Philadelphia, in company with Judge Sebastian, in which vessel, as she had been consigned to myself, I saw embarked under a special permission four thousand dollars or thereabout, which, I was informed, were for Sebastian's own account, as one of those concerned in the scheme of dismemberment of the Western country. I remember about the same time to have seen a list of names of citizens of the Western country which Mr. Power, as he afterwards informed me, on his was in the handwriting of the General, who were tour through the Western country, saw General Wilrecommended for pensions, and the sums were stated kinson at Greenville, and was the bearer of a letter to proper to be paid to each; and I then distinctly un-him for the Secretary of the Government of Louisderstood that he and others were actually pensioners of the Spanish Government. I had no personal knowledge of money being paid to General Wilkinson or to any agent for him, on account of his pension, previously to the year 1793 or 1794. In one of these years, and in which I cannot be certain until I can consult my books, a Mr. La Cassagne, who I understood was Postmaster at the Falls of Ohio, came to New Orleans, and, as one of the association with General Wilkinson, in the project of dismemberment, received a sum of money, four thousand dollars of which, or thereabout, were embarked by a special permission, free of duty, on board a vessel which had been consigned to me, and which sailed for Philadelphia, in which vessel Mr. La Cassagne went passenger. At and prior to this period I had various opportunities of seeing the projects submitted to the Spanish Government, and of learning many of the details from the agents employed to carry them into execution. In 1794, two gentlemen of the names of Owens and Collins, friends and agents of General Wilkinson, came to New Orleans. To the first was intrusted, as I was particularly informed by the officers of the Spanish Government, the sum of six thousand dollars, to be delivered to General Wilkinson on account of his own pension, and that of others. On his way, in returning to Kentucky, Owens was murdered by his boat's crew, and the money it was understood was made away with by them. This occurrence occasioned a considerable noise in Kentucky, and contributed, with Mr. Power's visits at a subsequent period, to awaken the suspicion of General Wayne, who took measures to intercept the correspondence of General Wilkinson with the Spanish Government, which were not attended with success, Collins, the co-agent with Owens, first attempted to fit out a small vessel in the port of New Orleans, in order to proceed to some port in the Atlantic States; but she was destroyed by the hurricane of the month of August of 1794. He then fitted out a small vessel in the Bayou St. John, and shipped in her at least eleven thousand dollars, which he took round to Charleston. This shipment was made under such peculiar circumstances that it became known to many, and the destination of it was afterwards fully disclosed to me by the officers of the Spanish Government, by Collins, and by General Wilkinson himself, who complained that Collins instead of sending him the money on his arrival had employed it in some wild speculations to the West Indies, by which he had lost a considerable sum, and that in consequence of the mismanagement of his agents he had derived but little advantage from the money paid on his account by the Government. Mr. Power was a Spanish subject, resident in Louisiana, till the object of his visits to the Western country became known to me in 1796, when he embarked on board the brig Gayoso, at New Orleans for iana, dated the 7th or 8th March, 1796, advising that a sum of money had been sent to Don Thomas Portell, commandant of New Madrid, to be delivered to his order. This money Mr. Power delivered to Mr. Nolan, by Wilkinson's directions. What concerned Mr. Nolan's agency in this business I learned from himself, when he afterwards visited New Orleans. In 1797, Power was intrusted with another mission to Kentucky, and had directions to propose certain plans to effect the separation of the Western country from the United States. These plans were proposed and rejected, as he often solemnly assured me, through the means of a Mr. George Nicholas, to whom among others they were communicated, who spurned the idea of receiving foreign money. Power then proceeded to Detroit to see General Wilkinson, and was sent back by him under guard to New Madrid, from whence he returned to New Orleans. Power's secret instructions were known to me afterwards, and I am enabled to state that the plan contemplated entirely failed. At the period spoken of, and for some time afterwards, I was resident in the Spanish territory, subject to the Spanish laws, without an expectation of becoming a citizen of the United States. My obligations were then to conceal, and not to communicate to the Government of the United States the projects and enterprises which I have mentioned of General Wilkinson and the Spanish Government. In the month of October, of 