accordingly done in Burling's presence. The Royal representative then
told Burling that he knew all about Burr's plans to invade Mexico, and
had long been ready to repel a much larger force than Wilkinson stated
Burr to be leading. "I thanked him for his martial zeal and insinuated
that I wished him happiness in the pursuit of his righteous intentions,"
wrote the disgusted and sarcastic Viceroy in his report to the
Government at Madrid.[889] With this Wilkinson had to be content, for
the Viceroy refused to pay him a peso.
Upon Burling's return, the vigilant American Commander-in-Chief
forwarded to Jefferson a report of conditions in Mexico, as represented
by Burling, together with a request for fifteen hundred dollars to pay
that investigator's expenses.[890] The sole object of Burling's journey
was, Wilkinson informed the President, to observe and report upon the
situation in the great Spanish Vice-royalty as recent events had
affected it, with respect to the interests of the United States; and
Jefferson was assured by the General that his agent was the soundest and
most devoted of patriots.[891]
To back up the character he was now playing, Wilkinson showered warnings
upon the officers of the Army and upon government officials in New
Orleans. "The plot thickens.... My God! what a situation has our country
reached. Let us save it if we can.... On the 15th of this month
[November], 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." This was a typical message to
Colonel Cushing.[892]
Wilkinson dispatched orders to Colonel Freeman at New Orleans to repair
the defenses of the city; but "be you as silent as the grave.... You
are surrounded by secret agents."[893] He informed Governor Claiborne
that "the storm will probably burst in New Orleans, where I shall meet
it and triumph or perish."[894] Otherwise "the fair fabric of our
independence ... will be prostrated, and the Goddess of Liberty will
take her flight from the globe forever." Again and again, Wilkinson
sounded the alarm. "Burr with rebellious bands may soon be at hand."
Therefore, "civil institutions must ... yield to the strong arm of
military law."[895] But Claiborne must "not breathe or even hint" that
catastrophe was approaching.
At last, however, Wilkinson unbosomed himself to the merchants of New
Orleans whom he assembled for that purpose. Agents of the bandit chief
were all around them, he said--he would have arrested them long since
had he possessed the power. The desperadoes were in larger force than he
had at first believed--"by all advices the enemy, at least 2000 strong,"
would soon reach Natchez. They meant, first, to sack New Orleans and
then to attack Mexico by land and sea. If successful in that invasion,
"the Western States were then to be separated from the Union." But
Wilkinson would "pledge his life in the defense of the city and his
country."[896]
At that moment Burr had not even started down the Mississippi with his
nine boats manned by sixty young men.
For a time the city was thrown into a panic.[897] But Wilkinson had
overblustered. The people, recovered from their fright, began to laugh.
Thousands of fierce Vandals, brandishing their arms, on their way to
take New Orleans, capture Mexico, destroy the Union! And this mighty
force not now far away! How could that be and no tidings of it except
from Wilkinson? That hero witnessed with dismay this turn of public
sentiment. Ruthless action, then, or all his complicated performances
would go for naught. Ridicule would be fatal to his plans.
So General James Wilkinson, as head of the Army of the United States,
began a reign of lawless violence that has no parallel in American
history. To such base uses can authority be put--with such peril to life
and liberty is it invested--when unchecked by Constitutional limitation
enforced by fearless and unprejudiced judges! Men were arrested and
thrown into prison on Wilkinson's orders, wholly without warrant of law.
The first thus to be seized were Samuel Swartwout and Dr. Justus Erich
Bollmann. Their papers were confiscated; they were refused counsel, were
even denied access to the courts. Soldiers carried them to a warship in
the river which at once set sail with orders from Wilkinson for the
delivery of the prisoners to the President at Washington.[898]
Another man similarly arrested was Peter V. Ogden of New York, nephew of
Jonathan Dayton, who had been the companion of Swartwout in his long
overland journey in quest of Wilkinson. Public-spirited lawyers swore
out writs of habeas corpus for these three men. Not a syllable of
evidence was adduced against Ogden, who by some mischance had not been
transported with Bollmann and Swartwout, and the court discharged him.
In response to the order of the court to produce the bodies of Bollmann
and Swartwout, Wilkinson sent his aide with the General's return to the
process. As the "Commander of the Army of the United States," he said,
he took on himself "all responsibility ... resulting from the arrest of
Erick Bollmann, who is accused of being guilty of the crime of treason
against the government and the laws of the United States," and he had
"taken opportune measures to warrant his safe delivery into the hands of
the President."
This had been done, avowed Wilkinson, solely in order "to secure the
nation which is menaced to its foundations by a band of traitors
associated with Aaron Burr." To that end he would, he defiantly informed
the court, "arrest, without respect to class or station, all those
against whom [he had] positive proof of being accomplices in the
machinations against the state."[899] This defiance of the courts was
accompanied by a copy of Wilkinson's version of Burr's cipher letter and
some memoranda by Bollmann, together with Wilkinson's assertion that he
had certain evidence which he would not, at that time, disclose.
Jefferson had long demanded of Wilkinson a copy of the incriminating
Burr letter, and this was now forwarded, together with the General's
account of the arrest of Bollmann, Swartwout, and Ogden. In his report
to the President, Wilkinson accused the judge who had released Ogden of
being an associate of Burr in his "treasonable combinations," and
characteristically added that he would "look to our country for
protection" in case suit for damages was brought against him by Bollmann
and Swartwout.[900]
While Bollmann and Swartwout, in close confinement on the warship, were
tossing on the winter seas, the saturnalia of defiance of the law
continued in New Orleans. Ogden was again seized and incarcerated. So
was his friend, James Alexander of New York, who had displeased
Wilkinson by suing out the writs of habeas corpus. Both were shortly
taken to a military prison. Judges, leading lawyers, prominent
citizens--all protested in vain. New writs of habeas corpus were issued
and ignored. Edward Livingston sued out a writ of attachment[901]
against Wilkinson. It was defied. The civil governor was appealed to; he
was cowed and declined to act in this "delicate as well as dangerous"
state of things. In despair and disgust Judge James Workman adjourned
the Orleans County Court _sine die_ and resigned from the Bench;[902] he
too was seized by Wilkinson's soldiers, and recovered his liberty only
by the return of the Judge of the United States District Court, who
dared the wrath of the military tyrant in order to release his
imprisoned fellow judge.[903]
In the midst of this debauch of military lawlessness, General John
Adair, late one afternoon, rode into New Orleans. He had come on
business, having sent three thousand gallons of whiskey and two
boatloads of provisions to be sold in the city, and expecting also to
collect a debt of fifteen hundred dollars due him at that place; he had
also intended to make some land deals.
