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Subject Area: Political Theory
Subject Area: Law

Bentham to Mr Dundas. - Jeremy Bentham, The Works of Jeremy Bentham, vol. 10 (Memoirs Part I and Correspondence) [1843]

Edition used:

The Works of Jeremy Bentham, published under the Superintendence of his Executor, John Bowring (Edinburgh: William Tait, 1838-1843). 11 vols. Vol. 10.

Part of: The Works of Jeremy Bentham, 11 vols.

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Bentham to Mr Dundas.

“May 20, 1793.

“Sir,—

Taking up in the country the newspaper of Saturday, I see the public service threatened with a resignation, which has but too strong an appearance of being a speedy one. Fortunate as I had thought myself in the notice with which I understood my Panopticon proposal to have been honoured, permit me to express the anxiety I cannot but feel at the apprehension of seeing it turned over into any other hands. The intimation I received some time ago, that a determination had been mads in its favour between you and Mr Pitt,—that the discussion of it with me, only waited for the first vacant day that could be found for it, and that the whole day (convivial hours included) would be bestowed upon it, will, I hope, be considered a sort of engagement to save me from the misfortune of so undesirable a change. Had that expectation been realized at an earlier period, I had thought of profiting by it, to speak of another object of my ambition, which, as it is, I must take the liberty of stating to you in the compass of a letter, and therefore, narrowly and imperfectly, lest the mention of it should come too late.

“Meaning to get good payment for making others work, there is a line in which it would be matter of amusement to me to work hard in my own person, and that for nothing. The tender of my humble services in that line may be considered as a tribute of acknowledgment, or the employment as an object of solicitation, as you please.

“The penmanship of the statutes, I have observed, has, every now and then, become the subject of a dissatisfaction, which has been repeatedly and publicly expressed. With what degree of justice, is a question I never thought of proposing to myself with reference to the present or any other particular conjuncture. My inclinations on that head bear no reference to conjunctures. Between twenty and thirty years have passed over my head since the notion came across me, that the business of that department did not stand, in general, upon so good a footing as it might, nor, as I flattered myself, it might one day be in my power to place it on, were it to be intrusted to my charge. This, if a presumptuous, was no idle thought; for how little soever may have been done by nature, I question whether there be that man living in whom zeal and industry have been more assiduous in that line. The business of tracing out the several circumstances and contingencies for which provision may require to be made in the tenor of a law, is a business I have been so long used to travel over for my amusement, and that in almost every direction, that the operations of it are become rather a mechanical process than a matter of study; so that, though in any instance I should have the misfortune to find myself differ in opinion from those under whose authority I had to act, I should still have the satisfaction of doing so much for their accommodation as to furnish them with as ample a stock of considerations in the way of precaution, and objection, and defence, as they would have curiosity to see, or pastime to attend to. The business, too, of weighing words and syllables, is a business which has occupied as much attention on my part, as it can have occupied on the part of the most experienced chancery draughtsman, or special pleader.

“Something in the way of legislation may be deemed wanting for Hindostan. Divested of all local prejudices, but not the less sensible of their force, and of the necessity of respecting them, I could, with the same facility, turn my hand to the concerns of that distant country, as to those of the parish in which I live.

“The books which I take the liberty of sending you as specimens, in addition to what you have already, you certainly will not read; but should it be thought worth while to dip into them, with this particular view, they will lie in readiness for the purpose. That on the Judicial Establishment—that on Parliamentary Tactics—that on the Emancipation of French Colonies—and the just printed one on Law Taxes, remain, for different reasons, as yet unpublished. Some of them might lead you to take me for a Republican—if I were, I would not dissemble it: the fact is, that I am writing against even Parliamentary Reform, and that without any change of sentiment. To make the trial of my services with the least risk, and to the greatest advantage, the following is the course I would take the liberty to suggest.—Let a business of any kind, with such instructions as were thought necessary, be put into my hands;—let the same business, with the same instructions, be put into the hands of any other person. Each having drawn his bill, let the other be called to give his observations on it; but that my comment might be the freer, my wish would be, that the person whose composition was the object of it, might remain unknown to me. In this way, a very instructive experiment, might, I conceive, be made, and that without any éclat; there would be no placing nor displacing; whoever is in possession of the emolument, might continue so, and while that remained entire, any part of the duty would be the less missed.

“Indeed, this is the only footing on which I could think of offering my services; for it is accuracy only, and not expedition, that I could undertake for; the obligation of getting a given business despatched by a given time, would, for some time at least, if not for ever, be too much for me. My success in this line, should I be thought to have met with any, will have been the result—not of any incommunicable talent, but of a method which I should have little doubt of being able to transmit to any young man of tolerable abilities, who would find adequate inducements for giving himself the trouble of obtaining it. When I had brought the matter to this point, my object would have been accomplished. My reward would be, the satisfaction of having made improvements take root in so important a branch of science; that reward being already reaped and gone, then would be the time for the ordinary emolument, the salary, whatever it be, to revive for the benefit of my successors. Pupils are not wanting to the Conveyancer, to the Special Pleader, or to the Chancery Draughtsman; instruction in the superior line of parliamentary penmanship, would, I presume, be still less in danger of going a-begging, if suitable encouragement were to be annexed to it. The £600 a-year which I have heard spoken of as the salary, I must confess, I do not look upon as anything like adequate, so long as salary is thought fit to be annexed to office. The situation ought to be, not a step to, but a step above, professional practice. Superior talent ought not to be liable to be called from so superior a public duty to the petty concerns of private clients. Responsibility, and on that account, official title, and high dignity, with a salary proportioned to the dignity, ought to accompany a function of so much real importance. Having divested myself of all interest, I speak without bias on the head of emolument, and, therefore, with the less reserve. I hope I speak clearly enough on that head not to be mistaken. What I do solicit, is the labour; what I could not so much as accept, were it ever so much pressed upon me, is the emolument or any part of it. I could easily show you that the disclaimer is a necessary one, and not chargeable with either affectation or even oddity; but I have already attempted but too much upon your time.—I have the honour to be, &c.”

On 4th June, there is the following, from