En: 
 
The Aaron Burr Conspiracy 
 
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 Volca 
 
The ^4aron Burr 
 Conspiracy 
 
 A History largely from original and 
 hitherto unused sources 
 
 By 
 
 WALTER FLAVIUS MCCALEB, A.M., Ph.D, 
 
 Fellow in the Texas State Historical Association 
 
 Sometime Fellow in History in the 
 
 University of Chicago 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 
 
 1903 
 
Copyright, 1903, by 
 Dodd, Mead and Company 
 
 First Edition, published 
 April, 1903 
 
 * 
 
TO 
 
 HERMANN EDUARD VON HOLST 
 TEACHER AND FRIEND 
 
Preface 
 
 FOR a century the conspiracy of Aaron Burr has 
 been a puzzling theme. Apart from the distin 
 guished figures that move across its stage, the 
 nature of the enterprise from its very extravagance 
 must always engage the attention of those who care 
 to know something of the United States in its Heroic 
 Age. 
 
 The conspiracy was of much wider and deeper origin 
 than has been usually supposed, and the conditions 
 which gave rise to it, as well as the events with which 
 it was vitally connected, have received scant treatment 
 from historians. Social and political upheavals are not 
 growths of a night, but are the results of the workings 
 of real and definite causes which are traceable in every 
 case and susceptible of some degree of analysis. Burr s 
 project is no exception to this general law. And hap 
 pily we are now far enough removed from his time to 
 see more clearly the perspective of events, and to 
 measure with more certainty the motives and conduct 
 of men. 
 
 In the discussion of the subject writers have in nearly 
 every case failed to distinguish between the conspiracy 
 
 and Aaron Burr in other words, they have attempted 
 
 vii 
 
viii PREFACE 
 
 to explain it through the character of Burr himself, 
 a procedure which is fundamentally erroneous. Burr s 
 character was apparently never more seriously involved, 
 and never reflected more disastrously upon the con 
 spiracy, than in the correspondence of Merry and Yrujo 
 the ministers respectively of Great Britain and Spain 
 to whom he ostensibly disclosed his designs. If the 
 revelations of the ministers could be accepted at their 
 face value, treason was in Burr s mind, and the separa 
 tion of the West from the Union was his plot, open 
 and avowed. However, viewing the correspondence 
 as a whole, in conjunction with other facts which 
 cannot here be discussed, it appears certain that Burr s 
 intrigue with Merry and Yrujo was but a consummate 
 piece of imposture. In order to secure funds for the 
 carrying out of his expedition against Mexico, Burr 
 resorted to the expedient of playing on the hatred of the 
 European powers for the American Republic. Could 
 they be brought to contribute moneys to aid in the 
 sundering of the States? Burr thought so, and to 
 secure the sum he conceived to be necessary for his 
 purposes he never scrupled at discoursing of treasons, 
 although at the moment every step he was taking 
 looked toward an invasion of the Spanish territories. 
 No weight can be placed upon Merry s and Yrujo s 
 letters as concerns the nature of the conspiracy, except 
 indeed in a negative sense ; and I say this with all defer 
 ence to Mr. Henry Adams and those who have laid so 
 much stress on these manuscripts, maintaining that they 
 
PREFACE ix 
 
 lay bare the heart of the conspiracy. The heart of the 
 conspiracy, however, was far removed from any com 
 munication of Burr s. The conspiracy was an affection 
 of society Burr was but a member of that society, an 
 agent. It follows that if the nature of the conspiracy 
 is to be disclosed, it can only be through an examination 
 into the state of that society whose social, political, and 
 traditional affiliations gave rise to it. This is basic. 
 That the ideas of Burr, whatever they may have been, 
 necessarily betray the secret of the movement, cannot 
 be successfully maintained. But that the prevailing 
 impression of Burr s character lent weight to the impu 
 tation of treason cannot be doubted; nor more can it 
 be doubted that the isolation of the West, together with 
 the ignorance of the East concerning the pioneers 
 who built their log cabins in the wilderness beyond the 
 Alleghany Mountains, tended to distort extraordinarily 
 the affair in the public mind. What were the ideas, 
 then, prevailing in the Western country? Was there 
 a contingent that plotted disunion ? Was there a party 
 that clamored loudly for war against whatever power 
 insulted the Republic? Of the first there is no trace 
 worth considering; of the latter there is evidence in 
 abundance. The spirit of the Westerners is proclaimed 
 in no uncertain voice, and if its tone could have been 
 mistaken in 1806, there was no doubting its meaning in 
 1812, when, in spite of the opposition of New England, 
 the Second War with Great Britain was forced. 
 And yet this was done by the very men upon whom 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Burr had counted, and the greatest leaders in that 
 struggle had been his associates. If we look more 
 closely we shall see, what has been but too timidly sug 
 gested, that it was the West and South that took up the 
 burden of the Republic when it had well nigh wearied 
 of the load. 
 
 As for the conspiracy, patriotism was but one of its 
 elements. For him who reads the secret of the Anglo- 
 Saxon character, there is epitomized in the movement 
 the whole course of the race that threw down the bul 
 warks of Rome, that terrorized Europe in a Viking s 
 fleet, that conquered the Western World, and that looks 
 confidently forward to the time when the struggle for 
 universal supremacy shall test its powers. Expansion 
 conquest was the keynote of the conspiracy ; it is 
 the keynote of the history of the race. 
 
 This narrative of the conspiracy of Aaron Burr has 
 been in large part written from original and hitherto 
 unused sources of information. It must not be thought, 
 however, that the work of scholars in this field has 
 been ignored ; on the contrary, I have made much use 
 of it, but never intentionally without due credit 
 either in text or notes. I have not found it expedient, 
 however, to point out even the most glaring anachro 
 nisms in many of the secondary narratives which treat 
 of the conspiracy ; much less have I attempted to indi 
 cate divergences of opinion and there are divergences 
 as wide as misdemeanor is from treason. 
 
 In the endeavor to make this study exhaustive much 
 
PREFACE xi 
 
 time has been expended in searching for new data. 
 Brief mention must therefore be made of the various 
 sources which have been consulted, and of the materials 
 exploited. 
 
 In 1896 documents relating to the conspiracy were 
 discovered in the Bexar Archives at San Antonio, the 
 Spanish capital of the Province of Texas. From 
 early in the eighteenth century, much of the correspond 
 ence of the provincial Governors with the Captains- 
 General and Viceroys of Mexico found lodgment in the 
 musty files of the archives of the province. It is need 
 less to say that they contain many manuscripts which 
 are concerned with the westward growth of the 
 United States and with the uninterrupted conflict which 
 was waged with the retreating civilization of Spain. The 
 views of the officers of Carlos IV. in that quarter as 
 to the nature of the conspiracy are illuminating. They 
 rightly classed it as a manifestation of the restless, 
 encroaching activity of the nation which fate had 
 placed on their borders. 
 
 The archives of the State of Texas contain materials 
 dating from the Spanish regime and are of value on 
 more than one doubtful point. 
 
 The Viceroyalty of Mexico on account of the promi 
 nent position it held among the Spanish colonies became 
 the great center for the accumulation of official corre 
 spondence; and the treasure of manuscripts now con 
 tained in the Archivo General de Mexico, Mexico City, 
 is of inestimable value to the history of the New 
 
xii PREFACE 
 
 World, and in an almost equal measure to that of 
 Europe. Although we have ignored as far as possible 
 the presence of the Spanish civilization in the affairs of 
 America, and have remained blind to the tremendous 
 formative and directive influence which it has exerted 
 on the course of our national growth, it is from this 
 collection that our own history is to be enriched and 
 brought nearer to truth. The Departments of Marine, 
 War, and the Provinces, together with the correspond 
 ence which passed between the Viceroys of New Spain 
 and the home Government deserve special mention. In 
 the latter collection are letters from Viceroy Jose de 
 Iturrigaray to Don Pedro Cevallos, then Minister of 
 State, which go a long way toward explaining the con 
 duct of General James Wilkinson at the crisis on the 
 Sabine in November, 1806. The cloudy transactions 
 which resulted in the lamentable Neutral Ground 
 Treaty and in the over- vaunted defeat of Burr are 
 somewhat cleared of the mist which has enshrouded 
 them. 
 
 The Mississippi Valley also proved a fruitful field 
 for research. New Orleans was the focus for the vari 
 ous lines of forces which mingled in the conspiracy: 
 it was the home of the Creoles who are supposed to 
 have been at the heart of the plot; it was the place, if 
 we follow generally accepted conclusions, specially de 
 signed by the adventurers for plunder; and it had the 
 unenviable distinction to be subjected for two months 
 to the tyranny of General Wilkinson. In its City Hall 
 
PREFACE ziii 
 
 are files of the Moniteur de la Louisiane and of the 
 Orleans Gazette, both of which newspapers were pub 
 lished contemporaneously with the conspiracy. The 
 former was the organ of the Creole population, the 
 latter represented the Americans proper, while both 
 contain, apart from valuable documentary evidence, a 
 trustworthy reflection of the public mind of the time. 
 It is needless to say that much new light is shed on 
 that dark chapter in the history of the conspiracy which 
 is concerned with the attitude of the native Louisianians 
 toward Burr, and with Wilkinson s reign of terror in 
 the capital of Orleans. The official manuscript Journal 
 of W. C. C. Claiborne, the first Governor of the Terri 
 tory, preserved in the old Tulane Law Library, is of 
 exceeding interest, containing as it does much of his 
 correspondence with the National Government, Wilkin 
 son, and others. 
 
 Colonel R. T. Durrett of Louisville has in his splen 
 did library a file of the Palladium, an independent 
 newspaper published at Frankfort, Kentucky, and 
 edited by William Hunter. In it are voiced the early 
 controversies that rent Kentucky society, which has 
 always been regarded as rife with disaffection. Most 
 of the sensational articles concerning Burr, Wilkinson, 
 and the Spanish Association, which appeared in the 
 Western World, an incendiary newspaper established 
 at Frankfort in July, 1806, were reprinted in the 
 Palladium. Likewise a full account is given of the 
 two arraignments of Burr in Kentucky. Another im- 
 
xiv PREFACE 
 
 portant source is the Lexington Gazette a file of which 
 is preserved in the Lexington Public Library one of 
 the most influential journals of the early West. Its 
 columns, like those of the Palladium, were devoted to 
 combating the inflammatory reports which appeared 
 weekly in the Western World, and to asserting the 
 patriotism of the frontiersmen. 
 
 The letters cited from the Andrew Jackson MSS. are 
 of moment, for the relations which subsisted between 
 Jackson and Burr have been so distorted and amplified 
 that any approximation to the truth is to be welcomed. 
 I am obliged to Messrs. Woodbury and Gist Blair for 
 transcripts of the original documents. 
 
 The Henry Clay MSS. and the Breckenridge Letters 
 were opened to my inspection, and it is a pleasure to 
 express my gratitude to Thomas Clay, Esq., and to 
 Colonel W. C. P. Breckenridge for their respective 
 services in this connection. 
 
 The Jefferson and Madison MSS. have been ex 
 amined with profit. Moreover, the Department of 
 State at Washington, contains a notable volume entitled 
 "Letters in Relation to Burr s Conspiracy/ the con 
 tents of which, so far as I can ascertain, have never been 
 made public. The letters are from various sources, and 
 many of them are extremely significant, serving to 
 make clearer the whole view of the conspiracy, espe 
 cially the latter phase of it centering in the trial at 
 Richmond. 
 
 That Burr was himself a mapmaker is known, but 
 
PREFACE 
 
 xv 
 
 that maps exhibiting the geography of his Western 
 enterprise were in existence had hardly been suspected. 
 There are, however, three such maps in the possession 
 of Mrs. Thomas C. Wordin. They were inherited from 
 her grandfather, Dr. John Cummins, who lived on the 
 Bayou Pierre in Mississippi Territory where Burr s 
 expedition collapsed. Dr. Cummins indorsed for Burr 
 to a considerable extent, which proved his attachment ; 
 and no doubt when the conspirator was under trial 
 in the Territory these tell-tale documents were turned 
 over to one who could be trusted to secrete them. The 
 maps are of preeminent significance, illustrating;, as 
 they undoubtedly do, the outlines of Burr s project. To 
 distinguish, Map No. i (measuring thirty-nine inches 
 by thirty-two) shows the lower region of the Missis 
 sippi River with Natchez, New Orleans, and the 
 Washita lands, also New Mexico and Mexico .down to 
 Yucatan. Map No. 2 is an admiralty chart ( twenty- three 
 inches by nineteen) and gives with astonishing minute 
 ness a survey of the Gulf coast from New Orleans to 
 Campeche. Islands, bars, and inlets are recorded, and 
 soundings are given. The chart is beautifully executed 
 on paper bearing the watermark of 1801. Map No. 3, 
 which is here reproduced, measures in the original 
 forty-five inches by nineteen. It exhibits in some of its 
 details with startling correctness that section of Mexico 
 lying between Vera Cruz on the east an4 Mexico City 
 on the west. The minutiae into which these maps de 
 scend display a knowledge which could have been 
 
xvi PREFACE 
 
 obtained only from Spanish sources; and this opinion 
 is reenforced by the fact that the longitude in one case 
 is reckoned from Cadiz. On the whole, these docu 
 ments, the authenticity of which is indubitable, form a 
 strong link in the chain of evidence. 
 
 The correspondence of Anthony Merry, mentioned 
 above, with whom Burr, while yet Vice-President, 
 opened his intrigue, has been carefully examined. I had 
 hoped also to find in the British Archives traces of 
 Merry s correspondence with Burr in 1808, but my 
 endeavors and the efforts of Mr. Hubert Hall of the 
 Public Record Office were without result. Transcripts 
 of Yrujo s correspondence with his home Government 
 concerning Burr s disclosures to him have been de 
 posited by Mr. Adams in the State Department 
 Archives at Washington, and students ought to appre 
 ciate such a display of good will and scholarly spirit. 
 
 The reports of Merry and Yrujo reveal an astonish 
 ing audacity of design on the part of the conspirators. 
 While they failed in their main purpose of obtaining 
 needed moneys from King George and Don Carlos, 
 they succeeded in hoodwinking both Merry and Yrujo. 
 Here, as indicated above, there arises between Mr. 
 Adams and myself a diversity of opinion which only 
 serves to illustrate what different conclusions may be 
 drawn from the same materials, taken in conjunction 
 with additional facts. In this connection it is a pleasure 
 to say that, while I have often had cause to disagree 
 with Mr. Adams, he has been of inestimable service to 
 
PREFACE xvii 
 
 me not only because of his masterly method and the 
 inspiration derived from following his work, but be 
 cause he has said practically the last word on the con 
 spiracy in its classic form, which teaches that it was 
 double-natured treasonable and filibustering. 
 
 Among those to whom I am under obligations and to 
 whom I wish in this place to express my gratitude are : 
 Senor Mariscal, Vice-President of the Republic of 
 Mexico, and General Clayton, Ambassador to Mexico, 
 through whose cooperation I was granted the freest 
 access to the Mexican Archives; Mr. William Beer, 
 librarian of the Howard Memorial Library of New 
 Orleans; Colonel Reuben T. Durrett, who opened 
 to me his rare collection of Western Americana; 
 Dr. David J. Hill, Assistant Secretary of State; the 
 Honorable Joseph H. Choate, Ambassador to the Court 
 of St. James, whose note to the British Foreign Office 
 so much facilitated my researches; Mr. Villiers of the 
 Foreign Office, and Mr. Hubert Hall of the Public 
 Record Office, whose uniform courtesy cannot be for 
 gotten ; and Mr. and Mrs. Thomas C. Wordin through 
 whose kindness the Burr maps are for the first time 
 called to the notice of the public. 
 
 I have specially to acknowledge the services of Pro 
 fessor George P. Garrison, who first encouraged me 
 in the prosecution of the work, and who kindly read 
 the MS. Mr. John P. Weisenhagen, Dr. and Mrs. 
 William B. Seeley, Professor Francis W. Shepardson, 
 and Professor Frederick J. Turner have in more than 
 
xviii PREFACE 
 
 one way left me indebted to them. My hearty thanks 
 are due to Professor J. Franklin Jameson for his criti 
 cal reading of the MS. and for his suggestions. To 
 Dr. Louis H. Gray and Mr. C. C. Whinery I am grate 
 ful for corrections made in the proof. I wish also to 
 thank my publishers for their readiness to comply with 
 suggestions and for their constant courtesy. 
 
 Lastly, if the book has any merit, it is largely due 
 to Idealie Marie McCaleb, whose interest in it sprang 
 up under peculiar circumstances, whose labors on it 
 were many-natured, and whose faith in it has never 
 wavered. 
 
 WALTER FLAVIUS MCCALEB. 
 WASHINGTON SQUARE, March 25, 1903. 
 
Contents 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. A BRIEF SURVEY OF THE PERIOD ... i 
 
 li 
 
 II. BURR S TOUR OF THE WEST ..... 16 
 
 III. BURR S INTRIGUES ........ 41 
 
 IV. PLANS AND PREPARATIONS ..... 72 
 V. THE CRISIS ON THE FRONTIER .... 105 
 
 VI. WILKINSON S DUPLICITY ...... 136 
 
 VII. Two KENTUCKY ARRAIGNMENTS . . . 172 
 
 VIII. WILKINSON IN NEW ORLEANS . 201 
 
 
 
 ja i 
 
 IX. THE EXPEDITION ........ 242 
 
 X. BURR S TRIAL IN MISSISSIPPI . . . .271 
 
 XL MEASURES IN WASHINGTON .... 285 
 
 XII. THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND . . . . .310 
 
 XIII. THE LAST YEARS ........ 363 
 
 xix 
 
The Aaron Burr 
 Conspiracy 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A Brief Survey of the Period 
 
 THE Conspiracy of Aaron Burr was preemi 
 nently a revolutionary product, receiving its 
 inspiration from that unprecedented period of 
 upheaval which began with the Revolution of 1776, its 
 impelling force from the character of the American 
 pioneer, its license from the disturbed condition of 
 affairs existing in the New World. It is therefore nec 
 essary, in order correctly to view the movement, to 
 devote a few words to a general survey of contempo 
 raneous history, with especial regard to the West and 
 the Spanish- American colonies., 
 
 America was in the Eighteenth Century, as now, 
 inseparably bound up with Europe, the thought and 
 feeling of the one instantly finding response in the 
 other; so the flame of war for larger liberty, kindled 
 first on the shores of America, was destined to lose 
 itself in the vastness of the general conflagration. The 
 doctrines set forth in the Declaration of Independence 
 struck at the root of existing European institutions 
 
 i 
 
2 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 among which were privileged orders and denied the 
 divine right of kings. The phrase that all men are 
 created equal lent overwhelming impetus to the on 
 coming French Revolution, and made possible the free 
 dom of the wretched colonies of Spain in the Western 
 World. The news of the rising in Europe thrilled the 
 Thirteen Colonies which had been recently at war for 
 their rights. The tricolor and the cockade became 
 almost national emblems, while the mass of the people, 
 whom the Constitution had sought in a measure to ex 
 clude from power, came to feel their weight in the affairs 
 of the nation. In the Spanish- American provinces, be 
 cause of the strenuous measures resorted to by the au 
 thorities, the force of the Revolution was much abated ; 
 but in spite of the Holy Inquisition the seditious doc 
 trines of the French enthusiasts were disseminated 
 among the natives. 1 Presently there were some who, 
 brooding over the condition of their country, began to 
 direct stirring pamphlets against the iniquities of the 
 Spanish Government, and to plot for its disruption. 2 
 Summary and bloody were the proceedings of the au 
 thorities against the conspirators, but nothing could 
 stay the spread of the maxims of liberty and equality 
 set in motion by the great Revolution, although at the 
 moment its crimes appalled the world. 
 
 If we examine into the internal conditions of the 
 colonial establishments of Spain we shall see that 
 everything was ripe for disunion and rebellion. A 
 
 ^laman s Historia de Mexico, \., 127. 
 
 Restrepo s Historia de la Revolution de Nueva Granada, 
 i-, 55- 
 
A BRIEF SURVEY OF THE PERIOD 3 
 
 writer in Bell s Messenger, an influential journal of the 
 day, said that the Spanish Colonies supported the 
 parent as Anchises of old was supported by his chil-. 
 dren; but that they had become tired of the weight 
 and cared not how soon the burden was shuffled off. 
 The condition of affairs in many parts was indeed 
 deplorable, for the system of government which Spain 
 bound upon her colonies was antiquated and ill ad- 
 justgd^to the progress and necessities of the time. 
 Everywhere absolutism, in Church and State, pressed 
 the superstitious natives from one stage of degrada 
 tion to a lower. Almost three centuries of Span 
 ish rule in the Americas passed before the gross 
 injustices in the prevailing order of things appealed to 
 men with a force not to be repressed. Once more the 
 masses were arrayed against privileged classes, and the 
 fury of the Mexicans with their pikes at Guanajuato 
 was not unlike that of the "sans-culottes" which over 
 turned the Bastille and inspired the Terror. 
 
 The United States, through social and commercial 
 relations, knew of the insurrections in the Spanish 
 Americas and watched the political situation with keen 
 and lively interest. This was but natural, for senti- 
 mentalism and revolutionary intoxication completely 
 possessed the American mind. It was a radical regime 
 that bore Thomas Jefferson in triumph. Aristocracy 
 was spurned ; the oligarchy of our early national period 
 was rudely cast off, while in its place was installed 
 virile, confident democracy. The sympathy of the 
 young Republic for the French people in their struggle 
 against the tyranny of Europe was unquestioned; in- 
 
4 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 deed, tyranny in any quarter excited them to reprobate 
 the existence of kings. 
 
 It was in the West that this madness reached its 
 height. The course of political events had told mightily 
 in molding the character of the Westerners. Their 
 nearest neighbors were the Spaniards in Louisiana, and 
 these, through repressive laws and encroachments, had 
 lost no opportunity to make life in the Mississippi 
 Valley unendurable. The States lying to the east of 
 the Alleghanies, the original Union, contributed much 
 in a negative way to estrange the Western settlements 
 by neglecting and ignoring their interests. When Spain 
 confiscated property on the Mississippi the Westerners 
 blazed with indignation; and yet Congress seriously 
 considered a treaty which would have closed the Mis 
 sissippi to their commerce for twenty-five years. Thus 
 outraged, the pioneers expressed their feelings through 
 outspoken petitions to the Assembly of Virginia and to 
 Congress. Their rights, they declared, were considered 
 but subsidies to be traded for commercial concessions 
 to the East; they had no market for their corn and 
 pork ; their goods were appropriated ; the Indians were 
 sent against them: they would end the tyranny by 
 expelling the enemy from Louisiana ! 
 
 There followed from 1787 a decade full of confu 
 sion and intrigues. The most conspicuous movement 
 was known as the Spanish Association, or Conspiracy, 
 whose vital principle comprehended the incorporation 
 of the West with the possessions of Spain. This, how 
 ever, played an insignificant part in the course of 
 events, for the people instinctively recoiled at the 
 
A BRIEF SURVEY OF THE PERIOD 5 
 
 thought of becoming subject to a nation and a civiliza 
 tion they loathed. In reality it has never been shown 
 that the movement embraced more than a few politi 
 cians and pensioners of Spain, of whom James Wilkin 
 son was the chief, not only in point of service, but in 
 talents. The Spanish movement can not have had, 
 from the nature of things, roots that went deep in 
 society the Westerners were bound to the States by 
 unseverable ties of blood and tradition. 
 
 When France rose against England and Spain, 
 she had the sympathies of the Americans, who were 
 even ready to take up arms in her behalf. Indeed, 
 so tremendous was the force brought to bear on the 
 Government that President Washington hardly with 
 stood it ; even the devotion of the people to him seemed 
 for a time irretrievably lost. At such a moment 
 (1793) Genet, the French Minister, landed in America. 
 Taking advantage of the tide of feeling he equipped 
 privateers, harassed the Government and launched a 
 project for the invasion of the Spanish Possessions 
 from our Western States. Louisiana and the Floridas 
 were to be taken and, perhaps, Mexico. 1 During the 
 summer Genet pushed his Louisiana expedition, which 
 was forming in the West under the leadership of 
 George Rogers Clark. Upon receiving notice to the 
 effect that two hundred and fifty men were actually 
 collected in that quarter, Thomas Jefferson, then Secre 
 tary of State, appealed to Governor Shelby of Ken 
 tucky for information. The Governor admitted the 
 
 *See Frederick J. Turner, in American Historical Review, 
 July, 1898. 
 
6 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 presence of French revolutionists, and that Clark had 
 received a commission to equip an army which had for 
 its object the clearing of the Mississippi of the Span 
 iards; but he said that he was powerless to interfere, 
 inasmuch as every citizen had a right to leave the 
 State, if he pleased, and to take with him arms and 
 ammunition. 
 
 This survey of events is necessary to us if we 
 are rightly to interpret the Aaron Burr Conspiracy. It 
 is only by studying the character of the people, the 
 conditions under which -they lived, and the nature of 
 their environment that we can comprehend their feel 
 ings and their actions. But why should the West have 
 been eager to wage a war against a neighboring power? 
 Ostensibly it was a movement concerted with France 
 against the enemies of humanity and liberty. There was 
 still alive in the wilds of the New World something of 
 the sentimentalism which had animated the best period 
 of the great Revolution; and some of it, indeed, was 
 destined to remain in the American breast to find its 
 fruition in a struggle for the freedom of Cuba, which 
 had felt for four centuries the leaden weight of medie 
 valism. But sympathy for the oppressed is too often 
 associated with indeed, too often conceals an in 
 stinct which rises anew with every generation of 
 Anglo-Saxons. In the mind of the Westerners, close- 
 linked with their hatred of Spain for her insolence on 
 the one hand and her oppression on the other, came 
 the longing for her fabulous riches, which they meant 
 sooner or later to take for themselves. 
 
 When the patience of the trans-Alleghany settlers 
 
A BRIEF SURVEY OF THE PERIOD 7 
 
 had been well-nigh outworn, Jay s Treaty, coupled 
 with the victories of "Mad Anthony" Wayne over the 
 Indians, brought relief to the Northwest, while the 
 treaty which Pinckney negotiated at Madrid (1795) 
 pacified the South and West. Spain at last recognized 
 the claim of the United States to the free navigation of 
 the Mississippi and granted under certain conditions 
 the right of depositing goods in New Orleans. This 
 dropping of the bars to commercial expansion proved 
 a great stimulus to emigration; and by the end 
 of the century the Westerners, numbering 400,000 
 souls, were scattered along the Great Lakes, were 
 gazing across the Mississippi, and were crowding the 
 boundary lines of the Floridas. Indeed, no longer were 
 boundaries sufficient to stay their progress many 
 pushed into Missouri and Louisiana ; but for the present 
 the goal toward which all eyes were turned was the 
 possession of New Orleans and the Mississippi. 
 
 "At the beginning of the nineteenth century," says 
 Roosevelt, 1 "the settlers on the Western waters recognized 
 in Spain their natural enemy, because she was the power 
 which held the South and the west bank of the Missis 
 sippi. They would have transferred their hostility to 
 any other power which fell heir to her possessions, for 
 these possessions they were bound one day to make 
 their own." 
 
 Such an opinion was shared in Europe. The French 
 Ambassador, writing to his home Government from 
 Madrid, said: 2 
 
 Roosevelt s Winning of the West, iv., 254. 
 "American State Papers, x., 185. 
 
8 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 "The Cabinet of Madrid thinks it has the greatest in 
 terests not to open the Mississippi to the Americans, and 
 to disgust them from making establishments on that river, 
 as they would not delay to possess themselves of the 
 commerce of New Orleans and Mexico, whatever impedi 
 ments should be opposed to their progress, and that they 
 would become neighbors the more dangerous to Spain 
 as, even in their present weakness, they conceive vast 
 projects for the conquest of the western shore of the 
 Mississippi." 
 
 With the opening of the Nineteenth Century the 
 grievances against Spain took a new form. Although 
 the Mississippi had been thrown open to the commerce 
 of the Americans they were forbidden to enter the 
 Spanish domain on pain of arrest and imprisonment, 
 or even death. The traders among the Indians were 
 apprehended, their goods confiscated, and border 
 troubles for example the Kemper brothers episode in 
 West Florida assumed in several cases serious com 
 plications. But the mine was laid on October 16, 1802, 
 when Juan Ventura Morales, the Spanish Intendant of 
 Louisiana, proclaimed that the right of depositing 
 ^oods in New Orleans had been forfeited by the Ameri 
 cans. The whole country was aroused ; war for the vin 
 dication of rights was everywhere proclaimed ; and it is 
 not surprising that strong measures were contemplated 
 against the arrogant foreigners. The Americans looked 
 upon the right of deposit as one which could not be 
 withdrawn ; but the protests of the Governor of Louisi 
 ana and the Secretary of War at Washington were 
 ineffectual. In the end the action was disavowed by 
 Spain, but nothing could stay the storm which had been 
 raised. Henry Clay of Kentucky did not exaggerate 
 
A BRIEF SURVEY OF THE PERIOD 9 
 
 wken he declared that: "The whole country was in 
 commotion and, .at the nod of the Government, would 
 have fallen on Baton Rouge and New Orleans, and 
 punished the treachery of the perfidious Government." x 
 In many quarters it was openly advocated that the 
 West should appeal to arms. "Coriolanus" said in the 
 Morning Chronicle, December 27, 1802 : "Kentucky 
 has the advantage of invasion; and she no doubt will 
 use it, if unsupported by the Union; she moves alone 
 to the combat; she is situated on the waters rapidly 
 descending to the point of attack ; she will overwhelm 
 Orleans and West Florida with promptitude and 
 ease." 2 
 
 Amidst this general clamor came the startling 
 report of the transfer of Louisiana to Napoleon. The 
 South joined the West in declaring that France should 
 not be allowed to establish herself in her old possession. 
 Nor was Jefferson so deaf as to mistake the ring of 
 earnestness in the voice of his constituency his strong 
 hold was in the South and West. He wrote in his 
 message to Congress, October 17, 1803 : "Previously, 
 however, to this period we have not been unaware of 
 the danger to which our peace would be perpetually 
 exposed, whilst so important a key to the command of 
 the western country remained under foreign power." 
 At the crisis, he said that if France persisted in her 
 course to reoccupy Louisiana the United States would, 
 of necessity, be forced to marry the army and navy of 
 England. He wished not for war; yet he saw that it 
 
 Prentice s Life of Henry Clay, p. 77. 
 
 Palladium (Frankfort, Kentucky), September 18, 1806. 
 
10 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 was unavoidable if Louisiana was not secured to the 
 Union, so he sought to purchase the coveted land. 
 
 In 1762 France ceded to Spain a region of unknown 
 extent lying in the main to the west of the Mississippi ; 
 this territory was known as Louisiana, having been 
 named in honor of the great Louis. But now that 
 France again led the nations and was dominated by 
 such a man as Bonaparte the retrocession was sought, 
 and on October i, 1800, with the secret treaty of San 
 Ildefonso the act was concluded. Without entering into 
 details, it is enough to state that the rupture of the 
 Peace of Amiens, with its immediate consequences, 
 caused Napoleon to meet the United States half way 
 and Louisiana was sold. 
 
 Hardly had the report of its acquisition become 
 public when the question as to limits arose. Indeed, 
 the United States commissioners, Monroe and Living 
 ston, were engaged over this before the papers were 
 signed. France held that the United States was en 
 titled only to the land known as Louisiana, which was 
 transferred to Spain in 1762 and which was retroceded to 
 France by Spain in the Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1800. 
 The United States was entitle*! to so much, but what 
 were the boundaries? How far did Louisiana extend to 
 the east? To the Iberville or to the Perdido? And 
 was the western limit marked by the Arroyo Hondo, 
 the Sabine, or the Rio Grande? 
 
 The question of limits, however, did not at first 
 disturb the, minds of the Westerners. The cession 
 created great rejoicing throughout the region directly 
 affected ; meetings were held and resolutions passed, 
 
A BRIEF SURVEY OF THE PERIOD 1 1 
 
 while governors thought it of enough importance to 
 mention in their messages. Governor Greenup told in 
 grandiloquent words what it meant for Kentucky and 
 for the West, closing his remarks with a peroration on 
 America as the home of freedom. 1 Quite different was 
 the attitude of New England, where the purchase was 
 held up to the grossest ridicule. To the men who 
 opened the way for the march of empire it meant 
 everything. No longer would their flatboats be levied 
 upon by Spain for floating on the Father of Waters ; no 
 longer would they be barred from the markets because 
 of excessive duties; no longer would their material 
 growth be hampered by a foreign power ; there were 
 new regions to occupy, richer lands to develop and un 
 bounded freedom of action! Now indeed the West 
 erners rejoiced in the strong arm of the Government. 
 They had more than they had dared to expect, and their 
 enthusiasm for Jefferson and the national Government, 
 to whom all was attributed, was unlimited. 
 
 The acquisition of Louisiana settled finally the 
 question of the navigation of the Mississippi; but the 
 boundary dispute, complicated by the "French Spolia 
 tion Claims," which hadi f heir origin in French depre 
 dations on American commerce, promised no solution 
 short of the sword. In the West, in truth, the sword 
 was ready at any moment to leap from the scabbard. 
 If the backwoodsman desired to move into new lands in 
 search of game or to barter with the natives, he resented 
 the law which forbade his approach. No-inhabitant of 
 Louisiana, so the royal order read, was td be permitted 
 
 ^Palladium, November 10, 1804. 
 
12 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 to enter Nueva Espana, 1 for he had but one object in 
 view to strike a blow at Spain. The primary purpose 
 of any expedition was to corrupt his Majesty s allies, the 
 Indians, or to study the geography for military pur 
 poses. NemecioSalcedo, Captain-General of the Internal 
 Provinces of Mexico, went to such an extreme that he 
 complained to the Viceroy, in October, 1805, of the 
 Lewis and Clark Expedition, saying that it went osten 
 sibly to discover the source of the Missouri, but really 
 I to estrange the Indians. 2 The Viceroy of Mexico sent 
 reinforcements to the Sabine River to protect the fron 
 tier, and agents among the natives of Texas. Presents 
 were distributed among them, for, as the Spaniards 
 wrote, Dr. Sibley, the Indian agent of the Americans, 
 had tried to seduce them from their allegiance. Jeffer 
 son, also in expectation of war, instructed Sibley to 
 spare no means to convince the Red Men "of the justice 
 and liberality we are determined to use towards them, 
 and to attach them to us indissolubly." 
 
 Beside the bitter hatred of Spain there had sprung 
 into vigorous life in the West a national consciousness, 
 a national mind, which resented the insults of the 
 powers and which was destined to preserve the Union 
 in the second war with Great Britain. Indeed, in a 
 sense, love for the Constitution meant detestation of 
 Spain. The conflict with the wilderness and its inhabi 
 tants, the free air, and freedom from restrictions, had 
 
 Salcedo to Cordero, January 9, 1804; MSS. Bexar Archives. 
 
 Salcedo to Iturrigaray, October 2, 1805; MSS. Bexar 
 Archives. 
 
 Jefferson to Dr. Sibley, May 27, 1805; Jefferson s (Wash 
 ington, ed.) Works, iv., 580. 
 
A BRIEF SURVEY OF THE PERIOD 13 
 
 caused the Westerners to recoil at the thought of 
 * Spanish tyranny and had, under the stimulus of their 
 predilections, converted them unwittingly into revolu 
 tionists ; and thus for years the West harbored the most 
 r devoted adherents of the Constitution and the most 
 1 unscrupulous filibusters. They had a contempt for 
 Spanish institutions, civil and religious, and were filled 
 with "painful solicitude for the unfortunate millions 
 1 she held in bondage." They indulged, said Foote in 
 his History of Texas, "a jealousy active and unre 
 mitting towards the Spanish Government and people 
 on account of the power which they possessed of dis 
 turbing the peace and retarding the growth of the 
 United States/ To contempt and jealousy were 
 ^ added the sense of injustice done us in the Napo 
 leonic wars and the question of the settlement of 
 boundaries. Most Westerners thought West Florida 
 and Texas ours by right of purchase and were eager 
 to seize them. The Bishop of Nueva Leon, who visited 
 Natchitoches in January, 1805, wrote 1 to Viceroy Itur- 
 rigaray that "these Republicans count themselves own 
 ers of the territory to the Rio Grande." There were 
 many, too, who endorsed what Jefferson suggested in a 
 letter to A. Stewart in 1785 concerning the disposition 
 of the Spanish possessions, that it was best for the 
 interests of the great continent not to press too soon 
 upon the Spaniards; but they believed the time was 
 now come "to gain it from them piece by piece." 
 
 It was this the Spaniards feared; they had an in- 
 
 1 Bishop of Nueva Leon to Iturrigaray, January 20, 1805; 
 MSS. Mexican Archives. 
 
i 4 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY , 
 
 herent dread of the approach of the Americans, who 
 were looked upon as being by blood and tradition law 
 less terrorists and revolutionists. Nor has the history 
 of Spain in America during^ the Nineteenth Century 
 tended, in their view, to disprove the correctness of the 
 belief. One of the reasons which brought Spain to 
 consent to the transfer of Louisiana to France was the 
 hope that it would be made a buffer between the Ameri 
 can and her own possessions. But its acquisition by the 
 United States reopened the fears and difficulties of her 
 neighbor. Louisiana became henceforth, as de Onis, 
 the noted minister to this country, wrote, 1 agateway 
 for 
 
 On the Continent, so far as our study is concerned, 
 the supremacy of French influence in the determinations 
 of the Spanish Court was of paramount importance. 
 It made possible the peaceful acquisition of Louisiana 
 and restrained the United States from going to war 
 with Spain during the years immediately succeeding; 
 for war with Spain meant war with France also. But 
 for this, Mexico and other Spanish-American colonies 
 would have been earlier revolutionized. Napoleon 
 desired to bring into his world-wide empire these 
 boundless possessions ; therefore France stood as a bar 
 rier between the two disputants. The wars that raged 
 on the Continent had interest for us only in so far as 
 they were waged, or were supposed to be waged, on 
 the basis of humanitarian principles the rights of the 
 people as opposed to absolutism. This was the sign 
 which roused the American people and which, in spite 
 
 De Onis s Cuestion de Texas, p. 3. 
 
A BRIEF SURVEY OF THE PERIOD 1 5 
 
 of- Napoleon s unwise and unwarranted attacks on our 
 commerce, kept the masses steadfastly in sympathy 
 with France in her struggles. The case might have been 
 modified somewhat had England acted another role; 
 but so uncompromising and bitter was her resentment 
 and her memory of the War of the Revolution that 
 she disregarded at will our interests and insulted when 
 ever she chose our national dignity. With Europe at 
 war, America struggled hard to preserve her neutrality, 
 and in accomplishing this she became the prey of both 
 France and England, while suffering outrage after out 
 rage from a power she longed to grind under her heel. 
 
 It was at such a juncture as this the Americas in 
 a state of unrest and revolution, Europe embroiled in 
 the deadly and terrible struggles of Pitt and Napoleon, 
 and the United States threatening war with Spain 
 that the first term of Jefferson s administration came to 
 an end, and Aaron Burr, indicted for the slaying of 
 Hamilton, eschewed by the Republicans and hounded 
 by the Federalists, stepped down from the office of 
 Vice-President. He had already embarked in an enter 
 prise simple enough in itself, but which, through the 
 tangling of his own web and the interplay of circum 
 stances over which he had no control, was destined to 
 become a puzzle for succeeding generations. 
 
 "v 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Burr s Tour of the West 
 
 * 
 
 A THE time when he embarked in his conspir 
 acy Aaron Burr was forty-nine years of age. He 
 owned a distinguished ancestry; Jonathan 
 Edwards, the foremost theologian of America, was 
 his grandfather on his mother s side, while the Burrs 
 were of noble German blood, Aaron s father being a 
 noted divine and president of Princeton College. The 
 misfortunes of Burr began early; his parents died, 
 leaving him and an only sister at a tender age to the 
 care of relatives. He was carefully prepared for col 
 lege and at sixteen was graduated with distinction 
 from Princeton. He was destined for the ministry, but 
 a few months study of theology under Dr. Bellamy 
 seems to have confirmed him in skepticism. He deter 
 mined to take up the law,- and began its study under 
 i Tappan Reeve, his brother-in-law. But the news of 
 the battle of Lexington startled him from this for the 
 time being. Hurrying to Boston Burr took his place 
 in the ranks, and later joined Arnold s expedition to 
 Quebec, nothing deterred by the perils of snow and ice 
 and the pleadings of his relatives. He won distinction 
 in the campaign and had the melancholy honor of bear 
 ing away the dead body of General Montgomery from 
 before the snowbound blockhouse whence recoiled the 
 last serious assault on the capital of Canada. Burr s 
 rise was rapid ; his integrity, bravery, intelligence, and 
 
 16 
 
7* 
 BURR S TOUR OF THE WEST 17 
 
 withal his knowledge of military science recommended 
 him to his superiors. From an aide-de-camp to General 
 Putnam he was soon elevated to the command of a 
 regiment, acquitting himself notably while in charge of 
 the Westchester lines above New York City. 
 
 After four years of unremitting service, Burr re 
 signed from the army and at once bent his energies 
 to the law, and within a short space was admitted to 
 practice. He opened an office in Albany and was soon 
 after married to Theodosia Prevost, an attractive and 
 intellectual widow. To them was born a daughter, 
 Theodosia, who was to play a brilliant and tragic role. 
 Burr resided at Albany until the British were with 
 drawn from New York, when he moved thither and 
 began the practice of his profession in earnest, mount 
 ing rapidly in the esteem of the public and dividing 
 honors with Alexander Hamilton. 
 
 Burr s entry into politics seems to have been more 
 by accident than design. In the beginning he steered 
 clear of an alliance with either of the three great fami 
 lies the Clintons, Livingstons, and Schuylers creat 
 ing for himself an independent party, the nucleus of 
 which was a group of enthusiastic young men whom 
 Hamilton denominated Burr s myrmidons. As yet 
 things went smoothly for Burr who was, in 1789, after 
 having opposed the reelection of George Clinton to the 
 governorship, appointed by him Attorney-General of 
 the State. In this capacity he won recognition both as 
 an orator and as an administrator, j Two years later, to 
 his surprise, so far as we know, he was elected to the 
 Senate of the United States over the head of General 
 
1 8 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 Schuyler, Hamilton s father-in-law. This was the 
 ; beginning of the feud which closed with the dark, 
 lamentable tragedy of Weehawken the duel in which 
 Hamilton was slain. 
 
 The career of Burr in the Senate, where he espoused 
 the Republican cause, was eminently honorable. He at 
 once strode toward the leadership of the party, and in 
 the Presidential election of 1796 received thirty elec 
 toral votes. At the end of his term of office, retired as 
 Senator, he entered upon the maelstrom of New York 
 politics. New York was in the election of 1800, as it 
 has been so often since, the pivotal State, the determin 
 ing factor in the national election. Through Burr s 
 agency the Clintons and Livingstons were united, the 
 schisms in the ranks of the opposition were widened, 
 and the commonwealth was swept by the Republican 
 electors. Burr was rightly credited with the victory, 
 and was obviously the logical candidate for the Vice- 
 Presidency, for which place he was nominated by the 
 Congressional caucus which named Jefferson for the 
 highest honor .v 
 
 When the votes of the Electoral College were polled 
 it was found that Jefferson and Burr had each seventy- 
 three; John Adams sixty-five; Pinckney sixty- four; 
 Jay one. There being a tie, the election was accord 
 ingly thrown into the House of Representatives, where 
 it resolved itself into a struggle between the Federal 
 ists and the Republicans. After weary days of ballot 
 ing and much bitterness Jefferson was made President, 
 Burr becoming Vice-President. Now indeed storms 
 began to gather. He came to be regarded by the Gin- 
 
BURR S TOUR OF THE WEST 19 
 
 tons and Livingstons as an interloper. The party once j 
 victorious, he was discovered to be in the path of several 
 aspiring gentlemen, who left no means untouched for 
 his undoing. Attacked viciously by Cheetham, the 
 scurrilous editor of the American Citizen, the organ of 
 De Witt Clinton, he became also an object of suspicion 
 and envy in the eyes of Jefferson and the Virginia 
 political clique. Some of his assailants were only too 
 glad to drag from the cesspool of political scandals any 
 fragment which might be available in besmirching his 
 character. He was accused of this and that, through all 
 of which he maintained a resolute silence. It was a 
 characteristic of his never to refute charges against his 
 name. Losing caste with Jefferson and the leaders of 
 his party, he stood for the governorship of New York; 
 but he was doomed, and defeat led further to anni 
 hilation of his hopes for political preferment. 
 
 Alexander Hamilton, who had pursued him with 
 relentless language and bitter, damaging charges, was 
 challenged to a duel and slain as a direct outcome of the 
 part he had played in the election. If anything was now 
 lacking to make Burr s isolation complete it was his 
 stepping down from the chair of the Senate. Cast out by 
 the Republicans, he was scorned and persecuted by the 
 Federalists. As a party leader he was dead. Brilliant, - 
 ambitious, he must now have been in a state of mind 
 bordering on despair, had he been addicted to gloom 
 and melancholy. But it is not shown that Burr ever 
 lamented or grieved over the course of things, how 
 ever severely and painfully it pressed upon him. He 
 had still his myrmidons who were as devoted to their _1 
 
20 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 leader as they had been under the flush of his startling 
 successes. Driven from power in the States, he turned 
 with enthusiasm to a plan he had early formed of revo 
 lutionizing the Spanish colonies. 1 Indeed, before his 
 term of office had expired, he was busy evolving ways 
 and means which were to contribute to its success. As 
 early as August 6, 1804, he had begun through an 
 intermediary his intrigue with Anthony Merry, British 
 Minister to the United States. 2 
 
 A few days after the oath of office had been admin 
 istered to his successor, George Clinton, Burr, still ani 
 mated with the applause his last words in the Senate 
 had occasioned, left Washington on a tour of the West 
 a preliminary to the inauguration of his project. He 
 reached Philadelphia March 21, 1805, where he planned 
 to spend ten days before continuing his journey. There 
 he met Merry, to whom he now laid open his deceptive 
 project, which he hoped would wring from the British 
 treasury a sum of money commensurate with his needs. 
 Mr. Merry, in a cipher letter of March 29th, gave Lord 
 Harrowby the details : s 
 
 "Notwithstanding the known profligacy of Mr. Burr s 
 character I am encouraged to report to your Lordship 
 the substance of some secret communications which he 
 has sought to make to me since he has been out of office. 
 . .. . Mr. Burr (with whom I know that the deputies 
 became very intimate during their residence here) has 
 
 J Davis s Memoirs of Aaron Burr, ii., 376. 
 
 The text of this correspondence of Merry was disallowed 
 by the British Foreign Office. 
 
 Merry to Lord Harrowby, March 29, 1805; MSS. British 
 Archives. 
 
BURR S TOUR OF THE WEST 21 
 
 mentioned to me that the inhabitants of Louisiana seeml 
 determined to render themselves independent of the 
 United States and that the execution of their design is 
 only delayed by the difficulty of obtaining previously an 
 assurance of protection and assistance from some foreign 
 power and of concerting and connecting their independ 
 ence with that of the inhabitants of the Western parts 
 of the United States, who must always have a command 
 over them by the rivers which communicate with the 
 Mississippi. It is clear that Mr. Burr (although he has 
 not as yet confided to me the exact nature and extent of 
 his plan) means to endeavor to be the instrument for 
 effecting such a connection. He has told me that the 
 inhabitants of Louisiana, notwithstanding that they are 
 almost all of French or Spanish origin, as well as those 
 of the Western part of the United States, would, for 
 many obvious reasons, prefer having the protection and 
 assistance of Great Britain to the support of France ; but 
 that if his Majesty s government should not think proper 
 to listen to his overture, application will be made to that 
 of France, who will, he had reason to know, be eager to 
 attend to it in the most effectual manner, observing that 
 peace in Europe would accelerate me event in question 
 by affording to the French more easy means of com 
 munication with the continent of America, though, even 
 while at war with England, they might always find those 
 of sending the small force that would be required for 
 the purpose in question. He pointed out the great com 
 mercial advantage which his Majesty s dominions in 
 general would derive from furnishing almost exclusively 
 (as they might through Canada and New Orleans) the 
 inhabitants of so extensive a territory." 
 
 A masterly argument and impressively put. It was 
 a luring bait, and Merry took it at once for what it 
 seemed forwarding it to his Government with as 
 much approbation as he dared and with as much expedi 
 tion as he could command. If the commercial classes 
 of England were determined to annihilate American 
 
22 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 trade, if King George was set upon insulting the 
 young nation as part of his daily routine, the idea of 
 dividing the house against itself seemed to Merry not 
 only inviting, but most wise and diplomatic. And 
 furthermore, should England reject the offer, France 
 might seize the occasion to deal the commercial and 
 political interests of her enemy a telling blow. The 
 proposition was inviting. Thus far the ex-Vice-Presi- 
 dent had dealt only in generalities he had discussed 
 what was the common talk of the day concerning the 
 infidelity of Louisiana and its determination to revolt. 
 When pressed for something more tangible, Burr 
 simply made excuses, giving out only as much as he 
 . deemed necessary to secure "the protection and assur 
 ance required to accomplish the object." Merry con 
 tinued : 
 
 "Mr. Burr observed that it would be too dangerous 
 and even premature to disclose to me at present the full 
 extent and detail of the plan he had formed ; but that he 
 was at the same time aware of the necessity of making 
 the most ample and unreserved communication to his 
 Majesty s government, in order that they might be fully 
 satisfied, as well of the good faith with which he means 
 to act, as of the practicability and utility to them of the 
 undertaking which he had in view and that he would 
 therefore send a confidential person to England to make 
 those communications as soon as he should have received 
 through me, the necessary assurance of their being 
 disposed to grant the protection and assurance required 
 to accomplish the object." 
 
 The hollowness of Burr s intrigue, the barefaced- 
 ness of the sharp scheme to secure funds for the 
 floating of his designs on Mexico by holding out hopes 
 
BURR S TOUR OF THE WEST 23 
 
 to Merry which he knew had not the slightest chance 
 of realization, did not appear at the moment, but could 
 not have been more boldly proclaimed than in his 
 statement of the "protection and assurance required" : 
 
 "In regard to the military aid, he said, two or three 
 frigates and the same number of smaller vessels, to be 
 stationed at the mouth of the Mississippi to prevent its 
 being blockaded by such force as the United States 
 could send, and to keep open the communications with 
 the sea would be the whole that would be wanted; and 
 in respect to money the loan of about one hundred thou 
 sand pounds would, he conceived, be sufficient for the 
 immediate purposes of the enterprise, although it was 
 impossible for him to speak at present with accuracy as 
 to this matter. On the latter allegation he observed that 
 any suspicion of his Majesty s government being con 
 cerned in the transaction, till after their independence 
 should have been declared, which would arise if remit 
 tances were made to this country or if bills were drawn 
 from hence, might be avoided by the appropriation to this 
 object of a proportion of the two hundred thousand 
 pounds which the United States have to pay to his Maj 
 esty next July, and part of which sum he would devise 
 the means to get into his possession without its destina 
 tion being either known or suspected." 
 
 Already the matter of money was worrying Burr 
 and his chief associates. This most necessary article 
 in the inauguration of any project was their first con 
 sideration, and, that it might be obtained, no device 
 however questionable or nefarious was to be ignored 
 if success were promised the end would justify the 
 means. The matter of the two or three frigates at the 
 mouth of the Mississippi was as nothing in the scales 
 with a hundred thousand pounds, which were conceived 
 
24 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 to be sufficient for the "immediate purposes of the 
 enterprise." 
 
 After the interview with Merry, Burr quickly made 
 his preparations for his journey over the mountains to 
 Pittsburg. He advised his daughter to address him for 
 the time being at Cincinnati, in care of John Smith, 
 Senator from Ohio, adding that the object of his 
 journey, "not mere curiosity or pour passer le temps," 
 might take him to New Orleans and perhaps farther. It 
 is quite probable that Burr planned a continuation of 
 his voyage of discovery to Mexico. Certain it is that 
 he alarmed Casa Yrujo the Spanish Minister who was 
 proving such a plague to Jefferson before leaving 
 Washington by sending twice to him for a passport to 
 Mexico, "under the pretext that the death of General 
 Hamilton (whom he killed out of spite) would not 
 permit his remaining in the United States." Yrujo 
 knew of Burr s interviews with Merry, and therefore 
 thought the object of Burr s visit most suspicious in 
 a word, he believed him the spy of England. He 
 reported that Burr had taken with him mathematical 
 instruments for the purpose of making plans, and that 
 the officials of the Floridas had been warned against 
 his manoeuvres. 1 But Yrujo had not penetrated Burr s 
 designs; little dreamed that his purpose was to place 
 himself in touch with the revolutionists of Mexico, who 
 were so shortly to smite the power of Spain. 
 
 On April 29, 1805, Burr reached Pittsburg on the 
 Ohio, where General James Wilkinson, who had just 
 been appointed Governor of the newly organized Terri- 
 
 Yrujo to Cevallos, May 24, 1805; MSS. Spanish Archiv^ 
 
BURR S TOUR OF THE WEST 25 
 
 tory of Louisiana, was to have joined him. But Wilkin 
 son had been delayed ; so, leaving a letter for him, Burr 
 embarked upon the Ohio in an ark which he had had 
 specially prepared for him. In due time he reached 
 Marietta, a hamlet of eighty houses, where he parted 
 company with Mathew Lyon, member of Congress 
 from Tennessee, whom he had overtaken en route and 
 with whom it seems the matter of Burr s return to Con 
 gress from that State was discussed. Putting off the 
 next day he passed Parkersburg, and two miles below 
 arrived at Blennerhassett s Island, which has become 
 famous through its connection with the conspiracy. Its 
 three hundred acres have been much reduced by the 
 encroachment of the river, but the narrowing shores, 
 where Harman Blennerhassett, an Irish gentleman, 
 had planted fields of hemp and had erected palatial 
 buildings, are still haunted with the memory of a 
 tragedy. The master was absent, but Mrs. Blenner 
 hassett invited the ex-Vice-President to dinner and 
 this was the beginning of a connection which was to 
 link forever the names of Burr and Blennerhassett. 
 
 On the eleventh of May Burr reached Cincinnati, 
 then a town of fifteen hundred inhabitants, where 
 he became the guest of Senator John Smith, who was 
 also a storekeeper and army contractor. There he 
 met Jonathan Dayton, a friend from Revolutionary 
 times, whose term as Senator from New Jersey had 
 just expired. Burr spent a day in the company of 
 Smith and Dayton, who were allied with him in the 
 formulation of plans for the project. Hurrying down 
 the river he next stopped at Louisville, whence he took 
 
-f I 
 
 26 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 horse to Frankfort, which place was reached May 2Oth. 
 Passing through Lexington, the 2Qth found him at 
 Nashville, where he was four days the guest of Andrew 
 Jackson and the recipient of unusual attentions. He 
 was no longer the despised murderer of Hamilton, but 
 the triumphant duelist; no longer the insidious, un 
 scrupulous intriguer, but the general who had led the 
 cohorts of Democracy to victory; and, finally, he was 
 accepted as the predestined leader who was to scourge 
 the Spaniards from America. This was, after all, the 
 mission of his life. Such was Burr s announcement, 
 and the news spread as fast as such welcome tidings 
 might travel. To the Tennesseeans and the frontiers 
 men in general it was a battle-call they were only too 
 eager to answer; and among the first to respond was 
 Andrew Jackson, major-general of the Tennessee 
 militia. 
 
 On June 3d Burr was provided by his host with an 
 open boat, in which he floated to the mouth of the 
 Cumberland River, a distance of two hundred and 
 thirty miles, where his ark, which had come down the 
 Ohio, was in waiting. The next stop was made sixteen 
 miles down the Ohio at Fort Massac a prominent 
 frontier post on the north bank of the river not many 
 miles from its juncture with the Mississippi where 
 General Wilkinson had arrived, having descended the 
 river from Pittsburg in the wake of Burr. The General 
 had halted also in Cincinnati, keeping company with 
 Smith and Dayton, who were represented as busy with 
 a scheme to dig a canal around the falls of the Ohio. 
 He found time, however, to write to John Adair, an 
 
BURR S TOUR OF THE WEST 27 
 
 influential Kentuckian soon to succeed John Brecken- 
 ridge in the Senate: "I was to have introduced my , 
 friend Burr to you ; but in this I failed by accident. 
 He understands your merits, and reckons on you. Pre 
 pare to visit me, and I will tell you all. We must have 
 a peep at the unknown world beyond me." This letter 
 perhaps affords a clue to the topic discussed by the 
 General and his friends during the four days spent at 
 Massac. No doubt the whole situation was canvassed : 
 the probability of war with Spain ; the ease with which 
 the Floridas might be overrun ; the matter of the equip 
 ping of an army which should sail for Vera Cruz to 
 light the torch of insurrection in Mexico. Wilkinson 
 afterward averred that the subjects of their conferences 
 were legitimate. Whatever they were, the two old 
 army friends, who had stood side by side under the 
 walls of Quebec, parted with high hopes, Wilkinson 
 making his way slowly to St. Louis, while Burr set out 
 in a barge fitted up by the general with sails and colors, 
 and manned by ten soldiers and a sergeant. In his 
 pocket was a letter to Daniel Clark, a prominent mer 
 chant and influential citizen of New Orleans : 
 
 "This will be delivered to you by Colonel Burr," 
 began the general s introductory note, 1 "whose worth you 
 know well how to estimate. If the persecutions of a 
 great and honorable man, can give title to generous atten 
 tions, he has claims to all your civilities, and all your 
 services. You cannot oblige me more than by such con 
 duct; and I pledge my life to you, it will not be misap 
 plied. To him I refer you for many things improper to 
 letter, and which he will not say to any other." 
 
 Wilkinson s Memoirs, ii., Ap. Ixxi. 
 
28 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 While Burr, thus equipped, passed on toward New 
 Orleans, Wilkinson approached Majors Bruff and Hunt 
 of the garrison of St. Louis, Timothy Kibby, John 
 McKee, and others with propositions varying from the 
 conquest of Mexico to the establishment of a military 
 empire in Louisiana as a consequence of anarchy in the 
 Eastern States, growing out of the rule of Democracy. 
 Wilkinson had already begun sowing the seeds which 
 \\vere to prove the destruction of Burr. On June 24th 
 instructions were written for Lieutenant Pike,, who 
 went, according to Kibby and Adair, to explore the 
 way to Santa Fe and the mines of Mexico. 
 
 On June 25, 1805, Burr landed at New Orleans. The 
 Orleans Gazette chronicled at the time : "Colonel Aaron 
 Burr, late Vice-President of the United States, arrived 
 here on Wednesday last in a boat displaying the Ameri 
 can ensign, and rowed by a detachment of soldiers. 
 We understand he purposes returning to Kentucky in 
 ten or twelve days." Burr was much pleased with the 
 city, and wrote Theodosia that he should certainly 
 settle there were it not for herself and her boy, who 
 controlled his fate. New Orleans was a place of no 
 mean importance; during the course of a year three 
 hundred sea-going vessels and six thousand river flat- 
 boats arrived at its levees, and nine thousand people 
 busied themselves within its limits. The letter to Clark 
 was presented, and at an early date he gave a dinner 
 in Burr s honor, which was attended by the best element 
 in the city. Other fetes followed, and Burr was every 
 where received with the utmost cordiality. 
 
BURR S TOUR OF THE WEST 29 
 
 The society most frequented by Burr has been, and 
 in all probability will remain, a source of dispute. 1 
 There is no conclusive evidence to show that Burr re 
 stricted his confidences while in New Orleans to any 
 individual or group of individuals. It appears from 
 the light we have that Burr s purpose was to observe 
 the drift of public opinion; to engage the warlike and 
 the adventurous in his filibustering enterprise against i 
 the Spanish possessions. In this he was most success 
 ful; the Mexican Association, formed for the avowed 
 purpose of collectingf "Mexican data which would be 
 useful for the United States in case of war with 
 Spain, was enlisted in his cause. Two of the most 
 influential members of the Association were John Wat- 
 kins, Mayor of New Orleans, and James Workman, 
 judge of the county court. The former related to 
 W. C. C. Claiborne, Governor of the Territory of 
 
 J Henry Adams says that Burr was "entertained by the 
 enemies of Governor Claiborne and of the Spaniards" (History 
 of the United States, iii., 223) ; that Wilkinson told the story, on 
 the evidence of Lieutenant Spence, that "Burr on his arrival in 
 Louisiana became acquainted with the so-called Mexican Asso- 
 ciation a body of some three hundred men, leagued together j 
 for the emancipation of Mexico from the Spanish rule, . . . 
 and under his influence the scheme of disunion was made a part 
 of the Mexican plan." A moment later we are assured by the 
 same eminent authority that Burr did not conceal his secrets 
 from his "principal allies the Creoles of New Orleans " (iii., 
 227). In other words, Mr. Adams contends for the Mexican 
 Association was composed of Americans that practically the 
 whole city, rent with factions, was in the secret which embraced 
 the idea of a separation of the States and the conquest of Mexico, 
 and yet all was harmonious. 
 
 Another writer of repute, Charles Gayarre , has averred 
 (History of Louisiana, iii., 81) that Burr fell in with the Span 
 iards and gave them some intimation of his business. Gayarre 
 never gave up this idea, for he interpreted the movement of the 
 Spanish troops toward Baton Rouge at the moment of the crisis 
 of the conspiracy as a diversion in Burr s behali 
 
 M- - 
 
30 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 Orleans, at the crisis the history of the organization, 
 repudiating in the most emphatic terms the charge of 
 Wilkinson that its members were rabid disunionists. 
 Watkins proved what he averred ; even Claiborne when 
 the storm had subsided, though he removed Watkins 
 from the mayoralty, was obliged to confess to Madison, 
 "I believe he meditated nothing against the American 
 Government and that he sincerely loves his country. 
 I however am of opinion that his zeal for the libera 
 tion of Mexico led him into some imprudences." 1 
 Workman s interest in the cause of the Spanish colonies 
 was not extinguished by the collapse of Burr s scheme, 
 Erick Bollman, who was one of the prime movers in the 
 Conspiracy, being able to write in 1808, "Judge Work 
 man, now practising as a lawyer, is the only man of 
 energy, which is constantly excited in the old cause. 
 His looks are steadfastly turned to the South." 2 
 
 Plans for the "liberation of Mexico" were formed 
 beyond doubt:. Emissaries were to be employed. The 
 
 ^ Bishop of New Orleans, who had traveled in Mexico 
 and knew the discontent of the masses and the clergy, 
 was in the secret, and designated three Jesuits to act as 
 agents for the revolutionists. Madame Xavier Tarjcon, 
 superior of the convent of Ursuline nuns at New Or- 
 
 I leans, v ilso acquainted with the plot. 3 The para 
 mount idea of the time was the revolutionizing of the 
 Spanish territories and Burr announced here, as he 
 
 Claiborne to Madison, March n, 1807; Letters in Relation 
 to Burrs Conspiracy, MSS. State Department Archives. 
 
 2 Bollman to Burr, August u, 1808; Private Journal of Aaron 
 Burr i., 29. 
 
 Davis s Memoirs of Aaron Burr, ii., 382. 
 
BURR S TOUR OF THE WEST 31 
 
 had done in Kentucky and Tennessee, that his life 
 should be devoted to the overthrowing of the Spanish 
 power in America. 
 
 Clark probably knew as much as any one of what 
 was in contemplation, and his attitude of friendliness 
 toward Burr at a later period, when he had every 
 motive to pursue a different course, with his outspoken 
 condemnation of Wilkinson in his Proofs* shows 
 that one of his attributes was love of justice. Gayarre 
 more than established the correctness of the Proofs, 
 which exposed Wilkinson s corrupt dealings with the 
 Spaniards ; and if Clark never fully divulged his knowl 
 edge of Burr s project, he betrayed the secret of it when 
 he declared on the floor of Congress, at the moment 
 when expectation was at its highest tension, that if 
 treason were contemplated no Louisianian would be 
 found concerned in it ! Clark himself entertained revo 
 lutionary ideas, but they did not involve the sundering 
 of the States. John Graham, Secretary of the Territory 
 of Orleans, said that Clark had given him some papers 
 which told, among other things, of the strength of the 
 Mexican forces and garrisoned towns between Vera 
 Cruz and the City of Mexico, and of the naval strength 
 of Vera Cruz. It was Clark s opinion that Mexico 
 could be easily invaded, but he would have nothing to 
 do with such an undertaking if headed by the Govern 
 ment. Permission was all that was wanted an empire i. 
 could then be established. 2 This information had been 
 
 Clark s Proofs of the Corruption of General James Wilkin 
 son. 
 
 Clark s Proofs, p. 103. 
 
32 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 acquired while on trading voyages to the chief seaport 
 of Mexico. Of these voyages there are frequent ac 
 counts in the Spanish official reports, 1 for Clark was 
 wont to recite to Government the news of Europe and 
 America. But an end came to this when the Spaniards 
 learned that he had been chosen a Delegate to Congress. 2 
 Burr no doubt profited by what Clark had learned of the 
 conditions of society in Mexico, and the merchant was 
 ^observer enough to note that a revolution was imminent. 
 That he agreed to join with Burr there is little doubt ; 
 but he, like many others, wished to see the movement 
 triumphant before sharing its fortunes. Certain it is 
 Clark never set out to play a heavy part in the plot, 
 which, as he understood it, was wholly against Mexico. 
 It was a matter for jest with him when he heard on 
 the streets of New Orleans the extravagant designs 
 attributed to his new acquaintance, whose address even 
 was unknown to him. September 7th, a few weeks 
 after the departure of Burr from New Orleans and 
 almost at the hour of his arrival in St. Louis on his 
 visit to Wilkinson, Clark wrote to the General : s 
 
 "Many absurd and wild reports are circulated here, 
 and have reached the ears of the officers of the late 
 Spanish Government, respecting our ex-Vice-President. 
 . . . You are spoken of as his right-hand man. Entre 
 nous, I believe that Minor of Natchez has had a great 
 part in this business, in order to make himself of impor 
 tance he is in the pay of Spain and wishes to convince 
 
 Clark to Pedro de Alamo, September 26, 1805; MSS. Mex 
 ican Archives. 
 
 *Iturrigaray to Soler, August 27, 1806; MSS. Mexican 
 Archives. 
 
 Wilkinson s Memoirs, ii., Ap. xxxiii. 
 
BURR S TOUR OF THE WEST 33 
 
 them that he is much their friend. . . . What in the 
 name of Heaven could give rise to these extravagances? 
 Were I sufficiently intimate with Mr. Burr, and knew 
 where to direct a line to him, I should take the liberty of 
 writing to him. . . . The tale is a horrid one, if well 
 told. Kentucky, Tennessee, the State of Ohio, with part 
 of Georgia and part of Carolina, are to be bribed with 
 the plunder of the Spanish countries west of us to sepa 
 rate from the Union; this is but a part of the business. 
 Heaven, what wonderful doings there will be in those 
 days ! . . . Amuse Mr. Burr with an account of it." 
 
 Burr was pleased with the aspect of affairs in 
 Louisiana and wrote his daughter that he had promised 
 to return the next fall. Having spent a fortnight in 
 New Orleans, where he had attached to his interests the 
 Mexican Association, the adventurers, and the revolu- 
 tiofcary element, Burr, mounted on horses provided by 
 Clark, set out on his return overland. His first stop 
 was at Natchez, where a week was spent among those 
 who were eager to engage in a war with Spain, 
 to punish the so-called invaders of the country. From 
 Natchez he proceeded to Nashville, hazarding four 
 hundred and fifty miles of wilderness. On August 6th 
 he was again domiciled with Jackson, who was, as 
 Burr described him at the time, a man of intelligence 
 and a prompt, frank, ardent soul. A public dinner 
 was now spread in Burr s honor at the capital, where 
 toasts were drunk of a nature to leave no doubt as 
 to the sympathies of the audience. Then he passed 
 to Lexington, where he was the recipient of hospi 
 talities such as only Southerners of that day knew 
 how to dispense. The last day of August Burr was 
 riding the twenty-two miles from Lexington to Frank- 
 
34 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 fort, where he was once more quartered with John 
 Brown, a distinguished citizen who had for years been 
 a prominent figure in Kentucky politics. On September 
 2d Burr was in Louisville; ten days later he reached 
 St. Louis on a visit to General Wilkinson, who had 
 already assumed the reins as governor. Burr now 
 learned that Pike was exploring the best route to Santa 
 Fe; and Wilkinson heard what was not news to him, 
 that the West and South were eager for a fight with 
 Spain, that an army could be raised in a few days for 
 the conquest of Mexico. To all appearances there was 
 , no break in their friendship, nor any abatement of 
 - enthusiasm. In truth it could have been no object of 
 minor importance which called Burr at that season so 
 far out of his way. Wilkinson attempted to depreciate 
 this visit by repeating under oath at the trial at Rich 
 mond the following conversation: 1 
 
 "Mr. Burr speaking of the imbecility of the Govern 
 ment said it would molder to pieces, die a natural death, 
 or words to that effect, adding that the people of the 
 Western country were ready to revolt. To this I recollect 
 replying that, if he had not profited more by his journey 
 in other respects, he had better have remained at Wash 
 ington or Philadelphia; for surely, said I, my friend, no 
 person was ever more mistaken ! The Western people 
 disaffected to the Government! They are bigoted to 
 Jefferson and democracy." 
 
 What was equally to the point, the General claimed 
 to have written, upon the departure of the ex-Vice- 
 President, a letter denouncing him to the Secretary of 
 the Navy ; Wilkinson thought its text about as follows : 
 
 1 Annals of Congress, 1807-08, p. 611. 
 
BURR S TOUR OF THE WEST 35 
 
 "Burr is about something, but whether internal or ex- 
 ternal I cannot discover. I think you should keep an 
 eye on him." 
 
 In spite of the paucity of the testimony, ffildre-th- 1 
 and others have tacitly credited Wilkinson with having, 
 at so early a date, given notice of the approaching dan 
 ger. There are, however, no available data to show that 
 his interest in the career of Burr had flagged, for we 
 find him carefully fostering the deception that Burr 
 sought to be returned to Congress. When Burr left 
 St. Louis for Vincennes, capital of Indiana Territory, 
 which place he reached September 23d, he carried with 
 him this letter from Wilkinson to Governor William 
 Henry Harrison : 
 
 "I will demand from your friendship a boon in its / 
 influence co-extensive with the Union; a boon, perhaps, 
 on which the Union may much depend ; a boon which 
 may serve me, may serve you, and disserve neither. . . . 
 -If you ask, What is this important boon which I so 
 earnestly crave? I will say to you, return the bearer to 
 the councils of our country, where his talents and abilities 
 are all-important at the present moment." 
 
 From Vincennes, at the time he set out for Wash 
 ington, Burr wrote Wilkinson that the matter of which 
 he had written had not been mentioned in his conversa 
 tion. But whether the General had or had not discoun 
 tenanced Burr s projects, there were not wanting those -j 
 who looked askance at his Western meanderings. Be 
 fore he had begun his homeward journey the news- 
 
 ^History of the United States, v., 599. 
 2 Parton s Life of Burr, ii., 50. 
 
36 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 papers attributed to him as many plots as the ingenuity 
 of the sensation-monger could conjure up. 
 
 "We have been frequently asked," explained the editor 
 of the Lexington Gazette, "why we have paid such atten 
 tion to the movements of Mr. Burr since his arrival in 
 the Western country. The latter part of his political 
 \ career, fraught, perhaps, with a degree of duplicity which 
 "* . ! can never be satisfactorily defended, has made him an 
 object of attention wherever he has traveled. His talents 
 for intrigue are considered as unrivalled in America, and 
 his disposition doubted by few. The subsequent queries 
 have lately appeared in the Gazette of the United States. 
 Whether any circumstances have come to the knowledge 
 of the writer which would justify such a publication, we 
 are uninformed. Without giving an opinion as to his 
 views in this country, we publish the queries, ... at 
 the same time believing that if he calculated on with 
 drawing the affections of the people of the Western 
 States from their Government, he will find himself 
 deceived, if he has not already made the discovery." * 
 
 Here are the queries alluded to : 
 
 "How long will it be before we shall hear of Colonel 
 Burr being at the head of a revolutionary party on the 
 Western waters? Is it a fact that Colonel Burr has 
 formed a plan to engage the adventurous and enterprising 
 young men from the Atlantic States to Louisiana ? Is it 
 one of the inducements that an immediate convention 
 will be called from the States bordering on the Ohio and 
 Mississippi to form a separate government ? Is it another 
 that all the public lands are to be seized and partitioned 
 among these States, except what is reserved for the war 
 like friends and followers of Burr in the revolution? Is 
 it part of the plan for the new States to grant the new 
 lands in bounties to entice inhabitants from the Atlantic 
 States? How soon will the forts and magazines and all 
 
 4 
 
 1 Palladium, September 7, 1805. 
 
BURR S TOUR OF THE WEST 37 
 
 the military posts at New Orleans and on the Mississippi 
 be in the hands of Colonel Burr s revolutionary party? 
 How soon will Colonel Burr engage in the reduction of 
 Mexico by granting liberty to its inhabitants, and seizing 
 on its treasures, aided by British ships and forces ? What 
 difficulty can there be in completing a revolution in one 
 summer, among the Western States , when they will gain 
 the Congress lands, will throw off the public debt, will 
 seize their own revenues, and enjoy the plunder of 
 Spain?" 
 
 To say the least, this was a remarkable set of inter 
 rogations; and what was equally remarkable was the 
 avidity with which it was seized on by the press and 
 circulated with added comment from border to border 
 of the country. It was a sensational story, and whether 
 it were the product of some quill-driver of a partisan 
 sheet, or the naked fact, the readers of the "yellow" 
 journals of that day had no means of ascertaining. 
 They rarely questioned ; in the absence of the telegraph 
 it was no easy task to verify a report, and such writers 
 as John Wood and Duane, Cheetham and Callender 
 never pothered over uncertainties. In the West at this 
 time the papers were a unit in denouncing the unfair 
 and altogether slanderous insinuations that the fron 
 tiersmen were eager for lawless measures. But in spite 
 of expressions of affection for the Constitution and 
 for the Union, the impression spread abroad that the *f 
 West was once more on the verge of slipping under 
 the Spanish yoke; or, indeed, of enlisting under the 
 banner of an adventurer. In this way the country was 
 gradually prepared for the events of the ensuing year. 
 Nor were these whispers of suspicion to be stayed by 
 the boundaries of the Republic. Before the end of 
 
3 8 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 July a month before Clark reported the rumors from 
 New Orleans, weeks before the newspapers took up the 
 alarm the news had reached our warlike neighbors 
 in Texas that Aaron Burr, ex-Vice-President, had come 
 to New Orleans under military escort, and that it was 
 reported he meditated some extraordinary enterprise, 
 the exact nature of which was still in doubt. 1 Like 
 wise the stirring news spread eastward. On August 4th, 
 while Burr was emerging from the wilderness to the 
 south of Nashville, Merry hastened to communicate to 
 Lord Mulgrave that the scheme had been betrayed or 
 had been ruined through publicity : 
 
 
 "Notwithstanding that the confidential person, whom, 
 as I had the honor to mention to your lordship in my 
 despatch No. 22 [March 29th] Mr. Burr had said that 
 he intended to send to me, has not as yet appeared, I learn 
 that that gentleman has commenced his plan in the West 
 ern country, and apparently with much success, although 
 it would seem, that he or some of his agents have either 
 been indiscreet in their communications, or have been 
 betrayed by some person, in whom they considered that 
 they had reason to confide, for the object of his journey 
 has now begun to be noticed in the public prints, where 
 it is said that a convention is to be called immediately 
 from the States bordering on the Ohio and Mississippi 
 for the purpose of forming a separate government. It 
 is, however, possible that the business may be so far 
 advanced as, from the nature of it, to render any further 
 secrecy impossible. The best accounts of Mr. Burr were 
 from St. Louis, from whence he had proceeded to New 
 Orleans, and it is observed that he had been received 
 everywhere with the most marked attention." ; 
 
 A year had elapsed since Merry had made his first 
 
 Valle to Elguezabal, July 30, 1805 ; MSS. Bexar Archives. 
 2 Merry to Mulgrave, August 4, 1805 ; MSS. British Archives. 
 
BURR S TOUR OF THE WEST 39 
 
 report to the Foreign Office of Burr s project ; months 
 had passed since the notable letter of March 2Qth had 
 been dispatched and yet the home Government was 
 silent. The Minister should have taken the hint. But - 
 far from that, his enthusiasm was unbounded when he 
 learned through current rumor that the undertaking 
 was actually begun. Here was a triumph to boast of, 
 for had he not rendered an early account of it to the 
 Foreign Office? This time, however, his information 
 had come through the medium of the press, and Yrujo 
 read the same paragraphs and inclosed them to 
 Cevallos, the Spanish Minister of State, with a letter 
 dated August 5th, one day after Merry had penned 
 his account. Referring to Burr s secret interviews 
 with the English Minister, his demand for a passport 
 to Mexico, the draughting instruments, he registered r 
 again his suspicions, adding, however, that the West 
 at the moment was unripe for Burr s designs, and 
 scoffing at the idea of an attack on Mexico. In con 
 clusion, Yrujo showed in a paragraph that he had al 
 most fathomed the business of Burr : 
 
 "The supposed expedition against Mexico is ridic 
 ulous and chimerical in the present state of things ; but I 
 am not unaware that Burr, in order to get moneys from 
 the English Minister or from England, has made to him 
 some such proposition, in which he is to play the leading -f 
 role." 1 
 
 Yrujo little knew that his turn to be deceived by 
 the conspirators in their casting about for funds was 
 close at hand. They appeared to the Spanish Minister 
 
 Yrujo to Cevallos, August 5, 1805; MSS. Spanish Archives. 
 
