swift's influence on godwin's anarchism

8/13/2019 Swift's Influence on Godwin's Anarchism

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Swift's Influence on Godwin's Doctrine of AnarchismAuthor(s): James PreuSource: Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 15, No. 3 (Jun., 1954), pp. 371-383Published by: University of Pennsylvania PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2707760.

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SWIFT'S INFLUENCE ON GODWIN'S DOCTRINEOF ANARCHISMBY JAMESPREU

No stranger case of the attraction of opposites can be found inthe entire history of ideas than the curious influence of JonathanSwift upon William Godwin. When a writer exerts a strong influ-ence upon a man whose whole pattern of thought is diametrically op-posed to his own, one of the most interesting aspects of the influenceis the remarkable sea change which the influencing ideas mayundergo in the mind of him who takes them over. The influencewhich Jonathan Swift exerted upon William Godwin affords an excel-lent illustration of how such a change may operate. Obviously, therewas nothing of the anarchist in Swift, yet Godwin, who was the firstof the anarchists,l seized upon certain of Swift's ideas, distorted themstrangely, and incorporated them in his manifesto of anarchism,Political Justice.Never were two men more different than Jonathan Swift, D.D.,High Churchman and Tory, and William Godwin, atheist and anar-chist. Swift was a pessimist whose thinking was dominated by a nega-tive philosophy of history, a belief that history is not a recordof man'sprogressive improvement but rather of his constant and frequentlyunsuccessful struggles to preserve the values which had been fixedforever by antiquity.2 Godwin, on the other hand, possessed a calmconfidence in man's ability to make infinite progress toward perfec-tion. He firmly believed that man's reason would free him of allweakness and vice and that men like gods would one day walk theearth.

Godwin has been criticized for having too great a confidence inthe power of human reason and an inadequate appreciation of thebrute forces in human nature that oppose reason, 3 but Swift has been1 It was W. Godwin ... who was first to formulate the political and economicalconceptionsof anarchism (Petr AleksyeevichKropotkin, Anarchism, Encyclo-paediaBritannica[1949], I, 874). 2Basil Willey, The Eighteenth CenturyBack-ground(New York, 1941), 103. For expressionsof Swift's negative philosophyofhistorysee Contestsand Dissensions,TheProse Worksof JonathanSwift, D.D., ed.

TempleScott, 12 vols. (London,1898) (this edition hereafterreferred o as Works),I, 252; A Proposal or the Advancementof Religionand the Reformationof Morals,Works, II, 46-47; Gulliver'sTravels(hereafterreferred o as G. T. without citationof volumenumber),Works,VIII, 135-136, 205, 211. ProfessorRicardoQuintanahas pointed out that Swift's negative philosophyof history was expressed n lin-guisticterms in A Proposalfor Correcting,mproving,and Ascertaininghe EnglishTongue (The Mind and Art of Jonathan Swift [London, 1936], 56).3David Fleisher,WilliamGodwin,a Study in Liberalism London,1951), 146.371


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372 JAMES PREUaccused of having a horrible, shameful, unmanful, blasphemous 4opinion of human nature. Such criticisms of Swift are based largelyon the fourth book of Gulliver's Travels, entitled A Voyage to theHouyhnhnms, in which Swift seems, on the surface at least, to haveportrayed mankind as loathsome and groveling Yahoos, utterly in-capable of reason, degenerate brutes who live in kennels and feed onfilth. A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms has been called a cursehurled at humanity, 5but strangely enough, it was A Voyage to theHouyhnhnms which inspired Godwin's vision of a gloriously brightand brave new world.There is abundant evidence that Swift played a major role in thegenesis of the anarchistic doctrine which Godwin proclaimed in Po-litical Justice. In the preface to the first edition (1793), Godwinundertook to describe the progress by which the author's mind wasled to its present sentiments and named Swift as one of the fourmen who had contributed to the formation of his ideas.6 There areten references to Swift in Political Justice, and in Godwin's Enquirer(1797), there are twelve references to Swift. Seven of the referencesto Swift in Political Justice come at key points in Godwin's argumentand prove that Swift influenced some of the most vital phases ofGodwin's thinking. Entries in Godwin's diary show that he was read-ing Gulliver's Travels while he was writing Political Justice,7 and ofall Swift's writings, it was Gulliver which had the most decisive influ-ence upon Godwin's ideas.We know, furthermore, that Godwin admired Swift profoundlyand believed him to be the most powerful mind of the time in whichhe lived. 8 He had an extraordinarily high regard for Swift as apolitical theorist, and he was particularly impressed by the politicalwisdom of Gulliver's Travels.9 He saw a representation of men intheir highest improvement 10 n Swift's description of the Houyhn-

