Volume II Part 64 (1/2)
President $25,000 Vice-President 5,000 Chief Justice 4,000 a.s.sociate Justices 3,500 Attorney-General 1,500 Secretary of the Treasury 3,500 Secretary of State 3,500 Secretary of War 3,000 (_Annals_, 1st Cong., 1st Sess., Appendix, 2233-38.)
[1264] At the very beginning of the movement in his favor, Burr refused to encourage it. ”Every man who knows me ought to know that I disclaim all compet.i.tion. Be a.s.sured that the Federalist party can entertain no wish for such a change.... My friends would dishonor my views and insult my feelings by a suspicion that I would submit to be instrumental in counteracting the wishes and expectations of the United States. And I now const.i.tute you my proxy to declare these sentiments if the occasion shall require.” (Burr to Smith, Dec. 16, 1800; _Was.h.i.+ngton Federalist_, Dec. 31, 1800.)
[1265] Pickering to King, Jan. 5, 1801; King, iii, 366.
[1266] See _Aurora_, Jan. 21, 1801.
[1267] ”Lucius,” of Fredericksburg, Virginia, in the _Was.h.i.+ngton Federalist_, Jan. 21, 25, and Feb. 6, 1801.
The following extracts from the first of these articles reveal the temper and beliefs of the Federalists: ”Burr never _penned_ a declaration of independence; ... but he ... has _engraved that declaration_ in _capitals_ with the point of his sword: It is yet _legible_ on the _walls of Quebeck_. He has _fought_ for that _independency_, for which Mr. _Jefferson_ only _wrote_. _He_ has gallantly exposed his life in support of that declaration and for the _protection_ of its _penn-man_. He has been _liberal_ of his _blood_, _while_ Mr. _Jefferson_ has _only hazarded_ his _ink_....
”_He never shrank from the post of danger._ _He_ is _equally fitted for_ service in the _field_ and in the _public counsels_: He has been _tried_ in _both_: in the one we have seen him _an able and distinguished Senator_;--in the _other_ a _brave_ and _gallant officer_....
”_Mr. Jefferson_ is better qualified to give the description of a b.u.t.terfly's wing or to write an essay on the bones of the Mammouth; ...
but Mr. Burr ... in ... knowledge ... necessary to form the _great and enlightened statesman_, is _much superior_ to Mr. Jefferson....
”Mr. Burr is not ... _consecrated_ to the _French_; ... nor has he unquenchable hatred to ... Great Britain. Unlike the _penn-man_ of the declaration he feels the _full force_ of the expression, 'in _war enemies_, in _peace friends_'... Mr. Burr ... will _only_ consult _national honor_ and _national_ happiness, having no improper pa.s.sions to gratify.
”Mr. Burr is ... a friend of the Const.i.tution ... a friend of the commercial interests ... the firm and decided friend of the _navy_ ...
the _Eastern_ States have had a President and Vice President; So have the _Southern_. It is proper that the _middle_ states should also be respected....
”Mr. Burr has never procured or encouraged those infamous Calumnies against those who have filled the Executive departments ... which we long have witnessed: Nor have those polluted _Sinks_, the Aurora, the Argus, the Press, the Richmond Examiner, and the like, poured forth their _impure_ and _foetid streams_ at the influence of Mr. Burr, or to subserve his vanity or his ambition.
”If Mr. Burr is elected, the _Federalists_ have nothing to _fear_....
The vile calumniators ... of all who have ... supported our government, and the _foreign incendiaries_, who, having no interest in _Heaven_, have called _h.e.l.l_ to their a.s.sistance, ... from Mr. Burr have nothing to _hope_....
”Mr. Burr can be raised to the Presidency without any _insult_ to the feelings of the Federalists, the friends of Government; ... WITHOUT an _insult_ to the _Memory_ of _our_ Was.h.i.+ngton; for it was not by Mr.
_Burr_, nor was it by _his_ friends, nor to _serve him that the great, the good, the immortal_ Was.h.i.+ngton was charged with having, by his name, given a sanction to corruption, with being meanly jealous of the fame of even that contemptible wretch Tom Paine, with being an unprincipled Hypocrite and with being a foul murderer! a murderer under circ.u.mstances of such peculiar atrocity as to shock with horror the merciless savages, and to cause them indignantly to fly from his blood polluted banner!”
[1268] ”John Marshall ... is the reputed author of a great part of the [rubbish] in the Was.h.i.+ngton Federalist.” (Scots Correspondent [Callender] in _Richmond Examiner_, Feb. 24, 1801.) There is no proof of Callender's a.s.sertion; but some of the matter appearing in the _Was.h.i.+ngton Federalist_ is characteristic of Marshall's style and opinions. See, for instance, the editorial on the prosecution of Theodore Dwight, denouncing ”party spirit” (_Was.h.i.+ngton Federalist_, March 1, 1801). The _Aurora_ of March 26, 1801, denounced ”John Marshall's Federal Gazette at Was.h.i.+ngton.”
[1269] Monroe to Jefferson, Jan. 18, 1801; Monroe's _Writings_: Hamilton, iii, 256. An article signed ”Horatius” in the _Was.h.i.+ngton Federalist_ of Jan. 6, 1801, stated this position with great ability.
The argument is able and convincing; and it is so perfectly in Marshall's method of reasoning and peculiar style of expression that his authors.h.i.+p would appear to be reasonably certain.
”Horatius's” opinion concluded that the power of Congress ”is completely adequate ... to provide by law for the vacancy that may happen by the removal of both President and Vice President on the 3d of March next, and the non-election of a successor in the manner prescribed by the const.i.tution.”
[1270] Monroe to Jefferson, Jan. 18, 1801; Monroe's _Writings_: Hamilton, iii, 256.
[1271] Jefferson to Madison, Dec. 26, 1800; _Works_: Ford, ix, 161-62.
[1272] ”Hortensius” to John Marshall, Secretary of State, in the _Richmond Examiner_; reprinted in the _Aurora_, Feb. 9, 1801. George Hay, the writer of this letter, was a lawyer in Richmond. Jefferson appointed him United States Attorney for the District of Virginia, and, as such, he conducted the prosecution of Aaron Burr for treason before John Marshall, who, as Chief Justice of the United States, presided at the trial. (See vol. III of this work.)
Marshall was again attacked in two open letters, signed ”Lucius,” in the _Richmond Examiner_, Feb. 10, 13, 1801. His reported opinion, said ”Lucius,” alarmed ”the active friends of freedom”; Marshall was ”the Idol of his party” and knew the influence of his views: unless he publicly disclaimed the one now attributed to him, ”Lucius” proposed to ”unveil” Marshall's ”motives” and ”expose” him ”uncovered to the sight of the people”--his ”depravity shall excite their odium,” etc.
”Lucius's” attacks ended with Jefferson's election.
[1273] The paper criticized ”the intemperate counsel of a certain _would be attorney-general_ of the United States (George Hay, _Esq._ of the antient dominion) ... under the signature of Hortensius, and addressed to General Marshall, in consequence of a lie fabricated against him relative to an opinion said to have been given by him upon the late presidential election, which the honorable attorney knew to be a lie as well as we did, but was fearful of being forgot, and despaired of getting a better opportunity to shew himself!!!” (_Was.h.i.+ngton Federalist_, Feb. 12, 1801.)
[1274] Jefferson to Monroe, Feb. 15, 1801; _Works_: Ford, ix, 178-79; and see Jefferson to McKean, March 9, 1801; _ib._, 206.