John MacPherson (governor of India)
Encyclopedia
John Macpherson, 1st Baronet (ca. 1745 – 12 January 1821), from Sleat
, Isle of Skye, Scotland
, was a Scottish administrator
in India
. He was the acting Governor-General of India
from 1785 to 1786.
in the Isle of Skye, where his father, John Macpherson (1710–1765), was minister.
His mother was Janet, daughter of Donald Macleod of Bernera. The father, son of Dugald Macpherson, minister of Duirinish, distinguished himself in classics at Aberdeen University (M.A. 1728, and D.D. 1761), and was minister of Barra in the presbytery of Uist (1734–42), and of Sleat (1742–65). He published Critical Dissertations on the Origin, Antiquities, Language, Government, Manners, and Religion of the Ancient Caledonians, their Posterity, the Picts, and the British and Irish Scots, London, 1768, and paraphrased the Song of Moses in Latin verse in Scots Magazine, vols. i. ix. xi. He upheld the authenticity of the poems assigned to Ossian
, and Samuel Johnson
declared that his Latin verse did him honour. Martin Macpherson (1743–1812), Dr. Macpherson's elder son, succeeded him at Sleat, and won Dr. Johnson's regard when the doctor visited the highlands.
John, the younger son, was educated at King's College, Aberdeen
, and at the University of Edinburgh
.
, nominally as purser of an East India ship, commanded by his maternal uncle, Captain Alexander Macleod. Macpherson landed at Madras, where he obtained an introduction to Mohammed Ali, nabob of the Carnatic. The latter, whose affairs were in great disorder, had borrowed large sums of money at enormous interest from the East India Company's officials at Madras. Hard pressed by his creditors, he entrusted Macpherson with a secret mission to England, with the object of making representations on his behalf to the home government. Macpherson arrived in England in November 1768. He had several interviews with the prime minister, Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton
, who eventually despatched Sir John Lindsay
, as king's envoy extraordinary, to effect a settlement of the nabob's claims. This commission being novel and unwarrantable, the company protested, and Lindsay was recalled.
for Cricklade
, and was one of six members suspected of being in receipt of a salary from the nabob of Arcot in return for pressing the latter's claims on the legislature.
. The appointment was severely criticised in public; and in 1782 a committee of the House of Commons declared that Macpherson's past conduct in supporting the pretensions of the nabob had tended to endanger the peace of India.
Macpherson offered a regular but unintelligent opposition to the measures of Warren Hastings
during the latter years of that governor-general's rule.
His friends endeavoured to show that the legal term of the governor-generalship was five years, and that Macpherson's removal, save for misconduct, after only twenty months was an injustice. The claim, for which there was no foundation, was disregarded, and Macpherson now endeavoured to obtain from Dundas a promise of the succession to Lord Cornwallis, or at any rate a return to his old place on the Bengal council. This also was refused. Macpherson's sole object in harassing the government with these demands was to obtain some heavy pecuniary compensation, and when his chances of office became quite hopeless, he applied to the court of directors for a pension of 2,000 pounds. a year. After some delay he obtained a sum of 15,301 Pounds 7 Shilling, payable in three instalments between 1 March 1789 and 1 March 1790. In June 1809 he obtained in addition a pension of 1,000 pounds a year in return for assigning to the company a claim of 10,000 pounds on the nabob of Arcot.
.
, where his advice was asked by the Grand Duke Leopold
on financial and administrative matters. When Leopold became emperor in 1790 he visited him at Vienna
. Macpherson's tall figure, handsome face, and courtly manners made him a great favourite in society; and his wide knowledge and linguistic talents won him the respect of scholars.
Sleat
Sleat is a peninsula on the island of Skye in the Highland council area of Scotland, known as "the garden of Skye". It is the home of the clan MacDonald of Sleat...
, Isle of Skye, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, was a Scottish administrator
Administrator of the Government
An Administrator in the constitutional practice of some countries in the Commonwealth is a person who fulfils a role similar to that of a Governor or a Governor-General...
in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. He was the acting Governor-General of India
Governor-General of India
The Governor-General of India was the head of the British administration in India, and later, after Indian independence, the representative of the monarch and de facto head of state. The office was created in 1773, with the title of Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort William...
from 1785 to 1786.
Early life
Macpherson was born in 1745 at SleatSleat
Sleat is a peninsula on the island of Skye in the Highland council area of Scotland, known as "the garden of Skye". It is the home of the clan MacDonald of Sleat...
in the Isle of Skye, where his father, John Macpherson (1710–1765), was minister.
