|
GEN. JAMES WILKINSON AND OF HIS CONNEXION WITH AARON BURR. [“Proofs” Pages 121-140] Daniel Clark  1766-1813 |
|
GEN. JAMES WILKINSON AND OF HIS CONNEXION WITH AARON BURR. [“Proofs” Pages 121-140] Daniel Clark 1766-1813 |
Note |
Each section below reflects a true page of this historical publication. Note links refer to the letters and documents that Daniel Clark used as evidence of his former friend's treachery. People and place-name links are to biographical and geographical pages in Encyclopedia Louisiana. Time links are to the Encyclopedia Louisiana Timeline. |
|
Page
***121*** |
ther he “could not raise a corps of cavalry. “to follow his fortunes to Mexico.” (Vide President's Message, page 22.) Now contrast this with the general's declaration, on oath, before the Grand Jury at Richmond, when he declared —“That he had an interview with Burr, at St. Louis, in which he (B.) stated that he had some great project in contemplation; but whether it was authorised by the government of not B. did not explain, nor did W. enquire; that this was all the information he was possessed of, at that time. of B's designs; that he was satisfied B. had had some great project in view, but had not expressed what that project was. (See Mr. Tazewell's evidence, President's message, page 5.) Is this of itself probable, if it stood alone? that Burr should travel to St. Louis, to have a confidential conversation with W. and should only tell him that he had a grand project; that he should stop here; and that Wilkinson, the most intimate friend he had, should enquire no further; all this is almost incredible. But the general does not leave us to doubt on this subject. By the letter to me it appears, that on the 8th of June, near three months before B's visit to St. Louis, Wilkinson knew that he had a scheme, and knew enough of it, to know that it was improper to letter. In the same month of June he knew so much, as to assure general Adair that Burr “reckoned” on him - so much, as to promise him that he would tell him all - and so much, as even then to let out part, which was a visit to the world beyond him. Yet he pretends (see Mr. Taze- |
|
Page
***122*** |
well's Evidence) that he wrote several letters, to endeavour to discover his plans. He, however, defeats himself. for he acknowledges that he told Burr in one of them, “Miranda has taken the bread out of your mouth;” and “I shall be ready before you.” How does the first of these expressions quadrate with an utter ignorance of the plan, or the second with his innocence of any participation in it? The truth is, that this letter had been seen by Mr. Swartwout; he had repeated these sentences to the Grand Jury; and the general was obliged to tax his ingenuity to account for them. As to the affected delicacy about producing the six letters written to him by Burr, it imposes on no one, any more than the offer to do it, if Burr would give him leave, or would set him the example, by producing the letter of 13th May. The pretence is too ridiculous> He knew that Burr could not consent to their production, without convicting himself of treason, and the same reason restrained Wilkinson; for he tells us, in the passage I have before quoted, that “the letters were calculated to inculpate him, (W) should they be exposed.” What more do we want than this plain, this unequivocal confession. Can any one read this, and doubt his participation in all the projects, whatever they were, that were entertained by Burr? Could the magistrate, who communicated this testimony to Congress, have perused it, before he sent it in? If he had, would our gallant troops be still disgraced by ———. What he writes to me in June, that Burr had |
|
Page
***123*** |
things to communicate, which it would be improper to commit to paper, he details in the same month a part, and promises to disclose the whole of those schemes to Adair. He solicits his co-operation, and assures him that Burr relies upon his assistance. He declares, upon oath, that he had received a number of letters which he will not produce, and which he confesses will inculpate him, if they were exposed. And yet he dares, under solemn sanction of an oath, to date his first suspicion of any plan from the time of col. Burr's visit to St. Louis in August, and has the hardihood to swear that, even then, all he knew of it was, that it was a great project, and that this was all the information he was possessed of, at that time, of B's designs. From the time of the visits to the general, in his government at St. Louis, the correspondence was briskly kept up. Six letters are acknowledged to have been received from Burr; and two, exclusive of that of the 13th of May, to have been written to him; all in cypher, all of a nature to inculpate the general, if they were produced. Burr, during all this time, was busily employed in making his enlistments, and preparing for the execution of his plan, and yet the world are to believe that there was no connection between the two. But let us hasten to the development, which the general, with “the honour of a soldier and the fidelity of a good citizen,” thought proper at length to make. If we before wanted conviction, it awaits us here. The nature of the communication he then receiv- |
