service, and had also dispatched an express to Mero district on Cumberland river, with orders to Brigadier general Robertson to put his brigade in the best possible State of defence. The nearness of the time at which Congress is to meet, who only are invested with the powers of War, will render it essential to wait the result of their deliberations, before offensive measures can be directed; supposing the information transmitted by Governor Blount to be authentic— In the mean time your Excellency will be the judge whether any further measures should be necessary for the defence of the South western parts of Virginia, at the expence of the Union, of the nature and in addition to those before taken. 14^th October 1792 The President of the United States, to whom I have submitted your Excellency's letter of the 4^th instant, has directed me to inform you that he does not from his present view of the Subject conceive any measures, on the part of the legislature of Virginia necessary for the defence of the frontiers during the ensuing year. He flatters himself the respectable force [Page 5 AC16]