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,:,•,r:' with. So it came to For Mr. COBDEN, were one or two of our least aristocratical out-wards, who vowed they would have no other man ; but then our wealthy manufacturers, and our men who swear by the Guardian, would not hear of such a rue' man. Dis- putes were likely to run high, when some of the A nti-Cobdenit es, having been well assured that Mr. Conmat would not on any consid, ration go to Parliament so long as parties stood in their present unsatisfactory condition, conceived the brilliant idea of soothing the other party by giving him the empty honour of an offer. Aceerdingly, at a meeting of the' Committee ol' our Reform Association, held on the• evening of Thursday the 10th iestant, they acquiesced in a resolution expressed in these words " That a deputation he appointed to wait on Mr. Cob- den, to ask him whether, if he had the support of this Committee, he would ofibr himself as a candidate for Mauchester; and that in the event of his declining to do so, an invitation should be at once given to Mr, Milner Gibson." A Committee was named accordingly, and directed to report the result of' their interview with Sir. Conos.x to a meeting of the Committee to be held next evening at six o'clock.

Mr. COBDEN'S answer was in writing. For a reason which still ap- pear in the sequel, I not unable to send you a copy of it ; but to the best of my recollection it was to this effect—He thanked the Committee; but added, that from the time the Reformers gave up their independent course of action in the House of Commons, he had abandoned all desire to go to Parliament. Ile stated his conviction, that to this fatal policy of making political principle subservient to the expediency of keeping the Whigs in and the Tories out of office, he attributed at once the bscksliding of the party in power front their former patriotic profes- sions, the degeneracy of leading politicians in an age not otherwise marked by mental or moral inferiority, and more than all, that destrtie- thin of confidence in public men in the minds of the great mass of the people, which had caused disunion in the Liberal ranks, and threatened destruction to the Reformers as a party. Ile concluded by stating, that every day but served to confirm these convictions; but that having no reason to know that these convictions were shared by the constitu- ency of Manchester, he bad no intention of offering himself as a candi- date, The letter of which I have given you the most accurate recapitula- tion I can, was read at a very crowded meeting of the Association, and received as a refusal on the part of Mr. Cottonx to stand. Somebody proposed that it should be printed ; but had you but heard the hubbub occasioned by this proposal to make it public! There are some of our great ones here who would as lief see the Devil Mentber for Man- chester as COBDEN ; and who, next to that calamity, dread its being known that he has been even hypothetically invited to stand. These horrors are not diminished by the consideration of what el112ct the pub- lication of his reasons for declining might have on the minds of the constitueecy. Great and incessant efforts have been making ever since

the meeting to prevent the letter being published by any means ; and as I have reason to believe they will be successful here, I have to re- quest that you will be kind enough to give this account (which is as close to the letter of the transactions as 1 can make it) the benefit of the publicity your columns command. I ask this for two reasons. In the

first place, it strikes Ole, that by their ready interpretation of Mr. COB- DEN'S letter into a refus,(1 to stand, they have declared that they would not support a candidate entertaining his sentiments ; and I wish the

independent electors of Manchester, who have not been parties to these proceedings, to know as much, in order that they may ehope their course accordingly. In the second place, I wish whomsoever may ultimately be fixed oaten by the Association as their centlittate to know, that there are electors in Manchester of the Liberal side v: ho will put up with no candidate whose opinions and principles do not come up to Mr. Con-

itEx's mark. Of Sin'. -MILNER CIIISON, the gentleman they seent to have in their eye, I know little, and that little in his favour; but ir he be ultimately brought forward, care shall he taker., ',aw: he receive my vote, to ascertain that he is not set up heenase he (ii(,sents front the opinions expressed in the abstract from ,Mr. Col;;:Ea's letter I Lave given you :above.