XI] MOTION FOR NEGOTIATIONS WITH FRANCE. 557

It was not to be expected that Cobden would be able to _ 1h.
Speak so freely as he was accustomed to do on military and Zr. 47.
Raval matters, without touching that susceptibility which is
®ommon to all experts, and to experts in these two great
Services more even than in others, He often received insolent
 letters from officers who resented public discussions as
Private affronts. In 1850 & certain captain, whose operations
 in Borneo Cobden had spoken of as being of the
Uature of piracy, sent him a challenge to fight a duel. Cobden
 replied that if the writer repeated the offence, he would
hand him over to the police. Vivacious journalists instantly
taxed him with inconsistency. If he was for non-resistance,
Universal disarmament, and peace-at-any-price, with what
decency could he talk of an appeal to the police? This folly
Was an excellent specimen of the criticism which Cobden
Was accustomed to receive at the hands of more responsible
Personages than the humorists of the press. In the same
Year an Admiral in high position entered into a hostile correspondence
 with him on the ground of something which
Mz, Bright was wrongly reported to have said. Cobden
replied that his correspondent must expect like all public
Men to have his conduct freely canvassed, and that if he
had so little control over his temper that he must needs
challenge one member of the legislature to mortal combat because
 another member was reported to have made a mistake
of a single word in a speech of an hour’s length, or because
& reporter’s pen may have slipped at a critical moment, then
the Admiral had mistaken his vocation, and ought to retire
from the public service. Cobden’s reply was too direct to
be courteous, but the provocation was sharp.
We may now proceed to correspondence of a graver kind,
Principally with Mr. Bright :—
“ Sept. 29. (To Mr. Bright.)—I have been looking out for
Bigns and omens of the political future, bub cannot say I see