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* COBDEN. 89 free trade as a means of husbanding the national resources for the great economic stniggle that ■was fast approaching with the entrance of the United States into the markets of the workl. In 1835 he made a brief tour in the United Staivs and Canada. In the winter and spring of 1836- 37 Cobden traveled in Spain, Turkey, and Egypt. On his return he entered into JIanchester munic- ipal politics, being one of those who secured the incorporation of that city in 1838. Popular edu- cation was a subject of great interest to him, aud he discussed it in many public speeches. In 1S37 he was a candidate for Parliament at Stock- port, but was defeated. The history of Cobden's connection with the anti-Coni Law agitation began in October, 1838, when an anti-Corn Law association was founded in Manchester. (See CoRX L.ws.) Cobden w-as one of its earliest members and soon became its guiding spirit. He converted the 5Ianchester Chamber of Commerce to his views and made it a powerful instrument of agitation. Anti-Corn Law associations were founded in many towns of the north, and in London, in March, 1839, the delegates of the various associations united to form the Anti-Corn Law League (q.v. ), of which Cobden and six others constituted the council. From the first lie was the soul of the movement, and to .the peo]de at large he seemed to be the embodiment of the cause. With magnificent tal- ents for organization, with an unequaled gift for popular oratory, and above all, with his kindling enthusiasm and tremendous capacity for work, he was what would be called in modern parlance campaign manager, press bureau, and stump speaker all in one. The history of the anti-Corn Law agitation belongs properly elsewhere, but Cobden's activity is so identified with the work of the League that the two can hardly be sepa- rated. Wonderful instances are quoted of the sudden conversion of hostile audiences in coun- try and town, as they listened to Cobden's sim- ple, sincere, and irrefutable arguments; and his success in his 'campaign of education' was all the more rapid in that his teachings confined themselves to driving home the elemental truth that food is a desirable thing for people who starve. In 1841 he entered Parliament from Stockport. His reception in the House was not friendly, but his evident sincerity and his straightforward, unanswerable arguments always gained him a hearing. At the beginning of the session, Mr. Charles Villier's annual motion to consider the repeal of the Corn Laws was reject- ed by a vote of 393 to 90. yet within five years after he had entered Parliament, Cobden had con- verted Sir Robert Peel and his party to free trade. In 1843 considerable odium was heaped upon his name as the result of an attack on the Government, which Peel unjustly took to be an exhortation to personal violence against him- self. Cobden, however, was undaunted, and continued to plead, in Parliament and out, against the "system of legislative murder" which "starved people to death." On JIarch 13. 1845. he delivered an especially powerful speech in the House, at the end of which Peel is said to have muttered, "Those may answer him who can, I cannot do it." The famine in Ireland came to the aid of the Anti-Corn Law League. On December 5, 1845, the Prime Minister pronounced for the total repeal of the Corn Laws and in 1846 the battle had been won. Speaking in COBDEN. Parliament in that year, Peel declared that to Cobden was due the lionor for the great re- form which had just been enacted. That the intense earnestness which animated Cobden throughout the struggle was something more tlum enthusiasm for a principle in economics is sliown in the following words of John liriglit, his life-long friend and supporter, spoken at the unveiling of Cobden's monument at liradfcird in 1877. It was in September, 1841, and liiiglit was mourning over the dead liody of liis yciung wife when Cobden came to liim saying: "Tlicie are thousands of houses in England at tliis moment where wives, mothers, and eliildren are dying of hunger. Now, when the first paro.xysm of your grief has passed. I would advise you to come with me, and we will never rest until the Corn Law is repealed." The struggle and the triumph are tluis described by Mr. Bright: "We were joined, not by scores, but by luindreds. and afterwards by thousands, and afterwards by countless multitudes; and afterwards, famine itself, against which we had warred, joined in. A great minister was converted, and minorities became majorities, and finally the barrier was entirely thrown down, and since then, though there lias been suffering, and much suffering, in many homes in England, no wife, and no mother, and no little child has been starved to death as a result of famine made by law." During the agitation for the repeal of the Corn Laws, Cobden had neglected his own affairs entirely, and at the end he was a poor man. A popular subscription of more than £75,000 was made up for him and he went abroad for rest. His nature, however, was ojjposed to rest, and during his long travels in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Russia, he did not cease to ad- vocate in public speeches and interviews with sovereigns and statesmen the great principles of free trade, peace, and non-intervention. During his absence he was elected to Parliament from the West Riding of Yorkshire { 1847 ), and on his return to England he afiiliated himself with numerous peace societies and subsequently at- tended a number of international peace con- gresses in Paris, Frankfort, and London. In 1849 he moved in Parliament that action be taken toward the establishment of international arbitration, and in 1851 he proposed a general reduction of armaments. He was active in com- bating the periodic outbursts of anti-Gallic and anti-Russian fever such as that which spread Ger the country in 1853, and lost thereby that immense popularity wdiich he had acquired in the struggle against the Corn Laws. He bitterly assailed Palnierston's policy of active interven- tion in European affairs, and with John Bright opposed the war against Russia in 1854, for which he was virulently assailed by the unani- mous voice of a war-mad nation. Far from con- sidering the preservation of Turkey as desirable. Cobden maintained that the downfall of the Ot- toman Emjiire in Europe would redound to the welfare of the Christian peoples of the Balkans and to the cause of civilization. In 1857. as the result of an attack by Cobden on the Chinese policy of the Cabinet, the Palmerston ^Ministry was outvoted and forced to appeal to the country. Cobden stood for Huddersfield. but his unpopu- larity on account of his attitude toward the war recently ended was still great and he was defeated. In 1859 he came to the United States,