"language from this humble source. I did not invent "the word, but found it in one of Galt's novels, the Annals "of the Parish, in which the Scotch clergyman, of whom "the book is a supposed autobiography, is represented as warning his parishioners not to leave the gospel and "become utilitarians. With a boy's fondness for a name "and a banner I seized on the word, and for some years "called myself and others by it as a sectarian appellation; "and it came to be occasionally used by others holding "the opinions which it was intended to designate. As "those opinions attracted more notice, the term was "repeated by strangers and opponents, and got into "rather common use just about the time when those who "had originally assumed it laid down that along with "other sectarian characteristics. The society so called "consisted at first of no more than three members, one of "whom, being Mr. Bentham's amanuensis,1 obtained for us 'permission to hold our meetings in his house. The "number never, I think, reached ten, and the society was "broken up in 1826. It had had thus an existence of "about three years and a half. The chief effect of it as regards myself, over and above the benefit of practice in "oral discussion, was that of bringing me in contact with "several young men, at that time less advanced than "myself, among whom, as they professed the same

opinions, I was for some time a sort of leader, and had "considerable influence on their mental progress. Any 'young man of education who fell in my way, and whose 'opinions were not incompatible with those of the society, "I endeavoured to press into its service, and some others "I probably should never have known, had they not "joined it. Those of the members who became my "intimate companions-no one of whom was in any sense "of the word a disciple, but all of them independent

1 Mr. Walter Coulson, afterwards an eminent conveyancing barrister.

"thinkers on their own basis-were William Eyton "Tooke, son of the eminent political economist, a young "man of singular worth, both moral and intellectual, lost "to the world by an early death; his friend William Ellis, "an original thinker in the field of political economy, now "honorably known by his apostolic exertions for the "improvement of education; George Graham, afterwards "Official Assignee of the Bankruptcy Court, a thinker of 'originality and power on almost all abstract subjects; "and (from the time when he came first to England to "study for the bar in 1824 or 1825) a man who has "made considerably more noise in the world than any of "these, John Arthur Roebuck."

It was during this period of his mental development that Ellis became a co-operator in the establishment of the Westminster Review, founded by Bentham, mainly for the advocacy of the principles of which he was the most prominent exponent, and the reforms which naturally sprang from them. From its foundation to the present time, the Review has always been the organ through which the advanced thinkers of the time have found utterance for their views. Consequently, it has generally received cordial support from only a small section of the public, and has not obtained the wide circle of readers which its senior rivals, the Edinburgh and Quarterly, have commanded. But a curious and convincing proof of the progress which has been made by public opinion may be obtained by a perusal of the articles published in the earlier numbers of the Review, bearing in mind that arguments and views which have since been universally adopted by public opinion were then looked upon by some as utopian and visionary, by others as dangerous and revolutionary. It is, from this point of view, specially interesting to look back more than sixty years afterwards upon the general characteristics of a party and a publication which have had so much influence as pioneers of thought on the future social and political progress of the country.

CHAPTER III.

1824-1826.

The Westminster Review-Ellis's Contributions: Slavery-Charitable Institutions-Machinery-McCulloch's Political Economy.

HE Westminster Review was a bold attempt on the

THE part of Bentham and the earnest reformers who

surrounded him to bring before the public the arguments for the great reforms they advocated, many of which were then considered hopelessly extreme, though they have since been generally adopted. The Edinburgh and Quarterly, representing the two chief political parties respectively, were firmly established, and paying well. Bentham saw no reason why a review, advocating the views on which he held such. strong opinions, should not be equally successful. So, in January, 1824, the Review was commenced under the joint editorship of Mr. (afterwards Sir John) Bowring, as political, and Henry Southern, as literary editor. Among the contributors during the first two or three years, while Ellis wrote for it, we find many names which have since been favourably known as advocates of progress. James Mill's criticism of the Edinburgh and Quarterly Reviews were brilliant commentaries on the attitude of the Whig and Tory parties, while the younger Mill-as he tells us in his Autobiography-wrote several articles during the first three or four years of the existence of the Review upon Free Trade and other economical subjects. John Austin, the brilliant writer on Jurisprudence, treated the subject of Primogeniture, while among other names which have since become known to the world are those of Dr. Southwood Smith, William Johnson Fox, Charles Austin, George Grote, Colonel

Perronet Thompson, Albany Fonblanque, and Crabb Robinson, whose close friendship with and devotion to Goethe led to his contributing an interesting review of his works.

The articles which can be identified with certainty as from Ellis's pen are on social subjects, and show the clear and logical style which even at that age he had acquired. Written when he was only twenty-four or twenty-five, we can hardly quote them as expressing matured opinions such as in their entirety he would have confirmed during the latter part of his life. But they are interesting, as showing the development of his mind under the influence due to his friendship with Bentham and James Mill, and also the method in which he treated matters now set at rest, but then the subject of bitter controversy.

The first of his contributions is an article on West India slavery in the second number of the Westminster Review, published in April, 1824. The chief characteristic of Ellis's treatment of the question is its eminently practical character. There is not one word of declamation upon the cruelty and wickedness which are inseparable from it. The utter inhumanity of treating human beings as chattels—the impossibility that any prescription, however long, can justify such an institution—are not brought forward. But the whole subject is treated in a practical tone, which shows more than anything what was the then position of the question, and it is a strange sign of the condition of public opinion that even the most advanced proposals of the abolitionists, as contained in the pamphlets reviewed, do not go beyond the 'mitigation and gradual abolition of slavery." It will be remembered that it was only a few years before, in 1807, after an opposition supported by the royal dukes and many leading members of both houses-an opposition which even quoted the scriptures as evidence in favour of slavery with all its hideous cruelties-that Fox and Lord Grenville had carried through the great work, the abolition of the slave trade, which is forever associated with their names.

But the abolition of the trade in slaves did not abolish slavery in our West Indian colonies; and at the time when this article was written Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton had brought the question of emancipation before the House of Commons by moving

"That slavery is repugnant to the British Constitution "and the Christian religion, and ought to be abolished gradually throughout the British Colonies with as much "expedition as may be found consistent with a due "regard to the well-being of the parties concerned."

Canning, seizing on the weak point, the proposal for gradual abolition, inconsistent with the strong language of the opening words, proposed and carried an amendment merely declaratory of the expediency of ameliorating the condition of the British slave population, and of the hope that such amelioration might fit them for freedom.

It was just after this motion that Ellis wrote his article, at the head of which he placed Wilberforce's appeal, and some half-dozen pamphlets. He begins with a paragraph which might now be deemed more applicable to the cause which he subsequently undertook and made his owneducation-than to the question of emancipation.

"They who have the interest of their country really at "heart, and who are actuated by a sincere spirit of "patriotism and philanthropy, do not appear at first sight "to meet with much encouragement."

And a little further on he even criticises the abolitionists for "not attaching sufficient importance to the numerous "obstacles and impediments that were presented in the "short and royal road by which they wished to arrive at "their destined end," and states as the object of his Essay, "to lay before our readers a clear view of the whole question as it now stands, and to suggest such modifi"cations and improvements in the present system as might "be adopted without a shadow of injustice to any party." He at once admits, as the basis of his argument, that