THE LATE MR COBDEN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 1119, 22 July 1865, Page 10 (Supplement)

THE LATE MR COBDEN.

On the order of the day for going into Committee of Supply,

Lord PALMERSTON rose, nnd was received with loud cheers. Thenoble viscount, who evidently spoke under the influence of deep emotion, said:—Mr Speaker, it is impossible for this House to have that order put without calling to mind the great loss which this House and the country have sustained (cheers) by the event which took •place yesterday morning. (Cheers.) Sir, Mr Cobden, whose loss we deplore, occupied a prominent positipn both as a member of this House and as a member of the British nation. (Cheers.) I do not moan, in the few words I have to say, to disguise or to avoid stating that there were many matters upon which a great number ot people differed from Mr Cobden, and ■ I among the rest, but those who differed from him the most never could doubt the honesty of his purpose (cheers) or the sincerity of his convictions. (Cheers.) They felt that his object was the good of his country (cheers), however they might differ on particular questions from him as to the means by which that end was to bo accomplished. (Cheers.) But we all agree in burying in oblivion every point of difference, and think only of the great and important ser vices he rendered to our common country. (Cheers.) Sir, it is many years ago since Adam Smith elaborately and conclusively, so far as argument could go, advocated as the fundamental principles of the wealth of nations freedom of industry and unrestricted exchange of the objects and results of industry. These doctrines were inculcated by learned men, by Dugald Stewart and others, and were also taken up in process of time by leading statesmen, such as Mr Huskisson and those who agreed with him; but the barriers which long-established prejudice, honest and conscientious prejudice, had raised against the practical application of those doctrines for a long series of years prevented their coming into use as instruments of progress in the country. To Mr Cobden it was reserved by his untiring industry, his indefatigable personal activity, the indomitable energy of his mind, and I will say that forcible and Demosthenic eloquence with which he treated all the subjects which he took in hand—it was reserved to Mr Cobden, aided no doubt by a great phalanx of worthy associates—by my right hon, friend the President of the Poor Law Board (cheers), and by Sir R. Peel, whose memory will ever be associated "with the principles Mr Cobden so ably advocated (cheers)—it was reserved, I say, to Mr Cobden, by exertions which never were surpassed, to carry into practical application those abstract principles with the truth of which he was so deeply impressed, and which at last gained the acceptance of all reasonable men in the country. (Cheers.) He rendered an inestimable and enduring benefit to our country by the result of those exertions. (Cheers.) But great as were Mr Cobden's talents, great as was his industry, and eminent as was his success, the disinterestedness of his mind more than equalled all of these. (Cheers.) He was a man of great ambition, but his ambition was to be useful to his country (cheers); and that ambition was amply gratified. When the present Government was formed I was authorised graciously by her Majesty to offer to Mr Cobden a seat in the Cabinet. Mr Cobden declined, and frankly told me that he thought he acd I differed a good deal upon many important principles of political action, and therefore he could not either comfortably for me or for himself join the Administration •f which I was the head. I think he was wropg; but this I will say of MrCobden,

that no man, however strongly he may have differed from him , upon general political principles, or the application of those principles, could come into contact with him without carrying away the strongest personal esteem and Regard for the man (cheers) with whom lie had the misfortune not entirely toagree. (Cheers.) Well. Sir, the two great achievements of Mr Cobden were, in the first place, the abrogation of those laws which regulated the importation of corn and the great development which that gave to the industry of the country, and the commercial arrangements which he negociated with France, whch paved the way and tended greatly to extend the intercourse between tbe two countries. (Cheers.) When that achievement was accomplished, it was my lot to offer to Mr Cobden, not office, for that I knew he would not take, but to offer him those honours which the Crown can bestow—a baronetcy and the rank of a Privy Councillor, honourable distinctions which it would have gratified the Crown to bestow for important s^r.-iccs rendered to the country, and which I think it would not have been at all derogatory for him to accept. But the same disinterested spirit which actuated all his conduct, whether.in private or in public, led him to decline; <<even the acknowledgments which would'properly 'have been made for the services he had rendered. (Checr3.) Well, Sir, I can only say that we have sustained a loss which every man in the country will feel.. (Cheers.) We have lost a man who may be said to have been peculiarly emblematical of the Constitution under which we have the happi-, ness to live, because he rose to great eminence in this House (cheers) and acquired an ascendancy in the public mind not by virtue of any family connexions, but solely and entirely by means of the power and vigour of his mind (cheers), tluit power and vigour being applied to purposes eminently advantageous to the country. (Cheers.) Sir, Mr Cobden's name will be for ever engraved- on" the most interesting pages of the history of this country (cheers); and lam sure there is not one in this House who does not fjel the deepest regret that we have lost one oi its proudest ornaments, and that the country has been deprived of one of her most useful servants. (Loud cheers.) .

