simplicity. In reference to this demand upon him he wrote as follows to Mr. Hay :

"MONTICELLO, September 7, 1807.

"DEAR SIR,-I received, late last night, your favor of the day before, and now re-inclose you the subpoena. As I do not believe that the district courts have a power of commanding the Executive Government to abandon superior duties and attend on them, at whatever distance, I am unwilling, by any notice of the subpoena, to set a precedent which might sanction a proceeding so preposterous. I inclose you, therefore, a letter, public and for the court, covering substantially all they ought to desire. If the papers which were inclosed in Wilkinson's letter may, in your judgment, be communicated without injury, you will be pleased to communicate them. I return you the original letter.

"I am happy in having the benefit of Mr. Madison's counsel on this occasion, he happening to be now with me. We are both strongly of opinion, that the prosecution against Burr for misdemeanor should proceed at Richmond. If defeated, it will heap coals of fire on the head of the judge; if successful, it will give time to see whether a prosecution for treason against him can be instituted in any, and what other court. But we incline to think it may be best to send Blennerhasset and Israel Smith to Kentucky, to be tried both for the treason and misdemeanor. The trial of Dayton for misdemeanor may as well go on at Richmond."

The main points in the prosecution were to be found in the letters of General Wilkinson, and these were finally given to the court by the consent of their author. There were few better lawyers than Mr. Jefferson in conducting a case, and none could be more concerned than himself as to the progress or right result of this trial. Admitting, too, that Mr. Jefferson's whole Administration was eminently the work of one man, himself, little can be justly said against the part he took in directing the case of Burr. He was unwilling to leave the cause in the hands of the attorney for the Government, and after pushing the channels of evi

dence in every possible way, was so dissatisfied with the result as to cause him to utter some very arbitrary, tyrannical, and passionate things, such as declaring to Hay (the attorney) that Luther Martin, Burr's counsel, should be indicted as an accomplice, and by this step there would be a chance "to muzzle that impudent Federal bull-dog." Here, again, appears prominently what will always strike the careful reader as unfavorable to Mr. Jefferson, that he seldom resisted the disposition to question the motives of political opponents, or those who stood in the way of his purposes. Especially was he inclined to assign evil intentions to the actions of Justice Marshall, which he did not neglect on this occasion, notwithstanding the assaults made upon him by John Randolph and other legal aid in the defense.

That part of the President's message of December, 1806, to Congress, referring to slavery, was thoroughly discussed, and it is an interesting fact that Congressmen of both parties from nearly all the States voted for and against the measure, proposed from its recommendations, to repress the domestic slave-trade. Tennessee, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania voted for the measure entire, and the other States divided their votes. The greatest unanimity then existed in Congress against foreign slave-trade, or importing negroes from Africa.

Some difficulty arose this year as to the treaty with England, that government still reserving and claiming the power to prey upon the neutral rights of this country. The Senate and Executive opposed the new treaty, and although it had been signed by ministers Pinkney and Monroe, Mr. Jefferson at once notified them that

it could not be ratified, and afterwards, without consulting the Senate, rejected it.

Of course, this brought censure from the Federalists, and was considered a daring step toward Executive prerogative, and not at all in keeping with Mr. Jefferson's avowed principles, or his actions in the case of his predecessors.

On the 4th of May, 1806, in a letter to Mr. Monroe, then in Europe, looking to the Presidential succession, and not unmindful of the necessities and interests of his friends, Mr. Jefferson wrote:

"I wish you were here at present, to take your choice of the two governments of Orleans and Louisiana, in either of which I could now place you; and I verily believe it would be to your advantage to be just that much withdrawn from the focus of the ensuing contest, until its event should be known. The one has a salary of five thousand dollars, the other of two thousand dollars; both with excellent hotels for the Governor. The latter at St. Louis, where there is good society, both French and American; a healthy climate, and the finest field in the United States for acquiring property. The former not unhealthy, if you begin a residence there in the month of November. The Mrs. Trists and their connections are established there. As I think you can in four months inform me what you say to this, I will keep things in their present state till the last day of August, for your answer." In reference to his own and the country's needs Mr. Jefferson wrote in a letter to W. C. Nicholas, February 28, 1807, as follows:

"There is one subject which will not admit a delay till I see you. Mr. T. M. Randolph is, I believe, determined to retire from Congress, and it is strongly his wish, and that of all here, that you should take his place. Never did the calls of patriotism more loudly assail you than at this moment. After excepting the Federalists, who will be twenty-seven, and the little band of schismatics, who will be three or four (all tongue), the residue of the House of Representatives is as well disposed body of men as I ever saw collected. But there is no one whose talents and

standing, taken together, have weight enough to give him the lead. The consequence is, that there is no one who will undertake to do the public business, and it remains undone. Were you here, the whole would rally round you in an instant, and willingly co-operate in whatever is for the public good. Nor would it require for you to undertake drudgery in the House. There are enough able and willing to do that. A rallying point is all that is wanting. Let me beseech you, then, to offer yourself. You never will have it so much in your power again to render such eminent service."

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CHAPTER XXII.

AARON BURR-A METEOR IN THE POLITICAL SKY.

ITTLE of the history of the United States, in any

of its phases, is to be found connected with the lives of the Vice-Presidents, and generally, therefore, when they have not become Presidents there is meager inducement for giving them a place in this work, notwithstanding their high attitude in the Nation as able and valuable men. Hence but brief sketches of them will be given, and those incorporated with or attached to the lives of the Presidents with whom they were associated.

While most of them have been as worthy men as the Presidents, the difference of position has relieved them of historic importance, the great events of the Nation mainly pointing in some way to the Chief Executive. While many men in the country who have never held either of the "highest stations in the gift of the people," have been of much more, or at least equal, political consequence with those who have occupied the Chair of the Senate, it has mainly been the purpose of political parties to select, as their candidates for the Vice-Presidency, men who, in any emergency, would with dignity and honor take the place of the head of the Government. That the judgment. of the party leaders was at fault in the choice of Aaron Burr, there may now be no need of question,