that Burr’s desire was, not to satisfy his honor, but to goad his adversary to the field.  It establishes the general charge, which Parton virtually admits, that it was not passion excited by a recent insult which impelled him to revenge, but hatred engendered during years of rivalry and stimulated by his late defeat.  Burr must long have known Hamilton’s feelings towards him.  Those feelings had been freely expressed; and Burr’s letters discover that he was fully aware of the distrust and hostility with which he was regarded by his political associates and opponents.  A man has no claim to satisfaction for an insult given years ago.  The entire theory of the duello makes it impossible for one to ask redress for an injury which he has long permitted to go unredressed.  The question being, not whether the practice of duelling is wrong, but whether Burr was wrong according to that practice, we have no difficulty in concluding that the challenge was given upon vague and unjustifiable grounds, and that Gen. Hamilton would have been excusable, if he had refused to meet him.

It may be said, that, if Hamilton accepted an improper challenge, he should receive the same condemnation as the one who gave it.  But, even on general grounds, some qualification should be made in favor of the challenged party.  His is a different position from that of the challenger.  A sensitive man, though he think that he is improperly questioned, may have some delicacy about making his own judgment the rule of another’s conduct.  Besides, there were many considerations peculiar to this case.  The menacing tone of Burr’s first note made it evident that he meant to force the quarrel to a bloody issue.  Hamilton, jealous of his reputation for courage, could not run the risk of appearing anxious to avoid a danger so apparent.  Moreover, he was conscious, that, during his life, he had said many things which might give Burr cause for offence, and he was unwilling to avail himself of a technical, though reasonable objection, to escape the consequences of his own remarks.  Neither could he apologize for what he still thought was true.  These considerations were doubly powerful with Hamilton.  His early manhood had been passed in camps; his early fame had been won in the profession of arms.  He was a man of the world.  He had never discountenanced duelling; he himself had been engaged in the affair between Laurens and Lee; and a few years before, his own son had fallen in a duel.  Neither his education nor his professions nor his practice could excuse him.  It was too late to take shelter behind his general disapproval of a custom which was recognized by his professional brethren and had been countenanced by himself.  It is true that he would have shown a higher courage by braving an ignorant and brutal public opinion, but it would be unjust to censure him for not showing a degree of courage which no man of his day displayed.  He and Burr are to be measured by their own standard, not by ours; and tried by that test, it is easy to see a difference between one who accepts and one who sends an unjustifiable challenge; it is the difference which exists between an error and a crime.