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PROOFS of the CORRUPTION OF GEN. JAMES WILKINSON. AND OF HIS CONNEXION WITH AARON BURR - by Daniel Clark. [“Notes” Pages 1-18] Daniel Clark  1766-1813 |
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PROOFS of the CORRUPTION OF GEN. JAMES WILKINSON. AND OF HIS CONNEXION WITH AARON BURR - by Daniel Clark. [“Notes” Pages 1-18] Daniel Clark 1766-1813 |
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In the first 18 pages of these Notes Daniel Clark republishes General Wilkinson's “A Plain Tale” and its notes.
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. |
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NOTES §§§ No. 1 §§§ §§§ ADVERTISEMENT. The following Plain Tale is republished in this form, without even the knowledge of general Wilkinson, by a man who is no otherwise his friend than dictates of truth and honour require; for if the slanders that have been published against him could be substantiated by adequate proof, he would be among the first to abandon him. Previously to the perusal, the reader is requested to ask himself a few questions. Has not general Wilkinson by his prompt, energetic, and decisive conduct, saved our country from civil as well as a foreign war? Has he not crushed treason in the bud, and prevented a dissolution of our union? Are not his accusers those, and those only, whose daring and wicked hopes he has frustrated? Has any proof been offered in support of any one charge against him, unless indeed assertions could be raised to the dignity of testimony? After a candid answer to these questions, from the breast of a conscientious reader, the publisher has no doubt but the following statement and documents will have their weight. If any man, to whom this small pamphlet shall come, should decline reading it, for want of time or inclination, let him throw it aside, but as a man of hour he should throw aside his prejudices with it; for he who first refuses to listen to a justification, and then repeats or supports the charges, becomes himself a principal in the calumny. The publisher assures himself, that few if any such characters will be found among those whose applause is honour, and whose esteem is a desirable acquisition. |
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Richmond, October 27, 1807 Shall general Wilkinson respond to the slanders of a host of enemies whetted by disappointment and stimulated by revenge? Shall he enter the lists of controversy with the partisans of the very rebellion he has himself crushed, or descend to controvert the slanderous assertions of a band of calumnious discontents, who without the spirit to emulate the meritorious deed, possess the low ambitious to envy it? We hope not—we hope his attentions will be carried to very different objects, in the present crisis of public affairs, standing, as we do, on the threshold of a war, which may require the exertion of the skill, conduct, and courage of the whole nation. Pending the trial of Aaron Burr, we have beheld the most extraordinary scenes ever presented before a tribunal of justice; to impugn the character of general Wilkinson, as much solicitude has been manifested, as to vindicate the conduct of the traitor himself! And it has been with astonishment we have beheld volumes of testimony let in, totally irrelevant to the cause, and calculated to blacken the character of a public officer, who (taken by surprise) found himself without other defence than that which accident provided him. We have seen witnesses of almost every country and denomination, the avowed enemies of general Wilkinson, hunted up from the remotest extremes of the union, to violate the seal of confidence and rip up the private transactions of his life! We have been apprised, that the notorious accomplice of Burr was the bearer of blank subpoenas to Edward Livingston, who ran over Louisiana to fabricate exparte depositions, shaped for the occasion, and to collect testimonies against the general; and by artifices the most foul, to aid the cause of his suffering friend. Wherefore is the general thus persecuted and abused! Wherefore are the transactions of twenty years standing transactions purely commercial, now distorted, misrepresented, and brought forward to defame him? Is it because he has been guilty of any act of infidelity to the government? Is it because he has failed to do justice to the high and honourable trust successively reposed in him by Washington, Adams, Jefferson? Is it because he has neglected a duty to be performed, or has failed in one solitary instance to promote the national weal, with that zeal and ardour which characterize the man? No! his enemies may continue to howl, but it will |
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be impossible for them to ever substantiate against him political defection, or a dereliction of personal honour. In what then has he offended, thus to draw down upon him the rancorous malice and ruthless vengeance of a motley tribe of adversaries? It is a crime with the invidious that he should have passed. With repute. Through three successive administrations, and rendered satisfaction where he was responsible; and the sweets of office could not be permitted him, with out that allow of detraction which we find inseparable from public station in free governments. But, he has aimed beyond forgiveness—because he refused to violate his oath, abandon his allegiance, turn his arms against the country he has sworn to defend, and dishonour his sword by becoming a military traitor. Herein we perceive “the very beard and affront of his offendings.” He has baffled the sinister aspirations of ambition—has destroyed the golden prospects of the sordid—and blasted the full-blown hopes of those deluded citizens. Whom mortification and disappointment may have inclined t barter the union and independence of those happy states for the humiliation of their political opponents. Reverse the screen; and what would have been the merits of this officer, if he had swallowed the gilded bait, and attached the seal of infamy to his name! What the effects would have been is manifest, but surely those who now condemn him for exposing a traitor, would have then applauded his conduct, and in place of a cross would have assigned him a crown.