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Nineteenth century British politician, leading proponent of free trade
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  • Richard Cobden

    Richard Cobden (3 June 1804 – 2 April 1865) was an English manufacturer and Radical and Liberal statesman, associated with two major free trade campaigns, the Anti-Corn Law League and the Cobden-Chevalier Treaty.

    Reference

    Cobden, Richard (1804-1865), by John M. Brady, The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism, 15 Aug 2008
    Biographical essay
    Richard Cobden is best remembered for his partnership with John Bright in heading the movement in Britain to repeal the tariff on imported grain, known as the Corn Laws. Cobden also was a dedicated advocate of international peace and an uncompromising opponent of war ... Cobden also was committed to constitutional reform; to the disestablishment of state churches; and to a series of social reforms, including the repeal of the primogeniture laws, entails in land, the game laws; and, most important, the abolition of slavery. He was a firm exponent of fiscal retrenchment and tax reform.
    Related Topics: Free trade, War

    Born

    3 Jun 1804, in Dunford, Sussex, England

    Died

    2 Apr 1865, in Suffolk Street, London

    Web Pages

    Richard Cobden - Libertarianism.org
    Links to essays, columns and other resources about Cobden
    Richard Cobden - Online Library of Liberty
    Includes picture, short biography, links to several of Cobden's writings and speeches and to related quotations
    Richard Cobden (1804-1865) was a member of the British Parliament and an advocate of free trade, a non-interventionist foreign policy, peace, and parliamentary reform. He is best remembered for his activity on behalf of the Anti-Corn Law League which helped reduce British tariffs in 1846 and for negotiating the Anglo-French trade agreement of 1860.

