on hearing this charge, declared that if any one accused his rider of foul play, he would make it a personal affair. Dickenson replied, that as he had never known his servant to be guilty of an untruth he must believe him on this occasion. Both were

now highly excited, and an altercation ensued, in which decorum was slightly regarded, and which brought Dickenson a challenge from judge Jackson. It was accepted.

They met, and it was agreed that they should fight with pistols, at the distance of ten paces. The word was given, and the duellists both drew their triggers at the same instant. Dickenson's bullet grazed Jackson's body without doing him any injury. Jackson's pistol missed fire; and now, as he had had time to reflect, and had given sufficient proof of his firmness, and as his life was in no farther danger, he would have done well to wave his right to fire. But no such consideration withheld his hand. While Dickenson stood silently waiting the result, Jackson coolly cocked his pistol, took deliberate aim, and shot him dead.

This action excited the public indignation against judge Jackson, and his subsequent conduct was still more reprehensible. The death of his victim awakened general sorrow, and his memory was honored with testimonials of the respect of his fellow-citizens. Several of the inhabitants of the town requested the editor of the Nashville Review to dress the columns of his paper in mourning; but judge Jackson interfered to prevent it, and menaced those who had suggested the measure with his displeasure. This induced them to withdraw their request. It must be owned that this extension of enmity beyond the grave does our hero

no honor, and we see that his admiring biographers have passed the whole affair over in silence. So will not we; we begun with the intention of telling the truth, and we intend to tell the whole truth.

In the winter of this year, judge Jackson formed an acquaintance that has since subjected him to strong suspicion. It was with the famous conspirator, Aaron Burr. During the late electioneering campaign, the circumstances of this intimacy were partly brought to light, and an attempt was made to prove Jackson to have been Burr's accomplice. We give no opinion on the subject, but content ourselves with relating such facts, as have been established by unquestionable evidence.

Aaron Burr traversed the Western country in the summer of 1805, and had interviews with the principal men, general Wilkinson and others. He left Philadelphia in August the next year, and proceeded to Blannerhassett's Island, in the Ohio. Whilst he remained there, a series of very able essays appeared in one of the newspapers, under the signature of Querist.' In these papers, it was intimated that a plan was in operation to divide the Union, and the propriety of the measure was fearlessly discussed. The alarm spread like wildfire, and Burr immediately became an object of doubt and terror. We believe the man who did this good service to his country, was general Street, lately appointed an Indian agent by president Adams.

Before the month expired, Burr proceeded to Kentucky, and, it is said, to Tennessee. On the 5th of November, he was presented to the grand jury at Lexington; but they could not find a bill. In the interim, Mr. Jackson became aware of

Burr's character and designs, and wrote a letter to governor Claiborne of New Orleans.* The language of this document was very ambiguous, much like that used by the gunpowder-plot conspirator to lord Mounteagle. It warned Claiborne of danger from a quarter whence it could not be expected, cautioned him to beware of general Wilkinson, and advised him to put New Orleans in a state of defence. Treachery, it said, was become the order of the day. This letter was in strict confidence. While our hero gave governor Claiborne these vague hints, he did not think it necessary to inform the president of his apprehensions.

In November, Burr was prosecuted again, but was acquitted early in December. On the 14th of the month he repaired to Mr. Jackson's house, where he was hospitably received and countènanced. Burr began to build boats for his descent to New Orleans; and it has been openly asserted in the Natches Ariel,' that Mr. Jackson aided him with his purse. The editor of the said paper published the following paragraphs in relation to the subject.

'

'There is, or ought to be, in this city, an account current between the general (Jackson) and the colonel (Burr) showing the disbursement of large sums, and exhibiting a balance there due the colonel of two thousand dollars, or upwards.

We distinctly recollect that an attorney, (since dead) the late Jonathan Thompson, was employed to bring suit against the general, on this account, when he (the general) was here in 1813, in command of the Tennessee volunteers. We also know a report was then current, that general Jackson had

* The letter has been published.

threatened to hang the attorney to the first tree, or highest tree,' if he attempted to arrest him on that account. We do not pretend to vouch for the accuracy of this report, but we do know the friends of the attorney were in the habit of quizzing him on this subject for some time after the general left this.

'If we are not mistaken, this account current was rendered, and the balance struck before colonel Burr left the mouth of Cumberland river. After the scheme of the colonel proved abortive, the claim for the balance due by general Jackson was transferred by colonel Burr to H. Blannerhasset. Mr. Blannerhasset placed the claim in the hands of Mr. Thompson for collection. General Jackson's offset was, that a bill or bills of exchange, drawn by Burr on his sonin-law, Mr. Allston, had been protested for nonpayment, and that he, general Jackson, had to provide for them as endorser. It has always been supposed that general Jackson's fortune was impaired by his connexion with Burr. How far that connexion was criminal, we will not pretend to say. The general's biographer is silent on this subject. But we have not a doubt large sums of colonel Burr's money did pass through general Jackson's hands, and at the period too when colonel Burr was in the western country, organizing a few choice spirits tired of the dull pursuits of civil life,' for some purpose—what it was, we know not. We are unwilling to make any charge against general Jackson that is not fully sustained by facts and evidence. We give our impression of the connexion with Burr, as derived from surmises current here at the period to which we have referred, namely, the winter and spring of 1813.'

This statement of the Ariel is confirmed by the evidence of general Coffee, who in 1813 was summoned as a witness in a suit brought by Blanner

nasset against Mr. Jackson, as the trustee of Burr. General Coffee swore, that Burr advanced Mr. Jackson upwards of three thousand dollars at one time, to defray the expenses of the expedition. Moreover, the account current in Mr. Jackson's hand-writing was produced in court. We leave our readers to make their own comments on the matters-of-fact and the surmises published by the editor of the Ariel, and turn to the testimony of judge Nathaniel Williams of Tennessee.

This gentleman asserts positively, and from his own knowledge, that Jackson and Burr were on the most intimate terms, while the latter was engaged in his treasonable practices. He says, that Mr. Jackson was aware of a plot to divide the Union, and publicly proclaimed it in his presence. He affirms, that Mr. Jackson encouraged him to accept a commission in Burr's army. Judge Williams is a man of known honor and integrity, and has attained a high and responsible standing in Tennessee. This disclosure had like to have cost him dear. Afterwards, in 1828, he was insulted and threatened with death on the judgment-seat of his own court at Winchester in Tennessee, by a mob of the Jackson party, led on by one Isaacks, a member of congress.

To resume the thread of our narrative. On the 14th of December, Colonel Burr took leave of Mr. Jackson, and descended the river. Then, and not till then, did Mr. Jackson despatch the letter above mentioned to governor Claiborne, by the hands of Mr. S. Hayes, his nephew, who accompanied Burr as an aid, or member of his family. This person told a gentleman with whom he had an interview on the river, that he was not abso