"Of Dudley Woodbridge, [2] it must not be concealed from those who may have access to these notes that, although he is reputed to have given a fair, candid, and to us an advantageous testimony, he has not yet told the whole truth, having suppressed my communication to him of our designs being unequivocally against Mexico, which I suppose he kept back because he embraced and embarked in the plan on the first mention of it to him, though he afterward receded from it upon his own reflections or counsel of others. Such is the address with which ingratitude and dishonesty are made to pass in the garb of integrity, like towcloth under fine muslin."
"October 8, 1807. I called on Burr this morning, when he at last mentioned to me, during a short tête-à-tête, that he was preparing to go to England; that the time was now auspicious for him, and he wished to know whether I could give him letters. I answered that I supposed, when he mentioned England, he meant London, as his business would probably be with people in office; that I knew none of the present ministry, nor did I believe I had a single acquaintance in London. He replied, that he meant to visit every part of the country, and would be glad to get letters to any one. I said I would think of it, that I might discover whether I had any friends there whom it would be an object worth his attention to know, and took leave. We can only conjecture his designs. For my part, I am disposed to suspect he has no serious intent of reviving any of his speculations in America, or even of returning from Europe if he can get there."
After Colonel Burr's return to the United States from Europe, he received several letters from Blennerhassett; in two of them he refers to a suit which he commenced against General Andrew Jackson, in Adams county, Mississippi territory, for a balance due Burr. In reply to an inquiry made on the subject under date of the 4th of October, 1812, he says, "I allude to an account between yourself and Andrew Jackson, in his own handwriting, on which appears a balance in your favour of $1726 62," &c. He then speaks of other papers, and adds, "As to the manner in which I obtained the papers, it happened to be discovered that the portmanteau you left with me, to be transmitted to Mr. Alston, which lay at my disposal in the house of Mr. Harding, near Natchez, was broken open by his servants. On this discovery I called for the portmanteau, found the lock torn off, and some papers tumbled and abused, which had seemingly been all opened. I observed and took out the above document. The rest, with a silk tent, await the disposition of your orders."
In another letter, in a paroxysm of passion, he threatens the publication of a book, which he says is to be entitled,
"A review of the projects and intrigues of Aaron Burr during the years 1805, 1806, and 1807, involving therein, as parties or privies, Thomas Jefferson, A. Gallatin, Dr. Eustis, Governor Alston, Daniel Clark, Generals Wilkinson, Dearborn, Harrison, Jackson, and Smith, and the late Spanish ambassador Yrujo, exhibiting original documents and correspondence hitherto unpublished. Compiled from the notes and private journal kept during the above period by Herman Blennerhassett, LLD."
It has been seen that General Wilkinson altered the letter written in cipher by Colonel Burr, and then swore that the translation was a true copy of the original. This alteration was for the purpose of establishing treasonable designs in Burr and his associates, to which fact the general had also sworn. But while he was thus urging the charge of treason at home, he had to give his Spanish employers a different account of the movements and object of Burr. Accordingly, after the trial at Richmond, General Wilkinson despatched Captain Walter Burling, his aid, to demand of the vice-king of Mexico the repayment of his expenditures and compensation for his services to Spain in defeating Burr's expedition against Mexico. The modesty of this demand, being only about two hundred thousand dollars, is worthy of notice. The development of this fact places in a new point of view Mr. Jefferson's confidential friend (General Wilkinson)—that friend whom he recommended to Congress on the 22d of January, 1S07, as having acted "with the honour of a soldier and the fidelity of a good citizen." The documents are presented without comment.
State of Louisiana, City of New-Orleans.
Before me, William Young Lewis, notary public in and for the city of New-Orleans, duly commissioned and sworn, this day personally appeared Richard Raynal Keene, Esq., attorney and counsellor at law of this city, who delivered to me, the said notary, and requested the same to be annexed to the current records of my office, the following documents, to wit:—
First. A certificate of the vice-queen of Mexico, dated at Madrid on the twenty-fourth day of January, eighteen hundred and sixteen.
Second. A letter from the said Richard R. Keene to the Reverend Dr. Mangan, dated at Madrid on the twenty-first day of July, eighteen hundred and twenty-one.