gain ground. Governor Strong was re-elected by a very CHAPTER small majority; but the Democrats obtained a majority XVIII. in both branches of the Legislature, and with it the se- 1806. lection of the governor's council. The defeat of Trafalgar, by alarming the Spaniards, had delayed an intended transfer of troops from the Havana to operate against Louisiana. But the negotiation for which the two millions had been voted came to nothing; and while that negotiation was still pending, the Spaniards again resumed a hostile attitude. On the side of Mexico, the American claim extended to the Rio Grande. The Spaniards, on the other hand, would have limited Louisiana by the Mermentau and a very narrow strip along the west bank of the Mississippi. The Sabine had hitherto been regarded, on both sides, as a sort of provisional boundary; but the Spanish commander in Texas crossed that river with a body of irregular horse, and occupied the settlement at Bayou Pierre, on the Red River, a few miles above Natchitoches, the westernmost American military station. It was deemed necessary to repel this aggression, and orders were sent to General Wilkinson, at St. Louis, at once commander-in-chief of the American army and governor of the Louisiana Territory, to re-enforce, from the posts in Louisiana, the four or five hundred regulars in the Territory of Orleans, and himself to take command there, with the view of driving back the Spaniards. V.-P P CHAPTER CHAPTER XIX. BURR'S MYSTERIOUS ENTERPRISE. AFFAIRS OF KENTUCKY. TREATY WITH GREAT BRITAIN. BURR'S TRIAL AFFAIR OF THE CHESAPEAKE ALARMING STATE OF FOREIGN THE late vice-president, Burr, had descended from of fice an utterly ruined and a desperate man; his passion 1805. for distinction, power, and wealth undiminished, but all March 5. regular and legitimate paths thereto wholly closed upon April. him. Already the seconds in his late duel with Hamilton had been found guilty, in New York, of being concerned in arrangements for the duel, and, under a recent statute to that effect, had been sentenced to twenty years' incapacity to hold any civil office. Should Burr return to New York, he could expect for himself no better fate. The New Jersey indictment for murder still hung over him; and though Governor Bloomfield had been his personal friend, in spite of all the urging of Dallas and others, he refused to direct a nolle prosequi to be entered. Burr's pecuniary were in no better state than his political affairs. His acceptance of the vice-presidency had interrupted his business as a lawyer, from which he had derived large profits; his creditors had seized all his property, and he remained overwhelmed with enormous debts. Very shortly after the expiration of his term of office, he departed, with several nominal objects in view, on a One was a speculation for a ca- CHAPTER XIX. journey to the West. nal round the Falls of the Ohio, on the Indiana side, which he seems to have projected along with Dayton, 1805. of New Jersey, whose senatorial term had just expired, and whose extensive purchases of military land warrants had given him a large interest in the military bounty lands in that vicinity. Burr had offered a share in this speculation to General Wilkinson, the commander-inchief of the army, and just appointed governor of the new Territory of Louisiana, including all the region west of the Mississippi and north of the present state of that name. Having known each other in the Revolutionary army, and both remarkable for social qualities and ac complished manners, Burr and Wilkinson had long been on intimate terms, and had carried on a correspondence occasionally in cipher-a military expedient, to the use of which, with others as well as Burr, the general seems to have been partial, even when the occasion for it was but slight. He was a man of ardent ambition and large desires; of a very speculative turn, but without talents for pecuniary business, and with small pecuniary resources; and Burr seems to have reckoned confidently upon securing his co-operation—a thing of the utmost importance, as his official position, both civil and military, would make him a very efficient agent. Another nominal object of Burr's Western tour was to present himself in Tennessee, where no previous residence was required, as a candidate for Congress. This idea, suggested by Matthew Lyon, whose own district bordered upon Tennessee, had been warmly pressed upon Burr by Wilkinson, under the apprehension, as he afterward alleged, that, unless some legitimate position could be found for him, Burr would be driven into desperate and illegal enterprises. CHAPTER XIX. Wilkinson was departing about this time to take possession of his government of Louisiana, and he invited 1805. Burr to embark with him at Pittsburg, and to descend the river in his company. The vessels then chiefly employed in descending voyages were arks-chest-like boats, square at the ends, which admitted of being fitted up with every comfort for a small number of passengers, and which floated down with the current. As Burr's own boat was first ready, he declined to wait for Wilkinson, and proceeded alone. He soon overtook Lyon, descending the river on his way home, and in his company floated down to Marietta. Lyon proceeded on his voyage, but Burr stopped at Blennerhasset's Island, nearly opposite Marietta, and there he acquired a most zealous, devoted, and enthusiastic partisan. This was Herman Blennerhasset, an Irishman, possessing by inheritance a considerable fortune, a man of education and refinement, who had retired from Europe under the influence of certain politico-romantic notions, common in Great Britain toward the close of the eighteenth century-the same in which Southey and Coleridge had deeply shared. Retiring to the frontier settlements, Blennerhasset had invested a considerable part of his fortune in erecting, near Marietta, on an island in the Ohio, which soon became known by his name, an elegant mansion, surrounded by gardens and conservatories-furnished in a style as yet unknown beyond the mountains, and provided with a large and valuable library-a little Eden of civilization in the midst of the wilderness. As if to give completeness to this romantic picture, Blennerhasset had a wife no less enthusiastic and accomplished than himself; and she, even more, if possible, than her husband, appears to have been captivated by the arts of Burr, whose success with the fair sex was the very thing on which he most prided himself. Blennerhasset had some interest in a CHAPTER mercantile firm at Marietta, but appears to have had XIX. no great business capacity, and but little knowledge of 1805. the world. His excitable imagination was at once set on fire by the grand and splendid projects which Burr unfolded. Perhaps, too, the insufficiency of his income for the style of life he had adopted, no less than the promptings of his own ambition and that of his wife, made him ready to risk what he had in the hope of princely returns. After considerable delay at this agreeable spot, Burr resumed his voyage, and at the fall of the Ohio (Louisville) again overtook Lyon, who had been detained there by business, and by whom he was told that his delay in pressing forward had ruined his chance of being elected from Tennessee. Nevertheless, he accompanied Lyon to his home at Eddyville, up the Cumberland River, whence he proceeded on horseback to Nashville. There he was honored with a public reception, very cordial and enthu- May 28. siastic. After remaining a few days, he returned to Eddyville in a boat furnished by General Andrew Jackson, a resident in the neighborhood, who had formerly known Burr while they were both members of Congress, and who had received him with great hospitality. Nothing had been said at Nashville as to his being a candidate for Congress; but he still urged Lyon to write on the subject to a gentleman there, from whom he had received great attentions-probably Jackson-at the same time observing that he might be a delegate from the Orleans Territory, but that he should prefer to enter Congress as a full member. Having resumed his voyage in his own boat, Burr met Wilkinson, then on his way to St. Louis, at Fort Massac, on the Ohio, nearly opposite the mouth of the Cum |