No doubt, continued Mr. Jefferson, Wilkinson had seen the malicious insinuations in the newspapers against him. But the President of the United States protested that he still had faith: “I can assure you that your conduct, as now known, has placed you on ground extremely favorable with the public.”
Shortly thereafter a Major Bruff of the Artillery arrived in Washington from St. Louis. He went straight to Secretary of War Dearborn and directly accused Wilkinson of spying for the Spaniards and committing treason with Burr. Dearborn heard Bruff out and then replied calmly that there had been a time when the General had not stood well with the Executive, but his energetic measures at New Orleans had regained him executive confidence and the President would sustain him. Bruff then appealed to Attorney General Caesar Rodney who gave him a realistic and revealing answer. “What would be the result,” Rodney asked, “if all your charges against General Wilkinson should be proven? Why just what the Federalist and all the enemies of the present administration wish—it would turn the indignation of the people from Burr on Wilkinson. Burr would escape and Wilkinson take his place.”
There could not have been a clearer exposition of the predicament in which Jefferson found himself. He had declared Wilkinson to be the savior of the nation. To confess now that Wilkinson was a knave would convict himself of gross negligence in entrusting the safety of the western country to such a man.
As the time for Wilkinson’s presence in Richmond approached, and as he foresaw the attack that was sure to be made on his integrity, the General recognized the importance of clearing himself of the charges of being a secret agent of Spain. He therefore appealed directly to his old friend Governor Folch of West Florida, telling him he was being slandered because of certain alleged Spanish intrigues of a criminal nature and asking him to state whether he, Wilkinson, had ever received a pension from the Spanish government.
The Spanish government may on occasion have been remiss about paying the pension in full and on time, but Folch now met nobly every obligation his government owed the General. In a private letter to Wilkinson whom he addressed as “my dear friend” he assured him he had sent all the documents that pertained to “the ancient history” to Havana, “persuaded that before the United States are in a situation to conquer that capital, you and I and Jefferson, Madison and all the secretaries ... will have made many days’ journey into the other world.” Folch reminded Wilkinson that he had been in Louisiana since 1783 and had enjoyed confidential relations with his uncle, Governor Miro, and declared that no document showing Wilkinson to have been a secret agent in the pay of Spain existed in the records. Then in a public letter he came out handsomely with the statement that “his [Wilkinson’s] qualities as an honest man and one faithful to his country entitle him to your particular attention and regard and we judge him to be worthy of the commission he holds.”
Such was Folch’s exoneration of Wilkinson when only a few weeks before, as Burr and his men were traveling down the Mississippi toward Spanish territory, Yrujo, Spanish minister to the United States, was assuring Don Cevallos, Spanish Foreign Minister, that the governors of the Floridas were being informed of what was going on through Folch’s connection with Wilkinson.
In assuring Wilkinson that his conduct had “placed him on ground favorable with the public” Mr. Jefferson could not have included that sizable portion of it that just then regarded Wilkinson as a brother in crime with Burr, who at the last minute had lost his nerve and betrayed his partner in a valiant attempt to save himself.
Thus was the stage set for the entry of the Government’s star witness.
