Excerpt from Elijah Clarke's Foreign Intrigues and the Trans-Oconee RepublicAlthough Clarke's land schemes were never renewed, he was accused three years later by the Spanish minister to the United States of another plot against Florida. In a letter to the secre tary of state the ambassador said, I know to a certainty that the English have made propositions to General Clarke of Geor gia, in order to avail themselves of his in¿uence in that State, together with some other persons, for making a diversion of seri ous attack against Florida. Inquiry was made of the Federal district attorney for Georgia about this matter. In his reply he said, I have made diligent inquiry, and cannot find any person here that knows any thing of the business, or that entertains a belief of the kind. Clarke was concerned in a former expedition against the Floridas, in conjunction with the French, and it is possible, from the circumstances, that he is again suspected. He is a man of strong passions, of warm partialities for the French, and violent antipathies to the English. From these circumstances, and from the matter being unknown to the citi zens here, I am led to doubt the truth of the report altogether. Secretary Pickering 's later inquiries of the British envoy failed to clarify completely British machinations regarding Florida. The latter admitted that some persons did actually propose to me a plan for an attack on the Floridas, but none expressed sentiments that were in any degree hostile to the interests of the United States.38 Clarke's past reputation for such ventures was perhaps more responsible for this accusation than any serious conversations he had ever had with the British.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.