are sincerely devoted to the interests of your country, and warmly attached to the prosperity of the Union at large, I shall hope you will persist in taking the most discreet and effectual measures for obtaining as accurate a knowledge as possible of the transactions in your quarter; a report of which I shall earnestly request to be favored with, whenever you shall have the power of transmitting it through a confidential channel, or, if it shall be found necessary, whenever a cypher shall be established between us. For, without some such precautions, a miscarriage of letters on such delicate subjects might be attended with very disadvantageous consequences.

With the greatest esteem and regard, I am, dear Sir, &c.
G. WASHINGTON.

T. MARSHALL TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.

Woodford County, September 11th, 1790. SIR, I have taken the liberty to enclose you a Kentucky paper wherein is published an extract from one of Mr. Brown's letters respecting the Spanish business. My reason for doing this is, that you may judge how far it confirms a representation I formerly had the honor to make you on that subject. The part I then publicly took in this affair has entirely excluded me from any knowledge of his subsequent communications to his confidential friends.

You will discover by the paper I send you to what lengths matters have been carried. Every thing relative to this matter on the part of Mr. Brown, has, by his friends and coadjutors, been denied or concealed, which has produced a necessity for the enclosed publication. I shall only take the liberty of adding that a great majority of the people of this district appear to be well disposed to the government of the United States, though they have, through the influence and industry of his confidential friends, again elected Mr. Brown to Congress; and that our official and influential characters having taken the oath to support the general government, together with the position the Continental troops have taken, in my opinion leaves us little to fear at present from the machinations of any Spanish party.

That God may bless and preserve you, and that the United States may long continue to enjoy the happiness of your government and protection, is the most fervent prayer of one who has the honor to be, with the most respectful esteem and sincerity, your most obedient and very humble servant, Ť. MARSHALL.

GENERAL WASHINGTON TO T. MARSHALL.

Philadelphia, February, 1791.

SIR,-In acknowledging the receipt of your letter of the 11th of September, I must beg you to accept my thanks for the pleasing communication which it contains of the good disposition of the people of Kentucky towards the government of the United States.

I never doubted but that the operations of this government, if not perverted by prejudice or evil designs, would inspire the citizens of America with such confidence in it as effectually to do away those apprehensions, which under the former confederation our best men entertained of divisions among ourselves or allurements from other

nations; I am therefore happy to find that such a disposition prevails in your part of the country, as to remove any idea of that evil which a few years ago you so much dreaded.

I shall receive with great satisfaction and with due thanks any information of a public or private nature that you may think proper to communicate to me from your district. These communications will be the more grateful, as we seldom hear the particulars of any transactions from that quarter; and the intelligence often comes through such channels, as in a great measure to prevent confidence being placed in it. With very great esteem, I am, Sir, &c.

G. WASHINGTON.

T. MARSHALL TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.

September 7th, 1792.

SIR, I take the liberty of writing by Capt. Obannon, and in a few words mean to give you the names and rank of the gentlemen who are most likely to influence government and give a tone to the politics of this State. Isaac Shelby, Esq. Governor; Harry Innes, Esq. (present Judge of the Federal Court) first Judge of the High Court of Appeals; John Brown, Esq. Senator to Congress; James Brown, Esq. Secretary; George Nicholas, Esq. Attorney General for the State; and almost every post of power or profit in the State is filled by their friends and adherents. From this you may judge of my situation, who have formerly offended some of them, and can never make concessions without violating my own conscience. It is true I want nothing which they have to bestow; yet they can by misrepresentation vex me, by rendering me obnoxious to the people.

Col. Muter, who can never be forgiven for suffering the publication of Mr. Brown's letter, has pretty severely felt the rod of power. He has been, by the choice of the Assembly of Virginia, for seven years past first Judge of the Supreme Court of the District of Kentucky, with a salary of £300 per annum, and is, without any fault alleged against him, turned down to the Court of Oyer and Terminer, where the salary, it is thought, will be very trifling,-for the salary of the judges is not yet fixed.

