The First Liberty Library
Introduction by Charles Burris Can one lone person make a real difference in the state of the world? Is there any outlet for societal change in the direction towards liberty free from the corrupting tentacles of partisan politics? Here is a near forgotten Murray N. Rothbard article, "The First Liberty Library," from the October, 1966 edition of The Freeman, published by the Foundation for Economic Education. It tells the virtually unknown story of British libertarian pioneer Thomas Hollis who, many keen observers once said, almost single-handedly created the intellectual ferment and ideological ground swell for the American Revolution. Rothbard beautifully tells Hollis’ courageous story in his own impassioned and inimitable fashion. The lives of such exemplary men as Hollis and Rothbard, unswervingly dedicated to the cause of liberty, serve as shinning beacons in our ever-darkening world of tyranny and state oppression. Let them both be models of persevering character and commitment for each of us at LRC to never give up the good fight and grow weary and disillusioned in our struggle. The First
Liberty Library The lone individual is seldom given credit as a shaper and mover of great historical events; and this is particularly true when that individual is no famous statesman or military hero, nor leader of a mass movement, but simply a little-known person pursuing his own idea in his own way. Yet such a person, scarcely known in his day and totally forgotten by historians until the last few years, played an important role in one of the most significant events in modern history: the American Revolution. In all the welter of writing on the economic, social, political, and military factors in the Revolution, the role of this one obscure man, who directed no great events nor even wrote an influential book, had been completely forgotten; and yet now we know the great influence of this man and his simple idea in forming an event that has shaped all of our lives.
Thomas Hollis of Lincoln‘s Inn (1720-1774) was an independently wealthy Englishman of the eighteenth century, who came from a long line of leading merchants and Dissenters (non-Anglican Protestants). From early in life, Hollis developed two passions that were to guide and consume his life: books and individual liberty. The devotion to liberty was not surprising, for the Hollis family had long been steeped in the libertarian “Commonwealthman” or “Real Whig” tradition, a tradition derived from the English republicanism of the seventeenth century. What was unique about Thomas Hollis was his fusion of an intense devotion to books and to liberty, a fusion which led to his particular idea, to the cherished “Plan” to which he would dedicate his life. This was a plan to disseminate the writings of liberty (his affectionately named “liberty books”) as widely as possible to kindle the spirit and the knowledge of liberty throughout the world. His Own Kind of Public Service Offered a chance, in his mid-thirties, to enter Parliament, Hollis refused to join what he considered the inevitable corruption of the political life; instead he decided to devote himself to his Plan to distribute libertarian books. Hollis thus came to spend the bulk of his life collecting and disseminating books and pamphlets and mementoes of liberty where he believed they would do the most good; when books could not be obtained, he financed the republishing of them himself. Every phase of their publication and distribution was shepherded through by Hollis as a labor of love. The typography, the condition of the prints, the luxurious binding and stamping, all were enhanced by his efforts. When sending a book as a gift to a library, person, or institution, which he usually did anonymously, Hollis took the trouble to inscribe the title page with mottoes and quotations appropriate to the book itself. Even “liberty coins,” medals, and prints were collected by Hollis and sent to where they might best be used.
At first, Thomas Hollis sent the benefits of his largesse far and wide, throughout Europe and Asia as well as England and Scotland. But after the Stamp Act troubles in 1765, Hollis concentrated almost all his efforts on the American colonies, in which he and his family had always been interested. The family had often contributed to Harvard College, and now a fire at Harvard, coinciding with the eruption of the Stamp Act turmoil between America and England, gave Hollis the opportunity to send a host of libertarian books and pamphlets to restock the Harvard library, to which he sent no less than 1,300 books! For Hollis was particularly aware of the importance of diffusing the principles of liberty among youth, and especially among university students. Harvard was particularly receptive soil, for it was at the center of the growing revolutionary spirit in the American colonies, a spirit that could only be fueled by the writings of the English revolutionaries of the previous century and their spiritual heirs: men such as the martyred Algernon Sidney, John Locke, John Milton, John Toland, Henry Neville, John Trenchard, and Marchamont Nedham. Hollis supplemented these activities by sparing no effort on behalf of the American colonists, including writing letters, public and private, wherever he could and reprinting and distributing writings favorable to the Americans. These works included tracts by American and English authors, as well as letters by Hollis’ friends written to the London press, usually after being prodded into writing them by the indefatigable Hollis. Samuel Johnson Pays Tribute
While far from famous in his own day, Thomas Hollis and his Plan were well known in English intellectual circles, where that crusty old Tory, Dr. Samuel Johnson, angrily pinned upon Hollis the responsibility for the American Revolution. Ironically, Johnson had at first brusquely dismissed the unprepossessing Hollis as a harmless “dull poor creature.” Professor Caroline Robbins, who has done yeoman work in rescuing Hollis from total obscurity, eloquently concludes that Dr. Johnson’s final assessment was not so very wrong:
Influence in America Thomas Hollis’ most direct influence in America fell upon its most eminent libertarian minister, the Congregationalist divine from Boston, the Rev. Jonathan Mayhew. Having discovered Mayhew as a fervent champion of religious freedom and disseminated Mayhew’s work in England, Hollis began an ardent lifelong friendship by correspondence with Mayhew which rapidly expanded the horizons of the New England minister from religious to political liberty. Mayhew’s biographer testifies to the enormous influence wielded by Hollis’ correspondence and by his periodic shipments of boxes filled with libertarian books, manuscripts, pamphlets, and assorted memorabilia.2 Thomas Hollis was not destined to see the fruit of his beloved Plan in the American Revolution. But though this lone man of learning was quickly forgotten, recent historians, in the wake of the researches of Caroline Robbins, have begun to recognize the tremendous influence upon the American Revolution, not only of Hollis himself, but of the entire English libertarian tradition which Hollis did so much to revive and disseminate. The recent works of Charles W. Akers, David L. Jacobson, and particularly Bernard Bailyn have demonstrated how much the birth of America owed to the English libertarian tradition carried on and transmitted by a few stalwart Commonwealthmen of the eighteenth century.3 Footnotes
Murray N. Rothbard (1926–1995) was dean of the Austrian School, founder of modern libertarianism, and chief academic officer of the Mises Institute. He was also editor – with Lew Rockwell – of The Rothbard-Rockwell Report, and appointed Lew as his literary executor. See his books. Copyright © 1966 Foundation for Economic Education
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