,transcriber's note3 between brackets   
some fragments are included1 which are  
not present in all editions1 mostly     
commentaries concerning ,mr4 ,mill's    
wife and  stepdaughter 7,helen          
,taylor7--an html ed4 of this e-text1   
including index is pending4             
,,autobiography  by  ,,john ,,stuart    
,,mill      ,,contents   ,,chapter ,i   
#ahjf-ahai  ,,childhood ,,and ,,early   
,,education   ,,chapter ,,ii            
#ahac-ahba  ,,moral ,,influences ,,in   
,,early ,,youth--,,my ,,father',s       
,,character ,,and ,,opinions   ,,chapter
 ,,iii   #ahba-ahbc  ,,last ,,stage ,,of
 ,,education1 ,,and ,,first ,,of        
,,self-,,education   ,,chapter ,,iv     
#ahbc-ahbh  ,,youthful                  
,,propagandism--,,the ,,westminster     
,,review   ,,chapter ,v   #ahbf-ahcb  ,a
 ,,crisis ,,in ,,my ,,mental            
,,history--,,one ,,stage ,,onward       
,,chapter ,,vi   #ahcj-ahdj             
,,commencement ,,of ,,the ,,most        
,,valuable ,,friendship ,,of ,,my       

,,life--,,my ,,father',s                
,,death--,,writings ,,and ,,other       
,,proceedings ,,up ,,to #ahdj           
,,chapter ,,vii   #ahdj-ahgj  ,,general 
,,view ,,of ,,the ,,remainder ,,of ,,my 
,,life4--,,completion ,,of ,,the        
,,system ,,of ,,logic--,,publication    
,,of ,,the ,,principles ,,of ,,political
 ,,economy --,,marriage--,,retirement   
,,from ,,the ,,india                    
,,house--,,publication ,,of ,,liberty   
--,,considerations ,,on ,,representative
 ,,government--,,civil ,,war ,,in       
,,america --,,examination ,,of ,,sir    
,,william ,,hamilton',s                 
,,philosophy--,,parliamentary ,,life    
--,,remainder ,,of ,,my ,,life          
,,chapter ,i  ,,childhood ,,and ,,early 
,,education   ,it seems proper that ,i  
should prefix to the following          
biographical sketch some mention of the 
reasons which have made me think it     
desirable that ,i should leave behind me
 such a memorial of so uneventful a life
 as mine4 ,i do not for a moment imagine

 that any part of what ,i have to relate
 can be interesting to the public as a  
narrative or as being connected with    
myself4 ,but ,i have thought that in an 
age in which education and its          
improvement are the subject of more1 if 
not of profounder1 study than at any    
former period of ,english history1 it   
may be useful that there should be some 
record of an education which was unusual
 and remarkable1 and which1 whatever    
else it may have done1 has proved how   
much more than is commonly supposed may 
be taught1 and well taught1 in those    
early years which1 in the common modes  
of what is called instruction1 are      
little better than wasted4 ,it has also 
seemed to me that in an age of          
transition in opinions1 there may be    
somewhat both of interest and of benefit
 in noting the successive phases of any 
mind which was always pressing forward1 
equally ready to learn and to unlearn   
either from its own thoughts or from    
those of others4 ,but a motive which    

weighs more with me than either of      
these1 is a desire to make              
acknowledgment of the debts which my    
intellectual and moral development owes 
to other persons2 some of them of       
recognised eminence1 others less known  
than they deserve to be1 and the one to 
whom most of all is due1 one whom the   
world had no opportunity of knowing4    
,the reader whom these things do not    
interest1 has only himself to blame if  
he reads farther1 and ,i do not desire  
any other indulgence from him than that 
of bearing in mind that for him these   
pages were not written4  ,i was born in 
,london1 on the #bjth of ,may1 #ahjf1   
and was the eldest son of ,james ,mill1 
the author of the ,history of ,british  
,india4 ,my father1 the son of a petty  
tradesman and 7,i believe7 small farmer1
 at ,northwater ,bridge1 in the county  
of ,angus1 was1 when a boy1 recommended 
by his abilities to the notice of ,sir  
,john ,stuart1 of ,fettercairn1 one of  
the ,barons of the ,exchequer in        

,scotland1 and was1 in consequence1 sent
 to the ,university of ,edinburgh1 at   
the expense of a fund established by    
,lady ,jane ,stuart 7the wife of ,sir   
,john ,stuart7 and some other ladies for
 educating young men for the ,scottish  
,church4 ,he there went through the     
usual course of study1 and was licensed 
as a ,preacher1 but never followed the  
profession2 having satisfied himself    
that he could not believe the doctrines 
of that or any other ,church4 ,for a few
 years he was a private tutor in various
 families in ,scotland1 among others    
that of the ,marquis of ,tweeddale1 but 
ended by taking up his residence in     
,london1 and devoting himself to        
authorship4 ,nor had he any other means 
of support until #ahai1 when he obtained
 an appointment in the ,india ,house4   
,in this period of my father's life     
there are two things which it is        
impossible not to be struck with3 one of
 them unfortunately a very common       
circumstance1 the other a most uncommon 

one4 ,the first is1 that in his         
position1 with no resource but the      
precarious one of writing in            
periodicals1 he married and had a large 
family2 conduct than which nothing could
 be more opposed1 both as a matter of   
good sense and of duty1 to the opinions 
which1 at least at a later period of    
life1 he strenuously upheld4 ,the other 
circumstance1 is the extraordinary      
energy which was required to lead the   
life he led1 with the disadvantages     
under which he laboured from the first1 
and with those which he brought upon    
himself by his marriage4 ,it would have 
been no small thing1 had he done no more
 than to support himself and his family 
during so many years by writing1 without
 ever being in debt1 or in any pecuniary
 difficulty2 holding1 as he did1        
opinions1 both in politics and in       
religion1 which were more odious to all 
persons of influence1 and to the common 
run of prosperous ,englishmen1 in that  
generation than either before or since2 

and being not only a man whom nothing   
would have induced to write against his 
convictions1 but one who invariably     
threw into everything he wrote1 as much 
of his convictions as he thought the    
circumstances would in any way permit3  
being1 it must also be said1 one who    
never did anything negligently2 never   
undertook any task1 literary or other1  
on which he did not conscientiously     
bestow all the labour necessary for     
performing it adequately4 ,but he1 with 
these burdens on him1 planned1          
commenced1 and completed1 the ,history  
of ,india2 and this in the course of    
about ten years1 a shorter time than has
 been occupied 7even by writers who had 
no other employment7 in the production  
of almost any other historical work of  
equal bulk1 and of anything approaching 
to the same amount of reading and       
research4 ,and to this is to be added1  
that during the whole period1 a         
considerable part of almost every day   
was employed in the instruction of his  

children3 in the case of one of whom1   
myself1 he exerted an amount of labour1 
care1 and perseverance rarely1 if ever1 
employed for a similar purpose1 in      
endeavouring to give1 according to his  
own conception1 the highest order of    
intellectual education4  ,a man who1 in 
his own practice1 so vigorously acted up
 to the principle of losing no time1 was
 likely to adhere to the same rule in   
the instruction of his pupil4 ,i have no
 remembrance of the time when ,i began  
to learn ,greek2 ,i have been told that 
it was when ,i was three years old4 ,my 
earliest recollection on the subject1 is
 that of committing to memory what my   
father termed vocables1 being lists of  
common ,greek words1 with their         
signification in ,english1 which he     
wrote out for me on cards4 ,of grammar1 
until some years later1 ,i learnt no    
more than the inflections of the nouns  
and verbs1 but1 after a course of       
vocables1 proceeded at once to          
translation2 and ,i faintly remember    

going through ,aesop's ,fables1 the     
first ,greek book which ,i read4 ,the   
,anabasis1 which ,i remember better1 was
 the second4 ,i learnt no ,latin until  
my eighth year4 ,at that time ,i had    
read1 under my father's tuition1 a      
number of ,greek prose authors1 among   
whom ,i remember the whole of           
,herodotus1 and of ,xenophon's          
,cyropaedia and ,memorials of ,socrates2
 some of the lives of the philosophers  
by ,diogenes ,laertius2 part of ,lucian1
 and ,isocrates ad ,demonicum and ,ad   
,nicoclem4 ,i also read1 in #ahac1 the  
first six dialogues 7in the common      
arrangement7 of ,plato1 from the        
,euthyphron to the ,theoctetus          
inclusive3 which last dialogue1 ,i      
venture to think1 would have been better
 omitted1 as it was totally impossible  
,i should understand it4 ,but my father1
 in all his teaching1 demanded of me not
 only the utmost that ,i could do1 but  
much that ,i could by no possibility    
have done4 ,what he was himself willing 

to undergo for the sake of my           
instruction1 may be judged from the     
fact1 that ,i went through the whole    
process of preparing my ,greek lessons  
in the same room and at the same table  
at which he was writing3 and as in those
 days ,greek and ,english lexicons were 
not1 and ,i could make no more use of a 
,greek and ,latin lexicon than could be 
made without having yet begun to learn  
,latin1 ,i was forced to have recourse  
to him for the meaning of every word    
which ,i did not know4 ,this incessant  
interruption1 he1 one of the most       
impatient of men1 submitted to1 and     
wrote under that interruption several   
volumes of his ,history and all else    
that he had to write during those years4
  ,the only thing besides ,greek1 that  
,i learnt as a lesson in this part of my
 childhood1 was arithmetic3 this also my
 father taught me3 it was the task of   
the evenings1 and ,i well remember its  
disagreeableness4 ,but the lessons were 
only a part of the daily instruction ,i 

received4 ,much of it consisted in the  
books ,i read by myself1 and my father's
 discourses to me1 chiefly during our   
walks4 ,from #ahaj to the end of #ahac  
we were living in ,newington ,green1    
then an almost rustic neighbourhood4 ,my
 father's health required considerable  
and constant exercise1 and he walked    
habitually before breakfast1 generally  
in the green lanes towards ,hornsey4 ,in
 these walks ,i always accompanied him1 
and with my earliest recollections of   
green fields and wild flowers1 is       
mingled that of the account ,i gave him 
daily of what ,i had read the day       
before4 ,to the best of my remembrance1 
this was a voluntary rather than a      
prescribed exercise4 ,i made notes on   
slips of paper while reading1 and from  
these in the morning walks1 ,i told the 
story to him2 for the books were chiefly
 histories1 of which ,i read in this    
manner a great number3 ,robertson's     
histories1 ,hume1 ,gibbon2 but my       
greatest delight1 then and for long     

afterwards1 was ,watson's ,philip the   
,second and ,third4 ,the heroic defence 
of the ,knights of ,malta against the   
,turks1 and of the revolted ,provinces  
of the ,netherlands against ,spain1     
excited in me an intense and lasting    
interest4 ,next to ,watson1 my favourite
 historical reading was ,hooke's        
,history of ,rome4 ,of ,greece ,i had   
seen at that time no regular history1   
except school abridgments and the last  
two or three volumes of a translation of
 ,rollin's ,ancient ,history1 beginning 
with ,philip of ,macedon4 ,but ,i read  
with great delight ,langhorne's         
translation of ,plutarch4 ,in ,english  
history1 beyond the time at which ,hume 
leaves off1 ,i remember reading         
,burnet's ,history of his ,own ,time1   
though ,i cared little for anything in  
it except the wars and battles2 and the 
historical part of the ,annual          
,register1 from the beginning to about  
#aghh1 where the volumes my father      
borrowed for me from ,mr4 ,bentham left 

off4 ,i felt a lively interest in       
,frederic of ,prussia during his        
difficulties1 and in ,paoli1 the        
,corsican patriot2 but when ,i came to  
the ,american ,war1 ,i took my part1    
like a child as ,i was 7until set right 
by my father7 on the wrong side1 because
 it was called the ,english side4 ,in   
these frequent talks about the books ,i 
read1 he used1 as opportunity offered1  
to give me explanations and ideas       
respecting civilization1 government1    
morality1 mental cultivation1 which he  
required me afterwards to restate to him
 in my own words4 ,he also made me read1
 and give him a verbal account of1 many 
books which would not have interested me
 sufficiently to induce me to read them 
of myself3 among other's ,millar's      
,historical ,view of the ,english       
,government1 a book of great merit for  
its time1 and which he highly valued2   
,mosheim's ,ecclesiastical ,history1    
,mc,crie's ,life of ,john ,knox1 and    
even ,sewell and ,rutty's ,histories of 

the ,quakers4 ,he was fond of putting   
into my hands books which exhibited men 
of energy and resource in unusual       
circumstances1 struggling against       
difficulties and overcoming them3 of    
such works ,i remember ,beaver's        
,african ,memoranda1 and ,collins's     
,account of the ,first ,settlement of   
,new ,south ,wales4 ,two books which ,i 
never wearied of reading were ,anson's  
,voyages1 so delightful to most young   
persons1 and a collection               
7,hawkesworth's1 ,i believe7 of ,voyages
 round the ,world1 in four volumes1     
beginning with ,drake and ending with   
,cook and ,bougainville4 ,of children's 
books1 any more than of playthings1 ,i  
had scarcely any1 except an occasional  
gift from a relation or acquaintance3   
among those ,i had1 ,robinson ,crusoe   
was pre-eminent1 and continued to       
delight me through all my boyhood4 ,it  
was no part1 however1 of my father's    
system to exclude books of amusement1   
though he allowed them very sparingly4  

,of such books he possessed at that time
 next to none1 but he borrowed several  
for me2 those which ,i remember are the 
,arabian ,nights1 ,cazotte's ,arabian   
,tales1 ,don ,quixote1 ,miss            
,edgeworth's ,popular ,tales1 and a book
 of some reputation in its day1         
,brooke's ,fool of ,quality4  ,in my    
eighth year ,i commenced learning       
,latin1 in conjunction with a younger   
sister1 to whom ,i taught it as ,i went 
on1 and who afterwards repeated the     
lessons to my father2 from this time1   
other sisters and brothers being        
successively added as pupils1 a         
considerable part of my day's work      
consisted of this preparatory teaching4 
,it was a part which ,i greatly         
disliked2 the more so1 as ,i was held   
responsible for the lessons of my       
pupils1 in almost as full a sense as for
 my own3 ,i1 however1 derived from this 
discipline the great advantage1 of      
learning more thoroughly and retaining  
more lastingly the things which ,i was  

set to teach3 perhaps1 too1 the practice
 it afforded in explaining difficulties 
to others1 may even at that age have    
been useful4 ,in other respects1 the    
experience of my boyhood is not         
favourable to the plan of teaching      
children by means of one another4 ,the  
teaching1 ,i am sure1 is very           
inefficient as teaching1 and ,i well    
know that the relation between teacher  
and taught is not a good moral          
discipline to either4 ,i went in this   
manner through the ,latin grammar1 and a
 considerable part of ,cornelius ,nepos 
and ,caesar's ,commentaries1 but        
afterwards added to the superintendence 
of these lessons1 much longer ones of my
 own4  ,in the same year in which ,i    
began ,latin1 ,i made my first          
commencement in the ,greek poets with   
the ,iliad4 ,after ,i had made some     
progress in this1 my father put ,pope's 
translation into my hands4 ,it was the  
first ,english verse ,i had cared to    
read1 and it became one of the books in 

which for many years ,i most delighted3 
,i think ,i must have read it from      
twenty to thirty times through4 ,i      
should not have thought it worth while  
to mention a taste apparently so natural
 to boyhood1 if ,i had not1 as ,i think1
 observed that the keen enjoyment of    
this brilliant specimen of narrative and
 versification is not so universal with 
boys1 as ,i should have expected both a 
priori and from my individual           
experience4 ,soon after this time ,i    
commenced ,euclid1 and somewhat later1  
,algebra1 still under my father's       
tuition4  ,from my eighth to my twelfth 
year1 the ,latin books which ,i remember
 reading were1 the ,bucolics of ,virgil1
 and the first six books of the ,aeneid2
 all ,horace1 except the ,epodes2 the   
,fables of ,phaedrus2 the first five    
books of ,livy 7to which from my love of
 the subject ,i voluntarily added1 in my
 hours of leisure1 the remainder of the 
first decade72 all ,sallust2 a          
considerable part of ,ovid's            

,metamorphoses2 some plays of ,terence2 
two or three books of ,lucretius2       
several of the ,orations of ,cicero1 and
 of his writings on oratory2 also his   
letters to ,atticus1 my father taking   
the trouble to translate to me from the 
,french the historical explanations in  
,mingault's notes4 ,in ,greek ,i read   
the ,iliad and ,odyssey through2 one or 
two plays of ,sophocles1 ,euripides1 and
 ,aristophanes1 though by these ,i      
profited little2 all ,thucydides2 the   
,hellenics of ,xenophon2 a great part of
 ,demosthenes1 ,aeschines1 and ,lysias2 
,theocritus2 ,anacreon2 part of the     
,anthology2 a little of ,dionysius2     
several books of ,polybius2 and lastly  
,aristotle's ,rhetoric1 which1 as the   
first expressly scientific treatise on  
any moral or psychological subject which
 ,i had read1 and containing many of the
 best observations of the ancients on   
human nature and life1 my father made me
 study with peculiar care1 and throw the
 matter of it into synoptic tables4     

,during the same years ,i learnt        
elementary geometry and algebra         
thoroughly1 the differential calculus1  
and other portions of the higher        
mathematics far from thoroughly3 for my 
father1 not having kept up this part of 
his early acquired knowledge1 could not 
spare time to qualify himself for       
removing my difficulties1 and left me to
 deal with them1 with little other aid  
than that of books3 while ,i was        
continually incurring his displeasure by
 my inability to solve difficult        
problems for which he did not see that  
,i had not the necessary previous       
knowledge4  ,as to my private reading1  
,i can only speak of what ,i remember4  
,history continued to be my strongest   
predilection1 and most of all ancient   
history4 ,mitford's ,greece ,i read     
continually2 my father had put me on my 
guard against the ,tory prejudices of   
this writer1 and his perversions of     
facts for the whitewashing of despots1  
and blackening of popular institutions4 

,these points he discoursed on1         
exemplifying them from the ,greek       
orators and historians1 with such effect
 that in reading ,mitford my sympathies 
were always on the contrary side to     
those of the author1 and ,i could1 to   
some extent1 have argued the point      
against him3 yet this did not diminish  
the ever new pleasure with which ,i read
 the book4 ,roman history1 both in my   
old favourite1 ,hooke1 and in ,ferguson1
 continued to delight me4 ,a book which1
 in spite of what is called the dryness 
of its style1 ,i took great pleasure in1
 was the ,ancient ,universal ,history1  
through the incessant reading of which1 
,i had my head full of historical       
details concerning the obscurest ancient
 people1 while about modern history1    
except detached passages1 such as the   
,dutch ,war of ,independence1 ,i knew   
and cared comparatively little4 ,a      
voluntary exercise1 to which throughout 
my boyhood ,i was much addicted1 was    
what ,i called writing histories4 ,i    

successively composed a ,roman ,history1
 picked out of ,hooke2 and an           
,abridgment of the ,ancient ,universal  
,history2 a ,history of ,holland1 from  
my favourite ,watson and from an        
anonymous compilation2 and in my        
eleventh and twelfth year ,i occupied   
myself with writing what ,i flattered   
myself was something serious4 ,this was 
no less than a ,history of the ,roman   
,government1 compiled 7with the         
assistance of ,hooke7 from ,livy and    
,dionysius3 of which ,i wrote as much as
 would have made an octavo volume1      
extending to the epoch of the ,licinian 
,laws4 ,it was1 in fact1 an account of  
the struggles between the patricians and
 plebeians1 which now engrossed all the 
interest in my mind which ,i had        
previously felt in the mere wars and    
conquests of the ,romans4 ,i discussed  
all the constitutional points as they   
arose3 though quite ignorant of         
,niebuhr's researches1 ,i1 by such      
lights as my father had given me1       

vindicated the ,agrarian ,laws on the   
evidence of ,livy1 and upheld1 to the   
best of my ability1 the ,roman          
,democratic party4 ,a few years later1  
in my contempt of my childish efforts1  
,i destroyed all these papers1 not then 
anticipating that ,i could ever feel any
 curiosity about my first attempts at   
writing and reasoning4 ,my father       
encouraged me in this useful amusement1 
though1 as ,i think judiciously1 he     
never asked to see what ,i wrote2 so    
that ,i did not feel that in writing it 
,i was accountable to any one1 nor had  
the chilling sensation of being under a 
critical eye4  ,but though these        
exercises in history were never a       
compulsory lesson1 there was another    
kind of composition which was so1       
namely1 writing verses1 and it was one  
of the most disagreeable of my tasks4   
,greek and ,latin verses ,i did not     
write1 nor learnt the prosody of those  
languages4 ,my father1 thinking this not
 worth the time it required1 contented  

himself with making me read aloud to    
him1 and correcting false quantities4 ,i
 never composed at all in ,greek1 even  
in prose1 and but little in ,latin4 ,not
 that my father could be indifferent to 
the value of this practice1 in giving a 
thorough knowledge of these languages1  
but because there really was not time   
for it4 ,the verses ,i was required to  
write were ,english4 ,when ,i first read
 ,pope's ,homer1 ,i ambitiously         
attempted to compose something of the   
same kind1 and achieved as much as one  
book of a continuation of the ,iliad4   
,there1 probably1 the spontaneous       
promptings of my poetical ambition would
 have stopped2 but the exercise1 begun  
from choice1 was continued by command4  
,conformably to my father's usual       
practice of explaining to me1 as far as 
possible1 the reasons for what he       
required me to do1 he gave me1 for this1
 as ,i well remember1 two reasons highly
 characteristic of him3 one was1 that   
some things could be expressed better   

and more forcibly in verse than in      
prose3 this1 he said1 was a real        
advantage4 ,the other was1 that people  
in general attached more value to verse 
than it deserved1 and the power of      
writing it1 was1 on this account1 worth 
acquiring4 ,he generally left me to     
choose my own subjects1 which1 as far as
 ,i remember1 were mostly addresses to  
some mythological personage or          
allegorical abstraction2 but he made me 
translate into ,english verse many of   
,horace's shorter poems3 ,i also        
remember his giving me ,thomson's       
,winter to read1 and afterwards making  
me attempt 7without book7 to write      
something myself on the same subject4   
,the verses ,i wrote were1 of course1   
the merest rubbish1 nor did ,i ever     
attain any facility of versification1   
but the practice may have been useful in
 making it easier for me1 at a later    
period1 to acquire readiness of         
expression4#a ,i had read1 up to this   
time1 very little ,english poetry4      

,shakspeare my father had put into my   
hands1 chiefly for the sake of the      
historical plays1 from which1 however1  
,i went on to the others4 ,my father    
never was a great admirer of            
,shakspeare1 the ,english idolatry of   
whom he used to attack with some        
severity4 ,he cared little for any      
,english poetry except ,milton 7for whom
 he had the highest admiration71        
,goldsmith1 ,burns1 and ,gray's ,bard1  
which he preferred to his ,elegy3       
perhaps ,i may add ,cowper and ,beattie4
 ,he had some value for ,spenser1 and ,i
 remember his reading to me 7unlike his 
usual practice of making me read to him7
 the first book of the ,fairie ,queene2 
but ,i took little pleasure in it4 ,the 
poetry of the present century he saw    
scarcely any merit in1 and ,i hardly    
became acquainted with any of it till ,i
 was grown up to manhood1 except the    
metrical romances of ,walter ,scott1    
which ,i read at his recommendation and 
was intensely delighted with2 as ,i     

always was with animated narrative4     
,dryden's ,poems were among my father's 
books1 and many of these he made me     
read1 but ,i never cared for any of them
 except ,alexander's ,feast1 which1 as  
well as many of the songs in ,walter    
,scott1 ,i used to sing internally1 to a
 music of my own3 to some of the latter1
 indeed1 ,i went so far as to compose   
airs1 which ,i still remember4 ,cowper's
 short poems ,i read with some pleasure1
 but never got far into the longer ones2
 and nothing in the two volumes         
interested me like the prose account of 
his three hares4 ,in my thirteenth year 
,i met with ,campbell's poems1 among    
which ,lochiel1 ,hohenlinden1 ,the      
,exile of ,erin1 and some others1 gave  
me sensations ,i had never before       
experienced from poetry4 ,here1 too1 ,i 
made nothing of the longer poems1 except
 the striking opening of ,gertrude of   
,wyoming1 which long kept its place in  
my feelings as the perfection of pathos4
  ,during this part of my childhood1 one

 of my greatest amusements was          
experimental science2 in the            
theoretical1 however1 not the practical 
sense of the word2 not trying           
experiments--a kind of discipline which 
,i have often regretted not having      
had--nor even seeing1 but merely reading
 about them4 ,i never remember being so 
wrapt up in any book1 as ,i was in      
,joyce's ,scientific ,dialogues2 and ,i 
was rather recalcitrant to my father's  
criticisms of the bad reasoning         
respecting the first principles of      
physics1 which abounds in the early part
 of that work4 ,i devoured treatises on 
,chemistry1 especially that of my       
father's early friend and schoolfellow1 
,dr4 ,thomson1 for years before ,i      
attended a lecture or saw an experiment4
  ,from about the age of twelve1 ,i     
entered into another and more advanced  
stage in my course of instruction2 in   
which the main object was no longer the 
aids and appliances of thought1 but the 
thoughts themselves4 ,this commenced    

with ,logic1 in which ,i began at once  
with the ,organon1 and read it to the   
,analytics inclusive1 but profited      
little by the ,posterior ,analytics1    
which belong to a branch of speculation 
,i was not yet ripe for4                
,contemporaneously with the ,organon1 my
 father made me read the whole or parts 
of several of the ,latin treatises on   
the scholastic logic2 giving each day to
 him1 in our walks1 a minute account of 
what ,i had read1 and answering his     
numerous and most searching questions4  
,after this1 ,i went in a similar manner
 through the ,computatio sive ,logica of
 ,hobbes1 a work of a much higher order 
of thought than the books of the school 
logicians1 and which he estimated very  
highly2 in my own opinion beyond its    
merits1 great as these are4 ,it was his 
invariable practice1 whatever studies he
 exacted from me1 to make me as far as  
possible understand and feel the utility
 of them3 and this he deemed peculiarly 
fitting in the case of the syllogistic  

logic1 the usefulness of which had been 
impugned by so many writers of          
authority4 ,i well remember how1 and in 
what particular walk1 in the            
neighbourhood of ,bagshot ,heath 7where 
we were on a visit to his old friend    
,mr4 ,wallace1 then one of the          
,mathematical ,professors at ,sandhurst7
 he first attempted by questions to make
 me think on the subject1 and frame some
 conception of what constituted the     
utility of the syllogistic logic1 and   
when ,i had failed in this1 to make me  
understand it by explanations4 ,the     
explanations did not make the matter at 
all clear to me at the time2 but they   
were not therefore useless2 they        
remained as a nucleus for my            
observations and reflections to         
crystallize upon2 the import of his     
general remarks being interpreted to me1
 by the particular instances which came 
under my notice afterwards4 ,my own     
consciousness and experience ultimately 
led me to appreciate quite as highly as 

he did1 the value of an early practical 
familiarity with the school logic4 ,i   
know of nothing1 in my education1 to    
which ,i think myself more indebted for 
whatever capacity of thinking ,i have   
attained4 ,the first intellectual       
operation in which ,i arrived at any    
proficiency1 was dissecting a bad       
argument1 and finding in what part the  
fallacy lay3 and though whatever        
capacity of this sort ,i attained1 was  
due to the fact that it was an          
intellectual exercise in which ,i was   
most perseveringly drilled by my father1
 yet it is also true that the school    
logic1 and the mental habits acquired in
 studying it1 were among the principal  
instruments of this drilling4 ,i am     
persuaded that nothing1 in modern       
education1 tends so much1 when properly 
used1 to form exact thinkers1 who attach
 a precise meaning to words and         
propositions1 and are not imposed on by 
vague1 loose1 or ambiguous terms4 ,the  
boasted influence of mathematical       

studies is nothing to it2 for in        
mathematical processes1 none of the real
 difficulties of correct ratiocination  
occur4 ,it is also a study peculiarly   
adapted to an early stage in the        
education of philosophical students1    
since it does not presuppose the slow   
process of acquiring1 by experience and 
reflection1 valuable thoughts of their  
own4 ,they may become capable of        
disentangling the intricacies of        
confused and self-contradictory thought1
 before their own thinking faculties are
 much advanced2 a power which1 for want 
of some such discipline1 many otherwise 
able men altogether lack2 and when they 
have to answer opponents1 only          
endeavour1 by such arguments as they can
 command1 to support the opposite       
conclusion1 scarcely even attempting to 
confute the reasonings of their         
antagonists2 and1 therefore1 at the     
utmost1 leaving the question1 as far as 
it depends on argument1 a balanced one4 
,during this time1 the ,latin and ,greek

 books which ,i continued to read with  
my father were chiefly such as were     
worth studying1 not for the language    
merely1 but also for the thoughts4 ,this
 included much of the orators1 and      
especially ,demosthenes1 some of whose  
principal orations ,i read several times
 over1 and wrote out1 by way of         
exercise1 a full analysis of them4 ,my  
father's comments on these orations when
 ,i read them to him were very          
instructive to me4 ,he not only drew my 
attention to the insight they afforded  
into ,athenian institutions1 and the    
principles of legislation and government
 which they often illustrated1 but      
pointed out the skill and art of the    
orator--how everything important to his 
purpose was said at the exact moment    
when he had brought the minds of his    
audience into the state most fitted to  
receive it2 how he made steal into their
 minds1 gradually and by insinuation1   
thoughts which1 if expressed in a more  
direct manner1 would have roused their  

opposition4 ,most of these reflections  
were beyond my capacity of full         
comprehension at the time2 but they left
 seed behind1 which germinated in due   
season4 ,at this time ,i also read the  
whole of ,tacitus1 ,juvenal1 and        
,quintilian4 ,the latter1 owing to his  
obscure style and to the scholastic     
details of which many parts of his      
treatise are made up1 is little read1   
and seldom sufficiently appreciated4    
,his book is a kind of encyclopaedia of 
the thoughts of the ancients on the     
whole field of education and culture2   
and ,i have retained through life many  
valuable ideas which ,i can distinctly  
trace to my reading of him1 even at that
 early age4 ,it was at this period that 
,i read1 for the first time1 some of the
 most important dialogues of ,plato1 in 
particular the ,gorgias1 the            
,protagoras1 and the ,republic4 ,there  
is no author to whom my father thought  
himself more indebted for his own mental
 culture1 than ,plato1 or whom he more  

frequently recommended to young         
students4 ,i can bear similar testimony 
in regard to myself4 ,the ,socratic     
method1 of which the ,platonic dialogues
 are the chief example1 is unsurpassed  
as a discipline for correcting the      
errors1 and clearing up the confusions  
incident to the intellectus sibi        
permissus1 the understanding which has  
made up all its bundles of associations 
under the guidance of popular           
phraseology4 ,the close1 searching      
elenchus by which the man of vague      
generalities is constrained either to   
express his meaning to himself in       
definite terms1 or to confess that he   
does not know what he is talking about2 
the perpetual testing of all general    
statements by particular instances2 the 
siege in form which is laid to the      
meaning of large abstract terms1 by     
fixing upon some still larger class-name
 which includes that and more1 and      
dividing down to the thing              
sought--marking out its limits and      

definition by a series of accurately    
drawn distinctions between it and each  
of the cognate objects which are        
successively parted off from it --all   
this1 as an education for precise       
thinking1 is inestimable1 and all this1 
even at that age1 took such hold of me  
that it became part of my own mind4 ,i  
have felt ever since that the title of  
,platonist belongs by far better right  
to those who have been nourished in and 
have endeavoured to practise ,plato's   
mode of investigation1 than to those who
 are distinguished only by the adoption 
of certain dogmatical conclusions1 drawn
 mostly from the least intelligible of  
his works1 and which the character of   
his mind and writings makes it uncertain
 whether he himself regarded as anything
 more than poetic fancies1 or           
philosophic conjectures4  ,in going     
through ,plato and ,demosthenes1 since  
,i could now read these authors1 as far 
as the language was concerned1 with     
perfect ease1 ,i was not required to    

construe them sentence by sentence1 but 
to read them aloud to my father1        
answering questions when asked3 but the 
particular attention which he paid to   
elocution 7in which his own excellence  
was remarkable7 made this reading aloud 
to him a most painful task4 ,of all     
things which he required me to do1 there
 was none which ,i did so constantly    
ill1 or in which he so perpetually lost 
his temper with me4 ,he had thought much
 on the principles of the art of        
reading1 especially the most neglected  
part of it1 the inflections of the      
voice1 or modulation1 as writers on     
elocution call it 7in contrast with     
articulation on the one side1 and       
expression on the other71 and had       
reduced it to rules1 grounded on the    
logical analysis of a sentence4 ,these  
rules he strongly impressed upon me1 and
 took me severely to task for every     
violation of them3 but ,i even then     
remarked 7though ,i did not venture to  
make the remark to him7 that though he  

reproached me when ,i read a sentence   
ill1 and told me how ,i ought to have   
read it1 he never by reading it himself1
 showed me how it ought to be read4 ,a  
defect running through his otherwise    
admirable modes of instruction1 as it   
did through all his modes of thought1   
was that of trusting too much to the    
intelligibleness of the abstract1 when  
not embodied in the concrete4 ,it was at
 a much later period of my youth1 when  
practising elocution by myself1 or with 
companions of my own age1 that ,i for   
the first time understood the object of 
his rules1 and saw the psychological    
grounds of them4 ,at that time ,i and   
others followed out the subject into its
 ramifications1 and could have composed 
a very useful treatise1 grounded on my  
father's principles4 ,he himself left   
those principles and rules unwritten4 ,i
 regret that when my mind was full of   
the subject1 from systematic practice1  
,i did not put them1 and our            
improvements of them1 into a formal     

shape4  ,a book which contributed       
largely to my education1 in the best    
sense of the term1 was my father's      
,history of ,india4 ,it was published in
 the beginning of #ahah4 ,during the    
year previous1 while it was passing     
through the press1 ,i used to read the  
proof sheets to him2 or rather1 ,i read 
the manuscript to him while he corrected
 the proofs4 ,the number of new ideas   
which ,i received from this remarkable  
book1 and the impulse and stimulus as   
well as guidance given to my thoughts by
 its criticism and disquisitions on     
society and civilization in the ,hindoo 
part1 on institutions and the acts of   
governments in the ,english part1 made  
my early familiarity with it eminently  
useful to my subsequent progress4 ,and  
though ,i can perceive deficiencies in  
it now as compared with a perfect       
standard1 ,i still think it1 if not the 
most1 one of the most instructive       
histories ever written1 and one of the  
books from which most benefit may be    

derived by a mind in the course of      
making up its opinions4  ,the ,preface1 
among the most characteristic of my     
father's writings1 as well as the       
richest in materials of thought1 gives a
 picture which may be entirely depended 
on1 of the sentiments and expectations  
with which he wrote the ,history4       
,saturated as the book is with the      
opinions and modes of judgment of a     
democratic radicalism then regarded as  
extreme2 and treating with a severity1  
at that time most unusual1 the ,english 
,constitution1 the ,english law1 and all
 parties and classes who possessed any  
considerable influence in the country2  
he may have expected reputation1 but    
certainly not advancement in life1 from 
its publication2 nor could he have      
supposed that it would raise up anything
 but enemies for him in powerful        
quarters3 least of all could he have    
expected favour from the ,east ,india   
,company1 to whose commercial privileges
 he was unqualifiedly hostile1 and on   

the acts of whose government he had made
 so many severe comments3 though1 in    
various parts of his book1 he bore a    
testimony in their favour1 which he felt
 to be their just due1 namely1 that no  
,government had on the whole given so   
much proof1 to the extent of its lights1
 of good intention towards its subjects2
 and that if the acts of any other      
,government had the light of publicity  
as completely let in upon them1 they    
would1 in all probability1 still less   
bear scrutiny4  ,on learning1 however1  
in the spring of #ahai1 about a year    
after the publication of the ,history1  
that the ,east ,india ,directors desired
 to strengthen the part of their home   
establishment which was employed in     
carrying on the correspondence with     
,india1 my father declared himself a    
candidate for that employment1 and1 to  
the credit of the ,directors1           
successfully4 ,he was appointed one of  
the ,assistants of the ,examiner of     
,india ,correspondence2 officers whose  

duty it was to prepare drafts of        
despatches to ,india1 for consideration 
by the ,directors1 in the principal     
departments of administration4 ,in this 
office1 and in that of ,examiner1 which 
he subsequently attained1 the influence 
which his talents1 his reputation1 and  
his decision of character gave him1 with
 superiors who really desired the good  
government of ,india1 enabled him to a  
great extent to throw into his drafts of
 despatches1 and to carry through the   
ordeal of the ,court of ,directors and  
,board of ,control1 without having their
 force much weakened1 his real opinions 
on ,indian subjects4 ,in his ,history he
 had set forth1 for the first time1 many
 of the true principles of ,indian      
administration3 and his despatches1     
following his ,history1 did more than   
had ever been done before to promote the
 improvement of ,india1 and teach       
,indian officials to understand their   
business4 ,if a selection of them were  
published1 they would1 ,i am convinced1 

place his character as a practical      
statesman fully on a level with his     
eminence as a speculative writer4  ,this
 new employment of his time caused no   
relaxation in his attention to my       
education4 ,it was in this same year1   
#ahai1 that he took me through a        
complete course of political economy4   
,his loved and intimate friend1         
,ricardo1 had shortly before published  
the book which formed so great an epoch 
in political economy2 a book which would
 never have been published or written1  
but for the entreaty and strong         
encouragement of my father2 for         
,ricardo1 the most modest of men1 though
 firmly convinced of the truth of his   
doctrines1 deemed himself so little     
capable of doing them justice in        
exposition and expression1 that he      
shrank from the idea of publicity4 ,the 
same friendly encouragement induced     
,ricardo1 a year or two later1 to become
 a member of the ,house of ,commons2    
where1 during the remaining years of his

 life1 unhappily cut short in the full  
vigour of his intellect1 he rendered so 
much service to his and my father's     
opinions both on political economy and  
on other subjects4  ,though ,ricardo's  
great work was already in print1 no     
didactic treatise embodying its         
doctrines1 in a manner fit for learners1
 had yet appeared4 ,my father1          
therefore1 commenced instructing me in  
the science by a sort of lectures1 which
 he delivered to me in our walks4 ,he   
expounded each day a portion of the     
subject1 and ,i gave him next day a     
written account of it1 which he made me 
rewrite over and over again until it was
 clear1 precise1 and tolerably complete4
 ,in this manner ,i went through the    
whole extent of the science2 and the    
written outline of it which resulted    
from my daily compte rendu1 served him  
afterwards as notes from which to write 
his ,elements of ,political ,economy4   
,after this ,i read ,ricardo1 giving an 
account daily of what ,i read1 and      

discussing1 in the best manner ,i could1
 the collateral points which offered    
themselves in our progress4  ,on ,money1
 as the most intricate part of the      
subject1 he made me read in the same    
manner ,ricardo's admirable pamphlets1  
written during what was called the      
,bullion controversy2 to these succeeded
 ,adam ,smith2 and in this reading it   
was one of my father's main objects to  
make me apply to ,smith's more          
superficial view of political economy1  
the superior lights of ,ricardo1 and    
detect what was fallacious in ,smith's  
arguments1 or erroneous in any of his   
conclusions4 ,such a mode of instruction
 was excellently calculated to form a   
thinker2 but it required to be worked by
 a thinker1 as close and vigorous as my 
father4 ,the path was a thorny one1 even
 to him1 and ,i am sure it was so to me1
 notwithstanding the strong interest ,i 
took in the subject4 ,he was often1 and 
much beyond reason1 provoked by my      
failures in cases where success could   

not have been expected2 but in the main 
his method was right1 and it succeeded4 
,i do not believe that any scientific   
teaching ever was more thorough1 or     
better fitted for training the          
faculties1 than the mode in which logic 
and political economy were taught to me 
by my father4 ,striving1 even in an     
exaggerated degree1 to call forth the   
activity of my faculties1 by making me  
find out everything for myself1 he gave 
his explanations not before1 but after1 
,i had felt the full force of the       
difficulties2 and not only gave me an   
accurate knowledge of these two great   
subjects1 as far as they were then      
understood1 but made me a thinker on    
both4 ,i thought for myself almost from 
the first1 and occasionally thought     
differently from him1 though for a long 
time only on minor points1 and making   
his opinion the ultimate standard4 ,at a
 later period ,i even occasionally      
convinced him1 and altered his opinion  
on some points of detail3 which ,i state

 to his honour1 not my own4 ,it at once 
exemplifies his perfect candour1 and the
 real worth of his method of teaching4  
,at this point concluded what can       
properly be called my lessons3 when ,i  
was about fourteen ,i left ,england for 
more than a year2 and after my return1  
though my studies went on under my      
father's general direction1 he was no   
longer my schoolmaster4 ,i shall        
therefore pause here1 and turn back to  
matters of a more general nature        
connected with the part of my life and  
education included in the preceding     
reminiscences4  ,in the course of       
instruction which ,i have partially     
retraced1 the point most superficially  
apparent is the great effort to give1   
during the years of childhood1 an amount
 of knowledge in what are considered the
 higher branches of education1 which is 
seldom acquired 7if acquired at all7    
until the age of manhood4 ,the result of
 the experiment shows the ease with     
which this may be done1 and places in a 

strong light the wretched waste of so   
many precious years as are spent in     
acquiring the modicum of ,latin and     
,greek commonly taught to schoolboys2 a 
waste which has led so many educational 
reformers to entertain the ill-judged   
proposal of discarding these languages  
altogether from general education4 ,if  
,i had been by nature extremely quick of
 apprehension1 or had possessed a very  
accurate and retentive memory1 or were  
of a remarkably active and energetic    
character1 the trial would not be       
conclusive2 but in all these natural    
gifts ,i am rather below than above par2
 what ,i could do1 could assuredly be   
done by any boy or girl of average      
capacity and healthy physical           
constitution3 and if ,i have            
accomplished anything1 ,i owe it1 among 
other fortunate circumstances1 to the   
fact that through the early training    
bestowed on me by my father1 ,i started1
 ,i may fairly say1 with an advantage of
 a quarter of a century over my         

contemporaries4  ,there was one cardinal
 point in this training1 of which ,i    
have already given some indication1 and 
which1 more than anything else1 was the 
cause of whatever good it effected4     
,most boys or youths who have had much  
knowledge drilled into them1 have their 
mental capacities not strengthened1 but 
overlaid by it4 ,they are crammed with  
mere facts1 and with the opinions or    
phrases of other people1 and these are  
accepted as a substitute for the power  
to form opinions of their own2 and thus 
the sons of eminent fathers1 who have   
spared no pains in their education1 so  
often grow up mere parroters of what    
they have learnt1 incapable of using    
their minds except in the furrows traced
 for them4 ,mine1 however1 was not an   
education of cram4 ,my father never     
permitted anything which ,i learnt to   
degenerate into a mere exercise of      
memory4 ,he strove to make the          
understanding not only go along with    
every step of the teaching1 but1 if     

possible1 precede it4 ,anything which   
could be found out by thinking ,i never 
was told1 until ,i had exhausted my     
efforts to find it out for myself4 ,as  
far as ,i can trust my remembrance1 ,i  
acquitted myself very lamely in this    
department2 my recollection of such     
matters is almost wholly of failures1   
hardly ever of success4 ,it is true the 
failures were often in things in which  
success1 in so early a stage of my      
progress1 was almost impossible4 ,i     
remember at some time in my thirteenth  
year1 on my happening to use the word   
idea1 he asked me what an idea was2 and 
expressed some displeasure at my        
ineffectual efforts to define the word3 
,i recollect also his indignation at my 
using the common expression that        
something was true in theory but        
required correction in practice2 and    
how1 after making me vainly strive to   
define the word theory1 he explained its
 meaning1 and showed the fallacy of the 
vulgar form of speech which ,i had used2

 leaving me fully persuaded that in     
being unable to give a correct          
definition of ,theory1 and in speaking  
of it as something which might be at    
variance with practice1 ,i had shown    
unparalleled ignorance4 ,in this he     
seems1 and perhaps was1 very            
unreasonable2 but ,i think1 only in     
being angry at my failure4 ,a pupil from
 whom nothing is ever demanded which he 
cannot do1 never does all he can4  ,one 
of the evils most liable to attend on   
any sort of early proficiency1 and which
 often fatally blights its promise1 my  
father most anxiously guarded against4  
,this was self-conceit4 ,he kept me1    
with extreme vigilance1 out of the way  
of hearing myself praised1 or of being  
led to make self-flattering comparisons 
between myself and others4 ,from his own
 intercourse with me ,i could derive    
none but a very humble opinion of       
myself2 and the standard of comparison  
he always held up to me1 was not what   
other people did1 but what a man could  

and ought to do4 ,he completely         
succeeded in preserving me from the sort
 of influences he so much dreaded4 ,i   
was not at all aware that my attainments
 were anything unusual at my age4 ,if ,i
 accidentally had my attention drawn to 
the fact that some other boy knew less  
than myself--which happened less often  
than might be imagined--,i concluded1   
not that ,i knew much1 but that he1 for 
some reason or other1 knew little1 or   
that his knowledge was of a different   
kind from mine4 ,my state of mind was   
not humility1 but neither was it        
arrogance4 ,i never thought of saying to
 myself1 ,i am1 or ,i can do1 so and so4
 ,i neither estimated myself highly nor 
lowly3 ,i did not estimate myself at    
all4 ,if ,i thought anything about      
myself1 it was that ,i was rather       
backward in my studies1 since ,i always 
found myself so1 in comparison with what
 my father expected from me4 ,i assert  
this with confidence1 though it was not 
the impression of various persons who   

saw me in my childhood4 ,they1 as ,i    
have since found1 thought me greatly and
 disagreeably self-conceited2 probably  
because ,i was disputatious1 and did not
 scruple to give direct contradictions  
to things which ,i heard said4 ,i       
suppose ,i acquired this bad habit from 
having been encouraged in an unusual    
degree to talk on matters beyond my age1
 and with grown persons1 while ,i never 
had inculcated on me the usual respect  
for them4 ,my father did not correct    
this ill-breeding and impertinence1     
probably from not being aware of it1 for
 ,i was always too much in awe of him to
 be otherwise than extremely subdued and
 quiet in his presence4 ,yet with all   
this ,i had no notion of any superiority
 in myself2 and well was it for me that 
,i had not4 ,i remember the very place  
in ,hyde ,park where1 in my fourteenth  
year1 on the eve of leaving my father's 
house for a long absence1 he told me    
that ,i should find1 as ,i got          
acquainted with new people1 that ,i had 

been taught many things which youths of 
my age did not commonly know2 and that  
many persons would be disposed to talk  
to me of this1 and to compliment me upon
 it4 ,what other things he said on this 
topic ,i remember very imperfectly2 but 
he wound up by saying1 that whatever ,i 
knew more than others1 could not be     
ascribed to any merit in me1 but to the 
very unusual advantage which had fallen 
to my lot1 of having a father who was   
able to teach me1 and willing to give   
the necessary trouble and time2 that it 
was no matter of praise to me1 if ,i    
knew more than those who had not had a  
similar advantage1 but the deepest      
disgrace to me if ,i did not4 ,i have a 
distinct remembrance1 that the          
suggestion thus for the first time made 
to me1 that ,i knew more than other     
youths who were considered well         
educated1 was to me a piece of          
information1 to which1 as to all other  
things which my father told me1 ,i gave 
implicit credence1 but which did not at 

all impress me as a personal matter4 ,i 
felt no disposition to glorify myself   
upon the circumstance that there were   
other persons who did not know what ,i  
knew2 nor had ,i ever flattered myself  
that my acquirements1 whatever they     
might be1 were any merit of mine3 but1  
now when my attention was called to the 
subject1 ,i felt that what my father had
 said respecting my peculiar advantages 
was exactly the truth and common sense  
of the matter1 and it fixed my opinion  
and feeling from that time forward4     
,,chapter ,,ii  ,,moral ,,influences    
,,in ,,early ,,youth4 ,,my ,,father',s  
,,character ,,and ,,opinions   ,in my   
education1 as in that of everyone1 the  
moral influences1 which are so much more
 important than all others1 are also the
 most complicated1 and the most         
difficult to specify with any approach  
to completeness4 ,without attempting the
 hopeless task of detailing the         
circumstances by which1 in this respect1
 my early character may have been       

shaped1 ,i shall confine myself to a few
 leading points1 which form an          
indispensable part of any true account  
of my education4  ,i was brought up from
 the first without any religious belief1
 in the ordinary acceptation of the     
term4 ,my father1 educated in the creed 
of ,scotch ,presbyterianism1 had by his 
own studies and reflections been early  
led to reject not only the belief in    
,revelation1 but the foundations of what
 is commonly called ,natural ,religion4 
,i have heard him say1 that the turning 
point of his mind on the subject was    
reading ,butler's ,analogy4 ,that work1 
of which he always continued to speak   
with respect1 kept him1 as he said1 for 
some considerable time1 a believer in   
the divine authority of ,christianity2  
by proving to him that whatever are the 
difficulties in believing that the ,old 
and ,new ,testaments proceed from1 or   
record the acts of1 a perfectly wise and
 good being1 the same and still greater 
difficulties stand in the way of the    

belief1 that a being of such a character
 can have been the ,maker of the        
universe4 ,he considered ,butler's      
argument as conclusive against the only 
opponents for whom it was intended4     
,those who admit an omnipotent as well  
as perfectly just and benevolent maker  
and ruler of such a world as this1 can  
say little against ,christianity but    
what can1 with at least equal force1 be 
retorted against themselves4 ,finding1  
therefore1 no halting place in ,deism1  
he remained in a state of perplexity1   
until1 doubtless after many struggles1  
he yielded to the conviction1 that      
concerning the origin of things nothing 
whatever can be known4 ,this is the only
 correct statement of his opinion2 for  
dogmatic atheism he looked upon as      
absurd2 as most of those1 whom the world
 has considered ,atheists1 have always  
done4 ,these particulars are important1 
because they show that my father's      
rejection of all that is called         
religious belief1 was not1 as many might

 suppose1 primarily a matter of logic   
and evidence3 the grounds of it were    
moral1 still more than intellectual4 ,he
 found it impossible to believe that a  
world so full of evil was the work of an
 ,author combining infinite power with  
perfect goodness and righteousness4 ,his
 intellect spurned the subtleties by    
which men attempt to blind themselves to
 this open contradiction4 ,the ,sabaean1
 or ,manichaean theory of a ,good and an
 ,evil ,principle1 struggling against   
each other for the government of the    
universe1 he would not have equally     
condemned2 and ,i have heard him express
 surprise1 that no one revived it in our
 time4 ,he would have regarded it as a  
mere hypothesis2 but he would have      
ascribed to it no depraving influence4  
,as it was1 his aversion to religion1 in
 the sense usually attached to the term1
 was of the same kind with that of      
,lucretius3 he regarded it with the     
feelings due not to a mere mental       
delusion1 but to a great moral evil4 ,he

