I send you an exposition of the vice-queen Donna Maria Ines Jauregui de Yturrigaray, of the 24th January, 1816, relative to the intrigue which the brigadier Wilkinson attempted to carry into effect in 1806 or 1807, through the agency of Mr. Burling, for the purpose of getting money from the vice-king of Mexico. The vice-queen told me, in the different conversations I had with her on this subject, that you enjoyed the full and entire confidence of her husband, and that he, besides speaking with you unreservedly about this affair, commissioned you to interpret the letter which Wilkinson sent him through Mr. Burling, the said letter having been written in English. The vice-king, had he not died suddenly, would have given me the same exposition which his widow gave me. It being then, in some sort, a matter of justice that you should give your declaration relative to the aforesaid exposition of the vice-queen, I therefore pray you to do so.
I will merely add that, in one of my conversations with the vice-king, he told me that, in the aforesaid letter, Wilkinson, in speaking of his service rendered in frustrating what he called the invasion of Mexico by the ex-vice-president, Mr. Burr, likened himself to Leonidas in the pass of Thermopylae. Be assured, reverend sir, of my profound respect.
RICHARD RAYNAL KEENE,
Colonel in the service of H. C. M.
Rev. Dr. MANGAN, Rector of the Irish College in Salamanca. Madrid,
July 23, 1821
MY DEAR SIR,
I have carefully read the exposition you enclosed me in your esteemed favour of the 21st instant, of the former vice-queen of Mexico, La Senora Donna Maria Ines Jauregui de Yturrigaray, relative to the famous embassy of General Wilkinson to her husband Don Joseph de Yturrigaray, viceroy of Mexico.
As his excellency was pleased to make use of me as interpreter in the interview he granted Mr. Walter Burling, the bearer of a letter from the aforesaid General Wilkinson, and commissioned by him to manifest to the viceroy the importance of his embassy, I candidly confess that, to the best of my recollection, the exposition of the vice-queen is perfectly correct, for the object of the famous embassy of Mr. Burling was to display to the viceroy the great pecuniary sacrifices made by General Wilkinson to frustrate the plan of invasion meditated by the ex-vice-president, Mr. Burr, against the kingdom of Mexico, and to solicit, in consideration of such important services, a pretty round sum of at least two hundred thousand dollars.
I cannot help observing that the viceroy, Don Joseph de Yturrigaray, received this communication with due contempt and indignation, bidding me to tell Mr. Burling that General Wilkinson, in counteracting any treasonable plan of Mr. Burr, did no more than comply with his duty; that he (the viceroy) would take good care to defend the kingdom of Mexico against any attack or invasion, and that he did not think himself authorized to give one farthing to General Wilkinson in compensation for his pretended services. He concluded by ordering Mr. Burling to leave the city of Mexico, and had him safely escorted to the port of Vera Cruz, where he immediately embarked for the United States.
This is, believe me, the substance (as far as I can recollect) of the famous embassy of General Wilkinson to the viceroy of Mexico, Don Joseph de Yturrigaray, who certainly was not mistaken in the passage he mentioned to you of Leonidas, as I recollect well that General Wilkinson, after displaying in a pompous style the great difficulties he had to encounter to render Mr. Burr's plan fruitless, concluded by affirming—"I, like Leonidas, boldly threw myself in the pass," &c.