s
upon the cross."

The challenge from Disraeli, which immediately followed, was treated
by O'Connell with supreme contempt.

The duel between Hamilton and Burr is of perennial interest to the
American people. Both were men of great distinction and
splendid talents. Both had been soldiers during the Revolutionary
War, and Hamilton was the confidential friend and for a time
chief-of-staff of Washington. Burr had been a Senator from New
York, and was at the time of the duel Vice-President of the United
States. He was one of the recognized leaders of the dominant party,
and by many considered the probable successor of Jefferson in
the great office. Whatever hopes he might have had for the Presidency
were destroyed by his alleged attempt to defeat Jefferson and secure
his own elevation by the House of Representatives in 1801. His
hostility to Hamilton had its beginning in the opposition of the
latter to Burr's aspirations to the Presidency. Differing widely,
as Hamilton did, with Jefferson upon important questions then
pending, he nevertheless preferred the latter to Burr, and his
influence eventually turned the scales--after a protracted struggle
--in favor of Jefferson.

The valuable service just mentioned was one of the many rendered
by Hamilton. He was the earnest advocate of the adoption of the
Federal Constitution, and his papers during that pivotal struggle have
justly given him high place in the list of American statesmen. He
was the first Secretary of the Treasury, and possibly no man
possessed in larger degree the confidence of Washington.

Aaron Burr was the grandson of the great New England minister,
Jonathan Edwards, whose only daughter, Edith, was the wife of
the Reverend Aaron Burr, an eminent Presbyterian clergyman and
President of Princeton College. From all that is known of this
gentleman, there can be no doubt that his ability and piety were
unquestioned. Edith, his wife, was a woman of rare gifts and one of
the loveliest of her sex. The pathetic reference to her in the
funeral sermon over Hamilton will be remembered: "If there be tears
in Heaven, a pious mother looks down upon this scene and weeps."

Hamilton and Burr were both citizens of New York, the latter, of
Albany, the former, of New York City. At the time of the challenge
Hamilton held no public office, but was engaged in a lucrative
practice of the law. Burr was near the expiration of his term
as Vice-President, and was a