Office of Army Accounts 73 New York Sept 8 1788 Sir Your letter of the 4 Inst is received, I beg you to accept my thanks for your congratulations on the appointment which Congress has been pleased to honor me with. — [undecipherable: Congress] having expressed a desire to have the Accounts of the several States [undecipherable: closed], I took the liberty to urge the necessity of additional assistance to enable me to accomplish their wishes, but finding that more persons were already employed they conceived that number more than [undecipherable] in place of with my request they talk of a reduction — I should be happy to give you a birth particularly as you have a long been connected with the Accounts which once past thro' my hands but unfortunately it is out of my power W^m Joseph Howell M^r Joshua Dawson