separation, not only from Virginia but also from the Federation, and he was now nothing less than the paid agent of a foreign power.
There is undoubtedly a mystery in this whole affair which renders it impossible to speak with absolute decision on some points. Whatever may have been Wilkinson's designs, and however intimate the connection between him and such men as Brown, Sebastian, Innis, and others, they at this time played into each other's hands, and the trend of all their action was towards unlicensed separation from Virginia, with a very suspicious savor of complete severance of all existing ties. Brown was delegate in Congress at this time, and hardly gave a fair impression to his constituents as to the sentiments of that body. He let it be understood that there was strong opposition to receiving Kentucky as a new State, especially if Vermont or Maine could not be brought in at the same time; that Congress was responsible for the proposition in Jay's proposed Spanish treaty, surrendering the navigation of the Mississippi for twenty years; and furthermore, that Congress, and the East especially, did not care a rush for Kentucky or the river trade. This was bad enough, for in a negative way it left a wrong impression. Nevertheless, this much might have resulted from a bias growing out of prejudices. But he further had a private interview with Don Gardoqui, the Spanish ambassador, and embodied the results of that consultation in the following statement, which was enclosed in a letter to Kentucky:
