Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T18:14:34.876Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

James Mill on Peace and War*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 January 2009

Ryuji Yasukawa
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

James Mill's views on peace and war have yet to be examined in detail. Only a few scholars have paid any attention to this aspect of his thought. Edmund Silberner was the first to give any extensive account of Mill's opposition to war and his proposals for universal peace, but chiefly from an economic point of view. He rightly pointed out that Mill's opposition to war was grounded mainly on his belief that war always obstructs the progress of national wealth, and also that Mill regarded the acquisition and possession of colonies as one of the major causes of war. F. H. Kinsley summed up the leading ideas of Mill's article on the ‘Law of Nations’, but only to show how far Bentham influenced Mill's thinking in this specific area.

Type
Research Article
Information
Utilitas , Volume 3 , Issue 2 , November 1991 , pp. 179 - 197
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

This paper is based on my MA dissertation submitted to the University of London in 1989. I am grateful to Dr Stephen Conway for his careful supervision and constant encouragement.

References

1 Silberner, Edmund, The Problem of War in Nineteenth-Century Economic Thought, Princeton, 1946, pp. 37–50.Google Scholar

2 Hinsley, F. H., Power and the Pursuit of Peace, Cambridge, 1963, pp. 87–91.Google Scholar

3 This book is a revised version of his doctoral thesis which was submitted to the University of London in 1971.

4 Bain, Alexander, James Mill: a Biography, London, 1882CrossRefGoogle Scholar; James Mill: Selected Economic Writings, ed. Winch, Donald, Edinburgh, 1966.Google Scholar

5 Saint James's Chronicle, no. 7057 (8–10 03 1803), p. 4.Google Scholar

6 Maccoby, S., English Radicalism 1786–1832, London, 1955, pp. 152–65Google Scholar; Christie, Ian R., Wars and Revolutions: Britain 1760–1815, London, 1982, pp. 257–61.Google Scholar

7 ‘Politics’, Literary Journal, i (1803), 709.Google Scholar

8 Derry, John W., Charles James Fox, London, 1972, p. 399.Google Scholar

9 ‘Note from M. Otto to Lord Hawkesbury, 17 August 1802’, Cobbett's Annual Register, iii (1803), 1005–6.Google Scholar

10 ‘From Lord Hawkesbury to Anthony Merry, 28 August 1802’, ibid., 1008–9.

11 Ibid., 1276, 1798.

12 ‘On the War with France’, Literary Journal, i. 674.Google Scholar

13 Ibid., 673.

14 Mill, James to Barclay, David, 3 01 1804, cited in Bain, p. 49.Google Scholar

15 Briggs, Asa, The Age of Improvement, London, 1959, p. 147Google Scholar; Glover, Richard, Britain at Bay, London, 1973, pp. 192–7.Google Scholar

16 ‘Politics’, Literary Journal, i (1803), 800–1.Google Scholar

17 ‘On the Present State of the British Commerce, and what is likely to be its future progress’, Literary Journal, ii (1803), 366–7.Google Scholar

18 Williams, Judith Blow, British Commercial Policy and Trade Expansion 1750–1850, Oxford, 1972, pp. 225–34.Google Scholar

19 Spence, William, Britain Independent of Commerce, London, 1807.Google Scholar William Cobbett reprinted extracts. Cf. Selected Economic Writings, ed. Winch, D., p. 29.Google Scholar

20 Selected Economic Writings, ed. Winch, p. 23.Google Scholar

21 ‘On the Commerce of Great Britain—Continued’, Literary Journal, ii (1803), 433.Google Scholar

22 ‘On the Present State of the British Commerce’, ibid., 374.

23 Halévy, Elie, England in 1815, New York, 1961, pp. 373–4.Google Scholar

24 ‘The Income Tax’, Literary Journal, i (1803), 836.Google Scholar

25 Saint James's Chronicle, no. 7551 (6–8 05 1806), p. 4.Google Scholar

26 Spater, George, William Cobbett: the Poor Man's Friend, 2 vols., Cambridge, 1982, ch. 9.Google Scholar

27 Mill, James to SirForbes, William, 9 02 1807.Google Scholar National Library of Scotland, Fettercairn Papers, Acc 4796, F3/49.

28 ‘On Peace’, Saint James's Chronicle, no. 7747 (6–8 08 1807), p. 4.Google Scholar

29 Mill, James, Commerce Defended, London, 1808, p. 119.Google Scholar

30 ‘War’, Philanthropist, iii (1813), 204.Google Scholar

31 Ibid., 204–5.

32 Ibid., 206.

33 Ibid., 198.

34 Commerce Defended, pp. 130–1.Google Scholar

35 Ibid., p. 132.

36 ‘War’, 209–11.Google Scholar

37 Ibid., 207–8.

38 Ibid., 212.

39 ‘Peace’, Philanthropist, iv (1814), 273.Google Scholar

40 ‘Colony’, in Mill, James, Essays, London, n.d., p. 31.Google Scholar

41 Ibid.

42 Ibid., pp. 32–3.

43 ‘A Solemn Review of the Custom of War’, Philanthropist, vi (1816), 153.Google Scholar

44 Mill, James to Brougham, Lord, 3 09 1832Google Scholar, University College London, Brougham Papers, 10,765, cited in Bain, p. 366.

45 ‘Law of Nations’, in Essays, p. 27.Google Scholar

46 Ibid., p. 28.

47 Ibid., p. 29.

48 Ibid., pp. 8–9.

49 Ibid., p. 32.

50 Conway, Stephen, ‘Bentham on Peace and War’, Utilitas, i (1989), 82–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

51 Ibid., 88; Bentham, Jeremy, ‘The Rationale of Reward’, The Works of Jeremy Bentham, ed. Bowring, John, 11 vols., Edinburgh, 1838–1843, ii. 259.Google Scholar

52 Mill, James, The History of British India, ed. Wilson, H. H., 10 vols., 5th edn., London 1858, i. 134.Google Scholar

53 Conway, , 88.Google Scholar

54 See, for example, his evidence before the Select Committee on the Affairs of the East India Company, reprinted in Selected Economic Writings, ed. Winch, , p. 442.Google Scholar

55 Conway, , 89.Google Scholar

56 Ibid., 89–90.

57 Ibid., 90.

58 Ibid., 98.

59 Ibid., 92; Bentham, Jeremy, The Book of FallaciesGoogle Scholar, Bowring, , ii. 437.Google Scholar

60 Conway, , 93–4.Google Scholar

61 Ibid., 97–8; Bentham, Jeremy, ‘Principles of International Law’Google Scholar, Bowring, , ii. 535–71.Google Scholar

62 Howard, Michael, War and the Liberal Conscience, London, 1978, p. 31.Google Scholar

63 Read, Donald, Cobden and Bright: a Victorian Political Partnership, London, 1967, pp. 116–49.Google Scholar

64 Mill, John Stuart, ‘A Few Words on Non-Intervention’, Essays on Equality, Law, and Education, ed. Robson, John M., Toronto, 1984Google Scholar, Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, xxi. 109–24Google Scholar; ‘Treaty Obligations’, ibid., 341–8.

65 Mill, , Essays on Equality, Law, and Education, xxi. 118.Google Scholar

66 See The History of British India. Books IV, V and VI.