4William MakepeaceThackeray, The English Humouristsof the EighteenthCentury,ed. DerekStanford(London,1949), 35.5 WilliamDuncanTaylor,JonathanSwift, a CriticalStudy (London,1933), 228.For recent, interestingstudies which challengethe misanthropicnterpretationofA Voyageto the Houyhnhnms, ee Arthur E. Case,Four Essays on Gulliver'sTravels (Princeton, 1945), 97-126; EdwardStone, Swift and the Horses: Mis-anthropyor Comedy? MLQ,X (Sept., 1949), 367-376.6 WilliamGodwin,An EnquiryConcerningPoliticalJustice,ed. F. E. L. Priest-ley, 3 vols. (Toronto, 1946) (hereafterreferred o as P. J.), I, ix.7 The entriesareextremely aconicand merelylist the numberof pagesin Gulli-ver whichGodwinhad read on each day, e.g., May 9, 1792 Gulliver,15 pages.This information omes from the microfilmof Godwin'sdiaryin the libraryof Duke

University,and it is quotedby permissionof Lord Abinger,ownerof the originalmanuscript.8WilliamGodwin,TheEnquirer;Reflectionson Education,Manners,andLitera-


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SWIFT'S INFLUENCE ON GODWIN 373hnms, the intelligent horses who used the brutish Yahoos as domesticanimals, and he affirmed that no book breathes more strongly agenerous indignation against vice, and an ardent love of everythingthat is excellent and honourable to the human heart. 11

Oddly enough, Godwin would have admired Swift less had he un-derstood him better, for it is evident that his admiration for Swiftwas based on a misunderstanding of Swift's purpose. For this para-doxical situation, two factors were mainly responsible. In the firstplace, Godwin was literalminded to an extraordinary degree and wasalmost completely lacking in a sense of humor.l2 This literalminded-ness led him to take at face value what Swift had written with theoveremphasis characteristic of satire. An amusing example of God-win's literalmindedness was his great concern over the King of Brob-dingnag's description of mankind as the most pernicious race oflittle odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the sur-face of the earth. 13 Godwin was deeply distressed by the king'sspeech, and in his Thoughts on Man, he assured his readers with theutmost seriousness, that Swift's words were not really an accurate de-scription of the human race.l4Another important factor in Godwin's tendency to mistake Swift'smeaning is the fact that Godwin's interpretation of Swift was coloredby his own preconceptions. In his essay Of Choice in Reading,Godwin brought out the point that the impression we derive from abook, depends much less upon its real contents, than upon the temperof mind and preparation with which we read it. 15 Obviously God-win's remarks apply to his own reading of Gulliver, for he interpretedA Voyage to the Houyhnhnms as a manifesto of anarchism andSwift's description of Houyhnhnm society as a prophecy of the utopiawhich mankind would some day attain. If Swift could have knownof Godwin's interpretation, he would probably have regarded it as asignal example of the Yahoo tendency to perversity.Before forming an estimate of the nature and extent of Swift'scontribution to Godwin's system of anarchism it will be necessary tonote briefly the main outline of Godwin's argument. Godwin basedhis reasoning upon two principal assumptions: first, that reason andtruth will prevail if they are adequately communicated,6 and sec-ondly, that reason is the best guide to virtuous conduct.l7 These as-sumptions are, of course, to be found in Gulliver. The Houyhnhnmsbelieved that reason's rules are unerring 18 and will in time al-

12 So far as the presentwriterhas been able to ascertain,Godwinmade but onejoke in his life. See Ford Keeler Brown, The Life of WilliamGodwin (London,1926), 8. 13G. T., 136. 14Thoughtson Man,His Nature,Productions,andDis-coveries(London, 1831), 117.

