A Victorian View of Anonymity in the Press

From An Essay on the Influence of Authority in Matters of Opinion (1849) by Sir George Cornewall Lewis. “in looking on the newspaper as one of the principal guides of public opinion, and as an authoritative source of practical convictions to a large part of the community, the most prominent characteristic which strikes the observer … Continue reading A Victorian View of Anonymity in the Press →

James Mill on Aristocracy

From Mill's 1836 essay, 'Aristocracy'. Inequalities of fortune produce good effects. ‘Reformers are far from thinking evil of inequalities of fortune; on the contrary, they esteem them a necessary consequence of things which are so good, that society itself, and all the happiness of human beings, depend upon them: a consequence of those laws whence … Continue reading James Mill on Aristocracy →

Bentham on lawyers

"It is the people’s interest that delay, vexation and expense of procedure should be as small as possible:—it is the advocate’s that they should be as great as possible: viz. expense in so far as his profit is proportioned to it; factitious vexation and delay, in so far as inseparable from the profit-yielding part of … Continue reading Bentham on lawyers →