Hopeful Anticipations. 483 conspicuous place among the churches of the Reformation.* Still we must hold that the church which produced a Bedell, a Walsh, an Ussher, a Leslie, a Magee, an Archer Butler, is worthy of a place among sister churches. Let us hope that she is about to enter upon a new career. The political changes that are imminent in the relation of Episcopacy to the Irish nation, must be charged with the gravest consequences. Much will depend upon her own wisdom at the present time, whether the church will bear the sudden strain upon its energies, or draw fresh vigour from the crisis for a new and expanding career of usefulness and power. She will soon become, in all probability, a self-constituted, selfregulating, self-sustaining body, capable of framing her own laws, choosing her own policy, and appointing her own officers, with no other restrictions upon her freedom than are common to all voluntary religious communities. She will no longer be the symbol of a hateful denomination, or the representative of a mere political Christianity. Her bishops, withdrawn from the sphere of secular politics, will devote their undivided energies to the advancement of her purely spiritual interests. The clergy, deprived of their exclusive rights in the graveyards, will no longer be tempted to insult the feelings of the ministers and people of other denominations; and, being thrown upon voluntary support, will become less secularised by politics, and cultivate more popular sympathies as well as more popular gifts; while the ecclesiastical courts, though now only the much vilified relics of institutions which once carried terror through the land, will no longer throw odium upon the name of Protestantism. Apprehensions may be felt that an adequate support may be wanting to her clergy; but the crisis will, according to all past precedent, evoke a liberality proper to the occasion of yet unknown and unimagined intensity. Let us hope that, wise, powerful, and free, strong in the affections of her children, the Church of Ireland, partaking of every better influence around her, may pour into the social body the elements of a higher life, diffuse a sweeter breath through the community, and help, side by side with the stalwart Presbyterianism of Ulster, to evangelise the whole country. A recovered nation will be the prize of a faithful church, intent upon closing the gulf that has so long separated her from the people of Ireland. T. C. * It is a singular fact, that her wealthy university has made almost no mark in literature. The Irish Church seems to have used Trinity College, merely as the minister of her external and popular activity, for it has done nothing for the reputation of episcopacy in a literary or scientific way, answerable to its endowments and privileges. Instead of being the maga zine and laboratory of thought, supplying guidance and nourishment to the more active moral life of the community, it has been a mere library. The reproach is an ancient one that calls Trinity, "the silent sister." ART. III.-The Late Commercial Crisis: Its Causes, "Palaces, baronial castles, great halls, and stately mansions do not make a nation. The nation, in every country, dwells in the cottage; and unless the light of your constitution can shine there, unless the beauty of your legislation and the excellence of your statesmanship are impressed there on the feelings and condition of the people, rely upon it, you have yet to learn the duties of government."- The Right Hon. John Bright. THE hurricane is over for the present, although, as we had signs of it before it came on, there are remains of it yet which, like the ground-swell of the ocean, will for ever disable many now sinking into the vale of years, and disconcert not a few that had conformed themselves to a better starting in life. But the "tyning and winning" state to which these are being reduced, is nothing to the frightful total wrecks we have had to witness, and the comparative paucity of those who have. weathered the storm, and come safely to port. Dirges, with more of execration for their misdeeds than commiseration for their fate, have been howled over the fallen, while no end of pæans are being sung in honour of those who have survived the general disaster, and that are thriving on other people's ruins, as if it were all owing to their wisdom and discretion, or as if they alone knew how "to make the best of both worlds." For ourselves, we have no appetite for reviling misfortune or worshipping success. Not that we shall be trammelled by the old rule of "Nil nisi bonum de mortuis" when regard for the common weal demands an exceptional license. Our main, if not our only object, however, is to see how far the times, or the spirit of the age, as it is called, has been responsible for those usages and excesses from which we are suffering; to harmonise profession and practice; and to suggest changes that must shortly come to pass, if the prosperity and happiness of the masses are consulted. And certainly, if anything should give weight to what we say, it is the vantage-ground from which we speak, with so many instances fresh in our minds, of honest industry coming to grief, of men long held in high estimation being openly branded as traitors, of honest men losing all conconfidence in themselves, as well as in each other, and men actually coveting each other's downfall to keep themselves in countenance, as well as glad of any pretext for saddling their neighbour with a portion of their losses. Indeed, the churl has not unfrequently been envied who went and hid his Lord's money in the earth instead of trading on it or putting it out at interest. Such, in brief, is a true picture of our late experience. By keeping such a beacon before us, we shall best ward off the same rank infidelity for the future, infidelity in its worst and most malignant form; and he is doubtless a great public benefactor who can, in any degree, heal the rents thus made in our social system, and preclude the return of such despairs, alienations, and hostilities. Although now floundering and feeling about for, and occasionally getting hold of, our former faith, we are not clear of the Slough of Despond; and until we are so, our chariot wheels must drag heavily. Our salvation, however, must be nearer than when we began to believe, and it is this beginning we wish to foster and cherish. It has been said, that while faith is the condition of spiritual health and prosperity, the contrary holds true in worldly matters. But this is so exceptionally applicable, that it scarcely deserves a moment's attention. If we were all solitary units, self-derived, selfsufficing, and having within ourselves all the means of happiness, it might indeed have a show of wisdom. But we are differently constituted, owing our very existence to each other, and so dependent on each other for succour and happiness that he commits an act of bankruptcy, in the worst sense of the word, who says, "Am I my brother's keeper?" It is not well that man be alone, neither is it that he should be so far above his fellows as to be either difficult