Annapolis March 10th 1784
Sir,
It appears by the Papers of the secret Committee of Congress constituted in 1775, that they appointed me corresponding Agent in London, promising me an adequate compensation for my Services. They remitted me, at the same time, two hundred pounds for my expences.
1
I dischargd this trust, 'till my acceptance of an appointment as Commissioner on the 16th of Decr. 1776. It was a service of danger, & executed, I believe, with some advantage to America, as will appear from the acknowledgment of the same Committee.
I now beg leave to submit to Congress, the ascertaing & ordering payment of the compensation promised, as they shall think just.
2
I have the honor to be with the greatest respect, Yr Excellency's most Obedt. Servt.
Arthur Lee3
Receiver's copy, Papers of Continental Congress, item 78, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.
1 See these Letters, 2:475 - 76.
2 Lee's request, together with an account for £145 additional expenses, was referred on March 15 to Roger Sherman, David Howell, and Richard Dobbs Spaight who reported in his favor on the 25th, although it is unclear what compensatory action Congress may have taken. See JCC, 26:167 - 68; and PCC, item 78, 14:571 - 73, item 186, fol. 152.
3 A hint of Lee's social life in Maryland can be found in a rather opaque letter he wrote to an unidentified woman friend on March 4, in which he apologized for the "uneasiness, & perhaps offence" given to her mother for an unspecified impropriety he seems to have been guilty of during a recent visit to West River. Miscellaneous Manuscripts, NN.