the admiralty, 1801–4, took a more summary method, instituted a long and searching inquiry, and succeeded in clearing away a great deal of the mass of corruption. But the odium which Bentham incurred by reason of his suggested reforms was almost as great as that which fell on Lord St. Vincent, and he had not the same strength to withstand it. He honestly endeavoured to serve the country, but to do so in his position was to wage war against peculation and corruption, and in the long run his enemies were too many for him. He had said to Tucker, the first lord's secretary, that 'if they punished inferiors, they ought to go further; there was not a single officer at Plymouth or at the navy board unimplicated; but it looked as if they didn't like to go higher than dockyard officers.' No doubt the gist of this conversation was known at the navy office, and the bitterness it naturally caused was enhanced by the issue of new and stringent regulations for enforcing close adherence to the terms of naval contracts. To these the navy board objected, and so drew down on itself the severe censure of the admiralty 'for the negligence, fallacy, and fraud which had pervaded and been fostered by the department under its direction.'
In the summer of 1805 Bentham was sent on a mission to St. Petersburg, to arrange, as he was instructed, for the building there of several ships for the English government. It appeared, however, that the Russian government had no intention of giving any effective consent. The business was long and tedious, and Bentham did not return to England till the autumn of 1807; when, on his arrival, he was greeted with the intelligence that his office of inspector-general of navy works was abolished, and that he was to be appointed one of the commissioners of the navy. His opinion had been, all along, that the mission to Russia was but the result of an intrigue for getting him out of the way; and, whilst still abroad, he had so written to Lord Spencer, adding: 'I was somewhat confirmed in this suspicion by the expression of a man whose influence at the admiralty was very great, when, with a most cordial shake of the hand, it came out, as it were, unawares, that "for his part, though he had the highest opinion of my talents and zeal, yet he would give his voice for allowing me at least 6,000l. a year, if by that means he could be assured I would never return again."' He now hesitated about accepting the seat at the navy board, and consented only on being urged to do so by his step-brother, the speaker Abbott. Individually, the other members of the board were friendly enough, but they looked on him as a man likely to prove troublesome. Troublesome he undoubtedly was, whilst during the next five years he continued his agitation for improvement in the organisation of the dockyard. It was in 1810 that the design of extending the naval establishment at Sheerness came prominently into notice. Bentham was entirely opposed to it. He maintained that Sheerness was an unsuitable place, and urged the superior fitness of the Isle of Grain; and the lapse of time would seem to have proved that his position was sound, for within these last years the admiralty have decided that Chatham, not Sheerness, is the proper site for our great eastern arsenal, and the Isle of Grain has been chosen as the station for an important line of mercantile steamers. Of his detailed objections to the plan submitted by Mr. Kennie, and accepted by the admiralty, it is impossible to speak here; it is enough to say that his own plan, sent in in February 1812, was rejected, and that the controversy did not make the relations between him and his colleagues smoother than they had been. At the same time he was engaged in another controversy, also with Mr. Rennie, on the subject of the Plymouth breakwater, and again Mr. Rennie was the successful competitor. On 3 Dec. 1812 Bentham was informed that his office was abolished, and it was at the same time intimated to him that any claim he might make for compensation would be favourably entertained. It was finally arranged that he should receive a pension equal to his full pay of 1,500l. a year.
After the peace in 1814 he went with his family to reside in France, and was at Tours during the hundred days' war of 1815. He afterwards settled in the neighbourhood of Angoulême, and did not return to England till 1827. He solaced himself during his retirement in preparing and arranging a number of papers on professional subjects, including much of his official correspondence, some of which had appeared in pamphlet form during his time of active service or immediately after his being shelved. They were published in a collective form in 1827, and it would appear to have been business connected with them that brought him once again to London. His literary pursuits occupied much of his time, but he was almost necessarily brought into contact with the admiralty. Years had, however, assuaged the old jealousy, and he continued in frequent and amicable correspondence with the several departments of the navy till his death on 31 May 1831.
Though known both privately and officially
