Strong as these contradictions are, we have still stronger behind. We have seen Glover’s deposition contradicted by McFarland and Nimmo, two of his friends and confederates. We now introduce Glover himself contradicting his own deposition.
Let it be kept in mind, that the conversation stated in Glover’s deposition took place in September, 1805. He swears that, in that conversation, Mr. Smith opened the criminal views of Burr, and his own participation. Now, hear what he said in February following on this subject to Mr. Longworth, one of those respectable witnesses whose testimony we have adduced.
Mr. Longworth, in a deposition made in the presence of Glover, who attended and cross-examined, after stating the substance of a conversation between Glover and himself, relative to Mr. Smith, in February, 1807, proceeds thus: “And, to the best of his (this deponent’s) recollection, he (the said Glover) then declared, in express terms, that he believed Mr. Smith unjustly accused, and that he was not concerned with Burr in his expedition.” Contrast this with the deposition of this same Glover, made February 2, 1807, a little while before the conversation with Longworth, for the purpose of criminating Smith, as an associate of Burr.
And James M. Lanier, another of the witnesses, tells us, in his deposition, that in April, 1807, Glover, when charged by Smith with having given information against him, at first denied the fact, and afterwards, when more closely pressed, confessed that he had given information, but declared that it was nothing of any moment, or capable of operating to the disadvantage of Smith, towards whom he expressed a friendly disposition. And yet, he had then made the deposition which is now relied on for producing the disgrace and ruin of Mr. Smith! Can it be possible that a tribunal composed of men with honorable feelings, will listen for a moment to the testimony of a wretch who thus fabricates in the dark an instrument of destruction, smooths his face to the smile of friendship while he is preparing the mortal stab, and solemnly denies his hellish machinations in order to lull his victim into a fatal security?
The falsehood of this accusation, independently of the direct proof of it which we offer, is rendered in the highest degree probable by the extreme enmity which Glover is proved to have borne towards Smith, and the active endeavors which he had used to injure him. General Gano informs us in his first deposition, that, as early as July 4th, 1806, Glover had abused Smith most virulently in a public oration. Francis Dunlavy states in his deposition, that, in August, 1806, Glover displayed “very great animosity against Mr. Smith.” And Colonel Taylor, in his testimony at this bar, informed us that Glover was “extremely active” in the measures attempted for the injury of Mr. Smith by a party in Cincinnati, in the autumn of 1806. Doctor Sellman, Stephen McFarland, George Jordan, and John H. Stall, furnish us in their depositions with a detail of those measures in which Glover was extremely active. Let us hear what they were.
A meeting of the citizens of Cincinnati was called for some public purpose, and was very numerously attended. Some resolutions were passed by a very large majority. There is a small, but noisy party in Cincinnati, calling itself “The Republican Society.” Some of its members attended, and offered resolutions tending to criminate or vilify John Smith. They were indignantly rejected by a large majority. These zealous republicans, finding themselves out-voted, and being determined, as is usual, not to submit to the majority, when against them, resolved to make sure of their mark by calling clandestinely another meeting, to which none but such as were selected by them for the purpose, and furnished with tickets, should be admitted. The meeting was accordingly held the next evening in the upper room of a tavern, and an attempt appears to have been made, to pass the resolutions which the full meeting had rejected, and which would, no doubt, have been then palmed upon the public as the sense of the “people of Cincinnati”—for republicans love to speak in the name of the people. But the people, in this instance, chose to speak for themselves. They burst open the doors of the conclave, and defeated the scheme. But the most zealous of the patriots were not to be so repulsed. A few of them, and among the rest, the President, and Mr. Secretary Glover, made their escape, met in private, and actually passed their resolutions, which they forthwith published; taking care, at the same time, to suppress the resolutions which had been adopted at the full and public meeting, and of which Glover, as secretary of the meeting, had possessed himself.
Is it difficult to believe—indeed, is it not highly probable, that a man of Glover’s principles and character, who has gone such lengths as these, to injure a person against whom he had conceived a resentment, would stop at a false oath, if likely to effect his purpose? And ought not testimony given under such circumstances, to be viewed with the utmost distrust?
Furthermore, can any thing be more improbable than that Smith should make such a communication to Glover—to Glover his enemy, his public traducer—who, in July, had abused him in a public speech; and in August, had displayed very great animosity against him? What motives for such a choice of a confidant, in an affair on which his character, his fortune, and even his life, might depend? How does it happen, that a man of John Smith’s understanding and prudence, passed over the long list of his respectable and tried friends at Cincinnati, and fixed upon Elias Glover, to whom alone to confide the most important secret of his life? A man with whom he had long been on very ill terms; of whom, as Mr. Isaac Burnett informs us in his deposition, he had long been in the habit of thinking and speaking very ill, and whom, according to the same gentleman, he was much surprised at seeing in his house! All this, it must be allowed, is passing strange; and it will certainly require more than the oath of Elias Glover to make us believe it.
Again: Why make this grave discourse to Glover, concerning Burr’s plan? Was it to enlist volunteers? No! for Smith never appears to have mentioned the subject to any other person; and if he was in Burr’s secrets, he knew that Glover and McFarland were already enlisted. That they were engaged, is proved beyond the least doubt. The evidence on this point is full and unquestionable. They were not only engaged, but very actively and zealously engaged. This, Smith, if he was also engaged, must have known. Why, then, make a grave and mysterious disclosure to two of his confederates, of the plans in which they were mutually embarked? Can any thing be more ridiculous than the idea of a conspirator making a formal disclosure of the conspiracy to two of his associates? This single consideration would be sufficient to prove that the story of this disclosure was invented by Glover, as a screen for his own guilt.
But how does it happen that Smith, in looking round for a confidant, did not think of his friend Kelly, his confidential agent, and the usual depository of all his plans and thoughts? Kelly, to whose character men of the first rank in Kentucky, and amongst them Henry Clay, lately a member of this House, have borne the most honorable testimony, tells us in his deposition, that the highest degree of intimacy and friendship subsisted between him and Smith, who wished to advance his fortune, and was very desirous of assisting him. Yet Smith communicated to him nothing of Burr’s plan. Desirous as Smith felt of promoting Kelly’s fortune, and well acquainted as he was with the benefits of a contractorship, he would hardly have failed to hold out to his friend the brilliant post of contractor-general, or paymaster to Burr’s army; which, especially when the treasures of Mexico should once be occupied, would have been so well adapted to Kelly’s talents, and so fully adequate to all his desires. Smith, however, does nothing of all this; and he not only avoids all mention of these momentous and magnificent schemes to Kelly, but observes an equal silence to his friends, Gano, Longworth, Findley, and Sellman, while he singles out his persecutor and calumniator, Glover, as the chosen depository of this great secret, and very gravely communicates it to him and McFarland, with a full knowledge that they were, already, at least as well apprised of it as himself.