To George Washington from Capel & Osgood Hanbury, 27 March 1766
From Capel & Osgood Hanbury
London March 27: 1766
Esteem’d Friend
Inclos’d we send Thy Acct Currt the Receipt of wch please to advise & that it proves right or if otherwise to point out the Error, & it shall be immediately rectified1—We Congratulate Thee & all our Friends in America upon the Repeal of the Stampt Act2 We used our b⟨est3 en⟩deavours to prevent the Act passing when first it was in agitation & have ever since it passed spar’d no endeavours to demonstrate the necessity of Repealing it & we are happy that we have in some degree been instrumental in accomplishing it, We hope the utmost Care will be taken in all parts of America to rejoice that the Act is no more but not to triumph as if it was a Victory gain’d over the British Legislature as this will bring on such Consequences upon you & your real Friends here that we even should dread to think off if we apprehended that there was the least degree of probability of it.
As your Friend James Balfour4 can inform all our Friends of every Circumstance of what has past since ⟨illegible⟩ Repeal has been in agitation we after to him. We are now very closly engag’d in endeavouring to procure benificial extention & regulations of the American Commerce therefore must request our Friends to excuse our not now entering into the answering such Letters as we have rec’d since we wrote ⅌ Capt. Esten: & also writing instead of particular Letters5—Thy ⟨mutilated⟩ Hhds Tobo ⅌ ⟨the mutilated⟩ are taken due care of & believe shall be ennabled to forward the Sales soon6—The Price of Virginia Tobo has given way a little We hope the Hanbury will meet a good dispatch & we request our Friends to expedite the Lading of the Bearer Capt. Necks. We are wth Esteem Thy Assur’d Friends
C. & O. Hanbury
LS, ViHi: Custis Papers. The letter was sent to GW at York River in the “Fauquier Capn [Robert] Necks.”
1. The account current with GW is in ViHi: Custis Papers.
2. The king signed the bill on 14 Mar. to repeal the Stamp Act on 1 May 1766.
4. James Balfour (d. 1775), of the firm of Balfour & Barraud in Norfolk, was the agent in Virginia for the Hanburys.
5. James Esten brought the Hanburys’ letter of 20 Nov. 1765. Hanbury addressed a letter to John Parke Custis on 27 Mar. virtually identical to this one to GW and enclosing John Parke Custis’s account current (ViHi: Custis Papers).
6. The Hanburys are referring to the twelve hogsheads of tobacco belonging to John Parke Custis transported in the Fauquier. See GW to Hanbury, 20 Sept. 1765.