(To THB EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR.") Sra,—A call, somewhat unexpected
by many, has come to the intellect of our country from two of our clearest thinkers to consider the foundations of our belief in fiscal matters. To compare small things with great, the position appears to be not very different from that which we older men have had to face during the past forty years in matters of religious opinion. If a spirit of obscurantism is dangerous in the more serious discussion, surely it will be out of place in questions which lie entirely in the domain of pure intellect. What we need is simply to know what is true. I believe we shall agree that the result of the greater discussion has been to show that the foundations are unshakeable, but that some things which we had taken for granted were accretions, and that we ourselves were sometimes mistaken in our application of what is essentially true. Possibly a somewhat similar result may come from the new discussion. Why should we fear it ? Let all new facts and arguments be laid before the great jury of public opinion ; and let us not oppose the appeal for a new trial by the cry of " Chose jugee ! " Sir Thomas Browne classes among the " nearer and more immediate causes of popular errors, both in the wiser and common sort," " Supinity, Ad- herence unto antiquity, Tradition, and Authority."—I am, Sir,
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