the Friends of the decd. for the payment of these debts & to provide for the Children. The design is, that number of Gentlemen of easy Fortunes, shall, without much eclat & publicity, subscribe what may be sufficient. I have been desired to make this intention known, to a select number of Friends and before I recd. your Letter had determined to address you & Mr. Gilmore, leaving it to your judgment to whom the communication ought to be made in Baltimore & not doubting your disposition to cooperate.
I am Dr Sir, with high Esteem & sincere affection, yr. friend
OLIV. WOLCOTT.
From New York on August 2, 1904, Wolcott again wrote:
Oliver Wolcott to James McHenry My DEAR SIR: I addressed you a hasty Letter the 16th. ultimo, at the request of several Gentlemen of this City, who have proposed to raise by contribution, a pecuniary Aid for the family of our departed Friend Genl. Hamilton. Understanding that doubts have existed in Philadelphia, whether this proposal did not originate without the knowledge of the Connections of the Family and might, therefore, offend the sensibility of those it was intended to benefit, I have found it necessary to make certain explanations known there, which I presume will be fully satisfactory. It being possible that
similar impressions have been entertained at Baltimore, I must take the liberty to address you again on this Subject.
The property left by Genl. Hamilton, consists almost entirely of new Lands and a Country Seat Nine Miles from this City. The whole valued by himself at about 80,000 Dollars. The debts are chiefly Notes discounted at the Banks & Monies borrowed on Mortgage amounting to about 55,000 Dollars. The difference is £10,000 Newn York Currency.
This brief Statement will enable you fully to understand the enclosed Paper, which is a copy of one left by Genl. Hamilton & which is now entrusted to you, on the condition expressed in Mr. Pendelton's Letter to me. There is no doubt, that the anticipations of our Friend, respecting the consequences of forced Sales to raise Money to discharge $55,000 in debts, would be verified. All the property would be sacrificed & his Children deprived of every Memorial of the labour of their illustrious Parent, except his reputation.
Mr. Govr. Morris, Genl. Clarkson, Mr. Gracie, Mr. Bayard &c &c have consulted on this Subject & their joint opinion is, that it is in every Respect, fit, proper, & necessary, that a number of Gentlemen of Fortune, should come forward & pay these debts & provide handsomely for the family. A sum of 100,000 Dollars is the amount proposed.
It would be an Error to consider Genl. Hamilton's Family, as objects of public Charity, but though this is not their Situation, it is certain that they might reasonably expect advancement in Life, from the exertions of our departed Friend. These hopes must, however, be totally disappointed, unless the proposed aid is obtained. It is true that the provision ought in justice to be made by Congress, or by the State of New York, but no person acquainted with the present State of public affairs, will place the least reliance on this resource. Instances of similar benefactions in ancient & modern times must be familiar to your mind & it is certain that they have always been considered equally honourable to the Receivers & Givers. The suggestion that the Family would be offended by such proof of the Gratitude & Attachment of the respectable part of the Community, is here well understood to be unfounded.
The mode of giving Effect to the proposed design has been considered & it is supposed that a medium course between the ostentation of a public indiscriminate subscription, & the secrecy of private donation would render the provision most munificent & of course most honourable for all Parties concerned. All that is proposed may be easily affected without any sensible burthen & when the enclosed document is perused & it is considered how greatly the men of Property are indebted to the labours of General Hamilton they must doubtless be affected by his declaration, that those "labours have amounted to absolute sacrifice of the Interests of his Family."
Not doubting your disposition to exert your influence in giving effect to the benevolent object of this letter, I remain,
Dr Sir, with sincere Esteem
& true Attachment
yrs
OLIV. WOLCOTT.
Hamilton's interest in the Ohio Company was not, really, very valuable, as it turned out, and consisted of five shares conveyed by Rufus Putnam, Manasseh Cutler, Robert Oliver, and Griffin Green, directors of the Ohio Company, May 14, 1792. As the result of Wolcott's efforts, an indenture entered into April 25, 1806, between Gouverneur Morris, Rufus King, Egbert Benson, Oliver Wolcott, and Charles Wilkes, conveys this land to William Dean and John Lovett for the sum of one dollar, and it is evident difficulty was found in selling it.
Hamilton himself calculated, some time before his death, that his property stood him in about ten thousand pounds, and the surplus beyond his debts was double that sum if all of it could be sold to advantage. Yet he doubted if a forced sale were made if it would be sufficient to meet them. He thought that his holdings should bring him an annual income of at least twelve thousand dollars.
My expenses while the first improvements of my country establishment were going on have been great, but they would this summer and fall reach the point at which it is my intention they should stop, at least till I should be better able than at present to add to them; and after a fair examination founded upon an actual account of my expenditures, I am persuaded that a plan I have contemplated for the next and succeeding years would bring my expenses of every kind within the compass of four thousand dollars yearly, exclusive of the interest of my country establishment. To this limit I have been resolved to reduce them, even though it should be necessary to lease that establishment for a few years. In the meantime, my lands now in a course of sale and settlement would accelerate the extinguishment of my debts, and in the end leave me a handsome clear property. It was also allowable for me to take into view collaterally the expectations of my wife; which have been of late partly realized. She is now entitled to a property of between 2,000 and 3,000 pounds (as I compute), by descent from her mother, and her father is understood to possess a large estate. I feel all the delicacy of this allusion, but the occasion, I trust will plead my excuses, and that venerable father, I am sure, will pardon. He knows well all the nicety of my past conduct.
Viewing the matter in these different aspects, I trust the opinion of candid men will be that there has been no impropriety in my conduct, especially when it is taken into the calculation, that my country establishment, though costly, promises, by the progressive rise of property on this island the felicity of its situation, to become more and more valuable. My chief apology is to those friends who have from mere kindness endorsed my paper discounted at the banks. On mature reflection I have thought it justifiable to secure them in preference to other creditors, lest perchance there should be a deficit. Yet, while this may save them from eventual loss, it will not exempt from present inconvenience. As to this I can only throw myself upon their kindness and entreat the indulgence of the banks for them. Perhaps the request may be supposed entitled to some regard. In the event which would bring this paper to the public eye, one thing at least would be put beyond doubt. This is that my public labors have amounted to an absolute sacrifice of the interests of my family, and that in all pecuniary concerns the delicacy no less than the probity of conduct in public stations has been such as to defy even the shadow of a question.
Indeed, I have not enjoyed the ordinary advantages incident to my military services. Being a member of Congress while the question of the commutation of the half pay of the army for a sum in gross was in debate, delicacy and a desire to be useful to the army by removing the idea of my having an interest in the question, induced me to write to the Secretary of War and relinquish my claim to half pay, which or the equivalent I have never received. Neither have I even applied for the lands allowed by the United States to officers of my rank. Nor did I ever obtain from this State the allowance of lands made to officers of similar rank. It is true that having served through the latter periods of the war on the general staff of the United States and not in the line of this State I could not claim the allowance as a matter of course; but having before the war resided in this State, and having entered the military career at the head of a company of artillery raised for the particular defense of this State, I had better pretensions to the allowance than others to whom it was