Memoirs of Aaron Burr, Volume 2.

M >> Matthew L. Davis >> Memoirs of Aaron Burr, Volume 2.

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You will find in this theory some incentive to the exertion of genius;
and I entertain no doubt but that, ere long, your letters will be sped
with the rapidity of a ray of light.

We have laughed at your horse negro, and have been very much amused by
the other charming little details. Thus letters should be written.

By this vessel I send two dozen pairs of long coloured kid gloves, and
half a dozen pretty little short ones, _pour monter a cheval._ They
are directed to your husband. I wish you would often give me orders,
that I may have the pleasure of doing something for you or your
amiable family.

I had like to have forgotten to say a word in reply to your inquiries
of matrimony, which would seem to indicate that I have no plan on the
subject. Such is the fact. You are or were my projector in this line.
If perchance I should have one, it will be executed before you will
hear of the design. Yet I ought not to conceal that I have had a most
amiable overture from a lady "who is always employed in something
useful." She was, you know, a few months past, engaged to another;
that other is suspended, if not quite dismissed. If I should meet her,
and she should challenge me, I should probably strike at once. She is
not of that cast, yet a preference to rank only is not very flattering
to vanity; a remark which may remind you of "_Le moi._"

Adieu, chere enfante.

AARON BURR.

TO THEODOSIA.

New-York, May 26, 1801.

Another parlementaire is preparing in this port, and _ma bonne amie_
and Natalie are again preparing to sail; but you may rest assured that
they will not go. Their preparations are evidently mere form, and they
are ready to yield to gentle persuasion. Yet you must not delay your
voyage hither, to aid, if necessary.

But, for a reason much more weighty, you must hasten--_il faut_. I
want your counsel and your exertions in an important negotiation,
actually commenced, but not advancing, and which will probably be
stationary until your arrival; more probably it may, however, in the
mean time, retrograde. Quite a new subject.

Who should present himself a few days ago but A. Burr Reeve. He has
come, with the consent of his father, to pass some weeks with me--more
astonishment. I have put him in the hands of Natalie. She will find it
a hard job, but she has entered on the duty with great zeal and
confident hopes of complete success.

By the time this can reach you, you will be ready to embark for
New-York. You will find me in Broadway. Richmond Hill will remain
vacant till your arrival. Adieu.

A. BURR.

TO THEODOSIA.

New-York, August 20, 1801.

Mr. Astor, if he should not meet you to deliver this letter, will send
it after you. Yet I dare not trust to such hazards the letters which I
have received for Mr. Alston and you, I persevere, therefore, in the
determination to retain them.

I was so very solicitous that you should see Niagara, that I was
constantly filled with apprehension lest something might prevent it.
Your letter of the 29th of July relieves me. You had actually seen it.
Your determination to visit Brandt gives me great pleasure,
particularly as I have lately received a very friendly letter from
him, in which he recapitulates your hospitality to him in _ancient
days_, and makes very kind inquiries respecting you; all this before
he could have entertained the remotest idea of seeing you in his own
kingdom.

Natalie and M. Senat have been for some weeks past at Trenton ; they
are now on their return, and will be here to-morrow. Vanderlyn, of
whom I said something in my last, will immediately set about her
picture. They (Natalie and Senat) are to go with the chancellor about
the last of September.

Wheeler will be here in a few days. Hampton is actually married to a
charming young girl--so General M'Pherson tells me. I forget her name.
Mr. Ewing is appointed consul to London, and has sailed. Mrs. Allen is
still at Elizabethtown. Adieu.

A. BURR.

TO THOMAS MORRIS.

New-York, September 18, 1801.

Mr. Vanderlyn, the young painter from Esopus, who went about six years
ago to Paris, has recently returned, having improved his time and
talents in a manner that does very great honour to himself, his
friends, and his country; proposing to return to France in the spring,
he wishes to take with him some American views, and for this purpose
be is now on his way through your Country to Niagara. I beg your
advice and protection. He is a perfect stranger to the roads, the
country, and the customs of the people, and, in short, knows nothing
but what immediately concerns painting. From some samples which he has
left here, he is pronounced to be the first painter that now is or
ever has been in America. Your affectionate friend,

A. BURR.

FROM P. BUTLER

Philadelphia, September 19, 1801.

