The grounds
of these intimations being inconclusive, the objects uncertain, and the
fidelity of that country known to be firm, the only measure taken was to
urge the informants to use their best endeavors to get further insight
into the designs and proceedings of the suspected persons and to
communicate them to me.
It was not till the latter part of October that the objects of the
conspiracy began to be perceived, but still so blended and involved in
mystery that nothing distinct could be singled out for pursuit. In this
state of uncertainty as to the crime contemplated, the acts done, and
the legal course to be pursued, I thought it best to send to the scene
where these things were principally in transaction a person in whose
integrity, understanding, and discretion entire confidence could be
reposed, with instructions to investigate the plots going on, to enter
into conference (for which he had sufficient credentials) with the
governors and all other officers, civil and military, and with their
aid to do on the spot whatever should be necessary to discover the
designs of the conspirators, arrest their means, bring their persons
to punishment, and to call out the force of the country to suppress any
unlawful enterprise in which it should be found they were engaged.
By this time it was known that many boats were under preparation,
stores of provisions collecting, and an unusual number of suspicious
characters in motion on the Ohio and its waters.
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