were removed; and his correspondence with the Presi dent, from the 12th of that month to the 13th April 1807, [Appendix, No. 72 to 90.] inclusive, evinces an active fidelity to the American Union, which cannot fail to make a durable impression in General Wilkinson's favor on every mind that is not abandoned to prejudice or lost to candor. He thus throws before the world his most confidential thoughts committed to paper amidst dangers and perplexities and it will be difficult, if not impossible, for any person to resist the evidence they furnish, in vindication of the general's character, from the cloud of calumnies and aspersions, with which his enemies have incessantly labored to overwhelm him for three years past. One letter from the President, bearing date the 3d February, 1807, we think proper to separate from the rest and insert in this place, because it puts Wilkinson's situation and conduct in a very strong, clear, and interesting point of view.

SIR,

WASHINGTON, February 3d. 1807.

A RETURNING express gives me an opportunity of acknowledging the receipt of your letters, of the 12th November, 9th, 14th, 18th, 25th and 26th De cember, and 2nd January; I wrote to you January 3d, and through Mr. Briggs, January 10th. The former be ing written while the secretary of war was unable to attend to business, gave you the state of the information we then possessed as to Burr's conspiracy; I now enclose you a message containing a complete history of it from the commencement down to the eve of his departure from Nashville, and two subsequent messages shewed that he began his descent of the Mississippi, January 1st, with 10 boats from 80 to 100 men of his party, navigated by 60 oarsmen not at all of his party. This I think is fully the force with which he will be able to meet your gunboats, and as I think he was uninformed of your proceedings, and could not get the information till he would reach Natchez, I am in hopes that before this date he is in your possession. Although we at no time believed he could carry any formidable force out of the Ohio, yet we thought it safest that you should be prepared to receive him, with all the force which could be assembled, and with that view our orders were given; and we were pleased to see that without waiting for them, you adopted

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nearly the same plan yourself, and acted on it with promptitude; the difference between your's and our's, proceeding from your expecting an attack by sea, which we knew impossible either by England or by a fleet under Truxton, who was at home, or by our own navy which was under our own eye. Your belief, that Burr would really descend with 6 or 7000 men, was no doubt founded in what you knew of the numbers which could be raised in the western country, for an expedition to Mexico, under the authority of the government; but you probably did not calculate that the want of that authority, would take from him every honest man, and leave him only the desperados of his party, which in no part of the United States can ever be a numerous body. In approving therefore, as we do approve of the defensive operations for New Orleans, we are obliged to estimate them not according to our own view of the danger, but to place ourselves in your situation and only with your information. Your sending here Swartwout and Bollman, and adding to them Burr, Blannerhasset and Tyler, should they fall into your hands, will be supported by the public opinion; as to Alexander who is arrived and Ogden expected, the evidence yet received will not be sufficient to commit them. I hope however you will not extend this deportation to persons against whom there is only suspicion, or shades of offence not strongly marked, in that case I fear the public sentiment would desert you; because seeing no danger here, violations of law are felt with strength. I have thought it just to give you these views of the sentiments and sensations here, as they may enlighten your path. I am thoroughly sensible of the painful difficulties of your situation, expecting an attack from an overwhelming force, unversed in law, surrounded by suspected persons, and in a nation tender as to every thing infringing liberty, and especially from the military. You have doubtless seen a good deal of malicious insinuation in the papers against you, this of course begat suspicion and distrust in those unacquainted with the line of your conduct, we, who knew it, have not failed to strengthen the public confidence in you, and I can assure you that your conduct as now known, has placed you on ground extremely favorable with the public. Burr and his emissaries found it convenient to sow a distrust in your mind of our dispositions towards you, but be assured that you will be cordially supported in the line of your duties. I pray you

to send me B-'s original letter, communicated through Briggs by the first entirely safe conveyance.

Accept my friendly salutations and assurances of esteem and respect.

(Signed)

TH: JEFFERSON.

