Sir James’s mother, Marjory
Macgilivray, who died at Gibraltar, while he was yet a child, was a daughter
of Alexander Macgilivray, Esq. of the state of Carolina.
From a very early period of
life the subject of this memoir discovered a singular propensity to reading;
a passion which his father, who had been himself accustomed to an active
life, and who desired that his son’s pursuits should be of a more stirring
kind, endeavoured, but in vain, to subdue. Little foreseeing the eminence to
which this studious disposition was one day to raise him, he twitted the boy
with his sedentary and monotonous life; telling him, with the view of
rousing him to an interest in what was passing around him, and of directing
his inclinations into a livelier channel, that he would become a mere
pedant. His attachment to books, however, was too deeply seated in his
nature to be removed by such sarcasms, and his father’s opposition had the
effect only of driving him to do that by stealth and in secret which he had
done before openly. He rose at midnight when the family had retired to rest,
lighted his candle, and pursued his solitary studies unmolested till the
approach of morning.
In consequence of his
father’s being much abroad, the care of young Mackintosh devolved chiefly
upon his grandmother, a woman of superior endowments, and to whom he was in
a great measure indebted for the early discipline which his mind received.
When of sufficient age to leave home, the future historian and statesman was
sent to the academy of Fortrose, then the most distinguished seminary in
that part of Scotland, and placed under the tuition of Mr Stalker, one of
the masters. Here young Mackintosh rapidly acquired, and continued to
maintain, a marked superiority over all his schoolfellows for ability and
application. In this remote corner of the world, and at the early period of
his life, his future fame was shadowed forth in a local reputation which
gave to "Jamie Mackintosh" the character of a prodigy of learning and
talent. His master entertained a similar opinion of him, and, as a proof of
his confidence in his acquirements and abilities, devolved upon him, while
yet a mere boy, nearly the entire management of the classical department of
the school. At this period, too, he began to discover that talent for
oratory and declamation by which he so eminently distinguished himself in
after life. The eloquence, however, on which latterly "listening senates
hung" was at this period poured out from the top of the grave stones in the
churchyard of Fortrose, on which the young orator used to mount in moments
of enthusiasm, and declaim from Shakspeare and Milton to a wondering,
gaping, and admiring audience of his schoolfellows. The political opinions
which distinguished Mr Mackintosh throughout his life were also very early
formed. He was said by a lady, a relative of his own, to have been "born a
whig," but he certainly was not this by inheritance, for his friends and
connexions were all staunch tories and Jacobites; and they did not view
without regret and sorrow the apostasy of this scion of the house of
Killochy. The youthful fancy, however, of the young heir to that venerable
title had been captivated by the fluency and sentimental descriptions of the
democracies of Greece and Rome, which he found in his favourite classics,
and he formed opinions of his own on the subject of political freedom with
but little reference to the creed of his family. Pym, Hampden, and Algernon
Sidney, were the objects of his idolatry; their example excited his
imagination, and their writings imbued him with those political principles
which "grew with his growth, and strengthened with his strength." The
utopian notions, however, which so often mislead men of weak minds, had no
such effect on Mr Mackintosh. He saw the necessity of sobering down all such
fanciful theories to the level of real life, and of pruning and adapting
them to the passions and weaknesses of human nature. He was above all
impressed with the necessity of circumscribing his ideas of political
freedom, which had before run wild, by the great outlines of the British
constitution. In his own impressive and figurative language, he desired,
that the light which might break in on England should be, "through
well-contrived, and well-disposed windows, and not through flaws and
breaches, the yawning chasms of our ruin."
The singular talents which
young Mackintosh discovered while at Fortrose, and the extraordinary
proficiency which he made in his studies, determined his friends to bestow
upon him a university education, and he was accordingly, through the
kindness of a relative, placed in King’s college, Aberdeen, under Mr Leslie.
He here also attended the lectures of James Dunbar, LL.D., professor of
moral philosophy, and Mr William Ogilvie, professor of humanity.
While at Aberdeen he formed
an acquaintance and intimacy with the late Rev. Robert Hall of Leicester,
which continued throughout their future lives. They were inseparable
while at college, and a biographical sketch of his deceased friend was
amongst the last literary efforts of Mackintosh. It was intended for the new
edition of Mr Hall’s works published by Dr Gregory.
