The Sun.
London, England, 1838-08-05 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SUNDAY, AUGUST 5, 188.

. .
might he said to be the first legal philosopher that,htid
.appeared in the
world. None ever before Mr. Bentham took in the whole departMent
of legislation. None before him can be said td liave treated it as a
science, mnd by so treating, made it one. This is his pre-eminent dis-
tinction ; to this praise he is most justly entitled; and it is as proud a
title to fame as any philosopher ever possessed. To the performance of
the magnificent task which he had set before him, this great man
brought a capacity, of which it is saying every thing to affirm, that it
seas not inadequate to so mighty a labour. Acute, sagacious, reflecting,
suspicious to a fault of all outward appearances, nor ever to be satisfied
without the !Post close; Sifting; Unsparing Scrhtiny, lid had an industry
Which no &eeis of toil could weary, and applied himielf irith as unre-
mitting perseverance to master every minute portion of each subject, as
if he had not possessed a quickness of apprehension which could at a glance
become acquainted with all its general features. In him were blended,
to a degree perhaps unequalled in any other philosopher, the love and

appreciation of general principles, with the avidity for minute details : the
Power of embracing and following out general views, with the capacity
for pursuing each one of numberless pat ticular facts. His learning was
Various, ektensite, and accurate. History, and of all nations and all
ages; was families to hini, eetierally iti the languages in which it was re.

•
corded. With the poets and the orators of all times he was equally
well acquainted, though he undervalue the productions of both. The
writings of philosophers of every country, and of every age, were tho-
roughly known to him, and had deeply occupied his attention. It was
only the walks Gf the exacter s.ciences that he had not frequented; and
he regarded them, very erroneously, as unworthy of being explored, or
valued them only for the inventions useful to common life, which
flowed from them, altogether neglecting the pleasures of scientific
contemplation which form their main object and chief aaractinh. In
the laws of his own country he was perfectly well versed, having been
educated as a lawyer, and called to the English bar, at which his success
Would have been certain, had he not preferred the life of a sage. But

