Xx]  REOEPTION OF THE TARIFF IN ENGLAND, 793
he was absent, his friends began to talk about some 1861.
Public recognition of his services by the Government. The Ar 67.
Tariff had been received with almost universal approval in
the various centres of English industry. Manchester, after a
day or two of hesitation, pronounced at last a decided verdict.
 In spite of some difficulty about drills, the linen-men
of Belfast were well pleased. The slate people and the
leather people frankly declared that the new duties were all
that they could desire. Bradford and Leeds, Nottingham and
Leicester, rose to enthusiasm. The London newspapers, it
i8 true, were nearly all silent, but the great merchants and
Danufacturers all over the country were thoroughly awake
bo the volume of wealth which the Treaty would pour into
Great Britain, They asked one another whether, while
grants of money were always lavished on men who achieved
Successes in war, the Government could leave unnoticed a
an who had just achieved so vast a success in the field of
industry and peace. As a matter of fact, the authorities of
the Foreign Office, it is said, did not even pass the account
of the mere expenses of the Commission, a sum of little more
than 80001. in all, without much ungracions demur. There
Was a rumour that a vote of money to Cobden would be
Submitted to the House, but it is believed that the Governlent
 declined the suggestion. It was customary, as it
Seemed, to make presents of money to military men for
doing their duty, but there was no precedent for offering
Such a reward to volunteer diplomatists, Cobden’s friends
Probably answered that there was no precedent for his
disinterested labour. What his own mind was upon this
Subject is seen in the following letter to Mr. Bricht :—

“ Algiers, 4 Feb., 1861.
“If there be the slightest whisper in any quarter of pro-Posing
 to vote me any money for the work I did in Paris, I