1844. It was a very hard frost. I had been waiting all the evening to receive this credential letter from Mr. Cobden, who was in his bed-room, with a large fire, receiving people on business, of which he had a vast deal on his hands. He wrote this letter while I was in the room with him; and it struck me as an example of his great aptitude for business that though he had been occupied for several hours by a succession of visitors who sought his counsel or direction on the business of the League, quite apart from the business on which I came to him, he immediately proceeded to write the letter above quoted, and with such precision and accuracy that he did not need to alter a word or even a letter, as I can see from the original letter now lying before me.
I left London on Saturday, December 14th, 1844. I reached Salisbury towards evening the same day, and called on Mr. Lambert the same evening. Some time after my return to London, in January, 1845, I made a report to Mr. Cobden of the result of my inquiries. I will refer in the fifth chapter to some points in my report that may appear of importance and interest; and I may say here that I found myself upon an engagement very difficult. Besides the difficulty of getting
