JB/013/235/001

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1820. Sept: 7. 19
J.B. to Mora
(5)

approve, and the putting his polish upon them. (N.B. The original,
in the state in which it is, would not serve for such an operation.)
The code, which I had begun so many years ago, and
which, in as far as it had gone, he had in his possession, wanted
much of being complete: so much, that, neither he, nor any
of his colleagues, holding themselves competent to compleat it, the
business was at a stand. (His Committee having, however, agreed
upon a considerable part of the proposed text in terminis, he was,
when in this country, every now and then, urging me to furnish
him with matter relative to this or that head, that, on his return
the business might be resumed and compleated. My answer was
that I knew not how to proceed by putting patchwork of my own
upon a ground that had been put into the sort of state into
which his Colleagues had put it: that, were I to give any further
assistance to in the business, it would could be done in no other way
than by drawing up a compleat Code, according to my then present
conceptions, rendered, I hope, somewhat less inadequate by the
contemplations of between thirty 30 and 40 intervening years. Before
his departure, he wrote me, in the name of himself and his Colleagues,
a Letter, desiring me, with some earnestness, to undertake
the work, giving me the assurance that his authority extended to
that length. Being, at that time, engaged in other works, I stole
from them, every now and then, a part of my time to apply to
that. In the meantime, the urgency of so many other topics of
not only nearer but more extensive interest, made the progress
in that work precarious and slow: and, not having given an
answer to that Letter, I quieted my conscience, as well as I
could, with the reflection that, even from my works alone,
he had business in hand, in such quantity as would, for a
long time, save me from the reproach of having let that
business remain at a stand. A The case is – that the utmost stimulus
capable of being applied by the interest of so small a political
state, howsoever eminent and respectable, has not been able, amidst
so many avocations, to produce the degree of alacrity necessary
to an exclusive engagement in such a work. From such a
Country as Spain, a correspondent invitation call would be sufficient:
the requisite excitement would be produced: an inexorable
door would then be shut against all rival occupations. My In my Letters to
the people of the United States, as published in my papers on Codification,
&c. (herewith sent, as twice already to Mr. Arguelles,)
my readiness to obey any such call stands sufficiently expressed.
No

Identifier: | JB/013/235/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 13.
Date_1	1820-09-19	Marginal Summary Numbering
Box	013	Main Headings
Folio number	235	Info in main headings field	jb to mora letter i
Image	001	Titles
Category	correspondence	Number of Pages	1
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	c5 / d6 / e6
Penner	john flowerdew colls	Watermarks	c wilmott 1819
Marginals		Paper Producer	andreas louriottis
Corrections	jeremy bentham	Paper Produced in Year	1819
Notes public	draft of letter 2689, vol. 10	ID Number	4684
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