Memoirs of Aaron Burr, Volume 2.

M >> Matthew L. Davis >> Memoirs of Aaron Burr, Volume 2.

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In another letter, in a paroxysm of passion, he threatens the
publication of a book, which he says is to be entitled,

"A review of the projects and intrigues of Aaron Burr during the years
1805, 1806, and 1807, involving therein, as parties or privies, Thomas
Jefferson, A. Gallatin, Dr. Eustis, Governor Alston, Daniel Clark,
Generals Wilkinson, Dearborn, Harrison, Jackson, and Smith, and the
late Spanish ambassador Yrujo, exhibiting original documents and
correspondence hitherto unpublished. Compiled from the notes and
private journal kept during the above period by Herman Blennerhassett,
LLD."

It has been seen that General Wilkinson _altered_ the letter written
in cipher by Colonel Burr, and then swore that the translation was a
true copy of the original. This alteration was for the purpose of
establishing _treasonable_ designs in Burr and his associates, to
which fact the general had also sworn. But while he was thus urging
the charge of _treason_ at home, he had to give his Spanish employers
a different account of the movements and object of Burr. Accordingly,
after the trial at Richmond, General Wilkinson despatched Captain
Walter Burling, his aid, to demand of the vice-king of Mexico the
repayment of his expenditures and compensation for his services to
Spain in defeating Burr's expedition against Mexico. The modesty of
this demand, being only about _two hundred thousand dollars_, is
worthy of notice. The development of this fact places in a new point
of view Mr. Jefferson's confidential friend (General Wilkinson)--that
friend whom he recommended to Congress on the 22d of January, 1S07, as
having acted "with the _honour of a soldier and the fidelity of a good
citizen_." The documents are presented without comment.

_State of Louisiana, City of New-Orleans_.

Before me, William Young Lewis, notary public in and for the city of
New-Orleans, duly commissioned and sworn, this day personally appeared
Richard Raynal Keene, Esq., attorney and counsellor at law of this
city, who delivered to me, the said notary, and requested the same to
be annexed to the current records of my office, the following
documents, _to wit_:--

_First_. A certificate of the vice-queen of Mexico, dated at Madrid on
the twenty-fourth day of January, eighteen hundred and sixteen.

_Second_. A letter from the said Richard R. Keene to the Reverend Dr.
Mangan, dated at Madrid on the twenty-first day of July, eighteen
hundred and twenty-one.

_Third_. The reply of the Reverend Dr. Mangan to the aforesaid letter,
dated at Madrid on the twenty-third day of July, eighteen hundred and
twenty-one.

All of which said documents I have accordingly annexed to my current
register, there to remain and serve as the case may be, after having
marked the same _ne varietur_, to identify them with this act.

Done and passed at New-Orleans, this twenty-fourth day of December,
eighteen hundred and thirty-six, in presence of William T. Lewis and
Gustavus Harper, both of this city, witnesses, who have hereunto
signed their names with said, and me the said notary. Signed, Richard
R. Keene, William T. Lewis, Gustavus Harper.

W. Y. Lewis, Not. Pub.

_Certificate of the Vice-queen_.

"Whereas his excellency, the Marquis of Campo-Sagrado, minister of
war, has been pleased to accede to the request of Richard Raynal
Keene, colonel of the royal armies, addressed to him under date of the
12th instant, with the view of obtaining my declaration respecting the
mission sent by the Anglo-American brigadier, James Wilkinson, to my
late husband, Don Jose Yturrigaray, lieutenant-general of the royal
armies in Mexico, during the period of his command as viceroy in that
country; now, for the purpose required, I do declare and certify,
that, having accompanied my said husband to Mexico, and stayed there
with him during the time of his command as viceroy in that country, to
wit, from the year 1802 to the year 1808, I recollect perfectly well
the aforesaid mission, which was carried into effect by a person of
the name of Burling; and although I cannot now undertake to relate all
the details of that mission, nevertheless my memory enables me to
state that, in substance, the exposition made by Keene to the minister
of war, of the artifices and stratagems resorted to by Wilkinson on
that occasion, through his confidential agent, is just and true. The
interested views manifested by Wilkinson _in his reclamation of large
sums of money for his alleged disbursements_ in counteracting the
hostile plans of the American vice-president, Burr, against Mexico,
appeared to the viceroy to be no less incompatible with the rights of
his majesty than they were _irreconcilable to the honour of an officer
and patriot_ of a foreign state. The viceroy, therefore, did not give
a single ducat to Burling, but took immediate steps for having him
removed from the country.

