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THE ENGLISH UTILITARIANS
by
LESLIE STEPHEN
In Three Volumes
VOL. II
JAMES MILL
London
Duckworth And Co.
3 Henrietta Street, W.C.
1900
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
JAMES MILL
PAGE
I. Early Life, 1
II. Bentham's Lieutenant, 7
III. Leader of the Utilitarians, 25
CHAPTER II
REFORM MOVEMENTS
I. Political Change, 41
II. Law Reform, 47
III. Economic Reform, 51
IV. Church Reform, 57
V. Sinister Interests, 62
CHAPTER III
POLITICAL THEORY
I. Mill on Government, 74
II. Whiggism, 98
III. Conservatism, 109
IV. Socialism, 119
CHAPTER IV
MALTHUS
I. Malthus's Starting-point, 137
II. The Ratios, 147
III. Moral Restraint, 156
IV. Social Remedies, 165
V. Political Application, 174
VI. Rent, 181
CHAPTER V
RICARDO
I. Ricardo's Starting-point, 186
II. The Distribution Problem, 195
III. Value and Labour, 204
IV. The Classical Political Economy, 216
V. The Ricardians, 226
CHAPTER VI
ECONOMIC HERETICS
I. The Malthusian Controversy, 238
II. Socialism, 259
CHAPTER VII
PSYCHOLOGY
I. Thomas Brown, 267
II. James Mill's _Analysis_, 287
III. James Mill's Ethics, 312
CHAPTER VIII
RELIGION
I. Philip Beauchamp, 338
II. Contemporary Thought, 361
CHAPTER I
JAMES MILL
I. EARLY LIFE
Bentham's mantle fell upon James Mill.[1] Mill expounded in the
tersest form the doctrines which in Bentham's hands spread into
endless ramifications and lost themselves in minute details. Mill
became the leader of Bentham's bodyguard; or, rather, the mediator
between the prophet in his 'hermitage' and the missionaries who were
actively engaged on the hustings and in committee-rooms. 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 opinion.
James Mill was one of the countless Scots who, having been trained at
home in strict frugality and stern Puritanic principles, have fought
their way to success in England. He was born 6th April 1773 in the
parish of Logie Pert, Forfarshire. His father, also named James Mill,
was a village shoemaker, employing two or three journeymen when at
the height of his prosperity. His mother, Isabel Fenton, daughter of a
farmer, had been a servant in Edinburgh. Her family had some claims to
superior gentility; she was fastidious, delicate in frame, and accused
of pride by her neighbours. She resolved to bring up James, her eldest
son, to be a gentleman, which practically meant to be a minister. He
probably showed early promise of intellectual superiority. He received
the usual training at the parish school, and was then sent to the
Montrose Academy, where he was the school-fellow and friend of a
younger lad, Joseph Hume (1777-1855), afterwards his political ally.
He boarded with a Montrose shopkeeper for 2s. 6d. a week, and remained
at the Academy till he was seventeen. He was never put to work in his
father's shop, and devoted himself entirely to study. The usual age
for beginning to attend a Scottish university was thirteen or
fourteen; and it would have been the normal course for a lad in Mill's
position to be sent at that age to Aberdeen. Mill's education was
prolonged by a connection which was of great service to him. Sir John
Stuart (previously Belches), of Fettercairn House, in Mill's
neighbourhood, had married Lady Jane Leslie, and was by her father of
an only child, Wilhelmina. Lady Jane was given to charity, and had set
up a fund to educate promising lads for the ministry. Mill was
probably recommended to her by the parish minister, as likely to do
credit to her patronage. He also acted as tutor to Wilhelmina, who
afterwards became the object of Scott's early passion. Mill spent much
time at Fettercairn House, and appears to have won the warm regards
both of the Stuarts and of their daughter, who spoke of him
affectionately 'with almost her last breath.'[2] The Stuarts passed
their winters at Edinburgh, whither Mill accompanied them. He entered
the university in 1790, and seems to have applied himself chiefly to
Greek and to philosophy. He became so good a Greek scholar that long
afterwards (1818) he had some thoughts of standing for the Greek chair
at Glasgow.[3] He was always a keen student of Plato. He read the
ordinary Scottish authorities, and attended the lectures of Dugald
Stewart. Besides reading Rousseau, he studied Massillon, probably with
a view to his future performances in the pulpit. Massillon might be
suggested to him by quotations in Adam Smith's _Moral Sentiments_.
There are few records of acquaintanceship with any of his
distinguished contemporaries, except the chemist Thomas Thomson, who
became a lifelong friend. He probably made acquaintance with Brougham,
and may have known Jeffrey; but he was not a member of the Speculative
Society, joined by most young men of promise.
In 1794 he began his course of divinity, and on 4th October 1798 was
licensed to preach. He lived in his father's house, where part of the
family room was screened off to form a study for him. He delivered
some sermons, apparently with little success. He failed to obtain a
call from any parish; and there are vague reports of his acting as
tutor in some families, and of a rebuff received at the table of the
marquis of Tweeddale, father of one of his pupils, which made him
resolve to seek for independence by a different career.
In 1802 Mill went to London in company with Sir John Stuart, who was
about to take his seat in parliament. Stuart procured admission for
him to the gallery of the House of Commons, where he attended many
debates, and acquired an interest in politics. His ambition, however,
depended upon his pen; and at first, it would seem, he was not more
particular than other journalists as to the politics of the papers to
which he contributed. He had obtained a testimonial from Thomson, on
the strength of which he introduced himself to John Gifford, editor of
the _Anti-Jacobin Review_.[4] This was a monthly magazine, which had
adopted the name and politics of the deceased _Anti-Jacobin_, edited
by William Gifford. Mill obtained employment, and wrote articles
implying an interest in the philosophy, and especially in the
political economy, of the time. It is noteworthy, considering his
later principles, that he should at this time have taken part in a
strong Tory organ. He wrote a pamphlet in 1804 (the first publication
under his name) to prove the impolicy of a bounty upon the exportation
of grain; and in 1807 replied in _Commerce Defended_ to William
Spence's _Britain independent of Commerce_. Meanwhile he had found
employment of a more regular kind. He had formed a connection with a
bookseller named Baldwin, for whom he undertook to help in rewriting a
book called _Nature Delineated_. This scheme was changed for a
periodical called the _Literary Journal_, which started at the
beginning of 1803, and lived through four years with Mill as editor.
At the same time apparently he edited the _St. James's Chronicle_,
also belonging to Baldwin, which had no very definite political
colour. The _Journal_ professed to give a systematic survey of
literary, scientific, and philosophical publications. For the
scientific part Mill was helped by Thomson. His own contributions show
that, although clearly a rationalist, he was still opposed to open
infidelity. A translation of Villers' _History of the Reformation_
implies similar tendencies. Other literary hack-work during this and
the next few years is vaguely indicated. Mill was making about L500 a
year or something more during his editorships, and thought himself
justified in marrying. On 5th June 1805 he became the husband of
Harriett Burrow, daughter of a widow who kept a private lunatic asylum
originally started by her husband. The Mills settled in a house in
Pentonville belonging to Mrs. Burrow, for which they paid L50 a year.
