Mackintosh, Sir James

Mackintosh, Sir James, 1765–1832, British writer and public servant, b. Scotland. He was trained as a physician, but after settling (1788) in London he became a writer and lawyer. His Vindiciae Gallicae (1791), a spirited reply to Edmund Burke's Reflections on the French Revolution, was the leading Whig statement in favor of the French Revolution, but from 1796 he grew hostile to French radicalism. Mackintosh served as recorder of Bombay (1804–6) and judge in Bombay vice-admiralty court (1806–12). As a member of Parliament after 1812, he supported penal and parliamentary reform. His writings include several historical works.