I replied to both in general terms." Robertson, Bledsoe, and Smith were successful in keeping secret their correspondence with McGillivray and Miro; 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.