To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:I now render to Congress the account of the fund established for defraying the contingent expenses of Government for the year 1807. Of the sum of $18,012 50, which remained unexpended at the close of the year 1806, $8,731 11 have been placed in the hands of the Attorney-General of the United States, to enable him to defray sundry expenses incident to the prosecution of Aaron Burr and his accomplices, for treasons and misdemeanors alleged to have been committed by them. And the unexpended balance of $9,275 39 is now carried, according to law, to the credit of the surplus fund.TH. JEFFERSON.January 8, 1808.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I now render to Congress the account of the fund established for defraying the contingent expenses of Government for the year 1807. Of the sum of $18,012 50, which remained unexpended at the close of the year 1806, $8,731 11 have been placed in the hands of the Attorney-General of the United States, to enable him to defray sundry expenses incident to the prosecution of Aaron Burr and his accomplices, for treasons and misdemeanors alleged to have been committed by them. And the unexpended balance of $9,275 39 is now carried, according to law, to the credit of the surplus fund.
TH. JEFFERSON.
January 8, 1808.
The Message and papers therein referred to were read.
Mr.Franklin, from the State of North Carolina, attended.
ThePresidentcommunicated an address, signed Thomas Paine, stating his claim on the United States for services rendered during the Revolutionary war, and his title to remuneration. The address was read, and is as follows:
New York,January 21, 1808.To the honorable the Senate of the United States:The purport of this address is to state a claim I feel myself entitled to make on the United States, leaving it to their Representatives in Congress to decide on its worth and its merits. The case is as follows:Towards the latter end of the year 1780, the continental money had become so depreciated (a paper dollar not being more than a cent) that it seemed next to impossible to continue the war.As the United States were then in alliance with France, it became necessary to make France acquainted with our real situation. I therefore drew up a letter to Count de Vergennes, stating undisguisedly the true case, and concluding with the request whether France could not, either as a subsidy or a loan, supply the United States with a million sterling, and continue that supply, annually, during the war.I showed the letter to Mr. Marbois, Secretary to the French Minister. His remark upon it was, that a million sent out of the nation exhausted it more than ten millions spent in it. I then showed it to Mr. Ralph Izard, member of Congress from South Carolina. He borrowed the letter of me, and said, “We will endeavor to do something about it in Congress.”Accordingly, Congress appointed Colonel John Laurens, then aid to General Washington, to go to France and make a representation of our situation, for the purpose of obtaining assistance. Colonel Laurens wished to decline the mission, and that Congress would appoint Colonel Hamilton; which Congress did not choose to do.Colonel Laurens then came to state the case to me. He said he was enough acquainted with the military difficulties of the Army, but that he was not enough acquainted with political affairs, nor with the resources of the country, to undertake the mission; “but,” said he, “if you will go with me, I will accept it;” which I agreed to do, and did do.We sailed from Boston in the Alliance frigate, Captain Barry, the beginning of February, 1781, and arrived at L’Orient the beginning of March.The aid obtained from France was six millions of livres as a present, and ten millions as a loan, borrowed in Holland, on the security of France.We sailed from Brest in the French Resoulue frigate the first of June, and arrived at Boston on the 25th of August, bringing with us two millions and a half of livres, in silver, and convoying a ship and a brig laden with clothing and military stores. The money was transported with sixteen ox teams to the National Bank at Philadelphia, which enabled the army to move to Yorktown to attack, in conjunction with the French army under Rochambeau, the British army under Cornwallis. As I never had a cent for this service, I feel myself entitled, as the country is now in a state of prosperity, to state the case to Congress.As to my political works, beginning with the pamphletCommon Sense, published the beginning of January, 1776, which awakened America to a declaration of independence, as the President and Vice President both know, as they were works done from principle, I cannot dishonor that principle by asking any reward for them. The country has been benefited by them, and I make myself happy in the knowledge of it It is, however, proper for me to add, that the mere independence of America, were it to have been followed by a system of government modelled after the corrupt system of the English Government, it would not have interested me with the unabated ardor it did. It was to bring forward and establish the representative system of government, as the work itself will show, that was the leading principle with me in writing that work, and all my other works, during the progress of the Revolution. And I followed the same principle in writing theRights of Man, in England.There is a resolve of the old Congress, while they sat at New York, of a grant of three thousand dollars to me. The resolve is put in handsome language, but it has relation to a matter which it does not express. Elbridge Gerry was chairman of the committee who brought in the resolve. If Congress should think proper to refer this memorial to a committee, I will inform that committee of the particulars of it. I have also to state to Congress, that the authority of the old Congress was become so reduced towards the latter end of the war as to be unable to hold the States together. Congress could do no more than recommend, of which the States frequently took no notice; and when they did, it was never uniformly.After the failure of the five-per-cent duty, recommended by Congress, to pay the interest of a loan to be borrowed in Holland, I wrote to Chancellor Livingston, then Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Robert Morris, Minister of Finance, and proposed a method for getting over the whole difficulty at once; which was, by adding a Continental Legislature to Congress, who should be empowered to-make laws for the Union, instead of recommending them; so the method proposed met with their full approbation. I held myself in reserve, to take the subject up whenever a direct occasion occurred.In a conversation afterwards with Governor Clinton, of New York, now Vice President, it was judged that, for the purpose of my going fully into the subject, and to prevent any misconstruction of my motive or object, it would be best that I received nothing from Congress, but leave it to the States, individually, to make me what acknowledgment they pleased.The State of New York made me a present of a farm, which, since my return to America, I have found it necessary to sell; and the State of Pennsylvania voted me five hundred pounds, their currency. But none of the States to the east of New York, or the south of Philadelphia, ever made me the least acknowledgment. They had received benefits from me, which they accepted, and there the matter ended. This story will not tell well in history. All the civilized world know I have been of great service to the United States, and have generously given away talent that would have made me a fortune.I much question if an instance is to be found in ancient or modern times of a man who had no personal interest in the cause he took up—that of independence and the establishment of a representative system of government, and who sought neither place nor office after it was established—that persevered in the same undeviating principles as I have done, for more than thirty years, and that in spite of difficulties, dangers, and inconveniences, of which I have had my share.THOMAS PAINE.
New York,January 21, 1808.
To the honorable the Senate of the United States:
The purport of this address is to state a claim I feel myself entitled to make on the United States, leaving it to their Representatives in Congress to decide on its worth and its merits. The case is as follows:
Towards the latter end of the year 1780, the continental money had become so depreciated (a paper dollar not being more than a cent) that it seemed next to impossible to continue the war.
As the United States were then in alliance with France, it became necessary to make France acquainted with our real situation. I therefore drew up a letter to Count de Vergennes, stating undisguisedly the true case, and concluding with the request whether France could not, either as a subsidy or a loan, supply the United States with a million sterling, and continue that supply, annually, during the war.
