101To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 27 September 1791 (Washington Papers)
By the Post of this day I have been honored with your letter of the 23d instant; and agreeably to the directions therein contained, I shall transmit the papers, and write by every Wednesday’s and friday’s post, as well as monday’s. In my last I mentioned Mr Page’s promise to have his carriage in George Town either on the evening of the 17th, or early in the day of the 18th of October. I have...
102To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 30 September 1791 (Washington Papers)
I had the honor yesterday to receive your letter of the 26th instant. It appeared to me that Mr Powel made his late formal enquiries, with a hope to convict Mr Gallitin of fabrication, or at any rate of misreprentation; for the manner in which he put the interrogatories seemed to carry with it the expectation of a very different answer from that which he received. When I assured him that I had...
103To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 2 October 1791 (Washington Papers)
The Attorney General of the United States having received from the Attorney of the District of New York, the necessary documents relative to Samuel Dodge’s case, he called upon me yesterday with the draft of a pardon for said Dodge, which I inserted on the paper which you left in my hands for that purpose; and after having the seal of the United States affixed thereto, I delivered the same...
104To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 6 October 1791 (Washington Papers)
I was this day honored with your letter of the 2nd Instant with its enclosures. In future I shall write only by the post of Wednesday & friday; unless something special should occur in which case I shall request the Post Master at Alexandria to forward it to Mount Vernon. I enclose the two french letters with their translations. Finding that the letter from Mess[r]s Triol Roux & Co. was...
105To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 9 October 1791 (Washington Papers)
The French Minister informs me, that he shall set out this day to pay his respects to you at Mount Vernon, where he expects to arrive on the evening of the 14th instant. He further observed, that it was his intention to stay at Mount Vernon ’till the 16th or 17th, when he should accompany you or Mrs Washington to George Town, and after the sale of the lots in the Federal City, he should return...
106To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 11 October 1791 (Washington Papers)
I have been this day honored with your letter of the 7th instant. Upon examining the blankets in this place again, and comparing them with the prices & descriptions contained in the memorandum & your letter, I am of opinion it would be best to get them here; for the quality of these in this place is said, by several persons whom I have requested to examine them as Judges, to be good for the...
107To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 14 October 1791 (Washington Papers)
By the Post of yesterday I had the honor to receive your favor of the 10th instant, in which was enclosed a letter for Major Jackson, to whom I delivered it. The enclosed papers will give the accounts which have been received by the late arrivals from Europe. Peace seems to be the predominant feature in these accts. And there do not appear any strong marks of a disposition to invade France,...
108To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 16 October 1791 (Washington Papers)
Considering the little time you would have after your arrival in this place before the meeting of Congress, I thought it could not be amiss to prepare this letter to meet you at Baltimore, enclosing the information which you directed me to obtain upon the points recommended in yours Speeches at the opening of the three last Sessions of Congress. I went carefully through the three speeches, and...
109Tobias Lear to William Shotwell, 21 November 1791 (Washington Papers)
Philadelphia, 21 Nov. 1791. “The President wants to purchase about one thousand wt of clover, and six or seven bushels of Timothy-Seed, and wishes you to let him know what they can be bought for now with you. If the seeds are obtained by the month of February next, it will be soon enough for the President’s purpose; but he must depend upon them at that time, if he should determine to have them...
110Tobias Lear to Elbridge Gerry, 8 December 1791 (Washington Papers)
Philadelphia, 8 Dec. 1791. Having received “the Pears and the curious fluted Cymbling which Mr. Gerry has been so good as to send them,” the president and Mrs. Washington “beg his acceptance of their best thanks for this mark of polite attention.” George D. Smith catalog #172, 1912–13, item 521. Cymling was a contemporary name for pattypan squash ( Shannon, American Dictionary of Culinary...
