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1849. } sbundant room for strenuous co-operation. in the work abo
&ir.45. which they were cordially agreed.
The following letter written to Mr. Bright at the clos ©
1848, two or three weeks before the meeting at Manoheste”
shows the point of view to which Cobden inclined, ard
to what extent,~and it wss not great,—he differed rot!
Mr. Bright :~—
“Dec. 28, 1848.—~Since writing to you, I have again ren?
and reflected upon your letter. Yon say that the object ©
our meeting must be specific sand general ; that IT must spook
npon Finance, and yon follow upen Parliamentary Refor™’
and that then a society must be organized for & geoo®
registration to carry out, I presume, both objects. I thou’
we had always agreed that to carry the public slong wit
us, we should have a single and well-defined object. It
decidedly my opinion. If Parliamentary Reform were oe
sole object, we might after a long time probably succeed
but the two things together would be a false star, and i
must end in our taking to ons or the other exclusively: b
is true that we joined them together in our meeting of
Members of Parlisment at the Free Trade Club, and thet
was because we did not feel ourselves on the strong?
ground with the middle class even then, without the Bxpe™
diture question, and it is vastly more so now. Besides ywill
 admit that we could not ignores the existence of iw
Liverpool movement. However defective in men 2°
money at present, they are in as good a position 8° we
were a year after the League was formed; and they hav
far more hold upon the public mind than we had even after
three years’ agitation. I rather think that you do not folly
appreciate the extent to which the country is synpathisi®®
with the Liverpool movement. But taking the fact #0 be 84
Ihave stated it, that the movement is for Financial Befor™
end nobody can deny it, I am half disposed to think thet