,,the ,,english ,,utilitarians  by      
,,leslie ,,stephen  ,in ,three ,volumes 
,,vol4 ,,ii  ,,james ,,mill             
,london ,duckworth ,and ,co4 #c         
,henrietta ,street1 ,w4,c4 #aijj        
,,contents   ,,chapter ,i  ,,james      
,,mill                                  
,,page    ,i4 ,early ,life1             
#a   ,,ii4 ,bentham's ,lieutenant1      
#g  ,,iii4 ,leader of the ,utilitarians1
        #be   ,,chapter ,,ii  ,,reform  
,,movements    ,i4 ,political ,change1  
#da   ,,ii4 ,law ,reform1               
#dg  ,,iii4 ,economic ,reform1          
#ea   ,,iv4 ,church ,reform1            
#eg    ,v4 ,sinister ,interests1        
#fb   ,,chapter ,,iii  ,,political      
,,theory    ,i4 ,mill on ,government1   
#gd   ,,ii4 ,whiggism1                  
#ih  ,,iii4 ,conservatism1              
#aji   ,,iv4 ,socialism1                
#aai   ,,chapter ,,iv  ,,malthus    ,i4 
,malthus's ,starting-point1         #acg
   ,,ii4 ,the ,ratios1                  
#adg  ,,iii4 ,moral ,restraint1         

#aef   ,,iv4 ,social ,remedies1         
#afe    ,v4 ,political ,application1    
#agd   ,,vi4 ,rent1                     
#aha   ,,chapter ,v  ,,ricardo    ,i4   
,ricardo's ,starting-point1         #ahf
   ,,ii4 ,the ,distribution ,problem1   
#aie  ,,iii4 ,value and ,labour1        
#bjd   ,,iv4 ,the ,classical ,political 
,economy1  #baf    ,v4 ,the ,ricardians1
                   #bbf   ,,chapter ,,vi
  ,,economic ,,heretics    ,i4 ,the     
,malthusian ,controversy1       #bch    
,,ii4 ,socialism1                       
#bei   ,,chapter ,,vii  ,,psychology    
,i4 ,thomas ,brown1                     
#bfg   ,,ii4 ,james ,mill's ,analysis1  
#bhg  ,,iii4 ,james ,mill's ,ethics1    
#cab   ,,chapter ,,viii  ,,religion     
,i4 ,philip ,beauchamp1                 
#cch   ,,ii4 ,contemporary ,thought1    
#cfa     ,,chapter ,i  ,,james ,,mill   
,i4 ,,early ,,life  ,bentham's mantle   
fell upon ,james ,mill4#a ,mill         
expounded in the tersest form the       
doctrines which in ,bentham's hands     

spread into endless ramifications and   
lost themselves in minute details4 ,mill
 became the leader of ,bentham's        
bodyguard2 or1 rather1 the mediator     
between the prophet in his 'hermitage'  
and the missionaries who were actively  
engaged on the hustings and in          
committee-rooms4 ,the special           
characteristics of ,english             
,utilitarianism in the period of its    
greatest activity were thus more        
affected by ,mill than by any other     
leader of opinion4  ,james ,mill was one
 of the countless ,scots who1 having    
been trained at home in strict frugality
 and stern ,puritanic principles1 have  
fought their way to success in ,england4
 ,he was born #fth ,april #aggc in the  
parish of ,logie ,pert1 ,forfarshire4   
,his father1 also named ,james ,mill1   
was a village shoemaker1 employing two  
or three journeymen when at the height  
of his prosperity4 ,his mother1 ,isabel 
,fenton1 daughter of a farmer1 had been 
a servant in ,edinburgh4 ,her family had

 some claims to superior gentility2 she 
was fastidious1 delicate in frame1 and  
accused of pride by her neighbours4 ,she
 resolved to bring up ,james1 her eldest
 son1 to be a gentleman1 which          
practically meant to be a minister4 ,he 
probably showed early promise of        
intellectual superiority4 ,he received  
the usual training at the parish school1
 and was then sent to the ,montrose     
,academy1 where he was the school-fellow
 and friend of a younger lad1 ,joseph   
,hume 7#aggg-ahee71 afterwards his      
political ally4 ,he boarded with a      
,montrose shopkeeper for #bs4 #f;d4 a   
week1 and remained at the ,academy till 
he was seventeen4 ,he was never put to  
work in his father's shop1 and devoted  
himself entirely to study4 ,the usual   
age for beginning to attend a ,scottish 
university was thirteen or fourteen2 and
 it would have been the normal course   
for a lad in ,mill's position to be sent
 at that age to ,aberdeen4 ,mill's      
education was prolonged by a connection 

which was of great service to him4 ,sir 
,john ,stuart 7previously ,belches71 of 
,fettercairn ,house1 in ,mill's         
neighbourhood1 had married ,lady ,jane  
,leslie1 and was by her father of an    
only child1 ,wilhelmina4 ,lady ,jane was
 given to charity1 and had set up a fund
 to educate promising lads for the      
ministry4 ,mill was probably recommended
 to her by the parish minister1 as      
likely to do credit to her patronage4   
,he also acted as tutor to ,wilhelmina1 
who afterwards became the object of     
,scott's early passion4 ,mill spent much
 time at ,fettercairn ,house1 and       
appears to have won the warm regards    
both of the ,stuarts and of their       
daughter1 who spoke of him              
affectionately 'with almost her last    
breath4'#b ,the ,stuarts passed their   
winters at ,edinburgh1 whither ,mill    
accompanied them4 ,he entered the       
university in #agij1 and seems to have  
applied himself chiefly to ,greek and to
 philosophy4 ,he became so good a ,greek

 scholar that long afterwards 7#ahah7 he
 had some thoughts of standing for the  
,greek chair at ,glasgow4#c ,he was     
always a keen student of ,plato4 ,he    
read the ordinary ,scottish authorities1
 and attended the lectures of ,dugald   
,stewart4 ,besides reading ,rousseau1 he
 studied ,massillon1 probably with a    
view to his future performances in the  
pulpit4 ,massillon might be suggested to
 him by quotations in ,adam ,smith's    
,moral ,sentiments4 ,there are few      
records of acquaintanceship with any of 
his distinguished contemporaries1 except
 the chemist ,thomas ,thomson1 who      
became a lifelong friend4 ,he probably  
made acquaintance with ,brougham1 and   
may have known ,jeffrey2 but he was not 
a member of the ,speculative ,society1  
joined by most young men of promise4    
,in #agid he began his course of        
divinity1 and on #dth ,october #agih was
 licensed to preach4 ,he lived in his   
father's house1 where part of the family
 room was screened off to form a study  

for him4 ,he delivered some sermons1    
apparently with little success4 ,he     
failed to obtain a call from any parish2
 and there are vague reports of his     
acting as tutor in some families1 and of
 a rebuff received at the table of the  
marquis of ,tweeddale1 father of one of 
his pupils1 which made him resolve to   
seek for independence by a different    
career4  ,in #ahjb ,mill went to ,london
 in company with ,sir ,john ,stuart1 who
 was about to take his seat in          
parliament4 ,stuart procured admission  
for him to the gallery of the ,house of 
,commons1 where he attended many        
debates1 and acquired an interest in    
politics4 ,his ambition1 however1       
depended upon his pen2 and at first1 it 
would seem1 he was not more particular  
than other journalists as to the        
politics of the papers to which he      
contributed4 ,he had obtained a         
testimonial from ,thomson1 on the       
strength of which he introduced himself 
to ,john ,gifford1 editor of the        

,anti-,jacobin ,review4#d ,this was a   
monthly magazine1 which had adopted the 
name and politics of the deceased       
,anti-,jacobin1 edited by ,william      
,gifford4 ,mill obtained employment1 and
 wrote articles implying an interest in 
the philosophy1 and especially in the   
political economy1 of the time4 ,it is  
noteworthy1 considering his later       
principles1 that he should at this time 
have taken part in a strong ,tory organ4
 ,he wrote a pamphlet in #ahjd 7the     
first publication under his name7 to    
prove the impolicy of a bounty upon the 
exportation of grain2 and in #ahjg      
replied in ,commerce ,defended to       
,william ,spence's ,britain independent 
of ,commerce4 ,meanwhile he had found   
employment of a more regular kind4 ,he  
had formed a connection with a          
bookseller named ,baldwin1 for whom he  
undertook to help in rewriting a book   
called ,nature ,delineated4 ,this scheme
 was changed for a periodical called the
 ,literary ,journal1 which started at   

the beginning of #ahjc1 and lived       
through four years with ,mill as editor4
 ,at the same time apparently he edited 
the ,st4 ,james's ,chronicle1 also      
belonging to ,baldwin1 which had no very
 definite political colour4 ,the        
,journal professed to give a systematic 
survey of literary1 scientific1 and     
philosophical publications4 ,for the    
scientific part ,mill was helped by     
,thomson4 ,his own contributions show   
that1 although clearly a rationalist1 he
 was still opposed to open infidelity4  
,a translation of ,villers' ,history of 
the ,reformation implies similar        
tendencies4 ,other literary hack-work   
during this and the next few years is   
vaguely indicated4 ,mill was making     
about ,l#ejj a year or something more   
during his editorships1 and thought     
himself justified in marrying4 ,on #eth 
,june #ahje he became the husband of    
,harriett ,burrow1 daughter of a widow  
who kept a private lunatic asylum       
originally started by her husband4 ,the 

,mills settled in a house in            
,pentonville belonging to ,mrs4 ,burrow1
 for which they paid ,l#ej a year4  ,the
 money question soon became pressing4   
,the editorships vanished1 and to make  
an income by periodical writing was no  
easy task4 ,his son observes that       
nothing could be more opposed to his    
father's later principles than marrying 
and producing a large family under these
 circumstances4 ,nine children were     
ultimately born1 all of whom survived   
their father4 ,the family in his old    
home were an additional burthen4 ,his   
mother died before his departure from   
,scotland4 ,his father was paralysed1   
and having incautiously given security  
for a friend1 became bankrupt4 ,his only
 brother1 ,william1 died soon           
afterwards1 and his only sister1 ,mary1 
married one of her father's journeymen  
named ,greig1 and tried to carry on the 
business4 ,the father died about #ahjh1 
and the ,greigs had a hard struggle1    
though two of the sons ultimately set up

 a business in ,montrose4 ,james ,mill  
appears to have helped to support his   
father1 whose debts he undertook to pay1
 and to have afterwards helped the      
,greigs4 ,they thought1 it seems1 that  
he ought to have done more1 but were not
 unlikely to exaggerate the resources of
 a man who was making his way in        
,england4 ,mill was resolute in doing   
his duty1 but hardly likely to do it    
graciously4 ,at any rate1 in the early  
years1 it must have been a severe strain
 to do anything4  ,in spite of all      
difficulties ,mill1 by strict frugality 
and unremitting energy1 managed to keep 
out of debt4 ,in the end of #ahjf he    
undertook the history of ,british       
,india4 ,this was to be the great work  
which should give him a name1 and enable
 him to rise above the herd of          
contemporary journalists4 ,he calculated
 the time necessary for its completion  
at three years1 but the years were to be
 more than trebled before the book was  
actually finished4 ,at that period there

 were fewer facilities than there could 
now be for making the necessary         
researches3 and we do not know what were
 the reasons which prompted the         
selection of a subject of which he could
 have no first-hand knowledge4 ,the book
 necessarily impeded other labours2 and 
to the toil of writing ,mill added the  
toil of superintending the education of 
his children4 ,his struggle for some    
years was such as to require an         
extraordinary strain upon all his       
faculties4 ,mill1 however1 possessed    
great physical and mental vigour4 ,he   
was muscular1 well-made1 and handsome2  
he had marked powers of conversation1   
and made a strong impression upon all   
with whom he came in contact4 ,he       
gradually formed connections which      
effectually determined his future       
career4   ,,ii4 ,,bentham',s            
,,lieutenant  ,the most important       
influence in ,mill's life was the       
friendship with ,bentham4 ,this appears 
to have begun in #ahjh4 ,mill speedily  

became a valued disciple4 ,he used to   
walk from ,pentonville to dine with     
,bentham in ,queen's ,square ,place4    
,soon the elder man desired to have his 
new friend nearer at hand4 ,in #ahaj    
,mill moved to the house in ,bentham's  
garden1 which had once belonged to      
,milton2 when this proved unsuitable1 he
 was obliged to move to a more distant  
abode at ,stoke ,newington2 but finally1
 in #ahad1 he settled in another house  
belonging to ,bentham1 #a ,queen's      
,square1 close under the old gentleman's
 wing4 ,here for some years they lived  
in the closest intimacy4 ,the ,mills    
also stayed with ,bentham in his        
country-houses at ,barrow ,green1 and   
afterwards at ,ford ,abbey4 ,the        
association was not without its         
troubles4 ,bentham was fanciful1 and    
,mill stern and rigid4 ,no one1 however1
 could be a more devoted disciple4 ,the 
most curious illustration of their      
relations is a letter written to        
,bentham by ,mill1 #aith ,september     

#ahad1 while they were both at ,ford    
,abbey4 ,mill in this declares himself  
to be a 'most faithful and fervent      
disciple' of the truths which ,bentham  
had the 'immortal honour' of            
propounding4 ,he had fancied himself to 
be his master's favourite disciple4 ,no 
one is so completely of ,bentham's way  
of thinking1 or so qualified by position
 for carrying on the propaganda4 ,now1  
however1 ,bentham showed that he had    
taken umbrage at some part of ,mill's   
behaviour4 ,an open quarrel would bring 
discredit upon both sides1 and upon     
their common beliefs4 ,the great dangers
 to friendship are pecuniary obligation 
and too close intimacy4 ,mill has made  
it a great purpose of his life to avoid 
pecuniary obligation1 though he took    
pride in receiving obligations from     
,bentham4 ,he has confined himself to   
accepting ,bentham's house at a low     
rent1 and allowing his family to live   
for part of the year at ,bentham's      
expense4 ,he now proposes so to arrange 

his future life that they shall avoid an
 excessively close intimacy1 from which1
 he thinks1 had arisen the 'umbrage4'   
,the letter1 which is manly and         
straightforward1 led to a               
reconciliation1 and for some years the  
intercourse was as close as ever4#e     
,mill's unreserved adoption of          
,bentham's principles1 and his          
resolution to devote his life to their  
propagation1 implies a development of   
opinion4 ,he had entirely dropped his   
theology4 ,in the early years of his    
,london life1 ,mill had been only a     
rationalist4 ,he had by this time become
 what would now be called an agnostic4  
,he thought 'dogmatic atheism' absurd1  
says ,j4 ,s4 ,mill2#f 'but he held that 
we can know nothing whatever as to the  
origin of the world4' ,the occasion of  
the change1 according to his family1 was
 his intercourse with ,general ,miranda1
 who was sitting at ,bentham's feet     
about this time4 ,j4 ,s4 ,mill states   
that the turning-point in his father's  

mind was the study of ,butler's         
,analogy4 ,that book1 he thought1 as    
others have thought1 was conclusive     
against the optimistic deism which it   
assails2 but he thought also that the   
argument really destroyed ,butler's own 
standing-ground4 ,the evils of the world
 are incompatible with the theory of    
,almighty benevolence4 ,the purely      
logical objection was combined with an  
intense moral sentiment4 ,theological   
doctrines1 he thought1 were not only    
false1 but brutal4 ,his son had heard   
him say 'a hundred times' that men have 
attributed to their gods every trait of 
wickedness till the conception          
culminated in the ,christian doctrine of
 hell4 ,mill still attended church      
services for some time after his        
marriage1 and the children were         
christened4 ,but the eldest son did not 
remember the period of even partial     
conformity1 and considered himself to   
have been brought up from the first     
without any religious belief4 ,james    

,mill had already taken up the          
uncompromising position congenial to his
 character1 although the reticence which
 the whole party observed prevented any 
open expression of his sentiments4      
,mill's propaganda of ,benthamism was   
for some time obscure4 ,he helped to put
 together some of ,bentham's writings1  
especially the book upon evidence4 ,he  
was consulted in regard to all proposed 
publications1 such as the pamphlet upon 
jury-packing1 which ,mill desired to    
publish in spite of ,romilly's warning4 
,mill endeavoured also to disseminate   
the true faith through various          
periodicals4 ,he obtained admission to  
the ,edinburgh ,review1 probably through
 its chief contributor1 ,brougham4      
,neither ,brougham nor ,jeffrey was     
likely to commit the great ,whig review 
to the support of a creed still militant
 and regarded with distrust by the      
respectable4 ,mill contributed various  
articles from #ahjh to #ahac1 but       
chiefly upon topics outside of the      

political sphere4 ,the ,edinburgh       
,review1 as ,i have said1 had taken a   
condescending notice of ,bentham in     
#ahjd4 ,mill tried to introduce a better
 tone into an article upon ,bexon's     
,code de la ,legislation penale1 which  
he was permitted to publish in the      
number for ,october #ahji4 ,knowing     
,jeffrey's 'dislike of praise1' he tried
 to be on his guard1 and to insinuate   
his master's doctrine without openly    
expressing his enthusiasm4 ,jeffrey1    
however1 sadly mangled the review1      
struck out every mention but one of     
,bentham1 and there substituted words of
 his own for ,mill's4 ,even as it was1  
,brougham pronounced the praise of      
,bentham to be excessive4#g ,mill       
continued to write for a time1 partly1  
no doubt1 with a view to ,jeffrey's     
cheques4 ,almost his last article 7in   
,january #ahac7 was devoted to the      
,lancasterian controversy1 in which     
,mill1 as we shall directly see1 was in 
alliance with the ,whigs4 ,but the      

,edinburgh ,reviewers were too          
distinctly of the ,whig persuasion to be
 congenial company for a determined     
,radical4 ,they would give him no more  
than a secondary position1 and would    
then take good care to avoid the        
insertion of any suspicious doctrine4   
,mill wrote no more after the summer of 
#ahac4  ,meanwhile he was finding more  
sympathetic allies4 ,first among them   
was ,william ,allen 7#aggj-ahdc71       
chemist1 of ,plough ,court4 ,allen was a
 ,quaker2 a man of considerable         
scientific tastes2 successful in        
business1 and ardently devoted          
throughout his life to many             
philanthropic schemes4 ,he took1 in     
particular1 an active part in the       
agitation against slavery4 ,he was1 as  
we have seen1 one of the partners who   
bought ,owen's establishment at ,new    
,lanark2 and his religious scruples were
 afterwards the cause of ,owen's        
retirement4 ,these1 however1 were only a
 part of his multifarious schemes4 ,he  

was perhaps something of a busybody2 his
 head may have been a little turned by  
the attentions which he received on all 
hands2 he managed the affairs of the    
duke of ,kent2 was visited by the       
,emperor ,alexander in #ahad2 and       
interviewed royal personages on the     
,continent1 in order to obtain their    
support in attacking the slave-trade1   
and introducing good schools and        
prisons4 ,but1 though he may have shared
 some of the weaknesses of popular      
philanthropists1 he is mentioned with   
respect even by observers such as ,owen 
and ,place1 who had many prejudices     
against his principles4 ,he undoubtedly 
deserves a place among the active and   
useful social reformers of his time4  ,i
 have already noticed the importance of 
the ,quaker share in the various        
philanthropic movements of the time4    
,the ,quaker shared many of the views   
upon practical questions which were     
favoured by the freethinker4 ,both were 
hostile to slavery1 in favour of        

spreading education1 opposed to all     
religious tests and restrictions1 and   
advocates of reform in prisons1 and in  
the harsh criminal law4 ,the fundamental
 differences of theological belief were 
not so productive of discord in dealing 
with the ,quakers as with other sects2  
for it was the very essence of the old  
,quaker spirit to look rather to the    
spirit than to the letter4 ,allen1      
therefore1 was only acting in the spirit
 of his society when he could be on     
equally good terms with the ,emperor    
,alexander or the duke of ,kent1 and1 on
 the other hand1 with ,james ,mill1 the 
denouncer of kings and autocrats4 ,he   
could join hands with ,mill in assailing
 slavery1 insisting upon prison reform1 
preaching toleration and advancing      
civilisation1 although he heartily      
disapproved of the doctrines with which 
,mill's practical principles were       
associated4 ,mill1 too1 practised--even 
to a questionable degree--the method of 
reticence1 and took good care not to    

offend his coadjutor4  ,their           
co-operation was manifested in a        
quarterly journal called the            
,philanthropist1 which appeared during  
the seven years1 #ahaa-ahag1 and was    
published at ,allen's expense4 ,mill    
found in it the opportunity of          
advocating many of his cherished        
opinions4 ,he defended toleration in the
 name of ,penn1 whose life had been     
published by ,clarkson4 ,he attacked the
 slave-owners1 and so came into alliance
 with ,wilberforce1 ,zachary ,macaulay1 
and others of the evangelical           
persuasion4 ,he found1 at the same time1
 opportunities for propagating the creed
 of ,bentham in connection with         
questions of prison reform and the penal
 code4 ,his most important article1     
published in #ahab1 was another         
contribution to the ,lancasterian       
controversy4 ,in this ,mill had allies  
of a very different school2 and his     
activity brings him into close          
connection with one of the most         

remarkable men of the time4#h  ,this was
 ,francis ,place1 the famous ,radical   
tailor4 ,place1 born #crd ,november     
#agga1 had raised himself from the      
position of a working-man to be occupant
 of a shop at ,charing ,cross1 which    
became the centre of important political
 movements4 ,between ,place and ,mill   
there was much affinity of character4   
,place1 like ,mill1 was a man of rigid  
and vigorous intellect4 ,dogmatic1      
self-confident1 and decidedly           
censorious1 not attractive by any       
sweetness or grace of character1 but    
thoroughly sincere and independent1 he  
extorts rather than commands our respect
 by his hearty devotion to what he at   
least believed to be the cause of truth 
and progress4 ,place was what is now    
called a thorough 'individualist4' ,he  
believed in self-reliance and energy1   
and held that the class to which he     
belonged was to be raised1 as he had    
raised himself1 by the exercise of those
 qualities1 not by invoking the direct  

interference of the central power1      
which1 indeed1 as he knew it1 was only  
likely to interfere on the wrong side4  
,he had the misfortune to be born in    
,london instead of ,scotland1 and had   
therefore not ,mill's educational       
advantages4 ,he tried energetically1 and
 not unsuccessfully1 to improve his     
mind1 but he never quite surmounted the 
weakness of the self-educated man1 and  
had no special literary talent4 ,his    
writing1 in fact1 is dull and           
long-winded1 though he has the merit of 
judging for himself1 and of saying what 
he thinks4  ,place had been a member of 
the ,corresponding ,society1 and was at 
one time chairman of the weekly         
committee4 ,he had1 however1 disapproved
 of their proceedings1 and retired in   
time to escape the imprisonment which   
finally crushed the committee4 ,he was  
now occupied in building up his own     
fortunes at ,charing ,cross4 ,when1     
during the second war1 the native       
,english ,radicalism began again to     

raise its head1 ,place took a highly    
important share in the political        
agitation4 ,westminster1 the            
constituency in which he had a vote1 had
 long been one of the most important    
boroughs4 ,it was one of the few large  
popular constituencies1 and was affected
 by the influences naturally strongest  
in the metropolis4 ,after being long    
under the influence of the court and the
 dean and chapter1 it had been carried  
by ,fox during the discontents of #aghj1
 when the reform movement took a start  
and the county associations were        
symptoms of a growing agitation4 ,the   
great ,whig leader1 though not sound    
upon the question of reform1 represented
 the constituency till his death1 and   
reform dropped out of notice for the    
time4 ,upon ,fox's death 7#acth         
,september #ahjf7 ,lord ,percy was      
elected without opposition as his       
successor by an arrangement among the   
ruling families4 ,place was disgusted at
 the distribution of 'bread and cheese  

and beer1' and resolved to find a truly 
popular candidate4 ,in the general      
election which soon followed at the end 
of #ahjf he supported ,paull1 an        
impecunious adventurer1 who made a good 
fight1 but was beaten by ,sir ,j4 ,hood 
and ,sheridan4 ,place now proposed a    
more thorough organisation of the       
constituency1 and formed a committee    
intended to carry an independent        
candidate4 ,sir ,francis ,burdett1 a    
typical country gentleman of no great   
brains and of much aristocratic pride1  
but a man of honour1 and of as much     
liberal feeling as was compatible with  
wealth and station1 had sat at the feet 
of the old ,radical1 ,home ,tooke4 ,he  
had sympathised with the ,french        
revolution2 but was mainly1 like his    
mentor1 ,tooke1 a reformer of the       
,english type1 and a believer in ,magna 
,charta and the ,bill of ,rights4 ,he   
had sat in parliament1 and in #ahjb had 
been elected for ,middlesex4 ,after a   
prolonged litigation1 costing enormous  

sums1 the election had been finally     
annulled in #ahjf4 ,he had subscribed   
,l#ajjj towards ,paull's expenses2 but  
was so disgusted with his own election  
experiences that he refused to come     
forward as a candidate4 ,place's        
committee resolved therefore to elect   
him and ,paull free of expense4         
,disputes between ,paull and ,burdett   
led to a duel1 in which both were       
wounded4 ,the committee threw over      
,paull1 and at the election on the      
dissolution of parliament in the spring 
of #ahjg1 ,burdett and                  
,cochrane--afterwards ,lord             
,dundonald--were triumphantly elected1  
defeating the ,whig candidates1         
,sheridan and ,elliot4 ,the election was
 the first triumph of the reformers1 and
 was due to ,place more than any one4   
,burdett retained his seat for          
,westminster until #ahcg1 and1 in spite 
of many quarrels with his party1 was a  
leading representative of the movement1 
which henceforward slowly gathered      

strength4 ,place1 indeed1 had apparently
 but scanty respect for the candidate   
whose success he had secured4 ,burdett  
and his like aimed at popularity1 while 
he was content to be ignored so long as 
he could by any means carry the measures
 which he approved4 ,place1 therefore1  
acted as a most efficient wire-puller1  
but had no ambition to leave his shop to
 make speeches on the hustings4  ,the   
scandals about the duke of ,york and the
 ,walcheren expedition gave a chance to 
the ,radicals and to their leader in the
 ,house of ,commons4 ,events in #ahaj   
led to a popular explosion1 of which    
,burdett was the hero4 ,john ,gale      
,jones1 an old member of the            
,corresponding ,societies1 had put out a
 placard denouncing the ,house of       
,commons for closing its doors during a 
debate upon the ,walcheren expedition4  
,the ,house proceeded against ,jones1   
who was more or less advised by ,place  
in his proceedings4 ,burdett took the   
part of ,jones1 by a paper published in 

,cobbett's ,register1 and was ultimately
 committed to the ,tower in consequence4
 ,the whole of ,london was for a time in
 a state of excitement1 and upon the    
verge of an outbreak4 ,burdett refused  
to submit to the arrest4 ,mobs          
collected2 soldiers filled the streets  
and were pelted4 ,burdett1 when at last 
he was forced to admit the officers1    
appeared in his drawing-room in the act 
of expounding ,magna ,charta to his son4
 ,that1 it was to be supposed1 was his  
usual occupation of an afternoon4       
,meetings were held1 and resolutions    
passed1 in support of the martyr to     
liberty2 and when his imprisonment      
terminated on the prorogation of        
parliament1 vast crowds collected1 and a
 procession was arranged to convoy him  
to his home4 ,place had been active in  
arranging all the details of what was to
 be a great popular manifestation4 ,to  
his infinite disgust1 ,burdett shrank   
from the performance1 and went home by  
water4 ,the crowd was left to expend its

 remaining enthusiasm upon the hackney  
carriage which contained his            
fellow-sufferer ,jones4 ,jones1 in the  
following ,december1 was sentenced to   
twelve months' imprisonment for a libel4
 ,cobbett1 ,burdett's special supporter 
at this time1 was also imprisoned in    
,june #ahaj4 ,for a time the popular    
agitation collapsed4 ,place seems to    
have thought that the failure was due to
 ,burdett's want of courage1 and dropped
 all communication with him till a later
 contest at ,westminster4  ,place was   
thus at the centre of the political     
agitation which1 for the time1          
represented the most energetic reforming
 movement4 ,it was in #ahaa or #ahab    
that he became acquainted with ,mill4#i 
,in ,mill he recognised a congenial     
spirit1 and a man able to defend and    
develop principles4 ,he perhaps1 as     
,professor ,bain thinks1 made advances  
to ,mill upon the strength of the       
history of ,india2 and in #ahad he was  
certainly endeavouring to raise money to

 put ,mill above the need of precarious 
hack-work4#aj ,the anticipated          
difficulty of persuading ,mill so far to
 sacrifice his independence was         
apparently fatal to the scheme4 ,place  
was in occasional communication with    
,bentham1 and visited him at ,ford      
,abbey in #ahag4 ,he became intimate    
with the great man2 helped him in       
business affairs2 and was one of the    
disciples employed to prepare his books 
for publication4#aa ,bentham was the    
source of philosophy1 and ,mill only his
 prophet4 ,but ,mill1 who was capable of
 activity in practical affairs1 was more
 useful to a man of the world4 ,the     
first business which brought them into  
close connection was the ,lancasterian  
controversy4 ,the strong interest roused
 by this agitation was significant of   
many difficulties to come4 ,the average 
mind had been gradually coming to the   
conclusion that the poor should be      
taught to read and write4 ,sunday       
schools and ,hannah ,more's schools in  

,somersetshire had drawn the attention  
of the religious world to the subject4  
,during the early years of the century  
the education question had steadily     
become more prominent1 and the growing  
interest was shown by a singularly      
bitter and complicated controversy4 ,the
 opposite parties fought under the      
banners of ,bell and ,lancaster4 ,andrew
 ,bell1 born at ,st4 ,andrews1 #bgth    
,march #agec1 was both a canny ,scot and
 an ,anglican clergyman4 ,he combined   
philanthropy with business faculties4   
,he sailed to ,india in #aghg with      
,l#abh1 #ajs4 in his pocket to be an    
army chaplain2 he returned in #agif with
 ,l#be1jjj and a new system of education
 which he had devised as superintendent 
of an orphan asylum4 ,he settled in     
,england1 published an account of his   
plan1 and did something to bring it into
 operation4 ,meanwhile ,joseph          
,lancaster 7#aggj-ahch71 a young        
,quaker1 had set up a school in ,london2
 he devised a plan similar to that of   

,bell1 and in #ahjc published an account
 of his improvements in education with  
acknowledgments to ,bell4 ,for a time   
the two were on friendly terms4         
,lancaster set about propagating his new
 system with more enthusiasm than       
discretion4 ,his fame rapidly spread    
till it reached the throne4 ,in #ahje   
,george ,,iii4 sent for him2 the royal  
family subscribed to his schools2 and   
the king declared his wish that every   
child in his dominions should be taught 
to read the ,bible4 ,the king's gracious
 wish unconsciously indicated a         
difficulty4 ,was it safe to teach the   
,bible without the safeguard of         
authorised interpretation8 ,orthodox    
opponents feared the alliance with a man
 whose first principle was toleration1  
and first among them was the excellent  
,mrs4 ,trimmer1 who had been already    
engaged in the ,sunday-school movement4 
,she pointed out in a pamphlet that the 
schismatic ,lancaster was weakening the 
,established ,church4 ,the ,edinburgh   

,review came to his support in #ahjf and
 #ahjg2 for the ,whig1 especially if he 
was also a ,scot1 was prejudiced against
 the ,church of ,england4 ,lancaster    
went on his way1 but soon got into      
difficulties1 for he was impetuous1     
careless of money1 and autocratic4      
,william ,allen1 with another ,quaker1  
came to his support in #ahjh1 and       
founded the ,royal ,lancasterian        
,society to maintain his school in the  
,borough ,road1 and propagate its like  
elsewhere4 ,lancaster travelled through 
the country1 and the agitation          
prospered1 and spread even to ,america4 
,the church1 however1 was now fairly    
aroused4 ,bishop ,marsh preached a      
sermon in ,st4 ,paul's1 and followed it 
up by pamphlets2 the cause was taken up 
by the ,quarterly ,review in #ahaa1 and 
in the same year the ,national ,society 
was founded to 'educate the poor in the 
principles of the ,established ,church4'
 ,bell had suggested a national system1 
but the times were not ripe4 ,meanwhile 

the controversy became furious4 ,the    
,edinburgh and the ,quarterly thundered 
on opposite sides4 ,immense importance  
was attached by both parties to the     
scheme devised by ,bell1 and partly     
adopted by ,lancaster4 ,the war involved
 a personal element and the charges of  
plagiarism which give spice to a popular
 controversy4 ,all parties1 and         
certainly the ,utilitarians1 strangely  
exaggerated the value of the new method4
 ,they regarded the proposal that       
children should be partly taught by     
other children instead of being wholly  
taught by adults as a kind of scientific
 discovery which would enormously       
simplify and cheapen education4         
,believers in the ',panopticon' saw in  
it another patent method of raising the 
general level of intelligence4 ,but the 
real question was between church and    
dissent4 ,was the church catechism to be
 imposed or not8 ,this1 as we have seen1
 was the occasion of ,bentham's assault 
upon church and catechism4 ,on the other

 side1 ,bell's claims were supported    
with enthusiasm by all the ,tories1 and 
by such men as ,southey and ,coleridge4 
,southey1 who had defended ,bell in the 
,quarterly1#ab undertook to be ,bell's  
biographer#ac and literary executor4    
,coleridge was so vehement in the cause 
that when lecturing upon ',romeo and    
,juliet' in #ahaa1 he plunged by way of 
exordium into an assault upon           
,lancaster's modes of punishment4#ad ,de
 ,quincey testifies that he became a    
positive bore upon ,bell's virtues4 ,in 
#ahab ,lancaster had got deeply into    
debt to the trustees of the ,society1   
who included besides ,allen1 ,joseph    
,fox--a 'shallow1 gloomy bigot'         
according to ,place--and some other     
,quakers4 ,lancaster resented their     
control1 and in #ahab made over his     
,borough ,road school to them1 and set  
up one of his own at ,tooting4 ,they    
continued1 however1 to employ him1 and  
in #ahac formed themselves into the     
',british and ,foreign' ,school         

,society4 ,place had known ,lancaster   
from #ahjd1 and ,mill had supported him 
in the press4 ,they both became members 
of the committee1 though ,place took the
 most active part4 ,he makes many grave 
charges against ,lancaster1 whom he     
regarded as hopelessly flighty and      
impracticable1 if not worse4 ,ultimately
 in #ahad ,lancaster resigned his       
position1 and naturally retorted that   
,place was an infidel4 ,place1          
meanwhile1 was ill at ease with the     
'gloomy bigot1' as he calls ,fox4 ,after
 many quarrels1 ,fox succeeded in       
getting the upper hand1 and ,place      
finally withdrew from the committee in  
#ahae4  ,two other schemes arose out of 
this1 in which ,mill was specially      
interested1 but which both proved       
abortive4 ,mill and ,place resolved in  
#ahac to start a ',west ,london         
,lancasterian ,institution1' which was  
to educate the whole population west of 
,temple ,bar4 ,they were joined by      
,edward ,wakefield1 father of the       

,edward ,gibbon ,wakefield who in later 
years was known as an economist1 and    
himself author of a work of considerable
 reputation1 ,an ,account of ,ireland1  
,statistical and ,political 7#ahab74    
,the three joined ,joseph ,fox1 and     
ultimately a meeting was held in ,august
 #ahac4 ,sir ,james ,mackintosh was in  
the chair4 ,mill wrote the address1 and 
motions were proposed by his friend     
,joseph ,hume and by ,william ,allen4   
,papers were circulated1 headed         
',schools for all1'#ae and the          
institution was launched with a         
sufficiency of applause4 ,but the       
'gloomy bigot' was secretary4 ,he       
declared that he would rather see the   
institution destroyed than permit it to 
be used for infidel purposes4 ,the      
,bible was1 of course1 to be read in the
 schools1 but ,fox wished that the      
,bible alone should be read4 ,as the    
committee1 according to ,place1 included
 four infidels1 three ,unitarians1 six  
,methodists1 two ,baptists1 two ,roman  

,catholics1 and several members of the  
,established ,church1 it was hardly a   
happy family4 ,to add to the confusion1 
,sir ,francis ,burdett1 who had         
contributed a thousand pounds1 had taken
 it into his head that ,place was a     
government spy4#af ,the ,association1 as
 is hardly surprising1 ceased to exist  
in #ahaf1 after keeping up a school of  
less than three hundred children1 and   
ended in hopeless failure4 ,the         
,utilitarians had higher hopes from a   
scheme of their own4 ,this was the      
,chrestomathic school which occasioned  
,bentham's writing4 ,an association was 
formed in ,february #ahad4 ,mackintosh1 
,brougham1 ,mill1 ,allen1 ,fox1 and     
,wakefield were to be trustees4 ,the    
school was to apply ,lancasterian       
principles to the education of the      
middle classes1 and ,bentham was to     
supply them with a philosophy and with a
 site in his garden4 ,there the old     
gentleman was to see a small version of 
the ,panopticon building1 and1 for a    

time1 he took great delight in the      
prospect4 ,gradually1 however1 it seems 
to have dawned upon him that there might
 be inconveniences in being overlooked  
by a set of even model schoolboys4      
,there were difficulties as to funds4   
,ricardo offered ,l#bjj and collected   
subscriptions for ,l#ijj1 but ,place    
thought that he might have been more    
liberal4 ,about #ahag they counted upon 
subscriptions for ,l#bcaj4 ,allen was   
treasurer1 ,place secretary1 and the    
dukes of ,kent and ,york were on the    
committee4 ,romilly was persuaded to    
join1 and they had hopes of the ,l#ajjj 
given by ,burdett to the ,west ,london  
,institution4 ,but the thing could never
 be got into working order1 in spite of 
,place's efforts and ,mill's counsels2  
and1 after painful haulings and         
tuggings1 it finally collapsed in       
#ahbj4ag  ,the efforts of the           
,utilitarians to effect anything        
directly in the way of education thus   
fell completely flat4 ,one moral is     

sufficiently obvious4 ,they were1 after 
all1 but a small clique1 regarded with  
suspicion by all outsiders2 and such a  
system as could seriously affect        
education could only be carried out     
either by government1 which was thinking
 of very different things1 or by        
societies already connected with the    
great religious bodies4 ,the only       
function which could be adequately      
discharged by the little band of        
,utilitarians was to act upon public    
opinion2 and this1 no doubt1 they could 
do to some purpose4 ,i have gone so far 
into these matters in order to          
illustrate their position2 but1 as will 
be seen1 ,mill1 though consulted at     
every stage by ,place1 and doing what he
 could to advocate the cause1 was1 after
 all1 in the background4 ,he was still  
wrestling with the ,indian ,history1    
which was1 as he hoped1 to win for him  
an independent position4 ,the effort was
 enormous4 ,in #ahad he told ,place that
 he was working at the ,history from #e 

,a4,m4 till #aa ,p4,m4 ,when at ,ford   
,abbey his regular day's work began at  
#f ,a4,m4 and lasted till #aa ,p4,m41   
during which time three hours were given
 to teaching his children1 and a couple 
of short walks supplied him with        
recreation4 ,how1 with all his energy1  
he managed to pay his way is a mystery1 
which his biographer is unable fully to 
solve4#ah  ,the ,history at last        
appeared in #c vols4 #dto1 at the end of
 #ahag4 ,dry and stern as its author1   
and embodying some of his political     
prejudices1 it was at least a solid     
piece of work1 which succeeded at once1 
and soon became the standard book upon  
the subject4 ,mill argues in the preface
 with characteristic courage that his   
want of personal knowledge of ,india was
 rather an advantage4 ,it made him      
impartial4 ,a later editor#ai has shown 
that it led to some serious             
misconceptions4 ,it is characteristic of
 the ,utilitarian attitude to assume    
that a sufficient knowledge of fact can 

always be obtained from blue-books and  
statistics4 ,some facts require         
imagination and sympathy to be          
appreciated1 and there ,mill was        
deficient4 ,he could not give an        
adequate picture of ,hindoo beliefs and 
customs1 though he fully appreciated the
 importance of such questions4 ,whatever
 its shortcomings1 the book produced a  
remarkable change in ,mill's position4  
,he applied for a vacant office in the  
,india ,house4 ,his friends1 ,joseph    
,hume and ,ricardo1 made interest for   
him in the city4 ,place co-operated     
energetically4#bj ,canning1 then        
president of the ,board of ,control1 is 
said to have supported him2 and the     
general impression of his ability       
appears to have caused his election1 in 
spite of some ,tory opposition4 ,he     
became ,assistant to the ,examiner of   
,india ,correspondence1 with a salary of
 ,l#hjj on #abth ,may #ahai4 ,on #ajth  
,april #ahba he became ,second          
,assistant1 with ,l#ajjj a year2 on #ith

 ,april #ahbc he was made ,assistant    
,examiner1 with ,l#abjj a year2 and on  
#ast ,december #ahcj ,examiner1 with    
,l#aijj1 which on #agth ,february #ahcf 
was raised to ,l#bjjj4 ,the official    
work came in later years to absorb the  
greatest part of ,mill's energy1 and his
 position excluded him from any active  
participation in politics1 had he ever  
been inclined for it4 ,mill1 however1   
set free from bondage1 was able to exert
 himself very effectually with his pen2 
and his writings became in a great      
degree the text-books of his sect4      
,during #ahah he had again co-operated  
with ,place in a political matter4 ,the 
dissolution of parliament in #ahah      
produced another contest at             
,westminster4 ,place and ,mill were     
leaders in the ,radical committee1 which
 called a public meeting1 where ,burdett
 and ,kinnaird were chosen as           
candidates4 ,they were opposed to       
,romilly1 the old friend of ,bentham and
 of ,mill himself4 ,both ,mill and      

,bentham regarded him as not            
sufficiently orthodox4 ,romilly1        
however1 was throughout at the head of  
the poll1 and the ,radical committee    
were obliged to withdraw their second   
candidate1 ,kinnaird1 in order to secure
 the election of ,burdett against the   
government candidate ,maxwell4 ,romilly 
soon afterwards dined at ,bentham's     
house1 and met ,mill1 with ,dumont1     
,brougham1 and ,rush1 on friendly terms4
 ,on ,romilly's sad death on #bnd       
,november following1 ,mill went to      
,worthing to offer his sympathy to the  
family1 and declared that the 'gloom'   
had 'affected his health4' ,he took no  
part in the consequent election1 in     
which ,hobhouse stood unsuccessfully as 
the ,radical candidate4   ,,iii4        
,,leader ,,of ,,the ,,utilitarians      
,politics were beginning to enter upon a
 new phase4 ,the period was marked by   
the ',six ,acts' and the ',peterloo     
massacre4' ,the ,radical leaders who    
upheld the cause in those dark days were

 not altogether to the taste of the     
,utilitarians4 ,after ,burdett1 ,john   
,cartwright 7#agdj-ahbd7 and ,henry 7or 
',orator'7 ,hunt 7#aggc-ahce71 hero of  
the ',peterloo massacre1' were the most 
conspicuous4 ,they were supported by    
,cobbett1 the greatest journalist of the
 time1 and various more obscure writers4
 ,the ,utilitarians held them in        
considerable contempt4 ,burdett was     
flashy1 melodramatic1 and vain2 ,hunt an
 'unprincipled demagogue'2 and          
,cartwright1 the ,nestor of reform1 who 
had begun his labours in #aghj1 was1    
according to ,place1 wearisome1         
impracticable1 and a mere nuisance in   
matters of business4 ,the ,utilitarians 
tried to use such men1 but shared the   
,tory opinion of their value4 ,they had 
some relations with other obscure       
writers who were martyrs to the liberty 
of the press4 ,place helped ,william    
,hone in the ,reformer's ,register1     
which was brought out in #ahag4 ,the    
famous trial in which ,hone triumphed   

over ,ellenborough occurred at the end  
of that year4 ,richard ,carlile         
7#agij-ahdc71 who reprinted ,hone's     
pamphlets1 and in #ahah published       
,paine's works1 was sentenced in #ahai  
to three years' imprisonment2 and while 
in confinement began the ,republican1   
which appeared from #ahai to #ahbf4     
,ultimately he passed nine years in     
jail1 and showed unflinching courage in 
maintaining the liberty of speech4 ,the 
,utilitarians1 as ,professor ,bain      
believes1 helped him during his         
imprisonments1 and ,john ,mill's first  
publication was a protest against his   
prosecution4#ba ,a 'republican1 an      
atheist1 and ,malthusian1' he was       
specially hated by the respectable1 and 
had in all these capacities claims upon 
the sympathy of the ,utilitarians4 ,one 
of ,carlile's first employments was to  
circulate the ,black ,dwarf1 edited by  
,thomas ,jonathan ,wooler from #ahag to 
#ahbd4bb ,this paper represented        
,cartwright1 but it also published      

,bentham's reform ,catechism1 besides   
direct contributions and various        
selections from his works4  ,the        
,utilitarians were opposed on principle 
to ,cobbett1 a reformer of a type very  
different from their own2 and still more
 vitally opposed to ,owen1 who was      
beginning to develop his ,socialist     
schemes4 ,if they had sympathy for      
,radicalism of the ,wooler or ,carlile  
variety1 they belonged too distinctly to
 the ranks of respectability1 and were  
too deeply impressed with the necessity 
of reticence1 to allow their sympathies 
to appear openly4 ,as1 on the other     
hand1 they were too ,radical in their   
genuine creed to be accepted by         
,edinburgh ,reviewers and frequenters of
 ,holland ,house1 there was a wide gap  
between them and the genuine ,whig4     
,their task therefore was to give a     
political theory which should be        
,radical in principle1 and yet in such a
 form as should appeal to the reason of 
the more cultivated readers without too 

openly shocking their prejudices4       
,james ,mill achieved this task by the  
publication of a series of articles in  
the ,supplement to the ,encyclopaedia   
,britannica1 which appeared from #ahaf  
to #ahbc1 of which ,i shall presently   
speak at length4 ,it passed for the     
orthodox profession of faith among the  
little circle of friends who had now    
gathered round him4 ,first among them   
was ,david ,ricardo4 ,he had become     
known to ,mill in #ahaa4 ',i1' said     
,bentham1 'was the spiritual father of  
,mill1 and ,mill the spiritual father of
 ,ricardo4'#bc ,mill was really the     
disciple of ,ricardo in economics2 but  
it was ,mill who induced him to publish 
his chief work1 and ,mill's own treatise
 upon the subject published in #ahbj is 
substantially an exposition of          
,ricardo's doctrine4 ,mill1 too1        
encouraged ,ricardo to take a seat in   
parliament in #ahah1 and there for the  
short remainder of his life1 ,ricardo   
defended the characteristic ,utilitarian

 principles with the authority derived  
from his reputation as an economist4#bd 
,the two were now especially intimate4  
,during ,mill's first years in the      
,india ,house1 his only recreation was  
an annual visit to ,ricardo at          
,gatcombe4 ,meetings at ,ricardo's house
 in ,london led to the foundation of the
 ',political ,economy ,club' in #ahba4  
,mill drafted the rules of the club1    
emphasising the duty of members to      
propagate sound economic opinions       
through the press4 ,the club took root  
and helped to make ,mill known to       
politicians and men of commercial       
influence4 ,one of the members was      
,malthus1 who is said1 and the assertion
 is credible enough1 to have been       
generally worsted by ,mill in the       
discussions at the club4 ,mill was an   
awkward antagonist1 and ,malthus        
certainly not conspicuous for closeness 
of logic4 ,the circle of ,mill's friends
 naturally extended as his position in  
the ,india ,house enabled him to live   

more at his ease and brought him into   
contact with men of political position4 
,his old school-fellow ,joseph ,hume had
 made a fortune in ,india1 and returned 
to take a seat in parliament and become 
the persistent and tiresome advocate of 
many of the ,utilitarian doctrines4 ,a  
younger generation was growing up1      
enthusiastic in the cause of reform1 and
 glad to sit at the feet of men who     
claimed at least to be philosophical    
leaders4 ,john ,black 7#aghc-ahee71     
another sturdy ,scot1 who came from     
,duns in ,berwickshire1 had1 in #ahag1  
succeeded ,perry as editor of the       
,morning ,chronicle4 ,the ,chronicle was
 an opposition paper1 and day by day    
,black walked with ,mill from the ,india
 ,house1 discussing the topics of the   
time and discharging himself through the
 ,chronicle4 ,the ,chronicle declined   
after #ahba1 owing to a change in the   
proprietorship4#be ,albany ,fonblanque  
7#agic-ahgb7 took to journalism at an   
early age1 succeeded ,leigh ,hunt as    

leader-writer for the ,examiner in      
#ahbf1 became another exponent of       
,utilitarian principles1 and for some   
time in alliance with ,john ,stuart     
,mill was among the most effective      
representatives of the new school in the
 press4 ,john ,ramsay ,m',culloch       
7#aghi-ahfd7 upheld the economic battle 
in the ,scotsman at ,edinburgh from     
#ahag-ahbg1 and edited it from          
#ahah-ahbj4 ,he afterwards devoted      
himself to lecturing in ,london1 and was
 for many years the most ardent apostle 
of the 'dismal science4' ,he was a      
genial1 whisky-loving ,scot2 the        
favourite object of everybody's mimicry2
 and was especially intimate with ,james
 ,mill4 ,many other brilliant young men 
contributed their help in various ways4 
,henry ,bickersteth 7#aghc-ahea71       
afterwards ,lord ,langdale and ,master  
of the ,rolls1 had brought ,bentham and 
,burdett into political alliance2 and   
his rising reputation at the bar led to 
his being placed in #ahbd upon a        

commission for reforming the procedure  
of the ,court of ,chancery1 one of the  
most cherished objects of the           
,utilitarian creed4 ,besides these there
 were the group of young men1 who were  
soon to be known as the 'philosophical  
,radicals4' ,john ,stuart ,mill1 upon   
whom the mantle of his father was to    
descend1 was conspicuous by his         
extraordinary precocity1 and having been
 carefully educated in the orthodox     
faith1 was employed in #ahbe upon       
editing ,bentham's great work upon      
evidence4 ,george ,grote 7#agid-ahga71  
the future historian1 had been          
introduced to ,mill by ,ricardo2 and was
 in #ahba defending ,mill's theory of   
government against ,mackintosh1 and in  
#ahbb published the ,analysis of        
,revealed ,religion1 founded upon       
,bentham's manuscripts and expressing   
most unequivocally the ,utilitarian     
theory of religion4 ,with them were     
associated the two ,austins1 ,john      
7#agij-ahei7 who1 in #ahba1 lived close 

to ,bentham and ,mill in ,queen's       
,square1 and who was regarded as the    
coming teacher of the ,utilitarian      
system of jurisprudence2 and ,charles   
7#agii-ahgd71 who upheld the true faith 
among the young gentlemen at ,cambridge 
with a vigour and ability which at least
 rivalled the powers of his             
contemporary1 ,macaulay4 ,meanwhile1    
,mill himself was disqualified by his   
office from taking any direct part in   
political agitations4 ,place continued  
an active connection with the various   
,radical committees and associations2   
but the younger disciples had           
comparatively little concern in such    
matters4 ,they were more interested in  
discussing the applications of          
,utilitarianism in various directions1  
or1 so far as they had parliamentary    
aspirations1 were aspiring to found a   
separate body of 'philosophical         
,radicals1' which looked down upon      
,place and his allies from the heights  
of superior enlightenment4  ,mill could 

now look forward to a successful        
propaganda of the creed which had passed
 so slowly through its period of        
incubation4 ,the death of ,ricardo in   
#ahbc affected him to a degree which    
astonished his friends1 accustomed only 
to his stern exterior4 ,a plentiful crop
 of young proselytes1 however1 was      
arising to carry on the work2 and the   
party now became possessed of the       
indispensable organ4 ,the ,westminster  
,review was launched at the beginning of
 #ahbd4 ,bentham provided the funds2    
,mill's official position prevented him 
from undertaking the editorship1 which  
was accordingly given to ,bentham's     
young disciple1 ,bowring1 helped for a  
time by ,henry ,southern4 ,the          
,westminster was to represent the       
,radicals as the two older reviews      
represented the ,whigs and the ,tories2 
and to show that the new party had its  
philosophers and its men of literary    
cultivation as well as its popular      
agitators and journalists4 ,it therefore

 naturally put forth its claims by      
opening fire in the first numbers       
against the ,edinburgh and the          
,quarterly ,reviews4 ,the assault upon  
the ,edinburgh ,review1 of which ,i     
shall speak presently1 made an          
impression1 and1 as ,j4 ,s4 ,mill tells 
us1 brought success to the first number 
of the new venture4 ,the gauntlet was   
thrown down with plenty of vigour1 and  
reformers were expected to rally round  
so thoroughgoing a champion4 ,in later  
numbers ,mill afterwards 7,jan4 #i1     
#ahbf7 fell upon ,southey's ,book of the
 ,church1 and 7,april #ahbf7 assailed   
church establishments in general4 ,he   
defended toleration during the same year
 in a review of ,samuel ,bailey's       
,formation of ,opinions1 and gave a     
general account of his political creed  
in an article 7,october7 on the ',state 
of the ,nation4' ,this was his last     
contribution to the ,westminster2 but in
 #ahbg he contributed to the            
,parliamentary ,history and ,review1    

started by ,james ,marshall of ,leeds1  
an article upon recent debates on       
reform1 which ended for a time his      
political writings4  ,the ,utilitarians 
had no great talent for cohesion4 ,their
 very principles were indeed in favour  
of individual independence1 and they    
were perhaps more ready to diverge than 
to tolerate divergence4 ,the            
,westminster ,review had made a good    
start1 and drew attention to the rising 
'group'--,j4 ,s4 ,mill declares that it 
never formed a 'school4'#bf ,from the   
very first the ,mills distrusted        
,bowring and disapproved of some        
articles2 the elder ,mill failed to     
carry his disciples with him1 partly    
because they were already in favour of  
giving votes to women2 and as the       
,review soon showed itself unable to pay
 its way1 some new arrangement became   
necessary4 ,it was finally bought by    
,perronet ,thompson1 and ceased for a   
time to be the official organ of        
,benthamism4  ,another undertaking      

occupied much of ,mill's attention in   
the following years4 ,the educational   
schemes of the ,utilitarians had so far 
proved abortive4 ,in #ahbd1 however1 it 
had occurred to the poet1 ,thomas       
,campbell1 then editing the ,new        
,monthly ,magazine1 that ,london ought  
to possess a university comparable to   
that of ,berlin1 and more on a level    
with modern thought than the old        
universities of ,oxford and ,cambridge1 
which were still in the closest         
connection with the church4 ,campbell   
addressed a letter to ,brougham1 and the
 scheme was taken up energetically on   
several sides4 ,place#bg wrote an       
article1 which he offered to ,campbell  
for the ,new ,monthly1 who declined out 
of modesty to publish it in his own     
organ4 ,it was then offered to ,bowring 
for the ,westminster1 and ultimately    
suppressed by him1 which may have been  
one of the causes of his differences    
with the ,mills4 ,brougham took a       
leading part in the agitation2 ,joseph  

,hume promised to raise ,l#ajj1jjj4     
,george ,birkbeck1 founder of the       
,mechanics' ,institution1 and ,zachary  
,macaulay1 who saw in it a place of     
education for dissenting ministers1     
joined the movement1 and among the most 
active members of the new body were     
,james ,mill and ,grote4 ,a council was 
formed at the end of #ahbe1 and after   
various difficulties a sum of ,l#afj1jjj
 was raised1 and the university started 
in ,gower ,street in #ahbh4 ,among the  
first body of professors were ,john     
,austin and ,m',culloch1 both of them   
sound ,utilitarians4 ,the old           
difficulty1 however1 made itself felt4  
,in order to secure the unsectarian     
character of the university1 religious  
teaching was omitted4 ,the college was  
accused of infidelity4 ,king's ,college 
was started in opposition2 and violent  
antipathies were aroused4 ,a special    
controversy raged within the council    
itself4 ,two philosophical chairs were  
to be founded2 and philosophy cannot be 

kept clear of religion4 ,after long     
discussions1 one chair was filled by the
 appointment of the ,reverend ,john     
,hoppus1 an independent minister4       
,grote1 declaring that no man1 pledged  
by his position to the support of any   
tenets1 should be appointed1 resigned   
his place on the council4#bh ,the       
university in #ahcf became a college    
combined with its rival ,king's ,college
 under the newly formed examining body  
called the ,university of ,london4 ,it  
has1 ,i suppose1 been of service to     
education1 and may be regarded as the   
one practical achievement of the        
,utilitarians in that direction1 so far 
as its foundation was due to them4 ,it  
must1 however1 be admitted that the     
actual body still falls very far short  
of the ideal present to the minds of its
 founders4  ,from #ahbb ,james ,mill    
spent his vacations at ,dorking1 and    
afterwards at ,mickleham4 ,he had       
devoted them to a task which was        
necessary to fill a gap in the          

,utilitarian scheme4 ,hitherto the      
school had assumed1 rather than         
attempted to establish1 a philosophical 
basis of its teaching4 ,bentham's       
fragmentary writings about the          
,chrestomathic school supplied all that 
could by courtesy be called a           
philosophy4 ,mill1 however1 had been    
from the first interested in            
philosophical questions4 ,his reading   
was not wide2 he knew something of the  
doctrines taught by ,stewart and        
,stewart's successor1 ,brown4 ,he had   
been especially impressed by ,hobbes1 to
 some degree by ,locke and ,hume1 but   
above all by ,hartley4 ,he knew         
something1 too1 of ,condillac and the   
,french ,ideologists4 ,of recent ,german
 speculation he was probably quite      
ignorant4 ,i find indeed that ,place had
 called his attention to the account of 
,kant1 published by ,wirgman in the     
,encyclopaedia ,londinensis #ahag4 ,mill
 about the same time tells ,place that  
he has begun to read ,the ,critic of    

,pure ,reason4 ',i see clearly enough1' 
he says1 'what poor ,kant would be      
about1 but it would require some time to
 give an account of him4' ,he wishes    
7,december #f1 #ahag7 that he had time  
to write a book which would 'make the   
human mind as plain as the road from    
,charing ,cross to ,st4 ,paul's4'#bi    
,this was apparently the task to which  
he applied himself in his vacations4    
,the ,analysis appeared in #ahbi1 and1  
whatever its defects of incompleteness  
and one-sidedness from a philosophical  
point of view1 shows in the highest     
degree ,mill's powers of close1 vigorous
 statement2 and lays down with singular 
clearness the psychological doctrine1   
which from his point of view supplied   
the fundamental theorems of knowledge in
 general4 ,it does not appear1 however1 
to have made an impression proportionate
 to the intellectual power displayed1   
and had to wait a long time before      
reaching the second edition due to the  
filial zeal of ,j4 ,s4 ,mill4  ,james   

,mill1 after his articles in the        
,westminster1 could take little part in 
political agitation4 ,he was still      
consulted by ,place in regard to the    
,reform movement4 ,place himself took an
 important part at the final crisis1    
especially by his circulation in the    
week of agony of the famous placard1    
',go for ,gold4' ,but the ,utilitarians 
were now lost in the crowd4 ,the demand 
for reform had spread through all       
classes4 ,the attack upon the ruling    
class carried on by the ,radicals of all
 shades in the dark days of ,sidmouth   
and the six ,acts was now supported by  
the nation at large4 ,the old ,toryism  
could no longer support itself by       
appealing to the necessities of a       
struggle for national existence4 ,the   
prestige due to the victorious end of   
the war had faded away4 ,the ,reform    
,bill of #ahcb was passed1 and the      
,utilitarians hoped that the millennium 
would at least begin to dawn4  ,mill in 
#ahcj removed from ,queen's ,square to  

,vicarage ,place1 ,kensington4 ,he kept 
his house at ,mickleham1 and there took 
long ,sunday walks with a few of his    
disciples4 ,his strength was more and   
more absorbed in his official duties4   
,he was especially called upon to give  
evidence before the committees which    
from #ahcj to #ahcc considered the      
policy to be adopted in renewing the    
charter of the ,east ,india ,company4   
,mill appeared as the advocate of the   
company1 defended their policy1 and     
argued against the demands of the       
commercial body which demanded the final
 suppression of the old trading monopoly
 of the ,company4 ,the abolition1       
indeed1 was a foregone conclusion2 but  
,mill's view was not in accordance with 
the doctrines of the thoroughgoing      
freetraders4 ,his official experience1  
it seems1 upon this and other matters   
deterred him from the a priori dogmatism
 too characteristic of his political    
speculations4 ,mill also suggested the  
formation of a legislative council1     

which was to contain one man 'versed in 
the philosophy of men and government4'  
,this was represented by the appointment
 of the legal member of council in the  
,act of #ahcc4 ,mill approved of        
,macaulay as the first holder of the    
post4 ,it was 'very handsome' of him1 as
 ,macaulay remarks1 inasmuch as the     
famous articles written by ,macaulay    
himself1 in which the ,edinburgh had at 
last retorted upon the ,utilitarians1   
must still have been fresh in his       
memory4 ,the ',penal ,code' drawn by    
,macaulay as holder of the office was   
the first actual attempt to carry out   
,bentham's favourite schemes under      
,british rule1 and the influence of the 
chief of ,bentham's disciples at the    
,india ,house may have had something to 
do with its initiation4 ,macaulay's     
chief subordinate1 it may be remarked1  
,charles ,hay ,cameron1 was one of the  
,benthamites1 and had been proposed by  
,grote for the chair at the ,london     
,university ultimately filled by        

,hoppus4  ,after #ahcj ,mill wrote the  
severe fragment on ,mackintosh1 which1  
after a delay caused by ,mackintosh's   
death1 appeared in #ahce4 ,he           
contributed some articles to the ,london
 ,review1 founded by ,sir ,w4           
,molesworth1 as an organ of the         
'philosophical ,radicals1' and          
superintended1 though not directly      
edited1 by ,j4 ,s4 ,mill4 ,these1 his   
last performances1 repeat the old       
doctrines4 ,it does not appear1 indeed1 
that ,mill ever altered one of his      
opinions4 ,he accepted ,bentham's       
doctrine to the end1 as unreservedly as 
a mathematician might accept ,newton's  
,principia4  ,mill's lungs had begun to 
be affected4 ,it was supposed that they 
were injured by the dust imbibed on     
coach journeys to ,mickleham4 ,he had a 
bad attack of haemorrhage in ,august    
#ahce1 and died peacefully on #bcrd     
,june #ahcf4  ,what remains to be said  
of ,mill personally may be suggested by 
a noticeable parallel4 ,s4 ,t4          

,coleridge1 born about six months before
 ,mill1 died two years before him4 ,the 
two lives thus coincided for more than  
sixty years1 and each man was the leader
 of a school4 ,in all else the contrast 
could hardly be greater4 ,if we were to 
apply the rules of ordinary morality1 it
 would be entirely in ,mill's favour4   
,mill discharged all his duties as      
strenuously as a man could1 while       
,coleridge's life was a prolonged       
illustration of the remark that when an 
action presented itself to him as a duty
 he became physically incapable of doing
 it4 ,whatever ,mill undertook he       
accomplished1 often in the face of      
enormous difficulties4 ,coleridge never 
finished anything1 and his works are a  
heap of fragments of the prolegomena to 
ambitious schemes4 ,mill worked his     
hardest from youth to age1 never sparing
 labour or shirking difficulties or     
turning aside from his path4 ,coleridge 
dawdled through life1 solacing himself  
with opium1 and could only be coaxed    

into occasional activity by skilful     
diplomacy4 ,mill preserved his          
independence by rigid self-denial1      
temperance1 and punctuality4 ,coleridge 
was always dependent upon the generosity
 of his friends4 ,mill brought up a     
large family1 and in the midst of severe
 labours found time to educate them even
 to excess4 ,coleridge left his wife and
 children to be cared for by others4    
,and ,coleridge died in the odour of    
sanctity1 revered by his disciples1 and 
idolised by his children2 while ,mill   
went to the grave amidst the shrugs of  
respectable shoulders1 and respected    
rather than beloved by the son who      
succeeded to his intellectual           
leadership4  ,the answer to the riddle  
is indeed plain enough2 or rather there 
are many superabundantly obvious        
answers4 ,had ,mill defended orthodox   
views and ,coleridge been avowedly      
heterodox1 we should no doubt have heard
 more of ,coleridge's opium and of      
,mill's blameless and energetic life4   

,but this explains little4 ,that        
,coleridge was a man of genius and1     
moreover1 of exquisitely poetical       
genius1 and that ,mill was at most a man
 of remarkable talent and the driest and
 sternest of logicians is also obvious4 
,it is even more to the purpose that    
,coleridge was overflowing with         
kindliness1 though little able to turn  
goodwill to much effect2 whereas ,mill's
 morality took the form chiefly of      
attacking the wicked4 ,this is indicated
 by the saying attributed by ,bowring to
 ,bentham that ,mill's sympathy for the 
many sprang out of his hatred of the    
oppressing few4#cj ,j4 ,s4 ,mill very   
properly protested against this         
statement when it was quoted in the     
,edinburgh ,review4 ,it would obviously 
imply a gross misunderstanding1 whether 
,bentham1 not a good observer of men1   
said so or not4 ,but it indicates the   
side of ,mill's character which made him
 unattractive to contemporaries and also
 to posterity4 ,he partook1 says his    

son1#ca of the ,stoic1 the ,epicurean1  
and the ,cynic character4 ,he was a     
,stoic in his personal qualities2 an    
,epicurean so far as his theory of      
morals was concerned2 and a ,cynic in   
that he cared little for pleasure4 ,he  
thought life a 'poor thing' after the   
freshness of youth had passed2 and said 
that he had never known an old man happy
 unless he could live over again in the 
pleasures of the young4 ,temperance and 
self-restraint were therefore his       
favourite virtues4 ,he despised all     
'passionate emotions'2 he held with     
,bentham that feelings by themselves    
deserved neither praise nor blame2 he   
condemned a man who did harm whether the
 harm came from malevolence or from     
intellectual error4 ,therefore all      
sentiment was objectionable1 for        
sentiment means neglect of rules and    
calculations4 ,he shrank from showing   
feeling with more than the usual        
,english reserve2 and showed his        
devotion to his children by drilling    

them into knowledge with uncompromising 
strictness4 ,he had no feeling for the  
poetical or literary side of things2 and
 regarded life1 it would seem1 as a     
series of arguments1 in which people    
were to be constrained by logic1 not    
persuaded by sympathy4 ,he seems to have
 despised poor ,mrs4 ,mill1 and to have 
been unsuccessful in concealing his     
contempt1 though in his letters he      
refers to her respectfully4 ,mill       
therefore was a man little likely to win
 the hearts of his followers1 though his
 remarkable vigour of mind dominated    
their understandings4  ,the amiable and 
kindly1 whose sympathies are quickly    
moved1 gain an unfair share of our      
regard both in life and afterwards4 ,we 
are more pleased by an ineffectual      
attempt to be kindly1 than by real      
kindness bestowed ungraciously4 ,mill's 
great qualities should not be overlooked
 because they were hidden by a manner   
which seems almost deliberately         
repellent4 ,he devoted himself through  

life to promote the truth as he saw it2 
to increase the scanty amounts of       
pleasures enjoyed by mankind2 and to    
discharge all the duties which he owed  
to his neighbours4 ,he succeeded beyond 
all dispute in forcibly presenting one  
set of views which profoundly influenced
 his countrymen2 and the very narrowness
 of his intellect enabled him to plant  
his blows more effectively4             
,,footnotes3  #a ,the chief authority   
for ,james ,mill is ,james ,mill3 a     
,biography1 by ,alexander ,bain1        
,emeritus ,professor of ,logic in the   
,university of ,aberdeen1 ,london1      
#ahhb4 ,the book contains very full     
materials2 and1 if rather dry1 deals    
with a dry subject4  #b ,wallas's       
,francis ,place1 p4 #gj n4  #c ,bain's  
,james ,mill1 p4 #aff4  #d ,gifford's   
real name was ,john ,richards ,green4   
,the identity of his assumed name with  
that of the more famous ,william        
,gifford has led to a common confusion  
between the two periodicals4 ',peter    

,pindar' assaulted ,william ,gifford    
under the erroneous impression that he  
was editor of the second4  #e ,letter in
 ,bain's ,james ,mill1 pp4 #acf-dj4  #f 
,autobiography1 p4 #ci4  #g ,bain's     
,james ,mill1 pp4 #ig-ajf4 ,mill appears
 to have said something 'extravagant'   
about ,bentham in an article upon       
,miranda in the ,edinburgh ,review for  
,january #ahji4 ,he also got some       
praises of ,bentham into the ,annual    
,review of #ahji 7,bain1 #ib-if74  #h   
,see the very interesting ,life of      
,francis ,place1 by ,mr4 ,graham        
,wallas1 #ahih4  #i ,bain's ,james      
,mill1 p4 #gh1 and ,wallas's ,francis   
,place1 p4 #ff4  #aj ,wallas's ,francis 
,place1 p4 #fh4  #aa ,he 'put together' 
the ,not ,paul but ,jesus at ,ford      
,abbey in #ahag1 and helped to preface  
the ,reform ,catechism4 ,wallas's       
,francis ,place1 p4 #hd4  #ab ,the      
article of #ahaa was also published     
separately4  #ac ,he wrote only the     
first volume4 ,two others were added by 

,cuthbert ,southey4  #ad ,lectures      
7,ashe1 #ahhe71 pp4 #cb1 #fa4  #ae      
,james ,mill1 according to ,place1 wrote
 a 'memorable and admirable essay1      
,schools for all1 not schools for       
,churchmen only4'--,wallas's ,francis   
,place1 #ii n4  #af ,this absurd        
suspicion was aroused by the quarrel    
about ,burdett's arrest4 ,see ,wallas's 
,place1 p4 #ef4  #ag ,mr4 ,wallas gives 
an account of these schemes in chap4 iv4
 of his ,life of ,place4 ,i have also   
consulted ,place's collections in       
,additional ,,mss41 #bg1hbc4  #ah       
,bain's ,james ,mill1 p4 #afb4  #ai ,h4 
,h4 ,wilson in his preface to the       
edition of #ahdj4  #bj ,wallas's        
,francis ,place1 p4 #gh4  #ba ,bain's   
,james ,mill1 p4 #dce4  #bb ,ibid4 p4   
#dcc4  #bc ,bentham's ,works1 p4 #dih4  
#bd ,see ,carman in ,economic ,review1  
#ahid4  #be ,see under ,black in        
,dictionary of ,national ,biography4    
#bf ,autobiography1 p4 #aja4  #bg ,see  
,place's account in ,additional ,,mss4  

#bg1hbc4  #bh ,g4 ,c4 ,robertson1       
,philosophical ,remains1 p4 #aff2 and   
under ,george ,grote in ,dictionary of  
,national ,biography4  #bi ,letters     
communicated by ,mr4 ,graham ,wallas4   
,see ,mr4 ,wallas's ,francis ,place1 p4 
#ia4  #cj ,so ,place observed that ,mill
 'could help the mass1 but could not    
help the individual1 not even himself or
 his own4'--,wallas's ,francis ,place1  
p4 #gi4  #ca ,autobiography1 p4 #dh4    
,,chapter ,,ii  ,,reform ,,movements    
,i4 ,,political ,,change  ,the last     
years of ,mill's life correspond to the 
period in which ,utilitarianism reached1
 in certain respects1 its highest pitch 
of influence4 ,the little band who      
acknowledged him as their chief leader1 
and as the authorised lieutenant of     
,bentham1 considered themselves to be in
 the van of progress4 ,though differing 
on many points from each other1 and     
regarded with aversion or distrust by   
the recognised party leaders1 they were 
in their most militant and confident    

state of mind4 ,they were systematically
 reticent as to their religious views3  
they left to popular orators the public 
advocacy of their favourite political   
measures2 and the credit of finally     
passing such of those measures as were  
adopted fell chiefly to the hands of the
 great political leaders4 ,the          
,utilitarians are ignored in the        
orthodox ,whig legend4 ,in the preface  
to his collected works1 ,sydney ,smith  
runs over the usual list of changes     
which had followed1 and1 as he seems to 
think1 had in great part resulted from1 
the establishment of the ,edinburgh     
,review4 ,smith himself1 and ,jeffrey   
and ,horner and1 above all1 'the        
gigantic ,brougham1' had blown the blast
 which brought down the towers of       
,jericho4 ,sir ,g4 ,o4 ,trevelyan1 in   
his ,life of ,macaulay1 describes the   
advent of the ,whigs to office in a     
similar sense4 ',agitators and          
incendiaries1' he says1 'retired into   
the background1 as will always be the   

case when the country is in earnest3 and
 statesmen who had much to lose1 and    
were not afraid to risk it1 stepped     
quietly and firmly to the front4 ,the   
men and the sons of the men who had so  
long endured exclusion from office1     
embittered by unpopularity1 at length   
reaped their reward4'#cb ,the ,radical  
version of the history is different4    
,the great men1 it said1 who had left   
the cause to be supported by agitators  
so long as the defence was dangerous and
 profitless1 stepped forward now that it
 was clearly winning1 and received both 
the reward and the credit4 ,mill and    
,place could not find words to express  
their contempt for the trimming1        
shuffling ,whigs4 ,they were probably   
unjust enough in detail2 but they had a 
strong case in some respects4 ,the      
,utilitarians represented that part of  
the reforming party which had a definite
 and a reasoned creed4 ,they tried to   
give logic where the popular agitators  
were content with declamation1 and      

represented absolute convictions when   
the ,whig reformers were content with   
tentative and hesitating compromises4   
,they had some grounds for considering  
themselves to be the 'steel of the      
lance'2 the men who formulated and      
deliberately defended the principles    
which were beginning to conquer the     
world4  ,the ,utilitarians1 ,i have     
said1 became a political force in the   
concluding years of the great war       
struggle4 ,the catastrophe of the       
revolution had unchained a whole        
whirlwind of antagonisms4 ,the original 
issues had passed out of sight2 and     
great social1 industrial1 and political 
changes were in progress which made the 
nation that emerged from the war a very 
different body from the nation that had 
entered it nearly a generation before4  
,it is not surprising that at first very
 erroneous estimates were made of the   
new position when peace at last         
returned4  ,the ,radicals1 who had      
watched on one side the growth of debt  

and pauperism1 and1 on the other hand1  
the profits made by stockjobbers1       
landlords1 and manufacturers1 ascribed  
all the terrible sufferings to the      
selfish designs of the upper classes4   
,when the war ended they hoped that the 
evils would diminish1 while the pretext 
for misgovernment would be removed4 ,a  
bitter disappointment followed4 ,the war
 was followed by widespread misery4     
,plenty meant ruin to agriculturists1   
and commercial 'gluts' resulting in     
manufacturers' warehouses crammed with  
unsaleable goods4 ,the discontent caused
 by misery had been encountered during  
the war by patriotic fervour4 ,it was   
not a time for redressing evils1 when   
the existence of the nation was at      
stake4 ,now that the misery continued1  
and the excuse for delaying redress had 
been removed1 a demand arose for        
parliamentary reform4 ,unfortunately    
discontent led also to sporadic         
riotings1 to breaking of machinery and  
burning of ricks4 ,the ,tory government 

saw in these disturbances a renewal of  
the old ,jacobin spirit1 and had        
visions--apparently quite groundless--of
 widespread conspiracies and secret     
societies ready to produce a ruin of all
 social order4 ,it had recourse to the  
old repressive measures1 the suspension 
of the ,habeas ,corpus ,act1 the passage
 of the ',six ,acts1' and the           
prosecution of popular agitators4 ,many 
observers fancied that the choice lay   
between a servile insurrection and the  
establishment of arbitrary power4  ,by  
degrees1 however1 peace brought back    
prosperity4 ,things settled down2       
commerce revived2 and the acute distress
 passed away4 ,the whole nation went mad
 over the wrongs of ,queen ,caroline2   
and the demand for political reform     
became for the time less intense4 ,but  
it soon appeared that1 although this    
crisis had been surmounted1 the temper  
of the nation had profoundly changed4   
,the supreme power still belonged       
constitutionally to the landed interest4

 ,but it had a profoundly modified      
social order behind it4 ,the war had at 
least made it necessary to take into    
account the opinions of larger classes4 
,an appeal to patriotism means that some
 regard must be paid to the prejudices  
and passions of people at large4 ,when  
enormous sums were to be raised1 the    
moneyed classes would have their say as 
to modes of taxation4 ,commerce and     
manufactures went through crises of     
terrible difficulty due to the various  
changes of the war2 but1 on the whole1  
the industrial classes were steadily and
 rapidly developing in wealth1 and      
becoming relatively more important4 ,the
 war itself was1 in one aspect at least1
 a war for the maintenance of the       
,british supremacy in trade4 ,the       
struggle marked by the policy of the    
',orders in ,council' on one side1 and  
,napoleon's decrees on the other1       
involved a constant reference to        
,manchester and ,liverpool and the      
rapidly growing manufacturing and       

commercial interests4 ,the growth1      
again1 of the press1 at a time when     
every one who could read was keenly     
interested in news of most exciting and 
important events1 implied the rapid     
development of a great organ of public  
opinion4  ,the effects of these changes 
soon became palpable4 ,the political    
atmosphere was altogether different2 and
 an entirely new set of influences was  
governing the policy of statesmen4 ,the 
change affected the ,tory as much as the
 ,whig4 ,however strongly he might      
believe that he was carrying on the old 
methods1 he was affected by the new     
ideas which had been almost             
unconsciously incorporated in his creed4
 ,how great was the change1 and how much
 it took the shape of accepting         
,utilitarian theories1 may be briefly   
shown by considering a few              
characteristic facts4  ,the ablest men  
who held office at the time were        
,canning1 ,huskisson1 and ,peel4 ,they  
represented the conservatism which      

sought to distinguish itself from mere  
obstructiveness4 ,their influence was   
felt in many directions4 ,the ,holy     
,alliance had the sympathy of men who   
could believe that the war had brought  
back the pre-revolutionary order1 and   
that its main result had been to put the
 ,jacobin spirit in chains4 ,canning's  
accession to office in #ahbb meant that 
the foreign policy of ,england was to be
 definitely opposed to the policy of the
 ',holy ,alliance4' ,a pithy statement  
of his view is given in a remarkable    
letter1 dated #ast ,february #ahbc1 to  
the prince who was soon to become       
,charles ,x4#cc ,the ,french government 
had declared that a people could only   
receive a free constitution as a gift   
from their legitimate kings4 ,should the
 ,english ministry1 says ,canning1 after
 this declaration1 support the ,french  
in their attack upon the constitutional 
government of ,spain1 it would be driven
 from office amid 'the execration of    
,tories and ,whigs alike4' ,he thought  

that the doctrine of the sovereignty of 
the people was less alien to the spirit 
of the ,british ,constitution than the  
opposite doctrine of the legitimists4   
,in the early days1 when ,canning sat at
 the feet of ,pitt1 the war1 if not in  
their eyes an ,anti-,jacobin crusade1   
had to be supported by stimulating the  
,anti-,jacobin sentiment4 ,in later     
days1 the war had come to be a struggle 
against the oppression of nations by    
foreign despots4 ,canning could now     
accept the version of ,pitt's policy    
which corresponded to the later phase4  
,englishmen in general had no more      
sympathy for despots who claimed a      
divine right than for despots who acted 
in the name of democracy--especially    
when the despots threatened to interfere
 with ,british trade4 ,when ,canning    
called 'the new world into existence to 
redress the balance of the old1'#cd he  
declared that ,english policy should    
resist threats from the ,holy ,alliance 
directed against some of our best       

customers4 ,the general approval had    
special force among the ,utilitarians4  
,in the ,south ,american ,states        
,bentham had found eager proselytes1 and
 had hoped to become a ,solon4 ,he had  
been consulted by the constitutionalists
 in ,spain and ,portugal2 and he and his
 disciples1 ,joseph ,hume in particular1
 had joined the ,greek ,committee1 and  
tried to regenerate ,athens by sound    
,utilitarian tracts4 ,all ,english      
,liberals sympathised with the various  
movements which were more or less       
favoured by ,canning's policy2 but the  
,utilitarians could also see in them the
 opening of new fields already white for
 the harvest4  ,the foreign policy was  
significant4 ,it proved that the war1   
whatever else it had done1 had not      
brought back the old order2 and the old 
,british traditions in favour of liberty
 of speech and action would revive now  
that they were no longer trammelled by  
the fears of a destructive revolution4  
,the days of ,july in #ahcj gave fresh  

importance to the reaction of foreign   
upon ,english politics4   ,,ii4 ,,law   
,,reform  ,meanwhile1 however1 the      
,utilitarians had a far stronger        
interest in domestic problems4 ,in the  
first place1 in ,bentham's especial     
province a complete change of feeling   
had taken place4 ,romilly was ,bentham's
 earliest disciple 7so ,bentham said71  
and looked up to him with 'filial       
reverence4' ,every 'reformatiuncle'     
introduced by ,romilly in parliament had
 been first brought to ,bentham1 to be  
conned over by the two4#ce ,with great  
difficulty ,romilly had got two or three
 measures through the ,house of         
,commons1 generally to be thrown out by 
,eldon's influence in the ,lords4#cf    
,after ,romilly's death in #ahah1 the   
cause was taken up by the ,whig         
philosopher1 ,sir ,james ,mackintosh1   
and made a distinct step in advance4    
,though there were still obstacles in   
the upper regions1 a committee was      
obtained to consider the frequency of   

capital punishment1 and measures were   
passed to abolish it in particular      
cases4 ,finally1 in #ahbc1 the reform   
was adopted by ,peel4 ,peel was destined
 to represent in the most striking way  
the process by which new ideas were     
gradually infiltrating the upper sphere4
 ,though still a strong ,tory and a     
representative of the university of     
,oxford1 he was closely connected with  
the manufacturing classes1 and had      
become aware1 as he wrote to ,croker    
7#bcrd ,march #ahbj71 that public       
opinion had grown to be too large for   
its accustomed channels4 ,as ,home      
,secretary1 he took up the whole subject
 of the criminal law1 and passed in the 
next years a series of acts             
consolidating and mitigating the law1   
and repealing many old statutes4 ,a     
measure of equal importance was his     
establishment in #ahbi of the           
metropolitan police force1 which at last
 put an end to the old chaotic muddle   
described by ,colquhoun of parish       

officers and constables4 ,other         
significant legal changes marked the    
opening of a new era4 ,eldon was the    
very incarnation of the spirit of       
obstruction2 and the ,court of          
,chancery1 over which he presided for a 
quarter of a century1 was thought to be 
the typical stronghold of the evil      
principles denounced by ,bentham4 ,an   
attack in #ahbc upon ,eldon was made in 
the ,house of ,commons by ,john         
,williams 7#aggg-ahdf71 afterwards a    
judge4 ,eldon1 though profoundly        
irritated by the personal imputations   
involved1 consented to the appointment  
of a commission1 which reported in      
#ahbe1 and recommended measures of      
reform4 ,in #ahbh1 ,brougham made a     
great display upon which he had         
consulted ,bentham4#cg ,in a speech of  
six hours' length he gave a summary of  
existing abuses1 which may still be read
 with interest4#ch ,commissions were    
appointed to investigate the procedure  
of the ,common ,law ,court and the law  

of real property4 ,another commission1  
intended to codify the criminal law1 was
 appointed in #ahcc4 ,brougham says that
 of 'sixty capital defects' described in
 his speech1 fifty-five had been        
removed1 or were in course of removal1  
when his speeches were collected 7i4e4  
#ahch74 ,another speech of ,brougham's  
in #ahbh dealt with the carrying into   
execution of a favourite plan of        
,bentham's--the formation of local      
courts1 which ultimately became the     
modern county courts4#ci ,the facts are 
significant of a startling change--no   
less than an abrupt transition from the 
reign of entire apathy to a reign of    
continuous reform extending over the    
whole range of law4 ,the ,reform ,bill  
accelerated the movement1 but it had    
been started before ,bentham's death4   
,the great stone1 so long immovable1 was
 fairly set rolling4  ,bentham's        
influence1 again1 in bringing about the 
change is undeniable4 ,he was greatly   
dissatisfied with ,brougham's speech1   

and1 indeed1 would have been            
dissatisfied with anything short of a   
complete logical application of his     
whole system4 ,he held ,brougham to be  
'insincere1'#dj a trimmer and           
popularity-hunter1 but a useful         
instrument4 ,brougham's astonishing     
vanity and self-seeking prompted and    
perverted his amazing activity4 ,he     
represents the process1 perhaps         
necessary1 by which a philosopher's     
ideas have to be modified before they   
can be applied to practical application4
 ,brougham1 however1 could speak        
generously of men no longer in a        
position to excite his jealousy4 ,he    
says in the preface to his first speech 
that 'the age of law reform and the age 
of ,jeremy ,bentham' were the same      
thing1 and declares ,bentham to be the  
'first legal philosopher' who had       
appeared in the world4 ,as the ,chief   
advocates of ,bentham he reckons        
,romilly1 his parliamentary             
representative2 ,dumont1 his literary   

interpreter2 and ,james ,mill1 who1 in  
his article upon 'jurisprudence1' had   
popularised the essential principles of 
the doctrine4  ,the ,utilitarians had at
 last broken up the barriers of         
obstruction and set the stream flowing4 
,whigs and ,tories were taking up their 
theories4 ,they naturally exaggerated in
 some respects the completeness of the  
triumph4 ,the ,english law has not yet  
been codified1 and it was characteristic
 of the ,benthamite school to exaggerate
 the facility of that process4 ,in their
 hatred of 'judge-made law' they assumed
 too easily that all things would be    
arranged into convenient pigeon-holes as
 soon as ',judge and ,co4' were         
abolished4 ,it was a characteristic     
error to exaggerate the simplicity of   
their problem1 and to fail to see that  
'judge-made' law corresponds to a       
necessary inductive process by which the
 complex and subtle differences have to 
be gradually ascertained and fitted into
 a systematic statement4 ,one other     

remark suggests itself4 ,the            
,utilitarians saw in the dogged         
obstructiveness of ,eldon and his like  
the one great obstacle to reform4 ,it   
did not occur to them that the          
clumsiness of parliamentary legislation 
might be another difficulty4 ,they      
failed to notice distinctly one tendency
 of their reforms4 ,to make a code you  
require a sovereign strong enough to    
dominate the lawyers1 not a system in   
which lawyers are an essential part of a
 small governing class4 ,codification1  
in short1 means centralisation in one   
department4 ,blindness to similar       
results elsewhere was a characteristic  
of the ,utilitarian thinkers4   ,,iii4  
,,economic ,,reform  ,in another        
department the ,utilitarians boasted1   
and also with good reason1 of the       
triumph of their tenets4 ,political     
economy was in the ascendant4           
,professorships were being founded in   
,oxford1 ,cambridge1#da ,london1 and    
,edinburgh4 ,mrs4 ,marcet's             

