avril 1821 (Hansard, n. s. Y, p

49. Inexact, semble-t-il. Bentham {Jud. Est,, chap. v, tit. III, § 2; Bowring, vol. IV, pp. 363 sqq.), avait contesté Tutilité d' « intervalles forcés d*exclusion », mais avait déclaré que les élections à court terme étaient la meilleure garantie de la réélection perpétuelle des mêmes représentants.

50. Ed. Rev. no. XXVI, janvier 1809, art. II. Emancipation of Spavish America ; vol. XIII, p. 308. — Cf. Iraités, Principes de législation, chap. xiii; Vue générale^ etc., chap. xxi (Bowring, vol. III, p. 198).

51. Government, pp. 14-15. —Cf. Ricardo à Trower, 20 déc. 1818.

52. Supplément to Ihe Encyclopcedia Britannica , article « Economist ».

63. London Bevifw, n* IV, janvier 1836, art. I. Aristocracy, pp. 302-305 On est dès lors porté à se ^demander si Stuart Mill a raison d'attribuer seulement à des influences allemandes les sympathies de John Âustin pour un gouvernement tout à la fois philanthropique et autoritaire; v. Autobioffraphy, pp. 177-178 : « Even the kind of public interest which Englishmen care for, he held in very little esteem. He thought that there was more practical good government, and (which is true enough) infînitely more care for the éducation and mental improvement of ail ranks of the people, nnder the Prussian monarchy, than under the English représentative government : and he held, with the French Economistes, that thereal security for good government is « un peuple éclairé », which is not always the

442 NOTES. (Pp. 206-2iQ)

fruit of popnlar institutions, and which if itoouM be had withont them, would do their work better tban they. Though he approved of the Reform Bill, he predicted, what in fact occurred, that it woald not prodooe tbe great fmmedfateimproiFemeRts in gOTernment, wbichmanyexpected from it. The men, be said, whe could do thèse great tbiags, did sot enst ia the eountry.

54. James Mill à Napier, ÎO sept. 1819. (Bain, p. 188) : Tou need be under no alarm about my article Government. I shall say notbing capaMe of alarming even a Wbig, and be is more terrified at the prindples of good government, Ihan the worst Tories.

55. Government^ p. 3 : Tbe end of Government bas been described in a great yariety of expressions. By Locke it was said to be c the public good » ; by otbers it bas been described as being <r tbe greatest bappiness of the gréa test number ». Thèse, and équivalent expressions, are just; but tbey ^re defective inasmucb as the particular ideas ^ybich tbey embrace are indistinctly announced; and différent conceptionsare by means of them raîsed in différent minds, and even in tbe samemind on différent occasions.» To understand what is included in tbe bappiness of tbe greatest number, we must understand what is included in the bappiness of tbe individuals of whom it is composed.

56. Afin de ne pas avoir à se déclarer démocrate, James Mill {Government, p. Cl définit la démocratie, le gouvernement direct du peuple par le peuple, et il critique, conformément aux principes de Bentham, cette forme de gouvernemeat.

57. Même, il cite Montesquieu à Tappui de sa thèse; Government^ p. 13, note: An acute sensé of this important truth is expressed by the Président Montesquieu: « C*est une expérience éternelle, que tout homme qui a du pouvoir est porté à en abuser ; il va jusqu'à ce quMl trouve des limita >. E$p, de$ LoiSj liv. xi, c. 4.

58. G rote, minor ivorks, p. [10]. — Ricardo, discours du 24 avril 18Î3, Hansard, n. s. vol. VIII, pp. 1281-1282. — Macaulay, discours du 2 mars

59. Government, p. 18.— Cf. ConsL CodCj Book I, chap. ix; Bowring, vol. IX, pp.49-50 : Into tho composition of ail power, enter three éléments : intensity, extent, duration... In the highest rank, to the intensity of IX)wer, it will be seen, no limils can easily, if at ail, be assigned, without takiog away along uith tlie powor to do evil, the power to do good,

aqd thus leaving evil unopposed: to the extent still less : to the duration, -witli tbe utmost ease, as well as pcrfecl safety .

60. Govcmmenf.^ p. 19. — A rapprocher de cette idée et de cette fornuile la conception que se font les économistes utilitaires de Tannée comme eoosti tuant un cycle économique complet.

