“He stated to me that he had in person (I think the preceding season) made a tour through that country; that he had secured to his interests, and attached to his person, the most distinguished citizens of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Territory of Orleans; that he had inexhaustible resources and funds; that the army of the United States would act with him; that it would be reinforced by ten or twelve thousand men from the above-mentioned States and Territory.”
“He mentioned to me none, as principally and decidedly engaged with him, but General Wilkinson, a Mr. Alston, who, I afterwards learned, was his son-in-law, and a Mr. Ephraim Kibby, who, I learned, was late a captain of rangers in Wayne’s army.” “Of Kibby, he said, that he was brigade major in the vicinity of Cincinnati, (whether in Ohio or in Kentucky, I know not,) who had much influence with the militia, and had already engaged a majority of the brigade to which he belonged, who were ready to march at Mr. Burr’s signal. Mr. Burr talked of this revolution as a matter of right inherent in the people, and constitutional; a revolution which would rather be advantageous than detrimental to the Atlantic States; a revolution which must eventually take place; and for the operation of which the present crisis was peculiarly favorable; that there was no energy, to be dreaded, in the General Government, and his conversations denoted a confidence that his arrangements were so well made that he should meet with no opposition at New Orleans, for the army and the chief citizens of that place were ready to receive him.”
Such, then, was the plan of Mr. Burr, and such, by his declarations, the state of his preparatory measures in the winter of 1805-’6; and I have read the part of his statement relative to Major Kibby, (and I mention it now, lest I might hereafter forget it,) because it may serve to explain what Mr. Smith said to Major Riddle just after the arrival of the President’s Proclamation at Cincinnati; that he (Smith) knew more of Burr’s plans than any man in the State of Ohio, except one. Here, it seems, there was one man, who knew them very sufficiently; and it appears, by the depositions produced by Mr. Smith, that William McFarland also knew a great deal of them.
Let us follow Mr. Burr to Philadelphia, and notice some particulars of his conversation there with Commodore Truxton, in July, 1806. I shall read from the Commodore’s testimony only those parts which may serve best to connect the chain of events, and to show the consistency of Burr’s purposes. He had previously, in the winter, talked with that gentleman about land speculations, but in July, 1806, “he observed, (says the Commodore,) that he wished to see, or to make me (I do not recollect which) Admiral; for he contemplated an expedition into Mexico, in the event of a war with Spain, which he thought inevitable. Mr. B. then asked me if I would take the command of a naval expedition. I asked him if the Executive of the United States was privy to or concerned in the project. He answered me emphatically that they were not. I told Mr. Burr that I would have nothing to do with it.” “Mr. Burr observed that, in the event of a war, he intended to establish an independent Government in Mexico; that Wilkinson, the army and many officers of the navy, would join. I replied, that I could not see how any of the officers of the United States could join.”
“Mr. Burr asked me if I would not write to General Wilkinson, as he was about to despatch two couriers to him. I told him that I had no subject to write on, and declined writing.”
This conversation was about the last of July; and I must now recur to one or two passages in the famous ciphered letter of Gen. Wilkinson. In the copy I have before me, it has no date,[51] but the formal letter of introduction, which Mr. Swartwout carried with it, is dated 25th July, 1806. It was, then, written on or near the same day when Mr. Burr had his last conversation with Commodore Truxton.
This letter indicates that Mr. Burr was on the point of departure for the execution of the enterprise, which it declares he had actually commenced; that detachments were to rendezvous on the Ohio, 1st November, and to move down rapidly from the falls on the 15th of November, with the first five hundred or one thousand men, in light boats, constructing for that purpose.
It adds: “Burr will proceed westward, first August, never to return; with him goes his daughter; the husband will follow in October, with a corps of worthies.”
Finally, the letter contains also this passage: “Already are orders to the contractor given to forward six months’ provisions to points Wilkinson may name; this shall not be used until the last moment, and then under proper injunctions.”
Whether Mr. Burr did actually leave Philadelphia on the 1st of August, as his letter announces, I am unable to collect from any of the testimony that has fallen under my observation; but on the 21st of August he had reached Pittsburg; and there he invited himself to dinner the next day with Col. Morgan, in a manner precisely similar to that in which he so shortly afterward invited himself to pass five or six days at the house of Mr. Smith. At Colonel Morgan’s, he dined and lodged one night. I shall not recur specially to the remarkable testimony of Colonel Morgan and his son, for it must be fresh in the recollection of every one who hears me. I shall barely notice that, during his short visit here, he broached all his doctrines respecting the imbecility of the present Administration, and the right, the interest, and the provocations which the Western people had to separate them from the Atlantic States. He was here commencing that mode of operation for effecting the dismemberment of the Union, which, in his subsequent letter of the 26th October to Mr. Smith, he states to be the only mode in which that object could be accomplished. His experiment did not commence in the right place. His attempt to tamper with men of honor and sentiment, met the reception it deserved. He left the house before breakfast the next morning.