ABSTRACT
The enthusiasm produced by the upward movement of the economic forces of England and the prosperity which it diffused in every section of the community, the working classes included, allayed discontent and proved the value of a system based on the unfettered play of interests. John Stuart Mill's doctrine was in substance the same as Bentham's. He started with the same utilitarian theory of life, and took his stand on the same method of observation and experience. In his eyes too man can only desire and pursue what is pleasant to him. Enjoying a monopoly in the province of thought, individualism was no less free from counteracting forces in the practical sphere. The latter were suppressed or prevented from operating by the lukewarmness which characterized public life after the triumph of the middle class and by the want of political education in the country.
