ral Wilkinson, Mr. Clark found several obstacles in his way. He leaped over the testimony of captain Murray, because he could not break it down; flounders over that of Mr. Graham, without affecting its stability, and is brought up by his own letter of September 7th, which he endeavors to explain away, but in a manner so lame and feeble, as to justify the preceding interpretations, and leave no doubt of his association with Burr. "The truth is," says Mr. Clark, in his explanation, "that the reports, though I could not credit them fully, had made some impression on me. I could not, without offending the gentlemen whose names had been mentioned, demand a serious explanation, and I then adopted the light, familiar manner of treating the subject, that will be remarked in the letter." [See his "Proofs," page 96.] Mr. Clark says, "He knew the report to be false, as it related to himself;" and yet he could not mention the affair to the gentlemen, whose names had been given to him, without offending them. What an insult is this to common sense! Could the investigation of a report in circulation, be offensive to those whom it most interested? or, would Mr. Clark's vindication of his innocence have offended them? On the contrary, Mr. Clark's exculpation from the charge, would have proved satisfactory to his ancient fellow subjects, and the explanation which he affects to shun, from motives of delicacy, was imposed as a duty upon the officers of Spain, and doubtless would have been gladly met by them. The letter is also conclusive evidence, by the deliberate admission of the party, that he had a design, growing out of the impression made on him by Burr's project, in writ ing to general Wilkinson.

On the 8th March, 1806, general Wilkinson answered this letter of Mr. Clark's. The lapse of time proves, that the wonderful rumours communicated by him to the general, had made little impression on his mind, and in treating them as a "Tale of a Tub," [See appendix, No. 16.] he manifestly slighted Mr. Clark's discernment, and evinced his ignorance of the illicit designs of Burr.

When_general Wilkinson was examined before the court at Richmond, on the trial of Burr, he stated, that "he had received several letters from colonel Burr, of a very ambiguous cast, but they contained nothing treasona ble;" that he (general W.) wrote to a minister, (the honorable Robert Smith) and said in his letter, "Burr is about something, but whether internal or external I can

not discover. I think you should keep an eye to him." [See page 210 of the President's message to Congress, relative to Burr's conspiracy.] On being questioned, general Wilkinson could not recollect the precise time when he thus wrote to Mr. Smith: But the period has been since ascertained by the deposition of captain Hughes [Appendix, No. 17.] It was in September, 1805; a notification, quite early enough to exculpate Wilkinson from any charge of paticipation, and sufficient to obviate all unfavorable suggestions, which may be tortured from another letter of Burr to Wilkinson of the 12th December, 1805, [Appendix, No. 18.] which contains several mysterious allusions, but so indistinctly expressed, as to furnish no clue to the real objects of the writer. Speaking of "a certain speculation," Burr says, "it is not deemed material to write till the whole can be communicated." What is the candid interpretation of this language? Why, if it was not material to write on the subject till the "whole" could be communicated it follows that down to the period, of the date of the letter (12th December, 1805,) nothing of a particular nature had been communicated When a

man tells you he will not write on a subject, till he can com municate the whole, he means that he will not trouble you with detached parts, until he can tell you the whole story. This was the case with Burr, who neither informed Wilkinson of the whole nor of any part of his plans, further than mere verbal "speculations," such as any individual might indulge in, and from which Wilkinson could glean nothing sufficiently definitive, to authorise any counteraction or explicit information. Another expression in the same letter, (of December 12th,) supports these observations. Burr says, "it is believed that Wilkinson will give audience to a delegation, composed of Dayton and Adair, in February." If general Wilkinson had been in the plot, is it probable this kind of phraseology would have been used? And what necessity for a "delegation" to an associated conspirator? Why say "it is believed?" Is such the language which peers in guilt hold, the one to the other? The very words employed, imply doubts of Wilkinson's disposition. This is not the language of confidence. Had Burr been certain that Wilkinson was cooperating with him, he would have said, in his usual laconic way, "Adair and Dayton will wait on Wilkinson, in February;" instead of which, he says "it it believed, &c.", or, if Wilkinson had actually been leagued with

him, why should he have thought of a delegation at all? It would appear frivolous to dwell on these points so long, were it not that the enemies of general Wilkinson will spare no pains to pervert them; and it was to the probability of such perversion, that Wilkinson alluded in his testimony, at Richmond, when he said that Burr's letters "were calculated to inculpate him, should they be exposed." [Page 311, President's message.] They are nevertheless, now fearlessly exposed. It will be seen that they are, as Wilkinson told the court and the jury, ambiguous, misteriously hinting at what they never openly proclaim; aiming at Wilkinson but never explaining any thing to him; and, in general, the contents are such as prejudice and mental obliquity may construe as they please, but can never draw from them any other conclusion than a vague suspicion, unsupported by any circumstance or fact whatsoever.

