“I have some other views which are personal merely, and which I shall have no objection to state to you personally, but which I do not deem it necessary to publish; if these objects could in any way affect the United States, it would be beneficially,” &c.
If Burr had already communicated his views to Mr. Smith, why should he say in this letter, “I shall have no objection to state to you personally;” certainly if he had already stated them, this profession would not only have been unnecessary, but foolish. Burr again writes:
“This is the first letter of explanation which I have ever written to any man, and will probably be the last. It was, perhaps, due to the frankness of your character and to the friendship you once bore me. I shall regret to see that a friendship I so greatly valued must be sacrificed on the altars of calumny. Be assured that no changes on your part can ever alter my desire of being useful to you; and I pray you to accept my warmest wishes for your happiness.”
Here follows the postscript:
“It may be an unnecessary caution, but I never write for publication.”
From the whole tenor of this letter the real connection between Mr. Smith and Burr may be easily discerned; but it is particularly demonstrated by these last sentences. In them the real state of Burr’s mind may be clearly seen. They discover a man conscious of having abused the unguarded confidence and misplaced friendship of another, which he was about to lose by the public exposure of his views. They display despondency and regret at the circumstance, and attempt to make a miserable atonement by a renewal of professions. They demonstrate, too, that there was no participation in the conspiracy. In further corroboration of these conclusions, it ought not to escape notice that, on Burr’s next visit to Cincinnati, he took lodgings at a tavern, and avoided Mr. Smith’s hospitality, which would, doubtless, have been still open to him; he having been more successful in regaining Mr. Smith’s confidence by the artful letter written by him, than he had expected. This I believe to be the plain, obvious, and natural import of this letter. To suppose that it was the effect of a preconcerted arrangement between Burr and Mr. Smith, and intended to disguise the real connection between them, would be a strained, improbable, unnatural supposition, and, therefore, in my judgment, ought not to be relied upon in any case, but especially not upon a question of guilt or innocence. The postscript of the letter itself furnishes another strong presumption against this conclusion. The next circumstance, in point of time, from which inferences injurious to Mr. Smith are drawn, happened on the 2d or 3d of December, at Frankfort, in Kentucky. At this time and place, Burr was attending on the court upon his second trial. Mr. Smith was drawn thither by business, when a short interview took place, between himself and Burr, very immaterial in its objects or consequences. The ground of crimination deduced from this circumstance, is, that Mr. Smith did not voluntarily attend the court as a witness against Burr, and testify to the disclosures which Burr had made to him upon his last visit to Cincinnati. Mr. Smith stated, at the time, his willingness to attend, but believed he knew nothing relevant to the ground of charge against Burr.
The gentleman from Massachusetts differs from Mr. Smith in opinion on this point, and conceives that if Mr. Smith had attended that court, and disclosed what he has since disclosed, in relation to Burr’s last communications to him, it would have been sufficient for Burr’s conviction. I differ entirely from the gentleman on this point. All that we know relative to Burr’s disclosure of his views, at that time, is furnished by Mr. Smith himself. What was disclosed, it would probably be best to take from Mr. Smith’s own words:
“The candor discovered in the above-recited letter, (of October 26, 1806,) inspired my confidence, and when he made his second visit to Cincinnati, in November last, he disclosed his plan fully to my view, as I thought, which added strength to my confidence. He being about to take leave of me, observed: ‘Mr. Smith, my object in a few months will be disclosed; you will not find it dishonorable or inimical to this Government. I feel superior to the mean artifices which are ascribed to me; calumniators I do not notice, for as fast as you put one down, another will rise up. This much I will venture to tell you, if there should be war between the United States and Spain, I shall head a corps of volunteers, and be the first to march into the Mexican provinces; if peace should be preserved, which I do not expect, I shall settle my Washita lands, and make society as pleasant about me as possible. In this Government I have been persecuted, shamefully persecuted, and, I am sorry to say, that in it all private confidence between man and man, seems to be nearly destroyed.’ He showed me a deed for a large tract of land on Red River, and said, ‘if I would consent to let my sons go thither, he would provide well for them,’ to which I gave consent, though I never communicated it to my eldest son until last Saturday, the day on which he returned from Marietta, and not till he expressed a disinclination to co-operate with Colonel Burr’s object, till he knew whether it was hostile to the Government of the United States or not. Colonel Burr told me, further, ‘that very many of his friends, in different parts of the United States, would remove and settle with him, and that he would be the best neighbor this country ever had,’ and repeated ‘that his object was not hostile to the people of the United States, or dishonorable to himself;’ and, further, ‘that, in a few months, many of his enemies would be proud to call him their friend.’”
