Note 10 — THE CORRESPONDENCE OF ARTHUR LEE,
Reading edition
The following extract of a letter from the Commissioners to the Committee of Secret Correspondence, will show the origin of Mr Lee’s journey to Spain.
Paris, February 6th, 1777.—“Finding that our residence here together is nearly as expensive as if we were separate, and having reason to believe that one of us might be useful in Madrid, and another in Holland and some Courts further northward, we have agreed that Mr Lee go to Spain, and either Mr Deane or myself (Dr Franklin) to the Hague. Mr Lee sets out tomorrow, having obtained passports, and a letter from the Spanish Ambassador here, to the Minister there. The journey to Holland will not take place so soon. The particular purposes of these journies we cannot prudently now explain.”