Mr DISRAELI: Sir, having been a member of this House when Mr Cobdeu first took his seat, and having remained in the House during the whole of his lengthened career, I cannot reconcile it to myself to be silent on this occasion (cheers) when we have to deplore the loss of one s;> eminent, and that too in the ripeness of his manhood and the full vigor of his intellect. (Cheers.) Although it was the fortune of Mr Cobden to enter public life at a time when passions ran high, and he himself by no means a man insensible to political excitement, still when thestrife was over there was soon observed in him a moderation and a tempered thought that intimated a'large intellectual horizon, and the possession of statesmanlike qualities. (Cheers.) Though formed in the tumult of popular opinions, with which he identified himself, there was in his character a vein of revereneu for tradition which, even unconsciously to himself, subdued and softened the acerbity of the cruder conclusions to which he may have arrived. That in my mind is a quality which in some degree must ba possessed by any one who aspires to sway this country. For, notwithstanding the rapid changes in which we live, and tho numerous improvements and alterations we anticipate, this country is still Old' England, and the past is one of the elements of our power. (Cheers) Of Mr Cobden'a conduct in this House all present are aware, yet, perhaps, I may be permitted to say that aa a debater he had few equals. (Cheers.) As a logician he was close, complete, acute, ■ perhaps even subtle, yet at the same time he was gifted with such a degree of imagination that he never lost sight o-' the sympathies of those whom he addressed, and so, generally avoiding the driving of his argument to extremities, he became as a speaker both practical and persuasive. The noble lord, who is far more competent | than myself to deal with such subjects, ha<i j referred the House to Mr Cobden's conduct as an administrator. It would seem that, notwithstanding his eminent position and j the various opportunities which offered for the exercise of that ambition which he might legitimately entertain, his life was I destined to pass without bis being afforded an occasion of showing that he possessed those qualities invaluable in the management of public affairs. Still, fortunately, it happened that before he quitted ua j there came to him one of the greatest opportunities ever offered to a. public mnn, and it may be justly said that by the transaction of high affairs he obtained the consideration of the two leading countries of the world. (Hear, hear.) There in something mournful in the history of this Parliament, when we remember how many of our most eminent and valued colleagues have gone from among us. I cannot refer to the history of any other Parliament which will bear to posterity so fatal a record. But there is this consolation whesi we remember thsse unequalled and irreparable visitations, —that these great men are not altogether lost to us; that their opinions will be often quoted in thi*3 House, their authority. appealed to, their judgments attested; even thenvery words will form part of our discussions and debates. (Cheer 3.) There are, I may say, some members o£ Parliament who, though they may not be present in the body, are still members of thh House—who are independent of dissolutions, of the caprice of constituencies, and even of the course of time. I think Mr Cobden was one oi these men. (Hear (> hear.) I believe that when the verdict of posterity is recorded on his life and conduct, it will be said of him that, looking t« all he said and did, he was without doubt the greatest political character the pure middle class of this country has yet produced—an ornament to the House of Commons, and an honor to England. (Much cheering) , ■ , , *, Mr BRIGHT, who evidently labored under deep emotion, and with difficulty restrained his Borrow during the- delivery of his remarks, then rose and said—l ieei tnat I 1 cannot address the House on this occasion. , Every expression of sympathy which I have "heard has been most grateful to my heart; but the time which has elapsed since I wjs present when the manliest and. gentlest spirit that ever actuated or tenanted the human form took its flight is so short that I dare not even attempt to give utterance to the feelings by which I am oppressed. I shall leave it to some calmer moment, when I may have an opportunity of speaking to some portion of my countrymen the lesson which I think will be learnt from the life and character of my friend. I have only to say that, after 20 years of most intimate and most brotherly friendship with him, I little knew how muck I loved him until I found that I had lo3£ him. (General cries of '^Heiur, hew.") ■~.,.-J . .;___•.-...•. *