on for
deviating from a principle which has been found the bane of the old;
and which is, in itself, evidently incompatible with the idea of a
government; a principle, in short, which, if it is to be executed at
all, must substitute the violent and sanguinary agency of the sword to
the mild influence of the magistracy.

II

HIS REASONS FOR NOT DECLINING BURR'S CHALLENGE[43]

On my expected interview with Col. Burr, I think it proper to make
some remarks explanatory of my conduct, motives, and views. I was
certainly desirous of avoiding this interview for the most urgent
reasons:

[Footnote 43: Written the day before the duel, which took place in
Weehawken, N. J., on July 11, 1804. Hamilton, wounded, was taken to
his house in the upper part of Manhattan Island and there died on the
following day. This statement is now printed in Volume VIII of the
"Works of Hamilton."]

1. My religious and moral principles are strongly opposed to the
practise of duelling, and it would ever give me pain to be obliged to
shed the blood of a fellow creature in a private combat forbidden by
the law.

2. My wife and children are extremely dear to me, and my life is of
the utmost importance to them in various views.

3. I feel a sense of obligation toward my creditors, who, in case of
accident to me, by the forced sale of my property, may be in some
degree sufferers. I did not think myself at liberty, as a man of
probity, lightly to expose them to this hazard.

4. I am conscious of no ill-will toward Col. Burr, distinct from
political opposition, which, as I trust, has proceeded from pure and
upright motives.

Lastly, I shall hazard much and can probably gain nothing by the issue
of this interview.

But it was, as I conceive, impossible to avoid it. There were
intrinsic difficulties in the thing, an artificial embarrassment from
the manner of proceeding on the part of Col. Burr.

Intrinsic, because it is not to be denied that my animadversion on the
political principles, character and views of Col. Burr have been
extremely severe; and on different occasions I, in common with many
others, have made very unfavorable criticisms on particular instances
of the private conduct of this gentleman. In proportion as these
impressions were entertained with sincerity and uttered with motives
and for purposes which might appear to me commendable would be the
difficulty (until they could be removed by evidence of their being
erroneo