To Benjamin Franklin from Arthur Lee, 29 December 1779
From Arthur Lee
AL (draft): National Archives
Paris Decr. 29th. 1779
Sir,
I find that there remain scarce fifty pounds of the funds that were in my hands, & my inevitable expences in quitting this place8 & returning to my Country, will I apprehend amount to four or five hundred.
If the state of the public funds in your disposal will permit you to furnish me with that Sum it will save me from very great difficulties & distress.
I have the honor to be, with very great respect, Sir, Yr most Obedt. H. Servt.
The Honble. Doctor B. Franklin M.P.
8. On Dec. 25 Lee learned that Jay had been elected minister to Spain, leaving Lee without a diplomatic post: Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, III, 447; Lee Family Papers, reel 6, frames 481–2. Lee took leave of the French government in January, but was unable to find passage to America until the summer: Louis W. Potts, Arthur Lee, a Virtuous Revolutionary (Baton Rouge and London, 1981), pp. 241–3.