To George Washington from Henry Lee, 23 September 1795
From Henry Lee
Dumfries [Va.], 23d sebr [1795]1
My dear sir
The horse I mentioned to you is not of the sort you want: tho a well looking horse.
I wished to have heard your sentiments on the constitutionality of a treaty made by the P. & senate wherin commerce was regulated in some degree—on this point I see not the way so clear, as I wish. If you have leisure I should be happy in hearing from you thereupon.
I learnt from Mr L. that Mr Allen formerly attorney general of Pensylvania and the proprietor with many legal characters espoused the opposite doctrine.2 Most respectfully & affy I am ever yours
H: Lee
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. The year is taken from the docket.
2. Lee most likely referred to Andrew Allen (1740–1825), who came from a prominent family of colonial Pennsylvania. He studied law in London and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1765. By 1769 he had received appointment as the colony’s attorney general. During the Revolution, Allen participated in resistance efforts toward British tax and trade policies, served on the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety and was a member of the Second Continental Congress. He hoped for reconciliation with Great Britain and did not return to Congress after the middle of June 1776. By the end of that year he formally supported the Loyalist position. Allen left Pennsylvania but returned during the British occupation of Philadelphia. He left permanently in 1778 when the British evacuated the city. The state confiscated his property in 1781 but extended a pardon to Allen in 1792. He tried unsuccessfully to take advantage of provisions in the Jay Treaty to recover money paid to Pennsylvania on his earlier land contracts.