But, so President Jefferson’s message to Congress declared, the indignant and patriotic Wilkinson, instead of listening to Burr’s blandishments and preparing to take second rank on the treasonable expedition of which the letter treated, sent a warning to Washington, arrested both Swartwout and Bollman, and packed them both off to the capital charged with high misdemeanor and treason. On their arrival in Washington, in order to hold them, William B. Giles, Jefferson’s leader in the Senate, got a bill through that body suspending the writ of habeas corpus. But the House refused to go along. The Chief Justice then issued the writ, heard the charges, and released the two men, declaring that charges had not been proved. The uncooperative behavior of the Chief Justice on this occasion did not improve Mr. Jefferson’s opinion of him.
Equal in importance with Burr’s letter was the affidavit of William Eaton. A Connecticut Yankee, Eaton first appeared on the public scene as a captain in the United States Army. In 1804 he was serving as United States Consul at Tunis. It was a time when the infant United States Navy was waging sporadic warfare with the Barbary States. Commodore Samuel Barron, commanding our Mediterranean fleet, dispatched Eaton on a mission to Alexandria where one Hamet, former Pasha of Tripoli, had taken refuge after being driven from his throne by his elder brother. Eaton’s mission was to restore Hamet to the throne.
Assembling a tatterdemalion force of Greeks, Italians, and Arabs to the number of 500, Eaton led them on a gruelling march across the Libyan desert to Derne. The expedition made the 600 miles in fifty days and on top of it assaulted and captured the city.
But here the United States policy changed. New negotiations led to recognition of the usurping brother. This altered state of affairs caused a break between Barron and Eaton and the latter returned home, indignant over the manner in which he had been treated and demanding from an indifferent Congress remuneration for his services. Through his military exploits he had acquired the title of General, but he held no such commission from the United States Government.
Where a man had a grudge against the Government there repeatedly was found the trail of Burr. So it was in the case of Eaton. In the winter of 1805–06, following Burr’s return from his first trip to the West, he and Eaton lived in the same boarding house in Washington and were much in each other’s company. According to Eaton’s affidavit, Burr told him he was organizing a military expedition against the Spanish provinces on the southwestern frontier, giving him to understand he was acting under the authority of the Federal Government. Eaton recalled that at this time the controversies with Spain and the tenor of the President’s message to Congress led to the conclusion that war with that country was imminent. Having lately returned from Africa, he was unaware, he said, of any suspicions against Burr and did not question his patriotism. This, Eaton explained, was why at first he consented to embark on the enterprise and pledged himself to Colonel Burr’s confidence.
But, Eaton continued, as time passed certain indistinct expressions and innuendoes aroused his suspicions that Burr had other projects in mind. He noted in particular that Burr was critical of the administration, accusing it of want of character, energy, and gratitude. Eaton suspected Burr of arousing his resentment by dilating on the harsh treatment Eaton had received on the floor of Congress in connection with his African expedition, and the delay in adjusting his financial claims against the United States.
By this time, declared Eaton, he had begun to suspect that Burr’s expedition was unlawful, but he had pretended to be impressed in order to draw Burr out. It was then, he said, that Burr laid open his proposal of revolutionizing the territory west of the Alleghenies and establishing an independent empire there. New Orleans, said Eaton, was to be the capital and Burr was to be the chief, organizing a military force on the Mississippi and carrying the conquest to Mexico.
Eaton said he protested that the western people were attached to the present administration and that Burr would be opposed in his designs by the regular army of the United States stationed on the frontier. To this, he said, Burr replied that he had the preceding season made a tour through the country and attached to his person the most distinguished citizens of Tennessee, Kentucky and the Orleans territory; that he had inexhaustible resources and funds; that the United States Army would act with him; that he would be reinforced by from 10,000 to 12,000 men from the aforementioned states and territories; and that he had powerful agents in the Spanish territory.
Eaton said he told Burr he had known Wilkinson during the Revolution and ventured the opinion that he would act as lieutenant to no man in existence. Burr assured him he was wrong and led him to believe that the plan of the revolution had been made in concert with Wilkinson.
The affidavit then mentioned a plan for overthrowing the Government in Washington, assassinating the President, and revolutionizing the eastern states.