USA > Kentucky > The history of Kentucky : from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 14
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
necessarily implicate the southwestern portion of the United States, it was proposed to make New Orleans the capital of the new empire, of which Burr was to become the chief, but whether dic- tator or president was left for the future to de- cide.
When he quitted the hospitable mansion of Blennerhasset, Burr resumed his voyage in his own boat, and met Wilkinson at Fort Massac, by whom he was provided with a barge, belong- ing to one of the officers, and manned by a crew of soldiers. Furnished with sufficient provision for the voyage, and bearing letters of introduc- tion from Wilkinson to gentlemen of New Or- leans, he sailed for that city, which he reached somewhere about the 25th of June, 1805.
The unpopularity of Governor Claiborne, and the bitter feuds by which parties were divided in that city, offered great encouragement to his pro- jects. After a short stay in New Orleans, Burr reascended the river to Natchez, travelled by land to Nashville, where he was entertained for a week by General Andrew Jackson, and after being complimented with a public dinner, proceeded on horseback to Kentucky. He spent a few weeks in the latter state, and then set out by land for St. Louis, where he took up his residence with a relation of his, who, at his special request, had been appointed secretary to the new territory of Louisiana.
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WILKINSON'S CONDUCT.
It was not until he met him in St. Louis, that Wilkinson, according to his own account, began to entertain a suspicion of Burr's designs. The manner of the subtle intriguer is represented as having become altered and mysterious. He threw out hints of a splendid enterprise, and spoke of it cautiously, as favoured by the govern- ment, but at the same time charged the govern- ment itself with being imbecile, and insinuated that the people of the West were ready for a re- volt.
Wilkinson asserts that his own impressions of danger to the confederation were such, that he immediately wrote to his friend, the secretary of the navy, advising him that some great move- ment was contemplated by Burr, and cautioning him to keep a strict watch. The aid-de-camp of Wilkinson testified to having copied, and, as he believed, transmitted such a letter through the post to the secretary ; but as the latter could not recollect having received any such docu- ment, the important nature of which ought cer- tainly to have impressed itself upon his mind, it is a question of doubt whether the letter was ever sent at all.
Passing through the Indiana territory, Burr next made the acquaintance of Governor Harri- son. Continuing his route eastward, he stopped at Cincinnati, Chillicothe, and Marietta, returned to Philadelphia toward the close of the year, and
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
spent the following spring and summer partly in the latter city and partly in Washington.
During this period his movements were en- veloped in a cloak of mystery. He resided in an obscure street and received many visiters, all of whom came to him on pretence of business, but no two of whom were admitted into his presence together.
While he remained in Washington he had fre- quent interviews with Major Eaton, then recently returned from his well-known adventures in Tri- poli, to whom, warmed by the apparent willingness which Eaton exhibited to enter into his views, he divulged the whole extent of his projects.
Eaton, notwithstanding his relations with the government were at that time of a delicate cha- racter, waited on the president, and suggested the appointment of Burr to a foreign mission, intimating, at the same time, his belief that it would be the means of preventing an insurrec- tion or a revolution in the western country, which would otherwise take place within eighteen months.
The president, in reply, expressed his confi- dence in the attachment of the western people to the Union, and as no further questions were asked, Eaton did not feel himself authorized to say any more upon the subject.
Having remarked in his conversation with Eaton, that if he could secure the marine corps
241
BURR'S MACHINATIONS.
-the only soldiers stationed at Washington- and gain over the naval commanders, Truxton, Preble, Decatur, and others, he would overturn the Congress, make away with the president, and declare himself the protector of an energetic go- vernment. Burr, in pursuance of this idea, next sounded Commodore Truxton; but the latter, although dissatisfied with the treatment he had received, declined having any thing to do with the conspiracy. Decatur and others also re- fused to co-operate, and finding his prospects un- favourable in the Middle States, Burr set off toward the close of the summer on a second western journey.
As a cover to his designs, one of the first things he did on reaching Kentucky was to pur- chase of a Mr. Lynch, for a nominal considera- tion of forty thousand dollars, of which a few thousand were paid, an interest in a claim to a large tract of land on the Washita River, under a Spanish grant to the Baron de Bastrop. The claims held by Edward Livingston of New Or- leans to a portion of the above grant, had been previously purchased by Burr.
