THE BURR CONSPIRACY
My views are such as every man of honor and every good citizen
must approve. (Aaron Burr.)
His guilt is placed beyond question. (Jefferson.)
I never believed him to be a Fool. But he must be an Idiot or a
Lunatic if he has really planned and attempted to execute such
a Project as is imputed to him. But if his guilt is as clear
as the Noonday Sun, the first Magistrate ought not to have
pronounced it so before a Jury had tryed him. (John Adams.)
On March 2, 1805, not long after the hour of noon, every Senator of the
United States was in his seat in the Senate Chamber. All of them were
emotionally affected--some were weeping.[752] Aaron Burr had just
finished his brief extemporaneous address[753] of farewell. He had
spoken with that grave earnestness so characteristic of him.[754] His
remarks produced a curious impression upon the seasoned politicians and
statesmen, over whose deliberations he had presided for four years. The
explanation is found in Burr's personality quite as much as in the
substance of his speech. From the unprecedented scene in the Senate
Chamber when the Vice-President closed, a stranger would have judged
that this gifted personage held in his hands the certainty of a great
and brilliant career. Yet from the moment he left the Capital, Aaron
Burr marched steadily toward his doom.
An understanding of the trial of Aaron Burr and of the proceedings
against his agents, Bollmann and Swartwout, is impossible without a
knowledge of the events that led up to them; while the opinions and
rulings of Chief Justice Marshall in those memorable controversies are
robbed of their color and much of their meaning when considered apart
from the picturesque circumstances that produced them. This chapter,
therefore, is an attempt to narrate and condense the facts of the Burr
conspiracy in the light of present knowledge of them.
Although in a biography of John Marshall it seems a far cry to give so
much space to that episode, the import of the greatest criminal trial in
American history is not to be fully grasped without a summary of the
events preceding it. Moreover, the fact that in the Burr trial Marshall
destroyed the law of "constructive treason" requires that the
circumstances of the Burr adventure, as they appeared to Marshall, be
here set forth.
A strong, brave man who, until then, had served his country well, Aaron
Burr was in desperate plight when on the afternoon of March 2 he walked
along the muddy Washington streets toward his lodging. He was a ruined
man, financially, politically, and in reputation. Fourteen years of
politics had destroyed his once extensive law practice and plunged him
hopelessly into debt. The very men whose political victory he had
secured had combined to drive him from the Republican Party.
The result of his encounter with Hamilton had been as fatal to his
standing with the Federalists, who had but recently fawned upon him, as
it was to the physical being of his antagonist. What now followed was as
if Aaron Burr had been the predestined victim of some sinister
astrology, so utterly did the destruction of his fortunes appear to be
the purpose of a malign fate.
His fine ancestry now counted for nothing with the reigning politicians
of either party. None of them cared that he came of a family which, on
both sides, was among the worthiest in all the country.[755] His superb
education went for naught. His brilliant services as one of the youngest
Revolutionary officers were no longer considered--his heroism at Quebec,
his resourcefulness on Putnam's staff, his valor at Monmouth, his daring
and tireless efficiency at West Point and on the Westchester lines,
were, to these men, as if no such record had ever been written.
[Illustration: AARON BURR]
Nor, with those then in power, did Burr's notable public services in
civil life weigh so much as a feather in his behalf. They no longer
remembered that only a few years earlier he had been the leader of his
party in the National Senate, and that his appointment to the then
critically important post of Minister to France had been urged by the
unanimous caucus of his political associates in Congress. None of the
notable honors that admirers had asserted to be his due, nor yet his
effective work for his party, were now recalled. The years of
provocation[756] which had led, in an age of dueling,[757] to a
challenge of his remorseless personal, professional, and political enemy
were now unconsidered in the hue and cry raised when his shot, instead
of that of his foe, proved mortal.
Yet his spirit was not broken. His personal friends stood true; his
strange charm was as potent as ever over most of those whom he met face
to face; and throughout the country there were thousands who still
admired and believed in Aaron Burr. Particularly in the West and in the
South the general sentiment was cordial to him; many Western Senators
were strongly attached to him; and most of his brother officers of the
Revolution who had settled beyond the Alleghanies were his friends.[758]
Also, he was still in vigorous middle life, and though delicate of frame
and slight of stature, was capable of greater physical exertion than
most men of fewer years.
What now should the dethroned political leader do? Events answered that
question for him, and, beckoned forward by an untimely ambition, he
followed the path that ended amid dramatic scenes in Richmond, Virginia,
where John Marshall presided over the Circuit Court of the United
States.
Although at the time Jefferson had praised what he called Burr's
"honorable and decisive conduct"[759] during the Presidential contest in
the House in February of 1801, he had never forgiven his associate for
having received the votes of the Federalists, nor for having missed, by
the merest chance, election as Chief Magistrate.[760] Notwithstanding
that Burr's course as Vice-President had won the admiration even of
enemies,[761] his political fall was decreed from the moment he cast his
vote on the Judiciary Bill in disregard of the rigid party discipline
that Jefferson and the Republican leaders then exacted.[762]
Even before this, the constantly increasing frigidity of the President
toward him, and the refusal of the Administration to recognize by
appointment any one recommended by him for office in New York,[763] had
made it plain to all that the most Burr could expect was Jefferson's
passive hostility. Under these circumstances, and soon after his
judiciary vote, the spirited Vice-President committed another
imprudence. He attended a banquet given by the Federalists in honor of
Washington's birthday. There he proposed this impolitic toast: "To the
union of all honest men." Everybody considered this a blow at Jefferson.
It was even more offensive to the Administration than his judiciary vote
had been.[764]
From that moment all those peculiar weapons which politicians so well
know how to use for the ruin of an opponent were employed for the
destruction of Aaron Burr. Moreover, Jefferson had decided not only that
Burr should not again be Vice-President, but that his bitterest enemy
from his own State, George Clinton, should be the Republican candidate
for that office; and, in view of Burr's strength and resourcefulness,
this made necessary the latter's political annihilation.[765] "Never in
the history of the United States did so powerful a combination of rival
politicians unite to break down a single man as that which arrayed
itself against Burr."[766]
Nevertheless, Burr, who "was not a vindictive man,"[767] did not
retaliate for a long time.[768] But at last to retrieve himself,[769]
he determined to appeal to the people--at whose hands he had never
suffered defeat--and, in 1804, he became a candidate for the office of
Governor of New York. The New York Federalists, now reduced to a little
more than a strong faction, wished to support him, and were urged to do
so by many Federalist leaders of other States. Undoubtedly Burr would
have been elected but for the attacks of Hamilton.
At this period the idea of secession was stirring in the minds of the
New England Federalist leaders. Such men as Timothy Pickering, Roger
Griswold, Uriah Tracy, and James Hillhouse had even avowed separation
from the Union to be desirable and certain; and talk of it was
general.[770] All these men were warm and insistent in their support of
Burr for Governor, and at least two of them, Pickering and Griswold, had
a conference with him in New York while the campaign was in progress.