 looked upon it as the greatest enemy of
 morality3 first1 by setting up         
fictitious excellences--belief in       
creeds1 devotional feelings1 and        
ceremonies1 not connected with the good 
of human-kind--and causing these to be  
accepted as substitutes for genuine     
virtues3 but above all1 by radically    
vitiating the standard of morals2 making
 it consist in doing the will of a      
being1 on whom it lavishes indeed all   
the phrases of adulation1 but whom in   
sober truth it depicts as eminently     
hateful4 ,i have a hundred times heard  
him say that all ages and nations have  
represented their gods as wicked1 in a  
constantly increasing progression2 that 
mankind have gone on adding trait after 
trait till they reached the most perfect
 conception of wickedness which the     
human mind can devise1 and have called  
this ,god1 and prostrated themselves    
before it4 ,this ne plus ultra of       
wickedness he considered to be embodied 
in what is commonly presented to mankind

 as the creed of ,christianity4 ,think  
7he used to say7 of a being who would   
make a ,hell--who would create the human
 race with the infallible foreknowledge1
 and therefore with the intention1 that 
the great majority of them were to be   
consigned to horrible and everlasting   
torment4 ,the time1 ,i believe1 is      
drawing near when this dreadful         
conception of an object of worship will 
be no longer identified with            
,christianity2 and when all persons1    
with any sense of moral good and evil1  
will look upon it with the same         
indignation with which my father        
regarded it4 ,my father was as well     
aware as anyone that ,christians do not1
 in general1 undergo the demoralizing   
consequences which seem inherent in such
 a creed1 in the manner or to the extent
 which might have been expected from it4
 ,the same slovenliness of thought1 and 
subjection of the reason to fears1      
wishes1 and affections1 which enable    
them to accept a theory involving a     

contradiction in terms1 prevents them   
from perceiving the logical consequences
 of the theory4 ,such is the facility   
with which mankind believe at one and   
the same time things inconsistent with  
one another1 and so few are those who   
draw from what they receive as truths1  
any consequences but those recommended  
to them by their feelings1 that         
multitudes have held the undoubting     
belief in an ,omnipotent ,author of     
,hell1 and have nevertheless identified 
that being with the best conception they
 were able to form of perfect goodness4 
,their worship was not paid to the demon
 which such a being as they imagined    
would really be1 but to their own ideal 
of excellence4 ,the evil is1 that such a
 belief keeps the ideal wretchedly low2 
and opposes the most obstinate          
resistance to all thought which has a   
tendency to raise it higher4 ,believers 
shrink from every train of ideas which  
would lead the mind to a clear          
conception and an elevated standard of  

excellence1 because they feel 7even when
 they do not distinctly see7 that such a
 standard would conflict with many of   
the dispensations of nature1 and with   
much of what they are accustomed to     
consider as the ,christian creed4 ,and  
thus morality continues a matter of     
blind tradition1 with no consistent     
principle1 nor even any consistent      
feeling1 to guide it4  ,it would have   
been wholly inconsistent with my        
father's ideas of duty1 to allow me to  
acquire impressions contrary to his     
convictions and feelings respecting     
religion3 and he impressed upon me from 
the first1 that the manner in which the 
world came into existence was a subject 
on which nothing was known3 that the    
question1 ,who made me8 cannot be       
answered1 because we have no experience 
or authentic information from which to  
answer it2 and that any answer only     
throws the difficulty a step further    
back1 since the question immediately    
presents itself1 ,who made ,god8 ,he1 at

 the same time1 took care that ,i should
 be acquainted with what had been       
thought by mankind on these impenetrable
 problems4 ,i have mentioned at how     
early an age he made me a reader of     
ecclesiastical history2 and he taught me
 to take the strongest interest in the  
,reformation1 as the great and decisive 
contest against priestly tyranny for    
liberty of thought4  ,i am thus one of  
the very few examples1 in this country1 
of one who has not thrown off religious 
belief1 but never had it3 ,i grew up in 
a negative state with regard to it4 ,i  
looked upon the modern exactly as ,i did
 upon the ancient religion1 as something
 which in no way concerned me4 ,it did  
not seem to me more strange that        
,english people should believe what ,i  
did not1 than that the men ,i read of in
 ,herodotus should have done so4        
,history had made the variety of        
opinions among mankind a fact familiar  
to me1 and this was but a prolongation  
of that fact4 ,this point in my early   

education had1 however1 incidentally one
 bad consequence deserving notice4 ,in  
giving me an opinion contrary to that of
 the world1 my father thought it        
necessary to give it as one which could 
not prudently be avowed to the world4   
,this lesson of keeping my thoughts to  
myself1 at that early age1 was attended 
with some moral disadvantages2 though my
 limited intercourse with strangers1    
especially such as were likely to speak 
to me on religion1 prevented me from    
being placed in the alternative of      
avowal or hypocrisy4 ,i remember two    
occasions in my boyhood1 on which ,i    
felt myself in this alternative1 and in 
both cases ,i avowed my disbelief and   
defended it4 ,my opponents were boys1   
considerably older than myself3 one of  
them ,i certainly staggered at the time1
 but the subject was never renewed      
between us3 the other who was surprised 
and somewhat shocked1 did his best to   
convince me for some time1 without      
effect4  ,the great advance in liberty  

of discussion1 which is one of the most 
important differences between the       
present time and that of my childhood1  
has greatly altered the moralities of   
this question2 and ,i think that few men
 of my father's intellect and public    
spirit1 holding with such intensity of  
moral conviction as he did1 unpopular   
opinions on religion1 or on any other of
 the great subjects of thought1 would   
now either practise or inculcate the    
withholding of them from the world1     
unless in the cases1 becoming fewer     
every day1 in which frankness on these  
subjects would either risk the loss of  
means of subsistence1 or would amount to
 exclusion from some sphere of          
usefulness peculiarly suitable to the   
capacities of the individual4 ,on       
religion in particular the time appears 
to me to have come when it is the duty  
of all who1 being qualified in point of 
knowledge1 have on mature consideration 
satisfied themselves that the current   
opinions are not only false but hurtful1

 to make their dissent known2 at least1 
if they are among those whose station or
 reputation gives their opinion a chance
 of being attended to4 ,such an avowal  
would put an end1 at once and for ever1 
to the vulgar prejudice1 that what is   
called1 very improperly1 unbelief1 is   
connected with any bad qualities either 
of mind or heart4 ,the world would be   
astonished if it knew how great a       
proportion of its brightest             
ornaments--of those most distinguished  
even in popular estimation for wisdom   
and virtue--are complete sceptics in    
religion2 many of them refraining from  
avowal1 less from personal              
considerations than from a              
conscientious1 though now in my opinion 
a most mistaken1 apprehension1 lest by  
speaking out what would tend to weaken  
existing beliefs1 and by consequence 7as
 they suppose7 existing restraints1 they
 should do harm instead of good4  ,of   
unbelievers 7so called7 as well as of   
believers1 there are many species1      

including almost every variety of moral 
type4 ,but the best among them1 as no   
one who has had opportunities of really 
knowing them will hesitate to affirm1   
are more genuinely religious1 in the    
best sense of the word religion1 than   
those who exclusively arrogate to       
themselves the title4 ,the liberality of
 the age1 or in other words the         
weakening of the obstinate prejudice    
which makes men unable to see what is   
before their eyes because it is contrary
 to their expectations1 has caused it be
 very commonly admitted that a ,deist   
may be truly religious3 but if religion 
stands for any graces of character and  
not for mere dogma1 the assertion may   
equally be made of many whose belief is 
far short of ,deism4 ,though they may   
think the proof incomplete that the     
universe is a work of design1 and though
 they assuredly disbelieve that it can  
have an ,author and ,governor who is    
absolute in power as well as perfect in 
goodness1 they have that which          

constitutes the principal worth of all  
religions whatever1 an ideal conception 
of a ,perfect ,being1 to which they     
habitually refer as the guide of their  
conscience2 and this ideal of ,good is  
usually far nearer to perfection than   
the objective ,deity of those who think 
themselves obliged to find absolute     
goodness in the author of a world so    
crowded with suffering and so deformed  
by injustice as ours4  ,my father's     
moral convictions1 wholly dissevered    
from religion1 were very much of the    
character of those of the ,greek        
philosophers2 and were delivered with   
the force and decision which            
characterized all that came from him4   
,even at the very early age at which ,i 
read with him the ,memorabilia of       
,xenophon1 ,i imbibed from that work and
 from his comments a deep respect for   
the character of ,socrates2 who stood in
 my mind as a model of ideal excellence3
 and ,i well remember how my father at  
that time impressed upon me the lesson  

of the ,choice of ,hercules4 ,at a      
somewhat later period the lofty moral   
standard exhibited in the writings of   
,plato operated upon me with great      
force4 ,my father's moral inculcations  
were at all times mainly those of the   
,socratici viri2 justice1 temperance 7to
 which he gave a very extended          
application71 veracity1 perseverance1   
readiness to encounter pain and         
especially labour2 regard for the public
 good2 estimation of persons according  
to their merits1 and of things according
 to their intrinsic usefulness2 a life  
of exertion in contradiction to one of  
self-indulgent ease and sloth4 ,these   
and other moralities he conveyed in     
brief sentences1 uttered as occasion    
arose1 of grave exhortation1 or stern   
reprobation and contempt4  ,but though  
direct moral teaching does much1        
indirect does more2 and the effect my   
father produced on my character1 did not
 depend solely on what he said or did   
with that direct object1 but also1 and  

still more1 on what manner of man he    
was4  ,in his views of life he partook  
of the character of the ,stoic1 the     
,epicurean1 and the ,cynic1 not in the  
modern but the ancient sense of the     
word4 ,in his personal qualities the    
,stoic predominated4 ,his standard of   
morals was ,epicurean1 inasmuch as it   
was utilitarian1 taking as the exclusive
 test of right and wrong1 the tendency  
of actions to produce pleasure or pain4 
,but he had 7and this was the ,cynic    
element7 scarcely any belief in         
pleasure2 at least in his later years1  
of which alone1 on this point1 ,i can   
speak confidently4 ,he was not          
insensible to pleasures2 but he deemed  
very few of them worth the price which1 
at least in the present state of        
society1 must be paid for them4 ,the    
greater number of miscarriages in life  
he considered to be attributable to the 
overvaluing of pleasures4 ,accordingly1 
temperance1 in the large sense intended 
by the ,greek philosophers --stopping   

short at the point of moderation in all 
indulgences--was with him1 as with them1
 almost the central point of educational
 precept4 ,his inculcations of this     
virtue fill a large place in my childish
 remembrances4 ,he thought human life a 
poor thing at best1 after the freshness 
of youth and of unsatisfied curiosity   
had gone by4 ,this was a topic on which 
he did not often speak1 especially1 it  
may be supposed1 in the presence of     
young persons3 but when he did1 it was  
with an air of settled and profound     
conviction4 ,he would sometimes say that
 if life were made what it might be1 by 
good government and good education1 it  
would be worth having3 but he never     
spoke with anything like enthusiasm even
 of that possibility4 ,he never varied  
in rating intellectual enjoyments above 
all others1 even in value as pleasures1 
independently of their ulterior         
benefits4 ,the pleasures of the         
benevolent affections he placed high in 
the scale2 and used to say1 that he had 

never known a happy old man1 except     
those who were able to live over again  
in the pleasures of the young4 ,for     
passionate emotions of all sorts1 and   
for everything which bas been said or   
written in exaltation of them1 he       
professed the greatest contempt4 ,he    
regarded them as a form of madness4 ,the
 intense was with him a bye-word of     
scornful disapprobation4 ,he regarded as
 an aberration of the moral standard of 
modern times1 compared with that of the 
ancients1 the great stress laid upon    
feeling4 ,feelings1 as such1 he         
considered to be no proper subjects of  
praise or blame4 ,right and wrong1 good 
and bad1 he regarded as qualities solely
 of conduct--of acts and omissions2     
there being no feeling which may not    
lead1 and does not frequently lead1     
either to good or to bad actions3       
conscience itself1 the very desire to   
act right1 often leading people to act  
wrong4 ,consistently carrying out the   
doctrine that the object of praise and  

blame should be the discouragement of   
wrong conduct and the encouragement of  
right1 he refused to let his praise or  
blame be influenced by the motive of the
 agent4 ,he blamed as severely what he  
thought a bad action1 when the motive   
was a feeling of duty1 as if the agents 
had been consciously evil doers4 ,he    
would not have accepted as a plea in    
mitigation for inquisitors1 that they   
sincerely believed burning heretics to  
be an obligation of conscience4 ,but    
though he did not allow honesty of      
purpose to soften his disapprobation of 
actions1 it had its full effect on his  
estimation of characters4 ,no one prized
 conscientiousness and rectitude of     
intention more highly1 or was more      
incapable of valuing any person in whom 
he did not feel assurance of it4 ,but he
 disliked people quite as much for any  
other deficiency1 provided he thought it
 equally likely to make them act ill4   
,he disliked1 for instance1 a fanatic in
 any bad cause1 as much as or more than 

one who adopted the same cause from     
self-interest1 because he thought him   
even more likely to be practically      
mischievous4 ,and thus1 his aversion to 
many intellectual errors1 or what he    
regarded as such1 partook1 in a certain 
sense1 of the character of a moral      
feeling4 ,all this is merely saying that
 he1 in a degree once common1 but now   
very unusual1 threw his feelings into   
his opinions2 which truly it is         
difficult to understand how anyone who  
possesses much of both1 can fail to do4 
,none but those who do not care about   
opinions will confound this with        
intolerance4 ,those who1 having opinions
 which they hold to be immensely        
important1 and their contraries to be   
prodigiously hurtful1 have any deep     
regard for the general good1 will       
necessarily dislike1 as a class and in  
the abstract1 those who think wrong what
 they think right1 and right what they  
think wrong3 though they need not       
therefore be1 nor was my father1        

insensible to good qualities in an      
opponent1 nor governed in their         
estimation of individuals by one general
 presumption1 instead of by the whole of
 their character4 ,i grant that an      
earnest person1 being no more infallible
 than other men1 is liable to dislike   
people on account of opinions which do  
not merit dislike2 but if he neither    
himself does them any ill office1 nor   
connives at its being donc by others1 he
 is not intolerant3 and the forbearance 
which flows from a conscientious sense  
of the importance to mankind of the     
equal freedom of all opinions1 is the   
only tolerance which is commendable1 or1
 to the highest moral order of minds1   
possible4  ,it will be admitted1 that a 
man of the opinions1 and the character1 
above described1 was likely to leave a  
strong moral impression on any mind     
principally formed by him1 and that his 
moral teaching was not likely to err on 
the side of laxity or indulgence4 ,the  
element which was chiefly deficient in  

his moral relation to his children was  
that of tenderness4 ,i do not believe   
that this deficiency lay in his own     
nature4 ,i believe him to have had much 
more feeling than he habitually showed1 
and much greater capacities of feeling  
than were ever developed4 ,he resembled 
most ,englishmen in being ashamed of the
 signs of feeling1 and1 by the absence  
of demonstration1 starving the feelings 
themselves4 ,if we consider further that
 he was in the trying position of sole  
teacher1 and add to this that his temper
 was constitutionally irritable1 it is  
impossible not to feel true pity for a  
father who did1 and strove to do1 so    
much for his children1 who would have so
 valued their affection1 yet who must   
have been constantly feeling that fear  
of him was drying it up at its source4  
,this was no longer the case later in   
life1 and with his younger children4    
,they loved him tenderly3 and if ,i     
cannot say so much of myself1 ,i was    
always loyally devoted to him4 ,as      

regards my own education1 ,i hesitate to
 pronounce whether ,i was more a loser  
or gainer by his severity4 ,it was not  
such as to prevent me from having a     
happy childhood4 ,and ,i do not believe 
that boys can be induced to apply       
themselves with vigour1 and--what is so 
much more difficult--perseverance1 to   
dry and irksome studies1 by the sole    
force of persuasion and soft words4     
,much must be done1 and much must be    
learnt1 by children1 for which rigid    
discipline1 and known liability to      
punishment1 are indispensable as means4 
,it is1 no doubt1 a very laudable       
effort1 in modern teaching1 to render as
 much as possible of what the young are 
required to learn1 easy and interesting 
to them4 ,but when this principle is    
pushed to the length of not requiring   
them to learn anything but what has been
 made easy and interesting1 one of the  
chief objects of education is           
sacrificed4 ,i rejoice in the decline of
 the old brutal and tyrannical system of

 teaching1 which1 however1 did succeed  
in enforcing habits of application2 but 
the new1 as it seems to me1 is training 
up a race of men who will be incapable  
of doing anything which is disagreeable 
to them4 ,i do not1 then1 believe that  
fear1 as an element in education1 can be
 dispensed with2 but ,i am sure that it 
ought not to be the main element2 and   
when it predominates so much as to      
preclude love and confidence on the part
 of the child to those who should be the
 unreservedly trusted advisers of after 
years1 and perhaps to seal up the       
fountains of frank and spontaneous      
communicativeness in the child's nature1
 it is an evil for which a large        
abatement must be made from the         
benefits1 moral and intellectual1 which 
may flow from any other part of the     
education4  ,during this first period of
 my life1 the habitual frequenters of my
 father's house were limited to a very  
few persons1 most of them little known  
to the world1 but whom personal worth1  

and more or less of congeniality with at
 least his political opinions 7not so   
frequently to be met with then as       
since71 inclined him to cultivate2 and  
his conversations with them ,i listened 
to with interest and instruction4 ,my   
being an habitual inmate of my father's 
study made me acquainted with the       
dearest of his friends1 ,david ,ricardo1
 who by his benevolent countenance1 and 
kindliness of manner1 was very          
attractive to young persons1 and who1   
after ,i became a student of political  
economy1 invited me to his house and to 
walk with him in order to converse on   
the subject4 ,i was a more frequent     
visitor 7from about #ahag or #ahah7 to  
,mr4 ,hume1 who1 born in the same part  
of ,scotland as my father1 and having   
been1 ,i rather think1 a younger        
schoolfellow or college companion of    
his1 had on returning from ,india       
renewed their youthful acquaintance1 and
 who--coming1 like many others1 greatly 
under the influence of my father's      

intellect and energy of character--was  
induced partly by that influence to go  
into ,parliament1 and there adopt the   
line of conduct which has given him an  
honourable place in the history of his  
country4 ,of ,mr4 ,bentham ,i saw much  
more1 owing to the close intimacy which 
existed between him and my father4 ,i do
 not know how soon after my father's    
first arrival in ,england they became   
acquainted4 ,but my father was the      
earliest ,englishman of any great mark1 
who thoroughly understood1 and in the   
main adopted1 ,bentham's general views  
of ethics1 government and law3 and this 
was a natural foundation for sympathy   
between them1 and made them familiar    
companions in a period of ,bentham's    
life during which he admitted much fewer
 visitors than was the case             
subsequently4 ,at this time ,mr4        
,bentham passed some part of every year 
at ,barrow ,green ,house1 in a beautiful
 part of the ,surrey ,hills1 a few miles
 from ,godstone1 and there ,i each      

summer accompanied my father in a long  
visit4 ,in #ahac ,mr4 ,bentham1 my      
father1 and ,i made an excursion1 which 
included ,oxford1 ,bath and ,bristol1   
,exeter1 ,plymouth1 and ,portsmouth4 ,in
 this journey ,i saw many things which  
were instructive to me1 and acquired my 
first taste for natural scenery1 in the 
elementary form of fondness for a view4 
,in the succeeding winter we moved into 
a house very near ,mr4 ,bentham's1 which
 my father rented from him1 in ,queen   
,square1 ,westminster4 ,from #ahad to   
#ahag ,mr4 ,bentham lived during half of
 each year at ,ford ,abbey1 in          
,somersetshire 7or rather in a part of  
,devonshire surrounded by               
,somersetshire71 which intervals ,i had 
the advantage of passing at that place4 
,this sojourn was1 ,i think1 an         
important circumstance in my education4 
,nothing contributes more to nourish    
elevation of sentiments in a people1    
than the large and free character of    
their habitations4 ,the middle-age      

architecture1 the baronial hall1 and the
 spacious and lofty rooms1 of this fine 
old place1 so unlike the mean and       
cramped externals of ,english           
middle-class life1 gave the sentiment of
 a larger and freer existence1 and were 
to me a sort of poetic cultivation1     
aided also by the character of the      
grounds in which the ,abbey stood2 which
 were riant and secluded1 umbrageous1   
and full of the sound of falling waters4
  ,i owed another of the fortunate      
circumstances in my education1 a year's 
residence in ,france1 to ,mr4 ,bentham's
 brother1 ,general ,sir ,samuel         
,bentham4 ,i had seen ,sir ,samuel      
,bentham and his family at their house  
near ,gosport in the course of the tour 
already mentioned 7he being then        
,superintendent of the ,dockyard at     
,portsmouth71 and during a stay of a few
 days which they made at ,ford ,abbey   
shortly after the ,peace1 before going  
to live on the ,continent4 ,in #ahbj    
they invited me for a six months' visit 

to them in the ,south of ,france1 which 
their kindness ultimately prolonged to  
nearly a twelvemonth4 ,sir ,samuel      
,bentham1 though of a character of mind 
different from that of his illustrious  
brother1 was a man of very considerable 
attainments and general powers1 with a  
decided genius for mechanical art4 ,his 
wife1 a daughter of the celebrated      
chemist1 ,dr4 ,fordyce1 was a woman of  
strong will and decided character1 much 
general knowledge1 and great practical  
good sense of the ,edgeworth kind3 she  
was the ruling spirit of the household1 
as she deserved1 and was well qualified1
 to be4 ,their family consisted of one  
son 7the eminent botanist7 and three    
daughters1 the youngest about two years 
my senior4 ,i am indebted to them for   
much and various instruction1 and for an
 almost parental interest in my welfare4
 ,when ,i first joined them1 in ,may1   
#ahbj1 they occupied the ,chteau of     
,pompignan 7still belonging to a        
descendant of ,voltaire's enemy7 on the 

heights overlooking the plain of the    
,garonne between ,montauban and         
,toulouse4 ,i accompanied them in an    
excursion to the ,pyrenees1 including a 
stay of some duration at ,bagnres de    
,bigorre1 a journey to ,pau1 ,bayonne1  
and ,bagnres de ,luchon1 and an ascent  
of the ,pic du ,midi de ,bigorre4  ,this
 first introduction to the highest order
 of mountain scenery made the deepest   
impression on me1 and gave a colour to  
my tastes through life4 ,in ,october we 
proceeded by the beautiful mountain     
route of ,castres and ,st4 ,pons1 from  
,toulouse to ,montpellier1 in which last
 neighbourhood ,sir ,samuel had just    
bought the estate of ,restinclire1 near 
the foot of the singular mountain of    
,st4 ,loup4 ,during this residence in   
,france ,i acquired a familiar knowledge
 of the ,french language1 and           
acquaintance with the ordinary ,french  
literature2 ,i took lessons in various  
bodily exercises1 in none of which1     
however1 ,i made any proficiency2 and at

 ,montpellier ,i attended the excellent 
winter courses of lectures at the       
,facult des ,sciences1 those of ,m4     
,anglada on chemistry1 of ,m4 ,provenal 
on zoology1 and of a very accomplished  
representative of the eighteenth century
 metaphysics1 ,m4 ,gergonne1 on logic1  
under the name of ,philosophy of the    
,sciences4 ,i also went through a course
 of the higher mathematics under the    
private tuition of ,m4 ,lenthric1 a     
professor at the ,lyce of ,montpellier4 
,but the greatest1 perhaps1 of the many 
advantages which ,i owed to this episode
 in my education1 was that of having    
breathed for a whole year1 the free and 
genial atmosphere of ,continental life4 
,this advantage was not the less real   
though ,i could not then estimate1 nor  
even consciously feel it4 ,having so    
little experience of ,english life1 and 
the few people ,i knew being mostly such
 as had public objects1 of a large and  
personally disinterested kind1 at heart1
 ,i was ignorant of the low moral tone  

of what1 in ,england1 is called society2
 the habit of1 not indeed professing1   
but taking for granted in every mode of 
implication1 that conduct is of course  
always directed towards low and petty   
objects2 the absence of high feelings   
which manifests itself by sneering      
depreciation of all demonstrations of   
them1 and by general abstinence 7except 
among a few of the stricter             
religionists7 from professing any high  
principles of action at all1 except in  
those preordained cases in which such   
profession is put on as part of the     
costume and formalities of the occasion4
 ,i could not then know or estimate the 
difference between this manner of       
existence1 and that of a people like the
 ,french1 whose faults1 if equally real1
 are at all events different2 among whom
 sentiments1 which by comparison at     
least may be called elevated1 are the   
current coin of human intercourse1 both 
in books and in private life2 and though
 often evaporating in profession1 are   

yet kept alive in the nation at large by
 constant exercise1 and stimulated by   
sympathy1 so as to form a living and    
active part of the existence of great   
numbers of persons1 and to be recognised
 and understood by all4 ,neither could  
,i then appreciate the general culture  
of the understanding1 which results from
 the habitual exercise of the feelings1 
and is thus carried down into the most  
uneducated classes of several countries 
on the ,continent1 in a degree not      
equalled in ,england among the so-called
 educated1 except where an unusual      
tenderness of conscience leads to a     
habitual exercise of the intellect on   
questions of right and wrong4 ,i did not
 know the way in which1 among the       
ordinary ,english1 the absence of       
interest in things of an unselfish kind1
 except occasionally in a special thing 
here and there1 and the habit of not    
speaking to others1 nor much even to    
themselves1 about the things in which   
they do feel interest1 causes both their

 feelings and their intellectual        
faculties to remain undeveloped1 or to  
develop themselves only in some single  
and very limited direction2 reducing    
them1 considered as spiritual beings1 to
 a kind of negative existence4 ,all     
these things ,i did not perceive till   
long afterwards2 but ,i even then felt1 
though without stating it clearly to    
myself1 the contrast between the frank  
sociability and amiability of ,french   
personal intercourse1 and the ,english  
mode of existence1 in which everybody   
acts as if everybody else 7with few1 or 
no exceptions7 was either an enemy or a 
bore4 ,in ,france1 it is true1 the bad  
as well as the good points1 both of     
individual and of national character1   
come more to the surface1 and break out 
more fearlessly in ordinary intercourse1
 than in ,england3 but the general habit
 of the people is to show1 as well as to
 expect1 friendly feeling in every one  
towards every other1 wherever there is  
not some positive cause for the         

opposite4 ,in ,england it is only of the
 best bred people1 in the upper or upper
 middle ranks1 that anything like this  
can be said4  ,in my way through ,paris1
 both going and returning1 ,i passed    
some time in the house of ,m4 ,say1 the 
eminent political economist1 who was a  
friend and correspondent of my father1  
having become acquainted with him on a  
visit to ,england a year or two after   
the ,peace4 ,he was a man of the later  
period of the ,french ,revolution1 a    
fine specimen of the best kind of       
,french ,republican1 one of those who   
had never bent the knee to ,bonaparte   
though courted by him to do so2 a truly 
upright1 brave1 and enlightened man4 ,he
 lived a quiet and studious life1 made  
happy by warm affections1 public and    
private4 ,he was acquainted with many of
 the chiefs of the ,liberal party1 and  
,i saw various noteworthy persons while 
staying at this house2 among whom ,i    
have pleasure in the recollection of    
having once seen ,saint-,simon1 not yet 

the founder either of a philosophy or a 
religion1 and considered only as a      
clever original4 ,the chief fruit which 
,i carried away from the society ,i saw1
 was a strong and permanent interest in 
,continental ,liberalism1 of which ,i   
ever afterwards kept myself au courant1 
as much as of ,english politics3 a thing
 not at all usual in those days with    
,englishmen1 and which had a very       
salutary influence on my development1   
keeping me free from the error always   
prevalent in ,england--and from which   
even my father1 with all his superiority
 to prejudice1 was not exempt--of       
judging universal questions by a merely 
,english standard4 ,after passing a few 
weeks at ,caen with an old friend of my 
father's1 ,i returned to ,england in    
,july1 #ahba and my education resumed   
its ordinary course4     ,,chapter ,,iii
  ,,last ,,stage ,,of ,,education1 ,,and
 ,,first ,,of ,,self-,,education   ,for 
the first year or two after my visit to 
,france1 ,i continued my old studies1   

with the addition of some new ones4     
,when ,i returned1 my father was just   
finishing for the press his ,elements of
 ,political ,economy1 and he made me    
perform an exercise on the manuscript1  
which ,mr4 ,bentham practised on all his
 own writings1 making what he called    
marginal contents2 a short abstract of  
every paragraph1 to enable the writer   
more easily to judge of1 and improve1   
the order of the ideas1 and the general 
character of the exposition4 ,soon      
after1 my father put into my hands      
,condillac's ,trait des ,sensations1 and
 the logical and metaphysical volumes of
 his ,cours d',etudes2 the first        
7notwithstanding the superficial        
resemblance between ,condillac's        
psychological system and my father's7   
quite as much for a warning as for an   
example4 ,i am not sure whether it was  
in this winter or the next that ,i first
 read a history of the ,french          
,revolution4 ,i learnt with astonishment
 that the principles of democracy1 then 

apparently in so insignificant and      
hopeless a minority everywhere in       
,europe1 had borne all before them in   
,france thirty years earlier1 and had   
been the creed of the nation4 ,as may be
 supposed from this1 ,i had previously a
 very vague idea of that great          
commotion4 ,i knew only that the ,french
 had thrown off the absolute monarchy of
 ,louis ,,xiv4 and ,,xv41 had put the   
,king and ,queen to death1 guillotined  
many persons1 one of whom was           
,lavoisier1 and had ultimately fallen   
under the despotism of ,bonaparte4 ,from
 this time1 as was natural1 the subject 
took an immense hold of my feelings4 ,it
 allied itself with all my juvenile     
aspirations to the character of a       
democratic champion4 ,what had happened 
so lately1 seemed as if it might easily 
happen again3 and the most transcendent 
glory ,i was capable of conceiving1 was 
that of figuring1 successful or         
unsuccessful1 as a ,girondist in an     
,english ,convention4  ,during the      

winter of #ahba-b1 ,mr4 ,john ,austin1  
with whom at the time of my visit to    
,france my father had but lately become 
acquainted1 kindly allowed me to read   
,roman law with him4 ,my father1        
notwithstanding his abhorrence of the   
chaos of barbarism called ,english ,law1
 had turned his thoughts towards the bar
 as on the whole less ineligible for me 
than any other profession3 and these    
readings with ,mr4 ,austin1 who had made
 ,bentham's best ideas his own1 and     
added much to them from other sources   
and from his own mind1 were not only a  
valuable introduction to legal studies1 
but an important portion of general     
education4 ,with ,mr4 ,austin ,i read   
,heineccius on the ,institutes1 his     
,roman ,antiquities1 and part of his    
exposition of the ,pandects2 to which   
was added a considerable portion of     
,blackstone4 ,it was at the commencement
 of these studies that my father1 as a  
needful accompaniment to them1 put into 
my hands ,bentham's principal           

speculations1 as interpreted to the     
,continent1 and indeed to all the world1
 by ,dumont1 in the ,trait de           
,lgislation4 ,the reading of this book  
was an epoch in my life2 one of the     
turning points in my mental history4    
,my previous education had been1 in a   
certain sense1 already a course of      
,benthamism4 ,the ,benthamic standard of
 the greatest happiness was that which  
,i had always been taught to apply2 ,i  
was even familiar with an abstract      
discussion of it1 forming an episode in 
an unpublished dialogue on ,government1 
written by my father on the ,platonic   
model4 ,yet in the first pages of       
,bentham it burst upon me with all the  
force of novelty4 ,what thus impressed  
me was the chapter in which ,bentham    
passed judgment on the common modes of  
reasoning in morals and legislation1    
deduced from phrases like law of nature1
 right reason1 the moral sense1 natural 
rectitude1 and the like1 and            
characterized them as dogmatism in      

disguise1 imposing its sentiments upon  
others under cover of sounding          
expressions which convey no reason for  
the sentiment1 but set up the sentiment 
as its own reason4 ,it had not struck me
 before1 that ,bentham's principle put  
an end to all this4 ,the feeling rushed 
upon me1 that all previous moralists    
were superseded1 and that here indeed   
was the commencement of a new era in    
thought4 ,this impression was           
strengthened by the manner in which     
,bentham put into scientific form the   
application of the happiness principle  
to the morality of actions1 by analysing
 the various classes and orders of their
 consequences4 ,but what struck me at   
that time most of all1 was the          
,classification of ,offences1 which is  
much more clear1 compact1 and imposing  
in ,dumont's rdaction than in the       
original work of ,bentham from which it 
was taken4 ,logic and the dialectics of 
,plato1 which had formed so large a part
 of my previous training1 had given me a

 strong relish for accurate             
classification4 ,this taste had been    
strengthened and enlightened by the     
study of botany1 on the principles of   
what is called the ,natural ,method1    
which ,i had taken up with great zeal1  
though only as an amusement1 during my  
stay in ,france2 and when ,i found      
scientific classification applied to the
 great and complex subject of           
,punishable ,acts1 under the guidance of
 the ethical principle of ,pleasurable  
and ,painful ,consequences1 followed out
 in the method of detail introduced into
 these subjects by ,bentham1 ,i felt    
taken up to an eminence from which ,i   
could survey a vast mental domain1 and  
see stretching out into the distance    
intellectual results beyond all         
computation4 ,as ,i proceeded further1  
there seemed to be added to this        
intellectual clearness1 the most        
inspiring prospects of practical        
improvement in human affairs4 ,to       
,bentham's general view of the          

construction of a body of law ,i was not
 altogether a stranger1 having read with
 attention that admirable compendium1 my
 father's article on ,jurisprudence3 but
 ,i had read it with little profit1 and 
scarcely any interest1 no doubt from its
 extremely general and abstract         
character1 and also because it concerned
 the form more than the substance of the
 corpus juris1 the logic rather than the
 ethics of law4 ,but ,bentham's subject 
was ,legislation1 of which              
,jurisprudence is only the formal part3 
and at every page he seemed to open a   
clearer and broader conception of what  
human opinions and institutions ought to
 be1 how they might be made what they   
ought to be1 and how far removed from it
 they now are4 ,when ,i laid down the   
last volume of the ,trait1 ,i had become
 a different being4 ,the principle of   
utility1 understood as ,bentham         
understood it1 and applied in the manner
 in which he applied it through these   
three volumes1 fell exactly into its    

place as the keystone which held        
together the detached and fragmentary   
component parts of my knowledge and     
beliefs4 ,it gave unity to my           
conceptions of things4 ,i now had       
opinions2 a creed1 a doctrine1 a        
philosophy2 in one among the best senses
 of the word1 a religion2 the           
inculcation and diffusion of which could
 be made the principal outward purpose  
of a life4 ,and ,i had a grand          
conception laid before me of changes to 
be effected in the condition of mankind 
through that doctrine4 ,the ,trait de   
,legislation wound up with what was to  
me a most impressive picture of human   
life as it would be made by such        
opinions and such laws as were          
recommended in the treatise4 ,the       
anticipations of practicable improvement
 were studiously moderate1 deprecating  
and discountenancing as reveries of     
vague enthusiasm many things which will 
one day seem so natural to human beings1
 that injustice will probably be done to

 those who once thought them chimerical4
 ,but1 in my state of mind1 this        
appearance of superiority to illusion   
added to the effect which ,bentham's    
doctrines produced on me1 by heightening
 the impression of mental power1 and the
 vista of improvement which he did open 
was sufficiently large and brilliant to 
light up my life1 as well as to give a  
definite shape to my aspirations4       
,after this ,i read1 from time to time1 
the most important of the other works of
 ,bentham which had then seen the light1
 either as written by himself or as     
edited by ,dumont4 ,this was my private 
reading3 while1 under my father's       
direction1 my studies were carried into 
the higher branches of analytic         
psychology4 ,i now read ,locke's ,essay1
 and wrote out an account of it1        
consisting of a complete abstract of    
every chapter1 with such remarks as     
occurred to me2 which was read by1 or   
7,i think7 to1 my father1 and discussed 
throughout4 ,i performed the same       

process with ,helvetius de ,l',esprit1  
which ,i read of my own choice4 ,this   
preparation of abstracts1 subject to my 
father's censorship1 was of great       
service to me1 by compelling precision  
in conceiving and expressing            
psychological doctrines1 whether        
accepted as truths or only regarded as  
the opinion of others4 ,after           
,helvetius1 my father made me study what
 he deemed the really master-production 
in the philosophy of mind1 ,hartley's   
,observations on ,man4 ,this book1      
though it did not1 like the ,trait de   
,lgislation1 give a new colour to my    
existence1 made a very similar          
impression on me in regard to its       
immediate subject4 ,hartley's           
explanation1 incomplete as in many      
points it is1 of the more complex mental
 phenomena by the law of association1   
commended itself to me at once as a real
 analysis1 and made me feel by contrast 
the insufficiency of the merely verbal  
generalizations of ,condillac1 and even 

of the instructive gropings and feelings
 about for psychological explanations1  
of ,locke4 ,it was at this very time    
that my father commenced writing his    
,analysis of the ,mind1 which carried   
,hartley's mode of explaining the mental
 phenomena to so much greater length and
 depth4 ,he could only command the      
concentration of thought necessary for  
this work1 during the complete leisure  
of his holiday for a month or six weeks 
annually3 and he commenced it in the    
summer of #ahbb1 in the first holiday he
 passed at ,dorking2 in which           
neighbourhood1 from that time to the end
 of his life1 with the exception of two 
years1 he lived1 as far as his official 
duties permitted1 for six months of     
every year4 ,he worked at the ,analysis 
during several successive vacations1 up 
to the year #ahbi1 when it was          
published1 and allowed me to read the   
manuscript1 portion by portion1 as it   
advanced4 ,the other principal ,english 
writers on mental philosophy ,i read as 

,i felt inclined1 particularly          
,berkeley1 ,hume's ,essays1 ,reid1      
,dugald ,stewart and ,brown on ,cause   
and ,effect4 ,brown's ,lectures ,i did  
not read until two or three years later1
 nor at that time had my father himself 
read them4  ,among the works read in the
 course of this year1 which contributed 
materially to my development1 ,i owe it 
to mention a book 7written on the       
foundation of some of ,bentham's        
manuscripts and published under the     
pseudonyme of ,philip ,beauchamp7       
entitled ,analysis of the ,influence of 
,natural ,religion on the ,temporal     
,happiness of ,mankind4 ,this was an    
examination not of the truth1 but of the
 usefulness of religious belief1 in the 
most general sense1 apart from the      
peculiarities of any special revelation2
 which1 of all the parts of the         
discussion concerning religion1 is the  
most important in this age1 in which    
real belief in any religious doctrine is
 feeble and precarious1 but the opinion 

of its necessity for moral and social   
purposes almost universal2 and when     
those who reject revelation1 very       
generally take refuge in an optimistic  
,deism1 a worship of the order of       
,nature1 and the supposed course of     
,providence1 at least as full of        
contradictions1 and perverting to the   
moral sentiments1 as any of the forms of
 ,christianity1 if only it is as        
completely realized4 ,yet very little1  
with any claim to a philosophical       
character1 has been written by sceptics 
against the usefulness of this form of  
belief4 ,the volume bearing the name of 
,philip ,beauchamp had this for its     
special object4 ,having been shown to my
 father in manuscript1 it was put into  
my hands by him1 and ,i made a marginal 
analysis of it as ,i had done of the    
,elements of ,political ,economy4 ,next 
to the ,trait de ,lgislation1 it was one
 of the books which by the searching    
character of its analysis produced the  
greatest effect upon me4 ,on reading it 

lately after an interval of many years1 
,i find it to have some of the defects  
as well as the merits of the ,benthamic 
modes of thought1 and to contain1 as ,i 
now think1 many weak arguments1 but with
 a great overbalance of sound ones1 and 
much good material for a more completely
 philosophic and conclusive treatment of
 the subject4  ,i have now1 ,i believe1 
mentioned all the books which had any   
considerable effect on my early mental  
development4 ,from this point ,i began  
to carry on my intellectual cultivation 
by writing still more than by reading4  
,in the summer of #ahbb ,i wrote my     
first argumentative essay4 ,i remember  
very little about it1 except that it was
 an attack on what ,i regarded as the   
aristocratic prejudice1 that the rich   
were1 or were likely to be1 superior in 
moral qualities to the poor4 ,my        
performance was entirely argumentative1 
without any of the declamation which the
 subject would admit of1 and might be   
expected to suggest to a young writer4  

,in that department1 however1 ,i was1   
and remained1 very inapt4 ,dry argument 
was the only thing ,i could1 manage1 or 
willingly attempted2 though passively ,i
 was very susceptible to the effect of  
all composition1 whether in the form of 
poetry or oratory1 which appealed to the
 feelings on any basis of reason4 ,my   
father1 who knew nothing of this essay  
until it was finished1 was well         
satisfied1 and1 as ,i learnt from       
others1 even pleased with it2 but1      
perhaps from a desire to promote the    
exercise of other mental faculties than 
the purely logical1 he advised me to    
make my next exercise in composition one
 of the oratorical kind2 on which       
suggestion1 availing myself of my       
familiarity with ,greek history and     
ideas1 and with the ,athenian orators1  
,i wrote two speeches1 one an           
accusation1 the other a defence of      
,pericles1 on a supposed impeachment for
 not marching out to fight the          
,lacedemonians on their invasion of     

,attica4 ,after this ,i continued to    
write papers on subjects often very much
 beyond my capacity1 but with great     
benefit both from the exercise itself1  
and from the discussions which it led to
 with my father4  ,i had now also begun 
to converse1 on general subjects1 with  
the instructed men with whom ,i came in 
contact3 and the opportunities of such  
contact naturally became more numerous4 
,the two friends of my father from whom 
,i derived most1 and with whom ,i most  
associated1 were ,mr4 ,grote and ,mr4   
,john ,austin4 ,the acquaintance of both
 with my father was recent1 but had     
ripened rapidly into intimacy4 ,mr4     
,grote was introduced to my father by   
,mr4 ,ricardo1 ,i think in #ahai 7being 
then about twenty-five years old71 and  
sought assiduously his society and      
conversation4 ,already a highly         
instructed man1 he was yet1 by the side 
of my father1 a tyro in the great       
subjects of human opinion2 but he       
rapidly seized on my father's best      

ideas2 and in the department of         
political opinion he made himself known 
as early as #ahbj1 by a pamphlet in     
defence of ,radical ,reform1 in reply to
 a celebrated article by ,sir ,james    
,mackintosh1 then lately published in he
 ,edinburgh ,review4 ,mr4 ,grote's      
father1 the banker1 was1 ,i believe1 a  
thorough ,tory1 and his mother intensely
 ,evangelical2 so that for his liberal  
opinions he was in no way indebted to   
home influences4 ,but1 unlike most      
persons who have the prospect of being  
rich by inheritance1 he had1 though     
actively engaged in the business of     
banking1 devoted a great portion of time
 to philosophic studies2 and his        
intimacy with my father did much to     
decide the character of the next stage  
in his mental progress4 ,him ,i often   
visited1 and my conversations with him  
on political1 moral1 and philosophical  
subjects gave me1 in addition to much   
valuable instruction1 all the pleasure  
and benefit of sympathetic communion    

with a man of the high intellectual and 
moral eminence which his life and       
writings have since manifested to the   
world4  ,mr4 ,austin1 who was four or   
five years older than ,mr4 ,grote1 was  
the eldest son of a retired miller in   
,suffolk1 who had made money by         
contracts during the war1 and who must  
have been a man of remarkable qualities1
 as ,i infer from the fact that all his 
sons were of more than common ability   
and all eminently gentlemen4 ,the one   
with whom we are now concerned1 and     
whose writings on jurisprudence have    
made him celebrated1 was for some time  
in the army1 and served in ,sicily under
 ,lord ,william ,bentinck4 ,after the   
,peace he sold his commission and       
studied for the bar1 to which he had    
been called for some time before my     
father knew him4 ,he was not1 like ,mr4 
,grote1 to any extent1 a pupil of my    
father1 but he had attained1 by reading 
and thought1 a considerable number of   
the same opinions1 modified by his own  

very decided individuality of character4
 ,he was a man of great intellectual    
powers1 which in conversation appeared  
at their very best2 from the vigour and 
richness of expression with which1 under
 the excitement of discussion1 he was   
accustomed to maintain some view or     
other of most general subjects2 and from
 an appearance of not only strong1 but  
deliberate and collected will2 mixed    
with a certain bitterness1 partly       
derived from temperament1 and partly    
from the general cast of his feelings   
and reflections4 ,the dissatisfaction   
with life and the world1 felt more or   
less in the present state of society and
 intellect by every discerning and      
highly conscientious mind1 gave in his  
case a rather melancholy tinge to the   
character1 very natural to those whose  
passive moral susceptibilities are more 
than proportioned to their active       
energies4 ,for it must be said1 that the
 strength of will of which his manner   
seemed to give such strong assurance1   

expended itself principally in manner4  
,with great zeal for human improvement1 
a strong sense of duty1 and capacities  
and acquirements the extent of which is 
proved by the writings he has left1 he  
hardly ever completed any intellectual  
task of magnitude4 ,he had so high a    
standard of what ought to be done1 so   
exaggerated a sense of deficiencies in  
his own performances1 and was so unable 
to content himself with the amount of   
elaboration sufficient for the occasion 
and the purpose1 that he not only spoilt
 much of his work for ordinary use by   
overlabouring it1 but spent so much time
 and exertion in superfluous study and  
thought1 that when his task ought to    
have been completed1 he had generally   
worked himself into an illness1 without 
having half finished what he undertook4 
,from this mental infirmity 7of which he
 is not the sole example among the      
accomplished and able men whom ,i have  
known71 combined with liability to      
frequent attacks of disabling though not

 dangerous ill-health1 he accomplished1 
through life1 little in comparison with 
what he seemed capable of2 but what he  
did produce is held in the very highest 
estimation by the most competent judges2
 and1 like ,coleridge1 he might plead as
 a set-off that he had been to many     
persons1 through his conversation1 a    
source not only of much instruction but 
of great elevation of character4 ,on me 
his influence was most salutary4 ,it was
 moral in the best sense4 ,he took a    
sincere and kind interest in me1 far    
beyond what could have been expected    
towards a mere youth from a man of his  
age1 standing1 and what seemed austerity
 of character4 ,there was in his        
conversation and demeanour a tone of    
high-mindedness which did not show      
itself so much1 if the quality existed  
as much1 in any of the other persons    
with whom at that time ,i associated4   
,my intercourse with him was the more   
beneficial1 owing to his being of a     
different mental type from all other    

intellectual men whom ,i frequented1 and
 he from the first set himself decidedly
 against the prejudices and narrownesses
 which are almost sure to be found in a 
young man formed by a particular mode of
 thought or a particular social circle4 
,his younger brother1 ,charles ,austin1 
of whom at this time and for the next   
year or two ,i saw much1 had also a     
great effect on me1 though of a very    
different description4 ,he was but a few
 years older than myself1 and had then  
just left the ,university1 where he had 
shone with great clat as a man of       
intellect and a brilliant orator and    
converser4 ,the effect he produced on   
his ,cambridge contemporaries deserves  
to be accounted an historical event2 for
 to it may in part be traced the        
tendency towards ,liberalism in general1
 and the ,benthamic and                 
politico-economic form of it in         
particular1 which showed itself in a    
portion of the more active-minded young 
men of the higher classes from this time

 to #ahcj4 ,the ,union ,debating        
,society1 at that time at the height of 
its reputation1 was an arena where what 
were then thought extreme opinions1 in  
politics and philosophy1 were weekly    
asserted1 face to face with their       
opposites1 before audiences consisting  
of the lite of the ,cambridge youth3 and
 though many persons afterwards of more 
or less note 7of whom ,lord ,macaulay is
 the most celebrated7 gained their first
 oratorical laurels in those debates1   
the really influential mind among these 
intellectual gladiators was ,charles    
,austin4 ,he continued1 after leaving   
the ,university1 to be1 by his          
conversation and personal ascendency1 a 
leader among the same class of young men
 who had been his associates there2 and 
he attached me among others to his car4 
,through him ,i became acquainted with  
,macaulay1 ,hyde and ,charles ,villiers1
 ,strutt 7now ,lord ,belper71 ,romilly  
7now ,lord ,romilly and ,master of the  
,rolls71 and various others who         

subsequently figured in literature or   
politics1 and among whom ,i heard       
discussions on many topics1 as yet to a 
certain degree new to me4 ,the influence
 of ,charles ,austin over me differed   
from that of the persons ,i have        
hitherto mentioned1 in being not the    
influence of a man over a boy1 but that 
of an elder contemporary4 ,it was       
through him that ,i first felt myself1  
not a pupil under teachers1 but a man   
among men4 ,he was the first person of  
intellect whom ,i met on a ground of    
equality1 though as yet much his        
inferior on that common ground4 ,he was 
a man who never failed to impress       
greatly those with whom he came in      
contact1 even when their opinions were  
the very reverse of his4 ,the impression
 he gave was that of boundless strength1
 together with talents which1 combined  
with such apparent force of will and    
character1 seemed capable of dominating 
the world4 ,those who knew him1 whether 
friendly to him or not1 always          

anticipated that he would play a        
conspicuous part in public life4 ,it is 
seldom that men produce so great an     
immediate effect by speech1 unless they1
 in some degree1 lay themselves out for 
it2 and he did this in no ordinary      
degree4 ,he loved to strike1 and even to
 startle4 ,he knew that decision is the 
greatest element of effect1 and he      
uttered his opinions with all the       
decision he could throw into them1 never
 so well pleased as when he astonished  
anyone by their audacity4 ,very unlike  
his brother1 who made war against the   
narrower interpretations and            
applications of the principles they both
 professed1 he1 on the contrary1        
presented the ,benthamic doctrines in   
the most startling form of which they   
were susceptible1 exaggerating          
everything in them which tended to      
consequences offensive to anyone's      
preconceived feelings4 ,all which1 he   
defended with such verve and vivacity1  
and carried off by a manner so agreeable

 as well as forcible1 that he always    
either came off victor1 or divided the  
honours of the field4 ,it is my belief  
that much of the notion popularly       
entertained of the tenets and sentiments
 of what are called ,benthamites or     
,utilitarians had its origin in         
paradoxes thrown out by ,charles        
,austin4 ,it must be said1 however1 that
 his example was followed1 haud passibus
 aequis1 by younger proselytes1 and that
 to outrer whatever was by anybody      
considered offensive in the doctrines   
and maxims of ,benthamism1 became at one
 time the badge of a small coterie of   
youths4 ,all of these who had anything  
in them1 myself among others1 quickly   
outgrew this boyish vanity2 and those   
who had not1 became tired of differing  
from other people1 and gave up both the 
good and the bad part of the heterodox  
opinions they had for some time         
professed4  ,it was in the winter of    
#ahbb-c that ,i formed the plan of a    
little society1 to be composed of young 

men agreeing in fundamental             
principles--acknowledging ,utility as   
their standard in ethics and politics1  
and a certain number of the principal   
corollaries drawn from it in the        
philosophy ,i had accepted--and meeting 
once a fortnight to read essays and     
discuss questions conformably to the    
premises thus agreed on4 ,the fact would
 hardly be worth mentioning1 but for the
 circumstance1 that the name ,i gave to 
the society ,i had planned was the      
,utilitarian ,society4 ,it was the first
 time that anyone had taken the title of
 ,utilitarian2 and the term made its way
 into the language1 from this humble    
source4 ,i did not invent the word1 but 
found it in one of ,galt's novels1 the  
,annals of the ,parish1 in which the    
,scotch clergyman1 of whom the book is a
 supposed autobiography1 is represented 
as warning his parishioners not to leave
 the ,gospel and become utilitarians4   
,with a boy's fondness for a name and a 
banner ,i seized on the word1 and for   

some years called myself and others by  
it as a sectarian appellation2 and it   
came to be occasionally used by some    
others holding the opinions which it was
 intended to designate4 ,as those       
opinions attracted more notice1 the term
 was repeated by strangers and          
opponents1 and got into rather common   
use just about the time when those who  
had originally assumed it1 laid down    
that along with other sectarian         
characteristics4 ,the ,society so called
 consisted at first of no more than     
three members1 one of whom1 being ,mr4  
,bentham's amanuensis1 obtained for us  
permission to hold our meetings in his  
house4 ,the number never1 ,i think1     
reached ten1 and the ,society was broken
 up in #ahbf4 ,it had thus an existence 
of about three years and a half4 ,the   
chief effect of it as regards myself1   
over and above the benefit of practice  
in oral discussion1 was that of bringing
 me in contact with several young men at
 that time less advanced than myself1   

among whom1 as they professed the same  
opinions1 ,i was for some time a sort of
 leader1 and had considerable influence 
on their mental progress4 ,any young man
 of education who fell in my way1 and   
whose opinions were not incompatible    
with those of the ,society1 ,i          
endeavoured to press into its service2  
and some others ,i probably should never
 have known1 had they not joined it4    
,those of the members who became my     
intimate companions--no one of whom was 
in any sense of the word a disciple1 but
 all of them independent thinkers on    
their own basis--were ,william ,eyton   
,tooke1 son of the eminent political    
economist1 a young man of singular worth
 both moral and intellectual1 lost to   
the world by an early death2 his friend 
,william ,ellis1 an original thinker in 
the field of political economy1 now     
honourably known by his apostolic       
exertions for the improvement of        
education2 ,george ,graham1 afterwards  
official assignee of the ,bankruptcy    

