31From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 3 September 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
I am of opinion that the Legislature did not contemplate any distinction in the rate of Duty between Sugars of different qualities, if unmanufactured & free from damage. Goods belonging to Foreign Consuls are not exempted from duty, by virtue of any privilege to which they are legally entitled. I am however of opinion that the indication of the sense of the Legislature, contained in the new...
32From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 6 September 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
The excuses made by the owners of the Lighter, as stated in your letter of the 17th. Ulto, may be true but as they are the mere allegations of the Defendants, you will percieve the impropriety of considering them as sufficient to justify them. The seizure of a Boat under such circumstances was a prudent & necessary step, and it seems proper that you consider further whether the law does not...
33From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 10 September 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Treasury Department, September 10, 1790. “I received your letter of the 3d. instant with the papers enclosed.… The British ship, which you mention will not have the second duty of Tonnage to pay, if she should have arrived at the eastern port after the first of September.” L[S] , RG 36, Collector of Customs at Boston, Letters from the Treasury, 1789–1818, Vol. 5, National Archives; copy, RG...
34From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 10 September 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
[ New York, September 10, 1790. On September 17, 1790, Lincoln wrote to Hamilton : “Your private letter of the 10th came by the post the last evening.” Letter not found. ]
35From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, [10 September 1790] (Hamilton Papers)
I have now under consideration the subject of boats for protection of the Revenue. Though they might be built collectively in certain places with most œconomy; as the saving would not be material, and umbrage might be given, I conclude it will be best to make a partition of them among the states. Accordingly, if the President approves my proposition, One will be built at Boston another at...
36From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 4 October 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Treasury Department, October 4, 1790. “It being necessary that I should prceed according to the directions of the Legislature to complete the Light house at Portland in the Province of Maine, I find the remote situation of the place will render your assistance requisite on the occasion. Enclosed you will find the Act of Congress which must limit your disbursements. I wish this business to be...
37From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 22 November 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Your letter of the 8th. September has not been answered so early as would otherwise have been the case, from the extraordinary engagements in this office about the business of the new loan, & the removal from New York to Philadelphia. The clause in the late & existing Collection Law relative to exporting goods in the same packages in which they were imported cannot apply to goods actually...
38From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 17 December 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Treasury Department, December 17, 1790. “It having been intimated to me that you were desirous to visit Philadelphia I took an early opportunity to inform the President that I believed you entertained such a wish, requesting his permission if it should not appear improper. I added that personal ⟨conferences with you⟩ upon the operation of the ⟨trade laws might be⟩ of considerable use, and...
39From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 18 December 1790 (Hamilton Papers)
Your letter relative to the cutter was duly received, but it appearing from the information collected on that subject that the cost of those boats would exceed the sum contemplated by the legislature the whole business has been suspended ’till this time. I am however now engaged in the adjustment of it. I observe your intention of œconomizing with regard to the Harbor boat, of your disposition...
40From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, [29 December 1790] (Hamilton Papers)
When I answered your letter concerning Mr Burges’s Vessel, being in a hurry, I trusted to my recollection of the act; but having since more particularly adverted to the terms of it, I entertain a doubt of the justness of the opinion then given. I wish therefore the affair may be considered as Standing for further consideration. I mean to take the Attorney General’s opinion; when you will hear...
41From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 17 January 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
Treasury Department, January 17, 1791. Encloses “the Presidents commission for Mr. Joseph Greenleaf as keeper of the light house of Portland.” LS , RG 36, Collector of Customs at Boston, Letters and Papers re Lighthouses, Buoys, and Piers, Vol. 4, National Archives; copy, RG 56, Letters to the Collector at Boston, National Archives; copy, RG 56, Letters to Collectors at Small Ports, “Set G,”...
42From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 21 January 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
I have received your letter of the 16th. of October from which I find that a cutter of near 64 Tons is thought of for your coast. The terms of 22½ Drs. per ton are very satisfactory, but unless the construction of the Vessel is so far advanced as to prevent a diminution of the size, I request that she may be confined to the smallest dimensions that are deemed consistent with safety on your...
43From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, [22 January 1791] (Hamilton Papers)
[ Philadelphia, January 22, 1791. On February 23, 1791, Lincoln wrote to Hamilton and referred to “your letter of the 22nd ultimo.” Letter not found. ] PAH Harold C. Syrett, ed., The Papers of Alexander Hamilton (New York and London, 1961– ). , VIII, 61–62.
44From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 1 February 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
The Trustees of the sinking fund have thought fit to commit to you the making of purchases of the public debt to the amount of fifty thousand Dollars pursuant to the Act making provision for the reduction of the public debt. To enable you to execute this trust (which I doubt not you will chearfully undertake) I have directed the Treasurer to forward to you fifty thousand dollars in Notes of...
45From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 18 March 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
Treasury Department, March 18, 1791. “Inclosed is a copy of a Letter of the same date with this to the Commissioner of Loans for the State of Massachusetts. You will do what is therein mentioned in reference to yourself.…” L[S] , RG 36, Collector of Customs at Boston, Letters from the Treasury, 1789–1808, National Archives; copy, RG 56, Letters to the Collector at Boston, National Archives;...
