Alexander Hamilton (1757–1804). Autograph letter signed (“A. Hamilton”), to Benjamin Walker. Philadelphia, 4 April 1793. 4to, with integral free franked address panel, stamped "FREE" and with circular postal cancel, with period docketing. Framed with engraved portrait of Hamilton, 22 15/16 × 17 3/8 in. (58.3 × 44.1 cm).

A terse, highly confidential note from the Secretary of the Treasury to Benjamin Walker, a former Revolutionary War aide and then a senior customs official in New York, directing rapid and discreet forwarding of an enclosure (not present). Hamilton writes in full:

“Dear Walker

Forward the inclosed with as much expedition and certainty as you can (I don’t mean that an express should be employed) and say nothing about it.

Yrs truly,
A Hamilton.”

At lower left, Hamilton adds the marginal instruction “Acknowledge Rec’d.” The integral address leaf (verso) is addressed to “Benjamin Walker Esquire, New York,” bears a circular handstamp and a bold FREE marking consistent with executive-branch franking privileges, and is docketed at top in a contemporary hand with Hamilton’s name and the date.

Benjamin Walker (1753–1818) served as a naval officer of customs at the port of New York from 1791 to 1798, following wartime service on the staffs of von Steuben and George Washington and preceding a term in Congress. His customs post made him one of Hamilton’s key lieutenants in the nation’s busiest port.

Dated just eighteen days before Washington’s Neutrality Proclamation (22 April 1793), the letter falls squarely within the moment Hamilton was organizing a fast, confidential information network through the collectors and officers of the customs to manage foreign-policy and law‑enforcement crises triggered by the European war. Within weeks, he would circulate detailed instructions to customs officers on monitoring privateers and enforcing neutrality.

[American Revolutionary War, American Revolution, Founding Fathers, Declaration of Independence, Colonial America, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Monroe] [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs]