[11 February 1777]
My Dear Friend.
My feelings are not to be described. I would go to every extremity to serve my friend, and the able friend of liberty and Mankind. - But here, my power fails. I have not the smallest idea of personal danger, nor does this affect the present question. Farewell my dear friend, may you be happy as you deserve, and then, the cause of humanity will have nothing to fear for you.
Richard Henry Lee
Lee PapersAmerican Philosophical Society
Printed in James Curtis Ballagh, The Letters of Richard Henry Lee, Volume 1, 1762 - 1778, p. 256. Endorsed "Answer to Gen. Lee's letter Feby. 1777."