—Perjury in that case would have been meritorious; the enormity of the offence would have been lost in the blaze of military glory, and a successful career might have sanctified the deed! After various feints of attack and changes of position, from the “Port folio” down to the “post-marked letter 13th May.” The main assault is carried under the tattered banners of the Spanish conspiracy, and here too the assailants will be baffled, and those political rooks who have hovered around the walls of the Capitol, with the fond hope of rioting on the spoils of the general’s reputation, must retire with empty craws. However unpleasant the occasion; the arts, fraud, and falsehoods of his enemies seem to render it necessary that the private dealings and transactions of general Wilkinson, of twenty years standing, should be obtruded on the public attention, and that the motives, by which his personal speculations were produced and regulated at that remote day, should be exposed. It will be remembered, and by the citizens of Virginia particularly, that the situation of the settlements of Kentucky pending the years 1785 and 1786, was not only humiliating but perilous.— |
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It is not forgotten that the torrent of emigration to the west, was considered a pernicious drain from the population of the east, that the progressive improvements of our western wilds were viewed with jealous eyes by many, and men of distinction had been heard to implore heaven, that the Pacific Ocean should wash the western foot of the Apalachian mountains. On the eve of a separation from a parent state, those sympathies and obligations which had heretofore cherished and protected the district of Kentucky, were about to be dissolved. The inhabitants of that, then sequestered region without protection from the general government, saw their frontier settlements every where exposed to the tomahawk and scalping knife, and without the navigation of the Mississippi , the products of their labour were left to perish on their hands. What, let us inquire was the government at that period? A mere rope of sand. Nerveless, without resource, and subsisting on diurnal expedients. What was the policy of the administration in those days? Narrow, local, exclusive and invidious. State interests and state distinctions were then predominant, and the national family had not yet sat down to a single repast. An objection from the smallest state was sufficient to mar the most salutary proposition, and the most precious interests of the confederation were subject to the caprice of a single member. It was in the year 1786 that a proposal was offered to congress for the concession of the exclusive navigation of the Mississippi, to Spain, for twenty-five years, under the pretext of an exchange for certain commercial privileges to the Atlantic States, and in order to acquire the rights of estopal. The proposition terrified the western people, and suggested the necessity of their looking to their own rights and interests. The alarm and abhorrence produced by this measure were universal; the children of the woods began to think and speak for themselves; and but for the seasonable production and adoption of the glorious fabric, which cements United America, a separation long before this period would have ensued as a necessary consequence. Gen. W. had migrated to the western country in 1783, in quest of provision for a young and increasing family. He at this period considered his hopes jeopardized, and determined to look abroad for what he had not found at home. With this object he made a small equipment and embarked on Kentucky River in April 1787, and after escaping many perils from the savages, he arrived at New-Orleans in June. For the events which ensued, we beg leave to refer to the document A. This honourable testimonial will serve to illustrate a fact, which hundreds of living witnesses may be produced to suc- |
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tain, viz. that general Wilkinson did procure t his fellow-citizens in the west, on his own risk and expense, the invaluable advantages of a free trade with New-Orleans, years before that privilege was obtained by treaty. It is neither necessary nor obligatory, not would it be honourable to detail the means he employed to effect this object ; it will suffice to say his country was accommodated and benefited by his enterprise, and that his personal speculations, in their nature politically innocent, were directed to the friendly correspondence, harmonious intercourse and reciprocal interests of the two countries, and it will not be denied that he had the same right at that period, to establish a mercantile connection at New-Orleans, which the merchants of the United States have, at present, to extend their commercial speculations to Vera Cruz and Laguira, or to Turkey, China and the East Indies. The general has acknowledged to the author of these remarks, that he originally contemplated removing to Natchez, and did favour the policy of the court of Spain, at that time, to populate that district with emigrants from the United States, for motives too obvious to name. His commercial engagements were exclusively with the Spanish government of Louisiana. As he never sold a cent's worth of property in the