From Alexander Hamilton to Nicholas Olive, 5 July 1797
To Nicholas Olive1
New York, July 5, 1797. Acknowledges receipt of papers sent by Olive which “relate to transactions with Mr. Constable.”2 States that he is already “generally engaged for Mr. Constable, and would not in case of controversy act adversely to him for another.… But perhaps it may be most advisable for you as an Agent to confide the interest of your friend to some person free from any engagement to Mr. Constable.…”
ALS, Mr. L. McCormick-Goodhart, Alexandria, Virginia.
1. Olive was a New York City merchant who had emigrated from France to the United States in 1793. He became interested in the Castorland project to establish a French colony on land formerly owned by Alexander Macomb on the Black River in northern New York. The prospectus for this project was published in Paris in 1792.
2. William Constable was a New York City merchant and speculator.