The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-30 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 30, 1862.

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MR. COBDEN AN.b HIS CONSI'I7UEN.IS

11. 0 C IMALE, WEDNESDAY.
This evening Mr. Cobden addressed a large meeting of
his constituents at Rochdale at Mr. Tathem's machine shop,
in the neighbourhood of ale railway station. The room,
which will hold about 3,(1)0,
was densely crowded. The
Mayor of Rochdale presidee, and the 'mayors from several
of the neighbouring towns, a large proportion of the prin-
cipal manufacturers, and a bass of operatives were present.
The proceedings having been opened by the Chairman,
Mr, H. KELSALL moves, and Alderman LIVESEY se-
conded the following resoluton :-
" That this meeting view with dismay the enormous
public expenditure of the cqmtry, which unnecessarily in-
creases the burdens of the people, fs subversive of their best
interests, and perilous to coratitikional government. This
meeting is also of opinion that a Comprehensive measure of
Parliamentary Reform whiskswould secure a more faithful
representation of the
People ill absolutely essential ;and re-
membering the pledge with fgard. to financial and Parlia-
mentary Reform given by the
resent Ministry prior to their
accession to power, calls upon tienito carry out those pledges,
or to retire from office."

Mr. COBDEN, M.P., on rising was received with great
cheering. He said—Mr. Miyor, ladies, and gentlemen,
before I address myself to th general subject involved in
the resolution which is new efore rout I will with your
permission say alew words ok.th4
to
which is most
near to my feeligs, as it miss -64 t;;-'estaA one concerned
with this borou 1.0114-4014.presentitste of distress
-In *Mit Walla. 1 should like if I could to say a few words
that might contribute towards making the cause of your
sufferings better understood, and also clearing up any mis-
apprehensions that may exist with regard to the position of
this district. Among our fellow-countrymen in others parts
of the kingdom I should like to say a word or two in refe-
rence not only to our own interests in this disaster, but also
to the responsibility and duty arising out of it which fall
on all parts of the kingdom. Now you are suffering here
very much in the same manner as you would be if England
were engaged in a foreign war, and this country were placed
in a state of blockade to prevent the ingress of cotton for
your mills. That would be a state of things which would be
accepted by the whole kingdom as an affair which concerns
the whole community. All England and the United King-
dom would come to your rescue ; any necessary amount of
expenditure would be incurred in order to rescue you from
the danger which assailed you, and to compensate and in-
demnify you for the injuries which you might have sus-
tained. (Hear.) There is very little difference in principle
from such a case and that in which you are now really in-
volved. You are suffering not from a blockade of Lanca-
shire, but from a blockade of the Southern ports of the United
States. Both arise out of a state of war, both arise out of
the principles recognised in the conduct of war. And as the
Government of this country are assenting parties to such
principles of warfare, and as it is an evil arising out of a war
which you cannot provide against, which you cannot re-
medy, and for which you are not responsible, then I say it
must involve the same consequences, that your sufferings
should be shared and your case relieved by the efforts of the
whole of the community of the United Kingdom. (Hear.)
Now, this principle has already to some extent been recog-
nised by the course which has been pursued. In other parts
of the kingdom there has been a considerable amount of
sympathy manifested and efforts made to relieve the distress
of this district. I do not measure the amount of assistance
which is to be rendered to you by what bas been done. I
only say that the principle has been recognised; because in
all parts of the United Kingdom an effort is being made to
come to your rescue, and to mitigate your sufferings and
your losses. (Cheers.) If I could say a word or two which
would tend to remove any misapprehensions that in my
opinion operate in such a way as to stay the progress of that
effort of humanity in other parts of the kingdom, I should
think my time very well employed on the present occasion.
There is no doubt that much misapprehension exists, par-
ticularly in the southern part of the kingdom, with regard
to the state of matters here. I am not surprised at it ;
because I, who was born in the south, who have been an
immigrant in these regions, and who have returned to the
south, am perhaps better acquainted than many of you with
the extreme ignorance which prevails in the south of Eng-
land, and in London even, with reference to the state of
society in this district. An attempt has been made to throw
blame upon a large number of persons interested, I would
rather say
_involved, in this calamity. I should not say a
word here in defence of the great capitalists in Lancashire,
because they are very well able to defend themselves—if it
were not that the misrepresentations with regard to their
conduct-Me . tendency to chill the-g-ripatEleai and check
the charity of our fellow-countrymen elsewhere. (Cheers.)
