The Life of John Marshall Volume III Part 39

"The [Federalist] members of the Senate," continues Merry, "have availed themselves of the opportunity of their being collected here to hold private meetings on this subject, and ... their plans and calculations respecting the event have been long seriously resolved.... They naturally look forward to Great Britain for support and a.s.sistance whenever the occasion shall arrive." (Merry to Hawkesbury, March 1, 1804, as quoted in Adams: _U.S._ II, 392.)

[773] As early as 1784, Washington declared that he feared the effect on the Western people "if the Spaniards on their right, and Great Britain on their left, instead of throwing impediments in their way as they now do, should hold out lures for their trade and alliance.... The western settlers (I speak now from my own observations) stand as it were, upon a pivot. The touch of a feather would turn them any way.... It is by the cement of interest alone we can be held together." (Washington to the Governor of Virginia, 1784, as quoted in Marshall, V, 15-16.)

[774] Marshall, V, 179.

[775] Jefferson to Breckenridge, Aug. 12, 1803, _Works_: Ford, X, footnotes to 5-6.

[776] See Shepherd in _Am. Hist. Rev._ VIII, 501 _et seq._; also _ib._ IX, 748 _et seq._

[777] Clark: _Proofs of the Corruption of Gen. James Wilkinson_, 11-12, 16, 18-24, and doc.u.ments therein referred to and printed in the appendix to Clark's volume.

[778] "Wilkinson is entirely devoted to us. He enjoys a considerable pension from the King." (Casa Yrujo, Spanish Minister, to Cevallos, Jan.

28, 1807, as quoted in Adams: _U.S._ III, 342.) And see affidavits of Mercier and Derbigny, _Blennerha.s.sett Papers_: Safford, footnotes to 429, 432.

"He [Wilkinson] had acted conformably as suited the true interests of Spain, and so I a.s.sured him for his satisfaction." (Folch, Spanish Governor of Florida, to the Governor-General of Cuba, June 25, 1807, as quoted by c.o.x in _Am. Hist. Rev._ X, 839.)

[779] Parton: _Burr_, 383; see also McCaleb, 4-9.

It should be borne in mind that this was the same Wilkinson who took so unworthy a part in the "Conway Cabal" against Washington during the Revolution. (See vol. I, 121-23, of this work.)

For further treatment of the Spanish intrigue, see c.o.x in _Am. Hist Rev._ XIX, 794-812; also c.o.x in _Southwestern Historical Quarterly_, XVII, 140-87.

[780] Annual Message, Dec. 3, 1805, and Special Message, Dec. 6, 1805, Richardson, I, 384-85, 388-89.

[781] See _Memoirs, J. Q. A._: Adams, I, 314-15.

Burr wrote: "In New-York I am to be disfranchised, and in New-Jersey hanged" but "you will not ... conclude that I have become disposed to submit tamely to the machinations of a banditti." Burr to his son-in-law, March 22, 1805, Davis, II, 365.

[782] 1797-98.

[783] Lodge: _Alexander Hamilton_, 212-15; and see Turner in _Am. Hist.

Rev._ X, 276.

[784] Davis, II, 376-79.

[785] Only one previous incident in Burr's public life can even be faintly criticized from the point of view of honesty. In 1799 there were in New York City but two banking inst.i.tutions, and both were controlled by Federalists. These banks aided business men of the Federalist Party and refused accommodation to Republican business men. The Federalists controlled the Legislature and no State charter for another bank in New York could be had.

Burr, as a member of the State Senate, secured from the Legislature a charter for the Manhattan Company to supply pure water to the city; but this charter authorized the use by the company of its surplus capital in any lawful way it pleased. Thus was established a new bank where Republican business men could get loans. Burr, in committee, frankly declared that the surplus was to establish a bank, and Governor Jay signed the bill. Although the whole project appears to have been open and aboveboard as far as Burr was concerned, yet when the bank began business, a violent attack was made on him. (Parton: _Burr_, 237-40.) For charter see _Laws of New York_ (Webster and Skinner's edition), 1799, chap. 84.

[786] Merry to Harrowby, Aug. 6, 1804, as quoted in Adams: _U.S._ II, 395.

[787] McCaleb, viii-ix, 20-23.