No less interesting to the reader will be the annexed* authentic summary, of the progress of Burr's machina

* Extract from the President's Message, of the 22d January, 1807. Some time in the latter part of September, I received intimations that designs were in agitation in the Western country, unlawful, and unfriendly to the peace of the Union; and that the prime mover in these, was Aaron Burr, heretofore distinguished by the favor of his country. The grounds of these intimations being inconclusive, the objects uncertain, and the fidelity of that country known to be firm, the only measure taken, was to urge the informants to use their best endeavors to get further insight into the designs and proceedings of the suspected persons, and to communicate them to me.

It was not till the latter part of October, that the objects of the conspiracy began to be perceived; but still so blended, and involved in mystery, that nothing distinct could be singled out for pursuit. In this state of uncertainty, as to the crime contemplated, the acts done, and the legal course to be pursued, I thought it best to send to the scene, where these things were principally in transaction, a person in whose integrity, understanding and discretion, entire confidence could be reposed; with instructions to investigate the plots going on, to enter into conference (for which he had sufficient credentials) with the governors and all other officers, civil and military, and, with their aid, to do on the spot whatever should be necessary to discover the designs of the conspirators, arrest their means, bring their persons to punishment, and to call out the force of the country to suppress any unlawful enterprize, in which it should be found they were engaged. By this time it was known that many boats were under preparation, stores of provisions collecting, and an unusual number of suspicious characters in motion on the Ohio, and its waters. Besides dispatching the confidential agent to that quarter, orders were, at the same time, sent to the governors of the Orleans and Mississippi territories, and to the commanders of the land and naval forces there, to be on their guard against surprise, and in constant readiness to resist any enterprize which might be attempted on the vessels, posts or other objects under their care: and on the 8th of November, instructions were forwarded to general Wilkinson, to hasten an accommodation with the Spanish commandant on the Sabine, and as soon as that was effected, to fall back with his principal force to the hither bank of the Mississippi, for the defence of the interesting points on that river. By a letter received from that officer on the twenty-fifth of November, but dated October twenty-first, we learnt that a confidential agent of Aaron Burr, had been deputed to him, with communications, partly written in cypher, and partly oral, explaining his designs, exaggerating his resources, and making such offers of emolument and command, to engage him and the army in his unlawful enterprizes, as he had flattered himself would be successful. The general, with the honor of a soldier, and fidelity of a good citizen, immediately dispatched a trusty officer to me, with information of what had passed, proceeded to establish such an understanding with the Spanish commandant on the Sabine, as permitted him to withdraw his force across the Mississippi, and to enter on measures for opposing the projected enterprize.

tions, and the means he employed to ensure their success. This document corroborates the observations contained in the preceding letter of the President; and, under the circumstances by which he was surrounded, justifies the

The general's letter, which came to hand on the twenty-fifth of November, as has been mentioned, and some other information received a few days earlier, when brought together, developed Burr's general designs, different parts of which, only had been revealed to different informants. It appeared that he contemplated two distinct objects, which might be carried on either jointly or separately, and either the one or the other first, as circumstances should direct. One of these was the severance of the Union of these states, by the Allegany mountains; the other an attack on Mexico. A third object was provided, merely ostensible, to wit: the settlement of a pretended purchase of a tract of country on the Washita, claimed by a baron Bastrop. This was to serve as the pretext for all his preparations, an allurement for such followers as really wished to acquire settlements in that country, and a cover under which to retreat in the event of a final discomfiture of both branches of his real design.

He found at once that the attachment of the western country to the present Union, was not to be shaken; that its dissolution could not be effected with the consent of its inhabitants, and that his resources were inadequate, as yet, to effect it by force. He took his course then at once, determined to seize on New Orleans, plunder the bank there, possess himself of the military and naval stores, and proceed on his expedition to Mexico; and to this object all his means and preparations were now directed. He collected from all the quarters where himself or his agents possessed influence, all the ardent, restless, desperate and disaffected persons, who were ready for any enterprize analogous to their characters. He seduced good and well meaning citizens, some by assurances that he possessed the confidence of the government, and was acting under its secret patronage; a pretence which procured some credit from the state of our differences with Spain; and others by offers of land in Bastrop's claim on the Washita.

