270 



SINCLAIR. 



(focus mici-hiiriHus. } whieh is used in China for paint, 

 glue and vurnisli, anil the finer sorts make a sweet- 

 meat. The town stands on a point of land near a 

 bay affording a safe anchorage at all seasons, and 

 commanding the navigation of the straits of Malac- 

 ca. The population, which, in 1819, was 150, had 

 increased, in 1830, to above 16,600 persons, exclu- 

 sive ot the garrison and the floating population. 

 Many of the settlers are Chinese. The exports 

 exceed 3,000,000 per annum. See Crawford's 

 Embassy to Siam and Cochin-China. 



SINCLAIR, SIR JOHN, Bart., a very active and 

 useful agriculturist and general statist, was born at 

 Thurso Castle, in the county of Caithness, May 

 10th, 1754, and received his education consecutively 

 at the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Ox- 

 ford. In 1775, he became a member of the Scot- 

 tish bar, and was afterwards called to the English 

 bar, but he did not follow out the profession of the 

 law. In 1776, he married Sarah, only daughter 

 and heiress of Alexander Maitland, Esq. of Stoke 

 Newington, in the county of Middlesex ; by whom 

 he had two daughters; Hannah, since dead, who 

 tvrote the letters " On the Principles of the Chris- 

 tian Faith," and Janet, the widow of the late Sir 

 James Colquhoun, of Luss, Bart. 



In 1780, he was elected member of parliament 

 for the county of Caithness, where his estates were 

 situated ; and he had also the same honour con- 

 ferred on him at the elections in 1790, 1802, and 

 1807; but as the county of Caithness was only 

 alternately represented in the British parliament, 

 he was, during the intervals, chosen for the 

 boroughs of Lostwithiel in Cornwall, and Peters- 

 field in Hampshire. He thus continued, with the 

 intervention of a very short period, a member of 

 the House of Commons, till July, 1811, being a 

 space of more than thirty years. His attendance 

 on his parliamentary duties was most assiduous; 

 and, in 1782, he published a tract, entitled, " Lu- 

 cubrations during a short Recess; with some 

 Thoughts on the Means of Improving the Repre- 

 sentation of the People." This he followed up by 

 another, in the same year, under the title of 

 " Thoughts on the Naval Strength of the British 

 Empire, in answer to the late Lord Mulgrave, one of 

 the Lords of the Admiralty." After pressing on the 

 attention of the Ministry the propriety of establish- 

 ing a militia force, he published his " Considerations 

 on Militias and Standing Armies;" and the sugges- 

 tions which he threw out on that occasion were 

 afterwards adopted. His only other connexion with 

 the press about this period, was in the publication 

 of an anonymous tract, " The propriety of Retain- 

 ing Gibraltar, impartially considered." 



In 1783 Mr Sinclair engaged seriously in in- 

 quiries on political subjects in general, and col- 

 lected a great mass of materials from different 

 sources. The first published form which part of 

 these assumed, was in an essay " On the Public 

 Revenue of the British Empire." 



In 1786, he made an extensive tour through the 

 northern countries of Europe, with a view of con- 

 templating their political and commercial phases. 

 In the course of this journey, he travelled above 

 7500 miles, and made many valuable observations 

 on the political, commercial, agricultural, moral 

 and religious state of the Netherlands, Holland, 

 Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Poland, Austria, and 

 Prussia. It was not till the year 1830, when 

 Sir John published two large volumes of his 

 correspondence, that a digest of the remarks 



made during these travel- W;K -inbuilt ted to the 

 public. 



In 1788, Sir John Sinclair was created a Doctor 

 of Laws !>y the university of Glasgow, and, in the 

 same year, was married, for the second time, t 

 Diana, daughter of Alexander Lord Macdonald, 

 by whom he had thirteen children, seven of whom 

 were sons, and six daughters. His oldest son, the 

 present Sir George Sinclair, is member for the shire 

 of Caithness. 



In 1790, the idea of that great national under- 

 taking, the Statistical Account of Scotland, had 

 suggested itself to the mind of Sir John Sinclair; 

 and being a lay member of the Assembly of the 

 Church, it occurred to him that he might be able 

 to prevail on a great proportion of the clergy to 

 furnish such general information regarding the state 

 of Scotland, as should afford data for an estimate 

 of the political situation of that portion of the 

 United Kingdom. His original plan was to draw 

 up a general statistical view of North Britain, with- 

 out reference to parochial districts ; but such a mass 

 of useful facts and observations was presented in 

 the communications sent him by the clergy, that 

 this more abridged idea was set aside, and the 

 work prepared for press in the more extended form 

 in which it was given to the world. After un- 

 wearied exertions, Sir John succeeded in bringing 

 the first volume of this great work before the public 

 on the 25th May 1791, just a year after its sugges- 

 tion to the members of the church. It proved so 

 far superior to any thing of the kind which had ever 

 before appeared, that it could not do otherwise than 

 give great satisfaction ; and all who were interested 

 in the improvement of the country or the welfare 

 of its inhabitants, came at once forward for its 

 patronage and support. Much difficulty was, how- 

 ever, found in the furtherance of the undertaking. 

 Many circumstances occurred to prevent unanimity 

 among such a large body as the clergy of the Church 

 of Scotland. From the commencement some had 

 thought the scheme chimerical, and others had openly 

 professed their dislike to it, nor did they now care 

 about retracting opinions rashly given. Old age 

 and infirmity prevented others; and not a few were 

 unable to overcome the jealous fears of their parish- 

 ioners, who set down the whole as a deep laid 

 scheme of government to accomplish some new plan 

 of taxation. Nor did the tenants in country 

 parishes relish inquiries about their farm produce, 

 and the value of their stock, lest landlords might 

 avail themselves of the information, by increasing 

 their rents. After waiting another twelvemonth, 

 during which he had written many thousand letters, 

 Sir John found, on the first of June, 1792, that 

 there was still a deficiency of not less than 413 

 parochial accounts. In this dilemma various plans 

 were suggested for accomplishing the completion of 

 this great national work. A recommendation from 

 the General Assembly was one of the measures re- 

 sorted to; and several of the leading ornaments of 

 the church, made personal application to their 

 clerical friends, to exert themselves within the 

 bounds of their several presbyteries. Added to 

 these, the Duke of Argyle, the Earl of Leven, 

 then commissioner to the assembly, the Earl of 

 Fife, and other extensive landed proprietors and 

 church patrons, exerted themselve's in the cause; 

 yet Sir John was still destined to find, that some, 

 from unwillingness to engage in the undertaking, 

 would do nothing; and that others, from a spirit of 

 procrastination, promised with little intention o f 



