586 IIFE OF COBDEN, fons?

1888. thomght of the overcrowded cities of Europe, and of the
mr, 25. masses of people who on this side of the Atlantic WO
seeking, or about to geek, new homes in the far West. Hie
mind surveyed at a glance the vast expanse of rich, unoct™
pied virgin land in the mighty valley of the MississiPP!
through which the Illinois Central ran ite course—a valles
where millions of people from the old world could find profit
sble employment. He was aware of the great and rapidly
‘nereasing facilities which would enable the intend2
omigrant to reach this most tempting field at less cost that
“heir fathers could have travelled from Glasgow to Londo?
and for these reasons he came to the conclusion that tH
demand for the company’s land would be both great and
immediate, and the money derived from the sale would P°
more than sufficient to complete all the works connected
with the railway. But Cobden was no specalator in tH
ordinary sense of the word.”
In a letter to Mr, Moffatt, with whom he was in constant
correspondence on the subject at this time, Cobden sbo™®
how conscious he was of the view which a hard-headed 8”
of business would be likely to take of what he was doing’
At the beginning of 1858, Mr. Osborn, the Chairman of the
Railway, was in England, and visited him at Dunford.
“Osborn was so candid with me,” Cobden writes, “5°
disinterested and friendly in his advice, that I could not help
suspecting that a very good friend of mine had whispered
in his ear something to this effect. “Say nothing to food
his sanguine views. He has already become {dfs mont?
about the Illinois; but rather throw in a word of cautio?
about putting too many eggs in one basket. He is a wor?”
out agitator, out of business, with a young family. Suck
people ought not to become speculators. As a rule you
public men, and especially your revolutionary leaders, make
ansuccessful men of business. They look too high and 10?