Again Visits Jackson.

There was much less comedy however in what went on in Kentucky and Tennessee where Burr next went.  At Nashville he was received with open arms by Jackson and Jackson’s friends.  This was not much to Jackson’s credit, for by this time he should have known Burr’s character; but the temptation of an attack on the Spaniards proved irresistible.  As Major General, he called out the militia of West Tennessee, and began to make ready in good earnest to invade Florida or Mexico.  At public dinners he and his friends and Burr made speeches in which they threatened immediate war against Spain, with which country the United States was at peace; but they did not threaten any attack on the Union, and indeed Jackson exacted from Burr a guarantee of his loyalty to the Union.

    His Experience in Kentucky.

From Nashville the restless conspirator returned to Kentucky to see if he could persuade the most powerful of the Western States to take some decided step in his favor.  Senator John Adair, former companion-in-arms of Wilkinson in the wars against the Northwestern Indians, enlisted in support of Burr with heart and soul.  Kentucky society generally received him with enthusiasm.  But there was in the State a remnant of the old Federalist party, which although not formidable in numbers, possessed weight because of the vigor and ability of its leaders.  The chief among them were Humphrey Marshall, former United States Senator, and Joseph H. Daveiss, who was still District Attorney, not having, as yet, been turned out by Jefferson. [Footnote:  For the Kentucky episode, see Marshall and Greene.  Gayarre is the authority for what occurred in New Orleans.  For the whole conspiracy, see Adams.] These men saw—­what Eastern politicians could not see—­the connection between Burr’s conspiracy and the former Spanish intrigues of men like Wilkinson, Sabastian, and Innes.  They were loyal to the Union; and they felt a bitter factional hatred for their victorious foes in whose ranks were to be found all the old time offenders; so they attacked the new conspiracy with a double zest.  They not only began a violent newspaper war upon Burr and all the former conspirators, but also proceeded to invoke the aid of the courts and the legislature against them.  Their exposure of the former Spanish intrigues, as well as of Burr’s plots, attracted widespread attention in the West, even at New Orleans [Footnote:  Gayarre, IV., 180.]; but the Kentuckians, though angry and ashamed, were at first reluctant to be convinced.  Twice Daveiss presented Burr for treason before the Grand Jury; twice the Grand Jury declared in his favor; and the leaders of the Kentucky Democracy gave him their countenance, while Henry Clay acted as his counsel.  Daveiss, by a constant succession of letters, kept Jefferson fully informed of all that was done.  Though his attacks on Burr for the moment seemed failures, they really accomplished their object.  They created