Adam Smith, Commissioner (part 12)

Nota bene: Here are the previous 11 installments — parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 — in my multi-part series on Adam Smith’s day-to-day duties as a commissioner of the Board of Customs of Scotland. Endnotes are below the fold. Order #130 is dated either 15 November 1784 or 25 November 1784 (alas, the first digit of the day is cut off from my copy of the document) and is signed by three commissioners of the Board of Customs: Basil Cochrane (top signature), Adam Smith (middle), and David Reid (bottom). This terse but ominous order reads as follows: “We desire you to hasten your Report, with the charge & answer of Mr. Anderson Landsurveyor, touching certain Inaccuracies in his Seizure Books, as directed by our order of the 28th of last Month, we see seeing no reason for the delay.” Before proceeding, it is important to note that this order, like all the others in my sample thus far, opens with the word “Gentlemen,” which was the custom board’s standard salutation when writing…

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