The noble art of statesmanship

If one is looking for a model statesman, it is difficult to go past Thomas More, the English Lord Chancellor who lost his head for resisting Henry VIII.

If there is one quality people want to see in their political leaders today it is integrity. One could say it signals the difference between a mere politician and a statesman. So it is no accident that the man who coined the English word "integrity" nearly 500 years ago has also been declared the Patron of Statesmen. Thomas More was given this title just five years ago on October 31st by the late Pope John Paul II in response to an international petition signed by hundreds of world leaders and politicians.

Lord Chancellor of England under Henry VIII before being executed for defending the ancient liberties of his country and for refusing to compromise his conscience, Thomas More has been recognised by the Church as a saint, in Britain as the "Lawyer of the Millennium", by an agnostic playwright as a champion of conscience, and in his own time by Erasmus as a great friend and father.

These and many other qualities made More a great statesman, as Gerard Wegemer demonstrates in the following interview with MercatorNet. Dr Wegemer is Professor of English at the University of Dallas. He is an expert on Thomas More and is the author and editor of numerous works including Thomas More on Statesmanship, and recently, with Stephen W Smith, A Thomas More Source Book. He also has a website, Thomas More Studies.

MercatorNet: Erasmus said Thomas More was "born for friendship", but one could also say he was born to serve his country, coming as he did from a family with a long tradition of civic service. His father gave him the best legal education available, at Oxford and the Inns of Court. What else did More do to prepare himself for service?

Gerard Wegemer: Right after completing law school, More began the study of Greek and spent ten years learning from the best and brightest of the classical and Christian traditions. For those ten years he did a comparative study of history, law, politics, and the arts of freedom, but gave political philosophy special importance paying close attention to Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and Aquinas. He also began his apprenticeship in law and local politics, practiced his communication skills, and worked closely with professional groups in London.

MercatorNet: More's political philosophy was based on the conviction that every person is essentially free -- a rarely-held position in those days. Where did he learn this? Would he be impressed with our concept of freedom today?

Wegemer: More learned this from Romans who supported the republic, especially Cicero and Sallust, but also from the Christian tradition which emphasized the importance of free will. Like the civic humanists who came before him, More stressed that freedom requires strength of character and willingness to sacrifice one’s own good for the common good. Freedom therefore requires citizen virtue -- which more and more people today are coming to see again.

MercatorNet: In contrast to Henry VIII, whose model was the chivalric warrior Henry V, More embraced the ideal of peace and building up the earthly city as the natural sphere of human greatness. How did he pursue this civic humanism and what were his main achievements? How do you think he might have advised President George Bush regarding the "war on terror".

Wegemer: Early in the morning before anyone else was awake, More studied and wrote, even during his busiest years as Lord Chancellor of England. He was a model of calm and recollection even in the midst of the worst crises.

Building up the human city was an ideal of civic humanism that More shared with other Renaissance leaders, and he encouraged the development of education and the arts, especially those arts most important for peace. More considered his greatest political achievements to be the establishment of peace in Europe, short-lived as that proved to be.

Knowing human nature well, More had realistic expectations, and he was painfully aware of our tendency towards violence. That is why he supported the prudent and vigilant execution of law and just war. "Prudence" and "vigilance" are certainly what he would advise in dealing with terrorism.

MercatorNet: More worked very hard at his professional and political tasks. He therefore faced the problem -- so familiar to politicians and nearly everybody else today -- of balancing the demands of family and profession. In what ways did he show himself a true and loving father?

Wegemer: Yes, he had four children by his first wife, who died, a step-daughter from his second marriage, and he and Lady Alice adopted two other children. Since all but one of these were girls, More hired Oxford tutors so his daughters could have the same education that he himself had.

So famous were the accomplishments of these daughters that Henry VIII came to More’s Chelsea estate to hear them dispute philosophy. Holbein seems to have captured that event in his sketch of the More family. You will notice books on the floor, on the window ledge, and in the hands of most depicted there.

