The English Utilitarians Volume II Part 3

[36] Romilly's attempts to improve the criminal law began in 1808. For various notices of his efforts, see his _Life_ (3 vols. 1860), especially vol. ii. 243-54, 309, 321, 331, 369, 371, 389-91. Romilly was deeply interested in Dumont's _Theorie des Peines Legales_ (1811), which he read in MS. and tried to get reviewed in the _Quarterly_ (ii.

258, 391; iii. 136). The remarks (ii. 2-3) 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 connection.

[37] Bentham's _Works_, x. p. 574.

[38] Brougham's _Speeches_ (1838), ii. 287-486.

[39] An interesting summary of the progress of law reforms and of Bentham's share in them is given in Sir R. K. Wilson's _History of Modern English Law_ (1875).

[40] Bentham's _Works_, x. 571.

[41] In Cambridge Pryme was the first professor in 1828, but had only the t.i.tle without endowment. The professors.h.i.+p was only salaried in 1863.

[42] Ricardo's _Works_ (1888), p. 407.

[43] Printed in Porter's _Progress of the Nation_ and elsewhere.

[44] See sixth volume of _History of Prices_ by Tooke and Newmarch, and privately printed _Minutes of Political Economy Club_ (1882).

[45] _Speeches_, 3 vols. 8vo, 1831.

[46] _Ibid._ ii. 465-530.

[47] _Ibid._ ii. 477.

[48] Bentham's _Works_, ii. 459. We may remember how J. S. Mill in his boyhood was abashed because he could not explain to his father the force of the distinction.

[49] _Speeches_, ii. 246, 332.

[50] _Ibid._ i. 102-108 (Currency Pamphlet of 1810).

[51] _Ibid._ ii. 397.

[52] _Speeches_, iii. 257.

[53] Ricardo indeed made a reservation as to the necessity of counterbalancing by a moderate duty the special burthens upon agriculture.

[54] In the _History of Trades-Unionism_ by Sidney and Beatrice Webb (1894), pp. 88-98. The history of Place's agitation is fully given in Mr. Graham Wallas's _Life_, chap. viii.

[55] Wallas's Francis _Place_, p. 217.

[56] First published in 1807-8.

[57] _Letter_ iii.

[58] _Ibid._ vi.

[59] Sydney Smith put very ingeniously the advantages of what he called the 'lottery' system: of giving, that is, a few great prizes, instead of equalising the incomes of the clergy. Things look so different from opposite points of views.

[60] _Church of Englandism_, ii. 199.

[61] See especially his review of Southey's _Book of the Church_.

[62] Romilly's _Memoirs_, iii. 33.

[63] 57 George III. caps. 60-67.

[64] Edition of 1828, p. 24.

[65] _Ibid._ p. 10.

[66] A Mr. Gray proposed at a county meeting in 1816 that the cry of 'retrenchment and reform' should be raised in every corner of the island (Henry Jephson's _Platform_, p. 378). I do not know whether this was the first appearance of the formula.

[67] Hume had been introduced to Place by James Mill, who thought him worth 'nursing.' Place found him at first 'dull and selfish,' but 'nursed him' so well that by 1836 he had become the 'man of men,'--Wallas's _Francis Place_, p. 181, 182.

[68] Torrens's _Life of Graham_, i. 250-72, where his great speech of 14th May 1830 is given.

[69] 2 and 3 William IV. cap. 111 (pa.s.sed 15 August 1832).

[70] 4 and 5 William IV. cap. 15.

[71] _The Platform, its Origin and Progress_, by Henry Jephson (1892), gives a very interesting historical account of the process.

[72] 57 George III. cap. 19, and 60 George III. cap. 6.

[73] See Jephson's _Platform_, pp. 167-70.

[74] See Jephson's _Platform_, i. 348, 455, 517.

[75] See _Ibid._ ii. 129-40 for some interesting pa.s.sages as to this.

[76] _Official Correspondence_ (1887), 308.

[77] Greville's _George IV. and William IV._, iii. 155, 167-69, 171.

[78] Bentham's _Works_, x. 571.

[79] Romilly's _Memoirs_, ii. 67, 222.

CHAPTER III

POLITICAL THEORY

I. MILL ON GOVERNMENT