The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Memoirs of Jeremy Bentham; Including Autobiographical Conversations and Correspondence.
• Chapter I.: Infancy and Boyhood.—1748-59.
• Chapter II.: School and College, 1754—1763. Æt. 6—15.
• Chapter III.: 1763—1770. Æt. 15—25.
• Chapter IV.: 1770—1780. Æt. 22—32.
• Sundry Memoranda of Bentham, Made In 1773-4:—
• Prejugés In Favour of Antiquity.
• Vulgar Errors—political.
• Punishment.—origin of the Vindictive Principle.
• Pensées.
• Digest of the Law Premature Before Locke and Helvetius.
• Principles of Education.
• Vicinage of a Jury.
• Bolingbroke’s Idea of a Patriot King.
• Public Virtue In the Body of the People.
• Emblem For the System of Codes—subject For a Medallion.
• Abuse and Use.—both Equally Effects.
• King Henry V. Committed By Chief-justice Gascoigne—a Subject For a Picture.
• Dic Aliquid Et Quod Tuum.
• Conduct of the Understanding In Composing.
• Pensées.
• Prejugés.—lawyers.
• Perspicuity.
• Pensées.
• Fictions of Law.
• Terms Familiar Falsely Supposed to Be Understood.
• Terræ Filius.
• Pensées.
• Subjects For Premiums.
• Title For a Book.
• Education.
• Bentham to His Father.
• Revenus Prosecutions.
• Employment For Pauper Manufacturers.
• Law—an Affair of Pain and Pleasure.
• Truth—in Books.
• Chapter V.: 1781.— Æt. 33.
• Lord Shelburne to Bentham.
• Bentham to George Wilson. *
• Bentham to His Father.
• Bentham to George Wilson.
• Bentham to His Father.
• Bentham to Geo. Wilson.
• Bentham to Lord Shelburne.
• Chapter VI.: 1781—1785. Æt. 33—37.
• Bentham to Lord Shelburne.
• Bentham to Dr Anderson.
• Bentham to Mr Stewart. *
• Francis Villion to Bentham.
• Francis Villion to Bentham.
• James Trail to Bentham.
• George Wilson to Bentham.
• Dr Swediaur to Bentham.
• James Trail to Bentham.
• James Trail to Bentham.
• Dr Symonds to Bentham.
• Bentham to Joseph Townsend.
• Joseph Townsend to Bentham.
• Blackstone.
• Rotten Boroughs.
• Principle of Utility.
• Apostrophica Ad Orthodoxos De Principiis.
• Elogia—locke, Priestley, Beccaria, Johnson.
• Philip and the Athenians Are the Ministry and the Legislators.
• Mansplitting.
• Montesquieu.
• Jury.
• Subscription to Articles of Faith.
• Logic.
• Public Spirit.
• Moral Sanction.
• Apologetica Recapitulatoria.
• Religious Sanction.
• Belief.
• Temper Popular—experire.
• Commonplace Morality.
• Chapter VII.: 1785—1787. Æt. 37—39.
• Lord Lansdowne to Bentham.
• Bentham to Lord Lansdowne.
• Chamberlain Clark to Bentham.
• George Wilson to Bentham.
• Bentham to George Wilson.
• George Wilson to Bentham.
• Bentham to George Wilson.
• “proposed Dedication.
• “ Premium.
• Bentham to Farr Abbott.
• Chapter VIII.: 1787—1789. Æt. 39—41.
• Bentham to His Brother.
• Lord Lansdowne to Bentham.
• Brissot to Bentham.
• George Wilson to Bentham.
• Romilly to Bentham.
• Lord Lansdowne to Bentham.
• Bentham to Lord Wycomber.
• Bentham to the Abbé Morellet.
• George Wilson to Bentham.
• Letters of Anti-machiavel to the Public Advertiser.
• Chapter IX.: 1789—1791. Æt. 41—43.
• Bentham to George Wilson.
• Bentham to George Wilson.
• Bentham to His Brother.
• Dumont to Bentham.
