DEAR SIR,--My letters for ten days past had assured me that all was
settled and that no doubt remained but that J. would have 10 or 11 votes
on the first trial; I am, therefore, utterly surprised by the contents
of yours of the 3d. In case of usurpation, by law, by President of
Senate pro tem., or in any other way, my opinion is definitively made
up, and it is known to S. S. and E. L. On that opinion I shall act in
defiance of all timid, temporizing projects.
On the 21st I shall be in New York, and in Washington the 3d March at
the utmost; sooner if the intelligence which I may receive at New York
shall be such as to require my earlier presence.
Mr. Montfort was strongly recommended to me by General Gates and Colonel
Griffin. At their request I undertook to direct his studies in pursuit
of the law. He left New York suddenly and apparently in some agitation,
without assigning to me any cause and without disclosing to me his
intentions or views, or even whither he was going, except that he
proposed to pass through Washington. Nor had I any reason to believe
that I should ever see him again. You may communicate this to Mr. J.,
who has also written me something about him.
Yours, A. B.
Mr. Gallatin in the last years of his life came upon this letter, and
endorsed on it, in a hand trembling with age, the following words with a
significant mark of interrogation:
"had thought that Jefferson would be elected on first ballot by 10 or 11
votes (out of 16)?"
Burr's last letter in this connection was written from Philadelphia
after the result was decided:
BURR TO GALLATIN.
PHILADELPHIA, February 25, 1801.
DEAR SIR,--The four last letters of your very amusing history of
balloting met me at New York on Saturday evening. I thank you much for
the obliging attention, and I join my hearty congratulations on the
auspicious events of the 17th. As to the infamous slanders which have
been so industriously circulated, they are now of little consequence,
and those who have believed them will doubtless blush at their own
weakness.
The Feds boast aloud that they have compromised with Jefferson,
particularly as to the retaining certain persons in office. Without the
assurance contained in your letter, this would gain no manner of credit
with me. Yet in spite of my endeavors it has excited some anxiety among
our friends in New York. I hope to be with you on the 1st or 2d March.
Adieu.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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