I showed the letter to Mr. Marbois, Secretary to the French Minister. His remark upon it was, that a million sent out of the nation exhausted it more than ten millions spent in it. I then showed it to Mr. Ralph Izard, member of Congress from South Carolina. He borrowed the letter of me, and said, “We will endeavor to do something about it in Congress.”
Accordingly, Congress appointed Colonel John Laurens, then aid to General Washington, to go to France and make a representation of our situation, for the purpose of obtaining assistance. Colonel Laurens wished to decline the mission, and that Congress would appoint Colonel Hamilton; which Congress did not choose to do.
Colonel Laurens then came to state the case to me. He said he was enough acquainted with the military difficulties of the Army, but that he was not enough acquainted with political affairs, nor with the resources of the country, to undertake the mission; “but,” said he, “if you will go with me, I will accept it;” which I agreed to do, and did do.
We sailed from Boston in the Alliance frigate, Captain Barry, the beginning of February, 1781, and arrived at L’Orient the beginning of March.
The aid obtained from France was six millions of livres as a present, and ten millions as a loan, borrowed in Holland, on the security of France.
We sailed from Brest in the French Resoulue frigate the first of June, and arrived at Boston on the 25th of August, bringing with us two millions and a half of livres, in silver, and convoying a ship and a brig laden with clothing and military stores. The money was transported with sixteen ox teams to the National Bank at Philadelphia, which enabled the army to move to Yorktown to attack, in conjunction with the French army under Rochambeau, the British army under Cornwallis. As I never had a cent for this service, I feel myself entitled, as the country is now in a state of prosperity, to state the case to Congress.
As to my political works, beginning with the pamphletCommon Sense, published the beginning of January, 1776, which awakened America to a declaration of independence, as the President and Vice President both know, as they were works done from principle, I cannot dishonor that principle by asking any reward for them. The country has been benefited by them, and I make myself happy in the knowledge of it It is, however, proper for me to add, that the mere independence of America, were it to have been followed by a system of government modelled after the corrupt system of the English Government, it would not have interested me with the unabated ardor it did. It was to bring forward and establish the representative system of government, as the work itself will show, that was the leading principle with me in writing that work, and all my other works, during the progress of the Revolution. And I followed the same principle in writing theRights of Man, in England.
There is a resolve of the old Congress, while they sat at New York, of a grant of three thousand dollars to me. The resolve is put in handsome language, but it has relation to a matter which it does not express. Elbridge Gerry was chairman of the committee who brought in the resolve. If Congress should think proper to refer this memorial to a committee, I will inform that committee of the particulars of it. I have also to state to Congress, that the authority of the old Congress was become so reduced towards the latter end of the war as to be unable to hold the States together. Congress could do no more than recommend, of which the States frequently took no notice; and when they did, it was never uniformly.
After the failure of the five-per-cent duty, recommended by Congress, to pay the interest of a loan to be borrowed in Holland, I wrote to Chancellor Livingston, then Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Robert Morris, Minister of Finance, and proposed a method for getting over the whole difficulty at once; which was, by adding a Continental Legislature to Congress, who should be empowered to-make laws for the Union, instead of recommending them; so the method proposed met with their full approbation. I held myself in reserve, to take the subject up whenever a direct occasion occurred.
In a conversation afterwards with Governor Clinton, of New York, now Vice President, it was judged that, for the purpose of my going fully into the subject, and to prevent any misconstruction of my motive or object, it would be best that I received nothing from Congress, but leave it to the States, individually, to make me what acknowledgment they pleased.
The State of New York made me a present of a farm, which, since my return to America, I have found it necessary to sell; and the State of Pennsylvania voted me five hundred pounds, their currency. But none of the States to the east of New York, or the south of Philadelphia, ever made me the least acknowledgment. They had received benefits from me, which they accepted, and there the matter ended. This story will not tell well in history. All the civilized world know I have been of great service to the United States, and have generously given away talent that would have made me a fortune.
I much question if an instance is to be found in ancient or modern times of a man who had no personal interest in the cause he took up—that of independence and the establishment of a representative system of government, and who sought neither place nor office after it was established—that persevered in the same undeviating principles as I have done, for more than thirty years, and that in spite of difficulties, dangers, and inconveniences, of which I have had my share.
THOMAS PAINE.
Mr.Maclay, agreeably to instructions from the Legislature of the State of Pennsylvania to their Senators in Congress, submitted the following resolution:
Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two-thirds of both Houses concurring, That the first section of the third article of the Constitution of the United States be so altered and amended “that the judges of the courts thereof shall hold their offices for a term of years; that they shall be removed by the President of the United States on the address of the majority of the members present, of the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled; and that on all trials of impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors, a majority of the Senate shall be competent to conviction.”
Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two-thirds of both Houses concurring, That the first section of the third article of the Constitution of the United States be so altered and amended “that the judges of the courts thereof shall hold their offices for a term of years; that they shall be removed by the President of the United States on the address of the majority of the members present, of the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled; and that on all trials of impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors, a majority of the Senate shall be competent to conviction.”
And the resolution was read, and referred to Mr.Tiffinand others, the committee appointed the 25th of January last, on this subject, to consider and report thereon.
Mr.White.—Mr. President: It is with much pain and regret, sir, that I rise to announce to the Senate the irreparable loss our country has sustained in the death of one of her worthiest citizens and most distinguished patriots. Time has measured and told the days of another venerable sage of the Revolution.John Dickinson, the illustrious cotemporary and friend of Washington and Franklin, is now no more—his head and his heart devoted to the service and love of his country, till his locks were bleached by the frosts of more than seventy winters, have now descended in silence to the grave. No humble eulogy of mine shall attempt to approachhis exalted merit. The happiness of his fellow-citizens was his only aim, and upon the grateful hearts of his countrymen is indelibly engraven the dearest memento of his wisdom and his worth. Those who shared his personal acquaintance will never forget his private virtues—volumes from his pen, that do honor to the age, that will be read and admired as long as the love of science and freedom shall be cherished, record his inflexible patriotism; and the liberties of this country, which he contributed so essentially in establishing, will I hope long, very long indeed, sir, continue to be the proud and unshaken monument of his fame. The feelings of every gentleman of this honorable body will I am sure be in unison on the motion I am about to propose; it is an humble tribute of respect to the memory of the deceased, in the form of the following resolution:
Resolved, unanimously, That the Senate is penetrated with the full sense of the merit and patriotism of the lateJohn Dickinson, Esq., deceased, and that the members thereof do wear crape on the left arm for one month, in testimony of the national gratitude and reverence towards the memory of that illustrious patriot.
