Page:The Burr-Hamilton duel with correspondence.djvu/36

 man, and one who ought not to be trusted with the reins of government. If, sir, you attended a meeting of Federalists, at the City Tavern, where Gen. Hamilton made a speech on the pending election, I might appeal to you for the truth of so much of this assertion as relates to him. * * * *

Oliver Phelps, when in this city, on his way to Canandaigua, stated, that Gen. Hamilton, and about one hundred Federalists in New York, would not vote for Mr. Burr. * *

I beg leave to remark, sir, that the anxiety you discovered, when his honor the chancellor was about to be nominated, induced me to believe, that you entertained a bad opinion of Mr. Burr, especially when taken in connection with General Hamilton's harangue at the City Tavern; and although I never suggested that you would act on the one side or the other in this election; yet, presuming on the correctness of your mind, and the reputation you sustain of an upright and exemplary character, I could not suppose that you would support a man whom I had reason to believe, you held in the lowest estimation.