61. Government, pp. 19-20. — Cf. Jtid. FM. chap. V, tit, III, § 2; Bow-

(P. 2i0) NOTES. 443

ring, fol. IV, p. 366: Next to the haTîng no periodicarelections, is the having them as fréquent as possible. Wby? Becanse the oftener they come roondy the less the danger is of a ehange. As the mischiefs of changing so often as you might change are so palpable, and as you see no more reason for changing one time than another, you e'en take things as they are, and enter into a sort of impUcit engagement with yourself not to change at ail. This is do speculatire conjecture : it is but a key to fttcts offered by expérience. In England wherever regular succession is not the object, anmial élections prove in effect appointments for life, subjeet only to a periodical power of amotion, which is rarely exercised : while longer terms produce fréquent changes, and still more fréquent struggles. — Cf. F. Place, ap. Graham Wallas, p. 155 : « It is objected, that it men are elected for short periods they will hare no time to aequire the necessary expérience, but wiU be oontinually displaced by others who will proceed in the same course. The Tery rerrerse is the fact, and will always be so where the élections are really free, and the periods abort, and accountability as perfect as it eau be made. It might be decided a priori that this must be so. Annuel élection is élection for life if the représentative do bis duty in a becoming manner. If be do otherwise, his removal is a positive good ». — Il est curieux de noter que, dans le temps même où les disciples de Bentham développent une idée anciennement émise parle maître, Bentham lui-même l'abandonne. Il avait attaqué la clause de nonrééligibilité dans la constitution espagnole de 1812. Bo^ring qui habitait Madrid, défendit la clause (lettre du 9 décembre 1821, Bowring, vol. X, pp. 528-530), et Bentham, cédant à ses raisons, admit dans son ConsHtutional Code le principe de la non- rééligibilité (Book II, chap. VI, sect. xx.v ; Bowring, vol. IX, p. 173) : A position upon which the hero proposed arrangement is grounded, is — that without non-revocability — and ihai for a term sufQcient to présent to the Electors two sets at least of competitora, tlie number of whom, when added together, shall be little or nothing less tban the double of that of the situations to be filled, — any supposed opening, for improvemcnt or correction of abuse, will be but illusory : for that, unless it bc in a number insufBcient to produce any effect, the set of men located at the first Election will, to every practical purpose, continue in place, on ail subséquent Elections ;just as they would hâve done, had there never been any Elections by which they could be dislocated. » — Pour obvier au défaut d'expérience d'une assemblée législative entièrement renouvelée, Bentham imagine seulement le procédé d'un Continuation Committecy que l'assemblée expirante lègue à l'assemblée naissante (Const, Code, Book II, chap. VI, section xxiv, Bowring, vol. IX, pp. 170-172).

62. Bowring, vol. X, p. 450 : Mill.. had his hérésies — among others -^ what Bentham called < an abominable opinion » with respect to the inaptitude of women, and one «c scarcely less abominable », that men should

444 NOTES. (Pp. 211-216)

nol hold office iill they are forty ycars of âge. — - Stuart Mill, Autobiogra' phy^ pp. 104-105 : Although his Essay od Goyernment was regarded probably by ail of us as a masterpiece of political wisdom, our adhésion by no means extended to the papagraph of it, in which he maintains that ivomen may, consistently vnth good government, be excluded from the suffrage, because their interest is the same with that of men. From the doctrine, I and ail those who formed my chosen associâtes, most positively dissented... This was... the gênerai opinion of the younger prosélytes; and it is pleasant to be able to say that Mr. Bentham, on this important point, was wholly on our side. »— Il faut d'ailleurs se souvenir que Tarticle Government est un article populaire où Mill peut avoir fait des concessions à Popinion : Stuart Mill, en se fondant là -dessus, plaide, assez ti midement, les circonstances atténuantes pour son père. — Pour conclure, Stuart Mill donne ses raisons contre Texclusion des femmes ; il y voit en somme une application, aussi mal fondée que toutes les autres, du principe de la représentation virtuelle ; cette opinion « is as great an error as any of those against which the Essay was directed ; that the interest of women is included in that of men eiactly as much and no more as the interest of subjects is included in thatof kings; and that every reason which exists for giving the suffrage to anybody, demands that it should not by withheld from women.

63. Voir Mss. Univ. Coll., n" 34 : une note de Bentham datée du 23 avril 1824, et portant pour titre Constitutional Code^ Election Code, : written in reading MilFs article Government (il s'agit de Tâge auquel Mill voulait que fût fixé le commencement de Télectorat) : Reasons for the exclusion, none. — Reasons against it : 1. Youth is the time of virtue. Thus it dimini^hes moral aptitude. 2. Youth is the time ofactivity. Thus it diminishes active aptitude. 3. Debarring(?) youth of ail hope of a participation of po\\er in this shape, it deprives them proportions lly of the inducement to engage in any course of study in the view of ûtting them for tbat situation : it thus diminishcs intellectual aptitude.