Full text : The life of Richard Cobden

AFT LICLTION

T

NCTIBH 20LICY. G5

interests. Now aud at all times Cobden was far too shrewd 1835-6.
and practical in his temper to suppose that unfamiliar
truths will shine into the mind of a nation by their own
light. It was of England that ke thought, and for England
that he wrote ; and wh.t ho did was not to declaim the plabitudes
 of rose-colourci merality, but by reference to the
hardest facts of our national existence and international
relations, to show that not only the moral dignity, but the
material strength, the solid interests, the real power of
the country, alike for improvements within ang self-defence
without, demanded the abandonment of the diplomatic
principles of a time which Was a8 unenlightened and
mischievous on many sides of ita foreign policy, as everybody
 knows and admits it to have been in the schoolroom,
in the hospital, and in the offices of the national revenue,
The pamphlets do not deal with the universe, but with
this country. Their writer has been labelled a €Oosmopolitan,—usually
 hy those who in the same breath, by a
violent contradictior, reproached him for Preaching a gospel
of national selfishness 5." ;., Jation. In truth Cobden was
only cosmopolitan 1; thes 8€S-- 1 which no other statesman
would chonse to de 17 bw “osmopolitan also; namely,
in the sense of air: ~ ~y which, in benefiting his
own country, sh. ~~ ~~ vbe rest of the world a the
same time, ‘I - Taglish citizen,” be would have
said, “and whe wntending for is that England is
to-day so situated : “77 particular of her domestic and
foreign circumgt Cao leaving other governments
to settle their sivess and fight out their own
quarrels, and | y. 2g to the vast and difficult affairs
of her own enormous realm and the condition of her people,
she will not only be setting the world an example of noble
morality which no other nation is 50 happily free to set, but
she will be following the Very course which the maintenance

Ar 9
            
Waiting...

Note to user

Dear user,

In response to current developments in the web technology used by the Goobi viewer, the software no longer supports your browser.

Please use one of the following browsers to display this page correctly.

Thank you.