In connection with Blennerhasset, Burr enter- ed into a contract for building fifteen boats on the Muskingum. He also made application to John Smith, one of the senators from Ohio, for the purchase of two gunboats, then building for the government ; authority was given to a house
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
at Marietta for the purchase of provisions, a kiln erected for drying corn on Blennerhasset's Island, and a considerable number of young men enlisted for an enterprise down the Missis- sippi, the true nature of which was only myste- riously hinted.
By this time Wilkinson was at Natchitoches, in command of the troops collected there to op- pose the Spanish invasion. While at this post he received various letters from Burr, to which he sent replies ; but how far he committed him- self to the conspiracy, has never been ascertained. That he was tampered with to a considerable extent, and that his replies were at least evasive, does not admit of a doubt. A letter in cipher from Senator Dayton, assuring Wilkinson that he would certainly be deprived of his command at the next session of Congress, determined the course of the latter. He communicated the next morning to Colonel Cushing, his second in com- mand, the substance of Burr's letter, and express- ed his determination to hasten to New Orleans and defend that city against Burr, if he should ven- ture to attack it. After extracting from young Swartwout, the bearer of despatches from Burr, all the information necessary to guide his future proceedings, Wilkinson sent an express in hot haste to the President of the United States, stating the general outline of the scheme commu- nicated to him by Swartwout, and then, having
243
MEASURES OF WILKINSON.
been joined by a body of militia from Mississippi, advanced toward the Sabine.
Simultaneously with his letter to the president, Wilkinson sent directions to the commanding officer at New Orleans to put the place in the best state of defence, and to attempt to get possession of the park of artillery left by the French government, lest it should fall into other hands.
As there were difficulties at this time between the United States and the Spanish government on the subject of their respective boundary lines, and as the troops of the two nations had been called out to watch the motions of each other, Wilkinson entered into a temporary arrangement with the Spanish commander, making the Sa- bine, for the time being, the line of demarcation between the territories of the disputants.
His activity at this period was only equalled by his alarm, as despatch after despatch was received indicating the progressive steps of the revolu- tionists. He wrote to Cushing to hasten the march of the troops, he pressed the officer at New Orleans to push forward his defences, and sent him a reinforcement of men and artificers to assist in the work. He proceeded to Natchez, and despatched a second special messenger to the president, declaring that the existence of the conspiracy had been placed beyond all doubt, and expressing the necessity of putting New
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
Orleans under martial law, a step in which he trusted to be sustained by the president.
Not content with taking these precautions, Wilkinson warned Claiborne, the governor of the Louisiana Territory, that his government was menaced by a secret plot, and entreated him to co-operate with the military commander in measures of defence. At the same time he made a requisition upon the acting governor of the Mississippi Territory for a reinforce- ment of five hundred militia' to proceed to New Orleans.
In all these measures the activity and energy of Wilkinson were undoubted ; but it still remains a problem whether he intended to remain faith- ful to the United States, or to throw himself into the arms of Burr. When he wrote to the officer at New Orleans, he neither expressed any anxiety in relation to the safety of the place, nor gave any reasons for his desire to have it immediately strengthened. In his letter to Claiborne he ex- pressly enjoined secrecy till he himself arrived ; and when he made his demand upon the gover- nor of the Mississippi Territory, as he declined to specify the service in which the troops were to be engaged, the governor refused to send them at all.
His proceedings on reaching New Orleans are less open to doubt. On the 9th of December, 1806, a meeting of the merchants was called,
WILKINSON'S ACTIVITY. 245
before whom Wilkinson and Claiborne made an exposition of Burr's projects. The militia and a squadron of gunboats and ketches upon the river were placed at Wilkinson's disposal, Swartwout and several others were arrested, and one of them, having obtained his release by a writ of habeas corpus, was re-arrested by order of Wilkinson, and with Swartwout sent a prisoner by sea to Washington.
CHAPTER XIX.
