1. On 1 March, the Senate confirmed McLane’s appointment to replace the recently deceased George Bush as customs collector for the District of Delaware and inspector of survey at Wilmington. McLane served as collector until his death in 1829 (see Senate Executive Journal description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America: From the commencement of the First, to the termination of the Nineteenth Congress. Vol. 1. Washington, D.C., 1828. description ends , 228; see also GW to the U.S. Senate, this date; and Jacob Broom to GW, 4 Feb., and notes 1 and 2 to that document).

Prior to GW’s nomination of McLane, both Secretary of State Timothy Pickering and Richard Bassett, chief justice of the Delaware court of common pleas, had written GW, recommending McLane as either customs collector or Delaware commissioner of loans. In a letter to GW of 22 Feb., Pickering wrote: “I beg leave to inform you, that Major Allen McLane whose merit and fidelity as a military officer are so well known, & who is now marshal of Delaware state, an office of more burden than profit, is desirous of succeeding Mr Stockton in the loan office, in case the latter should be appointed Collector at Wilmington. Major McLane understands that his name is on the list of candidates for the Collectors Office: but he frankly owns Mr stockton’s superior fitness.

“I intended to have waited on you to mention it: but have not been able to leave my office” (ALS, DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters). For McLane’s service as an officer during the Revolutionary War, see GW to McLane, 28 March 1777, and the source note to that document, in Papers, Revolutionary War Series description begins W. W. Abbot et al., eds. The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series. 25 vols. to date. Charlottesville, Va., 1985–. description ends 9:4–5. John Stockton remained Delaware commissioner of loans for many more years (see GW to the U.S. Senate, 17 Feb.).

Bassett’s letter to GW, written on 25 Feb. from New Castle, Del., reads: “At the request of the Marshall of the Delaware State Mr Allen McLane, I take the Liberty to inform you, that I think him an Active good Officer, and that in my Opinion he is well Qualified, to execute the Office of Collector of the Port of Wilmington in the state of Delaware, and in case the Appointment should be Conferred on him, Apprehend he will discharge the duties thereof to the entire satisfaction of the Government.

“I have lamented the Situation I have been placed in by Official Ingagements, which has prevented me from paying my respects to you And Mrs Washington before you retire, and leave the Seat of Government, and have only to Console myself with the hopes at some future Period, of having the pleasure of waiting on you at your Seat at Mount Vernon, where it is my Most Ardent prayer I may see you, in the full enjoyment of ease, health and Happiness. My best wishes to Mrs Washington” (ALS, DLC:GW). GW’s extant diaries show no record of a visit to Mount Vernon from Bassett.

2. The “Act to regulate the Collection of the Duties imposed by law on the tonnage of ships … and on goods … imported into the United States,” passed by Congress on 31 July 1789, named Delaware as one of the districts established for the collection of duties. The law stipulated that the “collector for the district shall be appointed, to reside at the said port of Wilmington” (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 29–49, quote on 32). Subsequent laws pertaining to customs officials retained the Wilmington residence requirement for collectors in the District of Delaware (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 148, 633).

Before and after the Revolutionary War, McLane had resided in Duck Creek Cross Roads (now Smyrna), Kent County, Delaware. Dr. James Tilton had described Kent County as “the most sickly of the three counties of Delaware,” but noted that Wilmington “for health, beauty, and accommodation, is superior to any town” between New England and southern Virginia (Currie, Historical Account of the Climates description begins William Currie. An Historical Account of the Climates and Diseases of the United States of America; and of the Remedies and Methods of Treatment. … Philadelphia, 1792. description ends , 211–12).