Name/Title
Letter from Nicolas Low to Alexander HamiltonEntry/Object ID
HHV 007.12Description
Letter from Nicolas Low to Alexander HamiltonSubject
William Duer stopping payment and debt collections, Panic of 1792, Bank of the United States, New York Directors, New Jersey Directors, Royal Flint, funds, manufacturing society, cotton clothes, 5 thousand dollars, warrants, vouchers, expenditures, stock, loan, bond, jail, resignation, governor, stockholders, mercer, Banks of North America, 6, 9, or 12 months, specie capital, common stock, remittances, bond in judgment, £160,000, dockets, states, real estate, payment, creditors, lenders, stock room, bankrupt, bankruptcies, negotiations, two cases of glass ware, invoice, value £20. SterlingSubject Person/Organization
William Duer (1743-1799), Nicholas Low, Alexander Hamilton, Henry Brockholst Livingston, Archibald Mercer, John Neilson, John Dewhurst, Alexander Macomb, Walter Livingston, John Bush, Angelica Schuyler Church, Eliza Hamilton (1811-1863)Subject Place
* Untyped Subject Place
Philadelphia, PA, New Brunswick, NJ, England, New YorkContinent
EuropeCollection
Duer Manuscript CollectionTranscription
[PAGE 1]
New york 25 March 1792
Dear Sir _
The Moment I received Information / of poor Duer’s Stopping payment I apply’d to Walter / to know the particular State of the Funds of the / manufacturing Society _ since this A Mercer & John / Nielson from Brunswick having called upon me to / consult we have had an informal Meeting of such / of the Directors as were in Town & find the State of the / Funds to be as follows—50 thousand Dollars paid to John / Dewhurst in Bills drawn by Alexander Macomb and / remitted by Dewhurst for the purpose of importing a / Quantity of Cotton Cloths from England. I am not / without my Fears (all I say to you is in Confidence and / I shall therefore speak with the greater Freedom) that / this Money will be misapply’d. I doubt the Integrity of / the man & he was constituted the agent upon this Occasion / in Defiance of what little Influence I had in the Committe / & Interest against him_ 5 Thousand Dollars have been / paid to Walter about three thousand of them expended / the Residue subject to the warrants to be drawn upon / him by Duer for the purposes of the Society _ 10 Thous’d / Dollars paid to Duer _ who has given the most solemn / assurances and which he repeated to me yesterday / that he will at the next meeting of the Directors lay
[END OF PAGE 1]
[PAGE 2]
before them an account with proper vouchers of / his Expenditures to Amount of about 5 thousand / Dollars _ and pay them the Balance in money / The Residue of the Stock of the Society is loaned to / Alexander Macomb for one year at 7 % Cent upon / his Bond with deferred Debt at 14/ in the pound / to be transferred at the opening of the Office _ as a / collateral Security _ we agreed that as it would be / impossible in the present State of things to command / the Attendance of the New york Directors at / Brunswick _ the Jersey Directors should meet there / on the first Tuesday in April next adjourn to Powles / Hook come here arrange all that is to be done & / go over to the Hook to complete the Business of the / Meeting _ during my visit to Duer yesterday in / Jail, I suggested to him in very delicate Terms & / applying to his own Feelings of the propriety of / resigning his appointment as Governor & Seat as a / Director of the Society this he refuses in most positive / Terms to do _ telling me he had that morning been / applyd by A Mercer on the same Subject. His Reasons / for refusing are that he has the Institution much / at Heart & sees clearly that local views will govern /
[END OF PAGE 2]
[PAGE 3]
upon his Resignation _ to you I say that in the present / State of his affairs & person _ his Continuance as either / Governor or Director is in my Opinion not only / extremely ridiculous—but dishonorable to him & / disgracefull to the Society _ If you see the propriety / of his resigning you will advise him to the measure / and I trust he will take your advice _ If he refuses/ is it in the power of the Directors to supercede his / appointment or suspend his Functions as Governor / and ought to call a meeting of the Stockholders / to chuse another Director_ He has signed about one / fourth can we appoint another person to sign / the Residue of the Scrip. The Stockholders are / extremely impatient to have them, give me or if / you please [inserted: to A Mercer], such Communications as you wish / for the Information of the Directors _we all look / up to you for your advise. you will I am sure do every Thing in / your power that can be warranted by the principles of / Prudence & Discretion to contribute to the Support of / public & private Credit in this alarming State of it. / it seems to me that the Bank of the united States with / its Branch in this City might agree with the Banks / of North America and of New york that upon this /
[END OF PAGE 3]
[PAGE 4]
trying Occasion & for a limited period say for 6. 9 / or 12 Months _ their whole Specie Capital shall be / as a Common Stock to be applyd to the aid & Support/ of each other—that by this mean Discounts might / be extended very considerably without fear of a Run / upon either—the Specie now in all the Vaults the / aggregate Sum will remain none can be wanted / to send to any other parts of the Union, nor for / Remittances to Europe while Bills are so low and / whatever Projects may have [inserted: been] formed by some / Individuals among ourselves heretofore for draining / the vaults no Man who shall be detected in them / hereafter will be permitted to live in this City _ _ / Besides Duer _ John Bush & Royal Flint are gone to Jail _ John pintard & George Knox / absconded _ Walter Livingston stopped payment / Brockholst told me last Evening that Duer has / executed a Bond in Judgment to waiter for £160,000 / which yesterday was entered upon the Dockets here & will/ be in other States where Duer has real Estate _ that Duer / had written to Walter yesterday forbidding the payment / of all Notes given by him to Walter _ upon which Monies / were obtained at usurious Interest, he inform’d me
[END OF PAGE 4]
[END OF SECTION A]Other Names and Numbers
Other Numbers
Number Type
Former NumberOther Number
M 3009 bNumber Type
Former NumberOther Number
D 3009 a-bGeneral Notes
Note Type
Curatorial RemarksNote
Letter written on two separate sheets.Note Type
DepartmentNote
Library
