IntheBenthamformula，itcanhave’nosinisterinterest。’Itcannotdesireitsownmisery。Thoughthecommunitycannotactasawhole，itcanactthroughrepresentatives。Itisnecessarytointrustpowertoagoverningbody；butthatbodycanbepreventedbyadequatechecksfrommisusingitspowers。Indeed，thecommontheoryoftheBritishConstitutionwaspreciselythattheHouseofCommonswas’thecheckingbody。’15ThewholeproblemistosecureabodywhichshalleffectivelydischargethefunctionthusattributedintheorytotheHouseofCommons。Thatwillbedonewhenthebodyischoseinsuchawaythatitsinterestsarenecessarilycoincidentwiththoseofthecommunityatlarge。Hencethereisofcoursenodifficultyindeducingtheactualdemandsofreformers。Withoutdefiningpreciselimits，heshowsthatrepresentativesmustbeelectedforbriefperiods，andthattherighttoavotemustatleastbewideenoughtopreventtheelectoralbodyfromformingaclasswith’sinisterinterests。’Hemakessomeremarkablequalifications，withtheviewapparentlyofnotstartlinghisreaderstoomuchbyabsoluteandimpracticableclaims。Hethinksthatthenecessaryidentityofinterestwouldstillbesecuredifclasseswereunrepresentedwhoseinterestsare’indisputablyincludedinthoseofothers。’Children’sinterestsareinvolvedinthoseoftheirparents，andtheinterestsof’almostallwomen’inthoseoftheirfathersorhusbands。16Again，allmenunderfortymightbeomittedwithoutmischief，for’thegreatmajorityofoldmenhavesonswhoseintereststheyregardasallessentialpartoftheirown。Thisisalawofhumannature。’17Therewould，heobserves，benodangerthatmenabovefortywouldtrytoreducethe’restofthecommunitytothestateofabjectslaves。’Mill，ashissontellsus，18disownedanyintentionofpositivelyadvocatingtheseexclusions。Heonlymeanttosaythattheywerenotcondemnedbyhisgeneralprinciple。Thedoctrine，however，aboutwomen，evenasthusunderstood，scandalisedhisyoungerfollowers。
Millproceedstoargueatsomelengththatafavouriteschemeofsomemoderatereformers，fortherepresentationofclasses，couldonlyleadto’amotleyaristocracy，’andthenanswerstwoobjections。ThefirstisthathisschemewouldleadtotheabolitionofthemonarchyandtheHouseofLords。Thereplyissimpleandsignificant。ItwouldonlyleadtothatresultifamonarchyoraHouseofLordswerefavourabletobadgovernment。Hedoesnotinquirewhethertheyaresoinfact。Thesecondobjectionisthatthepeopledonotunderstandtheirowninterest，andtothishisanswerismoreremarkable。Ifthedoctrinebetrue，hesays，weareina’deplorable’position：wehavetochoosebetweenevilswhichwillbedesignedlyproducedbythosewhohaveboththepowertooppressandaninterestinoppression；andtheevilswhichwillbeaccidentallyproducedbymenwhowouldactwelliftheyrecognisedtheirowninterests。19Nowthefirstevilisinanycasetheworst，foritsupposesan’invariable’evil；whileintheothercase，menmayatleastactwellbyaccident。Agoverningclass，thatiswithinterestsseparatefromthoseofthegovernment，mustbebad。Iftheinterestsbeidentical，thegovernmentmaybebad。Itwillbebadifignorant，butignoranceiscurable。Hereheappealsforoncetoahistoricalcase。ThepriesthoodattheReformationarguedonbehalfoftheirownpowerfromthedangerthatthepeoplewouldmakeabaduseoftheBible。TheBibleshouldthereforebekeptforthesacredcaste。Theyhad，Millthinks，astrongercaseinappearancethantheTories，andyettheeffectofallowingthepeopletojudgeforthemselvesinreligiousmattershasbeenproductiveofgoodeffects’toadegreewhichhastotallyalteredtheconditionofhumannature。’20Whyshouldnotthepeoplebetrustedtojudgeforthemselvesinpolitics?
ThisimpliesadoctrinewhichhadgreatinfluencewiththeUtilitarians。
Intheremarkableessayupon’Education，’whichiscontainedinthevolumeofreprints，MilldiscussesthedoctrineofHelvé；tiusthatallthedifferencesbetweenmenareduetoeducation。Withoutpronouncingpositivelyuponthedifferencesbetweenindividuals，Millobservesthat，atanyrate，theenormousdifferencebetweenclassesofmeniswhollyduetoeducation。21Hetakeseducation，itmustbeobserved，inthewidestpossiblesense，asmeaningwhatwouldnowbecalledthewholeactionofthe’environment’
upontheindividual。Thisincludes，asheshowsatlength，domesticeducation，allthevastinfluenceexerciseduponachildinhisfamily，’technicaleducation，’bywhichhemeanstheordinaryschoolteaching，’socialeducation，’