Louisiana and Aaron Burr 237 



Wilkinson's request and send him twelve thousand 

 dollars for himself. 34 De Lemos was sent to New 

 Madrid in October to begin the direct negotiations 

 with Wilkinson and his allies. The funds to further 

 the treasonable conspiracy were also forwarded, as 

 the need arose. 



Carondelet was much encouraged as to the out- 

 come by the fact that De Lemos had not been dis- 

 possessed by force from the Chickasaw Bluffs. This 

 shows conclusively that Washington's administra- 

 tion was in error in not acting with greater decision 

 about the Spanish posts. Wayne should have been 

 ordered to use the sword, and to dispossess the Span- 

 iards from the east bank of the Mississippi. As so 

 often in our history, we erred, not through a spirit 

 of over-aggressiveness, but through a willingness to 

 trust to peaceful measures instead of proceeding to 

 assert our rights by force. 



The first active step taken by Carondelet and De 

 Lemos was to send the twelve thousand dollars to 

 Wilkinson, as the foundation" and earnest of the 

 bribery fund. But the effort miscarried. The 

 money was sent by two men, Collins and Owen, 

 each of whom bore cipher letters to Wilkinson, in- 

 cluding some that were sewed into the collars of 

 their coats. Collins reached Wilkinson in safety, 

 but Owen was murdered, for the sake of the money 

 he bore, by his boat's crew while on the Ohio River. 35 



34 Do., De Lemos to Alcudia, Sept. 19, 1794. 

 85 Do., letters of Carondelet to Alcudia, Oct. 4, 1794, and 

 of De Lemos to Carondelet, Aug. 28, 1791. 



