To Alexander Hamilton from Masahod de La Mar, 1 July 1793
From Masahod de La Mar1
Amsterdam, July 1, 1793. States that he had been “appointed by his Imperial Majesty, Muley Isham, Emperor of Morocco, Envoy Extraordinary to their High Mightinesses of ye United Netherlands” and transmits the Emperor’s request that Congress appoint William Sharpe2 “(an American of Wilmington, Delaware State) to act as their Consul for the American Nation, and fully Empower Said Gentleman by Letters or otherwise as their representative on the Coast of Barbary.”
ALS, RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters 1790–1799, National Archives.
1. This letter was obviously sent to H by mistake, for La Mar addressed him as “Honble. Alexander Hamilton Secretary of State, for the United States of America.” David Humphreys, United States Minister to Portugal, in a letter to Jefferson of August 4, 1793, enclosed a similar letter from La Mar concerning Sharpe. Although La Mar stated that he was Moroccan envoy to the Netherlands, Humphreys wrote that “the Dutch Minister here positively assures me that no Person has been acknowledged at the Hague in that Character” (ALS, RG 59, Despatches from United States Ministers to Portugal, November 19, 1790–September 17, 1793, National Archives).
2. La Mar stated in his letter to H that Sharpe was a “resident and Merchant of Saffe, on the Coast of Barbary.”