DEAR SIR,

I was yesterday afternoon favoured with your friendly letter of the
16th. On the subject of removal from office, it appears to my finite
judgment that it should be done sparingly, and only where it was
absolutely necessary. It is true, that the appointments during the
latter part of Mr. Washington's administration, and the whole of Mr.
Adams's, were partial. It will, I think, be prudent not to follow
their examples. Every man removed adds twenty enemies to republicanism
and the present administration, while it gives us not one new friend;
for that man whose patriotism depended on his getting a place for
himself or connexion, is neither worth attending to nor keeping right.
You must be sensible that a general assault from one end of the line
to the other will be made on the present administration. It is,
therefore, highly incumbent to be moderate, though firm, to prove to
the great body of the landed interest, the true support of good
government, that the present administration are the friends of an
equal, mild, economic, and just government. We may expect the
political vessel to be assailed by waves, but we must steer an even
straightforward course--united as friends in the same fate.

Your observation respecting the political state of South Carolina is
more flattering to me than I merit. My offering for senator is out of
the question; but I am not, neither shall I be inactive on that
occasion. I shall always feel happy in meeting you anywhere.

You will shortly see a statement of the Carolina election in print, by
a gentleman who was present. I was not present, though I believe I
know the facts. The thing will not be passed over without notice.
Circumstantial facts are collecting. I regret that my two letters from
Carolina at that time did not get to your hand. Your friend,

P. BUTLER.

TO, JOSEPH ALSTON.

Albany, October 15, 1801.

Our Convention [7] met on Tuesday the 13th, and will probably continue
in session five or six days longer. I shall forthwith return to
New-York, beyond which I have no plan for the month of November,
except, negatively, that it will not be in my power to visit South
Carolina till spring.

On the road I passed half an hour with Mrs. L., late Mary A. She
appeared most sincerely glad to see me. She is still beautiful;
something ennuyed with the monotony of a country life; talked of you
with the warmest affection. It is really a fraud on society to keep
that woman perpetually buried in woods and solitude.

I am extremely solicitous to know how you get on. Pray make easy
journeys, and be not too impatient to get forward. Never ride after
dark, unless in case of unavoidable necessity, and then on horseback.
What a volume of parental advice. God bless you both.

A. BURR.

TO THEODOSIA

New-York, November 3, 1801.

It is very kind indeed to write me so often. Your last is from
Petersburgh. "Like gods," forsooth; why, you travel like--; that,
however, was a very pretty allusion. I have repeated it a dozen times
and more. Your other letters also contain now and then a spark of
Promethean fire: a _spark_, mind ye; don't be vain.

And so--has returned _sans femme_; just now arrived. He saw you and
spoke to you, which rendered him doubly welcome to A. B.

You made two, perhaps more conquests on your Northern tour--King
Brandt and the stage-driver; both of whom have been profuse in their
eulogies. Brandt has written me two letters on the subject. It would
have been quite in style if he had scalped your husband and made you
Queen of the Mohawks.

Bartow, &c., are well. Mrs. Allen better. Mrs. Brockbolst Livingston
dead. Mrs. Van Ness has this day a son. Thus, you see, the rotation is
preserved, and the balance kept up.

There are no swaar apples this year; some others you shall have, and
"a set of cheap chimney ornaments." I have not asked the price, but
not exceeding _eight hundred dollars!_ Did you take away "The man of
Nature?" I proposed to have sent that with some others to L. N., but
you have thus marred the project.

Since I began this letter I am summoned to leave town two hours before
daylight to-morrow morning, to return next day, when I shall know
definitely the result of the sale, which, indeed, is the object of the
journey. On my return I passed a day with M. A. Monsieur is cold,
formal, monotonous, repulsive. Gods! what a mansion is that bosom for
the sensitive heart of poor M. Lovely victim! I wish she would break
her pretty little neck. Yet, on second thought, would it not be better
that he break his? _He_ is often absent days and weeks. _She_ has not
seen the smoke of a city in five years; but this is dull. I had
something more cheerful to say; this, however, came first, and would
have place. And here am I, at midnight, talking such stuff to
bagatelle, and twenty unanswered letters of _vast importance_ before
me! Get to bed, you hussy.

A. BURR.

November 5.

This letter was nicely sealed up and laid on my table; late last night
I returned from the country, and found the letter just where I left
it. Very surprising! This was so like my dear self, that I laughed and
opened it, to add that Richmond Hill will probably be sold within ten
days for _one hundred and forty thousand dollars_, which, though not
half the worth, is enough and more.

