To Alexander Hamilton from Joseph Whipple, 30 January 1792
From Joseph Whipple
Portsmouth [New Hampshire] January 30, 1792. Has “exchanged Cash” for “a Note of the bank of the United States No. 314 for two thousand Dollars dated Jany 17. 1792,” despite the fact the cash received for the note exceeds “the Amount of Specie received Since the last return.” Realizes that this transaction represents “a deviation from the instruction” in Hamilton’s circular letter of October 14, 1789,1 but adds: “… having found by consulting the Commissioner of Loans2 (who alone of late has presented drafts on me from the Treasury) that no inconveniences would arise in his department” because of this transaction. Therefore asks whether “an exact adherence” to Hamilton’s instructions of October 14, 1789, “under all circumstances is to be observed.”
LC, RG 36, Collector of Customs at Portsmouth, Letters Sent, 1791–1792, Vol. 3, National Archives.
1. In “Treasury Department Circular to the Collectors of the Customs,” October 14, 1789, H directed the collectors “to receive in payment of the duties, the notes of the Banks of North-america and New York … [and] to exchange any Specie which may at any time be in your hands for them, with this restriction, that you shall not exchange any of the specie which in your weekly return of receipts and payments you state to be in hand; but only the Specie you may receive between one return and another.”
2. William Gardner was appointed commissioner of loans for New Hampshire on December 24, 1790.