entiary, opened in
1816.[286] Bentham ultimately received L23,000 by way of compensation in
1813.[287] The objections of the committee would now be a commonplace,
but Bentham saw in them another proof of the desire to increase
government patronage. He was well out of the plan. There were probably
few men in England less capable of managing a thousand convicts, in
spite of his theories about 'springs of action.' If anything else had
been required to ensure failure, it would have been association with a
sanguine inventor of brilliant abilities.

Bentham's agitation had not been altogether fruitless. His plan had been
partly adopted at Edinburgh by one of the Adams,[288] and his work
formed an important stage in the development of the penal system.

Bentham, though he could not see that his failure was a blessing in
disguise, had learned one lesson worth learning. He was ill-treated,
according to impartial observers. 'Never,' says Wilberforce,[289] 'was
any one worse used. I have seen the tears run down the cheeks of that
strong-minded man through vexation at the pressing importunity of his
creditors, and the indolence of official underlings when day after day
he was begging at the Treasury for what was indeed a mere matter of
right.' Wilberforce adds that Bentham was 'quite soured,' and attributes
his later opinions to this cause. When the _Quarterly Review_ long
afterwards taunted him as a disappointed man, Bentham declared himself
to be in 'a state of perpetual and unruffled gaiety,' and the
'mainspring' of the gaiety of his own circle.[290] No one, indeed, could
be less 'soured' so far as his habitual temper was concerned. But
Wilberforce's remark contained a serious truth. Bentham had made a
discovery. He had vowed war in his youth against the 'demon of chicane.'
He had now learned that the name of the demon was 'Legion.' To cast him
out, it would be necessary to cast out the demon of officialism; and we
shall see what this bit of knowledge presently implied.

NOTES:

[260] _Works_, x. 195.

[261] _Ibid._ x. 198-99.

[262] _Ibid._ x. 317.

[263] _Ibid._ x. 270.

[264] _Works_, x. 282.

[265] _Works_, x. 296.

[266] _Ibid._ x. 304.

[267] _Ibid._ x. 292.

[268] _Ibid._ x. 300.

[269] _Works_, x. 315.

[270] _Ibid._ x. 329.

[271] _Ibid._ x. 366.

[272] _Ibid._ x. 346.

[273] _Ibid._ x. 381.

[274] See his letter to Lansdowne, sending a portrait to
Jeremy.--_Works_, x. 224.

[275] _Works_, x