Plumer notes in his diary that during the winter of 1804, at a dinner
given in Washington attended by himself, Pickering, Hillhouse, Burr, and
other public men, Hillhouse "unequivocally declared that ... the United
States would soon form two distinct and separate governments."[771] More
than nine months before, certain of the most distinguished New England
Federalists had gone to the extreme length of laying their object of
national dismemberment before the British Minister, Anthony Merry, and
had asked and received his promise to aid them in their project of
secession.[772]
There was nothing new in the idea of dismembering the Union. Indeed, no
one subject was more familiar to all parts of the country. Since before
the adoption of the Constitution, it had been rife in the settlements
west of the Alleghanies.[773] The very year the National Government was
organized under the Constitution, the settlers beyond the Alleghanies
were much inclined to withdraw from the Union because the Mississippi
River had not been secured to them.[774] For many years this disunion
sentiment grew in strength. When, however, the Louisiana Purchase gave
the pioneers on the Ohio and the Mississippi a free water-way to the
Gulf and the markets of the world, the Western secessionist tendency
disappeared. But after the happy accident that bestowed upon us most of
the great West as well as the mouth of the Mississippi, there was in the
Eastern States a widely accepted opinion that this very fact made
necessary the partitioning of the Republic.
Even Jefferson, as late as 1803, did not think that outcome unlikely,
and he was prepared to accept it with his blessing: "If they see their
interest in separation, why should we take sides with our Atlantic
rather than our Mississippi descendants? It is the elder and the younger
brother differing. God bless them both, and keep them in union, if it be
for their good, but separate them, if it be better."[775]
Neither Spain nor Great Britain had ever given over the hope of dividing
the young Republic and of acquiring for themselves portions of its
territory. The Spanish especially had been active and unceasing in their
intrigues to this end, their efforts being directed, of course, to the
acquisition of the lands adjacent to them and bordering on the
Mississippi and the Ohio.[776] In this work more than one American was
in their pay. Chief of these Spanish agents was James Wilkinson, who had
been a pensioner of Spain from 1787,[777] and so continued until at
least 1807, the bribe money coming into his hands for several years
after he had been placed in command of the armies of the United
States.[778]
None of these plots influenced the pioneers to wish to become Spanish
subjects; the most that they ever desired, even at the height of their
dissatisfaction with the American Government, was independence from what
they felt to be the domination of the East. In 1796 this feeling reached
its climax in the Kentucky secession movement, one of its most active
leaders being Wilkinson, who declared his purpose of becoming "the
Washington of the West."[779]
By 1805, however, the allegiance of the pioneers to the Nation was as
firm as that of any other part of the Republic. They had become
exasperated to the point of violence against Spanish officials, Spanish
soldiers, and the Spanish Government. They regarded the Spanish
provinces of the Floridas and of Mexico as mere satrapies of a hated
foreign autocracy; and this indeed was the case. Everywhere west of the
Alleghanies the feeling was universal that these lands on the south and
southwest, held in subjection by an ancient despotism, should be
"revolutionized" and "liberated"; and this feeling was shared by great
numbers of people of the Eastern States.
Moreover, that spirit of expansion--of taking and occupying the unused
and misused lands upon our borders--which has been so marked through
American history, was then burning fiercely in every Western breast. The
depredations of the Spaniards had finally lashed almost to a frenzy the
resentment which had for years been increasing in the States bordering
upon the Mississippi. All were anxious to descend with fire and sword
upon the offending Spaniards.
Indeed, all over the Nation the conviction was strong that war with
Spain was inevitable. Even the ultra-pacific Jefferson was driven to
this conclusion; and, in less than ten months after Aaron Burr ceased to
be Vice-President, and while he was making his first journey through the
West and Southwest, the President, in two Messages to Congress,
scathingly arraigned Spanish misdeeds and all but avowed that a state of
war actually existed.[780]
Such, in broad outline, was the general state of things when Aaron Burr,
his political and personal fortunes wrecked, cast about for a place to
go and for work to do. He could not return to his practice in New York;
there his enemies were in absolute control and he was under indictment
for having challenged Hamilton. The coroner's jury also returned an
inquest of murder against Burr and two of his friends, and warrants for
their arrest were issued. In New Jersey, too, an indictment for murder
hung over him.[781]
Only in the fresh and undeveloped West did a new life and a new career
seem possible. Many projects filled his mind--everything was possible in
that inviting region beyond the mountains. He thought of forming a
company to dig a canal around the falls of the Ohio and to build a
bridge over that river, connecting Louisville with the Indiana shore. He
considered settling lands in the vast dominions beyond the Mississippi
which the Nation had newly acquired from Spain. A return to public life
as Representative in Congress from Tennessee passed through his mind.
But one plan in particular fitted the situation which the apparently
certain war with Spain created. Nearly ten years earlier,[782] Hamilton
had conceived the idea of the conquest of the Spanish possessions
adjacent to us, and he had sought to enlist the Government in support of
the project of Miranda to revolutionize Venezuela.[783] Aaron Burr had
proposed the invasion and capture of the Floridas, Louisiana, and Mexico
two years before Hamilton embraced the project,[784] and the desire to
carry out the plan continued strong within him. Circumstances seemed to
make the accomplishment of it feasible. At all events, a journey through
the West would enlighten him, as well as make clearer the practicability
of his other schemes.
Now occurred the most unfortunate and disgraceful incident of Burr's
life. In order to get money for his Mexican adventure, Burr played upon
the British Minister's hostile feelings toward America and, in doing so,
used downright falsehood. Although it was unknown at the time and not
out of keeping with the unwritten rules of the game called diplomacy as
then played, and although it had no effect upon the thrilling events
that brought Burr before Marshall, so inextricably has this shameful
circumstance been woven into the story of the Burr conspiracy, that
mention of it must be made. It was the first thoroughly dishonorable act
of Burr's tempestuous career.[785]
Five months after Pickering, Griswold, and other New England Federalists
had approached Anthony Merry with their plan to divide the Union, Burr
prepared to follow their example. He first sounded that diplomat through
a British officer, one Colonel Charles Williamson. The object of the New
England Senators and Representatives had been to separate their own and
other Northern States from the Union; the proposition that Williamson
now made to the British Minister was that Burr might do the same thing
for the Western States.[786] It was well known that the break-up of the
Republic was expected and hoped for by the British Government, as well
as by the Spaniards, and Williamson was not surprised when he found
Merry as favorably disposed toward a scheme for separation of the States
beyond the Alleghanies as he had been hospitable to the plan for the
secession of New England.
