BALEIGHgTREGISTEIt-
if
AND
6
Ours are the plans of fair delightful peace, -Unwarp'd
hyoarty rage, to live like Brother.
Thursday, November 12, 1807.
North-Carolina State
Gazette
:
JRM THE ENQJJIRIR.
CURSORY REFLATIONS.
At the close of the important trial
fetich has so Ion? agitated our. city,
r readers ma:y Very naturally call
,,non us to deliver our own opinions.
To discharge this duty we once more
take up the pen. '
The subject is complicated & ex
tensive. We shall attempt to seize
. , r.otnrPB Jt nresent them
its leaning iccnuiw- i ,
in the form of cursory reflections.
These reflections will naturally
fcuch on three great portraits: that of
Aaron Burr,
The Chief Justice of the U- States,
! And General Wilkinson,
TherP isnothinr which we have
to tubmit to our rtaders, which may
out very properly tall uauci vn
thest heads
T0i I:
PORTRAIT OF AARON BURR.
. Who noble endt by noble attain,
fTbat man is great indeed ;
Is tuch the greatness of the man
Hvho stands before us i Is such the
character of the transaction which
liave been lately umumcu v,,v
vorld ? Let u analyse both his ends
& means to see what pretensions ihey
t6l. ive him to the characttr which
the poet has described.
This trait uniformly marks his
concur! and designs; that he nevet
is contented with a lower seat, so
lone as he can aspire to me nignesi. i
The-rnines and riches of Mexico are
tempting objects ; but sven the wealth ,
and splendor of the Mexican empire, ,
when viewed through the long .trad
f water and wood which he woula
have to pass, and the clangers which
ft re to be encountered, are lost and
eclipsed in the superior lustre of a
throne, erected at New-Orleans, and
stretching its sceptre over the Wes
tern State. From evry thing which
con collect, as well from his own
declarations where he dared to unbo
som himself, as the more unguarde i
avowals of his les artful accompli
ces, A. Burr must hate had three
objects in view :
To separate the Western from the
Eastern States,
To invade Mexico, or
To effect a temporary settlement
on the Ouachita.
The first was the foremost in his
hopes and first in the period of its
attempted accomplishment. The se
cond was but to turn into, a new
course the very same means which
he had collected, and the very pas
sions which he should have excited
for the attainment of the first. And
the last was to have been at once tht
asylum of his despairing ambition,
. the germ of new schemes, where
it 1 hush'd in grim repose, expects
its evening's prt-y."
Tke the principal points of the
ev'u tnce as they havt been disclosed
('urine this examination, Sc see how
tl ey bear us out in these conclusions, !
The examination ot Gen. baton
V.efore he court, and in the presence
ol the very man whom he arraigned
at the bar, establishes the truth of
his deposition beyond the shadsw of
a doubt. " Let us wait to see Eaton
confronted with A- Burr," was the
former cry of Burr's friends. 44 Let
us see what n,aton wm aare to say
l.efore him, or whether Burr will
, care to contradict him." Yet this
important confrontation is over, and
what is the issue of it ? W?e have
setn Gen. Eaton standing in the very
front of A. Burr, & under the flashes
of that terrible eye, which, like Me
dusa's head, was to have turned him
into a stene : but we have seen Eaton
rising with the spirit of conscious
truth, Sc re-echoing the same charges
against A. Burr without hesitation,
and without the slightest alarm. We
have seen A Burr writhing under
the consciousness of his guilt, and
his bleached countenance betraying
the agitations of his soul. We have
seen Eaton persecuted by the gjoss
questions of legal ingenuity but we
have seen him turning upon his as
sailants, and bearing them down,
with the consistency and truth f his
story. After this who can doubt that
Burr was just as discontented with
his situation, and as sanguine and
aspiring as Eaton had represented
him 't that so long as he was doubt-1
purpose, he amused him with the
tale of the Mexican project ; but af
ter having thus felt the pulse of his
virtue, after hdvin : thus attempted
to ascertain how far his temper was
lawless enough to acquiesce in this
lawless scheme of plunder, arid be
lieving at last that he was unprinci
pled enough for his purpose', that
h then began t open t him his
favourite and grander scheme of ag
grandizement. He spoke to him ot
dismembering the Unieii, of the ease
with which he could separate me
Western from the Eastern States, &
the splendors of a throne at Orleans.
He did not reveal these ideas as if
they mad just been hatched, or as if
they would be lightly rennquisueu.
Far from it. He dwelt upon his
means He named individuals whom
he had selected for his purposes, &
he was nreoared to answer every ob
jection which could be made to-their
accomplishment, mter una,
there sceptic enough to doubt that
this man was at heart a traitor ?