40 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 masked, as Merry had seen them, though the make-up 
 had been varied with the necessities of the case. 
 
 Thus, before the summer of 1805 had expired the 
 country from North to South was vibrant with tales 
 of a plot, or rather of as many plots as ingenuity could 
 contrive nothing was tangible. Toward the middle 
 of November, 1805, Burr had reached Washington 
 without mishap from his Western tour, and went at 
 once to the British Legation Dayton who had been ill 
 in the West had only two days prior made a report to 
 , Merry to unroll his budget of falsehoods and to learn 
 the fate of his propositions. Finding no reply he 
 straightway widened and deepened his schemes for 
 obtaining money. That all-essential element to his suc 
 cess he was determined to secure, without regard to 
 consequences immediate or future. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Burr s Intrigues. 
 * 
 
 WHEN Aaron Burr had returned to Washing 
 ton from his summer in the West, he was 
 fully satisfied that his project could fail only 
 for want of the "sinews of war." Everywhere through 
 the Western country he had been applauded as the 
 leader who was to march an army to the heart of the 
 Kingdom of Mexico, giving freedom to her enslaved 
 millions, and, incidentally, fortunes to his followers. 
 The Westerners excitable, sympathetic, liberty-lov 
 ing, and patriotic longed for an opportunity to reta 
 liate against Spain for insults of long standing, and 
 they were ready to accept the smallest provocation as 
 excuse for an assault on her decaying empire. Burr 
 gave them to understand that a war with their old 
 oppressor was only a matter of time ; that the Govern 
 ment would not interfere with his plans ; while to some 
 he said that an expedition for the invasion of the Span 
 ish territories would be formed regardless of cause or 
 consequence. It was against this emergency that he 
 needed half a million dollars; and in the pursuit of 
 which he invoked all his powers of dissimulation con 
 duct which has come in this later day, from the false 
 light thrown upon the movement to distort and con 
 demn it. 
 
 In this involved scheme the British Minister, or 
 King George, was designed as the chief victim; and 
 
 41 
 
42 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 Burr s first interview with Merry upon returning to 
 Washington from the West was a masterpiece of in 
 trigue. Merry scrupulously reported the whole of 
 Burr s story to Lord Mulgrave. 1 Burr opened with the 
 remark that he thought the English Government dis 
 posed 
 
 "to afford him their assistance, but he observed that the 
 information which had reached him on this head was 
 not sufficiently explicit to authorize him to send a con 
 fidential person to London to make to them the necessary 
 communication as he had promised and intended. He 
 was therefore now obliged to try the effect of those which 
 I might be able to convey. . . . These disappoint 
 ments gave him, he said, the deepest concern, because his 
 journey through the Western country and Louisiana as 
 far as New Orleans, as well as through a part of West 
 Florida, had been attended with so much more success 
 than he had even looked for, that everything was in fact 
 completely prepared in every quarter for the execution 
 of his plan ; and because he had therefore been induced 
 to enter into an engagement with his associates and 
 friends to return to them in the month of March next, 
 in order to commence the operations." 
 
 That Merry who had more than three months 
 earlier reported to Lord Mulgrave the successful com 
 mencement of the Western enterprise ; who had seen in 
 the newspapers at least a dozen projects attributed to 
 the ex-Vice-President should have asked no questions, 
 but have put in an official dispatch with his indorsement 
 the whole of Burr s story, is more a compliment to 
 his industry and ambition than to his sagacity or intelli 
 gence. Burr s fear of delay in receiving the pecuniary 
 
 Merry to Lord Mulgrave, November 25, 1805 ; MSS. British 
 Archives. 
 
BURR S INTRIGUES 43 
 
 assistance led him to say to Merry that the inaugura- 
 tion of his plan was set for March, while in reality so -, 
 early a date was never contemplated. Because of the 
 shortness of the time and the winter season it was 
 wholly out of the question. It was announced in the 
 West for the ensuing fall ; and the correspondence and 
 every step taken by the conspirators show that to have 
 been the earliest time considered. Burr s next point *^ 
 of deception was that he had received encouraging 
 communications which gave him "room to hope and 
 expect that his Majesty s government were disposed to 
 afford him their assistance." But the truth was that 
 neither Colonel Williamson nor any other agent of 
 Burr had appeared or seems likely ever to have ap 
 peared before the English Cabinet. The fact that 
 Merry never received a line on the subject of the nego 
 tiation from the Foreign Office is proof conclusive that 
 the Government never gave an outsider encouragement. 
 To have Merry believe the contrary, however, was but 
 a skillful device used by Burr to secure his approba 
 tion of the plan; for clearly it would have been dis 
 astrous for an arrangement to be made through any 
 other medium than himself. 
 
 "He [Burr] was sensible that no complete understand 
 ing on the subject could well take place without verbal 
 communication; but he flattered himself that enough 
 might be explained in this way to give a commencement 
 to the business, and that any ulterior arrangements might 
 safely be left till the personal interviews he should have 
 with the persons properly authorized for the purpose, 
 whom he recommended to be sent with the ships of war, 
 which it was necessary should cruise off the mouth of 
 the Mississippi at the latest by the loth of April next, 
 
44 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 and to continue there until the commanding officers 
 should receive information from him or from Mr. Daniel 
 Clark of the country having declared itself independent." 
 
 This splendid secret of the West declaring itself 
 independent was not new to Merry, for the public 
 prints, as Burr well knew, had only recently declared 
 that a convention was soon to be called for just such a 
 purpose. But in reality if such a proposition was ever 
 . mooted save by industrious editors there is no trace 
 of it. 
 
 Ostensibly to secure the success of his undertaking 
 Burr now requested that to his former^ estimate .of 
 naval strength should be added~a number of 
 
 "smaller vessels ; because the overture which had been 
 made to him at New Orleans from a person of the greatest 
 influence in East and West Florida and the information 
 he had otherwise acquired respecting the state of those 
 countries, having convinced him that they are equally 
 disposed to render themselves independent ; and while he 
 had good reason to believe that the same spirit prevails 
 in many other parts of the Spanish dominions on this 
 continent, such force with that which he should be able 
 to provide would be required to defend the entrance of 
 the river and the coasts of Florida and to keep up a 
 free communication with the sea and those places where 
 it might be found expedient to act." 
 
 Here was indeed another lever, which, so far as 
 Burr could see, promised to be effective; but which in 
 reality worked greatly to the injury of his cause 
 if there had ever been a chance for it. So long as an 
 attack on the integrity of the Union was in contempla 
 tion, King George might be expected to open his 
 strong-box in its support ; but to bring the Floridas and 
 
BURR S INTRIGUES 45 
 
 "other places where it might be found expedient to act" 
 within the scope of action was to close all avenues 
 securely. True, England was at war with Spain, and 
 an attack on the enemy, to all appearances, would be 
 welcomed; but Burr was not aware that the British 
 Ministry, while aiding Miranda, the South American 
 patriot, in a minor way, were already considering 
 plans for the absorption of the Spanish colonies, and 
 would therefore look upon his enlarged scheme with 
 disapprobation. In this connection Burr spoke of 
 Miranda : 
 
 "At the last meeting I had with Mr. Burr," said 
 Merry, "he told me that he had just received notice from 
 New York of the arrival there from England of General 
 Miranda who appeared by his information to have been 
 sent to this country by his Majesty s government, t* co 
 operate with him in the plan of operations against South 
 America." 
 
 \ So there was a "plan of operations against South 
 America." Burr, however, disparaged Miranda s char 
 acter, declaring that he possessed neither discretion nor 
 talents. But if either Miranda or Burr thought Eng 
 land disposed to carry on an unselfish war for the 
 independence of Spanish America they were un 
 acquainted with the history of the Tories. The dispo 
 sition of the Spanish colonies "to render themselves 
 independent" was the controlling fear of the Ministry. 
 The situation was clearly stated the following year in 
 an official dispatch written upon receipt of the news 
 of the capture of Buenos Ayres by a British force :* 
 
 to Beresford, September 21, 1806; MSS. British 
 Archives. 
 
46 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 "The great and ruling consideration which has so 
 long restrained his Majesty from invading this part of 
 the enemies territories [Spanish America], has been the 
 fear of exciting in those countries, from their known 
 impatience of their forms of government, a spirit of insur 
 rection and revolt leading to consequences the most fatal 
 and which except by the presence of a very superior force, 
 his Majesty might not have the means of controlling." 
 
 Burr never mentioned names, nor spoke in precise 
 terms of his plans ; the results of his Western tour were 
 exhibited to Merry only in broad outlines : 
 
 "Throughout the Western country," said he, "persons 
 of the greatest property and influence had engaged them 
 selves to contribute very largely towards the expense of 
 the enterprise ; at New Orleans he represented the inhabi 
 tants to be so firmly resolved upon separating themselves 
 from their union with the United States, and every 
 way to be so completely prepared, that he was sure the 
 revolution there would be accomplished without a drop 
 of blood being shed, the American force in that country 
 (should it not, as he had good reason to believe, enlist 
 with him) not being sufficiently strong to make any 
 opposition. It was accordingly there that the revolution 
 would commence at the end of [March?] May 1 or the 
 beginning of April, provided his Majesty s government 
 should consent to lend their assistance toward it, and the 
 answer, together- with the pecuniary aid which would be 
 wanted, arrive in time to enable him to set out the begin 
 ning of March." 
 
 Burr frequently recurred to the urgency of an early 
 reply to his propositions, especially emphasizing the 
 necessity of an early remittance of funds, for upon the 
 arrival of the latter depended the march of his enter 
 prise. He insisted that the money should be got 
 
 Cf. Henry Adams, iii., 230. 
 
BURR S INTRIGUES 47 
 
 secretly into his hands, as he indicated in his first over 
 tures; and suggested that he would himself devise a 
 way to get into his possession, without its becoming 
 known or suspected, a part of the two hundred thou 
 sand pounds which the United States were soon to pay 
 to his Majesty s Government. In the end, failing in the 
 first plan, proviso was made that one hundred and ten 
 thousand pounds, which he now asked of Pitt, should 
 be credited in the names of John Barclay of Philadel 
 phia and Daniel Clark of New Orleans. Burr endeav 
 ored to impress the Minister with the revolutionary 
 state of affairs in Louisiana, bringing up again the ab 
 surd notion that the inhabitants, though descendants of 
 French and Spanish parents, were anxious to cast off 
 their traditional hostility to England and to embrace 
 her in the new cause. 
 
 "Mr. Burr stated to me what I have reason to 
 believe to be true from the information I have received 
 from other quarters that when he reached Louisiana he 
 found the inhabitants so impatient under the American 
 government that they had actually prepared a representa 
 tion of their grievances, and that it was in agitation to 
 send deputies with it to Paris. The hope, however, of 
 becoming completely independent, and of forming a much 
 more beneficial connection with Great Britain, having 
 been pointed out to them, and this having already pre 
 vailed among many of the principal people who are 
 become his associates, they have found means to obtain 
 a suspension of the plan of having recourse to France; 
 but he observed that if the execution of that which he 
 had in view should be delayed beyond the time he had 
 mentioned the opportunity would be lost; and France 
 would, as he knew it positively to be her wish, regain 
 that country and annex the Floridas to it." 
 
 A more convincing presentation of the case could 
 
48 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 not have been made ; but the English Cabinet had cause 
 to know that it was groundless France was not then 
 playing for such stakes. Burr, however, was ignorant 
 of the situation of affairs in Europe and continued to 
 press the argument, which had always been so potent, 
 of the danger from French interference. Merry be 
 lieved the whole of the story, even to Burr s forecast 
 of the dissolution of the Republic. 
 
 "He observed, what I readily conceive may happen, 
 that when once Louisiana and the Western country 
 became independent, the Eastern States will separate 
 themselves immediately from the Southern ; and that thus 
 the immense power which is now risen up with so much 
 rapidity in the western hemisphere will, by such a 
 division, be rendered at once informidable ; and that no 
 moment could be so proper for the undertaking in ques 
 tion and particularly for Great Britain to take part in it 
 as the present, when she has the command of the ocean 
 and France is prevented from showing that interference 
 in the business which she would otherwise certainly 
 exercise." 
 
 Merry, while recommending the "practicability and 
 great utility" of the project, thought that "his Majesty 
 may have already been disposed to take part in the 
 affair." Thus completely had the Minister been 
 blinded. Burr, however, realized that the winning over 
 of the British Cabinet was quite another matter. 
 Indeed it appeared from the unbroken silence almost 
 hopeless. So he turned to other quarters, still with a 
 view to obtaining the moneys he calculated necessary 
 for his purposes. While in Washington he was cor- 
 " dially received at the White House. Yrujo said that 
 Jefferson both penetrated and feared him. Before leay- 
 
BURR S INTRIGUES 49 
 
 ing the Capital the ex-Vice-President wrote Blenner- 
 hassett concerning his plans. December 2ist the latter 
 replied : 
 
 "I hope, sir, you will not regard it indelicate in me 
 to observe to you how highly I should be honored in 
 being associated with you, in any contemplated enterprise 
 you would permit me to participate in. ... Viewing 
 the probability of a rupture with Spain, the claim for 
 action the country will make upon your talents, in the 
 event of an engagement against, or subjugation of, any 
 of the Spanish territories, I am disposed, in the confiden 
 tial spirit of this letter, to offer you my friends and my 
 own services to cooperate in any contemplated measures 
 in which you may embark." 1 
 
 To this flattering note Burr sent in reply an explicit 
 definition of the nature of his undertaking: 2 
 
 "I had projected, and still meditate, a speculation 
 precisely of the character you have described. . . . The 
 business, however, depends, in some degree, on contin 
 gencies not within my control, and will not be commenced 
 before December or January, if ever. . . . But I must 
 insist that these intimations be not permitted to inter 
 rupt the prosecution of any plans which you have formed 
 for yourself no occupation which shall not take you off 
 the continent can interfere with that which I propose. 
 . . . We shall have no war unless we should be actually 
 invaded." 
 
 Burr s revelations to Blennerhassett left no doubt 
 as to the object in view. The contingencies upon which 
 the movement turned were a Spanish war or the receipt 
 of pecuniary assistance either from Merry or Yrujo, or 
 
 Blennerhassett to Burr, Blennerhassett Papers, p. 116. 
 2 Burr to Blennerhassett, April 15, 1806; Blennerhassett 
 Papers, p. 119. 
 
50 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 other source. The single idea of the two notes, that of 
 the conquest of Spanish regions, fired young and old 
 alike; it was therefore not surprising to find characters 
 so divergent as Blennerhassett, Andrew Jackson, Clark, 
 Wilkinson and General Presley Neville anxious to par 
 ticipate in whatever fortune should be allotted to the 
 fascinating undertaking. All the while, too, Burr had 
 the satisfaction of witnessing the increasing difficulties 
 of the Government in its attempt to stem the flood of 
 indignation against Spain. The Administration was 
 severely criticized for its tardiness in taking up the 
 gauntlet which Cevallos, as spokesman for the King, 
 had cast at the feet of our Ministers. Said a plain- 
 spoken editor of the Political and Commercial Regis 
 ter: 
 
 "What is the situation of our governmental character 
 with foreign powers? The United States, so lately the 
 wonder and admiration of the world, are fallen so low, 
 that even the Spaniard prowls on our defenseless mer 
 chantmen, and loudly proclaims the pusillanimity of our 
 leader. What is the policy of the present Cabinet ? Why 
 do they conceal their measures and the information they 
 possess from the people who raised them to authority? 
 Why veil from the public eye the treatment of our Min 
 isters at the court of Madrid? Do they fear that the 
 people themselves will demand vengeance against the 
 aggressors ? n 
 
 to depend for our safety, for the enjoyment of our 
 rights, not upon the wisdom and vigor of our Adminis 
 tration, nor upon the strength, nor the resources of our 
 country, but upon the clemency and forbearance of 
 ^Orleans Gazette, September 27, 1805. 
 
BURR S INTRIGUES 51 
 
 other nations." 1 From one end of the Republic to the 
 other the Government was decried for its attitude, 
 whether it endeavored to conceal evidences of Spanish 
 meanness, or tried to steer clear of the breakers of 
 war. The President sought to ease matters by purchas 
 ing the Floridas. Though we claimed West Florida 
 under the treaty for the sale of Louisiana, and had even 
 passed a law regulating the collection of customs at 
 Mobile, Jefferson thought the easiest way out of the 
 embroglio was to pay out. But his plan encountered 
 opposition in Congress. John Randolph, the one tow 
 ering figure in the House, strenuously opposed it ; and 
 sharply arraigned the President for having a "double 
 set of opinions and principles the one ostensible, the 
 other real." In the first case he appeared in his Mes 
 sage of December 3, 1805, to favor vigorous measures 
 against Spain; in the second, three days later, he 
 secretly appealed to Congress to appropriate moneys 
 for the purchase of lands, a part of which he had pro 
 fessed to believe already ours. In the midst of the dis 
 cussion, January 3d, Randolph laid before the Repre 
 sentatives a spirited, warlike report based on the Mes 
 sage of December 3d. The closing resolution read that 
 the Southern frontier was to be protected "from Span 
 ish inroad and insult." Indeed it went further : meas 
 ures were to be resorted to which meant, beyond perad- 
 venture, conflict with Spain. By plying the party lash 
 Jefferson succeeded in having Randolph s Resolution 
 buried under a bill which carried with it $2,000,000 
 for the purchase of the Floridas. The President had 
 
 ^Orleans Gazette, November 22, 1805. 
 
52 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 carried his point, but the report of such a bill provoked 
 more than partisan rebuke throughout the Union. 
 
 "There was a happy moment," ran a paragraph in the 
 Orleans Gazette, 1 "when the government of the United 
 States, with every plea of justice and necessity on its 
 side, might, at a blow, have expelled the Spaniards from 
 our shores. It required nothing but the sanction of 
 authority, and the generous spirit of the nation, which 
 had left far behind the nerveless soul of the Government, 
 would have performed the business even without a 
 reward. ... If the wise counsels of Federal men had 
 been listened to, we should in the twinkling of an eye, 
 as it were, have the rightful possession of those terri 
 tories, which form a natural and very important append 
 age of our own." 
 
 Editor Bradford of the Orleans Gazette was an un 
 disguised revolutionist, and had admitted to his col 
 umns, at the time of Burr s first visit to the West, an 
 article which might have been copied in part from the 
 annals of the French Revolution : 2 
 
 "By a war she [Spain] would have everything to lose, 
 and nothing to win. ... To the east the Floridas 
 would fall into our hands without opposition, and to the 
 southwest, New Mexico, with all its wealth, opposes no 
 obstacle to invasion. . . . This conquest would give us 
 the key to the southern continent; and the soldiers of 
 Liberty, animated by the spirit of 76 and the genius of 
 their Washington, would go to the field, not with a hope 
 of plunder, but to avenge the cause of their country, and 
 to give freedom to a new world. The innocent blood of 
 the natives, which was so lavishly spilt by the merciless 
 Cortez and Pizarro, yet calls aloud for vengeance, and 
 the descendants of Montezuma and Mango Capac, would 
 draw the avenging sword, ... on the first approach 
 
 *Or leans Gazette, March 28, 1806. 
 ^Orleans Gazette, May 24, 1805. 
 
BURR S INTRIGUES 53 
 
 of an invading army. . . . Thus in eighteen months 
 would the two continents own the dominion of laws." 
 
 Bradford did not stand alone there were many 
 others in the States who saw the matter as he ; for the 
 maxims of the French Revolution were still living 
 forces. The morbid sentiment indulged over the con 
 dition of the inhabitants of the Spanish colonies is one 
 more proof that nations are ofttimes blind to their own 
 shortcomings. For why should charity not have begun 
 at home in granting freedom to the negro slaves? By 
 this it is not meant to question the sincerity of the 
 enthusiasm of the American mind for the emancipation 
 of the colonies of Don Carlos. On the contrary, there 
 is every reason to believe in the honesty of the desire ; 
 but it was so intermingled with the lust for revenge 
 against a sovereign whose territories were coveted, 
 that the measure of its intensity is lost. 
 
 Favorable, even flattering, the situation appeared 
 to the leaders of the conspiracy. There were few who 
 dreamed of the difficulties to be overcome; of the need 
 for money and the crying want thereof ; of prejudices 
 and distempers to be combated, which were to prove 
 fatal in the end. Perhaps only Dayton and Wilkinson 
 were in the innermost secret, and aided in devising 
 ways and means. Wilkinson drew from his own expe- 
 perience, and the intrigues with Merry and Yrujo re 
 flect his handiwork, while he has left us convincing 
 proof of his complicity in the enterprising design of 
 defrauding both Spain and England. Scarcely had the 
 conspiracy collapsed when Wilkinson confessed in a 
 confidential dispatch to Jefferson : 
 
54 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 "No doubt remains with me that he [Burr] has duped 
 both the British and Spanish legations and converted 
 them to his use, by the promise of the subversion of our 
 Government on the one hand, and the revolutionizing of 
 Mexico on the other." 1 
 
 The knowledge of the stratagem which was to be 
 used with the Ministers was well employed by Wilkin 
 son when once he had begun his denunciations, for he 
 was also aware that the country at large was con 
 founded by the mingling of the two sets of arguments. 
 
 Although Dayton and Burr were unpractised in the 
 art of extracting specie from foreign coffers, they 
 learned their lesson with so much facility that it was 
 clear James Wilkinson had been their instructor. De 
 cember ist, after his interviews with Merry, Burr 
 reached Philadelphia whither Dayton had preceded 
 him. There, December 5th, the Marquis of Caso Yrujo 
 was secretly visited by Dayton, who was primed with 
 an excellently prepared story which it was thought 
 would bring Yrujo to the financial aid of the scheme. 
 Dayton began by saying that he thought thirty or forty 
 thousand dollars would not be an excessive sum to pay 
 for certain events which were transpiring at London 
 upon whose outcome hung the fate of the most precious 
 possessions of the Spanish monarchy. Yrujo assured 
 him that his master was liberal and would reward ser 
 vices. Thus encouraged the ex-Senator began by say 
 ing that he was one of three persons in this country 
 who knew of the plot; that the Government was ig- 
 
 Wilkinson to Jefferson. February 13, 1807; Letters in Rela 
 tion to Burr s Conspiracy; MSS. State Department Archives. 
 
BURR S INTRIGUES 
 
 norant of it, but not lss concerned than Spain. Then 
 he continued: 1 ^ 
 
 "Toward the close of the last session and the end of 
 March, Colonel Burr had various secret conferences with 
 the English minister, to whom he proposed a plan not 
 only for taking the Floridas, but also for effecting the 
 separation and independence of the States of the West, 
 a part of this plan being that the Floridas shall be associ 
 ated in this new federative republic; England to receive 
 as a reward for her services a decisive preference in 
 matters of commerce and navigation, these advantages 
 to be secured by means of a treaty which will be made 
 upon the recognition by England of this new republic. 
 This plan met the approbation of the English minister, 
 who recommended it to his court. In the meantime 
 Colonel Burr has been in New Orleans, in the Mississippi 
 Territory, the States of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio, 
 to sound and prepare their minds for this revolution. In 
 all these States he found their dispositions most favorable 
 not only for their emancipation which they evidently 
 desire, but also for leading an expedition against the 
 Kingdom of Mexico. This is an idea that occurred to 
 us after sending the first plan to London; and having 
 given greater extension to the project, Colonel Burr sent 
 to London a dispatch with his new ideas to Colonel Wil 
 liamson, an English officer who has been for a long time 
 in this country, and whose return is expected within a 
 month or six weeks. The first project was well received 
 by the English Cabinet; more particularly by Mr, 
 Dundas, or Lord Melville, who was charged with the 
 correspondence; but as he had reason to fear dismission 
 from office for causes well known through the debates of 
 Parliament, the plan hasjjeen retarded ; but Mr. Pitt has 
 again turned his attention to it. In order to effect the 
 conquest of the Floridas and the emancipation of the 
 Western States half a million dollars has been appropri 
 ated j the expedition on the part of England will be com 
 posed of three ships of the line and seven or eight smaller 
 
 *Yrujo to Cevallos, December 5, 1805 ; MSS. Spanish Archives* 
 
56 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 armed vessels which will bring arms, ammunition and 
 artillery, but few men, as men were not needed." 
 
 The conspirators never turned out a more palpably 
 fictitious fabric. Yet with the strength of it Dayton 
 and Burr hoped to bind Yrujo to the project; and 
 somehow to terrify Don Carlos into paying the ex 
 penses of an enterprise against his own possessions. 
 The irony of it is fascinating. Yrujo was in a more 
 treacherous situation than Merry. As for the latter, 
 Burr employed his wiles to make him a catspaw to 
 draw from the British treasury half a million dollars; 
 while the former was to contribute funds for a secret 
 which had been contrived to entrap him, to disguise the 
 real object of the association, and which would have 
 been revealed to him in any case. If an assault was 
 really to be made on the Spanish provinces, it was but 
 plain foresight to disarm Yrujo, or better still to leave 
 him nursing the idea that his Sovereign was aiding in 
 the dispersion of the Power in the Western World 
 which menaced the integrity of his Empire. 
 
 The Marquis was assured that the Western States 
 would declare themselves independent the moment the 
 English squadron appeared off the coast of Florida in 
 February or March ; that in order to make the revolu 
 tion more popular after having taken the Floridas the 
 expedition against Mexico would be attempted; that 
 Miranda had just been sent to this country by the Eng 
 lish Government to act in concert with Burr; that no 
 opposition from the feeble Federal Government was an 
 ticipated ; that the United States troops were nearly all 
 in the West, and that Colonel Burr had caused them to 
 
BURR S INTRIGUES 57 
 
 be sounded in regard to the expedition against Mexico ; 
 that they were all ready to follow him and that there 
 was no doubt they were also ready to support the rights 
 of the Westerners against the impotent forces of the 
 Federal Government. In the operations against Mex 
 ico, England would cooperate by sea ; a landing would 
 probably be made at Panuco. Dayton avowed that 
 Burr had emissaries in the interior of the province of 
 Texas, and that he had sent some also to Vera Cruz 
 and other points on the coast with the moneys which he 
 had already received from England; that he meant to 
 convert into a republic or republics the Spanish prov 
 inces which should be conquered or revolutionized. 
 
 Yrujo observed to Cevallos that the acquisition of 
 Louisiana had rendered inevitable the separation of the 
 West from the Union within the space of two years, 
 and that the Floridas would succumb to the revolution. 
 He was confident, however, that the Administration 
 would not be deceived by the wiles of Burr. Yrujo s 
 distrust of Dayton, whom he recognized as Burr s 
 spokesman, was great. He saw at once that England 
 had not encouraged the affair to the extent of a hundred 
 thousand pounds, for, had she done so, Dayton would 
 not have come to him, as he said to Cevallos, the alert 
 Minister of State, to play the part of the "faithful 
 thief, relating a secret, which, for many reasons, he 
 was interested in concealing from him." Thus the 
 main end sought had been accomplished Yrujo no 
 longer credited the prevailing rumors that Mexico was 
 the objective point, for, had it been so, the conspirators 
 would not have been guilty of the folly of making a 
 
58 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 clean breast of it. However, partially successful though 
 they had been, Burr and the ex-Senator feared they 
 had gone too far ; so, when the latter returned to Phila 
 delphia from a fortnight in Washington he was pre 
 pared to unfold another story fantastic and absurd in 
 the highest degree. But this time, singularly enough, 
 Yrujo was completely taken in. 
 
 After referring to Burr s resolve to have nothing to 
 do with Miranda, whom he thought wanting in many 
 qualities necessary to lead a great enterprise, Dayton 
 made bold to say that the English end of the intrigue 
 had met with reverses, hinting that negotiations in that 
 quarter were abandoned; whereas we know the hopes 
 of the conspirators in British aid were still high. Burr 
 had been on the eve of dispatching to London an inti 
 mate by the name of Wharton, continued Dayton, to 
 renew the negotiations, when another plan had sug 
 gested itself :*- 
 
 "This project, excepting the attack on the Floridas, he 
 [Burr] thinks, as well as his chief friends, may be put 
 in execution without foreign aid. For one who does not 
 know the country, its Constitution, and, above all certain 
 localities, this plan would appear insane; but I confess, 
 for my part, that in view of all the circumstances it seems 
 easy of execution, although it would irritate the Atlantic 
 States, especially those called central namely, Virginia, 
 Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and 
 New York. It is indisputable that there is in this country 
 an infinite number of adventurers, without property, full 
 of ambition, and ready to unite at once under the standard 
 of a revolution which promises to better their situation. 
 It is almost certain that Burr and his friends, without dis 
 closing their true object, have won the good will of these 
 
 Yrujo to Cevallos, January i, 1806; MSS. Spanish Archives. 
 
BURR S INTRIGUES 59 
 
 men and inspired them with the greatest confidence in 
 favor of Burr, whose intrigues during the past year were 
 devoted to the fanning of the flames of discord against 
 the existing government in Louisiana and the Western 
 States which he visited." 
 
 Burr s "new idea, which Yrujo thought would 
 "probably be carried into effect," was to introduce by 
 degrees into the Federal city and its environs a certain 
 number of his desperate followers, well armed, who, at 
 a signal, with Burr at their head would surprise at the 
 same instant the President, the Vice-President, and the 
 President of the Senate, Burr would then dissolve the 
 existing government, possess himself of the public 
 money deposited in the Washington and Georgetown 
 banks and seize the arsenal on the Eastern Branch. 
 Profiting by the consternation such a blow would pro 
 duce, the conspirators would try to make favorable 
 terms with the States ; but should they fail to maintain 
 themselves at Washington, which seemed probable, they 
 would burn the national vessels at the Navy Yards, ex 
 cept two or three frigater which were ready for sea, 
 and embarking on these with the treasure, they would 
 sail for New Orleans, where upon their arrival they 
 . would proclaim the independence of Louisiana and the 
 West. 1 
 
 It would be as easy to believe in the truthfulness of 
 one of Baron Miinchausen s tales as that Burr seri 
 ously contemplated so utterly harebrained an enterprise 
 as Dayton now revealed to the Marquis. If it had not 
 already appeared indisputable that Yrujo was to be 
 
 Adams (iii., 239), McMaster (Hi., 62), and others think that 
 Burr actually meditated such a coup d etat. 
 
60 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 deceived for a double purpose, it would be legitimate 
 to inquire into Burr s sanity. That such a high-handed, 
 buccaneering plot had the shadow of a chance to reach 
 maturity could not have been believed by any one 
 acquainted with American character, or the actual situ 
 ation of affairs. And yet Yrujo thought it certain of 
 success, observing to Cevallos that "Spain would view 
 
 with extreme satisfaction the dismemberment of the 
 
 i 
 
 colossal power which was growing up at the very gates 
 of her most precious and important colonies." The 
 great difficulty to be surmounted in the execution of 
 this momentous project was "the acquisition of half a 
 million or a million dollars which the principals calcu 
 lated would be necessary to expend for provisions, 
 arms, pay for men," et cetera. The solution was easy 
 Burr had offered to sell his services to Spain, and 
 Yrujo intimated that the King ought to come to his aid, 
 for the following reasons : 
 
 "At a second conference with this subject [Dayton] 
 he told me that Burr had authorized him to say that 
 in this second project, which was the one determined 
 upon, Spain had nothing to fear for her possessions ; 
 that on the contrary he counted on her friendship because 
 of her obvious interest in the success of the enterprise ; 
 that the matter of the Louisiana boundary would be 
 arranged to our entire satisfaction ; . . . that the 
 Floridas would be undisturbed, not only out of respect 
 for Spain, but because his political interest demanded that 
 a foreign nation should hold possessions both in the 
 Atlantic States and those of the West." 
 
 For the moment Burr s success with Yrujo was as 
 complete as it had been with Merry and he had every 
 cause to hope that he would yet receive financial succor 
 
BURR S INTRIGUES 61 
 
 which would enable him to purchase ships, arms, and 
 necessaries for the equipment of "his expedition. So 
 much was he encouraged with the situation that he 
 
 wrote to Wilkinson, December I2th: 
 
 **< 
 
 "About the last of October our cabinet was seriously 
 disposed for war with the Spaniards; but more recent 
 accounts of the increasing and alarming aggressions and 
 annoyance of the British, and some courteous words from 
 the French, have banished every such intention. In case 
 of such warfare, Lee would have been commander-in- 
 chief : truth I assure you : he must you know come from 
 Virginia. . . . On the subject of a certain speculation, 
 it is not deemed material to write till the whole can be 
 communicated. The circumstance referred to in a letter 
 from Ohio remains in suspense: the auspices, however, . 
 are favorable, and it is believed that Wilkinson will give If 
 audience to a delegation composed of Adair~and Dayton 
 
 in February. Can 25 be had in your vicinity to 
 
 move at some few hours notification?" 1 
 
 Burr regretted the peaceful course of Government 
 the non-materialization of the Spanish War ; and his 
 characterization of the political status was eminently 
 correct. Concerning a certain speculation doubtless 
 the intrigues with the Spanish and British ministers 
 he could only give Wilkinson hope. The reference to 
 Adair and Dayton and the question as to the number of 
 men which could be had were intelligible only to the 
 General. 
 
 While waiting for replies to the representations 
 which had been made by Merry and Yrujo to their re 
 spective Governments, Burr continued to enlarge the 
 circle of his associates. During the early months of 
 
 VBurr to Wilkinson, December 12, 1806; Wilkinson s Mem 
 oirs, ii., Ap. Ixxxiv. 
 
62 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 1806 he approached Commodore Truxton with the 
 , proposition that he should command the naval arm of 
 an expedition against Mexico; and to William Eaton, 
 who was engaged in pressing before Congress a very 
 doubtful claim to certain pecuniary restitutions, he laid 
 bare not only the first plan, but also that which had so 
 taken Yrujo : "He would turn Congress neck and heels 
 out of doors, assassinate the President (or what 
 amounted to that),and declare himself the protector of 
 an energetic Government." Believing in these hor 
 ribly criminal designs of the ex-Vice-President, some 
 time in March Eaton called on the President and sug 
 gested that "Colonel Burr ought to be removed from 
 the country" because he was dangerous in it. Either 
 the post at Madrid or London was considered by Eaton 
 a secure place for the exile of Mr. Burr. If anything 
 could give rise to a suspicion of this informant s in 
 tegrity, it is this conversation with Jefferson. It was 
 in March, too, that Burr applied in person to the Presi 
 dent for an appointment, which fact Jefferson notes in 
 his "Anas under date of April I5th. This coincident 
 provokes the suspicion that Burr had bribed Eaton to 
 prepare the ground for his personal application for a 
 foreign appointment. Why were Madrid and London 
 specified? Could Burr have planned to undertake at 
 shorter range the intrigues which were then progress 
 ing with those courts ? It was either that or a ruse, for 
 Burr must have known in advance what Jefferson s 
 reply would be. He had lost the confidence of the 
 country, and could not be appointed/ were the Presi 
 dent s words. 
 
BURR S INTRIGUES 63 
 
 In the middle of April, Burr wrote Blennerhassett 
 that the business, which depended on contingencies 
 beyond his control, would not begin until December or 
 January, if ever. 1 To Wilkinson he said : 
 
 "The execution of our project is postponed till Decem 
 ber : want of water in Ohio, rendered movement imprac 
 ticable : other reasons rendered delay expedient. The 
 association is enlarged, and comprises all that Wilkinson 
 could wish. Confidence limited to a few. . . . Burr 
 wrote you a long letter last December, replying to a short 
 one deemed very silly. Nothing has been heard from 
 Brigadier since October. Is Cusion et Fortes right? 
 Address Burr at Washington." 2 
 
 "Cusion and Fortes" were officers on the frontier, 
 Wilkinson the "Brigadier" confessed ; but Burr s ebjeet 
 was not so much to find out whether they were "right" 
 as to impress the general with the fact that the associa 
 tion was enlarged and comprised all that he could wish. 
 "Want of water in Ohio" was a clever way of saying 
 that thus far he had failed in his purpose with Merry 
 and Yrujo. 
 
 While these things were occurring in the East the 
 news of warlike preparations in Kentucky was making 
 its way across Texas and the deserts of North Mexico 
 to Captain-General Salcedo at Chihuahua. Early in 
 1806 Antonio Cordero, Governor of the Province of 
 Texas, had received notice that an expedition was 
 being prepared in Kentucky which was to overrun the 
 provinces of Mexico. This news had reached the Gov 
 ernor, not through the instrumentality of Yrujo, but 
 
 ^Blennerhassett Papers, p. 118. 
 
 3 Burr to Wilkinson, April 16, 1806 ; Memoirs, ii., Ap. Ixxxiii. 
 
64 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 directly from the Spanish agents in Louisiana. The 
 report was alarming. 
 
 "It is a very grave matter," responded Salcedo, April 
 9th, 1 "the information which your excellency has received 
 and transmitted to me that some ten thousand men, 
 subjects of the United States, are being prepared in Ken 
 tucky (Quintoq), with the object of overpowering the 
 uninhabited provinces of this kingdom and our Indian 
 allies, with no respect for the boundaries of Louisiana. 
 You will therefore take extraordinary precautions 
 toward putting the country in a good state of defense 
 by bringing up all the auxiliaries." 
 
 The obnoxious Intendant Morales who had aroused 
 hot indignation in the United States by closing the 
 port of New Orleans, wrote from Pensacola to Viceroy 
 Iturrigaray, "There exists in New Orleans a strong 
 party whose object it is to revolutionize the Kingdom 
 of Mexico, and the conditions on the frontier are en- 
 tirely favorable to such a design."/ He stated also 
 that he had been reliably informed that the revolution 
 was to be materially abetted by means of emissaries and 
 papers which were to be circulated throughout the 
 country. Many ecclesiastics were in the plot, and many 
 subjects were already won over. 2 
 
 Again from the frontier came the note of alarm. 
 Francisco Viana, Inspector-General of the troops in 
 Texas, from his headquarters at Nacogdoches dis 
 patched to Cordero this message!? 
 
 "The rumor grows that the American forces are 
 
 Salcedo to Cordero, April 9, 1806; MSS. Bexar Archives. 
 Morales to Iturrigaray, May 12, 1806; MSS. Bexar Archives. 
 Viana to Cordero, June 3, 1806; MSS. Bexar Archives. 
 
BURR S INTRIGUES 65 
 
 gathering in Kentucky, and that our unpeopled lands, 
 neophytes, and vassal Indians are to fall into their hands. 
 And I have neither munitions, arms, provisions, nor 
 soldiers wherewith to uphold our authority. I have 
 despatched a corporal, a trader, and four soldiers to the 
 Tejas Indians, asking that they arm as many as possible 
 and come to my assistance." 
 
 The truth was, New Spain was in a wretched con 
 dition, and Morales was clear-headed when he avowed 
 that the situation was all the Americans could desire. 
 But the most startling note in this correspondence was 
 the unconscious revelation of the vital purpose of the 
 enterprise. 
 
 The disingenuous disclosures of Dayton had thus 
 far produced only in part the desired effect. True, , 
 Yrujo had been thrown off his guard, but Cevallos had 
 not been constrained to make the expected advances. 
 New tactics were therefore devised, and Burr himself 
 visited the Marquis in the final hope of obtaining funds 
 and of leaving the minister in a helpless state of in 
 certitude. 
 
 "The principal has opened himself to me," wrote 
 Yrujo to Cevallos, May 14, 18O6; 1 "and his communica 
 tions have confirmed me in the idea not only of the possi 
 bility, but of the facility of the execution of the project 
 under certain circumstances to effect which pecuniary 
 aid on our part and on that of France is wanted. I have 
 been very circumspect in my answers and have not com 
 promised myself in any way ; and when I return to Spain 
 next spring I shall be the bearer of all the plan with the 
 details which may be wanted. There will also arrive 
 in Spain, more or less simultaneously with me, though 
 by different ways, two or three very respectable persons, 
 
 to Cevallos, May 14, 1806; MSS. Spanish Archives. 
 
66 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 both from Louisiana and from Kentucky and Tennessee, 
 with the same object. They all consider the interests of 
 those countries united and in conformity with those of 
 Spain and France; but the principal, or more correctly 
 the principals, here do not wish to open themselves to the 
 Emperor Napoleon s minister [Turreau], as they have no 
 confidence in him. Consequently, it will be proper either 
 not to communicate the matter at all to that Government, 
 or to do it with the request that its representative here 
 remain uninformed ; for I repeat, they have no confidence 
 in him, and this has been a condition imposed on me in 
 the communications I have received." 
 
 If Bollman s report to Madison and Jefferson con 
 cerning Burr s designs can be credited, Burr had di- 
 Ivined Napoleon s project of absorbing not only Spain 
 but also her American possessions, and hoped to gain 
 for himself a slice of the crumbling empire. 1 It was 
 therefore but a part v of wisdom to leave Napoleon, who 
 was rising toward the zenith of his career, ignorant 
 of any revolutionary scheme which threatened even re 
 motely to cross his own astounding plans. The pre 
 caution had been taken to ignore Turreau, but he knew 
 nevertheless, through the press, which never ceased its 
 speculations, of Burr s supposed enterprise for the sepa 
 ration of the States, and wrote his home Government 
 concerning it. Mentioning Miranda s departure, he 
 continued : 2 
 
 "The project of effecting a separation between the 
 Western and Atlantic States marches abreast with this 
 one. Burr, though displeased at first by the arrival of 
 Miranda, who might reduce him to a secondary role, has 
 set off again for the South, after having had several 
 
 1 Madison s Writings, ii., 393. 
 
 Adams s History of the United States, Hi., 2261. 
 
BURR S INTRIGUES 67 
 
 conferences with the British minister. . . . This divi 
 sion of the confederated States appears to me inevitable, 
 and perhaps less remote than is commonly supposed ; but 
 would this event, which England seems to favor, be really 
 contrary to the interests of France?" 
 
 Turreau thought the Government ignorant of 
 Burr s intentions ; and yet Yrujo in a letter of the same 
 date, February I3th, remarked, "It seems that the Gov 
 ernment have penetrated the project of Colonel Burr, 
 and in reality I am apprehensive lest the French minis 
 ter fearing it prejudicial to his country has informed 
 them." 1 It is amazing that such a perplexing con 
 fusion in political affairs could have existed. 
 
 Having failed in his personal effort to draw 
 from the Spanish minister a pecuniary response, Burr 
 tried a last resort he threatened Yrujo with abandon 
 ing his favorable attitude toward Spain and with taking 
 up again the web of his English intrigue, whose en 
 tangling meshes involved the Floridas and Mexico. 
 June Qth, Yrujo in some uneasiness wrote Cevallos on 
 the subject. Burr had suddenly ceased to visit him, 
 and Dayton explained that this was due to the fact that 
 the new Government in England was anxious to under 
 take the matter, and that Burr believed it would be 
 more liberal with money advances as well as offer better 
 means of protection. Dayton said that Burr was draw 
 ing up supplementary instructions for Williamson, and 
 that Bollman would sail within ten days for London 
 to lay new propositions before the Ministry, and to in 
 vite cooperation in an attack on tne Floridas. Dayton, 
 
 Yrujo to Cevallos, February 13, 1806; MSS. Spanish 
 Archives. 
 
68 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 still the "faithful thief," informed Yrujo that he had 
 protested to Burr against his unprincipled ambition, 
 and would oppose the attack on the Spanish possessions, 
 which he deemed unjust and impolitic, in the Cabinet 
 council which certain chiefs were to hold in New 
 Orleans in the month of December, proximo. The ex- 
 Senator suggested that the best way to banish such 
 ideas from the heads of the leaders was to reenforce 
 Pensacola and Mobile. 
 
 While Yrujo believed to the last that the main de 
 sign of the associates was the division of the Union, 
 he had warned the officials in the Spanish provinces to 
 be on the alert against surprise. He had, moreover, 
 given Dayton encouragement in the substantial form of 
 fifteen hundred dollars, and in soliciting for him from 
 the King one thousand more along with a pension of 
 fifteen hundred a year. 1 The pension was denied, but 
 the Minister was licensed to pay Dayton, who had in 
 deed demanded much larger sums, another thousand 
 dollars. That was as far as Cevallos was disposed to 
 go. He saw instantly that England had not espoused 
 the cause of Burr, for at the moment Napoleon was 
 free from Continental dangers and England was mak 
 ing preparations for the defense of her own shores. 
 Cevallos further hinted that Dayton had a greater in 
 terest in "selling" the secret than in keeping it, 2 but in 
 a later communication intimated to Yrujo that if the 
 United States were determined to war with Spain 
 some use might be made of the malcontents. The 
 
 Yrujo to Cevallos, February 13, 1806; MSS. Spanish 
 Archives. 
 
 Cevallos to Yrujo, February 3, 1806; MSS. Spanish Archives. 
 
BURR S INTRIGUES 69 
 
 minister, however, was warned against committing 
 himself or contributing money/ and finally in July a 
 few positive lines declared that his Majesty did not 
 wish to protect the designs of Burr. 2 Interested as 
 Cevallos and Godoy were by Yrujo s dispatches, they 
 scented danger in the obviously deceitful intrigue. The 
 truth was, Spain had her hands already full, and it 
 would have been fatuous for her to have become in 
 volved in an adventure in the wilds of America which 
 might have led to further reprisals. 
 
 On the side of Great Britain a worse outcome at 
 tended the endeavors of the conspirators. For almost 
 two years Burr had maintained relations with Merry, 
 but at the end he had only his good wishes not one of 
 the cabinets had even so much as deigned to reply to 
 his solicitations. And to close this phase of Burr s 
 consummate intrigue, Merry was recalled by Charles 
 James Fox, Chief in the "Ministry of all the Talents/ 
 who sent out in his place David Montague Erskine. 
 In one of the last dispatches of Merry, dated Novem 
 ber 2, 1806, he related the incidents of his parting 
 interview with Burr: 3 
 
 "I saw this gentleman [Burr] for the last time at this 
 place [Washington] in the month of June last, when he 
 made particular inquiry whether I had received any 
 answer from my Government to the propositions he had 
 requested me to transmit to them, and lamented exceed 
 ingly that I had not, because he, and the persons con 
 nected with him at New Orleans, would now, though 
 
 Cevallos to Yrujo, March 28, 1806; MSS. Spanish Archives. 
 2 Cevallos to Yrujo, July 12, 1806; MSS. Spanish Archives. 
 3 Merry to C. J. Fox, November 2, 1806; MSS. British 
 Archives. 
 
70 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 very reluctantly, be under the necessity of addressing 
 themselves to the French and Spanish governments. He 
 added, however, that the disposition of the inhabitants of 
 the Western country, and particularly Louisiana, to sepa 
 rate themselves from the American Union was so strong 
 that the attempt might be made with every prospect of 
 success without any foreign assistance whatever; and 
 his last words to me were that, with or without such 
 support, it certainly would be made very shortly. From 
 these and other circumstances I have little or no doubt of 
 this enterprise being upon the point of execution. From 
 a circumstantial statement of the letter to which I have 
 alluded in my other dispatch, of a large sum of money 
 having arrived in the Western country from New 
 Orleans, it may be inferred, that offers have been made 
 to France and Spain, and that they are lending their 
 assistance to the undertaking. There seems also reason 
 to suspect that the arrival of so large a body of Spanish 
 troops and the force which is expected added to the 
 present state of inactivity may well be connected with 
 the object." 
 
 Merry marveled that the Government should have 
 remained "so long in ignorance of the intended design." 
 It was equally marvelous that after his long acquaint 
 ance with Burr he should have thought him acting in 
 concert with France and Spain. The truth was that 
 Merry with all his information was more ignorant of 
 what was actually brewing than Jefferson; and it 
 would have been far more ingenuous to have confessed 
 that he was now satisfied that Burr, from his conflict 
 ing stories, was untrustworthy, and that his object was 
 involved in mystery. But Merry never awakened to 
 the fact that the deception practiced on him had been 
 complete. 
 
 Disastrous as his intrigues had proved in the East 
 
BURR S INTRIGUES 71 
 
 Burr was nothing daunted, and set about raising funds 
 from various individuals, among others Blennerhassett, 
 Smith and Ogden of Miranda fame, and his own son- 
 in-law, Joseph Alston of South Carolina, rich in slaves 
 and plantations. In this way it was hoped enough 
 might be collected to start the expedition, and for the 
 rest, the spoils of the territories of Spain would make 
 provision. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Plans and Preparations 
 
 * 
 
 WHEN the summer of 1806 was well under 
 way it was plain to Burr that his hope of 
 deluding England into advancing money for 
 his project must be abandoned; likewise the failure 
 of the imposture tried on Yrujo no longer admitted of 
 doubt. The only ray of consolation came from the 
 far West where the Spaniards were reported to be 
 encroaching on American soil. The cry of war again 
 rang through the country ; and it soon became known 
 that specific orders had been sent to General Wilkinson 
 to drive the enemy beyond the Sabine at any cost and 
 that meant the beginning of the long-delayed struggle ! 
 The match for igniting the conflict was in the hands 
 of General Wilkinson would he apply it ? Both Day 
 ton and Burr were doubtful. Whether he would con 
 tinue his part or desert it depended wholly on circum 
 stances. They knew he would act for what appeared 
 to be his own advantage, regardless of affiliations or 
 oaths, regardless of traditions or friendships. They 
 had from their intimate association with him learned 
 his weaknesses, and it was only by pandering to them 
 that they hoped to retain his allegiance. He had writ 
 ten rarely, had raised objections, and had made condi 
 tions which were seemingly hard to overcome. He had 
 sent a letter to Burr in October, 1805, which was 
 "deemed very silly" ; and finally another dated May 
 
 72 
 
PLANS AND PREPARATIONS jg 
 
 1 3th which Burr alleged that he destroyed at Wilkin- 
 son s request. The General was at the moment dis 
 patching troops to the Sabine frontier and expecting to 
 be ordered thither himself. That he would there pre 
 cipitate legitimately or otherwise the conflict was 
 the anxious hope of the leading conspirators, who now 
 proceeded to alarm him for his office, which the Presi 
 dent was on the verge of assigning to another, and to 
 beguile him with fictions as to the means and assistance 
 which were expected. All the false batteries of Burr 
 and Dayton were trained on Wilkinson s position. 
 Flagrant as the procedure was, they had gone too far 
 to retreat. To the General Dayton wrote briefly, and 
 his nephew, Peter V. Ogden, was intrusted with the 
 letter, which was dated July 24th : 
 
 "It is now well ascertained that you are to be dis 
 placed in next session. Jefferson will affect to yield 
 reluctantly to the public sentiment, but yield he will. 
 Prepare yourself, therefore, for it. You know the rest. 
 You are not a man to despair, or even despond, especially 
 when such prospects offer in another quarter. Are you 
 ready? Are your numerous associates ready? Wealth 
 and glory ! Louisiana and Mexico ! I shall have time 
 to receive a letter from you before I set out for Ohio 
 OHIO/ 
 
 With Ogden went Samuel Swartwout, the younger 
 brother of Robert, marshal of New York, who bore a 
 letter from Burr to Wilkinson, which is celebrated as 
 being the key to^ the conspiracy. Its date was July 
 29th. The original version of it will never be known, 
 as it was altered and deciphered in various ways by 
 Wilkinson, who, four months after its receipt, auda 
 ciously said to Jefferson, "I have not yet taken time to 
 
74 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 *>2 
 
 render [it] to my satisfaction." 1 Such an admission 
 was rendered more astonishing by his subsequent false 
 swearing concerning it at Richmond. The famous 
 document, as it is generally accepted, reads as fol 
 lows : 
 
 "Your letter, postmarked thirteenth May, is received. 
 At length I have obtained funds, and have actually com 
 menced. The Eastern detachments, from different points 
 and under different pretences, will rendezvous on the 
 Ohio first of November. Everything internal and ex 
 ternal favors our views. Naval protection of England 
 is secured. TnpUon is going to Jamaica to arrange with 
 the admiral on that station. It will meet us at the Missis 
 sippi. England, a navy of the United States, are ready 
 to join, and final orders are given to my friends and fol 
 lowers. It will be a host of choice spirits. Wilkinson 
 shall be second to Burr only ; Wilkinson shall dictate the 
 rank and promotion of his officers. Burr will proceed 
 westward first August, never to return. With him goes 
 his daughter ; her husband will follow in October, with a 
 corps of worthies. Send forthwith an intelligent and 
 confidential friend with whom Burr may confer ; he shall 
 return immediately with further interesting details ; this 
 is essential to concert and harmony of movement. Send 
 a list of all persons known to Wilkinson west of the 
 mountains who could be useful, with a note delineating 
 their characters. By your messenger send me four or 
 five commissions of your officers, which you can borrow 
 under any pretence you please; they shall be returned 
 faithfullyr Already are orders given to the contractor to 
 forward six months provisions to points Wilkinson may 
 name; this shall not be used until the last moment, and 
 then under proper injunctions. Our object, my dear 
 friend, is brought to a point so long desired. Burr guar 
 antees the result with his life and honor, with the lives 
 and honor and the fortunes of hundreds, the best blood 
 of our country. Burr s plan of operation is to move down 
 
 Wilkinson to Jefferson, Feb. 17, 1807; Letters in Relation. 
 
PLANS AND PREPARATIONS 75 
 
 rapidly from the Falls, on the fifteenth of November, with 
 the first five hundred or a thousand men, in light boats 
 now constructing for that purpose ; to be at Natchez 
 between the fifth and fifteenth of December, there to meet 
 you; there to determine whether it will be expedient in 
 the first instance to seize on or pass by Baton Rouge. On 
 receipt of this send Burr an answer. Draw on Burr for 
 all expenses, etc. The people of the country to which we 
 are going are prepared to receive us ; their agents, now 
 with Burr, say that if we will protect their religion, and 
 will not subject them to a foreign Power, that in three " 
 weeks all will be settled. The gods invite us to glory and 
 fortune ; it remains to be seen whether we deserve the 
 boon. The bearer of this goes express to you. He is a 
 man of inviolable honor and perfect discretion, formed 
 to execute rather than project, capable of relating facts 
 with fidelity, and incapable of relating them otherwise; 
 he is thoroughly informed of the plans and intentions of 
 Burr, and will disclose to you as far as you require, and 
 no further. He has imbibed a reverence for your char 
 acter, and may be embarrassed in your presence ; put him 
 at ease, and he will satisfy you." 
 
 This letter has been grossly misinterpreted. With 
 all Burr s misrepresentations there is not the faintest 
 hint that New Orleans was to be sacrificed ; no allusion 
 to a convention which was to be called for the purpose 
 of declaring the independence of the Western States 
 a point which had borne great weight in the Spanish 
 and English intrigues ; but we are told plainly that an 
 attack was to be made on the Spanish possessions, pos 
 sibly beginning with West Florida at Baton Rouge. 
 If policy dictated, which Wilkinson was to decide, that 
 Baton Rouge should remain unmolested, they would 
 pass on and to no other place than Mexico. "The 
 people of the country to which we are going are pre 
 pared to receive us; their agents, now with Burr, say 
 
76 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 that if we will protect their religion, and will not sub 
 ject them to a foreign power, that in three weeks all 
 will be settled." There had been Spanish agents with 
 **f- iBurr, and one Fernandez had contracted in Philadel 
 phia for a quantity of type destined for Mexico and cast 
 for the Spanish language. 1 And we shall see that ther.e 
 were other Mexicans interested in the cause. It was 
 only in the matter of his resources that Burr attempted 
 deception. 
 
 Toward the end of July, Ogden and Swartwout 
 started on their journey. A little later Bollman sailed 
 for New Orleans bearing a duplicate of Burr s letter 
 to Wilkinson, which the General received in due season. 
 The first week in August, Burr accompanied by his 
 daughter, a Colonel De Pestre, who had suffered in the 
 French Revolution, and who now lived in New Jersey, 
 and a few friends and servants followed Ogden and 
 Swartwout over the Alleghanies. While stopping in 
 Pittsburg, August 22d, Burr and De Pestre visited 
 Colonel George Morgan, who resided near Cannons- 
 burg, fifteen miles distant; there, during the progress 
 of the dinner, Burr talked volubly. The Morgans 
 afterwards testified that he observed that with two 
 hundred men the President and Congress could be 
 driven into the Potomac; that with five hundred New 
 York City might be taken; and also, they admitted, 
 averred in a jocular way that a "separation of the 
 I States must ensue as a natural consequence in four or 
 five years." 2 
 
 
 Duane to Jefferson, December 8, 1806; Jefferson MSS. 
 Carpenter s Trial of Burr, i., 497. 
 
PLANS AND PREPARATIONS 77 
 
 Apart from the utter nonsense of the first two 
 propositions which no sane man could have seriously 
 uttered a natural separation of the States in the 
 course of time was not in harmony with Burr s precipi 
 tate measures. When Burr had gone, Colonel Morgan 
 invited the Chief-Justice of Pennsylvania, Presley 
 Neville, and Samuel Roberts to hear his account of the 
 meeting with the ex-Vice-President. The two latter 
 wrote conjointly to Madison that "To give a correct 
 written statement of these conversations would perhaps 
 be as unnecessary as it would be difficult. . . . Indeed, 
 according to our informants, much more was to be cal 
 culated from the manner in which things were said, 
 and hints given, than from the words used." While 
 predicting the separation of the States in the course of 
 four or five years, Burr also spoke of a wide field about 
 to be opened for talented and military men. 1 The Mor 
 gans forgot to relate this fact at Richmond. 2 More 
 over, George Morgan, in a letter to the President in 
 January, 1807, after referring to the incident of the 
 above meeting in which "I and my sons had opened to 
 them [Neville and Roberts] our opinions of Colonel 
 
 Seville and Roberts to Madison, October 7, 1806; Letters 
 in Relation. 
 
 2 The Morgans went out of their way to show the President 
 that they were his humble servants. When the trial was over at 
 Richmond they returned through Washington and left a note at 
 the White House : "The three Morgans of Morganza have, from 
 respect for Mr. Jefferson, called at his residence although know 
 ing him to be from the city." It may be interesting to note that 
 this family had once attempted to found a colony at New Madrid, 
 a site opposite the mouth of the Ohio, under the aegis of the 
 Spanish Crown; and had been vainly pressing before Congress 
 since 1784 a claim to lands in Indiana, said to have been bought 
 of the Indians. (Journal of Congress, iv., 341.) Was it possible 
 they had seized this opportunity to curry favor with Jefferson? 
 
78 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 Burr s views/ 1 questioned the patriotism of Neville, 
 soldier of the Revolution and leader of the forces sent 
 by President Washington to quell the Pennsylvania 
 riots. Neville had established a rendezvous for the 
 "genteelly disaffected." Morgan likewise noted that it 
 was said a former aide of his was frequently there ; and 
 that 
 
 "a Mr. Spence or Spencer, of the American navy, has 
 lately been with him [Neville], and declared the disaffec 
 tion of every officer in it. Being too far advanced in life 
 to take an active part in these inquiries, I leave them to 
 my sons ; who, I am happy to say, have imbibed the prin 
 ciples of their father and of Thomas Jefferson from the 
 commencement of our revolutionary war to the present 
 day." 
 
 Leaving Pittsburg, Burr and party continued to 
 Belpre, and at the appointed time set foot on the island 
 in the Ohio, where a most enthusiastic reception was 
 tendered them. Blennerhassett, who had devoted his 
 life to science and music, had been at last called into 
 action by his failing fortune and maturing family. He 
 had, apart from his island property, about thirty thou 
 sand dollars invested ; but from this he derived so little 
 income that he was always pressed for money. He 
 was eager to reestablish himself by some bold stroke of 
 speculation. Such an opportunity Burr at once pre 
 sented in the purchase of the Washita lands, a Spanish 
 grant to Baron Bastrop, in the heart of Louisiana- 
 areas in time to be worth their millions. Moreover, be 
 yond this positive investment was another and greater 
 possibility. In the contingency of a war with Spain, 
 
 Morgan to Jefferson, January 19, 1807; Letters in Relation. 
 
PLANS AND PREPARATIONS 79 
 
 which was deemed inevitable, from the position they 
 should occupy on the frontier, the route was open to 
 the wealth and empire of Mexico. Blennerhassett was 
 captivated, borne away with the promise of things. 
 Preparations were begun without delay; the last days 
 of August found Burr and his associate in Marietta, 
 where they purchased, through the firm of Dudley 
 Woodbridge & Company, one hundred barrels of pork 
 and let the contract to Colonel Barker whose estab 
 lishment was seven miles above the town on the Mus- 
 kingum for fifteen boats to be delivered the ninth of 
 December. This fact alone explodes the oft-repeated 
 statement that Burr planned to move down the Ohio 
 by November 15th. 1 
 
 During one of these visits to Marietta, early in 
 September, Blennerhassett showed Woodbridge a map 
 of Mexico, "stating its advantages, wealth, fertility, 
 and healthiness," and asked him to join the expedi 
 tion. Woodbridge inferred from this, he said at the 
 trial, 2 that the enterprise was aimed at Mexico. Blen 
 nerhassett in his prison at Richmond, when told of 
 this evidence, set down in his Journal, "He has not yet 
 told all the truth having suppressed my communica 
 tion to him of our designs being unequivocally against 
 Mexico." 
 
 The island became forthwith the center of multi 
 farious activities. A kiln was erected for drying corn, 
 which was ground into meal and made ready for 
 shipment ; goods were purchased ; and the effects of the 
 
 J Cf. Adams, iii., 268. 
 Carpenter s Trial, i., 518. 
 
8o THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 household were packed in preparation for removal, 
 for Mrs. Blennerhassett and the two sons were also 
 going. Blennerhassett, in his enthusiasm, talked much 
 of the expedition which was to make them all rich ; 
 and shortly there were many as enthusiastic as Blenner 
 hassett himself. 
 
 "A number of young men," said a correspondent of 
 Pittsburg, "inhabitants of this town, amounting to seven, 
 have set out with an intention to join Colonel Burr in 
 his expedition against Mexico, among whom is Morgan 
 Neville, son of General Presley Neville, and it is said, 
 with the knowledge and consent of his father. . . . 
 Also Thomas Butler, son of the late Colonel Butler ; Mr. 
 Forward, printer and editor of the Tree of Liberty, and 
 publisher of the United States laws by authority, after 
 having made preparations was prevented from going by 
 sickness. . . . General Neville has used his influence 
 to promote it. Wilkins and his sons warmly advocated 
 it." l 
 
 To this paragraph the editor of the National Intel 
 ligencer appended the following comment : 
 
 "From the above letter it would seem that some of 
 the first characters in Pittsburg are implicated in the Burr 
 conspiracy. But we cannot believe that they would ever j 
 engage in a treasonable plot against their country. Colonel I 
 Neville was a conspicuous character in our Revolutionary 
 War he was an aide to the Marquis de La Fayette and 
 in every situation in which he was placed has discharged 
 his trust with fidelity to his country and honor to himself. 
 . . . Yet the sons of those men are said to be concerned, 
 and that too with the knowledge of their fathers. If 
 this be the case, we cannot believe any treason is con 
 templated. Men of tried worth and known patriotism \ 
 would never tarnish their well-earned reputations and 1 
 
 ^Orleans Gazette, January 27, 1807. 
 
PLANS AND PREPARATIONS 81 
 
 risk their all in an enterprise in which they have nothing 
 to gain, and where their lives would be jeopardized." 
 
 Apart from the enlistment of recruits and manifold 
 duties, Blennerhassett is credited with having contrib 
 uted a series of articles to the Ohio Gazette setting 
 forth the expediency of a separation of the Western 
 from the Eastern States. By whomever written, the 
 articles could hardly have been issued in the interest of 
 the conspiracy. For what service was a cold, cogent 
 piece of argumentation whose conclusion was that in 
 the course of years natural causes would sever the West 
 from the rest of the Union expected to render the 
 project of Burr, which, from all indications, was not to 
 undergo a period of incubation ? 
 
 Meantime Burr had traveled many miles. Septem 
 ber 4, 1806, he entered Cincinnati, and became the 
 guest of John Smith. He remained there several days, 
 talking much of his settlement on the Washita, of the 
 threatening war, and of the expedition to Mexico. 
 The intriguer next crossed the Ohio to Lexington, and 
 then passed into Tennessee, stopping again with An 
 drew Jackson. The approaching Spanish war was on 
 every tongue. Parton says, "Every militiaman in the 
 West was furbishing his accoutrements and awaiting 
 the summons to the field." At a public dinner given 
 Burr in Nashville, September 27th, Jackson offered the 
 old toast: "Millions for defense; not one cent for 
 tribute." 
 
 Scarcely had the ex-Vice-President reached Lex 
 ington on his return when Jackson s proclamation of 
 October 4th to the Tennessee militia appeared in print. 
 
82 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 He stated that the menacing attitude of the Spanish 
 forces "already encamped within the limits of our Gov 
 ernment" required that the militia should be ready for 
 instant duty. He recited that the enemy had captured 
 several citizens of the United States; had cut down our 
 flag in the Caddo nation ; had compelled a party in the 
 employ of the Government to return from exploring 
 the Red River; "and had taken up an unjustifiable and 
 insulting position east of the river Sabine, in the Terri 
 tory of Orleans." War was regarded as all but begun. 
 . Jackson communicated to the President his willingness 
 ; to serve the country, and those who have followed his 
 career know what that willingness meant. Jefferson 
 replied December 3d to this first volunteer for the 
 Spanish war: 1 
 
 "Always a friend to peace, and believing it to pro 
 mote eminently the happiness and prosperity of mankind, 
 I am ever unwilling that it should be disturbed as long 
 as the rights and interests of the nation can be preserved. 
 But whenever hostile aggressions on these require a 
 resort to war, we must meet our duty, and convince the 
 world that we are just friends and brave enemies." 
 
 Jefferson chose still to philosophize, to remain non 
 committal; but to have been frank he ought to have 
 said to Jackson that for the present all idea of war 
 with Spain had been abandoned ; that orders had gone 
 forward to Wilkinson on the Sabine to remain abso 
 lutely on the defensive, and that he believed a truce 
 had already been agreed upon by the contending 
 armies. 
 
 Jefferson to Jackson, December 3, 1806; Jefferson MSS. 
 
PLANS AND PREPARATIONS 83 
 
 The first week in October Burr met at Lexington 
 Blennerhassett, Theodosia Alston and her husband. 
 They had come away from the island, leaving it in the 
 care of Mrs. Blennerhassett. Henceforth Lexington 
 was to be the rendezvous, and there the organization 
 was to be perfected. The purchase of the Bastrop 
 lands was now effected. 
 
 While Louisiana was under the Spanish flag, Baron 
 de Bastrop had secured the grant of a tract of land, 
 comprising about one million acres, situated in what is 
 now North Louisiana on the Washita (Ouachita) 
 River. Three-fifths of this had been obtained by 
 Colonel Charles Lynch of Kentucky; but there were 
 still some outstanding debts against the grant which he 
 could not meet. At this juncture Burr contracted to 
 take the whole under the following stipulations: 
 "Colonel Burr was to pay Edward Livingston," testi 
 fied Lynch, 1 "the amount of my purchase ; he also paid 
 me four or five thousand dollars in money, and was to 
 take up certain paper which I valued at thirty thousand 
 dollars more." The deeds were recorded in Lexington, 
 and now in truth a long step forward in the programme 
 had been made. 
 
 The possession of the Washita lands was a matter 
 of secondary importance, and to be made use of only 
 in case of emergency. Should the Government suspect 
 them in their designs on Mexico, they would draw the 
 cloak of settler about themselves ; should the Spaniards 
 drive them back, they were citizens of a Republic capa 
 ble of defending them. It was above all something tan- 
 Evidence of Colonel Lynch, Annals of Congress, 1807-08, 
 P- 657. 
 
84 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 gible: to the farmer, wide bottom lands with a rich 
 market in New Orleans ; to the trader, unknown tribes 
 of Indians; to the daring, unexplored forests; to the 
 adventurers, a rendezvous bordering the El Dorados 
 of the Spanish provinces, whence they might sally 
 when occasion offered. Glittering possibilities ! 
 
 Recruits were now daily added to the list, and all 
 attempts to disguise the purpose of the associates aban 
 doned. "The impression/ says Putnam, 1 "to some ex 
 tent prevailed that Burr s movement and purposes had 
 some sanction of the general Government, and that in 
 so far as they were directed against the crafty enemies 
 of the Western settlements they deserved to meet with 
 cooperation." According to Jefferson, Burr would ap 
 proach men, propose his scheme, and, if they did not 
 care to engage unless the Government approved, he 
 would show a forged letter purporting to be from Dear 
 born, which countenanced the expedition, and add that 
 because of the President s absence he had not sanc 
 tioned it. 2 In a letter of January 3, 1807, to Wilkinson 
 Jefferson said that persons had been enlisted with the 
 "express assurance that the projected enterprise was 
 against Mexico, and secretly authorized by this Gov 
 ernment. Many expressly enlisted in the name of the 
 United States." 3 That statement approximated the 
 truth, if indeed it were not wholly true. Calculating 
 on war, Burr knew the expedition would be counten 
 anced; or, if peace ensued, Government might over- 
 Putnam s History of Middle Tennessee, p. 581. 
 Jefferson to Hay, June 5, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 s jefferson to Wilkinson, January 3, 1807; Annals of Con 
 gress, 1807-08, p. 580. 
 
PLANS AND PREPARATIONS 85 
 
 look the preparations as in the case of Miranda. Says 
 Perkins in his Annals of the West, "It appears that he 
 [Burr] meant to invade Mexico, whether war or peace 
 ensued between Spain and the United States." Gra 
 ham, the Government s agent, who followed Burr 
 southward, also bore witness to this purpose in the 
 people, the following interview with Burr taking place 
 at Natchez :* 
 
 "I mentioned to Colonel Burr that I had heard in the 
 Western country of a considerable number of men, per 
 haps two thousand, being collected for the purpose of 
 invading Mexico. His reply was that he supposed that 
 event was in the case of war with Spain. I told him 
 no, that I had not understood it as depending on that 
 condition/ 
 
 Had Burr at that moment been confronted with his 
 three maps, 2 left in the possession of Dr. Cummins, he 
 would have been put to some confusion to explain upon 
 what contingency he had calculated to lead his expedi 
 tion to Mexico. There is no hushing such clamorous 
 witnesses, and Burr must have confessed that he had 
 counted primarily on Wilkinson and war, and finally 
 on the silent acquiescence of the authorities. The 
 secret of these maps in broad outline is this : that noth 
 ing less than the Empire of Spain in North America 
 was at stake. One map shows that Empire stretch 
 ing away to the Californias and to the Isthmus; the 
 second is an admiralty chart of the Gulf coast of that 
 country, indicating inlets, islands, and depths, which 
 could have been of service only to a sea expedition; 
 
 testimony of John Graham, Annals of Congress, 1807-08, 
 p. 490. 
 
 a Consult maps in the possession of Mrs. T. C. Wordin. 
 
86 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 the third (here reproduced) tells its tale in the de 
 tailed topographical description of the region between 
 Vera Cruz and Mexico City! Wilkinson, Adair, 
 Truxton, and others confessed that Vera Cruz was 
 the objective point of the sea expedition the maps 
 reinforce them. Had Burr s project gone forward, the 
 world might have been treated to a spectacle in some of 
 its aspects recalling the story of Cortez. For was not 
 Burr to profit by internal dissensions to conquer the 
 land where for three centuries the Spaniards had ruled 
 as tyrants? And were not the men he hoped to lead 
 of that rare breed known as adelantados and conquis- 
 tadores adventurers and filibusters? 
 
 The absorbing plan of invading the Spanish posses- 
 sions was to be determined by force and opportunity. 
 The idea of penetrating the neighboring territories, 
 of making conquests of them, was in the air of the 
 time, and not due in the remotest sense to the influ 
 ence of Burr. He strove merely for its embodiment. 
 Though he failed, history emphatically shows that his 
 plans were opportune, and that their wreck was due 
 to influences he had failed properly to estimate, and 
 chiefly to the conduct of James Wilkinson. The Span 
 iards believed the conspiracy to have had a continuous 
 existence, crediting it with the revolutionizing of West 
 Florida in 1810, and a little later with having served as 
 the inspiration for the Gutierrez-Magee Expedition, 1 
 which wrought such irremediable destruction in the 
 Province of Texas, and which had set out with such 
 
 See Texas Historical Quarterly for January, 1901 : "The 
 First Period of the Gutierrez-Magee Expedition." 
 
PLANS AND PREPARATIONS 87 
 
 high hopes of cooperating in the revolution which 
 raged beyond the Rio Grande. It was in the opening 
 year of our second war with Great Britain that de 
 spite the fact that there was room in the army for all 
 warlike characters adventurers and revolutionists to 
 the number of five hundred gathered along the Louisi 
 ana frontier and in the Neutral Ground, marched 
 across Texas, annihilated three royalist armies, and 
 held the province until dissensions prepared them for 
 destruction. That Burr planned, in case of necessity, to 
 make a "neutral ground" of his Bastrop lands scarcely 
 Admits of doubt; many of the followers of Magee had 
 been his loyal partisans; and those who joined in the 
 filibustering enterprises which swept westward for the 
 next half century were his disciples. 
 
 Pursuing his tactics Burr wrote to Governor Harri 
 son with the evident intention of exciting him, as he 
 had Jackson, to issue a proclamation to th e militia. To 
 keep the aggression of the enemy before the people was 
 to raise higher their passions. 
 
 "By the hands of my friend and relative, Major, West- 
 cott," he said under date of October 24th, "you will 
 receive a newspaper containing the orders lately issued 
 by General Jackson to the militia of West Tennessee, 
 being the division under his command. It occurred to 
 me that you might deem something similar to be 
 addressed to the militia of Indiana not inexpedient at 
 this moment, and that the perusal of this production 
 might be acceptable. All reflecting m$n consider a war 
 with Spain to be inevitable ; in such an event, I think you 
 would not be at ease as an idle spectator. If it should be 
 my lot to be employed, which there is reasorvto expect, 
 
88 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 it would be my highest gratification to be associated with 
 you." l 
 
 As yet everything was going well; not only were 
 boats being built, provisions being gathered, and re 
 cruits being prepared, but fate even seemed to declare 
 for Burr. Every day brought more warlike tidings 
 from the Sabine; newer encroachments and insults of 
 the foe, and greater prospect of a violent clash between 
 the American and Spanish armies which now stood 
 facing each other across the Arroyo Hondo. It is plain 
 from his letter to Governor Harrison that Burr mo 
 mentarily expected Wilkinson to redeem his pledge 
 that a war could and would be brought about. Upon 
 the receipt of such news Burr s banner would be raised, 
 and Harrison, Davis Floyd, Adair, and Jackson would 
 each muster a regiment for an independent army des 
 tined for Mexico. 
 
 October 6th, two days after the appearance of Jack 
 son s proclamation, a mass meeting of the citizens of 
 Wood County, Virginia, under whose jurisdiction was 
 Blennerhassett s island, condemned the "apparently 
 hostile movements and designs of a certain character 
 [Burr]/ Resolutions were passed expressing their 
 attachment to the President of the United States ; and 
 it was ordered that a corps of militia should be raised 
 to act in case of emergency. a 
 
 Blennerhassett was absent in Kentucky, having 
 gone there with the Alstons in the furtherance of the 
 conspiracy, when f these hostile expressions were uttered. 
 
 Clark s Proofs, Ap., p. 16. 
 
 "Moniteur de la Louisiane, December 31, 1806. 
 
PLANS AND PREPARATIONS 89 
 
 His absence, however, did not deter the boisterous 
 militiamen from threatening a reprisal upon the island. 
 Mrs. Blennerhassett became uneasy and sent her gar 
 dener, Peter Taylor, in search of her husband. Octo 
 ber 2Oth he set out. On his way he stopped in Cincin 
 nati to inquire of Senator John Smith the whereabouts 
 of Blennerhassett. Smith, having become alarmed at 
 the malignant rumors in circulation, seized the op 
 portunity to send a note to Burr demanding an ex 
 planation. 
 
 "I was greatly surprised and really hurt by the un 
 usual tenor of your letter of the 23d," Burr vouchsafed 
 in answer to the Senator, 1 "and I hasten to reply to it, 
 as well for your satisfaction as my own. If there exists 
 any design to separate the Western from the Eastern 
 States, I am totally ignorant of it. I never harbored or 
 expressed any such intention to any one, nor did any 
 person ever intimate such design to me." 
 
 From Cincinnati Taylor rode to Lexington, where, 
 according to his own story, he saw Burr for the first 
 time, and opened his acquaintance with the warning, 
 "If you come up our way, the people will shoot you." 
 Taylor s account of this meeting is sufficient to dis-\ 
 credit him utterly. On the other hand, it is plain from 
 his evidence that Blennerhassett had told him what 
 was reserved for those in the innermost circle of the 
 associates. They were "going to take Mexico, one of 
 the finest and richest places in the whole world." 
 
 "Colonel Burr would be the King of Mexico, and 
 Mrs. Alston, daughter of Colonel Burr, was to be Queen 
 of Mexico, whenever Colonel Burr died. He said that 
 
 a Burr to Smith, October 26, 1806; Senate Reports, p. 33. 
 
90 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 Colonel Burr had made fortunes for many in his time, 
 but none for himself; but now he was going to make 
 something for himself. He said that he had a great many 
 friends in the Spanish territory ; no less than 2,000 
 Roman Catholic priests were engaged, and that all their 
 friends too would join, if once he could get to them ; that 
 the Spaniards, like the French, had got dissatisfied with 
 their government, and wanted to swap it." 
 
