USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress Vol. III > Part 17
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described to Theodosia his journey from Washington to New York with a foot depth of snow upon the ground. He wrote : "The Vice-President having with great judgment and science calculated the gradations of cold in different latitudes, discovered that for every degree he should go north he might count on four and a half inches of snow. Thus he was sure of sixteen and a half inches at Philadelphia, twenty-one inches at New York, and so for all intermediate space. Hence he wisely concluded to take off the wheels from his coachee and set it on runners. This was no sooner resolved than done. With his sleigh and four horses he arrived at Baltimore at early dinner. Passed the evening with Madame Bona- parte; all very charming. Came off this morning; fine sleighing. Within six miles of the Susquehanna the snow appeared thin; within four, the ground was bare. He dragged on to Havre de Grace, and here he is in the midst of the most forlorn dilemma. Having neither wife nor daughter near on whom to vent spleen renders the case more deplor- able." He added a note to this letter before it was mailed : "I left my runners and got wheels at Philadelphia."
At a caucus in February Jefferson was unanimously nominated for re-election ; and Governor George Clinton was substituted for Burr as a candidate for Vice-President. There was to be an election for governor in New York, and since Burr was left out of the national nominations he resolved to see what he could do through an appeal to the people of his
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BURR'S STRUGGLE FOR THE GOVERNORSHIP.
own State. The independent party known as Burrites had become a rec- ognized power in New York, and might draw assistance from both the Fed- eralists and Republicans. Attack the aristocratic combination of the Clintons and Livingstons on the one hand, and that of Hamilton and the Schuylers on the other, and multitudes would cleave to a leader who had no band of brothers to unite in appropriating the wealth, the patronage, and the authority of the State. "We must make family influence un- popular, and New York will be ours," said Burr to one of his warm parti- sans on the evening after his arrival from Washington. He spent about two weeks in the city before returning to the seat of government. He had always possessed the rare faculty of inspiring reckless young men with his own daring; and mild-tempered elderly gentlemen were greatly attached to him. There was still another element, comprehending men of all ages, which would be a substantial support in the emergency. It was the new population of the State and city which had been pouring in from other States, particularly from New England, freighted with all the accumulated piques and prejudices of a century against the ruling fami- lies of New York, with whom they had no blood connection or natural sympathy. Burr stood before them in his prime, brilliant, cheerful, witty, fascinating, with a sharp, kindly black eye - a lithe, stylish, capti- vating man, with remarkable elegance of address. Nothing daunted him. Nothing depressed him. Just before leaving New York on his Feb. 16. return to Washington he wrote to Theodosia : "The Clintons, Liv- ingstons, etc., had not at the last advice from Albany decided on their candidate for governor. Hamilton is intriguing for any candidate who can have a chance of success against A. B. He would doubtless become the advocate even of De Witt Clinton if he should be the opponent."
Two days later Vice-President Burr was announced as an independent candidate for governor of New York. On the 20th the Re- publicans nominated Judge Morgan Lewis for governor, and John Feb. 20. Broome for lieutenant-governor.
The storm commenced forthwith. It was the most inclement March the political world of New York had ever known. The newspapers were filled with disgusting personalities ; and the war of words raged unabated up to the very day of the election in April. Burr's private character, which no one could honestly defend, was assailed in the most obnoxious manner. But the Burrites dwelt continually upon his admirable fitness for office because he had no train of family connections to quarter upon the public treasury. It is curiously interesting to trace the course of human perversity and absurdity in both instances. It does not appear that our predecessors were any wiser than ourselves.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
Burr's equanimity of temper was undisturbed through it all. He wrote to Theodosia on the 28th of March : "They are very busy 1804. here about an election between Morgan Lewis and A. Burr ; the former supported by the Clintons and Livingstons, the latter per se. ] would send you some new and amusing libels against the Vice-President, but as you did not send me the speech . . . . it may not be desired. I shall get the speech, no thanks to you ; there is a copy in Philadelphia, for which I have written, and it will come endorsed by the fair hand of Celeste. The Earl of Selkirk is here; a frank, unassuming, sensible man of about April 25. thirty. He dines with me on Monday." In the midst of the election tempest Burr wrote to his daughter in a similar easy, gossiping strain: "The thing began yesterday, and will terminate to- morrow. My headquarters are in John Street, and I have, since begin- ning this letter, been already three times interrupted." In regard to summer arrangements he added : "You take Richmond Hill; bring no horse nor carriage. I have got a nice, new, beautiful little chariot, made purposely to please you. I have also a new coachee, very light, on an entirely new construction, invented by the Vice-President. Now these two machines are severally adapted to two horses, and you may take your choice of them. Of horses, I have five ; three always and wholly at your devotion, and the whole five occasionally. Harry and Sam are both good coachmen, either at your orders. Of servants, there are enough for family purposes. Mr. Alston may bring a footman. Anything further will be useless ; he may, however, bring six or eight of them if he like. The cellars and garrets are well stocked with wine, having had a great supply last fall." Before closing this peculiar epistle Burr added, "I forgot to speak of the election. Both parties claim majorities, and there never was, in my opinion, an election of the result of which so little judgment could be formed."
