Thomas Gordon (c. 1691 – 28 July 1750) was a Scottish writer andCommonwealthman. Along withJohn Trenchard, he publishedThe Independent Whig, which was a weekly periodical. From 1720 to 1723, Trenchard and Gordon wrote a series of 144 essays entitledCato's Letters, condemning corruption and lack of morality within the British political system and warning against tyranny. The essays were published asEssays on Liberty, Civil and Religious, at first in theLondon Journal and then in theBritish Journal. These essays became a cornerstone of theCommonwealth man tradition and were influential in shaping the ideas of theCountry Party.[1] His ideas played an important role in shapingrepublicanism in Britain andespecially in the American colonies leading up to theAmerican Revolution.[2] Zuckert argues, "The writers who, more than any others, put together the new synthesis that is the new republicanism were John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, writing in the early eighteenth century asCato."[3]
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He was born inKirkcudbright towards the end of the seventeenth century. He possibly attended theUniversity of Aberdeen.
He went to London as a young man and taught languages. Two pamphlets on theBangorian controversy commended him toJohn Trenchard, a Whig politician; one was probablyA Letter to the Lord Archbishop (i.e.William Wake) in 1719, who had written a Latin letter reflecting upon Hoadly, addressed to the church of Zurich. Gordon became Trenchard'samanuensis.[4]
Robert Walpole made Gordon first commissioner of the wine licenses, a post which he held till his death on 28 July 1750. Gordon was twice married, his second wife being Trenchard's widow.[4]
A tract called theIndependent Whig, published at the time of the rejection of thePeerage Bill (December 1719), was followed by a second part in January 1720, on the peace with Spain and the value ofGibraltar to England, several editions of which were issued. A weekly paper of the same name was then started, and carried on through the year, the articles by Trenchard, Gordon, and a third contributor, 'C.' [Anthony Collins], being distinguished in the fifth edition. It was first collected in one volume in 1721. To the fifth edition (1732) were appended 'The Craftsman,' a sermon, in the style ofDaniel Burgess, also published separately, a letter to a 'Gentleman of Edinburgh,' and an epitaph on Trenchard. In a sixth edition (1735) there was added a third volume containing Gordon's letter toWilliam Wake of 1719 and other tracts; a seventh edition appeared in 1743, and a fourth volume was added in 1747 containing tracts written during theJacobite Rebellion of 1745. The book was mainly an attack on theHigh Church party, and on the title-page of later editions is called 'A Defence of Primitive Christianity ... against the exorbitant claims of fanatical and disaffected clergymen.'Thomas Wilson,bishop of Sodor and Man, tried to exclude it from his diocese, and got into trouble in consequence. It was translated into French by theBaron d'Holbach.[4]
In 1720 Gordon and Trenchard began the publication ofCato's Letters. They appeared in theLondon Journal and then in theBritish Journal until Trenchard's death in 1723, and were reprinted in 4 vols. in 1724.[4]
Gordonpublished, by subscription, a translation ofTacitus, in 2 vols. 1728 (dedications to the Prince of Wales and Walpole), which went through several editions, and seems to have been the standard translation till the end of the century.Edward Gibbon read it in his youth (Misc. Works, i. 41).John Nichols claimed that Gordon's commentaries on Tacitus were derivative from the work ofVirgilio Malvezzi,Scipione Ammirato andBaltasar Alamos de Barrientos.[5] In 1744 he publishedThe Works of Sallust, with Political Discourses upon that author; to which is added a translation of Cicero's "Four Orations against Cateline." He published an 'Essay on Government' in 1747, and a 'Collection of Papers' by him appeared in 1748.[4]
Gordon also wrote a preface to a translation fromBarbeyrac called 'The Spirit of Ecclesiastics in all Ages,' 1722.[4]
The unfinished draft of aHistory of England is now preserved in the British Library Manuscript Collections.[6]
Gordon, inspired byBernard Mandeville, expressed strong disapproval with the mass killing of numerous animals for human consumption, stating, "it is very unreasonable that the whole Creation should be lavished away in this profuse Manner." He also argued that meat wasn't inherently the natural food for humans, asserting that it was merely cultural practices that led people to overcome their aversion to it and to disregard the cruelty inflicted upon animals during the slaughter process.[7]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: "Gordon, Thomas (d.1750)".Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
Works by or aboutThomas Gordon atWikisource
