364

LIFE OF QOBDEN. [oma

1846. moved in Committee, but none of them met with succes
i542. and Lord Stanley, who led the Protectionists, declined Bb
divide the House on the third reading. The Conservative’
acted on the policy laid down by Peel himself seven ye&r*
before, as one of the working principles of the great party
which he had formed—"“a party which, existing in he
House of Commons, and deriving its strength from the
popular will, should diminish the risk and deaden the ghock
of collisions between the two deliberative branches of fe
legislature.” * The battle had been fought in the House 0
Commons, and as it had been lost there, then by P eel ®
salutary rule, the defeat was accepted as decisive. }
This is the proper place for Cobden’s own story of hus
interests and occupations during that agitated session. We
must not forget that his private affairs had only been Pr”
visionally arranged in the previous autumn, and that the7
were as gloomy as his public position was trinmphan?
Before giving the shorter correspondence, written from day
to day to his wife and his brother, it will be convenient “
give three longer letters, affording a more general view ©
what at this time was engaging his thoughts,
March 7, 1846. (To @Q. Oombe.)—=1 am pretty well
recovered from my local attack; a little deafness if al
that remains. But the way in which I was prostrated
by an insignificant cold in my head has convinced ™°
(even if my doctor had not told it) how much my constitt”
tion has been impaired by the excitement and wear and
tear of the last few years. The mainspring has been 076"
weighted, and I must resolve upon some change to wind
ap the machinery, before I shall be able to enter upon 827
renewed labours, My medical friend boldly tells me thab I
ought to disappear from political life for a year or two, and
seck a different kind of excitement in other scenes abroad"
* Pasl’s Bpoech at Merchant Taylors’ Hall in 1328,