B42

LIFE OF COBDEN. (omar.

1862. he admired his courage and perseverance, but he could not
Ar. 58. imitateit. For the moment he acknowledged himself beaten.
The fates were against them in the shape of the ignorance
and flunkeyism of the middle classes. After the final battle
in Angust, Mr. Bright wrote to him that he had maintained
the struggle most manfully. “Ihave never,” he said, read
speeches with more pleasure than these in which you have
attempted to destroy the most shameless impostare of our
bime. But speeches will hardly do it. Since 1854 the
public have been so thoroughly demoralized that they have
become literally helpless, and I can scarcely conceive of an
event sufficiently insulting and alarming to them to excite
them to any positive and united action. The working men
have no leaders of their own class, and they have no faith in
any others. I wait, therefore, for some accident to bring
about a change. Possibly Palmerston’s final fall, which cannot
 be long postponed, may act as an awakener throughout
the country. Still I think your speeches are preparing the
way for some discoveries on the part of our dim-seeing
people.” This prophecy was fulfilled to the letter. Liberalism
remained stationary until Lord Palmerston’s death, and it
was not long after that event that the great awakening
took place which landed Mr. Gladstone in power, with Mr.
Bright himself for the most popular and influential of his
colleagues.
Cobden’s correspondence during these final years touches
other topics, but the fortunes of the war in America, international
 maritime law, and national expenditure, were the
subjects which now filled the largest space both in his
thoughts and in his public addresses,

Meritime Law.
“ April 26, 1861. (To Mr. W. 8. Lindsay.)—In your
letter upon maritime law in time of war, you shirk the