Part 245

NEW ORLEANS, March 8, 1803.

As a proof that expectations of assistance from ourselves against our own Government have been always relied on by the Spaniards, and that they have constantly looked to a division of our Western States from the General Government, I now forward you an order to receive from Washington Morton, Esq., of New York, a sealed packet which I left in his possession when I set out for Europe, and which I then mentioned I would show you at my return, not thinking, at that time, that circumstances would occur so soon as to render the disclosure a measure of immediate necessity. Among other papers of less importance in this packet, is a small part of the correspondence of the Baron de Carondelet with the officer commanding Fort St. Ferdinand, at the Chickasaw Bluffs, in which he suffers his plans and views to be clearly perceived, and which were solely aimed at our destruction; the remainder are, as well as I recollect, copies of talks and letters to and from the Chickasaw Indians; and, by the Baron de Carondelet’s letter to the officer, you will perceive that the fact I advised you respecting the annual pension of five hundred dollars to Uguluycabé cannot be disputed.

Should you think these documents of sufficient importance to require my presence in Washington to elucidate any part of them, I shall immediately sacrifice all private business of my own, and hasten there; and, in the mean time, will endeavor to collect, from undoubted sources, such other information relative to this subject as may be acceptable.

Although for four or five years past I had a perfect conviction that the intrigues of the Spaniards with the Western country were not for the time dangerous, on account of the incapacity of the Governors of this province, and their want of pecuniary means, yet, fearful of what might happen in future, should more enlightened and ambitious chiefs preside over it, I could not last year resist the temptation of hinting my suspicions of what had been formerly done in this way to the President at an interview with which he honored me, and I even went so far as to assert that a person supposed to be an agent from the State of Kentucky had been here in the end of 1795 and beginning of 1796, to negotiate on the part of that State, independent of the General Government, for the navigation of the Mississippi, before the result of the Treaty of St. Lorenzo was known, wishing that this hint might induce the President, to cause inquiry to be made into the circumstance, which he could easily find the means of investigating; but as he made no other inquiry of me respecting it than merely in what year the thing happened, it struck me that he must have had other information on the subject, and that he thought it needless to hear any thing more about it. By great accident I have lately learned something which induces me to suppose that any information he may have received respecting the measure alluded to has been incorrect, and given with the view of misleading him, and I request you will mention the subject anew to him, that you may know how far I am right in my suspicions. The information I possessed on the subject, could not, from the way in which it was obtained, be accompanied with what would be proof to convict the person concerned, or I should have openly accused him in the face of the world; but to me it amounts to a moral certainty of his guilt, and my conduct to him showed, on all occasions, how much I detested his object and his person. The same want of proof positive, sufficient to convict him, prevents me at present from naming him; but if inquiry is diligently made about the influential character from Kentucky, who at that period was so long in Natchez, and afterwards here, what his business was, and what was the idea entertained of him, enough will doubtless be discovered to put our Government on its guard against him and others of his stamp, and against all foreign machinations in that quarter in future.

Communicated to the House, April 25, 1808, by Daniel Clark.

Pursuant to the resolution of the House, calling on me for testimony relative to General Wilkinson’s receipt of money from the Spaniards, I now lay before it some original papers, corroborating the statement which I have already given:

No. 1. The first is the translation of a letter, in Spanish, from Thomas Power to D. Thomas Portell, dated at New Madrid, June 27, 1796, and containing the reasons why it was proper for Portell to deliver to Power, without an order in writing from General Wilkinson, a sum of money which had been placed for that purpose in Portell’s hands by the Spanish Government of New Orleans. The original letter is subjoined in the handwriting of Mr. Power, with which I am acquainted.

This letter explains the deposition of Derbigny, and also makes mention of the letter in cipher from General Wilkinson to Gayoso, then Governor of Natchez, of which a translation, in the handwriting of Gayoso, has heretofore been laid before the House. It may be proper to add that I am well acquainted with the handwriting of Gayoso, in which the translation is written, and that he has been dead more than eight years.