I am not going to undertake the defence of any class, there
are good and bad individuals in all classes, but, fortunately
for the world, the good predominates everywhere but with
reference to the particular facts with which we have to deal.
I will say that there seems to be much to allege on the part
of those who are bringing these accusations against the ca-
pitalist class; for this is a calamity which has befallen both
the capitalists and the working classes, and if it continues
long enough it will pain them both. I would illustrate the
position of a millowner spinning cotton by drawing a com-
parison which will be understood by my fellow-countrymen
in the south of England. A millowner who spins cotton is
somewhat similar to a flour miller who grinds wheat. Let
us suppose a calamity had occurred by which all the mills
in the south of England had to be shut up everywhere, and
let us suppose, in addition to this, ;that those mills which
were closed were liable to be rated to the relief of the poor,
and that cottages, which were, generally speaking, owned
by the millers in which the labourers lived, ceased to pay
rent when the workpeople ceased to receive wages,' and yet
that both the cottages and the mills continued to be rated
to the relief of the poor. Suppose, simultaneously with such
a crisis as that, we had raised a cry that the corn millers,
whose trade was paralysed, ought, in addition, to keep all
the people who were out of work. That would be just as
reasonable as the accusation which many of us have hoard
brought against the owners of mills in this region. (Cheers.)
I last week came from Scotland, by way of Carlisle, Ken-
dall, Lancashire, Preston, and Bolton, to Manchester, and
came through a succession, I might say a forest, of smoke-
less chimneys ; for to all purposes of productive value the
machinery in these mills might just as well have been in
the primitive form in which they were substracted from the
mines, they were so utterly valueless a property. And we
must bear in mind that though a few of the millowners are
rich men in floating capital as well as in freed capital, yet
the great bulk of those who own cotton mills in this coun-
try are not rich in floating capital; they are rich in bricks,
mortar, and machinery, when they can get cotton to make
those elements productive. Take your own borough ; what
is its position at the present moment ? I have obtained some
authentic facts upon that point since I have come here—
and I am reminded that it is the Rochdale relief district.
This district contains 95 cotton mills, employing 14,071
persons. Of these there are out of work 10,793, and the
remainder, 3,278, are not earning on the average more than
I two days' wages a week. The relief committee assist weekly
10,041, who receive no aid from the rate : the guardians
are relieving weekly 10,000, making a total of 20,041, and
the number of destitute is daily increasing. I am not, bear
in mind, speaking to you here so much as speaking to my
fellow-countrymen elsewhere, who are less acquainted than
I could wish them to be with the actual state of this desti-
tution. In speaking, then, I am speaking in the interest of
you, the working men present and your families. Now,
bear in mind that for all this destitution the whole of tfte
manufacturing capitalists in this region are liable to be rated
to the relief of the poor; and there is the millowner first
losing the whole amount of the interest of his capital and
the depreciation of his property. Suppose, for instance, that
his mill is worth £20,000, that is a very modest estimate
for the average value of the mills which are closed. The
moment his mill is shut up he loses £2,000 a year in inte-
rest and depreciation ; but, generally speaking, he has also
a number of cottages, in which workpeople live, and these
people cease to pay rent when he ceases to pay wages. Still
the cottages continue to bathe ted to the relief of the poor.
Not only is the millowner, refore, stifering from the loss
and depreciation of his capital, but alsc the amount which
he is liable to pay for poor rate, which nay be £5OO or £6OO
a year ; that millowner, therefore, withs
ut going to a cen-
t tral committee in Manchester to put his name down for
I £lOO or £5OO, is inevitably, by the natire of his position,
incurring a greater loss by that distress than any amount
contributed by the richest nobleman of tais land towards the
fund. It has been said that the millowners and capitalists
have not gone to some central committal meeting and put
down their names for £l,OOO, along withfome of the bankers
or great landowners who have none of tle risks and charges
attaching to their property, which I have described ; but the
millowners and manufacturers, generall' scattered and dis-
persed throughout the country, have heir obligations at
their own doors, and they have apprelensions of a long
continuance of the distress. I heard a tanguine man say,
when I was in Manchester the other da:—l sincerely hope
he did not take a too gloomy view of affirs—but I heard a
merchant, who has as good an opportunty as any man of
arriving at a sound judgment from the bet information ob-
tainable, say that it was his opinion, led the opinion of
many others, that there would be no properity for the cot-
ton trade for five years to come. Everyhing is uncertain
for the future. It is the fixed propertywhich constitutes
of your manuf_ actures,and that will re-
the great wealth
main to be rated to the poor, and will be rted as long as the
owner has got a shilling of floating capiti to pay his rates.
