THE death of Pitt destroyed all immediate possibility of
drawing England into conspiracy with Burr,--if indeed a possibility
had ever existed. The attempt to obtain money from Spain was equally
hopeless. Except for Madison’s conduct in receiving Miranda and
refusing to receive Yrujo, Dayton would probably have obtained nothing
from Spain; but the information he was able to give Yrujo in regard to
Miranda’s plans and proceedings deserved reward, and Dayton received at
different times sums of money, amounting in all to about three thousand
dollars, from the Spanish treasury. Dayton’s private necessities
required much larger sums.
Burr was also ruined. He could not return to New York, where an
indictment hung over his head. Conspiracy was easier than poverty; but
conspiracy without foreign aid was too wild a scheme for other men to
join. Jefferson might at that moment have stopped Burr’s activity by
sending word privately to him and his friends that their projects must
be dropped; but Jefferson, while closing every other path, left that
of conspiracy open to Burr, who followed it only with much difficulty.
In order to retain any friends or followers he was obliged to deceive
them all, and entangle himself and them in an elaborate network of
falsehood. Dayton alone knew the truth, and helped him to deceive.
April 16, 1806, a few days before the adjournment of Congress, Burr
wrote to Wilkinson a letter implying that Wilkinson had required
certain conditions and an enlargement of the scheme; Burr assured him
that his requirements, which probably concerned aid from Truxton,
Preble, Eaton, and Decatur, had been fully satisfied:--
“The execution of our project is postponed till December. Want
of water in Ohio rendered movement impracticable; other reasons
rendered delay expedient. The association is enlarged, and
comprises all that Wilkinson could wish. Confidence limited
to a few. Though this delay is irksome, it will enable us to
move with more certainty and dignity. Burr will be throughout
the United States this summer. Administration is damned which
Randolph aids. Burr wrote you a long letter last December,
replying to a short one deemed very silly. Nothing has been
heard from the Brigadier since October. Is Cushing and Porter
right? Address Burr at Washington.”[170]
Burr’s letters to Wilkinson were always in cipher, and mysteriously
worded; but in this despatch nothing was unintelligible. Wilkinson
afterward explained that he was himself the “Brigadier,” and the two
names were those of officers under his command.
The same western mail which carried this letter to Wilkinson carried
another to Blennerhassett, inviting him to join in a “speculation,”
which would “not be commenced before December, if ever.” Probably
Burr made many other efforts to obtain money from petty sources; he
certainly exerted himself to delude the Spanish government into lending
him assistance. Hitherto he had left this task to Dayton, his secretary
of state, but May 14, 1806, the Spanish minister wrote to Don Pedro
Cevallos,[171]--
“The principal [Burr] has opened himself to me; and the
communications I have had with him confirm me in the idea,
not only of the probability, but even of the facility, of
his success, under certain circumstances. To insure it, some
pecuniary aid on our part and on that of France is wanted. I
have been careful to be very circumspect in my answers, and
have not compromised myself in any manner; but when I return
to Spain next spring I shall be bearer of the whole plan, with
the details that may be wanted. There will also arrive in Spain
before long, more or less simultaneously with me though by
different ways, two or three very respectable persons, both
from Louisiana and from Kentucky and Tennessee, with the same
object. They all consider the interests of these countries as
united and in conformity with those of Spain and France; but the
principal, or more correctly the principals, here do not wish to
open themselves to the Emperor Napoleon’s minister [Turreau],
as they lack confidence in him. Consequently, it will be proper
either not to communicate the matter at all to that government,
or to do it with the intimation that its representative here
shall not have the least notice of it; for, I repeat, they have
no confidence in him, and this has been a condition imposed on
me in the communications I have received.”
Finding Yrujo obstinate in refusing to advance money, Burr tried to
alarm him by pretending to take up again the scheme of attacking
Florida and Mexico. June 9, 1806, Yrujo wrote another long despatch
on the subject. Burr, he said, had suddenly ceased to visit him as
frequently as usual, and Dayton had explained the coldness as due to
Burr’s belief that the new Administration in England would be more
liberal and zealous than that of Pitt. Dayton added that Burr was
drawing up new instructions for Williamson; that he had even decided
to send Bollman to London to invite co-operation from the British
government in an attack on the Spanish possessions. Dayton professed to
have acted as the protector of Spain from Burr’s unprincipled ambition.