111Tobias Lear to Henry Knox, 28 December 1791 (Washington Papers)
Philadelphia, 28 Dec. 1791. By the president’s command, returns the reports that the secretary of war sent to GW last evening, with a letter from Colonel Pickering received at the same time, in order that any alterations necessitated by the latter might be made before the former are submitted. LB , DLC:GW . The enclosed reports apparently were those on Arthur St. Clair’s campaign and the new...
112Tobias Lear to Joseph Williams, 14 January 1792 (Washington Papers)
I take the earliest opportunity, after receiving your letter of the 11th instant, to inform you of the President’s sentiments on the subject of it. I think I mentioned to you when I had the pleasure of seeing you in this place, that the President had, when on his tour to the southward, been prevailed upon by the strong sollicitations of Colonel Washington and several other Gentlemen of South...
113Tobias Lear to Oliver Evans, 26 January 1792 (Washington Papers)
The President presuming from your general acquaintance with Mills and Millers, that you will be able to give him the best information of the annual sum for which he can obtain a first rate Miller, that is, one capable of taking charge of a merchant mill, for his mill in Virginia, in addition to the perquisites which he allows to his present miller, and which will be here stated, has directed...
114Tobias Lear to Edmund Randolph, 31 January 1792 (Washington Papers)
I have been honored with your letter of this date ⟨requesting to⟩ be informed whether you understood the President rightly upon the following points respecting ⟨the demoliti⟩on of Mr Carroll’s House. Questn 1: Whether payment could be ordered to Carroll for ⟨more⟩ of his House than was run up, when he executed his ⟨agreement?⟩ Answr upon this point the Attorney General’s opinion is desired....
115Tobias Lear to Hercules Mulligan, 6 February 1792 (Washington Papers)
Philadelphia, 6 Feb. 1792. “The President is desirous of getting some black mole skin, like that of which you made him a pair of breeches when he was in New York—and not being able to procure any in this City he has directed me to request, if there is any in N. York, that you will be so good as to get and send to him as much as will three pair breeches; the amount of which shall be remitted to...
116Tobias Lear to Edmund Randolph, 10 February 1792 (Washington Papers)
The President directs me to offer you his sincere condolence for the loss of your sister—to which permit me, my dear sir to add mine. The President thinks it would be best for you to take an opportunity of conversing with Mr Ellicot respecting Mr Carroll’s house, before you send him your opinion on the subject, as he wishes every information to be had that can be obtained respecting it. The...
117Tobias Lear to James Pemberton, 11 February 1792 (Washington Papers)
Philadelphia, 11 Feb. 1792. Returns “the enclosed paper which was submitted to the Consideration of the President last evening, containing the sentiments proposed to be delivered, in writing, by the Quakers to the deputation from the Cherokee nation of Indians now in this City —and [is commanded] to inform, that the President, upon a due consideration of the subject, does not see any...
118Tobias Lear to Alexander Hamilton, 12 February 1792 (Washington Papers)
Philadelphia, 12 Feb. 1792. Transmits the president’s command that the secretary of the treasury make inquiries about a letter from Congressman Abraham Baldwin of Georgia (not found) mentioning the death of Cornelius Collins, collector at Sunbury, and recommending Francis Coddington for the vacancy. LB , DLC:GW . GW appointed John Lawson, not Francis Coddington, as collector for Sunbury, Ga.,...
119Tobias Lear to Thomas Jefferson, 5 March 1792 (Washington Papers)
Upon submitting the enclosed note from Mr Bache to the President, he desired I would send it to you, that if you thought it right for him to be furnished with the letter wh. he requests it might be done. Should you determine in the affirmative & not have a copy of the translation at hand—I will have a copy of the note left with the President—sent to Mr B. The President has been informed that...
120Tobias Lear to Henry Knox, 16 March 1792 (Washington Papers)
United States [Philadelphia] 16 Mar. 1792. Transmits by GW’s command a representation to the president from the county lieutenants and field officers of the District of Kentucky. ALS (letterpress copy), DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . The enclosure has not been found, but it was probably similar in nature to the request of a council of militia officers in Harrison County, Va., for authorization to...