,conversations 7#ahah7 were spreading   
the doctrine among babes and sucklings4 
,the ,utilitarians were the sacred band 
who defended the strictest orthodoxy    
against all opponents4 ,they spoke as   
recognised authorities upon some of the 
most vital questions of the day1 of     
which ,i need here only notice ,free    
,trade1 the doctrine most closely       
associated with the teaching of their   
revered ,adam ,smith4 ,in #ahaf ,ricardo
 remarks with satisfaction that the     
principle 'is daily obtaining converts' 
even among the most prejudiced classes2 
and he refers especially to a petition  
in which the clothiers of               
,gloucestershire#db expressed their     
willingness to give up all restrictions4
 ,there was1 indeed1 an important       
set-off against this gain4 ,the         
landowners were being pledged to        
protection4 ,they had decided that in   
spite of the peace1 the price of wheat  
must be kept up to #hjs4 a quarter4     
,they would no longer be complimented as

 ,adam ,smith had complimented them on  
their superior liberality1 and were now 
creating a barrier only to be stormed   
after a long struggle4 ,meanwhile the   
principle was making rapid way among    
their rivals4 ,one symptom was the      
adoption by the ,london merchants in    
#ahbj of a famous petition on behalf of 
free trade4#dc ,it was drawn up by      
,thomas ,tooke 7#aggd-aheh71 who had    
long been actively engaged in the       
,russian trade1 and whose ,history of   
,prices is in some respects the most    
valuable economic treatise of the time4 
,tooke gives a curious account of his   
action on this occasion4#dd ,he         
collected a few friends engaged in      
commerce1 who were opposed to the corn  
laws4 ,he found that several of them had
 'crude and confused' notions upon the  
subject1 and that each held that his own
 special interests should be exempted on
 some pretext from the general rule4    
,after various dexterous pieces of      
diplomacy1 however1 he succeeded in     

obtaining the signature of ,samuel      
,thornton1 a governor of the bank of    
,england1 and ultimately procured a     
sufficient number of signatures by      
private solicitation4 ,he was favourably
 received by the ,prime ,minister ,lord 
,liverpool1 and ,vansittart 7then       
,chancellor of the ,exchequer71 and     
finally got the petition presented to   
the ,house of ,commons by ,alexander    
,baring 7afterwards ,lord ,ashburton74  
,tooke remarks that the ,liverpool      
administration was in advance1 not only 
of the public generally1 but of the     
'mercantile community1' ,glasgow and    
,manchester1 however1 followed in the   
same steps1 and the petition became a   
kind of official manifesto of the       
orthodox doctrine4 ,the ,political      
,economy ,club formed next year at      
,tooke's instigation 7,april #ah1 #ahba7
 was intended to hasten the process of  
dispersing crude and confused ideas4 ,it
 was essentially an organ of the        
,utilitarian propaganda4  ,the influence

 of the economists upon public policy   
was shown by the important measures     
carried through chiefly by ,huskisson4  
,huskisson 7#aggj-ahcj7 was a type of   
the most intelligent official of his    
time4 ,like his more brilliant friend   
,canning1 he had been introduced into   
office under ,pitt1 and retained a      
profound reverence for his early leader4
 ,huskisson was a thorough man of       
business1 capable of wrestling with     
blue-books1 of understanding the        
sinking-fund1 and having theories about 
the currency2 a master of figures and   
statistics and the whole machinery of   
commerce4 ,though eminently useful1 he  
might at any moment be applying some    
awkward doctrine from ,adam ,smith4     
,huskisson began the series of economic 
reforms which were brought to their full
 development by ,peel and ,gladstone4   
,the collection of his speeches#de      
incidentally brings out very clearly his
 relation to the ,utilitarians4 ,the    
most remarkable is a great speech of    

,april #bd1 #ahbfdf 7upon the state of  
the silk manufacture71 of which ,canning
 declared that he had never heard one   
abler1 or which made a deeper impression
 upon the ,house4 ,in this he reviews   
his policy1 going over the most         
important financial measures of the     
preceding period4 ,they made a new era1 
and he dates the beginning of the       
movement from the ,london petition1 and 
the 'luminous speech' made by ,baring   
when presenting it4 ,we followed public 
opinion1 he says1 and did not create    
it4#dg ,adopting the essential          
principles of the petition1 the         
government had in the first place set   
free the great woollen trade4 ,the silk 
trade had been emancipated by abolishing
 the ,spitalfield ,acts passed in the   
previous century1 which enabled         
magistrates to fix the rates of wages4  
,the principle of prohibition had been  
abandoned1 though protective duties     
remained4 ,the navigation laws had been 
materially relaxed1 and steps taken     

towards removing restrictions of        
different kinds upon trade with ,france 
and with ,india4 ,one symptom of the    
change was the consolidation of the     
custom law effected by ,james ,deacon   
,hume 7#aggd-ahdb71 an official         
patronised by ,huskisson1 and an        
original member of the ,political       
,economy ,club4 ,by a law passed in     
#ahbe1 five hundred statutes dating from
 the time of ,edward ,i4 were repealed1 
and the essence of the law given in a   
volume of moderate size4 ,finally1 the  
removal of prohibitions was undermining 
the smugglers4  ,the measures upon which
 ,huskisson justly prided himself might 
have been dictated by the ,political    
,economy ,club itself4 ,so far as they  
went they were an application of the    
doctrines of its thoroughgoing members1 
of ,mill1 ,ricardo1 and the orthodox    
school4 ,they indeed supported him in   
the press4 ,the ,morning ,chronicle1    
which expressed their views1 declared   
him to be the most virtuous minister1   

that is 7in true ,utilitarian phrase71  
the most desirous of national welfare   
who had ever lived4 ,the praise of      
,radicals would be not altogether       
welcome4 ,canning1 in supporting his    
friend1 maintained that sound commercial
 policy belonged no more to the ,whigs  
than to the ,tories4 ,huskisson and he  
were faithful disciples of ,pitt1 whose 
treaty with ,france in #aghf1 assailed  
by ,fox and the ,whigs1 had been the    
first practical application of the      
,wealth of ,nations4 ,neither party1    
perhaps1 could claim a special          
connection with good or bad political   
economy2 and certainly neither was      
prepared to incur political martyrdom in
 zeal for scientific truth4 ,a question 
was beginning to come to the front which
 would make party lines dependent upon  
economic theories1 and ,huskisson's view
 of this was characteristic4  ,the      
speech from which ,i have quoted begins 
with an indignant retort upon a member  
who had applied to him ,burke's phrase  

about a perfect-bred metaphysician      
exceeding the devil in malignity and    
contempt for mankind4 ,huskisson        
frequently protested even against the   
milder epithet of theorist4 ,he asserted
 most emphatically that he appealed to  
'experience' and not to 'theory1' a     
slippery distinction which finds a good 
exposure in ,bentham's ,book of         
,fallacies4#dh ,the doctrine1 however1  
was a convenient one for ,huskisson4 ,he
 could appeal to experience to show that
 commercial restrictions had injured the
 woollen trade1 and their absence       
benefited the cotton trade1#di and when 
he was not being taunted with theories1 
he would state with perfect clearness   
the general free trade argument4#ej ,but
 he had to keep an eye to the           
uncomfortable tricks which theories     
sometimes play4 ,he argued emphatically 
in #ahbeea that analogy between         
manufactures and agriculture is         
'illogical4' ,he does not wish to       
depress the price of corn1 but to keep  

it at such a level that our manufactures
 may not be hampered by dear food4 ,here
 he was forced by stress of politics to 
differ from his economical friends4 ,the
 country gentleman did not wish to pay  
duties on his silk or his brandy1 but he
 had a direct and obvious interest in   
keeping up the price of corn4 ,huskisson
 had himself supported the ,corn ,bill  
of #ahae1 but it was becoming more and  
more obvious that a revision would be   
necessary4 ,in #ahbh he declared that he
 'lamented from the bottom of his soul  
the mass of evil and misery and         
destruction of capital which that law in
 the course of twelve years had         
produced4'#eb ,ricardo1 meanwhile1 and  
the economists had from the first       
applied to agriculture the principles   
which ,huskisson applied to             
manufactures4#ec ,huskisson's melancholy
 death has left us unable to say whether
 upon this matter he would have been as 
convertible as ,peel4 ,in any case the  
general principle of free trade was as  

fully adopted by ,huskisson and ,canning
 as by the ,utilitarians themselves4    
,the ,utilitarians could again claim to 
be both the inspirers of the first      
principles1 and the most consistent in  
carrying out the deductions4 ,they1 it  
is true1 were not generally biassed by  
having any interest in rents4 ,they were
 to be the allies or teachers of the    
manufacturing class which began to be   
decidedly opposed to the squires and the
 old order4  ,in one very important     
economic question1 the ,utilitarians not
 only approved a change of the law1 but 
were the main agents in bringing it     
about4 ,francis ,place was the          
wire-puller1 to whose energy was due the
 abolition of the ,conspiracy ,laws in  
#ahbd4 ,joseph ,hume in the ,house of   
,commons1 and ,m',culloch1 then editor  
of the ,scotsman1 had the most          
conspicuous part in the agitation1 but  
,place worked the machinery of          
agitation4 ,the bill passed in #ahbd was
 modified by an act of #ahbe2 but the   

modification1 owing to ,place's efforts1
 was not serious1 and the act1 as we are
 told on good authority1 'effected a    
real emancipation1' and for the first   
time established the right of           
'collective bargaining4'#ed ,the        
remarkable thing is that this act1      
carried on the principles of ',radical  
individualism' and by the efforts of    
,radical individualists1 was thus a     
first step towards the application to   
practice of socialist doctrine4 ,place  
thought that the result of the act would
 be not the encouragement1 but the      
decline1 of trades-unions4 ,the unions  
had been due to the necessity of        
combining against oppressive laws1 and  
would cease when those laws were        
abolished4#ee ,this marks a very        
significant stage in the development of 
economic opinion4   ,,iv4 ,,church      
,,reform  ,the movement which at this   
period was most conspicuous politically 
was that which resulted in ,roman       
,catholic emancipation1 and here1 too1  

the ,utilitarians might be anticipating 
a complete triumph of their principles4 
,the existing disqualifications1 indeed1
 were upheld by little but the purely   
obstructive sentiment4 ,when the duke of
 ,york swore that 'so help him ,god6' he
 would oppose the change to the last1 he
 summed up the whole 'argument' against 
it4 ,canning and ,huskisson here        
represented the policy not only of      
,pitt1 but of ,castlereagh4 ,the ,whigs1
 indeed1 might claim to be the natural  
representatives of toleration4 ,the     
church of ,england was thoroughly       
subjugated by the state1 and neither    
,whig nor ,tory wished for a fundamental
 change4 ,but the most obvious          
differentia of ,whiggism was a dislike  
to the ecclesiastical spirit4 ,the ,whig
 noble was generally more or less of a  
freethinker2 and upon such topics       
,holland ,house differed little from    
,queen's ,square ,place1 or differed    
only in a rather stricter reticence4    
,both ,whig and ,tory might accept      

,warburton's doctrine of an 'alliance'  
between church and state4 ,the ,tory    
inferred that the church should be      
supported4 ,his prescription for meeting
 discontent was 'more yeomanry' and a   
handsome sum for church-building4 ,the  
,whig thought that the church got a     
sufficient return in being allowed to   
keep its revenues4 ,on the ,tory view1  
the relation might be compared to that  
of man and wife in ,christian countries 
where1 though the two are one1 the      
husband is bound to fidelity4 ,on the   
,whig view it was like a polygamous     
system1 where the wife is in complete   
subjection1 and the husband may take any
 number of concubines4 ,the ,whig noble 
regarded the church as socially useful1 
but he was by no means inclined to      
support its interests when they         
conflicted with other political         
considerations4 ,he had been steadily in
 favour of diminishing the privileges of
 the establishment1 and had taken part  
in removing the grievances of the old   

penal laws4 ,he was not prepared to     
uphold privileges which involved a      
palpable danger to his order4  ,this    
position is illustrated by ,sydney      
,smith1 the ideal divine of ,holland    
,house4 ,the ,plymley ,letters#ef give  
his views most pithily4 ,smith1 a man as
 full of sound sense as of genuine      
humour1 appeals to the principles of    
toleration1 and is keenly alive to the  
absurdity of a persecution which only   
irritates without conversion4 ,but he   
also appeals to the danger of the       
situation4 ',if ,bonaparte lives1'#eg he
 says1 'and something is not done to    
conciliate the ,catholics1 it seems to  
me absolutely impossible but that we    
must perish4' ,we are like the captain  
of a ship attacked by a pirate1 who     
should begin by examining his men in the
 church catechism1 and forbid any one to
 sponge or ram who had not taken the    
sacrament according to the forms of the 
church of ,england4 ,he confesses       
frankly that the strength of the ,irish 

is with him a strong motive for         
listening to their claims4 ,to talk of  
'not acting from fear is mere           
parliamentary cant4'#eh ,although the   
danger which frightened ,smith was      
evaded1 this was the argument which     
really brought conviction even to       
,tories in #ahbi4 ,in any case the      
,whigs1 whose great boast was their     
support of toleration1 would not be     
prompted by any ,quixotic love of the   
church to encounter tremendous perils in
 defence of its privileges4  ,smith's   
zeal had its limits4 ,he observes       
humorously in his preface that he had   
found himself after the ,reform ,bill   
engaged in the defence of the ,national 
,church against the archbishop of       
,canterbury and the bishop of ,london4  
,the letters to ,archdeacon ,singleton1 
written when the ,whigs were flirting   
with the ,radicals1 show how much good  
an old ,whig could find in the          
establishment4 ,this marks the          
difference between the true ,whig and   

the ,utilitarian4 ,the ,whig would not  
risk the country for the sake of church2
 he would keep the clerical power       
strictly subordinate to the power of the
 state1 but then1 when considered from  
the political side1 it was part of a    
government system providing him with    
patronage1 and to be guarded from the   
rude assaults of the ,radical reformer4 
,the ,utilitarian1 though for the moment
 he was in alliance with the ,whig1     
regarded the common victory as a step to
 something far more sweeping4 ,he       
objected to intolerance as decidedly as 
the ,whig1 for absolute freedom of      
opinion was his most cherished doctrine4
 ,he objected still more emphatically to
 persecution on behalf of the church1   
because he entirely repudiated its      
doctrines4 ,the objection to spreading  
true doctrine by force is a strong one1 
but hardly so strong as the objection to
 a forcible spread of false doctrine4   
,but1 besides this1 the church          
represented to the ,utilitarian         

precisely the very worst specimen of the
 corruptions of the time4 ,the ,court of
 ,chancery was bad enough1 but the whole
 ecclesiastical system with its vast    
prizes1#ei its opportunities for corrupt
 patronage1 its pluralism and           
non-residence was an evil on a larger   
scale4 ,the ,radical1 therefore1 unlike 
the ,whig1 was an internecine enemy of  
the whole system4 ,the 'church of       
,england system1' as ,bentham calmly    
remarks1 is 'ripe for dissolution4'#fj  
,i have already noticed his quaint      
proposal for giving effect to his views4
 ,mill1 in the ,westminster ,review1    
denounced the church of ,england as the 
worst of all churches4#fa ,to the       
,utilitarian1 in short1 the removal of  
the disqualification of dissenters and  
,catholics was thus one step to the     
consummation which their logic          
demanded--the absolute disestablishment 
and disendowment of the church4         
,conservatives in general anticipated   
the confiscation of church revenues as a

 necessary result of reform2 and so far 
as the spirit of reformers was          
represented by the ,utilitarians and    
their ,radical allies1 they had good    
grounds for the fear4 ,james ,mill's    
theory is best indicated by a later     
article published in the ,london ,review
 of ,july #ahce4 ,after pointing out    
that the church of ,england retains all 
the machinery desired for supporting    
priests and preventing the growth of    
intellect and morality1 he proceeds to  
ask what the clergy do for their money4 
,they read prayers1 which is a palpable 
absurdity2 they preach sermons to spread
 superstitious notions of the ,supreme  
,being1 and perform ceremonies--baptism1
 and so forth--which are obviously      
silly4 ,the church is a mere state      
machine worked in subservience to the   
sinister interest of the governing      
classes4 ,the way to reform it would be 
to equalise the pay3 let the clergy be  
appointed by a ',minister of ,public    
,instruction' or the county authorities2

 abolish the articles1 and constitute a 
church 'without dogmas or ceremonies'2  
and employ the clergy to give lectures  
on ethics1 botany1 political economy1   
and so forth1 besides holding ,sunday   
meetings1 dances 7decent dances are to  
be specially invented for the purpose71 
and social meals1 which would be a      
revival of the 'agapai' of the early    
,christians4 ,for this purpose1 however1
 it might be necessary to substitute tea
 and coffee for wine4 ,in other words1  
the church is to be made into a popular 
,london ,university4 ,the plan          
illustrates the incapacity of an        
isolated clique to understand the real  
tone of public opinion4 ,i need not     
pronounce upon ,mill's scheme1 which    
seems to have some sense in it1 but one 
would like to know whether ,newman read 
his article4   ,v4 ,,sinister           
,,interests  ,in questions of foreign   
policy1 of law reform1 of political     
economy1 and of religious tests1 the    
,utilitarians thus saw the gradual      

approximation to their most             
characteristic views on the part of the 
,whigs1 and a strong infiltration of the
 same views among the less obstructive  
,tories4 ,they held the logical creed1  
to which others were slowly             
approximating1 either from the force of 
argument or from the great social       
changes which were bringing new classes 
into political power4 ,the movement for 
parliamentary reform which for a time   
overshadowed all other questions might  
be regarded as a corollary from the     
position already won4 ,briefly1 it was  
clear that a new social stratum was     
exercising a vast influence2 the        
doctrines popular with it had to be more
 or less accepted2 and the only problem 
worth consideration by practical men was
 whether or not such a change should be 
made in the political machinery as would
 enable the influence to be exercised by
 direct and constitutional means4 ,to   
the purely obstructive ,tory            
parliamentary reform was a step to the  

general cataclysm4 ,the proprietor of a 
borough1 like the proprietor of a church
 patronage or commission in the army1   
had a right to his votes1 and to attack 
his right was simply confiscation of    
private property4 ,the next step might  
be to confiscate his estate4 ,but even  
the more intelligent ,conservative drew 
the line at such a measure4 ,canning1   
,huskisson1 and even ,peel might accept 
the views of the ,utilitarians in regard
 to foreign policy1 to law reform1 to   
free trade1 or the removal of religious 
tests1 declaring only that they were    
obeying 'experience' instead of logic1  
and might therefore go just as far as   
they pleased4 ,but they were all pledged
 to resist parliamentary reform to the  
utmost4 ,men thoroughly steeped in      
official life1 and versed in the actual 
working of the machinery1 were naturally
 alive to the magnitude of the change to
 be introduced4 ,they saw with perfect  
clearness that it would amount to a     
revolution4 ,the old system in which the

 ruling classes carried on business by  
family alliances and bargains between   
ministers and great men would be        
impracticable4 ,the fact that so much   
had been done in the way of concession  
to the ideas of the new classes was for 
them an argument against the change4 ,if
 the governing classes were ready to    
reform abuses1 why should they be made  
unable to govern8 ,a gradual            
enfranchisement of the great towns on   
the old system might be desirable4 ,such
 a man as ,huskisson1 representing great
 commercial interests1 could not be     
blind to the necessity4 ,but a thorough 
reconstruction was more alarming4 ,as   
,canning had urged in a great speech at 
,liverpool1 a ,house of ,commons1       
thoroughly democratised1 would be       
incompatible with the existence of the  
monarchy and the ,house of ,lords4 ,so  
tremendously powerful a body would      
reduce the other parts of the           
constitution to mere excrescences1      
feeble drags upon the new driving-wheel 

in which the whole real force would be  
concentrated4  ,that this expressed1 in 
point of fact1 a serious truth1 was1 ,i 
take it1 undeniable4 ,the sufficient    
practical answer was1 that change was   
inevitable4 ,to refuse to adapt the     
constitutional machinery to the altered 
political forces was not to hinder their
 growth1 but to make a revolution       
necessary4 ,when1 accordingly1 the      
excluded classes began seriously to     
demand admission1 the only question came
 to lie between violent and peaceable   
methods4 ,the alarm with which our      
fathers watched the progress of the     
measure may seem to us exaggerated1 but 
they scarcely overestimated the         
magnitude of the change4 ,the old rulers
 were taking a new partner of such      
power1 that whatever authority was left 
to them might seem to be left on        
sufferance4 ,as soon as he became       
conscious of his strength1 they would be
 reduced to nonentities4 ,the           
,utilitarians took some part in the     

struggle1 and welcomed the victory with 
anticipations destined to be1 for the   
time at least1 cruelly disappointed4    
,but they were still a small minority1  
whose views rather scandalised the      
leaders of the party with which they    
were in temporary alliance4 ,the        
principles upon which they based their  
demands1 as formulated by ,james ,mill1 
looked1 as we shall see1 far beyond the 
concessions of the moment4  ,one other  
political change is significant1 though 
,i am unable to give an adequate account
 of it4 ,bentham's denunciation of      
'sinister interests'--one of his leading
 topics--corresponds to the question of 
sinecures1 which was among the most     
effective topics of ,radical            
declamation4 ,the necessity of limiting 
the influence of the crown and excluding
 'placemen' from the ,house of ,commons 
had been one of the traditional ,whig   
commonplaces1 and a little had been done
 by ,burke's act of #aghb towards       
limiting pensions and abolishing        

obsolete offices4 ,when ,english        
,radicalism revived1 the assault was    
renewed in parliament and the press4    
,during the war little was achieved1    
though a revival of the old complaints  
about placemen in parliament was among  
the first symptoms of the rising        
sentiment4 ,in #ahab an attack was made 
upon the 'tellers of the ,exchequer4'   
,romilly#fb says that the value of one  
of these offices had risen to ,l#bf1jjj 
or ,l#bg1jjj a year4 ,the income came   
chiefly from fees1 and the actual work1 
whatever it was1 was done by deputy4    
,the scandal was enormous at a time when
 the stress upon the nation was almost  
unbearable4 ,one of the tellerships was 
held by a member of the great ,grenville
 family1 who announced that they        
regarded the demand for reform as a     
personal attack upon them4 ,the         
opposition1 therefore1 could not muster 
even its usual strength1 and the motion 
for inquiry was rejected4 ,when the war 
was over1 even the government began to  

feel that something must be done4 ,in   
#ahag some acts were passed#fc          
abolishing a variety of sinecure offices
 and 'regulating certain offices in the 
,court of ,exchequer4' ,the ,radicals   
considered this as a mere delusion1     
because it was provided at the same time
 that pensions might be given to persons
 who had held certain great offices4    
,the change1 however1 was apparently of 
importance as removing the chief apology
 for sinecures1 and the system with     
modifications still remains4 ,the       
marquis of ,camden1 one of the tellers  
of the ,exchequer1 voluntarily resigned 
the fees and accepted only the regular  
salary of ,l#bejj4 ,his action is       
commended in the ,black ,book1#fd which 
expresses a regret that the example had 
not been followed by other great        
sinecurists4 ,public opinion was        
beginning to be felt4 ,during the       
subsequent period the cry against       
sinecures became more emphatic4 ,the    
,black ,book1 published originally in   

#ahbj and #ahbc1 and afterwards         
reissued1 gave a list1 so far as it     
could be ascertained1 of all pensions1  
and supplied a mass of information for  
,radical orators4 ,the amount of        
pensions is stated at over ,l#a1jjj1jjj1
 including sinecure offices with over   
,l#cej1jjj annually2#fe and the list of 
offices 7probably very inaccurate in    
detail7 gives a singular impression of  
the strange ramifications of the system4
 ,besides the direct pensions1 every new
 department of administration seems to  
have suggested the foundation of offices
 which tended to become sinecures4 ,the 
cry for 'retrenchment' was joined to the
 cry for reform4#ff ,joseph ,hume1 who  
first entered parliament in #ahah1      
became a representative of the          
,utilitarian ,radicalism1 and began a   
long career of minute criticism which   
won for him the reputation of a         
stupendous bore1 but helped to keep a   
steady pressure upon ministers4#fg ,sir 
,james ,graham 7#agib-ahfa7 was at this 

time of ,radical tendencies1 and first  
made himself conspicuous by demanding   
returns of pensions4#fh ,the settlements
 of the civil lists of ,george ,,iv41   
,william ,,iv41 and ,victoria1 gave     
opportunities for imposing new          
restrictions upon the pension system4   
,although no single sweeping measure was
 passed1 the whole position was changed4
 ,by the time of the ,reform ,bill1 a   
sinecure had become an anachronism4 ,the
 presumption was that whenever an       
opportunity offered1 it would be        
suppressed4 ,some of the sinecure       
offices in the ,court of ,chancery1 the 
',keeper of the ,hanaper1' the          
',chaffwax1' and so forth1 were         
abolished by an act passed by the       
parliament which had just carried the   
,reform ,bill4#fi ,in #ahcc a reform of 
the system of naval administration by   
,sir ,james ,graham got rid of some     
cumbrous machinery2 and ,graham again   
was intrusted in #ahcd with an act under
 which the ,court of ,exchequer was     

finally reformed1 and the ',clerk of the
 ,pells' and the ',tellers of the       
,exchequer' ceased to exist4#gj ,other  
offices seem to have melted away by     
degrees1 whenever a chance offered4     
,many other of the old abuses had ceased
 to require any special denunciations   
from political theorists4 ,the general  
principle was established1 and what     
remained was to apply it in detail4 ,the
 prison system was no longer in want of 
a ,howard or a ,bentham4 ,abuses        
remained which occupied the admirable   
,mrs4 ,fry2 and many serious            
difficulties had to be solved by a long 
course of experiment4 ,but it was no    
longer a question whether anything      
should be doing1 but of the most        
efficient means of bringing about an    
admittedly desirable end4 ,the agitation
 for the suppression of the slave-trade 
again had been succeeded by the attack  
upon slavery4 ,the system was evidently 
doomed1 although not finally abolished  
till after the ,reform ,bill2 and       

ministers were only considering the     
question whether the abolition should be
 summary or gradual1 or what            
compensation might be made to vested    
interests4 ,the old agitation had been  
remarkable1 as ,i have said1 not only   
for its end but for the new kind of     
machinery to which it had applied4      
,popular agitation#ga had taken a new   
shape4 ,the county associations formed  
in the last days of the ,american war of
 independence1 and the societies due to 
the ,french revolution had set a        
precedent4 ,the revolutionary societies 
had been suppressed or had died out1 as 
opposed to the general spirit of the    
nation1 although they had done a good   
deal to arouse political speculation4   
,in the period of distress which        
followed the war the ,radical reformers 
had again held public meetings1 and had 
again been met by repressive measures4  
,the acts of #ahag and #ahaigb imposed  
severe restrictions upon the right of   
public meeting4 ,the old 'county        

meeting1' which continued to be common  
until the reform period1 and was        
summoned by the lord-lieutenant or the  
sheriff on a requisition from the       
freeholders1 had a kind of              
constitutional character1 though ,i do  
not know its history in detail4#gc ,the 
extravagantly repressive measures were  
an anachronism1 or could only be        
enforced during the pressure of an      
intense excitement4 ,in one way or      
other1 public meetings were soon being  
held as frequently as ever4 ,the trial  
of ,queen ,caroline gave opportunity for
 numerous gatherings1 and statesmen     
began to find that they must use instead
 of suppressing them4 ,canning#gd       
appears to have been the first minister 
to make frequent use of speeches        
addressed to public meetings2 and       
meetings to which such appeals were     
addressed soon began to use their       
authority to demand pledges from the    
speakers4#ge ,representation was to be  
understood more and more as delegation4 

,meanwhile the effect of public meetings
 was enormously increased when a general
 organisation was introduced4 ,the great
 precedent was the ,catholic            
,association1 founded in #ahbc by       
,o',connell and ,sheil4 ,the peculiar   
circumstances of the ,irish people and  
their priests gave a ready-made         
machinery for the agitation which       
triumphed in #ahbi4 ,the ,political     
,union founded by ,attwood at           
,birmingham in the same year adopted the
 method1 and led to the triumph of      
#ahcb4 ,political combination henceforth
 took a different shape1 and in the     
ordinary phrase1 'public opinion' became
 definitely the ultimate and supreme    
authority4 ,this enormous change and the
 corresponding development of the power 
of the press1 which affected to mould   
and1 at any rate1 expressed public      
opinion1 entirely fell in with          
,utilitarian principles4 ,their part in 
bringing about the change was of no     
special importance except in so far as  

they more or less inspired the popular  
orators4 ,they were1 however1 ready to  
take advantage of it4 ,they had the     
,westminster ,review to take a place    
beside the ,edinburgh and ,quarterly    
,reviews1 which had raised periodical   
writing to a far higher position than it
 had ever occupied1 and to which leading
 politicians and leading authors on both
 sides had become regular contributors4 
,the old contempt for journalism was    
rapidly vanishing4 ,in #ahbe ,canning   
expresses his regret for having given   
some information to a paper of which an 
ill use had been made4 ,he had          
previously abstained from all           
communication with 'these gentry1' and  
was now resolved to have done with hoc  
genus omne for good and all4#gf ,in     
#ahci we find his former colleague1     
,lord ,lyndhurst1 seeking an alliance   
with ,barnes1 the editor of the ,times1 
as eagerly as though ,barnes had been   
the head of a parliamentary party4#gg   
,the newspapers had probably done more  

than the schools to spread habits of    
reading through the country4 ,yet the   
strong interest which was growing up in 
educational matters was characteristic4 
,brougham's phrase1 'the schoolmaster is
 abroad' 7#bith ,january #ahba71 became 
a popular proverb1 and rejoiced the     
worthy ,bentham4#gh ,i have already     
described the share taken by the        
,utilitarians in the great ,bell and    
,lancaster controversy4 ,parliament had 
as yet done little4 ,a bill brought in  
by ,whitbread had been passed in #ahjg  
by the ,house of ,commons1 enabling     
parishes to form schools on the         
,scottish model1 but according to       
,romilly1#gi it was passed in the       
well-grounded confidence that it would  
be thrown out by the peers4 ,a committee
 upon education was obtained by         
,brougham after the peace1 which        
reported in #ahah1 and which led to a   
commission upon school endowments4      
,brougham introduced an education bill  
in #ahbj1 but nothing came of it4 ,the  

beginning of any participation by       
government in national education was not
 to take place till after the ,reform   
,bill4 ,meanwhile1 however1 the         
foundation of the ,london ,university   
upon unsectarian principles was         
encouraging the ,utilitarians2 and there
 were other symptoms of the growth of   
enlightenment4 ,george ,birkbeck        
7#aggf-ahda7 had started some popular   
lectures upon science at ,glasgow about 
#ahjj1 and having settled as a physician
 in ,london1 started the ',mechanics'   
,institution' in #ahbd4 ,brougham was   
one of the first trustees2 and the      
institution1 though exposed to a good   
deal of ridicule1 managed to take root  
and become the parent of others4 ,in    
#ahbg was started the ,society for the  
,diffusion of ,useful ,knowledge1 of    
which ,brougham was president1 and the  
committee of which included ,james      
,mill4 ,in the course of its twenty     
years' existence it published or        
sanctioned the publication by ,charles  

,knight of a great mass of popular      
literature4 ,the ,penny ,magazine       
7#ahcb-ahde7 is said to have had two    
hundred thousand subscribers at the end 
of its first year of existence4 ,crude  
and superficial as were some of these   
enterprises1 they clearly marked a very 
important change4 ,cobbett and the      
,radical orators found enormous         
audiences ready to listen to their      
doctrine4 ,churchmen and ,dissenters1   
,tories and ,radicals were finding it   
necessary both to educate and to        
disseminate their principles by writing2
 and as new social strata were becoming 
accessible to such influences1 their    
opinions began to exercise in turn a    
more distinct reaction upon political   
and ecclesiastical affairs4  ,no party  
felt more confidence at the tendency of 
this new intellectual fermentation than 
the ,utilitarians4 ,they had a definite1
 coherent1 logical creed4 ,every step   
which increased the freedom of          
discussion increased the influence of   

the truth4 ,their doctrines were the    
truth1 if not the whole truth4 ,once    
allow them to get a fulcrum and they    
would move the world4 ,bit by bit their 
principles of legislation1 of economy1  
of politics were being accepted in the  
most different quarters2 and even the   
more intelligent of their opponents were
 applying them1 though the application  
might be piecemeal and imperfect4 ,it   
was in vain that an adversary protested 
that he was not bound by logic1 and     
appealed to experience instead of       
theory4 ,let him justify his action upon
 what grounds he pleased1 he was1 in    
point of fact1 introducing the leaven of
 true doctrine1 and it might be trusted 
to work out the desirable results4  ,i  
must now deal more in detail with the   
,utilitarian theories4 ,i will only     
observe in general terms that their     
triumph was not likely to be accepted   
without a struggle4 ,large classes      
regarded them with absolute abhorrence4 
,their success1 if they did succeed1    

would mean the destruction of religious 
belief1 of sound philosophy1 of the     
great important ecclesiastical and      
political institutions1 and probably    
general confiscation of property and the
 ruin of the foundations of society4    
,and1 meanwhile1 in spite of the        
progress upon which ,i have dwelt1 there
 were two problems1 at least1 of        
enormous importance1 upon which it could
 scarcely be said that any progress had 
been made4 ,the church1 in the first    
place1 was still where it had been4 ,no 
change had been made in its             
constitution2 it was still the typical  
example of corrupt patronage2 and the   
object of the hatred of all             
thoroughgoing ,radicals4 ,and1 in the   
second place1 pauperism had grown to    
appalling dimensions during the war2 and
 no effectual attempt had been made to  
deal with it4 ,behind pauperism there   
were great social questions1 the        
discontent and misery of great masses of
 the labouring population4 ,whatever    

reforms might be made in other parts of 
the natural order1 here were            
difficulties enough to task the wisdom  
of legislators and speculators upon     
legislative principles4  ,,footnotes3   
#cb ,life of ,macaulay1 p4 #aad4        
7,popular ,edition74  #cc ,canning's    
,political ,correspondence1 i4 #ga-gf4  
#cd #abth ,december #ahbf4  #ce         
,bentham's ,works1 v4 p4 #cgj4  #cf     
,romilly's attempts to improve the      
criminal law began in #ahjh4 ,for       
various notices of his efforts1 see his 
,life 7#c vols4 #ahfj71 especially vol4 
ii4 #bdc-ed1 #cji1 #cba1 #cca1 #cfi1    
#cga1 #chi-ia4 ,romilly was deeply      
interested in ,dumont's ,theorie des    
,peines ,legales 7#ahaa71 which he read 
in ,,ms4 and tried to get reviewed in   
the ,quarterly 7ii4 #beh1 #cia2 iii4    
#acf74 ,the remarks 7ii4 #b-c7 on the   
'stupid dread of innovation' and the    
savage spirit infused into ,englishmen  
by the horrors of the ,french revolution
 are worth notice in this connection4   

#cg ,bentham's ,works1 x4 p4 #egd4  #ch 
,brougham's ,speeches 7#ahch71 ii4      
#bhg-dhf4  #ci ,an interesting summary  
of the progress of law reforms and of   
,bentham's share in them is given in    
,sir ,r4 ,k4 ,wilson's ,history of      
,modern ,english ,law 7#ahge74  #dj     
,bentham's ,works1 x4 #ega4  #da ,in    
,cambridge ,pryme was the first         
professor in #ahbh1 but had only the    
title without endowment4 ,the           
professorship was only salaried in      
#ahfc4  #db ,ricardo's ,works 7#ahhh71  
p4 #djg4  #dc ,printed in ,porter's     
,progress of the ,nation and elsewhere4 
#dd ,see sixth volume of ,history of    
,prices by ,tooke and ,newmarch1 and    
privately printed ,minutes of ,political
 ,economy ,club 7#ahhb74  #de ,speeches1
 #c vols4 #hvo1 #ahca4  #df ,ibid4 ii4  
#dfe-ecj4  #dg ,ibid4 ii4 #dgg4  #dh    
,bentham's ,works1 ii4 #dei4 ,we may    
remember how ,j4 ,s4 ,mill in his       
boyhood was abashed because he could not
 explain to his father the force of the 

distinction4  #di ,speeches1 ii4 #bdf1  
#ccb4  #ej ,ibid4 i4 #ajb-ajh 7,currency
 ,pamphlet of #ahaj74  #ea ,ibid4 ii4   
#cig4  #eb ,speeches1 iii4 #beg4  #ec   
,ricardo indeed made a reservation as to
 the necessity of counterbalancing by a 
moderate duty the special burthens upon 
agriculture4  #ed ,in the ,history of   
,trades-,unionism by ,sidney and        
,beatrice ,webb 7#ahid71 pp4 #hh-ih4    
,the history of ,place's agitation is   
fully given in ,mr4 ,graham ,wallas's   
,life1 chap4 viii4  #ee ,wallas's       
,francis ,place1 p4 #bag4  #ef ,first   
published in #ahjg-h4  #eg ,letter iii4 
#eh ,ibid4 vi4  #ei ,sydney ,smith put  
very ingeniously the advantages of what 
he called the 'lottery' system3 of      
giving1 that is1 a few great prizes1    
instead of equalising the incomes of the
 clergy4 ,things look so different from 
opposite points of views4  #fj ,church  
of ,englandism1 ii4 #aii4  #fa ,see     
especially his review of ,southey's     
,book of the ,church4  #fb ,romilly's   

,memoirs1 iii4 #cc4  #fc #eg ,george    
,,iii4 caps4 #fj-fg4  #fd ,edition of   
#ahbh1 p4 #bd4  #fe ,ibid4 p4 #aj4  #ff 
,a ,mr4 ,gray proposed at a county      
meeting in #ahaf that the cry of        
'retrenchment and reform' should be     
raised in every corner of the island    
7,henry ,jephson's ,platform1 p4 #cgh74 
,i do not know whether this was the     
first appearance of the formula4  #fg   
,hume had been introduced to ,place by  
,james ,mill1 who thought him worth     
'nursing4' ,place found him at first    
'dull and selfish1' but 'nursed him' so 
well that by #ahcf he had become the    
'man of men1'--,wallas's ,francis       
,place1 p4 #aha1 #ahb4  #fh ,torrens's  
,life of ,graham1 i4 #bej-gb1 where his 
great speech of #adth ,may #ahcj is     
given4  #fi #b and #c ,william ,,iv4    
cap4 #aaa 7passed #ae ,august #ahcb74   
#gj #d and #e ,william ,,iv4 cap4 #ae4  
#ga ,the ,platform1 its ,origin and     
,progress1 by ,henry ,jephson 7#ahib71  
gives a very interesting historical     

account of the process4  #gb #eg ,george
 ,,iii4 cap4 #ai1 and #fj ,george ,,iii4
 cap4 #f4  #gc ,see ,jephson's          
,platform1 pp4 #afg-gj4  #gd ,see       
,jephson's ,platform1 i4 #cdh1 #dee1    
#eag4  #ge ,see ,ibid4 ii4 #abi-dj for  
some interesting passages as to this4   
#gf ,official ,correspondence 7#ahhg71  
#cjh4  #gg ,greville's ,george ,,iv4 and
 ,william ,,iv41 iii4 #aee1 #afg-fi1    
#aga4  #gh ,bentham's ,works1 x4 #ega4  
#gi ,romilly's ,memoirs1 ii4 #fg1 #bbb4 
,,chapter ,,iii  ,,political ,,theory   
,i4 ,,mill ,,on ,,government  ,i now    
turn to the general political theory of 
which ,mill was the authoritative       
exponent4 ,the ,encyclopaedia article   
upon ',government' 7#ahbj7 gives the    
pith of their doctrine4 ,it was1 as     
,professor ,bain#hj thinks1 an          
'impelling and a guiding force' in the  
movement which culminated in the ,reform
 ,bill4 ,the younger ,utilitarians      
regarded it1 says ,j4 ,s4 ,mill1 as 'a  
masterpiece of political wisdom'2#ha    

while ,macaulay#hb taunts them for      
holding it to be 'perfect and           
unanswerable4' ,this famous article is a
 terse and energetic summary of the     
doctrine implied in ,bentham's ,works1  
but there obscured under elaboration of 
minute details4 ,it is rather singular1 
indeed1 that so vigorous a manifesto of 
,utilitarian dogma should have been     
accepted by ,macvey ,napier--a sound    
,whig--for a publication which professed
 scientific impartiality4 ,it has1      
however1 in the highest degree1 the     
merits of clearness and condensation    
desirable in a popular exposition4 ,the 
reticence appropriate to the place      
excuses the omission of certain implicit
 conclusions4 ,mill has to give a       
complete theory of politics in          
thirty-two #hvo pages4 ,he has scanty   
room for qualifying statement or        
historical illustration4 ,he speaks as  
from the chair of a professor laying    
down the elementary principles of a     
demonstrated science4#hc  ,mill starts  

from the sacred principle4 ,the end of  
government1 as the end of all conduct1  
must be the increase of human happiness4
 ,the province of government is limited 
by another consideration4 ,it has to    
deal with one class of happiness1 that  
is1 with the pains and pleasures 'which 
men derive from one another4' ,by a 'law
 of nature' labour is requisite for     
procuring the means of happiness4 ,now1 
if 'nature' produced all that any man   
desired1 there would be no need of      
government1 for there would be no       
conflict of interest4 ,but1 as the      
material produced is finite1 and can be 
appropriated by individuals1 it becomes 
necessary to insure to every man his    
proper share4 ,what1 then1 is a man's   
proper share8 ,that which he himself    
produces2 for1 if you give to one man   
more than the produce of his labour1 you
 must take away the produce of another  
man's labour4 ,the greatest happiness1  
therefore1 is produced by 'assuring to  
every man the greatest possible quantity

 of the produce of his own labour4' ,how
 can this be done8 ,will not the        
strongest take the share of the weakest8
 ,he can be prevented in one and        
apparently only in one way4 ,men must   
unite and delegate to a few the power   
necessary for protecting all4 ',this is 
government4'#hd  ,the problem is now    
simple4 ,government is essentially an   
association of men for the protection of
 property4 ,it is a delegation of the   
powers necessary for that purpose to the
 guardians1 and 'all the difficult      
questions of government relate to the   
means' of preventing the guardians from 
themselves becoming plunderers4  ,how is
 this to be accomplished8 ,the power of 
protection1 says ,mill1 following the   
old theory1 may be intrusted to the     
whole community1 to a few1 or to one2   
that is1 we may have a democracy1 an    
aristocracy1 or a monarchy4 ,a          
democracy1 or direct government of all  
by all1 is for the ordinary reasons     
pronounced impracticable4 ,but the      

objections to the other systems are     
conclusive4 ,the need of government1 he 
has shown1 depends upon 'the law of     
human nature'#he that 'a man1 if able1  
will take from others anything which    
they have and he desires4' ,the very    
principle which makes government        
necessary1 therefore1 will prompt a     
government to defeat its own proper end4
 ,mill's doctrine is so far identical   
with the doctrine of ,hobbes2 men are   
naturally in a state of war1 and        
government implies a tacit contract by  
which men confer upon a sovereign the   
power necessary for keeping the peace4  
,but here1 though admitting the force of
 ,hobbes's argument1 he diverges from   
its conclusion4 ,if a democracy be      
impossible1 and an aristocracy or       
monarchy necessarily oppressive1 it     
might seem1 he admits1 as it actually   
seemed to ,hobbes and to the ,french    
economists1 that the fewer the          
oppressors the better1 and that         
therefore an absolute monarchy is the   

best4 ,experience1 he thinks1 is 'on the
 surface' ambiguous4 ,eastern despots   
and ,roman emperors have been the worst 
scourges to mankind2 yet the ,danes     
preferred a despot to an aristocracy1   
and are as 'well governed as any people 
in ,europe4' ,in ,greece1 democracy1 in 
spite of its defects1 produced the most 
brilliant results4#hf ,hence1 he argues1
 we must go 'beyond the surface1' and   
'penetrate to the springs within4' ,the 
result of the search is discouraging4   
,the hope of glutting the rulers is     
illusory4 ,there is no 'point of        
saturation'#hg with the objects of      
desire1 either for king or aristocracy4 
,it is a 'grand governing law of human  
nature' that we desire such power as    
will make 'the persons and properties of
 human beings subservient to our        
pleasures4'#hh ,this desire is          
indefinitely great4 ,to the number of   
men whom we would force into            
subservience1 and the degree in which we
 would make them subservient1 we can    

assign no limits4 ,moreover1 as pain is 
a more powerful instrument for securing 
obedience than pleasure1 a man will     
desire to possess 'unlimited power of   
inflicting pain upon others4' ,will he  
also desire1 it may be asked1 to make   
use of it8 ,the 'chain of inference1' he
 replies1 in this case is close and     
strong 'to a most unusual degree4' ,a   
man desires the actions of others to be 
in correspondence with his own wishes4  
',terror' will be the 'grand            
instrument4'#hi ,it thus follows that   
the very principle upon which government
 is founded leads1 in the absence of    
checks1 'not only to that degree of     
plunder which leaves the members 7of a  
community7 444 the bare means of        
subsistence1 but to that degree of      
cruelty which is necessary to keep in   
existence the most intense terror4' ,an 
,english gentleman1 he says1 is a       
favourable specimen of civilisation1 and
 yet ,west ,indian slavery shows of what
 cruelty he could be guilty when        

unchecked4 ,if equal cruelty has not    
been exhibited elsewhere1 it is1 he     
seems to think1 because men were not    
'the same as sheep in respect to their  
shepherd1'#ij and may therefore resist  
if driven too far4 ,the difficulty upon 
this showing is to understand how any   
government1 except the most brutal      
tyranny1 ever has been1 or ever can be1 
possible4 ,what is the combining        
principle which can weld together such a
 mass of hostile and mutually repellent 
atoms8 ,how they can even form the      
necessary compact is difficult to       
understand1 and the view seems to clash 
with his own avowed purpose4 ,it is     
,mill's aim1 as it was ,bentham's1 to   
secure the greatest happiness of the    
greatest number2 and yet he seems to set
 out by proving as a 'law of human      
nature' that nobody can desire the      
happiness of any one except himself4 ,he
 quotes from ,montesquieu the saying1   
which shows an 'acute sense of this     
important truth1' 'that every one who   

has power is led to abuse it4'#ia       
,rather it would seem1 according to     
,mill1 all power implies abuse in its   
very essence4 ,the problem seems to be  
how to make universal cohesion out of   
universal repulsion4  ,mill has his     
remedy for this deeply seated evil4 ,he 
attacks1 as ,bentham had already done1  
the old-fashioned theory1 according to  
which the ,british ,constitution was an 
admirable mixture of the three 'simple  
forms4' ,two of the powers1 he argues1  
will always agree to 'swallow up the    
third4'#ib ',the monarchy and           
aristocracy have all possible motives   
for endeavouring to obtain unlimited    
power over the persons and property of  
the community1' though the democracy1 as
 he also says1 has every possible motive
 for preventing them4 ,and in ,england1 
as he no doubt meant his readers to     
understand1 the monarchy and aristocracy
 had to a great extent succeeded4       
,where1 then1 are we to look8 ,to the   
'grand discovery of modern times1'      

namely1 the representative system4 ,if  
this does not solve all difficulties we 
shall be forced to the conclusion that  
good government is impossible4          
,fortunately1 however1 the              
representative system may be made       
perfectly effective4 ,this follows      
easily4 ,it would1 as he has said1#ic be
 a 'contradiction in terms' to suppose  
that the community at large can 'have an
 interest opposite to its interest1' ,in
 the ,bentham formula1 it can have 'no  
sinister interest4' ,it cannot desire   
its own misery4 ,though the community   
cannot act as a whole1 it can act       
through representatives4 ,it is         
necessary to intrust power to a         
governing body2 but that body can be    
prevented by adequate checks from       
misusing its powers4 ,indeed1 the common
 theory of the ,british ,constitution   
was precisely that the ,house of        
,commons was 'the checking body4'#id    
,the whole problem is to secure a body  
which shall effectively discharge the   

function thus attributed in theory to   
the ,house of ,commons4 ,that will be   
done when the body is chosen in such a  
way that its interests are necessarily  
coincident with those of the community  
at large4 ,hence there is of course no  
difficulty in deducing the actual       
demands of reformers4 ,without defining 
precise limits1 he shows that           
representatives must be elected for     
brief periods1 and that the right to a  
vote must at least be wide enough to    
prevent the electoral body from forming 
a class with 'sinister interests4' ,he  
makes some remarkable qualifications1   
with the view apparently of not         
startling his readers too much by       
absolute and impracticable claims4 ,he  
thinks that the necessary identity of   
interest would still be secured if      
classes were unrepresented whose        
interests are 'indisputably included in 
those of others4' ,children's interests 
are involved in those of their parents1 
and the interests of 'almost all women' 

in those of their fathers or            
husbands4#ie ,again1 all men under forty
 might be omitted without mischief1 for 
'the great majority of old men have sons
 whose interests they regard as an      
essential part of their own4 ,this is a 
law of human nature4'#if ,there would1  
he observes1 be no danger that men above
 forty would try to reduce the 'rest of 
the community to the state of abject    
slaves4' ,mill1 as his son tells us1#ig 
disowned any intention of positively    
advocating these exclusions4 ,he only   
meant to say that they were not         
condemned by his general principle4 ,the
 doctrine1 however1 about women1 even as
 thus understood1 scandalised his       
younger followers4  ,mill proceeds to   
argue at some length that a favourite   
scheme of some moderate reformers1 for  
the representation of classes1 could    
only lead to 'a motley aristocracy1' and
 then answers two objections4 ,the first
 is that his scheme would lead to the   
abolition of the monarchy and the ,house

 of ,lords4 ,the reply is simple and    
significant4 ,it would only lead to that
 result if a monarchy or a ,house of    
,lords were favourable to bad           
government4 ,he does not inquire whether
 they are so in fact4 ,the second       
objection is that the people do not     
understand their own interest1 and to   
this his answer is more remarkable4 ,if 
the doctrine be true1 he says1 we are in
 'deplorable' position3 we have to      
choose between evils which will be      
designedly produced by those who have   
both the power to oppress and an        
interest in oppression2 and the evils   
which will be accidentally produced by  
men who would act well if they          
recognised their own interests4#ih ,now 
the first evil is in any case the worst1
 for it supposes an 'invariable' evil2  
while in the other case1 men may at     
least act well by accident4 ,a governing
 class1 that is with interests separate 
from those of the government1 must be   
bad4 ,if the interests be identical1 the

 government may be bad4 ,it will be bad 
if ignorant1 but ignorance is curable4  
,here he appeals for once to a          
historical case4 ,the priesthood at the 
,reformation argued on behalf of their  
own power from the danger that the      
people would make a bad use of the      
,bible4 ,the ,bible should therefore be 
kept for the sacred caste4 ,they had1   
,mill thinks1 a stronger case in        
appearance than the ,tories1 and yet the
 effect of allowing the people to judge 
for themselves in religious matters has 
been productive of good effects 'to a   
degree which has totally altered the    
condition of human nature4'#ii ,why     
should not the people be trusted to     
judge for themselves in politics8 ,this 
implies a doctrine which had great      
influence with the ,utilitarians4 ,in   
the remarkable essay upon ',education1' 
which is contained in the volume of     
reprints1 ,mill discusses the doctrine  
of ,helvetius that all the differences  
between men are due to education4       

,without pronouncing positively upon the
 differences between individuals1 ,mill 
observes that1 at any rate1 the enormous
 difference between classes of men is   
wholly due to education4#ajj ,he takes  
education1 it must be observed1 in the  
widest possible sense1 as meaning what  
would now be called the whole action of 
the 'environment' upon the individual4  
,this includes1 as he shows at length1  
domestic education1 all the vast        
influence exercised upon a child in his 
family1 'technical education1' by which 
he means the ordinary school teaching1  
'social education1' that is the         
influences which we imbibe from the     
current opinions of our neighbours1 and 
finally1 'political education1' which he
 calls the 'keystone of the arch4' ,the 
means1 he argues1 by which the 'grand   
objects of desire may be attained1      
depend almost wholly upon the political 
machine4'#aja ,if that 'machine' be so  
constituted as to make the grand objects
 of desire the 'natural prizes of just  

and virtuous conduct1 of high services  
to mankind and of the generous and      
amiable sentiments from which great     
endeavours in the service of mankind    
naturally proceed1 it is natural to see 
diffused among mankind a generous ardour
 in the acquisition of those admirable  
qualities which prepare a man for       
admirable action1 great intelligence1   
perfect self-command1 and over-ruling   
benevolence4' ,the contrary will be the 
case where the political machine prompts
 to the flattery of a small ruling body4
  ,this characteristic passage betrays  
an enthusiasm which really burned under 
,mill's stern outside4 ,he confines     
himself habitually to the forms of      
severe logic1 and scorns anything like  
an appeal to sentiment4 ,the trammels of
 his scientific manner impede his       
utterance a little1 even when he is     
speaking with unwonted fervour4 ,yet the
 prosaic ,utilitarian who has been      
laying down as a universal law that the 
strong will always plunder the weak1 and

 that all rulers will reduce their      
subjects to abject slavery1 is          
absolutely convinced1 it seems1 of the  
possibility of somehow transmuting      
selfishness into public spirit1 justice1
 generosity1 and devotion to truth4     
,equally characteristic is the faith in 
the 'political machine4' ,mill speaks as
 if somebody had 'discovered' the       
representative system as ,watt 7more or 
less7 discovered the steam-engine2 that 
to 'discover' the system is the same    
thing as to set it to work2 and that1   
once at work1 it will be omnipotent4 ,he
 is not less certain that a good        
constitution will make men virtuous1    
than was ,bentham that he could grind   
rogues honest by the ,panopticon4 ,the  
indefinite modifiability of character   
was the ground upon which the           
,utilitarians based their hopes of      
progress2 and it was connected in their 
minds with the doctrine of which his    
essay upon education is a continuous    
application4 ,the theory of 'association

 of ideas' appeared to him to be of the 
utmost importance in education and in   
politics1 because it implied almost     
unlimited possibilities of moulding     
human beings to fit them for a new      
order4 ,in politics this implied1 as ,j4
 ,s4 ,mill says1#ajb 'unbounded         
confidence' in the influence of         
'reason4' ,teach the people and let them
 vote freely1 and everything would      
follow4  ,this gives ,mill's answer to  
one obvious objection4 ,the             
,conservative who answered him by       
dwelling upon the ignorance of the lower
 classes was in some respects preaching 
to a convert4 ,nobody was more convinced
 than ,mill of the depths of popular    
ignorance or1 indeed1 of the stupidity  
of mankind in general4 ,the labourers   
who cheered ,orator ,hunt at ,peterloo  
were dull enough2 but so were the peers 
who cheered ,eldon in the ,house of     
,lords2 and the labourers at least      
desired general prosperity1 while the   
peers were content if their own rents   

were kept up4 ,with general education1  
however1 even the lower orders of the   
people would be fit for power1          
especially when we take into account one
 other remarkable conclusion4 ,the 'wise
 and good1' he says1 'in any class of   
men do1 for all general purposes1 govern
 the rest4'#ajc ,now1 the class in which
 wisdom and virtue are commonest is not 
the aristocracy1 but the middle rank4   
,another truth follows 'from the        
principles of human nature in general4' 
,that is the rather surprising truth    
that the lower orders take their        
opinions from the middle class2 apply to
 the middle class for help in sickness  
and old age2 hold up the same class as a
 model to be imitated by their children1
 and 'account it an honour' to adopt its
 opinions4 ,consequently1 however far   
the franchise were extended1 it is this 
class which has produced the most       
distinguished ornaments of art1 science1
 and even of legislation1 which will    
ultimately decide upon political        

questions4 ',the great majority of the  
people1' is his concluding sentence1    
'never cease to be guided by that rank2 
and we may with some confidence         
challenge the adversaries of the people 
to produce a single instance to the     
contrary in the history of the world4'  
,this article upon ',government' gives  
the very essence of ,utilitarian        
politics4 ,i am afraid that it also     
suggests that the political theory was  
chiefly remarkable for a simple-minded  
audacity4 ,good political treatises are 
rare4 ,they are apt to be pamphlets in  
disguise1 using 'general principles' for
 showy perorations1 or to be a string of
 platitudes with no definite application
 to facts4 ,they are fit only for the   
platform1 or only for the professor's   
lecture-room4 ,mill's treatise1         
according to his most famous antagonist1
 was a mere bundle of pretentious       
sophistry4  ,macaulay came forth like a 
,whig ,david to slay the ,utilitarian   
,goliath4 ,the ,encyclopaedia articles1 

finished in #ahbd1 were already in      
#ahbe1ajd as ,mill says1 text-books of  
the young men at the ,cambridge ,union4 
,macaulay1 who won his ,trinity         
fellowship in #ahbd1 had there argued   
the questions with his friend ,charles  
,austin1 one of ,bentham's neophytes4   
,in the next year ,macaulay made his    
first appearance as an ,edinburgh       
,reviewer2 and in #ahbi he took the     
field against ,mill4 ,in the ,january   
number he attacked the essay upon       
',government'2 and in two articles in   
the succeeding numbers of the ,review   
replied to a defence made by some       
,utilitarian in the ,westminster4 ,mill 
himself made no direct reply2 and       
,macaulay showed his gratitude for      
,mill's generosity in regard to the     
,indian appointment by declining to     
republish the articles4#aje ,he         
confessed to have treated his opponent  
with a want of proper respect1 though he
 retracted none of his criticisms4 ,the 
offence had its excuses4 ,macaulay was a

 man under thirty1 in the full flush of 
early success2 nor was ,mill's own      
treatment of antagonists conciliatory4  
,the dogmatic arrogance of the          
,utilitarians was not unnaturally met by
 an equally arrogant countercheck4      
,macaulay ridicules the ,utilitarians   
for their claim to be the defenders of  
the true political faith4 ,he is afraid 
not of them but of the 'discredit of    
their alliance'2 he wishes to draw a    
broad line between judicious reformers  
and a 'sect which having derived all its
 influence from the countenance which   
they imprudently bestowed upon it1 hates
 them with the deadly hatred of         
ingratitude4' ,no party1 he says1 was   
ever so unpopular4 ,it had already      
disgusted people with political economy2
 and would disgust them with            
parliamentary reform1 if it could       
associate itself in public opinion with 
the cause#ajf4 ,this was indeed to turn 
the tables4 ,the half-hearted disciple  
was insulting the thoroughbred teacher  

who had borne the heat and burthen of   
the day1 and from whom he had learned   
his own doctrine4 ,upon this and other  
impertinences--the assertion1 for       
example1 that ,utilitarians were as     
incapable of understanding an argument  
as any 'true blue baronet after the     
third bottle at a ,pitt ,club'--it is   
needless to dwell4 ,they illustrate1    
however1 the strong resentment with     
which the ,utilitarians were regarded by
 the classes from whom the ,whigs drew  
their most cultivated supporters4       
,macaulay's line of argument will show  
what was the real conflict of theory4   
,his view is1 in fact1 a long           
amplification of the charge that ,mill  
was adopting a purely a priori method4  
,mill's style is as dry as ,euclid1 and 
his arguments are presented with an     
affectation of logical precision4 ,mill 
has inherited the 'spirit and style of  
the ,schoolmen4 ,he is an ,aristotelian 
of the fifteenth century4' ,he writes   
about government as though he was       

unaware that any actual governments had 
ever existed4 ,he deduces his science   
from a single assumption of certain     
'propensities of human nature4'#ajg     
,after dealing with ,mill's arguments1  
,macaulay winds up with one of his      
characteristic purple patches about the 
method of induction4 ,he invokes the    
authority of ,bacon--a great name with  
which in those days writers conjured    
without a very precise consideration of 
its true significance4 ,by ,bacon's     
method we are to construct in time the  
'noble science of politics1' which is   
equally removed from the barren theories
 of ,utilitarian sophists and the petty 
craft of intriguing jobbers4 ,the       
,utilitarians are schoolmen1 while the  
,whigs are the true followers of ,bacon 
and scientific induction4 ,j4 ,s4 ,mill 
admitted within certain limits the      
relevancy of this criticism1 and was led
 by the reflections which it started to 
a theory of his own4 ,meanwhile1 he     
observes that his father ought to have  

justified himself by declaring that the 
book was not a 'scientific treatise on  
politics1' but an 'argument for         
parliamentary reform4'#ajh ,it is not   
quite easy to see how ,james ,mill could
 have made such a 'justification' and   
distinguished it from a recantation4    
,if ,mill really meant what ,macaulay   
took him to mean1 it would be           
superfluous to argue the question       
gravely4 ,the reasoning is only fit1    
like the reasoning of all ,macaulay's   
antagonists1 for the proverbial         
schoolboy4 ,mill1 according to          
,macaulay1 proposes to discover what    
governments are good2 and1 finding that 
experience gives no clear answer1 throws
 experience aside and appeals to        
absolute laws of human nature4 ,one such
 'law' asserts that the strong will     
plunder the weak4 ,therefore all        
governments except the representative   
must be oppressive1 and rule by sheer   
terror4 ,mill's very reason for relying 
upon this argument is precisely that the

 facts contradict it4 ,some despotisms  
work well1 and some democracies ill2    
therefore we must prove by logic that   
all despotisms are bad1 and all         
democracies good4 ,is this really       
,mill's case8  ,an answer given by      
,mill's champion1 to which ,macaulay    
replies in his last article1 suggests   
some explanation of ,mill's position4   
,macaulay had paid no attention to one  
highly important phrase4 ,the terrible  
consequences which ,mill deduces from   
the selfishness of rulers will follow1  
he says1 'if nothing checks4'#aji       
,supplying this qualification1 as       
implied throughout1 we may give a better
 meaning to ,mill's argument4 ,a simple 
observation of experience is            
insufficient4 ,the phenomena are too    
complex2 governments of the most varying
 kinds have shown the same faults2 and  
governments of the same kind have shown 
them in the most various degrees4       
,therefore the method which ,macaulay   
suggests is inapplicable4 ,we should    

reason about government1 says           
,macaulay1#aaj as ,bacon told us to     
reason about heat4 ,find all the        
circumstances in which hot bodies agree1
 and you will determine the principle of
 heat4 ,find all the circumstances in   
which good governments agree1 and you   
will find the principles of good        
government4 ,certainly2 but the process1
 as ,macaulay admits1 would be a long   
one4 ,rather1 it would be endless4 ,what
 'circumstances' can be the same in all 
good governments in all times and       
places8 ,mill held in substance1 that we
 could lay down certain broad principles
 about human nature1 the existence of   
which is of course known from           
'experience'1 and by showing how they   
would work1 if restrained by no distinct
 checks1 obtain certain useful          
conclusions4 ,mill indicates this line  
of reply in his own attack upon         
,mackintosh4#aaa ,there he explains that
 what he really meant was to set forth a
 principle recognised by ,berkeley1     

,hume1 ,blackstone1 and1 especially1 in 
,plato's ,republic4 ,plato's treatise is
 a development of the principle that    
'identity of interests affords the only 
security for good government4' ,without 
such identity of interest1 said ,plato1 
the guardians of the flock become       
wolves4 ,hume#aab had given a pithy     
expression of the same view in the maxim
 'established1' as he says1 'by         
political writers1' that in framing the 
'checks and controls of the             
constitution1 every man ought to be     
supposed a knave and to have no other   
end in his actions than private         
interest4' ,mill points this by         
referring to the 'organs of             
aristocratical opinion' for the last    
fifty years4 ,the incessant appeal has  
been for 'confidence in public men1' and
 confidence is another name for scope   
for misrule4#aac ,this1 he explains1 was
 what he meant by the statement 7which  
,mackintosh considered to have been     
exploded by ,macaulay7 that every man   

pursued his own interest4#aad ,it       
referred to the class legislation of the
 great aristocratic ring3 kings1 nobles1
 church1 law1 and army4 ,utilitarianism1
 in its political relations1 was one    
continuous warfare against these        
sinister 'interests1' ,the master-evil  
of the contemporary political state     
undoubtedly implied a want of           
responsibility4 ,a political trust was  
habitually confounded with private      
property4 ,moreover1 whatever else may  
be essential to good government1 one    
essential is a strong sense of          
responsibility in the governors4 ,that  
is a very sound principle1 though not an
 axiom from which all political science 
can be deduced4 ,if the essay on        
',government' was really meant as a kind
 of political ,euclid--as a deduction of
 the best system of government from this
 single principle of responsibility--it 
was as grotesque as ,macaulay asserted4 
,mill might perhaps have met the        
criticism by lowering his claims as his 

son suggests4 ,he certainly managed to  
express his argument in such terms that 
it has an uncomfortable appearance of   
being intended for a scientific         
exposition4  ,this deserves notice      
because the position is characteristic  
of the ,utilitarians' method4 ,their    
appeals to experience always end by     
absolute assertions4 ,we shall find the 
same difficulty in their economic       
inquiries4 ,when accused1 for example1  
of laying down absolute principles in   
such cases1 they reply that they are    
only speaking of 'tendencies1' and      
recognise the existence of 'checks4'    
,they treat of what would be1 if certain
 forces acted without limit1 as a       
necessary step towards discovering what 
is when the limits exist4 ,they appear  
to their opponents to forget the limits 
in their practical conclusions4 ,this   
political argument is an instance of the
 same method4 ,the genesis of his theory
 is plain4 ,mill's 'government1' like   
,bentham's1 is simply the conception of 

legal 'sovereignty' transferred to the  
sphere of politics4 ,mill's exposition  
is only distinguished from his master's 
by the clearness with which he brings   
out the underlying assumptions4 ,the    
legal sovereign is omnipotent1 for what 
he declares to be the law is therefore  
the law4 ,the law is his commands       
enforced by 'sanctions1' and therefore  
by organised force4 ,the motives for    
obedience are the fear of the gallows on
 one side1 and1 on the other1 the desire
 of protection for life and property4   
,law1 again1 is the ultimate social     
bond1 and can be made at will by the    
sovereign4 ,he thus becomes so          
omnipotent that it is virtually assumed 
that he can even create himself4 ,not   
only can the sovereign1 once            
constituted1 give commands enforced by  
coercive sanctions upon any kind of     
conduct1 but he can determine his own   
constitution4 ,he can at once1 for      
example1 create a representative system 
in practice1 when it has been discovered

 in theory1 and can by judicious        
regulations so distribute               
'self-interest' as to produce           
philanthropy and public spirit4         
,macaulay's answer really makes a       
different assumption4 ,he accepts the   
purely 'empirical' or 'rule of thumb'   
position4 ,it is idle1 he says1 to ask  
what would happen if there were no      
'checks4' ,it is like leaving out the   
effect of friction in a problem of      
mechanics4 ,the logic may be correct1   
but the conclusions are false in        
practice4#aae ,now this 'friction' was  
precisely the favourite expedient of the
 ,utilitarians in political economy4 ,to
 reason about facts1 they say1 you must 
analyse1 and therefore provisionally    
disregard the 'checks1' which must be   
afterwards introduced in practical      
applications4 ,macaulay is really       
bidding us take 'experience' in the     
lump1 and refrains from the only        
treatment which can lead to a scientific
 result4 ,his argument1 in fact1 agrees 

with that of his famous essay on ,bacon1
 where we learn that philosophy applied 
to moral questions is all nonsense1 and 
that science is simply crude            
common-sense4 ,he is really saying that 
all political reasoning is impossible1  
and that we must trust to unreasoned    
observation4 ,macaulay1 indeed1 has good
 grounds of criticism4 ,he shows very   
forcibly the absurdity of transferring  
the legal to the political sovereignty4 
,parliament might1 as he says1 make a   
law that every gentleman with ,l#bjjj a 
year might flog a pauper with a         
cat-of-nine-tails whenever he pleased4  
,but1 as the first exercise of such a   
power would be the 'last day of the     
,english aristocracy1' their power is   
strictly limited in fact4#aaf ,that     
gives very clearly the difference       
between legal and political sovereignty4
 ,what parliament makes law is law1 but 
is not therefore enforceable4 ,we have  
to go behind the commands and sanctions 
before we understand what is the actual 

power of government4 ,it is very far    
from omnipotent4 ,macaulay1 seeing this1
 proceeds to throw aside ,mill's        
argument against the possibility of a   
permanent division of power4 ,the de    
facto limitation of the sovereign's     
power justifies the old theory about    
'mixed forms of government4' ',mixed    
governments' are not impossible1 for    
they are real4 ,all governments are1 in 
fact1 'mixed4' ,louis ,,xiv4 could not  
cut off the head of any one whom he     
happened to dislike4 ,an oriental despot
 is strictly bound by the religious     
prejudices of his subjects4 ,if         
'sovereignty' means such power it is a  
chimera in practice1 or only realised   
approximately when1 as in the case of   
negro slavery1 a class is actually ruled
 by force in the hands of a really      
external power4 ,and yet the attack upon
 'mixed governments1' which ,bentham had
 expounded in the ,fragment1 has a real 
force which ,macaulay seems to overlook4
 ,mill's argument against a possible    

'balance' of power was1 as ,macaulay    
asserted1 equally applicable to the case
 of independent sovereigns2 yet ,france 
might be stronger at ,calais and        
,england at ,dover4#aag ,mill might have
 replied that a state is a state        
precisely because1 and in so far as1    
there is an agreement to recognise a    
common authority or sovereign4          
,government does not imply a 'mixture1' 
but a fusion of power4 ,there is a      
unity1 though not the abstract unity of 
the ,utilitarian sovereign4 ,the        
weakness of the ,utilitarians is to     
speak as though the sovereign1 being    
external to each individual1 could      
therefore be regarded as external to the
 whole society4 ,he rules as a strong   
nation may rule a weak dependency4 ,when
 the sovereign becomes also the society1
 the power is regarded as equally       
absolute1 though now applied to the     
desirable end of maximising happiness4  
,the whole argument ignores the simple  
consideration that the sovereign is     

himself in all cases the product of the 
society over which he rules1 and his    
whole action1 even in the most despotic 
governments1 determined throughout by   
organic instincts1 explaining and not   
ultimately explicable by coercion4      
,macaulay's doctrine partially          
recognises this by falling back upon the
 ,whig theory of checks and balances1   
and the mixture of three mysterious     
entities1 monarchy1 aristocracy1 and    
democracy4 ,but1 as ,bentham had        
sufficiently shown in the ,fragment1 the
 theory becomes hopelessly unreal when  
we try to translate it into facts4      
,there are not three separate forces1   
conflicting like three independent      
forces1 but a complex set of social     
institutions bound together into a      
whole4 ,it is impossible really to      
regard government as a permanent balance
 of antagonistic forces1 confronting    
each other like the three duellists in  
,sheridan's ,critic4 ,the practical     
result of that theory is to substitute  

for the 'greatest happiness' principle  
the vague criterion of the preservation 
of an equilibrium between indefinable   
forces2 and to make the ultimate end of 
government the maintenance as long as   
possible of a balance resting on no     
ulterior principle1 but undoubtedly     
pleasant for the comfortable classes4   
,nothing is left but the rough          
guesswork1 which1 if a fine name be     
wanted1 may be called ,baconian         
induction4 ,the 'matchless              
constitution1' as ,bentham calls it1    
represents a convenient compromise1 and 
the tendency is to attach exaggerated   
importance to its ostensible terms4     
,when ,macaulay asserted against        
,mill#aah that it was impossible to say 
which element--monarchy1 aristocracy1 or
 democracy--had gained strength in      
,england in the last century1 he is     
obviously looking at the formulae and   
not at the social body behind4  ,this   
leads to considerations really more     
important than the argumentation about a

 priori and inductive methods4 ,mill in 
practice knew very well the             
qualifications necessary before his     
principles applied4 ,he showed it in his
 ,indian evidence2 and ,place could have
 told him1 had it required telling1 that
 the actual political machinery worked  
by very strange and tortuous methods4   
,yet he was content to override such    
considerations when he is expounding his
 theory1 and laid himself open to       
,macaulay's broad common-sense retort4  
,the nation at large cannot1 he says1   
have a 'sinister interest4' ,it must    
desire legislation which is beneficial  
to the whole4 ,this is to make the vast 
assumption that every individual will   
desire what is good for all1 and will be
 a sufficient judge of what is good4    
,but is it clear that a majority will   
even desire what is good for the whole8 
,may they not wish to sacrifice both    
other classes and coming generations to 
their own instantaneous advantages8 ,is 
it plain that even enlightenment of mind

 would induce a poor man to see his own 
advantage in the policy which would in  
the long run be best for the whole      
society8 ,you are bound1 said ,macaulay1
 to show that the poor man will not     
believe that he personally would benefit
 by direct plunder of the rich2 and     
indeed that he would not be right in so 
believing4 ,the nation1 no doubt1 would 
suffer1 but in the immediate period     
which alone is contemplated by a selfish
 pauper1 the mass of the poor might get 
more pleasure out of confiscation4 ,will
 they not1 on your own principles1      
proceed to confiscation8 ,shall we not  
have such a catastrophe as the reign of 
terror8  ,the ,westminster ,reviewer    
retorted by saying that ,macaulay       
prophesied a reign of terror as a       
necessary consequence of an extended    
franchise4 ,macaulay1 skilfully enough1 
protested against this interpretation4  
',we say again and again1' he declares1 
'that we are on the defensive4 ,we do   
not think it necessary to prove that a  

quack medicine is poison4 ,let the      
vendor prove it to be sanative4 ,we do  
not pretend to show that universal      
suffrage is an evil4 ,let its advocates 
show it to be a good4'#aai ,mill rests  
his whole case upon the selfishness of  
mankind4 ,will not the selfishness lead 
the actual majority at a given moment to
 plunder the rich and to disregard the  
interests of their own successors8      
,macaulay's declaration that he was only
 'upon the defensive' might be          
justifiable in an advocate4 ,his real   
thought may be inferred from a speech on
 the charter made in #ahdb4 ,the        
chartists' petition of that year had    
asked for universal suffrage4 ,universal
 suffrage1 he replies1 would be         
incompatible with the 'institution of   
property4'#abj ,if the chartists acted  
upon their avowed principles1 they would
 enforce 'one vast spoliation4'         
,macaulay could not say1 of course1 what
 would actually result1 but his 'guess' 
was that we should see 'something more  

horrible than can be imagined--something
 like the siege of ,jerusalem on a far  
larger scale4' ,the very best event he  
could anticipate--'and what must the    
state of things be1 if an ,englishman   
and a ,whig calls such an event the very
 best8'--would be a military despotism1 
giving a 'sort of protection to a       
miserable wreck of all that immense     
glory and prosperity4'#aba ,so in the   
criticism of ,mill he had suggested that
 if his opponent's principles were      
correct1 and his scheme adopted1        
'literature1 science1 commerce1         
manufactures' would be swept away1 and  
that a 'few half-naked fishermen would  
divide with the owls and foxes the ruins
 of the greatest of ,european           
cities4'#abb  ,carefully as ,macaulay   
guards himself in his articles upon     
,mill1 the speech shows sufficiently    
what was his 'guess'2 that is1 his real 
expectation4 ,this gives the vital      
difference4 ,what ,macaulay professes to
 deduce from ,mill's principles he      

really holds himself1 and he holds it   
because he argues1 as indeed everybody  
has to argue1 pretty much on ,mill's    
method4 ,he does not really remain in   
the purely sceptical position which     
would correspond to his version of      
',baconian induction4' ,he argues1 just 
as ,mill would have argued1 from general
 rules about human nature4 ,selfish and 
ignorant people will1 he thinks1 be     
naturally inclined to plunder2          
therefore1 if they have power1 they will
 plunder4 ,so ,mill had argued that a   
selfish class would rule for its own    
sinister interests and therefore not for
 the happiness of the greatest number4  
,the argument is the same1 and it is the
 only line of argument which is possible
 till1 if that should ever happen1 a    
genuine science of politics shall have  
been constituted4 ,the only question is 
whether it shall take the pomp of a     
priori speculation or conceal itself    
under a show of ',baconian induction4'  
,on one point they agree4 ,both ,mill   

and ,macaulay profess unbounded         
confidence in the virtue and wisdom of  
the middle1 that is1 of their own class4
 ,macaulay hopes for a reform bill which
 will make the votes of the ,house of   
,commons 'the express image of the      
opinion of the middle orders of         
,britain4'#abc ,mill holds that the     
middle class will retain this moral     
authority1 however widely the franchise 
be extended2 while ,macaulay fears that 
they will be swamped by its extension to
 the masses4 ,the reform bill which they
 joined in supporting was regarded by   
the ,radicals as a payment on account2  
while the ,whig hoped that it would be a
 full and final discharge4 ,the ,radical
 held that no barriers against democracy
 were needed2 he took for granted that a
 democracy would find its natural       
leaders in the educated and intelligent4
 ,the ,whig1 to whom such confidence    
appeared to be altogether misplaced1 had
 to find some justification for the     
'checks' and 'balances' which he thought

 essential4   ,,ii4 ,,whiggism  ,i have 
spoken of ,macaulay's articles because  
they represent the most pointed conflict
 between the ,utilitarian and the ,whig4
 ,macaulay belongs properly to the next 
generation1 but he appeared as the      
mouthpiece of the earlier group of      
writers who in ,mill's time delivered   
through the ,edinburgh ,review the true 
oracles of the ,whig faith4 ,upon that  
ground ,mill had assailed them in his   
article4 ,their creed1 he said1 was a   
'see-saw4' ,the ,whigs were aristocrats 
as much as the ,tories4 ,they were      
simply the 'outs' who hoped to be the   
'ins4' ,they trimmed their sails to     
catch public opinion1 but were careful  
not to drift into the true popular      
currents4 ,they had no desire to limit  
the power which they hoped one day to   
possess4 ,they would attack abuses--the 
slave-trade or the penal laws--to gain  
credit for liberality and enlightenment1
 when the abuses were such as could be  
removed without injuring the power of   

the aristocracy4 ,they could use 'vague 
generalities' about liberty and so      
forth1 but only to evade definite       
applications4 ,when any measure was     
proposed which really threatened the    
power of the privileged classes1 they   
could bring out a contradictory set of  
fine phrases about ,jacobinism and      
democracy4 ,their whole argument was a  
shuffle and they themselves mere selfish
 trimmers4#abd ,to this ,jeffrey replied
 7in ,december #ahbf7 by accepting the  
position4#abe ,he pleaded guilty to a   
love of 'trimming1' which meant a love  
of the ,british ,constitution4 ,the     
constitution was a compromise--a balance
 of opposing forces--and the only       
question could be whether they were     
properly balanced4 ,the answer was fair 
enough4 ,mill was imputing motives too  
easily1 and assuming that the ,reviewers
 saw the abuses in the same light as he 
did1 and were truckling to public       
robbers in hopes of sharing the plunder4
 ,he was breaking a butterfly upon a    

wheel4 ,the ,edinburgh ,reviewers were  
not missionaries of a creed4 ,they were 
a set of brilliant young men1 to whom   
the ,review was at first a mere pastime1
 occupying such leisure as was allowed  
by their professional pursuits4 ,they   
were indeed men of liberal sympathies1  
intelligent and independent enough to   
hold by a party which was out of power4 
,they had read ,hume and ,voltaire and  
,rousseau2 they had sat at the feet of  
,dugald ,stewart2 and were in sympathy  
with intellectual liberalism4 ,but they 
were men who meant to become judges1    
members of parliament1 or even bishops4 
,nothing in their social atmosphere had 
stimulated the deep resentment against  
social injustice which makes the fanatic
 or the enthusiast4 ,we may take as     
their interpreter the ,whig philosopher 
,james ,mackintosh 7#agfe-ahcb71 a man  
of wide reading1 both in history and    
philosophy1 an eloquent orator1 and a   
very able writer4 ,mackintosh1 said     
,coleridge1#abf is the 'king of the men 

of talent'2 by which was intimated that1
 as a man of talent1 he was not1 like   
some people1 a man of genius4           
,mackintosh1 that is1 was a man to      
accept plausible formulae and to make   
them more plausible2 not a man to pierce
 to the heart of things1 or reveal      
fruitful germs of thought4 ,his         
intellect was judicial2 given to        
compromises1 affecting a judicious via  
media1 and endeavouring to reconcile    
antagonistic tendencies4 ,thoroughgoing 
or one-sided thinkers1 and ,mill in     
particular1 regarded him with excessive 
antipathy as a typical representative of
 the opposite intellectual tendencies4  
,mackintosh's political attitude is     
instructive4 ,at the outbreak of the    
,french revolution he was a struggling  
young ,scot1 seeking his fortune in     
,london1 just turning from medicine to  
the bar1 and supporting himself partly  
by journalism4 ,he became secretary to  
the ,society of the ',friends of the    
,people1' the ,whig rival of the        

revolutionary clubs1 and in ,april #agia
 sprang into fame by his ,vindiciae     
,gallicae4 ,the ,whigs had not yet lost 
the fervour with which they had welcomed
 the downfall of the ,bastille4 ,burke's
 ,reflections1 the work of a great      
thinker in a state of irritation        
bordering upon frenzy1 had sounded the  
note of alarm4 ,the revolution1 as      
,burke maintained1 was in fact the      
avatar of a diabolic power4 ,it meant an
 attack upon the very organic principles
 of society4 ,it therefore implied a    
complete breach of historical           
continuity1 and a war against the       
reverence for 'prescription' and        
tradition which is essential to all     
healthy development4 ,to his extreme    
opponents the same theory afforded the  
justification of the revolution4 ,it    
meant that every institution was to be  
thrown into the crucible1 and a new     
world to arise governed only by reason4 
,the view very ably defended by         
,mackintosh was opposed to both4 ,he    

looks upon the ,french revolution as a  
more complete application of the        
principles of ,locke and the ,english   
,whigs of #afhh4 ,the revolutionists    
are1 as he urges1#abg applying the      
principles which had been worked out by 
the 'philosophers of ,europe' during the
 preceding century4 ,they were not1 as  
,burke urged1 rejecting experience for  
theory4 ,the relation between their     
doctrine and politics is analogous to   
the relation between geometry and       
mechanics4#abh ,we are now in the       
position of a people who should be      
familiar with ,newton1 but in           
shipbuilding be still on a level with   
the ,esquimaux4 ,the 'rights of man'    
appear to him to mean1 not1 as ,burke   
and ,bentham once agreed1 a set of      
'anarchical fallacies1' but a set of    
fundamental moral principles2 and the   
declaration of them a most wise and     
'auspicious' commencement of the        
'regenerating labours' of the new       
legislators4 ,the ,french revolution    

represented what ,somers would now      
approve if he had our advantages4#abi ,a
 thoroughgoing change had become        
necessary in ,france4 ,the church1 army1
 and law were now 'incorrigible4'#acj   
,burke had seen1 in the confiscation of 
church property1 an attempt to abolish  
,christianity4 ,to ,mackintosh it seemed
 to be a reform justifiable in          
principle1 which1 though too roughly    
carried out1 would reduce 'a servile and
 imperious priesthood to humble         
utility4'#aca ,a poor priesthood1       
indeed1 might incline to popular        
superstition4 ,we could console         
ourselves by reflecting that the power  
of the church1 as a corporation1 was    
broken1 and that toleration and         
philosophy would restrain               
fanaticism4#acb ,the assignats were     
still 'almost at par4'#acc ,the sale of 
the national property would nearly      
extinguish the debt4 ,france had        
'renounced for ever the idea of         
conquest1'#acd and had no temptations to

 war1 except her colonies4 ,their       
commercial inutility and political      
mischievousness had been so 'unanimously
 demonstrated1' that the ,french empire 
must soon be delivered from 'this       
cumbrous and destructive appendage4' ,an
 armed people1 moreover1 could never be 
used like a mercenary army to suppress  
liberty4 ,there was no danger of        
military despotism1 and ,france would   
hereafter seek for a pure glory by      
cultivating the arts of peace and       
extending the happiness of mankind4#ace 
,no wonder that ,mackintosh1 with these 
views1 thought that the history of the  
fall of the ,bastille would 'kindle in  
unborn millions the holy enthusiasm of  
freedom'2#acf or that1 in the early     
disorders1 he saw temporary aberrations 
of mobs1 destined to be speedily        
suppressed by the true leaders of the   
revolution4 ,mackintosh saw1 ,i take it1
 about as far as most philosophers1 that
 is1 about as far as people who are not 
philosophers4 ,he observes much that    