“Dayton told me[172] he had observed to Burr that although
he (Burr) was assuredly the principal, yet a plan of this
nature ought to be put in deliberation in the cabinet council
which certain chiefs are to hold in New Orleans in the month
of December next, and that for his own part he thought this
idea unjust and impolitic; to which Burr answered that they
would always be able to alter the plan as circumstances should
require, and that in fact this point, or at least the direction
to be given to it, would be determined in New Orleans. Dayton
told me that he would oppose with all his strength measures of
this nature, and that he knew General Wilkinson, who was to be a
member of the Congress, would make the same opposition; and that
in order to drive the idea of such a temptation out of Burr’s
head, and of other people’s also, it would be well for us to
reinforce our garrisons at Pensacola and Mobile, and that then
the circumstance of our respectable condition of defence might
be used as a weighty argument for abandoning such a project.
After holding this conference with me, Dayton returned to his
residence; and before starting, wrote me a note to say that the
night before Burr had read him the instructions to be given to
Bollman, and that they were of the tenor indicated to me.”
Godoy and Cevallos were hardly so imbecile as to pay for creating at
New Orleans a new American empire more dangerous to Spanish possessions
than the peaceful republic over which Jefferson presided at Washington.
Don Pedro Cevallos read Yrujo’s despatches with great interest. At
first he even hinted that if the United States were bent on forcing
a war with Spain, these adventurers, in case of actual hostilities,
might be made useful;[173] but this suggestion was accompanied by
many warnings to Yrujo not to commit himself or to contribute money,
and at last by a flat announcement that the King would not in any way
encourage Burr’s designs.[174]
The conspirators were in a worse position as regarded England. By a
fatal stroke of ill-luck, Merry’s despatch of Nov. 25, 1805, written
to be read in secrecy by the Tory Lord Mulgrave, was received at the
Foreign Office Feb. 2, 1806, ten days after Pitt’s death, and was
probably opened by Charles James Fox,--almost the last man in England
to whom Merry would have willingly shown it. The only answer received
by Merry reached Washington about June 1, 1806, and consisted in the
dry announcement that his Majesty had been pleased to listen favorably
to Mr. Merry’s request for a recall, and had appointed the Hon. David
Montague Erskine as his successor.
Merry complained piteously that he had never suggested a wish to be
recalled, that he had indeed the strongest desire to remain, and felt
himself greatly aggrieved at his treatment; but Fox was remorseless,
and Merry could only prepare for Erskine’s arrival. Smarting under this
sudden reproof, Merry held his parting interview with Burr. Doubtless
it was as little cheerful on one side as on the other; but Merry did
not think himself required to give an immediate or a minute account of
it to Fox. He waited until Erskine’s arrival, and then, in one of his
last despatches, Nov. 2, 1806, after Burr had begun his operations in
the West, Merry wrote,[175]--
“I saw this gentleman [Burr] for the last time at this place
[Washington] in the month of June last, when he made particular
inquiry whether I had received any answer from my Government to
the propositions he had requested me to transmit to them, and
lamented exceedingly that I had not, because he, and the persons
connected with him at New Orleans, would now, though very
reluctantly, be under the necessity of addressing themselves
to the French and Spanish governments. He added, however, that
the disposition of the inhabitants of the Western country, and
particularly Louisiana, to separate themselves from the American
Union was so strong that the attempt might be made with every
prospect of success without any foreign assistance whatever; and
his last words to me were that, with or without such support, it
certainly would be made very shortly.”
After receiving this rebuff from England, Burr and Dayton needed
singular impudence to threaten Yrujo with the terror of Charles
James Fox; but impudence had become their only resource. Every step
taken thenceforward by the conspirators was taken by means of a new
imposture; until at last they became petty swindlers who lived from
day to day by cheating each other. How flagrant their imposture was,
has been partly shown in their attempt to deceive Yrujo; but their
treatment of Wilkinson was far more dishonest.