1798, I visited General Wilkinson by his particular request at his camp at Loftus' Heights, where he had shortly before arrived. The General had heard of remarks made by me on the subject of his pension, which had rendered him uneasy, and he was desirous of making some arrangements with me on the subject. I passed three days and nights in the General's tent. The chief subjects of our conversation were, the views and enterprises of the Spanish Government in relation to the United States, and speculations as to the result of political affairs. In the course of our conversation, he stated that there was still a balance of ten thousand dollars due him by the Spanish Government, for which he would gladly take in exchange Governor Gayoso's plantation near the Natchez, who might reimburse himself from the treasury at New Orleans. I asked the General whether this sum was due on the old business of the pension. He replied that it was, and intimated a wish that I should propose to Governor Gayoso a transfer of his plantation for the money due him from the Spanish treasury. The whole affair had always been odious to me, and I declined any agency in it. I acknowledged to him that I had often spoken freely and publicly of his Spanish pension, but told him I had communicated nothing to his Government on the subject. I advised him to drop his Spanish connection. He justified it heretofore from the peculiar situation of Kentucky; the disadvantages the country labored under at the period when he formed his connection with the Spaniards, H. OF R.] ABRIDGMENT OF THE General Wilkinson. the doubtful and distracted state of the Union at that time, which he represented as bound together by nothing better than a rope of sand. And he assured me solemnly that he had terminated his connections with the Spanish Government, and that they never should be renewed. I gave the General to understand that as the affair stood, I should not in future say any thing about it. From that period until the present I have heard one report only of the former connection being renewed, and that was in 1804, shortly after the General's departure from New Or [JANUARY, 1808. after the word "Resolved," and inserting the inquire into the conduct of Brigadier General James The SPEAKER declared the amendment to be a substitute, and of course not in order. opinion that the gentleman from Kentucky Mr. RANDOLPH said he was decidedly of ought to have an opportunity of taking the sense of the House on his motion: he therefore withdrew the resolution under considerstion: when Mr. ROWAN moved the resolution as above stated. leans. I had been absent for two or three months, and returned to the city not long after General Wilkinson sailed from it. I was informed by the late Mayor, that reports had reached the ears of the Governor, of a sum of ten thousand dollars having been received by the General of the Spanish Government, while he was one of the Commissioners for taking possession of Louisiana. He wished me to inquire into the truth of them, which I agreed to do, on condition that I might be permitted to communicate the suspicion to the General, if the fact alleged against him could not be better verified. This was assented to. I made this inquiry, and satisfied myself by an inspection of the treasury-book for 1804, that the ten thousand dollars had not been paid. I then communicated the circumstance to a friend of the General, (Mr. Evan Jones,) with a request that he would inform him of it. The report was revived at the last session of Congress, by a letter from Colonel Ferdinand Claiborne, of Natchez, to the Delegate of the Mississippi Territory. A member of the House in-siderable; but the impressions which that or formed me that the money in question was acknowledged by General Smith to have been received at the time mentioned, but that it was in payment for tobacco. I knew that no tobacco had been delivered, and waited on General Smith for information as to the receipt of the money, who disavowed all knowledge of it; and I took the opportunity of assuring him, and as many others as mentioned the subject, that I believed it to be false, and gave them my reasons for the opinion. This summary necessarily omits many details tending to corroborate and illustrate the facts and opinions I have stated. No allusion has been had to the public explanations of the transaction referred to, made by General Wilkinson and his friends. So far as they are resolved into commercial enterprises and speculations, I had the best opportunity of being acquainted with them, as I was, during the time referred to, the agent of the house who were consignees of the General at New Orleans, and who had an interest in his shipments, and whose books are in my possession. DANIEL CLARK. WASHINGTON CITY, Jan. 11, 1808. