The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-08 00:00:00

rnE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, APRIL 8,186 k

Mr. Cobden's Funeral.

On a steep hill-side in Sussex the remains of Mr.
Richard Cobden were yesterday laid to rest in ac-
cordance with his own expressed desire. Like his
great political contemporary, the late Sir Robert
Peel, Mr. Cobden might have counted on the an-
xiety of the nation to mark by a public funeral, had
he wished or sanctioned it, the general gratitude for
his public services. But those who knew him inti-
mately were aware that his heart had long been in
the grave of his only son, a lad of much promise,
whose death some years ago in Germany, at the age
of 15, and curiously enough upon a 6th of April, caused
a shock which Mr. Cobden never wholly surmounted.
Distant, therefore, from St. Paul's or Westminster
Abbey, still more remote from centres of manufac-
turing industry, his ultimate place of repose was
fixed ; and though at first sight there seems to
have been in the career of the late member for
Rochdale little that was in common with a strictly
agricultural district, and one so unsympathetic with
extended ideas of the franchise that it was once said
of Alidhurst " the very atones appeared as voters for
Members of Parliament," it must be remembered
that Dunford was not merely the house from which
Mr. Cobden was buried. The Dunford estate was
formerly farmed by his ancestors ; here he himself
was born ; and when. a suitable acknowledgment of
his unwearied exertions and great personal sacri-
fices, the purchase of this property and the erection
of Dunford-house proved the most acceptable form
which their offering could take. In the busy world,
either of politics or commerce, the greater portion
of Mr. Cobden's life may be said to have been
the property of the public. At Danford the few
leisure hours !which: he: could call his own were
passed, and a photograph, happier than many
which remain of public men who have passed away,
represents him sitting on the lawn in front of this
house, with a little grandchild clinging to his knee.
Except to their own immediate connexions and inti-

mate friends the family of Mr. Cobden issued no
invitations to attend the funeral ; and taking into
account the distance from town and the difficulty of
access to Midhurst by railway, it would have been
no matter of surprise had the funeral proved a mere
family gathering, instead of including among the
mourners three Cabinet Ministers, two other mem-
bers of the Government, the American Minister,
nearly a twelfth of the House of Commons, and
representatives of the principal commercial cities in
the kingdom.
The first ordinary train by the South Western
Railway started at an inconveniently early hour, and

;he second would not have reached its destination in

time to enable passengers by it to take part in the
funeral ceremony. A special train, therefore, was
despatched from Waterloo at 9 40 a.m., by which
not only members of the House of Commons, but
gentlemen from the manufacturing districts, to the
number in all of some hundreds, proceeded first to
Petersfield via Guildford, along the direct Ports-
mouth line, and thence to Midhurst by the un-
finished branch which is to connect the South-
Western with the Mid-Sussex line at Petworth.
The train reached its destination shortly before 12
o'clock, and the members of Parliament and others
on alighting were met by a numerous deputation
composed of the principal residents of Midhurst,
headed by their bailiff and town-clerk. The shops
in the town had been closed from 11 o'clock. Keep-
ing together in something like processional order,
the large concourse, all attired in deep mourning,
walked from the railway station to Cocking-cause-
way, the point at which the road traversed by them
falls into the road leading from. Dunford-house to
Lavington-churchyard, at which, therefore, it had
been arranged that they should meet the funeral.
Cocking-causeway is a sort of miniature common,
affording a favourable mustering ground ; and as
the sombre gathering descended at a slow pace the
hill immediately overhanging this causeway, it may
be said to have thrown a shadow dark and unmis-
takeable of the coming event, arrangements having
been made that the carriages approaching from the
opposite direction should not come in sight till the
mourners from London were in readiness to join
them.

A procession was accordingly organised, headed
by the members of the Legislature. It must, how-
ever, be premised that, owing to the numbers pre-
sent and to the perfect unanimity of attire, there
was considerable difficulty in distinguishing exactly
who were and who were not in the assembly, and

the list of names must be taken rather as an indica-
tion of the nature of the attandance than as a list
purporting to be accurate in all its details.

