[Sent also to the governors of Vermont and Michigan.]
Department of State,
Washington, December 7, 1837.
His Excellency William L. Marcy,
Governor of the State of New York,
Sir: A contest having commenced in a territory of Great Britain adjoining the United States between portions of the population and government, during which attempts may be made to violate the laws of the United States passed to preserve the relations of amity with foreign powers and to fulfill the obligations of our treaties with them, by the directions of the President I have the honor to request the attention of your excellency to any movements of that character that may be contemplated in the State of New York and your prompt interference to arrest the parties concerned if any preparations are made of a hostile nature against any foreign power in amity with the United States.
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,
JOHN FORSYTH.
Source: Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 1789-1897, Volume X, James D. Richardson, ed., p 106.
[From Congressional Globe, Vol. VII, Appendix, p. 245.]
Martin van Buren, Letter from Secretary of State John Forsyth to New York Governor William L. Marcy Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/379197