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 contemplated two distinct objects, which might be carried on
either jointly or separately, and either the one or the other first,
as circumstances should direct. One of these was the severance of the
Union of these States by the Alleghany Mountains; the other an attack
on Mexico. A third object was provided, merely ostensible, to wit, the
settlement of a pretended purchase of a tract of country on the Washita
claimed by a Baron Bastrop. This was to serve as the pretext for all
his preparations, an allurement for such followers as really wished to
acquire settlements in that country and a cover under which to retreat
in the event of a final discomfiture of both branches of his real
design.
He found at once that the attachment of the Western country to the
present Union was not to be shaken; that its dissolution could not be
effected with the consent of its inhabitants, and that his resources
were inadequate as yet to effect it by force. He took his course then
at once, determined to seize on New Orleans, plunder the bank there,
possess himself of the military and naval stores, and proceed on his
expedition to Mexico, and to this object all his means and preparations
were now directed.
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