market, after his first voyage, of course the cash he received was from the government of the country, and this he either received in person on his bills or by remittance through various channels. The last payment was made him in the year 1796 through his agent Philip Nolan, being a balance which had arisen on the recovery of some tobacco which it had been believed was damaged, and lost in the year 1789. On the general's first engagement a cypher was formed, more for the security of the communication of his friend, than his own, and when this friend left the country about the year 1790, their affairs being settled, he transferred the cypher to his successor whom the general never saw, but with whom he recollects to have passed one or two letters in cypher, respecting his private business about fourteen years since. The last letter the General received from the Baron of Carondelet was dated in May, 1797. It was strictly official, and conveyed the Baron's protest against the descent of a body of troops, which the general had detached to demand possession of the posts on the Mississippi, agreeably to the treaty of friendship, limits and navigation. The general rebutted this protest, and the troops proceeded under captains Guion and Heth, and for reasons of a confidential nature an order was passed by the |
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general to the officer commanding at Massac* to prevent the agent of the Baron from re-entering the United States by the Ohio. It is believed that the Baron de Carondelet came to the government of Louisiana about the year 1791, at which time the general left Kentucky and has been since incessantly engaged in military life. And the documents marked B. will exhibit gen. Washington's sense of his services during three years of arduous duty; from whence it will appear that general Wilkinson was engaged in defending, instead of dividing the country. General Wilkinson had never by word or deed endeavoured to incline a single individual to oppose the laws or injure the government of his country. He has never received nor employed a dollar for the purposed of corruption. He has never received nor employed a dollar for the purposes of corruption. He has never held a commission nor received a pension from any foreign power. Nor has he ever given a test of allegiance but to his own country. He cannot prove a negative, but he has done what he could do, to purge himself of the slanders of his enemies; and the correspondence with his excellency Governor Folch (marked C) and the voluntary declaration of capt. Thos. Power (marked D) are offered as instances. A KENTUCKIAN. 24th October, 1807 Extract from a Memoir submitted to the honourable Timothy Pickering, when secretary of state, by the honourable Daniel Clark. “About the period of which we are speaking, in the middle of the year 1787, the foundation of an intercourse with Kentucky and the settlements of the Ohio was laid, which daily increases. Previous to that time, all those who ventured on the Mississippi had their property seized by the first commanding officer whom they met, and little or no communication was kept up between the countries; now and then an emigrant who wished to settle in Natchez, by dint of intreaty and solicitation of friends, who had interest in New-Orleans, procured permission to remove there with his family, slaves, cattle, furniture and farming utensils, but was allowed to bring no other property except cash. An unexpected incident, however, changed the face of things, and was productive of a new line of conduct, the arrival of a boat belonging to gen. Wilkinson loaded with tobacco and other productions of Kentucky, is announced in town, and a guard was immediately sent on board of it. The general's name had hindered his being done at Natchez, as the |
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commandment was fearful that such a step might be displeasing to his superiors, who might wish to show some respect to a general officer—at any rate the boat was proceeding to Orleans, and they could then resolve on what measure they ought to pursue, and put them in execution. The government, not much disposed to show any mark of respect or forbearance towards the general's property, he not having at that time arrived, was about proceeding in the usual way of confiscation, when a merchant in New Orleans, who had considerable influence there, and was formerly acquainted with the general, represented to the governor that the measures taking by the intendant, would very probably give rise to disagreeable events; that the people of Kentucky were already exasperated at the conduct of the Spaniards on seizing on the property of all those who navigated the Mississippi, and if this system was persisted in, would, very probably, in spite of congress and the executive of the United States, take upon themselves to obtain the navigation of the river by force, which they were able to do; a measure for some time before much dreaded by the government, which has no force to resist them if such a plan was put into execution. Hints were likewise given that Wilkinson was a very popular man, who could influence the whole of that country, and probably that his sending a boat before him with a wish that she might be seized, was but a snare laid for the government, that he might have an opportunity at his return to inflame the minds of the people, and having brought them to the point he wished, induce them to appoint him their leader, and then like a torrent spread over the country, and carry fire and desolation from one end of the province to the other. Governor Miro, unacquainted with the American government, ignorant even of the position of Kentucky with respect to his own province, but alarmed at the very idea of an irruption of Kentucky men, whom he feared without knowing their strength, communicated his wishes to the intendant, that the guard might be removed from the boat, which was accordingly done; and a Mr. Patterson, who was the agent of the general, was permitted to take charge of the property on board and sell it free of duty.—The general on his arrival in New-Orleans some time after, informed of the obligation he lay under to the merchant who had impressed the governor with such an idea of importance and influence at home, waited on him, and in concert with him formed a plan for their future operations. In his interview with the governor, that he might not seem to derogate from the character given of him by appearing concerned in so trifling a business as a boat load of tobacco, hams and butter, he gave him to understand |
