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LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY chap, xx 



it will help a great many people to find out what their profound- 

 est political beliefs are. 



The hero-worshippers who believe that the world is to be 

 governed by its great men, who are to lead the little ones, justly 

 if they can; but if not, unjustly drive or kick them the right way, 

 will sympathise with Mr. Eyre. 



The other sect (to which I belong) who look upon hero- 

 worship as no better than any other idolatry, and upon the 

 attitude of mind of the hero-worshipper as essentially immoral ; 

 who think it is better for a man to go wrong in freedom than 

 to go right in chains ; who look upon the observance of inflexible 

 justice as between man and man as of far greater importance 

 than even the preservation of social order, will believe that Mr. 

 Eyre has committed one of the greatest crimes of which a 

 person in authority can be guilty, and will strain every nerve to 

 obtain a declaration that their belief is in accordance with the 

 law of England. 



People who differ on fundamentals are not likely to convert 

 one another. To you, as to my dear friend Tyndall, with whom 

 I almost always act, but who in this matter is as much opposed 

 to me as you are, I can only say, let us be strong enough and 

 wise enough to fight the question out as a matter of principle 

 and without bitterness. — Ever yours faithfully, 



T. H. Huxley. 



November 9, 1866. 



My dear Tyndall — Many thanks for the kind note which 

 accompanied your letter to the Jamaica Committee. 



When I presented myself at Rogers' dinner last night I had 

 not heard of the latter, and Gassiot began poking fun at me, and 

 declaring that your absence was due to a quarrel between us on 

 this unhappy subject. 



I replied to the jest earnestly enough, that I hoped and 

 believed our old friendship was strong enough to stand any 

 strain that might be put on it, much as I grieved that we should 

 be ranged in opposite camps in this or any other cause. 



That you and I have fundamentally different political prin- 

 ciples must, I think, have become obvious to both of us during 

 the progress of the American War. The fact is made still more 

 plain by your printed letter, the tone and spirit of which I 

 greatly admired without being able to recognise in it any im- 

 portant fact or argument which had not passed through my 

 mind before I joined the Jamaica Committee. 



