Bentham
JEREMY, an English jurist, born in London, Feb. 15, 1748; educated at Westminster and Oxford; entered Lincoln's Inn, in 1763. He was called to the bar, but did not practice, and, having private means, devoted himself to the reform of civil and criminal legislation. A criticism on a passage in Blackstone's "Commentaries," published under the title, "A Fragment on Government" (1776), brought him into notice. His most important works are: "The Hard Labor Bill" (1778); "Principles of Morals and Legislation" (1780); "A Defense of Usury" (1787); "Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation" (1789); "Discourses on Civil and Penal Legislation" (1802); "Treatise on Judicial Evidence" (1813); "Paper Relative to Codification and Public Instruction" (1817); and the "Book of Fallacies" (1824). His mind, though at once subtle and comprehensive, was characterized by something lacking in method and sense of proportion; and he is therefore seen at his best in works revised by his disciples. In England, James Mill, Romilly, John ohn Stuart Mill, Burton, and others of independent genius, have been among his exponents. In ethics he must be regarded as the founder of modern utilitarianism; in polity and criminal law he anticipated or suggested many practical reforms; and his whole influence was stimulating and humanizing. He died in London, June 6, 1832, leaving his body for dissection.
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Bentham, Jeremy
ben'tam, Jeremy (1748-1832), a distinguished English writer. He was a native of London. Bentham may be associated in mind with Mill, Carlyle, Ruskin, and a host of other writers who insisted that English laws and English society did injustice to the great mass of the people. His house stood at the back end of an alley and faced inward on a little garden, "like an oasis in the desert." He desired privacy in order to busy himself with his studies, but his house was always open to his friends. It was quite a resort for thinking people. In 1823 he founded the Westminster Review, a periodical which had much influence on the legislation of Great Britain . A nephew, George Bentham, was a frequenter of the Kew Gardens and united with Sir Joseph Hooker in the preparation of Genera Plantarum, or genera of plants, the greatest descriptive botany ever written. See Mill 2026 Editor's Note: Bentham founded utilitarianism — the greatest happiness of the greatest number — and designed the Panopticon , a prison where one unseen watcher could observe all, an idea Michel Foucault later made the emblem of modern surveillance. Stranger still, Bentham willed his body to be preserved and dressed; his "auto-icon" still sits in a case at University College London. (Ed: BR 2026-07-14)
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Bentley
RICHARD, an English critic, born in Oulton, Yorkshire, Jan. 27, 1662. He is pronounced by some authorities the best classical scholar England has produced. produced. His writings are "Latin Epistle to John Mill, Containing Critical Observations on the Chronicle of Joannes Malala" (1691); the very celebrated "Dissertation on the Epistles of Phalaris" (1697); and editions of Horace and Terence, besides commentaries on the classics, all of great value. He died in July, 1742.
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Benton
a city of Illinois, the countyseat of Franklin co. It is on the Illinois Central, the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern, and the Chicago and Eastern Illinois railroads. There are important industries, including the manufacture of stoves. There are also extensive coal mines in the neighborhood. Pop. (1910) 2,675; (1920) 7,201.
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Benton
GUY POTTER, an American educator, born at Kenton, O., in 1865. He graduated from Baker University and took post-graduate courses at the University of Wooster and in Berlin. From 1890 to 1895 he was superintendent of schools at Fort Scott, Kan., and in 1895-1896 hitte superintendent of public instruction, Kansas. He served as professor of history and sociology at Baker University from 1896 to 1899. From the latter year to 1902 he was president of the Upper Iowa University. In 1902 he was appointed president of Miami University, serving until 1911, when he became president of the University of Vermont. He was a member of the Kansas State Board of Education, president of the Southeastern Kansas Teachers' Association, and a member and officer of several other educational societies. From 1910 he was secretary of the National Association of State Universities. During the World War he was in the service of the Y. M. C. A. in the city of Paris. He wrote "The Real College" (1909).
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Benton (II)
THOMAS HART, an American statesman, born near Hillsboro, N. C., March 14, 1782; settled in Tennessee, where he studied law, and was elected to the Legislature. In 1812 he raised a regiment of volunteers, and also served on General Jackson's staff. On the admission of Missouri as a State, he was chosen United States Senator in 1820, and served 30 years. A determined opponent of Calhoun's nullification scheme, he afterward supported Jackson in his war on the United States bank, and earned the sobriquet of "Old Bullion" by his opposition to the paper currency. He published "A Thirty Years' View, or a History of the Working of the American Government from 1820 to 1850" (2 vols., 1854-1856) and "An Abridgment of the Debates of Congress from 1789 to 1856" (15 vols., 1857). He died in Washington, April 10, 1858.
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Benton Harbor
a city of Michigan, in Berrien co. It is on the St. Joseph river, and on the Pere Marquette, the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis, and the Michigan Central railroads. It is connected with Lake Michigan by a ship canal, has an excellent harbor, and is connected by steamboat lines with Chicago and Milwaukee. There are important manufactures of furniture, flour, lumber, etc. In the neighborhood are medicinal springs which have made the city an important summer resort. Pop. (1910) 9,185; (1920) 12,233.
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Benton, Thomas Hart
Thomas Hart (1782-1858), a native of North Carolina . He was a member of the Tennessee legislature and served as a colonel in the War of 1812. He moved to Missouri to engage in newspaper work. He served that state as a United States Senator from 1821 to 1851. During his lifetime he published his Thirty Years' View, a historical retrospect of the period during which he sat in the Senate. While his rank was subordinate to that of Clay, Calhoun, and Webster, his career was open and honorable. He was an ardent supporter of Jackson in the famous nullification contest with Calhoun. His efforts in support of sound money won him the nickname of "Old Bullion." He favored the extension of slavery. He failed in an attempt to harmonize the views of the Northern Democracy with those of the Southern wing, and consequently lost prestige and fell out of politics. See Fremont ; Douglas 2026 Editor's Note: "Old Bullion" Benton spent thirty years arguing for hard money, and finally lost his Senate seat for opposing the spread of slavery — a costly stand in a slave state. His great-nephew and namesake became one of America's major painters , the muralist of the Regionalist school and a teacher of Jackson Pollock. (Ed: BR 2026-06-11)
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