21From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 16 May 1793 (Hamilton Papers)
Treasury Department, May 16, 1793. Authorizes payment to Moses Hays for “14,000 Gallons best pressed spermaceti oil, supplied for the Northern & Eastern light houses.” LS , RG 36, Collector of Customs at Boston, Letters and Papers re Lighthouses, Buoys, and Piers, 1789–1819, National Archives. See H to George Washington, second letter of May 8, 1793 .
22From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 22 December 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
Treasury Department, December 22, 1792. “Pursuant to an application from John Lee Esqr, Collector of Penobscot, I have to request that you will supply him with a dozen Certificates of Registry without delay.” LS , RG 36, Collector of Customs at Boston, Letters from the Treasury and Others, 1789–1809, Vol. 1, National Archives; copy, RG 56, Letters to Collectors at Small Ports, “Set G,”...
23From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 10 December 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
Treasury Department, December 10, 1792. “The Collector of Wiscassett has applied to this Office for a supply of blank Certificates of Registry. I have to request that you will, for the present, transmit him a dozen blanks without delay. He has been directed to apply in future to you in due time—naming the quantity required.…” L[S] , RG 36, Collector of Customs at Boston, Letters from the...
24From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 17 November 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
Treasury Department, November 17, 1792. “The Collector of Frenchmans Bay in his letter to me dated October the 1st, which has just come to hand, applies for some blank certificates of Registry. I have informed him in the enclosed letter that he will be supplied from your office in the usual course. This I request may be done without loss of time.…” L[S] , RG 36, Collector of Customs at Boston,...
25From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 18 October 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
I have received the petition of John Mackay, Master of the Ship Charlotte, praying for a mitigation or remission of the damages found against him by the Jury, together with a statement of facts on the same subject from the District Judge of Massachusetts. As the fine was in the discretion of the Jury the imposition of one so considerable as two hundred and fifty Dollars furnishes a presumption...
26From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 29 September 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
I have concluded upon consideration of the circumstances represented in your letter of the 20th. instant to authorize the sale of the Revenue Cutter as you propose. In the building of a new one, I must recommend care to be taken, that the vessel be of a proper size; and that her cost be within the limits mentioned in your letter. I am with great consideration Sir Your obedt Servant LS , RG 36,...
27From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 29 September 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
Treasury Department, September 29, 1792. “I have duly received your letter of the 14th Instant, purporting a request from Mr Thomas …: however grateful it might be to me, to promote the plan undertaken by Mr Thomas, I cannot dispense with the law to do it.” LS , RG 36, Collector of Customs at Boston, Letters from the Treasury, 1789–1807, Vol. 4, National Archives; copy, RG 56, Letters to the...
28From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 3 September 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
Treasury Department, September 3, 1792. Informs Lincoln that “a Warrant has this day issued on the Treasurer in your favor, as Agent to John Lowell, Attorney for Jonathan Jackson, late Marshall of the District of Massachusetts, for the sum of Nine hundred & Sixty four dollars and thirty Cents.” Requests a receipt. LS , RG 36, Collector of Customs at Boston, Letters from the Treasury, 1789–1818...
29From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 27 August 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
Treasury Department, August 27, 1792. “I received your letter of the 17th Instant, enclosing an application from Mr Foster for the payment of certain drawbacks. As the case is stated, it is such an one, in which the Law is precise: & there is no discretionery power vested in me.…” LS , RG 36, Collector of Customs at Boston, Letters from the Treasury, 1789–1818 (vol. unnumbered), National...
30From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 14 August 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
Treasury Department, August 14, 1792. “It had been intimated to me, previous to the receipt of your letter of the 3rd instant, that a dissimilar construction was given in the Custom Houses to the laws which relate to the importation of Teas &ca.… The mode adopted at your office appears to be comformable to the sense of the law.” L[S] , RG 36, Collector of Customs at Boston, Letters from the...
31From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 7 August 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
Treasury Department, August 7, 1792. “I have directed a Thermometer to be sent to You, which I request You will please to forward to the Collector of Machias.…” L[S] , RG 36, Collector of Customs at Boston, Letters from the Treasury, 1789–1807, 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...
32From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 6 August 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
You were perfectly right in making the seizure, announced in your letter of the 26th Ultimo. I do not see that any thing can be done in respect to the Drawback you mention. No payment on that account can be made until the requisite evidence is produced; and there might be circumstances which would altogether preclude the possibility of producing that evidence. L[S] , RG 36, Collector of...
33From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 2 August 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
Treasury Department, August 2, 1792. “I have directed a packet to be sent to you by water, containing two Thermometers which I request you will forward by a safe conveyance; the one to the Collector of Barnstable, and the other to the Collector of Frenchman’s bay.” L[S] , RG 36, Collector of Customs at Boston, Letters from the Treasury, 1789–1807, Vol. 4, National Archives; copy, RG 56,...
34From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 21 July 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
In the District of Edgar-town there is a Harbour called Holmes hole, where the Collector has appointed an Inspector (Ebenr Smith). It is represented to me, that many vessels come to anchor in that harbour, which are destined for other ports, and it is thought expedient to keep a boat there, for the purpose of boarding vessels, receiving manifests, and to transmit them to the ports, to which...
35From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 27 June 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
I have before me your letter of the 6th instant. I refer you to the 45th Section of the Act, commonly called the Excise law, where you will find a penalty of five hundred Dollars, for making use of untrue certificates. This Section would be applicable in the case you state, as the certificate accompanying the Rum must be deemed untrue relatively to the article. I am of opinion that, though...
