MACARTNEY

macartney, george macartney, earl (1737-1806), was descended from an old scottish family, the macartneys of auchinleck, who had settled in 1649 at lissanoure, antrim, ireland, where he was born on the 14th of may 1737. after graduating at trinity college, dublin, in 1759, he became a student of the temple, london. through stephen fox, elder brother of c. j. fox, he was taken up by lord holland. appointed envoy extraordinary to russia in 1764, he succeeded in negotiating an alliance between england and that country. after occupying a seat in the english parliament, he was in 1769 returned for antrim in the irish parliament, in order to discharge the duties of chief secretary for ireland. on resigning this office he was knighted. in 1775 he became governor of the caribbee islands (being created an irish baron in 1776), and in 1780 governor of madras, but he declined the governor-generalship of india, and returned to england in 1786. after being created earl macartney in the irish peerage (1792), he was appointed the first envoy of britain to china. on his return from a confidential mission to italy (1795) he was raised to the english peerage as a baron in 1796, and in the end of the same year was appointed governor of the newly acquired territory of the cape of good hope, where he remained till ill health compelled him to resign in november 1798. he died at chiswick, middlesex, on the 31st of may 1806, the title becoming extinct, and his property, after the death of his widow (daughter of the 3rd earl of bute), going to his niece, whose son took the name. an account of macartney's embassy to china, by sir george staunton, was published in 1797, and has been frequently reprinted. the _life and writings of lord macartney_, by sir john barrow, appeared in 1807. see mrs helen macartney robbins's biography, _the first english ambassador to china_ (1908), based on previously unpublished materials in possession of the family. macassar (makassar, mangkasar), the capital of a district of the same name in the island of celebes, dutch east indies, and the chief town of the dutch government of celebes. pop. 17,925 (940 europeans, 2618 chinese, 168 arabs). it stands on the west coast of the southern peninsula of the island, near the southern extremity of the macassar strait, which separates celebes from borneo. macassar consists of the dutch town and port, known as vlaardingen, and the malay town which lies inland. macassar's trade amounts to about £1,250,000 annually, and consists mainly of coffee, trepang, copra, gums, spices and valuable timber. for the macassar people and for the strait, see celebes. "macassar oil" is a trade name, not geographical: see antimacassar.