[49] Marietta July 9 1792 Sir, As it is not improbable that an account of the military preparations going forward in this quarter of the country may reach you, I presume have unmasqued, while the object to which they are to be directed is not perfectly known to you, I am commanded by the President of the United States to give you the fullest assurances of the friendliest disposition Entertained toward Great Britain and her possessions; He informs you explicitly that the expedition about to be undertaken is not intended against the post you have the honour to command, nor any other place, at present, in the possession of the troops of his Brittanic Majesty, but is on foot with the sole design of chastising & humbling some of the Savage tribes whose depredations are become intolerable, whose cruelties are an outrage upon the people of America only, but on Humanity itself. I would, in the most unequivocal manner, After this candid explanation Sir, there is every reason to expect, both from your own personal character & the Regard you have for that of your nation, that those tribes eder meet with neither Countenance nor assistance from any under your Command, & that you will do what is in your power, to restrain the trading people, from whose instigations there is too good reason to believe many of the Injuries committed by the Savages have proceeded — I have chosen Sir to forward this letter by a private Gentleman in preference to an Officer by whom a Communication of this kind might have been expected, that every Suspicion of the purity of the views of the united States might be avoided, I have the honour to be Sir &c A. St Clair— Gov^r of the territory of the United States N.W. of the Ohio River Major Murray, i^e the Sincerely P^t Comg the troops of W^m Smith— His Brittanic Majesty Secretary at Detroit D^r Murray—