Department of War Accountants Office February 6. 1799 Sir I have received your letter dated the 24 Ult^o transmitting one from John Steele Esq^r Comptroller of the Treasury on the subject of certain representations from Caleb Swan Pay master to the Troops - on which you request me to report. I shall accordingly proceed to state the substance of his representations & my ideas on the subject- 1^st M^r Swan states that in pursuance of a letter from Gen^l Wilkinson he has made payments to a considerable amount, that he is posessd of all the requisite rolls and receipts, and has complied as [strikethrough: to] all the forms prescribed in his original Instructions, excepting that of the [undecipherable: probable "signature"] of the commanding Officer to the Warrants, which was not in his power to obtain - and under these circumstances he suggests that he be permitted to [undecipherable] either with the signature of the Commanding Officer to the Warrants, or with the injunction of a pundual quarterly transmission of his papers & vouchers to the Accountants Office- 2^d He also states that a rigid adherence to every part of his original Instructions under the present extensive dispersion of the Troops, will be incompatible with the object of the Law of the 7^th June 1794 for paying the Troops every two months - In reply to the first part I have to observe that a representation nearly to the same effect was made by M^r Swan some time since to this Office and he was directed to forward his accounts & vouchers withholding the Warrants until the signature of the Commanding Officer was obtained. This step I presume he will take and his accounts will be received here accordingly. - As respects the payment of the Troops in conformity with the Act of the 7^th June 1794 - I have to observe that there are but few instances in which that law has been complied with; that ever since its passing the Troops have been in so dispersed a situation as to prevent their being regularly paid. and what has induced M^r Swan to state the difficulty at this late period I am at a loss to know... No objections have been hitherto made to his payments on that account, and should any hereafter be made I presume that a representation shewing the impossibility of a compliance with that Law would effectually exhonerate him.- I therefore conceive that there is no necessity for any additional instructions on the subjects he has stated.- I am respectfully Sir Your Obed^t. Serv^t. [undecipherable] The Secretary of War -