eticence, to allow their
sympathies to appear openly. As, on the other hand, they were too
Radical in their genuine creed to be accepted by Edinburgh Reviewers
and frequenters of Holland House, there was a wide gap between them
and the genuine Whig. Their task therefore was to give a political
theory which should be Radical in principle, and yet in such a form as
should appeal to the reason of the more cultivated readers without too
openly shocking their prejudices.

James Mill achieved this task by the publication of a series of
articles in the Supplement to the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, which
appeared from 1816 to 1823, of which I shall presently speak at
length. It passed for the orthodox profession of faith among the
little circle of friends who had now gathered round him. First among
them was David Ricardo. He had become known to Mill in 1811. 'I,' said
Bentham, 'was the spiritual father of Mill, and Mill the spiritual
father of Ricardo.'[23] Mill was really the disciple of Ricardo in
economics; but it was Mill who induced him to publish his chief work,
and Mill's own treatise upon the subject published in 1820 is
substantially an exposition of Ricardo's doctrine. Mill, too,
encouraged Ricardo to take a seat in parliament in 1818, and there for
the short remainder of his life, Ricardo defended the characteristic
Utilitarian principles with the authority derived from his reputation
as an economist.[24] The two were now especially intimate. During
Mill's first years in the India House, his only recreation was an
annual visit to Ricardo at Gatcombe. Meetings at Ricardo's house in
London led to the foundation of the 'Political Economy Club' in 1821.
Mill drafted the rules of the club, emphasising the duty of members to
propagate sound economic opinions through the press. The club took
root and helped to make Mill known to politicians and men of
commercial influence. One of the members was Malthus, who is said, and
the assertion is credible enough, to have been generally worsted by
Mill in the discussions at the club. Mill was an awkward antagonist,
and Malthus certainly not conspicuous for closeness of logic. The
circle of Mill's friends naturally extended as his position in the
India House enabled him to live more at his ease and brought him into
contact with men of political position. His old school-fellow Joseph
Hume had made a fortune in India, and returned to take a seat in
parliament and become the persistent