From Alexander Hamilton to Gulian Verplanck, 28 September 1794
To Gulian Verplanck
Philadelphia
Sep. 28. 1794
Dear Sir
Inclosed is a Letter for the President & directors of the Bank of New York.1 I have it at heart for various reasons as a matter very interesting to the public service that the loan requested should be made—but I would not wish the Letter to be formally presented until it was certain there would be a compliance. For this reason I send it to you that you may sound the Directors before presenting it & present it or not as you find them disposed.
The rate of interest may perhaps appear exceptionable but it is of consequence to the Country & ultimately the interest of all monied institutions that the Government rate of Interest should be low. Beside this I shall postpone drawing for the money as long as possible which may render the loan in fact more profitable than is one to Individuals at six ⅌ Cent.
I will thank you for a reply as soon as may be;2 putting the initials of your name on the superscription of the Letter.
Yrs. with true esteem & regard
A Hamilton
PS. you will of course open the inclosed. I say this because it is directed to The President & Directors.
G V Planck Esq
ALS, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress.
1. Letter not found.
2. On October 8, 1794, Oliver Wolcott, Jr., wrote “for the Secretary of the Treasury” to Charles Wilkes, cashier of the Bank of New York: “I have had the pleasure to receive your Letter of the 6th Instant addressed to the Secretary of the Treasury, announcing that the President Directors and Company of the Bank of New York have generously complied with his proposals for a Loan of Two Hundred thousand Dollars for the public Service …” (LS, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress).
Wilkes’s letter to H of October 6, 1794, has not been found.
This loan was authorized by “An Act making further provision for the expenses attending the intercourse of the United States with foreign nations; and further to continue in force the act intituled ‘An act providing the means of intercourse between the United States and foreign nations’” ( 345 [March 20, 1794]).
The loan of two hundred thousand dollars from the Bank of New York was for four months at five percent interest (D, RG 217, Miscellaneous Treasury Accounts, 1790–1894, Account No. 7276, National Archives).