journalism, attacked him publicly and by name for his 'scandalous aspersions' on Mr. Bright, and the matter was the talk of the country for some weeks. The session of 1864 was remarkable for the refusal of parliament and the constituencies to allow Lord Palmerston to go to war with Prussia and Austria on behalf of Denmark. This was a signal proof of the hold which the new doctrine of non-intervention had gained upon the opinion of the day, for there were some peculiar circumstances in the diplomatic history of the question which, but for that doctrine and a few years earlier, would undoubtedly have been held to make the defence of Denmark an obligation of honour on our part. Besides an important speech which he made on this subject (5 July), Cobden moved a resolution for extending the principle of non-intervention by force of arms in the internal affairs of foreign countries to the case of China (31 May); and he introduced a motion that the government should not manufacture for itself articles that could be obtained from private producers in a competitive market (22 July).
This was Cobden's last speech in the House of Commons. In November he addressed at great length an immense meeting in his own constituency. The effort gave him a serious shake, and for many weeks afterwards he was confined to the house with asthma, bronchitis, and irritation of the throat. He followed the proceedings in parliament with watchful interest. The desire to take part in the discussion on a scheme of Canadian fortification became too strong to be resisted, and he travelled up to London in very bitter weather. He was seized with acute bronchitis, and died on 2 April 1865 in lodgings in Suffolk Street, Pall Mall, within a couple of months of the completion of his sixty-first year. He was buried, amid a large concourse of sorrowing friends, public and private, in the churchyard atLavington,near his home in Sussex, in the grave where his son had been laid nine years before. Cobden was as eminent for the amiability of his private character as for his public virtue. Though incessantly engaged in the keenest controversy, he never made an enemy. The sincerity of his interest in great causes raised him above personalities, as it enabled him to bear with a singular constancy the embarrassments and trials of a life which in some respects had less than its share of happy fortune.
[Speeches on Questions of Public Policy by Richard Cobden, edited by John Bright and J. E. Thorold Rogers, 1870; The Political Writings of Richard Cobden, 1867; Morley's Life of Richard Cobden, 1881; Ashworth's Recollections of Richard Cobden and the Anti-Cornlaw League, 1876; The League: the Exponent of the Principles of Free Trade, and the Organ of the National Anti-Cornlaw League, September 1843 to 4 July 1846.]
COBHAM, Lords. [See Brooke, Henry, d. 1619; Oldcastle, Sir John, d. 1417.]
COBHAM, Viscount. [See Temple Richard, 1669–1749.]
COBHAM, ELEANOR, Duchess of Gloucester (d. 1443 ?). [See under Plantegenet, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, 1391–1446.]
COBHAM, Sir HENRY (1538–1605?), diplomatist, was the fifth son of George Brooke, sixth lord Cobham (the grandfather of Henry Brooke, eighth lord Cobham [q. v.]), but was always known as, and subscribed himself, Henry Cobham. He accompanied Sir Thomas Chaloner the elder [q. v.] to Spain on the latter being accredited as ambassador resident at Madrid in 1561, returning to England the same year with despatches. In 1567 he carried letters from Elizabeth to the emperor and the Archduke Charles at Vienna, by which the queen hoped to reopen the negotiations for her marriage with the archduke, and returned with the answer which closed that chapter of history. In 1570 he was sent to Antwerp, ostensibly on a mission of courtesy, but really to ascertain the destination of the fleet which Alva was then equipping. Thence he went to Speyer, where he had audience of the emperor (17 Sept.), and proceeded by way of Paris to Spain, being accredited to Philip as an envoy extraordinary. His instructions were to demand (1) the release of the English ships seized by Alva in alleged retaliation for depredations committed by English privateers, (2) the expulsion of the English catholic refugees from Spain. He was treated with signal discourtesy, was hardly admitted to an audience of Philip, and then immediately referred to the council. On his attempting to argue that Alva was the aggressor, De Feria bluntly intimated that he was not speaking the truth, and Cardinal Spinosa suggested that Elizabeth ought to make the first advances by restoring the Spanish treasure taken by the privateers. Cobham then returned to England. He was knighted at Kenilworth in the summer of 1575 (Styrpe, Ann., fol., ii. pt. i. p. 394), and in the autumn was again sent to Madrid, this time to demand, under threat of a breach of amity, religious toleration for English subjects resident and travelling in Spain, and 'ministering no just cause of offence by open word, act, or writing,' and liberty for English am-