|
Page
***124*** |
ed, the time at which he disclosed it, the manner of doing it, and the gross perjury and contradiction by which he has endeavoured to conceal his connexion, incontestibly prove it. Let us first examine the nature of this communication. The following is Burr's letter, as decyphered by a member of the grand jury, at Richmond: REAL YOUR letter, post-marked 13 May, is received. I have at length received funds, and have actually commenced; the eastern (a) detachments, from different points, and under different pretences, will rendezvous on Ohio on 1st November. Every thing internal and external favours our view—naval protection of England is secured. Truxtun is going to Jamaica, to arrange with the Admiral there, and will meet us at Mississippi;—England—a navy of the United States ready to join, and final orders are given to my friends and followers. It will be an host of choice spirits. Wilkinson shall be second to Burr only, and Wilkinson shall dictate the rank and promotion of his officers. Burr will proceed westward 1st August, (a)In the copy sworn to be true, and afterwards sworn to be false, by gen. W. the word eastern is changed into expedition; and the stop taken from the word commenced, and placed after the word expedition, so as to red - “have actually commenced the expedition; detachments,” &c. And in the general's sworn copies, for he has made two at a considerable distance of time, all the passages and words marked in this in italics were purposely omitted by the general, to avoid, as he says, giving a handle to his enemies. |
|
Page
***125*** |
never to return; with him go his daughter and grandson. The husband will follow in October, with a corps of worthies. Send forth 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, westward of the mountains, who could be useful, with a note delineating their character. By your messenger send me four or five of the commissions of your officers, which you can borrow under any pretence you please; they shall be returned faithfully. Already (a) and order to the contractor to forward six months provisions to points you may name; this shall not be used until the last moment, and then under proper injunctions. Our project, (b) my dear friend, is brought to the point so long desired. I guarantee the result with my life and honour, with the lives, the honour and the fortunes of hun- (a) “Already an order to the contractor,” &c.—this is changed in the sworn copy to—“already are orders to the contractor given”—this is somewhat obscure. If they were already given, how could he say in the same sentence—“this shall not be used until the last moment.” It appears to me that already is, by some mistake in the cypher, used instead of have ready. This omission of the word given, in the original, and the substitution of are for an, which W. had adroitly supplied in the sworn copy, favours this conjecture. It is, however, only given as one. But it would then read—“have ready an order to the contractor,” &c. which appears a more probable reading. (b) “Our project, my dear friend, is, in the copy, reduced to “the project.” |
|
Page
***126*** |
dreds, the best blood of our country. Burr's plan of operation is, to move down rapidly from the Falls on the 15th November, with the fist 500 or 1000 men in light boats, now constructing for that purpose. to be at Natchez between the 5th and 15th December; there to meet you; there to determine whether it will be expedient in the first instance to seize or pass by Baton Rouge. On receipt of this, send me an answer; draw on me for all expence. The people of the country which we are going to are prepared to receive us; their agents now with me 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 will hand a formal letter of introduction from me. He is a man of inviolable honour and perfect discretion, formed to execute rather than to project, yet capable of relating facts with fidelity, and incapable of relating them otherwise. He is thoroughly informed of the plans and intentions of ———, and will disclose to you as far as you enquire, and no further, and may be embarrassed in your presence; put him at ease, and he will satisfy you. 22d July. Doctor Bollman, equally confidential, better informed on the subject, and more enlightened, will hand this duplicate. 29th July. |
|
Page
