Trenton Decemr. 14th, 1784
Sir,
Your letter of the 10th Inst. was this day received and laid before Congress - no immediate Order was taken upon it. If I may be permitted a conjecture, I would suppose that the enclosed resolve upon the subject of your letter was considered as the sense of Congress on that point1 - should this not correspond with your idea, you will please to signify your opinion upon that point in a subsequent letter.
I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedient and very humble servant,
Richard Henry Lee
Letter book, Papers of Continental Congress, item 16, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.
1 In his December 10 letter to Congress, Duer had explained that his contract for provisioning the troops at West Point would expire at the end of December, and "As it is probable (from the present State of the Finance Department) that congress may not be able to take timely Measures for Continuing the Supply," he was prepared to continue under the contract through January. However, because the commander at West Point, Maj. John Doughty, had already written about his plight - explaining that there were no treasury commissioners or war office officials available to address the needs of the troops at West Point - Congress had already authorized the extension of Duer's contract through February, by terms of the December 11 resolves Lee enclosed with this letter. See PCC, item 78, 8:81 - 87, 97 - 100; and JCC, 27:681 - 82. For Duer's continuing efforts to obtain payment for rations supplied Continental troops, see also JCC, 28:79 - 81; and PCC, item 78, 8:101 - 4.