There never was, perhaps, a scheme more deeply planned, or more artfully contrived to shake the allegiance of an officer to his government, than that put in practice to wean general Wilkinson from his fidelity to the United States. It commenced at a remote point, and in a form not open to general or even particular suspicion. A public print was established in Kentucky, by the notorious and implacable enemies of general Wilkinson, under the title of the Western World; and John Wood, a man of education and abilities as a writer for the press, was employed as the editor: Mr. Wood, who had ministered to colonel Burr's vanity and ambition in New York, under the guidance of his employers, filled this gazette with all sorts of calumnies against Wilkinson: calumnies which were calculated to shake the confidence of government in him, and by reaction to shake his attachment to the govern ment; to weaken the ties of patriotism by which he was bound to his country; and by rendering him doubtful and desperate, to prepare him for the first proposition of treason which might be made to him.

It was impossible Wilkinson could be insensible to these attacks, and in a critical and awful moment, when on the eve of offering his life to the service of his country, against a military force of three fold strength, he addressed President Jefferson on the subject. The letter in which he did this, [Appendix, No. 19.] breathes a spirit of honorable feelings, and exhibits a sense of indignation, above the coldness of affectation, at the unjustifiable

means employed, to deprive him of the good opinion of his fellow citizens.

Before this battery began to play upon general Wilkinson in Kentucky, colonel Burr was not idle in attempts to undermine his fidelity. This will manifestly appear by Burr's letter to him of the 12th December, 1805, [Appendix, No. 18.] wherein the writer says, " In case of such an event, (war with the Spaniards) *Lee would have been commander in chief; truth I assure you. He must, you know, come from Virginia." In this way, Wilkinson's military pride and honor was to be wounded; his resentment awakened; and then, the conspirators may have immagined, he would be ripe for any mischief. Burr knew Wilkinson too well to attempt his honor directly; he had received many proofs of the extent of Wilkinson's friendship, but he knew a dishonorable proposition would sever it forever. Unfeeling, base man! he sought by means the most insidious, to debauch this friend from his duty, to commit and destroy him, and all for the selfish gratification of his pride, his ambition and his revenge.

That this mode of assailing Wilkinson, by attacking his fame through the medium of the press, and wounding his sensibility as a soldier, by private insinuations, was relied on to fit him for Burr's purposes, will also appear by a letter from Jonathan Dayton, [Appendix, No. 20.] written in cypher to Wilkinson on the 24th July, 1806. Dayton says, "It is now well ascertained that you are to be displaced in next session. Jefferson will affect to yield reluctantly to the public sentiment, but yield he will." Yet it does not appear, from any writing or act of Wilkinson, that the defamation of the press, or the attempted seductions of false friends, produced any effect upon his conduct, or shook his devotion to his country: On the contrary, he manifested the deepest anxiety to repel and put down, [by respectable testimonials of the confidence reposed in him by the Presidents, Washington and Adams,] the virulent slanders circulated by the "Western World ;" and while Dayton and Burr were writing to him, to bias his mind from his duty, he was giving notice to government to keep an eye upon Burr, as a man whose movements might be inimical to the Union.

But in order to form a correct judgment of Wilkinson's conduct, previous to the detection of Burr, the rea

*Meaning that distinguished officer of the revolution, general H, Lee.

der must forget all the glaring proofs of his guilt; he must abstract himself from all the evidence produced on the trial at Richmond, and must place himself in the situation in which Wilkinson was, when Burr was only suspected. The period of that situation, (the year 1805,) as every one may recollect, was a season when our relations with Spain had assumed a hostile aspect. The prospect of a Spanish war had become a prominent subject of conver sation among the citzens of the United States of all classes: There is nothing then very surprising in the circumstances, that such a man as colonel Burr should enter into discourse on this topic, or that he should make suppositions or conjectures relative to it. It is what any man might have done with perfect innocence, and without exciting a single unfavourable suspicion.

At St. Louis, in September, 1805, colonel Burr did converse with Wilkinson, on the subject of a Spanish war, and alluded to "some splendid enterprise," the particu lars of which, he did not detail; but on this occasion, he spoke expressly with reference to "the authority of the government." [See captain Hughes' deposition, appendix, No. 17.] Wilkinson, in reply, remarked, that it was his duty to obey the commands of government; and when Burr put the question, whether an order from a minister (naming Mr. Gallatin) would be considered as a sufficient command, general Wilkinson answered him, "that an order from any gentleman of the administration, was always considered as an order from the President."* In all this, there was neither conspiracy nor treason. It was a conversation naturally growing out of the incidents of the times in which it was held; and Wilkinson, from such discourse on the part of Burr, without the least acquaintance with any explanatory facts, was not immediately to suppose him a traitor; nor could he, from these circumstances, attach to him any specific, unlawful design; and if events, connecting themselves with the conversation at `St. Louis, had not subsequently transpired, colonel Burr's observations would, very naturally, have been consigned to oblivion, as the suggestions of a momentary caprice, occurring in the warmth of an impatient mind, or produ ced by the fervor of a sublimated imagination.

A man, standing on Wilkinson's ground, who had been

* Burr then added, "that it was unnecessary to go into the details of a project, which might never be carried into effect." Wilkinson replied, he had no curiosity to hear;" and thus the conversation terminated. 3

vol. ii.