good citizen," had sent him, and which, "when brought together" with some other information, "developed Burr's general designs.” 1

The President assured Congress that "one of these was the severance of the Union of these States beyond the Alleghany mountains; the other, an attack on Mexico. A third object was provided. . the settlement of a pretended purchase of a tract of country on the Washita." But "this was merely a pretext." Burr had soon found that the Western settlers were not to be seduced into secession; and thereupon, said Jefferson, the desperado "determined to seize upon New Orleans, plunder the bank there, possess himself of the military and naval stores, and proceed on his expedition to Mexico." For this purpose Burr had "collected. . all the ardent, restless, desperate, and disaffected persons" within his reach.

Therefore the President made his Proclamation of November 27, which had thwarted Burr's purposes. In New Orleans, however, General Wilkinson had been forced to take extreme measures for the defense of the country against the oncoming plunderers. Among these was the seizure of Bollmann and Swartwout who were "particularly employed in the endeavor to corrupt the General and the Army of the United States," and who had been sent oversea by Wilkinson for "ports in the Atlantic states, probably on the consideration that an impartial trial could not be expected. . in New

1 Annals, 9th Cong. 2d Sess. 39-41. Jefferson's Message, Jan. 22, 1807, Richardson, 1, 412-17.

Orleans, and that the city was not as yet a safe place of confinement."1

As to Burr, Jefferson assured Congress that his "guilt is placed beyond question."

2

With this amazing Message the President sent an affidavit of Wilkinson's, as well as two letters from that veracious officer,3 and a copy of Wilkinson's version of Burr's letter to him from which the General had carefully omitted the fact that the imprudent message was in answer to a dispatch from himself. But Jefferson did not transmit to Congress the letter, dated October 21, 1806, which he had received from Wilkinson.

Thoughtful men, who had personally studied Burr for years and who were unfriendly to him, doubted the accuracy of Wilkinson's version of the Burr dispatch: "It sounds more like Wilkinson's letter than Burr's," Senator Plumer records in his diary. "There are . . some things in it quite irrelevant... Burr's habits have been never to trust himself on paper, if he could avoid it - when he wrote, it was with great caution...Wilkinson is not an accurate correct man.'

No such doubts, however, assailed the eager multitude. The awful charge of treason had now been

1 Annals, 9th Cong. 2d Sess. 43; Richardson, 1, 416.

2 Annals, 9th Cong. 2d Sess. 40. (Italics the author's.)

* "Wilkinson's letter is a curiosity. . . Tis Don Adriano de Armado the second.” (J. Q. Adams to L. C. Adams, Dec. 8, 1806, Writings, J. Q. A.: Ford, II, footnote to 157.)

♦ Plumer, Jan. 22, 1807, "Diary," Plumer MSS. Lib. Cong. Senator Plumer wrote his son, concerning Wilkinson's account of Burr's letter: "I am satisfied he has not accurately decyphered it. There is more of Wilkinsonism than of Burrism in it." (Plumer to his son, Jan. 24, 1807, Plumer MSS. Lib. Cong.)

formally made against Burr by the President of the United States. This, the most sensational part of Jefferson's Message, at once caught and held the attention of the public, which took for granted the truth of it. From that moment the popular mind was made up, and the popular voice demanded the life of Aaron Burr. No mere trial in court, no adherence to rules of evidence, no such insignificant fact as the American Constitution, must be permitted to stand between the people's aroused loyalty and the miscreant whom the Chief Executive of the Nation had pronounced guilty of treason.

CHAPTER VII

THE CAPTURE AND ARRAIGNMENT

It was President Jefferson who directed and animated the prosecution. (Winfield Scott.)

The President's popularity is unbounded and his will is that of the nation. (Joseph Nicholson.)

The press from one end of the continent to the other has been enlisted to excite prejudices against Colonel Burr. (John Wickham.)

Two thirds of our speeches have been addressed to the people. (George Hay.) It would be difficult or dangerous for a jury to acquit Burr, however innocent they might think him. (Marshall.)

WHILE Washington was still agitated by the President's Special Message, the long winter voyage of Bollmann and Swartwout ended at Baltimore, and Burr's dazed dispatch-bearers were brought by military guards to the National Capital. There, on the evening of January 22, they were thrown into the military prison at the Marine Barracks, and "guarded, night and day, by an officer & 15 soldiers of the Marine Corps."

The ship bearing James Alexander had made a swift passage. On its arrival, friends of this prisoner applied to Joseph F. Nicholson, now United States Judge at Baltimore, for a writ of habeas corpus. Alexander was at once set free, there being not the slightest evidence to justify his detention.2

1 Plumer, Jan. 30, 1807, "Diary," Plumer MSS. Lib. Cong. Senator Plumer adds: "The government are apprehensive that the arts & address of Bollman, who effected the liberation of the Marquis de Lafayette from the strong prison of Magdeburge, may now find means to liberate himself."

2 Clay to Prentiss, Feb. 15, 1807, Priv. Corres.: Colton, 15; also Works: Colton, IV, 14.

A week or two later the schooner Thatcher, on board which was the disconsolate and dumbfounded General Adair Wilkinson's fourth prisoner to be

sent to Jefferson tied up to its dock at Baltimore and he was delivered "over to the commander of the fort at that city." But a passenger on the vessel, "a stranger.. of his own accord.. assured [Adair] he would procure a writ of Habeas Corpus for him." Adair also was "immediately liberated,.. there being no evidence against him."1

After the incarceration of Bollmann and Swartwout in Washington, attorneys were secured for them and an application was made to Judge William Cranch, United States Judge for the District of Columbia, for a writ of habeas corpus in their behalf, directed to Colonel Wharton, who was in command at Washington. Wharton brought the luckless prisoners into court and stated that "he held them under the orders of his superior officer. They were then taken upon a bench warrant charging them with treason which superseded the writ. A motion was made by the prisoners council. . that they be discharged. The Court required evidence of their probable guilt."2

Jefferson now took a hand in the prosecution. He considered Wilkinson's affidavit insufficient to hold Bollmann and Swartwout, and, in order to

1 Plumer, Feb. 20, 1807, "Register," Plumer MSS. Lib. Cong. 2 Plumer to Mason, Jan. 30, 1807, Plumer MSS. Lib. Cong. Plumer's account of the proceedings is trustworthy. He was an eminent lawyer himself, was deeply interested in the case, and was writing to Jeremiah Mason, then the leader of the New England bar. 3 Eaton: Prentiss, 396.