XIX. uous a part as a representative and senator from New CHAPTER Jersey, as well as some other persons in New York and its vicinity, were concerned to a greater or less extent 1806. in the enterprise, and advanced money to forward it. Toward the end of the summer Burr departed upon August. a second Western journey. A rumor for more than a year had prevailed, at the same time in Philadelphia and New Orleans, and spread through all the intervening country, that Burr was at the bottom of a project for effecting a revolution in Mexico-an idea sufficiently agreeable to the great body of the Western people, and, considering the existing difficulties with Spain and the affair of Miranda's expedition, likely enough to be secretly favored by the government. Under the impression that such was the fact, Burr and his project seem to have received a certain degree of countenance from several leading persons in the Western country. But how many, and who, and, indeed, whether any were fully and distinctly informed of the real character of the enterprise, and, having that information, had undertaken to co-operate, does not appear. Nor, indeed, does any distinct evidence exist as to what was the exact nature and extent of the enterprise intended, if, indeed, Burr himself had any precise and definite plan. One of the first things which he did on arriving in Kentucky was to purchase of a Mr. Lynch, for a nominal consideration of $40,000, of which a few thousand were paid, an interest in a claim to a large tract of land on the Washita, under a Spanish grant to the Baron de Bastrop. Edward Livingston, at New Orleans, had been speculating on this same grant. His claims to it Lynch had purchased out for $30,000; and Burr was to pay that amount to Livingston, against whom he had demands, as a part of the purchase money. These lands, CHAPTER situate on the upper waters of the Washita, were not XIX. many miles distant from the left bank of the Mississippi, 1806. just below the mouth of the Arkansas; but, owing to the swampy and often inundated state of the intervening country, they could not well be approached except by descending the Mississippi and ascending the Washitaa circuit of several hundred miles. The pretense of an intention to settle these lands might serve to cover a very different enterprise; and, should that enterprise fail, such a settlement might really be undertaken. Burr himself, in company with Blennerhasset, entered into a contract for building fifteen boats on the Muskingum, a few miles above Marietta, toward which $2000 were advanced in a draft on New York. Application also appears to have been made to John Smith, one of the Ohio senators, and contractor to furnish supplies to the troops in the West, to purchase two gun-boats which Smith was building on the Ohio for the government. This purchase was not effected; but there are reasons for believing that Smith was, to a certain extent at least, acquainted with and favorable to Burr's projects. Authority was given to a house at Marietta, the same in which Blennerhasset had lately been a partner, to purchase provisions; and a kiln was erected on Blennerhasset's island for drying corn so as to fit it for shipment. Other similar preparations were made elsewhere, but not, so far as appears, to any great extent. Young men were also enlisted, in considerable numbers, for an enterprise down the Mississippi, as to which mysterious hints were thrown out, but the true nature of which did not distinctly appear. Wilkinson, meanwhile, in obedience to his orders, had arrived at Natchitoches, and had assumed command of the five or six hundred troops collected there to oppose A few days after his arrival, and CHAPTER XIX. the Spanish invasion. while busy in preparations for advancing on the Spaniards, a young Mr. Swartwout, brother of Burr's friend, 1806. Colonel John Swartwout, who had been lately removed Oct. 8. from his office of marshal of New York, made his appearance in the camp with a letter of introduction from Jonathan Dayton to Colonel Cushing, the senior officer next to Wilkinson. He also had with him another letter, which he took an opportunity to slip unobserved into Wilkinson's hand, being a formal letter of introduction from Burr, and inclosing another, dated July 27th, just before Burr's departure for the West, written principally in cipher. Since Burr's visit to St. Louis the preceding autumn, Wilkinson had received from him several short letters, some of them in cipher, alluding to an enterprise which he had on foot, the tenor of which would seem to imply that Wilkinson was privy to that enterprise, if not a party to it. Wilkinson had also written to Burr; but of the precise contents of his letters we are ignorant. Burr afterward, on his trial, intimated that they implicated Wilkinson as privy to all his designs, excusing the non-production of the letters by alleging that he had destroyed them. Wilkinson admitted having written, but merely with the design to draw out Burr. He had kept no copies, nor did he precisely recollect the tenor of his letters. Burr's letter in cipher, brought by Swartwout, which Wilkinson succeeded in partially deciphering the same evening, announced, in broken sentences and mysterious tone, that he had obtained friends; that detachments. from different points and under different pretenses would rendezvous on the Ohio by the first of November; that the protection of England had been secured; that Trux CHAPTER ton had gone to Jamaica to arrange with the English adXIX. miral on that station; that an English fleet would meet 1806. on the Mississippi; that the navy of the United States was ready to join; that final orders had been given to his friends and followers; that Wilkinson should be second to Burr only, and should dictate the rank and pro. motion of his officers; that orders had been already giv en to the contractor for provisions to forward supplies for six months to such points as Wilkinson should designate; that the people of the country to which they were going were ready to receive them, their agents then with Burr having stated that, if protected in their religion, and not subjected to a foreign power, all would be settled in three weeks. The letter requested Wilkinson to send an intelligent and confidential friend to confer with Burr, and a list of all persons west of the mountains who might be useful, with a note designating their characters; also the commissions of four or five of his officers, which he might borrow under any pretense, and which should be faithfully returned. It was stated to be the plan of operations to move rapidly from the Falls of the Ohio on the 15th of November, with the first detachment of five hundred or a thousand men, in light boats already constructing for the purpose, to be at Natchez in December, there to meet Wilkinson, and to determine whether it would be expedient to pass or to seize Baton Rouge, at that time in possession of the Spaniards as a part of West Florida. The bearer of the letter was stated to be a man of discretion and honor, thoroughly informed as to the plans and intentions of Burr, who would make disclosures so far as he was inquired of, and no further. Inclosed in the same packet was another letter, also in cipher, from Jonathan Dayton, in which Wilkinson was assured that he would certainly be displaced at the XIX. next session of Congress; "But," added the letter, "you CHAPTER are not a man to despair, or even to despond, especially when such prospects offer in another quarter. ready? Are your numerous associates ready? and glory! Louisiana and Mexico! Dayton." Are you 1806. Wealth The tenor of these letters, and the previous intimacy and correspondence between Wilkinson and Burr, have given occasion to conclude that Wilkinson really was, in the first instance, a party to Burr's designs; and that Burr, when he wrote the ciphered letter of which Swartwout was the bearer, had good reason to rely on Wilkinson's co-operation. This was specially urged by Burr and his counsel during Burr's trial, with the object of invalidating Wilkinson's testimony; and the same view was afterward taken up and urged with great pertinacity by Wilkinson's numerous enemies in Congress and out of it. Yet the tone of Burr's and Dayton's letters is hardly that of one conspirator to another, between whom a definite plan of co-operation had been arranged. It is rather like throwing out a lure, making loud boasts and round assertions, many of them totally and willfully false, with the design of attracting a partisan whose hopes and fears were alike to be operated upon. Besides, an artful man like Burr, in writing to one whom he hoped to gain over, would naturally guard against betrayal by employing such terms as might expose the recipient to suspicion, while he avoided implicating himself by any thing tangible or specific enough for the law to lay hold of. One thing, at least, is certain. Wilkinson, after deciphering the letter so far as to obtain a general idea of its contents, did not hesitate a moment as to the course he should adopt. He communicated the next morning to Colonel Cushing, his second in command, the sub |