To Alexander Hamilton from Edmund Randolph, 5 September 1794
From Edmund Randolph
Philadelphia, September 5, 1794. “The Secretary of State has the honor of informing the Secretary of the Treasury, in answer to his letter of the 3d. instant,1 that Mr. Higginson’s2 papers have been withheld from the Department of State, at the desire of Mr. Ralston,3 who is supposed to be one of the health Committee.4 As soon as they are delivered, whatsoever appears respecting payments to Mr. Lemaigre5 shall be communicated.”
LC, RG 59, Domestic Letters of the Department of State, Vol. 7, June 27–November 30, 1794, National Archives.
1. Letter not found.
3. Robert Ralston was a Philadelphia merchant.
4. In an effort to prevent the entrance of yellow fever into Philadelphia, the legislature on March 11, 1794, had passed “An Act to revive part of the act entituled ‘A Supplement to an act, entituled “An Act to prevent infectious diseases being brought into this province”‘“ (Pennsylvania Laws, December, 1793, Sess., Ch. CXCIX). This act provided that health officers could prevent “any person or thing” from landing in the city.
5. Peter Le Maigre was a Philadelphia merchant.