,court1 a thinker of originality and    
power on almost all abstract subjects2  
and 7from the time when he came first to
 ,england to study for the bar in #ahbd 
or #ahbe7 a man who has made            
considerably more noise in the world    
than any of these1 ,john ,arthur        
,roebuck4  ,in ,may1 #ahbc1 my          
professional occupation and status for  
the next thirty-five years of my life1  
were decided by my father's obtaining   
for me an appointment from the ,east    
,india ,company1 in the office of the   
,examiner of ,india ,correspondence1    
immediately under himself4 ,i was       
appointed in the usual manner1 at the   
bottom of the list of clerks1 to rise1  
at least in the first instance1 by      
seniority2 but with the understanding   
that ,i should be employed from the     
beginning in preparing drafts of        
despatches1 and be thus trained up as a 
successor to those who then filled the  
higher departments of the office4 ,my   
drafts of course required1 for some     

time1 much revision from my immediate   
superiors1 but ,i soon became well      
acquainted with the business1 and by my 
father's instructions and the general   
growth of my own powers1 ,i was in a few
 years qualified to be1 and practically 
was1 the chief conductor of the         
correspondence with ,india in one of the
 leading departments1 that of the       
,native ,states4 ,this continued to be  
my official duty until ,i was appointed 
,examiner1 only two years before the    
time when the abolition of the ,east    
,india ,company as a political body     
determined my retirement4 ,i do not know
 any one of the occupations by which a  
subsistence can now be gained1 more     
suitable than such as this to anyone    
who1 not being in independent           
circumstances1 desires to devote a part 
of the twenty-four hours to private     
intellectual pursuits4 ,writing for the 
press cannot be recommended as a        
permanent resource to anyone qualified  
to accomplish anything in the higher    

departments of literature or thought3   
not only on account of the uncertainty  
of this means of livelihood1 especially 
if the writer has a conscience1 and will
 not consent to serve any opinions      
except his own2 but also because the    
writings by which one can live are not  
the writings which themselves live1 and 
are never those in which the writer does
 his best4 ,books destined to form      
future thinkers take too much time to   
write1 and when written come1 in        
general1 too slowly into notice and     
repute1 to be relied on for subsistence4
 ,those who have to support themselves  
by their pen must depend on literary    
drudgery1 or at best on writings        
addressed to the multitude2 and can     
employ in the pursuits of their own     
choice1 only such time as they can spare
 from those of necessity2 which is      
generally less than the leisure allowed 
by office occupations1 while the effect 
on the mind is far more enervating and  
fatiguing4 ,for my own part ,i have1    

through life1 found office duties an    
actual rest from the other mental       
occupations which ,i have carried on    
simultaneously with them4 ,they were    
sufficiently intellectual not to be a   
distasteful drudgery1 without being such
 as to cause any strain upon the mental 
powers of a person used to abstract     
thought1 or to the labour of careful    
literary composition4 ,the drawbacks1   
for every mode of life has its          
drawbacks1 were not1 however1 unfelt by 
me4 ,i cared little for the loss of the 
chances of riches and honours held out  
by some of the professions1 particularly
 the bar1 which had been1 as ,i have    
already said1 the profession thought of 
for me4 ,but ,i was not indifferent to  
exclusion from ,parliament1 and public  
life3 and ,i felt very sensibly the more
 immediate unpleasantness of confinement
 to ,london2 the holiday allowed by     
,india ,house practice not exceeding a  
month in the year1 while my taste was   
strong for a country life1 and my       

sojourn in ,france had left behind it an
 ardent desire of travelling4 ,but      
though these tastes could not be freely 
indulged1 they were at no time entirely 
sacrificed4 ,i passed most ,sundays1    
throughout the year1 in the country1    
taking long rural walks on that day even
 when residing in ,london4 ,the month's 
holiday was1 for a few years1 passed at 
my father's house in the country2       
afterwards a part or the whole was spent
 in tours1 chiefly pedestrian1 with some
 one or more of the young men who were  
my chosen companions2 and1 at a later   
period1 in longer journeys or           
excursions1 alone or with other friends4
 ,france1 ,belgium1 and ,rhenish        
,germany were within easy reach of the  
annual holiday3 and two longer absences1
 one of three1 the other of six months1 
under medical advice1 added             
,switzerland1 the ,tyrol1 and ,italy to 
my list4 ,fortunately1 also1 both these 
journeys occurred rather early1 so as to
 give the benefit and charm of the      

remembrance to a large portion of life4 
,i am disposed to agree with what has   
been surmised by others1 that the       
opportunity which my official position  
gave me of learning by personal         
observation the necessary conditions of 
the practical conduct of public affairs1
 has been of considerable value to me as
 a theoretical reformer of the opinions 
and institutions of my time4 ,not1      
indeed1 that public business transacted 
on paper1 to take effect on the other   
side of the globe1 was of itself        
calculated to give much practical       
knowledge of life4 ,but the occupation  
accustomed me to see and hear the       
difficulties of every course1 and the   
means of obviating them1 stated and     
discussed deliberately with a view to   
execution3 it gave me opportunities of  
perceiving when public measures1 and    
other political facts1 did not produce  
the effects which had been expected of  
them1 and from what causes2 above all1  
it was valuable to me by making me1 in  

this portion of my activity1 merely one 
wheel in a machine1 the whole of which  
had to work together4 ,as a speculative 
writer1 ,i should have had no one to    
consult but myself1 and should have     
encountered in my speculations none of  
the obstacles which would have started  
up whenever they came to be applied to  
practice4 ,but as a ,secretary          
conducting political correspondence1 ,i 
could not issue an order1 or express an 
opinion1 without satisfying various     
persons very unlike myself1 that the    
thing was fit to be done4 ,i was thus in
 a good position for finding out by     
practice the mode of putting a thought  
which gives it easiest admittance into  
minds not prepared for it by habit2     
while ,i became practically conversant  
with the difficulties of moving bodies  
of men1 the necessities of compromise1  
the art of sacrificing the non-essential
 to preserve the essential4 ,i learnt   
how to obtain the best ,i could1 when ,i
 could not obtain everything2 instead of

 being indignant or dispirited because  
,i could not have entirely my own way1  
to be pleased and encouraged when ,i    
could have the smallest part of it2 and 
when even that could not be1 to bear    
with complete equanimity the being      
overruled altogether4 ,i have found1    
through life1 these acquisitions to be  
of the greatest possible importance for 
personal happiness1 and they are also a 
very necessary condition for enabling   
anyone1 either as theorist or as        
practical man1 to effect the greatest   
amount of good compatible with his      
opportunities4     ,,chapter ,,iv       
,,youthful ,,propagandism4 ,,the        
,,westminster ,,review   ,the occupation
 of so much of my time by office work   
did not relax my attention to my own    
pursuits1 which were never carried on   
more vigorously4 ,it was about this time
 that ,i began to write in newspapers4  
,the first writings of mine which got   
into print were two letters published   
towards the end of #ahbb1 in the        

,traveller evening newspaper4 ,the      
,traveller 7which afterwards grew into  
the ,globe and ,traveller1 by the       
purchase and incorporation of the       
,globe7 was then the property of the    
well-known political economist1 ,colonel
 ,torrens1 and under the editorship of  
an able man1 ,mr4 ,walter ,coulson 7who1
 after being an amanuensis of ,mr4      
,bentham1 became a reporter1 then an    
editor1 next a barrister and            
conveyancer1 and died ,counsel to the   
,home ,office71 it had become one of the
 most important newspaper organs of     
,liberal politics4 ,colonel ,torrens    
himself wrote much of the political     
economy of his paper2 and had at this   
time made an attack upon some opinion of
 ,ricardo and my father1 to which1 at my
 father's instigation1 ,i attempted an  
answer1 and ,coulson1 out of            
consideration for my father and goodwill
 to me1 inserted it4 ,there was a reply 
by ,torrens1 to which ,i again rejoined4
 ,i soon after attempted something      

considerably more ambitious4 ,the       
prosecutions of ,richard ,carlile and   
his wife and sister for publications    
hostile to ,christianity were then      
exciting much attention1 and nowhere    
more than among the people ,i           
frequented4 ,freedom of discussion even 
in politics1 much more in religion1 was 
at that time far from being1 even in    
theory1 the conceded point which it at  
least seems to be now2 and the holders  
of obnoxious opinions had to be always  
ready to argue and re-argue for the     
liberty of expressing them4 ,i wrote a  
series of five letters1 under the       
signature of ,wickliffe1 going over the 
whole length and breadth of the question
 of free publication of all opinions on 
religion1 and offered them to the       
,morning ,chronicle4 ,three of them were
 published in ,january and ,february1   
#ahbc2 the other two1 containing things 
too outspoken for that journal1 never   
appeared at all4 ,but a paper which ,i  
wrote soon after on the same subject1   

propos of a debate in the ,house of     
,commons1 was inserted as a leading     
article2 and during the whole of this   
year1 #ahbc1 a considerable number of my
 contributions were printed in the      
,chronicle and ,traveller3 sometimes    
notices of books1 but oftener letters1  
commenting on some nonsense talked in   
,parliament1 or some defect of the law1 
or misdoings of the magistracy or the   
courts of justice4 ,in this last        
department the ,chronicle was now       
rendering signal service4 ,after the    
death of ,mr4 ,perry1 the editorship and
 management of the paper had devolved on
 ,mr4 ,john ,black1 long a reporter on  
its establishment2 a man of most        
extensive reading and information1 great
 honesty and simplicity of mind2 a      
particular friend of my father1 imbued  
with many of his and ,bentham's ideas1  
which he reproduced in his articles1    
among other valuable thoughts1 with     
great facility and skill4 ,from this    
time the ,chronicle ceased to be the    

merely ,whig organ it was before1 and   
during the next ten years became to a   
considerable extent a vehicle of the    
opinions of the ,utilitarian ,radicals4 
,this was mainly by what ,black himself 
wrote1 with some assistance from        
,fonblanque1 who first showed his       
eminent qualities as a writer by        
articles and jeux d'esprit in the       
,chronicle4 ,the defects of the law1 and
 of the administration of justice1 were 
the subject on which that paper rendered
 most service to improvement4 ,up to    
that time hardly a word had been said1  
except by ,bentham and my father1       
against that most peccant part of       
,english institutions and of their      
administration4 ,it was the almost      
universal creed of ,englishmen1 that the
 law of ,england1 the judicature of     
,england1 the unpaid magistracy of      
,england1 were models of excellence4 ,i 
do not go beyond the mark in saying1    
that after ,bentham1 who supplied the   
principal materials1 the greatest share 

of the merit of breaking down this      
wretched superstition belongs to ,black1
 as editor of the ,morning ,chronicle4  
,he kept up an incessant fire against   
it1 exposing the absurdities and vices  
of the law and the courts of justice1   
paid and unpaid1 until he forced some   
sense of them into people's minds4 ,on  
many other questions he became the organ
 of opinions much in advance of any     
which had ever before found regular     
advocacy in the newspaper press4 ,black 
was a frequent visitor of my father1 and
 ,mr4 ,grote used to say that he always 
knew by the ,monday morning's article   
whether ,black had been with my father  
on the ,sunday4 ,black was one of the   
most influential of the many channels   
through which my father's conversation  
and personal influence made his opinions
 tell on the world2 cooperating with the
 effect of his writings in making him a 
power in the country such as it has     
rarely been the lot of an individual in 
a private station to be1 through the    

mere force of intellect and character3  
and a power which was often acting the  
most efficiently where it was least seen
 and suspected4 ,i have already noticed 
how much of what was done by ,ricardo1  
,hume1 and ,grote was the result1 in    
part1 of his prompting and persuasion4  
,he was the good genius by the side of  
,brougham in most of what he did for the
 public1 either on education1 law       
reform1 or any other subject4 ,and his  
influence flowed in minor streams too   
numerous to be specified4 ,this         
influence was now about to receive a    
great extension by the foundation of the
 ,westminster ,review4  ,contrary to    
what may have been supposed1 my father  
was in no degree a party to setting up  
the ,westminster ,review4 ,the need of a
 ,radical organ to make head against the
 ,edinburgh and ,quarterly 7then in the 
period of their greatest reputation and 
influence7 had been a topic of          
conversation between him and ,mr4       
,bentham many years earlier1 and it had 

been a part of their ,chteau en ,espagne
 that my father should be the editor2   
but the idea had never assumed any      
practical shape4 ,in #ahbc1 however1    
,mr4 ,bentham determined to establish   
the ,review at his own cost1 and offered
 the editorship to my father1 who       
declined it as incompatible with his    
,india ,house appointment4 ,it was then 
entrusted to ,mr4 7now ,sir ,john7      
,bowring1 at that time a merchant in the
 ,city4 ,mr4 ,bowring had been for two  
or three years previous an assiduous    
frequenter of ,mr4 ,bentham1 to whom he 
was recommended by many personal good   
qualities1 by an ardent admiration for  
,bentham1 a zealous adoption of many1   
though not all of his opinions1 and1 not
 least1 by an extensive acquaintanceship
 and correspondence with ,liberals of   
all countries1 which seemed to qualify  
him for being a powerful agent in       
spreading ,bentham's fame and doctrines 
through all quarters of the world4 ,my  
father had seen little of ,bowring1 but 

knew enough of him to have formed a     
strong opinion1 that he was a man of an 
entirely different type from what my    
father considered suitable for          
conducting a political and philosophical
 ,review3 and he augured so ill of the  
enterprise that he regretted it         
altogether1 feeling persuaded not only  
that ,mr4 ,bentham would lose his money1
 but that discredit would probably be   
brought upon ,radical principles4 ,he   
could not1 however1 desert ,mr4         
,bentham1 and he consented to write an  
article for the first number4 ,as it had
 been a favourite portion of the scheme 
formerly talked of1 that part of the    
work should be devoted to reviewing the 
other ,reviews1 this article of my      
father's was to be a general criticism  
of the ,edinburgh ,review from its      
commencement4 ,before writing it he made
 me read through all the volumes of the 
,review1 or as much of each as seemed of
 any importance 7which was not so       
arduous a task in #ahbc as it would be  

now71 and make notes for him of the     
articles which ,i thought he would wish 
to examine1 either on account of their  
good or their bad qualities4 ,this paper
 of my father's was the chief cause of  
the sensation which the ,westminster    
,review produced at its first           
appearance1 and is1 both in conception  
and in execution1 one of the most       
striking of all his writings4 ,he began 
by an analysis of the tendencies of     
periodical literature in general2       
pointing out1 that it cannot1 like      
books1 wait for success1 but must       
succeed immediately or not at all1 and  
is hence almost certain to profess and  
inculcate the opinions already held by  
the public to which it addresses itself1
 instead of attempting to rectify or    
improve those opinions4 ,he next1 to    
characterize the position of the        
,edinburgh ,review as a political organ1
 entered into a complete analysis1 from 
the ,radical point of view1 of the      
,british ,constitution4 ,he held up to  

notice its thoroughly aristocratic      
character3 the nomination of a majority 
of the ,house of ,commons by a few      
hundred families2 the entire            
identification of the more independent  
portion1 the county members1 with the   
great landholders2 the different classes
 whom this narrow oligarchy was induced1
 for convenience1 to admit to a share of
 power2 and finally1 what he called its 
two props1 the ,church1 and the legal   
profession4 ,he pointed out the natural 
tendency of an aristocratic body of this
 composition1 to group itself into two  
parties1 one of them in possession of   
the executive1 the other endeavouring to
 supplant the former and become the     
predominant section by the aid of public
 opinion1 without any essential         
sacrifice of the aristocratical         
predominance4 ,he described the course  
likely to be pursued1 and the political 
ground occupied1 by an aristocratic     
party in opposition1 coquetting with    
popular principles for the sake of      

popular support4 ,he showed how this    
idea was realized in the conduct of the 
,whig party1 and of the ,edinburgh      
,review as its chief literary organ4 ,he
 described1 as their main               
characteristic1 what he termed seesaw2  
writing alternately on both sides of the
 question which touched the power or    
interest of the governing classes2      
sometimes in different articles1        
sometimes in different parts of the same
 article3 and illustrated his position  
by copious specimens4 ,so formidable an 
attack on the ,whig party and policy had
 never before been made2 nor had so     
great a blow ever been struck1 in this  
country1 for ,radicalism2 nor was there1
 ,i believe1 any living person capable  
of writing that article except my       
father4#b  ,in the meantime the nascent 
,review had formed a junction with      
another project1 of a purely literary   
periodical1 to be edited by ,mr4 ,henry 
,southern1 afterwards a diplomatist1    
then a literary man by profession4 ,the 

two editors agreed to unite their corps1
 and divide the editorship1 ,bowring    
taking the political1 ,southern the     
literary department4 ,southern's ,review
 was to have been published by ,longman1
 and that firm1 though part proprietors 
of the ,edinburgh1 were willing to be   
the publishers of the new journal4 ,but 
when all the arrangements had been made1
 and the prospectuses sent out1 the     
,longmans saw my father's attack on the 
,edinburgh1 and drew back4 ,my father   
was now appealed to for his interest    
with his own publisher1 ,baldwin1 which 
was exerted with a successful result4   
,and so in ,april1 #ahbd1 amidst        
anything but hope on my father's part1  
and that of most of those who afterwards
 aided in carrying on the ,review1 the  
first number made its appearance4  ,that
 number was an agreeable surprise to    
most of us4 ,the average of the articles
 was of much better quality than had    
been expected4 ,the literary and        
artistic department had rested chiefly  

on ,mr4 ,bingham1 a barrister           
7subsequently a police magistrate71 who 
had been for some years a frequenter of 
,bentham1 was a friend of both the      
,austins1 and had adopted with great    
ardour ,mr4 ,bentham's philosophical    
opinions4 ,partly from accident1 there  
were in the first number as many as five
 articles by ,bingham2 and we were      
extremely pleased with them4 ,i well    
remember the mixed feeling ,i myself had
 about the ,review2 the joy of finding1 
what we did not at all expect1 that it  
was sufficiently good to be capable of  
being made a creditable organ of those  
who held the opinions it professed2 and 
extreme vexation1 since it was so good  
on the whole1 at what we thought the    
blemishes of it4 ,when1 however1 in     
addition to our generally favourable    
opinion of it1 we learned that it had an
 extraordinary large sale for a first   
number1 and found that the appearance of
 a ,radical ,review1 with pretensions   
equal to those of the established organs

 of parties1 had excited much attention1
 there could be no room for hesitation1 
and we all became eager in doing        
everything we could to strengthen and   
improve it4  ,my father continued to    
write occasional articles4 ,the         
,quarterly ,review received its         
exposure1 as a sequel to that of the    
,edinburgh4 ,of his other contributions1
 the most important were an attack on   
,southey's ,book of the ,church1 in the 
fifth number1 and a political article in
 the twelfth4 ,mr4 ,austin only         
contributed one paper1 but one of great 
merit1 an argument against              
primogeniture1 in reply to an article   
then lately published in the ,edinburgh 
,review by ,mc,culloch4 ,grote also was 
a contributor only once2 all the time he
 could spare being already taken up with
 his ,history of ,greece4 ,the article  
he wrote was on his own subject1 and was
 a very complete exposure and           
castigation of ,mitford4 ,bingham and   
,charles ,austin continued to write for 

some time2 ,fonblanque was a frequent   
contributor from the third number4 ,of  
my particular associates1 ,ellis was a  
regular writer up to the ninth number2  
and about the time when he left off1    
others of the set began2 ,eyton ,tooke1 
,graham1 and ,roebuck4 ,i was myself the
 most frequent writer of all1 having    
contributed1 from the second number to  
the eighteenth1 thirteen articles2      
reviews of books on history and         
political economy1 or discussions on    
special political topics1 as corn laws1 
game laws1 law of libel4 ,occasional    
articles of merit came in from other    
acquaintances of my father's1 and1 in   
time1 of mine2 and some of ,mr4         
,bowring's writers turned out well4 ,on 
the whole1 however1 the conduct of the  
,review was never satisfactory to any of
 the persons strongly interested in its 
principles1 with whom ,i came in        
contact4 ,hardly ever did a number come 
out without containing several things   
extremely offensive to us1 either in    

point of opinion1 of taste1 or by mere  
want of ability4 ,the unfavourable      
judgments passed by my father1 ,grote1  
the two ,austins1 and others1 were      
re-echoed with exaggeration by us       
younger people2 and as our youthful zeal
 rendered us by no means backward in    
making complaints1 we led the two       
editors a sad life4 ,from my knowledge  
of what ,i then was1 ,i have no doubt   
that we were at least as often wrong as 
right2 and ,i am very certain that if   
the ,review had been carried on         
according to our notions 7,i mean those 
of the juniors71 it would have been no  
better1 perhaps not even so good as it  
was4 ,but it is worth noting as a fact  
in the history of ,benthamism1 that the 
periodical organ1 by which it was best  
known1 was from the first extremely     
unsatisfactory to those whose opinions  
on all subjects it was supposed         
specially to represent4  ,meanwhile1    
however1 the ,review made considerable  
noise in the world1 and gave a          

recognised status1 in the arena of      
opinion and discussion1 to the          
,benthamic type of ,radicalism1 out of  
all proportion to the number of its     
adherents1 and to the personal merits   
and abilities1 at that time1 of most of 
those who could be reckoned among them4 
,it was a time1 as is known1 of rapidly 
rising ,liberalism4 ,when the fears and 
animosities accompanying the war with   
,france had been brought to an end1 and 
people had once more a place in their   
thoughts for home politics1 the tide    
began to set towards reform4 ,the       
renewed oppression of the ,continent by 
the old reigning families1 the          
countenance apparently given by the     
,english ,government to the conspiracy  
against liberty called the ,holy        
,alliance1 and the enormous weight of   
the national debt and taxation          
occasioned by so long and costly a war1 
rendered the government and parliament  
very unpopular4 ,radicalism1 under the  
leadership of the ,burdetts and         

,cobbetts1 had assumed a character and  
importance which seriously alarmed the  
,administration3 and their alarm had    
scarcely been temporarily assuaged by   
the celebrated ,six ,acts1 when the     
trial of ,queen ,caroline roused a still
 wider and deeper feeling of hatred4    
,though the outward signs of this hatred
 passed away with its exciting cause1   
there arose on all sides a spirit which 
had never shown itself before1 of       
opposition to abuses in detail4 ,mr4    
,hume's persevering scrutiny of the     
public expenditure1 forcing the ,house  
of ,commons to a division on every      
objectionable item in the estimates1 had
 begun to tell with great force on      
public opinion1 and had extorted many   
minor retrenchments from an unwilling   
administration4 ,political economy had  
asserted itself with great vigour in    
public affairs1 by the petition of the  
merchants of ,london for free trade1    
drawn up in #ahbj by ,mr4 ,tooke and    
presented by ,mr4 ,alexander ,baring2   

and by the noble exertions of ,ricardo  
during the few years of his             
parliamentary life4 ,his writings1      
following up the impulse given by the   
,bullion controversy1 and followed up in
 their turn by the expositions and      
comments of my father and ,mc,culloch   
7whose writings in the ,edinburgh       
,review during those years were most    
valuable71 had drawn general attention  
to the subject1 making at least partial 
converts in the ,cabinet itself2 and    
,huskisson1 supported by ,canning1 had  
commenced that gradual demolition of the
 protective system1 which one of their  
colleagues virtually completed in #ahdf1
 though the last vestiges were only     
swept away by ,mr4 ,gladstone in #ahfj4 
,mr4 ,peel1 then ,home ,secretary1 was  
entering cautiously into the untrodden  
and peculiarly ,benthamic path of ,law  
,reform4 ,at this period1 when          
,liberalism seemed to be becoming the   
tone of the time1 when improvement of   
institutions was preached from the      

highest places1 and a complete change of
 the constitution of ,parliament was    
loudly demanded in the lowest1 it is not
 strange that attention should have been
 roused by the regular appearance in    
controversy of what seemed a new school 
of writers1 claiming to be the          
legislators and theorists of this new   
tendency4 ,the air of strong conviction 
with which they wrote1 when scarcely    
anyone else seemed to have an equally   
strong faith in as definite a creed2 the
 boldness with which they tilted against
 the very front of both the existing    
political parties2 their uncompromising 
profession of opposition to many of the 
generally received opinions1 and the    
suspicion they lay under of holding     
others still more heterodox than they   
professed2 the talent and verve of at   
least my father's articles1 and the     
appearance of a corps behind him        
sufficient to carry on a ,review2 and   
finally1 the fact that the ,review was  
bought and read1 made the so-called     

,bentham school in philosophy and       
politics fill a greater place in the    
public mind than it had held before1 or 
has ever again held since other equally 
earnest schools of thought have arisen  
in ,england4 ,as ,i was in the          
headquarters of it1 knew of what it was 
composed1 and as one of the most active 
of its very small number1 might say     
without undue assumption1 quorum pars   
magna fui1 it belongs to me more than to
 most others1 to give some account of   
it4  ,this supposed school1 then1 had no
 other existence than what was          
constituted by the fact1 that my        
father's writings and conversation drew 
round him a certain number of young men 
who had already imbibed1 or who imbibed 
from him1 a greater or smaller portion  
of his very decided political and       
philosophical opinions4 ,the notion that
 ,bentham was surrounded by a band of   
disciples who received their opinions   
from his lips1 is a fable to which my   
father did justice in his ,fragment on  

,mackintosh1 and which1 to all who knew 
,mr4 ,bentham's habits of life and      
manner of conversation1 is simply       
ridiculous4 ,the influence which        
,bentham exercised was by his writings4 
,through them he has produced1 and is   
producing1 effects on the condition of  
mankind1 wider and deeper1 no doubt1    
than any which can be attributed to my  
father4 ,he is a much greater name in   
history4 ,but my father exercised a far 
greater personal ascendency4 ,he was    
sought for the vigour and               
instructiveness of his conversation1 and
 did use it largely as an instrument for
 the diffusion of his opinions4 ,i have 
never known any man who could do such   
ample justice to his best thoughts in   
colloquial discussion4 ,his perfect     
command over his great mental resources1
 the terseness and expressiveness of his
 language and the moral earnestness as  
well as intellectual force of his       
delivery1 made him one of the most      
striking of all argumentative           

conversers3 and he was full of anecdote1
 a hearty laugher1 and1 when with people
 whom he liked1 a most lively and       
amusing companion4 ,it was not solely1  
or even chiefly1 in diffusing his merely
 intellectual convictions that his power
 showed itself3 it was still more       
through the influence of a quality1 of  
which ,i have only since learnt to      
appreciate the extreme rarity3 that     
exalted public spirit1 and regard above 
all things to the good of the whole1    
which warmed into life and activity     
every germ of similar virtue that       
existed in the minds he came in contact 
with3 the desire he made them feel for  
his approbation1 the shame at his       
disapproval2 the moral support which his
 conversation and his very existence    
gave to those who were aiming at the    
same objects1 and the encouragement he  
afforded to the fainthearted or         
desponding among them1 by the firm      
confidence which 7though the reverse of 
sanguine as to the results to be        

expected in any one particular case7 he 
always felt in the power of reason1 the 
general progress of improvement1 and the
 good which individuals could do by     
judicious effort4  ,if was my father's  
opinions which gave the distinguishing  
character to the ,benthamic or          
utilitarian propagandism of that time4  
,they fell singly1 scattered from him1  
in many directions1 but they flowed from
 him in a continued stream principally  
in three channels4 ,one was through me1 
the only mind directly formed by his    
instructions1 and through whom          
considerable influence was exercised    
over various young men1 who became1 in  
their turn1 propagandists4 ,a second was
 through some of the ,cambridge         
contemporaries of ,charles ,austin1 who1
 either initiated by him or under the   
general mental impulse which he gave1   
had adopted many opinions allied to     
those of my father1 and some of the more
 considerable of whom afterwards sought 
my father's acquaintance and frequented 

his house4 ,among these may be mentioned
 ,strutt1 afterwards ,lord ,belper1 and 
the present ,lord ,romilly1 with whose  
eminent father1 ,sir ,samuel1 my father 
had of old been on terms of friendship4 
,the third channel was that of a younger
 generation of ,cambridge               
undergraduates1 contemporary1 not with  
,austin1 but with ,eyton ,tooke1 who    
were drawn to that estimable person by  
affinity of opinions1 and introduced by 
him to my father3 the most notable of   
these was ,charles ,buller4 ,various    
other persons individually received and 
transmitted a considerable amount of my 
father's influence3 for example1 ,black 
7as before mentioned7 and ,fonblanque3  
most of these1 however1 we accounted    
only partial allies2 ,fonblanque1 for   
instance1 was always divergent from us  
on many important points4 ,but indeed   
there was by no means complete unanimity
 among any portion of us1 nor had any of
 us adopted implicitly all my father's  
opinions4 ,for example1 although his    

,essay on ,government was regarded      
probably by all of us as a masterpiece  
of political wisdom1 our adhesion by no 
means extended to the paragraph of it in
 which he maintains that women may1     
consistently with good government1 be   
excluded from the suffrage1 because     
their interest is the same with that of 
men4 ,from this doctrine1 ,i1 and all   
those who formed my chosen associates1  
most positively dissented4 ,it is due to
 my father to say that he denied having 
intended to affirm that women should be 
excluded1 any more than men under the   
age of forty1 concerning whom he        
maintained in the very next paragraph an
 exactly similar thesis4 ,he was1 as he 
truly said1 not discussing whether the  
suffrage had better be restricted1 but  
only 7assuming that it is to be         
restricted7 what is the utmost limit of 
restriction which does not necessarily  
involve a sacrifice of the securities   
for good government4 ,but ,i thought    
then1 as ,i have always thought since   

that the opinion which he acknowledged1 
no less than that which he disclaimed1  
is as great an error as any of those    
against which the ,essay was directed2  
that the interest of women is included  
in that of men exactly as much as the   
interest of subjects is included in that
 of kings1 and no more2 and that every  
reason which exists for giving the      
suffrage to anybody1 demands that it    
should not be withheld from women4 ,this
 was also the general opinion of the    
younger proselytes2 and it is pleasant  
to be able to say that ,mr4 ,bentham1 on
 this important point1 was wholly on our
 side4  ,but though none of us1         
probably1 agreed in every respect with  
my father1 his opinions1 as ,i said     
before1 were the principal element which
 gave its colour and character to the   
little group of young men who were the  
first propagators of what was afterwards
 called ,philosophic ,radicalism4 ,their
 mode of thinking was not characterized 
by ,benthamism in any sense which has   

relation to ,bentham as a chief or      
guide1 but rather by a combination of   
,bentham's point of view with that of   
the modern political economy1 and with  
the ,hartleian metaphysics4 ,malthus's  
population principle was quite as much a
 banner1 and point of union among us1 as
 any opinion specially belonging to     
,bentham4 ,this great doctrine1         
originally brought forward as an        
argument against the indefinite         
improvability of human affairs1 we took 
up with ardent zeal in the contrary     
sense1 as indicating the sole means of  
realizing that improvability by securing
 full employment at high wages to the   
whole labouring population through a    
voluntary restriction of the increase of
 their numbers4 ,the other leading      
characteristics of the creed1 which we  
held in common with my father1 may be   
stated as follows3  ,in politics1 an    
almost unbounded confidence in the      
efficacy of two things3 representative  
government1 and complete freedom of     

discussion4 ,so complete was my father's
 reliance on the influence of reason    
over the minds of mankind1 whenever it  
is allowed to reach them1 that he felt  
as if all would be gained if the whole  
population were taught to read1 if all  
sorts of opinions were allowed to be    
addressed to them by word and in        
writing1 and if by means of the suffrage
 they could nominate a legislature to   
give effect to the opinions they        
adopted4 ,he thought that when the      
legislature no longer represented a     
class interest1 it would aim at the     
general interest1 honestly and with     
adequate wisdom2 since the people would 
be sufficiently under the guidance of   
educated intelligence1 to make in       
general a good choice of persons to     
represent them1 and having done so1 to  
leave to those whom they had chosen a   
liberal discretion4 ,accordingly        
aristocratic rule1 the government of the
 ,few in any of its shapes1 being in his
 eyes the only thing which stood between

 mankind and an administration of their 
affairs by the best wisdom to be found  
among them1 was the object of his       
sternest disapprobation1 and a          
democratic suffrage the principal       
article of his political creed1 not on  
the ground of liberty1 ,rights of ,man1 
or any of the phrases1 more or less     
significant1 by which1 up to that time1 
democracy had usually been defended1 but
 as the most essential of securities for
 good government4 ,in this1 too1 he held
 fast only to what he deemed essentials2
 he was comparatively indifferent to    
monarchical or republican forms--far    
more so than ,bentham1 to whom a king1  
in the character of corrupter-general1  
appeared necessarily very noxious4 ,next
 to aristocracy1 an established church1 
or corporation of priests1 as being by  
position the great depravers of         
religion1 and interested in opposing the
 progress of the human mind1 was the    
object of his greatest detestation2     
though he disliked no clergyman         

personally who did not deserve it1 and  
was on terms of sincere friendship with 
several4 ,in ethics his moral feelings  
were energetic and rigid on all points  
which he deemed important to human well 
being1 while he was supremely           
indifferent in opinion 7though his      
indifference did not show itself in     
personal conduct7 to all those doctrines
 of the common morality1 which he       
thought had no foundation but in        
asceticism and priestcraft4 ,he looked  
forward1 for example1 to a considerable 
increase of freedom in the relations    
between the sexes1 though without       
pretending to define exactly what would 
be1 or ought to be1 the precise         
conditions of that freedom4 ,this       
opinion was connected in him with no    
sensuality either of a theoretical or of
 a practical kind4 ,he anticipated1 on  
the contrary1 as one of the beneficial  
effects of increased freedom1 that the  
imagination would no longer dwell upon  
the physical relation and its adjuncts1 

and swell this into one of the principal
 objects of life2 a perversion of the   
imagination and feelings1 which he      
regarded as one of the deepest seated   
and most pervading evils in the human   
mind4 ,in psychology1 his fundamental   
doctrine was the formation of all human 
character by circumstances1 through the 
universal ,principle of ,association1   
and the consequent unlimited possibility
 of improving the moral and intellectual
 condition of mankind by education4 ,of 
all his doctrines none was more         
important than this1 or needs more to be
 insisted on2 unfortunately there is    
none which is more contradictory to the 
prevailing tendencies of speculation1   
both in his time and since4  ,these     
various opinions were seized on with    
youthful fanaticism by the little knot  
of young men of whom ,i was one3 and we 
put into them a sectarian spirit1 from  
which1 in intention at least1 my father 
was wholly free4 ,what we 7or rather a  
phantom substituted in the place of us7 

were sometimes1 by a ridiculous         
exaggeration1 called by others1 namely a
 school1 some of us for a time really   
hoped and aspired to be4 ,the ,french   
philosophes of the eighteenth century   
were the examples we sought to imitate1 
and we hoped to accomplish no less      
results4 ,no one of the set went to so  
great excesses in his boyish ambition as
 ,i did2 which might be shown by many   
particulars1 were it not an useless     
waste of space and time4  ,all this1    
however1 is properly only the outside of
 our existence2 or1 at least1 the       
intellectual part alone1 and no more    
than one side of that4 ,in attempting to
 penetrate inward1 and give any         
indication of what we were as human     
beings1 ,i must be understood as        
speaking only of myself1 of whom alone  
,i can speak from sufficient knowledge2 
and ,i do not believe that the picture  
would suit any of my companions without 
many and great modifications4  ,i       
conceive that the description so often  

given of a ,benthamite1 as a mere       
reasoning machine1 though extremely     
inapplicable to most of those who have  
been designated by that title1 was      
during two or three years of my life not
 altogether untrue of me4 ,it was       
perhaps as applicable to me as it can   
well be to anyone just entering into    
life1 to whom the common objects of     
desire must in general have at least the
 attraction of novelty4 ,there is       
nothing very extraordinary in this fact3
 no youth of the age ,i then was1 can be
 expected to be more than one thing1 and
 this was the thing ,i happened to be4  
,ambition and desire of distinction ,i  
had in abundance2 and zeal for what ,i  
thought the good of mankind was my      
strongest sentiment1 mixing with and    
colouring all others4 ,but my zeal was  
as yet little else1 at that period of my
 life1 than zeal for speculative        
opinions4 ,it had not its root in       
genuine benevolence1 or sympathy with   
mankind2 though these qualities held    

their due place in my ethical standard4 
,nor was it connected with any high     
enthusiasm for ideal nobleness4 ,yet of 
this feeling ,i was imaginatively very  
susceptible2 but there was at that time 
an intermission of its natural aliment1 
poetical culture1 while there was a     
superabundance of the discipline        
antagonistic to it1 that of mere logic  
and analysis4 ,add to this that1 as     
already mentioned1 my father's teachings
 tended to the undervaluing of feeling4 
,it was not that he was himself         
cold-hearted or insensible2 ,i believe  
it was rather from the contrary quality2
 he thought that feeling could take care
 of itself2 that there was sure to be   
enough of it if actions were properly   
cared about4 ,offended by the frequency 
with which1 in ethical and philosophical
 controversy1 feeling is made the       
ultimate reason and justification of    
conduct1 instead of being itself called 
on for a justification1 while1 in       
practice1 actions the effect of which on

 human happiness is mischievous1 are    
defended as being required by feeling1  
and the character of a person of feeling
 obtains a credit for desert1 which he  
thought only due to actions1 he had a   
real impatience of attributing praise to
 feeling1 or of any but the most sparing
 reference to it1 either in the         
estimation of persons or in the         
discussion of things4 ,in addition to   
the influence which this characteristic 
in him had on me and others1 we found   
all the opinions to which we attached   
most importance1 constantly attacked on 
the ground of feeling4 ,utility was     
denounced as cold calculation2 political
 economy as hard-hearted2               
anti-population doctrines as repulsive  
to the natural feelings of mankind4 ,we 
retorted by the word sentimentality1    
which1 along with declamation and vague 
generalities1 served us as common terms 
of opprobrium4 ,although we were        
generally in the right1 as against those
 who were opposed to us1 the effect was 

that the cultivation of feeling 7except 
the feelings of public and private duty7
 was not in much esteem among us1 and   
had very little place in the thoughts of
 most of us1 myself in particular4 ,what
 we principally thought of1 was to alter
 people's opinions2 to make them believe
 according to evidence1 and know what   
was their real interest1 which when they
 once knew1 they would1 we thought1 by  
the instrument of opinion1 enforce a    
regard to it upon one another4 ,while   
fully recognising the superior          
excellence of unselfish benevolence and 
love of justice1 we did not expect the  
regeneration of mankind from any direct 
action on those sentiments1 but from the
 effect of educated intellect1          
enlightening the selfish feelings4      
,although this last is prodigiously     
important as a means of improvement in  
the hands of those who are themselves   
impelled by nobler principles of action1
 ,i do not believe that any one of the  
survivors of the ,benthamites or        

,utilitarians of that day now relies    
mainly upon it for the general amendment
 of human conduct4  ,from this neglect  
both in theory and in practice of the   
cultivation of feeling1 naturally       
resulted1 among other things1 an        
undervaluing of poetry1 and of          
,imagination generally1 as an element of
 human nature4 ,it is1 or was1 part of  
the popular notion of ,benthamites1 that
 they are enemies of poetry3 this was   
partly true of ,bentham himself2 he used
 to say that all poetry is              
misrepresentation3 but in the sense in  
which he said it1 the same might have   
been said of all impressive speech2 of  
all representation or inculcation more  
oratorical in its character than a sum  
in arithmetic4 ,an article of ,bingham's
 in the first number of the ,westminster
 ,review1 in which he offered as an     
explanation of something which he       
disliked in ,moore1 that ,mr4 ,moore is 
a poet1 and therefore is not a reasoner1
 did a good deal to attach the notion of

 hating poetry to the writers in the    
,review4 ,but the truth was that many of
 us were great readers of poetry2       
,bingham himself had been a writer of   
it1 while as regards me 7and the same   
thing might be said of my father71 the  
correct statement would be1 not that ,i 
disliked poetry1 but that ,i was        
theoretically indifferent to it4 ,i     
disliked any sentiments in poetry which 
,i should have disliked in prose2 and   
that included a great deal4 ,and ,i was 
wholly blind to its place in human      
culture1 as a means of educating the    
feelings4 ,but ,i was always personally 
very susceptible to some kinds of it4   
,in the most sectarian period of my     
,benthamism1 ,i happened to look into   
,pope's ,essay on ,man1 and1 though     
every opinion in it was contrary to     
mine1 ,i well remember how powerfully it
 acted on my imagination4 ,perhaps at   
that time poetical composition of any   
higher type than eloquent discussion in 
verse1 might not have produced a similar

 effect upon me3 at all events ,i seldom
 gave it an opportunity4 ,this1 however1
 was a mere passive state4 ,long before 
,i had enlarged in any considerable     
degree the basis of my intellectual     
creed1 ,i had obtained1 in the natural  
course of my mental progress1 poetic    
culture of the most valuable kind1 by   
means of reverential admiration for the 
lives and characters of heroic persons2 
especially the heroes of philosophy4    
,the same inspiring effect which so many
 of the benefactors of mankind have left
 on record that they had experienced    
from ,plutarch's ,lives1 was produced on
 me by ,plato's pictures of ,socrates1  
and by some modern biographies1 above   
all by ,condorcet's ,life of ,turgot2 a 
book well calculated to rouse the best  
sort of enthusiasm1 since it contains   
one of the wisest and noblest of lives1 
delineated by one of the wisest and     
noblest of men4 ,the heroic virtue of   
these glorious representatives of the   
opinions with which ,i sympathized1     

deeply affected me1 and ,i perpetually  
recurred to them as others do to a      
favourite poet1 when needing to be      
carried up into the more elevated       
regions of feeling and thought4 ,i may  
observe by the way that this book cured 
me of my sectarian follies4 ,the two or 
three pages beginning ,il regardait     
toute secte comme nuisible1 and         
explaining why ,turgot always kept      
himself perfectly distinct from the     
,encyclopedists1 sank deeply into my    
mind4 ,i left off designating myself and
 others as ,utilitarians1 and by the    
pronoun we1 or any other collective     
designation1 ,i ceased to afficher      
sectarianism4 ,my real inward           
sectarianism ,i did not get rid of till 
later1 and much more gradually4  ,about 
the end of #ahbd1 or beginning of #ahbe1
 ,mr4 ,bentham1 having lately got back  
his papers on ,evidence from ,m4 ,dumont
 7whose ,trait des ,preuves             
,judiciaires1 grounded on them1 was then
 first completed and published71        

resolved to have them printed in the    
original1 and bethought himself of me as
 capable of preparing them for the      
press2 in the same manner as his ,book  
of ,fallacies had been recently edited  
by ,bingham4 ,i gladly undertook this   
task1 and it occupied nearly all my     
leisure for about a year1 exclusive of  
the time afterwards spent in seeing the 
five large volumes through the press4   
,mr4 ,bentham had begun this treatise   
three time's1 at considerable intervals1
 each time in a different manner1 and   
each time without reference to the      
preceding3 two of the three times he had
 gone over nearly the whole subject4    
,these three masses of manuscript it was
 my business to condense into a single  
treatise1 adopting the one last written 
as the groundwork1 and incorporating    
with it as much of the two others as it 
had not completely superseded4 ,i had   
also to unroll such of ,bentham's       
involved and parenthetical sentences as 
seemed to overpass by their complexity  

the measure of what readers were likely 
to take the pains to understand4 ,it was
 further ,mr4 ,bentham's particular     
desire that ,i should1 from myself1     
endeavour to supply any lacunae which he
 had left2 and at his instance ,i read1 
for this purpose1 the most authoritative
 treatises on the ,english ,law of      
,evidence1 and commented on a few of the
 objectionable points of the ,english   
rules1 which had escaped ,bentham's     
notice4 ,i also replied to the          
objections which had been made to some  
of his doctrines by reviewers of        
,dumont's book1 and added a few         
supplementary remarks on some of the    
more abstract parts of the subject1 such
 as the theory of improbability and     
impossibility4 ,the controversial part  
of these editorial additions was written
 in a more assuming tone than became one
 so young and inexperienced as ,i was3  
but indeed ,i had never contemplated    
coming forward in my own person2 and as 
an anonymous editor of ,bentham ,i fell 

into the tone of my author1 not thinking
 it unsuitable to him or to the subject1
 however it might be so to me4 ,my name 
as editor was put to the book after it  
was printed1 at ,mr4 ,bentham's positive
 desire1 which ,i in vain attempted to  
persuade him to forego4  ,the time      
occupied in this editorial work was     
extremely well employed in respect to my
 own improvement4 ,the ,rationale of    
,judicial ,evidence is one of the       
richest in matter of all ,bentham's     
productions4 ,the theory of evidence    
being in itself one of the most         
important of his subjects1 and ramifying
 into most of the others1 the book      
contains1 very fully developed1 a great 
proportion of all his best thoughts3    
while1 among more special things1 it    
comprises the most elaborate exposure of
 the vices and defects of ,english law1 
as it then was1 which is to be found in 
his works2 not confined to the law of   
evidence1 but including1 by way of      
illustrative episode1 the entire        

procedure or practice of ,westminster   
,hall4 ,the direct knowledge1 therefore1
 which ,i obtained from the book1 and   
which was imprinted upon me much more   
thoroughly than it could have been by   
mere reading1 was itself no small       
acquisition4 ,but this occupation did   
for me what might seem less to be       
expected2 it gave a great start to my   
powers of composition4 ,everything which
 ,i wrote subsequently to this editorial
 employment1 was markedly superior to   
anything that ,i had written before it4 
,bentham's later style1 as the world    
knows1 was heavy and cumbersome1 from   
the excess of a good quality1 the love  
of precision1 which made him introduce  
clause within clause into the heart of  
every sentence1 that the reader might   
receive into his mind all the           
modifications and qualifications        
simultaneously with the main            
proposition3 and the habit grew on him  
until his sentences became1 to those not
 accustomed to them1 most laborious     

reading4 ,but his earlier style1 that of
 the ,fragment on ,government1 ,plan of 
a ,judicial ,establishment1 etc41 is a  
model of liveliness and ease combined   
with fulness of matter1 scarcely ever   
surpassed3 and of this earlier style    
there were many striking specimens in   
the manuscripts on ,evidence1 all of    
which ,i endeavoured to preserve4 ,so   
long a course of this admirable writing 
had a considerable effect upon my own2  
and ,i added to it by the assiduous     
reading of other writers1 both ,french  
and ,english1 who combined1 in a        
remarkable degree1 ease with force1 such
 as ,goldsmith1 ,fielding1 ,pascal1     
,voltaire1 and ,courier4 ,through these 
influences my writing lost the          
jejuneness of my early compositions2 the
 bones and cartilages began to clothe   
themselves with flesh1 and the style    
became1 at times1 lively and almost     
light4  ,this improvement was first     
exhibited in a new field4 ,mr4          
,marshall1 of ,leeds1 father of the     

present generation of ,marshalls1 the   
same who was brought into ,parliament   
for ,yorkshire1 when the representation 
forfeited by ,grampound was transferred 
to it1 an earnest ,parliamentary        
reformer1 and a man of large fortune1 of
 which he made a liberal use1 had been  
much struck with ,bentham's ,book of    
,fallacies2 and the thought had occurred
 to him that it would be useful to      
publish annually the ,parliamentary     
,debates1 not in the chronological order
 of ,hansard1 but classified according  
to subjects1 and accompanied by a       
commentary pointing out the fallacies of
 the speakers4 ,with this intention1 he 
very naturally addressed himself to the 
editor of the ,book of ,fallacies2 and  
,bingham1 with the assistance of        
,charles ,austin1 undertook the         
editorship4 ,the work was called        
,parliamentary ,history and ,review4    
,its sale was not sufficient to keep it 
in existence1 and it only lasted three  
years4 ,it excited1 however1 some       

attention among parliamentary and       
political people4 ,the best strength of 
the party was put forth in it2 and its  
execution did them much more credit than
 that of the ,westminster ,review had   
ever done4 ,bingham and ,charles ,austin
 wrote much in it2 as did ,strutt1      
,romilly1 and several other ,liberal    
lawyers4 ,my father wrote one article in
 his best style2 the elder ,austin      
another4 ,coulson wrote one of great    
merit4 ,it fell to my lot to lead off   
the first number by an article on the   
principal topic of the session 7that of 
#ahbe71 the ,catholic ,association and  
the ,catholic ,disabilities4 ,in the    
second number ,i wrote an elaborate     
,essay on the ,commercial ,crisis of    
#ahbe and the ,currency ,debates4 ,in   
the third ,i had two articles1 one on a 
minor subject1 the other on the         
,reciprocity principle in commerce1     
propos of a celebrated diplomatic       
correspondence between ,canning and     
,gallatin4 ,these writings were no      

longer mere reproductions and           
applications of the doctrines ,i had    
been taught2 they were original         
thinking1 as far as that name can be    
applied to old ideas in new forms and   
connexions3 and ,i do not exceed the    
truth in saying that there was a        
maturity1 and a well-digested1 character
 about them1 which there had not been in
 any of my previous performances4 ,in   
execution1 therefore1 they were not at  
all juvenile2 but their subjects have   
either gone by1 or have been so much    
better treated since1 that they are     
entirely superseded1 and should remain  
buried in the same oblivion with my     
contributions to the first dynasty of   
the ,westminster ,review4  ,while thus  
engaged in writing for the public1 ,i   
did not neglect other modes of          
self-cultivation4 ,it was at this time  
that ,i learnt ,german2 beginning it on 
the ,hamiltonian method1 for which      
purpose ,i and several of my companions 
formed a class4 ,for several years from 

this period1 our social studies assumed 
a shape which contributed very much to  
my mental progress4 ,the idea occurred  
to us of carrying on1 by reading and    
conversation1 a joint study of several  
of the branches of science which we     
wished to be masters of4 ,we assembled  
to the number of a dozen or more4 ,mr4  
,grote lent a room of his house in      
,threadneedle ,street for the purpose1  
and his partner1 ,prescott1 one of the  
three original members of the           
,utilitarian ,society1 made one among   
us4 ,we met two mornings in every week1 
from half-past eight till ten1 at which 
hour most of us were called off to our  
daily occupations4 ,our first subject   
was ,political ,economy4 ,we chose some 
systematic treatise as our text-book2 my
 father's ,elements being our first     
choice4 ,one of us read aloud a chapter1
 or some smaller portion of the book4   
,the discussion was then opened1 and    
anyone who had an objection1 or other   
remark to make1 made it4 ,our rule was  

to discuss thoroughly every point       
raised1 whether great or small1         
prolonging the discussion until all who 
took part were satisfied with the       
conclusion they had individually arrived
 at2 and to follow up every topic of    
collateral speculation which the chapter
 or the conversation suggested1 never   
leaving it until we had untied every    
knot which we found4 ,we repeatedly kept
 up the discussion of some one point for
 several weeks1 thinking intently on it 
during the intervals of our meetings1   
and contriving solutions of the new     
difficulties which had risen up in the  
last morning's discussion4 ,when we had 
finished in this way my father's        
,elements1 we went in the same manner   
through ,ricardo's ,principles of       
,political ,economy1 and ,bailey's      
,dissertation on ,value4 ,these close   
and vigorous discussions were not only  
improving in a high degree to those who 
took part in them1 but brought out new  
views of some topics of abstract        