***127*** |
Can any man read this letter, and say that he thinks the person to whom it was addressed had no previous knowledge of the plan? Without such previous knowledge, the letter itself must have been unintelligible. Nor can it be considered as a proposal to seduce the general from his allegiance, because the disclosure which it makes is not of the plan, but of the means to effect it. Every thing relative to the project is spoken of as resting already in the knowledge of his correspondent; and it mentions only such details as were necessary still to be arranged, in order to ensure its success. Examine it in more detail. It begins with acknowledging the receipt of a letter, post-marked 13th May, and then immediately enters on the business—“I have at length obtained funds, and have actually commenced.” Funds for what? What is commenced? These would be the natural exclamations of a person who had been, as the general pretends he was, totally in the dark as to his correspondent's plans. From the wording of this letter is it not plain, that the want of funds had been the subject of former communication, and that the operations which were commenced related to an undertaking formerly agreed between them. The Eastern detachments are to rendezvous on the Ohio the 1st of November, to move down rapidly on the 1 5th, and to be at Natchez between the 5th and 15th December, to meet Wilkinson there, and then to determine - what? whether Wilkinson will join? whether he will, after he knows the plan, approve of |
|
Page
***128*** |
it? whether he will a second time turn traitor to his country, and apply those arms to her destruction, which were intrusted to him for her defence? No; all this is previously arranged. the only point to determine, after the junction, is whether it will be better to take Baton Rouge, or to pass it by. The eastern detachment is to proceed under Burr. Where is the western? Under Wilkinson, under the very man who dares no to claim our admiration and gratitude for defeating this very scheme which he himself had planned. Again—“Our project, my dear friend, is brought “to the point long desired.”—But I waste my time in comments on this document. Those who are not convinced, by a bare perusal, that this is the language of one accomplice to another, will never yield to any reasoning. Add to them the two letters received at the same time from Mr. Dayton, (see Notes 79, 80) and no doubt will remain that the commander in chief of the American army, if not the father of the project, was at least as deeply engaged in it as any of the others. Yet I admit that a letter written to another is not in itself complete evidence of guilt in the person to whom it is addressed. A contrary doctrine would put any innocent man in the power of the first villain, who chose to write to him in the style of an associate. To judge the weight of such evidence, we must examine the previous connexion of the parties, the motives that might have actuated the writer, and, above all, the conduct of the party on receiving the communication. If we |
|
Page
***129*** |
should in the prior correspondence discover no mystery, no evidence of a previous knowledge of the plan - if the writer could be supposed to have an interest in endeavouring to implicate his correspondent - and if the party receiving the proposition mad a full and immediate disclosure, was guilty of no evasion or prevarication in his account of it - I confess that I should think it unjust on such evidence to condemn. Let us then fairly test the conduct of general Wilkinson by these rules. 1st. His previous knowledge of the plan. This may be fairly inferred from his engagement in a similar scheme under the Spanish government, and is fully proved by the mysterious correspondence, which is even now refused to be produced, by his acknowledgment, under oath, that it was calculated to implicate him, by his confession that he had written to Burr that he would be “ready before him.” Ready for what? - Why for the plan, of which, according to general Wilkinson, he knew nothing. And finally, by his own letters to me, to general Adair, and to colonel M'Kee. 2dly. What motive could Mr. Burr have had in writing such a letter, if the general were ignorant of his plans, and if he had not sanctioned them? Would a conspirator, who is generally supposed to have been a man not deficient in understanding, have made this disclosure to the commander of the army that was to oppose him, unless he had reason to count upon assistance. I search in vain for some motive, that would have influenced either colonel Burr or Mr. Dayton to write those |
|
Page
***130*** |
letters. I find none which can be made, consistent with the idea of innocence in their correspondent. I have heard of such stratagems, in order to render officers suspected by their commanders; but in those cases it was always contrived, that the paper should fall in the hands of the person whose suspicions it was intended t o excite. Here, the letters were sent by a confidential messenger directly to the person to whom they were addressed. They were written, too, some time previous to that fixed for the commencement of the expedition. This discloses the time and place of rendezvous, the order of march, and the number of the forces; so that, unless they were assured of the general's co-operation, they put it completely in his power to destroy their scheme, and ruin its authors. The idea of this being a contrivance to implicate Wilkinson is therefore absurd, Let us apply, however, our third and surest test. How was this proposition received? when was it disclosed? and has that disclosure been fully made, without any concealment of prevarication? It was received, he tells us, with the caution necessary to procure from the messenger a development of the plan. (See the general's deposition, Note 81.) But, after obtaining this development, he writes to colonel Burr a letter, which he dispatched, but afterwards recalled. This is an important feature in the transaction, and I therefore submit the evidence on which I assert it. In the report of Burr's trial communicated to Congress, page 209, there is the following passage:— |
