Memoirs of Aaron Burr Part 24

On retiring from the army, Colonel Burr visited his friends in New-Jersey and Connecticut. He had previously determined, as soon as his health would permit, to commence the study of law. During the four years he was in public service, his patrimony was greatly impaired.

Towards his brethren in arms he had acted with liberality. Naturally of an improvident character, he adopted no means to preserve the property which he inherited. The cardinal vices of gaming and drinking he avoided. But he was licentious in the extreme, and regardless of consequences in the gratification of his desires. His extravagance was unrestrained when, in his opinion, necessary to the enjoyment of his pleasures. From the arms of his nurse until he had numbered fourscore years, he was perpetually the dupe of the artful and the selfish.

Colonel Burr was about five feet six inches in height. He was well formed, and erect in his att.i.tude. In all his movements there was a military air. Although of small stature, yet there was about him a loftiness of mien that could not pa.s.s unnoticed by a stranger. His deportment was polished and courtly. His features were regular, and generally considered handsome. His eye was jet black, with a brilliancy never surpa.s.sed. The appropriate civilities of the drawing-room were performed with a grace almost peculiar to himself.

His whole manner was inconceivably fascinating. As a gentleman, this was his great theatre. He acted upon the principle that the female was the weaker s.e.x, and that they were all susceptible of flattery. His great art consisted in adopting it to the grade of intellect he addressed. In this respect he was singularly fortunate as well as adroit. In matters of gallantry he was excessively vain. This vanity sometimes rendered him ridiculous in the eyes of his best friends, and often enabled the most worthless and unprincipled to take advantage of his credulity.

Such traits of character would appear to be incompatible with an elevated and towering mind; yet they usually influenced, and frequently controlled, one of the greatest and most extraordinary men of the age. A volume of anecdotes might be related as evidence of Colonel Burr's quickness of perception and tact at reply, when an ill-judged or thoughtless expression was addressed by him to a lady.

One is sufficient for ill.u.s.tration.

After his return from Europe, in 1812, he met a maiden lady in Broadway somewhat advanced in life. He had not seen her for many years. As she pa.s.sed him, she exclaimed to a gentleman on whose arm she was resting, "Colonel Burr!" Hearing his name mentioned, he suddenly stopped and looked her in the face. "Colonel," said she, "you do not recollect me."

"I do not, madam," was the reply.

"It is Miss K., sir."

"What!" said he, "Miss K. _yet_!"

The lady, somewhat piqued, reiterated, "Yes, sir, Miss K. _yet_!"

Feeling the delicacy of his situation, and the unfortunate error he had committed, he gently took her hand, and emphatically remarked, "Well, madam, then I venture to a.s.sert _that it is not the fault of my s.e.x_."

On Burr's being appointed, in 1777, a lieutenant-colonel in the army, he joined his regiment, then stationed at Ramapoa, in New-Jersey. At Paramus, not far distant, resided Mrs. Prevost, the wife of Colonel Prevost, of the British army. She was an accomplished and intelligent lady. Her husband was with his regiment in the West Indies, where he died early in the revolutionary war. She had a sister residing with her. It was her son, the Hon. John B. Prevost, who in 1802 was recorder of the city of New-York, and subsequently district judge of the United States Court for the district of Louisiana. The house of Mrs. Prevost was the resort of the most accomplished officers in the American army when they were in the vicinity of it. She was highly respected by her neighbours, and visited by the most genteel people of the surrounding country. Her situation was one of great delicacy and constant apprehension.

The wife of a British officer, and connected with the adherents of the crown, naturally became an object of political suspicion, notwithstanding great circ.u.mspection on her part. Under such circ.u.mstances, a strong sympathy was excited in her behalf. Yet there were those among the Whigs who were inclined to enforce the laws of the state against her, whereby she would be compelled to withdraw within the lines of the enemy. In this family Colonel Burr became intimate in 1777, and in 1782 married the widow Prevost.

JAMES MONROE TO MRS. PREVOST. [1]

Philadelphia, November 8th, 1778.

A young lady who either is, or pretends to be, in love, is, you know, my dear Mrs. Prevost, the most unreasonable creature in existence. If she looks a smile or a frown, which does not immediately give or deprive you of happiness (at least to appearance), your company soon becomes very insipid. Each feature has its beauty, and each att.i.tude the graces, or you have no judgment. But if you are so stupidly insensible of her charms as to deprive your tongue and eyes of every expression of admiration, and not only to be silent respecting her, but devote them to an absent object, she cannot receive a higher insult; nor would she, if not restrained by politeness, refrain from open resentment.

Upon this principle I think I stand excused for not writing from B.

Ridge. I proposed it, however; and, after meeting with opposition in -----, to obtain her point, she promised to visit the little "Hermitage," [2] and make my excuse herself. I took occasion to turn the conversation to a different object, and plead for permission to go to France. I gave up in one instance, and she certainly ought in the other. But writing a letter and going to France are very different, you will perhaps say. She objected to it, and all the arguments which a fond, delicate, unmarried lady could use, she did not fail to produce against it. I plead the advantage I should derive from it. The personal improvement, the connexions I should make. I told her she was not the only one on whom fortune did not smile in every instance. I produced examples from her own acquaintance, and represented their situation in terms which sensibly affected both herself and Lady C----. I painted a lady full of affection, of tenderness, and sensibility, separated from her husband, for a series of time, by the cruelty of the war--her uncertainty respecting his health; the pain and anxiety which must naturally arise from it. I represented, in the most pathetic terms, the disquietudes which, from the nature of her connexion, might possibly intrude on her domestic retreat. I then raised to her view fort.i.tude under distress; cheerfullness, life, and gayety, in the midst of affliction.

