BURR'S  MYSTERIOUS  EXPEDITION      184     BURR'S  MYSTERIOUS  EXPEDITION


For  a  year  a  vague  suspicion  prevailed  througli-
out  the  country  that  Burr  was  engaged  iu  a
scheme  for  revolutionizing  Mexico  —  an  idea
agreeable  to  the  Western  people  because  of  the
existing  difSculties  'with  Spain.  It  was  be-
lieved, too  (for  so  Burr  had  continually  hinted),
that  such  a  scheme  was  secretly  favored  by  the
government.  Under  this  impression  Burr's  proj-
ect received  the  countenance  of  several  lea<l-
ing  men  in  the  Western  country.  One  of  the
first  things  which  Burr  did  after  his  arrival  in
Kentucky  was  to  purchase  an  interest  in  a  claim
to  a  large  tract  of  land  on  the  Washita  River,
under  a  Spanish  grant  to  the  Baron  de  Bastrop.
The  negotiation  was  carried  on  through  Edward
Livingston  at  New  Orleans.  The  avowal  of  an
intention  to  settle  on  these  lands  might  cover
up  a  far  different  design.  Blennerhassett  now
joined  Burr  actively  in  his  enterprise.  Togeth-
er they  built,  with  the  money  of  the  former,  fif-
teen boats  on  the  Muskingum  River ;  and  nego-
tiations were  set  on  foot  with  an  Ohio  senator
to  furnish  supplies  for  an  army  in  the  West  and
the  purchase  of  two  gunboats  he  was  building
for  the  government.  A  mercantile  house  at
Marietta,  in  which  Blennerha&sett  had  been  a
partner,  was  authorized  to  purchase  provisions,
and  a  kiln  was  erected  on  Blennerhassett  Isl-
land  for  drying  com  to  fit  it  for  shipment.
