Hamilton, Alexander. Manuscript letter signed, Philadelphia, 12 August 1792, to William Carmichael

Sold to benefit the Congregation of Temple Beth Abraham of Tarrytown, New York, Building Campaign

HAMILTON, ALEXANDER

MANUSCRIPT LETTER SIGNED AS SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY ("ALEXANDER HAMILTON"), TO WILLIAM CARMICHAEL, REQUESTING AN ACCOUNTING OF HIS EXPENSES AS A PEACE COMMISSIONER WITH SPAIN

One page (9 5/8 x 7 1/2 in.; 244 x 191 mm), Treasury Department, Philadelphia, 28 August 1792, address panel on verso; silked, seal repair, some staining at right margin edge. Matted, framed, and glazed with an engraved portrait of Hamilton.

On January 24, 1792, Carmichael, who had been United States chargé d’affaires in Madrid since 1789, was appointed one of the commissioners to negotiate a treaty with Spain. Hamilton here requests an accounting of the commissioners' expenditures.

"It has been represented to me by the Accounting Officers of the Treasury that a regular account of all the monies which have been received by you from our Commissioners in Europe, or which have been paid by them by your direction, would be requisite in the examination and adjustment of the accounts of the said Commissioners.

"I have therefore to request that you will furnish me with an account, comprising those objects, down to the 1st of November 1792.

"As the document called for will be considered as an essential guide in the Settlement which is contemplated, I shall make no apology for troubling you on the occasion."

LITERATURE:

The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, ed. Syrett, 12:284–85