The Message from the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES was then read, as
follows:
_To the House of Representatives of the United States:_
Some days previous to your resolutions of the thirteenth
instant, a Court of Inquiry had been instituted at the request
of General Wilkinson, charged to make the inquiry into his
conduct which the first resolution desires, and had commenced
their proceedings. To the Judge Advocate of that court, the
papers and information on that subject, transmitted to me by
the House of Representatives, have been delivered, to be used
according to the rules and powers of that court.
The request of a communication of any information which may
have been received at any time since the establishment of the
present Government, touching combinations with foreign agents
for dismembering the Union, or the corrupt receipt of money by
any officer of the United States from the agents of foreign
governments, can be complied with but in a partial degree.
It is well understood that, in the first or second year of
the Presidency of General Washington, information was given
to him relating to certain combinations with the agents of a
foreign Government for the dismemberment of the Union; which
combinations had taken place before the establishment of the
present Federal Government. This information, however, is
believed never to have been deposited in any public office,
or left in that of the President’s Secretary; these having
been duly examined; but to have been considered as personally
confidential, and therefore retained among his private papers.
A communication from the Governor of Virginia to President
Washington, is found in the office of the President’s
Secretary, which, although not strictly within the terms of
the request of the House of Representatives, is communicated,
inasmuch as it may throw some light on the subjects of the
correspondence of that time, between certain foreign agents and
citizens of the United States.
In the first or second year of the Administration of President
Adams, Andrew Ellicott, then employed in designating, in
conjunction with the Spanish authorities, the boundaries
between the Territories of the United States and Spain, under
the treaty with that nation, communicated to the Executive
of the United States papers and information respecting the
subjects of the present inquiry, which were deposited in the
Office of State. Copies of these are now transmitted to the
House of Representatives, except of a single letter and a
reference from the said Andrew Ellicott, which, being expressly
desired to be kept secret, is therefore not communicated; but
its contents can be obtained from himself in a more legal form;
and directions have been given to summon him to appear as a
witness before the Court of Inquiry.
A paper “on the commerce of Louisiana,” bearing date
the eighteenth of April, one thousand seven hundred and
ninety-eight, is found in the office of State, supposed to have
been communicated by Mr. Daniel Clark, of New Orleans, then a
subject of Spain, and now of the House of Representatives of
the United States, stating certain commercial transactions of
General Wilkinson, in New Orleans; an extract from this is now
communicated, because it contains facts which may have some
bearing on the questions relating to him.
The destruction of the War Office by fire, in the close of one
thousand eight hundred, involved all information it contained
at that date.
The papers already described, therefore, constitute the whole
of the information on these subjects, deposited in the public
offices, during the preceding Administration, as far as has
yet been found; but it cannot be affirmed that there may be
no other, because the papers of the office being filed, for
the most part, alphabetically, unless aided by the suggestion
of any particular name which may have given such information,
nothing short of a careful examination of the papers in the
offices generally, could authorize such an affirmation.
About a twelvemonth after I came to the administration of
the Government, Mr. Clark gave some verbal information to
myself, as well as to the Secretary of State, relating to
the same combinations for the dismemberment of the Union. He
was listened to freely; and he then delivered the letter of
Governor Gayoso, addressed to himself, of which a copy is now
communicated. After his return to New Orleans, he forwarded to
the Secretary of State other papers, with a request that, after
perusal, they should be burnt. This however was not done; and
he was so informed by the Secretary of State, and that they
would be held subject to his orders. These papers have not yet
been found in the office. A letter therefore has been addressed
to the former Chief Clerk, who may, perhaps, give information
respecting them. As far as our memories enable us to say, they
related only to the combinations before spoken of, and not
at all to the corrupt receipt of money by any officer of the
United States; consequently they respected what was considered
as a dead matter, known to the preceding Administrations, and
offering nothing new to call for investigations, which those
nearest the dates of the transactions had not thought proper to
institute.
In the course of the communications made to me on the subject
of the conspiracy of Aaron Burr, I sometimes received
letters, some of them anonymous, some under names true or
false, expressing suspicions and insinuations against General
Wilkinson. But only one of them, and that anonymous, specified
any particular fact, and that fact was one of those which had
been already communicated to a former Administration.
No other information within the purview of the request of the
House, is known to have been received by any Department of
the Government, from the establishment of the present Federal
Government. That which has been recently communicated to the
House of Representatives, and by them to me, is the first
direct testimony ever made known to me, charging General
Wilkinson with the corrupt receipt of money; and the House
of Representatives may be assured that the duties which this
information devolves on me, shall be exercised with rigorous
impartiality. Should any want of power in the court to compel
the rendering of testimony obstruct that full and impartial
inquiry, which alone can establish guilt or innocence and
satisfy justice, the legislative authority only will be
competent to the remedy.