Of the results of this conference Burr was advised; and when he had
finished his preparations for his journey down the Ohio, he personally
called upon Merry. This time a part of his real purpose was revealed; it
was to secure funds.[787] Burr asked that half a million dollars be
supplied him[788] for the revolutionizing of the Western States, but he
did not tell of his dream about Mexico, for the realization of which the
money was probably to be employed. In short, Burr lied; and in order to
persuade Merry to secure for him financial aid he proposed to commit
treason. Henry Adams declares that, so far as the proposal of treason
was concerned, there was no difference between the moral delinquency of
Pickering, Griswold, Hillhouse, and other Federalists and that of Aaron
Burr.[789]
The eager and credulous British diplomat promised to do his best and
sent Colonel Williamson on a special mission to London to induce Pitt's
Ministry to make the investment.[790] It should be repeated that Burr's
consultations with the shallow and easily deceived Merry were not known
at the time. Indeed, they never were fully revealed until more than
three quarters of a century afterward.[791] Moreover, it has been
demonstrated that they had little or no bearing upon the adventure which
Burr finally tried to carry out.[792] He was, as has been said,
audaciously and dishonestly playing upon Merry's well-known hostility to
this country in order to extract money from the British Treasury.[793]
This attempt and the later one upon the Spanish Minister, who was
equally antagonistic to the United States, were revolting exhibitions of
that base cunning and duplicity which, at that period, formed so large
a part of secret international intrigue.[794]
On April 10, 1805, Burr left Philadelphia on horseback for Pittsburgh,
where he arrived after a nineteen days' journey. Before starting he had
talked over his plans with several friends, among them former Senator
Jonathan Dayton of New Jersey, who thereafter was a partner and fellow
"conspirator."[795]
Another man with whom Burr had conferred was General James Wilkinson.
Burr expected to meet him at Pittsburgh, but the General was delayed and
the meeting was deferred. Wilkinson had just been appointed Governor of
Upper Louisiana--one of the favors granted Burr during the Chase
impeachment--and was the intimate associate of the fallen politician in
his Mexican plan until, in a welter of falsehood and corruption, he
betrayed him. Indeed, it was Wilkinson who, during the winter of
1804-05, when Burr was considering his future, proposed to him the
invasion of Mexico and thus gave new life to Burr's old but never
abandoned hope.[796]
[Illustration]
On May 2, Burr started down the Ohio. When he reached Marietta,
Ohio, he was heartily welcomed. He next stopped at an island owned by
Harman Blennerhassett, who happened to be away. While inspecting the
grounds Burr was invited by Mrs. Blennerhassett to remain for dinner.
Thus did chance lay the foundations for that acquaintance which, later,
led to a partnership in the enterprise that was ended so disastrously
for both.
At Cincinnati, then a town of some fifteen hundred inhabitants, the
attentions of the leading citizens were markedly cordial. There Burr was
the guest of John Smith, then a Senator from Ohio, who had become
attached to Burr while the latter was Vice-President, and who was now
one of his associates in the plans under consideration. At Smith's house
he met Dayton, and with these friends and partners he held a long
conversation on the various schemes they were developing.[797]
A week later found him at the "unhealthy and inconsiderable
village"[798] of Louisville and from there he traveled by horseback to
Frankfort and Lexington. While in Kentucky he conferred with General
John Adair, then a member of the National Senate, who, like Smith and
Dayton, had in Washington formed a strong friendship for Burr, and was
his confidant.[799] Another eminent man with whom he consulted was John
Brown, then a member of the United States Senate from Kentucky, also an
admirer of Burr.
It would appear that the wanderer was then seriously considering the
proposal, previously made by Matthew Lyon, now a Representative in
Congress from Kentucky, that Burr should try to go to the National House
from Tennessee,[800] for Burr asked and received from Senator Brown
letters to friends in that State who could help to accomplish that
design. But not one word did Burr speak to General Adair, to Senator
Brown, or to any one else of his purpose to dismember the Nation.
Burr arrived at Nashville at the end of the month. The popular greeting
had grown warmer with each stage of his journey, and at the Tennessee
Capital it rose to noisy enthusiasm. Andrew Jackson, then Major-General
of the State Militia, was especially fervent and entertained Burr at his
great log house. A "magnificent parade" was organized in his honor. From
miles around the pioneers thronged into the frontier Capital. Flags
waved, fifes shrilled, drums rolled, cannon thundered. A great feast was
spread and Burr addressed the picturesque gathering.[801] Never in the
brightest days of his political success had he been so acclaimed.
Jackson, nine years before, when pleading with Congress to admit
Tennessee into the Union, had met and liked Burr, who had then advocated
statehood for that vigorous and aggressive Southern Territory. Jackson's
gratitude for Burr's services to the State in championing its
admission,[802] together with his admiration for the man, now ripened
into an ardent friendship.
His support of Burr well reflected that of the people among whom the
latter now found himself. Accounts of Burr's conduct as presiding
officer at the trial of Chase had crept through the wilderness; the
frontier newspapers were just printing Burr's farewell speech to the
Senate, and descriptions of the effect of it upon the great men in
Washington were passing from tongue to tongue. All this gilded the story
of Burr's encounter with Hamilton, which, from the beginning, had been
applauded by the people of the West and South.
Burr was now in a land of fighting men, where dueling was considered a
matter of honor rather than disgrace. He was in a rugged democracy which
regarded as a badge of distinction, instead of shame, the killing in
fair fight of the man it had been taught to believe to be democracy's
greatest foe. Here, said these sturdy frontiersmen, was the captain so
long sought for, who could lead them in the winning of Texas and Mexico
for America; and this Burr now declared himself ready to do--a purpose
which added the final influence toward the conquest of the mind and
heart of Andrew Jackson.
Floating down the Cumberland River in a boat provided by Jackson, Burr
encountered nothing but friendliness and encouragement. At Fort Massac
he was the guest of Wilkinson, with whom he remained for four days,
talking over the Mexican project. Soon afterward he was on his way down
the Mississippi from St. Louis in a larger boat with colored sails,
manned by six soldiers--all furnished by Wilkinson. After Burr's
departure Wilkinson wrote to Adair, with whom he had served in the
Indian wars, that "we must have a peep at the unknown world beyond me."
On June 25, 1805, Burr landed at New Orleans, then the largest city west
of the Alleghanies. There the ovation to the "hero" surpassed even the
demonstration at Nashville. Again came dinners, balls, fêtes, and every
form of public and private favor. So perfervid was the welcome to him
that the Sisters of the largest nunnery in Louisiana invited Burr to
visit their convent, and this he did, under the conduct of the
bishop.[803] Wilkinson had given him a letter of introduction to Daniel
Clark, the leading merchant of the city and the most influential man in
Louisiana. The letter contained this cryptic sentence: "To him [Burr] I
refer you for many things improper to letter, and which he will not say
to any other."[804]
The notables of the city were eager to befriend Burr and to enter into
his plans. Among them were John Watkins, Mayor of New Orleans, and James
Workman, Judge of the Court of Orleans County. These men were also the
leading members of the Mexican Association, a body of three hundred
Americans devoted to effecting the "liberation" of Mexico--a design in
which they accurately expressed the general sentiment of Louisiana. The
invasion of Mexico had become Burr's overmastering purpose, and it
gathered strength the farther he journeyed among the people of the West
and South. To effect it, definite plans were now made.[805]
The Catholic authorities of New Orleans approved Burr's project, and
appointed three priests to act as agents for the revolutionists in
Mexico.[806] Burr's vision of Spanish conquest seemed likely of
realization. The invasion of Mexico was in every heart, on every tongue.
