ON COMPROMISE _'It makes all the difference in the world whether we put Truth in the first place or in the second place.'_ WHATLEY ON COMPROMISE BY JOHN MORLEY MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON 1908 _This Edition first printed 1886_ NOTE. The writer has availed himself of the opportunity of a new edition to add three or four additional illustrations in the footnotes. The criticisms on the first edition call for no remark, excepting this, perhaps, that the present little volume has no pretensions to be anything more than an Essay. To judge such it performance as if it professed to be an exhaustive Treatise in casuistry, is to subject it to tests which it was never designed to bear. Merely to open questions, to indicate points, to suggest cases, to sketch outlines,--as an Essay does all these things,--may often be a process not without its own modest usefulness and interest. _May 4, 1877._ CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. Design of this Essay The question stated Suggested by some existing tendencies in England Comparison with other countries Test of this comparison The absent quality specifically defined History and decay of some recent aspirations Illustrations Characteristics of one present mood Analysis of its causes (1) Influence of French examples (2) Influence of the Historic Method (3) Influence of the Newspaper Press (4) Increase of material prosperity (5) Transformation of the spiritual basis of thought (6) Influence of a State Church CHAPTER II. OF THE POSSIBLE UTILITY OF ERROR Questions of a dual doctrine lies at the outset of our inquiry This doctrine formulated Marks the triumph of _status quo_ Psychological vindication of such a doctrine Answered by assertion of the dogmatic character of popular belief And the pernicious social influence of its priests The root idea of the defenders of a dual doctrine Thesis of the present chapter, against that idea Examination of some of the pleas for error I. That a false opinion may be clothed with good associations II. That all minds are not open to reason III. That a false opinion, considered in relation to the general mental attitude, may be less hurtful than its premature demolition IV. That mere negative truth is not a guide V. That error has been a stepping-stone to truth We cannot tell how much truth has been missed Inevitableness is not utility CHAPTER III. INTELLECTUAL RESPONSIBILITY AND THE POLITICAL SPIRIT.