The moment Wilkinson heard of the arrival of his old friend and comrade,
the General ordered "a captain and one hundred soldiers" to seize Adair.
This was done so peremptorily that he was not allowed to dine, "altho
the provision was ready on the table"; he was denied medicine, which on
account of illness he wished to take with him; he was refused extra
clothing and was not even allowed "to give directions respecting his
horses which cost him $700 in Kentucky." Then the bewildered Adair was
hurried on board a schooner and taken "down the river 25 miles, landed
on the other side ... and placed under a tent in a swamp."
After he had been kept six days under guard in this situation, Adair
"was shipped aboard the schooner Thatcher for Baltimore ... in the
custody of Lt. Luckett." Wilkinson ordered the lieutenant to keep Adair
in close confinement and to resist "with force and arms" any civil
officer who might attempt to take Adair "by a writ of habeas
corpus."[904]
The reason for this particular atrocity was that Wilkinson had written
Adair the letters quoted above, and unless his correspondent were
discredited and disgraced, he could convict Wilkinson of the very
conspiracy with which Burr was being charged.[905] During his reign of
terror to put down "treason," the General was in secret communication
with the Spaniards, earning the bribe money which he was, and long had
been, receiving from them.[906]
While Wilkinson at New Orleans was thus openly playing despot and
secretly serving Spain, the President's Annual Message was read to
Congress.
In this document Jefferson informed the National Legislature of the
advance of the Spaniards toward American territory, the alarming posture
of affairs, the quick response of the pioneers to the call of the
Government for volunteers. "Having received information," he said,
"that, in another part of the United States, a great number of private
individuals were combining together, arming and organizing themselves
contrary to law, to carry on a military expedition against the
territories of Spain [he] thought it necessary to take measures ... for
suppressing this enterprise ... and bringing to justice its authors and
abettors."[907] Such was the slight reference made to the Burr
"conspiracy." Thanks to the President's Proclamation, the "treasonable"
plot of Aaron Burr was already on every tongue; but here, indeed, was an
anti-climax.
The Senate referred the brief paragraph of the President's Message
relating to the conspiracy to a special committee. The committee took no
action. Everybody was in suspense. What were the facts? Nobody knew. But
the air was thick with surmise, rumor, conjecture, and strange
fancies--none of them bearing the color of truth.[908] Marshall was
then in Washington and must have heard all these tales which were on
every tongue.
In two weeks from the time Jefferson's Message was read to Congress,
John Randolph rose in his place in the House, and in a speech of sharp
criticism both of Spain and of the President, demanded that the
President lay before Congress any information in his possession
concerning the conspiracy and the measures taken to suppress it.[909]
A heated debate followed. Jefferson's personal supporters opposed the
resolution. It was, however, generally agreed, as stated by George W.
Campbell of Tennessee, that "this conspiracy has been painted in
stronger colors than there is reason to think it deserves." There was no
real evidence, said Campbell; nothing but "newspaper evidence."[910]
Finally that part of the resolution calling for the facts as to the
conspiracy was passed by a vote of 109 yeas to 14 nays; while the clause
demanding information as to the measures Jefferson had taken was carried
by 67 yeas to 52 nays.[911]
A week later the President responded in a Special Message. His
information as to the conspiracy was, he said, a "voluminous mass," but
there was in it "little to constitute legal evidence." It was "chiefly
in the form of letters, often containing such a mixture of rumors,
conjectures, and suspicions, as renders it difficult to sift out the
real facts." On November 25, said Jefferson, he had received Wilkinson's
letter exposing Burr's evil designs which the General, "with the honor
of a soldier and fidelity of a good citizen," had sent him, and which,
"when brought together" with some other information, "developed Burr's
general designs."[912]
The President assured Congress that "one of these was the severance of
the Union of these States beyond the Alleghany mountains; the other, an
attack on Mexico. A third object was provided ... the settlement of a
pretended purchase of a tract of country on the Washita." But "this was
merely a pretext." Burr had soon found that the Western settlers were
not to be seduced into secession; and thereupon, said Jefferson, the
desperado "determined to seize upon New Orleans, plunder the bank there,
possess himself of the military and naval stores, and proceed on his
expedition to Mexico." For this purpose Burr had "collected ... all the
ardent, restless, desperate, and disaffected persons" within his reach.
Therefore the President made his Proclamation of November 27, which had
thwarted Burr's purposes. In New Orleans, however, General Wilkinson had
been forced to take extreme measures for the defense of the country
against the oncoming plunderers. Among these was the seizure of Bollmann
and Swartwout who were "particularly employed in the endeavor to corrupt
the General and the Army of the United States," and who had been sent
oversea by Wilkinson for "ports in the Atlantic states, probably on the
consideration that an impartial trial could not be expected ... in New
Orleans, and that the city was not as yet a safe place of
confinement."[913]
As to Burr, Jefferson assured Congress that his "_guilt is placed beyond
question_."[914]
With this amazing Message the President sent an affidavit of
Wilkinson's, as well as two letters from that veracious officer,[915]
and a copy of Wilkinson's version of Burr's letter to him from which the
General had carefully omitted the fact that the imprudent message was in
answer to a dispatch from himself. But Jefferson did not transmit to
Congress the letter, dated October 21, 1806, which he had received from
Wilkinson.
Thoughtful men, who had personally studied Burr for years and who were
unfriendly to him, doubted the accuracy of Wilkinson's version of the
Burr dispatch: "It sounds more like Wilkinson's letter than Burr's,"
Senator Plumer records in his diary. "There are ... some things in it
quite irrelevant.... Burr's habits have been never to trust himself on
paper, if he could avoid it--when he wrote, it was with great
caution.... Wilkinson is not an accurate correct man."[916]
No such doubts, however, assailed the eager multitude. The awful charge
of treason had now been formally made against Burr by the President of
the United States. This, the most sensational part of Jefferson's
Message, at once caught and held the attention of the public, which took
for granted the truth of it. From that moment the popular mind was made
up, and the popular voice demanded the life of Aaron Burr. No mere trial
in court, no adherence to rules of evidence, no such insignificant fact
as the American Constitution, must be permitted to stand between the
people's aroused loyalty and the miscreant whom the Chief Executive of
the Nation had pronounced guilty of treason.
FOOTNOTES:
[752] "We were all deeply affected, and many shed tears." (Plumer to his
wife, March 2, 1805, Plumer, 331; and see _Memoirs, J. Q. A._: Adams, I,
367.)
"Tears did flow abundantly." (Burr to his daughter, March 13, 1805,
Davis, II, 360.)
[753] "There was nothing written or prepared.... It was the solemnity,
the anxiety, the expectation, and the interest which I saw strongly
painted in the countenances of the auditors, that inspired whatever was
said." (_Ib._ 360.)
