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[1¼] pp.  (4to) 22.9x18.9 cm (9x7½”) written on folded sheet, addressed on verso

Arthur Lee, diplomatist and statesman of the Revolutionary and Federal periods, was sent to France in 1776 as one of three commissioners to negotiate a treaty with France and to solicit aid, one of the other commissioners being Benjamin Franklin. At the time he wrote this letter, Lee was commissioned to the court of Spain, but still resided in Paris.

This letter is apparently a response to correspondence from Stockton concerning problems with an unnamed printer.  "If some one had not been tutoring him, he would not have varied from his first account, & upon the whole I cannot but think M. Dumas knows more of it than he ought to do."  He remarks: "You mentiond [sic] Mr. Sayre's arrival.  I should be glad to hear, where he has been, what account he gives of things in the north, and what are his views."  This certainly is a reference to Stephen Sayre, a patriot who was committed to the Tower of London for a time and afterward forced to leave England.  He was then employed by Benjamin Franklin on some important missions and was his private secretary for a period.  In 1777, Arthur Lee appointed Sayre secretary of his mission to Berlin, but the two had a falling out and separated.  Early in 1779, Sayre went to Stockholm, then returned to Paris before going to Russia.  In closing this letter, Lee conveys a letter of introduction for Stockton to use when meeting Col. William Fitzhugh in Maryland (not present here).