In Season and Out

As depicted in Robert Bolt’s classic “A Man For All Seasons,” we are reminded that oratory, prudence, and diligence are all required by one who aspires to be a statesman like Sir Thomas More. In a brief essay "On the Square" (First Things) by Andrew Haines, we are also reminded that More was a staunch defender of free speech. Twelve years before his execution, More courageously requested that Henry VIII offer clemency for opinions that might offend the monarch. As Speaker of the House of Commons, More urged the king: “give to all your Commons here assembled your most gracious licence and pardon, freely, without doubt of your dreadful displeasure, every man to discharge his conscience, and boldly in everything incident among us to declare his advice.”

As Haines explains, for those who admire More’s courage, it is most fitting to remember that the Man For All Seasons was deeply committed to the free expression of individual conscience.

Conscientious objection is nothing without a firm grounding in free and truthful speech. In his petition before Parliament, More understood his duty as the “Common Mouth” to be one not of lip service, but of fair estimation, judgment, and public assessment. In short, he realized his indispensible role in the well-being of the realm as one founded upon honesty and fortitude—and not, contrarily, upon relativism or passivity. Moreover, the values to which he held were evident not only in his silence—an easily romanticized feature of his character—but even to some greater degree in his voiced and public sentiments. After all, lest we forget, More’s trip to the executioner’s block was no mournful dirge, but a march peppered with accounts of his mundane pronouncements, wit, and wisdom.

And, upon entering the academic year, that’s a good word for this present season.