,political ,economy4 ,the theory of     
,international ,values which ,i         
afterwards published1 emanated from     
these conversations1 as did also the    
modified form of ,ricardo's ,theory of  
,profits1 laid down in my ,essay on     
,profits and ,interest4 ,those among us 
with whom new speculations chiefly      
originated1 were ,ellis1 ,graham1 and   
,i2 though others gave valuable aid to  
the discussions1 especially ,prescott   
and ,roebuck1 the one by his knowledge1 
the other by his dialectical acuteness4 
,the theories of ,international ,values 
and of ,profits were excogitated and    
worked out in about equal proportions by
 myself and ,graham3 and if our original
 project had been executed1 my ,essays  
on ,some ,unsettled ,questions of       
,political ,economy would have been     
brought out along with some papers of   
his1 under our joint names4 ,but when my
 exposition came to be written1 ,i found
 that ,i had so much over-estimated my  
agreement with him1 and he dissented so 

much from the most original of the two  
,essays1 that on ,international ,values1
 that ,i was obliged to consider the    
theory as now exclusively mine1 and it  
came out as such when published many    
years later4 ,i may mention that among  
the alterations which my father made in 
revising his ,elements for the third    
edition1 several were founded on        
criticisms elicited by these            
conversations2 and in particular he     
modified his opinions 7though not to the
 extent of our new speculations7 on both
 the points to which ,i have adverted4  
,when we had enough of political        
economy1 we took up the syllogistic     
logic in the same manner1 ,grote now    
joining us4 ,our first text-book was    
,aldrich1 but being disgusted with its  
superficiality1 we reprinted one of the 
most finished among the many manuals of 
the school logic1 which my father1 a    
great collector of such books1          
possessed1 the ,manuductio ad ,logicam  
of the ,jesuit ,du ,trieu4 ,after       

finishing this1 we took up ,whately's   
,logic1 then first republished from the 
,encyclopedia ,metropolitana1 and       
finally the ,computatio sive ,logica of 
,hobbes4 ,these books1 dealt with in our
 manner1 afforded a high range for      
original metaphysical speculation3 and  
most of what has been done in the ,first
 ,book of my ,system of ,logic1 to      
rationalize and correct the principles  
and distinctions of the school          
logicians1 and to improve the theory of 
the ,import of ,propositions1 had its   
origin in these discussions2 ,graham and
 ,i originating most of the novelties1  
while ,grote and others furnished an    
excellent tribunal or test4 ,from this  
time ,i formed the project of writing a 
book on ,logic1 though on a much humbler
 scale than the one ,i ultimately       
executed4  ,having done with ,logic1 we 
launched into ,analytic ,psychology1 and
 having chosen ,hartley for our         
text-book1 we raised ,priestley's       
edition to an extravagant price by      

searching through ,london to furnish    
each of us with a copy4 ,when we had    
finished ,hartley1 we suspended our     
meetings2 but my father's ,analysis of  
the ,mind being published soon after1 we
 reassembled for the purpose of reading 
it4 ,with this our exercises ended4 ,i  
have always dated from these            
conversations my own real inauguration  
as an original and independent thinker4 
,it was also through them that ,i       
acquired1 or very much strengthened1 a  
mental habit to which ,i attribute all  
that ,i have ever done1 or ever shall   
do1 in speculation3 that of never       
accepting half-solutions of difficulties
 as complete2 never abandoning a puzzle1
 but again and again returning to it    
until it was cleared up2 never allowing 
obscure corners of a subject to remain  
unexplored1 because they did not appear 
important2 never thinking that ,i       
perfectly understood any part of a      
subject until ,i understood the whole4  
,our doings from #ahbe to #ahcj in the  

way of public speaking1 filled a        
considerable place in my life during    
those years1 and as they had important  
effects on my development1 something    
ought to be said of them4  ,there was   
for some time in existence a society of 
,owenites1 called the ,co-operative     
,society1 which met for weekly public   
discussions in ,chancery ,lane4 ,in the 
early part of #ahbe1 accident brought   
,roebuck in contact with several of its 
members1 and led to his attending one or
 two of the meetings and taking part in 
the debate in opposition to ,owenism4   
,some one of us started the notion of   
going there in a body and having a      
general battle3 and ,charles ,austin and
 some of his friends who did not usually
 take part in our joint exercises1      
entered into the project4 ,it was       
carried out by concert with the         
principal members of the ,society1      
themselves nothing loth1 as they        
naturally preferred a controversy with  
opponents to a tame discussion among    

their own body4 ,the question of        
population was proposed as the subject  
of debate3 ,charles ,austin led the case
 on our side with a brilliant speech1   
and the fight was kept up by adjournment
 through five or six weekly meetings    
before crowded auditories1 including    
along with the members of the ,society  
and their friends1 many hearers and some
 speakers from the ,inns of ,court4     
,when this debate was ended1 another was
 commenced on the general merits of     
,owen's system3 and the contest         
altogether lasted about three months4   
,it was a lutte corps  corps between    
,owenites and political economists1 whom
 the ,owenites regarded as their most   
inveterate opponents3 but it was a      
perfectly friendly dispute4 ,we who     
represented political economy1 had the  
same objects in view as they had1 and   
took pains to show it2 and the principal
 champion on their side was a very      
estimable man1 with whom ,i was well    
acquainted1 ,mr4 ,william ,thompson1 of 

,cork1 author of a book on the          
,distribution of ,wealth1 and of an     
,appeal in behalf of women against the  
passage relating to them in my father's 
,essay on ,government4 ,ellis1 ,roebuck1
 and ,i took an active part in the      
debate1 and among those from the ,inns  
of ,court who joined in it1 ,i remember 
,charles ,villiers4 ,the other side     
obtained also1 on the population        
question1 very efficient support from   
without4 ,the well-known ,gale ,jones1  
then an elderly man1 made one of his    
florid speeches2 but the speaker with   
whom ,i was most struck1 though ,i      
dissented from nearly every word he     
said1 was ,thirlwall1 the historian1    
since ,bishop of ,st4 ,david's1 then a  
,chancery barrister1 unknown except by a
 high reputation for eloquence acquired 
at the ,cambridge ,union before the era 
of ,austin and ,macaulay4 ,his speech   
was in answer to one of mine4 ,before he
 had uttered ten sentences1 ,i set him  
down as the best speaker ,i had ever    

heard1 and ,i have never since heard    
anyone whom ,i placed above him4  ,the  
great interest of these debates         
predisposed some of those who took part 
in them1 to catch at a suggestion thrown
 out by ,mc,culloch1 the political      
economist1 that a ,society was wanted in
 ,london similar to the ,speculative    
,society at ,edinburgh1 in which        
,brougham1 ,horner1 and others first    
cultivated public speaking4 ,our        
experience at the ,co-operative ,society
 seemed to give cause for being sanguine
 as to the sort of men who might be     
brought together in ,london for such a  
purpose4 ,mc,culloch mentioned the      
matter to several young men of          
influence1 to whom he was then giving   
private lessons in political economy4   
,some of these entered warmly into the  
project1 particularly ,george ,villiers1
 after ,earl of ,clarendon4 ,he and his 
brothers1 ,hyde and ,charles1 ,romilly1 
,charles ,austin and ,i1 with some      
others1 met and agreed on a plan4 ,we   

determined to meet once a fortnight from
 ,november to ,june1 at the ,freemasons'
 ,tavern1 and we had soon a fine list of
 members1 containing1 along with several
 members of ,parliament1 nearly all the 
most noted speakers of the ,cambridge   
,union and of the ,oxford ,united       
,debating ,society4 ,it is curiously    
illustrative of the tendencies of the   
time1 that our principal difficulty in  
recruiting for the ,society was to find 
a sufficient number of ,tory speakers4  
,almost all whom we could press into the
 service were ,liberals1 of different   
orders and degrees4 ,besides those      
already named1 we had ,macaulay1        
,thirlwall1 ,praed1 ,lord ,howick1      
,samuel ,wilberforce 7afterwards ,bishop
 of ,oxford71 ,charles ,poulett ,thomson
 7afterwards ,lord ,sydenham71 ,edward  
and ,henry ,lytton ,bulwer1 ,fonblanque1
 and many others whom ,i cannot now     
recollect1 but who made themselves      
afterwards more or less conspicuous in  
public or literary life4 ,nothing could 

seem more promising4 ,but when the time 
for action drew near1 and it was        
necessary to fix on a ,president1 and   
find somebody to open the first debate1 
none of our celebrities would consent to
 perform either office4 ,of the many who
 were pressed on the subject1 the only  
one who could be prevailed on was a man 
of whom ,i knew very little1 but who had
 taken high honours at ,oxford and was  
said to have acquired a great oratorical
 reputation there2 who some time        
afterwards became a ,tory member of     
,parliament4 ,he accordingly was fixed  
on1 both for filling the ,president's   
chair and for making the first speech4  
,the important day arrived2 the benches 
were crowded2 all our great speakers    
were present1 to judge of1 but not to   
help our efforts4 ,the ,oxford orator's 
speech was a complete failure4 ,this    
threw a damp on the whole concern3 the  
speakers who followed were few1 and none
 of them did their best3 the affair was 
a complete fiasco2 and the oratorical   

celebrities we had counted on went away 
never to return1 giving to me at least a
 lesson in knowledge of the world4 ,this
 unexpected breakdown altered my whole  
relation to the project4 ,i had not     
anticipated taking a prominent part1 or 
speaking much or often1 particularly at 
first1 but ,i now saw that the success  
of the scheme depended on the new men1  
and ,i put my shoulder to the wheel4 ,i 
opened the second question1 and from    
that time spoke in nearly every debate4 
,it was very uphill work for some time4 
,the three ,villiers and ,romilly stuck 
to us for some time longer1 but the     
patience of all the founders of the     
,society was at last exhausted1 except  
me and ,roebuck4 ,in the season         
following1 #ahbf-g1 things began to     
mend4 ,we had acquired two excellent    
,tory speakers1 ,hayward and ,shee      
7afterwards ,sergeant ,shee73 the       
,radical side was reinforced by ,charles
 ,buller1 ,cockburn1 and others of the  
second generation of ,cambridge         

,benthamities2 and with their and other 
occasional aid1 and the two ,tories as  
well as ,roebuck and me for regular     
speakers1 almost every debate was a     
bataille range between the philosophic  
,radicals and the ,tory lawyers2 until  
our conflicts were talked about1 and    
several persons of note and             
consideration came to hear us4 ,this    
happened still more in the subsequent   
seasons1 #ahbh and #ahbi1 when the      
,coleridgians1 in the persons of        
,maurice and ,sterling1 made their      
appearance in the ,society as a second  
,liberal and even ,radical party1 on    
totally different grounds from          
,benthamism and vehemently opposed to   
it2 bringing into these discussions the 
general doctrines and modes of thought  
of the ,european reaction against the   
philosophy of the eighteenth century2   
and adding a third and very important   
belligerent party to our contests1 which
 were now no bad exponent of the        
movement of opinion among the most      

cultivated part of the new generation4  
,our debates were very different from   
those of common debating societies1 for 
they habitually consisted of the        
strongest arguments and most philosophic
 principles which either side was able  
to produce1 thrown often into close and 
serr confutations of one another4 ,the  
practice was necessarily very useful to 
us1 and eminently so to me4 ,i never1   
indeed1 acquired real fluency1 and had  
always a bad and ungraceful delivery2   
but ,i could make myself listened to3   
and as ,i always wrote my speeches when1
 from the feelings involved1 or the     
nature of the ideas to be developed1    
expression seemed important1 ,i greatly 
increased my power of effective writing2
 acquiring not only an ear for          
smoothness and rhythm1 but a practical  
sense for telling sentences1 and an     
immediate criterion of their telling    
property1 by their effect on a mixed    
audience4  ,the ,society1 and the       
preparation for it1 together with the   

preparation for the morning             
conversations which were going on       
simultaneously1 occupied the greater    
part of my leisure2 and made me feel it 
a relief when1 in the spring of #ahbh1  
,i ceased to write for the ,westminster4
 ,the ,review had fallen into           
difficulties4 ,though the sale of the   
first number had been very encouraging1 
the permanent sale had never1 ,i        
believe1 been sufficient to pay the     
expenses1 on the scale on which the     
,review was carried on4 ,those expenses 
had been considerably1 but not          
sufficiently1 reduced4 ,one of the      
editors1 ,southern1 had resigned2 and   
several of the writers1 including my    
father and me1 who had been paid like   
other contributors for our earlier      
articles1 had latterly written without  
payment4 ,nevertheless1 the original    
funds were nearly or quite exhausted1   
and if the ,review was to be continued  
some new arrangement of its affairs had 
become indispensable4 ,my father and ,i 

had several conferences with ,bowring on
 the subject4 ,we were willing to do our
 utmost for maintaining the ,review as  
an organ of our opinions1 but not under 
,bowring's editorship3 while the        
impossibility of its any longer         
supporting a paid editor1 afforded a    
ground on which1 without affront to him1
 we could propose to dispense with his  
services4 ,we and some of our friends   
were prepared to carry on the ,review as
 unpaid writers1 either finding among   
ourselves an unpaid editor1 or sharing  
the editorship among us4 ,but while this
 negotiation was proceeding with        
,bowring's apparent acquiescence1 he was
 carrying on another in a different     
quarter 7with ,colonel ,perronet        
,thompson71 of which we received the    
first intimation in a letter from       
,bowring as editor1 informing us merely 
that an arrangement had been made1 and  
proposing to us to write for the next   
number1 with promise of payment4 ,we did
 not dispute ,bowring's right to bring  

about1 if he could1 an arrangement more 
favourable to himself than the one we   
had proposed2 but we thought the        
concealment which he had practised      
towards us1 while seemingly entering    
into our own project1 an affront3 and   
even had we not thought so1 we were     
indisposed to expend any more of our    
time and trouble in attempting to write 
up the ,review under his management4    
,accordingly my father excused himself  
from writing2 though two or three years 
later1 on great pressure1 he did write  
one more political article4 ,as for me1 
,i positively refused4 ,and thus ended  
my connexion with the original          
,westminster4 ,the last article which ,i
 wrote in it had cost me more labour    
than any previous2 but it was a labour  
of love1 being a defence of the early   
,french ,revolutionists against the     
,tory misrepresentations of ,sir ,walter
 ,scott1 in the introduction to his     
,life of ,napoleon4 ,the number of books
 which ,i read for this purpose1 making 

notes and extracts--even the number ,i  
had to buy 7for in those days there was 
no public or subscription library from  
which books of reference could be taken 
home7--far exceeded the worth of the    
immediate object2 but ,i had at that    
time a half-formed intention of writing 
a ,history of the ,french ,revolution2  
and though ,i never executed it1 my     
collections afterwards were very useful 
to ,carlyle for a similar purpose4      
,,chapter ,v  ,,crisis ,,in ,,my        
,,mental ,,history4 ,,one ,,stage       
,,onward   ,for some years after this   
time ,i wrote very little1 and nothing  
regularly1 for publication3 and great   
were the advantages which ,i derived    
from the intermission4 ,it was of no    
common importance to me1 at this period1
 to be able to digest and mature my     
thoughts for my own mind only1 without  
any immediate call for giving them out  
in print4 ,had ,i gone on writing1 it   
would have much disturbed the important 
transformation in my opinions and       

character1 which took place during those
 years4 ,the origin of this             
transformation1 or at least the process 
by which ,i was prepared for it1 can    
only be explained by turning some       
distance back4  ,from the winter of     
#ahba1 when ,i first read ,bentham1 and 
especially from the commencement of the 
,westminster ,review1 ,i had what might 
truly be called an object in life2 to be
 a reformer of the world4 ,my conception
 of my own happiness was entirely       
identified with this object4 ,the       
personal sympathies ,i wished for were  
those of fellow labourers in this       
enterprise4 ,i endeavoured to pick up as
 many flowers as ,i could by the way2   
but as a serious and permanent personal 
satisfaction to rest upon1 my whole     
reliance was placed on this2 and ,i was 
accustomed to felicitate myself on the  
certainty of a happy life which ,i      
enjoyed1 through placing my happiness in
 something durable and distant1 in which
 some progress might be always making1  

while it could never be exhausted by    
complete attainment4 ,this did very well
 for several years1 during which the    
general improvement going on in the     
world and the idea of myself as engaged 
with others in struggling to promote it1
 seemed enough to fill up an interesting
 and animated existence4 ,but the time  
came when ,i awakened from this as from 
a dream4 ,it was in the autumn of #ahbf4
 ,i was in a dull state of nerves1 such 
as everybody is occasionally liable to2 
unsusceptible to enjoyment or           
pleasurable excitement2 one of those    
moods when what is pleasure at other    
times1 becomes insipid or indifferent2  
the state1 ,i should think1 in which    
converts to ,methodism usually are1 when
 smitten by their first conviction of   
sin4 ,in this frame of mind it occurred 
to me to put the question directly to   
myself3 ,suppose that all your objects  
in life were realized2 that all the     
changes in institutions and opinions    
which you are looking forward to1 could 

be completely effected at this very     
instant3 would this be a great joy and  
happiness to you8 ,and an irrepressible 
self-consciousness distinctly answered1 
,no6 ,at this my heart sank within me3  
the whole foundation on which my life   
was constructed fell down4 ,all my      
happiness was to have been found in the 
continual pursuit of this end4 ,the end 
had ceased to charm1 and how could there
 ever again be any interest in the      
means8 ,i seemed to have nothing left to
 live for4  ,at first ,i hoped that the 
cloud would pass away of itself2 but it 
did not4 ,a night's sleep1 the sovereign
 remedy for the smaller vexations of    
life1 had no effect on it4 ,i awoke to a
 renewed consciousness of the woful     
fact4 ,i carried it with me into all    
companies1 into all occupations4 ,hardly
 anything had power to cause me even a  
few minutes' oblivion of it4 ,for some  
months the cloud seemed to grow thicker 
and thicker4 ,the lines in ,coleridge's 
,dejection--,i was not then acquainted  

with them--exactly describe my case3    
,a grief without a pang1 void1 dark and 
drear1     ,a drowsy1 stifled1          
unimpassioned grief1     ,which finds no
 natural outlet or relief     ,in word1 
or sigh1 or tear4  ,in vain ,i sought   
relief from my favourite books2 those   
memorials of past nobleness and         
greatness from which ,i had always      
hitherto drawn strength and animation4  
,i read them now without feeling1 or    
with the accustomed feeling minus all   
its charm2 and ,i became persuaded1 that
 my love of mankind1 and of excellence  
for its own sake1 had worn itself out4  
,i sought no comfort by speaking to     
others of what ,i felt4 ,if ,i had loved
 anyone sufficiently to make confiding  
my griefs a necessity1 ,i should not    
have been in the condition ,i was4 ,i   
felt1 too1 that mine was not an         
interesting1 or in any way respectable  
distress4 ,there was nothing in it to   
attract sympathy4 ,advice1 if ,i had    
known where to seek it1 would have been 

most precious4 ,the words of ,macbeth to
 the physician often occurred to my     
thoughts4 ,but there was no one on whom 
,i could build the faintest hope of such
 assistance4 ,my father1 to whom it     
would have been natural to me to have   
recourse in any practical difficulties1 
was the last person to whom1 in such a  
case as this1 ,i looked for help4       
,everything convinced me that he had no 
knowledge of any such mental state as ,i
 was suffering from1 and that even if he
 could be made to understand it1 he was 
not the physician who could heal it4 ,my
 education1 which was wholly his work1  
had been conducted without any regard to
 the possibility of its ending in this  
result2 and ,i saw no use in giving him 
the pain of thinking that his plans had 
failed1 when the failure was probably   
irremediable1 and1 at all events1 beyond
 the power of his remedies4 ,of other   
friends1 ,i had at that time none to    
whom ,i had any hope of making my       
condition intelligible4 ,it was1        

however1 abundantly intelligible to     
myself2 and the more ,i dwelt upon it1  
the more hopeless it appeared4  ,my     
course of study had led me to believe1  
that all mental and moral feelings and  
qualities1 whether of a good or of a bad
 kind1 were the results of association2 
that we love one thing1 and hate        
another1 take pleasure in one sort of   
action or contemplation1 and pain in    
another sort1 through the clinging of   
pleasurable or painful ideas to those   
things1 from the effect of education or 
of experience4 ,as a corollary from     
this1 ,i had always heard it maintained 
by my father1 and was myself convinced1 
that the object of education should be  
to form the strongest possible          
associations of the salutary class2     
associations of pleasure with all things
 beneficial to the great whole1 and of  
pain with all things hurtful to it4     
,this doctrine appeared inexpugnable2   
but it now seemed to me1 on retrospect1 
that my teachers had occupied themselves

 but superficially with the means of    
forming and keeping up these salutary   
associations4 ,they seemed to have      
trusted altogether to the old familiar  
instruments1 praise and blame1 reward   
and punishment4 ,now1 ,i did not doubt  
that by these means1 begun early1 and   
applied unremittingly1 intense          
associations of pain and pleasure1      
especially of pain1 might be created1   
and might produce desires and aversions 
capable of lasting undiminished to the  
end of life4 ,but there must always be  
something artificial and casual in      
associations thus produced4 ,the pains  
and pleasures thus forcibly associated  
with things1 are not connected with them
 by any natural tie2 and it is          
therefore1 ,i thought1 essential to the 
durability of these associations1 that  
they should have become so intense and  
inveterate as to be practically         
indissoluble1 before the habitual       
exercise of the power of analysis had   
commenced4 ,for ,i now saw1 or thought  

,i saw1 what ,i had always before       
received with incredulity --that the    
habit of analysis has a tendency to wear
 away the feelings3 as indeed it has1   
when no other mental habit is           
cultivated1 and the analysing spirit    
remains without its natural complements 
and correctives4 ,the very excellence of
 analysis 7,i argued7 is that it tends  
to weaken and undermine whatever is the 
result of prejudice2 that it enables us 
mentally to separate ideas which have   
only casually clung together3 and no    
associations whatever could ultimately  
resist this dissolving force1 were it   
not that we owe to analysis our clearest
 knowledge of the permanent sequences in
 nature2 the real connexions between    
,things1 not dependent on our will and  
feelings2 natural laws1 by virtue of    
which1 in many cases1 one thing is      
inseparable from another in fact2 which 
laws1 in proportion as they are clearly 
perceived and imaginatively realized1   
cause our ideas of things which are     

always joined together in ,nature1 to   
cohere more and more closely in our     
thoughts4 ,analytic habits may thus even
 strengthen the associations between    
causes and effects1 means and ends1 but 
tend altogether to weaken those which   
are1 to speak familiarly1 a mere matter 
of feeling4 ,they are therefore 7,i     
thought7 favourable to prudence and     
clear- sightedness1 but a perpetual worm
 at the root both of the passions and of
 the virtues2 and1 above all1 fearfully 
undermine all desires1 and all          
pleasures1 which are the effects of     
association1 that is1 according to the  
theory ,i held1 all except the purely   
physical and organic2 of the entire     
insufficiency of which to make life     
desirable1 no one had a stronger        
conviction than ,i had4 ,these were the 
laws of human nature1 by which1 as it   
seemed to me1 ,i had been brought to my 
present state4 ,all those to whom ,i    
looked up1 were of opinion that the     
pleasure of sympathy with human beings1 

and the feelings which made the good of 
others1 and especially of mankind on a  
large scale1 the object of existence1   
were the greatest and surest sources of 
happiness4 ,of the truth of this ,i was 
convinced1 but to know that a feeling   
would make me happy if ,i had it1 did   
not give me the feeling4 ,my education1 
,i thought1 had failed to create these  
feelings in sufficient strength to      
resist the dissolving influence of      
analysis1 while the whole course of my  
intellectual cultivation had made       
precocious and premature analysis the   
inveterate habit of my mind4 ,i was     
thus1 as ,i said to myself1 left        
stranded at the commencement of my      
voyage1 with a well-equipped ship and a 
rudder1 but no sail2 without any real   
desire for the ends which ,i had been so
 carefully fitted out to work for3 no   
delight in virtue1 or the general good1 
but also just as little in anything     
else4 ,the fountains of vanity and      
ambition seemed to have dried up within 

me1 as completely as those of           
benevolence4 ,i had had 7as ,i          
reflected7 some gratification of vanity 
at too early an age3 ,i had obtained    
some distinction and felt myself of some
 importance1 before the desire of       
distinction and of importance had grown 
into a passion3 and little as it was    
which ,i had attained1 yet having been  
attained too early1 like all pleasures  
enjoyed too soon1 it had made me blas   
and indifferent to the pursuit4 ,thus   
neither selfish nor unselfish pleasures 
were pleasures to me4 ,and there seemed 
no power in nature sufficient to begin  
the formation of my character anew1 and 
create1 in a mind now irretrievably     
analytic1 fresh associations of pleasure
 with any of the objects of human       
desire4  ,these were the thoughts which 
mingled with the dry1 heavy dejection of
 the melancholy winter of #ahbf-g4      
,during this time ,i was not incapable  
of my usual occupations4 ,i went on with
 them mechanically1 by the mere force of

 habit4 ,i had been so drilled in a     
certain sort of mental exercise1 that ,i
 could still carry it on when all the   
spirit had gone out of it4 ,i even      
composed and spoke several speeches at  
the debating society1 how1 or with what 
degree of success1 ,i know not4 ,of four
 years' continual speaking at that      
society1 this is the only year of which 
,i remember next to nothing4 ,two lines 
of ,coleridge1 in whom alone of all     
writers ,i have found a true description
 of what ,i felt1 were often in my      
thoughts1 not at this time 7for ,i had  
never read them71 but in a later period 
of the same mental malady3      ,work   
without hope draws nectar in a sieve1   
,and hope without an object cannot live4
  ,in all probability my case was by no 
means so peculiar as ,i fancied it1 and 
,i doubt not that many others have      
passed through a similar state2 but the 
idiosyncrasies of my education had given
 to the general phenomenon a special    
character1 which made it seem the       

natural effect of causes that it was    
hardly possible for time to remove4 ,i  
frequently asked myself1 if ,i could1 or
 if ,i was bound to go on living1 when  
life must be passed in this manner4 ,i  
generally answered to myself that ,i did
 not think ,i could possibly bear it    
beyond a year4 ,when1 however1 not more 
than half that duration of time had     
elapsed1 a small ray of light broke in  
upon my gloom4 ,i was reading1          
accidentally1 ,marmontel's ,mmoires1 and
 came to the passage which relates his  
father's death1 the distressed position 
of the family1 and the sudden           
inspiration by which he1 then a mere    
boy1 felt and made them feel that he    
would be everything to them--would      
supply the place of all that they had   
lost4 ,a vivid conception of the scene  
and its feelings came over me1 and ,i   
was moved to tears4 ,from this moment my
 burden grew lighter4 ,the oppression of
 the thought that all feeling was dead  
within me was gone4 ,i was no longer    

hopeless3 ,i was not a stock or a stone4
 ,i had still1 it seemed1 some of the   
material out of which all worth of      
character1 and all capacity for         
happiness1 are made4 ,relieved from my  
ever-present sense of irremediable      
wretchedness1 ,i gradually found that   
the ordinary incidents of life could    
again give me some pleasure2 that ,i    
could again find enjoyment1 not intense1
 but sufficient for cheerfulness1 in    
sunshine and sky1 in books1 in          
conversation1 in public affairs2 and    
that there was1 once more1 excitement1  
though of a moderate1 kind1 in exerting 
myself for my opinions1 and for the     
public good4 ,thus the cloud gradually  
drew off1 and ,i again enjoyed life2 and
 though ,i had several relapses1 some of
 which lasted many months1 ,i never     
again was as miserable as ,i had been4  
,the experiences of this period had two 
very marked effects on my opinions and  
character4 ,in the first place1 they led
 me to adopt a theory of life1 very     

unlike that on which ,i had before ,i   
acted1 and having much in common with   
what at that time ,i certainly had never
 heard of1 the anti-self- consciousness 
theory of ,carlyle4 ,i never1 indeed1   
wavered in the conviction that happiness
 is the test of all rules of conduct1   
and the end of life4 ,but ,i now thought
 that this end was only to be attained  
by not making it the direct end4 ,those 
only are happy 7,i thought7 who have    
their minds fixed on some object other  
than their own happiness2 on the        
happiness of others1 on the improvement 
of mankind1 even on some art or pursuit1
 followed not as a means1 but as itself 
an ideal end4 ,aiming thus at something 
else1 they find happiness by the way4   
,the enjoyments of life 7such was now my
 theory7 are sufficient to make it a    
pleasant thing1 when they are taken en  
passant1 without being made a principal 
object4 ,once make them so1 and they are
 immediately felt to be insufficient4   
,they will not bear a scrutinizing      

examination4 ,ask yourself whether you  
are happy1 and you cease to be so4 ,the 
only chance is to treat1 not happiness1 
but some end external to it1 as the     
purpose of life4 ,let your              
self-consciousness1 your scrutiny1 your 
self-interrogation1 exhaust themselves  
on that2 and if otherwise fortunately   
circumstanced you will inhale happiness 
with the air you breathe1 without       
dwelling on it or thinking about it1    
without either forestalling it in       
imagination1 or putting it to flight by 
fatal questioning4 ,this theory now     
became the basis of my philosophy of    
life4 ,and ,i still hold to it as the   
best theory for all those who have but a
 moderate degree of sensibility and of  
capacity ,i for enjoyment2 that is1 for 
the great majority of mankind4  ,the    
other important change which my opinions
 at this time underwent1 was that ,i1   
for the first time1 gave its proper     
place1 among the prime necessities of   
human well-being1 to the internal       

culture of the individual4 ,i ceased to 
attach almost exclusive importance to   
the ordering of outward circumstances1  
and the training of the human being for 
speculation and for action4  ,i had now 
learnt by experience that the passing   
susceptibilities needed to be cultivated
 as well as the active capacities1 and  
required to be nourished and enriched as
 well as guided4 ,i did not1 for an     
instant1 lose sight of1 or undervalue1  
that part of the truth which ,i had seen
 before2 ,i never turned recreant to    
intellectual culture1 or ceased to      
consider the power and practice of      
analysis as an essential condition both 
of individual and of social improvement 
,but #a thought that it had consequences
 which required to be corrected1 by     
joining other kinds of cultivation with 
it4 ,the maintenance of a due balance   
among the faculties now seemed to be of 
primary importance4 ,the cultivation of 
the feelings became one of the cardinal 
points in my ethical and philosophical  

creed4 ,and my thoughts and inclinations
 turned in an increasing degree towards 
whatever seemed capable of being        
instrumental to that object4  ,i now    
began to find meaning in the things1    
which ,i had read or heard about the    
importance of poetry and art as         
instruments of human culture4 ,but it   
was some time longer before ,i began to 
know this by personal experience4 ,the  
only one of the imaginative arts in     
which ,i had from childhood taken great 
pleasure1 was music2 the best effect of 
which 7and in this it surpasses perhaps 
every other art7 consists in exciting   
enthusiasm2 in winding up to a high     
pitch those feelings of an elevated kind
 which are already in the character1 but
 to which this excitement gives a glow  
and a fervour1 which1 though transitory 
at its utmost height1 is precious for   
sustaining them at other times4 ,this   
effect of music ,i had often            
experienced2 but1 like all my           
pleasurable susceptibilities1 it was    

suspended during the gloomy period4 ,i  
had sought relief again and again from  
this quarter1 but found none4 ,after the
 tide had turned1 and ,i was in process 
of recovery1 ,i had been helped forward 
by music1 but in a much less elevated   
manner4 ,i at this time first became    
acquainted with ,weber's ,oberon1 and   
the extreme pleasure which ,i drew from 
its delicious melodies did me good by   
showing me a source of pleasure to which
 ,i was as susceptible as ever4 ,the    
good1 however1 was much impaired by the 
thought that the pleasure of music 7as  
is quite true of such pleasure as this  
was1 that of mere tune7 fades with      
familiarity1 and requires either to be  
revived by intermittence1 or fed by     
continual novelty4 ,and it is very      
characteristic both of my then state1   
and of the general tone of my mind at   
this period of my life1 that ,i was     
seriously tormented by the thought of   
the exhaustibility of musical           
combinations4 ,the octave consists only 

of five tones and two semi-tones1 which 
can be put together in only a limited   
number of ways1 of which but a small    
proportion are beautiful3 most of these1
 it seemed to me1 must have been already
 discovered1 and there could not be room
 for a long succession of ,mozarts and  
,webers1 to strike out1 as these had    
done1 entirely new and surpassingly rich
 veins of musical beauty4 ,this source  
of anxiety may1 perhaps1 be thought to  
resemble that of the philosophers of    
,laputa1 who feared lest the sun should 
be burnt out4 ,it was1 however1         
connected with the best feature in my   
character1 and the only good point to be
 found in my very unromantic and in no  
way honourable distress4 ,for though my 
dejection1 honestly looked at1 could not
 be called other than egotistical1      
produced by the ruin1 as ,i thought1 of 
my fabric of happiness1 yet the destiny 
of mankind in general was ever in my    
thoughts1 and could not be separated    
from my own4 ,i felt that the flaw in my

 life1 must be a flaw in life itself2   
that the question was1 whether1 if the  
reformers of society and government     
could succeed in their objects1 and     
every person in the community were free 
and in a state of physical comfort1 the 
pleasures of life1 being no longer kept 
up by struggle and privation1 would     
cease to be pleasures4 ,and ,i felt that
 unless ,i could see my way to some     
better hope than this for human         
happiness in general1 my dejection must 
continue2 but that if ,i could see such 
an outlet1 ,i should then look on the   
world with pleasure2 content1 as far as 
,i was myself concerned1 with any fair  
share of the general lot4  ,this state  
of my thoughts and feelings made the    
fact of my reading ,wordsworth for the  
first time 7in the autumn of #ahbh71 an 
important event of my life4 ,i took up  
the collection of his poems from        
curiosity1 with no expectation of mental
 relief from it1 though ,i had before   
resorted to poetry with that hope4 ,in  

the worst period of my depression1 ,i   
had read through the whole of ,byron    
7then new to me71 to try whether a poet1
 whose peculiar department was supposed 
to be that of the intenser feelings1    
could rouse any feeling in me4 ,as might
 be expected1 ,i got no good from this  
reading1 but the reverse4 ,the poet's   
state of mind was too like my own4 ,his 
was the lament of a man who had worn out
 all pleasures1 and who seemed to think 
that life1 to all who possess the good  
things of it1 must necessarily be the   
vapid1 uninteresting thing which ,i     
found it4 ,his ,harold and ,manfred had 
the same burden on them which ,i had2   
and ,i was not in a frame of mind to    
desire any comfort from the vehement    
sensual passion of his ,giaours1 or the 
sullenness of his ,laras4 ,but while    
,byron was exactly what did not suit my 
condition1 ,wordsworth was exactly what 
did4 ,i had looked into the ,excursion  
two or three years before1 and found    
little in it2 and ,i should probably    

have found as little1 had ,i read it at 
this time4 ,but the miscellaneous poems1
 in the two-volume edition of #ahae 7to 
which little of value was added in the  
latter part of the author's life71      
proved to be the precise thing for my   
mental wants at that particular         
juncture4  ,in the first place1 these   
poems addressed themselves powerfully to
 one of the strongest of my pleasurable 
susceptibilities1 the love of rural     
objects and natural scenery2 to which ,i
 had been indebted not only for much of 
the pleasure of my life1 but quite      
recently for relief from one of my      
longest relapses into depression4 ,in   
this power of rural beauty over me1     
there was a foundation laid for taking  
pleasure in ,wordsworth's poetry2 the   
more so1 as his scenery lies mostly     
among mountains1 which1 owing to my     
early ,pyrenean excursion1 were my ideal
 of natural beauty4 ,but ,wordsworth    
would never have had any great effect on
 me1 if he had merely placed before me  

beautiful pictures of natural scenery4  
,scott does this still better than      
,wordsworth1 and a very second-rate     
landscape does it more effectually than 
any poet4 ,what made ,wordsworth's poems
 a medicine for my state of mind1 was   
that they expressed1 not mere outward   
beauty1 but states of feeling1 and of   
thought coloured by feeling1 under the  
excitement of beauty4 ,they seemed to be
 the very culture of the feelings1 which
 ,i was in quest of4 ,in them ,i seemed 
to draw from a source of inward joy1 of 
sympathetic and imaginative pleasure1   
which could be shared in by all human   
beings2 which had no connection with    
struggle or imperfection1 but would be  
made richer by every improvement in the 
physical or social condition of mankind4
 ,from them ,i seemed to learn what     
would be the perennial sources of       
happiness1 when all the greater evils of
 life shall have been removed4 ,and ,i  
felt myself at once better and happier  
as ,i came under their influence4 ,there

 have certainly been1 even in our own   
age1 greater poets than ,wordsworth2 but
 poetry of deeper and loftier feeling   
could not have done for me at that time 
what his did4 ,i needed to be made to   
feel that there was real1 permanent     
happiness in tranquil contemplation4    
,wordsworth taught me this1 not only    
without turning away from1 but with a   
greatly increased interest in1 the      
common feelings and common destiny of   
human beings4 ,and the delight which    
these poems gave me1 proved that with   
culture of this sort1 there was nothing 
to dread from the most confirmed habit  
of analysis4 ,at the conclusion of the  
,poems came the famous ,ode1 falsely    
called ,platonic1 ,intimations of       
,immortality3 in which1 along with more 
than his usual sweetness of melody and  
rhythm1 and along with the two passages 
of grand imagery but bad philosophy so  
often quoted1 ,i found that he too had  
had similar experience to mine2 that he 
also had felt that the first freshness  

of youthful enjoyment of life was not   
lasting2 but that he had sought for     
compensation1 and found it1 in the way  
in which he was now teaching me to find 
it4 ,the result was that ,i gradually1  
but completely1 emerged from my habitual
 depression1 and was never again subject
 to it4 ,i long continued to value      
,wordsworth less according to his       
intrinsic merits1 than by the measure of
 what he had done for me4 ,compared with
 the greatest poets1 he may be said to  
be the poet of unpoetical natures1      
possessed of quiet and contemplative    
tastes4 ,but unpoetical natures are     
precisely those which require poetic    
cultivation4 ,this cultivation          
,wordsworth is much more fitted to give1
 than poets who are intrinsically far   
more poets than he4  ,it so fell out    
that the merits of ,wordsworth were the 
occasion of my first public declaration 
of my new way of thinking1 and          
separation from those of my habitual    
companions who had not undergone a      

similar change4 ,the person with whom at
 that time ,i was most in the habit of  
comparing notes on such subjects was    
,roebuck1 and ,i induced him to read    
,wordsworth1 in whom he also at first   
seemed to find much to admire3 but ,i1  
like most ,wordsworthians1 threw myself 
into strong antagonism to ,byron1 both  
as a poet and as to his influence on the
 character4 ,roebuck1 all whose         
instincts were those of action and      
struggle1 had1 on the contrary1 a strong
 relish and great admiration of ,byron1 
whose writings he regarded as the poetry
 of human life1 while ,wordsworth's1    
according to him1 was that of flowers   
and butterflies4 ,we agreed to have the 
fight out at our ,debating ,society1    
where we accordingly discussed for two  
evenings the comparative merits of      
,byron and ,wordsworth1 propounding and 
illustrating by long recitations our    
respective theories of poetry3 ,sterling
 also1 in a brilliant speech1 putting   
forward his particular theory4 ,this was

 the first debate on any weighty subject
 in which ,roebuck and ,i had been on   
opposite sides4 ,the schism between us  
widened from this time more and more1   
though we continued for some years      
longer to be companions4 ,in the        
beginning1 our chief divergence related 
to the cultivation of the feelings4     
,roebuck was in many respects very      
different from the vulgar notion of a   
,benthamite or ,utilitarian4 ,he was a  
lover of poetry and of most of the fine 
arts4 ,he took great pleasure in music1 
in dramatic performances1 especially in 
painting1 and himself drew and designed 
landscapes with great facility and      
beauty4 ,but he never could be made to  
see that these things have any value as 
aids in the formation of character4     
,personally1 instead of being1 as       
,benthamites are supposed to be1 void of
 feeling1 he had very quick and strong  
sensibilities4 ,but1 like most          
,englishmen who have feelings1 he found 
his feelings stand very much in his way4

 ,he was much more susceptible to the   
painful sympathies than to the          
pleasurable1 and1 looking for his       
happiness elsewhere1 he wished that his 
feelings should be deadened rather than 
quickened4 ,and1 in truth1 the ,english 
character1 and ,english social          
circumstances1 make it so seldom        
possible to derive happiness from the   
exercise of the sympathies1 that it is  
not wonderful if they count for little  
in an ,englishman's scheme of life4 ,in 
most other countries the paramount      
importance of the sympathies as a       
constituent of individual happiness is  
an axiom1 taken for granted rather than 
needing any formal statement2 but most  
,english thinkers always seem to regard 
them as necessary evils1 required for   
keeping men's actions benevolent and    
compassionate4 ,roebuck was1 or appeared
 to be1 this kind of ,englishman4 ,he   
saw little good in any cultivation of   
the feelings1 and none at all in        
cultivating them through the            

imagination1 which he thought was only  
cultivating illusions4 ,it was in vain  
,i urged on him that the imaginative    
emotion which an idea1 when vividly     
conceived1 excites in us1 is not an     
illusion but a fact1 as real as any of  
the other qualities of objects2 and1 far
 from implying anything erroneous and   
delusive in our mental apprehension of  
the object1 is quite consistent with the
 most accurate knowledge and most       
perfect practical recognition of all its
 physical and intellectual laws and     
relations4 ,the intensest feeling of the
 beauty of a cloud lighted by the       
setting sun1 is no hindrance to my      
knowing that the cloud is vapour of     
water1 subject to all the laws of       
vapours in a state of suspension2 and ,i
 am just as likely to allow for1 and act
 on1 these physical laws whenever there 
is occasion to do so1 as if ,i had been 
incapable of perceiving any distinction 
between beauty and ugliness4  ,while my 
intimacy with ,roebuck diminished1 ,i   

fell more and more into friendly        
intercourse with our ,coleridgian       
adversaries in the ,society1 ,frederick 
,maurice and ,john ,sterling1 both      
subsequently so well known1 the former  
by his writings1 the latter through the 
biographies by ,hare and ,carlyle4 ,of  
these two friends1 ,maurice was the     
thinker1 ,sterling the orator1 and      
impassioned expositor of thoughts which1
 at this period1 were almost entirely   
formed for him by ,maurice4  ,with      
,maurice ,i had for some time been      
acquainted through ,eyton ,tooke1 who   
had known him at ,cambridge1 and        
although my discussions with him were   
almost always disputes1 ,i had carried  
away from them much that helped to build
 up my new fabric of thought1 in the    
same way as ,i was deriving much from   
,coleridge1 and from the writings of    
,goethe and other ,german authors which 
,i read during these years4 ,i have so  
deep a respect for ,maurice's character 
and purposes1 as well as for his great  

mental gifts1 that it is with some      
unwillingness ,i say anything which may 
seem to place him on a less high        
eminence than ,i would gladly be able to
 accord to him4 ,but ,i have always     
thought that there was more intellectual
 power wasted in ,maurice than in any   
other of my contemporaries4 ,few of them
 certainly have had so much to waste4   
,great powers of generalization1 rare   
ingenuity and subtlety1 and a wide      
perception of important and unobvious   
truths1 served him not for putting      
something better into the place of the  
worthless heap of received opinions on  
the great subjects of thought1 but for  
proving to his own mind that the ,church
 of ,england had known everything from  
the first1 and that all the truths on   
the ground of which the ,church and     
orthodoxy have been attacked 7many of   
which he saw as clearly as anyone7 are  
not only consistent with the            
,thirty-nine ,articles1 but are better  
understood and expressed in those       

