Chapter III

New York Government at Sea—Plot to Assassinate Washington—Shocking Barbarity of English Officers—Hale and André, the Two Spies—Arnold in New York—British Evacuation—The Burr and Hamilty Tragedy of 1804—Robert Fulton and the “Clermont“—Public Improvements of 1825.

Hamilton was virtually the head of the opposition; and Burr believed his failure owing to certain disparaging utterances made by this distinguished opponent. He accordingly demanded a general and unconditional retraction, which, not being instantly complied with, was followed by a challenge for a duel. Burr had been observed by the boys of the neighborhood for some time, to be practising with a pistol in his park; and while Hamilton in the encounter innocently discharged his piece in the air, the aim of Burr produced deadly effect. These facts, coming to the knowledge of the people, produced the belief that he had sought the deliberate murder of Hamilton, who had long

Hamilton's Residence.

been his victorious opponent. Burr was found several hours after the occurrence in his arbor, reading one of his favorite authors as composedly as if nothing had happened, and even refused to credit the statement that Hamilton had been injured, and was then lying in a dying condition. The remains of Hamilton were interred amid the sighs and wails of the people, in the grounds at old Trinity, where they still remain. Having slain the nation's favorite, the indignation of the populace burst forth against Burr with such intensity that he was glad to abandon his palace home and seek refuge in the Southern States. We cannot trace minutely his later career. Arrested soon after and tried for treason, he consumed all his means in making his defence successful, after which he sailed for Europe. Sunk in deepest poverty and distress, he begged a passage back to the States in 1812. His wife had died some years previously, his only daughter, Mrs. Governor Alston, of South Carolina, and her son being the only surviving friends to claim his affection. About the time of his return from Europe, Aaron Burr Alston, his only grandchild, was laid in a little grave. The mother of this boy, a gifted woman, with unchanging affection for her doting father, soon after started North to visit and console him in his despised and wretched condition. But she was lost at sea, and never heard from after embarking; and her sorrow-stricken husband, after long, anxious, and disappointed search, expired suddenly under a burden of woe. By a singular providence, Burr lived on and passed his eightieth year. Like a shrivelled and fire-scorched oak, he still lifted his guilty head and looked down upon the desolation of his business, his popularity, his honor, his family, and his hopes for time and for eternity. What a sad and melancholy comment upon the insecurity of worldly fortune, and the unhappy fruit of deliberately abandoned principle!

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