July 24, 1781.
’Tis true, my Friend, that I have two of your Letters to acknowledge besides the one recd. yesterday June 12th and [13th?], lay unacknowledged when July 13th came to hand.1 Besides my great Weight of Public Business as an Apology, I own I depended on your Brother L and Sister S2 to convey information, which, discovered by interceptors, would not have the same ill Consequences as if from my Pen. I have not Leisure for Cyphers and the Nature of the Things which would be the subjects for my Letters is such that I could only write in Cyphers.
Digby is said to have arrived at New-York with 5 Ships of the Line - no Land Forces - The Tyrant’s 3d Son a Midshipman on Board. If they have eluded the French intirely in Europe we can expect no great naval Doings here by our ally, who, you may nevertheless be assured, intends to be superior in these Seas this Season.
Yr. Brother having been to Head Quarters can and doubtless does, by the Inclosed,3 inform you respecting Land Operations.
I am greatly pleased at what the Marquis de Fayette writes of yr. Son.
I take much Interest in what must conduce to your Happiness.
Yr. Frd. & humb Servt.
J.L.
MS not found; reprinted from James Rivington’s New York Royal Gazette, September 15, 1781, where it appeared under the heading "A Sixth Mail. Contents of a Southern Rebel Mail, Lately taken by a Party of Associated Loyalists."
1 Only Richard Henry Lee’s June 12 letter to Lovell is in Lee, Letters (Ballagh), 2:235 - 38.
2 That is, Arthur Lee and Alice Lee Shippen.
3 An extract from the "Inclosed" July 23 letter of Arthur Lee to Richard Henry was also published in the September 15 issue of the Royal Gazette.