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that the property belonged to many citizens of Kentucky, who, availing themselves of his return to the Atlantic States by way of Orleans, wished to make a trial of the temper of this government, that he on his arrival might inform his owners what steps had been pursued under his eye, that adequate measures might be afterwards taken to procure satisfaction. He acknowledged with gratitude the attention and respect manifested by the governor toward s himself in the favour shown to his agent, but at the same time mentioned that he would not wish the governor to expose himself to the anger of the court, by refraining from seizing on the boat and cargo(as it was just a trifle) if such were the positive orders from the court, and that he had not a power to relax them according to circumstance—convinced by this discourse that the general rather wished for an opportunity of embroiling affairs, then sought to avoid it—the governor became more alarmed. For two or three years before, and particularly since the arrival of the commissioners from Georgia, who had come to Natchez to claim that country, he had been fearful of an invasion at every annual rise of the waters, and the news of a few boats being seen on the Ohio was enough to alarm the whole province, he resolved in his mind what measures he ought to pursue, (consistent with the orders he had from home not to permit the free navigation of the river,) in order to keep the people of Kentucky quiet, and in his succeeding interviews with Wilkinson, having procured more knowledge then he had hitherto acquired of their character, population, strength and dispositions, he thought he could do nothing better than hold out a bait to Wilkinson to use his influence in restraining the people from and invasion of this province, till he could give advice to his court and require further instructions—this was the point to which the parties wished to bring him, and being informed that in Kentucky two or three crops were on hand, for which if an immediate vent was not found, the people would not keep within bounds, he made Wilkinson the offer of a permission to import on his own account to New-Orleans, free of duty, all the productions of Kentucky, thinking by this means to conciliate the good will of the people, without yielding the point of navigation; as the commerce carried on would appear the effect of an indulgence to an individual, which could be withdrawn at pleasure On consultation with his friends, who well knew what further concessions Wilkinson could extort from the fear of the Spaniards, by the promises of his good offices in preaching peace, harmony and good understanding wit this government, until arrangements were made between Spain and America, he was advised to insist that the governor should |
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insure him a market for all the flour and tobacco he might send, as in the event of an unfortunate shipment he would be ruined, whilst endeavouring to do a service to Louisiana. This was accepted; flour was always wanted in Orleans, and the King of Spain had given orders to purchase more tobacco for the supply of his manufactory at home than Louisiana at the time produced, and which was paid for at about 9 1-2 dollars per cwt. In Kentucky it cost but two, and the profit was immense. In consequence the general appointed his friend Daniel Clark his agent here, returned by way of Charleston in a vessel with a particular permission to go to the United States, even at the very moment of Gardogue's information, and on his arrival in Kentucky, bought up all the produce he could collect, which he shipped and disposed of as before mentioned; and for some time all the trade from the Ohio was carried on in his name, a line from him sufficing to ensure to the owner of the boat every privilege and protection he could desire. On granting this privilege to Wilkinson, the government came to a resolution of encouraging emigration from the western country, and offered passports to all settlers, with an exemption of duty on all property they might bring with them invested in the produce on the country they came from. “Under the denomination of settlers, all those who had acquaintances with a few persons of influence in Orleans, obtained passports, made shipments to their address which were admitted free of duty, and under pretence of following shortly after with their families continued their speculations, others came with their property, had lands granted them, which after locating, they disposed of, and having finished their business returned to the United States; a few only remained in the province, and they were people, who in general , availed themselves the least of the immunities granted by the government; they possessed a few slaves and cattle, but had little other property, and they were generally settled among their countrymen in the Natchez, and increased the cultivation of tobacco, at the at time the principal article raised for exportation in the district. This encouragement given to immigrants, and speculators opened a market for all the produce of Ohio. Flour was imported from Pittsburgh; and the farmers finding a vent for all they could raise, their lands augmented in value, their industry increased, and the have exported annually to Louisiana for some time past from 10 to 15,000 barrels of flour, for which they generally find a ready market.” |
