“At Cincinnati I acquainted General W. with the circumstances that had occurred, and he gave me orders to deliver the money to Mr. Philip Nolan. These orders I punctually executed. Mr. Nolan conveyed the barrels of sugar and coffee that contained the dollars to Frankfort in a wagon. I there saw them opened in Mr. Montgomery Brown’s store. The sugar and coffee I afterwards sold to Mr. Abijah Hunt, of Cincinnati.
“I shall take no notice of Mr. McDonough’s affidavit. It does not refer to any thing alluded to in my certificate. That part of mine that has reference to my mission to Kentucky and Detroit in 1797, I shall also pass over in silence, as it has no connection with the present subject.
“I will now endeavor, in a few words, to reconcile what may appear contradictory and inconsistent in my certificate, and the declaration I have just laid before you.
“Was I base and dishonorable enough to descend to tergiversation, captious logic, and sophistical evasion, I could maintain that this contradiction does not exist, and that I never did carry or deliver to General Wilkinson any cash, bills or property of any species. It is true I delivered a certain sum of money, by his order, to Mr. Nolan; but Philip Nolan is not James Wilkinson; ergo, I may with a safe conscience swear that I never delivered James Wilkinson any money, &c., but I scorn to make use of any such pitiful, contemptible and degrading mode of defence, and will allow for a moment that I did deliver to General Wilkinson the money in question. It is generally admitted that in politics morality is not to be measured by the same narrow scale as that which ought to regulate the moral conduct of men in their private concerns. The rigid stoic would, on a long run, make but a bungling politician; and the most austere moralist, if he has his country’s interest at heart, and is acting in a public capacity, would not hesitate to do that which, as a private man, and in private concerns, he would shrink and recede from with horror and trembling precipitation.
“Let us now for a while suppose that I was a secret agent of the Spanish Government, and that General Wilkinson was a pensioner of said Government, or had received certain sums for co-operation with and promoting its views, and that those views and projects were inimical to that of the United States, should I be worthy of the trust reposed in me by my Government, were I to refuse to give General W. any document that might contribute to raise him in the good opinion of the Administration of his country, blazon his integrity and patriotism, and fortify him in their confidence, and by their means enlarge his power of injuring them and serving us? Surely not; or if I did, I should deserve to be hooted at as an idiot.”
Mr. Randolph then said it would be waste of time to comment on what he had read, but he conceived it his duty to tell the House that he had good cause to believe that there was a member of this body who had it in his power, if the authority of the House were exercised upon him, if he were coerced, to give the House much more full, important, and damning evidence than that which had already appeared. He alluded to the gentleman from the Territory of Orleans, (Mr. Clark,) whom he had now the pleasure to see in his seat. If the United States were in the critical situation which had been so often represented, and in which all considered them to be placed, in what position was the military force of the United States at this moment? Was it not proper that this business should be inquired into? He had been given to understand, long ago, that an inquiry on this subject was to be courted; it had not taken place. He had no more to say, but moved the following resolution:
Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to cause an inquiry to be instituted into the conduct of Brigadier-general James Wilkinson, Commander-in-chief of the Armies of the United States, in relation to his having, at any time, while in the service of the United States, corruptly received money from the Government of Spain or its agents.
Mr. Clark said he unexpectedly heard himself named, and he would observe that it had been long supposed, from his residence in Louisiana, his acquaintance with military officers, and the various means of information which he might have possessed while Consul at New Orleans, that he was acquainted with certain transactions which had taken place in that country. The knowledge which he had possessed he had endeavored to impart to the Administration at different times, both verbally and by a written correspondence, to which a deaf ear had been turned. As this information had not been attended to, he had refused to gratify curiosity on the subject. And, notwithstanding the gentleman’s calling upon him, he felt himself bound to say that he would not be influenced by fear, favor, or affection, to give any information on the subject, except compelled by a resolution of the House.
Mr. Thomas moved that the resolution offered by Mr. Randolph should lie on the table; but a motion made to consider was agreed to.
Mr. Randolph said, as it appeared by the declaration of the gentleman from New Orleans, that he did possess information, and as the House had a right to it, he wished the Speaker or some other gentleman to inform him of the manner in which it might be obtained.