REJEOYION AT BTOCKPORT., 117

failure at the poll, with the unwashed. But the truth is 1 157,
Am quite reconciled to the result. There are many considera- Ar. 83
tions which make me conclude it is all for the best.”
His friends made arrangements for presenting him with
& piece of plate, and seventeen thousand subscribers of one
Penny each raised the necessary fund. For some reason,
Danie} O’Connell was invited to be present. He and Cobden
drove together in an open carriage to Stockport (November
13, 1837), where they addressed an immense meefing in
the open air, and afterwards spoke at a public dinner, To
the great Liberator the reporter of the day generously
Accords three columns, while Cobden’s words were cone
densed into that scanty space which is the common lot of
orators who have won no spurs. His chief topic seems to
bave been the ballot ; he declared that without that protection,
 household suffrage, the repeal of the corn laws, the
shortening of parliaments, would all be insecure benefits,
There is in this a certain inversion of his usual order of
thinking about the proper objects of political solicitude, for
he commonly paid much less heed to the machinery, than
to the material objects of government.
It was quite as well for Cobden’s personal interests that
he was left free for a little time longer to attend to his
business, The rather apprehensive character of his brother
made him little able to carry on the trade in an intrepid
and enterprising spirit, and at every step the judgment,
skill, and energy of a stronger head were wanted. At this
time the scale of the business which had started from
such small beginnings, bad become so extensive that Cobden
 estimated the capital in it as no less than 80,0001.,
with a credit in acceptances of at least 25,000. : he re-Presented
 the turn-over ag 150,0001.7 In 1836 the books

* To Mr. Qole. Sept. 6, 1837.
' Lotter tc B., Cobden. Peb. 34. 1837.