hope of recovering his ascendency. This was the period of his life, wherein his career, past and future, appeared to centre, as the parts of an arch in its keystone. Two attacks of his assailants, strengthened in a great measure, by his well known character for intrigue, and his disregard of virtuous and religious principle, had been so far successful, as to interpose an insurmountable barrier to his future success as a politician. He was exiled from New-York and New Jersey as a murderer, and his ambition, thus suddenly arrested, sought for new objects and incentives. C'est des difficultes que naissent les miracles. As early as the year 1796, his mind had been occupied with the feasibility of revolutionizing the Spanish American Provinces. He now thought seriously of the project. The troubles then agitating those Colonies-the success of the expedition of Miranda-and the probability of a war with Spain, all combined to encourage the enterprize. His first step was the purchase of a large tract on the Washita, bought of the Spanish Government, by one Bastrop. Here he designed to settle a colony, and should anything occur to prevent the success of his principal plan, it was probably his determination to strengthen himself in this position, and "wait a more favorable crisis." He next proceeded to the accomplishment of his main object, the conquest of Mexico, and to this end all his extraordinary energies and talents were incessantly directed. Provided with accurate maps of the Spanish possessions-intimately acquainted with the topography of the country-its internal condition-means and resources-overlooking no power or influence which could be brought to his aid-corresponding with prominent individuals at the English Court-at home, seeking to secure the co-operation of Naval and Military officers, Senators and others high in office-in intimate connexion with the Commander-in-Chief of the army-daily drawing within the vortex of his ambition, men of wealth character, and station; with active agents, travelling the United States in various sections-emissaries spreading the seeds of revolution, even in Mexico; and himself journeying by day and by night, secretly marshaling the materials of his enterprise, we find him the head and soul of a vast piece of machinery, requiring the utmost

toil and exertion, energy, hardihood and address for its support and direction.* From his correspondence at this time, it is clear that his plan was originally based on the juncture of a war with Spain. When a rupture with that power no longer appeared probable, he determined to create a war, and to effect this object, he seems to have relied on the aid of General Wilkinson, with the troops under his command. It now became necessary, in a measure, to conceal his project. Though his aim was single, his ways of reaching it were complex and many. While, therefore, to those disaffected with the National Government, as in the case of General Eaton, he may have hinted various modes of "honorable indemnity," which were not of the most patriotic character; to others more bold, he disclosed his real design of revolutionizing Mexico, seizing on its government, and erecting a splendid Empire, of which he himself was to be chief; and to others, again, more cautious and timid, he unfolded only the peaceful enterprize of a settlement of the Bastrop Lands.

In August, 1806, he again proceeded to the West, for the purpose of carrying his plan into execution.† By this time, the government had been apprised that some design was on foot, fraught with danger to the peace of the country, and in November, on his return from New Orleans, the United States District Attorney moved the Circuit Court of Kentucky, for his arrest. The motion was denied, but Mr. Burr, being present, demanded an investigation of his case. The Grand Jury, however, were eventually discharged for want of testimony. The prosecution was renewed in December, but the Jury, instead of bringing a bill of indictment, represented that they could not, "from all the inquiry and investigation of the subject, discern that anything improper or injurious to the Government of the United States, or contrary to the laws thereof, was designed or contemplated." In

*In the month of April, 1805, he commenced a journey through the Western Country, and proceeded as far as New-Orleans. In November, of the same year, after his retnrn to Washington, he writes to his daughter, "there will be no war with Spain, unless we declare it, which is not expected."

Blannerhassett's Island was the point whence the expedition was to start, and here boats were collected, men assembled, and active preparations carried

on.

the Mississippi Territory, he was again brought before the public authorities, and was not only acquitted by the Grand Jury, but that body went so far as to censure the conduct of the Government. The news of these transactions, magnified and embellished by rumor, now penetrated into every portion of the Union. On the 22d of January, the President transmitted a message to Congress on the subject; on the 26th of the same month, a second message was sent; and the Senate, alarmed by the apparent danger of the country, passed a bill to suspend the writ of Habeas Corpus, which, however, was rejected by the other House. Having so successfully eluded the ordinary course of justice, the Government found it necessary to issue military orders for his seizure, and Burr having become alarmed as to the result, now fled towards South Carolina. On the 19th of February, 1807, he was arrested on the Tombigbee River, in the Mississippi Territory, and having been taken a distance of 1200 miles to Richmond, under a military escort, was there surrendered to the civil authorities, on a charge "of Treason against the United States, and of a misdemeanor in preparing and setting on foot, within the United States, the means of a military expedition against Mex-. ico." As the time appointed for his trial approached, the ferment into which the nation had been thrown by these extraordinary events, was increased rather than allayed, and during the trial, public interest and curiosity were excited to their highest pitch. The uncertain extent of the supposed conspiracy-the current whispers implicating many high in rank and station-the character of Burr for dark intrigue-the attachment of the people to their newly adopted institutions, and the natural abhorrence of every man for the detestable crime of treason, combined to excite mingled fear, indignation and wonder, and to swell the torrent setting against the accused.*

