[816] McCaleb, 35; Parton: Burr, 401.
[817] McCaleb, 36-37.
[818] Cox, 190; and McCaleb, 39.
[819] McCaleb, 38.
[820] Pitt died January 6, 1806. The news reached America late in the winter and Wilkinson learned of it some time in the spring. This fed his alarm, first awakened by the rumors set afloat by Spanish agents of which Clark had advised him. According to Davis and Parton, Wilkinson's resolve to sacrifice Burr was now taken. (See Davis, ii, 381-82; also Parton: Burr, 412.)
[821] This was that Burr with his desperadoes would seize the President and other officers of the National Government, together with the public money, arsenals, and ships. If, thereafter, he could not reconcile the States to the new arrangement, the bandit chief and his followers would sail for New Orleans and proclaim the independence of Louisiana.
Professor McCaleb says that this tale was a ruse to throw Casa Yrujo off his guard as to the now widespread reports in Florida and Texas, as well as America, of Burr's intended descent upon Mexico. (See McCaleb, 54-58.) It should be repeated that the proposals of Burr and Dayton to Merry and Casa Yrujo were not publicly known for many years afterward.
Wilkinson had coached Dayton and Burr in the art of getting money by falsehood and intrigue. (Ib. 54.)
[822] Adams: U.S. iii, 189-91.
[823] Blennerhassett Papers: Safford, 115.