Toward the end of July, 1806, Burr had accomplished all that could be
done in the East, and prepared to begin his campaign to New Orleans.
By strenuous efforts money had been raised to set the subordinate
adventurers in motion. Among these were Erick Bollman, famous for an
attempt to rescue Lafayette from confinement at Olmütz; a French
officer named De Pestre, or Dupiester; Samuel Swartwout, a younger
brother of Robert; and finally young Peter V. Ogden, a nephew of
Dayton. The time had come when each actor must take his place, and must
receive orders as to the _rôle_ he was to play.
Of all Burr’s intimates, Wilkinson was not only the most important, but
also the most doubtful. He had hung back and had made conditions. Since
October, 1805, nothing had been heard from him, and his last letter had
contained objections “deemed very silly.” At last a letter, dated May
13, arrived. This letter never saw the light; afterward, at the trial,
Wilkinson challenged its production, and accused Burr of falsehood in
asserting that it had been destroyed at Wilkinson’s request or with his
knowledge. Only one conclusion might be taken as certain in regard to
its contents,--they did not suit the situation of Dayton and Burr.
Dayton’s reply was dated July 24, 1806, and was sent by his nephew,
Peter V. Ogden, to Wilkinson.
“It is now well ascertained that you are to be displaced in next
session,” wrote Dayton, working on his old friend’s pride and
fears. “Jefferson will affect to yield reluctantly to the public
sentiment, but yield he will. Prepare yourself, therefore,
for it. You know the rest. You are not a man to despair, or
even despond, especially when such prospects offer in another
quarter. Are you ready? Are your numerous associates ready?
Wealth and glory! Louisiana and Mexico!”
Together with this exhortation from Dayton, Burr sent a cipher
despatch, afterward famous as the key to the whole conspiracy.
Published at different times with varying versions, as suited
Wilkinson’s momentary objects, the correct reading probably ran very
nearly as follows:--
“July 29, 1806. Your letter, postmarked 13th May, is received.
At length I have obtained funds, and have actually commenced.
The Eastern detachments, from different points and under
different pretences, will rendezvous on the Ohio 1st of
November. Everything internal and external favors our views.
Naval protection of England is secured. Truxton is going to
Jamaica to arrange with the admiral on that station. It will
meet us at the Mississippi. England, a navy of the United
States, are ready to join, and final orders are given to my
friends and followers. It will be a host of choice spirits.
Wilkinson shall be second to Burr only; Wilkinson shall
dictate the rank and promotion of his officers. Burr will
proceed westward 1st August, never to return. With him goes
his daughter; the husband will follow in October, with a corps
of worthies. Send forthwith an intelligent and confidential
friend with whom Burr may confer; he shall return immediately
with further interesting details; this is essential to concert
and harmony of movement. Send a list of all persons known to
Wilkinson west of the mountains who could be useful, with a note
delineating their characters. By your messenger send me four or
five commissions of your officers, which you can borrow under
any pretence you please; they shall be returned faithfully.
Already are orders given to the contractor to forward six
months’ provisions to points Wilkinson may name; this shall
not be used until the last moment, and then under proper
injunctions. Our object, my dear friend, is brought to a point
so long desired. Burr guarantees the result with his life and
honor, with the lives and honor and the fortunes of hundreds,
the best blood of our country. Burr’s plan of operation is to
move down rapidly from the Falls, on the 15th of November, with
the first five hundred or a thousand men, in light boats now
constructing for that purpose; to be at Natchez between the 5th
and 15th of December, there to meet you; there to determine
whether it will be expedient in the first instance to seize on
or pass by Baton Rouge. On receipt of this, send Burr an answer.
