724 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



Septemher i, 1913. 



Bright accepted Cobden's invitation, 

 and that was the beginning of his 

 political career : of a life which, in or 

 out of Parliament, was thenceforward 

 devoted to the causes he believed to be 

 noble, and to the service of those who 

 suffered. 



THE CRIMEAN WAR. 



His work for the repeal of the Corn 

 Laws and the extension of the franchise 

 is well known, but his vain protest 

 against the Crimean War is not so 

 familiar. In one onslaught on the Gov- 

 ernment he said : — 



Some honourable gentlemen talk as if Rus- 

 sia were a power which you could take t<) 



disease, and that in thdt vhole month only 

 six shirts ircre icashcd! Can anyone con- 

 ceive the horrors which are included in this 

 fearful statement? 



His speech in February, 1855, when he 

 pleaded for a cessation of hostilities, has 

 often been quoted : — 



I do not suppose, he said, that your 

 troops are to be beaten in actual conflict 

 with the foe or that they will be driven into 

 the sea ; but I am certain that many homes 

 in England in which there now exists a fond 

 hope that the distant one may return — many 

 such homes may be rendered desolate when 

 the next mail shall arrive. The Angel of 

 Death has been abroad throughout the land ; 

 you may almost hear the beating of his 

 wings. There is no one, as when the first- 

 born were slain of old. to sprinkle with blood 



-!j)-::mjm 



1 







FROM THE "ANTI-CORN LAW 

 A cartoon drawn by Thackeray. A Russian and 



CIRCULAR." JULY 23. 1839. 



a Pole, hringring cum for the starviiiE English, are 

 repulsed by the myrmidons of the Landlord State— 8.')ldier. policeman and beadle. 



Bow Street and bind over before some sti- 

 pendiary magistrate to keep the peace for 

 six months. Russia is a great Power, as 

 England is, and in treating with her you 

 must consider that the Russian Government 

 has to consult its own dignity, its own inter- 

 ests, and public opinion, just as mucii at 

 least as the Government of this country. 



And to his wife he wrote: — 



I read through tlie report of the Sebasto- 

 pol Committee. It is a melancholy narrative, 

 and should condemn every member of the 

 Government of Lord Aberdeen to perpetual 

 exclusion from office. There is one fact 

 stated, that in the month of November (1854), 

 in the hospital at Scutari, there were 

 2000 patients suffering from wounds and 



the two side-posts of our doors, that he may 

 spare and ji.ass on ; he takes his victims from 

 the castle of the noble, the mansion of the 

 wealthy, and the cottage of the ix)or and 

 lowly, and it is on behalf of all these classes 

 that I make this solemn appeal. 



But his appeal was in vain. Palmer- 

 ston would not yield, though Russia 

 had conceded three out of the four dis- 

 puted points, and was ready to discuss 

 the fourth. 



Cobden, who heard the great speech 

 delivered, said to him as he sat down 

 amid the universal cheering which 

 greeted the oratorical triumph, " You 



