| TO THE SENATE AND
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OF THE UNITED STATES:
Agreeably to the
request of the House of Representatives,
communicated in their resolution of the
sixteenth instant, I proceed to
state under the reserve therein expressed,
information received touching
an illegal combination of private
individuals against the peace and safety
of the Union, and a military expedition
planned by them against the territories
of a power in amity with the United States,
with the measures I have pursued
for suppressing the same.
I had for some time
been in the constant expectation
of receiving such further information as
would have enabled me to lay before
the legislature the termination as well as
the beginning and progress of
this scene of depravity, so far it has been
acted on the Ohio and its waters.
From this the state and safety of the lower
country might have been estimated
on probable grounds, and the delay was
indulged the rather, because no
circumstance had yet made it necessary to
call in the aid of the legislative
functions. Information now recently
communicated has brought us nearly
to the period contemplated. The mass of what
I have received, in the course
of these transactions, is voluminous, but
little has been given under the
sanction of an oath, so as to constitute
formal and legal evidence. It
is chiefly in the form of letters, often
containing such a mixture of rumors,
conjectures, and suspicions, as render it
difficult to sift out the real
facts, and unadvisable to hazard more than
general outlines, strengthened
by concurrent information, or the particular
credibility of the relater.
In this state of the evidence, delivered
sometimes too under the restriction
of private confidence, neither safety nor
justice will permit the exposing
names, except that of the principal actor,
whose guilt is
placed beyond question.
Some time in the
latter part of September,
I received intimations that designs were in
agitation in the western country,
unlawful and unfriendly to the peace of the
Union; and that the prime mover
in these was Aaron Burr, heretofore
distinguished by the favor of his country.
The grounds of these intimations being
inconclusive, the objects uncertain,
and the fidelity of that country known to be
firm, the only measure taken
was to urge the informants to use their best
endeavors to get further insight
into the designs and proceedings of the
suspected persons, and to communicate
them to me.
It was not until
the latter part of October,
that the objects of the conspiracy began to
be perceived, but still so
blended and involved in mystery that nothing
distinct could be singled
out for pursuit. In this state of
uncertainty as to the crime contemplated,
the acts done, and the legal course to be
pursued, I thought it best to
send to the scene where these things were
principally in transaction, a
person, in whose integrity, understanding,
and discretion, entire confidence
could be reposed, with instructions to
investigate the plots going on,
to enter into conference (for which he had
sufficient credentials) with
the governors and all other officers, civil
and military, and with their
aid to do on the spot whatever should be
necessary to discover the
designs of the
conspirators, arrest their
means, bring their persons to punishment,
and to call out the force of
the country to suppress any unlawful
enterprise in which it should be found
they were engaged. By this time it was known
that many boats were under
preparation, stores of provisions
collecting, and an unusual number of
suspicious characters in motion on the Ohio
and its waters. Besides despatching
the confidential agent to that quarter,
orders were at the same time sent
to the governors of the Orleans and
Mississippi territories, and to the
commanders of the land and naval forces
there, to be on their guard against
surprise, and in constant readiness to
resist any enterprise which might
be attempted on the vessels, posts, or other
objects under their care;
and on the 8th of November, instructions
were forwarded to General Wilkinson
to hasten an accommodation with the Spanish
commander on the Sabine, and
as soon as that was effected, to fall back
with his principal force to
the hither bank of the Mississippi, for the
defence of the intersecting
points on that river. By a letter received
from that officer on the 25th
of November, but
dated October 21st, we learn
that a confidential agent of Aaron Burr had
been deputed to him, with communications
partly written in cipher and partly oral,
explaining his designs, exaggerating
his resources, and making such offers of
emolument and command, to engage
him and the army in his unlawful enterprise,
as he had flattered himself
would be successful. The general, with the
honor of a soldier and fidelity
of a good citizen, immediately despatched a
trusty officer to me with information
of what had passed, proceeding to establish
such an understanding with
the Spanish commandant on the Sabine as
permitted him to withdraw his force
across the Mississippi, and to enter on
measures for opposing the projected
enterprise.
