. has, on a recent occasion, manifested a degree of sensibility and attachment which have their influence on _gamp_. Her conduct is also highly honourable to the independence of her mind, for all her associations and connexions would lead to a different result. An interview is expected this evening, which, if it take place, will terminate in something definitive.

It was, indeed, a pretty ludicrous description which you received. On the other side you may add, real good-temper and cheerfulness; a good education, according to the estimation of the world. I shall journey somewhere within a few days, but whither is not yet decided. My heart will travel southward, and repose on the hills of Santee.

Adieu, my dear child.

A. BURR.

TO JOSEPH ALSTON.

Philadelphia, July 29, 1804.

The coroner's jury continued to the 26th (my last New-York date) to sit and adjourn. Upon suspicion that my friends had some knowledge of the subject, derived either from Van Ness or me, _warrants_ have issued to bring them in to testify. Matthew L. Davis was apprehended, and, refusing to answer, was committed to prison, where he now lies; probably Colonel Willett is now also in jail on the same account. Swartwout, Van Ness, and others are secreted. How long this sort of persecution may endure cannot be conjectured.

The ferment, which was with so much industry excited, has subsided, and public opinion begins to take its proper course.

A. BURR.

FROM JOHN SWARTWOUT.

New-York, August 2, 1804.

I was interrupted in my letter yesterday. The jury agreed to their verdict this morning at _two_ o'clock, _viz_., wilful murder by the hand of A. B. William P. Van Ness and Nathaniel Pendleton accessories before the fact. The only evidence, Bishop Moore. Edward Ferris, James Ferris, and a Mr. Milne dissented, and contemplate a protest against the illegal conduct of the coroner. Their counsel is James Woods. At four o'clock this morning I despatched an express to Van Ness. The printers, you perceive, continue their malevolence through the vilest motives; notwithstanding all this, there is a considerable reaction. The public palate has become satiated. The Nicholsons, the Gelstons, the Mills's, and may other demo's are rapidly travelling back to 1800. Mr. P. called and begged that the Chronicle might still be kept silent. He observed, that he mixed with these people, and found it to be the true policy. Although this is not my opinion, yet we must be governed by the advice of the majority.

The oration (by Gouverneur Morris) has displeased many republicans of the first water. Governor Morgan Lewis speaks of the proceedings openly as disgraceful, illiberal, and ungentlemanly. In short, a little more noise on their side, and a little further magnanimity on ours, is all that is necessary. In all this bustle, judicious men see nothing but the workings of the meanest passions. The Salem Gazette and the Boston Chronicle seem to take the most correct ground.

TO JOSEPH ALSTON.

Philadelphia, August 3, 1804.

The preceding is a summary of the intelligence by this day's mail. The purport of the inquest is confirmed by a letter from J.B.P. I am further advised that an application has been made to Governor Lewis, of New-York, requiring him to demand me of the governor of this state, with which Lewis will most probably be obliged to comply. I shall, nevertheless, remain here some days (from 8 to 20), that I may the better know the measures of the enemy. _Have no anxiety about the issue of this business._

A. BURR.

TO THEODOSIA.

Philadelphia, August 2, 1804.

Your letters of the 8th and 18th of July are received; the latter yesterday. You must not complain or find fault if I omit to answer, or even to write. Don't let me have the idea that you are dissatisfied with me a moment. I can't just now endure it. At another time you may play the Juno if you please. Your letters amuse and console me. Continue to write with this reliance, and without the expectation of pay in kind. I owe you no thanks for a letter if you demand prompt payment to the full amount.

All you write of the boy represents him such as I would have him. His refusal of the peaches reminded me of his mother. Just so she has done fifty times, and just so I kissed her; but then I did not give her peaches.

Nothing can be done with Celeste. There is a strange indecision and timidity which I cannot fathom. The thing, however, is abandoned; and, for a few months, I believe, all such things.

I shall be here for some days. How many cannot now be resolved. I am very well, and not without occupation or amusement. Nothing would give me so much pleasure as to hear that your time, or any part of it, is usefully employed.

A. BURR.

TO THEODOSIA.

Philadelphia, August 3, 1804.

You will have learned, through Mr. Alston, of certain measures pursuing against me in New-York. I absent myself from home merely to give a little time for passions to subside, not from any apprehension of the final effects of proceedings in courts of law. They can, by no possibility, eventually affect my person. You will find the papers filled with all manner of nonsense and lies. Among other things, accounts of attempts to assassinate me. These, I assure you, are mere fables. Those who wish me dead prefer to keep at a very respectful distance. No such attempt has been made nor will be made. I walk and ride about here as usual.