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SUNDRY EXTRACTS of letters from General Knox, Secretary of War, to Brigadier General JAMES WILKINSON. “The steps you have taken to procure information of the state of the Indians were highly proper, and in future you will use every expedient to gain information of their designs. “The President of the United States will be anxious to hear of your safe return from your excursion to the field of action; and this anxiety is in proportion to the risk you appear to encounter, by so near an approach to the Miami Towns, at and near which, if our information be just, near five hundred Indians may be collected in a short time. “This defensive protection must be confided to you and general Scot, or the county lieutenants, as you may judge proper. A few scouts at 5-6ths of a dollar per day, to each county, ought to constitute, perhaps, the main part of this protection, sided by such a number of rangers on the pay and rations of the troops of the United States, as shall be judged indispensable by you.” “The expedition to the field of action is an honourable evidence of your military zeal, and I am happy that you returned safely. “The president of the United States, whose orders I communicate to you on this, and all other important points of your command, hopes, and is persuaded, that you will, in the utmost of your power, endeavour to give the surest effect to the measure of peace. “I cannot close this letter, sir, without expressing to you the entire satisfaction of the president of the U. States, of the vigilance and discretion you appear to have exercised since your command; and I flatter myself, your judgment and talents will meet with all the approbation to which I am persuaded they will be entitled” “The zeal and promptitude with which you executed the wishes of the executive, are remarked with pleasure, and will not fail of receiving the approbation of the President of the United States. “It is with sincere pleasure I transmit you the notification of an appointment of Brigadier General; and I ardently hope the other |
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gentleman appointed to act with you, as well as the commanding general, will be perfectly agreeable to you” “The idea you have mentioned of employing about one hundred mounted volunteer riflemen, for escorts from post to post, is approved by the president of the United States; and you are hereby authorised to carry it into execution, upon the pay stated in the law herein enclosed. “These volunteers are to be engaged for a period of three months, unless sooner discharged, and you will appoint the officers thereof; you will however observe, that this corps, as well as your other corps, are not to be employed in offensive measures pending the negotiations for peace. “I confess, I shall be anxious to hear of your return from the establishment of Fort St. Clair, which will be an operation somewhat critical; however, the confidence I have in your intelligence and activity, assures me that you will avoid all unnecessary hazard.” “I have not yet heard of your return from establishing Fort St. Clair, and therefore some anxiety is entertained upon that subject. But the confidence in your discretion, is no small relief upon the occasion.” “Although I have not received any information of the actual departure of col. Hardin and major Trueman, yet from Mr. Hodgdon's information, they sat out from Fort Washington upon Harmer's trace, about the 20th of May. That they were to proceed to a certain distance, and then to separate; Hardin to push for St. Duskey, and Trueman to the rapids of the Omie. I hope sincerely they may arrive safely, and succeeded so as to prepare the way for general Putnam. “The terms you stipulated to col. Hardin shall be performed on the part of the public. “The direction you gave major Hambranck, of endeavouring to persuade the chiefs of the Wabash to repair to this city, was highly judicious, and it is desired that he may accomplish it. “Your remarks of the disproportionate punishments of death, or one hundred lashes, are just—and the suggestions of hard la- |
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bour seem to promise better success, and I shall communicate the same to major general Wayne—this is within the power of a court, according to the present rules and articles of war.” “Your instructions to col. Hardin and major Trueman, and your message to the Indians, are highly judicious—and I am extremely anxious to hear of your safety and success.” “The zeal and activity you have exhibited to further all the objects of public service, is highly gratifying to me, and I have so expressed it, both to the president, who is in Virginia, and general Wayne.” “I regret exceedingly the sudden departure of this express, which prevents my enlarging at this time; but I cannot refrain from intimating the satisfaction repeatedly expressed by the president of the United States, at your activity and zeal to promote the several objects of the public service under your direction. I am persuaded this satisfaction will be increased with the experience of your further conduct..” “As the commanding general has descended the river to Fort Washington, it is unnecessary for me to reply particularly to your several letters, otherwise than to thank you heartily for the various, extensive and important information you have communicated from time to time; all of which was duly communicated to the president of the United States. “Brigadier general Posey, who will deliver you this letter, is a gentleman from whom I flatter myself the service will derive solid benefits. I suppose he will arrive time enough to descend with Mrs. Wilkinson, with whom you will be at the time of receiving this letter, and to whom please respectfully to present my homage. “I have often expressed to her and colonel Biddle, the pleasure your conduct gave to the president of the United States. I am impressed with the conviction that you will persevere in the same paths. “My God! what an uproar in Europe! If the French nation shall be united and consolidate their force within their limits, they |
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will be invincible, although they must differ immensely in the process. But a doubt rests upon their union. If they are divided almost equally, they will be conquered. What a scene the European theatre would be for your military talents.” “The difference between you and major general Wayne, is considered as very unhappy. And tarnishing in a degree the military part of our national reputation. Indeed, my friend, there is no information, no complaint against you by him, that has been transmitted to this office. In his public letter he pays you merited applause. This has been circulate through the United States and Europe. Cannot, therefore, some mode be suggested, to bury in oblivion all that is past, and which, indeed, appears to me to be more the effect of nice feelings, than any palpable cause? I am persuaded that such a conciliation would be highly acceptable to the president of the United States for public considerations.” New-Orleans, Jan. 25th, 1807 SIR, I rest my apology for the intrusion of my personal concerns on your attention, upon those sympathies which connect military men throughout the civilize world, and that sensibility which inclines every honest breast to resist persecution. You have doubtless observed in the public prints of the United States, that my name and character have been slandered and stigmatised, for a criminal understanding imputed to me, with the Spanish governors of Louisiana; and that I am charged with holding a commission and drawing a pension from the government of Spain. “If my memory serves me, sir, you were here, when I first visited this city in 1787, and I think you were the nephew of the deceased governor Miro, and have lived on this station ever since; under those circumstances, and in your personal station it would seem probable, that if I am pensioned or commissioned by the court of Spain, the fact must come within your knowledge, and it is Theodore, sir, I presume to request from you the peculiar favour, to declare upon the honour of a gentleman and officer, whether such a fact has ever come to your knowledge, or whether you believe it has existence. |
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“Your prompt and explicit declaration will oblige, Sir, your most obedient servant, JAS. WILKINSON His excellency Governor Folch, Baton Rouge. Baton Rouge, 10th February, 1807. MI GENERAL, Your favor of the 25th ultimo has come to hand, and so far from feeling any reluctance in complying with your request, it is with the greatest satisfaction that I answer the contents of your letter. The military life has become now-a-days a scientific profession, and those who embrace it, laying aside political or national prejudices, consider themselves as brothers, and under this point of view your present persecution cannot be indifferent to me. I solemnly declare to you that I have resided in these provinces of Louisiana and W. Florida, with little or no interruption, since the 14th of July, 1783 (when I came to New-Orleans at the pressing invitation of my beloved uncle Don Estevan Miro, who was at that time governor of them) to this period; and it being publicly known that, in the quality of a near relation and intimate friend, no person ever possessed his confidences in a greater degree than myself, it may be presumed that no person can give a more satisfactory answer to your queries than myself. It is barely within the limits of possibility that notwithstanding the unlimited confidence my uncle placed in me, he may have concealed from me at that period, the circumstance of your holding a commission and enjoying a pension from the court of Spain; but as neither the one nor the other is ever conferred without a commission (patent or warrant) since the records (or archives) of Louisiana have been in my trust, it is natural that I should have met not only a copy, but even the original documents with which they must have been accompanied from the court. For your satisfaction and the utter confusion and shame of your calumniators, who availing themselves of the facility which the liberty of the press offers, are endeavouring to wound your honour; I do asseverate to you and to them, under my sacred word of honour, that no such document, nor any other paper tending to substantiate such assertions, exists in the records in my possession; and should this declaration be insufficient to erase the unfavourable impressions that certain persons of weak minds may have received, persons who as implicitly and as blindly give credit to what they read inch newspapers as they do the Bible, you ought not to forget that you are a soldier, and you must find in your unsullied conscience a source of conso- |
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lation, and in the esteem and regard of an enlightened and liberal public, your recompense. I remain with due consideration Your most faithful and affectionate servant, (and kiss your hand) (Signed) VIS'TE. FOLCH.