All that was yet lacking to make it certain was war between Spain and
the United States, and every Western or Southern man believed that war
was at hand.
Late in July, Burr, with justifiably high hope, left New Orleans by the
overland route for Nashville, riding on horses supplied by Daniel Clark.
Everywhere he found the pioneers eager for hostilities. At Natchez the
people were demonstrative. By August 6, Burr was again with Andrew
Jackson, having ridden over Indian trails four hundred and fifty miles
through the swampy wilderness.[807]
The citizens of Nashville surpassed even their first welcome. At the
largest public dinner ever given in the West up to that time, Burr
entered the hall on Jackson's arm and was received with cheers. Men and
women vied with one another in doing him honor. The news Burr brought
from New Orleans of the headway that was being made regarding the
projected descent upon the Spanish possessions, thrilled Jackson; and
his devotion to the man whom all Westerners and Southerners had now come
to look upon as their leader knew no bounds.[808] For days Jackson and
Burr talked of the war with Spain which the bellicose Tennessee militia
general passionately desired, and of the invasion of Mexico which Burr
would lead when hostilities began.[809] At Lexington, at Frankfort,
everywhere, Burr was received in similar fashion. While in Kentucky he
met Henry Clay, who at once yielded to his fascination.
But soon strange, dark rumors, starting from Natchez, were sent flying
over the route Burr had just traveled with such acclaim. They were set
on foot by an American, one Stephen Minor, who was a paid spy of
Spain.[810] Burr, it was said, was about to raise the standard of
revolution in the Western and Southern States. Daniel Clark wished to
advise Burr of these reports and of the origin of them, but did not
know where to reach him. So he hastened to write Wilkinson that Burr
might be informed of the Spanish canard: "Kentucky, Tennessee, the State
of Ohio, ... with part of Georgia and Carolina, are to be bribed with
the plunder of the Spanish countries west of us, to separate from the
Union." And Clark added: "Amuse Mr. Burr with an account of it."[811]
Wilkinson himself had long contemplated the idea of dismembering the
Nation; he had even sounded some of his officers upon that subject.[812]
As we have seen, he had been the leader of the secession movement in
Kentucky in 1796. But if Burr ever really considered, as a practical
matter, the separation of the Western country from the Union, his
intimate contact with the people of that region had driven such a scheme
from his mind and had renewed and strengthened his long-cherished wish
to invade Mexico. For throughout his travels he had heard loud demands
for the expulsion of Spanish rule from America; but never, except
perhaps at New Orleans, a hint of secession. And if, during his journey,
Burr so much as intimated to anybody the dismemberment of the Republic,
no evidence of it ever has been produced.[813]
Ignorant of the sinister reports now on their way behind him, Burr
reached the little frontier town of St. Louis early in September and
again conferred with Wilkinson, assuring him that the whole South and
West were impatient to attack the Spaniards, and that in a short time an
army could be raised to invade Mexico.[814] According to the story which
the General told nearly two years afterward, Burr informed him that the
South and West were ripe for secession, and that Wilkinson responded
that Burr was sadly mistaken because "the Western people ... are bigoted
to Jefferson and democracy."[815]
Whatever the truth of this may be, it is certain that the rumors put
forth by his fellow Spanish agent had shaken Wilkinson's nerve for
proceeding further with the enterprise which he himself had suggested to
Burr. Also, as we shall see, the avaricious General had begun to doubt
the financial wisdom of giving up his profitable connection with the
Spanish Government. At all events, he there and then began to lay plans
to desert his associate. Accordingly, he gave Burr a letter of
introduction to William Henry Harrison, Governor of Indiana Territory,
in which he urged Harrison to have Burr sent to Congress from Indiana,
since upon this "perhaps ... the Union may much depend."[816]
Mythical accounts of Burr's doings and intentions had now sprung up in
the East. The universally known wish of New England Federalist leaders
for a division of the country, the common talk east of the Alleghanies
that this was inevitable, the vivid memory of a like sentiment formerly
prevailing in Kentucky, and the belief in the seaboard States that it
still continued--all rendered probable, to those, living in that
section, the schemes now attributed to Burr.
Of these tales the Eastern newspapers made sensations. A separate
government, they said, was to be set up by Burr in the Western States;
the public lands were to be taken over and divided among Burr's
followers; bounties, in the form of broad acres, were to be offered as
inducements for young men to leave the Atlantic section of the country
for the land of promise toward the sunset; Burr's new government was to
repudiate its share of the public debt; with the aid of British ships
and gold Burr was to conquer Mexico and establish a vast empire by
uniting that imperial domain to the revolutionized Western and Southern
States.[817] The Western press truthfully denied that any secession
sentiment now existed among the pioneers.
The rumors from the South and West met those from the North and East
midway; but Burr having departed for Washington, they subsided for the
time being. The brushwood, however, had been gathered--to burst into a
raging conflagration a year later, when lighted by the torch of
Executive authority in the hands of Thomas Jefferson.
During these months the Spanish officials in Mexico and in the Floridas,
who had long known of the hostility of American feeling toward them,
learned of Burr's plan to seize the Spanish possessions, and magnified
the accounts they received of the preparations he was making.[818]
The British Minister in Washington was also in spasms of nervous
anxiety.[819] When Burr reached the Capital he at once called on that
slow-witted diplomat and repeated his overtures. But Pitt had died; the
prospect of British financial assistance had ended;[820] and Burr sent
Dayton to the Spanish Minister with a weird tale[821] in order to induce
that diplomat to furnish money.
Almost at the same time the South American adventurer, Miranda, again
arrived in America, his zeal more fiery than ever, for the "liberation"
of Venezuela. He was welcomed by the Administration, and Secretary of
State Madison gave him a dinner. Jefferson himself invited the
revolutionist to dine at the Executive Mansion. Burr's hopes were
strengthened, since he intended doing in Mexico precisely what Miranda
was setting out to do in Venezuela.
In February, 1806, Miranda sailed from New York upon his Venezuelan
undertaking. His openly avowed purpose of forcibly expelling the Spanish
Government from that country had been explained to Jefferson and Madison
by the revolutionist personally. Before his departure, the Spanish
filibuster wrote to Madison, cautioning him to keep "in the deepest
secret" the "important matters" which he (Miranda) had laid before
him.[822] The object of his expedition was a matter of public notoriety.
In New York, in the full light of day, he had bought arms and provisions
and had enlisted men for his enterprise.
Excepting for Burr's failure to secure funds from the British
Government, events seemed propitious for the execution of his grand
design. He had written to Blennerhassett a polite and suggestive letter,
not inviting him, however, to engage in the adventure;[823] the eager
Irishman promptly responded, begging to be admitted as a partner in
Burr's enterprises, and pledging the services of himself and his
friends.[824] Burr, to his surprise, was cordially received by Jefferson
at the White House where he had a private conference of two hours with
the President.
