These preliminaries having been attended to, the call came for the first witness for the prosecution and General Eaton was sworn. No sooner had he taken the stand than the defense was on its feet protesting the propriety of hearing Eaton’s evidence. They contended that it had to do only with intention. Therefore before it could be admitted an overt act had to be proved. The controverted point led to a long and animated debate which consumed the rest of the afternoon.
As was to be his custom throughout the trial, Judge Marshall adjourned Court before presenting his opinion. With his genius for application he would work far into the night preparing his opinion in order to have it ready when Court convened in the morning. Where he was concerned there was to be no undue haste, no chance for misconstruction. The opinion would be in writing and reflect the logical approach that was characteristic of his legal papers. It was on his acute reasoning rather than profound knowledge of the authorities that the force of his opinions depended.
In the morning, true to his promise, the Chief Justice was ready to deliver his opinion. It was a dissertation on what testimony was and was not relevant to this time. As applied to General Eaton’s testimony it permitted that part which related to Burr’s design to seize New Orleans and divide by force the western from the Atlantic states. It excluded the more colorful passages which had to do with Burr’s alleged plans for the overthrow of the Government in Washington.
With this injunction Eaton was told to go ahead and tell his story in his own way. The hint, however, was made to him that he might well leave out autobiographical material having to do with his services to the nation in Tripoli, which he considered a basis for the nation’s gratitude. Eaton, however, did not take the hint, but reviewed his exploits at considerable length before launching into the now familiar story of Burr’s advances to him in the prospect of interesting him in the expedition. It had appeared in print so many times that the majority of those present knew the essential details.
When General Eaton at last finished his testimony, cross-examination by the defense was brief and to the point. He was asked if he had not long had a claim against the Government for repayment of the expenses allegedly incurred by him on his Tripoli expedition. He replied that such was the case. And was not the claim for $10,000? Eaton replied that it was. And had it been paid? Yes. When had it been paid? In March last!
What the defense brought out in those few short questions was that, after years of refusal, the Congress that was in the hands of the friends of President Jefferson at last had honored General Eaton’s claim. And it had done so just when General Eaton’s testimony gave every indication of being essential to the conviction of Aaron Burr.
That was all the defense wanted. It let General Eaton go. Less than a fortnight before Eaton’s appearance in court as a witness Blennerhassett wrote in his diary: “The once redoubted Eaton has dwindled down in the eyes of this sarcastic town into a ridiculous mountebank, strutting about the streets under a tremendous hat, with a Turkish sash over colored clothes when he is not tippling in the taverns.” That perhaps was a fair expression of the attitude at least of the better people of the town toward this spurious general.
What a contrast to Eaton the next witness presented! In the prevailing atmosphere of suspicion and distrust of actions and motives and testimony, Thomas Truxtun stood forth as the embodiment of truth and honor. Yet no man of his time had less reason to be loyal to the Administration in Washington or more cause to resent the shabby treatment he had received from its hands. His personal circumstances were just the sort that Burr so often undertook to make capital of in the pursuit of his own questionable designs.
Truxtun had had a distinguished career in the United States Navy, advancing to the rank of commodore. In the quasi-war with France he had commanded the U.S. Frigate Constellation in its two victorious battles with the French frigates L’Insurgente and La Vengeance. His professional skill was so well recognized that in 1802 he was chosen to command a squadron which had been fitted out for the war with Tripoli. As the squadron was about to put to sea Truxtun requested that a captain be appointed to command his flagship. It was a reasonable request in keeping with naval custom. But President Jefferson at that time entertained little enthusiasm for the Navy, which he regarded as a symbol of imperialism clashing with his democratic principles. So the Administration refused the request.
Commodore Truxtun, feeling that he had been indifferently treated, wrote an indignant letter of protest to Washington. It may have been too strongly worded and impolitic, yet Truxtun’s fine record was deserving of some consideration. But the authorities were annoyed and interpreted the letter as an offer of resignation, which it was not. Acting on this assumption the Administration accepted a resignation which had not been offered, and in so doing lost a capable officer while it opened itself up to a charge of base ingratitude toward a deserving public servant.