288 
Note from the Secretary of State to Mr. 
Lifton. 
Department of State, Philadelphia, 
July 1, 1797. 
Sir, 
YOUR. note of the 19th of the 
lat month, alluding to the fufpici- 
ons expreffed by the Spanifh minif- 
ter, refpecting an expedition fug- 
gefted to be preparing at the Lakes 
againft the Spanith potts in Louifi- 
ana, I laid before ihe Prefident of 
the United States, who received 
great fatisfaction from your affirance 
that no fuch expedition has been 
or is intended by the Britith govern- 
ment. 
Will you permit me to inquire 
whether you can give any informa- 
tion concerning any other project 
of an expedition againft any part 
of tae dominions of Spain, adjacent 
to the territory ef the United States, 
where or fram whence any co-ope- 
ration was contemplated? I am 
aware of the delicacy ef this in- 
quiry; but the franknefs of our 
verbal anfwer, formerly relating to 
the alleged expedition from Cana- 
da, and the affurances in your note 
above mentioned, lead me to hope 
that you will not deem the prefent 
inquiry improper; and the proofs 
you have uniformly given of refpe¢t 
to the rights and interefts of the 
United States, authorize the further 
hope, that you will feel yourfelf at 
liberty to communicate any infor- 
mation you poffefs, which on this 
occafion may concern their tran- 
quillity and welfare; and I beg you 
to be affured that it is on this ground 
only that I would make the inquiry. 
I will add, however, that it is not 
the refult of fufpicion, but of infor- 
mation (in which your name is in- 
troduced) that fome projeét of the 
Kind has been contemplated, and 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1997 
that the means propofed for carty+ 
ing it into execution could not but 
be highly detrimental to the United 
States. 
I have the honour to be, 
' with great refpect, Sirs 
Your moft obedient fervant, 
TimotHy PicksRING. 
Robert Liflon, Efq. Envoy Ex- 
traordinary and Minifter 
Plenipotentiary of his Bris 
tannic Majefty to the Units 
ed States. 
Rejly of Mr. Lifton. 
R. LISTON prefents his refpeéts 
to Colonel Pickering, fecretary of 
ftate. 
I have had the honour of receiv- 
ing your letter of yefterday. 
i the courfe of laft winter, fome 
perfons did aétually propofe to me 
a plan for an attack on the Floridas, 
and the other pofleffions of his Ca- 
tholic Majefty adjoining to the ter- 
ritories of the United States. — 
The general outline of the projec 
was, that the expedition fhould be 
undertaken by a Britifh force fent 
by fea, and feconded by a number 
of men refident within the limits of 
the United States, who, I was af- 
fured, would be willing to join the 
King’s ftandard, if it were erected 
on the Spanifh territory. 
I inforined the projectors that T 
could not give any encouragement 
to a plan of this nature; and I par- 
ticularly ftated two. objeétions to it ; 
the impropriety of any meafure that 
tended to a violation of the neutra+ 
lity of the United States,—and*the 
inhumanity of calling in the aid of 
the Indians ; a circumftance hinted 
at in the converfation that had taken 
place on the fubject. 
I conceived it to be my duty, 
however, to mention the bufinefs 
in. 