This is what I declare, in compliance with the requisition of his
excellency the minister of war. Madrid, January 24, 1816.

MARIA INES JAUREGUI DE YTURRIGARAY.

Madrid, July 21, 1821.

REV. SIR,

I send you an exposition of the vice-queen Donna Maria Ines Jauregui
de Yturrigaray, of the 24th January, 1816, relative to the intrigue
which the brigadier Wilkinson attempted to carry into effect in 1806
or 1807, through the agency of Mr. Burling, for the purpose of getting
money from the vice-king of Mexico. The vice-queen told me, in the
different conversations I had with her on this subject, that you
enjoyed the full and entire confidence of her husband, and that he,
besides speaking with you unreservedly about this affair, commissioned
you to interpret the letter which Wilkinson sent him through Mr.
Burling, the said letter having been written in English. The
vice-king, had he not died suddenly, would have given me the same
exposition which his widow gave me. It being then, in some sort, a
matter of justice that you should give your declaration relative to
the aforesaid exposition of the vice-queen, I therefore pray you to do
so.

I will merely add that, in one of my conversations with the vice-king,
he told me that, in the aforesaid letter, Wilkinson, in speaking of
his service rendered in frustrating what he called the invasion of
Mexico by the ex-vice-president, Mr. Burr, likened himself to
_Leonidas in the pass of Thermopylae_. Be assured, reverend sir, of my
profound respect.

RICHARD RAYNAL KEENE,

Colonel in the service of H. C. M.

Rev. Dr. MANGAN, _Rector of the Irish College in Salamanca._ Madrid,
July 23, 1821

MY DEAR SIR,

I have carefully read the exposition you enclosed me in your esteemed
favour of the 21st instant, of the former vice-queen of Mexico, La
Senora Donna Maria Ines Jauregui de Yturrigaray, relative to the
famous embassy of General Wilkinson to her husband Don Joseph de
Yturrigaray, viceroy of Mexico.

As his excellency was pleased to make use of me as interpreter in the
interview he granted Mr. Walter Burling, the bearer of a letter from
the aforesaid General Wilkinson, and commissioned by him to manifest
to the viceroy the importance of his embassy, I candidly confess that,
to the best of my recollection, the exposition of the vice-queen is
perfectly correct, for the object of the famous embassy of Mr. Burling
was to display to the viceroy _the great pecuniary sacrifices_ made by
General Wilkinson to frustrate the plan of invasion meditated by the
ex-vice-president, Mr. Burr, against the kingdom of Mexico, and to
solicit, in consideration of such important services, a pretty round
sum of _at least two hundred thousand dollars_.

I cannot help observing that the viceroy, Don Joseph de Yturrigaray,
received this communication with due contempt and indignation, bidding
me to tell Mr. Burling that General Wilkinson, in counteracting any
treasonable plan of Mr. Burr, did no more than comply with his duty;
that he (the viceroy) would take good care to defend the kingdom of
Mexico against any attack or invasion, and that he did not think
himself authorized to give one farthing to General Wilkinson in
compensation for his pretended services. He concluded by ordering Mr.
Burling to leave the city of Mexico, and had him safely escorted to
the port of Vera Cruz, where he immediately embarked for the United
States.

This is, believe me, the substance (as far as I can recollect) of the
famous embassy of General Wilkinson to the viceroy of Mexico, Don
Joseph de Yturrigaray, who certainly was not mistaken in the passage
he mentioned to you of Leonidas, as I recollect well that General
Wilkinson, after displaying in a pompous style the great difficulties
he had to encounter to render Mr. Burr's plan fruitless, concluded by
affirming--"_I, like Leonidas, boldly threw myself in the pass_," &c.

I return you the original exposition of the vice-queen, Donna Maria
Ines Jauregui de Yturrigaray, and remain yours,

PATRICK MANGAN, Rector of the Irish College of Salamanca.

RICHARD R. KEENE, Colonel in the service H. C. M.

I hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy of the originals
annexed to my current register. In witness whereof I grant these
presents, under my hand and seal, at New-Orleans, this 26th day of
December, 1836.

WILLIAM Y. LEWIS, Not. Pub.

The following short extracts from the letters of Colonel Burr to his
daughter, while he was imprisoned in Richmond, will serve to show the
state of his mind under circumstances thus oppressive and mortifying.

TO THEODOSIA.

"Richmond, March 27, 1807.