[754] The speech, records the _Washington Federalist_, which had been
extremely abusive of Burr, "was said to be the most dignified, sublime
and impressive that ever was uttered."
"His address ... was delivered with great force and propriety." (Plumer
to his wife, March 2, 1805, Plumer, 331.)
"His speech ... was delivered with great dignity.... It was listened to
with the most earnest and universal attention." (_Memoirs, J. Q. A._:
Adams, I, 367.) Burr made a profound impression on John Quincy Adams.
"There was not a member present but felt the force of this solemn appeal
to his sense of duty." (J. Q. Adams to his father, March 14, 1805,
_Writings, J. Q. A._: Ford, III, 119.)
The franking privilege was given Burr for life, a courtesy never before
extended except to a President of the United States and Mrs. Washington.
(See Hillhouse's speech, _Annals_, 10th Cong. 1st Sess. 272.)
[755] His father was the President of Princeton. His maternal
grandfather was Jonathan Edwards.
[756] Hamilton's pursuit of Burr was lifelong and increasingly venomous.
It seems incredible that a man so transcendently great as
Hamilton--easily the foremost creative mind in American
statesmanship--should have succumbed to personal animosities such as he
displayed toward John Adams, and toward Aaron Burr.
The rivalry of Hamilton and Burr began as young attorneys at the New
York bar, where Burr was the only lawyer considered the equal of
Hamilton. Hamilton's open hostility, however, first showed itself when
Burr, then but thirty-five years of age, defeated Hamilton's
father-in-law, Philip Schuyler, for the United States Senate. The very
next year Hamilton prevented Burr from being nominated and elected
Governor of New York. Then Burr was seriously considered for
Vice-President, but Hamilton also thwarted this project.
When Burr was in the Senate, the anti-Federalists in Congress
unanimously recommended him for the French Mission; and Madison and
Monroe, on behalf of their colleagues, twice formally urged Burr's
appointment. Hamilton used his influence against it, and the appointment
was not made. At the expiration of Burr's term in the Senate, Hamilton
saw to it that he should not be chosen again and Hamilton's
father-in-law this time succeeded.
President Adams, in 1798, earnestly desired to appoint Burr to the
office of Brigadier-General under Washington in the provisional army
raised for the expected war with France. Hamilton objected so
strenuously that the President was forced to give up his design. (See
Adams to Rush, Aug. 25, 1805, _Old Family Letters_, 77; and same to
same, June 23, 1807, _ib._ 150.)
In the Presidential contest in the House in 1801 (see vol. II, 533-38,
of this work), Burr, notwithstanding his refusal to do anything in his
own behalf (_ib._ 539-47), would probably have been elected instead of
Jefferson, had not Hamilton savagely opposed him. (_Ib._)
When, in 1804, Burr ran for Governor of New York, Hamilton again
attacked him. It was for one of Hamilton's assaults upon him during this
campaign that Burr challenged him. (See Parton: _Life and Times of Aaron
Burr_, 339 _et seq._; also Adams: _U.S._ II, 185 _et seq._; and _Private
Journal of Aaron Burr_, reprinted from manuscript in the library of W.
K. Bixby, Introduction, iv-vi.) So prevalent was dueling that, but for
Hamilton's incalculable services in founding the Nation and the lack of
similar constructive work by Burr, the hatred of Burr's political
enemies and the fatal result of the duel, there certainly would have
been no greater outcry over the encounter than over any of the similar
meetings between public men during that period.
[757] Dueling continued for more than half a century. Many of the most
eminent of Americans, such as Clay, Randolph, Jackson, and Benton,
fought on "the field of honor." In 1820 a resolution against dueling,
offered in the Senate by Senator Morrill of New Hampshire, was laid on
the table. (_Annals_, 16th Cong. 1st Sess. 630, 636.)
[758] McCaleb: _Aaron Burr Conspiracy_, 19; Parton: _Burr_, 382.
[759] Vol. II, 545, of this work.
[760] Adams: _U.S._ I, 331.
[761] "His official conduct in the Senate ... has fully met my
approbation," testifies the super-critical Plumer in a letter to his
wife March 2, 1805. (Plumer, 331.)
[762] "Burr is completely an insulated man." (Sedgwick to King, Feb. 20,
1802, King, IV, 74.)
"Burr has lost ground very much with Jefferson's sect during the present
session of Congress.... He has been not a little abused ... in the
democratic prints." (Troup to King, April 9, 1802, King, IV, 103.)
Also see _supra_, chap. II; Adams: _U.S._ I, 280; and Parton: _Burr_,
309.
[763] Adams: _U.S._ I, 230-33; Channing: _Jeff. System_, 17-19.
[764] "Burr is a gone man; ... Jefferson is really in the dust in point
of character, but notwithstanding this, he is looked up to ... as the
Gog and Magog of his party." (Troup to King, Dec. 12, 1802, King, IV,
192-93.) See also Adams: _U.S._ I, 282.
[765] Channing: _Jeff. System_, 18-19.
[766] Adams: _U.S._ I, 332.
[767] Adams: _U.S._ II, 185.
"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.... It is not shown that Burr ever lamented or grieved
over the course of things, however severely and painfully it pressed
upon him." (McCaleb, 19.) See also Parton: _Burr_, 336.
[768] "Burr ... is acting a little and skulking part. Although Jefferson
hates him as much as one demagogue can possibly hate another who is
aiming to rival him, yet Burr does not come forward in an open and manly
way agt. him.... Burr is ruined in politics as well as in fortune."
(Troup to King, Aug. 24, 1802, King, IV, 160.)
[769] Davis, II, 89 _et seq._; Adams: _U.S._ I, 332-33; McCaleb, 20;
Parton: _Burr_, 327 _et seq._
[770] See _supra_, 150-52, and vol. IV, chap. I, of this work.
[771] Plumer, 295.
[772] It appears that some of the New England Federalists urged upon the
British Minister the rejection of the articles of the Boundary Treaty in
retaliation for the Senate's striking out one article of that
Convention. They did this, records the British Minister, because, as
they urged, such action by the British Government "would prove to be a
great exciting cause to them [the New England Secessionists] to go
forward rapidly in the steps which they have already commenced toward a
separation from the Southern part of the Union.
"The [Federalist] members of the Senate," continues Merry, "have availed
themselves of the opportunity of their being collected here to hold
private meetings on this subject, and ... their plans and calculations
respecting the event have been long seriously resolved.... They
naturally look forward to Great Britain for support and assistance
whenever the occasion shall arrive." (Merry to Hawkesbury, March 1,
1804, as quoted in Adams: _U.S._ II, 392.)
