A COBDEN TESTIMONIAL.
THE affirmation of the principle of the Corn-law Bill by so large a majority of the Lords, awakened a general feeling of satisfac- tion in the public mind. As the phrase is, men were thankful that the measure had been placed in such a satisfactory position. The next emotion was to think of the man to whose tact, energy, and devotion to the cause, this triumph of sound principle has in SO great a measure been owing. A wish is pretty generally felt that some expression of national gratitude could be devised to show how well Mr. Cobden's labours are appretiated.
There have been few public men to whom one could make such an offering with more unalloyed satisfaction. By common consent, the leadership was at once yielded to Mr. Cobden when. the League was. first"formed ; and be has ever since been at once
the great source of its indefatigable activity and its guiding in- tellect,. Clear-sighted and practical, he is animated by that absorbing devotion to an opinion which alone can sustain a man under prolonged efforts, and by a genial kindly disposition. His apprehension of truth and his dexterity in political strategy are both instinctive. Long before the League was thought of, the "Manchester Manufacturer" threw himself into print : there was a vein of sagacity in his first publications, and his originality and earnestness have caused every successive appearance he has made as a writer or speaker to be characterized by increasing precision and justness of view. In the same way he threw himself, with- out previous training, into the career of agitation when the League was formed ; and a contagious benevolence of temper at once prompted him to be conciliatory and predisposed others to meet him in the same mood; while the singleness of purpose which had guided him right in argument, lent him moral cou- rage to be immoveable whenever firmness was required. An in- ventive and restless intellect rendered it easy for him to adapt himself to all emergencies, and enabled a frame far from robust to bear up under incessant excitement. Add to these qualifica- tions, that Richard Cobden is a genuine Englishman in the best sense of the word,—liberal and tolerant in religion, though with a strong vein of religious sentiment, but no nonconformist ; proud of his class, yet fully appretiating the peculiar merits and beauties of the aristocratic character-; with all his ardour for- commercial politics inheriting a true John Bull taste for rural sports; fearlessly frank, kindly, a man of his word ;—and the sources of his power will be fully felt. Men will the more gladly join to pay homage to the destroyer of the Corn-law because he is a likeable man; and they are more right in acting upon this sen- timent than they are aware, for it is owing in no slight degree to his being a likeable man that he has been able to do what he has done.
• There can be no doubt that the national love and gratitude will find a voice : the only misgiving arises from an anxious wish that the Cobden Testimonial may be worthy of him. Testimonials have been sadly vulgarized of late. There is a Lambert Jones testimonial, to show that the Chairman of the City Committees of Taste is a fair representative of the taste of his constituents. There is a Bentinck testimonial, to express the gratitude of the class of worthies championed by the gut tam actions. There is a Hudson testimonial, to perpetuate the abject crawling homage paid in this country to the most vulgar incarnation of the money-- getting faculty.A gain, there is a sad lack of appropriate in- vention in the originators of testimonials. Fletcher, in one of his plays, introduces a deviser of masques and triumphs whose one allegory is a " blue Grace," pressed into the service on all occasions. The range of our testimonial-devisers is nearly as limited—a dinner, a piece of plate, and so many hundred or thousand pounds. The personal character and the services of Richard Cobden de- mand that he should be more worthily honoured. The testi- monial ought to be appropriate both to the man and to the occar sion. "A Peerage, or Westminster Abbey I " was the aspiration of Nelson : they were appropriate rewards in his case' linked to his peculiar services by the association of centuries. The Rowland Hill testimonial is appropriate, inasmuch as it is solid however inadequate payment for the exercise of ingenuity and labour, to one whose time and talents, so exercised, form his chief pro- perty; and because it is a spontaneous offering from the par- ties most benefited. How to make the Cobden testimonial equally appropriate? The "Manchester Manufacturer" would be out of place in the House of Lords ; and long may it be before he has any. claim to Westminster Abbey ! His skilful mercantile combinations, integrity, and far-sighted enterprise, have rendered a pecuniary tribute inappropriate. A dinner in Co- vent Garden? an ovation in one of the most striking scenes of his labours?—The mode is national, and if adopted "may we be there to see" : but something more is wanted. The right Cobden testi- monial ought to be lasting as the new sera of national policy with the opening of which it is associated—elevated in its sympathies as his whom it is intended to honour. Mr. Cobden prides him- self in standing by his order ; and he has shown to what a degree its pursuit can develop the highest qualities of intellect and moral character, and how far these qualities can promote success in its pursuits. A Cobden College in Manchester, to render the pur- suits of science and art conducive to the development of engineer- ing talent and elegant taste in manufactures, and by a high-toned instruction in morals and political economy to elevate the general character of the mercantile and manufacturing classes in the dill, charge of their public duties, would at least have permanence and appropriateness to recommend it. The hint, however, is only thrown out to set the example of every one coming forward with his own suggestion.
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