The West openly demanded war with Spain; the whole country was aroused;
in the House, Randolph offered a resolution to declare hostilities;
everywhere the President was denounced for weakness and delay.[825] If
only Jefferson would act--if only the people's earnest desire for war
with Spain were granted--Burr could go forward. But the President would
make no hostile move--instead, he proposed to buy the Floridas. Burr,
lacking funds, thought for a moment of abandoning his plans against
Mexico, and actually asked Jefferson for a diplomatic appointment, which
was, of course, refused.[826]
The rumor had reached Spain that the Americans had actually begun war.
On the other hand, the report now came to Washington that the Spaniards
had invaded American soil. The Secretary of War ordered General
Wilkinson to drive the Spaniards back. The demand for war throughout the
country grew louder. If ever Burr's plan of Mexican conquest was to be
carried out, the moment had come to strike the blow. His confederate,
Wilkinson, in command of the American Army and in direct contact with
the Spaniards, had only to act.
The swirl of intrigue continued. Burr tried to get the support of men
disaffected toward the Administration. Among them were Commodore
Truxtun, Commodore Stephen Decatur, and "General"[827] William Eaton.
Truxtun and Decatur were writhing under that shameful treatment by which
each of these heroes had been separated, in effect removed, from the
Navy. Eaton was cursing the Administration for deserting him in his
African exploits, and even more for refusing to pay several thousand
dollars which he claimed to have expended in his Barbary
transactions.[828]
Truxtun and Burr were intimate friends, and the Commodore was fully told
of the design to invade Mexico in the event of war with Spain; should
that not come to pass, Burr advised Truxtun that he meant to settle
lands he had arranged to purchase beyond the Mississippi. He tried to
induce Truxtun to join him, suggesting that he would be put in command
of a naval force to capture Havana, Vera Cruz, and Cartagena. When Burr
"positively" informed him that the President was not a party to his
enterprise, Truxtun declined to associate himself with it. Not an
intimation did Burr give Truxtun of any purpose hostile to the United
States. The two agreed in their contemptuous opinion of Jefferson and
his Administration.[829] To Commodore Decatur, Burr talked in similar
fashion, using substantially the same language.
But to "General" Eaton, whom he had never before met, Burr unfolded
plans more far-reaching and bloody, according to the Barbary hero's
account of the revelations.[830] At first Burr had made to Eaton the
same statements he had detailed to Truxtun and Decatur, with the notable
difference that he had assured Eaton that the proposed expedition was
"under the authority of the general government." Notwithstanding his
familiarity with intrigue, the suddenly guileless Eaton agreed to lead a
division of the invading army under Wilkinson who, Burr assured him,
would be "Chief in Command."
But after a while Eaton's sleeping perception was aroused. Becoming as
sly as a detective, he resolved to "draw Burr out," and "listened with
seeming acquiescence" while the villain "unveiled himself" by
confidences which grew ever wilder and more irrational: Burr would
establish an empire in Mexico and divide the Union; he even "meditated
overthrowing the present Government"--if he could secure Truxtun,
Decatur, and others, he "_would turn Congress neck and heels out of
doors, assassinate the President, seize the treasury and Navy; and
declare himself the protector of an energetic government_."
Eaton at last was "shocked" and "dropped the mask," declaring that the
one word, "_Usurper_, would destroy" Burr. Thereupon Eaton went to
Jefferson and urged the President to appoint Burr American Minister to
some European government and thus get him out of the country, declaring
that "_if Burr were not in some way disposed of we should within
eighteen months have an insurrection if not a revolution on the waters
of the Mississippi_." The President was not perturbed--he had too much
confidence in the Western people, he said, "to admit an _apprehension_
of that kind." But of the horrid details of the murderous and
treasonable villain's plans, never a word said Eaton to Jefferson.[831]
However, the African hero did "detail the whole projects of Mr. Burr" to
certain members of Congress.[832] "They believed Col. Burr capable of
anything--and agreed that _the fellow ought to be hanged_"; but they
refused to be alarmed--Burr's schemes were "too chimerical and his
circumstances too desperate to ... merit of serious consideration."[833]
So for twelve long months Eaton said nothing more about Burr's proposed
deviltry. During this time he continued alternately to belabor Congress
and the Administration for the payment of the expenses of his Barbary
exploits.[834]
Andrew Jackson, while entertaining Burr on his first Western journey,
had become the most promising, in practical support, of all who avowed
themselves ready to follow Burr's invading standard into Mexico; and
with Jackson he had freely consulted about that adventure. From
Washington, Burr now wrote the Tennessee leader of the beclouding of
their mutually cherished prospects of war with Spain.
But hope of war was not dead, wrote Burr--indeed, Miranda's armed
expedition "composed of American citizens, and openly fitted out in an
American port," made it probable. Jackson ought to be attending to
something more than his militia offices, Burr admonished him: "Your
country is full of fine materials for an army, and I have often said a
brigade could be raised in West Tennessee which would drive double their
number of Frenchmen off the earth." From such men let Jackson make out
and send to Burr "a list of officers from colonel down to ensign for one
or two regiments, composed of fellows fit for business, and with whom
you would trust your life and your honor." Burr himself would, "in case
troops should be called for, recommend it to the Department of War"; he
had "reason to believe that on such an occasion" that department would
listen to his advice.[835]
At last Burr, oblivious to the danger that Eaton might disclose the
deadly secrets which he had so imprudently confided to a dissipated
stranger, resolved to act and set out on his fateful journey. Before
doing so, he sent two copies of a cipher letter to Wilkinson. This was
in answer to a letter which Burr had just received from Wilkinson, dated
May 13, 1806, the contents of which never have been revealed. Burr
chose, as the messenger to carry overland one of the copies, Samuel
Swartwout, a youth then twenty-two years of age, and brother of Colonel
John Swartwout whom Jefferson had removed from the office of United
States Marshal for the District of New York largely because of the
Colonel's lifelong friendship for Burr. The other copy was sent by sea
to New Orleans by Dr. Justus Erich Bollmann.[836]
No thought had Burr that Wilkinson, his ancient army friend and the arch
conspirator of the whole plot, would reveal his dispatch. He and
Wilkinson were united too deeply in the adventure for that to be
thinkable. Moreover, the imminence of war appeared to make it certain
that when the General received Burr's cipher, the two men would be
comrades in arms against Spain in a war which, it cannot be too often
repeated, it was believed Wilkinson could bring on at any moment.
Nevertheless, Burr and Dayton had misgivings that the timorous General
might not attack the Spaniards. They bolstered him up by hopeful
letters, appealing to his cupidity, his ambition, his vanity, his fear.