[773] As early as 1784, Washington declared that he feared the effect on
the Western people "if the Spaniards on their right, and Great Britain
on their left, instead of throwing impediments in their way as they now
do, should hold out lures for their trade and alliance.... The western
settlers (I speak now from my own observations) stand as it were, upon a
pivot. The touch of a feather would turn them any way.... It is by the
cement of interest alone we can be held together." (Washington to the
Governor of Virginia, 1784, as quoted in Marshall, V, 15-16.)
[774] Marshall, V, 179.
[775] Jefferson to Breckenridge, Aug. 12, 1803, _Works_: Ford, X,
footnotes to 5-6.
[776] See Shepherd in _Am. Hist. Rev._ VIII, 501 _et seq._; also _ib._
IX, 748 _et seq._
[777] Clark: _Proofs of the Corruption of Gen. James Wilkinson_, 11-12,
16, 18-24, and documents therein referred to and printed in the appendix
to Clark's volume.
[778] "Wilkinson is entirely devoted to us. He enjoys a considerable
pension from the King." (Casa Yrujo, Spanish Minister, to Cevallos, Jan.
28, 1807, as quoted in Adams: _U.S._ III, 342.) And see affidavits of
Mercier and Derbigny, _Blennerhassett Papers_: Safford, footnotes to
429, 432.
"He [Wilkinson] had acted conformably as suited the true interests of
Spain, and so I assured him for his satisfaction." (Folch, Spanish
Governor of Florida, to the Governor-General of Cuba, June 25, 1807, as
quoted by Cox in _Am. Hist. Rev._ X, 839.)
[779] Parton: _Burr_, 383; see also McCaleb, 4-9.
It should be borne in mind that this was the same Wilkinson who took so
unworthy a part in the "Conway Cabal" against Washington during the
Revolution. (See vol. I, 121-23, of this work.)
For further treatment of the Spanish intrigue, see Cox in _Am. Hist
Rev._ XIX, 794-812; also Cox in _Southwestern Historical Quarterly_,
XVII, 140-87.
[780] Annual Message, Dec. 3, 1805, and Special Message, Dec. 6, 1805,
Richardson, I, 384-85, 388-89.
[781] See _Memoirs, J. Q. A._: Adams, I, 314-15.
Burr wrote: "In New-York I am to be disfranchised, and in New-Jersey
hanged" but "you will not ... conclude that I have become disposed to
submit tamely to the machinations of a banditti." Burr to his
son-in-law, March 22, 1805, Davis, II, 365.
[782] 1797-98.
[783] Lodge: _Alexander Hamilton_, 212-15; and see Turner in _Am. Hist.
Rev._ X, 276.
[784] Davis, II, 376-79.
[785] Only one previous incident in Burr's public life can even be
faintly criticized from the point of view of honesty. In 1799 there were
in New York City but two banking institutions, and both were controlled
by Federalists. These banks aided business men of the Federalist Party
and refused accommodation to Republican business men. The Federalists
controlled the Legislature and no State charter for another bank in New
York could be had.
Burr, as a member of the State Senate, secured from the Legislature a
charter for the Manhattan Company to supply pure water to the city; but
this charter authorized the use by the company of its surplus capital in
any lawful way it pleased. Thus was established a new bank where
Republican business men could get loans. Burr, in committee, frankly
declared that the surplus was to establish a bank, and Governor Jay
signed the bill. Although the whole project appears to have been open
and aboveboard as far as Burr was concerned, yet when the bank began
business, a violent attack was made on him. (Parton: _Burr_, 237-40.)
For charter see _Laws of New York_ (Webster and Skinner's edition),
1799, chap. 84.
[786] Merry to Harrowby, Aug. 6, 1804, as quoted in Adams: _U.S._ II,
395.
[787] McCaleb, viii-ix, 20-23.
[788] Merry to Harrowby (No. 15), "most secret," March 29, 1805, as
quoted in Adams: _U.S._ II, 403.
[789] Adams: _U.S._ II, 394.
[790] Davis, II, 381; also Parton: _Burr_, 412.
[791] Henry Adams, in his researches in the British and Spanish
archives, discovered and for the first time made public, in 1890, the
dispatches of the British, Spanish, and French Ministers to their
Governments. (See Adams: _U.S._ III, chaps. XIII and XIV.)
[792] Professor Walter Flavius McCaleb has exploded the myth as to
Burr's treasonable purposes, which hitherto has been accepted as
history. His book, the _Aaron Burr Conspiracy_, may be said to be the
last word on the subject. The lines which Professor McCaleb has therein
so firmly established have been followed in this chapter.
[793] Pitt died and Burr did not get any money from the British. (See
Davis, II, 381.)
[794] "Burr's intrigue with Merry and Casa Yrujo was but a consummate
piece of imposture." (McCaleb, viii.)
[795] Up to this time Dayton had had an honorable career. He had been a
gallant officer of the Revolution; a member of the New Jersey
Legislature for several years and finally Speaker of the House; a
delegate to the Constitutional Convention; a Representative in Congress
for four terms, during the last two of which he was chosen Speaker of
that body; and finally Senator of the United States. He came of a
distinguished family, was a graduate of Princeton, and a man of high
standing politically and socially.
[796] See Cox in _Am. Hist. Rev._ XIX, 801; also in _Southwestern Hist.
Quarterly_, XVII, 174.
[797] That Burr, Dayton, and others seriously thought of building a
canal around the falls of the Ohio on the Indiana side, is proved by an
act passed by the Legislature of Indiana Territory in August, 1805, and
approved by Governor William Henry Harrison on the 24th of that month.
The act--entitled "An Act to Incorporate the Indiana Canal Company"--is
very elaborate, authorizes a capital of one million dollars, and names
as directors George Rogers Clark, John Brown, Jonathan Dayton, Aaron
Burr, Benjamin Hovey, Davis Floyd, and six others. (See _Laws of the
Indiana Territory, 1801-1806_, 94-108.) The author is indebted to Hon.
Merrill Moores, M.C., of Indianapolis, for the reference to this
statute.
[798] Hildreth, V. 597.
[799] Adair had been a soldier in the Revolutionary War, an Indian
fighter in the West, a member of the Kentucky Constitutional Convention,
Speaker of the House of Representatives of that State, Registrar of the
United States Land Office, and was one of the ablest, most trusted, and
best beloved of Kentuckians.
Adair afterward declared that "the intentions of Colonel Burr ... were
to prepare and lead an expedition into Mexico, predicated on a war"
between Spain and the United States; "without a war he knew he could do
nothing." If war did not come he expected to settle the Washita lands.
(Davis, II, 380.)
[800] See McCaleb, 25; Parton: _Burr_, 385-86.
[801] McCaleb, 26; Parton: _Life of Andrew Jackson_, I, 307-10.
