John Stuart Mill | Page 8

to the wrong done by England to the United States during the civil war,
and the need of making adequate reparation; and on the 12th of the

same month he spoke with equal boldness on Mr. Maguire's motion for
a committee to inquire into the state of Ireland, repeating anew and
enforcing the views he had lately put forward in his pamphlet on
Ireland, and considerably aiding by anticipation the passage of Mr.
Gladstone's two great measures of Irish Reform. He took an important
part in the discussion of the Election Petitions and Corrupt Practices
Bill; and among a great number of other measures on which he spoke
was the Married Women's Property Bill of Mr. Shaw-Lefevre.
Soon after that the House of Commons was dissolved, and Mr. Mill's
too brief parliamentary career came to an end. The episode, however,
had to some extent helped to quicken his always keen interest in
political affairs. This was proved, among other ways, by the publication
of his pamphlet on "England and Ireland" in 1868, and of his treatise
"On the Subjection of Women" in 1869, as well as by the especial
interest which he continued to exhibit in two of the most important
political movements of the day,--all the more important because they
are yet almost in their infancy,--the one for the political
enfranchisement of women, the other for a thorough reform of our
system of land tenure. The latest proof of his zeal on the second of
these important points appeared in the address which he delivered at
Exeter Hall on the 18th of last March, and in two articles which he
contributed to "The Examiner" at the commencement of the present
year. We may be permitted to add that it was his intention to use some
of the greater quiet that he expected to enjoy during his stay at Avignon
in writing frequent articles on political affairs for publication in these
columns. He died while his intellectual powers were as fresh as they
had ever been, and when his political wisdom was only ripened by
experience.
In this paper we purposely limit ourselves to a concise narrative of the
leading events of Mr. Mill's life, and abstain as far as possible from any
estimate of either the value or the extent of his work in philosophy, in
economics, in politics, or in any other of the departments of thought
and study to which, with such depth and breadth of mind, he applied
himself; but it is impossible for us to lay down the pen without some
slight reference, however inadequate it may be, to the nobility of his
character, and the peculiar grace with which he exhibited it in all his
dealings with his friends and with the whole community among whom

he lived, and for whom he worked with the self-sacrificing zeal of an
apostle. If to labor fearlessly and ceaselessly for the good of society,
and with the completest self-abnegation that is consistent with healthy
individuality, be the true form of religion, Mr. Mill exhibited such
genuine and profound religion--so permeating his whole life, and so
engrossing his every action--as can hardly be looked for in any other
man of this generation. Great as were his intellectual qualities, they
were dwarfed by his moral excellences. He did not, it is true, aim at any
fanciful ideal, or adopt any fantastic shibboleths. He was only a
utilitarian. He believed in no inspiration but that of experience. He had
no other creed or dogma or gospel than Bentham's axiom,--"The
greatest happiness of the greatest number." But many will think that
herein was the chief of all his claims to the honor of all men, and the
best evidence of his worth. At any rate, he set a notable example of the
way in which a man, making the best use in his power of merely his
own reason and the accumulated reason of those who have gone before
him, wisely exercising the faculties of which he finds himself
possessed, and seeking no guidance or support from invisible beacons
and intangible props, may lead a blameless life, and be one of the
greatest benefactors of his race. No one who had any personal
knowledge of him could fail to discern the singular purity of his
character; and to those who knew him best that purity was most
apparent. He may have blundered and stumbled in his pursuit of truth;
but it was part of his belief that stumbling and blundering are necessary
means towards the finding of truth, and that honesty of purpose is the
only indispensable requisite for the nearest approach towards truth of
which each individual is capable. That belief rendered him as charitable
towards others as he was modest concerning his own attainments. He
never boasted; and he despised no