[lette from the Secretary 30. April 1795] [Copy] War Office, April 30^th 1795. Sir I ought ere this to have acknowledged the receipt of your letter of March 12^th relative to the French privateer le Citoyen de Marseilles, & that of March 13^th relating to the defence of your frontiers & the past expenditures of South Carolina in that Service. — The urgent business that was pending when your letter of the 13^th was received, prevented its being submitted to the President, who was preparing for a journey to Virginia. He is not yet returned. But I find that in consequence of the representation of Governor Pinckney, on the 30^th of September 1792 accompanied with letters from Gen^l. Pickens and Col^o. Anderson, the measures he deemed necessary for guarding your frontiers, on the defensive plan, were sanctioned by the President of the United States, in a letter from the Secretary of War on the 27^th of October following. The expenses incurred subsequently in the necessary protection of your frontiers, must undoubtedly be reimbursed by the United States. But for this purpose, the Accounts thereof with the Vouchers must be transmitted to this Office. The Accounts & Vouchers for the like expenditures from their commencement in Feb^y 1788, it will also be expedient to forward at the same Time Time: for tho not expressly authorized by the General Government, yet if shown to be indispensably necessary, I do not see why the same should not be charged to the United States. The company of Militia now deemed necessary, agreeably to the report of Colonel Anderson founded on the opinions of the field officers who met & consulted thereon, will, I am persuaded, be supported by the United States, with the ready consent of the President. The caution & deliberation directed by you and pursued by Colonel Anderson in making the report is an entire confidence in the necessity of the measure. I hope however that it will very soon be manifested that these guards may be disbanded. From the letter of Mr. Seagrove there appears to be a better disposition in the Creeks, & a firm determination of the Chiefs to collect and restore the negroes and other property which their Warriors have taken from the frontier people. There was to be a general meeting of the Chiefs at the Upper Towns on the 10^th instant, to consult and decide upon the demands contained in his talk relative to Negroes & other property, as well as the citizens whom the Creeks kept in captivity. — Mr. Seagrove's last letter was dated the 19^th ult^o in which he says that no mischief had been done by the Creeks on the frontier of Georgia since his return thither, which I think was in December last. — The certificate of Mr. Groves of 2000 dollars advanced by South Carolina for the purposes of a treaty with the Southern Indians, pursuant to a resolution of Congress passed the 26^th of October 1787. I have handed to the Secretary of the Treasury: If it was not comprehended in any settlement made between the U.States & South Carolina, it will be reimbursed without delay. From the form of the certificate I am led to suppose that money has never been expended; & that it now lies in the Branch Bank of the U.States in Charleston — I am with great respect Sir your most ob^t. Serv^t. Timothy Pickering The Governor of South Carolina (Copy)