Conflicting reports concerning the intentions of Burr-Ex- posures made at Frankfort-Energetic conduct of Daviess- His affidavit against Burr-An examination ordered-Burr attends the court-The case postponed-A new grand jury summoned-Second appearance of Burr-Absence of Gene- ral Adair, the principal witness for the prosecution-The ex- amination pressed-Acquittal of Burr-His false declaration to Henry Clay-Action of the general government-Jeffer- son sends an agent to Ohio-, Disclosures by Blennerhasset- Seizure of ten boats on the Muskingum-Tyler's flotilla --- Burr proceeds to Nashville-Meets the volunteers at the mouth of the Cumberland River-Descends the Mississippi to New Madrid-Gains a knowledge of Wilkinson's revelations -Encamps above Natchez-The militia called out by the Governor of Mississippi Territory-Burr surrenders himself to the civil authorities-His boats searched-Charges against Sebastian and Innis.
WHILE these mysterious and alarming rumours were agitating the people of the lower Mississippi, Burr and his confederates in the western states were actively engaged in perfecting their prepara-
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
tions for the attainment of the object they had in view.
So various, however, and conflicting were the reports concerning the intentions of the conspira- tors, and so carefully had Burr shrouded the whole scheme in mystery, that the developments which were made in the newspapers of the day tended more to confuse the public mind than to enlighten it.
Almost simultaneously with Burr's second ap- pearance in the western country, a series of articles appeared in the Ohio Gazette, strongly advocating the separation of the western states from the Union. Of these articles Blennerhasset was the nominal author, but the main arguments were believed to have been furnished by Burr. Articles of a similar, though less decided ten- dency, appeared also in the Commonwealth, a democratic paper published at Pittsburgh.
A short time previous to this, a newspaper called the Western World, which had been started at Frankfort, Kentucky, published a series of articles blending the present project of Burr with the old intrigues of the Spanish party in that state.
Sebastian, then a judge of the Supreme Court, was boldly denounced as a pensioner of Spain, and charges of a similar, though less sweeping character, were also made against Senator Brown, Judge Innis, and General Wilkinson.
247
DAVIESS'S ENERGETIC CONDUCT.
But although in these papers, which were written by Colonel Humphrey Marshall, Burr was proclaimed a traitor to his country, and his whole scheme laid open, it was a long time be- fore the leading politicians of Kentucky could be brought to believe in his criminal designs.
One gentleman, however, rising above the in- credulity of his party, kept a watchful eye on Burr, and wrote several letters to the president on the subject, but without receiving any specific authority to act in the matter. This was Colonel Joseph H. Daviess, the attorney for the United States.
On the 5th of November, 1806, Daviess ap- peared in open court before Judge Innis, and made affidavit to the effect, that he believed Burr to be engaged in organizing a military ex- pedition within the district, for the purpose of descending the Mississippi and making war on the provinces of Mexico. He concluded by moving that process might issue to compel the attendance of Burr before the court to answer the charge. After taking two days for reflection, Judge Innis refused to issue process, but directed a grand jury to be impanelled to inquire into the accusation, and witnesses to be summoned.
At the time Daviess made application in the federal district court at Frankfort for the arrest of Burr, the latter was in Lexington. In less than four hours after the motion was made, he
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
was in receipt of the tidings. He immediately wrote to Innis that he would be in court in a day or two, and confront his accuser.
When he reached Frankfort in company with his counsel, Henry Clay and Colonel Allen, find- ing the motion already overruled, he addressed the judge, and demanded an immediate investi- gation.
Daviess replied, by declaring his readiness to proceed as soon as he could procure the attend- ance of his witnesses, and with the consent of Burr, the ensuing Wednesday was fixed upon by the court for the investigation.
The immense sensation created by the affidavit of Daviess caused the court-room to be filled on the day of trial with a large number of per- sons; but it was soon discovered that David Floyd, one of the principal witnesses relied upon by the district attorney, and undoubtedly a parti- san of Burr, had failed to make his appearance, and Daviess was reluctantly compelled to ask a postponement of the case.
Relying, upon the next occasion, less ยท upon Floyd as his principal witness than upon General Adair, Daviess made application on the 25th of November for a new grand jury, which was ac- cordingly summoned to attend. on the 2d of De- cember following.
Shortly after Burr entered the court-room, attended by his former counsel, the district at-
249
PROCEEDINGS AGAINST BURR.
torney rose, and with evident mortification, ex- pressed himself unable to proceed, in consequence of the absence of General Adair, whose testimony was of the first importance to the prosecution. He therefore asked a postponement for a few days, and that the grand jury should be kept together until he could compel the attendance of General Adair by attachment.
