“These whole proceedings will be laid before Congress, that they may decide whether the defect has been in the evidence of guilt, or in the law, or in the application of the law, and that they may provide the proper remedy for the past and the future.” There was no doubt as to where the President believed the defect to lie. Burr had escaped conviction of treason. But in his trial on the charge of a misdemeanor there was a prospect that the witnesses, who had been refused opportunity to testify by the Chief Justice, would be heard. “Not proved to be guilty by any evidence submitted to us.” The President in his letter made it clear that Mr. Hay was to be responsible for seeing that the evidence which had been withheld reached the eyes and ears of Congress. Then Congress would know where the defect lay and provide the proper remedy. The President had abandoned the hunt for Aaron Burr. He was now hot on the trail of the Chief Justice. _Chapter_ XIX An Act of Congress of 1794 provided that if any person should, within the jurisdiction of the United States, begin or set on foot a military expedition against the territory of any foreign power with whom the United States was at peace, he would be guilty of a high misdemeanor. It was under this statute that Burr, Blennerhassett, and their fellow conspirators now were to be tried. The specific charge against them was that they had begun or set on foot an expedition against Mexico, then a possession of Spain with whom the United States was at peace. It was the opinion of some people that, in their effort to have Burr exonerated of the charge of treason, his counsel had virtually admitted the misdemeanor. Blennerhassett, it will be recalled, criticized one of Luther Martin’s arguments for just that reason. In the few days that intervened between the two trials Colonel Burr was making the most of his new freedom. With the beautiful Theodosia on his arm he strolled through the town in order to give the Richmond populace full opportunity to see and admire her. The most serious crisis in her father’s affairs having passed, she was on the point of returning to South Carolina with her husband and son. Blennerhassett too had now been relieved of the ignominy of confinement behind bars. Released from the penitentiary he went to board in town while Colonel Burr moved from Luther Martin’s house to the one that had previously been occupied by the Alstons. It was not long before Blennerhassett received a visit from the Colonel. According to his own account he represented distinctly and with firmness that he expected to be repaid for all the financial losses he had suffered either through endorsing Burr’s papers or buying supplies for him. And, since he was no doubt quite aware that such payment was beyond the Colonel’s powers, he let him know that he intended to hold Alston answerable for any losses he might have sustained over and above the amount of Alston’s guarantee by letter.