|
***131*** |
Mr. Wickham” (to Mr. Wilkinson.) “Ithink you said that you wrote to colonel Burr from Natchitoches.” General Wilkinson—“You guess well; but if I am not mistaken, you got that information from Swartwout. Q. Did you write? A. I did. Q. What did you do with the letter? A Destroyed it. Q. Did it go out of your hands? A. It did; it was sent to Natchez, to which place I followed, recovered, and destroyed it. I will give you my reasons for so doing. After writing, I received the letter from Mr. Donaldson, dated 30th of October, and conveying the information received from Myers Michael, which removed my doubts as to the extent of Mr. Burr's designs, and their sinister nature. Mr. Wickham, then I understand you say that Mr. Donaldson gave you the first correct information. A. It excited very strong apprehensions in my mind, that some general and deep-rooted conspiracy had taken place above.” This evidence is important, not only as it shews a continued correspondence with Burr, even after the general acknowledges that he had obtained a knowledge of his plans from the cyphered letter, and from Mr. Swartwout, but for a reason as important to the general, because it convicts him of direct perjury; for in his affidavit, (No. 81,) he directly asserts that Mr. Swartwout informed him he was to meet Burr the 20th of November, and requested him (W.) to write him, which (says the general) I declined. |
|
***132*** |
What were the contents of this letter to colonel Burr, or by whom it was sent, we know not; but it is enough to convict him, that he carried on a correspondence after he had full conviction of his guilt; that he destroyed it after he had determined to turn state's evidence; and that he has tried, by perjury, to concealed it. This letter is a strong proof, too, that the interval between the 8th, when he received the communication from Burr, and the 21st, when he dispatched lieut. Smith, was spent in deliberating whether it would be most advantageous to betray his country or his accomplice. We shall presently see what inducements turned the scale in favour of duty. He says, indeed, that he disclosed the plan to col. Cushing. I have no doubt of the fact, but what does this prove? he enjoined secrecy, (a) and he prevented his acting of making any discovery, until the general himself was determined. If that determination had been one of adhering to his treason with Burr, col. Cushing's knowledge of it could have been of no consequence, the mask must have been taken off, and all the world would have known as much as col. Cushing. Whereas, if he should find his associate's affairs desperate, and determine to betray him, then col. Cushing's testimony would, he thought, be useful, in order to prove that he had made the communication in time. It is observable here, too, that the general declares in his deposition, (Note No. 81,) that the (a) See colonel Cushing's deposition, page 233, President's Message. |
|
***133*** |
moment he decyphered the letter he put it into the hands of major Cushing, and that by the general's examination before the court, as well as by col. Cushing's deposition, it appears that the letter was not fully decyphered at Natchitoches, and that he only told him of the contents, but did not put it in his hands at all. The delay of a whole fortnight, between the receipt of Mr. Burr's letter and general Wilkinson's first communication to the President, is a material circumstance in this enquiry. Burr had written that he was to rendezvous at the falls of the Ohio on the first of November, with a large force—Mr. Swartwout informs him that this force was to be employed in seizing on New Orleans as soon as it could descend. General Wilkinson receives this intelligence on the 8th of October, time enough to have put the governors of the states and territories on their guard, to have collected a force sufficient to disperse the rebels, or at least to impede their descent. Yet this immaculate saviour of his country eases his conscience by a secret confession to col. Cushing, and gives no kind of notice either to the governors of the states or territories, or to the President of the United States, until the 21st. Why this delay? plainly, to see whether Burr could execute his promise of collection a force; plainly, to deliberate whether he should betray his associate or his country. Not indeed to determine which was the best, but which was the safest course, that he might have time to weigh accurately the legal profits of a return to duty against the illicit gains of treason. He did |
|
