anger of _lettres de cachet_ and the Bastille. English public opinion
in spite of many trammels had a potent influence. Their first impulse,
therefore, was simply to get rid of the trammels--the abuses which had
grown up from want of a thorough application of the ancient principles
in their original purity. The English Whig, even of the more radical
persuasion, was profoundly convinced that the foundations were sound,
however unsatisfactory might be the superstructure. Thus, both Bentham
and the reformers generally started--not from abstract principles, but
from the assault upon particular abuses. This is the characteristic of
the whole English movement, and gives the meaning of their claim to be
'practical.' The Utilitarians were the reformers on the old lines; and
their philosophy meant simply a desire to systematise the ordinary
common sense arguments. The philosophy congenial to this vein is the
philosophy which appeals to experience. Locke had exploded 'innate
ideas.' They denounced 'intuitions,' or beliefs which might override
experience as 'innate ideas' in a new dress; and the attempt to carry
out this view systematically became the distinctive mark of the whole
school. Bentham accepted, though he did little to elaborate, this
doctrine. That task remained for his disciples. But the tendency is
shown by his view of a rival version of Radicalism.

Bentham, as we have seen, regarded the American Declaration of
Independence as so much 'jargon.' He was entirely opposed to the theory
of the 'rights of man,' and therefore to the 'ideas of 1789.' From that
theory the revolutionary party professed to deduce their demands for
universal suffrage, the levelling of all privileges, and the absolute
supremacy of the people. Yet Bentham, repudiating the premises, came to
accept the conclusion. His Constitutional Code scarcely differs from the
ideal of the Jacobins', except in pushing the logic further. The
machinery by which he proposed to secure that the so-called rulers
should become really the servants of the people was more thoroughgoing
and minutely worked out than that of any democratic constitution that
has ever been adopted. How was it that two antagonist theories led to
identical results; and that the 'rights of man,' absurd in philosophy,
represented the ideal state of things in practice?

The general answer may be that political theories are not really based
upon philosophy. The actual method is to take your politics