742 LIFE OF COBDEN. [oms®

1860. been by more dazzling proofs than his career had ever
Aw. 66. furnished before of eloquence and intellectual power, bis
position in Parliament and the country was certainly weaker
than it had been six months ago.
Cobden at least was no harsh judge. At the beginning
of the year, when writing to Mr. Bright about the Treaty, he
had said, “I have told you before that Gladstone has shoW?
much heart in this business. . . . . He has a strong aversiol
to the waste of money on our armaments. He has no clas
feeling about the Services. He has much more of oa
sympathies. It is a pity you cannot avoid hurting hus
convictions by such sallies as [sally not now worth repro”
ducing] . . He has more in common with you and M°
than any other man of his power in Britain.” And later 1%
the year, “I agree with you that Gladstone overwork
himself. But I suspect that he has a conscience which is ab
times a troublesome partner for a cabinet minister. I make
allowances for him, for I have never yet been able to defin®
to my own satisfaction how far a man with a view to utility
ought to allow himself to be merged in a body of men called
a government, or how far he should preserve his indivtduality.
 If he goes into a government at all, he must make
op his mind sometimes to compromise with his own co%”
victions for a time, and at all events to be overborne by #
majority of his colleagues.”
Meanwhile, the Government insisted on what they ré
garded as the policy of security. On July 10, Cobde?
wrote to Lord Palmerston a long letter, calmly and 8”
nestly urging reasons against a new scheme of defensiv®
armaments. He began with a few words about the Treatys
and the date at which they might expect to end the
labours. The Treaty, he said, had been the engrossing
bask of the French Government for the last eight
months, and M. Ronher was then foregoing his autum?