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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2009
An Account of Newman's political thought must explain a paradox. Newman declared that the principal aim of his life was to combat religious liberalism; and however novel may have been his approach to many problems, no charge against the orthodoxy of his theological writings has ever been sustained. Yet Newman was considered dangerously liberal by many. A few years after Newman had been made a Cardinal, Lord Selborne, during an audience with Pope Leo XIII, chanced to mention the name of Newman. The Pope's face brightened. “It was not easy; no, it was not easy. They said he was too liberal; but I was determined to honour the Church by honouring Newman. I have always felt a deep veneration for him. I am proud that it has been given me to honour such a man.” In what sense could it be said of Newman that he was too liberal? A study of his political thinking will, I think, take one far toward an answer to the question.
1 Thureau-Dangin, Paul, English Catholic Revival in the Nineteenth Century, 2 vols., Transl. Wilberforce, W., (New York, n.d.), II, p. 362Google Scholar.
2 Laski, H. J., Studies in the Problem of Sovereignly, (New Haven, 1917), p. 70Google Scholar.
3 Apologia Pro Vita Sua, New Impression, (New York, 1934), p. 30Google Scholar.
4 Ibid., p. 31.
5 Op. cit., p. 33.
6 Laski, H. J., op. cit., p. 76Google Scholar.
7 Apologia, p. 121.
8 Ibid., p. 123. See also p. 125—“Break off, I would say, with Mr. O'Connell in Ireland and the liberal party in England.…”
9 The Spirit of the Oxford Movement, (New York, 1934)Google Scholar.
10 Ibid., pp. 3–4.
11 Ibid., p. 64. There are few studies on Lamennais available in English. Laski's, H. J.Authority in the Modern Stale, (New Haven, 1919)Google Scholar, and Woodward's, E. L.Three Studies in European Conservatism, (London, 1929)Google Scholar, are both important. Unfortunately, Gurian's, WaldemarDie Politischen und Sozialen Ideen des Französischen Katholizismus 1789–1914 (1929)Google Scholar has not been translated, but he intends to publish an essay on Lamennais in the October (1945) issue of this Review.
12 Ibid.
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid., p. 65.
15 Ibid., p. 67.
16 “I,… had out of my own head begun the Tracts.” Apologia Pro Vila Sua, p. 40.
17 Ibid., p. 68.
18 Remains, (London, 1838), IV volsGoogle Scholar. The publication by Newman and others of the Remains, was, as is well known, considered one of the blunders of the movement. It is not surprising, for the uncompromising tone of Volume III, especially, shows that Froude was running out far ahead not merely of such moderates as Keble, but even of Newman himself.
19 Froude, R. H., Remains, III, pp. 194–195Google Scholar. Quoted by Dawson, , Spirit of the Oxford Movement, p. 70Google Scholar.
20 Newman, , Essays Critical and Historical, Vol. I, (London, 1890). p. 140Google Scholar.
21 Ibid., p. 145.
22 Ibid., p. 156.
23 Ibid., p. 157.
24 Ibid.
25 Ibid., pp. 157–8.
26 Ibid., p. 160.
27 Ibid.
28 Ibid., p. 162.
29 Letters and Correspondence of John Henry Newman, ed. Mozley, Anne, (London, 1891), Vol. I, p. 233Google Scholar.
30 Essays Critical and Historical Vol. I, p. 172.
31 Ward, , Life of Newman, I, (London, 1912), p. 365Google Scholar.
32 Ibid., p. 365.
33 Ibid., p. 382.
34 Ibid., p. 361.
35 Gwynn, Denis, A Hundred Years of Catholic Emancipation (1829–1929), (London, 1929), p. 164Google Scholar.
36 Ibid., pp. 164–65.
37 Ward, , op. cit., p. 367Google Scholar.
38 Gwynn, , op. cit., p. 169Google Scholar.
39 Ibid., pp. 169–70.
40 Ward, , op. cit., p. 389Google Scholar.
41 Ibid., p. 388.
42 Ibid.
43 Discussions and Arguments on Various Subjects, “Who's To Blame,” (New impression, London, 1924), p. 307Google Scholar.
44 Ibid., p. 311.
45 ibid., p. 317.
