atify
his vanity he would court the affections of any woman whose beauty and
accomplishments had attracted him. It was always for base purposes Burr
professed love. Such men too frequently win upon the regards of women,
and occupy high and enviable positions in female society; but their
love is diffusive, and for the individual only for a time. In truth,
they are incapable of a deep and sincere affection. The suspicion of
woman's purity forbids an abiding love; it is a momentary passion, and
not an elevated and enduring sentiment--not the embalming with the
heart's riches a pure and innocent being who yields everything to love.

"Colonel Burr was an indifferent husband toward one of the most
accomplished and lovable women I ever knew, and who was devoted to him,
and whose heart he broke. She was the widow of a British officer named
Provost, I believe, who died in the West Indies; and a more deserving
woman, or one more lovely, never went to the arms of a _roue_, to be
kissed and killed.

"Burr hated Washington, and united himself politically with his
enemies. There was a close political intimacy between him and
Jefferson, but never anything like confidence. In their party they were
rivals; and after the election which made Jefferson President, there
was no semblance of intimacy or friendship between them.

"Burr believed he was really elected President, and that Jefferson had
defrauded him in the count of the ballots. He was disappointed and
dissatisfied with his position and with his party, and immediately
commenced an intrigue to separate the Western States from the Union,
and on the west of the mountains and along the waters of the
Mississippi to establish a separate government, where he hoped to fill
the measure of his ambition, and destroy the power of the Union--thus
at the same time to crush both the Federal and Republican parties, for
now he hated both alike.

"Hamilton had been his early rival; he had, as he believed, destroyed
him with Washington, and that he had been mainly instrumental in
defeating him with Jefferson for the Presidency. There can be no doubt
of the fact, that Jefferson had been voted for by the colleges for
President, and Burr for Vice-President; but they were not so designated
on the ballots. They received an equal number of votes, and had to be
elected, owing to a defect in the law at that time, by the House. The
balloting continued several days. There were sixteen States, and each
re