The prognostics of a pessimist may be as much belied by the event as the hopes of an optimist.

But for one prophet to decry the predictions of another simply as prophecies is a downright absurdity.

Even among rival soothsayers some regard must be had to fairness and common sense; when Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, smote Micaiah on the cheek, he struck him not on the ground that he prophesied but that his gloomy predictions were false.

Zedekiah was an imposter, he was not a fool, and after all Micaiah, who prophesied evil and not good, turned out the true prophet.
But an _argumentum ad hominem_ is never a satisfactory form of reasoning, and it is worth while considering for a moment what is the value of prophecy or foresight in politics.

Candour compels the admission that anticipations of the future are at best most uncertain.
Cobden and Bright foretold that Free Trade would benefit England; they also foretold that the civilised world would, influenced by England's example, reject protective tariffs.