Resolved, unanimously, That the Senate is penetrated with the full sense of the merit and patriotism of the lateJohn Dickinson, Esq., deceased, and that the members thereof do wear crape on the left arm for one month, in testimony of the national gratitude and reverence towards the memory of that illustrious patriot.
This resolution was immediately adopted.
The following Message was received from thePresident of the United States:
To the Senate of the United States:In compliance with a resolution of the Senate, of November 30, 1807, I now transmit a report of the Secretary of State on the subject of impressments, as requested in that resolution. The great volume of the documents, and the time necessary for the investigation, will explain to the Senate the causes of the delay which has intervened.TH. JEFFERSON.March 2, 1808.
To the Senate of the United States:
In compliance with a resolution of the Senate, of November 30, 1807, I now transmit a report of the Secretary of State on the subject of impressments, as requested in that resolution. The great volume of the documents, and the time necessary for the investigation, will explain to the Senate the causes of the delay which has intervened.
TH. JEFFERSON.
March 2, 1808.
Department of State,Feb. 29, 1808.Agreeably to a resolution of the Senate of the 30th November last, the Secretary of State has the honor to submit to the President, for the information of the Senate, the statements herewith enclosed, from No. 1 to 18, inclusive.No. 1. A statement of impressments from American vessels into the British service, since the last report made from this department on the 5th March, 1806, founded upon documents transmitted in the first instance to this office.Those from No. 2 to 13 inclusive, being a series of returns and abstracts received from General Lyman, the agent of the United States at London, giving an account of the applications made by him in relation to seamen, from 1st April, 1806, to 30th June, 1807, and of the result of those applications, and exhibiting other particulars required by the resolution.Not having received any returns from the West Indies since the date of the last report to the House of Representatives on this subject, nor from General Lyman for the quarter ending on the 1st January last, the Secretary of State has not the means at present of giving, with any degree of precision, the information asked for in the last clause of the resolution. From the returns in the office it would appear that four thousand two hundred and twenty-eight American seamen had been impressed into the British service since the commencement of the war, and that nine hundred and thirty-six of this number had been discharged, leaving in that service three thousand two hundred and ninety-two. General Lyman, in a letter dated on the 21st October, 1807, estimates the American seamen now detained in the British service at a number greatly beyond what is here stated; but he does not give the data on which his estimate is made.All which is respectfully submitted.JAMES MADISON.ThePresidentof the United States.
Department of State,Feb. 29, 1808.
Agreeably to a resolution of the Senate of the 30th November last, the Secretary of State has the honor to submit to the President, for the information of the Senate, the statements herewith enclosed, from No. 1 to 18, inclusive.
No. 1. A statement of impressments from American vessels into the British service, since the last report made from this department on the 5th March, 1806, founded upon documents transmitted in the first instance to this office.
Those from No. 2 to 13 inclusive, being a series of returns and abstracts received from General Lyman, the agent of the United States at London, giving an account of the applications made by him in relation to seamen, from 1st April, 1806, to 30th June, 1807, and of the result of those applications, and exhibiting other particulars required by the resolution.
Not having received any returns from the West Indies since the date of the last report to the House of Representatives on this subject, nor from General Lyman for the quarter ending on the 1st January last, the Secretary of State has not the means at present of giving, with any degree of precision, the information asked for in the last clause of the resolution. From the returns in the office it would appear that four thousand two hundred and twenty-eight American seamen had been impressed into the British service since the commencement of the war, and that nine hundred and thirty-six of this number had been discharged, leaving in that service three thousand two hundred and ninety-two. General Lyman, in a letter dated on the 21st October, 1807, estimates the American seamen now detained in the British service at a number greatly beyond what is here stated; but he does not give the data on which his estimate is made.
All which is respectfully submitted.
JAMES MADISON.
ThePresidentof the United States.
The Message and papers were read, and ordered to lie for consideration.
This being the day assigned for hearing counsel, thePresidentsaid the Senate were ready to hear the counsel ofJohn Smith, in any thing they had to offer why the resolution (for expelling him) should not be adopted.
Mr.Adamssubmitted it to the Senate, whether it was not most proper that the counsel should be permitted to show cause why the report should not be adopted. He remarked that in like cases the whole report, comprising the grounds on which the final resolution was founded, had been the subject of discussion, and of approbation or rejection. He considered this the correct course, that the world and posterity might know the grounds on which the Senate acted.
A short conversation ensued on this suggestion of Mr.Adams, in which the principles of the report were incidentally noticed. In reply to Mr.Adams’ remarks, it was said that it could not be expected that a deliberative body, however agreed in the guilt or innocence of the accused, would be able to unite in their agreement to a complicated report, embracing a variety of abstract and disputable principles.
Mr.Gilesintimated the idea that this discussion was premature; that, as the Senate had by their vote determined to hear counsel on the report, it was proper that this course should, in the present stage of the business, be pursued. After having heard counsel, it would be for the Senate, as they then should see fit, either to decide on the resolution alone, or on the report connected with it.
This suggestion having been acquiesced in, without any vote,
Mr.Francis S. Key, of counsel for Mr.Smith, asked for subpœnas for Messrs.Davenport,Morrow, andSturges, of the House of Representatives, to attest the credibility of witnesses; and likewise for a subpœna for General Wilkinson.
It was intimated that the usual mode of proceeding in such a case was to request the attendance of the members of the other House.
Mr.Keythen opened the defence by a few very concise preliminary remarks. He observed that the counsel of Mr.Smithfelt highly gratified in appearing before the Senate with a body of testimony sufficiently strong to flatter them with the assurance of a favorable result; that all the apprehensions which had arisen from the distance and the extent of the testimony were almost removed; and that although testimony was still coming in, they were fully satisfied with that they had already received.
He said they would be able to show that the testimony of Elias Glover was not worthy of credit. He admitted that if this testimony were correct,John Smithwas unworthy of his seat; but they would be able entirely to destroy its weight by destroying his credibility. They would, likewise, be able to show that there was nothing else in the other testimony which materially affected the character of the accused. They would also, after this, enter into a consideration of the principles on which a decision in this case ought to be made; and endeavor to show that that decision could only be made according to legal evidence; that the Senate were bound by judicial principles, and that the accused was consequently entitled to the same privileges as he would be in a court of justice.
Mr.Keysaid he should first proceed to offer depositions to discredit Elias Glover. He would show that he had not only made charges, which were contradicted by respectable testimony, but likewise by his own declarations at other times. He would commence with the proof of his general character, and show that it had been such, ever since he entered into life, as to destroy the weight of his testimony; he would show that he had in several instances perjured himself. He would then show his inducements to perjure himself in this case, by establishing the existence of a combination, of which he was the head, to ruin Mr.Smith.
