The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1873-06-13
NUMBER 43.

Illtt6u 10 nave gwen evidence OF marvel
Gus acuteness and promise. Add to
this that his later attempts to have his
principles of jurisprudence adopted:
at first by his own government, after
ward by the United States, and, not
long before saw him, by Spain, had
all been unsuccessful and yet there I
found him, having over-passed by near
a decade the allotted three-score. years
and ten, with step as active aud eye as
bright and conversation as vivacious as
one expects a hale man of so.
Our dinner-party consisted of John
Neal of Maine, the author of Logan and
other novels, and then, I think, an in
mate of Bentham's house; and three or
four others whose names I can no longer
recall. shall never forget my surprise
when we were usherd by the venerable
philosopher into his dining-room. An
apartment of good size, it was occupied
by platform about two feet high, and
which filed the whole room, except a
passage-way, some three or four feet
wide, which had been left so that one
could pass all round it. Upon this
platform stood the dinner-tabIe and
chairs, with room enough for servants
to wait upon us. Around the table was
a huge screen, to protect the old man, I
suppose, against the draught from the
doors.
The dinner passed cheerfulIy, amid
41,a 4. -
ing conversation of our host but I OBJ
served that he did not touch upon any
of the topics of the day, nor aIlude to
recent events, political or social while
his recoIIections of the past were vivid
and ready. His talk ran chiefly on those
principles of morals and Jurisprudence
which have made his name famous.
When the cloth was drawn and we had
sat for some time over our g wine and
walnuts," Bentham pulled beIl-rope
that hung on his right. "John, my
marmalade p hecalIed out to the servant
who entered; then to us That Scotch
marmalade is an excellent digester. 1
always take little after dinner
When another half hour had passed.
he touched the bell again. This time
his order to the servant started me
''John, my night tcaPI" rose to go,
and one or two others did the same
Neal sat still. "Ahr' said Bentham,
as he drew a black silk night-cap over
his spare gray hair, you think that's
hint to go. Not bit of it. Sit down
I'll tell you when I'm tired. Tn going
to vibrate little that assists digestion,
too" And with that he descended into
the trench-Iil1e passage of which have
spoken, and commenced walking briskIy
back and forth, his head nearly on
level with ours, as we sat. OF course we |
all turned toward him. For full half
an hour, as he walked, did he continue
to pour forth such a witty and eloquent
invective againt kings, priests, and their
retainers, as [ have seldom listened to
Then he turned to the head of the table
and kept up the conversation, without
tagging, till midnight, ere he dismissed
Us. His parting words to me were
characteristic "God bless you-5
there be such being and at all events,
my young friend, take care OF yourself"
Bentham's standing as a reformer of
jurisprudence was not, at that time,
what it afterward grew to be, especial |
in England thinks to the translations
and able editing of his works by Du-
mont, he was more highly appreciated
in France. Yet his posthumous fame
was greater than his reputation while
living. I heard him spoken of as an
ultra radical by those who thought that
one of the gravest terms of reproach.
It is true that after I saw him, but while
he yet lived, Macintosh admitted that
'Bentham had done more than any
other man to rouse the spirit of judicial
reformation. But it was years after
his death that Macaulay paid him this
higher tribute: "Prosterity will pro-
n0unce its calm and impartial decision
and that decision viii, we firmly believe,
place in the same rank with Galileo and
with Locke the man who found juris-
prudence q gibberish and left it a science.
In some of the highest departments in
which the human intellect can exert
itself, he has not left his equal nor his
second behind him"
With John Neal I kept up the ac- |
quaintance thus begun. My father, !
ardent in his love of civil and religious |
liberty, had brought me up to think |
bioblv of America and Americans and |
the voung mans enthusiastic admiration |
of Bentham fell IN well with my own. |
He was then engaged in writing, for |
BJackwood. sketches Of the literary and |
political eelebrieties of the United |
States. which I read eagerly and the |
stories he told of his native country had |
for me all the charIa of romance One |
dav when ] was walking with him in
Hyde park, we met Henry Brougham,
who accosted me, Neal sauntering on.
[ had spent several days of the previous
week near Birmingham, with the Hills /
Rowland, afterward Sir Rowland, author
Of the penny-postage system, and for
many years at the head of the British
post-cfic5; together with two other
brothers. Frederick and Matthew; the /
former noted in later years for his work |
on Crime and Causes; the latter, for his /
exertions IN procuring law reform. They |
were then conducting a large boarding
school or private college for boys, justly !
celebrated IN its day; and, as Brougham |
knew Of my visit, he had stopped me to |
learn what / thought Of that institution.
7 sf7oke Il as 7 felt In terms oF the