I!

LIFE OF COEDEN,

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{CHAP

1834. (Cobden’s reply. * Nature has the sublimity of rest, and the
Z&r. 80. sublimity of motion. The sublimity of rest is in the great
snow mountains ; the sublimity of motion is in Niagara.”
Although he had to its fullest extent this sentiment for the
imposing glories of the inanimate universe, yet it is characteristic
 of his right sense of the true measure of things,
that after speaking of Swiss scenery, he marks to his brother,
as “ better still,” that he has made acquaintance with people
who could tell him about the life and institutions of the land.
“The people of this country are I believe the best governed
and therefore the most prosperous and happy in the world.
It is the only Government which has not one douanier in its
pay, and yet, thanks to free trade, there is scarcely any
branch of manufacturing industry which does notin one part
or other of the country find a healthy occupation. The
farmers are substantial. Here is a far more elevated
character of husbandry life than I expected to see. Enormous
 farm-houses and barns; plenty of out-houses of every
kind; and the horses and cows are superior to those of the
English farmers. The sheep and pigs are very, very bad.
They have not adopted the Chinese breed of the latter, and
the former they do not pay much attention to. I did not
see a field of turnips in all the country. Cows are the staple
of the farming trade.”
It was to the United States, rather even than to Switzerland,
 that Cobden’s social faith and enthusiasm turned ; and
after his pamphlet was published in the spring of 1835, he
resolved to see with his own eyes the great land of unsounted
 promise. Business was prosperous, and though his
partners thought in their hearts that he might do better by
attending to affairs at home, they allowed some freedom
to the enterprising genius of their ally, and made no
objection to his absence,
§ Tp F. JUndden. Trow Conews, June §, 18234,