***134*** |
weigh these, but neither honour, nor integrity, nor duty, nor any manly virtue of the soul, at all contributed to form his determination. The balance was nearly suspended until dastardly fear fell in, and made his treason kick the beam. Mr. Burr's movement about this time became extremely suspicious. Wilkinson knew that he was watched; he knew that the western states did not favour his views; he found that Burr overrated the strength of the eastern detachments; and therefore he thought it most prudent not to join him immediately with the western, Still however, he had a hankering after the treason, and he acted in such a manner as to enable him to return to it, if Burr should succeed in obtaining a sufficient force; for he does not, even on the 21st of October, send to the President a copy of the cyphered letter. Why did he withhold this? I have always thought that it was done to prevent his committing himself too much with Burr, whom circumstances might induce him afterwards to join; while the partial disclosure he had made would always be an evidence of his patriotism. if, as was then most probable, the enterprize should fail. I have never seen this letter of the 21st, but it was produced on the trial of Burr, and the following is an extract from it, contained in a question, put by Mr. Wickham to general W. (page 204 of the Pres. Mess. before quoted)— “You say,” in your letter to the President, “that you were not only uninformed of the prime mover and ultimate objects of the daring enterprize, but you are ignorant of the foundation on which it |
|
***135*** |
rests, of the means by which it is to be supported, and whether any immediate or collateral protection, internal or external , is expected.” Now is it possible rationally to account for this communication otherwise than my supposing that so much was intended to be told, as would secure to himself the credit of an informer, and that every thing was concealed, that would materially injure his accomplice. A fortnight had elapsed since he had told Mr. Cushing,—“Yes, my friend, a great number of individuals. possessing wealth, popularity and talents, are at this moment associated, for purposes inimical to the government of the U. S. Col. Burr is at their head.”—“I have discovered that the object is treasonable,” &c.—Yet he tells the President that he cannot discover either the prime mover of the ultimate objects of the daring enterprize; that he is ignorant of the means by which it is to be supported, or whether any protection is expected from without or within. My distance from the records prevents my procuring a copy of this letter at large, but this extract, the only part of it I have seen, is an incontestible proof that his communication meant no more than to secure the pardon granted to an informer, in case the enterprize did not succeed, but not to place any impediment in the way of Burr's expedition. Why else did he pretend ignorance of the prime mover, of the internal and external |
|
***136*** |
resources, or of the objects of the enterprize, all which had been fully detailed both by the cypher letter and by Mr. Swartwout. Why did he not send a copy of that letter? Why was a paper, containing intelligence on which the fate of the Union depended, forwarded by only one conveyance? Why was it thirty-five days in reaching its destination, at the most favourable season of the year, when the usual course of the post from New Orleans, which is about the same distance, is only twenty-one days? Why was no notice given to any of the governors of the states and territories through which Burr must necessarily pass? and why was no other communication made to the President until three weeks afterwards (12th November)? Why was not a copy of Burr's letter sent even then? And why was this last dispatch confided to an old gentleman, who was, as it might have been foreseen, nearly two months on his journey? On an affair of this importance, surely the general might have been justified in adding the expence of half a dozen expresses to the millions which he squandered in his military movements and other preparations. t length, on the 14th day of December, more than two months after the letter in cypher had been received, a copy was for the first time sent on to the President. Then it was reduced to a certainty that Burr must fail. He had collected no force, the country was alarmed, the western states and territories evinced their attachment to the Union. Burr, instead of opposing the military |
|
***137*** |
force of his country, was exercising his ingenuity in escaping the researches of the public prosecutors. Before this period every measure of the commander in chief was calculated o insure Burr's success, if he had come down in force, and to have executed that plan of sham defence which was obliqued to him by Bollman. He alarmed us with daily reports of the expected invasion from above, and yet he drew down all his force from the upper country, which is strong by nature, and where the most effectual opposition could have been made, to concentrate it in a town, situated in a plain, and totally without defence. He constructed a fort in the centre of that town, so situated, that it is impossible to fire a single gun without destroying an house. And he endeavours still more to all the militia to be sent to him at New Orleans. The firmness of Mr. Meade defeated him in this part of the project; but governor Claiborne, with more politeness, invested him with full power over the whole effective force of the territory, which he employed in the degrading drudgery of his illegal arrests. Burr, he said, would descend with two or three gun-boats; Wilkinson had four; and lest Burr should have too much trouble in taking them, they were distributed, at the distance of several leagues from each other, up the rivers. But the master stroke still remained, He had heard from Swartwout, as he tells us, that the intent was, to provide funds by the plunder of the New Orleans, and transports, by the seizure of the ship- |
