[Gen. Knox. 1786] N^o Sir I am much obliged to you for the information respecting the shells at Salisbury. the quantity there is very considerable and we have considered them as secure as M^r Hodgden Commissary informed me that he had the [undecipherable] of the person having them in charge to deliver the whole quantity specified in the obligation. I will however take immediate measures to have them collected and forwarded removed to the Hudsons River in order to be conveyed to West point. I conceive that the durable [undecipherable] stones belonging to the public ought not to be sold but kept in the best preservation. As soon as the Board of Treasury shall to be circumstanced to enable me to remove those stones to a place where they will be more secure it shall be done. I am with great respect Your very Humble Serv^t H Knox Honble Chas. Wol. Hoff