Because of this permit, he was treated by some as the idol of the hour; by others with indifference, and by partisans of the Country Party he was declared a traitor to his country.
He became the head of the Court Party to which Innes, then attorney general, Brown, Kentucky’s first delegate to Congress, and Sebastian, Judge of the Court of Appeals, belonged.
[pg 216] It might be said that at that time, Kentucky had at least four local political issues, but two political parties.
FIRST (Advocated by Wilkinson wing of the Court Party)—That Kentucky should become a province of Louisiana. The bribe they held out was the Wilkinson permit, a promise of unrestricted navigation of the Mississippi, trade privileges with New Orleans and free grants to actual settlers of great boundaries of land in Louisiana Territory.
SECOND (Advocated by the Brown wing of the Court Party)—That Kentucky should become a sovereign state independent of the Union, a new republic which was to enter into treaty relations as an independent power.
THIRD (A surviving Tory influence)—That Kentucky as a sovereign state, independent of the Union, with the assistance of the British Northwest should declare war upon Spain and seize New Orleans.
FOURTH (The Country Party, led by Colonel Thomas Marshall)—An immediate severance of Kentucky from Virginia; an independent commonwealth but remain one of the confederacy of states; confident that the Union in good time would by treaty or by force, open the Mississippi to free navigation.
In June, 1788, another flotilla of Wilkinson’s arrived in New Orleans; the tobacco of the cargo was sold to the Spanish Government for seven thousand dollars.
The boats on the return trip were loaded with merchandise worth “$18,246 and six reals.” This cargo had been purchased for Wilkinson by his agent, Daniel Clark, Sr., a citizen of Spain, a resident merchant of New Orleans and a cousin of David Clark, Sr., of Danville.
[pg 217] The flotilla in charge of John Calvin Campbell made the voyage of fourteen hundred miles to New Orleans in twenty-four days, arriving on the second day of April, 1789.
The city at that time had a population of exceeding 5,500 persons, and had fully recovered from the disastrous fire of Good Friday, March 21, 1788, when more than eight hundred and fifty-six houses had been destroyed; among them the principal stores, the town hall, the prison and the arsenal.
John immediately upon arrival went to the palace of the Governor to deliver the sealed package given him by General Wilkinson. Informed that Miro was out of the city he returned to the wharf and began unloading the cargo.
The following day as they were unloading the last boat and almost the last hogshead of tobacco, it slipped from the derrick hooks and rolled upon his foot. While the injury was not serious it so crippled him that when Governor Miro returned he was unable to deliver the letter in person. He handed it to David Clark with positive instructions to give it to no one but the Governor.