Draw on Burr for all expenses, etc. The people of the country
to which we are going are prepared to receive us; their agents,
now with Burr, say that if we will protect their religion, and
will not subject them to a foreign Power, that in three weeks
all will be settled. The gods invite us to glory and fortune;
it remains to be seen whether we deserve the boon. The bearer
of this goes express to you. He is a man of inviolable honor
and perfect discretion, formed to execute rather than project,
capable of relating facts with fidelity, and incapable of
relating them otherwise; he is thoroughly informed of the plans
and intentions of Burr, and will disclose to you as far as you
require, and no further. He has imbibed a reverence for your
character, and may be embarrassed in your presence; put him at
ease, and he will satisfy you.”
Had Burr and Dayton not felt strong reason to doubt Wilkinson’s course,
they would not have invented a tissue of falsehoods such as these
letters contained. So far as concerned Wilkinson’s future conduct, no
one could deny that this gross deception set him free from any ties
that might have previously bound him to Dayton or Burr.
Furnished with these and other letters almost equally compromising,
Ogden and Swartwout, at the end of July, started on their way.
Swartwout was directed to see Adair in Kentucky, and to deliver to him
despatches, the contents of which have never been made known, but were
doubtless identical with the letters to Wilkinson. At the same time
Erick Bollman started by sea with similar despatches for New Orleans.
Early in August Burr followed, taking with him his daughter Mrs.
Allston, and his chief of staff Colonel De Pestre. After crossing the
mountains he threw aside ordinary caution. At Canonsburg, about fifteen
miles beyond Pittsburg, he stopped at the house of an old friend,
Colonel Morgan, and there so freely asserted the imbecility of the
Federal government and the certainty of a speedy separation of the
Western States from the Eastern, that Morgan thought himself bound to
give President Jefferson a warning.
The conversation at Canonsburg took place in the afternoon and evening
of August 22. A few days afterward Burr arrived at Blennerhassett’s
island, where he found the owner waiting with enthusiasm to receive
him. Of all the eager dupes with whom Burr had to deal, this
intelligent and accomplished Irish gentleman was the most simple.
After wasting half his property on his island, he discovered that
he had left himself not more than thirty or forty thousand dollars
to live upon; and this small property was invested in funds which
produced so little as to leave him always embarrassed. He wished
ardently to make his fortune by some bold speculation; and Burr had no
more pressing necessity than to obtain the funds which Blennerhassett
burned to invest. Burr said to Blennerhassett in effect what he said to
Wilkinson; but Blennerhassett was less able than Wilkinson to detect
falsehood. The actual speculation which was to make Blennerhassett’s
fortune seemed certain of success. Burr had invented more than one
way of getting money; and among his various expedients none was more
ingenious than that of buying a certain Spanish claim, known as the
Bastrop grant, covering an immense district on the Red River, and
supposed to be owned in part by one Lynch in Kentucky. Burr had
undertaken to buy Lynch’s interest for forty thousand dollars, of which
only four thousand or five thousand dollars need be paid in money;
and he persuaded Blennerhassett that on the most moderate estimate,
they could reap from it the profit of a million. Blennerhassett was
assured that before the end of the year Louisiana would be independent,
with Burr for its ruler, under the protection of England. Wilkinson
and the United States army were pledged to accept the revolution and
to support Burr. Tennessee was secured; and though Kentucky and Ohio
were doubtful, they would end by following Tennessee. The government
at Washington would fall to pieces, and the new empire under a
stronger government, would rise at once to power. Then Bastrop’s
grant would take character; its actual cheapness was due to doubts as
to its validity: but the moment its validity was decided by the new
government, all whose members would be interested in it, the value of
the grant would become enormous; emigration would be directed to the
spot, and Blennerhassett’s fortune would be vast. He would, meanwhile,
go at once as minister to England, with Erick Bollman for secretary of
legation.[176]
In an incredibly short time Blennerhasset’s head was turned. Unluckily
for him, his wife’s head was turned even more easily than his own; and
the charms of Theodosia Allston, who became a guest at the island,
dazzled the eyes of both. Before Burr had been two days in the house,
Blennerhassett was so enthusiastic a supporter of the scheme that he
set himself to work, under Burr’s eye, to publish a series of essays in
order to show the State of Ohio that disunion was an infallible cure
for all its natural or acquired ills. The first of these essays was
quickly finished, taken to Marietta, and printed in the “Ohio Gazette”
of September 4 under the signature “Querist.”
