The political liberty of which Englishmen were rightfully proud，the 'rule of law'which made every official responsible to the ordinary course of justice，and the actual discharge of their duties by the governing order，saved it from being the objects of a jealous class hatred.While in France government was staggering under an ever-accumulating resentment against the aristocracy，the contemporary position in England was，on the whole，one of political apathy.The country，though it had lost its colonies，was making unprecedented progress in wealth；commerce，manufactures，and agriculture were being developed by the energy of individuals；and Pitt was beginning to apply Adam Smith's principles to finance.The cry for parliamentary reform died out：neither Whigs nor Tories really cared for it；and the 'glorious spirit of improvement'showed itself in an energy which had little political application.The nobility was not an incubus suppressing individual energy and confronted by the state，but was itself the state；and its individual members were often leaders in industrial improvement.Discontent，therefore，took in the main a different form.Some government was，of course，necessary，and the existing system was too much in harmony，even in its defects，with the social order to provoke any distinct revolutionary sentiment.Englishmen were not only satisfied with their main institutions，but regarded them with exaggerated complacency.
But，though there was no organic disorder，there were plenty of abuses to be remedied.The ruling class，it seemed，did its duties in the main，but took unconscionable perquisites in return.If it 'farmed'them，it was right that it should have a beneficial interest in the concern；but that interest might be excessive.In many directions abuses were growing up which required remedy，though not a subversion of the system under which they had been generated.
It was not desired --unless by a very few theorists --to make any sweeping redistribution of power；but it was eminently desirable to find some means of better regulating many evil practices.The attack upon such practices might ultimately suggest --as，in fact，it did suggest --the necessity of far more thorough-going reforms.For the present，however，the characteristic mark of English reformers was this limitation of their schemes，and a mark which is especially evident in Bentham and his followers.I will speak，therefore，of the many questions which were arising，partly for these reasons and partly because the Utilitarian theory was in great part moulded by the particular problems which they had to argue.
NOTES：
1.Wealth of Nations，bk.ii.ch.iii.
2.Wealth of Nations，bk.i，ch.xi，section 1.
3.Ibid.bk.i，ch.xi，conclusion.
4.Smiles's Watt and Boulton，p.292.
5.Young's Travels in France was republished in 1892，with a preface and short life by Miss Betham Edwards.She has since (1898)published his autobiography.
See also the autobiographical sketch in the Annals of Agriculture，XV，152-97.
Young's Farmer's Letters first appeared in 1767；his Tours in the Southern，Northern，and Eastern counties in 1768，1770，and 1771；his Tour in Ireland in 1780；and his Travels in France in 1792.A usefule bibliogrpahy，containing a list of his many publications is appended to the edition of the Tour in Ireland edited by Mr A.W.Hutton in 1892.
6.Annals，XV，166.
7.Travels in France (1892)，p.184n.
8.Travels in France，p.54.
9.Ibid.p.109.
10.Ibid.p.61.
11.Ibid.p.70.
12.Ibid.p.279.
13.Travels in France，p.125.
14.Ibid.p.131.
15.Ibid.pp.198，298.
16.Ibid.pp.55，193，199，237.
17.Ibid.p.43.
18.Travels in France，pp.291-92.
19.Ibid.p.132.
20.Ibid.p.66.
21.Ibid.p.131.
22.e.g.Southern Tours，p.103；Northern Tour，p.180(York Cathedral).
23.Northern Tour，iv.344，377.
24.Irish Tour，ii，114.
25.Southern Tour，p.326.
26.Southern Tour，p.22.
27.Annals，i，380.
28.Ibid.vol.x.
29.Ibid.iv，17.
30.Southern Tour，p.262：Northern Tour，ii，412.
31.Northern Tour，iv，410，etc.
32.Irish Tour，ii，118-19.
33.Memoirs of Sir John Sinclair，by his son.2vols.1837.
34.Memoirs，i，338.
35.A New Statistical Account，replacing this，appeared in twenty-four volumes from 1834to 1844.
36.He was president for the first five years，and again from 1806till 1813.For an account of this，see Sir Ernest Clarke's History of the Board of Agriculture，1898.
37.Northern Tour，i，222-32.
38.Northern Tour，ii，186.
39.Southern Tour，p.20.
40.Northern Tour，iii，365.
41.Arthur Young had a low opinion of Sinclair，whom he took to be a pushing and consequential busybody，more anxious to make a noise than to be useful.
See Young's Autobiography (1898)，pp.243，315，437.Sir Ernest Clarke points out the injury done by Sinclair's hasty and blundering extravagance；but also shows that the board did great service in stimulating agricultural improvement.
42.Scott's Letters，i，202.
43.Essay on 'Turgot'.See，in Daire's Collection of the ?conomistes，the arguments of Quesnay (p.81)，Dupont de Nemours (p.360)，and Mercier de la Rivère in favour of a legal (as distinguished from an 'arbitrary')depotism.