|
***138*** |
ping; he therefore persuaded Claiborne to agree to an embargo, and lest any of the ships, so necessary to this expedition, should sail, and carry away the money or merchandize which was to support it, no vessel of any description was suffered to depart. Here then every thing was prepared, if Burr could realize the hopes he so strongly expressed. If he could have descended with a competent force, he would have found not the least impediment to his progress. The upper country was deserted, Fort Adams dismantled, the gunboats so stationed as to have been successively taken, and the farcical fortifications at New Orleans calculated only to awe the town, in case its citizens should have been inclined to resist the invader. He would have found the stores filled with merchandize, the money untouched in the vaults of the Bank, and a fine fleet of merchantmen waiting to convey him to his final destination. Wilkinson could soon have convinced him that all these dispositions were the effect of his fidelity to his engagements, and might have found much better excuses for the partial disclosures made to the government, than he cannot give to his country for these worse than equivocal arrangements. But Burr did not come down at the head of a military force; he became a wanderer, almost an outlaw and a convict; and his worthy associate, fearful of the same fate, became a patriot, a faithful citizen, an honourable soldier. Great God, what a profanation of the most sacred names!—we must hereafter invent some new terms to express our admiration of public worth— |
|
***139*** |
these have been indelibly disgraced by their application. At this period, then, the copy of this letter was for the first time sent on to the seat of government. A copy did I say? No; it was not yet time—the general's patriotism had not yet attained so strong a growth, as to bear the shock it would receive from a full disclosure of the contents of that letter. He accordingly cut it, and scraped it and distorted it, to his and his counsellor's fancy, and by suppressing a sentence here, altering a word there, and inserting one wherever he found it necessary, he thought it at last fitted to his purpose. He then copied it fair, and swore, by the HONOUR OF A SOLDIER and the HOLY EVANGELISTS OF ALMIGHTY GOD, that it “substantially was as fair an interpretation” as he had been able to make. Is this true? - do you not slander him?—can this monstrous accusation be supported by proof?—if known to you, why did you not sooner disclose it to the government?—why have you suffered the President to disgrace himself and the nation, to dishonour the army, and endanger the safety of the people, by continuing in command a man capable of this conduct? Alas! it is not to me alone that the confidence was made of the commission of this crime; it was stated to the government, it was recorded in the tribunals, it was proclaimed to the world! The evidence is not that of witnesses who might be prejudiced—of writings which might be forged—but it is contained in the open, unequivocal, unblush- |
|
***140*** |
ing confession of the party, and the testimony of the gentleman who advised the act. (See Notes No. 82and 83.) the words printed in italics in the letter are those, which were omitted by Wilkinson in the copies which he twice (once on the 14th January, before Mr. Carrick, and afterwards on the 26th of the same month, before Mr. Pollock) deliberately swore were substantially as true interpretations as he could make. the copy I have inserted above is taken from that laid before Congress by the foreman of the grand jury, who decyphered it. By comparing it with the one sworn to by Wilkinson, in his affidavit, (Note No. 81,) another material variation will be seen. In the beginning of the letter he says,—“I have obtained funds and have actually commenced. The eastern detachments, from different points, will rendezvous on Ohio.” This mention of the eastern detachments would naturally lead to an enquiry, where the western detachments were. It was therefore necessary to employ the scraper and the pen, as well as the blotter; this was ingeniously done; the word eastern was changed into expedition; the place of the period was changed, and the sentence was made to read— “I have actually commenced the expedition. Detachments from different points will rendezvous on the Ohio,” &c. But it was not my object to convict Wilkinson of either perjury or forgery. It was to shew that his manner of making a disclosure of this letter, when at last he resolved to do it, was such as evinced a consciousness of guilt; and the perjury, and |
|
|