Wolcott, Oliver

CIRCULAR TO THE COLLECTORS OF THE CUSTOMS, OF THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT, June 30th, 1796, Sir, [caption title]. This copy addressed to James M. Lingan, Collector of Custom for George Town, District of Columbia, and signed by Oliver Wolcott as Secretary of the Treasury

[Philadelphia, PA: Printed by William Ross], 1796. Broadside circular, 9 x 6 7/8 inches, revising Treasury Department instructions originally dated 30 May 1793, regarding vessels captured by privateers. Evans 31436 (not locating a copy). Shipton and Mooney: "The origin of this entry has not been discovered." Apparently not recorded on OCLC. Very good. (#3784). Item #57309

The original 1793 instructions allowed for the "entry of vessels captured and brought into our ports by the ships of war and privateers of France, and of their cargoes ... to be received in the same manner, under the same regulations and upon the same conditions, as the entry of vessels which were not prizes; but this privilege was not to extend to the belligerent powers at war with France."
With the passage of "the late treaty with Great-Britain" [i.e., Jay's Treaty], it became unlawful for any foreign privateer to arm their ships of sell what they took as prizes, in the ports of the United States. Enforcement of these new policies were charged to the various Collectors of the Customs. They were to "recollect that the security of the Revenue and the faith of the United States, are highly concerned in preventing the introduction for consumption or sale of any goods or property by prizes to privateers." A scarce government circular from the volatile era of war between Great Britain and France, a fledgling United States caught between.
Wolcott (1760-1833) was appointed auditor of the new federal Treasury in September, 1789, and then comptroller in June, 1791. Upon Alexander Hamilton's resignation, President Washington appointed him Secretary of the Treasury in February, 1795, a post he held until November, 1800. He later served as Governor of New York, 1817-1827.
James M. Lingan (1751-1812) served as an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolution; taken prisoner, he served several years aboard a prison ship. After independence he served as a government official in George town, Maryland (later the District of Columbia). At the outbreak of the War of 1812 he was an outspoken advocate of freedom of the press and was murdered by a mob while defending the offices of an anti-war newspaper in Baltimore.

Price: $3,000.00