To Alexander Hamilton from Morgan Lewis, 10 October 1790
From Morgan Lewis
Rhinebeck [New York] October 10, 1790. “I have delayed answering your obliging and friendly Letter.…1 The Arrangement of Commissioners,2 I am satisfied is as it should be. There is an affinity between the present and former Offices which I did not sufficiently advert to.3 I assure you, I had no wish to interfere with the Gentleman you allude to;4 he never once occurred to me, nor was the Appointment the main Object of my Letter. I thought it a Duty I owed your Friendship to acquaint you with Measures which I had every Reason to believe had been adopted by Persons unfriendly to you and your Plans. You may doubt my Sincerity, but I declare I have neither Motive, or Wish to deceive you. The Situation of my public Accounts5 lies heavy on my Spirits; and I am anxious to know if Mr. Woolcot6 has taken the Opinion of the Attorney General. I feel a Delicacy in writing to you upon this Subject because I am doubtful of its Propriety. Yet I know not how otherwise to be informed. I have repeatedly applied to my Relations in Town upon the Occasion, but they are so absorbed in Speculation that I cannot prevail on them even to answer my Letters. If it will not interfere with your Business, you will confer on me a new Obligation, by acquainting me with the real state of this disagreable, tho to me, important affair.…”
ALS, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress.
1. Letter not found. Lewis was an assemblyman from New York City.
2. This is a reference to the commissioner of loans for New York.
3. See Lewis to H, August 9, 1790.
4. Perhaps Lewis is referring to John Cochran who received the appointment as commissioner of loans for New York.
5. Lewis was deputy quartermaster general for the Northern Department from 1776 to 1780.
6. Oliver Wolcott, Jr., was the auditor of the Treasury.