1To Thomas Jefferson from Beesly Edgar Joel, 15 August 1784 (Jefferson Papers)
You will pardon the liberty I take in addressing your Excellency, when you are informed of the necessity that forces me to it. Your Excellency can be no stranger to my situation in Virginia ; to the ardor with which unrewarded I acted in her service, or to my distresses, from which only the hospitality of Virginians would have relieved me. Anxious of once more seeing my friends, I have waited...