September 2, before the “Querist” appeared, Burr continued his journey
down the river to Cincinnati, where he arrived September 4, and
remained a few days with Senator Smith, talking freely about the
impotence of the government, the rights and wrongs of the Western
people, and their inducements to set up a separate empire. September 10
he crossed the river to Lexington in Kentucky, and shortly afterward
went to Nashville in Tennessee.
Owing chiefly to the friendship of Andrew Jackson, the town of
Nashville was strongly attached to Burr, and was supposed to favor
the disunion scheme. Tennessee was the only State which Burr always
claimed positively as his own. Whether he had better grounds for his
confidence in Jackson than for his faith in Wilkinson and Daniel Clark
might be doubted; but Tennessee was at least vehement in hatred of the
Spaniards. The Spaniards were pressing close against Wilkinson’s little
force at Natchitoches, and Burr made use of the threatened war in order
to cover his own scheme. September 27 a public dinner was given to
him at Nashville, and Jackson offered as a toast the old sentiment of
1798: “Millions for defence; not a cent for tribute.” A few days later
Burr returned to Kentucky; and within a week suddenly appeared in the
newspaper at Nashville a strange proclamation signed “Andrew Jackson,
Major-General Second Division,” and dated Oct. 4, 1806, in which the
brigade commanders were ordered to place their brigades at once on
such a footing as would enable them on the shortest notice to supply
their quotas “when the government and constituted authorities of our
country” should require them to march. This unauthorized step was
commonly supposed to be taken in the interest of Burr’s conspiracy, and
compromised Jackson gravely in the eyes of the Government at Washington.
Meanwhile Theodosia Allston and her husband had been left in charge of
the Blennerhassetts, while Blennerhassett himself behaved as though
he were a village school-boy playing the part of chieftain in an
imaginary feudal castle. He went about the country raising recruits
and buying supplies, chattering to every young and active man he met
about the expedition which was to make their fortunes. He confided in
his gardener, a simple, straightforward fellow named Peter Taylor,
“that Colonel Burr would be king of Mexico, and that Mrs. Allston
would be queen of Mexico whenever Colonel Burr died.” He added that
Burr “had a great many friends in the Spanish territory; two thousand
Roman Catholic priests were enlisted in his corps; that those priests
and the societies which belonged to them were a strong party; that
the Spaniards, like the French, had got tired of their government
and wanted to swap it; that the British were also friends to this
expedition; and that he was the very man who was to go to England on
this piece of business for Colonel Burr.” When at the subsequent trial
Taylor told this tale, the world was incredulous, and insisted upon
disbelieving his story; but Blennerhassett’s papers proved the extent
of his delusion. By common consent the Blennerhassetts and Allstons
agreed that Theodosia was to inherit the empire from her father; but
doubts existed whether Allston could take the crown as Theodosia’s
husband. “I will win it by a better title,” he cried,--“by my deeds
in council and in field!”[177] Mrs. Blennerhassett was impatient to
exchange her solitary island for the court of her young empress;
and Blennerhassett longed to set sail as minister for England with
Erick Bollman for secretary of legation. Under the influence of this
intoxication, Blennerhassett offered to advance money to the extent of
all his property for Burr’s use if Allston would give him a written and
sealed guaranty to a certain amount; which Allston did.[178]
Leaving his wife at the island, while fifteen boats were building at
Marietta and kilns for baking bread were constructed on the island
itself, Blennerhassett went with the Allstons down the river to
Lexington, and there rejoined Burr on his return from Nashville, about
October 1. No time had been lost. The boats building at Marietta would
carry about five hundred men; others to be built elsewhere would carry
five hundred more. Recruiting went rapidly forward. Finally, the
purchase-money for Lynch’s interest in Bastrop’s grant, about four
or five thousand dollars, was paid; and Blennerhassett congratulated
himself on owning a share in four hundred thousand acres of land in the
heart of Louisiana.