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, to wit: January 11, 1808. Personally appeared before me, William Crancn, chief judge of the circuit court of the District of Columbia, Daniel Clark, Esq., who being solemnly sworn on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, doth depose and say, that the foregoing statement made by him, under the order of the House of Representatives, so far as regards matters of his own knowledge, is true, and so far as regards the matters whereof he was informed by others, he believes to be true. W. CRANCHI. Mr. ROWAN moved to amend the resolution under consideration by striking out all that part Mr. BACON said, notwithstanding the evidence which had just been read, he would give House to act in any manner on this subject, the reasons why he could not yet vote for this It was not to be concealed that the impressions more especially as proposed by this resolution. made upon his mind by the statement of the gentleman from New Orleans were very con any other statement were calculated to make, it was their duty to do in relation to it. He were very different from the question of what hoped that they would not be so much impressed by it (for it contained a great deal he must confess) as to suffer it to impel them into did not mean to express a definite sentiment a path wide of their constitutional limits. He volved. as to the guilt or innocence of the officer in He would not, under the privilege of his sest, Wilkinson to the world, nor on the other, de on the one hand blazon the merits of General clare that he had sufficient evidence of his guilt. He would leave it to the unbiased decision of the proper tribunal. now repeat it, that it was not within their Mr. B. observed the other day, and would power to adopt the resolution then under consideration, or that now offered by the gentle man from Kentucky. He then and now con ceived that the offence with which General Wilkinson was charged, might be cognizable by Executive, from his being a military officer. more than one department-certainly by the He could say nothing about the inquiry now instituted one way or the other; for if the constitution did not authorize them to complete an inquiry, they had no right to interfere with it being the exclusive province of the Executive. It struck him further, that if the facts in this statement should be proven on a full examination to be true, (and he did not call its correctness in other people,) he could not see why it was not question, for he had heard the same things from a case cognizable by a judicial tribunal. The constitution expressly forbade any person holding an office under the United States to take a pension or donation from a foreign power. The act of receiving money from a foreign power, therefore the charge made against General Wilkinson-was a crime against the supreme law of the land, and cognizable by the judicial authority. If, therefore, we could, as proposed, instruct, request, or in any manner interfere with the Executive with respect to that portion of the inquiry which appertains peculiarly to the Executive, as the only power competent to remove this officer, why may we not in the same manner interfere with the jurisdiction or cognizance of the Supreme Court? He could see no difference; with equal justice they could interfere with one as with the other. [H. OF R. judicial tribunal had all the power that this House could exercise in any criminal case, and more than they had in this, he should vote against every resolution going to express a conviction that this House had any power or right whatever to act on a subject solely within the constitutional right of the Executive or Judiciary. He had before observed, that he would not express an opinion; but he would say that an inquiry ought to be had; it will, it must be had, and it should be a full and impartial inquiry. If the inquiry which had been instituted were but the semblance of an inquiry, for one it would not satisfy him, or the people, or the nation; it ought not to satisfy them. Gentlemen had said that a military court of inquiry would not be competent. Mr. B. did not know what might be their particular power as to sending for persons; but if that court had not sufficient power, it was in the power of the House to clothe them with it. He thought they might, though he would not say that they ought to do this. As a court of inquiry might have been, or could be, clothed with this power; and, adverting to Gentlemen who were in favor of an inquiry what he had before said, that it was a case cogin this form, could not have considered the sub-nizable by a judicial tribunal; and if so, that a ject so maturely as they ought. This was a Government of distributive powers. One class had been delegated to the Representative body, one to the Executive, and another to the Judiciary. If they once began each to invade the other's jurisdiction, the distributive system was destroyed. It has been said that we are the Representatives of the people; that it is our duty to see that the Republic take no harm. This expression was calculated perhaps to captivate the public ear, and acquire popularity, as well as to captivate the House. But whatever they might think of what ought to have been provided, they ought to consider what was. I do not think, because we may on this, or any other