The manufacturer and the spinner my therefore well
pause and say, " We thank you, gentlemn and noble lords,
who come from a distance to throw in yotr mite to help us
in this great calamity yd will, and be as
: but do what
thankful as we mar,
the loss and suffOng to the mill-
owners, and their contribution to the digress of the land,
must be greater than that of any other ous." I will not
confine myself to the capitalist classes. Next, let us see
what the working luau is sure to sufferly this calamity.
Let us take as an illustration what is happening at this

( moment in Rochdale. I find that the weekly
loss in this district from wages alone cannot be less than
£6,000, or £6,500, and although only at the beginning of
your distress, you are at this moment losing from your in-
come at the rate of £300,000 a-year. The relief afforded
from the relief fund is at the rate of about £6OO a week,and
lam told that the 24 boards of guardians are distributing
£BOO a week to the poor, I will not call them paupers. We
will not allow them to be called by that name. They are
the distressed, or rather the blockaded poor. Well, then,
the working classes of this district have lost £6,500 a week
in wages,and are obtaining relief from the board of guardians
and the voluntary relief committee at the rate of £1,500 a
week, so that they are in point of fact receiving from both
those sources only about one-fourth of the income they earn
by the honest industry of their hands in ordinary times.
Now, gentlemen, coupled with this question is another,upon
which I must say a few words. We are placed in this tre-
mendous embarrassment in consequence of the civil war in
America. Now,don't expect me to be going to venture upon
ground which other politicians have trodden, with, I think,
doubtful success or advantage to themselves. Do not think
I am going to predict what is going to happen in America,
or to set myself as a judge of the Americans. What I wish
to say is a few words to throw light on our relations as a
nation with the American people. I have no doubt what-
ever that if I had been an American I should have been true
to my peace principles,and that I should have been amongst,
perhaps,,a very small number who had voted or_ aised their
-protest IC-tie-nib- 1---iape or other against this civil W i tear n
America. There is nothing in the course of that war which
reconciles me to the brutalities and havoc of such a mode
of settling human disputes ; but the question we have to
ask ourselves is this—What is the position which, as a
nation, we ought to take in regard to the Americans in re-
ference to this dispute. It is no use arguing what was the
origin of the war or to advise its discontinuance. From the
moment the first shot is fired, or the first blow is struck,
farewell to all reason and argument. You might as well
argue with mad dogs as men when they have once begun to
spill each others' blood in mortal combat. 1 was so convinced
of that fact during the Crimean war, which you know I op-
posed—l was so convinced of the utter uselessness of raising
one's voice in opposition to war when it had once com-
menced, that I had made up my mind that, as long as I was
in political life, should a war again break out between Eng-
land and a great Power, I would never open my mouth upon
the subject from the first time the first gun was fired until
peace was made; because it is only by the exhaustion
of one of the parties engaged in the war that a termina-
tion can be arrived at. Now I have travelled twice nearly
through every free State in America. I know most of the
principal persons engaged in this contest on both sides. I
have kept myself pretty well informed of all that has been
going en in that country ; and though I think I ought to
be as well informed as the average of my countrymen,
Cabinet Ministers included, yet if you were to ask me how
this contest is to end, I confess that I should feel totally at
a loss to offer an opinion that would be worth the slightest
attention on the part of nay hearers; but this I will say,
that if I were put to the torture and compelled to offer a guess,
I should not make the guess which Mr. Gladstone and
Earl Russell have made on the subject. (Hear, hear.) I do
not believe, if the war in America is to be soon brought to a
termination, that it will be brought to an end by a separa-
tion of the South from the North, There are great motives
at work amongst the large majority of the people in America
which seem to me to drive them to this dreadful contest,
rather than see their country broken into two nations.
There is a powerful movement all through Europe towards
the agglomeration of the races of nations, and it is very odd
that Statesmen here who have a profound sympathy with
the movement in Italy in favour of Unity, cannot appreciate
the force of that motive in the present contest in America.