In the city of New York Burr actually received a majority of perhaps one hundred votes. But returns from the country dispelled the May 1. brief exultation. Morgan Lewis was elected by a large majority.
Burr attributed his defeat mainly to the powerful influence of Hamilton, who took no active part in the canvass, but whose opinions were freely and perpetually quoted by those who did. Burr may have thought that Hamilton was the only obstacle to his triumphant formation of a great national independent party, with possibilities of reward in the highest gift of the people at the end of another four years. Parton says : "Burr's spirits rode as buoyantly and as safely over all disasters as a cork over the cataract of Niagara." Hamilton had won immense glory this very spring by defending, at Albany, before Chief Justice Lewis of the Supreme
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HAMILTON'S LIBEL SUIT.
Court, with unparalleled eloquence, an editor of a Hudson newspaper who had been indicted for a libel on President Jefferson. Hamilton had volun- teered to defend the liberty of the press ; and he denounced the maxim, "The greater the truth the greater the libel," at least in its relation to political publications, as wholly inconsistent with the genius of American institutions. His argument was electrical in its effects upon his audience, and it resulted in the law of libels being eventually placed upon a true and correct foundation, perfectly consistent with the liberty of the press and the protection of the good name and reputation of every in- dividual citizen.
Hamilton had always spoken of Burr as a dangerous man. He had no faith in him. He regarded him as an unprincipled, reckless, cool, design- ing villain, both in his private as well as in his political character, and had never hesitated to express that opinion while warning his Federal friends against Burr's arts and intrigues. During the election struggle two letters from the pen of Dr. Charles D. Cooper were published containing the two following paragraphs : "General Hamilton and Judge Kent have declared, in substance, that they looked upon Mr. Burr to be a dangerous man, and one who ought not to be trusted with the reins of government"; and, " I could detail to you a still more despicable opinion which General Ham- June 17. ilton has expressed of Mr. Burr." It was some weeks after the election before these came under Burr's notice, but he immediately re- solved to make them the excuse for forcing Hamilton into a duel.
William P. Van Ness, a young lawyer who was devoted to Burr, was the bearer of Cooper's printed letters to Hamilton, with a note from Burr himself demanding "a prompt and unqualified acknowledgment or denial of the use of any expressions which would warrant Cooper's as- sertions."
Hamilton had not before that moment seen Cooper's letter, but he perceived a settled intention of fixing a quarrel upon him. He de- clined an immediate answer; on the 20th he wrote at consider- able length, declining to be interrogated as to the justice of the June 20. inferences which others might have drawn from what he had said of a political opponent during fifteen years' competition. He said he could not enter into any explanations upon a basis so vague. But intimated his readiness to avow or disavow any definite opinion he had expressed respecting any gentleman. Burr replied with sharp directness, and offensively criticised Hamilton's letter. " Political opposition can never absolve gentlemen from the necessity of a rigid adherence to the laws of honor and the rules of decorum," he said. In short, he required a general disavowal, on the part of Hamilton, of any intention, in any
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conversation he might have ever held, to convey impressions derogatory to his honor.
