CHAPTER IIf,

TRAVELS IN WEST AND EAST.

1885. On May 1, 1835, Cobden left Manchester, took his passage
Zin. 31 in the Britannia, and after a boisterous and tiresome voyage
of more than five weeks in the face of strong west winds,
arrived in the port of New York on June 7. His brother,
Henry, who had gone to America some time previously, met
him on the wharf. In his short diary of the tour, Cobden
almost begins the record by exclaiming, ©“ What beauty will
this inner bay of New York present centuries hence, when
wealth and commerce shall have done their utmost to embellish
 the scene!” And writing to his brother, he expresses
his joy at finding himself in a country, “on the soil of which
1 fondly hope will be realized some of those dreams of
human exaltation, if not of perfection, with which I love to
console myself.” !
It is not necessary to follow the itinerary of the thirtyseven
 days which Cobden now passed in the United States.
He visited the chief cities of the Eastern shore, but found
bis way no farther west than Buffalo and Pittsburg. Cobden
was all his life long remarkable for possessing the traveller's
most priceless resource, patience and good-humour under
discomfort. He was a match for the Americans themselves,
whose powers of endurance under the small tribulations of
railways and hotels excite the envy of Europeans. ¢ Poland
{in Ohio],” Cobden notes in his journal,“ where we changed
To FQ. June 7, 1885.