Three-fourths of the whole population in America are now
contending against disunion ; they are following the instruc-
tions which are impelling the Italian, the German, and the
other populations of Europe ; and I have no doubt that one
great and dominant motive on their part is that they are
afraid that if they become disunited, they will be treated as
the Italians were treated when they were disunited, viz.,
that the foreigner will come and set his intrusive foot
amongst ;them, and play off one against the other, to
the degradation and possible subjection of the whole.
We have talked mush of strict neutrality. I wish our
statesmen, and particularly our Cabinet Ministers, would
enforce upon their own tongues a little of that principle of
non-intervention which they profess to apply to their diplo-
macy. (Laughter.) We are told very frequently at public
iaubtint-st,rchac wo must recognise the South; but that re-
cognition of the South is always coupled with another ob-
ject, viz., to obtain the cotton you want, because, if it were
not for the distress brought on us by the civil war in Ame-
rica, I do not think humanity would induce us to interfere
any more than it does in any other war in other parts of the
world; and now let us try to dispel this floating fallacy,
which has been spread through the country by interested
persons. Your recognition of the South would not give you
cotton, but the recognition of the South in the minds of
parties who use that term is coupled with something more.
There is an idea of going and interfering by force to put
an end to that contest, in order that the cotton may be set
free. If I were President Lincoln, and found myself rather
in a difficulty on account of the pressure of taxation, or on
account of a discord of parties in the Federal ranks, and if
I wanted to see the whole population united as one man
ready to make me a despot, I should wish nothing better
than for England and France, or both together, to attempt
to interfere by force in the quarrel. The policy to be pur-
sued by the North will be decided by the elections in the
great Western States—l mean the great growing region of
the Mississippi valley, the States of Ohio, Michigan, In-
diana, Illinois, lowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. If they
determine to carry on the war, and say we will never make
peace while the mouths of the Mississippi, which drain
27,000 miles of navigable water into the ocean, remain in
the hands of a foreign Power, we could never expect to put a
period to it. You must remember that you have to go one
thousand miles up the Mississippi before youget to that vast
region, peopled by eight or ten millions of souls, that will be
the future depository of the wealth and numbers of that
great continent ; and whatever the will of that people is,
New York is but the broker of their opinion, and New York,
Pennsylvania, and New England must go with them. It is
as idle, then, as the talk of children for France and England
to pretend that they can go there and reach that population.
There is, perhaps, another good we might do. We have
seen a great country, in the very pride of its power, feeling
itself exempt from the ordinary calamities of older nations,
suddenly prostrated and become a cause of sorrow rather
than of envy and of admiration to its friends elsewhere.
What should be the monition to us ? We should ask our-
selves whether there is any kind of injustice unredressed in
this country. We should ask if there is any flaw in our
institutions, anything requiring adjustment which, if not
dealt with in time, may lead to great disaster, like that
which has occurred in America. It is not by stroking our
beard, or turning up our eyes, like the Pharisee, and thank-
ing Heaven that we are not like other men, that we can
avert calamity, but by protecting ourselves ; by asking our-
selves if there is anything in our dealings with Ireland,
anything in India, anything with regard to the franchise of
the people—(cheers)—which requires dealing with; and if
so let us deal with it at once, and not be left to find it out
in the hour of our adversity. It is impossible to talk to
you to-night without dealing with the subject that is upper-
most in all our minds, and is bound up with our interests
closer than anything else. Before I sit down I will say a
word or two in regard to the resolution. You have been
told in that resolution certain things which I am sorry to
say I cannot deny, namely that the Government have not
kept their promises. That is a very common thing.