I have received a letter from Col. Richard C. Anderson, requesting my recommendation of him to fill the office of Commissioner of Loans, if such an office should be necessary in this State. To recommend a gentleman to fill any office is a liberty I have never yet taken, nor do I think myself by any means authorized to do so; but as I have had a long acquaintance with Col. Anderson, both in the Army and since it was discharged, and have the highest opinion of his merit as an officer and a gentleman, I hope you will pardon me for being the means of his wishes having come to your knowledge.

I have the honor to be, with the most cordial wishes for a long continuance of your health and prosperity, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, T. MARSHALL.

GOV. SHELBY'S CORRESPONDENCE

WITH PRESIDENT WASHINGTON, GENERAL WAYNE AND OTHERS,

WITH HIS VINDICATION.

Letter from General Wayne to Gov. Shelby and his Reply.

HEAD QUARTERS,

Greenville, 6th January, 1794.}

SIR, I have the honor to enclose your Excellency, a copy of a letter to the commanding officer of the Legionary Cavalry, stationed between Georgetown and Lexington, in the State of Kentucky, directing him to receive and obey your Excellency's orders, should you find any occasion for their services, in suppressing the design mentioned in the enclosed extracts of letters from Governor St. Clair, and the Secretary of War. The original letter from the War office, you have undoubtedly received before this period.

Should the force now offered be deemed insufficient, or should more be wanted, it shall not be withheld upon this interesting occasion; notwithstanding our proximity to the combined force of the hostile Indians, who are now kept in double check by the troops on this ground, and those posted on the field of battle of the 4th of November, 1793, which we took possession of on the 24th ultimo.

The means which I have taken for the protection of the North Western Frontiers, I hope and trust will be found salutary and effectual. I have the honor to be, &c. &c. &c.

His Excellency Isaac Shelby, Esq.}

Governor of Kentucky.

ANTY WAYNE.

February 10th, 1794.

SIR, I have had the honor to receive your favor of the 6th ult. enclosing the copy of your order to the commanding officer of the Legionary Cavalry-and of an extract of Governor St. Clair's letter to you, relative to an expedition said to be intended against the Spanish settlements on the Mississippi from this State.

I thank you for your attention to this matter-though I can assure you, there is not the smallest probability that such an enterprize will be attempted; if it should, the Militia of this State, I am fully persuaded, are able and willing to suppress every attempt that can be made here to violate the laws of the Union.

I have the honour to be, &c. &c. &c.

His Excellency Major General Wayne.

ISAAC SHELBY.

MESSAGES OF GOVERNOR SHELBY.

Frankfort, Nov. 15, 1794.

SIR, I have the honor to enclose you sundry communications in conformity with a resolve of the House of Representatives passed on the 12th inst., and to request you to submit them to the consideration of that House. With respect and esteem, I am, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, ISAAC SHELBY. The Hon. the Speaker of the H. of Representatives.

Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:

To comply fully with your resolution of the 12th inst., which requires me to lay before you such information as I may have received relative to the free use of the navigation of the Mississippi river, it may perhaps be proper to submit to you as necessarily connected with the subject, a correspondence which commenced between the Secretary of State and the Executive of Kentucky, prior to the last session of the Legislature of this State.