A. BURR.

TO THEODOSIA.

New-York, November 9, 1801.

This fine day brings me your two letters from Raleigh and
Fayetteville, 28th and 30th of October. It is quite consoling to find
that you will have taken the precaution to inquire the state of health
before you venture your precious carcass into Charleston. A fever
would certainly mistake you for strangers, and snap at two such plump,
ruddy animals as you were when you left New-York.

You shall have apples, and nuts, and a cook, and _lucerne_ seed. As to
_femme de chambre_, I cannot speak with certainty. I have put in
motion the whole French republic on the occasion. Mrs. Kemble's friend
cannot be found. Most probably Madame S. has tortured into Gamble some
name which has not a letter of Kemble or Gamble in it.

Natalie sailed the Thursday after you left town, and she is probably
_now_ in Havre with her mother. A letter received from Madame d'Lage
[8] since Natalie sailed, advises us that she is there waiting for
her, which is indeed most fortunate, and relieves me from a small
portion of the anxiety which I suffer for that charming girl. Yet,
alas! there is room for too much. I expect to see her here within a
year.

Anna wonders you do not write to her. It never occurred to her that
she had not written to you: so she is now occupied, and you may soon
expect at least twenty pages from her indefatigable pen. I am going to
see Board. There is an ancient story of a man who once gave life and
spirit to marble (you may read it in the form of a drama in Rousseau).
Why may not this be done again? The sale of Richmond Hill goes on, and
will, I believe, be completed within eight days. The price and the
terms are agreed; some little under works retard the conclusion.

Adieu, my dear Theodosia.

A. BURR.

TO JOSEPH ALSTON

New-York, November 15, 1801.

I send the enclosed newspaper merely on account of the proceedings of
the Rhode Island legislature. They are on the second page. That, in
New-England, men should be found hardy enough to oppose, in public
speeches, the recommendation of a thanksgiving sanctioned by the usage
of one hundred and fifty years; that this opposition should prevail,
and the recommendation be rejected by a large majority of a House of
Assembly, are events the most extraordinary which the present
generation hath beheld.

It has been announced in your gazettes that I am to visit Charleston
this month. Nothing is more true than that my warmest wishes have
urged me to verify this expectation; but it is equally certain that I
shall do no such thing. When I expressed the hope of seeing your state
previously to the session of Congress, I did not know that I was
chosen a member of the Convention by the county of Orange, much less
could I foresee that I should be president of that Convention; and no
individual suspected that fifteen days would have been consumed in
accomplishing the business of six hours. These circumstances ought to
redeem my character, in this instance, at least, from the charge of
versatility or caprice, Vale.

A. BURR.

FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON.

Washington, November 18, 1801.

DEAR SIR,

Your favour of the 10th has been received, as have been those also of
September 4th and 23d, in due time. These letters, all relating to
office, fall within the general rule which even the very first week of
my being engaged in the administration obliged me to establish, to
wit, that of not answering letters on office specifically, but leaving
the answer to be found in what is done or not done on them. You will
readily conceive into what scrapes one would get by saying _no_,
either with or without reasons; by using a softer language, which
might excite false hopes, or by saying _yes_ prematurely; and, to take
away all offence from this silent answer, it is necessary to adhere to
it in every case rigidly, as well with bosom friends as strangers.

Captain Sterret is arrived here from the Mediterranean. Congress will
have a question as to all the Barbary powers of some difficulty. We
have had under consideration Mr. Pusy's plans of fortification. They
are scientifically done and expounded. He seems to prove that no works
at either the Narrows or Governor's Island can stop a vessel; but to
stop them at the Hook by a fort of _eight thousand_ men, and
protecting army of _twenty-nine thousand_, is beyond our present ideas
of the scale of defence which we can adopt for all our seaport towns.
His estimate of _four millions of dollars_, which experience teaches
us to double always, in a case where the law allows, but (I believe)
_half a million_ ties our hands at once. We refer the case back to
Governor Clinton, to select half a dozen persons of judgment, of
American ideas, and to present such a plan, within our limits, as
these shall agree on. In the mean time, the general subject will be
laid before Congress. Accept assurances of my high respect and
consideration.

THOMAS JEFFERSON.

TO THEODOSIA.

