the vested interests of the landowners, the interests of the poor man, whose earnings were from five to fifteen shillings a week, should not be left out of consideration. The resolutions in favour of total repeal were passed unanimously.
Cobden was now beginning to be recognised as one of the most prominent leaders, out of Parliament, of the free-trade movement; and the free traders were now saying how desirable it was that he should be sent to represent their principles in the House of Commons. This was not acceptable to the old whig party. He was an unsafe man, they said; a man of ultra opinions could effect no good in the legislature; however popular he might be out of doors, it required a different kind of talent to make any impression in Parliament; he would soon find his level there. The usual reply to such talk was: "Yes he will find his level there, but it will be a higher level than he now stands upon—a higher level than nine-tenths of the members of the present House of Commons stand upon. He is not the mob orator. He is the same man in the stormy public meeting, as he is in the Town Council, the Chamber of Commerce, or the Conference of Delegates, where men of the highest intelligence are gathered together from all parts of the kingdom. He has every quality required for Parliament except rhetorical oratory, and, even on that point, his speaking, now that men look more for reason than florid rhetoric, will be found quite as effective as the best orator in the house."
It will be seen by the brief sketches I have given of discussions on the Corn Law, that while landlord fallacies were acutely examined and remorselessly demolished, the simple question was frequently put, "Is it just?" And the religious element was as often manifested as the politico-economical, and another question often asked was, "Is it right that man's law should intercept in its transit the food which God has provided for all his creatures?"
