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THE originals of all the documents, cited as such in the following work, except the copies from the records of the Supreme Court in the affair of the Grand Sachem, which are of course in the office, and the papers laid before Congress, which are in the hands of the Clerk, are lodged with Mr. D. W. Coxe, in Philadelphia, who will shew them to any person desiring an inspection of them.

The Reader will find the English transla

tions immediately following the French and Spanish documents contained in the Appendix.

WHATEVER pleasure is derived from the punishment of crimes, it is always painful to become the instrument of inflicting it. It was therefore with regret that I found myself called on to lay before the house of representatives the information I possessed of general Wilkinson's treachery and corruption.

This regret was heightened by the idea that a part at least of my information had been acquired from the voluntary confession of the party accused, and a breach of confidence was so repugnant to my feelings, that although the confidence was unsought, but rather pressed upon me to prevent, I believe, a disclosure of facts I before knew, yet a strong sense of duty alone could have induced me to obey the call of the house. I complied with it; and my evidence established a direct confession of guilt. Little foresight was necessary to discover that this would expose me to every attack that could be made upon my reputation-it was verified by the event; every crime in the catalogue of human depravity was immediately imputed to me, and the basest and most contemptible arts were used to procure evidence to support them; they were used, however, with so little success, that although in a moment of warmth I had thought it necessary to promise the public a refutation of the charges, I yet, on a cooler consideration of their absurdity, had nearly determined to treat them with silent contempt. I thought that the motives of my calumniator would be plainly perceived; and that a character, which was found

ed in a virtuous education, and formed by a habitual attention to its precepts, could not be inju red by the unsupported accusations of a wretch, weighed down still more by profligacy and crimes than by years, and sinking under a pressure of public abhorrence and contempt. I was moreover convinced that in vindicating myself I should be obliged to undertake the disgusting task of pursu ing my accuser through all the mire of speculation and vice in which he had endeavoured to conceal his treason and corruption. My aversion to this office would have induced me to remain silent, if I had not reflected that the unaccountable favour granted to general Wilkinson by the executive might, among the partisans of the president, outweigh the strong proof of his guilt, and that every doubt on that subject must create one of my veracity.

But the important trust which has lately been committed to him, forms a motive infinitely stronger than any personal consideration-knowing, as I do, that he has for years been the pensioner of a foreign power, that his hire was paid for the dismemberment and ruin of his country--and believing, as I firmly believe, that the same wages are yet paid him for the same iniquity, I cannot with indifference behold him placed in that very situation in which he can with the greatest convenience complete his treasonable purpose. I owe it to my country to call their attention to the amazing blindness, the wilful incredulity or the co-operation in guilt, that has thus invested a detected traitor with the means of com

pleting his treason. At the moment I write this, James Wilkinson's arrival is hourly expected; by special direction of government preparations are making to receive him with a pomp and splendour which the United States have heretofore shown only to a saviour of his country. He comes as commander in chief to the place, where but a few years since he arrived, first to sign the pact of his own dishonour, and afterwards to receive the yearly wages of infamy-where the notoriety of his guilt will make him fear a witness in every inhabitant of the country-where he may with facility renew his ancient engagements, or make others that will be more efficacious for the success of his schemes. The important province of Louisiana will in a few days be at the disposal of a man, who, by a close, long laboured system of corruption is known to have bargained for the sale of the western states. I say at his disposal, for the civil power in this territory, as now administered, is worse than nothing in the scale; the little force it has will be immediately surrendered, and forced to operate in its own destruction; and there is no salvation for the country, but such an appeal to the people as will force conviction on the go. vernment; such demonstration of his guilt as must drive the most prejudiced to abandon his defence, and such an exposition of his treachery as will deprive him of the means, now strangely afforded him, of renewing it. A few weeks will place at the head of the executive a man whose mind will, I trust, be open to conviction, and who will not suffer his country to be degraded by continuing a traitor in

office, or her soldiers any longer to be led by the pensioner of a foreign power. This is my object in the present publication; to attain it I shall show,

1st. That general Wilkinson, from the year 1794 to 1803, certainly was, and probably is yet a pensioner of the Spanish government.

2d. That his object was a treasonable attempt to sever the union of these states.

3d. That he knew, favoured and advised the enterprises of colonel Burr, and never resolved to be treacherous to his accomplice, until he could no longer with safety be so to his country.

It is possible that my personal knowledge of his treason and corruption induces me to suppose the other proof more conclusive than it is; but unless I greatly err, there will be no occasion to recur to my own testimony to establish his guilt. Much of the evidence now offered has already appeared before the public, but without order and at considerable intervals of time, frequently without such remarks as were necessary to make it intelligible, and never accompanied by any that would show the manner in which the different documents elucidated each other and supported the testimony of the witnesses.

My object is now to supply this defect, to give the evidence at one view, to show how it applies to the different charges, and then let an enlightened and impartial public decide whether the testimony I was forced to give was a malicious calumny, or a simple narration of facts as they occurred-whether I am a false accuser, or he a hired betrayer of his counI submit to this alternative, although I cannot

try.