New-York, November 20, 1801.

It is several days since I wrote to you, and many more since I
received a letter from you. That from Fayetteville is still the last.

"Gamble's" protegee could not be found. You will probably gain by the
exchange. That whom I shall send you is a good, steady-looking animal,
_agee vingt trois_. From appearance, she has been used to count her
beads and work hard, and never thought of love or finery. The enclosed
recommendation of Madame Dupont, the elder, will tell you more. You
are in equal luck with a cook. I have had him on trial a fortnight,
and he is the best I ever had in the house; for cakes, pastry, and
jimcracks, far superior to Anthony. In short, he is too good for you,
and I have a great mind not to send him; you will be for ever giving
good dinners. He has something of the manner and phisiognomy of Wood,
your teacher. _M'lle la femme de chambre and Monsieur le Cuisinier_
are both pure French (not creole), and speak well the language. He
will take with him a quantity of casseroles and other implements of
his etat. They will be shipped off next week.

The sale of Richmond Hill is all off; blown up at the moment of
counting the money, partly by whim and partly by accident; something
else will be done to produce the effect. I go to Philadelphia in two
or three days; but shall return, and not set off for Washington till
near Christmas. Mrs. A.'s health is much improved. God bless thee.

A. BURR.

TO THEODOSIA.

Philadelphia, November 26, 1801.

Your letter of the 7th of November, from _Yaahanee_, is received at
this place. Though I am in the house with Mr. and Mrs. Lowndes, and
several other Carolinians, yet we are wholly ignorant of your
position. No one ever heard of Yaahanee. I suspect it to be some
Mohawk word, which T. B. A. has been pleased to retain and apply--a
very pretty name, I acknowledge. Your reception has, indeed, been
charming; it reads more like an extract from some romance than matter
of fact happening in the nineteenth century within the United States.
I will ride fifty miles out of my way to see that lady.

The great business, as you are pleased to call it, has brought me
hither. Not merely to see the statue, nor have I yet seen it; but am
in the way. It will be a heavy job, considering that B. is on the
spot. To return to the business. It will go on; it must go on; it
shall go on. It will be Christmas before I see the city of Washington.
My lodgings are near the capitol, and next door to Law, who has
removed since we were together at his house. Your cook and maid must
be detained at New-York till my return, which will be in about eight
days.

Your letter is pretty and lively, and indicates health, content, and
cheerfulness, which is much better than if you had told me so, for
then I should not have believed a word of it.

You have learned from the newspapers (which you never read) the death
of Philip Hamilton. [9]

Shot in a duel with Eacker, the lawyer. Some dispute at a theatre,
arising, as is said, out of politics. The story is variously related;
will give you a concise summary of the facts, in fifteen sheets of
paper, with comments, and moral and sentimental reflections. To this I
take the liberty of referring you.

A. BURR.

TO THEODOSIA.

New-York, December 8, 1801.

By the ship Protectress you will receive all your things, together
with cook and maid. To sail on the 14th. On the day of sailing I will
write to you, enclosing the bills of lading.

Your interesting letter of the 23d is this day received. It brings me
to the familiar acquaintance with your amiable circle, and admits me
to your fireside more than any thing you have written. Mrs. Allen is
here. Anna will, to all appearance, be married before spring to a
merchant of the name of Pierpont. Catharine is astonished that she has
not yet an answer to her letter. I have told her that she can by no
possibility have one before Christmas. In your reading, I wish you
would learn to read newspapers; not to become a partisan in politics,
God forbid, but they contain the occurrences of the day, and furnish
the standing topics of conversation. The reading of newspapers is a
knack which you will acquire in six weeks, by reading, during that
time, every thing. With the aid of a gazetteer and atlas, you must
find every place that is spoken of. Pray, madam, do you know of what
consist the "Republic of the Seven Islands?" Do you know the present
boundaries of the French republic? Neither, in all probability. Then
hunt them.

Now, one word of self. I came here on the 6th, and shall remain in
New-York till near the 20th. Then to Washington. The business is in a
prosperous way. My great love for the fine arts, especially sculpture,
may detain me a week in Philadelphia. Adieu, ma belle.