occasion, suppose that we could do a great deal of good, we ought to take any steps towards effecting an object until we contemplate our particular powers in relation to that object. It has been said that this House is the grand inquest of the nation. I do not know what is meant by this expression; but if I understand the meaning of the term, it conveys the same meaning as grand jury. Now, Mr. B. said, he could not agree to any position that this House was legitimately, on general subjects, the grand inquest of the nation. With respect to impeachments, and in that case alone, were they the grand jury, for then the two Houses acted in a judicial capacity-this House being the grand inquest to inquire, and the Senate being the petit jury to judge of their presentment. Now, if this House were the grand inquest to inquire into this, or a similar case, in which an inquiry might seem to be conducive to the interest of the nation, and were to present a result, where was the jury to judge of the truth of their verdict? Was it to be tried by the Senate? That was not pretended to be the course. On all these accounts, therefore, whatever was the impression which the paper this morning laid on the table might be calculated to produce on their minds, he thought they ought sedulously to attend to the constitutional limits of their duty, and not conclude, merely because they might in any case act beneficially, that they had the power to act in such case. Mr. RANDOLPH said, if the gentleman who had just sat down had not given his hasty impressions, but left his good understanding free to operate, his objections to the resolution would have vanished. The great mistake made by every gentleman who opposed this measure on constitutional grounds, was this: that they looked upon an inquiry made by this House, through the organ of one of its committees, as leading to the punishment of the individual implicated, and that where this House was not competent to inflict punishment, it was incompetent to make inquiry; this was the great stumbling-block, which had impeded their apprehension. But he would ask the gentleman from Massachusetts whether this House was not competent to make an inquiry for its own legislative guidance? Was it not competent, as well in its capacity of supervisor of the public peace, as to obtain a guide for its own actions, to inquire into this matter? Was not the House clothed with the power of disbanding the army? Now, suppose a committee of the House, upon inquiry, were to report, perhaps, that not only the Commander-in-chief, but the whole mass of the army, were tainted with foreign corruption, or were abettors of domestic treason, could any man assign to himself a stronger reason than this for breaking an army on the spot? Did not the gentleman know, or rather did he not feel, that this House had the right of refusing the supplies necessary for the army? And could a stronger reason be given for a refusal to pass the military appropriation bill than that they were nourishing an institution which threatened our existence as a free and happy people? Let me, if it is in order, ask the gentleman from Massachusetts to turn his attention to the proceeding of which we have official notice in an H. OF R.] General Wilkinson. [JANUARY, 1808. other branch of the National Legislature, an | the instrumentality of the Army of the United inquiry into the conduct of one of its own mem- States, to dismember the Union; and he had no bers. Did they not all know that that man's hesitation in saying-and it had been the opin offence was punishable by a civil tribunal? But ion of a large majority, if not of every one of the inquiry was not there made with a view to those of whom he had been a colleague-that a trial, not to usurp the powers of the judiciary, the Army of the United States was tainted with but to direct that body in the exercise of its that disease; and that, so far from the Army of acknowledged legislative functions. Inasmuch the United States having the credit of suppressas they possessed the power to expel one of their ing that project, the moment it was found that own members, to amputate the diseased limb, the courage of that Army had failed, the project they possessed the power, and exercised it, to was abandoned by those who had undertaken it, make an inquiry. Now, the gentleman from because the agency of the army was the whole Kentucky had just as much right to institute an pivot on which that plot had turned! This was inquiry which might lead to the exercise of the in evidence before the grand jury, who had the legislative powers of this House, which might subject in cognizance last spring. He said that cause the disbanding of the present army, the these conspirators were caressed at the different erection of another, or the refusal of supplies, posts of the United States, in their way down as to institute an inquiry into the conduct of a the river, and by officers of no small rank, that member with a view to his expulsion, or of an they received arms from them, and the princi Executive officer, with a view to impeach