The money question soon became pressing. The editorships vanished, and
to make an income by periodical writing was no easy task. His son
observes that nothing could be more opposed to his father's later
principles than marrying and producing a large family under these
circumstances. Nine children were ultimately born, all of whom
survived their father. The family in his old home were an additional
burthen. His mother died before his departure from Scotland. His
father was paralysed, and having incautiously given security for a
friend, became bankrupt. His only brother, William, died soon
afterwards, and his only sister, Mary, married one of her father's
journeymen named Greig, and tried to carry on the business. The
father died about 1808, and the Greigs had a hard struggle, though two
of the sons ultimately set up a business in Montrose. James Mill
appears to have helped to support his father, whose debts he undertook
to pay, and to have afterwards helped the Greigs. They thought, it
seems, that he ought to have done more, but were not unlikely to
exaggerate the resources of a man who was making his way in England.
Mill was resolute in doing his duty, but hardly likely to do it
graciously. At any rate, in the early years, it must have been a
severe strain to do anything.
In spite of all difficulties Mill, by strict frugality and unremitting
energy, managed to keep out of debt. In the end of 1806 he undertook
the history of British India. This was to be the great work which
should give him a name, and enable him to rise above the herd of
contemporary journalists. He calculated the time necessary for its
completion at three years, but the years were to be more than trebled
before the book was actually finished. At that period there were fewer
facilities than there could now be for making the necessary
researches: and we do not know what were the reasons which prompted
the selection of a subject of which he could have no first-hand
knowledge. The book necessarily impeded other labours; and to the toil
of writing Mill added the toil of superintending the education of his
children. His struggle for some years was such as to require an
extraordinary strain upon all his faculties. Mill, however, possessed
great physical and mental vigour. He was muscular, well-made, and
handsome; he had marked powers of conversation, and made a strong
impression upon all with whom he came in contact. He gradually formed
connections which effectually determined his future career.
II. BENTHAM'S LIEUTENANT
The most important influence in Mill's life was the friendship with
Bentham. This appears to have begun in 1808. Mill speedily became a
valued disciple. He used to walk from Pentonville to dine with Bentham
in Queen's Square Place. Soon the elder man desired to have his new
friend nearer at hand. In 1810 Mill moved to the house in Bentham's
garden, which had once belonged to Milton; when this proved
unsuitable, he was obliged to move to a more distant abode at Stoke
Newington; but finally, in 1814, he settled in another house belonging
to Bentham, 1 Queen's Square, close under the old gentleman's wing.
Here for some years they lived in the closest intimacy. The Mills also
stayed with Bentham in his country-houses at Barrow Green, and
afterwards at Ford Abbey. The association was not without its
troubles. Bentham was fanciful, and Mill stern and rigid. No one,
however, could be a more devoted disciple. The most curious
illustration of their relations is a letter written to Bentham by
Mill, 19th September 1814, while they were both at Ford Abbey. Mill in
this declares himself to be a 'most faithful and fervent disciple' of
the truths which Bentham had the 'immortal honour' of propounding. He
had fancied himself to be his master's favourite disciple. No one is
so completely of Bentham's way of thinking, or so qualified by
position for carrying on the propaganda. Now, however, Bentham showed
that he had taken umbrage at some part of Mill's behaviour. An open
quarrel would bring discredit upon both sides, and upon their common
beliefs. The great dangers to friendship are pecuniary obligation and
too close intimacy. Mill has made it a great purpose of his life to
avoid pecuniary obligation, though he took pride in receiving
obligations from Bentham. He has confined himself to accepting
Bentham's house at a low rent, and allowing his family to live for
part of the year at Bentham's expense. He now proposes so to arrange
his future life that they shall avoid an excessively close intimacy,
from which, he thinks, had arisen the 'umbrage.' The letter, which is
manly and straightforward, led to a reconciliation, and for some years
the intercourse was as close as ever.[5]
Mill's unreserved adoption of Bentham's principles, and his resolution
to devote his life to their propagation, implies a development of
opinion. He had entirely dropped his theology. In the early years of
his London life, Mill had been only a rationalist. He had by this time
become what would now be called an agnostic. He thought 'dogmatic
atheism' absurd, says J. S. Mill;[6] 'but he held that we can know
nothing whatever as to the origin of the world.' The occasion of the
change, according to his family, was his intercourse with General
Miranda, who was sitting at Bentham's feet about this time. J. S. Mill
states that the turning-point in his father's mind was the study of
Butler's _Analogy_. That book, he thought, as others have thought, was
conclusive against the optimistic deism which it assails; but he
thought also that the argument really destroyed Butler's own
standing-ground. The evils of the world are incompatible with the
theory of Almighty benevolence. The purely logical objection was
combined with an intense moral sentiment. Theological doctrines, he
thought, were not only false, but brutal. 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
hell. Mill still attended church services for some time after his
marriage, and the children were christened. But the eldest son did not
remember the period of even partial conformity, and considered himself
to have been brought up from the first without any religious belief.
James Mill had already taken up the uncompromising position congenial
to his character, although the reticence which the whole party
observed prevented any open expression of his sentiments.
Mill's propaganda of Benthamism was for some time obscure. He helped
to put together some of Bentham's writings, especially the book upon
evidence. He was consulted in regard to all proposed publications,
such as the pamphlet upon jury-packing, which Mill desired to publish
in spite of Romilly's warning. Mill endeavoured also to disseminate
the true faith through various periodicals. He obtained admission to
the _Edinburgh Review_, probably through its chief contributor,
Brougham. 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 respectable. Mill contributed various articles from
1808 to 1813, but chiefly upon topics outside of the political sphere.
The _Edinburgh Review_, as I have said, had taken a condescending
notice of Bentham in 1804. Mill tried to introduce a better tone into
an article upon Bexon's _Code de la Legislation penale_, which he was
permitted to publish in the number for October 1809. Knowing Jeffrey's
'dislike of praise,' he tried to be on his guard, and to insinuate his
master's doctrine without openly expressing his enthusiasm. Jeffrey,
however, sadly mangled the review, struck out every mention but one of
Bentham, and there substituted words of his own for Mill's. Even as it
was, Brougham pronounced the praise of Bentham to be excessive.[7]
Mill continued to write for a time, partly, no doubt, with a view to
Jeffrey's cheques. Almost his last article (in January 1813) was
devoted to the Lancasterian controversy, in which Mill, as we shall
directly see, was in alliance with the Whigs. But the Edinburgh
Reviewers were too distinctly of the Whig persuasion to be congenial
company for a determined Radical. They would give him no more than a
secondary position, and would then take good care to avoid the
insertion of any suspicious doctrine. Mill wrote no more after the
summer of 1813.
Meanwhile he was finding more sympathetic allies. First among them was
William Allen (1770-1843), chemist, of Plough Court. Allen was a
Quaker; a man of considerable scientific tastes; successful in
business, and ardently devoted throughout his life to many
philanthropic schemes. He took, in particular, an active part in the
agitation against slavery. He was, as we have seen, one of the
partners who bought Owen's establishment at New Lanark; and his
religious scruples were afterwards the cause of Owen's retirement.
