JB/119/002/003

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"a business of much national expediency" can never
be inconsistent with, in short can scarcely but originate
from, "a disposition to promote novelties:"
"a sense of public duty", (if the effect of such
a sense be the "wish to facilitate businesses of much
"national expediency") can not but lead a man to
"promote" and even to "propose" novelties.

If indeed by "novelties" he mean such novelties
only as are inexpedient, the import will be
explicit enough it is true, but such as it were hardly
worth expressing. The import will be, that the
matter has no disposition to promote measures he
looks upon as inexpedient. But the wish of not
being thought to entertain such a disposition (which
is all that the passage is calculated to express) is a
wish which a man may at all times save himself
the trouble of expressing: the public being altogether
in the habit of giving every man (of the any man whatsoever
most ordinary understanding) who is in his condition
for its credit for it.

⊞ ⊞ All new measures, that
is all measures whatsoever
at the core of
their proposal, expedient
or inexpedient, have
thus much in common,
that they are novel. To
reprobate any measure
then, not because it is
inexpedient, but because
it is novel, is
to combat it with an
argument which applies
not with any greater
force against the
worst measures, than
against the best.

The Author goes on a little farther in the
same strain. He observes in the way of concession† † its Preface p.5.
that "he has found it indeed possible to point
"out many Laws, which seem to reflect no lustre
"either on the humanity or the wisdom of our
"legislation, and in their effect are prejudicial to
"the whole conduct of our police" — But he rejoins,
and

Identifier: | JB/119/002/003 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 119.
Date_1		Marginal Summary Numbering
Box	119	Main Headings	panopticon
Folio number	002	Info in main headings field	hard-labour bill preface
Image	003	Titles
Category	text sheet	Number of Pages	4
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	f9 / f10 / f11 / f12
Penner	jeremy bentham	Watermarks	[[watermarks::r williams [britannia with shield emblem]]]
Marginals		Paper Producer	c. hamilton
Corrections		Paper Produced in Year
Notes public		ID Number	39513
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