1. The “Act making further appropriations for the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-six,” 1 June 1796, had appropriated $20,000 for the contingent fund, “subject to the disposition” of the president for “payment of such miscellaneous demands against the United States, other than those on account of the civil department, not otherwise provided for …” (1 Stat. description begins Richard Peters, ed. The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845 . . .. 8 vols. Boston, 1845-67. description ends 493). For earlier laws on the contingent fund, see 1 Stat. description begins Richard Peters, ed. The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845 . . .. 8 vols. Boston, 1845-67. description ends 104–6, 394–95.

The statement of expenditures, signed by Treasury register Joseph Nourse, is filed with the LS. It lists seven warrants issued to Secretary of State Timothy Pickering, five of which pertained to admiralty court proceedings. One warrant for $2,500 was issued on 26 Jan. 1796 for “payment of the Accounts of Bills presented by Thomas Fitzsimons … in procuring Copies of Pape⟨rs⟩ from the British Admiralty Courts in the West Indies in Cases of the Capture of American Vessels” (see also Pickering to GW, 5 Oct. 1795, and n.2; and Pickering to GW, 26 Jan. 1796 [first letter]). A second warrant, for $2,000, was issued on 19 Feb. 1796 for the same purpose. On 6 July, a warrant was issued to Pickering for $2,000 “for the purpose of enabling him to continue the payment of the Expenses attending the procuring of Copies of the proceedings of the British Courts of Vice Admiralty in the Cases of Captures by the Armed Vessels of that Nation.” The other warrants included one for $1,498.84 to authorize Pickering “to take up a Bill of Exchange dated 11. August 1795, drawn by Fisher and Darrell of Antigua” on Fitzsimons. The funds were intended to cover expenses for copying Antigua court proceedings regarding “the property” of U.S. citizens captured there. A warrant for $1,000 was “to be applied to the payment of a demand for Transcripts of proceedings on American Vessels” in the admiralty court of Dominica. Two additional warrants, together totalling $3,000, and dated 3 Aug. and 1 Oct. 1796, respectively, authorized Pickering “to defray the Contingent Charges of Government” (see also GW to Pickering, 28 Sept. 1796, and n.2). The contingent fund had $7,893.05 unexpended as of 31 Dec. 1795, and the “Balance unexpended,” as of 31 Dec. 1796 amounted to $15,894.21. With the additional $20,000 appropriated by the June 1796 act, $27,893.05 was listed as the balance “Brought forward.”