The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-08-24
BURR AND HAMILTON.

The letter from our correspondent Jacques" printed in another place in this issue. refers to subject that has for generations been the cause of much bitter and unsatisfactory discussion and differences of opinion. By one side Burr has been denounced as a traitor, a murderer and an altogether disreputab1e specimen of American cit- izenship. while the other side has held him up as a cruelty wronged and per- secuted patriot. The one side regard ed Hamilton as the victim of foul crime and the other side maintained that he was only the recipient of what he deserved.
 Neither view is d correct one. Aaron Burr was & man of his times. and the times were very much out of joint du- ring the most active years of his life. He was a man of strong intellect, wide information towering ambition, and withal a shrewd and not over- scrupulous politician. He first in- cured the bitter i'll will of the people by his efforts to defeat Jefferson for the Presidency in 1s0o--which he mar rowly missed. by the way. Jefferson was then popular and Burr's opposi- tion. legitimate politics though 1t was, raised the most violent and bitter hat red at a time when political feeling ran high and men became enemies be- cause they differed in politics. Jeffer- son triumphed eand Burr bitterly re- sented his own defeat,
 The ill-feeling against Burr was in- tensified when in 1894 he killed Alex ander Hamilton in a duel. This was denounced as a murder, very unjustly, however. Whatever we may now think of duelling it was at that time looked on as the only method by which gentlemen could settle personal difi- culties. So far as we know there was nothing more criminal in the duel and it's result than in hundreds of others of that period. both in this country and Europe. But he was already under 8 ban and this added to 1t. He was not a murderer, nor was Hamilton either 8 saint or & martyr. He, also, was 6 man of the times in which he lived, and perhaps was about as bad as Burr, if measured by the strict code of moral ity.
 We are not writing a defense of Burr. He lacked very much of being the kind of man that good people should admire. but he was very far from being the character his enemies charged. Many stones have been thrown at him by those who had no right to throw them. Tho charge of treason was bosh. to say the least of 1t. His intended effort to descend on Mexico-and found a government of his own, perhaps-may not have. been either a sensible. practicable or prop CT movement. but it was not treason against the United States. and his en- emies failed to sustain the charge be- fore the courts. He may have been an enthusiastic dreamer. but treason was not among his sins.
 As we have said, we are not writing an eulogy or defense of Burr, -ut merely calling attention to some facts Impartial history has cleared his name of many of the cruel accusations made against him a century ago and less That he had grave faults is true. That his life was not a blameless one is equally true. but his declining years. summed by most of his former asso- ciates. ground down by abject poverty. embittered and stricken by the sad fate of his only daughter. Mrs Theo- dore Burr Allston. whose death has never been explained. we may well draw the broad mantle of charity over him and his life. remembering that if he sinned he was not the only one.