326 The Winning of the West 



for support to his old enemies, the Federalists; but 

 he was hopelessly beaten. Both his fortune and his 

 local political prestige were ruined; he realized that 

 his chance for a career in New York was over. 



He was no mere New York politician, however. 

 He was a statesman of national reputation; and he 

 turned his restless eyes toward the West, which for 

 a score of years had seethed in a turmoil out of 

 which it seemed that a bold spirit might make its 

 own profit. He had already been obscurely con- 

 nected with separatist intrigues in the Northeast; 

 and he determined to embark in similar intrigues 

 on an infinitely grander scale in the West and South- 

 west. He was a cultivated man, of polished man- 

 ners and pleasing address, and of great audacity 

 and physical courage; and he had shown himself 

 skilled in all the baser arts of political management. 



It is small wonder that the conspiracy of which 

 such a man was head should make a noise out of all 

 proportion to its real weight. The conditions were 

 such that if Burr journeyed West he was certain 

 to attract universal attention, and to be received 

 with marked enthusiasm. No man of his prom- 

 inence in national affairs had ever traveled through 

 the wild new commonwealths on the Mississippi. 

 The men who were founding States and building 

 towns on the wreck of the conquered wilderness 

 were sure to be flattered by the appearance of so 

 notable a man among them, and to be impressed not 

 only by his reputation, but by his charm of manner 

 and brilliancy of intellect. Moreover they were 