To communicate with his friends in New York and Philadelphia, Burr
sent De Pestre October 25, with directions to report the movements
of the Western conspirators to the Marquis of Casa Yrujo, as well as
to Swartwout and Dayton. Burr gave De Pestre to understand that one
object of his mission was to blind the Spanish minister in regard to
the schemes against Mexico and Florida; in reality De Pestre’s mission
was probably for the purpose of raising money. Yrujo was already well
informed from other sources. November 10, before De Pestre’s arrival,
the Marquis wrote to his Government that some five hundred men were
collecting on the upper Ohio to move down the river in squads:[179]--
“Colonel Burr will go down with them under pretext of
establishing them on a great land-purchase he is supposed to
have made. In passing Cincinnati they expect to get possession
of five thousand stand of arms which the government deposited
there at the time of its differences with us about the
navigation of the Mississippi. After thus dropping the mask,
this armed troop will follow down the course of the Mississippi.
Colonel Burr will stop at Natchez, where he will wait until
the Assembly of New Orleans has met, which will happen at
once; and in this meeting (_junta_) they will declare
the independence of the Western States, and will invite Burr
meanwhile to place himself at the head of their government. He
will accept the offer, will descend to New Orleans, and will set
to work, clothed in a character which the people will have given
him. I understand that Colonel Burr has already written the
declaration of independence, and that it is couched in the same
terms that the States adopted in theirs against Great Britain.
This circumstance is the more notable inasmuch as the actual
President was the person who drew it up in 1776. When Burr made
the project of acting in agreement with England and seizing the
Floridas, he expected to master them with troops that should
accompany him from Baton Rouge. Although I am assured that this
project is abandoned, and that on the contrary he wishes to live
on good terms with Spain, I have written to Governor Folch of
West Florida to be on his guard; and although I am persuaded
that by means of Governor Folch’s connection with General
Wilkinson, he must be perfectly informed of the state of things
and of Burr’s intentions, I shall write to-day or to-morrow
another letter to the Governor of Baton Rouge to be on the
alert.”
Yrujo believed that Wilkinson, the General in command of the American
army, then supposed to be on the point of attacking the Spanish force
in his front, was secretly and regularly communicating with the Spanish
Governor of West Florida.
Burr was engaged in deceiving every one; but his attempt to deceive
Yrujo, if seriously meant, was the least comprehensible of all his
manœuvres. December 4 the Spanish minister wrote to his Government
another despatch which betrayed his perplexity at Burr’s conduct:--
“I am positively assured,” he said, “that from one day to
another will embark from New York for New Orleans, to join
Colonel Burr in Louisiana, three of his intimate friends,
depositaries of his whole confidence; namely, Mr. Swartwout,
lately marshal of the district of New York, a certain Dr. Erwin,
and the famous Colonel Smith, the same who was implicated in the
business of Miranda, and whose son went out as an aide-de-camp
of that adventurer. Accordingly I wrote to the governors of
both Floridas and to the Viceroy of Mexico, giving them a
general idea of this affair, and recommending them to watch the
movements of Colonel Burr and of his adventurers. This is an
excess of precaution, since by this time they must not only know
through the New Orleans and Natchez newspapers of the projects
attributed to Colonel Burr, but also through the confidential
channel of the No. 13 of the Marquis of Casa Calvo’s cipher with
the Prince of Peace, who is one of the conspirators, and who is
to contribute very efficaciously to the execution of the scheme
in case it shall be carried into effect.”
The person designated as No. 13 in the cipher used between Casa Calvo
and Godoy was the general-in-chief of the American forces, Wilkinson.
The Marquis’s despatch next mentioned the arrival of De Pestre, who
appeared about November 27 at Yrujo’s house:--
“About a week ago a former French officer came to see me,
one of Burr’s partisans, who came from Kentucky in search of
various articles for the execution of his undertaking....
This officer handed me a letter from Colonel Burr, in which,
after recommending him to me, the writer said simply that as
this person had lately visited those States, he could give me
information about them worthy of my curiosity. The date of this
letter was Lexington, October 25.”