His excellence Gen. James Wilkinson. New-Orleans, 16th May, 1807 Sir, I cannot in silence behold my name employed to sanction the calumnies leveled at any man's character; and therefore, sir, I make you a tender of the enclosed; and have the honour to be, with the highest consideration, Your most obedient servant, THOMAS POWER General JAMES WILKINSON. I, Thomas Power, of the city of New-Orleans, lately an officer in the service of Spain, moved soley by a sense of justice, and the desire to prevent my name from being employed to sanction groundless slanders, do most solemnly declare, that I have at no time carried or delivered to general James Wilkinson, from the government of Spain. or from any person in the services of said government, cash, bills, or property of any species. I do most solemnly declare, that said Wilkinson, to the best of my knowledge and belief, had no participation, and was a perfect stranger to the mission on which I visited Kentucky in the year 1797, and do furthermore most solemnly declare, that my business at Detroit was to deliver an official letter from the Baron de Carondelet to general Wilkinson; that on my arrival at Detroit the general was absent, and I found the place under the command of colonel Strong, by whom I was received with the greatest hospitality, and treated with kindness and civility, being left at perfect liberty to visit every part of the town and its neighborhood, the fort excepted, during the few days that I remained there waiting for general Wilkinson's return from Michilimacinac; who immediately placed me under strict restraint, not permitting me to stir out of colonel Strong's quarters without being accompanied by an officer, who was instructed to keep a watchful eye over me; that the |
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general delivered me his answer to Baron de Carondelet's letter on the second day after his return to Detroit, and sent me in charge of an officer, by the nearest route, to Massac, and from thence to New-Madrid, notwithstanding I protested against this step, and demanded that I might return by the falls of the Ohio, where a boat and crew waited for me. I further declare that I am ready to testify the truth of the preceding facts. Given in New-Orleans, this 16th day of May, 1807. THOMAS POWER. §§§ §§§ FROM THE INQUIRER. Perceiving an oblique attempt in that oracle of truth, the Western World, to implicate governor Harrison, for some indefined sympathy, in relation to Burr, or his accomplice David Floyd—although Mr. Harrison's character and conduct will suffice to repel every foul insinuation—it is a matter of justice that the enclosed copies of two letters from Burr to that gentleman should be published—as they will not only evince Mr. H's ignorance of his nefarious projects, but will expose the base hypocrisy and infamous falsehoods at which the little traitor could resort to mask his villainous purposes, and cheat even those whom he called his friends. JUSTITIA. Richmond, October 26, 1807. Lexington, 24th October, 1806
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I pray you to believe in assurance of very great respect and esteem with which, I am,
(Signed) Your Friend, &c. A. BURR His Excellency Governor HARRISON, Vincennes. Louisville, Nov. 27th, 1806 DEAR SIR, Considering the various and extravagant reports which circulate concerning me, it may not be satisfactory to you to be informed (and to you there can be no better source of information than myself) that I have no wish of design to attempt a separation of the union, that I have no connection with any foreign power or influence into the United States, or any parts of its territories, but on the contrary should repel with indignation any proposition or measure having that tendency; in fine, that I have no project or views hostile to the interest or tranquility or union of the United States, or prejudicial to its government; and I pledge you my honour for the truth of this declaration - It is true that I am engaged in an extensive speculation, and that with me are associated some of your intimate and dearest friends. The objects are such as every man of honour and every good citizen must approve. They have been communicated to several of the principal officers of our government, particularly to one high in the confidence to the administration. Indeed, from the nature of them it cannot be otherwise, and I have no doubt of having received your active support, if a personal communication with you could have been had. Accident and indispensable occupations have prevented me from visiting you for the purpose. This explanation seemed due to the frankness of your character and your responsible station, to my own feelings, and to the attachment with which your kindness and confidence had influenced me. If I have ascribed to you a solicitude you have not felt, you will impute it to the great value I place in your esteem, and I pray that you will always believe me in your faithful and affectionate friend. (Signed) A. BURR
His Excellency Gov. HARRISON. |
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***18*** Note **1** |
Vincennes, (I.T.) Dec. 2d, 1806 I do hereby certify that the above is a true copy of the original letter written by Col. Burr to his excellency Gov. Harrison, which at his request I have transcribes. (Signed) WALTER TAYLOR. Copy of a copy. |
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