[788] Merry to Harrowby (No. 15), "most secret," March 29, 1805, as quoted in Adams: _U.S._ II, 403.

[789] Adams: _U.S._ II, 394.

[790] Davis, II, 381; also Parton: _Burr_, 412.

[791] Henry Adams, in his researches in the British and Spanish archives, discovered and for the first time made public, in 1890, the dispatches of the British, Spanish, and French Ministers to their Governments. (See Adams: _U.S._ III, chaps. XIII and XIV.)

[792] Professor Walter Flavius McCaleb has exploded the myth as to Burr's treasonable purposes, which hitherto has been accepted as history. His book, the _Aaron Burr Conspiracy_, may be said to be the last word on the subject. The lines which Professor McCaleb has therein so firmly established have been followed in this chapter.

[793] Pitt died and Burr did not get any money from the British. (See Davis, II, 381.)

[794] "Burr's intrigue with Merry and Casa Yrujo was but a consummate piece of imposture." (McCaleb, viii.)

[795] Up to this time Dayton had had an honorable career. He had been a gallant officer of the Revolution; a member of the New Jersey Legislature for several years and finally Speaker of the House; a delegate to the Const.i.tutional Convention; a Representative in Congress for four terms, during the last two of which he was chosen Speaker of that body; and finally Senator of the United States. He came of a distinguished family, was a graduate of Princeton, and a man of high standing politically and socially.

[796] See c.o.x in _Am. Hist. Rev._ XIX, 801; also in _Southwestern Hist.

Quarterly_, XVII, 174.

[797] That Burr, Dayton, and others seriously thought of building a ca.n.a.l around the falls of the Ohio on the Indiana side, is proved by an act pa.s.sed by the Legislature of Indiana Territory in August, 1805, and approved by Governor William Henry Harrison on the 24th of that month.

The act--ent.i.tled "An Act to Incorporate the Indiana Ca.n.a.l Company"--is very elaborate, authorizes a capital of one million dollars, and names as directors George Rogers Clark, John Brown, Jonathan Dayton, Aaron Burr, Benjamin Hovey, Davis Floyd, and six others. (See _Laws of the Indiana Territory, 1801-1806_, 94-108.) The author is indebted to Hon.

Merrill Moores, M.C., of Indianapolis, for the reference to this statute.

[798] Hildreth, V. 597.

[799] Adair had been a soldier in the Revolutionary War, an Indian fighter in the West, a member of the Kentucky Const.i.tutional Convention, Speaker of the House of Representatives of that State, Registrar of the United States Land Office, and was one of the ablest, most trusted, and best beloved of Kentuckians.

Adair afterward declared that "the intentions of Colonel Burr ... were to prepare and lead an expedition into Mexico, predicated on a war"

between Spain and the United States; "without a war he knew he could do nothing." If war did not come he expected to settle the Was.h.i.ta lands.

(Davis, II, 380.)

[800] See McCaleb, 25; Parton: _Burr_, 385-86.

[801] McCaleb, 26; Parton: _Life of Andrew Jackson_, I, 307-10.

[802] Parton: _Jackson_, I, 309.

[803] Burr to his daughter, May 23,1805. This letter is delightful. "I will ask Saint A. to pray for thee too. I believe much in the efficacy of her prayers." (Davis, II, 372.)

[804] McCaleb, 27; Parton: _Burr_, 393.

[805] McCaleb, 29.

[806] Davies, Parton, and McCaleb state that the Catholic Bishop appointed three Jesuits, but there was no bishop in New Orleans at that time and the Jesuits had been suppressed.

[807] Burr to his daughter, May 23, 1805, Davis, II, 372.

[808] "No one equalled Andrew Jackson in warmth of devotion to Colonel Burr." (Adams: _U.S._ III, 221.)

[809] Parton: _Jackson_, I, 311-12; and McCaleb, 81.

[810] McCaleb, 32-33. Minor was probably directed to do this by Casa Yrujo himself. (See c.o.x: _West Florida Controversy_, 189.)

[811] Clark to Wilkinson, Sept. 7, 1805, Wilkinson: _Memoirs of My Own Times_, II, Appendix x.x.xIII.

[812] Testimony of Major James Bruff, _Annals_, 10th Cong. 1st Sess.