is was the state of my information of his proceedings, about the last of November; at which time therefore, it was first possible to take specific measures to meet them. The proclamation of November 27th, two days after the receipt of general Wilkinson's information, was now issued Orders were dispatched to every interesting point on the Ohio and Missis, sippi, from Pittsburg to New Orleans, for the employment of such force, either of the regulars or of the militia, and of such proceedings also of the civil authorities, as might enable them to seize on all boats and stores provided for the enterprize, to arrest the persons concerned, and to suppress effectually the further progress of the enterprize. A little before the receipt of these orders in the state of Ohio, our confidential agent, who had been diligently employed in investigating the conspiracy, had acquired sufficient information to open himself to the governor of that state, and to apply for the immediate exertion of the authority and power of the state, to crush the combination, Governor Tiffin and the legislature, with a promptitude, an energy, and patriotic zeal, which entitle them to a distinguished place in the anection of their sister states, effected the seizure of all the boats, provisions, and other preparations within their reach; and thus gave a first blow, materially disabling the enterprize in its outset.

In Kentucky, a premature attempt to bring Burr to justice, without sufficient evidence for his conviction, had produced a popular impression in his favor, and a general disbelief of his guilt. This gave him an unfortu nate opportunity of hastening his equipments. The arrival of the procla

apprehensions of general Wilkinson. It proves, also, that the Presidential proclamation, of the 27th of November, was issued on the second day after the receipt of the general's letter of the 21st of October, to which it may be honestly ascribed; and thus it appears that the death blow given to Burr's plots on the Ohio, was founded on Wilkinson's information to the executive; whilst he was, at the same time, straining every nerve, to be prepared for the reception of the traitor on the Mississippi: and however the ignorant, the invidious, and the prejudiced may mation and orders, and the application and information of our confidential agent, at length awakened the authorities of that state to the truth, and then produced the same promptitude and energy, of which the neighboring state had set the example. Under an act of their legislature, of December twenty-third, militia was instantly ordered to different important points, and measures taken for doing whatever could yet be done. Some boats (accounts vary, from five to double or treble that number) and persons (differently estimated, from one to three hundred) had, in the mean time, passed the falls of Ohio, to rendezvous at the mouth of Cumberland, with others expected down that river.

Not apprized, till very late, that any boats were building on Cumberland, the effect of the proclamation had been trusted to, for some time, in the state of Tennessee; but on the nineteenth of December, similar communications and instructions, with those to the neighboring states, were dispatched, by express, to the governor, and a general officer of the western division of the state; and on the twenty-third of December, our confidential agent left Frankfort for Nashville, to put into activity the means of that state also. But by information received yesterday, I learn that on the twenty-second of December, Mr. Burr descended the Cumberland, with two boats, merely of accommodation, carrying from that state no quota towards his unlawful enterprize. Whether after the arrival of the proclamation, of the orders, or of our agent, any exertion which could be made by that state, or the orders of the governor of Kentucky for calling out the militia at the mouth of Cumberland, would be in time to arrest these boats, and those from the falls of Ohio, is still doubtful.

On the whole, the fugitives from the Ohio, with their associates from Cumberland, or any other place in that quarter, cannot threaten serious dan ger to the city of New Orleans.

By the same express, of December 19th, orders were sent to the governors of Orleans and Mississippi, supplementary to those which had been given on the 25th of November, to hold the militia of their territories in readiness to co-operate for their defence, with the regular troops and armed vessels, then under command of general Wilkinson. Great alarm indeed was excited at New Orleans, by the exaggerated accounts of Mr. Burr, disseminated through his emissaries, of the armies and navies he was to assemble there. General Wilkinson had arrived there himself on the 24th of November, and had immediately put into activity the resources of the place, for the purpose of its defence; and on the 10th of December, he was joined by his troops from the Sabine. Great zeal was shewn by the inhabitants generally; the merchants of the place readily agreeing to the most laudable exertions and sacrifices for manning the armed vessels with their seamen; and the other citizens manifesting unequivocal fidelity to the Union, and a spirit of determined resistance to their expected assail

ants.