Philadelphia 5th October 1782
Sir
My Nephew Ludwell Lee will have the Honor of presenting you this. He is exceedingly pressed for money to Pay his entrance with a Lawyer with whom he means to study; I shall therefore be very much obliged to you, if you can supply him with £200 on my Account. As this hardly amounts to the interest of what is due to me from the Public, and the occasion is very urgent, it not being in our Power to obtain the money necessary in any other way, I hope that what I request will not meet with any Obstacle.
1
I have the Honor to be, Sir with great esteem, Your Most Obedient humble Servt.
(signed). A. Lee
Transcription, Papers of Continental Congress, item 137, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.
1 Both this letter and Morris' October 9 reply, explaining that it was not in his power to make such a payment "without a special Resolution of Congress for the Purpose," are in Morris, Papers (Ferguson), 6:506 - 7, 535 - 36.