Speech on tlie Reform of Purliainent, vol. X, p

32. Ibid. — Cf. Reftecthns, pp. 296-297 : If they had set up this new expérimental government as a necessary substitute for an expelled tyranny, mankind would anticipate the time of prescription, which, through long usage, mellows into Icjrality governments that were violent in their eommeneement. Ail those who hâve affections which lead them tojhe conservation of civil order would recognize, even in its cradle, the child as légitima le, which has been produced from those principles of cogent expediency to which ail just governments owe their birth, and on which they justify tlieir conti nuance. But they will be lato and relue tant in giving any sort of countenance to the opérations of a power, which has derived its birth from no law and no necessity : but which on the contrary has had its origin in those vices and sinister practices by which the social union is often disturbed and sometimes destroyed. This assembly has hardly a year's prescription. We bave their own word for it that they hâve inade a révolution. To make a révolution is a measure which, prima fronte, requires an apology.

308 NOTES. (Pp. 20-25)

33. Si nous nous en fions aux conversations de Bentham avec Bowring, recueillies par celui-ci aux environs de 1830, Bentbam aurait éprouvé une grande admiration pour la polémique de Burke au temps de la guerre d'Amérique (v. Bowring, vol. X, p. 564 : I was wonderfully taken witli his political pamphlets : their éloquence — their dignity — their superiority to others. At that time 1 was accustomed to contras t Wilkes and Burke, and to think of Wilkes as a dirty, rascally fellow, while Burke was everything that was noble and high-minded) et aurait commencé ù h* détester à partir de 1790 (Bowring, vol. X, pp. 267, 564). Mais il faut, en principe, ne pas ajouter foi aux souvenirs de Bentham vieilli. Philosophe du parti radical, il oublie qu'il était tory et antiaméricain en 1776, et antijacobin en 1790, que c'est seulement aux environs de 1810 qu'il a commencé à considérer Burke comme étant (Book of Fallacies, part. IV, ch. x ; « this madman, than whom none perhaps was ever more mischievous — this incendiary, who contributed so much more than any other to light up the fiâmes of that war, under the miseries occasioned by which tbe nation is still groaning ».

34* Pour tous les détails relatifs à lord Lansdowne et à son groupe, v. Fitzmaurice, Life of William, earl of Shelburne. (Londres, 1875).

35. Règlement* observés dans la Chambre des Communes pour débattre les matières et pour voter; traduit de l'anglais et mis au jour par le comte de Mirabeau, 1789. — Cf. Homilly, Mem., vol. I, pp. 101, 351. Bentham et Trail auraient aidé Romilly dans son travail (Bowring, X, p. 112). V. lettre de Romilly à Dumont, 9 juin 1789; réponse de Dumont à Romilly, 21 juin 1789. Après la mort du comte de Sarsfield, Mirabeau se charge de la traduction et de la publication.

36. Romilly à Bentham, 8 oct. 1791 (Bowring, vol. X, p. 264) : I believe you understood from me before, what from excessive caution I repeat, that if you think my part of the Tactics worth printing, il is to be without my naine. — An Essay on Political Tacites; or, inquiries concerning the discipline and mode of proceeding proper to be observed in political asseinblies; principally applied to the practice of the British Parliament, and to the Constitution and situation of the National Assembly of France.

Bowring, vol. H, pp. 301-373.)

37. On retrouve encore ici chez Bentham le « projector » : il attache une grande importance à un « tableau des motions » qui mettra toujours sous les yeux des représentants la question en discussion. Voir ses lettres à Wycombe, du l*r mars 1789, à Addington, du 24 juillet 1800. (Bowring, vol. X, pp. 196, 344.)

38. Bowring, vol. X, p. 219 : Dumont à Bentham, 27 sept. 1789.

39. Dumont, Souvenirs sur Mirabeau, (Paris, 1832) pp. 160-166.

40. Bowring, vol. X, pp. 226-227. — Draughi of a Code, etc. Bowring, IV, 306

(Pp. 26-35) NOTES. 309