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Subject Area: Political Theory
Subject Area: Law

Bentham to Mr Mulford. - 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 Mulford.

“Q. S. P., Wednesday,
21st April, 1813.

“In a former letter, you mentioned, I think, your having made an offer to my brother to send him some account of his genealogy by the mother’s side,—the Groves. He does not care about these things near as much as I do: anything you could favour me with on that head, would be very interesting to me. What I remember hearing, is, that they came from the Groves of Wiltshire, which it was said was a good gentleman’s family. Well do I remember a sword which T. West used to keep in the granary to fight the rats with; it was said to have been employed by an ancestor of mine, when a student at Oxford, in defence of Charles the First.

“Would you like to see the ‘Book,’ as it is called, that is, Mr Perceval’s ‘Defence of the Princess of Wales; including the charges against her’? being printed in one or two numbers of Cobbett, I could send it you, as above, post free. It so happened that I was a good deal in the secret of that business: being upon the most confidential terms with her chief adviser, [see p. 471,] his letters to the Prince and Officers of State, a good while before they were published, or even sent, were shown to me. This you will take care not to mention. So confident were the ministers of being able to ruin her reputation, that they deposited the papers they had against her in Whitbread’s hands, that her chief adviser might see them, making sure that he would be intimidated, and that, accordingly, she would keep silence. When he saw them, however, he saw that there was nothing in them that he was not fully prepared for, and so she wrote those letters to the Lord Chancellor and the Speaker; and so, for our amusement, everything came out. If you have read any newspaper of late, you must have seen how Lord Ellenborough fell, on this occasion, into one of his passions, and ran into such extravagancies as to have had the effect of adding general contempt to the almost universal detestation he was held in before. Though, in general, he is what is called a good lawyer, on this occasion he fell into an error so gross, that an attorney’s clerk might be ashamed of it. It took me, however, two or three long letters to expose it, in the Examiner,* under the title of a ‘Defence of Mr Whitbread,’ who was much pleased with it, and asked Brougham, whether he knew whose it was. Brougham, who had never heard from me, or anybody else, whose it was, told him, as soon as he saw it, (he was but just come from Yorkshire,) that he was sure it was mine; and this was the case with a multitude of others, who knew me at once by my style, &c.

“When you received the Examiner, you were pleased to think you had got a frank of Romilly’s direction, though it was no such thing. This being the case, the next time I write to you shall be in that manner; unless he happens to be out of town, as he is at present. When this reaches you, it will find you free of your cough: you confess you were but in the fashion; how could you expect to be always out of it? That last letter of yours, the handwriting, and everything belonging to it, is so provokingly strong and correct, there is no bearing it.”

Lieutenant Blaquiere, who became afterwards a regular correspondent, wrote to Bentham in 1813, expressing his admiration of his works, and sending his letters from the Mediterranean. Bentham gave him his “Rationale of Evidence” in return: asked him to his house, and an intimacy commenced which lasted to the end of Blaquiere’s life.

Blaquiere was at this time a lieutenant in the Navy, commanding the Utile at North Yarmouth. He was a son of Colonel Blaquiere, and connected with Lord de Blaquiere.

He was one of the most enthusiastic of men,—often imprudent—led by an excitable temperament, but of the strongest attachment to his friends, and devoted to the furtherance of every improvement—and especially political improvement. After his “Letters from the Mediterranean,” (1813,) he published a “History of the Revolution in Spain,” (1822,) a country in which he spent some time, and became acquainted with its most distinguished men.

He was sent to Greece by the Greek Committee, and discharged his duties there with the utmost zeal. His existence was happiest when he was most engaged in the trouble and turmoil of public life. Improvident in his expenditure, he was often subjected to privations and annoyances,—but was as profuse in his liberality, as he was thoughtless as to the consequence of his prodigal expenditure. He was always ready to make sacrifices for others: but frequently his indignation broke out when he found others less willing to make sacrifices for him. He was brave and reckless,—sensitive and sincere. His was a hopeful, trustful mind, that anticipated nothing but sunshine, until the clouds and darkness came, and found him altogether unprepared for adversity. He embarked at Plymouth, on a mission which he had undertaken for Don Pedro to the Azores, in spite of the warnings of his friends, on board a vessel that was declared not to be seaworthy; but as he supposed that everything depended upon despatch, he would brook no delay, nor listen to any remonstrance. The vessel never reached her destination. There came home a vague story that a vessel resembling the Ant, had been seen to founder off Teneriffe. The underwriters paid the amounts for which she was insured; but her precise fate was never ascertained.

Bentham desired Blaquiere to give him some account of himself—of his studies, and of the circumstances which first led him to turn his attention to the Utilitarian philosophy. He says in reply:—

[* ] These Letters were published in the Examiner of March 28, April 4, and April 11. They referred to the examination of Mrs Lisle, before the Commissioners of Inquiry into the conduct of the Princess Charlotte. Lord Ellenborough had maintained, with reference to the record of the examination, that it was inconsistent with practice, and unnecessary to the ends of justice, to record both the questions and the answers, and that the proper method was to present the substance of the responses in an unbroken narrative. Bentham cited the arguments which were afterwards more amply published in his “Rationale of Evidence,” in favour of recording the questions, as necessary to a complete understanding of the answers; and maintained that a correct record should contain the whole dialogue between the person examining and the person examined. He also produced precedents, to show that Lord Ellenborough was not justified in stating that this form was inconsistent with practice.