XIX. not, however, join him till he had first visited his friends; CHAPTER nor, though efforts were made for it, did Burr succeed in obtaining any of the soldiers of the garrison. 1807. Having reached the first settlement on the left bank Jan. 10. of the Mississippi, Burr, who had gone on ahead of the other boats, landed at the house of a planter, one of the judges of the Mississippi Territory. On inquiring for newspapers, there was handed to him, as it happened, the very New Orleans journal containing a statement respecting the condition of affairs made by Wilkinson to the Legislature of the Orleans Territory, called together in special session, and annexed to which was a deciphered copy of Burr's letter to Wilkinson, received through Swartwout and Bollman. Perceiving what he had to expect at New Orleans, and fearful that he might be arrested at once, Burr directed his boats to withdraw to the west bank of the river, and there, out of the jurisdiction of the Mississippi Territory, an encampment was established, sentinels were posted, and a piece of ground was cleared on which to exercise the men. This was some thirty miles above Natchez. The president's proclamation had already reached the Mississippi Territory, with special instructions also; and, notwithstanding a letter from Burr denying the truth of current rumors as to his intentions, deprecating civil war, and requesting that steps might be taken to appease the public alarm, the acting governor at once called out a body of about four hundred militia for the purpose of arresting Burr. While these troops were collecting at Coles's Creek, a few miles below Bayou Pierre, opposite to which was Burr's camp, three or four militia officers, one of whom was Poindexter, attorney general of the Territory, were sent to induce Burr to surrender. With them he entered into a written agreement, under CHAPTER a guarantee for his personal safety, to meet the governor XIX. the next day at Coles's Creek. He came accordingly; 1807. and under threat that, immediately after his return to Jan. 16. his boats, the militia would be ordered to advance and seize the whole party, he made an unconditional surrender to the civil authority, and agreed that his boats should be scarched, and that all arms should be seized. Previously, however, to this search, the boats moved down toward Coles's Creek, and on the way, during the night, several chests of arms were thrown overboard, so that not many were discovered on board. Feb. 5. Meanwhile Burr proceeded to Washington, the seat of government of the Mississippi Territory, about ten miles east of Natchez. Poindexter gave it as his official opinion that there was no evidence to convict Burr of any offense in the Mississippi Territory, and, moreover, that the Supreme Territorial Court, being a court of appeals only, could not entertain original jurisdiction of the matter, and that it would be best to send Burr to the seat of the national government, where the Supreme Court of the United States was in session, by which the proper locality for the trial of Burr might be determined. But Rodney, the judge before whom Burr was brought, thought differently, and he directed a grand jury to be summoned to attend the approaching term of the Supreme Territorial Court, and Burr to give recognizances to appear from day to day. When the court met, Poindexter took the same ground as before; but as the two judges, Rodney and Bruin, were divided in opinion, his motion was overruled. The grand jury retired, and no evidence having been offered against Burr, instead of indicting him, they presently brought in presentments against the acting governor for calling out the militia; against the manner in which XIX. Burr had been compelled to surrender; and against the CHAPTER late proceedings at New Orleans! Burr withdrew to the house of one of his sureties; but, 1807. alarmed by a report that some military officers had been sent from New Orleans by Wilkinson to arrest him, he disappeared that same evening. He spoke with much bitterness of Wilkinson as a traitor, and expressed a great dislike to fall into his hands. He returned to his boats, and told the men that he had been tried and acquitted, but that they were going to arrest him again, and that he must fly. What property, provisions, and other things there were in the boats, they might sell and make the most of, and might go and settle on the Washita lands if they chose. Nothing more was heard of Burr for some time, except a message, believed to be in his handwriting, directed to T. or F. (Tyler or Floyd), found under the cape of a coat belonging to Burr, but worn by a negro boy, in which he desired his men, if they had not separated, to keep together, to get their arms ready, and he would join them the next night-a message which led to several arrests. Burr's men, several of whom were afterward used against him as witnesses, dispersed through the Territory, furnishing it, as Poindexter afterward testified, with an abundant supply of schoolmasters, singing-masters, dancing-masters, and doctors. A reward having been offered for his capture, Burr was arrested some time after in the Eastern Mississippi settle- Feb. 19. ments, on the Tombigbee, through which he was passing on horseback, meanly dressed, attended by a single companion, and whence he was sent, under a guard, to Washington. The arrest was made by the register of the land-office, assisted by Lieutenant Gaines (afterward Major-general Gaines), with a sergeant and four men from Fort Stoddart. XIX. CHAPTER Just about the time of Burr's arrival near Natchez, General Adair reached New Orleans by land, but was 1807. immediately taken into custody by Wilkinson, and sent round by sea to Baltimore. The alarm did not immediately cease upon the stoppage of Burr's boats. As it was imagined that he had promises of foreign assistance, confederates in various quarters, and numerous partisans in the city itself, it was thought that even yet an attack might be made. There had been in New Orleans a society called the Mexican Association, formed for the purpose of obtaining information respecting the internal provinces of that viceroyalty, with a view, it was admitted, to some future expedition against them. This society, it was said, had some time before dwindled to nothing, and had discontinued its meetings; yet all those who had once been connected with it were suspected as Burr's partisans. Not willing to risk further arrests, from which the prisoners might be discharged on writs of habeas corFeb. 10. pus, Governor Claiborne applied to the Territorial Legis 1806. lature to suspend that writ. But though, in other respects, the majority had supported his and Wilkinson's measures, they refused to grant this request. A considerable party, both in the Assembly and among the citizens, was very bitter against what they called the highhanded and tyrannical proceedings of Wilkinson and Claiborne. Wortman resigned his office of judge on the ground that the government was usurped by military authority, and Livingston presently came out with a long vindication against the insinuation which had been thrown out by Wilkinson to his disadvantage. In the midst of the excitement occasioned by the issue Dec. 1. of the president's proclamation, the ninth Congress came together for its second session. In the opening message some allusions were made to that proclamation; but it XIX. was six weeks before the proceedings against Burr came CHAPTER distinctly before the House. To a call for information, moved by Randolph, and carried against a good deal of 1807. opposition from the president's more particular supporters, the president replied by a statement of the steps taken Jan. 22. by his orders. Though it was not yet known what had become of Burr, all occasion for alarm had ceased. the president declared, and yet, as if in spite of this declaration, a bill was at once introduced into the Senate, and, by a suspension of all the rules by unanimous con- Jan. 23. sent, was passed in secret session without a division, suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus for three months. So This singular movement is best explained by the legal proceedings then pending in the case of Bollman and Swartwout, who, having been brought across the country from Annapolis, had arrived at Washington that same evening, and had been committed to the custody of the Jan. 24. marine corps. The following Monday they were brought before the Circuit Court, the principal court of law of the district, on a charge of treason, the president's message of the previous week being relied upon by the counsel for the government as conclusive proof of the existence of a traitorous plot a course of reasoning to which two of the three judges assented. A deposition of Wilkinson, objected to as being ex parte, was also introduced, as well as the testimony of Eaton; and the court, on this evidence, two to one, committed the prisoners for trial. Jan. 30. If the suspension of the habeas corpus was intended for this case, that intention failed of its effect, for the House very unceremoniously rejected the bill from the Jan. 26. Senate by the decisive vote of 113 to 16. A day or two Jan. 28. after, all alarm was quieted by the information commu |