Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1857-07-08
BURR AND BLENNERHASSET.
BY WILLIAM WRIT.

settle this question of precedence between
them. 1t may save good deal Of trouble
some ceremony hereafter.
"Who Aaron Burr is, We have seen, in part,
already. will add that, beginning his opera
tions in New York, he associates with him
men whose wealth is to supply the necessary
funds. Possessed of the handspring, his per-
sonal labor contrives all the machinery. Per-
vading the continent from New York to New
Orleans, he draws into his plan, by every al
lurement which he can contrive, men of all
ranks and descriptions. To youthful ardour
he presents danger and glory; to ambition,
rank and titles and honors; to avarice, the
mines of Mexico. To each person whom he
addresses he presents the object adapted to
his taste. His recruiting officers are appoint
ed. Men are engaged throughout the conti-
nent. Civil life is, indeed, quiet upon its sur
face, but in its bosom this man has contrived
to deposit the materials which, with the slight
est touch of his match, produce an explosion
to shake the continent. All this his restless
ambition has contrived and in the autumn Of
1906, he goes forth, for the last time, to apply
this match. On this occasion he meets with
Blennerhasset.
ssWho is Blenncrhasset7 A native OF Ire
| land a man of letters, who fled from the
storms of his own country to find quiet in ours.
His history shows that war is not the natural
element of his mind. If it had been, he nev-
er would have exchanged Ireland for America.
So far is an army from furnishing the society
natural and proper to Mr.. Blencerhasset's char
acter, that on his arrival in America, he retir-
| ed even from the population of the Atlantic
States, and sought quiet and solitude in the
| bosom of our Western forests. But he car
ried with him taste and science and wealth ;
and 10, the desert smiled. Possessing himself
| of beautiful island in the Ohio,h rears upon
| it palace, and decorates it with every roman
tic establishment of fancy. A shrubbery,
that Shenstone might have envied, blooms a.
round him. Music, that might have charmed
Calypso and her nymphs. is his. An exten-
sive library spreads its treasures before him.
A philosophical apparatus offers to him all the
secrets and mysteries Of nature. Peace, tran
| guilty and innocence shed their mingled de-
| lights around him. And to crown the enchant-
| ment of the scene, wife, who is said to be
lovely even beyond her sex, and graced with
every accomplishment that can render ii irri
sistable, had blessed him with her love and
made him the father of several children. The
evidence would convince you that this is but
a feint picture of the real life. In the midst
of all this peace, this innocent simplicity and
this tranquility, this feast of the mind, this
pure banquet of the heart the destroyer comes;
he comes to change this paradise into a hell.
Yet the flowers do not wither at his approach.
No monitory shuddering through the bosom of
their unfortunate possessor warns him of the
ruin that is coming upon him. A stranger
presents himself. Introduced to their civili-
| ties by the high rank which he had lately held
| in his country. he finds his way to their
hearts. by. the dignity and elegance of his de-
| meanor, the light and beauty of his conversa-
ton, and the seductive and fascinating power
of his address. The conquest was not diff
cult. Innocence is ever simple and credu-
| lous. Conscious of no design itself, it sus-
poets none in others. 1t wears no guard be-
fore its breast. Every door and portal and
avenue of the heart is thrown open, and all
| who choose it enter. Such was the state of
Eden when the serpent entered its bowers
The prisoner, in a more engaging form, wind
ing himself into the open and unpracticed
heart of the unfortunate Blennerhasset, found
but little difficulty in changing the native char
acter of that heart and the objects of its affec-
ton. By degrees he infuses into it the poison
of mis- own ambition. He breathes into it the
fire of his OWE courage; daring and despe-
rate thirst for glory an ardour painting for
great enterprises, for all the storm and hustle
and hurricane of life. In short time the
| whole man is changed, and every object of his
| former delight is relinquished. No more he
| enjoys the tranquil scene it has become fiat
and insipid to his taste. His books are aban-
doned. His retort and crucible are thrown a.
side. His shrubbery blooms and breathes its
fragrance upon the air in vain he likes it not.
His ear no longer drinks the rich melody of
music; it longs for the trumpet's clangor and
the cannon's roar. Even the prattle of his
babes, once so sweet, no longer affects him
and the angel smile of his wife, which hither-
| to touched his bosom with ecstacy so unspeak-
able, is now unseen and unfelt. Greater OBJ
jects have taken possession of his soul. His
imagination has been dazzied by visions OF di-
adems, of stars and garters and titles OF nooii-
ity. He has been taught to burn with restless
emulation at the names Of great heroes ana
/ conauerors. His enchanted island IS destined
| soon to relapse into wilderness; and in few
months we find the beautiful and tender part
| ner of his bosom, whom he lately permitted
not tho winds of summer sto visit too rough