These, however, were only a part of his multifarious schemes. He was
perhaps something of a busybody; his head may have been a little
turned by the attentions which he received on all hands; he managed
the affairs of the duke of Kent; was visited by the Emperor Alexander
in 1814; and interviewed royal personages on the Continent, in order
to obtain their support in attacking the slave-trade, and introducing
good schools and prisons. But, though he may have shared some of the
weaknesses of popular philanthropists, he is mentioned with respect
even by observers such as Owen and Place, who had many prejudices
against his principles. He undoubtedly deserves a place among the
active and useful social reformers of his time.
I have already noticed the importance of the Quaker share in the
various philanthropic movements of the time. The Quaker shared many of
the views upon practical questions which were favoured by the
freethinker. Both were hostile to slavery, in favour of spreading
education, opposed to all religious tests and restrictions, and
advocates of reform in prisons, and in the harsh criminal law. The
fundamental differences of theological belief were not so productive
of discord in dealing with the Quakers as with other sects; for it was
the very essence of the old Quaker spirit to look rather to the spirit
than to the letter. Allen, therefore, 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 Kent, and, on the other hand, with James
Mill, the denouncer of kings and autocrats. He could join hands with
Mill in assailing slavery, insisting upon prison reform, preaching
toleration and advancing civilisation, although he heartily
disapproved of the doctrines with which Mill's practical principles
were associated. Mill, too, practised--even to a questionable
degree--the method of reticence, and took good care not to offend his
coadjutor.
Their co-operation was manifested in a quarterly journal called the
_Philanthropist_, which appeared during the seven years, 1811-1817,
and was published at Allen's expense. Mill found in it the opportunity
of advocating many of his cherished opinions. He defended toleration
in the name of Penn, whose life had been published by Clarkson. He
attacked the slave-owners, and so came into alliance with Wilberforce,
Zachary Macaulay, and others of the evangelical persuasion. He found,
at the same time, opportunities for propagating the creed of Bentham
in connection with questions of prison reform and the penal code. His
most important article, published in 1812, was another contribution to
the Lancasterian controversy. In this Mill had allies of a very
different school; and his activity brings him into close connection
with one of the most remarkable men of the time.[8]
This was Francis Place, the famous Radical tailor. Place, born 3rd
November 1771, had raised himself from the position of a working-man
to be occupant of a shop at Charing Cross, which became the centre of
important political movements. Between Place and Mill there was much
affinity of character. Place, like Mill, was a man of rigid and
vigorous intellect. Dogmatic, self-confident, and decidedly
censorious, not attractive by any sweetness or grace of character, but
thoroughly sincere and independent, he extorts rather than commands
our respect by his hearty devotion to what he at least believed to be
the cause of truth and progress. Place was what is now called a
thorough 'individualist.' He believed in self-reliance and energy, and
held that the class to which he belonged was to be raised, as he had
raised himself, by the exercise of those qualities, not by invoking
the direct interference of the central power, which, indeed, as he
knew it, was only likely to interfere on the wrong side. He had the
misfortune to be born in London instead of Scotland, and had therefore
not Mill's educational advantages. He tried energetically, and not
unsuccessfully, to improve his mind, but he never quite surmounted the
weakness of the self-educated man, and had no special literary talent.
His writing, in fact, is dull and long-winded, though he has the merit
of judging for himself, and of saying what he thinks.
Place had been a member of the Corresponding Society, and was at one
time chairman of the weekly committee. He had, however, disapproved of
their proceedings, and retired in time to escape the imprisonment
which finally crushed the committee. He was now occupied in building
up his own fortunes at Charing Cross. When, during the second war, the
native English Radicalism began again to raise its head, Place took a
highly important share in the political agitation. Westminster, the
constituency in which he had a vote, had long been one of the most
important boroughs. It was one of the few large popular
constituencies, and was affected by the influences naturally strongest
in the metropolis. After being long under the influence of the court
and the dean and chapter, it had been carried by Fox during the
discontents of 1780, when the reform movement took a start and the
county associations were symptoms of a growing agitation. The great
Whig leader, though not sound upon the question of reform, represented
the constituency till his death, and reform dropped out of notice for
the time. Upon Fox's death (13th September 1806) Lord Percy was
elected without opposition as his successor by an arrangement among
the ruling families. Place was disgusted at the distribution of 'bread
and cheese and beer,' and resolved to find a truly popular candidate.
In the general election which soon followed at the end of 1806 he
supported Paull, an impecunious adventurer, who made a good fight, but
was beaten by Sir J. Hood and Sheridan. Place now proposed a more
thorough organisation of the constituency, and formed a committee
intended to carry an independent candidate. Sir Francis Burdett, a
typical country gentleman of no great brains and of much aristocratic
pride, but a man of honour, and of as much liberal feeling as was
compatible with wealth and station, had sat at the feet of the old
Radical, Home Tooke. He had sympathised with the French revolution;
but was mainly, like his mentor, Tooke, a reformer of the English
type, and a believer in Magna Charta and the Bill of Rights. He had
sat in parliament, and in 1802 had been elected for Middlesex. After a
prolonged litigation, costing enormous sums, the election had been
finally annulled in 1806. He had subscribed L1000 towards Paull's
expenses; but was so disgusted with his own election experiences that
he refused to come forward as a candidate. Place's committee resolved
therefore to elect him and Paull free of expense. Disputes between
Paull and Burdett led to a duel, in which both were wounded. The
committee threw over Paull, and at the election on the dissolution of
parliament in the spring of 1807, Burdett and Cochrane--afterwards
Lord Dundonald--were triumphantly elected, defeating the Whig
candidates, Sheridan and Elliot. The election was the first triumph of
the reformers, and was due to Place more than any one. Burdett
retained his seat for Westminster until 1837, and, in spite of many
quarrels with his party, was a leading representative of the movement,
which henceforward slowly gathered strength. Place, indeed, had
apparently but scanty respect for the candidate whose success he had
secured. Burdett and his like aimed at popularity, while he was
content to be ignored so long as he could by any means carry the
measures which he approved. Place, therefore, acted as a most
efficient wire-puller, but had no ambition to leave his shop to make
speeches on the hustings.
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 Commons.
Events in 1810 led to a popular explosion, of which Burdett was the
hero. John Gale Jones, an old member of the Corresponding Societies,
had put out a placard denouncing the House of Commons for closing its
doors during a debate upon the Walcheren expedition. The House
proceeded against Jones, who was more or less advised by Place in his
proceedings. Burdett took the part of Jones, by a paper published in
Cobbett's _Register_, and was ultimately committed to the Tower in
consequence. The whole of London was for a time in a state of
excitement, and upon the verge of an outbreak. Burdett refused to
submit to the arrest. Mobs collected; soldiers filled the streets and
were pelted. Burdett, when at last he was forced to admit the
officers, appeared in his drawing-room in the act of expounding Magna
Charta to his son. That, it was to be supposed, was his usual
occupation of an afternoon. Meetings were held, and resolutions
passed, in support of the martyr to liberty; and when his imprisonment
terminated on the prorogation of parliament, vast crowds collected,
and a procession was arranged to convoy him to his home. Place had
been active in arranging all the details of what was to be a great
popular manifestation. To his infinite disgust, Burdett shrank from
the performance, and went home by water. The crowd was left to expend
its remaining enthusiasm upon the hackney carriage which contained his
fellow-sufferer Jones. Jones, in the following December, was sentenced
to twelve months' imprisonment for a libel. Cobbett, Burdett's special
supporter at this time, was also imprisoned in June 1810. For a time
the popular agitation collapsed. Place seems to have thought that the
failure was due to Burdett's want of courage, and dropped all
communication with him till a later contest at Westminster.
