Note III-44 — Chapter III · ITINERARY, CONCLUDED: IN THE MOUNTAINS OF COLORADO ON HEADWATERS OF THE ARKANSAW AND RIO GRANDE, DECEMBER 1ST, 1806-FEBRUARY 26TH, 1807.

That our friend Robinson was, in plain English, a spy, is incontestible. If he had any other object in joining the Expedition, it is certain that he had no other in leaving it than to find out what he could about New Spain for the benefit of his own country. Had it been in actual war times he could have been hanged or shot by the Spaniards without violation of the customs of nations. As it was, Pike felt so apprehensive for Robinson's personal safety that when the two met in New Mexico Pike at first affected not to know Robinson, for fear of putting him in jeopardy, and he denied point-blank to the Spanish authorities that Robinson was one of the party. They had parted on the Conejos with a perfect understanding on such points; indeed, General Whiting calls it "in pursuance of a previous scheme" that Robinson set out alone for Santa Fé; meanwhile, Pike sat down on the Conejos to wait for the Spaniards to come and catch him. The ostensible object of Robinson's visit to Mexico was fictitious; Pike says himself that the commercial claim Robinson pretended to have was worthless "in his hands." Whiting observes that "it was transferred to Dr. Robinson, who was to make it a pretext for a visit to the place, and a cover for observing its trade and resources, for the benefit of his countrymen. He regarded the excursion as a romantic adventure, and in that mood detached himself from the protection of his friend and commanding officer." (Life of Pike, p. 272.)

The ultima ratio of Pike's presence on the Rio Grande in Spanish territory will probably always remain in question, unless some documentary evidence, not yet forthcoming, should turn up to show whether he came there by accident or design. Perhaps the safest ground to take would be to suppose it the particular accident of a general design. His open and official instructions required him to "approximate" to the Spanish possessions; he was to spy out all the land and see how it lay, politically as well as geographically; hunt up the Comanches; and make a counter-demonstration to Malgares' spirited raid, involving a reconnoissance in force as a military operation. This may all be true of the general design of his expedition, but it may as easily be true that he lost his way in searching for the Red river, and only found his way to the Rio Grande by accident. This seems to be the view of his biographer, General Whiting, who was a very competent critic of Pike's military career, and who wrote in comparatively short historical perspective, though he does not seem to have possessed, or at any rate to have utilized, any private sources of information. Whiting fully acquits Pike of intentional errancy, and gives no hint that he is keeping anything back that would support any other view of the case than that which he presents, without apparent reserve or arrière-pensée. Some of his expressions may be here cited. Speaking of Pike's seeing a Mexican newspaper with an account of Burr's conspiracy, he remarks, p. 277: "This afforded a clew to the suspicions with which his movements on the Mexican frontier had most naturally been regarded. It was not surprising that he should have been looked upon as forming one of the ramifications of the revolutionary scheme which that distinguished individual had projected.... It was true, that he had been found, with a belligerent aspect, in the Mexican country; but his apology was ready, and, no doubt, acceptable; while he knew that the Mexican authorities had lately violated, in a similar way, the soil of the United States, for which no apology could be rendered.... His misapprehensions of the geography of the country, which led him to establish himself in such a suspicious manner, on a foreign river, were excusable, bewildered as he was among mountains and streams that were likely to confuse all calculations. Still, it was natural for the Mexican authorities to regard his conduct, at first, as the result of a design, rather than a mistake, particularly when taken in connection with Colonel Burr's contemporaneous movements; and their treatment of him must be considered under the circumstances, as having been marked by much consideration." General Wilkinson also alludes to the assertion that had been made, that the expedition which resulted in the orders he had given Pike "was a premeditated coöperation with Burr." The Mexicans, it seems, were not alone in their suspicions and expressions to that effect.

However the bottom facts of Pike's coming on the Rio Grande may turn out to be, it is certain that after he had been captured and taken to Mexico under the diplomatic disguise of a polite invitation to visit the governor, who had heard of his having lost his way, hastened to send to his rescue, etc., Pike turned spy and informer with great agility and signal success. He kept his temper well in hand, except on one or two occasions; and in several instances showed that art which diplomacy has been defined to be. He bore himself with courage, dignity, and much fertility of resources; while that duplicity and prevarication which he confesses his conscience condoned, if it did not justify, were never indulged from personal considerations, but from his intense patriotism. His love of his country was the crucible in which he assayed his own motives; that was fervid enough to relax the rigidity of morals he professed and practiced on all ordinary occasions, and induce a certain ethical elasticity, so to speak, if not actually to melt all scruples. Patriotism must sometimes shake hands with Jesuitism in this wicked world; and the majesty of the flag, like the glory of God, must be maintained by human means. Abstract questions of the adaptation of means to ends are best left with casuistry. Pike's methods, while he was the distinguished guest of a half-hostile foreign power, may be questioned by some, but his motives by none; and as for his ends, we know that nothing succeeds like success. The results are well summed by his biographer, p. 282, in words which I will cite:

"At the time Captain Pike explored those regions of our wide-spread interior, almost nothing authentic was known of them. More satisfactory information of the headwaters of the Mississippi than was in the possession of the public was highly desirable, and his narratives relating to them were read with interest. But his accounts of the Mexican territories were looked for with much more interest, and when they came out were received with avidity. The jealous policy of Spain had surrounded her provinces with guards and restraints, that rendered them almost inaccessible. Their condition and prospects were veiled from all foreign observation; and at the time Captain Pike obtained, through an unintentional aberration from his prescribed route, access to them, unusual attention was turned upon the Mexican country by the events of Burr's conspiracy. This extraordinary transaction had awakened an intense curiosity respecting a region which was known to abound with gold, and which precious metal was supposed to have been its ultimate object. The trial of Colonel Burr was beginning, or in progress, when Captain Pike returned, and was known to have visited the El Dorado, on which this individual was said to have fixed an eye of cupidity and ambition. Scarcely anything had been heard of Mexico since the conquest of Cortes, excepting vague reports of the unbounded wealth that flowed from its mines into the public and private coffers of Spain. It is not strange, then, that Captain Pike's tour through some of its provinces should have been regarded as a rare and most opportune work. His statements were of course founded on hasty and imperfect observations, it being obvious from his journal, that, from the time he left Santa Fe, until he reached the United States, he was under a surveillance, and could only take notes by stealth. He could neither survey attentively what passed beneath his eye, nor inquire about that which he did not see, without exciting suspicion and provoking a rebuke. Still, with an acute eye, and a retentive memory, he appears to have gathered up many new and interesting facts, that were well received at the time."