No. 2. A translation of Portell’s answer to the foregoing, dated Madrid, on the same day, June 27, 1796. The original is subjoined in the handwriting of Portell, with which I am acquainted.

The object of this correspondence seems to have been to furnish to Portell the means of explaining to his superiors his motives for delivering the money without a written order.

Nos. 3 and 4 are two original papers in the handwriting of Philip Nolan, with which I am well acquainted. Nolan was the confidential agent of Gen. Wilkinson in 1796, and has been dead several years.

These two papers are stated by Mr. Power to be secret instructions given to him by General Wilkinson, after the latter received money from Portell, mentioned in Nos. 1 and 2. The instructions, according to Mr. Power’s statement, were given in the handwriting of Nolan, as a measure of precaution against the danger of detection. The six hundred and forty dollars, of which they make mention, are stated by Mr. Power to be a part of the sum received, for Wilkinson, of Portell, which Power, after his arrival in Kentucky, was obliged to use for the expenses of his journey.

No. 5. Is the translation of a letter to the Baron de Carondelet from Mr. Power, dated at New Orleans, May 9, 1797, after his return from Kentucky. The original letter in Spanish is subjoined. It is in Mr. Power’s handwriting, with which I am acquainted. It explains the affair of the six hundred and forty dollars, mentioned in the secret instructions, Nos. 3 and 4, and refers to and quotes those instructions as the instructions of General Wilkinson.

No. 6. Is the translation of the Baron de Carondelet’s answer to this letter. The answer is in Spanish, and in the handwriting of Don Andres Armesto, Secretary to the Government, which I know. It is signed by the Baron de Carondelet, with whose signature I am acquainted.

DANIEL CLARK.

No. 1.

Translation of a letter from Thomas Power to Don Thomas Portell, Commandant of New Madrid, dated

NEW MADRID, June 26, 1797.

Having received verbal instructions from Mr. James Wilkinson, the American General, to take charge of the money, which, by a letter, he received from the Secretary of the Government, Don Andres Armesto, under date of 7th or 8th of March last, of which I was bearer, he has advice, is deposited in this post, and being informed by the official letter which you have received on this business from the Governor General of the Province, of which you will be pleased to furnish me a copy, that said money is not to be delivered without an express order from the said Mr. Wilkinson, I find myself forced to relate circumstantially some particulars to smooth and remove the difficulty which the want of a written order on the part of the aforesaid General Wilkinson presents. Although this relation may appear an abuse of the confidence with which the Governor General of the Province and the Governor of Natchez, and particularly General Wilkinson, have honored me, I am persuaded that the urgency of the case which offers will serve me as an excuse and justification.

You are not ignorant of the fact, that Don Manuel Gayoso de Lemos being here in the month of September, of the year last past, he intrusted to me some despatches of the greatest importance for General Wilkinson, which I carried to Cincinnati, and I returned with the answers in the month of November. By order of the said Don Manuel Gayoso, I made immediately another journey to the Ohio, and I ascended it to Red Bank in search of Sebastian, who came with me to the mouth of the Ohio, where we met with the Governor of Natchez. At the end of December, I accompanied this gentleman to Natchez, and I went thence to New Orleans.

