he epoch in which it has been my lot to live has been eventful. I
little dreamed, when a lad on a Maryland farm, what fortunes lay
before me. Who could have prophesied, when you and I began our
military career, that my humble services would ever be likened to
those of the Father of our Country?"

"You are a better general than ever George Washington was," declared
Burr, employing a tone and look so candid and emphatic that his
sincerity was not doubted. "What he and Hamilton failed to accomplish,
owing to the action of Jefferson in purchasing Louisiana, and so
ending the French quasi war, why may not you and I bring to a
successful issue? If there was no irregularity in that, there can be
none in a renewal of essentially the same plans. Let the Legion of the
West be organized once more, and the Washington of the West direct it
as he will."

Wilkinson went to the sideboard and moistened his lips.

"There is much that I might tell you, colonel, concerning that
proposed expedition of Hamilton's. Men are but men, and the
philanthropist weeps over their frailties. For myself, I am open and
above board; I abhor deceit and intrigue; I am a man whose head may
err, but whose heart cannot be misled. That all are not so I have
learned to my cost. You have no idea, sir, what whisperings, what
suppression of motives, what secret understandings, marked the
proceedings of eminent persons whose public or private interests were
involved in the scheme of 1799."

"All men's consciences are not so sensitive as yours, general, nor do
all men proceed so boldly. You have courage. But there is some excuse
for the secret methods which your nature condemns. Prudence is a prime
virtue. There are questions of method and of policy, which are best
discussed confidentially, by sagacious men."

"Oh, yes, yes, yes, of course."

"For instance, we two, Wilkinson, here in private, may properly
compare opinions on such subjects as this of the Spanish dispute. You
and I are in substantial agreement on theories of government. I
presume you have no more faith than I have in the permanency of the
present Constitution. It is on its trial, and I am of the opinion that
it cannot last long."

"Colonel Burr, you are right. The Union is held together by a thread.
Yet the salutary restraints of religion and morality are none the less
binding. The hallowed bonds which connect the citizens and the State
are not made of paper. There is a stronger law than the l