 The inhabitants of the Spanish colonies were indeed 
 tired of their Government. This was so manifestly the 
 case in West Florida that even the faint-hearted Clai- 
 borne thought there would be no difficulty in acquiring 
 the territory. "A great majority of the people of the 
 Baton Rouge settlement," he said, March 3, 1806, to 
 Jefferson, "are well affected to the United States, and 
 anxious for a change of government." 1 The history of 
 the subversion of the Spanish rule in Mexico adds most 
 effective weight to this testimony. The priests were 
 the agitators and the leaders in the terrible revolt which 
 began in September, 1810, and which was to end with 
 Mexican freedom. Had Burr been able to unite the ele 
 ments in opposition to the foreigner in Mexico, then 
 indeed might he have been king ; and Wilkinson s taunt 
 in a letter to Jefferson concerning Burr s overrunning 
 of Mexico that it would receive a new master in the 
 place of promised liberty would have been full of 
 significance. 
 
 The news reported by Mrs. Blennerhassett was of 
 sufficient gravity to call her husband away from the 
 little group of revolutionists already diminished by 
 the return of the Alston family to South Carolina 
 
 Claiborne s Journal, p. 77. 
 
PLANS AND PREPARATIONS 91 
 
 living in the house of John Jourdan in the town of 
 Lexington. Also De Pestre had taken leave of Burr, 
 and the rest to bear reports to those who remained in 
 the East, and to draw the blindfold tighter around the 
 eyes of Yrujo. He was to pretend that the revolution 
 izing of the States was progressing rapidly, and to 
 assure the Marquis that the report that Mexico was to 
 be invaded had been circulated to hide the main design. 
 But before De Pestre had reached his destination the 
 Spanish Minister wrote his Government a long dis 
 patch on the subject r 1 
 
 "It is indubitable that Colonel Burr and his subordi 
 nates are carrying out their plan. The partial discovery 
 of their intentions instead of deterring has only confirmed 
 them in the revolution, whose success alone can save 
 them. Some of his associates at this place and at New 
 York are going to meet him, in spite of the fact that the 
 newspapers already comment on his enterprise. It seems 
 to me to be his intention to profit by the hostile appear 
 ance on the Sabine to arm his friends preliminary to the 
 rupture with Spain. I am confirmed in this opinion by 
 a proclamation from the hand of one General Jackson of 
 Kentucky, in which he proposed the organization of the 
 militia to chastise the insulting Spaniards." 
 
 So ignorant was Yrujo of the real posture of af 
 fairs in the West, he could not conceive that such a 
 proclamation truly betokened patriotism ; it was to him 
 a mere subterfuge, for he had been accustomed, and the 
 conspirators had fostered his predilection, to think 
 of the Westerners as openly hostile to the Union. It 
 never occurred to Yrujo the proposition was too 
 absurd that he had been duped in order that an army, 
 
 Yrujo to Cevallos, November 10, 1806; ( MSS. Spanish 
 Archives. 
 
92 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 marshaled for the conquest of his Sovereign s terri 
 tories, might take things by surprise. 
 
 Burr s force was to consist of five hundred men, 
 chiefly from New York, who were to rendezvous at 
 Marietta. Then, continued Yrujo : 
 
 "Colonel Burr will go down with them under the pre 
 text of establishing them on a great land purchase he is 
 supposed to have made. In passing Cincinnati they 
 expect to seize five thousand stand of arms which the Gov 
 ernment deposited there at the time of its difference with 
 us about the navigation of the Mississippi. After thus 
 dropping the mask, this armed troop will follow down 
 the course of the Mississippi. Colonel Burr will remain 
 at Natchez till the Assembly of New Orleans has met, 
 which will happen at once; and in this meeting (junta) 
 they will declare the independence of the Western States, 
 and will invite Burr to place himself at the head of their 
 Government. He will accept the offer, will descend to 
 New Orleans, and will set to work, clothed in a character 
 which the people will have given him. I understand that 
 Colonel Burr has already written the declaration of inde 
 pendence, and that it is couched in the same terms that 
 the States adopted in theirs against Great Britain. This 
 circumstance is the more notable inasmuch as the actual 
 President was the person who drew it up in 1776. When 
 Burr made the project of acting in agreement with Eng 
 land and seizing the Floridas, he expected to master them 
 with troops that should accompany him from Baton 
 Rouge. Although I am assured that this project is aban 
 doned, and that, on the contrary, he wishes to live on 
 good terms with Spain, I have written to Governor Folch 
 of West Florida to be on his guard ; and although I am 
 persuaded that, by means of Governor Folch s connection 
 with General Wilkinson, he must be perfectly informed 
 of the state of things and of Burr s intentions, I shall 
 write to-day or to-morrow another letter to the Governor 
 of Baton Rouge to be on the alert." 
 
 It is puzzling that Yrujo should not have known 
 
PLANS AND PREPARATIONS 93 
 
 that Wilkinson s term of pensioner had expired. Had 
 he been aware of this fact his anxiety for the safety of 
 the southern provinces might justly have increased, 
 although he believed the governors in that quarter to 
 be well informed of the course of events through the 
 press of New Orleans and Natchez. His perplexity 
 was indeed augmented through a letter from Burr 
 which De Pestre delivered about November 27, 1806, 
 preparatory to his report: 1 
 
 "About eight days ago," said Yrujo to Cevallos, 
 December 4th, "a former French officer, one of Burr s par 
 tisans, presented himself here; he is just from Kentucky 
 in search of various things needful to the enterprise. . . . 
 This officer brought me a letter of recommendation from 
 Burr, in which he said simply that the bearer, who had 
 recently been in the Western States, could give me in 
 formation about them to satisfy my curiosity. The date 
 of this letter was Lexington, October 25th." 
 
 Yrujo was assured that all was going well with 
 Burr s affairs, and that by December 5th the adven 
 turers from all parts would concentrate at Marietta. 
 The body of the message ran as follows : 
 
 "He also told me, on the part of the Colonel, that 1 
 should soon hear that it was his intention to attack 
 Mexico, but that I was not to believe such rumors ; that 
 on the contrary his plans were limited to the emancipa 
 tion of the Western States, and that it was necessary to 
 circulate this rumor in order to hide the true design of 
 his armaments and of the assemblages of men which 
 could no longer be concealed; that Upper and Lower 
 Louisiana, the States of Tennessee and Ohio, stood ready 
 and ripe for his plans, but that the State of Kentucky was 
 
 J Yrujo to Cevallos, December 4, 1806; MSS. Spanish 
 Archives. 
 
94 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 much divided ; and as this is the most important in 
 numbers and population, an armed force must be pro 
 cured strong enough to overawe the opposition. He 
 added, on Burr s part, that as soon as the revolution 
 should be complete, he would treat with Spain in regard 
 to boundaries, and would conclude this affair to her entire 
 satisfaction ; meanwhile he wished me to write to the 
 Governor of West Florida to diminish the burdens of 
 Americans who navigated the Mobile River, and ask him, 
 when the explosion should take place, to stop the courier 
 or couriers which the friends of Government might dis 
 patch, since it was desirable to delay the report of the 
 happenings in the West." 
 
 However successful Burr had been in the earlier 
 phase of his intrigue with Yrujo, nothing could have 
 been plainer to the Minister than that the conspirators, 
 who had now nothing to gain from his cooperation, 
 were lulling him into drowsy security. Yrujo would 
 have been blind indeed had he not discovered that the 
 Westerners were massing, not to overawe Kentucky, 
 but to take for themselves certain properties which 
 were destined to belong a little longer to Carlos IV. 
 Yrujo confessed that Burr in sending him this officer 
 had "inspired him with the liveliest apprehensions." 
 And he renewed his warnings to the officers in Florida, 
 Texas, and Mexico. 
 
 After his interview with Yrujo, De Pestre went to 
 New York, where he met that contingent which was to 
 have gone round by sea to New Orleans. But every 
 thing was now in confusion because of the President s 
 denunciation of the enterprise through his Proclama 
 tion of November 27th. 1 Still, hope of ultimate suc- 
 
 J See p. 196. 
 
PLANS AND PREPARATIONS 95 
 
 cess was not abandoned, and De Pestre returned in a 
 fortnight to Philadelphia, and once more called upon 
 Yrujo, to whom he related that Swartwout, Dr. Erwin, 
 Colonel Smith, and Captain Lewis of the merchant- 
 ship Emperor would soon set off for New Orleans. De 
 Pestre further stated r 1 
 
 "that the youths enlisted to serve as officers should set 
 out as soon as possible for their posts. These, my in 
 formant told me, are different. Some two or three of 
 them, the quickest and keenest, go to Washington to 
 observe the movements of Government, to keep their 
 friends in good disposition, and to dispatch expresses 
 with news of any important disposition or occurrence. 
 Three go to Norfolk to make some dispatch of provisions. 
 A good number of them will go direct to Charleston to 
 take command as officers, and see to the embarkation of 
 the numerous recruits whom Colonel Burr s son-in-law 
 has raised in South Carolina. He himself will then have 
 returned there from Kentucky, and will embark with 
 them for New Orleans. The rest will embark directly 
 for that city from New York." 
 
 This time the Marquis plied De Pestre with such 
 questions as, Why, if the separation of the States is the 
 object, was it necessary to prepare such quantities of 
 provisions? and Why the State of Kentucky had be 
 come obstinate ? It appears from Yrujo s account that 
 De Pestre was almost driven from his ground. Indeed, 
 he was taunted for his dissembling. Blennerhassett 
 gave it on the authority of the Frenchman who re 
 lated the whole of the circumstances to him while at 
 Richmond that Yrujo "pierced the cobweb tissue of 
 Burr s intrigues with him at a single glance." 
 
 ^Yrujo to Cevallos, December 16, i8o5; MSS. Spanish 
 Archives. 
 
1 
 
 96 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 "He assured De Pestre," the Journal records, 1 "that 
 had Burr opened his designs with frankness, and really 
 projected a severance of the Union, and nothing hostile 
 to the Spanish provinces, he, Burr, might have had an 
 easy resort to the Spanish treasury and its arsenals. But 
 Yrujo laughed at the awkwardness with which Burr 
 endeavored to mask his designs on Mexico." 
 
 Such a moment of satisfaction Yrujo could not 
 have enjoyed. It was not until De Pestre came on the 
 stage that the Marquis realized how thoroughly he had 
 been entrapped. He was now convinced that Burr 
 planned a descent upon Mexico, and realized that the 
 only barrier which stood between the adventurer and 
 his goal was Wilkinson. So he wrote with the deepest 
 complacency some weeks later that Spain had saved 
 herself and the United States by pensioning Wilkinson, 
 who had entered into Burr s design for the division of 
 the Union, but rebelled at his plan for the conquest of 
 Mexico. * 
 
 While Yrujo was enjoying this special confidence 
 of the associates, the stories of the conspiracy which 
 were already rife in the States spread naturally into 
 the very provinces the Spanish Minister was most ex 
 ercised about. Some project had been ascribed to Burr 
 as early as July, 1805, an< 3 since that date the Spanish 
 governors had not been lacking information from 
 Yrujo, from the press of the States, and from local 
 connections. Although Yrujo knew Burr to be at 
 the head of the project, with the ostensible design of 
 
 1 Blennerhassett Papers, p. 417. 
 
 z Yrujo to Cevallos, January 28, 1807; MSS. Spanish 
 Archives. 
 
PLANS AND PREPARATIONS 97 
 
 disrupting the Union, the administrators in the prov 
 inces of Don Carlos thought the movement directed by 
 the Government of the United States, whose object was 
 solely the extension of boundaries. Grand Pre, sta 
 tioned at Baton Rouge, had become alarmed, and wrote 
 Claiborne as early as April i, 1806, that he understood 
 hostile preparations against his province were making 
 in Mississippi. Claiborne replied, "Your Excellency s 
 letter of the first instant, has been received, and to quiet 
 your apprehensions as far as is in my power, I hasten to 
 assure you that I have never before heard of the hostile 
 preparations which you seem to think are on foot in the V 
 Mississippi Territory." 1 But Claiborne had forgotten 
 that he had said in a dispatch to Washington that West 
 Florida was ready to revolt, and that hostile arma 
 ments were organizing. Kemper one of the filibust 
 ering brothers of that name in Mississippi bore wit 
 ness to that when he said that Burr s corps, which were 
 forming in that Territory, meant to attack Baton 
 Rouge; and Wilkinson likewise testified to the open 
 hostility of the Territory under Meade, the latter hav 
 ing expressed the wish that the Spanish cavalry would 
 intercept the General on his ride to the frontier in Sep 
 tember, "because if this did not happen we should have 
 no war. The same man," said Wilkinson, "before I 
 reached Natchez actually talked of attacking Baton 
 Rouge." 2 Early in the fall Vicente Folch, Governor 
 of West Florida, was advised of the scheme and of 
 the violent disposition of his neighbors; and imme- 
 
 ^laiborne to Grand Pre, April 8, 1806; Journal, p. in. 
 Wilkinson to John Smith, Jefferson MSS. 
 
98 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 diately hurried information to Mexico. Again, on 
 October I st, he sent a message to the Viceroy : 
 
 "You have already been informed of the project to 
 revolutionize Mexico. This enterprise has not been lost 
 sight of, and seems to be stronger than ever. According 
 to the plan, if the weather permits, in February or March 
 ten thousand Kentuckians, three thousand regular troops, 
 eight or ten thousand militia from Louisiana, who will 
 be forced to go, will march for Mexico. They will raise 
 a corps of five thousand blacks, who will be taken from 
 the plantations and declared free. This will make an 
 army of from twenty-eight to thirty thousand men; five 
 thousand will be reserved for the city of New Orleans. 
 Baton Rouge and Pensacola will probably be the first 
 taken. . . . After that, Natchitoches will be the point 
 for the reunion. Part of the army will be embarked to 
 land at the Rio Grande. The pretext for this expedition 
 is afforded by the presence of the Spanish troops at 
 Adayes. Congress will act only on the defensive, but if 
 onCe these troops are united they will march toward 
 Mexico with great proclamations." 
 
 Without doubt Folch had grains of truth with his 
 chaff; but here again Burr s project was swallowed up 
 in the larger purpose attributed to the nation. That 
 ! the movement was directed wholly against Spain was 
 i indubitable. There was not a hint nor even a suspicion 
 that the West, according to Yrujo s advices, was first 
 to be revolutionized. To those viewing the situation 
 at short range his disclosures appeared but idle proph 
 ecy; of national aggressiveness, on the other hand, 
 there were unmistakable signs, and its direction was 
 undoubted. 
 
 1 Folch to Iturrigaray, October i, 1806; MSS. Mexican 
 Archives. 
 
PLANS AND PREPARATIONS 99 
 
 Amid all these eddying reports and rumors, the 
 Government at Washington, harassed by Pitt, teased 
 by Napoleon, and defied by Godoy, labored heedless of 
 the gathering storm on a near horizon. It was toward 
 the end of October before the Administration thought 
 the matter of the conspiracy worth its attention. Vari 
 ous letters and the notice of the organization of the 
 Wood County militia had been received, but there was 
 nothing tangible in any of the communications. Octo 
 ber 1 3th one James Taylor wrote to Madison from 
 Kentucky that the scheme in question was to seize the 
 Congress lands and to separate the States; that Blen- 
 nerhassett, who had fled to this country, was reported 
 to have written the articles signed "Querist"; 1 that 
 Woodbridge & Company of Marietta were building ten 
 gunboats, or strong vessels resembling them, at a navy 
 yard seven miles up the Muskingum. 2 Long before 
 this, however, Jefferson had been warned that a con 
 spiracy was on foot in the West and that Burr was its 
 master-spirit. As early as January 10, 1806, Joseph 
 H. Daviess, prosecut ing-attorney for the Federal Dis 
 trict of Kentucky, wrote the President a private letter 
 denouncing the Spanish pensioners, and declaring that 
 Burr s object was to effect "a separation of the Union 
 in favor of Spain." 
 
 "This plot is laid wider than you imagine," he asserted 
 by way of a general warning. " Mention the subject to no 
 one from the Western country, however high in office he 
 may be. Some of them are deeply tainted with this 
 treason. I hate duplicity of expression ; but on this 
 
 ^ee p. 81. 
 
 Taylor to Madison, October 13, 1806 ; Madison MSS. 
 
ioo THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 subject I am not authorized to be explicit, nor is it neces 
 sary. You will dispatch some fit person into the Orleans 
 country to inquire." 1 
 
 Daviess knew nothing "explicit," nor was he in 
 better position eleven months later when he swore out 
 a process against Burr. Notwithstanding, from the 
 date of his first note until Burr was afloat upon the 
 Mississippi, he kept up a constant stream of denuncia 
 tions. In a second letter, one month from the first, he 
 recited the itinerary of Burr during his trip through 
 the West in 1805 > named the men with whom he asso 
 ciated, dwelling particularly on his connection with 
 Wilkinson and the Senator from Ohio. On March 5th 
 he declared that he would raise money and pursue the 
 plot at his own expense. The President had already 
 written him asking for more information. In pursuit 
 of this, May 7th found the district-attorney at St. 
 Louis, where he remained several days scrutinizing 
 Wilkinson s conduct with a view to fathoming the con 
 spiracy. 4 Once the General took up a map and, tapping 
 the region about New Mexico, said, "Had Burr been 
 President we should have had all this country before 
 now." To Madison Daviess confided at this stage that 
 a war with Spain was the first step in the programme, 
 and that this was considered inevitable. "The Mexican 
 provinces, the American possessions on the Mississippi, 
 and the Floridas are in view." Later he saw four 
 
 *View of the President s Conduct (p. 10), by J. H. Daviess, 
 1807. 
 
 *View of the President s Conduct, p. 13. 
 View, etc., p. 14. Clark s Proofs, p. 179. 
 Smith s History of Kentucky, p. 427. 
 
PLANS AND PREPARATIONS 101 
 
 sides to the plot : one for the Spanish Minister, in New 
 Orleans and the Western States; one for adventurers, 
 in the conquest of Mexico; another for the multitude, 
 in the Washita lands ; and lastly one for Burr himself, 
 aggrandizement. 1 But the Government was not driven 
 by Daviess s wholesale charges to an investigation of 
 the plot; nor were his communications even mentioned 
 among the sources of information in the Cabinet Mem 
 oranda of October 22d, which Jefferson recorded in his 
 own hand. 
 
 "During the last session of Congress, Colonel Burr 
 who was here, finding no hope of being employed in any 
 department of the government, opened himself confiden 
 tially to some persons on whom he thought he could rely, 
 on a scheme of separating the Western from the Atlantic 
 States, and erecting the former into an independent con 
 federacy. He had before made a tour of those States, 
 which had excited suspicions, as every motion does of 
 such a Catalinarian character. Of his having made this 
 proposition here we have information from General 
 Eaton through Mr. Ely and Mr. Granger. He went off 
 this spring to the western country. Of his movements 
 on his way, information has come to the Secretary of 
 State and myself from John Nicholson and Mr. Williams 
 of the state of New York, respecting a Mr. Tyler; 
 Colonel Morgan, Neville, and Roberts, near Pittsburg; 
 and to other citizens through other channels and the 
 newspapers. We are of opinion unanimously that con 
 fidential letters be written to the Governors of Ohio, 
 Indiana, Mississippi, and New Orleans ; to the district- 
 attorneys of Kentucky, of Tennessee, of Louisiana, to 
 have him strictly watched, and on his committing any 
 overt act, to have him arrested and tried for treason, mis 
 demeanor, or whatever other offence the act may amount 
 
 l View, etc., p. 21. 
 
 Memoranda, October 22, 1806; Jefferson MSS. 
 
102 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 to ; and in like manner to arrest and try any of his follow 
 ers committing acts against the laws. We think it proper 
 also to order some of the gunboats up to Fort Adams to 
 stop by force any passage of suspicious persons going 
 down in force. General Wilkinson being expressly de 
 clared by Burr to Eaton to be engaged with him in this 
 design as his lieutenant, or first in command, and suspi 
 cion of infidelity in Wilkinson being now become very 
 general, a question is proposed what is proper to be done 
 as to him on this account, as well as for his disobedience 
 of orders received by him June 1 1 at St. Louis to descend 
 with all practical despatch to New Orleans to mark out 
 the site of certain defensive works there, and then repair 
 to take command at Natchitoches, on which business he 
 did not leave St. Louis till September. Consideration 
 adjourned. 
 
 "October 24. It is agreed unanimously to call for 
 Captains Preble and Decatur to repair to New Orleans, 
 by land or by sea as they please, there to take command 
 of the force on the water, and that the Argus and two 
 gunboats from New York, three from Norfolk, and two 
 from Charleston shall be ordered there, if on consulta 
 tion between Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Smith the appropria 
 tions shall be found to enable us; that Preble shall, on 
 consultation with Governor Claiborne, have great discre 
 tionary powers ; that Graham shall be sent through Ken 
 tucky on Burr s trail, with discretionary powers to con 
 sult confidentially with the governors to arrest Burr if he 
 has made himself liable. He is to have a commission oi 
 [Upper] Louisiana, and Dr. Browne is to be removed. 
 Letters are to be written by post to Governor Claiborne, 
 the Governor of Mississippi, and Colonel Freeman to be 
 on their guard against any surprises of our posts or ves 
 sels by him. The question as to General Wilkinson post 
 poned till Preble s departure, for future information. 
 
 "October 25. A mail arrived yesterday from the 
 westward, and not one word is heard from that quarter 
 of any movements of Colonel Burr. This total silence 
 of the officers of the government, of the members of 
 Congress, of the newspapers, proves he is committing no 
 
PLANS AND PREPARATIONS 103 
 
 overt act against the law. We therefore rescind 
 the determination to send Preble, Decatur, the Argus, or 
 the gunboats, and instead of them to send off the marines 
 which are here to reinforce, or take place of, the gar- 
 ^ rison at New Orleans, with a view to Spanish operations ; 
 Ir and instead of writing to the governors, etc., we send 
 Graham on that route, with confidential authority to 
 inquire into Burr s movements, put the Governors, etc., 
 on their guard, to provide for his arrest if necessary, 
 and to take on himself the government of [Upper] 
 Louisiana. Letters are still to be written to Claiborne, 
 Freeman, and the Governor of Mississippi to be on their 
 guard." 
 
 The resolutions of the first two days indicate that 
 the Cabinet saw possible danger in Burr s project; but 
 the action of the third proves that they were loath, with 
 their meagre information, to take any decisive steps. 
 The fact that Wilkinson s derelictions were quietly 
 passed over is only another illustration of the painful 
 indecision which ruled at this time both President and 
 advisers in every matter of importance. Burr s plot 
 was subordinated to the threatening foreign complica 
 tions; therefore one need express no astonishment at 
 the rescinding of all vigorous measures against a con 
 spiracy which, as yet, had taken no definite form, and 
 which had been denounced only in the vaguest terms. 
 It seemed quite sufficient to send John Graham, Secre 
 tary of the Orleans Territory, on Burr s path to inquire 
 into his behavior, and to write letters of warning to 
 the officials of the West. 
 
 But if the officials of the Western States, familiar 
 with Burr s movements, were expecting a warning of 
 any character it was to prepare to defend themselves 
 
104 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 against the Castilians in force on their borders. Jack 
 son had just issued his proclamation to the Tennessee 
 militia, and Burr went from place to place applauded 
 as the leader destined to scourge a foe whose insolence 
 and aggressions had at last outworn the patience of a 
 long-suffering people. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Crisis on the Frontier 
 
 * 
 
 WHEN James Monroe, Minister Plenipoten 
 tiary to England and Envoy Extraordinary 
 to Spain, quitted Madrid for London, May 
 26, 1805, war with Spain appeared inevitable. The at 
 tempt to reach a settlement of the disputes between the 
 two countries had utterly failed. With the United 
 States now threatening to fall upon that part of the 
 Empire which might otherwise escape the greed of the 
 Dictator of Europe and the English merchants, the 
 circle of Spain s enemies was complete; it was a situa 
 tion from which there was no escape, and Manuel de 
 Godoy, the Prince of Peace, looked resignedly ahead to 
 wars and embroilments in the Hope of finding relief. 
 
 The very day on which Monroe had his audience of 
 leave with Carlos IV., May 22, 1805, Don Pedro 
 Cevallos, Minister of State, discussed with Soler, Min 
 ister of Hacienda, the course the negotiations had 
 taken. After canvassing each point which had been 
 raised in the conferences with Monroe admitting the 
 justness of only one claim of the United States the 
 very important dispatch closed with this paragraph : 
 "I send you this notice so that you may take what 
 measures the service of the King and the security of 
 his dominions demand, it being impossible to forecast 
 the consequences which may follow the rupture of 
 
 105 
 
106 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 negotiations." 1 The matter was more pointedly put 
 by Francisco Gil to the Viceroy of Mexico, Jose de 
 Iturrigaray : 2 
 
 "The political situation with regard to the United 
 States of America is darkly^ uncertain, because the nego 
 tiations which were undertaken with Mr. Monroe have 
 been broken off on account of the fact that the claims 
 he advanced were as ambitious and exorbitant as they 
 were prejudicial to the rights of the Crown. The defenses 
 of our possessions will, therefore, be looked to with the 
 utmost care." 
 
 A plan for the protection of Texas was speedily de 
 vised, and early in October, 1805, tne posts of Bayou 
 Pierre and Nana, to the east of the Sabine recon 
 noitring stations mustering respectively forces of 
 twenty and ten men were occupied. 3 Behind these 
 were Nacogdoches, Orcoquisac, and Trinidad, where 
 the real struggle for the defense of the province would 
 be made, while further in the interior were La Bahia, 
 San Marcos, Refugio, and San Antonio de Bexar. 4 
 While these preparations show that a struggle was ex 
 pected, half invited, the Americans were taking steps 
 which promised no disappointment. 
 
 January 24, 1806, Major Porter, commanding Fort 
 Claiborne at Natchitoches, received an order from the 
 War Department which required that the officer in 
 command at Nacogdoches should give assurance that 
 no further inroads would be made to the east of the 
 
 Real Cedulas, vol. cxcv. ; MSS. Mexican Archives. 
 
 2 Real Cedulas, vol. cxcv.; MSS. Mexican Archives. 
 
 "Gonzales to Rodriguez, October 16, 1805; MSS. Bexar 
 Archives. 
 
 4 Salcedo to Cordero, October 8 and 25 (two letters), 1805; 
 MSS. Bexar Archives. 
 
THE CRISIS ON THE FRONTIER 107 
 
 Sabine, to which stream the Americans were to extend 
 their patrols. Lieutenant Piatt with these instructions 
 was sent to Nacogdoches. Rodriguez, the commander, 
 replied that no aggression had been intended, but that 
 he could not give the assurance demanded. 1 Piatt re 
 turned with this answer, and on the first of February 
 Captain Turner with his command, which numbered 
 sixty, was ordered to proceed to the neighborhood of 
 Adayes, where he would fall in with a "stationary party 
 of armed Spaniards" which was to be commanded to 
 withdraw beyond the Sabine. They might go in peace 
 if they would, but evacuate they must, even at the cost 
 of blood. So ran the orders. 2 
 
 On the fifth Turner arrived before the camp at 
 Bayou Pierre near Adayes, where a mission had stood 
 in the past century. Gonzales, the commanding officer, 
 protested at the unwarranted invasion of his Sover 
 eign s territory, but signed a written agreement to the 
 effect that the troops of his Catholic Majesty which he 
 commanded would be transported to the other side of 
 the Sabine as soon as the horses were in condition to 
 travel ; or at furthest in six days. 3 
 
 Now indeed the fear of invasion seized both sides. 
 The Americans trembled for Louisiana; the air was 
 rife with tales of Spanish intrigues, and there were 
 evidences of deceit and treachery. Major Porter had 
 but two hundred effective men to meet whatever emer 
 gency arose, while the enemy were said to number four 
 
 Martin s Louisiana, ii., 63. 
 
 ^Messages and Reports of the United States Government, 
 1806. Gayarre s History of Louisiana, iv., 137. 
 
 ^Messages and Reports of the United States Government, 
 1806. 
 
io8 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 hundred, exclusive of Indians. 1 In reality the Span 
 iards were only fifty-one. But the permanent abandon 
 ment of the region in dispute was far from the purpose^ 
 of Salcedo, Captain -General of the Internal Provinces 
 of Mexico, who at once ordered to the front six hun 
 dred militia under Lieutenant-Colonel Herrera. 2 A 
 little later he declared that the United States by sending 
 troops across the Arroyo Hondo had been guilty of 
 breaking the harmony existing between the two powers. 
 
 "Ever since France sold Louisiana to -the United 
 States," he went on petulantly to Cordero, 3 nothing has 
 been left undone to extend the limits into the Spanish 
 possessions of the Missouri (Misuri) and Arkansas 
 (Napertle), and to .secure the twenty-two leagues of 
 land lying between the Arroyo Hondo and the Sabine, 
 the former of which marks the boundary of Louisiana, 
 as the Americans well know. They are also massing 
 troops without question of expense to hold by force their 
 spoils. They are also intriguing with the Indians, have 
 built a storehouse at Natchitoches and have filled it with 
 gifts for them. It has not been possible for us to oppose 
 them in force, but in order to counteract their influence 
 among the Indians I have dispatched expeditions to the 
 various tribes, our dependencies some to the far North 
 west." 
 
 In addition to the threatening situation in Texas, 
 rumors of a graver nature reached the Captain-General 
 of the Internal Provinces at Chihuahua. They were 
 nothing less than premonitory warnings of the coming 
 of Burr; and it is indeed astonishing to discover that 
 thus early the officials of Mexico had received ac- 
 
 Gayarre, iv., 137. 
 
 Salcedo to Cordero, April g, 1806; MSS. Bexar Archives. 
 
 Salcedo to Cordero, April 15, 1806; MSS. Bexar Archives. 
 
THE CRISIS ON THE FRONTIER 109 
 
 counts of the nature of his plot. Burr s designs were 
 complicated with the attitude assumed by the United 
 States Government in the matter of the extension of 
 boundaries, and the complication confounded contem 
 poraries, most of all the Spaniards. They saw the con 
 spiracy only as an aggressive movement against their 
 territories, organized as it were under the wing of the 
 Government and with the plea of vindication of rights. 
 But the Spaniards also thought they had rights, and 
 prepared to defend them. April 2ist Governor Cordero 
 commanded that the various chiefs of Indian tribes 
 of Texas should be notified of the menace of the United 
 States, so that they might be vigilant. 1 By this, too, 
 the Viceroy, who was at first inclined to ignore the 
 movement, began to look seriously upon the crisis, and 
 sent forward all the available troops. 2 
 
 Meanwhile the Spanish soldiers who had lingered 
 in New Orleans months beyond their allotted time for 
 no other purpose, some thought, than to create disaffec 
 tion, or to be on the ground to seize the city by a coup 
 de main were ordered away. Among those who left 
 sullen and defeated was the dictatorial intendant, Juan 
 Ventura Morales, famous as the author of the closure 
 of the entrepot at New Orleans. February I5th, three 
 days after Morales had departed, Marquis Casa Calvo, 
 also under compulsion and bitterly protesting, set out 
 for Pensacola. He had just returned to New Orleans 
 from a four months trip to Texas, where, to credit 
 Rodriguez, he had advocated the precipitation of hos= 
 
 Cordero to Viana, April 21, 1806; MSS. Bexar Archives. 
 2 Iturrigaray to Salcedo, April 28, 1806; MSS. Bexar Archives. 
 
no THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 tilities in the belief that Louisiana would espouse the 
 cause of Spain. 1 Cordero and Salcedo thought him 
 busy with carrying into effect his commission as terri 
 torial adjudicator, while Claiborne heard that he was 
 tampering with the allegiance of the Indians ; that he 
 was spreading discontent, or indeed, that he had gone 
 to command the Mexican army. 2 The nervous Gov 
 ernor of Louisiana rejoiced therefore at the President s 
 determination to hasten the withdrawal of the Span 
 iards. Their expulsion, however, stirred up their 
 brethren in West Florida. Governor Folch refused 
 to permit the transmission of the United States mails 
 through his territory, the fortifications of Mobile were 
 strengthened, and emissaries were sent among the 
 Choctaws. Claiborne became uneasy, and wrote the 
 President that a respectable force was essential to the 
 safety of New Orleans. As the summer wore on 
 affairs calmed somewhat on the frontier, but there 
 were too many provocations for the thought of peace. 
 Spain had cast the die and was as determined to 
 do nothing her European position had materially 
 changed for the worse as when Monroe demanded 
 his passports of Carlos IV. in May, 1805. 
 
 "On the fourth of July [1806]," says ParloiU 
 "there were not a thousand persons in the United 
 States who did not think war with Spain inevitable, 
 impending, begun !" War with Spain was to be waged 
 not only that our rights might be vindicated, but also 
 that the Mexicans might be free. It was in the West 
 
 Rodriguez to Cordero, March 4, 1806; MSS. Bexar Archives. 
 *Casa Calvo to Cordero, December 8, 1805; Salcedo to Cor 
 dero, January i and 28 (two letters), 1806; MSS. Bexar Archives. 
 
THE CRISIS ON THE FRONTIER in 
 
 that this feeling reached its climax, and the sentiments 
 pervading the celebrations of the Fourth of July may 
 well be taken as indicative of their attitude. To know 
 their attitude to\yard the Union, a war with Spain, the 
 invasion of Mexico is to hold the key to the conspiracy. 
 From the nature of things, a conspiracy with form and 
 life .must reflect the character of its adherents. Was 
 there then in the West an element unfriendly to the 
 Union ? Was there one animated by revolutionary im 
 pulses which longed to expel the arrogant foreigner 
 from the shores of America? The Westerners made 
 reply in unequivocal language. 
 
 At a banquet in Cincinnati the following appro 
 priate toast was drunk : "May party spirit be banished 
 from this land, and freedom and a union of sentiment 
 predominate; a determination to support our liberty 
 and Constitution inviolate." * Among other toasts 
 offered at Georgetown, Kentucky, were: "The people 
 of the United States : may their union be lasting as 
 time"; and, "Western America: one in principle and 
 interest with the rest of the Union." 2 In a neighbor 
 ing city: "The Mississippi and its waters our high 
 way to market : may its trade be free and uninterrupted 
 as its current." Then drinking to Louisiana, our recent 
 acquisition: "May the tree of liberty flourish on the 
 ruins of despotism"; and, "May the Western country 
 flourish, and the golden chain of the Union never 
 break." 3 At Lexington they praised "l\e patriots who 
 suffered in 76" ; and, "Thomas Jefferson, President of 
 
 Western Spy, July 8, 1806. 
 Palladium, July 27, 1806. 
 Palladium, July 10, 1806. 
 
ii2 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 the United States." In St. Louis we find similar expres 
 sions of faith and confidence in the Constitution and 
 the Republic. At a celebration given October 25th in 
 honor of Lewis and Clark, the returning explorers of 
 the far Northwest, these toasts were proposed: "The 
 Territory of Louisiana freedom without bloodshed : 
 may her actions duly appreciate the blessing." Then, 
 with three cheers : "The Federal Constitution : may 
 the eagle of America convey it to the remotest parts 
 of the globe ; and whilst they read they can but admire." 
 A third : "The memory of the illustrious Washington, 
 father of America : may his guardian spirit still watch 
 over us and prove a terror to the engines of tyranny." 
 In New Orleans they toasted the following sentiment : 
 "The ancient boundaries of Louisiana republics never 
 contract their limits." Claiborne was delighted with 
 the celebration in his capital. 
 
 "On yesterday," he said to Dearborn in a dispatch of 
 July 5, 1806, "the citizens of this place exhibited a degree 
 of patriotism which afforded me pleasure. All the stores 
 in the city were closed by order of the city council, and 
 the inhabitants generally suspended their usual avoca 
 tions. High mass was performed in the forenoon at 
 the churches, and a Te Deum sung. At night a new 
 tragedy called Washington; or, the Liberty of the New 
 World, was performed and much applauded by the 
 numerous audience, consisting for the most part of 
 ancient Louisianians." * 
 
 Even the Creoles were enthusiastic and applauded 
 the idea of liberty for the New World ; and liberty for 
 the New World, as they knew, could come only by the 
 
 Claiborne to Dearborn, July 5, 1806; Journal, p. 201. 
 
THE CRISIS ON THE FRONTIER 113 
 
 destruction of the power which had fettered it. Also 
 the Mexican Association, or, more accurately, the 
 Mexican Society, of New Orleans was enthusiastic 
 in the agitation for war. "It had for its object," said 
 Dr. Watkins, Mayor of New Orleans, "collecting in 
 formation relative to the population and force of the 
 interior provinces of New Spain which, in the event 
 of war, might be useful to the United States." He 
 further averred that the invasion of Mexico had always 
 been counted upon in a war with the Dons. 
 
 The West, as it loved the Union hated Spain, and 
 that hatred appeared to be of a nature which only war 
 could appease. The war might be legitimate or other 
 wise there were those who did not mean to ask ques 
 tions. Perhaps this element and its most extravagant 
 plan is represented in the communication published in 
 several Western newspapers in the fall of 1805, over 
 the signature of "A Kentucky Man" : 
 
 "As to the Spaniards, we can pay ourselves. There 
 are gentlemen now in this city from the westward, who 
 will make contracts whenever Congress authorizes it to 
 pay every just claim of our citizens upon them, and will 
 engage to do it, free of any expense to the United States, 
 and also, not to injure any private property in Mexico." 1 
 
 Evidently nothing less was meditated than the 
 overrunning of Mexico, whose public domains or con 
 fiscated public properties would be seized for debts 
 long overdue! The proposition was not so visionary 
 as it appeared on its face, and cannot be overlooked 
 
 ^Orleans Gazette, November i, 1805. 
 
ii4 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 in casting up the sum total of ideas which were eddy 
 ing in the West. 
 
 In the midst of the war excitement, in the winter 
 of 1805, Francisco de Miranda, a native of Caracas, 
 landed in New York. As early as 1793 he had tried 
 to draw the United States and Great Britain into a 
 war for the liberation of his native country. Failing 
 then, he went to the Continent, where he became a 
 distinguished wanderer, taking high rank in the armies 
 of both France and Russia. It was truly an auspicious 
 time for him to revive his scheme of rebellion in Vene 
 zuela, for war between Spain and the United States 
 appeared to be only a matter of days. Finding gener 
 ous friends in New York, he soon had the Leander 
 fitted out with arms and provisions, and February 2, 
 1806, sailed on his ill-fated voyage. 
 
 The part played by the Government in this affair 
 is, to say the least, not above suspicion, for both Jeffer 
 son and Madison knew something of what was going 
 on ; but for us what is of most value in this connection 
 is to know that the expedition was watched with the 
 greatest interest throughout the Union, especially in 
 the West. The newspapers of the time were full of 
 Miranda, and the tone of the comment was most con 
 vincing. A single paragraph from the Charleston 
 Courier, quoted in the Orleans Gazette, will suffice i 1 
 
 "The expedition under General Miranda, from a va 
 riety of circumstances, promises to be attended with suc 
 cess. The dissatisfaction of the people generally with the 
 Spanish Government, and particularly the priests, who, 
 
 ^Orleans Gazette, July 4, 1806. 
 
THE CRISIS ON THE FRONTIER 115 
 
 by a late decree of the court of Madrid, are deprived of 
 the principal parts of the revenues of the church, will 
 induce them to seek a change of masters ; to rid them 
 selves at once of the most abject state of slavery and ig 
 norance and from the fiend-like influence of the Prince 
 of Peace. . . . What has the Spanish Government to 
 oppose him [Miranda] ? Nothing. The provinces are 
 without troops, or at least they are not sufficient to drive 
 the revolters from their purposes. The mother country 
 cannot assist them she has soldiers but no ships and 
 if the means of transportation were found, the British 
 fleet would intercept them. . . . The success of Mi 
 randa will open to the Americans a new field of enter 
 prise ; from the United States they must receive their sup 
 plies of goods and military stores, and the products which 
 can be obtained in return will yield a good profit. . . . 
 But, we hope, remembering our own emancipation, we 
 shall give our aid to those who feel their rights, and 
 have courage enough to assert them. . . . May the 
 most brilliant success attend the standards of those who 
 fight for the cause of rational liberty, and for the dignity 
 of the human species." 
 
 Such paragraphs need no discussion, but the fact 
 that they were printed and reprinted in every journal 
 of the West is worth remarking. Having been thus 
 informed of Miranda s enterprise, the Westerners were / 
 on the alert for any news from Venezuela. All through T 
 the summer and fall that Burr and his associates were 
 struggling to make headway with their expedition the 
 newspapers were telling of Miranda s victories, and 
 finally of the rumors of his defeat. When the report 
 came that he had been beaten off, the West was loath 
 to give credence to it, and the disappointment was keen 
 when it came positively to be known that he had failed. 
 There was not in all the West a word of disaffection. 
 
n6 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 In their toasts and toasts were of far greater signifi 
 cance in that day than this two ideas appear predomi 
 nant: reverence for the Union and hatred for the 
 symbols of despotism. Their sympathies, too, for 
 Miranda betrayed unconsciously a love for the Con 
 stitution and a growing National spirit which was in 
 six short years to force, in spite of the East and New 
 England, the second war with Great Britain ! And 
 yet this was the region advertised as openly rebellious 
 the region Yrujo and Merry expected shortly to 
 declare its independence. Could ignorance of condi 
 tions have been more dense? 
 
 By the end of June, 1806, there were in the province 
 of Texas one thousand and seven soldiers. 1 The force 
 on the frontier, however, never exceeded six hundred 
 and ninety-seven men, 2 which was considered strong 
 enough to sustain the King s pretensions in that quar 
 ter. Accordingly, in July, a body of troops under 
 Viana once more hoisted the flag of Spain at Bayou 
 Pierre. August 4th Viana wrote urgently to the com 
 mander of Nacogdoches for provisions, complaining 
 that they had been four days without rations. 3 The 
 straits of the quartermaster were much intensified 
 by the arrival of Herrera with several companies of 
 cavalry; while sickness spread through the camp, con 
 verting it into a wretched hospital. But the Ameri 
 cans held exaggerated ideas of the efficiency of the 
 corps under Cordero and Herrera. 
 
 Cordero to Salcedo, June 12, 1806; MSS. State of Texas 
 Archives. 
 
 Herrera to Salcedo, November 8, 1806; MSS. Bexar Archives. 
 Viana to Rodriguez, August 4, 1806; MSS. Bexar Archives. 
 
THE CRISIS ON THE FRONTIER 117 
 
 The news of the recrossing of the Sabine by the 
 Spaniards spread rapidly through the country, rousing 
 the inhabitants to arms for the hated enemy appeared 
 once more as invaders. The Governor of Louisiana 
 was at Concordia, near Natchez having been granted 
 a leave of absence to visit his home in Tennessee when 
 the intelligence reached him. August I7th he met 
 Cowles Meade, the Acting-Governor of Mississippi 
 Territory, at Natchez, and a joint proclamation was 
 issued. The people were called upon to aid the regular 
 troops in expelling the Spaniards from Bayou Pierre, 
 if the orders of the War Department had not been 
 revoked; they were to be put on a campaign footing, 
 the militia of the Mississippi Territory being ready to 
 march to the frontier or to defend New Orleans, as the 
 circumstances might require. The continued absence 
 of Wilkinson was remarked and regretted. 1 But Clai- 
 borne felt he had no time to lose. "Having heard that 
 a considerable force of Spaniards [is] in the vicinity of 
 Natchitoches," he wrote the same day to Dr. John 
 Watkins, 2 "I propose setting out to-morrow for the 
 counties of Rapides and Natchitoches, for the purpose 
 of putting the militia in the best possible state." 
 
 Before Claiborne had started, a Pinckneyville cor 
 respondent of the Orleans Gazette reported that Lieu 
 tenant Smith had arrived from Natchitoches with 
 orders for Colonel Kingsbury to march forward with 
 all the troops at Fort Adams. Nine hundred men 
 under the Governor of Texas, so the report ran, had 
 
 ^Journal, p. 230. Claiborne s Correspondence, Orleans Terri 
 tory, vol. iv., MSS. State Department Archives, 
 journal, p. 228. 
 
ii& THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 advanced to within twelve miles of Natchitoches, where 
 they were met by a flag from Major Porter, demanding 
 an explanation of this new encroachment; to which 
 they answered that they meant to reoccupy their for 
 mer positions. An engagement had therefore probably 
 taken place, if the Spaniards persisted in their under 
 taking. 1 The reporter was not aware, however, that 
 
 : the commander at Natchitoches was bound by supple 
 mentary instructions from the head of the army, which 
 forbade the enforcement of the orders from the Secre 
 tary of War. Wilkinson was already disposing of 
 
 things to suit himself. 
 
 Claiborne entered at once into a sharp controversy 
 with Herrera. On the twenty-sixth he complained of 
 several acts of unfriendliness the setting at liberty of 
 runaway slaves, the capture of three Americans (Irwin, 
 Shaw, and Brewster), and the invasion of the territory 
 of the United States. Herrera did not deny the first 
 two charges, but returned his demurrer to the third. 
 At this juncture he fell ill, and Claiborne courteously 
 sent Dr. Hayward to attend him. The Governor, how 
 ever, did not mean to suspend operations he urged 
 the fulfillment of the instructions from Washington, 
 which commanded that all foreign troops should be 
 driven to the west of the Sabine. Colonel Cushing 
 explained that this would be contrary to the mandate 
 of Wilkinson ; and thereupon the Governor gave vent 
 to his suspicions in a letter to Meade : "My present 
 impression is that all is not right/ I know not whom 
 to censure, but it seems to me that there is wrong 
 
 ^Orleans Gazette, August 22, 1806. 
 
THE CRISIS ON THE FRONTIER 119 
 
 somewhere. Either the orders to Major Porter (which 
 have been published) ought not to have been issued, 
 or they should have been adhered to and supported." * 
 It was, indeed, hard for a layman to understand how 
 even a general could set in abeyance the commands 
 of his superior ; there was wrong somewhere, but this 
 was as near as the good-natured, honest Governor ever 
 came to its discovery. The day he wrote Meade he 
 addressed two letters quite free from suspicions to the 
 War Department: 
 
 "The Spanish troops have made a retrograde move 
 ment," he reported August 28th; 2 "they have advanced 
 their main body to within seventeen miles of Natchi- 
 toches, and their patrols as far as the Bayou Funda [Ar 
 royo Hondo], to which place it is contended the province 
 of Texas extends (this bayou is about seven miles from 
 Natchitoches) ; but within these few days past they have 
 fallen back to the settlement of Bayou Pierre, about fifty 
 or sixty miles distant from Natchitoches. Their num 
 bers are conjectured to be 1,000, the greater part cavalry, 
 and reinforcements are daily expected. They are amply 
 supplied with beef cattle, but it is said a scarcity of bread 
 is experienced. ... I have found the Americans, who 
 are settled in the frontier counties, devoted to their 
 country, and solicitous to be called into service." 
 
 The second letter, a week later, recounted as current 
 report that the Spaniards at Bayou Pierre numbered 
 1200; that the Governor of Texas was approaching 
 with three hundred regulars ; that two regiments from 
 Vera Cruz were to land at the mouth of the Trinity; 
 and that the Viceroy and the Council of Mexico were 
 alone responsible for the military movements, the Court 
 
 Claiborne to Meade, September 9, 1806; Journal, p. 269. 
 2 Journal, p. 243. 
 
120 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 of Spain having no part in it. It was mentioned that 
 Colonel Cushing was restrained from acting on the 
 offensive by Wilkinson s commands; that the Colonel 
 in the meantime was making arrangements to take the 
 field, while he (Claiborne) was preparing the militia. 1 
 After his experiences in the administration of the 
 municipality of New Orleans, where he found only 
 antagonisms and imbittered factions, political and 
 social, it gave him extreme pleasure, as he wrote Cush 
 ing, to note the enthusiasm of the people. 2 The una 
 nimity with which they responded to the defense of the 
 country was certainly gratifying to him and to those 
 in the high places of the Government, who were in daily 
 expectation of the herald of war. 
 
 The Cabinet early resigned itself to the situation. 
 When the news of the expulsion of Gonzales reached 
 Washington a meeting was held, the result of which 
 the President reported to Dearborn, who was absent : 
 
 "Six war vessels are to be kept before New Orleans," 
 ran the note ; "three in Lake Pontchartrain. Blockhouses 
 and other defenses are to be erected at suitable places on 
 the defiles of New Orleans. The troops are to remain 
 off the island on account of their health, but they are to 
 be ready to march at notice. The militia of New Orleans, 
 Tombigbee, and Natchez are to be put in the best pos 
 sible condition; those at New Orleans to defend that 
 city; those on the Tombigbee to seize Mobile or Pensa- 
 cola, or follow if the Spanish troops from either of these 
 threaten New Orleans. These orders are to be carried 
 out with as little noise as possible." 5 
 
 While these were wholly defensive measures, the 
 
 journal, p. 254. 
 Journal, p. 272. 
 Jefferson to Dearborn, April 26, 1806; Jefferson MSS. 
 
THE CRISIS ON THE FRONTIER 121 
 
 state of mind of the Government is clearly reflected 
 therein. If anything was left in doubt, this was shortly 
 removed by the Executive. May 6, 1806, when the fol 
 lowing orders went forward to General Wilkinson, the 
 challenge was accepted, and it was for the administra 
 tors of Don Carlos in the New World to say whether 
 the Floridas, Louisiana, Texas, and the Spanish 
 Americas should become legitimate stakes of war. 
 
 "From recent information received from New Orleans 
 and its vicinity," wrote the Secretary of War to General 
 Wilkinson, 1 "the hostile views of the officers of his Cath 
 olic Majesty in that quarter have been so evident as to 
 require the strictest precaution on the part of the United 
 States ; and the immediate exertion of the means we pos 
 sess for securing the rightful possession of the territory 
 of the United States, and for protecting the citizens and 
 their property from the hostile encroachments of our 
 neighbours, the Spaniards. You will, therefore, with as 
 little delay as practicable, repair to the Territory of Or- 
 1 ans or its vicinity, and take upon yourself the command 
 of the troops in that quarter, together with such militia or 
 volunteers as may turn out for the defense of the country. 
 And you will, by all the means in your power, repel any 
 invasion of the territory of the United States east of the 
 River Sabine, or north or west of the bounds of what 
 has been called West Florida." 
 
 There could be no mistaking the meaning of these 
 orders; they were explicit and final. Though it was 
 true "every day increased our prospects of war," as the 
 General wrote, he was detained in St. Louis for three 
 months by "various and unavoidable obstacles." What 
 these distressing impediments were we are left to sur 
 mise. Certain it is the petty political intrigue between 
 
 Wilkinson s Memoirs, ii., Ap. xc. 
 
122 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 himself on the one side and Major Bruff and Colonel 
 Hammond on the other offers no explanation. 1 He 
 wrote John Smith very soon after the receipt of the 
 dispatch of May 6th : "I shall obey the military man 
 date, for there I look for fame and honor." 3 He was 
 therefore apparently eager to proceed. Why the delay ? 
 Is it not possible that Clark gave us the key when he 
 said that the General wrote Burr, "I shall be ready 
 before you" ? His procrastination was deliberate, and 
 could have been for no other purpose than to await the 
 development of the conspiracy. 
 
 Wilkinson landed in Natchez the night of Sep 
 tember 7th, and the next day outlined his programme 
 to Dearborn : "I shall drain the cup of conciliation to 
 maintain the peace of our country," he vaunted ; but in 
 the preceding paragraph he had remarked that he hoped 
 the Spaniards would remain at Bayou Pierre until he 
 arrived, and he had taken occasion to say that both 
 Meade and Claiborne favored expelling the enemy alto 
 gether, not leaving them so much as a guard at Bayou 
 Pierre. 
 
 "Governor Claiborne has, I understand, arrayed the 
 militia in the western counties of the Territory of 
 Orleans," he continued, 8 "but I shall discourage their 
 march until I have penetrated the designs of the Span 
 iard, and may find him deaf to the solemn appeal which 
 I shall make to his understanding, his interest, and his 
 duty. . . . Should I be forced to appeal to arms, to 
 drive them effectually beyond the Sabine or cut them 
 
 Wilkinson to Dearborn, June 17, 1806; Jefferson MSS. 
 John Smith to Jefferson, August 8, 1806; Jefferson MSS. 
 
 Wilkinson to Smith, June 17, 1806; Jefferson MSS. 
 
 s Wilkinson to Dearborn, September 8, 1806; Annals of Con 
 gress, 1807-08, Ap., p. 568. 
 
I 
 
 THE CRISIS ON THE FRONTIER 123 
 
 up, I shall endeavor to procure about four or five hun 
 dred dragoons and mounted militia from the two terri 
 tories. ... A blow once struck, it would appear 
 expedient that we should make every advantage of it ; and 
 if men and means are furnished I will soon plant our 
 standards on the left bank of Grand River." 
 
 The "designs of the Spaniard" must have been 
 seen at a glance, for at no moment was the march 
 of the militia discouraged. Moreover, to have spoken 
 of designs was deliberate and calculated to work on the 
 fears of the Government; he had assumed the extraor 
 dinary role he was to play to the end. While inditing 
 this to Dearborn he was making arrangements with 
 Governor Meade for the volunteers of Mississippi Ter 
 ritory to join him, and giving orders for the strength 
 ening of various posts. Pointe Coupee was to be re- 
 enforced with seventy-five men, which number, with a 
 detachment of militia, he thought sufficient to capture 
 the Spanish Governor, Grand Pre, with his garrison in 
 Baton Rouge. Two hundred militia were to be added 
 to the force on the Tombigbee, and the commander was 
 to be ready to invest Mobile, while another body was 
 to make a feint on Pensacola to prevent reinforcements 
 being sent to the former. These instructions given, 
 Wilkinson started for the front via Rapides on the Red 
 River, at which place Claiborne awaited him. On the 
 nineteenth the General appeared. He then addressed 
 the Governor, discussing the menacing attitude of 
 Spain, and advising the issuance of a proclamation 
 interdicting intercourse between the contending parties, 
 save as regulated under passports. He argued that this 
 was warranted because of the vigorous policy pursued 
 
i2 4 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 by the enemy in permitting no one to pass to Nacog- 
 doches unless known to be attached to Spain. Through 
 this system of intercourse they were advised of all our 
 plans, while we remained ignorant of theirs. Next he 
 asked for the troops in New Orleans and every militia 
 man to be spared, and he wanted them to assemble at 
 Natchitoches early in October. 1 Claiborne replied the 
 same day that he could not issue the proclamation for 
 fear of retaliatory measures being pursued by West 
 Florida ; the same effect, he thought, might be produced 
 by prohibiting communications through Natchitoches, 
 the only open route. Wilkinson could close this by 
 issuing an order to prevent the passage of provisions 
 to the Spaniards. As to the militia, the Governor 
 promised a force of four hundred ; the rest, because of 
 the nature of the country to be defended, were to be 
 reserved for emergencies. 2 Claiborne s steps had been 
 taken with a view to war, and he urged upon the Gen 
 eral that "no time ought to be lost in preparing to vin 
 dicate the national rights." 
 
 The inhabitants of the rural districts thought like 
 wise. They came with such alacrity that in one in 
 stance a call for one hundred volunteers was answered 
 by two hundred and fifteen. October 3d was the day 
 appointed for the general rendezvous at Natchitoches, 
 the headquarters of the American army, which place 
 Wilkinson reached September 22d, two weeks having 
 been spent on a journey accomplished in three days and 
 a half on his return. If Claiborne and the people were 
 
 Journal, pp. 285-288. 
 Journal, pp. 289-290. 
 
THE CRISIS ON THE FRONTIER 125 
 
 chafing under delay and were eager to drive back the 
 Dons, the commander of the army was still moving 
 leisurely. The day Wilkinson left Rapides the Gov 
 ernor started for New Orleans, and the evening of 
 October 6th reentered his capital, where things were in 
 a stir of excitement. The news that war was im 
 pending was hailed with enthusiasm. The Orleans 
 Gazette, the leading journal of the city and the mouth 
 piece of the Americans, came out in a long article, 
 which, after having announced that General Wilkinson 
 had gone to the frontier, gave vent to pure revolu 
 tionary sentiment : 
 
 "We are happy to learn that the Government has at 
 length issued positive orders to repel the aggressions of 
 our enemies by force. We have indeed suffered from 
 them, almost beyond human endurance. Their intrigues 
 to disturb the repose of this country; their maintaining 
 possession of our territory between the Mississippi and 
 Perdido for upwards of two years ; their outrageous con 
 duct towards our citizens on the banks of the Tombig- 
 bee ; these and a thousand other injuries and insults de 
 mand instant redress. ... If the enemy be forced to re- 
 cross the Sabine, he must be driven still farther; for it 
 would be idle to suffer him to remain there quietly until he 
 received reinforcements from the Southern provinces, 
 which could easily be furnished him, inasmuch as the route 
 from Natchitoches to Mexico is clear, plain, and open ; and 
 the country through which it passes well stored with cattle 
 and forage. How it may be proper to pursue the enemy 
 is a question of policy for our Government to decide. On 
 this we may sincerely rely that our President, who had 
 so large a share in accomplishing the independence of the 
 United States, will seize with eagerness and exultation 
 r an honorable occasiorr that may offer for conferring on 
 our oppressed Spanish brethren in Mexico those inestim 
 able blessings of freedom which we ourselves enjoy. 
 
126 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 . . . Gallant Louisianians ! now is the time to distin 
 guish yourselves. . . . Should the generous efforts 
 of our Government to establish a free, independent repub 
 lican empire in Mexico be successful, how fortunate, how 
 enviable would be the situation in New Orleans! The 
 deposit at once of the countless treasures of the South, and 
 the inexhaustible fertility of the Western States, we 
 would soon rival and outshine the most opulent cities of 
 the world." 1 
 
 This language seems none the less remarkable when 
 we know that it came from the pen of Editor Bradford, 
 who, a few weeks later, was throttled by Wilkinson on 
 a charge of misprision of treason against the United 
 States. He was a coadjutor of Burr, to whose enter 
 prise he doubtless referred when he wrote that the 
 President would seize with eagerness and exultation an 
 honorable occasion "for conferring on our oppressed 
 Spanish brethren in Mexico those inestimable blessings 
 of freedom which we ourselves enjoy." The document 
 truly exhibits the underlying motives in all great 
 revolutionary movements the vindication of rights, 
 the freeing of oppressed peoples, and finally the mate 
 rial reward. If war with Spain was avoided for almost 
 a century, it was not for lack of moral support that it 
 failed in 1806; nor does this admission do justice to 
 the revolutionary audience that applauded the senti 
 ments uttered by the Orleans Gazette, nor to the men 
 who hurried to arms at the call of danger. 
 
 From Fort Adams and Natchez came the news that 
 every preparation was being made to repel the Spanish 
 encroachments, and that all the regular troops had 
 
 ^Orleans Gazette, September 23, 1806. 
 
THE CRISIS ON THE FRONTIER 127 
 
 marched under Captain Sparks for Natchitoches. 
 Major Ferdinand L. Claiborne was expected to pass 
 toward the frontier at any hour at the head of the 
 Mississippi militia and Captain Farrar s dragoons. 1 
 October 8th Claiborne informed the Secretary of War 
 that the militia from the frontier counties, more than 
 five hundred strong, had reported at Natchitoches, and 
 that a detachment of one hundred regulars with mili 
 tary stores would set out in a few days from New 
 Orleans. 2 Thus the American Army in the West 
 rapidly concentrated at the old French trading post. 
 The temper of the volunteers was no longer questioned. 
 Claiborne wrote Dearborn on the twelfth that he was 
 surprised at the readiness with which the ancient Lou- 
 isianians took up arms. He conveyed also the intelli 
 gence that Wilkinson had written in his last letter 
 (dated September 25th) that unless his orders were 
 countermanded he "would soon have a meeting with 
 the Spaniards." 3 It looked as though the fate of the 
 nation as to peace or war hung on Wilkinson s word. 
 This was the war which was to have called Burr s 
 expedition into open array. Senator Adair avowed 
 that "on this war taking place he [Burr] calculated 
 with certainty, as well from the policy of the measure 
 at the time, as from the positive assurances of Wilkin 
 son, who seemed to have the power to force it in his 
 hands." 4 Wilkinson had gone further in his confidence 
 with Adair, and, after the failure of the conspiracy, 
 
 ^Orleans Gazette, October 3, 1806. 
 "Journal, p. 305. 
 journal, p. 311. 
 
 *Letter of General Adair, dated Washington City, March 4, 
 1807. 
 
128 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 attempted to disparage his character, accusing the Ken- 
 tuckian of having gone to New Orleans in the fall of 
 1806 in the "dark." 1 Adair retaliated, quoting from 
 the General s letters. In answer to a question in Adair s 
 correspondence of January 2/th "Pray how far is it, 
 and what kind of way from St. Louis to Santa Fe, and 
 from thence to Mexico?" 2 Wilkinson wrote: 
 
 "Do you know that I have reserved these places for 
 my own triumphal entry, that I have been reconnoitering 
 and exploring the route for sixteen years ; that I not only 
 know the way, but all the difficulties and how to surmount 
 them? I wish we could get leave, Mexico would soon 
 be ours." 
 
 More significant is his letter of September 28th 
 from Natchitoches, in which Adair was assured that 
 within six or eight days the sword would be drawn : 
 
 "The time long looked for by many and wished for 
 by more, has now arrived for subverting the Spanish 
 government in Mexico. Be you ready and join me ; we 
 will want little more than light-armed troops with a few 
 
 More will be done by marching than fighting; 
 
 5,000 men will give us to Rio ; 10,000 to ; 
 
 we must here divide our army into three parts and will 
 then require 30,000 men to conquer the whole of the prov 
 inces of Mexico. We cannot fail of success." 8 
 
 Adair challenged the President to look into Wilkin 
 son s conduct: "The Executive of the United States 
 
 Wilkinson s Letter, Palladium, May 21, 1807. 
 
 Wilkinson s Memoirs, ii., Ap. Ixxvii. 
 
 Letter to Editor Bradford of the Orleans Gazette, published 
 June 16, 1807; copied in the Palladium for July i6th. The blanks 
 are in the copy. 
 
THE CRISIS ON THE FRONTIER 129 
 
 seems to think it an unpardonable offense to meditate 
 an expedition against the government, or rather the 
 tyranny of Spain, by a citizen of the United States 
 prior to a declaration of war. Let him then prosecute 
 Wilkinson." 
 
 What character the war was to have assumed it is 
 impossible to say; but war in some form was thought 
 by Wilkinson to be certain. His letter to Adair had 
 been preceded by one written from Rapides, September 
 1 8th, to a gentleman in Cincinnati, in which he graph 
 ically pointed out the situation i 1 
 
 "My orders and the conduct of the Mexicans are so 
 much at variance, and the Spanish commander at the 
 head of fifteen or eighteen hundred men, has treated the 
 strong remonstrances of Governor Claiborne and Colonel 
 Cushing with such slight, after having traversed the ter 
 ritory east of the Sabine, where he has taken his nearest 
 post, and menaced our establishment at Natchitoches, that 
 I foresee an inevitable appeal to arms in the course of 
 twelve days, if the Spaniards should not recede or I receive 
 counter orders. And as Governor Herrera is an officer 
 who has risen by his sword, and is reputed a man of great 
 pride and spirit, I think it probable he will adhere to his 
 solemn promise to maintain and defend his master s ter 
 ritorial pretensions to a point within seven miles of our 
 post, and fifty east of the Sabine. Under these circum 
 stances, but with a solemn determination to drain the cup 
 of conciliation before I draw the sword, I have called for 
 about seven hundred militia, which is the sum total I 
 am to expect from this Territory and the Mississippi Ter 
 ritory, to be assembled at Natchitoches the fifth prox. 
 It is not improbable hostilities at this point will be in 
 stantly followed by an appeal to arms in West Florida. 
 I will write you again in about ten days, when I fear you 
 will be informed blood has been spilt. I have two Span- 
 
 *National Intelligencer, November 17, 1806. 
 
1 30 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 ish Governors opposed to me, Herrera and Cordero, of 
 whom and their two thousand men, I shall with less than 
 twelve hundred give a good account." 
 
 In spite of exaggerations concerning the strength 
 of the enemy, Wilkinson had grasped the essentials of 
 the situation. War could be circumvented in two ways 
 by the withdrawal of the Spaniards, or by modified 
 orders from the Executive. The latter exigency, how 
 ever, was not to be anticipated ; but already the possible 
 contingency of the former appealed to him. He feared 
 for his plans, but took courage, knowing that Herrera, 
 a man of "pride and spirit/ had vowed to maintain his 
 Majesty s territorial pretensions. Nevertheless, Wil 
 kinson was far too cunning to be found at the end 
 of his resources. His career of double-dealing in Ken 
 tucky where, at the same moment, he had flattered 
 Miro with the prospect of drawing the West into the 
 Spanish net and indited a pleasant petition to Congress 
 was destined to be far eclipsed. And he was not long 
 in giving evidence of his disposition. He wrote at 
 length to Senator Smith : 
 
 "I have made the last effort at conciliation in a solemn 
 appeal to Governor Cordero, at Nacogdoches, who is in 
 command on this frontier; Colonel Cushing bore my 
 letter and is now with the don. I expect his return in 
 four days, and then I believe, my friend, I believe I shall 
 be obliged to fight and to flog them, for I shall advance 
 into the contested tract the moment I have provided 
 horses for four light pieces of artillery, our camp equi 
 pages, and a little provision. The orders of the Spaniards 
 are, I know, peremptory to maintain the jurisdiction of 
 the grounds to the sovereign ; of consequence, they must 
 make an attempt to oppose me ; and I shall as surely push 
 
THE CRISIS ON THE FRONTIER 131 
 
 them over the Sabine and out of Nacogdoches as that 
 you are alive, although they outnumber me three to one. 
 What may follow, I know, for I verily believe that prepa 
 rations have been made in the interior of the provinces, 
 to bring forward to this frontier as many men as they 
 may deem necessary, and commanding as they do a thou 
 sand or a million of mules and horses at their will, with 
 a country covered with beef cattle, no difficulty can occur 
 on the score of provisions. If therefore, this business 
 should not be speedily terminated by negociations you 
 must speedily send me a force to support our pretensions, 
 or we must yield them up, together with the Territory 
 of Orleans. Five thousand mounted infantry to operate 
 as dragoons, or fight on foot, may suffice to carry us 
 forward as far as the Grand River ; % there we shall 
 require five thousand more to conduct us to Monterey, the 
 capital of the province of Nuevo Reino de Leon ; after 
 which, from twenty to thirty thousand will be necessary 
 to carry our conquests to California, and the Isthmus of 
 Darien. I write in haste, freely and confidentially." 
 
 Perhaps nowhere does Wilkinson betray more of 
 what he hoped the crisis would lead to. The forces that 
 Smith was to send him were none other than those 
 gathering under the auspices of Burr along the Ohio 
 and the Cumberland ; and these were to save the Terri 
 tory of Orleans and "carry our conquests to California 
 and the Isthmus of Darien." Wilkinson had not yet 
 discovered that Smith was a traitor, and that the men 
 he solicited plotted not only the conquest of Spanish 
 America to the Isthmus, but also the subjugation of the 
 Mississippi Valley! 
 
 If Wilkinson, like many others, believed it possible 
 to overrun so much of the soil owning the allegiance of 
 weak-minded Carlos, the tireless locksmith and sports 
 man, it was not easy of accomplishment. So confident 
 
132 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 were the Spaniards in Mexico, they were disposed to 
 sneer. The official organ of the viceroyalty, the Gazeta 
 de Mexico commenting on some paragraphs from the 
 Moniteur de la Louisiane, the journal of the French 
 population of New Orleans, concerning the advance 
 of the Americans shows that there were fears of an 
 invasion. While nothing serious was anticipated, the 
 Americans were roundly abused. 
 
 "Nobody doubts," penned the arrogant editor of the 
 Gazeta ; "that if these forces have determined to enter 
 the dominions of the King of Spain (to prevent the shed 
 ding of blood, as they say), the few troops we have there 
 will be driven back and the country occupied. But this 
 will be unavailing in the face of the measures taken by 
 the commander of the Internal Provinces, Don Nemesio 
 Salcedo. ... In conclusion, if the Americans con 
 tinue the hostilities (perhaps for maliciousness) which 
 they propose, they will retire crushed and broken (con 
 los cascos machacados)" 
 
 The defiant spirit of the Capital was but feebly 
 echoed in the camps along the Sabine, where were 
 starvation and insubordination. That the corps under 
 Cordero and Herrera were infected with treason and 
 mutiny was unknown to Iturrigaray and his coterie 
 of political marplots. Indeed, had they been aware of 
 it, tnere was little remedy ; the moneys which ought to 
 have been expended for the provinces, for the army 
 guarding the rich lands of Texas, for hundreds of 
 needs of the colonies, were exported to replenish the 
 empty tills of the home Government. Every interest 
 of the colonies was sacrificed on the altar of the 
 
 *Gaseta de Mexico, November 5, 1806; Mexican Archives. 
 
THE CRISIS ON THE FRONTIER 133 
 
 Metropolis, which was as blind and deaf as its agents 
 to the unfolding revolution; as insensible of the fact 
 that the whole fabric of the Spanish colonial system 
 was rotten and to be cast away. If the King expected 
 the unhappy Criollos to execute against the Ameri 
 cans the dire prediction uttered by the Gazeia, the 
 short space of four years brought answer in the Grito 
 of Hidalgo at Dolores, and in the slaughtering of the 
 Gachitpines in the Alhondiga of Las Granaditas. As 
 to the leaders, Cordero was stern with age and a 
 thorough-going Spaniard; but Herrera, who had trav 
 eled and was familiar with the system of government 
 of the United States and the language of its people 
 (one of whom he had wed), was the last man to bring, 
 if escape were possible, a calamity upon the country 
 he served. 
 
 Cordero, the ranking officer, was encamped at 
 Nacogdoches. About half the army was under his 
 immediate direction, while the rest, some four hundred 
 men, under Herrera bivouacked at Bayou Pierre. But 
 when Wilkinson reached Natchitoches it was not with 
 Herrera, commander of the offending corps, that he 
 opened communications. The day following his arrival 
 he made his first remonstrance to Cordero. Referring 
 briefly to the correspondence which had passed between 
 Cordero and Cushing, Herrera and Claiborne, the Gen 
 eral plunged into a discussion of the merits of our terri 
 torial claims, laying special emphasis on the French 
 view. In his characteristic language he explained that 
 the President had ordered him to hold the east bank of 
 the Sabine as the temporary limit of the United States, 
 
i 3 4 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 and that he meant to do this at any cost. The Spanish 
 troops to the east of the Sabine were invaders, as the 
 Government had pronounced them on a former occa 
 sion, and if they chose not to evacuate, then must they 
 be expelled by force. 1 
 
 Cordero s reply, dated September 29th, was curt 
 and anything but satisfactory. It was not in his power, 
 he said, to act contrary to the orders of his superior, 
 and they forbade yielding the point under discussion. 
 While he regretted the situation he could do noth 
 ing until he heard from Salcedo, to whom he had 
 dispatched a special messenger. This situation was 
 apparently all that Wilkinson could wish. The\motley 
 Mexican militia would not be withdrawn, and the 
 "meeting" of which he had written to his friends was 
 certain of issue. 
 
 But the best-laid plans are frequently undone. The 
 twenty-seventh of September, while Burr sat at a 
 banquet in Nashville and the crowd lustily cheered the 
 toast of Jackson, "Millions for defense; not one cent 
 for tribute"; while the American army burned with 
 eagerness to try their metal on the foe, and Jefferson 
 listened tremulously for the announcement of the rup 
 ture, Hep^ra^Yprcrging. hj^n^yn discretion, ordered a 
 retreat and the Spanish flag had waved for the last 
 time over Bayou Pierre ! The crisis, was past. There 
 was no longer the remotest possibility of a conflict 
 there remained not a foreigner to the east of the Sabine. 
 Thus at the very moment when it appeared the long- 
 
 Wilkinson to Cordero, September 23, 1806; MSS. Bexar 
 Archives. 
 
THE CRISIS ON THE FRONTIER 135 
 
 anticipated struggle would begin, a hollow serenity fell 
 upon the scene. Herrera had written more than once 
 that he meant to preserve inviolate that region to the 
 King j 1 nevertheless, without warning and without war 
 rant, he raised his camp. No doubt he realized the 
 hopelessness of holding out against the superior force 
 of Wilkinson ; that the question of war or peace rested 
 with him, and he acted on his own responsibility. 
 Could he have foreseen the inevitable disasters involved 
 in a war with the United States? The enemies of the 
 General were prone to say that Herrera was bribed, but 
 that was far from the truth. Wilkinson played no 
 direct part in forming Herrera s resolution, and could 
 have been only dismayed at the sudden withdrawal, 
 which had determined the matter of peace or war,! 
 which had rendered vain one set of his plans and plots,\ . 
 and which had within four and twenty hours converted 
 his life-long friends into enemies even traitors ! 
 
 Wilkinson s Memoirs, ii., xciii. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Wilkinson s Duplicity 
 * 
 
 WHEN Wilkinson had recovered his equa 
 nimity after the retreat of Herrera, he quickly 
 devised another schedule of operations. It 
 was no less a one than to abandon Burr if indeed he 
 had not always intended doing so to strike a com 
 promise with the Spaniards, and to drive his own 
 criminal ends with an impetuosity and finesse which 
 were only too successful. October 4, 1806, he ren 
 dered to the Government an account of things on the 
 border : 
 
 "The Spaniard," he wrote Dearborn, 1 "raised his camp 
 at Bayou Pierre on the twenty-seventh ultimo, . . . 
 and on the thirtieth crossed the Sabine and took post 
 on the right bank, where Colonel Gushing left him the 
 first instant. ... I shall continue my preparations 
 for defense and offense, and tojwipe off the species of 
 stigma which cavilers may attach to the Spaniards re 
 possession of the ground from whence we had driven 
 them ; to give confidence to our friends, to confirm the 
 wavering and the disaffected ; and, above all, to assert 
 unequivocally the pretensions of the government, I have 
 taken post within the limits claimed by the officers of 
 Spain, and in a few days shall move forward to the east 
 bank of the Sabine, where I shall wait the answer of the 
 Captain-General Salcedo." 
 
 Had the wavering known what was now in his 
 mind they would no doubt have been won over, while 
 
 l Annals of Congress 1807-08, Ap., p. 570. 
 136 
 
WILKINSON S DUPLICITY 137 
 
 the confidence of his friends would indeed have been 
 unbounded. Unhappily neither his friends, his ene 
 mies, nor yet the wavering, knew the inner history of 
 this campaign. We shall see at once that he did not 
 move forward on schedule; that he did not assert 
 unequivocally the pretensions of the Government to the 
 land in dispute ; and that he did not, as he stated in the 
 same paper, dismiss the militia. The day he started the 
 above letter to Washington, he wrote cordially to Cor- 
 dero in reply to his note of the twenty-ninth ult, which 
 had been received at the hand of Gushing : 
 
 I shall despatch my troops to the Sabine, he said 
 dispassionately, and I hope you will interpret the motive 
 only as signifying the pretensions of the United States 
 to the east bank of the river, and not as an act of hostility 
 against the Spanish troops. The honor of the United 
 States demands the move, and it is justified by the posi 
 tion assumed by Governor Herrera next the Sabine, 
 twenty leagues from the post of Nacogdoches. 
 
 Nothing is here said of asserting the authority of 
 the United States unequivocally it is only pretensions. 
 This specific message was clearly intended to open the 
 way to an understanding with the inexorable Governor, 
 and the utter ignoring of the subject-matter of his cor 
 respondence was another step in this direction. From 
 this time forward Wilkinson exerted himself to the 
 utmost to make friends of the two opposing leaders, but 
 with ill success in the case of Cordero, whose response 
 was as emphatic as unconciliatory : 
 
 "I see by the letter of your excellency of the fourth 
 inst.," he wrote, * "which I have just received, that against I 
 
 Military Affairs, i., 205. 
 
138 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 my hopes, you have marched your troops toward the 
 Sabine. . . . Your excellency is well acquainted 
 with the sacred duties of a soldier : I must in consequence 
 declare to your excellency that, though the results which 
 your excellency has undertaken ought not, in any manner 
 whatever, to be considered as an act of hostility provoked 
 by my government, I must oppose myself to it in the dis 
 charge of the obligation which I am under, to oppose my 
 self to the aggressions of the United States, and to pre 
 serve entire, as far as lies in my power, the dominions of 
 my sovereign." 
 
 Cordero s declaration that he meant to oppose the 
 march of the Americans was a bit of idle talk, for he 
 never so much as left the fort at Nacogdoches in the 
 discharge of his obligation to oppose "the aggressions 
 of the United States." And it was well that he did 
 not, for the idea of employing force had been aban 
 doned by those in authority. Herrera was justified in 
 having retreated from the disputed tract by Salcedo, 
 in an order dated October 24th, from the Hacienda de 
 los Ornos; likewise Cordero. The Captain-General s 
 words to the latter were to the effect that under no 
 circumstances should an attack be made on the Ameri 
 can forces; the territory in dispute should not be 
 jeopardized, though it were many times occupied. 1 
 
 October 8th, two weeks after the retreat of Herrera, 
 while Wilkinson was still idle in camp, though profess 
 ing to be in the utmost haste to follow the retreating 
 Spaniards to the Sabine, Samuel Swartwout, after a 
 long pursuit of the General, reached Natchitoches with 
 Burr s famous letter of July 29th. 2 It was in the even- 
 
 Salcedo to Cordero, October 24, 1806; MSS. Bexar Archives. 
 See p. 69. 
 
