me to the Secretary of War dated 16 October 1799. "When accounts have been read in Pursute of Directions agreeably to the directions render'd in the last reckoning in the appendix to the articles of War, their reasonable expences & not the premium" has been always whether they have been unauthorized or not." To enable me to decide on the account, a certificate must appear from the Commanding Officer who received the furnisher, stating that from the nature of the service performed, the expences are reasonable; the faith of the furnisher must also be annexed to the account, that the price charged for expences were regularly incurred; in the examination of the duties imposed then, I was unavoidable; the accounts thus certified embraced in a statement by you with a [undecipherable: Quartermaster's] accounts, stating that the payments were made accordingly to them by you, when received, must be examined & paid, I allow the account if enabled. Sam^l W. [undecipherable] Robert Gilmore Esq^r. Baltimore Accountants Office March [undecipherable] 1[undecipherable] Sir I beg leave to call your attention to my letter of [undecipherable] the 12 October last, desiring that your Account for expenditures on account of the Fortifications writing, for the expence of the Town & Frontier of Baltimore should be remitted to this Office for settlement, monthly, whilst not having been complied with, other monthly or [undecipherable] I have now to request that your accounts may be shortly received. The demand made from this Department to the Marine Committee are long since standing, which to preserve regularity renders a compliance with my request more necessary. Sam^l [undecipherable]