Autobiography John Stuart Mill 1873 Copyright © Jonathan Bennett 2017. All rights reserved [Brackets] enclose editorial explanations. Small ·dots· enclose material that has been added, but can be read as though it were part of the original text. Occasional •bullets, and also indenting of passages that are not quotations, are meant as aids to grasping the structure of a sentence or a thought. Every four-point ellipsis . indicates the omission of a brief passage that seems to present more difficulty than it is worth. Longer omissions are reported between brackets in normal-sized type. —Unnumbered section-headings are not in the original. First launched: October 2016 Autobiography John Stuart Mill Contents Contents Part 1: Childhood and early education 68 My father................................................................ 68 Starting Greek at the age of 3.................................................... 69 History etc................................................................ 70 Latin, Greek poets............................................................ 71 Poetry.................................................................. 72 Logic.................................................................... 74 Elocution................................................................ 76 The History of India .......................................................... 76 Economics................................................................ 77 General points about early education................................................ 78 Self-conceit............................................................... 79 My solitary childhood......................................................... 80 Part 2: Moral influences in early youth. My father’s character and opinions 81 My father and religion......................................................... 81 Myself and religion.......................................................... 83 The silence of ‘unbelievers’...................................................... 83 My father and the Greeks....................................................... 84 Feelings and morality......................................................... 85 Tenderness............................................................... 86 Jeremy Bentham and others...................................................... 87 Notes on France............................................................ 88 Part 3: Last stage of education and first of self-education 90 Absorbing Benthamism........................................................ 90 Psychology............................................................... 92 The usefulness of religion...................................................... 92 Writing essays............................................................. 93 Three important contacts....................................................... 93 Autobiography John Stuart Mill The Utilitarian Society........................................................ 96 Earning a living............................................................. 97 Part 4: Youthful propagandism. The Westminster Review 98 The Morning Chronicle ........................................................ 98 The Westminster Review ....................................................... 100 My father’s attack on the Whigs................................................... 100 Other doings of the Westminster Review ............................................... 101 The spread of Benthamism...................................................... 102 My father’s role in the life of Benthamism.............................................. 104 Philosophic radicalism........................................................ 105 What I was as a human being..................................................... 107 Poetry.................................................................. 108 Preparing the Rationale of Judicial Evidence ............................................ 109 Further learning............................................................ 110 Battling the Owenites......................................................... 112 The new Society............................................................ 113 End of connection with the Westminster Review .......................................... 114 Part 5: A crisis in my mental history. One stage onward 115 Crucial question, disturbing answer................................................ 115 The cloud lingers and thickens................................................... 116 The cloud starts to lift........................................................ 118 Music.................................................................. 119 Wordsworth............................................................... 120 Roebuck and feelings......................................................... 122 Frederick Maurice........................................................... 123 Relations with John Sterling.................................................... 123 Macaulay versus my father....................................................... 124 Influences from the Continent. ................................................... 126 . especially from the St. Simonians................................................. 127 My thinking on other subjects.................................................... 129 Return to political writing...................................................... 130 Carlyle.................................................................. 131 Autobiography John Stuart Mill Relations with John Austin..................................................... 132 Relations with my father....................................................... 133 My other writings at that time.................................................... 133 Part 6: Start of the most valuable friendship of my life. My father’s death. Writings and other doings up to 1840 135 A sketch of Harriet Taylor...................................................... 135 Benefit received, benefit given.................................................... 136 Influences of de Tocqueville...................................................... 137 Radicals in the first Reformed Parliament............................................. 138 My other writings at that time.................................................... 140 Founding of the London Review ................................................... 140 My father’s death........................................................... 142 Broadening the London Review ................................................... 143 Back to logic.............................................................. 143 Evaluating Comte............................................................ 144 Trying to form a Radical party.................................................... 146 Defending Lord Durham....................................................... 146 Writing on Bentham and Coleridge.................................................. 147 Part 7: General view of the remainder of my life 148 Finishing the System of Logic .................................................... 148 Puzzling success of the System of Logic .............................................. 149 Possible usefulness of the System of Logic ............................................. 150 The dangers of general society.................................................... 150 Rethinking politics with Mrs Taylor.................................................. 151 The social problem of the future................................................... 152 The Principles of Political Economy ................................................. 153 Hopes for the mental emancipation of England........................................... 154 Two events involving my wife.................................................... 155 End of the East India Company................................................... 156 My wife and my daughter....................................................... 156 Collaboration with my wife....................................................... 157 The Principles of Political Economy ................................................. 158 Liberty .................................................................. 160 Autobiography John Stuart Mill Parliamentary reform......................................................... 162 Other writings.............................................................. 164 Working from Avignon........................................................ 165 Representative government..................................................... 166 The Subjection of Women ....................................................... 166 The American civil war......................................................... 167 Urging England not to support the south............................................. 168 Examination of Hamilton’s philosophy............................................... 169 Intuition versus experience..................................................... 169 Evaluating Comte............................................................ 171 Cheap editions of my writings..................................................... 171 Offers of membership of Parliament................................................ 172 Election to Parliament........................................................ 172 Activities as an MP........................................................... 174 Supporting