[Geo. Balfour Surgn. Mate 2 Sublegr. Stationed at Presquisle] Accountants Office Sept. 3^d 1796 Sir, I this moment rec^d. your letter [of the] 15^th July last stating the circumstances relative for your hav[ing] rec^d pay at Presquisle for a part of the same period that [you] relinquished it for [it] was paid here to M^r Balfour: — I a[m] satisfied that your receiving it was owing to some misunderstan[ding] not by design or a wish to receive your pay twice for the same period; it being an error it now only rests to have it rectifie[d] which can be done by stopping the payment here for a like [undecipherable] and then to be paid at this Office again as usual — this w[as] proposed to your Wife on receiving a Letter from her on the [undecipherable] July ist. The Extract of my Letter to M^r Craig under [date] of 28 June 1796 made it necessary to address him on the [subject] of your pay in consequence of his claiming credit for pa[yments] mades to Captain Bissell in whose pay Roll your pay [was] included. — I therefore thought it unnecessary to address you or Captain Bissell on the Subject as it was M^r [Craig's] Duty to stop any other payments — same time sup[posing] it to be an error that would explain itself in time a[nd] might be rectified in future payments from this Offic[e] I am &c. Wm Simmon[s]