The Digital Library of Liberty & Power
incorporating the Guillaumin Collection of the Great Books of Liberty
“The Declaration of Independence after 250 Years: Success or Failure?” A talk given as as part of Campion College’s Classsical Liberalism Lecture Series. Dr. David M. Hart 22 April, 2026 Campion College, Parramatta On this lecture/talk, see Contents: Preliminary Remarks My more scholarly title was: “The Role played by Declarations of Rights and Independence in the … Read more
See the PDF of the slides used in my talk Introduction In this talk I want to compare and contrast two important works of art about war, the “Bayeux Tapestry” (or the “Canterbury Embroidery”) (henceforth BT) which is perhaps the “creation” of Odo Bishop of Kent and Bayeux, which was done in the 1070s, and … Read more
My wife bought me a wonderful statue of Mao in a flee market in Shanghai, which has become one of my prize possessions and has a plum spot in my study. It was of Mao in his bathrobe after he had swum the width of the Yang-tse River. Here is a photo of my statue: … Read more
The Dutch legal theorist Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) published the first edition of his important book on the Laws of War and Peace in 1625 while he was in exile in Paris. His second edition of 1670 was published in Amsterdam and came with two etchings, one of himself and another which was an allegorical etching … Read more
[Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] Some conservative/liberal groups in Australia have adopted a slogan first used in the US, namely the “Australian Way of Life” modeled on the notion of the “American Way of Life”. It implies that such an “Australian” way of life … Read more
[Also see my post on “James Gillray on Debt and Taxes during the War against Napoleon (23 February, 2021).] Last Monday (14 June) was “celebrated” here in Australia with a public holiday in most of the country. For some reason the eponymously named state of “Queensland” missed out. Perhaps they wanted to avoid the charade … Read more
Here we have an official a portrait of Charles Stuart (1600-1649) done in the studio of Anthony van Dyck c. 1636. He is of course at the height of his powers and in his full regal regalia. He ruled from 1625 to 1649 when he was executed by Parliament. When he was in prison awaiting … Read more
James Gillray (1756-1815) trained as an engraver but became best known for making hundreds of caricatures of British social and political life in the 1790s and 1800s. He satirized in particular King George III, William Pitt, the French Jacobins, Napoleon, and many others in the British political and military establishment. A recurring theme in his … Read more
[Katsushika Hokusai, “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” (c. 1829–1833)] [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] When did classical liberals become self-conscious that they were advocating an entire worldview (Weltanschauung) of politics, economics, and social relationships in general which was a) consistent internally, b) was different from … Read more
See my longer “illustrated essay” on this topic. In a recent post on the cover art of the French thinker Étienne de la Boétie I remarked about one cover that: This edition by Payot (2016) shows the classic illustration from Thomas Hobbes’ book *Leviathan* (1652). The “leviathan” monarch’s body is composed of thousands of small … Read more
The Cover Art of Boétie’s Discourse I was drawn back to Étienne de la Boétie’s wonderful essay on “Voluntary Servitude” (written c. 1550, published 1576) because of recent events. Boétie asked perhaps the most fundamental question of political theory, namely, why does the majority allow itself, even asks for it , to be ruled by … Read more
Being a mischievous sort of chap, when I first came across the name Hearn gave his book I immediately thought it must have been a scientific study of Walt Disney’s cartoon character “Pluto the Pup”. The connection between Pluto and wealth or money was rather tenuous until I came across this image of Disney play … Read more
I recently came across an interesting poster (thanks to a thoughtful reader) which was used in the 250,000 person “March against death : march on Washington” anti-Vietnam War protest march which took place on Nov. 13-15, 1969. You can read the front page story about the march on the NYT’s “On This Day” website and … Read more
A useful corrective to the unthinking patriotism usually on display on July 4th is to read Frederick Douglass’s great “July 5th Oration” which he gave in 1852. He asks his listeners the following important question and then gives a devastating answer to it: “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; … Read more
The Spanish painter Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) painted a mural depicting the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica by the German air force in 1937 during Spanish Civil War. It depicts the victims of war, such as suffering women, children, and a horse. It is perhaps the greatest painting about war ever made as it focuses on the victims and is timeless and universal in its themes.
While working on my talk on the French Economists’ battle against Socialism I came across this marvelous contemporary cartoon by the political caricaturist Amédée de Noé (known as Cham) (1818-1879) entitled “Ce qu’on appelle des idées nouvelles en 1848” (What are called “New Ideas” in 1848). In the cartoon he mocked the leading socialist figures … Read more