THE latest biographers of Aaron Burr have done full justice
to that strange political adventurer in their two substantial volumes, which, if somewhat flippant in style, are based on considerable research and contain some new letters and a long series of portraits. Burr is best remembered for killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel, in July, 1804, which arose out
of a political dispute. But, as the authors shoW, duels were common enough then and Burr's action was no crime in the American social code of the day. He continued, as Vice-President, to preside Over the Senate till his term expired in 1805. The more serious charge against him is that he planned the secession of the South-Western States and Territories from the Union in 1805-7, but the authors confirm the verdict of the jury which, under the direction of Chief Justice Marshall, acquitted Burr of treason. We know now that President Jefferson' strained the executive power in a vain attempt to destroy ' Burr, and that the President's chief witness; General Wilkinson, the commander in Louisiana, was in the pay of Spain. Burr undoubtedly contemplated an invasion of Spanish Mexico ; the authors think that Jefferson was at first privy to the scheme but afterwards thought it best to disown Burr. Yet, when all is said, Aaron Burr was.his own worst enemy. He was a successful advocate and a clever politician. He tied with Jefferson for -the Presidency, and he might with luck have beaten the father of the Democratic party. But he had no moral sense, and his legal triumphs were rendered futile by his absurd extravagance.
-He had many faithful Mends, both men and women, but he could never run straight. His enemies were possibly not any better men than he was, but they had the steady purpose which he lacked. His crowning misfortune was to live on to a dishonoured old age. He died in 1838 on the very day when his second wife, a woman of ill-repute whom he married for her money, procured a divorce from him. The authors charitably suggest that Burr was more than a little mad. American politics have produced no more curious figure, and his story is certainly most interesting.
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