urpassed
by his inexhaustible patience in dealing with the mental infirmities of
those whom it was his business to persuade. He was wholly free from the
unmeasured anger against human stupidity which is itself one of the most
provoking forms of that stupidity.

_III.--Cobden and Bright_

In the autumn of 1841, Cobden and Bright made that solemn compact which
was the beginning of an affectionate and noble friendship that lasted
without a cloud or a jar until Cobden's death.

"On the day when Mr. Cobden called upon me," said Bright, "I was in the
depths of grief, I might almost say of despair; for the light and
sunshine of my house had been extinguished. All that was left on earth
of my young wife, except the memory of a sainted life and of a too brief
happiness, was lying still and cold in the chamber above us. Mr. Cobden
called upon me as a friend, and addressed me, as you might suppose, with
words of condolence. After a time he looked up, and said, 'There are
thousands of houses in England at this moment where wives, mothers, and
children are dying of hunger. Now,' he said, 'when the first paroxysm of
your grief is past, I would advise you to come with me, and we will
never rest till the Corn Law is repealed.' I accepted his invitation."

Although the agitation for repeal was in Cobden's mind only a part of
the broad aims of peace and social and moral progress for which he
strove, he was too practical to put forth his thoughts on too many
subjects at once. He confined his enthusiasm to repeal until repeal was
accomplished. But his efforts left him no time to attend to his own
business, which was falling to pieces under the management of his
brother Frederick. In the autumn of 1845 he felt compelled to give up
his work as an agitator on account of his private affairs, but Bright
and one or two friends procured the money that sufficed to tide over the
emergency.

The cause was now on the eve of victory. The autumn of 1845 was the
wettest in the memory of man. For long the downpour never ceased by
night or by day; it was the rain that rained away the Corn Laws. The bad
harvest and the Irish potato famine brought the long hesitation of Sir
Robert Peel to an end. Soon after the opening of the session of 1846, he
announced his proposals.

The repeal of the Corn Laws was to be total, but not immediate. For
three years there was to be a lowered duty on a sliding scale, and then
the ports were to be opened entirely.