him pal part of the arms these men had with them before the Senate. was taken from the public stores; and under a knowledge of these circumstances, was he not justified in the belief that the whole Army of the United States was connected in the project? He did not mean every individual, for there were some who could not be trusted, and some who were at posts too far distant to be reached. That those who were confidants of the Commander-in-chief were interested in the conspir acy, no man who knew any thing of the circumstances could doubt. He, therefore, thought that the resolution moved by the gentleman from Kentucky was every way reasonable. Indeed, he did not know whether the resolution should not be so varied as to embrace not only a charge of that nature, but all whatsoever. Mr. R. therefore presumed that any inquiry which this House might choose to make into the conduct of any officer, civil or military, was not an interference with the powers of any of the co-ordinate branches of Government; they were left free to move in their own orbits. If a crime had been committed against the statute law of the United States by such officer, the judiciary were as free to punish it as it was free to punish a member of this House, into whose conduct, upon suspicion of treason or misdemeanor, inquiry had been made, with a view to his expulsion. The Executive likewise was left free to exercise his discretion; he was left free to dismiss this officer, to inquire into his conduct himself, either with his own eyes or ears, or by a military court; to applaud, or censure. from the President of the United States, "transmitting further information touching an illegal combination," &c., printed by order of the House, and which he now held in his hand. In this Message is contained the following affidavit: Before he sat down, he should have it in his power to give to the House something certainly Did they take possession of the body of this very much resembling evidence in support of officer by an inquiry into his conduct? Did they the justice of his suspicions on this subject. On interfere with the court of inquiry now on foot, the 26th of January last, the House would perbut totally incompetent to the object? Gentle-ceive by the Journals, a Message was received men, indeed, had said, that if that court did not possess the power of compelling the attendance of witnesses, we might clothe it with that power. In expressing this opinion, the gentleman from Massachusetts had not been more considerate than in expressing his first opinion. Could any one conceive a more dreadful or terrible in"I, James Wilkinson, Brigadier General and Comstrument of persecution than a military court, mander-in-chief of the Army of the United States, to clothed with the power to coerce the evidence, warrant the arrest of Samuel Swartwout, James Alexand the production of papers of private citizens? ander, Esq., and Peter V. Ogden, on a charge of treaClothe them with this power, and there is not son, misprision of treason, or such other offence against a man in the United States who may not be the Government and laws of the United States, as the compelled to go, at whatsoever season, to the following facts may legally charge them with, on the remotest garrison, on whatsoever trifling occahonor of a soldier, and on the Holy Evangelists of Alsion, at the will of a court martial, or a court mighty God, do declare and swear, that in the begin of inquiry, leading to the establishment of aning of the month of October last, when in command court martial. In the course of the present year, Mr. R. said it had been his lot to receive, from no dubious or suspicious source, information touching, not, to be sure, the immediate subject on which an inquiry had been moved by the gentleman from Kentucky, but one intimately and closely connected with it. He meant the project, through at Natchitoches, a stranger was introduced to me by few minutes after the Colonel retired from the room, Colonel Cushing, by the name of Swartwout, who, a slipped into my hand a letter of formal introduction from Colonel Burr, of which the following is a correct copy: “PHILADELPHIA, 25th July, 1806. ""DEAR SIR: Mr. Swartwout, the brother of Colonel S., of New York, being on his way down the Missis sippi, and presuming that he may pass you at some post on the river, has requested of me a letter of introduction, which I give with pleasure, as he is a most amiable young man, and highly respectable from his character and connections. I pray you to afford him any friendly offices which his situation may require, and beg you to pardon the trouble which this may give you. "With entire respect, your friend and obedient servant, 666 66 A. BURR. 