[Sec^y of Wars Report on the petition of Henry Laurens to Cong^s Feb^y 25. 1791— [undecipherable] in a [undecipherable] office] Report of the Secretary of War on the petition of Henry Laurens That the object of the petitioner is to obtain a payment for two thousand bushels of rough rice, which was by virtue of a contract made by his [undecipherable: overseer] with Col^l [undecipherable] Elliott or some person near him, and stated to have been delivered at several times in the years 1776, 1777, & 1778— That the said rough rice is stated to have been used for the use of the troops in an intended expedition against S^t Augustine, and for the use of troops stationed on the Altamaha and S^t Mary's Rivers for the protection of the southern frontiers. That such evidence as the petitioner has been able to obtain, in order to substantiate the contract and the delivery of the said rough rice, and the reasons which have hitherto prevented the said claim from being presented are stated at large in the papers accompanying the petition. The Secretary of War has endeavoured to give this claim all the consideration it is entitled to, either from its own merit, or the high character of the petitioner — but without remarking on the nature of the evidence with which the claims abound, its allowance seems precluded from the following circumstances. 1^st The resolve of the 25^th of July 1778 from which principles of general policy forbid a departure. 2^nd That it appears by the letter and certificate from the commissioners of accounts, herewith annexed, that the State of Georgia have lodged a claim against the United States for the sum of twenty three thousand seven hundred and ninety four dollars and forty three ninetieths of a dollar, incurred for an expedition against East Florida in the year 1777 — and the further sum of four hundred thousand dollars for the same purpose in the year 1778 — besides the above, there are charges interspersed to a considerable amount, through the claims of that State, for an expedition against Florida. Signed H. Knox Secretary of War War Office February 25. 1791