Having acquired a complete
knowledge of Greek and mathematics, Mr Mackintosh, who had now determined on
adopting the medical profession, repaired to Edinburgh to complete his
education at the university of that city. Here he attended the lectures of
Dr Cullen and professor Black, preparatory to his taking the degree of
doctor of medicine, and applying himself to regular practice in that
profession. He also joined the well known literary club called the
Speculative Society, instituted in 1764, in which he became a keen debater,
and distinguished himself by the boldness of his opinions, and the ability
and eloquence with which he expounded and maintained them. Amongst his
associates at this period were Mr, afterwards lord Gillies, Mr, afterwards
lord Moncrieff, and the late earl of Lauderdale, and amongst the number of
his friends, the illustrious author of the "Wealth of Nations," who early
discovered, and warmly encouraged, the promising talents of the young
orator.
It was at this period that Mr
Mackintosh’s mind became seriously directed towards general literature,
and to moral, political, and speculative philosophy, the result of his
studying, which he did with the most serious attention, the works of
Robertson, Smith, Clark, and Brown, who were then in the zenith of their
fame. Having received his medical degree, although he had now determined to
abandon that profession, to which, indeed, he had never been attached, he
set out for London in the year 1787, in company with the eldest son of Sir
James Grant of Grant, who had, about this period, become knight of the shire
for the county of Moray. Undetermined as to his future pursuits, he lingered
idly about the metropolis for some time, made a short visit to the
continent, and finally returned to study law, having fairly parted with
physic. In the year following, viz. 1788, he succeeded, by the death of his
father, to the estate of Killochy, now worth about £900 per annum. Method
and economy, however, were not, at this period, amongst the number of Mr
Mackintosh’s virtues, and the consequence was, that notwithstanding this
handsome accession to his means, he soon found himself involved in pecuniary
difficulties of so extensive and urgent a kind as compelled him to part with
his patrimonial inheritance for the very inadequate sum of £9000. Still but
loosely attached to his professional studies, he now permitted his attention
to be diverted to the science of politics, and in 1789, published a pamphlet
on the Regency Question, in which he asserted the constitutional right of
the heir-apparent to supply his father’s place in the circumstances which
then gave rise to the discussion. Pitt’s theory, however, prevailed, and
thus the first published literary essay of Mr Mackintosh was found upon the
losing side. Hitherto he had attracted but little public notice, and had
been foiled in his attempt to obtain political celebrity. Both of these,
however, were awaiting him, and on no distant day. In 1791, he published his
celebrated work entitled "Vindiciae Gallicae, or a defence of the French
Revolution and its English admirers, against the accusations of the right
honourable Edmund Burke; including some strictures on the late production of
Monsieur de Calonne," an octavo volume of 379 pages. This work he sold,
while yet but partly written, for a trifling sum; but the merits and success
of the production induced the publisher to depart from the original
contract, and to give its author triple the sum stipulated for. The first
two editions were disposed of within four months; and a third appeared in
the end of August, 1791. The extraordinary talent which this work displayed,
procured Mr Mackintosh an extensive and illustrious circle of acquaintances,
in which were, amongst others, Sheridan, Grey, Whitbread, Fox, the duke of
Bedford, and his celebrated antagonist, Burke himself, who soon after the
appearance of the "Vindiciae," opened a correspondence with him, and it is
said succeeded in changing and modifying to a considerable extent many of
the opinions of its author.
Mr Mackintosh now (1792)
entered himself as a student of Lincoln’s Inn, and in 1795, was called to
the bar by that society; but did not, for several years thereafter, attain
any considerable practice. He attended the courts, however, and went the
Norfolk circuits, but without much improvement to his business.
With the view of enlarging
his income, which the want of professional success kept within narrow
bounds, he, in the year 1798, announced his intention of delivering a course
of lectures on "The Law of Nature and of Nations." A suspicion of his
motives in a political point of view raised some obstacles in the way of
this attempt; but these being effectually removed by his Introductory
Lecture, which was printed under the title of "A Discourse on the Law of
Nature and of Nations," and which drew the most flattering eulogiums from
both Mr Fox and Mr Pitt, he was permitted to proceed, and delivered his
course in Lincoln’s Inn hall to a large and respectable audience. These
"Discourses" are allowed by all to comprehend nearly every excellency which
human sagacity and human intelligence can bring to bear on such subjects;
profundity and felicity of thought, high intellectual power, and chaste and
elegant language.
After the general election of
1802, Mr Mackintosh was retained as counsel in several controverted cases,
and acquitted himself with great ability before committees of the house of
commons, but still without attracting much public notice as a barrister.
Next year, however, a case was put into his hands which at once gained him
the highest professional reputation. This was the defence of M. Peltier,
editor of "The Ambigu," a French journal, for a libel against Bonaparte,
then first consul of France, and at that time at peace with this country.
