The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1883-01-06

! HitNiitN NC Nt9iNh VI
sett excited his cupidity. Visions of
empire and power and pomp disturb
ed the brain of this talented though
selfish, ambitious and yindictive man.
He remained only three days, but
afterwards frequently visited the is
land, finally winning the confidence
of husband and wife, and enlisting
them in his plans. These plans were
to settle an armed forceon the Washi-
ia river, to colonize that region, and,
in case war should break out between
Spain and the United States, as was
at that time threatened, to conquer
Mexico. Burr wished to gain access
to the wealth of Blennerhassett by
exciting his cupidity with the pros
pect of great speculations in land on
the Washita. He gave, as his secur-
ity for money advanced, his son-in
law, Mr. Allston, of South Carolina !;
and while they were perfecting their
plans, Mrs. Allston, the accomplished
daughter of Burr,was a guest of Mrs.
Blennerhas
In the vicinity of Marietta about
twenty barges had been constructed
by Blennerhassett for the expedition.
The strange appearance and con
struction of these boats excited curl
osity and suspicion. However, he
was not molested, He loaded them
with parched corn meal, and, having
on board about thirty men, went
down the Ohio. These singular
movements caused great excitement.
Burr was arrested on the charge of
conspiring treason against the Uni
ted States and taken to Richmond.
About the same time, Col. Phelps,
commandant of the militia of Wood
county, received orders for the arrest
of Blennerhassett and his associates
as accessories to Burr's conspiracy.
Mrs. Blennerhassett, with heroism
worthy of high spirited and accom-
plished lady, met the military with
unblanched cheek and forbade their
touching anything not mentioned in
the warrant; but sthe iaob spirit of
the militia ran riot; the well-stored
cellars of the mansion were assaulted !;
fences were destroyed to feed the
sentinels' fires; the shrubbery was
trampled under foot; and for amuse-
ment, balls fired into the rich gilded
ceiling of the wall" "By the all Of
some Of her kind neighbors in Bel.
prize, who were friendly to her hus-
band, and greatly pitied her unpleas
ant condition, she was enabled to en-
bark few days after, with her two
little sons, the most valuable of her
effects, and black servants, in a boat,
but did not rcjoin Blennerhassett
until he reached Louisville"
When Burr and his accompliccs
were taken to Richmond, they were
confined in the common jail to await
trial. There, among the wrctchcd
inmates of that prison, were two re-
markable men. In one part of the
building, stripped Of all his honors,
lay the man who lacked but a single
vote to make him President of the
United States. He still was q great
and brave man. His greatest faults
seem to have been his malice and sell
fishness, which have furnished the
name and fair fame Of man, who,
had he possessed mind less selfish,
malicious and ambitious, might have
had his name inscribed high up on
the roll Of honor, with Adams and
Washington, Lee and Jefferson. But
history will vindicate the man from
much Of the obloquy and vitupera-
ton, which have been heaped upon
him. However criminal duelling may
be, the killing Of Hamilton by Burr,
should bring no more reproach upon
the latter than upon other statesmen
and public men, who have fought
duels and killed their antagonists,a and
whom we have never heard tried at the
bar of public opinion as has Aaron
Burr Andrew Jackson, President of
the United States, deceived his an
tagonist and killed him. Commodore
Barron killed Commodore Decatur:
and the first young and loving wife
knew of the conflict that deprived her
of husband, was the newsof his death
which came few minutes before the
body arrived. Henry Clay fought
duel with John Randolph, of Roanoke.
Like Hamilton, Randolph fired his
pistol in the air. The weapon of
Clay, unlike that of Burr, missed its
mark. The quarrel was adjusted and
the men became friends. Yet not all
Of these men have received one half
the censure that has been cast upon
Aaron Burr.
At his trial Burr was charged with
conspiring treason against the United
States. The jury failed to convict
him, Chief Justice Marshall deciding
there is no such thing known to our
Constitution as conspiring treason
against the United States. He was
not acquitted for want of proof, as
commonly stated. All the evidence
in the world could not have convicted
him of conspiring treason, for no such
thing is known to our Constitution.
He had levied no war against the
United States; he had not adhered to
their enimies; he had given them no
aid and comfort-therefore he was not
guilty of treason. The accusation