of all his qualities, the one that chiefly distinguished Mr. Bentham, and
was the most fruitful in its results, Was the boldness with which he pur-
sued his inquiriet. , And if this was dt once the distinguishing quality
of his mind, and the great cause of his success; so its it Alto the
source of nearly all his errors, and the principal obstacle to the progress
of his philosophy. For it often, especially in the latter part of his life,
prevented him from seeing real difficulties and solid objections to his
proposals : it made him too regardless of the quarter from which oppo-
sitionmight proceed ; it gave an appearance of impracticability to many of
his plans; and, what was far more fatal, it rendered many of his
theories wholly inapplicable to any existing, and almost to any possible
state of httmah altaitsi by Making him too generally forget that all laws
must both be executed by, and operate upon; men—men Whose passions
and fbelingS are made to the lawgiver's hand, and cannot all at once
be moulded to his will. The same Undaunted boldness of speculation
led to Anbilier and a kindred errot. Ho pushed every argement to
the utterniost; he strained eadh prinCiple till it cracked : he
loaded all the foundations on which his system was built, as if,
like arches, they were strengthened by the pressure, until be made
them bend and give way beneath the superincumbent weight.
" The greater qualities of Mr. Bentham's understanding have been
described ; but he also excelled in the light works of fancy. An habi-
tual despiser of eloquence, he was one Of the most eloquent of men
.when it pleased him to write naturally, and befsre he had adopted
that harsh style, full of involved periods and new made words,
whieh, how accurately Sperm* it toniseyed his ideas, was almost as hard
to learn as a foreign language. Thus his earlier writings are models
of force as well as of precision; but some of them are also highly
rhetorical; nor are the justly celebrated Defence of Usury'
and ' Protest against Law Taxes,' more finished models of moral
demonstration, than the Address to the French National Assembly on
Colonial Emancipation is of an eloquence at once declamatory and
argumentative. The peculiar manner of scrutinizing every subject, into
which Ile latterly fell, which, indeed, lie adopted during the greater
portion of his life, and which has been happily enough termed the
exhaustive mode;' was little adapted to combine with • eloquence, or
With any kind of disCuseion calculated to produce a great popular effect ;
roi it c6itolsted In abaiefiil er.ariThiaticin of every ciiciimstLhe which
could by any possibility affect either side of a given question, and it
tidily
iece
gave the same expansion to alt considerations, however varying
in Point of importance; whereas, to convince or to strike
an
audiencenecessary
a royr at
hcatnirsotze reader,selecti noon thing ng t
heea n
morebe more
importantessen -
lly
objects, and making them stand boldly out in relief above the rest.
Another consequence of his addiction to this method was, that it ins.
are
paired
to hisb 6poom weer less of
powerful abstract
rattentione aone rs
andpr etty
paired his strength both of memory, and of reasoning. He investigated
with a pen in his hand, trusted to his eye as much as to his recollection,
h
ei
investigatorsn' e e
ethan
s ana-
gdomtriislanS. It thhs happened that although he disliked con,ersa.
tion in Which more than one Joined, confining himself to a lete.a.tete,
or what hetermed single-handed conversation,' he exceeding'y disre-
lished, at least for the last thirty years of his life, anything like argu-
ment, preferring anecdote, or remark, or pleasantry, in which last henn
Was, though soetimei happy, yet often unsuccessful. But, as not un-
17i and
s enfeebled,frequently happens, ha felt far more jealmis of any disrespect shown to
the jokes with which his istter writings Were filled, than of any dissent
from his reasonings, although the former were for the most part ovule-
housed, far-fetched, and lumbering. It was a result of similar preju-
dice, that made him undervalue not only eloquence but poetry; and he
was wont to express his thankfulness that we should never see any more
epic poems. That he might greatly prefer other exertions of original
genius to those which have produced the wonders of song, is easily un-
derstood. But that he should deny the existence of the pleasure derived
from works of imagination, orquestion the reality of the desire, or refuse
it gratification, seems wholly incomprensible, and only the more so, be-
cause his whole theory of motives proceeds upset the assumption, that
man's constitution leads him to take delight in certain enjoyments; and
no one surely can doubt the fact of the fine arts giving pleasure—plea-
sure, too; of a refined, hot of a gross description. Nor could the devo-
tion of some men's talents to poetry be rationally grudged, whin it was
considered how few those are whom such pursuits can ever withdraw
from severer studies, and how often they are persons in whom such
studieS would find ungenial dispositions. The moral character of this
eminent person was, in the most important particulars, perfect
and unblemished. His honesty was unimpeachable, and his word
might, upon any subject, be taken as absolutely conclusive, what-
ever motives he might have for distorting or exaggerating the
truth. But he was, especially of late years, of a somewhat jealous dispo.
sition—betrayed it if to another was ascribed any part what-
ever of the improvements in jurisprudence, which all originated in
his own tabours, but to effect which different kinds of men were re-
quired—and even showed some disinclination to see any one interfere,
although as a coadjutor, and for the forthertmecof his own designs. It
is said that he suffered a severe mortifiation in not being brought early
in life into Parliament; although he must have felt that a worse ser-
vice never could have been rendered to the cause he had most at heart,
than to remove him from his own peculiar sphere to one in which,
even if he had excelled, he yet never could have been nearly so useful
to mankind. It is certain that he showed, upon many oeca-
sions, a harshness as well as coldness disposition to_
of
wards individuals to whose unremitting friendship he owed great
•mpatience to see the splendid reforms
obligations; and his s
which his
genius had projected, accomplished before his death,
time of his departure drew nigh, made him latterly
increasing
as
the
time
miller friends only as instruments of refiwmation,
his most a
regard even
indeedrevolting aspectof
'lendable and a
and gave a very u
to his feelings towards them.
For the sudden and mournful death of
one old and truly illustrous friend, he felt, as he expressed, no pain at
all; towards the person of a more recent friend he never concealed his
disrespect,
he disappointed some extravagant hopes which he
because
had formed that the bulk of a large fortune, acquired by honest industry,
would be expendedin promoting Parliamentary influence to be used in
furthering great political changes. Into all these unamiable features
of his character, f
every furrow which was deepened, and every shade
darkened by increasing years, there entered nothing base or hypocritical.
If he felt little for a friend, he pretended to no more titans he felt.
MR. CANNING LORD DUDLEY, AND MR. NUS-
__