His mother was Janet, daughter of Donald Macleod of Bernera. The father, son of Dugald Macpherson, minister of Duirinish, distinguished himself in classics at Aberdeen University (M.A. 1728, and D.D. 1761), and was minister of Barra in the presbytery of Uist (1734–42), and of Sleat (1742–65). He published Critical Dissertations on the Origin, Antiquities, Language, Government, Manners, and Religion of the Ancient Caledonians, their Posterity, the Picts, and the British and Irish Scots, London, 1768, and paraphrased the Song of Moses in Latin verse in Scots Magazine, vols. i. ix. xi. He upheld the authenticity of the poems assigned to Ossian
Ossian
Ossian is the narrator and supposed author of a cycle of poems which the Scottish poet James Macpherson claimed to have translated from ancient sources in the Scots Gaelic. He is based on Oisín, son of Finn or Fionn mac Cumhaill, anglicised to Finn McCool, a character from Irish mythology...
, and Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
declared that his Latin verse did him honour. Martin Macpherson (1743–1812), Dr. Macpherson's elder son, succeeded him at Sleat, and won Dr. Johnson's regard when the doctor visited the highlands.
John, the younger son, was educated at King's College, Aberdeen
King's College, Aberdeen
King's College in Old Aberdeen, Scotland is a formerly independent university founded in 1495 and an integral part of the University of Aberdeen...
, and at the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
.
First journey to India
In March 1767 he sailed for IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, nominally as purser of an East India ship, commanded by his maternal uncle, Captain Alexander Macleod. Macpherson landed at Madras, where he obtained an introduction to Mohammed Ali, nabob of the Carnatic. The latter, whose affairs were in great disorder, had borrowed large sums of money at enormous interest from the East India Company's officials at Madras. Hard pressed by his creditors, he entrusted Macpherson with a secret mission to England, with the object of making representations on his behalf to the home government. Macpherson arrived in England in November 1768. He had several interviews with the prime minister, Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton
Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton
Augustus Henry FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, KG, PC , styled Earl of Euston between 1747 and 1757, was a British Whig statesman of the Georgian era...
, who eventually despatched Sir John Lindsay
John Lindsay (admiral)
Admiral Sir John Lindsay KB was a British naval officer of the 18th century, and the father of Dido Elizabeth Belle.-Family:...
, as king's envoy extraordinary, to effect a settlement of the nabob's claims. This commission being novel and unwarrantable, the company protested, and Lindsay was recalled.
Second journey to India
Macpherson returned to India in January 1770 with the position of a writer in the company's service. He remained for six years at Madras occupied with administrative work. He also renewed his acquaintance with the nabob, for whom, as he himself confesses, he occasionally procured loans of money. In 1776 George Pigot, 1st Baron Pigot, the governor of Madras, obtained possession of a letter addressed to the nabob by Macpherson, in which details were given regarding the latter's mission to England. The paper contained severe reflections on the company's action, and indicated that Macpherson had engaged in a plot to set the home government against them. He was therefore dismissed the service. He returned to England in 1777, having previously furnished himself with fresh despatches to the home government from the nabob.MP for Cricklade 1779-1782
Macpherson remained in England for four years. From April 1779 to May 1782 he sat in the House of CommonsBritish House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
for Cricklade
Cricklade (UK Parliament constituency)
Cricklade was a parliamentary constituency named after the town of Cricklade in Wiltshire.From 1295 until 1885, Cricklade was a parliamentary borough, returning two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, previously to the House of Commons of...
, and was one of six members suspected of being in receipt of a salary from the nabob of Arcot in return for pressing the latter's claims on the legislature.
Appointment in Calcutta
Macpherson had appealed to the court of directors against his dismissal by the Madras council. The former were by no means satisfied with the intrigues indulged in by their servants in the Carnatic, and reinstated him. In January 1781, however, before he could return to Madras, he was appointed by Lord North, whose government he had supported, to the seat on the supreme council at Calcutta vacated by Richard BarwellRichard Barwell
Richard Barwell was an Anglo-Indian writer and politician.Barwell was the son of William Barwell, governor of Bengal in 1748, and afterwards a director of the East India Company, and Sheriff of Surrey in 1768...
. The appointment was severely criticised in public; and in 1782 a committee of the House of Commons declared that Macpherson's past conduct in supporting the pretensions of the nabob had tended to endanger the peace of India.
