[Missing page/s] I feel myself in a delicate Situation with respect to this man, + having been very particularly introduc'd to M^r Volney, at the house of M^r George Clymer, in the City of Philadelphia last spring in the presence of a Numerous & Select Company of friends assembled to dine with him as a Gentleman of the first Scientific knowledge, & a practical Philosopher, & having frequently met with him afterwards in many of the first Circles of the City, I cou'd do no less upon his paying me a visit immediately upon his arrival at this place on the Evening of the 22^d Instant, & saying that he had no greater [undecipherable] than to offer him an accommodation at my table, & a room in some house Occupied by Capt De Butts, [undecipherable], which he thankfully accepted, but upon the arrival of the Pay Master General, three days since he abruptly chang'd his Quarters to Col^o Hamtramck's, nor have I seen him since; how to account for this Caprice I am at a loss, because his reception & treatment were delicate Civil & hospitable, perhaps he suspected that M^r Swan was about to inform me of the Opinions he cherished with respect to the British treaty & the ingratitude of our Government towards the French Nation, & also of the apparent intimacy that subsisted between him & the Gallic Powers at Fort Washington or Cincinnati, who it wou'd also appear, had evaded the look out at [undecipherable: probable reading Hobsal], but did not escape the Vigilance of Lieut Steele, of which I am inform'd by the enclosed letter from M^r Swan; he loudly complains. The particulars of this Search I have not as yet received any particular official account of, either from Lieut Steele or Capt Pike, probably the letter mentioned by Capt Pasteur, which has not yet come to hand may elucidate that, & other transactions, In the interim I do not like M^r Volney's choice or change of Quarters, nor the abrupt manner in which it was done, I shall therefore keep a watchful eye upon him, Should the French actually have in contemplation to connect Canada, with Louisiana, as mentioned in Capt De Butts' conversation with Volney, wou'd it be prudent, proper or expedient, to commit many of our Forts to the Command of __________ I shall not however relieve Major Burback until further & particular Orders [undecipherable: probable reading Inform] I am with Friendship & Esteem Your most Obt Anty Wayne [30 Sept^r 1796 N^o 15] [Private] [Letter, not deliver'd to Volney] The Honble James McHenry Esqr Secretary of War