196 IDEALISM AND POLITICS 



from their position of academic authority, were it from 

 nothing else, that Idealists exercise an influence not easily 

 measured upon the youth of the nation upon those, that 

 is, who, from the educational opportunities they enjoy, may 

 naturally be expected to become the leaders of the nation's 

 future thought and practice. 



In this respect the question of the nature of the influence 

 of the Idealists is manifestly of grave importance, and Mr. 

 Hobhouse has done well in raising it. If that influence is 

 even remotely like what Mr. Hobhouse thinks it is ; if the 

 Idealists from their academic chairs are raying out not light 

 but darkness, glossing over stupidity, sapping the moral 

 and intellectual sincerity of their pupils, confounding the 

 issues, nay, mitigating the contrast of right and wrong, 

 truth and falsity, turning religious beliefs into insidious 

 ambiguities, and substituting for practical faith in sound 

 principles the quaking bog of universal doubt, then the 

 need of dealing with them is imperative, for their action 

 most sincerely concerns the public welfare. We interfere 

 with "the liberty" of the Press and Stage in cases where 

 the evils are far less dangerous because they are more gross. 

 Would Mr. Hobhouse not refuse to license Idealists ? Or 

 might I recommend to him, and to those who agree with 

 him, the use of a method of dealing with Idealism which is 

 more lethal than licensing laws, I mean the method of 

 refuting it by just reasoning? 



There are men who would argue that the professional 

 philosopher and his subtle speculations are so remote from 

 the practical concerns of mankind that they can safely be 

 ignored ; and that his influence, even upon his own dis- 

 ciples, fades when they leave the rarefied air of the meta- 

 physical classroom for the open world. But Mr. Hobhouse 



