The mountain sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1844-1853, 1852-06-03

ring the cooperation of his old military a.,oci-
ciate with whom he had carried on at various
times, correspondence in cipher, and whose
civil and military position promised to make
him very efficient agent in the scheme to
which all other projects were intended finally to
succumb.
Wilkinson, who about this time was getting
ready to embark at Pittsburg to take possession
of his government in Louisiana, invited Burr 70
descend the river i. his company; but as Burr's
own bost-the common ark or fat-boat of those
dsys-vss already prepared to start, be pro-
ceeded on his voyage alone.
When nearly opposite Marietta, he stopped at
Blenerhs.set's Island, and there, for the first
time, made the acquaintance of its enthusiastic
but visionary owner This was Herman Blen-
nerhssset, an Irish Gentleman, who, becoming
disgusted with the political condition of his OWL
country, had settled on an island in the Ohio,
and being possessed Of 6 considerable fortune,
grahfed his refined taste by erecting an ele-
CANT mansioa in the wilderness, and surround
ing it with sll those luxurious accessories which
lad hitherto been unknown beyond the mounA
tains.
The beautiful and accomplished wife of Blen-
| nerhssset was no less an enthusiast than him
! self and Burr, master of all those arts which
are best calculated 10 elicit the admiration Of
women, soon succeeded in attaching warmly to
his cause tuo persons whose ambition had pre-
| viously been bounded by the limits of their own
domain.
Working upon the ardent imagination Of Blen-
nerhas.et, Burr moulded him as easily to his
purpose. the potter the clay beneath his
hands Both Blennerhaeset and his wife devo-
! ted themselves, and al they possessed of wealth
| to the fortunes Of the crafty and unscrupulous
adventurer, with enthusiasm heated almost
to fanaticsm by the glowing prospects held out
to them in the future.
! The project which Burr actually entertained
was one well sd.pted to enlist in his cause all
! those who dissatisfied with their present
condition Of iife. and such turbulent and restless
| spirits ss ready for any enterprise which
! promised 90 crafty their ambition, even though
| It should be at the expense of common justice
| and morality
Well knowing how odious the Spanish name
had become to great portion of the people OF
| the West and South, from the difficulties which
had for so many years attended the navigation
of the Mississippi on the one hand, and from the
long existing territorial disputes on the other,
the svheme which Burr desired to perfect was to
organize military force upon the western wa
| ters, descend the Mississippi, and wrest from
Spain a portion of her territory bounding on the
! Gulf of Mexico. AS the cOnsumation of this act
would necessarily implicate the southwestern
portion of the United States, it was proposed
to make New Orleans the capital of the new en-
pire, of which Burr to become the chief, but
whether dictator or president was left for the
future to decide.
When he quilted the hospitable mansion of Blen
nerhasset, Burr resumed his voyage in his owl
boat, and met Wilkinson at Fort Massac, by
whom he was provided with barge, belonging
to one of the officers and manned by crew o
soldiers. Furnished with sufficient provision FOL
the voyage, and bearing letters of introduction
from Wilkinson to gentlemen in New Orleans, ht
sailed for that city, which he reached somewher,
about the 25th of June, 1906.
The unpopularity of Governor Claiborne, anC
the bitter feuds by which parties were divided il
that city, offered great encouragement to hi:
projects. After short stay in New Orleans
Burr re- iscended the river to Nachez travelled by
land to Nashville, where he was entertained fol
a week by General Andrew Jackson and after
being complimented with public dinner, pro
ceeded on horseback to Kentucky. He spent
few weeks in the latter state, and then set GU
by land for st. Louis, where he took up his res
idence with a relation of his, who at his specia
request had been appointed secretary to the new
territory OF Louisiana
1t was not until he met him in st. Louis, tha
Wilkinson, according to his own account, begaI
TO entertain Il suspicion of Burr's design. Tn,
manner of the subtle intriguer is represented a
having become altered and mysterious. I'll,
threw ont his hints of splendid enterprise, anC
spoke of it cautiously, as favored by the gov
ernment itself with being imbecile, and insnu
ated that the people of the West were ready fo
a revolt.
| Wilkinson asserts that his own impression 0
danger to the confederation were such, that h
Immediately wrote to his friend, the secretary o
the navy, advising him that some great move
ment was contemplated by Burr, and cautionins
him TO keep a strict watch. The aid-de-camp o
Wilkinson testified TO having copied, and, as h
believed transmitted such letter through tn
: post to the secretary but as the latter coul'
not recollect having received any such documen
the important nature of which ought certainl
to have impressed itself upon his mind, it is