THE COURAGE OF OUR OPINIONS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4959, 13 February 1877, Page 3

THE COURAGE OF OUR OPINIONS.

(From the Australasian.) The ring of this phrase attests its French origin. In epigrams strict truth, practical and theoretical, is often sacrificed to point, and the mind of the reader, roused to attention and stimulated to analysis, is : left to strike its own balance and to make its own modifications. What is “the courage of an opinion,”—that is, what is the courage that may be said to pertain to any opinion as such; or, what and how many are the opinions that bring with them a courage entirely their own ? With the courage of principles or the fidelity to Home and fatherland, 4sc., we are familiar; but what is the courage of a'mere “ opinion ?” Surely life would pass more 'happy were many thinkers to keep their opinions, like their wine, in the cellar, to mature beforea premature broaching. “ J’ai beaucoup a’idees Ik dessus” (said once a shrewd French philosopher), " mais je n’ai pas encore achdvd de les penser.” In commercial dealings,’we exact that our loaf, our joint, cloth, &c., be not only good, in the “opinion ” of our tradesman, but be the very best of the kind that can be had in the market—inasmuch as the 'coins we tender in payment thereof are the very best that the mint can coin and', nowise open to challenge, so I would have my friend to give me neither “sad ” bread, nor unmellowed wine, nor meats ill-killed or ill-cooked; no, nor opinions ■ too crudely- formed, unpolished ;by-attention and unmodified by comparison. “He speaks . French_hardily_and bravely as.. he- fights,”, said Talleyrand of the Duke of Wellington, "and with as little science.” .He writes “une langue mSleet nerveuse, qui n’est ni Franyaiae, ‘ ni Anglaise, mais une noble melange.”-...Waiv-ing the. sly malignity of the refined: cynic; we may .draw from; his sarcasm' a - lesson independent of: its justice. Surely boldness is misplaced wheq it but, serves to display,weakness- and immaturity. ' .The courage of .’your, opinions may be repressed , till they are grown, and, that impetuosity is open to be suspected of unreflecting egotism which parades the fancies ..it'has deified merely , because they are self-conceived. “ A poor thing,' sir, but mine own,” says Touchstone of Audrey ; here the sense of possession is conclusive' and final, because limited to its proper'sphere; Audrey’s homeliness is conceded to .those who are without this sense. Had Touchstone' insisted on h'e’r worth and refinement because' she was “his own” he had shown in truth the courage of his opinions,- but he' would have: shown nothing more.', Lord Peter, in, the inimitable "Tale , of a Tub,” shows the'courage of his opinions, when, producing a slice of brown bread,he bids his brothers, “drink it off and not be bashful, for ’.tis excellent claret”—adding, perdition ■ awaits you and yours if you to think it any otherbut judgment,, evidence,-and the senses, gave a majority of votes against him, and the four other senses outvoted the ear. The substance supported only one Set of attributes of which the senses are judges absolute and final.',. The brothers quickly . gained the courage of demonstrated fact, and an impregnable position. - Such courage as that of Lord Peter Is generally.in inverse proportion to the reasonableUess and.maturity of the conclusion. “If you doubt me, go and examine for yourself’ is not uhfrequently the language of calm confidence. Ifdgrid est veritas et prevalebit, Perhaps these five commonplace words may be the' safest formulation of' the' courage of opinion, especially if preluded by a deprecation of animated argument. I, admire the calm sublimity of Dogberry. “Look ye, my masters. It has been, clearly proved that ye are false knaves; and'it will, shortly, be likely to be thought so.” ": In youth we are apt to deem the frank, impulsive utterance, of our opinions as a moral obligation—nay, almost as a point of honor. But' we need to be reminded that probably we '.have neither seen, suffered, enjoyed, nor experienced enough to'stamp' our mere opinions as of any very great value. Surely it is not enough to say,- “ Such, sir, is my honest opinion,”' The question recurs, “ What (if any) pains have yen taken to vetifyand teat it f* When a man is too young - and too borne to admit of hia being accepted as an authority, we naturally pay more regard to that which he shall prove than to that which he (however sincerely) inay assert. ' :. . How many a young man has repented bitterly in , mature . life of his indiscreet openness and careless garrulity In youth. At college, certain daring questions of a sceptical mature present themselves with all the gusto of novelty, defiance, - and - that love ;oU.~mischief" so congenial to sanguine and impulsive boyhood,' In after life the allwayward Utterances arising from this are carefully preserved by foes, are revived at very critical moments, and so metimes notl vrithput exaggerations. - -“ I, remember, sir, when ,he was a'meraber of a" Jacobin club, composed' principally of, infidels,” or “ when he denied the,” &e; This foolhardiness of immature fancies, receives tod much honor whep it is termed “ the courage of our opinions.” I would ratherjiear of the modesty of .our mental attitude, of the postppnement of our self-commit-tals till we can ! find a -fitting auditor, sympathising 1 and considerate. Surely it is not' courage,- but - waste, to “ cast pearls before swine.” And mere opinions should be suggestive rather of cautious reserve and careful auditing,, as it is probable they may have occurred previously to. other, minds, may by them haye been tested, and perhaps have been found to-be baseless or impracticable—either practically immaterial, or metaphysically unsound. . ' - Give thy thoughts no tongue, . Nor any unproportioned thought his act. - Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. :• I

