Speech on the Reform of Parliament, vol. X, p

32. Ibid. — Cf. Reflétions, pp. 296-297 : If they had set up this new expérimental government as a necessary substitule for an expelled tyranny, mankind would anticipate the time of prescription, which, through long usage, mellow8 into legality governmcnts that were violent in their commencement. AU those who hâve affections which lead them to the conservation of civil order would recognize, even in its cradle, the child as legitimate, which has been produced from those principles of cogent expediency to which ail just governments owe their birth, and on which they justify their con ti nuance. But they will be late and rcluctant 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 hâve their own word for il that they hâve made a révolution. To make a révolution is a measure which, prima fronte, requires an apology.

33. Si nous nous en fions aux conversations de Bentham avec Bowring, recueillies par celui-ci aux environs de 1830, Bentham aurait éprouvé une grande admiration pour la polémique de Burke au temps de la guerre d'Amérique (y. Bowring, vol. X, p. 564 : I was wonderfully taken with his poli ti cal pamphlets : their éloquence — their dignity — their superiority to others. Àt that time I was accustomed to contrast 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 à le détester à partir de 1790 (Bowring, vol. X, pp. 367, 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 wbich the nation is 8till 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. Règlements 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. Romilly, 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, it is to be without my name. — An Essay on PolUical Tactics ; or, inquiries concerning the discipline and mode of proceeding proper to be observed in political assemblies ; principally applied to the practice of the British Parliament, and to the Constitution and situation of the National Assembly of France. (Bowring, vol. II, 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 1er 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. — Draught of a Code, etc. Bowring, IV, 306.