LEE, ARTHUR (1740-1792), American diplomat, brother of Richard Henry Lee, was born at Stratford, Westmoreland county, Virginia, on Dec. 20, 1740. He was educated at Eton, and studied and practised medicine and law in Virginia and in England. In 1770-75 he served as London agent for Massachusetts. At that time he had shown great ability as a pamphleteer, having pub lished in London The Monitor (1768), seven essays previously printed in Virginia, as well as various political tracts. In Dec. '775 the committee of secret correspondence chose him as its European agent for the purpose of ascertaining the views of European coun tries regarding the war between the colonies and Great Britain. In Oct. 1776 he was appointed on the commission with Franklin, and Silas Deane to negotiate a treaty of alliance, amity and com merce with France, and to negotiate with other European govern ments. His letters to Congress resulted in Deane's recall ; and other letters impaired the confidence of Congress in Franklin, of whom Lee was especially jealous. Early in 1777 he went to Spain as American commissioner, but receiving no official recognition, accomplished nothing; until the appointment of Jay, however, he continued to act as commissioner to Spain, held conferences with the Spanish minister in Paris, and in Jan. 1778 secured a promise of a loan of 3,000,000 livres, only a small part of which (some 170,000 livres) was paid. In June 1777 he went to Berlin, but was
not officially recognized. With Franklin and Deane in Feb. 1778 he signed the treaties between the United States and France. Lee was recalled in 1779, and returned to the United States in Sept. 1780. He was a member of the Virginia house of delegates in 1781 and a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1782-85. With Oliver Wolcott and Richard Butler he negotiated a treaty with the Six Nations, Oct. 22, 1784 , and with George Clark and Richard Butler a treaty with the Wyandot, Delaware, Chippewa and Ot tawa Indians, Jan. 21, 1785. He was a member of the treasury board in 1784-89. After the adoption of the constitution which he opposed, he retired to his estate at Urbana, Va., where he died on Dec. 12, 1792.