15 108-109. 16 P. 86. 17 p. 316. 18


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374 JAMES PREUways prevail against brutal strength. 19 Gulliver himself assertedthat truth always forceth its way into rational minds .. . 20 andthat reason strikes you with immediate conviction; as it needs mustdo where it is not mingled, obscured, or discoloured by passion andinterest. 21 The Houyhnhnms thought nature and reason weresufficient guides for a reasonable animal, as we pretended to be, inshowing us what we ought to do, and what to avoid. 22 Being per-fectly reasonable, the Houyhnhnms are endowed with a general dis-position to all virtues, and have no conceptions or ideas of what isevil in a rational creature, so their grand maxim is, to cultivate reason,and to be wholly governed by it. 23Basing his reasoning upon these assumptions, Godwin argued thatreason and truth would make gradual progress in the minds of men.As men become more reasonable and more enlightened, they will be-come more virtuous, and the more reasonable and virtuous they be-come, the less need they will have for government. Government,therefore, can be gradually simplified until it consists of neighborhoodjuries to deal with local matters and a representative, national assem-bly to look after affairs of general interest. These national assemblieswill convene only in extreme emergencies or else sit, periodically,one day for example in a year. .. 24 The juries and assembly willat first be obliged to enforce their edicts. But when men havereached an advanced stage of development, the juries and assemblycan abandon coercion and simply invite cooperation, relying solelyupon reason to convince men of the justice of the measures proposed.When men have outgrown government, law, and coercion, therewill exist a society of individuals as benevolent and rational as theHouyhnhnms. These rational beings, though free from external coer-cion, will not be free to act irresponsibly since each man will governhimself in strict accordance with those laws of reason that areequally obligatory wherever man is to be found. 25 Although eachman will be guided by his individual reason, there will be no conflictbecause the rules of reason are universal and unvarying. Therefore,as the reason of each individual becomes clearer and stronger, menwill draw closer and closer to uniformity of judgment and conduct.26289. 19G. T., 250. 20 G. T., 151.

21 G. T., 278. LikeGulliver,Godwinwas fully awarethat men's reasonwas fre-quentlydominatedby their interestsandpassions. SeeP. J., I, 154,322. 22 G. T.,257. 23 G. T., 278.24 P. J., II, 207. 25 p. J., II, 332. 26 p. J., II, 501. Godwin'sanarchism ssomethingquite different romanarchy,a state of disorder n whicheveryone s freeto act as irresponsibly s he chooses.


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SWIFT S INFLUENCE ON GODWIN 375When Godwin reached the point in his argument where he pre-dicted that society could eventually function without coercion, hedeclared, Such is the idea of the author of Gulliver's Travels (PartIV.), a man who appears to have had a more profound insight intothe true principles of political justice, than any preceding or contem-

porary author. It was unfortunate, that a work of such inestimablewisdom failed, at the period of its publication, from the mere playful-ness of its form, in communicating adequate instruction to mankind.Posterity only will be able to estimate it as it deserves. 27Obviously Godwin was thinking of the rational and virtuousHouyhnhnms who thought that European institutions of govern-ment and law were plainly owing to our gross defects in reason, andby consequence, in virtue; because reason alone is sufficient to governa rational creature. . . 28 It is likewise evident that Godwin wasthinking of the Houyhnhnms when he described his representativegeneral assembly which would meet one day a year and might per-suade but not coerce. The Houyhnhnms' representative assemblymet five or six days every fourth year,29and its decrees were ex-pressed by the word hnhloayn, which signifies an exhortation, as nearas I can render it; for they have no conception of how a rationalcreature can be compelled, but only advised, or exhorted; because noperson can disobey reason, without giving up his claim to be a rationalcreature. 30This reference to Swift makes it obvious that A Voyage to theHouyhnhnms was the immediate source of Godwin's doctrine ofanarchism; that is, it was the particular work which Godwin had inmind when he formulated the doctrine. Furthermore, although theconcept of anarchism is implied in various undeveloped hints inwriters from Plato to Paine,31 it was only in Swift that Godwin couldhave found so explicit and detailed a presentation of the anarchisticideal.32

27 P. J., II, 209. 28 G. T., 270. 29 G. T., 281. 30 G. T., 291.31Plato, The Republic, Dialogues of Plato, trans. B. Jowett, 3rd ed., 5 vols.

(London, 1924), III, 304; Thomas Paine, Common Sense, The Life and Works ofThomas Paine, ed. W. M. Van de Weyde, 10 vols. (New Rochelle, New York, 1925),II, 97.32 Godwin's anarchistic utopia resembles Swift's society of Houyhnhnms muchmore than it does Rousseau's state of nature. Godwin admired Emile, but declaredthat in Rousseau's political writings the superiority of his genius seems to deserthim. One of Godwin's criticisms of Rousseau was that he substituted, as the topicof his eulogium, the period that preceded government and laws, instead of the periodthat may possibly follow upon their abolition (P. J., II, 129-130).


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376 JAMES PREUIt is interesting to note the manner in which Swift's meaning wasdiffracted by the rose-tinted lenses of Godwin's perfectibilitarian

spectacles. Swift evidently intended the Houyhnhnms to representthe state of society which might exist if only the animal rationis capaxcould become an animal rationale,33 but it is clear that Swift had nohope that man would ever attain this ideal state.34 In fact, as Pro-fessor Willey has suggested, Swift's despair may explain why he madethe Houyhnhnms, not men, but horses.35 Godwin, on the other hand,saw in the Houyhnhnms the state of society which would exist whenthe animal rationis capax became an animal rationale. Curiouslyenough, Godwin seems to have been completely unaware of this dif-ference between his and Swift's thinking.3The ideal society which Godwin envisioned for the future corre-sponds almost exactly to Swift's delineation of Houyhnhnm society.37Furthermore, in describing his utopia, Godwin made two more refer-ences to the Houyhnhnms. The three references to the Houyhnhnms,together with the remarkable similarity of the two descriptions, makeit altogether probable that A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms was notonly the immediate source of Godwin's concept of anarchism but alsothe direct inspiration for his whole vision of the future of society.Godwin, of course, was an indefatigable conversationalist and anomnivorous reader, and he probably took hints and suggestions from

33 In a letter to Pope, September29, 1725, Swift wrote, I have got materialstowarda treatise,provingthe falsityof that definitionanimalrationale,andto proveit wouldbe only rationiscapax (The Correspondence f JonathanSwift, D.D., ed.F. ElringtonBall, 6 vols. [London,1914], III, 277).34Uponthis point, the authoritieson Swift arein completeagreement. It by nomeans follows, however, that Swift regardedmankind as hopelessly degenerateYahoosandthat he hadno beliefwhatever n the possibilityof any human mprove-ment. SeeCase,FourEssayson Gulliver'sTravels, 102-126. To Swift,of course,improvementwould not mean progresstowardutopia, but a return to previouslyfixed standards. 35TheEighteenthCenturyBackground,239.86In the Enquirer,publishedfour years later than Political Justice, Godwinrevealedthat he was awareof interpretationsof Gulliver which differedfrom hisown,but he neverchangedhis opinionof the trueinterpretationEnquirer,106-107).37The two societies differonly in minor details. Godwinpredicted abor-savingmachineryand the prolongationof humanlife. Swift'sStruldbrugswere immortal,andthe Houyhnhnms'ife expectancyof seventy-fiveyearswas far beyondthe aver-age of the eighteenthcentury,but it was BenjaminFranklinwhosuggestedboth thelabor-savingdevices and the longevity to Godwin (P. J., II, 503, 519). Godwin,unlikeSwift,foresawthe abolitionof marriage as now understood, ut his com-panionatemarriages resemble the Houyhnhnmmarriagesrather closely. Thereweretwo classesof Houyhnhnms, nd,of course,Godwindid not take over this idea.However,he did say that the inequalityof mind would, in a certain degree,bepermanent .. (P. J., II, 461-462).


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SWIFT'S INFLUENCE ON GODWIN 377many other sources. Nevertheless, it seems evident that the Houyhn-hnms gave Godwin the ground plan, the blueprint as it were, of hisNew Jerusalem.

