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LOT #42049 |
Starting Bid: $1,000
Tobias Lear Autograph Letter Signed...
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Description
Tobias Lear Writes Home Days After the Passage of the 1794 Trade Embargo on Great Britain: "Many conclude that the U. S. are determined to break with G. B."
Tobias Lear Autograph Letter Signed ("Tobias Lear").
Three pages of a bifolium, 7 1/4 x 9 1/4 inches; Liverpool; March
29-30, 1794. Docketed on the verso.A lengthy letter from Tobias Lear, writing from Liverpool to Tristram Dalton and James Greenleaf. He begins on March 29, discussing commercial matters and his intention to return to America in the spring following a planned trip to Amsterdam. He resumes writing on March 30, turning to political developments and providing a revealing snapshot of British reactions to news from the United States. Lear writes, in part:
"The accounts from America as late as the middle of Feby., handed out in the papers here, have excited much speculation & no small alarm among the people of business. Many conclude that the U. S. are determined to break with G. B. How this may touch my correspondents who have engaged to furnish our goods by the first of May I cannot tell. When I saw them they had no fears on this subject. On the politics of Europe I have formed this decided opinion, that the combined powers will meet with so many obstructions in their operations against France-arising from the strength of the Republic-and the misunderstandings among themselves, that a peace with France and our acknowledgement of the Republic will take place in a few months - and I think further that it is not unlikely but France will internally be the most tranquil Nation in Europe in six months.
Your affect. partner
Tobias Lear."
Only days earlier, the U.S. House of Representatives had passed a one-month trade embargo against Great Britain in response to British seizures of American vessels in the Caribbean. Lear's remarks reflect the anxiety this development caused among British merchants, many of whom feared an impending rupture in relations. As he observes, speculation and "no small alarm" had already taken hold in commercial circles. These tensions would culminate later in 1794 with the negotiation of the Jay Treaty, which temporarily eased relations but remained deeply controversial in the United States.
Lear was able to gain this firsthand perspective after traveling to Liverpool on a business venture. After seven years of service as George Washington's private secretary, he left the President's household in 1793 to pursue a land speculation venture, T. Lear & Company. Traveling to Europe to promote the sale of lands in Washington, D.C., he established himself in Liverpool, though the enterprise ultimately proved unsuccessful. He returned to the United States from Liverpool in June 1794.
A revealing and historically significant letter from one of Washington's closest associates, offering firsthand insight into European perceptions of American policy during a formative moment in the nation's early days.
Condition: Very good. Evenly age-toned. Flattened folds, with a few separations thereat, touching text but not affecting legibility. Pencil annotations on the third and fourth pages. Visible ink show-through and some offsetting. Lear's signature is bold and dark.
Auction Info
2026 June 19 The John H. Freund Americana Collection Signature® Auction #6331 (go to Auction Home page)
Proxy Bidding Ends
June
19th
Friday
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Auction Dates
June
19th
Friday
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19 Days
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