书城公版Jeremy Bentham
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第109章 NOTE ON BENTHAM'S WRITINGS(3)

In his later years (1820-1832)Bentham began to be specially occupied wit codification.Papers upon Codification and Public Instruction (iv,451-534)consist chiefly of letters,written from 1811to 1815,offering himself for employment in codification in America and Russia,and first published in 1817.In 1821appeared Three Tracts relating to Spanish and Portuguese Affairs,with a Continual Eye to English ones;and in 1822Three Letters to Count Torens on the proposed Penal Code (in Spain)(viii,460-554).A short tract on Liberty of the Press was addressed to the Spanish people in 1821(ii,275-299).Codification Proposals (iv,535-594)appeared in 1823,offering to prepare an 'all-comprehensive code of law'for 'any nation professing liberal opinions.'Securities against Misrule addressed to a Mahommedan State,and prepared with a special Reference to Tripoli,written in 1822-23,was first published in the Works (viii,551-600).A tract on the Leading Principles of a Constitutional Code (ii,267-274)appeared in the Pamphleteer in 1823.

The first volume of the Constitutional Code,printed in 1827,was published with the first chapter of the second volume in 1830.The whole book,edited by R.Doane from papers written between 1818and 1832,was published in 1841,and forms volume ix of the Works.Doane also edited Principles of Judicial Procedure (ii,1-188)from papers written chiefly from 1820to 1827,though part had been written in 1802.Several thousand pages upon the subject --the third part of the original scheme --were left by Bentham at his death.

During his last years Bentham also wrote a Commentary on Mr Humphrey's Real Property Code ,published in the Westminster Review for October 1826(v,387-416);Justice and Codification Petitions (v,437-548),printed in 1829;Jeremy Bentham to his Fellow-Citizens in France on Houses of Peers and Senates (iv,419-450),dated 15th October 1820;Equity Dispatch Court Proposals (iii,297-432),first published in Works and written from 1829to 1821;Outline of a Plan of a General Register of Real Property (v,417-435),published in the Report of the Real Property Commission in 1832;and Lord Brougham Displayed (v,549-612),1832.

The Deontology or Science of Morality was published by Bowring in two vols,8vo in 1834,but omitted from the Works,as the original edition was not exhausted.The MS.preserved at University College,London,shows that a substantial beginning had been made in 1814;most of the remainder about 1820.The second volume,made,as Bowring says,from a nubmer of scraps,is probably more 'Bowringised'than the first.

Dumont's Traités were translated into Spanish in 1821,and the Works in 1841-43.There are also Russian and Italian translations.In 1830a translation from Dumont,edited by F.E.Beneke,as Grunds?tze der Civil-und Criminal-Gesetzgebung ,etc.was published at Berlin.Beneke observes that Bentham had hitherto received little attention in Germany,though well known in other countries.He reports a saying attributed to Mme de Sta?l that the age was that of Bentham,not of Byron or Buonaparte.The neglect of Bentham in Germany was due,as Beneke says,to the prevalence of the Kantian philosophy.Bentham,however,had been favourable noticed in the Hermes for 1822,and his merits since acknowledged by Mittermaier and Warnk?nig in the Zeitschrift für Rechtwissenschaft .Beneke (1898-1854)was opposed to the Hegelian tendencies of his time,and much influence by Herbart.See Ueberweg's History of Philosophy (English translation,1874,ii,281,etc.)and the account of Bentham in Robert von Mohl's Staatswissenshcaften ,etc.(1833),iii,595-635.

A great mass of Bentham MSS.belongs to University College,London.They are contained in 148boxes,which were examined and catalogued by Mr T.Whittaker in 1892.A few of these contain correspondence,part of which was printed by Bowring.Others are the manus of published works.Some are upon the same subjects as the published works,and other refer to topics not included in his publications.Besides the Deontology manus and a fragment upon 'Political Deontology',there is a discussion of the means of suppressing duels,an argument against the legal punishment of certain offences against decency,and a criticism of the gospel narrative similar to Not Paul,etc.

I have not thought it necessary to examine these fragments after reading Mr Whittaker's report.Bentham's principles are sufficiently stated in his published works;and the papers which have been reposing in the cellars of University College can have had no influence upon the world.There is another large collection of MSS.in the British Museum from the papers of Bentham and his brother,Sir Samuel.Ten folio volumes contain correspondence,much of it referring only to Sir Samuel.A long correspondence upon the acquisition of the 'Panopticon'land is included.Another volume contains many of Bentham's school and college exercises.There are also the manus of the Nomography,Logical Arrangements,etc.This collection was used by Bowring and by Lady Bentham in the life of her husband.