2 James Mill and George Grote: A Benthamite Defence of “Theoretic Reform”

Abstract

This chapter explores the intellectual context and relationship of two seminal figures involved in the Benthamite-radical movement for reform, James Mill and George Grote. The common perception is that Grote was guided by the elder Mill to carry out the Philosophic Radicals' pragmatic goals. Against this trend, two key-texts are given particular attention: Mill's Government and Grote's Statement of the Question of Parliamentary Reform . Grote's pamphlet is largely referred to as heavily indebted for its arguments and even its phraseology to James Mill's essay Government - in this regard, it is not surprising that within the Radical circle it was thought to have been written by Mill himself. A closer look at the circumstances surrounding the publication of Grote's pamphlet suggests greater originality than is usually allowed to Grote. Grote's Statement of the Question of Parliamentary Reform attempted to respond to James Mackintosh's review of Bentham's Plan of Parliamentary Reform. Keywords: Benthamite-radical movement; George Grote; James Mackintosh's review; James Mill; parliamentary reform; philosophic radicals