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 MAOAULAY T69 died in Kensington, London, Dec. 28, 1859. His paternal ancestors were Scotch highlan- ders, and ministers of the kirk. He was the son of Zachary. Macaulay, a West India mer- chant, renowned as a philanthropist and as one of the leaders of "the Clapham sect," and was born at the residence of his aunt, from whose husband, Thomas Babington, he was named. He studied under a Mr. Preston at Shelford, and at 18 was entered at Trinity college, Cam- bridge. His university career was brilliant. He gained the "chancellor's medal" in 1819 for a poem on "Pompeii," the same prize in 1820 for a poem on "Evening," and the sec- ond Craven scholarship in 1821. He was a leading member of the debating society. He took his bachelor's degree in 1822, and though he did not compete for honors, owing to his distaste for mathematics, he was chosen a fel- low .of his college. He resided in London and Cambridge alternately during the next four years, taking his master's degree in 1825 ; and he was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1826. During these four years he wrote several of his ballads, "The Spanish Armada," "Mon- contour," "Ivry," and others, and also the ear- liest of his essays and critiques. These wri- tings appeared principally in Knight's " Quar- terly Magazine." His first contribution to the "Edinburgh Review" appeared in 1825, the subject being slavery, and his connection with that periodical lasted for 20 years. At that time he wrote poetical political " squibs " for the " Times," which were attributed to Moore. His first official appointment was that of com- missioner of bankrupts, which was obtained for him in the interval between the fall of the Liverpool ministry and the formation of the Wellington ministry. His first public speech was made in 1826, at the annual anti-slavery meeting in London, and its brilliancy confirmed the reputation he had acquired in the deba- ting societies of Cambridge and the metropolis. Much was expected of him by the whig party, to which he belonged; and in 1830 he was brought into parliament by one of the chiefs of that party, the marquis of Lansdowne, for the borough of Calne. His first speech in the house of commons was made April 5, 1830, in support of the bill to repeal the civil disabili- ties of the Jews of Great Britain ; and his sec- ond, Dec. 13, on slavery in the West Indies. During the great debates that marked the course of the reform contest in the commons, Mr. Macaulay took a part second only to that of Mr. E. Stanley (afterward earl of Derby) in support of liberal principles. Mr. Croker was appointed by the tories to encounter the rising whig, but was worsted in the conflict. He made eight speeches on reform in the old par- liament ; and when the elections for the first reformed parliament took place, in 1832, he was returned for the town of Leeds. He spoke sev- eral times in 1833, his principal effort being on the East India company's charter bill, July 10, which the experienced speaker (Manners Sut- ton) pronounced the best speech he ever heard. He was appointed secretary of the board of control in 1833 ; but he resigned that office, as well as his seat in parliament, in 1834, to go out to India as a member of the supreme council. He was appointed legal adviser to that ^ body; and as the special object of his mission was to prepare a new Indian code, he was exempted from all share in the adminis- tration of affairs. He had four assistants, but the code produced was mostly his work. It contained 26 chapters, divided into nearly 500 clauses, and was published in 1838. One of his objects was to do justice to the native populations. The right of appealing from the local courts to the supreme court at the presidency had been enjoyed only by the Eng- lish; but the new code provided that both natives and Europeans should have the right of appeal, but only to the highest provincial courts. This benevolent attempt drew down upon the codifier the denunciations of the Eng- lish in India, who called this item of the code " the black act." The code proved a failure, and could not be applied to affairs of real life, because, the author's friends asserted, it was too good. In 1838 Macaulay returned to England ; and in 1839 he was elected to parlia- ment from Edinburgh, and was appointed sec- retary at war in the Melbourne ministry, with a seat in the cabinet. His first speech on re- suming parliamentary life was made June 18, and was in support of the ballot. He spoke on all the leading questions that were discussed during the last two years of the Melbourne ministry; and when that ministry fell, in Au- gust, 1841, he went into opposition. Among other speeches which he then made were two of peculiar interest to Americans, one being on the treaty of Washington, and the other on the "apprehension of offenders bill," both in 1843. On the return of the whigs to power in 1846 he was made paymaster general. For his support of the Maynooth grant he incurred the animosity of his constituents, and failed of a reelection at Edinburgh in 1847. In 1840 a collection of his contributions to the "Edin- burgh Review " was published at Boston, under the title of "Miscellanies," in 2 vols. 12mo, but omitting several of his best essays. This publication first made him generally known to the reading world. As the fruit of his resi- dence in India, he wrote his articles on " Olive " and "Warren Hastings" for the "Edinburgh Eeview" in 1840 and 1841. His "Lays of Ancient Rome " were published in 1842, and, in addition to their merit as poetry, the intro- duction, explanations, and notes show a pro- found apprehension of the spirit of early Ro- man history. After the loss of his seat in parliament, he devoted himself to a work on English history, on which he had been some time employed. The first and second volumes of this work appeared at the close of 1848, bearing the title of "The History of England from the Accession of James the Second."