The trial took place on the 21st of February, 1803, in the court of King’s
Bench. Mr Mackintosh stood alone and unsupported in the defence of Peltier,
against an array of talent on the opposite side which would have appalled
any man of less resolution, and which nothing but a strong confidence in his
own abilities and intellectual researches could have enabled him to
encounter. His principal antagonists in this case were Mr Perceval, at that
period attorney general, afterwards prime minister, and Mr Abbot, afterwards
lord Tenterden. Mr Mackintosh’s pleading on this celebrated trial was one of
the most masterly efforts of the kind which had ever been witnessed. It was
one continued strain of powerful, impressive, and classical eloquence. His
whole energies were concentrated in the effort, and the whole stores of his
vast and retentive memory, and of his elegant and felicitous fancy were
brought forth and mingled with the current of his eloquence, imparting to it
a richness and splendour of tint, which great and original minds only can
produce. His speech on this occasion was declared by lord Ellenborough to be
"the most eloquent oration he had ever heard in Westminster Hall." A still
more flattering compliment was paid the orator by Madame de Stael, who
translated the speech into French, in which shape it was circulated
throughout Europe.
Mr Mackintosh was at this
period professor of general polity and the laws in the East India college at
Hertford, an appointment which the reputation he had acquired from his
"Lectures on the Law of Nature and of Nations" had obtained for him; but the
splendid display of talent which he had exhibited in his defence of Peltier
procured him much more powerful patronage, and opened up to him prospects
more commensurate to his deserts. He now attracted the notice of the
government, by which he was considered a person who might be profitably
employed in some official situation connected with the state, and he was
accordingly offered in the same year the recordership of Bombay. This
appointment he accepted, though not without some hesitation, and before
setting out he received the honour of knighthood. He remained in Bombay for
seven years, discharging the grave and important duties of a chief judge
with an uprightness, integrity, and ability unsurpassed in the annals of
criminal jurisprudence. Faithful to the high trust reposed in him, he yet
tempered the severity of the laws by mingling, whenever it was possible to
do so, some drops of mercy in the cups of bitterness, which duty to his
country and to society compelled him to administer. A well judged and
discriminate lenity, that lenity which makes the laws not an object of
contempt and ridicule, but of love and reverence, and which leaves no room
for grudge or reflection at their awards, formed one of the most prominent
and god-like features in the judicial character of Sir James Mackintosh. A
remarkable and beautiful instance of his application of this principle
occurred during his recordership in Bombay. Two young natives were brought
before him, tried, and convicted of having conspired to waylay and murder a
Dutchman from Cochin. The penalty attached to the crime by the law was
death. Some circumstances in the case, however, afforded Sir James an
opportunity of extending mercy to them so far as to save their lives, and he
availed himself of it. The prisoners were in the mean time withdrawn from
the bar, and during this interval came to a resolution, between themselves,
of murdering their judge when they should be called up to receive, as they
expected, sentence of death, and for this purpose they provided themselves
with knives. The design of the ruffians was most providentially discovered
in sufficient time to prevent its being carried into effect. The sequel, a
story worthy of the best days of Rome, and of the noblest and best of her
citizens, will be best told in the language which Sir James himself
addressed to the culprits, when they were brought again before him to
receive the commuted sentence which his lenity had procured for them. "I was
employed," he said, addressing the prisoners, "in considering the mildest
judgment which public duty would allow me to pronounce on you, when
I learned from undoubted authority, that your thoughts towards me
were not of the same nature. I was credibly, or rather certainly informed,
that you had admitted into your minds the desperate project of destroying
your own lives at the bar where you stand, and of signalizing your suicide
by the previous destruction of at least one of your judges. If that
murderous project had been executed, I should have been the first British
magistrate who ever stained with his blood the bench on which he sat to
administer justice. But I could never have died better than in the discharge
of my duty. When I accepted the office of a minister of justice, I knew that
I ought to despise unpopularity and slander, and even death itself. Thank
God I do despise them; and I solemnly assure you, that I feel more
compassion for the gloomy and desperate state of mind which could harbour
such projects, than resentment for that part of them which was directed
against myself. I should consider myself as indelibly disgraced, if a
thought of your projects against me were to influence my judgment." He then
passed sentence on them to be imprisoned for twelve months, the exact amount
of punishment he had originally proposed.
During his residence in
India, Sir James contributed a number of valuable papers to the "Asiatic
Register," and supplied the late Dr Buchanan with a large quantity of
material for his voluminous works on India. His return to England was
hastened by a severe illness. He left Bombay in November 1811, retiring from
the Recordership with a pension of £1200 per annum.
