West Point January the 5^th 1798 Sir I received your letter of this date respecting the extract from the Instructions of the Comptroller to the Pay Master Genl in the year 1792. I have received said Instructions from you on the 3^d, and on the same day they were copied in the orderly book of this garrison, with an Order from me to have the same attended to; I therefore refer you to the orderly book upon the subject. You have informed me that Cap^t. Ingersoll had been desired by you, in consequence of that regulation, to sign the Muster Rolls for the Months of November and december Ultimo, and that he [strikethrough: declared that he did not think it proper for him to give a certificate] that he had mustered men whom he did not muster. How can I remove that inconveniency? Will my order to the Captain to sign the muster Rolls, remove from his mind the inconveniency of certifying to what he would object to, was he to act from his own and free will? Is Military Subordination rightly understood to go so far?