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666 except for a brief service in the Virginia legisla- ture, took no further part in public affairs. A short sketch of his life is to be found in the ninth volume of Sanderson's "Biography of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence " (Philadelphia, 1827).— William, diplomatist, b. in Stratford, Va., in 1737; d. at Green Spring, Va., 27 June, 1795, was fifth son of Thomas Lee. He engaged in mercantile business in London, and was for a time agent for Virginia. In 1773 he was elected sheriff of Middlesex, and in l??-'* alderman of London. After the breaking out of the war he accompanied his brother Arthur to France, where early in 1777 he was appointed commercial agent for the United States at Nantes. He was afterward appointed commissioner to the Hague, and to Berlin and Vienna, but, owing to the unwillingness of the neutral powers to offend Great Britain by receiving an American commis- sioner, he was obliged to remain a great part of the time in Paris. In 1778 an Amsterdam mer- chant, Jan de Neufville, procured a loan for the United States from Holland, and was allowed by Van Berckel, burgomaster of Amsterdam, to meet Lee at Aix-la-Chapelle, to confer with him about the matter. During the conference Lee and Neuf- ville drew up a commercial treaty to be adopted by congress and the states-general. This docu- ment, with Neufs'ille's signature, re-enforced by that of Van Berekel, was sent to Philadelphia, and in October, 1780, was found among the papers of Henry Laurens, who was taken prisoner by a Brit- ish cruiser while on his way to the Hague to nego- tiate a loan. This document furnished the Brit- ish ministry with a pretext for declaring war upon Holland. During 1779 William Lee was con- cerned in his brother Arthur's quarrel with Frank- lin at Paris, which ended in the recall of the two brothers by congress. — Arthur, diplomatist, b. in Stratford, Westmoreland co., Va., 20 Dec, 1740 ; d. in Urbana, Middlesex co., Va., 12 Dec, 1792, was sixth and youngest son of Thomas Lee. He was educated at Eton, whence he went to the University of Edinburgh and obtained the degree of M. D. He gave especial attention to botany and to materia medica : and his Latin treatise on the botanical character and medicinal uses of Peruvian bark obtained a prize and was published by the university. After taking his degree, he travelled in Holland and Germany, then returned to Virginia and began the practice of medicine at Williamsburg. But presently, in the excitement that ensued upon the passage of the stamp-act, he made up his mind to go to London and study law, with a view to a political career, and in the hope of being able to do good service in England as an advocate of the constitutional rights of the Americans. In 1766 he was accordingly settled in London as a student in the Temple. He con- tinued the study of law until 1770, and before he left England in 1776 he acquired a lucrative practice. He took an active part in the discussions concerning the Townshend acts and other measures relating to America, and won fame as the author of the " Monitor's Letters," " An Appeal to the English Nation," and " Junius Americanus." He was one of the leading members of a society of gentlemen called " Supporters of the Bill of Rights," in which the measures of the ministry were discussed. One of the published resolutions of this society required "from any candidate whom the members of the society would support for election to parliament a pledge to seek the restoration to America of the essential right of taxation by their own representatives, and a repeal of all acts passed in violation of this right since the year 1763." John Wilkes was a member of this society, and Mr. Lee, as author of the resolution just mentioned, sustained an interesting discussion with the mysterious writer of the " Letters of Junius." During these years Mr. Lee numbered among his friends such men as Burke, Priestley, Dunning, Barre, and Sir William Jones, and was chosen a fellow of the Royal society. In 1770 he was appointed by the assembly of Massachusetts to serve as agent for that colony in London, in association with Franklin. In August, 1775, he was associated with Richard Penn in the fruitless attempt to lay before the king the last petition from the Continental congress. In November of that year the congress appointed Franklin, Jay, and Dickinson a committee for the purpose of secretly corresponding with the friends of the colonies in other parts of the world, and this committee appointed Mr. Lee their secret agent in London. In this capacity he entered into negotiations with the French government, at first through the mediation of Caron de Beaumarchais, afterward directly with Count Vergennes. He spent the spring and summer of 1776 in Paris, and in the autumn was appointed by congress joint commissioner with Dr. Franklin and Silas Deane for the purpose of securing a treaty of alliance with France. In the following summer he was intrusted with special missions to the courts of Spain and Prussia, After the conclusion of the French treaty, it was decided to appoint a minister plenipotentiary in place of the joint commission, and Franklin was accordingly appointed in October, 1778, while Lee continued for another year to serve as sole commissioner to Spain and acting commissioner to Prussia. During his residence in Paris he became involved in bitter quarrels with his fellow-commissioners, and was connected with the unjust charges against Silas Deane which led to the virtual exile of that unfortunate gentleman. It may be said in Lee's behalf that appearances were against Deane at the time, and his conduct was never satisfactorily explained until the discovery of Beaumarchais's papers by M. de Lomenie in a Paris garret in 1857. It can hardly be questioned, however, that Lee gave abundant evidence of a morbidly suspicious and quarrelsome disposition. By the autumn of 1779 his attacks upon Franklin had become so virulent, and his conduct in general so troublesome, that he was recalled by congress. In 1781 he was elected member of the Virginia assembly, and from 1782 till 1785 was a member of the Continental congress. In 1784 he was appointed on a commission for making treaties with the northwestern tribes of Indians, and travelled on this business through the western districts of New York and Pennsylvania. From 1784 till 1789 he was a member of the " Board of Treasury " by which the desperate financial affairs of the confederation were managed. The last three, years of his life were spent on his estate at Urbana. He was opposed to the adoption of the Federal constitution. His biography has been written by his grand-nephew, Richard Henry Lee, " Life of Arthur Lee, with his Political and Literary Correspondence " (2 vols., Boston, 1829). A large number of his papers on political and diplomatic subjects were deposited in the library of Harvard university, and a descriptive catalogue of them has been published in the " University Bulletin," edited by Justin Winsor (1879). A full account of the quarrels at Paris is given in the second volume of Parton's " Life of Franklin." See also Lomenie's "Beaumarchais et son temps" (2 vols., Paris, 1858). — Henry, sol-