Place was thus at the centre of the political agitation which, for the
time, represented the most energetic reforming movement. It was in
1811 or 1812 that he became acquainted with Mill.[9] In Mill he
recognised a congenial spirit, and a man able to defend and develop
principles. He perhaps, as Professor Bain thinks, made advances to
Mill upon the strength of the history of India; and in 1814 he was
certainly endeavouring to raise money to put Mill above the need of
precarious hack-work.[10] The anticipated difficulty of persuading
Mill so far to sacrifice his independence was apparently fatal to the
scheme. Place was in occasional communication with Bentham, and
visited him at Ford Abbey in 1817. He became intimate with the great
man; helped him in business affairs; and was one of the disciples
employed to prepare his books for publication.[11] Bentham was the
source of philosophy, and Mill only his prophet. But Mill, who was
capable of activity in practical affairs, was more useful to a man of
the world. The first business which brought them into close connection
was the Lancasterian controversy. The strong interest roused by this
agitation was significant of many difficulties to come. The average
mind had been gradually coming to the conclusion that the poor should
be taught to read and write. Sunday schools and Hannah More's schools
in Somersetshire had drawn the attention of the religious world to the
subject. During the early years of the century the education question
had steadily become more prominent, and the growing interest was shown
by a singularly bitter and complicated controversy. The opposite
parties fought under the banners of Bell and Lancaster. Andrew Bell,
born at St. Andrews, 27th March 1753, was both a canny Scot and an
Anglican clergyman. He combined philanthropy with business faculties.
He sailed to India in 1787 with L128, 10s. in his pocket to be an army
chaplain; he returned in 1796 with L25,000 and a new system of
education which he had devised as superintendent of an orphan asylum.
He settled in England, published an account of his plan, and did
something to bring it into operation. Meanwhile Joseph Lancaster
(1770-1838), a young Quaker, had set up a school in London; he devised
a plan similar to that of Bell, and in 1803 published an account of
his improvements in education with acknowledgments to Bell. For a time
the two were on friendly terms. Lancaster set about propagating his
new system with more enthusiasm than discretion. His fame rapidly
spread till it reached the throne. In 1805 George III. sent for him;
the royal family subscribed to his schools; and the king declared his
wish that every child in his dominions should be taught to read the
Bible. The king's gracious wish unconsciously indicated a difficulty.
Was it safe to teach the Bible without the safeguard of authorised
interpretation? Orthodox opponents feared the alliance with a man
whose first principle was toleration, and first among them was the
excellent Mrs. Trimmer, who had been already engaged in the
Sunday-school movement. She pointed out in a pamphlet that the
schismatic Lancaster was weakening the Established Church. The
_Edinburgh Review_ came to his support in 1806 and 1807; for the Whig,
especially if he was also a Scot, was prejudiced against the Church of
England. Lancaster went on his way, but soon got into difficulties,
for he was impetuous, careless of money, and autocratic. William
Allen, with another Quaker, came to his support in 1808, and founded
the Royal Lancasterian Society to maintain his school in the Borough
Road, and propagate its like elsewhere. Lancaster travelled through
the country, and the agitation prospered, and spread even to America.
The church, however, was now fairly aroused. Bishop Marsh preached a
sermon in St. Paul's, and followed it up by pamphlets; the cause was
taken up by the _Quarterly Review_ in 1811, and in the same year the
National Society was founded to 'educate the poor in the principles of
the Established Church.' Bell had suggested a national system, but the
times were not ripe. Meanwhile the controversy became furious. The
_Edinburgh_ and the _Quarterly_ thundered on opposite sides. Immense
importance was attached by both parties to the scheme devised by Bell,
and partly adopted by Lancaster. The war involved a personal element
and the charges of plagiarism which give spice to a popular
controversy. All parties, and certainly the Utilitarians, strangely
exaggerated the value of the new method. 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 education. Believers in the
'Panopticon' saw in it another patent method of raising the general
level of intelligence. But the real question was between church and
dissent. Was the church catechism to be imposed or not? This, as we
have seen, was the occasion of Bentham's assault upon church and
catechism. On the other side, Bell's claims were supported with
enthusiasm by all the Tories, and by such men as Southey and
Coleridge. Southey, who had defended Bell in the _Quarterly_,[12]
undertook to be Bell's biographer[13] and literary executor. Coleridge
was so vehement in the cause that when lecturing upon 'Romeo and
Juliet' in 1811, he plunged by way of exordium into an assault upon
Lancaster's modes of punishment.[14] De Quincey testifies that he
became a positive bore upon Bell's virtues. In 1812 Lancaster had got
deeply into debt to the trustees of the Society, who included besides
Allen, Joseph Fox--a 'shallow, gloomy bigot' according to Place--and
some other Quakers. Lancaster resented their control, and in 1812 made
over his Borough Road school to them, and set up one of his own at
Tooting. They continued, however, to employ him, and in 1813 formed
themselves into the 'British and Foreign' School Society. Place had
known Lancaster from 1804, and Mill had supported him in the press.
They both became members of the committee, though Place took the most
active part. He makes many grave charges against Lancaster, whom he
regarded as hopelessly flighty and impracticable, if not worse.
Ultimately in 1814 Lancaster resigned his position, and naturally
retorted that Place was an infidel. Place, meanwhile, was ill at ease
with the 'gloomy bigot,' as he calls Fox. After many quarrels, Fox
succeeded in getting the upper hand, and Place finally withdrew from
the committee in 1815.
