moral character of her subjects. The only parliamentary measures of a date subsequent to the passing of the Charter Act to which we shall advert, in consequence of the part Mr Grant took in them, are, the India Circuitous Trade Bill, which passed in December 1813, and the proposal to lay open the China trade, in 1820, 1821. From the former a clause allowing the Canaries, the Cape de Verd Islands, and the Island of Madeira, to be used as ports of refreshment, was at his instance struck out, in order that those places might not be made depots of India goods to the prejudice of the Company. And Mr Grant's exertions, in 1820 and 1821, for the defence of the Company's interests in their China trade, were incessant, and their issue successful. He had retired from the House of Commons, on account of his advancing age, in 1819. He was nevertheless examined at his own request, upon the subject, before the Lords' committees, on the 6th and 13th July 1820, and 26th February and 5th March 1821, and before a committee of the House of Commons on the 16th and 17th April 1821. The testimony which he gave upon these occasions was of considerable importance to the Company's interests; and it was supported by documents collected and prepared by himself, or under his immediate superintendance. So completely did Mr Grant's evidence, and that of other members of the court who were examined before the committee, rebut the allegations of the petitioners against the Company, that it is well known no report was made by the committee in the first session; and it is equally certain that to this moment the projected innovation on the China trade remains unaccomplished; while the historical narratives and able calculations which he presented

VOL. XVII. PART II.

to parliament, stand uncontradicted upon its records, for the future refutation of any erroneous allegations which may be made by parties opposed to the Company in this branch of their traffic.

Mr Grant's correspondence and intercourse were unusually extensive, and with persons of the first rank and consideration. Upon almost all occasions he received the fullest proofs of public as well as private confidence, and upon many, expressions of unusual respect. The opinion of Lord Cornwallis respecting him, at an early period of his public life, has been already adverted to. It is also generally understood that Lord Melville, while president of the Board of Commissioners for the Affairs of India, not only recommended him to the choice of the proprietors of India stock, but afterwards invited him to become a member of the Bengal council, which he declined, from motives the most disinterested and patriotic. The proprietors of India stock have themselves given him some tokens of their special favour. Very soon after they had placed him in the direction, they suspended one of their own by-laws, to enable him to retain a commercial establishment which he had formed in India. In April 1807, they placed him in the direction by a very unusual majority of votes, Mr Grant's name standing at the head of a list of twelve candidates, with 1523 votes out of a proprietary of less than 1900 persons: and since his decease, viz. on the 17th instant, they have resolved to commemorate his distinguished services, by the erection of a monument at the Company's expense, in St George's Church, Bloomsbury.

The House of Commons, in which he sat for about seventeen years, viz. from 1802 to 1819, (being, two years for the town, and fifteen for the coun

U

ty, of Inverness,) repeatedly elected him on committees, some of which were not connected with India affairs. He was appointed by act of parliament (37 Geo. III. c. 34. s. 6.) one of the commissioners for the issue of exchequer bills, and in 1818 was elected chairman of these commissioners. He was also included in the commission for the appropriation of the sum of 1,000,000l. sterling, granted by parliament for the erection of new churches.

Amidst the multiplicity of his occupations, his parliamentary constituents and his native country enjoyed a large share of his anxious attention. At the date of his election to a seat in parliament, the Highlands of Scotland were, as regards the means of internal communication, in a state of almost primitive destitution. Adequately to supply these deficiencies in a country so poor, so extensive, so thinly peopled, and abounding with physical obstacles, was an undertaking too gigantic for the efforts of local combination. Such being the undeniable condition of the Highlands, government resolved to undertake various magnificent works, which, now in a state of completion, add greatly to the convenience and welfare of the country. The Caledonian Canal was the first which was commenced. The original conception of this navigation was of very early date; but Mr Grant, though he did not originate it, stood forth at once as its indefatigable promoter: and to his ceaseless importunities to government, and his devoted services as a commissioner, the country, perhaps, mainly owes it that the progress of this noble work was not, in times of national danger and difficulty, delayed, or completely frustrated. After twenty years of anxious labour, Mr Grant had the satisfaction, in one of his latest visits to the Highlands, of super

intending in person the formal opening of this navigation. The Act for cutting the Caledonian Canal was followed by another for the formation of Highland roads and bridges. Mr Grant, it is understood, was among the first projectors of this measure, and, for a period of twenty years, he strenuously exerted himself to advance it. The completion of the plan em braced the formation of fourteen hundred bridges, and above a thousand of the finest roads in Scotland. These works have been accomplished by an expenditure of above a million sterling. Among other measures of local improvement in his native country, in which Mr Grant co-operated, one of the latest efforts of his public life, was the promotion of the act for building and endowing fifty new churches in the extensive parishes of the Highlands. The establishments formed of late years in Edinburgh and in Inverness for the extension of education in the Highlands, which, by means of 150 schools supported by them, have done much to disperse the moral darkness of the remote parts of Scotland, constantly found in him a warm and efficient friend. Mr Grant was also among the first to introduce Sunday-schools into that quarter. Two of these he supported by giving salaries to the teachers at his own private expense, which he continued to do during the last twenty years of his life.

