6Q

appeared, they for a while affected i^orance of their source,
but expressed violent suspici9!i3 that there was cause for alarm,
which soon terminated in a conviction that Mr. Burr had aban-
doned the principles he professed, had betrayed his party, smd
that OS patriots they were bound to aid in the destruction of a
man who had become dangerous to the liberties of their behted
country. The tocsin of alaim was sounded. Mr. Burr's giiilt
was proclaimed far and wide, while he was at a distance from
the scene of action, and unable even by a denial to check the
progress of his defamation. Thousands were deceived by these
artifices. They did not know what ingenious preparations had
been made. They did not know that all the printers in the
state who were either directly, or indirectly, under the influence
of the government, had been previously engaged to circulate
the slanders which were originated in New- York; that the
jmost personal and abusive manuscripts were prepared in this
city and sent to country editors, to be published either as com>
munications or editorial Vemarks ; and that what appeared to
them, the expression of the public sentiment, was nothing but'
the effect of pre-concert, and an artful combination among the
personal enemies of Mr. Burr. When Mr. Burr was nomi-
nated to the vice-presidency, the government of the state, by
lus own aid and exertions, was placed in the hands of his ene-
mies, who converted it into an engine to effect his ruin. The
pamphlets in which he was calumniated, were circulated under
the patronage of the officers of the government, and conveyed
by every possible channel into the remotest comers of the state.