Mr.Keywas about to read sundry depositions taken at Newtown, Connecticut. Previous to this he read the certificates of notice given by Mr.Smithto Mr. Glover, of his purpose to take depositions relative to his character. From these it appeared that Mr.Smithhad, on the 10th of February, notified him of his intention to take depositions at Delhi, New York, on the 15th February, at Newtown, Connecticut, on the 20th, in the Mississippi Territory on the 25th, at Cincinnati the ——
Mr.Crawfordobjected to reading these depositions. He observed that they went seriously to affect the character of Mr. Glover; that the Senate had, in such a case, prescribed that the depositions should only be received in case of reasonable notice having been given to the person whose character it was intended to discredit: that in this case no such reasonable notice had been allowed; that the notice was too short to be of the least use to Mr. Glover.
Mr.Harper, of counsel for Mr.Smith, observed that as much time had been given by Mr.Smithas he could possibly spare. The times fixed for taking depositions at the several places, had been as distant as they could be, consistently with Mr.Smith’s getting the testimony forwarded to the seat of Government by the 1st of March; the period then fixed by the Senate for his hearing.
Mr.S. Smithstated that, although the resolution fixing the 1st of March for a hearing had passed on the 20th of January, the notices of Mr.Smithwere not dated till the 10th of February, at Berrysville, in Virginia, where he had put them into the post office.
A short debate followed, in which the principal circumstances noticed were, that according to Mr.Smith’s affidavit, on which the first postponement had taken place, it was not expected that depositions to discredit Elias Glover’s would be taken at any other place than Cincinnati; that, if these depositions, though informal, were read, they would be taken by the Senate only for what they were worth, and that, if ex parte evidence was received in favor of Mr.Smith, it could not be rejected when against him.
On reading the depositions, seventeen members being a majority, rose in the affirmative.
The counsel then read the depositions of Calvin Chamberlain, Henry Peck, jun., Ely Perry, William Meeker, Daniel Wheeler, John Norfrog, Luther Bulkley, Zalmon Tousy, jun., Cyrus Sprindle, James Nicholls, Solomon Booth, Oliver Tousy, Gideon Fisher, Stephen Beers, jun., N. Hays, Joseph Michin, Solomon M. Sackriden, James Monger, Homer R. Phelps, Joshua H. Brent, Gabriel North, John T. Moore, Philip Gabehart, Cyrenus Foote, Roswell Hodgkiss, Benijah Beardley, E. K. Granger, Henry Tyler, John B. Judson, Samuel Stephen, George Fost, Asa Tyler, Nathan T. Tyler, John S. Gano, Francis Dunlavy, John Sellman, Stephen Macfarland, George Gordon, Edward H. Stall, Thomas N. Still.
These depositions are made by persons residing in the States of Connecticut, New York, and Ohio.
About four o’clock the Senate adjourned.
Mr.Anderson, from the committee to whom was referred the bill making provision for the disposal of the public lands of the United States in the State of Tennessee, reported it with further amendments; which were read for consideration.
The Senate resumed the consideration of the first report of the committee appointed to inquire into the conduct ofJohn Smith, a Senator from the State of Ohio, as an alleged associate of Aaron Burr.
Mr.Smithattended, together with Messrs. Harper and Key, counsel on his behalf.
Mr.Harperread the depositions of Joseph H. Brett, John T. Moore, Gabriel North, Erastus Root, C. Keiser, Isaac G. Burnett, DavidZeigler, John Bradford, Jacob Broadwell, Jos. Van Horne, Samuel Hildige, Geo. Williamson, M. Williams, and William Goforth. Messrs. Van. Rensselaer, Jeremiah Morrow, Tallmadge, Bacon, and Davenport, of the House of Representatives, and Mr. Tiffin, of the Senate, were then examined, and attested to the general respectability of character of several of the witnesses from whom depositions had been received on the part of Mr.Smith.
Mr.Keythen rose to show why the report of the committee should not be adopted, and after taking a legal view of the rules of evidence which should govern the admissibility of evidence in this inquiry, and arguing that the Senate could inquire into nothing which was indictable at common law, he proceeded to the facts of the case, and said:
Having now, sir, stated these objections against the present inquiry, and more particularly and more earnestly against the principles which the honorable committee have recommended to govern it, I gladly proceed to discharge the remaining part of my duty, by submitting a few remarks upon the testimony exhibited upon this occasion. It will be readily admitted that, excepting Elias Glover, no witness deposes directly and positively to the guilt of the honorable member accused. Their testimony is wholly circumstantial, and I hope to be enabled to show, that from no circumstance they state can guilt be fairly inferred. But the chief question to be ascertained, the point on which this inquiry will be found wholly to turn, is the degree of credit which is to be given to the testimony of Elias Glover. I am much gratified, sir, in recollecting the importance attached to the evidence of this witness in the commencement of this proceeding, and the almost universal acknowledgment that Mr. Smith’s fate depended upon the truth or falsehood of his testimony. We are most willing to rest it upon this issue; we could not ask a more favorable one than that which compels every man before he can believe in the guilt of the accused, to the necessity of first believing in the truth of Elias Glover, and this I now proceed to show is impossible.