A. BURR.

Footnotes:

1. Mr. Burr had left the Senate previous to the date of this
memorandum.

2. This is not all. It has already been demonstrated, and the fact is
notorious, that, from the year 1777 until after the adoption of the
Federal Constitution, the Livingstons and Clintons were not acting in
concert. The Livingstons were of the Schuyler party. Before the
revolutionary war there were two great contending families in the
state of New York; but they were the Van Rensellaers and the
Delancies. The former espoused the whig cause, the latter the cause of
the tories.

3. George W. Irwin, subsequently minister to the court of Spain.

4. Major General Jacob Brown, late of the United States army.

5. Former United States Marshal of the Southern District of the state
of New-York, and son of that distinguished revolutionary financier,
the Honourable Robert Morris.

6. Frederick Prevost, son of Mrs. Burr by her first husband.

7. A Convention to revise the Constitution of the State; of which
Convention Colonel Burr was president.

8. The mother of Natalie.

9. Son of General Alexander Hamilton.

CHAPTER X.

TO JOSEPH ALSTON.

New-York, December 13, 1801.

Herewith is enclosed a duplicate of the bill of lading, specifying the
articles shipped for you on board the Protectress--She sailed this
afternoon. The president's message, of which a copy was sent you by
this ship, will have reached you through other channels long before
her arrival.

One idea contained in this message is much applauded by our ladies.
They unite in the opinion that the "energies of the men ought to be
principally employed in the multiplication of the human race," and in
this they promise an ardent and active co-operation. Thus, then, is
established the point of universal coincidence in political opinion,
and thus is verified the prophetic dictum, "we are all republicans, we
are all federalists." I hope the fair of your state will equally
testify their applause of this sentiment; and I enjoin it on you to
manifest your patriotism and your attachment to the administration by
"exerting your energies" in the manner indicated.

"To kill is brutal, to create Divine."

I propose--now observe, this is not to be published--I propose early
in the spring to take a ramble with you through your mountains. You
had best say nothing of your project of a location in the hills until
it shall be executed; for, if competition should arise before you
shall be suited, it would increase the expense of an establishment. I
am impatient to hear that you are settled and at work. Very
affectionately,

A. BURR.

FROM DAVENPORT PHELPS.

New-York, December 15, 1801.

SIR,

The enclosed copy of a letter from Captain Brandt to Isaac Chapin,
Esq., superintendent of Indian affairs in the state of New-York,
comprising (I conceive) the plan by him committed to me, and to which
he alludes in his letter to yourself, for introducing moral
instruction among the Indians. This plan, agreeably to his request,
was recommended by the superintendent, and, so far as it respects the
ordination of a missionary, has been accomplished.

It yet remains, Sir, to provide means of support; and when the
question respecting the instruction of their youth can be determined,
by what means and in what manner this shall be effected.

I will, at present, only use the freedom to suggest whether it might
not conduce to the furtherance and facilitating the above design to
appropriate for their accommodation a suitable portion of land at or
in the vicinity of Sandusky. Were the scattering tribes concentrated,
and with them some of their countrymen and others as patterns of
industry and morality, such circumstances must be highly favourable to
attempts to bring them into the habits of civilization.

I am, with great respect,

DAVENPORT PHELPS.

FROM JOSEPH BRANDT.

Grand River, May 7, 1800.

SIR,

About three weeks since I received a message from Obeel to attend a
council at Buffalo, where I expected the pleasure of seeing you. We
attended and waited a few days; but the chiefs there not being ready
to meet us, and we having business which required our attendance at
this place, were under the necessity of coming away. Had I been so
fortunate as to have met you there, it was my intention to have
conversed with you upon a subject which I have long considered as most
important and interesting to the present and future well being of the
Indians, on _both sides_ of the lakes and at large; namely, their
situation in a moral point of view, and concerning measures proper to
be taken in order that regular and stated religious instruction might
be introduced among them.

You well know, Sir, the general state of the Indians residing on the
Grand River, as well as in other parts. A considerable number of some
of these nations have long since embraced Christianity, and the
conversion of others must depend, under the influence of the Great
Spirit, on the faithful labours of a resident minister, who might
visit and instruct both here and elsewhere, as ways and doors might,
from time to time, be opened for him.

The establishment and enlargement of civilization and Christianity
among the natives must be most earnestly desired by all good men; and
as religion and morality respect mankind at large, without any
reference to the boundaries of civil governments, I flatter myself
that you, sir, will approve what many of the chiefs here, with myself,
are so greatly desirous of.

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