It was quite out of the question for Hamilton to make any such dis- avowal. But desirous of depriving Burr of any possible pretext for persisting in his murderous intentions, he made several attempts at pacific arrangements, which Burr arrogantly pronounced "mere evasions." June 27. The challenge was finally given and accepted. Judge Nathaniel Pendleton, acting for Hamilton, stated that a court was then sitting in which Hamilton had much business to transact, and some delay was una- voidable, as he was unwilling to expose his clients to embarrassments, loss, or delay. Thus the meeting was arranged for the 11th of July, at seven o'clock in the morning.
In the interim Burr and Hamilton went about their daily business as usual. It was afterwards remembered of Hamilton that he pleaded his causes and consulted his clients with all his wonted vigor, courtesy, and address. His beloved wife saw no cloud upon his brow as he returned to The Grange every afternoon. On the 4th of July the two adversaries met at the annual banquet of the Cincinnati, of which Hamilton had been president since the death of Washington, and of which Burr was a member. Hamilton, as master of the feast, was overflowing as usual with vivacity. He was urged to sing the only song he ever sang or knew, the famous ballad of The Drum, and although he seemed more reluctant than usual to comply with the wishes of the company, he said at last, " Well, you shall have it." He sang in his best manner, greatly delight- ing all present. Burr was never a fluent talker in public places, but an excellent listener. It was noticed that he was even more silent than usual on this occasion. When Hamilton commenced singing, Burr turned towards him and leaning upon the table watched him closely until the song was finished.
It was on a warm bright summer morning that these two political
chieftains stood before each other prepared for mortal combat. July 11. The place where they fought was the singularly secluded grassy ledge or shelf in the woods at Weehawken, which had been the scene of so many deadly encounters. It was many feet above the waters of the Hudson, picturesquely shaded with the tangled cedars which almost totally obscured the view of New York City in the distance. No resi- dence was within sight on that shore of the Hudson, there were no roads leading to or from the spot, and no footpath existed in any direction. Parties coming from the city in boats clambered up the ragged rocky heights as best they could, and every precaution was taken to prevent discovery.
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"It was on a warm bright summer morning that these two political chieftains stood before each other prepared for mortal combat. " Page 492.
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THE DUEL OF BURR AND HAMILTON.
On this fatal morning Burr and his friends arrived half an hour be- fore Hamilton, and ordered their boat moored a few yards down the river. Hamilton's boat was seen approaching at precisely the moment expected. The principals and seconds exchanged the usual salutations as they met. The distance, twelve paces, was carefully measured. Lots were cast for the choice of position, and to decide who should give the word. It fell in both cases to Judge Pendleton, the second of Hamilton. The principals were placed, Hamilton looking over the river toward the city, and Burr turned toward the heights, under which they stood. As the pistol was placed in Hamilton's hand Pendleton asked, " Will you have the hair-spring set ?" " Not this time," was the quiet reply. Pendleton then explained to both principals the rules which had been agreed upon with regard to the firing -- after the word " present " they were to fire as soon as they pleased. The seconds then withdrew the usual distance.
" Are you ready ?" said Pendleton. Both answered in the affirmative. A moment's pause ensued. The word was given. Burr raised his pistol, took aim, and fired. Hamilton almost instantly fell, his pistol going off involuntarily. Dr. Hosack and Mr. Matthew L. Davis, listening atten- tively below, heard the report of the pistols, and with the boatmen hurried up the rocks, while Burr, shielded from their observation by an umbrella in the hands of Van Ness, stepped briskly down the steep to the boat, and was rowed swiftly across the river to Richmond Hill. Dr. Hosack found Hamilton half lying, half sitting on the grass, supported in the arms of Pendleton, and apparently in a dying condition. "Doctor," he said, " this is a mortal wound," and immediately swooned away. A brief ex- amination convinced Dr. Hosack that all attempts to save his life would be fruitless, and the inanimate form was lifted tenderly and borne down the ragged declivity to the boat.
As the little craft moved slowly out upon the broad bosom of the Hudson Hamilton revived, and glancing about him observed his pistol. "Take care of that pistol," he remarked feebly, “ it is undischarged, and still cocked ; it may go off and do harm. Pendleton knows that I did not intend to fire at him." "Yes," replied Pendleton sadly, "I have already made Dr. Hosack acquainted with your determination as to that."
