HALIFAX,

THE MODERATE MINISTER.

1630-APRIL, 1695.

FROM the days of Thales to the days of the latest interpreter of Comte, Philosophy has never ceased to inculcate the advantages of moderation. In all things, save where vice casts its shadow, the middle course that course which, on the one side, abjures the rigidity of abstinence, and on the other side the excess of license-is always the safest as well as the wisest and most tolerant. Compromise is the keystone which supports the arch of the truest morality and the most useful policy; and compromise is only another word for walking in that middle path which every pedestrian in his journey through life should find the widest and least beset with danger. The most religious man is he whose creed avoids the intolerance of the bigot on the one hand and the indifference of the sceptic on the other, whilst keeping that middle course where truth, justice, and mercy are only to be found. The wisest statesman

is he who holds himself aloof from the violence and narrowness of party spirit, content with the wisdom, latitude, and practical policy which never fail to illumine the middle path. The commercial man whose prosperity is the most lasting is he who equally shuns the recklessness of the gambler and the timidity of the over-cautious. The most polished man is he who effects a compromise between the offensive independence of the demagogue and the degrading servility of the courtier. The healthiest man is he who neither worries himself with the fears of the valetudinarian nor abandons himself to the license of the dissipated. In short, moderation is the strength of religion, the secret of wisdom, and the sap of a sound morality.

Extremes are always a sign of weakness. It is better for men to be total abstainers than to be drunkards; but the temperance movement is based on the fact that the rude and the ignorant are too weak to keep that middle course of cautious and legitimate indulgence between the extremes of excess and renunciation. It is neither the ablest nor the strongest who, to escape from doubt, have recourse to the creed of superstition or to the negations of infidelity. It is not courage, but often weakness which immures a man within the walls of a monastery; he is courageous who meets temptation and

crushes it, not he who from fear of falling adopts the extreme of absolute withdrawal from the ordinary occupations of life.

The truth is that history and experience both teach us that the maxim In medio semper tutissimus ibis is hard to be obeyed. It is easier to be a destructive Radical or an obstructive Tory than a wise and moderate politican. It is easier to be superstitious or unbelieving than to profess a faith which holds the truth of Rome without her errors, and which, though appealing to intelligence, yet places stern restrictions upon the inquiries of intellect. It is easier to be an abstainer than to be content with modest indulgence. It is easier to be a recluse than a good man of the world. It is easier to be a savage critic or a fulsome panegyrist than to condemn justly or praise wisely. The passions, the prejudices, and the impulsiveness of human nature all tend to make men rush into extremes. He whose motto is In medio semper tutissimus ibis must necessarily be one whose intellectual gifts are clear and sound, whose passions are kept well under control, whose judgment is cold and balanced, and who, confident in his strength, feels able to separate himself from his fellows, and to stand by his own opinions.

Such a man was Halifax, the brilliant statesman of the latter part of the seventeenth century, and the

A

representative of the Order of the Trimmers. magnificent intellect, enriched by all the charms of culture, a splendid and convincing eloquence, a keen wit, a temper always on the side of toleration, he stands out, in an age which gave to the world such names as Clarendon, Shaftesbury, Sunderland, Algernon Sydney, Danby, Temple, and Godolphin, as one of the most prominent among the forces of English politics of his day. Yet the secret of his eminence was due, not to his lofty rank, not to his commanding talents, not to his lavish generosity, but to his sound and exquisite sense of moderation.

Throughout the stormy times in which it was his lot to be placed, his voice was always raised in favour of the adoption of a middle course. He disapproved of the gloomy fanaticism of the Puritan, of the lawless revelry of the Cavalier, of the oppression of the Dissenters, of the persecution of the Papists, of the tyranny exercised by the second James over the Anglican hierarchy. He did not hold with Cromwell that the Prerogative was dangerous to liberty; he did not hold with James that the Prerogative was a divinity implicitly to be worshipped. When the Puritan was supreme he opposed the harsh, narrow teaching of his doctrine; when the Anglican was dealing out his vindictive policy he sympathized with the sufferers; and when the Papist was busy ejecting,

confiscating, and imprisoning, none more firmly denounced his proceedings than Halifax. In medio semper tutissimus ibis was his political shibboleth.

During his lifetime change after change had taken place. He had seen royalty deposed and expiating its crimes upon the scaffold. He had lived under the stern rule of Cromwell, and had witnessed the stormy scenes of the Interregnum. He had taken the oath of fealty when the old line was restored, and had given in his adhesion when the House of Orange expelled the House of Stuart from the throne. He had seen monarchy make way for republicanism; republicanism gladly return to monarchy, and monarchy develop into autocracy. At one hour he watched Puritans persecuting Churchmen; at another Churchmen persecuting Nonconformists; and at a third Papists persecuting both Church and Dissent. He had found himself living under the repellent piety of the Protectorate, under the open profligacy of the Restoration, under the bigotry of a Popish revival, and he had been spared to see the dawn of freedom under William "the Deliverer." Yet amid such vicissitudes as seldom fall within the scope of one lifetime, he had been true to himself and to the principles he advocated.

From the collection of Maxims of State that Halifax drew up, he reveals the nature of his political