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Subject Area: Political Theory
Subject Area: Law

Bentham to Dumont. - 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 Dumont.

“January 1, 1802.

“My dear Dumont,—

I sent you by Tuesday’s post a crusty letter, (though not more so than you deserve,) in which the essential part was the response to your ‘essential’ half-sheet about the book commission. What think you of an accompaniment I have thought of for the books? A set, or say two sets, of my brother’s patent, but never sold, fireirons, of which the characteristic and special property is levity.* One might be kept by T. [Talleyrand,] the other, if he thought fit, be passed on to B. [Buonaparte.] The use of them would be to serve as a specimen, though a trifling and hors d’œuvre, and uncharacteristic one, of the Panopt. system.

“But another, which is not only characteristic, but really important, is the art of wheel-making machinery, to the working of which neither dexterity in any degree, nor good-will is necessary. Several wheels exist here still, and a couple of pairs might be sent as specimens. They are of a size to serve for a small child’s carriage. Lord Glenbervie had a set, anno 1794 or 1794, for a carriage for his child. There exist still a pair or two of coach-wheels of the size of ordinary coaches, made by a system of machinery, in the great of which the other was, as it were, the model. A system of wheels made by such a system of machinery, would be particularly commodious for a general and connected system of national roulage upon a plan analogous to that of our mail-coaches; for the multiples of each of the several component parts being precisely of the same dimensions one as another, the spoke, (le rayon,) for example, or the segment of the filly, (le circonference,) in case of an accident to any such part, might be replaced by a spare part of the same sort, either kept at the several houses of call, or carried in the carriage itself for that purpose: and if, as with us, it were deemed advisable to prescribe dimensions for wheels by law, with a view to the good keeping of the roads, such a system of machinery would afford the means of conforming to such prescription with peculiar accuracy, especially if iron railroads were adopted, (as grooves for the wheels to run in, almost without friction,) as they begin to be with us.

“The article of wheels, you are to know, was taken up by my brother, in the first instance, not as being the most advantageous application of machinery to wood work, but as that which affords the greatest variety of different conformations; so that, to pass on from that to such an article as window-frames, for example, in which he had made considerable progress, would be to descend from a more difficult task to a less difficult one. Sawing to a degree of unexampled fineness, and planeing to an unexampled degree of breadth of shaving, he had accomplished long before, besides a variety of et ceteras too long to mention, or even to recollect,—would not the envoi do more harm, by showing empressement on my part, than good, by furnishing an occasion for a fresh mention of the subject? You will judge. I would avoid writing: you may mention it as a reason, my unwillingness to put him to the trouble of an answer. My plan about the pamphlets, if I can pursue it, is to do by them as by my own copies of them,—bind them up from four to five, to a dozen or more, in a volume, with a short title to each at the back, which is thereby sometimes covered with lettering. This, besides ornament, saves a deal of trouble in looking them out for use. Besides the purchasable, I believe I shall send the unpurchasable, viz. 1. Pan.; 2. Jud. Est.; 3. Poor; 4. Tact.; 5. Emanc. The misfortune is, these require looking out; but that is not so impossible now as heretofore. As you could not find time, so much as to answer me which was the most eligible newspaper, I have begun with the Moniteur from 1st Nivôse, 1st January, 1802, subscribing for three months, which cost me forty-five instead of the twenty-five francs at Paris. I have taken steps towards getting it from the commencement of the present reign; but at the De Boffe’s rate, as above, it would cost between £20 and £30. Those who, at different times, have had from me, gratis, so many different copies of works which they could not have had at any price, might, I should think, help me in a matter of this sort, and without any expense to themselves: but it is for you to judge. Of the fire-irons above spoken of, a few sets have been sold at different times, though never in any shop, and I believe the price has never been under six guineas. At the best, they would be very expensive to make, and are no more than a bauble for the rich.

“P. S. No correspondent commission has been received in regard to the payment for the books; the gentleman, on sight of your letter, said, that whenever such commission came, he would be sure to pay for them. Consequently, till it comes, nothing will be done. This is what I had above half expected.”

“16th February, 1802.

“Herbert this morning, on taking to M. Chauvet’s the returnable volume of Bib. Brit., and my book-keeping papers for his edification, was told by him of his having received from you on Saturday, a letter, (13th,) in which you say that ten sheets of Code Civil are printed. This advance made, and not a syllable all this while to me! I cannot help being apprehensive, or, in one sense, I may be hopeful of learning, that some letter, either of yours or mine, has miscarried. Come, let me give you t’other scolding bout: you are a naughty boy—a shatterbrain—an etourdi, like a child in leading-strings. How do you write letters upon letters, such as all of us should be equally delighted to read, and such as might be equally visible to all of us; yet instead of its occurring to you to make such things circulate, you put them into private letters as A B and C, mixed with private matters in such manner as to be uncommunicable. I have scolded you already two or three times, and hereby scold you again for the third or fourth time, forasmuch as you, neverhaving the fear of God or your master before your eyes, have taken care never to ask anybody whether such a person as Dr Schwediaur, a German physician of Paris, now or ci-devant of the Institute, exists, Gallicè Swediar, and where a letter would reach him?

“Somebody or other had heard that Lord Henry [Petty] was tired already, and was on the point of coming home. Is it so?

“I have for these seven or eight weeks past, been obliged to turn aside from public affairs, to less public or private ones: I have still work for a month longer at it.

“In the Moniteur, 12th Nivôse, there is a paragraph from Petersburg, about a Count Saw . . . . (the rest is worn away in my copy) having a commission to set up a Code manufactory; and strangers, it is said, are to be taken into consultation. Could not you, when your Code is out, get a copy sent from the proper quarter to this man, whoever he is, or to any other more proper quarter there, with a letter saying, it is by a man whose brother is still in that service, &c. Suppose you were to get the copy first handsomely bound: let us know the expense, and I will repay to your order with thanks, &c., as they bind better probably at Paris than at Petersburg.

“I have seen Duquesnoi’s prospectus of the Poor Book. One of these days, if I had a friend at Paris, I should have a copy of it by some means or other. Romilly has heard at Holland House of your intended publications—his hypothesis is, that the intelligence came from Lord Henry. He mentioned a parcel of lords as curious and expectant on the subject—aristocrats as well as democrats.

“I want thousands of books from Paris, but know not how to get them. The unedited works that I have never published here, I should have no objection to send a few copies of to a French bookseller, if a demand for them should ever grow up out of the published French ones.”

[* ] This refers to an invention of Col. Bentham’s of hollow fire-irons.