WILKINSON S DUPLICITY 139 
 
 ing, and Wilkinson was alone wkh Colonel Cushing of 
 the Second Infantry, when Swartwout appeared with a 
 note of introduction from ex-Senator Dayton. 
 
 Cushing subsequently deposed that the morning 
 after Swartwout s coming the General said to him that 
 he had some serious information to communicate. --j 
 After asking Cushing whether he had heard of an 
 enterprise being under way in the West, he related that 
 "a great number of individuals possessing wealth, 
 popularity, and talents [were] associated for purposes 
 inimical to the Government of the United States." 
 Burr was at their head and Swartwout, who had 
 brought the cipher letter containing this treasonable 
 information, was his emissary. Burr had funds; the 
 navy was with him; and Wilkinson was to be second 
 in authority, distributing honors and emoluments to 
 the officers under his command. But the General 
 avoided saying a word as to the ulterior objects of the 
 expedition forming in the West : the matter of attack 
 ing Baton Rouge, and of advancing into a land where 
 the natives were ready to receive them. Already, how 
 ever, the General had devised plans for the crushing of 
 the movement ; these he confided to Cushing. He would 
 march at once to the Sabine and make terms with the 
 Spanish commander, and then take what measures/ he 
 thought the safety of the country demanded-. 1 This 
 resolution seems to have been reached over night; but 
 in reality the arrival of Burr s packet was only the occa 
 sion for its enunciation the outlines of his course had 
 been fixed, the details were to be determined by events. 
 
 Wilkinson s Memoirs, ii., xcii. 
 
i 4 o THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 -* A single night the larger part of which, according to 
 the General s own evidence, was spent in deciphering 
 Burr s letter is hardly time to mature a deeply in 
 volved piece of human action. 
 
 Swartwout remained a week at Natchitoches, dur 
 ing which time, according to the General, he opened up 
 to him the whole of the infamous business of the crew 
 of traitors. Wilkinson made much of these alleged dis 
 closures, but no reliance whatever, as we shall see, can 
 be placed in his story. At the moment of Swartwout s 
 departure for New Orleans Farrar s dragoons rode into 
 camp, and in the company was one Walter Burling. He 
 was known to the General, and the very day he reached 
 the camp the secret of the conspiracy was opened to 
 him, his opinion being asked as to measures to be pur 
 sued. But before answer could be made he was told 
 by the General that he himself had come to a decision i 1 
 and strange to say it was the same as that given Gush 
 ing the morning after the receipt of Burr s letter. Bur 
 ling, who was only a well-to-do farmer living near 
 Natchez, was at once taken into the official family of 
 the commander-in-chief made an aide-de-camp, and 
 thereafter remained his "dear and well-beloved friend." 
 This rapid promotion and display of confidence arouses 
 the suspicion that they had stood on common ground at 
 some former period; and such a haunting suspicion is 
 almost confirmed by their later relations. 
 
 Wilkinson, after the receipt of Burr s famous letter, 
 which he declared to be treasonable, spent two weeks in 
 Natchitoches in apparent unconcern. It was not for 
 
 x Burling s Deposition, Wilkinson s Memoirs, ii., Ap. xcvii. 
 
WILKINSON S DUPLICITY 141 
 
 want of troops or supplies that he delayed his march to 
 the Sabine ; nor was his silence prompted by patriotism. 
 Delay and silence on his part were alike necessary to 
 developments in the West, lie knew that if he promptly 
 reported his information to the President, or to the 
 governors of the Western States, the flotillas preparing 
 on the Ohio and Cumberland would be seized on the 
 stocks. That, in truth, was not the exit the General 
 wished for ; and never during the course of the excite- *> 
 ment did he send a word of warning to the authorities 
 in the Ohio country. 
 
 The time came when Wilkinson was ready to play 
 another card a trump. He knew that the Government 
 had heard through the journals the alarming stories 
 from the West (he had kept close track of the news 
 papers, as we know from his correspondence) and he 
 judged, and rightly, that the Administration would be 
 uneasy, ready for his denunciations. So, October 2Oth 
 he wrote to the President" that, frbm information based" 
 on "broad and explicit grounds," he had discovered 
 that a powerful association, extending from New York 
 through the Western States, had been formed for 
 the purpose of leading an expedition against Vera 
 Cruz i 1 
 
 "Agents from Mexico, who were in Philadelphia in 
 the beginning of August, are engaged in this enterprise ; 
 these persons have given assurances, that the landing of 
 the proposed expedition will be seconded by so general 
 an insurrection, as to insure the subversion of the present 
 government, and silence all opposition in three or four 
 weeks. . . . Active influential characters have been 
 
 Wilkinson s Memoirs, ii., Ap. xcv. 
 
142 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 engaged in these transactions for six or eight months 
 past ; and their preparations are reported to be in such a 
 state of maturity that it is expected the van will reach 
 New Orleans in December, where the necessary organisa 
 tions and equipments are to be completed with prompti 
 tude, and it is proposed that the expedition should sail 
 for Vera Cruz about the first of February." 
 
 Had Wilkinson stopped there he would have come 
 near the truth; but after telling Cushing and others 
 that Burr was at the head of this association, at whose 
 bottom was treason, he had the audacity to say to the 
 President that it was "unknown under what authority" 
 the enterprise had been projected; and that the "inten 
 tion of its leaders, in relation to the Territory of 
 Orleans," was a matter of doubt. This letter was pur 
 posely ambiguous and non-committal the way had to 
 be prepared. The day following, in a confidential dis 
 patch to Jefferson, he said : 
 
 "Although my information appears too direct and cir 
 cumstantial to be fictitious, yet the magnitude of the 
 enterprise, the desperation of the plan, and the stupen 
 dous consequences with which it seems pregnant, stagger 
 my belief and excite doubts of the reality, against the con 
 viction of my senses ; and it is for this reason I shall for 
 bear to commit names, because it is my desire to avert a 
 great public calamity, and not to mar a salutary design, 
 or to injure anyone undeservedly." 1 
 
 Had Jefferson exercised even ordinary discernment 
 he must instantly have seen that Wilkinson was un 
 trustworthy, for in one part of his letter he declared the 
 other false : 
 
 "I have never in my whole life found myself in such 
 circumstances of perplexity and embarrassment as at 
 
 Wilkinson to Jefferson, October 21, 1806; Letters in Relation. 
 
WILKINSON S DUPLICITY 143 
 
 present; for I am not only uninformed of the prime 
 mover and ultimate objects of this daring enterprise, but 
 am ignorant of the foundations on which it rests, of the 
 means by which it is to be supported, and whether any 
 immediate or collateral protection, internal or external, 
 is expected." 
 
 The names he forbore in the first paragraph to 
 commit, by the next had never been part of his informa 
 tion. Extraordinary ! But more extraordinary was the 
 masterly way in which he introduced the subject of the 
 treasonable side of the conspiracy: 
 
 "Should this association be formed in opposition to 
 the laws and in defiance of the Government, then I have 
 no doubt the revolt of this territory will be made an 
 auxiliary step to the main design of attacking Mexico, to 
 give it a new. master in the place of promised liberty. 
 Should the fact be ascertained to me, I believe I should 
 hazard my discretion, make the best compromise with 
 Salcedo in my power, and throw myself with my little 
 band into New Orleans to be ready to defend the capital 
 against usurpation and violence." 
 
 After this sentence remarkable not only for its 
 cunning dissimulation, but also for its characterization 
 of the expedition and the fling at Burr he stated his 
 programme, which was indeed a frank divulgence of 
 what was in his mind, a foreword of the history of his 
 violent usurpation of power in New Orleans. There 
 was, moreover, to this letter a foot-note. The defense 
 in the trial at Richmond took Wilkinson to task over it ; 
 but he attempted to extricate himself by swearing that . 
 the "N. B." in question was a subsequent addition. 
 The original MS., however, bluntly contradicts him: 
 
 "Should Spain be disposed to war seriously with us, 
 might not some plan be adopted to correct the delirium 
 
i 4 4 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 of the associates and by a suitable appeal to their patriot 
 ism to engage them in the service of their country? I 
 merely offer the suggestion as a possible expedient to pre 
 vent the horrors of a civil contest, and I do believe that 
 with competent authority I could accomplish the object." 
 
 Had Wilkinson left no other trace of his desperate 
 effort to make out a case of treason against the West 
 erners which effort was singularly abetted by circum 
 stances and the cumulative energy of a score of years 
 of history of Spanish intrigue and discontent in the 
 West, and little understood had Wilkinson left no 
 other trace of his vicious manoeuvres, of his brazen 
 double-dealings, this note would irretrievably condemn 
 him. He represented to the President that Burr s 
 
 4 followers were desperate "bandits" ; but to make him 
 self secure in any case, he indicated that they might be 
 diverted from their purposes of treason and led against 
 the Spaniards. Truly a wonderful spectacle, a body 
 of traitors metamorphosed into patriots! 1 
 
 While thus engaged in launching his schemes, scat 
 tering alarms in every direction, he did not fail to 
 provide for his own safety. He knew that already 
 the Lexington Gazette and the Western World had 
 assailed his character with incontrovertible evidences 
 
 i of guilt "intriguer and pensioner of Spain, now as 
 sociated with Aaron Burr in reviving the old Spanish 
 Conspiracy" while, in Congress and out, grave suspi 
 cions were aroused against him. The storm was 
 gathering, but with the President to sustain him it 
 might rage unheeded. Therefore, Jefferson s sympa- 
 
 *It is quite remarkable that this foot-note should have been 
 ignored by historians. It vitiates whatever value the letter might 
 otherwise have had. 
 
WILKINSON S DUPLICITY 145 
 
 thies were to be enlisted he was to be drawn into his 
 designs and so compromised that retreat would be 
 impossible. 
 
 In a second letter of October 2ist he confidentially 
 related to the Chief Executive that a paper (the West 
 ern World), recently established in Kentucky for the 
 purpose of taking part in the next Presidential election 
 (this would appeal to Jefferson), had attacked him 
 (Wilkinson), and that he had been "bespattered with 
 obloquy and slandered with a degree of virulence and 
 indecency surpassing all example." 
 
 "I have at times been fearful," he complained, 1 "your 
 confidence might be shaken by the boldness of the vile 
 calumnies leveled at me ; but the reflection that I have 
 not only enjoyed but merited the confidence of General 
 Washington and his administration, anterior to the intro 
 duction of Pinckney, and that the same illustrious charac 
 ter died my friend ; and that the honest but wrong-headed 
 President Adams approved my conduct in opposition to 
 his Ministers, combined with the consciousness that the 
 wealth and power of the wide world could not for a 
 moment divert my course from the path of honor, dissi 
 pated my apprehensions and determined me not to de 
 scend to the task of refuting by ... testimony and 
 authentic documents, every imputation alleged against 
 me, from the most frivolous to the most sane ; I therefore 
 contented myself by directing my attorney to bring an 
 action of slander against the printers, to test their author 
 ities in a court of justice/ 
 
 If suit was ever brought in Wilkinson s name 
 against Street & Wood, publishers of the Western 
 World, no record of it has appeared. The mass of 
 "testimony and authentic documents," we do not lack, 
 
 "Wilkinson to Jefferson, October 21, 1806; Letters in Relation. 
 
i 4 6 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 as he did descend to the task of refuting the charges 
 and we have his Memoirs, which will ever remain a 
 ponderous proof of his infamy. To Jefferson the 
 authentic documents were unnecessary ; but Wilkinson, 
 trembling lest the thread of his life should be "unsea 
 sonably cut," vowed to the President that they were 
 in existence and might be available "to silence the mis 
 representations of my enemies and to justify your 
 predilection" : 
 
 "Pardon, I beseech you, the honest pride which impels 
 me to bare my bosom to you. My ultimate views are 
 limited to the acquisition of an honorable fame. I have 
 ever contemned the sordid interests of the world, and 
 estimate property by its immediate utility only and it is 
 the highest ambition of my soul on a proper occasion, to 
 spend my last breath in the cause of my country. A 
 frail character, but a just one. To you I owe more than 
 I will express, lest I should be suspected of adulation, 
 which I detest. Suffice it [that?] I shall serve the nation 
 with zeal and fidelity, and that your trust can never be 
 disgraced." 
 
 Within two weeks his "ultimate views" were lim 
 ited to the acquisition of an "honorable" fortune, and 
 Jefferson s trust was already disgraced. Apart from 
 the unmasking of his character, the real importance of 
 the foregoing letter hangs on the mention of the West 
 ern World. It proves that the attack on Aaron Burr 
 and his project were not unknown to the man who had 
 "not only enjoyed but merited the confidence of Gen 
 eral Washington," and who was conscious that the 
 wealth of the world could not for a moment divert his 
 course from the path of honor/ Indeed, early in the 
 
WILKINSON S DUPLICITY 147 
 
 year the General had been successfully pricked by 
 communications appearing in the Lexington Gazette. 
 He was there charged with thoughts and deeds which 
 caused him so much uneasiness that he essayed a 
 sweeping denunciation of the whole catalogue : 
 
 "Several vile, malignant, and groundless fabrications," 
 he wrote to Editor Daniel Bradford of the Lexington Ga 
 zette, "having lately issued from your press with design 
 to stab my reputation, I should feel myself unworthy the 
 confidence with which I am honored, did I suffer them, 
 however contemptible, to pass unnoticed. . . . This 
 may be considered the last desperate resort of an expiring 
 faction. ... I have barely time before the departure 
 of the mail to assure [you] that the innuendoes and asser 
 tions of this letter writer are substantially false and 
 groundless." * 
 
 Wilkinson saw that Burr was joined with him in 
 an enterprise which was declared to embrace the old 
 idea of the Spanish Conspiracy with the new one of the 
 invasion of Mexico; that the people were wrought up 
 to a high pitch of excitement, and, keen-witted as he 
 was, he realized that the moment for action had arrived 
 the moment when he should redeem his fame and 
 fortune! He knew from his own earlier experiences 
 that no power could commit the West to the cause of 
 treason, even though at the moment that was the talk 
 of every countryside. So outspoken were the Western 
 ers in their professions of loyalty, he hesitated long 
 before making the charge of disaffection, which he 
 feared could never be supported. His first representa 
 tions charged simply misdemeanor, open and avowed, 
 
 l Lexington Gazette, May 10, 1806. 
 
148 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 or the crime of plotting the unlawful invasion of a 
 neighboring sovereign s domains. Notwithstanding, 
 he was assiduously agitating the former view, and did 
 more than all other forces to fasten the stigma of 
 treason on the followers of Aaron Burr. Even while 
 making his reports to the Government, and outlining 
 his programme of peace with the Spaniards, he cajoled 
 his brother officers with the likelihood of a war, never 
 mentioning the crisis rising along the Ohio. Two days 
 after his plaintive letter to the President, and the day 
 he set out on his march to the Sabine, he wrote to 
 Colonel Freeman, commander in New Orleans i 1 
 
 "Under my present views and impressions, I have not 
 the least doubt, we shall soon be engaged in hostilities, 
 and therefore, every preparation for defence should be 
 made, which our humble means may enable. By buy 
 ing up all the paper to be had in this country, I have made 
 up about thirty-five rounds of musket cartridges for six 
 hundred men a handsome stock for a campaign, and 
 when it may become immediately necessary, to quadruple 
 our force." 
 
 When Wilkinson wrote this he knew there was no 
 probability of an engagement taking place; he set out 
 on his march with but one object in view to make 
 peace with the Spaniards. On the other hand, he 
 brought his letter to a close in a paragraph calculated 
 to try the nerves of any man : 
 
 "Your place," referring to the rehabilitation of the 
 old forts about New Orleans, "is to be completed about 
 the twentieth of December, and in those works have all 
 your artillery, arms, and military stores and utensils 
 
 Wilkinson s Memoirs, ii., Ap. ci. 
 
WILKINSON S DUPLICITY 149 
 
 secured. Should this operation excite enquiry, you are to 
 say the plan of fortification has been varied, and that the 
 Secretary of War has ordered the repairs of the old work. 
 I cannot explain to you, at this time, the causes which 
 prescribe this measure ; but they are of a nature too impe 
 rious to be resisted, and too highly confidential to be 
 whispered, or even suspected. Your silence, therefore, 
 must be profound; and while you pursue the operations 
 most industriously, you must show no anxiety, nor offer 
 allusion (even conjectural) to any specific object," 
 
 A month after Herrera had raised his camp, almost 
 a month after Wilkinson had written that he would be 
 ready to advance, he actually set out with flags flying 
 and scouts and skirmishers in order, fearing, as he 
 said, an attack. It was an idle march, selfishly begun 
 and disgracefully ended. The graphic descriptions 
 some writers have left us of how Wilkinson manoeuvred 
 the Spaniards out of the land, closed an advantageous 
 treaty with them, and rushed in the breach to save the 
 Nation from an army of traitors, once more forcibly 
 illustrates that history can be woven of fiction, and 
 that truth itself may be ofttimes buried under the black 
 stain of the false! 
 
 Without meeting with so much as a Spanish patrol, 
 the American army halted, October 2Qth, on the east 
 bank of the Sabine. Wilkinson had the day before sent 
 a dispatch to Cordero by his aide-de-camp, Walter Bur 
 ling, which was to the effect that, without yielding a 
 pretension or ceding a right, the two powers should 
 retire to Nacogdoches and Natchitoches respectively. 
 Another condition was that the Spaniards should not 
 cross the Sabine, nor the Americans the Arroyo Hondo. 
 A copy of these proposals, Burling tells us, was left 
 
150 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 with Herrera, who commanded on the Sabine. At 
 noon, November ist, the aide delivered his note to Cor- 
 dero; the third, Burling started back with Cordero s 
 answer. The old cavalier, from the fort of Nacog- 
 doches which the American filibusters were to occupy 
 a few years later, replied, as he had done on another 
 occasion, that he could do nothing; that Salcedo held 
 the final decision; and that the proposition had been 
 sent to him with all haste. The Captain-General, how 
 ever, was not destined in the first instance to pass 
 upon it there was no time to wait for his judgment. 
 
 When Burling on his return reached the Spanish 
 camp on the Sabine, Herrera announced his acceptance 
 of the articles. The next day, November 5th, Inspector 
 Viana appeared in the American camp, and the pact 
 known as the Neutral Ground Treaty was duly con 
 cluded. 1 For Wilkinson thi was a great triumph in 
 the eyes of the world the greatest he ever won. It was, 
 in fact, but a phase in an unsurpassed scheme of impos 
 ture and rascality. Such a reconciliation was absolutely 
 essential to the success of his own designs. 
 
 The day after the celebration of the pact of peace 
 with Herrera, Wilkinson sent the following dispatch to 
 Cordero : 
 
 "The conciliatory aspect of your letter which I had 
 the honor to receive yesterday by the hand of my aide- 
 de-camp, Mr. Burling, and the pacific tenor of your cor 
 respondence, have removed from my mind the idea of 
 premeditated hostilities on the part of Spain against the 
 United States. After I have complied with my orders 
 in proclaiming the jurisdiction of the United States here, 
 
 Wilkinson s Memoirs, ii., Ap. xcvii. 
 
WILKINSON S DUPLICITY 151 
 
 it is my desire that the act shall in no wise lessen the 
 amicable spirit existing between my government and the 
 government you have the honor to serve. I shall in a 
 day or two move my troops from this point to Natchito- 
 ches, and I trust that the orders to the troops under your 
 command will not be varied, and will be strictly observed 
 until the conclusion of the negotiations now pending." 
 
 It was a clever ruse of Wilkinson to pretend that he 
 had "proclaimed the jurisdiction of the United States" 
 to the Sabine ; only the -initiated knew that over the 
 region from the Arroyo Hondo to the Sabine neutrality 
 had been declared ; and it was singularly presumptuous 
 in Wilkinson to suppose that Cordero could or would 
 conform to the stipulations of a treaty to which he, as 
 superior officer, had not assented, and which from its 
 very irregularity could have no binding force. The 
 General, however, was satisfied with the situation, 
 which promised at any time to reopen the controversy, 
 and turned with eagerness to the more serious part of 
 his programme the first act of which was to deceive 
 his army. The morning of the fifth of November the 
 following general order was read by Burling to the 
 army which was mustered for review : 
 
 "His Excellency, Governor Herrera, the military chief, 
 immediately opposed to this corps, having agreed to with 
 draw his troops to Nacogdoches and to prohibit their 
 recrossing the v Sabine River pending the negotiations 
 between the United States and Spain, the objects of this 
 expedition are accomplished and the camp will, of course, 
 be raised to-morrow or the next day, and Colonel Cush- 
 ing will lead back the troops to Natchitoches." 
 
 When the reading was finished the General pro 
 ceeded to praise the army in grandiloquent terms for 
 
152 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 having served the country so bravely and so patri 
 otically, flattering in turn each individual company. 
 And thus was announced the Neutral Ground Treaty. 1 
 
 It was highly politic in Wilkinson to conceal the 
 real terms of the treaty. The Spaniards were not to 
 cross the Sabine, but he said not a word about the 
 Arroyo Hondo marking the boundary for the Ameri 
 cans. And it was well that the volunteers, who had 
 been chafing under enforced idleness and who longed 
 for the din of battle, were doubly deceived ; as it was, 
 there was great discontent at the retreat, although the 
 first tremors of the Aaron Burr alarm had already pene 
 trated the camp on the frontier. As late as the trial at 
 Richmond the General covered up his treachery by re 
 fusing to submit the text of the "Convention," throwing 
 the matter back on the Executive with the words, "I 
 do not think myself at liberty to divulge its contents;" 
 answering, "I cannot tell" to the query, "Has the 
 jurisdiction of the United States ever been exercised as 
 far as the Sabine ?" 2 He knew it had not ; so did Jeffer 
 son ; both were indisposed to answer the question. The 
 fact was that the spoils had been surrendered, and both 
 the President and his agent were loath to give out the 
 ill news. The impression was abroad that the Span 
 iards had acknowledged the rights of the Union to the 
 Sabine the ambitions of the Republic were therefore 
 prospering and it would have been a shock, dangerous 
 at the moment, to have dispelled the illusion. It was 
 
 *It was of course in no legal sense a treaty ; it was merely an 
 agreement between unaccredited agents of the two governments. 
 It was, however, in a measure, observed until superseded by the 
 Treaty of Washington (1819). 
 
 Annals of Congress, 1807-08, pp. 226, 227. 
 
WILKINSON S DUPLICITY 153 
 
 only by degrees, slow degrees, that the curtain was 
 lifted. 
 
 While Wilkinson was using a free hand in dispos 
 ing of affairs on the Sabine, the country was eager for 
 the news of war. The Cabinet four heads of Depart 
 ment being present after discussing at length the 
 scheme of Burr, 1 carefully canvassed the situation in 
 Louisiana. 
 
 "October 22. Spain has moved to Bayou Pierre a 
 body of 1,000 or 1,200 men, mostly militia; but 300 regu 
 lars are to join. Our regular force in Mississippi and 
 Orleans Territories numbers 631 exclusive of 210 at 
 New Orleans ; augmented by 240 recruits, the strength 
 is i, 08 1. At Tombigbee is a garrison of 130. But even 
 with this strength Wilkinson asks for 500 mounted men 
 to secure his operations. Governor Meade offers 250 vol 
 unteers for service west of the Mississippi 500 on the 
 east. Claiborne counts on 500 volunteers from the west 
 ern counties of Orleans. It is agreed unanimously to 
 require 500 militia mounted on their own horses from 
 those territories and for a period of six months, and to 
 be ready when called for by commanders of regiments. 
 The marines at New Orleans shall do garrison duty so as 
 to relieve the troops from the city who may be sent up to 
 Natchitoches. 
 
 "October 24. Agreed unanimously that Preble and De- 
 catur are to go at once to New Orleans to take comlnand 
 of the sea forces and that this shall be reinforced after 
 consultation with Smith and Gallatin, if money warrants. 
 Preble shall have discretionary powers on consultation 
 with Governor Claiborne." 1 
 
 Strong measures, however, were not long advo 
 cated. Reports of the conspiracy, threats of war with 
 England, and news from Europe caused the Govern- 
 
 *See p. 93. 
 
 Cabinet Memoranda, Jefferson MSS. 
 
154 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 ment to seek a peaceful way out of the Spanish em- 
 broglio. November 8th, three days after Wilkinson s 
 propositions had been accepted by Herrera, the follow 
 ing order to the General emanated from the Cabinet :* 
 
 The great probability of an amicable and early settle 
 ment of our differences with Spain at Paris has rendered 
 the Executive extremely desirous of avoiding hostilities. 
 He has therefore determined to assume the Sabine as tne 
 temporary line; and that the Spaniards shall not hold 
 any fort save Bayou Pierre beyond the Sabine/ 
 
 But hostilities were thought to have begun already. 
 In that case Wilkinson was to propose to the Span 
 iards : 
 
 i. That hostilities shall be suspended that the 
 Sabine shall be accepted as the temporary boundary 
 the Americans not passing to the west, the Spaniards to 
 the east. 
 
 2. Intercourse shall be restored between the citi 
 zens dwelling on either side. Or, as an alternative, that 
 intercourse shall not be resumed. 
 
 3. Neither party shall establish military posts, but 
 may strengthen those held. 
 
 4. Neither party shall incite the Indians to take up 
 arms. 
 
 5. Citizens or subjects, prisoners of either, shall be 
 released. 
 
 6. The supreme authority of either nation may re 
 voke the treaty, but no action shall be taken without a 
 month s notice. 
 
 Notes. If you cannot agree on the Sabine, make 
 some other boundary. It is imperatively ordered that if 
 hostilities have not begun, Wilkinson must remain on the 
 defensive; and in no event cross the Sabine River. If 
 hostilities have begun, and any Spanish posts east of the 
 Mississippi have been taken, they will be surrendered in 
 case of agreement to suspend hostilities/ 
 
 Cabinet Memoranda, November 8, 1806; Jefferson MSS. 
 
WILKINSON S DUPLICITY 155 
 
 The anxiety of those in power was manifest. Once 
 they had hesitated to move, but the time was now come 
 when war was tacitly accepted, if the foreigners chose 
 to insist on what they deemed their rights territorial 
 rights which were in conflict with the limits of Louisi 
 ana as set by the Americans. However, another turn 
 of the wheel had changed the combinations, and Jef 
 ferson was seized with his chronic malady fear of 
 war and of European entanglements. Once more, with 
 the same empty result, he pinned his faith on Napoleon, 
 who, he believed, meant to settle the dispute creditably. 
 For a moment, too, his easy confidence in the loyalty 
 of the Westerners wavered on the receipt of the news 
 of the formidable preparations of Aaron Burr. Not 
 even the hope of the conquest of the Floridas, in his 
 mind, warranted the continuance of the war (war was 
 supposed to have begun) ; and these precious domin 
 ions, much as Jefferson yearned for them, must be re 
 turned to the enemy in case they had been taken. Such 
 a state of affairs forcibly recalls the time when, through 
 our national weakness, we were brought humbly to the 
 feet of the powers of the Old World. 
 
 But Jefferson, as well as Wilkinson, was misled in 
 believing that the Spaniards had crossed the Sabine 
 for the purpose of fighting. The President was doubly 
 misled, because he calculated on a speedy and complete 
 fulfillment of the orders which had been issued concern 
 ing the expulsion of the enemy. Nevertheless, Wilkin 
 son s procrastination was unparalleled, and now that 
 but one course was open he entered it naturally. 
 The idea of a neutral ground was not original with 
 
i 5 6 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 him, for the Government had discussed it ; but that he 
 should have anticipated the wish of Jefferson was a 
 strong point in his favor. 
 
 Those who wielded the delegated Bourbon authority 
 in New Spain at once appreciated the advantages which 
 had accrued to them through the establishment of the 
 status quo. The Captain-General of the Internal Prov 
 inces left Chihuahua for the frontier as the danger 
 seemed to increase. The news of the agreement reached 
 him at San Antonio de Bexar, whereupon he wrote, De 
 cember 3d, to Viceroy Iturrigaray that "this treaty 
 insures the integrity of the Spanish dominions along 
 the whole of the great extension of frontier." Much 
 correspondence passed between the Viceroy and the 
 home Government concerning not only the establish 
 ment of the status quo, but also the dangers which 
 might arise from the Anglo-American peril. 2 The 
 treaty itself was accepted as a real victory ; and indeed 
 such it was. Without warrant of Congress, without 
 the consent or advice of the Executive, Wilkinson com 
 promised the claim of the United States to what was 
 known as the Neutral Ground ; and without the shadow 
 of authority rendered ridiculous our pretensions to the 
 Rio Grande as the western limit of Louisiana! The 
 mere recognition of a neutral ground presupposed two 
 adjacent areas whose titles are not in doubt. When 
 
 the matter was finally settled in 1819," instead of being 
 "-^ 
 
 ^alcedo to Iturrigaray, December 3, 1806; MSS. Bexar 
 Archives. 
 
 Real Cedulas, vol. 198; MSS. Mexican Archives. 
 
 "Treaty of Amity, Settlement, and Limits between the United 
 States of America and His Catholic Majesty; Foreign Relations, 
 vol. iv. 
 
 
WILKINSON S DUPLICITY 157 
 
 able to offer Texas for Florida West Florida had 
 come to us ( 1810) by revolution, and had been annexed 
 to Louisiana, though we chose to respect the feelings of 
 Spain by pretending to buy it we were obliged to lay 
 the honest debts of our citizens in the scales. Not 
 meaning in any sense to justify the contention that we 
 were by right entitled to the Rio Grande as our bound- 
 dary on the west, it is necessary to view the matter in 
 the light of the time. We claimed the province of 
 Texas, or at least a part of it; had carried on heated 
 diplomatic negotiations concerning it, and thus to yield 
 it 1 without a blow was inexplicable to all save the Gen 
 eral who knew the price of peace. 
 
 With quiet restored on the Sabine Wilkinson hur 
 ried to Natchitoches, which he reached the seventh of 
 November. The same day he sent to Colonel Cushing, 
 who was leading the army to New Orleans, and to 
 Colonel Freeman, documents of varying degrees of 
 intelligibility. 
 
 "By letters found here," he revealed to Cushing, 1 "I 
 perceive the plot thickens; yet all but those concerned, 
 sleep profoundly. My God! what a situation has our 
 country reached. Let us save it if we can. You must 
 instruct Strong by my authority, and therefore leaving 
 
 *For one to realize how lightly this matter has been passed 
 over by historians a few quotations only are necessary. Henry 
 Adams (iii., 314) says: "He [Wilkinson] sent his force for 
 ward to the Sabine, and passed ten days in making an arrange 
 ment with the Spanish officers for maintaining the relative 
 positions of the outposts." McMaster barely mentions the treaty. 
 Schouler avoids the subject altogether. Hildreth, like many 
 others, makes the palpable error of stating that the Sabine was 
 made the temporary line of demarkation. Jefferson, in his mes 
 sage to Congress, December 3d, falls into the same blunder, 
 through Wilkinson s false reports. 
 
 Wilkinson s Memoirs, ii., Ap. xcix. 
 
 
158 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 the minutiae to you, I will barely suggest the propriety 
 of calling his incessant attention to the repair and preser 
 vation of the arms, ammunition, and ordnance deposited 
 with him ; and also to every appurtenant of the quarter 
 master s department. He must keepi a strict eye on the 
 conduct of the Spaniards, on the side of Texhas, and is to 
 advise me by express at New Orleans, of every casualty 
 which may occur, or any change which may be made by 
 them. I have nothing more to add, but to entreat you to 
 accelerate your movement by every practicable means. I 
 think officers who have families at Fort Adams should be 
 advised to leave them there, for if I mistake not, we shall 
 have an insurrection of blacks as well as whites to com- 
 bat. . . . No consideration, my friend, of family or 
 personal inconvenience, must detain the troops a moment 
 longer than can be avoided, either by land or by water ; 
 they must come, and rapidly. On the fifteenth of this 
 month, Burr s declaration is to be made in Tennessee and 
 Kentucky ; hurry, hurry after me, and, if necessary, let 
 us be buried together in the ruins of the place we shall 
 defend." 
 
 It was at least a variation to tell Cushing that the 
 negroes were to revolt ; but he never explained what he 
 meant by saying that Burr s declaration was to be made 
 in Tennessee and Kentucky November 1 5th ; which day 
 the ex-Vice-President spent quietly in Lexington. 
 Then the urgent order for the marching of the troops 
 was converted into arrant nonsense by the dilatoriness 
 of his own movements. To Colonel Freeman in New 
 Orleans he said: 1 
 
 "This will be delivered to you by Major Porter, who 
 descends with a body of artificers, and laboratory men to 
 aid your operations. The Major carries with him speci 
 fic instructions, which you are to respect and support 
 promptly. We must repair the old defenses of the city; 
 it is our only resort, as we shall not have time to do more. 
 
 "Wilkinson s Memoirs, ii., Ap. xcix. 
 
WILKINSON S DUPLICITY 159 
 
 . . . Let your measures be taken, as if by order from 
 the secretary of war ; but profess utter ignorance of mo 
 tives. Manifest no hury or emotion, for you are sur 
 rounded by secret agents, yet use every exertion in your 
 power. ... I shall be with you by the twentieth 
 instant ; in the meantime, be you as silent as the grave." 
 
 It is noteworthy that the matter he wanted kept 
 silent as the grave had already become notorious on the 
 frontier. A friend of Spain in Natchitoches wrote on 
 the eighth instant to Herrera, who had retired to 
 Nacogdoches i 1 
 
 "Our political crisis is going to produce effects of 
 much importance to us and to our neighbors. General 
 Wilkinson has received notices which have occasioned the 
 hasty movement of all the troops to New Orleans. The 
 General said in confidence to a friend that he had news 
 which, he could not then make public, but which the 
 human heart discovers. He went by Natchez to spend 
 one night with his wife, since he had to go forward in 
 great haste to the city in order to direct the operations. 
 There are three conjectures: first, war with Spain; sec 
 ond, a revolution in the States; third, a strong party to 
 unite with Miranda. Lieutenant Murray has received let 
 ters on the latter subject in which he is offered an impor 
 tant position. . . . Orders have been received to 
 fortify New Orleans against these bandits, but the small 
 force of the United States in that city is not sufficient to 
 resist so formidable a body. It is believed that this band 
 of adventurers (quadrilla de vagamundos) will destroy 
 whatever appears before it, and that the public banks will 
 be robbed, the ships in the ports will be equipped, and 
 arms and provisions seized. It is thought that England 
 will be secured by giving her a part or perhaps all of 
 South America. . . . It is rumored that Colonel Burr 
 has been obliged to fly from the interior of the United 
 States and that many of his partisans have been arrested." 
 
 Juan Cortez to Herrera, November 8, 1806; MSS. Bexar 
 Archives. 
 
160 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 Part of this letter sounds as though Wilkinson had 
 dictated it. The truth was, no doubt, that while Wil 
 kinson professed to wish the matter kept a secret, he 
 was carefully scattering it with all its exaggerations. 
 In such a method he knew the mischief would be 
 greater. A striking statement in the letter is the last 
 that Burr had been obliged to fly. As a matter of 
 fact it was but three days before Cortez wrote that 
 Burr was first accused by Daviess in Frankfort. It 
 simply shows that the air was surcharged with rumors 
 of every character. Six days later Cortez forwarded 
 another dispatch. 
 
 "I sent you a letter some days ago which I hope has 
 reached your hands. Yesterday news came here that 
 would seem to prejudice the liberty of America as well as 
 that of its neighbors, and it is a matter which demands 
 our utmost attention. Colonel Burr, ex-Vice-President, 
 has placed himself at the head of 20,000 men under the 
 pretext of revolutionizing and separating the States of 
 the West from the rest of the Union. And it is further 
 stated that the members of Congress from Kentucky, 
 Tennessee, and Carolina have withdrawn from Congress. 
 Various officers here with whom I have talked over the 
 matter say that they believe Burr is in conspiracy with 
 Miranda, who continues to harass the coast of Caracas. 
 Since England is behind him, it is likely they may direct 
 an attack against the Mexican coast, and as Burr is in 
 communication with them he may march to their assist 
 ance with the troops under him and many others which 
 he can command." 1 
 
 When we consider that these letters of Cortez were 
 written a month before Blennerhassett fled from his 
 island, it must appear to what an amazing degree the 
 
 *Juan Cortez to Herrera, Natchitoches, November 14; MSS. 
 Bcxar Archives. 
 
WILKINSON S DUPLICITY 161 
 
 public mind was agitated. Society was prepared to be 
 lieve anything, and waited nervously for some emphatic, 
 explicit denunciation. Wilkinson was the first one in 
 authority to raise his voice ; and when he spoke through 
 the mouth of Jefferson of damnable conspiracy, to the 
 rising commotion was added consternation. This, 
 however, did not mark its height; Wilkinson had not 
 as yet tested his powers. 
 
 The General reached Natchez at noon November 
 nth and repaired at once to the country seat of Major 
 Minor a Spanish officer and wealthy planter where 
 he found his invalid wife dying. The day following 
 his arrival he sent his first notice to Claiborne of the 
 awful storm he knew to have been brewing io: weeks, 
 but the secret of which he had kept close within his 
 breast lest the knowledge of it by the world should 
 have produced incalculable disaster :* 
 
 "You are surrounded by dangers of which you dream 
 not, and the destruction of the American government is 
 seriously menaced. The storm will probably burst in 
 New Orleans, where I shall meet it and triumph or perish. 
 . . . We shall have a thousand troops in the city in 
 three weeks, and I look for succor by sea. I have little 
 confidence in your militia, yet I trust we may find a few 
 patriotic spirits among them. You have spies on every 
 movement and disposition, and our safety and success 
 depends vitally on the concealment of our intentions. I 
 therefore make this communication, in the most solemn 
 confidence, and in the name of our common country, that 
 you do not breathe nor even hint it to the most intimate 
 friend of your bosom. The reserve may be painful, but 
 you must bear it until I see you, which will be in a very 
 few days ; and let me entreat you that all your measures 
 
 Wilkinson s Memoirs, ii., 328. 
 
162 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 may be suspended for my arrival, and that no emotion 
 may be betrayed. Colonel Freeman s line of conduct has 
 been prescribed to him. I shall leave this place the day 
 after to-morrow, but must dismantle Fort Adams, and 
 remove every offensive weapon from it. I fear our gov 
 ernment have been surprised but within six days from 
 the present, the President will be fully apprised of the 
 plot, which implicates thousands ; and among them some 
 of your particular friends, as well as my own. I again 
 solemnly charge you, to hold this communication to your 
 own breast, excepting Colonel Freeman." 
 
 That Wilkinson should have "little confidence" in 
 the citizens who had responded almost to a man to 
 repel the Spaniards, and whom he had a few days 
 earlier praised for their sacrifices and patriotic services, 
 was to be expected there was still some virtue in con 
 sistency! But are we to believe he thought New Or 
 leans seriously endangered? That conspirators to the 
 number of seven thousand were actually concentrating 
 to descend upon the city in the fashion of mediaeval 
 robber-knights ? 
 
 The day he wrote Claiborne he directed a long dis 
 patch to the President which was sent by special mes 
 senger i 1 
 
 "Many circumstances have intervened since my last, 
 confirmatory of the information received, and demonstra 
 tive of a deep, dark, and wicked conspiracy. My doubts 
 have ceased, and it is my opinion, that naught but an im 
 mediate peace in Europe can prevent an explosion which 
 may desolate these settlements, inflict a deep wound on 
 our Republican politics, involve us in a foreign conflict, 
 and shake the Government to its foundation. . . . 
 This is indeed a deep, dark, and wide-spread conspiracy, 
 embracing the young and the old, the Democrat and the 
 
 Wilkinson s Memoirs, ii., Ap. c. { 
 
WILKINSON S DUPLICITY 163 
 
 Federalist, the native and the foreigner, the patriot of 76 
 and the exotic of yesterday, the opulent and the needy, 
 the ins and the outs ; and I fear it will receive strong sup 
 port in New Orleans, from a quarter little suspected. 
 . . . You will perceive on inquiry that my means are 
 greatly deficient, but may rest satisfied that nothing shall 
 be omitted which can be accomplished by indefatigable 
 industry, incessant vigilance, and hardy courage; and I 
 gasconade not when I tell you that, in such a cause, I 
 shall glory to give my life to the service of my country ; 
 for I verily believe such an event is probable; because 
 should seven thousand men descend from the Ohio, and 
 this is the calculation, they will bring with them the 
 sympathies and good wishes of that country, and none 
 but friends can be afterwards prevailed on to follow them : 
 with my handful of veterans, however gallant, it is im 
 probable I shall be able to withstand such a disparity of 
 numbers ; and it would seem we must be sacrificed unless 
 you should be able to succor me seasonably by sea, with 
 two thousand men and a naval armament, to command 
 the mouth of the Mississippi. To give effect to my mili 
 tary arrangements, it is absolutely indispensible New 
 Orleans and its environs should be placed under martial 
 law. ... To insure the triumph of Government 
 over its enemies, I am obliged to resort to political finesse 
 and military stratagem. I must hold out false colors, 
 conceal my designs, and cheat my adversaries into a state 
 of security, that, when I do strike, it may be with more 
 force and effect; and therefore my own bosom, were it 
 possible, should be the sole repository of my determina 
 tions. But independent of considerations of policy, my 
 personal safety will require the most profound reserve, 
 to the last moment of indecision ; for were my intentions 
 exposed, there are more than three desperate enthusiasts 
 in New Orleans, who would seek my life, and although I 
 may be able to smile at danger in open conflict, I will 
 confess I dread the stroke of the assassin, because it can 
 not confer an honorable death." 
 
 This startling message was intrusted to one Isaac 
 Briggs, who, January i, 1807, whilst congratulations 
 
164 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 for the New Year were being received at the White 
 House, dismounted at its door and delivered his letters 
 to Jefferson. When he had opened them he exclaimed : 
 "Is Wilkinson sound in this business?" Briggs replied 
 that there was "not the slightest doubt of it." 1 The 
 equanimity of the President on the occasion was re 
 markable. "Is Wilkinson sound in this business?" was 
 in truth a feeble exclamation to utter over so drastic an 
 exposure of a conspiracy at once formidable in force 
 and execrable in its nature. But Wilkinson s honesty 
 was suspected, and in consequence the President s 
 course for a time was marked by colorless action. He 
 could not yet bring himself to believe that a crisis in 
 the affairs of the Union threatening its existence was 
 actually arrived. 
 
 At the moment Wilkinson wrote to Freeman in 
 New Orleans to hasten the works of defense ; to Cush- 
 ing to "hurry, hurry" ; to Claiborne that he was sur 
 rounded by dangers of which he did not dream ; and to 
 the President that a "deep, dark, and wicked con 
 spiracy" was about to shake the nation to its founda 
 tion at that very moment he was making final ar 
 rangements to send Walter Burling to Mexico on as 
 shameful an undertaking as our history chronicles. 
 When confronted with the fact of this expedition he 
 replied that it went "on grounds of public duty and pro 
 fessional enterprise to attempt to penetrate the veil 
 which concealed the topographical route to the City of 
 Mexico, and the military defenses which intervened, 
 that the equivocal relations of the two countries justi- 
 
 Wilkinson s Memoirs, ii., Ap. lix. 
 
WILKINSON S DUPLICITY 165 
 
 fied the ruse." Hardly had Wilkinson finished his 
 batch of official dispatches when he wrote on Novem 
 ber 1 3th to Burling: 1 
 
 "I have reflected on your proposition respecting a 
 purchase of mules ; I can see no impropriety in it ; but 
 in turning the subject in my mind another of public im 
 portance has struck me; this is to avail yourself of the 
 present alarm produced by Colonel Burr s projects to 
 effect a visit to the city of Mexico by the interior, and to 
 return by water in order to examine both routes, relative 
 to their practicability and the means of defense the Span 
 iards possess. I have long been in quest of this informa 
 tion, but have not succeeded to my satisfaction and deem 
 it at the present posture of public affairs highly interest 
 ing to our country. If you can combine this object with 
 your private views, I will frame instructions for you and 
 will give you a formal passport out of our territories, with 
 express authority to proceed to Mexico for the purpose 
 of advising the viceroy of Burr s meditated designs." 
 
 It is evident from this that the matter of Burling s 
 Mexican trip had been discussed and settled before they 
 reached Natchez perhaps long before. The proposi 
 tion of buying mules was most ludicrous, and was 
 nothing more than a trifling subterfuge. The trans 
 parency of the illicit undertaking as well as its maturity 
 appears in Burling s reply, which came the ensuing 
 day: 2 
 
 "I received your favor late last evening and in reply 
 inform you that I am disposed to forward your views by 
 my best endeavors, provided I can do so without exposing 
 myself to the risk of a dungeon or a Spanish mine. On 
 the subject of the mules, I have made my determinations 
 and shall set out in a few days.." 
 
 letters in Relation. 
 Letters in Relation. 
 
1 66 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 The levity with which the matter was treated is re 
 markable, so cocksure of success were these enterpris 
 ing patriots. The General wrote immediately to con 
 gratulate Mr. Burling, wishing him a successful jour 
 ney, and inclosing the following passport : l 
 
 "To all persons whom it may concern: Whereas, 
 Aaron Burr at the head of a powerful combination of 
 lawless citizens of the United States, in violation of the 
 laws of said states and without the privity of the govern 
 ment, is preparing to carry on an expedition into the 
 territory of his Catholic Majesty, who is at peace with 
 the United States, I have thought proper, agreeably to the 
 principles of good faith, and to exonerate my government 
 from a suspicion of participating in this design, to author 
 ize the bearer hereof, Walter Burling, to pass all guards 
 and garrisons of the United States and to proceed to the 
 City of Mexico, for the purpose of handing to the viceroy 
 a detailed report of said Burr s plans and designs." 
 
 This passport stands out in sharp contrast with the 
 preceding letter to the President. Now the Burr pro 
 ject is only "an expedition into the territory of his 
 Catholic Majesty." The two documents varied with 
 the necessities of the case. 
 
 Wilkinson s good friend Stephen Minor, who still 
 held his Spanish commission, also lent Burling a safe 
 guard. His motive for so doing will probably never be 
 known. He might have been in the secret, but the 
 chances are that he was grossly deceived, that out of 
 a desire to serve his country he unwittingly protected 
 Burling on his mercenary mission. 
 
 "I, Stephen Minor," read the passport, dated Natchez, 
 November I7th, 2 "captain in the royal armies and actu- 
 
 Letters in Relation. 
 MSS. Bexar Archives. 
 
WILKINSON S DUPLICITY 167 
 
 ally in the territory of Natchez by his Majesty s orders, 
 solicit the commanders and governors of the Internal 
 Provinces of the Kingdom of Mexico to pass Walter Bur 
 ling to the City of Mexico on business of the royal service. 
 I beg and supplicate of each that you will supply him 
 with the necessary auxiliaries, so that he may arrive early 
 at his destination." 
 
 Thus fortified, and with a long dispatch for the 
 Viceroy, Burling set out for the capital of New Spain, 
 and before the end of November presented himself at 
 the Spanish camp near Nacogdoches. December ist, 
 Herrera sent an account of the interview to Governor 
 Cordero, who had returned to San Antonio de Bexar i 1 
 
 "Yesterday, General Wilkinson s aide-de-camp, Wal 
 ter Burling, presented himself at this place with a pass 
 port and a letter closed and sealed for the Viceroy of 
 these dominions of Spain, written as it expressed, by Don 
 Estevan Minor; and Burling further stated that he had 
 orders from his General to bear to Mexico to his Excel 
 lency, the Viceroy, which were of the utmost importance 
 concerning the security of the Kingdom. Upon my giving 
 my word of honor to the aide-de-camp, I have learned the 
 details of the General s letter to the Viceroy which only 
 confirms what I wrote you the i8th, iQth, and 2oth of 
 last month relative to the embryo revolution in the United 
 States, with its hostile designs toward the Kingdom of 
 Mexico. In order to allay suspicions I have made it 
 public that they come here to buy mules and horses in 
 this province of the kingdom, agreeably to the harmony 
 which now exists between us and Wilkinson. In order 
 that they may go securely, I have dispatched Captain 
 Jose Maria Sada and my own son, a cadet of infantry, to 
 accompany them as far as Monterey. To disguise the 
 departure of my officers, I have given out that they go 
 to-morrow to the Trinity on business pertaining to the 
 
 Herrera to Cordero, December i, 1806; MSS. Bexar Archives. 
 
1 68 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 Kingdom. Burling did not wish to pass through this 
 plrice [Nacogdoches], for fear some one would write of 
 his mission ; so, I directed him by the road to Bahia del 
 Espiritu Santo." 
 
 From this it is obvious that Burling was given 
 every assistance in his long overland trip through the 
 provinces of Mexico. That he was on any other busi 
 ness than that set forth in his passports seems never 
 to have been suspected. The deception of the Spanish 
 officers was complete. 
 
 Iturrigaray, the ill-starred Viceroy, knew of the 
 approach of Burling and wrote January 20, 1807, to 
 Cevallos that General Wilkinson had sent him an aide- 
 de-camp. "He brings me messages which I suppose 
 must be concerning the designs of the ex-Vice-Presi- 
 dent Burr." 1 A few days later Burling indeed rode 
 into the City of Mexico and delivered his dispatches, 
 and, before the end of February, 1807, returned to 
 the General in New Orleans. March I2th Iturrigaray 
 wrote from Xalapa to the Spanish Minister of State, 
 dealing with Wilkinson s communications, which ex 
 posed the movements and intentions of Burr. The 
 Viceroy goes into detail in this extraordinarily impor 
 tant message. 
 
 "In my letter of January, 2Oth ult.," Iturrigaray be 
 gan, 2 "I said among other things, that I had notice of 
 the approach of an aide-de-camp from the American Gen 
 eral Wilkinson, who brought me dispatches which I sup 
 posed related to the intentions of Colonel Burr. The aide 
 
 Iturrigaray to Cevallos, January 20, 1807; MSS. Mexican 
 Archives. 
 
 Iturrigaray to Cevallos, March 12, 1807; MSS. Mexican 
 Archives. 
 
WILKINSON S DUPLICITY 169 
 
 arrived in fact, and delivered to me the General s letter, 
 a copy of which I inclose to you. In it you will see that 
 he lays great stress on the measures which he has taken 
 at the risk of his life, fame, and fortune in order to save, 
 or at least to protect this Kingdom from the attacks of the 
 insurgents. He calls my attention with extraordinary 
 emphasis to Vera Cruz and its coasts as the point of 
 attack ; even indicating that the bandits, as he calls them, 
 might have reached the City of Mexico. He finally 
 comes to what I had anticipated, the question of payment 
 for his services. He asks for $85,000 in one sum, and 
 $26,000 in another. But, not content with this, he says 
 he considers it just and equitable to be reimbursed for 
 those sums he has been obliged to spend in order to sus 
 tain the cause of good government, order, and humanity. 
 Understanding the desires of the General I destroyed his 
 letter, after it had been translated, in the presence of his 
 aide-de-camp, whose conversation with me did not for 
 ward the demands of his General, nor add anything to the 
 information I had of the intentions of Colonel Burr. In 
 my answer to the General I gave him to understand that 
 the revolutionists had not caused me any alarm ; for I had 
 been long prepared to repel them by force, even though 
 their numbers had been much greater. I informed him 
 that I could not pay the sums of money asked without 
 definite orders from the King; and that I had arranged 
 for the hasty return of his aide. In conclusion I thanked 
 him for his martial zeal, and insinuated that I wished him 
 happiness in the pursuit of his righteous intentions. 
 From here the aide-de-camp went to Vera Cruz, from 
 which port he sailed in the American schooner Liberty, 
 for New Orleans, February loth, accompanied by his 
 interpreter and servants." 
 
 This document speaks for itself. It is the key which 
 unlocks the cipher of Wilkinson s conduct in the 
 month of November, 1806 the month witnessing the 
 establishment of the Neutral Ground Treaty, the accu 
 sation of Burr, and the appearance of the Proclamation. 
 
170 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 The crisis of the conspiracy came with the culmination 
 of the Spanish affair on the Sabine; indeed at this 
 point the crises were merged, were as inseparable as 
 substance and shadow. If the conspiracy were not the 
 shadow, it flourished only in the shadow of the Spanish 
 War agitation. 
 
 r We are now in a position better to estimate the 
 sincerity and unselfishness of General Wilkinson. From 
 the moment Herrera evacuated Bayou Pierre, Septem 
 ber 27, 1806, James Wilkinson had nothing in common 
 with Dayton, Burr, and the rest. It was no longer in 
 his power to compel the war ; Burr and his confederates 
 were making ready for their descent of the river; the 
 country at large was every day becoming more annoyed 
 and alarmed at the preparations for the expedition ; the 
 press viciously assailed both himself and Burr, who 
 were declared in league for the express purpose of 
 establishing a Western empire all of which convinced 
 Wilkinson that now was the time to establish that 
 "honorable fame," and to acquire at a stroke that for 
 tune which he prized for its "immediate utility only" ! 
 To a man of his metal and genius it seemed much easier 
 to turn the tide of public execration against Burr and 
 his base confederates than to prove to the satisfac 
 tion of the courts, after Burr s arrival, that they had 
 not all of them been guilty of a high misdemeanor. So 
 he decided to raise the cry which was to echo for a 
 century "Treason in the West." Viewed in the light 
 of his representation of the conspiracy to the Viceroy, 
 his alarming letters to the President appear somewhat 
 overdrawn, shorn of some of their terribly dramatic 
 
WILKINSON S DUPLICITY 171 
 
 interest; while his heroic language sinks to the level 
 of the mountebank s when written beside the demand 
 made of Iturrigaray. 
 
 It happened by coincidence that the day the Viceroy 
 wrote Cevallos concerning Wilkinson s tale of the con 
 spiracy and his demand for money, the General for 
 warded to Jefferson a report of the condition of 
 Mexico, purporting to have come from Burling. This 
 was accompanied by the request for one thousand five 
 hundred dollars, the amount alleged to have been ex 
 pended on Burling s praiseworthy undertaking. And 
 Jefferson had not the heart to deny one whom he re 
 garded a faithful servant. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The Two Arraignment* of Burr in Kentucky 
 * 
 
 WHILE the inhabitants of Frankfort, Ken 
 tucky, were celebrating the Fourth of July 
 (1806) there appeared on the streets of the 
 city the first issue of a weekly newspaper entitled the 
 Western World. It is never possible to estimate the 
 influence of a force in a community ; but the Western 
 World played no small part in fixing in the minds of 
 the people the idea of treason in the conspiracy. This 
 was accomplished by instilling new life into the old 
 intrigues and treasons which had played a part in Ken 
 tucky politics, especially the Spanish Association which 
 had owed everything to Wilkinson. The case made out 
 against the Spanish conspirators was too strong to 
 be resisted many authentic documents were printed 
 which could not be controverted. Judge Sebastian, 
 formerly associated with Wilkinson, resigned as judge 
 of the Court of Appeals of the State before the commit 
 tee appointed by the Legislature to investigate his con 
 duct could make a report. The attack on Wilkinson 
 led by the Western World was most scathing and vin 
 dictive. But the General was beyond reach. He was 
 aware, however, that he had been branded a pensioner 
 of Spain, and had himself months earlier taken up the 
 controversy in the press from his station in St. Louis. 
 He had written the President, too, that he feared his 
 faith in him might be shaken by those vile calumnies 
 
 172 
 
TWO KENTUCKY ARRAIGNMENTS 173 
 
 which he could refute by unquestioned documents. 
 Here was a vital source of suspicions and misunder 
 standings and the people were compelled to admit, 
 despite their wishes, the truth of the allegations of 
 the sensational press; they realized that at an earlier 
 time Wilkinson and others had been guilty of foster 
 ing a base plot to separate the States to throw one 
 fragment into the power of Spain and now that a 
 new conspiracy was actually under way in their midst, 
 a conspiracy whose leaders were alleged to be Wilkin 
 son and Burr, the trend of their thoughts can be fore 
 shadowed. 
 
 Joseph M. Street and John Wood were the editors 
 and proprietors of the Western World. 1 Nothing is 
 known of Street s antecedents ; the latter had come into 
 notice as the author of a History of the Last Adminis 
 tration, in the suppression of which both Burr and 
 Wood figured and lost heavily in the confidence of the 
 party to which they adhered. Not prospering in New 
 York Wood betook himself to Richmond where he again 
 failed to receive the recognition which his ability as a 
 newspaper hack deserved. He accordingly pushed on 
 over the mountains to Frankfort where he found a 
 more congenial atmosphere, and a field teeming with 
 unexploited sensations. He was now in his ele 
 ment, and the Western World sprang up like a 
 noxious mushroom. Humphrey Marshall, leader of 
 
 , iii., 272, and McMaster, iii., 64, credit Daviess with 
 having established the Western World for the purpose of ex 
 posing the plot of Burr. According to the Palladium for July 6, 
 1806, the World was printed under contract, in the office of the 
 Palladium, for Messrs. Street and Wood. 
 
i 7 4 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 the Federalist faction, became an efficient contributor; 
 but the life of the new publication was Wood, for upon 
 his withdrawal, after the second trial of Burr in Ken 
 tucky, the World ceased to exist. 
 
 The initial number of the periodical contained the 
 first of a series of articles by Marshall on the "Spanish 
 Association." As an apology for the introduction of 
 the subject at so late a date, it was asserted that the 
 seeds of it were only dormant, and that, if it were suf 
 fered to spring up, dire consequences would result. To 
 this startling assertion the Palladium, the official organ 
 of the Government, took immediate exception. It dis 
 countenanced the whole affair, declaring that the time 
 had passed when there was cause for fear; the people 
 of Kentucky were not to be drawn away by chimerical 
 schemes; their devotion to the Union was as ardent 
 and sincere as that of any other portion of its citizens. 1 
 
 From the first the task the Western World set for 
 itself was of the most sensational character. Three 
 topics were designed for discussion: i. The Kentucky 
 Spanish Association; 2. Blount s conspiracy; 3. The 
 Miranda Expedition. 2 The first article on the Spanish 
 Association roused the most heated controversies and 
 recriminations. Street, ignoring a challenge from 
 George Adams, was posted as, a poltroon, and was 
 later openly assaulted. Abuse; however, did not affect 
 the sale of the World, and by the middle of August it 
 boasted a subscription list of one thousand a large 
 clientele for that time. The Palladium opened its col- 
 
 *Palladium, July 10, 1806. 
 Palladium, July 17, 1806. 
 
TWO KENTUCKY ARRAIGNMENTS 175 
 
 umns to replies to the World, and the editor, William 
 Hunter, was straightway accused of having been bribed 
 by the conspirators. 1 Wood and Marshall in their 
 spirited attacks on the Spanish Association, and the 
 enterprise of Blount kept Burr s name always in view ; 
 he was connected in this way with the men who were 
 remembered as having entertained ideas which favored 
 the incorporation of the States west of the Alleghany 
 Mountains with some foreign power. Before the mid 
 dle of September, while Wilkinson was en route for 
 Natchitoches to repel the Spaniards, with the President 
 outwardly blinking at a war, Wood was revealing the 
 secrets of the new project to an over-expectant public : 
 
 "The original design of the Kentucky Spanish Asso 
 ciation has been entirely abandoned. The views of the 
 conspirators are no longer to unite with Spain, but to 
 form Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, the Louisia- 
 nas, and the Floridas into one independent government. 
 The advocates for this measure differ, however, in one 
 point. The majority are for effecting this measure by 
 calling a convention of the people and obtaining the con 
 sent of Congress; but a considerable number, and par 
 ticularly those who at present reside in the Western Terri 
 tory, are for effecting their purpose by force of arms." 8 
 
 This sensational paragraph, as the editors afterward 
 confessed under oath, had no other foundation than the 
 gossip of the hour. Nevertheless it wrought mischief 
 of incalculable degree. That the World, printed at the 
 capital of Kentucky, should calmly discourse of treason 
 was warrant enough for the East, remote and isolated 
 by barriers of nature, to credit reports verging on mad- 
 
 l Palladium, August 21, 1806. 
 ^Palladium, September 18, 1806. 
 
1 76 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 ness. Nor was it sufficient to bring quiet that the 
 World should become a hissing and a byword in the 
 West its insidious preaching won converts against 
 their wills. "The existence of such a conspiracy at the 
 present day," retorted Hunter in the Palladium, refer- 
 ing to the charge of Street and Wood, "cannot be 
 seriously believed by any thinking man of any party, 
 however politic it may be deemed to pretend so." The 
 Lexington Gazette scorned the assertion that the Span 
 ish plot was still in existence; 1 and the National Intelli 
 gencer declared "that our Western brethren are as 
 ardently attached to the Union as the inhabitants of any 
 section of it. We have evidence that the most remote 
 suggestion of a separation fills their minds with alarm, 
 justly viewing it as the most dreadful evil which could 
 befall them." 2 But this was not the view in every 
 quarter. "In a recent issue of the Philadelphia Ga 
 zette, a Federalist paper," reported the Palladium, "the 
 people of this country are represented as ripe for 
 revolt, and that the Kentucky papers openly advocate 
 the idea of a separation from the Union/ It was 
 a ridiculous, insulting notion, commented Hunter, and 
 to see "such stuff" in an Eastern journal occasioned no 
 surprise, for only recently some of the papers in the 
 Atlantic States had avowed that five thousand men 
 were in arms in the West against the Government. 3 
 
 The excitement, despite the fact that few paid 
 serious heed to the assertions of the World, continued 
 to spread. To Joseph Hamilton Daviess, prosecuting- 
 
 ^alladium, August 17, 1806. 
 
 National Intelligencer, November 7, 1806. 
 
 ^Palladium, November 27, 1806. 
 
TWO KENTUCKY ARRAIGNMENTS 177 
 
 attorney for the Federal district of Kentucky, this was 
 particularly pleasing, for he had been sending to the 
 President letter after letter concerning a conspiracy 
 at least of some character. 
 
 Before Graham, the President s agent of inquiry 
 into the conduct of Burr, reached the Alleghanies, 
 Daviess had accused Burr in the Federal court at 
 Frankfort of having violated the laws of the Union in 
 setting on foot an unauthorized expedition against 
 Mexico. November 5th was the day, a day likewise 
 memorable as the date for the establishment of the Neu 
 tral Ground Treaty. Whether the prosecution was ani 
 mated fay Daviess s Federalist affiliations, or by a de 
 sire to profit at the cost of the humiliation of Burr s 
 eager followers, who were Republicans and leaders of 
 State politics, cannot be determined. "Daviess insti 
 tuted the first proceedings against him," recorded Blen- 
 nerhassett in his Journal, 1 "partly from a sense of neg 
 lect on the part of Burr, and through enmity to the 
 President, who he fully believed was concerned with 
 Burr, or connived at his operations." This was written 
 on the strength of a confession of John Wood, the 
 sometime editor of the Western World, and the confi 
 dant of Marshall and Daviess; and who, Blennerhas- 
 sett wrote, had come to Richmond to lend his assistance 
 in righting some of the wrongs he himself had aided 
 in inflicting on Burr. Daviess s pamphlet entitled, A 
 View of the President s Conduct, published after the 
 conspiracy collapsed, is a caustic commentary on his 
 own conduct, and proves, whatever his motives were, 
 
 *Blennerhasset Papers, p. 373- 
 
178 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 that it was not patriotic zeal which spurred him to 
 bring Burr into court. 
 
 A compulsory process was moved before Judge 
 Innes of the Federal court against Aaron Burr ; a sec 
 ond, for compelling the attendance of witnesses. The 
 accused, who was at Lexington when he heard of this 
 proceeding, quietly sent a messenger to say that he 
 would appear on Saturday ; then, knowing that the news 
 would reach Blennerhassett greatly magnified, he wrote 
 him that he had been charged with treasonable practice 
 of some description; that he did not know how the 
 charge was supported; that since the grand jury had 
 made no investigation he presumed the motion had 
 been made to influence public opinion. He concluded 
 by assuring his associate that there was no cause for 
 anxiety as to the outcome. 1 
 
 Burr reached Frankfort Friday ; and Saturday ap 
 peared at the bar. The tribunal, which was presided 
 over by Harry Innes also charged, though without 
 credible proof, with having been influential in the 
 councils of the Spanish Conspirators denied the mo 
 tions of the State s attorney because of their irregu 
 larity; whereupon Burr rose and demanded an exam 
 ination. After the grand jury was impaneled, court 
 adjourned to the next Wednesday to allow time for 
 the summoning of witnesses. "The event spread 
 rapidly throughout the country, generally mingled with 
 error and exaggeration," said the Palladium; and 
 Frankfort was soon crowded with the interested and 
 the curious. At the appointed hour the court was called 
 
 l Blennerhasset Papers, p. 153. 
 
TWO KENTUCKY ARRAIGNMENTS 179 
 
 to order, and as the charge was about to be delivered 
 to the grand jury Daviess rose and asked for its dis 
 charge, saying that he could not proceed since one of 
 his witnesses, Davis Floyd of Indiana, was absent. 1 
 The investigation was accordingly adjourned. 
 
 The affair was roundly ridiculed by the crowd. 
 Daviess had sworn out a compulsory process to bring 
 Burr into court; Burr had voluntarily appeared, and, 
 to the confusion of the attorney, demanded an exami 
 nation which he was not brave enough to attempt. This 
 was peculiarly hard for the prosecutor as there was no 
 legitimate excuse for adopting such tactics. What is 
 more, his knowledge of Burr s project extended over 
 months; and one would have thought, recalling his 
 letters to the President, that there was no detail that 
 had not been considered. The Palladium referred as 
 follows to the incident of the trial : 2 
 
 "Colonel Burr has throughout this business conducted 
 himself with the calmness, moderation, and firmness 
 which have characterized him through life. He evinced 
 an earnest desire for a full and speedy investigation free 
 from irritation or emotion ; he excited the strongest sen 
 sation of respect and friendship in the breast of every 
 impartial person present." 
 
 If Hunter could print such a paragraph, it is the 
 more interesting to contrast the account of Street and 
 Wood, who, now that Burr was actually accused, hast 
 ened to give publicity to the most astounding tales. 
 
 "On this extraordinary occasion," commented the 
 Western World on the accusation of Burr, "we are well 
 
 1 Palladium, November 13, 1806 
 "Palladium, November 13, 1806. 
 
180 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 aware that the field of conjecture will be traveled in 
 every direction by the curious reader and inquisitive poli 
 tician. With ourselves, we confess it has excited neither 
 astonishment nor surprise, being, as we before mentioned, 
 well informed of the subject eighteen months ago. This 
 was the business which we purposed to unfold under the 
 head of the Miranda Expedition. The expedition was 
 only a very inferior part of the scheme, and Miranda him 
 self an inferior agent in the plan. From the steps which 
 have been taken by the public attorney, we now think it 
 improper to enter into a detail of the conspiracy, being 
 assured that he is in possession of all the information of 
 which we are; and that he is a much more proper instru 
 ment than the editors of a newspaper to prevent its 
 accomplishment. The project of Colonel Burr is doubt 
 less of the most extensive nature, and if accomplished will 
 not only affect the interests of the Western country, but 
 of the known world. A revolution in the Spanish prov 
 inces of North America will speedily, when aided by Mi 
 randa, lead to one in South America, and the whole, along 
 with the Western States of the Union organized into one 
 empire, headed by a man of the enterprise and talents of 
 Colonel Burr, will present a phenomenon in the political 
 history of the globe perhaps only equaled by the modern 
 Empire of France." 
 
 A paragraph of more startling political significance, 
 so far as the New World is concerned, has perhaps 
 never appeared in print. Even earlier than this the 
 exaggerated statements of the World had spread over 
 the country, becoming ever further from the truth. 
 The fact that settlements and States were isolated, and 
 that men might be collected and boats constructed and 
 such details not become matters of public notoriety, 
 placed things in a delicate position. And then Street 
 and Wood fortified their former declarations with an 
 actual account of Burr s denunciation by Daviess, infus- 
 
TWO KENTUCKY ARRAIGNMENTS 1 8 1 
 
 ing new life into their statements by the declaration 
 that they had absolute evidence of Burr s complicity in 
 the plot to effect a disruption of the Union; and that 
 they would have exposed this scheme, too, had they 
 not been anticipated by the fast march of events. 
 Not the least of the evil effects resulting from their 
 publications was the lamentable impression which 
 spread throughout the nation concerning the loyalty 
 of the Westerners. So sensational were the charges, 
 so prominent were the characters involved and so por 
 tentous were the proportions of the projected con 
 spiracy, that the articles were copied everywhere and 
 perused with morbid eagerness. 
 
 "A Kentucky paper called the Western World," said 
 the editor of the National Intelligencer, "attracts very 
 great attention here ; among others Judge Prevost, Ed 
 ward Livingston, General Wilkinson, Mr. Burr, Mr. John 
 Brown of Kentucky are charged as concerned in a new 
 conspiracy against the peace of the whole Union, and 
 with meditating a separation of this section from the east 
 ern parts of the Union. Many people here are acquainted 
 with the old conspiracy of a similar kind concerted with 
 the Spaniards and know the leading characters concerned 
 in it, and many wonder how Wilkinson came to be ap 
 pointed to the chief command of our forces." 
 
 With marked demonstrations of approval the West 
 celebrated the collapse of the Frankfort inquiry as a 
 vindication of Burr, while Daviess, Marshall, and the 
 Western World were left to chagrin. The district- 
 attorney complained to the President that Burr s chief 
 friends were supporters of the Administration a bit 
 of information Jefferson could hardly have relished : 
 
1 82 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 "The genuine Republicans left no efforts unemployed 
 to injure me; and every one of these Espanolized Ken- 
 tuckians, not one excepted, were Burr s friends and my 
 persecutor. The people seemed to vie with each other in 
 folly and a zeal to distinguish and caress this persecuted 
 patriot. . . . The secretary told me the governor 
 
 laughed at the idea of Mr. Burr s expedition 
 
 You remark in history that there are times in which 
 whole nations are blind ; this seemed to me to be one." 1 
 
 The Frankfort episode in no wise interrupted the 
 preparations of the conspirator. Blennerhassett had 
 encountered no impediment, and already Andrew Jack 
 son had received three thousand dollars in Kentucky 
 bank notes with orders for the construction of five 
 boats. Jackson was also to purchase supplies, enlist 
 recruits, and in every way prepare for the expedition 
 which was to float down the Cumberland in December; 
 and no time was lost in undertaking the fulfillment of 
 his instructions. Burr again appeared in Cincinnati in 
 company with John Smith. He was now doubtless 
 shown Wilkinson s letter of October from Natchitoches 
 in which he appealed to the Senator to come to his as 
 sistance, and in which he outlined the needs and the 
 course to be pursued in the conquest of Mexico. 2 But 
 Burr and Smith were not aware that Wilkinson had 
 already denounced them to the President ; that the Gov 
 ernment s agent, Graham, was on the Ohio; and that 
 the General was leisurely making his way to New Or 
 leans to protect it against a horde of bandits daily ex 
 pected with Burr at their head to fall upon the city. 
 While the agitation was at its height, Smith gave out 
 
 *View of the President s Conduct, p. 30. 
 *See p. 130. 
 
TWO KENTUCKY ARRAIGNMENTS 183 
 
 the following statement as embodying in substance 
 Burr s communications to him the language is Burr s 
 and it is the most explicit enunciation we have of his 
 concerning the nature of the project : x 
 
 "Mr. Smith, my object in a few months will be dis 
 closed, you will not find it dishonorable or inimical to this 
 Government. I feel superior to the mean artifices which 
 are ascribed to me. Calumniators I do not notice, for as 
 fast as you put one down another will rise up. This 
 much I will tell you, if there should be a war between the 
 United States and Spain, I shall head a corps of volun 
 teers and be the first to march into the Mexican provinces. 
 If peace should be proffered, which I do not expect, I shall 
 settle my Washita lands, and make society as pleasant as 
 possible. In this Government I have been persecuted, 
 shamefully persecuted ; and I am sorry to say, that in it, 
 all private confidence is destroyed." 
 
 When the bubble had burst, Smith, because of his 
 connection with Burr, was practically expelled from the 
 Senate; and his character, though supported by some of 
 the best people of his State, was held up to execration. 
 He was accused of having given comfort to Burr and of 
 having engaged to supply accessories a thousand 
 pack-saddles and an equal number of bear skins. March 
 27, 1807, Smith appealed in vain to the President for a 
 copy of the accusations which had been brought against 
 him. 2 But to prove his untrustworthiness it was enough 
 that Burr should have rested in his house. Leaving 
 Cincinnati for the last time the chief intriguer turned 
 his rein toward Louisville, from which place he 
 
 ^Liberty Hall, February 24, 1807. 
 
 "Smith to Jefferson, March 27, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 
1 84 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 wrote November 27th to Governor Harrison of the 
 Northwest Territory :* 
 
 "Considering the various and extravagant reports 
 which circulate concerning me, it may not be unsatisfac 
 tory to you to be informed (and to you there can be no 
 better source of information than myself) that I have 
 no wish or design to attempt a separation of the Union, 
 that I have no connection with any foreign power or 
 government, that I never meditated the introduction of 
 any foreign power or influence into the United States, 
 or any part of its territories, but on the contrary should 
 repel with indignation any proposition or measure having 
 that tendency; in fine, that I have no project or views 
 hostile to the interest, or tranquillity, or union of the 
 United States, or prejudicial to its government; and I 
 pledge you my honor for the truth of this declaration. 
 It is true that I am engaged in an extensive speculation, 
 and that with me are associated some of your intimate 
 and dearest friends. The objects are such as every man 
 of honor and every good citizen must approve. They 
 have been communicated to several of the principal offi 
 cers of our government, particularly to one high in the 
 confidence of the Administration. Indeed, from the 
 nature of them it cannot be otherwise." 
 
 While in Louisville, November 2jth the very day 
 the people in the East read the Proclamation of the 
 President against the conspiracy, and New Orleans 
 felt the presence of James Wilkinson Burr heard that 
 Daviess had renewed his motion against him. Burr 
 immediately wrote Clay to come to his assistance, 2 and 
 himself started for Frankfort. Tuesday, November 
 25th, the district-attorney had in fact appeared before 
 the Federal court to renew his motion for a grand jury 
 to inquire into the conduct of Aaron Burr. The request 
 
 1 Clark s Proofs, Ap., p. 17. 
 
 * Colton s Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 13. 
 
TWO KENTUCKY ARRAIGNMENTS 185 
 
 was readily granted and the marshal was ordered to 
 have the jury summoned for the session of the next 
 Tuesday. Subpoenas were issued for witnesses, and 
 all was made ready for the trial. 1 Burr reached Frank 
 fort Sunday, the thirtieth, and the next morning sent 
 Clay a categorical denial of the rumors in circulation 
 concerning his project : 2 
 
 "I have no design, nor have I taken any measure, to 
 promote a dissolution of the Union, or a separation of any 
 one or more States from the residue. ... I do not 
 own a musket nor a bayonet, nor any single article of mili 
 tary stores, nor does any person for me, by my authority 
 or with my knowledge. . . . Considering the high 
 station you now fill in our national councils, I have 
 thought these explanations proper, as well to counteract 
 the chimerical tales, which malevolent persons have so 
 industriously circulated, as to satisfy you that you have 
 not espoused the cause of a man in any way unfriendly to 
 the laws, the government, or the interests of his country." 
 
 Once more Henry Clay, the great nationalist leader 
 the eloquent arraigner of Great Britain in 1812, the 
 author of the Compromise Measures of 1850 re 
 sponded to Burr s call. It was his honest belief that 
 Burr was innocent, that enemies were pursuing him 
 with malice ; and his opinion was not changed until he 
 read Jefferson s report to Congress, which, together 
 with the Proclamation, produced in the public mind an 
 incontestable belief in Burr s guilt. Clay wrote from 
 Washington, February i, 1807, to his father-in-law, 
 Colonel Thomas Hart : 3 
 
 ^Palladium, November 27, 1806. 
 2 Prentice s Henry Clay, p. 32. 
 
 8 Henry Clay to Colonel Thomas Hart, February I, 1807; 
 Clay MSS. 
 
1 86 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 "It seems that we have been much mistaken about 
 Burr. When I left Kentucky, I believed him both an 
 innocent and persecuted man. In the course of my jour 
 ney to this place, still entertaining that opinion, I ex 
 pressed myself without reserve, and it seems owing to 
 the freedom of my sentiments at Chillicothe I have 
 exposed myself to the strictures of some anonymous 
 writer of that place. They give me no uneasiness, as I 
 am sensible that all my friends and acquaintances know 
 me incapable of entering into the views of Burr. It 
 appears from the President s message to Congress, in 
 answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives, 
 calling for information, that Burr had formed the no less 
 daring projects than to reduce New Orleans, subjugate 
 Mexico, and divide the Union/ 
 
 Every act of Clay s splendid career protests against 
 the statement which we find too often made that he, 
 like Smith and Jackson, sought only a cover for his 
 credulity. Some have written only too clearly that 
 that satisfied he had no scruple against appearing in 
 court in order to thwart a process of justice and to 
 preserve a traitor. 
 
 December 2d court met pursuant to adjournment. 
 Judge Innes read his charge to the grand jury in due 
 form and with emphasis as to the necessity for a rigid 
 investigation to be made into the conduct of certain 
 revolutionary characters. The same day the jury filed 
 back into court to say that they had no presentments 
 to make, and that the district-attorney had preferred no 
 indictments to them. Daviess then moved that the 
 grand jury be adjourned until ten o clock on the fol 
 lowing day when he would file indictments. He took 
 occasion to say that "Burr s presence was not required 
 and that it appeared rather ostentatious than useful or 
 
TWO KENTUCKY ARRAIGNMENTS 187 
 
 proper." Clay and Allen, acting for the defendant, 
 replied that the grand jury after being sworn and 
 charged could meet when it pleased, and retorted that 
 the presence of their client in court was entirely proper. 
 
