The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-06-05

to saw that every creed ought to be tolefa.
ted, Locke, though very enlightened man
for his age, felt that this was going little TOO
far. and, In order to maintain character for
common sense, decided that a line must be
d. avn somewhere, and drew 1t at Atheists
and Papisls. Others adopted theory con-
ceived in the spirit of that ingenious Cornish
iuryman who, when man was accused on
doubtful evidence of poisoning an old woman,
remarked that he would ''ge un month 10
the deblors' ward They thought that burn.
ing Dissenter was wrong, but did not object
to reasonable amount OF imprisonment. Ine
case indes was one In which the extremists
on one side or the other were obviously right.
We must either grant absolute freedom, which
Is the conclusion generally adopted, or perse-
cute 80 vigorously as to suppress Inc nereey.
ANY number of other cases might easily De
suggested in which the choice really lies
between one or two dlametrically opposed prln-
ciples; and any Kind OF compromise, even II
advisable In prsctice for time, is OBVIOUSLY
untepable in theory. Indeed, 1t may be
doubted whether this does not more frequently
hold true than the opposite. The tram OF Wnlcn
the doctrine OF the advantage III nlodle
courses seems to be an Imperfect Expression,
is, in Its genuine form, OF different nature.
II Is quite true, and It ,is highly lm:crtant 10
remember, that when any large Number of
people hold any given opinion there must be
some general cause for 1t; but 1t does not at
all follow that the cause is that the opinion
contains any large element, or even any ele-
ment whatever, of soundness. Mankind ls
foolish, and has frequently maintained pas
sionate belief In degrading superstlttons OF va
rious kinds ior many centuries together. any
such superstition must have had some reason
for permanence; that is to say, 1t must nave
gratifpd some moral or intellectual Instincts.
A satisfactory explanation of the facts to
which It refers must explain what was the
nature of Its iaf1uence; but It does not follow
that the influence depended even IN the
very smallest degree upon the truth oil
the opinions held. 1t Is an easy misap-
pllcation of this, obvious truth to assume
that any two hostile opinions are always
complementary, and that complete theory
may be reached by combining them. The
method is attractive in proportion to iis easl-
ness; but unluckilyit will not work. Genuine
candor would force US to admit that no theory
Is sound which does not explain how 1t came
to be generally misunderstood. When we
know the real arrangement OF the solar sys-
tenn, we can easily account for the delnslons
which retarded lis recognition, and It ID per-
factly easy to understand why toleraticn has
made such slow progress In the world; but II
would be the height Of absurdity to attempt
discovery of the truth by combining the oppo.
sIte doctrines. And thus IT. is well to remem.
ber that caudor may sometimes compel us 10
say, not that everybody is more or less risnt,
but that large part of mankind ID hopelessiy
stupid and ignorant, and has accepted many
doctrines because gross blunder ls oIten
much easier than true solution OF difhcuity.