[Copy] Accountants Office December 30^th 1796 Sir, The foregoing is a duplicate of my letter to you of the 23^d Inst. inclosing an extract taken from the Warrant Book of this Office of payments made to Chisholm and others on account of the Indian Department from the 14^th Jan^y to that day. I now inclose you an extract to this day, withholding the first period. — you will thereby observe the sums Chisholm has received on account of the [undecipherable] Department, which he is to charge in settlement; his Accounts which are refered to you, his charges being invariably unsupported by any kind of Vouchers and the expenditures [strikethrough: undecipherable] among the Indians where he could obtain none — It has been thought most advisable to have the accounts refered to you for settlement. — you will be better able to judge of the [undecipherable: propriety] of the charges than I can him. But it would not be improper to remind that you are to pay the strictest attention to the Interest of the United States in the settlement of them so as on a revision of the Accounts, to prevent any objections to the passing of them to your credit here. From the payments to the Interpreters, you will observe that they have received monies in advance, which they are to account for with you. From the abstract of Warrants Bills, which is inclosed you can — which warrants are to be accounted for by the person receiving, it being held accountable to which you will pay due attention. As I first act to make an examination of your Accounts as early as possible, I have to request that you will forward immediately or as soon as may be to this Office an abstract of your payments from the commencement of your [undecipherable: transactions] in that Country to the end of the present year, and an account Current apparently to the [undecipherable] for your government; — you will observe that there are columns [undecipherable] for the number of the Warrants and number of the Accounts on which the payment was made, as part of the accounts are here you may suppress the number of them, and only include the number of the Warrants. After the Warrants close you will continue the numbering the accounts from the last number of the Warrant — After you have completed the abstract of payments, you will proceed to from an account Current apparently to the [undecipherable] form and debit the United States with the amount of the abstract of payments, and credit the sums you have received, leaving the balance remaining in your hands unexpended. You will be cautious in entering the payments, so as to include none, but such as are proper to be settled at this Office, and the Credits to consist of monies received from this Office, and such others as would be proper to be accounted for here — When warrants are issued on Account of persons who are held accountable, it would be well to notice it in the abstract so that at one view it [undecipherable] is the accountable persons — Your attention to the foregoing is particularly requested. A frequent transmission of abstracts and accounts would be a desirable thing, with such transmission — Vouchers, there [undecipherable] and Account Current accompanying them, shewing the balance if any remaining unaccounted. Signed W.^m Simmons Acck [Endorsement on cover: William o[f] Simmons, [undecipherable], 30 December 1796]