121Tobias Lear to Matthew Clarkson, 29 March 1792 (Washington Papers)
The President of the United States has received your letter of the 22d instant, expressing an intention of resigning the Office of Marshal for the New York District. While the President regrets the loss of your services to the public, he hopes the circumstances which have induced a resignation of your appointment, are such as will conduce to your personal happiness and prosperity. But, Sir,...
122Tobias Lear to Thomas Jefferson, 31 March 1792 (Washington Papers)
By the President’s command T. Lear has the honor to transmit to the Secretary of State, letters from Mr Seagrove, that the Secretary may take extracts therefrom for the purpose mentioned this day. The President wishes to know if the Copies of Mr Hammond’s letter which have been sent to the President were intended to be put into the hands of the Secretary of War to be transmitted by him to Mr...
123V: Tobias Lear’s Notes on the Opinions of the Cabinet, c.4 April 1792 (Washington Papers)
The opinion of the Secretary of State declares the bill unconstitutional—for it does not apportion the Representatives among the states strictly according to their numbers. It provides for fractions—which the Constitution never intended. It leaves the dertermination of apportioning the Representatives without any fixed principle—which may hereafter be productive of great evil, and admits of...
124To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 5 April 1792 (Washington Papers)
It is my duty to releive you from suspence on the subject which you had the goodness to communicate to me yesterday, when I have no longer any hesitation in determining on it myself. Permit me, therefore, while my heart overflows with gratitude for this new instance of your kind attention to my welfare, to decline the acceptance of the appointment which you had the goodness to offer me. And...
125Tobias Lear to John Rutherfurd, 18 April 1792 (Washington Papers)
I had the honor to lay before the President the letter which you left with me yesterday for that purpose, and to communicate to him the ideas which you expressed respecting the deed for a certain tract of land formerly purchased by Edward Snickers—and have now the pleasure to convey to you the President’s observations on the subject. When Colo. George Mercer (not James, as mentioned in the...
126Tobias Lear to Alexander Hamilton, 27 April 1792 (Washington Papers)
United States [Philadelphia] 27 April 1792. Transmits by GW’s command a letter from the supervisor of the District of South Carolina requesting a three-month leave of absence from his office. “The President refers this request to the Secretary of the Treasury whose knowledge of the duties to be performed by the Supervisor will enable him to say whether it can be granted consistent with the...
127Tobias Lear to Timothy Pickering, 3 May 1792 (Washington Papers)
I enclose the translation of the letter which was transmitted to the Secretary of War by the Governor of New York—The translation was made yesterday in great haste, and if it should not be sufficiently clear, referrence had better be had to the original, in the possession of the Secy of War. The President wishes, in your conversation with Colo. Louis, that you would learn the precise time of...
128Tobias Lear to Henry Knox, 4 May 1792 (Washington Papers)
United States [Philadelphia] 4 May 1792 . Returns by GW’s command “the Instructions to Major Genl Wayne & a letter to Mr Seagrove, both of which meet the President[’s] approbation.” ALS (retained copy), DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . War Department clerk Benjamin Bankson had transmitted Knox’s proposed letter to James Seagrove to Lear on the previous day and had asked that it be submitted to the...
129Tobias Lear to Alexander Hamilton, 18 June 1792 (Washington Papers)
United States [Philadelphia] 18 June 1792. Transmits by GW’s command for Hamilton’s inspection “a letter from John Ritchie, Inspector of the 2d division in Maryland, to the President.” LB , DLC:GW . Neither Ritchie’s letter to GW nor any reply from GW or Hamilton to Ritchie has been found.
130Tobias Lear to Henry Knox, 10 July 1792 (Washington Papers)
By the President’s command T. Lear has the honor to return to the Secretary of War the enclosed letters from Governors Lee & Telfair which have been submitted to the President, and to inform the Secretary that the President requests that any answer to these letters which may require his inspection, may be submitted to him by twelve o’clock tomorrow, as he intends setting out for Virginia in...