of access or unapproachable. To all the higher forms of social life and development, it is indispensable that we think both justly and kindly of each other, be willing to give as well as receive favours, and that we should work both for and with each other. Of course our confidences must be discriminating, and when we have been deceived, all trustful intercourse must cease. It is said of our blessed Saviour in a certain place, "And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief." In like manner, our greatest power depends on the due appreciation of others. The finest geniuses require the smile of encouragement, and whoever gives it, gets it back again with usury. Oratory is as much in the audience as in the speaker; and a famous actor used to insist on the cheers of his friends as necessary to carry him through his part. So also in practical life. If we are to take root anywhere, sympathy must be the very air we breathe and the water we drink. It is our natural right, and whoever withholds it, is of all men the most unworthy and unjust. We may be told, however, we are suffering, not from want of faith in man but from its excess, from having allowed a few men to monopolise that which should have been in various degrees the heritage of all. This is not only true, but it hits the very bull's eye of the whole case. We have made gods of some men, and less than men of others, of which our late experience has been only the nemesis. We must be more equable in our regards, and spread them over a wider area. Moderately suc VOL. XVIII.-NO. LXIX. C cessful men, without any flaw in their reputation, should be more appreciated; we must begin to believe in men but little heard of, and hitherto unknown; and young men should have more encouragement. A sharp line should be drawn, however, between such as are ambitious of credit at all hazards, and those who only care for it in so far as they can use it safely and with advantage. It is said of a certain Yankee, that he boasted of having began the world without a cent and now owing two hundred thousand dollars, and that, when asked if he was not afraid, replied, that that was his creditors' look-out. The same man, or another of the same genus, remarked of some wealthy concern, that they were only good when you got well in with them. That is to say, when they were afraid of your stopping payment. This is more than mere badinageit embodies a sad and solemn truth, as many know to their cost. Entire distrust and overweening confidence are the Scylla and Charybdis of commercial life; and a young man setting out should go rather on the former than the latter tact, if he wishes to avoid back-thrusts. It is much easier putting on more sail than taking it in-so much easier keeping clear of temptation than resisting it, especially when the alternative is exposure or ruin. The law of supply and demand, and whatever disturbs its natural operation, must be carefully studied. The article in demand to-day may not be wanted to-morrow, and there are never wanting those who are willing, either to forestall the market, or work at a loss for a time, in order to drive others off the course. There are also the mania and panic-mongering crew, who, instead of reasoning on the true nature of things, speculate on the gullibility of the public.. A reasonable success they magnify into something wonderful, if their object is to sell dear what they have bought cheap; or a slight casualty is exaggerated into a great disaster, if they wish to buy cheap what they have sold for future delivery. The extent to which both games have been played of late years, it is loathsome to contemplate, and the dodges resorted to in either case have been as ingenious as they were morally abominable, such as the nod, the wink, the shrug of the shoulders, the half-knowing and half-complacent look, and the quasi-confidential exhibition of telegrams. By such hellish arts, the most wary were caught; concerns honestly managed brought into difficulties which no prudence could foresee; whole families ruined, and lunacy and suicide by no means of rare occurrence. There is no better way of judging of the moral state of a people than by comparing the character of those now rolling in wealth with that of those moderately well to do or reduced to poverty. Tried by this test, no country Its Causes. ever had greater reason to be ashamed. 487 We never had richer men amongst us, or a greater number, and our rich men never had a worse character. So greedy, grasping, and cold-hearted, unscrupulous up to the full measure of their impunity—or that tampered more with the letter of the law, trusting to the ingenuity of lawyers, or a long purse, to bring them through, and availing themselves of every resource in the way of social intimidation and coercion. This may seem too sweeping a condemnation, when facts are not adduced to bear it out. To lead evidence in support of this statement, however, were much easier than it would be safe to do, so, as it might provoke actions for libel (from which even truth is not excluded), we might be amerced in no end of damages. But, nevertheless, all we say is true, as the witness in every man's breast can testify, that has mixed in the trade and commerce of the country. We have no wish to run-a-muck on rich men as such; for, although in peril, and not without suspicion, rich men are not necessarily bad, any more than good men are rich, and, in a country like this, there are always wealthy people of pure antecedents, and whose prosperity is a public blessing. But speaking of our modern plutocracy as a class, they are base, bloody, and brutal -bearing on their shoulders heavier load of guilt than those who have been convicted of crime. If a city Arab steal a pocket handerchief, he is seized and carried off to the Mansion House, and in ten minutes may be ordered to Bridewell, while the plaintiff in lavender gloves, possibly one of the class just referred to, is complimented by the sitting alderman on having abated a nuisance, and he goes home to his dinner, glorifying himself on having taught one ugly urchin at least a moral lesson. But how stands the case with this poor boy? He was brought into this world without his consent; he probably never saw his father, and it had been better he had never known his mother. Yet here is he with an existence thrust upon him, an existence, to all appearance, a burden rather than a blessing, and at war with society from the hour of his birth, shunted out of sight for taking the only means before him of keeping soul and body together. Rough as may be the discipline this poor fellow has to undergo for the sake of society as well as himself, and rude as may be the kindest treatment he ever receives, he may yet be the better man of the two. Where little is given little should be expected, and the city Arab is not unworthy of regard if he is guilty of no crime but such as is instigated by the cravings of hunger. We sometimes congratulate ourselves on burglars and highwaymen being now about as scarce as the wolves that at one time infested certain parts of the country. We may walk any |