la corresponds to a theory held by Mr. Herbert Spencer; and,
as he observes,[454] held on different grounds by Kant. Bentham's view,
indicated by his criticism of this article in the 'Anarchical
Fallacies,' is therefore worth a moment's notice. The formula does not
demand the absolute freedom which would condemn all coercion and all
government; but it still seems to suggest that liberty, not utility, is
the ultimate end. Bentham's formula, therefore, diverges. All
government, he holds, is an evil, because coercion implies pain. We must
therefore minimise, though we cannot annihilate, government; but we must
keep to utility as the sole test. Government should, of course, give to
the individual all such rights as are 'useful'; but it does not follow,
without a reference to utility, that men should not be restrained even
in 'self-regarding' conduct. Some men, women, and children require to be
protected against the consequences of their own 'weakness, ignorance, or
imprudence.'[455] Bentham adheres, that is, to the strictly empirical
ground. The absolute doctrine requires to be qualified by a reference to
actual circumstances: and, among those circumstances, as Bentham
intimates, we must include the capacity of the persons concerned to
govern themselves. Carried out as an absolute principle, it would imply
the independence of infants; and must therefore require some reference
to 'utility.'

Bentham, then, objects to the Jacobin theory as too absolute and too
'individualist.' The doctrine begs the question; it takes for granted
what can only be proved by experience; and therefore lays down as
absolute theories which are only true under certain conditions or with
reference to the special circumstances to which they are applied. That
is inconsistent with Bentham's thoroughgoing empiricism. But he had
antagonists to meet upon the other side: and, in meeting them, he was
led to a doctrine which has been generally condemned for the very same
faults--as absolute and individualist. We have only to ask in what sense
Bentham appealed to 'experience' to see how he actually reached his
conclusions. The adherents of the old tradition appealed to experience
in their own way. The English people, they said, is the freest, richest,
happiest in the world; it has grown up under the British Constitution:
therefore the British Constitution is the best in the world, as Burke
tells you, and the British common law, as Blackstone tells you, is the