There
were no principles settled by which their justice or legality could be
tested. All was chaos; and the legislature was about to be overwhelmed
with petitions from every quarter for debts due, or for injuries
alleged to have been sustained by individuals who had been compelled
to receive depreciated money, or whose private property had been taken
for public use. In this dilemma the legislature passed an act
authorizing the appointment of commissioners to report on the subject.
The commissioners were Gerard Bancker, treasurer, Peter T. Curtenius,
state auditor, and Aaron Burr, attorney-general.
During the period that Colonel Burr was attorney-general, the seat of
government was in the city of New-York. His official duties,
therefore, seldom required his absence from home, when his private
business, as a professional man, would not have rendered that absence
necessary. His correspondence, although more limited, lost none of its
interest, and miscellaneous selections from it are therefore
continued.
TO MRS. BURR.
Albany, 21st October, 1789.
MY DEAREST THEODOSIA,
I have this moment received your letter of Sunday evening, containing
the account of your alarming accident and most fortunate rescue and
escape. I thank Heaven for your preservation, and thank you a thousand
times for your particular and interesting account of it.
I left my sloop at Kinderhook on Monday morning, and came here that
day in a wagon.
Pages:
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353