Lord Kinnaird was the only peer present. The
members of the House of Commons included the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, the President of the
Poor Law Board, the President of the Board of
Trade, Lord Clarence Paget, Lord Alfred Paget,
Sir Colman O'Loghlen, Sir M. Peto, Sir J. Shelley,
Sir P. O'Brien, Mr. Mitford, Mr. 0 tway, Sir J.
Clifton, Mr. Weguelin, Mr. Brown-Westhead, Sir
F. Crossley, Mr. Stansfeld, Mr. Bazley, Mr. W.
Ewart, Mr. J. C. Ewart, Mr. W. E. Forster, Mr.
Cheetham, Mr. Gilpin, Mr. Baines, Mr. Moffatt,
Mr. Potter, Mr. Shaw Lefevre, Mr. J. B. Smith, Mr.
S. Gurney, Mr. Pilkington, Mr. W. Lawson, &c.
The local deputations comprised the following
gentlemen :--

From Manchester—Mr. George Wilson, formerly chair-
man of .the Anti-Corn Law League ; Mr. S. P. Robinson
(hon. secretary), Mr. J. Hicken (secretary), Sir Elkanah
Armytage, Mr. Abel Heywood (ex-Mayor), Mr. Henry
Ashworth (chairman of the Chamber of Commerce), Mr.
Malcolm Ross (vice-president), Mr. Hugh Fleming, Mr.
Mark Phillips, Mr. R. N. Phillips, Mr. Samuel Pope (bar-
rister), Mr. Thomas Warburton (secretary of tho Liberal
Registration Society), Mr. Fox Turner, and Mr. F. Ruse.
From Rochdale—Mr. Tatham (Mayor), Mr. S. Stott (ex-
Mayor), Alderman Ashworth, Mr. Pagan, Mr. Fenton, Mr.
Thos. Bright, Mr. Richard Hunt, Mr. Heap, Mr. Alderman
Moore, Mr. Hoyle, Mr. Robinson, Mr. Booth, Mr. Maunsell,
Mr. Kershaw, Mr. T. B. Williams, Mr. J. Ashworth, Mr. D.
Whitaker; Mr. Petre, Mr. R. Mills, and Mr. R. Ashworth.
From Blackburn—Mr. W. Poulding and Mr. Richard
Shaeldeton.

From Edinburgh—Mr. Duncan ISPLaren.
From Bolton—Mr. Thos.Thomason, and Mr. Thomason,

From Oldham—Mr. Joseph Ratcliffe, jun.
From Stockport—Mr. Escregg (Mayor), Mr. Alderman
Walmsley, and Mr. H. Coppock (town clerk).
From Liverpool—Mr. Robertson Gladstone and Mr. J.
R. Jeffrey.
From Salford,—Mr. Wright Turner (Mayor) and Mr.
Alderman J. W. Weston.

casional clumps of fir trees. As the procession wound
at a foot pace through this narrow pass the haze, in
shutting out from view the outlines of the distant
hills, threw into bold relief the church itself, and
caused it to stand out with- the distinctness of a
beacon on some commanding promontory. A little
history worth repeating is connected with this build-
ing. At the time when Dr. Manning was fast tend-
ing towards Rome,but had not yet quitted his earlier
faith, a former curate of the parish, the Rev. C. J.
Laprimandaye, was led to interest himself mainly
at the instance of Dr. Manning, in the erection
of this edifice, which, with the parsonage-house and
school, were built from the designs of Mr. Butterfield.
*By the time the building was completed Dr. Manning
had progressed so far along the path to Rome that
his last public act in connection with the Church of
England was to take part in the opening ceremony.
It may therefore be called his legacy to the Church
he has forsaken. A more lovely site it would be diffi-
cult to select; the range of views commanded from
the upper level is most extensive, and though it is
said, since the interment of his son, Mr. Cobden
could never bear to visit Lavington, it is a spot of all
others to which the mind might turn as a tranquil,
cheerful resting-place. The interior of the church
does not disappoint the expectations raised by
its quaint and graceful exterior, with its stunted
tower of oak shingle, worn by the atmosphere to
the hue of slate. The font and screen are fine
specimens of marble found in the Petworth quarries
close at hand, Mr. Butterfield's principle being
always to avail himself, as far as possible, of local
materials. On the same ground the pillars are con-
structed of chalk from the Houghton quarries.
There are some good stained glass windows by Hard-
man ; and in the stone carvings the workman has
allowed his graver to produce something different
from heads and bosses of the ordinary type, and to
trace with happy effect the leaves of fern, wild hops
and other plants indigenous to the district. The
procession wound its way to the gate leading to the
church grounds, from which access is gained to the
higher level, where the building stands, by a suc-
cession of terraces, bordered by hedges of fir trees,
clipped into sharp lines resembling walls. As the
party with their mournful burden passed the school
the children, in their uniform of blue bonnets and
blouses, were drawn up outside, and added their
sad but respectful greeting to the universal tes-
timony of affection and regret entertained for
Mr. Cobden. The Rev. J. Currie, M.A.,, incum-
bent of West Lavington, the Rev. Caleb Collins,
M.A., rector of Stedham and Heyshot (the parish
to which Dunford properly belongs), the Rev. W.
Elgie, M.A., assistant curate of West Lavington,
and the Rev. J. E. T. Rogers, M.A., Professor of
Political Economy at Oxford, awaited in the porch
the arrival of the procession, and, as soon as the
last flight of steps had been mounted, led the way
into the body of the church. The solemn burial
service was then begun, which always impressive,
in this case appealed with peculiar force to every
one who heard it ; and on quitting the building to
perform the last mournful duty of the day there
were few eyes which did not exhibit traces of emo-
tion. When it is mentioned that the parishioners
of West Lavington are less than 200 in number, it
will be evident that the church could not contain a
tenth of the persons present. The remainder there-
fore placed themselves at various points of the
churchyard from which a view of the further pro-
ceedings could be gained, the terrace in which the
vault had been constructed being reserved for mem-
bers of Parliament and the immediate friends of the
deceased. When the coffin was laid down and the
pall removed preparatory to the final ceremony it
was seen that some loving hand had strewn the lid
with violets and other flowers of spring, and that a
small but exquisitely arranged bouquet had been
affixed to the head of the coffin. To this was added,
in the same spirit, just at the conclusion of the ser-
vice, a floral wreath by some friend of the deceased.
When the coffin was lowered down everybody bent
forward to look at the short and simple inscription-,