The counsel of Burr immediately objected to the delay, and demanded that the business should proceed at once. After a sharp and animated debate, the court decided that the case must be proceeded with, or the grand jury discharged. In order to obtain the time he required for the production of his witnesses, Daviess prepared an indictment against General Adair, which was re- turned by the jury, endorsed, " Not a true bill." He then moved for an attachment against the general, but the motion was refused by the court. At the suggestion of Daviess, the court then ad- journed until the following day.
Finding himself thus far baffled at every step in his attempt to fasten the charge of criminality upon Burr, the prosecuting attorney sought and obtained a private interview with Judge Innis, who, in answer to a question from Daviess, as to whether he would have a right, as prosecutor, to attend the grand jury in their room, examine the witnesses, and give such explanations as might be found necessary to connect and apply
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
their testimony, gave an opinion in the affirm- ative.
Fully believing that Innis would sustain in court the opinion which he had given unofficially, Daviess determined to proceed with the examina- tion with such witnesses as were present.
Accordingly, the next morning, as soon as the judge had resumed his seat, the prosecuting at- torney asked permission to attend the grand jury in their room. This request was immediately opposed by the counsel of Burr, who denied the right of Daviess to examine the witnesses in the manner proposed. After some argument, Judge Innis remarked, that when he himself was at- torney-general for the commonwealth, he had never claimed or exercised any such privilege.
" Sir !" said Daviess, " you admitted I had the right to do what I now propose."
" Yes," replied the judge quickly, " but that was out of court."
" True, sir," responded Daviess, " but this is the first of my knowing you had two opinions upon the subject, the one private and confidential, the other public and official."
The only reply of Innis was to refuse the re- quest, and the prosecuting attorney saw at once that his cause was lost. It was worse than lost, for as the witnesses in the grand jury room tes- tified reluctantly, the little that could be gleaned from them threw no light upon the design charged
251
ACQUITTAL OF BURR.
in the indictment, and on the 5th of the month the grand jury came into court and ignored the bill.
But this was not all : they presented at the same time a written declaration, signed by the whole of them, in which it was stated that there had been nothing in the testimony received by them which in the slightest degree criminated the conduct of either Burr or Adair ; nor could they, after all their inquiries and investigations of the subject, find any thing improper or inju- rious to the government of the United States de- signed or contemplated by either of them.
This triumphant acquittal of Burr strength- ened his cause wonderfully in Kentucky: It was celebrated by a ball at Frankfort, which was rendered the more imposing by the attendance of many prominent men.
The friends of Daviess, though fewer in number, did not fail to sympathize with him in his defeat, and as an evidence of their belief in the truth of the charges he had preferred, got up a similar entertainment in his honour. At one of these assemblies the editor of the Western World was attacked by some of the friends of Judge Innis, with the view of expelling him from the room, but he resisted until he was rescued by others.
In justice to Mr. Clay, it must be stated, that before he agreed to act as the counsel of Burr, he demanded of him an explicit avowal, upon his
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
honour, that he was not engaged in any de- sign contrary to the laws and peace of the country.
Burr gave the required pledge in the most emphatic manner. He said, " He had no design to intermeddle with or disturb the tranquillity of the United States, nor its territories, nor any part of them. He had neither issued, nor signed, nor promised a commission to any person, for any purpose. He did not own a single musket, nor bayonet, nor any single article of military stores, nor did any other person for him, by his authority or knowledge." He further added that his views were well understood and approved by the government, and were such as every man of honour and every good citizen must commend.
The reckless disregard of all moral principle evinced by Burr in this avowal, which he well knew to be utterly false, is only paralleled by the daring with which he confronted the exposure of his schemes.
At this very time, all his long and laboriously digested plans were in the act of being scattered to the winds. The communications of Wilkinson, the statements of Eaton, and the letters of Da- viess, had, as early as October, stimulated Jef- ferson to commission Graham, the secretary of the Orleans Territory, then about to leave Wash- ington, to investigate, on his way South, the charges against Burr, and if they appeared well
253
BURR'S DESIGNS DEFEATED.
founded, to apply to the governors of the west- ern states to take steps to cut short his career.
