without a distinct avowal of his own particular political creed. Indeed, if we consider the age, the occasion, and the character of the sovereign, we must acknowledge that bolder or more startling views, social and political, than those contained in Utopia, were never broached by any statesman upon his entrance into the precincts of the palace. Regarded simply as a literary production, Utopia possesses uncommon merits; but, viewed, as it should be, as a political treatise, it cannot fail to excite our surprise and admiration. It is the bold expression of his public sentiments, by a man who engages against his will in the king's service, and whose strict principles of honesty will not allow him to conceal his position from the world. In this political romance, as More styles it, he declaims, in the very teeth of the king's continental wars, against the injustice and brutality of contentions between nations, and dwells on the impropriety and impolicy of maintaining large standing armies. In the face of a baseless title to the French throne, urged by the English princes ever since the days of Edward III., More asserted that "a monarch, distracted with the care of two kingdoms, was unable to apply his mind to the interests of either;" and recommended his royal master "to stay at home, the kingdom of France being already too great to be governed by one man." In view of the multitudinous grinding exactions that oppressed the country, he maintained, that not only the king's interest," but also his honor and safety, consisted more in his people's wealth than in his own;" that "the nation chose a king for their own sake and not for his; and that, therefore, he ought to take more care of his people's happiness than of his own, as a shepherd is to take more care of his flock than of himself." In opposition to the cruel enactments in force against thieves, Sir Thomas held, that "it is unlawful, as well as absurd, and detrimental to the commonwealth, that a thief and a murderer should be punished alike;" and that the laws, by permitting wholesale ejectments from estates, first made the thieves and afterwards punished them, all the while offering a premium for the commission of darker crimes, by the harsh penalties which they inflicted for a trivial offence; for, terrifying thieves too much provokes them to greater wickedness."

In defiance of the intolerant spirit of the age, even when the first upheavings of the mighty religious earthquake were beginning to be felt throughout Christendom, he openly

avowed that "no man should be punished for his religion," and that "every man might follow what religion he pleased, and might endeavor to draw others to it by the force of argument, and by gentle and unassuming means, without bitterness against those who held a contrary opinion; but that he should use no other arms than those of persuasion, never having recourse to reproaches or violence."*

Thus did his mighty intellect overleap the narrow boundaries of thought, in his own time, and grasp the great principles of religious freedom and sound equity, which only years afterwards were revealed to the minds of Penn and Romilly.

But, despite the novelty and antagonism of More's views, Henry, whose character still possessed those manly and noble traits that promised such a glorious future for England, persists in making him his follower. Once attached to the royal retinue, the knight has no cause to complain of the niggardliness of his master, for honors are rained fast upon him. He is knighted, made Master of Requests, Privy Councillor, and Treasurer of the Exchequer, in rapid succession; all those favors being thrust upon him without any solicitation on his part, in a manner that showed the anxious solicitude of the King to secure his attachment. Under every new advancement, however, More retains the same modesty, naturalness, and integrity that adorned his private life; each superior station he attains only calling forth superior talents, without imparting a single blemish to his character. He truly verified the saying of Lord Verulam, that "there is no surer sign of a worthy and genuine spirit, than when honors amend a man for their natural tendency is to corrupt;" for the possession of the very highest offices chastened, instead of tainting, his heart. On various occasions he is sent on missions to Bruges and Calais; but, as his mind was not ambitious,

"For close designs and crooked counsels fit,"

he tires of those ceaseless arts of royal gamesters to overreach each other, and writes in bitterness to Erasmus: "I approve of your determination never to be involved in the busy trifling of princes; from which, as you love me, you must wish that I were extricated. You cannot imagine how painfully I feel myself plunged in them, for nothing can be more odious to me than these legations."‡

By the king's special direction, More is appointed (1523) Speaker of the House of Commons; his sincere plea of incapacity, alleged in order to shirk the new dignity, being overruled by the Chancellor, who replied that "his Majesty, by long experience of his services, was well acquainted with his wit, learning, and discretion; and therefore he thought the Commons had chosen the fittest person to be their Speaker." However, he does not, as is customary, assume the garb of servility with the mantle of office, but pursues steadily the upright and independent course which is consonant with his character. In his first speech, under color of profound awe and veneration for majesty, he administers a severe rebuke to the sovereign for his arbitrary restraint on the freedom of parliamentary debate, and demands that every man "might fully discharge his conscience, and boldly in every thing declare his advice without fear of the king's displeasure;" and thus he contributes greatly to establish the liberty of speech which should prevail in the legislative hall. On one occasion, when the Commons hesitated to grant a subsidy required by the government for carrying on the war against Charles V., not on the ground of its expediency, but lest thereby all the specie might be drained from the realm, Sir Thomas maintained "that there was no fear for a penury and scarceness of money, since the intercourse of things was now so well established throughout the world, that there must be a perpetual circulation of all that was necessary for mankind and that consequently their com; modities would ever find money ;" his keen-sighted mind thus anticipating a primary principle in modern political

economy.