[802] Parton: _Jackson_, I, 309.
[803] Burr to his daughter, May 23,1805. This letter is delightful. "I
will ask Saint A. to pray for thee too. I believe much in the efficacy
of her prayers." (Davis, II, 372.)
[804] McCaleb, 27; Parton: _Burr_, 393.
[805] McCaleb, 29.
[806] Davies, Parton, and McCaleb state that the Catholic Bishop
appointed three Jesuits, but there was no bishop in New Orleans at that
time and the Jesuits had been suppressed.
[807] Burr to his daughter, May 23, 1805, Davis, II, 372.
[808] "No one equalled Andrew Jackson in warmth of devotion to Colonel
Burr." (Adams: _U.S._ III, 221.)
[809] Parton: _Jackson_, I, 311-12; and McCaleb, 81.
[810] McCaleb, 32-33. Minor was probably directed to do this by Casa
Yrujo himself. (See Cox: _West Florida Controversy_, 189.)
[811] Clark to Wilkinson, Sept. 7, 1805, Wilkinson: _Memoirs of My Own
Times_, II, Appendix XXXIII.
[812] Testimony of Major James Bruff, _Annals_, 10th Cong. 1st Sess.
589-609, 616-22.
[813] Except, of course, Wilkinson's story that Burr urged Western
revolution, during the conference of these two men at St. Louis.
[814] McCaleb, 34.
[815] Wilkinson's testimony, _Annals_, 10th Cong. 1st Sess. 611.
[816] McCaleb, 35; Parton: _Burr_, 401.
[817] McCaleb, 36-37.
[818] Cox, 190; and McCaleb, 39.
[819] McCaleb, 38.
[820] Pitt died January 6, 1806. The news reached America late in the
winter and Wilkinson learned of it some time in the spring. This fed his
alarm, first awakened by the rumors set afloat by Spanish agents of
which Clark had advised him. According to Davis and Parton, Wilkinson's
resolve to sacrifice Burr was now taken. (See Davis, II, 381-82; also
Parton: _Burr_, 412.)
[821] This was that Burr with his desperadoes would seize the President
and other officers of the National Government, together with the public
money, arsenals, and ships. If, thereafter, he could not reconcile the
States to the new arrangement, the bandit chief and his followers would
sail for New Orleans and proclaim the independence of Louisiana.
Professor McCaleb says that this tale was a ruse to throw Casa Yrujo off
his guard as to the now widespread reports in Florida and Texas, as well
as America, of Burr's intended descent upon Mexico. (See McCaleb,
54-58.) It should be repeated that the proposals of Burr and Dayton to
Merry and Casa Yrujo were not publicly known for many years afterward.
Wilkinson had coached Dayton and Burr in the art of getting money by
falsehood and intrigue. (_Ib._ 54.)
[822] Adams: _U.S._ III, 189-91.
[823] _Blennerhassett Papers_: Safford, 115.
[824] Blennerhassett to Burr, Dec. 21, 1805, _ib._ 118; and see Davis,
II, 392.
[825] McCaleb, 50-53.
[826] Plumer, 348; Parton: _Burr_, 403-04.
[827] Eaton assumed this title during his African career. He had no
legal right to it.
[828] Eaton had done good work as American Consul to Algiers, a post to
which he was appointed by President Adams. In 1804, Jefferson appointed
him United States Naval Agent to the Barbary States. With the approval
of the Administration, Eaton undertook to overthrow the reigning Pasha
of Tripoli and restore to the throne the Pasha's brother, whom the
former had deposed. In executing this project Eaton showed a
resourcefulness, persistence, and courage as striking as the means he
adopted were bizarre and the adventure itself fantastic. (Allen: _Our
Navy and the Barbary Corsairs_, 227 _et seq._)
Eaton charged that the enterprise failed because the American fleet did
not properly coöperate with him, and because Tobias Lear, American
Consul-General to Algiers, compromised the dispute with the reigning Bey
whom Eaton's nondescript "army" was then heroically fighting. (Eaton to
the Secretary of the Navy, Aug. 9, 1805, _Eaton_: Prentiss, 376.)
Full of wrath he returned to the United States, openly denouncing all
whom he considered in any way responsible for the African _débâcle_, and
demanding payment of large sums which he alleged had been paid by him in
advancing American interests in Africa. (_Ib._ 393, 406; also see Allen,
265.)
[829] See Truxtun's testimony, _infra_, 459-60.
[830] The talks between Burr and Eaton took place at the house of
Sergeant-at-Arms Wheaton, where Burr boarded. (_Annals_, 10th Cong. 1st
Sess. 510.)
[831] See Eaton's deposition, _Eaton_: Prentiss, 396-403; 4 Cranch,
462-67. (Italics are Eaton's.)
[832] Samuel Dana and John Cotton Smith. (See Eaton's testimony,
_Annals_, 10th Cong. 1st Sess. 512; and _Eaton_: Prentiss, 396-403.)
That part of Eaton's account of Burr's conversation which differs from
those with Truxtun and Decatur is simply unaccountable. That Burr was
capable of anything may be granted; but his mind was highly practical
and he was uncommonly reserved in speech. Undoubtedly Eaton had heard
the common talk about the timidity and supineness of the Government
under Jefferson and had himself used language such as he ascribed to
Burr.
Whichever way one turns, no path out of the confusion appears. But for
Burr's abstemious habits (he was the most temperate of all the leading
men of that period) an explanation might be that he and Eaton were very
drunk--Burr recklessly so--if he indulged in this uncharacteristic
outburst of loquacity.
[833] _Eaton_: Prentiss, 402.
[834] McCaleb, 62.
[835] Burr to Jackson, March 24, 1806, Parton: _Jackson_, I, 313-14.
Burr also told Jackson of John Randolph's denunciation of Jefferson's
"duplicity and imbecility," and of small politics receiving "more of
public attention than all our collisions with foreign powers, or than
all the great events on the theatre of Europe." He closed with the
statement, then so common, that such "things begin to make reflecting
men think, many good patriots to doubt, and some to despond." (See
McCaleb, 51.)
[836] This man, then thirty-five years of age, and "engaging in ...
appearance" (_Blennerhassett Papers_: Safford, 434), had had a
picturesque career. A graduate of Göttingen, he lived in Paris during
the Revolution, went to London for a time, and from there to Vienna,
where he practiced medicine as a cover for his real design, which was to
discover the prison where Lafayette was confined and to rescue him from
it. This he succeeded in doing, but both were taken soon afterward.
Bollmann was imprisoned for many months, and then released on condition
that he leave Austria forever. He came to the United States and entered
into Burr's enterprise with unbounded enthusiasm. His name often appears
as "Erick Bolman" in American records.
