SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH was born at Aldourie, Scotland, October 24th, 1765. He was educated for the bar, and in 1795 began the practice of his profession in London. In 1803 he went to India in the government service, and in 1806 became Judge of the Court of Vice-Admiralty at Bombay. Returning to England, he entered Parliament where he rendered civilization the distinguished service of contributing to shape the policy under which England abandoned the coercive ideas of Lord North in her treatment of Canada and Australia, and virtually erected them into independent states, voluntarily recognizing English sovereignty. Mackintosh died in 1832. Among his more celebrated works are the “Vindiciæ Gallicæ,” which he published in 1791 as a reply to Burke’s “Reflections on the French Revolution”; his “Dissertation on the Progress of Ethical Philosophy,” which appeared in the seventh edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica; his “History of the Revolution in England in 1688,” and his “Essays” which are written with much strength and dignity. He was not only a philosopher, historian, essayist, and publicist, but also a most effective orator; and his speech in defense of Peltier is one of the most celebrated of British forensic orations.