"Mr. Burr began by saying that he had intended to pass the day with them, but the increase of a slight indisposition (sore throat) had determined him then to take leave of them. He touched lightly on some of the rules and orders of the house, and recommended, in one or two points, alterations, of which he briefly explained the reasons and principles.
"He said he was sensible he must at times have wounded the feelings of individual members. He had ever avoided entering into explanations at the time, because a moment of irritation was not a moment for explanation; because his position (being in the chair) rendered it impossible to enter into explanations without obvious danger of consequences which might hazard the dignity of the Senate, or prove disagreeable and injurious in more than one point of view; that he had, therefore, preferred to leave to their reflections his justification; that, on his part, he had no injuries to complain of; if any had been done or attempted, he was ignorant of the authors; and if he had ever heard, he had forgotten, for, he thanked God, he had no memory for injuries.
"He doubted not but that they had found occasion to observe, that to be prompt was not therefore to be precipitate; and that to act without delay was not always to act without reflection; that error was often to be preferred to indecision, that his errors, whatever they might have been, were those of rule and principle, and not of caprice; that it could not be deemed arrogance in him to say that, in his official conduct, he had known no party—no cause—no friend; that if, in the opinion of any, the discipline which had been established approached to rigour, they would at least admit that it was uniform and indiscriminate.
"He further remarked, that the ignorant and unthinking affected to treat as unnecessary and fastidious a rigid attention to rules and decorum; but he thought nothing trivial which touched, however remotely, the dignity of that body; and he appealed to their experience for the justice of this sentiment, and urged them in language the most impressive, and in a manner the most commanding, to avoid the smallest relaxation of the habits which he had endeavoured to inculcate and establish.
"But he challenged their attention to considerations more momentous than any which regarded merely their personal honour and character—the preservation of law, of liberty, and the Constitution. This house, said he, is a sanctuary; a citadel of law, of order, and of liberty; and it is here—it is here, in this exalted refuge—here, if anywhere, will resistance be made to the storms of political phrensy and the silent arts of corruption; and if the Constitution be destined ever to perish by the sacrilegious hands of the demagogue or the usurper, which God avert, its expiring agonies will be witnessed on this floor." [1]
"He then adverted to those affecting sentiments which attended a final separation—a dissolution, perhaps for ever, of those associations which he hoped had been mutually satisfactory. He consoled himself, however, and them, with the reflections that, though they separated, they would be engaged in the common cause of disseminating principles of freedom and social order. He should always regard the proceedings of that body with interest and with solicitude. He should feel for their honour and the national honour so intimately connected with it, and took his leave with expressions of personal respect, and with prayers, and wishes," &c.
In this cold relation a distant reader, especially one to whom Colonel Burr is not personally known, will be at a loss to discover the cause of those extraordinary emotions which were excited. The whole Senate were in tears, and so unmanned that it was half an hour before they could recover themselves sufficiently to come to order, and choose a vice-president pro tem.
At the president's, on Monday, two of the senators were relating these circumstances to a circle which had collected round them. One said that he wished that the tradition might be preserved as one of the most extraordinary events he had ever witnessed. Another senator being asked, on the day following that on which Mr. Burr took his leave, how long he was speaking, after a moment's pause, said he could form no idea; it might have been an hour, and it might have been but a moment; when he came to his senses, he seemed to have awakened as from a kind of trance.
The characteristics of the vice-president's manner seemed to have been elevation and dignity—a consciousness of superiority, &c. Nothing of that whining adulation; those canting, hypocritical complaints of want of talents; assurance of his endeavours to please them; hopes of their favour, &c. On the contrary, he told them explicitly that he had determined to pursue a conduct which his judgment should approve, and which should secure the suffrage of his own conscience, and that he had never considered who else might be pleased or displeased; although it was but justice on this occasion to thank them for their deference and respect to his official conduct—the constant and uniform support he had received from every member—for their prompt acquiescence in his decisions; and to remark, to their honour, that they had never descended to a single motion of passion or embarrassment; and so far was he from apologizing for his defects, that he told them that, on reviewing the decisions he had had occasion to make, there was no one which, on reflection, he was disposed to vary or retract.
As soon as the Senate could compose themselves sufficiently to choose a president pro tem., they calve to the following resolution:——