 Wednesday, when court had been called, Daviess 
 presented a paper to the foreman, saying, "This is an 
 indictment against Senator John Adair." He next in 
 sisted before the court that he should have the right to 
 go before the grand jury to question the witnesses. This 
 contention involved a fundamental principle in the 
 practice of the courts and provoked a heated discussion, 
 Clay and Allen denying the existence of such a right. 
 They argued that if the prosecution were correct, then 
 must the defense also have representation ; and that the 
 logic of this meant the conversion of the grand jury 
 into a trial court. Daviess at once accused Burr of 
 wishing to thwart the examination. Burr replied that 
 when he had first heard that a charge was about to be 
 exhibited against him he had hastened to present him 
 self before the court; that now a second time he had 
 appeared without compulsory process, and that he had 
 even aided the prosecutor in procuring witnesses; he 
 desired an investigation and hoped that it would be 
 satisfactory, but trusted that it would be conducted 
 according to the established rules of law. Judge Innes 
 decided that the contention of the prosecution was un 
 founded. 
 
 Thursday Daviess remarked that he had prepared 
 some special sets of questions which he desired the 
 grand jury to use in the examination of certain wit 
 nesses. To this request, though somewhat irregular, 
 
1 88 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 both Burr and Adair readily assented. Then the in 
 quiry proceeded, but the suspense was not of long 
 duration ; the jury soon reported the indictment against 
 John Adair, "Not a true bill." The substance of the 
 indictment read that August i, 1806, John Adair of 
 Mercer County did arm and set on foot an unlawful 
 expedition against the Spanish Kingdom of Mexico, 
 against the peace and dignity of the United States. It 
 I is interesting to find that no reference is made to a 
 project to revolutionize the States west of the Alle- 
 ghanies. When the report of the foreman had been 
 registered, Daviess formally preferred an indictment 
 against Aaron Burr : 
 
 "United States of America, Kentucky District, to wit : 
 The grand jury of the United States in and for the body 
 of the said district, do on their oaths present, that a cer 
 tain Aaron Burr, late of the city of New York and vice- 
 president of the United States, did with force and arms 
 at the county of Fayette in said district, on the 25th day 
 of November last past wilfully and unlawfully, and from 
 evil premeditation, then and there set on foot and prepare 
 for a military expedition against the dominions of the 
 King of Spain, who is an European friend, at peace with 
 the said United States, to wit against the provinces of 
 said King, in North America contrary to the laws of the 
 United States in such cases provided, and against the 
 peace and dignity thereof." 
 
 Thus ran the first count in the indictment; there 
 was another which alleged that on the day in question 
 in the county of Jefferson a similar misdemeanor had 
 been committed. No mention was made of treason in 
 the indictment, though strangely enough Wilkinson 
 had already begun his tales of treason in New Orleans, 
 while Jefferson at Washington, through the General s 
 
TWO KENTUCKY ARRAIGNMENTS 189 
 
 confidential communications, had been led to denounce 
 in unqualified terms the threatening combinations 
 forming on the Ohio. Though Daviess had not ven 
 tured to charge Burr with treasonable practice, he had 
 taken occasion to assert in court that such was also in 
 contemplation. Therefore, Friday brought intense ex 
 citement. The town of Frankfort was crowded with 
 people who had come to attend the trial and to see the 
 celebrities. Everywhere the conspiracy was the all- 
 engrossing subject; but there were few who believed 
 with Daviess that a terrible calamity was impending. 
 Early in the day attention became centred in the action 
 of the grand jury. Who were the witnesses? What 
 would be the nature of the indictment? Excitement 
 rose to a high pitch when witnesses were sent for whose 
 names the ardent prosecutor for some reason best 
 known to himself had failed to submit, notably Street 
 and Wood. For months these editors had stirred the 
 country with their versions of the Spanish Association 
 and Blount s Enterprise, and had gone so far as to 
 issue an address to the people : 
 
 "The editors of this paper are called on by William 
 Littell and certain of the amiable youth of Frankfort, to 
 produce proofs of what they allege about the conspira 
 tors. Fellow citizens we will do no such thing. . . . 
 If you will sue us for slander, we will plead justification. 
 We will go into no paper war about it with William Littell, 
 William Hunter, the two constellations of prostitution; 
 or any of your hirelings. We will publish your guilt in 
 print ; but we will enter into no dispute with any of you 
 about it in print. And our Federalist friends have point 
 edly advised us by no means to suffer. any of our evidence 
 to be made known before it is called for in court." 1 
 
 ^Lexington Gazette, September 8, 1806. 
 
190 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 Daviess and Marshall were doubtless the Federalist 
 friends and advisers who feared an inopportune ex 
 posure of the testimony ; and it is therefore all the more 
 inexplicable why the patriotic Daviess chose to let 
 another occasion pass without giving the conspiracy a 
 thorough airing. Moreover there had recently ap 
 peared in the World a statement of the utmost import 
 now that Burr was accused and the editors were to 
 testify. The people remembered having read a declara 
 tion to the effect that the editors were intimately in 
 formed of all Colonel Burr s projects, which, at the 
 proper time, they would lay before the public i 1 
 
 "No set of men are held in greater abhorrence," began 
 the audacious paragraph, "than the leaders of the Feder 
 alist and Burr factions, or any faction whatever. There 
 are Burrites, however, in the state of Kentucky, and we 
 know them, but happily they are only to be found among 
 the conspirators we are now exposing. We were well 
 acquainted with the object of Colonel Burr s visit to the 
 state of Kentucky before he left the city of Washington. 
 We know the proceedings of his agents in this state, at 
 Orleans and at St. Louis ; we are perfectly informed 
 of the nature of his contract with General Wilkinson, as 
 likewise the articles agreed to at Frankfort between him 
 and Mr. John Brown. But these will be detailed in the 
 concluding part of our narrative." 
 
 The grand jury deemed this a very proper occasion 
 for the disclosure of the "narrative," and the crowd, 
 eager and impatient, awaited its report. No one knew 
 what testimony the implacable editors of the turbulent 
 sheet might bring into court. Street was first called 
 and, astonishing as it may seem, upon oath declared 
 
 ^Western World, July 12, 1806; Palladium, December 11,1806. 
 
 S 
 
TWO KENTUCKY ARRAIGNMENTS 191 
 
 that he could give no information relative to the 
 charges set forth ; that his knowledge had been derived 
 wholly from hearsay ; that he knew no one who could 
 testify in the case! The jury had called for a file of 
 the Western World, and when John Wood was intro 
 duced he was asked questions based upon paragraphs 
 he had himself written. According to his own con 
 fession in A Full Statement he was obliged to admit 
 the falsity of the charges as well as the unfounded 
 slanders which had been uttered. 1 Indeed he made 
 bold to say that for some time he had been changing 
 his mind concerning Burr, finishing with the amazing 
 statement that he was persuaded Burr had no inten 
 tions which antagonized the laws and interests of the 
 United States ! 2 Such an admission was a fitting close 
 to the investigations of the grand jury. The two men 
 in the Western country who pretended to know all that 
 was necessary to establish guilt, had attested on their 
 oaths that they knew nothing. The other witnesses 
 were in no better plight; so the jury filed in at two 
 o clock and returned the indictment "Not a true bill." 
 Their labors were not ended, however; they felt that 
 the prevailing excitement warranted their issuing a 
 statement : 
 
 "The grand jury is happy to inform the court that no 
 violent disturbance of the public tranquillity, or breach of 
 laws has come to their knowledge. We have no hesita 
 tion in declaring, that having, carefully examined and 
 scrutinized all testimony which has come before us, as 
 
 *A Full Statement of the Trial and Acquittal of Aaron Burr 
 by John Wood, p. 24 (Alexandria, 1807). 
 
 ^Palladium, December 11, 1806. A Full Statement, p. 35- 
 "Palladium, December 11, 1806. 
 
192 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 well on the charges against Burr, as those contained in the 
 indictment preferred to us against John Adair, that there 
 has been no testimony before us which does in the smallest 
 degree criminate the conduct of either of those persons ; 
 nor can we, from all the inquiries and investigation of the 
 subject, discover that anything improper or injurious to 
 the interest of the Government of the United States, or 
 contrary to the laws thereof, is designed or contemplated 
 by either of them." 
 
 When the foreman, Abraham Kite, had finished the 
 reading of the special report, the district-attorney said 
 that there was nothing further, and thereupon the jury 
 was dismissed. It was an agonizing moment for 
 Daviess and his advisers it was a fate too well de 
 served. Again Burr had been vindicated; once more 
 the people applauded, and to show their apprecia 
 tion they gave a grand ball in his honor. Daviess and 
 his party attempted a counter fete which was a total 
 failure. 1 As the report of the miserable fiasco of 
 Daviess s accusation spread abroad the Westerners 
 were reassured of the innocence of Burr s designs as 
 respected the Union, but in some circles the result was 
 accepted as proof of an illicit alliance between the con 
 spirator and the people. To Jefferson it appeared that 
 Burr owed his liberation to want of discretion and 
 
 L 
 
 details of the second trial have been presented in the 
 belief that they were necessary to the rational study of the con 
 spiracy. Another reason also appears it affords an opportunity 
 for drawing a sharp parallel between contemporary writing and 
 generally accepted conclusions. Henry Adams (iii., 282) says 
 concerning the second arraignment of Burr, "A second time the 
 scene of outraged virtue was acted. Once more the witnesses 
 vanished. Senator Smith saddled his horse and fled; Adair 
 would not appear; and the judge lent his weight to the criminal. 
 . . . Burr was discharged with enthusiastic applause, with 
 out a stain on his character." McMaster (iii., 69) closely follows 
 Adams. 
 
TWO KENTUCKY ARRAIGNMENTS 193 
 
 talent in Daviess, and the latter was accordingly re 
 moved from office. At the moment Burr "for whose 
 honor and innocence," Clay said, "he could pledge his 
 own," felt the full tide of public favor, a tide which 
 had already started on its receding course. That Burr 
 was guilty of treasonable practices was not believed by 
 the people of Kentucky; but that he meditated an en 
 terprise against the dominions of a neighboring Prince, 
 based on the contingency of a war, was asserted un 
 hesitatingly. To prepare for an emergency, which was 
 deemed unavoidable was no offense. Indeed, war was 
 scarcely thought necessary to give license to the in 
 vasion of so afflicted a land as Mexico. Six years 
 later there were half a thousand Westerners who main 
 tained so stoutly this belief that the hold of the Latin 
 race on the great empire of Texas was loosed never to 
 be regained. Amid all the rumors and accusations the 
 people of the West were Burr s steadfast friends, 
 never wavering under the charges of the Western 
 World, never heeding the danger signals of Daviess 
 and Marshall. Not till the appearance of the Presi 
 dent s Proclamation was the uprightness of Burr s mo 
 tives questioned. That transformation scene is without 
 a parallel in our history ! 
 
 After the Cabinet meeting at the end of October, 
 Jefferson took no further notice of the conspiracy until 
 Wilkinson s startling letters of October written at the 
 moment the resolution was taken to dispatch Graham 
 on Burr s trail were received. However, the Presi 
 dent had had more than one warning. Duane, editor 
 of the Aurora and national political factor, counseled 
 
194 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 him as early as November 4th to take some step to 
 counteract the public alarm. Rumors were in circula 
 tion, he said, of dangerous disturbances in Kentucky. 1 
 
 "It might be of some importance," he suggested, "by 
 some means to settle the public feeling on the subject. 
 The whole country will be with you if there is any actual 
 emergency. If there is not, the Administration may de 
 rive great advantage from a seasonable counteraction of 
 the alarm." 
 
 With Jefferson the season for allaying the alarm 
 was slow in arriving. Yet all the while apart from 
 the newspapers he had notices of the brewing storm. 
 Five days later than Duane, Caesar A. Rodney, who 
 was shortly to become Attorney-General, uttered his 
 suspicions :* 
 
 "The aspect of affairs to the westward," said he to the 
 President, "is still unpleasant. The Spaniards give us 
 most uneasiness, thQugh rumors on the subject of some 
 secret conspiracy increase the public anxiety. I cannot 
 give credence to these vague reports, nor can I believe 
 there is a desperado in the United States capable of 
 attempting the mad project of revolutionizing the West 
 ern states." 
 
 The President s view of the enterprise at that date 
 was truly very singular. He simply said in reply 
 to Duane, November 24th, the day before Wilkinson s 
 special messenger galloped into Washington: "In the 
 western quarter great things have been meditated ; but 
 they will probably end in an attempt upon the public 
 lands, and the question will be whether we have author 
 ity legally to oppose them with force." 3 
 
 *Duane to Jefferson, November 4, 1806; Jefferson MSS. 
 Rodney to Jefferson, November q, 1806; Jefferson MSS. 
 Jefferson to Duane, November 24, 1806 ; Jefferson MSS. 
 
TWO KENTUCKY ARRAIGNMENTS 195 
 
 But Jefferson s opinion was suddenly and utterly 
 changed by Wilkinson s revelations, which were de 
 livered November 25th at the White House. 1 The 
 Cabinet was summoned in haste. The record of its 
 action is left us in Jefferson s hand : 2 
 
 "November 25. Present at first the four heads of de 
 partment, but after a while Gen. Dearborne withdrew 
 unwell. Despatches from General Wilkinson to myself 
 of October 21, by a confidential officer (Lieutenant 
 Smith) show that overtures have been made to him which 
 decide that the present object of the combination is an 
 expedition by sea against Vera Cruz ; and by comparing 
 the contents of a letter from Cowles Meade to the Secre 
 tary of State, with the information from Lieutenant Smith 
 that a Mr. Swartwout from New York, brother of the 
 late marshal, had been at General Wilkinson s camp, we 
 are satisfied that Swartwout has been the agent through 
 whom overtures have been made to Wilkinson. We came 
 to the following determinations : That a proclamation be 
 issued (see it), and that orders go as follows: to Pitts- 
 burg, if we have a military officer there, write to him to 
 be vigilant in order to discover whether there are any 
 preparations making, or boats, or arms, or other military 
 stores or means providing by any persons against whom 
 there is reasonable ground to suspect that they have in 
 contemplation a military enterprise against any of the 
 territories of Spain (contrary to the statute, June 5, 1794, 
 c. 50) ; to stop all bodies of armed men who may be 
 assembled to descend the Ohio under circumstances and 
 appearances so different from those of common emigrants 
 as to induce a reasonable suspicion that they are part of 
 a combination of persons believed to have such an enter 
 prise in view ; to have them bound to the observance of 
 the peace and good behavior, or put in a course of legal 
 prosecution, according to the strength of the evidence; 
 
 *See pp. 141-143- 
 
 Cabinet Memoranda, November 25, 1806; Jefferson MSS. 
 Cf. Adams, iii., 283. 
 
196 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 and for this purpose to call in the aid of the militia. If 
 we have no officer there, then write to General Neville. 
 Marietta, Mr. Gallatin is to write to the collector to pro 
 ceed to seize the gunboats building in that neighborhood 
 and suspected to be destined for this enterprise, and to 
 call in the aid of the militia. General Dearborne to write 
 to Governor Tiffin to furnish a guard of militia, sufficient 
 for the detention of the boats; and to write to General 
 Jackson, supposed to be the General of the Brigade on the 
 Virginia side of the river, to furnish any aid of militia 
 which may be necessary from the left bank of the river. 
 Louisville, General Dearborne to write to the Governor 
 of Kentucky of the same tenor as to the officer at Pitts- 
 burg. Massac, General Dearborne to give orders to 
 Captain Bissell of the same tenor, and particularly to stop 
 armed vessels suspected on good grounds to be proceed 
 ing on this enterprise, and for this purpose to have in 
 readiness any boats he can procure, fitted for enabling 
 him to arrest their passage ; Chickasaw Bluffs, give 
 same orders as to Bissell ; Fort Adams, ditto ; New 
 Orleans, General Wilkinson to direct the stations of the 
 armed vessels, and if the arrangements with the Span 
 iards will permit him to withdraw, let him dispose of his 
 force as he thinks best to prevent any such expedition, or 
 any attempt on New Orleans or any of the boats or mili 
 tary stores of the United States. (He is also to arrest 
 persons coming to his camp and proposing a concurrence 
 in any such enterprise, or suspected of being in camp 
 with a view to propagate such propositions. This addition 
 is made by General Dearborne with my approbation.)" 
 
 The enforcement of these resolutions would have 
 left no vestige of the conspiracy, and yet the key to the 
 situation was in the hands of a man almost universally 
 distrusted. Notwithstanding the fact that Wilkinson s 
 conduct had been questioned in Cabinet council and that 
 his dispatches were obviously double-faced, the Presi 
 dent was ready to grant him the power he was to as 
 sume on his own account in the Creole City. The 
 
TWO KENTUCKY ARRAIGNMENTS 197 
 
 General could say in one letter that the expedition was 
 directed against Mexico; in a second, possibly against 
 the States; and could ask to be so empowered that he 
 might direct the combination, even though traitorous, 
 against the Spaniards and still the President with 
 stoical blindness failed to penetrate the deception nay, 
 contrariwise, read into the communications an hon 
 est denunciation ! Forthwith the forces of the Govern 
 ment were concentrated in an effort to overcome the 
 dastardly conspirators on the strength of a vague ac 
 cusation by the chief of the army who at the moment 
 was entering New Orleans fresh from his venal Sabine 
 campaign. 
 
 The day after the Cabinet session,, orders were sent 
 to Marietta to post one hundred and fifty or two hun 
 dred militia on the river to prevent the passing out of 
 Burr s "gunboats." On the twenty-seventh Dearborn 
 wrote Wilkinson : "You will use every exertion in your 
 power to frustrate and effectually prevent any enter 
 prise which has for its object, directly or indirectly, 
 any hostile act on any part of the territories of the 
 United States, or on any territories of the King of 
 Spain." Then on the twenty-seventh Jefferson pub 
 lished his Proclamation which was to contribute more 
 than all else toward the annihilation of the movement : 
 
 "Whereas information has been received," ran that 
 notable State paper, "that sundry persons . . . are 
 conspiring and confederating together to begin . . . 
 a military expedition or enterprise against the dominions 
 of Spain; that for this purpose they are fitting out and 
 arming vessels in the western waters of the United 
 States, collecting provisions, arms, and military stores, 
 
i 9 8 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 and means ; are deceiving and seducing honest and well- 
 meaning citizens, under various pretenses, to engage in 
 their criminal enterprises; are organizing, officering, and 
 arming themselves for the same, contrary to the laws in 
 such cases made and provided : I have therefore thought 
 proper to issue this, my proclamation, warning and en 
 joining all faithful citizens who have been led without 
 due knowledge or consideration to participate in the said 
 unlawful enterprise to withdraw from the same without 
 delay." 
 
 Furthermore, the civil and military officers of the 
 United States and the faithful citizens were enjoined 
 to be vigilant in suppressing the expedition; to seize 
 the boats and arms, to give "information against them 
 to the proper authorities" ; to bring the guilty to con 
 dign punishment. Under the cover of this Proclama 
 tion the President hoped to defeat Burr, be his scheme 
 what it might; and it seemed from Wilkinson s dis 
 patches to be both treasonable and filibustering. But 
 Jefferson had not the spirit to call it treasonable, al 
 though there lurked in the urgent language an ill-dis 
 guised reservation which the public at once interpreted 
 as fraught with sinister meaning. Erskine, the Brit 
 ish Minister, discussed the Proclamation : 
 
 "It is necessary further to remark upon the Proclama 
 tion," he wrote to Fox December 4th, "though it is appar 
 ently leveled against sundry persons engaged in militarv 
 and unlawful enterprises against Spain, yet that it is also 
 well known to allude to supposed conspiracies to effect a 
 separation of the Western States from the rest of the 
 Union, and which Mr. Burr is suspected to be engaged in 
 forming. . . . Whether it will turn out that the con 
 spiracy has not been widely spread or deeply planned the 
 investigation of the matter which will shortly take place, 
 as Mr. Burr has been arraigned, must discover ; but it is 
 
TWO KENTUCKY ARRAIGNMENTS 199 
 
 not reasonably to be supposed that Mr. Jefferson who 
 has always pursued a temporizing line of conduct, in 
 domestic politics and indeed toward all foreign nations 
 except Great Britain, should have adopted such strong 
 measures without having very strong proof of the exist 
 ence of such conspiracies and of the importance of sup 
 pressing them/ 1 
 
 The world also thought that the President possessed 
 "strong proofs" and believed him accordingly. 
 
 "Some weeks ago it was our opinion," read a most 
 significant editorial in the Lexington Gazette for Decem 
 ber i Qth, "that Burr s designs were not unfavorable to 
 the interests of the Union. This opinion was predicated 
 upon the information of persons whom we believed to be 
 in his confidence, and from a belief that he hnd too much 
 sense to think of withdrawing the attachment of the citi 
 zens of the Western country from the government of 
 their choice. Our opinion was that he meditated an at 
 tack on Mexico by the authority of the government 
 9 should a war take place with Spain of which there ap 
 peared a strong probability. To this opinion we thought 
 it improper to give publicity through the public prints, 
 in as much as it might convey notice to the Spaniards of 
 the meditated attack, and enable them to prepare to repel 
 it ; but we never hesitated to do so in conversation. How 
 ever, we now declare that opinion changed by the Presi 
 dent s Proclamation and Communication to Congress and 
 by the statement of General Eaton." 
 
 This paragraph written large well expresses the 
 revulsion which took place in the Western mind. It is 
 equally interesting for the light it casts upon the nature 
 of the project. Burr had not been gone ten days from 
 Lexington where he had been the most courted of men 
 and where had been the rendezvous of the conspirators, 
 
 Erskine to C J. Fox, December 4, 1806; MSS. British 
 Archives. 
 
200 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 when this summary judgment was pronounced. And 
 his very friends became out-spoken enemies. Now in 
 very fact the old ghosts of Spanish conspirators and 
 separatists became real, living threatening to waste 
 the land with fire and sword. The people were caught 
 in the torrent of rumors and swept farther from their 
 moorings than at any other period in the history of 
 America. From east to west, from north to south the 
 country rose from disquietude to panic ; and under the 
 influence of the Proclamation from doubt to cer 
 tainty of the blackness of Burr s designs ! But wild as 
 the excitement became in Ohio and Kentucky it was 
 the unhappy fate of New Orleans to be most accursed ; 
 for it was there that the arch-alarmist of the century 
 was to play his role of unmitigated wrong. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Wilkinson in New Orleans. 
 
 NOTWITHSTANDING the fact that Wilkin 
 son had written the President that he would 
 leave Natchez for New Orleans November 
 1 4th, and that the emergency demanded hasty action- 
 busying himself with Burling, all oblivious of the gath 
 ering storm which he had avowed would shake the na 
 tion to its foundation he delayed, only reaching the 
 capital of Louisiana the twenty-fifth of November, a 
 month and a half after he had had notice from Burr that 
 his expedition was ready to go forward. The General s 
 coming was regarded with the gravest concern. The 
 recent crisis on the frontier had been and was the 
 only topic of conversation ; and now that labor on the 
 fortifications proceeded with redoubled energy forts 
 reconstructed, immense amounts of lumber and pickets 
 purchased, and a street blockaded public curiosity 
 increased to an alarming degree. 1 Meanwhile Wilkin 
 son kept his own counsel, not even disclosing his pur 
 pose to Claiborne until the month was almost run out. 
 The Governor at once fell under his spell stronger 
 men had succumbed. 
 
 December ist, Claiborne wrote Captain Shaw, who 
 commanded the vessels of war in the river, "The situa 
 tion of affairs here is critical and there is every reason 
 to believe that the safety of this territory is seriously 
 
 Orleans Gazette, March 31, 1807. 
 201 
 
202 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 menaced." 1 He was advised to hurry the preparations 
 of his vessels and to consult with Wilkinson as to their 
 disposition. Three days later the Governor informed 
 Dearborn that the General was picketing in the city 
 and repairing the forts, and that they were anxiously 
 awaiting the troops from the frontier ; they would then 
 have a force of eight hundred, exclusive of the Orleans 
 volunteers. 2 Twenty-four hours later he sent a second 
 letter to Washington : 
 
 "If General- Wilkinson is not greatly mistaken," he 
 confided to Madison, 3 "the safety of this Territory is 
 seriously menaced. You may, however, be assured that 
 every exertion will be made to repel the advancing foe. 
 General Wilkinson tells me that he has heretofore re 
 ceived hints of a Mexican expedition, and from the char 
 acters who it seems are the leaders of the present plot; 
 but had attached no consequence to their conversation, 
 under an impression, that unless sanctioned by the gov 
 ernment, no men of reputation and talents could seriously 
 contemplate an object of the kind. General Wilkinson 
 will doubtless become extremely obnoxious to the asso 
 ciates ; but his fidelity to his country will be justly appre 
 ciated by the good and virtuous." 
 
 Claiborne also assured the Secretary of State that 
 the greater part of the inhabitants of the city could be 
 depended upon to render assistance, while many of 
 those to the west of the Mississippi would die for their 
 country. 
 
 December 5th, the Governor received further proof 
 of the danger to which the country was exposed. It 
 was a communication from Andrew Jackson : 
 
 "Journal, p. 349- 
 
 Claiborne to Dearborn, December 4, 1806; Journal, p. 350. 
 
 Claiborne to Madison, December 5, 1806; Journal, p. 352. 
 
WILKINSON IN NEW ORLEANS 203 
 
 "Put your town in a state of defense," said he to 
 Claiborne. "Organize your militia, and defend your city 
 as well against internal enemies as external. My knowl 
 edge does not extend so far as to authorize me to go 
 into details, but I fear you will meet with an attack from 
 quarters you do not at present expect. Be upon the 
 alert keep a watchful eye on our General and beware 
 of an attack as well from your own country as from 
 Spain. ... I fear there are plans on foot inimical to 
 the Union whether they will be attempted to be carried 
 into effect or not, 1 cannot say but rest assured they are 
 in operation, or I calculate badly beware of the month 
 of December. I love my country and government I hate 
 the Dons I would delight to see Mexico reduced; but 
 I will die in the last ditch before I would yield a foot 
 to the Dons or see the Union disunited." 1 
 
 Claiborne afterwards said that this letter had re- 
 enforced in his mind Wilkinson s stories which was 
 no doubt true. But it did not raise the slightest ques 
 tion as to the honesty of the General, who still advised 
 under pain of disaster the closeting of the secret. That 
 Claiborne could not keep ; he exposed the whole of it to 
 Mayor Watkins, who advised the immediate dispatch 
 ing of a courier to the various Governors of the West 
 ern States. 2 Evidently Claiborne thought of acting on 
 this advice, for we find in his Journal (p. 352), under 
 date of December 5th, the following : 
 
 "To the governors of Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and 
 Indiana: I have every reason to believe that ah armed 
 association is forming in the Western country under the 
 direction of Colonel Aaron Burr, with designs hostile 
 to the government, laws and territories of the United 
 States. I give you this information in full confidence 
 
 Jackson to Claiborne, November 12, 1806; Jackson MSS. 
 ^Orleans Gazette, April 7, 1807. 
 
204 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 that you will make the necessary exertions to ascertain 
 the extent of his lawless combination and to defeat their 
 wicked machinations." 
 
 It is probable that this circular letter never left the 
 office of the Governor ; at least no trace of it elsewhere 
 has been found. The ensuing day, however, he sent 
 J. W. Gurley to Cowles Meade, the Secretary and Act 
 ing-Governor of the Mississippi Territory, with a verbal 
 story of the apprehended trouble. 1 Meade replied 
 calmly that his mind had been prepared for such in 
 telligence, but that the people were patriotic and that 
 therefore there was nothing to fear. 2 Indeed almost 
 a month earlier he had written Claiborne concerning 
 the conspiracy, denouncing Wilkinson in the strongest 
 terms : 8 
 
 "It is believed here," said Meade, "that General Wil 
 kinson is the soul of the conspiracy, and a requisition late 
 made of me for five hundred militia has confirmed the 
 suspicion in the minds of many. This militia was re 
 quired to defend, or protect New Orleans, and support 
 the laws and government of the United States. Is New 
 Orleans invaded? Is it threatened? Or is it believed 
 that any enemy is nearer than the general himself ? Gen 
 eral Wilkinson is concentrating the whole military force 
 of the United States at New Orleans. He has ordered 
 down the troops from Natchitoches, from Fort Stephens, 
 and Fort Adams this last fort is entirely dismantled 
 all the ordnance taken away for New Orleans or else 
 where. What is all this for? Is it to act for you or 
 against you ?" 
 
 Thus before Burr was accused the second time in 
 
 Claiborne s Journal, p. 362. 
 Journal, p. 385. 
 Journal, p. 407. 
 
WILKINSON IN NEW ORLEANS 205 
 
 Kentucky, before the Proclamation had been inspired, 
 before the General had made his way into the Crescent 
 City the people of Mississippi felt that some mysteri 
 ous danger was impending, but suspected Wilkinson 
 with whom Burr was always associated of being at 
 the bottom of it. It is perfectly clear that Meade had 
 no confidence in the General, while he expressed his 
 utmost faith in the virtue and loyalty of the citizens. 
 Because of his distrust in the one case and confidence 
 in the other, he was accused of being in sympathy with 
 the conspirators by Wilkinson and Governor Williams 
 of Mississippi and dismissed from office. Nevertheless, 
 he was beyond question the most efficient official in the 
 West and therefore could expect no better reward. 
 
 By the sixth of December Wilkinson thought the 
 city ready for a step forward. As yet, indeed, the 
 inhabitants knew nothing of what was in his mind and 
 could only feel that his urgent preparations betokened 
 an impending calamity. The city quaked with perturba 
 tions and alarms. On the day in point Wilkinson sent 
 the Governor the following utterly unconscionable let 
 ter, calculated to unnerve him completely: 1 
 
 "The dangers which impend over this city," said the 
 General, "and menace the laws and government of the 
 United States, from an unauthorized and formidable as 
 sociation must be successfully opposed at this point, or 
 the fair fabric of our independence purchased by the best 
 blood of our country will be prostrated, and the Goddess 
 of Liberty will take her flight from this globe forever. 
 Under circumstances so imperious, extraordinary meas 
 ures must be resorted to and the ordinary form of 
 
 journal, p. 359. 
 
206 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 civil institutions must for a short period yield to the 
 strong arm of military law. Having exposed to you 
 without reserve the authentic grounds on which I found 
 my apprehensions, you can readily comprehend the high, 
 solemn and important considerations by which I am 
 moved, when I most earnestly entreat you to proclaim 
 martial law over the city, its ports and precincts. For, 
 unless I am authorized to repress the seditious and arrest 
 the disaffected, and to call the resources of the place into 
 active operation, the defects of my force may expose me 
 to be overwhelmed by numbers, and the cause and place 
 will be lost/ 
 
 He also combated Claiborne s suggestion that the 
 militia should be called out and stationed above in the 
 Territory. "You could not for a moment withstand 
 the desperation and superiority of numbers opposed to 
 you and the brigands, provoked by the opposition, 
 might resort to the dreadful expedient of exciting a 
 revolt of the negroes." 
 
 Fearing the effect of his appeal Wilkinson rose next 
 morning at six o clock to reenforce his argument i 1 
 
 "Captain Shaw informs me he cannot proceed with the 
 river defences without carpenters and sailors, who are not 
 to be had but by requisition. Proclaim martial law, and 
 this with many other evils will be remedied. On this 
 subject in the present eventful moment, I must entreat 
 you to act with decision ; I believe I have been betrayed, 
 and therefore shall abandon the idea of temporizing or 
 concealment, the moment after I have secured two persons 
 now in this city. Our measures must be taken with 
 promptitude and decision, regardless of other conse 
 quences or considerations than the public safety, for I 
 apprehend Burr with rebellious bands may soon be at 
 hand." 
 
 Journal, p. 363. 
 
WILKINSON IN NEW ORLEANS 207 
 
 It appears that he deliberately tried to frighten Clai- 
 borne into proclaiming martial law : lack of carpenters, 
 the presence of enemies, his own betrayal, and the near 
 ness of Burr s "rebellious bands." But the Governor 
 discovered that carpenters could be had, and, in the 
 event of immediate danger, the militia of Orleans could 
 be called out ; while the matter of the General s betrayal 
 seems not to have elicited response even from Clai- 
 borne. 1 It is apparent that he was not fully in sym 
 pathy with the commander-in-chief of the army, for he 
 did not feel martial law to be the only salvation. 
 
 "Preparatory to the declaration of martial law/ he 
 wrote Meade on the eighth, 2 "the suspension of the writ 
 of habeas corpus would be necessary; but this high pre 
 rogative can, in my opinion, be alone exercised by the 
 territorial legislature, and was that body in session I 
 should, under existing circumstances, advise the measure. 
 As to martial law, I shall not proclaim it; but as the 
 danger increases, such measures will from time to time be 
 resorted to, as the general safety may require." 
 
 The following day the Governor addressed a note 
 in French to the commanders of the militia of the city 
 saying that various reasons had led him to believe that 
 a large and dangerous body of men were to descend the 
 Mississippi and imperil the city. He therefore re 
 quested that the militia be made ready to march; that 
 the slaves be watched, and that guards be mounted. 8 
 There were also signs of weakening in his attitude 
 toward delivering the city over to the military power. 
 He wrote Madison that he was well assured that Burr 
 
 journal, p. 364. 
 Journal, p. 365. 
 Journal, p. 366. 
 
208 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 had agents in the city, but that it was difficult to bring 
 them to justice; and in the next breath he took up the 
 matter of the habeas corpus i 1 
 
 "I continue to think that the power of suspending the 
 privilege of the habeas corpus more properly devolves 
 upon the legislature, but if the danger should augment 
 and the privilege of the habeas corpus should by impeding 
 the arrest of the suspected be found to favor the escape 
 of the guilty, it is probable that I shall by proclamation 
 direct the suspension thereof, and plead in justification 
 the necessity of the case." 
 
 The ninth of December is memorable by reason 
 of the seizure of the Muskingum flotilla and the dis 
 covery of the secret of the conspiracy to the inhabitants 
 of New Orleans. At the request of Wilkinson and the 
 Governor the members of the Chamber of Commerce 
 met at the Government House. The assembly was 
 called to order by Paul Lanusse, Richard Relf acting 
 as secretary. Claiborne at once arose and stated that 
 they had been convened in order that steps might be 
 devised to defeat Burr who was about to attack the city. 
 He thought that money ought to be donated for the 
 purpose of equipping soldiers and sailors to man the 
 guns on land and water. He hoped, he said, that Cap 
 tain Shaw would be at once reenforced. When the 
 Governor had finished the General took up the theme, 
 telling of the plot and how he had discovered it; re 
 marking that his knowledge of the premeditated expe 
 dition had been first communicated to him by a special 
 messenger of the conspirators on the eighth of October, 
 at the moment he was preparing to proceed to the 
 
 Journal, p. 367. 
 
WILKINSON IN NEW ORLEANS 209 
 
 Sabine. The object of making him acquainted with 
 the plot was the hope of his cooperation with them; 
 but without letting the messenger know his determina 
 tion he had set out for the Sabine where he settled 
 the boundary controversy, and with all the expedition 
 in his power had repaired to New Orleans where he 
 intended to concentrate his forces in order to defend 
 it or perish in its ruins. He added that while he was 
 at Natchitoches he had received a message from New 
 Orleans on the same subject, and that there were sev 
 eral persons in the city whom he knew to be concerned 
 in the plot. These he would have arrested long since 
 had he had the power. His object in coming to the city 
 was to prepare it for defense; but the subsequent 
 advices from the invaders led him to believe that their 
 forces would be greater than he at first expected, there 
 fore he had changed his plans and intended if possible 
 to attack them before they reached New Orleans. He 
 flattered himself that if they could succeed in manning 
 the flotilla and could encounter the foe above Natchez 
 they might be forced to land and thus be annihilated. 
 To effect this object it was necessary that there should 
 be no delay, for by all advices the enemy, at least 
 2,000 strong, were to arrive at Natchez on the twentieth 
 instant. He observed that the leaders of the plot were 
 supported by some of the first characters of the Union ; 
 that their primary object was to reduce New Orleans 
 so that arms, provisions, and boats might be procured 
 for an attack on Mexico, which was to proceed both by 
 land and sea. In case good fortune attended the enter 
 prise the Western States were then to be separated from 
 
210 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 the Union. To give efficiency to the execution of the 
 plot, armed but disguised vessels were to come into the 
 river to serve as convoy for the expedition which was 
 to sail from thence to Vera Cruz. He concluded with 
 pledging his life in the defense of the city and his coun 
 try. The Governor and General thereupon withdrew 
 and the merchants discussed the matters which had 
 been laid before them. If the expedition could be de 
 feated by manning the war vessels, that should be done. 
 They immediately voted an embargo and agreed to re 
 lease any sailor of their merchantmen who desired to 
 enter the navy. 1 Acting under this agreement, Clai- 
 borne at once instructed Captain Shaw to permit no 
 vessel to leave port without orders from Wilkinson or 
 himself. 2 
 
 Now, indeed, so far as the public was concerned, 
 the screen had been thrown aside. The mystery which 
 had surrounded the actions of the General had been 
 swept away in a gust of confidence. The reason for 
 the hasty construction of defenses was made plain ; but 
 the excitement lessened, for it is a truism that so long 
 as a thing is half concealed it creates the greater inter 
 est. One naturally asks why Wilkinson spent two 
 weeks in New Orleans before making public his impor 
 tant information; or more properly, why he had kept 
 the secret for two months from the people whose prop 
 erties were to be sacrificed. He pretended to fear that 
 hostile war vessels, both English and American, would 
 
 Skiborne to Madison, December 9, 1806; Journal, p. 306. Or 
 leans Ganette. December 9, 12, and March 31, 1807. Gazeta de 
 Mexico, January 17, vol. xiv., 36. 
 
 Journal, p. 388. 
 
WILKINSON IN NEW ORLEANS 211 
 
 come up the river, and actually sent Lieutenant Swan to 
 Jamaica to look after the English dispositions, receiv 
 ing a scornful note from the admiral in reply. Notwith 
 standing, the only guard stationed at the mouth of the 
 river was the custom-house. Wilkinson s own reasons 
 for his silence were the following : 
 
 "I represented to him [James Brown] that I had con 
 cealed my intentions from the double view of preserving 
 my person from assassination, and to keep open the chan 
 nels of communication by which I received information 
 of their secret designs and movements, and that the con 
 duct of the emissaries, I added, had been hitherto so cir 
 cumspect, as to put it out of my power to convict them of 
 any overt act to justify their commitment without bail." 1 
 
 His silence then had not been inspired by an ardent 
 desire to save the city, which, according to his frequent 
 letters, was menaced from within and from without, 
 but to save himself from assassination and to make a 
 case against those unfortunates who had once plotted 
 with him the conquest of Mexico ! If there is anything 
 that is disgusting it is Wilkinson s sheepisrT fear of 
 death. He spoke of it elsewhere in one of his famous 
 letters to Jefferson. But fear of assassination, which 
 he knew he probably deserved from having turned 
 traitor to his friends, did not interfere with the game 
 he was playing for all its worth. The day after he 
 had paraded before the merchants he wrote Daniel 
 Clark, then in Washington as Territorial delegate from 
 Orleans : 
 
 Statement concerning James and John Brown, December 6, 
 1806; Letters in Relation. 
 Clark s Proofs, Note 70. 
 
212 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 "I refer you to the bearer, Mr. Donaldson, for the in 
 teresting scenes which agitate our darling city and poor 
 devoted Louisiana. I am here to defend her against 
 revolution and pillage by a hand I have loved. Suspicion 
 is afloat, and numbers are implicated. ... By the 
 last advice Burr expected to reach Natchez with 2,000 
 men the 2oth instant. If he brings" no more, he will not 
 dare to approach this place, where I shall to-morrow have 
 1,000 regular troops; and your Creoles will turn out with 
 great vivacity. I am pushing an armed flotilla high up 
 the river, to drive the revolutionists on shore, and save 
 your plantations and prevent the insurrection of your 
 negroes." 
 
 Strange that in the midst of such perilous times 
 Wilkinson could write reassuring letters as to his 
 strength and the loyalty of the Creoles. There was, 
 however, ground for his optimism. Besides, he knew 
 the impossibility of such a body of men being trans 
 ported in a single expedition down the Mississippi, for 
 he had spent weeks arranging for the removal of a 
 twentieth part of that number from St. Louis to 
 Fort Adams. Yet he pretended that a private individ 
 ual in a three-month space could muster and embark 
 an army of from two to eight thousand men in a civi 
 lized community for the purpose of sacking a city of 
 their own country! Also his expression of confidence 
 that Burr would not dare to approach New Orleans 
 was never whispered to the "darling city and poor de 
 voted Louisiana." On the contrary he poured constant 
 alarms into the too willing ears of the Governor, and 
 deliberately terrified the inhabitants. 
 
 The twelfth he wrote Claiborne, "For heaven s 
 sake take decisive measures to raise the sailors required 
 by Captain Shaw if this is not soon done, I shall be 
 
WILKINSON IN NEW ORLEANS 213 
 
 under the necessity of adopting different measures and 
 making a change of position with at least five hundred 
 of the troops." 1 He was answered immediately. The 
 General was asked to devise some scheme whereby the 
 sailors might be procured, and whether he thought 
 impressment ought to be resorted to. Claiborne con 
 tinued : 
 
 "I am sincerely desirous to cooperate with you in all your 
 measures. Many good disposed citizens do not appear 
 to think the danger considerable, and there are others who 
 (perhaps from wicked intentions) endeavor to turn our 
 preparations into ridicule ; but these things have no effect 
 on my mind." 2 
 
 The General s air of blustering seriousness together 
 with his preparations became in due time the laughing 
 stock of the populace; and he realized that the influence 
 of the conservative element was working in Claiborne, 
 but he had not yet despaired of winning him over. In 
 a note of the fifteenth he upbraided the Governor for 
 his colorless action : 3 
 
 "Having put my life and character in opposition to the 
 flagitious enterprise of one of the ablest men of our coun 
 try, supported by a crowd of co-equals, ceremony would 
 be unseasonable and punctilio unprofitable; I therefore 
 speak from my heart when I declare hat I verily believe 
 you are sincerely desirous to cooperate with me in all my 
 measures; but pardon the honest candor which circum 
 stances require and my situation demands, when I observe 
 that with the most upright and honest intention you suffer 
 yourself to be unduly biased by the solicitations of the 
 timid, the capricious or the wicked who approach you and 
 
 Wilkinson to Claiborne, December 12, 1806; Journal, p. 371. 
 2 Claiborne to Wilkinson, December 12, 1806; Journal, p. 372. 
 3 Wilkinson to Claiborne, December 15, 1806; Journal, p. 378. 
 
2i 4 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 harass you with their criticisms on subjects which they do 
 not understand, and their opposition to measures which 
 they do not comprehend, or which, understanding, they are 
 desirous to prevent or to defeat. What will our alertness 
 import, without force and energy to support it ? And can 
 we be prepared without means ? Shall our reverence for 
 our civil institutions produce their annihilation, or shall 
 we lose the house because we will not break the windows ?" 
 
 The merchants were among the first to ignore Wil 
 kinson s alarms. However willing they appeared at 
 first to part with their seamen, they spou relented and 
 took measures to retain them. This act of confidence 
 exasperated Wilkinson, who retaliated by demanding 
 of Claiborne the impressment of the sailors for six 
 months. The latter urged that two months was time 
 enough; later offering to compromise by making the 
 term of enlistment expire with the destruction of the 
 lawless banditti from the Ohio. But the General replied 
 that in his "cool and deliberate judgment" and from 
 "his knowledge of Burr s character and desperation" 
 and from "the apparent toleration and support which 
 he receives in Kentucky and Tennessee," we have 
 reached an extremity in public affairs, which impe 
 riously demands "the momentary dispensation of the 
 ordinary course of our civil institutions to preserve the 
 sanctuary of public liberty." The seamen should be 
 "compelled to serve the country which gave them birth 
 and gives them protection." 1 Wilkinson s purpose 
 needs no elucidation. But after the first wave of ex 
 citement had spent itself, society at New Orleans as 
 sumed a stolidity upon which the General s alarms beat 
 
 ^ayarre, iv., 167. 
 
WILKINSON IN NEW ORLEANS 215 
 
 in vain. Only now and again was there a ripple of 
 excitement, caused by some startling report or sudden 
 usurpation. 
 
 December 14, 1806 Burr and Adair were riding 
 into Nashville Wilkinson began that series of rnilitary 
 arrests which served as precedents for the worst of 
 Reconstruction times, and which, when causes are con 
 sidered, are still unparalleled. On his own authority, l*^>t A 
 and in violent conflict with the civil government, he 
 arrested and detained whomsoever he pleased. He still 
 urged, however, with all the vehemence which at 
 times approached insolence he could command that 
 Claiborne should order the impressment of seamen, 
 should suspend the writ of habeas corpus, and declare 
 martial law. But Claiborne resolutely refused to act 
 in the premises, or to implicate himself in the cases 
 arising from the military seizures, leaving their respon 
 sibility wholly to their author. 1 "The judiciary of the 
 territory," said Claiborne, plainly condemning the 
 usurpation of the functions of the court, "having ex 
 clusive cognizance of offenses, is the only tribunal to 
 which I can refer you, nor can any acts of mine arrest 
 or suspend their powers." 
 
 Failing to protect himself with the mantle of the 
 Governor s proclamation, Wilkinson nevertheless held 
 straight on his course. Erick Bollman who had come, 
 to New Orleans by sea from New York, and with 
 whom the General had had some interviews Ogden, 
 and Swartwout were the first to fall under his ban, the/ 
 three being seized the same day, their papers confis- 
 
 1 Journal, p. 383- 
 
216 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 cated, and themselves denied the privilege of counsel. 
 Swartwout and Bollman were confined aboard ship and 
 within four and twenty hours were flying under full 
 sail toward Washington, in the custody of Lieutenant 
 Wilson, who had orders to permit the prisoners no 
 communications save with commissioned officers. The 
 suspects were consigned to the President, and were to 
 be held in safekeeping till his wish was known. 1 
 
 These arrests precipitated an embittered but one 
 sided contest with the courts. On the afternoon of the 
 fifteenth Alexander d Avergne sued out a writ of 
 habeas corpus before Judge Sprigg of the Superior 
 Court in behalf of Bollman. But the judge would not 
 act alone Mathews, his associate, was absent so the 
 matter went over to the following day, when a writ was 
 obtained. Writs were likewise granted by James 
 Workman, judge of the County of Orleans, in favor of 
 Ogden and Swartwout. Return was made the next 
 day at five o clock by Captain Shaw, who, after a con 
 sultation with Claiborne, gave over Ogden the other 
 two were not in his keeping. Ogden was brought be 
 fore Judge Workman, but no evidence being offered 
 against him he was discharged. 
 
 Amid the excitement attending these first seizures, 
 Claiborne issued, December i6th, a proclamation 2 
 against an unlawful combination associated for the 
 purpose of overthrowing the Government of the United 
 States in part of its territory, and of invading the King 
 dom of New Spain with which we were at peace. He 
 
 ^Orleans Gazette, February 27, 1807. 
 
 *Moniteur de la Louisiane, Number 677; Orleans Gasette, 
 December 18, 1806. 
 
WILKINSON IN NEW ORLEANS 217 
 
 therein warned the citizens of the Territory of Orleans 
 to abstain from any connection whatever with the asso 
 ciates, pointing out the consequences by quoting the 
 Federal statutes which provide severe penalties for 
 such infractions of the law. 
 
 Wednesday, the seventeenth of December, Wilkin 
 son s aide, appearing before the Superior Court to 
 answer the writ for Bollman, read the following order 
 over the General s signature : 
 
 "The commander of the army of the United States 
 takes on himself all the responsibility which may result 
 from the arrest of Erick Bollman, who is accused of being 
 guilty of the crime of treason against the government 
 and the laws of the United States, and I have taken op 
 portune measures to warrant his safe delivery into the 
 hands of the President. General Wilkinson adopted this 
 precaution only after many conferences with the governor 
 and two judges of this territory, desiring alone to secure 
 the nation which is menaced to its foundation by a band of 
 traitors associated with Aaron Burr whose accomplices 
 stretch from New York to this city. . . . Nobody 
 holds in higher regard than I, the civil institutions of his 
 country, and only to maintain and perpetuate the sacred 
 attributes of the Constitution against the hands of daring 
 violence have I arrested Bollman, as I shall arrest, with 
 out respect to class or station, all those against whom I 
 have positive proof of being accomplices in the machina 
 tions against the state." 1 
 
 In support of these statements the General sent to 
 the court a paper which he declared to be a copy of 
 Burr s cipher letter; 2 also some notes of Dr. Bollman, 
 adding that other important discoveries had been made, 
 
 ^Orleans Gazette, December 18, 1806. Gazeta de Mexico, xiv., 
 40. 
 
 Sec p. 74- 
 
218 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 but that the time was inopportune for their disclosure. 
 Now, too, he chose to send the President a copy of 
 Burr s cipher letter, which Jefferson had frequently re 
 quested. In the same communication he took up the 
 matter of his arrests, the news of which he had already 
 reported :* 
 
 "Sir, since my last of the 14 inst, writs of habeas 
 corpus have been issued for the bodies of Bollman, Swart- 
 wout and Ogden, the two latter by Judge Workman who 
 is strongly suspected for being connected with Burr in his 
 conspiracy, as I have proof this man declared some time 
 since that the republican who possesses power and does 
 not employ it to establish a despotism is a fool. His writ 
 for Ogden was served on Captain Shaw of the navy who 
 had been in charge at my request on board the Etna bomb 
 ketch. He delivered him up, and Mr. Workman has dis 
 charged him without giving me a word of information, 
 although he knew he was confined by my order for a 
 treasonable combination with Burr, and Mr. Ogden now 
 struts at large. Swartwout, I have sent off and shall so 
 report, holding myself ready for the consequences. Boll 
 man was required by the Superior Court, but I have got 
 rid of that affair also, under the usual liability for dam 
 ages, in which case I shall look to our country for pro 
 tection." 
 
 While Wilkinson was thus engaged in hedging, 
 Shaw and Claiborne appeared at headquarters to argue 
 against his summary military arrests. But he answered 
 them that he would do as he thought best. 2 It fol 
 lowed that Ogden was not long to strut at large/ 
 Within twenty-four hours he was again arrested along 
 with Mr. Alexander, and the two were escorted over 
 the river and incarcerated. A week later they were 
 
 ^National Intelligencer, January 23, 1807. 
 Journal, p. 391. 
 
WILKINSON IN NEW ORLEANS 219 
 
 removed to Fort Saint Philip, near the mouth of the 
 Mississippi ; and two days afterwards Alexander, who 
 was never shown to have been guilty of other crime 
 than suing out writs for his friends, 1 was forced to 
 sail for Washington without money and badly pro 
 vided with clothing, notwithstanding the fact that 
 winter was raging/ Ignorant of the whereabouts 
 of the prisoner, John Williamson and Edward Liv 
 ingston applied to Workman for writs. 3 These were 
 granted and served on the General who returned at 
 once an answer as complete and unappealable as Na 
 poleon could have given :* 
 
 "General Wilkinson requests the Honorable Judge 
 Workman may have the goodness to receive the general s 
 answer to the Superior Court of the Territory in the case 
 of the traitor Bollman, as applicable to the traitors who 
 are the subjects of this writ." 
 
 Livingston thereupon pressed the matter in order 
 to force from Wilkinson a "more explicit return to the 
 writs, or shew cause why an attachment should not 
 issue against him." 5 The question was now put to 
 Claiborne by Judges Hall, Mathews, and Workman 
 whether he would assist the civil authorities against 
 General Wilkinson; but no satisfaction was received, 
 and meantime the General had ignored the court s de- 
 better of Alexander, Baltimore, February 13, 1807; Orleans 
 Gazette, April 17, 1807. 
 
 2 Letter of Alexander, Washington, February 9, 1807 ; Orleans 
 Gazette, March 31, 1807. 
 
 8 "A Letter" (pamphlet issued by James Workman, 1807), 
 p. 12. 
 
 4 "A Letter," p. 14. 
 
 "Martin s History of Louisiana, ii., 281. 
 
220 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 crees. Livingston, therefore, on the twenty-sixth 
 moved for an attachment against him. The General 
 simply unmasked his batteries: 
 
 "The undersigned, commanding the armies of the 
 United States, has taken upon himself the responsibility 
 of arresting Peter V. Ogden, on a charge of misprision of 
 treason against the government and laws of the United 
 States, and has the honor to inform the Honorable James 
 Workman, judge of the county of Orleans, that the body 
 of the said Peter V. Ogden is not in his power, possession 
 or custody." 1 
 
 Judge Workman upon the receipt of this ultimatum, 
 for the third time appealed to Claiborne to know 
 whether he meant to support the civil government 
 against the military. He explained the difficulties, set 
 ting forth that Wilkinson commanded the army of the 
 United States and also a large part of the militia of 
 the Territory, a state of things rendering it exceedingly 
 delicate as well as dangerous to attempt the enforce 
 ment of the attachment by the usual method, the posse 
 comitatus. But never a word sent Claiborne in reply. 
 He contented himself with appealing to Wilkinson to 
 yield to the civil authorities. 2 However, the advice 
 was no more heeded than Workman s writs. Jan 
 uary 5, 1807, the judge of the County of Orleans sent 
 his last unavailing protest to the Governor ; then, wait 
 ing a week for a reply, he took the only step left open 
 to him: 
 
 "Not having received," he said to Claiborne, "any 
 answer to my letter to your excellency of the fifth instant, 
 
 " A Letter," p. 14. 
 Gayarre, iv., 172. 
 
WILKINSON IN NEW ORLEANS 221 
 
 and considering your silence on the subject of it as a 
 proof, in addition to those that previously existed, that 
 your excellency not only declines the performance of your 
 duties as chief magistrate of this territory, but actually 
 supports the lawless measures of its oppressor, I have 
 adjourned the court of the County of Orleans sine die." 
 
 Claiborne never flinched under this stirring reproof 
 of his passivity; by his failure to resist the en 
 croachments of the military power, to support the 
 established machinery of government, he gave his 
 assent to the extraordinary regime the General had seen 
 fit to inaugurate. The city was in fact delivered over 
 to Wilkinson. Judge Workman no longer protested, 
 but grimly resigned. 1 In his own justification he wrote 
 to the Legislature of the Territory : 2 
 
 "The public journals have announced my resignation 
 as judge of your county. I offer the following letters and 
 documents to your notice, anxious to prove that I did not 
 quit my post at a time of difficulty and peril, for any other 
 cause than the failure of my efforts to obtain from the 
 executive the support necessary to the performance of my 
 duties. Every possible exertion was made by me, but in 
 vain, to repress the usurped power that subverted and 
 insulted the law." 
 
 Wilkinson early decided to denounce Workman, 
 and did so to Jefferson; to Claiborne he averred, "It 
 pains me to add, but it is my duty to declare, that I 
 have the strongest grounds for believing that Judge 
 Workman has been deeply and actively engaged in 
 these nefarious projects." 3 To Clark he wrote, "Work- 
 
 W A Letter," p. 14. 
 
 Orleans Gazette, April 10, 1807. 
 
 "Wilkinson to Claiborne, December 14, 1806; Journal, p. 427. 
 
222 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 man and Kerr have been discovered in an intrigue to 
 corrupt the army and to plunder the bank." 1 The truth 
 was that Wilkinson had learned months before from 
 Burr that Workman was enthusiastic in their cause ; it 
 was politic, therefore, to compromise him, and, giving 
 out these rumors as his excuse, he sent a patrol to seize 
 the judge, likewise Kerr ; and both were held for trial at 
 Natchez. Editor Bradford, too, of the Orleans Gazette, 
 was arrested; but on second thought the General had 
 him released. Nevertheless, the fact of the interference 
 had a stifling effect. As the Augusta Herald face 
 tiously expressed it, A military government had so en 
 tirely superceded the civil authorities, a printer dared 
 not publish a political paper because of the expense 
 attached to a northegi voyage. 2 
 
 At high noon, January I4th, while Burr and his asso 
 ciates were meeting difficulties at Bayou Pierre, John 
 Adair of Kentucky rode into New Orleans and estab 
 lished himself at Madame Nourage s boarding house. 
 A contemporary has left us this account of the next 
 act : 3 
 
 "January 14, General Adair arrived in New Orleans. 
 This gentleman, it was reported, was to hold a dignified 
 position in Burr s army. He made his entry into the city 
 about one o clock and alone. He took up his lodging at 
 a public boarding house, and being indispose d sent a mes 
 sage to the governor to inform him of his arrival and 
 requested that information might be sent General Wilkin 
 son to the same effect. He mentioned that he left Nash 
 ville December 22, and that Burr was then there with 
 
 Clark s Proofs, note 71. 
 ^Orleans Gazette, May 14, 1807. 
 ^Orleans Gazette, April 3, 1807. 
 
WILKINSON IN NEW ORLEANS 223 
 
 only two flatboats destined for this city. He had been in 
 New Orleans but once, in 1800, when he remained but a 
 few days and could not have had any extensive acquaint 
 ance. He had very recently occupied a very high govern 
 mental place and was esteemed greatly for his talents and 
 bravery. About four o clock on the same day of his 
 arrival, while at dinner, a detachment of regular troops, 
 150 strong, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Kings- 
 bury, posted themselves before the door of the hotel. 
 Adair was violently dragged from the table, paraded 
 through the streets to the gaze of the people, and though 
 sick, was committed to close confinement in cold barracks, 
 and denied the writ of habeas corpus/ 
 
 Adair, too, was hurried away by sea on the charge 
 of being an accomplice of Burr. As late as February 
 25th, Lieutenant Spence, who had carried messages to 
 Burr in Kentucky, was made a prisoner; but with the 
 arrest of Adair came the climax of Wilkinson s high 
 handed measures. He had made a number of seizures, 
 but in the end not one was justified. Their conviction, 
 however, was a matter of secondary importance com 
 pared with the attitude Jefferson might assume toward 
 him; and that that attitude might be favorable, no 
 effort was relaxed to prove that sincerity and un 
 selfishness, patriotism and honor were the impelling 
 springs of his conduct. As a given set of circumstances, 
 properly correlated, produce an event, so Jefferson s 
 alliance with the chief of the army was inevitable. It 
 was publicly announced in the Proclamation. Hence 
 forth accusations against Wilkinson were reflections on 
 the President. It was therefore obvious that the Gen 
 eral s measures for the defence of New Orleans would 
 
224 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 be approved. In a letter of February 3d to Wilkinson 
 the Executive not only expressed his approbation of 
 them, but offered suggestions to bridge over the inex 
 plicable chasms which appeared here and there. 
 
 "Your belief," he said, "that Burr would really de 
 scend with six or seven thousand men was no doubt 
 founded on what you knew of the numbers which could 
 be raised in the Western country for an expedition to 
 Mexico, under the authority of the Government; but you 
 probably did not calculate that the want of that authority 
 ; would take from him every honest man, and leave him 
 only the desperadoes of his party, which in no part of the 
 United States can ever be a numerous body. In approv 
 ing, therefore, as we do approve of the defensive opera 
 tions for New Orleans, we are obliged to estimate them, 
 not according to our own view of the danger, but to place 
 ourselves in your situation, and only with your infor 
 mation." 1 
 
 V. 
 
 Jefferson spoke, too, approvingly of the arrest of 
 Swartwout and Bollman and others, but Wilkinson was 
 warned to refrain from making prisoners of those 
 against whom there was no proof of guilt. The same 
 day the President wrote Claiborne, grimly predicting 
 the struggle which was to extend beyond the precincts 
 of the Capital to the trial at Richmond even further 
 still a struggle in which strenuous effort was made 
 to strangle Thomas Jefferson with the soiled hands of 
 Wilkinson : 2 
 
 "The Federalists and the little band of Quids in oppo 
 sition will try to make something of the infringement of 
 liberty by the military arrest and deportation of citizens ; 
 
 Jefferson to Wilkinson, February 3, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 Jefferson to Claiborne, February 3, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 
WILKINSON IN NEW ORLEANS 225 
 
 but if it does not go beyond such offenders as Swartwout, 
 Bollman, Burr, Blennerhassett, Tyler, etc., they will be 
 supported by the public approbation." 
 
 New Orleans had been so engrossed with the mili 
 tary seizures that no notice had been taken of the arm 
 ing of the war vessels. The work on the fortifications 
 became a purely perfunctory employment for idle sol 
 diers, while in the midst of the impending dangers the 
 General remembered to celebrate the day on which 
 Louisiana became a part of the territory of the United 
 States. The loyalty of the inhabitants no longer 
 admitted of a doubt, for by the end of December there 
 were nine hundred men completely armed indepen 
 dent of volunteer corps and ready to be called into 
 active service at a moment s notice. 1 January 3d those 
 citizens who were not yet members of any military 
 organization solemnly agreed to form themselves into 
 such an association for "the purpose of being at all 
 times ready when called upon by the constituted autho 
 rities to support the government of the United States." 
 Their reason for this action was that the "existing state 
 of our public affairs leads to an apprehension of our 
 being drawn into a war with some foreign power." 2 
 Just then it must have been singularly displeasing to 
 Wilkinson to hear Louisianians talk of a foreign war, 
 for, although he had written Clark that the Creoles 
 would turn out with vivacity in defense of the country, 
 he had declared to the world that New Orleans was the 
 hive out of which would swarm an army of conspira- 
 
 Claiborne to Wilkinson, December 29, 1806; Journal, p. 396- 
 ^Orleans Gazette, January 10, 1807. 
 
226 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 tors to follow the standard of Burr ! And in January, 
 1807, ne spoke again of their factions and sedition i 1 
 
 "Cet bete [Claiborne] is at present up to the chin in 
 folly and vanity," he confided to Clark. "He cannot be 
 supported much longer; for Burr or no Burr, we shall 
 have a revolt, if he is not removed speedily. The moment 
 Bonaparte compromises with Great Britain will be the 
 signal for a general rising of French and Spaniards, and 
 if the Americans do not join, they will not oppose. 
 
 Wilkinson s political prophecies strikingly recall the 
 auguries of Merry and Yrujo; and like them were 
 equally barren of probability and common sense. To 
 hold to-day the loyalty, to-morrow the disloyalty of a 
 city which remains unchanged was a feat of judgment- 
 gymnastics which Wilkinson accomplished successfully. 
 It was all a part of his programme ; and because of his 
 successes his conceit knew no bounds. He could now 
 indulge in a pleasantry with Clark over an attack made 
 on him by Livingston which only excited laughter "so 
 much for the establishment," he repeated, "of an im 
 proved character." 
 
 Although Cowles Meade was not possessed of "an 
 improved character" of the type Wilkinson could boast, 
 he proved not less patriotic ; and, while keeping watch 
 over the Mississippi, continued to warn Claiborne of 
 the General : 2 
 
 "Should he [Burr] pass us," wrote Meade the eve 
 before Christmas, "your fate will depend on the general, 
 not on the colonel. If I stop Burr, this may hold the 
 general in his allegiance to the United States ; but if Burr 
 passes this territory with 2,000 men, I have no doubt but 
 
 ^Proofs, Note 71. 
 
 Meade to Claiborne, December 24, 1806; Journal, p. 387. 
 
WILKINSON IN NEW ORLEANS 227 
 
 the general will be your worst enemy. Be on your guard 
 against the wily general. He is not much better than 
 Cataline consider him a traitor and act as if certain 
 thereof ; you may save yourself by it." 
 
 Burr never passed ; and moreover he had a way of 
 procrastinating which was likely to exhaust the 
 patience of very patient people. The embargo which 
 had been rigidly enforced in Louisiana since December 
 9th, and which had occasioned extensive losses to those 
 engaged in commerce at the urgent petition of the 
 merchants was raised the last day of the year. Not that 
 vigilance was relaxed, for already the Aetna and two 
 gunboats were guarding the approaches to the city from 
 above, while by the end of December the ketch Vesu 
 vius, the schooner Revenge and gun-barge Number 2 
 were anchored in the vicinity of Natchez. They were 
 instructed to destroy Burr s flotilla. 1 But with all this 
 protection, and despite the fact that Wilkinson knew 
 Burr s only means of transportation lay in his flat- 
 boats, which were also his vessels of war, he continued 
 his clamor. Lieutenant Carson was sent to Balize, near 
 the mouth of the Mississippi, for the purpose of exam 
 ining the cargoes and passengers of incoming vessels, 2 
 while already there were in force stringent regulations 
 concerning the arrival and departure of ships :* 
 
 "No vessels, boats, barges, rafts or flotillas, containing 
 cannons, powder, arms, ammunition, military or naval 
 stores of any description whatever, will be permitted to 
 ascend the Mississippi without passports signed by Gov- 
 
 Claiborne to Shaw, January I, 1807; Journal, p. 398. 
 2 Claiborne to Captain Johnson; Journal, p. 412. 
 Orleans Gazette, January 20, 1807. 
 
228 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 ernor Claiborne. Also any boat containing these things 
 descending the Mississippi must be brought before Gov 
 ernor Claiborne for his pleasure." 
 
 January 6th, the Governor called on the farmers 
 near the city to lend him for a few days one-tenth of 
 their laboring negroes, so that he might be enabled to 
 complete the fortifications. 1 He also wrote in pretended 
 uneasiness to Colonel Bellechasse : 2 
 
 "I am told, Sir, that you were invited to take part in 
 an unauthorized expedition to Mexico, and that, as a pre 
 liminary measure it was proposed to seize upon the person 
 of the present governor of the Territory of Orleans and 
 to send him away by force that another governor should 
 be immediately elected by the people and that you 
 should be named commander-in-chief of the militia. You 
 are a member Sir, of the Council of the Territory and 
 commander of the First Brigade of militia; I call upon 
 you therefore to speak the truth regarding this informa 
 tion." 
 
 Bellechasse denied the imputation, and every act of 
 his during the crisis and afterward proved that it had 
 no foundation. He made affidavit to the effect that 
 in the month of October, before Clark embarked for the 
 Atlantic coast, en route to Washington, the latter called 
 together some of his friends 
 
 and informed them of some of the views and intentions 
 imputed to Burr, which were then almost the sole topic of 
 conversation, and which, from the reports daily arriving 
 from Kentucky, had caused a serious alarm ; and he 
 advised them all to exert their influence with the inhab 
 itants of the country to support the Government of the 
 
 J Journal, pp. 412, 413. 
 "Journal, p. 413. 
 
WILKINSON IN NEW ORLEANS 229 
 
 United States and to rally round the Governor, although 
 he thought him incapable of rendering much service as 
 a military man, assuring them that such conduct only 
 would save the country if any hostile projects were enter 
 tained against it, and that this would be the best method 
 of convincing the Government of the United States of the 
 attachment of the inhabitants of Louisiana, and of the 
 falsity of all the reports circulated to their prejudice." 1 
 
 Excitement ran high in Kentucky even as early as 
 July, and by October it had made itself felt not only in 
 Louisiana, West Florida, Texas and the East, but also 
 in Mexico. That the knowledge of the conspiracy in 
 New Orleans was dependent on the presence of Burr s 
 emissaries can be shown neither by reason nor data 
 that they should have preceded the army thus to alarm 
 and arouse opposition would be to credit the associates 
 with as little foresight as virtue. But just as Jefferson 
 heard nothing but rumors of the project till Wilkinson 
 had made his exposures, so society in Louisiana was 
 not cognizant of the real purposes of Burr prior to the 
 meeting of the merchants in the Government House, 
 December gth. Wilkinson alone lodged the charge of 
 treason ! 
 
 At one o clock, January 6th, an aide-de-camp of the 
 General read the following in the Coffee House and had 
 it entered on the books : 2 
 
 "General Wilkinson regrets that it is not in his power, 
 from a pressure of public interests, which imperiously 
 command his attention, to be at the Coffee House as he 
 intended this day. He therefore takes this mode of warn 
 ing the merchants and ship owners to hold their vessels 
 
 ^Proofs, p. 145. 
 
 Orleans Gazette, May 8, 1807. 
 
230 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 in readiness to haul off into the stream should it be found 
 necessary, on the shortest notice. But he begs that this 
 may be considered merely as a salutary precaution, not 
 that he believes Colonel Burr is at Natchez, or that he 
 will ever reach this city, under his own volition and he 
 warns the citizens not to respect the rumors in circulation, 
 because the general by a letter from Colonel Burr s own 
 hand, written to Dr. Bollman, is authorized to say that the 
 colonel s utmost calculation of force did not exceed 6,000 
 and that he would in person precede the main body with 
 2,000 men to Natchez, where he intended to halt. The 
 faithful citizens may be assured that with moderate exer 
 tions only, and the expulsion of traitors, the storm will 
 burst over the heads of its authors, and hurl them head 
 long to perdition, whilst the inhabitants of this city shall 
 dwell in security. * 
 
 The art of mingling alarm and confidence had been 
 assiduously cultivated by the General, but it will be 
 conceded that this effort was a pitiable failure. The 
 question must have been asked by many what Burr 
 meant to do at Natchez and Baton Rouge. Would the 
 "traitors pass untouched so much plunder? And was 
 New Orleans, indeed, the sole object of their predatory 
 ambition ? 
 
 The seventh of January, at the behest of Wilkinson, 
 the city council passed an ordinance of unusual strin 
 gency :* 
 
 "Every person entering New Orleans shall be detained 
 twenty-four hours and shall declare to the authorities his 
 name, age, business or profession, from whence he came 
 and the motives which brought him hither; the captains 
 of all boats shall be detained for twenty-four hours after 
 arriving in order to furnish lists of passengers conforming 
 to the above to the officer on guard at the levee, on pain 
 
 *Moniteur de la Louisiane, January 10, 1807. 
 
WILKINSON IN NEW ORLEANS 231 
 
 of a fine of $50. Every citizen and hotel-keeper must send 
 every five days to the mayor a list of those in their estab 
 lishments, on pain of a fine of $99." 
 
 Wilkinson was gradually reaching the limit of his 
 artifices, and in attempting to keep up the alarm he only 
 rendered himself ridiculous. Indeed, at the moment he 
 was instigating the council to pass the above capricious 
 order, the editor of the Gazette had the audacity to 
 say that, concerning the Burr enterprise, it was 
 
 impossible to discover the real circumstances of the case 
 in contradiction to those vague and idle rumors, which 
 have served only to agitate and mislead the public mind. 
 . . . From the best information we can collect the 
 object of Colonel Burr is obviously an attack upon Mex 
 ico, and not, as has been alleged, the parricidal attempt to 
 dismember the Union." 1 
 
 Later the matter was put in a different light and 
 pointedly by "Centurio," in the Gazette. Speaking of 
 Wilkinson s tale of Burr s hosts, he said : 2 
 
 "That such an army was approaching was never be 
 lieved or affected to be believed but by those who were 
 interested in keeping up the alarm ; by the great men, as 
 all their greatness depended on it, and by their little ones, 
 because they have among them some snug contracts for 
 supplying the government with materials of defense." 
 
 Then, referring to Wilkinson s interference with 
 the right of free speech, he added, "To still the blast 
 of popular indignation by silencing the press was 
 worthy of the then presiding genius the calm of des 
 potism became complete among us." 
 
 1 Orleans Gazette, January 8, 1807; Palladium, February 5, 
 1807. 
 
 ^Orleans Gazette, May 8, 1807. 
 
232 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 Slowly the days dragged past November I5th and 
 December 2Oth and still no "Declaration" had been 
 made in the Western States and no army of 2,000 had 
 appeared at Natchez. Moreover, not a word was heard 
 of hostile armaments from the sea, which the General 
 so feared, but to thwart which not an arm had been 
 raised, although he had led Jefferson to believe that 
 New Orleans had been selected as the point for defense 
 because of such apprehension. Never the Declaration 
 of Burr, never a company of traitors, and never an 
 act of sedition surely those were to be forgiven who 
 questioned the reliability of the General s information 
 and the sincerity of his conduct. 
 
 January I4th. ignorant that Burr had been three 
 days at Bayou Pierre, the commander-in-chief again 
 resolved to try conclusions with the enemy in the upper 
 country. 
 
 "It is my desire to ascend the river," he said at length 
 to Claiborne, 1 "in order to cooperate with our flotilla 
 under command of Captain Shaw, to resist and if possible 
 to defeat the lawless armament, daily expected at Natchez, 
 under the conduct of Aaron Burr ; to carry this plan into 
 effect, I find the co-operation of a portion of the militia of 
 the territory absolutely indispensable. . . . Mr. Burr s 
 approach to us will depend on the extent of his numbers ; 
 if he moves in great force his progress will be dilatory, 
 and I trust we shall be able to anticipate him above 
 Natchez, drive him or\ shore, destroy his boats and pro 
 visions, and disperse his adherents. If he advances with 
 2,000 men agreeably to his proposition to Dr. Bollman of 
 the 3Oth of October, I will seek him wherever he may be 
 found, and will arrest his course and protect the country. 
 I am aware Sir, that this territory and the government 
 
 Journal, p. 426. 
 
WILKINSON IN NEW ORLEANS 233 
 
 of the United States have many, very many enemies in 
 this city, who in concert with Mr. Burr, aim to subvert the 
 Constitution and the laws under which we live, to pillage 
 this city, to seize your shipping and to carry an expedition 
 against a country in peace with the United States." 
 
 It was peculiar irony for the General, fresh from his 
 defiance of the courts, to talk of the subversion of the 
 "laws under which we live." And hardly less peculiar 
 three months having elapsed since Swartwout 
 appeared at Natchitoches that he should think it not 
 too late to "protect the country." 
 
 January 12, 1807, the Legislature of the Territory 
 of Orleans met in regular session, and Claiborne s mes 
 sage, which dealt mainly with the conspiracy, was at 
 once submitted. 1 At the instigation of Wilkinson 
 there had been embodied in the document an article 
 recommending the suspension of the writ of habeas 
 corpus. Then continued the message: 2 
 
 "That many well-meaning and honest citizens may 
 have been seduced (through various means and artifices) 
 into a promise to participate in an unauthorized expedi 
 tion to Mexico, I can readily believe ; these, however, will 
 yield obedience to the call of their country, and leave their 
 unprincipled leaders to the disgrace which awaits them ; 
 but it was really with difficulty I could bring myself to 
 think that an association hostile to the government of the 
 United States could have been entered into by our citizens. 
 The proofs, however, are too strong to be rejected." 
 
 On the strength of what evidence had he ever 
 believed? Notwithstanding his conviction, there were 
 
 *McMaster (iii., 73) says it was called in special session. 
 Many others have fallen into the same error. 
 
 2 Journal, p. 415. Cf. Orleans Gazette, January 16, 1807. 
 
234 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 many still incredulous, and perhaps none more so than 
 the representatives in the territorial council. They sat 
 behind closed doors the day Wilkinson repeated the 
 story of the conspiracy he had told over and over. That 
 heard, they passed at once a series of resolutions 
 pledging their faith in the integrity of the Central Gov 
 ernment and in the Executive of the United States, and 
 condemning any enterprise subversive of the Constitu 
 tion. Their next act was to reply to the Governor s 
 message : x 
 
 "It is indeed difficult to believe that, in the bosom of a 
 government the most free that exists on earth, plots, the 
 success of which must be fatal to liberty, should have 
 been formed. If, however, it be true that the ambitious 
 and depraved men who have conceived such criminal 
 projects have found proselytes, the Legislative Council 
 are convinced that it is not amongst the ancient inhab 
 itants of this territory, and that, notwithstanding the dis 
 satisfaction which they once manifested openly when they 
 thought themselves aggrieved, there is no perfidy, no 
 treason to be apprehended from them by the general gov 
 ernment. If they do not yet possess all the privileges en 
 joyed by the American citizen, they already set so much 
 value on the rights which have been granted to them, that 
 their late privation of those rights in the present stormy 
 circumstances has created among them the most serious 
 alarms." 
 
 If this were indeed the timid, conservative assem 
 bly Mr. Adams assures us it was, 2 it is difficult to 
 account for the spirit of this paper, which was adopted 
 while Wilkinson was yet at the height of his power and 
 Aaron Burr an expected enemy. It is patent that the 
 
 Gayarre, iv., 177. 
 
 ^History of the United States, iii., 323- 
 
WILKINSON IN NEW ORLEANS 235 
 
 legislators had opinions of their own; and they pro 
 ceeded to express them by refusing to suspend the writ 
 of habeas corpus on the ground that it would be a 
 violation of the Federal Constitution. The signal for 
 the revolt against the tyranny which the city had 
 patiently borne for many weeks was penetrating as a 
 bugle call. To Claiborne and Wilkinson it was a chal 
 lenge they dared not accept. If there could have been 
 doubt in the language of the reply to the Governor s 
 message as to the course they meant to pursue, it would 
 have vanished with the note sent by the House to Clai 
 borne four days later r 1 
 
 "With regard to the extraordinary measures which 
 have taken place for some time past in this territory, 
 although your excellency has not thought proper to reveal 
 to the Legislature the reasons which have led to them, yet 
 this House considers it as a sacred duty which they owe 
 to themselves and their fellow citizens, fully to investigate 
 those measures and the motives which have induced them, 
 and to represent the same to the Congress of the United 
 States/ 
 
 The House in committee of the whole soon took up 
 the matter of a Memorial "To the Honorable Senate 
 and House of Representatives of the United States in 
 Congress assembled." 2 After narrating in brief the 
 history of Wilkinson s career in New Orleans, the 
 Memorial made bold to discuss the writ of habeas 
 corpus and the relation which ought to subsist between 
 the civil and military powers : 
 
 "We feel grateful pleasure in referring to these consti 
 tutional bulwarks erected for our protection an honest 
 
 ^ayarre, iv., 178. 
 
