singular information. I have inquired into the character of Graybell. He was an old revolutionary captain, is now a flour merchant in Baltimore, of the most respectable. character, and whose word would be taken as implicitly as any man's for whatever he affirms. The letter writer also is a man of entire respectability. I am well informed that for more than a twelvemonth it has been believed in Baltimore, generally, that Burr was engaged in some criminal enterprise, and that Luther Martin knew all about it. We think you should immediately dispatch a subpoena for Graybell; and while that is on the road, you will have time to consider in what form you will use his testimony: e. g. shall Luther Martin be summoned as a witness against Burr, and Graybell held ready to confront him? It may be doubted whether we could examine a witness to discredit our own witness. Besides, the lawyers say that they are privileged from being forced to breaches of confidence, and that no others are. Shall we move to commit Luther Martin, as particeps criminis with Burr? Graybell will fix upon him suspicion of treason at least. And at any rate, his testimony will put down this unprincipled and impudent federal bull-dog, and add another proof that the most clamorous defenders of Burr are all his accomplices. It will explain why Luther Martin flew so hastily to the aid of his 'honorable friend,' abandoning his clients and their property during the session of a principal court in Maryland, now filled, as I am told, with the clamors and ruin of his clients."

You perceive from this that a general belief, reported t exist in Baltimore, of Burr's having meditated an unlawfu enterprise, of some sort or other, and that Luther Martin knew all about it; with the second hand assertion that this knowledge could be proved by a third person, was cause suicient in the humane and philosophic mind of Mr.

Jefferson to fix the stigma of treason on Luther Martin, by arresting him as particeps criminis with the prisoner he was defending. And if this unjust proceeding should fail of every other effect, it would at least have the happy one "of putting down this unprincipled and impudent federal bull-dog"—that is, it would silence him as an advocate for Burr-would deprive the prisoner of the assistance of the counsel on whom he peculiarly relied in a trial for his life, and thus expose him to all the violence and stratagem that the zeal of lawyers and the unbridled hate of the Executive could impart to the prosecution. Had this cruel project been fulfilled, Burr would have stood like Bothwell, his sword-arm broken and his dagger lost, while his bloodthirsty and hypocritical adversary, represented by the President, brandished his impatient blade aloft, and plunged it to the hilt in his body.

In unison with this unparalleled mixture of craft and inhumanity, more fit for the cells of the Spanish Inquisition than for an American court of justice, is his resentment at the zeal with which Mr. Martin undertook the defense of a man, who, though accused, was yet unconvicted, was under the legal presumption of innocence, had been dear to Martin as a friend, and had, moreover, a right, on the usual conditions, to his services. The whole correspondence with Mr. Hay is of this cast, diversified occasionally with promises of new witnesses, and interspersed toward the close of the trial with insinuations against the integrity of the court; leaving but one doubt as to the disposition of President Jefferson at the time, that is, whether he was more eager to hang the judge or the criminal.

No. XVI.

JEFFERSON'S STRICTURES ON WASHING.

TON'S ADMINISTRATION.

SHOULD your good-nature revolt at the vindictive appear. ance of the examination, through the perplexities of which I am endeavoring to guide you, I have little to soothe it with, but an expression of my regret, or to relieve it by, but an appeal to your justice. If Mr. Jefferson's character is now for the first time to be displayed in its true light, and to be divested of the folds of artifice and delusion in which hë disguised it, it is only because he painted in false and opprobrious colors that of others; and though it be, when thus exposed, a subject of unpleasing contemplation, it may prove a useful and instructive study. In the system of the moral world, it seems to be established by Providence, that injustice done to our neighbor should sooner or later recoil on ourselves. And naturalists tell us, that although, at first sight, the history of the lion appears more entertaining than that of all other beasts, yet that on close inspection, more vivid curiosity and agreeable wonder are excited by the structure of the spider-that sly insect, which

Throned on the centre of his thin designs,
Proud of a vast extent of flimsy lines,"

entangles and destroys the bold hornet and the blossomloving bee.

Pursuing then the analysis of this envenomed letter to Mr. Madison, let us pass from its palpable injustice toward Gen. Washington and Gen. Lee, to the consideration of its

main design, which is both concealed, and betrayed by an artifice, not unlike the trick of an Indian juggler. The object of all Mr. Jefferson's schemes and movements, of his friendships and hatreds, his slanders and praises; of that philosophy, for worship in the sanctuary of which, he would have the world believe he was predestined by nature, (Vol. IV. p. 126, et passim,) of his mis-quotation from the Georgics, (Vol. III. p. 337,) his "mould-board of least resistance," (p. 334 ;) of that retirement which was so profound, that lest it should be unnoticed, he proclaimed it in all directions, as the Irishman was to whistle when he should fall asleep; the real object of all these professions, passions, pretensions, and maneuvres, was the office of President. For this he deserted the Cabinet of Washington, against the entreaties of that illustrious man; and having got into a private station,-for this, he was now wriggling and stretching to get out of it. To Mr. Madison, whose powerful aid was indispensable, he was holding out his hand for help.

In disparaging and traducing Gen. Washington so industriously, his intention was not to supplant him; for besides that he could neither have desired nor hoped to compete with him before the people, he knew the general was now in his second and last official term. But his design was by curtailing the influence of his name and opinions, to change the course of succession, which, should that influence be left unimpaired, the sense of the nation would probably give to the Chief Magistracy-devolving it first on Adams, whom he disliked, next on Hamilton, whom he hated; whose superiority in the Cabinet he had felt and still resented; whose ready eloquence, cogent reasoning, practical views, ascendant genius, martial spirit, generous character, rebuked and foiled his own subtle sagacity, pusillanimous temper, and indirect ambition.

As it was to be supposed that Mr. Madison was apprized of Gen. Washington's wish to appoint him Secretary of State, and for that and other reasons retained a degree of kindness and respect for him, there was room to apprehend that his sense of justice would revolt at the gross and virulent detraction which Mr. Jefferson, in execution of one part of his scheme, had thought proper to hazard. Therefore, as physicians expel one poison from the body by the introduction of a more energetic one, the sage of Monticello proceeded to counteract the occurrence of remorse, by means of those never-failing agents, vanity and ambition. While urging Mr. Madison to persevere in his meritorious opposition, and foretelling that a change of men and measures was soon to take place, he encroached so far on the "double delicacy" of himself, and the simple modesty of his friend, as to insist that if he does retire, it must only be "to a more splendid and a more efficacious post ;" for which, by the way, by an evolution peculiar to his own tactics, he had himself retired. The heartfelt joy this promotion of Mr. Madison over his own head would give him, may be better conceived than described; steeped as he lay in the charms of a "retirement," which he protests he "would not give up for the empire of the universe." Nothing could be more skillful than this move. Like that of a knight at chess, it placed in check King, Queen and Castle, and all at once. It told the opposition that it was time to bring forward determinedly a candidate for the Presidency. It said to Mr. Madison, "As I have proposed you for this post, you cannot do less than support me, upon that principle of seniority and civility which would be ob served were we to come together at the entrance of a drawing-room." It suppressed any scruples that a gentleman might feel at entering into an alliance founded on injustice. to the father of his country, by overshadowing his judgment