The Cobden Club,—.which, in curious contrast to the nature of
the man whom it commemorates, assembles but to dine and talk, .—hold its annual meeting last Saturday, when the talking, under Lord Granville's presidency, was, as we must admit, rather better than usual, perhaps because Lord Granville, as he boasted at the 'close of the proceedings, had succeeded in reducing the number of fish courses which preceded the " regular dinner " to the moderate slumber of "ten." There was, however, as usual, too much panegyric on Mi. Cobden, who, realist as he was would be the first to shrink 'from such streams of flattery, and who, if he can look upon our terrestrial proceedings during the last year,would be the first to admit that he had quite over-rated the strength of commercial ties, and under-rated the strength of the disturbing human passions. Mr. -Cobden was a very strong man, a very shrewd reasoner, and a very lucid and beautiful expositor of his own political views ; but :no one who estimates him truly will deny that there was a aide on which his mind was narrow, and his imagination limited by both prejudice and defective education. We do injustice to our great men by bespatteriug them with unmeaning praise.
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