In  the  system  of  government,  whether  general  or  local,  whether
relating  to  an  entire  nation  or  to  a  private  company,  too  much  im-
portance can,  I  think,  be  scarcely  attached  to  the  establishment,
throughout,  of  the  principle  on  which  that  profound  thinker  and
traly  great  man,  Jeremy  Bentham,  to  whose  views  on  the  adminis-
tration of  the  law  the  country  every  year  makes  a  nearer  and  nearer
approach,  laid  so  much  stress — individual  responsibility  ;  so  that,  if
error  be  committed  or  wrong  done  there  may  be  no  doubt  with
whom  the  chief  blame  rests ;  and  that  those  who  are  injured  may  at
once  be  able  to  say  to  him,  as  Nathan  did  unto  David,  <*  Thou  art
the  man ; "  and  so,  also,  that  when  honour  is  due,  there  may  be  no
nncertainty  on  whom  this  too  should  be  conferred.  It  is  the  working
of  this  principle  which  deprives  even  despotisms  of  much  of  their
malignity;  since  there  can  be  no  doubt,  when  political  wrong  is
done  in  a  country  under  despotic  rule,  who  is  accountable  for  it ;
while,  on  the  other  hand,  in  a  free  country  like  ours,  the  principle
in  question,  if  duly  applied,  gives  all  the  potency  of  absolute  power
without  any  of  its  dangers ;  a  grand  illustration  of  which  has  just
been  afforded  by  the  glorious  and  bloodless  success  of  Sir  Robert,
now  Lord  Napier  in  Abyssinia;  whose  entire  freedom  from  control
or  interference  in  the  conduct  of  the  enterprise  committed  to  his
charge  reflected  great  honour  on  those  departments  of  Government
under  which  he  served.
