The New Hampshire Gazette

PHILADELPHIA, July 6.

High Treason!

The subject of the last confidential message, upon which Mr. Sitgreaves reported, was desired to be of a nature proper to be made public. It is of very serious import; the whole of the particulars we have not yet been able to learn, but we shall state such as have come to our knowledge, and such as will shew to our readers, that a very extraordinary correspondence has lately been carried on between Wm Blount, a Senator from the new State of Tennessee, and the British Minister resident here.—The following is the copy of a letter from William Blount, to a person of the name of Carey, an Indian Interpreter, which, together with other particulars, were on Monday laid before both Houses of Congress by the President of the United States:

Col. King's Iron-works, April 21st, '97

Dear Carey,

I wished to have seen you, before I returned to Philadelphia; but I am obliged to return to the session of Congress, which commences on the fifteenth of May.

Among other things that I wished to have seen you about, was the business Capt. Chesholm mentioned to the British Minister last winter at Philadelphia.

I believe, but am not quite sure, that the plan then talked of will be attempted this fall: and if it is attempted, it will be in a much larger way than then talked of: and if the Indians act their part, I have no doubt but it will succeed. A man of consequence has gone to England about the business, and if he makes arrangements as he expects, I shall myself have a hand in the business, and probably shall be at the head of the business, on the part of the British. You are, however, to understand that it is not yet quite certain that the plan will be attempted; yet you will do well to keep things in a proper train of action in case it should be attempted, and to do so will require all your management. I say require all your management, because you must take care, in whatever you say to Rogers or any body else, not to let the plan be discovered by Hawkins, Dinsmoor, Byers, or any other person in the interest of the United States or Spain.

If I attempt this plan, I shall expect to have you, and all my Indian country and Indian friends with me; but you are now in good business, I hope, and you are not to risk the loss of it by saying any thing that will hurt you until you again hear from me.—Where Capt. Chesholm is I do not know: I left him in Philadelphia in March, and he frequently visited the Minister, and spoke upon the subject; but I believe he will go into the Creek nation, by way of South Carolina or Georgia. He gave out he was going to England, but I did not believe him. Among other things that you may safely do, will be to keep up my consequence with Watts, and the Creeks and Cherokees generally, and you must by no means say any thing in favor of Hawkins, but as often as you can with safety to yourself, you may teach the Creeks to believe he is no better than he should be. Any power or consequence he gets will be against our plan.—Perhaps Rogers, who has no office to lose, is the best man to give out talks against Hawkins. Read the letter to Rogers and if you think it best to send it to him, put a wafer in it, and forward it to him by a safe hand, or perhaps you had best send for him to come to you, and speak to him yourself, respecting the state and prospect of things.

I have advised you in whatever you do to take care of yourself. I have now to tell you to take care of me too, for a discovery of the plan would prevent the success, and much injure all parties concerned. It may be that the Commissioners may not run the line as the Indians expect, or wish, and in that case it is probable the Indians may be taught to blame me for making the Treaty.

To such complaints against me, if such there are, it may be said by my friends, at proper times and places, that Doublehead confirmed the Treaty with the President, at Philadelphia, and receives as much as 5000 dollars a year to be paid to the nation over and above the first price Indeed it may with truth be said, that though I made the treaty, that I made it by the instructions of the President, and in fact it may with truth be said, that I was by the President instructed to purchase much more land than the Indians would agree to sell. This sort of talk, will be throwing all the blame off me, upon the late President, and as he is now out of office, it will be of no consequence how much the Indians blame him. And among other things that may be said for me, is, that I was not at the running of the line, and that if I had been, it would have been run more to their satisfaction.

In short, you understand the subject, and must take care to give out the proper talks to keep up my consequence with the Creeks and Cherokees. Can't Rogers contrive to get the Creeks to desire the President to take Hawkins out of the nation, for if he stays in the Creek nation, and gets the good-will of the nation, he can and will do great injury to our plans. When you have read this letter over three times, then burn it.

I shall be at Knoxville in July, or August, when I will send for Watts, and give him the whiskey I promised him, &c.

WILLIAM BLOUNT.

We are informed that in consequence
In consequence of the above letter's coming into the hands of the President, (in what way we do not at present know) application was made to the British Minister, for information on the subject. He at first declined giving any, professing an ignorance of the affair; but we understand he has since acknowledged that application was made to him by several persons last winter on this business; that he had laid their plan (a plan, it is supposed, for invading the Spanish territory from Canada, aided by men enlisted within the United States, and by the Indians) before his government, but that it had declined having any thing to do with the business. As the British Minister considers the affair as a DELICATE ONE, he declines giving up the names of the persons concerned. We trust, however, a little time will discover them.

BLOUNT'S TREACHERY!

The following brief analysis of the circumstances relative to this extraordinary business which we have from good authority, may not be unacceptable to our readers: We believe it to be, the statement which is partly related by the British Minister himself:

Some time last winter an application was made by Mr. Blount to the minister, in behalf of himself and others, proffering for a certain consideration, the aid and assistance of a powerful force (which force was to be raised by them in the State of Tennessee) for the reduction of the Spanish settlements, and attaching them to the Crown of Great-Britain. That the Minister then declined giving Mr. B. any decisive answer--But in the mean time laid the matter before his Court, their answer must have countenanced the procedure.

This morning Mr. B. had chartered a Pilot-Boat, for the purpose of effecting his escape to Ocracoke Bay, in N. Carolina. He was already on board with his baggage, &c. but owing to some difficulty in procuring a clearance for the vessel at the Custom-House, he was traced by the officers of justice, who, however, not immediately recognizing his person, suffered him to escape. He has not since been heard of.

These are all the circumstances relative to this infamous proceeding, which we have yet been able to collect. The official documents, we are informed, will appear in a contemporary print to-morrow morning--

Office of the Philadelphia Gazette, Wednesday Evening, July 5.

[Mr. W. Blount, is a Senator from the State of Tennessee.]