,burke ought to have remembered1 and    
keeps fairly to the philosophical       
principle which he announces of         
attributing the revolution to general   
causes1 and not to the schemes of       
individuals4#acg ,when assignats became 
waste paper1 when the guillotine got to 
work1 when the religion of reason was   
being set up against ,christianity1 when
 the ,french were conquering ,europe1   
when a military despotism was arising1  
when1 in short1 it became quite clear   
that the ,french revolution meant       
something very different from a         
philosophical application of the        
principles of ,locke and ,adam ,smith1  
,mackintosh began to see that ,burke had
 not so far missed the mark4 ,burke1    
before dying1 received his penitent     
opponent at ,beaconsfield2 and in #ahjj 
,mackintosh took the opportunity of     
publicly declaring that he 'abhorred1   
abjured1 and for ever renounced the     
,french revolution1 with its sanguinary 
history1 its abominable principles1 and 

its ever execrable leaders4' ,he hoped  
to 'wipe off the disgrace of having been
 once betrayed into that abominable     
conspiracy against ,god and man4'#ach   
,in his famous defence of ,peltier      
7#ahjc71 he denounced the revolution in 
a passage which might have been adopted 
from ,burke's ,letters on a ,regicide   
,peace4#aci  ,in a remarkable letter to 
,windham#adj of #ahjf1 ,mackintosh gives
 his estimate of ,burke1 and takes some 
credit to himself for having discovered1
 even in the time of his youthful       
errors1 the consistency of ,burke's     
principles1 as founded upon an          
abhorrence of 'abstract politics4'#ada  
,politics1 he now thought1 must be made 
scientific by recognising with ,burke   
the supreme importance of prescription  
and historic continuity1 and by         
admitting that the philosophers had not 
yet constructed a science bearing to    
practical politics the same relation as 
geometry to mechanics4 ,he applied his  
theory to the question of parliamentary 

reform in the ,edinburgh ,review4#adb   
,here he accepts the doctrine1          
criticised by ,james ,mill1 that a      
proper representative system must be    
judged1 not1 as ,mill maintained1 solely
 by the identity of its interest with   
that of the community at large1 but by  
its fitness to give power to different  
classes4 ,it follows that the           
landowners1 the professional classes1   
and the populace should all be          
represented4 ,and he discovers that the 
variety of the ,english system was      
calculated to secure this end4 ,though  
it was only in a few constituencies that
 the poorest class had a voice1 their   
vote in such places represented the same
 class elsewhere4 ,it was as well that  
there should be some extreme ,radicals  
to speak for the poorest4 ,but he thinks
 that any uniform suffrage would be bad1
 and that universal suffrage would be   
the most mischievous of all systems4#adc
 ,that would mean the swamping of one   
class by all--a tyranny more oppressive1

 perhaps1 than any other tyranny4 ,if   
one class alone were to be represented1 
it should be the favourite middle class1
 which has the 'largest share of sense  
and virtue1' and is most connected in   
interest with other classes4#add ,a     
legitimate aim of the legislator is1    
therefore1 to prevent an excess of      
democracy4 ,with ,mackintosh it seems   
essential not simply to suppress        
'sinister interests1' but to save both  
the aristocracy and the middle class    
from being crushed by the lower classes4
 ,the opposition is vital2 and it is    
plain that the argument for the         
aristocracy1 that is1 for a system      
developed from all manner of historical 
accidents and not evolved out of any    
simple logical principles1 must be      
defended upon empirical grounds4        
,mackintosh was in ,india during the    
early period of the ,edinburgh ,review4 
,jeffrey1 as editor for its first       
quarter of a century1 may be taken more 
fully to represent its spirit4          

,jeffrey's trenchant1 if not swaggering 
style1 covered a very timid1 sensitive1 
and1 in some respects1 a very           
conservative temperament4 ,his objection
 to the ',lake ,poets' was the objection
 of the classical to the romantic       
school4 ,jeffrey's brightness of        
intellect may justify ,carlyle's        
comparison of him to ,voltaire1--only a 
,voltaire qualified by dislike to men   
who were 'dreadfully in earnest4'       
,jeffrey was a philosophical sceptic2 he
 interpreted ,dugald ,stewart as meaning
 that metaphysics1 being all nonsense1  
we must make shift with common-sense2   
and he wrote a dissertation upon taste1 
to prove that there are no rules about  
taste whatever4 ,he was too genuine a   
sceptic to sacrifice peace to the       
hopeless search for truth4 ,one of the  
most striking passages in his           
,essays#ade is an attack upon           
'perfectibility4' ,he utterly           
disbelieves that progress in knowledge  
will improve morals or diminish war1 or 

cure any of the evils that flesh is heir
 to4 ,such a man is not of the material 
of which enthusiastic reformers are     
made4 ,throughout the war he was more   
governed by his fear than by his zeal4  
,he was in constant dread of failure    
abroad and ruin at home4 ,the ,review   
provoked the ,tories1 and induced them  
to start its rival1 not by advocacy of  
political principles1 but by its        
despairing view of the war4#adf ,he was 
still desiring at that time 7#ahjh7 to  
avoid 'party politics' in the narrower  
sense4  ,the political view             
corresponding to this is given in the   
articles1 some of which 7though the     
authorship was not yet avowed7 were     
assailed by ,mill in the ,westminster4  
,in an early article#adg he defends the 
,french philosophers against the        
imputation of responsibility for the    
reign of terror4 ,their excellent and   
humane doctrines had been misapplied by 
the 'exasperation' and precipitation of 
inexperienced voters4 ,his most         

characteristic article is one published 
in ,january #ahaj4 ,the failure of the  
,walcheren expedition had confirmed his 
disbelief in our military leaders2 the  
rise of ,english ,radicalism1 led by    
,burdett in the ,house of ,commons1 and 
,cobbett in the press1 the widely spread
 distress and the severity of oppressive
 measures1 roused his keenest alarm4#adh
 ,we are1 he declared1 between two      
violent and pernicious factions--the    
courtiers of arbitrary power and the    
democrats4 ,if the ,whig leaders did not
 first conciliate and then restrain the 
people1 the struggle of the extreme     
parties would soon sweep away the       
constitution1 the monarchy1 and the     
,whig aristocracy by which that monarchy
 'is controlled1 confirmed1 and exalted 
above all other forms of polity4'       
,democracy1 it was plain1 was increasing
 with dangerous rapidity4 ,a third of   
every man's income was being taken by   
taxes1 and after twenty years' boastful 
hostility we were left without a single 

ally4 ,considering all this1 it seems as
 though 'the wholesome days of ,england 
were numbered1' and we are on the 'verge
 of the most dreadful of all            
calamities'--a civil war4  ,jeffrey has 
learned from ,hume that all government  
is ultimately founded upon opinion4 ,the
 great thing is to make the action of   
public opinion regular and constituted4 
,the whole machinery of the             
constitution1 he says1 is for the       
express purpose of 'preventing the      
kingly power from dashing itself to     
pieces against the more radical power of
 the people4'#adi ,the merit of a       
representative body is not to be tested 
simply by the goodness of its           
legislation1 but by its diminishing the 
intensity of the struggle for the       
supreme power4 ,jeffrey in fact is above
 all preoccupied with the danger of     
revolution4 ,the popular will is1 in    
fact1 supreme2 repression may force it  
into explosion2 but by judicious        
management it may be tamed and tempered4

 ,then we need above all things that it 
should1 as he says in his reply to ,mill
 7,december #ahbf71 give their 'natural 
and wholesome influence to wealth and   
rank4' ,the stability of the ,english   
,constitution depends1 as he said in    
#ahaj1 upon the monarchy and            
aristocracy1 and their stability on     
their being the natural growth of ages  
and having 'struck their roots deep into
 every stratum of the political soil4'  
,the ,whigs represent the view implied  
in ,macaulay's attack upon ,mill--the   
view of cultivated men of sense1 with   
their eyes open to many difficulties    
overlooked by zealots1 but far too      
sceptical and despondent to rouse any   
enthusiasm or accept any dogmas         
absolutely4 ,by the time of the ,reform 
,bill the danger was obviously on the   
side of dogged obstructionism1 and then 
the 'middle party1' as ,jeffrey calls   
it1 inclined towards the ,radical side  
and begged them to join its ranks and   
abandon the attempt to realise extreme  

views4 ,they could also take credit as  
moderate men do for having all along    
been in the right4 ,but to both         
extremes1 as ,jeffrey pathetically      
complains1 they appeared to be mere     
trimmers4#aej  ,the ,utilitarian held   
the ,whig to be a 'trimmer'2 the ,whig  
thought the ,utilitarian a fanatic2 they
 agreed in holding that the ,tory was   
simply stupid4 ,and yet1 when we look at
 the ,tory creed1 we shall find that    
both ,whig and ,utilitarian overlooked  
some very vital problems4 ,the ,tories  
of course represent the advocates of    
strong government2 and1 as their        
opponents held1 had no theories--only   
prejudices4 ,the first article of the   
creed of an ,eldon or a ,sidmouth was1  
',i believe in ,george ,,iii4'2--not a  
doctrine capable of philosophical       
justification4 ,such ,toryism meant the 
content of the rich and powerful with   
the system by which their power and     
wealth were guaranteed4 ,their instincts
 had been sharpened by the ,french      

revolution2 and they saw in any change  
the removal of one of the safeguards    
against a fresh outburst of the nether  
fires4 ,the great bulk of all political 
opinion is an instinct1 not a           
philosophy2 and the obstructive ,tories 
represented little more than class      
prejudice and the dread of a great      
convulsion4 ,yet intelligent ,tories    
were being driven to find some reasons  
for their creed1 which the ,utilitarians
 might have considered more carefully4  
,,iii4 ,,conservatism  ,a famous man of 
letters represents certain tendencies   
more clearly than the average           
politician4 ,robert ,southey            
7#aggg-ahdc71 the 'ultra servile        
sack-guzzler1' as ,bentham pleasantly   
calls him in #ahbc1aea was probably the 
best abused man1 on his own side at     
least1 among ,mill's contemporaries4 ,he
 was attacked by ,mill himself1 and     
savagely denounced by ,byron and        
,hazlitt4 ,he was not only a conspicuous
 writer in the ,quarterly ,review but1  

as his enemies thought1 a renegade      
bought by pensions4 ,it is1 ,i hope1    
needless to defend him against this     
charge4 ,he was simply an impatient man 
of generous instincts and no reflective 
power1 who had in his youth caught the  
revolutionary fever1 and1 as he grew up1
 developed the patriotic fever4  ,later 
views are given in the ,colloquies on   
the ,progress and ,prospects of ,society
 7#ahbi71 chiefly known to modern       
readers by one of ,macaulay's essays4   
,southey was as assailable as ,mill4    
,his political economy is a mere muddle2
 his political views are obviously      
distorted by accidental prejudices2 and 
the whole book is desultory and         
disjointed4 ,in a dialogue with the     
ghost of ,sir ,thomas ,more1 he takes   
the opportunity of introducing          
descriptions of scenery1 literary       
digressions1 and quaint illustrations   
from his vast stores of reading to the  
confusion of all definite arrangement4  
,southey is in the awkward position of a

 dogmatist defending a compromise4 ,an  
,anglican claiming infallibility is     
necessarily inconsistent4 ,his view of  
toleration1 for example1 is oddly       
obscure4 ,he would apparently like to   
persecute infidels2#aeb and yet he      
wishes to denounce the ,catholic church 
for its persecuting principles4 ,he     
seems to date the main social evils to  
the changes which began at the          
,reformation1 and yet he looks back to  
the period which succeeded the          
,reformation as representing the ideal  
state of the ,british polity4 ,his      
sympathy with the literature of the     
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries     
predisposed him to this position4 ,he   
would have been more intelligible if he 
had been more distinctly reactionary4   
,for all that1 his views show the       
presence of a leaven which was          
materially to affect the later          
development of ,english opinions4 ,that 
,jacobinism meant anarchy1 and that     
anarchy led irresistibly to military    

despotism were propositions which to    
him1 as to so many others1 seemed to be 
established by the ,french revolution4  
,what1 then1 was the cause of the       
anarchy8 ,sir ,thomas ,more comes from  
the grave to tell us this1 because he   
had witnessed the past symptoms of the  
process4 ,the transition from the old   
feudal system to the modern industrial  
organisation had in his day become      
unmistakably developed4 ,in feudal      
times1 every man had his definite place 
in society2 he was a member of a little 
group2 supported1 if controlled and     
disciplined1 by an elaborate system of  
spiritual authority4 ,the ,reformation  
was the period at which the 'masterless 
man' made his appearance4 ,the          
conversion of pastures into arable land1
 the growth of commerce and of          
pauperism1 were marks of the coming     
change4 ,it proceeded quietly for some  
generations2 but the development of the 
modern manufacturing system represents  
the operation of the same process on a  

far larger scale1 and with far greater  
intensity4 ,the result may be described 
by saying that we have instead of a     
legitimate development a degeneration of
 society4 ,a vast populace has grown up 
outside of the old order4 ,it is        
independent indeed1 but at the heavy    
price of being rather an inorganic mass 
than a constituent part of the body     
politic4 ,it is1 briefly1 to the growth 
of a huge 'proletariate' outside the    
church1 and hostile to the state1 that  
,southey attributes all social evils4   
,the view has become familiar enough in 
various shapes2 and in the reproaches   
which ,southey brings against the       
manufacturing system we have an         
anticipation of other familiar          
lamentations4 ,our manufacturing wealth 
is a 'wen1' a 'fungous excrescence from 
the body politic'2#aec it is no more a  
proof of real prosperity than the size  
of a dropsical patient is a proof of    
health2#aed the manufacturer worships   
mammon instead of ,moloch2#aee and      

wrings his fortune from the degradation 
of his labourers as his warlike         
ancestors wrung wealth from their       
slaves2 he confines children in a       
tainted atmosphere1 physical and moral1 
from morning till night1 and a          
celebrated minister 7,pitt7 boasts of   
this very evil2#aef he treats his       
fellow-creatures as machines1#aeg and   
wealth1 though accumulated1 is not      
diffused2 the great capitalists1 'like  
pikes in a fishpond1' devour the weaker 
fish2#aeh competition is not directed to
 providing the best goods1 but the      
cheapest2#aei every man oppresses his   
neighbour2 the landlord racks his       
tenant1 the farmer grinds the labourer2 
all the little centres of permanent life
 are broken up2 not one man in a        
thousand is buried with his fathers1 and
 the natural ties and domestic          
affections are prematurely              
dissolved4#afj  ,here1 too1 is to be    
found the source of the infidel opinions
 which call for suppression4 ,london is 

a hotbed of corruption2#afa a centre of 
wealth2 and yet1 in spite of poor-laws1 
a place where wretches are dying of     
starvation1 and which could collect a   
mob capable of producing the most       
appalling catastrophes4 ,in such a      
place1 men become unbelievers like      
savages1 because removed from all       
humanising influences1 and booksellers  
can carry on a trade in blasphemy4      
,infidelity is bred in 'the filth and   
corruption of large towns and           
manufacturing districts4'#afb ,the      
disappearance of clerical influence has 
led to 'a mass of ignorance1 vice1 and  
wretchedness which no generous heart can
 contemplate without grief4'#afc ,it is 
not surprising that1 in ,southey's      
opinion1 it is doubtful whether the bulk
 of the people has gained or lost in the
 last thousand years4#afd ,macaulay     
takes all this as mere sentimentalism   
and preference of a picturesque outside 
to solid comfort4 ,but whatever         
,southey's errors of fact1 they show at 

least a deeper insight than his opponent
 into some social evils4 ,his proposed  
remedies explain his diagnosis of the   
evil4 ,in the first place1 it is not    
surprising1 though it surprised         
,macaulay1 that he had many sympathies  
with the socialist1 ,robert ,owen4 ,he  
saw ,owen in #ahaf1afe and was much     
impressed by his views4 ,in the         
,colloquies1#aff ,owen is called the    
'happiest1 most beneficent1 and most    
practical of all enthusiasts'2 an       
account is given of one of the earliest 
co-operative schemes1#afg and ,southey  
believes in the possibility of the plan4
 ,he makes1 however1 one significant    
remark4 ,owen1 he thinks1 could not     
succeed without enlisting in his support
 some sectarian zeal4 ,as ,owen happened
 to object to all religious sects1 this 
defect could not be remedied4  ,southey1
 in fact1 held that the absence of      
religious discipline was at the root of 
the whole evil4 ,religion1 he declares1 
much to the scorn of ,macaulay1 'is the 

basis upon which civil government       
rests4'#afh ,there must1 as he infers1  
be an established religion1 and the     
state which neglects this duty is       
preparing its own ruin4 ',nothing1' he  
declares1 'in abstract science can be   
more certain than these propositions1'  
though they are denied by 'our          
professors of the arts babblative and   
scribblative'--that is1 by ,benthamites 
and ,whigs4 ,for here1 in fact1 we come 
to the irreconcilable difference4       
,government is not to be a mere         
machinery for suppressing violence1 but 
an ally of the church in spreading sound
 religion and morality4 ,the rulers1    
instead of merely reflecting the popular
 will1 should lead and direct all       
agencies for suppressing vice and       
misery4 ,southey1 as his son takes pains
 to show1#afi though he was for         
upholding authority by the most         
stringent measures1 was convinced that  
the one way to make government strong   
was to improve the condition of the     

people4 ,he proposed many measures of   
reform2 national education on the       
principles1 of course1 of ,dr4 ,bell2   
state-aided colonisation and the        
cultivation of waste lands at home2     
,protestant sisterhoods to reproduce the
 good effects of the old order which he 
regretted and yet had to condemn on     
,anglican principles4 ,the ,english     
church should have made use of the      
,wesleyans as the church of ,rome had   
used the ,franciscans and ,dominicans2  
and his ,life of ,wesley was prompted by
 his fond belief that this might yet be 
done4 ,government1 he said1 ought to be 
'paternal'2#agj and his leading         
aspirations have been adopted by        
,socialists on the one hand1 and the    
converts to ,catholicism on the other4  
,for his philosophy1 ,southey was in the
 habit of referring to ,coleridge2 and  
,coleridge's ,constitution of ,church   
and ,state is perhaps the book in which 
,coleridge comes nearest to bringing an 
argument to a conclusion4 ,though marked

 by his usual complexities of style1 his
 parentheses and irrelevant allusions   
and glances at wide metaphysical        
discussions1 he succeeds in laying down 
a sufficient sketch of his position4    
,the book was originally published in   
#ahcj1 and refers to the ,catholic      
emancipation of the previous year4      
,unlike ,southey1 he approves of the    
measure1 only regretting the absence of 
certain safeguards2 and his general     
purpose may be said to be to give such a
 theory of the relations of church and  
state as may justify an establishment   
upon loftier grounds than those of the  
commonplace ,tory4  ,his method1 as he  
explains1 is to find the true 'idea' of 
a constitution and a national church4   
,the 'idea1' he explains1 does not mean 
the conscious aim of the persons who    
founded or now constitute the bodies in 
question4 ,an 'idea' is the subjective  
counterpart of an objective law4#aga ,it
 corresponds to the vital force which   
moulds the structure of the social      

organism1 although it may never have    
been distinctly formulated by any one of
 the actors4 ,in this sense1 therefore1 
we should have to proceed by a          
historical method4 ,we should study the 
constitution as we study the physiology 
of a physical body2#agb and he works out
 the analogy at some length4 ,so far1   
,coleridge is expressing the            
characteristic view that ,nature in     
general is to be regarded as an         
evolution2 only that evolution is to be 
understood in the sense of ,schelling   
not in the sense of either ,darwin4 ,of 
course1 when ,coleridge professes to    
find the 'idea' of the church and state1
 what he really finds is not the idea so
 much as his idea of the idea--which may
 be a very different thing4 ,his theory 
of 'evolution' is compatible with       
assuming that evolutions are            
illegitimate whenever he happens to     
dislike them4  ,he coincides rather     
curiously with ,james ,mill in asserting
 that the 'social bond' was originally  

formed to protect property1 not to      
protect life4#agc ,he discovers         
accordingly that the ancient races1     
,jews1 ,goths1 and ,kelts alike1 divided
 the land into two parts1 one to be     
inherited by separate families1 the     
other to be set apart for the nation4   
,from the latter or the 'nationalty'    
springs the church establishment4 ,this 
property belongs rightfully and         
inalienably to the nation itself4 ,it is
 held by what he calls the 'clerisy4'   
,its functions are1 in the first place1 
to provide a career by which the poorest
 classes may rise to a higher position2 
and secondly1 to provide for the        
development of all the qualities which  
distinguish the civilised man from the  
savage4#agd ,briefly1 then1 the church  
is that part of the national organism   
which is devoted to educating the people
 to be 'obedient1 free1 useful          
organisable subjects1 citizens1 and     
patriots1 living to the benefit of the  
estate1 and prepared to die for its     

defence4' ,henry viii4 would have       
surpassed ,alfred if he had directed the
 'nationalty' to its true purposes2 that
 is1 especially to the maintenance of   
universities1 of a parochial clergy1 and
 of schools in every parish4 ,unluckily1
 ,henry ,,viii4's 'idea' of a national  
church was vague4 ,ideas were not his   
strong point4 ,coleridge appears to be  
especially troubled to work the         
principles into conformity with his     
views of ,catholic emancipation4 ,the   
peculiarity of the theory is that the   
church1 according to him1 seems to be   
simply a national institution4 ,it might
 exist1 and in fact1 did exist before   
,christianity1 as is proved not only by 
the ,jewish but by the ,druidical       
church4#age ,that it should be          
,christian in ,england is a 'blessed    
accident1' or 'providential boon'--or1  
as he puts it1 'most awfully a godsend4'
 ,hence it follows that a primary       
condition of its utility is that the    
clerisy should contribute to the support

 of the other organs of the community4  
,they must not be the subjects of a     
foreign power1 nor1 as he argues at     
length1 subject to the desocialising    
influence of celibacy4 ,it follows that 
the ,roman church is unfitted to be ever
 a national church1 although1 if that   
danger be sufficiently obviated1 no     
political disqualifications should be   
imposed upon ,romanists4 ,and thus1 too1
 the ,church ,catholic is essentially a 
body which has no relations to any      
particular state4 ,it is opposed to the 
world1 not to the nation1 and can have  
no visible head or 'personal centre of  
unity4'#agf ,the church which makes such
 claims is the revelation of            
,antichrist4  ,we need not inquire into 
the prophecies4 ,it is enough to say    
that to ,coleridge as to ,southey the   
preservation of an established church   
seemed to be an essential condition of  
morality and civilisation4 ,they        
differed from the ordinary ,tory1 who   
was content to defend any of the abuses 

by the cry of sacrilege and             
confiscation4 ,the church was to be made
 worthy of its position1 and rendered   
capable of discharging its high         
functions effectually4 ,coleridge1 it   
may be said1 would fully admit that an  
organ which had ceased to correspond to 
its idea must die4 ,it could not        
continue to preserve itself by mere     
force of obstruction1 but must arouse1  
throw off its abuses1 and show itself to
 be worthy of its high claims4          
,meanwhile1 however1 he was perhaps more
 anxious to show the ,utilitarians that 
in assailing the institution on account 
of its abuses1 they were really         
destroying the most essential guarantee 
of progress4 ,he sums up1 in a curious  
passage1 the proofs of modern           
degradation4#agg ,the wicked eighteenth 
century is of course responsible for    
everything4 ,the 'mechanic corpuscular  
theory'2 the consequent decay of        
philosophy1 illustrated by such phrases 
as an excellent 'idea' of cooking2 'the 

ourang-outang theology of the origin of 
the human species substituted for the   
first ten chapters of the book of       
,genesis2 rights of nature for the      
duties and privileges of citizens2      
idealess facts1 misnamed proofs from    
history1 for principles and the insight 
derived from them'3 all these and other 
calamitous results of modern philosophy 
are connected with a neglect of the     
well-being of the people1 the mistaking 
of a large revenue for prosperity1 and  
the consumption of gin by paupers to the
 'value of eighteen millions yearly4'   
,he appeals pathetically to the leaders 
of the ,utilitarians4 ,they will scorn  
him for pronouncing that a 'natural     
clerisy' is 'an essential element of a  
rightly constituted nation4' ,all their 
tract societies and mechanics'          
institutes and 'lecture bazaars under   
the absurd name of universities' are    
'empiric specifics' which feed the      
disease4 ,science will be plebified1 not
 popularised4 ,the morality necessary   

for a state 'can only exist for the     
people in the form of religion4 ,but the
 existence of a true philosophy1 or the 
power and habit of contemplating        
particulars in the unity and fontal     
mirror of the idea1--this in the rulers 
and teachers of a nation is             
indispensable to a sound state of       
religion in all classes4 ,in fact1      
religion1 true or false1 is and ever has
 been the centre of gravity in a realm  
to which all other things must and will 
accommodate themselves4'  ,the existence
 of the eighteenth century always       
remained a hopeless puzzle for          
,coleridge and his followers4 ,why at   
that period everything went wrong in the
 higher regions of thought remained a   
mystery4 ',god is above1' says ,sir     
,thomas ,more to ,southey1#agh 'but the 
devil is below2 evil principles are in  
their nature more active than good4'    
,the devil seemed to have got into the  
upper air1 and was working with his     
allies1 ,bentham and ,mill and ,paine   

and ,cobbett1 with remarkable success4  
,but1 whatever the theories of          
conservatives in church and state1 the  
fact that the theories were held is     
important4 ,the diametrical opposition  
between two schools1 one of which       
regarded the church as a simple abuse1  
and its doctrines as effete             
superstitions1 while the other looked to
 the church and its creed as giving the 
sole hope for suppressing the evil      
principle1 was a critical point in later
 movements1 political as well as        
religious4   ,,iv4 ,,socialism  ,i have 
spoken of ,southey's sympathy for       
,robert ,owen4 ,owen 7#agga-aheh7 is one
 of the characteristic figures of the   
time4 ,he was the son of a village      
tradesman in ,wales1 and had risen to   
prosperity by the qualities of the      
virtuous apprentice4 ,industry1         
patience1 an imperturbably good temper1 
and sagacity in business matters had    
raised him to high position as a        
manufacturer at the time of the rapid   

advance of the cotton trade4 ,many poor 
men have followed the same path to      
wealth4 ,owen's peculiarity was that    
while he became a capitalist he         
preserved his sympathy with the working 
classes4 ,while improving machinery1 he 
complained that the 'living machinery'  
was neglected4 ,one great step in his   
career was his marriage to the daughter 
of ,david ,dale of ,new ,lanark1 a      
religious and worthy manufacturer4#agi  
,dale had employed a number of pauper   
children who were in that day to be     
disposed of by their parishes2 and had  
done his best to make their position    
more tolerable4 ,owen took up this      
scheme1 and carried it out more         
systematically4 ,new ,lanark1 in his    
hands1 became a model village2 he       
provided in various ways for the        
encouragement of sobriety1 industry1 and
 honesty among his workmen1 set up      
stores to supply cheap and good         
provisions1 and especially provided     
infant schools and a systematic         

education4 ',the children1' he declares1
 'were the happiest human beings he ever
 saw4' ,when his partners interfered    
with his plans1 ,owen bought them out   
and started the company to which        
,bentham and ,allen belonged4 ,new      
,lanark rapidly became famous4 ,it was  
visited by all the philanthropists of   
the day4 ,the royal dukes not only of   
,england but of ,russia were interested2
 and ,owen even believed that he had    
converted ,napoleon at ,elba4 ,so far1  
,owen was a benevolent capitalist1      
exercising a paternal sway over his     
people4 ,he became convinced1 however1  
that he had discovered the key to the   
great social problems of the day4 ,when 
the distresses followed the peace1 he   
was prepared to propound his remedy1 and
 found many willing hearers in all      
classes4 ,liverpool and ,sidmouth       
listened to him with favour1 and the    
duke of ,kent became president of a     
committee started to carry out his      
views4 ,he gave the impetus to the      

movement by which the ,factory ,act of  
#ahai was carried1 although it was far  
from embodying his proposals in their   
completeness4  ,owen's diagnosis of the 
social disease explains ,southey's      
partiality4 ,like ,southey1 he traced   
the evil to the development of the      
manufacturing system4 ,that system      
involved1 as he held1 what later        
,socialists have called the             
'exploitation' of the labouring classes 
by the capitalists4 ,with singularly    
crude notions of political economy1     
,owen assumed that the 'dead machinery' 
was in competition with the 'living     
machinery4' ,he made startling          
calculations as to the amount of human  
labour represented by steam-engines2 and
 took for granted that the steam-engine 
displaced an equal number of workmen4   
,his remedy for poverty was to set up a 
number of communities1 which should     
maintain themselves by cultivating the  
soil with the spade1 and in which every 
man should labour for all4 ,thus ,new   

,lanarks were to be spread over the     
country1 with the difference that the   
employer was to be omitted4 ,owen1 in   
short1 became properly a ,socialist1    
having been simply a paternal           
philanthropist4 ,for a time ,owen met   
with considerable support4 ,a great     
meeting was held in ,london in #ahag1   
and a committee was started two years   
afterwards1 of which ,ricardo was a     
member4 ,ricardo1 indeed1 took pains to 
let it be known that he did not believe 
in the efficacy of ,owen's plans4       
,meanwhile ,owen was breaking off his   
connection with ,new ,lanark1 and       
becoming the apostle of a new social    
creed4 ,his missionary voyages took him 
to ,ireland1 to the ,united ,states and 
,mexico1 and attempts were made to      
establish communities in ,scotland and  
in the ,state of ,illinois4  ,owen and  
his followers became natural antagonists
 of the ,utilitarians4 ,he agreed with  
,southey in tracing distress to the     
development of the great manufacturing  

system1 though he went much further4    
,the principles essentially involved in 
the whole industrial system were1       
according to him1 pernicious4 ,he held  
the essential doctrine of his modern    
successors that property is theft4      
,between such a man and the men who took
 the ,wealth of ,nations for their      
gospel1 and ,ricardo as its authorised  
commentator1 there was an impassable    
gulf4 ,on the other hand1 ,owen was     
equally far from the ,tory view of      
religious principles4 ,southey's remark 
that he could only succeed by allying   
himself with some religious fanaticism  
was just to the point4  ,owen was a man 
of very few ideas1 though he held such  
as he had with extraordinary tenacity1  
and enforced them by the effective if   
illogical method of incessant           
repetition4 ,among them was the idea    
which1 as he declares1 had occurred to  
him before he was ten years old that    
there was something radically wrong in  
all religions4 ,whether this opinion had

 come to him from the diffused          
rationalism of his time1 or was         
congenial to the practical and prosaic  
temperament which was disquieted by the 
waste of energy over futile sectarian   
squabbles1 or was suggested by his early
 study of ,seneca--the only author of   
whom he speaks as having impressed him  
in early years--it became a fixed       
conviction4 ,he had been an early       
supporter of ,lancaster and             
'unsectarian' education4 ,when his great
 meeting was to be held in #ahag it     
occurred to him that he might as well   
announce his views4 ,he accordingly     
informed his hearers that the religions 
of the world were the great obstacles to
 progress4 ,he expected1 as he assures  
us1 that this candid avowal would cause 
him to be 'torn in pieces4' ,it provoked
 on the contrary general applause1 and  
,owen congratulated himself rather      
hastily on having struck the deathblow  
of superstition4  ,owen's position1 at  
any rate1 was a significant symptom4 ,it

 showed that the ,socialist movement    
sprang from motives outside the sphere  
of the churches4 ,owen's personal       
simplicity and calmness seems to have   
saved him from any bitter animosity4 ,he
 simply set aside ,christianity as not  
to the purpose1 and went on calmly      
asserting and re-asserting his views to 
,catholics and ,protestants1 ,whigs1    
,radicals1 and ,tories4 ,they agreed in 
considering him to be a bore1 but were  
bored rather than irritated4 ,owen      
himself1 like later ,socialists1        
professed indifference to the political 
warfare of ,whigs and ,tories4 ,when1 at
 the height of the ,reform movement1 he 
published a paper called the ,crisis1   
the title referred not to the struggle  
in which all the upper classes were     
absorbed1 but to the industrial         
revolution which he hoped to bring      
about4 ,he would have been equally ready
 to accept help from ,whig1 ,tory1 or   
,radical2 but his position was one      
equally distasteful to all4 ,the ,tory  

could not ally himself with the man who 
thought all religions nonsense2 nor any 
of the regular parties with the man who 
condemned the whole industrial system   
and was opposed to all the cherished    
prejudices of the respectable middle    
classes4  ,owen's favourite dogma is    
worth a moment's notice4 ,he was never  
tired of repeating that 'character is   
formed by circumstances'2 from which he 
placidly infers that no man deserves    
praise or blame for his conduct4 ,the   
inference1 it must be admitted1 is an   
awkward one in any ethical system4 ,it  
represents1 probably1 ,owen's most      
serious objection to the religions of   
the world4 ,the ultimate aim of the     
priest is to save men's souls2 and sin  
means conduct which leads to            
supernatural punishment4 ,owen1 on the  
contrary1 held that immorality was      
simply a disease to be cured1 and that  
wrath with the sinner was as much out of
 place as wrath with a patient4 ,in this
 sense ,owen's view1 as ,i at least     

should hold1 defines the correct        
starting-point of any social reformer4  
,he has to consider a scientific        
problem1 not to be an agent of a        
supernatural legislator4 ,he should try 
to alter the general conditions from    
which social evils spring1 not to deal  
in pardons or punishment4 ,owen was     
acting with thoroughly good sense in his
 early applications of this principle4  
,the care1 for example1 which he        
bestowed upon infant education          
recognised the fact that social reform  
implied a thorough training of the      
individual from his earliest years4     
,owen's greatest error corresponds to   
the transformation which this belief    
underwent in his mind4 ,since           
circumstances form character1 he seems  
to have argued1 it is only necessary to 
change the circumstances of a grown-up  
man to alter his whole disposition4 ,his
 ambitious scheme in ,america seemed to 
suppose that it was enough to bring     
together a miscellaneous collection of  

the poor and discontented people1 and to
 invite them all to behave with perfect 
unselfishness4 ,at present ,i need only 
remark that in this respect there was a 
close coincidence between ,owen and the 
,utilitarians4 ,both of them really     
aimed at an improvement of social       
conditions on a scientific method2 and  
both justified their hopes by the       
characteristic belief in the indefinite 
modifiability of human nature by        
external circumstances4  ,i turn to a   
man who was in some ways the most       
complete antithesis to ,owen4 ,william  
,cobbett 7#agfb-ahce71 unlike ,owen1    
took a passionate and conspicuous part  
in the political struggles of the day4  
,cobbett1 declares the ,edinburgh       
,review in ,july #ahjg1 has more        
influence than all the other journalists
 put together4 ,he had won it1 as the   
reviewer thought1 by his force of       
character1 although he had changed his  
politics completely 'within the last six
 months4' ,the fact was more significant

 than was then apparent4 ,cobbett1 son  
of a labourer who had risen to be a     
small farmer1 had in spite of all       
obstacles learned to read and write and 
become a great master of the vernacular4
 ,his earliest model had been ,swift's  
,tale of a ,tub1 and in downright vigour
 of homely language he could scarcely be
 surpassed even by the author of the    
,drapier's ,letters4 ,he had enlisted as
 a soldier1 and had afterwards drifted  
to ,america4 ,there he had become       
conspicuous as a typical ,john ,bull4   
,sturdy and pugnacious in the highest   
degree1 he had taken the ,english side  
in ,american politics when the great    
question was whether the new power      
should be bullied by ,france or by      
,england4 ,he had denounced his         
precursor1 ,paine1 in language savouring
 too much1 perhaps1 of barrack-rooms1   
but certainly not wanting in vigour4 ,he
 defied threats of tar and feathers2 put
 a portrait of ,george ,,iii4 in his    
shop-window2 and gloried in ,british    

victories1 and1 in his own opinion1 kept
 ,american policy straight4 ,he had1    
however1 ended by making ,america too   
hot to hold him2 and came back to       
declare that republicanism meant the    
vilest and most corrupt of tyrannies1   
and that1 as an ,englishman1 he despised
 all other nations upon earth4 ,he was  
welcomed on his return by ,pitt's       
government as likely to be a useful     
journalist1 and became the special      
adherent of ,windham1 the ideal         
country-gentleman and the ardent        
disciple of ,burke's principles4 ,he set
 up an independent paper and heartily   
supported the war4 ,on the renewal of   
hostilities in #ahjc ,cobbett wrote a   
manifesto#ahj directed by the government
 to be read in every parish church in   
the kingdom1 in order to rouse popular  
feeling4 ,when ,windham came into office
 in #ahjf1 ,cobbett's friends supposed  
that his fortune was made4 ,yet at this 
very crisis he became a reformer4 ,his  
conversion was put down1 of course1 to  

his resentment at the neglect of        
ministers4 ,i do not think that ,cobbett
 was a man to whose character one can   
appeal as a conclusive answer to such   
charges4 ,unfortunately he was not free 
from weaknesses which prevent us from   
denying that his political course was   
affected by personal motives4 ,but1 in  
spite of weaknesses and of countless    
inconsistencies1 ,cobbett had perfectly 
genuine convictions and intense         
sympathies which sufficiently explain   
his position1 and make him more         
attractive than many less obviously     
imperfect characters4 ,he tells us      
unconsciously what were the thoughts    
suggested to a man penetrated to the    
core by the strongest prejudices--they  
can hardly be called opinions--of the   
true country labourer4  ,the labourer1  
in the first place1 if fairly           
represented by ,cobbett1 had none of the
 bitter feeling against the nobility    
which smouldered in the ,french         
peasantry4 ,cobbett looked back as      

fondly to the surroundings of his youth 
as any nobleman could look back to ,eton
 or to his country mansion4 ,he         
remembered the 'sweet country air' round
 ,crooksbury ,hill1 the song of birds1  
and the rambles through heather and     
woodland4 ,he loved the rough jovial    
sports2 bull-baiting and prize-fighting 
and single-stick play4 ,he had followed 
the squire's hounds on foot1 and admired
 without jealousy the splendid gardens  
of the bishop's palace at ,farnham4     
,squire and parson were an intrinsic    
part of the general order of things4    
,the state of the ,english working      
classes was1 he often declares1 the     
happiest that could be imagined1#aha and
 he appeals in confirmation to his own  
memories4 ,although1 upon enlisting1 he 
had found the army corrupt1 he not only 
loved the soldier for the rest of his   
life1 but shared to the full the        
patriotic exultation which welcomed the 
#ast of ,june and the ,nile4 ,even to   
the last1 he could not stomach the      

abandonment of the title ',king of      
,france'2 for so long as it was         
retained1 it encouraged the farmer to   
tell his son the story of ,crecy and    
,agincourt4#ahb  ,what1 then1 alienated 
,cobbett8 ,briefly1 the degradation of  
the class he loved4 ',i wish1' he said1 
'to see the poor men of ,england what   
the poor men of ,england were when ,i   
was born1 and from endeavouring to      
accomplish this task1 nothing but the   
want of means shall make me desist4'#ahc
 ,he had a right to make that boast1 and
 his ardour in the cause was as         
unimpeachable as honourable4 ,it        
explains why ,cobbett has still a       
sympathetic side4 ,he was a mass of     
rough human nature2 no prig or bundle of
 abstract formulae1 like ,paine and his 
,radical successors4 ,logic with him is 
not in excess1 but in defect4 ,his      
doctrines are hopelessly inconsistent1  
except so far as they represent his     
stubborn prejudices4 ,any view will     
serve his purpose which can be made a   

weapon of offence in his multitudinous  
quarrels4 ,cobbett1 like the ,radicals  
of the time1 was frightened by the      
gigantic progress of the debt4 ,he had  
advocated war2 but the peasant who was  
accustomed to reckon his income by      
pence1 and had cried like a child when  
he lost the price of a red herring1 was 
alarmed by the reckless piling up of    
millions of indebtedness4 ,in #ahjf he  
calmly proposed to his patron ,windham  
to put matters straight by repudiating  
the interest4 ',the nation must destroy 
the debt1 or the debt will destroy the  
nation1' as he argued in the            
,register4#ahd ,the proposal very likely
 caused the alienation of a respectable 
minister1 though propounded with an     
amusing air of philosophical morality4  
,cobbett's alarm developed until it     
became to him a revelation of the       
mystery of iniquity4 ,his ,radical      
friends were denouncing placemen and    
jobbery1 and ,cobbett began to perceive 
what was at the bottom of the evil4 ,the

 money raised to carry on the war served
 also to support a set of bloodsuckers1 
who were draining the national strength4
 ,already1 in #ahjd1 he was lamenting a 
change due to ,pitt's funding system4   
,the old families1 he said1 were giving 
way to 'loanjobbers1 contractors1 and   
nabobs'2 and the country people amazed  
to find that their new masters had been 
'butchers1 bakers1 bottle-corkers1 and  
old-clothesmen4'#ahe ,barings and       
,ricardos and their like were swallowing
 up the old country gentry wholesale2   
and in later years he reckons up1 as he 
rides1 the changes in his own           
neighbourhood4#ahf ,his affection for   
the old country-gentleman might be      
superficial2 but his lamentations over  
the degradation of the peasantry sprang 
from his heart4 ,it was all1 in his     
eyes1 part of one process4 ,paper money1
 he found out1 was at the bottom of it  
all2 for paper money was the outward and
 visible symbol of a gigantic system of 
corruption and jobbery4 ,it represented 

the device by which the hard-earned     
wages of the labourer were being somehow
 conjured away into the pockets of ,jews
 and stockjobbers4 ,the classes which   
profited by this atrocious system formed
 what he called the ',thing'--the huge1 
intricate combination of knaves which   
was being denounced by the              
,radicals--though with a difference4    
,cobbett could join the reformers in so 
far as1 like them1 he thought that the  
rotten boroughs were a vital part of the
 system4 ,he meets a miserable labourer 
complaining of the 'hard times4' ,the   
harvest had been good1 but its blessings
 were not for the labourer4 ,that       
'accursed hill1' says ,cobbett1 pointing
 to old ,sarum1 'is what has robbed you 
of your supper4'#ahg ,the labourer      
represented the class whose blood was   
being sucked4  ,so far1 then1 as the    
,radicals were assailing the            
borough-mongers1 ,cobbett could be their
 cordial ally4 ,two years' imprisonment 
for libel embittered his feelings4 ,in  

the distress which succeeded the peace1 
,cobbett's voice was for a time loudest 
in the general hubbub4 ,he reduced the  
price of his ,register1 and his         
'two-penny trash' reached a circulation 
of #be1jjj or #cj1jjj copies4 ,he became
 a power in the land1 and anticipated   
the immediate triumph of reform4 ,the   
day was not yet4 ,sidmouth's measures of
 repression frightened ,cobbett to      
,america 7,march #ahai71 where he wrote 
his history of the 'last hundred days of
 ,english liberty4' ,he returned in a   
couple of years1 damaged in reputation  
and broken in fortune2 but only to carry
 on the war with indomitable energy1    
although with a recklessness and        
extravagance which alienated his allies 
and lowered his character4 ,he tried to 
cover his errors by brags and bombast1  
which became ridiculous1 and which are  
yet not without significance4  ,cobbett 
came back from ,america with the relics 
of ,paine4 ,paine1 the object of his    
abuse1 had become his idol1 not because 

,cobbett cared much for any abstract    
political theories1 or for religious    
dogmas4 ,paine's merit was that he had  
attacked paper money4 ,to ,cobbett1 as  
to ,paine1 it seemed that ,english      
banknotes were going the way of ,french 
assignats and the provincial currency of
 the ,americans4 ,this became one main  
topic of his tirades1 and represented1  
as he said1 the ',alpha and ,omega' of  
,english politics4 ,the theory was      
simple4 ,the whole borough-mongering    
system depended upon the inflated       
currency4 ,prick that bubble and the    
whole would collapse4 ,it was absolutely
 impossible1 he said1 that the nation   
should return to cash payments and      
continue to pay interest on the debt4   
,should such a thing happen1 he         
declared1 he would 'give his poor body  
up to be broiled on one of              
,castlereagh's widest-ribbed            
gridirons4'#ahh ,the 'gridiron prophecy'
 became famous2 a gridiron was for long 
a frontispiece to the ,register2 and    

,cobbett1 far from retracting1 went on  
proving1 in the teeth of facts1 that it 
had been fulfilled4 ,his inference was1 
not that paper should be preserved1 but 
that the debt should be treated with a  
'sponge4'  ,cobbett1 therefore1 was an  
awkward ally of political economists1   
whose great triumph was the resumption  
of cash payments1 and who regarded      
repudiation as the deadly sin4 ,the     
burthen of the debt1 meanwhile1 was so  
great that repudiation was well within  
the limits of possibility4#ahi ,cobbett1
 in their eyes1 was an advocate of the  
grossest dishonesty1 and using the      
basest incentives4 ,cobbett fully       
retorted their scorn4 ,the economists   
belonged to the very class whom he most 
hated4 ,he was never tired of denouncing
 ,scottish 'feelosophers'2 he sneers at 
,adam ,smith1#aij and ,ricardo was to   
him the incarnation of the stock-jobbing
 interest4 ,cobbett sympathised         
instinctively with the doctrine of the  
,french economists that agriculture was 

the real source of all wealth4 ,he      
nearly accepts a phrase1 erroneously    
attributed to ,windham1 ',perish        
,commerce'2 and he argues that commerce 
was1 in fact1 of little use1 and its    
monstrous extension at the bottom of all
 our worst evils4#aia ,nobody could be  
more heartily opposed to the spirit     
which animated the political economists 
and the whole class represented by them4
 ,at times he spoke the language of     
modern ,socialists4 ,he defines ,capital
 as 'money taken from the labouring     
classes1 which1 being given to army     
tailors and suchlike1 enables them to   
keep foxhounds and trace their descent  
from the ,normans4'#aib  ,the most      
characteristic point of his speculations
 is his view of the poor-laws4 ,nobody  
could speak with more good sense and    
feeling of the demoralisation which they
 were actually producing1 of the sapping
 of the spirit of independence1 and of  
all the devices by which the            
agricultural labourer was losing the    

happiness enjoyed in early years4 ,but  
,cobbett's deduction from his principles
 is peculiar4 ',parson ,malthus' is     
perhaps the favourite object of his most
 virulent abuse4 ',i have hated many    
men1' he says1 'but never any one so    
much as you1' ',i call you parson1' he  
explains1 'because that word includes   
boroughmonger among other meanings1     
though no single word could be          
sufficient4'#aic ,cobbett rages against 
the phrase 'redundant population4'      
,there would be plenty for all if the   
borough-mongers and stockjobbers could  
be annihilated1 taxes abolished1 and the
 debt repudiated4 ,the ordinary         
palliatives suggested were little to the
 taste of this remarkable ,radical4 ,the
 man who approved bull-fighting and     
supported the slave-trade naturally     
sneered at 'heddekashun1' and thought   
savings-banks a mean device to interest 
the poor in the keeping up of the funds4
 ,his remedy was always a sponge applied
 to the debt1 and the abolition of      

taxes4  ,this leads1 however1 to one    
remarkable conclusion4 ,cobbett's attack
 upon the church establishment probably 
did more to cause alarm than any        
writings of the day4 ,for ,paine's      
attacks upon its creed he cared little  
enough4 ',your religion1' said a parson 
to him1 'seems to be altogether         
political4' ,it might well be1 was      
,cobbett's retort1 since his creed was  
made for him by act of parliament4#aid  
,in fact1 he cared nothing for theology1
 though he called himself a member of   
the church of ,england1 and retained an 
intense dislike for ,unitarians1        
dissenters in general1 'saints' as he   
called the ,evangelical party1 ,scottish
 ,presbyterians1 and generally for all  
religious sects4 ,he looked at church   
questions solely from one point of view4
 ,he had learned1 it seems1 from a      
passage in ,ruggles's ,history of the   
,poor1#aie that the tithes had been     
originally intended to support the poor 
as well as the church4 ,gradually1 as he

 looked back upon the 'good old times1' 
he developed the theory expounded in his
 ,history of the ,reformation4 ,it is a 
singular performance1 written at the    
period of his most reckless exasperation
 7#ahbd-bg71 but with his full vigour of
 style4 ,he declares#aif in #ahbe that  
he has sold forty-five thousand copies1 
and it has been often reprinted4 ,the   
purpose is to show that the ,reformation
 was 'engendered in beastly lust1       
brought forth in hypocrisy1 and         
cherished and fed by plunder and        
devastation1 and by rivers of ,english  
and ,irish blood4'#aig ,briefly1 it is  
the cause of every evil that has        
happened since1 including 'the debt1 the
 banks1 the stockjobbers1 and the       
,american revolution4'#aih ,in proving  
this1 ,cobbett writes in the spirit of  
some vehement ,catholic bigot1 maddened 
by the penal laws4 ,henry ,,viii41      
,elizabeth1 and ,william ,,iii4 are his 
monsters2 the ,marys of ,england and    
,scotland his ideal martyrs4 ,he almost 

apologises for the massacre of ,st4     
,bartholomew and the ,gunpowder ,plot2  
and1 in spite of his patriotism1        
attributes the defeat of the ,armada to 
a storm1 for fear of praising           
,elizabeth4 ,the bitterest ,ultramontane
 of to-day would shrink from some of    
this ,radical's audacious statements4   
,cobbett1 in spite of his extravagance1 
shows flashes of his usual shrewdness4  
,he remarks elsewhere that the true way 
of studying history is to examine acts  
of parliament and lists of prices of    
labour and of food2#aii and he argues   
upon such grounds for the prosperity of 
the agricultural labourer under ,edward 
,,iii41 'when a dung-cart filler could  
get a fat goose and a half for half a   
day's work4' ,he makes some telling     
hits1 as when he contrasts ,william of  
,wykeham with ,brownlow ,north1 the last
 bishop of ,winchester4 ,protestants    
condemned celibacy4 ,well1 had ,william 
been married1 we should not have had    
,winchester school1 or ,new ,college2   

had ,brownlow ,north been doomed to     
celibacy1 he would not have had ten sons
 and sons-in-law to share twenty-four   
rich livings1 besides prebends and other
 preferments2 and perhaps he would not  
have sold small beer from his episcopal 
palace at ,farnham4 ,cobbett's main     
doctrine is that when the ,catholic     
church flourished1 the population was   
actually more numerous and richer1 that 
the care of the priests and monks made  
pauperism impossible1 and that ever     
since the hideous blunder perpetrated by
 the reformers everything has been going
 from bad to worse4 ,when it was        
retorted that the census proved the     
population to be growing1 he replied    
that the census was a lie4 ,were the    
facts truly stated1 he declares1 we     
should have a population of near        
twenty-eight million in ,england by the 
end of this century1#bjj a manifest     
reductio ad absurdum4 ,if it were       
remarked that there was a ,catholic     
church in ,france1 and that ,cobbett    

proves his case by the superiority of   
the ,english poor to the ,french poor1  
he remarked summarily that the ,french  
laws were different4#bja  ,thus1 the one
 monster evil is the debt1 and the taxes
 turn out to have been a ,protestant    
invention made necessary by the original
 act of plunder4 ,that was ,cobbett's   
doctrine1 and1 however perverse might be
 some of his reasonings1 it was clearly 
to the taste of a large audience4 ,the  
poor-law was merely a partial atonement 
for a vast and continuous process of    
plunder4 ,corrupt as might be its actual
 operation1 it was a part of the poor   
man's patrimony1 extorted by fear from  
the gang of robbers who fattened upon   
their labours4  ,cobbett's theories need
 not be discussed from the logical or   
historical point of view4 ,they are the 
utterances of a man made unscrupulous by
 his desperate circumstances1 fighting  
with boundless pugnacity1 ready to      
strike any blow1 fair or foul1 so long  
as it will vex his enemies1 and help to 

sell the ,register4 ,his pugnacity      
alienated all his friends4 ,not only did
 ,whigs and ,tories agree in condemning 
him1 but the ,utilitarians hated and    
despised him1 and his old friends1      
,burnett and ,hunt1 were alienated from 
him1 and reviled by him4 ,his actual    
followers were a small and insignificant
 remnant4 ,yet ,cobbett1 like ,owen1    
represented in a crude fashion blind    
instincts of no small importance in the 
coming years4 ,and it is especially to  
be noted that in one direction the      
philosophic ,coleridge and the keen     
,quarterly ,reviewer ,southey1 and the  
,socialist ,owen and the reactionary    
,radical ,cobbett1 were more in         
agreement than they knew4 ,what alarmed 
them was the vast social change         
indicated by the industrial revolution4 
,in one way or another they connected   
all the evils of the day with the growth
 of commerce and manufactures1 and the  
breaking up of the old system of        
domestic trade and village life4#bjb    

,that is to say1 that in a dumb and     
inarticulate logic1 though in the       
loudest tones of denunciation1 ,tories  
and ,socialists1 and nondescript        
,radicals were raging against the       
results of the great social change1     
which the ,utilitarians regarded as the 
true line of advance of the day4 ,this  
gives the deepest line of demarcation1  
and brings us to the political economy1 
which shows most fully how the case     
presented itself to the true            
,utilitarian4  ,,footnotes3  #hj ,bain's
 ,james ,mill1 p4 #bae4  #ha            
,autobiography1 p4 #ajd4  #hb           
,miscellaneous ,works 7,popular         
,edition71 p4 #aca4  #hc ,the articles  
from the ,encyclopaedia upon            
,government1 ,jurisprudence1 ,liberty of
 the ,press1 ,prisons and ,prison       
,discipline1 ,colonies1 ,law of         
,nations1 ,education1 were reprinted in 
a volume 'not for sale1' in #ahbe and   
#ahbh4 ,i quote from a reprint not      
dated4  #hd ',government1' pp4 #c-e4    

#he ',government1' p4 #h4  #hf          
',government1' p4 #i4  #hg ,ibid4 p4    
#aa4  #hh ,ibid4 p4 #i4  #hi ,ibid4 p4  
#ab4  #ij ',government1' p4 #i4  #ia    
,c'est une experience eternelle que tout
 homme qui a du pouvoir est porte a en  
abuser2 il va jusqu'a ce qu'il trouve   
des limites4--,esprit des ,lois1 ,bk4   
xi4 chap #d4  #ib ',government1' p4 #ae4
  #ic ',government1' p4 #g4  #id ,ibid4 
p4 #ah4  #ie ',government1' p4 #ba4  #if
 ,ibid4 p4 #bb  #ig ,autobiography1 p4  
#ajd4  #ih ',government1' p4 #bh4  #ii  
,ibid4 p4 #cj4 ,mill especially refers  
to the exposure of clerical artifices in
 ,father ,paul's ,council of ,trent4    
#ajj ',education1' p4 #bj  #aja ,ibid4  
p4 #de4  #ajb ,autobiography1 p4 #ajf4  
#ajc ',government1' p4 #ca4  #ajd       
,bain's ,james ,mill1 p4 #cib4  #aje    
,they were reprinted in the             
,miscellaneous ,works after ,macaulay's 
death4 ,i quote from the 'popular       
edition' of that work 7#ahge74  #ajf    
,miscellaneous ,works1 p4 #aff4  #ajg   

,miscellaneous ,works1 p4 #acb4  #ajh   
,mill's ,autobiography1 p4 #aeh4  #aji  
',government1' p4 #ab4  #aaj            
,miscellaneous ,works1 p4 #afi4  #aaa   
,fragment on ,mackintosh 7#ahgj71 pp4   
#bge-id4  #aab ,essay on the            
',independency of ,parliament4'  #aac   
,fragment1 p4 #bib4  #aad ,ibid4 p4     
#bgf4  #aae ,miscellaneous ,works1 p4   
#agj4  #aaf ,miscellaneous ,works1 p4   
#agc4  #aag ,miscellaneous ,works1 p4   
#ach4  #aah ,miscellaneous ,works1 pp4  
#ace-dj4  #aai ,miscellaneous ,works1 p4
 #aeh1 and see pp4 #adc-dg4  #abj       
,speeches 7,popular ,edition71 p4 #abe4 
#aba ,ibid4 p4 #abh4  #abb              
,miscellaneous ,works1 p4 #adf4  #abc   
,miscellaneous ,works1 p4 #ahc4  #abd ,a
 full analysis of this article is in    
,bain's ,james ,mill1 pp4 #bfe-ge4  #abe
 ,article upon ,sheridan1 reprinted in  
,jeffrey's ,essays1 iv4 7#ahdd74  #abf  
,table-,talk1 #bgth ,april #ahbc4  #abg 
,vindiciae ,gallicae1 in ,miscellaneous 
,works1 iii4 7#ahdf71 p4 #eg4  #abh     

,mackintosh thinks it necessary to add  
that this parallel was suggested to him 
by ,william ,thomson 7#agdf-ahcg71 a    
literary gentleman who continued        
,watson's ,philip ,,iii41 and may1 for  
anything ,i know1 deserve ,mackintosh's 
warm eulogy4  #abi ,vindiciae ,gallicae1
 p4 #ei4  #acj ,ibid4 p4 #ea4  #aca     
,ibid4 p4 #adh4  #acb ,ibid4 p4 #fh4    
#acc ,ibid4 p4 #gb4  #acd ,ibid4 p4     
#abe4  #ace ,vindiciae ,gallicae1 p4    
#abh4  #acf ,ibid4 p4 #hd4  #acg ,ibid4 
p4 #cj4  #ach ,life of ,mackintosh1 i4  
#abe4  #aci ,miscellaneous ,works1 iii4 
#bfa-fe4  #adj ,life1 i4 #cji-af4  #ada 
,see ,miscellaneous ,works1 iii4 #c4    
#adb ,ibid4 iii4 #bjc-ch 7an article    
highly praised by ,bagehot in his       
,parliamentary ,reform74  #adc          
,miscellaneous ,works1 iii4 #bae-af4    
#add ,ibid4 iii4 #bbf4 ,mackintosh in   
this article mentions the 'caucus1' and 
observes that the name implies that     
combinations have been already formed   
upon 'which the future government of the

 confederacy may depend more than on the
 forms of election1 or the letter of the
 present laws4' ,he inclines to approve 
the system as essential to party        
government4  #ade ,essays 7#ahdd71 i4   
#hd-ajf4  #adf ,the famous ',cevallos'  
article of #ahjh1 said to be written by 
,jeffrey and ,brougham 7,macvey         
,napier's ,correspondence1 p4 #cjh71    
gave the immediate cause of starting the
 ,quarterly2 and1 according to          
,brougham1 first gave a distinctly      
,liberal character to the ,edinburgh4   
,for ,jeffrey's desire to avoid 'party  
politics1' see ,lockhart's ,life of     
,scott1 ,m4 ,napier's ,correspondence1  
p4 #dce1 and ,homer's ,memoirs 7#ahec71 
i4 #dfd4  #adg ,april #ahje2 reprinted  
in ,essays1 ii4 #ch1 etc41 to show1 as  
he says1 how early he had taken up his  
view of the ,french revolution4  #adh   
,sydney ,smith complains in his         
correspondence of this article as       
exaggerating the power of the           
aristocracy4  #adi ,essays1 iv4 #bi4    

#aej ,i need not speak of ,brougham1    
then the most conspicuous advocate of   
,whiggism4 ,he published in #ahdc a     
,political ,philosophy1 which1 according
 to ,lord ,campbell1 killed the         
',society for the ,diffusion of ,useful 
,knowledge4' ,no such hypothesis is     
necessary to account for the death of a 
society encumbered by a ',dictionary of 
,universal ,biography4' ,but the book   
was bad enough to kill1 if a collection 
of outworn platitudes can produce that  
effect4  #aea ,bentham's ,works1 x4     
#ecf4  #aeb ,colloquies1 i4 #bec4  #aec 
,colloquies1 i4 #aga4  #aed ,ibid4 i4   
#agh4  #aee ,ibid4 i4 #afi4  #aef ,ibid4
 i4 #afg4  #aeg ,ibid4 i4 #agj4  #aeh   
,ibid4 i4 #aid4  #aei ,ibid4 ii4 #bdg4  
#afj ,colloquies1 ii4 #bei4  #afa ,ibid4
 i4 #aji4  #afb ,ibid4 ii4 #aje-g4  #afc
 ,ibid4 i4 #ajf4  #afd ,ibid4 i4 #dg4   
#afe ,life and ,correspondence1 iv4     
#aie2 ,selections1 iii4 #de4  #aff      
,colloquies1 i4 #fb4  #afg ,colloquies1 
i4 #ace4  #afh ,ibid4 ii4 #adg4 ,southey

 is here almost verbally following      
,burke's ,reflections4  #afi ,life and  
,correspondence1 v4 #d-f4  #agj         
,colloquies1 i4 #aje4  #aga ,on the     
,constitution of ,church and ,state1    
according to the idea of each1 #aheb    
7fourth edition74  #agb ,church and     
,state1 p4 #ajj4  #agc ,ibid4 p4 #ig4   
#agd ,church and ,state1 p4 #he4  #age  
,ibid4 p4 #fg4  #agf ,church and ,state1
 p4 #adb4  #agg ,ibid4 pp4 #ge-gi4  #agh
 ,colloquies1 i4 #cg4  #agi ,see an     
early account of ,dale 7in #agih7 in    
,sydney ,smith's ,life and ,letters1 i4 
#ce1 and another in ,wilberforce's      
,correspondence 7#ahdj71 i4 #acg 7in    
#agif74  #ahj ,printed in ,political    
,works1 i4 #cjb4  #aha ,political       
,works1 v4 #cac2 vi4 #egi4  #ahb        
,political ,works1 i4 #dgc2 v4 #cai4    
#ahc ,ibid4 ii4 #bhe4  #ahd ,political  
,works1 ii4 #bh2 iv4 #chh4  #ahe ,ibid4 
i4 #ddc4  #ahf ,rural ,rides 7#ahec71 p4
 #caa4  #ahg ,rural ,rides1 p4 #chf4    
#ahh ,political ,works1 v4 #dcf 7#bbnd  

,july #ahai74  #ahi ,even ,m',culloch   
had recommended a partial repudiation4  
#aij ,political ,works1 iv4 #bcg4  #aia 
,ibid4 ii4 #ai1 #ajg1 #bej1 #cdf2 and   
iii4 #dbc4 ,see ,parliamentary ,history1
 xxx41 where the first use of the phrase
 by ,hardinge is reported4  #aib        
,political ,works1 vi4 #agf4  #aic      
,ibid4 #cie4  #aid ,rural ,rides1 p4    
#ddf4  #aie ,he complains bitterly that 
,ruggles had suppressed this in a second
 edition4 ,protestant ,reformation      
7#ahej71 ii41 ,introduction4  #aif      
,political ,register1 #bith ,jan4 #ahbe4
  #aig ,protestant ,reformation1 p4 #ac4
  #aih ,ibid4 p4 #bfb4  #aii ,advice to 
,young ,men1 p4 #h4  #bjj ,political    
,works1 v4 #dje4 ,if our census be not a
 lie1 there were twenty-seven million   
,englishmen in #ahia4  #bja ,protestant 
,reformation1 i4 #caa4  #bjb ,coleridge 
in a letter to ,allsop 7,conversations1 
etc41 i4 #bj7 approves one of ,cobbett's
 articles1 because it popularises the   
weighty truth of the 'hollowness of     

commercial wealth4' ,cobbett1 he sadly  
reflects1 is an overmatch for           
,liverpool4 ,see ,cobbett's ,political  
,works1 v4 #dff n4     ,,chapter ,,iv   
,,malthus   ,i4 ,,malthus',s            
,,starting-,,point  ,the political      
movement represented the confluence of  
many different streams of agitation4    
,enormous social changes had generated  
multifarious discontent4 ,new wants and 
the new strains and stresses between the
 various parts of the political         
mechanism required new adaptations4     
,but1 if it were inquired what was the  
precise nature of the evils1 and how the
 reform of parliament was to operate1   
the most various answers might be given4
 ,a most important line of division did 
not coincide with the line between the  
recognised parties4 ,one wing of the    
,radicals agreed with many              
,conservatives in attributing the great 
evils of the day to the industrial      
movement and the growth of competition4 
,the middle-class ,whigs and the        

,utilitarians were1 on the contrary1 in 
thorough sympathy with the industrial   
movement1 and desired to limit the      
functions of government1 and trust to   
self-help and free competition4 ,the    
,socialistic movement appeared for the  
present to be confined to a few dreamers
 and demagogues4 ,the ,utilitarians     
might approve the spirit of the         
,owenites1 but held their schemes to be 
chimerical4 ,beneath the political      
controversies there was therefore a set 
of problems to be answered2 and the     
,utilitarian answer defines their       
distinction from ,radicals of a         
different and1 as they would have said1 
unphilosophical school4  ,what1 then1   
was the view really taken by the        
,utilitarians of these underlying       
problems8 ,they not only had a very     
definite theory in regard to them1 but  
in working it out achieved perhaps their
 most important contribution to         
speculation4 ,beneath a political theory
 lies1 or ought to lie1 what we now call

 a 'sociology'--a theory of that        
structure of society which really       
determines the character and the working
 of political institutions4 ,the        
,utilitarian theory was embodied in     
their political economy4 ,i must try to 
define as well as ,i can what were the  
essential first principles implied1     
without going into the special problems 
which would be relevant in a history of 
political economy4  ,the two leading    
names in the literature of political    
economy during the first quarter of this
 century were undoubtedly ,malthus and  
,ricardo4 ,thomas ,robert ,malthus#bjc  
7#agff-ahcd7 was not one of the         
,utilitarian band4 ,as a clergyman1 he  
could not share their opinion of the    
,thirty-nine ,articles4 ,moreover1 he   
was a ,whig1 not a ,radical2 and he was 
even tainted with some economic heresy4 
,still1 he became one of the prophets1  
if not the leading prophet1 of the      
,utilitarians4 ,belief in the           
,malthusian theory of population was the

 most essential article of their faith1 
and marked the line of cleavage between 
the two wings of the ,radical party4    
,malthus was the son of a country       
gentleman in ,surrey4 ,his father was a 
man of studious habits1 and one of the  
enthusiastic admirers of ,rousseau4 ,his
 study of ,emile probably led to the    
rather desultory education of his son4  
,the boy1 after being taught at home1   
was for a time a pupil of ,r4 ,graves   
7#agae-ahjd71 author of the ,spiritual  
,quixote1 a ,whig clergyman who was at  
least orthodox enough to ridicule       
,methodism4 ,malthus was next sent to   
attend ,gilbert ,wakefield's lectures at
 the ,warrington ',academy1' the        
,unitarian place of education1 and in   
#aghd went to ,jesus ,college1          
,cambridge1 of which ,wakefield had been
 a fellow4 ,for ,wakefield1 who had     
become a ,unitarian1 and who was        
afterwards a martyr to political        
,radicalism1 he appears to have retained
 a strong respect4 ,at ,jesus1 again1   

,malthus was under ,frend1 who also was 
to join the ,unitarians4 ,malthus was   
thus brought up under the influences of 
the modified rationalism which was      
represented by the ,unitarians outside  
the establishment and by ,paley within4 
,coleridge was at ,jesus while ,malthus 
was still a fellow1 and there became an 
ardent admirer of ,priestley1 ,malthus  
remained within the borders of the      
church4 ,its yoke was light enough1 and 
he was essentially predisposed to       
moderate views4 ,he took his degree as  
ninth wrangler in #aghh1 became a fellow
 of his college in #agic1 took orders1  
and in #agih was curate of ,albury1 near
 his father's house in ,surrey4         
,malthus's home was within a walk of    
,farnham1 where ,cobbett had been born  
and passed his childhood4 ,he had1      
therefore1 before his eyes the same     
agricultural labourer whose degradation 
excited ,cobbett to ,radicalism4 ,very  
different views were suggested to       
,malthus4 ,the revolutionary doctrine   

was represented in ,england by the      
writings of ,godwin1 whose ,political   
,justice appeared in #agic and ,enquirer
 in #agig4 ,these books naturally       
afforded topics for discussion between  
,malthus and his father4 ,the usual     
relations between senior and junior were
 inverted2 the elder ,malthus1 as became
 a follower of ,rousseau1 was an        
enthusiast2 and the younger took the    
part of suggesting doubts and           
difficulties4 ,he resolved to put down  
his arguments upon paper1 in order to   
clear his mind2 and the result was the  
,essay upon ,population1 of which the   
first edition appeared anonymously in   
#agih4  ,the argument upon which        
,malthus relied was already prepared for
 him4 ,the dreams of the revolutionary  
enthusiasts supposed either a neglect of
 the actual conditions of human life or 
a belief that those conditions could be 
radically altered by the proposed       
political changes4 ,the cooler reasoner 
was entitled to remind them that they   

were living upon solid earth1 not in    
dreamland4 ,the difficulty of realising 
,utopia may be presented in various     
ways4 ,malthus took a point which had   
been noticed by ,godwin4 ,in the        
conclusion of his ,political            
,justice1#bjd while taking a final      
glance at the coming millennium1 ,godwin
 refers to a difficulty suggested by    
,robert ,wallace4 ,wallace had#bje said 
that all the evils under which mankind  
suffers might be removed by a community 
of property1 were it not that such a    
state of things would lead to an        
'excessive population4' ,godwin makes   
light of the difficulty4 ,he thinks that
 there is some 'principle in human      
society by means of which everything    
tends to find its own level and proceed 
in the most auspicious way1 when least  
interfered with by the mode of          
regulation4' ,anyhow1 there is plenty of
 room on the earth1 at present4         
,population may increase for 'myriads of
 centuries4' ,mind1 as ,franklin has    

said1 may become 'omnipotent over       
matter'2#bjf life may be indefinitely   
prolonged2 our remote descendants who   
have filled the earth 'will probably    
cease to propagate'2#bjg they will not  
have the trouble of making a fresh start
 at every generation2 and in those days 
there will be 'no war1 no crimes1 no    
administration of justice'2 and         
moreover1 'no disease1 anguish1         
melancholy1 or resentment4' ,briefly1 we
 shall be like the angels1 only without 
the needless addition of a supreme      
ruler4 ,similar ideas were expressed in 
,condorcet's famous ,tableau historique 
des progres de l'esprit humain1#bjh     
written while he was in daily fear of   
death by the guillotine1 and so giving  
the most striking instance on record of 
the invincibility of an idealist        
conviction under the hardest pressure of
 facts4  ,the argument of ,malthus is a 
product of the whole previous course of 
speculation4 ,the question of population
 had occupied the ,french economists4   

,the profound social evils of ,france   
gave the starting-point of their        
speculations2 and one of the gravest    
symptoms had been the decay of          
population under the last years of      
,louis ,,xiv4 ,their great aim was to   
meet this evil by encouraging           
agriculture4 ,it could not escape the   
notice of the simplest observer that if 
you would have more mouths you must     
provide more food1 unless1 as some pious
 people assumed1 that task might be left
 to ,providence4 ,quesnay had laid it   
down as one of his axioms that the      
statesman should aim at providing       
sustenance before aiming simply at      
stimulating population4 ,it follows1    
according to ,gulliver's famous maxim1  
that the man who makes two blades of    
grass grow where one grew before        
deserves better of his country than the 
'whole race of politicians put          
together4' ,other writers1 in developing
 this thesis1 had dwelt upon the        
elasticity of population4 ,the elder    

,mirabeau1 for example1 published his   
,ami des hommes ou traite de la         
population in #agef4 ,he observes that1 
given the means of subsistence1 men will
 multiply like rats in a barn4#bji ,the 
great axiom1 he says1#baj is 'la mesure 
de la subsistance est celle de la       
population4' ,cultivate your fields1 and
 you will raise men4 ,mirabeau replies  
to ,hume's essay upon the ',populousness
 of ancient nations' 7#ageb71 of which  
,wallace's first treatise was a         
criticism4 ,the problem discussed by    
,hume and ,wallace had been             
comparatively academical2 but by        
,malthus's time the question had taken a
 more practical shape4 ,the             
sentimentalists denounced luxury as     
leading to a decay of the population4   
,their prevailing doctrine is embodied  
in ,goldsmith's famous passage in the   
,deserted ,village 7#aggj73      ',ill  
fares the land1 to hastening ills a     
prey1     ,where wealth accumulates and 
men decay4'  ,the poetical version only 

reflected the serious belief of ,radical
 politicians4 ,although1 as we are now  
aware1 the population was in fact       
increasing rapidly1 the belief prevailed
 among political writers that it was    
actually declining4 ,trustworthy        
statistics did not exist4 ,in #agec     
,john ,potter1 son of the archbishop1   
proposed to the ,house of ,commons a    
plan for a census4 ,a violent discussion
 arose1#baa in the course of which it   
was pointed out that the plan would     
inevitably lead to the adoption of the  
'canvas frock and wooden shoes4'        
,englishmen would lose their liberty1   
become ,french slaves1 and1 when        
counted1 would no doubt be taxed and    
forcibly enlisted4 ,the bill passed the 
,house of ,commons in spite of such     
reasoning1 but was thrown out by the    
,house of ,lords4 ,till the first census
 was taken in #ahja--;a period at which 
the absolute necessity of such knowledge
 had become obvious--the most elementary
 facts remained uncertain4 ,was         

population increasing or decreasing8    
,that surely might be ascertainable4    
,richard ,price 7#agbc-agia7 was not    
only a distinguished moralist and a     
leading politician1 but perhaps the best
 known writer of his time upon          
statistical questions4 ,he had the      
credit of suggesting ,pitt's sinking    
fund1#bab and spoke with the highest    
authority upon facts and figures4 ,price
 argued in #aghjbac that the population 
of ,england had diminished by one-fourth
 since the revolution of #afhh4 ,a sharp
 controversy followed upon the few      
ascertainable data4 ,the vagueness of   
the results shows curiously how much    
economists had to argue in the dark4    
,malthus observes in his first edition  
that he had been convinced by reading   
,price that population was restrained by
 'vice and misery1' as results1 not of  
political institutions1 but of 'our own 
creation4'#bad ,this gives the essential
 point of difference4 ,mirabeau had     
declared that the population of all     

,europe was decaying4 ,hume's essay1    
which he criticises1 had been in answer 
to a similar statement of ,montesquieu4 
,price had learned that other countries 
were increasing in number1 though       
,england1 he held1 was still declining4 
,what1 then1 was the cause8 ,the cause1 
replied both ,price and ,mirabeau1 was  
'luxury1' to which ,price adds the      
specially ,english evils of the         
'engrossment of farms' and the enclosure
 of open fields4 ,price had to admit    
that the ,english towns had increased2  
but this was an additional evil4 ,the   
towns increased simply by draining the  
country2 and in the towns themselves the
 deaths exceeded the births4 ,the great 
cities were the graves of mankind4 ,this
 opinion was strongly held1 too1 by     
,arthur ,young1 who ridiculed the       
general fear of depopulation1 and       
declared that if money were provided1   
you could always get labour1 but who    
looked upon the towns as destructive    
cancers in the body politic4  ,the      

prevalence of this view explains        
,malthus's position4 ,to attribute      
depopulation to luxury was to say that  
it was caused by the inequality of      
property4 ,the rich man wasted the      
substance of the country1 became        
demoralised himself1 and both corrupted 
and plundered his neighbours4 ,the      
return to a 'state of nature1' in       
,rousseau's phrase1 meant the return to 
a state of things in which this         
misappropriation should become          
impossible4 ,the whole industry of the  
nation would then be devoted to         
supporting millions of honest1 simple   
peasants and labourers1 whereas it now  
went to increasing the splendour of the 
great at the expense of the poor4 ,price
 enlarges upon this theme1 which was1 in
 fact1 the contemporary version of the  
later formula that the rich are growing 
richer and the poor poorer4 ,the        
immediate effect of equalising property1
 then1 would be an increase of          
population4 ,it was the natural retort1 

adopted by ,malthus1 that such an       
increase would soon make everybody poor1
 instead of making every one            
comfortable4 ,population1 the ,french   
economists had said1 follows            
subsistence4 ,will it not multiply      
indefinitely8 ,the rapid growth of      
population in ,america was noticed by   
,price and ,godwin2 and the theory had  
been long before expanded by ,franklin1 
in a paper which ,malthus quotes in his 
later editions4 ',there is no bound1'   
said ,franklin in #agea1bae 'to the     
prolific nature of plants and animals   
but what is made by their crowding and  
interfering with each other's means of  
subsistence4' ,the whole earth1 he      
infers1 might be overspread with fennel1
 for example1 or1 if empty of men1      
replenished in a few ages with          
,englishmen4 ,there were supposed to be 
already one million of ,englishmen in   
,north ,america4 ,if they doubled once  
in twenty-five years1 they would in a   
century exceed the number of ,englishmen

 at home4 ,this is identical with       
,mirabeau's principle of the multiplying
 of rats in a barn4 ,population treads  
closely on the heels of subsistence4    
,work out your figures and see the      
results4#baf  ,malthus's essay in the   
first edition was mainly an application 
of this retort1 and though the logic was
 effective as against ,godwin1 he made  
no elaborate appeal to facts4 ,malthus  
soon came to see that a more precise    
application was desirable4 ,it was      
clearly desirable to know whether       
population was or was not actually      
increasing1 and under what conditions4  
,i have spoken of the contemporary      
labours of ,sinclair1 ,young1 ,sir ,f4  
,eden1 and others4 ,to collect          
statistics was plainly one of the       
essential conditions of settling the    
controversy4 ,malthus in #agii travelled
 on the continent to gather information1
 and visited ,sweden1 ,norway1 ,russia1 
and ,germany4 ,the peace of ,amiens     
enabled him in #ahjb to visit ,france   

and ,switzerland4 ,he inquired          
everywhere into the condition of the    
people1 collected such statistical      
knowledge as was then possible1 and     
returned to digest it into a elaborate  
treatise4 ,meanwhile1 the condition of  
,england was giving a fresh significance
 to the argument4 ,the first edition had
 been published at the critical time    
when the poor-law was being relaxed1 and
 disastrous results were following war  
and famine4 ,the old complaint that the 
poor-law was causing depopulation was   
being changed for the complaint that it 
was stimulating pauperism4 ,the first   
edition already discussed this subject1 
which was occupying all serious         
thinkers2 it was now to receive a fuller
 treatment4 ,the second edition1 greatly
 altered1 appeared in #ahjc1 and made   
,malthus a man of authority4 ,his merits
 were recognised by his appointment in  
#ahje to the professorship of history   
and political economy at the newly      
founded ,east ,india ,college at        

