TOPICS OF THE DAY.
BRITISH REPUDIATION.
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COMMERCIALISM, says Mr. Milner Gibson, has succeeded to the ascendancy of the Feudalism which it conquered. But if we are to accept the ingenious gentleman's declaration of mercantile morals, the commercialism of our day, we must conclude, has degenerated from the commercialism which conquered feudal- ism, and is bent on committing bankruptcy and suicide. In Mr. Gibson's picture, the old commercialism is to the modern what a merchant-prince of old might be to a modern embezzling clerk. Modern commercialism, wise in its generation, has discovered that the test of all truth is the balance in the profit and loss ac- count : ancient commercialism took a higher and broader view. Mr. Milner Gibson—Member of Parliament for Manchester, ex- Minister of Trade, and candidate prospectively for a higher office—carries the modern spirit into statesmanship, and advo- cates a national movement for making a " tremendous sweep " of certain expenditure, by favour of a newly-imported moral prin- ciple. He is speaking of the annual charge on the Consolidated Fund— "He did not think that any contracts, although they might be settled by act of Parliament, were permanent if they were not rightly settled. He believed that the Government should only have as much money given to it as would pay for the services to be rendered. If they adopted such a principle as-that, it would make a tremendous sweep."
It is true that Mr. Gibson seems to apply this to charges upon the Consolidated Fund not of the nature of interest for the Na- tional Debt; but the principle is manifestly applicable to the whole charge on the Consolidated Fund. Is this the Manchester echo of Mr. Francis Newman's argumentative pamphlet on our national obligations—the first whisper of an English "repudia- tion" in the market-place—the "point of the wedge"? If so, the Debt is doomed, and we now living. may expect to hear among fundholders the panic cry of "Sauve qui pent! " Such a revolution would make mince-meat of "commercialism," —that is, it would destroy all the credit on which commerce sub- sists, and would convert all commerce into retail trading over the counter. But retail trading over the counter is impracticable for great and civilized nations. Is Mr. Milner Gibson desirous of consummating the reign of his boasted commercialism on its fune- ral pyre, and instituting the reign of its successor and antagonist, Communism ?
Commercialism had better take a thought before it accept the fatal gift of repudiation. It is not quite such common sense or such practical policy as it seems to cute Anglo-Yankees. It is true that a contract originally wrong cannot be logically upheld ; but here are a thousand reasons which may forbid its repudiation. We will say nothing of honour and dignity, because Manchester, for the moment, is not disposed to listen to those arguments. Perhaps Manchester may still retain a lingering regard for honesty. Now, although a contract may be vicious in its origin, and therefore open to be annulled, you cannot in common trading honesty annul it except upon one condition—that you return all the fruits which have accrued to you under the contract. Granting that the Parliament of 1810 could not bind the Parliament of 1850, and that the latter can refuse the bill drawn upon it by the for- mer, still the repudiator is bound to return all that has been ob- tained under Me contract of 1810. How would you effect that 4 nrely you are not going to refuse the bill and at the same time eep the goods consigned to you, on which that bill was drawn ? o; the lowest trading honesty forbids any such swindling. Try it by broader principles of justice, this new Manchester trine—upon the broad principles which are eternal. The rliament of 1810, having made a vicious contract, cannot bind Parliament and generation of 1850; but you are not in a ition to annul the contract and restore things to the footing 810: you must take things as you find them, and if not mo- bound by the letter of 1810, you are in spirit bound to treat interests concerned according to the actual merits of the case. Iv take the position of the actual fundholder, or even any ant-holder, on its merits, in regard to commercial equity, hu- anity, and national faith ; and say how, with a view to those t principles, you will wipe out the contracts of 1810.
/ It is said that the Parliament, elected by the living and consti- tuted for a term, has only a temporary function and cannot decree a permanent obligation : which is true in so far as the decree must remain subject to the acquiescence of future Parliaments ; but the principle on which the argument is founded goes much further than that. Speaking strictly, no earthly power is continuous— neither hereditary nor transmitted, according to the common ac- ceptation of the terms. The political intelligence and action of to- day have been developed by the intelligence and action of our fore- fathers; but the institutions which they planted continue only by our sufferance, and would fall to the ground but for our voluntary and active support. A nation, like an individual, may at any day discontinue its practice and begin anew. Thus each day the in- stitutions of the country subsist as it were by a renewed act of creation. But happy is it for the country whose intelligence and faith are such that the renewed creations of each successive day exactly resembles those of the last, until full and deliberate judg- ment sees fit to substitute for an institution to be changed, one not lower but higher and more powerful. That is true organic energy, that is symmetrical development, that is vigorous freedom, that is strength of intelligent will. In this view, though the Parlia- ment of 1850 is not bound by the Parliament of 1810, it will re-
new the institutions renewed by the Parliament of 1849, and so on from year to year ; because the indomitable energy and intel- ligent will of England, unabated, will renew in 1850 the Eng- land of 1849, until that indomitable energy and intelligent will have, in thorough comprehension and full possession of grasp, a better, higher, and more powerful England to replace that mighty concrete thing which goes by the glorious name, and has been renewed in like manner by like powers from year to year. That is the true national immortality, the true organic stability— change neutralized by likeness. There may be sceptics, fanatics in the dogma of modern commercialism, who would sell the in- stitutions of England for a year's contents of the till ; but, hap- pily, a stronger and more generous spirit subsists in the country, which sees in her destiny more than repudiation can purchase, and will continue to pay the large tribute of justice, unbroken faith, and national stability, until the tribute shall be fairly and wisely redeemed.
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