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of many of the continental governments of Europe, which made him, 

 like many other ardent young men of that period, an admirer of the 

 principles of that great national movement; and the Vindicice Gal- 

 lictf, a work of great force and eloquence, was the most powerful 

 answer which appeared in that age to Mr. Burke's celebrated Re- 

 flections, and gained for him, at once, both at home and abroad, a 

 distinguished reputation. The atrocities, however, which marked 

 the more advanced stages of the French Revolution, his own in- 

 creasing experience and knowledge of mankind, and still more his 

 frequent intercourse with his illustrious adversary, for whose genius 

 he had always professed a chivalrous admiration, however much he 

 had opposed his views and his reasonings, combined to sober down 

 the fervent enthusiasm of his own youthful speculations and hopes ; 

 and the principles which he avowed and vindicated in his celebrated 

 defence of Peltier in 1802, must be considered as those which he 

 adopted as the result of the convictions of his maturer age, and 

 which he continued to maintain through life. In 1803 he was ap- 

 pointed Recorder of Bombay, where he resided for seven years, and 

 where he secured the affection and admiration both of natives and 

 of foreigners, by the able, impartial, and considerate discharge of his 

 judicial functions. Upon his return from India in 1811, he was 

 elected Member of! Parliament for Knaresborough, a place which 

 he continued to represent for the remainder of his life. 



Few persons of his own age had read so much as Sir James 

 Mackintosh, or remembered what they had read so well. His con- 

 versation was singularly instructive and brilliant, without being 

 overbearing; his manners were conciliating; his temper excellent ; 

 and he was entirely tolerant of opinions which were different from 

 his own. He was one of the most distinguished Members of the 

 House of Commons; and his speeches upon all the great questions 

 which were agitated in his time were remarkable, not merely for 

 their eloquence, but the large and comprehensive views of national 

 policy, which were supplied by his almost unrivalled knowledge of 

 history and political philosophy. 



Sir James Mackintosh, besides his Vindicice Gallicce, was the 

 author of Lectures upon the Laws of Nations; of A Sketch of the 

 History of England; of an incomplete Essay on the Principles and 

 the History of Moral Philosophy ; and of many admirable Reviews. 

 It is to be lamented that he should have dissipated his extraordi- 

 nary powers upon occasional and desultory publications, instead of 

 concentrating them upon some great work which might have trans- 

 mitted, undiminished, to posterity the reputation which he enjoyed 

 among his friends and cotemporaries. There were, however, many 

 circumstances which might sufficiently account for his failing to 

 leave behind him a monument for future ages, which would have 

 been worthy of his genius and his learning. He brought home with 

 him from India a shattered constitution, which disqualified him for 

 continued and laborious exertion ; he had many Parliamentary as 

 xvell as official duties to perform ; and the pressure of his pecuniary 

 necessities compelled him to seek, too frequently, for the immediate 



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