 Orleans Gazette, Extra, March 20, 1807. 
 
236 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 pride in the consciousness that we have not rendered our 
 selves unworthy of the blessing and an indignant grief 
 which we are sure your honorable body will participate, 
 in the reflection that the noblest plan ever devised for the 
 protection of personal liberty the finest theory ever 
 imagined for the restraint of arbitrary power should, 
 before we have well seen its operation, be rendered abor 
 tive that the best gift offered by the United States should 
 be violently torn from our grasp, and that, while its con 
 stitutional guardians looked tamely on, the holy temple of 
 justice should be sacrilegiously rifled of this revered palla 
 dium of our rights." 
 
 This was a drastic arraignment of Claiborne and 
 Wilkinson ; and stronger words still were to be used : 
 
 "Though nothing can justify, yet circumstances of ex 
 treme danger in the moment of invasion, during the sus 
 pension of civil authority, might excuse some of these 
 violent measures. But here no foreign enemy or open 
 domestic foe was then, or has yet been proved to have 
 been within any perilous distance of this city, or that 
 treason lurked within our walls. . . . The acts of 
 high-handed military power to which we have been ex 
 posed [are] acts too notorious to be denied, too illegal to 
 be justified, too wanton to be excused." 
 
 During the course of the debate on the Memorial 
 the history of the conspiracy was reviewed by various 
 speakers. Of these, Dr. Watkins was the most promi 
 nent and forceful. He denounced Claiborne for having 
 assented to the perversion of the civil law ; for having 
 approved the unlawful military arrests; the illegal 
 embargo; for having transferred to Wilkinson the 
 command of the battalion of Orleans Volunteers with 
 out their consent and knowledge the same militiamen 
 being forced to arrest their fellow citizens, open letters 
 
WILKINSON IN NEW ORLEANS 237 
 
 and serve as spies. To show how completely the Gen 
 eral had terrorized the city, Watkins declared, "If you 
 said Burr could not find in Kentucky a sufficient 
 number of men, you were accused of wishing to lull the 
 people into a dangerous security, to stifle the vigilance 
 of government ; and if you gave confidence to the Gen 
 eral s information, that Burr could raise six to ten thou 
 sand men, you were in both cases a traitor." * 
 
 It has often been asserted that Burr counted on 
 this very Legislature to declare Louisiana independent 
 and to tender him the government that he was to wait 
 at Natchez to receive a delegation which was to make 
 him the offer. 2 Had Burr been so completely deceived ? 
 We are likewise assured that every man of wealth and 
 influence in New Orleans knew of Burr s project; but 
 that they had probably given it little avowed support 
 it was too "wild a scheme." 3 Daniel Clark is cited as 
 a type of this character. However, reasoning upon 
 broad grounds, the proposition is untenable. How 
 could men of wealth and influence hearken to a con 
 spiracy which aimed at the looting of their banks, the 
 pillaging of their stores, and at the establishment of a 
 reign of anarchy? Men are selfish and very rarely 
 embark in enterprises where their fortunes as well as 
 lives are at stake. The inhabitants of New Orleans 
 were no exception to the rule; and if they had ever 
 been allied with Burr it was with the understanding 
 that the troubled territories of Spain were to receive 
 the sanctifying touch of modern enlightenment to be 
 
 ^Orleans Gazette, April 7, 1807. 
 
 2 Adams (iii., 323) states this case most strongly. 
 
 3 Ibid. 
 
238 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 freed from the bonds of medievalism. The Creoles 
 had indeed lived under such a regime, and for years 
 after coming into the Union were looked upon as mal 
 contents. History has written that they were ripe for 
 revolt, that they were Burr s adherents, and that it 
 was only Wilkinson s severe measures that restrained 
 them at the crisis. The General declared that to Jef 
 ferson; but singularly enough when calm once more 
 fell over the Mississippi Valley he confessed to Clark 
 that the Creoles had never been connected with Burr. 
 
 "The animosities," said he, "which have been excited 
 in this city by Burr s friends and well-wishers and his 
 enemies and opposers are deep, rancorous, and deadly. 
 It would seem that the former composed almost exclu 
 sively of our own countrymen and foreigners, embrace 
 the men of talents and enterprize ; but the latter comprize 
 almost the whole of the ancient inhabitants." 1 
 
 The mass of Louisianians had indeed, prior to the 
 enterprise of Burr, accepted in good faith the govern 
 ment of the United States. If there had been discon 
 tent and intrigue among the Creoles, no one can say 
 with authority that at the crisis and afterwards their 
 conduct was other than exemplary. When the agita 
 tion for the Spanish war was high, Claiborne sent to 
 Dearborn a flattering commendation of their loyalty : 2 
 
 "You have already been informed of the patriotism 
 
 manifested by the militia. I have to-day a new proof to 
 
 render of the disposition of the people to rally at the call 
 
 of government. A company of volunteer riflemen have 
 
 lately been organized in this city, and have tendered their 
 
 ^Proofs, Note 72. 
 Journal, p. 321. 
 
WILKINSON IN NEW ORLEANS 239 
 
 services to march at such time and to such place as they 
 may be ordered." 
 
 At the moment of Wilkinson s advent into New 
 Orleans, when the storm of the conspiracy was already 
 high, Claiborne was writing a dispatch which put the 
 final seal on his estimate of the Creoles : 
 
 "My opinion as to the native Louisianians," he re 
 lated to Dearborn, "has always been the same; a majority 
 are well disposed, and were it not for the calumnies of 
 some Frenchmen who are among us, and the intrigue of a 
 few ambitious unprincipled men whose native language 
 is English, .1 do believe that the Louisianians would be 
 very soon among the most zealous and faithful members 
 of our Republic." 1 
 
 That was Wilkinson s belief, too, when he had 
 played his game and won. Indeed, it had always been 
 his belief; but his winning depended in part on the 
 case he could make out against the Creoles. They had 
 in fact given some grounds for suspicions and these 
 were made the most of ; but that they had been in league A 
 with Burr, whatever his plans were, seems improbable \ 
 enough. With due respect to the opinions of histo 
 rians, there is not a credible piece of evidence to show 
 the contrary. Wilkinson strove with all his might 
 to accumulate data which might be exaggerated into 
 serving his purposes. During his dictatorship he took 
 every precaution to secure "papers," accusing every 
 man against whom there was the slightest inference of 
 complicity in the unspeakable conspiracy. There was * 
 an endless confiscation of correspondence; and all the 
 while, through the connivance of the postmaster, the 
 
 Journal, p. 339- 
 
2 4 o THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 mails were rifled of every letter which excited the Gen 
 eral s suspicions. Nor was this all. He commissioned 
 a body of secret police, whose business it was to 
 search for evidence. According to J. P. Reibelt, who 
 served in that capacity and who had enjoyed a Govern 
 ment appointment in Orleans Territory, they were spe 
 cially instructed to gather testimony which would 
 prove that Burr meant to overthrow the Union and to 
 attack Mexico. Reibelt wrote that the Creoles were 
 well disposed and that nothing could be found to crimi 
 nate them. 1 
 
 In fine, what is the secret of Wilkinson s conduct in 
 New Orleans? Did he adopt his rigorous course be 
 cause he knew the real intentions of the associates? 
 When we consider that he knew of the conspiracy as 
 early as October 8th ; that he forwarded only an am 
 biguous notice to the Executive; that he sent no 
 advices to the governors of the infected States ; that he 
 concluded a corrupt treaty with the Spaniards ; that he 
 dispatched a shameless aide to Mexico ; that he reached 
 New Orleans two months after he had notice that it 
 was to be sacrificed when we consider all these facts 
 in connection with his unprecedented conduct in the 
 capital of Orleans, it must appear that he was playing 
 a master role of imposture, and unparalleled in our 
 history! In sharp contrast to his studied, noisy pro 
 gramme the Westerners had shown an unmistakable 
 attitude toward any design which threatened the integ 
 rity of the nation; and when they saw more clearly, 
 turned instinctively against the alarmist who for two 
 
 Reibelt to Jefferson, January 16, 1807 ; Jefferson MSS. 
 
WILKINSON IN NEW ORLEANS 241 
 
 long months had cried that the sword of Damocles 
 was suspended over their heads; that treason was 
 working darkly at the foundations of the Republic. Is 
 it any wonder that the residents of New Orleans rose 
 in furious passion when they found that the only acts 
 of lawlessness which had been committed had fallen 
 in their own midst? And could they have known at 
 the time the other transactions of the General; could 
 Jefferson and Congress and the country have known 
 the whole of the circumstances how different would 
 have appeared the preparations the filibusters were 
 making on the Ohio and at Clover Bottom on the Cum 
 berland. 
 

 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Expedition. 
 
 * 
 
 MEANTIME, November 12, 1806, the very 
 day Wilkinson was sending from Minor s 
 Seat his terrifying messages to the officers 
 in New Orleans, to the President and to the Viceroy 
 of Mexico, John Graham, from Pittsburg, in the dis 
 affected region, was calmly writing to Madison : 
 
 "I have taken every proper occasion to make enquiries 
 as to the state of the public mind on this side of the moun 
 tains, and it gives me pleasure to say that the accounts I 
 receive from all descriptions of people, lead to a belief, 
 that no serious impressions have been made unfriendly 
 to the Union." 
 
 From Pittsburg Graham dropped down the river to 
 Marietta. Shortly after his arrival Blennerhassett 
 called on him. Singularly enough, Graham s account 
 at the trial of the conversation on that occasion does 
 not accord with his correspondence, nor with the intelli 
 gence he gave Governor Tiffin of Ohio. He relates 
 that Blennerhassett inquired of him as to the prepara 
 tions being made up the river by Tyler and Dean for 
 the expedition ; as to the number of "men and settlers 
 they had obtained" ; that he "animadverted upon the 
 conduct pursued toward Colonel Burr at Frankfort, 
 stating, however, his belief that such conduct was not 
 authorized by the Government." He mentioned that 
 Burr had bought the Bastrop lands. 
 
 "Graham to Madison, November 12, 1806; Letters in Relation. 
 242 
 
THE EXPEDITION 243 
 
 "He [ "Uennerhassett] stated also," continued Graham, 
 "that he \\ AS to have an interest in his purchase, . . . 
 that the obj ^ct of his preparations was the settlement of 
 this land; . . . that it was a legal one, and Govern 
 ment would htVe no right to interfere, until it was ascer 
 tained that the> (meaning Colonel Burr and himself, as I 
 understood) had an ulterior object. . . . He ad 
 mitted, in the course of conversation, that he was building 
 boats for the expedition in which he was engaged with 
 Colonel Burr; that he was engaging young men, single 
 and without families, to go down armed ; . . . that he 
 did not solicit men to go ; that he took such only as pleased 
 to go; that he did not expect more than three hundred 
 men would go with him. He stated, also, that he was 
 engaging provisions for this same expedition." 1 
 
 All secrecy had been cast aside no effort was made 
 to conceal the object for which the boats were being 
 built, and for which provisions were being collected. 
 They were for an expedition to the Washita lands ; but 
 under this was another design, Blennerhassett specially 
 mentioning to Graham the possibility of fighting the 
 Spaniards, while "an association in New Orleans for the 
 invasion of Mexico," was referred to in a "very impres 
 sive manner." Graham says he told Blennerhassett 
 that he thought the expedition meant to attack either 
 the territories of the United States or those of Spain, 
 and that in either case the Government would have to 
 interfere. The agent visited General Neville and was 
 told of Burr s interview with the Morgans; he con 
 ferred also with the Hendersons, Blennerhassett s ene 
 mies ; and the next step was to excite Governor Tiffin, 
 who knew little or nothing of Burr and his partisans. 
 The Governor was aroused, however, and promised to 
 
 ^Annals of Congress, 1807-08, p. 486. 
 
244 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 mention the matter the next Monday in his message to 
 the Legislature. 
 
 November 28th, after his interview ^ith Tiffin in 
 Chillicothe, then the capital of Ohio, Graham wrote 
 Madison a letter breathing a tranquillity unexpected at 
 a season when the Proclamation had been four and 
 twenty hours before the world : "At this place they 
 seem to know nothing of the plans of Colonel Burr, 
 and I am rather induced to think that he has no one 
 at work for him here if he has, they have made very 
 little progress, for all is quiet." The reports from Ken 
 tucky of Burr s trial, commented Graham, had had a 
 very different effect from what was anticipated. Burr s 
 voluntary appearance in court had spread belief in his 
 innocence. However, should he pursue his designs "he 
 will yet find the same real difficulties to encounter, for 
 the great body of the people are decidedly adverse to 
 any plan which would disturb the peace or break in 
 upon the unity of the nation." 1 
 
 December 2d Burr s case came up before the Frank 
 fort court, and Tiffin s message was read to the Ohio 
 Legislature. He said to the representatives that an 
 expedition inimical to the interests of the United States 
 was about to be set on foot; that a flotilla was being 
 prepared; that young men were being inveigled into 
 joining by promises of pay and rations from the time 
 of their engagement, and by the assurance of future for 
 tunes. They were to capture New Orleans and its depen 
 dencies ; possess themselves of the money in the banks 
 and treasury (which amounted to $2,000,000) ; erect a 
 to Madison, November 28, 1806 ; Letters in Relation. 
 
THE EXPEDITION 245 
 
 government independent of the United States under a 
 foreign power, and force the West to secede. He had 
 been informed that two boats loaded with artillery, 
 muskets and bayonets had passed down the Ohio and 
 that there were men on board who spoke French; but 
 for want of legal authority they could not be arrested. 
 Then he put the question : Shall the conspirators on the 
 Muskingum be allowed to escape? 1 
 
 The Legislature did not immediately respond to 
 Tiffin s appeal. Only on the sixth was the requisite 
 bill enacted into a law. It was entitled: "An Act to 
 Prevent certain Acts hostile to the Peace and Tran 
 quillity of the United States within the Jurisdiction of 
 the State of Ohio." The Governor forthwith sent an 
 express to Judge Meigs and Major-General Buell at 
 Marietta with orders to arrest the flotilla and to gather 
 proof of the guilt of the parties concerned in the enter 
 prise. Orders were sent also to Generals Gano and 
 Finlay at Cincinnati to plant one or more pieces of 
 artillery on the bank of the Ohio; to keep patrols along 
 the river, and to call out three hundred men to over 
 come Blennerhassett and Tyler. No boat was to be 
 suffered to pass unexamined. Meigs and Buell on the 
 ninth set about the execution of their orders. They 
 proceeded up the Muskingum, seized two hundred bar 
 rels of provisions and took charge of fifteen bateaux, 
 four of which were on the stocks. 2 No arrests of in 
 dividuals were made, though Tiffin s orders were other- 
 
 ^Orleans Gazette, February 13, 1807. 
 
 *J. Meigs, Letter, December 17, 1806; Orleans Gazette, Febru 
 ary 10, 1807. Adams (iii., 286) says the boats had been taken to 
 Blennerhassett s Island. 
 
246 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 wise carried out with some degree of energy. After all, 
 the seizure of the Muskingum flotilla was a matter of 
 small moment to the adventurers. Had the boats es 
 caped there were not even crews for them, much less 
 companies of determined traitors. Those at a distance, 
 however, saw in this capture the destruction of the 
 weapons of the conspirators. Jefferson looked upon 
 the affair philosophically : 
 
 "That our fellow citizens of the West," he repeated 
 confidently to Tiffin, 1 "would need only to be informed of 
 criminal machinations against the public safety, to crush 
 them at once, I never entertained a doubt. I have seen 
 with the greatest satisfaction that among those who have 
 distinguished themselves by their fidelity to their country, 
 on the occasion of the enterprise of Mr. Burr, yourself, and 
 the legislature of Ohio, have been the most eminent." 
 
 December yth marked the beginning of Blennerhas- 
 sett s misfortunes his boats on the Muskingum, which 
 were to have been delivered that day, were seized; 
 while from either side of the river he was menaced by 
 the militia. Already Comfort Tyler of New York had 
 reached the island with four boats and twenty men 
 whom he denominated "settlers." November I4th he 
 had written Blennerhassett from Pittsburgh 
 
 "My calculations have at all times been to leave Beaver 
 on the first of next month. The only difficulty that I have 
 encountered is, the procuring the provisions necessary for 
 my settlers, some of whom are behind, and I fear they will 
 not arrive in time ; but I shall be off with the few that may 
 happen to be with me, and trust to those behind to fol 
 low on." 
 
 "Jefferson to Tiffin, February 2, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 * Blennerhassett Papers, p. 160. 
 
THE EXPEDITION 247 
 
 The tenth of December brought matters on the 
 island to a crisis. The Virginia militia announced that 
 on the morrow would come the fathoming of the island 
 secret. Blennerhassett and Tyler were not unadvised 
 of these plans, and as their arrangements for departure 
 were almost completed, they decided that they should 
 start forthwith on their perilous but inviting voyage. 
 The early part of the evening was spent in making final 
 preparations; by midnight everything was ready, and 
 the lanterns which had flashed to and from the shore 
 were extinguished and the rapid current of the Ohio 
 bore away the adventurers. 
 
 The following day Colonel Phelps with a body of 
 militia took possession of the island, only to find it 
 deserted! Leaving behind the bulk of his force he set 
 out overland for the mouth of the Great Kanawha to 
 intercept the flotilla. But while on watch the senti- | j 
 nels, "pouring spirits down to keep spirits up/ as one I 
 wrote, fell asleep and the boats passed unnoticed. 
 Meantime the mob of militia left on the island had cap 
 tured a flatboat with fourteen boys aboard, all from 
 Pittsburg and intending to join Burr. Besides this 
 exploit the men raided the wine cellar, pulled down 
 fences to keep the fires going, and destroyed much that 
 had made the island a thing of beauty. Then they 
 proceeded to try the youthful Burrites before Justices 
 Wolf and Kencholoe for alleged crimes against the 
 State, but the manner in which the trial was conducted 
 made a farce of the law. 1 The prisoners were speedily 
 acquitted, and, taking Mrs. Blennerhassett and her 
 
 Seville s Letter, December 21, 1806; Letters in Relation. 
 
248 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 family with them, pushed off once more to land a 
 month later at Bayou Pierre. 
 
 Already the news of the Proclamation was spread 
 ing in an ever-widening circle, sweeping away the last 
 doubt in the minds of the uninitiated as to the nature 
 of the expedition. Its effect on society at large was 
 tremendous it was proof positive of daring, sinister 
 conspiracy, just as Wilkinson s letters had been to the 
 Occupant of the White House. Jefferson had been 
 grossly deceived and had in turn grossly deceived the 
 masses. Not the least fatal in that long chain of 
 circumstances was the escape of the Ohio flotilla on the 
 eve of the appearance of the Proclamation the West 
 erners jumped to conclusions they would not otherwise 
 have reached, and the cumulative force of the agitations 
 could find relief only in panic. Twice the town of Cin 
 cinnati was tumultuous with fear. The editor of the 
 Liberty Hall, a local newspaper, recounted that the 
 report became current late one afternoon that three of 
 Burr s armed boats were anchored near the city, which 
 was soon to be attacked. At nightfall some sport- 
 loving wag fired a bomb and the inhabitants instantly 
 concluded that the heralded assault had begun. The 
 officials put their wits together; the militia was called 
 out ; the citizens organized for defense ; and a neighbor 
 ing town was invited to lend assistance in this dire ex 
 tremity. At last, late the following day, some one 
 ventured near enough the vessels to learn that they 
 belonged to a Louisville merchant and were loaded with 
 dry goods. The editor naively suggested that they had 
 made themselves ridiculous. He ventured the opinion 
 
THE EXPEDITION 249 
 
 that Burr was playing the part of a land jobber on the 
 Washita in conjunction with Judge Lynch, and that 
 his project was greatly exaggerated. The Western Spy 
 declared that Blennerhassett had passed Cincinnati 
 with four keel boats loaded with "military stores" ; that 
 many boats were being built; that the Spanish settle 
 ments in Mexico were to be attacked ; and that 20,000 
 men were engaged in the enterprise. 1 As a further 
 illustration of the nervousness of society the following 
 paragraph is in point : 2 
 
 "It has been for some time reported and believed at 
 Louisville that Colonel Burr was building gunboats and 
 ships of war at Marietta and Wheeling ; at those places it 
 is understood that he is making great naval equipments 
 at Louisville and Limestone; and some have believed 
 that vast military preparations were making at all those 
 places." 
 
 Ignorance of the actual state of affairs was there 
 fore at the bottom of the increasing excitement. The 
 newspapers ran riot, reporting with embellishments 
 every story of the hour nothing was too wild or ab 
 surd for belief. 3 
 
 Amid this whirl of excitement Graham left Ohio 
 for Frankfort on hi errand of inquiry. So slow was 
 his progress, however, the holly was displayed and the 
 festivities of Christmas were being celebrated when he 
 came before the Legislature of Kentucky with his tale 
 
 ^Western Spy, December 23, 1806; Palladium, January 8, 1807. 
 
 ^Palladium, December n, 1806. 
 
 For a curious medley of stories, see : National Intelligencer, 
 November 7, 1806; Salem Gazette, December 12, 1806; Palladium, 
 December 18, 1806; Salem Gazette, January 13, 1807; Palladium, 
 January 15, 1807; etc. 
 
250 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 from Ohio. Several days the representatives sat behind 
 closed doors, emerging with a law entitled, "An Act to 
 Prevent Unlawful and Warlike Enterprises." Orders 
 were dispatched to various places on the Ohio to stop 
 the passage of all boats, and the militia was sent to 
 enforce the decrees of the State. It is worth while 
 noting that in the nine clauses of the Act the name of 
 Burr does not appear, but the denunciation of unlawful 
 expeditions was unqualified. The penalty for the in 
 fraction of the statute was a fine of two thousand 
 dollars and one year s imprisonment. 1 Three weeks 
 earlier, during Burr s second trial at Frankfort, this 
 same Legislature had passed a series of resolutions, lest 
 the world, a$ they expressed it, should misapprehend 
 their attitude towards the Union: 2 
 
 "Be it resolved : That the people of Kentucky feel the 
 strongest attachment for the Federal Government, and 
 consider a dismemberment of the Union as the greatest 
 evil which could befall them. . . . And that the peo 
 ple of Kentucky have entire confidence in the present 
 Administration of the general Government." 
 
 From every quarter in the West came simulta 
 neously avowals of loyalty to the Government and de 
 fiance to traitors. While the lawmakers of Kentucky 
 were placing themselves on record, Claiborne was warn 
 ing the inhabitants of Louisiana against the treasonable 
 expedition of Burr. December i6th, ignorant of the 
 happenings along the Ohio and of the Proclamation, 
 solely through Wilkinson s influence, Claiborne pro 
 mulgated his denunciation against the "traitorous pro- 
 
 1 Palladium, January I, 1807. 
 ^Palladium, December 18, 1806. 
 
THE EXPEDITION 251 
 
 ject to subvert the authority of the Government over a 
 portion of the territory thereof and to invade the do 
 minions of the King of Spain, a prince in amity with 
 the United States." * A week later, December 23d 
 Burr was still in Tennessee Meade issued a proclama 
 tion similar to Claiborne s in tone and wording. Meade 
 relied much upon Claiborne and had a month earlier 
 written him, "We are here in constant watch and ready 
 to march at the first call of our country. . . . The 
 body of the Territory is honest, brave, and ready to 
 hazard their lives and fortunes in their country s 
 cause." 2 The Legislature, before it was adjourned in 
 anticipation of a conflict with Burr, passed the follow 
 ing resolution : 
 
 "That they are attached in the highest degree to the 
 Constitution of the United States, and have the utmost 
 confidence in the wisdom and virtue of the Chief Magis 
 trate ; and that every project of the ambitious and enter 
 prising to dissever the Union and to usurp the preroga 
 tive of Government, will excite their honest indignation." 3 
 
 In Tennessee, the Sons of the Revolution, many of 
 them officers, addressed General Jackson offering to 
 take up arms in defense of the Union ;* while the gov 
 ernor of the State said in a letter to a member of 
 Congress, "You may rest assured nothing is to be ap 
 prehended from any misconduct in the people of Ten 
 nessee. No doubt some malcontents are among us; 
 
 ^Orleans Gazette, February 13, 1807. 
 
 2 Meade to, Claiborne, November 23, 1806; MSS. Governor 
 Claiborne s Correspondence Orleans Territory, vol. v., State De 
 partment Archives. 
 
 ^Annals of Congress, Second Session, 1806-07, p. 78. 
 
 Orleans Gazette, February 6, 1807. 
 
252 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 but their party is too insignificant to disturb the public 
 tranquillity." 
 
 After Burr s second vindication at Frankfort he 
 returned to Lexington where he met General Adair; 
 and together they rode to Nashville. December I4th 
 they entered the capital of Tennessee, while Blenner- 
 hassett was floating down the Ohio, and Wilkinson was 
 making his military seizures in New Orleans. At 
 Nashville Adair and Burr parted company, the former 
 starting overland for New Orleans through the Indian 
 I country, the latter going to Andrew Jackson s. 1 
 
 The connection between Burr and Jackson is of 
 more than passing interest, not only because of the 
 prominence and marked individuality of the two char 
 acters, but also for the light it throws on the nature of 
 " the conspiracy. Burr spent at this time when Wilkin 
 son had been terrorizing New Orleans three weeks, 
 while the Proclamation for a similar period had con 
 demned the expedition eight days in and near Nash 
 ville, chiefly with Jackson. This fact evoked serious 
 criticism of the latter s conduct ; one of the most potent 
 arguments urged against him in his Presidential can 
 vass was that he had given comfort to Burr the traitor. 
 In many quarters the episode was reviewed with viru 
 lence, the party in power making the most extreme ac 
 cusations. One of Jackson s correspondents, I. S. Bar- 
 bour, writing from Culpeper, October 4, 1828, related 
 that The hirelings of power have redoubled their 
 exertions among us within the last fortnight and the 
 
 Correspondence from Nashville, December 20; National In 
 telligencer, January 23, 1807. 
 
 
THE EXPEDITION 253 
 
 Burr charge was pressed with greater earnestness and 
 malignity." 1 It was emphasized that Jackson sent No 
 vember 12, 1806, a denunciation of Burr to Claj borne, 
 and that a month later he was entertaining at his home 
 the chief of the conspirators. It is noticeable that those 
 writers who have satisfied themselves that this letter in 
 criminates Jackson, publishes him to the world as deep 
 in the conspiracy, never quote the concluding lines of 
 that much distorted communication : "I love my coun 
 try and Government I hate the Dons I would de 
 light to see Mexico reduced ; but I will die in the last 
 ditch before I would yield a foot to the Dons or see 
 the Union disunited." As a common-sense proposition 
 how could Jackson have betrayed a plot in which he 
 was himself vitally implicated? Jackson averred that 
 
 he merely reported rumor: a certain Captain , 
 
 passing a day and a night with him, had told of the 
 designs of the adventurers, how they plotted to divide\ 
 the Union by seizing New Orleans, to conquer Mexico, \ 
 and with the aid of the Federal troops under Wilkinson ] 
 to effect the separation of the Western States. His/ 
 suspicions were aroused, he said, and a few days later 
 he warned Governors Smith and Claiborne. 2 The trutjr~] j 
 is it was Wilkinson s connection with the affair v 
 alarmed the Tennesseean. 
 
 Although Jackson had said to Claiborne in his letter 
 of November I2th, "This I write for your own eye," 
 the Governor immediately sent a copy of it to Jefferson. 
 Moreover, Wilkinson had the original for a time in his 
 
 *I. S. Barbour to Jackson, October 4, 1828; Jackson MSS. 
 Jackson to Campbell; Parton s Jackson, i., 332. 
 
254 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 possession and made, without Claiborne s knowledge, a 
 copy of it which he used extensively. Jackson justly 
 complained to Claiborne the next year of the publicity 
 which had been given his private correspondence, ask 
 ing at the same time for a copy of the letter. He did 
 not conceal his opinion of Wilkinson s double dealing, 
 and expressed the wish that the conspiracy should be 
 thoroughly developed. Claiborne, however, was still 
 impressed with the righteousness of the General, for 
 in his reply dated December 5, 1807, he said, "I am free 
 to declare that my impressions are greatly in his [Wil 
 kinson s] favor." His excuse for the publication of 
 Jackson s letter read as follows: 
 
 "I am persuaded you will not suppose that I did, either 
 unnecessarily or improperly, expose the contents of your 
 communication. It reached me at an interesting crisis, 
 and was only resorted to with a view to serve our country 
 and Government, to which I always believed you to be 
 ardently attached." 1 
 
 Jackson s every act was one of loyalty. Although 
 he was engaged in preparing boats for Burr, the per 
 sistent rumors concerning the nature of the expedition 
 led him early in December to wonder whether he had 
 
 deceived. 2 Burr should at least reassure him. 
 
 / Says Davis, "General Jackson addressed a letter to 
 
 | Colonel Burr in which he alluded to rumors that were 
 
 \l I afloat of his having hostile designs against the United 
 
 \ States, adding that if this were tr&^he would hold no 
 
 ^^^V " jjf^tjlA - 
 
 ^communication on the subject; biftfif untrue and his 
 
 \ /Claiborne to Jackson, December 3, 1807; Jackson MSS. 
 ^ Daniel Smith to Jackson, January 3, 1807 ; Jackson MSS. 
 
THE EXPEDITION 255 
 
 intentions were to proceed to Mexico, he would join 
 and accompany him with his whole division/ 1 
 this Burr replied, that he had no design whatever "in 
 imical or hostile to the United States, and whenever hi 
 was charged with the intention of separating the Union, 
 the idea of insanity must be ascribed to him." 2 
 
 Of the five boats to have been built at Clover Bot 
 tom on the Cumberland, two only were ready. Patton 
 Anderson, Jackson s intimate friend, had raised a full 
 company to go with Burr to the war, but the war was 
 still in the future the news of Wilkinson s peace with 
 the Spaniards had spread by this time to the seaboard 
 besides, reports were in circulation derogatory to the 
 character of the enterprise which effectually dampened 
 the ardor even of the adventurers. December 2Oth, -- 
 Burr sent a note to Blennerhassett, saying that he had 
 experienced distressing delays, but that he would be 
 at the mouth of the Cumberland Sunday the twenty- i 
 third inst. 3 Burr had been in no wise molested, and 
 calculated the time of his departure to a day, which 
 does not accord with the usual tale that he fled so 
 precipitately he took but two boats with him.* Decem 
 ber 22d, having received back from Jackson one thou 
 sand seven hundred and twenty-five dollars for the 
 unfinished boats, Burr embarked a number of horses in 
 one of his vessels, a few men, whom he admitted to 
 have hired, in the other, and floated down the Cumber- 
 
 1 Memoirs of Aaron Burr, n., 382. 
 
 Pattern s Jackson, i., 333. 
 
 3 Burr to Blennerhassett, December 20, 1806; Blennerhassett 
 Papers, p. 185. 
 
 *Adams (iii., 289) and McMaster (iii., 72) state the case in 
 an exaggerated way. 
 
256 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 land to its mouth, where Blennerhassett, Davis Floyd, 
 and the rest of the company awaited him. 1 Burr could 
 
 nnow have had no other purpose in view than to begin 
 the settlement of his Washita lands there was no 
 other alternative. The idea which has prevailed that 
 up to the moment of being confronted by the militia 
 at Bayou Pierre he calculated on the cooperation of 
 Wilkinson in an assault on New Orleans is as absurd 
 as it would be to assert that the news of the peace with 
 the Spaniards had required more than two months for 
 its dissemination in the West. Nor more could he have 
 dreamed of advancing his interests by force that he 
 could not command, had he been so disposed. 
 
 Blennerhassett, Tyler, and Smith, with their four 
 boats, after the escape from Wood County the night 
 of December 10-11, had met with no further obstruc 
 tions. 2 At the falls of the Ohio, six days removed 
 i from the island, they were joined by Davis Floyd of 
 Indiana with three boats and thirty men. When Burr 
 had come the formidable squadron, laden with horses, 
 agricultural implements, provisions, and personal arms, 
 was in complete array. There were in all nine bateaux 
 and less than sixty men. An inconsiderable fleet : 
 nevertheless its strength seems to have been greater 
 than Burr anticipated, for he wrote at once to Lynch 
 to send an increased supply of corn and additional 
 farming implements. 3 Christmas Day he sent a note 
 to the commander of Fort Massac, notifying him of his 
 
 ^Orleans Gazette, January 16, 1807; National Intelligencer, 
 January 23, 1807. 
 
 Blennerhassett Papers, p. 184. 
 Annals of Congress, 1807-08, p. 658. 
 
THE EXPEDITION 257 
 
 coming, which seems a foolish proceeding in one flee 
 ing, as we have been often told, the clutches of the law. 
 
 "I avail myself of the opportunity of Mr. Hopkins," 
 Burr said, "to offer you salutations and the compliments 
 of the season. Having proposed to descend the river in a 
 few days, I shall have the pleasure of paying my respects 
 to you on the way, and of receiving your commands for 
 the South." 
 
 The twenty-eighth of December the fleet moved 
 down the Ohio, and the night of the twenty-ninth 
 anchored a mile below Massac. Bissell rowed to the 
 camp the day after the arrival of the adventurers to re 
 turn the greetings of the ex-Vice-President and to in-L 
 vite him to dine at the fort. But his civilities were 
 declined. It was here, too, that Jacob Dunbaugh, who 
 afterwards figured in the trial, joined the expedition. 
 Having personally applied for a twenty-day furlough, j 
 his wish was granted ; but Dunbaugh in the excitement I 
 at the collapse of the association failed to keep his en 
 gagement and was advertised as a deserter. He took 
 refuge at Baton Rouge, whence Wilkinson coaxed him 
 with a pardon to prime him as a leading State witness. 
 His writings, leaving out of account his testimony at 
 Richmond, show him to have been a despicable char 
 acter. The following letter to Captain Bissell settles 
 for all time his credibility :* 
 
 "With sorrow I take Pen in hand to inform you," he 
 said briefly and bluntly, "that I had to tell the officers that 
 you sent me as a Spy against Colonel Burr and had to 
 make outt what I new againg him[.] I wrote that you 
 
 *Letters in Relation. 
 
2 5 8 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 sent me on that Purpes[.] [They] the thought My Cap 
 tain [Bissell] was interested [.] I told them that he did 
 not know what Burr s mening was to take some men down 
 the River with him. ... I should be thankful if my 
 Captain would send some money if their is any for me 
 and my Boots if my detes air paid." 
 
 Meantime Graham had reached Nashville, having 
 ,-left Frankfort December 23d. Whether he brought 
 the Proclamation with him, or whether it had already 
 arrived, cannot be ascertained. Certain it is that it 
 came after the departure of Burr ; it was not until 
 January ist that Jackson received his special orders 
 from the Secretary of War. Dearborn, under the stim 
 ulus of popular rumor, hinted to Jackson that, knowing 
 the secrets of the conspirators, he could strike a blow 
 to good advantage. The Tennesseean was incensed, 
 and, although he set about his duty manfully, he took 
 occasion to say to Dearborn what came into his mind. 
 One phrase is particularly characteristic and forcibly 
 expresses Jackson s interpretation of the general tenor 
 of the order he was expected to play the part of the 
 "smiling assassin." He deeply resented the insinua 
 tion that he was himself a conspirator. Congressman 
 Campbell, Jackson s friend, paid several visits to Jeffer 
 son and Dearborn in the interest of peace. The latter 
 avowed that no offense had been intended in the order ; 
 that, on the contrary, because of reliance in him he had 
 been given the utmost freedom of action ; and Jefferson, 
 to quote Campbell s language to Jackson, declared "his 
 unshaken and unlimited confidence in your integrity." 
 Jackson, upon the receipt of the order of January 
 G. W. Campbell to Jackson, February 6, 1807; Jackson MSS. 
 
THE EXPEDITION 259 
 
 ist, ordered the mobilization of the militia; and twelve 
 companies of volunteers were to march on the fifth 
 under the command of Brigadier-General James Win 
 chester. Secret messengers were sent to the mouth of 
 the Cumberland and to Fort Massac. Jackson wrote 
 January 2d to Captain Bissell, that he had heard that a 
 number of boats had assembled at the mouth of the 
 Cumberland, that they were loaded with arms and am 
 munition, and that the expedition was hostile to the 
 United States. Bissell was accordingly instructed to 
 capture all parties engaged in such an enterprise, and to 
 report what information he had concerning the number 
 of men, their equipment, and rendezvous. 
 
 January 4th, John Murrell delivered the dispatch 
 to Bissell, who replied that he had received neither the 
 President s Proclamation, nor the orders from the War 
 Department; and then continued: "There has not tor 
 my knowledge been any assembling of men or boats J 
 at this or any other place unauthorized by law or pre-j 
 cedency." For two weeks he had made it a point to 
 examine the cargo of all vessels descending the river, 
 but as yet nothing alarming had been seen. He con 
 cluded by saying that on or about the thirty-first ultimo 
 Colonel Burr, late Vice-President, "passed this way 
 with about ten boats of different descriptions, navigated 
 with about six men each, having nothing on board j 
 that would even suffer a conjecture more than that he 
 was a man bound to market. He has descended the 
 river towards Orleans." 
 
 When Murrell had returned with this news Jackson 
 Palladium, February 5, 1807 ; Parton s Jackson, i., 323- 
 
260 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 disbanded the militia. "This express returned the 
 eighth instant," he said in an official account, "whose 
 report, together with information given by Captain 
 Bissell, gave me pleasing news that nothing in that 
 quarter was alarming. Under all these circumstances, 
 added to the limited point of view in which the orders 
 given me must be interpreted, I have deemed proper to 
 dismiss the corps under my command." 1 
 
 Thus the volunteers returned home a few days be 
 fore Burr s flotilla pushed into Bayou Pierre. With 
 Burr had gone Stokely Hays, Mrs. Jackson s nephew. 
 He bore a letter of introduction from Jackson to Clai- 
 borne, and was instructed to abandon Burr if he discov 
 ered any thing in his conduct threatening to the United 
 States. 2 In Jackson s mind, however, there was no 
 question as to the aim of the associates. January 15, 
 1807, he spoke out plainly in a confidential epistle to 
 one of his most intimate friends : 3 
 
 "The late denunciation of Aaron Burr as a traitor has 
 excited great surprise and general indignation against 
 Burr. Still, from the opinion possessed of the accuser 
 (Wilkinson) many there are who wait for the proof be 
 fore they will pronounce him guilty of the charge. . . . 
 [Then he referred to the rumor that he was on full march 
 with Burr.] Should you ever hear that I am embarked 
 in a cause inimical to my country, believe it not ; . . . 
 or that I would not put any man out of existence that 
 would name such a thing to me, without on the ground of 
 discovering it to the proper authority, believe them not. 
 
 /And if Burr had any treasonable intentions in view, he is 
 the basest of all human beings. I will tell you why. He 
 
 ^Orleans Gazette, February 10, 1807. 
 "Parton s Jackson, i., 321. 
 Parton s Jackson, i., 330. 
 
THE EXPEDITION 261 
 
 always held out the idea of settling Washita, unless a war 
 with Spain; in that event he held out the idea that from j 
 his intimacy with the Secretary of War, he would obtain j 
 an appointment ; and if he did he would revolutionize ^ 
 Mexico. . . . If he is a traitor, he is the basest that 
 ever did commit treason, and being tore to pieces and 
 scattered to the four winds of heaven would be too good 
 for him." 
 
 The vehemence of the language corresponded with 
 the ingenuousness and impetuosity of Jackson s nature. 
 At the moment he wrote, the end of the expedition 
 was unknown; but if he ever hesitated in his judg 
 ment of Burr, the verdict was not long in suspense. 
 He was summoned to Richmond as a State witness,? 
 but the attitude he assumed convinced the prosecution; 
 that the less they had of him the better would fare 
 their case ; so he was never put on the stand. He wrote 
 from Richmond before the trial was well begun, "I 
 am more convinced than ever that treason was never i 
 intended by Burr ; but if it was, you know my wishes \ 
 that he may be hung. I am still more convinced that I 
 whatever may have been the project of Burr, James 
 Wilkinson has gone hand and hand with him." 1 Jack- 
 son never did things by halves ; through his long career 
 in State and nation he never struck a compromise. 
 Iron-handed, inflexible, honest, Andrew Jackson, the 
 hero of the battle of New Orleans and queller of Nulli 
 fication, was not one to stoop to a madman s plot for a 
 division of the States. 
 
 The last day of 1806 the flotilla emerged upon the ^ 
 broad waters of the Mississippi. New Year s day a stop 
 
 Barton s Jackson, i., 335. 
 
262 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 was made at New Madrid, opposite the mouth of the 
 Ohio ; and three days later they hauled in at Chickasaw 
 Bluffs, now called Memphis. Lieutenant Jacob Jackson 
 commanded the fort, and was as ignorant as Bissell at 
 Massac of the ban which had gone forth against the 
 filibusters. The lieutenant was indeed ready to join 
 them on the avowal that they were bound for Mexico, 
 and accepted money from Burr to enable him to raise 
 a company in his service. 1 The sixth of January the 
 fleet of flatboats moved on, and four days later they 
 halted in Mississippi Territory, where the excitement 
 was intense. The proclamations of Claiborne and 
 Meade had roused the whole country against Burr, 
 who, upon landing, issued a public letter asserting the 
 innocence of his views : 2 
 
 "If the alarm which has been excited should not be 
 appeased by this declaration," ran the manifesto, "I invite 
 
 my fellow citizens to visit me at this place, and to receive 
 from me in person, such further explanations as may be 
 necessary to their satisfaction, presuming that when my 
 views are understood, they will receive the countenance 
 of all good men." 
 
 Burr also declared to Meade, who wrote January 13, 
 1807, to Dearborn, 3 that his designs were in no way 
 hostile to the laws or government of the United States ; 
 that rumors against his patriotism were false; that he 
 was bound for the Washita lands, and that his bateaux 
 were mere vehicles for emigration, hinting that any 
 attempt to molest them might be resisted. Comfort 
 
 l Annals of Congress, 1807-08, p. 683. 
 Parton s Burr, i., 88. 
 
 Meade to Dearborn, January 13, 1807; National Intelligencer, 
 February 11, 1807. 
 
THE EXPEDITION 263 
 
 Tyler gave a brief account of the voyage and the recep 
 tion tendered them i 1 
 
 "At the mouth of the Cumberland I met Colonel Burr, 
 expecting to proceed on with him to our intended settle 
 ment, but to my chagrin, the approach of Colonel Burr 
 [produced] the most terrible confusion and alarm hun 
 dreds under arms have turned out to meet him, and about 
 fifty unarmed, defenceless, and peaceable fellow citizens, 
 of whom I have the misfortune to be one. Conscious of 
 the purity of my intentions, [I] hope the suspicions will 
 not rest on me or my friends." 
 
 This general recourse to arms spread also to West 
 Florida. December 2ist, when the danger appeared 
 imminent, Grand Pre called together the civil and mili 
 tary officers, explaining the serious complications which 
 were likely to arise as the neighboring States were 
 reported to be in arms against Louisiana and the do 
 minions of his Majesty. He urged the organization 
 of the militia and other precautions. 2 Governor Folch 
 marched from Pensacola with three hundred soldiers 
 for Baton Rouge, which he reached, having been re 
 fused by Claiborne passage across the Territory of 
 Orleans, only at the moment Burr halted at Bayou 
 Pierre. February I5th, Folch related some of the 
 events which had transpired : 3 
 
 "The conspiracy, having its origin in the States of Ken 
 tucky, Tennessee, and Cumberland, with Colonel Aaron 
 Burr, ex-Vice-President of the United States, at its head,, 
 has been an active force since the middle of last Novem 
 ber. In order better to watch it I moved to Mobile. 
 
 1 Letters in Relation. 
 * Orleans Gazette, January 9, 1807. 
 
 Folch to Iturrigaray, February 15, 1807; MSS. Mexican 
 Archives. 
 
264 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 Shortly after my arrival, I learned the plot of the incen 
 diaries. . . . After knowing the chief object, I could 
 not understand the means for its achievement, without 
 which knowledge I could not take my measures to secure 
 the possessions of the King. December ist, however, I 
 learned that Burr had selected the mouth of the Cumber 
 land as the point for the reunion of his forces, 
 that Baton Rouge was the first point proposed for attack. 
 I therefore withdrew three hundred men from the garri 
 sons of Pensacola and Mobile for its defense." 
 
 It is most significant that as early as October 
 ist, while Burr was still busy with preliminaries and 
 before Wilkinson, according to his story, knew of the 
 plot, this Spaniard should have reported it hostile to 
 his country, and that so late as February 15, 1807, he 
 had not modified his opinion. 
 
 Meanwhile, on the Coffee House book in New 
 Orleans, which contained many entries of note, was 
 written January 2 ist: "General Wilkinson received an 
 express last night by which he was positively informed 
 that Colonel Burr was at Bayou Pierre." It was also 
 rumored that Colonel Claiborne and Captain Scott, 
 with three hundred militia, had gone in pursuit of him. 
 Reports were conflicting. "Those at the head of affairs 
 (we hope from motives of public safety) maintain the 
 most profound silence," l said the Gazette. Claiborne 
 and Wilkinson at once addressed a joint letter to the 
 governor of Mississippi :* 
 
 "Understanding that Aaron Burr has taken post within 
 the territory over which you preside, we cannot but ex 
 press our solicitude, lest his pretensions to innocence, and 
 
 ^Orleans Gazette, January 23, 1807. 
 2 Gayarre, iv., 177. 
 
THE EXPEDITION 265 
 
 the arts which he may employ to delude and seduce our* 
 fellow citizens from their duty to their country , may be 
 partially successful. We rely with confidence on your 
 exertions to seize the arch-conspirator, and having done 
 so, permit us to suggest for your consideration the ex 
 pediency of placing him without delay on board one of 
 our armed vessels in the river, with an order to the officers 
 to descend with him to this city. Otherwise, if his fol 
 lowers are numerous, as they are represented to be, it is 
 probable it may not be in your power to bring him to trial. 
 We take this occasion to advise you confidentially to keep 
 a strict eye upon the Spaniards. Governor Folch is to 
 proceed to Baton Rouge with four hundred men." 
 
 This advice was as unnecessary as it was a palpable 
 attempt to keep up a show of uneasiness; Meade had 
 already acted with promptitude and energy. December 
 2Oth he had prorogued the Legislature; the twenty-third 
 appeared his warning against the conspiracy "directed 
 by men of profound intrigue for the aggrandizement of 
 themselves and their minions, to the oppression of the 
 great mass of the people, whom they are endeavoring to 
 dupe and inveigle." Christmas Day W. B. Shields, 
 aide-de-camp to the Governor, issued a general call for 
 mustering the First, Second, Fourth, and Fifth regi 
 ments of militia. The Second and Fourth regiments 
 quickly responded to the orders of their regimental and 
 company officers, and were ready to march at the mo 
 ment of Burr s landing at Bayou Pierre. Despite the 
 fact that Burr had promptly written Meade avowing 
 his "innocence of the charges which rumor and public 
 apprehension had announced against him," and solicit 
 ing his aid in appeasing the fears the approach of the 
 expedition had begotten, 1 the Governor set the machin- 
 
 *Meade to Jefferson; Jefferson MSS. 
 
266 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 ery in motion which was at last to put an end to the 
 mysterious business. 
 
 Tradition has it that only now Burr learned of his 
 betrayal read in a newspaper at Judge Bruin s his 
 letter of July 2Qth ! * But tradition is wrong. Burr 
 knew that Wilkinson had made an agreement with the 
 Spaniards; and knew prior to leaving Tennessee that 
 he had occupied New Orleans. Captain Daniel Bissell 
 testified that Burr related to him at Fort Massac "that 
 General Wilkinson had made a compromise with the 
 Spaniards. Burr said he was very sorry for it, and that 
 General Wilkinson ought to have fought them." 
 Clearly Burr was unfamiliar with the details of the 
 Sabine campaign, but he knew one thing beyond doubt, 
 v whatever his relations had been with Wilkinson, that 
 no further cooperation was to be expected his silence 
 had been too profound. He was of course ignorant of 
 the General s denunciations ; of the state of mind of the 
 inhabitants in the lower country ; but it is folly to assert 
 that he continued his voyage in the belief that Wilkin 
 son was only awaiting his coming to precipitate the 
 revolution. 
 
 As soon as it was possible, a detachment of militia 
 three hundred and seventy-five strong was sent up the 
 river from Natchez and posted at the mouth of Cole s 
 Creek to prevent the egress of Burr s flotilla. Meade 
 and his staff marched up the river by land, and on the 
 sixteenth Poindexter, the United States attorney for 
 
 (iii., 325) relates this story, which has become classic. 
 He adds: "From the moment Burr saw himself denounced by 
 Wilkinson, his only hope was to escape." 
 1 Annals of Congress, 2807-08, p. 637. 
 
THE EXPEDITION 267 
 
 Mississippi, and Shields, the Governor s aide, were sent 
 to visit Burr. They were cordially received. Major 
 Shields presented a letter from the Governor, in which 
 he attributed to Burr hostile intentions against the ter 
 ritory of the United States. Burr ridiculed the idea, 
 saying that he would have gone to Natchez to see the 
 Governor had it not been for reports abroad and his 
 fear of assassination. He pointed to his boats, and 
 asked if there was anything warlike in their appearance. 
 When told that the militia of the territory had orders 
 to stop him, he replied that he was willing to submit to 
 the civil authorities. An interview with Governor 
 Meade was arranged for the next day, and the follow 
 ing guarantee was signed by Burr, Shields, and Poin- 
 dexter i 1 
 
 "The Hon.Cowles Meade, acting Governor of the Mis 
 sissippi Territory, with a view to restore public tranquil 
 lity, proposes to Aaron Burr as follows : That an interview 
 shall take place between them at the house of Thomas 
 Calvit, on Cole s Creek, at two o clock to-morrow. The 
 said Cowles Meade pledges himself to protect the said 
 Aaron Burr during his stay in the Territory, and that he 
 shall be returned to his present position in a suitable man 
 ner as soon after the interview as he may please but in 
 the meantime there shall be no restraint on his person, no 
 violence or molestation to his boats or people, and that the 
 militia of the district shall not, until the return of the said 
 Aaron Burr, approach nearer his present quarters than 
 the mouth of Cole s Creek. Aaron Burr on his part en 
 gages that in the meantime no violence or injury shall be 
 offered by any of his people to the inhabitants of the Mis 
 sissippi Territory, that they shall keep the peace, and not 
 infringe any law of the United States or either of the 
 Territories." 
 
 ^Orleans Gazette, January 30, 1807. 
 
268 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 Early next morning Colonel Burr was rowed down 
 from his camp. He alighted and was escorted by 
 a company of dragoons to Thomas Calvit s place, 1 
 whither Meade had come the previous evening. The 
 interview was uneventful and resulted 
 
 "in a voluntary submission on the part of Colonel Burr to 
 the civil authorities of the Territory, and also in a sur 
 render of whatever military apparatus might be found on 
 board the boats under his direction ; a committee was im 
 mediately appointed to make the necessary examination, 
 and report forthwith to the Governor the number and 
 description of such military stores as they might discover 
 on board said boats." 2 
 
 The ensuing day, leaving behind his associates, who 
 were shortly to move down the river to a point near 
 Natchez, Burr rode with Shields and Poindexter to the 
 town of Washington, the capital of the Territory, 
 where he came before Judge Rodney, who bound him 
 over in the sum of $5,000 to await the action of the 
 grand jury. Colonel Benijah Osmun and Lyman Hard 
 ing acted as sureties. At the same time Colonel Fitz- 
 patrick, with three officers and a squad of men, was 
 vainly searching the boats for accoutrements, muni 
 tions and arms of war. Meade thus summarized the 
 situation to the Government: 
 
 "Then, Sir, this mighty alarm, with all its exaggera- 
 tions, has eventuated in nine boats and one hundred men, 
 and the major part of these are boys, or young men just 
 from school. Many of their depositions have been taken 
 before Judge Rodney, but they bespeak ignorance of the 
 
 ^Orleans Gazette, January 27, 1807; Claiborne s Mississippi, 
 p. 270. 
 
 Orleans Gazette, January 30, 1807. 
 
THE EXPEDITION 269 
 
 views or designs of the colonel. I believe them really 
 ignorant and deluded. I believe that they are really the 
 dupes of stratagem, if the asseverations of Generals Eaton 
 and Wilkinson are to be accredited." 
 
 Meade was looking squarely at the question from a 
 vantage point not to be gainsaid. Here at the collapse, 
 with Burr a civil prisoner, his followers disheartened 
 and dispersed, to confess that no man could be found 
 to give warrant to their fears was, in very truth, most 
 lamentable. In any case could the adventurers have 
 been "dupes of stratagem? " Had three score of men 
 united with no purpose in view ? If treasonable, when 
 pardons and even rewards were freely offered those 
 who knew of the plot and who were confessed to have 
 held in abhorrence the name of traitor, is it not reason 
 able to suppose that some could have been found to fix 
 the crime indelibly? Wilkinson plied his energies in 
 such a quest, but James Knox, Lindsey, and Dunbaugh 
 were the best he could get, while only the last, simple- 
 minded and ignorant, advertised as a deserter and fear 
 ful of the penalties, became a willing tool. 
 
 January 3Oth, Graham, the plodding, nerveless 
 agent of the Government, reached the town of Wash 
 ington, lying amid the rolling hills six miles east of 
 Natchez. He called on Burr hoping to elicit some 
 statement, only to be assured, as Graham wrote Madi 
 son, that no word of his would avail anything since he 
 was accused before the court. He avowed, however, 
 that all his troubles had been caused by the machina 
 tions of his enemies, and that their assertions were not 
 supported by facts. 1 At Richmond, Graham, who, 
 
 Graham to Madison, February 8, 1807; Letters in Relation. 
 
270 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 because of his services, had been appointed to the chief 
 clerkship in the State Department, related that Burr 
 at this meeting seemed disposed to ridicule the idea of 
 his bringing about a separation of the Union by physi 
 cal force; that it was to be produced by moral not 
 physical causes." He also spoke "of the Washita 
 settlement. I believe he told me," continued Graham, 1 
 "that he should send his people there, but did not know 
 whether he should venture into the territory himself; 
 intimating, as I thought, an apprehension of General 
 Wilkinson." 
 
 Such was the inglorious end of the expedition. 
 Burr s followers still clung tenaciously to the boats and 
 made friends, while awaiting the return of their leader 
 in whom they never lost confidence. That he would 
 repudiate the gross charge of treason they never 
 doubted; nor more doubted that they would yet be 
 freed from their present predicament and eventually 
 arrive at the goal of their ambition. They little knew 
 what was in store for them. 
 
 1 Annals of Congress, 1807-08, p. 489. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 Burr s Trial in Mississippi. 
 * 
 
 FOR a fortnight after his surrender at Bayou 
 Pierre, while awaiting trial, Aaron Burr made 
 the most of his liberty. He had promised to re 
 main in the Territory until everything was cleared up 
 to the satisfaction of the most exacting. He would then 
 remove to his lands. The excitement which had been 
 occasioned by his arrival soon subsided and left the 
 people his friends. Moreover, his cause was abetted by 
 the accounts rendered by the associates, who unequivo 
 cally asserted the innocence of their designs toward the 
 United States. Burr also talked eloquently of his 
 wrongs, and won the sympathy of the community. 
 
 "He became the guest," says Claiborne, 1 "of Colonel 
 Benijah Osmun, a wealthy planter residing in the vicinity. 
 He was a bachelor and had been an officer in the Jersey 
 line, and intimate with Burr. He was a Federalist. Near 
 by Colonel Osmun resided another military friend of 
 similar political opinion, the veteran Major Isaac Guion, 
 and with these two, and other influential gentlemen, he 
 had daily consultations. No sterner and truer patriots 
 lived than these two veteran soldiers, and they reposed 
 unshaken faith in the friend whom they had seen so often 
 tested in the time that tried men s souls/ " 
 
 X 
 
 Monday, February 2, 1807, with Judges Rodney 
 
 and Bruin on the bench, an adjourned session of the 
 
 Orleans Gazette, February 6, 1807; Claiborne s Mississippi, 
 p. 280. 
 
 271 
 
272 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 supreme court of the Mississippi Territory was held in 
 the town of Washington, before which Aaron Burr 
 was recognized to appear to answer such bill of indict 
 ment as might then and there be exhibited against him. 
 The accused was present and surrounded by a con 
 course of friends. As soon as the grand jury was 
 impaneled Mr. Poindexter, the United States attor 
 ney, after an examination of the depositions submitted 
 by the court, moved its discharge. He argued that he 
 found no evidence which brought the offenses charged 
 against Colonel Burr within the jurisdiction of the 
 courts of Mississippi Territory ; and furthermore, that 
 the supreme court of the Territory was a court of appeal 
 and not a court of original jurisdiction. It could, 
 therefore, take no cognizance of the cause. The motion 
 was overruled, however, and the grand jury began its 
 work. The next day to the astonishment of the judges 
 it filed in and made the following report : l 
 
 "The grand jury of the Mississippi Territory, on a due 
 investigation of the evidence brought before them, are of 
 the opinion that Aaron Burr has not been guilty of any 
 crime or misdemeanor against the laws of the United 
 States or of this Territory, or given any just occasion 
 for alarm or inquietude to the good people of this Terri 
 tory. The grand jury present as a grievance, the late 
 military expedition unnecessarily as they conceive, fitted 
 out against the person and property of said Aaron Burr, 
 where no resistance has been made to the ordinary civil 
 authorities. The grand jury also present as highly de 
 rogatory to the dignity of this Government, the armistice 
 (so-called) concluded between the Secretary, acting as 
 Governor, and the said Aaron Burr. The grand jury also 
 
 ^Orleans Gazette, February 20, 1807; Claiborne s Mississippi, 
 p. 284. Harry Toulmin to P. P. Schuyler, February 7, 1807; 
 Letters in Relation. 
 
BURR S TRIAL IN MISSISSIPPI 273 
 
 present as a grievance, destructive of personal liberty, the 
 late military arrests made without warrant, and as they 
 conceive, without other lawful authority: and they do 
 seriously regret that so much cause should be given to 
 the enemies of our glorious Constitution, to rejoice in 
 such measures being adopted in a neighboring Territory, 
 and if sanctioned by the Executive of our country, must 
 sap the vitals of our political existence, and crumble this 
 glorious fabric into the dust." 
 
 Historically considered, this return is a most un 
 compromising document. For months the Aaron Burr 
 enterprise had been almost the sole topic of conversa 
 tion; it had assumed various characters in the public 
 mind, but chiefly through the agency of Wilkinson, 
 Eaton, and Jefferson it had come to be condemned as 
 most dangerous and treasonable. Such, indeed, it had 
 been believed to be by the militia of Mississippi when 
 they volunteered; and such it had been believed to be 
 by the Legislature of the Territory when it declared its 
 unfeigned allegiance to the Constitution. Two weeks 
 intervened between Burr s surrender and the day set 
 for his examination. This ought to have allowed time 
 for the collection of all the evidence, and Judge Rod 
 ney, according to Meade, had taken many affidavits. 
 How, then, account for the report ? Adams attributes it 
 to sympathy in Burr s designs, 1 and says that the very 
 militia that stopped him was half inclined to join his 
 expedition, and that a score of civil and military offi 
 cials alone prevented Burr from reaching New Orleans ! 
 But in truth had they sympathized with him, knowing 
 that he planned the extension of an empire over the 
 West, is it to be supposed that a corporal s guard of 
 
 history of the United States, Hi., 326- 
 
r 
 
 274 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 patriots could have stayed the revolution? Contrari 
 wise, was not their sympathy enlisted because they now 
 knew him to be armed against the Spaniards? And 
 could not the report of the grand jury have been addi 
 tional proof of their loyalty? The contradiction lies 
 not in the conduct of the people, but in the story which 
 has been transmitted to us. 
 
 Wednesday afternoon, the fourth of February, the 
 grand jury was dismissed, whereupon Burr demanded 
 release from his recognizance. This Rodney refused 
 to grant, and bound him over to appear from day to 
 day, which was an unheard-of proceeding. Burr had 
 given bond to await an investigation. No indictment 
 had been found ; therefore, from the nature of the case, 
 his recognition was null and void. Already the rumor 
 had spread that Governor Williams, who had returned 
 at this juncture from a visit to North Carolina and had 
 superseded Meade, intended to seize Burr the moment 
 he was discharged by the judicial authority; 1 and the 
 report was current that a military patrol was coming 
 up from New Orleans with the same purpose in view. 
 
 It would be an interesting study to follow the de 
 vices adopted by Wilkinson in his endeavor to secure 
 the chief figure in the closing act of this involved 
 drama. Dr. Carmichael, Lieutenant Peter, Lieutenant 
 Jones, and Captain Shaw of the navy, Colonel McKee, 
 and three officers in disguise were sent at various times 
 by the General to capture Burr and his lieutenants. 2 To 
 Silas Dinsmore he said as early as December 4, 1806 : 
 
 ^Orleans Gazette, February 20, 1807. 
 
 * Annals of Congress, 1807-08, pp. 492, 528, 643. 
 
BURR S TRIAL IN MISSISSIPPI 275 
 
 "To cut off the two principal leaders, would in my 
 opinion be to discomfit the sinister design, and gain 
 time for preparation to resist successfully the baneful 
 plot. ... If you fail your expenses will be paid. If 
 you succeed I pledge the government to you for five 
 thousand dollars." 1 In what way could Dinsmore have 
 "cut off" the leaders? Clearly Wilkinson hoped for 
 one of two things resistance on the part of the asso 
 ciates, or the death of Burr. Had his men defied the 
 troops, or had Burr been slain while resisting a military 
 process, the charge of treason would have been stamped 
 in blood and Wilkinson s cause sanctified. Burr was 
 not ignorant of the schemes of the tyrant of New Or 
 leans; he was convinced, too, that his personal safety 
 depended on escaping the power of the General, who, it 
 has been well said, might have brought him at once to 
 a drum-head court-martial, and who had every motive 
 to pursue such a course; who had indeed offered five 
 thousand dollars for his life. 
 
 The matter was thoroughly canvassed with Osmun 
 and other confidential friends, and under the circum 
 stances it was decided that Burr should go into hiding 
 for a time to await developments. On the sixth Gov 
 ernor Williams proclaimed that Aaron Burr, bound in 
 the sum of five thousand dollars to appear before the 
 supreme court of the Territory, had forfeited his bond 
 and fled ; and offered accordingly for his apprehension 
 a reward of two thousand dollars. 2 Meantime Burr 
 
 Wilkinson to Dinsmore, December 4, 1806 ; Letters in Rela- 
 
 *Orleans Gazette, February 13, 1807; Burr to Williams, Feb 
 ruary 12, 1807; Letters in Relation. 
 
276 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 had Written the Governor saying that because of the 
 "vindictive temper and unprincipled conduct of Judge 
 Rodney he withdrew for the present from the public," 
 but that he continued ready to submit to the civil law 
 when he could be assured the rights of a citizen. On 
 the twelfth, replying to the Governor s proclamation 
 and offer of reward, Burr wrote from his hiding place 
 to Williams that it was unworthy of him to lend his 
 name to a falsehood, that the recognition he gave was 
 to appear in case an indictment was found not other 
 wise. 
 
 "The judicial form," he continued, 1 "was agreed to by 
 Judge Rodney after nearly an hour s discussion between 
 Bruin, Harding, and myself; drawn up at his request by 
 Mr. Harding, and signed by the judge in our presence 
 and that of Colonel Osmun, and will be found in the hand 
 writing of Mr. Harding, so signed unless for fraudulent 
 purposes the judge should have destroyed it. If he shall 
 deny these facts, he must be lost to shame as to principle. 
 If he shall admit them or they shall be otherwise estab 
 lished to your satisfaction, it is hoped that you will feel it 
 to be your duty by a public manifesto to cancel your 
 proclamation and to acknowledge the error on which it 
 has been founded." 
 
 Williams replied, "I can only say that from the 
 judicial proceedings in this Territory you cannot be 
 considered in any other light than as a fugitive from 
 the laws of your country." 2 
 
 Burr now despaired of relief. Judge Rodney s ille 
 gal acts were reinforced by the Executive of the Terri- 
 
 *Liberty Hall, April 21, 1807. 
 "Williams to Burr; Letters in Relation. 
 
 
BURR S TRIAL IN MISSISSIPPI 277 
 
 tory, while the ever-pressing danger at New Orleans 
 urged a speedy escape from the country. Once more 
 he visited the disheartened men who remained with the 
 boats which were anchored a short distance above 
 Natchez. In the words of a State witness i 1 
 
 "He said that what property there was the men might 
 sell, and make the most they could of; and if there was 
 not enough to satisfy them, they might go to the Washita 
 lands, and take up what land they wanted, and go to work 
 upon it. The boats and provisions were taken to Natchez, 
 and part of them sold, and part of the provisions stored 
 which would not readily sell, and the money divided 
 among the men." 
 
 It was with a heavy heart that the sometime Vice- 
 President of the United States confessed to his fol 
 lowers, "that he stood his trial and was acquitted ; but 
 that they were going to take him again, and that he was 
 going to flee from oppression." 2 It has been asserted 
 over and over again that his flight was a proof of guilt. 
 The answer is that Burr never attempted to avoid 
 an investigation by the legal authorities. The excesses 
 of Wilkinson had reached such appalling extremes, it 
 is no wonder that Burr feared the rattle of military 
 chains, or even death. His intimate friends, the men of 
 wealth and influence of the countryside, were of the 
 opinion that safety lay only in flight. So, mounted on 
 Colonel Osmun s fleetest horse and accompanied by 
 Chester Ashley he set out from his hiding place near 
 the home of the Colonel who had so kindly befriended 
 him. Tradition has it that he took leave last of Mada- 
 
 *Annals of Congress, 1807-08, p. 478. 
 Ibid. 
 
278 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 line, who lived in a cottage nearby his retreat. During 
 his short stay of three weeks in Mississippi he had be 
 come enamored of her, whom Claiborne pronounced "a 
 miracle of beauty." Burr s passion was returned, and 
 only from Paris did he write releasing her from a 
 promise of marriage. Fiction one may say, but it is 
 vouched for by the historian of Mississippi and at 
 least it may be admitted as an interlude in the desolate 
 waste of blighted hopes which spread before him who 
 had for four years been Vice-President of the Republic. 
 Disguised, Wilkinson tells us, in "an old blanket 
 coat begirt with a leathern strap, to which a tin cup 
 was suspended on the left and a scalping knife on the 
 right," Burr disappeared. It is generally asserted that 
 he meant to seek shelter within the Spanish lines; but 
 such a course could have been chosen only in despera 
 tion and that point Burr never reached in his long 
 life of successes and failures. Wilkinson was of the 
 opinion that "Burr s destination was France beyond all 
 doubt." 1 In any case, certain it is he preferred any 
 refuge to New Orleans ; he knew that one who could act 
 as Wilkinson had not yet exhausted his store of villain 
 ies. Whatever Burr s plans were the elements conspired 
 to defeat him ; the heavy winter rains had swollen the 
 streams so that his course had to be changed. They 
 were obliged late at night, the eighteenth day of Febru 
 ary, to pass through the county seat of Washington 
 County, where inquiries were made of one Nicholas 
 Perkins as to the route to Colonel Hinson s. When 
 the belated travelers had gone, Perkins, who had sus- 
 
 ^ilkinson to Jefferson, March 20, 1807; Letters in Relation. 
 
BURR S TRIAL IN MISSISSIPPI 279 
 
 pected that one of . the horsemen was Burr, reported 
 the matter to Sheriff Brightwell. The two followed to 
 Hinson s where suspicion became so strong that Per 
 kins rode to Fort Stoddert to enlist Lieutenant Gaines 
 in the pursuit. With four soldiers he joined the informer 
 and they rode back the next morning to intercept the 
 fugitives. At an early hour, within two or three miles 
 of Hinson s they encountered Burr, Ashley and the 
 sheriff. Gaines demanded in the name of the Govern 
 ment of the United States whether this were Colonel 
 Burr. Burr readily admitted his identity, whereupon 
 he was "arrested" and taken to Fort Stoddert, 1 where 
 preparations were carefully made to convey him to 
 Washington. 
 
 The presence of Burr in the fort gave its com 
 mander some uneasiness. In a letter to Wilkinson 
 Gaines stated that Ashley had not been arrested, and 
 that he feared he would return with a force to retake 
 Burr. 
 
 "They will assuredly find the inhabitants," said 
 Gaines, 2 "such as they could wish. Ashley has made a 
 wonderful effect on many of them the plans of Burr are 
 now spoken of in terms of approbation, and Burr in terms 
 of sympathy and regard. I am convinced if Burr had 
 remained here a week longer the consequences would have 
 been of the most serious nature. Burr frequently, when 
 on the subject of the Spanish aggressions, observed : And 
 yet my great offense and the only one laid to my charge 
 was a design to give you the Floridas/ 
 
 The residents along the Tombigbee harshly criti- 
 
 Nicholas Perkins to C. A. Rodney; manuscript statement of 
 the exploit by Nicholas Perkins, in Tennessee Historical Society 
 collection. 
 
 2 Gaines to Wilkinson, March 4, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 
2 8o THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 cised Gaines for the manner in which he arrested Burr. 
 The feelings of the community were expressed in a 
 memorial to the Government, and the young lieutenant 
 thought it advisable to deny to Jefferson that he had ar 
 rested Burr "militarily." He was inclined to shift the 
 burden on Perkins, 1 who at that very moment was in 
 Washington with $3,331 in his pocket as a reward for 
 bringing Burr safely to Richmond. 
 
 At Natchez the Burrites were received with unusual 
 kindness they were no longer suspected of being des 
 perate characters, ripe for fratricidal strife. Says Clai- 
 borne, who was almost an eye witness : 2 
 
 "Most of his followers were young men, innocent of 
 any hostile intention against government, innocent of the 
 object of their leader, whom they followed for the mere 
 love of adventure. They dispersed themselves through 
 the territory and supplied it with school masters, singing 
 masters, dancing masters, clerks, tavern keepers, and 
 doctors." 
 
 Singularly enough, Graham, after his long pursuit 
 of Burr even as far as the town of Washington, was 
 compelled to bear strange witness : 
 
 "I am sorry to say," he wrote February 8th to Madi 
 son, 8 "that since my arrival in this Territory I have met 
 with many people who either openly or indirectly attack 
 the government for not countenancing Colonel Burr in 
 the invasion of Mexico, for it is generally considered here 
 that that was his object. I am well persuaded that most 
 of his followers were of this opinion." 
 
 However innocent the people thought the asso- 
 
 a Gaines to Jefferson, July 23, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 
 Claiborne s Mississippi, p. 282. 
 
 "Graham to Madison, February 8, 1807; Letters in Relation. 
 
BURR S TRIAL IN MISSISSIPPI 281 
 
 ciates of Burr, the coterie of officers of the govern 
 ment continued to harass them. About the time of 
 Burr s disappearance probably sixty of his followers 
 and friends were made prisoners in Natchez. 1 This 
 wholesale arrest was occasioned by the discovery of a 
 note alleged to have been taken from the cape worn by 
 a negro boy. The note, dated February ist, and said 
 to have been addressed to Tyler and Floyd, ran as fol 
 lows : 2 
 
 "If you are yet together, keep together, and I will join 
 you to-morrow night. In the meantime, put all your arms 
 in perfect order. Ask the bearer no questions, but tell 
 him all you may think I wish to know. He does not know 
 that this is from me, nor where I am." 
 
 This was a malicious fabrication ; falsity appears on 
 its face no explanation, no original, nobody to claim 
 the honor of its interception. Moreover, the impostor 
 who wrote it was not aware that the trial of Burr at the 
 town of Washington had not yet begun ! And this fact, 
 too, has been overlooked by some of those who lay great 
 stress on the import of the above document. In the 
 whole affair there is not a more despicable piece of testi 
 mony, unless, indeed, it be that wherein Dunbaugh 
 swore that he had witnessed in the dead of night the 
 sinking by Burr of his chests of arms in the Mississippi. 
 
 Most of those seized in Natchez were released after 
 a few days; but the leaders were held to account. 
 Floyd, Ralston, Tyler, and Blennerhassett were 
 
 ^Annals of Congress, 1807-08, p. 494. 
 
 *Annals of Congress, 1807-08, p. 589. Mr. Adams says (in., 
 327) that the above note was the last word of Burr to those he 
 had ruined. 
 
282 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 brought before Judge Toulmin, whom Wilkinson pro 
 nounced a most loyal judge. Blennerhassett was the 
 first examined, and although the judge had said he 
 thought the conspirators might be tried in any United 
 States court, he bound him over to that of Virginia, 
 knowing that his family was with him and that it 
 meant great privation and inconvenience for him to 
 make his way across the continent. Toulmin s osten 
 sible reason for his action was that a prosecution car 
 ried on against him in Mississippi "must of necessity 
 
 u terminate in an idle parade." 1 Floyd and Ralston 
 wished to be tried in Indiana, where they lived ; there 
 fore the judge assigned them to the courts of Missis 
 sippi. Anything for annoyance. Tyler was to have 
 been tried February 1 5th, and that day Toulmin wrote, 
 
 "I am strongly inclined to think him entirely innocent." 
 January 23d, Tyler had avowed to Lieutenant Stark 
 that he was conscious of the purity of his motives, that 
 he respected the laws and government of the United 
 States, and that treason had never entered his mind. 
 Floyd had been an honored citizen of the Northwest 
 Territory, and now that he was accused of being a 
 traitor Governor Harrison spoke with unhesitating 
 frankness in his favor : 
 
 "I have been intimately acquainted with this gentle 
 man for six years," the Governor wrote to the President,* 
 "and I can truly affirm that there is not a man in the ter 
 ritory who possesses more entirely my confidence and 
 esteem. As sheriff of the county in which he resided, 
 representative in the legislature, and an officer in the 
 
 letter dated February 15, 1807; Letters in Relation. 
 Tyler to Stark, January 23, 1807; Letters in Relation, 
 Harrison to Jefferson, April 13, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 
BURR S TRIAL IN MISSISSIPPI 283 
 
 militia (in which he held the rank of major), his conduct 
 was equally honorable to himself and useful to his fellow 
 citizens, nor do I believe there is any man who possesses 
 a higher sense of patriotism and more devotion to the 
 Constitution of his country." 
 
 While the unfortunate filibusters were being 
 disposed of by Toulmin, Louis Kerr and Judge James 
 Workman, two of Wilkinson s suspected traitors, were, 
 at the bar of the United States court in Natchez. March 
 2d Kerr was arraigned on a charge of having set 
 on foot a military expedition against the Spanish pos 
 sessions in America. The trial lasted two days the 
 verdict was, "Not Guilty." Judge Workman, who had 
 been compelled to resign the judgship of the County 
 court of Orleans because of Wilkinson s insults, was 
 charged with high misdemeanor in having planned an 
 expedition for the conquest of Mexico. Again the ver 
 dict was, "Not Guilty." 1 Strange to say, neither was 
 accused of treason. The result could not have been dif 
 ferent; it was indeed a waste of time to attempt the 
 conviction of men who were guilty of no other offense 
 than plotting to overrun certain provinces of New 
 Spain. Criminal as it was, and is, to take part in fili 
 bustering enterprises, the pioneer of a century ago was 
 disposed, as we are even in this day, to overlook any 
 such movement so long as an enemy is injured. 
 
 As late as April, Governor Williams inquired what 
 he should do with Tyler, Ralston, Floyd, and Blenner- 
 hassett. "I do not know that we can do anything but 
 direct General Wilkinson to receive and send them to 
 any place where the judge shall decide they ought to be 
 
 ^Orleans Gazette, March 10, 1807. 
 
284 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 tried. I suppose Blennerhassett should come to Rich 
 mond." 1 In due course of time they were released, 
 Blennerhassett starting for his island home. He was 
 arrested, however, in Kentucky and conveyed to Rich 
 mond under indictments for misdemeanor and treason. 
 Ralston suffered no further prosecution; but Tyler, 
 Floyd, and I. Smith were indicted at Richmond, 
 only to have, after the acquittal of Burr, nolle prosequi 
 entered against their names. 
 
 Jefferson to Madison, April 25, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 Measures in Washington. 
 
 FOR SOME time after the receipt of Wilkinson s 
 confounding letters and the Proclamation of No 
 vember 27th, which they occasioned, the Gov 
 ernment manifested no uneasiness concerning the en 
 terprise in the West. December ist Congress assem 
 bled, and the next day the annual Message was read, 
 which devoted but few words to Burr s project. The 
 President said his information concerning it was 
 "chiefly in the form of letters, often containing such a 
 mixture of rumors, conjectures, and suspicions as 
 [rendered] it difficult to sift out the real facts." In 
 October when the General sent the letter which called 
 out the Proclamation he also inclosed his secret views 
 which looked upon the movement as probably double- 
 natured. But the President, acting only on the strength 
 of the official communication, said in his Message that 
 he had "received information that in another part of 
 the United States a great number of private individuals 
 were combining together, arming and organizing them 
 selves contrary to law, to carry on a military expedi 
 tion against the territories of Spain." He had conse 
 quently issued his Proclamation as an act of good faith 
 toward Spain, and in order that the conspirators might 
 not decide the question of peace or war for the country. 
 Referring to the matter of our boundary troubles 
 285 
 
286 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 with Spain, he informed Congress that the Sabine 
 River had been accepted as the temporary line of de 
 marcation which was not true. Wilkinson s decep 
 tion had made possible such a misstatement of fact. 
 In this connection Jefferson took occasion to praise 
 the conduct of the inhabitants of Mississippi and Loui 
 siana : 
 
 "I inform you with great pleasure of the promptitude 
 with which the inhabitants of those Territories have 
 tendered their services in defense of their country. It has 
 done honor to themselves, entitled them to the confidence 
 of their fellow citizens in every part of the Union, and 
 must strengthen the general determination to protect them 
 efficaciously under all circumstances which may occur." 
 
