(seq. 134)

We have agreeable to your {order} put up 11th. Tea & [black & white?] Cho=
=colate. By the Bill of Parcells on the other Side you will
observe that the Tea is Charged 1/1. more than the last, which
is owing to the late Excise act you refer too. The Reason of
our Charging the Tea higher now than before is, that the
first Excise Act was such a poor Lame Business that every
Seller of Tea in Town found a way to avoid paying the Excise
but since the Comendment of the Act we must be obliged
to pay the Excise on all Quantities we have Sold or shall sell
after the 10th {January} last. You will observe that we advance
the Price but 1/1. that the Excise is 2/6 so we abate 1/6 out of
our Proffitt (which is so small that we can't well afford it).
That this is the true State of the Case, you may assure
your self when we affirm (as we now do) that Tea cannot
be purchased by the Chest one furthing a pound Cheaper
now than it could before there was any Excise paid upon it

We have inclosed the last act; by which you see that
you are exempted from paying any Excise on any quan=
=tity you purchase of us since the 10th {January} last, as you
have a Certificate from the Clerk that we are licensed to Sell
& have given security for the Payment of the Duty: It being
provided, " that if any Licensed Person shall have purchased
"of any other licensed Person, who shall have paid or Secured,
"to gray the Excise: such licensed person so purchasing shall
"be exempted from paying any further Excise thereon,
"provided he produce a Certificate that the Excise is paid
"or secured to be paid."----Tho' the Certificate was given
before the last Act yet it is Sufficient as in the present Act
every Person Licensed before the Commencement of it, is
obliged to conform to it as well as those persons who have
been licensed since.----You will also be exempted
from paying the Duty on any Tea that you bought of us
& sold before the 10th {January} last, for it is provided in the first
Act, "that if any person licensed to sell any of the aforesaid
"Commodities, shall purchase them of any other person
"licensed to Sell the Same, such purchaser shall not be
"held to pay any Excise on any Quantity so purchased."

We are Sir Yours [etc?]

{Via} {Captain} Claghorn