Treasury Department Circular to the Collectors of the Customs, 18 April 1794
Treasury Department Circular
to the Collectors of the Customs1
Treasury Department April 18, 1794.
Sir,
You will herewith receive for your Government a resolve of Congress of the second instant, relatively to the embargo.2
Another resolution has just passed for continuing the embargo to the 25th. day of May next, which is herewith transmitted.3
With great consideration I am Sir Your obedient Servant
A Hamilton
LS, RG 36, Collector of Customs at Boston, Letters from the Treasury and Others, 1794–1813, Vol. 2, National Archives; LC, RG 56, Circulars of the Office of the Secretary, “Set T,” National Archives.
2. The resolution of April 2, 1794, reads as follows: “Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled, That during the continuance of the present embargo, no registered vessel, having on board goods, wares or merchandise, shall be allowed to depart from one port of the United States to any other port within the same, unless the master, owner, consignee or factor shall first give bond with one or more sureties, to the collector of the district from which she is about to depart, in a sum of double the value of the vessel and cargo, that the said goods, wares or merchandise shall be relanded in some port of the United States: which bond, and also a certificate from the collector of the district, where the same may be relanded, shall by the collectors, respectively, be transmitted to the Secretary of the Treasury. That the several collectors be prohibited from granting a clearance to any foreign ship or vessel, in any case whatever, during the continuance of the present embargo; and all armed vessels, possessing public commissions from any foreign power, (letters of marque excepted) are to be considered as not liable to the embargo” ( 400–01).
3. 401 (April 18, 1794). Printed copies of the resolution, signed by H, are in the Charles C. Hart Autograph Collection, Library of Congress, and in the Independence National Historical Park Collection, Old Custom House, Philadelphia.