On the 27th of November, two days after he had received Wilkinson's despatches from Nat- chitoches, the president issued a proclamation de- nouncing the project of Burr, warning all good citizens against it, and calling upon those in au- thority to exert themselves in suppressing the enterprise and arresting. all concerned in it.
Previous to this, Graham had met with Blen- nerhasset at Marietta, and obtained from him such intelligence concerning the enterprise as warranted an immediate application to the Gover- nor of Ohio for authority to seize the boats on the Muskingum, then nearly completed.
The legislature of Ohio, which was then in session, after debating the question with closed doors, promptly authorized the seizure to be made.
During the same week that Burr was feasted and caressed at Frankfort, as an innocent and much-injured man, ten of his boats, laden with provisions and warlike stores, were captured on the Muskingum.
Five other boats, filled with volunteers from the neighbourhood of Beaver, reached Blenner- hasset's Island about the 10th of December. This flotilla was commanded by Colonel Tyler, who took possession of the island and posted sentinels to prevent any communication with the river banks. He had scarcely done so, before
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
Blennerhasset received information of the seizure of his boats on the Muskingum, and the approach of the militia ordered out by the Governor of Ohio. Hastily abandoning the place, he embarked in the boats of Tyler, and with a few of his fol- lowers descended the river, passed the falls of the Ohio about the 20th of the month, and reach- ed the point of rendezvous, the mouth of the Cumberland River, two days afterward.
Leaving Frankfort on the 7th of December, Burr hastened to Nashville. From the latter place he descended the Cumberland with two boats, and on an island at its mouth was intro- duced to such of his adherents as yet clung to his desperate fortunes. Desertion had already thinned their ranks to less than two hundred men.
Breaking up his encampment at this place, Burr proceeded to New Madrid, gathering slen- der reinforcements as he went along. Bitterly disappointed at finding his schemes thus suddenly baffled at the very moment of fruition, the last hope of Burr rested upon the city of New Or- leans and the surrounding territory. Bayou Peirre was named as a point of reunion ; and the party dispersed.
When he reached the first settlement on the left bank of the Mississippi, Burr became ac- quainted with the revelations made by Wilkinson, and foreseeing at once the danger of an arrest, he ordered his boats to withdraw from the juris-
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SURRENDER OF BURR.
diction of the Mississippi Territory. An en- campment was accordingly formed some thirty miles above Natchez, and a piece of ground clear- ed on which to exercise the men.
Even here, he soon found himself equally in- secure. The president's proclamation having already reached the Mississippi Territory, the acting governor at once raised a body of four hundred militia for the purpose of arresting Burr.
While those troops were collecting on the op- posite side of the river, several militia officers were sent to Burr to induce him to submit. After some little delay, a written agreement was entered into, which resulted in an unconditional surrender to the civil authorities.
Previous to this, however, the chests of arms on board the boats were thrown secretly into the creek, so that when a search took place none were found in sufficient quantities to justify their detention.
The subsequent history of Burr, his arrest and acquittal, his wandering life, the extraordinary sensation created throughout the country by his trial at Richmond, his wanderings in Europe, and his death in extreme old age at New York, belong rather to the history of the United States, than to any single member of the confederation.
The authentication of Burr's conspiracy by the government agent, Graham, created an im- mediate and violent reaction in the minds of the
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.
people of Kentucky. The legislature, then in session, immediately passed an act similar to that of Ohio, and under it some seizures were made. An examination of the charges preferred against Judge Sebastian was ordered and pres- sed with so much determination that, notwith- standing the opposition of many whose interest it was that the affair should remain concealed, the whole of his mysterious intrigues with Spain were exposed, and conclusive evidence brought forward to prove his receipt of an annual pension of two thousand dollars from the court of Madrid up to the period of his trial. Sebastian, finding all other efforts vain, attempted to stifle the in- quiry by resigning his seat upon the bench, but the legislature persevered until a thorough in- vestigation had taken place. Judge Innis, the principal witness against Sebastian, was also be- lieved to be deeply implicated, and as he held office under the general government, a resolution was passed at the succeeding session requesting Con- gress to order an inquiry into his conduct. It was accordingly instituted soon after and resulted in his acquittal.
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