Chapter VI: The Burr Conspiracy (3)

"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.)