From this period till the beginning of the Revolution, Arthur Lee held a correspondence with his brothers, and several other persons in America, respecting the political state of things in England, and the transactions relating to the Colonies. He was warmly attached to the interests of his country, and was appointed by the Assembly of Massachusetts to be Agent for that Colony, as successor to Dr Franklin, who left England in the spring of 1775. In December, of the same year, the Committee of Secret Correspondence requested Mr Lee to act as their secret agent in London, and to transmit to them any information, which he might think important. He wrote to the Committee several letters, while acting in this agency.
When Commissioners to the Court of France were appointed, Mr Jefferson, one of the number, declined accepting the appointment, and Arthur Lee was put in his place, October 22d, 1776. He proceeded from London to Paris, where he met the other Commissioners. In the spring of 1777 he went to Spain, by the advice of his colleagues, with the design of procuring aid from the Spanish Government for the United States, in which he was partially successful. On his return to Paris, he made a short tour to Vienna and Berlin for similar purposes, and maintained for some time a correspondence of a political nature with Baron de Schulenburg, one of the Prussian Ministers. Meantime he received from Congress the appointment of Commissioner to Spain, but he never went out of France while acting under this commission. It expired when Mr Jay was made Minister Plenipotentiary to that Court.
Arthur Lee returned to the United States in September, 1780, and the next year he was chosen a Representative to the Assembly of Virginia. By this body he was sent a Delegate to Congress. While in that capacity, he was made one of a commission to form treaties with the Indians on the Northwestern frontiers, and was occupied several months in the duties of that expedition. He died in Virginia, after a short illness, on the 12th of December, 1792.
FROM THE COMMITTEE OF SECRET CORRESPONDENCE TO ARTHUR LEE.
By this conveyance we have the pleasure of transmitting to you sundry printed papers, that such of them as you think proper may be immediately published in England.