July 13th 74
Dear Cousin,
I shall take it as a very particular favour of you to send me by the 1st Ship that sails either from your [illegible] Mr. Russell’s1 employ a piece of [illegible] linen containing about 30 yds & 6 pr of thread stockings provided the exports are not stop’d such I supposed you will hear of in a very short time, unless the late act of Parliament is repealed;2 Pray Remember me to Mrs Lee & all friends.
I am yours &c
Geo. Lee
Source: The Archives of the Robert E. Lee Memorial Foundation, Papers of the Lee Family, Box 6, M2009.048
Transcribed by Caitlin Connelly, 2016 June 9
1. James Russell (1708-1788), a London merchant. Lee and Russell were business partners. His wife was Ann Lee, daughter of Philip Lee.
2. Possibly referring to the Intolerable, or Coercive, Acts, passed in 1774 by Parliament in response to the Boston Tea Party. The acts included the Boston Port Act, the Massachusetts Government Act, the Administration of Justice Act, and the Quartering Act. Many colonists, including Richard Henry Lee, spoke out strongly against these laws, believing them to be a threat to colonial liberties, and in September 1774 the First Continental Congress was called in response.
