Lengthy Autographed Letter Signed to General Dennison de WINTHROP, James (1752 - 1821) - 1798

Cambridge, MA, 1798. unbound. 1 full page, folio, 12.25 x 7.5 inches, Cambridge, Massachusetts, August 5, 1798. In this letter, Winthrop agrees that for the sake of common defense, he will permit "laborers & artificers for the purpose of repairing works" on Governor's Island (an island in Boston Harbor), "of which you justly consider me as the proprietor," so long as any damage incurred will be paid for by the government. But he says, "I do not in any degree consent that a garrison be placed there till the terms are explicitly settled upon which I am to be compensated, & the number of soldiers & their limits defined..." Separated at folds, but with no loss; tape repairs on verso of conjugate blank leaf. Very good(-) condition. Judge of Court of Common Pleas; Harvard Librarian for 15 years.