562 
far as could be done with propriety, t 
of philofophical difcuthon, become habitual 
to his mind, with a clearand comprehenfive 
view of the particular regulations of the re- 
Spective municipal laws. Few. lecturers have 
poftefied, in a mote eminent degree, the ta- 
lents of arrefting attention and commanding 
aflent. He never wrote out his le€tures, but 
{poke them from notes which contained his 
arrangements, and facts,- trufting for, the 
a . Bh) 
reater part of his illu Tea and the whole 
iP 2 : 
of his ianguage, to his power of {peaking : 
and, thongh Cage | he might be “at a 
lofs for a word, he, by this means, was en- 
abled to give to his manner and exprefiion, 
an Intereft,.a warmth, an energy, far pre- 
ferable to the more polifhed graces of fludied 
compofition, -Now, however, it muft be ree 
gretted, that he had not wrote his lectures, 
ae this circumflance may prneety apa 
the greater part of his difquifitions on jurif- 
prudence, like thofe of his friend, Dr. Smith, 
to be lof to the world. In the midi of fo 
many flated occupations, and. while he alfo 
ingerinecuded the education of feveral young 
gentiemen committed to his care, Mr. Mil- 
‘Jar found leifure, in the year i773, to, pre- 
pare part of his leétyres tor the prels. His 
rigin of his Diftin@tion, of Ranks, contains 
a fketch of his opinions refpeéting the chief 
of what, an. the civil law, called ae 
Rights of Perfons, and alfo a very ihort vie 
of the firft. part of his Leétures on. rates le 
meat. The beok 
attering mannef by the public; it has gone 
through~ feveral editions, and gjves-an idga 
of his mannér of treating the fubjegts which 
occurred in his courie or jurifprudence.. In 
the year 1787, Mr. Millar published the fi: 
yolume of an Hiftorical View. of the Englith 
Seseaments in which he traces the pro; 
greflive changes on the property, the ftate of 
the people, and the: fone? ment of England, 
from the fettlement of the ALONE: to the 
acceffion of the Houfe. of Stewart... This 
volume, which is replete with ingenious and 
profound fpecnlaticn, would have been fol- 
lowed by a fecond, bringing down the hiftory 
to the prefent time, had not the great events, 
which have lately pafled on the theatre of 
Europe, fo completely arrefied the attention 
of the public, and in fome meaiure of the 
author, as to fink the importance ‘of pait 
forms of Government, in the fuperior in; 
tereft of thofe which were expet éted to arife. 
It, is known, however, that a great part of 
the fecoend volume, which it is hoped aoe 
yet be given to the world, is ina frate of 
very confiderable preparation, His ftudies 
having led him to contider, with much at- 
tention, the eficéis of different forms of Go- 
vernment on the happinefs and character of 
Nations, it is no way, furprifing, that he be- 
came 2 averm and zealous friend to the liber- 
ties of mankind: 
are 
5a 
© For eobere Trath da 
Her fifier, Liberty, wiil # 
cigns to comity 
s6t be ap. tm 
Accordingly, he was- an carly, warmy and 
Pe Account of Profefir Millar. 
he ftyle. 
‘their treatment after their arrival. 
was received in a very. 
[July 1, 
perfevering advocate for the Abolition of the 
Slave-trade, which, in his opinion, could 
never be palliated, far Jefs juftified, by any 
regulations, either tefpeéting the tranfport 
of Slaves from Africa tothe Weft Indies, oz 
‘While 
he confidered domefic flay ery as the greatett 
curfe that can befal.a nation—as equally’ fyb- 
verfive of the morals of all ranks in fociety, 
he was by no means indiferent to the evils - 
of political flavery, He viewed the attempt 
to tax America, as an attackon the juft 
-rights of the Colonies, and he dreaded the 
fubjugation of that, QEDENYS as_a_ decifive 
{tgp towards the overthrow ,of Britih frees 
dom. Whenthe French Revolution aftonith- 
ed the word, he was one of thofe who, with 
out entering into the wild fpeculations i it oO 
cafioned, wii in profpect the benefits it pro- 
mifel to Europe ; and hailed it as the haps 
pieft event that could have befallen the hu- 
man race. Tp the deep regret, excited by. 
the fucceeding horrors, there was always 
joined in his mind, a fentiment of the mot 
profound indignation againft that cgalition of 
the Kings of Europe, to which he thought 
they might juftly be afcribed. Ignorant; 
Opprefled,. and gegradedp as the people had 
been under the old Government, .he had 
feen them, at the beginning ef the Revolu- 
tion, exhibit the mof admirable magnani-. 
mity and patriotifm; he was mortified, but 
not “has ‘prifed, to fin od that thofe who, durs 
ing its progres had been fo often beyayed, 
“fhould, at laf, become unreafonably fufpici- 
ous even bes their be& friends 5 he was 
fhocked at the mafiacres that tools place, 
but he-confidered that when people are forced 
to fruggle for their exiftence—for every 
thing that i is dear to man—they are apt, in 
all ages, to be too regardlefs of the tears and 
of the lives of others. Deeply grieved by 
the rapacity and profligacy of the DireCtorial 
Government, he was yet far from approving 
either of the prefent fyftem, or of the mode 
in which it was introduced; but his mind 
acquieiced in it, as pevire the only praéti- 
cable remedy for the evils which defalated ‘ 
France, and “he locked forward with confis 
dence, to a more equitable-and liberal form 
of Goyernment, at a period of a general paci- 
fication. In domeftic . politics, he feldont 
found cccafion to depaft from the opinions of © 
the late Marquis of Rockingham and Mr. 
Fox: he was. fully convinced that ‘the in- 
fluence of the Crown had encreafed in a moft 
alarming degree, particularly during the pre- 
fent reign, and he was a warm frignd to 
fuch an extenfion of the right of fuffrage, as 
might check corruption, and intereft the 
great body of the people in the Government. 
While he difapproved of ‘the manner in 
- which the late Adminiftration rofe to powers 
as utterly fubverfive of the Conftitution, he 
cordially joined in) opinion with Mr. Foxy 
that, by their meafures, they had added 
miore to the burdens, and taken more from 
_ the liberties of the people, than the whole 
Ms, Millar’s re- 
line of their predeceflors, 
; : Tearches 
< . —" 
\ 