The principal object of my going down was to take charge, by order of General Wilkinson, of the money which you have now in deposit for him, which is shown by the letters which he wrote to the governors of this province and of Natchez; but, at my arrival, the money had been already sent off in one of His Majesty’s galleys, for this place, which I learned from the Baron de Carondelet, the Intendant, and Don Andres de Armesto. I repeatedly treated on this business with the two last of these persons, urging forcibly the necessity of sending sugar, coffee, and powder, to New Madrid, to form a cargo to take to Kentucky with Wilkinson’s money, hiding, by this means, the true intention of the voyage, and giving it the appearance of a commercial speculation. All this Wilkinson had before represented as indispensable for many reasons, particularly in order to avoid a misfortune similar to that which had already occurred. At last the Secretary told me that the barge in which Mr. Aaron Gregg, the American officer, was to go up, was destined for this service, and that as for the crew, he would permit me to choose among the Creoles, residents in this post, those who might appear to me most worthy of confidence, so that I left New Orleans with the belief that at my return to this post I should find every thing disposed conformable to what I have just related. On arrival at Greenville, informed General Wilkinson of the steps which had no doubt had been taken, from whence has resulted, that he, like myself, was impressed with the belief that all the measures for executing this service with success had been taken. I cannot communicate all the motives why Wilkinson has not given me an order in writing; but one of them was, that he did not know the sum of money which you had to deliver to his order, the Governors not having written a word to him on the subject, the Secretary only saying that his money was deposited in New Madrid, without expressing the sum. In the letters in cipher, from General Wilkinson for the governors, which are here enclosed, he tells them that he has sent me to bring the aforesaid money, informing you that the No. 1 is for the Governor General of the Province, and the No. 2 for Don Manuel Gayoso. I will add that General Wilkinson, when I represented to him that on presenting myself without his order in writing, some difficulty might arise, authorized me, if the case required it, to write an order that you should deliver his money, specifying the sum there might be, signing it in his name, and giving you a receipt therefor. I cannot omit that the commission of General Wilkinson was so sudden, so urgent, that it was extended even to limiting my return to my destination by the first of August, of which I advise you that you may endeavor not to delay the service. I believe that the Governor General is not ignorant of the embarrassments of General Wilkinson, nor can he be ignorant that, for a long time past, he has been expecting this money, the delay of which has been the cause of much trouble to him, involving him in great difficulties; and I can assure you, confidently, that he will be very much disgusted with any delays in the expedition, which might be productive of serious injury. As for the mode of carrying the money, it is evident that to take it openly would be too scandalous a thing, if I were not to say that it would be madness. The unhappy result of the expedition of the unfortunate Henry Owen ought to serve as a beacon in order not to lose ourselves on the same rock, and to make us take another course less dangerous. I would wish you to put a bag of one thousand dollars in a barrel of coffee or sugar, so that although the difference of the respective gravity, between silver, sugar, and coffee be very great, the quantity being so small, it will not be easily known. It will likewise be prudent to carry some barrels without money in order to sell them before arriving at Cincinnati, if it should so happen that any one should offer to buy these goods, because not to sell them when it might be done to advantage would excite suspicion; and to complete the disguise it would be well to take a certain quantity of powder and rum. If these dispositions should appear defective, I beg you to make such changes as may be to your mind. God preserve you many years.

No. 2.

Translation of a letter from Don Thomas Portell to Mr. Thomas Power, dated

NEW MADRID, June 29, 1796.

Having well considered the contents of your letter of this day, I mention that I agree in every thing to the whole of the reflections you place before me; although at first sight it appears that I ought to wait the decision of the Governor General, as he prescribes to me in his official letter of the 20th of January of the present year, and of which I enclose you a copy, which you request of me. The circumstances which you expose are such, that they leave me nothing more to do than to tell you to forward me a memorandum of the number of pounds of coffee, sugar, barrels in which to fill the powder and rum you desire for your expedition, because, as soon as I receive it, I will get it ready as you desire, informing you that for the merchandise you must sign me an acknowledgment of having received it, and for the money a receipt as attorney of General Wilkinson.

In order that the barge may be ready, and as you may want it, I have written an official letter to the Lieutenant-colonel Vincente Folch, that he may send it as soon as possible, because as nothing was said to me of what you have now mentioned respecting it, Mr. Francis Langlois asked it of me for an affair of service, and took it loaded with corn to the Fort of San Fernando, and it has not been returned, although I have required it, thinking it might be wanted here; Don Vincente Folch having answered me, that if I had not orders to keep it, there were none to return it.

The two letters in cipher remain in my hands, which I shall forward by the first safe opportunity, with the distinction you point out, No. 1 to the Governor General, and No. 2 to the Governor of Natchez.

As for packing the money and arranging the barrels, as soon as they are ready, between you and myself, all this may be done without any one else acquiring a knowledge of it. God preserve you many years.