Augst 28th [1779]
Dear Sir
Very ill, probably with a settled fever, I must be short. Mr. Bennit, on the 27th, delivered to me all the Papers you specified.1 I send you what letters I have by me that I think you want. If you find them unnecessary you may spare the duplicates.
You have a Copy [of] Arthur’s Letter of Feb. 10th to the President with all the Vouchers. So that much trouble will be saved.
By your sending me Feb. 25th to the Chairmn of the Contee & without calling off the last leaf I imagine you meant to have it presented in that form. I had thought otherwise, on seeing that you was to do as you pleased; and I had struck out the word motley as it admitted of two references, when your Brother intended one only.2
There are remarks upon the Correspondence between the Doctr. & He relative to Papers.3 I do not know but they are also to yr. Discretion but as they have appeared in the Congress Room I shall let them be read, so that I may probably add the last Sheet above hinted at, when there shall be Time, but a special order this day prevented.4
A Letter of Apr 27 to the Chairman in answer to the 2d. Paper of Deanes sent by the Marqs. is recd. and has been offered.5 There is but little news. I send you an extract prepared on purpose for you. I wish I may come at the double of it, as it would do better to lend to such men as J B Smith than the more lengthy performance.
| Read | dated6 | |||||
| Mar | 4 | Decr | 3 | J Adams | ||
| 5 | 8 | do | ||||
| July | 23. | BF & JA | ||||
| May | 10 | Sepr | 22. | BF. AL & JA. | ||
| July | 14 | Mar. | 4 —79 | R. Izard. | ||
| 15 | Oct | 5/8 | ||||
| Nov. | 18 | |||||
| Decr. | 5 | |||||
| Jan | 5 —79 | A Lee | ||||
| 15 | ||||||
| 20 | ||||||
| Mar | 47 | |||||
| Apr | 6 | |||||
| 27 | Jan | 28 | R Izard | |||
| Aug | 17 | May | 26 | BF. | ||
| 19 | Sepr. | 12 —78 | Wm. Lee (12, 20 & Octr. 15 were read Feb. 22)8 | |||
| 20 | Feb | 13 —79 | ||||
| Aug | 3 | J Adams | ||||
| 4 | ||||||
| Aug | 23 | May | 21 | A Lee | ||
| On hand | Feb | 25 | W Lee | |||
| Mar | 25 | W Lee | ||||
| Apr. | 26 | A Lee | ||||
| Feb. | 25 | A Lee to Chairman | ||||
| Apr. | 27. | A Lee to do | ||||
| Remarks on the following Z | ||||||
| Letters between A.L. & B.F. Z | ||||||
| Vouchers No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 | ||||||
| Apr. | 23d | AL’s memorial respecting the Accounts of Mr. Williams and the history of Doctr F’s Conduct connected with his Patronage of W - - in particular9 |
My Pen, I can hold no longer, affectionately
JL
Receiver’s copy, Lee Family Papers, University of Virginia Archives.
1 Lee had forwarded by William Bennet several documents brought to the United States by Arthur Lee’s secretary, Hezekiah Ford. Lee, Letters (Ballagh), 2:116 - 17.
2 In his February 25, 1779, letter to the Committee for Foreign Affairs, Arthur Lee had written: "There were no books of accounts - nothing but a confused mass of motley refuse papers, without order, reference, or effect." Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, 3:64
3 This was the unsigned letter read in Congress on September 2 that Lovell described in his September 17 letter to Arthur Lee. JCC, 15:1016. Benjamin Franklin’s and
Arthur Lee’s letters "relative to Papers" of the commissioners are in Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, 3:51 - 52, 54, 76 - 78, 89 - 90, 102.
4 This day, "According to order, Congress took into consideration the report of the committee relative to finance." JCC, 14:1005.
5 Arthur Lee’s April 27,1779, letter concerning the contract with the French Farmers General is in PCC, item 83, 2:537 - 44.
6 The letters listed here by Lovell, except as noted, are in PCC.
7 This may be the letter "without date" from Arthur Lee recorded in the journals on July 15, but no March 4, 1779, letter of Arthur is in the PCC. JCC, 14:836.
8 Charles Thomson’s rough-draft journal records that letters from William Lee of September 12 and 21 and October 15, 1778, were read on February 22, 1779. PCC, item 1,20:264. No William Lee letter of September 20 or 21,1778, has been found in PCC.
9 Arthur Lee’s April 23, 1779, "memorial" is not in PCC, but it was printed as Observations on Certain Commercial Transactions in France Laid before Congress (Philadelphia: Printed by F. Bailey in Market-Street, 1780). Evans, Am. Bibliography, no. 16,819.