1835-6.
Ar, 31-2.

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JOE
OBDER
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of her own greatness most imperatively commands. It ¥
precisely because Gres* Britain is so strong in resources g
courage, in institutions, in geographical position, that sf
can, before all other European powers, afford to be mor?!
and to set the example of a mighty nation walking in tl
paths of justice and peace.”
Cobden’s political genius perceived this great mark 0
the time, that, in his own words, “at certain periods in ihe
history of a nation, ib becomes necessary to review it
principles of domestic policy, for the purpose of adapti’s
the government to the changing and improving condi”
of its people.” Next, “it must be equally the part of ¢
wise community to alter the maxims by which its foreig”
relations have in times past been regulated, in conforms
with the changes that have taken place over the enti”
globe.”* Such a period he conceived to have come for
England in that generation, and it had come to her ot?
from her internal conditions, and from the nature of her c0¥
pexions with the other nations of the globe. The thoug!
was brought to him not by deliberate philosophizing, but
by observation and the process of native good sense, offerit?
a fresh and open access to things. The cardinal fact gh
struck his eye was the great population that was gatheri®f
in the new centres of industry in the north of Englan®
in the factories, and mines, and furnaces, and cyclope?’
foundries, which the magic of steam had called into sc?
sudden and marvellous being.
It was with no enthusiasm that he reflected on this tran®
formation that had overtaken the westorn world, and ”
his first pamphlet he anticipated the cry, of which he hes?’
more than enough all throngh his life, that his dream ww
to convert England into a vast manufactory, and that br
political vision was directed by the interests of his ord¢’

? Advartisament to Russia (1838).