[837] Dayton to Wilkinson, July 24, 1806, _Annals_, 10th Cong. 1st sess.
560.
[838] See testimony of Littleton W. Tazewell, John Brokenbrough, and
Joseph C. Cabell. (_Annals_, 10th Cong. 1st Sess. 630, 675, 676).
[839] For Burr's cipher dispatch see Appendix D.
[840] _Annals_, 10th Cong. 1st sess. 424-28 and see McCaleb, 77.
Professor McCaleb evidently doubts the disinterestedness of Morgan and
his sons. He shows that they had been in questionable land transactions
and, at this moment, were asking Congress to grant them a doubtful land
claim. (See McCaleb, footnote to 77.)
[841] Testimony of Morgan's son, _Annals_, 10th Cong. 1st Sess. 424.
[842] "Colonel Burr, on this occasion as on others, comported himself
precisely as a man having 'treasonable' designs would _not_ comport
himself, unless he were mad or intoxicated." (Parton: _Burr_, 415.)
Professor McCaleb's analysis of the Morgan incident is thorough and
convincing. (See McCaleb, 76-78.)
[843] Nevill and Roberts to Jefferson, Oct. 7, 1806, "Letters in
Relation to Burr Conspiracy," MSS. Lib. Cong. This important letter set
out that "to give a correct written statement of those [Burr's]
conversations [with the Morgans] ... would be difficult ... and indeed,
according to our informant, much more was to be collected, from the
_manner_ in which certain things were said, and hints given than from
words used."
[844] McCaleb, 78-79; Parton: _Burr_, 411.
[845] McCaleb, 83-84; Parton: _Burr_, 412-13.
At this time Burr also wrote to William Wilkins and B. H. Latrobe
calling their attention to his Bastrop speculation. (Miscellaneous MSS.
N.Y. Pub. Lib.)
[846] See testimony of Dudley Woodbridge, _infra_, 489.
[847] McCaleb, 80.
[848] Parton: _Burr_, 415-16.
[849] McCaleb, 81.
[850] _Ib._; and see Parton: _Jackson_, I, 318.
[851] "There were not a thousand persons in the United States who did
not think war with Spain inevitable, impending, begun!" (Parton: _Burr_,
407; McCaleb, 110.)
[852] See Jefferson to Jackson, Dec. 3,1806, as quoted in McCaleb, 82.
[853] See testimony of Colonel Charles Lynch, _Annals_, 10th Cong. 1st
Sess. 656-58; and that of Thomas Bodley, Clerk of the Circuit Court,
_ib._ 655-56. The statements of these men are also very important as
showing Burr's plans and preparations at this time.
[854] McCaleb, 84-85.
[855] The Bastrop grant was accessible to the markets of New Orleans; it
was surrounded by Indian tribes whose trade was valuable; its forests
were wholly unexplored; it was on the Spanish border, and therefore an
admirable point for foray or retreat. (See McCaleb, 83; and Cox in
_Southwestern Hist. Quarterly_, XVII, 150.)
[856] Wilkinson to Adair, Sept. 28, 1806, as quoted in open letter of
Adair to the _Orleans Gazette_, May 16, 1807, "Letters in Relation,"
MSS. Lib. Cong.
[857] Wilkinson to Adair, Sept. 28, 1806, as quoted by Plumer, Feb. 20,
1807, "Register," Plumer MSS. Lib. Cong.
[858] Adair to Wilkinson, Oct. or Nov. 1806, as quoted by Plumer, Feb.
20, 1807, "Register," Plumer MSS. Lib. Cong.
[859] Wilkinson to Smith, Sept. 28, 1806, "Letters in Relation," MSS.
Lib. Cong.
[860] See vol. II, 560, of this work.
[861] The _Western World_, edited by the notorious John Wood, author of
the _History of the Administration of John Adams_, which was suppressed
by Burr. (See vol. II, 380, of this work.) Wood was of the same type of
irresponsible pamphleteer and newspaper hack as Callender and Cheetham.
His so-called "history" was a dull, untruthful, scandalous diatribe; and
it is to Burr's credit that he bought the plates and suppressed the
book. Yet this action was one of the reasons given for the remorseless
pursuit of him, after it had been determined to destroy him.
[862] McCaleb, 172-75.
[863] Adams: _U.S._ III, 276. This was a falsehood, since Burr had
proposed Western secession to the British Minister. But he knew that no
one else could have knowledge of his plot with Merry. It is both
interesting and important that to the end of his life Burr steadily
maintained that he never harbored a thought of dismembering the Nation.
[864] (Clay to Pindell, Oct. 15, 1828, _Works of Henry Clay_: Colton,
IV, 206; also _Private Correspondence of Henry Clay_: Colton, 206-08.)
So strong was his devotion to Hamilton, that "after he had attained full
age," Daveiss adopted the name of his hero as part of his own,
thereafter signing himself Joseph Hamilton Daveiss and requiring
everybody so to address him. "Chiefly moved ... by his admiration of
Colonel Hamilton and his hatred of Colonel Burr," testifies Henry Clay,
Daveiss took the first step in the series of prosecutions that ended in
the trial of Burr for treason. (_Ib._)
[865] Adams: _U.S._ III, 278.
[866] "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 have neither published a line on this subject nor has any
one, through my agency, or with my knowledge. I have no design to
intermeddle with the Government or to disturb the tranquillity of the
United States, or of its territories, or any part of them.
"I have neither issued, nor signed, nor promised a commission to any
person for any purpose. I do not own a musket nor a bayonet, nor any
single article of military stores, nor does any person for me, by my
authority or with my knowledge.
"My views have been fully explained to, and approved by, several of the
principal officers of Government, and, I believe, are well understood by
the administration and seen by it with complacency. They are such as
every man of honor and every good citizen must approve." (Burr to Clay,
Dec. 1, 1806, _Priv. Corres._: Colton, 13-14.)
Parton says that this was substantially true: "Jefferson and his cabinet
undoubtedly knew ... that he was going to settle in the western country,
and that if the expected war should break out, he would head an
onslaught upon the Dons.
"His _ulterior_ views may have been known to one, or even two, members
of Jefferson's cabinet, for anything that can _now_ be ascertained. The
moment the tide really turned against this fated man, a surprising
ignorance overspread many minds that had before been extremely
well-informed respecting his plans." (Parton: _Burr_, 422-23; see also
McCaleb, 191.)
[867] "When the grand jury returned the bill of indictment not true, a
scene was presented in the Court-room which I had never before witnessed
in Kentucky. There were shouts of applause from an audience, not one of
whom ... would have hesitated to level a rifle against Colonel Burr, if
he believed that he aimed to dismember the Union, or sought to violate
its peace, or overturn its Constitution." (Clay to Pindell, Oct. 15,
1828, _Priv. Corres._: Colton, 207.)