The general's
letter, which came to hand on
the 25th of November, as has been mentioned,
and some other information
received a few days earlier, when brought
together, developed Burr's general
designs, different parts of which only had
been revealed to different informants.
It appeared that he contemplated two
distinct objects, which might be carried
on either jointly or separately, and either
the one or the other first,
as circumstances should direct. One of these
was the severance of the Union
of these States by the Alleghany mountains;
the other, an attack on Mexico.
A third object was provided, merely
ostensible, to wit: the settlement
of a pretended purchase of a tract of
country on the Washita, claimed by
a Baron Bastrop. This was to serve as the
pretext for all his preparations,
an allurement for such followers as really
wished to acquire settlements
in that country, and a cover under which to
retreat in the event of final
discomfiture of both branches of his real
design.
He found at once
that the attachment of the
western country to the present Union was not
to be shaken; that its dissolution
could not be effected with the consent of
its inhabitants, and that his
resources were inadequate, as yet, to effect
it by force. He took his course
then at once, determined to seize on New
Orleans, plunder the bank there,
possess himself of the military and naval
stores, and proceed on his expedition
to Mexico; and to this object all his means
and preparations were now directed.
He collected from all the quarters where
himself or his agents possessed
influence, all the ardent, restless,
desperate, and disaffected persons
who were ready for any enterprise analogous
to their characters. He seduced
good and well-meaning citizens, some by
assurances that he possessed the
confidence of the government and was acting
under its secret patronage,
a pretence which obtained some credit from
the state of our differences
with Spain; and others by offers of land in
Bastrop's claim
on the Washita.
This was the state
of my information of his
proceedings about the last of November, at
which time, therefore, it was
first possible to take specific measures to
meet them. The proclamation
of November 27th, two days after the receipt
of General Wilkinson's information,
was now issued. Orders were despatched to
every intersecting point on the
Ohio and Mississippi, from Pittsburg to New
Orleans, for the employment
of such force either of the regulars or of
the militia, and of such proceedings
also of the civil authorities, as might
enable them to seize on all the
boats and stores provided for the
enterprise, to arrest the persons concerned,
and to suppress effectually the further
progress of the enterprise. A little
before the receipt of these orders in the
State of Ohio, our confidential
agent, who had been diligently employed in
investigating the conspiracy,
had acquired sufficient information to open
himself to the governor of
that State, and apply for the immediate
exertion of the authority and power
of the State to crush the combination.
Governor Tiffin and the legislature,
with a promptitude, an energy, and patriotic
zeal, which entitle them to
a distinguished place in the affection of
their sister States, effected
the seizure of all the boats, provisions,
and other preparations within
their reach, and thus gave a first blow,
materially disabling the enterprise
in its outset.
In Kentucky, a
premature attempt to bring
Burr to justice, without sufficient evidence
for his conviction, had produced
a popular impression in his favor, and a
general disbelief of his guilt.
This gave him an unfortunate opportunity of
hastening his equipments. The
arrival of the proclamation and orders, and
the application and information
of our confidential agent, at length
awakened the authorities of that State
to the truth, and then produced the same
promptitude and energy of which
the neighboring State had set the example.
Under an act of their legislature
of December 23d, militia was instantly
ordered to different important points,
and measures taken for doing whatever could
yet be done. Some boats (accounts
vary from five to double or treble that
number) and persons (differently
estimated from one to three hundred) had in
the meantime passed the falls
of the Ohio, to rendezvous at the mouth of
the Cumberland, with others
expected down that river.
Not apprized, till
very late, that any boats
were building on Cumberland, the effect of
the proclamation had been trusted
to for
some time in the
State of Tennessee; but
on the 19th of December, similar
communications and instructions with those
of the neighboring States were despatched by
express to the governor, and
a general officer of the western division of
the State, and on the 23d
of December our confidential agent left
Frankfort for Nashville, to put
into activity the means of that State also.
