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SKETCH OF THE PERSONAL CHARACTER OF THE LATE 



SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH ; 



BY LORD ABINGER. 



AMONGST the numerous answers to Mr. Burke's celebrated ' Reflec- 

 tions on the French Revolution,' the ' Vindicise Gallicise ' was the only 

 one which attracted much public notice at the time, and has maintained 

 its reputation since. The rest were declamatory trash, founded for the 

 most part upon the assumption that democracy was the only lawful form 

 of government, or upon the vulgar principle of hostility to all govern- 

 ment as an encroachment on the rights of man. The 'Vindiciae Gal- 

 licse ' was an attempt, at once ingenious and profound, to justify the 

 first steps of the French revolution upon the theory of the British con- 

 stitution, and thus to refute Mr. Burke upon his own principles. The 

 events which verified that illustrious writer's predictions had not then 

 occurred. The prospect of the future was open to the speculations of 

 the enthusiast, as well as of the philosopher. The scene which was 

 passing had not then been deformed by any striking example of deliber- 

 ate cruelty or injustice. The petty and temporary mischiefs of sedition 

 might well be counted as nothing when compared with the lasting 

 miseries of servitude ; but even these mischiefs had been then visible, 

 only as exceptions, in the general progress of the revolution. The 

 chains of tyranny were not broken by tumultuous violence, but appeared 

 to be dissolved by the triumph of reason over authority and prejudice. 

 The most civilized nation in Europe was about to realize the dream of a 

 social contract. A government, dictated by the purest patriotism and 

 the most exalted wisdom, was to be adopted by the public will, and to 

 exhibit a splendid example of the union of perfect liberty with justice, 

 peace, good order, and happiness. It was^ natural for a very young 

 man, who, like Mr. Mackintosh, combined' the genuine spirit of phi- 

 losophy with a generous enthusiasm for liberty, to oppose his sanguine 

 hopes to the gloomy prognostics of the venerable sage, whose opinions 

 were tempered by long experience and profound observation of mankind. 

 These had taught him that the influence of passion over any assembly of 

 men increases in proportion to their numbers more than the influence of 

 reason ; that the worship of liberty in the abstract was a delusive mysti- 

 cism; that the institutions in which she is embodied must be the 

 growth of time ; that they can only flourish after they have taken root 

 in the sentiments and affections of a people ; and that it was visionary 

 to expect that an assembly, however formed, should extempore make a 

 constitution that would either meet with or merit general approbation. 

 There was, however, a power of reasoning as well as a spirit of candour 

 in the ' VindiciaB Gallicse ' that did not escape Mr. Burke, who was 

 pleased to cultivate an acquaintance with the author, and to express his 

 admiration of the work. It certainly produced a great impression upon 



