Sir James Mackintosh (October 24, 1765 - May 30, 1832), Scottish publicist, was undoubtedly one of the most cultured and catholic-minded men of his time. His studies and sympathies embraced almost every human interest, except pure science. He was trained as a doctor and barrister, working also as a journalist, judge, administrator, professor, philosopher and politician. October 24 is the 297th day of the year (298th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 68 days remaining. ... 1765 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... May 30 is the 150th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (151st in leap years). ... 1832 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Transport in Scotland Timeline of Scottish history Caledonia List of not fully sovereign nations Subdivisions of Scotland National parks (Scotland) Traditional music of Scotland Flower of Scotland Wars of Scottish Independence National Trust for Scotland Historic houses in Scotland Castles in Scotland Museums in Scotland Abbeys and priories in Scotland... The examples and perspective in this article do not represent a worldwide view. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... A judge or justice is an official who presides over a court. ... A professor (Latin: one who claims publicly to be an expert) (prof for short) is a senior teacher, lecturer and researcher, usually in a college or university. ... A philosopher is a person devoted to studying and producing results in philosophy. ... A politician is an individual involved in politics. ...

His Vindiciae Gallicae was the verdict of a philosophic Liberal on the development of the French Revolution up to the spring of 1791. The excesses of the revolutionaries compelled him a few years later to oppose them and agree with Burke, but his earlier defence of the rights of man is a valuable statement of the cultured Whig's point of view at the time. The width of his intellectual sympathies, joined to a constitutional indecision and vis inertiae, prevented him from doing more enduring work. His History of the Revolution in England, breaking off at the point where William of Orange is preparing to intervene in the affairs of England, is chiefly interesting because of Macaulay's admiring essay on it and its author. This article discusses liberalism as a major political ideology as it developed and stands currently, rather than specific ideologies contained to specific countries. ... During the French Revolution (1789-1799) democracy and republicanism replaced the absolute monarchy in France, and the French sector of the Roman Catholic Church was forced to undergo radical restructuring. ... 1791 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Edmund Burke The Right Honourable Edmund Burke (January 12, 1729 – July 9, 1797) was an Anglo-Irish statesman, author, orator and political philosopher, who served for many years in the British House of Commons as a member of the Whig party. ... Human rights are rights which some hold to be inalienable and belonging to all humans. ... This article is about the British Whig party. ... William III of England (14 November 1650–8 March 1702; also known as William II of Scotland and William III of Orange) was a Dutch aristocrat and a Protestant Prince of Orange from his birth, King of England and King of Ireland from 13 February 1689, and King of Scots... Quotes His imagination resembled the wings of an ostrich. ...

Early life

Mackintosh was born at Aldourie, 7 miles from Inverness. Both his parents were from old Highland families. His mother died while he was a child, and his father was frequently abroad, so he was brought up by his grandmother, and then schooled at Fortrose Seminary academy. He went in 1780 to King’s College, Aberdeen, where he made a lifelong friend of Robert Hall, later a famous preacher. In 1784 he began to study medicine at Edinburgh University. He participated to the full in the intellectual ferment, but did not quite neglect his medical studies, and took his degree in 1787. Inverness (Inbhir Nis in Scottish Gaelic) is the only city in the Scottish Highlands. ... 1780 was a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Aberdeens location in Scotland Aberdeen (Scottish Gaelic: Obar Dheathain) is Scotlands third largest city, with a population of 212,125, and the greatest part of the unitary council area named the City of Aberdeen, which is surrounded by, but not within, the Aberdeenshire council area. ... Robert Hall (2 May 1764 - 21 February 1831) was an English Baptist minister. ... 1784 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Medicine on the Web NLM (National Library of Medicine, contains resources for patients and healthcare professionals) Virtual Hospital (digital health sciences library by the University of Iowa) Online Medical Information- medical news, links and resources. ... The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a renowned centre for teaching and research in Edinburgh, Scotland. ... 1787 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...

