for compromise when it comes to the aggressive propagation of our convictions. He says that every man is not bound to propagate what he believes, and he takes for example his own case,—that of a man who does not believe in the Bible, who has abandoned the old religious views of his people, but who does not regard it as his duty aggressively to propagate his dissentient convictions.
In his own words his thesis is this:
"In the positive endeavour to realize an opinion, to
convert a theory into practice, it may be, and very often
is, highly expedient to defer to the prejudices of the majority,
to move very slowly, to bow to the conditions of
the status quo, to practice the very utmost sobriety, self-restraint,
and conciliatoriness. The mere expression of
opinion, in the next place, the avowal of dissent from received
notions, the refusal to conform to language which
implies the acceptance of such notions—this rests on a
different footing. Here the reasons for respecting the
wishes and sentiments of the majority are far less strong,
though, as we shall presently see, such reasons certainly exist,
and will weigh with all well-considering men. Finally,
in the formation of an opinion as to the abstract preferableness
of one course of action over another, or as to the
truth or falsehood or right significance of a proposition,
the fact that the majority of one's contemporaries lean in
the other direction is naught, and no more than dust in the
balance. In making up our minds as to what would be
the wisest line of policy if it were practicable, we have
nothing to do with the circumstance that it is not practi-
