To Thomas Jefferson from George Clinton, 22 December 1803
From George Clinton
Albany 22d. December 1803
Dear Sir
I have lately read in a scurilous Pamphlet entitled “an examination of the various charges exhibited against Aaron Burr Esquire” &c, a Paragraph charging me with having expressed at a meeting held at his House in the Spring of 1800 Sentiments highly derogatory to your political Character and inconsistent with private Friendship—I am sensible of the impropriety of troubling you with Matters of a private Nature at a Time when your whole Attention must be employed in the important Duties of your Station; but the Object of that publication is such that I cannot reconcile it to my Feelings to delay declaring to you as I now do that it is a base and dishonorable Misrepresentation I shall however defer communicating a circumstantial detail of every Thing that passed at that Meeting ’till an Opportunity of more leisure—Considering that some of the Facts stated in the paragraph referred to are in direct Opposition to others advanced with equal boldness in the same Pamphlet, and that the whole of them stand contradicted by the uniform Tenor of my conduct—It might have been thought unnecessary to take this Notice of them, if a referrence had not been made for their Truth to a person whom I have mentioned to you since that Time in favourable Terms and as a Man of Integrity—Whether he has authorized this referrence I know not; but he has not yet disavowed it to me which if innocent I had a right to expect.
I have indeed to regret that my Zeal for the public Interest led me on that Occasion into bad Company without suspecting that I was under the Roof of a corrupt Intriguer surrounded by his worthless Minions
With unabated Esteem & Respect I am yours sincerely
Geo: Clinton
RC (DLC); at foot of text: “Thomas Jefferson Esquire”; endorsed by TJ as received 30 Dec. and so recorded in SJL.
Signing as “Aristides,” William P. Van Ness authored the pamphlet in consultation with the vice president. Published in New York in early December, it was a response to James Cheetham’s A View of the Political Conduct of Aaron Burr, Esq. Vice-President of the United States. At a meeting at Burr’s house, Clinton reportedly “declared, that he had long entertained an unfavorable opinion of Mr. Jefferson’s talents as a statesman and his firmness as a republican.” He thought that TJ was “an accommodating trimmer, who would change with times and bend to circumstances for the purposes of personal promotion.” Clinton reportedly said he could not “acquiesce in the elevation of a man destitute of the qualifications essential to the good administration of the government,” but if Burr were the candidate, he “would act with pleasure and with vigor.” Van Ness noted that David Gelston, John Mills, John Swartwout, and Matthew L. Davis were present at the meeting and could verify the account ([William P. Van Ness], An Examination of the Various Charges Exhibited Against Aaron Burr, Esq. Vice-President of the United States: And a Developement of the Characters and Views of His Political Opponents [New York, 1803; No. 3446], 35-6; , 2:726, 812n; Vol. 38:94n).