His interviews with Mr. Stoddert
point to the same conclusion though
with this material difference, that
while he manifested the same dis
contented spirit, and the same con
tempt for the weakness of the admi
nistration which he was afterwards
forced to respect, and the same idle
confidence in his own means and ta
lents, he did not dare to assail Mr.
Stndderfs ear with the details of his
plans. Hi? did not designate New-
Orleans as the point wnerc nc auvuiu
make his attack ; he did not name
the persons whom he had chosen for
k: ..nmulirps. and he seemed to
1113 OV,UWUI"' 7
disclose his ideas not as if they were
such as he meant t execute, but as
those that might be successfully at
tempted by some daring genius. The
reason of this distinction is obvious.
He knew that Mr. stoauerowas a
man too much virtue, and ol too
little means to become an accom
I 111411 V '
Dliae. Gen. Eaton, on the contrary,
was vounus he was doki, ne nu
. 1 1 , i i
shown a military turn, 8t his virtues
had not vet been proved by Burr
At Pittsburg, while he was on his
route to the Western country, and
under the hospitable roof of the ve
nerable George Morgan, he displays
the same bent of mind. In truth,
wherever he goes, he is destined like
the snail to leave his slime behind
him. It would seem impossible for
the mind of man, when seriously
bent on any favourite idea, to pre
vent its bursting forth in continued
and indirect indications. Burr's mind
was full of war, of arms, of military
achievements, and the disunion of
the States. And w hat were his con
versations and conduct? They were
precisely such as might have been
expected from this disposition. He
could not see a strong man, without
rrmcwWine- him as a soldier, St wish
ing that he had a thousand such fel-
lows. His conversation witn me
yovng Mr. Morgans before he reach
ed their father's house, his conver
sations at and atter dinner, breathe
this predominant sptiit. The same
plans haunt him at midnight, and he
descends at eleven at night with the
candle in hand to the chamber of old
Mr. Morgan; for what? Mr, Mor
gan's ardent virtue stopped his com
munications, and prevents- us from
having the full benefit of the disclo
sure, but there is every reason to
believe that his intention was to make
the father an instrument in the ruin
ot his son, and exact from him his
1 1 1hx1..1 j- v n
consent that tnis nooic uimutu sun
j should go along with him in his "ne
farious" projects to tnc wcsi uui
why
chrinlil dwell unon sucn
srf-nes as these : The whole air oi
JllUUiU '
. . -
his conversations at Morganza, and
next morning at Washington, Was
such as was calculated to draw down
upon him the worst suspFcions of all
the Morgans, and to mauce mem iu
give the first information to govern
ment oSLhis suspicious designs. The
complaisant Mr. Julien Dupiestre,
may indeed deny all these things.
But what weight should be given to
that, man's word or vigilance of ob
servation, who has to oppose the li
nked testimony of the Morgans, oi
who upon being Hskecl whether Nev
York might not be taken with 50G
men,could complaisantly bow assent ?
Let us proceed another step in the
investigation of this evidence. Tht
this wandering spirit is on Blanker
hassett's island. Here it plays the
same part ; at least if- we may cal
culate the cause by its consequencest
Three days after Burr leaves the
island, Blannerhassett publishes the
Querist. Two circumstances are
here calculated to blend Mr. Burr
with the guilt or folly of these wri
tings, 1st. That Blannerhassett, the
author, was the notorious accomplice
of Burr ; and, 2dly, That the senti
ments and very chain of arguments
were so similar to those which a wit
ness had a short time before heard
from the lips of Col Burr; that up
on being asked who he supposed to
be the author, he very sagely replied
that Burr had furnished the ideas, 8c
that Blannerhassett had put them
into style. j
These writing3 speak for them
selves. No man that reads tjie Que
rist can mistake the disposition or
design with which they were com
posed Writings which display to the
people beyond the Allegany, the ima
ginary disadvantages of a union with
the Atlantic States, which attempt
to show them in how much better
cenciiion they would be placed un
der a government of their own, which
persuade them that it is not only a
natural right, but a right ingrafted
upon the constitution to provide for
their own dis inct welfare ; whoever
can mistake the temper of such wri
tings as these from such men, and
at such a time, might as well pre
tend to doubt whether the Declara
tion of Independence or Common
Sense were calculated to promote
the revolution of America, No man
can doubt them, and no one can pre
tend to doubt but he who is an ac
complice of Burr.
And here it is not improper to
give all the weight which they de
serve, to Blanntrhassett's sincere St
repeated declarations. From the
complex and uncertain code of the
law, these declarations may not be
received in a court of justice to bear
ap-ainst Burr, but common sense is
unable to recognise savh an absurd
distinction. There are sufficient rea
sons to satisfy any man, that Burr
and Blannerhassett were joint ac
complices in a joint undertaking, k
that however Burr may have im
posed ipon the credulity of Blanner
hassett in setting before him the ex
tent ol' his mean, that he fairly re
presented to him the nature of his
plans. Let us then gather tnese plans
from Blanner hassett's declarations,
and what are thev ? Wherever he
ventured to be the most frank, his
schemes were oi "he grandest cna
racter.