,articles than by anyone who rejects    
them4 ,i have never been able to find   
any other explanation of this1 than by  
attributing it to that timidity of      
conscience1 combined with original      
sensitiveness of temperament1 which has 
so often driven highly gifted men into  
,romanism1 from the need of a firmer    
support than they can find in the       
independent conclusions of their own    
judgment4 ,any more vulgar kind of      
timidity no one who knew ,maurice would 
ever think of imputing to him1 even if  
he had not given public proof of his    
freedom from it1 by his ultimate        
collision with some of the opinions     
commonly regarded as orthodox1 and by   
his noble origination of the ,christian 
,socialist movement4 ,the nearest       
parallel to him1 in a moral point of    
view1 is ,coleridge1 to whom1 in merely 
intellectual power1 apart from poetical 
genius1 ,i think him decidedly superior4
 ,at this time1 however1 he might be    
described as a disciple of ,coleridge1  

and ,sterling as a disciple of          
,coleridge and of him4 ,the             
modifications which were taking place in
 my old opinions gave me some points of 
contact with them2 and both ,maurice and
 ,sterling were of considerable use to  
my development4 ,with ,sterling ,i soon 
became very intimate1 and was more      
attached to him than ,i have ever been  
to any other man4 ,he was indeed one of 
the most lovable of men4 ,his frank1    
cordial1 affectionate1 and expansive    
character2 a love of truth alike        
conspicuous in the highest things and   
the humblest2 a generous and ardent     
nature1 which threw itself with         
impetuosity into the opinions it        
adopted1 but was as eager to do justice 
to the doctrines and the men it was     
opposed to1 as to make war on what it   
thought their errors2 and an equal      
devotion to the two cardinal points of  
,liberty and ,duty1 formed a combination
 of qualities as attractive to me as to 
all others who knew him as well as ,i   

did4 ,with his open mind and heart1 he  
found no difficulty in joining hands    
with me across the gulf which as yet    
divided our opinions4 ,he told me how he
 and others had looked upon me 7from    
hearsay information71 as a made or      
manufactured man1 having had a certain  
impress of opinion stamped on me which  
,i could only reproduce2 and what a     
change took place in his feelings when  
he found1 in the discussion on          
,wordsworth and ,byron1 that            
,wordsworth1 and all which that name    
implies1 belonged to me as much as to   
him and his friends4 ,the failure of his
 health soon scattered all his plans of 
life1 and compelled him to live at a    
distance from ,london1 so that after the
 first year or two of our acquaintance1 
we only saw each other at distant       
intervals4 ,but 7as he said himself in  
one of his letters to ,carlyle7 when we 
did meet it was like brothers4 ,though  
he was never1 in the full sense of the  
word1 a profound thinker1 his openness  

of mind1 and the moral courage in which 
he greatly surpassed ,maurice1 made him 
outgrow the dominion which ,maurice and 
,coleridge had once exercised over his  
intellect2 though he retained to the    
last a great but discriminating         
admiration of both1 and towards ,maurice
 a warm affection4 ,except in that short
 and transitory phasis of his life1     
during which he made the mistake of     
becoming a clergyman1 his mind was ever 
progressive3 and the advance he always  
seemed to have made when ,i saw him     
after an interval1 made me apply to him 
what ,goethe said of ,schiller1 er hatte
 eine furchtliche ,fortschreitung4 ,he  
and ,i started from intellectual points 
almost as wide apart as the poles1 but  
the distance between us was always      
diminishing3 if ,i made steps towards   
some of his opinions1 he1 during his    
short life1 was constantly approximating
 more and more to several of mine3 and  
if he had lived1 and had health and     
vigour to prosecute his ever assiduous  

self-culture1 there is no knowing how   
much further this spontaneous           
assimilation might have proceeded4      
,after #ahbi ,i withdrew from attendance
 on the ,debating ,society4 ,i had had  
enough of speech-making1 and was glad to
 carry on my private studies and        
meditations without any immediate call  
for outward assertion of their results4 
,i found the fabric of my old and taught
 opinions giving way in many fresh      
places1 and ,i never allowed it to fall 
to pieces1 but was incessantly occupied 
in weaving it anew4 ,i never1 in the    
course of my transition1 was content to 
remain1 for ever so short a time1       
confused and unsettled4 ,when ,i had    
taken in any new idea1 ,i could not rest
 till ,i had adjusted its relation to my
 old opinions1 and ascertained exactly  
how far its effect ought to extend in   
modifying or superseding them4  ,the    
conflicts which ,i had so often had to  
sustain in defending the theory of      
government laid down in ,bentham's and  

my father's writings1 and the           
acquaintance ,i had obtained with other 
schools of political thinking1 made me  
aware of many things which that         
doctrine1 professing to be a theory of  
government in general1 ought to have    
made room for1 and did not4 ,but these  
things1 as yet1 remained with me rather 
as corrections to be made in applying   
the theory to practice1 than as defects 
in the theory4 ,i felt that politics    
could not be a science of specific      
experience2 and that the accusations    
against the ,benthamic theory of being a
 theory1 of proceeding a priori by way  
of general reasoning1 instead of        
,baconian experiment1 showed complete   
ignorance of ,bacon's principles1 and of
 the necessary conditions of            
experimental investigation4 ,at this    
juncture appeared in the ,edinburgh     
,review1 ,macaulay's famous attack on my
 father's ,essay on ,government4 ,this  
gave me much to think about4 ,i saw that
 ,macaulay's conception of the logic of 

politics was erroneous2 that he stood up
 for the empirical mode of treating     
political phenomena1 against the        
philosophical2 that even in physical    
science his notions of philosophizing   
might have recognised ,kepler1 but would
 have excluded ,newton and ,laplace4    
,but ,i could not help feeling1 that    
though the tone was unbecoming 7an error
 for which the writer1 at a later       
period1 made the most ample and         
honourable amends71 there was truth in  
several of his strictures on my father's
 treatment of the subject2 that my      
father's premises were really too       
narrow1 and included but a small number 
of the general truths on which1 in      
politics1 the important consequences    
depend4 ,identity of interest between   
the governing body and the community at 
large is not1 in any practical sense    
which can be attached to it1 the only   
thing on which good government depends2 
neither can this identity of interest be
 secured by the mere conditions of      

election4 ,i was not at all satisfied   
with the mode in which my father met the
 criticisms of ,macaulay4 ,he did not1  
as ,i thought he ought to have done1    
justify himself by saying1 ,i was not   
writing a scientific treatise on        
politics1 ,i was writing an argument for
 parliamentary reform4 ,he treated      
,macaulay's argument as simply          
irrational2 an attack upon the reasoning
 faculty2 an example of the saying of   
,hobbes1 that ,when reason is against a 
man1 a man will be against reason4 ,this
 made me think that there was really    
something more fundamentally erroneous  
in my father's conception of            
philosophical method1 as applicable to  
politics1 than ,i had hitherto supposed 
there was4 ,but ,i did not at first see 
clearly what the error might be4 ,at    
last it flashed upon me all at once in  
the course of other studies4 ,in the    
early part of #ahcj ,i had begun to put 
on paper the ideas on ,logic 7chiefly on
 the distinctions among ,terms1 and the 

import of ,propositions7 which had been 
suggested and in part worked out in the 
morning conversations already spoken of4
 ,having secured these thoughts from    
being lost1 ,i pushed on into the other 
parts of the subject1 to try whether ,i 
could do anything further towards       
clearing up the theory of logic         
generally4 ,i grappled at once with the 
problem of ,induction1 postponing that  
of ,reasoning1 on the ground that it is 
necessary to obtain premises before we  
can reason from them4 ,now1 ,induction  
is mainly a process for finding the     
causes of effects3 and in attempting to 
fathom the mode of tracing causes and   
effects in physical science1 ,i soon saw
 that in the more perfect of the        
sciences1 we ascend1 by generalization  
from particulars1 to the tendencies of  
causes considered singly1 and then      
reason downward from those separate     
tendencies1 to the effect of the same   
causes when combined4 ,i then asked     
myself1 what is the ultimate analysis of

 this deductive process2 the common     
theory of the syllogism evidently       
throwing no light upon it4 ,my practice 
7learnt from ,hobbes and my father7     
being to study abstract principles by   
means of the best concrete instances ,i 
could find1 the ,composition of ,forces1
 in dynamics1 occurred to me as the most
 complete example of the logical process
 ,i was investigating4 ,on examining1   
accordingly1 what the mind does when it 
applies the principle of the            
,composition of ,forces1 ,i found that  
it performs a simple act of addition4   
,it adds the separate effect of the one 
force to the separate effect of the     
other1 and puts down the sum of these   
separate effects as the joint effect4   
,but is this a legitimate process8 ,in  
dynamics1 and in all the mathematical   
branches of physics1 it is2 but in some 
other cases1 as in chemistry1 it is not2
 and ,i then recollected that something 
not unlike this was pointed out as one  
of the distinctions between chemical and

 mechanical phenomena1 in the           
introduction to that favourite of my    
boyhood1 ,thompson's ,system of         
,chemistry4 ,this distinction at once   
made my mind clear as to what was       
perplexing me in respect to the         
philosophy of politics4 ,i now saw1 that
 a science is either deductive or       
experimental1 according as1 in the      
province it deals with1 the effects of  
causes when conjoined1 are or are not   
the sums of the effects which the same  
causes produce when separate4 ,it       
followed that politics must be a        
deductive science4 ,it thus appeared1   
that both ,macaulay and my father were  
wrong2 the one in assimilating the      
method of philosophizing in politics to 
the purely experimental method of       
chemistry2 while the other1 though right
 in adopting a deductive method1 had    
made a wrong selection of one1 having   
taken as the type of deduction1 not the 
appropriate process1 that of the        
deductive branches of natural           

philosophy1 but the inappropriate one of
 pure geometry1 which1 not being a      
science of causation at all1 does not   
require or admit of any summing-up of   
effects4 ,a foundation was thus laid in 
my thoughts for the principal chapters  
of what ,i afterwards published on the  
,logic of the ,moral ,sciences2 and my  
new position in respect to my old       
political creed1 now became perfectly   
definite4  ,if ,i am asked1 what system 
of political philosophy ,i substituted  
for that which1 as a philosophy1 ,i had 
abandoned1 ,i answer1 ,no system3 only a
 conviction that the true system was    
something much more complex and         
many-sided than ,i had previously had   
any idea of1 and that its office was to 
supply1 not a set of model institutions1
 but principles from which the          
institutions suitable to any given      
circumstances might be deduced4 ,the    
influences of ,european1 that is to say1
 ,continental1 thought1 and especially  
those of the reaction of the nineteenth 

century against the eighteenth1 were now
 streaming in upon me4 ,they came from  
various quarters3 from the writings of  
,coleridge1 which ,i had begun to read  
with interest even before the change in 
my opinions2 from the ,coleridgians with
 whom ,i was in personal intercourse2   
from what ,i had read of ,goethe2 from  
,carlyle's early articles in the        
,edinburgh and ,foreign ,reviews1 though
 for a long time ,i saw nothing in these
 7as my father saw nothing in them to   
the last7 but insane rhapsody4 ,from    
these sources1 and from the acquaintance
 ,i kept up with the ,french literature 
of the time1 ,i derived1 among other    
ideas which the general turning upside  
down of the opinions of ,european       
thinkers had brought uppermost1 these in
 particular3 ,that the human mind has a 
certain order of possible progress1 in  
which some things must precede others1  
an order which governments and public   
instructors can modify to some1 but not 
to an unlimited extent3 that all        

questions of political institutions are 
relative1 not absolute1 and that        
different stages of human progress not  
only will have1 but ought to have1      
different institutions3 that government 
is always either in the hands1 or       
passing into the hands1 of whatever is  
the strongest power in society1 and that
 what this power is1 does not depend on 
institutions1 but institutions on it3   
that any general theory or philosophy of
 politics supposes a previous theory of 
human progress1 and that this is the    
same thing with a philosophy of history4
 ,these opinions1 true in the main1 were
 held in an exaggerated and violent     
manner by the thinkers with whom ,i was 
now most accustomed to compare notes1   
and who1 as usual with a reaction1      
ignored that half of the truth which the
 thinkers of the eighteenth century saw4
 ,but though1 at one period of my       
progress1 ,i for some time undervalued  
that great century1 ,i never joined in  
the reaction against it1 but kept as    

firm hold of one side of the truth as ,i
 took of the other4 ,the fight between  
the nineteenth century and the          
eighteenth always reminded me of the    
battle about the shield1 one side of    
which was white and the other black4 ,i 
marvelled at the blind rage with which  
the combatants rushed against one       
another4 ,i applied to them1 and to     
,coleridge himself1 many of ,coleridge's
 sayings about half truths2 and         
,goethe's device1 many-sidedness1 was   
one which ,i would most willingly1 at   
this period1 have taken for mine4  ,the 
writers by whom1 more than by any       
others1 a new mode of political thinking
 was brought home to me1 were those of  
the ,st4 ,simonian school in ,france4   
,in #ahbi and #ahcj ,i became acquainted
 with some of their writings4 ,they were
 then only in the earlier stages of     
their speculations4 ,they had not yet   
dressed out their philosophy as a       
religion1 nor had they organized their  
scheme of ,socialism4 ,they were just   

beginning to question the principle of  
hereditary property4 ,i was by no means 
prepared to go with them even this      
length2 but ,i was greatly struck with  
the connected view which they for the   
first time presented to me1 of the      
natural order of human progress2 and    
especially with their division of all   
history into organic periods and        
critical periods4 ,during the organic   
periods 7they said7 mankind accept with 
firm conviction some positive creed1    
claiming jurisdiction over all their    
actions1 and containing more or less of 
truth and adaptation to the needs of    
humanity4 ,under its influence they make
 all the progress compatible with the   
creed1 and finally outgrow it2 when a   
period follows of criticism and         
negation1 in which mankind lose their   
old convictions without acquiring any   
new ones1 of a general or authoritative 
character1 except the conviction that   
the old are false4 ,the period of ,greek
 and ,roman polytheism1 so long as      

really believed in by instructed ,greeks
 and ,romans1 was an organic period1    
succeeded by the critical or sceptical  
period of the ,greek philosophers4      
,another organic period came in with    
,christianity4 ,the corresponding       
critical period began with the          
,reformation1 has lasted ever since1    
still lasts1 and cannot altogether cease
 until a new organic period has been    
inaugurated by the triumph of a yet more
 advanced creed4 ,these ideas1 ,i knew1 
were not peculiar to the ,st4           
,simonians2 on the contrary1 they were  
the general property of ,europe1 or at  
least of ,germany and ,france1 but they 
had never1 to my knowledge1 been so     
completely systematized as by these     
writers1 nor the distinguishing         
characteristics of a critical period so 
powerfully set forth2 for ,i was not    
then acquainted with ,fichte's ,lectures
 on the ,characteristics of the ,present
 ,age4 ,in ,carlyle1 indeed1 ,i found   
bitter denunciations of an age of       

unbelief1 and of the present age as     
such1 which ,i1 like most people at that
 time1 supposed to be passionate        
protests in favour of the old modes of  
belief4 ,but all that was true in these 
denunciations1 ,i thought that ,i found 
more calmly and philosophically stated  
by the ,st4 ,simonians4 ,among their    
publications1 too1 there was one which  
seemed to me far superior to the rest2  
in which the general idea was matured   
into something much more definite and   
instructive4 ,this was an early work of 
,auguste ,comte1 who then called        
himself1 and even announced himself in  
the title-page as1 a pupil of ,saint    
,simon4 ,in this tract ,m4 ,comte first 
put forth the doctrine1 which he        
afterwards so copiously illustrated1 of 
the natural succession of three stages  
in every department of human knowledge3 
first1 the theological1 next the        
metaphysical1 and lastly1 the positive  
stage2 and contended1 that social       
science must be subject to the same law2

 that the feudal and ,catholic system   
was the concluding phasis of the        
theological state of the social science1
 ,protestantism the commencement1 and   
the doctrines of the ,french ,revolution
 the consummation1 of the metaphysical2 
and that its positive state was yet to  
come4 ,this doctrine harmonized well    
with my existing notions1 to which it   
seemed to give a scientific shape4 ,i   
already regarded the methods of physical
 science as the proper models for       
political4 ,but the chief benefit which 
,i derived at this time from the trains 
of thought suggested by the ,st4        
,simonians and by ,comte1 was1 that ,i  
obtained a clearer conception than ever 
before of the peculiarities of an era of
 transition in opinion1 and ceased to   
mistake the moral and intellectual      
characteristics of such an era1 for the 
normal attributes of humanity4 ,i looked
 forward1 through the present age of    
loud disputes but generally weak        
convictions1 to a future which shall    

unite the best qualities of the critical
 with the best qualities of the organic 
periods2 unchecked liberty of thought1  
unbounded freedom of individual action  
in all modes not hurtful to others2 but 
also1 convictions as to what is right   
and wrong1 useful and pernicious1 deeply
 engraven on the feelings by early      
education and general unanimity of      
sentiment1 and so firmly grounded in    
reason and in the true exigencies of    
life1 that they shall not1 like all     
former and present creeds1 religious1   
ethical1 and political1 require to be   
periodically thrown off and replaced by 
others4  ,m4 ,comte soon left the ,st4  
,simonians1 and ,i lost sight of him and
 his writings for a number of years4    
,but the ,st4 ,simonians ,i continued to
 cultivate4 ,i was kept au courant of   
their progress by one of their most     
enthusiastic disciples1 ,m4 ,gustave    
d',eichthal1 who about that time passed 
a considerable interval in ,england4 ,i 
was introduced to their chiefs1 ,bazard 

and ,enfantin1 in #ahcj2 and as long as 
their public teachings and proselytism  
continued1 ,i read nearly everything    
they wrote4 ,their criticisms on the    
common doctrines of ,liberalism seemed  
to me full of important truth2 and it   
was partly by their writings that my    
eyes were opened to the very limited and
 temporary value of the old political   
economy1 which assumes private property 
and inheritance as indefeasible facts1  
and freedom of production and exchange  
as the dernier mot of social            
improvement4 ,the scheme gradually      
unfolded by the ,st4 ,simonians1 under  
which the labour and capital of society 
would be managed for the general account
 of the community1 every individual     
being required to take a share of       
labour1 either as thinker1 teacher1     
artist1 or producer1 all being classed  
according to their capacity1 and        
remunerated according to their work1    
appeared to me a far superior           
description of ,socialism to ,owen's4   

,their aim seemed to me desirable and   
rational1 however their means might be  
inefficacious2 and though ,i neither    
believed in the practicability1 nor in  
the beneficial operation of their social
 machinery1 ,i felt that the            
proclamation of such an ideal of human  
society could not but tend to give a    
beneficial direction to the efforts of  
others to bring society1 as at present  
constituted1 nearer to some ideal       
standard4 ,i honoured them most of all  
for what they have been most cried down 
for--the boldness and freedom from      
prejudice with which they treated the   
subject of the family1 the most         
important of any1 and needing more      
fundamental alterations than remain to  
be made in any other great social       
institution1 but on which scarcely any  
reformer has the courage to touch4 ,in  
proclaiming the perfect equality of men 
and women1 and an entirely new order of 
things in regard to their relations with
 one another1 the ,st4 ,simonians1 in   

common with ,owen and ,fourier1 have    
entitled themselves to the grateful     
remembrance of future generations4  ,in 
giving an account of this period of my  
life1 ,i have only specified such of my 
new impressions as appeared to me1 both 
at the time and since1 to be a kind of  
turning points1 marking a definite      
progress in my mode of thought4 ,but    
these few selected points give a very   
insufficient idea of the quantity of    
thinking which ,i carried on respecting 
a host of subjects during these years of
 transition4 ,much of this1 it is true1 
consisted in rediscovering things known 
to all the world1 which ,i had          
previously disbelieved or disregarded4  
,but the rediscovery was to me a        
discovery1 giving me plenary possession 
of the truths1 not as traditional       
platitudes1 but fresh from their source2
 and it seldom failed to place them in  
some new light1 by which they were      
reconciled with1 and seemed to confirm  
while they modified1 the truths less    

generally known which lay in my early   
opinions1 and in no essential part of   
which ,i at any time wavered4 ,all my   
new thinking only laid the foundation of
 these more deeply and strongly1 while  
it often removed misapprehension and    
confusion of ideas which had perverted  
their effect4 ,for example1 during the  
later returns of my dejection1 the      
doctrine of what is called              
,philosophical ,necessity weighed on my 
existence like an incubus4 ,i felt as if
 ,i was scientifically proved to be the 
helpless slave of antecedent            
circumstances2 as if my character and   
that of all others had been formed for  
us by agencies beyond our control1 and  
was wholly out of our own power4 ,i     
often said to myself1 what a relief it  
would be if ,i could disbelieve the     
doctrine of the formation of character  
by circumstances2 and remembering the   
wish of ,fox respecting the doctrine of 
resistance to governments1 that it might
 never be forgotten by kings1 nor       

remembered by subjects1 ,i said that it 
would be a blessing if the doctrine of  
necessity could be believed by all quoad
 the characters of others1 and          
disbelieved in regard to their own4 ,i  
pondered painfully on the subject till  
gradually ,i saw light through it4 ,i   
perceived1 that the word ,necessity1 as 
a name for the doctrine of ,cause and   
,effect applied to human action1 carried
 with it a misleading association2 and  
that this association was the operative 
force in the depressing and paralysing  
influence which ,i had experienced3 ,i  
saw that though our character is formed 
by circumstances1 our own desires can do
 much to shape those circumstances2 and 
that what is really inspiriting and     
ennobling in the doctrine of freewill is
 the conviction that we have real power 
over the formation of our own character2
 that our will1 by influencing some of  
our circumstances1 can modify our future
 habits or capabilities of willing4 ,all
 this was entirely consistent with the  

doctrine of circumstances1 or rather1   
was that doctrine itself1 properly      
understood4 ,from that time ,i drew1 in 
my own mind1 a clear distinction between
 the doctrine of circumstances and      
,fatalism2 discarding altogether the    
misleading word ,necessity4 ,the theory1
 which ,i now for the first time rightly
 apprehended1 ceased altogether to be   
discouraging2 and1 besides the relief to
 my spirits1 ,i no longer suffered under
 the burden--so heavy to one who aims at
 being a reformer in opinions--of       
thinking one doctrine true and the      
contrary doctrine morally beneficial4   
,the train of thought which had         
extricated me from this dilemma seemed  
to me1 in after years1 fitted to render 
a similar service to others2 and it now 
forms the chapter on ,liberty and       
,necessity in the concluding ,book of my
 ,system of ,logic4  ,again1 in         
politics1 though ,i no longer accepted  
the doctrine of the ,essay on           
,government as a scientific theory2     

though ,i ceased to consider            
representative democracy as an absolute 
principle1 and regarded it as a question
 of time1 place1 and circumstance2      
though ,i now looked upon the choice of 
political institutions as a moral and   
educational question more than one of   
material interests1 thinking that it    
ought to be decided mainly by the       
consideration1 what great improvement in
 life and culture stands next in order  
for the people concerned1 as the        
condition of their further progress1 and
 what institutions are most likely to   
promote that2 nevertheless1 this change 
in the premises of my political         
philosophy did not alter my practical   
political creed as to the requirements  
of my own time and country4 ,i was as   
much as ever a ,radical and ,democrat   
for ,europe1 and especially for         
,england4 ,i thought the predominance of
 the aristocratic classes1 the noble and
 the rich1 in the ,english constitution1
 an evil worth any struggle to get rid  

of2 not on account of taxes1 or any such
 comparatively small inconvenience1 but 
as the great demoralizing agency in the 
country4 ,demoralizing1 first1 because  
it made the conduct of the ,government  
an example of gross public immorality1  
through the predominance of private over
 public interests in the ,state1 and the
 abuse of the powers of legislation for 
the advantage of classes4 ,secondly1 and
 in a still greater degree1 because the 
respect of the multitude always         
attaching itself principally to that    
which1 in the existing state of society1
 is the chief passport to power2 and    
under ,english institutions1 riches1    
hereditary or acquired1 being the almost
 exclusive source of political          
importance2 riches1 and the signs of    
riches1 were almost the only things     
really respected1 and the life of the   
people was mainly devoted to the pursuit
 of them4 ,i thought1 that while the    
higher and richer classes held the power
 of government1 the instruction and     

improvement of the mass of the people   
were contrary to the self-interest of   
those classes1 because tending to render
 the people more powerful for throwing  
off the yoke3 but if the democracy      
obtained a large1 and perhaps the       
principal share1 in the governing power1
 it would become the interest of the    
opulent classes to promote their        
education1 in order to ward off really  
mischievous errors1 and especially those
 which would lead to unjust violations  
of property4 ,on these grounds ,i was   
not only as ardent as ever for          
democratic institutions1 but earnestly  
hoped that ,owenite1 ,st4 ,simonian1 and
 all other anti-property doctrines might
 spread widely among the poorer classes2
 not that ,i thought those doctrines    
true1 or desired that they should be    
acted on1 but in order that the higher  
classes might be made to see that they  
had more to fear from the poor when     
uneducated than when educated4  ,in this
 frame of mind the ,french ,revolution  

of ,july found me3 ,it roused my utmost 
enthusiasm1 and gave me1 as it were1 a  
new existence4 ,i went at once to       
,paris1 was introduced to ,lafayette1   
and laid the groundwork of the          
intercourse ,i afterwards kept up with  
several of the active chiefs of the     
extreme popular party4 ,after my return 
,i entered warmly1 as a writer1 into the
 political discussions of the time2     
which soon became still more exciting1  
by the coming in of ,lord ,grey's       
,ministry1 and the proposing of the     
,reform ,bill4 ,for the next few years  
,i wrote copiously in newspapers4 ,it   
was about this time that ,fonblanque1   
who had for some time written the       
political articles in the ,examiner1    
became the proprietor and editor of the 
paper4 ,it is not forgotten with what   
verve and talent1 as well as fine wit1  
he carried it on1 during the whole      
period of ,lord ,grey's ,ministry1 and  
what importance it assumed as the       
principal representative1 in the        

newspaper press1 of ,radical opinions4  
,the distinguishing character of the    
paper was given to it entirely by his   
own articles1 which formed at least     
three-fourths of all the original       
writing contained in it3 but of the     
remaining fourth ,i contributed during  
those years a much larger share than    
anyone else4 ,i wrote nearly all the    
articles on ,french subjects1 including 
a weekly summary of ,french politics1   
often extending to considerable length2 
together with many leading articles on  
general politics1 commercial and        
financial legislation1 and any          
miscellaneous subjects in which ,i felt 
interested1 and which were suitable to  
the paper1 including occasional reviews 
of books4 ,mere newspaper articles on   
the occurrences or questions of the     
moment1 gave no opportunity for the     
development of any general mode of      
thought2 but ,i attempted1 in the       
beginning of #ahca1 to embody in a      
series of articles1 headed ,the ,spirit 

of the ,age1 some of my new opinions1   
and especially to point out in the      
character of the present age1 the       
anomalies and evils characteristic of   
the transition from a system of opinions
 which had worn out1 to another only in 
process of being formed4 ,these         
articles1 were1 ,i fancy1 lumbering in  
style1 and not lively or striking enough
 to be1 at any time1 acceptable to      
newspaper readers2 but had they been far
 more attractive1 still1 at that        
particular moment1 when great political 
changes were impending1 and engrossing  
all minds1 these discussions were       
ill-timed1 and missed fire altogether4  
,the only effect which ,i know to have  
been produced by them1 was that         
,carlyle1 then living in a secluded part
 of ,scotland1 read them in his         
solitude1 and1 saying to himself 7as he 
afterwards told me7 ,here is a new      
,mystic1 inquired on coming to ,london  
that autumn respecting their authorship2
 an inquiry which was the immediate     

cause of our becoming personally        
acquainted4  ,i have already mentioned  
,carlyle's earlier writings as one of   
the channels through which ,i received  
the influences which enlarged my early  
narrow creed2 but ,i do not think that  
those writings1 by themselves1 would    
ever have had any effect on my opinions4
 ,what truths they contained1 though of 
the very kind which ,i was already      
receiving from other quarters1 were     
presented in a form and vesture less    
suited than any other to give them      
access to a mind trained as mine had    
been4 ,they seemed a haze of poetry and 
,german metaphysics1 in which almost the
 only clear thing was a strong animosity
 to most of the opinions which were the 
basis of my mode of thought2 religious  
scepticism1 utilitarianism1 the doctrine
 of circumstances1 and the attaching any
 importance to democracy1 logic1 or     
political economy4 ,instead of my having
 been taught anything1 in the first     
instance1 by ,carlyle1 it was only in   

proportion as ,i came to see the same   
truths through media more suited to my  
mental constitution1 that ,i recognised 
them in his writings4 ,then1 indeed1 the
 wonderful power with which he put them 
forth made a deep impression upon me1   
and ,i was during a long period one of  
his most fervent admirers2 but the good 
his writings did me1 was not as         
philosophy to instruct1 but as poetry to
 animate4 ,even at the time when our    
acquaintance commenced1 ,i was not      
sufficiently advanced in my new modes of
 thought to appreciate him fully2 a     
proof of which is1 that on his showing  
me the manuscript of ,sartor ,resartus1 
his best and greatest work1 which he    
just then finished1 ,i made little of   
it2 though when it came out about two   
years afterwards in ,fraser's ,magazine 
,i read it with enthusiastic admiration 
and the keenest delight4 ,i did not seek
 and cultivate ,carlyle less on account 
of the fundamental differences in our   
philosophy4 ,he soon found out that ,i  

was not another mystic1 and when for the
 sake of my own integrity ,i wrote to   
him a distinct profession of all those  
of my opinions which ,i knew he most    
disliked1 he replied that the chief     
difference between us was that ,i was as
 yet consciously nothing of a mystic4 ,i
 do not know at what period he gave up  
the expectation that ,i was destined to 
become one2 but though both his and my  
opinions underwent in subsequent years  
considerable changes1 we never          
approached much nearer to each other's  
modes of thought than we were in the    
first years of our acquaintance4 ,i did 
not1 however1 deem myself a competent   
judge of ,carlyle4 ,i felt that he was a
 poet1 and that ,i was not2 that he was 
a man of intuition1 which ,i was not2   
and that as such1 he not only saw many  
things long before me1 which ,i could   
only1 when they were pointed out to me1 
hobble after and prove1 but that it was 
highly probable he could see many things
 which were not visible to me even after

 they were pointed out4 ,i knew that ,i 
could not see round him1 and could never
 be certain that ,i saw over him2 and ,i
 never presumed to judge him with any   
definiteness1 until he was interpreted  
to me by one greatly the superior of us 
both--who was more a poet than he1 and  
more a thinker than ,i--whose own mind  
and nature included his1 and infinitely 
more4  ,among the persons of intellect  
whom ,i had known of old1 the one with  
whom ,i had now most points of agreement
 was the elder ,austin4 ,i have         
mentioned that he always set himself in 
opposition to our early sectarianism2   
and latterly he had1 like myself1 come  
under new influences4 ,having been      
appointed ,professor of ,jurisprudence  
in the ,london ,university 7now         
,university ,college71 he had lived for 
some time at ,bonn to study for his     
,lectures2 and the influences of ,german
 literature and of the ,german character
 and state of society had made a very   
perceptible change in his views of life4

 ,his personal disposition was much     
softened2 he was less militant and      
polemic2 his tastes had begun to turn   
themselves towards the poetic and       
contemplative4 ,he attached much less   
importance than formerly to outward     
changes2 unless accompanied by a better 
cultivation of the inward nature4 ,he   
had a strong distaste for the general   
meanness of ,english life1 the absence  
of enlarged thoughts and unselfish      
desires1 the low objects on which the   
faculties of all classes of the ,english
 are intent4 ,even the kind of public   
interests which ,englishmen care for1 he
 held in very little esteem4 ,he thought
 that there was more practical good     
government1 and 7which is true enough7  
infinitely more care for the education  
and mental improvement of all ranks of  
the people1 under the ,prussian         
monarchy1 than under the ,english       
representative government3 and he held1 
with the ,french ,economistes1 that the 
real security for good government is un 

peuple clair1 which is not always the   
fruit of popular institutions1 and      
which1 if it could be had without them1 
would do their work better than they4   
,though he approved of the ,reform      
,bill1 he predicted1 what in fact       
occurred1 that it would not produce the 
great immediate improvements in         
government which many expected from it4 
,the men1 he said1 who could do these   
great things did not exist in the       
country4 ,there were many points of     
sympathy between him and me1 both in the
 new opinions he had adopted and in the 
old ones which he retained4 ,like me1 he
 never ceased to be a utilitarian1 and1 
with all his love for the ,germans and  
enjoyment of their literature1 never    
became in the smallest degree reconciled
 to the innate-principle metaphysics4   
,he cultivated more and more a kind of  
,german religion1 a religion of poetry  
and feeling with little1 if anything1 of
 positive dogma2 while in politics 7and 
here it was that ,i most differed with  

him7 he acquired an indifference1       
bordering on contempt1 for the progress 
of popular institutions3 though he      
rejoiced in that of ,socialism1 as the  
most effectual means of compelling the  
powerful classes to educate the people1 
and to impress on them the only real    
means of permanently improving their    
material condition1 a limitation of     
their numbers4 ,neither was he1 at this 
time1 fundamentally opposed to          
,socialism in itself as an ultimate     
result of improvement4 ,he professed    
great disrespect for what he called the 
universal principles of human nature of 
the political economists1 and insisted  
on the evidence which history and daily 
experience afford of the extraordinary  
pliability of human nature 7a phrase    
which ,i have somewhere borrowed from   
him72 nor did he think it possible to   
set any positive bounds to the moral    
capabilities which might unfold         
themselves in mankind1 under an         
enlightened direction of social and     

educational influences4 ,whether he     
retained all these opinions to the end  
of life ,i know not4 ,certainly the     
modes of thinking of his later years1   
and especially of his last publication1 
were much more ,tory in their general   
character than those which he held at   
this time4  ,my father's tone of thought
 and feeling1 ,i now felt myself at a   
great distance from3 greater1 indeed1   
than a full and calm explanation and    
reconsideration on both sides1 might    
have shown to exist in reality4 ,but my 
father was not one with whom calm and   
full explanations on fundamental points 
of doctrine could be expected1 at least 
with one whom he might consider as1 in  
some sort1 a deserter from his standard4
 ,fortunately we were almost always in  
strong agreement on the political       
questions of the day1 which engrossed a 
large part of his interest and of his   
conversation4 ,on those matters of      
opinion on which we differed1 we talked 
little4 ,he knew that the habit of      

thinking for myself1 which his mode of  
education had fostered1 sometimes led me
 to opinions different from his1 and he 
perceived from time to time that ,i did 
not always tell him how different4 ,i   
expected no good1 but only pain to both 
of us1 from discussing our differences3 
and ,i never expressed them but when he 
gave utterance to some opinion or       
feeling repugnant to mine1 in a manner  
which would have made it                
disingenuousness on my part to remain   
silent4  ,it remains to speak of what ,i
 wrote during these years1 which1       
independently of my contributions to    
newspapers1 was considerable4 ,in #ahcj 
and #ahca ,i wrote the five ,essays     
since published under the title of      
,essays on some ,unsettled ,questions of
 political ,economy1 almost as they now 
stand1 except that in #ahcc ,i partially
 rewrote the fifth ,essay4 ,they were   
written with no immediate purpose of    
publication2 and when1 some years later1
 ,i offered them to a publisher1 he     

declined them4 ,they were only printed  
in #ahdd1 after the success of the      
,system of ,logic4 ,i also resumed my   
speculations on this last subject1 and  
puzzled myself1 like others before me1  
with the great paradox of the discovery 
of new truths by general reasoning4 ,as 
to the fact1 there could be no doubt4   
,as little could it be doubted1 that all
 reasoning is resolvable into           
syllogisms1 and that in every syllogism 
the conclusion is actually contained and
 implied in the premises4 ,how1 being so
 contained and implied1 it could be new 
truth1 and how the theorems of geometry1
 so different in appearance from the    
definitions and axioms1 could be all    
contained in these1 was a difficulty    
which no1 one1 ,i thought1 had          
sufficiently felt1 and which1 at all    
events1 no one had succeeded in clearing
 up4 ,the explanations offered by       
,whately and others1 though they might  
give a temporary satisfaction1 always1  
in my mind1 left a mist still hanging   

over the subject4 ,at last1 when reading
 a second or third time the chapters on 
,reasoning in the second volume of      
,dugald ,stewart1 interrogating myself  
on every point1 and following out1 as   
far as ,i knew how1 every topic of      
thought which the book suggested1 ,i    
came upon an idea of his respecting the 
use of axioms in ratiocination1 which ,i
 did not remember to have before        
noticed1 but which now1 in meditating on
 it1 seemed to me not only true of      
axioms1 but of all general propositions 
whatever1 and to be the key of the whole
 perplexity4 ,from this germ grew the   
theory of the ,syllogism propounded in  
the ,second ,book of the ,logic2 which  
,i immediately fixed by writing it out4 
,and now1 with greatly increased hope of
 being able to produce a work on ,logic1
 of some originality and value1 ,i      
proceeded to write the ,first ,book1    
from the rough and imperfect draft ,i   
had already made4 ,what ,i now wrote    
became the basis of that part of the    

subsequent ,treatise2 except that it did
 not contain the ,theory of ,kinds1     
which was a later addition1 suggested by
 otherwise inextricable difficulties    
which met me in my first attempt to work
 out the subject of some of the         
concluding chapters of the ,third ,book4
 ,at the point which ,i had now reached 
,i made a halt1 which lasted five years4
 ,i had come to the end of my tether2 ,i
 could make nothing satisfactory of     
,induction1 at this time4 ,i continued  
to read any book which seemed to promise
 light on the subject1 and appropriated1
 as well as ,i could1 the results2 but  
for a long time ,i found nothing which  
seemed to open to me any very important 
vein of meditation4  ,in #ahcb ,i wrote 
several papers for the first series of  
,tait's ,magazine1 and one for a        
quarterly periodical called the ,jurist1
 which had been founded1 and for a short
 time carried on1 by a set of friends1  
all lawyers and law reformers1 with     
several of whom ,i was acquainted4 ,the 

paper in question is the one on the     
rights and duties of the ,state         
respecting ,corporation and ,church     
,property1 now standing first among the 
collected ,dissertations and            
,discussions2 where one of my articles  
in ,tait1 ,the ,currency ,juggle1 also  
appears4 ,in the whole mass of what ,i  
wrote previous to these1 there is       
nothing of sufficient permanent value to
 justify reprinting4 ,the paper in the  
,jurist1 which ,i still think a very    
complete discussion of the rights of the
 ,state over ,foundations1 showed both  
sides of my opinions1 asserting as      
firmly as ,i should have done at any    
time1 the doctrine that all endowments  
are national property1 which the        
government may and ought to control2 but
 not1 as ,i should once have done1      
condemning endowments in themselves1 and
 proposing that they should be taken to 
pay off the national debt4 ,on the      
contrary1 ,i urged strenuously the      
importance of a provision for education1

 not dependent on the mere demand of the
 market1 that is1 on the knowledge and  
discernment of average parents1 but     
calculated to establish and keep up a   
higher standard of instruction than is  
likely to be spontaneously demanded by  
the buyers of the article4 ,all these   
opinions have been confirmed and        
strengthened by the whole of my         
subsequent reflections4      ,,chapter  
,,vi4  ,,commencement ,,of ,,the ,,most 
,,valuable ,,friendship ,,of ,,my       
,,life4 ,,my ,,father',s ,,death4       
,,writings ,,and ,,other ,,proceedings  
,,up ,,to #ahdj4   ,it was the period of
 my mental progress which ,i have now   
reached that ,i formed the friendship   
which has been the honour and chief     
blessing of my existence1 as well as the
 source of a great part of all that ,i  
have attempted to do1 or hope to effect 
hereafter1 for human improvement4 ,my   
first introduction to the lady who1     
after a friendship of twenty years1     
consented to become my wife1 was in     

#ahcj1 when ,i was in my twenty-fifth   
and she in her twenty-third year4 ,with 
her husband's family it was the renewal 
of an old acquaintanceship4 ,his        
grandfather lived in the next house to  
my father's in ,newington ,green1 and ,i
 had sometimes when a boy been invited  
to play in the old gentleman's garden4  
,he was a fine specimen of the old      
,scotch puritan2 stern1 severe1 and     
powerful1 but very kind to children1 on 
whom such men make a lasting impression4
 ,although it was years after my        
introduction to ,mrs4 ,taylor before my 
acquaintance with her became at all     
intimate or confidential1 ,i very soon  
felt her to be the most admirable person
 ,i had ever known4 ,it is not to be    
supposed that she was1 or that any one1 
at the age at which ,i first saw her1   
could be1 all that she afterwards       
became4 ,least of all could this be true
 of her1 with whom self-improvement1    
progress in the highest and in all      
senses1 was a law of her nature2 a      

necessity equally from the ardour with  
which she sought it1 and from the       
spontaneous tendency of faculties which 
could not receive an impression or an   
experience without making it the source 
or the occasion of an accession of      
wisdom4 ,up to the time when ,i first   
saw her1 her rich and powerful nature   
had chiefly unfolded itself according to
 the received type of feminine genius4  
,to her outer circle she was a beauty   
and a wit1 with an air of natural       
distinction1 felt by all who approached 
her3 to the inner1 a woman of deep and  
strong feeling1 of penetrating and      
intuitive intelligence1 and of an       
eminently meditative and poetic nature4 
,married at an early age to a most      
upright1 brave1 and honourable man1 of  
liberal opinions and good education1 but
 without the intellectual or artistic   
tastes which would have made him a      
companion for her1 though a steady and  
affectionate friend1 for whom she had   
true esteem and the strongest affection 

through life1 and whom she most deeply  
lamented when dead2 shut out by the     
social disabilities of women from any   
adequate exercise of her highest        
faculties in action on the world        
without2 her life was one of inward     
meditation1 varied by familiar          
intercourse with a small circle of      
friends1 of whom one only 7long since   
deceased7 was a person of genius1 or of 
capacities of feeling or intellect      
kindred with her own1 but all had more  
or less of alliance with her in         
sentiments and opinions4 ,into this     
circle ,i had the good fortune to be    
admitted1 and ,i soon perceived that she
 possessed in combination1 the qualities
 which in all other persons whom ,i had 
known ,i had been only too happy to find
 singly4 ,in her1 complete emancipation 
from every kind of superstition         
7including that which attributes a      
pretended perfection to the order of    
nature and the universe71 and an earnest
 protest against many things which are  

still part of the established           
constitution of society1 resulted not   
from the hard intellect1 but from       
strength of noble and elevated feeling1 
and co-existed with a highly reverential
 nature4 ,in general spiritual          
characteristics1 as well as in          
temperament and organisation1 ,i have   
often compared her1 as she was at this  
time1 to ,shelley3 but in thought and   
intellect1 ,shelley1 so far as his      
powers were developed in his short life1
 was but a child compared with what she 
ultimately became4 ,alike in the highest
 regions of speculation and in the      
smaller practical concerns of daily     
life1 her mind was the same perfect     
instrument1 piercing to the very heart  
and marrow of the matter2 always seizing
 the essential idea or principle4 ,the  
same exactness and rapidity of          
operation1 pervading as it did her      
sensitive as well as her mental         
faculties1 would1 with her gifts of     
feeling and imagination1 have fitted her

 to be a consummate artist1 as her fiery
 and tender soul and her vigorous       
eloquence would certainly have made her 
a great orator1 and her profound        
knowledge of human nature and           
discernment and sagacity in practical   
life1 would1 in the times when such a   
carrire was open to women1 have made her
 eminent among the rulers of mankind4   
,her intellectual gifts did but minister
 to a moral character at once the       
noblest and the best balanced which ,i  
have ever met with in life4 ,her        
unselfishness was not that of a taught  
system of duties1 but of a heart which  
thoroughly identified itself with the   
feelings of others1 and often went to   
excess in consideration for them by     
imaginatively investing their feelings  
with the intensity of its own4 ,the     
passion of justice might have been      
thought to be her strongest feeling1 but
 for her boundless generosity1 and a    
lovingness ever ready to pour itself    
forth upon any or all human beings who  

were capable of giving the smallest     
feeling in return4 ,the rest of her     
moral characteristics were such as      
naturally accompany these qualities of  
mind and heart3 the most genuine modesty
 combined with the loftiest pride2 a    
simplicity and sincerity which were     
absolute1 towards all who were fit to   
receive them2 the utmost scorn of       
whatever was mean and cowardly1 and a   
burning indignation at everything brutal
 or tyrannical1 faithless or            
dishonourable in conduct and character1 
while making the broadest distinction   
between mala in se and mere mala        
prohibita--between acts giving evidence 
of intrinsic badness in feeling and     
character1 and those which are only     
violations of conventions either good or
 bad1 violations which1 whether in      
themselves right or wrong1 are capable  
of being committed by persons in every  
other respect lovable or admirable4  ,to
 be admitted into any degree of mental  
intercourse with a being of these       

qualities1 could not but have a most    
beneficial influence on my development2 
though the effect was only gradual1 and 
many years elapsed before her mental    
progress and mine went forward in the   
complete companionship they at last     
attained4 ,the benefit ,i received was  
far greater than any which ,i could hope
 to give2 though to her1 who had at     
first reached her opinions by the moral 
intuition of a character of strong      
feeling1 there was doubtless help as    
well as encouragement to be derived from
 one who had arrived at many of the same
 results by study and reasoning3 and in 
the rapidity of her intellectual growth1
 her mental activity1 which converted   
everything into knowledge1 doubtless    
drew from me1 as it did from other      
sources1 many of its materials4 ,what ,i
 owe1 even intellectually1 to her1 is in
 its detail1 almost infinite2 of its    
general character a few words will give 
some1 though a very imperfect1 idea4    
,with those who1 like all the best and  

wisest of mankind1 are dissatisfied with
 human life as it is1 and whose feelings
 are wholly identified with its radical 
amendment1 there are two main regions of
 thought4 ,one is the region of ultimate
 aims2 the constituent elements of the  
highest realizable ideal of human life4 
,the other is that of the immediately   
useful and practically attainable4 ,in  
both these departments1 ,i have acquired
 more from her teaching1 than from all  
other sources taken together4 ,and1 to  
say truth1 it is in these two extremes  
principally1 that real certainty lies4  
,my own strength lay wholly in the      
uncertain and slippery intermediate     
region1 that of theory1 or moral and    
political science3 respecting the       
conclusions of which1 in any of the     
forms in which ,i have received or      
originated them1 whether as political   
economy1 analytic psychology1 logic1    
philosophy of history1 or anything else1
 it is not the least of my intellectual 
obligations to her that ,i have derived 

from her a wise scepticism1 which1 while
 it has not hindered me from following  
out the honest exercise of my thinking  
faculties to whatever conclusions might 
result from it1 has put me on my guard  
against holding or announcing these     
conclusions with a degree of confidence 
which the nature of such speculations   
does not warrant1 and has kept my mind  
not only open to admit1 but prompt to   
welcome and eager to seek1 even on the  
questions on which ,i have most         
meditated1 any prospect of clearer      
perceptions and better evidence4 ,i have
 often received praise1 which in my own 
right ,i only partially deserve1 for the
 greater practicality which is supposed 
to be found in my writings1 compared    
with those of most thinkers who have    
been equally addicted to large          
generalizations4 ,the writings in which 
this quality has been observed1 were not
 the work of one mind1 but of the fusion
 of two1 one of them as pre-eminently   
practical in its judgments and          

perceptions of things present1 as it was
 high and bold in its anticipations for 
a remote futurity4 ,at the present      
period1 however1 this influence was only
 one among many which were helping to   
shape the character of my future        
development3 and even after it became1  
,i may truly say1 the presiding         
principle of my mental progress1 it did 
not alter the path1 but only made me    
move forward more boldly1 and1 at the   
same time1 more cautiously1 in the same 
course4 ,the only actual revolution     
which has ever taken place in my modes  
of thinking1 was already complete4 ,my  
new tendencies had to be confirmed in   
some respects1 moderated in others3 but 
the only substantial changes of opinion 
that were yet to come1 related to       
politics1 and consisted1 on one hand1 in
 a greater approximation1 so far as     
regards the ultimate prospects of       
humanity1 to a qualified ,socialism1 and
 on the other1 a shifting of my         
political ideal from pure democracy1 as 

commonly understood by its partisans1 to
 the modified form of it1 which is set  
forth in my ,considerations on          
,representative ,government4  ,this last
 change1 which took place very          
gradually1 dates its commencement from  
my reading1 or rather study1 of ,m4 de  
,tocqueville's ,democracy in ,america1  
which fell into my hands immediately    
after its first appearance4 ,in that    
remarkable work1 the excellences of     
democracy were pointed out in a more    
conclusive1 because a more specific     
manner than ,i had ever known them to   
be1 even by the most enthusiastic       
democrats2 while the specific dangers   
which beset democracy1 considered as the
 government of the numerical majority1  
were brought into equally strong light1 
and subjected to a masterly analysis1   
not as reasons for resisting what the   
author considered as an inevitable      
result of human progress1 but as        
indications of the weak points of       
popular government1 the defences by     

which it needs to be guarded1 and the   
correctives which must be added to it in
 order that while full play is given to 
its beneficial tendencies1 those which  
are of a different nature may be        
neutralized or mitigated4 ,i was now    
well prepared for speculations of this  
character1 and from this time onward my 
own thoughts moved more and more in the 
same channel1 though the consequent     
modifications in my practical political 
creed were spread over many years1 as   
would be shown by comparing my first    
review of ,democracy in ,america1       
written and published in #ahce1 with the
 one in #ahdj 7reprinted in the         
,dissertations71 and this last1 with the
 ,considerations on ,representative     
,government4  ,a collateral subject on  
which also ,i derived great benefit from
 the study of ,tocqueville1 was the     
fundamental question of centralization4 
,the powerful philosophic analysis which
 he applied to ,american and to ,french 
experience1 led him to attach the utmost

 importance to the performance of as    
much of the collective business of      
society1 as can safely be so performed1 
by the people themselves1 without any   
intervention of the executive           
government1 either to supersede their   
agency1 or to dictate the manner of its 
exercise4 ,he viewed this practical     
political activity of the individual    
citizen1 not only as one of the most    
effectual means of training the social  
feelings and practical intelligence of  
the people1 so important in themselves  
and so indispensable to good government1
 but also as the specific counteractive 
to some of the characteristic           
infirmities of democracy1 and a         
necessary protection against its        
degenerating into the only despotism of 
which1 in the modern world1 there is    
real danger--the absolute rule of the   
head of the executive over a            
congregation of isolated individuals1   
all equals but all slaves4 ,there was1  
indeed1 no immediate peril from this    

source on the ,british side of the      
channel1 where nine-tenths of the       
internal business which elsewhere       
devolves on the government1 was         
transacted by agencies independent of   
it2 where centralization was1 and is1   
the subject not only of rational        
disapprobation1 but of unreasoning      
prejudice2 where jealousy of ,government
 interference was a blind feeling       
preventing or resisting even the most   
beneficial exertion of legislative      
authority to correct the abuses of what 
pretends to be local self-government1   
but is1 too often1 selfish mismanagement
 of local interests1 by a jobbing and   
born local oligarchy4 ,but the more     
certain the public were to go wrong on  
the side opposed to centralization1 the 
greater danger was there lest           
philosophic reformers should fall into  
the contrary error1 and overlook the    
mischiefs of which they had been spared 
the painful experience4 ,i was myself1  
at this very time1 actively engaged in  

defending important measures1 such as   
the great ,poor ,law ,reform of #ahcd1  
against an irrational clamour grounded  
on the anti-centralization prejudice3   
and had it not been for the lessons of  
,tocqueville1 ,i do not know that ,i    
might not1 like many reformers before   
me1 have been hurried into the excess   
opposite to that1 which1 being the one  
prevalent in my own country1 it was     
generally my business to combat4 ,as it 
is1 ,i have steered carefully between   
the two errors1 and whether ,i have or  
have not drawn the line between them    
exactly in the right place1 ,i have at  
least insisted with equal emphasis upon 
the evils on both sides1 and have made  
the means of reconciling the advantages 
of both1 a subject of serious study4    
,in the meanwhile had taken place the   
election of the first ,reformed         
,parliament1 which included several of  
the most notable of my ,radical friends 
and acquaintances--,grote1 ,roebuck1    
,buller1 ,sir ,william ,molesworth1     

,john and ,edward ,romilly1 and several 
more2 besides ,warburton1 ,strutt1 and  
others1 who were in parliament already4 
,those who thought themselves1 and were 
called by their friends1 the philosophic
 ,radicals1 had now1 it seemed1 a fair  
opportunity1 in a more advantageous     
position than they had ever before      
occupied1 for showing what was in them2 
and ,i1 as well as my father1 founded   
great hopes on them4 ,these hopes were  
destined to be disappointed4 ,the men   
were honest1 and faithful to their      
opinions1 as far as votes were          
concerned2 often in spite of much       
discouragement4 ,when measures were     
proposed1 flagrantly at variance with   
their principles1 such as the ,irish    
,coercion ,bill1 or the ,canada         
,coercion in #ahcg1 they came forward   
manfully1 and braved any amount of      
hostility and prejudice rather than     
desert the right4 ,but on the whole they
 did very little to promote any         
opinions2 they had little enterprise1   

little activity3 they left the lead of  
the ,radical portion of the ,house to   
the old hands1 to ,hume and ,o',connell4
 ,a partial exception must be made in   
favour of one or two of the younger men2
 and in the case of ,roebuck1 it is his 
title to permanent remembrance1 that in 
the very first year during which he sat 
in ,parliament1 he originated 7or       
re-originated after the unsuccessful    
attempt of ,mr4 ,brougham7 the          
parliamentary movement for ,national    
,education2 and that he was the first to
 commence1 and for years carried on     
almost alone1 the contest for the       
self-government of the ,colonies4       
,nothing1 on the whole equal to these   
two things1 was done by any other       
individual1 even of those from whom most
 was expected4 ,and now1 on a calm      
retrospect1 ,i can perceive that the men
 were less in fault than we supposed1   
and that we had expected too much from  
them4 ,they were in unfavourable        
circumstances4 ,their lot was cast in   

the ten years of inevitable reaction1   
when1 the ,reform excitement being over1
 and the few legislative improvements   
which the public really called for      
having been rapidly effected1 power     
gravitated back in its natural          
direction1 to those who were for keeping
 things as they were2 when the public   
mind desired rest1 and was less disposed
 than at any other period since the     
,peace1 to let itself be moved by       
attempts to work up the ,reform feeling 
into fresh activity in favour of new    
things4 ,it would have required a great 
political leader1 which no one is to be 
blamed for not being1 to have effected  
really great things by parliamentary    
discussion when the nation was in this  
mood4 ,my father and ,i had hoped that  
some competent leader might arise2 some 
man of philosophic attainments and      
popular talents1 who could have put     
heart into the many younger or less     
distinguished men that would have been  
ready to join him--could have made them 

available1 to the extent of their       
talents1 in bringing advanced ideas     
before the public--could have used the  
,house of ,commons as a rostra or a     
teacher's chair for instructing and     
impelling the public mind2 and would    
either have forced the ,whigs to receive
 their measures from him1 or have taken 
the lead of the ,reform party out of    
their hands4 ,such a leader there would 
have been1 if my father had been in     
,parliament4 ,for want of such a man1   
the instructed ,radicals sank into a    
mere ,ct ,gauche of the ,whig party4    
,with a keen1 and as ,i now think1 an   
exaggerated sense of the possibilities  
which were open to the ,radicals if they
 made even ordinary exertion for their  
opinions1 ,i laboured from this time    
till #ahci1 both by personal influence  
with some of them1 and by writings1 to  
put ideas into their heads1 and purpose 
into their hearts4 ,i did some good with
 ,charles ,buller1 and some with ,sir   
,william ,molesworth2 both of whom did  

valuable service1 but were unhappily cut
 off almost in the beginning of their   
usefulness4 ,on the whole1 however1 my  
attempt was vain4 ,to have had a chance 
of succeeding in it1 required a         
different position from mine4 ,it was a 
task only for one who1 being himself in 
,parliament1 could have mixed with the  
,radical members in daily consultation1 
could himself have taken the initiative1
 and instead of urging others to lead1  
could have summoned them to follow4     
,what ,i could do by writing1 ,i did4   
,during the year #ahcc ,i continued     
working in the ,examiner with           
,fonblanque who at that time was zealous
 in keeping up the fight for ,radicalism
 against the ,whig ministry4 ,during the
 session of #ahcd ,i wrote comments on  
passing events1 of the nature of        
newspaper articles 7under the title     
,notes on the ,newspapers71 in the      
,monthly ,repository1 a magazine        
conducted by ,mr4 ,fox1 well known as a 
preacher and political orator1 and      

subsequently as member of parliament for
 ,oldham2 with whom ,i had lately become
 acquainted1 and for whose sake chiefly 
,i wrote in his magazine4 ,i contributed
 several other articles to this         
periodical1 the most considerable of    
which 7on the theory of ,poetry71 is    
reprinted in the ,dissertations4        
,altogether1 the writings 7independently
 of those in newspapers7 which ,i       
published from #ahcb to #ahcd1 amount to
 a large volume4 ,this1 however1        
includes abstracts of several of        
,plato's ,dialogues1 with introductory  
remarks1 which1 though not published    
until #ahcd1 had been written several   
years earlier2 and which ,i afterwards1 
on various occasions1 found to have been
 read1 and their authorship known1 by   
more people than were aware of anything 
else which ,i had written1 up to that   
time4 ,to complete the tale of my       
writings at this period1 ,i may add that
 in #ahcc1 at the request of ,bulwer1   
who was just then completing his        