In 1788 Mackintosh moved to London, then agitated by the trial of Warren Hastings and the first lapse into insanity of George III. He was much more interested in these and other political events than in his professional prospects; and specially interested in the events and tendencies which caused or preceded the Revolution in France. In 1789 he married Catherine Stuart, whose brother Daniel later edited the Morning Post. His wife's prudence counteracted Mackintosh's own unpractical temperament, and his efforts in journalism became fairly profitable. They had a son, who died in infancy, and three daughters. Part of the London skyline viewed from the South Bank London is the most populous city in the European Union, with an estimated population on 1 January 2005 of 7,500,000 and a metropolitan area population of between 12 and 14 million. ... Warren Hastings (December 6, 1732 - August 22, 1818) was the first governor-general of British India, from 1773 to 1786. ... George III (George William Frederick) (June 4, 1738 – January 29, 1820) was King of Great Britain, and King of Ireland from October 25, 1760 until January 1, 1801, and thereafter King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death. ... During the French Revolution (1789-1799) democracy and republicanism replaced the absolute monarchy in France, and the French sector of the Roman Catholic Church was forced to undergo radical restructuring. ... The Morning Post was a conservative daily newspaper published in London from 1772 to 1937, when it was acquired by The Daily Telegraph. ... Journalism is a discipline of collecting, verifying, analyzing and presenting information gathered regarding current events, including trends, issues and people. ...

Mackintosh was soon absorbed in the question of the time; and in April 1791, after long meditation, he published his Vindiciae Gallicae, a reply to Edmund Burke's Reflections on the French Revolution. It was the only worthy answer to Burke that appeared. It placed the author in the front rank of European publicists, and won him the friendship of some of the most distinguished men of the time, including Burke himself. The success of the Vindiciae finally decided him to give up the medical for the legal profession. He was called to the bar in 1795. and gained a considerable reputation there as well as a tolerable practice. In 1797 his wife died, and next year he married Catherine Allen, sister-in-law of Josiah and John Wedgwood, through whom he introduced Coleridge to the Morning Post. Edmund Burke The Right Honourable Edmund Burke (January 12, 1729 – July 9, 1797) was an Anglo-Irish statesman, author, orator and political philosopher, who served for many years in the British House of Commons as a member of the Whig party. ... Josiah Wedgwood II (1769-1843) was Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent. ... Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English poet, 1795 Samuel Taylor Coleridge (October 21, 1772 – July 25, 1834) was an English poet, critic, and philosopher who was, along with his friend William Wordsworth, one of the founders of the Romantic Movement in England and as one of the Lake Poets. ...

As a lawyer his greatest public efforts were his lectures (1799) at Lincoln's Inn on the law of nature and nations, of which the introductory discourse was published; the resulting fame helped open doors for him later in life. Mackintosh was also famed for his speech in 1803 defending Jean Gabriel Peltier, a French refugee, against a libel suit instigated by Napoleon - then First Consul (military dictator) of France. It was widely published in English and also across Europe in a French translation by Madame de Staël. In 1803 he was knighted. In the United States, a lawyer is a person licensed by the state to advise clients in legal matters and represent them in courts of law and in other forms of dispute resolution. ... Part of Lincolns Inn drawn by Thomas Shepherd c. ... 1803 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... In English and American law, and systems based on them, libel and slander are two forms of defamation (or defamation of character), which is the tort or delict of making a false statement of fact that injures someones reputation. ... Napoleon I of France, by Jacques-Louis David Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a general of the French Revolution, and the ruler of France as First Consul (Premier Consul) of the French Republic from 11 November 1799 to 18 May 1804, then as Emperor of the... Madame de Staël Anne Louise Germaine de Staël (April 22, 1766 – July 14, 1817) was a French author who determined literary tastes of Europe at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. ...

Indian Career

He was appointed Recorder (chief judge) of Bombay, taking up the post in 1804. He was not at home in India, where he became ill, and he was glad to leave for England in November, 1811. This article or section should be merged with Mumbai Mumbai (previously known as Bombay) is the worlds most populous conurbation, and is the sixth most populous agglomeration in the world. ... 1804 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1811 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