I hope you will forgive me, my dear little friend, if I produced you to give life to the image. The instance, she owned, was applicable.

She felt for you from her heart, and she has a heart capable of feeling. She wished not a misfortune similar to yours; but, if I was resolved to make it so, she would strive to imitate your example. I have now permission to go where I please, but you must not forget her.

She and Lady C---- promise to come to the Hermitage to spend a week or two. Encourage her, and represent the advantage I shall gain from travel. But why should I desire you to do what I know your own heart will dictate? for a heart so capable of friends.h.i.+p feels its own pain alleviated by alleviating that of another.

But do not suppose that my attention is only taken up with my own affairs. I am too much attached ever to forget the Hermitage. Mrs.

Duvall, I hope, is recovering; and Kitty's indisposition is that of my nearest relation. Mrs. de Visme has delicate nerves. Tell me her children are well, and I know she has a flow of spirits, for her health depends entirely on theirs.

I was unfortunate in not being able to meet with the governor. He was neither at Elizabethtown, B. Ridge, Princeton, nor Trenton. I have consulted with several members of Congress on the occasion. They own the injustice, but cannot interfere. The laws of each state must govern itself. They cannot conceive the possibility of its taking place. General Lee says it must not take place; and if he was an absolute monarch, he would issue an order to prevent it.

I am introduced to the gentleman I wished by General Lee in a very particular manner. I cannot determine with certainty what I shall do till my arrival in Virginia.

Make my compliments to Mrs. and Miss De Visme, and believe me, with the sincerest friends.h.i.+p,

Yours,

JAMES MONROE

Mr. Peter De Visme, the brother of Mrs. Prevost, was captured at sea, and made prisoner of war. As she was personally acquainted with General Was.h.i.+ngton, she solicited his influence to promote his exchange, to which the general replied:--

Headquarters, Middlebrook, 19th May, 1779.

MADAM,

It is much to be regretted that the pleasure of obeying the first emotions in favour of misfortune is not always in our power. I should be happy could I consider myself at liberty to comply with your request in the case of your brother, Mr. Peter De Visme. But, as I have heretofore taken no direction in the disposal of marine prisoners, I cannot, with propriety, interfere on the present occasion, however great the satisfaction I should feel in obliging where you are interested. Your good sense will perceive this, and find a sufficient excuse in the delicacy of my situation.

I have the honour to be, madam,

Your obedient servant,

GEORGE WAs.h.i.+NGTON.

FROM WILLIAM PATTERSON.

Morristown, 29th September, 1779.

DEAR BURR,

About four weeks ago I received a letter from you of the 8th of August, and, a week after, another of the 23d. They came by the way of Moorestown, from which to Rariton, where I reside. The conveyance is easy and safe. I cannot point out any mode of sending your letters better than that which you have adopted.

I was pleased extremely to hear from you, and, indeed, was quite disappointed in not hearing from you sooner. I was for a time in expectation that you would return into Jersey, as the scene of military operations was directed to your part of the world, and would unavoidably drive you from your study and repose. Military operations are so fluctuating and uncertain as to render it exceedingly difficult to fix upon a retreat which may not be broken in upon in the course of a campaign. New-Haven bid fair to be the seat of calmness and serenity, of course well suited for a studious and contemplative mind, and therefore made choice of as the place of your abode. New-Haven, however, partook of the common calamity; and, in the evolution of human events, from a place of safety and repose, was turned into a place of confusion and war.

You are not contented, my dear Burr, and why are you not? You sigh for New-Jersey, and why do you not return? It is true we are continually broken in upon by the sons of tumult and war. Our situation is such that the one army or the other is almost constantly with us, and yet we rub along with tolerable order, spirit, and content. Oh! that the days of peace would once more return, that we might follow what business, partake of what amus.e.m.e.nts, and think and live as we please.

As to myself, I am, my dear Burr, one of the happiest of men. The office I hold calls me too frequently, and detains me too long, from home, otherwise I should enjoy happiness as full and high as this world can afford. It is, as you express it, "serene, rural, and sentimental;" and such, one day, you will _feel_.

"You see no company--you partake of no amus.e.m.e.nts--you are always grave." Such, too, has been the life that I have lived for months and years. I cannot say that it is an unpleasing one. I avoided company; indeed, I do so still, unless it be the company of chosen friends. I have been ever fond of my fireside and study--ever fond of calling up some absent friend, and of living over, in idea, past times of sentimental pleasure. Fancy steps in to my aid, colours the picture, and makes it delightful indeed. You are in the very frame of mind I wish you to be; may it continue.

I cannot tell you what has become of Mrs. Prevost's affairs. About two months ago I received a very polite letter from her. She was apprehensive that the commissioners would proceed. It seems they threatened to go on. I wrote them on the subject, but I have not heard the event. I am at this place, on my way to a superior court in Bergen. If possible, I shall wait on the good gentlewoman. At Bergen I shall inquire into the state of the matter. It will, indeed, turn up of course. You shall soon hear from me again. Adieu. May health and happiness await you

WILLIAM PATERSON.

The precarious and unsettled state of Colonel Burr's health, in the autumn of 1779 and the beginning of 1780, was such that he was unable to adopt and adhere to any regular system of study. Among his most intimate personal friends was Colonel Robert Troup. He, too, had determined to retire from public service, and was anxious to study in the same office with Burr. His letters cast much light on their pursuits at the time they were written.

FROM COLONEL TROUP.

Philadelphia, 16th January, 1780.

My dear Friend,