.jpg?w=1)
Details
LEE, Richard Henry (1732-1794), Signer (Virginia). Autograph letter signed ("Richard Henry Lee"), also signed by WILLIAM WHIPPLE (1730-1785) and FRANCIS LEWIS (1713-1803), to "Honorable Robert Morris...Member of Congress, Philadelphia." Baltimore, 3 February 1777. 1 full page, folio, boldly penned, integral address leaf, boldly addressed by Lee, with free frank signature ("R.H. Lee") and with an AUTOGRAPH DOCKET OF ROBERT MORRIS (1734-1806). In fine condition.
THE COMMITTEE OF SECRET CORRESPONDENCE ARRANGES FOR CLANDESTINE SHIPMENTS OF "NECESSARY WARLIKE STORES, PARTICULARLY GOOD MUSKETS, TENT CLOTH, OR BRASS ARTILLERY"
A fine letter--penned by the delegate who introduced the resolution for Independence--and SIGNED BY THREE SIGNERS. It concerns secret dispatches bound to France via an unnamed captain. These despatches almost certainly related to France's critical surreptitious material assistance to the colonies, carefully concealed behind the front of a mercantile firm, Hortalez & Cie, the creation of the peripatetic Pierre Auguste Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-1799, best known as the author of "The Marriage of Figaro"). "We learn from the Committee of secret correspondence that a Vessel is immediately to be sent...with dispatches for France, and that a letter of credit will be wanted to bear the Captain's expenses to Paris and to furnish the Vessel with such necessaries as she may want. Be so kind, Sir, as Chairman of the Committee of Correspondence, to send forward...to the Council of Massachusetts, a proper letter of Credit...Upon our former plan of economy, we should be glad to send some remittance by this Vessel, if it can be done without occasioning delay. We are therefore agreed that you write a letter to Mr. Bradford directing this business...and that our Correspondents in France be requested to send us some return by the Vessel of necessary Warlike stores, particularly good muskets, Tent cloth, or brass Artillery".
By Fall 1777 Beaumarchais's phony mercantile house had dispatched many vessels and no less than five million livres' worth of supplies to America, material aid. These critical supplies helped support the American military efforts up to the victory at Saratoga, at which point France was induced to accord diplomatic recognition to American independence and treaties of amity, commerce and alliance were signed, promising even greater French support--financial and material--to the American cause.
THE COMMITTEE OF SECRET CORRESPONDENCE ARRANGES FOR CLANDESTINE SHIPMENTS OF "NECESSARY WARLIKE STORES, PARTICULARLY GOOD MUSKETS, TENT CLOTH, OR BRASS ARTILLERY"
A fine letter--penned by the delegate who introduced the resolution for Independence--and SIGNED BY THREE SIGNERS. It concerns secret dispatches bound to France via an unnamed captain. These despatches almost certainly related to France's critical surreptitious material assistance to the colonies, carefully concealed behind the front of a mercantile firm, Hortalez & Cie, the creation of the peripatetic Pierre Auguste Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-1799, best known as the author of "The Marriage of Figaro"). "We learn from the Committee of secret correspondence that a Vessel is immediately to be sent...with dispatches for France, and that a letter of credit will be wanted to bear the Captain's expenses to Paris and to furnish the Vessel with such necessaries as she may want. Be so kind, Sir, as Chairman of the Committee of Correspondence, to send forward...to the Council of Massachusetts, a proper letter of Credit...Upon our former plan of economy, we should be glad to send some remittance by this Vessel, if it can be done without occasioning delay. We are therefore agreed that you write a letter to Mr. Bradford directing this business...and that our Correspondents in France be requested to send us some return by the Vessel of necessary Warlike stores, particularly good muskets, Tent cloth, or brass Artillery".
By Fall 1777 Beaumarchais's phony mercantile house had dispatched many vessels and no less than five million livres' worth of supplies to America, material aid. These critical supplies helped support the American military efforts up to the victory at Saratoga, at which point France was induced to accord diplomatic recognition to American independence and treaties of amity, commerce and alliance were signed, promising even greater French support--financial and material--to the American cause.