Upon application to the quarter master general, 1 find there are but 139 tents and 60 camp kettles at this place, and even those I take by a kind of stealth, the deputy quarter master general declines giving an order for their delivery, until he shall have a written order from the quarter master general, and the latter is willing I shall take them, but will not give the deputy a written order for that purpose, under such circumstances. I shall avail myself of the rule of possession, and by virtue of the eleven points of the law, send them off tomorrow morning without a written order from any one. You may remember, that when you were secretary of the war department, I invited you to forward and deposite in our frontier arsenals, arms, ammunition and camp equipage, for self defence, to be ready for defence in case of war, and the same invitation to the war department has been repeated four times since. The United States have now from five to six hundred regular troops at Plattsburgh, Rome, Canandaigua, &c. And yet those recruits are now and must be for weeks to come, unarmed, and in every respect unequipped, although within musket shot of arsenals. The recruits at Plattsburgh, are within fifty rniles of two tribes of Canadian Indians. In case of an attack upon the frontiers, that portion of the United States army would be as inefiicient and as unable to defend the inhabitants or themselves even, as so many women. As to cannon, muskets and ammunition, I can find no one here who will exercise any authority over them, or deliver a single article upon my requisition, neither can I find any officer of the army who feels himself authorized to exercise any authority, or do any act which will aid me in the all important object of protecting the inhabitants of our extended frontier exposed to the cruelty of savages, and the depredations of the enemy.