Bentham, Byron, and Greece: Constitutionalism, Nationalism, and Early Liberal Political Thought
F. Rosen
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198200789.001.0001
Part I Theory
2 Liberty and Constitutional Theory
3 Constitutional Theory I: From the Fragment to the French Revolution
4 Constitutional Theory II: The Mature Theory of the 1820s
5 Theory and Practice I: Bentham and the Greek Constitution of 1822
6 Theory and Practice II: Bentham and the First Greek Loan
Part II Ideology
7 Blaquiere's Liberalism and Mediterranean Nationalism
8 Stanhope's Liberalism
9 Conflict and Confusion in Early Liberalism
10 'The Last Days of Lord Byron'
11 Tories, Whigs, and Philhellenism
Part III Interest
12 Who Killed Lord Byron?
13 Greek Pie
14 Conclusion: Liberalism, Nationalism, and the Study of Political Ideas
Appendix I: Early Membership of the London Greek Committee
Appendix II: Full Membership of the London Greek Committee
Appendix III: Major Subscriptions to the London Greek Committee
3 Constitutional Theory I: From the <i>Fragment</i> to the French Revolution
'The Last Days of Lord Byron'
(p.185) 10 'The Last Days of Lord Byron'
Bentham, Byron, and Greece
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198200789.003.0010
The myth of Leicester Stanhope, the Benthamite soldier, and Lord Byron, the romantic poet, forming two opposing poles of doctrine and attitude in Greece was based in part on Stanhope's Greece, in 1823 and 1824. However, the work which developed the thesis of Stanhope versus Lord Byron was actually written as a reply to Stanhope. Of the numerous books, articles, and poems published after the death of Lord Byron, William Parry's The Last Days of Lord Byron, published in 1825, was the only one to concentrate almost wholly on the supposed opposition between Stanhope and Byron. It also linked Stanhope and Jeremy Bentham by incorporating a notorious chapter which lampooned Bentham's life-style. In the 1820s, Bentham's reputation was at its peak, and he was perhaps the most highly regarded English philosopher and jurist of his day. He had a growing reputation as an advocate of radical reform which included the advocacy of representative democracy based on universal suffrage.
Keywords: Leicester Stanhope, Lord Byron, Greece, The Last Days of Lord Byron, Jeremy Bentham, democracy, universal suffrage, reform