(Laughter.) You have been told that they ought either to
keep their promises or to retire from office. That would be
a very uncommon thing. (Renewed laughter.) Certainly
they have not kept their promises, if they promised you
retrenchment and reform. I was not in England when the
new party combinations were made, when there was a
compact entered into at Willis's Rooms, but I agree with
what Mr. Alderman Livesey has said, that the Radicals were
sold on that occasion. Well now, you have had, it is
true, a very large addition made to the expenditure of this
country. But why has it been made? Why, it has nearly
all been made for purposes of warlike defence in a time of
peace I That is your great item, and it has been to protect
you against some imaginary danger that you have been
threatened with ? What has been the increase of which I
speak ? In 1835, when Sir Robert Peel and the Duke of
Wellington were at the head of the Government, our mili-
tary and naval establishments were under £12,000,000 per
annum. Now, including the money voted for fortifications,
our expenditure last year was nearly three times that
amount, viz., £30,000,000. Why is that ? Sir Robert Peel
and the Duke of Wellington could not certainly be conei;
dered rash, unpatriotic men, who had not a full !e12.5.e_n0:
responsibility as guardians of this realm. Howiiiats(te'
that we require pretty nearly three times as much to
us now as we required in the time of Sir Robert Peel's !",
vernment ? There is no doubt it has been eniihhourt
con-
sequence of the alleged designs of our next newgho
has b7en
there can be no doubt, also, that the
party
id
that we were
promoting all this expenditure, on the gr°been the present
in danger of an attack from France
Prime Minister. I said something d athen just come from
1 met
you twelve months ago, and
France, me
living there for eighteen
opportunities of knowing
all about it as anybody. I —to end my friends. We
where I had had as goodb
months ; everything was Ve_nard, and had access to every
'bohltt this when
were allowed to visit the dem)"
I came here then and told you,
public document and
_Parsvrr that this country had been as
and I repeat thew oroted
on the subject of the increase of
much deluded anhover
the country had been hoaxed since
the French nol' as Since then, last. winter,l not b •
Sing
and not being able to be idle, employed my_
able to speak,
writingout a detailed account,
year by year, of all
selfnd the whole amount of armaments that had
the time of Titus g
the exPenditUre'

PRICE 4d.
STAMPED ....sd.

' been maintained by France and England in their navies. It
was a most elaborate, detailed account, and in it I quoted of-
ficial authorities at every step; it was not an anonymous
publication, but I published it all under my own name. That
little work brought a heavy indictment against public men;
it charged them with the grossest misrepresentation, and
stated that the prime, Minister of the country and some
others bad bePp.groSsly deluding the public on the subject
of armamentiOseling first of all, I am willing to admit,
deluded themselves upon the subject. lam not going to
give you any of the details or statistics which I brought
Itogether in that litte book, but will give you a sum-
mary in two lines. I took great pains to take out a tabular
statement of the amount of money expended in the French
and English dockyards in every year from 1535 to 1859 ;
and I took out at the same time a tabular statement of the
number of seamen maintained in each year by the two coun-
tries. The result was that, so far from the present Govern-
ment of France having increased its naval force as compared
with our own, it was proportionately far less year by year
than it had been in the time of Louis Philippe, when Sir R.
Peel was in office. I will give you a comparison between
the first and the last years of these two dates. The ex-
penditure in wages in the English and French dockyards,
and the number of seamen in the respective navies in 1836,
when Sir R. Peel and the Duke of Wellington were in
power, and in 1859, and the year preceding that in which
Lord Palmerston proposed his vast scheme of fortifications •
in 1835 tie English expenditure on dockyards amounted to
£376,377, the French to £343,032; in Iwo the linglitth ex-
penditure was £1,582,112, and the French £772,931. Mark
me, there was £1,205,735 more spent in 1859 by us than in
1835, and the increase in the French dockyards during the
same period was only £421,899, so that the increase in the
English dockyards of the expenditure for the construction
of armaments—which is the real aggressive outlay in 1855
had increased three times as much in England as it had in
France, as compared with 1835. I will now give you the
number of seamen, if you want to estimate the comparative
power of any two countries at sea. The first comparison
must be that of the number of seamen, because when you
vote a certain number of seamen all the rest of your expen-
diture for ships' equipments, guns, and stores must bear
comparison with the number of men, would be of no use
without all the other appurtenances. In 1835 the number of
British seamen amounted to 26,041, and of French to 16,628;
in 1859 the number of British seamen amounted to 72,400,
and of French to 38,470. It follows that the English had
increased their number by 46,359 in 1859 as compared with
1835; while France had only increased hers by 21,842 in
the same time, being less than one-half of the increase in
England. (Hear, hear.) After what I have now told
you, I would ask you to consider what has been the opinion
of this country upon the subject of the naval preparations
of France. The whole cause of the perversion of opinion
in England respecting the great increase in the French navy
was originated, as I have told him in his presence, by the
present Prime Minister. And this brings me to the point
referred to in the resolution now before you. There is no
doubt that when the present Government came into power
one of their great claims to the confidence of the Liberal
party was, that they could keep on friendly terms with
France, and the danger was that the Tories would
bring us into a war. But what has been the course of the
Prime Minister ? For three years he has hardly attended
a public meeting, whether of a social, political, or charitable
character without having contrived to insinuate into it an
apprehension of an invasion by France. (Hear, hear.) He
promised us peace with France, and he has been calling out
invasion ever since. (Cheers.) We want, I think, to ad-
vertise, " Wanted a Minister, who, whilst professing par
excellence to keep the peace with France, shall give to the
taxpayers of this country some of the advantages of peace."
