ABSTRACT
Richard Cobden once claimed, loftily, that 'the influence of public opinion, as exercised through the Press', was the 'distinguishing feature in modern civilization'. Cobden's interest in, and work with, the press during the 1830s and 1840s, however, differs from that of the early- to mid- 1850s onwards. In the years down to the mid-1850s Cobden was concerned primarily to secure influence; to use the press to sway public opinion and advance radical demands for reform. Many of the primary concerns of the Cobdenite agenda thus converged happily on the issue of the role and scope of the press. Given the shortcomings of Cobden's own parliamentary attacks on Palmerstonian foreign policy in the mid-1850s, his attention was caught by the possibilities of the newspaper press to mount an alternative line of attack. With the repeal of the newspaper stamp in June 1855 Cobden, along with John Bright and Joseph Sturge in particular, set about establishing a new penny paper.
