tune and the creation of a large mercantile house
have hitherto been matters of less rare occurrence than in older
countries; but the result and use of Richard Cobden's financial success
are as unprecedented and surprising at one end of the money-making and
money-spending world as the other.

Soon after the establishment of his business house in Manchester, Mr.
Cobden interested himself in the public welfare of that city. His labors
in behalf of the people attracted John Bright to his side, and at the
early age of thirty years he had made a "decided local mark."

The saying, true and old as the fact men call character, that it is
what an individual _is_, and not what he _does_, which marks him good or
ill among his kind, holds eminently true with regard to Richard Cobden.
Not only was the range of his sympathies wide, the aim was sure; "he
never lost sight," said Mr. Disraeli, "of the sympathies of those whom
he addressed; and so, generally avoiding to drive his arguments to an
extremity, he became, as a speaker, both practical and persuasive"; and
the same power, brought to bear upon the actions and communications of
every day, made him a puissant servant of the Right.

There are three or four benefactions, however, which he was instrumental
in conferring upon his own country, and indirectly upon all countries,
for which he has become justly celebrated. These are tangible and
enduring proofs of character for those who knew him not, and show his
sympathy to have transcended the bounds of mere sentiment, and passed
into the region of energetic self-sacrifice.

His efforts for the Anti-Corn-Law and Free Trade in England cannot be
over-estimated. His life and strength and fortune were as nothing in
comparison with his desire to benefit the people. When he first
comprehended the necessity of labor in the Anti-Corn-Law struggle, he
determined to press Mr. Bright, whose abilities had already produced a
deep impression upon Mr. Cobden, into the service; but Mr. Bright had
lately lost his wife and had retired to Leamington, where Mr. Cobden
found him bowed down by grief. "'Come with me,' said Cobden, 'and we
will never rest until we abolish the Corn-Laws.' Bright arose and went
with him; and thus was his great sorrow turned to the nation's and the
world's advantage."

Years afterward, a short time before their final triumph in behalf of
Free Trade, Mr. Cobden saw his fortune becoming materially injured,
besides his actual