Voices; Birth-Marks; The Man and the Elephant

by Mathew Joseph Holt

“England frequently has shown her supremacy of Spain. We drove the armies of Britain from our shores; why then should we conspire with either power to procure that which we can take for ourselves—if time shall disclose that it cannot be gained by amity and treaty?”

In this spirit young Campbell spoke for half an hour, carrying conviction, not by logic and eloquence, but by an earnest faith in the righteousness of his cause. It was not so much what he said as that he had made suggestions which caused his hearers to think. There radiated from him a spirit of conviction that took possession [pg 205] of his hearers, so they said to themselves: “That’s true, that’s right.” What he said was uttered in a tense, distinct, conversational tone and after the first few words in apparent self-forgetfulness, he lost self in his cause.

The button from the collar of his hunting shirt had dropped off before he had begun to speak and, unknowingly to him, his shirt front standing open disclosed the upper portion of the vivid cross tattooed upon his breast. His intent face and pallid flesh gave to the blood red cross a setting that impressed the more superstitious and convinced all that rumor rested on a foundation of fact.

General Wilkinson, noting the effect of his remarks, made a sign to Judge Sebastian not to introduce the resolution they had expected to offer and in a white rage of passion, was the first to take the hand of the young man and congratulate him when he had finished. He thought: “What an ally he would make in the promotion of our conspiracy; how he would stir the backwoodsmen; yet if he did not believe in our cause it is my guess he would be as mum and flabby as an oyster. But for him my resolution which Sebastian was to offer would have gone over and revived the sentiment throughout the District, which met with defeat before the District Convention; now I dare not offer it. I must attend to the young gentleman; and Fairfax will help when he returns; possibly we can fool him. I wonder if we can catch him with Fairfax’s daughter for bait.”

John’s speech broadened the breach between the Country and the Court Party; the one led by Colonel Thomas Marshall, the other by General Wilkinson; both of whom were delegates to the District Convention from Fayette County. The speech and the action of the convention had also made the General’s co-conspirators timid [pg 206] in their utterances and cautious in their work. It caused John’s name to be presented and favorably voted upon as a member of the club.

The District Convention had been called for the third of November, but no quorum appearing, the members being delayed by high water, an adjournment was had to the fourth. On that day it was organized with Judge Samuel McDowell as president.

The chief fight centered upon a motion made by Wilkinson to refer the resolution of the last convention upon the subject of the Mississippi Navigation. The motion brought about an animated debate led by Wilkinson, Brown, Innes and Sebastian, who spoke in favor of the reference. They were opposed by Marshall, Muter, Crockett, Allen and Christian.

Wilkinson argued for immediate separation from Virginia by an act of separation and the setting up of a separate government; intimating that it was desirable for purposes of trade and as the only means to procure the free navigation of the Mississippi; and that then the District unite with Spain.

He said in part: “Spain had objections to granting the navigation in question to the United States—it was not to be presumed that congress would obtain it for Kentucky, or even the western country only; her treaties must be general. There was one way and but one for obviating these difficulties and that was so fortified by constitutions and so guarded by laws, that it was dangerous of access and hopeless under present circumstances. Spain might concede to Kentucky alone what she would not concede to the United States—and—there is information within the power of the convention and upon this subject of the first importance, which I have no doubt a gentleman present will communicate.”

[pg 207] Looking at Mr. Brown he sat down, expecting Brown to fulfill his portion of the preconcerted program.