Two other schemes arose out of this, in which Mill was specially
interested, but which both proved abortive. Mill and Place resolved in
1813 to start a 'West London Lancasterian Institution,' which was to
educate the whole population west of Temple Bar. They were joined by
Edward Wakefield, father of the Edward Gibbon Wakefield who in later
years was known as an economist, and himself author of a work of
considerable reputation, _An Account of Ireland, Statistical and
Political_ (1812). The three joined Joseph Fox, and ultimately a
meeting was held in August 1813. Sir James Mackintosh was in the
chair. Mill wrote the address, and motions were proposed by his friend
Joseph Hume and by William Allen. Papers were circulated, headed
'Schools for all,'[15] and the institution was launched with a
sufficiency of applause. But the 'gloomy bigot' was secretary. He
declared that he would rather see the institution destroyed than
permit it to be used for infidel purposes. The Bible was, of course,
to be read in the schools, but Fox wished that the Bible alone should
be read. As the committee, according to Place, included four infidels,
three Unitarians, six Methodists, two Baptists, two Roman Catholics,
and several members of the Established Church, it was hardly a happy
family. To add to the confusion, Sir Francis Burdett, who had
contributed a thousand pounds, had taken it into his head that Place
was a government spy.[16] The Association, as is hardly surprising,
ceased to exist in 1816, after keeping up a school of less than three
hundred children, and ended in hopeless failure. The Utilitarians had
higher hopes from a scheme of their own. This was the Chrestomathic
school which occasioned Bentham's writing. An association was formed
in February 1814. Mackintosh, Brougham, Mill, Allen, Fox, and
Wakefield were to be trustees. The school was to apply Lancasterian
principles to the education of the middle classes, and Bentham was to
supply them with a philosophy and with a site in his garden. There the
old gentleman was to see a small version of the Panopticon building,
and, for a time, he took great delight in the prospect. Gradually,
however, it seems to have dawned upon him that there might be
inconveniences in being overlooked by a set of even model schoolboys.
There were difficulties as to funds. Ricardo offered L200 and
collected subscriptions for L900, but Place thought that he might have
been more liberal. About 1817 they counted upon subscriptions for
L2310. Allen was treasurer, Place secretary, and the dukes of Kent and
York were on the committee. Romilly was persuaded to join, and they
had hopes of the L1000 given by Burdett to the West London
Institution. But the thing could never be got into working order, in
spite of Place's efforts and Mill's counsels; and, after painful
haulings and tuggings, it finally collapsed in 1820.[17]
The efforts of the Utilitarians to effect anything directly in the way
of education thus fell completely flat. One moral is sufficiently
obvious. They were, after all, but a small clique, regarded with
suspicion by all outsiders; and such a system as could seriously
affect education could only be carried out either by government,
which was thinking of very different things, or by societies already
connected with the great religious bodies. The only function which
could be adequately discharged by the little band of Utilitarians was
to act upon public opinion; and this, no doubt, they could do to some
purpose. I have gone so far into these matters in order to illustrate
their position; but, as will be seen, Mill, though consulted at every
stage by Place, and doing what he could to advocate the cause, was,
after all, in the background. He was still wrestling with the Indian
History, which was, as he hoped, to win for him an independent
position. The effort was enormous. In 1814 he told Place that he was
working at the History from 5 A.M. till 11 P.M. When at Ford Abbey his
regular day's work began at 6 A.M. and lasted till 11 P.M., during
which time three hours were given to teaching his children, and a
couple of short walks supplied him with recreation. How, with all his
energy, he managed to pay his way is a mystery, which his biographer
is unable fully to solve.[18]
The History at last appeared in 3 vols. 4to, at the end of 1817. Dry
and stern as its author, and embodying some of his political
prejudices, it was at least a solid piece of work, which succeeded at
once, and soon became the standard book upon the subject. Mill argues
in the preface with characteristic courage that his want of personal
knowledge of India was rather an advantage. It made him impartial. A
later editor[19] has shown that it led to some serious misconceptions.
It is characteristic of the Utilitarian attitude to assume that a
sufficient knowledge of fact can always be obtained from blue-books
and statistics. Some facts require imagination and sympathy to be
appreciated, and there Mill was deficient. He could not give an
adequate picture of Hindoo beliefs and customs, though he fully
appreciated the importance of such questions. Whatever its
shortcomings, the book produced a remarkable change in Mill's
position. He applied for a vacant office in the India House. His
friends, Joseph Hume and Ricardo, made interest for him in the city.
Place co-operated energetically.[20] Canning, then president of the
Board of Control, is said to have supported him; and the general
impression of his ability appears to have caused his election, in
spite of some Tory opposition. He became Assistant to the Examiner of
India Correspondence, with a salary of L800 on 12th May 1819. On 10th
April 1821 he became Second Assistant, with L1000 a year; on 9th April
1823 he was made Assistant Examiner, with L1200 a year; and on 1st
December 1830 Examiner, with L1900, which on 17th February 1836 was
raised to L2000. The official work came in later years to absorb the
greatest part of Mill's energy, and his position excluded him from any
active participation in politics, had he ever been inclined for it.
Mill, however, set free from bondage, was able to exert himself very
effectually with his pen; and his writings became in a great degree
the text-books of his sect.
During 1818 he had again co-operated with Place in a political matter.
The dissolution of parliament in 1818 produced another contest at
Westminster. Place and Mill were leaders in the Radical committee,
which called a public meeting, where Burdett and Kinnaird were chosen
as candidates. They were opposed to Romilly, the old friend of Bentham
and of Mill himself. Both Mill and Bentham regarded him as not
sufficiently orthodox. Romilly, however, was throughout at the head of
the poll, and the Radical committee were obliged to withdraw their
second candidate, Kinnaird, in order to secure the election of Burdett
against the government candidate Maxwell. Romilly soon afterwards
dined at Bentham's house, and met Mill, with Dumont, Brougham, and
Rush, on friendly terms. On Romilly's sad death on 2nd November
following, Mill went to Worthing to offer his sympathy to the family,
and declared that the 'gloom' had 'affected his health.' He took no
part in the consequent election, in which Hobhouse stood
unsuccessfully as the Radical candidate.
III. LEADER OF THE UTILITARIANS
Politics were beginning to enter upon a new phase. The period was
marked by the 'Six Acts' and the 'Peterloo massacre.' The Radical
leaders who upheld the cause in those dark days were not altogether to
the taste of the Utilitarians. After Burdett, John Cartwright
(1740-1824) and Henry (or 'Orator') Hunt (1773-1835), hero of the
'Peterloo massacre,' were the most conspicuous. They were supported by
Cobbett, the greatest journalist of the time, and various more obscure
writers. The Utilitarians held them in considerable contempt. Burdett
was flashy, melodramatic, and vain; Hunt an 'unprincipled demagogue';
and Cartwright, the Nestor of reform, who had begun his labours in
1780, was, according to Place, wearisome, impracticable, and a mere
nuisance in matters of business. The Utilitarians tried to use such
men, but shared the Tory opinion of their value. They had some
relations with other obscure writers who were martyrs to the liberty
of the press. Place helped William Hone in the _Reformer's Register_,
which was brought out in 1817. The famous trial in which Hone
triumphed over Ellenborough occurred at the end of that year. Richard
Carlile (1790-1843), who reprinted Hone's pamphlets, and in 1818
published Paine's works, was sentenced in 1819 to three years'
imprisonment; and while in confinement began the _Republican_, which
appeared from 1819 to 1826. Ultimately he passed nine years in jail,
and showed unflinching courage in maintaining the liberty of speech.
The Utilitarians, as Professor Bain believes, helped him during his
imprisonments, and John Mill's first publication was a protest against
his prosecution.[21] A 'republican, an atheist, and Malthusian,' he
was specially hated by the respectable, and had in all these
capacities claims upon the sympathy of the Utilitarians. One of
Carlile's first employments was to circulate the _Black Dwarf_, edited
by Thomas Jonathan Wooler from 1817 to 1824.[22] This paper
represented Cartwright, but it also published Bentham's reform
_Catechism_, besides direct contributions and various selections from
his works.
