Soon after that the House of Commons was dissolved, and Mr. Mill’s too brief parliamentary career came to an end.  The episode, however, had to some extent helped to quicken his always keen interest in political affairs.  This was proved, among other ways, by the publication of his pamphlet on “England and Ireland” in 1868, and of his treatise “On the Subjection of Women” in 1869, as well as by the especial interest which he continued to exhibit in two of the most important political movements of the day,—­all the more important because they are yet almost in their infancy,—­the one for the political enfranchisement of women, the other for a thorough reform of our system of land tenure.  The latest proof of his zeal on the second of these important points appeared in the address which he delivered at Exeter Hall on the 18th of last March, and in two articles which he contributed to “The Examiner” at the commencement of the present year.  We may be permitted to add that it was his intention to use some of the greater quiet that he expected to enjoy during his stay at Avignon in writing frequent articles on political affairs for publication in these columns.  He died while his intellectual powers were as fresh as they had ever been, and when his political wisdom was only ripened by experience.

In this paper we purposely limit ourselves to a concise narrative of the leading events of Mr. Mill’s life, and abstain as far as possible from any estimate of either the value or the extent of his work in philosophy, in economics, in politics, or in any other of the departments of thought and study to which, with such depth and breadth of mind, he applied himself; but it is impossible for us to lay down the pen without some slight reference, however inadequate it may be, to the nobility of his character, and the peculiar grace with which he exhibited it in all his dealings with his friends and with the whole community among whom he lived, and for whom he worked with the self-sacrificing zeal of an apostle.  If to labor fearlessly and ceaselessly for the good of society, and with the completest self-abnegation that is consistent with healthy individuality, be the true form of religion, Mr. Mill exhibited such genuine and profound religion—­so permeating his whole life, and so engrossing his every action—­as can hardly be looked for in any other man of this generation.  Great as were his intellectual qualities, they were dwarfed by his moral excellences.  He did not, it is true, aim at any fanciful ideal, or adopt any fantastic shibboleths.  He was only a utilitarian.  He believed in no inspiration but that of experience.  He had no other creed or dogma or gospel than Bentham’s axiom,—­“The greatest happiness of the greatest number.”  But many will think that herein was the chief of all his claims to the honor of all men, and the best evidence of his worth.  At any rate, he set a notable example of the way in which a man, making the best use in his