e really in urgent need of the light of common sense.

Bentham's general principles may be very simply stated. They are, in
fact, such as were suggested by his view of legal grievances. Why, when
he had demonstrated that certain measures would contribute to the
'greatest happiness of the greatest number,' were they not at once
adopted? Because the rulers did not desire the greatest happiness of the
greatest number. This, in Bentham's language, is to say that they were
governed by a 'sinister interest.' Their interest was that of their
class, not that of the nation; they aimed at the greatest happiness of
some, not at the greatest happiness of all. A generalisation of this
remark gives us the first axioms of all government. There are two
primary principles: the 'self-preference' principle, in virtue of which
every man always desires his own greatest happiness'; and the 'greatest
happiness' principle, in virtue of which 'the right and proper end' of
government is the 'greatest happiness of the greatest number.'[438] The
'actual end' of every government, again, is the greatest happiness of
the governors. Hence the whole problem is to produce a coincidence of
the two ends, by securing an identity of interest between governors and
governed. To secure that we have only to identify the two classes or to
put the government in the hands of all.[439] In a monarchy, the ruler
aims at the interest of one--himself; in a 'limited monarchy' the aim is
at the happiness of the king and the small privileged class; in a
democracy, the end is the right one--the greatest happiness of the
greatest number. This is a short cut to all constitutional questions.
Probably it has occurred in substance to most youthful members of
debating societies. Bentham's confidence in his logic lifts him above
any appeal to experience; and he occasionally reminds us of the proof
given in _Martin Chuzzlewit_ that the queen must live in the Tower of
London. The 'monarch,' as he observes,[440] 'is naturally the very
worst--the most maleficent member of the whole community.' Wherever an
aristocracy differs from the democracy, their judgment will be
erroneous.[441] The people will naturally choose 'morally apt agents,'
and men who wish to be chosen will desire truly to become 'morally apt,'
for they can only recommend themselves by showing their desire to serve
the general interest.[442] 'All experience testifies to this theory,'
though the evidence is 'too bulky' to