In his long letter of reply to Robertson and Bledsoe, McGillivray agreed to make peace between his nation, the Creeks, and the Cumberland settlers. This letter was most favorably received and given wide circulation throughout the West. In a most ingratiating reply, offering McGillivray a fine gun and a lot in Nashville, Robertson throws out the following broad suggestion, which he obviously wishes McGillivray to convey to Miró: "In all probability we cannot long remain in our present state, and if the British or any commercial nation who may be in possession of the mouth of the Mississippi would furnish us with trade, and receive our produce there cannot be a doubt but the people on the west side of the Appalachian mountains will open their eyes to their real interest." Robertson actually had the district erected out of the counties of Davidson, Sumner, and Tennessee given the name of "Miró" by the Assembly of North Carolina in November, 1788--a significant symbol of the desires of the Cumberland leaders. In a letter (April 23, 1789), Miró, who had just received letters from Robertson (January 29th) and Daniel Smith (March 4th) postmarked "District of Miró," observes: "The bearer, Fagot, a confidential agent of Gen. Smith, informed me that the inhabitants of Cumberland, or Miró, would ask North Carolina for an act of separation the following fall, and that as soon as this should be obtained other delegates would be sent from Cumberland to New Orleans, with the object of placing that territory under the domination of His Majesty. I replied to both in general terms." [215] Robertson, Bledsoe, and Smith were successful in keeping secret their correspondence with McGillivray and Miró; and few were in the secret of Sevier's effort to deliver the State of Franklin to Spain. Joseph Martin was less successful in his negotiations; and a great sensation was created throughout the Southern colonies when a private letter from Joseph Martin to McGillivray (November 8, 1788) was intercepted. In this letter Martin said: "I must beg that you write me by the first opportunity in answer to what I am now going to say to you.... I hope to do honor to any part of the world I settle in, and am determined to leave the United States, for reasons that I can assign to you when we meet, but durst not trust it to paper." The general assembly of Georgia referred the question of the intercepted letter to the governor of North Carolina (January 24, 1789); and the result was a legislative investigation into Martin's conduct. Eleven months later, the North Carolina assembly exonerated him. From the correspondence of Joseph Martin and Patrick Henry, it would appear that Martin, on Henry's advice, had acted as a spy upon the Spaniards, in order to discover the views of McGillivray, to protect the exposed white settlements from the Indians, and to fathom the designs of the Spaniards against the United States. [216]