A. BURR.

TO THEODOSIA.

Philadelphia, August 11, 1804.

Your letter of the 25th July finds me in a moment of great occupation, being on the point of embarking for St. Simons. Write to me on receipt of this, and enclose to the postmaster at Darien, Georgia. The letter to me to be addressed to A. B., at Hampton, St. Simons; and pray write over again all you have written since the 25th, for the letters now on the way will not be received for some time. I shall lay a plan for meeting you somewhere, but whether I may have it in my power to visit the high hills of Santee is doubtful; I fear improbable. They say there is no going through the flat country at this season without hazard of life. Consult your husband about this, and write me as above directed. You shall hear from me the moment of my arrival anywhere; that is, I shall write, and you may read as soon as you can get the letter.

If any male friend of yours should be dying of ennui, recommend to him to engage in a duel and a courtship at the same time--prob. est.

Celeste seems more pliant. I do believe that eight days would have produced some grave event; but, alas! those eight days, and perhaps eight days more, are to be passed on the ocean.

My love to Natalie; to her girl and your boy. I have received a very charming letter from her, which shall be noticed when I get the other side of you. Adieu.

A. BURR.

TO JOSEPH ALSTON.

Philadelphia, August 11, 1804.

Your letters of the 21st and 25th July are just now received, and I have barely time to read them and transmit your orders to New-York about Montalto.

My plan is to visit the Floridas for five or six weeks. I have desired Theodosia to consult you whether there be any healthy point within a hundred miles or so of St. Simons at which we might meet. Might I safely travel through your low country at this season?

Theodosia fat and the boy pale are bad omens. For God's sake, or rather for theirs, your own, and mine, hurry them off to the mountains. I could, perhaps, as easily find you there as elsewhere. Warrants have been issued in New-York against all those charged with an agency in the death of General Hamilton, but no requisition or demand has been made by the governor of that state on this or any other, nor does it seem very probable that such demand will be immediately made.

I am negotiating to get an assurance from authority that I shall be bailed, on receipt of which I shall surrender.

The eastern republicans take part against the calumniators in New-York. Swartwout is now here. He thinks the tide has already turned in New-York. You had better open a correspondence with him.

A. BURR.

TO THEODOSIA.

Hampton, St. Simon's, August 28, 1804.

We arrived on Saturday evening, all well. The mail, which arrives but once a week, had just gone. An accidental opportunity enables me to forward this to Savannah.

I am at the house of Major Butler, comfortably settled. A very agreeable family within half a mile. My project is to go next week to Florida, which may take up a fortnight or ten days, and soon after my return to go northward, by Augusta and Columbia, if I can find ways and means to get on; but I have no horse, nor does this country furnish one. In my letter to your husband, written at the moment of leaving Philadelphia, I desired him to name some place (healthy place) at which he could meet me. Enclose to "Mr. R. King, Hampton, St. Simon's."

A. BURR.

TO THEODOSIA.

St. Simon's, August 31, 1804.

I am now quite settled. My establishment consists of a housekeeper, cook, and chambermaid, seamstress, and two footmen. There are, besides, two fishermen and four bargemen always at command. The department of laundress is done abroad. The plantation affords plenty of milk, cream, and butter; turkeys, fowls, kids, pigs, geese, and mutton; fish, of course, in abundance. Of figs, peaches, and melons there are yet a few. Oranges and pomegranates just begin to be eatable. The house affords Madeira wine, brandy, and porter. Yesterday my neighbour, Mr. Couper, sent me an assortment of French wines, consisting of Claret, Sauterne, and Champagne, all excellent; and at least a twelve months' supply of orange shrub, which makes a most delicious punch. Madame Couper added sweetmeats and pickles. The plantations of Butler and Couper are divided by a small creek, and the houses within one quarter of a mile of each other; accessible, however, only by water. We have not a fly, moscheto, or bug. I can sit a whole evening, with open windows and lighted candles, without the least annoyance from insects; a circumstance which I have never beheld in any other place. I have not even seen a cockroach.

At Mr. Couper's, besides his family, there are three young ladies, visitors. One of them arrived about three months ago from France, to join a brother who had been shipwrecked on this coast, liked the country so much that he resolved to settle here, and sent for this sister and a younger brother. About the time of their arrival, the elder brother was accidentally drowned; the younger went with views to make an establishment some miles inland, where he now lies dangerously