1845.
287, 41.

250

Lr

“m GOBDEN,

{omar

Commission to inquire into the subject of the Railway
gauges, I moved it again yesterday as a substantive
motion, and it was agreed to by all parties. It is well to 0
something practical in the House occasionally, as it give?
one the standing of a man of business.”
Over all these busy interests hung a heavy cloud of the
gloomiest thoughts. Throughout the session Cobden’
mind had been harassed almost beyond endurance by a host
of dark’ cares ; and it is only by knowing what these amounted
to, that we can measure the intensity of a devotion to public
concerns which could sustain itself unabated under this
galling pressure. The following extracts from letters to his
brother will suffice to show us what was going on, At the
end of the session of 1844, he had allowed a groan to escap®
him, extorted by the reports which his brother had sent him
of the state of their business :—* I shall have a month OF
two for private business, and, Heaven knows, it is not before
it is required. It is a dog’s life I am leading, and I wish 1
could see my way out of the collar.”® But in the recess of
1844, as in that of the previous year, he had been speedily
dragged back from his own affairs to those of the Leagu®
and the country. Throughout the spring of 1845, howevers
things were rapidly approaching a crisis from which there
seemed to be no escape :—
“ April 7.—1 shall certainly be down a week before the
Whitsuntide holidays, so as to have at least a fortnight. The
fidgets have so got possession of me that I cannot master
them. For the first time I feel fairly down and dead-beaten:
It is of no use writing all one feels, Entreat J. S. to work
down the stock of odds and ends of cloth, and keep down
everything as low as possible. And remind Charles agaid
of the critical importance of finding something for the
machinery to do in the interval between the seasons. It.is of
® Te F. W. Gobden. Leamington, Sth August, 1844