When, however, afterwards the Chancellor himself presents a request for further supplies, More, with quiet steadiness, refuses to make any answer to the demand, alleging that "though all the members had with their voices trusted him, yet except every one of them could put into his own head their several wits, he alone in so weighty a matter was unmeet to make his grace reply." And his silence in this

* Roper, 49.

The Journals of Parliament of those times are lost, or have never been printed; but Roper records the speech.

Herbert's Henry VIII., 112.

§ Roper, 13 et seq. In after times his example was closely followed by Speaker Lenthall, when Charles I. came to the House of Commons to arrest the five members who had incurred his displeasure.

instance was more politic than open refusal of the king's claims, for though the Commons already wielded great power, by the control of the nation's purse, yet any direct resistance to the crown would be an unreasonable exertion of immature authority, and would only retard the growth of the House's strength. As the Speakers hitherto had been reckoned supporters of government measures, More's real, though not formal, opposition, in so important a matter, was at once singular and vexatious; though, as he had given no pledges to the ministry, he could be accused of no dereliction of duty. "I wish to God you had been in Rome, Mr. More, when I made you Speaker," said Wolsey to the unyielding statesman in his gallery at Whitehall. "Your grace not offended, so would I," replied Sir Thomas, "for then I should have seen the place I long have desired to visit."*

But such a bold disregard of the royal behests shows more independence and rectitude than is at all agreeable or convenient in the councils of kings, and so Sir Thomas must needs. vacate his seat, that it may be occupied by some more pliant tool of power. Erasmus remarks that Wolsey, who was mainly instrumental in procuring More's resignation, was jealous of his great abilities, and "feared him more than he loved him;" still, however, if he did really seek to awaken the king's resentment against him, he failed, for promotion still comes unasked upon More, he being made Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and being sent at different times on embassies to France and the Netherlands.

Yet, during all this time, More is not the least elated by his continued flow of good fortune. For each new favor he receives he manifests a real thankfulness to his liberal prince; but he does not make the slightest exertion to secure further preferment, and has, in fact, to be pushed, in his own despite, up the ladder of power. He is neither dazzled nor captivated by the king's increasing fondness for his society, for at length "Henry would scarce ever allow the philosopher to quit the palace; for, if serious affairs are to be considered, who can give more prudent counsel ? or if the king's mind is to be relaxed by cheerful conversation, where could be a more facetious companion."+ There was a waywardness in Henry's very favors, and a tyranny in his friendships, that made his kindnesses seem more like the caresses of a beast

*Cresacre, 53.

† Erasmus to Hutton, Opp. II., 137.

of prey than the genuine demonstrations of human affection; and More, who penetrated his real character, felt that to be trusted and loved so confidingly by such a sovereign was, in reality,"être à cheval sur le dos du tigre."

"When I saw the king," says Roper, "walking with him for an hour, holding his arm about his neck, I rejoiced, and said to Sir Thomas, how happy he was whom the king had so familiarly entertained, as I had never seen him do to any one before, except Cardinal Wolsey. 'I thank our Lord, son,' said he, 'I find his grace my very good lord indeed, and I believe he doth as singularly favor me as any other subject within this realm: howbeit, son Roper, I may tell thee, I have no cause to be proud thereof; for, if my head would win him a castle in France, when there was war between us, it should not fail to go.'

But, during the whole period that he is serving the public in so many different capacities, he does not in the least remit his literary labors. In his beloved Alma Mater, a senseless, and therefore violent, conspiracy has arisen against the study of the Greek classics, and in defence of this noblest of earth's languages, More addresses a powerful letter to the "Fathers, Procurators, and other Members of the Senate of Oxford;" and so eloquently does he plead the cause of the celebrated historians, philosophers, orators, and poets of Greece, that Greek learning again comes into as great repute at the old university as it ever was at Cambridge. A spirit of worldliness pervades the whole nation, and More strives to check its growth, by recalling men's minds to the shortness of life, in his "Treatise on the words of Scripture, Remember thy last end.'"

*

Hitherto in his writings he only sought to amuse, instruct, or improve his readers, but now he enters the ranks of religious controversy. A wild revolution has broken forth in the north of Germany. Luther at first assails only the doctrine of indulgences, but he afterwards attacks more vital points of the Church's belief: the Pope's supremacy, the invocation of saints, the mass, and the sacraments. With a prophet's clear vision, More foresees the fearful tempest that will burst from these dark clouds. "I perceive," said he, with a seer's solemnity, "the signs of the coming evil, like as, before a great storm, the sea swelleth and hath unwonted motions, without

Wood's Oxford Annals.