cello. But independent of them, the printed laws, beginning in 1682, with all our former printed collections, will be a most valuable publication, & sufficiently distinct. I shall have no doubt of the exactness of your part of the work, but I hope you will take measures for having the typography & paper worthy of the work. I am lead to this caution by the scandalous volume of our laws printed by Pleasants in 1803, & those by Davis, in 1796 were little better; both unworthy the history of Tom Thumb. You can have them better & cheaper printed anywhere north of Richmond. Accept my salutations & assurances of respect.

TO CÆSAR A. RODNEY.1

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 1807. DEAR SIR,-Keep the contents of this letter, if you please, to yourself. I yesterday nominated you to the Senate as Attorney General of the U. S. Whether it will be confirmed will rest with them, and they often subject nominations to great delay. My only object in mentioning it to you is that you may be making all the provisional arrangements necessary for an immediate visit to this place if you should receive the commission. The Supreme Court meeting on Monday will require necessarily the presence of the Atty. Genl. and we have also an Executive matter calling for his immediate agency. You may come alone, as I presume & stay the session of the court and afterwards return for your family. Accept my friendly salutations and assurances of great esteem and respect.

1 From a copy courteously furnished by Mr. John Boyd Thacher, of Albany, N. Y.

TO THE GOVERNOR OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
(CHARLES PINCKNEY.)

J. MSS.

WASHINGTON, Jany 20, 07. DEAR SIR, I received two days ago a letter from Genl Wilkinson, dated at N Orleans, Decr 14, in which he enclosed me an affidavit, of which I now transmit you a copy. You will perceive that it authenticates the copy of a letter from Colo Burr to the General, affirming that Mr. Alston, his son-in-law, is engaged in the unlawful enterprises he is carrying on, and is to be an actor in them. I am to add, also, that I have received information from another source, that Mr. Alston, while returning from Kentucky last autumn through the upper part of your State, proposed to a Mr. Butler of that part of the country, to join in Colo Burr's enterprise, which he represented as of a nature to make his fortune, & is understood to have been explained as against Mexico, as well as for separating the Union of these States. That Butler communicated this to a person, of the same part of the country, called Span, who communicated it to a Mr. Horan, the clerk of a court in that quarter; that Butler & Span agreed to join in the enterprise, but Horan refused.

Nobody is a better judge than yourself whether any & what measures can be taken on this information. As to Genl Wilkinson's affidavit, it will be laid before the Legislature in a few days, and, of course, will be publick; but as to the other part, if no use can be made of it, your own discretion & candor would lead you to keep it secret. It is further well known here that Mr. Alston is an endorser to a considerable amount, of the bills which have

enabled Colo Burr to prepare his treasons. A message which I shall send into the Legislature two days hence, will give a development of them. I avail myself with pleasure of this opportunity of recalling myself to your recollection, & of assuring you of my constant esteem & high consideration.'

1 On February 22, 1807, Jefferson wrote to Gallatin :

"I send you Allston's letter for perusal. He thinks to get over this matter by putting a bold face on it. I have the names of three persons whose evidence, taken together, can fix on him the actual endeavor to engage men in Burr's enterprise. Some appropriation must certainly be made for provisions, &c., arrested. I expect we must pay for them all, and use the provisions for the army. But how is the appropriation to be introduced?"

SPECIAL MESSAGE ON BURR.'

January 22, 1807.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:Agreeably to the request of the House of Representatives, communicated in their resolution of the sixteenth instant, I proceed to state under the reserve therein expressed, information received touching an illegal combination of private individuals against the peace and safety of the Union, and a military expedition planned by them against the territories of a power in amity with the United States, with the measures I have pursued for suppressing the same.

I had for some time been in the constant expectation of receiving such further information as would have enabled me to lay before the legislature the termination as well as the beginning and progress of this scene of depravity, so far it has been acted on the Ohio and its waters. From this the state and safety of the lower country might have been estimated on probable grounds, and the delay was indulged the rather, because no circumstance had yet made it necessary to call in the aid of the legislative functions. Information now recently communicated has brought us nearly to the period contemplated. The mass of what I have received, in the course of these transactions, is voluminous, but little has been given under the sanction of an oath, so as to constitute formal and legal evidence. It is chiefly in the form of letters, often containing such a mixture of rumors, conjectures, and suspicions, as ren1 Jefferson enclosed this message to the Governor of Louisiana in the following letter:

"WASHINGTON, Feby 3, '07.

