He had no conscience and
no scruples; he had not the slightest idea of the meaning of the word
honor; he betrayed his trust from the basest motives, and he was too
inefficient to make his betrayal effective. He was treacherous to the
Union while it was being formed and after it had been formed; and his
crime was aggravated by the sordid meanness of his motives, for he
eagerly sought opportunities to barter his own infamy for money. In all
our history there is no more despicable character.
He Trades to New Orleans.
Wilkinson was a man of broken fortune when he came to the West. In three
years he made a good position for himself, in matters commercial and
political, and his restless, adventurous nature, and thirst for
excitement and intrigue, prompted him to try the river trade, with its
hazards and its chances of great gain. In June, 1787, he went down the
Mississippi to New Orleans with a loaded flat-boat, and sold his cargo
at a high profit, thanks to the understanding he immediately established
with Miro. [Footnote: Wilkinson's Memoirs, ii., 112.] Doubtless he
started with the full intention of entering into some kind of corrupt
arrangement with the Louisiana authorities, leaving the precise nature
of the arrangement to be decided by events.
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