to an end in 1783, at which time the posting was cancelled and the ship paid off. Stewart himself is recorded as leaving the command on 30 December the previous year. He did not receive a new ship until 10 May 1790 when an expectation of a new war with Spain led to an armament, with Stewart appointed to command the 98-gun ship of the line HMS Formidable. It was planned that the ship would serve in the English Channel, but soon after this the prospect of war diminished and Stewart relinquished command. Stewart was raised to flag rank as a rear-admiral on 21 September the same year, and was further promoted to vice-admiral on 12 April 1794. He was not employed again within the Royal Navy after this, and died at his home near Dumfries on 3 March 1795, aged 56. Political career Stewart's father had intended for him to enter parliament from a young age, but at the 1761 British general election Stewart was still serving in the West Indies and so Galloway sponsored the election of Stewart's cousins James Murray and Archibald Montgomerie instead. On 19 February 1762 Stewart replaced Montgomerie as member of parliament (MP) for Wigtown Burghs, but in March he gave up the seat as part of compromises being made by his father over the family's political control. In return for acceding to this Stewart received his promotion to post-captain. Later returning to his political career and having settled in Glasserton, in 1768 Stewart became MP for Wigtownshire. Following the political lead of his brother-in-law Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Gower, he was known as a firm supporter of the incumbent administrations, with the biographer John Charnock describing him as an "inflexible supporter of every measure proposed". This assisted him in gaining appointments in his naval career. He supported Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton and then Frederick North, Lord North, opposing the government only once when on 9 February 1773 he supported a petition from naval captains. Stewart was also given the salary of the receiver general of land tax in Scotland in 1773; this position could not be held by an MP and so another man officially held it while Stewart collected the salary. In 1783 the salary was instead given to Murray. Stewart continued to support government when William Pitt the Younger came to power, but in 1784 he learned that he