Give every man thine ear, hut few thy voice Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment'.—Hamlet. . . . The ’ shrewd oH sage places the courage ®f opinion in a discreet and concentrated reserve/ ■' ' : ■■ ;

It is well for a'rising young man to know and feel the strength and weakness of his true position. "How-fatal is too early a promotion. Excellent as' are debating societies, I doubt whether the' .attentive listener do not gain more real mental opulence than the voluble and complacent orator of the evening. .But nothing can be much worse than the setting of boys or of girls to write themes in decent grammar before they have, or can have any ideas ; it compels them to borrow in some form, and thus familiarises them with leaning upon other , minds, and with making words do duty for ideas. It ; gives rise'-to an irreponsible slip-slop style, in which inferences are often confounded with facts, suspicion with belief, and personal conviction with evidence. Scott and Cobbett advise well. The first says, “ Rise to speak not till you feel that you have something to say ;” the second, “Sit down, not to think what you shall write, but to write what you have thought.”

Sir David Brewster had indeed the courage of his opinions when he sanguinely asserted that the planets of our system are peopled with sentient being analogous to man, and that this fact rivets all the hopes of the Christian, &c. If indeed, the events that occurred 187 G years ago were, or are, to be repeated in a quasi planetary circuit, according to local coloring and surroundings, great indeed is the labor of redeeming “ man.” But Sir David laid himself too open to the keener dialectic skill of Dr. Whewell, who retorts that the events referred to are better founded than is the theory of these planets being inhabited at all; but that every probability is against any one of them being peopled by the analogues of man ; even though so unique a being should exist in any. There is a light and amusing form of this “ courage of your opinions,” that has given the philosopher a very comfortable annuity of laughter. It is the bounteous awarding of praises. If he who envies proclaims his inferiority, in ' like manner he who praises another exalts himself. It may seem minutely disciplinal to lay down a canon that even honest praise requires a delicate bridlehand, yet reflection will tell you that even

in pi-aising a man you assume (or at least are in danger of being thought to assume) a superiority. My friend Cool generously assures me that La Place was a mathematician of the very first class, unrivalled in analysis. Cool gives his imprimatur to the SysUme du Monde. He also classifies Boncharlat and Porny. Murchison he deems a real geologist, and Shakspere to have read human life thorpughly. Of his neighbors Cool tells me that A is the best educated man in Pedlington, B the most original, C the most experienced, and so on through the alphabet. Cool brandishes ■with ease that heavy mace, the superlative degree, whirling it round and round. “ Among musicians, sir, Beethoven was the moat ” But enough. Generous, good-natured Cool! It never occurs to him that in thus awarding prizes to the various good little boys around him he is placing him self as

Jove In the chair, . Of the skies Lord Mayor. . Many happy years to thee, friend Cool. Thou once didst give to the writer a.superlative (no matter what it was, good reader), and he is grateful. Thou hast the generosity as well as the courage of thine opinions—or rather thy generosity is altogether thine own, thy opinions are shared with very many!