Robert Chambers

Thomas More

In much of this, More is perhaps joking; it was his way to utter his jests with such a solemn face as to puzzle his own household. But, underneath More's fun, was a creed as stern as that of Dante, just as, underneath his gold chain, was the shirt of hair. And, quite certainly, the ideal of Utopia is discipline, not liberty. It is influenced by some of the most severe disciplines the world has ever known. Through Plato's Republic it goes back to the barrack life of a Spartan warrior; through More's own experience to the life of a Charterhouse monk. And the discipline of Utopia is enforced rigidly, even ferociously. If the Utopian attempts to break the laws of his native land, there is the penalty of bondage, and, if that fails, of death. We have seen that even to speak of State affairs, except at the licensed place and hour, is punishable in Utopia with death, lest permission to discuss politics might lead to revolution. Has any State, at any time, carried terrorism quite so far? Many framers of ideal commonwealths have shirked the question of compulsion, by imagining their citizens to have all become moral overnight. More does not choose this easy way. He recognizes that there will be a minority, to whom higher motives do not appeal. For them, there is penal servitude; if that fails, death.

But no great State can be founded on terrorism. For the mass of its citizens, Utopia is founded on religious enthusiasm. Faith in God, and in the immortal destiny of the human soul, supplies the driving power which is to quench human passion and human greed. Based on religion, Utopia is supported by a belief in the dignity of manual labour. Even rulers and magistrates, although legally exempt, share in this work as an example to others. So a six-hour day suffices, and the rest of the time is free for those intellectual and artistic pursuits in which, to the Utopians, pleasure consists. But religion is the basis of all.