Jon.^s Jackson Esq.^r Accountants Office Boston December 15^th 1800 Sir The Treasurer of the United States will remit you the sum of One hundred ninety three dollars & 23/100 which you will be pleased to pay to John Foncin being for his pay & subsistence for October & pay for November 1800 as Engineer, taking his duplicate receipts for the same — I am &c W.S. M^r John Foncin Dec.^r 15^th 1800 Boston Sir I have received your letter of the 2^d Inst accompanied by your account for pay & Subsistence for Oct.^r & pay for Nov.^r 1800, amounting to one hundred ninety three dollars & 23/100 which sum you will receive from Jon.^s Jackson Esq.^re Supervisor at Boston, for which sum you will be pleased to grant your duplicate receipts — I am &c W.S. December 15^th 1800 The Secretary of War Sir I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 13^th on the subject of the accounts of Mr O Hara Contractor & those of the Quarter Master General & Pay Master General — permit me to reply by relating the circumstances attending each of these accounts — which done I trust no unnecessary delay will be attributed to this office in their examination. 1^st As relates to Mr O Hara's accounts: Prior to the act of Congress of the 16^th July 1798 it was the duty of the Officers of the Treasury to settle such accounts. That act making it the duty of the Accountant of the War Dep^t The Comptroller of the Treasury forwarded large unsettled acc[ounts] to this Office which had been previously lodged at the Treasury for settlement. Mr O Hara's accounts among others w[ere] taken up for examination; and it was found that a very large sum had been suspended by the Comptroller of the Treasury. I called upon Mr O Hara to render any additional accounts he might have, that a final settlement might be effected. And as the subject was of such magnitude, requested that he should attend personally at this Office. Before the present period he could not be prevailed upon to attend a sufficient time for that purpose & the settlement was of consequence delayed. Since his arrival here not an hour has been lost by the Clerk who had those accounts under examination; and tho' many vouchers had been previously examined, yet as the accounts were rendered in so detached a manner, & not in conformity with the terms of the Contract, it became necessary to go through the old examination & statements in consequence of the connexion between them & to add such thereto as had been subsequently rendered. The great number and magnitude of the accounts of Mr O Hara, have caused considerable & unavoidable labor, and taken up much time in their examination. The diversity & irregularity of the vouchers; the various & unsettl[ed] manner of issuing the Rations; the component parts being someti[mes] delivered according to one act of Congress (agreeably to which the Contract was made) and at others according to acts long before expired; involving innumerable calculations, and the checks which such a system required to be observed, by continual reference to the Muster Roles & the Books of this Office I assure you Sir! have contributed not a little to impede the settlement of those accounts. In consequence of the anxiety expressed by Mr O Hara for a knowledge of the situation of his accounts I was induced to forego the official forms of a statement & furnish him with one that would give him the information; this was done some days since, & I supposed would have been presented to you. I inclose you a copy thereof shewing the balance standing to his debit at the end of the last Contract. The accounts for the present Year as far as they have been rendered are nearly all examined, and as soon as possible the statements proper for entry on the Books of this Office will be completed. 2^d A number of unsettled accounts of the Quarter master General were in like manner referred to this Office by the Comptroller of the Treasury. They were taken up for examination, with such as were afterwards forwarded by the Quarter Master General — and it was discovered that many payments had been made for which there was no precedent in this Office to govern or law to Regulate. The late Secretary of War was in consequence applied to, to fix Rules to govern in their examination, which never were furnished — and not before the receipt of your letter of the 16^th October[?]