36From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 13 June 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
⟨It appears by⟩ a letter which I have received from ⟨the Collector of Bermuda⟩ Hundred that Captain Silas ⟨Dogget, of the Ship George⟩ of Boston on clearing at his Office for a ⟨foreign port⟩ (Ostend) in May 1791, delivered up a trading license, issued at Boston, which, it is stated, was immediately transmitted to you, and a certificate of the delivery granted to Dogget. From Ostend the...
37From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 2 June 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
Your letter of the 4th of March remains yet to be answered. The question there stated is in substance, whether a Citizen residing out of your state, coming to Boston, and there purchasing a Vessel, must necessarily take and subscribe the oath or affirmation required by law, before the Collector of the District where such Citizen usually resides , in order to obtain a certificate of Registry...
38From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 2 May 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
In my letter of the 22d of march I communicated my desire, that you would pay weekly into the Boston branch of the Bank of the united States, the monies arising in Your office, which it was my intention to have passed immediately to the credit of the Treasurer of the united States. I find it necessary to observe however, that the public service will require Your retaining a sufficiency to...
39From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 22 March 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
The Commissioner of Loans will receive by this post my instructions relative to the quarter’s interest on the public debt. After retaining the sum of six thousand Dollars, in specie, to pay certain Bills of the Commissioner of Loans in New Hampshire, you will be pleased to pay into the Boston Branch Bank the remaining specie and notes of the Bank of the United States which will be in your...
40From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 5 March 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
Treasury Department, March 5, 1792. “It is probable that Treasury draughts in favour of the commissioner of loans of New Hampshire to the extent of 6000 Dollars will be directed to you, which I request you to pay, together with such sums as shall be presented to you in the like draughts by the Commissioner of Your state, towards payment of the interest for the accruing quarter.” L[S] , RG 36,...
41From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 18 February 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
It appears from the abstract of unclaimed interest, rendered by the Commissioner of loans of your State, that you have a credit on his books for 337⁵⁰⁄₁₀₀ Dollars, being the amount of interest on 15,000, 6 per Cent and 15,000, 3 per Cent Stock, for the quarter ending the 31st of March 1791. This Stock is supposed to have been purchased by you under the Act making provision for the reduction of...
42From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 4 February 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
[ Philadelphia, February 4, 1792. On February 15, 1792, Lincoln wrote to Hamilton : “Your two letters one under the 2d & the [other] under the fourth instant came to hand this evening.” Letter of February 4 not found. ]
43From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 23 January 1792 (Hamilton Papers)
Treasury Department, January 23, 1792. “The President of the United States having determined to add to the allowance of the keeper of the light house at Portland head the sum of twenty dollars per annum, you will be pleased to make the same known to him.…” Copy, RG 56, Letters to Collectors at Small Ports, “Set G,” National Archives; copy, RG 56, Letters to the Collector at Boston, National...
44From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 24 November 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
The President has received a petition from the keeper of the light house at Portland (Joseph Greenleaf) setting forth that his compensation is fixed below the rate at which he can afford to perform the service. It is understood that it was not a matter of contract, but that it was fixed at that rate after his appointment to the duty. Your opinion on the sufficiency of the allowance and on the...
45From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 18 November 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
Inclosed is an application which has been made to the President. I request your opinion, as to the competency of the present allowance, or as to what would be a competent one, if you think the present deficient. When you communicate it, you will please to send back the representation now transmitted. I am, with great consideration, Sir, Your Obed Servant. LS , RG 36, Collector of Customs at...
46From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 17 November 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
Your letter of the 2nd instant has been duly received. You were perfectly right in charging the Schooner Industry with the rate of foreign Tonnage. As the fact stands, it does not appear that the law authorises a restitution; and the parties, in pursuing a second voyage without a Register, after having been once indulged, and admonished, and after sufficient time and opportunity were given...
47From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 12 November 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
I have received your letter of the 4th Ultimo, inclosing a duplicate receipt, No 345, of the Bank of Massachusetts for a payment of twenty five thousand Dollars, made by you into that Bank. With regard to the boatmen, I fully approve of your idea, upon the strength of what you suggest, that the service will not suffer by dismissing three of them during the winter season. I am, Sir, with great...
48From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 18 October 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
The post of this day brought me your letter of the 7th instant. I am pained that my having desired a second return of your purchases of the public debt should have caused you uneasiness. Be assured that an idea of inattention on your part had no share in producing that request. Your first statement with the vouchers was handed over to the Auditor, and was not particularly in my mind, when I...
49From Alexander Hamilton to Benjamin Lincoln, 7 October 1791 (Hamilton Papers)
The account rendered by Capt. Williams will be transmitted for Examination to the accounting officers of the Treasury, of which I request you to inform him. The account you give of the Conduct of the Jury in the Cases of Capt. Davis and his mate is such as to create great uneasiness. I approve your intention of having a jury for the next experiment from Suffolk. It is certainly proper that on...
50From 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...
51From 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...
52From 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...
53From 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...
54From 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...
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, 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...
57From 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....
58From 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...
59From 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...
60From 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,...
61From 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...
62From 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...
63From 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...
64From 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...
65From 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;...
66From 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...
67From 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.
68From 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...
69From 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,”...
70From 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...