Later life

He courteously declined the offer of Perceval to resume political life under the auspices of the dominant Tory party, though tempting prospects of office in connection with India were opened up. He entered parliament in July 1813 as a Whig. He was the member for Nairn, and afterwards for Knaresborough, till his death. In London society, and in Paris during his occasional visits, he was a recognized favourite for his genial wisdom and his great conversational power. On Mme de Staël's visit to London he was the only Englishman capable of representing his country in talk with her. His parliamentary career was marked by the same wide and candid liberalism as his private life. He opposed the reactionary measures of the Tory government, supported and afterwards succeeded Samuel Romilly in his efforts for reforming the criminal code, and took a leading part both in Catholic emancipation and in the Reform Bill. But he was too little of a partisan, too widely sympathetic and candid, as well as too elaborate, to be a telling speaker in parliament, and was surpassed there by more practical men whose powers were incomparably inferior. From 1818 to 1824 he was professor of law and general politics in the East India Company's College at Haileybury. The Right Honourable Spencer Perceval (November 1, 1762 – May 11, 1812) was a British statesman and Prime Minister. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... An aerial view of Parliament of India at New Delhi. ... This article is about the British Whig party. ... Nairn (Scottish Gaelic: Inbhir Narann) is a burgh in the Scottish Highlands, lying about fifteen miles east of Inverness. ... Map sources for Knaresborough at grid reference SE3557 Knaresborough is a historical market town and spa town in North Yorkshire, England, located four miles east of Harrogate. ... The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... This article discusses liberalism as a major political ideology as it developed and stands currently, rather than specific ideologies contained to specific countries. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... This article needs to be wikified. ... The British Reform Act of 1832 (2 & 3 Will. ... 1818 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... 1824 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... The East India Company College was from 1805 to 1858 the college of the British East India Company (EIC). ...

In the midst of the attractions of London society and of his parliamentary avocations Mackintosh felt that the real work of his life was being neglected. His great ambition was to write a history of England; he also cherished the idea of making some worthy contribution to philosophy. It was not till 1828 that he set about the first task of his literary ambition. This was his Dissertation on the Progress of Ethical Philosophy, prefixed to the seventh edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. The dissertation, written mostly in ill-health and in snatches of time taken from his parliamentary engagements, was published in 1831. It was severely attacked in 1835 by James Mill in his Fragment on Mackintosh. About the same time he wrote for the Cabinet Cyclopaedia a History of England from the Earliest Times to the Final Establishment of the Reformation. His more elaborate History of the Revolution, for which he had made great researches and collections, was not published till after his death. A privy councillor since 1828, Mackintosh was appointed Commissioner for the affairs of India under the Whig administration of 1830. His second wife died on May 6, 1830; they had a son and a daughter. Wikimedia Commons has media related to: England Travel guide to England from Wikitravel English language English law English (people) List of monarchs of England – Kings of England family tree List of English people Angeln (region in northern Germany, presumably the origin of the Angles for whom England is named) UK... Philosophy, (Greek: Φιλοσοφία, philo-sophia, love of wisdom) // Meaning and use of Philosophy The word once included all forms of knowledge, and all methods for attaining it. ... 1828 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Pardon the seemingly malicious edit, but I am a journalist testing the reliability of WikiPedia. ... 1835 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... James Mill James Mill (April 6, 1773 - June 23, 1836), historian and philosopher, was born at Northwater Bridge, in the parish of Logie-Pert, Forfarshire, the son of James Mill, a shoemaker. ... Her Majestys Most Honourable Privy Council is a body of advisors to the British Sovereign. ... 1828 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... While the Whigs (along with the Tories) are often described as one of the two political parties in late 17th to mid 19th century Great Britain, it is more accurate to describe them as loose political groupings or tendencies. ... 1830 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

A Life, by his son RJ Mackintosh, was published in 1836. An edition of his works, in three volumes, (apart from the History of England,) was published in 1846, containing his ethical and historical dissertations, a number of essays on political and literary topics, reviews, and other contributions to periodical publications, and speeches on a variety of subjects delivered at the bar and in parliament.

Quotations

• Vindiciæ Gallicæ
  • Diffused knowledge immortalizes itself.
  • The Commons, faithful to their system, remained in a wise and masterly inactivity.
• Dissertation on Ethical Philosophy.
  • The frivolous work of polished idleness.
  • It is right to be contented with what we have, never with what we are.
• Causes of the Revolution of 1688.
  • Disciplined inaction. Chap. vii.

Books

• 1791: Vindiciæ Gallicæ.
• 1831: History of England - contributed to Lardner’s Cabinet Cyclopaedia
• 1830: Dissertation on Ethical Philosophy.
• 1834: Causes of the Revolution of 1688. (begun 1811-2, unfinished, edited by William Wallace after Mackintosh's death - chiefly known by Macaulay’s essay upon it and by scandal which ensued.)
• 1846: Complete Works

A first version of this entry originated from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. Supporters contend that the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1910-1911) represents the sum of human knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century; indeed, it was advertised as such. ...