"My military escort having arrived at Fredericksburgh on our way to
Washington, there met a special messenger, with orders to convey me to
this place. Hither we came forthwith, and arrived last evening. It
seems that here the business is to be tried and concluded. I am to be
surrendered to the civil authority to-morrow, when the question of
bail will be determined. In the mean time I remain at the Eagle
tavern."

"April 26, 1807.

"Your letters of the 10th and those preceding seemed to indicate a
sort of stupor; but now you rise into phrensy. Another ten days will,
it is hoped, have brought you back to reason. It ought not, however,
to be forgotten that the letter of the 15th was written under a
paroxysm of the toothache.

"You have read to very little purpose if you have not remarked that
such things happen in all democratic governments. Was there in Greece
or Rome a man of virtue and independence, and supposed to possess
great talents, who was not the object of vindictive and unrelenting
persecution? Now, madame, I pray you to amuse yourself by collecting
and collating all the instances to be found in ancient history, which
you may connect together, if you please, in an essay, with
reflections, comments, and applications. This I may hope to receive
about the 22d of May. I promise myself great pleasure in the perusal,
and I promise you great satisfaction and consolation in the
composition."

"May 15, 1807.

"Respecting the approaching investigation, I can communicate nothing
new. The grand jury is composed of twenty democrats and four
federalists. Among the former is W. C. Nicholas, my vindictive and
avowed personal enemy--the most so that could be found in this state
(Virginia).

The most indefatigable industry is used by the agents of government,
and they have money at command without stint. If I were possessed of
the same means, I could not only foil the prosecutors, but render them
ridiculous and infamous. The democratic papers teem with abuse against
me and my counsel, and even against the chief justice. Nothing is left
undone or unsaid which can tend to prejudice the public mind, and
produce a conviction without evidence. The machinations of this
description which were used against Moreau in France were treated in
this country with indignation. They are practised against me in a
still more impudent degree, not only with impunity, but with applause;
and the authors and abettors suppose, with reason, that they are
acquiring favour with the administration."

"June 3, 1807.

"Still waiting for Wilkinson, and no certain accounts of his approach.
The grand jury, the witnesses, and the country grow impatient. It is
an ungracious thing, and so deemed, after having for six months been
branded as a traitor; after directing that Burr and his followers
should be attacked, put to death, and their property seized; after all
the violations of law and constitution which have been practised, that
government should now say it has not proof!

"Busy, busy, busy from morning till night--from night till morning,
yet there are daily amusing incidents; things at which you will laugh,
also things at which you will pout and scold."

"June 18, 1807.

"On Saturday morning General Wilkinson, with ten or eleven witnesses
from New Orleans, arrived in Richmond. Four bills were immediately
delivered to the grand jury against Blennerhassett and Burr; one for
treason and one for misdemeanour against each. The examination of the
witnesses was immediately commenced. They had gone through thirty-two
last evening. There are about forty-six. General Eaton has been
already examined. He came out of the jury-room in such rage and
agitation that he shed tears, and complained bitterly that he had been
questioned as if he were a villain. How else could he have been
questioned with any propriety?

"Poor Bollman is placed in a most awkward predicament. Some days ago
Mr. Hay, the district attorney, in open court tendered him a pardon
under the great seal and with the sign manual of _Thomas Jefferson_.
Bollman refused to receive it. Hay urged it upon him. Bollman said
that no man could force on him such a badge of infamy. Hay insisted
that he was a pardoned man, whether he would or not; and this question
will, probably, also come before the court in argument to-day or
to-morrow."

"June 22, 1807.

On Friday Mr. Hay complained that Burr had so constantly occupied the
court for the four weeks past with his extraordinary motions, that he
(Mr. Hay) could not get an opportunity of making one on his part; he
therefore gave notice that he should, at the first interval, move for
leave to send to the grand jury interrogatories for their instruction,
to be put to the witnesses, in order that the _whole truth_ might come
out.

"Burr said it was a thing without example, and which the court could
not permit without his assent; but he thought there was reason in the
proposal of Mr. Hay, and that he should cheerfully assent, with the
condition only that he (Burr) should also send interrogatories, to be
put to the same witnesses, the better to extract the _'whole truth.'_

"The court said that it certainly could not be permitted to Mr. Hay to
send interrogatories, being against usage and reason; but as Mr. Burr
had assented, there seemed to be no objection that both parties should
send in interrogatories; and such permission was granted, whereupon
Mr. Hay withdrew his motion."

"June 24, 1807.