46From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 8 April 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
In answer to your enquiry whether you may exchange the certificates, purchased under the directions of the Trustees of the Sinking fund, for others which are desired to be given for them, I have to observe that it does not appear to me that such an exchange would be regular, or proper. It is my wish that you subscribe the debt purchased by you on the books of the Commissioner of Loans for...
47From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 11 April 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
The carriage of the Teas to Salem, as stated in your letter of the 9th Ultimo is a mere transportation & not an exportation of them. The outward entry must be made in due form at Salem where the Ship America was lying , and can only be made there. That outward entry is the first operation in the business of exportation, and as it will appear by the public books & papers that the goods were...
48From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 14 April 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
On considering your letter concerning the Revenue Cutter, I believe it will be on the whole best that the builder proceed with her, attending as far as possible to the other hints in my letter, other than relative to her size. It seems now too late to make any alteration that would lessen her dimensions. I am Sir Your Obedt Serv L[S] , RG 36, Collector of Customs at Boston, Letters from the...
49From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 18 April 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
Treasury Department, April 18, 1791. States that it is impossible at this time to give a definitive answer to the questions raised by Lincoln’s letter of March 18, 1791. L[S] , RG 36, Collector of Customs at Boston, Letters from the Treasury, 1789–1818, Vol. 5, National Archives; copy, RG 56, Letters to Collectors at Small Ports, “Set G,” National Archives; copy, RG 56, Letters to the...
50From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 4 May 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
Instructions relative to the collection of the Duties on Teas are now preparing, and will be very soon transmitted. The papers relative to the Suffolk of Weymouth were returned some time since to the District Court of Massachusetts, as they were not in such form as to enable me legally to decide upon the case. I am, sir, L[S] , RG 36, Collector of Customs at Boston, Letters from the Treasury,...
51From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 6 May 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
I have transmitted the accounts enclosed in your letter of the 27 Ultimo to the Auditor of the Treasury. The stock which you fund in the Massachusetts office you will cause to be transferred to the Treasury, and for this purpose you will make application to Mr Appleton, the Commissioner of Loans. As the loan office certificates can be funded at the Treasury, it will be best that you transmit...
52From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, [29 May 1791] (Hamilton Papers)
I have written to the Directors of the Bank of Massachusettes, a letter of which the inclosed is a copy. Be so good as to aid in diffusing the knowledge of the arrangement. You need not mention the transmission of the letter lest it should be misinterpreted. I remain very truly Your friend & serv ALS , Maine Historical Society, Portland. H to the President and Directors of the Massachusetts...
53From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 7 June 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
Before the receipt of your letter of the 25th. of May the question concerning the true intent and meaning of the Act to amend and explain the last impost law, relative to printed, stained, and coloured goods had arisen from another quarter. In determining the articles to which the amendatory act will apply the defect alledged to exist in the original law seems proper to be had fully in view....
54From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 23 June 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
Treasury Department, June 23, 1791. “I have received your letter of the 14th instant, inclosing three certificates of public debt in the names of the Trustees of the sinking fund. Two of them are herewith returned, that they may be cancelled, and certificates of Transfer to the books of the Treasury, issued in lieu of them.…” LS , RG 36, Collector of Customs at Boston, Letters from the...
55From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 4 August 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
As the tea mentioned in your letter of the 13th of July is confessedly not simply Bohea but a different kind of black tea and was entered under a different denomination, I see not how it can be exempted from the duty laid on the second class of teas namely “Souchong and other black teas.” I cannot find that Bohea Congo is a species of tea known in the China Market, tho the Bohea of the...
56From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 20 August 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
I have to acknowledge the receipt of your Letter of the 29th. Inst. In addition to the measures you have taken in the case you mention, I do not doubt you will also advert to the circumstance that the party who received the cotton is by the 26th. Section of the collection law liable to a penalty of four hundred dollars. A rigorous prosecution of the receivers of run goods may produce a...
57From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 16 September 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
The practice of the Surveyor of Boston in measuring American vessels (not new) only when they are transferred into your district, as also in measuring foreign vessels at every entry is perfectly regular. It will be agreeable to me that the builders of the cutter receive her back on delivering a vessel equally good, and well fit, and not exceeding the rate of 63 63/95 tons for 1440 dollars. The...
58From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 21 September 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
You will pay into the Bank of Massachusettes whatever monies may be in your hands, on the last day of this month, over and above what it may be necessary for you to retain to satisfy any Treasury drafts which you may have accepted and to fulfil any services which have been committed to your superintendence. For the sum you may pay in, you will take duplicate receipts, one of which you will...
59From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 22 September 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
A certificate of Registry No 16, granted by you, for the Ship Lucretia, has been delivered up, at the Port of Newbern in north Carolina, and returned to this officer by the Collector of that port. Inclosed you will receive part of the certificate, containing the official Seals and signatures of yourself and the naval Officer; which is transmitted to you, in order that the Bond given agreeable...
60From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 28 September 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
The law making provision for the reduction of the public debt requiring that an account of the purchases should be laid before Congress within the first fourteen days of each session, and as I am informed that only a part of the purchases made by you, yet appears on the books of the Treasury, I am to request that you will without delay have this business completed and all such stock as may...