Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 37.djvu/411

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Mill
397
Mill

to his duties with singular assiduity, and even provoked the remonstrances of his friends for wasting energy upon mere routine drudgery. Mill chiefly followed Mr. Gladstone in the various parliamentary contests which led finally to the passage of the Reform Bill of 1867. He spoke upon his own favourite schemes, the extension of the franchise to women and the introduction of some system of cumulative voting. After the Hyde Park riots of 1866 he had some influence in persuading the leaders to give up their intention of holding a second meeting in defiance of the government. He helped afterwards to talk out a measure, introduced by the conservative government, for preventing meetings in the parks. He took a strong part in Irish questions, giving offence by denouncing English methods of government upon the suspension of the habeas corpus on 17 Feb. 1866. In 1868 he published a pamphlet upon 'England and Ireland,' and afterwards spoke in the house upon the same topic. While holding a separation to be undesirable for both countries, he proposed to settle the land question by giving a permanent tenure to the tenants, and allowing as an alternative the sale of the landlords' estates to the government. He endeavoured also to procure the establishment of a municipal government for London, and served on a committee which considered the question in 1866. A speech (17 April 1866) in which he urged the duty of paying off the national debt before our coal was exhausted (suggested by a pamphlet of William Stanley Jevons [q. v.]) also made a favourable impression. Another movement in which he took a considerable share during 1866 and 1867 was the attempted prosecution of Governor Eyre for his action in suppressing the Jamaica insurrection. Mill was for a time chairman of the 'Jamaica Committee,' formed to promote the prosecution; he spoke in the house on its behalf, and received a good deal of personal abuse in consequence.

After the dissolution of 1868 Mill lost his seat. The Eyre business had given offence to some of his own party; the feeling against 'theoretical' politicians had been revived by his advocacy of Hare's scheme and other doctrines; and he shocked some supporters by subscribing to the election expenses of Bradlaugh, among other working-class candidates.

His parliamentary duties had not absorbed Mill's whole attention. At the end of 1866 he had written a long address to the students of St. Andrews, by whom he had been elected rector. He brought out a third edition of his 'Hamilton,' with replies to critics. He then edited his father's 'Analysis' in cooperation with Dr. Findlater and his old friend Professor Bain, who had first made his acquaintance in 1839, and who had helped him in the various editions of the 'Logic' both by criticisms and by supplying him with illustrations. Upon losing his seat he returned to his literary pursuits, intending to divide his time between Avignon and Blackheath. His parliamentary career had greatly increased his correspondence, and brought Jrim into contact with many rising young men. Among his chief friends in later life were Thomas Hare, whose scheme he had adopted, W. T. Thornton, his colleague in the India House, Professor Cairnes, Henry Fawcett, and Mr. John Morley. He wrote for the 'Fortnightly,' then edited by Mr. Morley, various articles, which formed the fourth volume of his 'Dissertations.' He published in 1869 his last book, the 'Subjection of Women,' written in 1861. His step-daughter co-operated in this book, which was partly also the product of conversations with her mother. He speaks of his singular good fortune in drawing such 'another prize in the lottery of life' after the loss of his wife. He had 'several prostrating attacks' after this, but showed great power of recovery. He died 8 May 1873, of a 'local endemic disease.' Three days before his death he had walked fifteen miles on a botanical excursion. Three posthumous 'Essays on Religion' were published by Miss Taylor in 1874: the first two, upon 'Nature' and the 'Utility of Religion,' were written between 1850 and 1858; the last, upon 'Theism,' was written between 1868 and 1870. The fact that he intended to publish the last in 1873 shows that he would not have persevered in the singular reticence upon religious topics which had been the systematic practice of his early associates. It was remarkable that in spite of the obvious bearing of his philosophical treatises, the only sentence which his political antagonists could find to produce odium was the really very orthodox remark (from the 'Examination' of Hamilton), 'To hell I will go' rather than obey an immoral deity. The essay itself betrays an insufficient acquaintance with the philosophy of the subject. Professor Bain thinks that he had never read a book upon theology.

The best impression of Mill's personal appearance is given by the portrait painted by Mr. Watts, of which an etching by Rajon has been published. A bronze statue was erected to his memory upon the Thames Embankment. He was rather tall, slight, ruddy and fair-haired, with a sweet and