Godwin's utopians, like Swift's Houyhnhnms, would have no gov-ernment, no laws, no coercion, no wars, no vices, and no diseases.38Like the Houyhnhnms, they would have no religion, no commerce, noregimentation.39 The Houyhnhnms' grand maxim is, to cultivatereason, and to be wholly governed by it. 40 Godwin's men of thefuture will strive never to act independently of the principles ofreason. 41 The Houyhnhnms delighted in the pleasures of intellec-tual conversation.42 In the future, said Godwin, man will have leisureto let loose his faculties in the search of intellectual improvement. 43The Houyhnhnms were endowed by nature with a general dis-position to all virtues. 44 Godwin predicted that the day would comewhen vice would be universally deserted, and virtue every wherepracticed. 45 Friendship and benevolence are the two principal vir-tues among the Houyhnhnms; and these not confined to particularobjects, but universal to the whole race. 46 Godwin believed that inthe future all would have leisure to cultivate the kindly and philan-thropical affections . . . each would lose his individual existence, inthe thought of the general good. 47The benevolence of the Houyhnhnms, like that of Godwin's menof the future, was completely impersonal. The Houyhnhnms had noparticular fondness for their own colts and foals, and their care ineducating them proceeds entirely from the dictates of reason. And Iobserved my master to show the same affection to his neighbour'sissue that he had for his own. 48 In Godwin's future society, who-ever was most capable would see to the support and education of thechildren.49 It is of no consequence that I am the parent of a child,when it has once been ascertained that the child will live with greaterbenefit under the superintendence of a stranger. 50The Houyhnhnms and Godwin's men of tomorrow tended to bequite unemotional; 51 therefore, overpopulation was no very serious

38 G. T., 252, 264, 269, 273, 284, 286, 288, 291; P. J., I. 331, II, 209-212, 462-466,526-528.39Swift and Godwin did not specifically exclude religion, bue neither of themmade any mention of it. 40 G. T., 278.

41 P. J., II, 497. 42 G. T., 288-289. 43 P. J., II, 461. 44 G. T., 278.45 P. J., I, 331. 46G. T., 279. 47 P. J., II, 460-461, 464.48 G. T., 279.49 P. J., II, 510-511. 50 P. J., I, 217.51 G. T., 250; P. J., II, 508, 527-528.


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378 JAMES PREUproblem. As soon as the matron Houyhnhnms have produced oneof each sex, they no longer accompany with their consorts. .... Thiscaution is necessary to prevent the country from being overburthenedwith numbers. 52 In Godwin's brave new world, the populationwould be kept down by a systematical abstinence. 53The Houyhnhnms and Godwin's utopians practiced universalsincerity. From the Houyhnhnms, Gulliver learned an utter de-testation of all falsehood or disguise; and truth apeared so amiableto me, that I determined upon sacrificing every thing to it. 54 TheHouyhnhnms could not understand why anyone should wish to lie,since the purpose of language was to communicate truth.55 Whenthey talked with Gulliver, they were obliged to use the expression,the thing which was not. (For they have no word in their languageto express lying or falsehood.) 56 In discussing the unspeakableadvantages of sincerity, Godwin wrote, To assert . . . the thingthat is not, is an action from which the human mind unconquerablyrevolts. 57 Since the English language, unlike that of the Houyhn-hnms, has a verb to lie and an abundant supply of synonyms, God-win's use of the Houyhnhnms' awkward circumlocution makes itevident that he was thinking of the Houyhnhnms when he wrote ofthe glorious day when each man shall speak truth with his neigh-bour. 58Even the economy of Godwin's utopia was organized upon Hou-yhnhnm principles. The Houyhnhnms believed that all animalshad a title to their share in the productions of the earth. .. . 59They did not believe in the accumulation of wealth.60 They livedsimply, enjoyed a frugal diet, and indulged in a moderate amount ofwholesome labor and exercise.61 Godwin envisioned the day whenmen would accept the principle that the good things of the worldare a common stock, upon which one man has as valid a title as an-other to draw for what he wants. 62 He believed that men wouldcease to accumulate wealth,63and that they will be contented . ..with the means of healthful existence, and of unexpensive pleasure. 64Like the Houyhnhnms, Every man would have a frugal, yet whole-some diet; every man would go forth to that moderate exercise ofhis corporal functions, that would give hilarity to the spirits .. . 65

52 G. T., 279; if a Houyhnhnm hath two males, he changeth one of them withanother that hath two females ... (G. T., 281).53 P. J., II, 518. 54 G. T., 269. 55G. T., 248. 56 G. T., 243.57 P. J., I, 352. The italics are the present writer's.58 P. J., I, 341. 59G. T., 262. 60 G. T., 262-263, 270-272. 61 G. T., 280-281,285.62 P. J., II, 423. 63 P. J., II, 424-426, 442. 64 P. J., II, 478. 65 p. J., II, 460.