It was not to settle the Ouachita
land ; nor was it to carry conqutst
to Mexico ; but it was to seize die
treasures and arms of Orleans, and
bv locking ud that mouth of the
Mississippi, to produce a dissolution
j u
ot the tuion ana to establish an in
. i - i
dependent empire to the west -of -the
Allegany. And to whom were these
declarations made ? not to such men
as Elijah Jones, not to men whom
he knew not how to trust ; but to
such as the Hendersons, and to them
too not in the soortive sallies f his
mind ; but in the solemnity of re
tirement, and after he had previous
ly exacted from them a pledge of se
crecy. With all that childish gar
rulity which has been ascribed to
him,, the simple Blanneihassett could
sometimes make distinctions. Tie
was net as fortunate as Burr in al
ways keeping himself concealed be
hind the curtain, but like him he
sometimes knew where to be silent.
Like him, too, he sometimes mis
II . i : j; j . i
iook. nis man, as uc m m mc v.aac
of the respectable Hendersons
Combine with these circumstances
Swaitwoui's declaration to Gen. W.
that there must be sme seizing at j
New-Orleans ; the discontented tem
per of many of the inhabitants of that
city ; their disposition for a change
of government ; and the number of
friends whom he had there enlisted :
recollect the aspiring genius of the
man, his desperate fortunes & vain
hopes, that the commander in chief
and the army would join in with him,
and it is impossible to resist the. con
viction that he would have seized
New-Orleans if he could. What
were his exact plans we know not ;
Do not Bollman's confessions $he
j but we may at least guess at some
part, by which he might have steer
ed his course. He might have sup
posed that he had force enough to!
descend to New-Orleans. He might
have passed Fort Massac 8c the fort
at Chickesaw Bluffs, without much
opposition. When arrived at New-
Orleans, he might have expected the
aid of Wilkinson and army, and of
many and perhaps most of the inha
bitants of that city.
His plan at this point is not to be
mistaken. If his force was large, if
the army were sincere in hi sup
port, if the inhabitants of N. Orleans
were prompt and explicit in their
attachment, Burr w uld have unfurl
ed the banners of rebellion ; he would
have invited adherents from all quar
ters ; he would have lavished the
confiscated treasures of this city up
on them, and perhaps he would have
tried whether by locking up the
mouth of the Mississippi, or restrict
ing its navigation, he might not have
forced the people of the upper coun
try to have acquiesced in his usurpa
tion. Such would probably have
been his plan ; or if these things had
not turned out so favourable to hi
wishes, he would thsn have pro
gressed with his other enterprize ;
collected arms, provisions and adhe
rents, and attacked Mexico through
a sea-port, as Vera Cruz, r up the
Red River. For he frequently con
tended during his -trial that his boats
were well fitted for going up the
stream.
If such were Burr's plans, was not
Burr a traitor at heart ? " But he did
not commit the overt act, he was no?
guilty of levying war against the U
States." Perhaps it mav be so. But
even under this view of the subject,
he saves his life at the expence of
his reputation. He may stillconti
nue to breatht upon the earth ; but
what of that ? like Cain, he has a
mark that lasts for ever.
We shall hereafter enquire in our
strictures on the conduct of the Chief
Justice, whether the overt act of le
vying war was committed at the
mouth of Cumberland river. We
certainly do not approve of the cri
terion which the Chief Justice has
laid down on the point.
This mass of evidence is sufneient
to convince us that the dismember
ment of the Union was the first and
favourite object of A. Burr, & that
he never would have looked to the
conqsest 6f Mexico, but in conse
quence ot a fear that he should be
disappointed; That object was the
next nearest to his heart. The host
of witness who were introduced hav ,
proved his attachment to the enter
prize ; but " this was one," say his
advocates, " which he would never
haye meditated but from the pros
pect of an approaching war with
Spain ; and never would have exe
cuted but in consequence of that
war's taking place."
In this we agree with his advo
cates ; that if he had been disap
pointed in seizing Orleans, and war
hc-d been dtclared by the U. States
against Spain, that he might then
have attempted to. turn his prepara
tions into that channel. Perhaps
they will agree with us in this ; thai
if he had such an enterprise in view,
the tottering state of our affairs with
Spain was calculated to advance that
object, by enlisting recruits in his
service. But in this we join issue
with his advocates ; that if there had
been no war from the U, States, ht
himself would .have attempted to
have waged it against Spain on his
own account. His friends deny this
position, and point to the settlement
of the Ouachita as the ultimate ob
ject of his preparations. This las?
epithet indeed truly expresses our
own opinion of his plans. Can any
impartial man beli eve that he would
have retired to the Ouachita until he
had exhausted all his other plans ? ;
Were his means adapted for agricul
ture, or war ? Was his party com
posed of families or young men I
were tney possessed ot muskets Sc
bayonets, or ploughshares and hoes ?