(Cheers.) 'Why the vulgarest ruffian who ever walked the
streets manages to keep himself free from harm by carrying
a bludgeon or knife in his pocket, but that is a very vulgar
mode of preserving peace. In these enlightened times we
want with a good understanding with France, a minister of
peace, who shall be able to apply that good understanding
to purposes of economy and cordial relationship between the
countries, by promoting a diminution instead of force in
each. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Cobden went on to declare his
belief that the French would never attempt to invade Eng-
land, and that the proposed fortifications were unnecessary.
I had always thought our navy was able to defend us, and I
remember an anecdote of Nelson when he had an audience
of George the Third, during the great French war. Dur-
ing the time there was a talk of an invasion, the King said,
in his rni ions repetitive raannor, "Nell, Admiral; well,
Admiral—do you think the French will comet do you think
the French will come ?" " Well, your Majesty," was the
reply, " I can answer for it they will never come by sea." We
seem now to have abandoned that confidence in our navy.
Mr. Cobden then proceeded to animadvert on the policy of
Lord Palmerston and the position of his Government towards
the Tories, which, he considered, left the present Adminis-
tration without due responsibility. There is no remedy for
such a state of things, that I am aware of, but in a change
that will make the party which really governs us respon-
sible. Let us suppose that, instead of being on the Go-
vernment side, we were out of office. You may see it is
, the disposition of the Tory party to spend as much as they
can on naval and military services; and that is true, un-
less they have been maligned all their lives ; but they
would sacrifice that to their desire of keeping office, and
consent to reform and retrenchment. While in opposition,
they are willing to see all this obstruction to reform, because
they neither have the responsibility nor the sweets of office ;
and the more they can tar us with their own brush before
we leave, the less we can say to them in opposition. Ido
not argue in favour of bringing that party into power, but
I say it is discouraging for us to see everything adminis-
tered in opposition to our dearest principles. Can this sys-
tem go on much longer ? (No, no.) There are two prin-
ciples at work in the Cabinet—a good..and an evil one.
During the first two years of the present Government the
good one was manifested in the great reform of the tariff
carried by Mr. Gladstone, in reference to the French treaty,
and also in respect to the paper duty. They were great and
comprehensive measures ; but during the last session of
Parliament the evil principle of the Cabinet was wholly
predominant, and gave no compensation whatever in the
shape of good measures. Is that to be continued next ses-
sion ? If it be, then it is quite impossible, if the so-called
Liberal party is true to itself, that it can continue to give
its support to the Government. (Cheers.) We see, to use
the language of pugilists, a cross being fought between the
leader of our party and the worst part of the party opposite
in which we are victimised, and you are betrayed. We
must separate ourselves from that state of things if it is to
go on any longer. We cannot expect that our constituents
will fight the battle of reform if they see that the chief who
represents them in the House of Commons is handing them
over to their enemies. How would Gen. M'Clellan's army
of the Potomac fight if they knew that M'Clellan had a
secret understanding with Jefferson Davis and Gen. Beau-
regard ? Next session we shall see whether the good or the
evil principle is triumphant in the Cabinet. It will be
i
evinced by the measures. I can only say for myself, if it s
to be anything like the last, my voice will be raised against
such a state of things. I will do my best to put an end to
it, and will not forget the resolution you have paseol9 thatn
the
best they do not carry out their pledges and principles
best thing is for them to go into opposition. am ofonly
be that the true solution of our diffieulties will onl
be found in a reform of Parliament. (Loud eleera'L thaet
are often asked what a reform will do ? ens
wer
challenge, I may say that is my firm
thorough representation of the people of
belief. that withana
this
e?lirtlime of
extravagant expenditure in warlike arrow- 4.,„„t5.111 in the
peace would not be possible. There IS onaa'"--
sense of sec *ty
self-assurance, the dignity, and the high uM prevent
which great multitudes of men feel,
ww
them from lending themselves to delusions, (The
and cl
enable them
to protect themselves against inuarlt, inued cheers.)
hon. gentleman resumed his seat amen
s c')ote of thanks was
The resolution was agreed to, ain connection with
passed to Mr. Cobden for hie services
L the French treaty.
ted at ten o'clock.
The proceedings termin_