The first question asked on these occasions, is, “What is the general character of the witness?” We have traced this person, sir, from his first setting out in life, have followed him into every place where he has lived, and put this question to his neighbors. How is it answered? At Newtown, Connecticut, where he first established himself, thirteen deponents declare him unworthy of credit; with some slight difference of expression, this is clearly and positively affirmed by them all. One of them, however, (Mr. Oliver Tousy, I believe,) states that he made particular inquiries of almost all the respectable persons in and about Newtown, and that he inquired of none but respectable persons; that, from the result of these inquiries, he is induced to believe that was a respectable jury taken from Newtown and Elias Glover sworn as a witness before them he would not be believed. It seems, sir, that he soon changed so disagreeable a situation. We next hear of him at Delhi, in Delaware County, New York. From this place, sir, we have produced to you the depositions of twenty-one witnesses, who all concur in a similar opinion of his infamy, using, if possible, still stronger language than the witnesses from Newtown. By what means can a character thus charged be defended? Can it be said that these men are selected, and are his enemies? They swear they are not. That they are not themselves credible? Many of them were, fortunately, known to the honorable members of the other House, who have told you they are respectable. Among them are the chief judge and the associates, and the sheriff of the county in which he practised, of whom one is now a Senator of New York, and two of the others members of Assembly; nor can such testimony be outweighed by that which his father and his uncle have collected in support of his character. There are few men so infamous but that some persons may be always found to declare a good opinion of them, and what sort of persons these are who have said they never heard any thing against the reputation of Elias Glover, it may not be difficult to ascertain. Upon this subject, it is only necessary to call the attention of the Senate to the manner in which those depositions in New York are proved to have been taken by his uncle, David Beers, who is himself one of the deponents. Ezekiel K. Granger states that this man used every expedient to prevent the attendance of Mr. Smith’s attorney; that he refused to examine any witness in his presence, and that nearly half of whom he did procure to depose, are the relations of Glover; a circumstance on which the deponents are entirely silent. In addition to this, he is proved by one of those persons to have altered and misstated his testimony. Surely his character is very far from receiving any support from depositions thus taken. We have also produced a record from Delaware County court, which, though it may not prove him guilty of forgery, yet contains evidence charging him with an act almost equally dishonorable. From this accumulating weight of disgrace, thus increasing with his progress in depravity, he again finds it necessary to escape, and wisely determines to fix upon a still more distant residence. The last two or three years of his life have been spent in the State of Ohio, and, during that period, I shall be able to show that he has reached a height of profligacy even beyond the promise of his former years. The numerous witnesses from Cincinnati, though not particularly questioned as to his general character, (being examined to impeach his credit on other grounds,) yet show the degree of estimation in which he is there held; and thus, sir, we flatter ourselves with having produced the most ample proof that truth is not to be expected from this witness; that he would not shrink from perjury, when prompted to accomplisha favorite object. That such an object was presented to him on this occasion; that the inducements to his crime were considerable, is obvious. We are informed by many of the deponents from Cincinnati, particularly by Mr. Burnett and Mr. St. Clair, that he had long felt and evinced the most malignant animosity towards Mr. Smith. The existence of this disposition in himself, and others associated with him in the same dishonorable cause, is further evidenced by the base and unmanly means they have used during this inquiry. I allude, sir, to their refusal to give evidence for Mr. Smith, and then secretly sending their depositions to the Senate; conduct in every respect worthy of the friends of Elias Glover; and also to those anonymous slanders which have been forwarded (doubtless from the same source) to almost every honorable member of this House. Of these deponents, and the support their testimony attempts to give to the character of Glover, little need be said. I cannot suppose it possible the Senate will receive this evidence, or, if received, that any reliance will be placed upon it. The profligacy, however, of the principal one among them is so palpable and audacious that it deserves some little notice; I mean William McFarland, the friend to whom Elias Glover alludes as having been present when Mr. Smith acknowledged his participation in the conspiracy. This man, sir, has had the effrontery (after refusing to answer Mr. Smith’s interrogatories) to send on to the Senate an affidavit in which he states that Elias Glover’s deposition is substantially correct; yet he had been sworn at Richmond, and we have his affidavit, and again at Chilicothe before the grand jury, and we have a statement of his evidence. They afford the most direct contradiction of his present deposition that can be conceived. Unless Mr. McFarland then will condescend to tell us, how are we to ascertain which is true and which is false? As it now stands we have, in addition to his declarations to General Gano and Mr. Burnett, one or two of his depositions acquitting Mr. Smith, to set off against the one which accuses him. Of the other deponents I shall say no more than what appears from their own representation, (and nothing more harsh could well be said of them,) they are the friends of William McFarland and Elias Glover. To have obtained the enmity of men disgraced by such a friendship is no small honor to Mr. Smith.
However conclusive this proof of the general character of this witness may appear, it yet constitutes but a small part of the infamy with which we have overwhelmed him. We have shown this capacity for perjury, and the disposition he must have felt to exert it on this occasion. I now proceed to point out the actual commission of it, in the most wilful, premeditated, and repeated instances. This witness, it seems, appeared before a grand jury at Chilicothe, in January last, which body had the penetration to discern his falsehoods, though no testimony was produced to discredit him. One of the jurors, Mr. Ethan Stone, has stated to us in his deposition the substance of his examination on that occasion, from his notes, which he tells us he was very particular in taking. His statement is also corroborated by General Gano and Colonel Armstrong, who were members of the same jury. We are thus informed that Elias Glover on that occasion declared “that he had never published or offered for publication any piece in ridicule of the measures taken by Government to arrest the progress of Burr’s conspiracy.” Of the falsehood of this assertion we have produced the most undeniable evidence.
The editor of the Western Spy, David L. Carney, deposes that Glover brought him such a piece which he refused to publish. Ephraim Morgan swears that he was present at the time, and confirms this statement. If Mr. Glover is disposed to dispute the point with these two witnesses, we will call a third, to whom, however objectionable, he must submit. This is no other than himself. He told Mr. Arthur St. Clair (as that gentleman states in his deposition) that “he had published one piece, ridiculing the measures taken to stop Burr, and had written another (which he offered to show him) which the printers had refused to publish.” He again told the same to Mr. Jacob Burnett, and urged him to join in squibbing the measures of Government. Can anything be more complete and confounding than this detection? Let us view another instance. The same grand juryman informs us that during his examination he declared, “that he never had any correspondence with Colonel Burr;” these are the words taken from Mr. Stone’s notes. And yet he tells Captain Nicholls, whose deposition we have produced, that he had written to Burr, and that he daily expected to hear from him. In addition to this, the testimony of Mr. George Russell is before the Senate, who is personally known to several of the honorable members of this House, who declares that Glover actually gave him a letter to carry to Colonel Burr, with injunctions to burn it if he did not see him.
I might, sir, point out other instances of falsehoods equally gross, but it cannot be necessary to take a particular notice of each. I shall therefore only call the attention of the Senate to a circumstance which exhibits a number of them in one general point of view. He appears from his own testimony to have been the person who furnished Matthew Nimmo with his information relative to Mr. Smith’s participation in the conspiracy. Now, the information he gave Nimmo should certainly agree with that which he now gives us in his deposition. Yet they are essentially different, nay, even directly contradictory, as is obvious from comparing them.
But, sir, independent of all these circumstances, I would ask nothing more to discredit the witness than the internal evidence of falsehood which his deposition bears. What can be more incredible than the facts he states? Mr. Smith is an associate in Burr’s conspiracy, andyet never commits an act which evinces the least participation in it, never affords it the least support, never endeavors to interest his friends and dependents in it, but would have remained wholly unknown and unsuspected but for his disclosure to Elias Glover; and this confidant, whom he thus highly trusts, was at that very moment, and before and afterwards, his open and irreconcilable enemy.