"While we were engaged to-day in the argument of the question for an
attachment against Wilkinson, the grand jury came into court with
bills against Blennerhassett and myself for treason and misdemeanour.
Two bills against each of us. These indictments for treason are
founded on the following allegations: that Colonel Tyler, with twenty
or thirty men, stopped at Blennerhassett's Island on their way down
the Ohio; that though these men were not armed, and had no military
array or organization, and though they did neither use force nor
threaten it, yet, having set out with a view of taking temporary
possession of New-Orleans on their way to Mexico, that such intent was
treasonable, and therefore a war was levied on Blennerhassett's Island
by _construction_; and that, though Colonel Burr was then at Frankfort
on his way to Tennessee, yet, having advised the measure, he was, _by
construction of law_, present at the island, and levied war there. In
fact, the indictment charges that Aaron Burr was on that day present
at the island, though not a man of the jury supposed this to be true.

"This idea of _constructive war_ is, by this jury, carried far beyond
the dictum advanced by Judge Chace in the case of Fries; for Chace
laid down that the actual exertion of force, in a hostile or
traitorous manner, was indispensable to establish treason. Yet the
opinions of Chace in this case were complained of by the whole
republican party, and condemned by all the lawyers of all parties in
Philadelphia, as tending to introduce the odious and unconstitutional
doctrine of _constructive treason_.

"Out of fifty witnesses who have been examined before the grand jury,
it may be safely alleged that thirty at least have been perjured.

"I beg and expect it of you that you will conduct yourself as becomes
my daughter, and that you manifest no signs of weakness or alarm."

June 30, 1807.

"Of myself you could expect to hear nothing new; yet something new and
unexpected was moved yesterday. The counsel for the prosecution
proposed to the court that Aaron Burr should be sent to the
penitentiary for safe keeping, and stated that the governor and
council had offered to provide me with an apartment in the third story
of that building. This is extremely kind and obliging in the governor
and his council. The distance, however, would render it so
inconvenient to my counsel to visit me, that I should prefer to remain
where I am; yet the rooms proposed are said to be airy and healthy."

July 3, 1807.

"I have three rooms in the third story of the penitentiary, making an
extent of one hundred feet. My jailer is quite a polite and civil
man--altogether unlike the idea one would form of a jailer. You would
have laughed to have heard our compliments the first evening.

"_Jailer_. I hope, sir, it would not be disagreeable to you if I
should lock this door after dark.

"_Burr_. By no means, sir; I should prefer it, to keep out intruders.

"_Jailer_. It is our custom, sir, to extinguish all lights at nine
o'clock; I hope, sir, you will have no objection to conform to that.

"_Burr_. That, Sir, I am sorry to say, is impossible; for I never go
to bed till twelve, and always burn two candles.

"_Jailer_. Very well, sir, just as you please. I should have been glad
if it had been otherwise; but, as you please, sir.

"While I have been writing different servants have arrived with
messages, notes, and inquiries, bringing oranges, lemons, pineapples,
raspberries, apricots, cream, butter, ice, and some ordinary
articles."

"July 6, 1807.

"My friends and acquaintance of both sexes are permitted to visit me
without interruption, without inquiring their business, and without
the _presence of a spy_. It is well that I have an antechamber, or I
should often be gene with visitors.

"If you come I can give you a bedroom and parlour on this floor. The
bedroom has three large closets, and it is a much more commodious one
than you ever had in your life. Remember, no agitations, no
complaints, no fears or anxieties on the road, or I renounce thee."

"July 24, 1807.

"I want an independent and discerning witness to my conduct and to
that of the government. The scenes which have passed and those about
to be transacted will exceed all reasonable credibility, and will
hereafter be deemed fables, unless attested by very high authority.

"I repeat what has heretofore been written, that I should never invite
any one, much less those so dear to me, to witness my disgrace. I may
be immured in dungeons, chained, murdered in legal form, but I cannot
be humiliated or disgraced. If absent, you will suffer great
solicitude. In my presence you will feel none, whatever may be the
_malice_ or the _power_ of my enemies, and in both they abound."

"July 30, 1807.

"I am informed that some good-natured people here have provided you a
house, and furnished it, a few steps from my _townhouse_. I had also
made a temporary provision for you in my townhouse, whither I shall
remove on Sunday; but I will not, if I can possibly avoid it, move
before your arrival, having a great desire to _receive you all in this
mansion_. Pray, therefore, drive directly out here. You may get
admission at any time from four in the morning till ten at night.
Write me by the mail from Petersburgh, that I may know of your
approach."

