[42] March 2, the Spanish Minister wrote Mr. Pickering that he had become confirmed in a suspicion expressed to him three days previous, that the British in Canada were preparing to cross over from the lakes to the Mississippi, "by Fox River, Onisconsin or by the Illinois or other parts of the territory of the United States" in order to attack Upper Louisiana. He therefore requested that measures be promptly taken to prevent a violation of American neutrality (Amer. State Papers, For. Rel., II, 68). [43] Upper Louisiana, which was then in the possession of Spain. [44] Ib. 78. [45] Ib. 79. [46] Ib. 69. [47] April 21, 1797 (Ib. 68). [48] Ib. 71. He also suggested that this suspicion was based upon a former scheme in which Clarke was concerned, for subduing the Floridas in connection with France. [49] Ib. 69. He further declared that he had never heard of Clarke. (Ib. 93). [50] Ib. 71. [51] July 3, 1797, the President submitted to Congress a letter from William Blount to James Carey, which revealed that the former was implicated in a scheme of conquest, that he hoped to conduct in behalf of the British against the Spanish possessions. A copy of this letter may be found in Ib. 76-'7. Blount was thereupon expelled from the Senate by a vote, not of two-thirds only, as required by the constitution, but unanimously. [52] Ib. 89. [53] Ib. 94. [54] Ib. 93. [55] The Secretary evidently considered this plan the same as the one that had been mentioned by the British Minister in his communication referred to above, since Lord Greenville had written that the two objections the Minister had given to that plan,--violation of the neutrality of the United States and employment of the Indians--would have been "sufficient to induce the British Government to reject it" (Ib. 98). [56] Ib. 90. [57] Ib. 102. [58] Ellicott and Pope. [59] Ellicott's Journal, 101-'3. [60] See Supra. [61] Amer. State Papers, For. Rel., II., 79, 102. [62] Two feints at evacuation were made at Natchez and at least one at the Walnut Hills (See Ib. 91). [63] See Supra. [64] Amer. State Papers, For. Rel. II., 25. [65] Ellicott's Journal, 79.