MILL, JAMES, was the son of a small farmer, and was b. in the neighborhood of Mont rose, Scotland, April 6,1773. He studied, with a view to the church, at the university of Edinburgh, where he distinguished himself in Greek and in moral and metaphysical philosophy. He was licensed to preach in 1798; but instead of following out the min istry, he vv-ent to London in 1800, where he settled as a literary man. He became editor of the Literary Journal, which after a time was discontinued; and wrote for various periodicals, including the Eclectic and the Edithargh Review. In 1806 he commenced his History of British India, which he carried on along with other literary work, and published in the winter of 1817-18. The impression produced by this masterly his tory on the Indian authorities was such that, in 1819, the court of directors of the com pany appointed him to the high post of assistant-examiner of Indian correspondence, notwithstanding the then unpopularity of his well-known radical opinions. The busi ness assigned to his care was the revenue department, which lie continued to superintend till four yearsibefore his death, when he was appointed head of the examiner's office, where he had the control of all the departments of Indian administration—political, judicial, and financial—inanao-ed by the secret committee of the court of directors. Shortly after his appointmentbto the India House he contributed the articles on govern ment, education, jurisprudence, law of nations, liberty of the press, colonies, and prison discipline to the Encycloixedia Britannica. These essays were reprinted in a separate form, and became widely known. The powers of analysis, of clear statement, and of
the thorough-going application of principles, exhibited in these articles had probably never before been brought to bear on that class of subjects. In 1821-22 he published his Elements of Political - Economy, a ork prepared primarily with a view to the educa tion of his eldest son, John Stuart Mill. In 1829 his Analysis of the Human Mind, appeared. His last published book was the Fragment on _Mackintosh, brought out in 1835. He was also a contributor to the Westminster Review and to the Lond,on Review, which merged in the London and Westminster.
Not long after he settled in London he made the acquaintance of Jeremy Bentham, and for a number of years lived during the summer in 13entham's country-house. Although he must have derived much benefit from his intercourse with the great law reformer, he was not a mere disciple of Bentham, but man of profound and original thought, as well as of great reading, in all the departments of moral, mental, and politi cal philosophy. His conversation was impressive to a remarkable degree, and he gave a powerful intellectual stimulus to a number of young men, some of whom (including his own son and Mr. Grote, the historian of Greece) have since risen to eminence. He took a leading part in the founding of University college, London. He died at Kensington, June 23, 1836. See Autobiography of J. S. Mill, and au interesting Biography by prof. Bain in Mind, 1876-78.