 Every word was deserved. Jefferson s view of the 
 conspiracy thus far was entirely correct; he showed 
 his political insight in placing it on a par with Mi 
 randa s scheme, and in saying that the Westerners 
 might be relied on in every instance where patriotism 
 and honor were involved. 
 
 "I am confident," Jefferson said to Rodney, 1 "he 
 [Burr] will be completely deserted on the appearance 
 of the Proclamation, because his strength was to con 
 sist of the people who had been persuaded that the 
 Government connived at the enterprise." 
 
 It was indeed possible that Burr persuaded the 
 Westerners to join him under the plea that the Govern 
 ment connived at his hostile intentions against the 
 Spanish possessions ; but it would be the acme of 
 absurdity to maintain that he won them to himself by 
 assuring them that the Administration viewed with 
 
 Jefferson to Rodney, December 5, 1806; Jefferson MSS. 
 
MEASURES IN WASHINGTON 287 
 
 tranquillity the projected severance of the States. Yet I 
 even Jefferson was destined to doubt for a day the 
 unswerving fidelity of the West. 
 
 The month of December wore on at Washington 
 bringing little additional news of the expedition. While 
 Jefferson fully believed that his Proclamation would 
 put an end to the expedition and in this he was not | 
 mistaken the constant agitation at last half convinced \ 
 him that the dangers were greater than he had calcu 
 lated. December 2Oth Robert Smith, Secretary of the 
 Navy, sent orders to Captain Shaw, who commanded 
 the squadron before New Orleans, to place his boats in 
 the best position to effect the destruction of Burr s 
 forces. 1 But Smith was not satisfied with this. He 
 thought it necessary to write the President at length 
 showing the measures he had meant to urge : 2 
 
 "In the course of our various communications in rela 
 tion to the movements of Colonel Burr in the Western 
 country, I have from time to time expressed the opinions 
 which, as they were not at all countenanced by any of the 
 other gentlemen, I did not deem it expedient to press upon 
 your attention. ... If, as was proposed on the twenty- 
 fourth of October, the sloops-of-war and the gunboats 
 stationed at Washington, New York, Norfolk, and 
 Charleston had been sent to New Orleans under the com 
 mand of Commodore Preble, with Captain Decatur second 
 in command, we would at this time have nothing to appre 
 hend from the military expedition of Colonel Burr. Such 
 a naval force joined to the ketches and gunboats now on 
 the Mississippi, would beyond a doubt have been sufficient 
 to suppress such an enterprise." 
 
 to Shaw, December 20, 1806 ; Letters in Relation. 
 "Smith to Jefferson, December 22, 1806; Jefferson MSS. 
 
288 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 Jefferson was prompt in his reply, 1 and now for the 
 first time developed symptoms of panic. 
 
 "What I had myself in contemplation," he said, "was 
 to wait till we get news from Louisville of December fif 
 teenth, the day of Burr s proposed general rendezvous. 
 The post comes from thence in twelve days. The mail 
 next expected will be of that date. If we then find that 
 his force has had no effectual opposition at either Marietta 
 or Cincinnati, and will not be stopped at Louisville, then, 
 without depending on the opposition at Fort Adams 
 (though I have more dependence on that than any other), 
 I should propose to lay the whole matter before Congress, 
 ask an immediate appropriation for a naval equipment, 
 and at the same time order twenty thousand militia, or 
 volunteers, from the Western States to proceed down the 
 river to retake New Orleans, presuming our naval equip 
 ment would be there before them. In the meantime I 
 would recommend to you to be getting ready and giving 
 orders of preparation to the officers and vessels which we 
 can get speedily ready." 
 
 Jefferson without involving himself in a maze of 
 contradictions could not have thought the danger great, 
 if he calculated on being able to muster twenty thou 
 sand militia in the region which had given birth to the 
 conspiracy. The day before, he had written Governor 
 Langdon in an unusually confident tone. 2 He outlined 
 to him that Burr had planned to seize New Orleans, at 
 tack Mexico, and to add to this Louisiana and the 
 Western States. This would make up his empire. "I 
 do not believe he will attain the crown," continued the 
 President, "but neither am I certain that the halter will 
 get its due." It was still his opinion that the Western 
 
 Jefferson to Smith. December 23, 1806; Jefferson MSS. 
 Jefferson to Langdon, December 22, 1806; Jefferson MSS. 
 
MEASURES IN WASHINGTON 289 
 
 States would suppress the enterprise, that the trouble 
 with Spain would result in war. 
 
 January 2d Wilkinson s mendacious letter of No 
 vember 1 2th from Minor s Seat reached the White , 
 House. Besides this the messenger gave an oral ac 
 count of Burr s cipher letter. Even then Jefferson did 
 not lose his equanimity. News reached him, too, that 
 a war vessel of twenty-two guns was fitting out in New 
 York harbor under the command of one Blakely, lieu 
 tenant to Miranda, to go to the assistance of Burr. 
 January 4th the President reported to Gallatin that he 
 had ordered Blakely to be arrested and the authorities 
 to search out the ship. 1 He took no other measure, how 
 ever, even with Wilkinson s foreboding letters before 
 him. He was warranted in this, for the Western mail 
 had brought news that most of Burr s boats had been 
 seized, that only six had escaped. What had the fleet 
 of ketches before New Orleans to fear from a settler s 
 squadron? Such was his frame of mind until the 
 country seemed to go Burr-mad ; and until Wilkinson s 
 venal letters and Eaton s corrupt deposition convinced 
 him that Burr had really been guilty of plotting a sepa 
 ration of the States. If their story were true, then 
 Aaron Burr s enterprise was "the most extraordinary 
 since the days of Don Quixote." 
 
 "It is so extraordinary," Jefferson wrote January nth 
 to Charles Clay, 2 "that those who know his understanding 
 would not believe it if the proofs admitted doubt. He has 
 meant to place himself on the throne of Montezuma, and 
 extend his Empire to the Alleghany, seizing on New 
 
 Jefferson to Gallatin, January 4, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 Jefferson to Charles Clay, January n, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 
2 9 o THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 Orleans as the instrument of compulsion for our Western 
 States. I think his undertaking effectually crippled by the 
 activity of Ohio. Whether Kentucky will give him the 
 coup de grace is doubtful ; but if he is able to descend the 
 river with any means, we are sufficiently prepared at New 
 Orleans. I hope, however, that Kentucky will do its duty 
 and finish the matter for the honor of popular govern 
 ment, and the discouragement of all arguments for stand 
 ing armies." 
 
 The Palladium would have replied to that exposi 
 tion in this wise i 1 
 
 "Believing him [Burr] to be a man of common sense 
 at least (and by many his abilities are estimated highly), 
 he would surely adapt the means to the end. And can it 
 be supposed he has done so, if his object is to attack Mex 
 ico, dismember the Union, and erect an independent em 
 pire, by building a few boats on the Ohio and by a few 
 secret emissaries scattered over the Western country? 
 The physical force to do this lies with the people, and to 
 command it, public opinion must be with him. Perhaps it 
 would not be going too far to say that nine-tenths of the 
 Western people would oppose such a project, satisfied as 
 they are with the administration of the government of 
 the Union, and the present happy situation of public 
 affairs." 
 
 But the force of this argument would have failed 
 to penetrate the armor of the President, who, while 
 outwardly professing faith in the loyalty of the fron 
 tiersmen, regarded the capture of the boats on the Mus- 
 kingum as the master-stroke in the crippling of the en 
 terprise. One may justly infer from Jefferson s frame 
 of mind that the project failed for the want of the ap 
 pliances of war not for lack of the spirit of sedition. 
 Holding such an opinion, he was, strangely enough, 
 
 *P allodium, November 13, 1806. 
 
MEASURES IN WASHINGTON 291 
 
 disposed to deride the movement ; the newspapers, how 
 ever, teemed with "rumors dangerous to the peace and 
 safety of the Union," and some individuals high in 
 office were expressing their apprehensions : 
 
 "I fear that Burr will go down the river," Samuel 
 Smith wrote 1 to W. C. Nicholas, "and give us trouble. 
 The proclamation, it seems, in the Western country is 
 very little attended to. They, no doubt, seeing no exertion * 
 making, consider that it has originated from false infor 
 mation. The President has not yet given any kind of 
 information to Congress, and gentlemen ( Giles among the 
 number) will not believe that there is any kind of danger. 
 Burr s letter to Wilkinson is explicit. (This is 
 secret.) He had passed the Alleghany never, never to re 
 turn ; his object, New Orleans, open and avowed. And 
 yet not one step taken, except the proclamation ! " 
 
 Smith, like many others, jumped to conclusions in 
 basing treason on Burr s letter to Wilkinson; and he 
 was still further away from the truth in asserting that- 
 the people paid no attention to the Proclamation. We 
 have had cause to notice its effects. 
 
 January i6th, while Burr was negotiating with 
 Meade, John Randolph started on a new crusade 
 against Jefferson by moving a Resolution asking of him 
 what was known of the Burr Conspiracy and what 
 measures had been taken for its suppression. This 
 was an unusual proceeding, but it was Randolph s pur 
 pose, now that reconciliation was neither expected, nor 
 sought, to compromise the President, and to disgrace 
 him in the eyes of the country. Knowing that Jefferson 
 was opposed to a Spanish war and that the masses 
 , in., 334. 
 
292 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 would hail it with acclaim, he struggled with all his 
 indomitable energy to bring it about. Randolph con 
 nected Burr s movements with the activity of the Span 
 iards on the frontier, thereby making Jefferson a tar 
 get for abuse because of his failure to use a mailed hand 
 in his dealings with the foreigner : 
 
 "Ever since the peace of 1783," Randolph inveighed, 
 "Spain has incessantly labored to detach the Western peo 
 ple from the Union. ... It appears, indeed, that she 
 has never lost sight of this object ; and I believe she never 
 will lose sight of it so long as she shall find materials to 
 work upon, or a shadow of hope that she will succeed. 
 . . . If the Government, . . . had taken a manly 
 and decisive attitude towards Spain, and instead of pen, 
 ink, and paper, had given men and arms is there a man 
 who believes that not only Spain would have been over 
 awed, but that those domestic traitors would have been 
 intimidated and overawed, whose plans threaten to be so 
 dangerous ?" 
 
 The underlying idea of the old Spanish Association 
 here again sprang into vigorous life. In the eyes of 
 the statesman from Virginia, Burr s enterprise was 
 not an independent one aimed at both the Union and 
 the Spanish provinces; it was directed solely toward 
 the destruction of the Federation, and Spain not only 
 applauded but was really at the bottom of the plot. The 
 British Minister reported to Lorcl Howick that "Sur 
 mises of various kinds as to the real objects of the 
 projects have supplied the place of facts ;" but added 
 
 "The circumstance that has excited the greatest suspicion 
 against the persons concerned in the enterprise, has been 
 the very large quantity of money that has been collected. 
 Spain is said to be concerned in exciting these plots to 
 
. MEASURES IN WASHINGTON 293 
 
 endeavor to effectuate a division of the Western country 
 from the Union." 1 
 
 Not only did the country at large believe Spain 
 guilty of prosecuting a sinister intention to detach the 
 Western States from the Republic, but the Government 
 concurred in the opinion. 2 To that end Spain was sup 
 posed to have contributed money and encouragement. 
 One need go no further to realize how illusory and 
 chaotic was the idea of the conspiracy in the public 
 mind, for we know that Spain had no part whatever in 
 the drama which made so tremendous a sensation. A 
 majority of the House of Representatives came to the 
 support of Randolph s Resolution, and from the tenor 
 of the speeches made in favor of it the conclusion is only 
 too obvious that it was believed a disclosure of the Pres 
 ident s information would so implicate Spain that war 
 would of necessity result. 
 
 January 22d in response to the Resolution, Jefferson 
 sent a report of the Aaron Burr affair to Congress. 
 He related that in the latter part of September he had, 
 
 "received intimations that designs were in agitation in the , fi 
 Western country unlawful and unfriendly to the peace of 
 the Union. ... It was not till the latter part of 
 October that the objects of the conspiracy began to be per 
 ceived, but still so blended and involved in mystery that 
 nothing distinct could be singled out for pursuit." 
 
 The President had indeed for months been receiv 
 ing letters of warning from Daviess, and later also 
 
 Erskine to Lord Howick, January 6, 1807; MSS. British 
 
 Archives. _ ._ . . 
 
 Erksine to Lord Howick, February I, 1807; MSS. British 
 Archives. 
 
294 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 from the Morgans; but in each was only mystery and 
 indefiniteness there was in very truth nothing to be 
 "singled out for pursuit." However, Jefferson said, 
 the receipt of Wilkinson s messages from Natchitoches 
 utterly altered the aspect of things. These letters, to 
 gether with other information, 
 
 "when brought together developed Burr s designs. . 
 He contemplated two distinct objects, which might be 
 carried on either jointly or separately. . . . One of 
 these was the severance of the Union of these states by 
 the Alleghany Mountains ; the other an attack on Mexico. 
 A third object was provided, merely ostensible, to wit, the 
 settlement of a pretended purchase of a tract of country 
 on the Washita claimed by Baron Bastrop." 
 
 This was but the beginning of the mischief wrought 
 by Wilkinson s fabrications. He had "developed" Burr s 
 designs and Jefferson was compelled by Congress to 
 declare himself; so he credited his General and said 
 that Burr s guilt was placed beyond question. Alluding 
 to Burr, he continued, "He found at once that the at 
 tachment of the Western country to the present Union 
 was not to be shaken," and "took his course then, at 
 once determined to seize on New Orleans, plunder the 
 bank there, possess himself of the military and naval 
 stores, and proceed on his expedition to Mexico." 
 Jefferson s language was positive, but six months later 
 it was discovered in spite of the extraordinary exer 
 tions which had been made to procure testimony that 
 the emphatic utterance rested upon Wilkinson, while 
 Wilkinson in turn relied upon the President. 
 
 "In Kentucky a premature attempt to bring Burr 
 to justice without sufficient evidence for his conviction 
 
MEASURES IN WASHINGTON 295 
 
 had produced a popular impression in his favor and a 
 general disbelief of his guilt." Herein the President 
 did violence to the facts but no doubt unwittingly 
 as he did when he ridiculed the transfer of the Bastrop 
 lands as a "pretended purchase." 
 
 "Great alarm, indeed," declared the report, "was 
 excited at New Orleans by the exaggerated accounts 
 of Mr. Burr, disseminated through his emissaries, of 
 the armies and navies he^was to assemble there." Had 
 he spoken the truth he would have had to say that gen 
 uine alarm coincided with Wilkinson s arrival. There 
 is nothing to show that any of the so-called emis 
 saries of Burr were guilty of circulating inflammatory 
 reports; but there is every reason to believe that the 
 General deliberately strove to turn the city into a 
 tumultuous camp. It was only another instance of his 
 duplicity he scattered terror and gave it out that 
 Burr s followers were doing the mischief. 
 
 Jefferson s memorable communication recited in 
 conclusion that "on the whole, the fugitives from the 
 Ohio with their associates from the Cumberland or any 
 other place in that quarter, cannot threaten serious 
 danger to the city of New Orleans." 
 
 This assurance, however, failed to allay the sudden 
 fears of the Senate. The ensuing day under suspension 
 of the rules a law was passed suspending for three 
 months the writ of habeas corpus. Monday, January 
 26th, the bill came before the House. It was at once 
 decided that it should be discussed with open doors 
 and this meant its defeat. The rejection of the bill 
 was moved by Eppes, the President s son-in-law. It 
 
296 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 was urged by the supporters of the motion that the 
 danger had passed ; that the Executive had not required 
 such a measure ; that it was not sanctioned by the Con 
 stitution ; and that it was a dangerous precedent. The 
 dissent was feeble, and the motion prevailed by an 
 overwhelming majority 113 to 19. The Senate was 
 rebuked for its undignified haste and ill-advised action ; 
 but the House must have been chagrined, for all this 
 had been occasioned by Randolph s Resolution which 
 had thus ended abortively. Defeated in one direction, 
 the opposition to the Government sought a more vul 
 nerable point. 
 
 Profiting by the confusion occasioned by the report 
 of Wilkinson s military seizures, February 7th, Mr. 
 Broom, Federalist representative from Delaware, sub 
 mitted the following Resolution, "Resolved, that it is 
 expedient to make further provision for securing the 
 privilege of the writ of habeas corpus to persons in cus 
 tody under or by color of the authority of the United 
 States." Ten days later it came up for action, whereupon 
 an animated, embittered debate was precipitated which 
 lasted for four days. Randolph joined the Federal 
 ists in the attack, averring that Jeffersonian Repub 
 licanism shielded worse outrages on the Constitution 
 than the regime which brought the Alien and Sedition 
 Laws. The brilliance and invective of Randolph s at 
 tack eclipsed the replies of the Administration Demo 
 crats, who pleaded confidently that Burr was guilty, 
 that Wilkinson was justified in having trodden under 
 foot the sacred writ, that the Federalists were displeased 
 only because the conspiracy had failed in its purpose. 
 
MEASURES IN WASHINGTON 297 
 
 Finally, driven from their ground, but confident of 
 their voting strength, the beaten opponents of the 
 Resolution fell back on the proposition that if by 
 chance the accused were innocent and Wilkinson had 
 exceeded his authority, there was the usual recourse 
 to law for damages. This would put the writ of 
 habeas corpus "on the footing of a common tres 
 pass," Randolph insisted, while it was "the only writ 
 sanctioned by the Constitution." It should therefore 
 be safeguarded. As it was, if the judge violated it 
 impeachment might be resorted to, but impeachment 
 and Randolph spoke, having in mind his defeat in the 
 impeachment trial of Justice Chase was an "uncertain 
 punishment" ; likewise, if a military tyrant usurped the 
 time-honored right, there was only the ordinary process 
 for damages. Then he closed his discourse with the 
 ringing appeal that a law should be passed against mur 
 der though the dead man "have redress without it !" 
 
 It was a trying moment for Jefferson. The Quids 
 and Federalists had made sad havoc in the ranks of his 
 supporters, and the sentiment against Wilkinson was 
 so overwhelming that it appeared as if the President 
 would be overborne in a misguided effort to save the 
 chief of his army. While the debate was at its hottest 
 the prisoners whom the General had shipped from New 
 Orleans were on trial in the Capital, each in his turn 
 to be liberated for want of evidence of guilt. It was 
 truly a crisis in Jefferson s political career chiefly indi 
 cative of what he might expect for it was by the 
 margin of two, the vote stood sixty to fifty-eight, 
 that the Resolution was postponed indefinitely. The 
 
298 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 day had been saved and Wilkinson ; but the cost of it 
 was not then to appear. 
 
 On January i8th Burr had just surrendered to 
 the civil authorities on the Bayou Pierre Jefferson 
 learned of Wilkinson s illegal arrests, and that some 
 of the suspected traitors would soon reach Washington. 
 He also received for the first time a version of the 
 famous cipher letter. In his communication to the 
 Senate and House of January 26th he said that he had 
 ordered all military prisoners delivered at once to the 
 civil authorities, adding that the evidence submitted by 
 Wilkinson was also to be laid before the courts. 
 
 Alexander was the first to arrive, reaching Balti 
 more January 3ist. He was sent straight to Washing 
 ton, and on the sixth of February appeared before 
 Judge Ducket, who released him for want of evidence. 1 
 Next came Swartwout and Bollman. Upon arriving at 
 Washington, the Supreme Court being in session, they 
 applied for a writ of habeas corpus. February I3th 
 Chief- Justice Marshall granted it. On a motion for 
 their discharge the evidence was reviewed and on the 
 twenty-eighth the Chief-Justice delivered an exhaus 
 tive opinion, deciding that the charge of levying war 
 had not been sustained by sufficient evidence to warrant 
 the commitment of Swartwout, still less of Bollman. 
 
 Thus three of the chief subordinates in the con 
 spiracy, whom Wilkinson had specially consigned to 
 the President, had escaped. It is no wonder that the 
 General was annoyed at the result, his deposition hav 
 ing been incidentally ignored; and that he sought to 
 
 I 0rleans Gazette, March 24, 1807. 
 
MEASURES IN WASHINGTON 299 
 
 stimulate Jefferson by relating that the release of these 
 base conspirators had given new confidence to Burr s 
 partisans in the lower country and that another out 
 break was likely. 
 
 Tuesday, February I7th, while the examination of 
 Bollman and Swartwout was progressing at Washing 
 ton, General Adair and Ogden landed in Baltimore. 
 Wednesday the prisoners were brought before Judge 
 Joseph N. Nicholson in obedience to a writ allowed by 
 him that morning. They were immediately released, 
 no cause for confinement being shown. 1 
 
 "Very much to my surprise and mortification," said 
 the judge to the President, 2 "there was no proof of any 
 nature whatsoever with them, although I administered an 
 oath to Lieutenant Luckett with a view to acquire the 
 necessary information from him. He could give none 
 except the common conversation of the day. And I was 
 under the necessity of discharging the prisoners." 
 
 Forty-eight hours later the Executive replied in a 
 most benevolent mood, "Their crimes are defeated, and 
 whether they should be punished or not belongs to an 
 other department, and is not the subject of even a 
 wish on my part." 3 This, considered together with 
 subsequent utterances, reveals a grievous weakness in 
 his character that his great mind could harbor hatreds 
 malignant enough to poison his love for justice. For 
 did he not instruct Hay to pardon all the accused pro 
 vided the principal might be convicted ?* 
 
 After Adair had been discharged he went to Wash- 
 
 I 0rleans Gazette, April 3, 1807. 
 
 Nicholson to Jefferson, February 18, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 Jefferson to Nicholson, February 20, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 *See p. 338. 
 
300 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 ington and demanded of the Attorney-General an in 
 vestigation. The latter remarked that evidence was 
 lacking and that the matter could not be pursued. Soon 
 after this Adair brought suit in Natchez against Wil 
 kinson for false imprisonment. At the end of eight 
 years the case was finally decided in an award of $2,500 
 damages, the jury adding that the sum would have 
 been greater but for the notorious poverty of the Gen 
 eral. The Government, however, paid the debt. 1 Dur 
 ing this long period Wilkinson had signally failed to 
 make out a case against the man whom he had violently 
 seized as a traitor the man who proved himself a hero 
 in the battle of New Orleans, who served his State as 
 Governor, and who ever held a high place in the esteem 
 of the people of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. 
 
 January 28th the President sent to the Senate 
 and House the news he had received from Andrew 
 Jackson and Captain Bissell to the effect that only a 
 few boats had passed down the river, and that these 
 were unwarlikc. Since none others could escape he 
 considered the conspiracy at an end. February iQth he 
 communicated to Congress the pleasing news Gov 
 ernor Meade had sent concerning the arrival of Burr in 
 the Mississippi Territory, and of his surrender to the 
 civil authority. 
 
 Now that the enterprise was ended Gallatin sug- 
 gested in a brief letter of February 2ist to the Execu 
 tive that it would be proper to obtain an appropriation 
 for making compensation for the boats and provisions 
 
 Gales and Seaton s Biographical Sketches (General John 
 Adair). 
 
MEASURES IN WASHINGTON 301 
 
 seized on the Ohio. 1 This was in consequence of his 
 having received a letter from Alston inquiring about 
 the matter. February 27, 1807, the Cabinet for 
 mally recognized by its action that the conspiracy as an 
 active force was dead, and that the time for the prose 
 cution of the guilty had arrived. 
 
 It was "agreed to discharge all the militia at stations 
 from the mouth of the Cumberland upward; to give up 
 all boats and provisions seized, except Blennerhassett s, 
 or to pay value thereof and apply them to the public ser 
 vice ; to institute an inquiry into the proceedings of Burr 
 and his adherents from New York to New Orleans ; and 
 particularly to appoint good men at Pittsburg, Marietta, 
 Wood County, Cincinnati, Louisville, Nashville, Vin- 
 cennes, Saint Louis, Natchez, New Orleans, Washington 
 City, Philadelphia, and Norfolk to take affidavits the 
 Attorney- General to prepare the interrogatories." 2 
 
 Meantime New Orleans had returned to a rational 
 state. When it had become known that Burr s for 
 midable fleet of transports and vessels of war was 
 actually represented by nine ordinary river boats ; that 
 his numerous army of traitors had dwindled to less 
 than sixty peacefully disposed citizens ; that the danger 
 ous stores of arms and munitions were made up of a 
 few rifles and powder horns; and that he had offered 
 no resistance to the authorities the collapse was com 
 plete. What with the Memorial of the Legislature and 
 the acrimonious denunciations of Livingston and Wat- 
 kins, Wilkinson felt that his character, though well 
 "established," was being slowly worn away. The re 
 action was obtrusive, convincing; and he took further 
 
 Gallatin to Jefferson, February 21, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 2 Cabinet Memoranda, February 27, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 
302 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 steps to strengthen his position with the President. 
 February I3th he wrote to Jefferson i 1 
 
 "You must long before this perusal have heard of the 
 salutary decision to which I have been driven in this city, 
 and of the persecution and abuse I have suffered and am 
 suffering in consequence of it. The late clemency and 
 confidence extended to Colonel Burr in the Mississippi 
 Territory, the popular standing he has acquired there, and 
 his mock trial and acquittal, and his recent flight from 
 justice, may, I hope, have the tendency to dissipate the 
 delusions spread abroad by his open adherents and nu 
 merous secret friends in this quarter ; and at the same 
 time serve to illustrate the soundness of those strong- 
 handed precautions to which I resorted to destroy the con 
 cert and cooperation of the conspirators, to stem the tor 
 rent of disaffection, and to save this city from the horrors 
 of a civil commotion." 
 
 A more forceful statement of his case could not 
 have been written the collapse of the conspiracy left 
 him fearful of the consequences. He grasped at every 
 incident which would help his cause or palliate his 
 illegal acts. Prosecution and disgrace seemed to him 
 fast approaching the consciousness of his own 
 guilt raised before him nameless terrors which he 
 sought to silence by repeating the magical name of 
 Jefferson. His method with the President was irre 
 sistible. All his fine argument was to lead up to an 
 appeal which Jefferson, through his alliance, was com 
 pelled to hear and to heed. "But, sir," said Wilkin 
 son, "when the tempest has passed away and dangers 
 have disappeared I must hope I shall not be left alone 
 
 1 Wilkinson to Jefferson, February 13, 1807; Letters in Re 
 lation. 
 
MEASURES IN WASHINGTON 303 
 
 to buffet a combination of bar and bench." In con 
 clusion the General hastened to felicitate the President 
 on his narrow escape from a terrible calamity and upon 
 the discovery in the West of a degree of loyalty beyond 
 imagination. 
 
 "I congratulate you, sir, with my whole soul on the 
 issue which the nefarious project has taken. ... I 
 consider the general safety secured, and I view with ex 
 ultation the triumph of principle in the patriotic display 
 made by the states of the Ohio." 
 
 For Wilkinson to prate of the "patriotic display 
 made by the states of the Ohio," a region he had repre 
 sented as ripe for revolt, was downright knavery recoil 
 ing on itself. Moreover, when he confessed that the 
 native population of Louisiana, the Creoles, were the 
 most loyal of Americans, his hypocrisy was laid bare 
 in all its hideousness he admitted that the West 
 from the Ohio to the Gulf of Mexico was stanchly 
 patriotic, and that he had made his accusations for sel 
 fish purposes. Even at such a moment his courage, al 
 ways great, was undiminished. Four days after the 
 above dispatch he sent another equally steeped in de 
 ception. 
 
 "The flight of Burr, * he said in an official dispatch to 
 the Chief Executive, 1 "the boldness of his numerous asso 
 ciates in the Mississippi Territory, and the very strong 
 interests he has established in the Territory again involve 
 us here in doubts and fears as to the speedy termination 
 of this illicit enterprise. For if (as is believed by many) 
 he is now concealed near Natchez, and should he on the 
 breaking up of the ice receive four or five hundred auxil- 
 
 ^Wilkinson to Jefferson, February 17, 1807; Letters in Re 
 lation. 
 

 
 
 304 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 iaries, it is probable he will make some desperate attempt 
 against the Spaniards either in West Florida or by Na- 
 cogdoches; for, unless he can gild his crimes by some 
 extraordinary stroke of fortune, he must seek the grave 
 as his only resort. We have many here who would wish 
 to see him master of the city, but his followers will not 
 support him (generally) in any attempt directly against 
 the United States, and besides my little force has become 
 too respectable to be approached by any body of irregulars 
 without imminent danger/ 
 
 The manifest uneasiness that Burr would yet "gild 
 his crimes * by attacking some part of the Spanish do 
 minions vividly recalls Wilkinson s dispatch to the 
 President from Natchitoches in which he indicated that 
 with the proper authority he might direct the energies 
 of the associates against the enemy. The fear was now 
 that they would of their own accord assail some Spanish 
 settlement and for the purpose simply, as he chose to 
 express it, of saving themselves from traitors graves. 
 Were the Mississippians in reality playing a sinister 
 part in the drama of disaffection when they volunteered 
 against Burr, and when they later declared they had 
 been deceived in believing his enterprise hostile to the 
 nation of which they were a part ? It was a late hour, 
 but a fitting climax for Wilkinson to admit that Burr s 
 forces would make no "attempt directly against the 
 United States." The General s case was still hanging 
 in the balance. The capture of Baton Rouge by the 
 Burrites would have irretrievably overthrown it. 
 
 The outspoken sympathies of the people in favor of 
 revolutionizing West Florida and Mexico were held 
 in abeyance only by the supersensitive state of the 
 public mind and by the hatred with which they looked 
 
MEASURES IN WASHINGTON 305 
 
 upon secret combinations. Wilkinson reenforced Gra 
 ham s observation as to the predominant purpose in the 
 masses to invade the Spanish territories, and while 
 busy searching for witnesses and clearing away the 
 debris of the conspiracy, he discussed briefly the situa 
 tion of affairs with Jefferson. 1 Noting Bonaparte s 
 plan for universal dominion, he passed to a subject he 
 said he had had some time in mind. With leave he 
 could foster a revolution in Mexico. Referring to a 
 conversation he had with the President in 1804 con 
 cerning Cuba, he advised the capture of the island; 
 adding that within six months in conjunction with an 
 English squadron the Floridas might be taken and 
 Mexico freed. 
 
 "They [the Floridas] are ripe for violent measures. 
 . . . If the United States will not protect them they 
 will solicit the help of England. The taking of Baton 
 Rouge and Pensacola they speak of as matters of trifling 
 achievement. They have about four hundred men who 
 will follow their standard to any length they please." 
 
 These expositions to the Executive are supple 
 mented by a letter to Clark, which is characteristic and 
 shows that the General was eager for the revolution 
 izing of Mexico, provided he was the leader of the 
 army. 
 
 "The chiefs of Mexico are ready to declare for inde 
 pendence, on the slightest encouragement of the United 
 States, to whom they look for alliance and support. I 
 write facts which I have enterprised and hazarded much 
 to ascertain since November last. The opportunity ap 
 pears to be a golden one, and I hope it may suit the policy 
 of our country to adopt it. The poor devils on the side 
 
 Wilkinson to Jefferson, March 12, 1807; Letters in Relation. 
 
306 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 of Texas have all retired, and Nacogdoches is left with 
 its usual guard." 
 
 Was it only now dawning on the General that the 
 Mexicans were ready to declare for independence? 
 The news was nothing new. By coincidence, at the 
 time Wilkinson wrote, one of Burr s agents, ignorant 
 that the end had come at Bayou Pierre, continued his 
 operations in San Antonio de Bexar with so much bold 
 ness that the Government was soon in pursuit of him. 
 Cordero said to Salcedo that one of Burr s associates 
 full of "cabalistic" ideas was there engaged in foment 
 ing rebellion. 1 Could there have been any connection 
 between Wilkinson s idea of "fomenting" a revolution 
 in Mexico and the original design of the conspirators ? 
 Who will say there is no relation between the expedi 
 tion of 1806, the taking of West Florida in 1810, the 
 Grito of Hidalgo, and the conquest of Texas? 
 
 The sentiment prevailing in New Orleans rang out 
 clearly at a banquet in May, 1807. Jefferson, the author 
 of the Declaration of Independence, was toasted for 
 having sustained Wilkinson in his military arrests, his 
 words in that ever memorable document being quoted, 
 that one of the crimes of a tyrant is that "He has af 
 fected to render the military independent of and supe 
 rior to the civil power." Then Claiborne was made to 
 drink to Wilkinson, which was at once a taunt and a 
 revelation : "The hero of the Sabine, may his laurels 
 be converted into birch to scourge the enemies of his 
 
 Salcedo to Cordero, March I, 1807; MSS. Bexar Archives. 
 Salcedo to Iturrigaray, March 2, 1807; MSS. Carpeta No. 2, 
 Bexar Archives. 
 
MEASURES IN WASHINGTON 307 
 
 Catholic Majesty and the advocates of Mexican eman 
 cipation." 1 
 
 Sharp and unrelenting as was the criticism urged 
 against the Governor, he had profited in no wise from 
 his experience of the past months. He was still as 
 unstable, as pliant, and as incapable of grasping a situa 
 tion as when he first came into the government of the 
 Territory. To show what absurdities he could enter 
 tain, what unfounded situations he could conjure up, 
 one has but to follow his correspondence. 
 
 "I anticipate very considerable opposition," he said 
 to the President, 2 "in the administration of this govern 
 ment ; the intrigue of the associates of Burr will be con 
 tinued, and will principally be leveled against me. Gen 
 eral Wilkinson having gone, I am perhaps the only officer 
 of the general government, now here, who supports the 
 late proceedings in this territory; proceedings which 
 were influenced by the purest motives, and of the pro 
 priety of which, taking them in the aggregate, I have 
 now no doubt." 
 
 He also launched his suspicions at Colonel Freeman 
 of the army, and at Brown, collector of the port. He 
 condemned Dr. Watkins, saying that "the intriguing 
 of designing men had caused him to abandon those 
 principles which he once professed and practiced." A 
 few weeks earlier he had said to Madison : 
 
 "With respect to Dr. Watkins, it is due to justice to 
 add, that I believe he meditated nothing against the 
 American Government and that he sincerely loves his 
 country. I, however, am of opinion that his zeal for the 
 liberation of the Mexicans led him into some impru- 
 
 *Orleans Gazette, May 5, 1807. 
 
 "Claiborne to Jefferson, May 19, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 
308 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 dences, and under this impression, although my private 
 regard for him is considerable, I have withdrawn my 
 official patronage." 1 
 
 Watkins was indeed compelled to resign the mayor 
 alty of New Orleans. But Claiborne certainly did not 
 consider in what light he placed himself when he ad 
 mitted that he was the only official now in the city who 
 supported the "late proceedings" in that region. He 
 was unable to break the spell which had been cast over 
 J him. Believing the General honest, he thought who 
 ever antagonized his measures a schemer, a Burrite. 
 Such a victim was Watkins. And Claiborne s views 
 remained unregenerate to the last, although he came to 
 confess what Jefferson was loath to believe and what 
 has been denied by historians for a century that the 
 Creoles were loyal to the Union ! 
 
 "General Adair is still here," he related to Jefferson, 
 "and daily in the receipt of the most pointed attentions 
 from a portion of our American society. He abuses our 
 government and its officers, and denounces Wilkinson as 
 a pensioner of Spain and a traitor to his country. If Burr 
 should be acquitted, it is probable we shall see him here 
 also in the fall. But I do not think it will be in his power 
 to induce the Louisianians to favor his views or plans. It 
 is a fact, sir, that the Louisianians, I mean the ancient in 
 habitants of the country, are now the best supporters of 
 the American government." 2 
 
 The Governor followed complacently the lead of 
 his military superior, who had recently informed the 
 President that Adair was "capable of a desperate enter 
 prise" ; adding, "Every day unfolds something of the 
 
 Claiborne to Madison, March n, 1807; Letters in Relation. 
 Claiborne to Jefferson, June 28, 1807 ; Jefferson MSS. 
 
MEASURES IN WASHINGTON 309 
 
 plot and convinces me it is not abandoned." * But 
 Jefferson was too much engrossed with imperative na 
 tional affairs to ask for evidence. He was indeed 
 obliged to credit the reports of his officials, and if he 
 was deceived he might plead in extenuation the exag 
 gerations of distance and the distemper of society at 
 large. Nevertheless, with the President s bias and 
 preconceived notions of Burr it was all too easy for him 
 to believe in his guilt and no surprise that the hue 
 of that guilt should be as dark as Wilkinson could 
 paint it. By this time, indeed, Jefferson was proof 
 against alarms they were out of season to say the 
 least, now that Burr and his coterie of associates were 
 in the toils of the law. There was, however, little 
 cause for jubilation at Washington. The acquittal of 
 Bollman, Swartwout, and the other minor characters 
 aroused in the Government a determination to secure at 
 any cost the conviction of Burr the credit of the 
 Administration was at stake; and in the prosecution of 
 the case neither time nor money was to be spared. 
 Following the resolution of the Cabinet at the end of 
 February, Rodney soon had printed lists of questions 
 with an appeal to honest citizens to send by affidavit 
 their knowledge of the affair scattered throughout the 
 land ; and the Government s agents were searching for 
 evidence in every quarter. 
 
 Wilkinson to Jefferson, April 19, 1807 ; Letters in Relation, 
 
u 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Trial at Richmond. 
 
 MARCH 5, 1807, surrounded by a guard of 
 six men under Nicholas Perkins, who had 
 been instrumental in his interception, Burr 
 set out from Fort Stoddert on the journey of a thou 
 sand miles to Washington. Twenty-one days later the 
 prisoner was lodged in the Eagle Tavern, Richmond, 
 whither he had been directed by order of the Executive. 
 The day following he wrote his daughter : "It seems 
 that here the business is to be tried and concluded. I 
 am to be surrendered to the civil authority to-morrow, 
 when the question of bail is to be determined. In the 
 meantime I remain at the Eagle Tavern." 
 
 March 3Oth, in a small room of the Tavern, Burr 
 came up for an examination before Chief-Justice 
 Marshall, in whose district the alleged crime, or crimes, 
 had been committed. George Hay, district-attorney 
 for the United States, moved for a commitment on 
 charges of misdemeanor and treason. Two days of 
 argument followed ; then the Chief- Justice delivered 
 his opinion : 
 
 "The fact to be proved in this case is an act of public 
 notoriety. It must exist in the view of the world, or it 
 cannot exist at all. The assembling of forces to levy war 
 is a visible transaction, and numbers must witness it. It 
 is, therefore, capable of proof; and when time to collect 
 this proof has been given, it ought to be adduced, or sus 
 picion becomes ground too weak to stand upon. . . . 
 
 310 
 
THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND 311 
 
 If in November or December last, a body of troops had 
 been assembled on the Ohio, it is impossible to suppose 
 that affidavits establishing the fact could not have been 
 obtained by the last of March. . . . On the evidence 
 furnished by this very transaction of the attachment felt 
 by our Western for their Eastern brethren, we justly 
 felicitate ourselves. How inconsistent with this fact is 
 the idea, that no man could be found who would volun 
 tarily depose, that a body of troops had actually assem 
 bled, whose object was detested and defeated by the very 
 people who could give the requisite information ! I can 
 not doubt that means to obtain information have been 
 taken on the part of the prosecution ; if it existed, I can 
 not doubt the practicability of obtaining it ; and its non- 
 production, at this late hour, does not, in my opinion, 
 leave me at liberty to give to those suspicions which grow 
 out of other circumstances, the weight to which at an 
 earlier day they might have been entitled. I shall not, 
 therefore, insert in the commitment the charge of high 
 treason." 
 
 Accordingly, the accused was bound in the sum of 
 $10,000 to appear at the next term of the Circuit Court 
 to convene at Richmond, May 22d, to answer the 
 charge of high misdemeanor. Five securities presented 
 themselves, and on the afternoon of April ist Burr was 
 once more at liberty. 
 
 Jefferson was enraged at this first defeat ; the prose 
 cution was nonplussed; and ever since there have 
 risen eminent authorities to proclaim that throughout 
 the course of the trial Marshall s political bias and 
 personal dislike of Jefferson warped his judgment in 
 favor of Burr to the shame of the law and the evidence. 
 In that they are but consistent. Treating the con 
 spiracy from first to last as animated by treason, they 
 must offer some explanation for the collapse of the pros- 
 
3 i2 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 ecution ; and it is much easier to show that Burr escaped 
 .through the connivance of the judge, or by the aid of 
 the Federalists, who "affected to disbelieve in the con 
 spiracy," or through the apathy of the Republicans, who 
 "had never been able to persuade themselves that the 
 Union was really in danger," than it is to admit the 
 failure of the evidence. The logic of Marshall s posi 
 tion was irresistible. If it was censorious and over- 
 severe, the fundamental argument presented was not 
 then, and has not been to this day, successfully refuted. 
 The prosecution read out of it a deliberate expression 
 of doubt as to Burr s guilt, while Jefferson whether 
 from a sense of culpability (he had not ordered a full 
 investigation of the plot till the Cabinet meeting of 
 February 27th), or of resentment at Marshall s seem 
 ing want of respect for a coordinate branch of the 
 Government replied with redoubled energy. He said 
 plainly to Senator Giles, who had been foremost in 
 the assault on the last stronghold of Federalism the 
 Judiciary that the fight against this entrenched 
 tyranny would not be relinquished and intimated that, 
 if Burr escaped, Marshall should himself make answer 
 to the nation. 
 
 "In what terms of decency can we speak of this ? [He 
 had already referred to Marshall s "tricks to force trials 
 before it is possible to collect the evidence."] 1 As if an 
 express could go to Natchez or the mouth of the Cumber 
 land and return in five weeks, to do which has never taken 
 less than twelve! . . . But all the principles of law 
 are to be perverted which would bear on the favorite of 
 fenders who endeavor to overturn this odious republic! 
 
 Jefferson to Giles, April 20, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 
THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND 313 
 
 . . . The nation will judge both the offender and the 
 judges for themselves. If a member of the Executive or 
 Legislature does wrong, the day is never far distant when 
 the people will remove him. They will see then and 
 amend the error in our Constitution which makes any 
 branch independent of the nation. ... If their pro 
 tection of Burr produces this amendment, it will do more 
 good than his condemnation would have done; . . 
 and if his punishment can be commuted now for a useful 
 amendment of the Constitution, I shall rejoice in it." 
 
 The ultimate consequences might be this or that, 
 but the first consideration to Jefferson was to secure the 
 conviction of Burr. To that end both he and his 
 subordinates toiled. Rodney, operating from Wash 
 ington, sent printed circulars to hamlet and country 
 side, inciting "every good citizen to step forward, and 
 communicate to the government any information he 
 may possess which may contribute to the general wel 
 fare." A deputy marshal and special messenger were 
 dispatched to Wood County to take depositions and to 
 summon all the witnesses at and near Blennerhassett s 
 island ; while both Madison and Rodney wrote Andrew 
 Jackson in April, hoping to have depositions sent on 
 from that quarter which would enable them to commit 
 Burr for treason. 1 
 
 Meanwhile Wilkinson, in New Orleans busy as 
 late as April suppressing the still surviving conspiracy, 
 witness his letter to Jefferson found time to send a 
 number of agents into Mississippi and elsewhere to col 
 lect the fragments of evidence. He continually stimu 
 lated the President" s hopes by writing that he would be 
 
 Rodney to Jefferson, April 10, 1807 ; also May 6, 1807 ; Jeffer 
 son MSS. 
 
314 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 able to bring undoubted proof of Burr s guilt. March 
 27th he said that he expected to prove that Burr had 
 sunk his own ordnance boat the commander of which 
 he hoped to capture in the river at Bayou Pierre, and 
 that Burr had seduced Sergeant Dunbaugh (whom he 
 should soon have in his hands) to desert the service. 
 Besides these Wilkinson hoped to secure one Motley 
 who had ridden with Burr during September and Octo 
 ber, and who knew his correspondence and designs. 1 
 Again, April 3d, the General wrote on the subject of his 
 search for witnesses: "I shall persevere until I have 
 obtained some more important testimony from two or 
 three of Burr s confidentials." 2 This sounds very unlike 
 the man Mr. Adams assures us meant "to close his eyes 
 against evidence that could compromise any citizen" of 
 New Orleans. 3 
 
 The excitement occasioned by the appearance of the 
 expedition on the Mississippi had scarcely begun to 
 subside when Jefferson s hatred and jealousy of the op 
 posing political party became still more extreme. This 
 was in part due to the fact that he identified the Federal 
 ists with Burr s friends ; and he not only believed them 
 to be Burr s sympathizers, but his active partisans as 
 well. He had forgotten that the first attack on Burr, 
 disorderly and unjustified though it was, had been made 
 by the leaders of that faith in Kentucky. "The Federal 
 ists have so decidedly made common cause with Burr," 
 he objected to Gallatin, 4 "that if you send a Federalist 
 
 Wilkinson to Jefferson, March 27, 1807 ; Letters in Relation. 
 Wilkinson to Jefferson, April 3, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 History of the United States, iii., 321. 
 Jefferson to Gallatin, March 13, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 
THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND 315 
 
 or a Burrite to the Orleans Territory I consider it the 
 same thing." Writing a few days afterwards to 
 George Morgan, of Morganza, the President gave ex 
 pression to his distrust of Marshall and his party : x 
 
 "Burr is on his way to Richmond for trial, and if the 
 judges do not discharge him before it is possible to collect 
 the testimony from Maine to New Orleans, there can be 
 no doubt where his history will end. To what degree 
 punishment of his adherents shall be extended, will be 
 decided when we shall have collected all the evidence, and 
 seen who were cordially guilty. The Federalists appear 
 to make Burr s cause their own, and spare no efforts to 
 screen his adherents. Their great mortification is at the 
 failure of his plans." 
 
 The gleam of satisfaction in the phrase that "there 
 can be no doubt where his history will end" was sud 
 denly overclouded by the shadow of Federalism. There 
 can be no denying the fact that Jefferson thought the 
 Federalists capable of shielding traitors; that he be 
 lieved, incorruptible as the great body of the party 
 might be, disloyalty and disunion were their actuating 
 principles. We know this opinion to have been extreme, 
 but there was indeed a numerically small but powerful 
 contingent which would have applauded the consum 
 mation of such a programme as Burr s was declared to 
 be. There was probably, too, in Jefferson s madness a 
 purpose no less a one than to bring the party of the 
 opposition into final disruption by tainting it with 
 treason. Such inoculation must have proven fatal. 
 It was one of Jefferson s ambitions to witness in his 
 time the general acceptance by the American people of 
 Jefferson to George Morgan, March 26, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 
316 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 the political principles he professed; and that could 
 never be until the defiant opposition was trampled under 
 in the pell-mell of universal Democratic triumph. 
 
 Jefferson has left us some curious records concern 
 ing his opinion of the conspiracy. In a letter to James 
 Bowdoin, then minister to Spain, after discussing our 
 relations with that power, he admitted what Randolph 
 was avowing in the House that the hand of the Don 
 was hidden in the Western intrigue r 1 
 
 "Never did a nation act towards another with more 
 perfidy and injustice than Spain has constantly practiced 
 against us ; and if we have kept our hands off her till now, 
 it has been purely out of respect to France, and from the 
 value we set on the friendship of France. We expect, 
 therefore, from the friendship of the Emperor that he will 
 either compel Spain to do us justice, or abandon her to 
 us. We ask but one month to be in possession of the City 
 of Mexico. No better proof of the good faith of the 
 United States could have been given than the vigor with 
 which we have acted and the expense incurred in suppress 
 ing the enterprise meditated lately by Burr against Mex 
 ico, although at first he proposed a separation of the 
 western country, and on that ground received encourage 
 ment and aid from Yrujo, according to the usual spirit of 
 his government towards us, yet he very early saw that 
 the fidelity of the western country was not to be shaken 
 and turned himself wholly toward Mexico, and so popular 
 is an enterprise on that country in this, that we had only 
 to lie still and he would have had followers enough to 
 have been in the City of Mexico in six weeks." 
 
 This confession was as unexpected as it was ex 
 traordinary. It would have been extremely interesting 
 to have had Jefferson point out the moment when Burr 
 "turned himself wholly toward Mexico." Perhaps he 
 
 Jefferson to Bowdoin, April 2, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 
THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND 317 
 
 would have had a more difficult task in reconciling his 
 own opinion of Burr s talents as an intriguer and the 
 unpardonable blunder of failing to discover, till the 
 eleventh hour, that the frontiersmen were ardent pa 
 triots. "To lie still" and leave Mexico to the mercies 
 of the filibusters of the West would have been as easy 
 as closing his eyes when the Leander, commanded by 
 Miranda and manned by revolutionists, sailed from the; 
 port of New York. Had the President planned to lie! 
 still ? It seems in truth most probable. It was the cry! 
 of treason that roused him. Jefferson never main-- 
 tained for any great length of time the same view of 
 the so-called conspiracy. A few weeks after the above 
 dispatch he wrote another equally remarkable. 
 
 "Burr s conspiracy," he wrote Dupont de Nemours, 1 
 "has been one of the most flagitious of which history will 
 ever furnish an example. He has combined the objects of 
 separating the western states from us, of adding Mexico 
 to them, and of placing himself at their head. But he who 
 could expect to effect such objects by the aid of American 
 citizens, must be perfectly ripe for bedlam. . . . He 
 had probably induced near a thousand men to engage with 
 him by making them believe the government connived 
 at it. ... A proclamation alone, by undeceiving 
 them, so completely disarmed him that he had not above 
 thirty men left, ready to go all lengths with him. The 
 first enterprise was to have been the seizure of New 
 Orleans, which he supposed would powerfully bridle the 
 country above, and place him at the door of Mexico. It 
 has given me infinite satisfaction that not a single native 
 Creole of Louisiana, and but one American settled there 
 before the delivery of the country to us, were in his inter 
 est. His partisans there were made up of fugitives from 
 justice or from their debts who flocked there from other 
 
 Jefferson to Dupont de Nemours, July 14, 1807; Jefferson 
 MSS. 
 
3 i8 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 parts of the United States after the delivery of the coun 
 try, and the adventurers and speculators of all descrip 
 tions." 
 
 That a clever impostor might enlist a thousand 
 Westerners to aid in the establishment of an empire 
 stretching from the Alleghanies to the Sierra Madre 
 Mountains by informing them that the Government 
 connived at the scheme seemed to Jefferson a feat easy 
 of accomplishment, so shorn were they of all affiliations 
 social and political. But the Proclamation changed 
 everything as at the stroke of a magic wand. There is 
 grievous blundering somewhere. Either Burr engaged 
 his followers with the specific object of invading 
 Mexico, which the Government would not oppose, or 
 else he was indeed a fit subject for bedlam along with 
 the thousand irresponsibles reclaimed by the Proclama 
 tion. The statement that none of the Creoles were in 
 Burr s interest places him strangely at variance with 
 most of those who have written of the conspiracy. 
 That Wilkinson and Claiborne should also have come 
 in the spring of 1807 to believe the Creoles the most 
 faithful of the inhabitants of Louisiana was an admis 
 sion of tremendous import; an admission which for 
 selfish reasons they had long refrained from making. 
 
 Finally, May 22d, the day for the trial arrived, and 
 Richmond was full of strangers. Some were attracted 
 by the fame of the accused ; others by the notoriety of 
 the cause, while many appeared as witnesses in response 
 to the summons of the Government. One of these was 
 Commodore Truxton, who was not to be intimidated 
 by the Government; another was William Eaton, the 
 
THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND 319 
 
 vaunted hero of Derne, and State witness second in 
 importance to Wilkinson only ; there were the Morgans, 
 from Morganza, whom the President credited with 
 having given the first notice of the plot, and to whom 
 he had said, "You have deserved well of your country." 1 
 Thither came Colonel De Pestre, friend and ally of 
 Burr, whose honor the Government attempted to buy; 
 Bollman, distinguished for his services to La Fayette; 
 and William Duane, editor of the Aurora, ruler of the 
 politics of Pennsylvania and would-be briber of Blen- 
 nerhassett; and Washington Irving, then first attract 
 ing notice in the field of letters. Likewise came Alston, 
 who had been ready to repudiate his father-in-law when 
 he was first accused of treason ; and Giles, leader of the 
 Republicans in the Senate; and John Randolph of 
 Roanoke, the brilliant, eccentric leader of the Quids in 
 the House. At the summons of the Government, An 
 drew Jackson had made his way from Tennessee to 
 Richmond, where he became at once outspoken in his 
 denunciations of Wilkinson and the President. 2 Smith 
 and Dayton moved around the circle of associates, in 
 different as to what action the grand jury might take. 
 There was alsp Graham, who had tracked Burr from 
 the national Capital to the town of Washington in 
 Mississippi, and who was obliged in the end to confess 
 that Burr s design, in the view of the people, was simply 
 against Mexico. Lastly, Theodosia, the devoted daugh 
 ter, lent her graces to the friends of her father, who 
 were the rulers of Richmond. 
 
 Jefferson to George Morgan, March 26, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 2 Parton s Burr, ii., 107. Hay to Jefferson, June 24, 1807; 
 Jefferson MSS. 
 
320 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 At half-past twelve o clock, May 22, 1807, the court 
 convened, with Chief-Justice Marshall and Cyrus 
 Griffin on the bench. Perhaps the country has never 
 seen another such array of learning and legal talent 
 as that which gathered within the Virginia House of 
 Burgesses. First of all was John Marshall, calm, 
 deliberate, and fearless. "The Chief-Justice, in his 
 fifty-second year (one year older than the prisoner)," 
 to use the language of Parton, "was a tall, slender man, 
 with a majestic head, without one gray hair, with eyes 
 the finest ever seen, except Burr s, large, black, and 
 brilliant beyond description. It was often remarked 
 during the trial, that two such pairs of eyes had never 
 looked into one another before." 
 
 The accused was surrounded by the foremost law 
 yers of the time: Edmund Randolph, delegate to the 
 Philadelphia Constitutional Convention, and Attorney- 
 General and Secretary of State in the Cabinet of Presi 
 dent Washington; John Wickham, who was regarded 
 as the ablest lawyer at the Richmond bar, possessing 
 "wit, sarcasm, eloquence, a fine presence and a persuas 
 ive manner"; Benjamin Botts, also of Virginia, keen 
 witted, aggressive, and hardly inferior in ability to his 
 associates; "Jack" Baker, who seems to have been en 
 gaged on account of his knowledge of Virginia jury 
 men ; Charles Lee, sometime Attorney-General for 
 Maryland a man of fine mental gifts: and Luther 
 Martin, the "Thersites of the law," who, in legal learn 
 ing, towered head and shoulders above those around 
 him, the first lawyer of his time. Jefferson called him 
 "Federal bulldog," and Martin, in his bitterness and 
 
THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND 321 
 
 enthusiasm, proclaimed the President ruthless and 
 tyrannical in having loosed the "hell-hounds of persecu 
 tion" against Burr. Once before, in the impeachment 
 proceedings against Justice Chase, Martin had met the 
 President in open field, and he was resolved that this 
 time the victory should be no less complete. 
 
 On the side of the prosecution there appeared no 
 such strength. Caesar A. Rodney, who succeeded to 
 the-post of Attorney-General a month after the death 
 of John Breckenridge of Kentucky, was a lawyer of 
 ordinary talents. Realizing the hopelessness of the 
 situation, or fearing to measure strength with the 
 opposition, he left Richmond after the preliminaries 
 and never returned. The brunt of the battle fell upon 
 the district-attorney, George Hay, son-in-law to James 
 Monroe, who was both willing and competent, and w,ho 
 was aided by frequent suggestions from Jefferson in 
 the conduct of the case. The President, too, in order 
 to strengthen the prosecution, resorted to the expedient 
 of bringing other attorneys into the case at the Gov 
 ernment s expense. William Wirt, whose name is asso 
 ciated with America s foremost orators, was invited to 
 assist. The third counsel for the prosecution was Alex 
 ander McRae, Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia, who 
 was less adroit, less able than his colleagues. Such 
 being the list of counsel engaged, it was at once appa 
 rent that the defense, not to rate the force of Burr who 
 in a large measure directed his own case, far outclassed 
 the representatives of the Government, both in point of 
 legal learning and strategic skill. 
 
 The depth of public feeling and general belief in 
 
322 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 Burr s guilt disclosed itself in the first proceedings of 
 the trial the selection of a grand jury. There was 
 scarcely one of the panel who had not made up his mind. 
 The President s Proclamation, with the depositions of 
 Eaton and Wilkinson, had caused them to prejudge the 
 case most of them readily confessing it and it was 
 noticeable that a majority of the jurors summoned by 
 the marshal were strong supporters of the Adminis 
 tration so noticeable indeed that it could not have 
 happened by chance. At last, however, the jury was 
 sworn and John Randolph appointed foreman. But no 
 indictment could be returned until General Wilkinson 
 had arrived from New Orleans. Thus the public in 
 quisitors were compelled to adjourn from day to day 
 and from week to week awaiting the arrival of the 
 hero from the South, who seemed to care little when 
 the trial began, or what inconveniences his tardiness 
 occasioned, so long as he could bring with him the wit 
 nesses he had promised Jefferson. Twenty-four days 
 after the opening of the court he finally made his ap 
 pearance. 
 
 Meanwhile Marshall had not been idle. Hay had 
 moved the commitment of Burr on the charge of 
 treason, alleging that the approach of Wilkinson might 
 put him to flight. "On his examination," said the 
 prosecutor, "there was no evidence of an overt act, and 
 he was committed for a misdemeanor only. The evi 
 dence is different now." The defense immediately 
 grappled with the problem, which was clearly to restrict 
 the latitude of the Government s action, to prevent a 
 premature disclosure of the testimony. To commit 
 
THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND 323 
 
 Burr for treason would involve the examination of 
 witnesses viva voce, and the order of the examination 
 precipitated the question which became the chief con 
 tention of the counsel: What testimony was admis 
 sible? It was in this connection that the definition of 
 the crime of high treason under the Constitution was 
 elaborated the definition which is still held by the 
 courts. 
 
 "In England," declared Botts, "where conspiring the 
 death of the King was treason, the quo animo formed 
 the essence of the offense ; but in America the national 
 convention has confined treason to the act. We cannot 
 have a constructive war within the meaning of the Con 
 stitution. An intention to levy war is not evidence that 
 war was levied." 
 
 The contention of the defense was that to establish 
 the crime of high treason it must first be proved that a 
 war consisting of acts had transpired; secondly, that 
 an overt act of treason had been committed in the war ; 
 thirdly, that the accused committed an overt (not a 
 covert) act in the war to which two witnesses must 
 testify and within the district in which the trial is 
 ordered. Marshall declared this interpretation to be 
 correct; and the whole scheme of the prosecution was 
 undone. Hay and Jefferson were both perplexed and 
 enraged and made but a feeble attempt to prove that 
 an act of war which was only the first of several steps 
 had been committed on Blennerhassett s island the 
 night of December 10, 1806. Hay realized the futility 
 of his efforts to commit on the charge of treason, and 
 was only too glad to escape further mortification in 
 
3 2 4 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 ending the matter by Burr s voluntary doubling of his 
 bond. 
 
 A counter-move had been made meanwhile by the 
 defendant. This was a motion for a subpoena duces 
 tecum to be directed to the President who had in his 
 possession, it was alleged, certain letters from Wilkin 
 son which were deemed material to the defense. Burr 
 had, on a visit to Washington, made a personal request 
 for copies of the General s letter of October 21, 1806, 
 and of the orders which had been issued to the army and 
 navy concerning himself and had been refused. Would 
 a subpoena duces tecum produce a better result? Had it 
 been a part of the programme of the defense to throw 
 odium on the Executive no more ingenious method 
 could have been devised. Abundant opportunity was 
 offered for declamation against the despotism of the 
 Government and against the persecution to which Burr 
 had been subjected. 
 
 "All that we want is the copies of some papers," burst 
 out Luther Martin, "and the original of another. This is 
 a peculiar case, sir. The President has undertaken to 
 prejudge my client by declaring that of his guilt there 
 can be no doubt/ He has assumed the knowledge of the 
 Supreme Being himself, and pretended to search the 
 heart of my highly respected friend. He has proclaimed 
 him a traitor in the face of that country which has re 
 warded him. He has let slip the dogs of war, the hell 
 hounds of persecution, to hunt down my friend. And 
 would this President of the United States, who has raised 
 all this absurd clamor, pretend to keep back the papers 
 which are wanted for this trial, where life itself is at 
 stake ? It is a sacred principle, that in all such cases, the 
 accused has the right to all the evidence which is neces 
 sary for his defense." 
 
THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND 325 
 
 If this arraignment was unnecessarily severe, the 
 justice of the central theme could scarcely be ques 
 tioned. Nor did the gentlemen of the prosecution 
 attempt it. On the other hand, they were as ready to 
 undertake the defense of the President as Martin had 
 been to assail him. What is more, they were as bold 
 to assert the guilt of Burr as ever Jefferson had been. 
 "Before the gentlemen arraign the Administration," 
 retorted Wirt, "let them clear the skirts of their client. 
 Let them prove his innocence." 
 
 Wirt unconsciously expressed the real situation- 
 Burr was on trial to show that the warp and woof of 
 his garment were spotless; and many another before 
 him, and after, has been likewise compelled. Innocent 
 till proven guilty is a principle of our jurisprudence of 
 which we sometimes boast when complaining of the 
 legal procedure of other lands. That a letter might aid 
 in making a defense a claim we know to have been 
 well founded failed to appeal to the President ; he was 
 already certain that the traitor had too long enjoyed 
 repose and immunity. But if Jefferson chose not to 
 yield up the correspondence, what might not the law 
 impose? And Marshall decided June I3th, after sev 
 eral days of argument, that the subpoena might issue. 
 
 "If, upon any principle," ran the heart of the opinion, 
 "the President could be construed to stand exempt from 
 the general provisions of the Constitution, it would be 
 because his duties as chief magistrate demand his whole 
 time for national objects. But it is apparent that this 
 demand is not unremitting; and if it should exist at the 
 time when his attendance on a court is required, it would 
 be sworn on the return of the subpoena, and would rather 
 
326 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 constitute a reason for not obeying the process of the 
 court than a reason against its being issued. ... It 
 cannot be denied that to issue a subpoena to a person fill 
 ing the exalted station of the chief magistrate is a duty 
 which would be dispensed with much more cheerfully 
 than it would be performed ; but if it be a duty, the court 
 can have no choice in the case." 
 
 There was no answer to this argument, and yet 
 Jefferson lashed into a violent rage by Martin s criti 
 cisms of his conduct in the trial of Smith and Ogden 
 in New York for complicity with Miranda, the Cabinet 
 having been instructed to disregard the summons of the 
 court, and by Marshall s decision which drew a line 
 between Jefferson the Executive and Jefferson the citi 
 zen essayed a reply : 
 
 "The leading feature of our Constitution," he said 
 fretfully to Hay, 1 "is the independence of the Legislative, 
 Executive, and Judiciary of each other; and none are 
 more jealous of this than the Judiciary. But would the 
 Executive be independent of the Judiciary if he were 
 subject to the commands of the latter, and to imprison 
 ment for disobedience ; if the smaller courts could bandy 
 him from pillar to post, keep him constantly trudging 
 from north to south and east and west, and withdraw him 
 entirely from his executive duties?" 
 
 Taking everything into account, Jefferson s posi 
 tion was unassailable, but he had gone wide of the 
 Chief- Justice s line of argument; Jefferson knew that 
 the Chief Executive had no prerogatives which absolved 
 him from the obligations of citizenship. The long and 
 short of the matter was that he meant to exclude the 
 General s correspondence from the trial. Had the dis.- 
 patch of October 2ist been produced, it might have 
 
 Jefferson to Hay; Jefferson MSS. 
 
THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND 327 
 
 served as a prelude for the rendering of the whole of 
 Wilkinson s discordant letters, which neither the powers 
 of the President nor the genius of the General could 
 have made to harmonize. That Jefferson, who denied 
 the letters under the pretext of their confidential nature, 
 deliberately violated the law which had found its 
 development in the long struggle for personal liberty, 
 it would be unfair to assume; but his conscience in 
 this instance was easily satisfied. Years afterwards he 
 wrote to John Adams, his old adversary, "We have, 
 willingly, done injury to no man." 1 Some of those 
 interested in the trial at Richmond might have taken 
 issue with the avowal. However, holding such an 
 estimate of the rectitude of his conduct, he was excus 
 able if his human instinct for retaliation came into play 
 when Luther Martin, referring to the denial of the 
 letters, inveighed that the author of the Declaration 
 of Independence and believer in the doctrine that the 
 world was too much governed was playing tyrant in a 
 way not unworthy of King George himself. The charge 
 drove Jefferson into gusts of passion. Fearful of the 
 waxing strength of the Judiciary, he meant to defy to 
 the utmost the decrees of the court ; if it came to that he 
 would meet force with force, and while awaiting devel 
 opments he gave private notice that if Marshall planned, 
 by his odious measures, to precipitate a contest between 
 the two departments of the Government, he should be 
 notified by express. 2 It was one thing to decide that a 
 subpoena duces tecum might issue and quite another to 
 
 Works, vii., 154. 
 
 2 Jefferson to [Hay? No date] ; Jefferson MSS. 
 
328 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 see the writ enforced. Marshall realized that civil war 
 would be the final outcome and the matter was quietly 
 dropped. Another prerogative was thereby added to 
 the Presidential Office. To defy Marshall, however, 
 was easier than to stay the right of free speech; and 
 while this was preserved an enemy more to be dreaded 
 than a posse comitatus continued his stinging attacks. 
 
 Luther Martin was that enemy. Of Jefferson he 
 asked no quarter and gave none "My head or yours," 
 in the legend of the Orient, might have been the chal 
 lenge for Burr s cause was Martin s. Jefferson read 
 out of this ardent friendship a community of interest 
 embracing misprision of treason. 
 
 "Shall we move to commit Luther Martin," wrote 
 Jefferson to Hay, "as particeps criminis with Burr? 
 Graybell will fix upon him misprision of treason at least. 
 And at any rate his evidence will put down this unprin 
 cipled and impudent Federal bulldog, and add another 
 proof that the most clamorous defenders of Burr are all 
 his accomplices." 1 
 
 Nothing more was heard of Graybell, but Martin 
 bated never a whit of his ardor ; and the arrival of Wil 
 kinson at this juncture introduced an element of much 
 greater interest into the case, and the side quarrel was 
 forgotten. June I5th the General appeared in Rich 
 mond. For almost a month the grand jury had been 
 awaiting his arrival. It was therefore apparent that 
 upon him the prosecution leaned its weight. 
 
 "Mr. Hay tells us," declared Edmund Randolph in de 
 bate, "that everything depends upon this same James 
 Wilkinson; that he is in reality the alpha and omega of 
 the present prosecution. He is in short, to support the 
 
 ^Jefferson to Hay, June 19, 1807; Works, v., 98. 
 
THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND 329 
 
 sing-song and the ballads of treason and conspiracy, 
 which we have heard delivered from one extremity of the 
 continent to the other." 
 
 Wilkinson had only begun his narrative before the 
 jurymen when, June i/th, he dispatched to the Presi 
 dent a letter which was not only an appeal for help, 
 but an irrepressible outcry against a Nemesis which 
 threatened to sweep him and his plots into oblivion. 
 It was characteristic of the man whose agent had 
 just returned empty-handed from Mexico, and who 
 had come to Richmond with witnesses under mili 
 tary duress to explain to Jefferson that he had devoted 
 most of the time since his arrival to the Vindica 
 tion of his own fame rather than to the "crimina 
 tion of the abandoned wretch who had dared to impli 
 cate it." * 
 
 "I dreampt not of the importance attached to my 
 presence," he continued, "before I reached Hampton, 
 . . . for I had anticipated that a deluge of testimony 
 would have been poured forth from all quarters to over 
 whelm him [Burr] with guilt and dishonor. Sadly, in 
 deed, was I mistaken, and to my astonishment I found the 
 traitor vindicated and myself condemned by a mass of 
 wealth, character, influence, and talents. Merciful God, 
 what a spectacle did I behold integrity and truth per 
 verted and trampled under foot by turpitude and guilt, 
 patriotism appalled and usurpation triumphant. Did I 
 ever expect it would depend on my humble self to stop 
 the current of such a polluted stream ? Never, never." 
 
 In the whole annals of the conspiracy there is 
 nothing quite as becoming, as apropos to the situation, 
 as Wilkinson s pose of injured hero. That he was 
 much disturbed at the paucity of the evidence is likely ; 
 
 1 Wilkinson to Jefferson, June 17, 1807; Letters in Relation. 
 
330 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 but he was conscious that for seven months he had left 
 nothing undone to contribute his quota to the "deluge." 
 The same letter contained a succinct account of his 
 advent into court, and of his meeting with Burr : 
 
 "I was introduced to a position within the bar very 
 near my adversary. I saluted the bench and in spite of 
 myself my eyes darted a flash of indignation at the little 
 traitor, on whom they continued fixed until I was called 
 to the Book ; here, sir, I found my expectations verified 
 this lion-hearted, eagle-eyed Hero, jerking under the 
 weight of conscious guilt, with haggard eyes in an effort 
 to meet the indignant salutation of outraged honor ; but it 
 was in vain, his audacity failed him. He averted his 
 face, grew pale, and affected passion to conceal his per 
 turbation." 
 
 Washington Irving, who was an eye-witness, has 
 also left us an account of this incident : 
 
 "Wilkinson strutted into court, and took his stand in a 
 parallel line with Burr on his right hand. Here he stood 
 for a moment swelling like a turkey-cock, and bracing 
 himself up for the encounter of Burr s eye. The latter 
 did not take any notice of him until the judge directed 
 the clerk to swear General Wilkinson ; at the mention of 
 the name Burr turned his head, looked him full in the 
 face with one of his piercing regards, swept his eye over 
 his whole person from head to foot, as if to scan its di 
 mensions, and then coolly resumed his former position, 
 and went on conversing with his counsel as tranquilly as 
 ever. The whole look was over in an instant ; but it was 
 an admirable one. There was no appearance of study or 
 constraint in it ; no affectation of disdain or defiance ; a 
 slight expression of contempt played over his counte 
 nance." 1 
 
 There can be no hesitation in saying which is 
 the truer picture. Wilkinson s letter was remarkably 
 diplomatic, and, though displaying villainy in every 
 
 *Life and Letters of Washington Irving, i., 194. 
 
THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND 331 
 
 line, worked its purpose with Jefferson. The plaintive 
 tone appealed to the President and he hastened with 
 his sympathy and encouragement. 
 
 "Your enemies," he returned promptly, 1 "have filled 
 the public ear with slanders and your mind with trouble 
 on that account. The establishment of their guilt will let 
 the world see what they ought to think of their clamors ; 
 it will dissipate the doubts of those who doubted for want 
 of knowledge, and will place you on higher ground in the 
 public estimate and public confidence. No one is more 
 sensible than myself of the injustice which has been aimed 
 at you. Accept, I pray you, my salutations and assurances 
 of respect and esteem." 
 
 Sincerity pervaded every line of this letter; and, 
 since he thought Wilkinson honest, he regarded all 
 those who antagonized him as sympathizers with the 
 conspirators. They were to be rebuked by the con 
 viction of Burr. Three months before this, how 
 ever, it had been determined that Wilkinson was to 
 be sustained. When Major Bruff reached Washing 
 ton in March, 1807, Dearborn heard Wilkinson ac 
 cused of being a spy of Spain and of having been in 
 league with Burr; but the Secretary, who knew that 
 Bruff and the General had been quarreling for more 
 than a year, filing charges and counter-charges against 
 each other, informed Bruff that Wilkinson had restored 
 his waning reputation by the energy displayed in the 
 defense of New Orleans, and that the President would 
 not desert him at some later time an inquiry might be 
 ordered. The Attorney-General stated the situation 
 more pointedly. He asked Bruff, "What would be the 
 
 ^ Jefferson to Wilkinson, June 21, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 
332 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 ! result if all" the charges against General Wilkinson 
 "should be proven ? Why, just what the Federalists and 
 the enemies of the present Administration wish it 
 would turn the indignation of the people from Burr on 
 Wilkinson ; Burr would escape, and Wilkinson take his 
 
 Xlace." x 
 Scarcely had the General had time to take comfort 
 rom the President s letter of June 2ist when the de 
 fense prayed for an attachment against him for con 
 tempt of court. 
 
 "The charge against General Wilkinson was," to use 
 Randolph s language, "that he had, in conjunction with 
 others, used unlawful and oppressive means, under color 
 and in abuse of the process of this court, to bring James 
 Knox and Chandler Lindsley from New Orleans to this 
 city ; and thus had obstructed the free course of testimony, 
 and the fair and regular administration of justice." 
 
 The twenty-fourth of June, while a heated debate 
 over the question of the attachment was in progress, 
 the grand jury filed in and reported two indictments 
 against Aaron Burr one for misdemeanor, the other 
 for treason. Similar indictments were returned against 
 Blennerhassett. Wilkinson had done part of the work 
 necessary to save his official head ; but he had accom 
 plished it at extreme peril, narrowly escaping indict 
 ment himself. John Randolph, his vindictive enemy 
 and foreman of the grand jury, has left us an inter 
 esting record of Wilkinson s appearance before that 
 body. He said in a letter to Nicholson : 2 "Under exam 
 ination all was confusion of language and of looks. 
 
 1 Annals of Congress, 1807-08, p. 600. 
 Adams, iii.. 457. 
 
THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND 333 
 
 Such a countenance never did I behold; there was 
 scarcely a variance of opinion among us as to his guilt." 
 Had Wilkinson read this account, his challenge of Ran 
 dolph to a duel would scarcely have been delayed until 
 December; and Randolph would have written earlier 
 the very excuse Wilkinson himself had offered Swart- 
 wout when invited by the latter to settle their disputes 
 on the field of honor : "In you, sir," said Randolph, "I 
 can recognize no right to hold me accountable for my 
 public or private opinion of your character, ... I 
 cannot descend to your level." 1 
 
 In another letter Randolph went more into detail, 
 telling of the labors of the grand jury and stating more 
 emphatically his opinion of the General : 
 
 "Yesterday the grand jury found bills for treason and 
 misdemeanor against Burr and Blennerhassett una voce, 
 and this day presented Jonathan Dayton, ex-senator John 
 Smith of Ohio, Comfort Tyler, Israel Smith of New 
 York, and Davis Floyd of Indiana, for treason; but the 
 mammoth of iniquity escaped, not that any man pretended 
 to think him innocent, but upon certain wire-drawn dis 
 tinctions that I will not pester you with. Wilkinson is the \ 
 only man that I ever saw who was from the bark to the 
 very core a villain. The proof is unquestionable ; but, < 
 my good friend, I cannot enter upon it here. Suffice it 
 to say that I have seen it, and that it is not susceptible 
 of misconstruction. Burr supported himself with great 
 fortitude. He was last night lodged in the common jail 
 (we have no State prison except for convicts), where I 
 dare say he slept sounder than I did. Perhaps you never 
 saw human nature in so degraded a situation as in the 
 person of Wilkinson before the grand jury ; and yet this 
 man stands on the very summit and pinnacle of Exec 
 utive favor, while James Monroe is denounced." 2 
 
 ^Political Pamphlets, vol. cv.; Library of Congress. 
 "Adams, iii., 457. 
 
334 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 Randolph s estimate of Wilkinson s character has 
 been conspicuously borne out by history, and further 
 attests the penetrative genius of the statesman of 
 Roanoke. Although he failed to secure an indictment 
 against the General, those who knew the tenacity 
 with which he pursued his ends could not but expect 
 another struggle and they were not disappointed. 
 The streets of the capital of Virginia were scarcely 
 abandoned by the crowd it was the last day of 1807 
 when Randolph arose in Congress, read a number of 
 documents bearing on Wilkinson s early relations with 
 the Spaniards, and offered the following Resolution : 
 
 "Resolved, That the President of the United States be 
 requested to cause an inquiry to be instituted into the 
 conduct of Brigadier-General Wilkinson, commander-in- 
 chief of the armies of the United States, in relation to his 
 having, at any time, while in the service of the United 
 States, corruptly received money from the government of 
 Spain or its agents." 1 
 
 From the first it was Randolph s purpose to show 
 that Wilkinson, for a long period of years, had been 
 playing a double role that he had not only been once 
 in league with Baron de Carondelet in the Spanish Con 
 spiracy, but that he still preserved that connection ; that 
 he had been a coadjutor of Burr in a plot which 
 embraced the vital principle of the older treason, while 
 posing before the world as an ardent, maligned patriot. 
 In his anxiety to incriminate Jefferson with the man 
 whom he considered a double traitor, Randolph went 
 headlong to his own political ruin. It is probable indeed 
 
 1 Annals of Congress, 1807-08, p. 1261. 
 
THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND 335 
 
 that he sought more to prevent the succession of Madi 
 son than to punish Wilkinson; in either case the end 
 sought was the same a Spanish war, which would 
 mean the overthrow of his political adversaries, who 
 had so long procrastinated. He would compel the war 
 by proving that James Wilkinson, General of the Army 
 of the United States, had accepted money from Don 
 Carlos to divide the Union by the Alleghanies. Does 
 not the "Constitution enjoin," queried Randolph, "that 
 the persons holding authority under this Government 
 should not accept of any present, even of a compliment 
 ary nature, from any foreign Prince or Power without 
 the consent of Congress?" Another day, during the 
 debate on his resolution, in reply to the question, 
 whether there was not a motion before the grand jury 
 to find a bill against General Wilkinson, Randolph said 
 reminiscently that "There was before the grand jury a 
 motion to present General Wilkinson for misprision of 
 treason" ; that he had escaped on a "legal exception or a 
 fraud ; but the jury was unanimous in the belief of the 
 moral guilt of the party." 1 The truth was the General 
 had been saved by those of the jury who realized what 
 the prosecution confessed, that if Burr was to be con 
 victed it must be by Wilkinson s testimony. He was 
 therefore saved by a close vote nine to seven, accord 
 ing to a member of the grand jury who subsequently 
 ( 181 1 ) testified before a committee of Congress, which 
 body was still probing for the rottenness they believed to 
 exist, but which defied their most searching investiga 
 tions. For the leading State witness so narrowly to 
 
 1 Annals of Congress, 1807-08, p. 1397- 
 
336 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 escape an indictment was a fate peculiarly surprising 
 and melancholy. The failure of the attachment pro 
 ceedings against the General brought him no consola 
 tion shocked, he went again with falsehoods to Jeffer 
 son for relief. 
 