In the month of October, 1793, the letter No. 1,* was received from the Secretary of State, suggesting that the Commissioners of Spain had complained of attempts to excite the inhabitants of Kentucky to an enterprize against the Spanish dominions on the Mississippi, and advising the adoption of such measures as might be necessary to prevent the attempt from being carried into execution. Until the receipt of this letter, I had not obtained the slightest information that such an enterprize was contemplated; and I entertained an opinion, that had any such designs existed in this State, I should certainly have been apprized of them. Believing that no such enterprize was meditated, I attributed the representations made by the Commissioners of Spain, to that jealousy with which they have ever viewed the growing strength and increasing population of Kentucky-a jealousy produced by a sense of our wrongs and resources, and of their injustice and weakness. Under the immediate impression of this opinion, and without much reflection, I wrote the answer No. 2,† which I believed would conclude the correspondence on that subject; but to my surprize, I was soon after informed that such an enterprize was in agitation, and that several characters in this State had openly avowed a determination to embark in it. This information was further confirmed by letter No. 3,‡ which was received late in the month of December following, and which was accompanied by a letter from the Secretary of War, authorizing the employment of a military force in case of the inefficacy of less violent measures. Not long afterwards, I received a letter from Major General Wayne, assuring me that a part of the Legion of the United States was ready to be employed in restraining the intended enterprize. This letter, No. 4, with its enclosures and my answer are laid before the Legislature. The subject now became serious and interesting, and required the most attentive consideration; for although I felt no apprehensions that the intended expedition could be carried into effect, yet I entertained too high a sense of the obligations due to the General Government, to refuse the exercise of any powers with which I was clearly invested. After the most careful examination of the subject, I was doubtful whether under the consititution and laws of my country, I possessed powers so extensive as those which I was called upon to exercise. Thus situated, I thought it advisable to write the letter No. 5,|| in which all the information I had received is fully detailed, my doubts as to the extent of my powers carefully stated, and the strongest assurances given, that every legal requisition of the General Government should, on my part, be punctually complied with. To this letter no answer was re

American State Papers for the following letters-No. 1. dated 29th August 1793. † 5th Oct. 1793. 16th and 9th Nov. 1793. 13th January 1794

§ 6th Jan. and 9th Feb. 1794.

ceived until May, 1794, at which time No. 6* came to my hands. In the former part of this letter an attempt is made to remove the doubts which I had suggested, and to prove that I might with propriety comply with the instructions of the General Government; but prior to the receipt of this letter, a bill had been brought before Congress declaring, that to embark in an enterprize, such as was contemplated by the citizens of this State, should be considered as criminal, and directing what punishment should be inflicted on those who should be guilty of such an offence. From the necessity of passing that law, I infer that my doubts as to the criminality of the proposed enterprize were well founded, and that until the passage of that law, the offence had not been declared nor the punishment defined. But before the receipt of this letter, or the passing of the "act in addition to the act for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States," the enterprize was so far abandoned, as to remove every apprehension of its being carried into effect.

The latter part of the letter last alluded to, contains the first information which I have received on the subject of your resolution, and presents "such a sketch" of the depending negotiation as, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, is consistent with the respect due to the nation in treaty with us, and the rules observed in such cases."

The letters No. 7 and 8,† together with the resolutions of Congress which accompany them, will afford the House all the additional information which I have received on this interesting subject.

I have the honor to be, Gentlemen,

Your most obd't humble servant,

ISAAC SHELBY. Secretary's Office, July 2, 1812.

I do certify that the foregoing is a true transcript from the message on file in this office.

T. WINLOCK, Dep'y. For J. BLEDSOE, See'y. January 10, 1835.

I certify that the two preceding messages from Gov. Shelby to the House of Representatives of Kentucky, are in the hand writing of Gov. Shelby. C. S. TODĎ.

Extracts from a Letter of the Secretary at War to Gov. Shelby, conveying the sense of the Washington Administration as to him, after the whole affair of the Genet Plot of 1793-4, dated 16th May, 1794, while Governor S's offensive letter to the Secretary of State is dated 13th Jan. 1794.

War Department, May 16, 1793. "Your Excellency's letters of the 10th of January and 10th of February last have been received and submitted to the President of the United States.

"I am instructed by him to inform you that the circumstances of our affairs, as connected with the state of events in Europe, require urgently that we make every proper effort to bring to a close in the course of the present year, the acts of Indian hostility, which have

*29th March 1794. † 13th and 25th August 1794,