{4.4

7
LIFE OF OOEDEN. [BA

1838. the repealers to undertake. In London there is no effective
«we 34 unity; interests are too varied and dispersive; zeal 105¢°
its directness and edge amid the distracting play of so an]
miscellaneous social and intellectnal elements. It was 2
until a body of men in Manchester were moved to take the
matter in hand, that any serious attempt was made ¥
inform and arouse the country.
The price of wheat had risen to seventy-seven shilling®
in the August of 1838; there was every prospect of a wet
harvesting ; the revenue was declining; deficit was be"
coming a familiar word; pauperism was increasing ; and
the manufacturing population of Lancashire were finding
it impossible to support themselves, because the landlords
and the legislation of a generation of landlords before the
insisted on keeping the first necessity of life at an artificially
high rate. Yet easy as it is now to write the explanation
contained in the last few words, comparatively few men had
at that time seized the truth of it. That explanation was i
the stage of a vague general suspicion, rather than the defi”
nite perception of a precise cause. Men are so engaged by
the homely pressure of each day as it: comes, and the natural
solicitudes of common life are so instant, that a bad institu
bion or a monstrous piece of misgovernment is alway?
endured in patience for many years after the remedy ha8
been urged on public attention. No cure is considered
with an accurate mind, until the evil has become too sharp
bo be borne, or its whole force and weight brought irresistibly
 before the world by its more ardent, penetrative, and
indomitable spirits.
In October, 1838, a band of seven men meé at a hotel iB
Manchester, and formed a new Anti-Corn-Law Associations
They were speedily joined by others, including Cobden,
who from this moment began to take s prominent part in all
conneel and action.