Selections from the Prose Works of Matthew ArnoldArnold, Matthew
General
Selections from the Prose Works of Matthew Arnold
Arnold, Matthew
English essays -- 19th century
harmonious perfection of generations of Puritans and Nonconformists has
been, in consequence, sacrificed. Freedom of speech may be necessary for
the society of the future, but the young lions[408] of the _Daily
Telegraph_ in the meanwhile are sacrificed. A voice for every man in his
country's government may be necessary for the society of the future, but
meanwhile Mr. Beales[409]and Mr. Bradlaugh[410] are sacrificed.
Oxford, the Oxford of the past, has many faults; and she has heavily
paid for them in defeat, in isolation, in want of hold upon the modern
world. Yet we in Oxford, brought up amidst the beauty and sweetness of
that beautiful place, have not failed to seize one truth,--the truth
that beauty and sweetness are essential characters of a complete human
perfection. When I insist on this, I am all in the faith and tradition
of Oxford. I say boldly that this our sentiment for beauty and
sweetness, our sentiment against hideousness and rawness, has been at
the bottom of our attachment to so many beaten causes, of our opposition
to so many triumphant movements. And the sentiment is true, and has
never been wholly defeated, and has shown its power even in its defeat.
We have not won our political battles, we have not carried our main
points, we have not stopped our adversaries' advance, we have not
marched victoriously with the modern world; but we have told silently
upon the mind of the country, we have prepared currents of feeling which
sap our adversaries' position when it seems gained, we have kept up our
own communications with the future. Look at the course of the great
movement which shook Oxford to its centre some thirty years ago! It was
directed, as any one who reads Dr. Newman's _Apology_[411] may see,
against what in one word may be called "Liberalism." Liberalism
prevailed; it was the appointed force to do the work of the hour; it was
necessary, it was inevitable that it should prevail. The Oxford movement
was broken, it failed; our wrecks are scattered on every shore:--
"Quæ regio in terris nostri non plena laboris?"[412]
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