[868] Adams: _U.S._ III, 282-83; McCaleb, 192-93; Parton: _Burr_,
418-22.
[869] Burr to Smith, as quoted in McCaleb, 183.
[870] Parton: _Burr_, 423.
[871] The Spanish Minister accurately explained to his home Government
the motives that now animated the commander of the American Army:
"Wilkinson is entirely devoted to us. He enjoys a considerable pension
from the King.... He anticipated ... the failure of an expedition of
this nature [Burr's invasion of Mexico]. Doubtless he foresaw from the
first that the improbability of success in case of making the attempt
would leave him like the dog in the fable with the piece of meat in his
mouth; that is, that he would lose [both] the honorable employment ...
[as American Commander] and the generous pension he enjoys from the
King. These considerations, secret in their nature, he could not explain
to Burr; and when the latter persisted in an idea so fatal to
Wilkinson's interests, nothing remained but to take the course adopted.
"By this means he assures his pension; and will allege his conduct on
this occasion as an extraordinary service, either for getting it
increased, or for some generous compensation.
"On the other hand this proceeding secures his distinguished rank in the
military service of the United States, and covers him with a popularity
which may perhaps result in pecuniary advantages, and in any case will
flatter his vanity.
"In such an alternative he has acted as was to be expected; that is, he
has sacrificed Burr in order to obtain, on the ruins of Burr's
reputation, the advantages I have pointed out." (Casa Yrujo to Cevallos,
Jan. 28, 1807, as quoted in Adams: _U.S._ III, 342-43.)
[872] Swartwout, under oath, denied that he had told Wilkinson this
story. Swartwout's affidavit is important. He swears that he never heard
of the revolutionizing of "the N[ew] O[rleans] Territory" until
Wilkinson mentioned it--"I first heard of such a project from
Wilkinson"; that Burr never had spoken of attacking Mexico except "in
case of war with Spain"; that if there were no war, Burr intended to
settle the Washita lands. (See Henshaw in _Quarterly Pub. Hist, and
Phil. Soc. Ohio_, IX, Nos. 1 and 2, 53-54.)
This young man made a deep impression of honesty and straightforwardness
on all who came in contact with him. (See testimony of Tazewell, Cabell,
and Brokenbrough, _Annals_, 10th Cong. 1st Sess. 633.) "Swartwout is a
fine genteel intelligible young man." (Plumer to Mason, Jan. 30, 1807,
Plumer MSS. Lib. Cong.)
Notwithstanding his frank and engaging manner, Swartwout was at heart a
basely dishonest person. Thirty years later, when Collector of the Port
of New York, he embezzled a million and a quarter dollars of the public
funds. (Bassett: _Life of Andrew Jackson_, II, 452-53.)
[873] Wilkinson's dispatch, Oct. 20, 1806, "Letters in Relation," MSS.
Lib. Cong. Wilkinson's dispatch to Jefferson was based on the
revelations which he pretended to have drawn from Swartwout.
[874] The dispatch would go on file in the War Department; the "personal
and confidential" communication to Jefferson would remain in the
President's hands.
[875] Wilkinson to Jefferson, Oct. 21, 1806, "Letters in Relation," MSS.
Lib. Cong.
[876] See _infra_, chap. VIII.
[877] Jefferson's Cabinet Memorandum, Oct. 22, 1806, as quoted in Adams:
_U.S._ III, 278-80.
[878] _Ib._ Oct. 25, 1806, as quoted in Adams: _U.S._ III, 281.
[879] Jefferson's Proclamation, Nov. 27, 1806, _Works_, Ford, X, 301-02;
Wilkinson: _Memoirs_, II, Appendix XCVI.
[880] Tyler had been in the New York Legislature with Burr and there
became strongly attached to him. (See Clark: _Onondaga_.) He went to
Beaver, Pennsylvania, in the interests of Burr's enterprise, and from
there made his way to Blennerhassett's island. Tyler always maintained
that the sole object of the expedition was to settle the Washita lands.
(See his pathetic letter asserting this to Lieutenant Horatio Stark,
Jan. 23, 1807, "Letters in Relation," MSS. Lib. Cong.)
[881] Hildreth, V, 619; Parton: _Burr_, 436-38.
[882] Jackson to Claiborne, Nov. 12, 1806, Parton: _Jackson_, I, 319;
and see McCaleb, 253.
[883] Adams: _U.S._ III, 287; Parton: _Jackson_, I, 320-21.
[884] Parton inaccurately says that the Proclamation reached Nashville
after Burr's departure. (Parton: _Jackson_, I, 322.)
[885] Adams: _U.S._ III, 288; Parton: _Jackson_, I, 321.
[886] For instance, at Nashville, Burr was burnt in effigy in the public
square. (Parton: _Jackson_, I, 322.) At Cincinnati an amusing panic
occurred: three merchant scows loaded with dry goods were believed to be
a part of Burr's flotilla of war vessels about to attack the town. The
militia was called out, citizens organized for defense, the adjacent
country was appealed to for aid. (See McCaleb, 248-49.)
[887] Wilkinson to Jefferson, Nov. 12, 1806, Wilkinson: _Memoirs_, II,
Appendix C.
[888] Iturrigaray to Cevallos, March 12, 1807, as quoted in McCaleb,
169; and see Shepherd in _Am. Hist. Rev._ IX, 533 _et seq._
The thrifty General furnished Burling with a passport through the posts
he must pass. ("Letters in Relation," as quoted in McCaleb, 166.)
Credentials to the Spanish official were also given Burling by one of
Wilkinson's friends, Stephen Minor of Natchez, the man who had first set
on foot the rumor of Burr's secession intentions. He was also in the pay
of Spain. (_Ib._ 166-67.)
The Spaniards aided Burling on his journey in every way possible.
(Herrera to Cordero, Dec. 1, 1806, as quoted in _ib._ 167-68.)
[889] Iturrigaray to Cevallos, March 12, 1807, as quoted in McCaleb,
168-69.
[890] _Ib._ 171.
[891] Wilkinson to Jefferson, March 12, 1807, "Letters in Relation,"
MSS. Lib. Cong.
[892] Wilkinson to Cushing, Nov. 7, 1806, Wilkinson: _Memoirs_, II,
Appendix XCIX.
[893] Wilkinson to Freeman, Wilkinson: _Memoirs_, II, Appendix XCIX.
[894] Wilkinson to Claiborne, Nov. 12, 1806, _ib._ 328.
[895] Wilkinson to Claiborne, Dec. 6 and 7, 1806, as quoted in McCaleb,
205-06.