,haileybury4 ,there he remained till the
 end of his life1 which was placid1     
uneventful1 and happy4 ,he made a happy 
marriage in #ahjd2 and his calm         
temperament enabled him to bear an      
amount of abuse which might have broken 
the health of a more irritable man4     
,cobbett's epithet1 'parson ,malthus1'  
strikes the keynote4 ,he was pictured as
 a ,christian priest denouncing charity1
 and proclaiming the necessity of vice  
and misery4 ,he had the ill luck to be  
the centre upon which the antipathies of
 ,jacobin and anti-,jacobin converged4  
,cobbett's language was rougher than    
,southey's2 but the poet-laureate and   
the author of 'two-penny trash' were    
equally vehement in sentiment4 ,malthus1
 on the other hand1 was accepted by the 
political economists1 both ,whig and    
,utilitarian4 ,horner and ,mackintosh1  
lights of the ,whigs1 were his warm     
friends as well as his disciples4 ,he   
became intimate with ,ricardo1 and he   
was one of the original members of the  

,political ,economy ,club4 ,he took     
abuse imperturbably2 was never vexed    
'after the first fortnight' by the most 
unfair attack2 and went on developing   
his theories1 lecturing his students1   
and improving later editions of his     
treatise4 ,malthus died on #bcrd        
,december #ahcd4   ,,ii4 ,,the ,,ratios 
,the doctrine marks a critical point in 
political economy4 ,malthus's opponents1
 as ,mr4 ,bonar remarks1#bag attacked   
him alternately for propounding a truism
 and for maintaining a paradox4 ,a      
'truism' is not useless so long as its  
truth is not admitted4 ,it would be the 
greatest of achievements to enunciate a 
law self-evident as soon as formulated1 
and yet previously ignored or denied4   
,was this the case of ,malthus8 ,or did 
he really startle the world by clothing 
a commonplace in paradox1 and then      
explain away the paradox till nothing   
but the commonplace was left8  ,malthus 
laid down in his first edition a        
proposition which continued to be       

worried by all his assailants4          
,population1 he said1 when unchecked1   
increases in the geometrical ratio2 the 
means of subsistence increase only in an
 arithmetical ratio4 ,geometrical ratios
 were just then in fashion4#bah ,price  
had appealed to their wonderful ways in 
his arguments about the sinking fund2   
and had pointed out that a penny put out
 to #e per cent4 compound interest at   
the birth of ,christ would1 in the days 
of ,pitt1 have been worth some millions 
of globes of solid gold1 each as big as 
the earth4 ,both ,price and ,malthus lay
 down a proposition which can easily be 
verified by the multiplication-table4   
,if1 as ,malthus said1 population       
doubles in twenty-five years1 the number
 in two centuries would be to the       
present number as #bef to #a1 and in    
three as #djif to #a4 ,if1 meanwhile1   
the quantity of subsistence increased in
 'arithmetical progression1' the        
multipliers for it would be only #i and 
#ac4 ,it follows that1 in the year      

#bjjc1 two hundred and fifty-six persons
 will have to live upon what now        
supports nine4 ,so far1 the case is     
clear4 ,but how does the argument apply 
to facts8 ,for obvious reasons1 ,price's
 penny could not become even one solid  
planet of gold4 ,malthus's population is
 also clearly impossible4 ,that is just 
his case4 ,the population of ,british   
,north ,america was actually1 when he   
wrote1 multiplying at the assigned rate4
 ,what he pointed out was that such a   
rate must somehow be stopped2 and his   
question was1 how precisely will it be  
stopped8 ,the first proposition1 he     
says#bai 7that is1 that population      
increased geometrically71 ',i considered
 as proved the moment that the ,american
 increase was related2 and the second as
 soon as enunciated4' ,to say that a    
population increases geometrically1 in  
fact1 is simply to say that it increases
 at a fixed rate4 ,the arithmetical     
increase corresponds to a statement     
which ,malthus1 at any rate1 might      

regard as undeniable2 namely1 that in a 
country already fully occupied1 the     
possibility of increasing produce is    
restricted within much narrower limits4 
,in a 'new country1' as in the ,american
 colonies1 the increase of food might   
proceed as rapidly as the increase of   
population4 ,improved methods of        
cultivation1 or the virtual addition of 
vast tracts of fertile territory by     
improved means of communication1 may of 
course add indefinitely to the resources
 of a population4 ,but ,malthus was     
contemplating a state of things in which
 the actual conditions limited the      
people to an extraction of greater      
supplies from a strictly limited area4  
,whether ,malthus assumed too easily    
that this represented the normal case   
may be questionable4 ,at any rate1 it   
was not only possible but actual in the 
,england of the time4 ,his problem was  
very much to the purpose4 ,his aim was  
to trace the way in which the population
 of a limited region is prevented from  

increasing geometrically4 ,if the       
descendants of ,englishmen increase at a
 certain rate in ,america1 why do they  
not increase equally in ,england8 ,that1
 it must be admitted1 is a fair         
scientific problem4 ,finding that two   
races of similar origin1 and presumably 
like qualities1 increase at different   
rates1 we have to investigate the causes
 of the difference4  ,malthus answered  
the problem in the simplest and most    
consistent way in his first edition4    
,what are the checks8 ,the ultimate     
check would clearly be starvation4 ,a   
population might multiply till it had   
not food4 ,but before this limit is     
actually reached1 it will suffer in     
various ways from scarcity4 ,briefly1   
the checks may be distinguished into the
 positive1 that is1 actual distress1 and
 the preventive1 or 'foresight4' ,we    
shall actually suffer unless we are     
restrained by the anticipation of       
suffering4 ,as a fact1 however1 he      
thinks that men are but little          

influenced by the prudence which        
foresees sufferings4 ,they go on        
multiplying till the consequences are   
realised4 ,you may be confined in a     
room1 to use one of his                 
illustrations1#bbj though the walls do  
not touch you2 but human beings are     
seldom satisfied till they have actually
 knocked their heads against the wall4  
,he sums up his argument in the first   
edition in three propositions4#bba      
,population is limited by the means of  
subsistence2 that is obvious2 population
 invariably increases when the means of 
subsistence are increased2 that is shown
 by experience to be practically true2  
and therefore1 finally1 the proportion  
is maintained by 'misery and vice4'     
,that is the main conclusion which not  
unnaturally startled the world4 ,malthus
 always adhered in some sense to the    
main doctrine1 though he stated         
explicitly some reserves already        
implicitly involved4 ,a writer must not 
be surprised if popular readers remember

 the unguarded and dogmatic utterances  
which give piquancy to a theory1 and    
overlook the latent qualifications      
which1 when fully expressed1 make it    
approximate to a commonplace4 ,the      
political bearing of his reasoning is   
significant4 ,the application of        
,godwin's theories of equality would    
necessarily1 as he urges1 stimulate an  
excessive population4 ,to meet the      
consequent evils1 two measures would be 
obviously necessary2 private property   
must be instituted in order to stimulate
 prudence2 and marriage must be         
instituted to make men responsible for  
the increase of the population4 ,these  
institutions are necessary1 and they    
make equality impossible4 ,weak1 then1  
as foresight may be with most men1 the  
essential social institutions have been 
developed by the necessity of enabling  
foresight to exercise some influence2   
and thus indirectly societies have in   
fact grown in wealth and numbers through
 arrangements which have by one and the 

same action strengthened prudence and   
created inequality4 ,although this is   
clearly implied1 the main impression    
produced upon ,malthus's readers was    
that he held 'vice and misery' to be    
essential to society2 nay1 that in some 
sense he regarded them as blessings4 ,he
 was accused1 as he tells us1#bbb of    
objecting to vaccination1 because it    
tended to prevent deaths from small-pox1
 and has to protest against some one who
 had declared his principles to be      
favourable to the slave trade4#bbc ,he  
was represented1 that is1 as holding    
depopulation to be good in itself4      
,these perversions were grotesque1 but  
partly explain the horror with which    
,malthus was constantly regarded2 and we
 must consider what made them plausible4
  ,i must first notice the maturer form 
of his doctrine4 ,in the second edition 
he turns to account the result of his   
later reading1 his personal             
observations1 and the statistical       
results which were beginning to         

accumulate4 ,the remodelled book opens  
with a survey of the observed action of 
the checks2 and it concludes with a     
discussion of the 'moral restraint'     
which is now added to 'vice and misery4'
 ,although considerable fragments of the
 old treatise remained to the last1 the 
whole book was altered both in style and
 character4 ,the style certainly        
suffers1 for ,malthus was not a master  
of the literary art2 he inserts his     
additions with little care for the      
general effect4 ,he tones down some of  
the more vivid phrases which had given  
offence1 though he does not retract the 
substance4 ,a famous passage#bbd in the 
second edition1 in which he speaks of   
'nature's mighty feast1' where1         
unluckily1 the 'table is already full1' 
and therefore unbidden guests are left  
to starve1 was suppressed in the later  
editions4 ,yet the principle that no man
 has a claim to subsistence as of right 
remains unaltered4 ,the omission injures
 the literary effect without altering   

the logic2 and ,i think that1 where the 
argument is amended1 the new element is 
scarcely worked into the old so as to   
gain thorough consistency4  ,malthus's  
survey of different countries showed how
 various are the 'checks' by which      
population is limited in various        
countries4 ,we take a glance at all     
nations through all epochs of history4  
,in the ,south ,sea we find a delicious 
climate and a fertile soil1 where       
population is mainly limited by vice1   
infanticide1 and war2 and where1 in     
spite of these influences1 the          
population multiplies at intervals till 
it is killed off by famine4 ,in ,china1 
a vast and fertile territory1 inhabited 
by an industrious race1 in which        
agriculture has always been encouraged1 
marriage stimulated1 and property widely
 diffused1 has facilitated the          
production of a vast population in the  
most abject state of poverty1 driven to 
expose children by want1 and liable at  
intervals to destructive famines4 ,in   

modern ,europe1 the checks appear in the
 most various forms2 in ,switzerland and
 ,norway a frugal population in small   
villages sometimes instinctively        
understands the principle of population1
 and exhibits the 'moral restraint1'    
while in ,england the poor-laws are     
producing a mass of hopeless and inert  
pauperism4 ,consideration of these      
various cases1 and a comparison of such 
records as are obtainable of the old    
savage races1 of the classical states of
 antiquity1 of the ,northern barbarians 
and of the modern ,european nations1    
suggests a natural doubt4 ,malthus      
abundantly proves what can hardly be    
denied1 that population has everywhere  
been found to press upon the means of   
subsistence1 and that vice and misery   
are painfully abundant4 ,but does he    
establish or abandon his main           
proposition8 ,he now asserts the        
'tendency' of population to outrun the  
means of subsistence4 ,yet he holds     
unequivocally that the increase of      

population has been accompanied by an   
increased comfort2 that want has        
diminished although population has      
increased2 and that the 'preventive'    
check is stronger than of old in        
proportion to the positive check4       
,scotland1 he says1#bbe is 'still       
overpeopled1 but not so much as when it 
contained fewer inhabitants4' ,many     
nations1 as he points out in general    
terms1 have been most prosperous when   
most populous4#bbf ,they could export   
food when crowded1 and have ceased to   
import it when thinned4 ,this1 indeed1  
expresses his permanent views1 though   
the facts were often alleged by his     
critics as a disproof of them4 ,was not 
the disproof real8 ,does not a real     
evasion lurk under the phrase           
'tendency'8 ,you may say that the earth 
has a tendency to fall into the sun1 and
 another 'tendency' to move away from   
the sun4 ,but it would be absurd to     
argue that we were therefore in danger  
of being burnt or of being frozen4 ,to  

explain the law of a vital process1 we  
may have to analyse it1 and therefore to
 regard it as due to conflicting forces2
 but the forces do not really exist     
separately1 and in considering the whole
 concrete phenomenon we must take them  
as mutually implied4 ,a man has a       
'tendency' to grow too fat2 and another 
'tendency' to grow too thin4 ,that      
surely means that on the whole he has a 
'tendency' to preserve the desirable    
mean4 ,the phrase1 then1 can only have a
 distinct meaning when the conflicting  
forces represent two independent or     
really separable forces4 ,to use an     
illustration given by ,malthus1 we might
 say that a man had a 'tendency' to grow
 upwards2 but was restrained by a weight
 on his head4 ,the man has the          
'tendency1' because we may regard the   
weight as a separable accident4 ,when   
both forces are of the essence1 the     
separate 'tendencies' correspond merely 
to our way of analysing the fact4 ,but  
if one can be properly regarded as      

relatively accidental1 the 'tendency'   
means the way in which the other will   
manifest itself in actual cases4  ,in   
#ahbi1 ,senior put this point to        
,malthus4#bbg ,what1 he asked1 do you   
understand by a 'tendency' when you     
admit that the tendency is normally     
overbalanced by others8 ,malthus        
explains his meaning to be that every   
nation suffers from evils 'specifically 
arising from the pressure of population 
against food4' ,the wages of the        
labourer in old countries have never    
been sufficient to enable him to        
maintain a large family at ease4 ,there 
is overcrowding1 we may say1 in ,england
 now as there was in ,england at the    
,conquest2 though food has increased in 
a greater proportion than population2   
and the pressure has therefore taken a  
milder form4 ,this1 again1 is proved by 
the fact that1 whenever a relaxation of 
the pressure has occurred1 when plagues 
have diminished population1 or          
improvements in agriculture increased   

their supply of food1 the gap has been  
at once filled up4 ,the people have not 
taken advantage of the temporary        
relaxation of the check to preserve the 
new equilibrium1 but have taken out the 
improvement by a multiplication of      
numbers4 ,the statement then appears to 
be that at any given time the population
 is in excess4 ,men would be better off 
if they were less numerous4 ,but1 on the
 other hand1 the tendency to multiply   
does not represent a constant force1 an 
irresistible instinct which will always 
bring men down to the same level1 but   
something which1 in fact1 may vary      
materially4 ,malthus admits1 in fact1   
that the 'elasticity' is continually    
changing2 and therefore repudiates the  
interpretation which seemed to make all 
improvement hopeless4 ,why1 then1       
distinguish the 'check' as something    
apart from the instinct8 ,if1 in any    
case1 we accept this explanation1 does  
not the theory become a 'truism1' or at 
least a commonplace1 inoffensive but    

hardly instructive8 ,does it amount to  
more than the obvious statement that    
prudence and foresight are desirable and
 are unfortunately scarce8   ,,iii4     
,,moral ,,restraint  ,the change in the 
theory of 'checks' raises another       
important question4 ,malthus now        
introduced a modification upon which his
 supporters laid great stress4 ,in the  
new version the 'checks' which          
proportion population to means of       
subsistence are not simply 'vice and    
misery1' but 'moral restraint1 vice1 and
 misery4'#bbh ,how1 precisely1 does this
 modify the theory8 ,how are the        
different 'checks' related8 ,what       
especially is meant by 'moral' in this  
connection8 ,malthus takes his ethical  
philosophy pretty much for granted1 but 
is clearly a ,utilitarian according to  
the version of ,paley4#bbi ,he agrees   
with ,paley that 'virtue evidently      
consists in educing from the materials  
which the ,creator has placed under our 
guidance the greatest sum of human      

happiness4'#bcj ,he adds to this that   
our 'natural impulses are1 abstractedly 
considered1 good1 and only to be        
distinguished by their consequences4'   
,hunger1 he says1 as ,bentham had said1 
is the same in itself1 whether it leads 
to stealing a loaf or to eating your own
 loaf4 ,he agrees with ,godwin that     
morality means the 'calculation of      
consequences1'#bca or1 as he says with  
,paley1 implies the discovery of the    
will of ,god by observing the effect of 
actions upon happiness4 ,reason then    
regulates certain innate and practically
 unalterable instincts by enabling us to
 foretell their consequences4 ,the      
reasonable man is influenced not simply 
by the immediate gratification1 but by a
 forecast of all the results which it   
will entail4 ,in these matters ,malthus 
was entirely at one with the            
,utilitarians proper1 and seems to      
regard their doctrine as self-evident4  
,he notices briefly one logical         
difficulty thus introduced4 ,the        

'checks' are vice1 misery1 and moral    
restraint4 ,but why distinguish vice    
from misery8 ,is not conduct vicious    
which causes misery1#bcb and precisely  
because it causes misery8 ,he replies   
that to omit 'vice' would confuse our   
language4 ,vicious conduct may cause    
happiness in particular cases2 though   
its general tendency would be           
pernicious4 ,the answer is not very     
clear2 and ,malthus1 ,i think1 would    
have been more logical if he had stuck  
to his first theory1 and regarded vice  
as simply one form of imprudence4       
,misery1 that is1 or the fear of misery1
 and the indulgence in conduct which    
produces misery are the 'checks' which  
limit population2 and the whole problem 
is to make the ultimate sanction more   
operative upon the immediate conduct4   
,man becomes more virtuous simply as he 
becomes more prudent1 and is therefore  
governed in his conduct by recognising  
the wider and more remote series of     
consequences4 ,there is1 indeed1 the    

essential difference that the virtuous  
man acts 7on whatever motives7 from a   
regard to the 'greatest happiness of the
 greatest number1' and not simply from  
self-regard4 ,still the ultimate and    
decisive criterion is the tendency of   
conduct to produce misery2 and if       
,malthus had carried this through as    
rigorously as ,bentham1 he would have   
been more consistent4 ,the 'moral check'
 would then have been simply a          
department of the prudential2 including 
prudence for others as well as for      
ourselves4 ,one reason for the change is
 obvious4 ,his assumption enables him to
 avoid coming into conflict with the    
accepted morality of the time4 ,on his  
exposition 'vice' occasionally seems not
 to be productive of misery but an      
alternative to misery2 and yet something
 bad in itself4 ,is this consistent with
 his ,utilitarianism8 ,the vices of the 
,south ,sea ,islanders1 according to    
him1 made famine less necessary2 and1 if
 they gave pleasure at the moment1 were 

they not on the whole beneficial8       
,malthus again reckons among vices      
practices which limit the population    
without causing 'misery' directly4#bcc  
,could he logically call them vicious8  
,he wishes to avoid the imputation of   
sanctioning such practices1 and         
therefore condemns them by his moral    
check2 but it would be hard to prove    
that he was consistent in condemning    
them4 ,or1 again1 there is another      
familiar difficulty4 ,the ,catholic     
church encourages marriage as a remedy  
for vice2 and thereby stimulates both   
population and poverty4 ,how would      
,malthus solve the problem3 is it better
 to encourage chastity and a            
superabundance of people1 or to restrict
 marriage at the cost of increasing     
temptation to vice8 ,he seems to evade  
the point by saying that he recommends  
both chastity and abstinence from       
marriage4 ,by 'moral restraint1' as he  
explains1 he means 'restraint from      
marriage from prudential motives1 with a

 conduct strictly moral during the      
period of this restraint4' ',i have     
never1' he adds1 'intentionally deviated
 from this sense4'#bcd ,a man1 that is1 
should postpone taking a wife1 and      
should not console himself by taking a  
mistress4 ,he is to refrain from        
increasing the illegitimate as well as  
from increasing the legitimate          
population4 ,it is not surprising that  
,malthus admits that this check has 'in 
past ages operated with inconsiderable  
force4'#bce ,in fact ,malthus1 as a     
thoroughly respectable and decent       
clergyman1 manages by talking about the 
'moral restraint' rather to evade than  
to answer some awkward problems of      
conduct2 but at the cost of some        
inconsequence4  ,but another result of  
this mode of patching up his argument is
 more important4 ,the 'vices of         
mankind1' he says in an unusually       
rhetorical summary of his historical    
inquiry1#bcf 'are active and able       
ministers of depopulation4 ,they are the

 precursors in the great army of        
destruction1 and often finish the       
dreadful work themselves4 ,but should   
they fail in the war of extermination1  
sickly seasons1 epidemics1 pestilence1  
and plague advance in terrific array1   
and sweep off their thousands and ten   
thousands4 ,should success still be     
incomplete1 gigantic inevitable famine  
stalks in the rear1 and at one mighty   
blow levels the population with the food
 of the world4' ,the life of the race1  
then1 is a struggle with misery2 its    
expansion is constantly forcing it upon 
this array of evils2 and in proportion  
to the elasticity is the severity of the
 evils which follow4 ,this is not only a
 'gloomy view1' but again seems to      
suggest that 'vice' is an alternative to
 'misery4' ,vices are bad1 it would     
seem1 but at least they obviate the     
necessity for disease and famine4       
,malthus probably suppressed the passage
 because he thought it liable to this   
interpretation4 ,it indicates1 however1 

a real awkwardness1 if not something    
more1 in his exposition4 ,he here speaks
 as if there was room for a fixed number
 of guests at his banquet4 ,whatever1   
therefore1 keeps the population to that 
limit must be so far good4 ,if he had   
considered his 'moral check' more       
thoroughly1 he might have seen that this
 does not correspond to his real        
meaning4 ,the 'moral' and the prudential
 checks are not really to be contrasted 
as alternative1 but co-operative4 ,every
 population1 vicious or virtuous1 must  
of course proportion its numbers to its 
means of support4 ,that gives the       
prudential check4 ,but the moral check  
operates by altering the character of   
the population itself4 ,from the purely 
economic point of view1 vice is bad     
because it lowers efficiency4 ,a lazy1  
drunken1 and profligate people would    
starve where an industrious1 sober1 and 
honest people would thrive4 ,the check  
of vice thus brings the check of misery 
into play at an earlier stage4 ,it      

limits by lowering the vitality and     
substituting degeneration for progress4 
,the check1 therefore1 is essentially   
mischievous4 ,though it does not make   
the fields barren1 it lowers the power  
of cultivation4 ,malthus had recognised 
this when he pointed out1 as we have    
seen1 that emergence from the savage    
state meant the institution of marriage 
and property and1 we may infer1 the     
correlative virtues of chastity1        
industry1 and honesty4 ,if men can form 
large societies1 and millions can be    
supported where once a few thousands    
were at starvation point1 it is due to  
the civilisation which at every stage   
implies 'moral restraint' in a wider    
sense than ,malthus used the phrase4 ,an
 increase of population by such means   
was1 of course1 to be desired4 ,if      
,malthus emphasises this inadequately1  
it is partly1 no doubt1 because the     
,utilitarian view of morality tended to 
emphasise the external consequences     
rather than the alteration of the man   

himself4 ,yet the wider and sounder view
 is logically implied in his            
reasoning--so much so that he might have
 expressed his real aim more clearly if 
he had altered the order of his         
argument4 ,he might have consistently   
taken the same line as earlier writers  
and declared that he desired1 above all 
things1 the increase of population4 ,he 
would have had indeed to explain that he
 desired the increase of a sound and    
virtuous population2 and that hasty and 
imprudent increase led to misery and to 
a demoralisation which would ultimately 
limit numbers in the worst way4 ,we     
shall see directly how nearly he accepts
 this view4 ,meanwhile1 by insisting    
upon the need of limitation1 he was led 
to speak often as if limitation by any  
means was good and the one thing        
needful1 and the polemic against ,godwin
 in the first edition had given         
prominence to this side of the question4
 ,had he put his views in a different   
shape1 he would perhaps have been so    

edifying that he would have been        
disregarded4 ,he certainly avoided that 
risk1 and had whatever advantage is     
gained by stating sound doctrine        
paradoxically4  ,we shall1 ,i think1    
appreciate his real position better by  
considering his approximation to the    
theory which1 as we know1 was suggested 
to ,darwin by a perusal of ,malthus4#bcg
 ,there is a closer resemblance than    
appears at first4 ,the first edition    
concludes by two chapters afterwards    
omitted1 giving the philosophical       
application of his theory4 ,he there    
says that the 'world is a mighty process
 of ,god not for the trial but for the  
creation and formation of the mind4'#bch
 ,it is not1 as ,butler thought1 a place
 of 'probation1' but a scene in which   
the higher qualities are gradually      
developed4 ,godwin had quoted           
,franklin's view that 'mind' would      
become 'omnipotent over matter4'        
,malthus holds that1 as he puts it1     
',god is making matter into mind4' ,the 

difference is that ,malthus regards evil
 in general not as a sort of accident of
 which we can get rid by reason2 but as 
the essential stimulus which becomes the
 efficient cause of intellectual        
activity4 ,the evils from which men     
suffer raise savage tribes from their   
indolence1 and by degrees give rise to  
the growth of civilisation4 ,the        
argument1 though these chapters were    
dropped by ,malthus1 was taken up by ,j4
 ,b4 ,sumner1 to whom he refers in later
 editions4#bci ,it is1 in fact1 an      
imperfect way of stating a theory of    
evolution4 ,this appears in his opening 
chapters upon the 'moral restraint4'#bdj
 ,he explains that moral and physical   
evils are 'instruments employed by the  
,deity' to admonish us against such     
conduct as is destructive of happiness4 
,diseases are indications that we have  
broken a law of nature4 ,the plague of  
,london was properly interpreted by our 
ancestors as a hint to improve the      
sanitary conditions of the town4        

,similarly1 we have to consider the     
consequences of obeying our instincts4  
,the desire of food and necessaries is  
the most powerful of these instincts1   
and next to it the passion between the  
sexes4 ,they are both good1 for they are
 both natural2 but they have to be      
properly correlated4 ,to 'virtuous love'
 in particular we owe the 'sunny spots' 
in our lives1 where the imagination     
loves to bask4 ,desire of necessaries   
gives us the stimulus of the comfortable
 fireside2 and love adds the wife and   
children1 without whom the fireside     
would lose half its charm4 ,now1 as a   
rule1 the sexual passion is apt to be in
 excess4 ,the final cause of this excess
 is itself obvious4 ,we cannot but      
conceive that it is an object of 'the   
,creator that the earth should be       
replenished4'#bda ,to secure that       
object1 it is necessary that 'there     
should be a tendency in the population  
to increase faster than food4' ,if the  
two instincts were differently balanced1

 men would be content though the        
population of a fertile region were     
limited to the most trifling numbers4   
,hence the instinct has mercifully been 
made so powerful as to stimulate        
population1 and thus indirectly and     
eventually to produce a population at   
once larger and more comfortable4 ,on   
the one hand1 it is of the very utmost  
importance to the happiness of mankind  
that they should not increase too       
fast1#bdb but1 on the other hand1 if the
 passion were weakened1 the motives     
which make a man industrious and capable
 of progress would be diminished also4  
,it would1 of course1 be simpler to omit
 the 'teleology'2 to say that sanitary  
regulations are made necessary by the   
plague1 not that the plague is divinely 
appointed to encourage sanitary         
regulations4 ,malthus is at the point of
 view of ,paley which becomes ,darwinism
 when inverted2 but the conclusion is   
much the same4 ,he reaches elsewhere1 in
 fact1 a more precise view of the value 

of the 'moral restraint4' ,in a chapter 
devoted for once to an ideal state of   
things1#bdc he shows how a race         
thoroughly imbued with that doctrine    
would reconcile the demands of the two  
instincts4 ,population would in that    
case increase1 but1 instead of beginning
 by an increase1 it would begin by      
providing the means of supporting4 ,no  
man would become a father until he had  
seen his way to provide for a family4   
,the instinct which leads to increasing 
the population would thus be            
intrinsically as powerful as it now is2 
but when regulated by prudence it would 
impel mankind to begin at the right end4
 ,food would be ready before mouths to  
eat it4   ,,iv4 ,,social ,,remedies     
,this final solution appears in         
,malthus's proposed remedies for the    
evils of the time4 ,malthus#bdd declares
 that 'an increase of population when it
 follows in its natural order is both a 
great positive good in itself1 and      
absolutely necessary' to an increase of 

wealth4 ,this natural order falls in1 as
 he observes1 with the view to which    
,mirabeau had been converted1 that      
'revenue was the source of population1' 
and not population of revenue4#bde      
,malthus holds specifically that1 'in   
the course of some centuries1' the      
population of ,england might be doubled 
or trebled1 and yet every man be 'much  
better fed and clothed than he is at    
present4'#bdf ,he parts company with    
,paley1 who had considered the ideal    
state to be 'that of a laborious frugal 
people ministering to the demands of an 
opulent luxurious nation4'#bdg ,that1   
says ,malthus1 is 'not an inviting      
prospect4' ,nothing but a conviction of 
absolute necessity could reconcile us to
 the 'thought of ten millions of people 
condemned to incessant toil1 and to the 
privation of everything but absolute    
necessaries1 in order to minister to the
 excessive luxuries of the other        
million4' ,but he denies that any such  
necessity exists4 ,he wishes precisely  

to see luxury spread among the poorer   
classes4 ,a desire for such luxury is   
the best of all checks to population1   
and one of the best means of raising the
 standard4 ,it would1 in fact1          
contribute to his 'moral restraint4'    
,so1 too1 he heartily condemns the      
hypocrisy of the rich1 who professed a  
benevolent desire to better the poor1   
and yet complained of high wages4#bdh   
,if1 he says elsewhere1#bdi a country   
can 'only be rich by running a          
successful race for low wages1 ,i should
 be disposed to say1 ,perish such       
riches6' ,no one1 in fact1 could see    
more distinctly than ,malthus the       
demoralising influence of poverty1 and  
the surpassing importance of raising the
 people from the terrible gulf of       
pauperism4 ,he refers to ,colquhoun's   
account of the twenty thousand people   
who rose every morning in ,london       
without knowing how they were to be     
supported2 and observes that 'when      
indigence does not produce overt acts of

 vice1 it palsies every virtue4'#bej    
,the temptations to which the poor man  
is exposed1 and the sense of injustice  
due to an ignorance of the true cause of
 misery1 tend to 'sour the disposition1 
to harden the heart1 and deaden the     
moral sense4' ,unfortunately1 the means 
which have been adopted to lessen the   
evil have tended to increase it4 ,in the
 first place1 there was the master-evil 
of the poor-laws4 ,malthus points out   
the demoralising effects of these laws  
in chapters full of admirable common    
sense1 which he was unfortunately able  
to enforce by fresh illustrations in    
successive editions4 ,he attends simply 
to the stimulus to population4 ,he      
thinks that if the laws had never       
existed1 the poor would now have been   
much better off4#bea ,if the laws had   
been fully carried out1 every labourer  
might have been certain that all his    
children would be supported1 or1 in     
other words1 every check to population  
would have been removed4#beb ,happily1  

the becoming pride of the ,english      
peasantry was not quite extinct2 and the
 poor-law had to some extent            
counteracted itself1 or taken away with 
one hand what it gave with the other1 by
 placing the burthen upon the           
parishes4#bec ,thus landlords have been 
more disposed to pull down than to build
 cottages1 and marriage has been        
checked4 ,on the whole1 however1        
,malthus could see in the poor-laws     
nothing but a vast agency for           
demoralising the poor1 tempered by a    
system of petty tyrannical interference4
 ,he proposes1 therefore1 that the      
poor-law should be abolished4 ,notice   
should be given that no children born   
after a certain day should be entitled  
to parish help2 and1 as he quaintly     
suggests1 the clergyman might explain to
 every couple1 after publishing the     
banns1 the immorality of reckless       
marriage1 and the reasons for abolishing
 a system which had been proved to      
frustrate the intentions of the         

founders4#bed ,private charity1 he      
thinks1 would meet the distress which   
might afterwards arise1 though humanity 
imperiously requires that it should be  
'sparingly administered4' ,upon this    
duty he writes a sensible chapter4#bee  
,to his negative proposals ,malthus adds
 a few of the positive kind4 ,he is     
strongly in favour of a national system 
of education1 and speaks with contempt  
of the 'illiberal and feeble' arguments 
opposed to it4 ,the schools1 he         
observes1 might confer 'an almost       
incalculable benefit' upon society1 if  
they taught 'a few of the simplest      
principles of political economy4'#bef   
,he had been disheartened by the        
prejudices of the ignorant labourer1 and
 felt the incompatibility of a free     
government with such ignorance4 ,a real 
education1 such as was given in         
,scotland1 would make the poor not1 as  
alarmists had suggested1 more           
inflammable1 but better able to detect  
the sophistry of demagogues4#beg ,he is1

 of course1 in favour of savings        
banks1#beh and approves friendly        
societies1 though he is strongly opposed
 to making them compulsory1 as they     
would then be the poor-law in a new     
form4#bei ,the value of every           
improvement turns upon its effect in    
encouraging the 'moral restraint4'      
,malthus's ultimate criterion is always1
 ,will the measure make people averse to
 premature marriage8 ,he reaches the    
apparently inconsistent result that it  
might be desirable to make an allowance 
for every child beyond six4#bfj ,but    
this is on the hypothesis that the      
'moral restraint' has come to be so     
habitual that no man marries until he   
has a fair prospect of maintaining a    
family of six4 ,if this were the        
practical code1 the allowance in cases  
where the expectation was disappointed  
would not act as an encouragement to    
marriage1 but as a relief under a       
burthen which could not have been       
anticipated4 ,thus all ,malthus's       

teaching may be said to converge upon   
this practical point4 ,add to the ,ten  
,commandments the new law1 ',thou shalt 
not marry until there is a fair prospect
 of supporting six children4' ,then     
population will increase1 but sufficient
 means for subsistence will always be   
provided beforehand4 ,we shall make sure
 that there is a provision for          
additional numbers before1 not after1 we
 add to our numbers4 ,food first and    
population afterwards gives the rule2   
thus we achieve the good end without the
 incidental evils4  ,malthus's views of 
the appropriate remedy for social evils 
undoubtedly show an imperfect           
appreciation of the great problems      
involved4 ,reckless propagation is an   
evil2 but ,malthus regards it as an evil
 which can be isolated and suppressed by
 simply adding a new article to the     
moral code4 ,he is dealing with a       
central problem of human nature and     
social order4 ,any modification of the  
sexual instincts or of the constitution 

of the family involves a profound       
modification of the whole social order  
and of the dominant religious and moral 
creeds4 ,malthus tacitly assumes that   
conduct is determined by the play of two
 instincts1 unalterable in themselves1  
but capable of modification in their    
results by a more extensive view of     
consequences4 ,to change men's ruling   
motives in regard to the most important 
part of their lives is to alter their   
whole aims and conceptions of the world1
 and of happiness in every other        
relation4 ,it supposes1 therefore1 not a
 mere addition of knowledge1 but a      
transformation of character and an      
altered view of all the theories which  
have been embodied in religious and     
ethical philosophy4 ,he overlooks1 too1 
considerations which would be essential 
to a complete statement4 ,a population  
which is too prudent may suffer itself  
to be crowded out by more prolific races
 in the general struggle for existence2 
and cases may be suggested such as that 

of the ,american colonies1 in which an  
increase of numbers might be actually an
 advantage by facilitating a more       
efficient organisation of labour4  ,the 
absence of a distinct appreciation of   
such difficulties gives to his          
speculation that one-sided character    
which alienated his more sentimental    
contemporaries4 ,it was natural enough  
in a man who was constantly confronted  
by the terrible development of pauperism
 in ,england1 and was too much tempted  
to assume that the tendency to reckless 
propagation was not only a very grave   
evil1 but the ultimate source of every  
evil4 ,the doctrine taken up in this    
unqualified fashion by some of his      
disciples1 and preached by them with the
 utmost fervour as the one secret of    
prosperity1 shocked both the            
conservative and orthodox whose         
prejudices were trampled upon1 and such 
,radicals as inherited ,godwin's or     
,condorcet's theory of perfectibility4  
,harsh and one-sided as it might be1    

however1 we may still hold that it was  
of value1 not only in regard to the most
 pressing difficulty of the day1 but    
also as calling attention to a vitally  
important condition of social welfare4  
,the question1 however1 recurs whether1 
when the doctrine is so qualified as to 
be admissible1 it does not also become a
 mere truism4  ,an answer to this       
question should begin by recognising one
 specific resemblance between his       
speculations and ,darwin's4 ,facts1     
which appear from an older point of view
 to be proofs of a miraculous           
interposition1 become with ,malthus1 as 
with ,darwin1 the normal results of     
admitted conditions4 ,godwin had        
admitted that there was some 'principle 
which kept population on a level with   
subsistence4' ',the sole question is1'  
says ,malthus1#bfa 'what is this        
principle8 ,is it some obscure and      
occult cause8 a mysterious interference 
of heaven1' inflicting barrenness at    
certain periods8 or 'a cause open to our

 researches and within our view8' ,other
 writers had had recourse to the        
miraculous4 ,one of ,malthus's early    
authorities was ,suessmilch1 who had    
published his ,goettliche ,ordnung in   
#agfa1 to show how ,providence had taken
 care that the trees should not grow    
into the sky4 ,the antediluvians had    
been made long-lived in order that they 
might have large families and people an 
empty earth1 while life was divinely    
shortened as the world filled up4       
,suessmilch1 however1 regarded          
population as still in need of stimulus4
 ,kings might help ,providence4 ,a new  
,trajan would deserve to be called the  
father of his people1 if he increased   
the marriage-rate4 ,malthus replies that
 the statistics which the worthy man    
himself produced showed conclusively    
that the marriages depended upon the    
deaths4 ,the births fill up the         
vacancies1 and the prince who increased 
the population before vacancies arose   
would simply increase the rate of       

mortality4#bfb ,if you want to increase 
your birth-rate without absolutely      
producing famine1 as he remarks         
afterwards1#bfc make your towns         
unhealthy1 and encourage settlement by  
marshes4 ,you might thus double the     
mortality1 and we might all marry       
prematurely without being absolutely    
starved4 ,his own aim is not to secure  
the greatest number of births1 but to be
 sure that the greatest number of those 
born may be supported4#bfd ,the         
ingenious ,m4 ,muret1 again1 had found a
 ,swiss parish in which the mean life   
was the highest and the fecundity       
smallest known4 ,he piously conjectures 
that it may be a law of ,god that 'the  
force of life in each country should be 
in the inverse ratio of its fecundity4' 
,he needs not betake himself to a       
miracle1 says ,malthus4#bfe ,the case is
 simply that in a small and healthy     
village1 where people had become aware  
of the importance of the 'preventive    
check1' the young people put off        

marriage till there was room for them1  
and consequently both lowered the       
birth-rate and raised the average       
duration of life4  ,nothing1 says       
,malthus very forcibly1 has caused more 
errors than the confusion between       
'relative and positive1 and between     
cause and effect4'#bff ,he is here      
answering the argument that because the 
poor who had cows were the most         
industrious1 the way to make them       
industrious was to give them cows4      
,malthus thinks it more probable that   
industry got the cow than that the cow  
produced industry4 ,this is a trifling  
instance of a very general truth4       
,people had been content to notice the  
deaths caused by war and disease1 and to
 infer at once that what caused death   
must diminish population4 ,malthus shows
 the necessity of observing other       
collateral results4 ,the gap may be made
 so great as to diminish population2 but
 it may be compensated by a more rapid  
reproduction2 or1 the rapidity of       

reproduction may itself be the cause of 
the disease2 so that to remove one kind 
of mortality may be on some occasion to 
introduce others4 ,the stream is dammed 
on one breach to flow more strongly     
through other outlets4#bfg  ,this is1 ,i
 conceive1 to say simply that ,malthus  
was introducing a really scientific     
method4 ,the facts taken in the true    
order became at once intelligible       
instead of suggesting mysterious and    
irregular interferences4 ,earlier       
writers had been content to single out  
one particular set of phenomena without 
attending to its place in the more      
general and complex processes1 of which 
they formed an integral part4           
,infanticide1 as ,hume had pointed out1 
might tend to increase population4#bfh  
,in prospect1 it might encourage people 
to have babies2 and when babies came1   
natural affection might prevent the     
actual carrying out of the intention4   
,to judge of the actual effect1 we have 
to consider the whole of the concrete   

case4 ,it may be carried out1 as        
apparently in the ,south ,sea ,islands1 
so generally as to limit population2 or 
it may be1 as in ,china1 an indication  
that the pressure is so great that a    
number of infants become superfluous4   
,its suppression might1 in the one case1
 lead to an increase of the population2 
in the other1 to the increase of other  
forms of mortality4 ,malthus's          
investigations illustrate the necessity 
of referring every particular process to
 its place in the whole system1 of      
noting how any given change might set up
 a set of actions and reactions in      
virtue of the general elasticity of     
population1 and thus of constantly      
referring at every step to the general  
conditions of human life4 ,he succeeded 
in making many points clear1 and of     
showing how hastily many inferences had 
been drawn4 ,he explained1 for example1 
why the revolutionary wars had not      
diminished the population of ,france1 in
 spite of the great number of           

deaths1#bfi and thus gave an example of 
a sound method of inquiry which has     
exercised a great influence upon later  
observers4 ,malthus was constantly      
misunderstood and misrepresented1 and   
his opponents often allege as fatal     
objections to his doctrine the very     
facts by which it was really supported4 
,but we may1 ,i think1 say1 that since  
his writing no serious economical writer
 has adopted the old hasty guesses1 or  
has ventured to propose a theory without
 regard to the principles of which he   
first brought out the full significance4
   ,v4 ,,political ,,application  ,this 
,i take to indicate one real and        
permanent value of ,malthus's writings4 
,he introduced a new method of          
approaching the great social problems4  
,the value of the method may remain1    
however inaccurate may be the           
assumptions of facts4 ,the 'tendency1'  
if interpreted to mean that people are  
always multiplying too rapidly1 may be a
 figment4 ,if it is taken as calling    

attention to one essential factor in the
 case1 it is a most important guide to  
investigation4 ,this brings out another 
vital point4 ,the bearing of the        
doctrine upon the political as well as  
upon the economical views of the        
,utilitarians is of conspicuous         
importance4 ,malthus's starting-point1  
as we have seen1 was the opposition to  
the doctrine of 'perfectibility4' ,hard 
facts1 which ,godwin and ,condorcet had 
neglected1 were fatal to their dreams4  
,you have1 urged ,malthus1 neglected    
certain undeniable truths as to the     
unalterable qualities of human nature1  
and1 therefore1 your theories will not  
work4 ,the revolutionists had opposed an
 ideal 'state of nature' to the actual  
arrangements of society4 ,they imagined 
that the 'state of nature' represented  
the desirable consummation1 and that the
 constitution of the 'natural' order    
could be determined from certain        
abstract principles4 ,the equality of   
man1 and the absolute rights which could

 be inferred by a kind of mathematical  
process1 supplied the necessary dogmatic
 basis4 ,the antithesis to the state of 
nature was the artificial state1 marked 
by inequality1 and manifesting its      
spirit by luxury4 ,kings1 priests1 and  
nobles had somehow established this     
unnatural order2 and to sweep them away 
summarily was the way of bringing the   
natural order into full activity4 ,the  
ideal system was already potentially in 
existence1 and would become actual when 
men's minds were once cleared from      
superstition1 and the political made to 
correspond to the natural rights of man4
 ,to this ,malthus had replied1 as we   
have seen1 that social inequality was   
not a mere arbitrary product of fraud   
and force1 but an expedient necessary to
 restrain the primitive instincts of    
mankind4 ,he thus coincides with        
,bentham's preference of 'security' to  
'equality1' and illustrates the real    
significance of that doctrine4 ,property
 and marriage1 though they involve      

inequality1 were institutions of        
essential importance4 ,godwin had pushed
 his theories to absolute anarchy2 to   
the destruction of all law1 for law in  
general represented coercion or an      
interference with the state of nature4  
,malthus virtually asserted that the    
metaphysical doctrine was inapplicable  
because1 men being what they are1 these 
conclusions were incompatible with even 
the first stages of social progress4    
,this means1 again1 that for the        
metaphysical method ,malthus is         
substituting a scientific method4       
,instead of regarding all government as 
a kind of mysterious intervention from  
without1 which has somehow introduced a 
fatal discord into the natural order1 he
 inquires what are the facts2 how law   
has been evolved2 and for what reason4  
,his answer is1 in brief1 that law1     
order1 and inequality have been         
absolutely necessary in order to limit  
tendencies which would otherwise keep   
men in a state of hopeless poverty and  

depression4  ,this gives the            
'differentia' of the ,utilitarian       
considered as one species of the genus  
',radical4' ,malthus's criticism of     
,paine is significant4#bgj ,he agrees   
with ,paine that the cause of popular   
risings is 'want of happiness4' ,but    
,paine1 he remarks1 was 'in many        
important points totally ignorant of the
 structure of society'2 and has fallen  
into the error of attributing all want  
of happiness to government4             
,consequently1 ,paine advocates a plan  
for distributing taxes among the poorest
 classes1 which would aggravate the     
evils a hundredfold4 ,he fully admits   
with ,paine that man has rights4 ,the   
true line of answer would be to show    
what those rights are4 ,to give this    
answer is not ,malthus's present        
business2 but there is one right1 at any
 rate1 which a man does not and cannot  
possess3 namely1 the 'right to          
subsistence when his labour will not    
fairly purchase it4' ,he does not       

possess it because he cannot possess it2
 to try to secure it is to try to       
'reverse the laws of nature1' and       
therefore to produce cruel suffering by 
practising an 'inhuman deceit4' ,the    
,abbe ,raynal had said that a man had a 
right to subsist 'before all social     
laws4' ,man had the same right1 replied 
,malthus1 as he had to live a hundred or
 a thousand years4 ,he may live1 if he  
can without interfering with others4    
,social laws have1 in fact1 enlarged the
 power of subsistence2 but neither      
before nor after their institution could
 an unlimited number subsist4 ,briefly1 
the question of fact comes before the   
question of right1 and the fault of the 
revolutionary theorists was to settle   
the right without reference to the      
possibility of making the right         
correspond to the fact4  ,hence ,malthus
 draws his most emphatic political      
moral4 ,the admission that all evil is  
due to government is the way to tyranny4
 ,make men believe that government is   

the one cause of misery1 and they will  
inevitably throw the whole              
responsibility upon their rulers2 seek  
for redress by cures which aggravate the
 disease2 and strengthen the hands of   
those who prefer even despotism to      
anarchy4 ,this1 he intimates1 is the    
explanation of the repressive measures  
in which the country-gentlemen had      
supported ,pitt4 ,the people had fancied
 that by destroying government they     
would make bread cheap2 government was  
forced to be tyrannical in order to     
resist revolution2 while its supporters 
were led to 'give up some of the most   
valuable privileges of ,englishmen4'#bga
 ,it is then of vital importance to     
settle what is and what is not to be set
 down to government4 ,malthus1 in fact1 
holds that the real evils are due to    
underlying causes which cannot be       
directly removed1 though they may be    
diminished or increased1 by legislators4
 ,government can do something by giving 
security to property1 and by making laws

 which will raise the self-respect of   
the lower classes4 ,but the effect of   
such laws must be slow and gradual2 and 
the error which has most contributed to 
that delay in the progress of freedom1  
which is 'so disheartening to every     
liberal mind1'#bgb is the confusion as  
to the true causes of misery4 ,thus1 as 
he has already urged1 professed         
economists could still believe1 so long 
after the publication of ,adam ,smith's 
work1 that it was 'in the power of the  
justices of the peace or even of the    
omnipotence of parliament to alter by a 
fiat the whole circumstances of the     
country4'#bgc ,yet men who saw the      
absurdity of trying to fix the price of 
provisions were ready to propose to fix 
the rate of wages4 ,they did not see    
that one term of the proportion implied 
the other4 ,malthus's whole criticism of
 the poor-law1 already noticed1 is a    
commentary upon this text4 ,it is       
connected with a general theory of human
 nature4 ,the author of nature1 he says1

 has wisely made 'the passion of        
self-love beyond expression stronger    
than the passion of benevolence4'#bgd   
,he means1 as he explains1 that every   
man has to pursue his own welfare and   
that of his family as his primary       
object4 ,benevolence1 of course1 is the 
'source of our purest and most refined  
pleasures1' and so forth2 but it should 
come in as a supplement to self-love4   
,therefore we must never admit that men 
have a strict right to relief4 ,that is 
to injure the very essential social     
force4 ',hard as it may seem in         
individual instances1 dependent poverty 
ought to be held disgraceful4'#bge ,the 
spirit of independence or self-help is  
the one thing necessary4 ',the desire of
 bettering our condition and the fear of
 making it worse1 like the vis          
medicatrix in physics1 is the vis       
medicatrix naturae in politics1 and is  
continually counteracting the disorders 
arising from narrow human               
institutions4'#bgf ,it is only because  

the poor-laws have not quite destroyed  
it1 that they have not quite ruined the 
country4 ,the pith of ,malthus's        
teaching is fairly expressed in his last
 letter to ,senior4#bgg ,he holds that  
the improvement in the condition of the 
great mass of the labouring classes     
should be considered as the main        
interest of society4 ,to improve their  
condition1 it is essential to impress   
them with the conviction that they can  
do much more for themselves than others 
can do for them1 and that the only      
source of permanent improvement is the  
improvement of their moral and religious
 habits4 ,what government can do1       
therefore1 is to maintain such          
institutions as may strengthen the vis  
medicatrix1 or 'desire to better our    
condition1' which poor-laws had directly
 tended to weaken4 ,he maintains in his 
letter to ,senior1 that this desire is  
'perfectly feeble' compared with the    
tendency of the population to increase1 
and operates in a very slight degree    

upon the great mass of the labouring    
class4#bgh ,still1 he holds that on the 
whole the 'preventive checks' have      
become stronger relatively to the       
positive1#bgi and1 at any rate1 all     
proposals must be judged by their       
tendency to strengthen the preventive4  
,malthus was not a thoroughgoing        
supporter of the 'do-nothing' doctrine4 
,he approved of a national system of    
education1 and of the early factory     
acts1 though only as applied to infant  
labour4 ,so1 as we shall see1 did all   
the ,utilitarians4 ,the 'individualism1'
 however1 is not less decided2 and leads
 him to speak as though the elasticity  
of population were not merely an        
essential factor in the social problem1 
but the sole principle from which all   
solutions must be deduced4 ,he is thus  
led1 as ,i have tried to show1 to a     
narrow interpretation of his 'moral     
check4' ,he is apt to take 'vice' simply
 as a product of excessive pressure1    
and1 in his general phrases at least1 to

 overlook its reciprocal tendency to    
cause pressure4 ,the 'moral check' is   
only preventive or negative1 not a      
positive cause of superior vigour4 ,a   
similar defect appears in his theory of 
the vis medicatrix4 ,he was1 ,i hold1   
perfectly right in emphasising the      
importance of individual responsibility4
 ,no reform can be permanent which does 
not raise the morality of the           
individual4 ,his insistence upon this   
truth was of the highest importance1 and
 it is to be wished that its importance 
might be more fully recognised to-day4  
,the one-sidedness appears in his       
proposal to abolish the poor-law simply4
 ,that became the most conspicuous and  
widely accepted doctrine4 ,all men of   
'sense1' said ,sydney ,smith--certainly 
a qualified representative of the       
class--in #ahbj1 agree1 first1 that the 
poor-law must be abolished2 and         
secondly1 that it must be abolished very
 gradually4#bhj ,that is really to      
assume that by refusing to help people  

at all1 you will force them to help     
themselves4 ,there is another           
alternative1 namely1 that they may1 as  
,malthus himself often recognises1      
become demoralised by excessive poverty4
 ,to do simply nothing may lead to      
degeneration instead of increased       
energy4 ,the possibility of an improved 
law1 which might act as a moral         
discipline instead of a simply          
corrupting agency1 is simply left out of
 account2 and the tendency to stimulate 
reckless population is regarded not only
 as one probable consequence1 but as the
 very essence of all poor-laws4 ,upon   
,malthus's assumptions1 the statement   
that sound political and social theories
 must be based upon systematic inquiry  
into facts1 meant that the individual   
was the ultimate unalterable unit1 whose
 interest in his own welfare gave the   
one fulcrum for all possible changes4   
,the ideal 'state of nature' was a      
fiction4 ,the true basis of our         
inquiries is the actual man known to us 

by observation4 ,the main fault of this 
being was the excess of the instinct of 
multiplication1 and the way to improve  
him was to show how it might conflict   
with the instinct of self-preservation4 
,in this shape the doctrine expressed   
the most characteristic tendency of the 
,utilitarians1 and divided them from the
 ,socialists or believers in abstract   
rights of man4   ,,vi4 ,,rent  ,here1   
then1 we are at a central point of the  
,utilitarian creed4 ,the expansive force
 of population is1 in a sense1 the great
 motive power which moulds the whole    
social structure2 or1 rather1 it forces 
together the independent units1 and     
welds them into an aggregate4 ,the      
influence of this doctrine upon other   
economical speculations is of the       
highest importance4 ,one critical stage 
in the process is marked by the         
enunciation of the theory of rent1 which
 was to become another essential article
 of the true faith4 ,the introduction of
 this doctrine is characteristic1 and   

marks the point at which ,ricardo       
superseded ,malthus as chief expositor  
of the doctrine4  ,malthus's views were 
first fully given in his ,inquiry into  
,rent1 the second of three pamphlets    
which he published during the corn-law  
controversy of #ahad-ae4bha ,the        
opinions now stated had1 he says1 been  
formed in the course of his lecturing at
 ,haileybury2 and he made them public on
 account of their bearing upon the most 
absorbing questions of the time4 ,the   
connection of the theory with ,malthus's
 speculations and with the contemporary 
difficulties is indeed obvious4 ,the    
landlord had clearly one of the reserved
 seats at the banquet of nature4 ,he was
 the most obvious embodiment of         
'security' as opposed to equality4      
,malthus1 again1 had been influenced by 
the ,french economists and their theory 
of the 'surplus fund1' provided by      
agriculture4 ,according to them1 as he  
says1#bhb this fund or rent constitutes 
the whole national wealth4 ,in his first

 edition he had defended the economists 
against some of ,adam ,smith's          
criticisms2 and though he altered his   
views and thought that they had been led
 into preposterous errors1 he retained a
 certain sympathy for them4 ,agriculture
 has still a certain 'pre-eminence4'    
,god has bestowed upon the soil the     
'inestimable quality of being able to   
maintain more persons than are necessary
 to work it4'#bhc ,it has the special   
virtue that the supply of necessaries   
generates the demand4 ,make more        
luxuries and the price may fall2 but    
grow more food and there will be more   
people to eat it4 ,this1 however1 seems 
to be only another way of stating an    
unpleasant fact4 ,the blessing of       
'fertility' counteracts itself4 ,as he  
argues in the essay1#bhd an equal       
division of land might produce such an  
increase of population as would exhaust 
any conceivable increase of food4 ,these
 views--not1 ,i think1 very clear or    
consistently worked out--lead apparently

 to the conclusion that the fertility is
 indeed a blessing1 but on condition of 
being confined to a few4 ,the result1 in
 any case1 is the orthodox theory of    
rent4 ,the labourer gets less than he   
would if the products of the soil were  
equally distributed4 ,both wages and    
profits must fall as more is left to    
rent1 and that this actually happens1 he
 says1 with unusual positiveness1 is an 
'incontrovertible truth4'#bhe ,the fall 
enables the less fertile land to be     
cultivated1 and gives an excess of      
produce on the more fertile4 ',this     
excess is rent4'#bhf ,he proceeds to    
expound his doctrine by comparing land  
to a set of machines for making         
corn4#bhg ,if1 in manufacture1 a new    
machine is introduced every one adopts  
it4 ,in agriculture the worst machines  
have still to be used2 and those who    
have the best and sell at the same      
price1 can appropriate the surplus      
advantage4 ,this1 he declares1 is a law 
'as invariable as the action of the     

principle of gravity4'#bhh ,yet ,smith  
and others have overlooked a 'principle 
of the highest importance'#bhi and have 
failed to see that the price of corn1 as
 of other things1 must conform to the   
cost of production4 ,the same doctrine  
was expounded in the same year by ,sir  
,edward ,west2#bij and1 as it seems to  
me1 more clearly and simply4 ,west1 like
 ,malthus1 says that he has to announce 
a principle overlooked by ,adam ,smith4 
,this is briefly that 'each equal       
additional quantity of work bestowed on 
agriculture yields an actually          
diminished return4' ,he holds that      
profits fall as wealth increases1 but he
 denies ,adam ,smith's view that this is
 a simple result of increased           
competition4#bia ,competition would     
equalise1 but would not lower profits1  
for 'the productive powers of           
manufactures are constantly increasing4'
 ,in agriculture the law is the opposite
 one of diminishing returns4 ,hence the 
admitted fall of profits shows that the 

necessity of taking inferior soils into 
cultivation is the true cause of the    
fall4  ,such coincidences as that       
between ,malthus and ,west are common   
enough1 for very obvious reasons4 ,in   
this case1 ,i think1 there is less room 
for surprise than usual4 ,the writer    
generally credited with the discovery of
 the rent doctrine is ,james ,anderson1 
who had stated it as early as #aggg4bib 
,the statement1 however1 did not attract
 attention until at the time of ,west   
and ,malthus it was forced upon         
observers by the most conspicuous facts 
of the day4 ,adam ,smith and other      
economists had1 as ,malthus notices1    
observed what is obvious enough1 that   
rent in some way represented a 'net     
produce'--a something which remained    
after paying the costs of production4   
,so much was obvious to any common-sense
 observer4 ,in a curious paper of       
,december #ahjd1bic ,cobbett points out 
that the landlords will always keep the 
profits of farmers down to the average  

rate of equally agreeable businesses4   
,this granted1 it is a short though     
important step to the theory of rent4   
,the ,english system had1 in fact1      
spontaneously analysed the problem4 ,the
 landlord1 farmer1 and labourer         
represented the three interests which   
might elsewhere be combined4 ,prices    
raised by war and famine had led to the 
enclosure of wastes and the breaking up 
of pastures4 ,the 'margin of            
cultivation' was thus illustrated by    
facts4 ,farmers were complaining that   
they could not make a profit if prices  
were lowered4 ,the landed classes were  
profiting by a rise of price raised1    
according to a familiar law1 in greater 
proportion than the deficiency of the   
harvest4 ,facts of this kind were1 one  
must suppose1 familiar to every         
land-agent2 and to discover the law of  
rent1 it was only necessary for ,malthus
 and ,west to put them in their natural 
order4 ,the egg had only to be put on   
its end1 though that1 as we know1 is    

often a difficult task4 ,when the feat  
was accomplished consequences followed  
which were fully developed by ,ricardo4 
,,footnotes3  #bjc ,mr4 ,james ,bonar's 
,malthus and his ,work 7#ahhe7 gives an 
admirable account of ,malthus4 ,the     
chief original authorities are a life by
 ,bishop ,otter1 prefixed to a second   
edition of the ,political ,economy      
7#ahca71 and an article by ,empson1     
,malthus's colleague1 in the ,edinburgh 
,review for ,january #ahcg4  #bjd       
,political ,justice 7#crd edition1      
#agih71 ii4 bk4 viii4 chap4 ix41 p4     
#ead4  #bje ,wallace wrote in answer to 
,hume1 ,a ,dissertation on the ,numbers 
of ,mankind in ,ancient and ,modern     
,times 7#agec71 and ,various ,prospects 
of ,mankind1 and ,nature and ,providence
 7#agfa74 ,godwin refers to the last4   
#bjf ,political ,justice1 ii4 #ebj4     
#bjg ,ibid4 ii4 #ebh4  #bjh ,first      
published in #agie1 after the first     
edition1 as ,godwin remarks1 of the     
,political ,justice4  #bji ,ami des     

hommes 7reprint of #ahhc71 p4 #ae4  #baj
 ,ami des hommes1 p4 #bf4  #baa ,see the
 curious debate in ,parl4 ,hist4 xiv4   
#acah-acfe4  #bab ,the seventh edition  
of ,price's ,observations on            
,reversionary ,payments1 etc4 7#ahab71  
contains a correspondence with ,pitt 7i4
 #baf1 etc474 ,the editor1 ,w4 ,morgan1 
accuses ,pitt of adopting ,price's plans
 without due acknowledgment and         
afterwards spoiling them4  #bac ,essay  
on ,population1 p4 #ah4 ,in             
,observations1 ii4 #ada1 he estimates   
the diminution at a million and a half4 
,other books referring to the same      
controversy are ,howlett's ,examination 
of ,dr4 ,price's ,essay 7#agha72 ,letter
 to ,lord ,carlisle1 by ,william ,eden  
7#agdd-ahad71 first ,lord ,auckland2    
,william ,wales's ,enquiry into ,present
 ,state of ,population1 etc4 7#agha72   
and ,geo4 ,chalmers's ,estimate of the  
,comparative ,strength of ,great        
,britain 7#aghb and several later       
editions74  #bad ,essay 7first edition71

 p4 #cci4  #bae ,memoirs1 etc4 7#ahai71 
ii4 #aj4  #baf ,so ,sir ,james ,stewart1
 whose light was extinguished by ,adam  
,smith1 begins his ,enquiry into the    
,principles of ,political ,economy      
7#agfg7 by discussing the question of   
population1 and compares the 'generative
 faculty' to a spring loaded with a     
weight1 and exerting itself in          
proportion to the diminution of         
resistance 7,works1 #ahje1 i4 #bb74 ,he 
compares population to 'rabbits in a    
warren4' ,joseph ,townsend1 in his      
,journey ,through ,spain 7#agib71 to    
whom ,malthus refers1 had discussed the 
supposed decay of the ,spanish          
population1 and illustrates his         
principles by a geometric progression3  
see ii4 #bac-ef1 #chf-ia4 ,eden1 in his 
book on the poor 7i4 #bad71 quotes a    
tract attributed to ,sir ,matthew ,hale 
for the statement that the poor increase
 on 'geometrical progression4'  #bag    
,malthus and his ,work1 p4 #he4  #bah   
,voltaire says in the ,dictionnaire     

,philosophique 7art4 ',population'73    
',on ne propage point en ,progression   
,geometrique4 ,tous les calculs qu'on a 
faits sur cette pretendue multiplication
 sont des chimeres absurdes4' ,they had 
been used to reconcile the story of the 
deluge with the admitted population of  
the world soon afterwards4  #bai ,essay 
7#ahbf71 ii #dec n4 ,i cite from this1  
the last edition published in ,malthus's
 lifetime1 unless otherwise stated4     
#bbj ,essay1 ii4 #bea 7bk4 iii4 ch4     
xiv474  #bba ,ibid4 7#agih71 p4 #ada4   
#bbb ,essay1 ii4 #ddi 7,appendix74  #bbc
 ,essay1 ii4 #dgc 7,appendix74  #bbd    
,ibid4 7,second ,edition71 p4 #djj4 ,the
 passage is given in full in ,malthus   
and his ,work1 p4 #cjg4  #bbe ,essay1 i4
 #dfi 7bk4 ii4 ch4 x474 ,eden had made  
the same remark4  #bbf ,ibid4 ii4 #bbi  
7bk4 iii4 ch4 xiv474  #bbg              
,correspondence in ,senior's ,three     
,essays on ,population 7#ahbi74  #bbh   
,essay1 i4 #bcd 7bk4 i4 ch4 ii474  #bbi 
,mr4 ,bonar thinks 7,malthus and his    

,work1 p4 #cbd7 that ,malthus followed  
,paley's predecessor1 ,abraham ,tucker1 
rather than ,paley4 ,the difference is  
not for my purpose important4 ,in any   
case1 ,malthus's references are to      
,paley4  #bcj ,essay1 ii4 #bff 7bk4 iv4 
ch4 i474  #bca ,essay 7first edition71  
p4 #bab4  #bcb ,ibid4 i4 #af n4 7bk4 i4 
ch4 ii474  #bcc ,see e4g4 his remarks   
upon ,condorcet in ,essay1 ii4 #h 7bk4  
iii4 ch4 i472 and ,owen in ,ibid4 ii4   
#dh 7bk4 iii ch4 ii474  #bcd ,essay1 i4 
#ae n4 7bk4 i4 ch4 ii472 and see ,ibid4 
7edit4 of #ahjg7 ii4 #abh4  #bce ,ibid4 
7#ahjg7 ii4 #abh4  #bcf ,ibid4 7#ahjg7  
ii4 #c 7bk4 ii4 ch4 ii474 7,omitted in  
later editions47  #bcg ,mr4 ,a4 ,r4     
,wallace1 ,darwin's fellow-discoverer of
 the doctrine1 also learned it from     
,malthus4 ,see ,clodd's ,pioneers of    
,evolution4 ,malthus uses the phrase    
'struggle for existence' in relation to 
a fight between two savage tribes in the
 first edition of his ,essay1 p4 #dh4   
,in replying to ,condorcet1 ,malthus    

speaks 7,essay1 ii4 #ab1 bk4 iii4 ch4   
i47 of the possible improvement of      
living organisms4 ,he argues that1      
though a plant may be improved1 it      
cannot be indefinitely improved by      
cultivation4 ,a carnation could not be  
made as large as a tulip4 ,it has been  
said that this implies a condemnation by
 anticipation of theories of the        
development of species4 ,this is hardly 
correct4 ,malthus simply urges against  
,condorcet that our inability to fix    
limits precisely does not imply that    
there are no limits4 ,this1 it would    
seem1 must be admitted on all hands4    
,evolution implies definite though not  
precisely definable limits4 ,life may be
 lengthened1 but not made immortal4     
#bch ,essay 7first edition71 #cec4  #bci
 ,ibid4 #db n4 7bk4 iii4 ch4 iii47  #bdj
 ,essay1 ii4 #cja-cf 7bk4 iv4 ch4 i4 and
 ii474 ,sumner's ,treatise on the       
,records of the ,creation1 and on the   
,moral ,attributes of the ,creator3 with
 ,particular ,reference to the ,jewish  

,history and the ,consistency of the    
,principle of ,population with the      
,wisdom and ,goodness of the ,creator   
7#ahae71 had gained the second ,burnett 
prize4 ,it went through many editions2  
and shows how ,cuvier confirms ,genesis1
 and ,malthus proves that the world was 
intended to involve a competition       
favourable to the industrious and sober4
 ,sumner's view of ,malthus is given in 
,part ii41 chaps1 v4 and vi4 ,in        
previous chapters he has supported      
,malthus's attack on ,godwin and        
,condorcet4  #bda ,essay1 ii4 #bff 7bk4 
iv4 ch4 i474  #bdb ,essay1 ii #bfh 7bk4 
iv4 ch4 i474  #bdc ,ibid4 7bk4 iv4 ch4  
ii474  #bdd ,essay1 #bda 7bk4 iii4 ch4  
iv474  #bde ,ibid4 ii4 #bda 7bk4 iii4   
ch4 xiv474  #bdf ,ibid4 ii4 #bic 7bk4   
iv4 ch4 iv474  #bdg ,ibid4 ii4 #dbe 7bk4
 iv4 ch4 xiii474 ,malthus expresses a   
hope that ,paley had modified his views 
upon population1 and refers to a passage
 in the ,natural ,theology4  #bdh       
,essay1 ii4 #bib 7bk4 iv4 ch4 iv474     

#bdi ,political ,economy 7#ahcf71 p4    
#bad4  #bej ,essay1 ii4 #bih 7bk4 iv4   
ch4 iv474  #bea ,ibid4 ii4 #hf 7bk4 iii4
 ch4 vi474  #beb ,ibid4 ii4 #hg 7bk4    
iii4 ch4 vi474  #bec ,essay1 ii4 #ij    
7bk4 iii4 ch4 vi474  #bed ,ibid4 ii4    
#cch 7bk4 iv4 ch4 viii474  #bee ,ibid4  
ii4 7bk4 iv4 ch4 x474  #bef ,ibid4 ii4  
#cec 7bk4 iv4 ch4 ix474  #beg ,essay1   
ii4 #cef 7bk4 iv4 ch4 ix474  #beh ,ibid4
 ii4 #djg 7bk4 iv4 ch4 xii474  #bei     
,ibid4 ii4 #cge 7bk4 iv4 ch4 xi474  #bfj
 ,ibid4 ii4 #dbi 7bk4 iv4 ch4 xiii474   
#bfa ,essay of #ahjg 7bk4 iii4 ch4 ii41 
and vol4 ii4 p4 #aaa74 ,the phrases     
quoted are toned down in later editions4
  #bfb ,essay1 i4 #ccj 7bk4 ii4 ch4     
iv474  #bfc ,ibid4 ii4 #cjj 7bk4 iv4 ch4
 v474  #bfd ,ibid4 ii4 #dje 7bk4 iv4 ch4
 xiii474  #bfe ,ibid4 i4 #cdc 7bk4 ii4  
ch4 v474  #bff ,essay1 ii4 #dbd 7bk4 iv4
 ch4 xiii474  #bfg ,ibid4 ii4 #cjd 7bk4 
iv4 ch4 v474  #bfh ,essay1 i4 #ge 7bk4  
i4 ch4 v474  #bfi ,ibid4 7bk4 ii4 ch4   
vi474  #bgj ,essay1 ii4 #cah 7bk4 iv4   

ch4 vi474  #bga ,essay1 ii4 #cae 7bk4   
iv4 ch4 v474  #bgb ,ibid4 ii4 #cbf 7bk4 
iv4 ch4 vi474  #bgc ,ibid4 ii4 #gh 7bk4 
iii4 ch4 v474  #bgd ,essay1 ii4 #ded    
7,appendix74  #bge ,ibid4 ii4 #hb 7bk4  
iii4 ch4 vi474  #bgf ,ibid4 ii4 #ij 7bk4
 iii4 ch4 vi474  #bgg ,senior's ,three  
,lectures1 p4 #hf4  #bgh ,senior's      
,three ,lectures1 p4 #fj4  #bgi ,essay1 
i4 #ecd 7bk4 ii4 ch4 xiii474  #bhj      
,smith's ,works 7#ahei71 i4 #bie4  #bha 
,observations on the ,effects of the    
,corn-laws1 #ahad2 ,inquiry into the    
,nature and ,progress of ,rent1 #ahae2  
and ,the ,grounds of an ,opinion on the 
,policy of restricting the ,importation 
of ,foreign ,corn1 intended as an       
appendix to the ,observations on the    
,corn-laws1 #ahae4  #bhb ,inquiry into  
,rent1 p4 #a4  #bhc ,ibid4 p4 #af4  #bhd
 ,essay1 ii4 #ce 7bk4 iii4 ch4 ii474    
#bhe ,inquiry into ,rent1 p4 #bj4  #bhf 
,ibid4 p4 #ah4  #bhg ,ibid4 p4 #ch4     
#bhh ,inquiry into ,rent1 p4 #bj4  #bhi 
,ibid4 p4 #cg4  #bij ,essay on the      

,application of ,capital to ,land1 by a 
,fellow of ,university ,college1        
,oxford1 #ahae4  #bia ,essay1 p4 #ai4   
#bib ,in ,an ,inquiry into the ,nature  
of the ,corn-laws1 and again 7#ahja7 in 
,observations on ,agriculture1 etc41    
vol4 v4 #dja-ea4  #bic ,political       
,works1 i4 #dhe1 etc4 ,in this paper1 ,i
 may add1 ,cobbett1 not yet a ,radical1 
accepts ,malthus's view of the tendency 
of the human species to multiply more   
quickly than its support4 ,he does not  
mention ,malthus1 but speaks of the     
belief as universally admitted1 and     
afterwards illustrates it amusingly by  
saying that1 in his ploughboy days1 he  
used to wonder that there was always    
just enough hay for the horses and      
enough horses for the hay4     ,,chapter
 ,v  ,,ricardo   ,i4 ,,ricardo',s       
,,starting-,,point  ,david ,ricardo1#bid
 born #aith ,april #aggb1 was the son of
 a ,dutch ,jew who had settled in       
,england1 and made money upon the ,stock
 ,exchange4 ,ricardo had a desultory    

education1 and was employed in business 
from his boyhood4 ,he abandoned his     
father's creed1 and married an          
,englishwoman soon after reaching his   
majority4 ,he set up for himself in     
business1 and1 at a time when financial 
transactions upon an unprecedented scale
 were giving great opportunities for    
speculators1 he made a large fortune1   
and about #ahad bought an estate at     
,gatcombe ,park1 ,gloucestershire4 ,he  
withdrew soon afterwards from business1 
and in #ahai became member of           
parliament4 ,his death on #aath         
,september #ahbc cut short a political  
career from which his perhaps too       
sanguine friends anticipated great      
results4 ,his influence in his own      
department of inquiry had been1         
meanwhile1 of the greatest importance4  
,he had shown in his youth some         
inclination for scientific pursuits2 he 
established a laboratory1 and became a  
member of scientific societies4 ,the    
perusal of ,adam ,smith's ,wealth of    

,nations in #agii gave him an interest  
in the application of scientific methods
 to the questions with which he was most
 conversant4 ,accepting ,adam ,smith as 
the leading authority1 he proceeded to  
think out for himself certain doctrines1
 which appeared to him to have been     
insufficiently recognised by his        
teacher4 ,the first result of his       
speculations was a pamphlet published in
 #ahji upon the depreciation of the     
currency4 ,upon that topic he spoke as  
an expert1 and his main doctrines were  
accepted by the famous ,bullion         
,committee4 ,ricardo thus became a      
recognised authority on one great set of
 problems of the highest immediate      
interest4 ,malthus's ,inquiry into ,rent
 suggested another pamphlet2 and in     
#ahag1 encouraged by the warm pressure  
of his friend1 ,james ,mill1 he         
published his chief book1 the           
,principles of ,political ,economy and  
,taxation4 ,this became the economic    
,bible of the ,utilitarians4 ,the task  

of a commentator or interpreter is1 for 
various reasons1 a difficult one4       
,there is a certain analogy between     
,ricardo and a very different writer1   
,bishop ,butler4 ,each of them produced 
a great effect by a short treatise1 and 
in each case the book owed very little  
to the ordinary literary graces4        
,ricardo's want of literary training1 or
 his natural difficulty of utterance1   
made his style still worse than         
,butler's2 but1 like ,butler1 he        
commands our respect by his obvious     
sincerity and earnestness4 ,he is       
content when he has so expressed his    
argument that it can be seized by an    
attentive reader4 ,he is incapable of1  
or indifferent to1 clear and orderly    
exposition of principles4 ,the logic is 
there1 if you will take the trouble to  
look for it4 ,perhaps we ought to be    
flattered by this tacit reliance upon   
our patience4 ',you1' ,ricardo1 like    
,butler1 seems to say to us1 'are       
anxious for truth3 you do not care for  

ornament1 and may be trusted to work out
 the full application of my principles4'
 ,in another respect the two are alike4 
,butler's argument has impressed many   
readers as a demolition of his own case4
 ,it provokes revolt instead of         
adhesion4 ,ricardo1 an orthodox         
economist1 laid down principles which   
were adopted by ,socialists to upset his
 own assumptions4 ,such a ,god as you   
worship1 said ,butler's opponents1 is an
 unjust being1 and therefore worse than 
no ,god4 ,such a system as you describe1
 said ,ricardo's opponents1 is an       
embodiment of injustice1 and therefore  
to be radically destroyed4 ,admitting   
the logic1 the argument may be read as a
 reductio ad absurdum in both cases4    
,ricardo has involved himself in certain
 special difficulties4 ,in the first    
place1 he presupposes familiarity with  
,adam ,smith4 ,the ,principles is a     
running comment upon some of ,smith's   
theories1 and no attempt is made to     
reduce them to systematic order4 ,he    

starts by laying down propositions1 the 
proof of which comes afterwards1 and is 
then rather intimated than expressly    
given4 ,he adopts the terminology which 
,smith had accepted from popular        
use1#bie and often applies it in a      
special significance1 which is at least 
liable to be misunderstood by his       
readers1 or forgotten by himself4 ,it is
 difficult1 again1 to feel sure whether 
some of his statements are to be taken  
as positive assertions of fact1 or      
merely as convenient assumptions for the
 purposes of his argument4 ,ricardo     
himself1 as appears in his letters1 was 
painfully aware of his own awkwardness  
of expression1 and upon that point alone
 all his critics seem to be in tolerable
 agreement4 ,happily1 it will be enough 
for my purpose if ,i can lay down his   
essential premises without following him
 to the remoter deductions4  ,ricardo's 
pamphlet upon ,malthus 7#ahae7 gives a  
starting-point4 ,ricardo cordially      
adopts ,malthus's theory of rent1 but   

declares that it is fatal to some of    
,malthus's conclusions4 ,malthus1 we    
have seen1 wished to regard rent as in  
some sense a gift of ,providence--a     
positive blessing due to the fertility  
of the soil4 ,ricardo maintains1 on the 
contrary1 that 'the interest of the     
landlord is necessarily opposed to the  
interest of every other class in the    
community4'#bif ,the landlord is        
prosperous when corn is scarce and dear2
 all other persons when it is plentiful 
and cheap4 ,this follows upon ,malthus's
 own showing4 ,as men are forced to have
 recourse to inferior soils1 the        
landlord obtains a larger share of the  
whole produce2 and1 moreover1 since corn
 also becomes more valuable1 will have a
 larger share of a more valuable        
product4 ,the question apparently in    
dispute--whether we should be glad that 
some land is better than the worst1 or  
sorry because all is not equal to the   
best--seems rather idle4 ,the real      
question1 however1 is whether rent1     

being a blessing1 should be kept up by  
protection1#big or1 being a curse1      
should be brought down by competition8  
,what is the real working of the system8
 ,set the trade free1 says ,ricardo1 and
 the capital will be withdrawn from the 
poor land and employed upon             
manufactures1 to be exchanged for the   
corn of other countries4#bih ,the change
 must correspond to a more advantageous 
distribution of capital1 or it would not
 be adopted4 ,the principle involved in 
this last proposition is1 he adds1 one  
of the 'best established in the science 
of political economy1 and by no one is  
more readily admitted than by ,mr4      
,malthus4' ,to enforce protection would 
be1 on ,malthus's illustration1 to      
compel us to use the 'worst machines1   
when1 at a less expense1 we could hire  
the very best from our neighbours4'#bii 
,briefly1 then1 the landlord's interest 
is opposed to the national interest1    
because it enforces a worse distribution
 of capital4 ,he compels us to get corn 

from his worst land1 instead of getting 
it indirectly1 but in greater quantity1 
from our spinning-jennies4  ,for        
,ricardo1 as for ,malthus1 the ultimate 
driving force is the pressure of        
population4 ,the mass of mankind is     
always struggling to obtain food1 and is
 able to multiply so rapidly as to      
exhaust any conceivable increase of     
supplies4 ,the landlord class alone     
profits4 ,the greater the struggle for  
supply the greater will be the share of 
the whole produce which must be         
surrendered to it4 ,beyond this1        
however1 lies the further problem which 
specially occupied ,ricardo4 ,how will  
the resulting strain affect the         
relations of the two remaining classes1 
the labourers and the capitalists8 ,the 
ultimate evil of protection is the bad  
distribution of capital4 ,but capital   
always acts by employing labour4 ,the   
farmer's capital does not act by itself1
 but by enabling his men to work4       
,hence1 to understand the working of the

 industrial machinery1 we have to settle
 the relation of wages and profits4     
,ricardo states this emphatically in his
 preface4 ,rent1 profit1 and wages1 he  
says1 represent the three parts into    
which the whole produce of the earth is 
divided4 ',to determine the laws which  
regulate this distribution is the       
principal problem in political economy'2
 and one1 he adds1 which has been left  
in obscurity by previous writers4#cjj   
,his investigations are especially      
directed by the purpose thus defined4   
,he was the first writer who fairly     
brought under distinct consideration    
what he held1 with reason1 to be the    
most important branch of economical     
inquiry4  ,there was clearly a gap in   
the economic doctrine represented by the
 ,wealth of ,nations4 ,adam ,smith was  
primarily concerned with the theory of  
the 'market4' ,he assumes the existence 
of the social arrangement which is      
indicated by that phrase4 ,the market   
implies a constitution of industrial    

agencies such that1 within it1 only one 
price is possible for a given commodity1
 or1 rather1 such that a difference of  
price cannot be permanent4 ,according to
 the accepted illustration1 the sea is  
not absolutely level1 but it is always  
tending to a level4#cja ,a permanent    
elevation at one point is impossible4   
,the agency by which this levelling or  
equilibrating process is carried out is 
competition1 involving what ,smith      
called the 'higgling of the market4'    
,the momentary fluctuation1 again1      
supposes the action of 'supply and      
demand1' which1 as they vary1 raise and 
depress prices4 ,to illustrate the      
working of this machinery1 to show how  
previous writers had been content to    
notice a particular change without      
following out the collateral results1   
and had thus been led into fallacies    
such as that of the 'mercantile system1'
 was ,smith's primary task4  ,beyond or 
beneath these questions lie             
difficulties1 which ,smith1 though not  

blind to their existence1 treated in a  
vacillating and inconsistent fashion4   
,variations of supply and demand cause  
fluctuations in the price2 but what     
finally determines the point to which   
the fluctuating prices must gravitate8  
,we follow the process by which one wave
 propagates another2 but there is still 
the question1 ,what ultimately fixes the
 normal level8 ,upon this point ,ricardo
 could find no definite statement in his
 teacher4 ',supply and demand' was a    
sacred phrase which would always give a 
verbal answer1 or indicate the immediate
 cause of variations on the surface4    
,beneath the surface there must be      
certain forces at work which settle why 
a quarter of corn 'gravitates' to a     
certain price2 why the landlord can get 
just so many quarters of corn for the   
use of his fields2 and why the produce1 
which is due jointly to the labourer and
 the farmer1 is divided in a certain    
fixed proportion4 ,to settle such points
 it is necessary to answer the problem  

of distribution1 for the play of the    
industrial forces is directed by the    
constitution of the classes which       
co-operate in the result4 ,ricardo saw  
in ,malthus's doctrines of rent and of  
population a new mode of approaching the
 problem4 ,what was wanted1 in the first
 place1 was to systematise the logic    
adopted by his predecessors4 ,rent1 it  
was clear1 could not be both a cause and
 an effect of price1 though at different
 points of his treatise ,smith had      
apparently accepted each view of the    
relation4 ,we must first settle which is
 cause and which effect2 and then bring 
our whole system into the corresponding 
order4 ,for the facts1 ,ricardo is      
content to trust mainly to others4 ,the 
true title of his work should be that   
which his commentator1 ,de ,quincey1    
afterwards adopted1 the ,logic of       
,political ,economy4 ,this aim gives a  
partial explanation of the              
characteristic for which ,ricardo is    
most generally criticised4 ,he is       

accused of being abstract in the sense  
of neglecting facts4 ,he does not deny  
the charge4 ',if ,i am too theoretical  
7which ,i really believe to be the case7
 you1' he says to ,malthus1 ',i think1  
are too practical4'#cjb ,if ,malthus is 
more guided than ,ricardo by a reference
 to facts1 he has of course an          
advantage4 ,but so far as ,malthus or   
,adam ,smith theorised--and1 of course1 
their statement of facts involved a     
theory--they were at least bound to be  
consistent4 ,it is one thing to         
recognise the existence of facts which  
your theory will not explain1 and to    
admit that it therefore requires        
modification4 ,it is quite another thing
 to explain each set of facts in turn by
 theories which contradict each other4  
,that is not to be historical but to be 
muddleheaded4 ,malthus and ,smith1 as it
 seemed to ,ricardo1 had occasionally   
given explanations which1 when set side 
by side1 destroyed each other4 ,he was  
therefore clearly justified in the      

attempt to exhibit these logical        
inconsistencies and to supply a theory  
which should be in harmony with itself4 
,he was so far neither more nor less    
'theoretical' than his predecessors1 but
 simply more impressed by the necessity 
of having at least a consistent theory4 
,there was never a time at which logic  
in such matters was more wanted1 or its 
importance more completely disregarded4 
,rash and ignorant theorists were       
plunging into intricate problems and    
propounding abstract solutions4 ,the    
enormous taxation made necessary by the 
war suggested at every point questions  
as to the true incidence of the taxes4  
,who really gained or suffered by the   
protection of corn8 ,were the landlords1
 the farmers1 or the labourers directly 
interested8 ,could they shift the       
burthen upon other shoulders or not8    
,what1 again1 it was of the highest     
importance to know1 was the true        
'incidence' of tithes1 of a land-tax1 of
 the poor-laws1 of an income-tax1 and of

 all the multitudinous indirect taxes   
from which the national income was      
derived8 ,the most varying views were   
held and eagerly defended4 ,who really  
paid8 ,that question interested         
everybody1 and occupies a large part of 
,ricardo's book4 ,the popular answers   
involved innumerable inconsistencies1   
and were supported by arguments which   
only required to be confronted in order 
to be confuted4 ,ricardo's aim was to   
substitute a clear and consistent theory
 for this tangle of perplexed sophistry4
 ,in that sense his aim was in the      
highest degree 'practical1' although he 
left to others the detailed application 
of his doctrines to the actual facts of 
the day4   ,,ii4 ,,the ,,distribution   
,,problem  ,the rent doctrine gives one 
essential datum4 ,a clear comprehension 
of rent is1 as he was persuaded1 'of the
 utmost importance to political         
economy4'#cjc ,the importance is that it
 enables him to separate one of the     
primary sources of revenue from the     

others4 ,it is as though1 in the        
familiar illustration1 we were          
considering the conditions of           
equilibrium of a fluid2 and we now see  
that one part may be considered as a    
mere overflow1 resulting from 7not      
determining7 the other conditions4 ,the 
primary assumption in the case of the   
market is the level of price4 ,when we  
clearly distinguish rent on one side    
from profits and wages on the other1 we 
see that we may also assume a level of  
profits4 ,there cannot1 as ,ricardo     
constantly says1 'be two rates of       
profit1' that is1 at the same time and  
in the same country4 ,but so long as    
rent was lumped with other sources of   
revenue it was impossible to see1 what  
,malthus and ,west had now made clear1  
that in agriculture1 as in manufactures1
 the profits of the producer must       
conform to the principle4 ,given their  
theory1 it follows that the power of    
land to yield a great revenue does not  
imply a varying rate of profit or a     

special bounty of nature bestowed upon  
agriculture4 ,it means simply that1     
since the corn from the good and bad    
land sells at the same price1 there is a
 surplus on the good4 ,but as that      
surplus constitutes rent1 the farmer's  
rate of profit will still be uniform4   
,thus we have got rid of one            
complication1 and we are left with a    
comparatively simple issue4 ,we have to 
consider the problem1 ,what determines  
the distribution as between the         
capitalist and the labourer8 ,that is   
the vital question for ,ricardo4        
,ricardo's theory1 in the first place1  
is a modification of ,adam ,smith's4 ,he
 accepts ,smith's statement that wages  
are determined by the 'supply and demand
 of labourers1' and by the 'price of    
commodities on which their wages are    
expended4'#cjd ,the appeal to 'supply   
and demand' implies that the rate of    
wages depends upon unchangeable economic
 conditions4 ,he endorses#cje ,malthus's
 statement about the absurdity of       

considering 'wages' as something which  
may be fixed by his ,majesty's          
',justices of the ,peace1' and infers   
with ,malthus that wages should be left 
to find their 'natural level4' ,but what
 precisely is this 'natural level8' ,if 
the ,justice of the ,peace cannot fix   
the rate of wages1 what does fix them8  
,supply and demand8 ,what1 then1 is     
precisely meant in this case by the     
supply and demand8 ,the 'supply' of     
labour1 we may suppose1 is fixed by the 
actual labouring population at a given  
time4 ,the 'demand1' again1 is in some  
way clearly related to 'capital4' ,as   
,smith again had said1#cjf the demand   
for labour increases with the 'increase 
of revenue and stock1 and cannot        
possibly increase without it4' ,ricardo 
agrees that 'population regulates itself
 by the funds which are to employ it1   
and therefore always increases or       
diminishes with the increase or         
diminution of capital4'#cjg ,it was     
indeed a commonplace that the increase  

of capital was necessary to an increase 
of population1 as it is obvious enough  
that population must be limited by the  
means of subsistence accumulated4       
,smith1 for example1 goes on to insist  
upon this in one of the passages which  
partly anticipates ,malthus4#cjh ,but   
this does not enable us to separate     
profit from wages1 or solve ,ricardo's  
problem4 ,when we speak of supply and   
demand as determining the price of a    
commodity1 we generally have in mind two
 distinct though related processes4 ,one
 set of people is growing corn1 and     
another working coal mines4 ,each       
industry1 therefore1 has a separate     
existence1 though each may be partly    
dependent upon the other4 ,but this is  
not true of labour and capital4 ,they   
are not products of different countries 
or processes4 ,they are inseparable     
constituents of a single process4       
,labour cannot be maintained without    
capital1 nor can capital produce without
 labour4 ,capital1 according to         

