Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/558

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533 BENTHAM thusiasm the ideas of the radicals, who now first appeared as a political party. He went indeed the full length, not merely of repub- licanism, but on many points of democracy. He wrote pamphlets and drew up plans in be- half of parliamentary reform and other move- ments of the radicals, and became a sort of spiritual head of the party. It was he who furnished the money to set up the " Westmin- ster Review," established in 1823 as the organ of the radicals. The political editor was Mr. Bowring (afterward Sir John Bowring), with whom Bentham had formed an acquaintance through their mutual interest in the Spanish liberal movement. That acquaintance speedily ripened into a very close intimacy and friend- ship, which lasted to the end of Bentham's life. His connection with the radicals, and his ve- hement attacks on law abuses and the lawyers, had rather cooled off Lord Brougham, but in his place Bentham acquired a new disciple and pupil in the person of Daniel O'Connell. Mr. Peel, in his movements in the house of com- mons for the amendment of the criminal law, seemed to be starting in Bentham's direction. Bentham even entertained the hope that he might persuade the duke of Wellington, with whom he corresponded, to undertake, in addi- tion to Catholic emancipation, those reforms in the administration of justice which Crom- well had attempted, but in which the lawyers had baffled him. The acknowledgment of his genius by the most eminent men of his times, his world-wide reputation, and the share he was now taking in the actual movement of affairs, more than made up for the sneers, to which, indeed, he paid no attention, cast at him as a visionary schemer ; and the satisfac- tion and even gayety of the latter part of his life formed a strong contrast with the gloom of his youth and early manhood. In his last ten years he seldom left his own home, taking exercise in his garden. He retained to the last his love of music, of pet animals, cats par- ticularly, and of flowers, but spent regularly six or more hours a day in composition, em- ploying generally two secretaries. He saw no company except at dinner. His hour of dining was V ; his table was delicately spread, but ad- mission to it, though he generally had two or three guests, was only obtained as a particular favor. Dinner was followed by music on the organ. He was of a gay and lively temper, hopeful, enthusiastic, and in spirit young to the last. His last published work was his " Constitutional Code," of which a volume ap- peared in 1830. At the time of his death he was engaged with Bowring in an attempt to present his fundamental ideas in a more popu- lar form. This work was published in 1834, after his death, under the title of " Deontology." Bentham gave a practical exemplification of his principles by bequeathing his body to his friend Dr. Southworth Smith, for the purpose of dissection. A collection of his works, in 11 vols. 8vo, published at Edinburgh under the supervision of Bowring, his executor, was com- pleted in 1843. It includes, at the end, a me- moir made up principally of letters and of Ben- tham's reminiscences, as noted down by Bow- ring, very badly put together, hut containing a great deal of interesting matter. Dumont, just before his own death, edited and published at Brussels, in 1828, a complete collection of his compilations from Bentham in 6 double vol- umes, demi-octavo. A translation into English by Eichard Hildreth of the Traites de legisla- tion was published at Boston in 1840, under the title of " Theory of Legislation." It is from this work (a translation of which, with some additions from Bentham's manuscripts, is includ- ed in Bowring's edition of Bentham's works) that the general reader will best obtain a knowledge of Bentham's system. In his earlier writings, and in many of his pamphlets, Ben- tham expresses himself with great terseness and energy, but in his didactic works he often loses himself in parentheses, and protracts his sentences to a tedious length. In his later writings he sacrificed everything to precision, for which purpose he employed many new words, some of which, such as international, codify, codification, maximize, minimize, &c., have become permanent additions to the lan- guage. His analysis of human nature, on which he based his system, can hardly rank him high as a metaphysician ; his employment of the exhaustive method of reasoning frequent- ly led him into useless subdivisions and un- necessary refinements ; but he had a very acute intellect, a thorough devotion to truth, and a strong spirit of benevolence, unwarped by any selfish or party views. Unawed by authority, he appealed to reason alone, and, having devo- ted his whole life to the study of jurisprudence, his works abound with suggestions and ideas as novel as they are just. " Nobody has been so much plundered as Bentham," said some one to Talleyrand. " True," he replied ; " yet how rich he still is." In the improvements intro- duced of late years into the administration of the law, both in England and America, many of his suggestions have been followed, often without acknowledgment, or even knowledge perhaps, of the source whence they originated. There are many more of his ideas that may yet be put to use. The 4th part of his treatise on the penal code, as published by Dumont, of which the subject is the indirect means of pre- venting offences, contains a mine of wisdom, which legislative bodies might explore with advantage. ISKYI'ilAM, Thomas, an English bishop, born in Sherburn, Yorkshire, in 1513, died in 1578. He was deprived of a fellowship at Magdalen college, Oxford, in 1553, for knocking the cen- ser out of the hands of the officiating priest at mass, " in order to prevent incense being offer- ed to idols." He then travelled on the conti- nent, preached at Basel to the English exiles, and returning to England before the close of Mary's reign, ministered privately to a Protes-