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SWIFT S INFLUENCE ON GODWIN 379In a footnote to his argument against accumulation, Godwinstated, Specimens of very powerful reasoning on the same side, maybe found in Gulliver's Travels, particularly Part IV, Chapter VI.In the same note, he also named Plato, More, Mably, Ogilvie, andWallace as authorities by whom the system of accumulated propertyis openly attacked. To this list of theorists, Godwin added thegreat practical authorities, Crete, Sparta, Peru, and Paraguay.66All Godwin's authorities may have furnished him with argumentsagainst accumulation, but only Swift could have given him the blue-print of his utopia, for with the exception of Swift, all of these au-thorities placed their reliance on government, law, and coercion.Plato and More and the states of Crete, Sparta, Peru, and Paraguayfound the solution to the problem of property in a highly regimented,communistic state, and their systems entailed community of property,state-distributed rations, common labor, dining halls, dormitories, andstorehouses. To all these elements of regimentation, Godwin vehe-mently objected. He affirmed that a system of equality requiresno restrictions or superintendence. There is no need of commonlabour, meals, or magazines. 67 Godwin would have no communityof property and insisted that there should be no more organized com-munity activity than was absolutely essential.68 Ogilvie's systemwas purely agrarian and consisted of a complicated arrangement oflaws, regulations, provisos, and penalties which would permit everycitizen when he reached the age of twenty-one to rent a farm of fortyacres.69 In short, Ogilvie placed his faith in the sort of agrarian lawswhich Godwin described as remedies more pernicious than the dis-ease they are intended to cure. 70 Wallace and Mably advocated aregimented communistic state as the ideal solution to the problem ofproperty, but they abandoned their ideal in despair-Wallace, be-cause he foresaw that it would result in overpopulation,71and Mably,

66 P. J., II, 459. 67 p. J., II, 497. 68 P. J., II, 501. Thosewho write on God-win frequently, or lack of a bettername,call his system communism r anarchisticcommunism,but Godwin'ssystem was not communisticn any generallyacceptedmeaningof the word. Godwinarguedthat each man has a right-by which hemeant a just claim or passive right which could not be enforced-to anythingheneeded. On the other hand, even in Godwin'sutopia, every article of propertywouldhave an owneror trusteewhowouldhave an equal right to disposeof hispropertyaccording o the dictates of his private judgment,althoughhe would bemorallyobligated o bestow the articleuponhim who needed t most (P. J., I, 133-137, 158-168; II, 420-453).69 WilliamOgilvie,An Essay on the Right of Property in Land, reprintedasBirthright n Land,ed. D. C. MacDonald(London,1891),92-120. 70P. J., II, 438.71 RobertWallace,VariousProspectsof Mankind,Nature,andProvidence(Lon-don, 1761), 107-125.


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380 JAMES PREUbecause he thought that the Europeans had been so corrupted by theestablished system of property that they would never accept com-munism.7 Having given up the idea of communism in Europe,Mably devoted the last three books of De la Legislation to a discus-sion of the various laws and penalties by which the spirit of avariceand ambition might be curbed.Since Godwin named Swift as one of those who had attacked thesystem of accumulated property, it will be interesting to investigatethe extent to which Swift's specimens of very powerful reasoningmay have persuaded Godwin that there must be no accumulation ofwealth in his utopian society. While making this investigation, wemust, of course, bear in mind that most of Godwin's argumentsagainst accumulation were fairly commonplace and that Swift's in-fluence was undoubtedly supplemented and reinforced by that ofGodwin's other authorities.One of Godwin's main arguments against accumulation was thatnature is easily satisfied. He declared that luxuries are the productsof artificial desires, that they are by no means essential to healthfuland vigorous existence, and cannot be purchased but with considerablelabour and industry. 73 This argument may have been suggested bythe Houyhnhnms. Gulliver's Houyhnhnm master was amazed byGulliver's account of how the Europeans destroyed their constitutionsand befuddled their minds with costly food and strong drink.74 Heremarked to Gulliver that the Europeans had multiplied their origi-nal wants and then spent their lives endeavoring to satisfy their arti-ficial desires.75 Gulliver profited by the Houyhnhnms' example andsoon learned how easily nature is satisfied. 76 He made his ownclothes and furniture, ate simple, natural foods, and, as a result, en-joyed perfect health of body, and tranquillity of mind. 77 In speak-ing of the artificiality of men's desires, Godwin asserted that thegreater part of a man's energies is exerted that he may wear a bettercoat, that he may clothe his wife with gay attire, that he may havenot merely a shelter, but a handsome habitation .. . 78 This pas-