131Tobias Lear to Thomas Jefferson, 11 July 1792 (Washington Papers)
The President of the U.S. informs the Secretary of State that he has retained one of the proof Sheets of the federal City, and returns the others with the letter from Mr Blodget, which the President thinks had better be sent to the Commissioners by the mail, which will certainly reach G. Town on Monday. The President’s Cavalry are in such order that he cannot say with any precision when he...
132To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 15 July 1792 (Washington Papers)
I have the honor to inform you that we arrivd here last evening after a pleasant journey from Phila. and shall sail for Providence in about an hour. I have thought it best, & upon the whole most œconomical to take a water carriage to Providence. The principal object in troubling you with a letter at this time is to mention that while I was on board the Packet this morning engaging a passage I...
133To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 21 July 1792 (Washington Papers)
I have the honor to inform you that we arrived here yesterday, and had the pleasure to find all our friends in good health. Our passage from New York to Providence was a very pleasant one, and performed in about 36 hours. We met with no accident during the journey, and were highly favored in the weather. Agreeably to your directions I called upon Mr Morris before I left Philadelphia, and...
134To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 5 August 1792 (Washington Papers)
Since I had the honor of writing to you on the 21 ultimo nothing of a public nature has occurred in this quarter of sufficient importance to trouble you with an account of it. And being desireous of gaining all the knowledge of the sentiments of the people hereabouts respecting our public affairs, that I could obtain either personally or from the best information, I have delayed writing ’till...
135To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 23 September 1792 (Washington Papers)
I have the honor to inform you that I am thus far on my return from New Hampshire to Philadelphia. I have been detained at Portsmouth a fortnight longer than I expected to have been, in order to settle some matters that were interesting to me. I shall leave this place tomorrow and proceed to Philadelphia at the rate of about 30 or 35 miles per day. I have neglected no opportunity of obtaining...
136To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 7 October 1792 (Washington Papers)
I arrived in this place this morning when I was honored with your kind letters of the 21st of September and 1st of October, which were put into my hands by Mr Fraunces. I was detained in Portsmouth ten days longer than I expected to have been when I had the hononor of writing to you last from that place, in order to settle some affairs for my mother which I happily accomplished in a...
137Tobias Lear to Alexander Hamilton, 13 October 1792 (Washington Papers)
By the President’s command T. Lear has the honor to inform the Secretary of the Treasury that the President has appointed William Lewis to be keeper of the Light-house on Cape Henry, with a salary of four hundred Dollars per annum. The President does not conceive that the circumstance of mister Cormicks being employed to oversee the building of the Lighthouse, tho’ in his favor, as...
138Tobias Lear to Samuel Hodgdon, 16 October 1792 (Washington Papers)
I have had the honor of laying before the President the enclosed extract of a letter which you put into my hands for that purpose, and he has directed me to request that you would let him know the number & state of the arms & accoutrements which are under your care in this place, that he may be able to form a judgement whether it would be proper to spare the num[b]er wanted out of the public...
139Tobias Lear to Samuel Hodgdon, 18 October 1792 (Washington Papers)
The President wishes to know if the Vessel which has taken the Arms for So. Carolina has sailed if she has not, when she expects to sail, as [he] has letters prepared for So. Carolina which he wishes to send by the first vessel. The President likewise desires to have an Acct of the number Arms furnished from the public stores for So. Carolina. With great esteem, I am Sir, Your most Obedt Servt...
140Tobias Lear to Thomas Jefferson, 26 October 1792 (Washington Papers)
By the President’s command T. Lear has the honor to inform the Secy of State, that the President desires Commissions to be made out for the following persons—and to bear the dates annexed thereto—viz. John Adams, the first, and Benjamin Gunnison, second mate in the New Hampshire Cutter—June 30th 1792. John Finley, second Mate in the New York Cutter—July 17: 1792. David Porter, Master of the...