Dayton wrote that Jefferson was about to displace him and appoint
another head of the army; let Wilkinson, therefore, precipitate
hostilities--"You know the rest.... Are you ready? Are your numerous
associates ready? Wealth and glory! Louisiana and Mexico!"[837]
In his cipher dispatch to Wilkinson, Burr went to even greater lengths
and with reason, for the impatient General had written him another
letter, urging him to hurry: "I fancy Miranda has taken the bread out of
your mouth; and I shall be ready for the grand expedition before you
are."[838] Burr then assured Wilkinson that he was not only ready but on
his way, and tried to strengthen the resolution of the shifty General by
falsehood. He told of tremendous aid secured in far-off Washington and
New York, and intimated that England would help. He was coming
himself with money and men, and details were given. Bombastic
sentences--entirely unlike any language appearing in Burr's voluminous
correspondence and papers--were well chosen for their effect on
Wilkinson's vainglorious mind: "The gods invite us to glory and fortune;
it remains to be seen whether we deserve the boon.... Burr guarantees
the result with his life and honor, with the lives and honor and the
fortunes of hundreds, the best blood of our country."[839]
Fatal error! The sending of that dispatch was to give Wilkinson his
opportunity to save himself by assuming the disguise of patriotism and
of fealty to Jefferson, and, clad in these habiliments, to denounce his
associates in the Mexican adventure as traitors to America. Soon, very
soon, Wilkinson was to use Burr's letter in a fashion to bring his
friend and many honest men to the very edge of execution--a fate from
which only the fearlessness and penetrating mind of John Marshall was to
save them.
But this black future Burr could not foresee. Certain, as were most men,
that war with Spain could not be delayed much longer, and knowing that
Wilkinson could precipitate it at any moment, Burr's mind was at rest.
At the beginning of August, 1806, he once more journeyed down the Ohio.
On the way he stopped at a settlement on the Monongahela, not far from
Pittsburgh, where he visited one Colonel George Morgan. This man
afterward declared that Burr talked mysteriously--the Administration was
contemptible, two hundred men could drive the Government into the
Potomac, five hundred could take New York; and, Burr added laughingly,
even the Western States could be detached from the Union. Most of this
was said "in the presence of a considerable company."[840]
The elder Morgan, who was aged and garrulous,[841] pieced together his
inferences from Burr's meaning looks, jocular innuendoes, and mysterious
statements,[842] and detected a purpose to divide the Nation. Deeply
moved, he laid his deductions before the Chief Justice of Pennsylvania
and two other gentlemen from Pittsburgh, a town close at hand; and a
letter was written to Jefferson, advising him of the threatened
danger.[843]
From Pittsburgh, Burr for the second time landed on the island of Harman
Blennerhassett, who was eager for any adventure that would restore his
declining fortunes. If war with Spain should, after all, not come to
pass, Burr's other plan was the purchase of the enormous Bastrop land
grant on the Washita River. Blennerhassett avidly seized upon both
projects.[844] From that moment forward, the settlement of this rich and
extensive domain in the then untouched and almost unexplored West became
the alternative purpose of Aaron Burr in case the desire of his heart,
the seizure of Mexico, should fail.[845]
Unfortunately Blennerhassett who, as his friends declared, "had all
kinds of sense, except common sense,"[846] now wrote a series of letters
for an Ohio country newspaper in answer to the articles appearing in the
Kentucky organ of Daveiss and Humphrey Marshall, the _Western World_.
The Irish enthusiast tried to show that a separation of the Western
States from "Eastern domination" would be a good thing. These foolish
communications were merely repetitions of similar articles then
appearing in the Federalist press of New England, and of effusions
printed in Southern newspapers a few years before. Nobody, it seems,
paid much attention to these vagaries of Blennerhassett. It is possible
that Burr knew of them, but proof of this was never adduced. When the
explosion came, however, Blennerhassett's maunderings were recalled, and
they became another one of those evidences of Burr's guilt which, to the
public mind, were "confirmation strong as proofs of holy writ."
Burr and his newly made partner contracted for the building of fifteen
boats, to be delivered in four months; and pork, meal, and other
provisions were purchased. The island became the center of operations.
Soon a few young men from Pittsburgh joined the enterprise, some of them
sons of Revolutionary officers, and all of them of undoubted loyalty to
the Nation. To each of these one hundred acres of land on the Washita
were promised, as part of their compensation for participating in the
expedition, the entire purpose of which was not then explained to
them.[847]
Burr again visited Marietta, where the local militia were assembled for
their annual drill, and put these rural soldiers through their
evolutions, again fascinating the whole community.[848] At Cincinnati,
Burr held another long conference with his partner, Senator John Smith,
who was a contractor and general storekeeper. The place which the
Washita land speculation had already come to hold in his mind is shown
by the conversation--Burr talked as much of that project as he did of
war with Spain and his great ambition to invade Mexico;[849] but of
secession, not a syllable.
Next Burr hurried to Nashville and once more became the honored guest of
Andrew Jackson, whom he frankly told of the modification of his plans.
His immediate purpose, Burr said, now was to settle the Washita lands.
Of course, if war should break out he would lead a force into Texas and
Mexico. Burr kept back only the part Wilkinson was to play in
precipitating hostilities; and he said nothing of his efforts to bolster
up that frail warrior's resolution.[850]
In Tennessee and Kentucky the talk was again of war with Spain. Indeed,
it was now the only talk.[851] For the third time in the Tennessee
Capital a public banquet was given to the hero by whom the people
expected to be led against the enemy. Soon afterward Jackson issued his
proclamation to the Tennessee militia calling them to arms against the
hated Spaniards, and volunteered his services to the National
Government. Jefferson answered in a letter provoking in its
vagueness.[852]
At Lexington, Kentucky, Burr and Blennerhassett now purchased from
Colonel Charles Lynch, the owner of the Bastrop grant, several hundred
thousand acres on the Washita River in Northern Louisiana.[853]
To many to whom Burr had spoken of his scheme to invade Mexico he gave
the impression that his designs had the approval of the Administration;
to some he actually stated this to be the fact. In case war was
declared, the Administration, of course, would necessarily support
Burr's attack upon the enemy; if hostilities did not occur, the
"Government might overlook the preparations as in the case of
Miranda."[854] It is hard to determine whether the project to invade
Mexico--of which Burr did not inform them, but which they knew to be his
purpose--or the plan to settle the Washita lands, was the more
attractive to the young men who wished to join him. Certainly, the
Bastrop grant was so placed as to afford every possible lure to the
youthful, enterprising, and adventurous.[855]
At this moment Wilkinson, apparently recovered from the panic into which
Clark's letter had thrown him a year before, seemed resolved at last to
strike. He even wrote with enthusiasm to General John Adair: "The time
long looked for by many & wished for by more has now arrived, for
subverting the Spanish government in Mexico--be ready & join me; we will
want little more than light armed troops.... More will be done by
marching than by fighting.... We cannot fail of success.[856] Your
military talents are requisite. Unless you fear to join a Spanish
intriguer [Wilkinson] come immediately--without your aid I can do
nothing."[857] In reply Adair wrote Wilkinson that "the United States
had not declared war against Spain and he did not believe they would."
If not, Adair would not violate the law by joining Wilkinson's projected
attack on Spain.[858]
By the same post Wilkinson wrote to Senator John Smith a letter
bristling with italics: "I shall assuredly push them [the Spaniards]
over the Sabine ... as that you are alive.... _You must speedily send me
a force_ to support our pretensions ... _5000 mounted infantry ... may
suffice to carry us forward as far as Grand River_ [the Rio Grande],
_there we shall require 5000 more to conduct us to Mount el Rey ...
after which from 20_ to _30,000 will be necessary to carry our conquests
to California_ and the _Isthmus of Darien. I write in haste, freely_ and
_confidentially_, being ever your friend."[859]
In Kentucky once more the rumors sprang up that Burr meant to dismember
the Union, and these were now put forward as definite charges. For
months Joseph Hamilton Daveiss, a brother-in-law of John
Marshall--appointed at the latter's instance by President Adams as
United States Attorney for the District of Kentucky[860]--had been
writing Jefferson exciting letters about some kind of conspiracy in
which he was sure Burr was engaged. The President considered lightly
these tales written him by one of his bitterest enemies.