Were they provided with seed corn
or kiln dried meal ? But why carry
our questions further ? Was the man
who conducted them better calcula
ted for a farmer or a commander ?
Was the ardor of his desperate am
bition to be sooner gratified in the
peaceful harvests ol the field, or a
midst i he din of arms St by mowing
oft the heads of the Mexicans ?
But if these presumptive reason,
are not sufficient to remove every
doubt, there are three direct facta
which must be irresistible. Look at
the declarations of Blannerhassett to
Peter Taylor. Read the conversa
tions f Comfort Tyler in Blanner
hassett's Portico. Look at the tes.
timony of Lemuel Henry, who proves
that Robert A. New, Burr's intimate
friend, and the only Virginian we
are proud to say who was found un
der Burr's banners, did. actually ridi
cule the idea of an Ouachita settle
ment ; said that it was a good idea
to hold out to the world, and that it
seemed to go down very well.
The man who can resist this force
of evidence, must have indeed inhe
rited the soul of an ancient sceptic
" And is the settlement of the?
Ouachita completely out of the ques
tion ? Did Mr. Burr never intend to
visit his land? Why then did lie pay
so much money to Col. Lynch fru
it ?" To this we reply, that he did
not pay much money to Col. Lynch,
as appears from his evidence, even
admitting that there was a perfectly
tair contract between them ; and, se
condly, that the veil which he pur
chased for his other enterprizes was
well worth the money which he paid
for itand, thirdly, that had those
enterprizes succeeded, he might ea-
sily have repaid himself Trom the
hanks of Orleans or the rnines of
Mexico. We agree with nis advo
cates in this, that Col. Burr would
nave rcuicu 10 me uuacnita as an
asylum, but not until all his other
schemes had been blasted. Haw long
he would have remained there is be
yond our conjecture hut the proba
bility is, that the Ouachita would
have been a germ and not the gravo
of his ambition ; and that being thus
planted in the wilderness, between
Mexico and Orleans, he would have
called around him the most despe
rate and enterprizing men from all
quarters, and then struck such a
blow as would have best suited his
means and his wishes. Thanks tor
the vigilance and energy of the go
vernment which has so far defeated
his machinations
Here let us pause. We shall her
after pursue this subject in reJatior
to this man's means, to the conse
quences which are likely to arise out
of his conduct, and to the lessor
which it should teach us.
WILLIAM SHAW
And THOMAS D. BURCH,
ttAVING entered into Partnership.
! l unHer the Firm and Name of SHAW
andBURCH, they wish to make itkncwra
to their Friends and the Publ c, that they
are now opening a very extensive and
handsome Assorrment of Goods, suitable
for the Season, selected with great Care,
by one of the Partners, in New-York.
This Firm having discovered, that tor
carry on an active business, Cash is -absolutely
necessary, they are therefore deter-
mined to dispose of their Goods at reduced
Prices for that necessary Article. Prices
so far reduced, as to make Purchasers in
terested in paying ready Money.
Although the plan or mode of dointr bu
siness which this Firm intend to pursue, is
for Cash only, yet their Fr ends in Raleigh s
and its vicinity, who may purchase to an
considerable Amount, and whose Punc
tuality can be relied on, will be thankfully
furnished at three or foui Blonths Credit
(if required) on the same Term, as if Cash
were paid dawn.
Raleigh, Nov. 1, 1807.
N. B. As Goods, particularly those oC
a fine Quality, are uniformly more or leas
injured by being sent out for the inspection
of private Families, and although it is 'the
sincere desire of Shaw and Birch to oUUge,
it will be with the utmst Teluctance that
Articles of the above description will be
sent cat.
BOARDING.
qpHE Subscriber informs those
Gentlemen, Members of the General
Assembly, af his acquaintance. & others,
that he continues to occupy the same hu
on Hillsborough Street that he did last
Session, and. shall be glad to accommodate
such of the Members of the Legislatuie,
s may please to favor him wih rheir
custom. MARK COOK.
Raleigh? Oct. 28.
STEUBEN'S
Military Exercise
1,
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Mr 'I
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mi
Wi ot Eaton's dispositions for his
next noint vht:re we are able to fix
President arr.p'y coc&rm this idea I
I bo
ioiu i irtursitfuirt, and asuds; the p