That explains why and how a former Vice-President of the United States found himself in the toils of the law. The rumors of conspiracy that had spread throughout the country during the last two years had now been confirmed by the President of the United States. Burr’s guilt, declared that highest authority, was “beyond question.” And, but for the honor of Wilkinson the soldier and the fidelity of Wilkinson the good citizen, who acted in the nick of time, no telling where the country would be. Such was the official version. No wonder the general public, in the face of the damning evidence, expected the ensuing trial to be a mere formality. No wonder a toast that became universally popular was drunk to “Aaron Burr--may his treachery to his country exalt him to the scaffold, and hemp be his escort to the republic of dust and ashes.” The gallows might loom before him. Burr surveyed the prospect with his accustomed calm. _Chapter_ III When fortune thus rudely delivered Burr at its gates Richmond was a thriving community of over 5,000 souls. Of these from a third to a half were colored slaves. The town, situated on the falls of the James River, enjoyed the distinction of being the seat of government of a commonwealth which, despite the loss of Kentucky, still extended from the Atlantic coast to the Ohio River and included the present West Virginia. It ranked as one of the important cities of the young nation along with Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Charleston, South Carolina. Richmonders boasted that their city, like Rome, was built on seven hills. These overlooked the river on the north. The most conspicuous of them was the lofty promontory known as Capitol Hill on which stood the state capitol, an impressive structure with a columned portico facing the river and some hundred or more feet above it. Credit for the design was given to Jefferson who took as his model the Roman temple known as the Maison Carrée at Nismes, France. Richmond owed its commercial prosperity to being the city in the state farthest inland on navigable water. It was dominated by Scotch merchants who imported manufactured goods from Europe and sold them to their fellow townsmen and the planters nearby. Then they bought from the planters grain and tobacco which they marketed abroad or in the cities to the north, taking a nice profit on each transaction.