But had not the President of the United States openly declared him guilty? Did not half the people in the United States believe him so, condemning him on the sensational evidence that had been spread by the public press? Was the evidence of General Eaton and Commodore Truxtun and of the lesser witnesses to be dismissed? Mr. Hay had alluded to common sense. Mr. Randolph had sneered. But the prosecution had not yet been heard.
Chapter XVI
On the day following the postponement of his arraignment Harman Blennerhassett received an important visitor in his quarters in the penitentiary. He was William Duane, formerly a partner of Benjamin Franklin and Edward Bache in the publication of the Aurora. Duane was now the fiery editor of that newspaper which he had made into an organ of the Jeffersonian administration.
Duane expressed great sympathy for Blennerhassett. He told him his friends were making a scapegoat of him. Then, according to Blennerhassett, Duane tried to lure him into a confession of having written certain papers then in the hands of the prosecution. But the chief purpose of his visit was to try to persuade Blennerhassett to betray Burr.
This Blennerhassett steadfastly refused to do. And that was strange since he was himself convinced that, as Duane charged, he had been made a scapegoat. Less than a week after Duane’s visit he posted in his diary: “You were right, therefore, honest Hay, on observing the other day to Woodbridge while expressing your concern for my situation ‘that I must now think Burr has duped me,’ but you were wrong in supposing I am indebted to you for that discovery; I am possessed of it these nine months.”
Burr, who had his informants everywhere, was immediately apprised of Duane’s visit and lost no time getting word to Blennerhassett to be on his guard against spies who came to him under the mask of friendship. This precaution was unnecessary. Whatever Blennerhassett may have confided in his diary he was always completely disarmed when he came into the presence of Burr, and even when they were apart he seemed still to feel Burr’s influence.
Blennerhassett’s determination not to turn state’s evidence against the man who had duped him after pretending to be his friend has been attributed to the mildness of his temper or lack of courage. Perhaps each was a factor. However, Blennerhassett was not a bright man. His romance with his niece is evidence of an impetuosity that led him to act without counting the cost. From the time of their first meeting Burr had courted him assiduously, protesting that his vegetating on the island was a fraud on society and holding out brilliant prospects. Blennerhassett would have been easy prey for an even less skillful flatterer. What chance did he have with a man who had duped some of the best minds in the country and once through oratory alone had provoked the Senate of the United States to adoration and tears?
When Court convened on Monday morning MacRae opened for the prosecution and proceeded to live up to his reputation for wielding a meat axe. He was not the least restrained by the consciousness that his remarks were being made in the presence of, and only a few feet away from, Aaron Burr.
The prisoner, he charged, had with unexampled dexterity contrived from the very beginning to quit his situation as the accused. Instead of Aaron Burr defending himself he was found taking the high ground of public accuser and assailing others.