_Plan of Repairs--The Macadam System adopted--Mr. Stockton offers his services--Capt. Delafield made Superintendent--The Road in a bad condition--Permission asked to deviate from instructions, and refused--Capt. Giesey lifted the old road bed indiscriminately-- First defects to be remedied--Lieut. Mansfield at Uniontown--Plan emphasized in notices for contracts--Free passage for water a first consideration._ ENGINEER DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, July 23, 1832. _Lt. J. K. F. Mansfield, Corps of Engineers_: SIR: By direction of the Secretary of War, you have been assigned, temporarily, to the superintendence of the repairs of the Cumberland Road east of the Ohio river; and in the discharge of your duties in this capacity, you will be governed by the following instructions: 1st. Respecting the parts to be repaired. The extreme limits within which your operations will be confined are, the point of intersection of the road with the western boundary line of the State of Pennsylvania, and Cumberland, in the State of Maryland; the dividing line between these States will be considered as dividing the line of the road to be repaired into two divisions, and the division within the State of Pennsylvania will be subdivided into six equal sections, and that within the State of Maryland, into two; then, having made a thorough examination of each of these sections, with a view to make yourself acquainted with their exact condition, you will classify them in the order of their condition, placing the worst first, the next worst second, and so on, making the best the last. You will then make an estimate for the repairs of each of these sections, to ascertain how far the appropriation, which is one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, will go toward repairing the whole road. Separate contracts will then be made for executing the repairs, commencing with No. 1, and passing regularly through the sections, as classified, to the best section; and these repairs will be prosecuted with as much despatch as the nature of the case will allow. Should you deem it advisable, in letting out these sections, to retain any portion of them which may seem to require but slight repairs, and which repairs could be executed with greater economy by having overseers and laborers to act under your immediate direction, you are at liberty to do so, bearing in mind, however, that whenever the repairs of the road can be made with equal economy, it is the wish of the department that they should be made by contract. As soon as one or more of these sections are finished, you will notify the commissioners appointed to receive this road by the laws of Pennsylvania and Maryland, approved, that of the former on the 4th day of April, 1831, and that of the latter on the 4th day of January, 1832, that these sections are