On the 22d of May, 1807, the trial came on before the Circuit Court of the United States at Richmond. Though unattended by those stately and imposing forms and

*So carefully had he veiled his designs, so much does mystery magnity danger, that the public mind seemed relieved when it was declared that his purpose had been to seize the city of New Orleans, to revolutionize the Ter. ritory attached to it, and to separate the Western from the Atlantic States." VOL. I.-NO. II.

16

ceremonies peculiar to the August Tribunals of Europe, having cognizance of offences against the State-though here were not the pomp, parade, and splendor of titled and hereditary Judges, there was a spectacle richly worthy of contemplation. The prisoner at the Bar had adorned one of the highest stations in the gift of the American people-he had occupied an equal place in their confidence he had wielded his sword in the contest for those liberties which he was accused of aiming to subvert. Nay, a few years since he had been within a step of ascending to that dazzling eminence, which, as it is bestowed by the free will of the People, is far superior to the birth-right of Monarchs. Now foiled and baffled in his ambitious schemes, deserted, reviled and persecuted, but with a firm undaunted bearing, he stood up before a jury of his countrymen, to answer a grave and heinous charge, involving in its result his life and reputation. On the Bench presided John Marshall,-the father of American Constitutional Law-as a jurist, learned and profound as a man free from passion, bias and prejudice

as a Judge, patient, impartial and just. On the one side with Burr, who spent his nights in ransacking books for cases and precedents, and, who in Court watching like a lynx to detect the slightest error or sophistry, was ever on the alert to expose the weakness of his adversaries; were arrayed the intrepid Wickham, the force of whose logic was equalled only by his invective and satire, the fearless Luther Martin, full of earnestness impetuosity and zeal, together with Baker, Botts and Randolph; on the other were Mc Ray, Hay and the eloquent classic, and, withal, clear and lucid Wirt,-a sound reasoner, a wise scholar, and a fervid, imaginative, though chaste speaker. The trial was long and arduous, on either side no exertion was spared; legal acumen and ingenuity were racked for the discovery of new weapons of defence and attack-motions were multiplied on motions, each morning saw the birth of some novel doubt or proposition, and its decision was followed by the origination of others equally perplexing. The cleverness of Counsel, in starting them, was surpassed only by the patience of the Court in hearing and deciding them. After fighting the ground inch by inch, and when the Counsel for the prosecution had finished the evidence relating directly to the overt act of Treason charged in

the indictment, and were about to introduce collateral testimony of acts done beyond the limits of the jurisdiction of the Court, the great struggle finally came on upon a motion to arrest this testimony as irrelevant. The indictment charged the accused with levying war against the United States, on Blannerhassett's Island. The Counsel for the accused contended, 1st, that conformably to the Constitution of the United States, no man could be convicted of treason who was not present when the war was levied: 2d, that no testimony could be received to charge one man with the overt acts of others, until those overt acts, as laid in the indictment, be proved to the satisfaction of the Court.

For eight days, these questions were discussed at length. They involved principles fraught with great and lasting importance, less to the accused than to every American citizen. The frightful consequences of the odious doctrine of constructive treason, written in characters of infamy and blood in the judicial annals of England; the merciless oppression and persecution of the noblest champions of liberty in that country under color of law; the cautious care exhibited by the founders of our constitution in defining this offence, evincing a jealous regard for the protection of the people against the encroachments of tyranny and power, all pointed forcibly to the danger of admitting such principles into our code of constitutional jurisprudence. In the contest on these points, we lose sight, for a time, of the conspirator, and are carried away by the deep interest and momentous magnitude of the theme. A precedent was to be established for the guidance of future generations, to be raised, perhaps, as a shield at some distant day, by some son of freedom contending against a corrupt government. Counsel caught, in a measure, the spirit of the cause in which they were in reality battling; they seemed inspired with fresh energy, sophistry was abandoned for cogent logic; declamation rose to fervid eloquence, and learning became deep research. On the thirty-first of August the Chief Justice delivered the opinion, that the indictment could be supported only by testimony which proved the accused to have been actually or constructively present when the assemblage took place on Blannerhassett's Island; or by the admission of the doctrine that he who procures an act may be indicted as having performed that act. It being