13 OCTOBER 1849, Page 13

MR. COBDEN ' S LAST FAILURE may be the parent of success,

if it be wedded to a de- termined candour of soul ; and we cannot yet be convinced that Mr. Cobden is not the man to profit by eiperience in correcting the error of his ways. If so, the-failure of his movOrnentagainst War-loans may be fertile in useful ideas. With anrexnellent obn ject, with muisfi tirt4 og with an unni+alled power of presenting 'certain subjects in a way to be comprehended by the most numerous .order of ,minchic-ningttged in-an enterprise quite accordant with the spirit and even with a cant of the day, —he has yet encountered Tailure the most signal. But the causes of his miscalculation are not recondite. Fle-has mixed up several subjects, and because they could be thus mixed he has treated them as if they all were governed by the same laws.; and he has made some mistakes not usually made, by any but very young , politicians. Inthelatter mistakes, however, he is accompanied by a number of the politicians who maybe classed as Utilitarians. At the very foundation of his movement lies -the assumption, that when nation's are taught what it is their duty or interest to do, they will do it ; though nothing can be more manifest than the perverse prejudices, passions, and caprices ' of 'nations. It was said that Austria " never -mode/ call in the aid of Russia" to pus down Hungary, because that would be snicidal, and she waled remember the fable of the Horse and the Man : she has calming Russia. In like manner, when Mr. Cobden shoWs that it i. sur- for nations to contract war-loans, it by no means follows nil at. clear exposition of the evil will stop the practice. You will not do that until you enlist the feelings as well as the reason against such measures : but this is not to be effected topically; you must teach people generally to prefer moral considerations to money profit. Then, again,- Mr: Cobden confounded arguments and used the compound ina sort of distributive manner, that-laid him open to easy refutation by merely proving the. incoherency of his ele- ments. IIe declares that war-loans are bad and wasteful: but this is mixing two questions. War may be bad and wasteful, but the question of peace and war does not ultimately hinge on economical grounds ; and if money is be spent in war, a war- loan is not worse than other loans. Loans may be bad in them- selves, as a wasteful mode of raising money ; but'then, the pecu. liar expenses to which the' money is appropriated do not mate- rially affect the merits of the borrowing transaction. The loan, in question may be a bad speculation, because the credit of the Austrian Government is bad • but inasmuch as all loan-mongering is to a certain extent a gambling process, the risk arising from the perils of an established government are always easy to be con- verted into a money equivalent, and the proportionate bonus will always tempt the dabbler in the funds. Mr,. Cobden's disparage- ment might have lowered the price of the new Austrian stock, but to make it unsaleable would go, beyond the' experience on 'Change. The potion of debarring Austria from money by im- peding its diroot trancnnicaion io onciono in no Into who must be familiar with the operations of every " triangular " trade. Money drawn from Amsterdam for Austria can be re- placed for Dutch purposes by-money drawn from' London, and thus Austria would as effectually use English money as if it were sent direct. And there is more remarkable misfit in the appli- cation of the argument that loans are bad for the borrowing nit. tion,—since it is not England nor Hungary that is the subject of ' this compassionate wattling, but Austria. Why -Mr. Cobden should call a public meeting in London to aid him in guarding Austria against the consequences of bad finance adniinistrationnis a question not readily to be answered. We may all concede that loans are Mischievous to nations, in whose name they are borrowed, because their political influence is mischievous': in fact, they are loans borrowed by govern- ments, on the security of thenation, to be used against the people. They are a device for supporting governments in acts not enjoy- ing the sanction of the people ; because if a nation did concur in the object of the loan, it would lay down the means at once, in- money or kind. Loans are most often money borrowed by go- vernments from a part of the nation, or from-foreigners, to enslave the bulk of the people. But though all this is true, it does not justify the knighterrantry which gets up a meeting in London City to institute a reform of Austrian finance. If loans for unproductive purposes are bad, let us attack the system on our own soil, where it flourishes in the most gigantic proportions. We have no quarrel to make with such a conclu- sion ; only we say, that he who feels a special call to expound it ought also to recognize his duty of giving it practical effect. ' He ought at once to define a policy for that distinct object, and then erect a power in the state to put that policy effectively in action. If a man of Mr. Cobden's undoubted ability and ambi- tious zeal were to set his wits to work in this mission, he might do something worth living for. Or if he cannot do it single-' handed, let him take' council with others : Me. Disraeli has a plan for paying off the National Debt, which' is the 'proper cor- relative to the rule of borrovving no more ; and' Mr. 'Rigby Wason has propounded a more summary process : let Mr. Cobden join his forces to 'theirs, and practically teach England the art of not "outrunning the constable."