From Alexander Hamilton to James Watson, [May 1796]
To James Watson
[New York, May, 1796]
Dr Sir
The handsome general retainer you have offered me & the handsome manner in which the Offer is made claim my acknowlegement.1 But it will not consist with any rule of Action to avail myself of it. I have in other instances engaged for Individuals on these terms, to take as a retainer 100£ and afterwards to charge services performed at the established rates. Though it was my intention to avoid this in future, yet if you desire it, I will add you to the list. But it must except the priorities already incurred which are of William Constable Alexander Macombe LeRoy Bayard & McEvers Williamson of Genesee.2
Yrs with esteem & regard
A Hamilton
P.S To prove to you however that I am not unmindful of my own interest I send you the following account
| To opinion concerning arbitration Bond | Ds 5 |
| To services in negotiating & settling your business with William Constable3 |
100 |
| Cr | 105 |
| March 3 By Cash | 50 |
| Ballance due AH | 55 |
The first 50 dollars I consider as a Retainer & for my opinion given at the time.4
James Watson Esqr.
ALS, from a typescript supplied by an anonymous donor.
1. See Watson to H, May 27, 1796.
2. For the retainers paid to H by the individuals mentioned in this sentence, see H to Robert Troup, July 25, 1795, notes 24, 25, and 26.
4. An entry in H’s Cash Book, 1795–1804, for June 10, 1796, reads: “Cash Dr. to James Watson
| for this sum received of him for Retainer | 250— |
| for this sum received of him for ballance of Account | 55 |
| 305” |
(AD, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress).