“I mean to say,” interrupts Jefferson, “that you must be ready to meet every trick that Marshall can play against the Government. For all his black robe, is he of different clay than any other? Believe me, he’s a Federalist long before he’s a judge! Let me ask a question: Why did Marshall, the chief justice, mind you, hold the preliminary examination of Burr? Why, having held it, did he not commit him for treason? Why did he hold him only for a misdemeanor, and admit him to bail? Does not that look as though Marshall had taken possession of the case in Burr’s interest? You spoke a moment ago of the propriety of Hay prosecuting the charge against Burr, being, as he is, the Government’s attorney for that district. Does not it occur to you that his honor, Judge Griffin, is the judge for that district? And yet Marshall shoves him aside to make room on the bench for himself. Sir, there is chicanery in this. We must watch Marshall. A chief justice, indeed! A chief Federalist, rather! Why, he even so much lacked selfrespect as to become a guest at a dinner given in Colonel Burr’s honor, after he had committed that traitor in ten thousand dollars bail! An excellent, a dignified chief justice, truly!--doing dinner table honor to one whom he must presently try for a capital offense!” “Justice Marshall’s appearance at the Burr dinner”--Wirt makes the admission doubtfully--“was not, I admit, in the very flower of good taste. None the less, I should infer honesty rather than baseness from such appearance. If he contemplated any wrong in Colonel Burr’s favor, he would have remained away. Coming to the case itself,” says Wirt, anxious to avoid further discussion of Judge Marshall, as a topic whereon he and Jefferson are not likely to agree, “what is the specific act of treason with which the Government charges Colonel Burr?” “The conspiracy, wherein he was prime mover, aimed first to take Mexico from, the Spanish. Having taken Mexico, the plotters--Colonel Burr at the head--purposed seizing New Orleans. That would give them a hold in the vast region drained by the Mississippi. Everything west of the Alleghenies was expected to flock round their standards. With an empire reaching from Darien to the Great Lakes, from the Pacific to the Alleghenies, their final move was to be made upon Washington itself. Sir, the Federalists hate this republic--have always hated it! What they desire is a monarchy. They want a king, not a president, in the White House.” “I learn,” observes Wirt--“I learn, since my arrival, that Colonel Burr has been in Washington.” “That was three days ago. He demanded copies of my orders to General Wilkinson. When I prevented his obtaining them, he said he would move for a _subpoena duces tecum_, addressed to me personally. Think of that, sir! Can you conceive of greater impudence? He will sue out a subpoena against the President of this country, and compel him to come into court bringing the archives of Government!”