moving those obstacles
which prevented the two countries from being brought into closer
dependence on one another, and he succeeded in making a considerable
inpression on his mind in favour of free trade. He then addressed
himself to the French ministers, and had much earnest conversation,
especially with Rouher, whom he found well inclined to the economical
and commercial principles which he advocated. After a good deal of time
spent in these preliminary and unofficial negotiations, the question of
a treaty of commerce between the two countries having entered into the
arena of diplomacy, Cobden was requested by the British government to
act as their plenipotentiary in the matter in conjunction with Lord
Cowley, their ambassador in France. But it proved a very long and
laborious undertaking. He had to contend with the bitter hostility of
the French protectionists, which occasioned a good deal of vacillation
on the part of the emperor and his ministers. There were also delays,
hesitations and cavils at home, which were more inexplicable. He was,
moreover, assailed with great violence by a powerful section of the
English press, while the large number of minute details with which he
had to deal in connexion with proposed changes in the French tariff,
involved a tax on his patience and industry which would have daunted a
less resolute man. But there was one source of embarrassment greater
than all the rest. One strong motive which had impelled him to engage in
this enterprise was his anxious desire to establish more friendly
relations between England and France, and to dispel those feelings of
mutual jealousy and alarm which were so frequently breaking forth and
jeopardizing peace between the two countries. This was the most powerful
argument with which he had plied the emperor and the members of the
French government, and which he had found most efficacious with them.
But while he was in the midst of the negotiations, Lord Palmerston
brought forward in the House of Commons a measure for fortifying the
naval arsenals of England, which he introduced in a warlike speech
pointedly directed against France, as the source of danger of invasion
and attack, against which it was necessary to guard. This produced
irritation and resentment in Paris, and but for the influence which
Cobden had acquired, and the perfect trust reposed in his sincerity, the
negotiations would probably have been altogether wrecked. At last,
however, after ne