MEMOIRS

OF

AARON BURR.

WITH

MISCELLANEOUS SELECTIONS

FROM

HIS CORRESPONDENCE.

BY MATTHEW L. DAVIS.

"I come to bury Cæsar, not to praise him."

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. II.

NEW-YORK:

PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS,

NO. 82 CLIFF-STREET.

S

[Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1836, by MATTHEW L. DAVIS,

in the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York ]

CONTENTS

OF

THE SECOND VOLUME.

CHAPTER I.

Colonel Burr's study of the law; shortness of his study; dif-

ferent opinions respecting his law learning; his definition of

law; his manner of preparing causes and of conducting suits;

his maxim for sluggards; tendency to mystery in his practice;

fondness for surprising an opponent; an illustration of this re-

mark; his treatment of associate counsel; nice discrimination

in the selection of professional agents; their various character-

istics; the same acuteness displayed in politics; anecdote on

this subject that occurred during the contested election in 1800;

great coolness and presence of mind in civil as well as military

life; an example in the death of Mr. P.; commenced practice

at the close of the revolution under the most favourable au-

spices; multiplication of his papers; condensation a peculiar

trait in his mind; never solicited a favour from an opponent; a

strict practitioner; character of his mind; manner of speaking;

accorded to General Hamilton eloquence; an incident in rela-

tion to Hamilton and Burr in the cause of Le Guen vs. Gouv-

erneur and Kemble; letter from John Van Ness Yates ex-

planatory of Chief Justice Yates's notes on that occasion; the

effect he produced as a speaker; his display of extraordinary

talents on his trial at Richmond; his legal opinions on various

important occasions; a letter from him evincing his great

perseverance when nearly eighty years of age Page 13-25

CHAPTER II.

A brief history of the rise of political parties in the state of New-
York; the city of New-York the rendezvous of the tories, from
which they communicated with the British ministry during the
war; feelings of the whigs on this subject; Joseph Galloway,
of Philadelphia, sails in 1778 for England; his correspond-
ence with the loyalists extensive; extracts from various let-
ters written during the war of the revolution, viz., from the