THE LATE SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH. 513 



pleasure behind. The mildness of his temper, the correctness of his 

 judgment, the abundance of his knowledge, and the perfection of his 

 taste, all combined to make him averse to the pursuit of applause, either 

 by inflicting pain upon others, or by sacrificing truth and good feeling to 

 the coarse appetite of the vulgar. It cannot be denied that, whenever 

 the nature of the subject and the disposition of the House were favourable 

 to his qualities as a speaker, he exhibited specimens of eloquence that 

 were of the highest order, and elicited the most unqualified applause. 



During the period whilst he was most engaged in Parliament, his 

 avocations, as well as my own, in another line, interposed obstacles to 

 our private intercourse, which it was oftener my fate to lament, than 

 within my power to overcome... But as the course of his life was then pub- 

 lic, and his pursuits matter of general interest and notoriety, it is needless 

 to dwell upon that part of his history which, from the period of his entering 

 Parliament to the close of his life, must form part of the history of his 

 country. 



I cannot, however, omit the mention of the first occasion when he 

 might, without scruple or disparagement to his own honour, have ac- 

 cepted office ; I mean the period when Mr. Canning was desired by his 

 late Majesty to form a government.* It is no part of the present sub- 

 ject to enter into a history of the negociation that took place between 

 Mr. Canning and some of the Whig party at that time. But I can state 

 upon my own knowledge, the surprise and the concern Mr. Canning 

 expressed, that the name of Sir James Mackintosh was not amongst the 

 list of those who were proposed to form a coaliton with him ; he had 

 certainly thought him, not in merit only, but in estimation, one of the 

 foremost of his party, and he was aware of the sacrifices he had made to 

 it. Shortly afterwards His Majesty was pleased to admit him of his 

 Privy Council. Upon the last change of administration, f when a new 

 ministry was formed by a coalition of individuals of all the different 

 parties in the State, but under the influence of Lord Grey, a subordinate 

 place in the Board of Control was the reward of his long life of merit and 

 exclusion. The difficulty of distributing office amongst so many expect- 

 ants, must be the consolation to his frends, for this apparently inadequate 

 station for one so eminent, and who had lost so much by his adherence 

 to party. To those who are not in the secret, it must be matter at least 

 of surprise, that neither parliamentary experience, nor a well-earned 

 reputation, nor long-tried devotion, nor the habits of business, were so 

 much in request as to find their way into any but a comparatively in- 

 significant place at a board, at the head of which Sir James Mackintosh, 

 rather than abandon his party, had, in other times, declined to preside. 

 Such is the caprice of fortune, or the wantonness of power, in the distri- 

 bution of favours ! There is a certain degree of merit which is more 

 convenient for reward than the highest. Caligula made his horse, a con- 

 sul to show the absoluteness of his authority. Perhaps it is something 

 of the same feeling which occasionally actuates princes and ministers in 

 the honours they bestow. Those who can have no other claim to suc- 

 cess than the pure, independent will of their patrons, are more striking 



* April, 1827. t November, 1830. 



M. M. 3T 