With the idea of embarrassing the Republican President, by connecting
him, through the Administration's seeming acquiescence in Burr's
projects as in the case of the Miranda expedition, Daveiss and his
relative, former Senator Humphrey Marshall--both leaders of the few
Federalists now remaining in Kentucky--welded together the rumors of
Burr's Mexican designs and those of his treasonable plot to separate the
Western States from the Union. These they published in a newspaper which
they controlled at Frankfort.[861]
The moss was removed from the ancient Spanish intrigues; Wilkinson was
truthfully denounced as a pensioner of Spain; but the plot, it was
charged, had veered from a union of the West with the Spanish dominions,
to the establishment, by force of arms, of an independent
trans-Alleghany Government.[862] The Federalist organs in the East
adopted the stories related in the _Western World_, and laid especial
emphasis on the disloyalty of the Western States, particularly of
Kentucky.
The rumors had so aroused the people living near Blennerhassett's island
that Mrs. Blennerhassett sent a messenger to warn Burr that he could
not, in safety, appear there again. Learning this from the bearer of
these tidings, Burr's partner, Senator John Smith, demanded of his
associate an explanation. Burr promptly answered that he was "greatly
surprised and really hurt" by Smith's letter. "If," said Burr, "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."[863]
Daveiss and Humphrey Marshall now resolved to stay the progress of the
plot at which they were convinced that the Republican Administration was
winking. If Jefferson was complacent, Daveiss would act and act
officially; thus the President, by contrast, would be fatally
embarrassed. Another motive, personal in its nature, inspired Daveiss.
He was an able, fearless, passionate man, and he hated Burr violently
for having killed Hamilton whom Daveiss had all but worshiped.[864]
Early in November the District Attorney moved the United States Court at
Frankfort to issue compulsory process for Burr's apprehension and for
the attendance of witnesses. Burr heard of this at Lexington and sent
word that he would appear voluntarily. This he did, and, the court
having denied Daveiss's motion because of the irregularity of it, the
accused demanded that a public and official investigation be made of his
plans and activities. Accordingly, the grand jury was summoned and
Daveiss given time to secure witnesses.
On the day appointed Burr was in court. By his side was his attorney, a
tall, slender, sandy-haired young man of twenty-nine who had just been
appointed to the National Senate. Thus Henry Clay entered the drama.
Daveiss failed to produce a single witness, and Burr, "after a dignified
and grave harangue," was discharged, to the tumultuous delight of the
people.[865]
Two weeks later the discomfited but persistent and undaunted District
Attorney again demanded of Judge Innes the apprehension of the
"traitor." Clay requested of Burr a written denial of the charges so
incessantly made against him. This Burr promptly furnished.[866] Clay
was so convinced of Burr's integrity that he declared in court that he
"could pledge his own honor and innocence" for those of his client.
Once more no witnesses were produced; once more the grand jury could not
return an indictment; once more Burr was discharged. The crowd that
packed the court-room burst into cheers.[867] That night a ball, given
in Burr's honor, crowned this second of his triumphs in the United
States Court.[868]
Thereafter Burr continued his preparations as if nothing had happened.
To all he calmly stated the propriety of his enterprise. To his fellow
adventurer, Senator John Smith, he was again particularly explicit and
clear: "If there should be a war between the United States and Spain, I
shall head a corps of volunteers 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.... I have been persecuted, shamefully persecuted."[869] As to
dividing the Union, Burr told Smith that "if Bonaparte with all his army
were in the western country with the object ... he would never see salt
water again."[870]
While Burr was writing this letter, Jefferson was signing a document
that, when sent forth, as it immediately was, ignited all the rumors,
reports, accusations, and suspicions that had been accumulating, and
set the country on fire with wrath against the disturber of our national
bliss.
When Wilkinson received Burr's cipher dispatch, he took time to consider
the best methods for saving himself, filling his purse, and brightening
his tarnished reputation.[871] The faithful and unsuspecting young
Swartwout, Burr's messenger, was persuaded to remain in Wilkinson's camp
for a week after the delivery of the fatal letter. He was treated with
marked friendliness, and from him the General afterward pretended to
have extracted frightful details of Burr's undertaking.[872]
Seven more days passed, and at last, two weeks after he had received
Burr's cipher dispatch, Wilkinson wrote Jefferson that "a Numerous and
powerful Association, extending from New York to ... the Mississippi had
been formed to levy & rendezvous eight or Ten Thousand Men in New
Orleans ... & from thence ... to carry an Expedition against Vera Cruz."
Wilkinson gave details--dates and places of assembling troops, methods
of invasion, etc., and added: "It is unknown under what Authority this
Enterprize has been projected, from where the means of its support are
derived, or what may be the intentions of its leaders in relation to the
Territory of Orleans."[873]
Surprising as this was, the General supported it by a "confidential" and
personal letter to Jefferson[874] still more mysterious and disquieting:
"The magnitude of the Enterprize, the desperation of the Place, and the
stupendous consequences with which it seems pregnant, stagger my belief
& excite doubts of the reality, against the conviction of my Senses; &
it is for this reason I shall forbear to commit Names.... I have never
in my whole Life found myself in such circumstances of perplexity and
Embarrassment as at present; for I am not only uninformed of the prime
mover and Ultimate Objects of this daring Enterprize, but am ignorant of
the foundation on which it rests."
Wilkinson went on to say that, as an inducement for him to take part in
it, he had been told that "you [Jefferson] connive at the combination
and that our country will justify it." If this were not true, "then I
have no doubt the revolt of this Territory will be made an auxiliary
step to the main design of attacking Mexico." So he thought he ought to
compromise with the Spaniards and throw himself with his "little Band
into New Orleans, to be ready to defend that Capitol against Usurpation
and violence."
He wrote more to the same effect, and added this postscript: "Should
Spain be disposed to War seriously with us, might not some plan be
adopted to correct the delirium of the associates, and by a pitiable
appeal to their patriotism to engage them in the service of their
Country. I merely offer the suggestion as a possible expedient to
prevent the Horrors of a civil contest, and I do believe that, with
competent authority I could accomplish the object."[875]
This was the letter which a few months later caused Chief Justice John
Marshall to issue a subpoena _duces tecum_ directed to President
Thomas Jefferson in order to have it produced in court.[876]
Jefferson had known of the rumors about Burr--George Morgan, Joseph H.
Daveiss, and William Eaton had put him on the track of the "traitor."
