Yet, continued Burr, in spite of the pacific attitude of the Administration there still was reason to expect hostility. He argued that Spain, aroused by Miranda’s activity in behalf of the independence of her American colonies, which the United States Government was suspected of supporting, would attack this country.
Whether Burr actually believed that or not it gave him a chance to get in a little flattery. He observed that he had often said that a brigade could be raised in West Tennessee capable of driving double the number of Frenchmen off the earth. Would General Jackson care to select officers for two regiments from colonel down? If so, and in case troops should be called, Burr would recommend the list to the Department of War “... and I have reason to believe that on such occasion my advice would be listened to....” Burr had no such reason. He was vague, as usual, but the implication was strong that he was acting with the knowledge and consent of the Administration.
Burr closed his letter on a critical note that played up to Jackson’s prejudice against the occupant of the White House. He had been told, he said, that Mr. Randolph had charged the President with duplicity and imbecility. “All these things, my dear Sir, begin to make reflecting men to think, many good patriots to doubt, and some to despond.” Just what did he mean? Burr was again resorting to innuendo which he handled so skillfully.
While Burr was in the East General Jackson had been fully occupied. In April his thoroughbred stallion Truxton won a classic race against Joseph Erwin’s Ploughboy, earning a stake of $3,000, which the General greatly needed, and establishing his owner as the leading turfman of the West. This sporting event was followed by the General’s meeting with Charles Dickinson in a duel in which Dickinson was killed. On the way to the duelling ground the General was not too preoccupied with the business in hand to discuss the Spanish matter with his second, General John Overton. He doubted that the conquest of Mexico would be as easy as Burr imagined. “Burr,” he commented, “is as far from a fool as ever I saw, and yet he is as easily fooled as any man I ever knew.”
Jefferson’s help the General did not value highly. He was then under the impression, which had been encouraged by Burr, that the Government was a silent partner in the plotting against Spain. He prophesied that the Federalists, when they learned about it, would assail the policy tooth and nail. And, he observed, when they did so Mr. Jefferson would “run like a cottontail rabbit.” Here was the rugged frontiersman’s scorn for the timidity of the intellectual in the White House.
In the autumn of 1806, more than a year after his first visit, Burr returned to Nashville. His welcome was as cordial as ever. Another banquet and a ball were given in his honor. Burr entered the hall on the arm of Jackson, resplendent in the uniform of a major general of militia. The General had seen to it that all his friends were on hand to pay their respects to the distinguished visitor. The tall, raw-boned Jackson and the trim, diminutive Burr made a striking contrast. When time came for the drinking of toasts, Jackson arose and offered the always popular one: “Millions for defense; and not one cent for tribute.” Did he have in mind the two millions Jefferson was just then trying to get from Congress for the purchase of the Floridas?
On this visit Burr gave Jackson an order for five large boats and provisions sufficient for the complement of men they would carry. In payment he tendered $3,500 in Kentucky bank notes. Jackson turned over the execution of the contract to his faithful friend and partner, John Coffee. Meanwhile another friend of Jackson’s, one Patton Anderson, set to work in earnest raising a company of young men to go with the Burr expedition down the river, whatever the destination might be.
On Colonel Burr’s appearance in Nashville in late September he imparted confidential information to Jackson which led the latter to believe that war with Spain was about to break out. On the strength of it the General on October 4 took it upon himself to issue a proclamation to the Tennessee militia stating that the menacing attitude of the Spanish forces already inside the American boundary required that the militia be called out and made ready for instant duty. He then notified President Jefferson of his readiness to tender his services:
“Sir: In the event of insult or aggression made on our government and country from any quarter, I am well convinced that the public sentiment and feelings of the citizens within this State, and particularly within my division, are of such a nature and such a kind that I take the liberty of tendering their services, that is, under my command; and at one moment’s warning, after your signification that this tender is acceptable, my orders shall be given conformably.” There could not have been a more generous and loyal gesture.
To a man of Jackson’s impetuous temperament Jefferson’s reply was like a dash of cold water in the face. “Always a friend of peace,” wrote the President, “and believing it to promote eminently the happiness and prosperity of mankind, I am ever unwilling that it should be disturbed as long as the rights and interests of the nation can be preserved. But whenever hostile aggressions on these require a resort to war, we must meet our duty, and convince the world that we are just friends and brave enemies.”