,ricardo's definition1 is the 'part of  
the wealth of a country which is        
employed in production1 and consists of 
food1 clothing1 raw materials1          
machinery1 etc41 necessary to give      
effect to labour4'#cji ,that part1 then1
 of capital which is applied to the     
support of the labourer--his food1      
clothing1 and so forth--is identical    
with wages4 ,to say that1 if it         
increases1 his wages increase is to be  
simply tautologous4 ,if1 on the other   
hand1 we include the machinery and raw  
materials1 it becomes difficult to say  
in what sense 'capital' can be taken as 
a demand for labour4 ,ricardo tells     
,malthus that an accumulation of profit 
does not1 as ,malthus had said1         
necessarily raise wages#caj2 and he     
ultimately decided1 much to the scandal 
of his disciple1 ,m',culloch1 that an   
increase of 'fixed capital' or machinery
 might be actually prejudicial1 under   
certain circumstances1 to the labourer4 
,the belief of the labouring class that 

machinery often injures them is not1 he 
expressly says1 'founded on prejudice   
and error1 but is conformable to the    
correct principles of political         
economy4'#caa ,the word 'capital1'      
indeed1 was used with a vagueness which 
covered some of the most besetting      
fallacies of the whole doctrine4        
,ricardo himself sometimes speaks as    
though he had in mind merely the supply 
of labourers' necessaries1 though he    
regularly uses it in a wider sense4 ,the
 generalities1 therefore1 about supply  
and demand1 take us little further4     
,from these difficulties ,ricardo       
escapes by another method4 ,malthus's   
theory of population gives him what he  
requires4 ,the 'natural price of labour'
 7as distinguished from its 'market     
price'7 is1 as he asserts1 'that price  
which is necessary to enable the        
labourers1 one with another1 to subsist 
and perpetuate their race without either
 increase or diminution4'#cab ,this is  
the true 'natural price1' about which   

the 'market price' oscillates4 ,an      
increase of capital may raise wages for 
a time above the natural price1 but an  
increase of population will bring back  
the previous rate4 ,ricardo warns us1   
indeed1 that this natural price of      
labour is not to be regarded as         
something 'absolutely fixed and         
constant4'#cac ,it varies in different  
times and countries1 and even in the    
same country at different times4 ,an    
,english cottager now possesses what    
would once have been luxuries4 ,ricardo 
admits again#cad that the wages of      
different classes of labourers may be   
different1 although he does not consider
 that this fact affects his argument4   
,we may allow for it by considering the 
skilled labourer as #b or #a-a_/b       
labourers rolled into one4 ,the         
assumption enables him to get out of a  
vicious circle4 ,he is seeking to       
discover the proportions in which       
produce will be divided between the two 
classes1 and which co-operate in the    

production4 ,the 'demand and supply'    
principle may show that an increase of  
capital will tend to increase wages1 but
 even that tendency1 as he carefully    
points out1 can only be admitted subject
 to certain important reservations4 ,in 
any case1 if it explains temporary      
fluctuations1 it will not ascertain the 
point round which the fluctuations take 
place4 ,but the two variables1 wages and
 profit1 are clearly connected1 and if  
we can once assume that one of these    
variables is fixed by an independent    
law1 we may explain in what way the     
other will be fixed4 ,having got rid of 
'rent1' the remaining produce has to be 
divided between wages and profit4 ,if   
the produce be fixed1 the greater the   
share of the labourer the less will be  
the share of the capitalist1 and vice   
versa4 ,but the labourer's share again  
is determined by the consideration that 
it must be such as to enable him to keep
 up the population4 ,the capitalist will
 get the surplus produce after allowing 

to the labourer the share so determined4
 ,everything turns ultimately upon this 
'natural price'--the constant which     
underlies all the variations4  ,one     
other point is implied4 ,the population 
is limited1 as we see1 by the necessity 
of raising supplies of food from        
inferior soils4 ,moreover1 this is the  
sole limit4 ,a different view had been  
taken which greatly exercised the       
orthodox economists4 ,it was generally  
admitted that in the progress of society
 the rate of profit declined4 ,adam     
,smith explained this by arguing that1  
as capital increased1 the competition of
 capitalists lowered the rate4 ,to this 
it was replied 7as by ,west7 that though
 competition equalised profits1 it could
 not fix the rate of profit4 ,the simple
 increase of capital does not prove that
 it will be less profitably employed4   
,the economists had constantly to argue 
against the terrible possibility of a   
general 'glut4' ,the condition of things
 at the peace had suggested this alarm4 

,the mischief was ascribed to           
'over-production' and not to misdirected
 production4 ,the best cure for our     
evils1 as some people thought1 would be 
to burn all the goods in stock4 ,on this
 version of the argument1 it would seem 
that an increase of wealth might be     
equivalent to an increase of poverty4   
,to confute the doctrine in this form1  
it was only necessary to have a more    
intelligent conception of the true      
nature of exchange4 ,as ,james ,mill had
 argued in his pamphlet against ,spence1
 every increase of supply is also an    
increase of demand4 ,the more there is  
to sell1 the more there is to buy4 ,the 
error involved in the theory of a 'glut'
 is the confusion between a temporary   
dislocation of the machinery of         
exchange1 which can and will be remedied
 by a new direction of industry1 and the
 impossible case of an excess of wealth 
in general4#cae ,malthus never quite    
cleared his mind of this error1 and     
,ricardo had to argue the point with    

him4 ,abundance of capital cannot by    
itself1 he says1 'make capital less in  
demand4' ,the 'demand for capital is    
infinite4'#caf ,the decline in the rate 
of profit1 therefore1 depends upon      
another cause4 ',if1 with every         
accumulation of profit1 we could tack a 
piece of fresh fertile land to our      
,island1 profits would never fall4'#cag 
,fertile land1 however1 is limited4 ,we 
have to resort to inferior soil1 and    
therefore to employ capital at a less   
advantage4 ,in the ,principles he       
enforces the same doctrine with the help
 of ,say1 who had shown 'most           
satisfactorily' that any amount of      
capital might be employed4#cah ,if1 in  
short1 labour and capital were always   
equally efficient1 there would be no    
limit to the amount producible4 ,if the 
supply of food and raw materials can be 
multiplied1 wealth can be multiplied to 
any amount4 ,the admitted tendency of   
profits to fall must therefore be       
explained simply and solely by the      

growing difficulty of producing the food
 and the raw material4  ,ricardo's      
doctrine1 then1 is ,malthus carried out 
more logically4 ,take a nation in a     
state of industrial equilibrium4 ,the   
produce of the worst soil just supports 
the labourer1 and leaves a profit to the
 capitalist4 ,the labourer gets just    
enough to keep up his numbers to the    
standard2 the capitalist just enough    
profit to induce him to keep up the     
capital which supports the labourer4    
,since there can be only one rate of    
wages and only one rate of profit1 this 
fixes the shares into which the whole   
produce of the nation is divided1 after 
leaving to the landlord the surplus     
produce of the more fertile soils4      
,accepting this scheme as a             
starting-point1 we get a method for     
calculating the results of any changes4 
,we can see how a tax imposed upon rents
 or profits or wages will affect the    
classes which are thus related2 how     
improvements in cultivation or          

machinery1 or a new demand for our      
manufactures1 will act1 assuming the    
conditions implied in this industrial   
organisation2 how1 in short1 any        
disturbance of the balance will work1 so
 as to produce a new equilibrium4       
,ricardo exerts all his ingenuity in    
working out the problem which1 with the 
help of a few assumptions1 becomes      
mathematical4 ,the arithmetical         
illustrations which he employed for the 
purpose became a nuisance in the hands  
of his disciples4 ,they are very useful 
as checks to general statements1 but    
lend themselves so easily to the tacit  
introduction of erroneous assumptions as
 often to give a totally false air of   
precision to the results4 ,happily ,i   
need not follow him into that region1   
and may omit any consideration of the   
logical value of his deductions4 ,i must
 be content to say that1 so far as he is
 right1 his system gives an economic    
calculus for working out the ultimate   
result of assigned economic changes4    

,the pivot of the whole construction is 
the 'margin of cultivation'--the point  
at which the food for a pressing        
population is raised at the greatest    
disadvantages4 ',profits1' as he        
says1#cai 'depend on high and low wages2
 wages on the price of necessaries2 and 
the price of necessaries chiefly on the 
price of food1 because all other        
requisites may be increased almost      
without limit4'  ,ricardo takes the     
actual constitution of society for      
granted4 ,the threefold division into   
landowners1 capitalists1 and labourers  
is assumed as ultimate4 ,for him that is
 as much a final fact as to a chemist it
 is a final fact that air and water are 
composed of certain elements4 ,each     
class represents certain economic       
categories4 ,the landlord sits still and
 absorbs the overflow of wealth created 
by others4 ,the labourer acts a very    
important but in one respect a purely   
passive part4 ,his whole means of       
subsistence are provided by the         

capitalist1 and advanced to him in the  
shape of wages4 ,his share in the       
process is confined to multiplying up to
 a fixed standard4 ,the capitalist is   
the really active agent4 ,the labourer  
is simply one of the implements used in 
production4 ,his wages are part of the  
capitalist's 'costs of production4' ,the
 capitalist virtually raises labourers1 
one may say1 so long as raising them is 
profitable1 just as he raises horses for
 his farm4 ,ricardo1 in fact1 points out
 that in some cases it may be for the   
farmer's interest to substitute horses  
for men4#cbj ,if it be essential to any 
product that there should be a certain  
number of labourers or a certain number 
of horses1 that number will be produced4
 ,but when the expense becomes          
excessive1 and in the case of labourers 
that happens as worse soils have to be  
broken up for food1 the check is        
provided through its effect upon the    
accumulation of capital4 ,that1         
therefore1 becomes the essential point4 

,the whole aim of the legislator should 
be to give facilities for the           
accumulation of capital1 and the way to 
do that is to abstain from all          
interference with the free play of the  
industrial forces4 ,the test1 for       
example1 of the goodness of a tax--or   
rather of its comparative freedom from  
the evils of every tax--is that it      
should permit of accumulation by        
interfering as little as possible with  
the tendency of the capital to          
distribute itself in the most efficient 
way4   ,,iii4 ,,value ,,and ,,labour    
,to solve the distribution problem1     
then1 it is necessary to get behind the 
mere fluctuations of the market1 and to 
consider what are the ultimate forces by
 which the market is itself governed4   
,what effect has this upon the theory of
 the market itself8 ,this leads to a    
famous doctrine4  ,according to his     
disciple1 ,m',culloch1 ,ricardo's great 
merit was that he 'laid down the        
fundamental theorem of the science of   

value4' ,he thus cleared up what had    
before been an 'impenetrable mystery1'  
and showed the true relations of profit1
 wages1 and prices4#cba ,ricardo's      
theory of value1 again1 was a           
starting-point of the chief modern      
,socialist theories4 ,it marked1 as has 
been said1#cbb the point at which the   
doctrine of the rights of man changes   
from a purely political to an economical
 theory4 ,ricardo remarks in his first  
chapter that the vagueness of theories  
of value has been the most fertile      
source of economic errors4 ,he admitted 
to the end of his life that he had not  
fully cleared up the difficulty4 ,modern
 economists have refuted and revised and
 discussed1 and1 let us hope1 now made  
everything quite plain4 ,they have      
certainly shown that some of ,ricardo's 
puzzles implied confusions singular in  
so keen a thinker4 ,that may serve as a 
warning against dogmatism4 ,boys in the 
next generation will probably be asked  
by examiners to expose the palpable     

fallacies of what to us seem to be      
demonstrable truths4 ,at any rate1 ,i   
must try to indicate the critical point 
as briefly as possible4  ,the word      
'value1' in the first place1 has varying
 meanings1 which give an opportunity for
 writers of text-books to exhibit their 
powers of lucid exposition4 ,the value  
of a thing in one sense is what it will 
fetch2 the quantity of some other thing 
for which it is actually exchanged in   
the market4 ,in that sense1 as ,ricardo 
incidentally observes1#cbc the word     
becomes meaningless unless you can say  
what is the other thing4 ,it is         
self-contradictory to speak as if a     
thing by itself could have a constant or
 any value4 ,value1 however1 may take a 
different sense4 ,it is the economic    
equivalent of the 'utility' of          
,bentham's 'felicific calculus4' ,it    
means the 'lot of pleasure' which causes
 a thing to be desirable4 ,if we could  
tell how many units of utility it       
contained we could infer the rate of    

exchange for other things4 ,the value of
 anything 'in use' will correspond to   
the number of units of utility which it 
contains2 and things which have the same
 quantity of 'utilities' will have the  
same 'exchangeable value4' ,ricardo can 
thus consider the old problem of finding
 'an invariable measure of value4' ,he  
points out the difficulty of finding any
 particular thing which will serve the  
purpose1 inasmuch as the relations of   
everything to everything else are       
constantly varying4 ,he therefore       
proposes to make use of an imaginary    
measure4 ,if gold were always produced  
under exactly the same circumstances1   
with the same labour and the same       
capital1 it would serve approximately   
for a standard4 ,accordingly he gives   
notice that1 for the purposes of his    
book1 he will assume this to be the     
case1 and money to be 'invariable in    
value4'#cbd ,we can thus1 on the one    
hand1 compare values at different       
periods4 ,a thing has the same value at 

all times which at all times requires   
'the same sacrifice of toil and labour  
to produce it4'#cbe ,the 'sacrifice'    
measures the 'utility1' and we may      
assume that the same labour corresponds 
in all ages to the same psychological   
unit4 ,but1 on the other hand1 at any   
given period things will exchange in    
proportion to the labour of producing   
them4 ,this follows at once from        
,ricardo's postulates4 ,given the single
 rate of wages and profits1 and assuming
 the capital employed to be in the same 
proportion1 things must exchange in     
proportion to the quantity of labour    
employed2 for if ,i got the same value  
by employing one labourer as you get by 
employing two1 my profits would be      
higher4 ,ricardo1 indeed1 has to allow  
for many complexities arising from the  
fact that very different quantities of  
capital are required in different       
industries2 but the general principle is
 given by the simplest case4 ,hence we  
have a measure of value1 applicable at  

any given time and in comparing         
different times4 ,it implies1 again1    
what ,m',culloch sums up as the         
'fundamental theorem1' that the value of
 'freely produced commodities' depends  
on the quantity of labour required for  
their 'production4' ,what is made by two
 men is worth twice what is made by one 
man4 ,that gives what ,m',culloch calls 
the 'clue to the labyrinth4'  ,the      
doctrine leads to a puzzle4 ,if ,i can  
measure the 'sacrifice1' can ,i measure 
the 'utility' which it gains8 ,the      
'utility' of an ounce of gold is not    
something 'objective' like its physical 
qualities1 but varies with the varying  
wants of the employer4 ,iron or coal may
 be used for an infinite variety of     
purposes and the utility will be        
different in each4 ,the thing may derive
 part of its 'utility' from its relation
 to other things4 ,the utility of my    
food is not really separate from the    
utility of my hat2 for unless ,i eat ,i 
cannot wear hats4 ,my desire for any    

object1 again1 is modified by all my    
other desires1 and even if ,i could     
isolate a 'desire' as a psychological   
unit1 it would not give me a fixed      
measure4 ,twice the article does not    
give twice the utility2 a double        
stimulus may only add a small pleasure  
or convert it into agony4 ,these and    
other difficulties imply the            
hopelessness of searching for this      
chimerical unit of 'utility' when       
considered as a separate thing4 ,it     
shifts and escapes from our hands       
directly we grasp it4 ,ricardo discusses
 some of these points in his interesting
 chapter on ',value and ,riches4' ,gold1
 he says1 may cost two thousand times   
more than iron1 but it is certainly not 
two thousand times as useful4#cbf       
,suppose1 again1 that some invention    
enables you to make more luxuries by the
 same labour1 you increase wealth but   
not value4 ,there will be1 say1 twice as
 many hats1 but each hat may have half  
its former value4 ,there will be more   

things to enjoy1 but they will only     
exchange for the same quantity of other 
things4 ,that is1 he says1 the amount of
 'riches' varies1 while the amount of   
value is fixed4 ,this1 according to him1
 proves that value does not vary with   
'utility4' ',utility1' as he declares in
 his first chapter1 is 'absolutely      
essential to value1' but it is 'not the 
measure of exchangeable value4'#cbg ,a  
solution of these puzzles may be sought 
in any modern text-book4 ,ricardo       
escapes by an apparently paradoxical    
conclusion4 ,he is undertaking an       
impossible problem when he starts from  
the buyers' desire of an 'utility4'     
,therefore he turns from the buyers to  
the sellers4 ,the seller has apparently 
a measurable and definable motive--the  
desire to make so much per cent4 on his 
capital4#cbh ,ricardo1 unfortunately1   
speaks as though the two parties to the 
bargain somehow represented mutually    
exclusive processes4 ',supply and       
demand' determine the value of          

'monopolised articles1' but the cost of 
other articles depends not 'on the state
 of demand and supply1' but 'on the     
increased or diminished cost of their   
production4'#cbi ,why 'not' and 'but'8  
,if supply and demand corresponds to the
 whole play of motives which determines 
the bargain1 this is like saying1       
according to the old illustration1 that 
we must attribute the whole effect of a 
pair of scissors to one blade and not to
 the other4 ,his view leads to the      
apparent confusion of taking for the    
cause of value not our desire for a     
thing1 but the sacrifice we must make to
 attain it4 ,bentham#ccj said1 for      
example1 that ,ricardo confused 'cost'  
with 'value4' ,the denial that utility  
must in some sense or other determine   
value perplexes an intelligible and     
consistent meaning4 ,it is clearly true1
 upon his postulates1 that the value of 
goods1 other than 'monopolised1' must   
conform to the cost of production4 ,he  
speaks as if he confounded a necessary  

condition with an 'efficient cause1' and
 as if one of two correlative processes 
could be explained without the other4   
,but the fact that there is a           
conformity1 however brought about1 was  
enough for his purpose4 ,the demand of  
buyers1 he would say1 determines the    
particular direction of production3 it  
settles whether hats should be made of  
silk or beaver2 whether we should grow  
corn or spin cotton4 ,but the ultimate  
force is the capitalist's desire for    
profit4 ,so long as he can raise        
labourers' necessaries by employing part
 of his capital1 he can employ the      
labour as he chooses4 ,he can always    
produce wealth2 all the wealth produced 
can be exchanged1 and the demand always 
be equal to the supply1 since the demand
 is merely the other side of the supply4
 ,the buyer's tastes decide how the     
capital shall be applied1 but does not  
settle how much wealth there shall be1  
only what particular forms it shall     
take4 ,somehow or other it must always  

adjust itself so that the value of each 
particular kind shall correspond to the 
'cost of production4' ,the cost of      
production includes the tools and the   
raw materials1 which are themselves     
products of previous labour4 ,all       
capital itself is ultimately the product
 of labour1 and thus1 as ,ricardo       
incidentally says1 may be regarded as   
'accumulated labour4'#cca  ,this phrase 
sums up the doctrine which underlies his
 theory of value and indicates its      
connection with the theory of           
distribution4 ,ricardo had perceived    
that the supply and demand formula which
 would serve sufficiently in problems of
 exchange1 or the fluctuations of       
market-price1 could not be made to solve
 the more fundamental problem of        
distribution4 ,we must look beneath the 
superficial phenomena and ask what is   
the nature of the structure itself3 what
 is the driving force or the mainspring 
which works the whole mechanism4 ,we    
seem1 indeed1 to be inquiring into the  

very origin of industrial organisation4 
,the foundation of a sound doctrine     
comes from ,adam ,smith4 ,smith had said
 that in a primitive society the only   
rule would be that things should        
exchange in proportion to the labour of 
getting them4 ,if it cost twice as much 
labour to kill a beaver as to kill a    
deer1 one beaver would be worth two     
deer4 ,in accepting this bit of what    
,smith's commentator1 ,dugald           
,stewart1#ccb calls 'theoretical' or    
'conjectural' history1 ,ricardo did not 
mean to state a historical fact4 ,he was
 not thinking of actual ,choctaws or    
,cherokees4 ,the beaver was exchanged   
for the deer about the time when the    
primitive man signed the 'social        
contract4' ,he is a hypothetical person 
used for purposes of illustration and   
simplification4 ,ricardo is not really  
dealing with the question of origins2   
but he is not the less implying a theory
 of structure4 ,it did not matter that  
the 'social contract' was historically a

 figment2 it would serve equally well to
 explain government4 ,it did not matter 
that actual savages may have exchanged  
beavers and deer by the help of clubs   
instead of competition in the market4   
,the industrial fabric is what would    
have been had it been thus built up4 ,it
 can be constructed from base to summit 
by the application of his formula4 ,as  
in the imaginary state of deer and      
beaver1 we have a number of independent 
persons making their bargains upon this 
principle of the equivalence of labour2 
and that principle is supposed to be    
carried out so that the most remote     
processes of the industrial machinery   
can be analysed into results of this    
principle4 ,this gives a sufficient clue
 to the whole labyrinth of modern       
industry1 and there is no need of       
considering the extinct forms of social 
structure1 which we know to have        
existed1 and under which the whole      
system of distribution took place under 
entirely different conditions4#ccc ,a   

great change has taken place since the  
time of the deer and beaver3 the        
capitalist has been developed1 and has  
become the motive power4 ,the labourer's
 part is passive2 and the 'value' is    
fixed by the bargaining between the     
proprietors of 'accumulated labour1'    
forced by competition to make equal     
profits1 instead of being fixed by the  
equitable bargain between the two       
hunters exchanging the products of their
 individual labour4 ,essentially1       
however1 the principle is the same4 ,in 
the last as in the first stage of       
society1 things are exchanged in        
proportion to the labour necessary to   
produce them4 ,now it is plain enough   
that such a doctrine cannot lead to a   
complete solution of the problem of     
distribution4 ,it would be a palpably   
inadequate account of historical        
processes which have determined the     
actual relation of classes4 ,the        
industrial mechanism has been developed 
as a part of the whole social evolution2

 and1 however important the economic    
forces1 they have been inextricably     
blended with all the other forces by    
which a society is built up4 ,for the   
same reason1 ,ricardo's theorem would be
 inadequate 'sociologically1' or as a   
formula which would enable us to predict
 the future distribution of wealth4 ,it 
omits essential factors in the process1 
and therefore supposes forces to act    
automatically and invariably which will 
in fact be profoundly modified in       
societies differently organised and     
composed of individuals differing in    
character4 ,the very fundamental        
assumptions as to the elasticity of     
population1 and the accumulation of     
capital as wages and profits fluctuate1 
are clearly not absolute truths4 ,an    
increase of the capitalist's share1 for 
example1 at the expense of wages1 may   
lead to the lowered efficiency of the   
labourer2 and1 instead of the           
compensating process supposed to result 
from the stimulus to accumulation1 the  

actual result may be a general          
degeneration of the industry4 ,or1      
again1 the capacity of labourers to     
combine both depends and reacts upon    
their intelligence and moral character1 
and will profoundly modify the results  
of the general competition4#ccd ,such   
remarks1 now familiar enough1 are enough
 to suggest that a full explanation of  
the economic phenomena would require    
reference to considerations which lie   
beyond the proper sphere of the         
economist4 ,yet the economist may urge  
that he is making a fair and perhaps    
necessary abstraction4 ,he may consider 
the forces to be constant1 although he  
may be fully aware that the assumption  
requires to be corrected when his       
formulae are applied to facts4 ,he may  
consider what is the play at any given  
time of the operations of the market1   
though the market organisation is itself
 dependent upon the larger organisation 
of which it is a product4 ,he does not  
profess to deal in 'sociology1' but     

'pure political economy4' ,in that more 
limited sphere he may accept ,ricardo's 
postulates4 ,the rate of wages is fixed 
at any given moment by the 'labour      
market4' ,that is the immediate organ   
through which the adjustment is         
effected4 ,wages rise and fall like the 
price of commodities1 when for any      
reason the number of hirers or the      
number of purchasers varies4 ,the       
'supply and demand' formula1 however1   
could not1 as ,ricardo saw1 be summarily
 identified with labour and capital4 ,we
 must go behind the immediate phenomena 
to consider how they are regulated by   
the ultimate moving power4 ,then1 with  
the help of the theories of population  
and rent1 we find that the wages are one
 product of the whole industrial        
process4 ,we must look beyond the       
immediate market fluctuation to the     
effect upon the capitalists who         
constitute the market4 ,the world is    
conceived as one great market1 in which 
the motives of the capitalist supply the

 motive power2 and the share which goes 
to the labourer is an incidental or     
collateral result of the working of the 
whole machinery4 ,now1 though the       
sociologist would say that this is quite
 inadequate for his purpose1 and that we
 must consider the whole social         
structure1 he may also admit that the   
scheme has a validity in its own sphere4
 ,it describes the actual working of the
 mechanism at any given time2 and it may
 be that in ,ricardo's time it gave an  
approximate account of the facts4 ,to   
make it complete1 it requires to be set1
 so to speak1 in a more general         
framework of theory2 and we may then see
 that it cannot give a complete         
solution4 ,still1 as a consistent scheme
 which corresponds to the immediate     
phenomena1 it helps us to understand the
 play of the industrial forces which    
immediately regulate the market4        
,ricardo's position suggested a         
different line of reply4 ,the doctrines 
that capital is 'accumulated labour' and

 that all value is in proportion to the 
labour fell in with the ,socialist      
theory4 ,if value is created by labour1 
ought not 'labour' to possess what it   
makes8 ,the right to the whole produce  
of labour seemed to be a natural        
conclusion4 ,ricardo might answer that  
when ,i buy your labour1 it becomes     
mine4 ,i may consider myself to have    
acquired the rights of the real creator 
of the wealth1 and to embody all the    
labourers1 whose 'accumulated labour' is
 capital4 ,still1 there is a difficulty4
 ,the beaver and deer case has an       
awkward ethical aspect4 ,to say that    
they are exchanged at such a rate seems 
to mean that they ought to be exchanged 
at the rate4 ,this again implies the    
principle that a man has a right to what
 he has caught2 that is1 to the whole   
fruits of his labour4 ,james ,mill1 as  
we have seen1 starts his political      
treatise by assuming this as            
obvious4#cce ,he did not consider the   
possible inferences2 for it is certainly

 a daring assumption that the principle 
is carried out by the economic system4  
,according to ,ricardo rent is paid to  
men who don't labour at all4 ,the       
fundholder was a weight upon all        
industry1 and as dead a weight as the   
landlord4 ,the capitalist1 ,ricardo's   
social mainspring1 required at least    
cross-examination4 ,he represents       
'accumulated labour' in some fashion1   
but it is not plain that the slice which
 he takes out of the whole cake is      
proportioned accurately to his personal 
labour4 ,the right and the fact which   
coincided in the deer and beaver period 
have somehow come to diverge4  ,here1   
then1 we are at a point common to the   
two opposing schools4 ,both are absolute
 'individualists' in different senses4  
,society is built up1 and all industrial
 relations determined1 by the           
competition of a multitude of           
independent atoms1 each aiming at       
self-preservation4 ,malthus's principle 
applies this to the great mass of       

mankind4 ,systematically worked out1 it 
has led to ,ricardo's identification of 
value with quantities of labour4        
,keeping simply to the matter of fact1  
it shows how a small minority have      
managed to get advantages in the        
struggle1 and to raise themselves upon  
the shoulders of the struggling mass4   
,malthus shows that the resulting       
inequality prevents the struggle from   
lowering every one to starvation point4 
,but the advantage was not obvious to   
the struggling mass which exemplified   
the struggle for existence4 ,if equality
 meant not the initial facts but the    
permanent right1 society was built upon 
injustice4 ,apply the political doctrine
 of rights of man to the economic right 
to wealth1 and you have the ,socialist  
doctrine of right to the whole produce  
of labour4 ,it is true that it is       
exceedingly difficult to say what each  
man has created when he is really part  
of a complex machinery2 but that is a   
problem to which ,socialists could apply

 their ingenuity4 ,the real answer of   
the political economists was that       
although the existing order implied     
great inequalities of wealth it was yet 
essential to industrial progress1 and   
therefore to an improvement in the      
general standard of comfort4 ,this1     
however1 was the less evident the more  
they insisted upon the individual       
interest4 ,the net result seemed to be  
that by accident or inheritance1        
possibly by fraud or force1 a small     
number of persons have got a much larger
 share of wealth than their rivals4     
,ricardo may expound the science        
accurately2 and1 if so1 we have to ask1 
,what are the right ethical conclusions8
  ,for the present1 the ,utilitarians   
seem to have considered this question as
 superfluous4 ,they were content to take
 the existing order for granted2 and the
 question remains how far their         
conclusions upon that assumption could  
be really satisfactory4   ,,iv4 ,,the   
,,classical ,,political ,,economy4      

,ricardo had worked out the main        
outlines of the ',classical ,political  
,economy'3 the system which to his      
disciples appeared to be as clear1      
consistent1 and demonstrable as ,euclid2
 and which was denounced by their       
opponents as mechanical1 materialistic1 
fatalistic1 and degrading4 ,after       
triumphing for a season1 it has been of 
late years often treated with contempt1 
and sometimes banished to the limbo of  
extinct logomachies4 ,it is condemned as
 'abstract4' ,of all delusions on the   
subject1 replies a very able and severe 
critic1#ccf there is none greater than  
the belief that it was 'wholly abstract 
and unpractical4' ,its merits lay in its
 treatment of certain special questions 
of the day2 while in the purely         
scientific questions it was hopelessly  
confused and inconsistent4 ,undoubtedly1
 as ,i have tried to point out1 ,malthus
 and ,ricardo were reasoning upon the   
contemporary state of things4 ,the      
doctrine started from observation of    

facts2 it was too 'abstract' so far as  
it neglected elements in the concrete   
realities which were really relevant to 
the conclusions4 ,one cause of confusion
 was the necessity of starting from the 
classification implied in ordinary      
phrases4 ,it is exemplified by the vague
 use of such words as 'capital1'        
'value1' 'supply and demand4'           
,definitions1 as is often remarked1#ccg 
come at the end of an investigation1    
though they are placed at the beginning 
of an exposition4 ,when the primary     
conceptions to be used were still so    
shifting and contradictory as is implied
 in the controversies of the day1 it is 
no wonder that the formulae should be   
wanting in scientific precision4 ,until 
we have determined what is meant by     
'force' we cannot have a complete       
science of dynamics4 ,the economists    
imagined that they had reached the goal 
before they had got rid of ambiguities  
hidden in the accepted terminology4     
,meanwhile it will be enough if ,i try  

to consider broadly what was the nature 
of the body of statements which thus    
claimed to be an elaborated science4    
,ricardo's purpose was to frame a       
calculus1 to give a method of reasoning 
which will enable us to clinch our      
economic reasoning4 ,we are to be sure  
that we have followed out the whole     
cycle of cause and effect4 ,capitalists1
 landowners1 labourers form parts of a  
rounded system1 implying reciprocal     
actions and reactions4 ,the imposition  
of a tax or a tariff implies certain    
changes in existing relations3 that     
change involves other changes2 and to   
trace out the total effect1 we must     
understand what are the ultimate        
conditions of equilibrium1 or what are  
the processes by which the system will  
adjust itself to the new conditions4 ,to
 describe1 again1 the play of a number  
of reciprocal forces1 we have to find   
what mathematicians call an 'independent
 variable'3 some one element in the     
changes on which all other changes will 

depend4 ,that element1 roughly speaking1
 ultimately comes out to be 'labour4'   
,the simplicity of the system gave an   
impression both of clearness and        
certainty1 which was transferred from   
the reasoning to the premises4 ,the     
facts seemed to be established1 because 
they were necessary to the system4 ,the 
first step to an estimate of the value  
of the doctrine would be to draw up a   
statement of the 'postulates' implied4  
,among them1 we should have such        
formulae as the single rate of profits  
and wages2 which imply the              
'transferability' of labour and capital1
 or the flow of either element to the   
best-paid employment4 ,we should have   
again the ,malthusian doctrine of the   
multiplication of labour up to a certain
 standard2 and the fact that scarcity   
means dearness and plenty cheapness4    
,these doctrines at least are taken for 
granted2 and it may perhaps be said that
 they are approximations which only     
require qualifications1 though sometimes

 very important qualifications1 to hold 
good of the society actually            
contemplated4  ,they were true enough to
 give the really conclusive answer to   
many popular fallacies4 ,the type of    
sophistry which ,ricardo specially      
assailed was that which results from    
neglecting the necessary implications of
 certain changes4 ,the arguments for the
 old 'mercantile theory'--for           
'protection' of industry1 for the       
poor-law1 for resisting the introduction
 of machinery1 the fear of 'gluts' and  
all manner of doctrines about the       
currency--were really exposed by the    
economists upon the right grounds4 ,it  
was absurd to suppose that by simply    
expanding the currency1 or by making    
industry less efficient1 or forcing it  
to the least profitable employments1 you
 were increasing the national wealth2 or
 to overlook the demoralising effects of
 a right to support because you resolved
 only to see the immediate benefits of  
charity to individuals4 ,it is true1 no 

doubt1 that in some cases there might be
 other arguments1 and that the          
economists were apt to take a narrow    
view of the facts4 ,yet they decisively 
exploded many bad arguments1 and by the 
right method of enforcing the necessity 
of tracing out the whole series of      
results4 ,it was partly to their success
 in confuting absurd doctrines that     
their confidence was due2 though the    
confidence was excessive when it was    
transferred to the axioms from which    
they professed to start4 ,a doctrine may
 be true enough to expose an error1 and 
yet not capable of yielding definite and
 precise conclusions4 ,if ,i know that  
nothing can come out of nothing1 ,i am  
on the way to a great scientific        
principle and able to confute some      
palpable fallacies2 but ,i am still a   
very long way from understanding the    
principle of the 'conservation of       
energy4' ,the truth that scarcity meant 
dearness was apparently well known to   
,joseph in ,egypt1 and applied very     

skilfully for his purpose4 ,economists  
have framed a 'theory of value' which   
explains more precisely the way in which
 this is brought about4 ,a clear        
statement may be valuable to            
psychologists2 but for most purposes of 
political economy ,joseph's knowledge is
 quite sufficient4 ,it is the doctrine  
which is really used in practice        
whatever may be its ultimate            
justification4  ,the postulates1        
however1 were taken by the economists to
 represent something more than          
approximate statements of the fact4     
,they imply certain propositions which  
might be regarded as axioms4 ,men desire
 wealth and prefer their own interests4 
,the whole theory might then be regarded
 as a direct deduction from the axioms4 
,it thus seemed to have a kind of       
mathematical certainty4 ,when facts     
failed to conform to the theory the     
difficulty could be met by speaking1 as 
,malthus spoke1 of 'tendencies1' or by  
appealing to the analogy of 'friction'  

in mechanics4 ,the excuse might be      
perfectly valid in some cases1 but it   
often sanctioned a serious error4 ,it   
was assumed that the formula was still  
absolutely true of something1 and that  
the check or friction was a really      
separable and accidental interference4  
,thus it became easy to discard1 as     
irrelevant1 objections which really     
applied to the principle itself1 and to 
exaggerate the conformity between fact  
and theory4 ,the economic categories are
 supposed to state the essential facts1 
and the qualifications necessary to make
 them accurate were apt to slip out of  
sight4 ,ricardo1#cch to mention a       
familiar instance1 carefully points out 
that the 'economic rent1' which clearly 
represents an important economic        
category1 is not to be confounded1 as in
 'popular' use1 with the payments       
actually made1 which often include much 
that is really profit4 ,the distinction1
 however1 was constantly forgotten1 and 
the abstract formula summarily applied  

to the concrete fact4  ,the economists  
had constructed a kind of automaton     
which fairly represented the actual     
working of the machinery4 ,but then1    
each element of their construction came 
to represent a particular formula1 and  
to represent nothing else4 ,the landlord
 is simply the receiver of surplus      
value2 the capitalist the one man who   
saves1 and who saves in proportion to   
profit2 and the labourer simply the     
embodiment of ,malthus's multiplying    
tendency4 ,then the postulates as to the
 ebb and flow of capital and labour are 
supposed to work automatically and      
instantaneously4 ,ricardo argues that a 
tax upon wages will fall1 not1 as       
,buchanan thought1 upon the labourer1   
nor1 as ,adam ,smith thought1 upon rent1
 but upon profits2 and his reason is    
apparently that if wages were 'lowered  
the requisite population would not be   
kept up4'#cci ,the labourer is able to  
multiply or diminish so rapidly that he 
always conforms at once to the required 

standard4 ,this would seem to neglect   
the consideration that1 after all1 some 
time is required to alter the numbers of
 a population1 and that other changes of
 a totally different character may be   
meanwhile set up by rises and falls of  
wages4 ,ricardo1 as his letters         
show1#cdj was well aware of the         
necessity of making allowance for such  
considerations in applying his theorems4
 ,he simplified the exposition by laying
 them down too absolutely2 and the      
doctrine1 taken without qualification1  
gives the 'economic man1' who must be   
postulated to make the doctrine work    
smoothly4 ,the labourer is a kind of    
constant unit--absolutely fixed in his  
efficiency1 his wants1 and so forth2 and
 the same at one period as at another1  
except so far as he may become more     
prudent1 and therefore fix his 'natural 
price' a little higher4 ,an 'iron law'  
must follow when you have invented an   
iron unit4 ,in short1 when society is   
represented by this hypothetical        

mechanism1 where each man is an         
embodiment of the required formula1 the 
theory becomes imperfect so far as      
society is made up of living beings1    
varying1 though gradually1 in their     
whole character and attributes1 and     
forming part of an organised society    
incomparably too complex in its         
structure to be adequately represented  
by the three distinct classes1 each of  
which is merely a formula embodied in an
 individual man4 ,the general rules may 
be very nearly true in a great many     
cases1 especially on the stock-exchange2
 but before applying them to give either
 a history or a true account of the     
actual working of concrete institutions1
 a much closer approximation must be    
made to the actual data4  ,i need not   
enlarge1 however1 upon a topic which has
 been so often expounded4 ,i think that 
at present the tendency is rather to do 
injustice to the common-sense embodied  
in this system1 to the soundness of its 
aims1 and to its value in many practical

 and immediate questions1 than to       
overestimate its claim to scientific    
accuracy4 ,that claim may be said to    
have become obsolete4  ,one point1      
however1 remains4 ,the holders of such a
 doctrine must1 it is said1 have been   
without the bowels of compassion4       
,ricardo1 as critics observe with       
undeniable truth1 was a ,jew and a      
member of the stock-exchange4 ,now      
,jews1 in spite of ,shylock's           
assertions1 and certainly ,jewish       
stockbrokers1 are naturally without     
human feeling4 ,if you prick them1 they 
only bleed banknotes4 ,they are fitted  
to be capitalists1 who think of wages as
 an item in an account1 and of the      
labourer as part of the tools used in   
business4 ,ricardo1 however1 was not a  
mere money-dealer1 nor even a walking   
treatise4 ,he was a kindly1 liberal man1
 desirous to be1 as he no doubt believed
 himself to be1 in sympathy with the    
leaders of political and scientific     
thought1 and fully sharing their        

aspirations4 ,no doubt he1 like his     
friends1 was more conspicuous for       
coolness of head than for impulsive     
philanthropy4 ,like them1 he was on his 
guard against 'sentimentalism' and      
'vague generalities1' and thought that a
 hasty benevolence was apt to aggravate 
the evils which it attacked4 ,the       
,utilitarians naturally translated all  
aspirations into logical dogmas2 but    
some people who despised them as        
hard-hearted really took much less pains
 to give effect to their own benevolent 
impulses4 ,now ,ricardo1 in this matter1
 was at one with ,james ,mill and       
,bentham1 and especially ,malthus4#cda  
,the essential doctrine of ,malthus was 
that the poor could be made less poor by
 an improved standard of prudence4 ,in  
writing to ,malthus1 ,ricardo           
incidentally remarks upon the           
possibility of raising the condition of 
the poor by 'good education' and the    
inculcation of foresight in the great   
matter of marriage4#cdb ,incidental     

references in the ,principles are in the
 same strain4 ,he accepts ,malthus's    
view of the poor-laws1 and hopes that1  
by encouraging foresight1 we may by     
degrees approach 'a sounder and more    
healthful state4'#cdc ,he repudiates    
emphatically a suggestion of ,say that  
one of his arguments implies            
'indifference to the happiness' of the  
masses1#cdd and holds that 'the friends 
of humanity' should encourage the poor  
to raise their standard of comfort and  
enjoyment4 ,the labourers1 as he        
elsewhere incidentally observes1 are 'by
 far the most important class in        
society4'#cde ,how should they not be if
 the greatest happiness of the greatest 
number be the legitimate aim of all     
legislation8  ,it is true that in his   
argument ,ricardo constantly assumes    
that his 'natural price' will also be   
the real price of labour4 ,the          
assumption that the labourers' wages    
tend to a minimum is a base for his     
general arguments4 ,the inconsistency1  

if there be one1 is easily intelligible4
 ,ricardo agreed with ,malthus that1    
though the standard might be raised1 and
 though a rise was the only way to      
improvement1 the chances of such a rise 
were not encouraging4 ,improved wages1  
as he says1#cdf might enable the        
labourer to live more comfortably if    
only he would not multiply4 ,but 'so    
great are the delights of domestic      
society1 that in practice it is         
invariably found that an increase of    
population follows an amended condition 
of the labourer1' and thus the advantage
 is lost as soon as gained4  ,i have    
tried to show what was the logical      
convenience of the assumption4 ,ricardo1
 who has always to state an argument at 
the cost of an intellectual contortion1 
is content to lay down a rule without   
introducing troublesome qualifications  
and reserves4 ,yet he probably held that
 his postulate was a close approximation
 to the facts4 ,looking at the actual   
state of things at the worst time of the

 poor-law1 and seeing how small were the
 prospects of stirring the languid mind 
of the pauper to greater forethought1 he
 thought that he might assume the       
constancy of an element which varied so 
slowly4 ,the indifference of the        
,ricardo school generally to historical 
inquiry had led them no doubt to assume 
such constancy too easily4 ,malthus1 who
 had more leaning to history1 had       
himself called attention to many cases  
in which the 'prudential check' operated
 more strongly than it did among the    
,english poor4 ,probably ,ricardo was in
 this1 as in other cases1 too hasty in  
assuming facts convenient for his       
argument4 ,the poor man's character can1
 it is clear1 be only known empirically2
 and1 in fact1 ,ricardo simply appeals  
to experience4 ,he thinks that1 as a    
fact1 men always do multiply in excess4 
,but he does not deny that better       
education might change their character  
in this respect4 ,indeed1 as ,i have    
said1 an even excessive faith in the    

possible modification of character by   
education was one of the ,utilitarian   
tenets4 ,if ,ricardo had said broadly   
that a necessary condition of the       
improvement of the poor was a change of 
the average character1 ,i think that he 
would have been saying what was         
perfectly true and very much to the     
purpose both then and now4 ,the         
objection to his version of a most      
salutary doctrine is that it is stated  
in too narrow terms4 ,the ultimate unit1
 the human being1 is indeed supposed to 
be capable of great modification1 but it
 is solely through increasing his       
foresight as to the effects of          
multiplication that the change is       
supposed to be attainable4 ,the moral   
thus drawn implied a very limited view  
of the true nature and influence of     
great social processes1 and in practice 
came too often to limiting possible     
improvement to the one condition of     
letting things alone4 ,let a man starve 
if he will not work1 and he will work4  

,that1 as a sole remedy1 may be         
insufficient2 though1 even in that      
shape1 it is a doctrine more likely to  
be overlooked than overvalued4 ,and     
meanwhile the acquiescence in the       
painful doctrine that1 as a matter of   
fact1 labourers would always multiply to
 starvation point1 was calculated to    
produce revolt against the whole system4
 ,macaulay's doctrine that the          
,utilitarians had made political economy
 unpopular was so far true that the     
average person resented the unpleasant  
doctrines thus obtruded upon him in     
their most unpleasant shape2 and1 if he 
was told that they were embodied logic1 
revolted against logic itself4   ,v4    
,,the ,,ricardians  ,it will be quite   
sufficient to speak briefly of the minor
 prophets who expounded the classical   
doctrine2 sometimes falling into        
fallacies1 against which ,ricardo's     
logical instinct had warned him2 and    
sometimes perhaps unconsciously         
revealing errors which really lurked in 

his premises4 ,when ,ricardo died1      
,james ,mill told ,m',culloch that they 
were 'the two and only genuine          
disciples' of their common friend4#cdg  
,mill wrote what he intended for a      
,schoolbook of ,political ,economy4#cdh 
,brief1 pithy1 and vigorous1 it purports
 to give the essential principles in    
their logical order2 but1 as his son    
remarks1#cdi had only a passing         
importance4 ,m',culloch took a more     
important place by his writings in the  
,edinburgh ,review and elsewhere1 and by
 his lectures at ,edinburgh and at      
,london4 ,he was one of the first       
professors of the new university4 ,his  
,principles of ,political ,economy#cej  
became a text-book1 to be finally       
superseded by ,john ,stuart ,mill4      
,other works statistical and            
bibliographical showed great industry1  
and have still their value4 ,he was so  
much the typical economist of the day   
that he has been identified with        
,carlyle's ,m',crowdy1 the apostle of   

the dismal science4#cea ,he writes1     
however1 with enough vivacity and       
fervour of belief in his creed to redeem
 him from the charge of absolute        
dulness4 ,an abler thinker was ,colonel 
7,robert7 ,torrens 7#aghj-ahfd74ceb ,he 
had served with distinction in the war2 
but retired on half-pay1 and was drawn  
by some natural idiosyncrasy into the   
dry paths of economic discussion4 ,he   
was already confuting the ,french       
economists in #ahjh2 and was writing    
upon the ,bank-charter ,act and the ,ten
 ,hours' ,bill in #ahdd4 ,torrens held  
himself1 apparently with justice1 to be 
rather an independent ally than a       
disciple of ,ricardo4 ,his chief works  
were an essay upon the ',external       
,corn-trade' 7#ahae7cec and an ',essay  
on the ,production of ,wealth' 7#ahba74 
,ricardo pronounced his arguments upon  
the ,corn-trade to be 'unanswered and   
unanswerable1'#ced and he himself       
claimed to be an independent discoverer 
of the true theory of rent4#cee ,he was 

certainly a man of considerable         
acuteness and originality4 ,in these    
writings we find the most sanguine      
expressions of the belief that political
 economy was not only a potential1 but  
on the verge of becoming an actual1     
science4 ,torrens observes that all     
sciences have to pass through a period  
of controversy2 but thinks that         
economists are emerging from this stage1
 and rapidly approaching unanimity4 ,in 
twenty years1 says this hopeful prophet1
 there will scarcely exist a 'doubt of  
its' 7,political ,economy's7            
'fundamental principles4'#cef ,torrens  
thinks that ,ricardo has generalised too
 much1 and ,malthus too little2 but     
proposes1 with proper professions of    
modesty1 to take the true via media1 and
 weld the sound principles into a       
harmonious whole by a due combination of
 observation and theory4 ,the science1  
he thinks1 is 'analogous to the mixed   
mathematics4'#ceg ,as from the laws of  
motion we can deduce the theory of      

dynamics1 so from certain simple axioms 
about human nature we can deduce the    
science of ,political ,economy4         
,m',culloch1 at starting1 insists in    
edifying terms upon the necessity of a  
careful and comprehensive induction1 and
 of the study of industrial phenomena in
 different times and places1 and under  
varying institutions4#ceh ,this1        
however1 does not prevent him from      
adopting the same methods of reasoning4 
',induction' soon does its office1 and  
supplies a few simple principles1 from  
which we may make a leap to our         
conclusions by a rapid1 deductive       
process4  ,the problems appear to be too
 simple to require long preliminary     
investigations of fact4 ,torrens speaks 
of proving by 'strictly demonstrative   
evidence' or of 'proceeding to          
demonstrate' by strict analysis4#cei    
,this is generally the preface to one of
 those characteristic arithmetical      
illustrations to which ,ricardo's       
practice gave a sanction4 ,we are always

 starting an imaginary capitalist with  
so many quarters of corn and suits of   
clothes1 which he can transmute into any
 kind of product1 and taking for granted
 that he represents a typical case4     
,this gives a certain mathematical air  
to the reasoning1 and too often hides   
from the reasoner that he may be begging
 the question in more ways than one by  
the arrangement of his imaginary case4  
,one of the offenders in this kind was  
,nassau ,senior 7#agij-ahfd71 a man of  
remarkable good sense1 and fully aware  
of the necessity of caution in applying 
his theories to facts4 ,he was the first
 professor of ,political ,economy at    
,oxford 7#ahbe-ahcj71 and his           
treatise#cfj lays down the general      
assumption of his orthodox              
contemporaries clearly and briefly4 ,the
 science1 he tells us1 is deducible from
 four elementary propositions3 the first
 of which asserts that every 'man       
desires to obtain additional wealth with
 as little sacrifice as possible'2 while

 the others state the first principles  
embodied in ,malthus's theory of        
population1 and in the laws             
corresponding to the increasing facility
 of manufacturing and the decreasing    
facility of agricultural industry4#cfa  
,as these propositions include no       
reference to the particular institutions
 or historical development of the social
 structure1 they virtually imply that a 
science might be constructed equally    
applicable in all times and places2 and 
that1 having obtained them1 we need not 
trouble ourselves any further with      
inductions4 ,hence it follows that we   
can at once get from the abstract 'man' 
to the industrial order4 ,we may1 it    
would seem1 abstract from history in    
general4 ,this corresponds to the       
postulate explicitly stated by          
,m',culloch4 ',a state1' he tells us1   
'is nothing more than an aggregate of   
individuals'3 men1 that is1 who 'inhabit
 a certain tract of country4'#cfb ,he   
infers that 'whatever is most           

advantageous to them' 7the individuals7 
'is most advantageous to the state4'    
,self-interest1 therefore1 the          
individual's desire of adding to his    
'fortune1' is the mainspring or causa   
causans of all improvement4#cfc ,this   
is1 of course1 part of the familiar     
system1 which applies equally in ethics 
and politics4 ,m',culloch is simply     
generalising ,adam ,smith's congenial   
doctrine that statesmen are guilty of   
absurd presumption when they try to     
interfere with a man's management of his
 own property4#cfd ,this theory1 again1 
is expressed by the familiar maxim pas  
trop gouverner1 which is common to the  
whole school1 and often accepted        
explicitly4#cfe  ,it will be quite      
enough to notice one or two             
characteristic results4 ,the most       
important concern the relation between  
the labourer and the capitalist4        
,malthus gives the starting-point4      
,torrens1 for example1 says that the    
'real wages of labour have a constant   

tendency to settle down' to the amount  
rendered necessary by 'custom and       
climate' in order to keep up his        
numbers4#cff ,mill observes in his terse
 way that the capitalist in the present 
state of society 'is as much the owner  
of the labour' as the manufacturer who  
operates with slaves4 ,the only         
'difference is in the mode of           
purchasing4'#cfg ,one buys a man's whole
 labour2 the other his labour for a day4
 ,the rate of wages can therefore be    
raised1 like the price of slaves1 only  
by limiting the supply4 ,hence the      
'grand practical problem is to find the 
means of limiting the number of         
births4'#cfh ,m',culloch is equally     
clear1 and infers that every scheme 'not
 bottomed on' the principle of          
proportioning labour to capital must be 
'completely nugatory and                
ineffectual4'#cfi  ,the doctrine common 
to the whole school led ,m',culloch to  
conclusions which became afterwards     
notorious enough to require a word of   

notice4 ,torrens1 like ,ricardo1 speaks 
of capital as 'accumulated labour1' but 
makes a great point of observing that1  
although this is true1 the case is      
radically changed in a developed state  
of society4 ,the value of things no     
longer depends upon the labour1 but upon
 the amount of capital employed in their
 production4#cgj ,this1 indeed1 may seem
 to be the most natural way of stating  
the accepted principle4 ,m',culloch     
replies that the change makes no        
difference in the principle1#cga        
inasmuch as capital being 'accumulated  
labour1' value is still proportioned to 
labour1 though in a transubstantiated   
shape4 ,m',culloch supposed that by     
carrying out this principle             
systematically he was simplifying       
,ricardo and bringing the whole science 
into unity4 ,all questions1 whether of  
value in exchange1 or of the rate of    
wages1 can then be reduced to comparing 
the simple unit called labour4 ,both    
,mill and ,m',culloch regard capital as 

a kind of labour1 so that things may be 
produced by capital alone1 'without the 
co-operation of any immediate           
labour'#cgb--;a result which can hardly 
be realised with the discovery of a     
perpetual motion4 ,so1 again1 the value 
of a joint product is the 'sum' of these
 two values4#cgc ,all value1 therefore1 
can be regarded as proportioned to      
labour in one of its two states4        
,m',culloch advanced to an unfortunate  
conclusion1 which excited some ridicule4
 ,though ,ricardo and ,torrens#cgd      
rejected it1 it was accepted by ,mill in
 his second edition4#cge ,wine kept in a
 cask might increase in value4 ,could   
that value be ascribed to 'additional   
labour actually laid out'8 ,m',culloch  
gallantly asserted that it could1 though
 'labour' certainly has to be           
interpreted in a non-natural sense4#cgf 
,not only is capital labour1 but        
fermentation is labour1 or how can we   
say that all value is proportioned to   
labour8 ,this is only worth notice as a 

pathetic illustration of the misfortunes
 of a theorist ridden by a dogma of his 
own creation4 ,another conclusion is    
more important4 ,the 'real value' of    
anything is measured by the labour      
required to produce it4 ,nothing 'again 
is more obvious' than that equal labour 
implies the 'same sacrifice' in all     
states of society4#cgg ,it might seem to
 follow that the value of anything was  
measured by the labour which it would   
command4 ,this doctrine1 however1 though
 maintained by ,malthus1 was1 according 
to ,m',culloch1 a pestilent heresy1     
first exploded by ,ricardo's            
sagacity4#cgh ,things exchange1 as he   
explains1 in proportion to the labour   
which produces them1 but the share given
 to the labourer may vary widely4 ,the  
labourer1 he says1 'gives a constant1   
but receives a variable quantity in its 
stead4' ,he makes the same sacrifice    
when he works for a day1 but may get for
 it what he produces in ten hours1 or   
only in one4 ,in every case1 however1 he

 gets less than he produces1 for the    
excess 'constitutes profits4'#cgi ,the  
capitalist must get his interest1 that  
is1 the wages of the accumulated labour4
 ,here we come again to the ,socialist  
position1 only that the ,socialist      
infers that the labourer is always      
cheated by the capitalist1 and does not 
consider that the machine can ask for   
'wages' on the pretext that it is       
accumulated labour4 ,what1 however1     
determines the share actually received8 
,after all1 as a machine is not actually
 a labourer1 and its work not a         
separable product1 we cannot easily see 
how much wages it is entitled to        
receive4 ,m',culloch follows the        
accepted argument4 ',no proposition1' he
 says1 'can be better established than  
that the market rate of wages 444 is    
exclusively determined by the proportion
 between capital and population4'#chj   
,we have ultimately here1 as elsewhere1 
'the grand principle to which we must   
always come at last1' namely1 'the cost 

of production4'#cha ,wages must         
correspond to the cost of raising the   
labourer4 ,this leads to a formula1     
which afterwards became famous4 ,in a   
pamphlet#chb devoted to the question1 he
 repeats the statement that wages depend
 upon the proportion between population 
and capital2 and then1 as if the phrase 
were identical1 substitutes that portion
 of capital which is required for the   
labourer's consumption4 ,this is        
generally cited as the first statement  
of the 'wage-fund' theory1 to which ,i  
shall have to return4  ,i need not      
pursue these illustrations of the       
awkward results of excessive zeal in a  
disciple4 ,it is worth noticing1        
however1 that ,m',culloch's practical   
conclusions are not so rigid as might be
 inferred4 ,his abstract doctrines do   
not give his true theory1 so much as    
what he erroneously took to be his      
theory4 ,the rules with which he works  
are approximately true under certain    
conditions1 and he unconsciously assumes

 the conditions to be negligible1 and   
the rules therefore absolute4 ,it must  
be added that he does not apply his     
conclusions so rigidly as might be      
expected4 ,by the help of 'friction1' or
 the admission that the ride is only    
true in nineteen cases out of twenty1 he
 can make allowance for many deviations 
from rigid orthodoxy4 ,he holds1 for    
example1 that government interference is
 often necessary4 ,he wishes in         
particular for the establishment of a   
'good system of public education4'#chc  
,he seems to have become more           
sentimental in later years4 ,in the     
edition of #ahdc he approves the        
,factory ,acts1 remarking that the last 
then passed 'may not1 in some respects1 
have gone far enough4'#chd ,he approves 
a provision for the 'impotent poor1' on 
the principle of the ,elizabethan act1  
though he disapproves the centralising  
tendency of the new poor-law4 ,though he
 is a good ,malthusian1#che and holds   
the instinct of population to be a      

'constant quantity1'#chf he does not    
believe in the impossibility of         
improvement4 ,the 'necessary' rate of   
wages fixes only a minimum3 an increase 
of population has been accompanied by an
 increase of comfort4#chg ,wages rise if
 the standard of life be raised1 and a  
rise of wages tends to raise the        
standard4 ,he cordially denounces the   
benevolent persons who held that better 
wages only meant more dissipation4      
,better wages are really the great spur 
to industry and improvement4#chh        
,extreme poverty causes apathy2 and the 
worst of evils is the sluggishness which
 induces men to submit to reductions of 
wages4 ,a sense of comfort will raise   
foresight2 and the vis medicatrix should
 be allowed to act upon every rank of   
society4 ,he is no doubt an             
individualist1 as looking to the removal
 of restrictions1 such as the           
,conspiracy ,laws1#chi rather than to a 
positive action of the government2 but  
it is worth notice that this typical    

economist is far from accepting some of 
the doctrines attributed to the school  
in general4  ,the classical school      
blundered when it supposed that the     
rules which it formulated could be made 
absolute4 ,to give them that character1 
it was necessary to make false          
assumptions as to the ultimate          
constitution of society2 and the fallacy
 became clear when the formulae were    
supposed to give a real history or to   
give first principles1 from which all   
industrial relations could be deduced4  
,meanwhile1 the formulae1 as they really
 expressed conditional truths1 might be 
very useful so long as1 in point of     
fact1 the conditions existed1 and were  
very effective in disposing of many     
fallacies4 ,the best illustration would 
probably be given by the writings of    
,thomas ,tooke 7#aggd-aheh71cij one of  
the founders of the ,political ,economy 
,club4 ,the ,history of ,prices is an   
admirable explanation of phenomena which
 had given rise to the wildest theories4

 ,the many oscillations of trade and    
finance during the great struggle1 the  
distress which had followed the peace1  
had bewildered hasty reasoners4 ,some   
people1 of course1 found consolation in 
attributing everything to the mysterious
 action of the currency2 others declared
 that the war-expenditure had supplied  
manufacturers and agriculturists with a 
demand for their wares1 apparently not  
the less advantageous because the       
payment came out of their own           
pockets4#cia ,tooke very patiently and  
thoroughly explodes these explanations1 
and traces the fluctuations of price to 
such causes as the effect of the seasons
 and the varying events of the war which
 opened or closed the channels of       
commerce4 ,the explanation in general   
seems to be thoroughly sound and        
conclusive1 and falls in1 as far as it  
goes1 with the principles of his allies4
 ,he shows1 for example1 very clearly   
what were the conditions under which the
 orthodox theory of rent was really     

applicable2 how bad seasons brought gain
 instead of loss to the 'agricultural   
interest1' that is1 as ,tooke explains1 
to the landlord and farmer2 how by a    
rise of price out of proportion to the  
diminution of supply1 the farmer made   
large profits2 how rents rose1 enclosure
 bills increased1 and inferior land was 
brought under the plough4 ,the          
landlord's interest was for the time    
clearly opposed to that of all other    
classes1 however inadequate the doctrine
 might become when made absolute by a   
hasty generalisation4 ,i need not dwell 
upon the free-trade argument which made 
the popular reputation of the           
economists4 ,it is enough to note       
briefly that the error as to the sphere 
of applicability of the doctrine did not
 prevent many of the practical          
conclusions from being of the highest   
value4  ,,footnotes3  #bid ,a life of   
,ricardo by ,m',culloch is prefixed to  
his ,works4 ,i cite the edition of      
#ahhj4 ,ricardo's letters to ,malthus   

were published by ,mr4 ,bonar in #ahhg2 
his letters to ,m',culloch1 edited by   
,mr4 ,hollander for the ,american       
,economic ,association1 in #ahie2 and   
his letters to ,h4 ,trower1 edited by   
,mr4 ,bonar and ,mr4 ,hollander1 have   
just appeared 7#aijj74  #bie ,he remarks
 upon this difficulty in the case of    
,smith's treatment of rent1 and gives a 
definition to which he scarcely         
adheres4--,works1 p4 #cd 7',principles1'
 ch4 ii41 #ahhh74  #bif ,works1 p4 #cgh4
 ,ricardo1 it should be said1 complained
 when ,malthus interpreted him to mean  
that this opposition of interests was   
permanent and absolute4  #big ,malthus  
admits the general principle of free    
trade1 but supports some degree of      
protection to corn1 mainly upon         
political grounds4 ,he holds1 however1  
with ,adam ,smith1 that 'no equal       
quantity of productive labour employed  
in manufactures could ever occasion so  
great a reproduction as in agriculture' 
7,grounds of an ,opinion1 etc41 p4      

#ce7--;a relic of the 'physiocrat'      
doctrine4  #bih ,works1 p4 #che4  #bii  
,ibid4 p4 #chf4  #cjj ,see also ,letters
 to ,malthus1 p4 #age4  #cja ',your     
modern political economists say that it 
is a principle in their science that all
 things find their level2 which ,i deny1
 and say1 on the contrary1 that it is   
the true principle that all things are  
finding their level1 like water in a    
storm4'--,coleridge's ,table-,talk1     
#agth ,may #ahcc4  #cjb ,letters to     
,malthus1 p4 #if2 and see the frequently
 quoted passage where he complains that 
,malthus has taken his book as more     
'practical' than he had intended it to  
be1 and speaks of his method of         
imagining 'strong cases4'--,ibid4 p4    
#afg4  #cjc ,works1 p4 #dj n4 7ch4 ii474
  #cjd ,works1 p4 #ec 7ch4 v471 and p4  
#abd 7ch4 xvi471 where he quotes from   
the ,wealth of ,nations 7,m',culloch71  
p4 #cij 7bk4 v4 ch4 ii4 art4 #c74  #cje 
,works1 p4 #aca4  #cjf ,wealth of       
,nations 7,m',culloch71 p4 #ca 7bk4 i4  

ch4 viii474  #cjg ,works1 p4 #da 7ch4   
ii474  #cjh ,wealth of ,nations         
7,m',culloch71 p4 #cf4  #cji ,works1 p4 
#ea 7ch4 v474  #caj ,letters to         
,malthus1 p4 #ih4  #caa ,works1 p4 #bci 
7ch4 xxxi41 added in third edition1     
#ahba74  #cab ,ibid4 p4 #ej 7ch4 v474   
#cac ,ibid4 p4 #eb4  #cad ,ibid4 p4 #ae 
7ch4 i4 sec4 ii474  #cae ,there is1     
indeed1 a difficulty which ,i happily   
need not discuss4 ,undoubtedly the      
doctrine of gluts was absurd4 ,there is1
 of course1 no limit to the amount of   
wealth which can be used or exchanged4  
,but there certainly seems to be a great
 difficulty in effecting such a         
readjustment of the industrial system as
 is implied in increased production of  
wealth2 and the disposition to save may 
at a given time be greater than the     
power of finding profitable channels for
 employing wealth4 ,this involves       
economical questions beyond my ability  
to answer1 and happily not here         
relevant4  #caf ,letters to ,malthus1 p4

 #aja4  #cag ,ibid4 p4 #eb4  #cah       
,works1 p4 #agd 7ch4 xxi474  #cai       
,works1 p4 #ff 7ch4 vi474  #cbj ,works1 
p4 #bdj 7ch4 xxxi474  #cba ,ricardo1    
,works1 p4 xxiv4  #cbb ,menger's ,das   
,recht auf den vollen ,arbeitsertrag    
7#ahia71 p4 #ch4  #cbc ,works1 p4 #bbh  
7ch4 xxviii474  #cbd ,works1 pp4 #bi1   
#fj4  #cbe ,ibid4 p4 #aff4  #cbf ,works1
 p4 #agj 7ch4 xx474  #cbg ,ibid4 p4 #g4 
#cbh ,so he tells ,malthus 7,letters1   
pp4 #agc1 #agd7 that the buyer has 'the 
least to do in the world' with the      
regulation of prices4 ,it is all the    
competition of the sellers4 ',demand'   
influences price for the moment1 but    
'supply follows close upon its heels1   
and takes up the regulation of price4'  
#cbi ,works1 p4 #bcd4  #ccj ,bentham's  
,works1 x4 #dih4  #cca ,works1 p4 #bej  
7ch4 xxxii474  #ccb ,stewart's ,works1  
x4 #cd4  #ccc ,see ,bagehot's remarks   
upon ,j4 ,s4 ,mill's version of this    
doctrine in ,economic ,studies3 chapter 
on ',cost of ,production4'  #ccd        

,another illustration of the need of    
such considerations is given1 as has    
been pointed out1 in ,adam ,smith's     
famous chapter upon the variation in the
 rate of wages4 ,he assumes that the    
highest wages will be paid for the least
 agreeable employments1 whereas1 in     
fact1 the least agreeable are generally 
the worst paid4 ,his doctrine1 that is1 
is only true upon a tacit assumption as 
to the character and position of the    
labourer1 which must be revised before  
the rule can be applied4  #cce ,j4 ,s4  
,mill1 too1 in his ,political ,economy  
makes the foundation of private property
 'the right of producers to what they   
themselves have produced4' 7,bk4 ii4 ch4
 ii4 ,sec4 #a47  #ccf ,mr4 ,edwin       
,cannan1 in ,production and             
,distribution 7#ahid71 p4 #chc4  #ccg ,a
 definition1 says ,burke in his essay on
 the ',sublime and ,beautiful'          
7introduction7 'seems rather to follow  
than to precede our inquiry1 of which it
 ought to be considered as the result4' 

#cch ,works1 p4 #cd 7chap4 ii474 ,rent  
is there defined as the sum paid for the
 original and indestructible powers of  
the soil4  #cci ,works1 p4 #acb 7chap4  
xvii474 ,he admits 7,ibid4 p4 #baj n47  
that the labourer may have a little more
 than what is absolutely necessary1 and 
that his inference is therefore         
'expressed too strongly4'  #cdj ,see    
,letters to ,m',culloch1 p4 xxi4  #cda  
',the assaults upon ,malthus's great    
work1' he says 7,works1 p4 #bdc1 ch4    
xxxii471 'have only served to prove its 
strength4'  #cdb ,letters to ,malthus1  
p4 #bbf4  #cdc ,works1 p4 #eh 7ch4 v474 
#cdd ,ibid4 p4 #baa n4 7ch4 xxvi474     
#cde ,ibid4 p4 #beh 7ch4 xxxii474  #cdf 
,works1 p4 #bdh 7ch4 xxii474  #cdg      
,bain's ,james ,mill1 p4 #baa4  #cdh    
,editions in #ahba1 #ahbd1 and #ahbf4   
#cdi ,autobiography1 p4 #bjd4  #cej ,the
 first edition1 an expanded version of  
an article in the ,encyclopaedia        
,britannica1 appeared in #ahbe4  #cea   
,latter-day ,pamphlets 7,new ,downing   

,street74 ,m',crowdy is obviously a     
type1 not an individual4  #ceb ,see ,mr4
 ,hewin's life of him in ,dictionary of 
,national ,biography4  #cec ,fourth     
edition in #ahbg4  #ced ,ricardo's      
,works1 p4 #afd n4  #cee ,external      
,corn-trade1 preface to fourth edition4 
,j4 ,s4 ,mill observes in his chapter   
upon ',international ,trade' that       
,torrens was the earliest expounder of  
the doctrine afterwards worked out by   
,ricardo and ,mill himself4 ,for        
,ricardo's opinion of ,torrens1 see     
,letters to ,trower1 p4 #ci4  #cef      
,production of ,wealth 7,preface74  #ceg
 ,production of ,wealth 7,preface74     
#ceh ,political ,economy 7#ahbe71 p4    
#ba4  #cei ,external ,corn-trade1 pp4   
xviii1 #aji1 #aci2 ,production of       
,wealth1 p4 #cge4  #cfj ,originally in  
the ,encyclopaedia ,metropolitana1      
#ahcf4  #cfa ,senior's ,political       
,economy 7#ahej71 p4 #bf4  #cfb ,ibid4  
7#ahbe71 pp4 #ee1 #abi-aca4  #cfc       
,senior's ,political ,economy 7#aej71 p4

 #abe4  #cfd ,ibid4 p4 #ace4 ,m',culloch
 admits the possibility that a man may  
judge his own interests wrongly1 but    
thinks that this will not happen in one 
case out of twenty 7,ibid4 p4 #ae74     
#cfe ,see ,torrens's ,production of     
,wealth1 p4 #bjh2 and ,m',culloch's     
,political ,economy 7#ahdc71 p4 #bid1   
where he admits some exceptions4  #cff  
,external ,corn-trade1 p4 #hg1 etc4     
#cfg ,political ,economy 7second        
edition71 pp4 #ba1 #bb4  #cfh ,ibid4 p4 
#fg4  #cfi ,political ,economy 7#ahbe71 
p4 #cbi4  #cgj ,production of ,wealth1  
p4 #cd1 etc4  #cga ,political ,economy  
7#ahbe71 p4 #cah4  #cgb ,mill's         
,political ,economy 7second edition71 p4
 #ajb2 ,m',culloch's ,political ,economy
 7#ahbe71 pp4 #bhi-bia4  #cgc           
,m',culloch's ,political ,economy1 p4   
#bij4  #cgd ,preface to ,external       
,corn-trade4  #cge ,ibid4 p4 #ie4  #cgf 
,political ,economy 7#ahbe71 pp4        
#cac-ah4 ,this argument disappears in   
later editions4  #cgg ,ibid4 p4 #bag4   

#cgh ,political ,economy1 p4 #bba4 ,de  
,quincey makes a great point of this    
doctrine1 of which it is not worth while
 to examine the meaning4  #cgi          
,political ,economy1 p4 #bba n4  #chj   
,ibid4 p4 #ccf4  #cha ,ibid4 p4 #ccg4   
#chb ',essay upon the ,circumstances    
which determine the ,rate of ,wages'    
7#ahbf71 p4 #aac4 ,this was written for 
,constable's ,miscellany1 and is mainly 
repetition from the ,political ,economy4
 ,it was republished1 with alterations1 
in #ahea4  #chc ,political ,economy1 pp4
 #cei-fa4  #chd ,ibid4 7#ahdc71 p4 #agh4
 ,and see his remarks on the            
unfavourable side of the ,factory       
,system1 p4 #ahf seq4  #che ',wherever  
two persons have the means of           
subsisting1' as he quaintly observes1 'a
 marriage invariably takes place'       
7,political ,economy1 p4 #aed74  #chf   
,political ,economy1 p4 #bjf4  #chg     
,political ,economy1 p4 #cdd4  #chh     
,ibid4 pp4 #cdi-eb4  #chi ,see pamphlet 
on the rate of wages1 pp4 #agh-bjd4     

#cij ,tooke's ,thoughts and ,details on 
the ,high and ,low ,prices of the last  
,thirty ,years appeared in #ahbc 7second
 edition #ahbd74 ,this was rewritten and
 embodied in the ,history of ,prices1   
the first two volumes of which appeared 
in #ahch4 ,four later volumes appeared  
in #ahci1 #ahdh1 and #aheg4  #cia ,the  
popular view is given by ,southey4 ,the 
,radicals1 he says in #ahbc1 desire war 
because they expect it to lead to       
revolution4 ',in this they are greatly  
deceived1 for it would restore          
agricultural prosperity1 and give a new 
spur to our manufactures' 7,selections  
from ,southey's ,letters1 iii4 #chb4    
,see also ,life and ,correspondence1 iv4
 #bbh1 #chf74     ,,chapter ,,vi        
,,economic ,,heretics   ,i4 ,,the       
,,malthusian ,,controversy  ,the        
,economic theory became triumphant4     
,expounded from new university chairs1  
summarised in text-books for schools1   
advocated in the press1 and applied by  
an energetic party to some of the most  

important political discussions of the  
day1 it claimed the adhesion of all     
enlightened persons4 ,it enjoyed the    
prestige of a scientific doctrine1 and  
the most popular retort seemed to be an 
involuntary concession of its claims4   
,when opponents appealed from           
'theorists' to practical men1 the       
,utilitarians scornfully set them down  
as virtually appealing from reason to   
prejudice4 ,no rival theory held the    
field4 ,if ,malthus and ,ricardo        
differed1 it was a difference between   
men who accepted the same first         
principles4 ,they both professed to     
interpret ,adam ,smith as the true      
prophet1 and represented different      
shades of opinion rather than diverging 
sects4 ,there were1 however1 symptoms of
 opposition1 which1 at the time1 might  
be set down as simple reluctance to     
listen to disagreeable truths4 ,in      
reality1 they were indications of a     
dissatisfaction which was to become of  
more importance and to lead in time to a

 more decided revolt4 ,i must indicate  
some of them1 though the expressions of 
dissent were so various and confused    
that it is not very easy to reduce them 
to order4  ,malthus's doctrine was      
really at the base of the whole theory1 
though it must be admitted that neither 
,malthus himself nor his opponents were 
clear as to what his doctrine really    
was4 ,his assailants often attacked     
theories which he disavowed1 or asserted
 principles which he claimed as his     
own4#cib ,i mention only to set aside   
some respectable and wearisome gentlemen
 such as ,ingram1 ,jarrold1 ,weyland1   
and ,grahame1 who considered ,malthus   
chiefly as impugning the wisdom of      
,providence4 ,they quote the divine law1
 ',increase and multiply'2 think that   
,malthus regards vice and misery as     
blessings1 and prove that population    
does not 'tend' to increase too rapidly4
 ,jarrold apparently accepts the        
doctrine which ,malthus attributes to   
,suessmilch1 that lives have been       

shortened since the days of the         
patriarchs1 and the reproductive forces 
diminished as the world has grown       
fuller4 ,grahame believes in a          
providential 'ordeal1' constituted by   
infant mortality1 which is not1 like war
 and vice1 due to human corruption1 but 
a beneficent regulating force which     
correlates fertility with the state of  
society4 ,this might be taken by        
,malthus as merely amounting to another 
version of his checks4 ,such books1 in  
fact1 simply show1 what does not require
 to be further emphasised1 that ,malthus
 had put his version of the struggle for
 existence into a form which seemed     
scandalous to the average orthodox      
person4 ,the vagueness of ,malthus      
himself and the confused argument of    
such opponents makes it doubtful whether
 they are really answering his theories 
or reducing them to a less repulsive    
form of statement4  ,in other           
directions1 the ,malthusian doctrine    
roused keen feeling on both sides1 and  

the line taken by different parties is  
significant4 ,malthus had appeared as an
 antagonist of the revolutionary party4 
,he had laid down what he took to be an 
insuperable obstacle to the realisation 
of their dreams4 ,yet his views were    
adopted and extended by those who called
 themselves thorough ,radicals4 ,as1 in 
our days1 ,darwinism has been claimed as
 supporting both individualist and      
socialistic conclusions1 the theory of  
his predecessor1 ,malthus1 might be     
applied in a ,radical or a ,conservative
 sense4 ,in point of fact1 ,malthus was 
at once adopted by the ,whigs1 as       
represented by the ,edinburgh ,review4  
,they were followers of ,adam ,smith and
 ,dugald ,stewart2 they piqued          
themselves1 and1 as even ,james ,mill   
admitted1 with justice1 upon economic   
orthodoxy4 ,they were at the same time  
predisposed to a theory which condemned 
the revolutionary ,utopias4 ,it provided
 them with an effective weapon against  
the agitators whom they especially      

dreaded4 ,the ,tories might be a little 
restrained by orthodox qualms4 ,in #ahab
 ,southey was permitted to make an      
onslaught upon ,malthus in the          
,quarterly2#cic but more complimentary  
allusions followed1 and five years later
 the essay was elaborately defended in  
an able article4#cid ,an apology was    
even insinuated for the previous        
assault1 though the blame was thrown    
upon ,malthus for putting his doctrines 
in an offensive shape4 ,a reference to  
,owen suggests that the alarm excited by
 ,socialism had suggested the need of   
some sound political economy4  ,another 
controversy which was being carried on  
at intervals indicates the line of      
cleavage between the capitalist and the 
landed interest4 ,james ,mill's early   
pamphlet1 ,commerce ,defended 7#ahjh71  
and ,torrens's pamphlet1 ,economists    
,refuted1 were suggested by this        
discussion4 ,although the war was partly
 in defence of ,british trade1 its      
vicissitudes produced various commercial

 crises2 and the patriotic ,tories were 
anxious to show that we could thrive    
even if our trade was shut out from the 
,continent4 ,the trading classes        
maintained that they really supplied the
 sinews of war1 and had a right to some 
control of the policy4 ,the controversy 
about the orders in council and ,berlin 
decrees emphasised these disputes1 and  
called some attention to the questions  
involved in the old controversy between 
the 'mercantile' and the 'agricultural' 
systems4 ,a grotesque exaggeration of   
one theory was given by ,mill's         
opponent1 ,william ,spence#cie          
7#aghc-ahfj71 in his ,britain           
independent of ,commerce1 which went    
through several editions in #ahjh1 and  
refurbished or perverted the doctrine of
 the ,french economists4 ,the argument1 
at least1 shows what fallacies then     
needed confutation by the orthodox4 ,in 
the preface to his collected tracts1    
,spence observes that the high price of 
corn was the cause of 'all our wealth   

and prosperity during the war4' ,the    
causes of the high price 7'assisted1' he
 admits1 'by occasional bad seasons'7   
were the 'national debt1 in other words1
 taxation1' which raised the price1     
first1 of necessaries1 and then of      
luxuries 7thus1 he says1 'neutralising  
its otherwise injurious effects'71 and  
the virtual monopoly by the             
agriculturist of the home market4#cif   
,all our wealth1 that is1 was produced  
by taxation aided by famine1 or1 in     
brief1 by the landowner's power of      
squeezing more out of the poor4 ,foreign
 trade1 according to ,spence1 is        
altogether superfluous4 ,its effect is  
summed up by the statement that we give 
hardware to ,america1 and1 in return1   
get only 'the vile weed1 tobacco4'#cig  
,spence's writings only show the effect 
of strong prejudices on a weak brain4 ,a
 similar sentiment dictated a more      
noteworthy argument to a much abler     
writer1 whose relation to ,malthus is   
significant--,thomas ,chalmers          

