New York August 22d. 1787
My dear Sir,
I thank you for the information that thro my brother I have received from you of the health of my family - but my satisfaction was much allayed by the account of your fathers illness.1 I hope however that on your return from Loudon you may have it in your power to relieve us by intelligence of his recovery.
In my last letter to your brother of Stratford2 I mentioned a request to you that I will here repeat, least that letter should not have reached him before you left Westmoreland.3 I requested him to inform you that when my first quarter ended, which would be on the 13th of September, I should, thro you, forward my Account to the Treasurer of that quarters wages, with an account also, of what should be due at the close of the federal year in November, which will be about £112 our currency - And requesting that you would be so good as make provision for making me a remittance of that sum when you should receive my accounts aforesaid. This, I think was the plan proposed to me by the Treasurer before I left Virginia.
Since the affair of Mr. Morris's protests, I apprehend that it will not be easy to get Cash here for bills on Virginia - And therefore it was that I requested the favor of you to contrive a remittance to me here - and I suggested the probability of being supplied with a good bill on this City by Murray & Co. in Alexandria the half of which house resides in this Town. But this I leave to your judgement, observing always that a draft payable here will suit me better than on Philadelphia, and the fewer days sight the better. How did the Crops appear when you left Westmoreland, or have we, in the Northern Neck been favored with any of the plentiful rains that have refreshed this part of the world?
You will see all the news that we have, retailed in the publick papers, so that I need not trouble you with that. For four or 5 weeks after my first arrival here we were fully employed with business in Congress - for a few days past a cessation has taken place by the sickness of some members, the inattention of others, and by some going to the Convention. In a few days we expect 8 or 9 States. The report of the Convention is expected in Congress about a fortnight hence, and great are the public expectations concerning it. Tis expected that a federal Legisla[ture] of 3 branches will be recommended, with independe[nt] powers, and supreme for external matters, revenue, & Commerce - With an Executive well toned and of reasonable duration.
I wish you every happiness and am very sincerely your affectionate friend and Kinsman,
Richard Henry Lee
Receiver's copy, Roberts Autograph Collection, Haverford College.
1 That is, Henry Lee (1729 - 87).
2 Not found. Richard Bland Lee's "brother of Stratford" was Virginia delegate Henry Lee (see Henry Lee to Richard Bland Lee, April 4, 1786), who had returned to Virginia, according to his accounts, in late June. Continental Congress Papers, Vi. Edmund C. Burnett notes the date of his return as July 17 (Burnett, Letters, 8:xcviii), but that supposition is based on erroneous assertions made by the editors of the modern edition of the journals that Charles Thomson's listings of the motions, votes and committee assignments of "Mr. Lee" from July 17 to August 9 meant Henry Lee rather than Richard Henry Lee, who had presented his credentials on July 9. Cf. JCC, 32:279 - 87, 293, 310, 343, 351, 376 - 77, 33:447 - 48, 450, 463, 467n.2; and PCC, item 190, fol. 164. In his accounts, Henry Lee claimed a resumption of service "from the 15th August," although he is not listed in the journals again until September 24. See JCC, 33:516, 518 - 20. The first literary evidence for Lee's return to New York is Edward Carrington's September 23 statement that he had confirmed with "Mr. H. Lee" their mutual support of the new constitution, for which see Carrington to James Madison, September 23, note 4.
3 Richard Bland Lee was a Loudon County delegate to the Virginia House of Delegates at Richmond. DAB.