Above all, consider the inquiry, what was said about General Wilkinson. What could have associated, in a mind utterly ignorant of all Burr’s projects, inquiries about Wilkinson with the then situation of Burr and Blannerhasset? Recollect the passage of the ciphered letter: “Already has the contractor orders to furnish six months’ provisions at the points Wilkinson shall name; this shall be used only at the last moment, and then under proper injunctions.”
Mr. Smith has, at one time, denied all the material facts attested by Peter Taylor; and he attempted to disgrace his character; so little has he been borne out by his own evidence, now produced, that he formally admits the very facts he had denied. The same course has been pursued with regard to Colonel James Taylor’s testimony. Sir, this treatment of the witnesses is not calculated to inspire confidence in the solidity of Mr. Smith’s defence. Unfounded attacks upon the character of a respectable witness, not only confirm, but aggravate the weight of his testimony.
If, however, the testimony of Peter Taylor needed confirmation, it would be found in the substance of the letter itself, of which he was the bearer, and of the answer to that letter. To these two documents I now ask the particular attention of the Senate. The letter is dated 23d October, 1806, and says: “I beg leave to inform you that we have, in this quarter, various reports prejudicial to your character. It is believed by many that your design is to dismember the Union; although I do not believe that you have any such design, yet I must confess, from the mystery and rapidity of your movements, that I have fears, let your object be what it may, that the tranquillity of the country will be interrupted, unless it be candidly disclosed, which I solicit, and to which, I presume, you will have no objection.”
Now, what is the solicitude manifested in this letter? It is not so much that Mr. Burr’s object should be declared, not to be the dismemberment of the Union. It asks for something which may be told, to prevent the tranquillity of the country from being interrupted. And it very explicitly intimates what must be denied.
It is an answer of a very peculiar kind which appears to be wanted; an answer contained in the letter itself. A voucher is wanted to deny the project for dismembering the Union; and to speak with certainty of the ostensible object. This was the settlement of the Washita lands. Mr. Smith, in one of his narratives, says that Burr had talked with him on this subject in September before; but the purchase of the lands was not then concluded. It was uncertain whether that could now be spoken of as the professed purpose, and Mr. Smith’s letter was well adapted to obtain that certainty.
Mr. Burr’s answer appears perfectly to have understood the object of these inquiries. Much has been said by Mr. Smith about the apparent frankness and candor of this letter, and on this document he relies, with great emphasis, as a complete justification of all his subsequent confidence in Mr. Burr. To me, sir, it bears a very different aspect. Considering it in the light of an answer to the solicitude of a man altogether unconscious of Mr. Burr’s real designs, and aware of the extremely suspicious appearances in which the conduct of Mr. Burr was involved, this answer appears to me calculated for any thing rather than to restore confidence. To manifest its real character, let us attend to some of its most remarkable passages. Mr. Burr says:
“If there exists any design to separate the Western from the Eastern States, I am totally ignorant of it. I never harbored or expressed any such intention to any one, nor did any person ever intimate such design to me. Indeed, I have no conception of any mode in which such a measure could be promoted, except by operating on the minds of the people, and demonstrating it to be their interest. I have never written or published a line on this subject, nor ever expressed any other sentiments than those which you have heard from me in public companies, at Washington and elsewhere, and in which I think you concurred.”
At this passage there are the following notes by Mr. Smith:
“J. Smith has heard Colonel Burr and others say, that in fifty or a hundred years, the Territory of the United States would compose two distinct Governments.”