7#aghj-ahdg71cih probably best          
remembered at present for his leadership
 of the great disruption of #ahdc4 ,he  
had a reputation for eloquence and      
philosophic ability not fully           
intelligible at the present day4 ,his   
appearance was uncouth1 and his written 
style is often clumsy4 ,he gave an      
impression at times of indolence and of 
timidity4 ,yet his superficial qualities
 concealed an ardent temperament and    
cordial affections4 ,under a sufficient 
stimulus he could blaze out in stirring 
speech and vigorous action4 ,his        
intellectual training was limited4 ,he  
had1 we are told1 been much influenced  
in his youth by the ,french philosophers
 of the time1 and had appeared on the   
side of the more freethinking party in  
the famous ,leslie controversy4 ,soon   
afterwards1 however1 he was converted to
 'evangelical' views4 ,he still accepted
 ,thomas ,brown as a great              
metaphysician1#cii but thought that in  
moral questions ,brown's deistical      

optimism required to be corrected by an 
infusion of ,butler's theory of         
conscience4 ,he could adapt ,butler's   
,analogy1 and write an edifying         
,bridgewater ,treatise4 ,i need only    
say1 however1 that1 though his          
philosophy was not very profound1 he had
 an enthusiasm which enables him at     
times to write forcibly and             
impressively4  ,chalmers was from #ahjc 
to #ahae minister of ,kilmany1          
,fifeshire1 and his attention had       
already been drawn to the question of   
pauperism4 ,he took part in the ,spence 
controversy1 by an essay upon the       
,extent and ,stability of ,national     
,resources4#djj ,in this he expounds a  
doctrine which is afterwards given in   
his ,political ,economy in ,connection  
with the ,moral ,state and ,moral       
,aspects of ,society4#dja ,the main     
purpose of his early book is the        
patriotic4 ,it is meant1 like ,spence's 
pamphlet1 to prove that ,napoleon could 
do us no vital injury4 ,should he       

succeed1 he would only lop off          
superfluous branches1 not hew down the  
main trunk4 ,chalmers's argument to show
 the ease with which a country may      
recover the effects of a disastrous war 
is highly praised by ,j4 ,s4 ,mill#djb  
as the first sound explanation of the   
facts4 ,chalmers's position1 however1 is
 radically different from the position  
of either ,james or ,j4 ,s4 ,mill4      
,essentially it is the development of   
the ,french economists' theory1 though  
,chalmers is rather unwilling to admit  
his affinity to a discredited           
school4#djc ,he has reached some of     
their conclusions1 he admits1 but by a  
different path4#djd ,he coincides1 in   
this respect1 with ,malthus1 who was    
equally impressed by the importance of  
'subsistence1' or of the food-supply of 
the labourer4 ,the great bulk of the    
food required must be raised within our 
own borders4 ,as ,chalmers says1 in     
#ahcb1 the total importation of corn1   
even in the two famine years1 #ahjj and 

#ahja1 taken together1 had only provided
 food for five weeks1#dje and could     
normally represent a mere fringe or     
superfluous addition to our resources4  
,his main argument is simple4 ,the      
economists have fallen into a fatal     
error4 ,a manufacturer1 he observes1    
only makes his own article4#djf ,the    
economists somehow imagine that he also 
supports himself4 ,you see a prosperous 
'shawl-making village4' ,you infer that 
its ruin would cause the destitution of 
so many families4 ,it would only mean   
the loss of so many shawls4 ,the food   
which supports the shawl-makers would   
still be produced1 and would be only    
diverted to support makers of some other
 luxury4#djg ,there would be a temporary
 injury to individuals1 but no permanent
 weakening of national resources4 ,hence
 we have his division of the population4
 ,the agriculturists1 and those who make
 the 'second necessaries' 7the cottages1
 ploughs1 and so forth1 required by the 
agriculturist71 create the great wealth 

of the country4 ,besides these we have  
the 'disposable' population1 which is   
employed in making luxuries for the     
landowners1 and1 finally1 the           
'redundant' or what he calls in his     
later book the 'excrescent' or          
'superinduced' population1#djh which is 
really supported by foreign trade4      
,commerce1 then1 is merely 'the         
efflorescence of our agriculture4'#dji  
,were it annihilated this instant1 we   
should still retain our whole disposable
 population4 ,the effect of war is      
simply to find a different employment   
for this part of the nation4 ,napoleon1 
he says1 is 'emptying our shops and     
filling our battalions4'#daj ,all the   
'redundant' population might be         
supported by simply diminishing the     
number of our cart-horses4#daa          
,similarly1 the destruction of the      
commerce of ,france 'created her        
armies4' ,it only transferred men from  
trade to war1 and 'millions of artisans'
 were 'transformed into soldiers4'#dab  

,pitt was really strengthening when he  
supposed himself to be ruining his      
enemy4 ',excrescence' and               
'efflorescence' are ,chalmers's         
equivalent for the 'sterility' of the   
,french economists4 ,the backbone of all
 industry is agriculture1 and the       
manufacturers simply employed by the    
landowner for such purposes as he       
pleases4 ,whether he uses them to make  
his luxuries or to fight his battles1   
the real resources of the nation remain 
untouched4 ,the ,ricardians insist upon 
the vital importance of 'capital4' ,the 
one economic end of the statesmen1 as   
the capitalist class naturally thinks1  
should be to give every facility for its
 accumulation1 and consequently for     
allowing it to distribute itself in the 
most efficient way4 ,chalmers1 on the   
contrary1 argues that we may easily have
 too much capital4 ,he was a firm       
believer in gluts4 ,he admits that the  
extension of commerce was of great good 
at the end of the feudal period1 but not

 as the 'efficient cause' of wealth1    
only as 'unlocking the capabilities of  
the soil4'#dac ,this change produced the
 illusion that commerce has a 'creative 
virtue1' whereas its absolute dependence
 upon agriculture is a truth of capital 
importance in political economy4 ,more  
,malthusian than ,malthus1 ,chalmers    
argues that the case of capital is      
strictly parallel to the case of        
population4#dad ,money may be redundant 
as much as men1 and the real causes of  
every economic calamity are the         
'over-speculation of capitalists1' and  
the 'over-population of the community at
 large4'#dae ,in this question1 however1
 ,chalmers gets into difficulties1 which
 show so hopeless a confusion between   
'capital1' income1 and money1 that ,i   
need not attempt to unravel his         
meaning4#daf ,anyhow1 he is led to      
approve the ,french doctrine of the     
single tax4 ,ultimately1 he thinks1 all 
taxes fall upon rent4#dag ,agriculture  
fills the great reservoir from which all

 the subsidiary channels are filled4    
,whether the stream be tapped at the    
source or further down makes no         
difference4 ,hence he infers that1 as   
the landlords necessarily pay the taxes1
 they should pay them openly4 ,by an odd
 coincidence1 he would tax rents like   
,mill1 though upon opposite grounds4 ,he
 holds that the interest of the         
landowners is not opposed to1 but       
identical with1 the interest of all     
classes4 ,politically1 as well as       
economically1 they should be supreme4   
,they are1 'naturally and properly1 the 
lords of the ascendant1' and1 as he     
oddly complains in the year of the      
,reform ,bill1 not 'sufficiently        
represented in parliament4'#dah ,a      
'splendid aristocracy' is1 he thinks1 a 
necessary part of the social            
edifice2#dai the law of primogeniture is
 necessary to support them2 and the     
division of land will cause the decay of
 ,france4 ,the aristocracy are wanted to
 keep up a high standard of civilisation

 and promote philosophy1 science1 and   
art4#dbj ,the ,british aristocracy in   
the reign of ,george ,,iv4 scarcely     
realised this ideal1 and would hardly   
have perceived that to place all the    
taxes upon their shoulders would be to  
give them a blessing in disguise4       
,according to ,chalmers1 however1 an    
established church represents an        
essential part of the upper classes1 and
 is required to promote a high standard 
of life among the poor4#dba ,in         
connection with this1 he writes a really
 forcible chapter criticising the       
economical distinction of productive and
 unproductive labour1 and shows at least
 that the direct creation of material   
wealth is not a sufficient criterion of 
the utility of a class4  ,chalmers's    
arguments are of interest mainly from   
their bearing upon his practical        
application of the ,malthusian problem4 
,his interest in the problem of         
pauperism had been stimulated by his    
residence in ,glasgow1 where from #ahae 

to #ahbc he had been actively engaged in
 parochial duties4 ,in #ahai he had set 
up an organised system of charity in a  
poor district1 which both reduced the   
expenditure and improved the condition  
of the poor4 ,the experiment1 though    
dropped some years later1 became famous1
 and in later years ,chalmers           
successfully started a similar plan in  
,edinburgh4 ,it was this experience     
which gave shape to his ,malthusian     
theories4 ,he was1 that is1 a           
,malthusian in the sense of believing   
that the great problem was essentially  
the problem of raising the self-respect 
and spirit of independence of the poor4 
,the great evil which confronted him in 
,glasgow was the mischief connected with
 the growth of the factory system4 ,he  
saw1 as he thought1 the development of  
wealth leading to the degradation of the
 labourer4 ,the great social phenomenon 
was the tendency to degeneration1 the   
gradual dissolution of an organism1 and 
corruption destroying the vital forces4 

,on the one hand1 this spectacle led    
him1 as it led others1 to look back     
fondly to the good old times of homely  
food and primitive habits1 to the       
peasantry as represented in ,burns's    
,cotter's ,saturday ,night or ,scott's  
,heart of ,midlothian1 when the poor man
 was part of a social1 political1 and   
ecclesiastical order1 disciplined1      
trained1 and self-respecting1 not a     
loose waif and stray in a chaotic welter
 of separate atoms4 ,these were the     
facts which really suggested his theory 
of the 'excrescent' population1 produced
 by the over-speculation of capitalists4
 ,the paupers of ,glasgow were          
'excrescent1' and the 'gluts' were      
visible in the commercial crises which  
had thrown numbers of poor weavers out  
of employment and degraded them into    
permanent paupers4 ,the facts were      
before his eyes1 if the generalisation  
was hasty and crude4 ,he held1 on the   
other hand1 that indiscriminate charity1
 and still more the establishment by    

poor-laws of a legal right to support1  
was stimulating the evil4 ,the poor-law 
had worked incalculable mischiefs in    
,england1#dbb and he struggled          
vigorously1 though unavailingly1 to     
resist its introduction into ,scotland4 
,chalmers1 however1 did not accept the  
theory ascribed to the ,utilitarians1   
that the remedy for the evils was simply
 to leave things alone4 ,he gives his   
theory in an article upon the connection
 between the extension of the church and
 the extinction of pauperism4 ,he       
defends ,malthus against the            
'execrations' of sentimentalism4        
,malthus1 he thinks1 would not suppress 
but change the direction of beneficence4
 ,a vast expenditure has only stimulated
 pauperism4 ,the true course is not to  
diminish the rates but to make them     
'flow into the wholesome channel of     
maintaining an extended system of moral 
and religious instruction4'#dbc ,in     
other words1 suppress workhouses but    
build schools and churches2 organise    

charity and substitute a systematic     
individual inspection for reckless and  
indiscriminate almsgiving4 ,then you    
will get to the root of the mischief4   
,the church1 supported from the land1 is
 to become the great civilising agent4  
,chalmers1 accordingly1 was an ardent   
advocate of a church establishment4 ,he 
became the leader of the ,free ,church  
movement not as objecting to an         
establishment on principle1 but because 
he thought that the actual legal fetters
 of the ,scottish establishment made it 
impossible to carry out an effective    
reorganisation and therefore unable to  
discharge its true functions4  ,here    
,chalmers's economical theories are     
crossed by various political and        
ecclesiastical questions with which ,i  
am not concerned4 ,his peculiarities as 
an economist bring out1 ,i think1 an    
important point4 ,he shows how          
,malthus's views might be interpreted by
 a man who1 instead of sharing1 was     
entirely opposed to the ordinary        

capitalist prejudices4 ,it would be idle
 to ask which was the more logical      
development of ,malthus4 ,when two      
systems are full of doubtful assumptions
 of fact and questionable logic and     
vague primary conceptions1 that question
 becomes hardly intelligible4 ,we can   
only note the various turns given to the
 argument by the preconceived prejudices
 of the disputants4 ,by most of them the
 ,malthusian view was interpreted as    
implying the capitalist as distinguished
 from the landowning point of view4  ,to
 ,southey as to ,chalmers the great evil
 of the day was the growth of the       
disorganised populace under the factory 
system4 ,the difference is that while   
,chalmers enthusiastically adopted      
,malthus's theory as indicating the true
 remedy for the evil1 ,southey regards  
it with horror as declaring the evil to 
be irremediable4 ,chalmers1 a shrewd    
,scot actively engaged in parochial     
work1 had his attention fixed upon the  
reckless improvidence of the            

'excrescent' population1 and welcomed a 
doctrine which laid stress upon the     
necessity of raising the standard of    
prudence and morality4 ,he recognised   
and pointed out with great force the    
inadequacy of such palliatives as       
emigration1 home-colonisation1 and so   
forth4#dbd ,southey1 an ardent and      
impulsive man of letters1 with no       
practical experience of the difficulties
 of social reform1 has no patience for  
such inquiries4 ,his remedy1 in all     
cases1 was a 'paternal government'      
vigorously regulating society2 and      
,malthus appears to him to be simply an 
opponent of all such action4 ,southey   
had begun the attack in #ahjc by an     
article in the ,annual ,review 7edited  
by ,a4 ,aikin7 for which the leading    
hints were given by ,coleridge1 then    
with ,southey at ,keswick4#dbe ,in his  
letters and his later articles he never 
mentions ,malthus without               
abhorrence4#dbf ,malthus1 according to  
his article in the ,annual ,review1     

regards 'vice' and 'misery' as          
desirable2 thinks that the              
'gratification of lust' is a 'physical  
necessity'2 and attributes to the       
'physical constitution of our nature'   
what should be ascribed to the 'existing
 system of society4' ,malthus1 that is1 
is a fatalist1 a materialist1 and an    
anarchist4 ,his only remedy is to       
abolish the poor-rates1 and starve the  
poor into celibacy4 ,the folly and      
wickedness of the book have provoked    
him1 he admits1 to contemptuous         
indignation2 and ,malthus may be a good 
man personally4 ,still1 the 'farthing   
candle' of ,malthus's fame as a         
political philosopher must soon go out4 
,so in the ,quarterly ,review ,southey  
attributes the social evils to the      
disintegrating effect of the            
manufacturing system1 of which ,adam    
,smith was the 'tedious and             
hard-hearted' prophet4 ,the excellent   
,malthus indeed becomes the             
'hard-hearted' almost as ,hooker was the

 'judicious4' ,this sufficiently        
represents the view of the sentimental  
,tory4 ,malthus1 transformed into a     
monster1 deserves the 'execrations'     
noticed by ,chalmers4 ,there is a       
thorough coincidence between this view  
and that of the sentimental ,radicals4  
,southey observes that ,malthus 7as     
interpreted by him7 does not really     
answer ,godwin4 ,malthus argues that    
'perfectibility' gives an impossible end
 because equality would lead to vice and
 misery4 ,but why should we not suppose 
with ,godwin a change of character which
 would imply prudence and chastity8 ,men
 as they are may be incapable of        
equality because they have brutal       
passions4 ,but men as they are to be may
 cease to be brutal and become capable  
of equality4 ,this1 indeed1 represents a
 serious criticism4 ,what ,malthus was  
really concerned to prove was that the  
social state and the corresponding      
character suppose each other2 and that  
real improvement supposes that the      

individual must somehow acquire the     
instincts appropriate to an improved    
state4 ,the difference between him and  
his opponents was that he emphasised the
 mischief of legislation1 such as that  
embodied in the poor-law1 which         
contemplated a forcible change1         
destroying poverty without raising the  
poor man's character4 ,such a rise      
required a long and difficult           
elaboration1 and he therefore dwells    
mainly upon the folly of the            
legislative1 unsupported by the moral1  
remedy4 ,to ,godwin1 on the other hand1 
who professed an unlimited faith in the 
power of reason1 this difficulty was    
comparatively unimportant4 ,remove      
political inequalities and men will     
spontaneously become virtuous and       
prudent4  ,godwin accordingly1 when     
answering ,dr4 ,parr and                
,mackintosh1#dbg in #ahja1 welcomed     
,malthus's first version of the essay4  
,he declares it to be as 'unquestionable
 an addition to the theory of political 

economy' as has been made by any writer 
for a century past2 and 'admits the     
ratios to their full extent4'#dbh ,in   
this philosophical spirit he proceeds to
 draw some rather startling conclusions4
 ,he hopes that1 as mankind improves1   
such practices as infanticide will not  
be necessary2 but he remarks that it    
would be happier for a child to perish  
in infancy than to spend seventy years  
in vice and misery4#dbi ,he refers to   
the inhabitants of ,ceylon as a         
precedent for encouraging other         
practices restrictive of population4 ,in
 short1 though he hopes that such       
measures may be needless1 he does not   
shrink from admitting their possible    
necessity4 ,so far1 then1 ,godwin and   
,malthus might form an alliance4        
,equality might be the goal of both2 and
 both might admit the necessity of      
change in character as well as in the   
political framework2 only that ,malthus 
would lay more stress upon the evil of  
legislative changes outrunning or       

independent of moral change4 ,here1     
however1 arose the real offence4        
,malthus had insisted upon the necessity
 of self-help4 ,he had ridiculed the    
pretensions of government to fix the    
rate of wages2 and had shown how the    
poor-laws defeated their own objects4   
,this was the really offensive ground to
 the political ,radicals4 ,they had been
 in the habit of tracing all evils to   
the selfishness and rapacity of the     
rulers2 pensions1 sinecures1 public     
debts1 huge armies1 profligate luxuries 
of all kinds1 were the fruits of bad    
government and the true causes of       
poverty4 ,kings and priests were the    
harpies who had settled upon mankind1   
and were ruining their happiness4       
,malthus1 they thought1 was insinuating 
a base apology for rulers when he       
attributed the evil to the character of 
the subjects instead of attributing it  
to the wickedness of their rulers4 ,he  
was as bad as the old ,tory1            
,johnson1#dcj exclaiming3--      ',how  

small of all that human hearts endure   
,that part which kings and laws can     
cause or cure6'  ,he was1 they held1    
telling the tyrants that it was not     
their fault if the poor were miserable4 
,the essay was thus an apology for the  
heartlessness of the rich4 ,this view   
was set forth by ,hazlitt in an attack  
upon ,malthus in #ahjg4dca ,it appears  
again in the ,enquiry by ,g4 ,ensor     
7#agfi-ahdc7--;a vivacious though rather
 long-winded ,irishman1 who was known   
both to ,o',connell and to ,bentham4#dcb
 ,godwin himself was roused by the      
appearance of the fifth edition of      
,malthus's ,essay to write a reply1     
which appeared in #ahbj4 ,he was helped 
by ,david ,booth 7#agff-ahdf71dcc a man 
of some mathematical and statistical    
knowledge4 ,hazlitt's performance is    
sufficiently significant of the general 
tendency4 ,hazlitt had been an          
enthusiastic admirer of ,godwin1 and    
retained as much of the enthusiasm as   
his wayward prejudices would allow4 ,he 

was through life what may be called a   
sentimental ,radical1 so far as         
,radicalism was compatible with an      
ardent worship of ,napoleon4 ,to him    
,napoleon meant the enemy of ,pitt and  
,liverpool and ,castlereagh and the     
,holy ,alliance4 ,hazlitt could forgive 
any policy which meant the humiliation  
of the men whom he most heartily hated4 
,his attack upon ,malthus was such as   
might satisfy even ,cobbett1 whose      
capacity for hatred1 and especially for 
this particular object of hatred1 was   
equal to ,hazlitt's4 ,the personal      
rancour of which ,hazlitt was           
unfortunately capable leads to monstrous
 imputations4 ,not only does ,malthus's 
essay show the 'little low rankling     
malice of a parish beadle 444 disguised 
in the garb of philosophy1' and bury    
'false logic' under 'a heap of garbled  
calculations1'#dcd and so forth2 but he 
founds insinuations upon ,malthus's     
argument as to the constancy of the     
sexual passion4 ,malthus1 he fully      

believes1 has none of the ordinary      
passions1 anger1 pride1 avarice1 or the 
like1 but declares that he must be a    
slave to an 'amorous complexion1' and   
believe all other men to be made 'of the
 same combustible materials4'#dce ,this 
foul blow is too characteristic of      
,hazlitt's usual method2 but indicates  
also the tone which could be taken by   
contemporary journalism4  ,the more     
serious argument is really that the     
second version of ,malthus is an answer 
to his first4 ,briefly1 the 'moral      
check' which came in only as a kind of  
afterthought is a normal part of the    
process by which population is kept     
within limits1 and prevents the         
monstrous results of the 'geometrical   
ratio4' ,hazlitt1 after insisting upon  
this1 admits that there is nothing in   
'the general principles here stated that
 ,mr4 ,malthus is at present disposed to
 deny1 or that he has not himself       
expressly insisted upon in some part or 
other of his various works4'#dcf ,he    

only argues that ,malthus's concessions 
are made at the cost of                 
self-contradiction4 ,why then1 it may be
 asked1 should not ,hazlitt take the    
position of an improver and harmoniser  
of the doctrine rather than of a fierce 
opponent8 ,the answer has been already  
implied4 ,he regards ,malthus as an     
apologist for an unjust inequality4     
,malthus1 he says1 in classifying the   
evils of life1 has 'allotted to the poor
 all the misery1 and to the rich as much
 vice as they please4'#dcg ,the check of
 starvation will keep down the numbers  
of the poor2 and the check of luxury and
 profligacy will restrain the           
multiplication of the rich4 ',the poor  
are to make a formal surrender of their 
right to provoke charity or parish      
assistance that the rich may be able to 
lay out all their money on their        
vices4'#dch ,the misery of the lower    
orders is the result of the power of the
 upper4 ,a man born into a world where  
he is not wanted has no right1 said     

,malthus1 to a share of the food4 ,that 
might be true if the poor were a set of 
lazy supernumeraries living on the      
industrious4 ,but the truth is that the 
poor man does the work1 and is forced to
 put up in return with a part of the    
produce of his labour4#dci ,the         
poor-laws recognise the principle that  
those who get all from the labour of    
others should provide from their        
superfluities for the necessities of    
those in want4#ddj ,the 'grinding       
necessity' of which ,malthus had spoken 
does not raise but lower the standard2  
and a system of equality would lessen   
instead of increasing the pressure4     
,malthus1 again1 has proposed that      
parents should be responsible for their 
children4 ,that is1 says ,hazlitt1      
,malthus would leave children to        
starvation1 though he professes to      
disapprove infanticide4 ,he would       
'extinguish every spark of humanity 444 
towards the children of others' on      
pretence of preserving the 'ties of     

parental affection4' ,malthus tries to  
argue that the 'iniquity of government' 
is not the cause of poverty4 ,that      
belief1 he says1 has generated          
discontent and revolution4 ,that is1    
says ,hazlitt1 the way to prevent       
revolutions and produce reforms is to   
persuade people that all the evils which
 government may inflict are their own   
fault4 ,government is to do as much     
mischief as it pleases1 without being   
answerable for it4#dda ,the poor-laws1  
as ,hazlitt admits1 are bad1 but do not 
show the root of the evil4 ,the evils   
are really due to increasing tyranny1   
dependence1 indolence1 and unhappiness  
due to other causes4 ,pauperism has     
increased because the government and the
 rich have had their way in everything4 
,they have squandered our revenues1     
multiplied sinecures and pensions1      
doubled salaries1 given monopolies and  
encouraged jobs1 and depressed the poor 
and industrious4 ,the 'poor create their
 own fund1' and the necessity for it has

 arisen from the exorbitant demands made
 by the rich4#ddb ,malthus is a         
,blifil1#ddc hypocritically insinuating 
arguments in favour of tyranny under    
pretence of benevolence4  ,hazlitt's    
writing1 although showing the passions  
of a bitter partisan1 hits some of      
,malthus's rather cloudy argumentation4 
,his successor1 ,ensor1 representing the
 same view1 finds an appropriate topic  
in the wrongs of ,ireland4 ,irish       
poverty1 he holds1 is plainly due not to
 over-population but to                 
under-government1#ddd meaning1 we must  
suppose1 misgovernment4 ,but the same   
cause explains other cases4 ,the 'people
 are poor and are growing poorer1'#dde  
and there is no mystery about it4 ,the  
expense of a court1 the waste of the    
profits and money in the ,house of      
,commons1 facts which are in striking   
contrast to the republican virtues of   
the ,united ,states1 are enough to      
account for everything2 and ,malthus's  
whole aim is to 'calumniate the people4'

 ,godwin in #ahbj takes up the same     
taunts4 ,malthus ought1 he thinks1 to   
welcome war1 famine1 pestilence1 and the
 gallows4#ddf ,he has taught the poor   
that they have no claim to relief1 and  
the rich that1 by indulging in vice1    
they are conferring a benefit upon the  
country4 ,the poor-laws admit a right1  
and he taunts ,malthus for proposing to 
abolish it1 and refusing food to a poor 
man on the ground that he had notice not
 to come into the world two years before
 he was born4#ddg  ,godwin1 whose       
earlier atheism had been superseded by a
 vague deism1 now thinks with ,cobbett  
that the poor were supported by the     
piety of the mediaeval clergy1 who fed  
the hungry and clothed the naked from   
their vast revenues1 while dooming      
themselves to spare living4#ddh ,he     
appeals to the authority of the         
,christian religion1 which indeed might 
be a fair argumentum ad hominem against 
',parson ,malthus4' ,he declares that   
,nature takes more care of her work than

 such irreverent authors suppose1 and   
'does not ask our aid to keep down the  
excess of population4'#ddi ,in fact1 he 
doubts whether population increases at  
all4 ,malthus's whole theory1 he says1  
rests upon the case of ,america2 and    
with the help of ,mr4 ,booth and some   
very unsatisfactory statistics1 he tries
 to prove that the increase shown in the
 ,american census has been entirely due 
to immigration4 ,malthus safely declined
 to take any notice of a production     
which in fact shows that ,godwin had    
lost his early vigour4 ,the sound       
,utilitarian1 ,francis ,place1 took up  
the challenge1 and exploded some of     
,godwin's statistics4 ,he shows his     
,radicalism by admitting that ,malthus1 
to whose general benevolence he does    
justice1 had not spoken of the poor as  
one sprung like himself from the poor   
would naturally do2 and he accepts modes
 of limiting the population from which  
,malthus himself had shrunk4 ,for       
improvement1 he looks chiefly to the    

abolition of restrictive laws4   ,,ii4  
,,socialism  ,the arguments of ,hazlitt 
and his allies bring us back to the     
,socialist position4 ,although it was   
represented by no writer of much        
literary position1 ,owen was becoming   
conspicuous1 and some of his            
sympathisers were already laying down   
principles more familiar to-day4        
,already1 in the days of the ,six ,acts1
 the government was alarmed by certain  
',spencean ,philanthropists4' ,according
 to ,place they were a very feeble sect1
 numbering only about fifty1 and        
perfectly harmless4 ,their prophet was a
 poor man called ,thomas ,spence        
7#agej-ahae71dej who had started as a   
schoolmaster1 and in #agge read a paper 
at ,newcastle before a ',philosophical  
,society4'#dea ,he proposed that the    
land in every village should belong to  
all the inhabitants--a proposal which   
,mr4 ,hyndman regards as a prophecy of  
more thoroughgoing schemes of ,land     
,nationalisation4 ,spence drifted to    

,london1 picked up a precarious living1 
partly by selling books of a            
revolutionary kind1 and died in #ahae1  
leaving1 it seems1 a few proselytes4 ,a 
writer of higher literary capacity was  
,charles ,hall1 a physician at          
,tavistock1 who in #ahje published a    
book on ,the ,effects of                
,civilisation4#deb ,the effects of      
civilisation1 he holds1 are simply      
pernicious4 ,landed property originated 
in violence1 and has caused all social  
evils4 ,a great landlord consumes       
unproductively as much as would keep    
eight thousand people4#dec ,he gets     
everything from the labour of the poor2 
while they are forced to starvation     
wages by the raising of rents4 ,trade   
and manufactures are equally            
mischievous4 ,india gets nothing but    
jewellery from ,europe1 and ,europe     
nothing but muslin from ,india1 while so
 much less food is produced in either   
country4#ded ,manufactures generally are
 a cause and sign of the poverty of     

nations4#dee  ,such sporadic protests   
against the inequalities of wealth may  
be taken as parts of that 'ancient tale 
of wrong' which has in all ages been    
steaming up from the suffering world1   
and provoking a smile from epicurean    
deities4 ,as ,owenism advanced1 the     
argument took a more distinct form4     
,mill#def mentions ,william ,thompson of
 ,cork as a 'very estimable man1' who   
was the 'principal champion' of the     
,owenites in their debates with the     
,benthamites4 ,he published in #ahbd a  
book upon the distribution of           
wealth4#deg ,it is wordy1 and is apt to 
remain in the region of 'vague          
generalities' just at the points where  
specific statements would be welcome4   
,but besides the merit of obvious       
sincerity and good feeling1 it has the  
interest of showing very clearly the    
relation between the opposing schools4  
,thompson had a common ground with the  
,utilitarians1 though they undoubtedly  
would consider his logic to be loose and

 overridden by sentimentalism4 ,in the  
first place1 he heartily admired        
,bentham3 'the most profound and        
celebrated writer on legislation in this
 or any other country4'#deh ,he accepts 
the 'greatest happiness principle' as   
applicable to the social problem4 ,he   
argues for equality upon ,bentham's     
ground4 ,take a penny from a poor man to
 give it to the rich man1 and the poor  
man clearly loses far more happiness    
than the rich man gains4 ,with ,bentham1
 too1 he admits the importance of       
'security1' and agrees that it is not   
always compatible with equality4 ,a man 
should have the fruits of his labour2   
and therefore the man who labours most  
should have most4 ,but1 unlike ,bentham1
 he regards equality as more important  
than security4 ,to him the main         
consideration is the monstrous mass of  
evil resulting from vast accumulations  
of wealth in a few hands4 ,in the next  
place1 he adapts to his own purpose the 
,ricardian theory of value4 ,all value  

whatever1 he argues1 is created by      
labour4 ,the labourer1 he infers1 should
 have the value which he creates4 ,as   
things are1 the labourer parts with most
 of it to the capitalist or the owner of
 rents4 ,the capitalist claims a right  
to the whole additional production due  
to the employment of capital4 ,the      
labourer1 on the other hand1 may claim a
 right to the whole additional          
production1 after replacing the wear and
 tear and allowing to the capitalist    
enough to support him in equal comfort  
with the productive labourers4#dei      
,thompson holds that while either system
 would be compatible with 'security1'   
the labourer's demand is sanctioned by  
'equality4' ,in point of fact1 neither  
system has been fully carried out2 but  
the labourer's view would tend to       
prevail with the spread of knowledge and
 justice4 ,while thus anticipating later
 ,socialism1 he differs on a significant
 point4 ,thompson insists upon the      
importance of 'voluntary exchange' as   

one of his first principles4 ,no one is 
to be forced to take what he does not   
himself think a fair equivalent for his 
labour4 ,here1 again1 he would coincide 
with the ,utilitarians4 ,they1 not less 
than he1 were for free trade and the    
abolition of every kind of monopoly4    
,but that view may lead by itself to the
 simple adoption of the do-nothing      
principle1 or1 as modern ,socialists    
would say1 to the more effectual plunder
 of the poor4 ,the modern ,socialist    
infers that the means of production must
 be in some way nationalised4 ,thompson 
does not contemplate such a             
consummation4 ,he denounces1 like all   
the ,radicals of the day1 monopolies and
 conspiracy laws4 ,sinecures and        
standing armies and ,state churches are 
the strongholds of tyranny and          
superstition4 ,the 'hereditary          
possession of wealth' is one of the     
master-evils1 and with sinecures will   
disappear the systems of entails and    
unequal distribution of inheritance4#dfj

 ,such institutions have encouraged the 
use of fraud and force1 and indirectly  
degraded the labourer into a helpless   
position4 ,he would sweep them all away1
 and with them all disqualifications    
imposed upon women4#dfa ,this once done1
 it will be necessary to establish a    
universal and thoroughgoing system of   
education4 ,then the poor man1 freed    
from the shackles of superstition and   
despotism1 will be able to obtain his   
rights as knowledge and justice spread  
through the whole community4 ,the desire
 to accumulate for selfish purposes will
 itself disappear4 ,the labourer will   
get all that he creates2 the aggregate  
wealth will be enormously multiplied1   
though universally diffused2 and the    
form taken by the new society will1 as  
he argues at great length1 be that of   
voluntary co-operative associations upon
 ,owen's principles4  ,the economists   
would1 of course1 reject the theory that
 the capitalists should have no profits2
 but1 in spite of this1 they might agree

 to a great extent with ,thompson's     
aspirations4 ,thompson1 however1 holds  
the true ,socialist sentiment of        
aversion to ,malthus4 ,he denies        
energetically what he takes to be the   
,malthusian doctrine3 that increased    
comfort will always produce increased   
numbers4#dfb ,this has been the 'grand  
scarecrow to frighten away all attempts 
at social improvement4' ,thompson       
accordingly asserts that increased      
comfort always causes increased prudence
 ultimately2 and looks forward to a     
stationary state in which the births    
will just balance the deaths4 ,i need   
not inquire here which theory puts the  
cart before the horse4 ,the opposition  
possibly admits of reconciliation2 but  
here ,i only remark once more how       
,malthus stood for the appeal to hard   
facts which always provoked the         
,utopians as much as it corresponded to 
the stern ,utilitarian view4  ,another  
writer1 ,thomas ,hodgskin1 honorary     
secretary of the ,birkbeck ,institution1

 who published a tract called ,labour   
defended against the ,claims of         
,capital1 or the ,unproductiveness of   
,capital proved 7#ahbe71 and afterwards 
gave some popular lectures on political 
economy1 has been noticed as            
anticipating ,socialist ideas4 ,he can  
see1 he says1 why something should go to
 the maker of a road and something be   
paid by the person who gets the benefit 
of it4 ,but he does not see why the road
 itself should have anything4#dfc       
,hodgskin writes without bitterness1 if 
without much logic4 ,it is not for me to
 say whether modern ,socialists are well
 advised in admitting that these crude  
suggestions were anticipations of their 
own ideas4 ,the most natural inference  
would be that vague guesses about the   
wickedness of the rich have been in all 
ages current among the poor1 and now and
 then take more pretentious form4 ,most 
men want very naturally to get as much  
and to work as little as they can1 and  
call their desire a first principle of  

justice4  ,perhaps1 however1 it is      
fairer to notice in how many points     
there was unconscious agreement2 and how
 by converting very excellent maxims    
into absolute dogmas1 from which a whole
 system was deducible1 the theories     
appeared to be mutually contradictory1  
and1 taken separately1 became absurd4   
,the palpable and admitted evil was the 
growth of pauperism and demoralisation  
of the labourer4 ,the remedy1 according 
to the ,utilitarians1 is to raise the   
sense of individual responsibility1 to  
make a man dependent upon his own       
exertions1 and to give him security that
 he will enjoy their fruit4 ,let        
government give education on one hand   
and security on the other1 and equality 
will follow in due time4 ,the           
sentimental ,radical naturally replies  
that leaving a man to starve does not   
necessarily make him industrious2 that1 
in point of fact1 great and growing     
inequality of wealth has resulted2 and  
that the rights of man should be applied

 not only to political privilege1 but to
 the possession of property4 ,the       
,utilitarians have left out justice by  
putting equality in the background4     
,justice1 as ,bentham replied1 has no   
meaning till you have settled by        
experience what laws will produce       
happiness2 and your absolute equality   
would destroy the very mainspring of    
social improvement4 ,meanwhile the      
,conservative thinks that both parties  
are really fostering the evils by making
 individualism supreme1 and that        
organisation is necessary to            
improvement2 while one set of ,radicals 
would perpetuate a mere blind struggle  
for existence1 and the other enable the 
lowest class to enforce a dead level of 
ignorance and stupidity4 ,they therefore
 call upon government to become paternal
 and active1 and to teach not only      
morality but religion2 and upon the     
aristocracy to discharge its functions  
worthily1 in order to stamp out social  
evils and prevent a servile             

insurrection4 ,but how was the actual   
government of ,george ,,iv4 and         
,sidmouth and ,eldon to be converted to 
a sense of its duties8 ,on each side    
appeal is made to a sweeping and        
absolute principle1 and amazingly       
complex and difficult questions of fact 
are taken for granted4 ,the             
,utilitarians were so far right that    
they appealed to experience1 as1 in     
fact1 such questions have to be settled 
by the slow co-operation of many minds  
in many generations4 ,unfortunately the 
,utilitarians had1 as we have seen1 a   
very inadequate conception of what      
experience really meant1 and were fully 
as rash and dogmatic as their opponents4
 ,i must now try to consider what were  
the intellectual conceptions implied by 
their mode of treating these problems4  
,,footnotes3  #cib ,the discussions of  
population most frequently mentioned    
are3--,w4 ,godwin1 ,thoughts occasioned 
by ,dr4 ,parr's ,spital ,sermon1 etc41  
#ahja2 ,r4 ,southey1 in 7,aikin's7      

,annual ,review for #ahjc1 pp4 #bib-cja2
 ,thomas ,jarrold1 ,dissertations on    
,man1 etc41 #ahjf2 ,w4 ,hazlitt1 ,reply 
to the ,essay on ,population1 #ahjg2 ,a4
 ,ingram1 ,disquisitions on ,population1
 #ahjh2 ,john ,weyland1 ,principles of  
,population1 etc41 #ahjf2 ,james        
,grahame1 ,inquiry into the ,principle  
of ,population1 #ahaf2 ,george ,ensor1  
,inquiry concerning the ,population of  
,nations1 #ahah2 ,w4 ,godwin1 ,on       
,population1 #ahbj2 ,francis ,place1    
,principles of ,population1 #ahbb2      
,david ,booth1 ,letter to the ,rev4 ,t4 
,r4 ,malthus1 #ahbc2 ,m4 ,t4 ,sadler1   
,law of ,population1 #ahcj2 ,a4 ,alison1
 ,principles of ,population1 #ahdj2 ,t4 
,doubleday1 ,true ,law of ,population1  
#ahdb4  #cic ,quarterly ,review1 ,dec4  
#ahab 7reprinted in ,southey's ,moral   
and ,political ,essays1 #ahcb74  #cid   
,quarterly ,review1 ,july #ahag1 by     
7,archbishop7 ,sumner1 ,malthus's       
commentator in the ,records of          
,creation4 ,ricardo's ,letters to       

,trower1 p4 #dg4  #cie ,spence's ,tracts
 on ,political ,economy were collected  
with a preface in #ahbb4 ,spence is     
better known as an entomologist1 and    
collaborated with ,william ,kirby4  #cif
 ,tracts 7#ahbb71 p4 xiii4  #cig ,ibid4 
p4 #ei4  #cih ,chalmers's ,works were   
published in twenty-five volumes in     
#ahda-db4  #cii ,chalmers's ,works1 i4  
#bcg4  #djj ,this essay is not in his   
collected ,works1 though in vol4 xxi4 it
 is promised for the next volume4  #dja 
,works1 xix4 and xx4  #djb ,mill's      
,political ,economy1 bk4 i4 ch4 v4 ,sec4
 #g and #h4 ,see ,chalmers1 xix4 #adj4  
#djc ,national ,resources 7,appendix74  
#djd ,works1 xix4 #cjf4  #dje ,ibid4    
xix4 #bbf1 #bcc4  #djf ,national        
,resources1 p4 #dh4  #djg ,works1 xix4  
#fd4  #djh ,works1 xix4 #bbf4  #dji     
,ibid4 xix4 #bce4  #daj ,national       
,resources1 p4 #aeh4  #daa ,ibid4 p4    
#afj4  #dab ,works1 xix4 #bfb4  #dac    
,works1 xix4 #ge4  #dad ,ibid4 xix4     
#aah-dg4  #dae ,ibid4 xix4 #cdc4  #daf  

,see ,ibid4 xix4 #aga4 ,j4 ,s4 ,mill    
speaks of ,chalmers's speculations with 
a respect which it is difficult to      
understand4  #dag ,chalmers holds that  
the ,ricardian doctrine of rent inverts 
the true order4 ,fertile lands do not   
pay rent because poor lands are brought 
into cultivation1 but poor lands are    
cultivated because fertile lands pay    
rent4 ,he apparently wishes1 like       
,malthus1 to regard rent as a blessing1 
not a curse4 ,the point is not worth    
arguing4 ,see ,works1 xix4 #cbj4  #dah  
,works1 xix4 #cjd-e4  #dai ,ibid4 xix4  
#cgj4  #dbj ,ibid4 xix4 #cff4  #dba     
,ibid4 xix4 #cbb4  #dbb ,works1 xx4     
#bdg1 #bif4  #dbc ,ibid4 xx4 #bij4  #dbd
 ,works1 xix4 #chj4  #dbe ,the copy of  
,malthus's second edition with          
,coleridge's notes used by ,southey is  
in the ,british ,museum4  #dbf ,see     
,southey's ,political4  #dbg ,thoughts  
occasioned by ,dr4 ,parr's ,spital      
,sermon4 ,a copy annotated by ,coleridge
 is in the ,british ,museum4  #dbh      

,thoughts1 etc41 pp4 #ef1 #fa1 #fb4     
#dbi ,ibid4 p4 #ga4  #dcj ,lines added  
to ,goldsmith's ,traveller4  #dca ,reply
 to the ,essay on ,population1 etc41    
#ahjg4 ,the book was anonymous4 ,the    
first three letters had appeared in     
,cobbett's ,register4 ,two others with  
an appendix are added4  #dcb ,bentham's 
,works1 x4 #fjc1 #fjd2 and ,dictionary  
of ,national ,biography4  #dcc ,see     
,dictionary of ,national ,biography4    
#dcd ,hazlitt's ,reply1 p4 #ai4  #dce   
,ibid4 pp4 #aci-da4  #dcf ,ibid4 p4     
#aag4  #dcg ,reply1 p4 #bfc4  #dch      
,ibid4 p4 #cdd4  #dci ,ibid4 p4 #bhd4   
#ddj ,ibid4 p4 #bhg4  #dda ,reply1 p4   
#cea4  #ddb ,ibid4 pp4 #cfb-fd4  #ddc   
,ibid4 p4 #ceb4  #ddd ,ensor's ,enquiry1
 p4 #bid4  #dde ,ibid4 p4 #dda4  #ddf   
,godwin on ,population1 p4 #ejf4  #ddg  
,ibid4 p4 #eec4  #ddh ,ibid4 p4 #eeh4   
#ddi ,godwin1 p4 #bai4  #dej ,see       
account of him reprinted from           
,mackenzie's ,history of ,newcastle and 
,dictionary of ,national ,biography4    

#dea ,reprinted by ,mr4 ,hyndman in     
#ahbb1 with a preface4  #deb ,see       
,dictionary of ,national ,biography4    
,hall's book was reprinted by ,j4 ,m4   
,morgan in the ',phoenix ,library1'     
#ahej4 ,see ,anton ,menger's ,das ,recht
 auf den vollen ,arbeitsertrag 7second  
edition1 #ahia71 for notices of ,hall1  
,thompson1 and others4  #dec ,effects of
 ,civilisation 7#ahej71 p4 #hf4  #ded   
,ibid4 p4 #ga4  #dee ,ibid4 p4 #aae4    
#def ,autobiography1 p4 #abe4 ,see      
,holyoake's ,history of ,co-operation1  
i4 #af1 #aji1 #bgh-hc1 #cdh1 for some   
interesting notices of ,thompson4       
,menger 7,recht auf den vollen          
,arbeitsertrag1 p4 #ajj n47 holds that  
,thompson not only anticipated but      
inspired ,marx3 ,rodbertus1 he says1    
drew chiefly upon ,st4 ,simon and       
,proudhon4  #deg ,an ,inquiry into the  
,principles of the ,distribution of     
,wealth most conducive to ,human        
,happiness2 applied to the ,newly       
,proposed ,system of ,voluntary         

,equality of ,wealth4--#ahbd4  #deh     
,distribution of ,wealth1 p4 #cbg4  #dei
 ,distribution of ,wealth1 p4 #afg1 etc4
  #dfj ,ibid4 p4 #caj4  #dfa ,he wrote1 
as ,j4 ,s4 ,mill observes1 an ,appeal   
#ahbe against ,james ,mill's views on   
this matter--a fact which no doubt      
commended him to the son4  #dfb         
,distribution of ,wealth1 pp4 #dbe1     
#ece1 etc4  #dfc ,labour ,defended1 p4  
#af4     ,,chapter ,,vii  ,,psychology  
,i4 ,,thomas ,,brown  ,the politicians  
and economists1 of whom ,i have spoken1 
took first principles for granted4 ,the 
intellectual temperament1 which made    
certain methods congenial to them1 would
 no doubt have led them to an analogous 
position in philosophy4 ,bentham had    
touched upon philosophical points in a  
summary way1 and ,james ,mill1 as we    
shall see1 gave a more explicit         
statement4 ,but such men as ,ricardo and
 ,malthus had no systematic philosophy1 
though a certain philosophy was         
congenial to their methods4 ,desire to  

reach a solid groundwork of fact1 hearty
 aversion to mere word-juggling1 and to 
effeminate sentimentalism1 respect for  
science and indifference to1 if not     
contempt for1 poetry1 resolution to     
approve no laws or institutions which   
could not be supported on plain grounds 
of utility1 and to accept no theory     
which could not be firmly based on      
verifiable experience1 imply moral and  
intellectual tendencies1 in which we may
 perhaps say that the ,utilitarians     
represent some of the strongest and most
 valuable qualities of the national     
character4 ,taking these qualities for  
granted1 let us consider how the        
ultimate problems presented themselves  
to the school thus distinguished4  ,i   
have already observed that the ,scottish
 philosophy1 taught by ,reid and ,dugald
 ,stewart1 represented the only approach
 to a living philosophical system in    
these islands at the beginning of the   
century4 ,it held this position for a   
long period4 ,mill1 who had heard       

,dugald ,stewart's lectures1 knew       
nothing of ,german thought4 ,he was well
 read in ,french philosophers1 and in   
harmony with one leading sect4 ,the     
so-called ideologues1#dfd who regarded  
,condillac as representing the true line
 of intellectual progress1 were in      
,france the analogues of the ,english   
,utilitarians4 ,destutt de ,tracy and   
,cabanis were their most conspicuous    
leaders in this generation4 ,the        
philosophy of ,reid and ,stewart crossed
 the channel1 and supplied the first    
assailants of the ideologues with their 
controversial weapons4 ,thus1 until the 
,german influence came to modify the    
whole controversy1 the vital issue      
seemed to lie between the doctrine of   
,reid or 'intuitionism' on the one hand1
 and the purely 'experiential' school on
 the other1 whether1 as in ,france1 it  
followed ,condillac1 or1 as in ,england1
 looked back chiefly to ,hartley4 ,both 
sections traced their intellectual      
ancestry to ,locke and ,hobbes1 with    

some reference to ,bacon1 and1 by the   
,french writers1 to ,descartes4         
,stewart1 again1 as ,i have said1 was   
the accepted ,whig philosopher4 ,it is  
true that the ,whig sat habitually in   
the seat of ,gallio4 ,jeffrey1 whether  
he fully realised the fact or not1 was  
at bottom a sceptic in philosophy as in 
politics4 ,john ,allen1 the prophet of  
,holland ,house1 was a thorough sceptic1
 and says#dfe that ,horner1 one of      
,stewart's personal admirers1 was really
 a follower of ,hume4 ,the ,whigs were  
inclined to ,shaftesbury's doctrine that
 sensible men had all one religion1 and 
that sensible men never said what it    
was4 ,those who had a more definite and 
avowable creed were content to follow   
,stewart's amiable philosophising4      
,brougham professed1 let us hope1       
sincerely1 to be an orthodox theist1 and
 explained the argument from design in a
 commentary upon ,paley4 ,sydney ,smith 
expounded ,reid and ,stewart in lectures
 which showed at least that he was still

 a wit when talking 'philosophy' at the 
,royal ,institution2 and1 though he     
hated 'enthusiasm' in dissenters1       
evangelicals1 and tractarians1 and kept 
religion strictly in its place--a place 
well outside of practical               
politics--managed to preach a wholesome1
 commonplace morality in terms of       
,christian theology4 ,the difference    
between the ,whig and the ,radical      
temper showed itself in philosophical as
 in political questions4 ,the ,radical  
prided himself on being logical and     
thoroughgoing1 while the ,whig loved    
compromise1 and thought that logic was  
very apt to be a nuisance4 ,the         
systematic reticence which the          
,utilitarians held to be necessary      
prevented this contrast from showing    
itself distinctly on the surface4 ,the  
,utilitarians1 however1 though they     
avoided such outspoken scepticism as    
would startle the public1 indicated     
quite sufficiently to the initiated     
their essential position4 ,it implied   

what they fully recognised in private   
conversation--a complete abandonment of 
theology4 ,they left the obvious        
inferences to be drawn by others4 ,in   
philosophy they could speak out in a    
well-founded confidence that few people 
were able to draw inferences4 ,i will   
begin by considering the doctrine       
against which they protested2 for the   
antagonism reveals1 ,i think1 the key to
 their position4  ,when ,stewart was    
obliged by infirmity to retire from the 
active discharge of his duties1 he was  
succeeded by ,thomas ,brown             
7#aggh-ahbj74 ,brown had shown early    
precocity1 and at the age of fifteen had
 attracted ,stewart's notice by some    
remarks on a psychological point4 ,he   
published at twenty a criticism of      
,darwin's ,zoonomia1 and he became one  
of the ,edinburgh ,review circle4 ,when 
the ,review was started he contributed  
an article upon ,kant4 ,in those happy  
days it was so far from necessary to    
prepare oneself for such a task by      

studying a library of commentators that 
the young reviewer could frankly admit  
his whole knowledge to be derived from  
,villers' ,philosophie de ,kant         
7#ahja74dff ,soon afterwards he took an 
important share in a once famous        
controversy4 ,john ,leslie1 just elected
 to the mathematical chair at           
,edinburgh1 was accused of having       
written favourably of ,hume's theory of 
causation4 ,whigs and ,tories took this 
up as a party question1#dfg and ,brown  
undertook to explain in a pamphlet what 
,hume's theory was1 and to show that it 
did not lead to atheism4 ,leslie's      
friends triumphed1 though it does not   
appear how far ,brown's arguments       
contributed to their success4 ,the      
pamphlet was rewritten and enlarged1 and
 a third edition of #ahah gives a full  
exposition of his theory4 ,brown had    
meanwhile become ,stewart's leading     
disciple1 and in #ahaj was elected to be
 his colleague4 ,brown held the         
position1 doing all the active duties1  

until his premature death in #ahbj4     
,brown1 according to his biographer1    
wrote his lectures immediately before   
delivery1 and completed them during his 
first two years of office4 ,his         
theories1 as well as his words1 were    
often1 according to the same authority1 
extemporised4 ,brown found that he could
 not improve what he had written under  
'very powerful excitement4' ,moreover1  
he had an unlucky belief that he was a  
poet4 ,from #ahad till #ahai he brought 
out yearly what he supposed to be a     
poem4 ,these productions1 the ,paradise 
of ,coquets and the rest1 are in the    
old-fashioned taste1 and have long      
passed into oblivion4  ,the lectures1   
published posthumously1 became a        
text-book for students1 and reached a   
nineteenth edition in #ahea4 ,their     
faults1 considered as philosophical     
treatises1 are palpable4 ,they have the 
wordiness of hasty composition1 and the 
discursive rhetoric intended to catch   
the attention of an indolent audience4  

,brown does not see that he is insulting
 his hearers when he apologises for     
introducing logic into lectures upon    
metaphysics1 and indemnifies them by    
quotations from ,akenside and the ,essay
 on ,man4 ,brown1 however1 showed great 
acuteness and originality4 ,he made     
deviations1 and took pains to mark his  
deviations1 from ,reid1 though he spoke 
more guardedly of his own friend1       
,stewart4 ,stewart1 who had strongly    
supported ,brown's election1 was shocked
 when1 on the publication of the        
lectures1 he came to discover that his  
colleague had been preaching heresy1 and
 wrote with obvious annoyance of        
,brown's hastiness and dangerous        
concessions to the enemy4#dfh ,brown1   
however1 impressed his contemporaries by
 his ability4 ,sydney ,smith is probably
 reporting the current judgment of his  
own circle when he says#dfi that in     
metaphysics ,stewart was a 'humbug'     
compared with ,brown4 ,i certainly think
 that ,stewart1 whom ,i should be sorry 

to call a humbug1 shows less vigour and 
subtlety4 ,brown1 at any rate1 impressed
 both the ,mills1 and his relation to   
them is significant4  ,brown's essay    
upon ,causation indicates this relation4
 ,in this1 indeed1 there is little1 if  
any1 divergence from ,stewart1 though he
 attacks ,reid with considerable        
asperity4 ,he urges that ,reid1 while   
really agreeing with ,hume1 affected to 
answer him under cover of merely verbal 
distinctions4#dgj ,the main point is    
simple4 ,hume had asserted that all     
events seem to be 'entirely loose and   
separate1' or1 in other words1          
'conjoined but never connected4' ,yet he
 points out that1 in fact1 when we have 
found two events to be 'conjoined1' we  
call one cause and the other effect1 and
 assume a 'necessary connection' between
 them4 ,he then asks1 ,what is the      
origin of this belief1 and what1        
therefore1 is the logical warrant for   
its validity8 ,brown entirely accepts   
,hume's statement of the facts4 ,the    

real meaning of our statements is evaded
 by appealing to the conception of      
'power4' ,when the loadstone 7in his    
favourite illustration7 attracts the    
iron1 we say it has a 'power' of        
attracting iron4 ,but to speak thus of a
 power is simply to describe the same   
facts in other words4 ,we assert this1  
and nothing more than this1 that when   
the loadstone comes near the iron1 each 
moves towards the other4 ',power' is a  
word which only covers a statement of   
'invariable antecedence4' ,brown traces 
the various confusions which have       
obscured the true nature of this belief4
 ,he insists especially that we can no  
more discover power in mental than in   
physical sequences4 ,the will had been  
supposed to be the type of causal power2
 but volition1 according to ,brown1     
reveals simply another succession of    
desires and bodily actions4 ,the        
hypothesis of 'power' has been really   
the source of 'illusion4' ,the tendency 
to personify leads us to convert        

metaphor into fact1 to invent a subject 
of this imaginary 'power1' and thus to  
create a mythology of beings to carry on
 the processes of nature4 ,in other     
words1 ,brown here follows ,hume or even
 anticipates ,comte4 ,as ,j4 ,s4 ,mill  
remarks1#dga this erroneous             
identification of 'power' with 'will'   
gives the 'psychological rationale of   
,comte's great historical               
generalisation'2 and1 so far1 ,brown1 as
 a follower of ,hume1 is clearly on the 
way to positivism4  ,the world1 then1 is
 a vast aggregate of 'loose' phenomena4 
,a contemplation of things reveals no   
reason for one order rather than        
another4 ,you may look at your loadstone
 as long as you please1 but you will    
find no reason for its attracting iron4 
,you may indeed interpolate a number of 
minute intervening sequences1 and the   
process often suggests a vague something
 more than sequence2 but this is a mere 
illusion4#dgb ,could we1 in fact1 see   
all the minute changes in bodies we     

should actually perceive that cause     
means nothing but 'the immediate        
invariable antecedence of an event4'#dgc
 ,brown especially argues against the   
attempts of d',alembert and ,euler to   
deduce the first laws of motion from the
 principle of 'sufficient reason4'#dgd  
,that1 as he argues in detail1 is merely
 begging the question1 by introducing   
the principle of causation under an     
alias4  ,what1 then1 is the principle8  
,we believe1 he says1#dge that 'every   
event must have a cause1' and that      
circumstances exactly 'similar must have
 results exactly similar4' ,this belief1
 though applicable to all events1 does  
not give us the 'slightest aid' to      
determining1 independently of           
experience1 any particular event4 ,we   
observe that ,b follows ,a1 but1 for all
 we can say1 it might as well follow any
 other letter of the alphabet4 ,yet we  
are entitled to say in general that it  
does uniformly follow some particular   
letter4 ,the metaphor which describes   

cause and effect as a 'bond' tying ,a   
and ,b together is perfectly appropriate
 if taken to express the bare fact of   
sequence2#dgf but we fall into error if 
we fancy there is really any bond       
whatever beside the events themselves4  
,the belief1 then1 in causation has     
precisely the same import according to  
,hume and ,brown2 and both agree that it
 is not produced by 'reasoning4' ,the   
proposition ',b has once succeeded ,a1' 
or 'has succeeded ,a a thousand times1' 
is entirely different from the          
proposition ',b will for ever succeed   
,a4'#dgg ,no process of logical         
inference can extract one from the      
other4 ,shall we1 then1 give up a belief
 in causation8 ,the belief in any case  
exists as a fact4 ,hume explains it by  
custom or association4 ,brown argues1   
and ,i think with much force1 that      
,hume's explanation is insufficient4    
,association may explain 7if it does    
more than restate7 the fact that one    
'idea' calls up another idea1 but such  

association may and often does occur    
without suggesting any belief4 ,the     
belief1 too1 precedes the association4  
,we begin by believing too much1 not too
 little1 and assume a necessary         
connection of many phenomena which we   
afterwards find to be independent4 ,the 
true answer is therefore different4     
,there are three sources of belief1     
'perception1' 'reasoning1' and          
'intuition4'#dgh ,now1 we cannot        
'perceive' anything but a present       
coincidence2 neither can we establish a 
connection by any process of            
'reasoning1' and therefore the belief   
must be an 'intuition4' ,this1          
accordingly1 is ,brown's conclusion4    
',there are principles1' he says1       
'independent of reasoning1 in the mind  
which save it from the occasional       
follies of all our ratiocinations'2#dgi 
or rather1 as he explains1 which        
underlie all reasoning4 ,the difference1
 then1 between ,hume and ,brown 7and1 as
 ,brown argues1 between ,hume and       

,reid's real doctrine7 is not as to the 
import1 but as to the origin1 of the    
belief4 ,it is an 'intuition' simply    
because it cannot be further analysed4  
,it does not allow us to pass a single  
step beyond experience2 it merely       
authorises us to interpret experience4  
,we can discover any actual law of      
connection between phenomena only by    
observing that they occur in succession4
 ,we cannot get beyond or behind the    
facts--and therefore intuitionism in    
this sense is not opposed to empiricism1
 but a warrant for empirical            
conclusions4 ,an 'intuition1' briefly1  
is an unanalysable belief4 ,brown       
asserts that a certain element of       
thought has not been explained1 and     
assumes it to be therefore inexplicable 
or ultimate4 ,brown's account of        
causation had a great influence upon    
both the ,mills1 and especially affected
 the teaching of the younger ,mill4     
,another point is important4 ,reid1 as  
,i have said1 had specially prided      

himself upon his supposed overthrow of  
,berkeley's idealism4 ,he was considered
 to have shown1 in spite of sceptics1   
that the common belief in an external   
world was reasonable4 ,brown in his     
lectures ridiculed ,reid's claim4 ,this 
'mighty achievement1' the 'supposed     
overthrow of a great system1' was       
'nothing more than the proof that       
certain phrases are metaphorical1 which 
were intended by their authors to be    
understood only as metaphors4'#dhj ,the 
theory was dead before ,reid slew it1   
though the phrases were still used as a 
mere 'relic1' or survival of an obsolete
 doctrine4#dha ,the impossibility of    
constructing extension out of our       
sensations is the experimentum crucis   
upon which ,reid was ready to stake his 
case4 ,if the attempt at such a         
construction could succeed1 he would    
'lay his hand upon his mouth' and give  
up the argument4#dhb ,brown takes up the
 challenge thus thrown out4 ,he holds   
that our knowledge of an external world 

is derived from a source which ,reid    
overlooked4 ,he modifies the ,scottish  
psychology by introducing the muscular  
senses4 ,his theory is that the infant  
which has learned to move discovers that
 on some occasions its movements are    
modified by a sense of 'impeded         
effort4'#dhc ,the sudden interruption to
 a well-known series excites in its mind
 the notion of 'a cause which is not in 
itself4' ,this is the source of our     
belief in an external world4 ,that      
belief is essentially the belief in some
 cause which we know to be other than   
our own mental constitution or the      
series of 'internal' phenomena1 and of  
which we can know nothing else4 ,it is  
enough to indicate a theory which has   
been elaborated by later psychologists1 
and plays a great part 7for example7 in 
the theories of ,mill1 ,bain1 and ,mr4  
,herbert ,spencer4 ,it shows the real   
tendency of ,brown's speculations4 ,in  
the first place1 it must be noticed that
 the theory itself had been already     

emphatically stated by ,destutt de      
,tracy4 ,hamilton accuses ,brown of     
plagiarism4#dhd ,whether his accusation 
be justifiable or not1 it is certainly  
true that ,brown had in some way reached
 the same principles which had been     
already set forth by a leading          
'ideologist4' ,brown1 that is1 though   
the official exponent of the ,scottish  
philosophy1 was in this philosophical   
tenet at one with the school which they 
regarded as materialistic or sceptical4 
,the path by which he reaches his       
conclusions is also characteristic4     
,brown has reversed the interpretation  
of ,reid's experimentum crucis4 ,i will 
give up my case1 says ,reid1 if you can 
make the external world out of          
sensations4 ,that1 replies ,brown1 is   
precisely what we can do4 ,how from     
sensations do we get what ,berkeley     
called 'outness'8 ,we get it1 says      
,brown1 from the sense of resistance or 
'impeded effort4' ,that reveals to us   
the fact that there is something        

independent of ourselves1 and the belief
 in such a something is precisely what  
we mean1 and all that we mean1 by the   
belief in an external world4            
,consistently with this1 ,brown rejects 
,reid's distinction between the primary 
and secondary qualities4 ,the           
distinction corresponds no doubt to some
 real differences1 but there is no      
difference of the kind suggested by     
,reid4 ',all the qualities are relative 
and equally relative--our perception of 
extension and resistance as much as our 
perception of fragrance and             
bitterness4'#dhe ,we ascribe the        
sensations to 'external objects1' but   
the objects are only known by the       
'medium' of our sensations4 ,in other   
words1 the whole world may be regarded  
as a set of sensations1 whether of      
sight1 smell1 touch1 or resistance to   
muscular movement1 accompanied by the   
belief that they are caused by something
 not ourselves1 and of which something  
we can only say that it is not          

ourselves4  ,once more1 the analysis of 
the process by which the belief is      
generated is significant4 ,from         
resistance1 or the sensation produced   
when something 'resists our attempts to 
grasp it1' we get the 'outness4' ,then  
perception is 'nothing more than the    
association of this complex notion with 
our other sensations--the notion of     
something extended and resisting1       
suggested by these sensations1 when the 
suggestions themselves have previously  
arisen1 and suggested in the same manner
 and on the same principle as any other 
associate feeling suggests any other    
associate feeling4'#dhf ,the odour or   
colour of a rose recalls the sensation  
of touching and of resistance to our    
grasp4 ,thus we regard the whole group  
of sensations as due to the external    
cause which produces the sensation of   
resistance4 ,brown seems to hesitate a  
little as to whether he shall appeal to 
an 'intuition' or to 'association1' but 
'as ,i rather think1' he says1 the      

belief is founded 'on associations as   
powerful as intuition4'#dhg  ,whatever1 
then1 may be the origin of the          
belief--'intuition' or 'association'--it
 is clear that it can give us no        
knowledge except such as is derived from
 sensations4 ,moreover1 ,brown is thus  
led1 as in the doctrine of causation1 to
 accept a really sceptical position4 ,he
 declares that he is in this respect at 
one with both ,reid and ,hume4 ,they    
both accept two propositions3 first1    
that we cannot 'by mere reasoning' prove
 the existence of an external world2    
secondly1 that it is 'absolutely        
impossible for us not to believe' in its
 existence4 ,hume1 he says1 pronounces  
the first proposition in a 'loud tone of
 voice' and 'whispers' the second4      
,reid1 conversely1 passes over the first
 rapidly and 'dwells on the second with 
a tone of confidence4'#dhh ,brown       
accepts both statements4 ,he has already
 said that there is no argument against 
,berkeley's denial of matter any more   

than against the 'infinite divisibility 
of matter4' ,but he adds1 it is         
'physically impossible' for us to admit 
the conclusion1 at least without 'an    
instant dissent from a momentary logical
 admission4'#dhi ,this1 indeed1 is but a
 version of ,hume's familiar statement  
that ,berkeley's arguments admit of no  
reply and produce no conviction4        
,another essential doctrine of the      
,mills1 the 'association' theory1 is    
treated differently by ,brown4 ,brown1  
as we have seen1 both in his theory of  
causation and in his theory of our      
belief in an external world1 speaks of  
principles in the mind which somehow    
override 'ratiocination4' ,in the first 
case1 he speaks of 'intuition1' but in  
the other1 as ,i have said1 he seems to 
prefer association4 ,the difference is  
remarkable because the belief in an     
external world is upon his showing      
simply a case of causation4 ,it means   
essentially the reference of our        
sensations as to an external cause4     

,now1 in the argument upon causation1 he
 has insisted upon the insufficiency of 
association to generate the belief2 and 
he would have found it difficult to meet
 his own arguments if applied to the    
belief in an external world4 ,yet it    
does not seem to occur to him that there
 is any difficulty in explaining this   
belief in an external world as a case of
 what ,mill called 'indissoluble        
association4' ,brown1 as ,mill thought1 
was not sufficiently aware of the power 
of this principle1 and the difference   
between them is marked by this          
divergence4 ,brown had a great deal to  
say about association1 though he chose  
generally to substitute the word        
'suggestion1' previously familiar to    
,reid and ,berkeley4#dij ,he considers  
it1 however1 mainly in another relation4
 ,he proposes to trace the order in     
which 'trains' of ideas succeed each    
other in our minds4 ,he does not dwell  
upon the influence of association in    
producing belief4 ,his question is not  

primarily as to the logic1 but as to the
 actual succession of our thoughts4 ,he 
explains that he uses the word          
'suggestion' in order to avoid the      
hypothesis that the sequence of two     
ideas necessarily implies a previous    
state of mind in which they were brought
 together2 and endeavours to explain    
various cases 7as1 for example1         
association by 'contrast' as well as by 
'likeness' or 'continuity'7 by a more   
'subtile' analysis4#dia ,he then works  
out an elaborate theory of 'simple' and 
'relative' suggestion4 ,simple          
'suggestion'#dib corresponds mainly to  
ordinary association1 as when a friend's
 name or his book calls up the thought  
of the man himself4 ',relative          
suggestion' arises when two or more     
objects are perceived and suggest       
various relations of likeness and so    
forth4#dic ,this provides a scheme for  
working out the whole doctrine of the   
sequences of ideas so far as the        
sequences depend upon the mind itself   

and not upon external causes4 ,it thus  
leads to problems of abstraction and    
generalisation and to his whole theory  
of what he calls the 'intellectual      
states4' ,he again closely coincides    
with the ,french ideologists4 ,he starts
 by examining ,locke and ,condillac4 ,he
 of course professes to hold that       
,condillac's version of ,locke is       
illegitimate1 and ridicules the famous  
formula penser c'est sentir4 ,he is1    
however1 equally unwilling to admit     
,reid's 'variety of powers4'#did ,in    
fact1 his criticism of ,condillac shows 
more affinity than contrast4 ,condillac 
erred1 he says1 in holding that thoughts
 are 'transformed sensations4' ,this was
 a false simplification into which he   
considers ,condillac to have been led   
partly by the ambiguity of the word     
sentir4#die ,condillac applied to the   
mind the theory1 true in 'the chemistry 
of the material chemists1' that the     
'compounds are the elements             
themselves4'#dif ,he errs when he infers

 from the analogy that a feeling which  
arises out of others can be resolved    
into them4 ',love and hate' and other   
emotions are fundamentally different    
from the sensations by which they are   
occasioned1 not mere 'transformations'  
of those sensations4 ,we1 on the other  
hand 7that is to say1 ,reid and         
,stewart71 have erred by excessive      
amplification4 ,instead of identifying  
different things1 we have admitted a    
superfluous number of 'ultimate         
principles4'  ,the result is that       
besides the original sensations1 we have
 to consider a number of feelings1      
which1 while essentially different1 are 
'suggested' or caused by them4 ,these   
are parts of the whole intellectual     
construction1 and1 though not           
transformed sensations1 are still       
'feelings' arising in consequence of the
 sensations4 ,they are parts of the     
'trains' or sequences of 'ideas4' ,it is
 accordingly characteristic of ,brown   
that he habitually describes an         

intellectual process as a 'feeling4'    
,the statement of a mathematical        
proportion1 for example1 is a case of   
'relative suggestion4' ,when we consider
 two numbers together we have a 'feeling
 of the relation of proportion4'#dig    
,the 'profoundest reasonings' are       
'nothing more than a continued analysis 
of our thought1' by which we resolve the
 'complex feelings of our minds' into   
the simpler conceptions out of which    
they were constructed4#dih ,in other    
words1 ,brown1 it would seem1 really    
accepts the penser c'est sentir1 only   
that he regards the sentir as including 
separate classes of feeling1 which      
cannot be regarded as simple            
'transformations' of sensation4 ,they   
are 'states of the mind' caused by1 that
 is1 invariably following upon1 the     
simpler states1 and1 of course1         
combining in an endless variety of      
different forms4 ,reasoning is nothing  
more than a series of relative          
'suggestions of which the separate      

subjects are felt by us to be mutually  
related4'#dii ,hence1 too1 arises his   
theory of generalisation4 ,he is1 he    
says1 not a 'nominalist' but a          
'conceptualist1' and here1 for once1    
agrees with ,reid as against            
,stewart4#ejj ,the 'general term1'      
according to him1 expresses the 'feeling
 or general notion of resemblance1'     
which arises upon a contemplation of two
 objects4 ',in ,nature1' as he observes 
elsewhere1#eja 'there are no classes1'  
but the observation of a number of      
particular cases and a certain feeling  
to which we give a name4 ,here1 again1  
,brown's view coincides with that of his
 ,french contemporaries4  ,we may then  
say briefly that ,brown carries out in  
his own fashion the conception of       
psychology which makes it an inductive  
science parallel to the physical        
sciences1 and to be pursued by the same 
methods4 ,we have to do with 'feelings' 
instead of atoms1 and with mental       
instead of 'material' chemistry4 ,our   

sole method is still an analysis such as
 guides us in unravelling complex       
physical phenomena4 ,we have1 indeed1 to
 admit certain first truths--the belief 
in our own identity is one of           
them--which are necessary to our very   
existence1 although the assertion of    
such principles was carried to an       
extravagant and ridiculous length 'by   
,reid and some of his friends4' ,when1  
however1 we come to ask what these      
principles are1 it must be admitted that
 they are very innocent4 ,they are not  
dangerous things1 like 'innate ideas1'  
capable of leading us to a              
transcendental world1 but simply        
assertions that we are warranted in     
trusting our sensations and applying a  
thoroughly inductive and empirical      
method4 ,they are the cement which joins
 the feelings1 and which1 as ,mill      
thought1 could be supplanted by         
'indissoluble associations4' ,the       
indefinite power thus attributed to     
association became1 as we shall see1    

,mill's most characteristic doctrine4   
,meanwhile1 ,i will only mention one    
inference which illustrates ,brown's    
philosophical tendencies4 ,stewart had  
spoken doubtfully of the ontological    
argument for theology4 ,brown throws it 
over altogether4 ,he does not even      
change it into an 'intuition4' ,he has  
always1 he says1 regarded it as         
'absolutely void of force' unless it    
tacitly assumes the 'physical argument4'
 ,nay1 it is one proof of the force of  
this physical argument that it has saved
 us from doubts which would be rather   
strengthened than weakened by the       
'metaphysical arguments4'#ejb ,the      
'physical argument' means the argument  
from design1 which thus becomes the sole
 support of theology4  ,hamilton        
naturally regards ,brown as a mere      
sceptic in disguise4 ,his theory of     
perception destroys his theory of       
personal identity4 ,he has refused to   
accept our intuitive belief in one case1
 and cannot appeal to it in the other4  

,he leaves no room for 'liberty of      
will1' and advances 'no argument in     
support of this condition of our moral  
being4'#ejc ,indeed1 as ,stewart        
complained1 ,brown1 by identifying      
'will' and 'desire1' has got rid of the 
will altogether4 ,it is only natural    
that a man who is making a scientific   
study of the laws of human nature should
 find no room for an assertion that     
within a certain sphere there are no    
laws4 ,a physiologist might as well     
admit that some vital processes are     
uncaused4  ,brown thus illustrates the  
gravitation of the 'common-sense'       
philosophy to pure empiricism4 ,he was  
the last in the genuine line of         
,scottish common-sense philosophers4    
,when after what may be called the      
unphilosophical interregnum which       
followed ,brown's death1 ,hamilton      
became professor1 the ,scottish         
tradition was blended with the very     
different theories derived from ,kant4  
,upon ,brown's version1 the ,scottish   

philosophy had virtually declared itself
 bankrupt4 ,the substance of his        
teaching was that of the very school    
which his predecessors had attempted to 
confute1 carefully as the fact might be 
hidden by dexterous rhetoric and        
manipulation of technical terms4 ,he    
agrees with ,hume's premises1 and adopts
 the method of ,condillac4 ,this was    
perceived by his most remarkable hearer4
 ,carlyle went to ,edinburgh at the end 
of #ahji4 ,brown1 'an eloquent1 acute   
little gentleman1 full of enthusiasm    
about simple suggestions1 relative1     
etc41' was 'utterly unprofitable' to    
him1 disspiriting 'as the autumn winds  
among withered leaves4'#ejd ,in ,signs  
of the ,times 7#ahbi7 ,carlyle gave his 
view of the ,scottish philosophy        
generally4 ,they had1 he says1 started  
from the 'mechanical' premises suggested
 by ,hume4 ',they let loose instinct as 
an indiscriminatory bandog to guard them
 against 7his7 conclusions'3 'they      
tugged lustily at the logical chain by  

which ,hume was so coldly towing them   
and the world into bottomless abysses of
 ,atheism and ,fatalism4 ,but the chain 
somehow snapped between them1 and the   
issue has been that nobody now cares    
about either--any more than about       
,hartley's1 ,darwin's1 or ,priestley's  
contemporaneous doings in ,england4'#eje
 ,the judgment goes to the root of the  
matter4 ,the method of ,reid inevitably 
led to this result4 ,consider the       
philosophy as based upon1 if not        
identical with1 an inductive science of 
psychology1 and the end is clear4 ,you  
may study and analyse the phenomena as  
carefully as you please2 and may1 as the
 ,scottish professors did1 produce1 if  
not a scientific psychology1 yet a mass 
of acute prolegomena to a science4 ,but 
the analysis can only reveal the actual 
combinations1 chemical or mechanical1 of
 thought4 ,the ultimate principles which
 the teachers profess to discover are   
simply provisional2 products not yet    
analysed1 but not therefore incapable of

 analysis4 ,it was very desirable to    
point them out3 an insistence upon the  
insufficiency of ,hume's or ,condillac's
 theories was a most valuable service2  
but it was valuable precisely because   
every indication of such an unresolved  
element was a challenge to the next     
comer to resolve it by closer analysis4 
,and thus1 in fact1 the intuitions1     
which had played so great a part with   
,reid1 come in ,brown's hands to be so  
clearly limited to the materials given  
by sensation or experience that any show
 of 'philosophy1' meaning an independent
 theory of the universe1 was an illusory
 combination of fine phrases4#ejf       
,,ii4 ,,james ,,mill',s ',,analysis'    
,james ,mill's ,analysis of the         
,phenomena of the ,human ,mind is on the
 one hand an exposition of the          
principles implied in ,bentham's        
writings1 and1 on the other hand1 a     
statement of the position from which the
 younger ,mill started4 ,j4 ,s4 ,mill   
discussed the book with his father      

during its composition1 and in #ahfi he 
published a new edition1 with elaborate 
notes by himself1 ,george ,grote1       
,professor ,bain1 and ,andrew           
,findlater4#ejg ,the commentary is of   
great importance in defining the        
relation between the two successors to  
the throne of ,bentham4  ,mill's        
,analysis1 though not widely read1 made 
a deep impression upon ,mill's own      
disciples4 ,it is terse1 trenchant1 and 
uncompromising4 ,it reminds us in point 
of style of the ,french writers1 with   
whom he sympathised1 rather than of the 
,english predecessors1 to whom much of  
the substance was owing4 ,the discursive
 rhetoric of ,brown or ,stewart is      
replaced by good1 hard1 sinewy logic4   
,the writer is plainly in earnest4 ,if  
over confident1 he has no petty vanity1 
and at least believes every word that he
 says4 ,certain limitations are at once 
obvious4 ,mill1 as a publicist1 a       
historian1 and a busy official1 had not 
had much time to spare for purely       

philosophic reading4 ,he was not a      
professor in want of a system1 but an   
energetic man of business1 wishing to   
strike at the root of the superstitions 
to which his political opponents        
appealed for support4 ,he had heard of  
,kant1 and seen what 'the poor man would
 be at4' ,later ,german systems1 had he 
heard of them1 would have been summarily
 rejected by him as so much             
transcendental moonshine4 ,the problem  
of philosophy was1 he held1 a very      
simple one1 if attacked in a            
straightforward1 scientific method4     
,mill1 like his ,scottish rivals1       
applies ',baconian' principles4 ,the    
inductive method1 which had already been
 so fruitful in the physical sciences1  
will be equally effective in philosophy1
 and ever since ,locke1 philosophy had  
meant psychology4 ,the 'philosophy of   
the mind' and the philosophy of the body
 may be treated as co-ordinate and      
investigated by similar methods4 ,in the
 physical sciences we come ultimately to

 the laws of movement of their          
constituent atoms4 ,in the moral        
sciences we come in the same way to the 
study of 'ideas4' ,the questions1 ,how  
do ideas originate8 and how are they    
combined so as to form the actual state 
of consciousness8 are therefore the     
general problems to be solved4 ,hume had
 definitely proposed the problem4       
,hartley had worked out the theory of   
association of ideas which ,hume had    
already compared#ejh to the universal   
principle of gravitation in the physical
 world2 and had endeavoured to show how 
this might be connected with            
physiological principles4 ,hartley's    
followers had been content to dwell upon
 the power of association4 ,abraham     
,tucker1 ,priestley1 ,erasmus ,darwin1  
and ,belsham represented this tendency1 
and were the normal antagonists of ,reid
 and ,stewart4 ,in ,france the          
'ideologists' mainly followed           
,condillac1 and apparently knew nothing 
of ,hartley4 ,mill1 as his son          

testifies1 had been profoundly          
influenced by ,hartley's treatise--the  
'really master-production1' as he       
esteemed it1 'in the philosophy of      
mind4'#eji ,hartley's work1 as the      
younger ,mill thought1 and the elder    
apparently agreed1 was very superior to 
the 'merely verbal generalisation of    
,condillac4' ,james ,mill1 however1     
admired ,condillac and his successors4  
,in his article upon education1 ,mill   
traces the association theory to        
,hobbes1 ,locke1 and ,hume1 the last of 
whom1 he says1 was succeeded by the two 
'more sober-minded' philosophers1       
,condillac and ,hartley2 while he       
especially praises ,erasmus ,darwin1    
,helvetius1 and ,cabanis4 ,mill1        
therefore1 may be regarded as an        
independent ally of the ideologists     
whose influence upon ,brown has been    
already noticed4 ,mill had not read     
,brown's ,lectures when he began his    
,analysis1 and after reading them       
thought ,brown 'but poorly read in the  

doctrine of association4'#eaj ,he had1  
however1 read the essay upon causation1 
which he rather oddly describes as 'one 
of the most valuable contributions to   
science for which we are indebted to the
 last generation4'#eaa ,he accepted     
,brown's view minus the 'intuition4'    
,the pith of ,mill's book is thus       
determined4 ,his aim is to give a       
complete analysis of mental phenomena1  
and therefore to resolve those phenomena
 into their primitive constituent atoms4
 ,here we have at once a tacit          
assumption which governs his method4    
,philosophy1 speaking roughly1 is by    
some people supposed to start from      
truths1 and thus to be in some way an   
evolution of logic4 ,according to ,mill 
it must start from facts1 and therefore 
from something not given by logic4 ,to  
state clearly1 indeed1 the relation     
between truth and fact may suggest very 
intricate problems4 ,mill1 at any rate1 
must find a basis in fact1 and for him  
the ultimate facts must be feelings4    