72 C'est sur les bords de l'Oyoou du MississippiquePlaton pourraitetablirsaRepublique (GabrielBonnet de Mably,De la Legislation,ou Principesdes Loix,2 vols. in one [Amsterdam,1776], I, 115).

73 P. J., II, 424. Similar arguments may be found in Mably, De la Legislation,I, 12-21, 49 and ThomasMore, Utopia, Ideal Commonwealths,d. Henry Morley(London,1885), 99-101, 109-114,119-120.74 G. T., 263-264. 75 G. T., 270. 76 G. T., 240.77G. T., 287. The Yahoos suffered rom a variety of diseasescaused by thenastinessandgreedinessof that sordidbrute (G. T., 273).


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SWIFT'S INFLUENCE ON GODWIN 381sage may have been inspired by Gulliver who informed the Houyhn-hnms that when I am at home and dressed as I ought to be, I carryon my body the workmanship of an hundred tradesmen; the buildingand furniture of my house employ as many more, and five times thenumber to adorn my wife. 79Another of Godwin's arguments against accumulation was thatthe superfluities of the rich deprive the poor of the necessities of life.The rich, dissipated and indolent, revel in luxuries produced by theracking toil of underprivileged laborers who are forced to live in theutmost squalor and penury.80 This argument may have been sug-gested by several passages in Swift, for example, the passage in whichGulliver told the Houyhnhnms that the bulk of our people wereforced to live miserably, by labouring every day for small wages tomake a few live plentifully. 81Godwin stressed the point that the accumulation of luxury wasone of the principal causes of crime and the general corruption ofsociety.82 This fact had not escaped Gulliver who told his Houyhnhnmmaster that in order to feed the luxury and intemperance of themales, and the vanity of the females, we sent away the greatest partof our necessary things to other countries, from whence in return webrought the materials of diseases, folly, and vice, to spend among our-selves. Hence it follows of necessity, that vast numbers of our peopleare compelled to seek their livelihood by begging, robbing, stealing,cheating, pimping, forswearing, flattering, suborning, forging . . . andthe like occupations: every one of which terms, I was at much painsto make him understand. 83

Godwin believed that one of the worst evils of the system ofaccumulated property was that it fostered a universal passion for theacquisition of wealth.84 This unnatural passion for accumulation wassharply satirized by Swift. The Yahoos were violently fond of certainshiny stones, which they laboriously dug out of the ground and78 P. J., II, 426. 79 G. T., 264. 80 p. J., II, 424-426, 435, 459-461, 482-483.81 G. T., 262. Swift expressed this idea frequently. See G. T., 263-264; Thoughtson Various Occasions, Works, I, 283; A Sermon on the Causes of the Wretched Con-dition of Ireland, Works, IV, 213. Similar arguments may be found in Ogilvie, Rightof Property in Land, 26-42; Mably, De la Legislation, I, 43-44; More, Utopia, 85,

163-165; Wallace, Various Prospects, 9-10, 51.82 P. J., II, 454-455, 462-464.83 G. T., 263. See also G. T., 211. Similar arguments may be found in Mably,De la Legislation, I, 12, 53-54, 101-112; More, Utopia, 61-66, 164-165; Wallace,Various Prospects, 100.84 P. J., II, 456-457. Mably and More also mention this point (De la Legisla-

tion, I, 40, 79; Utopia, 162).


