Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow Bentham to Mr Koe. - The Works of Jeremy Bentham, vol. 10 (Memoirs Part I and Correspondence)

Return to Title Page for The Works of Jeremy Bentham, vol. 10 (Memoirs Part I and Correspondence)

Search this Title:

Also in the Library:

Subject Area: Political Theory
Subject Area: Law

Bentham to Mr Koe. - 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.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


Bentham to Mr Koe.

“Thanks for your about-nothing-at-all letter.

“Ricardo and Say came here yesterday to dinner unexpected; whether they go, however, or no, to-morrow, as was originally intended, I know not. Both very intelligent and pleasant men, and both seem highly pleased. There are two or three long letters to friend Allen, from Clarkson, giving an account of his negotiation at Paris for the abolition of the Slave Trade, in September and October last, extremely curious, and not a little hope-inspiring. By Wellington he was received with the utmost appearance of frankness and cordiality: Louis XVIII. not only consenting, but zealous, acknowledging himself terrified into what was done, but determined that the trade shall not outlast the five years. He gave an account of interviews with a multitude of the negotiating people at Vienna, and of the measures taken by Clarkson, with the assistance of Louis and several of his Ministers, for disseminating truth to inform and govern the public mind in France.”

Ford Abbey, 20th December, 1814.

“I have been consuming two or three days in indexing ‘Bell’s Elements of Tuition.’ But I am all admiration at the genius and talent displayed in the work, (when I came into the marrow of it, which was mismatched by the quantity of introductory quisquilious matter,) and at the inestimable utility of it.”*

The Code of Judicature for the Territories of the Hudson’s Bay Company was, at Dumont’s suggestion, sent, by Lord Selkirk, to Bentham, for correction and approval, (1815;) but I cannot discover whether he undertook the task.

Some difficulties with the owner of Ford Abbey, set Bentham rambling for some other country residence. He went to see a place in Devonshire, called Monachorum, but found it would not do. “It had no tolerable garden, nor physical possibility of making one.” He spent one day with his friends, the Northmores, at Cleeve, and says in one of his letters—“Don’t tell anybody of it, for I should never hear the last of it. I am in love with Mrs N. She is a most accomplished creature, bearing her faculties most meekly, at least to your humble servant. M. says (but it is jealousy) that she is not handsome enough for me.”

[* ] See the use made of this work in the Chrestomathis, Works, vol. viii. p. 46 et seq.