,the reality at least of a feeling is   
undeniable4 ,the ,penser c'est sentir1  
or the doctrine that all 'ideas' are    
transformed sensations is his           
starting-point4 ,the word 'feeling1'    
according to him1 includes every        
'phenomenon of the mind4' ',think1' he  
says elsewhere1#eab does not include all
 our experience1 but 'there is nothing  
to which we could not extend the term ,i
 feel4' ,he proceeds to infer that our  
experience is either a knowledge of the 
feelings separately1 or 'a knowledge of 
the order in which they follow each     
other2 and this is all4' ,we may add    
that the knowledge is the feeling4      
,reid1 ,kant1 and the ,germans have     
indeed tried to show that there are     
feelings not derived from the           
sensations1 but this1 as ,hartley and   
,condillac have shown1 is a mistake4    
,this is his first principle in a       
nutshell1 and must give a clue to the   
various applications4  ,the next step is
 familiar4 ,hume had distinguished      

impressions and ideas4 ',ideas' are     
copies of previous 'impressions4' ,it is
 for psychology to say what are the laws
 by which they are related to their     
originals4 ,the ultimate origin cannot  
be explained by psychology alone4       
,impressions are caused by the outward  
world acting in some way upon the mind2 
and the psychologist can only classify  
the various modes in which they present 
themselves4 ,mill therefore begins by   
the usual account of the five senses1   
through which comes all knowledge of the
 external world4 ,he adds to ,reid's    
list muscular sensations1 and those     
derived from the internal organs1 to    
which last ,cabanis in particular had   
called attention4 ,so far he is         
following the steps of his predecessors4
 ,he is1 he says1 simply asserting an   
'indisputable' fact4#eac ,we have       
sensations and we have ideas1 which are 
'copies of sensations4' ,we may then    
consider how far these facts will enable
 us to explain the whole series of      

mental phenomena4 ',ideation1' which he 
suggests as a new word--the process by  
which a continuous series of thoughts   
goes on in our minds--is the general    
phenomenon to be considered4 ,without1  
as yet1 pronouncing that sensations and 
copies of sensations will turn out to   
form the whole contents of our          
consciousness1 he tries to show for what
 part of those contents they will       
account4  ,here we come to the doctrine 
which for him and his school gave the   
key to all psychological problems4 ,it  
was ,james ,mill's real merit1 according
 to his son1 that he carried the        
principle of association of ideas       
further than it had been carried by     
,hartley or other predecessors4#ead ,the
 importance of the doctrine1 indeed1 is 
implied in the very statement of the    
problem4 ,if it be true1 or so far as it
 is true1 that our consciousness reveals
 to us simply a series of 'sensations'  
and 'ideas1' the question must be how   
they are combined4 ',thought succeeds   

thought1 idea follows idea              
incessantly1'#eae says ,mill2 and this  
phrase assumes 'thoughts' and 'ideas' to
 be separable atoms4 ,how1 then1 do they
 come to coalesce into an apparently    
continuous stream8 ,the mind is a stream
 of 'ideas4' ,if the stream is composed 
of drops1 we must1 of course1 consider  
the drops as composing the stream4 ,the 
question is1 ,what laws can we assign   
which will determine the process of     
composition8 ,the phrase 'association'  
admittedly expresses some general and   
very familiar truths4 ,innumerable      
connections may be established when     
there is no assignable ground of        
connection in the ideas themselves other
 than the fact of a previous contact4   
,one idea not only calls up the other1  
but in some way generates a belief in an
 independent connection4 ,we hear       
thunder1 for example1 and think of      
lightning4 ,the two ideas are entirely  
distinct and separate1 for they are due 
to different senses4 ,yet we not only   

think of lightning when we hear thunder1
 but we have no doubt that there is a   
causal connection4 ,we believe in this  
connection1 again1 though no further    
explanation can be given of the fact4   
,thunder and lightning have occurred    
together1 and we infer that they will1  
and even must1 occur together4 ,when we 
examine our whole structure of belief1  
we find such 'arbitrary' associations   
pervade it in every direction4 ,language
 itself is learned simply by            
association4 ,there is no connection    
whatever between the sound of the word  
'man' and the 'ideas' which the word    
excites1 beyond the fact that the sound 
has been previously heard when the ideas
 were excited4 ,here1 then1 is a        
phenomenon to be explained or           
generalised4 ,we have in countless cases
 a certain connection established for   
which no further reason can be assigned 
than the fact of its previous           
occurrence4 ,on such a ground1 we       
believe that fire burns1 that bread is  

wholesome1 that stones fall2 and but for
 such beliefs could know nothing of the 
outside world4 ',contingent' truth1     
therefore1 or truth derived from mere   
contact1 pervades1 if it does not       
constitute1 the whole fabric of our     
whole knowledge4 ,to prove that all our 
knowledge is derived from experience is1
 according to ,mill1 to prove that in   
some sense or other association of ideas
 lies at the base of all intellectual   
processes4 ,when ,locke introduced a    
chapter upon ',association of ,ideas'   
into the fourth edition of his essay1 he
 treated it as the exceptional case4    
,some ideas had a connection traceable  
by reason2 others were only connected by
 'chance and custom4' ,association does 
not explain reasoning1 only the         
deviations from reasoning4 ,but with    
,hume and ,hartley the relation is      
inverted4 ,the principle1 instead of    
being an exceptional case1 is simply the
 universal rule from which logical      
connection may be deduced as a special  

case4  ,the facts upon which ,mill      
relied1 and the account of them which he
 gave1 require notice and embodiment in 
any sound psychology4 ,in some shape or 
other they form the starting-point of   
all later systems4 ,mill's vigorous     
application of his principle1 worked out
 with imperfect appreciation and with   
many oversights1 had therefrom1 at      
least1 the merit of preparing the ground
 for a more scientific method4 ,in any  
case1 however1 his conclusions1 so far  
as sound1 must be placed in a different 
framework of theory4 ,it becomes        
necessary to dwell chiefly upon the     
curious defects of his theory1 if taken 
as he wished it to be taken1 for an     
ultimate scientific statement4 ,the fact
 that there is a synthesis and an       
analysis is expressed by 'association4' 
,but what more can we say8 ,what are the
 'laws' of association8 ,unless some    
rule can be given1 we shall get nothing 
that can be called a theory4 ,one idea  
is not suggested by the other through   

any logical process4 ,they are still    
'conjoined' but not 'connected4' ,the   
connection1 therefore1 must be given by 
something different from the ideas      
themselves4 ,now the order of the       
original 'sensations' depends upon the  
'objects of nature1' and is therefore   
left to 'physical philosophy4'#eaf ,they
 occur1 however1 either in 'synchronous'
 or in 'successive' order4 ,then 'ideas'
 spring up in the order of 'sensations1'
 and this is the 'general law of        
association of ideas4'#eag ,the         
synchronous sensations produce          
synchronous ideas and the successive    
sensations successive ideas4 ,finally1  
the strength of the association between 
the ideas depends upon 'the vividness of
 the associated feelings1 and the       
frequency of the association4'#eah ,hume
 had said that association depended upon
 three principles1 'contiguity in time  
and place1' 'causation1' and            
'resemblance4' ,contiguity in time      
corresponds to the successive1 and      

contiguity in place to the synchronous1 
order4 ,causation1 as ,brown had finally
 proved1#eai means simply antecedence   
and consequence4 ',resemblance' remains 
and is1 as ,mill afterwards says1#ebj a 
most important principle2 but in an     
unlucky moment he is half inclined to   
reduce even 'resemblance' to            
'contiguity4'#eba ,resemblance is1 he   
even suggests1 merely 'a case of        
frequency1' because we generally see    
like things together4 ,when we see one  
tree or sheep1 we generally see several 
trees or sheep4 ,j4 ,s4 ,mill mildly    
remarks upon this quaint suggestion as  
the 'least successful simplification' in
 the book4 ,he argues the point gravely4
 ,sheep1 it is clear1 are not seen to be
 like because they often compose a      
flock1 but are considered to be a flock 
because they are seen to be like4 ,to do
 ,james ,mill justice1 he drops the     
argument as soon as he has struck it    
out4 ,it is only worth notice as showing
 his aim4 ',likeness' seems to imply a  

relation dependent on the ideas         
themselves2 not purely external and     
arbitrary4 ,if we could get rid of      
likeness1 all association would         
ultimately be 'contiguity4' ',the       
fundamental law of association1' as he  
says elsewhere1#ebb 'is that when two   
things have been frequently found       
together1 we never perceive or think of 
the one without thinking of the other4' 
,the two ideas are associated as two    
balls are associated when they are in   
the same box4 ,so far as they are       
themselves concerned1 they might be     
separated without any alteration in     
their own properties4 ,what1 then1      
corresponds to the 'box'8 ,association  
depends upon relations of time and      
space4 ,things are associated by        
occurring in succession or together2 the
 red colour of a rose is in the same    
place with the shape of the leaf2 the   
scent is perceived at the same time with
 the colour4 ,the thunder follows the   
lightning4 ,what1 then1 he might ask1   

are 'time' and 'space'8 ,are they       
'ideas' or 'sensations' or qualities of 
the objects8 or1 in any case1 as        
supplying the ultimate principle of     
association1 do they not require        
investigation8 ,before coming to that   
problem1 however1 we have to settle     
other knotty points4 ,we must clear away
 illusions which seem to introduce      
something more than association4        
,elements of thought not at first sight 
expressible simply in terms of          
sensations and ideas must be analysed to
 show that they are only disguises for  
different combinations of the facts4    
,reasoning1 according to most logicians1
 supposes1 first1 concepts1 and         
therefore some process of classification
 of the objects of thought2 and1        
secondly1 some process of combining     
these concepts to bring out hitherto    
unknown truths4 ,what1 then1 is the     
meaning of the general or abstract      
symbols employed in the process8 ,mill's
 provision of raw materials consists so 

far of sensations and ideas1 which are  
worked up so as to form 'clusters' 7the 
word is taken from ,hartley7 and        
'trains4' ,this corresponds to          
synchronous and successive associations4
 ,how does the logical terminology      
express these 'clusters' and 'trains'8  
,mill answers by a theory of 'naming4'  
,language fulfils two purposes2 it is   
required in order to make our ideas     
known to others2 and in order to fix our
 own ideas4 ,ideas are fluctuating1     
transitory1 and 'come into the mind     
unbidden4' ,we must catch and make a    
note of these shifting crowds of        
impalpable entities4 ,we therefore put  
marks upon the simple sensations or upon
 the 'clusters4' ,we ticket them as a   
tradesman tickets bundles of goods in   
his warehouse1 and can refer to them for
 our own purposes or those of others4   
,as the number of objects to be marked  
is enormous1 as there are countless     
ideas and clusters and clusters of      
clusters of endless variety to be       

arranged in various ways1 one main      
object of naming is economy4 ,a single  
word has to be used to mark a great     
number of individuals4 ,this will       
account for such general names as are   
represented by noun-substantives3 man1  
horse1 dog1 and so forth4 ,mill then    
proceeds1 with the help of ,horne       
,tooke1 to explain the other grammatical
 forms4 ,an adjective is another kind of
 noun marking a cross division4 ,verbs1 
again1 are adjectives marking other sets
 of facts1 and enabling us to get rid of
 the necessity of using a new mark for  
every individual or conceivable         
combination into clusters4 ,j4 ,s4 ,mill
 remarks that this omits the special    
function of verbs--their 'employment in 
predication4'#ebc ,james ,mill1 however1
 has his own view of 'predication4'     
',man' is a mark of ,john1 ,peter1      
,thomas1 and the rest4 ,when ,i say     
',john is a man1' ,i mean that 'man is  
another mark to that idea of which ,john
 is a mark4'#ebd ,i am then able to make

 a statement which will apply to all the
 individuals1 and save the trouble of   
repeating the assertion about each4     
',predication1' therefore1 is simply a  
substitution of one name for another4   
,so1 for example1 arithmetic is simply  
naming4 ,what ,i call two and two1 ,i   
also call four4 ,the series of thoughts 
in this case is merely 'a series of     
names applicable to the same thing and  
meaning the same thing4'#ebe ,this      
doctrine1 as ,j4 ,s4 ,mill remarks1 is  
derived from ,hobbes1 whom ,leibniz in  
consequence called plus quam            
nominalis4#ebf ,my belief that two and  
two make four explains why ,i give the  
same name to certain numbers2 but the   
giving the name does not explain the    
belief4 ,meanwhile1 if a class name be  
simply the mark which is put upon a     
bundle of things1 we have got rid of a  
puzzle4 ,mill triumphs over the         
unfortunate realists who held that a    
class meant a mysterious entity1        
existing somewhere apart from all the   

individuals in which it is embodied4    
,there is really nothing mysterious2 a  
name is first the mark of an individual1
 the individual corresponding to a      
'cluster' or a set of 'simple ideas1    
concreted into a complex idea4'#ebg     
,then the name and the complex idea are 
associated reciprocally2 each 'calls up'
 the other4 ,the complex idea is        
'associated' with other resembling      
ideas4 ,the name becomes a talisman     
calling up the ideas of an indefinite   
number of resembling individuals1 and   
the name applied to one in the first    
instance becomes a mark which calls up  
all1 or1 as he says1 is the 'name of the
 whole combination4' ,classification1   
therefore1 'is merely a process of      
naming1 and is all resolvable into      
association4'#ebh ,the peculiarity of   
this theory1 as his commentators again  
remark1 is that it expressly omits any  
reference to abstraction4 ,the class    
simply means the aggregate of resembling
 individuals without any selection of   

the common attributes which are1 in ,j4 
,s4 ,mill's phrase1 'connoted' by the   
class-name4 ,abstraction1 as ,james     
,mill explains1 is a subsidiary process1
 corresponding to the 'formation of     
sub-species4'#ebi  ,mill has now shown  
how the various forms of language       
correspond to ideas1 formed into        
clusters of various orders by the       
principle of association4 ,the next step
 will naturally be to show how these    
clusters are connected in the process of
 reasoning4 ,here the difficulty about  
predication recurs4 ,j4 ,s4 ,mill#ecj   
remarks that his father's theory of     
predication consistently omits 'the     
element ,belief4' ,when ,i say1 ',john  
is a man1' ,i make an affirmation or    
assert a belief4 ,i do not simply mean  
to call up in the mind of my hearer a   
certain 'cluster' or two coincident     
clusters of ideas1 but to convey        
knowledge of truths4 ,the omission of   
reference to belief is certainly no     
trifle4 ,mill has classified the various

 ideas and combinations of ideas which  
are used in judgment1 but the process of
 judgment itself seems to have slipped  
out of account4 ,he may have given us1  
or be able to give us1 a reasoned       
catalogue of the contents of our minds1 
but has not explained how the mind      
itself acts4 ,it is a mere passive      
recipient of ideas1 or rather itself a  
cluster of ideas cohering in various    
ways1 without energy of its own4 ,one   
idea1 as he tells us1 calls up another  
'by its own associating power4'#eca     
,ideas are things which somehow stick   
together and revive each other1 without 
reference to the mind in which they     
exist or which they compose4 ,this      
explains his frequent insistence upon   
one assertion4 ,as we approach the      
question of judgment he finds it        
essential4 ',having a sensation and     
having a feeling1' he says1 'are not two
 things4' ,to 'feel an idea and be      
conscious of that feeling are not two   
things2 the feeling and the             

consciousness are but two names for the 
same thing4'#ecb ,so1 again1 'to have a 
sensation and to believe that we have   
it1 are not distinguishable things4'#ecc
 ,locke's reflection thus becomes       
nothing but simple consciousness1 and   
having a feeling is the same as         
attending to it4#ecd ,the point is      
essential4 ,it amounts to saying that we
 can speak of a thought as though it    
were simply a thing4  ,thus belief not  
only depends upon1 but actually is      
association4 ',it is not easy1' he says1
 'to treat of memory1 belief1 and       
judgment separately4'#ece ,as ,j4 ,s4   
,mill naturally asks1 ',how is it       
possible to treat of belief without     
including in it memory and judgment8'   
,memory is a case of belief1 and        
judgment an 'act of belief4'#ecf ,to    
,james ,mill1 however1 it appears that  
as these different functions all involve
 association1 they may be resolved into 
varying applications of that universal  
power4 ,memory involves 'an idea of my  

present self' and an 'idea of my past   
self1' and to remember is to 'run over  
the intervening states of consciousness 
called up by association4'#ecg ,belief  
involves association at every step4 ,the
 belief in external objects is1 as 'all 
men admit' 444 'wholly resolvable into  
association4'#ech ',that a cause means  
and can mean nothing to the human mind  
but constant antecedence' 7and therefore
 'inseparable association1' as he       
thinks7 'is no longer a point in        
dispute4'#eci ,association1 it is true1 
may produce wrong as well as right      
beliefs2 right beliefs when 'in         
conformity with the connections of      
things1'#edj and wrong beliefs when not 
in conformity4 ,in both cases the belief
 is produced by 'custom1' though1       
happily1 the right custom is by far the 
commonest4 ,the 'strength of the        
association follows the frequency4' ,the
 crow flies east as well as west2 but   
the stone always falls downwards4#eda   
,hence ,i form an 'inseparable          

association' corresponding to a belief  
in gravitation1 but have no particular  
belief about the direction of a crow's  
flight4  ,this gives the doctrine of    
'indissoluble association'--the pivot of
 the whole scheme--the doctrine1 says   
,j4 ,s4 ,mill1 which1 'if it can be     
proved1 is the greatest of all the      
triumphs of the ,association            
,philosophy4'#edb ,the younger ,mill    
always insisted upon the vast importance
 of the principle2 but he here admits a 
difficulty4 ,in a long note#edc upon    
,james ,mill's chapter on ',belief1'    
conspicuous for his usual candour1 he   
confesses the inadequacy of his father's
 view4 ,the comment indicates the point 
of divergence and yet shows curiously   
the ground common to both4 ,james       
,mill's theory states facts in some     
sense undeniable4 ,our 'ideas' cohere   
and combine to form a tissue3 an imagery
 or series of pictures which form the   
content and are somehow the ground of   
our beliefs4 ,the process of formation  

clearly involves 'association4' ,the    
scent of the rose is associated with the
 colour3 both with the visible form and 
so forth4 ,but is this process the same 
thing as believing1 or have we to       
explain the belief by some mental       
activity different from1 however closely
 connected with1 the imagination1 or in 
his phrase the 'ideation'8 ,here ,j4 ,s4
 ,mill finds a difficulty4 ,the         
statement1 ',i believe that thunder will
 follow lightning1' is something more   
than the statement1 'the sight suggests 
or calls up the sound4' ,the mental     
picture considered by itself may be     
described as a fact1 without considering
 what belief1 or whether any belief1 is 
implied4 ,j4 ,s4 ,mill therefore makes a
 distinction intended to clear up his   
father's confusion4 ,there is a         
difference1 he says1 between remembering
 'a real fact' and remembering a        
'thought4'#edd ,he illustrates this by  
the difference between the idea of      
,lafayette and the idea of ,falstaff4   

,lafayette was real1 and had been seen  
by the rememberer4 ,falstaff is a       
figment who1 having never existed1 can  
never have been seen4 ,yet the idea of  
,falstaff may be quite as vivid as the  
idea of ,lafayette4 ,what1 then1 is the 
difference between the two states of    
mind8 ,one1 says ,j4 ,s4 ,mill1 is a    
belief about 'real facts'2 the other    
about 'thoughts4' ,this1 he observes1   
corresponds to ,james ,mill's           
distinction between a 'sensation' and an
 'idea1'#ede a difference which he had  
admitted to be 'primordial4' ,then1 says
 ,j4 ,s4 ,mill1 we may as well admit    
that there is an 'element' in the       
remembrance of a real fact not implied  
in the remembrance of a thought and not 
dependent on any difference in the      
'ideas' themselves4 ,it1 too1 may be    
taken as 'primordial1' or incapable of  
further analysis4 ,this doctrine becomes
 important in some of ,mill's logical   
speculations1#edf and is connected with 
his whole theory of belief in an        

external world4 ,it has an uncomfortable
 likeness to ,reid's 'common-sense'     
view1 and even to the hated             
'intuitionism'2 and ,mill deserves the  
more credit for his candour4  ,meanwhile
 it seems clear that the criticism      
implies an important confusion4 ,the    
line of distinction is drawn in the     
wrong place4 ,so far as the simple      
'imagination' is concerned1 there may be
 no question of belief or disbelief4    
,the picture of ,falstaff or of         
,lafayette1 a horse or a centaur1 arises
 equally1 and is put together1 let us   
suppose1 by simple association4 ,but as 
soon as ,i think about either ,i believe
 or disbelieve1 and equally whether ,i  
judge the object to be a thought or to  
be a 'real fact1' whether ,i say that ,i
 could have seen ,lafayette1 or that ,i 
could not have seen ,falstaff4 ,it is   
not a question between reality or       
unreality1 but between two classes of   
reality4 ,a dream is a real dream1 just 
as a man is a real man4 ,the question is

 simply where or how it exists1 not     
whether it exists4 ,the picture is1 in  
one case1 put together by my mind2 in   
the other1 due to a stimulus from       
without2 but it exists in both cases2   
and belief is equally present whether ,i
 put it in one class of reality or the  
other3 as we form a judgment equally    
when we pronounce a man to be lying1 and
 when we pronounce him to be speaking   
the truth4 ,j4 ,s4 ,mill seems to       
suppose that association can explain the
 imagination of a centaur or a          
,falstaff1 but cannot explain the belief
 in a horse or ,lafayette4 ,the         
imagination or 'ideation1' he should    
have said1 accounts in both cases for   
the mere contents of the thought2 but in
 neither case can it by itself explain  
the judgment as to 'reality4' ,that is  
to say1 ,james ,mill may have described 
accurately a part of the process by     
which the mental picture is constructed1
 but has omitted to explain the action  
of the mind itself4 ,belief1 we may     

agree1 is a 'primordial' or ultimate    
faculty2 but we must not interpret it as
 belief in a 'real fact' as             
distinguished from belief in 'a         
thought'3 that is a secondary and       
incidental distinction4  ,this          
confusion1 as ,i have said1 apparently  
prevents ,j4 ,s4 ,mill from seeing how  
deeply his very frank admissions cut    
into the very structure of his father's 
system4 ,he has1 as ,i have said1       
remarked upon the singular absence of   
any reference to 'belief1'              
'abstraction1' and so forth2 but he     
scarcely observes how much is implied by
 the omission4 ,his criticism should    
have gone further4 ,james ,mill has not 
only omitted a faculty which enables us 
to distinguish between 'thoughts' and   
'things1' images of fancy and pictures  
of reality1 but also the faculty which  
is equally present whenever we properly 
think instead of simply seeing images   
passively2 and equally whether we refer 
an image to fact or fancy4 ,his         

'analysis of the mind' seems to get rid 
of the mind itself4  ,the omission      
becomes important at the next step4     
',under the modest title of an          
explanation of the meaning of several   
names1' says his son1 ,james ,mill      
discusses 'some of the deepest and most 
intricate questions in all metaphysics4'
 ,a treatise on chemistry might almost  
as well be 'described as an explanation 
of the names1 air1 water1 potass1       
sulphuric acid1 and so forth4'#edg ,why 
does the chapter come in this place and 
in this peculiar form8 ,probably because
 ,james ,mill was partly conscious of   
the inadequacy of his previous chapters4
 ,the problems which he has been        
considering could not be adequately     
treated by regarding ideas as 'things'  
bound together by association4 ,what1   
after all1 is a proposition8 ,what is   
meant by 'true' or 'false1' as          
distinguished from real and unreal8 ,if 
an association actually is a truth1 what
 is the difference between right and    

wrong associations8 ,both are facts1 and
 the very words 'right' and 'wrong1'    
that is1 true and false1 apply not to   
facts but to propositions4#edh ,the     
judgment is tested in some way by       
correspondence to the 'order of         
,nature1' or of our sensations and      
ideas4 ,what precisely is meant by this 
order8 ,so far as we have gone1 it seems
 as if ideas might be combined in any   
order whatever1 and the most various    
beliefs generated in different minds4   
,perhaps1 however1 the principle of     
association itself may reveal something 
as to the possible modes of coalescence4
 ,mill makes contiguity an ultimate     
ground of association2 and contiguity   
implies that things have certain        
relations expressible in terms of space 
and time and so forth4 ,these primitive 
relations now come up for consideration1
 and should enable us to say more       
precisely what kind of order is         
possible4 ,in fact1 ,mill now endeavours
 to analyse the meanings of such words  

as relation in general1 time1 space1    
number1 likeness1 personal identity and 
others4 ,the effect of his analysis is  
that the principles1 whatever they may  
be1 which might be supposed to underlie 
association appear to be products of    
association4 ,he begins by asking what  
is the meaning of 'relative terms4'     
,their peculiarity is that they 'always 
exist in pairs1' such as 'father and    
son1' 'high and low1' 'right and left4' 
',if it is asked1 ,why do we give names 
in pairs8 the general answer immediately
 suggests itself2 it is because the     
things named present themselves in      
pairs1 that is1 are joined by           
association4'#edi ,j4 ,s4 ,mill thinks  
that no part of the ,analysis is more   
valuable than the 'simple explanation'  
which follows4 ,there is no 'mystical   
bond called a relation' between two     
things1 but 'a very simple peculiarity  
in the concrete fact' marked by the     
names4 ,in 'ordinary names of objects1  
the fact connoted by a name 444 concerns

 one object only'2 in the case of       
relative names1 'the fact connoted      
concerns two objects1 and cannot be     
understood without thinking of them     
both4' ,a 'fact concerning an object' is
 a curiously awkward expression2 but one
 point is clear4 ,if the two objects    
concerned are the same1 whether         
considered apart or together1 the       
'relation' must be something more than  
the facts1 and therefore requires to be 
specified4 ,if they are1 in fact1 one   
thing1 or parts of a continuous process1
 we must ask how they come to be        
distinguished1 and what ground there is 
for speaking of association4 ,james     
,mill1 by considering the problem as a  
mere question of 'names1' seems to      
intimate that the relation is a mere    
figment4 ,in fact1 as ,j4 ,s4 ,mill     
perceives1 the 'explanations' become    
nugatory4 ,they simply repeat the thing 
to be explained4 ,he begins with        
'resemblance4' ,to feel two things to be
 alike is1 he says1 the same thing as to

 have the two feelings4 ,he means to    
say1 apparently1 that when there are two
 'ideas' there is not also a third idea 
of 'likeness4' ,that would be what      
,bentham called a 'fictitious entity4'  
,but this cannot 'explain' the likeness 
of the ideas4 ',their being alike1' as  
his son interprets1 'is nothing but     
their being felt to be alike--which does
 not help us4'#eej ,so 'antecedence and 
consequence' are 'explained' by saying  
that one of two feelings calls up the   
other2 or1 as the son again remarks1    
antecedence is explained by antecedence1
 and succession by succession4          
,antecedence and consequence1 like      
likeness and unlikeness1 must therefore1
 according to ,j4 ,s4 ,mill1 be         
'postulated as universal conditions of  
,nature1 inherent in all our feelings   
whether of external or internal         
consciousness4'#eea ,in other words1    
apparently1 time is an ultimate form of 
thought4 ,time and space1 generally1 as 
,james ,mill thinks1 are the 'abstract  

names' respectively of successive and   
simultaneous order1 which become        
'indissolubly associated with the idea  
of every object4'#eeb ,space1 of course1
 is said to be a product of touch and   
muscular sensations1 and the problem as 
to how these varying sensations and     
these alone give rise to apparently     
necessary and invariable beliefs is not 
taken into consideration4 ,mill is here 
dealing with the questions which ,kant  
attempted to answer by showing how the  
mind imposes its forms upon sense-given 
materials1 forms them into concepts1 and
 combines the concepts into judgments   
and reasoning4 ,mill evades the         
mysterious and transcendental at the    
cost of omitting reason altogether4 ,he 
represents the result of accepting one  
horn of a dilemma1 which presses upon   
philosophies of loftier pretensions4    
,those who accept the other horn speak  
of a 'fact' as though it were a truth1  
and argue as though the world could be  
spun out of pure logic1 or a tissue be  

made of relations without any things to 
be related4 ,mill1 with scarcely a      
glance at such doctrines1 tries         
systematically to speak of a truth as if
 it were a fact4 ,the world for him is  
made up of ideas sticking together2 and 
nothing else exists4 ,the relation is   
the fact2 belief is the association2    
consciousness and reflection1 considered
 apart1 are nothing but the sensations1 
ideas1 clusters1 and trains4 ,the       
attempt to base all truth upon          
experience1 to bring philosophy into    
harmony with science was1 as ,i hold1   
perfectly right4 ,only1 upon these      
assumptions it could not be carried out4
 ,mill had the merit which is implied   
even by an unsuccessful attempt to hold 
by fact4 ,he raises a number of         
interesting questions2 and ,i think that
 it is more remarkable that so many of  
his observations have still an interest 
for psychologists than that so much is  
obviously wrong4 ,mill1 it may be said1 
took an essay upon association for a    

treatise upon psychology in general4 ,he
 was writing what might be one important
 chapter in such a treatise1 and        
supposes that he has written the whole1 
and can deduce 'philosophy' from it1 if1
 indeed1 any philosophy can be said to  
remain4 ,meanwhile1 ,i may observe1 that
 by pushing his principles to extremes1 
even his 'association' doctrine is      
endangered4 ,his ,analysis seems to     
destroy even the elements which are     
needed to give the simplest laws of     
association4 ,it is rather difficult to 
say what is meant by the 'contiguity1'  
'sequence1' and 'resemblance1' which are
 the only conditions specified1 and     
which he seems to explain not as the    
conditions but as the product of        
association4 ,j4 ,s4 ,mill perceived    
that something was wanting which he     
afterwards tried to supply4 ,i will just
 indicate one or two points1 which may  
show what problems the father bequeathed
 to the son4 ,james ,mill1 at one place1
 discusses the odd problem 'how it      

happens that all trains of thought are  
not the same4'#eec ,the more obvious    
question is1 on his hypothesis1 how it  
happens that any two people have the    
same beliefs1 since the beliefs are made
 of the most varying materials4 ,if1    
again1 two ideas when associated remain 
distinct1 we have ,hume's difficulty4   
,whatever is distinguishable1 he argued1
 is separable4 ,if two ideas simply lie 
side by side1 as is apparently implied  
by 'contiguity1' so that each can be    
taken apart without change1 why should  
we suppose that they will never exist   
apart1 or1 indeed1 that they should ever
 again come together8 ,the contiguity   
does not depend upon them1 but upon some
 inscrutable collocation1 of which we   
can only say that it exists now4 ,this  
is the problem which greatly occupied   
,j4 ,s4 ,mill4  ,the 'indissoluble' or  
'inseparable' association1 which became 
the grand arcanum of the school1 while  
intended to answer some of these        
difficulties1 raises others4 ,mill seems

 to insist upon splitting a unit into   
parts in order that it may be again     
brought together by association4 ,so ,j4
 ,s4 ,mill1 in an admiring note1        
confirms his father's explanation 7'one 
of the most important thought in the    
whole treatise'7 of the infinity of     
space4#eed ,we think space infinite     
because we always 'associate' position  
with extension4 ,surely space is        
extension2 and to think of one without  
the other implies a contradiction4 ,we  
think space infinite1 because we think  
of a space as only limited by other     
space1 and therefore indefinitely       
extensible4 ,there is no 'association1' 
simply repetition4 ,elsewhere we have   
the problem1 ,how does one association  
exclude another8 ,only1 as ,j4 ,s4 ,mill
 replies1 when one idea includes the    
idea of the absence of the others4#eee  
,we cannot combine the ideas of a plane 
and a convex surface4 ,why8 ,because we 
have never had both sets of sensations  
together4 ,the 'commencement' of one set

 has always been 'simultaneous with the 
cessation of another set1' as1 for      
instance1 when we bend a flat sheet of  
paper4 ,the difficulty seems to be that 
one fact cannot be contradictory of     
another1 since contradiction only       
applies to assertions4 ,when ,i say that
 ,a is above ,b1 however1 ,i surely     
assert that ,b is below ,a2 and ,i      
cannot make both assertions about ,a and
 ,b at the same time without a          
contradiction4 ,to explain this by an   
association of simultaneous and         
successive sensations seems to be a     
curiously roundabout way of             
'explaining4' ,every assertion is also a
 denial2 and1 if ,i am entitled to say  
anything1 ,i am enabled without any help
 from association to deny its           
contradictory4 ,on ,mill's showing1 the 
assertion and the denial of its         
contradiction1 instead of being         
identical1 are taken to be two beliefs  
accidentally associated4 ,finally1 ,i   
need only make one remark upon the      

fundamental difficulty4 ,it is hard to  
conceive of mere loose 'ideas' going    
about in the universe at large and      
sticking accidentally to others4 ,after 
all1 the human being is in true sense   
also an organised whole1 and his        
constitution must be taken into account 
in discovering the laws of 'ideation4'  
,this is the point of view to which     
,mill1 in his anxiety to get rid of     
everything that had a savour of a priori
 knowledge about it1 remains            
comparatively blind4 ,it implies a      
remarkable omission4 ,mill's great      
teacher1 ,hartley1 had appealed to      
physiology in a necessarily crude       
fashion4 ,he had therefore an organism3 
a brain or a nervous system which could 
react upon the external world and modify
 and combine sensations4 ,mill's ideas  
would have more apparent connection if  
they could be made to correspond to     
'vibratiuncles' or physical processes of
 some kind4 ,but this part of ,hartley's
 hypothesis had been dropped3 and all   

reality is therefore reduced to the     
whirl of vagrant and accidentally       
cohering ideas in brains and clusters4  
,his one main aim is to get rid of      
everything that can be called mystical  
and to trace all mental processes to    
'experience1' as he understands         
experience--to show that we are never   
entitled to assert that two ideas may   
not be joined in any way whatever4  ,the
 general tendency of the ',association  
,philosophy' is sufficiently clear4 ,it 
may be best appreciated by comparing it 
to the method of the physical sciences1 
which it was intended to rival4 ,the    
physicist explains the 'laws of nature' 
by regarding a phenomenon as due to the 
varying arrangements of an indefinite   
multitude of uniform atoms4 ,i need not 
ask whether these atoms are to be       
regarded as realities1 even the sole    
realities1 or1 on the other hand1 as a  
kind of logical scaffolding removable   
when the laws are ascertained4 ,in any  
case1 the assumption is necessary and   

most fruitful in the search for accurate
 and quantitative formulae4 ,mill       
virtually assumes that the same thing   
can be done by breaking up the stream of
 consciousness into the ideas which     
correspond to the primitive atoms4 ,what
 precisely these atoms may be1 how the  
constantly varying flow of thought can  
be resolved into constituent fractions1 
is not easy to see4 ,the physicist at   
least supposes his atoms to have        
definite space relations1 but there is  
nothing clearly corresponding to space  
in the 'ideas4' ,they are capable of    
nothing but co-existence1 sequence1 and 
likeness2 but the attempt to explain the
 meaning of those words ends in nothing 
but repeating them4 ,one result is the  
curious combination of the absolute and 
the indefinitely variable4 ,we get      
absolute statements because the ultimate
 constituents are taken to be absolutely
 constant4 ,we have indefinite          
variability because they may be         
collocated in any conceivable or        

inconceivable way4 ,this becomes evident
 when we have to do with organisms of   
any kind3 with characters or societies  
an organism varies1 but varies along    
definite lines4 ,but1 on ,mill's        
showing1 the organic relations          
correspond to the indefinitely variable4
 ,education is omnipotent2 state        
constitutions can be manufactured at    
will1 and produce indefinite            
consequences4 ,and yet he can lay down  
laws of absolute validity1 because he   
seems to be deducing them from one or   
two formulae corresponding to the       
essential and invariable properties of  
the ultimate unit--whether man or ideas4
 ,from this follows1 too1 the tendency  
to speak as if human desires            
corresponded to some definite measurable
 things1 such as utility in ethics1     
value in political economy1 and         
self-interest in politics4 ,this point  
appears in the application of ,mill's   
theories to the moral sciences4   ,,iii4
 ,,james ,,mill',s ,,ethics  ,james     

,mill in his ethical doctrine follows   
,bentham with little variation2 but he  
shows very clearly what was the         
psychology which ,bentham virtually     
assumed4 ,i may pass very briefly over  
,mill's theory of conduct#eef in        
general4 ,the 'phenomena of thought1' he
 says1 may be divided into the          
'intellectual' and the 'active' powers4 
,hitherto he has considered 'sensations'
 and 'ideas' merely as existing2 he will
 now consider them as 'exciting to      
action4'#eeg ,the phenomena consist in  
both cases of sensations and ideas1     
combined into 'clusters1' and formed    
into trains 'according to the sense     
laws4' ,we have now to consider the     
ideas as active1 and 'to demonstrate the
 simple laws into which the phenomena of
 human life1 so numerous and apparently 
so diversified1 may all be easily       
resolved4'  ,a desire is an 'idea' of a 
pleasant sensation2 an 'aversion' an    
idea of painful sensation4 ,the idea and
 the sensation are not two things1 but  

two names for the same thing4 ,desire1  
again1 has a 'tacit reference to future 
time' when applied to a given case4 ,we 
associate these pains and pleasures with
 the causes2 and in the important case  
our own actions are the causes4 ,thus   
the association produces the motive1 and
 the readiness to obey the motive is1 as
 ,bentham says1 the 'disposition4'      
,then1 following ,hartley1 ,mill        
explains the will4 ,bodily actions are  
muscular contractions1 which are slowly 
co-ordinated by habit--association1 of  
course1 acting at every stage of the    
process4 ,now1 it is a plain fact that  
muscular contractions follow 'ideas4'   
,it is easy1 then1 to see how the 'idea 
of a pleasure should excite the idea of 
the action which is the cause of it2 and
 how1 when the idea exists1 the action  
should follow4'#eeh ,an 'end' is a      
pleasure desired1 and gives the         
'motive4' ,when we start from the motive
 and get the pleasure the same          
association is called 'will4'           

',free-will' is of course nonsense4 ,we 
have a full account of the human        
mechanism1 and can see that it is       
throughout worked by association1       
admitting the primary fact of experience
 that the idea causes the muscular      
contraction4  ,this1 and the ethical    
conclusions which follow1 substantially 
coincide with ,bentham's doctrine1 or   
supply the first principles from which  
,bentham might be deduced4 ,a fuller    
exposition of the ethics is given in the
 ,fragment on ,mackintosh4 ,mackintosh1 
in #ahbi1 wrote a ,dissertation upon    
',ethical ,philosophy1' for the         
,encyclopaedia ,britannica4#eei ,the    
book stirred ,mill's 'indignation       
against an evil-doer4'#efj ,he wrote a  
,fragment on ,mackintosh1 which was     
suppressed for a time in consequence of 
his antagonist's death in #ahcb1 but    
published in the year of his own death1 
#ahce4efa ,according to ,professor      
,bain1 the book was softened in         
consequence of remonstrances from       

,bickersteth4 ,it would be curious to   
see the previous version4 ,professor    
,bain says that there are 'thousands' of
 books which contain 'far worse         
severities of language4' ,i confess that
 ,i cannot remember quite 'a thousand4' 
,it is at least difficult to imagine    
more unmitigated expressions of contempt
 and aversion4 ,mackintosh1 says ,mill1 
uses 'macaroni phrases1' 'tawdry talk1' 
'gabble'2 he gets 'beyond drivelling'   
into something more like 'raving'2 he   
'deluges' us with 'unspeakable          
nonsense4' ',good ,god6' sums up the    
comment which can be made upon one      
sentence4#efb ,sir ,james1 he declares1 
'has got into an intellectual state so  
thoroughly depraved that ,i doubt       
whether a parallel to it is possible to 
be found4'#efc ,there is scarcely a     
mention of ,mackintosh without an       
insult4 ,a partial explanation of       
,mill's wrath may be suggested by the   
chapter upon ,bentham4 ,mackintosh there
 accused the ,utilitarians generally of 

'wantonly wounding the most respectable 
feelings of mankind'2 of 'clinging to   
opinions because they are obnoxious'2 of
 taking themselves to be a 'chosen few1'
 despising the multitude1 and retorting 
the dislike which their arrogance has   
provoked by using still more            
exasperating language4#efd ,he suggested
 that they should do more justice to    
'the ,romillys and the ,broughams1' who 
had been the real and judicious         
reformers2 and he illustrated the errors
 of ,bentham by especial reference to   
,mill's arguments upon government and   
education4 ,there had long been an      
antipathy4 ,mackintosh1 said ,mill in   
#ahbj1 'lives but for ,london display2  
parler et faire parler de lui in certain
 circles is his heaven4'#efe            
,mackintosh would have been most at home
 in a professorial chair4 ,he was1      
indeed1 professor at ,haileybury from   
#ahah to #ahbd1 and spoken of as a      
probable successor to ,brown at         
,edinburgh4 ,but he could never         

decidedly concentrate himself upon one  
main purpose4 ,habits of procrastination
 and carelessness about money caused    
embarrassment which forced him to write 
hastily4 ,his love of society interfered
 with study1 and his study was spread   
over an impossible range of subjects4   
,his great abilities1 wasted by these   
infirmities1 were seconded by very wide 
learning4 ,macaulay describes the       
impression which he made at ,holland    
,house4#eff ,he passed among his friends
 as the profound philosopher2 the man of
 universal knowledge of history2 of ripe
 and most impartial judgment in         
politics2 the oracle to whom all men    
might appeal with confidence1 though a  
little too apt to find out that all     
sides were in the right4 ,when he went  
to ,india he took with him some of the  
scholastic writers and the works of     
,kant and ,fichte1 then known to few    
,englishmen4 ,one of ,macaulay's        
experiences at ,holland ,house was a    
vision of ,mackintosh verifying a       

quotation from ,aquinas4#efg ,it must   
have been delightful4 ,the ethical      
'dissertation1' however1 had to be      
shortened by omitting all reference to  
,german philosophy1 and the account of  
the schoolmen is cursory4 ,it is easy to
 see why the suave and amiable          
,mackintosh appeared to ,mill to be a   
'dandy' philosopher1 an unctuous spinner
 of platitudes to impose upon the       
frequenters of ,holland ,house1 and     
hopelessly confused in the attempt to   
make compromises between contradictory  
theories4 ,it is equally easy to see why
 to ,mackintosh the thoroughgoing and   
strenuous ,mill appeared to be a        
one-sided fanatic1 blind to the merits  
of all systems outside the narrow limits
 of ,benthamism1 and making even        
philanthropy hateful4 ,had ,mackintosh  
lived to read ,mill's ,fragment1 he     
would certainly have thought it a proof 
that the ,utilitarians were as dogmatic 
and acrid as he had ever asserted4      
,mackintosh's position in ethics        

explains ,mill's antagonism4 ,neither   
,aquinas nor ,kant nor ,fichte          
influenced him4 ,his doctrine is the    
natural outcome of the ,scottish        
philosophy4 ,hutcheson had both invented
 ,bentham's sacred formula1 and taught  
the ',moral ,sense' theory which        
,bentham attacked4 ,to study the        
morality from the point of view of      
'inductive psychology' is to study the  
moral faculty1 and to reject the purely 
'intellectual' system4 ,to assign the   
position of the moral faculty in the    
psychological system is to show its     
utility4 ,on the other hand1 it was the 
very aim of the school to avoid the     
sceptical conclusions of ,hume in       
philosophy1 and in ethics to avoid the  
complete identification of morality with
 utility4 ,there must be a distinction  
between the judgments1 'this is right1' 
and 'this is useful'2 even 'useful to   
men in general4' ,hence1 on the one     
hand1 morality is immediately dictated  
by a special sense or faculty1 and yet  

its dictates coincide with the dictates 
of utility4 ,i have spoken of this view 
as represented by ,dugald ,stewart2 and 
,brown had1 according to his custom1    
moved a step further by diminishing the 
list of original first principles1 and  
making 'virtue' simply equivalent to    
'feelings' of approval and              
disapproval4#efh ,virtue1 he said1 is   
useful2 the utility 'accompanies our    
moral approbation2 but the perception of
 that utility does not constitute our   
moral approbation1 nor is it necessarily
 presupposed by it4'#efi ,he compares   
the coincidence between virtue and      
utility to ,leibniz's pre-established   
harmony4#egj ,the position is familiar4 
,the adaptation of an organism to its   
conditions may be taken either as an    
explanation of its development or as a  
proof of a creative purpose4            
,mackintosh takes nearly the same       
position4 ,ethical inquiries1 he says1  
relate to 'two perfectly distinct       
subjects4' ,we have the problem of the  

'criterion' 7,what is the distinction   
between right and wrong87 and the       
problem of the 'moral sentiments' 7,what
 are the feelings produced by the       
contemplation of right and wrong874 ,in 
treating of the feelings1 again1 we must
 avoid the confusion caused in the older
 philosophy by the reduction of         
'feeling' to 'thought4'#ega ,reason and 
sensation are distinct though           
inseparably combined2 and hence1 he     
argues1 it is a fallacy to speak with   
,clarke as if reason could by itself be 
a motive4 ,an argument to influence     
conduct must always be in the last      
resort an appeal to a 'feeling4'#egb ,it
 is idle to tell a man that conduct is  
infamous unless he feels infamy to be   
painful4 ,we have then to ask what are  
the feelings which prompt to morality4  
,so far as the criterion is concerned1  
,mackintosh fully agrees with ,hume1    
whose theory that 'general utility      
constitutes a general ground of moral   
distinctions can never be impugned until

 some example can be produced of a      
virtue generally pernicious or a vice   
generally beneficial4'#egc ,hume1       
however1 overlooks the 'rightful        
supremacy of the moral faculty over     
every other principle of human action4' 
,mackintosh thought that his best       
service1 as he told ,macvey ,napier1#egd
 had been his 'endeavour to slip in a   
foundation under ,butler's doctrine of  
the supremacy of the conscience1 which  
he left baseless4' ,to slip in a        
foundation is a very delicate operation 
in logical as in material architecture2 
and the new foundation seems here to be 
in danger of inverting the edifice4 ,the
 'supremacy of conscience'#ege means    
with him that the 'moral sentiments'    
form a separate class4 ,they are the    
feelings with which we contemplate      
voluntary actions in general1 and       
therefore those aroused by the character
 and conduct of the agent4 ,mackintosh  
thus takes an aesthetic view of         
morality4 ,we have a 'moral taste' or   

perception of beauty4 ,the same         
qualities which make a horse beautiful  
make him also swift and safe1 but we    
perceive the beauty without thinking of 
the utility1 or rather when we do not   
think of it4 ,so we admire a hero or    
martyr for the beauty of his character  
without reference to his services to    
us4#egf ,this moral taste1 though not   
identical with the conscience1 becomes  
'absorbed into it4' ,the conscience     
differs from the 'moral taste' because  
it acts upon the will4 ,but its         
supremacy seems to be this quality which
 it shares with or derives from the     
taste--its immediate and spontaneous    
operation4 ,it is1 he seems to mean1 a  
direct perception of beauty in character
 applied to the regulation of conduct4  
,virtue corresponds to an instinctive   
and so far ultimate appreciation of     
beauty of character4 ,mackintosh insists
 upon this intrinsic charm of virtue in 
the language which struck ,mill as      
simply foppish affectation4 ,the        

pleasure of 'benevolence' itself1 says  
,mackintosh1 is infinitely superior to  
the pleasures to which it may lead4     
,could it become 'lasting and intense1' 
it would convert the heart into a       
heaven4#egg ,to love virtue1 you must   
love it 'for its own sake4'#egh ,the    
delights of being virtuous 7as he       
interprets the phrase7 are greater than 
any delight from the consequences of    
virtue4 ,and he holds up as a model     
,fletcher of ,saltoun1 who would 'lose  
his life to serve his country1 but would
 not do a base thing to save it4'#egi   
,how1 then1 is this view to be          
reconciled with the unreserved admission
 of 'utility' as the 'criterion' of     
right and wrong8 ,one answer is that    
,mackintosh fully accepts ,hartley's    
doctrine of association4 ,he even       
criticises previous philosophers for not
 pushing it far enough4 ,he says that   
association1 instead of merely combining
 a 'thought' and a 'feeling1' 'forms    
them into a new compound1 in which the  

properties of the component parts are no
 longer discoverable1 and which may     
itself become a substantive principle of
 human virtue4'#ehj ,the question of    
origin1 therefore1 is different from the
 question of nature4 ,he follows        
,hartley in tracing the development of  
various desires1 and in showing how the 
'secondary desires' are gradually formed
 from the primitive by transference to  
different objects4#eha ,we must start   
from feelings which lie beneath any     
intellectual process1 and thus the      
judgment of utility is from the first   
secondary4 ,we arrive at the higher     
feelings which are 'as independent as if
 they were underived1'#ehb and yet1 as  
happiness has been involved at every    
stage as an end of each desire1 it is no
 wonder that the ultimate result should 
be to make the general happiness the    
end4 ,the coincidence1 then1 of the     
criterion with the end of the moral     
sentiments is 'not arbitrary1' but      
arises necessarily from 'the laws of    

human nature and the circumstances in   
which mankind are placed4'#ehc ,hence we
 reach the doctrine which 'has escaped  
,hartley as well as every other         
philosopher4'#ehd ,that doctrine is that
 the moral faculty is one2 it is        
compound1 indeed1 in its origin2 but    
becomes an independent unit1 which can  
no longer be resolved even in thought   
into its constituent elements4  ,the    
doctrine approximates1 it would seem1 to
 ,mill's2 but was all the more          
unpalatable to him on that account4 ,the
 agreement implies plagiarism1 and the  
difference hopeless stupidity4 ,to ,mill
 ,bentham was the legitimate development
 of ,hartley1 while to ,mackintosh      
,bentham was the plausible perverter of 
,hartley4 ,mill regarded ,mackintosh as 
a sophist1 whose aim was to mislead     
honest ,utilitarians into the paths of  
orthodoxy1 and who also ignored the     
merits of ,mill himself4 ',it was ,mr4  
,mill1' he says1 'who first made known  
the great importance of the principle of

 the indissoluble association'2#ehe     
',mr4 ,mill' who had taken up ,hartley's
 speculations and 'prosecuted the       
inquiry to its end'2#ehf ',mr4 ,mill'   
who explained affections and motives and
 dispositions2#ehg and ',mr4 ,mill' who 
had cleared up mistakes about           
classification which 'had done more to  
perpetuate darkness on the subject of   
mind than any other cause1 perhaps than 
all other causes taken together4'#ehh   
,sir ,james blundered because he had not
 read ,mill's book1 as he pretended to  
have done4 ,mill does not say all this  
from vanity2 he is simply stating an    
obvious matter of fact4  ,mill's polemic
 against the ,moral ,sense theory1 even 
against a moral sense produced by       
association1 reveals the really critical
 points of the true ,utilitarian        
doctrine4 ,mill would cut down the moral
 sense root and branch4 ,the 'moral     
sense' means a 'particular faculty'     
necessary to discern right and wrong4   
,but no particular faculty is necessary 

to discern 'utility4'#ehi ,hence the    
distinction between the 'criterion' and 
the 'moral sentiments' is absurd4 ,the  
utility is not the 'criterion' of the   
morality but itself constitutes the     
morality4 ,to say that conduct is right1
 according to the ,utilitarians1 is the 
same thing as to say that it produces   
happiness4 ,if the moral sense orders   
conduct opposed to the criterion1 it is 
so far bad4 ,if it never orders such    
conduct1 it is superfluous4 ,happiness1 
as with ,bentham1 is a definite thing--a
 currency of solid bullion2 and 'virtue'
 means nothing except as calculated in  
this currency4 ,mill1 again1 like       
,bentham1 regards the 'utility'         
principle as giving the sole 'objective'
 test4 ,the complaint that it sanctions 
'expediency' is a simple fallacy4  ,if  
you do not love virtue 'for its own     
sake1' said ,mackintosh1 you will break 
a general law wherever the law produces 
a balance of painful consequences4 ,mill
 replies with great vigour4#eij ,all    

general rules1 it is true1 imply        
exceptions1 but only when they conflict 
with the supreme rule4 ',there is no    
exception to a rule of morality1' says  
,mill1 'but what is made by a rule of   
morality4'#eia ,there are numerous cases
 in which the particular laws conflict2 
and one law must then be broken4 ,the   
question which to break must then be    
decided by the same unequivocal test1   
'utility4' ,if a rule for increasing    
utility diminishes utility in a given   
case1 it must be broken in that case4   
,mackintosh's ,fletcher of ,saltoun     
illustrates the point4#eib ,what is the 
'base' thing which ,fletcher would not  
do to save his country8 ,would he not be
 the basest of men if he did not save   
his country at any cost8 ,to destroy    
half a population and reduce the other  
half to misery has been thought a       
sacrifice not too great for such an end4
 ,would not ,mackintosh himself allow   
,fletcher1 when intrusted with an       
important fortress1 to sacrifice the    

lives and properties of innocent people 
in defence of his position8#eic ,what1  
then1 does the love of virtue 'for its  
own sake' come to8 ,if you refuse to    
save your country1 because you think the
 means base1 your morality is           
mischievous1 that is1 immoral4 ,if1 on  
the other hand1 you admit that the means
 cease to be base1 the supposed         
supremacy is an empty brag4 ,the        
doctrine is then verbally maintained1   
but interpreted so as to conform to the 
criterion of utility4 ,in other words1  
,mackintosh cannot reconcile his        
admission of utility as a 'criterion'   
with his support of a moral sense       
entitled to override the criterion4     
,mackintosh's moral sense is meant to   
distinguish the moral motive from       
'expediency4' ,to this1 again1 ,mill has
 a very forcible answer4 ,a man is      
blameable who makes exceptions to laws  
in his own private interest4 ,but if a  
man consistently and invariably acted   
for the 'greatest happiness of the      

greatest number1' and paid no more      
attention to his own happiness than to  
other people's1 he would certainly have 
a very lofty and inflexible test1       
assuming--as we must allow ,mill to     
assume--that we can calculate the effect
 of conduct upon happiness at large4    
,again1 upon the assumption that 'moral'
 is equivalent to 'felicific1' we get a 
general rule entitled to override any   
individual tastes or fancies1 such as   
,mill supposes to be meant by the       
',moral ,sense4' ,the rule is derived   
from the interests of all1 and gives an 
ultimate 'objective criterion4' ,j4 ,s4 
,mill1 describing his father's system1  
observes that the teaching of such a man
 was not likely to err on 'the side of  
laxity or indulgence4'#eid ,it certainly
 did not4 ,and1 in fact1 his criterion1 
however obtained1 had in his eyes the   
certainty of a scientific law4 ,this or 
that is right as surely as this or that 
food is wholesome4 ,my taste has nothing
 to do with it4 ,and1 moreover1 the     

criterion certainly gives a moral       
ground4 ,if ,i know that any conduct    
will produce more happiness than misery 
that is a moral reason for adopting it4 
,a 'moral sense' which should be        
radically inconsistent with that        
criterion1 which should order me to     
inflict suffering as suffering1 or      
without some ulterior reason1 would be  
certainly at fault4 ,mackintosh indeed  
would have agreed to this1 though1 if   
,mill was right1 at the expense of      
consistency4  ,mill1 however1 deduces   
from his criterion doctrines which      
involve a remarkable paradox4 ,the mode 
in which he is led to them is           
characteristic of the whole method4     
,mill1 like ,bentham1 puts morality upon
 the same plane with law4 ,conduct is   
influenced either by the 'community in  
its conjunct capacity'--that is1 by law2
 or by 'individuals in their individual 
capacity'--that is1 by morality4#eie    
,the sanction of one1 we may infer1 is  
force2 of the other1 approval and       

disapproval4 ,with this we must take    
another ,benthamite doctrine1 of which  
,i have already spoken4#eif ',mr4       
,bentham demonstrated1' says ,mill1     
'that the morality of an act does not   
depend upon the motive1' and1 further1  
that it 'is altogether dependent on the 
intention4'#eig ,upon this he constantly
 insists4 ,mackintosh's view that virtue
 depends upon motive will be 'scorned by
 every man who has any knowledge of the 
philosophy of the human mind4444 ,the   
virtue does not depend upon the motive4 
,there is no bad motive4 ,every motive  
is the desire of good2 to the agent     
himself or to some one else4'#eih ,he   
gives an analysis of action to put the  
point beyond doubt4 ,action supposes a  
'motive1' a 'volition1' and an 'external
 act' or muscular contraction4 ,so far  
there is nothing moral4 ,but then an act
 has consequences1 good or bad1 to human
 beings1 which constitute its utility4  
,to make it moral1 the agent must       
anticipate 'beneficial consequences1'   

and must have no reason to anticipate a 
balance of evil consequences4 ,intention
 means the calculation of consequences1 
and without that calculation there can  
be no morality4#eii ,hence the morality 
is equivalent to a 'conviction of the   
general utility' of the action4#fjj     
',all this1' he concludes1 'is settled  
by universal consent4 ,it is vain1      
therefore1 to think of disputing it4'   
,one may1 however1 ask what it means4 ,i
 have already observed that the view of 
the non-moral character of motive was a 
natural corollary from the purely legal 
point of view4 ,i must now consider the 
results of applying it unreservedly in  
the inappropriate sphere of ethics4  ,in
 the first place1 the denial of any     
moral quality in motive seems to be     
inconsistent with ,mill's own           
principles4 ,the ,utilitarian1 according
 to him1 holds that the moral law is    
essentially the statement that certain  
conduct produces general happiness4 ,if1
 then1 we ask1 ,who is a good man8 we   

first reply that he is a man whose      
conduct produces happiness4 ,another    
conclusion is obviously necessary1 and  
is implied in ,mill's statement that the
 'intention' is essential to morality4  
,the man1 that is1 must foresee that his
 conduct will produce happiness4 ,the   
'calculation' is precisely what makes an
 action moral as well as accidentally   
useful4 ,in other words1 the man is good
 to whom the knowledge that an act will 
produce happiness is the same thing as a
 command to perform the act4 ,the       
'intention' could not affect conduct    
without the corresponding motive1 and   
,mill can at times recognise the obvious
 consequence4 ,the 'physical law'       
7meaning the law enforced by physical   
coercion71 he says incidentally1 has    
'extrinsic' sanctions2#fja the moral law
 is different1 because it sanctions good
 actions for their goodness4 ',moral    
approval' must therefore include        
approval of character4 ,a man1 to be    
moral1 must be one who does useful      

things simply because they are useful4  
,he must then1 it would seem1 be at     
least benevolent4 ,the same thing is    
implied by the doctrine of 'intention'  
or 'calculation4' ,an action may be     
useful or the reverse without being     
moral when the consequences are unknown 
to the agent4 ,to make it moral he must 
know the consequences--for otherwise he 
is merely acting at random2 and the     
foreseen consequences constitute the    
'intention4' ,to this ,mill adds that he
 must have taken into account the       
consequences which 'might have been     
foreseen4'#fjb ,otherwise we should have
 to excuse a man because he had         
neglected to calculate1 whereas to      
calculate is the very essence of virtue4
 ,a man who fired a gun down a crowded  
street would not be excusable because he
 had not thought of the result4 ,he     
'ought' to have thought of it4 ,the     
question of moral approval of any given 
action turns upon these questions4 ,did 
a man foresee evil consequences and     

disregard them8 ,he is then cruel4 ,did 
he neglect to consider them8 ,he is then
 culpably careless1 though not actually 
malignant4 ,were the consequences       
altogether beyond the powers of         
reasonable calculation8 ,then he may be 
blameless4 ,the whole moral question1   
therefore1 depends upon the character   
indicated2 that is1 upon the motives    
which induce a man to calculate         
consequences and which determine his    
conduct when the calculation is made4   
,the truth is1 ,i think1 and it is      
characteristic of ,mill's modes of      
analysis1 that he is making an          
impossible abstraction4 ,he is          
separating parts of a single process and
 treating them as independent4 ,if      
actions are bad because they have bad   
consequences1 motives are bad because   
they are causes of bad actions4 ,you    
cannot suppress the effect without      
suppressing the cause1 and therefore the
 cause of the cause4 ,mill relies       
chiefly upon one argument4 ,the same    

conduct will produce the same           
consequences whatever the motives4 ,that
 is undeniable4 ,it is the same to me   
whether ,i am burnt because the         
persecutor loves my soul or because he  
hates me as a rebel to his authority4   
,but when is conduct 'the same'8 ,if we 
classify acts as the legislator has to  
classify them by 'external' or          
'objective' relations1 we put together  
the man who is honest solely from fear  
of the gallows and the man who is honest
 from hatred of stealing4 ,so long as   
both act alike1 the 'consequences' to   
their neighbours are alike4 ,neither is 
legally punishable4 ,but if acts are    
classified by their motives1 one is a   
rogue and the other virtuous2 and it is 
only then that the question of morality 
properly arises4 ,in that case1 it is   
idle to separate the question of motive 
and consequences1 because the character 
determines the motive and therefore the 
action4 ,nobody should have seen this   
more clearly than ,mill as a good       

'determinist4' ,conduct and character   
are related as the convex and concave of
 the curve2 conduct is simply the       
manifestation of character1 and to      
separate them is absurd4  ,why did he   
not see this8 ,for reasons1 ,i think1   
which illustrate his whole method4 ,from
 a scientific point of view1 the ethical
 problem raises the wide questions1     
,what are the moral sentiments8 and1    
,what functions do they discharge in    
regard to the society or to its         
individual members8 ,we might hold that 
morality is justified by 'utility' in   
the sense that the moral rules and the  
character which they indicate are       
essential to the welfare of the race or 
its individual constituents4 ,but to    
,mill this proposition is interpreted as
 identical with the proposition that    
conduct must be estimated by its        
'consequences4' ,we are to consider not 
the action itself1 but its effects2 and 
the effects are clearly independent of  
the motive when once the action has been

 done4 ,we may therefore get a calculus 
of 'utility'3 general rules stating what
 actions will be useful considered      
abstractedly from their motives4 ,the   
method1 again1 might be plausible if we 
could further assume that all men were  
the same and differed only in external  
circumstances4 ,that is the point of    
view to which ,mill1 like ,bentham1 is  
always more or less consciously         
inclining4 ,the moral and the positive  
law are equally enforced by 'sanctions'2
 by something not dependent upon the man
 himself1 and which he is inclined to   
suppose will operate equally upon all   
men4 ,such language could be justifiable
 only of an average and uniform 'man1' a
 kind of constant unit1 whose varying   
behaviour must always be explained by   
difference in circumstance4 ,we have    
sufficiently seen the results elsewhere1
 and in this ethical doctrine they are  
especially manifest4  ,mackintosh       
recognised the fact that morality is    
essentially a function of character4    

,mill cannot fully admit that1 because  
he virtually assumes all character to be
 the same4 ,regarding morality as       
something co-ordinate with law1 he does 
not perceive that the very possibility  
of law implies the moral instincts1     
which correspond to the constitution of 
character1 and belong to a sphere       
underlying1 not on the same plane with1 
the legislative sphere4 ,they are the   
source of all order2 not themselves the 
product of the order4 ,it is impossible 
to deduce them1 therefore1 from the     
organisation which presupposes them4    
,now1 in one direction1 ,mill's theory  
leads1 as his son remarked1 not to      
laxity but to excessive strictness4 ,the
 'criterion' is laid down absolutely4   
,the 'moral sense' is rejected because  
it means an autocratic faculty1 entitled
 to override the criterion by its own   
authority4 ,to appeal to 'motives' is to
 allow the individual to make his own   
feeling the ultimate test of right and  
wrong4 ,if we follow ,mill in this we   

are not really assuming the moral       
neutrality of motive or the             
indifference1 but an impossible         
profession of character4 ,men are not   
governed by abstract principles but by  
their passions and affections4 ,the     
emotions1 as ,mackintosh rightly said1  
cannot be resolved into the mere logic4 
,utility may give the true criterion of 
morality1 but it does not follow that   
the perception of utility is implied in 
moral conduct4 ,the motives are good    
which in fact produce useful conduct1   
though the agent does not contemplate   
the abstract principle4 ,it is          
impossible that men should be moved     
simply by a desire for the 'greatest    
happiness of the greatest number4' ,what
 does and always must guide men is their
 personal relation to the little circle 
which they actually influence4 ,the good
 man is the man so constituted that he  
will spontaneously fulfil his duties4   
,the moral law1 that is1 will be also   
the law of his character and conduct4   

,the mother is good because she loves   
her child1 not because she sees that    
care of her child is dictated by the    
general maxim of utility4 ,the 'utility'
 of character means the fitness of the  
agent to be an efficient member of the  
social structure to which he belongs4   
,in particular cases this may lead to   
such problems as that of ,fletcher of   
,saltoun4 ,his sense of honour and his  
general benevolence1 though both useful1
 might come into collision2 and the most
 difficult of all questions of casuistry
 arise from such conflicts between      
private and public affections4 ,mill is 
justified in holding that a sense of    
honour cannot give an ultimate and      
autocratic decision4 ,under some pretext
 or other1 we shall have to ask the     
,utilitarian question whether on the    
whole it may not be causing more misery 
than the virtuous action is worth4 ,but 
that only means that the character must 
be so balanced as to give due weight to 
each motive2 not that we can abstract   

from character altogether1 as though    
human beings could be mere colourless   
and uniform atoms1 embodying abstract   
formulae4  ,mill is following ,bentham1 
and only brings out more clearly the    
psychological assumptions4 ,a man1 he   
says1 acts from the 'same motive'       
whether he steals five shillings or     
earns it by a day's labour4 ,the motive1
 in this sense1 regards only one        
consequence1 whereas the 'intention'    
regards all4 ,the 'motive1' that is1 is 
only one of the motives or a part of the
 character1 and this way of speaking is 
one of the awkward results of turning   
'motives' into 'things4' ,the obvious   
answer is that which ,mill himself makes
 to ,mackintosh4 ,mackintosh and        
,butler1 he thinks1 personify particular
 'appetites4'#fjc ,it is not really the 
'conscience' which decides1 but the man4
 ,that is quite true1 and similarly it  
is the whole man who steals or works1   
not the 'personified' motive2 and it is 
accordingly from the whole character    

that we judge4 ,we have to consider the 
relation of the love of five shillings  
to the other qualities of industry and  
honesty4 ,the same view appears in      
,mill's characteristic dislike of       
'sentimentalism4' ,wishing to attack    
,mackintosh's rhetoric about the delight
 of virtuous feeling1 he for once quotes
 a novel to illustrate this point4 ,when
 ,parson ,adams defined charity as a    
'generous disposition to relieve the    
distressed1' ,peter ,pounce approved2   
'it is1 as you say1 a disposition1 and  
does not so much consist in the act as  
in the disposition to do it4'#fjd ,when1
 therefore1 ,mackintosh says that he    
finds it difficult to separate the      
virtue from the act1 ,mill replies that 
nothing is easier4 ,the virtue is 'in   
the act and its consequences'2 the      
feeling a mere removable addition4      
,apparently he would hold that the good 
,samaritan and the ,pharisee had the    
same feeling1 though it prompted one to 
relieve the sufferer and the other to   

relieve himself of the sight of the     
sufferer4 ,they had1 of course1 a       
feeling in common1 but a feeling which  
produced diametrically opposite effects1
 because entering into totally different
 combinations4  ,if ,mill's doctrine    
leads to an impossible strictness in one
 direction1 it leads to less edifying   
results in another4 ,we have omitted    
'motive' and come to the critical       
question1 ,how1 after all1 is the moral 
code to be enforced8 ,by overlooking    
this question and declaring 'motive' to 
be irrelevant1 we get the paradox       
already accepted by ,bentham4 ,his      
definition of virtue is action for the  
good of others as well as of ourselves4 
,in what way is the existence of such   
action to be reconciled with this       
doctrine8 ,what are the motives which   
make men count the happiness of others  
to be equally valuable with their own8  
or1 in the ,utilitarian language1 ,what 
is the 'sanction' of morality8 ,after   
all ,bentham's insistence upon the      

'self-preference principle' and ,mill's 
account of selfishness in his political 
theory1 we are suddenly told that       
morality means a lofty and rigid code in
 which the happiness of all is the one  
end4 ,here again ,mill is entangled by  
the characteristic difficulty of his    
psychology4 ,to analyse is to divide    
objects into separate units4 ,when he   
has to do with complex objects and      
relations apparently reciprocal1 he is  
forced to represent them by a simple    
sequence4 ,the two factors are not      
mutually dependent but distinct things  
somehow connected in time4 ,one result  
is his account of 'ends' or 'motives'   
7the two1 as he observes1 are           
synonymous74#fje ,the end is something  
to be gained by the act1 the            
'association' of which with the act     
constitutes a 'desire4' ,this1 we have  
seen1 always refers to the future4#fjf  
,in acting1 then1 ,i am always guided by
 calculations of future pleasures or    
pains4 ,i believe this to be one of the 

most unfortunate because one of the most
 plausible of ,utilitarian fallacies4   
,if we are determined by pains and      
pleasures1 it is in one sense as        
contradictory to speak of our being     
determined by future pains and pleasures
 as to speak of our being nourished     
to-day by to-morrow's dinner4 ,the      
'future pleasure' does not exist2 the   
anticipated pleasure acts by making the 
present action pleasant2 and we then    
move 7as it is said7 along the line of  
least resistance4 ,certain conduct is   
intrinsically pleasurable or painful1   
and the future pleasure only acts       
through the present foretaste4 ,when1   
however1 we regard the pleasure as      
future and as somehow a separable thing1
 we can only express these undeniable   
facts by accepting a purely egoistic    
conclusion4 ,we are1 of course1 moved by
 our own feelings1 as we breathe with   
our own lungs and digest with our own   
stomachs4 ,but when we accept the       
doctrine of 'ends' this harmless and    

self-evident truth is perverted into the
 statement that our 'end' must be our   
own pleasure2 that we cannot be really  
or directly unselfish4 ,the analysis1   
indeed1 is so defective that it can     
hardly be applied intelligibly4 ,hume   
observes that no man would rest his foot
 indifferently upon a stool or a gouty  
toe4 ,the action itself of giving pain  
would be painful1 and cannot be         
plausibly resolved into an anticipation 
of an 'end4' ,this1 again1 is           
conspicuously true of all the truly     
social emotions4 ,not only the          
conscience1 but the sense of shame or   
honour1 or pride and vanity act         
powerfully and instantaneously as       
present motives without necessary       
reference to any future results4 ,the   
knowledge that ,i am giving pain or     
causing future pain is intrinsically and
 immediately painful to the normal human
 being1 and the supposed 'analysis' is  
throughout a fiction4 ,mill1 however1   
like ,bentham1 takes it for granted1 but

 perceives more clearly than ,bentham   
the difficulty to which it leads4 ,how1 
from a theory of pure selfishness1 are  
we to get a morality of general         
benevolence8 ,the answer is given by the
 universal 'association4' ,we are       
governed1 he holds1 by our own emotions2
 our end is our own pleasure1 and we    
have to consider how this end dictates a
 desire for general happiness4 ,he      
expounds with great vigour the process  
by which the love of friends1 children  
and parents and country may be gradually
 developed through the association of   
our pleasures with the fellow-creatures 
who caused them4 ,j4 ,s4 ,mill regards  
his exposition as 'almost perfect1'#fjg 
and says that it shows how the 'acquired
 sentiments'--the moral sentiments and  
so forth--may be gradually developed2   
may become 'more intense and powerful   
than any of the elements out of which   
they may have been formed1 and may also 
in their maturity be perfectly          
disinterested4' ,james ,mill declares   

that the analysis does not affect the   
reality of the sentiments analysed4     
,gratitude remains gratitude1 and       
generosity generosity1 just as a white  
ray remains white after ,newton had     
decomposed it into rays of different    
colours4#fjh ,here once more we have the
 great principle of indissoluble        
association or mental chemistry4        
,granting that the emotions so generated
 may be real1 we may still ask whether  
the analysis be sufficient4 ,james      
,mill's account of the way in which they
 are generated leaves a doubt4 ,morality
 is first impressed upon us by          
authority4 ,our parents praise and      
blame1 reward and punish4 ,thus are     
formed associations of praise and blame 
with certain actions4 ,then1 we form    
further associations with the causes of 
praise and blame and thus acquire the   
sentiments of 'praiseworthiness' and    
'blameworthiness4' ,the sensibility to  
praise and blame generally forms the    
'popular sanction1' and this1 when      

praiseworthiness is concerned1 becomes  
the moral sanction4#fji ,here we see    
that morality is regarded as somehow the
 product of a 'sanction'2 that is1 of   
the action of praise and blame with     
their usual consequences upon the       
individual4 ,his sensibility causes him 
through association to acquire the      
habits which generally bring praise and 
blame2 and ultimately these qualities   
become attractive for their own sake4   
,the difficulty is to see where the line
 is crossed which divides truly moral or
 altruistic conduct from mere prudence4 
,admitting that association may impel us
 to conduct which involves              
self-sacrifice1 we may still ask whether
 such conduct is reasonable4            
,association produces belief in error as
 well as in truth4 ,if ,i love a man    
because he is useful and continue to    
love him when he can no longer be       
useful1 am ,i not misguided8 ,if ,i wear
 a ragged coat1 because it was once     
smart1 my conduct is easily explained as

 a particular kind of folly4 ,if ,i am  
good to my old mother when she can no   
longer nurse me1 am ,i not guilty of a  
similar folly8 ,in short1 a man who     
inferred from ,mill's principles that he
 would never do good without being paid 
for it1 would be hardly inconsistent4   
,your associations1 ,mill would say1 are
 indissoluble4 ,he might answer1 ,i will
 try--it is surely not so hard to       
dissolve a tie of gratitude6 ,granting1 
in short1 that ,mill gives an account of
 such virtue as may be made of          
enlightened self-interest1 he does not  
succeed in making intelligible the      
conduct which alone deserves the name of
 virtuous4 ,the theory always halts at  
the point where something more is       
required than an external sanction1 and 
supposes a change of character as well  
as a wider calculation of personal      
interest4  ,the imperfection of this    
theory may be taken for granted4 ,it has
 been exposed by innumerable critics4   
,it is more important to observe one    

cause of the imperfection4 ,mill's      
argument contains an element of real    
worth4 ,it may be held to represent     
fairly the historical development of    
morals4 ,that morality is first         
conceived as an external law deriving   
its sanctity from authority2 that it is 
directed against obviously hurtful      
conduct2 and that it thus serves as a   
protection under which the more genuine 
moral sentiments can develop themselves1
 ,i believe to be in full accordance    
with sound theories of ethics4 ,but     
,mill was throughout hampered by the    
absence of any theory of evolution4 ,he 
had to represent a series of changes as 
taking place in the individual which can
 only be conceived as the product of a  
long and complex social change4 ,he is  
forced to represent the growth of       
morality as an accretion of new 'ends'  
due to association1 not as an intrinsic 
development of the character itself4 ,he
 has to make morality out of atomic     
sensations and ideas collected in       

clusters and trains without any distinct
 reference to the organic constitution  
of the individual or of society1 and as 
somehow or other deducible from the     
isolated human being1 who remains a     
constant1 though he collects into groups
 governed by external sanctions4 ,he    
sees that morality is formed somehow or 
other1 but he cannot show that it is    
either reasonable or an essential fact  
of human nature4 ,here1 again1 we shall 
see what problem was set to his son4    
,finally1 if ,mill did not explain      
ethical theory satisfactorily1 it must  
be added in common justice that he was  
himself an excellent example of the     
qualities for which he tried to account4
 ,a life of devotion to public objects  
and a conscientious discharge of private
 duties is just the phenomenon for which
 a cluster of 'ideas' and 'associations'
 seems to be an inadequate account4     
,how1 it might have been asked1 do you  
explain ,james ,mill8 ,his main purpose1
 too1 was to lay down a rule of duty1   

almost mathematically ascertainable1 and
 not to be disturbed by any             
sentimentalism1 mysticism1 or rhetorical
 foppery4 ,if1 in the attempt to free   
his hearers from such elements1 he ran  
the risk of reducing morality to a lower
 level and made it appear as unamiable  
as sound morality can appear1 it must be
 admitted that in this respect too his  
theories reflected his personal         
character4  ,,footnotes3  #dfd ,for an  
account of these writers and their      
relation to the pre-revolutionary       
schools1 see ,les ,ideologues by ,f4    
,picavet 7#ahia74  #dfe ,macvey         
,napier's ,correspondence1 p4 #dbd4     
#dff ,charles ,francois ,dominique de   
,villers 7#agfg-ahae7 was a ,french     
officer1 who emigrated in #agib1 and    
took refuge at ,luebeck4 ,he became     
profoundly interested in ,german life   
and literature1 and endeavoured to      
introduce a knowledge of ,german        
speculation to his countrymen4 ,his     
chief books were this exposition of     

,kant and an essay upon the ,reformation
 of ,luther 7#ahjc71 which went through 
several editions1 and was translated by 
,james ,mill in #ahje4 ,an interesting  
account of ,villers is in the           
,biographie ,universelle4  #dfg ,see    
,cockburn's ,memorials for a good notice
 of this4  #dfh ,stewart's ,works1 iv4  
#cde4  #dfi ,lady ,holland's ,life of   
,smith1 ii4 #chh4  #dgj ,inquiry into   
the ,relations of ,cause and ,effect    
7third edition71 pp4 #agh1 #ahj1 and    
part iv4 sec4 #f4  #dga ,examination of 
,hamilton 7fourth edition71 p4 #cgi4    
#dgb ,cause and ,effect1 pp4 #ahd-hg4   
#dgc ,cause and ,effect1 p4 #aig4  #dgd 
,ibid4 p4 #bci seq4  #dge ,ibid4 p4     
#bdd4  #dgf ,ibid4 p4 #aej4  #dgg ,ibid4
 p4 #ceg4  #dgh ,cause and ,effect1 p4  
#cac4  #dgi ,cause and ,effect1 p4 #dhb4
 ,brown thinks that we can logically    
disprove the existence of motion by the 
hare and tortoise argument1 and should  
therefore disregard logic4  #dhj        
,brown's ,lectures1 7#ahea71 p4 #afg1   

,lect4 xxvi4  #dha ,lecture xxv4 ,this  
question as to whether ,brown had or had
 not grossly misrepresented ,reid and   
other philosophers1 led to an entangled 
argument1 in which ,mill defended ,brown
 against ,hamilton4 ,i will not ask     
whether ,reid was a 'natural realist' or
 a 'cosmothetic idealist1' or what      
,descartes or ,arnauld thought about the
 question4  #dhb ,reid's ,works1 p4     
#abh4  #dhc ,lectures1 pp4 #aej1        
#aeh-ei4  #dhd ,dissertations1 p4 #ih4  
,compare ,brown's ,twenty-fourth        
,lecture with ,tracy's ,ideologie1 ch4  
vii41 and the account of the way in     
which the infant learns from resistance 
to infer a cause1 and make of the cause 
un etre qui n'est pas moi4 ,the         
resemblance is certainly close4 ,brown  
was familiar with ,french literature1   
and shows it by many quotations1 though 
he does not1 ,i think1 refer to ,tracy4 
,brown1 it must be noticed1 did not     
himself publish his lectures1 and a     
professor is not bound to give all his  

sources in popular lectures4 ,an        
explanation would have been due in a    
treatise4 ,picavet quotes ,rhetore's    
,philosophie de ,thomas ,brown 7a book  
which ,i have not seen7 for the         
statement that ,brown's lectures often  
read like a translation of              
,laromiguiere1 with whom ,brown was     
'perhaps' acquainted4 ,as1 however1 the 
,lecons1 to which reference is          
apparently made1 did not appear till    
#ahae and #ahah1 when ,brown's lectures 
were already written1 this seems to be  
impossible4 ,the coincidence1 which to  
me seems to be exaggerated by the       
statement1 is explicable by a common    
relation to previous writers4  #dhe     
,lectures1 p4 #aff 7,lect4 xxvi474  #dhf
 ,lectures1 p4 #aeh 7,lect4 xxv474  #dhg
 ,ibid4 p4 #aea 7,lect4 xxiv474  #dhh   
,lectures1 p4 #agg 7ch4 xxviii474 ,brown
 made the same remark to ,mackintosh in 
#ahab4 7,mackintosh's ,ethical          
,philosophy1 #ahgb1 #bcf n47  #dhi      
,ibid4 p4 #aed 7,lect4 xxiv474  #dij    

,see ,hamilton's note to ,reid's ,works1
 p4 #aaa4  #dia ,lectures1 p4 #bee      
7,lect4 xl474  #dib ,ibid4 7,lect4      
xxxiii4 and following74  #dic ,ibid4 p4 
#bad-ae 7,lect4 xxxiii474 ,the phrase is
 revived by ,professor ,stout in his    
,analytic ,psychology4  #did ,lectures1 
p4 #bac 7,lect4 xxxiii474  #die ,this is
 one of the coincidences with           
,laromiguiere 7,lecons 7#ahcg71 i4      
#ajc74  #dif ,lectures1 p4 #baj4  #dig  
,lectures1 p4 #cae 7,lect4 xlviii474    
#dih ,ibid4 p4 #cad4  #dii ,lectures1 p4
 #cce 7,lect4 li474 ,see ,lect4 xi4 for 
a general explanation4 ,the mind is     
nothing but a 'series of feelings'2 and 
to say that ',i am conscious of feeling'
 is simply to say ',i feel4' ,the same  
phrase often occurs in ,james ,mill4    
#ejj ,ibid4 p4 #bih 7,lect4 xlvi474     
#eja ,ibid4 p4 #dih 7,lect4 lxxiv474    
#ejb ,lectures1 p4 #fbb 7,lect4 xciii474
  #ejc ,dissertations1 p4 #ih4  #ejd    
,froude's ,carlyle1 p4 #be4  #eje       
,miscellanies 7#aheh71 ii4 #ajd4 ,see1  

too1 ,miscellanies1 i4 #fj1 on ,german  
,literature1 where he thinks that the   
,germans attacked the centre instead of 
the outworks of ,hume's citadel4        
,carlyle speaks with marked respect of  
,dugald ,stewart1 who1 if he knew what  
he was about1 would agree with ,kant4   
#ejf ,in ,caroline ,fox's ,memories of  
,old ,friends 7second edition71 ii4     
#cad1 is a letter from ,j4 ,s4 ,mill1   
expressing a very high opinion of       
,brown1 whom he had just been re-reading
 7#ahdj7 with a view to the ,logic4     
,brown's 'analysis in his early lectures
 of the amount of what we can learn of  
the phenomena of the world seems to me  
perfect1 and his mode of inquiry into   
the mind is strictly founded upon that  
analysis4'  #ejg ,i quote from this     
edition4 ,andrew ,findlater             
7#ahaj-ahhe71 a ,scottish schoolmaster1 
and editor of ,chambers's ,cyclopaedia1 
was a philologist 7,dictionary of       
,national ,biography71 and his notes    
chiefly concern ,mill's adaptations of  