In July 1813, a little more
than twelvemonths after his arrival in his native country, he was elected,
through the interest of lord Cawdor, as representative for the county of
Nairn; an occasion which called him to visit the friends and the scenes of
his youth; and no man could enjoy the happiness, or be more feelingly alive
to all the romantic, endearing, and delightful recollections and
associations, which the contemplation of objects familiar to our boyhood,
and from which we have been long absent, is calculated to produce. He was,
as all men of noble and generous minds are, an enthusiastic admirer of the
external beauties of nature, and his native district afforded ample
inducements to the indulgence of this pure and exalted taste; a taste which
he himself has beautifully said, "preserves those habits of reflection and
sensibility which receive so many rude shocks in the coarse contests of the
world."
In 1818, he was elected for
Knaresborough in Yorkshire, through the influence of the duke of
Devonshire, and was re-chosen at the subsequent elections of 1820, 1826,
1830, and 1831. He was also elected Lord Rector of the
university of Glasgow in 1822, and again in 1823. Sir James was now become a
person to whom a national importance and consideration were attached, one of
the marked and elevated characters of the country, who had acquired a
conventional right from the soundness and capacity of his judgment, and the
extraordinary splendour of his abilities, to take an active and prominent
part in the management of her affairs, and a conviction of this truth
prevailing in those high quarters where it could be acted upon, he was
appointed in 1828, one of his majesty’s privy council, and on the formation
of the Earl Grey administration in 1830, he was made on the 1st December a
commissioner for Indian affairs.
In parliament Sir James took
a prominent part in all questions connected with foreign policy, and
international law; but more especially distinguished himself in the
discussions on the alien bill, the liberty of the press, religious
toleration, the slave trade, the settlement of Greece, reform in parliament,
and on the right of our colonies to self-government. But a question still
more congenial to his philanthropic disposition and benevolent nature, than
any of these, devolved upon him on the death of Sir Samuel Romilly. This was
the consideration of the best means of amending the criminal law—a code
which he had always thought much too sanguinary, and, therefore, but ill
adapted for the ends to which all laws ought to be directed. He thought with
Goldsmith, that "a man might see his last crime without dying for it; and
that very little blood would serve to cement our security."
His speeches on this subject
are full of the most enlightened and statesmanlike views, and combine, in a
wonderful degree, all the beauties of eloquence with profound reasoning, and
just and noble sentiment. So beautiful, indeed, are his orations on this
subject, and so powerful the arguments which form their frame-work, that it
excites a feeling of surprise in the reader to find, that they did not
instantly accomplish the object for whose attainment they were constructed.
They appear irresistible, and seem to comprehend every argument on the point
at issue which human ingenuity could devise. As chairman of a committee of
the house of commons, on the criminal law, in 1819, Sir James Mackintosh
introduced six bills in the course of May, 1820. But three only of these
were at the time persisted in, and in the commutation of punishment bill,
seven of the eleven offences which it was intended to commute, were expunged
in the house of lords, four only being suffered to remain.
Sir James Mackintosh, as
already noticed, was in politics a whig, and all his votes and speeches in
parliament were in favour of the opinions and sentiments of that party; but
he was, perhaps, one of the most moderate and tolerant politicians that ever
existed, as the natural mildness and benevolence of his disposition never
failed to mingle largely in whatever character he assumed, whether author,
statesman, or judge. In all he was the same—amiable, forbearing, and
conciliating.
One of Sir James’s last
speeches in parliament, was on the bill relating to anatomical dissections,
in which he strenuously advocated the propriety, nay, necessity of affording
to the profession every facility for obtaining subjects for the dissecting
table. His speech, on this occasion, was remarkable for all that elegance of
diction, and cogency of argument which distinguished his rhetorical
effusions; and indicated, besides, a love of science on the part of the
speaker, and a zeal for the welfare of mankind, worthy of a great statesman
and of a great philanthropist.
Great as Sir James Mackintosh
certainly was as an orator, he was yet greater as an author, and the fame
which he derives from the latter character, stands on still higher and
firmer ground than that on which the former is rested. The Vindiciae
Gallicae, published when the author was only in the twenty-sixth year of his
age, is an eloquent and powerful political treatise. On all the grand points
on which he meets Mr Burke—the expediency and necessity of a revolution in
France—the character of the national assembly—the popular excesses which
attended the revolution, &c.—it may be safely assumed, that he obtains the
mastery in truth and cogency of argument. It ought to be remembered, that
the French Revolution had not, at this time, put on its worst aspect. The
great change which had taken place, promised to regenerate France, and to
renovate civil society; and Sir James Mackintosh, like his master Fox, in
his exultation at the dawn of so bright a prospect, could not foresee that
it would terminate in bloodshed and tyranny.
