Thomas Macaulay

Macaulay on Machiavelli Thomas Macaulay

Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800 - 1859), was born in Leicestershire. His father, Zachary Macaulay, after spending some time in Jamaica, became an activist, and was a cofounder of the Anti-Slavery Society. At Trinity College, Cambridge, he became interested in utilitarianism and was influenced by the ideas of Jeremy Bentham. After he left university Macaulay became a lawyer and a writer, contributing abundantly to the Edinburgh Review. Macaulay carried out his father's stance by abolishing the British slave-trade in the West Indies. Yet, Zachary Macaulay -the father- heavily indebted sought his son's help. Thomas accepted a lucrative post on the Supreme Council of India, which enabled him to pay off his father's debts. In 1839 Macaulay was appointed Secretary of War. At the end of his term, he dedicated himself to writing, and soon got started writing his History of England. The success of the History made him as revered a writer as Sir Water Scott and Charles Dickens; and internationally the History volumes were translated into German, Polish, Danish, Swedish, Italian, French, Dutch, Spanish, Hungarian, Russian, Bohemian and Persian. What we are presenting here in the form of a brief book, Machiavelli, started as a review of a translation that appeared in 1825. Soon, it became a lengthy essay which showed the intellectual prowess and immense learning of the reviewer, Lord Macaulay. In the essay, Macaulay, like Don Quixote, attempts to right many wrongs and misconceptions about the much maligned author of The Prince, and in the process treats with journalistic detachment the sins and virtues of Machiavelli's landmark book. In August 1857 Macaulay was granted the title Baron Macaulay of Rothley. He attended the House of Lords for debates; he died two years later.