[On this letter is endorsed, in Theodosia's handwriting, "_Received on
our approach to Richmond. How happy it made me!_"]

The following was written after Theodosia had left Richmond and
returned to South Carolina.

"Richmond, September 28, 1807.

"It is impossible to predict when this business may terminate, as the
chief justice has gradually relaxed from former rules of evidence, and
will now hear any thing, without regard to distance of time or place.
Wilkinson has been examined, and had partly gone through the
cross-examination when we closed on Saturday. _He acknowledged, very
modestly, that he had made certain alterations in the letter received
from me, by erasures, &c., and then swore it to be a true copy._ He
has not yet acknowledged the substitution of names."

"October 9, 1807.

"Major Bruff, who was produced as a witness on my behalf, deposed
that, in a conversation with Dearborn and Rodney, the
attorney-general, in March last, he accused Wilkinson of several
crimes, and gave the names of witnesses who would establish the
charges. Those gentlemen replied that General Wilkinson _had_ stood
very low in the estimation of the President, but that his energetic
conduct at New-Orleans had raised him in estimation; that he now stood
very high, and that the president would support him; that if the
government should now prosecute Wilkinson, or do any thing to impair
his credit, Burr would escape, and that was just what the federalists
and the enemies to the administration wished."

"October 23, 1807.

"After all, this is a sort of drawn battle. The chief justice gave his
opinion on Tuesday. After declaring that there were no grounds of
suspicion as to the treason, he directed that Burr and Blennerhassett
should give bail in three thousand dollars for further trial in Ohio.
This opinion was matter of regret and surprise to the friends of the
chief justice, and of ridicule to his enemies--all believing that it
was a sacrifice of principle to conciliate _Jack Cade_. Mr. Hay
immediately said that he should advise the government to _desist from
further prosecution_. That he has actually so advised there is no
doubt.

"A. BURR."

Footnotes:

1. At this period Blennerhassett was at war with both Colonel Burr and
Alston, on the subject of their pecuniary transactions.

2. Former mercantile partner of Blennerhassett, and contractor for
building Burr's boats on the Muskingum.

CHAPTER XXII.

On the 7th of June, 1808, Colonel Burr sailed from New-York on board
the British packet for England, via Halifax. The personal and
political prejudices which the influence of power and the death of
Hamilton had excited against him; rendered, as he conceived, a
temporary absence from this country desirable; and, at the same time,
believing that the political situation of Europe offered opportunities
for accomplishing the object he had long contemplated, of emancipating
the Spanish American colonies from the degrading tyranny of Spain, it
was his design to solicit the aid of some European government in such
an undertaking. With these views he embarked for England.

During his residence in Europe he regularly corresponded with his
daughter, Mrs. Alston, and also kept a private diary; but probably
from the apprehension that his papers were at all times subject to the
supervision of the government police, his memoranda are in a great
measure restricted to occurrences private and personal. An amusing
volume [1] _might_ be made of these daily records of his privations
and personal adventures during his protracted and forced residence in
Europe, but the limits of the present work compel us to pass hastily
over this period of his life.

He arrived in Falmouth on the 15th, and in London on the 16th July;
and on the same day, with characteristic promptitude, he presented his
letters of introduction, and, among others, to John Reeves, Esq., then
in the department of the secretary of state, through whom he seems to
have hoped to gain access to the ministry.

During the next three months he made, through Mr. Reeves and others,
various unsuccessful efforts to approach the government; but there
were two obstacles in his way, both of which were insuperable. The
Spaniards were then in the commencement of their noble resistance to
the invasion of Napoleon, and the enthusiasm of the British nation in
favour of the Spanish patriots, as well as the policy of the British
government, were absolutely opposed to any scheme for separating the
colonies from Spain. But, in addition to this obstacle, Colonel Burr,
from the moment of his landing in England, was an object of suspicion
and distrust to the government. The alien-bill was then in stern
operation, and apprehensions were entertained of the emissaries of
France; and it is not to be doubted that the same hostility which, as
we shall see, openly displayed itself in the conduct of the United
States' agents towards Colonel Burr in France, had been excited to
misrepresent and anticipate him in his negotiations with the British
government. After various interviews, that led to nothing, with Mr.
Canning, Lord Mulgrave, and Lord Melville, on the 6th November, 1808,
the following communication from A. Merry put an end to all hopes of
assistance in his plans from the English ministry:--

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