What is here disclosed? Two objects only. The first to settle his Washita lands; the second, in the event of war with Spain, to head a company of volunteers, and be the first to march into Mexico. What was the charge against Burr? A misdemeanor, by beginning and setting on foot a military expedition or enterprise against a nation with which the United States were at peace, &c. Would this evidence have had any tendency towards supporting this charge? Certainly not. Spain had nothing to do with the settlement of the Washita lands, and with respect to the contemplated military expedition into Mexico, it was to be undertaken only in the event of war, and of course could be no violation of a law which forbids such enterprises, only against nations with which the United States are at peace. The evidence, therefore, could not support the charge; and whether such enterprise in time of war would have been lawful or not, would have depended upon the circumstance of the partisan’s acting with or without a commission from the United States, but the gentleman from Massachusetts remarks that this pretended condition, upon which the expedition against Mexico was to be undertaken, was too thin a disguise to impose upon the most credulous or ignorant. I will here admit that I always thought it a very thin disguise; but did every body think so, and particularly before Burr’s other views were disclosed? It is known that many men of the first talents were deceived by this disguise long after this period. It was urged by many as a substantial ground of defence in favor of Burr, during the whole course of his trial at Richmond, and many adhered to it, even after the trial was over. Why is it expected that Mr. Smith particularly ought not to have been the dupe of this disguise at that particular period? It cannot be because he is known to have reposed a blind confidence in Burr. It is probable that Burr’s knowledge of that circumstance induced him to suggest the disguise. It is certainly the circumstance which lulled Mr. Smith’s suspicions, and made him the dupe of the artifice. It may be said, and truly said, he ought to have been more guarded; it would certainly have been better for Mr. S. to have been a better judge of human nature, and his present condition is sufficient evidence of the misfortune of the want of that knowledge, but it is no evidence of a crime, or of a criminal intent. The only conclusion I draw from this circumstance is, that Mr. Smith furnishes a striking example of a plain-dealing, unsuspicious man, involved in irretrievable difficulties from the professions and flatteries of an artful and designing one.
The next observation made upon this part of the evidence disclosed by Mr. S. is, that he consented to let his sons go with Burr, from which a knowledge of Burr’s illicit views is inferred. It certainly would be an incorrect application of the rules of evidence to infer an object different from the one disclosed by the evidence, particularly when the one expressed is much more natural and probable than the one inferred. Mr. Smith himself furnishes both the fact and the object. He says he was induced to consent to his sons going with Burr, from Burr’s promises to advance their fortunes by giving them large portions of his Washita lands. Was not this a very natural object? What could be more natural or probable than for a father to be influenced by a motive of advancing his son’s fortunes? But it is said this conduct discovered too much confidence in Burr, and too much simplicity in Mr. Smith, there must be therefore some other concealed motive for it. It is admitted that none is proved, and I believe none exists. It is perfectly consistent with all the rest of the evidence. It does demonstrate too much confidence and too much simplicity; but it demonstrates nothing else. It demonstrates no crime. It does not demonstrate any participation in the conspiracy of Aaron Burr. We have now passed through these scenes of inferences and suspicions, and arrived at the 14th of December, 1806. The gentleman from Massachusetts, with his usual candor, here states, that from this time Mr. Smith’s conduct became exemplary, from this date every effort on his part was made to defeat the conspiracy; he contributed his full quota of exertion for that purpose, and succeeded. How can this laudable conduct be reconciled with the inferences of guilt made against him? Why, sir, another inference more preposterous than any other, is brought up to support all the former inferences, in my judgment, sufficiently preposterous and improbable in themselves. It is said that this laudable exertion to suppress the conspiracy by Mr. Smith was intended as a cover to his former misconduct. But certainly, sir, before this inference is drawn, the former misconduct ought to be proved. It ought not to be made evidence of the misconduct itself. It certainly cannot be a correct rule of evidence to infer a wrong motive from a right action. But, sir, this inference is made against every rule of probability. It is not probable that if the conspiracy should be suppressed by Mr. Smith’s exertions in common with others, that such suppression would cover his own misconduct. It would have been the most effectual mode of detecting and exposing it. What hope could Mr. Smith have indulged, that if he had been engaged in the conspiracy, and had turned traitor to the rest by exerting himself in its suppression, that he would have been exempted from exposure? Would not such conduct have tended to excite the resentment of the other conspirators against him, and to call forth from them every exertion to expose him? This conduct was placing them at defiance, and in my judgment, is one of the strongest circumstances of his innocence. It was not at all calculated to cover his participation, and it appears to me absurd to conclude that it was resorted to for that purpose. But, sir, look at Mr. Smith’s disclosure to the Secretary of War at this period. At this time could he not have anticipated any prosecution against himself. It was the day after the receipt of the President’s proclamation. At that time he communicates to the Secretary of War all the communications made by Burr to him at any previous time, confirmed in every respect by the evidence of General Gano. I believe he did it with candor, and then he makes the following natural and correct observations, after having stated that Burr had deceived him with his apparent candor, that he had before believed Burr’s views to be honorable; he remarks: “From the proclamation of the President, I am induced to believe that he is possessed of much more information than has come under my notice, and therefore the utmost attention will be paid to it, as the people here are universally (almost) well disposed to the Government, &c.”