Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 3.djvu/42

70 member to the twelfth parliament of Great Britain, which met on the 25th November, 1762. He entered the house of commons as an independent member unshackled by party. In the year 1765, he obtained the patent office of secretary to the Scottish order of the Thistle, an office more honourable than lucrative; and it was the only reward which he either sought or procured for twenty-eight years of faithful service in parliament Mr Dempster was decidedly opposed to the contest with the American colonies, which ended in their independence; and concurred with Mr Pitt and Mr Fox, in maintaining, that taxes could not be constitutionally imposed without representation, lie did not, however, enter into any factious opposition to the ministry during the continuance of the first American war; but on its conclusion he was strenuous in his endeavours to obtain an immediate reduction of the military establishment, and the abolition of sinecure places and pensions. He joined Mr Pitt, when that great statesman came into power, and supported him in his financial plans, particularly in the establishment of the sinking fund. Mr Dempster had directed much of his attention to the improvement of our national commerce and manufactures, which he desired to see freed from all restraint. But the object to which at this time and for many years afterwards he seems to have directed his chief attention, was the encouragement of the Scottish fisheries. This had been a favourite project with the people of Scotland, ever since the time when the duke of York, afterwards James II. patronized and became a subscriber to a company formed expressly for the purpose. At length Mr Dempster succeeded in rousing the British parliament to a due appreciation of the national benefits to be derived from the encouragement of the fisheries on the northern shores, and was allowed to nominate the committee for reporting to the house the best means of carrying his plans into execution.

About this period, Mr Dempster was elected one of the East India Company's directors. It is believed that his election took place in opposition to the prevailing interest in the directory; and certainly his mistaken notions on the subject of oriental politics must have rendered him an inefficient member of that court. Misled by the commercial origin of the corporation, he would have had the company, after it had arrived at great political influence, and had acquired extensive territorial possessions in India, to resign its sovereign power and to confine itself to its mercantile speculations. The policy of relinquishing territorial dominion in India, has long been a cry got up for party purposes; but it seems very extraordinary that Dempster, controlled by no such influence, should have so violently opposed himself to the true interest of the country. The error into which he fell is now obvious; he wished to maintain an individual monopoly, when the great wealth of the country rendered it no longer necessary, while he proposed to destroy our sway over India, when it might be made the means of defending and extending our commerce. Finding himself unable to alter our Indian policy, he withdrew from the directory and became a violent parliamentary opponent of the company. He supported Mr Fox's India bill, a measure designed chiefly for the purpose of consolidating a whig administration; and on one occasion he declared, that "all chartered rights should be held inviolable,—those derived from one charter only excepted. That is the sole and single charter which ought in my mind to be destroyed, for the sake of the country, for the sake of India, and for the sake of humanity."—"I for my part lament, that the navigation to India had ever been discovered, and I now conjure ministers to abandon all ideas of sovereignty in that quarter of the world: for it would be wiser to make some one of the native princes king of the country, and leave India to itself."

In 1785, Mr Dempster gave his support to the Grenville act, by which