"DEAR SIR,-I pray you to read the enclosed letter, to seal & deliver it. It explains itself so fully, that I need say nothing. I am sincerely concerned for Mr. Reibelt, who is a man of excellent understanding and extensive science. If you had any academical berth, he would be much better fitted for that than for the bustling business of life. I enclose to Genl Wilkinson my message of Jan. 22. I presume, however, you will have seen it in the papers. It gives the history of Burr's conspiracy, all but the last chapter, which will, I hope, be that of his capture before this time, at Natchez. Your situations have been difficult, and we judge of the merit of our agents there by the magnitude of the danger as it appeared to them, not as it was known to us. On great occasions every

der it difficult to sift out the real facts, and unadvisable to hazard more than general outlines, strengthened by concurrent information, or the particular credibility of the relater. In this state of the evidence, delivered sometimes too under the restriction of private confidence, neither safety nor justice will permit the exposing names, except that of the principal actor, whose guilt is placed beyond question.

Some time in the latter part of September, I received intimations that designs were in agitation in the western country, unlawful and unfriendly to the peace of the Union; and that the prime mover in these was Aaron Burr, heretofore distinguished by the favor of his country. The grounds of these intimations being inconclusive, the objects uncertain, and the fidelity of that country known to be firm, the only measure taken was to urge the informants to use their best endeavors to get further insight into the designs and proceedings of the suspected persons, and to communicate them to me.

It was not until the latter part of October, that the objects of the conspiracy began to be perceived, but still so blended and involved in mystery that nothing distinct could be singled out for pursuit. In this state of uncertainty as to the crime contemplated, the acts done, and the legal course to be pursued, I thought it best to send to the scene where these things were principally in transaction, a person, in whose integrity, understanding, and discretion, entire confidence could be reposed, with instructions to investigate the plots going on, to enter into conference (for which he had

good officer must be ready to risk himself in going beyond the strict line of law, when the public preservation requires it; his motives will be a justification as far as there is any discretion in his ultra-legal proceedings, & by indulgence of private feelings. On the whole, this squall, by shewing with what ease our government suppresses movements which in other countries requires armies, has greatly increased its strength by increasing the public confidence in it. It has been a wholesome lesson too to our citizens, of the necessary obedience to their government. The Feds, & the little band of Quids, in opposition, will try to make something of the infringement of liberty by the military arrest & deportation of citizens, but if it does not go beyond such offenders as Swartwout, Bollman, Burr, Blennerhasset, Tyler, &c., they will be supported by the public approbation. Accept my friendly salutations, & assurances of esteem & respect."

sufficient credentials) with the governors and all other officers, civil and military, and with their aid to do on the spot whatever should be necessary to discover the designs of the conspirators, arrest their means, bring their persons to punishment, and to call out the force of the country to suppress any unlawful enterprise in which it should be found they were engaged. By this time it was known that many boats were under preparation, stores of provisions collecting, and an unusual number of suspicious characters in motion on the Ohio and its waters. Besides despatching the confidential agent to that quarter, orders were at the same time sent to the governors of the Orleans and Mississippi territories, and to the commanders of the land and naval forces there, to be on their guard against surprise, and in constant readiness to resist any enterprise which might be attempted on the vessels, posts, or other objects under their care; and on the 8th of November, instructions were forwarded to General Wilkinson to hasten an accommodation with the Spanish commander on the Sabine, and as soon as that was effected, to fall back with his principal force to the hither bank of the Mississippi, for the defence of the intersecting points on that river. By a letter received from that officer on the 25th of November, but dated October 21st, we learn that a confidential agent of Aaron Burr had been deputed to him, with communications partly written in cipher and partly oral, explaining his designs, exaggerating his resources, and making such offers of emolument and command, to engage him and the army in his unlawful enterprise, as he had flattered himself would be successful. The general, with the honor of a soldier and fidelity of a good citizen, immediately despatched a trusty officer to me with information of what had passed, proceeding to establish such an understanding with the Spanish commandant on the Sabine as permitted him to withdraw his force across the Mississippi, and to enter on measures for opposing the projected enterprise.

The general's letter, which came to hand on the 25th of November, as has been mentioned, and some other information received a few days earlier, when brought together, developed Burr's general designs, different parts of which only had been revealed to different informants. It appeared that he contem