'His Exc'y GEN. WILKINSON.' Together with a packet, which he informed me he was charged by the same person to deliver me in private. This packet contained a letter in cipher from Colonel Burr, of which the following is, substantially, as fair an interpretation as I have heretofore been able to make, the original of which I hold in my possession." Mr. RANDOLPH said he should certainly have abstained from noticing the circumstance he was about to mention, and which he had believed to be of general notoriety, had it not been that within a very few days past, a gentleman, (with whom Mr. R. was in habits of intimacy, and whose means of information were as good as those of any member of the House,) to his utter surprise, informed Mr. R. that he was totally ignorant of the fact. [H. OF R. pretation upon his oath which a party who had never suffered the papers to go out of his hand could make] is brought to the point so long desired." The real interpretation is, "the project, my dear friend, is brought to the point so long desired." Mr. R. said, exclusive of other and direct evidence, tending to show the dependence which these conspirators put on the army of the United States, and that it was eventually their sole hope and support, and that the moment they found they were to be deprived of it they changed their purpose-exclusive of this, and that the conspirators were received at Massac and the other forts below, and of their there getting arms and stores, there was something in this suppression of words in the letter that spoke to his mind more forcibly than volumes of evidence, the implication of a man who, had he been innocent, would have given all the evidence in any letter he professed to interpret. This suppression did certainly convey to the mind of Mr. R. an impression, which he had never attempted to conceal, of the guilt not only of the principal but of many of the inferior officers of the Army. But guilt is always short-sighted and infatuated. Not content with that dubious sort of faith which it might sometimes acquire when not brought to the trial, it had attempted not only to occupy the middle ground of doubt and suspicion, but to clothe itself with the reputation of the fairest character in the country, and in so doing, had torn the last shred of concealment from its own deformity. It stood now exposed to the whole people of the United States; and he left the House to say whether they would shut their eyes and ears, as they had been almost invited to do, against conviction. Mr. SMILIE wished to know of the gentleman from Virginia whether there was not a motion before the grand jury to find a bill against General Wilkinson? Mr. R. said he held in his hand an actual interpretation of this ciphered letter, which was made in the grand-jury room at Richmond, by three members of that body, for their use, and in their presence; and it was necessary here to state, that so extremely delicate was General Wilkinson, that he refused to leave the papers in possession of the grand jury: whenever the jury met, they were put into their hands, and whenever they rose, the witness was called up, and received them back again. Here was a copy-rather a different one from that which, "On the honor of a soldier, and on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God," was as fair an interpretation as General Wilkinson was able to make. A comparison of the two would throw a little light on the subject. In the printed copy of the last session might be read, "I (Aaron Burr) have actually commenced the enterprisedetachments from different points," &c. In the original the words had been scratched out with a knife, so as to cut the paper-"I have actually commenced"-not the enterprise, but "the Eastern detachments." Now mark; by changing the word Eastern into enterprise, and moving the full stop so as to separate Eastern from its substantive detachments, the important fact was lost, that, as there were Eastern detachments under Colonel Burr, there must have been Western detachments under somebody else! Now, with a dictionary in his hand, could any man change "Eastern" into "enterprise," and move the full stop, under an exertion of the best of his ability? Again: the printed copy says, "every thing internal and external favors views;" the original has it "favors our views." The word "our" perhaps could not be found in any English dictionary! The printed version says again, "The project [this is the best inter-guilt of the party. Mr. RANDOLPH said he had introduced this subject in order to suggest to the gentleman from Kentucky the propriety of modifying or amending his resolution. He would now give the information required by the gentleman from Pennsylvania, and hoped he should not be considered as intruding on the time of the House in so doing. There was before the grand jury a motion to present General Wilkinson, for misprision of treason. This motion was overruled upon this ground: that the treasonable (overt) act having been alleged to be committed in the State of Ohio, and General Wilkinson's letter to the President of the United States having been dated, although but a short time, prior to that act, this person had the benefit of what lawyers would call a legal exception, or a fraud. But, said Mr. R., I will inform the gentleman, that ĺ did not hear a single member of the grand jury express any other opinion than that which I myself expressed of the moral (not of the legal) |