,england and the ,english 7a work1 at   
that time1 greatly in advance of the    
public mind71 ,i wrote for him a        
critical account of ,bentham's          
philosophy1 a small part of which he    
incorporated in his text1 and printed   
the rest 7with an honourable            
acknowledgment71 as an appendix4 ,in    
this1 along with the favourable1 a part 
also of the unfavourable side of my     
estimation of ,bentham's doctrines1     
considered as a complete philosophy1 was
 for the first time put into print4     
,but an opportunity soon offered1 by    
which1 as it seemed1 ,i might have it in
 my power to give more effectual aid1   
and at the same time1 stimulus1 to the  
philosophic ,radical party1 than ,i had 
done hitherto4 ,one of the projects     
occasionally talked of between my father
 and me1 and some of the parliamentary  
and other ,radicals who frequented his  
house1 was the foundation of a          
periodical organ of philosophic         
radicalism1 to take the place which the 

,westminster ,review had been intended  
to fill3 and the scheme had gone so far 
as to bring under discussion the        
pecuniary contributions which could be  
looked for1 and the choice of an editor4
 ,nothing1 however1 came of it for some 
time3 but in the summer of #ahcd ,sir   
,william ,molesworth1 himself a         
laborious student1 and a precise and    
metaphysical thinker1 capable of aiding 
the cause by his pen as well as by his  
purse1 spontaneously proposed to        
establish a ,review1 provided ,i would  
consent to be the real1 if ,i could not 
be the ostensible1 editor4 ,such a      
proposal was not to be refused2 and the 
,review was founded1 at first under the 
title of the ,london ,review1 and       
afterwards under that of the ,london and
 ,westminster1 ,molesworth having bought
 the ,westminster from its proprietor1  
,general ,thompson1 and merged the two  
into one4 ,in the years between #ahcd   
and #ahdj the conduct of this ,review   
occupied the greater part of my spare   

time4 ,in the beginning1 it did not1 as 
a whole1 by any means represent my      
opinions4 ,i was under the necessity of 
conceding much to my inevitable         
associates4 ,the ,review was established
 to be the representative of the        
philosophic ,radicals1 with most of whom
 ,i was now at issue on many essential  
points1 and among whom ,i could not even
 claim to be the most important         
individual4 ,my father's co-operation as
 a writer we all deemed indispensable1  
and he wrote largely in it until        
prevented by his last illness4 ,the     
subjects of his articles1 and the       
strength and decision with which his    
opinions were expressed in them1 made   
the ,review at first derive its tone and
 colouring from him much more than from 
any of the other writers4 ,i could not  
exercise editorial control over his     
articles1 and ,i was sometimes obliged  
to sacrifice to him portions of my own4 
,the old ,westminster ,review doctrines1
 but little modified1 thus formed the   

staple of the ,review2 but ,i hoped by  
the side of these1 to introduce other   
ideas and another tone1 and to obtain   
for my own shade of opinion a fair      
representation1 along with those of     
other members of the party4 ,with this  
end chiefly in view1 ,i made it one of  
the peculiarities of the work that every
 article should bear an initial1 or some
 other signature1 and be held to express
 the opinions solely of the individual  
writer2 the editor being only           
responsible for its being worth         
publishing and not in conflict with the 
objects for which the ,review was set on
 foot4 ,i had an opportunity of putting 
in practice my scheme of conciliation   
between the old and the new philosophic 
radicalism1 by the choice of a subject  
for my own first contribution4          
,professor ,sedgwick1 a man of eminence 
in a particular walk of natural science1
 but who should not have trespassed into
 philosophy1 had lately published his   
,discourse on the ,studies of           

,cambridge1 which had as its most       
prominent feature an intemperate assault
 on analytic psychology and utilitarian 
ethics1 in the form of an attack on     
,locke and ,paley4 ,this had excited    
great indignation in my father and      
others1 which ,i thought it fully       
deserved4 ,and here1 ,i imagined1 was an
 opportunity of at the same time        
repelling an unjust attack1 and         
inserting into my defence of            
,hartleianism and ,utilitarianism a     
number of the opinions which constituted
 my view of those subjects1 as          
distinguished from that of my old       
associates4 ,in this ,i partially       
succeeded1 though my relation to my     
father would have made it painful to me 
in any case1 and impossible in a ,review
 for which he wrote1 to speak out my    
whole mind on the subject at this time4 
,i am1 however1 inclined to think that  
my father was not so much opposed as he 
seemed1 to the modes of thought in which
 ,i believed myself to differ from him2 

that he did injustice to his own        
opinions by the unconscious             
exaggerations of an intellect           
emphatically polemical2 and that when   
thinking without an adversary in view1  
he was willing to make room for a great 
portion of the truths he seemed to deny4
 ,i have frequently observed that he    
made large allowance in practice for    
considerations which seemed to have no  
place in his theory4 ,his ,fragment on  
,mackintosh1 which he wrote and         
published about this time1 although ,i  
greatly admired some parts of it1 ,i    
read as a whole with more pain than     
pleasure2 yet on reading it again1 long 
after1 ,i found little in the opinions  
it contains1 but what ,i think in the   
main just2 and ,i can even sympathize in
 his disgust at the verbiage of         
,mackintosh1 though his asperity towards
 it went not only beyond what was       
judicious1 but beyond what was even     
fair4 ,one thing1 which ,i thought1 at  
the time1 of good augury1 was the very  

favourable reception he gave to         
,tocqueville's ,democracy in ,america4  
,it is true1 he said and thought much   
more about what ,tocqueville said in    
favour of democracy1 than about what he 
said of its disadvantages4 ,still1 his  
high appreciation of a book which was at
 any rate an example of a mode of       
treating the question of government     
almost the reverse of his--wholly       
inductive and analytical1 instead of    
purely ratiocinative--gave me great     
encouragement4 ,he also approved of an  
article which ,i published in the first 
number following the junction of the two
 reviews1 the essay reprinted in the    
,dissertations1 under the title         
,civilization2 into which ,i threw many 
of my new opinions1 and criticised      
rather emphatically the mental and moral
 tendencies of the time1 on grounds and 
in a manner which ,i certainly had not  
learnt from him4  ,all speculation1     
however1 on the possible future         
developments of my father's opinions1   

and on the probabilities of permanent   
co-operation between him and me in the  
promulgation of our thoughts1 was doomed
 to be cut short4 ,during the whole of  
#ahce his health had been declining3 his
 symptoms became unequivocally those of 
pulmonary consumption1 and after        
lingering to the last stage of debility1
 he died on the #bcrd of ,june1 #ahcf4  
,until the last few days of his life    
there was no apparent abatement of      
intellectual vigour2 his interest in all
 things and persons that had interested 
him through life was undiminished1 nor  
did the approach of death cause the     
smallest wavering 7as in so strong and  
firm a mind it was impossible that it   
should7 in his convictions on the       
subject of religion4 ,his principal     
satisfaction1 after he knew that his end
 was near1 seemed to be the thought of  
what he had done to make the world      
better than he found it2 and his chief  
regret in not living longer1 that he had
 not had time to do more4  ,his place is

 an eminent one in the literary1 and    
even in the political history of his    
country2 and it is far from honourable  
to the generation which has benefited by
 his worth1 that he is so seldom        
mentioned1 and1 compared with men far   
his inferiors1 so little remembered4    
,this is probably to be ascribed mainly 
to two causes4 ,in the first place1 the 
thought of him merges too much in the   
deservedly superior fame of ,bentham4   
,yet he was anything but ,bentham's mere
 follower or disciple4 ,precisely       
because he was himself one of the most  
original thinkers of his time1 he was   
one of the earliest to appreciate and   
adopt the most important mass of        
original thought which had been produced
 by the generation preceding him4 ,his  
mind and ,bentham's were essentially of 
different construction4 ,he had not all 
,bentham's high qualities1 but neither  
had ,bentham all his4 ,it would1 indeed1
 be ridiculous to claim for him the     
praise of having accomplished for       

mankind such splendid services as       
,bentham's4 ,he did not revolutionize1  
or rather create1 one of the great      
departments of human thought4 ,but1     
leaving out of the reckoning all that   
portion of his labours in which he      
benefited by what ,bentham had done1 and
 counting only what he achieved in a    
province in which ,bentham had done     
nothing1 that of analytic psychology1 he
 will be known to posterity as one of   
the greatest names in that most         
important branch of speculation1 on     
which all the moral and political       
sciences ultimately rest1 and will mark 
one of the essential stages in its      
progress4 ,the other reason which has   
made his fame less than he deserved1 is 
that notwithstanding the great number of
 his opinions which1 partly through his 
own efforts1 have now been generally    
adopted1 there was1 on the whole1 a     
marked opposition between his spirit and
 that of the present time4 ,as ,brutus  
was called the last of the ,romans1 so  

was he the last of the eighteenth       
century3 he continued its tone of       
thought and sentiment into the          
nineteenth 7though not unmodified nor   
unimproved71 partaking neither in the   
good nor in the bad influences of the   
reaction against the eighteenth century1
 which was the great characteristic of  
the first half of the nineteenth4 ,the  
eighteenth century was a great age1 an  
age of strong and brave men1 and he was 
a fit companion for its strongest and   
bravest4 ,by his writings and his       
personal influence he was a great centre
 of light to his generation4 ,during his
 later years he was quite as much the   
head and leader of the intellectual     
radicals in ,england1 as ,voltaire was  
of the philosophes of ,france4 ,it is   
only one of his minor merits1 that he   
was the originator of all sound         
statesmanship in regard to the subject  
of his largest work1 ,india4 ,he wrote  
on no subject which he did not enrich   
with valuable thought1 and excepting the

 ,elements of ,political ,economy1 a    
very useful book when first written1 but
 which has now for some time finished   
its work1 it will be long before any of 
his books will be wholly superseded1 or 
will cease to be instructive reading to 
students of their subjects4 ,in the     
power of influencing by mere force of   
mind and character1 the convictions and 
purposes of others1 and in the strenuous
 exertion of that power to promote      
freedom and progress1 he left1 as far as
 my knowledge extends1 no equal among   
men and but one among women4  ,though   
acutely sensible of my own inferiority  
in the qualities by which he acquired   
his personal ascendancy1 ,i had now to  
try what it might be possible for me to 
accomplish without him3 and the ,review 
was the instrument on which ,i built my 
chief hopes of establishing a useful    
influence over the liberal and          
democratic section of the public mind4  
,deprived of my father's aid1 ,i was    
also exempted from the restraints and   

reticences by which that aid had been   
purchased4 ,i did not feel that there   
was any other radical writer or         
politician to whom ,i was bound to      
defer1 further than consisted with my   
own opinions3 and having the complete   
confidence of ,molesworth1 ,i resolved  
henceforth to give full scope to my own 
opinions and modes of thought1 and to   
open the ,review widely to all writers  
who were in sympathy with ,progress as  
,i understood it1 even though ,i should 
lose by it the support of my former     
associates4 ,carlyle1 consequently      
became from this time a frequent writer 
in the ,review2 ,sterling1 soon after1  
an occasional one2 and though each      
individual article continued to be the  
expression of the private sentiments of 
its writer1 the general tone conformed  
in some tolerable degree to my opinions4
 ,for the conduct of the ,review1 under1
 and in conjunction with me1 ,i         
associated with myself a young          
,scotchman of the name of ,robertson1   

who had some ability and information1   
much industry1 and an active scheming   
head1 full of devices for making the    
,review more saleable1 and on whose     
capacities in that direction ,i founded 
a good deal of hope3 insomuch1 that when
 ,molesworth1 in the beginning of #ahcg1
 became tired of carrying on the ,review
 at a loss1 and desirous of getting rid 
of it 7he had done his part honourably1 
and at no small pecuniary cost17 ,i1    
very imprudently for my own pecuniary   
interest1 and very much from reliance on
 ,robertson's devices1 determined to    
continue it at my own risk1 until his   
plans should have had a fair trial4 ,the
 devices were good1 and ,i never had any
 reason to change my opinion of them4   
,but ,i do not believe that any devices 
would have made a radical and democratic
 review defray its expenses1 including a
 paid editor or sub-editor1 and a       
liberal payment to writers4 ,i myself   
and several frequent contributors gave  
our labour gratuitously1 as we had done 

for ,molesworth2 but the paid           
contributors continued to be remunerated
 on the usual scale of the ,edinburgh   
and ,quarterly ,reviews2 and this could 
not be done from the proceeds of the    
sale4  ,in the same year1 #ahcg1 and in 
the midst of these occupations1 ,i      
resumed the ,logic4 ,i had not touched  
my pen on the subject for five years1   
having been stopped and brought to a    
halt on the threshold of ,induction4 ,i 
had gradually discovered that what was  
mainly wanting1 to overcome the         
difficulties of that branch of the      
subject1 was a comprehensive1 and1 at   
the same time1 accurate view of the     
whole circle of physical science1 which 
,i feared it would take me a long course
 of study to acquire2 since ,i knew not 
of any book1 or other guide1 that would 
spread out before me the generalities   
and processes of the sciences1 and ,i   
apprehended that ,i should have no      
choice but to extract them for myself1  
as ,i best could1 from the details4     

,happily for me1 ,dr4 ,whewell1 early in
 this year1 published his ,history of   
the ,inductive ,sciences4 ,i read it    
with eagerness1 and found in it a       
considerable approximation to what ,i   
wanted4 ,much1 if not most1 of the      
philosophy of the work appeared open to 
objection2 but the materials were there1
 for my own thoughts to work upon3 and  
the author had given to those materials 
that first degree of elaboration1 which 
so greatly facilitates and abridges the 
subsequent labour4 ,i had now obtained  
what ,i had been waiting for4 ,under the
 impulse given me by the thoughts       
excited by ,dr4 ,whewell1 ,i read again 
,sir ,j4 ,herschel's ,discourse on the  
,study of ,natural ,philosophy3 and ,i  
was able to measure the progress my mind
 had made1 by the great help ,i now     
found in this work--though ,i had read  
and even reviewed it several years      
before with little profit4 ,i now set   
myself vigorously to work out the       
subject in thought and in writing4 ,the 

time ,i bestowed on this had to be      
stolen from occupations more urgent4 ,i 
had just two months to spare1 at this   
period1 in the intervals of writing for 
the ,review4 ,in these two months ,i    
completed the first draft of about a    
third1 the most difficult third1 of the 
book4 ,what ,i had before written1 ,i   
estimate at another third1 so that      
one-third remained4 ,what ,i wrote at   
this time consisted of the remainder of 
the doctrine of ,reasoning 7the theory  
of ,trains of ,reasoning1 and           
,demonstrative ,science71 and the       
greater part of the ,book on ,induction4
 ,when this was done1 ,i had1 as it     
seemed to me1 untied all the really hard
 knots1 and the completion of the book  
had become only a question of time4     
,having got thus far1 ,i had to leave   
off in order to write two articles for  
the next number of the ,review4 ,when   
these were written1 ,i returned to the  
subject1 and now for the first time fell
 in with ,comte's ,cours de ,philosophie

 ,positive1 or rather with the two      
volumes of it which were all that had at
 that time been published4 ,my theory of
 ,induction was substantially completed 
before ,i knew of ,comte's book2 and it 
is perhaps well that ,i came to it by a 
different road from his1 since the      
consequence has been that my treatise   
contains1 what his certainly does not1 a
 reduction of the inductive process to  
strict rules and to a scientific test1  
such as the syllogism is for            
ratiocination4 ,comte is always precise 
and profound on the method of           
investigation1 but he does not even     
attempt any exact definition of the     
conditions of proof3 and his writings   
show that he never attained a just      
conception of them4 ,this1 however1 was 
specifically the problem1 which1 in     
treating of ,induction1 ,i had proposed 
to myself4 ,nevertheless1 ,i gained much
 from ,comte1 with which to enrich my   
chapters in the subsequent rewriting3   
and his book was of essential service to

 me in some of the parts which still    
remained to be thought out4 ,as his     
subsequent volumes successively made    
their appearance1 ,i read them with     
avidity1 but1 when he reached the       
subject of ,social ,science1 with       
varying feelings4 ,the fourth volume    
disappointed me3 it contained those of  
his opinions on social subjects with    
which ,i most disagree4 ,but the fifth1 
containing the connected view of        
history1 rekindled all my enthusiasm2   
which the sixth 7or concluding7 volume  
did not materially abate4 ,in a merely  
logical point of view1 the only leading 
conception for which ,i am indebted to  
him is that of the ,inverse ,deductive  
,method1 as the one chiefly applicable  
to the complicated subjects of ,history 
and ,statistics3 a process differing    
from the more common form of the        
deductive method in this--that instead  
of arriving at its conclusions by       
general reasoning1 and verifying them by
 specific experience 7as is the natural 

order in the deductive branches of      
physical science71 it obtains its       
generalizations by a collation of       
specific experience1 and verifies them  
by ascertaining whether they are such as
 would follow from known general        
principles4 ,this was an idea entirely  
new to me when ,i found it in ,comte3   
and but for him ,i might not soon 7if   
ever7 have arrived at it4  ,i had been  
long an ardent admirer of ,comte's      
writings before ,i had any communication
 with himself2 nor did ,i ever1 to the  
last1 see him in the body4 ,but for some
 years we were frequent correspondents1 
until our correspondence became         
controversial1 and our zeal cooled4 ,i  
was the first to slacken correspondence2
 he was the first to drop it4 ,i found1 
and he probably found likewise1 that ,i 
could do no good to his mind1 and that  
all the good he could do to mine1 he did
 by his books4 ,this would never have   
led to discontinuance of intercourse1 if
 the differences between us had been on 

matters of simple doctrine4 ,but they   
were chiefly on those points of opinion 
which blended in both of us with our    
strongest feelings1 and determined the  
entire direction of our aspirations4 ,i 
had fully agreed with him when he       
maintained that the mass of mankind1    
including even their rulers in all the  
practical departments of life1 must1    
from the necessity of the case1 accept  
most of their opinions on political and 
social matters1 as they do on physical1 
from the authority of those who have    
bestowed more study on those subjects   
than they generally have it in their    
power to do4 ,this lesson had been      
strongly impressed on me by the early   
work of ,comte1 to which ,i have        
adverted4 ,and there was nothing in his 
great ,treatise which ,i admired more   
than his remarkable exposition of the   
benefits which the nations of modern    
,europe have historically derived from  
the separation1 during the ,middle      
,ages1 of temporal and spiritual power1 

and the distinct organization of the    
latter4 ,i agreed with him that the     
moral and intellectual ascendancy1 once 
exercised by priests1 must in time pass 
into the hands of philosophers1 and will
 naturally do so when they become       
sufficiently unanimous1 and in other    
respects worthy to possess it4 ,but when
 he exaggerated this line of thought    
into a practical system1 in which       
philosophers were to be organized into a
 kind of corporate hierarchy1 invested  
with almost the same spiritual supremacy
 7though without any secular power7 once
 possessed by the ,catholic ,church2    
when ,i found him relying on this       
spiritual authority as the only security
 for good government1 the sole bulwark  
against practical oppression1 and       
expecting that by it a system of        
despotism in the state and despotism in 
the family would be rendered innocuous  
and beneficial2 it is not surprising1   
that while as logicians we were nearly  
at one1 as sociologists we could travel 

together no further4 ,m4 ,comte lived to
 carry out these doctrines to their     
extremest consequences1 by planning1 in 
his last work1 the ,systme de ,politique
 ,positive1 the completest system of    
spiritual and temporal despotism which  
ever yet emanated from a human brain1   
unless possibly that of ,ignatius       
,loyola3 a system by which the yoke of  
general opinion1 wielded by an organized
 body of spiritual teachers and rulers1 
would be made supreme over every action1
 and as far as is in human possibility1 
every thought1 of every member of the   
community1 as well in the things which  
regard only himself1 as in those which  
concern the interests of others4 ,it is 
but just to say that this work is a     
considerable improvement1 in many points
 of feeling1 over ,comte's previous     
writings on the same subjects3 but as an
 accession to social philosophy1 the    
only value it seems to me to possess1   
consists in putting an end to the notion
 that no effectual moral authority can  

be maintained over society without the  
aid of religious belief2 for ,comte's   
work recognises no religion except that 
of ,humanity1 yet it leaves an          
irresistible conviction that any moral  
beliefs concurred in by the community   
generally may be brought to bear upon   
the whole conduct and lives of its      
individual members1 with an energy and  
potency truly alarming to think of4 ,the
 book stands a monumental warning to    
thinkers on society and politics1 of    
what happens when once men lose sight1  
in their speculations1 of the value of  
,liberty and of ,individuality4  ,to    
return to myself4 ,the ,review          
engrossed1 for some time longer1 nearly 
all the time ,i could devote to         
authorship1 or to thinking with         
authorship in view4 ,the articles from  
the ,london and ,westminster ,review    
which are reprinted in the              
,dissertations1 are scarcely a fourth   
part of those ,i wrote4 ,in the conduct 
of the ,review ,i had two principal     

objects4 ,one was to free philosophic   
radicalism from the reproach of         
sectarian ,benthamism4 ,i desired1 while
 retaining the precision of expression1 
the definiteness of meaning1 the        
contempt of declamatory phrases and     
vague generalities1 which were so       
honourably characteristic both of       
,bentham and of my father1 to give a    
wider basis and a more free and genial  
character to ,radical speculations2 to  
show that there was a ,radical          
philosophy1 better and more complete    
than ,bentham's1 while recognizing and  
incorporating all of ,bentham's which is
 permanently valuable4 ,in this first   
object ,i1 to a certain extent1         
succeeded4 ,the other thing ,i          
attempted1 was to stir up the educated  
,radicals1 in and out of ,parliament1 to
 exertion1 and induce them to make      
themselves1 what ,i thought by using the
 proper means they might become --a     
powerful party capable of taking the    
government of the country1 or at least  

of dictating the terms on which they    
should share it with the ,whigs4 ,this  
attempt was from the first chimerical3  
partly because the time was             
unpropitious1 the ,reform fervour being 
in its period of ebb1 and the ,tory     
influences powerfully rallying2 but     
still more1 because1 as ,austin so truly
 said1 the country did not contain the  
men4 ,among the ,radicals in ,parliament
 there were several qualified to be     
useful members of an enlightened        
,radical party1 but none capable of     
forming and leading such a party4 ,the  
exhortations ,i addressed to them found 
no response4 ,one occasion did present  
itself when there seemed to be room for 
a bold and successful stroke for        
,radicalism4 ,lord ,durham had left the 
ministry1 by reason1 as was thought1 of 
their not being sufficiently ,liberal2  
he afterwards accepted from them the    
task of ascertaining and removing the   
causes of the ,canadian rebellion2 he   
had shown a disposition to surround     

himself at the outset with ,radical     
advisers2 one of his earliest measures1 
a good measure both in intention and in 
effect1 having been disapproved and     
reversed by the ,government at home1 he 
had resigned his post1 and placed       
himself openly in a position of quarrel 
with the ,ministers4 ,here was a        
possible chief for a ,radical party in  
the person of a man of importance1 who  
was hated by the ,tories and had just   
been injured by the ,whigs4 ,any one who
 had the most elementary notions of     
party tactics1 must have attempted to   
make something of such an opportunity4  
,lord ,durham was bitterly attacked from
 all sides1 inveighed against by        
enemies1 given up by timid friends2     
while those who would willingly have    
defended him did not know what to say4  
,he appeared to be returning a defeated 
and discredited man4 ,i had followed the
 ,canadian events from the beginning2 ,i
 had been one of the prompters of his   
prompters2 his policy was almost exactly

 what mine would have been1 and ,i was  
in a position to defend it4 ,i wrote and
 published a manifesto in the ,review1  
in which ,i took the very highest ground
 in his behalf1 claiming for him not    
mere acquittal1 but praise and honour4  
,instantly a number of other writers    
took up the tone3 ,i believe there was a
 portion of truth in what ,lord ,durham1
 soon after1 with polite exaggeration1  
said to me--that to this article might  
be ascribed the almost triumphal        
reception which he met with on his      
arrival in ,england4 ,i believe it to   
have been the word in season1 which1 at 
a critical moment1 does much to decide  
the result2 the touch which determines  
whether a stone1 set in motion at the   
top of an eminence1 shall roll down on  
one side or on the other4 ,all hopes    
connected with ,lord ,durham as a       
politician soon vanished2 but with      
regard to ,canadian1 and generally to   
colonial policy1 the cause was gained3  
,lord ,durham's report1 written by      

,charles ,buller1 partly under the      
inspiration of ,wakefield1 began a new  
era2 its recommendations1 extending to  
complete internal self-government1 were 
in full operation in ,canada within two 
or three years1 and have been since     
extended to nearly all the other        
colonies1 of ,european race1 which have 
any claim to the character of important 
communities4 ,and ,i may say that in    
successfully upholding the reputation of
 ,lord ,durham and his advisers at the  
most important moment1 ,i contributed   
materially to this result4  ,one other  
case occurred during my conduct of the  
,review1 which similarly illustrated the
 effect of taking a prompt initiative4  
,i believe that the early success and   
reputation of ,carlyle's ,french        
,revolution1 were considerably          
accelerated by what ,i wrote about it in
 the ,review4 ,immediately on its       
publication1 and before the commonplace 
critics1 all whose rules and modes of   
judgment it set at defiance1 had time to

 pre-occupy the public with their       
disapproval of it1 ,i wrote and         
published a review of the book1 hailing 
it as one of those productions of genius
 which are above all rules1 and are a   
law to themselves4 ,neither in this case
 nor in that of ,lord ,durham do ,i     
ascribe the impression1 which ,i think  
was produced by what ,i wrote1 to any   
particular merit of execution3 indeed1  
in at least one of the cases 7the       
article on ,carlyle7 ,i do not think the
 execution was good4 ,and in both       
instances1 ,i am persuaded that anybody1
 in a position to be read1 who had      
expressed the same opinion at the same  
precise time1 and had made any tolerable
 statement of the just grounds for it1  
would have produced the same effect4    
,but1 after the complete failure of my  
hopes of putting a new life into        
,radical politics by means of the       
,review1 ,i am glad to look back on     
these two instances of success in an    
honest attempt to do mediate service to 

things and persons that deserved it4    
,after the last hope of the formation of
 a ,radical party had disappeared1 it   
was time for me to stop the heavy       
expenditure of time and money which the 
,review cost me4 ,it had to some extent 
answered my personal purpose as a       
vehicle for my opinions4 ,it had enabled
 me to express in print much of my      
altered mode of thought1 and to separate
 myself in a marked manner from the     
narrower ,benthamism of my early        
writings4 ,this was done by the general 
tone of all ,i wrote1 including various 
purely literary articles1 but especially
 by the two papers 7reprinted in the    
,dissertations7 which attempted a       
philosophical estimate of ,bentham and  
of ,coleridge4 ,in the first of these1  
while doing full justice to the merits  
of ,bentham1 ,i pointed out what ,i     
thought the errors and deficiencies of  
his philosophy4 ,the substance of this  
criticism ,i still think perfectly just2
 but ,i have sometimes doubted whether  

it was right to publish it at that time4
 ,i have often felt that ,bentham's     
philosophy1 as an instrument of         
progress1 has been to some extent       
discredited before it had done its work1
 and that to lend a hand towards        
lowering its reputation was doing more  
harm than service to improvement4 ,now1 
however1 when a counter-reaction appears
 to be setting in towards what is good  
in ,benthamism1 ,i can look with more   
satisfaction on this criticism of its   
defects1 especially as ,i have myself   
balanced it by vindications of the      
fundamental principles of ,bentham's    
philosophy1 which are reprinted along   
with it in the same collection4 ,in the 
essay on ,coleridge ,i attempted to     
characterize the ,european reaction     
against the negative philosophy of the  
eighteenth century3 and here1 if the    
effect only of this one paper were to be
 considered1 ,i might be thought to have
 erred by giving undue prominence to the
 favourable side1 as ,i had done in the 

case of ,bentham to the unfavourable4   
,in both cases1 the impetus with which  
,i had detached myself from what was    
untenable in the doctrines of ,bentham  
and of the eighteenth century1 may have 
carried me1 though in appearance rather 
than in reality1 too far on the contrary
 side4 ,but as far as relates to the    
article on ,coleridge1 my defence is1   
that ,i was writing for ,radicals and   
,liberals1 and it was my business to    
dwell most on that1 in writers of a     
different school1 from the knowledge of 
which they might derive most            
improvement4  ,the number of the ,review
 which contained the paper on           
,coleridge1 was the last which was      
published during my proprietorship4 ,in 
the spring of #ahdj ,i made over the    
,review to ,mr4 ,hickson1 who had been a
 frequent and very useful unpaid        
contributor under my management3 only   
stipulating that the change should be   
marked by a resumption of the old name1 
that of ,westminster ,review4 ,under    

that name ,mr4 ,hickson conducted it for
 ten years1 on the plan of dividing     
among contributors only the net proceeds
 of the ,review giving his own labour as
 writer and editor gratuitously4 ,under 
the difficulty in obtaining writers1    
which arose from this low scale of      
payment1 it is highly creditable to him 
that he was able to maintain1 in some   
tolerable degree1 the character of the  
,review as an organ of radicalism and   
progress4 ,i did not cease altogether to
 write for the ,review1 but continued to
 send it occasional contributions1 not1 
however1 exclusively2 for the greater   
circulation of the ,edinburgh ,review   
induced me from this time to offer      
articles to it also when ,i had anything
 to say for which it appeared to be a   
suitable vehicle4 ,and the concluding   
volumes of ,democracy in ,america1      
having just then come out1 ,i           
inaugurated myself as a contributor to  
the ,edinburgh1 by the article on that  
work1 which heads the second volume of  

the ,dissertations4     ,,chapter ,,vii4
  ,,general ,,view ,,of ,,the           
,,remainder ,,of ,,my ,,life4   ,from   
this time1 what is worth relating of my 
life will come into a very small        
compass2 for ,i have no further mental  
changes to tell of1 but only1 as ,i     
hope1 a continued mental progress2 which
 does not admit of a consecutive        
history1 and the results of which1 if   
real1 will be best found in my writings4
 ,i shall1 therefore1 greatly abridge   
the chronicle of my subsequent years4   
,the first use ,i made of the leisure   
which ,i gained by disconnecting myself 
from the ,review1 was to finish the     
,logic4 ,in ,july and ,august1 #ahch1 ,i
 had found an interval in which to      
execute what was still undone of the    
original draft of the ,third ,book4 ,in 
working out the logical theory of those 
laws of nature which are not laws of    
,causation1 nor corollaries from such   
laws1 ,i was led to recognize kinds as  
realities in nature1 and not mere       

distinctions for convenience2 a light   
which ,i had not obtained when the      
,first ,book was written1 and which made
 it necessary for me to modify and      
enlarge several chapters of that ,book4 
,the ,book on ,language and             
,classification1 and the chapter on the 
,classification of ,fallacies1 were     
drafted in the autumn of the same year2 
the remainder of the work1 in the summer
 and autumn of #ahdj4 ,from ,april      
following to the end of #ahda1 my spare 
time was devoted to a complete rewriting
 of the book from its commencement4 ,it 
is in this way that all my books have   
been composed4 ,they were always written
 at least twice over2 a first draft of  
the entire work was completed to the    
very end of the subject1 then the whole 
begun again de novo2 but incorporating1 
in the second writing1 all sentences and
 parts of sentences of the old draft1   
which appeared as suitable to my purpose
 as anything which ,i could write in    
lieu of them4 ,i have found great       

advantages in this system of double     
redaction4 ,it combines1 better than any
 other mode of composition1 the         
freshness and vigour of the first       
conception1 with the superior precision 
and completeness resulting from         
prolonged thought4 ,in my own case1     
moreover1 ,i have found that the        
patience necessary for a careful        
elaboration of the details of           
composition and expression1 costs much  
less effort after the entire subject has
 been once gone through1 and the        
substance of all that ,i find to say has
 in some manner1 however imperfect1 been
 got upon paper4 ,the only thing which  
,i am careful1 in the first draft1 to   
make as perfect as ,i am able1 is the   
arrangement4 ,if that is bad1 the whole 
thread on which the ideas string        
themselves becomes twisted2 thoughts    
placed in a wrong connection are not    
expounded in a manner that suits the    
right1 and a first draft with this      
original vice is next to useless as a   

foundation for the final treatment4     
,during the re-writing of the ,logic1   
,dr4 ,whewell's ,philosophy of the      
,inductive ,sciences made its           
appearance2 a circumstance fortunate for
 me1 as it gave me what ,i greatly      
desired1 a full treatment of the subject
 by an antagonist1 and enabled me to    
present my ideas with greater clearness 
and emphasis as well as fuller and more 
varied development1 in defending them   
against definite objections1 or         
confronting them distinctly with an     
opposite theory4 ,the controversies with
 ,dr4 ,whewell1 as well as much matter  
derived from ,comte1 were first         
introduced into the book in the course  
of the re-writing4  ,at the end of      
#ahda1 the book being ready for the     
press1 ,i offered it to ,murray1 who    
kept it until too late for publication  
that season1 and then refused it1 for   
reasons which could just as well have   
been given at first4 ,but ,i have had no
 cause to regret a rejection which led  

to my offering it to ,mr4 ,parker1 by   
whom it was published in the spring of  
#ahdc4 ,my original expectations of     
success were extremely limited4         
,archbishop ,whately had1 indeed1       
rehabilitated the name of ,logic1 and   
the study of the forms1 rules1 and      
fallacies of ,ratiocination2 and ,dr4   
,whewell's writings had begun to excite 
an interest in the other part of my     
subject1 the theory of ,induction4 ,a   
treatise1 however1 on a matter so       
abstract1 could not be expected to be   
popular2 it could only be a book for    
students1 and students on such subjects 
were not only 7at least in ,england7    
few1 but addicted chiefly to the        
opposite school of metaphysics1 the     
ontological and innate principles       
school4 ,i therefore did not expect that
 the book would have many readers1 or   
approvers2 and looked for little        
practical effect from it1 save that of  
keeping the tradition unbroken of what  
,i thought a better philosophy4 ,what   

hopes ,i had of exciting any immediate  
attention1 were mainly grounded on the  
polemical propensities of ,dr ,whewell2 
who1 ,i thought1 from observation of his
 conduct in other cases1 would probably 
do something to bring the book into     
notice1 by replying1 and that promptly1 
to the attack on his opinions4 ,he did  
reply but not till #ahej1 just in time  
for me to answer him in the third       
edition4 ,how the book came to have1 for
 a work of the kind1 so much success1   
and what sort of persons compose the    
bulk of those who have bought1 ,i will  
not venture to say read1 it1 ,i have    
never thoroughly understood4 ,but taken 
in conjunction with the many proofs     
which have since been given of a revival
 of speculation1 speculation too of a   
free kind1 in many quarters1 and above  
all 7where at one time ,i should have   
least expected it7 in the ,universities1
 the fact becomes partially             
intelligible4 ,i have never indulged the
 illusion that the book had made any    

considerable impression on philosophical
 opinion4 ,the ,german1 or a priori view
 of human knowledge1 and of the knowing 
faculties1 is likely for some time      
longer 7though it may be hoped in a     
diminishing degree7 to predominate among
 those who occupy themselves with such  
inquiries1 both here and on the         
,continent4 ,but the ,system of ,logic  
supplies what was much wanted1 a        
text-book of the opposite doctrine--that
 which derives all knowledge from       
experience1 and all moral and           
intellectual qualities principally from 
the direction given to the associations4
 ,i make as humble an estimate as       
anybody of what either an analysis of   
logical processes1 or any possible      
canons of evidence1 can do by themselves
 towards guiding or rectifying the      
operations of the understanding4        
,combined with other requisites1 ,i     
certainly do think them of great use2   
but whatever may be the practical value 
of a true philosophy of these matters1  

it is hardly possible to exaggerate the 
mischiefs of a false one4 ,the notion   
that truths external to the mind may be 
known by intuition or consciousness1    
independently of observation and        
experience1 is1 ,i am persuaded1 in     
these times1 the great intellectual     
support of false doctrines and bad      
institutions4 ,by the aid of this       
theory1 every inveterate belief and     
every intense feeling1 of which the     
origin is not remembered1 is enabled to 
dispense with the obligation of         
justifying itself by reason1 and is     
erected into its own all-sufficient     
voucher and justification4 ,there never 
was such an instrument devised for      
consecrating all deep-seated prejudices4
 ,and the chief strength of this false  
philosophy in morals1 politics1 and     
religion1 lies in the appeal which it is
 accustomed to make to the evidence of  
mathematics and of the cognate branches 
of physical science4 ,to expel it from  
these1 is to drive it from its          

stronghold3 and because this had never  
been effectually done1 the intuitive    
school1 even after what my father had   
written in his ,analysis of the ,mind1  
had in appearance1 and as far as        
published writings were concerned1 on   
the whole the best of the argument4 ,in 
attempting to clear up the real nature  
of the evidence of mathematical and     
physical truths1 the ,system of ,logic  
met the intuitive philosophers on ground
 on which they had previously been      
deemed unassailable2 and gave its own   
explanation1 from experience and        
association1 of that peculiar character 
of what are called necessary truths1    
which is adduced as proof that their    
evidence must come from a deeper source 
than experience4 ,whether this has been 
done effectually1 is still sub judice2  
and even then1 to deprive a mode of     
thought so strongly rooted in human     
prejudices and partialities1 of its mere
 speculative support1 goes but a very   
little way towards overcoming it2 but   

though only a step1 it is a quite       
indispensable one2 for since1 after all1
 prejudice can only be successfully     
combated by philosophy1 no way can      
really be made against it permanently   
until it has been shown not to have     
philosophy on its side4  ,being now     
released from any active concern in     
temporary politics1 and from any        
literary occupation involving personal  
communication with contributors and     
others1 ,i was enabled to indulge the   
inclination1 natural to thinking persons
 when the age of boyish vanity is once  
past1 for limiting my own society to a  
very few persons4 ,general society1 as  
now carried on in ,england1 is so       
insipid an affair1 even to the persons  
who make it what it is1 that it is kept 
up for any reason rather than the       
pleasure it affords4 ,all serious       
discussion on matters on which opinions 
differ1 being considered ill-bred1 and  
the national deficiency in liveliness   
and sociability having prevented the    

cultivation of the art of talking       
agreeably on trifles1 in which the      
,french of the last century so much     
excelled1 the sole attraction of what is
 called society to those who are not at 
the top of the tree1 is the hope of     
being aided to climb a little higher in 
it2 while to those who are already at   
the top1 it is chiefly a compliance with
 custom1 and with the supposed          
requirements of their station4 ,to a    
person of any but a very common order in
 thought or feeling1 such society1      
unless he has personal objects to serve 
by it1 must be supremely unattractive3  
and most people1 in the present day1 of 
any really high class of intellect1 make
 their contact with it so slight1 and at
 such long intervals1 as to be almost   
considered as retiring from it          
altogether4 ,those persons of any mental
 superiority who do otherwise1 are1     
almost without exception1 greatly       
deteriorated by it4 ,not to mention loss
 of time1 the tone of their feelings is 

lowered3 they become less in earnest    
about those of their opinions respecting
 which they must remain silent in the   
society they frequent3 they come to look
 upon their most elevated objects as    
unpractical1 or1 at least1 too remote   
from realization to be more than a      
vision1 or a theory1 and if1 more       
fortunate than most1 they retain their  
higher principles unimpaired1 yet with  
respect to the persons and affairs of   
their own day they insensibly adopt the 
modes of feeling and judgment in which  
they can hope for sympathy from the     
company they keep4 ,a person of high    
intellect should never go into          
unintellectual society unless he can    
enter it as an apostle2 yet he is the   
only person with high objects who can   
safely enter it at all4 ,persons even of
 intellectual aspirations had much      
better1 if they can1 make their habitual
 associates of at least their equals1   
and1 as far as possible1 their          
superiors1 in knowledge1 intellect1 and 

elevation of sentiment4 ,moreover1 if   
the character is formed1 and the mind   
made up1 on the few cardinal points of  
human opinion1 agreement of conviction  
and feeling on these1 has been felt in  
all times to be an essential requisite  
of anything worthy the name of          
friendship1 in a really earnest mind4   
,all these circumstances united1 made   
the number very small of those whose    
society1 and still more whose intimacy1 
,i now voluntarily sought4  ,among      
these1 by far the principal was the     
incomparable friend of whom ,i have     
already spoken4 ,at this period she     
lived mostly with one young daughter1 in
 a quiet part of the country1 and only  
occasionally in town1 with her first    
husband1 ,mr4 ,taylor4 ,i visited her   
equally in both places2 and was greatly 
indebted to the strength of character   
which enabled her to disregard the false
 interpretations liable to be put on the
 frequency of my visits to her while    
living generally apart from ,mr4        

,taylor1 and on our occasionally        
travelling together1 though in all other
 respects our conduct during those years
 gave not the slightest ground for any  
other supposition than the true one1    
that our relation to each other at that 
time was one of strong affection and    
confidential intimacy only4 ,for though 
we did not consider the ordinances of   
society binding on a subject so entirely
 personal1 we did feel bound that our   
conduct should be such as in no degree  
to bring discredit on her husband1 nor  
therefore on herself4  ,in this third   
period 7as it may be termed7 of my      
mental progress1 which now went hand in 
hand with hers1 my opinions gained      
equally in breadth and depth1 ,i        
understood more things1 and those which 
,i had understood before ,i now         
understood more thoroughly4 ,i had now  
completely turned back from what there  
had been of excess in my reaction       
against ,benthamism4 ,i had1 at the     
height of that reaction1 certainly      

become much more indulgent to the common
 opinions of society and the world1 and 
more willing to be content with         
seconding the superficial improvement   
which had begun to take place in those  
common opinions1 than became one whose  
convictions on so many points1 differed 
fundamentally from them4 ,i was much    
more inclined1 than ,i can now approve1 
to put in abeyance the more decidedly   
heretical part of my opinions1 which ,i 
now look upon as almost the only ones1  
the assertion of which tends in any way 
to regenerate society4 ,but in addition 
to this1 our opinions were far more     
heretical than mine had been in the days
 of my most extreme ,benthamism4 ,in    
those days ,i had seen little further   
than the old school of political        
economists into the possibilities of    
fundamental improvement in social       
arrangements4 ,private property1 as now 
understood1 and inheritance1 appeared to
 me1 as to them1 the dernier mot of     
legislation3 and ,i looked no further   

than to mitigating the inequalities     
consequent on these institutions1 by    
getting rid of primogeniture and        
entails4 ,the notion that it was        
possible to go further than this in     
removing the injustice--for injustice it
 is1 whether admitting of a complete    
remedy or not--involved in the fact that
 some are born to riches and the vast   
majority to poverty1 ,i then reckoned   
chimerical1 and only hoped that by      
universal education1 leading to         
voluntary restraint on population1 the  
portion of the poor might be made more  
tolerable4 ,in short1 ,i was a democrat1
 but not the least of a ,socialist4 ,we 
were now much less democrats than ,i had
 been1 because so long as education     
continues to be so wretchedly imperfect1
 we dreaded the ignorance and especially
 the selfishness and brutality of the   
mass3 but our ideal of ultimate         
improvement went far beyond ,democracy1 
and would class us decidedly under the  
general designation of ,socialists4     