46 Ibid., p. 315.
47 Ibid., p. 316.
48 Ibid., p. 336.
49 Ibid., p. 339.
50 Ibid., pp. 341–42.
51 Ibid., p. 342.
52 Ibid., p. 343.
53 Ibid., 344.
54 Ibid., p. 350.
55 Ibid., pp. 350–51.
56 Ibid., p. 357.
57 Ibid., p. 355.
58 Ibid., p. 360.
59 Ibid.
60 Ibid., p. 342.
61 Ibid., p. 343.
62 Ibid., p. 348.
63 Ibid., p. 351.
64 Ibid., pp. 351–352.
65 Ibid., p. 353.
66 Ibid., p. 360.
67 Ibid., p. 352.
68 Cobban, Alfred, Edmund Burke, (New York, 1929). p. 58Google Scholar.
69 Works, Edition, Bohn, 1873, Vol. VI, p. 147Google Scholar.
70 Discussions and Arguments, pp. 309–10.
71 Brinton, Crane, English Political Thought in the Nineteenth Century, (London, 1933), p. 154Google Scholar.
72 Ibid., p. 158.
73 Trilling, Lionel, Matthew Arnold, (New York, 1939), p. 181Google Scholar.
74 Ward, Wilfrid, William George Ward and The Catholic Revival, (London, 1893), p. 139Google Scholar.
75 Ibid.
76 Ward, , Life, I, p. 416 ffGoogle Scholar.
77 Ibid., p. 440.
78 Ward, , Catholic Revival, p. 143Google Scholar.
79 Gwynn, , op. cit., p. 175Google Scholar.
80 Cf. Ward, , Life, I, 520 ffGoogle Scholar.
81 Ibid., p. 522. Acton's words in a letter written to Newman.
82 Ibid., p. 520.
83 Ward, , Catholic Revival, Facsimile Letter opposite p. viGoogle Scholar.
84 Ward, , Life, II, p. 79Google Scholar.
85 Ward, , Life, II, p. 80Google Scholar.
86 Cf.Ibid., p. 83.
87 Apologia, Note A., p. 286.
88 Ibid., p. 296.
89 Ibid., p. 297.
90 Ward, , Life, II, p. 397 ffGoogle Scholar.
91 Ibid. p. 40.
92 Ibid., p. 401.
93 Ibid., p. 402.
94 Laski, , op. cit., p. 202Google Scholar.
95 Newman, , A Letter Addressed To His Grace The Duke of Norfolk on Occasion of Mr. Gladstone's Recent Expostulation, (London, 1875), p. 41Google Scholar.
96 Ibid., p. 42.
97 Ibid., p. 41.
98 Ibid., p. 43.
99 Ibid., p. 66.
100 Ibid., p. 67.
101 Ibid., p. 69.
102 Ibid., p. 68.
103 Ibid., pp. 70–72.
104 Ibid., pp. 78–79
105 Ibid., p. 80.
106 “The Roman Pontiff can and ought to reconcile himself to, and agree with, progress, liberalism, and civilization as lately introduced.” From Allocution Jamdudum cernimus.
107 Newman, , Letter to The Duke of Norfolk, p. 85Google Scholar.
108 Ibid., p. 111.
109 Ward, , Life, II, p. 435Google Scholar.
110 Thureau-Dangin, , Catholic Revival, II, p. 359Google Scholar.
111 Ibid., pp. 361–62.
112 Newman jokingly speaks of his moderation on the subject of the temporal power as his “supposed complicity with Garibaldi.” Ward, , Life, I, p. 585Google Scholar.
113 Cf. Sturzo, , Church and State (New York, 1939), p. 432Google Scholar. Sturzo points out that Mgr. Dupanloup, Bishop of Orleans, in his pamphlet on the Syllabus “concluded that it was the duty of Catholics, taking their stand on the de facto situation, to adapt themselves to the conditions of the moment and to fight with the modern arms of freedom of conscience, of the press and of the vote.” This interpretation was in accordance with Newman's own thinking on the subject.
114 Ward, , Life, II, p. 81Google Scholar.
115 Even as late as 1882 he speaks in a letter of “what may be called Nihilism in the Catholic Body, and in its rulers. They forbid, but they do not direct or create.” Ward, , Life, II, p. 486Google Scholar.
116 Newman, , Difficulties of Anglicans, I (London, 1891), p. 173Google Scholar. These lectures were delivered in 1850.
117 Ibid., p. 184.
118 Sturzo, , op. cit., p. 558Google Scholar.
119 The Thomist, Vol. V (The Maritain Volume). (New York, 1943)Google Scholar. “On Maritain's Political Philosophy” by Waldemar Gurian, pp. 16–17.