Others had told of the American Catiline's treasonable plans; and the
newspapers, of which he was a studious reader, had advised the President
of every sensation that had appeared. Jefferson and his Cabinet had
nervously debated the situation, decided on plans to forestall the
conspiracy, and then hurriedly abandoned them;[877] evidently they had
no faith in the lurid stories of Burr's treasonable purposes and
preparations.
Letters to Jefferson from the West, arriving October 24, 1806, bore out
the disbelief of the President and his Cabinet in Burr's lawless
activities; for these advices from the President's friends who, on the
ground, were closely watching Burr, contained "not one word ... of any
movements by Colonel Burr. This total silence of the officers of the
Government, of the members of Congress, of the newspapers, proves he is
committing no overt act against law," Jefferson wrote in his Cabinet
Memorandum.[878] So the President and his Cabinet decided to do nothing
further at that time than to order John Graham, while on his way to
assume the office of Secretary of the Orleans Territory, to investigate
Burr's activities.
But when the mysterious warnings from Wilkinson reached Jefferson, he
again called his Cabinet into consultation and precipitate action was
taken. Orders were dispatched to military commanders to take measures
against Burr's expedition; Wilkinson was directed to withdraw his troops
confronting the Spaniards and dispose of them for the defense of New
Orleans and other endangered points.
Most important of all, a Presidential Proclamation was issued to all
officials and citizens, declaring that a conspiracy had been discovered,
warning all persons engaged in it to withdraw, and directing the
ferreting out and seizure of the conspirators' "vessels, arms and
military stores."[879] Graham preceded the Proclamation and induced
Governor Tiffin and the Ohio Legislature to take action for the seizure
of Burr's boats and supplies at Marietta; and this was done.
On December 10, 1806, Comfort Tyler of Onondaga County, New York, one of
the minor leaders of the Burr expedition,[880] arrived at
Blennerhassett's island with a few boats and some twenty young men who
had joined the adventure. There were a half-dozen rifles among them,
and a few fowling pieces. With these the youths went hunting in the Ohio
forests. Blennerhassett, too, had his pistols. This was the whole of the
warlike equipment of that militant throng--all that constituted that
"overt act of treason by levying war against the United States" which
soon brought Burr within the shadow of the gallows.
Jefferson's Proclamation had now reached Western Virginia, and it so
kindled the patriotism of the militia of Wood County, within the
boundaries of which the island lay, that that heroic host resolved to
descend in its armed might upon the embattled "traitors," capture and
deliver them to the vengeance of the law. The Wood County men, unlike
those of Ohio, needed no act of legislature to set their loyalty in
motion. The Presidential Proclamation, and the sight of the enemies of
the Nation gathered in such threatening and formidable array on
Blennerhassett's island, were more than enough to cause them to spring
to arms in behalf of their imperiled country.
Badly frightened, Blennerhassett and Tyler, leaving Mrs. Blennerhassett
behind, fled down the river with thirty men in six half-equipped boats.
They passed the sentries of the Wood County militia only because those
ministers of vigilance had got thoroughly drunk and were sound asleep.
Next day, however, the militia invaded the deserted island and, finding
the generously stocked wine cellar, restored their strength by drinking
all the wine and whiskey on the place. They then demonstrated their
abhorrence of treason by breaking the windows, demolishing the
furniture, tearing the pictures, trampling the flower-beds, burning the
fences, and insulting Mrs. Blennerhassett.[881]
Graham procured the authorities of Kentucky to take action similar to
that adopted in Ohio. Burr, still ignorant of Jefferson's Proclamation,
proceeded to Nashville, there to embark in the boats Jackson was
building for him, to go on the last river voyage of his adventure.
Jackson, like Smith and Clay, had been made uneasy by the rumors of
Burr's treasonable designs. He had written Governor Claiborne at New
Orleans a letter of warning, particularly against Wilkinson, and not
mentioning Burr by name.[882] When Burr arrived at the Tennessee
Capital, Jackson, his manner now cold, demanded an explanation. Burr,
"with his usual dignified courtesy, instantly complied."[883] It would
seem that Jackson was satisfied by his reassurance, in spite of the
President's Proclamation which reached Nashville three days before
Burr's departure;[884] for not only did Jackson permit him to proceed,
but, when the adventurer started down the Cumberland in two of the six
boats which he had built on Burr's previous orders, consented that a
nephew of his wife should make one of the ten or fifteen young men who
accompanied the expedition. He even gave the boy a letter of
introduction to Governor Claiborne at New Orleans.[885]
After the people had recovered from the shock of astonishment that
Jefferson's Proclamation gave them, the change in them was instantaneous
and extreme.[886] The President, to be sure, had not mentioned Burr's
name or so much as hinted at treason; all that Jefferson charged was a
conspiracy to attack the hated Spaniards, and this was the hope and
desire of every Westerner. Nevertheless, the public intelligence
penetrated what it believed to be the terrible meaning behind the
President's cautious words; the atrocious purpose to dismember the
Union, reports of which had pursued Burr since a Spanish agent had first
set the rumor afoot a year before, was established in the minds of the
people.
Surely the President would not hunt down an American seeking to
overthrow Spanish power in North America, when a Spanish "liberator" had
been permitted to fit out in the United States an expedition to do the
same thing in South America. Surely Jefferson would not visit his wrath
on one whose only crime was the gathering of men to strike at Spain with
which power, up to that very moment, everybody supposed war to be
impending and, indeed, almost begun. This was unthinkable. Burr must be
guilty of a greater crime--the greatest of crimes. In such fashion was
public opinion made ready to demand the execution of the "traitor" who
had so outrageously deceived the people; and that popular outcry began
for the blood of Aaron Burr by which John Marshall was assailed while
presiding over the court to which the accused was finally taken.
From the moment that Wilkinson decided to denounce Burr to the
President, his language became that of a Bombastes Furioso, his actions
those of a military ruffian, his secret movements matched the cunning of
a bribe-taking criminal. By swiftest dispatch another message was sent
to Jefferson. "My doubts have ceased," wrote Wilkinson, concerning "this
deep, dark, wicked, and wide-spread conspiracy, embracing the young and
the old, the democrat and the 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."
Wilkinson assured Jefferson, however, that he would meet the awful
emergency with "indefatigable industry, incessant vigilance and hardy
courage"; indeed, declared he, "I shall glory to give my life" to defeat
the devilish plot. But the numbers of the desperadoes were so great
that, unless Jefferson heavily reinforced him with men and ships, he and
the American army under his command would probably perish.[887]
As the horse bearing the messenger to Jefferson disappeared in the
forests, another, upon which rode a very different agent, left
Wilkinson's camp and galloped toward the Southwest. The latter agent was
Walter Burling, a corrupt factotum of Wilkinson's, whom that martial
patriot sent to the Spanish Viceroy at Mexico City to advise him of
Wilkinson's latest service to Spain in thwarting Burr's attack upon the
royal possessions, and in averting war between the United States and His
Catholic Majesty. For these noble performances Wilkinson demanded of the
Spanish Viceroy more than one hundred and ten thousand dollars in cash,
together with other sums which "he [had] been obliged to spend in order
to sustain the cause of good government, order and humanity."[888]