[896] _Ib._ 209-10.
[897] Wilkinson to Clark, Dec. 10, 1806, Clark: _Proofs_, 150; also
McCaleb, 212; and see Wilkinson to Claiborne, Dec. 15, 1806, as quoted
in McCaleb, 213-14.
[898] Swartwout was treated in a manner peculiarly outrageous. Before
his arrest Wilkinson had borrowed his gold watch, and afterward refused
to return it. When the soldiers seized Swartwout they "hurried" him
across the river, lodged him "for several days & nights in a poor
inhospitable shed--& deprived of the necessaries of life."
Finally, when ordered to march with his guard--and being refused any
information as to where he was to be taken--the prisoner declared that
he was to be murdered and leapt into the river, crying, "I had as well
die here as in the woods," whereupon "the L^t drew up his file of six
men & ordered them to shoot him. The soldiers directed their guns at him
& snapt them, but owing to the great rain, 3 of the guns flashed in the
pan, & the other's would not take fire. The men pursued & took him. But
for the wetness of the powder this unfortunate young man must have
be[en] murdered in very deed."
Swartwout was not permitted to take his clothing with him on the ship
that carried him to Baltimore; and the officer in charge of him was
under orders from Wilkinson to put his prisoner in chains during the
voyage. (Plumer, Feb. 21, 1807, "Register," Plumer MSS. Lib. Cong.)
[899] Wilkinson's return reported in the _Orleans Gazette_, Dec. 18,
1806, as quoted in McCaleb, 217. It does not appear what return was made
in the matter of the application for a writ of habeas corpus in favor of
Swartwout.
[900] Wilkinson to Jefferson, printed in _National Intelligencer_, Jan.
23, 1807, as quoted in McCaleb, 218.
[901] This was one cause of Jefferson's hatred of Livingston. For the
celebrated litigation between these men and the effect of it on Marshall
and Jefferson, see vol. IV, chap. II, of this work.
[902] McCaleb, 219-21.
[903] Hildreth, V, 613.
[904] Plumer's résumé of a letter from Adair to Clay. (Feb. 20, 1807,
"Register," Plumer MSS. Lib. Cong.)
For this outrage Adair, within a year, brought suit against Wilkinson
for false imprisonment. This was bitterly fought for ten years, but
finally Adair secured judgment for $2500, "against which Wilkinson was
indemnified by Congress." (Hildreth, V, 627.)
For three or four years Adair continued in public disfavor solely
because of his supposed criminal connection with Burr, of which his
arrest by Wilkinson convinced the inflamed public mind. He slowly
recovered, however, rendered excellent service as an officer in the War
of 1812, and under Jackson commanded the Kentucky troops at the battle
of New Orleans with distinguished gallantry. In 1820 the old veteran was
elected Governor of Kentucky. Afterward he was chosen Representative in
Congress from his district.
[905] Plumer's résumé of Adair's letter to Clay, _supra_, note 1. Every
word of Adair's startling account of his arrest was true. It was never
even denied. John Watkins told Wilkinson of a conversation with Adair
immediately after the latter's arrival which showed that nobody had
reason to fear Burr: "He [Adair] observed ... that the bubble would soon
burst & signified that the claims were without foundation & that he had
seen nothing like an armament or preparations for a warlike expedition."
(Watkins to Wilkinson, Jan. 14, 1807, Wilkinson MSS. Chicago Hist. Soc.)
Professor Cox has suggested to the author that Wilkinson's summary
arrest of Adair was to prevent the further circulation of his statement.
[906] "During the disturbances of Burr the aforesaid general [Wilkinson]
has, by means of a person in his confidence, constantly maintained a
correspondence with me, in which he has laid before me not only the
information which he acquired, but also his intentions for the various
exigencies in which he might find himself." (Folch to the
Governor-General of Cuba, June 25, 1807, as quoted by Cox in _Am. Hist.
Rev._ X, 839.)
[907] Jefferson's Message, Dec. 2, 1806, _Annals_, 9th Cong. 2d Sess.
12; Richardson, I, 406.
[908] "We have been, & still are, both amused & perplexed with the
rumours, reports, & conjectures respecting Aaron Burr. They are
numerous, various, & contradictory.... I must have plenary evidence
before I believe him capable of committing the hundredth part of the
absurd & foolish things that are ascribed to him.... The president of
the United States, a day or two since, informed me that he knew of no
evidence sufficient to convict him of either high crimes or
misdemeanors." (Plumer to Jeremiah Mason, Jan. 4, 1807, Plumer MSS. Lib.
Cong.) See also Plumer to Langdon, Dec. 1806, and to Livermore, Jan. 19,
1807, Plumer MSS. _loc. cit._
These letters of Plumer's are most important. They state the general
opinion of public men, especially Federalists, as expressed in their
private conversations.
"I never believed him to be a Fool," wrote John Adams to his most
intimate friend. "But he must be an Idiot or a Lunatick if he has really
planned and attempted to execute such a Project as is imputed to him."
Politicians have "no more regard to Truth than the Devil.... I suspect
that this Lying Spirit has been at Work concerning Burr.... But if his
guilt is as clear as the Noon day Sun, the first Magistrate ought not to
have pronounced it so before a Jury had tryed him." (Adams to Rush, Feb.
2, 1807, _Old Family Letters_, 128-29.) See also Adams to Pickering,
Jan. 1, 1807, Pickering MSS. Mass. Hist. Soc.; and Peters to Pickering,
Feb. 1807, Pickering MSS. _loc. cit._
Marshall undoubtedly shared the common judgment, as his conduct at
Burr's trial abundantly shows.
[909] _Annals_, 9th Cong. 2d Sess. 336.
[910] _Ib._ 347.
[911] _Ib._ 357-58.
[912] _Annals_, 9th Cong. 2d Sess. 39-41. Jefferson's Message, Jan. 22,
1807, Richardson, I, 412-17.
[913] _Annals_, 9th Cong. 2d Sess. 43; Richardson, I, 416.
[914] _Annals_, 9th Cong. 2d Sess. 40. (Italics the author's.)
[915] "Wilkinson's letter is a curiosity.... Tis Don Adriano de Armado
the second." (J. Q. Adams to L. C. Adams, Dec. 8, 1806, _Writings, J. Q.
A._: Ford, III, footnote to 157.)
[916] Plumer, Jan. 22, 1807, "Diary," Plumer MSS. Lib. Cong.
Senator Plumer wrote his son, concerning Wilkinson's account of Burr's
letter: "I am satisfied he has not accurately decyphered it. There is
more of Wilkinsonism than of Burrism in it." (Plumer to his son, Jan.
24, 1807, Plumer MSS. Lib. Cong.)