Memoirs of Aaron Burr, Volume 2. by Davis, Matthew L. (Matthew Livingston), 1773-1850

THOMAS JEFFERSON TO JAMES MADISON.

"Monticello, April 27, 1795.

"DEAR SIR,

"In mine, to which yours of March the twenty-third was an answer, I expressed my hope of the only change of position I ever wished to see you make, and I expressed it with entire sincerity, because there is not another person in the United States who, being placed at the helm of our affairs, my mind would be so completely at rest for the fortune of our political bark. The wish, too, was pure, and unmixed with any thing respecting myself personally. * * * * * *

"If these general considerations were sufficient to ground a firm resolution never to permit myself to think of the office (president), or be thought of for it, the special ones which have supervened on my retirement still more insuperably bar the door to it. My health is entirely broken down within the last eight months; _my age requires that I should place my affairs_ in a clear state; these are sound, if taken care of, but capable of considerable dangers if longer neglected; and, above all things, the delights I feel in the society of my family, and in the agricultural pursuits in which I am so eagerly engaged. _The little spice of ambition which I had in my younger days has long since evaporated, and I set still less store by a posthumous than present name_."

It is a remarkable fact, that, previous to the balloting in Congress, all parties and sections of parties concurred in the opinion that the election would finally be determined, as it was, by New-York, New-Jersey, and Maryland. These _three_ states would render the election of Colonel Burr certain; _two_ of them could elect Mr. Jefferson. The vote, of New-York was to be decided by _Theodorus Bailey_, of Dutchess county, and _Edward Livingston_, of the city of New-York; the vote of New-Jersey by Mr. _Linn_, and the vote of Maryland by Mr. _Dent_ or Mr. _Baer_.

In the Commercial Advertiser of the thirteenth of February, 1801, a paper opposed to the election of Colonel Burr, there is published an extract of a letter from a member of Congress, dated Washington, February 10, which states that, upon the second ballot, it is expected that New-York, New-Jersey, and Maryland will vote for Mr. Burr.

On the sixth of February, 1801, a leading and influential republican member of Congress writes to his correspondent a letter, from which the following is extracted:--

"I have not time to answer your letter as fully as I could wish, as it would have been my desire to communicate to you not only facts, _but some of the reasons which have induced us to adopt the steps we have heretofore taken_. But, at all events, it is important that you should have an immediate knowledge of the present situation of affairs.