MALMESBURY, JAMES HARRIS, first Earl of (1746-1820). An English diplomat, educated at NVinchester, Oxford, and Leyden. At the age of twenty-one, through the influence of Lord ,lielburnc, he was appointed secretary of the embassy at 'Madrid. Pis skillful diplomacy there as charai: d'affaires at the time of the dispute be tween England and Spain in regard to the Falk laud Islands led to his appointment in 1771 as Minister Resident at Berlin. where he remained four years. In 1777 he was made Ambassador to Russia. The state of his health compelled him to leave Saint Petershura in 17S3. but next year he accepted from the Pitt Ministry the post of "Minister to The Hague. In 178S he brought about an alliance of England with Hol land and Prussia. which service gained for him the title of Baron Malmesbury. Returning to England. he entered Parliament. of which. in spite of his long absences, he had been a member since 1770. He was a Whig till 1793. when he became a supporter of the Administration. and Pitt sent
him to negotiate a treaty between England. Prns sia. and Holland—a mission which he successfully discharged. In 1794 he arranged the marriage between the Prince of Wales and Caroline. daugh ter of the Duke of Brunswick. Ilis fruitless negotiations for peace with the French Republic in 179(1 at Paris and next year at Lisle were his last missions, as he now deemed himself in capacitated by growing deafness from taking fur ther part in public affairs. In 1800 he was made Earl of Malmeshury and Viscount Fitzharris. Consult: his Diaries and rorrespondenre (4 vols., London. 1S45) ; Lord Nalmesbury and His Friends (London. 1870). both ed. by IL Harris, his grandson; Lord Malmesbury'.q Embassy: Of ficial Documents in the Yegotiations at Lisle (Edinburgh. 1797) ; Auckland. Journal and Cor respondence (London. 186]-62) ; Stanhope. Life of Pitt (4 vols., London. 1861).