Accountants Office February 2. 1800 The Secretary of War Sir I have to reply to your letter of the 7^th Instant which acknowledges the receipt of mine of the 4^th on the subject of the accounts of Brig Gen^l M^c Pherson, or coin allowance, and more to inform that the claims of Subsistence therein detailed were abated from the accounts of payments made by the Quarter master General Hamilton lodged in this Office for settlement & which items I considered as inadmissable in this case without special allowance by law — I informed those charges to the Secretary of War to place him on his [undecipherable] of information relative to the claims of Gen^l M^c Pherson. I have fully & maturely considered the most letter by the Secretary of War, in reply & am of opinion that no additional allowance to what is pointed out by law or established regulations for the settlement of accounts in this office is admissable & all officers are without the interference of the authority which finds these emoluments to increased, since the comptroller do not consider myself authorised to admit the extra charges referred to you in my letter without the interference of Congress. If this opinion should be deemed incorrect the usual recourse may be had by a reference of the subject to the Comptroller of the Treasury for final decision. I am Sir W[undecipherable]