He further tells us that he received this communication “under the strictest injunctions of secrecy; that to divulge it on any occasion less pregnant with evil would reflect infamy and disgrace upon his character and conduct, and that he therefore balanced between his honor and his patriotism, before he could divulge it.” Now, can Mr. Glover reasonably expect any one to believe this? And if we were thus to indulge him, how much reputation would he save by it? Does a man of character ever allow any circumstances, however “pregnant with evil,” to induce him to receive a communication, promise to conceal it, and then divulge it? Where, sir, does he find a sanction for a doctrine so absurd and detestable? Does that sacred volume which he has dared to profane with his touch, and thus openly contemns, allow any such dispensation from the eternal and immutable laws which it awfully commands us on all occasions to observe? Is any such ridiculous exception to be there found, which shall justify a man in violating the plainest rule of morality and becoming a scoundrel for the good of his country? But even if this pretext could account for his disclosure to Nimmo, in November, it can be no pretence for his afterwards voluntarily and certainly unnecessarily reducing it to an affidavit in February. Some delay in making out this deposition might be necessary, from the nice balance which he tells us he was adjusting. With his honor in one scale and his patriotism in the other, it is not wonderful that it should take him a month or two to ascertain which of these two straws was the heaviest; but it is singular that his patriotism should not preponderate till all symptoms of danger to his country had disappeared—till the conspiracy was completely defeated.
There are, sir, two other depositions relative to the credit of this witness which I had intended to notice. Mr. Longworth details to us a conversation held between him and Glover, early in February, and just after he had made his affidavit. Glover then told him that he had not “acted against Mr. Smith;” that “he thought him unjustly accused,” and believed “he had no share in the conspiracy.” In the April following, Dr. Lanier’s deposition informs us of an interview (at which he was present) between Mr. Smith and Glover. How strongly marked is the conduct of each on that occasion. In Mr. Smith we see the firmness of an innocent man, indignantly daring forth his slanderer, and in the other a soul as contemptible for its meanness as detestable for its vices, descending (if indeed such a creature can properly be said to descend to any thing) to the grossest falsehoods and most humiliating prevarications.
I have done, sir, with this witness. I fear I have detained the Senate unreasonably upon this subject. I therefore leave him to that contempt which I trust he will meet with here, and to that punishment which public justice will hereafter inflict upon him. For should he escape from this, I have no doubt it will be owing more to his own agility than to the crippled condition of our courts. Nor shall I have much apprehensions of his acquittal, even if he is allowed to plead that “he is possibly innocent.”
I now proceed to make a few hasty observations upon the circumstantial testimony offered by other witnesses in support of this accusation, and first by Peter Taylor. The circumstances principally relied on in the statement of this witness is the conversation which he details between Mr. Smith and himself, and particularly the charge which Mr. Smith, he says, gave him “not to go to a tavern, lest the people should sift him with questions.” Admitting this conversation to be correctly repeated, nothing can be more unfair and unreasonable than to infer from it that Mr. Smith was concerned in the conspiracy, or even acquainted with its object. May it not be more properly attributed to his knowledge of the public agitation, which Mr. Burr’s movements had excited, his belief that they were innocent, and his apprehensions that this agitation might be dangerously increased by Peter Taylor’s representation and exaggerations of Mrs. Blannerhasset’s alarm. There are various other motives equally pure to which this direction might have been owing, and it would therefore be unjust to attribute them to a criminal one. It could not have arisen from any fears in Mr. Smith that this man would disclose any of the plans of the conspirators. He had himself already “sifted him with questions” and could learn nothing, and therefore could not have supposed that others would be more successful.
But, sir, this admission is fully as unreasonable as the conclusion attempted to be drawn from it. We do not impeach the character of Peter Taylor; we do not say that he has wilfully misrepresented this conversation, but we deny him that degree of intelligence, recollection, and accuracy, so essential to a witness who is to repeat a conversation with necessary correctness. Can this honorable House infer guilt from words, without very strong evidence that they are accurately related? The least variation, the suppression or addition of a syllable, may make the most material difference. May he not have misunderstood Mr. Smith? May he not have forgotten parts of the conversation, and be indistinct and confused in his recollection of it? We have, sir, among these depositions a most remarkable instance, in which two gentlemen, both respectable and intelligent, undertake to detail to us the particulars of one of Mr. Smith’s conversations, (I mean Col. Taylor and Dr. Sellman,) and their statements are directlycontradictory. Let us now look for a moment at the deposition of this witness, and see whether it bears those marks of accuracy which should entitle him to attention. Besides that gross stupidity so observable in every sentence of it, there are several of the most palpable misstatements contained in it. First he tells us that Dudley Woodbridge was on the bank of the river when the boats left the island, after midnight, and yet that person and the man who slept with him, depose that he was not out of bed after 10 o’clock. Again he states, in his last deposition, that when he went to Mr. Smith’s they had never seen each other before, and yet on his examination at Richmond he had stated that Mr. Smith knew him; and this strange contradiction is made, although the statement of his former evidence, in the Richmond Enquirer, was but the moment before read over to him, and acknowledged to be correct. There is one other remarkable instance, which shows that he cannot even remember with any tolerable distinctness his own conversations. On the statement of his evidence at Richmond he tells us that when Blannerhasset and himself were returning to the island, after he had left Mr. Smith’s, he was urged by him to accompany him in this expedition, that he refused all the honors offered him, unless he should be permitted to take his wife with him. Now, sir, he could have said no such thing to Blannerhasset, for his wife had been dead for a month or two; he himself admits in his subsequent deposition that she died in September, and this conversation took place late in October or early in November following.
It is totally immaterial to what cause these palpable misstatements are to be attributed; they essentially affect his accuracy as a witness, and show how little reliance is to be placed on this part of the evidence.
There are various other circumstances which have been collected by the malignant industry of Mr. Smith’s enemies, in that strict scrutiny to which all his actions have been subjected, and these have been exaggerated and distorted till they were made to bear some suspicious appearances. Of these it can be necessary to say but little. I rejoice that Mr. Smith has been enabled to present so complete and satisfactory an explanation of them. Of his entertaining Colonel Burr at his house I shall say nothing, since if that fact merited consideration, it would equally criminate most of the respectable people in Cincinnati, and particularly Colonel Taylor himself, who informed us that he waited on Colonel Burr and invited him to dinner.
But it is said he corresponded with Colonel Burr; true, sir, but in what manner? Not in cipher, as it is well known the associates in this project made their communications to each other; or in any secret manner whatever. Mr. Smith immediately and publicly speaks of it. We have offered the depositions of many of the first characters in that country, to whom Mr. Smith showed these letters just after they were written; of one particularly who was present when he received Colonel Burr’s answer from the post office, and to whom he instantly handed it. We have produced to you these two letters and they contain nothing criminal; nothing but what persons in their situation and with their views might be supposed to have written. Nor can there be the least pretence for supposing they were fabricated for the purpose of removing suspicions. For at the time they were shown by Mr. Smith he was suspected by nobody, nor had he any reason to suppose he ever should be.
He has been also charged with receiving and forwarding despatches from Blannerhasset to Burr. This circumstance is mentioned by Col. Taylor, as one which operated to Mr. Smith’s disadvantage. Now, sir, he has shown the nature of these despatches by the depositions of persons who were requested to convey them, and by others who saw them opened, and by many to whom Mr. Smith openly spoke of them. They contained a silk coat and a note from Blannerhasset requesting him to forward it to Mr. Burr.