The Utilitarians were opposed on principle to Cobbett, a reformer of a
type very different from their own; and still more vitally opposed to
Owen, who was beginning to develop his Socialist schemes. If they had
sympathy for Radicalism of the Wooler or Carlile variety, they
belonged too distinctly to the ranks of respectability, and were too
deeply impressed with the necessity of reticence, to allow their
sympathies to appear openly. As, on the other hand, they were too
Radical in their genuine creed to be accepted by Edinburgh Reviewers
and frequenters of Holland House, there was a wide gap between them
and the genuine Whig. Their task therefore was to give a political
theory which should be Radical in principle, and yet in such a form as
should appeal to the reason of the more cultivated readers without too
openly shocking their prejudices.
James Mill achieved this task by the publication of a series of
articles in the Supplement to the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, which
appeared from 1816 to 1823, of which I shall presently speak at
length. It passed for the orthodox profession of faith among the
little circle of friends who had now gathered round him. First among
them was David Ricardo. He had become known to Mill in 1811. 'I,' said
Bentham, 'was the spiritual father of Mill, and Mill the spiritual
father of Ricardo.'[23] Mill was really the disciple of Ricardo in
economics; but it was Mill who induced him to publish his chief work,
and Mill's own treatise upon the subject published in 1820 is
substantially an exposition of Ricardo's doctrine. Mill, too,
encouraged Ricardo to take a seat in parliament in 1818, and there for
the short remainder of his life, Ricardo defended the characteristic
Utilitarian principles with the authority derived from his reputation
as an economist.[24] The two were now especially intimate. During
Mill's first years in the India House, his only recreation was an
annual visit to Ricardo at Gatcombe. Meetings at Ricardo's house in
London led to the foundation of the 'Political Economy Club' in 1821.
Mill drafted the rules of the club, emphasising the duty of members to
propagate sound economic opinions through the press. The club took
root and helped to make Mill known to politicians and men of
commercial influence. One of the members was Malthus, who is said, and
the assertion is credible enough, to have been generally worsted by
Mill in the discussions at the club. Mill was an awkward antagonist,
and Malthus certainly not conspicuous for closeness of logic. 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 position. His old school-fellow Joseph
Hume had made a fortune in India, and returned to take a seat in
parliament and become the persistent and tiresome advocate of many of
the Utilitarian doctrines. A younger generation was growing up,
enthusiastic in the cause of reform, and glad to sit at the feet of
men who claimed at least to be philosophical leaders. John Black
(1783-1855), another sturdy Scot, who came from Duns in Berwickshire,
had, in 1817, succeeded Perry as editor of the _Morning Chronicle_.
The _Chronicle_ was an opposition paper, and day by day Black walked
with Mill from the India House, discussing the topics of the time and
discharging himself through the _Chronicle_. The _Chronicle_ declined
after 1821, owing to a change in the proprietorship.[25] Albany
Fonblanque (1793-1872) took to journalism at an early age, succeeded
Leigh Hunt as leader-writer for the _Examiner_ in 1826, became
another exponent of Utilitarian principles, and for some time in
alliance with John Stuart Mill was among the most effective
representatives of the new school in the press. John Ramsay M'Culloch
(1789-1864) upheld the economic battle in the _Scotsman_ at Edinburgh
from 1817-1827, and edited it from 1818-1820. He afterwards devoted
himself to lecturing in London, and was for many years the most ardent
apostle of the 'dismal science.' He was a genial, whisky-loving Scot;
the favourite object of everybody's mimicry; and was especially
intimate with James Mill. Many other brilliant young men contributed
their help in various ways. Henry Bickersteth (1783-1851), afterwards
Lord Langdale and Master of the Rolls, had brought Bentham and Burdett
into political alliance; and his rising reputation at the bar led to
his being placed in 1824 upon a commission for reforming the procedure
of the Court of Chancery, one of the most cherished objects of the
Utilitarian creed. Besides these there were the group of young men,
who were soon to be known as the 'philosophical Radicals.' John Stuart
Mill, upon whom the mantle of his father was to descend, was
conspicuous by his extraordinary precocity, and having been carefully
educated in the orthodox faith, was employed in 1825 upon editing
Bentham's great work upon evidence. George Grote (1794-1871), the
future historian, had been introduced to Mill by Ricardo; and was in
1821 defending Mill's theory of government against Mackintosh, and in
1822 published the _Analysis of Revealed Religion_, founded upon
Bentham's manuscripts and expressing most unequivocally the
Utilitarian theory of religion. With them were associated the two
Austins, John (1790-1859) who, in 1821, lived close to Bentham and
Mill in Queen's Square, and who was regarded as the coming teacher of
the Utilitarian system of jurisprudence; and Charles (1799-1874), who
upheld the true faith among the young gentlemen at Cambridge with a
vigour and ability which at least rivalled the powers of his
contemporary, Macaulay. Meanwhile, Mill himself was disqualified by
his office from taking any direct part in political agitations. Place
continued an active connection with the various Radical committees and
associations; but the younger disciples had comparatively little
concern in such matters. They were more interested in discussing the
applications of Utilitarianism in various directions, or, so far as
they had parliamentary aspirations, were aspiring to found a separate
body of 'philosophical Radicals,' which looked down upon Place and his
allies from the heights of superior enlightenment.
Mill could now look forward to a successful propaganda of the creed
which had passed so slowly through its period of incubation. The death
of Ricardo in 1823 affected him to a degree which astonished his
friends, accustomed only to his stern exterior. A plentiful crop of
young proselytes, however, was arising to carry on the work; and the
party now became possessed of the indispensable organ. The
_Westminster Review_ was launched at the beginning of 1824. Bentham
provided the funds; Mill's official position prevented him from
undertaking the editorship, which was accordingly given to Bentham's
young disciple, Bowring, helped for a time by Henry Southern. The
_Westminster_ was to represent the Radicals as the two older reviews
represented the Whigs and the Tories; and to show that the new party
had its philosophers and its men of literary cultivation as well as
its popular agitators and journalists. It therefore naturally put
forth its claims by opening fire in the first numbers against the
_Edinburgh_ and the _Quarterly Reviews_. The assault upon the
_Edinburgh Review_, of which I shall speak presently, made an
impression, and, as J. S. Mill tells us, brought success to the first
number of the new venture. The gauntlet was thrown down with plenty of
vigour, and reformers were expected to rally round so thoroughgoing a
champion. In later numbers Mill afterwards (Jan. 9, 1826) fell upon
Southey's _Book of the Church_, and (April 1826) assailed church
establishments in general. He defended toleration during the same year
in a review of Samuel Bailey's _Formation of Opinions_, and gave a
general account of his political creed in an article (October) on the
'State of the Nation.' This was his last contribution to the
_Westminster_; but in 1827 he contributed to the _Parliamentary
History and Review_, started by James Marshall of Leeds, an article
upon recent debates on reform, which ended for a time his political
writings.