,while we repudiated with the greatest  
energy that tyranny of society over the 
individual which most ,socialistic      
systems are supposed to involve1 we yet 
looked forward to a time when society   
will no longer be divided into the idle 
and the industrious2 when the rule that 
they who do not work shall not eat1 will
 be applied not to paupers only1 but    
impartially to all2 when the division of
 the produce of labour1 instead of      
depending1 as in so great a degree it   
now does1 on the accident of birth1 will
 be made by concert on an acknowledged  
principle of justice2 and when it will  
no longer either be1 or be thought to   
be1 impossible for human beings to exert
 themselves strenuously in procuring    
benefits which are not to be exclusively
 their own1 but to be shared with the   
society they belong to4 ,the social     
problem of the future we considered to  
be1 how to unite the greatest individual
 liberty of action1 with a common       
ownership in the raw material of the    

globe1 and an equal participation of all
 in the benefits of combined labour4 ,we
 had not the presumption to suppose that
 we could already foresee1 by what      
precise form of institutions these      
objects could most effectually be       
attained1 or at how near or how distant 
a period they would become practicable4 
,we saw clearly that to render any such 
social transformation either possible or
 desirable1 an equivalent change of     
character must take place both in the   
uncultivated herd who now compose the   
labouring masses1 and in the immense    
majority of their employers4 ,both these
 classes must learn by practice to      
labour and combine for generous1 or at  
all events for public and social        
purposes1 and not1 as hitherto1 solely  
for narrowly interested ones4 ,but the  
capacity to do this has always existed  
in mankind1 and is not1 nor is ever     
likely to be1 extinct4 ,education1      
habit1 and the cultivation of the       
sentiments1 will make a common man dig  

or weave for his country1 as readily as 
fight for his country4 ,true enough1 it 
is only by slow degrees1 and a system of
 culture prolonged through successive   
generations1 that men in general can be 
brought up to this point4 ,but the      
hindrance is not in the essential       
constitution of human nature4 ,interest 
in the common good is at present so weak
 a motive in the generality not because 
it can never be otherwise1 but because  
the mind is not accustomed to dwell on  
it as it dwells from morning till night 
on things which tend only to personal   
advantage4 ,when called into activity1  
as only self-interest now is1 by the    
daily course of life1 and spurred from  
behind by the love of distinction and   
the fear of shame1 it is capable of     
producing1 even in common men1 the most 
strenuous exertions as well as the most 
heroic sacrifices4 ,the deep-rooted     
selfishness which forms the general     
character of the existing state of      
society1 is so deeply rooted1 only      

because the whole course of existing    
institutions tends to foster it2 and    
modern institutions in some respects    
more than ancient1 since the occasions  
on which the individual is called on to 
do anything for the public without      
receiving its pay1 are far less frequent
 in modern life1 than the smaller       
commonwealths of antiquity4 ,these      
considerations did not make us overlook 
the folly of premature attempts to      
dispense with the inducements of private
 interest in social affairs1 while no   
substitute for them has been or can be  
provided3 but we regarded all existing  
institutions and social arrangements as 
being 7in a phrase ,i once heard from   
,austin7 merely provisional1 and we     
welcomed with the greatest pleasure and 
interest all socialistic experiments by 
select individuals 7such as the         
,co-operative ,societies71 which1       
whether they succeeded or failed1 could 
not but operate as a most useful        
education of those who took part in     

them1 by cultivating their capacity of  
acting upon motives pointing directly to
 the general good1 or making them aware 
of the defects which render them and    
others incapable of doing so4  ,in the  
,principles of ,political ,economy1     
these opinions were promulgated1 less   
clearly and fully in the first edition1 
rather more so in the second1 and quite 
unequivocally in the third4 ,the        
difference arose partly from the change 
of times1 the first edition having been 
written and sent to press before the    
,french ,revolution of #ahdh1 after     
which the public mind became more open  
to the reception of novelties in        
opinion1 and doctrines appeared moderate
 which would have been thought very     
startling a short time before4 ,in the  
first edition the difficulties of       
,socialism were stated so strongly1 that
 the tone was on the whole that of      
opposition to it4 ,in the year or two   
which followed1 much time was given to  
the study of the best ,socialistic      

writers on the ,continent1 and to       
meditation and discussion on the whole  
range of topics involved in the         
controversy3 and the result was that    
most of what had been written on the    
subject in the first edition was        
cancelled1 and replaced by arguments and
 reflections which represent a more     
advanced opinion4  ,the ,political      
,economy was far more rapidly executed  
than the ,logic1 or indeed than anything
 of importance which ,i had previously  
written4 ,it was commenced in the autumn
 of #ahde1 and was ready for the press  
before the end of #ahdg4 ,in this period
 of little more than two years there was
 an interval of six months during which 
the work was laid aside1 while ,i was   
writing articles in the ,morning        
,chronicle 7which unexpectedly entered  
warmly into my purpose7 urging the      
formation of peasant properties on the  
waste lands of ,ireland4 ,this was      
during the period of the ,famine1 the   
winter of #ahdf-dg1 when the stern      

necessities of the time seemed to afford
 a chance of gaining attention for what 
appeared to me the only mode of         
combining relief to immediate           
destitution with permanent improvement  
of the social and economical condition  
of the ,irish people4 ,but the idea was 
new and strange2 there was no ,english  
precedent for such a proceeding3 and the
 profound ignorance of ,english         
politicians and the ,english public     
concerning all social phenomena not     
generally met with in ,england 7however 
common elsewhere71 made my endeavours an
 entire failure4 ,instead of a great    
operation on the waste lands1 and the   
conversion of cottiers into proprietors1
 ,parliament passed a ,poor ,law for    
maintaining them as paupers3 and if the 
nation has not since found itself in    
inextricable difficulties from the joint
 operation of the old evils and the     
quack remedy it is indebted for its     
deliverance to that most unexpected and 
surprising fact1 the depopulation of    

ireland1 commenced by famine1 and       
continued by emigration4  ,the rapid    
success of the ,political ,economy      
showed that the public wanted1 and were 
prepared for such a book4 ,published    
early in #ahdh1 an edition of a thousand
 copies was sold in less than a year4   
,another similar edition was published  
in the spring of #ahdi2 and a third1 of 
#abej copies1 early in #aheb4 ,it was1  
from the first1 continually cited and   
referred to as an authority1 because it 
was not a book merely of abstract       
science1 but also of application1 and   
treated ,political ,economy not as a    
thing by itself1 but as a fragment of a 
greater whole2 a branch of ,social      
,philosophy1 so interlinked with all the
 other branches1 that its conclusions1  
even in its own peculiar province1 are  
only true conditionally1 subject to     
interference and counteraction from     
causes not directly within its scope3   
while to the character of a practical   
guide it has no pretension1 apart from  

other classes of considerations4        
,political ,economy1 in truth1 has never
 pretended to give advice to mankind    
with no lights but its own2 though      
people who knew nothing but political   
economy 7and therefore knew that ill7   
have taken upon themselves to advise1   
and could only do so by such lights as  
they had4 ,but the numerous sentimental 
enemies of political economy1 and its   
still more numerous interested enemies  
in sentimental guise1 have been very    
successful in gaining belief for this   
among other unmerited imputations       
against it1 and the ,principles having1 
in spite of the freedom of many of its  
opinions1 become for the present the    
most popular treatise on the subject1   
has helped to disarm the enemies of so  
important a study4 ,the amount of its   
worth as an exposition of the science1  
and the value of the different          
applications which it suggests1 others  
of course must judge4  ,for a           
considerable time after this1 ,i        

published no work of magnitude2 though  
,i still occasionally wrote in          
periodicals1 and my correspondence 7much
 of it with persons quite unknown to    
me71 on subjects of public interest1    
swelled to a considerable bulk4 ,during 
these years ,i wrote or commenced       
various ,essays1 for eventual           
publication1 on some of the fundamental 
questions of human and social life1 with
 regard to several of which ,i have     
already much exceeded the severity of   
the ,horatian precept4 ,i continued to  
watch with keen interest the progress of
 public events4 ,but it was not1 on the 
whole1 very encouraging to me4 ,the     
,european reaction after #ahdh1 and the 
success of an unprincipled usurper in   
,december1 #ahea1 put an end1 as it     
seemed1 to all present hope for freedom 
or social improvement in ,france and the
 ,continent4 ,in ,england1 ,i had seen  
and continued to see many of the        
opinions of my youth obtain general     
recognition1 and many of the reforms in 

institutions1 for which ,i had through  
life contended1 either effected or in   
course of being so4 ,but these changes  
had been attended with much less benefit
 to human well-being than ,i should     
formerly have anticipated1 because they 
had produced very little improvement in 
that which all real amelioration in the 
lot of mankind depends on1 their        
intellectual and moral state3 and it    
might even be questioned if the various 
causes of deterioration which had been  
at work in the meanwhile1 had not more  
than counterbalanced the tendencies to  
improvement4 ,i had learnt from         
experience that many false opinions may 
be exchanged for true ones1 without in  
the least altering the habits of mind of
 which false opinions are the result4   
,the ,english public1 for example1 are  
quite as raw and undiscerning on        
subjects of political economy since the 
nation has been converted to free-trade1
 as they were before2 and are still     
further from having acquired better     

habits of thought and feeling1 or being 
in any way better fortified against     
error1 on subjects of a more elevated   
character4 ,for1 though they have thrown
 off certain errors1 the general        
discipline of their minds1              
intellectually and morally1 is not      
altered4 ,i am now convinced1 that no   
great improvements in the lot of mankind
 are possible1 until a great change     
takes place in the fundamental          
constitution of their modes of thought4 
,the old opinions in religion1 morals1  
and politics1 are so much discredited in
 the more intellectual minds as to have 
lost the greater part of their efficacy 
for good1 while they have still life    
enough in them to be a powerful obstacle
 to the growing up of any better        
opinions on those subjects4 ,when the   
philosophic minds of the world can no   
longer believe its religion1 or can only
 believe it with modifications amounting
 to an essential change of its          
character1 a transitional period        

commences1 of weak convictions1         
paralysed intellects1 and growing laxity
 of principle1 which cannot terminate   
until a renovation has been effected in 
the basis of their belief leading to the
 evolution of some faith1 whether       
religious or merely human1 which they   
can really believe3 and when things are 
in this state1 all thinking or writing  
which does not tend to promote such a   
renovation1 is of very little value     
beyond the moment4 ,since there was     
little in the apparent condition of the 
public mind1 indicative of any tendency 
in this direction1 my view of the       
immediate prospects of human improvement
 was not sanguine4 ,more recently a     
spirit of free speculation has sprung   
up1 giving a more encouraging prospect  
of the gradual mental emancipation of   
,england2 and concurring with the       
renewal under better auspices1 of the   
movement for political freedom in the   
rest of ,europe1 has given to the       
present condition of human affairs a    

more hopeful aspect4#c  ,between the    
time of which ,i have now spoken1 and   
the present1 took place the most        
important events of my private life4    
,the first of these was my marriage1 in 
,april1 #ahea1 to the lady whose        
incomparable worth had made her         
friendship the greatest source to me    
both of happiness and of improvement1   
during many years in which we never     
expected to be in any closer relation to
 one another4 ,ardently as ,i should    
have aspired to this complete union of  
our lives at any time in the course of  
my existence at which it had been       
practicable1 ,i1 as much as my wife1    
would far rather have foregone that     
privilege for ever1 than have owed it to
 the premature death of one for whom ,i 
had the sincerest respect1 and she the  
strongest affection4 ,that event1       
however1 having taken place in ,july1   
#ahdi1 it was granted to me to derive   
from that evil my own greatest good1 by 
adding to the partnership of thought1   

feeling1 and writing which had long     
existed1 a partnership of our entire    
existence4 ,for seven and a-half years  
that blessing was mine2 for seven and   
a-half only6 ,i can say nothing which   
could describe1 even in the faintest    
manner1 what that loss was and is4 ,but 
because ,i know that she would have     
wished it1 ,i endeavour to make the best
 of what life ,i have left1 and to work 
on for her purposes with such diminished
 strength as can be derived from        
thoughts of her1 and communion with her 
memory4  ,when two persons have their   
thoughts and speculations completely in 
common2 when all subjects of            
intellectual or moral interest are      
discussed between them in daily life1   
and probed to much greater depths than  
are usually or conveniently sounded in  
writings intended for general readers2  
when they set out from the same         
principles1 and arrive at their         
conclusions by processes pursued        
jointly1 it is of little consequence in 

respect to the question of originality1 
which of them holds the pen2 the one who
 contributes least to the composition   
may contribute more to the thought2 the 
writings which result are the joint     
product of both1 and it must often be   
impossible to disentangle their         
respective parts1 and affirm that this  
belongs to one and that to the other4   
,in this wide sense1 not only during the
 years of our married life1 but during  
many of the years of confidential       
friendship which preceded1 all my       
published writings were as much her work
 as mine2 her share in them constantly  
increasing as years advanced4 ,but in   
certain cases1 what belongs to her can  
be distinguished1 and specially         
identified4 ,over and above the general 
influence which her mind had over mine1 
the most valuable ideas and features in 
these joint productions--those which    
have been most fruitful of important    
results1 and have contributed most to   
the success and reputation of the works 

themselves--originated with her1 were   
emanations from her mind1 my part in    
them being no greater than in any of the
 thoughts which ,i found in previous    
writers1 and made my own only by        
incorporating them with my own system of
 thought6 ,during the greater part of my
 literary life ,i have performed the    
office in relation to her1 which from a 
rather early period ,i had considered as
 the most useful part that ,i was       
qualified to take in the domain of      
thought1 that of an interpreter of      
original thinkers1 and mediator between 
them and the public2 for ,i had always a
 humble opinion of my own powers as an  
original thinker1 except in abstract    
science 7logic1 metaphysics1 and the    
theoretic principles of political       
economy and politics71 but thought      
myself much superior to most of my      
contemporaries in willingness and       
ability to learn from everybody2 as ,i  
found hardly anyone who made such a     
point of examining what was said in     

defence of all opinions1 however new or 
however old1 in the conviction that even
 if they were errors there might be a   
substratum of truth underneath them1 and
 that in any case the discovery of what 
it was that made them plausible1 would  
be a benefit to truth4 ,i had1 in       
consequence1 marked this out as a sphere
 of usefulness in which ,i was under a  
special obligation to make myself       
active2 the more so1 as the acquaintance
 ,i had formed with the ideas of the    
,coleridgians1 of the ,german thinkers1 
and of ,carlyle1 all of them fiercely   
opposed to the mode of thought in which 
,i had been brought up1 had convinced me
 that along with much error they        
possessed much truth1 which was veiled  
from minds otherwise capable of         
receiving it by the transcendental and  
mystical phraseology in which they were 
accustomed to shut it up1 and from which
 they neither cared1 nor knew how1 to   
disengage it2 and ,i did not despair of 
separating the truth from the error1 and

 exposing it in terms which would be    
intelligible and not repulsive to those 
on my own side in philosophy4 ,thus     
prepared1 it will easily be believed    
that when ,i came into close            
intellectual communion with a person of 
the most eminent faculties1 whose       
genius1 as it grew and unfolded itself  
in thought1 continually struck out      
truths far in advance of me1 but in     
which ,i could not1 as ,i had done in   
those others1 detect any mixture of     
error1 the greatest part of my mental   
growth consisted in the assimilation of 
those truths1 and the most valuable part
 of my intellectual work was in building
 the bridges and clearing the paths     
which connected them with my general    
system of thought4#d  ,the first of my  
books in which her share was conspicious
 was the ,principles of ,political      
,economy4 ,the ,system of ,logic owed   
little to her except in the minuter     
matters of composition1 in which respect
 my writings1 both great and small1 have

 largely benefited by her accurate and  
clear-sighted criticism4#e ,the chapter 
of the ,political ,economy which has had
 a greater influence on opinion than all
 the rest1 that on 'the ,probable       
,future of the ,labouring ,classes1' is 
entirely due to her2 in the first draft 
of the book1 that chapter did not exist4
 ,she pointed out the need of such a    
chapter1 and the extreme imperfection of
 the book without it2 she was the cause 
of my writing it2 and the more general  
part of the chapter1 the statement and  
discussion of the two opposite theories 
respecting the proper condition of the  
labouring classes1 was wholly an        
exposition of her thoughts1 often in    
words taken from her own lips4 ,the     
purely scientific part of the ,political
 ,economy ,i did not learn from her2 but
 it was chiefly her influence that gave 
to the book that general tone by which  
it is distinguished from all previous   
expositions of ,political ,economy that 
had any pretension to being scientific1 

and which has made it so useful in      
conciliating minds which those previous 
expositions had repelled4 ,this tone    
consisted chiefly in making the proper  
distinction between the laws of the     
,production of ,wealth--which are laws  
of nature1 dependent on the properties  
of objects--and the modes of its        
,distribution1 which1 subject to certain
 conditions1 depend on human will4 ,the 
commom run of political economists      
confuse these together1 under the       
designation of economic laws1 which they
 deem incapable of being defeated or    
modified by human effort2 ascribing the 
same necessity to things dependent on   
the unchangeable conditions of our      
earthly existence1 and to those which1  
being but the necessary consequences of 
particular social arrangements1 are     
merely co-extensive with these2 given   
certain institutions and customs1 wages1
 profits1 and rent will be determined by
 certain causes2 but this class of      
political economists drop the           

indispensable presupposition1 and argue 
that these causes must1 by an inherent  
necessity1 against which no human means 
can avail1 determine the shares which   
fall1 in the division of the produce1 to
 labourers1 capitalists1 and landlords4 
,the ,principles of ,political ,economy 
yielded to none of its predecessors in  
aiming at the scientific appreciation of
 the action of these causes1 under the  
conditions which they presuppose2 but it
 set the example of not treating those  
conditions as final4 ,the economic      
generalizations which depend not on     
necessaties of nature but on those      
combined with the existing arrangements 
of society1 it deals with only as       
provisional1 and as liable to be much   
altered by the progress of social       
improvement4 ,i had indeed partially    
learnt this view of things from the     
thoughts awakened in me by the          
speculations of the ,st4 ,simonians2 but
 it was made a living principle         
pervading and animating the book by my  

wife's promptings4 ,this example        
illustrates well the general character  
of what she contributed to my writings4 
,what was abstract and purely scientific
 was generally mine2 the properly human 
element came from her3 in all that      
concerned the application of philosophy 
to the exigencies of human society and  
progress1 ,i was her pupil1 alike in    
boldness of speculation and cautiousness
 of practical judgment4 ,for1 on the one
 hand1 she was much more courageous and 
far-sighted than without her ,i should  
have been1 in anticipation of an order  
of things to come1 in which many of the 
limited generalizations now so often    
confounded with universal principles    
will cease to be applicable4 ,those     
parts of my writings1 and especially of 
the ,political ,economy1 which          
contemplate possibilities in the future 
such as1 when affirmed by ,socialists1  
have in general been fiercely denied by 
political economists1 would1 but for    
her1 either have been absent1 or the    

suggestions would have been made much   
more timidly and in a more qualified    
form4 ,but while she thus rendered me   
bolder in speculation on human affairs1 
her practical turn of mind1 and her     
almost unerring estimate of practical   
obstacles1 repressed in me all          
tendencies that were really visionary4  
,her mind invested all ideas in a       
concrete shape1 and formed to itself a  
conception of how they would actually   
work3 and her knowledge of the existing 
feelings and conduct of mankind was so  
seldom at fault1 that the weak point in 
any unworkable suggestion seldom escapes
 her4#f  ,during the two years which    
immediately preceded the cessation of my
 official life1 my wife and ,i were     
working together at the ,liberty4 ,i had
 first planned and written it as a short
 essay in #ahed4 ,it was in mounting the
 steps of the ,capitol1 in ,january1    
#ahee1 that the thought first arose of  
converting it into a volume4 ,none of my
 writings have been either so carefully 

composed1 or so sedulously corrected as 
this4 ,after it had been written as     
usual twice over1 we kept it by us1     
bringing it out from time to time1 and  
going through it de novo1 reading1      
weighing1 and criticizing every         
sentence4 ,its final revision was to    
have been a work of the winter of       
#aheh-i1 the first after my retirement1 
which we had arranged to pass in the    
south of ,europe4 ,that hope and every  
other were frustrated by the most       
unexpected and bitter calamity of her   
death--at ,avignon1 on our way to       
,montpellier1 from a sudden attack of   
pulmonary congestion4  ,since then ,i   
have sought for such allevation as my   
state admitted of1 by the mode of life  
which most enabled me to feel her still 
near me4 ,i bought a cottage as close as
 possible to the place where she is     
buried1 and there her daughter 7my      
fellow-sufferer and now my chief        
comfort7 and ,i1 live constantly during 
a great portion of the year4 ,my objects

 in life are solely those which were    
hers2 my pursuits and occupations those 
in which she shared1 or sympathized1 and
 which are indissolubly associated with 
her4 ,her memory is to me a religion1   
and her approbation the standard by     
which1 summing up as it does all        
worthiness1 ,i endeavour to regulate my 
life4  ,after my irreparable loss1 one  
of my earliest cares was to print and   
publish the treatise1 so much of which  
was the work of her whom ,i had lost1   
and consecrate it to her memory4 ,i have
 made no alteration or addition to it1  
nor shall ,i ever4 ,though it wants the 
last touch of her hand1 no substitute   
for that touch shall ever be attempted  
by mine4  ,the ,liberty was more        
directly and literally our joint        
production than anything else which     
bears my name1 for there was not a      
sentence of it that was not several     
times gone through by us together1      
turned over in many ways1 and carefully 
weeded of any faults1 either in thought 

or expression1 that we detected in it4  
,it is in consequence of this that1     
although it never underwent her final   
revision1 it far surpasses1 as a mere   
specimen of composition1 anything which 
has proceeded from me either before or  
since4 ,with regard to the thoughts1 it 
is difficult to identify any particular 
part or element as being more hers than 
all the rest4 ,the whole mode of        
thinking of which the book was the      
expression1 was emphatically hers4 ,but 
,i also was so thoroughly imbued with   
it1 that the same thoughts naturally    
occurred to us both4 ,that ,i was thus  
penetrated with it1 however1 ,i owe in a
 great degree to her4 ,there was a      
moment in my mental progress when ,i    
might easily have fallen into a tendency
 towards over-government1 both social   
and political2 as there was also a      
moment when1 by reaction from a contrary
 excess1 ,i might have become a less    
thorough radical and democrat than ,i   
am4 ,in both these points1 as in many   

others1 she benefited me as much by     
keeping me right where ,i was right1 as 
by leading me to new truths1 and ridding
 me of errors4 ,my great readiness and  
eagerness to learn from everybody1 and  
to make room in my opinions for every   
new acquisition by adjusting the old and
 the new to one another1 might1 but for 
her steadying influence1 have seduced me
 into modifying my early opinions too   
much4 ,she was in nothing more valuable 
to my mental development than by her    
just measure of the relative importance 
of different considerations1 which often
 protected me from allowing to truths ,i
 had only recently learnt to see1 a more
 important place in my thoughts than was
 properly their due4  ,the ,liberty is  
likely to survive longer than anything  
else that ,i have written 7with the     
possible exception of the ,logic71      
because the conjunction of her mind with
 mine has rendered it a kind of         
philosophic text-book of a single truth1
 which the changes progressively taking 

place in modern society tend to bring   
out into ever stronger relief3 the      
importance1 to man and society of a     
large variety in types of character1 and
 of giving full freedom to human nature 
to expand itself in innumerable and     
conflicting directions4 ,nothing can    
better show how deep are the foundations
 of this truth1 than the great          
impression made by the exposition of it 
at a time which1 to superficial         
observation1 did not seem to stand much 
in need of such a lesson4 ,the fears we 
expressed1 lest the inevitable growth of
 social equality and of the government  
of public opinion1 should impose on     
mankind an oppressive yoke of uniformity
 in opinion and practice1 might easily  
have appeared chimerical to those who   
looked more at present facts than at    
tendencies2 for the gradual revolution  
that is taking place in society and     
institutions has1 thus far1 been        
decidedly favourable to the development 
of new opinions1 and has procured for   

them a much more unprejudiced hearing   
than they previously met with4 ,but this
 is a feature belonging to periods of   
transition1 when old notions and        
feelings have been unsettled1 and no new
 doctrines have yet succeeded to their  
ascendancy4 ,at such times people of any
 mental activity1 having given up their 
old beliefs1 and not feeling quite sure 
that those they still retain can stand  
unmodified1 listen eagerly to new       
opinions4 ,but this state of things is  
necessarily transitory3 some particular 
body of doctrine in time rallies the    
majority round it1 organizes social     
institutions and modes of action        
conformably to itself1 education        
impresses this new creed upon the new   
generations without the mental processes
 that have led to it1 and by degrees it 
acquires the very same power of         
compression1 so long exercised by the   
creeds of which it had taken the place4 
,whether this noxious power will be     
exercised1 depends on whether mankind   

have by that time become aware that it  
cannot be exercised without stunting and
 dwarfing human nature4 ,it is then that
 the teachings of the ,liberty will have
 their greatest value4 ,and it is to be 
feared that they will retain that value 
a long time4  ,as regards originality1  
it has of course no other than that     
which every thoughtful mind gives to its
 own mode of conceiving and expressing  
truths which are common property4 ,the  
leading thought of the book is one which
 though in many ages confined to        
insulated thinkers1 mankind have        
probably at no time since the beginning 
of civilization been entirely without4  
,to speak only of the last few          
generations1 it is distinctly contained 
in the vein of important thought        
respecting education and culture1 spread
 through the ,european mind by the      
labours and genius of ,pestalozzi4 ,the 
unqualified championship of it by       
,wilhelm von ,humboldt is referred to in
 the book2 but he by no means stood     

alone in his own country4 ,during the   
early part of the present century the   
doctrine of the rights of individuality1
 and the claim of the moral nature to   
develop itself in its own way1 was      
pushed by a whole school of ,german     
authors even to exaggeration2 and the   
writings of ,goethe1 the most celebrated
 of all ,german authors1 though not     
belonging to that or to any other       
school1 are penetrated throughout by    
views of morals and of conduct in life1 
often in my opinion not defensible1 but 
which are incessantly seeking whatever  
defence they admit of in the theory of  
the right and duty of self-development4 
,in our own country before the book ,on 
,liberty was written1 the doctrine of   
,individuality had been enthusiastically
 asserted1 in a style of vigorous       
declamation sometimes reminding one of  
,fichte1 by ,mr4 ,william ,maccall1 in a
 series of writings of which the most   
elaborate is entitled ,elements of      
,individualism3 and a remarkable        

,american1 ,mr4 ,warren1 had framed a   
,system of ,society1 on the foundation  
of the ,sovereignty of the individual1  
had obtained a number of followers1 and 
had actually commenced the formation of 
a ,village ,community 7whether it now   
exists ,i know not71 which1 though      
bearing a superficial resemblance to    
some of the projects of ,socialists1 is 
diametrically opposite to them in       
principle1 since it recognizes no       
authority whatever in ,society over the 
individual1 except to enforce equal     
freedom of development for all          
individualities4 ,as the book which     
bears my name claimed no originality for
 any of its doctrines1 and was not      
intended to write their history1 the    
only author who had preceded me in their
 assertion1 of whom ,i thought it       
appropriate to say anything1 was        
,humboldt1 who furnished the motto to   
the work2 although in one passage ,i    
borrowed from the ,warrenites their     
phrase1 the sovereignty of the          

individual4 ,it is hardly necessary here
 to remark that there are abundant      
differences in detail1 between the      
conception of the doctrine by any of the
 predecessors ,i have mentioned1 and    
that set forth in the book4  ,the       
political circumstances of the time     
induced me1 shortly after1 to complete  
and publish a pamphlet 7,thoughts on    
,parliamentary ,reform71 part of which  
had been written some years previously  
on the occasion of one of the abortive  
,reform ,bills1 and had at the time been
 approved and revised by her4 ,its      
principal features were1 hostility to   
the ,ballot 7a change of opinion in both
 of us1 in which she rather preceded    
me71 and a claim of representation for  
minorities2 not1 however1 at that time  
going beyond the cumulative vote        
proposed by ,mr4 ,garth ,marshall4 ,in  
finishing the pamphlet for publication1 
with a view to the discussions on the   
,reform ,bill of ,lord ,derby's and ,mr4
 ,disraeli's ,government in #ahei1 ,i   

added a third feature1 a plurality of   
votes1 to be given1 not to property1 but
 to proved superiority of education4    
,this recommended itself to me as a     
means of reconciling the irresistible   
claim of every man or woman to be       
consulted1 and to be allowed a voice1 in
 the regulation of affairs which vitally
 concern them1 with the superiority of  
weight justly due to opinions grounded  
on superiority of knowledge4 ,the       
suggestion1 however1 was one which ,i   
had never discussed with my almost      
infallible counsellor1 and ,i have no   
evidence that she would have concurred  
in it4 ,as far as ,i have been able to  
observe1 it has found favour with       
nobody2 all who desire any sort of      
inequality in the electoral vote1       
desiring it in favour of property and   
not of intelligence or knowledge4 ,if it
 ever overcomes the strong feeling which
 exists against it1 this will only be   
after the establishment of a systematic 
,national ,education by which the       

various grades of politically valuable  
acquirement may be accurately defined   
and authenticated4 ,without this it will
 always remain liable to strong1        
possibly conclusive1 objections2 and    
with this1 it would perhaps not be      
needed4  ,it was soon after the         
publication of ,thoughts on             
,parliamentary ,reform1 that ,i became  
acquainted with ,mr4 ,hare's admirable  
system of ,personal ,representation1    
which1 in its present shape1 was then   
for the first time published4 ,i saw in 
this great practical and philosophical  
idea1 the greatest improvement of which 
the system of representative government 
is susceptible2 an improvement which1 in
 the most felicitous manner1 exactly    
meets and cures the grand1 and what     
before seemed the inherent1 defect of   
the representative system2 that of      
giving to a numerical majority all      
power1 instead of only a power          
proportional to its numbers1 and        
enabling the strongest party to exclude 

all weaker parties from making their    
opinions heard in the assembly of the   
nation1 except through such opportunity 
as may be given to them by the          
accidentally unequal distribution of    
opinions in different localities4 ,to   
these great evils nothing more than very
 imperfect palliations had seemed       
possible2 but ,mr4 ,hare's system       
affords a radical cure4 ,this great     
discovery1 for it is no less1 in the    
political art1 inspired me1 as ,i       
believe it has inspired all thoughtful  
persons who have adopted it1 with new   
and more sanguine hopes respecting the  
prospects of human society2 by freeing  
the form of political institutions      
towards which the whole civilized world 
is manifestly and irresistibly tending1 
from the chief part of what seemed to   
qualify1 or render doubtful1 its        
ultimate benefits4 ,minorities1 so long 
as they remain minorities1 are1 and     
ought to be1 outvoted2 but under        
arrangements which enable any assemblage

 of voters1 amounting to a certain      
number1 to place in the legislature a   
representative of its own choice1       
minorities cannot be suppressed4        
,independent opinions will force their  
way into the council of the nation and  
make themselves heard there1 a thing    
which often cannot happen in the        
existing forms of representative        
democracy2 and the legislature1 instead 
of being weeded of individual           
peculiarities and entirely made up of   
men who simply represent the creed of   
great political or religious parties1   
will comprise a large proportion of the 
most eminent individual minds in the    
country1 placed there1 without reference
 to party1 by voters who appreciate     
their individual eminence4 ,i can       
understand that persons1 otherwise      
intelligent1 should1 for want of        
sufficient examination1 be repelled from
 ,mr4 ,hare's plan by what they think   
the complex nature of its machinery4    
,but any one who does not feel the want 

which the scheme is intended to supply2 
any one who throws it over as a mere    
theoretical subtlety or crotchet1       
tending to no valuable purpose1 and     
unworthy of the attention of practical  
men1 may be pronounced an incompetent   
statesman1 unequal to the politics of   
the future4 ,i mean1 unless he is a     
minister or aspires to become one3 for  
we are quite accustomed to a minister   
continuing to profess unqualified       
hostility to an improvement almost to   
the very day when his conscience or his 
interest induces him to take it up as a 
public measure1 and carry it4  ,had ,i  
met with ,mr4 ,hare's system before the 
publication of my pamphlet1 ,i should   
have given an account of it there4 ,not 
having done so1 ,i wrote an article in  
,fraser's ,magazine 7reprinted in my    
miscellaneous writings7 principally for 
that purpose1 though ,i included in it1 
along with ,mr4 ,hare's book1 a review  
of two other productions on the question
 of the day2 one of them a pamphlet by  

my early friend1 ,mr4 ,john ,austin1 who
 had in his old age become an enemy to  
all further ,parliamentary reform2 the  
other an able and vigourous1 though     
partially erroneous1 work by ,mr4       
,lorimer4  ,in the course of the same   
summer ,i fulfilled a duty particularly 
incumbent upon me1 that of helping 7by  
an article in the ,edinburgh ,review7 to
 make known ,mr4 ,bain's profound       
treatise on the ,mind1 just then        
completed by the publication of its     
second volume4 ,and ,i carried through  
the press a selection of my minor       
writings1 forming the first two volumes 
of ,dissertations and ,discussions4 ,the
 selection had been made during my      
wife's lifetime1 but the revision1 in   
concert with her1 with a view to        
republication1 had been barely          
commenced2 and when ,i had no longer the
 guidance of her judgment ,i despaired  
of pursuing it further1 and republished 
the papers as they were1 with the       
exception of striking out such passages 

as were no longer in accordance with my 
opinions4 ,my literary work of the year 
was terminated with an essay in         
,fraser's ,magazine 7afterwards         
republished in the third volume of      
,dissertations and ,discussions71       
entitled ,a ,few ,words on              
,non-,intervention4 ,i was prompted to  
write this paper by a desire1 while     
vindicating ,england from the           
imputations commonly brought against her
 on the ,continent1 of a peculiar       
selfishness in matters of foreign policy
 to warn ,englishmen of the colour given
 to this imputation by the low tone in  
which ,english statesmen are accustomed 
to speak of ,english policy as concerned
 only with ,english interests1 and by   
the conduct of ,lord ,palmerston at that
 particular time in opposing the ,suez  
,canal2 and ,i took the opportunity of  
expressing ideas which had long been in 
my mind 7some of them generated by my   
,indian experience1 and others by the   
international questions which then      

greatly occupied the ,european public71 
respecting the true principles of       
international morality1 and the         
legitimate modifications made in it by  
difference of times and circumstances2 a
 subject ,i had already1 to some extent1
 discussed in the vindication of the    
,french ,provisional ,government of     
#ahdh against the attacks of ,lord      
,brougham and others1 which ,i published
 at the time in the ,westminster        
,review1 and which is reprinted in the  
,dissertations4  ,i had now settled1 as 
,i believed1 for the remainder of my    
existence into a purely literary life2  
if that can be called literary which    
continued to be occupied in a           
pre-eminent degree with politics1 and   
not merely with theoretical1 but        
practical politics1 although a great    
part of the year was spent at a distance
 of many hundred miles from the chief   
seat of the politics of my own country1 
to which1 and primarily for which1 ,i   
wrote4 ,but1 in truth1 the modern       

facilities of communication have not    
only removed all the disadvantages1 to a
 political writer in tolerably easy     
circumstances1 of distance from the     
scene of political action1 but have     
converted them into advantages4 ,the    
immediate and regular receipt of        
newspapers and periodicals keeps him au 
courant of even the most temporary      
politics1 and gives him a much more     
correct view of the state and progress  
of opinion than he could acquire by     
personal contact with individuals3 for  
every one's social intercourse is more  
or less limited to particular sets or   
classes1 whose impressions and no others
 reach him through that channel2 and    
experience has taught me that those who 
give their time to the absorbing claims 
of what is called society1 not having   
leisure to keep up a large acquaintance 
with the organs of opinion1 remain much 
more ignorant of the general state      
either of the public mind1 or of the    
active and instructed part of it1 than a

 recluse who reads the newspapers need  
be4 ,there are1 no doubt1 disadvantages 
in too long a separation from one's     
country--in not occasionally renewing   
one's impressions of the light in which 
men and things appear when seen from a  
position in the midst of them2 but the  
deliberate judgment formed at a         
distance1 and undisturbed by            
inequalities of perspective1 is the most
 to be depended on1 even for application
 to practice4 ,alternating between the  
two positions1 ,i combined the          
advantages of both4 ,and1 though the    
inspirer of my best thoughts was no     
longer with me1 ,i was not alone3 she   
had left a daughter1 my stepdaughter1   
,miss ,helen ,taylor1 the inheritor of  
much of her wisdom1 and of all her      
nobleness of character1 whose ever      
growing and ripening talents from that  
day to this have been devoted to the    
same great purposes and have already    
made her name better and more widely    
known than was that of her mother1      

though far less so than ,i predict1 that
 if she lives it is destined to become4 
,of the value of her direct cooperation 
with me1 something will be said         
hereafter1 of what ,i owe in the way of 
instruction to her great powers of      
original thought and soundness of       
practical judgment1 it would be a vain  
attempt to give an adequate idea4       
,surely no one ever before was so       
fortunate1 as1 after such a loss as     
mine1 to draw another prize in the      
lottery of life --another companion1    
stimulator1 adviser1 and instructor of  
the rarest quality4 ,whoever1 either now
 or hereafter1 may think of me and of   
the work ,i have done1 must never forget
 that it is the product not of one      
intellect and conscience1 but of three1 
the least considerable of whom1 and     
above all the least original1 is the one
 whose name is attached to it4  ,the    
work of the years #ahfj and #ahfa       
consisted chiefly of two treatises1 only
 one of which was intended for immediate

 publication4 ,this was the             
,considerations on ,representative      
,government2 a connected exposition of  
what1 by the thoughts of many years1 ,i 
had come to regard as the best form of a
 popular constitution4 ,along with as   
much of the general theory of government
 as is necessary to support this        
particular portion of its practice1 the 
volume contains many matured views of   
the principal questions which occupy the
 present age1 within the province of    
purely organic institutions1 and raises1
 by anticipation1 some other questions  
to which growing necessities will sooner
 or later compel the attention both of  
theoretical and of practical            
politicians4 ,the chief of these last1  
is the distinction between the function 
of making laws1 for which a numerous    
popular assembly is radically unfit1 and
 that of getting good laws made1 which  
is its proper duty and cannot be        
satisfactorily fulfilled by any other   
authority3 and the consequent need of a 

,legislative ,commission1 as a permanent
 part of the constitution of a free     
country2 consisting of a small number of
 highly trained political minds1 on     
whom1 when ,parliament has determined   
that a law shall be made1 the task of   
making it should be devolved3           
,parliament retaining the power of      
passing or rejecting the bill when drawn
 up1 but not of altering it otherwise   
than by sending proposed amendments to  
be dealt with by the ,commission4 ,the  
question here raised respecting the most
 important of all public functions1 that
 of legislation1 is a particular case of
 the great problem of modern political  
organization1 stated1 ,i believe1 for   
the first time in its full extent by    
,bentham1 though in my opinion not      
always satisfactorily resolved by him2  
the combination of complete popular     
control over public affairs1 with the   
greatest attainable perfection of       
skilled agency4  ,the other treatise    
written at this time is the one which   

was published some years#g later under  
the title of ,the ,subjection of ,women4
 ,it was written at my daughter's       
suggestion that there might1 in any     
event1 be in existence a written        
exposition of my opinions on that great 
question1 as full and conclusive as ,i  
could make it4 ,the intention was to    
keep this among other unpublished       
papers1 improving it from time to time  
if ,i was able1 and to publish it at the
 time when it should seem likely to be  
most useful4 ,as ultimately published it
 was enriched with some important ideas 
of my daughter's1 and passages of her   
writing4 ,but in what was of my own     
composition1 all that is most striking  
and profound belongs to my wife2 coming 
from the fund of thought which had been 
made common to us both1 by our          
innumerable conversations and           
discussions on a topic which filled so  
large a place in our minds4  ,soon after
 this time ,i took from their repository
 a portion of the unpublished papers    

which ,i had written during the last    
years of our married life1 and shaped   
them1 with some additional matter1 into 
the little work entitled                
,utilitarianism2 which was first        
published1 in three parts1 in successive
 numbers of ,fraser's ,magazine1 and    
afterwards reprinted in a volume4       
,before this1 however1 the state of     
public affairs had become extremely     
critical1 by the commencement of the    
,american civil war4 ,my strongest      
feelings were engaged in this struggle1 
which1 ,i felt from the beginning1 was  
destined to be a turning point1 for good
 or evil1 of the course of human affairs
 for an indefinite duration4 ,having    
been a deeply interested observer of the
 slavery quarrel in ,america1 during the
 many years that preceded the open      
breach1 ,i knew that it was in all its  
stages an aggressive enterprise of the  
slave-owners to extend the territory of 
slavery2 under the combined influences  
of pecuniary interest1 domineering      

temper1 and the fanaticism of a class   
for its class privileges1 influences so 
fully and powerfully depicted in the    
admirable work of my friend ,professor  
,cairnes1 ,the ,slave ,power4 ,their    
success1 if they succeeded1 would be a  
victory of the powers of evil which     
would give courage to the enemies of    
progress and damp the spirits of its    
friends all over the civilized world1   
while it would create a formidable      
military power1 grounded on the worst   
and most anti-social form of the tyranny
 of men over men1 and1 by destroying for
 a long time the prestige of the great  
democratic republic1 would give to all  
the privileged classes of ,europe a     
false confidence1 probably only to be   
extinguished in blood4 ,on the other    
hand1 if the spirit of the ,north was   
sufficiently roused to carry the war to 
a successful termination1 and if that   
termination did not come too soon and   
too easily1 ,i foresaw1 from the laws of
 human nature1 and the experience of    

revolutions1 that when it did come it   
would in all probability be thorough3   
that the bulk of the ,northern          
population1 whose conscience had as yet 
been awakened only to the point of      
resisting the further extension of      
slavery1 but whose fidelity to the      
,constitution of the ,united ,states    
made them disapprove of any attempt by  
the ,federal ,government to interfere   
with slavery in the ,states where it    
already existed1 would acquire feelings 
of another kind when the ,constitution  
had been shaken off by armed rebellion1 
would determine to have done for ever   
with the accursed thing1 and would join 
their banner with that of the noble body
 of ,abolitionists1 of whom ,garrison   
was the courageous and single-minded    
apostle1 ,wendell ,phillips the eloquent
 orator1 and ,john ,brown the voluntary 
martyr4#h ,then1 too1 the whole mind of 
the ,united ,states would be let loose  
from its bonds1 no longer corrupted by  
the supposed necessity of apologizing to

 foreigners for the most flagrant of all
 possible violations of the free        
principles of their ,constitution2 while
 the tendency of a fixed state of       
society to stereotype a set of national 
opinions would be at least temporarily  
checked1 and the national mind would    
become more open to the recognition of  
whatever was bad in either the          
institutions or the customs of the      
people4 ,these hopes1 so far as related 
to slavery1 have been completely1 and in
 other respects are in course of being  
progressively realized4 ,foreseeing from
 the first this double set of           
consequences from the success or failure
 of the rebellion1 it may be imagined   
with what feelings ,i contemplated the  
rush of nearly the whole upper and      
middle classes of my own country even   
those who passed for ,liberals1 into a  
furious pro-,southern partisanship3 the 
working classes1 and some of the        
literary and scientific men1 being      
almost the sole exceptions to the       

general frenzy4 ,i never before felt so 
keenly how little permanent improvement 
had reached the minds of our influential
 classes1 and of what small value were  
the liberal opinions they had got into  
the habit of professing4 ,none of the   
,continental ,liberals committed the    
same frightful mistake4 ,but the        
generation which had extorted negro     
emancipation from our ,west ,india      
planters had passed away2 another had   
succeeded which had not learnt by many  
years of discussion and exposure to feel
 strongly the enormities of slavery2 and
 the inattention habitual with          
,englishmen to whatever is going on in  
the world outside their own island1 made
 them profoundly ignorant of all the    
antecedents of the struggle1 insomuch   
that it was not generally believed in   
,england1 for the first year or two of  
the war1 that the quarrel was one of    
slavery4 ,there were men of high        
principle and unquestionable liberality 
of opinion1 who thought it a dispute    

about tariffs1 or assimilated it to the 
cases in which they were accustomed to  
sympathize1 of a people struggling for  
independence4  ,it was my obvious duty  
to be one of the small minority who     
protested against this perverted state  
of public opinion4 ,i was not the first 
to protest4 ,it ought to be remembered  
to the honour of ,mr4 ,hughes and of    
,mr4 ,ludlow1 that they1 by writings    
published at the very beginning of the  
struggle1 began the protestation4 ,mr4  
,bright followed in one of the most     
powerful of his speeches1 followed by   
others not less striking4 ,i was on the 
point of adding my words to theirs1 when
 there occurred1 towards the end of     
#ahfa1 the seizure of the ,southern     
envoys on board a ,british vessel1 by an
 officer of the ,united ,states4 ,even  
,english forgetfulness has not yet had  
time to lose all remembrance of the     
explosion of feeling in ,england which  
then burst forth1 the expectation1      
prevailing for some weeks1 of war with  

the ,united ,states1 and the warlike    
preparations actually commenced on this 
side4 ,while this state of things       
lasted1 there was no chance of a hearing
 for anything favourable to the         
,american cause2 and1 moreover1 ,i      
agreed with those who thought the act   
unjustifiable1 and such as to require   
that ,england should demand its         
disavowal4 ,when the disavowal came1 and
 the alarm of war was over1 ,i wrote1 in
 ,january1 #ahfb1 the paper1 in         
,fraser's ,magazine1 entitled ,the      
,contest in ,america1 and ,i shall      
always feel grateful to my daughter that
 her urgency prevailed on me to write it
 when ,i did1 for we were then on the   
point of setting out for a journey of   
some months in ,greece and ,turkey1 and 
but for her1 ,i should have deferred    
writing till our return4 ,written and   
published when it was1 this paper helped
 to encourage those ,liberals who had   
felt overborne by the tide of illiberal 
opinion1 and to form in favour of the   

good cause a nucleus of opinion which   
increased gradually1 and1 after the     
success of the ,north began to seem     
probable1 rapidly4 ,when we returned    
from our journey ,i wrote a second      
article1 a review of ,professor         
,cairnes' book1 published in the        
,westminster ,review4 ,england is paying
 the penalty1 in many uncomfortable     
ways1 of the durable resentment which   
her ruling classes stirred up in the    
,united ,states by their ostentatious   
wishes for the ruin of ,america as a    
nation2 they have reason to be thankful 
that a few1 if only a few1 known writers
 and speakers1 standing firmly by the   
,americans in the time of their greatest
 difficulty1 effected a partial         
diversion of these bitter feelings1 and 
made ,great ,britain not altogether     
odious to the ,americans4  ,this duty   
having been performed1 my principal     
occupation for the next two years was on
 subjects not political4 ,the           
publication of ,mr4 ,austin's ,lectures 

on ,jurisprudence after his decease1    
gave me an opportunity of paying a      
deserved tribute to his memory1 and at  
the same time expressing some thoughts  
on a subject on which1 in my old days of
 ,benthamism1 ,i had bestowed much      
study4 ,but the chief product of those  
years was the ,examination of ,sir      
,william ,hamilton's ,philosophy4 ,his  
,lectures1 published in #ahfj and #ahfa1
 ,i had read towards the end of the     
latter year1 with a half-formed         
intention of giving an account of them  
in a ,review1 but ,i soon found that    
this would be idle1 and that justice    
could not be done to the subject in less
 than a volume4 ,i had then to consider 
whether it would be advisable that ,i   
myself should attempt such a            
performance4 ,on consideration1 there   
seemed to be strong reasons for doing   
so4 ,i was greatly disappointed with the
 ,lectures4 ,i read them1 certainly1    
with no prejudice against ,sir ,william 
,hamilton4 ,i had up to that time       

deferred the study of his ,notes to     
,reid on account of their unfinished    
state1 but ,i had not neglected his     
,discussions in ,philosophy2 and though 
,i knew that his general mode of        
treating the facts of mental philosophy 
differed from that of which ,i most     
approved1 yet his vigorous polemic      
against the later ,transcendentalists1  
and his strenuous assertion of some     
important principles1 especially the    
,relativity of human knowledge1 gave me 
many points of sympathy with his        
opinions1 and made me think that genuine
 psychology had considerably more to    
gain than to lose by his authority and  
reputation4 ,his ,lectures and the      
,dissertations on ,reid dispelled this  
illusion3 and even the ,discussions1    
read by the light which these throw on  
them1 lost much of their value4 ,i found
 that the points of apparent agreement  
between his opinions and mine were more 
verbal than real2 that the important    
philosophical principles which ,i had   

thought he recognised1 were so explained
 away by him as to mean little or       
nothing1 or were continually lost sight 
of1 and doctrines entirely inconsistent 
with them were taught in nearly every   
part of his philosophical writings4 ,my 
estimation of him was therefore so far  
altered1 that instead of regarding him  
as occupying a kind of intermediate     
position between the two rival          
philosophies1 holding some of the       
principles of both1 and supplying to    
both powerful weapons of attack and     
defence1 ,i now looked upon him as one  
of the pillars1 and in this country from
 his high philosophical reputation the  
chief pillar1 of that one of the two    
which seemed to me to be erroneous4     
,now1 the difference between these two  
schools of philosophy1 that of          
,intuition1 and that of ,experience and 
,association1 is not a mere matter of   
abstract speculation2 it is full of     
practical consequences1 and lies at the 
foundation of all the greatest          

differences of practical opinion in an  
age of progress4 ,the practical reformer
 has continually to demand that changes 
be made in things which are supported by
 powerful and widely-spread feelings1 or
 to question the apparent necessity and 
indefeasibleness of established facts2  
and it is often an indispensable part of
 his argument to show1 how those        
powerful feelings had their origin1 and 
how those facts came to seem necessary  
and indefeasible4 ,there is therefore a 
natural hostility between him and a     
philosophy which discourages the        
explanation of feelings and moral facts 
by circumstances and association1 and   
prefers to treat them as ultimate       
elements of human nature2 a philosophy  
which is addicted to holding up         
favourite doctrines as intuitive truths1
 and deems intuition to be the voice of 
,nature and of ,god1 speaking with an   
authority higher than that of our       
reason4 ,in particular1 ,i have long    
felt that the prevailing tendency to    

regard all the marked distinctions of   
human character as innate1 and in the   
main indelible1 and to ignore the       
irresistible proofs that by far the     
greater part of those differences1      
whether between individuals1 races1 or  
sexes1 are such as not only might but   
naturally would be produced by          
differences in circumstances1 is one of 
the chief hindrances to the rational    
treatment of great social questions1 and
 one of the greatest stumbling blocks to
 human improvement4 ,this tendency has  
its source in the intuitional           
metaphysics which characterized the     
reaction of the nineteenth century      
against the eighteenth1 and it is a     
tendency so agreeable to human          
indolence1 as well as to conservative   
interests generally1 that unless        
attacked at the very root1 it is sure to
 be carried to even a greater length    
than is really justified by the more    
moderate forms of the intuitional       
philosophy4 ,that philosophy not always 

in its moderate forms1 had ruled the    
thought of ,europe for the greater part 
of a century4 ,my father's ,analysis of 
the ,mind1 my own ,logic1 and ,professor
 ,bain's great treatise1 had attempted  
to re-introduce a better mode of        
philosophizing1 latterly with quite as  
much success as could be expected2 but  
,i had for some time felt that the mere 
contrast of the two philosophies was not
 enough1 that there ought to be a       
hand-to-hand fight between them1 that   
controversial as well as expository     
writings were needed1 and that the time 
was come when such controversy would be 
useful4 ,considering1 then1 the writings
 and fame of ,sir ,w4 ,hamilton as the  
great fortress of the intuitional       
philosophy in this country1 a fortress  
the more formidable from the imposing   
character1 and the in many respects     
great personal merits and mental        
endowments1 of the man1 ,i thought it   
might be a real service to philosophy to
 attempt a thorough examination of all  

his most important doctrines1 and an    
estimate of his general claims to       
eminence as a philosopher2 and ,i was   
confirmed in this resolution by         
observing that in the writings of at    
least one1 and him one of the ablest1 of
 ,sir ,w4 ,hamilton's followers1 his    
peculiar doctrines were made the        
justification of a view of religion     
which ,i hold to be profoundly          
immoral--that it is our duty to bow down
 in worship before a ,being whose moral 
attributes are affirmed to be unknowable
 by us1 and to be perhaps extremely     
different from those which1 when we are 
speaking of our fellow-creatures1 we    
call by the same names4  ,as ,i advanced
 in my task1 the damage to ,sir ,w4     
,hamilton's reputation became greater   
than ,i at first expected1 through the  
almost incredible multitude of          
inconsistencies which showed themselves 
on comparing different passages with one
 another4 ,it was my business1 however1 
to show things exactly as they were1 and

