ABSTRACT
Richard Cobden’s attitude on the question of East European policy deserves to be recalled for two reasons: because it was ultimately endorsed by the nation generally, though only after two generations had passed away, and because the Eastern Question is even yet only partially solved. Cobden never modified his low estimate of Turkey or his conviction those ages of unchanging misgovemment, oppression, and cruelty had disqualified her for the custody of alien populations. The nation at large preferred Palmerston to the Manchester manufacturer, and when in the middle of the century the rupture came which Cobden had foreseen, it plunged with enthusiasm into a long and disastrous war. Cobden, like his friend John Bright, abhorred equally the war and the alliance in which England fought. Cobden and Bright stood out against the fierce tide of clamour and calumny, heroic figures, serene and unperturbed, never overwhelmed, never daunted or shaken.