,horne ,tooke4  #ejh ,treatise 7bk4 i4  
pt4 i4 sec4 iv474  #eji ,j4 ,s4 ,mill's 
,autobiography1 p4 #fh4  #eaj ,fragment 
on ,mackintosh1 p4 #cad4  #eaa          
,analysis1 ii4 #db4 ',odd1' because     
,brown was six years younger than ,mill4
  #eab ',education1' p4 #f4  #eac       
,analysis1 i4 #eb4  #ead ,analysis1 i4  
xvii4  #eae ,ibid4 i4 #gj4  #eaf        
,analysis1 i4 #ga4  #eag ,ibid4 i4 #gh4 
#eah ,ibid4 i4 #hc4  #eai ,analysis1 ii4
 #db4  #ebj ,ibid4 i4 #bgj4  #eba ,ibid4
 i4 #aaa4  #ebb ,ibid4 i4 #cfb4  #ebc   
,analysis1 i4 #aed n4  #ebd ,ibid4 i4   
#afa4  #ebe ,analysis1 i4 #ahi4  #ebf   
,ibid4 i4 #afc n4  #ebg ,ibid4 i4 #bff4 
#ebh ,ibid4 i4 #bfi4  #ebi ,ibid4 i4    
#bie4  #ecj ,analysis1 i4 #afb n41 #ahg 
n4  #eca ,ibid4 ii4 #ba4  #ecb ,ibid4 i4
 #bbd-be4  #ecc ,analysis1 i4 #cdb4     
#ecd e4g4 ,ibid4 ii4 #agf4  #ece ,ibid4 
i4 #cda4  #ecf ,ibid4 i4 #cdb n4  #ecg  
,ibid4 i4 #cca4  #ech ,ibid4 i4 #cde4   
#eci ,ibid4 i4 #ceb4  #edj ,ibid4 i4    
#cha4  #eda ,analysis1 i4 #cfc4  #edb   

,ibid4 i4 #djb4  #edc ,ibid4 i4 #djb-bc4
  #edd ,analysis1 i4 #dbc4  #ede ,ibid4 
i4 #dac1 #dai4  #edf ,see especially his
 account of definition1 ,logic1 bk4 i4  
ch4 viii41 and the problem about the    
serpent and the dragon4  #edg ,analysis1
 ii4 #b4  #edh ,this point puzzles      
,destutt de ,tracy4 ,all error1 he says1
 arises in judgments3 ',cependant les   
jugements1 les perceptions de rapports1 
en tant que perceptions que nous avons  
actuellement1 sont aussi certaines et   
aussi reelles que toutes les            
autres4'--,elements d',ideologie        
7#ahfe71 iii4 #ddi4  #edi ,analysis1 ii4
 #f1 #g4  #eej ,analysis1 ii4 #ah n4    
#eea ,analysis1 ii4 #bd n4  #eeb ,ibid4 
ii4 #acb-cc4  #eec ,analysis1 ii4       
#fg-fi4  #eed ,analysis1 ii4 #aac n4    
#eee ,ibid4 i4 #ig n4  #eef ,professor  
,bain points out that ,mill is          
occasionally confused by his ignorance  
of the triple division1 intellect1      
feelings3 and will1 introduced in the   
next generation4--,analysis1 ii4 #ahj n4

  #eeg ,analysis1 ii4 #aha-hc4  #eeh    
,analysis1 ii4 #cea4  #eei ,also        
privately printed in #ahcj4 ,later      
editions1 edited by ,whewell1 appeared  
in #ahcf1 #ahfb1 #ahgc4 ,i quote the    
last4 ,see ,m4 ,napier's                
,correspondence1 pp4 #eg-ei1 for the    
composition4  #efj ,mill's ,fragment    
7,preface74  #efa ,see ,bain's ,james   
,mill1 pp4 #cgd1 #dae-ah4  #efb         
,fragment1 pp4 #aij1 #aib1 #bac1 #bih1  
#cjg1 #cbf4  #efc ,ibid4 p4 #baj4  #efd 
,ethical ,philosophy 7#ahgc71 pp4 #ahh1 
#aic4  #efe ,m4 ,napier's               
,correspondence1 p4 #be4  #eff ,essay on
 ,sir ,j4 ,mackintosh4  #efg ,essay on  
,lord ,holland4  #efh ,lectures1 p4 #ejj
 7,lect4 lxxv474  #efi ,ibid4 p4 #eai   
7,lect4 lxxvii474  #egj ,ibid4 p4 #ebb  
7,lect4 lxxviii474  #ega ,ethical       
,philosophy 7,hobbes71 pp4 #fb-fd4  #egb
 ,ibid4 p4 #he4  #egc ,ibid4 p4 #ade4   
#egd ,ibid4 p4 #i4  #ege ,ibid4 p4 #abj4
  #egf ,ethical ,philosophy1 pp4 #ad1   
#agj4  #egg ,ibid4 p4 #aig4  #egh ,ibid4

 p4 #bdh4  #egi ,ibid4 p4 #bjd4  #ehj   
,ethical ,philosophy p4 #bdb4  #eha     
,ibid4 p4 #bea4  #ehb ,ibid4 p4 #bfb4   
#ehc ,ibid4 p4 #bfd4  #ehd ,ibid4 p4    
#afi4  #ehe ,fragment1 p4 #agc4  #ehf   
,ibid4 p4 #cbc4  #ehg ,ibid4 p4 #bba4   
#ehh ,fragment1 p4 #bdg4 ,mackintosh    
quotes ,mill's ,analysis at p4 #aig4 ,it
 had only just appeared4  #ehi          
,fragment1 p4 #aa4  #eij ,fragment1 p4  
#bdf1 etc4  #eia ,ibid4 p4 #bdf4  #eib  
,ibid4 pp4 #bfi1 #bgj4  #eic ,cf4       
,newman's ,apologia4 ',the ,catholic    
,church holds it better for the sun and 
moon to drop from heaven1 for the earth 
to fail1 and for all the millions on it 
to die of starvation in extremest agony1
 so far as temporal affliction goes1    
than that one soul1--,i will not say    
should be lost1 but should commit one   
single venial sin1 tell one wilful      
untruth1 or should steal one poor       
farthing without excuse4' ,i should     
steal the farthing and assume the       
'excuse4' ,i confess that ,i would not  

only lie1 but should think lying right  
under the supposed circumstances4  #eid 
,autobiography1 p4 #ea4  #eie ,fragment1
 p4 #bea4  #eif ,vol4 i4 p4 #beg4  #eig 
,fragment1 p4 #afa4  #eih ,fragment1 pp4
 #cae-af4  #eii ,ibid4 p4 #afd4  #fjj   
,ibid4 pp4 #cbj-bb4  #fja ,fragment1 p4 
#ajb4  #fjb ,ibid4 p4 #afb4  #fjc       
,analysis1 p4 #gc4  #fjd ,fragment1 p4  
#bji4  #fje ,fragment1 p4 #caf4  #fjf   
,at one point1 as ,j4 ,s4 ,mill notes1  
he speaks of an 'unsatisfied desire' as 
a motive1 which seems to indicate a     
present feeling2 but this is not his    
usual view4--,analysis1 ii4 #cfa1 #cgg  
n4  #fjg ,analysis1 ii4 #bcc n4 ,mill   
adds that though his father explains the
 'intellectual1' he does not explain the
 'animal' element in the affections4    
,this1 however1 is irrelevant for my    
purpose4  #fjh ,fragment1 pp4 #ea-eb4   
#fji ,analysis1 ii4 #bib-cjj2 ,fragment1
 pp4 #bdg-fe4 ,note ,mill's             
interpretation of this theory of        
'praiseworthiness4'--,analysis1 ii4 #bih

 n4     ,,chapter ,,viii  ,,religion    
,i4 ,,philip ,,beauchamp  ,the          
application of ,mill's ,analysis to the 
views of orthodox theologians required1 
one might have supposed1 as little      
interpretation as a slap in the face4   
,but a respectable philosopher may lay  
down what premises he pleases if he does
 not avowedly draw his conclusions4     
,mill could argue in perfect safety     
against the foundations of theology1    
while ,richard ,carlile was being sent  
to gaol again and again for attacking   
the superstructure4 ,the ,utilitarians  
thought themselves justified in taking  
advantage of the illogicality of        
mankind4 ,whether it was that the ruling
 powers had no philosophical principles 
themselves1 or that they did not see    
what inferences would follow1 or that   
they thought that the average person was
 incapable of drawing inferences1 they  
drew the line at this point4 ,you may   
openly maintain doctrines inconsistent  
with all theology1 but you must not     

point out the inconsistency4 ,the       
,utilitarians contented themselves with 
sapping the fort instead of risking an  
open assault4 ,if its defenders were    
blind to the obvious consequences of the
 procedure1 so much the better4 ,in     
private1 there was obviously no want of 
plain speaking4 ,in ,bentham's ,,mss4   
the ,christian religion is nicknamed    
',jug' as the short for ',juggernaut4'  
,he and his friends were as anxious as  
,voltaire to crush the 'infamous1' but  
they would do it by indirect means4     
,they argued resolutely for more        
freedom2 and ,samuel ,bailey's essay    
upon the formation of opinions--a       
vigorous argument on behalf of the      
widest possible toleration--was         
enthusiastically praised by ,james ,mill
 in the ,westminster ,review4 ,for the  
present they carefully abstained from   
the direct avowal of obnoxious opinions1
 which were still legally punishable1   
and which would undoubtedly excite the  
strongest hostility4 ,bentham1 as we    

have seen1 had ventured1 though         
anonymously1 to assail the church       
catechism and to cross-examine ,st4     
,paul4 ,one remarkable manifesto gave a 
fuller utterance to his opinions4 ,a    
book called ,the ,analysis of the       
,influence of ,natural ,religion on the 
,temporal ,happiness of ,mankind1 by    
',philip ,beauchamp1' appeared in #ahbb4
 ,the publisher was ,richard ,carlile1  
who was then 'safe in ,dorchester gaol4'
 ,no legal notice was taken of ',philip 
,beauchamp4' ,the reason may have been  
that the book excited very little       
attention in general4 ,yet it is        
probably as forcible an attack as has   
often been written upon the popular     
theology4 ,the name of ',philip         
,beauchamp' covered a combination of    
,bentham and ,george ,grote4#faj ,the   
book1 therefore1 represents the view of 
representative ,utilitarians of the     
first and third generation1 and clearly 
expressed the real opinions of the whole
 party4 ,in his posthumous essays ,j4   

,s4 ,mill speaks of it as the only      
explicit discussion known to him of the 
question of the utility1 as             
distinguished from the question of the  
truth1 of religion4 ,obviously1 it was  
desirable to apply the universal test to
 religious belief1 and this very pithy  
and condensed statement shows the       
result4  ,a short summary may indicate  
the essence of the argument4 ,it is only
 necessary to observe that the phrase   
'natural religion' is part of the       
disguise4 ,it enables the author to     
avoid an explicit attack upon           
revelation2 but it is superabundantly   
obvious that the word 'natural' is      
superfluous4 ,revelation is really a    
fiction1 and all religions are          
'natural4' ,a religion is called a      
'superstition1' as ',philip ,beauchamp' 
remarks at starting1 when its results   
are thought to be bad2 and allowed to be
 a religion only when they are thought  
to be good4#faa ,that device covers the 
familiar fallacy of distinguishing      

between uses and abuses1 and1 upon that 
pretence1 omitting to take bad          
consequences into account4 ,we must     
avoid it by defining religion and then  
tracing all the consequences1 good or   
bad4 ,religion is accordingly taken to  
mean the belief in the existence of 'an 
,almighty ,being1 by whom pains and     
pleasures will be dispensed to mankind  
during an infinite and future state of  
existence4' ,the definition is already  
characteristic4 ',religion' may be used 
in a far wider sense1 corresponding to a
 philosophy of the universe1 whether    
that philosophy does or does not include
 this particular doctrine4 ,but ',philip
 ,beauchamp's' assumption is convenient 
because it gives a rational reasoning to
 the problem of utility4 ,religion is   
taken to be something adventitious or   
superimposed upon other beliefs1 and we 
can therefore intelligibly ask whether  
it does good or harm4 ,taking this      
definition for granted1 let us consider 
the results4  ,the first point is that  

we are of necessity in absolute         
ignorance as to a posthumous state4     
,now1 fear is from our earliest infancy 
the 'never-failing companion and        
offspring of ignorance4' ,knowledge     
alone can rescue us from perpetual      
suffering1 because all security depends 
upon knowledge4 ,pain1 moreover1 is far 
more 'pungent' and distinct than        
pleasure4 ',want and pain are natural2  
satisfaction and pleasure artificial and
 invented4' ,pain1 therefore1 as the    
strongest1 will dictate our             
anticipations4 ,the hope of immortality 
is by the orthodox described as a       
blessing2 but the truth1 deducible from 
these principles of human nature and    
verified by experience1 is that natural 
religion1 instead of soothing           
apprehensions1 adds fresh grounds of    
apprehension4 ,a revelation1 as ',philip
 ,beauchamp' admits1 might conceivably  
dispel our fears2 but he would obviously
 say that the religion which is taken to
 be revealed gives a far more vivid     

picture of hell than of heaven4#fab ,in 
the next place1 it is 'obvious at first 
sight' that natural religion can        
properly give 'no rule of guidance4' ,it
 refers us to a region of 'desperate and
 unfathomable' darkness4#fac ,but it    
nevertheless indirectly suggests a      
pernicious rule4 ,it rests entirely upon
 conjectures as to the character of the 
invisible ,being who apportions pain or 
pleasure for inscrutable reasons4 ,will 
this ,being be expected to approve      
useful or pernicious conduct8 ,from     
men's language we might suppose that he 
is thought to be purely benevolent4 ,yet
 from their dogmas it would seem that he
 is a capricious tyrant4 ,how are we to 
explain the discrepancy8 ,the           
discrepancy is the infallible result of 
the circumstances already stated4#fad   
,the ,deity has limitless power1 and    
therefore is the natural object of our  
instinctive fears4 ,the character of the
 ,deity is absolutely incomprehensible1 
and incomprehensibility in human affairs

 is identical with caprice and          
insanity4#fae ,the ends and the means of
 the ,deity are alike beyond our        
knowledge2 and the extremes both of     
wisdom and of folly are equally         
unaccountable4 ,now1 we praise or blame 
human beings in order to affect their   
conduct towards us1 to attract favours  
or repel injuries4 ,a tyrant possessed  
of unlimited power considers that by    
simple abstinence from injury he        
deserves boundless gratitude4 ,the weak 
will only dare to praise1 and the strong
 will only blame4 ,the slave-owner never
 praises and the slave never blames1    
because one can use the lash while the  
other is subject to the lash4 ,if1 then1
 we regard the invisible ,being as a    
capricious despot1 and1 moreover1 as a  
despot who knows every word we utter1 we
 shall never speak of him without the   
highest eulogy1 just because we         
attribute to him the most arbitrary     
tyranny4 ,hence1 the invisible despot   
will specially favour the priests whose 

lives are devoted to supporting his     
authority1 and1 next to priests1 those  
who1 by the practice of ceremonies      
painful or useless to themselves1 show  
that their sole aim is to give him      
pleasure4 ,he will specially detest the 
atheists1 and1 next to atheists1 all who
 venture to disregard his arbitrary     
laws4 ,a human judge may be benevolent1 
because he is responsible to the        
community4 ,they give and can take away 
his power4 ,but the invisible and       
irresponsible ruler will have no motives
 for benevolence1 and approve conduct   
pernicious to men because it is the best
 proof of a complete subservience to    
himself4#faf ,in spite of this1 it has  
been generally asserted that religion   
supplies a motive1 and the only adequate
 motive1 to moral conduct4 ,but the     
decay of religion would leave the       
sources of pain and pleasure unchanged4 
,to say1 then1 that the conduct         
prescribed by religion would disappear  
if the religious motives were removed is

 virtually to admit that it produces no 
'temporal benefit4' ,otherwise1 the     
motives for practising such conduct     
would not be affected4 ,in fact1        
morality is the same in all countries1  
though the injunctions of religion are  
various and contradictory4 ,if religion 
ordered only what is useful1 it would   
coincide with human laws1 and be at     
worst superfluous4 ,as a fact1 it       
condemns the most harmless pleasures1   
such as the worst of human legislators  
have never sought to suppress4 ,people  
have become tolerant1 that is1 they have
 refused to enforce religious           
observances1 precisely because they have
 seen that such observances cannot be   
represented as conducive to temporal    
happiness4  ,duty1 again1 may be divided
 into duty to ,god and duty to man4 ,our
 'duty to ,god' is a 'deduction from the
 pleasures of the individual without at 
all benefiting the species4' ,it must   
therefore be taken as a tax paid for the
 efficacy supposed to be communicated to

 the other branch--the 'duty to         
man4'#fag ,does religion1 then1         
stimulate our obedience to the code of  
duty to man8 ',philip ,beauchamp' admits
 for once that1 in certain cases1 it    
'might possibly' be useful4 ,it might   
affect 'secret crimes1' that is1 crimes 
where the offender is undiscoverable4   
,that1 however1 is a trifle4 ,these     
cases1 he thinks1 would be 'uncommonly  
rare' under a well-conceived system4    
,the extent of evil in this life would  
therefore be trifling were superhuman   
inducements entirely effaced from the   
human bosom1 and if 'human institutions 
were ameliorated according to the       
progress of philosophy4'#fah ,on the    
other hand1 the imaginary punishments   
are singularly defective in the         
qualities upon which ,bentham had       
insisted in human legislation4 ,they are
 remote and uncertain1 and to make up   
for this are represented as boundless in
 intensity and durability4 ,for that    
reason1 they precisely reverse the      

admitted principle that punishment      
should be so devised as to produce the  
greatest possible effect by the smallest
 infliction of pain4 ,supernatural      
sanctions are supposed to maximise pain 
with a minimum of effect4 ,the fear of  
hell rarely produces any effect till a  
man is dying1 and then inflicts great   
suffering1 though it has been totally   
inefficient as a preventive at the time 
of temptation4 ,the influence of        
supernatural penalties is therefore in  
'an inverse ratio to the demand for     
it4'#fai ,in reality1 the efficacy of   
the sanctions is due to their dependence
 upon public opinion4 ,our real motive  
for acting rightly is our desire for the
 praise of our fellows and our interest 
in their good conduct4 ,we conceal this 
motive even from ourselves1 because we  
wish to have the credit of serving the  
,deity exclusively4 ,this is confirmed  
by the familiar instances of a conflict 
between public opinion and religious    
sanctions4 ,duelling1 fornication1 and  

perjury are forbidden by the divine law1
 but the prohibition is ineffectual     
whenever the real sentiment of mankind  
is opposed to it4 ,the divine law is set
 aside as soon as it conflicts with the 
popular opinion4 ,in exceptional cases1 
indeed1 the credit attached to          
unreasonable practices leads to         
fanaticism1 asceticism1 and even        
insanity2 but superhuman terrors fail at
 once when they try to curb the action  
of genuine substantial motives4 ,hence  
we must admit that they are useless in  
the case even of 'secret crimes4'       
,religion1 in short1 prescribes         
mischievous practices1 becomes impotent 
except for the production of misery1 and
 is really1 though not avowedly1        
dependent on the popular sanction4#fbj  
,we can now classify the evils actually 
produced4 ,religion injures individuals 
by prescribing useless and painful      
practices3 fasting1 celibacy1 voluntary 
self-torture1 and so forth4 ,it suggests
 vague terrors which often drive the    

victim to insanity1 and it causes       
remorse for harmless enjoyments4#fba    
,religion injures society by creating   
antipathies against unbelievers1 and in 
a less degree against heretics and      
nonconformists4 ,it perverts public     
opinion by making innocent actions      
blameable2 by distorting the whole      
science of morality and sanctioning the 
heterogeneous dictates of a certain     
blind and unaccountable impulse called  
the 'moral instinct or conscience4'#fbb 
,morality becomes a 'mere catalogue of  
reigning sentiments1' because it has    
cast away the standard of utility4 ,a   
special aversion to improvement is      
generated1 because whatever changes our 
conceptions of the 'sequences of        
phenomena' is supposed to break the     
divine 'laws of nature4' ',unnatural'   
becomes a 'self-justifying' epithet     
forbidding any proposed change of       
conduct1 which will counteract the      
'designs of ,god4' ,religion necessarily
 injures intellectual progress4 ,it     

disjoins belief from its only safe      
ground1 experience4 ,the very basis1 the
 belief in an inscrutable and arbitrary 
power1 sanctions supernatural or        
'extra-experimental' beliefs of all     
kinds4 ,you reject in the case of       
miracles all the tests applicable to    
ordinary instruction1 and appeal to     
trial by ordeal instead of listening to 
witnesses4 ,instead of taking the       
trouble to plough and sow1 you expect to
 get a harvest by praying to an         
inscrutable ,being4 ,you marry without  
means1 because you hold that ,god never 
sends a child without sending food for  
it to eat4 ,meanwhile you suborn        
'unwarranted belief' by making belief a 
matter of reward and penalty4 ,it is    
made a duty to dwell upon the arguments 
upon one side without attending to those
 upon the other1 and 'the weaker the    
evidence the greater the merit in       
believing4'#fbc ,the temper is depraved 
not only by the antipathies generated1  
but by the 'fitful and intermittent     

character' of the inducements to        
conduct4#fbd  ,the final result of all  
this is still more serious4 ,it is that 
religion1 besides each separate         
mischief1 'subsidises a standing army   
for the perpetuation of all the         
rest4'#fbe ,the priest gains power as a 
'wonder-worker1' who knows how to       
propitiate the invisible ,being1 and has
 a direct interest in 'depraving the    
intellect1' cherishing superstition1    
surrounding himself with mysteries1     
representing the will of the ,deity as  
arbitrary and capricious1 and forming an
 organised 'array of human force and    
fraud4'#fbf ,the priesthood sets up an  
infallible head1 imposes upon the weak  
and dying1 stimulates antipathy1 forms  
the mass of 'extra-experimental' beliefs
 into the likeness of a science1 and    
allies itself with the state4 ,heresy   
becomes a crime4 ,the ruler helps the   
priests to raise a tax for their own    
comfort1 while they repay him by        
suppressing all seditious opinions4     

,thus is formed an unholy alliance      
between the authorities of 'natural     
religion' and the 'sinister interests of
 the earth4' ,the alliance is so        
complete that it is even more efficient 
than if it had been openly proclaimed4  
',prostration and plunder of the        
community is indeed the common end of   
both' 7priests and rulers74 ,the only   
chance of dissension is about the       
'partition of the spoil4'#fbg  ,the book
 is as characteristic of the            
,utilitarians in style as in spirit4 ,it
 is terse1 vigorous reasoning1 with no  
mere rhetorical flourishes4 ,the        
consequences of the leading principle   
are deduced without flinching and       
without reserve4 ,had the authors given 
their names1 they would no doubt have   
excited antipathies injurious to the    
propaganda of ,utilitarianism4 ,they    
held1 for that reason presumably1 that  
they were not bound to point out the    
ultimate goal of their speculations4 ,no
 intelligent reader of their other      

writings could fail to see what that    
goal must be2 but an 'open secret' is   
still for many purposes a real secret4  
,whatever might be the suspicions of    
their antagonists1 they could only be   
accused of a tendency4 ,the book amounts
 to an admission that the suspicions    
were well founded4 ,utilitarianism1 the 
,utilitarians clearly recognised1       
logically implied the rejection of all  
theology4 ,religion--on their           
understanding of the word--must1 like   
everything else1 be tested by its       
utility1 and it was shown to be either  
useless or absolutely pernicious4 ,the  
aim of the ,utilitarians was1 in brief1 
to be thoroughly scientific4 ,the man of
 science must be opposed to the belief  
in an inscrutable agent of boundless    
power1 interfering at every point with  
the laws of nature1 and a product of the
 fancy instead of the reason4 ,such a   
conception1 so far as accepted1 makes   
all theory of human conduct impossible1 
suggests rules conflicting with the     

supreme rule of utility1 and gives      
authority to every kind of delusion1    
imposture1 and 'sinister interest4'  ,it
 would1 ,i think1 be difficult to       
mention a more vigorous discussion of   
the problem stated4 ,as anonymous1 it   
could be ignored instead of answered2   
and probably such orthodox persons as   
read it assumed it to be a kind of      
reductio ad absurdum of the ,utilitarian
 creed4 ,it might follow1 they could    
admit1 logically from the ,utilitarian  
analysis of human nature1 but it could  
only prove that the analysis was        
fundamentally wrong4 ,yet its real      
significance is precisely its thorough  
applicability to the contemporary state 
of opinion4 ,beauchamp's definition     
coincides with ,paley's4 ,the           
coincidence was inevitable4             
,utilitarians both in ethical and       
philosophical questions start from the  
same assumptions as ,paley1 and the     
,paley doctrine gave the pith of the    
dominant theology4 ,i have observed that

 the ,scottish philosophers had         
abandoned the a priori argument1 and    
laid the whole stress of their          
theological doctrine upon ,paley's      
argument from final causes4 ,the change 
of base was an inevitable consequence of
 their whole system4 ,they appealed to  
experience1 to ',baconian' methods1 and 
to 'inductive psychology4' ,the theory  
of 'intuitions1' effective where it fell
 in with admitted beliefs1 was idle     
against an atheist1 who denied that he  
had the intuition4 ,the 'final causes'  
argument1 however1 rested upon common   
ground1 and supplied a possible line of 
defence4 ,the existence of the ,deity   
could perhaps be proved empirically1    
like the existence of the 'watchmaker4' 
,accordingly1 this was the argument upon
 which reliance was really placed by the
 average theologian of the time4        
,metaphysical or ontological reasoning  
had been discarded for plain            
common-sense4 ,the famous ,bridgewater  
,treatises are the characteristic       

product of the period4 ,it had occurred 
to the earl of ,bridgewater1 who died in
 #ahbi1 that ,l#hjjj from his estate    
might be judiciously spent in proving   
the existence of a benevolent creator4  
,the council of the ,royal ,society     
employed eight eminent men of science to
 carry out this design4#fbh ,they wrote 
some interesting manuals of popular     
science1 interspersed with proper       
theological applications4 ,the arguments
 were sincere enough1 though they now   
seem to overlook with singular blindness
 the answer which would be suggested by 
the 'evolutionist4' ,the logical result 
is1 in any case1 a purely empirical     
theology4 ,the religion which emerges is
 not a philosophy or theory of the world
 in general1 but corresponds to a belief
 in certain matters of fact 7or         
fiction74 ,the existence of the ,deity  
is to be proved1 like the existence of  
,caesar1 by special evidence4  ,the main
 results are obvious4 ,the logical base 
of the whole creed is 'natural          

theology1' and 'natural theology' is    
simply a branch of science1 amenable to 
the ordinary scientific tests4 ,it is   
intended to prove the existence of an   
agent essential to the working of the   
machinery1 as from the movements of a   
planet we infer the existence of a      
disturbing planet4 ,the argument from   
design1 in this acceptation1 is briefly 
mentioned by ',philip ,beauchamp4' ,it  
is1 he argues1 'completely              
extra-experimental'2 for experience only
 reveals design in living beings3 it    
supposes a pre-existing chaos which can 
never be shown to have existed1 and the 
'omnipotent will' introduced to explain 
the facts is really no explanation at   
all1 but a collection of meaningless    
words4#fbi ,the argument is briefly     
dismissed as concerning the truth1 not  
the utility1 of religion1 but one point 
is sufficiently indicated4 ,the argument
 from 'design' is always plausible1     
because it applies reasoning undeniably 
valid when it is applied within its     

proper sphere4 ,the inference from a    
watch to a watchmaker is clearly        
conclusive4 ,we know sufficiently what  
is meant by the watchmaker and by       
'making4' ,we therefore reason to a vera
 causa--an agent already known4 ,when   
the inference is to the action of an    
inconceivable ,being performing an      
inconceivable operation upon            
inconceivable materials1 it really      
becomes illusory1 or amounts to the     
simple assertion that the phenomenon is 
inexplicable4 ,therefore1 again1 it is  
essentially opposed to science though   
claiming to be scientific4 ,the action  
of the creator is supposed to begin     
where the possibility of knowledge ends4
 ,it is just the inexplicable element   
which suggests the creative agency4     
,conversely1 the satisfactory           
explanation of any phenomenon takes it  
out of the theological sphere4 ,as soon 
as the process becomes 'natural' it     
ceases to demand the supernatural       
artificer4 ',making1' therefore1 is     

contradistinguished from 'growing4' ,if 
we see how the eye has come into        
existence1 we have no longer any reason 
to assume that it was put together      
mechanically4 ,in other words1          
'teleology' of this variety is dispelled
 by theories of evolution4 ,the         
hypothesis of interference becomes      
needless when we see how things came to 
be by working out perfectly natural     
processes4 ,as science1 therefore1      
expands1 theology recedes4 ,this was to 
become more evident at a later period4  
,for the present1 the teleological      
argument in the ,paley form1            
triumphantly set forth in ,bridgewater  
,treatises and the like1 rested the     
defence of theology on the proofs of the
 discontinuity of the universe and the  
consequent necessity for admitting      
supernatural interference4 ,science was 
therefore invoked to place absolute     
limits on its own progress4  ,but other 
vital difficulties were already felt4   
,the argument from contrivance naturally

 implies limitation4 ,the maker of a    
machine is strictly limited by the      
properties of the matter upon which he  
works4 ,the inference might be verbally 
saved by saying that the maker was      
'potentially' omnipotent2 but the       
argument1 so far as it goes1 is more    
easily satisfied by the hypothesis of a 
,being of great but still limited       
powers4 ,the ,deity so proved1 if the   
proof be valid1 is not himself the      
ground of the universe1 the source from 
which nature itself emanates1 as well as
 the special laws of nature1 but a part 
of the whole system2 interfering1       
guiding1 and controlling1 but still only
 one of the powers which contribute to  
the formation of the whole4 ,hence arise
 questions which theologians rather     
evaded than attempted to answer4 ,if    
with the help of ,paley we can prove the
 existence of an invisible              
,being--potentially omnipotent1 though  
always operating as though              
limited--there would still remain the   

question as to his attributes4 ,he is   
skilful1 we may grant1 but is he        
benevolent or is he moral8 ,the         
benevolence could of course be asserted 
by optimists1 if facts were amenable to 
rhetoric4 ,but a theory which is        
essentially scientific or empirical1 and
 consistently argues from the effect to 
the cause1 must start from an impartial 
view of the facts1 and must make no     
presupposition as to the nature of the  
cause4 ,the cause is known only through 
the effects1 and our judgment of them   
cannot be modified by simply discovering
 that they are caused4 ,if1 then1       
contrivance is as manifest in disease as
 in health1 in all the sufferings which 
afflict mankind as well as in the       
pleasures which solace him1 we must     
either admit that the creator is not    
benevolent1 or frankly admit that he is 
not omnipotent and fall into            
,manichaeism4 ,nature1 we are frequently
 told1 is indifferent if not cruel2 and 
though ,paley and his followers choose  

to shut their eyes to ugly facts1 it    
could be only by sacrificing their      
logic4 ,they were bound to prove from   
observation that the world was so       
designed as to secure the 'greatest     
happiness' before they could logically  
infer a purely benevolent designer4 ,it 
was of the very essence of their        
position that observed facts should be  
the ultimate basis of the whole theory2 
and to alter the primary data by virtue 
of deductions drawn from them could     
obviously not be logically justifiable4 
,such reflections1 though sufficiently  
obvious1 might be too far from practical
 application to have much immediate     
effect4 ,but the question of the moral  
bearing of theology was of more         
interest2 and1 here1 the coincidence of 
the ,utilitarianism with the accepted   
theology of the day is especially       
important4 ,the ,deity regarded as the  
artificer appears to be far from purely 
benevolent4 ,in respect to morality1 is 
he not simply indifferent8 ,does he not 

make men fragile and place them amidst  
pitfalls8 ,does he not constantly slay  
the virtuous and save the wicked8 ,how1 
indeed1 from the purely empirical or    
scientific base1 do you deduce any moral
 attributes whatever8 ',natural         
theology1' as it was called1 might      
reveal a contriver1 but could it reveal 
a judge or a moral guide8 ,here the     
difficulty of a purely matter-of-fact   
theology made itself felt on many sides4
 ,the remarkable influence of ,butler   
upon many minds was partly due to a     
perception of this omission4 ,butler    
avowedly appeals to the conscience1 and 
therefore at least recognises ,god as   
directly revealed in a moral character4 
,that seemed to supply a gap in the     
ordinary theology4 ,but in the purely   
empirical view ,butler's argument was   
untenable4 ,it appealed to one of the   
'intuitions' which were incompatible    
with its fundamental assumptions4 ,the  
compunctions of conscience were facts to
 be explained by 'association1' not to  

be regarded as intimations of wrath4    
,butler's view might be inverted4 ,the  
'conscience' does1 in truth1 suggest the
 divine wrath2 but that only means that 
it suggests the quack remedies upon     
which 'wonder-working' priests establish
 their power4 ,instead of proving the   
truth of the religion1 it explains the  
origin of superstition4 ,to ,james      
,mill1 as we have seen1 ,butler's       
argument would logically prove not a    
righteous governor but a cruel creator4 
,theologians1 again1 of the ,paley      
school1 were bound in consistency to the
 empirical or ,utilitarian view of      
morality4 ,paley accepted the           
consequences unreservedly2 and if such  
philosophers as ,brown and ,mackintosh  
persisted in regarding the coincidence  
between morality and happiness as       
indicative of a pre-established harmony1
 not of an identification of morality   
with the pursuit of general happiness1  
they still admitted that 'utility' was  
the 'criterion' of morality4 ,the moral 

law1 that is1 coincides in its substance
 with the law1 'maximise happiness1' and
 happiness means1 as ',philip           
,beauchamp' calls it1 'temporal'        
happiness--the happiness of actual men  
living in this world and knowing nothing
 of any external world4 ,how1 then1 is  
the moral law related to theology8 ,to  
know what is moral1 we must appeal to   
experience and 'utility4' ,we must      
discover what makes for happiness1 just 
as in medicine we must discover what    
makes for health or pleasure1 by the    
ordinary methods of observation4 ,what  
place is left for any supernatural      
intervention8 ,the ostensible answer was
 that though the moral code could be    
deduced from its utility1 the motives by
 which it was to be enforced required   
some supernatural agency4 ,the natural  
man might see what was right1 but need  
not therefore do what was right4 ,here  
',philip ,beauchamp' comes to a direct  
issue with the theologians4 ,he denies  
that the supernatural motive will be on 

the side of morality4 ,when ,j4 ,s4     
,mill remarked that there had been few  
discussions of the 'utility' as         
distinguished from the truth of         
religion1 he scarcely recognises one    
conspicuous fact4 ,the great argument of
 divines had always been the absolute   
necessity of religion to morality2 and  
if morality be understood to mean       
utility1 this is simply an argument from
 utility4 ,the point1 indeed1 was often 
taken for granted2 but it certainly     
represents one of the strongest         
persuasives1 if not one of the strongest
 reasons4 ,the divines1 in fact1        
asserted that religion was of the       
highest utility as supplying the motive 
for moral conduct4 ,what motives1 then1 
can be derived from such knowledge of   
the ,deity as is attainable from the    
',natural theology' argument8 ,how can  
we prove from it that he who puts the   
world together is more favourable to the
 virtues than to the vices which are its
 results2 or1 if more favourable1 that  

he shows any other favour than can be   
inferred from experience8 ,he has1 it is
 agreed1 put men1 as ,bentham had said1 
under the command of two sovereign      
masters1 ,pleasure and ,pain2 and has   
enabled them to calculate consequences1 
and therefore to seek future pleasure   
and avoid future pain4 ,that only proves
 that we can increase our happiness by  
prudence2 but it suggests no additional 
reasons either for seeking happiness or 
for altering our estimate of happiness4 
,as ',philip ,beauchamp' argues1 we     
cannot from the purely empirical ground 
get any motive for taking into account  
anything beyond our 'temporal' or       
secular interests4 ,this1 again1 was in 
fact admitted by ,paley4 ,his mode of   
escape from the dilemma is familiar4    
,the existence of a supreme artificer is
 inferred from the interventions in the 
general order of nature4 ,the existence 
of a moral ruler1 or the fact that the  
ruler approves morality1 is inferred    
from his interference by the particular 

manifestations of power which we call   
miraculous4 ,we know that actions will  
have other consequences than those which
 can be inferred from our own           
experience1 because some two thousand   
years ago a ,being appeared who could   
raise the dead and heal the sick4 ,if   
sufficient evidence of the fact be      
forthcoming1 we are entitled to say upon
 his authority that the wicked will be  
damned and the virtuous go to heaven4   
,obedience to the law enforced by these 
sanctions is obviously prudent1 and     
constitutes the true differentia of     
moral conduct4 ,virtue1 according to the
 famous definition1 is doing good 'for  
the sake of everlasting happiness4' ,the
 downright bluntness with which ,paley  
announced these conclusions startled    
contemporaries1 and yet it must be      
admitted that they were a natural       
outcome of his position4  ,in short1 the
 theological position of the ,paley     
school and the ,utilitarian position of 
',philip ,beauchamp' start from the     

common ground of experience4 ,religion  
means the knowledge of certain facts1   
which are to be inferred from           
appropriate evidence4 ,it does not      
modify the whole system of thought1 but 
simply adds certain corollaries2 and the
 whole question is whether the          
corollaries are or are not proved by    
legitimate reasoning4 ,can we discover  
heaven and hell as we discovered        
,america8 ,can observation of nature    
reveal to us a supernatural world8' ,the
 first difficulty is that the argument  
for natural theology has to rest upon   
interference1 not upon order1 and       
therefore comes into conflict with the  
first principles of scientific          
procedure4 ,the ,deity is revealed not  
by the rational but by the arbitrary2   
and the more the world is explained1 the
 less the proof that he exists1 because 
the narrower the sphere of his action4  
,then1 as such a ,deity1 even if proved1
 is not proved to be benevolent or      
moral1 we have to rely for the moral    

element upon the evidence of 'miracles1'
 that is1 again1 of certain             
interruptions of order4 ,the scientific 
tendency more or less embodied in       
,protestantism1 so far as it appealed to
 reason or to 'private judgment1' had1  
moreover1 made it necessary to relegate 
miracles to a remote period1 while      
denying them at the present4 ,to prove  
at once that there are no miracles now1 
and that there were a few miracles two  
thousand years ago1 was really hopeless4
 ,in fact1 the argument had come to be  
stated in an artificial form which had  
no real relation to the facts4 ,if the  
apostles had been a jury convinced by a 
careful legal examination of the        
evidence2 if they had pronounced their  
verdict1 in spite of the knowledge that 
they would be put to death for finding  
it1 there would have been some force in 
,paley's argument4 ,but then they had   
not4 ,to assume such an origin for any  
religion implied a total misconception  
of the facts4 ,paley assumed that the   

apostles resembled twelve respectable   
deans of ,carlisle solemnly declaring1  
in spite of the most appalling threats1 
that ,john ,wesley had been proved to   
have risen from the dead4 ,paley might  
plausibly urge that such an event would 
require a miracle4 ,but1 meanwhile1 his 
argument appeared to rest the whole case
 for morality and religion upon this    
narrow and perilous base4 ,we can only  
know that it is our interest to be moral
 if we know of heaven and hell2 and we  
only know of heaven and hell if we      
accept the evidence of miracles1 and    
infer that the worker of miracles had   
supernatural sources of information4    
,the moral difficulty which emerges is  
obvious4 ,the ,paley conception of the  
,deity is1 in fact1 coincident with     
,bentham's conception of the sovereign4 
,he is simply an invisible sovereign1   
operating by tremendous sanctions4 ,the 
sanctions are 'external1' that is to    
say1 pains and pleasures1 annexed to    
conduct by the volition of the          

sovereign1 not intrinsic consequences of
 the conduct itself4 ,such a conception1
 thoroughly carried through1 makes the  
relation between religion and morality  
essentially arbitrary4 ,moreover1 if    
with ',philip ,beauchamp' we regard the 
miracle argument as obviously           
insufficient1 and consider what are the 
attributes really attributed to the     
sovereign1 we must admit that they      
suggest such a system as he describes   
rather than the revelation of an        
all-wise and benevolent ruler4 ,it is   
true1 as ',philip ,beauchamp' argues1   
that the system has all the faults of   
the worst human legislation2 that the   
punishment is made atrociously--indeed  
infinitely--severe to compensate for its
 uncertainty and remoteness2 and that   
7as he would clearly add71 to prevent it
 from shocking and stunning the         
intellect1 it is regarded as remissible 
in consideration of vicarious suffering4
 ,if1 then1 the religion is really what 
its dogmas declare1 it is easier to     

assume that it represents the cunning of
 a priesthood operating upon the blind  
fears and wild imaginations of an       
inaccessible world2 and the ostensible  
proofs of a divine origin resting upon  
miraculous proofs are not worth         
consideration4 ,it professes to be a    
sanction to all morality1 but is forced 
to construct a mythology which outrages 
all moral considerations4 ,taken as a   
serious statement of fact1 the          
anthropomorphism of the vulgar belief   
was open to the objections which        
,socrates brought against the ,pagan    
mythology4 ,the supreme ruler was       
virtually represented as arbitrary1     
cruel1 and despotic4  ,if we ask the    
question1 whether in point of fact the  
religion attacked by ',philip           
,beauchamp' fairly represented the      
religion of the day1 we should have1 of 
course1 to admit that it was in one     
sense a gross caricature4 ,if1 that is1 
we asked what were the real roots of the
 religious zeal of ,wilberforce and the 

,evangelicals1 or of the philanthropists
 with whom even ,james ,mill managed to 
associate on friendly terms1 it would be
 the height of injustice to assume that 
they tried to do good simply from fear  
of hell and hope of heaven1 or that     
their belief in ,christianity was due to
 a study of ,paley's ,evidences4 ,their 
real motives were far nobler3 genuine   
hatred of injustice and sympathy for    
suffering1 joined to the conviction that
 the sects to which they belonged were  
working on the side of justice and      
happiness2 while the creeds which they  
accepted were somehow congenial to their
 best feelings1 and enabled them to give
 utterance to their deepest emotions4   
,but when they had to give a ground for 
that belief they could make no adequate 
defence4 ,they were better than their   
ostensible creed1 because the connection
 of their creed with their morality was 
really arbitrary and traditional4 ,we   
must always distinguish between the     
causes of strong convictions and the    

reasons officially assigned for them4   
,the religious creed1 as distinguished  
from the religious sentiment1 was really
 traditional1 and rested upon the simple
 fact that it was congenial to the      
general frame of mind4 ,its philosophy  
meanwhile had become hopelessly         
incoherent4 ,it wished to be sensible1  
and admitted in principle the right of  
'private judgment' or rationalism so far
 as consistent with ,protestantism4 ,the
 effect had been that in substance it   
had become ,utilitarian and empirical2  
while it had yet insisted upon holding  
on to the essentially irrational        
element4  ,the religious tradition was  
becoming untenable in this sense at the 
same time as the political tradition4   
,if radicalism in both were to be       
effectually resisted1 some better       
foundation must be found for            
conservatism4 ,i should be tempted to   
say that a critical period was          
approaching1 did ,i not admit that every
 period can always be described as      

critical4 ,in fact1 however1 thoughtful 
people1 perceiving on the one hand that 
the foundations of their creed were     
shaking1 and yet holding it to be       
essential to their happiness1 began to  
take a new position4 ,the ',oxford      
movement1' started soon afterwards1     
implied a conviction that the old       
,protestant position was as untenable as
 the radical asserted4 ,its adherents   
attempted to find a living and visible  
body whose supernatural authority might 
maintain the old dogmatic system4       
,liberal thinkers endeavoured to        
spiritualise the creed and prove its    
essential truths by philosophy1         
independently of the particular         
historical evidence4 ,the popular       
tendency was to admit in substance that 
the dogmas most assailed were in fact   
immoral3 but to put them into the       
background1 or1 if necessary1 to explain
 them away4 ,the stress was to be laid  
not upon miracles1 but upon the moral   
elevation of ,christianity or the beauty

 of character of its founder4 ,the      
'unsectarian' religion1 represented in  
the most characteristic writings of the 
next generation1 in ,tennyson and       
,browning1 ,thackeray and ,dickens1     
reflects this view4 ,such men detested  
the coarse and brutalising dogmas which 
might be expounded as the true 'scheme  
of salvation' by ignorant preachers     
seeking to rouse sluggish natures to    
excitement2 but they held to religious  
conceptions which1 as they thought1     
really underlay these disturbing images1
 and which1 indeed1 could hardly be     
expressed in any more definite form than
 that of a hope or a general attitude of
 the whole character4 ,the problem      
seemed to be whether we shall support a 
dogmatic system by recognising a living 
spiritual authority1 or frankly accept  
reason as the sole authority1 and1 while
 explaining away the repulsive dogmas1  
try to retain the real essence of       
religious belief4   ,,ii4 ,,contemporary
 ,,thought  ,if ,i were writing a       

general history of opinion1 it would be 
necessary to discuss the views of       
,mill's ,english contemporaries2 to note
 their attitude in regard to the        
,utilitarian position1 and point out how
 they prepared the way for the later    
developments of thought4 ,the           
,utilitarians were opposed to a vague   
sentiment rather than to any definite   
system4 ,they were a small and a very   
unpopular sect4 ,they excited antipathy 
on all sides4 ,as advocating            
republicanism1 they were hardly more    
disliked by the ,tories1 who directly   
opposed them1 than by the ,whigs1 who   
might be suspected of complicity4 ,as   
enthusiastic political economists1 they 
were equally detested by sentimental    
,radicals1 ,socialists1 and by all who  
desired a strong government1 whether for
 the suppression of social evils or the 
maintenance of social abuses4 ,and now1 
as suspected of atheism1 they were hated
 by theologians4 ,but though the        
,utilitarians were on all sides         

condemned and denounced1 they were met  
by no definite and coherent scheme of   
philosophy4 ,the philosophy of ,stewart 
and ,brown had at least a strong drift  
in their direction4 ,though 'political  
economy' was denounced in general terms1
 all who spoke with authority accepted  
,adam ,smith4 ,their political opponents
 generally did not so much oppose their 
theories as object to theory in general4
 ,the ,utilitarian system might be both 
imperfect and dogmatic2 but it had      
scarcely to contend with any clear and  
assignable rival4 ,the dislike of       
,englishmen to any systematic           
philosophy1 whether founded upon the    
national character or chiefly due to    
special conditions1 was still           
conspicuous outside of the small        
,utilitarian camp4  ,to discover1       
therefore1 the true position of         
contemporary opinion1 we should have to 
look elsewhere4 ,instead of seeking for 
the philosophers who did not exist1 we  
should have to examine the men of       

letters who expressed the general       
tendencies4 ,in ,germany1 philosophical 
theories may be held to represent the   
true drift of the national mind1 and a  
historian of ,german thought would      
inquire into the various systems        
elaborated by professors of philosophy4 
,he would at least be in no want of     
materials for definite logical          
statements4 ,in ,england1 there was no  
such intellectual movement4 ,there we   
should have to consider poetry and      
literature2 to read ,wordsworth and     
,coleridge1 ,scott and ,byron and       
,shelley1 if we would know what men were
 really thinking and feeling4 ,the      
difficulty is1 of course1 that none of  
these men1 unless ,coleridge be an      
exception1 had any conscious or         
systematic philosophy4 ,we can only ask1
 therefore1 what they would have said if
 they had been requested to justify     
their views by abstract reasoning2 and  
that is a rather conjectural and        
indefinite enterprise4 ,it lies1        

fortunately1 outside of my field2 and it
 will be enough if ,i try to suggest one
 or two sufficiently vague hints4 ,in   
the first place1 the contrast between   
the ,utilitarians and their opponents   
may almost be identified with the       
contrast between the prosaic and the    
poetical aspects of the world in        
general4 ,bentham frankly objected to   
poetry in general4 ,it proved nothing4  
,the true ,utilitarian was the man who  
held on to fact1 and to nothing but the 
barest1 most naked and unadorned fact4  
,poetry in general came within the sweep
 of his denunciations of                
'sentimentalism' and 'vague             
generalities4' ,it was the 'production  
of a rude age'2 the silly jingling which
 might be suitable to savages1 but was  
needless for the grown-up man1 and was  
destined to disappear along with the    
whole rubbish of mythology and          
superstition in whose service it had    
been enlisted4 ,there is indeed a       
natural sympathy between any serious    

view of life and a distrust of the      
aesthetic tendencies4 ,theologians of   
many different types have condemned men 
for dallying with the merely            
pleasurable1 when they ought to be      
preoccupied with the great ethical      
problems or the safety of their souls4  
,james ,mill had enough of the old      
,puritan in him to sympathise with      
,carlyle's aspiration1 ',may the devil  
fly away with the fine arts6' ,to such  
men it was difficult to distinguish     
between fiction and lying2 and if some  
concession might be made to human       
weakness1 poets and novelists might     
supply the relaxations and serve to fill
 up the intervals of life1 but must be  
sternly excluded if they tried to       
intrude into serious studies4 ,somehow  
love of the beautiful only interfered   
with the scientific investigation of    
hard facts4  ,poets1 indeed1 may take   
the side of reform1 or may perhaps be   
naturally expected to take that side4   
,the idealist and the dreamer should be 

attracted most powerfully by the visions
 of a better world and the restoration  
of the golden age4 ,shelley was among   
the most enthusiastic prophets of the   
coming era4 ,his words1 he hoped1 were  
to be 'the trumpet of a prophecy' to    
'unawakened earth4' ,shelley had sat at 
the feet of ,godwin1 and represented    
that vague metaphysical dreaming to     
which the ,utilitarians were radically  
hostile4 ,to the literary critic1       
,shelley's power is the more remarkable 
because from a flimsy philosophy he span
 an imaginative tissue of such magical  
and marvellous beauty4 ,but ,shelley    
dwelt in an ethereal region1 where      
ordinary beings found breathing         
difficult4 ,there facts seemed to       
dissolve into thin air instead of       
supplying a solid and substantial base4 
,his idealism meant unreality4 ,his     
'trumpet' did not in fact stimulate the 
mass of mankind1 and his fame at this   
period was confined to a few young      
gentlemen of literary refinement4 ,the  

man who had really stirred the world was
 ,byron2 and if the decline of ,byron's 
fame has resulted partly from real      
defects1 it is partly due also to the   
fact that his poetry was so admirably   
adapted to his contemporaries4 ,byron at
 least could see facts as clearly as any
 ,utilitarian1 though fact coloured by  
intense passion4 ,he1 like the          
,utilitarians1 hated solemn platitudes  
and hypocritical conventions4 ,i have   
noticed the point at which he came into 
contact with ,bentham's disciples4 ,his 
pathetic death shortly afterwards       
excited a singularly strong movement of 
sympathy4 ',the news of his death1' said
 ,carlyle at the time1 'came upon my    
heart like a mass of lead2 and yet the  
thought of it sends a painful twinge    
through all my being1 as if ,i had lost 
a brother4' ,at a later time he defines 
,byron as 'a dandy of sorrows and       
acquainted with grief4'#fcj ,that hits  
off one aspect of ,byronism4 ,byron was 
the ,mirabeau of ,english literature1 in

 so far as he was at once a thorough    
aristocrat and a strong revolutionist4  
,he had the qualification of a true     
satirist4 ,his fate was at discord with 
his character4 ,he was proud of his     
order1 and yet despised its actual      
leaders4 ,he was ready alternately to   
boast of his vices and to be conscious  
that they were degrading4 ,he shocked   
the respectable world by mocking        
',satanically1' as they held1 at moral  
conventions1 and yet rather denounced   
the hypocrisy and the heartlessness of  
precisians than insulted the real       
affections4 ,he covered sympathy with   
human suffering under a mask of         
misanthropy1 and attacked war and       
oppression in the character of a        
reckless outlaw4 ,full of the           
affectation of a 'dandy1' he was yet    
rousing all ,europe by a cry of pure    
sentimentalism4 ,it would be absurd to  
attribute any definite doctrine to      
,byron4 ,his scepticism in religious    
matters was merely part of a general    

revolt against respectability4 ,what he 
illustrates is the vague but profound   
revolutionary sentiment which indicated 
a belief that the world seemed to be out
 of joint1 and a vehement protest       
against the selfish and stolid          
conservatism which fancied that the old 
order could be preserved in all its     
fossil institutions and corresponding   
dogmas4  ,what was the philosophy       
congenial to ,conservatism8 ,there is1  
of course1 the simple answer1 ,none4    
,toryism was a 'reaction' due to the    
great struggle of the war and the       
excesses of the revolution4 ,a          
'reaction' is a very convenient phrase4 
,we are like our fathers2 then the      
resemblance is only natural4 ,we differ2
 then the phrase 'reaction' makes the   
alteration explain itself4 ,no doubt1   
however1 there was in some sense a      
reaction4 ,many people changed their    
minds as the revolutionary movement     
failed to fulfil their hopes4 ,i need   
not argue now that such men were not    

necessarily corrupt renegades4 ,i can   
only try to indicate the process by     
which they were led towards certain     
philosophical doctrines4 ,scott1        
,wordsworth1 and ,coleridge represent it
 enough for my purpose4 ,when ,mill was 
reproaching ,englishmen for their want  
of interest in history1 he pointed out  
that ,thierry1 'the earliest of the     
three great ,french historians' 7,guizot
 and ,michelet are the two others71     
ascribed his interest in his subject to 
,ivanhoe4#fca ,englishmen read ,ivanhoe 
simply for amusement4 ,frenchmen could  
see that it threw a light upon history1 
or at least suggested a great historical
 problem4 ,scott1 it is often said1 was 
the first person to teach us that our   
ancestors were once as much alive as    
ourselves4 ,scott1 indeed1 the one      
,english writer whose fame upon the     
,continent could be compared to         
,byron's1 had clearly no interest in1 or
 capacity for1 abstract speculations4   
,an imaginative power1 just falling     

short of the higher poetical gift1 and a
 masculine common-sense were his most   
conspicuous faculties4 ,the two         
qualities were occasionally at issue2   
his judgment struggled with his         
prejudices1 and he sympathised too      
keenly with the active leaders and      
concrete causes to care much for any    
abstract theory4 ,yet his influence upon
 thought1 though indirect1 was          
remarkable4 ,the vividness of his       
historical painting--inaccurate1 no     
doubt1 and delightfully reckless of     
dates and facts--stimulated the growing 
interest in historical inquiries even in
 ,england4 ,his influence in one        
direction is recognised by ,newman1 who 
was perhaps thinking chiefly of his     
mediaevalism4#fcb ,but the historical   
novels are only one side of ,scott4     
,patriotic to the core1 he lived at a   
time when patriotic feeling was         
stimulated to the utmost1 and when      
,scotland in particular was still a     
province1 and yet in many ways the most 

vigorous and progressive part of a great
 empire4 ,he represents patriotism      
stimulated by contact with cosmopolitan 
movements4 ,loving every local          
peculiarity1 painting every class from  
the noble to the peasant1 loving the old
 traditions1 and yet sharing the great  
impulses of the day1 ,scott was able to 
interest the world at large4 ,while the 
most faithful portrayer of the special  
national type1 he has too much sense not
 to be well aware that picturesque      
cattle-stealers and ,jacobite chiefs    
were things of the past2 but he loves   
with his whole heart the institutions   
rooted in the past and rich in          
historical associations4 ,he transferred
 to poetry and fiction the political    
doctrine of ,burke4 ,to him1 the        
revolutionary movement was simply a     
solvent1 corroding all the old ties     
because it sapped the old traditions1   
and tended to substitute a mob for a    
nation4 ,the continuity of national life
 seemed to him the essential condition2 

and a nation was not a mere aggregate of
 separate individuals1 but an ancient   
organism1 developing on an orderly      
system--where every man had his rightful
 place1 and the beggar1 as he observes  
in the ,antiquary1 was as ready as the  
noble to rise against foreign invasion4 
,to him1 the kings or priests who1 to   
the revolutionist1 represented simple   
despotism1 represented part of a rough  
but manly order1 in which many virtues  
were conspicuous and the governing      
classes were discharging great          
functions4 ,though he did not use the   
phrase1 the revolutionary or radical    
view was hateful to him on account of   
its 'individualism4' ,it meant the      
summary destruction of all that he      
cherished most warmly in order to carry 
out theories altogether revolting to his
 common-sense4 ,the very roots of a     
sound social order depend upon the      
traditions and accepted beliefs which   
bind together clans or families1 and    
assign to every man a satisfactory      

function in life4 ,the vivid realisation
 of history goes naturally with a       
love--excessive or reasonable--of the   
old order2 and ,scott1 though writing   
carelessly to amuse idle readers1 was   
stimulating the historical conceptions1 
which1 for whatever reason1 were most   
uncongenial to the ,utilitarian as to   
all the revolutionists4  ,the more      
conscious philosophical application is  
illustrated by ,wordsworth and          
,coleridge4 ,both of them had shared the
 truly revolutionary enthusiasm1 and    
both came in time to be classed with the
 ,tories4 ,both1 as will be seen1 had a 
marked influence upon ,j4 ,s4 ,mill4    
,wordsworth has written in the ,prelude 
one of the most remarkable of           
intellectual autobiographies4 ,he was to
 be1 though he never quite succeeded in 
being1 a great philosophical poet4 ,he  
never succeeded1 because1 in truth1 he  
was not a great philosopher4 ,but no one
 has more clearly indicated the history 
of his mental evolution4 ,his sympathy  

with the revolution was perfectly       
genuine1 but involved a vast            
misconception4 ,a sturdy1 independent   
youth1 thoroughly imbued with the       
instincts of his northern dalesmen1 he  
had early leaned to a republican        
sentiment4 ,his dislike of the effete   
conventionalism of the literary creed   
blended with his aversion to the        
political rule of the time4 ,he caught  
the contagion of revolutionary          
enthusiasm in ,france1 and was converted
 by the sight of the 'hunger-bitten'    
peasant girl--the victim of aristocratic
 oppression4 ',it is against that1' said
 his friend1 'that we are fighting1' and
 so far ,wordsworth was a convert4 ,the 
revolution1 therefore1 meant to him the 
restoration of an idyllic state1 in     
which the homely virtues of the         
independent peasant should no longer be 
crushed and deprived of reward by the   
instruments of selfish despotism4 ,the  
outbreak of war put his principles at   
issue with his patriotism4 ,he suffered 

keenly when called upon to triumph over 
the calamities of his countrymen4 ,but  
gradually he came to think that his     
sympathies were misplaced4 ,the         
revolution had not altered human nature4
 ,the atrocities disturbed him1 but for 
a time he could regard them as a mere   
accident4 ,as the war went on1 he began 
to perceive that the new power could be 
as tyrannical and selfish as the old4   
,instead of reconstructing a simple     
social ideal1 it was forming a military 
despotism4 ,when the ,french armies put 
down the simple ,swiss peasantry1 to    
whom he had been drawn by his home-bred 
sympathies1 he finally gave up the      
revolutionary cause4 ,he had gone       
through a mental agony1 and his         
distracted sympathies ultimately        
determined a change which corresponded  
to the adoption of a new philosophy4    
,wordsworth1 indeed1 had little taste   
for abstract logic4 ,he had imbibed     
,godwin's doctrine1 but when acceptance 
of ,godwin's conclusions involved a     

conflict with his strongest             
affections--the sacrifice not only of   
his patriotism but of the sympathies    
which bound him to his fellows--he      
revolted4 ,godwin represents the extreme
 of 'individualism1' the absolute       
dissolution of all social and political 
bonds4 ,wordsworth escaped1 not by      
discovering a logical defect in the     
argument1 but by yielding to the protest
 of his emotions4 ,the system1 he       
thought1 was fatal to all the affections
 which had made life dear to him2 to the
 vague 'intimations' which1 whatever    
else they might be1 had yet power to    
give harmony to our existence4  ,by     
degrees he adopted a new diagnosis of   
the great political evils4 ,on one side1
 he sympathised with ,scott's sense of  
the fatal effects upon the whole social 
organism4 ,among his noblest poems are  
the ',brothers' and ',michael1' to which
 he specially called the attention of   
,fox4 ,they were intended1 he explained1
 to show the surpassing value of the    

domestic affections conspicuous among   
the shepherds and 'statesmen' of the    
northern dales4 ,he had now come to hold
 that the principles of ,godwin and his 
like were destructive to the most       
important elements of human welfare4    
,the revolutionists were not simply     
breaking the fetters of the simple      
peasant1 but destroying the most sacred 
ties to which the peasant owed whatever 
dignity or happiness he possessed4      
,revolution1 in short1 meant anarchy4   
,it meant1 therefore1 the destruction of
 all that gives real value to life4 ,it 
was1 as he held1 one product of the     
worship of the 'idol proudly named the  
wealth of nations1'#fcc selfishness and 
greed replacing the old motives to      
'plain living and high thinking4'       
,wordsworth1 in short1 saw the ugly side
 of the industrial revolution1 the      
injury done to domestic life by the     
factory system1 or the substitution of a
 proletariate for a peasantry1 and the  
replacement of the lowest social order  

by a vast inorganic mob4 ,the           
contemporary process1 which was leading 
to pauperism and to the evils of the    
factory system1 profoundly affected     
,wordsworth1 as well as the impulsive   
,southey2 and their frequent            
denunciations gave colour to the        
imputations that they were opposed to   
all progress4 ,certainly they were even 
morbidly alive to the evil aspects of   
the political economy of ,malthus and   
,ricardo1 which to them seemed to       
prescribe insensibility and indifference
 to most serious and rapidly            
accumulating evils4  ,meanwhile1        
,wordsworth was also impressed by the   
underlying philosophical difficulties4  
,the effect of the revolutionary        
principles was to destroy the religious 
sentiment1 not simply by disproving this
 or that historical statement1 but by   
making the whole world prosaic and      
matter-of-fact4 ,his occasional         
outbursts against the man of            
science--the 'fingering slave' who would

 'peep and botanise upon his mother's   
grave'--are one version of his feeling4 
,the whole scientific method tended to  
materialism and atomism2 to a breaking  
up of the world into disconnected atoms1
 and losing the life in dissecting the  
machinery4 ,his protest is embodied in  
the pantheism of the noble lines on     
,tintern ,abbey1 and his method of      
answering might be divined from the ode 
on the ',intimations of ,immortality4'  
,somehow or other the world represents a
 spiritual and rational unity1 not a    
mere chaos of disconnected atoms and    
fragments4 ,we 'see into the heart of   
things' when we trust to our emotions   
and hold by the instincts1 clearly      
manifested in childhood1 but clouded and
 overwhelmed in our later struggles with
 the world4 ,the essential thing is the 
cultivation of our 'moral being1' the   
careful preservation and assimilation of
 the stern sense of duty1 which alone   
makes life bearable and gives a meaning 
to the universe4  ,wordsworth1 it is    

plain1 was at the very opposite pole    
from the ,utilitarians4 ,he came to     
consider that their whole method meant  
the dissolution of all that was most    
vitally sacred1 and to hold that the    
revolution had attracted his sympathies 
on false pretences4 ,yet it is obvious  
that1 however great the stimulus which  
he exerted1 and however lofty his       
highest flights of poetry1 he had no    
distinct theory to offer4 ,his doctrine 
undoubtedly was congenial to certain    
philosophical views1 but was not itself 
an articulate philosophy4 ,he appeals to
 instincts and emotions1 not to any     
definite theory4 ,in a remarkable       
letter1 ,coleridge told ,wordsworth why 
he was disappointed with the            
,excursion4#fcd ,he had hoped that it   
would be the 'first and only true       
philosophical poem in existence4'       
,wordsworth was to have started by      
exposing the 'sandy sophisms of ,locke1'
 and after exploding ,pope's ,essay on  
,man1 and showing the vanity of         

7,erasmus7 ,darwin's belief in an       
'ourang-outang state1' and explaining   
the fall of man and the 'scheme of      
redemption1' to have concluded by 'a    
grand didactic swell on the identity of 
a true philosophy with true religion4'  
,he would show how life and intelligence
 were to be substituted for the         
'philosophy of mechanism4' ,facts would 
be elevated into theory1 theory into    
laws1 and laws into living and          
intelligent powers--true idealism       
necessarily perfecting itself in        
realism1 and realism refining itself    
into idealism4'  ,the programme was a   
large one4 ,if it represents what       
,coleridge seriously expected from      
,wordsworth1 it also suggests that he   
was unconsciously wandering into an     
exposition of one of the gigantic but   
constantly shifting schemes of a        
comprehensive philosophy1 which he was  
always proposing to execute4 ,to try to 
speak of ,coleridge adequately would be 
hopeless and out of place4 ,i must      

briefly mention him1 because he was     
undoubtedly the most conspicuous        
representative of the tendencies opposed
 to ,utilitarianism4 ,the young men who 
found ,bentham exasperating imbibed     
draughts of mingled poetry and          
philosophy from ,coleridge's monologues 
at ,hampstead4 ,carlyle has told us1 in 
a famous chapter of his ,life of        
,sterling1 what they went out to see3 at
 once a reed shaken by the wind and a   
great expounder of transcendental truth4
 ,the fact that ,coleridge exerted a    
very great influence is undeniable4 ,to 
define precisely what that influence was
 is impossible4 ,his writings are a heap
 of fragments4 ,he contemplated         
innumerable schemes for great works1 and
 never got within measurable distance of
 writing any4 ,he poured himself out    
indefinitely upon the margins of other  
men's books2 and the piety of disciples 
has collected a mass of these scattered 
and incoherent jottings1 which announce 
conclusions without giving the premises1

 or suggest difficulties without        
attempting to solve them4 ,he seems to  
have been almost as industrious as      
,bentham in writing2 but whereas        
,bentham's fragments could be put       
together as wholes1 ,coleridge's are    
essentially distracted hints of views   
never really elaborated4 ,he was always 
thinking1 but seems always to be making 
a fresh start at any point that strikes 
him for the moment4 ,besides all this1  
there is the painful question of        
plagiarism4 ,his most coherent          
exposition 7in the ,biographia          
,literaria7 is simply appropriated from 
,schelling1 though he ascribes the      
identity to a 'genial coincidence' of   
thought4 ,i need make no attempt to make
 out what ,coleridge really thought for 
himself1 and then to try to put his     
thoughts together1--and indeed hold the 
attempt to be impossible4 ,the most     
remarkable thing is the apparent        
disproportion between ,coleridge's      
definite services to philosophy and the 

effect which he certainly produced upon 
some of his ablest contemporaries4 ,that
 seems to prove that he was really      
aiming at some important aspect of      
truth1 incapable as he may have been of 
definitively reaching it4 ,i can only   
try to give a hint or two as to its     
general nature4 ,coleridge1 in the first
 place1 was essentially a poet1 and1    
moreover1 his poetry was of the type    
most completely divorced from           
philosophy4 ,nobody could say more      
emphatically that poetry should not be  
rhymed logic2 and his most impressive   
poems are simply waking dreams4 ,they   
are spontaneous incarnations of sensuous
 imagery1 which has no need of morals or
 definite logical schemes4 ,although he 
expected ,wordsworth to transmute       
philosophy into poetry1 he admitted that
 the achievement would be unprecedented4
 ,even in ,lucretius1 he said1 what was 
poetry was not philosophy1 and what was 
philosophy was not poetry4 ,yet         
,coleridge's philosophy was essentially 

the philosophy of a poet4 ,he had1      
indeed1 great dialectical ingenuity--a  
faculty which may certainly be allied   
with the highest imagination1 though it 
may involve certain temptations4 ,a poet
 who has also a mastery of dialectics   
becomes a mystic in philosophy4         
,coleridge had1 it seems1 been attracted
 by ,plotinus in his schooldays4 ,at a  
later period he had been attracted by   
,hartley1 ,berkeley1 and ,priestley4 ,to
 a brilliant youth1 anxious to be in the
 van of intellectual progress1 they     
represented the most advanced theories4 
,but there could never be a full        
sympathy between ,coleridge and the     
forefathers of ,english empiricism2 and 
he went to ,germany partly to study the 
new philosophy which was beginning to   
shine--though very feebly and           
intermittingly--in ,england4 ,when he   
had returned he began to read ,kant and 
,schelling1 or rather to mix excursions 
into their books with the miscellaneous 
inquiries to which his versatile        

intellect attracted him4  ,now1 it is   
abundantly clear that ,coleridge never  
studied any philosophy systematically4  
,he never acquired a precise            
acquaintance with the technical language
 of various schemes1 or cared for their 
precise logical relations to each other4
 ,the 'genial coincidence' with         
,schelling1 though an unlucky phrase1   
represents a real fact4 ,he dipped into 
,plotinus or ,behmen or ,kant or        
,schelling1 or any one who interested   
him1 and did not know whether they were 
simply embodying ideas already in his   
own mind1 or suggesting new ideas2 or1  
what was probably more accurate1        
expressing opinions which1 in a general 
way1 were congenial to his own way of   
contemplating the world4 ,his power of  
stimulating other minds proves          
sufficiently that he frequently hit upon
 impressive and suggestive thoughts4 ,he
 struck out illuminating sparks1 but he 
never diffused any distinct or steady   
daylight4 ,his favourite position1 for  

example1 of the distinction between the 
,reason and the ,understanding is always
 coming up and being enforced with the  
strongest asseverations of its          
importance4 ,that he had adopted it more
 or less from ,kant is obvious1 though  
,i imagine it to be also obvious that he
 did not clearly understand his         
authority4#fce ,to what1 precisely1 it  
amounts is also unintelligible to me4   
,somehow or other1 it implies that the  
mind can rise into transcendental       
regions1 and1 leaving grovelling        
,utilitarians and the like to the       
conduct of the understanding in matters 
of practical expediency1 can perceive   
that the universe is in some way evolved
 from the pure reason1 and the mind     
capable of ideas which correspond to    
stages of the evolution4 ,how this leads
 to the conclusions that the ,christian 
doctrines of the ,logos and the ,trinity
 are embodiments of pure philosophy is a
 problem upon which ,i need not touch4  
,when we have called ,coleridge a       

mystic1 with flashes of keen insight    
into the weakness of the opposite       
theory1 ,i do not see how we are to get 
much further1 or attribute to him any   
articulate and definite scheme4         
,hopelessly unsystematic as ,coleridge  
may have been1 his significance in      
regard to the ,utilitarians is          
noteworthy4 ,it is indicated in a famous
 article which ,j4 ,s4 ,mill contributed
 to the ,westminster ,review in ,march  
#ahdj4fcf ,mill's concessions to        
,coleridge rather scandalised the       
faithful2 and it is enough to observe   
here that it marks the apogee of ,mill's
 ,benthamism4 ,influences1 of which ,i  
shall have to speak1 had led him to     
regard his old creed as imperfect1 and  
to assent to great part of ,coleridge's 
doctrine4 ,mill does not discuss the    
metaphysical or theological views of the
 opposite school1 though he briefly     
intimates his dissent4 ,but it is       
interesting to observe how ,coleridge   
impressed a disciple of ,bentham4 ,the  

',germano-,coleridgian doctrine1' says  
,mill1 was a reaction against the       
philosophy of the eighteenth century3   
'ontological1' 'conservative1'          
'religious1' 'concrete and historical1' 
and finally 'poetical1' because the     
other was 'experimental1' 'innovative1' 
'infidel1' 'abstract and metaphysical1' 
and 'matter-of-fact and prosaic4' ,yet  
the two approximate1 and each helps to  
restore the balance and comes a little  
nearer to a final equilibrium4 ,the     
error of the ,french philosophers had   
been their negative and purely critical 
tendency4 ,they had thought that it was 
enough to sweep away superstition1      
priestcraft1 and despotism1 and that no 
constructive process was necessary4     
,they had not perceived the necessity of
 social discipline1 of loyalty to       
rulers1 or of patriotic feeling among   
the subjects4 ,they had1 therefore1     
entirely failed to recognise the        
historical value of old creeds and      
institutions1 and had tried to remodel  

society 'without the binding forces     
which hold society together4'#fcg       
,hence1 too1 the philosophes came to    
despise history2 and ,d',alembert is    
said to have wished that all record of  
past events could be blotted out4 ,their
 theory1 in its popular version at      
least1 came to be that states and       
churches had been got up 'for the sole  
purpose of picking people's             
pockets4'#fch ,this had become          
incredible to any intelligent reasoner1 
and any ,tory could prove that there was
 something good in the past4 ,the       
peculiarity of the                      
',germano-,coleridgian' school was that 
they saw beyond the immediate           
controversy4 ,they were the first to    
inquire with any power into 'the        
inductive laws of the existence and     
growth of human society'2 the first to  
recognise the importance of the great   
constructive principles2 and the first  
to produce not a piece of party         
advocacy1 but 'a philosophy of society  

in the only form in which it is yet     
possible1 that of a philosophy of       
history4' ,hence arose that 'series of  
great writers and thinkers1 from ,herder
 to ,michelet1' who have given to past  
history an intelligible place in the    
gradual evolution of humanity4#fci ,this
 very forcible passage is interesting in
 regard to ,mill1 and shows a very clear
 perception of some defects in his own  
philosophy4 ,it also raises an important
 question4  ,accepting ,mill's view1 it 
is remarkable that the great error of   
his own school1 which professed to be   
based upon experience1 was the rejection
 of history2 and the great merit of the 
a priori and 'intuitionist' school was  
precisely their insistence upon history4
 ,to this ,i shall have to return       
hereafter4 ,meanwhile1 ,mill proceeds to
 show how ,coleridge1 by arguing from   
the 'idea' of church and state1 had at  
least recognised the necessity of       
showing that political and social       
institutions must have a sufficient     

reason1 and be justified by something   
more than mere obstinate prejudice4 ,men
 like ,pitt and ,sir ,robert ,peel1 if  
they accepted ,coleridge's support1     
would have to alter their whole         
position4 ,coleridge's defence of his   
ideal church was at once the severest   
satire upon the existing body and a     
proof1 as against ,bentham and ,adam    
,smith1 of the advantages of an endowed 
class for the cultivation and diffusion 
of learning4 ,coleridge1 moreover1      
though he objected to the ,reform ,bill1
 showed himself a better reformer than  
,lord ,john ,russell4 ,he admitted what 
the ,whigs refused to see1 the necessity
 of diminishing the weight of the       
landowner interest4 ,landowners were not
 to be ultimate sources of power1 but to
 represent one factor in a reasoned     
system4 ,in short1 by admitting that all
 social arrangements in some sense were 
embodiments of reason1 he admitted that 
they must also be made to conform to    
reason4  ,coleridge and ,bentham1 then1 

are not really enemies but allies1 and  
they wield powers which are 'opposite   
poles of one great force of             
progression4'#fdj ,the question1        
however1 remains1 how the philosophy of 
each leader is really connected with his
 practical conclusions4 ,mill's view    
would apparently be that ,coleridge     
somehow managed to correct the errors or
 fill the gaps of the ,utilitarian      
system--a very necessary task1 as ,mill 
admits--while ,coleridge would have held
 that those errors were the inevitable  
fruit of the whole empirical system of  
thought4 ,the ,reason must be restored  
to its rightful supremacy over the      
,understanding1 which had been working  
its wicked will since the days of ,locke
 and eighteenth century4 ,the problem is
 a wide one4 ,i must be content to      
remark the inevitable antithesis4       
,whether enemies or allies1 the         
,utilitarians and their antagonists were
 separated by a gulf which could not be 
bridged for the time4 ,the men of       

common-sense1 who had no philosophy at  
all1 were shocked by the immediate      
practical applications of               
,utilitarianism1 its hostility to the   
old order which they loved1 its apparent
 helplessness in social questions1 its  
relegation of all progress to the       
conflict of selfish interests1 its      
indifference to all the virtues         
associated with patriotism and local    
ties4 ,by more reflective minds1 it was 
condemned as robbing the world of its   
poetry1 stifling the religious emotions1
 and even quenching sentiment in        
general4 ,the few who wished for a      
philosophy found the root of its errors 
in the assumptions which reduced the    
world to a chaos of atoms1 outwardly    
connected and combined into mere dead   
mechanism4 ,the world1 for the poet and 
the philosopher alike1 must be not a    
congeries of separate things1 but in    
some sense a product of reason4         
,thought1 not fact1 must be the ultimate
 reality4 ,unfortunately or otherwise1  

the poetical sentiment could never get  
itself translated into philosophical    
theory4 ,coleridge's random and         
discursive hints remained mere hints--a 
suggestion at best for future thought4  
,mill's criticism shows how far they    
could be assimilated by a singularly    
candid ,utilitarian4 ,to him1 we see1   
they represented mainly the truth that  
his own party1 following the general    
tendency of the eighteenth century1 had 
been led to neglect the vital importance
 of the constructive elements of        
society2 that they had sacrificed order 
to progress1 and therefore confounded   
progress with destruction1 and failed to
 perceive the real importance in past   
times even of the institutions which had
 become obsolete4 ,social atomism or    
individualism1 therefore1 implied a     
total misconception of what ,mill calls 
the 'evolution of humanity4' ,this marks
 a critical point4 ,the                 
',germano-,coleridgians' had a theory of
 evolution4 ,by evolution1 indeed1 was  

meant a dialectical evolution2 the      
evolution of 'ideas' or reason1 in which
 each stage of history represents a     
moment of some vast and transcendental  
process of thought4 ,evolution1 so      
understood1 seemed rightly or wrongly to
 be mere mysticism or intellectual      
juggling4 ,it took leave of fact1 or    
managed by some illegitimate process to 
give to a crude generalisation from     
experience the appearance of a purely   
logical deduction4 ,in this shape1      
therefore1 it was really opposed to     
science1 although the time was to come  
in which evolution would present itself 
in a scientific form4#fda ,meanwhile1   
the concessions made by ,j4 ,s4 ,mill   
were not approved by his fellows1 and   
would have been regarded as little short
 of treason by the older ,utilitarians4 
,the two schools1 if ,coleridge's       
followers could be called a school1     
regarded each other's doctrines as      
simply contradictory4 ,in appealing to  
experience and experience alone1 the    

,utilitarians1 as their opponents held1 
had reduced the world to a dead         
mechanism1 destroyed every element of   
cohesion1 made society a struggle of    
selfish interests1 and struck at the    
very roots of all order1 patriotism1    
poetry1 and religion4 ,they retorted    
that their critics were blind adherents 
of antiquated prejudice1 and sought to  
cover superstition and despotism either 
by unprovable dogmatic assertions1 or by
 taking refuge in a cloudy mystical     
jargon1 which really meant nothing4     
,they did not love each other4          
,,footnotes3  #faj ,see ,dictionary of  
,national ,biography1 under ',george    
,grote4' ,bentham's ,,ms4 is in the     
,british ,museum1 and shows1 ,i think1  
that ,grote's share in the work was a   
good deal more than mere editing4 ,i    
quote from a reprint by ,truelove       
7#ahge74 ,it was also privately         
reprinted by ,grote himself in #ahff4   
#faa ,cf4 ,hobbes's definition3 ',fear  
of power invisible feigned by the mind1 

or imagined from tales publicly allowed1
 is ,religion3 not allowed1             
,superstition4 ,and when the power      
imagined is truly such as we imagine1   
,true ,religion4'--,works 7,molesworth71
 iii4 #de4  #fab ',philip ,beauchamp1'  
ch4 ii4 pp4 #aa-ae4  #fac ,ibid4 p4 #ag4
  #fad ',philip ,beauchamp1' p4 #ba4    
#fae ,ibid4 pp4 #bb and #ajd4  #faf     
',philip ,beauchamp1' ch4 iii4  #fag    
',philip ,beauchamp1' ch4 iv4  #fah     
,ibid4 p4 #de1 ch4 v4  #fai ,ibid4 p4   
#eb1 ch4 vi4  #fbj ',philip ,beauchamp1'
 ch4 viii4  #fba ,ibid4 part ii4 ch4 i4 
#fbb ,ibid4 p4 #hj1 part ii4 ch4 ii4    
#fbc ',philip ,beauchamp1' pp4 #ig1 #ii4
  #fbd ,ibid4 p4 #aja4  #fbe ,ibid4 p4  
#ajc4  #fbf ',philip ,beauchamp1' p4    
#afc4  #fbg ,ibid4 p4 #abb4  #fbh ,the  
writers were ,chalmers1 ,kidd1 ,whewell1
 ,sir ,charles ,bell1 ,roget1 ,buckland1
 ,kirby1 and ,prout4 ,the essays        
appeared from #ahcc to #ahce4 ,the      
versatile ,brougham shortly afterwards  
edited ,paley's ,natural ,theology4     

#fbi ',philip ,beauchamp1' p4 #hh4  #fcj
 ,froude's ,carlyle1 i4 #bae2 ii4 #ic4  
#fca ,mill's ,dissertations1 i4 #bce2   
ii4 #acj4  #fcb ,george ,borrow's       
vehement dislike of ,scott as the       
inventor of ,puseyism and modern        
,jesuitism of all kinds is              
characteristic4  #fcc ,prelude1 bk4     
xiii4  #fcd ,coleridge's ,letters       
7#ahij71 pp4 #fdc-di4  #fce ,mr4        
,hutchison ,stirling insists upon this  
in the ,fortnightly ,review for ,july   
#ahfg4 ,he proves1 ,i think1 that       
,coleridge's knowledge of the various   
schemes of ,german philosophy and of the
 precise relation of ,kant1 ,fichte1 and
 ,schelling was altogether desultory and
 confused4 ,how far this is important   
depends upon whether we attach much or  
little importance to precise            
combinations of words used by these     
philosophers4  #fcf ,dissertations1 i4  
#cib-dgd4  #fcg ,ibid4 i4 #dbd4  #fch   
,dissertations1 i4 #dcg4  #fci ,ibid4 i4
 #dbe-bg4  #fdj ,dissertations1 i4 #dcg4

  #fda ,coleridge's ,hints towards the  
,formation of a more ,comprehensive     
,theory of ,life1 edited by ,s4 ,b4     
,watson1 in #ahdh1 is a curious attempt 
to apply his evolution doctrine to      
natural science4 ,lewes1 in his ,letters
 on ,comte's ,philosophy of the         
,sciences1 says that it is a 'shameless 
plagiarism' from ,schelling's ,erster   
,entwurf1 etc4 ,it seems1 as far as ,i  
can judge1 that ,coleridge's doctrines  
about magnetism1 reproduction1          
irritability1 sensibility1 etc41 are1 in
 fact1 adapted from ,schelling4 ,the    
book was intended1 as ,mr4 ,e4 ,h4      
,coleridge tells me1 for a chapter in a 
work on ,scrophula1 projected by        
,gillman4 ,as ,coleridge died long      
before the publication1 he cannot be    
directly responsible for not            
acknowledging obligations to ,schelling4
 ,unfortunately he cannot claim the     
benefit of a good character in such     
matters4 ,anyhow1 ,coleridge's          
occasional excursions into science can  

only represent a vague acceptance of the
 transcendental method represented1 as  
,i understand1 by ,oken4         99     
99       99       99       99  ,printed 
by ,t4 and ,a4 ,constable1 ,printers to 
her ,majesty at the ,edinburgh          
,university ,press