Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1809-09-21
From the Ne7v 7ork Eoening' Post.
THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF.
81 No. VIII.

" F
Proofs efhe corruption Of gen. ames
Wilk;nson and 81 hi. connection Nth Aaron
Burr Sc.
Let this letter (No. 49, be examined in
this view, and we shall have no doubt of the
positive testimony of Mr.. Power; No.
43 his details will however convince the
most incredulous, and the manner in which
every p4rt.of it is supported by the other
evidence, leaves no doubt OF Its veracity
and to avoid any subterfuge to be made
from the alledgcd frailty Of memory, let it
be remembered that this account was given
at the time of the transaction, and is the
original draft of letter to governor Gayo-
SO, giving the official accoun, of Mr.. Pow
er's mission-the passage OF it is character
S istic g. The general received me coldly e.
nough in the FIRST conference he broke out
with saying to me very bitterly, we are
ruined sir, both you and myself, without
!. receiving any bene6 &, from your voyage. -
Afterwards he asked me whether | had
brought the $40 dollars eternally these
Gao dollars y he added that the executive
! had given orders to the governor of the
North Western Territory to take me and
send me to Philadelphia, and that there was
no other resource left for me to escape but
to suffer myself to be conducted immedi-
ately under guard TO Fort Massac, & from
thence to Nsw Madrid and having in
formed him OF the proposition of the Baron
he proceeded to tell me that it was chi
merical project, and impossible to be exc
cuted that the inhabitants of the western
states, having obtained all that they wished
by the treaty, would fern no other political
or commercial connection, and that now
they had no other motive to separate them
selves from the interests of the other states,
although France and Spain had made them
the most advantag propositions. hat the
fermentation which had existed for years
was now subsidized, &c. tina, Spain had now
nothing else to do but to give complete ef-
feet to the treaty zvhich had overturned all
:. his plans, and rendered useless the zvork of
more Than ten gears. And inasmuch as he
had, he said, destroyed his cyphers and all
his correspondence with our government,
and that his duty and his honor did not per-
init him to continue it, that the governor
need not fear tina, he would abuse the conf
d nee he had placed in him; finally, that
Spain having coded to- thu United States the
territory of the Naschez, &c. it might hap
pen that he 1oould be appointed governor Of
at, and Mat then opi5ortunities rooud be more
etIcaciaus to effect his political projects
He complained much that the secret of his
connections with our government had been
divulged through want of prudence on our
part &c. Here then We have the cause of
this new prudery in the generals character.
The project was now dangerous, and there.
fore ne would not embark in it. He now
beahough, him of his HONOR and his DUTY,
which had slept for ten years. He now for
the first time recolected what he owed to
his country, and the station in which he
was placed. But this illumination of honor
was but momentary flash it could not
support him through a single conference,
and in the very breath, in which he abiures
the ruinous connection, he shews that fear,
not principle, induced him to make the
temporary abandonment; he complains that
the treaty which secured the best interest
OF his country had ruined his proiects--ad..
verts TO the jealousy of his government,
and looks forward to the happy period when
the government of the Matches would ena-
Bile him 70 plot with more success the dis
membeiment of his country. A common.
sary on such evidence is unnecessary it
speaks at once to the understanding, and
the prejudice must be rooted indeed that
5 can resist Its force.
In letter from the Baron de Caronde-
let to MIR. Power, dated Esd April, 1897,
(No. A. is the following passage S have
just written to w. and have given my letter
to Mr.. Nolan, charming young man.
whom ! regard very highly (garcon char
mantle el don't lie fails le plus Grand cas-. y.