It may be imagined that Colonel Burr observed with a critical eye the drabness of the setting. Had he been in charge of the arrangements, as in the trial of Justice Chase, surely he would have ordered things differently. Colored hangings would have cheered up the premises no end and perhaps even some artistic embellishment could have been thought up for the plain sand boxes distributed around the hall at intervals for the convenience of the tobacco chewers. In this austere atmosphere all the proceedings of the trial thereafter were to take place. It was notorious that counsel on both sides, like actors in a play, addressed their remarks to the audience as much as they did to the bench. Virginia was a big state with a variety of people. Since the crimes with which Colonel Burr was charged were alleged to have taken place on the western frontier, that territory was well represented both with respect to witnesses and spectators. So it was that in the trial room dignified gentlemen with hair powdered in the old style, and dressed in fine ruffled linen, black silk and knee breeches, rubbed shoulders with long-haired frontiersmen in leather hunting shirts and pantaloons. The argument was opened by Mr. Hay who quoted the act of Congress which made it a high misdemeanor for any person in the United States territory to prepare an expedition against a nation with whom this country was at peace. As evidence of Colonel Burr’s violation of the act he cited a letter written by the prisoner to General Wilkinson. Hay’s motion also asked that Burr be committed on a charge of treason. He based this request on the Burr letter to Wilkinson, to an affidavit given by the General, and also on an affidavit of one William Eaton. Eaton too bore the title of General, but its authenticity was questioned. Burr’s letter to Wilkinson had been written in Philadelphia in a cipher previously agreed upon between them. It was dated July 29, 1806, and read: “Your letter, postmarked 13th May, is received. At length I have obtained funds, and have actually commenced. The eastern detachments from different points, and under different pretences, will rendezvous on the Ohio, 1st of November. Everything internal and external favors our views. Naval protection of England is secured. Truxton [Commodore] is going to Jamaica to arrange with the admiral on that station. It will meet us at the Mississippi. England, a navy of the United States, are ready to join, and final orders are given to my friends and followers.