RIMIARD COBDEN, ESQ.,
M.P.
DIED 2D OF APRIL, 1865.
AGED 60 YEARS ;"

—and as instinctively every one drew back at the
solemn words, "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust," which
the Rev. Mr. Currie accompanied by dropping with
his own hand the customary fragments of mould
upon the coffin, where they lay in sad suggestive
contrast to the cheerful flowers. Many of the
friends and fellow-workers with the late Mr. Cob-
den, Mr. Villiers especially, were perceptibly agi-
tated at this point. Many carried their glances on
towards the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but his is
not a face on which emotions can be traced like
clouds reflected on the surface of a lake. Save that
his features were of a corresponding hue, they might
have been marble for all the expression he allowed
them to assume. In Mr. Bright's case no repres-
sion of sentiment was possible ; it is doubtful whe-
ther he would have acted wisely in making the at-
tempt. He fairly broke down and sobbed bitterly.
There was scarcely any one, even of Mr. Cobden's
own family, who seemed to feel his loss so acutely.
The proceedings ended as they began, worthily.
Not a single incident occurred to detract from the
force of this mute but most eloquent testimony to
the worth of him whose place is vacant. And when,
in time to come, the history is written of " the
greatest political character that the upper middle
class of this country has yet produced," it will also be
written that the representatives of the middle class
flocked from all parts of the country to attend his
obsequies ; that the governing classes vied with
those whom they govern in showing how much they
felt his loss ; ,that no inconsiderable section of the
House of Commons undertook a journey with the
sole object of manifesting regret. And the histo-
rian no doubt will add that in burying Mr. Cobden,
within sight almost of his own roof-tree, English-
men buried at the same moment all recollection of
errors or prejudices on his part, remembering only
his devotion to their cause, his unsparing labour, his
unselfish love for the land of his birth.
In connexion with the funeral of the late Mr.
Cobden the following letter from the Bishop of
Oxford, who owns an estate in the neighbourhood,
will be read with interest

My dear Mr. Fisher,—I am much obliged to you for
your note. It would have been a sad satisfaction to me
to have been able to pay that mark of respect to the great
Sussex Englishman who has been, for us, so prematurely
taken away. But lam barely recovering myself from a
sovere bronchial affection, and am only allowed at present
to go out with precautions and conditions which make me
quite unable to venture to Lavington on Friday. Would
you let any of his friends who would care to know it know
the reason of my absence ?

" I feel his loss deeply; I think it a great national loss.
But my feelings dwell rather on the loss of such a man,
whom I hope it is not too much for me to venture to call
my friend. His gentleness of nature, the tenderness and
freshness of his affections, his exceeding modesty, his mas-
ter love of truth, and his ready and kindly sympathy—
these invested him with an unusual charm for me. How
deeply feel for his wife and for his daughters!—l am, my
dear Mr. Fisher, ever most truly yours,
" April 5."

"S. OXON.

nese was entirely suspended. A muffled peal was
rung at the parish church. All the banks, ware-
houses, shops, and inns were closed, and at the hote s
the blinds were drawn down. On most of the public
buildings flags were suspended half-way down the
staff. Many of the warehouses and shops remained
closed during the rest of the day.