But by information received
yesterday I learn that on the 22d of
December, Mr. Burr descended the Cumberland
with two boats merely of accommodation,
carrying with him from that State
no quota toward his unlawful enterprise.
Whether after the arrival of the
proclamation, of the orders, or of our
agent, any exertion which could
be made by that State, or the orders of the
governor of Kentucky for calling
out the militia at the mouth of Cumberland,
would be in time to arrest
these boats, and those from the falls of the
Ohio, is still doubtful.
On the whole, the
fugitives from Ohio, with
their associates from Cumberland, or any
other place in that quarter, cannot
threaten serious danger to the city of New
Orleans.
By the same express
of December nineteenth,
orders were sent to the governors of New
Orleans and Mississippi, supplementary
to those which had been given on the
twenty-fifth of November, to hold
the militia of their territories in
readiness to co-operate for their defence,
with the regular troops and armed vessels
then under command of General
Wilkinson. Great alarm, indeed, was excited
at New Orleans by the exaggerated
accounts of Mr. Burr, disseminated through
his emissaries, of the armies
and navies he was to assemble there. General
Wilkinson had arrived there
himself on the 24th of November and had
immediately put into activity the
resources of the place for the purpose of
its defence; and on the tenth
of December he was joined by his troops from
the Sabine. Great zeal was
shown by the inhabitants generally, the
merchants of the place readily
agreeing to the most laudable exertions and
sacrifices for manning the
armed vessels with their seamen, and the
other citizens
manifesting
unequivocal fidelity to the Union,
and a spirit of determined resistance to
their expected assailants.
Surmises have been
hazarded that this enterprise
is to receive aid from certain foreign
powers. But these surmises are without
proof or probability. The wisdom of the
measures sanctioned by Congress
at its last session had placed us in the
paths of peace and justice with
the only powers with whom we had any
differences, and nothing has happened
since which makes it either their interest
or ours to pursue another course.
No change of measures has taken place on our
part; none ought to take place
at this time. With the one, friendly
arrangement was then proposed, and
the law deemed necessary on the failure of
that was suspended to give time
for a fair trial of the issue. With the same
power, negotiation is still
preferred and provisional measures only are
necessary to meet the event
of rupture. While, therefore, we do not
deflect in the slightest degree
from the course we then assumed, and are
still pursuing, with mutual consent,
to restore a good understanding, we are not
to impute to them practices
as irreconcilable to interest as to good
faith, and changing necessarily
the relations of peace and justice between
us to those of war. These surmises
are, therefore, to be imputed to the
vauntings of the author of this enterprise,
to multiply his
partisans by
magnifying the belief of his
prospects and support.
By letters from
General Wilkinson, of the
14th and 18th of September, which came to
hand two days after date of the
resolution of the House of Representatives,
that is to say, on the morning
of the 18th instant, I received the
important affidavit, a copy of which
I now communicate, with extracts of so much
of the letters as come within
the scope of the resolution. By these it
will be seen that of three of
the principal emissaries of Mr. Burr, whom
the general had caused to be
apprehended, one had been liberated by
habeas corpus, and the two others,
being those particularly employed in the
endeavor to corrupt the general
and army of the United States, have been
embarked by him for our ports
in the Atlantic States, probably on the
consideration that
an impartial trial could
not be expected during the present
agitations of New Orleans, and that
that city was not as yet a safe place of
confinement. As soon as these
persons shall arrive, they will be delivered
to the custody of the law,
and left to such course of trial, both as to
place and process, as its
functionaries may direct. The presence of
the highest judicial authorities,
to be assembled at this place within a few
days, the means of pursuing
a sounder course of proceedings here than
elsewhere, and the aid of the
executive means, should the judges have
occasion to use them, render it
equally desirable for the criminals as for
the public, that being already
removed from the place where they were first
apprehended, the first regular
arrest should take place here, and the
course of proceedings receive here
its proper direction.
|