 ,i did not flinch from it4 ,i          
endeavoured always to treat the         
philosopher whom ,i criticized with the 
most scrupulous fairness2 and ,i knew   
that he had abundance of disciples and  
admirers to correct me if ,i ever       
unintentionally did him injustice4 ,many
 of them accordingly have answered me1  
more or less elaborately1 and they have 
pointed out oversights and              
misunderstandings1 though few in number1
 and mostly very unimportant in         
substance4 ,such of those as had 7to my 
knowledge7 been pointed out before the  
publication of the latest edition 7at   
present the third7 have been corrected  
there1 and the remainder of the         
criticisms have been1 as far as seemed  
necessary1 replied to4 ,on the whole1   
the book has done its work3 it has shown
 the weak side of ,sir ,william         
,hamilton1 and has reduced his too great
 philosophical reputation within more   
moderate bounds2 and by some of its     
discussions1 as well as by two          

expository chapters1 on the notions of  
,matter and of ,mind1 it has perhaps    
thrown additional light on some of the  
disputed questions in the domain of     
psychology and metaphysics4  ,after the 
completion of the book on ,hamilton1 ,i 
applied myself to a task which a variety
 of reasons seemed to render specially  
incumbent upon me2 that of giving an    
account1 and forming an estimate1 of the
 doctrines of ,auguste ,comte4 ,i had   
contributed more than any one else to   
make his speculations known in ,england1
 and1 in consequence chiefly of what ,i 
had said of him in my ,logic1 he had    
readers and admirers among thoughtful   
men on this side of the ,channel at a   
time when his name had not yet in       
,france emerged from obscurity4 ,so     
unknown and unappreciated was he at the 
time when my ,logic was written and     
published1 that to criticize his weak   
points might well appear superfluous1   
while it was a duty to give as much     
publicity as one could to the important 

contributions he had made to philosophic
 thought4 ,at the time1 however1 at     
which ,i have now arrived1 this state of
 affairs had entirely changed4 ,his     
name1 at least1 was known almost        
universally1 and the general character  
of his doctrines very widely4 ,he had   
taken his place in the estimation both  
of friends and opponents1 as one of the 
conspicuous figures in the thought of   
the age4 ,the better parts of his       
speculations had made great progress in 
working their way into those minds1     
which1 by their previous culture and    
tendencies1 were fitted to receive them3
 under cover of those better parts those
 of a worse character1 greatly developed
 and added to in his later writings1 had
 also made some way1 having obtained    
active and enthusiastic adherents1 some 
of them of no inconsiderable personal   
merit1 in ,england1 ,france1 and other  
countries4 ,these causes not only made  
it desirable that some one should       
undertake the task of sifting what is   

good from what is bad in ,m4 ,comte's   
speculations1 but seemed to impose on   
myself in particular a special          
obligation to make the attempt4 ,this ,i
 accordingly did in two essays1         
published in successive numbers of the  
,westminster ,review1 and reprinted in a
 small volume under the title ,auguste  
,comte and ,positivism4  ,the writings  
which ,i have now mentioned1 together   
with a small number of papers in        
periodicals which ,i have not deemed    
worth preserving1 were the whole of the 
products of my activity as a writer     
during the years from #ahei to #ahfe4   
,in the early part of the last-mentioned
 year1 in compliance with a wish        
frequently expressed to me by working   
men1 ,i published cheap ,people's       
,editions of those of my writings which 
seemed the most likely to find readers  
among the working classes2 viz1         
,principles of ,political ,economy1     
,liberty1 and ,representative           
,government4 ,this was a considerable   

sacrifice of my pecuniary interest1     
especially as ,i resigned all idea of   
deriving profit from the cheap editions1
 and after ascertaining from my         
publishers the lowest price which they  
thought would remunerate them on the    
usual terms of an equal division of     
profits1 ,i gave up my half share to    
enable the price to be fixed still      
lower4 ,to the credit of ,messrs4       
,longman they fixed1 unasked1 a certain 
number of years after which the         
copyright and stereotype plates were to 
revert to me1 and a certain number of   
copies after the sale of which ,i should
 receive half of any further profit4    
,this number of copies 7which in the    
case of the ,political ,economy was     
#aj1jjj7 has for some time been         
exceeded1 and the ,people's ,editions   
have begun to yield me a small but      
unexpected pecuniary return1 though very
 far from an equivalent for the         
diminution of profit from the ,library  
,editions4  ,in this summary of my      

outward life ,i have now arrived at the 
period at which my tranquil and retired 
existence as a writer of books was to be
 exchanged for the less congenial       
occupation of a member of the ,house of 
,commons4 ,the proposal made to me1     
early in #ahfe1 by some electors of     
,westminster1 did not present the idea  
to me for the first time4 ,it was not   
even the first offer ,i had received1   
for1 more than ten years previous1 in   
consequence of my opinions on the ,irish
 ,land ,question1 ,mr4 ,lucas and ,mr4  
,duffy1 in the name of the popular party
 in ,ireland1 offered to bring me into  
,parliament for an ,irish county1 which 
they could easily have done3 but the    
incompatibility of a seat in ,parliament
 with the office ,i then held in the    
,india ,house1 precluded even           
consideration of the proposal4 ,after ,i
 had quitted the ,india ,house1 several 
of my friends would gladly have seen me 
a member of ,parliament2 but there      
seemed no probability that the idea     

would ever take any practical shape4 ,i 
was convinced that no numerous or       
influential portion of any electoral    
body1 really wished to be represented by
 a person of my opinions2 and that one  
who possessed no local connection or    
popularity1 and who did not choose to   
stand as the mere organ of a party had  
small chance of being elected anywhere  
unless through the expenditure of money4
 ,now it was1 and is1 my fixed          
conviction1 that a candidate ought not  
to incur one farthing of expense for    
undertaking a public duty4 ,such of the 
lawful expenses of an election as have  
no special reference to any particular  
candidate1 ought to be borne as a public
 charge1 either by the ,state or by the 
locality4 ,what has to be done by the   
supporters of each candidate in order to
 bring his claims properly before the   
constituency1 should be done by unpaid  
agency or by voluntary subscription4 ,if
 members of the electoral body1 or      
others1 are willing to subscribe money  

of their own for the purpose of         
bringing1 by lawful means1 into         
,parliament some one who they think     
would be useful there1 no one is        
entitled to object3 but that the        
expense1 or any part of it1 should fall 
on the candidate1 is fundamentally      
wrong2 because it amounts in reality to 
buying his seat4 ,even on the most      
favourable supposition as to the mode in
 which the money is expended1 there is a
 legitimate suspicion that any one who  
gives money for leave to undertake a    
public trust1 has other than public ends
 to promote by it2 and 7a consideration 
of the greatest importance7 the cost of 
elections1 when borne by the candidates1
 deprives the nation of the services1 as
 members of ,parliament1 of all who     
cannot or will not afford to incur a    
heavy expense4 ,i do not say that1 so   
long as there is scarcely a chance for  
an independent candidate to come into   
,parliament without complying with this 
vicious practice1 it must always be     

morally wrong in him to spend money1    
provided that no part of it is either   
directly or indirectly employed in      
corruption4 ,but1 to justify it1 he     
ought to be very certain that he can be 
of more use to his country as a member  
of ,parliament than in any other mode   
which is open to him2 and this          
assurance1 in my own case1 ,i did not   
feel4 ,it was by no means clear to me   
that ,i could do more to advance the    
public objects which had a claim on my  
exertions1 from the benches of the      
,house of ,commons1 than from the simple
 position of a writer4 ,i felt1         
therefore1 that ,i ought not to seek    
election to ,parliament1 much less to   
expend any money in procuring it4  ,but 
the conditions of the question were     
considerably altered when a body of     
electors sought me out1 and             
spontaneously offered to bring me       
forward as their candidate4 ,if it      
should appear1 on explanation1 that they
 persisted in this wish1 knowing my     

opinions1 and accepting the only        
conditions on which ,i could            
conscientiously serve1 it was           
questionable whether this was not one of
 those calls upon a member of the       
community by his fellow-citizens1 which 
he was scarcely justified in rejecting4 
,i therefore put their disposition to   
the proof by one of the frankest        
explanations ever tendered1 ,i should   
think1 to an electoral body by a        
candidate4 ,i wrote1 in reply to the    
offer1 a letter for publication1 saying 
that ,i had no personal wish to be a    
member of ,parliament1 that ,i thought a
 candidate ought neither to canvass nor 
to incur any expense1 and that ,i could 
not consent to do either4 ,i said       
further1 that if elected1 ,i could not  
undertake to give any of my time and    
labour to their local interests4 ,with  
respect to general politics1 ,i told    
them without reserve1 what ,i thought on
 a number of important subjects on which
 they had asked my opinion3 and one of  

these being the suffrage1 ,i made known 
to them1 among other things1 my         
conviction 7as ,i was bound to do1 since
 ,i intended1 if elected1 to act on it71
 that women were entitled to            
representation in ,parliament on the    
same terms with men4 ,it was the first  
time1 doubtless1 that such a doctrine   
had ever been mentioned to ,english     
electors2 and the fact that ,i was      
elected after proposing it1 gave the    
start to the movement which has since   
become so vigorous1 in favour of women's
 suffrage4 ,nothing1 at the time1       
appeared more unlikely than that a      
candidate 7if candidate ,i could be     
called7 whose professions and conduct   
set so completely at defiance all       
ordinary notions of electioneering1     
should nevertheless be elected4 ,a      
well-known literary man1 who was also a 
man of society1 was heard to say that   
the ,almighty himself would have no     
chance of being elected on such a       
programme4 ,i strictly adhered to it1   

neither spending money nor canvassing1  
nor did ,i take any personal part in the
 election1 until about a week preceding 
the day of nomination1 when ,i attended 
a few public meetings to state my       
principles and give to any questions    
which the electors might exercise their 
just right of putting to me for their   
own guidance2 answers as plain and      
unreserved as my address4 ,on one       
subject only1 my religious opinions1 ,i 
announced from the beginning that ,i    
would answer no questions2 a            
determination which appeared to be      
completely approved by those who        
attended the meetings4 ,my frankness on 
all other subjects on which ,i was      
interrogated1 evidently did me far more 
good than my answers1 whatever they     
might be1 did harm4 ,among the proofs ,i
 received of this1 one is too remarkable
 not to be recorded4 ,in the pamphlet1  
,thoughts on ,parliamentary ,reform1 ,i 
had said1 rather bluntly1 that the      
working classes1 though differing from  

those of some other countries1 in being 
ashamed of lying1 are yet generally     
liars4 ,this passage some opponent got  
printed in a placard1 which was handed  
to me at a meeting1 chiefly composed of 
the working classes1 and ,i was asked   
whether ,i had written and published it4
 ,i at once answered ,i did4 ,scarcely  
were these two words out of my mouth1   
when vehement applause resounded through
 the whole meeting4 ,it was evident that
 the working people were so accustomed  
to expect equivocation and evasion from 
those who sought their suffrages1 that  
when they found1 instead of that1 a     
direct avowal of what was likely to be  
disagreeable to them1 instead of being  
affronted1 they concluded at once that  
this was a person whom they could trust4
 ,a more striking instance never came   
under my notice of what1 ,i believe1 is 
the experience of those who best know   
the working classes1 that the most      
essential of all recommendations to     
their favour is that of complete        

straightforwardness2 its presence       
outweighs in their minds very strong    
objections1 while no amount of other    
qualities will make amends for its      
apparent absence4 ,the first working man
 who spoke after the incident ,i have   
mentioned 7it was ,mr4 ,odger7 said1    
that the working classes had no desire  
not to be told of their faults2 they    
wanted friends1 not flatterers1 and felt
 under obligation to any one who told   
them anything in themselves which he    
sincerely believed to require amendment4
 ,and to this the meeting heartily      
responded4  ,had ,i been defeated in the
 election1 ,i should still have had no  
reason to regret the contact it had     
brought me into with large bodies of my 
countrymen2 which not only gave me much 
new experience1 but enabled me to       
scatter my political opinions rather    
widely1 and1 by making me known in many 
quarters where ,i had never before been 
heard of1 increased the number of my    
readers1 and the presumable influence of

 my writings4 ,these latter effects were
 of course produced in a still greater  
degree1 when1 as much to my surprise as 
to that of any one1 ,i was returned to  
,parliament by a majority of some       
hundreds over my ,conservative          
competitor4  ,i was a member of the     
,house during the three sessions of the 
,parliament which passed the ,reform    
,bill2 during which time ,parliament was
 necessarily my main occupation1 except 
during the recess4 ,i was a tolerably   
frequent speaker1 sometimes of prepared 
speeches1 sometimes extemporaneously4   
,but my choice of occasions was not such
 as ,i should have made if my leading   
object had been ,parliamentary          
influence4 ,when ,i had gained the ear  
of the ,house1 which ,i did by a        
successful speech on ,mr4 ,gladstone's  
,reform ,bill1 the idea ,i proceeded on 
was that when anything was likely to be 
as well done1 or sufficiently well done1
 by other people1 there was no necessity
 for me to meddle with it4 ,as ,i1      

therefore1 in general reserved myself   
for work which no others were likely to 
do1 a great proportion of my appearances
 were on points on which the bulk of the
 ,liberal party1 even the advanced      
portion of it1 either were of a         
different opinion from mine1 or were    
comparatively indifferent4 ,several of  
my speeches1 especially one against the 
motion for the abolition of capital     
punishment1 and another in favour of    
resuming the right of seizing enemies'  
goods in neutral vessels1 were opposed  
to what then was1 and probably still is1
 regarded as the advanced liberal       
opinion4 ,my advocacy of women's        
suffrage and of ,personal               
,representation1 were at the time looked
 upon by many as whims of my own2 but   
the great progress since made by those  
opinions1 and especially the response   
made from almost all parts of the       
kingdom to the demand for women's       
suffrage1 fully justified the timeliness
 of those movements1 and have made what 

was undertaken as a moral and social    
duty1 a personal success4 ,another duty 
which was particularly incumbent on me  
as one of the ,metropolitan ,members1   
was the attempt to obtain a ,municipal  
,government for the ,metropolis3 but on 
that subject the indifference of the    
,house of ,commons was such that ,i     
found hardly any help or support within 
its walls4 ,on this subject1 however1 ,i
 was the organ of an active and         
intelligent body of persons outside1    
with whom1 and not with me1 the scheme  
originated1 and who carried on all the  
agitation on the subject and drew up the
 ,bills4 ,my part was to bring in ,bills
 already prepared1 and to sustain the   
discussion of them during the short time
 they were allowed to remain before the 
,house2 after having taken an active    
part in the work of a ,committee        
presided over by ,mr4 ,ayrton1 which sat
 through the greater part of the        
,session of #ahff1 to take evidence on  
the subject4 ,the very different        

position in which the question now      
stands 7#ahgj7 may justly be attributed 
to the preparation which went on during 
those years1 and which produced but     
little visible effect at the time2 but  
all questions on which there are strong 
private interests on one side1 and only 
the public good on the other1 have a    
similar period of incubation to go      
through4  ,the same idea1 that the use  
of my being in ,parliament was to do    
work which others were not able or not  
willing to do1 made me think it my duty 
to come to the front in defence of      
advanced ,liberalism on occasions when  
the obloquy to be encountered was such  
as most of the advanced ,liberals in the
 ,house1 preferred not to incur4 ,my    
first vote in the ,house was in support 
of an amendment in favour of ,ireland1  
moved by an ,irish member1 and for which
 only five ,english and ,scotch votes   
were given1 including my own3 the other 
four were ,mr4 ,bright1 ,mr4 ,mc,laren1 
,mr4 ,t4,b4 ,potter1 and ,mr4 ,hadfield4

 ,and the second speech ,i delivered#i  
was on the bill to prolong the          
suspension of the ,habeas ,corpus in    
,ireland4 ,in denouncing1 on this       
occasion1 the ,english mode of governing
 ,ireland1 ,i did no more than the      
general opinion of ,england now admits  
to have been just2 but the anger against
 ,fenianism was then in all its         
freshness2 any attack on what ,fenians  
attacked was looked upon as an apology  
for them2 and ,i was so unfavourably    
received by the ,house1 that more than  
one of my friends advised me 7and my own
 judgment agreed with the advice7 to    
wait1 before speaking again1 for the    
favourable opportunity that would be    
given by the first great debate on the  
,reform ,bill4 ,during this silence1    
many flattered themselves that ,i had   
turned out a failure1 and that they     
should not be troubled with me any more4
 ,perhaps their uncomplimentary comments
 may1 by the force of reaction1 have    
helped to make my speech on the ,reform 

,bill the success it was4 ,my position  
in the ,house was further improved by a 
speech in which ,i insisted on the duty 
of paying off the ,national ,debt before
 our coal supplies are exhausted1 and by
 an ironical reply to some of the ,tory 
leaders who had quoted against me       
certain passages of my writings1 and    
called me to account for others1        
especially for one in my ,considerations
 on ,representative ,government1 which  
said that the ,conservative party was1  
by the law of its composition1 the      
stupidest party4 ,they gained nothing by
 drawing attention to the passage1 which
 up to that time had not excited any    
notice1 but the sobriquet of the stupid 
party stuck to them for a considerable  
time afterwards4 ,having now no longer  
any apprehension of not being listened  
to1 ,i confined myself1 as ,i have since
 thought too much1 to occasions on which
 my services seemed specially needed1   
and abstained more than enough from     
speaking on the great party questions4  

,with the exception of ,irish questions1
 and those which concerned the working  
classes1 a single speech on ,mr4        
,disraeli's ,reform ,bill was nearly all
 that ,i contributed to the great       
decisive debates of the last two of my  
three sessions4  ,i have1 however1 much 
satisfaction in looking back to the part
 ,i took on the two classes of subjects 
just mentioned4 ,with regard to the     
working classes1 the chief topic of my  
speech on ,mr4 ,gladstone's ,reform     
,bill was the assertion of their claims 
to the suffrage4 ,a little later1 after 
the resignation of ,lord ,russell's     
,ministry and the succession of a ,tory 
,government1 came the attempt of the    
working classes to hold a meeting in    
,hyde ,park1 their exclusion by the     
police1 and the breaking down of the    
park railing by the crowd4 ,though ,mr4 
,beales and the leaders of the working  
men had retired under protest before    
this took place1 a scuffle ensued in    
which many innocent persons were        

maltreated by the police1 and the       
exasperation of the working men was     
extreme4 ,they showed a determination to
 make another attempt at a meeting in   
the ,park1 to which many of them would  
probably have come armed2 the           
,government made military preparations  
to resist the attempt1 and something    
very serious seemed impending4 ,at this 
crisis ,i really believe that ,i was the
 means of preventing much mischief4 ,i  
had in my place in ,parliament taken the
 side of the working men1 and strongly  
censured the conduct of the ,government4
 ,i was invited1 with several other     
,radical members1 to a conference with  
the leading members of the ,council of  
the ,reform ,league2 and the task fell  
chiefly upon myself1 of persuading them 
to give up the ,hyde ,park project1 and 
hold their meeting elsewhere4 ,it was   
not ,mr4 ,beales and ,colonel ,dickson  
who needed persuading2 on the contrary1 
it was evident that these gentlemen had 
already exerted their influence in the  

same direction1 thus far without        
success4 ,it was the working men who    
held out1 and so bent were they on their
 original scheme1 that ,i was obliged to
 have recourse to les grands moyens4 ,i 
told them that a proceeding which would 
certainly produce a collision with the  
military1 could only be justifiable on  
two conditions3 if the position of      
affairs had become such that a          
revolution was desirable1 and if they   
thought themselves able to accomplish   
one4 ,to this argument1 after           
considerable discussion1 they at last   
yielded3 and ,i was able to inform ,mr4 
,walpole that their intention was given 
up4 ,i shall never forget the depth of  
his relief or the warmth of his         
expressions of gratitude4 ,after the    
working men had conceded so much to me1 
,i felt bound to comply with their      
request that ,i would attend and speak  
at their meeting at the ,agricultural   
,hall2 the only meeting called by the   
,reform ,league which ,i ever attended4 

,i had always declined being a member of
 the ,league1 on the avowed ground that 
,i did not agree in its programme of    
manhood suffrage and the ballot3 from   
the ballot ,i dissented entirely2 and ,i
 could not consent to hoist the flag of 
manhood suffrage1 even on the assurance 
that the exclusion of women was not     
intended to be implied2 since if one    
goes beyond what can be immediately     
carried1 and professes to take one's    
stand on a principle1 one should go the 
whole length of the principle4 ,i have  
entered thus particularly into this     
matter because my conduct on this       
occasion gave great displeasure to the  
,tory and ,tory-,liberal press1 who have
 charged me ever since with having shown
 myself1 in the trials of public life1  
intemperate and passionate4 ,i do not   
know what they expected from me2 but    
they had reason to be thankful to me if 
they knew from what ,i had1 in all      
probability preserved them4 ,and ,i do  
not believe it could have been done1 at 

that particular juncture1 by any one    
else4 ,no other person1 ,i believe1 had 
at that moment the necessary influence  
for restraining the working classes1    
except ,mr4 ,gladstone and ,mr4 ,bright1
 neither of whom was available3 ,mr4    
,gladstone1 for obvious reasons2 ,mr4   
,bright because he was out of town4     
,when1 some time later1 the ,tory       
,government brought in a bill to prevent
 public meetings in the ,parks1 ,i not  
only spoke strongly in opposition to it1
 but formed one of a number of advanced 
,liberals1 who1 aided by the very late  
period of the session1 succeeded in     
defeating the ,bill by what is called   
talking it out4 ,it has not since been  
renewed4  ,on ,irish affairs also ,i    
felt bound to take a decided part4 ,i   
was one of the foremost in the          
deputation of ,members of ,parliament   
who prevailed on ,lord ,derby to spare  
the life of the condemned ,fenian       
insurgent1 ,general ,burke4 ,the ,church
 question was so vigorously handled by  

the leaders of the party1 in the session
 of #ahfh1 as to require no more from me
 than an emphatic adhesion3 but the land
 question was by no means in so advanced
 a position2 the superstitions of       
landlordism had up to that time been    
little challenged1 especially in        
,parliament1 and the backward state of  
the question1 so far as concerned the   
,parliamentary mind1 was evidenced by   
the extremely mild measure brought in by
 ,lord ,russell's government in #ahff1  
which nevertheless could not be carried4
 ,on that bill ,i delivered one of my   
most careful speeches1 in which ,i      
attempted to lay down some of the       
principles of the subject1 in a manner  
calculated less to stimulate friends1   
than to conciliate and convince         
opponents4 ,the engrossing subject of   
,parliamentary ,reform prevented either 
this bill1 or one of a similar character
 brought in by ,lord ,derby's           
,government1 from being carried through4
 ,they never got beyond the second      

reading4 ,meanwhile the signs of ,irish 
disaffection had become much more       
decided2 the demand for complete        
separation between the two countries had
 assumed a menacing aspect1 and there   
were few who did not feel that if there 
was still any chance of reconciling     
,ireland to the ,british connection1 it 
could only be by the adoption of much   
more thorough reforms in the territorial
 and social relations of the country1   
than had yet been contemplated4 ,the    
time seemed to me to have come when it  
would be useful to speak out my whole   
mind2 and the result was my pamphlet    
,england and ,ireland1 which was written
 in the winter of #ahfg1 and published  
shortly before the commencement of the  
session of #ahfh4 ,the leading features 
of the pamphlet were1 on the one hand1  
an argument to show the undesirableness1
 for ,ireland as well as ,england1 of   
separation between the countries1 and on
 the other1 a proposal for settling the 
land question by giving to the existing 

tenants a permanent tenure1 at a fixed  
rent1 to be assessed after due inquiry  
by the ,state4  ,the pamphlet was not   
popular1 except in ,ireland1 as ,i did  
not expect it to be4 ,but1 if no measure
 short of that which ,i proposed would  
do full justice to ,ireland1 or afford a
 prospect of conciliating the mass of   
the ,irish people1 the duty of proposing
 it was imperative2 while if1 on the    
other hand1 there was any intermediate  
course which had a claim to a trial1 ,i 
well knew that to propose something     
which would be called extreme1 was the  
true way not to impede but to facilitate
 a more moderate experiment4 ,it is most
 improbable that a measure conceding so 
much to the tenantry as ,mr4            
,gladstone's ,irish ,land ,bill1 would  
have been proposed by a ,government1 or 
could have been carried through         
,parliament1 unless the ,british public 
had been led to perceive that a case    
might be made1 and perhaps a party      
formed1 for a measure considerably      

stronger4 ,it is the character of the   
,british people1 or at least of the     
higher and middle classes who pass      
muster for the ,british people1 that to 
induce them to approve of any change1 it
 is necessary that they should look upon
 it as a middle course3 they think every
 proposal extreme and violent unless    
they hear of some other proposal going  
still farther1 upon which their         
antipathy to extreme views may discharge
 itself4 ,so it proved in the present   
instance2 my proposal was condemned1 but
 any scheme for ,irish ,land reform     
short of mine1 came to be thought       
moderate by comparison4 ,i may observe  
that the attacks made on my plan usually
 gave a very incorrect idea of its      
nature4 ,it was usually discussed as a  
proposal that the ,state should buy up  
the land and become the universal       
landlord2 though in fact it only offered
 to each individual landlord this as an 
alternative1 if he liked better to sell 
his estate than to retain it on the new 

conditions2 and ,i fully anticipated    
that most landlords would continue to   
prefer the position of landowners to    
that of ,government annuitants1 and     
would retain their existing relation to 
their tenants1 often on more indulgent  
terms than the full rents on which the  
compensation to be given them by        
,government would have been based4 ,this
 and many other explanations ,i gave in 
a speech on ,ireland1 in the debate on  
,mr4 ,maguire's ,resolution1 early in   
the session of #ahfh4 ,a corrected      
report of this speech1 together with my 
speech on ,mr4 ,fortescue's ,bill1 has  
been published 7not by me1 but with my  
permission7 in ,ireland4  ,another      
public duty1 of a most serious kind1 it 
was my lot to have to perform1 both in  
and out of ,parliament1 during these    
years4 ,a disturbance in ,jamaica1      
provoked in the first instance by       
injustice1 and exaggerated by rage and  
panic into a premeditated rebellion1 had
 been the motive or excuse for taking   

hundreds of innocent lives by military  
violence1 or by sentence of what were   
called courts-martial1 continuing for   
weeks after the brief disturbance had   
been put down2 with many added          
atrocities of destruction of property   
logging women as well as men1 and a     
general display of the brutal           
recklessness which usually prevails when
 fire and sword are let loose4 ,the     
perpetrators of those deeds were        
defended and applauded in ,england by   
the same kind of people who had so long 
upheld negro slavery3 and it seemed at  
first as if the ,british nation was     
about to incur the disgrace of letting  
pass without even a protest1 excesses of
 authority as revolting as any of those 
for which1 when perpetrated by the      
instruments of other governments1       
,englishmen can hardly find terms       
sufficient to express their abhorrence4 
,after a short time1 however1 an        
indignant feeling was roused3 a         
voluntary ,association formed itself    

under the name of the ,jamaica          
,committee1 to take such deliberation   
and action as the case might admit of1  
and adhesions poured in from all parts  
of the country4 ,i was abroad at the    
time1 but ,i sent in my name to the     
,committee as soon as ,i heard of it1   
and took an active part in the          
proceedings from the time of my return4 
,there was much more at stake than only 
justice to the negroes1 imperative as   
was that consideration4 ,the question   
was1 whether the ,british dependencies1 
and eventually1 perhaps1 ,great ,britain
 itself1 were to be under the government
 of law1 or of military licence2 whether
 the lives and persons of ,british      
subjects are at the mercy of any two or 
three officers however raw and          
inexperienced or reckless and brutal1   
whom a panic-stricken ,governor1 or     
other functionary1 may assume the right 
to constitute into a so-called          
court-martial4 ,this question could only
 be decided by an appeal to the         

tribunals2 and such an appeal the       
,committee determined to make4 ,their   
determination led to a change in the    
chairmanship of the ,committee1 as the  
chairman1 ,mr4 ,charles ,buxton1 thought
 it not unjust indeed1 but inexpedient1 
to prosecute ,governor ,eyre and his    
principal subordinates in a criminal    
court3 but a numerously attended general
 meeting of the ,association having     
decided this point against him1 ,mr4    
,buxton withdrew from the ,committee1   
though continuing to work in the cause1 
and ,i was1 quite unexpectedly on my own
 part1 proposed and elected chairman4   
,it became1 in consequence1 my duty to  
represent the ,committee in the ,house  
of ,commons1 sometimes by putting       
questions to the ,government1 sometimes 
as the recipient of questions1 more or  
less provocative1 addressed by          
individual members to myself2 but       
especially as speaker in the important  
debate originated in the session of     
#ahff1 by ,mr4 ,buxton3 and the speech  

,i then delivered is that which ,i      
should probably select as the best of my
 speeches in ,parliament4#aj ,for more  
than two years we carried on the combat1
 trying every avenue legally open to us1
 to the ,courts of ,criminal ,justice4  
,a bench of magistrates in one of the   
most ,tory counties in ,england         
dismissed our case3 we were more        
successful before the magistrates at    
,bow ,street2 which gave an opportunity 
to the ,lord ,chief ,justice of the     
,queen's ,bench1 ,sir ,alexander        
,cockburn1 for delivering his celebrated
 charge1 which settled the law of the   
question in favour of liberty1 as far as
 it is in the power of a judge's charge 
to settle it4 ,there1 however1 our      
success ended1 for the ,old ,bailey     
,grand jury by throwing out our bill    
prevented the case from coming to trial4
 ,it was clear that to bring ,english   
functionaries to the bar of a criminal  
court for abuses of power committed     
against negroes and mulattoes was not a 

popular proceeding with the ,english    
middle classes4 ,we had1 however1       
redeemed1 so far as lay in us1 the      
character of our country1 by showing    
that there was at any rate a body of    
persons determined to use all the means 
which the law afforded to obtain justice
 for the injured4 ,we had elicited from 
the highest criminal judge in the nation
 an authoritative declaration that the  
law was what we maintained it to be2 and
 we had given an emphatic warning to    
those who might be tempted to similar   
guilt hereafter1 that1 though they might
 escape the actual sentence of a        
criminal tribunal1 they were not safe   
against being put to some trouble and   
expense in order to avoid it4 ,colonial 
governors and other persons in          
authority1 will have a considerable     
motive to stop short of such extremities
 in future4  ,as a matter of curiosity  
,i kept some specimens of the abusive   
letters1 almost all of them anonymous1  
which ,i received while these           

proceedings were going on4 ,they are    
evidence of the sympathy felt with the  
brutalities in ,jamaica by the brutal   
part of the population at home4 ,they   
graduated from coarse jokes1 verbal and 
pictorial1 up to threats of             
assassination4  ,among other matters of 
importance in which ,i took an active   
part1 but which excited little interest 
in the public1 two deserve particular   
mention4 ,i joined with several other   
independent ,liberals in defeating an   
,extradition ,bill introduced at the    
very end of the session of #ahff1 and by
 which1 though surrender avowedly for   
political offences was not authorized1  
political refugees1 if charged by a     
foreign ,government with acts which are 
necessarily incident to all attempts at 
insurrection1 would have been           
surrendered to be dealt with by the     
criminal courts of the ,government      
against which they had rebelled3 thus   
making the ,british ,government an      
accomplice in the vengeance of foreign  

despotisms4 ,the defeat of this proposal
 led to the appointment of a ,select    
,committee 7in which ,i was included71  
to examine and report on the whole      
subject of ,extradition ,treaties2 and  
the result was1 that in the ,extradition
 ,act which passed through ,parliament  
after ,i had ceased to be a member1     
opportunity is given to any one whose   
extradition is demanded1 of being heard 
before an ,english court of justice to  
prove that the offence with which he is 
charged1 is really political4 ,the cause
 of ,european freedom has thus been     
saved from a serious misfortune1 and our
 own country from a great iniquity4 ,the
 other subject to be mentioned is the   
fight kept up by a body of advanced     
,liberals in the session of #ahfh1 on   
the ,bribery ,bill of ,mr4 ,disraeli's  
,government1 in which ,i took a very    
active part4 ,i had taken counsel with  
several of those who had applied their  
minds most carefully to the details of  
the subject--,mr4 ,w4,d4 ,christie1     

,serjeant ,pulling1 ,mr4 ,chadwick--as  
well as bestowed much thought of my own1
 for the purpose of framing such        
amendments and additional clauses as    
might make the ,bill really effective   
against the numerous modes of           
corruption1 direct and indirect1 which  
might otherwise1 as there was much      
reason to fear1 be increased instead of 
diminished by the ,reform ,act4 ,we also
 aimed at engrafting on the ,bill1      
measures for diminishing the mischievous
 burden of what are called the          
legitimate expenses of elections4 ,among
 our many amendments1 was that of ,mr4  
,fawcett for making the returning       
officer's expenses a charge on the      
rates1 instead of on the candidates2    
another was the prohibition of paid     
canvassers1 and the limitation of paid  
agents to one for each candidate2 a     
third was the extension of the          
precautions and penalties against       
bribery to municipal elections1 which   
are well known to be not only a         

preparatory school for bribery at       
parliamentary elections1 but an habitual
 cover for it4 ,the ,conservative       
,government1 however1 when once they had
 carried the leading provision of their 
,bill 7for which ,i voted and spoke71   
the transfer of the jurisdiction in     
elections from the ,house of ,commons to
 the ,judges1 made a determined         
resistance to all other improvements2   
and after one of our most important     
proposals1 that of ,mr4 ,fawcett1 had   
actually obtained a majority1 they      
summoned the strength of their party and
 threw out the clause in a subsequent   
stage4 ,the ,liberal party in the ,house
 was greatly dishonoured by the conduct 
of many of its members in giving no help
 whatever to this attempt to secure the 
necessary conditions of an honest       
representation of the people4 ,with     
their large majority in the ,house they 
could have carried all the amendments1  
or better ones if they had better to    
propose4 ,but it was late in the        

session2 members were eager to set about
 their preparations for the impending   
,general ,election3 and while some 7such
 as ,sir ,robert ,anstruther7 honourably
 remained at their post1 though rival   
candidates were already canvassing their
 constituency1 a much greater number    
placed their electioneering interests   
before their public duty4 ,many         
,liberals also looked with indifference 
on legislation against bribery1 thinking
 that it merely diverted public interest
 from the ,ballot1 which they           
considered--very mistakenly as ,i expect
 it will turn out--to be a sufficient1  
and the only1 remedy4 ,from these causes
 our fight1 though kept up with great   
vigour for several nights1 was wholly   
unsuccessful1 and the practices which we
 sought to render more difficult1       
prevailed more widely than ever in the  
first ,general ,election held under the 
new electoral law4  ,in the general     
debates on ,mr4 ,disraeli's ,reform     
,bill1 my participation was limited to  

the one speech already mentioned2 but ,i
 made the ,bill an occasion for bringing
 the two great improvements which remain
 to be made in ,representative          
,government1 formally before the ,house 
and the nation4 ,one of them was        
,personal1 or1 as it is called with     
equal propriety1 ,proportional          
,representation4 ,i brought this under  
the consideration of the ,house1 by an  
expository and argumentative speech on  
,mr4 ,hare's plan2 and subsequently ,i  
was active in support of the very       
imperfect substitute for that plan1     
which1 in a small number of             
constituencies1 ,parliament was induced 
to adopt4 ,this poor makeshift had      
scarcely any recommendation1 except that
 it was a partial recognition of the    
evil which it did so little to remedy4  
,as such1 however1 it was attacked by   
the same fallacies1 and required to be  
defended on the same principles1 as a   
really good measure2 and its adoption in
 a few ,parliamentary elections1 as well

 as the subsequent introduction of what 
is called the ,cumulative ,vote in the  
elections for the ,london ,school       
,board1 have had the good effect of     
converting the equal claim of all       
electors to a proportional share in the 
representation1 from a subject of merely
 speculative discussion1 into a question
 of practical politics1 much sooner than
 would otherwise have been the case4    
,this assertion of my opinions on       
,personal ,representation cannot be     
credited with any considerable or       
visible amount of practical result4 ,it 
was otherwise with the other motion     
which ,i made in the form of an         
amendment to the ,reform ,bill1 and     
which was by far the most important1    
perhaps the only really important1      
public service ,i performed in the      
capacity of a ,member of ,parliament3 a 
motion to strike out the words which    
were understood to limit the electoral  
franchise to males1 and thereby to admit
 to the suffrage all women who1 as      

householders or otherwise1 possessed the
 qualification required of male         
electors4 ,for women not to make their  
claim to the suffrage1 at the time when 
the elective franchise was being largely
 extended1 would have been to abjure the
 claim altogether2 and a movement on the
 subject was begun in #ahff1 when ,i    
presented a petition for the suffrage1  
signed by a considerable number of      
distinguished women4 ,but it was as yet 
uncertain whether the proposal would    
obtain more than a few stray votes in   
the ,house3 and when1 after a debate in 
which the speaker's on the contrary side
 were conspicuous by their feebleness1  
the votes recorded in favour of the     
motion amounted to #gc--made up by pairs
 and tellers to above #hj--the surprise 
was general1 and the encouragement      
great3 the greater1 too1 because one of 
those who voted for the motion was ,mr4 
,bright1 a fact which could only be     
attributed to the impression made on him
 by the debate1 as he had previously    

made no secret of his nonconcurrence in 
the proposal4 ,the time appeared to my  
daughter1 ,miss ,helen ,taylor1 to have 
come for forming a ,society for the     
extension of the suffrage to women4 ,the
 existence of the ,society is due to my 
daughter's initiative2 its constitution 
was planned entirely by her1 and she was
 the soul of the movement during its    
first years1 though delicate health and 
superabundant occupation made her       
decline to be a member of the ,executive
 ,committee4 ,many distinguished members
 of parliament1 professors1 and others1 
and some of the most eminent women of   
whom the country can boast1 became      
members of the ,society1 a large        
proportion either directly or indirectly
 through my daughter's influence1 she   
having written the greater number1 and  
all the best1 of the letters by which   
adhesions was obtained1 even when those 
letters bore my signature4 ,in two      
remarkable instances1 those of ,miss    
,nightingale and ,miss ,mary ,carpenter1

 the reluctance those ladies had at     
first felt to come forward1 7for it was 
not on their past difference of opinion7
 was overcome by appeals written by my  
daughter though signed by me4           
,associations for the same object were  
formed in various local centres1        
,manchester1 ,edinburgh1 ,birmingham1   
,bristol1 and ,glasgow2 and others which
 have done much valuable work for the   
cause4 ,all the ,societies take the     
title of branches of the ,national      
,society for ,women's ,suffrage2 but    
each has its own governing body1 and    
acts in complete independence of the    
others4  ,i believe ,i have mentioned   
all that is worth remembering of my     
proceedings in the ,house4 ,but their   
enumeration1 even if complete1 would    
give but an inadequate idea of my       
occupations during that period1 and     
especially of the time taken up by      
correspondence4 ,for many years before  
my election to ,parliament1 ,i had been 
continually receiving letters from      

strangers1 mostly addressed to me as a  
writer on philosophy1 and either        
propounding difficulties or             
communicating thoughts on subjects      
connected with logic or political       
economy4 ,in common1 ,i suppose1 with   
all who are known as political          
economists1 ,i was a recipient of all   
the shallow theories and absurd         
proposals by which people are           
perpetually endeavouring to show the way
 to universal wealth and happiness by   
some artful reorganization of the       
currency4 ,when there were signs of     
sufficient intelligence in the writers  
to make it worth while attempting to put
 them right1 ,i took the trouble to     
point out their errors1 until the growth
 of my correspondence made it necessary 
to dismiss such persons with very brief 
answers4 ,many1 however1 of the         
communications ,i received were more    
worthy of attention than these1 and in  
some1 oversights of detail were pointed 
out in my writings1 which ,i was thus   

enabled to correct4 ,correspondence of  
this sort naturally multiplied with the 
multiplication of the subjects on which 
,i wrote1 especially those of a         
metaphysical character4 ,but when ,i    
became a member of ,parliament4 ,i began
 to receive letters on private          
grievances and on every imaginable      
subject that related to any kind of     
public affairs1 however remote from my  
knowledge or pursuits4 ,it was not my   
constituents in ,westminster who laid   
this burthen on me3 they kept with      
remarkable fidelity to the understanding
 on which ,i had consented to serve4 ,i 
received1 indeed1 now and then an       
application from some ingenuous youth to
 procure for him a small government     
appointment2 but these were few1 and how
 simple and ignorant the writers were1  
was shown by the fact that the          
applications came in about equally      
whichever party was in power4 ,my       
invariable answer was1 that it was      
contrary to the principles on which ,i  

was elected to ask favours of any       
,government4 ,but1 on the whole1 hardly 
any part of the country gave me less    
trouble than my own constituents4 ,the  
general mass of correspondence1 however1
 swelled into an oppressive burthen4    
,at this time1 and thenceforth1 a great 
proportion of all my letters 7including 
many which found their way into the     
newspapers7 were not written by me but  
by my daughter2 at first merely from her
 willingness to help in disposing of a  
mass of letters greater than ,i could   
get through without assistance1 but     
afterwards because ,i thought the       
letters she wrote superior to mine1 and 
more so in proportion to the difficulty 
and importance of the occasion4 ,even   
those which ,i wrote myself were        
generally much improved by her1 as is   
also the case with all the more recent  
of my prepared speeches1 of which1 and  
of some of my published writings1 not a 
few passages1 and those the most        
successful1 were hers4  ,while ,i       

remained in ,parliament my work as an   
author was unavoidably limited to the   
recess4 ,during that time ,i wrote      
7besides the pamphlet on ,ireland1      
already mentioned71 the ,essay on       
,plato1 published in the ,edinburgh     
,review1 and reprinted in the third     
volume of ,dissertations and            
,discussions2 and the address which1    
conformably to custom1 ,i delivered to  
the ,university of ,st4 ,andrew's1 whose
 students had done me the honour of     
electing me to the office of ,rector4   
,in this ,discourse ,i gave expression  
to many thoughts and opinions which had 
been accumulating in me through life1   
respecting the various studies which    
belong to a liberal education1 their    
uses and influences1 and the mode in    
which they should be pursued to render  
their influences most beneficial4 ,the  
position taken up1 vindicating the high 
educational value alike of the old      
classic and the new scientific studies1 
on even stronger grounds than are urged 

by most of their advocates1 and         
insisting that it is only the stupid    
inefficiency of the usual teaching which
 makes those studies be regarded as     
competitors instead of allies1 was1 ,i  
think1 calculated1 not only to aid and  
stimulate the improvement which has     
happily commenced in the national       
institutions for higher education1 but  
to diffuse juster ideas than we often   
find1 even in highly educated men1 on   
the conditions of the highest mental    
cultivation4  ,during this period also  
,i commenced 7and completed soon after  
,i had left ,parliament7 the performance
 of a duty to philosophy and to the     
memory of my father1 by preparing and   
publishing an edition of the ,analysis  
of the ,phenomena of the ,human ,mind1  
with notes bringing up the doctrines of 
that admirable book to the latest       
improvements in science and in          
speculation4 ,this was a joint          
undertaking3 the psychological notes    
being furnished in about equal          

proportions by ,mr4 ,bain and myself1   
while ,mr4 ,grote supplied some valuable
 contributions on points in the history 
of philosophy incidentally raised1 and  
,dr4 ,andrew ,findlater supplied the    
deficiencies in the book which had been 
occasioned by the imperfect philological
 knowledge of the time when it was      
written4 ,having been originally        
published at a time when the current of 
metaphysical speculation ran in a quite 
opposite direction to the psychology of 
,experience and ,association1 the       
,analysis had not obtained the amount of
 immediate success which it deserved1   
though it had made a deep impression on 
many individual minds1 and had largely  
contributed1 through those minds1 to    
create that more favourable atmosphere  
for the ,association ,psychology of     
which we now have the benefit4          
,admirably adapted for a class book of  
the ,experience ,metaphysics1 it only   
required to be enriched1 and in some    
cases corrected1 by the results of more 

recent labours in the same school of    
thought1 to stand1 as it now does1 in   
company with ,mr4 ,bain's treatises1 at 
the head of the systematic works on     
,analytic psychology4  ,in the autumn of
 #ahfh the ,parliament which passed the 
,reform ,act was dissolved1 and at the  
new election for ,westminster ,i was    
thrown out2 not to my surprise1 nor1 ,i 
believe1 to that of my principal        
supporters1 though in the few days      
preceding the election they had become  
more sanguine than before4 ,that ,i     
should not have been elected at all     
would not have required any explanation2
 what excites curiosity is that ,i      
should have been elected the first time1
 or1 having been elected then1 should   
have been defeated afterwards4 ,but the 
efforts made to defeat me were far      
greater on the second occasion than on  
the first4 ,for one thing1 the ,tory    
,government was now struggling for      
existence1 and success in any contest   
was of more importance to them4 ,then1  

too1 all persons of ,tory feelings were 
far more embittered against me          
individually than on the previous       
occasion2 many who had at first been    
either favourable or indifferent1 were  
vehemently opposed to my re-election4   
,as ,i had shown in my political        
writings that ,i was aware of the weak  
points in democratic opinions1 some     
,conservatives1 it seems1 had not been  
without hopes of finding me an opponent 
of democracy3 as ,i was able to see the 
,conservative side of the question1 they
 presumed that1 like them1 ,i could not 
see any other side4 ,yet if they had    
really read my writings1 they would have
 known that after giving full weight to 
all that appeared to me well grounded in
 the arguments against democracy1 ,i    
unhesitatingly decided in its favour1   
while recommending that it should be    
accompanied by such institutions as were
 consistent with its principle and      
calculated to ward off its              
inconveniences3 one of the chief of     

these remedies being ,proportional      
,representation1 on which scarcely any  
of the ,conservatives gave me any       
support4 ,some ,tory expectations appear
 to have been founded on the approbation
 ,i had expressed of plural voting1     
under certain conditions3 and it has    
been surmised that the suggestion of    
this sort made in one of the resolutions
 which ,mr4 ,disraeli introduced into   
the ,house preparatory to his ,reform   
,bill 7a suggestion which meeting with  
no favour1 he did not press71 may have  
been occasioned by what ,i had written  
on the point3 but if so1 it was         
forgotten that ,i had made it an express
 condition that the privilege of a      
plurality of votes should be annexed to 
education1 not to property1 and even so1
 had approved of it only on the         
supposition of universal suffrage4 ,how 
utterly inadmissible such plural voting 
would be under the suffrage given by the
 present ,reform ,act1 is proved1 to any
 who could otherwise doubt it1 by the   

very small weight which the working     
classes are found to possess in         
elections1 even under the law which     
gives no more votes to any one elector  
than to any other4  ,while ,i thus was  
far more obnoxious to the ,tory         
interest1 and to many ,conservative     
,liberals than ,i had formerly been1 the
 course ,i pursued in ,parliament had by
 no means been such as to make ,liberals
 generally at all enthusiastic in my    
support4 ,it has already been mentioned1
 how large a proportion of my prominent 
appearances had been on questions on    
which ,i differed from most of the      
,liberal party1 or about which they     
cared little1 and how few occasions     
there had been on which the line ,i took
 was such as could lead them to attach  
any great value to me as an organ of    
their opinions4 ,i had moreover done    
things which had excited1 in many minds1
 a personal prejudice against me4 ,many 
were offended by what they called the   
persecution of ,mr4 ,eyre3 and still    

greater offence was taken at my sending 
a subscription to the election expenses 
of ,mr4 ,bradlaugh4 ,having refused to  
be at any expense for my own election1  
and having had all its expenses defrayed
 by others1 ,i felt under a peculiar    
obligation to subscribe in my turn where
 funds were deficient for candidates    
whose election was desirable4 ,i        
accordingly sent subscriptions to nearly
 all the working class candidates1 and  
among others to ,mr4 ,bradlaugh4 ,he had
 the support of the working classes2    
having heard him speak1 ,i knew him to  
be a man of ability and he had proved   
that he was the reverse of a demagogue1 
by placing himself in strong opposition 
to the prevailing opinion of the        
democratic party on two such important  
subjects as ,malthusianism and ,personal
 ,representation4 ,men of this sort1    
who1 while sharing the democratic       
feelings of the working classes1 judged 
political questions for themselves1 and 
had courage to assert their individual  

convictions against popular opposition1 
were needed1 as it seemed to me1 in     
,parliament1 and ,i did not think that  
,mr4 ,bradlaugh's anti-religious        
opinions 7even though he had been       
intemperate in the expression of them7  
ought to exclude him4 ,in subscribing1  
however1 to his election1 ,i did what   
would have been highly imprudent if ,i  
had been at liberty to consider only the
 interests of my own re-election2 and1  
as might be expected1 the utmost        
possible use1 both fair and unfair1 was 
made of this act of mine to stir up the 
electors of ,westminster against me4 ,to
 these various causes1 combined with an 
unscrupulous use of the usual pecuniary 
and other influences on the side of my  
,tory competitor1 while none were used  
on my side1 it is to be ascribed that ,i
 failed at my second election after     
having succeeded at the first4 ,no      
sooner was the result of the election   
known than ,i received three or four    
invitations to become a candidate for   

other constituencies1 chiefly counties2 
but even if success could have been     
expected1 and this without expense1 ,i  
was not disposed to deny myself the     
relief of returning to private life4 ,i 
had no cause to feel humiliated at my   
rejection by the electors2 and if ,i    
had1 the feeling would have been far    
outweighed by the numerous expressions  
of regret which ,i received from all    
sorts of persons and places1 and in a   
most marked degree from those members of
 the liberal party in ,parliament1 with 
whom ,i had been accustomed to act4     
,since that time little has occurred    
which there is need to commemorate in   
this place4 ,i returned to my old       
pursuits and to the enjoyment of a      
country life in the south of ,europe1   
alternating twice a year with a         
residence of some weeks or months in the
 neighbourhood of ,london4 ,i have      
written various articles in periodicals 
7chiefly in my friend ,mr4 ,morley's    
,fortnightly ,review71 have made a small

 number of speeches on public occasions1
 especially at the meetings of the      
,women's ,suffrage ,society1 have       
published the ,subjection of ,women1    
written some years before1 with some    
additions by my daughter and myself1 and
 have commenced the preparation of      
matter for future books1 of which it    
will be time to speak more particularly 
if ,i live to finish them4 ,here1       
therefore1 for the present1 this memoir 
may close4    ,,notes3  #a;,in a        
subsequent stage of boyhood1 when these 
exercises had ceased to be compulsory1  
like most youthful writers ,i wrote     
tragedies2 under the inspiration not so 
much of ,shakspeare as of ,joanna       
,baillie1 whose ,constantine ,paleologus
 in particular appeared to me one of the
 most glorious of human compositions4 ,i
 still think it one of the best dramas  
of the last two centuries4  #b ,the     
continuation of this article in the     
second number of the ,review was written
 by me under my father's eye1 and       

7except as practice in composition1 in  
which respect it was1 to me1 more useful
 than anything else ,i ever wrote7 was  
of little or no value4  #c ,written     
about #ahfa4  #d ,the steps in my mental
 growth for which ,i was indebted to her
 were far from being those which a      
person wholly uninformed on the subject 
would probably suspect4 ,it might be    
supposed1 for instance1 that my strong  
convictions on the complete equality in 
all legal1 political1 social1 and       
domestic relations1 which ought to exist
 between men and women1 may have been   
adopted or learnt from her4 ,this was so
 far from being the fact1 that those    
convictions were among the earliest     
results of the application of my mind to
 political subjects1 and the strength   
with which ,i held them was1 as ,i      
believe1 more than anything else1 the   
originating cause of the interest she   
felt in me4 ,what is true is that1 until
 ,i knew her1 the opinion was in my mind
 little more than an abstract principle4

 ,i saw no more reason why women should 
be held in legal subjection to other    
people1 than why men should4 ,i was     
certain that their interests required   
fully as much protection as those of    
men1 and were quite as little likely to 
obtain it without an equal voice in     
making the laws by which they were      
bound4 ,but that perception of the vast 
practical bearings of women's           
disabilities which found expression in  
the book on the ,subjection of ,women   
was acquired mainly through her         
teaching4 ,but for her rare knowledge of
 human nature and comprehension of moral
 and social influences1 though ,i should
 doubtless have held my present         
opinions1 ,i should have had a very     
insufficient perception of the mode in  
which the consequences of the inferior  
position of women intertwine themselves 
with all the evils of existing society  
and with all the difficulties of human  
improvement4 ,i am indeed painfully     
conscious of how much of her best       

thoughts on the subject ,i have failed  
to reproduce1 and how greatly that      
little treatise falls short of what it  
would have been if she had put on paper 
her entire mind on this question1 or had
 lived to revise and improve1 as she    
certainly would have done1 my imperfect 
statement of the case4  #e ,the only    
person from whom ,i received any direct 
assistence in the preparation of the    
,system of ,logic was ,mr4 ,bain1 since 
so justly celebrated for his            
philosophical writings4 ,he went        
carefully through the manuscript before 
it was sent to the press1 and enriched  
it with a great number of additional    
examples and illustrations from science2
 many of which1 as well as some detached
 remarks of his own in confirmation of  
my logical views1 ,i inserted nearly in 
his own words4  #f ,a few dedicatory    
lines acknowledging what the book owed  
to her1 were prefixed to some of the    
presentation copies of the ,political   
,economy on iets first publication4 ,her

 dislike of publicity alone prevented   
their insertion in the other copies of  
the work4 ,during the years which       
intervened between the commencement of  
my married life and the catastrophe     
which closed it1 the principal          
occurrences of my outward existence     
7unless ,i count as such a first attack 
of the family disease1 and a consequent 
journey of more than six months for the 
recovery of health1 in ,italy1 ,sicily1 
and ,greece7 had reference to my        
position in the ,india ,house4 ,in #ahef
 ,i was promoted to the rank of chief of
 the office in which ,i had served for  
upwards of thirty-three years4 ,the     
appointment1 that of ,examiner of ,india
 ,correspondence1 was the highest1 next 
to that of ,secretary1 in the ,east     
,india ,company's home service1         
involving the general superintendence of
 all the correspondence with the ,indian
 ,governments1 except the military1     
naval1 and financial4 ,i held this      
office as long as it continued to exist1

 being a little more than two years2    
after which it pleased ,parliament1 in  
other words ,lord ,palmerston1 to put an
 end to the ,east india ,company as a   
branch of the government of ,india under
 the ,crown1 and convert the            
administration of that country into a   
thing to be scrambled for by the second 
and third class of ,english             
parliamentary politicians4 ,i was the   
chief manager of the resistance which   
the ,company made to their own political
 extinction1 and to the letters and     
petitions ,i wrote for them1 and the    
concluding chapter of my treatise on    
,representative ,government1 ,i must    
refer for my opinions on the folly and  
mischief of this ill-considered change4 
,personally ,i considered myself a      
gainer by it1 as ,i had given enough of 
my life to india1 and was not unwilling 
to retire on the liberal compensation   
granted4 ,after the change was          
consummated1 ,lord ,stanley1 the first  
,secretary of ,state for ,india1 made me

 the honourable offer of a seat in the  
,council1 and the proposal was          
subsequently renewed by the ,council    
itself1 on the first occasion of its    
having to supply a vacancy in its own   
body4 ,but the conditions of ,indian    
government under the new system made me 
anticipate nothing but useless vexation 
and waste of effort from any            
participation in it3 and nothing that   
has since happened has had any tendency 
to make me regret my refusal4  #g ,in   
#ahfi4  #h,the saying of this true hero1
 after his capture1 that he was worth   
more for hanging than any other purpose1
 reminds one1 by its combination of wit1
 wisdom1 and self-devotion1 of ,sir     
,thomas ,more4  #i ,the first was in    
answer to ,mr4 ,lowe's reply to ,mr4    
,bright on the ,cattle ,plague ,bill1   
and was thought at the time to have     
helped to get rid of a provision in the 
,government measure which would have    
given to landholders a second indemnity1
 after they had already been once       

indemnified for the loss of some of     
their cattle by the increased selling   
price of the remainder4  #aj ,among the 
most active members of the ,committee   
were ,mr4 ,p4,a4 ,taylor1 ,m4,p41 always
 faithful and energetic in every        
assertion of the principles of liberty2 
,mr4 ,goldwin ,smith1 ,mr4 ,frederic    
,harrison1 ,mr4 ,slack1 ,mr4            
,chamerovzow1 ,mr4 ,shaen1 and ,mr4     
,chesson1 the ,honorary ,secretary of   
the ,association4