To Alexander Hamilton from Tobias Lear, 14 March 1793
From Tobias Lear
United States 14 March 1793.
By the President’s command T. Lear has the honor to return to the Secrey. of the Treasury, the papers respecting the case of Hezekiah & George D. Usher,1 which have been submitted to him; and to inform the Secretary that the President has no doubt, from the statement of facts in the above papers, of the intention to defraud the Revenue; but if it shall appear to the Secretary, from his information on the subject, that the said Ushers have suffered by the loss of their goods, and expences attending the suit, enough to answer the intention of the Law2—the President leaves it to his judgment, to remit the penalty in such way as, upon consulting the Attorney General of the Ud. States, shall appear best.
Tos. Lear.
S. P. US.
LC, George Washington Papers, Library of Congress.
1. See William Ellery to H, February 15, May 9, October 4, 1791; Henry Marchant to H, February 14, 1791.
2. An entry in for March 13, 1793, reads as follows: “The Secy of the Treasury put into the President’s hands certain papers respectg H. & G. Usher—the Captn. & Mate of a Vessel belonging to Rhode Island, who had been guilty of a breech of the Revenue Laws—to see if the President wd. approve of his & the Atty Genl. devising some mode to stop the levying the fine inflicted by law” (, 75–76). On June 19, 1793, Washington sent to Thomas Jefferson pardons for George and Hezekiah Usher (LC, RG 59, George Washington’s Correspondence with Secretaries of State, National Archives).