A disposition, from the earliest
period of his life, to write in cipher, has already been noticed. To
this may be added an unwillingness, on all important questions, to
commit himself in writing. As soon as he entered the political arena,
this characteristic was visible even in his letters to Mrs. Burr. On
the 14th of November, 1791, he writes her--"To the subject of politics
I can at present make no reply. The _mode of communication would not
permit_, did no other reason oppose." And again, December 21st, he
says--"You will perhaps admire that I cannot leave Congress as well as
others. This, if a problem, _can only be solved at a personal
interview_."
At the commencement of the revolutionary war, the State of New-York
held an extensive tract of wild and unimproved lands. Sundry laws were
passed in the years 1779, 1780, 1784, 1785, and 1786, providing for
their sale and settlement. A board was created, entitled "the
Commissioners of the Land Office." It was composed of the governor,
the secretary of state, the attorney-general, the treasurer, and the
auditor. The powers conferred by the several acts above referred to
having been found inadequate to the proposed object, the legislature,
on the 22d of March, 1791, gave unlimited powers to the commissioners,
authorizing them to "dispose of any of the waste and unappropriated
lands in the state, in such parcels, and on such terms, and in such
manner as they shall judge most conducive to the interests of the
state.
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