MACAULAY'S WARNING.
I notice that those who are inclined to deprecate any very serious view of present financial and economic con- ditions in this country and to believe that all that is required is a spirit of optimism until better times arrive are quoting just now with much emphasis and per- sistency a very striking article written by the late Lord Macaulay for the Edinburgh Review exactly one hundred years ago. In this article Macaulay draws a very graphic pen picture of the unfavourable conditions prevailing in England after the Napoleonic Wars, and I admit that it is impossible not to read this somewhat depressing article without immediately remembering the era of prosperity through which England passed in the nineteenth century. At the same time, I' think that the optimists who empha- size this part of Macaulay's article in the Edinbur h Review of 1880 should quote with equal empli the concluding paragraphs of the Essay. It. 1 graph which was quoted and emphasized by S Simon in his recent speech in Edinburgh. Macau referring to the part to be played by the State in any revival, and he said :- " It is not by the intermeddling of the omniscient and ornni ei r State, but by the prudence and energy of the people, that England has hitherto been carried forward in civilization ; and it is to the same prudence and the same energy that we now look with comfort and good hope. Our rulers will best promote the improvement of the nation by strictly confining themselves to their own legitimate duties, by leaving capital to find its most lucrative course, com- modities their fair price, industry and intelligence their natural reward, idleness and folly their natural punishment, by maintaining peace, by defending property, by diminishing the price of law, and by observing strict economy in every department of the State."
I cannot help thinking that the part which has been played by successive Governments here during the years suc- ceeding the Armistice has been a very different one from that outlined by Macaulay.
(Continued on page 650.)
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