The Utilitarians had no great talent for cohesion. Their very
principles were indeed in favour of individual independence, and they
were perhaps more ready to diverge than to tolerate divergence. The
_Westminster Review_ had made a good start, and drew attention to the
rising 'group'--J. S. Mill declares that it never formed a
'school.'[26] From the very first the Mills distrusted Bowring and
disapproved of some articles; the elder Mill failed to carry his
disciples with him, partly because they were already in favour of
giving votes to women; and as the _Review_ soon showed itself unable
to pay its way, some new arrangement became necessary. It was finally
bought by Perronet Thompson, and ceased for a time to be the official
organ of Benthamism.
Another undertaking occupied much of Mill's attention in the following
years. The educational schemes of the Utilitarians had so far proved
abortive. In 1824, however, it had occurred to the poet, Thomas
Campbell, then editing the _New Monthly Magazine_, that London ought
to possess a university comparable to that of Berlin, and more on a
level with modern thought than the old universities of Oxford and
Cambridge, which were still in the closest connection with the church.
Campbell addressed a letter to Brougham, and the scheme was taken up
energetically on several sides. Place[27] wrote an article, which he
offered to Campbell for the _New Monthly_, who declined out of modesty
to publish it in his own organ. It was then offered to Bowring for the
_Westminster_, and ultimately suppressed by him, which may have been
one of the causes of his differences with the Mills. Brougham took a
leading part in the agitation; Joseph Hume promised to raise L100,000.
George Birkbeck, founder of the Mechanics' Institution, and Zachary
Macaulay, who saw in it a place of education for dissenting ministers,
joined the movement, and among the most active members of the new body
were James Mill and Grote. A council was formed at the end of 1825,
and after various difficulties a sum of L160,000 was raised, and the
university started in Gower Street in 1828. Among the first body of
professors were John Austin and M'Culloch, both of them sound
Utilitarians. The old difficulty, however, made itself felt. In order
to secure the unsectarian character of the university, religious
teaching was omitted. The college was accused of infidelity. King's
College was started in opposition; and violent antipathies were
aroused. A special controversy raged within the council itself. Two
philosophical chairs were to be founded; and philosophy cannot be kept
clear of religion. After long discussions, one chair was filled by the
appointment of the Reverend John Hoppus, an independent minister.
Grote, declaring that no man, pledged by his position to the support
of any tenets, should be appointed, resigned his place on the
council.[28] The university in 1836 became a college combined with its
rival King's College under the newly formed examining body called the
University of London. It has, I suppose, been of service to education,
and may be regarded as the one practical achievement of the
Utilitarians in that direction, so far as its foundation was due to
them. It must, however, be admitted that the actual body still falls
very far short of the ideal present to the minds of its founders.
From 1822 James Mill spent his vacations at Dorking, and afterwards at
Mickleham. He had devoted them to a task which was necessary to fill a
gap in the Utilitarian scheme. Hitherto the school had assumed, rather
than attempted to establish, a philosophical basis of its teaching.
Bentham's fragmentary writings about the Chrestomathic school supplied
all that could by courtesy be called a philosophy. Mill, however, had
been from the first interested in philosophical questions. His reading
was not wide; he knew something of the doctrines taught by Stewart and
Stewart's successor, Brown. He had been especially impressed by
Hobbes, to some degree by Locke and Hume, but above all by Hartley. He
knew something, too, of Condillac and the French Ideologists. Of
recent German speculation he was probably quite ignorant. I find
indeed that Place had called his attention to the account of Kant,
published by Wirgman in the _Encyclopaedia Londinensis_ 1817. Mill
about the same time tells Place that he has begun to read _The Critic
of Pure Reason_. 'I see clearly enough,' he says, 'what poor Kant
would be about, but it would require some time to give an account of
him.' He wishes (December 6, 1817) that he had time to write a book
which would 'make the human mind as plain as the road from Charing
Cross to St. Paul's.'[29] This was apparently the task to which he
applied himself in his vacations. The _Analysis_ appeared in 1829,
and, whatever its defects of incompleteness and one-sidedness from a
philosophical point of view, shows in the highest degree Mill's powers
of close, vigorous statement; and lays down with singular clearness
the psychological doctrine, which from his point of view supplied the
fundamental theorems of knowledge in general. It does not appear,
however, to have made an impression proportionate to the intellectual
power displayed, and had to wait a long time before reaching the
second edition due to the filial zeal of J. S. Mill.
James Mill, after his articles in the _Westminster_, could take
little part in political agitation. He was still consulted by Place in
regard to the Reform movement. Place himself took an important part at
the final crisis, especially by his circulation in the week of agony
of the famous placard, 'Go for Gold.' But the Utilitarians were now
lost in the crowd. The demand for reform had spread through all
classes. 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 large. The old Toryism could no longer
support itself by appealing to the necessities of a struggle for
national existence. The prestige due to the victorious end of the war
had faded away. The Reform Bill of 1832 was passed, and the
Utilitarians hoped that the millennium would at least begin to dawn.
Mill in 1830 removed from Queen's Square to Vicarage Place,
Kensington. He kept his house at Mickleham, and there took long Sunday
walks with a few of his disciples. His strength was more and more
absorbed in his official duties. He was especially called upon to give
evidence before the committees which from 1830 to 1833 considered the
policy to be adopted in renewing the charter of the East India
Company. Mill appeared as the advocate of the company, defended their
policy, and argued against the demands of the commercial body which
demanded the final suppression of the old trading monopoly of the
Company. The abolition, indeed, was a foregone conclusion; but Mill's
view was not in accordance with the doctrines of the thoroughgoing
freetraders. His official experience, it seems, upon this and other
matters deterred him from the _a priori_ dogmatism too characteristic
of his political speculations. Mill also suggested the formation of a
legislative council, which was to contain one man 'versed in the
philosophy of men and government.' This was represented by the
appointment of the legal member of council in the Act of 1833. Mill
approved of Macaulay as the first holder of the post. It was 'very
handsome' of him, as Macaulay remarks, inasmuch as the famous articles
written by Macaulay himself, in which the _Edinburgh_ had at last
retorted upon the Utilitarians, must still have been fresh in his
memory. 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 rule, and the influence of the chief of Bentham's
disciples at the India House may have had something to do with its
initiation. Macaulay's chief subordinate, it may be remarked, Charles
Hay Cameron, was one of the Benthamites, and had been proposed by
Grote for the chair at the London University ultimately filled by
Hoppus.
After 1830 Mill wrote the severe fragment on Mackintosh, which, after
a delay caused by Mackintosh's death, appeared in 1835. He contributed
some articles to the _London Review_, founded by Sir W. Molesworth, as
an organ of the 'philosophical Radicals,' and superintended, though
not directly edited, by J. S. Mill. These, his last performances,
repeat the old doctrines. It does not appear, indeed, that Mill ever
altered one of his opinions. He accepted Bentham's doctrine to the
end, as unreservedly as a mathematician might accept Newton's
_Principia_.
Mill's lungs had begun to be affected. It was supposed that they were
injured by the dust imbibed on coach journeys to Mickleham. He had a
bad attack of haemorrhage in August 1835, and died peacefully on 23rd
June 1836.
