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 Danish brassfounder, an English watchmaker, and a German schoolmaster were all that he could obtain. In September 1784 his military rank was made substantive, and he was appointed to the command of a battalion, the men of which he partially transformed into sailors, shipwrights, and mechanics. It was at this time, and in consequence of the very limited number of officers at his disposal, that he first introduced the plan of 'central observation,' the workshops all radiating from his own office. The 'Panopticon,' which occupied his elder brother Jeremy for many years [see ], was a modification of this plan. In 1787 Bentham was ordered to Cherson, to direct the equipment of a flotilla intended to act against the Turks. This could scarcely be called a naval armament, consisting, as it did, chiefly of river barges and boats, none of which was supposed capable of carrying any gun larger than a three-pounder; but by the absence of the admiral, the sole command, administrative and executive, fell to Bentham, and he was thus able to give free scope to his inventive genius, and to introduce the most startling novelties into maritime war. In defiance of all professional maxims he adopted and proved a system of fitting guns without recoil, by which, and by strengthening the boats at his command, he enabled them to carry long 36-pounders and 48-pounder howitzers, whilst some he even made to carry 13-inch mortars. The armament was really most formidable, though the vessels which carried it were paltry. So the Turks thought them, but the first encounter in the Liman on 7 June 1788 showed them their mistake, and in an attack on a greater scale, ten days later, they were defeated with very heavy loss. Just at the last moment, as the enemy was approaching, Bentham was superseded from the command-in-chief by the cosmopolitan Prince of Nassau-Siegen, under whom, however, he continued in command of the flotilla, whilst the Scotch adventurer, Paul Jones, commanded a covering squadron of armed merchant ships. These last, however, had little share in the victory, which was achieved by the flotilla alone. The effect of its large guns, firing shell or carcasses for the first time in naval war, was altogether unprecedented. No less than ten ships of the line were set on fire and blown up, one was sunk; out of the eleven crews, numbering probably nearly 11,000 men, about 8,000 only were saved. Bentham's services on this occasion were rewarded with the military cross of St. George, the rank of brigadier-general, and a sword of honour. He was shortly afterwards, at his own request, appointed to a command in Siberia, where he applied himself to developed the resources of the country by opening up the navigation of the rivers, by explorations, and by promoting trade with the neighbouring China.

In 1791 he obtained leave of absence and revisited England, with the intention of speedily returning to his government. His return was, however, continually delayed, by the death of his father, by assisting his brother in fitting up a Panopticon for the reception of 1,000 prisoners, and afterwards again by business connected with various patents, amongst which may be more especially mentioned those for impregnating different substances, such as wood, meat, or hides, in vacuo, with salts, tannin, or other agents. Some correspondence with the admiralty in 1795, relative to the introduction of machinery into the dockyards, brought about a request that he would visit the yards, and make his suggestions in a more exact and formal manner. This was the beginning of his official connection with the English admiralty, which shortly led to his resigning his appointments in Russia, and devoting his whole time and energy to his country's service. For the next eighteen years, a time in which the naval strength of England was developed in an extreme degree, the improvements in the machinery, in the organisation and in the economy of the dockyards, as also in the build and the equipment of our ships, were largely — it might almost be said mainly — due to the genius, the acuteness, and the business talent of Bentham. To recount them in detail would be to relate the administrative history of that long war; it will be sufficient to particularise the invention of the caisson-method of closing the entrance of docks or cambers, the invention of the steam dredging machine, and the building and equipment of sloops of war of the Arrow class (see 's Naval History (ed. 1860), i. abstract, No. 4, and p. 456, iii. 34), which, armed with non-recoil carronades of very large calibre, fought some of the most remarkable actions during the war.

It is well known that the maladministration of the dockyards had, towards the close of the century, reached almost perilous height. It was officially stated by the attorney-general in 1801 that the losses to the country were not less than 500,000l. per annum, and it was commonly believed that they were more like four times that amount (Naval Chronicle, vi. 242, x. 63). Bentham considered that the remedy for this was to be found in administrative reform. Lord St. Vincent, the first lord of