Equally unreasonable were the conjectures formed from his having accepted and paid a draught of Colonel Burr’s. To this circumstance we have offered every explanation of which it was susceptible. We have proved by various depositions that it is usual for persons travelling in that country to deposit their money in safe hands and afterwards draw for it, and we have clearly shown that this draught must have originated in that manner from Mr. Smith’s mentioning it at the time. General Carberry informs us that about the time of Colonel Burr’s departure, Mr. S. told him that he had left in his care a part of his baggage and a sum of money. All these circumstances, Mr. S., if guilty, would have endeavored to conceal; and yet it appears that the first information of them, and that too immediately on their occurring, is uniformly derived from himself. Neither can his guilt be inferred from his son’s being the bearer of a letter to Blannerhasset’s island, even if it were admitted (of which, however, there is not the least shadow of proof) that he knew the contents of the letter he carried. Mr. Smith has proved that he was then, and had been for some time, absent from home, and that he expressed strong disapprobation of his son’s imprudence upon his return.
Another incident in this string of vague possibilities is his happening to go to Frankfort at a time when Colonel Burr was there. He has explained the motives of this journey. Mr. Kelly, Mr. Hart, and several other gentlemen depose to the business which occasioned it.
His absence from the United States at the time the indictment was found against him, is, I understand, also relied upon. If this indeed appeared to have been owing to any desire to avoid an investigation into his conduct, if he had sought to remain within the Spanish territory, and had been unwillingly brought forward to answer this charge, it would indeed havebeen a circumstance amounting to proof infinitely stronger than all which this inquiry has produced. But if his conduct was directly the reverse of this; if he was carried there by important and indispensable engagements; if, when there, informed of the indictment, he immediately relinquished his business, and took the most prompt and decided steps to return and face the prosecution, and did so return, (of all which he has produced the most conclusive evidence;) then, sir, this circumstance not only ceases to afford any presumption of guilt, but clearly evinces his innocence.
Having now, sir, endeavored to show the futility of the testimony adduced to support this charge, it might be sufficient here to rest our defence of the honorable member accused. But, sir, though more may be unnecessary, I rejoice that more is in our power; that we have been enabled not only to destroy the force of the proof offered to criminate him, but to exhibit the most complete and direct evidence of his innocence. I am sensible, sir, that I have trespassed greatly upon the indulgence of this honorable Senate. I shall not, therefore, take that view of this part of the case which its importance deserves; but will only beg leave to suggest a few considerations which appear to my mind unanswerable, which will render all doubt upon this subject (if indeed a doubt yet remains) utterly impossible.
In the first place, to what but his innocence can it be attributed that such numbers of the conspirators knew nothing of his association with them? We have produced the depositions of several who appear to admit that they had been induced to participate in this enterprise, and they declare their ignorance and disbelief that Mr. Smith was in any way concerned in it. Nay, sir, let us look at the declarations of their chief, Colonel Burr himself. He has various communications with persons whom he was desirous to bring over to his views, many of which are detailed to us in the report of the evidence at Richmond. In these he makes the most flattering representations of his prospects, endeavors to show the adequacy of his means, the number and consequence of his adherents. Among these he never mentions Mr. Smith, though there was no man, in the whole Western country, the importance of whose co-operation would have been more obvious. Here is one striking instance of this, which I beg leave to mention. Lieutenant Jackson deposes that when Colonel Burr gave him the draught on Mr. Smith, he directed him to call on General Tupper, to whom he referred him for information relative to the objects of the enterprise. Now, sir, if Colonel Burr had known Mr. Smith as one of his associates, why should he have been silent on this occasion; why should he not have allowed Mr. Jackson to get his information from Mr. Smith, when he presented his draught, without proceeding to General Tupper?
All the other conspirators seem equally ignorant of Mr. Smith’s participation. When Bollman and Swartwout communicated with General Wilkinson, in the most unreserved manner, they seem to know nothing of it; they give him no intimation that the army contractor, the very man who was supplying his troops with provisions, had any connexion with their schemes.
Let us even descend to Glover and McFarland; that these men were engaged in this expedition, after the proofs we have produced, cannot be questioned. And what are they able to say to criminate Mr. Smith?
If they were all living in the same place, associates in the same conspiracy, is it possible they would not have had frequent interviews? Would they not have had it in their power to produce some act, or at least some avowal to others, by which his guilt could be proved, beyond the possibility of denial? Yet we hear Mr. McFarland frequently acknowledging and twice even swearing that he knew nothing of Mr. Smith’s connexion with it; and all that their malignant efforts have enabled them to collect, is one solitary conversation depending wholly upon the unsupported assertion of Elias Glover.
Thus, sir, it appears that if Mr. Smith was a party in this conspiracy, the persons from whom he most studiously concealed it were those who were associated in the same project. Neither are they more fortunate who were particularly engaged in watching the progress of this enterprise and ascertaining who were its partisans. General Gano states that he used various means to determine whether the reports relative to Mr. Smith were well founded, and he satisfied himself of his innocence. He also directed Major Riddle to assist this inquiry; that officer reported to him that he had frequent conversations with Mr. Smith, and had endeavored to ascertain whether he knew anything of Burr’s plans, and was convinced that he did not. Even Colonel Taylor, with whom these suspicions were strengthened by the conversation relative to a disunion, which he thought he had heard from Mr. Smith, was yet so far from discovering any thing to confirm them in his inquiries, that he calls on Mr. Smith to aid him in procuring information, and frequently declares (as General Carberry’s deposition informs us) that he did not believe Mr. Smith was an accomplice.
In the next place, sir, how can Mr. Smith’s guilt be in any manner reconciled with his conduct in opposing the progress of the expedition. Major Martin, Dr. Stall, General Gano, Mr. Totten, and numerous other witnesses, prove that it was principally owing to Mr. Smith’s exertions that any effectual support was rendered to the measures of Government. When the President’s proclamation was received at Cincinnati, it seems there was no means of arming the militia. The orders to the keepers of the arsenal, to deliver out the public arms, had been neglected, and he persisted in refusing to deliverthem without. At this juncture Mr. Smith, with that earnestness and decision which so strongly mark his character, crosses the river at midnight, offers his bond to Major Martin, in the penalty of $10,000, to indemnify him; procures the arms, and delivers them to the officers; prepares barracks and supplies for the militia; furnishes one of his own boats, and in short makes every arrangement to obstruct the passage of the expected armament.
It may perhaps, sir, be here objected, that these circumstances rather prove that Mr. Smith then abandoned the enterprise than that he never participated in it. That the vigilant measures taken by Government alarmed him, and that therefore, hopeless of its success, he sought by a zealous opposition to escape detection. However plausible this may seem, the least reflection will show how unreasonable is this suspicion.
