Louisiana and Aaron Burr 239 



Wilkinson's motives in acting as he did were of 

 course simple. He could not afford to have the 

 murderers of his friend and agent tried lest they 

 should disclose his own black infamy. The conduct 

 of Judge Innes is difficult to explain on any ground 

 consistent with his integrity and with the official 

 propriety of his actions. He may not have been a 

 party to Wilkinson's conspiracy, but he must cer- 

 tainly have known that Wilkinson was engaged in 

 negotiations with the Spaniards so corrupt that they 

 would not bear the light of exposure, or else he 

 would never have behaved toward the murderers in 

 the way that he did behave. 37 



Carondelet, through De Lemos, entered into cor- 

 respondence with Wayne about the fort built by his 

 orders at the Chickasaw Bluffs. He refused to give 

 up this fort; and as Wayne became more urgent in 

 his demands, he continually responded with new 

 excuses for delay. He was enabled to tell exactly 

 what Wayne was doing, as Wilkinson, who was 

 serving under Wayne, punctually informed the 

 Spaniard of all that took place in the American 



M Marshall, II, 155; Green, p. 328. Even recently defend- 

 ers of Wilkinson and Innes have asserted, in accordance 

 with Wilkinson's explanations, that the money forwarded 

 him was due him from tobacco contracts entered into some 

 years previously with Miro. Carondelet in his letters above 

 quoted, however, declares outright that the money was ad- 

 vanced to begin negotiations in Kentucky, through Wilkin- 

 son and others, for the pensioning of Kentuckians in the 

 interests of Spain and the severance of the Western States 

 from the Union. 



