Jeremy Bentham on the justice of liberation

15th February is the anniversary of Jeremy Bentham's birth (1748). Known as the founder of modern utilitarianism, he defined as the "fundamental axiom" of his philosophy the principle that "it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong". (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Bentham)

Here is the beginning of his writing „Emancipate Your Colonies”, addressed to the National Convention of France in 1793, and published in 1830. You will find here also a quasi-literal translation of the fragment in French.

This text was translated integrally by Marie-Laure Leroy, along with two other texts by Bentham, all published in a book in 2001. http://www.presses.ens.fr/collections_20_versions-francaises_garanties-contre-l-abus-de-pouvoir-_2-7288-0265-3.html

A powerful text in its time, "Emancipate your colonies" can speak still today to all humans and human societies blinded by the ambition to dominate, and help them to correct themselves.

See also: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Bentham-Project

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Emancipate_your_colonies!

Jeremy Bentham, Emancipate Your Colonies, 1830 (To The National Convention of France, 1793)

Your predecessors made me a French citizen: hear me speak like one: War thickens round you: I will shew you a vast resource:—Emancipate your Colonies. You start: Hear and you will be reconciled. I say again, emancipate your Colonies. Justice, consistency, policy, economy, honour, generosity, all demand it of you: all this you shall see. Conquer, you are still but running the race of vulgar ambition: Emancipate: you strike out a new path to glory. Conquer, it is by your armies: Emancipate, the conquest is your own, and made over yourselves. To give freedom at the expence of others, is but conquest in disguise: to rise superior to conquerors, the sacrifice must be your own.—Reasons you will not find wanting, if you will hear them: some more pressing than you might wish. What is least pleasant among them, may pay you best for hearing it. Were it ever so unpleasant, better hear it while it is yet time, than when it is too late, and from one friend, than from a host of enemies. If you are kings, you will hear nothing but flattery; if you are republicans, you will bear rugged truths.

Vos prédécesseurs ont fait de moi un citoyen français; entendez-moi parler comme un: La guerre épaissit autour de vous; je vais vous montrer une vaste ressource: - Emancipez vos colonies. Vous commencez; Ecoutez et vous serez réconciliés. Je répète, émancipez vos colonies. La justice, la consistance, la politique, l'économie, l'honneur, la générosité, toutes l'exigent de vous: toutes celles-là, vous les verrez. Conquérez, vous ne courez encore que la course de l'ambition vulgaire; Emancipez; vous ouvrez un nouveau chemin vers la gloire. Conquérez, c'est par vos armées; Emancipez, la conquête est la vôtre, et faite sur vous-mêmes. Donner la liberté au détriment des autres, n'est qu'une conquête en déguisement; s'élever au-dessus des conquérants, le sacrifice doit être votre propre. - Des raisons, vous n'en trouverez pas en manque, si vous voulez les entendre: certains plus pressants que vous pourriez le souhaiter. Celle qui est la moins agréable parmi elles, peut vous payer le mieux pour l'entendre. Qu'elle soit à jamais si désagréable, il vaut mieux l'entendre pendant qu'il est encore temps, que quand il est trop tard, et d'un ami, que d'une foule d'ennemis. Si vous êtes rois, vous entendrez rien que flatterie; si vous êtes républicains, vous supporterez des vérités difficiles.