Cobden as a Citizen. By William E. A. Axon. (T.
Fisher Unwin. 21s. net.)—In 1837 Richard Cobden wrote a pamphlet in the form of a letter to his "Fellow Townsmen and Brother Reformers" of Manchester under the title "Incorporate Your Borough." The pamphlet was supposed to be lost, but a copy has been found, and it is now reprinted with a story of the circumstances in which it was written. There was a great struggle over the question,—Should Manchester be incorporated ? It seems to us hardly a matter for doubt, as we regard it now. But there were many conflicting interests. There were officials, for instance, who under the old system made certain gains and were afraid of losing them. Cobden was then in his twenty-sixth year, and he wrote and spoke with no little vehemence. The pamphlet is vigorous, to say the least, throughout ; in the speech he begins in a moderate tone, but is soon moved by interruptions to use strong language. Of course, the change was bound to come, and Cobden must have the credit of seeing the necessity. That incorporation would bring about a paradise of good government and economy may have seemed possible, and was likely. That it has not done so no one can doubt, if he reads the newspapers and sees the abuses which flourish under the shelter of "popular control." Mr. Axon thinks that " the dignity and importance of local self-government are more generally recognised than in the day when Cobden was a member of the Corporation of Manchester." Cobden, it should be explained, was an Alderman in the newly constituted municipal body, and held office up to the election of 1844, when other business made it necessary for him to resign. In that year he had been able to attend one meeting only. It shows a certain continuity in history when we find that one of the official opponents of incorporation claimed £19,351 Os. 10d. and received an annuity of 46 8s.; another asked for £34,724 2s. 6d. and got nothing.
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