James Mill – författare

In this monumental work James Mill exhibited the character, history, religion, arts, literature and the laws of the people of India, together with the physical influences arising out of the climate of the country. He narrated the story of the acquisition by England of its Indian Empire for the first time and brought to bear a vast body of political theory on the delineation of the Hindu civilization, severely criticizing the conduct of those involved in the successive stages of India's conquest and administration. The work itself and Mill's official subsequent connection with India had a profound effect on the whole system of governing that country.Mill had never been to India, so the editorial involvement of the great Orientalist Horace Hayman Wilson enhances this edition well. He has not only extended the history up to 1835 but added notes gained from his intimate knowledge of India and its languages. Together these two writers have produced one of the great history books of the last century, of interest to social and political historians of the British Empire and general historians alike.

James Mill (1773-1836) is today best known as Jeremy Bentham's chief disciple and John Stuart Mill's father. Yet Mill himself was a formidable and important Utilitarian thinker in his own right, who earned the respect of even those who disagreed with him. His range was enormous (historian, political philosopher, psychologist, educational theorist, and economist), repeatedly crossing the disciplinary boundaries we take for granted today. This 1992 volume presents a wide sampling of Mill's political writings and polemical essays. It begins with his classic work, the Essay on Government, it also includes pieces on the protection of rights, the importance of education, the free press, the secret ballot, and government's use of punishment against those who violate the rights of fellow citizens. The collection concludes with Macaulay's famous critique of the Essay, and Mill's heretofore unnoticed reply in his Fragment on Mackintosh (1835). It will be of interest to students and scholars of politics, philosophy, and the history of ideas.