141Tobias Lear to Thomas Jefferson, 4 November 1792 (Washington Papers)
The President requests, that if Mr Jefferson intends writing to Mr Pinckney by the British Packet (the mail for which is to be closed at New York on Wednesday) he will be so good as to transmit the enclosed letters to his care. AL , DLC : Jefferson Papers. Jefferson docketed this letter as being from “Lear Tob.” and erroneously noted that it was “recd Oct. 4. 92.” The enclosed letters have not...
142Tobias Lear to Jonathan Dayton, 9 November 1792 (Washington Papers)
In reply to your letter of this date, the President of the United States directs me to inform you, that he is ready to do, at any time, whatever may depend on him towards completing the “grant and conveyance of certain lands to John Cleves Symmes and his associates,” in conformity to An Act of the Legislature passed during the last session of Congress. But as the President understands that...
143Tobias Lear to Henry Knox, 14 November 1792 (Washington Papers)
By the President’s command T. Lear has the honor to return to the Secretary of War the dispatches from Mr Seagrove, which were submitted to the president yesterday. The President thinks there are some parts of these communications which should be laid before Congress, and requests that the Secretary will select such as may be proper & have them communicated accordingly. ALS (letterpress copy),...
144Tobias Lear to Henry Knox, 21 November 1792 (Washington Papers)
By the President’s command T. Lear has the honor to return to the Secretary of War the enclosed letter from the Governor of Virginia, which has been submitted to the President; and to transmit a letter which the President has received from the Representatives of the frontier Counties in the Gene[r]al Assembly of Virginia. The President requests that the Secretary will take the subject of the...
145Tobias Lear to Thomas Jefferson, 23 November 1792 (Washington Papers)
T. Lear has the honor to transmit to the Secretary of State the Commissions which were sent to the President for his signature, which they have received. T. Lear begs leave to observe that in the Commission of Mr Joy, it is expressed: “He demanding and receiving no Fees or Perquisites” —which appears to be contrary to the fourth Section of the Act passed during the last Session of Congress,...
146Tobias Lear to Henry Knox, 23 November 1792 (Washington Papers)
T. Lear has the honor to return to the Secretary of War the two letters from Major General Wayne, with their enclosures, which have been submitted to the President, whose remarks thereon are herewith enclosed. ALS (letterpress copy), DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . Lear wrote over his original date of 22 Nov. on the letterpress copy to change it to 23 November. Lear’s docket reads “23d Nov. 1792,” and...
147Tobias Lear to Henry Knox, 24 November 1792 (Washington Papers)
By the President’s command T. Lear has the honor to return to the Secretary of War the letter to Govrnor Lee—to Thomas Wilson Esq. & others —and the Copy of a letter to Genl Wayne, which have been submitted to the President & to inform the Secretary that their contents meet the ideas of the President. ADfS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . For Knox’s letters to Henry Lee and to Thomas Wilson, see Lear...
148Tobias Lear to Henry Knox, 25 November 1792 (Washington Papers)
By the President’s Command T. Lear has the honor to return to the Secretary of War General Sevier’s letter, which the President has refused, and to inform the Secretary that the President observes, that the Secretary will in his answer to Genl Sevier let him know that by accounts from the Superintendent of Indian Affairs to the Southward, the disposition of the Creek nation is very different...
149Tobias Lear to William Hilton, 2 December 1792 (Washington Papers)
The President of the United States has received at his seat in Virginia, a number of plants from the Island of Jamaica, which were accompanied with a particular description of the plants sent, and a catalogue of the plants in the Jamaica public Garden. As there was no Letter received with the plants, the President would not have known to whose politeness he was indebted for this mark of...
150Tobias Lear to John Lamb, 4 December 1792 (Washington Papers)
I was this day honored with your letter of the 30th ultimo, enclosing one for Mrs Washington, the receipt of which she requests me to acknowledge, and beg your acceptance of her best thanks for the nuts and Apples which you have had the politeness to send to her, & which have come safe to hand. The Box, which was at the same time sent to the President, and which you mention to have arrived...