The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-04 00:00:00

GUNNERY EXPERIMENTS.

Mr. PEACOCKE asked the Under Secretary of State for
War whether it was intended to test the Lancaster, Scott,
and French 7-inch gun, competition guns, by firing from
them shells filled with powder before coming to a decision
as to the best system of rifling ; and whether it was true
that the 7-inch shunt and French guns have, in the late
competition at Shoeburyness, been placed under similar
conditions ; and whether ono had yet been fired from a
wooden and another from an iron carriage ; and whether
other advantages have not been given to the shunt gun ?
The Marquis of HARTINGTON said it would be
highly inconvenient to give information before the experi-
ments now going on were concluded. No advantage was
given to the shunt guns over the other. Shells filled with
powder had not yet been fired..
THE LATE MR. COBDEN.

On the reading of the orders of the day,
Lord PALMERSTON rose, and was received with loud
cheers. The noble viscount, who evidently spoke under the
influence of deep emotion, said,—Mr. Speaker, it is impos-
sible for this house to have that order put without calling
to its mind the great loss which this house and the country
have sustained—(cheers)—by the event which took place
yesterday morning. (Cheers.) Sir, Mr. Cobden, whose loss
we deplore, occupied aprominent position both as a member
of this house and as a member of the British nation. (Cheers.)
I do not mean, in the few words I have to say, to disguise
or to avoid stating that there were many matters upon
which a great number of people differed from Mr. Cobden,
and I among the rest, but those who differed from him the
most could never doubt the honesty of his purpoee (cheers)
—or the sincerity of his convictions. (Cheers.) They felt
that his object was the good of his country—(cheers)---
however they might differ on particular questions from him
as to the means by which that end was to be accomplished.
(Cheers.) But we all agree in burying in oblivion every point
of difference, and think only of the great and important ser-
vices he rendered to our common country. (Cheers.) Sir,
it is many years ago since Adam Smith elaborately and con-
clusively, as far as argument could go, advocated as the
fundamental principles of the wealth of nations freedom of
industry and unrestricted exchange of the objects and re-
-11 sults of industry. These doctrines were inculcated by
learned men, by Dugald Stewart and others, and were also
taken up in process of time by leading statesmen, such as
Mr. Huskisson and those who agreed with him ; but tho
barriers which long-established prejudice, honest and con-
scientious prejudice, had raised against the practical appli-
cation of those doctrines for a long series of years pre-
vented their coming into use as instruments of progress in
the country. To Mr. Cobden it was reserved by his un-
tiring industry, his indefatigable personal activity, the
indomitable energy of his mind, and I will say that forc-
ible and Desmothenic eloquence with which he treated
all the subjects which ho took in hand—it was
reserved to Mr. Cobden, aided no doubt by a great
phalanx of worthy associates—by my right hon. friend the
President of the Poor Law Board (cheers), and by Sir R.
Peel, whose memory will ever be associated with the prin-
eiples Mr. Cobden so ably advocated—(cheers)—it was re-
I served, I say, to Mr. Cobden, by exertions which never were
surprised, to carry into practical application those abstract
, principles with the truth of which he was so deeply im-
pressed, and which at last gained the acceptance of all rea-
sonable men in the country. (Cheers.) Ile rendered an
inestimable and enduring benefit to our country by the re-
sult of those exertions. (Cheers.) But great as ware Mr.
Cobden's talents, great as was his industry, and eminent
as was his success, the disinterestedness of his mind more
than equalled all of these. (Cheers.) He was a man of
great ambition, but his ambition was to be useful to his
country—(cheers)—and his ambition was amply gratified.
When the present Government was formed I was authorised
graciously by her Majesty to offer to Mr. Cobden a, seat in
the Cabinet. Mr. Cobden declined, and frankly told mo
that ho thought he and I differed a good deal upon many
important principles of political action, and therefore ho
could nat either comfortably for me or for himself join the
Administration of which I was the head. I think he was
wrong ; but this I will say of Mr. Cobden, that no man,
however strongly he may have differed from him upon
general political principles, or the application of those prin-
ciples, could come into contact with him without carrying
away the strongest personal esteem and regard for the man
(cheers) with whom he had the misfortune not entirely to
agree. (Cheers.) Well, sir, the two great achievements
of Mr. Cobden were, in the first place, the abrogation of
those laws which regulated the importation of corn and the
great development which that gave to the industry of the
country, and the commercial arrangements which he nego-
tiated with Franco, which paved the way and tended
greatly to extend the intercourse between the two countries.
(Cheers.) When that achievement was accomplished, it was
my lot to offer to Mr. Cobden not office, for that I knew ho
would not take, but to offer him those honours which the
Crown can bestow—a baronetcy and the rank of a Privy
Councillor, honourable distinctions, which it would have
gratified the Crown to bestow for important services ren-
dered to the country, and which I think it would not have
been at all derogatory for him to accept. But the same
disinterested spirit which actuated all his conduct, whether
in private or in public, led him to decline even acknow-
ledgments which would properly have been made for the
services he had rendered. (Cheers.) Well, sir, I can only
say that we have sustained a loss which every man in the
country will feel. (Cheers.) Wo have lost a man who may
be said to have been peculiarly emblematical of the Consti-
tion under which we have the happiness to live, because he
rose to great eminence in this house, and acquired an as-
cendancy in the public mind not by virtue of any family
connexion, but solely and entirely by means of the power
and vigour of his mind—(cheers)—that power and vigour
being applied to purposes eminently advantageous to the
country. (Cheers.) Sir, Mr. Cobden's name will be for ever
engraved on the most interesting pages of the history of
this country—(cheers)—and I am sure there is not one in
this house who does not feel the deepest regret that wo
have lost ono of its proudest ornaments, and that tho coun-
try has been deprived of one of her most useful servants.
(Loud cheers.)