Hamilton then closed his eyes and remained tranquil, except to ask the doctor once or twice how he found his pulse, until they neared the wharf, when he said, " Let Mrs. Hamilton be immediately sent for ; let the event be gradually broken to her, but give her hopes." Looking up he saw his devoted friend, Mr. Bayard, waiting at the landing in great agitation, having heard from his servant that Hamilton with his two friends had crossed the river together, and of course divined the nature
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of their errand. Bayard burst into tears and lamentations when Dr. Hosack called to him to have a cot prepared. The dying statesman watched the scene calmly, and gave the necessary directions for his removal. He was borne to Bayard's house, and everything that medical skill or human love could suggest was done for his comfort. Dr. Wright Post was immediately called in, but like Dr. Hosack saw no possible hope of Hamilton's recovery. General Key, the French Consul, invited the surgeons of the French frigates in the harbor to hasten to the assistance of Dr. Hosack and Dr. Post, which they did, but were convinced that nothing could be done for Hamilton's relief.
The most touching picture was when Mrs. Hamilton with their seven children appeared at his bedside overwhelmed with anguish unspeakable. His mind still retained all its marvelous strength, and although he fre- quently murmured in low accents to his physician and others who were administering to his necessities, "My beloved wife and children," as if his anxiety was chiefly for them, yet his fortitude triumphed over the situation. "Once, indeed," wrote Dr. Hosack, "at the sight of his children, brought to the bedside together, seven in number, his utterance forsook him ; he opened his eyes, gave them one look, and closed his eyes again until they were taken away. As a proof of his extraordinary composure of mind, let me add," continues Dr. Hosack, "that he alone could calm the frantic grief of his wife. 'Remember, my Eliza, you are a Christian,' were the expressions with which he frequently, with a firm voice, but in a pathetic and impressive manner, addressed her. His words, and the tone in which they were uttered, will never be effaced from my memory." Hamilton lingered in great agony through the day and night, and until two o'clock of the next afternoon, July 12th.
Meanwhile, by nine o'clock on the morning of the 11th, news of the duel had reached the city. Presently a bulletin appeared, and the pulse of New York stood still at the shocking announcement : -
" General Hamilton was shot by Colonel Burr this morning in a duel. The General is said to be mortally wounded."
People started as if stunned and turned pale as they read. Men walked to and fro aimlessly and tearfully, then rallied and sought further infor- mation in breathless anxiety. Business was almost entirely suspended. For the moment everything was forgotten except the services and the fame of the victim. Bulletins, hourly changed, kept the city in agonizing suspense. All party distinction was lost in the general sentiment of sorrow and indignation.
When the death of Hamilton was finally reported, a cry of execration upon his murderer burst from the lip and heart of the multitude. The
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PUBLIC AND PRIVATE GRIEF.
merchants of the city met and resolved to close their stores on the day of the funeral, to order all the flags of the shipping at half mast, and to wear crape for thirty days. The bar met in profound grief and agreed to go into mourning for six weeks. The Cincinnati, the Tammany Society, the St. Andrews Society, the General Society of Mechanics, the students of Columbia College, the military companies, and the Corporation of the city with Mayor De Witt Clinton at its head, all passed resolutions of sorrow and condolence, and agreed to wear mourning and attend the funeral. Indeed, the cortege on that solemn occasion comprised every body of men that had a corporate existence. The whole city was in mourning. The funeral ceremonies were conducted by the Cincinnati - which had lost its illustrious chief. The partisans of Burr made it a point to display their respect for the fallen statesman by appearing in the procession. The precious remains were conveyed from the residence of John B. Church, the brother-in-law of Hamilton, to Old Trinity, while minute- guns from the artillery in the Park and at the Battery were answered by the French and British ships of war in the harbor as the proces- sion moved. Gouverneur Morris, with the four sons of the deceased by his side, delivered a brief but thrilling oration in memory of his slaughtered friend. He said, and the words are still ringing in the Amer- ican ear : "You know how well he performed the duties of a citizen - you know that he never courted your favor by adulation or the sacrifice of his own judgment. You have seen him contending against you, and saving your dearest interests as it were in spite of yourselves. I declare to you before that God in whose presence we are now especially assembled, that in his most private and confidential conversations the single objects of discussion were your freedom and happiness. The care of a rising family, and the narrowness of his fortune, made it a duty to return to his pro- fession for their support. But though he was compelled to abandon pub- lic life, never, no, never for a moment did he abandon the public service. He never lost sight of your interests. And knowing his own firm pur- pose (never to accept office again), he was indignant at the charge that he sought for place or power. For himself he feared nothing; but he feared that bad men might, by false professions, acquire your confidence and abuse it to your ruin." And when dust was lovingly consigned to dust in Trinity Churchyard, and the parting volley had been fired over the statesman's grave, the vast crowd dispersed in silence and in tears, each man carrying to his home a sense of profound personal sorrow and bereavement.
