April 4, 1779.{Congress}
The {governor} of {Virginia {inform}s us that {Ford} your {secretary}2 is a {bad man}.
Such are the {opinion}s entertained of {Ford} in that {state} that it is by no means {proper} he should {continue with} you any longer.
He is said to be an artful man, that he has imposed on many where he was not unknown, and therefore it is not to be wondered that he has succeeded where he was a Stranger and where there were no means of discovering him, and as he has documents with him of former services which might naturally lead to an opinion that he was a {good man}.
{Richard Henry Lee}.
Lee PapersHoughton Library
1 Words printed in braces in this text were written by Lee in cipher.
2 The cipher here is 230bXIII, which would indicate a word beginning with the letters "lo." Since 330bXIII translates as a word starting with "se" and Richard Henry is clearly referring to Hezekiah Ford’s position as secretary to Arthur, it is assumed he mistakenly wrote "230" for "330." For the cipher used by the Lees and the conjectural element involved in deciphering their correspondence, see these Letters, 9:654n. 2.
For further information on the career of Hezekiah Ford, see the following entry; and Committee for Foreign Affairs to Arthur Lee, 26 January 26 1779, note 1.