Among many private testimonies to his worth, it may be sufficient to refer to two, being those of political opponents. The late Sir Philip Francis, at the close of a debate on India affairs, in which he had been decidedly opposed to Mr Grant, declared, that no man in England had a higher opinion of his moral character than he had. Upon the facts in question," Sir Philip added, " there can

not be a more competent witness, nor any human evidence less to be suspected." Another opponent, Mr Scott Waring, declared, that Mr Grant was "incapable of asserting what he did not believe to be true, or of delivering his sentiments on a subject which he did not understand."

Although Mr Grant ever considered the affairs of India as his peculiar province, and as a sufficient occupa tion for his mind, he allowed himself to have some other public engagements; but chiefly in connexion with religious or benevolent subjects. He appears to have been for many years a director of the South Sea Company. He was a member of the Society in London for promoting Christian Knowledge, as well as of another society of the same name, connected exclusively with the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. He was elected a vice-president of the British and Foreign Bible Society, upon its institution, in 1804, and was at different subsequent periods chosen vice-president of the Bloomsbury and Northeast London Auxiliary Societies. He was also connected with the Church Missionary Society. To many other associations of a charitable or religious description, he afforded the sanction of his name, and the aid of his contribution.

In the service of the oppressed Africans he joined his friend Mr Wilberforce, in 1807, as a member of the temporary committee of gentlemen then associated with a view to the establishment of the African Institution. To their labours and efficiency he essentially contributed, and was afterwards chosen one of the direct

ors.

The eminent qualifications of Mr Grant, as a statesman and a man occupied in public affairs, must have been sufficiently apparent to every

reader of this memoir. It may not, however, be improper to observe, that as a public speaker, he commanded attention in debate by an erect, majestic, and, in the latter years of his life, venerable figure, by a voice deep and sonorous, an enunciation clear and deliberate, and, above all, by arguments perspicuous and convincing. He accustomed himself to deliver his sentiments with gravity, and appeared to expect the same temper in his auditory. His style in writing corresponded with that of his eloquence. Cautious and deliberate in the examination of his authorities, his references to written or printed documents were generally unanswerable. As a friend, he was ardent and constant. In no part of his conduct was the firmness of his mind more apparent than in the inviolability of his friendships. To the numerous individuals who enjoyed his patronage, he was always accessible, and frank in his communications; and his kindness to them rarely terminated with a single instance. As a philanthropist, and more especially as a Christian, Mr Grant is entitled to the praise of eminent consistency and zeal. The decision of his character respecting religion enabled him often to surmount such opposition to his benevolent projects as would have overturned the purposes of many other men. But Mr Grant, to the last moment of his life, retained, and illustrated in his conduct, the religious principles. and philanthropic views which he had imbibed in India.

The great subjects of Christian benevolence were ever present to his understanding, and near his heart, and appeared to have a powerful influence upon his actions, leading him in the prosecution of his multifarious occupations to travel in paths into which the ordinary details of business

Under

would never have led him. some aspect or other they were almost constantly before him, and are believed to have occupied his close attention within a few days, and probably

within a few hours, of his decease; which took place at his house in Russell-square, on the 31st of October, 1823.

ROYAL SOCIEty of Literature. THE Council of this Institution have elected, from the class of Honorary Associates, the ten following individuals, to receive the allowance of 100l. per annum for life, granted by his Majesty. They take the title of Royal Associates ::

1. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Esq. -The Friend, Essays-Lay Sermons-Translation of WallensteinRemorse, a Tragedy, &c.

2. The Rev. Edward Davies-Celtic Researches Mythology of the Antients.

3. The Rev. John Jamieson, D.D. F.R.S.E. F.L.A. E.-An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language Hermes Scythicus, and other works.

4. The Rev. T. R. Malthus, M.A. F.R.S.-Essay on Population.

5. Thomas James Mathias, Esq. F.R.S. F.S.A.-Runic Odes-On the Evidence relating to the Poems attributed to Rowley-The Shade of Alexander Pope-and various other works.

6. James Millingen, Esq. F.S.A. Peintures Antiques inédites de Vases Grecs-Peintures de Vases Grecs de

la Collection de Sir John Coghill, Bart.-Recueil de quelques Médailles Grecques inédites-Medallic History of Napoleon.

7. Sir W. Ouseley, Knt. LL.D.— Persian Miscellanies-Oriental Collections-Travels in Persia, &c.-and other works.

8. William Roscoe, Esq.-Life of Lorenzo de Medici-Life of Leo X., &c. &c.

9. The Rev. Henry John Todd, M.A. F.S.A.-The works of Spenser, &c.-Milton's Poetical Works, &c.Some Account of the Life and Writings of John Milton-Illustrations of the Lives and Writings of Gower and Chaucer-Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Bishop Walton, &c.Johnson's Dictionary corrected, &c.

10. Sharon Turner, Esq. F.S.A.History of the Anglo-Saxons, &c.Vindication of the Genuineness of the Ancient British Poems of Aneurin, Taliessin, Llywarchlen, and Merdhin; to which are added, an Essay on the Antiquity of Rhyme in Europe"The Voluspa"-The History o. England during the Middle Ages, &c.-Prolusions.

The General Meeting of this So