The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1807-09-09

thar the letter bad been een by any human h,
ing TO his Knowledge, except the perlon 70 whom i,
was addreied, the ooauie for the United States ,he
Chief Juitice and Tome OF Col. Burr's council. 20
whom It was confidently communicated wh'a view
to aicertan whether an arrangement could nor h..
made for its production with the exception of thoc.
parts, which in his judgement ought not to be diiclo
/ fed.
| Col Burr fad he would be more explicit. He
would ak whether the letter or a copy had nor been
produced to the grand Jury.
| MIR. Hay. do 10, know that either the original
or COPY were ever laid before the grand Jury. |
believe that they nor. But an, not e, we &C.
qnantsd with what Paiied with the grand Jury as
lone otlirr gentlemen are.
Mr. Hay iaid there could he no Doubt or the accu.
raey OF the copy. Before he was certain ,har ne had
the original letter of the 9th Nov he obtiined CO.
Ply from Gen. Wilknlon which he found in compari.
ion' was eorreet in the moi minute particulars lie
"ie'tionedfhis cireumance merely to fsow the Rrong
probability that the copy of the letter of the cid of
October might be relied upon as equally correca
Mr. IHneaa was ivorn.-On impeding the copy
OF the letter of the 2in of O9ober. he fad it was
m the hand writing o. Capt. Walter 5urling aid-ds
camp 10 Cen. Wiiknion, on the Sabine expedition:
that he was intimately acquainted with that gentle
man, mad often Teen him write, and knew his hand
writing well.
Mr.. Hay fad that he willing to Rat. on af,ida
Wit, 1t required, that he had not the original MIR
Rodney had informed him that he had f.nt all the
letters. A large packet had been received, but he
had no. been able to fird this particular on..
MIR Belts moved for EviS~ns daeet term to be di
reeied to Mr. Hay for the produce OF che orig nal
letter oil the l2th Nov. 1906 which then lay before
HIM He denied the RICH, Of the government - with
hoid the paper.
Gel. Bur- faid that Pate fe,ets were fnch only as
Affected the public at large. But if man thought
proper to make denunciation of individual charge
ters' ne had been guilty of great offence and delerv
ed no protection.
Mr.. Hay declared, that he was willing to expsfe
10 much OF the letter ..lated to Col Burr himlsc
6at he enqnired whether it would be right to exhi
b.; 10 pubic view thoie parts which would tend to
produce controversy between others. Cafes may oc-
cur IN which the diiahectior the government nav
Dc lueh, and 10 extenlve among the officers of
the government, that 1T may become the duty Of pri-
vate citizens to inform The acoufed may have all
that belongs to his defence but he never would nut
1t IN his power, make ule of the letter for the pnr
poles to ~hth he was fatisGed i, would be applied
He could not fee why Col. BUR- f,ould nep forward
as the friend OF thoe who had been denounced even
II there were fuch. But, in trsth, the paf1ages of
tae letter which he was unwilling expofe, were
merely o"ioas OF the writer with reipea to certain
perions, which Opinions may have changed as re-
lated to Tome OF them be kaevv they had changed
here were two paiages in the letter which he could
not content hould he een unefs they were extorted
by the court. He did not know that he would Weld
under any circumstances He would, indeed, rather
go to Jail than cxpofe them.
MIR. WiekGza obierved, that after the fentin,en,s
OF defiance which had been uttered by the gentlemen
on the other tds, it only remained to apply to the
court Tor an exertion of its authority Motives OF
decaey, It well ietted, were not fufhcient to
lsPpres evidence which was deemed eentiai for the
purpoies o juttiee. He nanced the cafe of the Dat
chefs OF Kingiton, in which certain gentlemen were
compelled to give tettimony of mot delicate raure
and relative to iuhjecs which they had foemnly pro
niiied forever to conceal But heie parts of he let
ter ProPo'ed to be lupprsned, may be of the umolt
Importance 10 the accuied. II Gen. Wilkinion fall
have denounced perons defervediy high in the con.
fidenee Of the government and people, it would
rally ehtn his credbility in relation to col Barr
| c. JgFife. The writ Of G5PoGna duee5 feeaz is
lonetmes awarded upon motion, bur it is more fire.
quenty matter Of coHrfe upon the mere fuggeRion
OF the party. An argument as 20 the PropTiety of
calling for the paper for TIE produ ton of which
was awarded, is referved for the return.
| The writ Of Sajbrna Dues 1eepw was accordingly
J iHued to which MIR. Hay made the return Inherited
in our la; and on the next day annexed the iupple
mental return, which have given in this day pa
| per.
| On this an animated debate enfued. MIR
Bots and MIR. Wickham poke on the fde of Col
! Burr; MIR. McRae and Mr.. Wri, on the fde of The
1
| iervations the court.
The council for Col Purr contended that it belong
ed the accuied and his Council excIuveiy Judge
whether the zpLoe letter would be necery Tor the
defence or not that neither the council for the Unit
ed States tia Judge himle could in fscret, with
out argument, - knowledge of the points which
they place the deience of their client, fay
whether thoie parts which deemed confidential,
| would, or would not have important bearing on
the caul; that if certain characters had been calum-
| mated, the authors of that calummy ought to be
expoled that If the denunciations of Gen. Wilkin-
iom were iua and msred, it act of Jutice to
give to him the laurels which he deferved that how
ever neceflry fate iecrecy might be in diplomatic a
fairs yet in doaec matters it deteable, becaue
it might furDiih pretexs men in power to work
the delruStou of any perfou obnoxious 90 them,
without giving them opportunity OF outlying
themfclves They believed theie parts Of the letter
which related to the characters of individuals of the
parts were really unimPortaut.
/ The cogniel for the United States referred to the
form of the affidavit fled by col Burr, in which he
Rates, that the letter may BE- of importance to HIM
as a matter Of evidence; thats particular ground
~ as nated why the letter would De material, ard it
was impohible in lueh cafe detect the perlO1
making the affidavit, becauie there was no point to
which it was dreSted that if perion might CAPRI
coufy By vague affidavit of TINS kind exiort evi-
dence 10 man, private papers would be fscred;
thar the molf confidential papers in bis poI, 1iou
might be extracted from his dels, uudcr pretex5 that
they agb b efeutia for the purPoes Of Juice that
evs, Jitfii,g the pa15Ves propnled 20 be withheld