Note 220 — Chapter V

Ibid. x. 79, 142. See also Deontology, i. 298-302, where Bentham speaks of discovering the phrase in Priestley's Essay on Government in 1768. Priestley says (p. 17) that 'the good and happiness of the members, that is of the majority of the members, of any state is the great standard by which everything relating to that state must be finally determined.' So Le Mercier de la Rivière says, in 1767, that the ultimate end of society is assurer le plus grand bonheur possible à la plus grande population possible (Daire's Économistes, p. 470). Hutcheson's Enquiry concerning Moral Good and Evil, 1725, see iii. § 8, says 'that action is best which secures the greatest happiness of the greatest number.' Beccaria, in the preface to his essay, speaks of la massima felicità divisa nel maggior numero. J. S. Mill says that he found the word 'Utilitarian' in Galt's Annals of the Parish, and gave the name to the society founded by him in 1822-1823 (Autobiography, p. 79). The word had been used by Bentham himself in 1781, and he suggested it to Dumont in 1802 as the proper name of the party, instead of 'Benthamite' (Works, x. 92, 390). He afterwards thought it a bad name, because it gave a 'vague idea' (Works, x. 582), and substituted 'greatest happiness principle' for 'principle of utility' (Works, i. 'Morals and Legislation').