Philadelphia, 26 April 1799.— Sir, By this conveyance via [undecipherable] I send you all the advance receipts taken on the owners of the shipwrights with you as I Know their time of service is nearly expiring, and the documents may be wanted.— I am, Sir, your most obedient Servant,— Samuel Hodgdon.— Capt. Matthew Ernest, Detroit— Philadelphia 21^th April 1799. Sir, On Thursday next I shall proceed to Elizabeth Town [undecipherable], and New York to re-inspect the castings of M^r John J. Meech for the United States. I shall be obliged by your sending me an extract of the Contract that which immediately relates to the proof, and any other documents you may be in possession of, which can be of use in the examination— I received your letter of the 22^d instant, enclosing Col Ebenezer Stevens's receipt for the Muskets &c. received of Mess.^rs James & Ebenezer Watson— I have previously received Stevens's statement of the same business; after a minute inspection of the cases that contained the Stores, in which he finds a deficiency three Muskets, four Gunlocks, and eighty Brushes & Wires— I have sent the receipt of yours with him on the subject, and received his answer, in which he confirms the statement made to me— his receipt to withhold notwithstanding— I shall write to them for such information as they can give to enable me to make further enquiry after the missing articles— I am, Sir, your most obedient Servant, Samuel Hodgdon— John Steele, Esq^r Comptroller—