1847.
ZB. 43.

{70

LIFE OF CORDEN. {oms?

say that any impulse has been given to the demand for ag™"
cultural labourers by the Free Trade policy. Ours is abou?
the last place which will feel its good effects. But there 1°
one good sign which augurs well for the future. Skilled
labourers, such as masons, joiners, blacksmiths, painters
and so on, are in very great request, and it is difficult to get
work of that kind done in moderate time. I am inclined
think that in more favourable situations an impulse has
likewise been imparted to unskilled labour. It is cerfoll
that during the late harvest-time there was a great difficulty
in obtaining hands on the south side of the Downs towards
the sea coast, where labour is in more demand than here
under the north side of the hills. I long to live to see 2%
agricultural labourer strike for wages! ”’
Before he had been many weeks in England, Cobden Wa8
Irawn into the eager discussion of other parts of his policys
which were fully as important as Free Trade itself. The
substitution of Lord Palmerston for Lord Aberdeen at the
Foreign Office was instantly followed by the active inte
vention of the British Government in the affairs of othe’
countries, There was an immediate demand for increased
sxpenditure on armaments. Augmented expenditure meant
augmented taxation. Hach of the three items of the pro”
gramme was the direct contradictory of the system which
Cobden believed to be not only expedient but even indis”
pensable. His political history from this time down fo the
year when they both died, is one long antagonism to the
ideas which were concentrated in Lord Palmerston. Yo
Cobden was too reasonable to believe that there could be #
material reduction in armaments, until a great change had
taken place in the public opinion of the country with
respect to its foreign policy. He always said that DO
Minister could reduce armaments or expenditure, until the
Hoglish people abandoned the notion that they were tO