Both works are written in a
style too ornate and artificial. The rich and fertile genius of Burke, and
his vast and multifarious stores of learning, crowded his pages with
illustrations from all sources—from history, philosophy, and poetry—and he
was not over-solicitous as to their being apposite and correct. On the other
hand, Sir James Mackintosh, fresh from his books and burning with zeal, was
also ambitious of display, and chastity and purity of diction were neglected
by both. Such a contest, however--so splendid a specimen of the literary
duello, on so magnificent an arena, may not again occur for a
considerable length of time. The defence of Peltier is also a masterly
performance; but the dissertation in the Encyclopedia Britannica, and his
life of Sir Thomas More, in Dr Lardner’s Cyclopaedia, are perhaps the most
finished of the acknowledged productions of Sir James Mackintosh. The two
volumes of his abridged History of England, serve rather to show the views
he took of certain points of English history, and the philosophy he was able
to bring to the task, with his habitual carelessness in minor details, than
his talent at composing a connected, consecutive work. These two little
volumes, [The greater part of a third volume was written by Sir James; he
breaks off at the era of the Bartholomew massacre.] however,
contain some striking passages and disquisitions. But in the opinion of Mr
Campbell, who knew Sir James Mackintosh intimately, they were merely the
expansion of the prefatory matter which he intended for a great historical
work on the affairs of England since the Revolution, and which he had
contemplated for several years, and in part written, but was too much
impeded in his progress, both by his parliamentary duties and the infirm
state of his health, to bring to a conclusion. His labours were,
nevertheless, given to the world in 1834, in the form of a disquisition on
the causes of the Revolution of 1688, exemplifying in its style an excellent
dogma of the author, that history ought to be written with feeling, but
without passion. He also contributed to the Edinburgh Review in its earlier
days. An edition of his works, in three volumes, (with the exception of the
History of England,) was published in 1846, containing his ethical and
historical dissertations, a number of essays on political and literary
topics, reviews, and other contributions to periodical publications, and
speeches on a variety of subjects delivered at the bar and in parliament.
After what has been said of
Sir James Mackintosh’s public life and character, it is almost unnecessary
to add, that in private life, he displayed all the domestic virtues, and all
the better qualities of human nature. He was mild, benevolent, generous,
humane, and unaffected. Ready at all times to succour the unfortunate and
the distressed, he bestowed on all who sought it, that assistance which
their circumstances required; whether it was his time, his purse, or his
advice; and to all three, if desired, the applicant was welcome. The most
pleasing characteristic of Hume—that almost infantine simplicity which his
friends remarked in his intercourse with them—mingled also in the character
of Mackintosh, contrasting finely with its nobler parts. His conversational
powers were of the very first order, and never failed to delight all who had
the good fortune to enjoy his society. His person was well formed, and above
the middle stature. His countenance was intelligent, and exhibited a
pleasing compound of grave and gay expression, indicative of a readiness to
sympathize with either of these feelings, as chance might direct their
appeals to him.
Sir James was in an
indifferent state of health for some time previous to his death,
but that melancholy event was finally brought on by an accident. While at
dinner, about the beginning of March, 1832, a portion of the breast of a
fowl, with a fragment of bone in it, which he had attempted to swallow,
stuck in his throat, and, though afterwards extracted without producing any
immediate serious consequences, the accident completely unsettled his
general health. His debility from that hour daily increased, till the 30th
of May, when he died in the sixty-sixth year of his age, at his house in
Langham Place, having anticipated and met the hour of his dissolution with a
firmness and resignation worthy of his past life. He was buried at
Hampstead.
Sir James Mackintosh was
twice married; first in 1789, to Miss Catherine Stewart of Gerrard Street,
Soho, sister to the Messieurs Stewart, formerly proprietors of the "Morning
Post," by whom he had issue a son, who died in infancy, and three daughters
viz.., Mary, married to Claudius James Rich, Esq., of Bombay—Maitland,
married to to W. Erskine, Esq.—and Catherine, married to Sir W. Wiseman,
Bart. Mrs Mackintosh died in 1797.—He was afterwards married to Catharine,
daughter of J. B. Allen, Esq. of Cressella, in Pembrokeshire. By this lady,
who died at Chesne, near Genoa, on the 6th May, 1830, he had one son and a
daughter; viz, Robert Mackintosh, Esq., B.A., fellow of New College, Oxford;
and Frances, married to H. Wedgewood, Esq., Staffordshire.