Macpherson offered a regular but unintelligent opposition to the measures of Warren Hastings
Warren Hastings
Warren Hastings PC was the first Governor-General of India, from 1773 to 1785. He was famously accused of corruption in an impeachment in 1787, but was acquitted in 1795. He was made a Privy Councillor in 1814.-Early life:...
during the latter years of that governor-general's rule.
Governor-general
In February 1785, as senior member of the council, he became governor-general on Hastings's resignation. Owing to the long and desperate war in which the English had been engaged, he found the finances in great disorder. Pressing demands for assistance were coming from Bombay and Madras, the arrears of pay due to the troops amounted to two millions sterling, and the deficit in the revenue of the current year was estimated at 1,300,000 Pounds.Managing the finances
Macpherson began by using the actual cash in the treasury to pay the troops, who were on the verge of mutiny. All other payments were made in bonds bearing interest at eight per cent. per annum till redeemed. Strenuous reductions were made in the public expenditure, the utmost care was exercised over the collections, and in twelve months' time enough cash had been accumulated to pay off the whole of the new paper debt, besides meeting the ordinary expenses of government. At the close of his administration Macpherson was able to boast that he had reduced expenditure by the large sum of 1,250,000 Pounds. It must, however, be remembered that during his rule no war took place; and his financial achievements were really due to the suggestions of a subordinate, Jonathan Duncan. Macpherson moreover did nothing to stop the gross corruption indulged in by the company's officials, and Lord Cornwallis, an impartial critic, denounces his government as ‘a system of the dirtiest jobbery’ (Earl Cornwallis to Dundas, 1 Nov. 1788, in ROSS'S Cornwallis Correspondence).Claim from Maharaja Mahdoji Sindia
Shortly after Macpherson's accession to the supreme power, the Mahratta chief, Maharaja Mahdoji Sindia, having obtained possession of Shah Alum, titular emperor of India, demanded from the English a sum of 4,000,000 pounds. as arrears of the tribute promised by them to the emperor in 1765. Macpherson answered by insisting upon an immediate withdrawal and disavowal of the claim, threatening war if it were repeated. To further guard against the ambition of Sindia, he established Charles Malet as English envoy at Poonah, the acknowledged capital of the Mahratta confederacy. In 1786 the Mahrattas declared war against Tippu, sultan of Mysore. Macpherson offered them the assistance of three battalions to be employed in defending the Mahratta territories. The offer remained unaccepted during Macpherson's tenure of office, and was withdrawn by his successor.Return to England
Macpherson was created a baronet on 10 June 1786, and was superseded, much to his dissatisfaction, by Lord Cornwallis in September, after which he returned to England.His friends endeavoured to show that the legal term of the governor-generalship was five years, and that Macpherson's removal, save for misconduct, after only twenty months was an injustice. The claim, for which there was no foundation, was disregarded, and Macpherson now endeavoured to obtain from Dundas a promise of the succession to Lord Cornwallis, or at any rate a return to his old place on the Bengal council. This also was refused. Macpherson's sole object in harassing the government with these demands was to obtain some heavy pecuniary compensation, and when his chances of office became quite hopeless, he applied to the court of directors for a pension of 2,000 pounds. a year. After some delay he obtained a sum of 15,301 Pounds 7 Shilling, payable in three instalments between 1 March 1789 and 1 March 1790. In June 1809 he obtained in addition a pension of 1,000 pounds a year in return for assigning to the company a claim of 10,000 pounds on the nabob of Arcot.
MP for Cricklade 1788
In 1788 Macpherson was again elected to the House of Commons for Cricklade, but was unseated for bribery on the petition of his opponent, Samuel Petrie, and cast in penalties to the amount of 3,000 pounds. He now joined the whig opposition, and was till 1802 on intimate terms with the Prince of WalesPrince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
.
Visits to Florence and Vienna
In 1789 he visited FlorenceFlorence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, where his advice was asked by the Grand Duke Leopold
Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
Leopold II , born Peter Leopold Joseph Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard, was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary and Bohemia from 1790 to 1792, Archduke of Austria and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790. He was a son of Emperor Francis I and his wife, Empress Maria Theresa...
on financial and administrative matters. When Leopold became emperor in 1790 he visited him at Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. Macpherson's tall figure, handsome face, and courtly manners made him a great favourite in society; and his wide knowledge and linguistic talents won him the respect of scholars.