656 LIFE OF COBDEN. for?
1857. golf, than he was on behalf of his absent comrade. If i
Zr. 58. easy to explain the feeling that was abroad. Under o%f
system there is little tolerance for individual dissent, and
new principles make their way against artificial difficultie®
of desperate force. People said that Cobden and B®
friends had shown themselves perversely independent of the
Minister. They had been a thorn in the side of thre?
Liberal Governments. They had been openly mutinod®
under Lord John Russell; they had opposed Lord Abe"
deen ; they had violently quarrelled with Lord Palmersto®
They had committed the unpardonable offence of leadiné
their enemies to turn out their friends. All this was parro™
undiscriminating, and ungenerous. In time men beca®®
ashamed of such criticism, but for the hour it was fatal
Cobden moved the vast audience of the Free Trade Hel
to its depths by an eloquent and touching vindication of MT
Bright, with whom, as he told them, he had lived in th
most transparent intimacy of mind that two human being?
ever enjoyed together. When he spoke of Mr. Bright's
health—‘“ impaired in that organ which excites feelings of
awe and of the utmost commiseration for him on the part of
all right-minded men ”—his emotion almost overpowered
him, and shook the soul of his hearers.* But the practical
conclusion was foregone. He wrote hasty notes to infor™
Mrs, Cobden of his fears.
Manchester, March 17.—I hear very discouragir
accounts of Bright and Gibson. There have been maby
defections, and unless our friends are giving themselve®
needless alarm, I fear the chances are greatly against 1%
The cause chiefly assigned is less an alteration of opinio®
than a feeling of resistance towards the ghost of the
League, which still persists in haunting Newall’s Buildings,
 and, as is alleged, dictates to Manchester. I W2®
4 Soe Speeches, il. T4.