because more than a month before he had written to Governor Claiborne[1] at New Orleans a secret denunciation of Burr and Wilkinson, couched in language which showed such intimate knowledge of Burr's plans as could have come only from Burr himself or Adair. In accepting Burr's disavowals, December 14, Jackson did not mention to Burr his denunciatory letter written to Claiborne, November 12, in which he had said, "I fear treachery has become the order of the day." Like Senator Smith, he was satisfied to secure his own safety; and upon Burr's denial of treasonable schemes, Jackson, although he did not write to Claiborne to withdraw the secret charges, went on building boats, providing supplies, and enlisting men for Colonel Burr's expedition. His motives for this conduct remained his own secret. Many of the best-informed persons in Tennessee and Kentucky, including Burr's avowed partisans, held but a low opinion of Jackson's character or veracity. Eight years afterward Jackson and John Adair once more appeared on the stage of New Orleans history, and quarrelled, with charges and countercharges of falsehood and insinuations of treason.
- "Whatever were the intentions of Colonel Burr," wrote Adair in a published letter,[2] "I neither organized troops at that time, nor did I superintend the building of