 "You are doubtless well advised of the proceedings 
 here in the case of Burr," he apologetically began; "to 
 me they are incomprehensible as I am no jurist. The 
 grand jury actually made an attempt to present me for 
 suspicion of treason on the ground of having failed to 
 report Dayton to you. I feel myself between Scylla and 
 Charybdis. The jury would dishonor me for failing in 
 my duty, and Burr and his conspirators for perform 
 ing it." 1 
 
 More than a year afterward he still complained of 
 the arrows of outrageous fortune. To Simon de Her- 
 rera he wrote, October 12, 1808 : 
 
 "It has ever been the lot of men in exalted station to be 
 traduced by those who envy actions they cannot emulate ; 
 and it is equally true that the arrestation of a vicious 
 career, and the prostration of sinister ambition, have al 
 ways excited the most vindictive passions of the human 
 breast. It is my misfortune that I should be able to illus 
 trate these diabolical propensities in the infamous at 
 tempts made by the traitorous compeers and partisans of 
 Burr, upon my fame and fortune ; because the inclinations 
 of my heart, the dictates of my honor, and the obligations 
 of duty, compelled me to discomfit his vile complottings 
 against the United States and the dominions of Spain." 2 
 
 Then he said that among a hundred other base calumnies 
 it had been asserted that he had entered into a truce 
 with the enemy on the Sabine and had received as com 
 pensation several mule-loads of dollars. "This is a 
 
 1 Wilkinson to Jefferson, June 29, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 ^Wilkinson to Herrera, October 12, 1808; Jefferson MSS. 
 
THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND 337 
 
 poor reward for having preserved the peace and pro 
 tected the honor of my country, and for sparing the 
 blood of innocent men." He appealed for a testimonial 
 "to silence this base slander and to put its execrable 
 authors to shame." But Captain Hughes, who had the 
 honor to deliver the letter to the Colonel in San An 
 tonio, returned unburdened with any written message. 
 Were we not acquainted with the inner workings 
 of Wilkinson s manoeuvres during this period, he would 
 have our sympathy in this gloomy hour when it seemed 
 his own misdeeds were about to overwhelm him. One 
 is startled into admiration by the very audacity and 
 sang-froid of the man. He who had sent Burling to 
 Mexico could say to the President i 1 
 
 "I know, sir, that I have saved this country from 
 anarchy at least and I believe that I have defeated tho 
 last hope of your personal and political enemies; these 
 reflections passed to the amount of gratitude and pat- 
 triotism, furnish an endless source of self applause and 
 will soothe the pillow of death ; and when the object ceases 
 to be, the angry passions will slumber, candor and truth 
 will resume their empire, and posterity will do justice to 
 my name and service." 
 
 With phenomenal success Wilkinson played the 
 part of the wronged and injured savior of his country, 
 maintaining that the very people he had rescued were 
 become his revilers. 
 
 As the time approached for the real work of the 
 
 trial it was discovered by the Government that the case 
 
 needed strengthening. As a last resort patronage and 
 
 the pardoning power of the Executive were to be in- 
 
 *Wilkinson to Jefferson, April 15, 1807; Letters in Relation. 
 
338 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 voked. The latter weapon had been suggested by 
 Wilkinson as early as February, when he had said to 
 the President that by sending Tyler around he might be 
 induced to give important testimony, provided he were 
 given a pardon. 1 Upon the General s arrival in Rich 
 mond he informed Jefferson of De Pestre s presence 
 and of his belief that De Pestre knew much which might 
 be drawn from him by presenting him with a pardon 
 the day he was examined. 2 The suggestion was not 
 unheeded. The Government s agent "had the delicacy 
 to insinuate how handsomely the colonel [De Pestre] 
 might be provided for in the army, if his principles or 
 engagements were not averse to the Administration."* 
 Jefferson was determined that at least one man should 
 receive the full penalty of the law, and he was probably 
 never in a more malicious frame of mind than when 
 he said to Hay : 
 
 "Blank pardons are sent on to be filled up at your dis 
 cretion, if you should find a defect of evidence, and believe 
 that this would supply it, avoiding to give them to the 
 gross offenders unless it be visible that the principal will 
 otherwise escape."* 
 
 This fear that the "principal" would escape became 
 so intense that the sane and benevolent Jefferson 
 was driven to deeds he must have repented in his 
 calmer hours. When Bollman had been released 
 by the court he repaired to Washington to urge the 
 President to countenance the expedition which Burr 
 
 1 Wilkinson to Jefferson, February 25, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 Wilkinson to Jefferson, June 17, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 *Blenncrhassett Papers, p. 328. 
 Jefferson to Hay, May 20, 1807 ; Jefferson MSS. 
 
THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND 339 
 
 had planned against Mexico, arguing that the best 
 interests of the country would be served by a war 
 with Spain. Jefferson requested Bollman to put his 
 statements in writing, assuring him "that nothing he 
 might say or acknowledge should be made use of 
 against himself." * According to Bollman the Presi 
 dent promised that the paper "should never go out of 
 his hands." 2 Notwithstanding this pledge, the docu 
 ment was sent to Hay. "Even go so far as ask him," 
 read the accompanying note of instructions, 3 "if he had 
 not said such and such to Madison and Jefferson." 
 Finally, if Bollman, for whom a pardon had been 
 enclosed, persisted, he was to be shown the MS. for 
 the identification of which several of his letters were 
 inclosed. He refused to accept the pardon and appealed 
 to the grand jury to rescue him from disgrace. 4 Jeffer 
 son s object in thrusting a pardon upon Bollman was 
 to compel his testimony, for excuse could not then be 
 found in the plea of self-incrimination. But Jefferson s 
 tactics were extraordinary; to pardon an individual 
 before he has pleaded guilty or been convicted was cer 
 tainly an Executive innovation. 
 
 Burr never grasped the full significance of his 
 trial. June 26th he had pleaded not guilty to the in 
 dictment for treason, and the court was adjourned until 
 August 3d. 
 
 Madison s Writings, ii., 393. 
 
 2 Bollman to Editor of the Aurora, July 16, 1807; Orleans 
 Gazette, September i, 1807. 
 
 Jefferson to Hay, May 20, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 
 Letter to grand jury, June 19, 1807; Orleans Gazette, August 
 19, 1807. 
 
THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 "The scenes which have passed/ he wrote at the close 
 of July to Theodosia, who was on her way to Richmond, 1 
 "and those about to be transacted will exceed all reason 
 able credulity, and will hereafter be deemed fables, unless 
 attested by very high authority. I repeat, what has here 
 tofore been written, that I should never invite any one, 
 much less those so dear to me, to witness my disgrace. I 
 may be immured in dungeons, chained, murdered in legal 
 form, but I cannot be humiliated or disgraced. If absent 
 you will suffer great solicitude. In my presence you will 
 feel none, whatever may be the malice or the power of 
 my enemies, and in both they abound." 
 
 From a gloomy view of things Burr had the faculty 
 of turning with a light-heartedness that was at once an 
 inspiration to his friends and a defiance to his enemies. 
 Writing from the penitentiary to his daughter, he said, 
 "I have a gre*at desire to receive you all in this man 
 sion. -: . . Pray, therefore, drive directly out here. 
 You may get admission at any time from four in the 
 morning till ten at night." When they arrived, a few 
 hours bSore the sitting of court, he apologized for 
 their being introduced into his bed-chamber his draw 
 ing-room, he said, was then deranged by the fitting up 
 of his ice-house. 2 
 
 August 3d the trial of Aaron Burr on the charge 
 of treason began in earnest. The House of Burgesses, 
 which is still one of the landmarks of Richmond, was 
 filled to overflowing with sightseers and partisans when 
 Burr, accompanied by Alston, walked into court. 
 Prominent and outspoken as were some of Burr s ad 
 herents, his cause was irrevocably attainted in the 
 public mind. This was forcibly illustrated in the 
 
 Parton s Burr, ii., 127. 
 Ibid., 130. 
 
THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND 341 
 
 matter of selecting a jury a labor which consumed 
 two weeks. Even then the accused was obliged to 
 accept men like Parker, who admitted that they were 
 prejudiced against him. Out of the first venire of forty- 
 eight men, four were chosen ; out of the second, none ; 
 out of the third, eight. 
 
 It was apparent from the preliminary skirmishes 
 that the fight would be made on the interpretation of 
 the clause in the Constitution which declares that 
 "Treason against the United States shall consist only 
 in levying war against them" ; and That no person 
 shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of 
 two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in 
 open court." So when William Eaton, the first wit 
 ness, took the stand, the defence urged the inadmis- 
 sibility of evidence which did not go towards proving 
 an overt act of war. The court held that in order to 
 show that war had actually been levied, it was neces 
 sary to discover the design, and to prove the overt act 
 by two witnesses. Eaton was therefore permitted to 
 give his testimony, which was expected to reveal the 
 projects entertained by Burr. 
 
 "During the winter of 1805-06," said the hero of 
 Derne, "(I cannot be positive as to the distinct point of 
 time ; yet during that winter), at the City of Washington, 
 Aaron Burr signified to me that he was organizing a mili 
 tary expedition to be moved against the Spanish provinces 
 on the southwestern frontiers of the United States : I un 
 derstood under the authority of the general Government. 
 . . . At several interviews, it appeared to be his in 
 tention to convince me by maps and other documents, of 
 the feasibility of penetrating to Mexico. At length, from 
 certain indistinct expressions and innuendoes, I admitted 
 
r 
 
 342 THE ARRON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 a suspicion, that Colonel Burr had other projects. . . . 
 [He] now laid open his project of revolutionizing the 
 territory west of the Alleghany ; establishing an independ 
 ent empire there ; New Orleans to be the capital, and he 
 himself to be the chief; organizing a military force on 
 the waters of the Mississippi, and carrying conquest to 
 Mexico." 
 
 Besides these extensive plans the witness deposed 
 that Burr had proposed to him the revolutionizing of 
 the Central Government, after the fashion of Dayton s 
 story to Yrujo. That Eaton had been three years 
 pressing on Congress a somewhat doubtful claim for 
 money expended in the War with Tripoli may not 
 have turned a phrase in his deposition ; but it is signifi 
 cant that a few weeks after its appearance $10,000 were 
 placed to his credit. Congress had been a long time 
 in discovering that the Nation was really indebted to 
 the officer who had once been convicted of peculation 
 by court-martial. If the country was slow in appre 
 ciating the sacrifices of Eaton in the Barbary Wars, it 
 was prompt in recognizing the value of his services at 
 the crisis of the Conspiracy. He had the satisfaction 
 of writing i 1 
 
 "I have jeopardized my life and reputation to preserve 
 the integrity of the Union: and (I hope to be forgiven), 
 to this vigilance and fidelity, rather than to the movements 
 on the Sabine or at New Orleans, our hero of Carter s 
 Mountain owes his political if not his personal existence ; 
 for it was not until my public exposure had alarmed Gen 
 eral Wilkinson in his camp, that he, though more than two 
 years acquainted with the treasonable plot, thought of 
 betraying his fellow traitor, and becoming a patriot by 
 turning State s evidence/ 
 
 Prentiss s Life of General Eaton, p. 405. 
 
THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND 343 
 
 Between Eaton and Wilkinson it would be difficult 
 indeed to decide upon whose brow the palm for Spartan 
 heroism should rest both claimed to have saved the 
 country. Through the notoriety won in the case Eaton 
 was elected to Congress, but his biographer admits that 
 "the acquittal of Burr ... in some measure 
 soured his mind, and the hope of promotion in the 
 army, by gratifying the ruling administration, occa 
 sioned at times a considerable swerving from his con 
 victions." 1 
 
 Commodore Truxton was the second witness for 
 the Government. In a letter to Alston he had stated in 
 brief what he knew of Burr s plans, and that he simply 
 repeated : 2 
 
 "The intention of Mr. Burr, as has been stated, to 
 sever the Union (a most diabolical project), was first 
 suggested to me by Western newspapers. . . . But it 
 is true Mr. Burr did tell me that in case of war between 
 the United States and Spain, which he considered in 
 evitable, he intended to attack Vera Cruz and Mexico, 
 give liberty to an enslaved world, and establish an inde 
 pendent Government in Mexico; and invited me to take 
 command of the expedition by sea." 
 
 He added at the trial that Burr had expressly stated 
 that his designs on Mexico were based on the contin 
 gency of war with Spain. 
 
 "I told him there would be no war. He was sanguine 
 there would be war. He said, however, that if he was 
 disappointed as to the event of war, he was about to com- 
 
 1807. 
 
 ., 411. 
 Truxton to Alston, February 4, 1807; Orleans Gazette, June 5, 
 
344 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 plete a contract for a large quantity of land on the 
 Washita; that he intended to invite his friends to settle 
 it ; that in one year he would have a thousand families of 
 respectable and fashionable people, and some of them of 
 j considerable property : that it was a fine country, and that 
 they would have a charming society, and in two years he 
 would have double the number of settlers ; and being on 
 the frontier, he would be ready to move whenever a war 
 took place." 
 
 The Morgans were next called ; their testimony was 
 in line with their letters to the President, which have 
 been noted. 1 The climax of their evidence was the con 
 fession that more was to be inferred from the manner 
 of Burr s speech than from what he actually said. Peter 
 Taylor, Blennerhassett s gardener, also bore witness to 
 the design. He said that the conspirators were going 
 to take Mexico ; that Burr was to be king and was to be 
 succeeded at his death by his daughter; and that two 
 thousand priests with their friends were ready to join 
 an insurrection. 
 
 "I then asked [Blennerhassett]," said Taylor, "what 
 was to become of the men who were going to settle the 
 lands he talked about? Were they to stop at the Red 
 River, or to go on ? He said, O by God, I tell you, Peter, 
 every man that will not conform to order and discipline, 
 I will stab ; you ll see how I ll fix them ; that when he got 
 them far enough down the river, if they did not conform 
 to order and discipline, he swore by God he d stab them." 
 
 So much for the design. The prosecution now took 
 up its witnesses to prove that an act of war had been 
 committed. Dudley Woodbriclge testified that he was 
 on the island at the time specified in the indictment, 
 
 See p. 78. 
 
THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND 345 
 
 but that he saw no unlawful assemblage of men. He 
 added that Blennerhassett had told him that the expedi 
 tion was intended for Mexico, and had solicited him to 
 join. Jacob Allbright, an ignorant laborer, with Peter 
 Taylor, became in the eyes of the defense, "a brace 
 of swearers from Wood County." The testimony of 
 both was open to serious question, while that of All- 
 bright was discredited on cross-examination. He swore 
 one thing on the stand and had made affidavit to some 
 thing substantially different, narrating that on the 
 night of the flight, 
 
 "a man by the name of Tupper laid his hands upon Blen 
 nerhassett, and said, Your body is in my hands, in the 
 name of the Commonwealth/ Some such words as that 
 he mentioned. When Tupper made that motion, there 
 were seven or eight muskets leveled at him. Tupper 
 looked about him and said, Gentlemen, I hope you will 
 not do the like. One of the gentlemen nearest, about 
 two yards off, said, Td as lieve as not. Tupper then 
 changed his speech, and said he wished him to escape safe 
 down the river, and wished him luck." 1 
 
 This was the very act of levying war upon which 
 the Government rested its case. Unfortunately, how 
 ever, there was none other to confirm Allbright s vision ; 
 indeed, according to Blennerhassett, Tupper was present 
 in Richmond and ready to pronounce the story unquali 
 fiedly false. Wickham taunted the prosecution with 
 fearing to examine Tupper, whom they had summoned. 
 "Their not doing it," he said, "proves that they 
 thought he would contradict Allbright." 2 Taylor 
 
 Burr s Trial, i., 509. 
 2 Burr s Trial, i., 594. 
 
 ic y \ 
 
346 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 whose veracity would have been assailed by Dr. Bennett 
 and others Love, Poole, Belknap and Dana were also 
 interrogated with a view to showing that war had been 
 levied; but Allbright could not be reenforced. Thus 
 August 2Oth, when Hay at length admitted that he had 
 produced all the witnesses at his command to establish 
 the fact of war, and attempted to introduce collateral 
 testimony. Burr s counsel moved the arrestation of the 
 evidence on the ground that no overt act, constituting 
 treason under the Constitution, had been proven. This 
 manoeuvre had been threatened for several days; and 
 the State denounced it as a deliberate attempt to throttle 
 the investigation. But the motion was entertained. 
 
 Through a period of ten days the most remarkable 
 legal encounter known in our history was waged, both 
 sides contesting every inch of the ground ; for the deci 
 sion was vital the prevailing of the motion meant the 
 end of the trial for treason. 
 
 It was contended by the defense, first, that no overt 
 act of war, as charged in the indictment, had been 
 established. It was therefore the duty of the court to 
 exclude further testimony concerning acts and deeds 
 committed, or alleged to have been committed, beyond 
 its jurisdiction. The second contention was "that no 
 person can be convicted of treason in levying war, who 
 was not personally present at the commission of the act, 
 which is charged in the indictment as constituting the 
 offense." The Constitution says plainly that "no 
 person shall be convicted, unless on the testimony of 
 two witnesses to the same overt act." It was admitted 
 that Burr was in Kentucky at the time when it was 
 
THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND 347 
 
 charged in the return of the grand jury that he had 
 wrought treason on Blennerhassett s island "with divers 
 persons unknown." Mr. Randolph therefore queried, 
 "Whether, under the Constitution of the United States, 
 a person who, it is admitted would be an accessory in 
 felony, can be considered as a principal in treason in 
 levying war." He maintained that Burr s arraignment 
 must follow the conviction of a principal, since he was 
 himself not present when the alleged act constituting 
 treason was committed. 
 
 Hay, with his associates, angered at the presump 
 tion of the defense, feebly assailed these positions. 
 According to the District- Attorney, "An assemblage of 
 men convened for the purpose of effecting by force a 
 treasonable object, and which force is meant to be 
 employed before their dispersion, is an overt act of 
 levying war against the United States." Although 
 absent, it was held that Burr was present on the island 
 at the specified time, in a legal sense; that he had pro 
 cured and inspired the gathering, and that he was there 
 fore, in reason, the principal. Consequently it would be a 
 prostitution of the law to interfere with the course of 
 the evidence, the "most important" being held in re 
 serve. In the minds of the prosecution it would have 
 been difficult to say whether the judge was more cul 
 pable for entertaining the motion, or the defense for 
 pressing it. 
 
 Thus were the two sides arrayed ; each busy with 
 massing its arguments, which were directed chiefly to 
 the analysis of legal principles, while John Marshall, 
 whose marvelous sanity was never clouded, held the 
 
348 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 scales of justice. Wickham opened the debate and 
 won renown in a discussion of the nature of treason. 
 Luther Martin, whom Blennerhassett termed the whole 
 rear guard of Burr s forensic army, spoke fourteen 
 hours, presenting a masterly argument, distinguished 
 alike for its familiarity with English precedent and for 
 its erudite knowledge of the law concerning treason. 
 Such ardor and ability have rarely been combined; and 
 Martin s interest in Burr s case was heightened because 
 of the fascination cast over him by the beautiful Theo- 
 dosia, to whom he referred touchingly in the opening 
 of his great speech. McRae appeared to better advan 
 tage than hitherto, while Wirt rose to fame more endur 
 ing than he could have dreamed of in an oratorical 
 effort depicting the characters of Burr and Blennerhas 
 sett : "Who Aaron Burr is we have seen in part already. 
 . . . Who is Blennerhassett? A native of Ireland, 
 a man of letters, who fled from the storms of his own 
 country to find quiet in ours." Mr. Botts and Mr. Ran 
 dolph both came in for a share of triumph. The Dis 
 trict-Attorney argued well and skillfully, but, in the 
 midst of the debate, purposely or otherwise, he assumed 
 a threatening attitude toward the court, insinuating 
 that for the rendering of an opinion substantially 
 similar to the one desired by the defense that is, "to 
 wrest the decision from the jury, and prejudge the case 
 before hearing all the evidence in it" Justice Chase 
 had been impeached. Charles Lee, who followed, at 
 once retaliated : 
 
 "It was very kind in the gentleman to remind the court 
 of the danger of a decision of the motion in favor of the 
 
THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND 349 
 
 prisoner: a decision like that, which had already pro 
 duced the impeachment of another judge. ... It 
 certainly would not be unfair to infer, that it was intended 
 to show the same cause might again produce the same 
 effect." 1 
 
 Hay protested that he had spoken inadvertently, 
 and Marshall stated that he had not taken it as a per 
 sonal allusion ; but the fact remains that the matter was 
 not therewith ended. That impeachment was a house 
 hold word with Jefferson, that he meditated another 
 trial at arms with the Federal judiciary was known to 
 Marshall, who rode into the lists with a quiet dignity 
 becoming the invincible knight. In the course of his 
 opinion, which was pronounced August 3ist, ran the 
 lines : 
 
 "Much has been said in the course of the argument on 
 points on which the Court feels no inclination to comment 
 particularly, but which may perhaps not improperly re 
 ceive some notice. That this Court dares not usurp power 
 is most true; that this Court dares not shrink from its 
 duty is not less true. No man is desirous of placing him 
 self in a disagreeable situation ; no man is desirous of be 
 coming the peculiar subject of calumny; no man, might 
 he let the bitter cup pass from him without self-reproach,, 
 would drain it to the bottom ; but if he has no choice in 
 the case, if there is no alternative presented to him but 
 a dereliction of duty or the opprobrium of those who are! 
 denominated the world, he merits the contempt as wellj 
 as the indignation of his country who can hesitate which 
 to embrace." 
 
 After this simple defiance, Marshall in this, his 
 longest opinion, which required three hours for the 
 reading, reviewed the case in all its phases, examining 
 
 Burr s Trial, ii., 441. 
 
 u 
 
350 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 elaborately the chief arguments of the counsel, with 
 many citations from authorities. The paragraph which 
 struck the earth from under the feet of the prosecution 
 read as follows :* 
 
 "The present indictment charges the prisoner with 
 levying war against the United States, and alleges an 
 overt act of levying war. That overt act must be proved, 
 according to the mandates of the Constitution and of the 
 act of Congress, by two witnesses. It is not proved by a 
 single witness. . . . The conclusion, that in this state 
 of things no testimony can be admissible, is so inevitable 
 that the counsel for the United States could not resist it. 
 j I do not understand them to deny that, if the overt act 
 | be not proved by two witnesses so as to be submitted to 
 the jury, all other testimony must be irrelevant; because 
 no other testimony can prove the act. . . . No testi 
 mony relative to the conduct or declarations of the 
 prisoner elsewhere and subsequent to the transaction on 
 Blennerhassett s island can be admitted ; because such 
 testimony, being in its nature merely corroborative and 
 incompetent to prove the overt act in itself, is irrelevant 
 until there be proof of the overt act by two witnesses." 
 
 To that argument there was no rejoinder. The 
 next day, September i st, the case was abandoned by the 
 Government and the jury returned a verdict of "Not 
 guilty." Burr had at last escaped ; but not, as we often 
 find it stated, on a technicality. McMaster and others 
 have said that he owed his deliverance to absence from 
 Blennerhassett s island at the time the overt act was 
 committed. The statement is fundamentally erroneous. 
 Primarily considered. Burr was acquitted because no 
 overt act of levying war could be shown to have taken 
 place. The overt act once established, Burr could have 
 
 "Burr s Trial, ii., 441. 
 
THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND 351 
 
 been tried only after the conviction of Blennerhassett 
 or of some one of those implicated in the act of war as 
 specified in the indictment. On this point the court 
 held: 
 
 "The legal guilt of the person who planned the assem 
 blage on Blennerhassett s island depends not simply on 
 the criminality of the previous conspiracy, but on the 
 criminality of that assemblage. If those who perpetrated 
 the fact be not traitors, he who advised the fact cannot be 
 a traitor. . . . The whole reason of the law then 
 relative to the principal and accessory, so far as respects 
 the order of trial, seems to apply in full force to a case of 
 treason committed by one body of men in conspiracy with 
 others who are absent." 
 
 Burr had therefore effected a double escape both 
 positions of the defense had been upheld. Henceforth 
 for America, treason against the State must consist of 
 acts ; the spirit of the Constitution opposed constructive 
 treason; the spirit of the mass of Americans whose 
 aims and struggles had made a Constitution pos 
 sible was irrevocably against the Old World system 
 which brought one s head so easily to the block. That 
 Jefferson should have gone into a violent passion at 
 Marshall s dictum must have astonished those who 
 claimed to adhere to Republican principles, who still 
 recalled the terrors of the Alien and Sedition laws and 
 the tyrannies of the party responsible for them. That 
 it was a decision in favor of the individual as against 
 government none could question. One thing was 
 obvious ; the political axiom of the President, that the 
 world was too much governed, had faded from his 
 calendar; yet Jefferson, philosopher and statesman, 
 
352 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 seems never to have realized the change, nor that the 
 business of politics was one thing, and speculation on 
 politics quite another. 
 
 The news of the acquittal of Burr sounded dismal 
 enough in the ears of two men : Jefferson, who had 
 superintended the gathering of the evidence, who had 
 in part directed the prosecution, and whose reputation 
 for sound judgment and upright principles, he seemed 
 to think, depended on a conviction, since he had un 
 qualifiedly assumed the guilt of Burr and Wilkin 
 son, who had pursued the conspirators with a venom 
 born of his own corruption. It is not surprising, there 
 fore, that they condoled with one another over the 
 result. 
 
 "I know little of law and less of judiciary proceed 
 ings," the General said to his protector, 1 "but common 
 sense suggests that he has been hastily acquitted under 
 certain refinements and subtilties of sentiment opposed to 
 the claims of justice and apparently calculated to extin 
 guish enquiry, to suppress truth, to prostitute the trial by 
 jury, to render the court a dead letter, and to conceal the 
 crimes of a traitor." 
 
 A week later the President answered, in a passion 
 which had almost consumed itself : 2 
 
 "The scenes which have been acted at Richmond are 
 such as have never before been exhibited in any country, 
 where all regard to public character has not yet been 
 thrown off. They are equivalent to a proclamation of im 
 punity to every traitorous combination which may be 
 formed to destroy the Union." 
 
 Wilkinson to Jefferson, September 13, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 Jefferson to Wilkinson, September 20, 1807 ; Jefferson MSS. 
 
THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND 353 
 
 The district-attorney also reported the news of the 
 acquittal to headquarters, taking care to criticise Mar 
 shall, relating also that Wirt, who had all along "ad 
 vocated the integrity of the Chief- Justice," now aban 
 doned him. September 4th, in a passionate outburst, 
 Jefferson replied i 1 
 
 "The event has been what was evidently intended from 
 the beginning of the trial, that is to say, not only to clear 
 Burr, but to prevent the evidence from ever going before 
 the world. But this latter case must not take place. It 
 is now, therefore, more than ever indispensable that not a 
 single witness be paid or permitted to depart until his 
 testimony has been committed to writing. . . . These 
 whole proceedings will be laid before Congress that they 
 may decide, whether the defect has been in the evidence 
 of guilt, or in the law, or in the application of the law. 
 . . . This criminal is preserved to become the rallying 
 point of all the disaffected and worthless of the United 
 States, and to be the point on which all the intrigues and 
 the conspiracies which foreign Governments may wish to 
 disturb us with are to turn. If he is convicted of the mis 
 demeanor, the judge must in decency give us respite by 
 some short confinement of him ; but we must expect it to 
 be very short." 
 
 It was now resolved that Congress should investi 
 gate the affair. If impeachment was found to be the 
 remedy, that should be invoked; if a constitutional 
 amendment concerning the judiciary were deemed 
 expedient, then that should be proposed. Already 
 Jefferson had said in a letter to Rodney, "It is im 
 possible Congress should not take up that subject." 
 And October ist he asked of Hay that the evidence be 
 speedily sent in, so that it might be prepared against 
 "Jefferson to Hay, September 4, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 
354 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 the sitting of that body. 1 The matter was sent in; but 
 the meditated struggle was somewhere forestalled ; and 
 it was well that it was so, for Wilkinson, the main 
 reliance of the Government, was to be deserted even by 
 Hay, who, in a letter to the President at the close of 
 the trial, said frankly : 2 
 
 "The declaration which I made in court in his [Wilkin 
 son s] favor some time ago was precipitate; and though 
 I have not retracted it, everybody sees that I have not 
 attempted the task which I in fact promised to perform. 
 My confidence in him is shaken, if not destroyed. I am 
 
 sorry for it, on his own account, on the public account, 
 ; and because you have expressed opinions in his favor ; but 
 
 you did not know then what you will soon know, and what 
 I did not learn until after long after my declaration 
 above mentioned." 
 
 A week after the verdict in the treason case, while 
 it was still uncertain what the next move should be, the 
 President sent Hay the following advice : 3 
 
 "I am happy in having the benefit of Mr. Madison s 
 counsel on this occasion. He happens to be now with 
 me. We are both strongly of opinion that the prosecution 
 against Burr for misdemeanor should proceed at Rich 
 mond. If debated, it will heap coals of fire on the head 
 
 of the judge ; if convicted, it will give time to see whether 
 a prosecution for treason against him can be instituted 
 in any and what other court. But we are inclined to 
 think it may be best to send Blennerhassett and Smith 
 (Israel) to Kentucky to be tried both for treason and 
 misdemeanor. The trial of Dayton for misdemeanor may 
 as well go on at Richmond." 
 
 "Jefferson to Hay, October I, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 *Hay to Jefferson, October 15, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 Jefferson to Hay, September 7, 1807 Jefferson MSS. 
 
THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND 355 
 
 Already the skirmishing had begun. For a few 
 days Hay thought of sending the prisoner to Kentucky 
 for trial on the treason charge. After a week s debate 
 during which time the matter of obtaining Wilkinson s 
 letters of October 2ist and November i2th from the 
 President was revived with mutual recriminations 
 the court decided that the indictment for misdemeanor 
 must be disposed of before the question of Burr s com 
 mitment for trial elsewhere could be entertained. 
 
 The indictment for misdemeanor had been framed 
 under the fifth section of the Act of Congress of June 
 5, 1794, which provided that if any person shall, within 
 the jurisdiction of the United States, begin or set on 
 foot a military expedition against the territory of any 
 foreign power with whom the United States are at 
 peace, he shall be guilty of a high misdemeanor. Burr 
 was charged with having begun such an enterprise 
 against the dominions of the King of Spain, and here, 
 indeed, it seemed as if he must be convicted. In order 
 to escape the snare of treason it was almost necessary! 
 to entangle himself in the meshes of a high mis 
 demeanor. Blennerhassett feared, and with reason, 
 that the prosecution would put Burr upon a defense on 
 the treason bill which would "nearly amount to a con 
 fession of the misdemeanor." 
 
 "I think this has actually happened," he wrote August 
 3Oth in his diary. 1 "Martin thought that because Burr 
 alleges he expected war between Spain and the United 
 States, his expedition was lawful. But may not a jury 
 think Burr did not expect the war, and find their verdict 
 then on the confession?" 
 
 ^Blennerhassett Papers, p. 379. 
 
356 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 It is extremely unfortunate that the trial for treason 
 was unseasonably cut short. That it would have been 
 ^far better for the sake of truth and history had it con- 
 /tinued and Burr been compelled to examine his wit- 
 "^ nesses cannot be denied. The conspirators, however, had 
 not only the indictment for treason to fear, but that of 
 misdemeanor as well; they were, therefore, to borrow 
 General Wilkinson s expression, between Scylla and 
 Charybdis, and rejoiced to be in a position to defeat 
 the indictments, having no qualms of conscience and 
 taking no heed what interpretation the future might 
 iput on their conduct. It would have been a spectacle 
 of unusual interest, a dramatic climax, to have set Jack 
 son against Wilkinson ; Adair against Eaton ; Harrison, 
 Woodbridge, Truxton, and Alston against the Mor 
 gans, Peter Taylor, and Allbright. 
 
 It was not until September 9, 1807, that the jury in 
 the misdemeanor case was sworn and the examination 
 of witnesses begun. The prosecution submitted as evi 
 dence certain declarations of Blennerhassett which tend 
 ed to implicate the defendant; also acts of the nature 
 laid in the indictment committed by Burr in Ohio and 
 Kentucky, but not in Wood County, Virginia. Third 
 parties who had no part or parcel in the undertaking 
 told of the schemes of the sometime Vice-President 
 of the United States. The specific counts in the indict 
 ment seven in number were overlooked in the en 
 deavor to exploit to an interested public more of 
 the details of the conspiracy, and to "heap coals of fire 
 on the head of the judge." The defense finally ob 
 jected to the introduction of such quantities of irrele- 
 
THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND 357 
 
 vant matter, and the court sustained the objection; 
 ruling, however : 
 
 "That any legal testimony which shows the expedition 
 to be military, or to have been designed against the do 
 minions of Spain, may be received. 
 
 "That any testimony showing that the accused per 
 formed within the district any one of the acts charged 
 in the indictment may be received." 
 
 This opinion was delivered September I4th, and the 
 ensuing day the prosecution, having no testimony of 
 the character described, gave up the case, and a verdict 
 of "Not guilty" was rendered. Wilkinson immedi- 
 alely sent a letter to the President bewailing the result, 
 while, perhaps the same hour, Hay was renouncing his 
 faith in the General. 
 
 . "The disgraceful and dishonorable scenes," said Wil 
 kinson dejectedly, though unabashed at the sinister part 
 he had played and continued to play, 1 "which have been 
 passing in review here are drawing to a close. Burr has 
 just been acquitted on the trial for misdemeanor, and now 
 a motion will be made for his transmittal for trial to Ken 
 tucky, which will go off the same way. The chief [Mar 
 shall] has stepped in too deep to retreat, and indeed, his 
 enterprise and hardihood almost justify the suspicion that 
 he has been a party to the conspiracy." 
 
 Then the General spoke of reforming the Federal 
 courts. Out of the purity of his heart he thought it 
 would be beneficial, if only for the purpose of ridding 
 the nation of a "corrupt judge." 
 
 Jefferson, too, was seized with despair. "The 
 scenes," he wrote William Thomson, 2 "which have 
 
 1 BIennerhassett Papers, p. 414. 
 
 Jefferson to William Thomson, September 26, 1807; Jeffer 
 son MSS. 
 
358 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 been acting at Richmond are sufficient to fill us with 
 alarm. We supposed we possessed fixed laws to guard 
 us equally against treason and oppression ; but it now 
 appears we have no law but the will of the judge." 
 
 Falling in with the train of accusation, the Attor 
 ney-General declared to the President that the prosecu 
 tion had done well, but that it could not hope to 
 struggle against wind and tide. Therefore, he sug 
 gested that Burr should be tried in Kentucky before a 
 judge who had been appointed since the expulsion of 
 the adventurers; in other words, before a court which 
 would respond to Executive pressure. On the other 
 hand, alluding to the people of Kentucky, Rodney 
 declared that "they had acted without any regard to 
 decency," which was an ungrateful insult as well as a 
 frank admission that Burr was beyond pursuit. 1 
 
 Now, in effect, the charges against the conspirators 
 were practically cancelled. Failing to convict Burr, 
 nolle prosequi was entered against the names of his 
 indicted associates. But Jefferson was not disposed to 
 let the accused go in peace he still thought that his 
 own reputation had to be vindicated before Congress 
 /and the country. For even to laymen it might appear 
 / that he had pursued an ignis fatnus at great cost to the 
 j Government ; that he had been over-credulous in believ 
 ing and sustaining Wilkinson; or that his hatred of 
 I Burr had inspired a prosecution as relentless as it had 
 been unjust. If there was yet evidence which had not 
 been exploited, no witness should be allowed to depart 
 until he had contributed his quota to the volume which 
 
 Rodney to Jefferson, October i, 1807; Jefferson MSS. 
 
THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND 359 
 
 was to be laid before Congress, and thenceforward 
 preserved in the Annals of that body. But how could 
 this be done under legal sanction? 
 
 A clever manoeuvre by Hay gave the solution. By 
 moving to send Burr first to Mississippi Territory for 
 trial and then to Ohio, what evidence the Government 
 possessed would be disclosed. All this was intended 
 to contribute toward the overthrow of Marshall and his 
 fellow judges. The President hoped, as has been noted, 
 that the agitation would compel an amendment to the 
 Constitution which would place the Federal Judiciary 
 on the same basis with the other coordinate depart 
 ments of government. If he failed in this, it was not 
 for want of a mass of testimony concerning the nature 
 of the conspiracy. 
 
 It is impossible here to indicate even the chief steps 
 in the further proceedings against the associates. The 
 published testimony would fill a volume in itself. It 
 is sufficient to say that the prosecution was now per 
 mitted to produce their witnesses as they chose, nor was 
 there any limit to the quality or quantity of their testi 
 mony. It was only at this stage that General Wilkin 
 son succeeded in rendering his complete version of the 
 plot a labor of love which was soon to make its ap 
 pearance in his Aaron Burr Conspiracy Exposed. 
 
 At length the last witness for the prosecution was 
 dismissed, and October 2Oth Chief- Justice Marshall de 
 livered an opinion on the motion for commitment, 
 which eliminated once more the charge of treason. 
 
 "On comparing the testimony adduced by the Unitcdl / t~ 
 States with itself," ran this last of a series of extraordW 
 
360 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 nary decisions, "this is observable. That which relates 
 to treason indicates the general design, while that which 
 relates to the misdemeanor points to the particular expe 
 dition which was actually commenced. Weighing the 
 whole of this testimony, it appears to me to predominate 
 in favor of the opinion that the enterprise was really 
 designed against Mexico. . . . It is also a circum 
 stance of considerable weight with me that the proof ex 
 hibited by the United States to establish a general design 
 to dismember the Union, applies only to Colonel Burr and 
 Mr. Blennerhassett. It is not proved to have been ever 
 communicated even to Tyler and Floyd. There is not only 
 a failure to prove that such a design was communicated to 
 or undertaken by the men who were assembled at the 
 mouth of Cumberland, but the contrary is in full evidence. 
 The United States have adduced several witnesses belong 
 ing to that assemblage who concur in declaring that they 
 heard nothing, that they suspected nothing, hostile to the 
 United States. This testimony cannot be disregarded, for 
 it is uncontradicted, and is offered by the prosecution. 
 How can this assemblage be said to have levied war 
 against the United States ? . . . These men were not 
 ready nor willing to strike, nor could their chief be ready 
 to strike without them. . . . Believing, then, the 
 weight of testimony to be in favor of the opinion that the 
 real and direct object of the expedition was Mexico, 
 . . . it would, in my judgment, be improper in me to 
 commit the accused on the charge of treason. ... I 
 shall commit Aaron Burr and Harman Blennerhassett, for 
 preparing and providing the means for a military expedi 
 tion against the territories of a foreign prince, with whom 
 the United States were at peace." 
 
 There was not a vestige of doubt in Marshall s 
 mind as to the nature of the conspiracy. If treason had 
 been contemplated, Burr and Blennerhassett had kept 
 I their secret well ; as for the hardy, adventurous follow 
 ers of the revolutionist, the conquest, of Mexico alone 
 had lured them on. As Cortez with a handful of war- 
 
THE TRIAL AT RICHMOND 361 
 
 riors had brought the empire of the Aztecs to an end, 
 so again, they thought, might that fabled land feel the 
 tramp of armies and witness the expiring throes of 
 another empire far more deserving of extinction than 
 the first. 
 
 There seems to be not the slightest doubt that 
 Aaron Burr and his followers were all guilty of high 
 misdemeanor that alone. Such an opinion has every 
 thing to sustain it. That they escaped punishment in 
 the end was due to a slight reaction in their favor and 
 to the fact that society was palled with the subject of 
 the conspiracy, while ever more persistent became the 
 encroachments of the European powers. When the 
 circuit court of Ohio convened at Chillicothe, January 
 4, 1808, neither Burr nor Blennerhassett both under 
 bond appeared. Once more indictments were re 
 turned ; but with that the prosecutions of the filibusters 
 were ended. However, the American nation had tried 
 the case and, on the testimony of Jefferson, Eaton, and \ 
 Wilkinson, had passed judgment, not without dissent ), 
 it is true, but the verdict of treason was irrevocable. \ 
 Henceforth, vituperation and persecution were to be 
 meted out with a lavishness commensurate with the 
 enormity of the crime. Although Jefferson was loath 
 to abandon the prosecution, he realized the futility of 
 his efforts to bring about a conviction, and so he let 
 the matter rest. His hands were in truth full of much 
 weightier affairs. War threatened with both England 
 and Spain; a dangerous sflnsm was impending in the 
 Republican party; while the Quids under John Ran 
 dolph were in hot pursuit of the hero of the Sabine 
 
362 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 whom they recognized betimes in the attire of the 
 President. It was not difficult, therefore, to bury the 
 chagrin of defeat under such momentous matters; and 
 Jefferson like the mass of the people of the country for 
 got the prostrate conspiracy while arming to avenge 
 such outrages as the Leopard inflicted on the Chesa 
 peake, and as the Spaniards perpetrated on our com 
 merce and on our frontiers. Paradoxical as it must 
 have seemed to those who believed in the treason of 
 Burr s enterprise, the most violent denunciators of the 
 insolent nations, the first to arm and demand retali 
 ation were the adherents of that most unfortunate man, 
 Aaron Burr, whose career was yet to prove that his 
 heart was in the cause of the liberation of the Spanish 
 colonies. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Last Years. 
 
 THE history of the Conspiracy would be incom 
 plete without some further notice of Aaron 
 Burr, without a later glimpse of the West. To 
 have escaped the toils of the court in no wise cleared 
 him of guilt in the eyes of the people who had heeded 
 but one charge treason. The disastrous outcome of 
 his plans, however, failed to dampen his ardor, and 
 before the weary trial was over Burr had in view 
 measures for their rehabilitation. He would set off 
 for England as soon as liberated from court "to collect 
 money for reorganizing his projects." 1 
 
 "I visited Burr this morning," wrote Blennerhassett, 
 September I3th, in his prison at Richmond; "he is as gay 
 as usual, and as busy in speculations on reorganizing his 
 projects for action as if he had never suffered the least 
 interruption. He observed to Major Smith and me, that P 
 in six months our schemes could be all remounted." 2 
 
 When Burr sailed incognito for England two things 
 were uppermost in his mind relief from persecution 
 and aid for his designs. Unfortunately, upon his land 
 ing in Great Britain, the war with Spain had resolved 
 itself into friendship, and all idea of freeing the Span 
 ish colonies was swallowed up in the enthusiasm with 
 which the English nation applauded the uprising of 
 Spain against Napoleon. Burr fell at once under the 
 
 *Blennerhassett Papers, p. 414. 
 
 *Blennerhassett Papers, p. 452- 
 
 363 
 
364 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 suspicion of the Government, and tried in vain to get 
 propositions before the Ministry. His hopes were 
 finally dissipated by the receipt of a letter from An 
 thony Merry, who had again come upon the scene of 
 his intrigues. November 6, 1808, was the date of the 
 note : 
 
 "Although I could not see Mr. Canning yesterday, from 
 his being gone into the country, to stay till Tuesday morn 
 ing, for the recovery of his health, I conversed with an 
 other person of nearly equal authority, who told me he 
 was sure that what you proposed to me yesterday could 
 never be consented to, pointing it out in every way to be 
 impracticable." 
 
 What Burr s propositions were we shall most likely 
 never know. Davis, the biographer, says that Burr 
 i thought "the political situation of Europe offered op- 
 / portunities for accomplishing the object he had long 
 contemplated, of emancipating the Spanish-American , 
 colonies from the degrading tyranny of Spain." 2 
 
 Being expelled .from England, Burr crossed to the 
 Continent in the hope that he might fall in with some 
 of Napoleon s plans for the disposition of the Spanish 
 colonial possessions. In a memorial to Bonaparte he 
 set forth the views which had brought him to 
 France : 3 
 
 "While in Germany last winter I saw in the Moniteur 
 an expression of your Majesty s assent to the independ 
 ence of the Spanish-American colonies. Believing that I 
 could be useful in the execution of that object, I hastened 
 to Frankfort, and there addressed myself to your 
 Majesty s minister, Monsieur Hedouville, who, at my re- 
 
 *Memoirs of Burr, ii., 413. 
 Memoirs of Burr, ii., 412. 
 ^Memoirs of Burr, ii., 419. 
 
THE LAST YEARS 365 
 
 quest, wrote to the Minister of Exterior Relations, stating 
 my views, and asking a passport if those views should be 
 deemed worthy of your Majesty s attention. A passport 
 was transmitted to me. On the day of my arrival in 
 Paris I announced myself to the Due de Cadore, and on 
 the day following had an audience, in which I explained, 
 as fully as the time would admit, the nature of my pro 
 jects and the means of execution." 
 
 However, before Burr had reached the soil of 
 France he was looked upon with suspicion. This was 
 occasioned in part by the action of Jonathan Russell, 
 charge d affaires of the United States at Paris, and 
 McRae, the consul. Even had this not been the case 
 he must have failed; Napoleon s inclination or desire 
 could not have been carried out had he so chosen; the 
 political status put an expedition to the Spanish Amer 
 icas out of the question. After repeated insults Burr 
 saw the futility of hoping to gain the ear of the arbiter \ 
 of Europe, and at last disheartened he planned for his ! 
 return; but even a passport was denied him. Suffering " 
 great privations, he plead in vain for the intercession 
 of our representatives, Russell and McRae, who scorned 
 him as a criminal. 
 
 At the end of four years, having endured humilia- ps 
 tions and persecutions enough to have broken the spirit 
 of any man, Aaron Burr returned to the United States. 
 He had accomplished nothing, but already for two 
 years the war he had hoped to lead had been raging in 
 the Spanish colonies. 
 
 If we return now to the West, we shall discover that 
 the passing of Aaron Burr had not materially affected 
 the condition of affairs. Patriotism and honesty were 
 

 366 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 no longer disputed characteristics of the frontiersmen ; 
 nor was their malignant hatred of Spain doubted. 
 Moreover, the same adventurous spirit that Burr had 
 enlisted survived and was to manifest itself for suc 
 ceeding decades in filibustering enterprises, moving 
 ever westward tidal waves of society beating down 
 the barriers of an opposing civilization. By the sum 
 mer of 1808 the Neutral Ground was filled with adven 
 turers, who crossed the Sabine, bartered with the na 
 tives, caught wild horses, and gave Nemecio de Salcedo 
 no end of trouble. They were recognized as Burr s 
 legitimate successors. June 22, 1808, Louis de Clovet, 
 consul for Spain in New Orleans, wrote Salcedo, 
 "From what I can hear and penetrate it seems that 
 the project of Burr is coming to life." 1 And Manuel 
 de Salcedo, Governor of Texas, after a visit to Natchez, 
 reported : 
 
 "The partisans of Colonel Burr insist on their designs 
 against the Internal Provinces of Mexico. . . . They 
 are to float down the Ohio and Mississippi in flatboats 
 some will ascend the Arkansas and move on New Mexico ; 
 others will cross Texas. . . . Some of them are 
 actually on the Washita lands, while there are many in 
 Natchez who entertain suspicious projects." 1 
 
 A few days later Captain-General Salcedo confessed 
 to the Viceroy that he feared for his provinces because 
 of the restless, grasping, envious disposition of the 
 Anglo-Americans. 3 At the same time, too, it is curious 
 
 Clovet to Salcedo, June 22, 1808; MSS. Mexican Archives. 
 
 Manuel de Salcedo to Nemecio de Salcedo, September 12, 
 1808; MSS. Mexican Archives. 
 
 Salcedo to Iturrigaray, September 28, 1808; MSS. Mexican 
 Archives. 
 
THE LAST YEARS 367 
 
 to note that General Wilkinson was jubilant over the 
 prospect of the rebellion of the Spanish colonies. Octo 
 ber i, 1808, he sent to Jefferson the following: 1 
 
 "The scenes which are now passing before us in rapid 
 succession inspire the liveliest hopes that the emancipation 
 of Mexico and South America is not distant; and they 
 excite in my breast the strongest solicitude to participate 
 in the glorious achievement in which the United States 
 and all Spanish-America appear to be mutually and pro 
 foundly interested." 
 
 It is a matter of no little moment to find that revolu 
 tions broke out in West Florida, Mexico, Granada, and 
 Caracas during the month of September, 1810. The 
 Governor of Texas wrote to the Viceroy 2 that they 
 had the same origin and the same end; and with re 
 gard to the rebellion in Baton Rouge, he remarked ^ 
 that it had its extension throughout Louisiana, and/ 
 that it was not a combination of a day, but that it had! ^f 
 been urged since the beginning of the Conspiracy ofj^ 
 Aaron Burr. 3 
 
 It would be fruitless to continue the narrative to 
 show how full the "stream of tendency" ran during the 
 next half century. It is quite sufficient that we should 
 realize that the. elements of revolution in the West 
 were imbedded in the Western character, and were im 
 pregnated with a vitality generations could not exhaust. 
 
 Burr s determination to have a hand in the settle 
 ment of affairs in Spanish America was long in being 
 
 Wilkinson to Jefferson, October I, 1808; Jefferson MSS. 
 2 Operaciones de Guerra; MSS. Mexican Archives. 
 Manuel de Salcedo to Viceroy Venegas, November 21, 1810; 
 MSS. Mexican Archives. 
 
368 THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY 
 
 resigned. Neither the venomous persecutions he had 
 experienced in his own country, nor the desperate buf 
 feting to which he was subjected in Europe, had mod 
 erated his enthusiasm. At the moment of departing 
 from England he wrote Jeremy Bentham who had 
 proved so dear a friend to him and who had endeavored 
 to reconcile him to Miranda concerning the South 
 American patriot i 1 
 
 "There is a possibility, perhaps something more, that 
 I may mingle, personally, in the affairs of Spanish Amer 
 ica. In such a case, a good understanding would be of 
 sound policy, perhaps of mutual necessity. It is also 
 probable that I may be capable of rendering him [Mi 
 randa] or his countrymen service in the United States, 
 whither I am now about to return, and certainly I should 
 do it with pleasure and with zeal." 
 
 Almost the first news he had upon landing in New 
 York was that his only grandchild, Aaron Burr Alston, 
 was dead. This blighting intelligence was soon after 
 ward eclipsed by the loss of Theodosia. who, sailing 
 from Charleston to meet her father in New York, was 
 never heard from again. Burr s life was thenceforward 
 a hopeless blank. The only subject which aroused his 
 enthusiasm was the emancipation of the Spanish col 
 onies. He encouraged those who were struggling for 
 the consummation of such hopes, and in the end be 
 came known to the leaders of the revolt. In 1816 Jose 
 Alvarez de Toledo, one of the distinguished soldiers of 
 Mexico, wrote: "Although I have not the honor of 
 knowing you personally, the reputation of your talents 
 and good wishes for the cause of America have made 
 ^Private Journal of Aaron Burr, ii., 255. 
 
THE LAST YEARS 369 
 
 your name familiar among us." * Then Burr was in 
 vited to assume the "management" of the "political and 
 military affairs" of Mexico. But already the weight 
 of years and the burden of sorrow which bore upon 
 him were bowing him to the earth the invitation 
 could only be declined. Some years later when the 
 Texans began their struggle for independence Burr 
 manifested an intense interest in the result. One day, 
 upon reading some account from that quarter, he ex 
 claimed, "There! you see? I was right! I was only 
 thirty years too soon. What was treason in me thirty 
 years ago, is patriotism now !" 2 
 
 In the early part of June, 1836, it was thought Burr 
 was dying, and the question was asked him, "Whether 
 in the expedition to the Southwest he had designed a 
 separation of the Union." The reply was, "No; I 
 would as soon have thought of taking possession of 
 the moon, and informing my friends that I intended 
 to divide it among them." 3 
 
 September 14, 1836, Aaron Burr ceased to live, and 
 a few days later all that was mortal of him was con 
 signed to a grave near his father s resting place in the 
 beautiful cemetery at Princeton his life and career 
 were merged in the stream of history. 
 
 l Memoirs of Burr, ii., 442. 
 2 Parton s Burr, ii., 319. 
 Parton s Burr, ii., 327. 
 
Index 
 
 ADAIR, JOHN: relations with 
 Wilkinson, 127-129; indict 
 ment against, 187-188; arrest 
 ed by Wilkinson, 223; re 
 leased at Baltimore, 299; 
 brings suit against Wilkin 
 son for false imprisonment, 
 300; Wilkinson s opinion of, 
 308. 
 
 ALSTON, JOSEPH: in the West 
 with Burr, 83; at Richmond, 
 
 319. 
 
 ALSTON, THEODOSIA BURR: ac 
 companies Burr in second 
 Western journey, 76; present 
 at Richmond trial, 319. 
 
 BENTHAM, JEREMY : connection 
 with Burr and Miranda, 368. 
 
 BLENNERHASSETT, HARM AN : 
 who he was, 25; relates 
 Burr s plans to Graham, 242- 
 243; examined before Toul- 
 min, 282; indicted at Rich 
 mond, 332. 
 
 BLENNERHASSETT S ISLAND: its 
 situation, 25; Burr s second 
 arrival at, 79; becomes a ren 
 dezvous, 79; threatened by 
 militia, 87; abandoned by the 
 conspirators, 247; raided by 
 militia, 247-248. 
 
 BASTROP LANDS: purchased by 
 Burr, 83. 
 
 BOLLMAN, ERICK: arrested by 
 Wilkinson, 215-216; released 
 at Washington, 298; confi 
 dence violated by Jefferson, 
 
 339- 
 BOTTS, BENJAMIN : defends 
 
 Burr at Richmond trial, 320; 
 
 interpretation of treason, 323. 
 BRADFORD, EDITOR: arrested by 
 
 Wilkinson, 222; view of the 
 Spanish situation, 125-126. 
 
 BROOM, CONGRESSMAN : intro 
 duces in the House resolu 
 tion concerning the habeas 
 corpus, 296. 
 
 BRUIN, JUDGE: presides over 
 Burr s Mississippi trial, 271. 
 
 BURLING, WALTER: relations 
 with Wilkinson, 62-63; goes 
 to Mexico, 164-169. 
 
 BL T RR, AARON : ancestry and 
 early life, 16; entry into 
 politics, 17; duel with Ham 
 ilton, 18; contest with Jeffer 
 son for Presidency, 18; in 
 trigues with Merry, 20-23, 
 42-48, 69-70; first entry into 
 the West, 24; at Blennerhas- 
 sett s Island, 25; entertained 
 by Andrew Jackson, 26; con 
 fers with Wilkinson at Fort 
 Massac, 26; at New Orleans, 
 28-31; public reception at 
 Nashville, 33; confers with 
 Wilkinson at St. Louis, 34; 
 plans of, 41 ; discusses enter 
 prise with Blennerhassett, 
 49; intrigue with Yrujo, 54; 
 intrigue with Yrujo, 54-60, 
 65-69; letter to Wilkinson 
 concerning conspiracy, 61 ; 
 dealings with Truxton and 
 Eaton, 62; collects funds 
 from individuals, 71; impor 
 tant letter to Wilkinson, 74; - 
 second entry into the West, 
 76; conversation with the 
 Morgans, 76-78; second ar 
 rival at Blennerhassett Isl 
 and, 78; purchases Bastrop 
 lands, 83; enlists recruits, 84; 
 his three maps, 85; letter to 
 
372 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Gov. Harrison concerning 
 Spanish war, 87; trials in 
 Kentucky, 178-179; 188-192; 
 letter regarding his project, 
 to Smith, 183; to Gov. Har 
 rison, 184; to Henry Clay, 
 185; second trial at Frank 
 fort, 188-192; revisits An 
 drew Jackson, 252; with the 
 Ohio flotilla, 256-257; en 
 ters the Mississippi, 261-262; 
 reception in Mississippi ter 
 ritory, 262-263; his knowl 
 edge of Wilkinson s move 
 ments, 266; surrenders to 
 Meade, 268; interview with 
 Graham concerning conspir 
 acy, 270; consultations with 
 Colonel Osmun and Major 
 Guion, 271 ; before grand 
 jury at Washington, Miss., 
 272-273; no indictment found 
 against, 274; goes into hid 
 ing, 275; replies to William s 
 proclamation, 276; visits his 
 flotilla, 277; takes flight, 277; 
 captured near Fort Stoddert, 
 279; feeling in regard to, 
 279-280; conducted to Rich 
 mond. 310; examined before 
 Marshall, 310-311; final trial 
 at Richmond, 320-357; visits 
 England, 363-364; in France, 
 364-365; writes to Bentham 
 concerning Miranda, 368; in 
 terest in emancipation of 
 Spanish colonies, 368; inter 
 est in Texas struggle, 369; 
 statement concerning con 
 spiracy, 369; death, 369. 
 
 CASA CALVO: expelled from 
 New Orleans, 109. 
 
 CEVALLOS : hears through Yrujo 
 of Burr s plot, 55, 57-60; re 
 fuses to contribute funds to 
 Burr, 68; anticipates war 
 with the United States, 105. 
 
 CLAIBORNE, W. C. C. : protests 
 against Spanish advance, 118; 
 suspects Wilkinson, 118; 
 
 plans with Wilkinson for 
 war, 123-124; warns Meade 
 of conspiracy, 204; refuses to 
 proclaim martial law, 207- 
 208; addresses New Orleans 
 Chamber of Commerce on 
 subject of conspiracy, 208; 
 issues proclamation against 
 conspiracy, 216, 250; passivity 
 in regard to military arrests, 
 220-221; recommends suspen 
 sion of habeas corpus to Leg 
 islature, 233 ; urges Meade to 
 arrest Burr, 264; attitude 
 towards Wilkinson, 307-308; 
 opinion of Watkins, 308; 
 opinion of Adair, 308. 
 
 CLARK, DANIEL: attitude to 
 wards Burr, 31-32; writes to 
 Wilkinson of Burr s conspir 
 acy, 32; loyalty of, 228-229. 
 
 CLAY, HENRY: defends Burr, 
 185; attitude towards Burr, 
 185-186, 193. 
 
 CONGRESS OF UNITED STATES: 
 measures for suppressing 
 conspiracy, 295-296. 
 
 CONSPIRACY: Clark s view of, 
 32; rumors as to nature of, 
 36-38; Burr s communica 
 tions concerning the, 49, 61, 
 63, 75, 183-185, 270, 369; ru 
 mors as to nature of, 80; 
 Grand Pre s view of, 96; 
 Folch s view of, 97-98, 263- 
 264; James Taylor s view of, 
 99, 344; Daviess s view of, 
 99-100; Jefferson s view of, 
 100-104; Duane s view of, 
 194; Rodney s view of, 194; 
 Jefferson s view of, 194- 
 195, 285, 286, 288, 290, 
 294, 316, 317; Claiborne s 
 view of, 201-202, 203-204, 
 233; Jackson s view of, 203; 
 Meade s view of, 204 ; Jack 
 son s view of, 260-261 ; Burr s 
 communications to Meade 
 concerning the, 262; Ran 
 dolph s view of the, 292 ; 
 Erskine s view of, 292-293; 
 
INDEX 
 
 373 
 
 Wilkinson s view of, 303- 
 304; Eaton s testimony as to 
 the nature of, 341 ; Trux- 
 ton s testimony as to the na 
 ture of, 343; the Morgans 
 testimony as to the nature 
 of, 344; Woodbridge s testi 
 mony as to the nature of, 
 345;*Allbright s testimony as 
 to the nature of, 345 ; Marsh 
 all s opinion concerning the, 
 358-300. 
 
 CORDERO, ANTONIO: hears of 
 Burr s enterprise, 63; refuses 
 to withdraw troops from dis 
 puted tract, 134. 
 
 CREOLES : their attitude towards 
 the Union, 112. See also 
 under LOUISIANIANS. 
 
 DAVIESS, JOSEPH HAMILTON : 
 prosecution of Burr, 176-178; 
 renews prosecution of Burr, 
 185. 
 
 DAYTON, JONATHAN: his story 
 to Yrujo of plot, 55-57, 67- 
 68; alarms Wilkinson, 73; 
 indicted at Richmond, 332. 
 
 DEARBORN, HENRY : receives in 
 structions from Jefferson, 
 120; offends Jackson, 258. 
 
 DE PESTRE, COL.: goes with 
 Burr into the West, 76; re 
 turns to blind Yrujo, 93-96; 
 his attempted bribery, 338. 
 
 DUNBAUGH, JACOB : character 
 of, 257-258. 
 
 EATON, WILLIAM : dealings with 
 Burr and the President, 62; 
 testimony as to conspiracy, 
 341-342; his claim paid by 
 Congress, 342. 
 
 FEDERALISTS : suspected by Jef 
 ferson of connection with 
 conspiracy, 314-315. 
 
 FLORIDA: bill for purchase of, 
 
 FLOYD, DAVIS : examination be 
 fore Toulmin, 282; Harri 
 son s opinion of, 282. 
 
 FOLCH, VINCENTE: stops pas 
 sage of United States mail 
 
 through West Florida, no; 
 reenforces Grand Pre, 263. 
 
 GAINES, LIEUTENANT: captures 
 Burr near Fort Stoddert, 279. 
 
 GALLATIN, ALBERT : recom 
 mends compensation for 
 seizures, 300-301. 
 
 GENET, EDMOND CHARLES : 
 projects of, 5. 
 
 GRAHAM, JOHN : investigates 
 conspiracy, 242-249; hears of 
 Burr s plans from Blenner- 
 hassett, 242-243 ; interviews 
 Burr at Natchez^ 269-270; 
 view of conspiracy, 280. 
 
 GRAND PRE : prepares to resist 
 Burr s expedition, 263. 
 
 GRIFFIN, CYRUS: presides at 
 trial at Richmond, 320. 
 
 GUION, MAJOR ISAAC: Burr s 
 consultations with, 271. 
 
 GUTIERREZ -MAGEE EXPEDITION : 
 its nature, 86-87. 
 
 HAY, GEORGE: at Burr s exam 
 ination before Marshall, 310; 
 represents prosecution . at 
 Richmond trial, 321; inter 
 pretation of treason, 347; 
 threatens impeachment of 
 Marshall, 348-349; loses faith 
 in Wilkinson, 354. 
 
 HERRERA, SIMON DE: crosses 
 the Sabine, 116; retreats to 
 the west bank of the Sabine, 
 134 ; accepts Wilkinson s 
 propositions establishing a 
 neutral ground, 150; receives 
 letters regarding the con 
 spiracy, 159-160. 
 
 INNES, HARRY : presides over 
 trials of Burr, 178-186. 
 
 IRVING, WASHINGTON: descrip 
 tion of Wilkinson at trial, 
 330. 
 
 ITURRIGARAY, JOSE DE: views 
 with alarm the situation on 
 the Sabine, 109; warned of 
 Burr s conspiracy, 168-169. 
 
 JACKSON, ANDREW : entertains 
 Burr, 26; issues proclamation 
 for Spanish war, 81; offers 
 
374 
 
 INDEX 
 
 services to President, 82; 
 connection with conspiracy, 
 252-255 ; Jefferson declares 
 confidence in, 258; offended 
 by Dearborn, 258; mobilizes 
 militia, 259; disbands militia, 
 260. 
 
 JEFFERSON, THOMAS : attitude 
 towards Spain, 51, 82, 154- 
 155; takes action in regard to 
 Burr s conspiracy, 195-196; 
 issues proclamation, 197-198; 
 approves Wilkinson s meas 
 ures at New Orleans, 223- 
 225; declares faith in Jack 
 son, 258; refers to Burr s 
 project in annual message to 
 Congress, 285; reports to 
 Congress concerning conspir 
 acy, 293, 294, 295, 300; de 
 livers military prisoners to 
 civil authorities, 298; attitude 
 towards Burr, 309; resents 
 Marshall s decision, 312-313; 
 efforts to secure Burr s con 
 viction, 314; suspects Feder 
 alists of sympathy with Burr, 
 314-316; withholds papers 
 from Burr s trial, 324, 326- 
 328; espouses Wilkinson s 
 cause, 331-332; angered at 
 Burr s acquittal, 352-353, 357- 
 
 KENTUCKY, LEGISLATURE OF : 
 passes act for suppression of 
 conspiracy, 250; declaration 
 of loyalty, 250. 
 
 KERR, Louis : trial and ac 
 quittal at Natchez, Miss., 283. 
 
 LEE, CHARLES : defends Burr at 
 Richmond trial, 320. 
 
 LEWIS and CLARK: celebration 
 in their honor, 113. 
 
 LOUISIANA: Purchase of, 10; 
 legislature of, pledges loyal 
 ty to Government (234), de 
 clares loyalty of Louisian- 
 ians (234), discusses Wilkin 
 son s measures (235), and 
 condemns suspension of ha 
 beas corpus, 235-236. 
 
 LOUSIANIANS: loyalty of, 127, 
 
 225; Wilkinson s opinion of, 
 225-226; attitude towards 
 conspiracy, 237-238; Clair- 
 borne s opinion of their loy 
 alty, 238-239; Jefferson s esti 
 mate, 286. 
 
 McRAE, ALEXANDER : represents 
 prosecution at Richmond trial, 
 321. 
 
 MAPS : Burr s, 85. 
 
 MARSHALL, JOHN: presides at 
 Burr s examination at Rich 
 mond, 310; his opinion, 310; 
 presides over trial at Rich 
 mond, 320; his reply to Hay s 
 threats, 349; his great opinion 
 on the treason case, 350. 
 
 MARTIN, LUTHER : defends 
 Burr at Richmond trial, 320; 
 his great speech on the na 
 ture of treason, 347. 
 
 MEADE, COWLES : warned by 
 Claiborne of conspiracy, 204; 
 warns Claiborne against Wil 
 kinson, 226; issues proclama 
 tion against conspiracy, 251; 
 prepares for seizure of Burr, 
 265-266; his description of 
 Burr s expedition, 268-269. 
 
 MERRY, ANTHONY : intrigue 
 with Burr, 20-23; 42-48; 69- 
 70; on Burr s enterprise, 38. 
 
 MEXICAN ASSOCIATION : organ 
 ization and purpose, 29-30, 
 
 113- 
 
 MIRANDA: his expedition, 114- 
 179; sympathy of Westerners 
 for, 114-115; Jefferson s at 
 titude towards, 317; connec 
 tion with Burr and Bentham, 
 368. 
 
 MISSISSIPPIANS : loyalty of, 
 251; Jefferson s estimate of, 
 286. 
 
 MORALES, JUAN VENTURA : 
 fears revolution, 64; expelled 
 from New Orleans, 109. 
 
 MORGAN, GEORGE: Burr s talk 
 with, 76-78. 
 
 MORGANS: their testimony at 
 trial, 344. 
 
INDEX 
 
 375, 
 
 MUSKINGUM FLOTILLA : its 
 seizure, 244-246. 
 
 NAPOLEON: plans of, 14. 
 
 NEUTRAL GROUND TREATY: its 
 terms, 150-152; reception of 
 by Spanish Government, 156; 
 effects of, 156-157. 
 
 NEW ORLEANS: right of de 
 posit, 8; Burr s visit to, 28- 
 31; Chamber of Commerce 
 addressed by Claiborne and 
 Wilkinson on subject of con 
 spiracy, 208-210; Chamber of 
 Commerce takes measures of 
 defence, 210; stringent ordi 
 nance of City Council, 230- 
 231. 
 
 OGDEN, PETER V. : bears Day 
 ton s letter to Wilkinson, 73; 
 arrested by Wilkinson, 215- 
 216; discharged on writ of 
 habeas corpus, 216; re-ar 
 rested by Wilkinson, 218- 
 219; released at Baltimore, 
 299. 
 
 OHIO LEGISLATURE: addressed 
 by Governor Edward Tiffin 
 on subject of conspiracy, 244- 
 245; passes act for suppres 
 sion of conspiracy, 245. 
 
 OHIO FLOTILLA: escape of, 247. 
 
 OSMUN, BENIJAH : surety for 
 Burr, 268; Burr s consulta 
 tions with, 271. 
 
 PERKINS, NICHOLAS : informs 
 of Burr s flight, 278-279; 
 takes Burr to Richmond, 310. 
 
 PESTRE, DE COL: accompanies 
 Burr, 76; serves in Burr s in 
 trigue with Yrujo, 90, 93, 94- 
 
 95- 
 
 POINDEXTER, GEORGE: arranges 
 for interview of Burr with 
 Meade, 267; moves that 
 grand jury at Washington, 
 Miss., be discharged, 272. 
 
 PROCLAMATION: President Jef 
 ferson s, regarding conspi 
 racy, 197-198; Erskine s opin 
 
 ion of, 198-199; Lexington 
 Gazette s view of, 199. 
 
 RANDOLPH, EDMUND: defends 
 Burr at Richmond trial, 320. 
 
 RANDOLPH, JOHN : questions 
 President concerning con 
 spiracy, 291-292; attacks de 
 nial of habeas corpus, 296- 
 297; foreman of jury at Rich 
 mond trial, 322; description 
 of Wilkinson s appearance at 
 trial, 332; opinion of Wilkin 
 son, 333; attacks Wilkinson 
 in Congress, 334-335. 
 
 RODNEY, JUDGE: refuses to re 
 lease Burr, 274. 
 
 SABINE: Spanish troops cross 
 the, 1 1 6. 
 
 SALCEDO, NEMECIO: jealousy of 
 Americans, 13; hears of 
 Burr s enterprise, 63; com 
 plains of encroachments of 
 United States, 108. 
 
 SHIELDS, W. B. : arranges for 
 interview of Burr with 
 Meade, 267. 
 
 SPAIN : threat of war with 
 United States, 50-53; pre 
 pares for war, 106; Jeffer 
 son s attitude towards, 316. 
 
 SPANISH ASSOCIATION : its orig 
 inal purpose, 4; confounded 
 with Burr s enterprise, 181, 
 190, 292-293. 
 
 SPANISH COLONIES : attitude to 
 wards their Government, 90; 
 corruption in administration 
 of, 131-132; Wilkinson s de 
 sire to revolutionize, 305- 
 306; connection with conspi 
 racy, 306; interest of Burr in 
 their emancipation, 368; re 
 volt of, 367. 
 
 SMITH, ROBERT : naval prepara 
 tions against conspiracy, 287. 
 
 SWARTWOUT, SAMUEL : bears 
 Burr s letter to Wilkinson, 
 73; arrested by Wilkinson, 
 215-216; released at Wash 
 ington, 298. 
 
 TAYLOR, PETER: story concern- 
 
INDEX 
 
 ing conspiracy, 89; testimony 
 at trial, 344. 
 
 TENNESSEEANS : loyalty of, 251- 
 252. 
 
 TIFFIN, EDWARD : addresses 
 Ohio Legislature on subject 
 of conspiracy, 244-245; gives 
 orders for suppression of 
 conspiracy, 245. 
 
 TOLEDO, JOSE ALVAREZ DE: let 
 ter to Burr, 368-369. 
 
 TOULMIN, HARRY : examines 
 Burr s associates, 282. 
 
 TREASON : Bott s view of its 
 nature, 323; Hay s, 347; 
 Marshall s dictum concern 
 ing, 350-35L 
 
 TRIAL AT RICHMOND: Burr ad 
 mitted to bail, 310-311; per 
 sons present at, 318-319; the 
 judges and attorneys, 320- 
 321; the jurors, 322; char 
 acter of evidence, 322-323; 
 demand of papers from Jef 
 ferson, 324-328; Wilkinson s 
 arrival, 329; Burr indicted 
 for misdemeanor and trea 
 son, 332; Burr s associates 
 indicted, 333; contention con 
 cerning treason, 347-348; Burr 
 acquitted of treason, 350; 
 misdemeanor case, 356; ques 
 tion as to . testimony, 357; 
 jury returns verdict of not 
 guilty, 357; testimony of the 
 prosecution, 359; Marshall s 
 opinion, 359-360. 
 
 TRUXTON, COMMODORE: ap 
 proached by Burr, 62; testi 
 mony as to nature of the con 
 spiracy, 343- 
 
 TURNER, CAPTAIN : expels 
 Spaniards, 107. 
 
 TURREAU : ignored by Burr, 66; 
 opinion of Burr s enterprise, 
 66-67. 
 
 TYLER, COMFORT: arrives at 
 Blennerhassett s Island. 246; 
 examined before Toulmin, 
 282. 
 
 VIANA, FRANCISCO : fears 
 American invasion, 64. 
 
 WATKINS, JOHN : member of 
 Mexican Association, 29-30; 
 denounces Wilkinson s meas 
 ures, 236-237; Claiborne s 
 opinions concerning, 308. 
 
 WESTERNERS : attitude toward 
 Spain, 15, 41, 365-366; toasts 
 of, in; sympathy for Miran 
 da, 114-115; attitude toward 
 Burr, 193; Graham s esti 
 mate concerning loyalty of, 
 242; Wilkinson s view of, 
 303- 
 
 WICKHAM, JOHN : defends 
 Burr at Richmond trial, 320. 
 
 WILKINSON, GEN. JAMES : ap 
 pointed governor, 24; confer 
 ence with Burr at Fort Mas- 
 sac, 26; confers with Burr at 
 St. Louis, 34; ordered to re 
 pel Spanish invasion. 121; his 
 delay, 121-122; arrival an the 
 scene of action, 122-125; fore 
 sees outbreak of war with 
 Spain, 129; letter to Smith 
 on prospects of war, 130-131; 
 seeks to conciliate Spanish 
 leaders, 137-138; receives 
 Burr s letter, 138; mentions 
 Burr s conspiracy to Cush- 
 ing, 139; and to Burling, 
 140; delays marching to the 
 Sabine, 140; announces to the 
 President Burr s conspiracy, 
 140-141; discusses the con 
 spiracy, 141-144; seeks to en 
 list Jefferson, 144-146; 
 marches to the Sabine, 150; 
 concludes Neutral Ground 
 Treaty, 149-152; writes to 
 Gushing of the conspiracy, 
 157; warns Col. Freeman, 
 158; warns Claiborne of the 
 conspiracy, 161; writes to the 
 President concerning the 
 conspiracy, 162-164; sends 
 Burling to Mexico, 164-169; 
 urges Claiborne to proclaim 
 
INDEX 
 
 377 
 
 martial law, 204-207; ad 
 dresses New Orleans Cham 
 ber of Commerce on subject 
 of conspiracy, 208-210; rea 
 sons for silence regarding 
 conspiracy, 211; writes to 
 Clark concerning measures 
 of defence, 212; urges Clai- 
 borne to proclaim martial 
 law, 213; demands impress 
 ment of sailors, 214; arrests 
 Bollman, Ogden, and Swart- 
 wout, 215-216; military ar 
 rests at New Orleans, 214- 
 219, 221, 223; orders concern 
 ing incoming vessels, 227- 
 228; issues order at Coffee 
 House, 229-230; proposes to 
 ascend the Mississippi, 232- 
 233; methods of securing evi 
 dence, 239-240; urges Mea^le 
 to arrest Burr, 264; jg^Etfrtsto 
 capture Burr, 274-275; de 
 fends his position to Presi 
 dent, 302; desires to revolu 
 tionize Spanish Colonies, 
 305; attitude of Louisianians 
 towards, 306; endeavors to 
 secure evidence against Burr, 
 313-314; arrival in Richmond, 
 1; faces Burr at the trial, 
 
 w 3 ii 
 
 330; accused of contempt of 
 court, 332; accused of treason 
 before grand jury, 335; an 
 gered at Burr s acquittal, 
 352-357; Hay s distrust of, 
 354- 
 
 ILLIAMS, ROBERT: issues 
 proclamation on Burr s flight, 
 275- 
 
 WIRT, WILLIAM : represents 
 prosecution at Richmond 
 trial, 321. 
 
 WORKMAN, JAMES: his views, 
 217; issues writ of habeas 
 corpus for Ogden and Swart- 
 wout, 216; discharges Ogden, 
 216; issues writ of habeas 
 corpus for Alexander, 219; 
 appeals to Claiborne against 
 Wilkinson, 219-220; arrested 
 ]}y Wilkinson, 222; trial and 
 acquittal at Natchez, Miss., 
 283. 
 
 YRUJO, CASA, MARQUIS OF: on 
 Burr s intrigue with Merry, 
 39; intrigue with Burr, 54- 
 60, 65-69; misapprehension of 
 Burr s conspiracy, 91-93; un 
 deceived as to the conspiracy, 
 94-96. 
 
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