De Pestre gave to Yrujo the assurance that all was going well with the
undertaking; but the special message he was charged to deliver seemed
to be the following:--
“He also told me, on the part of the Colonel, that I should
soon hear that he meant to attack Mexico, but that I was not
to believe such rumors; that on the contrary his plans were
limited to the emancipation of the Western States, and that it
was necessary to circulate this rumor in order to hide the true
design of his armaments and of the assemblages of men which
could no longer be kept secret; that Upper and Lower Louisiana,
the States of Tennessee and Ohio, stood ready and ripe for
his plans, but that the State of Kentucky was much divided;
and as this is the most important in numbers and population,
an armed force must be procured strong enough to control the
party there which should be disposed to offer resistance. He
added, on Burr’s part, that as soon as the revolution should be
complete, he should treat with Spain in regard to boundaries,
and would conclude this affair to the entire satisfaction of
Spain; meanwhile he wished me to write to the Governor of West
Florida to diminish the burdens on Americans who navigate the
Mobile River, and ask him, when the explosion should take place,
to stop the courier or couriers who might be despatched by the
friends of Government from New Orleans.”
Burr’s message caused Yrujo to warn all the Spanish officials in
Florida, Texas, and Mexico that “although No. 13 seems to have acted
in good faith hitherto, his fidelity could not be depended upon if he
had a greater interest in violating it, and that therefore they must be
cautious in listening to him and be very vigilant in regard to events
that would probably happen in their neighborhood.” De Pestre’s mission
made Yrujo more suspicious than ever, and he spared no precaution to
render impossible the success of any attack on Florida or Mexico.
After De Pestre had visited New York, he returned to Philadelphia, and
December 13 again called upon Yrujo.
“He told me,” reported Yrujo,[180] “that he had seen Mr.
Swartwout in New York, whom he had informed of Burr’s wish that
he, as well as Dr. Erwin, Colonel Smith, and Captain Lewis,
who was captain of the merchant ship ‘Emperor’ and brother of
the captain of Miranda’s vessel the ‘Leander,’ should set out
as soon as possible for New Orleans. Likewise he instructed
him, on the part of the colonel, that the youths enlisted to
serve as officers should set out as soon as possible for their
posts. These, my informant told me, are different. Some two or
three of them, the quickest and keenest, go to Washington to
observe the movements of Government, to keep their friends in
good disposition, and to despatch expresses with news of any
important disposition or occurrence. Three go to Norfolk to
make some despatch of provisions. A good number of them will go
direct to Charleston to take command as officers, and see to
the embarkation of the numerous recruits whom Colonel Burr’s
son-in-law has raised in South Carolina. He himself will then
have returned there from Kentucky, and will embark with them for
New Orleans. The rest will embark directly for that city from
New York.”
Yrujo could not see the feebleness of the conspiracy. So far as he
knew, the story might be true; and although he had been both forewarned
and forearmed, he could not but feel uneasy lest Burr should make a
sudden attack on West Florida or Texas. The Spanish minister was able
to protect Spanish interests if they were attacked; but he would have
preferred to prevent an attack, and this could be done by the United
States government alone. The indifference of President Jefferson
to Burr’s movements astounded many persons besides Yrujo. “It is
astonishing,” wrote Merry in November,[181] “that the Government here
should have remained so long in ignorance of the intended design as
even not to know with certainty at this moment the object of the
preparations which they have learned are now making.” Merry would have
been still more astonished had he been told that the President was by
no means ignorant of Burr’s object; and Yrujo might well be perplexed
to see that ignorant or not, the President had taken no measure for
the defence of New Orleans, and that the time had passed when any
measure could be taken. The city was in Wilkinson’s hands. Even of the
five small gunboats which were meant to be stationed at the mouth of
the Mississippi, only one was actually there. That Burr and Wilkinson
should meet resistance at New Orleans was not to be imagined. Yrujo saw
no chance of checking them except in Ohio and Kentucky.