Burr was no better pleased with the Chief Justice’s decision on the Hay motion than was its author. In his disappointment at not being granted complete exoneration he ignored the courageous behavior of Judge Marshall in his behalf at the critical moment when the mob was hot on Burr’s heels. Three days after the rendering of the final decision he wrote in disgust to Theodosia: “After all, this is a sort of drawn battle. The Chief Justice gave his opinion on Tuesday. After declaring that there were no grounds of suspicion as to treason, he declared that Burr and Blennerhassett should give bail in $3,000 for further trial in Ohio. “This opinion was a matter of regret and surprise to the friends of the Chief Justice, and of ridicule to his enemies--all believing that it was a sacrifice of principle to conciliate Jack Cade.” Gratitude was not one of Colonel Burr’s most conspicuous attributes. _Chapter_ XX It will be recalled that when Aaron Burr was under suspicion in the Fall of 1806 he made haste to assure his friends in no uncertain language that there was no truth in the rumors. Senator John Smith of Ohio, who had received the Colonel cordially on his visit to Cincinnati, was among the first to grow alarmed and to make direct inquiry. Burr replied that he was “surprised and hurt” at the unusual tenor of Smith’s letter. He then went on to say: “If there exists any design to separate the Western from the Eastern States, I am totally ignorant of it. I never harbored or expressed any such intention to anyone, nor did any person ever intimate such design to me.” A month later, in November, Burr addressed a letter to Governor William Henry Harrison, of the Northwest Territory. “Considering the various and extravagant reports which circulate concerning me,” he said, “it may not be unsatisfactory to you to be informed (and to you there can be no better source of information than myself) that I have no wish nor design to attempt a separation of the Union, that I have no connection with any foreign power or government, that I never meditated the introduction of any foreign power or influence into the United States, or any part of its territories, but on the contrary should repel with indignation any proposition or measure having that tendency; in fine, that I have no project or views hostile to the interest, or tranquillity, or union of the United States, or prejudicial to its government; and I pledge to you my honor for the truth of this declaration.” Within the space of a few days he was assuring Henry Clay that: “I have no design, nor have I taken any measure, to promote a dissolution of the Union or a separation of any one or more States from the residue.... I do not own a musket nor a bayonet, nor any single article of military stores, nor does any person for me by my authority or with my knowledge.”