18 NOVEMBER 1871, Page 13

MR. MARTINEAU ON DISSENT. [TO TRH EDITOR OF TIN SPECTATOR.")

Sr,—Will you allow me to say a few words with reference to Mr. Martineau's address and the recent strictures upon it ? The

two lines of argument appear to me quite distinct, the one justi- fying the moral necessity of Dissent, the other, while granting the truth of this principle, questioning the advisability of carrying it too far.

Granting the first point, then, and assuming the second to be open to question, it follows that there must be some dividing-line beyond which the soul may lay aside its own scruples, and, give way to the wishes of the majority. This, however, is a question which, after all, only the individual soul can answer ; and having once granted the principle of individual judgment to be right, we, as outsiders, are powerless to say that it should be checked at any given point. All we can do is to examine results and decide as well as possible, from the course of history,

whether greater benefit has resulted from the free action of this principle or from the discouragement of what may appear to be

its extreme. Comparing the Puritan times and the present day as examples of these two tendencies, I am afraid the present will not appear to advantage. If we once allow individual judg- ment, we must give it full play, and as by its very nature it carries responsibility along with it, we need not fear that it will long waste its force upon apparent trifles. Even should it do so, it is better that it should be exercised there, than run the risk of being weakened by confinement within prescribed limits.—I am,