“Mr. Burr (with whom I know that the deputies became very intimate during their residence here) has mentioned to me that the inhabitants of Louisiana seem determined to render themselves independent of the United States, and that the execution of their design is only delayed by the difficulty of obtaining previously an assurance of protection and assistance from some foreign Power, and of concerting and connecting their independence with that of the inhabitants of the western parts of the United States, who must always have a command over them by the rivers which communicate with the Mississippi. It is clear that Mr. Burr (although he has not as yet confided to me the exact nature and extent of his plan) means to endeavor to be the instrument of effecting such a connection.”
For this purpose Burr asked the aid of the British government, and defined the nature of the assistance he should need,—a British squadron at the mouth of the Mississippi, and a loan of half a million dollars.
“I have only to add that if a strict confidence could be placed in him, he certainly possesses, perhaps in a much greater degree than any other individual in this country, all the talents, energy, intrepidity, and firmness which are required for such an enterprise.”
Pending an answer to this proposal, Burr was to visit New Orleans and make himself the head of creole disaffection.
Merry was launched into the full tide of conspiracy. At the close of Jefferson’s first term he saw reason to hope that he might soon repay with interest the debt of personal and political annoyance which he owed. While Yrujo was actively engaged in bringing upon Madison the anger of Spain and France, Merry endeavored to draw his Government into a system of open and secret reprisals upon the President.
That the new French minister was little better disposed than Merry and Yrujo has been already shown; but his causes for ill-will were of a different and less personal nature. Before Turreau’s arrival at Washington in November, 1804, Pichon in one of his last despatches declared that Jefferson had already alienated every foreign Power whose enmity could be dangerous to the United States.
“The state of foreign relations offers a perspective which must put Mr. Jefferson’s character to proof,” Pichon wrote to Talleyrand in September, 1804.[298] “The United States find themselves compromised and at odds with France, England, and Spain at the same time. This state of things is in great part due to the indecision of the President, and to the policy which leads him to sacrifice everything for the sake of his popularity.”
The complaint was common to all French ministers in the United States, and meant little more than that all Presidents and policies displeased them by stopping short of war on England, which was the object of French diplomacy; but this letter also showed that in Pichon’s eyes the President had no friends. When Turreau arrived, a few weeks afterward, he quickly intimated that the President need expect from him not even such sentimental sympathy as had been so kindly given by Pichon.
At the same moment it was noticed that Jefferson changed his style of dress. “He has improved much in the article of dress,” wrote Senator Plumer in December, 1804;[299] “he has laid aside the old slippers, red waistcoat, and soiled corduroy small-clothes, and was dressed all in black, with clean linen and powdered hair.” Apparently the President had profited by the criticisms of the British minister, and was willing to avoid similar comments from the new French envoy; but he supposed that the Frenchman would show equal civility, and assume an equally republican style. He was mistaken. November 23, undisturbed by Merry’s experience, Turreau presented himself at his first audience in full regimentals, and with so much gold lace that Jefferson was half inclined to resent it as an impertinence.[300] Turreau next refused to meet Merry at dinner. He followed up these demonstrations by embracing the cause of Yrujo, and ridiculing Madison to his face. He began by warning his Government that “these people have been thoroughly spoiled; it is time to put them back into their place.”[301]
Turreau became intimate with the deputies from Louisiana, and notified Talleyrand that a separation of the western country from the Union was universally expected. Already, within three months of his arrival, he put his finger on the men who were to accomplish it.[302] Destréhan, he said, was a man of high merit; “but being only moderately ambitious, and head of a numerous family,—having acquired, too, a great personal esteem,—he is not likely to become the principal mover in innovations which are always dangerous without a combination of evidently favorable chances. It is still less likely that he will ever be the instrument of strangers who should seek to excite troubles for their personal advantage.” As for Sauvé, much inferior to his colleague in abilities, he would be guided by Destréhan’s influence. Derbigny was different. “Young still, with wit, ready expression, and French manners, I believe him to be greedy of fortune and fame; I suspect that every rôle will suit him, in order to acquire the one or the other; but there are men of more importance whom circumstances are taking to Louisiana.”