agents of foreign governments can be complied with but in a
partial degree.

It is well understood that in the first or second year of the Presidency
of General Washington information was given to him relating to
certain combinations with the agents of a foreign government for the
dismemberment of the Union, which combinations had taken place before
the establishment of the present Federal Government. This information,
however, is believed never to have been deposited in any public office,
or left in that of the President's secretary, these having been duly
examined, but to have been considered as personally confidential, and
therefore retained among his private papers. A communication from the
governor of Virginia to President Washington is found in the office
of the President's secretary, which, although not strictly within the
terms of the request of the House of Representatives, is communicated,
inasmuch as it may throw some light on the subjects of the
correspondence of that time between certain foreign agents and citizens
of the United States.

In the first or second year of the Administration of President Adams
Andrew Ellicott, then employed in designating, in conjunction with the
Spanish authorities, the boundaries between the territories of the
United States and Spain, under the treaty with that nation, communicated
to the Executive of the United States papers and information respecting
the subjects of the present inquiry, which were deposited in the
Office of State. Copies of these are now transmitted to the House of
Representatives, except of a single letter and a reference from the
said Andrew Ellicott, which, being expressly desired to be kept secret,
is therefore not communicated, but its contents can be obtained from
himself in a more legal form, and directions have been given to summon
him to appear as a witness before the court of inquiry.

A paper on "The Commerce of Louisiana," bearing date the 18th of
April, 1798, is found in the Office of State, supposed to have been
communicated by Mr. Daniel Clark, of New Orleans, then a subject of
Spain, and now of the House of Representatives of the United States,
stating certain commercial transactions of General Wilkinson in New
Orleans. An extract from this is now communicated, because it contains
facts which may have some bearing on the questions relating to him.

The destruction of the War Office by fire in the close of 1800 involved
all information it