What remains to be said of Mill personally may be suggested by a
noticeable parallel. S. T. Coleridge, born about six months before
Mill, died two years before him. The two lives thus coincided for more
than sixty years, and each man was the leader of a school. In all else
the contrast could hardly be greater. If we were to apply the rules of
ordinary morality, it would be entirely in Mill's favour. Mill
discharged all his duties as strenuously as a man could, 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 it. Whatever Mill undertook he accomplished, often
in the face of enormous difficulties. Coleridge never finished
anything, and his works are a heap of fragments of the prolegomena to
ambitious schemes. Mill worked his hardest from youth to age, never
sparing labour or shirking difficulties or turning aside from his
path. Coleridge dawdled through life, solacing himself with opium, and
could only be coaxed into occasional activity by skilful diplomacy.
Mill preserved his independence by rigid self-denial, temperance, and
punctuality. Coleridge was always dependent upon the generosity of his
friends. Mill brought up a large family, and in the midst of severe
labours found time to educate them even to excess. Coleridge left his
wife and children to be cared for by others. And Coleridge died in the
odour of sanctity, revered by his disciples, and idolised by his
children; while Mill went to the grave amidst the shrugs of
respectable shoulders, and respected rather than beloved by the son
who succeeded to his intellectual leadership.
The answer to the riddle is indeed plain enough; or rather there are
many superabundantly obvious answers. Had Mill defended orthodox views
and Coleridge been avowedly heterodox, we should no doubt have heard
more of Coleridge's opium and of Mill's blameless and energetic life.
But this explains little. That Coleridge was a man of genius and,
moreover, of exquisitely poetical genius, and that Mill was at most a
man of remarkable talent and the driest and sternest of logicians is
also obvious. It is even more to the purpose that Coleridge was
overflowing with kindliness, though little able to turn goodwill to
much effect; whereas Mill's morality took the form chiefly of
attacking the wicked. 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 few.[30] J. S. Mill very properly protested
against this statement when it was quoted in the _Edinburgh Review_.
It would obviously imply a gross misunderstanding, whether Bentham,
not a good observer of men, said so or not. But it indicates the side
of Mill's character which made him unattractive to contemporaries and
also to posterity. He partook, says his son,[31] of the Stoic, the
Epicurean, and the Cynic character. He was a Stoic in his personal
qualities; an Epicurean so far as his theory of morals was concerned;
and a Cynic in that he cared little for pleasure. He thought life a
'poor thing' after the freshness of youth had passed; and said that
he had never known an old man happy unless he could live over again in
the pleasures of the young. Temperance and self-restraint were
therefore his favourite virtues. He despised all 'passionate
emotions'; he held with Bentham that feelings by themselves deserved
neither praise nor blame; he condemned a man who did harm whether the
harm came from malevolence or from intellectual error. Therefore all
sentiment was objectionable, for sentiment means neglect of rules and
calculations. He shrank from showing feeling with more than the usual
English reserve; and showed his devotion to his children by drilling
them into knowledge with uncompromising strictness. He had no feeling
for the poetical or literary side of things; and regarded life, it
would seem, as a series of arguments, in which people were to be
constrained by logic, not persuaded by sympathy. He seems to have
despised poor Mrs. Mill, and to have been unsuccessful in concealing
his contempt, though in his letters he refers to her respectfully.
Mill therefore was a man little likely to win the hearts of his
followers, though his remarkable vigour of mind dominated their
understandings.
The amiable and kindly, whose sympathies are quickly moved, gain an
unfair share of our regard both in life and afterwards. We are more
pleased by an ineffectual attempt to be kindly, than by real kindness
bestowed ungraciously. Mill's great qualities should not be overlooked
because they were hidden by a manner which seems almost deliberately
repellent. He devoted himself through life to promote the truth as he
saw it; to increase the scanty amounts of pleasures enjoyed by
mankind; and to discharge all the duties which he owed to his
neighbours. He succeeded beyond all dispute in forcibly presenting one
set of views which profoundly influenced his countrymen; and the very
narrowness of his intellect enabled him to plant his blows more
effectively.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The chief authority for James Mill is _James Mill: a Biography_,
by Alexander Bain, Emeritus Professor of Logic in the University of
Aberdeen, London, 1882. The book contains very full materials; and, if
rather dry, deals with a dry subject.
[2] Wallas's _Francis Place_, p. 70 _n._
[3] Bain's _James Mill_, p. 166.
[4] Gifford's real name was John Richards Green. The identity of his
assumed name with that of the more famous William Gifford has led to a
common confusion between the two periodicals. 'Peter Pindar' assaulted
William Gifford under the erroneous impression that he was editor of
the second.
[5] Letter in Bain's _James Mill_, pp. 136-40.
[6] _Autobiography_, p. 39.
[7] Bain's _James Mill_, pp. 97-106. Mill appears to have said
something 'extravagant' about Bentham in an article upon Miranda in
the _Edinburgh Review_ for January 1809. He also got some praises of
Bentham into the _Annual Review_ of 1809 (Bain, 92-96).
[8] See the very interesting Life of Francis Place, by Mr. Graham
Wallas, 1898.
[9] Bain's _James Mill_, p. 78, and Wallas's _Francis Place_, p. 66.
[10] Wallas's _Francis Place_, p. 68.
[11] He 'put together' the _Not Paul but Jesus_ at Ford Abbey in 1817,
and helped to preface the Reform _Catechism_. Wallas's _Francis
Place_, p. 84.
[12] The article of 1811 was also published separately.
[13] He wrote only the first volume. Two others were added by Cuthbert
Southey.
[14] _Lectures_ (Ashe, 1885), pp. 32, 61.
[15] James Mill, according to Place, wrote a 'memorable and admirable
essay, "Schools for all, not schools for Churchmen only."'--Wallas's
_Francis Place_, 99 _n._
[16] This absurd suspicion was aroused by the quarrel about Burdett's
arrest. See Wallas's _Place_, p. 56.
[17] Mr. Wallas gives an account of these schemes in chap. iv. of his
Life of Place. I have also consulted Place's collections in Additional
MSS., 27,823.
[18] Bain's _James Mill_, p. 162.
[19] H. H. Wilson in his preface to the edition of 1840.
[20] Wallas's _Francis Place_, p. 78.
[21] Bain's _James Mill_, p. 435.
[22] _Ibid._ p. 433.
[23] Bentham's _Works_, p. 498.
[24] See Carman in _Economic Review_, 1894.
[25] See under Black in _Dictionary of National Biography_.
[26] _Autobiography_, p. 101.
[27] See Place's account in Additional MSS. 27,823.
[28] G. C. Robertson, _Philosophical Remains_, p. 166; and under
George Grote in _Dictionary of National Biography_.
[29] Letters communicated by Mr. Graham Wallas. See Mr. Wallas's
_Francis Place_, p. 91.
[30] So Place observed that Mill 'could help the mass, but could not
help the individual, not even himself or his own.'--Wallas's _Francis
Place_, p. 79.
[31] _Autobiography_, p. 48.