[Cover sheet:] [James McH]enry esq. Sec[undecipherable] War department 22 January [undecipherable] N^o 15 [undecipherable] John Sevier Recorded [flourish] [Archival notations at top of letter: N^o [undecipherable] / [undecipherable]] State of Tennessee Knoxville 22 January 1799 Sir I rec'd your letter of the 22 ultimo, with the two enclosures Viz: 2 copies of your letters to the Volunteer [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] of the United States — [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] arrangements of the [undecipherable] to allow [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] Nelson [undecipherable] and also [undecipherable] from [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] the restoring the [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] combined and [undecipherable] to [undecipherable] and under what conditions [undecipherable] [undecipherable] the [undecipherable] which [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] complied with by the Cherokees— I may [undecipherable] whether [undecipherable] [undecipherable] France in [undecipherable] [undecipherable] since she [undecipherable] the [undecipherable] [undecipherable] in [undecipherable] in America [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] the European countries, [undecipherable] [undecipherable] to [undecipherable] that France is otherwise not to [undecipherable] the government of our [undecipherable] and [undecipherable] of her conduct [undecipherable] [undecipherable] now be traced— It is with [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] still [undecipherable] a distinction among [undecipherable] own [undecipherable] to foster [undecipherable] [undecipherable] in the designs of that hostile ambition [undecipherable] [undecipherable] with Government and [undecipherable] I am [undecipherable] be [undecipherable] to suggest the idea, that no time ought to be lost in making [strikethrough: forming] a [undecipherable] [undecipherable] preparations [undecipherable] [undecipherable] to oppose against the attacks of that [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] a citizen of [undecipherable: Pennsylvania?] to France is sufficiently [undecipherable] of combinations and that plots are [undecipherable] on [undecipherable] [undecipherable] between [undecipherable: Ireland?] and France, thus being [undecipherable] which proofs are [undecipherable] in abundance, it is easy to [undecipherable] what the [undecipherable] of Government may [undecipherable] should Fate have it in the [undecipherable] of those parties to [undecipherable] their Malignant and Ambitious desires, which I pray [undecipherable] The French [undecipherable] Wantonly ravaged and [undecipherable] our [undecipherable] [undecipherable], they have [undecipherable] [undecipherable] Barbarities [undecipherable] and [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] contaminated [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [underline: their Allies, and [undecipherable]] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] And desperate combination I have the honor to be [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] Gov. [undecipherable] S[undecipherable] The Honorable James [undecipherable] [undecipherable] Secretary of the department of War