How does it appear that the situation of the conspirators was at this time more unpromising than at any former period? They had thus far proceeded without meeting any obstacles; their plans were arranged and ripe for execution; they were hourly expected to embark. And what was there so alarming in the measures taken to oppose them as to strike a panic into Mr. Smith and subvert his resolutions? The militia were called out it is true, but they were without arms. Their officers inform us that they could not even station a guard upon the river. I should rather suppose that this circumstance would have been considered as more auspicious than any thing he could have expected. Nor does it appear that this effect was produced in the minds of any of the party. For even at a subsequent period, and after the militia, by Mr. Smith’s exertions, had procured arms, we find Captain Nicholls at Cincinnati still adhering to their views and far from despairing. Nay, even Elias Glover, (whose courage appears from Dr. Lanier’s deposition to be about equal to his veracity,) and who doubtless was as ready as any one to renounce his associates when he saw them sinking, is seen at the same period persisting in his adherence to them. He tells Captain Nicholls to hasten his departure lest the guard should stop his boats, declares that he will shortly follow, and informs him that he had sent off an express to the party at the island. There is one other circumstance that totally overthrows this suspicion. If Mr. Smith had thus not only deserted but opposed his associates, would it not have excited their resentment? And would they not have revenged themselves for his treachery by disclosing his participation, and showing that he was equally guilty with themselves?
It cannot be necessary to contrast this conduct with that which we might expect to find in Mr. Smith, if, most unfortunately for his country and for himself, he had really been concerned in this enterprise. It is well known that the circumstance which first excited the suspicion of Government were the unusual preparations made by Colonel Burr and his party on the Western waters. From these suspicions they would have been perfectly secure by obtaining the co-operation of Mr. Smith. His contracts for the supply of the army, and his engagements to prepare boats for the navy, would have enabled him to collect any quantity of provisions and materials, and place them in suitable situations without exciting the least attention: and whenever they were ready to act, he might in a moment have stopped the supplies of your armies, and suddenly directed all his resources to aid in the most effectual and fatal manner the objects of the combination.
Thus, sir, in short, it appears that Mr. Smith has not merely forborne from the commission of these acts, which if guilty it is almost certain we should have discovered in him, but has pursued a most decided and distinguished course of conduct, utterly unaccountable upon any other presumption than that of his innocence.
I will now, sir, conclude by adding to these considerations those which naturally result from the view which the testimony affords us, of Mr. Smith’s character and situation in life, and the various honorable and lucrative employments committed to his trust. These alone, if properly considered, will be found more than sufficient to outweigh all the circumstances adduced against him. I will not undertake to point out the objects of Colonel Burr and his partisans, but am very willing to admit the correctness of the information collected by the honorable committee on this subject, and so eloquently detailed in their report. They are there represented as having been only prevented by the “vigilance of Government and of faithful citizens under its direction from a speedy termination not only in war, but in war of the most horrible description, in war at once foreign and domestic;” that “the debauchment of our army, the plunder and devastation of our own and foreign territories, the dissolution of our national Union, and the root of interminable civil war, were but the means of individual aggrandizement, the steps to projected usurpation.”
Now, sir, is Mr. Smith the sort of man to whom conspirators, who were in their senses, would have proposed such a scheme as this? Would he have been solicited to join in the dismemberment of the Union, whose interest was so materially connected with its continuance, the profits of whose employment wholly depended upon it? Would he have been asked to join in “a war of the most horrible description,” who is represented as enjoying every domestic comfort in the bosom of a happy and numerous family? Would he be called upon to unite in a scheme of plunder and devastation, who had every reason to be satisfied with his present possessions, who had so much to risk and so little to gain from civil commotion? Would he have been called upon to make all these sacrifices to the madness of ambition whowas already distinguished even beyond his wishes?
Surely, sir, this is the first time that robbers ever made offers of partnership to the man whom they were about to plunder—that incendiaries ever called upon him for assistance whose house was to be destroyed by their flames.
No man in the whole Western country would have been more certainly ruined by the success of this project than Mr. Smith. There is therefore no man from whom it would have been more studiously concealed. To a disposition of this sort I think it not at all improbable is to be in some degree attributed the circumstance of Colonel Burr’s stopping at his house. As Mr. Smith’s guest he would have it in his power to say just as much as he pleased of his plans, and no more. In such a situation he would be less liable to the importunity of inquiries.
Let us, sir, for a moment fancy ourselves present at a consultation upon this subject between Colonel Burr and his confederates at Cincinnati; and let us suppose that that gentleman had so far lost his usual discernment, had felt such confidence in his personal influence as to presume that he could seduce Mr. Smith from his interest as well as from his duty. After inquiring about Major Kibby, (whom it seems he was anxious to see, and who is represented to be in distressed circumstances,) let us suppose that he mentions Mr. Smith. What would his associates, Glover and McFarland, say to this? Would they not fear, that as Mr. Smith was their enemy, he would be tempted to inform against them? Would they not also know that if Mr. Smith assented to the proposal he would hold his rank in the expedition much above them, and would have it in his power materially to affect their interests? Would they not at least have thought it highly dangerous to trust such a secret to a man so connected with the Government they were about to oppose? These considerations would instantly have dictated a most decided reply. They would have said “you can have no hopes of Mr. Smith, his interests are too obviously opposed to our designs; he is too well satisfied with his present situation to consent to the change we contemplate; he is too highly trusted and favored by the Administration. He is,” they would add, (repeating an expression used by Glover on a former occasion,) “‘a damned army contractor and gunboat builder;’ he makes too much by the present system of things to be trusted with a scheme for overturning it. No, sir, from him our plans must be concealed; he is easily deceived; tell him a plausible story about your settlement of lands, show him your Washita grants; tell him his sons are fine, promising young men, and offer to take them under your patronage.” The force of these observations it would have been impossible to evade.
And, sir, whatever Colonel Burr’s designs may have been, to whom does it appear that he actually did communicate them? To what kind of men does he apply to procure partisans? Why, sir, like a celebrated character of antiquity, to whom he was long ago compared, it is always the discontented, the embarrassed, the turbulent, the idle, the ambitious and the enterprising. Nor does it appear that even to all these he fully explained himself. He had a variety of schemes suited to every taste, to every possible occasion. But among this mixed assemblage of characters, collected by these means, there is not one to be found who had not some strong and ruling passion to which he could successfully apply himself. Thus to the romantic enthusiasm of Dr. Bollman, he would expatiate on the glorious and benevolent attempt to liberate, enlighten, and exalt a nation of slaves. To the youthful heroism of Swartwout he would paint, in all their fascination,