• The Portrait of Jeremy Bentham, Esq. of Lincoln’s Inn.
• Bentham to Brissot.
• Bentham to Lord Lansdowne. *
• Lord Lansdowne to Bentham.
• Bentham to Lord Lansdowne.
• Dr Richard Price to Bentham.
• Bentham to George Wilson.
• Chapter X.: 1791—1792. Æt. 43—44.
• Sir Reginald Polr Carew to Bentham.
• Bentham to His Brother.
• Dr Anderson to Bentham.
• Bentham to Lord Lansdowne.
• Bentham to Lord Lansdowne.
• Pole Carew to Bentham.
• Bentham to George III.
• Lord Lansdowne to Bentham.
• Bentham to His Brother.
• Romilly to Bentham.
• Benjamin Vaughan to Bentham.
• Bentham to J. P. Garran.
• J. P. Garran to Bentham.
• “ National Assembly.—the Law and the King.
• Bentham to Miss V—.
• Benthem to Brissot.
• Chapter XI.: 1792-1795. Æt. 44—47.
• Bentham to Lord Lansdowne.
• “law Conferring On Several Foreigners the Title of French Citizen.
• “jeremy Bentham to the Minister of the Interior of the French Republic—respect,
• M. Delessert to Bentham.
• Dumont to Bentham.
• Beaumetz to Bentham.
• Bentham to Mr Law.
• Mr Law to Bentham.
• Bentham to Dr Anderson.
• Bentham to Thomas Law.
• Thomas Law to Bentham.
• Bentham to Mr Dundas.
• Thomas Law to Bentham.
• Bentham to His Brother.
• Bentham to Mr Dundas.
• Benjamin Vaughan to Bentham.
• Romilly to Bentham.
• Bentham to Philip Metcalf.
• James Trail to Bentham.
• Bentham to Philip Metcalf.
• Bentham to Arthur Young.
• Bentham to Charles Long.
• James Trail to Bentham.
• Bentham to Lord St Helens.
• Bentham to Lord Lansdowne.
• Chapter XII.: 1795—1799. Æt. 47—51.
• Lord Wycombe to Bentham.
• Bentham to the Duke De Liancourt. (boston, U. S.)
• Bentham to Lord Lansdowne.
• Bentham to William Wilberforce.
• William Wilberforce to Bentham.
• Lord St Helens to Bentham.
• Bentham to Lord St Helens.
• Observations On the Treason Bill; †
• The Generous Friend—a Lincoln’s Inn Tale.
• The Moral.
• Bentham to Pole Carew.
• Pole Carew to Bentham.
• Bentham to Charles Abbot. †
• W. Wickham to Charles Abbot.
• Bentham to Charles Abbot.
• Charles Abbot to Bentham.
• Bentham to George Rose.
• Bentham to William Wilberforce.
• Bentham to Charles Abbot.
• Bentham to P. Colquhoun.
• Bentham to Sir Francis Baring.
• Bentham to Sir Francis Baring.
• Sir Francis Baring to Bentham.
• Chapter XIII.: 1800—1801. Æt. 51—53.
• Peter Roget * to Bentham.
• Bentham to Speaker Addington.
• Charles Abbot to Bentham.
• Bentham to Charles Abbot.
• Bentham to W. Morton Pitt.
• Bentham to Dr Roget.
• Dr Roget to Bentham.
• Bentham to Charles Abbot.
• Hints Relative to the Population Bill. * to Charles Abbot, Esq., M.P.
• Bentham to Patrick Colquhoun.
• Patrick Colquhoun to Bentham.
• Bentham to George Rose.
• George Rose to Bentham.
• Bentham to George Rose.
• Bentham to Henry James Pye.
• Bentham to Lord St Helens.
• Bentham to Nicholas Vansittart.
• Bentham to Nicholas Vansittart.
• Nicholas Vansittart to Bentham.
• Objections to the Annuity-note Plan, With Answers.
• Bentham to Nicholas Vansittart.
• Bentham to Arthur Young.
• Answer to Mr Bentham’s Queries For England.
• Bentham to Arthur Young.
• Bentham to Nicholas Vansittart.
• Bentham to Dumont.
• Chapter XIV.: 1801—2. Æt. 53—4.