America wept. Every generous and every selfish consideration com- bined to make Hamilton's untimely death a subject for national mourn-
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ing. Into the forty-seven years of his remarkable life he had compressed such an amount of difficult and laborious service as few men have ever rendered to any country in the longest term of human existence ; and he had fallen just when his great powers were in their meridian fullness. " My soul stiffens with despair when I think what Hamilton would have been," wrote Fisher Ames. "My heart, penetrated with the re- membrance of the man, grows liquid as I write, and I could pour it out like water. But it is not as Apollo, enchanting the shepherds with his lyre, that we deplore him; it is as Hercules, treacherously slain in the midst of his unfinished labors, leaving the world overrun with mon- sters."
Angelica, Hamilton's beautiful daughter of twenty, who had not yet recovered from the shock occasioned by her favorite brother's violent death, lost her reason through the terrible affliction, and was hencefor- ward the sad charge of her grief-stricken mother.1 Mrs. Hamilton sur- vived her husband half a century. Popular feeling took the character of wrathful indignation towards the immediate author of all this sorrow and ruin as soon as the tenor of the correspondence between Burr and Ham- ilton became known. It was well understood that Hamilton abhorred the practice of dueling. The last words from his pen were a reiteration of his opinions on the subject from a religious and moral point of view. Burr was, in public sentiment, a murderer, and his name was spoken with a hiss of horror and disgust. The coroner's jury, after ten or twelve days of investigation, during which time Matthew L. Davis and another gentleman were imprisoned for refusing to testify, brought in a verdict to the effect that " Aaron Burr, Vice-President of the United States, was guilty of the murder of Alexander Hamilton, and that William P. Van Ness and Nathaniel Pendleton were accessories."
The astonishment of Burr at these unexampled proceedings was beyond expression. He had anticipated temporary excitement "which would soon blow over," never dreaming that the fatal shot which destroyed his great rival was to extinguish his own ambitious projects and plunge him
1 Alexander Hamilton, born January 11, 1757, died July 12, 1804, married Elizabeth Schuyler December 14, 1780. Their children were : 1. Philip, born January 22, 1782, killed in a duel November 24, 1801 ; 2. Angelica, born September 25, 1784, died unmarried ; 3. Alexander, born May 16, 1786, married, but left no children ; 4. James Alexander, born April 14, 1788, married Mary Morris, died 1878, leaving four daughters and one son, Alex- ander, now residing at Dobb's Ferry ; 5. John Church, born August 22, 1794, whose large family of sons and daughters reside chiefly in New York City ; 6. William Stephen, born August 4, 1797, died unmarried in California : 7. Eliza, born November 20, 1799, married S. Augustus Holly ; 8. Philip, born June 7, 1802, married Rebecca, daughter of Louis McLane (now resides at Poughkeepsie); whose two sons were Captain Louis McLane Hamilton, killed at the battle of Wachita, and Dr. Allan McLane Hamilton.
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BURR'S SUBSEQUENT MOVEMENTS.
into life-long disgrace. Under cover of the public prejudice in favor of dueling he had sheltered his criminal designs against a man who his apologists say " had utterly opposed and forbidden his advancement"; and with fearless self-possession had not only executed his purpose, but had cut the ground from under his own feet and left Jefferson in undisputed possession of the field. From the day of the duel Vice-President Burr ceased to be a political leader.
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