The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1903-08-31

combination. but history has not placed
Clay and Adams in her rogues' gallery.
Now in 1900 the custom to presidential
elections was not settled. Bv law. the
electoral colleges were vested with the
power of choosing for president and vice
president men whose names had not been
before the people at all. The Hamiltonian
anti-democratic plan gave them this pow
er for the express purpose Of deprving
'the great beast" of the right to choose
its rulers Only by the irresistible force
of popular sentiment have the electors
been made the mere registers of the VIII
of the people.
In 1900 the ideas controlling the case
were so vague that oobody claimed the
election of Jefferson to the first place and
Burr to the second.
Ballots did not specify for which place
the presidential candidate had contested.
Therefore the republican ticket of 1900
h.. re-,~osnnt-
ed by 10 votes in the electoral college.
These two names being the highes. the
law required that they should both go
before the house to be voted for as can
didates for the presidency
Now, then. what ought Burr to have
done2
His party had not intended him for the
presidency-no voter had intended.
Should he take the office by operation Of
law? If congress chose TO exercise its
discretion and make him the president,
should he accept.
That is the case and the whole case.
jefferson had taken the office of vice
president by operation of law. excluding
the candidate who had been chosen by
ha
the rule work both ways?
A man Of the incest honor like John
Jay or James Madison would not have
hesitated He would have spurned even
the appearance of evil. would not have
allowed his name used to defeat the will
of the people would not have allowed
political enemies in congress to thrust
upon him an office which political friends
had not intended to give. When federal
ism resorted to strategy to divide and
conquer the republicans by elevating Burr
over jefferson, the simplest dictates oil
honor required that Burr should stand by
his friends and help to defeat the plots
OF the enemy
THAT he did not do so his unpardon-
able sin-unforgiven by his party and by
the historian.
lie did not actively aid the federallsts
He STAYED at Albany, where bis daughter
was about to marry, and where legislative
duties engaged him. lie wrote letter
repudiating the plot OF the 1ederailsts
and declining to give AID to tho intrigue.
Ills attitude was that of Hands off.
1Ia may have meant that federalism
should consider him a Barkis who was
,,,il1i,,e, h}1t there is no proof that he Went
further than that.
As 10 Hamilton, the record is positive
~ painful TO see a really great man
degrade himself to crafty a personal
spleen is never an inspiring sight
During the previous campaign Hamil-
ton mad exerted himself In most treach-
er0us. interruptions manner 20 have
Pinckney the vice presidential candidate
on the federalist ticket, come in ahead Of
John Adams
Now that federalism was showed under,
he set himself to SOW dscord between
JefGersoF~ and Burr.
He wrote to that willy knave Oliver
Wolcott a letter which is surely one of
the meanest extant After denouncing
Burr for being bankrupt, Hamilton, who
was himself insolvent, SAYS in reference
TO Burr's supposed ambition to be presi-
dent:
yet it may be well to throw out lure
for the place, and then lay the foundation
OF disunion between the two Chiefs So
it would seem that Burr needed tempt
ing required lure and the federalists
were to lay the net In order TO bring about
strife between Jefferson and Burr.
When it Is borne IN mind that 1t was
the political strategy of the federalists
to play off one Of these republican chiefs
against the other, and the only pretense
of evidence We have against Burr as to
his conduct at this time comes from fed
eralist sources, the whole case assumes
a. new aspect.
Had Burr been willing to go 10 Wash
ington ana canvass for the presidency.
had he made the pledges which the Bay
ards Of federalism demanded. and which
Jeffersons friends unknown TO Jefferson
did make there can be no doubt that he
would have been president Of the United
States 1t only needed that he should
crook his finger in the way of active self
help.
And had Aaron Burr become president
who can say that he would not have
made a good one-as good as X. b.
Hayes, for example?
There were turns in the tide OF ma
tional fortunes during the next few years
when his indomitable courage, his fer
tiity of resource, his decision OF char
acter, his address and firmness, might
have been infinitely valuable to hts coun-
try. Let deal justly with this man.
His nature had in 1t the seeds Of good
and of evil, and when his fortunes be-
came desperate he soured on q world
which he thought had been too hard on
him, and the evil Of his nature devel-
oped. 1t made him a criminal, out
law. an Ishmaelite
But who is SO very wise as TO know
that, had success continued to reward his
ambition. he would not have identified
that ambition with the best interests OF
his native land?
Burr's ability was conceded lie had
been a brilliant soldier As New York S
attorney general and as United States
senator his record was so good that his
name had been voted for in the electoral
college twice before this BY sheer force
of will and intellect he had wrested New
work from the Hamilton Schuyler fac
ton, in defiance Of the money power and
lieved that his morals were loose hut
there had been sickening Maria Rev
nolds exposures about him, and his fam
lily relations were beautiful as those
OF Jefferson himself.
1t was thought that he was politically
tricky, but nobody had accused him of be- |
traying his own party. His tricks We're
were popular with the republicans. for