When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir? - John Maynard Keynes

What is raised by printing notes is just as much taken from the public as is a beer-duty or an income-tax. What the Government spends the public pays for. There is no such thing as an uncovered deficit.

But when we come to consider the problem of party positively—by what attracts... the aspect is dismal in every party alike, whether we put our hopes in measures or in men. ...The historic party questions of the nineteenth century are as dead as last week's mutton; and whilst the questions of the future are looming up, they have not yet become party questions, and they cut across the old party lines.

When the final result is expected to be a compromise, it is often prudent to start from an extreme position.