UTOPIA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 159, 8 July 1935, Page 6

UTOPIA.

MORE A&D HIS BOOK

THE IDEAL SOCIETY.

(By F.M.)

The seventh of July, 1935, marked the quatercentenaiy of the death of Sir Thomas More, lawyer, wit, savant and saint. He was England's first lay Chancellor, and distinguished 'himself by his scrupulous care and justice in trying cases. It was only after great persuasion that he was prevailed upon to enter the King's service. He was no flattered of princea, and hie head fell to vindicate Henry's assumption of the Supreme power in Church and State. This year More has been canonised by the Catholic Church. ■* A Satire on England. . More's "Utopia" is a brilliant satire on governments and society.. .This book, which was written in 1515-10, is divided into two parts. The second part, (finished a year before the first) deals with the mythical State of Utopia, and the first treats of the- evils rife ii> England—evils only to be ix-medied by the adoption of the good laws of the Utopians. As the role of social reformer was a dangerous one in those days, More uses, as his mouthpiece, the fictitious Raphael Hythlodaye, traveller, explorer, philosopher and suppdsed companion of Amerigo Vespucci in Ms America! expeditions. Moro and his friend, Peter Giles, meet Hythlodaye in Antwerp, and there, in a secluded garden, the traveller treats 6f the poverty and unemployment in England, and the abundance of thieves and vagabonds, due to the viciousness of laws which allowed the weaker to be deprived of a livelihood in* order to enrich the few. He discusses the raising of rents, the enclosing of lands for pasturage, and the consequent decline of husbandry, which threw many men out of employment. Food becomes scarce because less corn is grown; and rich men, cornering the wool markets, keep the cloth workers idle. Lack of food, he says, breeds thieves who are in no way deterred from crime, even though the penalty is death. In fact, as the penalty is the same, both for thieves and for murderers,' a natural corollary is the" increase in homicides. Hythlodaye speaks, too, of the insane policy of kings and their advisers who "fleece" their subjects, believing that poverty spells obedience. He condemns their callousness in making wars, using the people, as cattle to be slain without mercy, so long as their ambitions are gratilicd. Thus does More through his narrator recount the then social ills.

Conditions in Utopia. Aβ the world to-aay suffers from similar diseased, it is inoro than interesting to compare Sir Thomas' remedies with the panaceas proposed by modern reformers: The second part of the book deals with Utopia, its laws and its people., The country is an island containing twenty-four cities, each surrounded by an abundance of farms. All Utopians in rotat.'on spend two years on the land. In addition, all —men and women alike —must be master of some craft; even the princes, magistrates and priests, though exempt from labour, also work ito encourage the rest. But constant and unremitting toil is unknown. "Men are not to be wearied from early in the morning till late in the evening with continual work like labouring and toiling beasts." Six hours a day only are allotted to work, eight to, sleep, and the rest to study, leisure and exercise. For mental enlighteiinient is regarded as the heritage of all, and not the monopoly of the few. There is no poverty, for all work for the State, which provides equally for all. No citizen labours for money, "the root of all evil." Money, accumulated ■ by the export of surplus goods, is oiijy used as a weapon for war. ' Hoiwes are commodious, with large gardens, and every ten years citizens change their residences by lot. Meals are ta-ken in common! halls, where men and women, young and old, intermingle. Nurseries and nurses are provided for children under five years of age, while in spacious hospitals the sick are tended with every care. The incurably diseased are exhorted to "felo de se," but should they be afraid, they continue to receive kindly attention. Laws and Government. As the laws are few, and dearly defined, lawyers are unknown. Because of the equity of the law, offenders are few. The. death penalty is only exacted for brutal and repeated offences. Slavery,is the punishment for theft, but good copduct is rewarded with freedom. The government is representative and popular. Each city is governed by a prince, elected for life—assisted by magistrates chosen annually from the people. War, the Utopians hate; and only wage in self-de fence: that is, if their own or a friend's country be invaded. They.believe it better to conquer by craft than on the battlefield, and no glory is accorded those who win a bloody victory. With their stores of money they prefer to win over an enemy people; they bribe them to deliver up their advisers, thinking it a "deed of pity and mercy . . . that by the death of a few offenders the lives of a great number of innocents, as well of their own men as also of their enemies, be I'ausomed and saved, which in fighting should have been slain." *The Utopians do not believe in the efficacy of leagues to prevent war. Covenants breed distrust and suspicion, and cause hitherto friendly nations to consider themselves "born adversaries and enemies." "But the more and holy ceremonies the league is knit up with, the sooner is it broken by some cavillation found in the. words which many times of purpose be so craftily put in and placed that the bands can never be so sure nor strong, but they will find some hole open to creep out at and break both league and truth." In fact if private citizens conducted their affairs as dishonourably as their leaders, they would be mercilessly condemned by the latter. They consider the fellowship of nature to be the strongest bond in the prevention of wars.

Complete religious toleration reigns in Utopia. There is a diversity of creeds, but all unite in worshipping a "Common Father to whom they attribute the origin and growth and change of all things." Their churches are spacious, but not numerous, and their priests being "of exceeding holiness are therefore very few." Services being uncontroversial in matter are acceptable to all: rites connected with special beliefs are practised privately at home. The Utopians consider that a man's conscience is his own, and forcible proselytising is severly censured and punished. Socialism with Princes. Thus More deals with the principal problems of his day. His model State was Socialistic, where everyone worked for the common good, and was rewarded with abundance of food and leisure for education. Yet he believes in princes—a benevolent prince who regards himself as the shepherd of his flock, and not as a "ravening wolf." He is, too, a passionate believer in national education, for "ignorance places men on the level with beasts." To-day the poor are still with us, though happily the State now realises its responsibility for their welfare. Money problems continue to rack the brains of our economists, leagues are made and unmade, and wars and alarms of war continue to harrow the world. But universal education is no longer a dream: it has materialised. Perhaps, when it gathers more strength, it will foster and nourish that "fellowship of nature" whirh alone crih achieve peace and <jxtirpatc the abominable belief th- + - "nnght-is; light."