• Bentham to Dr Robert Watts.
• Dumont to Bentham. (translation.)
• Bentham to Dumont.
• Dumont to Bentham. (translation.)
• Bentham to Dumont.
• Bentham to Sir William Pulteney.
• Sir William Pulteney to Bentham.
• Dumont to Bentham. (translation.)
• Bentham to George Wilson.
• Bentham to Dumont.
• William Wilberforce to Bentham.
• Sir Frederick Morton Eden to Bentham.
• Bentham to Sir F. M. Eden.
• Sir F. M. Eden to Bentham.
• Bentham to Dumont.
• Romilly to Bentham.
• Bentham to Sir Thomas Trowbridge.
• Bentham to David Collins. *
• Chapter XV.: 1803—7. Æt. 54—59.
• Bentham to Dumont.
• Romilly to Bentham.
• Dr Samuel Parr to Bentham.
• Bentham to J. Mulford. *
• Dr Parr to Bentham.
• Dumont In Petersburg.
• Dumont to Romilly.
• Dr Parr to Bentham.
• Bentham to Dr Parr.
• Bentham to Dumont.
• Bentham to Sir R. P. Carew.
• Bentham to J. Mulford.
• Dr Parr to Bentham.
• Rev. John North to Bentham.
• Dr Parr to Bentham.
• Dr Parr to Bentham.
• Romilly to Bentham.
• General Sabloukoff to Bentham.
• Romilly to Bentham.
• Mr William Hutton * to Bentham.
• Bentham to Sir Samuel Romilly. On the Reform of the Judicatures In Scotland.
• Bentham to Mr Mulford.
• Chapter XVI.: 1807—1810. Æt. 59—62.
• Dumont to Bentham. (translation.)
• Bentham to Sir Jas. Mackintosh, (1808.)
• Bentham to Lord St Helens.
• Lord St Helens to Bentham.
• Mr Whishaw to Bentham.
• Sir Samuel Romilly to Bentham.
• Colonel Burr.
• Dumont to Bentham.
• Dumont to Bentham.
• Col. Aaron Burr to Bentham.
• Colonel Burr to Bentham.
• Dumont to Bentham.
• Bentham to Lord Holland.
• Bentham to J. Mulford.
• Francis Horner to Bentham.
• Lord Holland to Bentham.
• Don Gaspar M. De Jovellanos to Bentham.
• Lord Holland to Bentham.
• James Mill to Bentham.
• Sir Samuel Romilly to Bentham.
• James Mill to Bentham.
• Dumont to Bentham. (translation.)
• Colonel Burr to Bentham.
• James Mill to Bentham.
• Bentham to James Mill.
• James Mill to Bentham.
• James Mill to Bentham.
• Bentham to J. Mulford.
• Dumont to Bentham. (translation.)
• Chapter XVII.: 1810—1813. Æt. 62—65.
• Blanco White to Bentham
• Bentham to Blanco White.
• Bentham to Mr Mulford.
• Bentham to Cobbett.
• Dumont to Bentham. (translation.)
• The Rev. R. B. Nickolis to Bentham.
• Bentham to Sir Francis Burdett.
• Brougham to Mill.
• Dumont to Bentham. (translation.)
• Major Cartwright to Bentham.
• Bentham to Major Cartwright.
• Major Cartwright to Bentham.
• Colonel Burr to Bentham.
• Dumont to Bentham. (translation.)
• Lord Holland to Bentham.
• James Mill to Bentham.
• Bentham to Lord Sidmouth.
• Bentham to Mr Mulford.
• James Mill to Bentham.
• Mr Sugden * to Bentham.
• Bentham to Mr Mulford.
• Lieut. Blaquiere to Bentham.
• Sir James Mackintosh to Bentham.
• Chapter XVIII.: 1813—17. Æt. 65—69.
• Lord Holland to Bentham.
• Bentham to Lord Holland.
• Bentham to Admiral Tchitchagoff.
• James Mill to Bentham.
• Bentham to Mr Koe.
• Bentham to Mr Koe.
• Admiral Tchitchagoff to Bentham.
• Jean Baptiste Say to Bentham. (translation.)
• Joseph Jekyll to Bentham.
• Madame Gautier to Bentham.
• Admiral Tchitchagoff to Bentham.
• Dumont to Bentham.
