"My plans for the two next months are now made up, or rather imposed on me by letters received since I last wrote you, and by my previous engagements. On the 1st of September I leave this for St. Louis. My route is to Louisville, 55 miles; Vincennes, on the Wabash, 150 miles; Kaskaskias, on the Mississippi, 150 miles; St. Louis, 75 miles. These distances are probably inaccurate, but St. Louis is called 450 miles from this. I propose to be at Cincinnati on the 1st of October; at Chilicothe and Marietta from the 7th to the 15th; at Pittsburg about the 20th, and at Bedford till the 1st of November. If by that time I should hear nothing from you, shall take measures for going by land or water to Theoville, so that you see it must be late in November before I can see you.
"Arrived at Louisville (Falls of the Ohio) on the 2d of September, being sixty miles on my way to the Missouri. I have now again one hundred and fifty miles of wilderness to encounter. I will be at Berkeley Springs by the 20th of October, where I hope to meet you and Mari. Address to me at the city of Washington."
TO JOSEPH ALSTON.
Washington, November 29, 1804.
I came to Berkeley as was proposed. You were not there; no letter from you. I sent a messenger to Washington city for intelligence, and waited his return in unpleasant suspense. At the termination of six days my messenger returned with letters advising that you would be at Hillsborough, whither I resolved immediately to go, but thought it best to take Washington in my way, in the hope of other letters. You were all at the Oaks, and no movement spoken of. You were to go alone to the legislature. Wife and child to be left at the Oaks.
Though oppressed with important engagements, I would nevertheless set off with the stage of this day for Georgetown and the Oaks if I could have been assured of finding preparations ready made for the contemplated journey of Theodosia and the boy; but as you may have left home without attending to this point, it seemed probable that I might make a fruitless journey of nine hundred miles; fruitless, except the pleasure of passing one day at the Oaks, and even this with the alloy of your absence. My course will, therefore, be now to Philadelphia, where I have made appointments, and either at that place or this shall wait your reply, and we must endeavour to arrange our plans with precision. Address me at this place.
My solicitude about the health of Theodosia is no way relieved by the sort of recovery of which she advises me. The boy, too, has a relapse of the ague, a disease of all others the most fatal to the infant constitution. Great God! what sacrifices do you make, and to what end? These solicitudes poison all my enjoyments, and often unfit me for business. Being apprized from recollection of our personal communications last autumn, and of our correspondence last winter, of the engagements and ties which will prevent you, at least for some months, from leaving South Carolina, I determine, at any sacrifice, to rescue Theodosia and son.
There will be no war with Spain unless we shall declare it, which is not expected. England continues a course of malevolence, which will still continue and be borne. France, more courteous in words, under the pressure of her own affairs. Affectionately,
A. BURR.
The letters and extracts from the journal of Colonel Burr, which have been given in the preceding part of this chapter, sufficiently indicate that he was actively employed in travelling during the year 1805. From January, 1806, until August following, his time was principally spent in the cities of Washington and Philadelphia. During this period his correspondence [2] is voluminous, but in no manner develops any other views than such as relate to land speculations. Commodore Truxton, on the trial at Richmond, swore that Colonel Burr, in the latter end of July, 1806, informed him that he was about concluding a bargain for the Washita lands. In August Mr. Burr commenced his western tour. In the summer and autumn, and during that tour, he was brought before two different grand juries in Kentucky and discharged. So far as any testimony was produced, it went to prove an intention of settling the Washita lands. On the 3d of March, 1807, he was arrested, by order of the government, on a charge of treason, in the Tombigbee country, and transported to Richmond, Virginia, for trial.