204 IDEALISM AND POLITICS 



as well as the victory, and that the votaries of Idealism, like 

 the soldiers who believe their country right and their 

 general invincible, strike the harder for their faith ; 

 secondly, that for Idealism the distinction between right 

 and wrong is real and has the majestic significance of the 

 tragic conflict of elemental powers just because the differ- 

 ence between them is not absolute ; thirdly, that if for 

 Idealism no particular truth is certain, it is because the 

 certainty of a truth never does lie in itself alone, but in the 

 growing system of assured knowledge of which it is a part ; 

 lastly, that the State is greatly magnified by the Idealists 

 because through it, and through it only, can the individual 

 attain freedom the real freedom, which is power to do 

 right things in the right way. 



By omitting these considerations, which I shall not call 

 qualifications " because they are of the essence of the 

 idealistic doctrine, Idealism can be made contemptible. It 

 can be put to strange uses similar to those to which, accord- 

 ing to Mr. Hobhouse, physical science has been put in 

 these times. Granted a condition of the public mind such 

 as he has depicted, no perversion is impossible, and any 

 doctrine may become vile. There never was, or will be, 

 either a speculative theory, or a practical obligation which 

 cannot be made the occasion of error. "Unto them that 

 are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their 

 mind and conscience is defiled." But verily it is not easy 

 to justify a philosophic critic for making himself the instru- 

 ment of mere prejudice to a public which must depend on 

 hearsay for its knowledge of philosophic theories. 



Critics of "German" Idealism ought to exercise par- 

 ticular care in this respect. This theory is peculiarly liable 

 to perversion, and to that particular form of perversion 



