The Life of John Marshall Volume III Part 41

[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 c.o.x 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 princ.i.p.al 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 Const.i.tution." (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 antic.i.p.ated ... 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 a.s.sures 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 Was.h.i.+ta 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. (Ba.s.sett: _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 Blennerha.s.sett's island. Tyler always maintained that the sole object of the expedition was to settle the Was.h.i.+ta lands.

(See his pathetic letter a.s.serting 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.