Like all busy people, More found it difficult to establish the right balance, but he says that family life should "count as business", meaning that it simply must be done, regardless of other demands. He worked hard to establish a personal friendship with each child and to deepen the friendship between himself and his wife.

MercatorNet: Although he had been invited earlier, More was 41 before he entered King Henry's service, well aware of the dangers of court and of Henry's tyrannical leanings. What did this cost him, materially and in other ways? And how did he approach the step that would eventually see him holding the highest office in the realm—that of Lord Chancellor?

Wegemer: His son-in-law William Roper tells us that More was the most sought-after lawyer in London. Entering Henry’s service, More made much less money, gave up his leisure to read and write as he wished, assumed countless worries, and eventually sacrificed everything.

At 41, More had just finished writing a history of the tyrant Richard III and several poems about lions who destroy even those who care for and counsel them. So why take such a risk? More saw it as his duty, and indeed for the next 15 years he succeeded reasonably well in guiding Henry.

Before agreeing to enter Henry’s service and then before agreeing at 52 to be Henry’s Lord Chancellor, More spoke about conscience. Imagine the King’s surprise that a subject would be so bold as to set such a condition. Yet, as More reports, the King gave him the best lesson that prince could ever give to a servant: look first to God and conscience, and then to the king. More would diplomatically remind Henry of this answer in his last words on the scaffold: "I die the King's good servant, and God's first."
 
MercatorNet: More is famous for his affability and sense of humour, his wit as well as his wisdom. How did he use these qualities in dealing with others?

Wegemer: More was a genius, according to Erasmus, and gifted with remarkably sharp wit. More worked hard to use these gifts to make himself accessible to others, regardless of social station. Erasmus marvelled at the "skill with which [More] adapts himself to the mood of anyone… Nobody is less swayed by public opinion, and yet nobody is closer to the feelings of ordinary men."

MercatorNet: The "great matter" of King Henry's marriage and a male heir caused his Chancellor many a sleepless night as he thought through all the issues involved. What principles regarding the relationship of church and state led him to oppose Henry's final solution of declaring himself head of the church in England?

Wegemer: More spent seven years studying and responding to the many issues that arose before he finally resigned. He saw clearly that the spiritual and temporal spheres each had its own distinct authority, yet should each complement the other. Those words at his death tell all: "I die the King’s good servant, and God’s first." That "and" indicates the integrity that More saw possible in this life.

And, by the way, More is the first person to use the word "integrity" in English. He died in support of the centuries of English law which guaranteed that the "Church should be free" from state interference, as set forth in the first article of the Magna Carta of 1215 -- which More invoked at his trial.

MercatorNet: What does More's death teach us about statesmanship?

Wegemer: That "a man may lose his head and have no harm". That witty statement he repeated throughout his last months, and it must have echoed in the minds of his family, friends, and colleagues long after his execution as a traitor.

Yes, King Henry had his hour, but history has since passed its own judgment: In 1935, the Catholic Church declared Thomas More a saint -- in part, as a model to strengthen those dealing with Hitler’s rise to power. In 1960 the agnostic Robert Bolt praised More as a hero of conscience in his play, A Man for All Seasons. In the 1980s More was included in the Anglican calendar of saints. In December 1999 the Law Society of Great Britain voted him the "Lawyer of the Millennium", and in 2000 he was made "Patron of Statesmen and Politicians" at the request of leaders from around the world.

From our vantage point today we can see that Thomas More advanced liberty through law, education, parliamentary self-government, and his historic argument for freedom of speech (the first ever recorded). His death, which he embraced not only calmly but with good cheer, teaches the price that any true statesman must be willing to pay for the common good of their country.

Carolyn Moynihan is deputy editor of MercatorNet.


* Next year marks the 40th anniversary of the release of the film version of Robert Bolt's play, A Man For All Seasons, which won six academy awards. Sony is putting out a DVD edition, with features.