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382 JAMES PREUhoarded in their kennels. Gulliver's master said that he could neverdiscover the reason for this unnatural appetite, or how those stonescould be of any use to a Yahoo; but now he believed it might pro-ceed from the same principle of avarice which I had ascribed tomankind.... 85The correspondence between Godwin's world of the future andSwift's society of Houyhnhnms is so close as almost to rule out thepossibility of coincidence. We have seen that A Voyage to theHouyhnhnms was the immediate source of Godwin's concept ofanarchism, and we know that Godwin had the Houyhnhnms in mindwhen he predicted the practice of universal sincerity. We know,furthermore, that the Houyhnhnms helped to convince Godwin thatthere would be no accumulation of property in an ideal society. God-win's references to the Houyhnhnms plus the remarkable similarityof the two works make it highly probable that A Voyage to theHouyhnhnms was not only the immediate source of Godwin's con-cept of anarchy but also the blueprint for his brave new world.It is strange that Godwin's evident indebtedness should have gonealmost unnoticed,86but as far as the present writer has been able toascertain, the anonymous author of a review of the first edition ofPolitical Justice was the only critic who approached a full realizationof the importance of A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms to Godwin'ssystem. This worthy gentleman thought that Political Justice wastoo long and its price too high. He complained that one poundsixteen is too serious a sum for any man to give, merely to see . . .Swift's exaggerated descriptions of the depravity of man, advancedinto a grave system, gravely intended at least, for the conduct of theworld. 87Swift's influence upon William Godwin has a twofold significance.For one thing, it affords a striking illustration of the strange mannerin which ideas may be diffracted in transmission. More importantperhaps is the fact that, through his influence upon Political Justice,

85 G. T., 272.86 LeslieStephendid not suggest nfluence,but he notedthat The Houyhnhnms... represent Godwin's Utopia .... It is in this doctrine . . . that Swift falls inwith Godwin and the revolutionists ... (Swift [London, 1903], 182). HenryBrailsfordmade only a passingreference o the fact that Godwin'svirtuous menresembled he Houyhnhnms Shelley,Godwin,and TheirCircle[New York, 1913],131); and ProfessorPriestleysaid merelythat Godwin'sreference o Swift indi-cates that he found in Gulliver'sTravelsstrongcorroborationf his view of an ulti-mate rationaland informalsociety ( Introduction, P. J., III, 46).87 The British Critic,I (July, 1793), 309.


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SWIFT S INFLUENCE ON GODWIN 383Swift has exerted an influence far wider than has hitherto been sus-pected. Godwin's influence upon the English romantic poets has beenthe subject of much scholarly attention. Estimates of Godwin's influ-ence upon Wordsworth have varied widely, but it is generally agreedthat Godwin exerted an important influence upon Shelley and uponthe associates of Pantisocracy. Dr. Menger has pointed out thatPolitical Justice exerted a very marked influence on Hall, Owen, andThompson, and through them on the development of Socialism, 88and Dr. Earle has shown that Political Justice had also an importantinfluence in America.89There seems to be no external evidence that Political Justice hada direct influence upon the French anarchist, Proudhon, or upon hisdisciple, Bakunin, but Godwin's ideas probably reached Proudhonindirectly, possibly through Robert Owen. There is no doubt, how-ever, of Godwin's direct influence upon the anarchists of the late nine-teenth and early twentieth centuries. Grossman, Kropotkin, and otherlatter day anarchists read Political Justice with enthusiasm, praisedit highly, and hailed Godwin as the founder of the anarchist move-ment. But strange though it may be, it yet seems evident that thefounder of anarchism drew much of his inspiration from the fourthbook of Gulliver's Travels.

Florida State University.88Anton Menger, The Right to the Whole Produce of Labour, trans. M. E.

Tanner, intro. H. S. Foxwell (London, 1899), 40.89 Osborne Earle, The Reputation and Influence of William Godwin in America,Harvard University Summaries of Ph.D. Theses, 1938 (Cambridge, Mass., 1940),289-294. Dr. Earle's dissertation has not been published.90Rudolph Grossman, William Godwin, der Theoretiker des KommunistischenAnarchismus (Leipzig, 1907); Petr Aleksyeevich Kropotkin, Anarchism, Encyclo-

paedia Britannica (1949), I, 873-878.

swift's influence on godwin's anarchism

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