Mr. DISRAELI—Sir, having been a member of this house
when Mr. Cobden first took his seat, and having remained
in the house during the whole of 'his lengthened carreer, I
cannot reconcile it to myself to be silent on this occasion,
when we have to deplore the loss of one so eminent, and
that too in the ripeness of his manhood and the full vigour
of his intellect. (Cheers.) Although it was the fortune of
Mr. Cobden to enter public life at a time when passions ran
high, and he himself by no means a man insensible to poli-
tical excitement, still when the strife was over there was
soon observed in him a moderation and a tempered thought
that intimated a large intellectual horizon, and the pos-
session of statesmanlike qualities. (Loud cheers.) Though
formed in the tumult of popular opinions, with which he
identified himself, there was in his character a vein of re-
verence for tradition which, even unconsciously to himself,
subdued and softened the acerbity of the cruder conclusions
to which he may have arrived. That in my mind is a
quality which in some degree must be possessed by any one
who aspires to sway this country. For, notwithstanding
the rapid changes in which wo live, and the numerous
improvements and alterations we anticipate, this country
is still Old England, and the past is one of the elements
of our power. (Cheers.) Of Mr. Cobden's conduct in this
house all present are aware, yet, perhaps, I may be per-
mitted to say that as a debater he bad few equals. (Cheers.)
As a logician he was close, complete, acute, perhaps even
subtle, yet at the same time ho was gifted with such a de-
gree of imagination that he never lost sight of the sympa-
thies of those whom he addressed, and so, generally avoid-
ing the driving of his argument to extremities, ho became
as a speaker both practical and persuasive. The noble lord,
who is far more competent than myself to deal with such
subjects, has referred the house to Mr. Cobden's conduct as
an administrator. It would seem that, notwithstanding his
eminent position and the various opportunities which
offered for the exercise of that ambition which ho might
legitimately entertain, his life was destined to pass without
his being afforded an occasion of showing that ho possessed
those qualities invaluable in the management of public
affairs. Still, fortunately, it happened that before he quitted
us there came to him one of the greatest opportunities over
Offered to a public man, and it may be justly said that by
the transaction of high affairs he obtained the considera-
tion of the two leading countries of the world. (Hear.)
There is something mournful ip the history of this Parlia-

ment, when we remember how many of the most eminent
and valued colleagues have gone from among us. I cannot
refer to the history of any other Parliament which will bear
to posterity so fatal a, record. But there is this consolation
when we remember these unequalled and irreparable visi-
tations—that these great men are not altogether lost to us ;
that their opinions will be often quoted in this house,
their authority appealed to, their judgments attested ; even
their very words will form part of our discussions and de-
bates. (Cheers.) There are, I may say, some members of
Parliament who, though they may not be present in the
body, are still members of this house—who are independent
of dissolutions, of the caprice of constituencies, and even of
the course of time. I think Mr. Cobden was one of those
men. (Hear, hear.) I believe that when the verdict of
posterity is recorded on his life and conduct, it will be said
of him that, looking to all ho said and did, he was without
doubt the greatest political character the pure middle class
of this country has yet produced—an ornament to the
House of Commons, and an honour to England. (Much
cheering.)
Mr. BRIGHT, who evidently laboured under deep emo-
tion, and with difficulty restrained his sorrow during the
delivery of his remarks, then rose and said—l feel that I
cannot address the house on this occasion. Every expres-
sion of sympathy which I have heard has been most grate-
ful to my heart ; but the time which has elapsed since I
was present when the manliest and gentlest spirit that
ever actuated or tenanted the human frame took its flight
is so short that I dare not even attempt to give utterance to
the feelings by which lam oppressed. I shall leave it to
some calmer moment, when I may have an opportunity of
speaking to some portion of my countrymen the lesson
which I think will be learnt from the life and character of
my friend. I have only to say that, after 20 years of most
intimate and most brotherly friendship with him, I little
lmew how much I loved him until I found that I had lost
him. (General cries of " Hear, hear.")
The house then proceeded to the business of the day.