• Chapter XIX.: 1817—1819. Æt. 69—71.
• Bentham to Sir Francis Burdett.
• Sir Francis Burdett to Bentham.
• Bentham to Sir Francis Burdett.
• Bentham to Ricardo.
• Francis W. Gilmer to Bentham.
• J. B. Say to Bentham. (translation.)
• “ Proposal
• I.: Results.
• II.: Course and Plan of Instruction, In the Cases of Adults.
• Governor Plumer to Bentham.
• J. B. Say to Bentham. (translation.)
• Bentham to Mr Thompson.
• Major Cartwright to Bentham.
• Bentham to Sir Francis Burdett.
• Notes Made By Bentham In His Memorandum-book, 1818-19.
• Chapter XX.: 1820—23. Æt. 72—75.
• Bentham to Richard Rush.
• Richard Rush to Bentham.
• Bentham to Rivadavia.
• Bentham to Blaquiere.
• Notes In Bentham’s Memorandum-book. 1820.
• The Book of Fallacies. Titles of Books, Parts, and Chapters.
• Book I.—: Fallacies of the Ins.
• Book II.—: Fallacies of the Ins.
• Book III.—: Eitherside Fallacies.
• Book IV.—: Fallacies of the Outs.
• Major Cartwright to Bentham.
• Major Cartwright to Bentham.
• Bentham to Major Cartwright.
• Bentham to J. C. Hobhouse.
• Dumont to Bentham. (translation.)
• Bentham to Cartwright.
• J. B. Say to Bentham. (translation.)
• Frances Wright to Bentham.
• Bentham to Richard Carlisle.
• John Bowring to Bentham.
• Notes In Bentham’s Memorandum-book, 1821.
• Bentham to Henry Brougham.
• Bentham to Richard Rush.
• Bentham to His Brother, Sir Samuel.
• Bentham to Dr Parr.
• Dr Parr to Bentham.
• Major Cartwright to Bentham.
• Dr Parr to Bentham.
• Extracts of a Letter From Bentham to the Greeks.
• Chapter XXI.: 1823—27. Æt. 75-79.
• Bentham to W. E. Lawrence.
• Bentham to Mordvinoff.
• Sir Francis Burdett to Bentham.
• Bentham to Sir Francis Burdett.
• J. B. to the Catholic Association.
• From Bentham’s Memoranda, 1824.
• Bentham to Joseph Parkes.
• “ Supposed Sacrifice of Power By George the Third—supposed Independence of the Judges.
• To the Editor of the Morning Chronicle.
• Bentham to Sir F. Burdett.
• Sir F. Burdett to Bentham.
• Bentham to Burdett.
• Bentham to Dumont.
• Bentham to J. Quincy Adams.
• Mr Plumer to Bentham.
• José Del Valle to Bentham. (translation.)
• Rev. Sydney Smith to Bentham.
• Logic.—j. B.’s Logical Arrangements, Employed As Instruments In Legislation; and Locutions, Employed As Instruments In the Field of Thought and Action.
• Aphorisms Comprehensive and Concise. Instruments of Intellectual Agency.
• Aphorisms Comprehensive and Concise.
• Chapter XXII.: 1827—28. Æt. 79—80.
• John Neal to Bentham.
• Brougham to Bentham.
• Bentham to Brougham.
• Brougham to Bentham.
• Bentham to Brougham.
• Bentham to Col. Young.
• Bentham to the King of Bavaria.
• The King of Bavaria to Bentham.
• Memorandum, 1827.
• On Brougham’s Law Reform.
• Bentham to Rammohun Roy.
• Bentham to Sir F. Burdett.
• “ Address, Proposing a Plan For Uniting the Catholics and Dissenters For the Furtherance of Religious Liberty.
• Bentham to Daniel O’connell.
• Daniel O’connell to Bentham.
• Bentham to Daniel O’connell.
• Bentham to Daniel O’connell.
• Daniel O’connell to Bentham.
• Bentham to Daniel O’connell.
• Daniel O’connell to Bentham.
• Bentham to Daniel O’connell.
• Bentham to Chamberlain Clark.

