The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-24 00:00:00

Inauguration of the Cobden Memorial in

Manchester,

On Monday, the statue erected in St. Ann's-
square in memory of the late Mr. Richard Cobden
was publicly inaugurated with a befitting cere-
mony. The weather was fine, and not fewer than
15,000 persons would be present to witness the
proceedings. The Mayor (R. Neill, Esq.) presided,
and on the platform surrounding him were Mr. C.
Cobden (the brother of the great free-trader), Sir
E. Armitage, Mr. Bazley, M.P., Mr. B. Whit-
worth, M.P., &c.
Mr. GEORGE WILsoN, who was warmly received,
said that in taking the part assigned to him by the
committee he could not but regret the absence of
that distinguished legislator, Mr. W. E. Gladstone.
(Applause.) If he had thought that the merits of
his deceased friend required to be placed in an elo-
quent setting he should have declined the honour,
which would more probably have been left in the
hands of Mr. Bright—(applause)—but, having been
the official representative of that large organisation
with which Mr. Cobden for years linked his political
fortunes and existence, he felt that he was not step-
ping out of his province when he accepted the in-
vitation made to him by the committee. (Hear,
hear.) It would be beyond the duty imposed upon
him if he attempted to give a sketch of the life or
labours of Richard Cobden. It was not to be ex-
pected that he who for seven years was in almost
daily contact with Mr. Cobden should be able in a
few short sentences to give a sketch of the labours
that were imposed upon his friend during that
period. He might, however, state that having en-
joyed for years before the origin of the League the
personal friendship of Mr. Cobden, and having
laboured with him for other objects besides free
trade, he might state for the encouragement of the
young men of Manchester that Mr. Cobden was no
favourite of fortune; he had no advantages of birth
or education above the average of young men who
occupied a similar position to his at the present time.
If they had passed down Mosley-street 30 odd years
ago they would have seen him seated at his desk,
attending to his correspondence, or striving to build
up a large and prosperous business; they would also
have found that he possessed leisure to give atten-
tion to public objects, or to applications made for
charitable purposes. No one who called upon
him could but have been convinced that he de-
sired from the bottom of his heart to under-
take the discharge of those public duties which
would confer a benefit on his fellow-towns-
men. From the first he desired to succeed in busi-
ness, and he paid close attention to it ; but he also
emancipated himself from the desire to amass wealth
merely for the purpose of enjoying it, and he con-
quered and overcame that desire of amassing it for
the purpose of self-gratification. He sought the
benefit of his fellow-countrymen from the first. He
would not say that in early life Mr. Cobden might
not have wished to have the approbation of his fel-
low-countrymen, and that such a feeling might not
have been a great stimulus to him in his public
work ; but after the commencement of his public
labours no man desired less to serve the people for
the purposes of applause, and to no man did that
applause become so disagreeable as to him during
the latter days of his life. (Hear, hear.) He sepa-
rated his duty as a citizen from the applause which
usually followed good works, and he wished,
from the very desire of doing good, to benefit
those around him. (Applause.) If they looked
at his political life they would find that he was not
exempt, like other public men, from the vicissitudes
which affected an honest course of public action.
He stood for Stockport in 1837, but lost the election.
He was called from the Council of the League in
1841 to Stockport, and was returned by a large ma-
jority. In 1847, during his absence, and free of ex-
pense, he was elected for Stockport and the West
Riding of Yorkshire ; but ten years later he was
unsuccessful in his endeavour to obtain a seat for a
moderately sized borough in the West Riding, and
yet, when he closed his career, he closed it not in-
appropriately as the member for that borough which
was the birthplace of his great friend, his compa-
nion in arms, and political brother, John Bright.
(Applause.) But if there were were vicissitudes in
his political career outside Parliament, there was none
from the first in the House of Commons. He en-
tered the House at a time when protection was at
its climax, when the Whigs, advocating a fixed
duty, were displaced by Sir R. Peel, and when, to
all appearances, the sliding scale was to remain
throughout all time. He took his place in the House,
and an attack was made on him by Sir R. Peel in
1843, which called forth expressions of his fellow-
countrymen on his behalf ; in 1846 the same Sir R.
Peel passed one of the most graceful eulogiums on
Mr. Cobden that was ever heard in the walls of
Parliament. He was offered a seat in the Cabinet
of Lord J. Russell in 1846, which he declined ; he
afterwards declined to sit in the Cabinet of Lord
Palmerston, and the present House of Commons re-
cognised his great and eminent services by passing
at his death a tribute to his memory which would
be read by his fellow countrymen for all time.
(Applause.) Such were the opinions of the House
of Commons ; scarcely less influential was Mr.
Cobden abroad. In 1847 he left England and held
free-trade meetings in Russia ; he was the guest of
Louis Philippe in France ; and he was a correspon-
dent of the most eminent men in Prussia. At a later
period he went to America, and so greatly was he
respected there that he was passed over all the rail-
ways free of expense, and when he returned home he
found a seat waiting for him in the Cabinet, but he
declined it. He subsequently went to France, and
passed the French treaty—(applause)—he came back
to England and declined the honours of his Sovereign.
Where was the man who had not been benefited by
the labours of Richard Cobden, where was the nation
which might not adopt his views with advantage,
and where was the limit at which his principles were
destined to be suspended? Wherever ignorance
disappeared before education, wherever monopoly
receded before the advancing armies of free trade,
wherever the red splendour of the battle-field paled
before the light of peace, there were Cobden's prin-
ciples extending and advancing. (Applause.) They
that day inaugurated a monument as a graceful re-
cognition by his fellow-townsmen of Mr. Cobden's

great and lasting services. They might pass down
Peter-street and see the theatre of his world-re-
nowned labours ; they might pass along Bond-
street and recognise one of the results of his desire
to benefit the young men of Manchester, and in other
parts of the city they might pass public schools
in which he was deeply interested. Thus they might
seek to localise and perpetuate his memory in Man-
chester ; but the great monument of his labours was
to be seen three times a day in the homes and on the
tables of the working men of this country, when they
received not the limited allowance of food granted
by protection, but freely enjoyed the haryesls of the
civilised world. (Applause) The statue was then
uncovered, amidst the cheers of the audience ; and,
in the name of the Committee, Mr. Wilson formally
handed over its custody to the Mayor, as represent-
ing the corporation.

The MAYOR said that the voluntary and entirely
spontaneous demonstrations made that day by so
many of the people of Manchester were both grati-
fying and significant. Tht,re was but one feeling
animating the whole community—a desire to do
honour to the memory of a man who had left

behind him so much that was worthy of admira-
• ton and recollection. (Applause.) Mr. Cobden,
although not a native of Manchester, was a resi-
dent here during the whole time of the free-trade
struggle, and first made himself known as a public
man by his writings under the signature of a
" Manchester Manufacturer." He was personally
known to the great bulk of the citizens, and a very
large number were privileged to call him their
friend. He was one of the earliest to perceive the
necessity for a complete change in the administra-
tion of local affairs; and, together with the late Mr.
Alderman Neild, and Mr. George Wilson, who had
BO ably and fittingly performed his duty that day,
was mainly instrumental in procuring a charter of
incorporation for the borough ; and he (the Mayor)
had often heard it said in the Corporation, that so
arduous and active were the services of those gen-
tlemen, and so fierce the opposition they had to en-
counter, that if any one of the three had relinllnished
the cause the charter would not have been ob pined.