Note 832 — Chapter VI
Reading edition
Samuel Dana and John Cotton Smith. (See Eaton's testimony, Annals, 10th Cong. 1st Sess. 512; and Eaton: Prentiss, 396-403.)
That part of Eaton's account of Burr's conversation which differs from those with Truxtun and Decatur is simply unaccountable. That Burr was capable of anything may be granted; but his mind was highly practical and he was uncommonly reserved in speech. Undoubtedly Eaton had heard the common talk about the timidity and supineness of the Government under Jefferson and had himself used language such as he ascribed to Burr.
Whichever way one turns, no path out of the confusion appears. But for Burr's abstemious habits (he was the most temperate of all the leading men of that period) an explanation might be that he and Eaton were very drunk—Burr recklessly so—if he indulged in this uncharacteristic outburst of loquacity.