Bentham to George III.

“May it please your Majesty,—

The enclosed account of an amphibious vehicle for the conveyance of armies, with their appendages, is an extract of a letter from my younger brother, Samuel Bentham, a colonel in the Russian service. The regiment of which it speaks was given him for his services in the defeat of the Captain Bashaw, off Oczakoff, in October, 1789, together with the order of St George, which he has your Majesty’s gracious permission for wearing in his own country.

“The invention struck me at first glance as that sort of one which a subject of your Majesty’s ought not to make public, without first using his humble endeavours to know your Majesty’s pleasure. Bridges rendered needless: rivers, the broadest and most rapid, no obstacles to the largest army,—all by a modification given to the structure of a baggage-wagon! Expense saved too, instead of increased. The contrivance as simple as it has been proved to be effectual. Long, very long may it be, before any demand occurs for an invention of any such nature, in your Majesty’s immediate service! But even now, in the East Indies, perhaps, it might have its use. Had General Howe, or Lord Cornwallis, or General Burgoyne, been thus provided—But I will not any farther obtrude upon wisdom the suggestions of ignorance.

“In its infant state, it appears to have been practised with approbation in the Russian army; but the subsequent improvements which place the importance of it in a very different light, do not appear to have been ever known there. Detesting barbarity, the regiment he has chosen, is in a station many thousand miles distant from the seat of war. As far as depends upon myself, the idea remains a secret even to my father, whom I have accordingly been obliged to leave in ignorance of the whole letter, though full of little personal matters, such as a father would have been glad to see. Unqualified of myself to determine whether publication in such a case, be, or be not, a matter of indifference, I have hitherto abode by the old rule—‘Quod dubitas ne feceris.’ Submitting the determination thus absolutely, and in the first instance, to the first and most competent of all judges, I have fulfilled what appears to me the duty of a good subject. If, within a month from the present date, I receive no commands from your Majesty to the contrary, my doubts will be resolved; and I shall conclude myself in possession of your Majesty’s permission to speak of this invention, as a man might of any other, without reserve.

“Being in the track of presumption, I will presume so much further, as to lay at your Majesty’s feet an invention of a very different nature, of which, though the superstructure be my own, the fundamental idea originated with the same person,—a sort of building, which I call a Panopticon; because to an eye stationed towards the centre, it exhibits everything that passes within it at a view. Your Majesty’s approbation, could the man of science and humanity be consulted at my humble distance from the King, would be one of the first honours it could receive. It has been brought to its present state from the first crude conception, as exhibited in the first of the enclosed plates, at the desire of your Majesty’s servants in Ireland, in the view of its being made use of there. Here, (not to mention the other purposes to which it might be applicable,) one-half, at least, of the present expense of maintaining felons might be saved by it at the first outset; and that without prejudice to the settlement in New South Wales; to which, considered in the light of a colony, every male, exceeding a small overplus above the number of females, is, in point of morals and population, worse than useless.

“The original letters, descriptive of the sort of building, and of its principal uses, refer only to the original rude sketch. The enclosed copy, printed at Dublin, is in the imperfect state (without introduction or advertisement) in which, by mistake, it has been sent to me. I am reprinting it here, together with a postscript, of which the first part gives a detailed account of the invention in its present less imperfect state, including some improvements that have occurred since the engraving of the plates; and the other, of a plan of management, such as the construction had in view. The reimpression of the letters is nearly finished. The first part of the postscript now accompanies the plates, and the second is in considerable advance. A copy of the whole, when completed, will be sent to your Majesty’s library. The sheets now sent may serve till then for the explanation of the plates.

“Your Majesty needs not be told to what a disadvantage a building of this nature must be represented on a flat surface. I have thoughts of getting a model made; and, could I flatter myself so far as to hope that your Majesty would condescend to honour it with a glance, I should not hesitate.

“I am, with all humble respect, may it please your Majesty, your Majesty’s dutiful subject,

“Jeremy Bentham.

“Dollis’s, near Hendon,Middlesex,May 11, 1791.”

Lord Lansdowne writes to Bentham from Bowood on the 3d July, 1791:—