    Articles

    Bright, John (1811-1859), by Aaron Steelman, The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism, 15 Aug 2008
    Biographical and bibliographical essay
    [D]uring his life, Bright was best known as an orator, fiery and radical in speech, whereas Cobden, his associate in the Anti-Corn Law League, was considered more pragmatic and measured ... In 1839, he joined with Cobden, already a well-established statesman, to found the Anti-Corn Law League, tirelessly arguing across the British Isles for free trade. In their near-constant tours on behalf of the cause of liberalized trade, Cobden would speak first, giving the reasoned case for reform, with Bright to follow with a more polemical appeal ... Cobden died in 1865, with Bright at his side.
    Related Topics: John Bright, Free trade
    Frederic Bastiat, Ingenious Champion for Liberty and Peace, by Jim Powell, The Freeman, Jun 1997
    Biographical essay of Frédéric Bastiat, covering those who influenced him as well as those influenced by him, his writings (including correspondence with his friend Coudroy), his roles in the French Constituent and Legistative Assemblies and his legacy
    While going through some London newspapers, Bastiat was thrilled to read about how textile entrepreneurs Richard Cobden and John Bright led the Anti-Corn-Law League, a crusade for free trade. Bastiat began gathering material for a book on the Anti-Corn-Law League, and he started corresponding with Cobden. The Englishman was then about 40, and according to a friend, he could often be seen "half skipping along a pavement, or a railway platform, with the lightness of a slim and dapper figure, and a mind full bent upon its object." In July, Bastiat crossed the English Channel to see Cobden.
    Jane Cobden: Carrying on Her Father's Work, by Sheldon Richman, The Goal Is Freedom, 25 Jul 2014
    Biographical essay on Jane Cobden, daughter of Richard Cobden, who continued her father's advocacy of free trade and other ideals
    Most famously, [Cobden] cofounded—with John Bright—the Anti–Corn Law League, which successfully campaigned for repeal of the import tariffs on grain. Those trade restrictions had made food expensive for England's working class while enriching the landed aristocracy. But Cobden ... and Bright linked that cause with their campaign against war and empire, arguing that trade among the people of the world was not just beneficial economically but also conducive to world peace ... Cobden understood that free trade means trade free of government even when it pursues allegedly pro-trade policies.
    Non-Marxist Theories of Imperialism, by Alan Fairgate, Reason, Feb 1976
    Examines writings of critics of imperialism that are not based on Marxist analysis
    The first pamphlets written by Cobden, 'England, Ireland and America' and 'Russia,' advanced a theme which he and Bright reiterated often in later years: war and intervention abroad are parasitic and destructive activities which sap the strength of the domestic economy and ruin trade. ... Cobden had perceived that England's aristocratic class was the major antagonist of free trade and, similarly, that the landed aristocracy was the strongest supporter of an interventionist foreign policy: 'Wars have ever been but another aristocratic mode of plundering and oppressing commerce'
    UpdRichard Cobden: Activist for Peace, by Gary M. Galles, 19 Feb 2003
    Examines Cobden's arguments for trade liberalization, with extensive set of quotations
    On June 3, 1804, Richard Cobden was born. Nicknamed the "Apostle of Free Trade," he spearheaded the campaign against the protectionist English Corn Laws, leading to their repeal in 1846, which then spread to the liberalization of trade throughout much of Europe. His role was so great that it has been said the free market owes its existence to him. Cobden saw that free trade was the key to material prosperity, as evidenced by England's economic growth and rise to world leadership in virtually all aspects of trade—finance, insurance, shipping, etc.—after the Corn Law repeal.
    Related Topic: Free trade
    Richard Cobden: Creator of The Free Market: Cobden broke down protectionist trade laws in England, by John Chodes, The Freeman, Mar 1993
    Examines the Corn Laws, Cobden's success as a merchant and his activism in favor of free trade
    In the midst of all this lived a successful young Manchester textile manufacturer named Richard Cobden. He saw the social injustice, and it made him furious. He was determined to change it, and he did. ... seven years later, England had undergone a revolutionary economic, political, and social change. Taxes on grain had been decimated. Unequaled prosperity flooded England.
    Related Topic: Farming
    Richard Cobden's Triumphant Crusade for Free Trade and Peace, by Jim Powell, The Freeman, Jun 1995
    Extensive biographical essay, including Cobden's relationship with John Bright as they campaigned for repeal of the Corn Laws, and his later peace activism
    The nineteenth century was the most peaceful period in modern history ... [O]ne name towers above the rest: Richard Cobden, the straight-talking English textile entrepreneur who gave up his business to crusade during three crucial decades. He pursued the most successful political strategies for free trade. He articulated the moral case which proved decisive. His inspired speeches attracted thousands of people at a time and raised plenty of money. He traveled throughout Europe, the United States, North Africa, and the Near East, spreading the gospel of free trade to kings and commoners alike.
    Related Topics: John Bright, Free trade, Ireland, War
    To Defeat the Assault on Liberty, Our Appeals Must Be Moral, by Jim Powell, 13 May 2013
    Argues, by providing several historical examples, that "compelling moral appeals for liberty" are needed to confront various current problems such as government spending and debt, higher taxes and disregard of constitutional limits on executive power
    The case for free trade had been made mainly with economic arguments about how consumers benefited when they're free to buy from anyone they choose, including foreign suppliers often kept out of markets by trade restrictions. Then came the British textile manufacturer Richard Cobden who, in 1838, envisioned a movement for free trade. "It appears to me," Cobden wrote an Edinburgh publisher, "that a moral and even a religious spirit may be infused into that topic [free trade], and if agitated in the same manner that the question of slavery has been, it will be irresistible."

    Writings

    Free Trade. XX. Manchester, January 15, 1846, 15 Jan 1846
    Speech to the National Anti-Corn-Law League, discussing their work over the past seven years and predicting immediate repeal of the Corn Laws in the upcoming session of Parliament
    I shall begin the few remarks which I have to offer to this meeting by proposing, contrary to my usual custom, a resolution; and it is, 'That the merchants, manufacturers, and other members of the National Anti-Corn-Law League claim no protection whatever for the manufactured products of this country ...' ... I seek no alliance with parties, or favour from parties, and I will take none—but, having the feeling I have of the sacredness of the principle, I say that I can never agree to tamper with it. I, at least, will never be suspected of doing otherwise than pursuing it disinterestedly, honestly, and resolutely.
    Related Topics: Free Market, Free trade

    Books

    Richard Cobden: Independent Radical
        by Nicholas C. Edsall, 1986
    Contents: Part I: Manchester Manufacturer, 1832-1838 - Part II: Agitator, 1838-1846 - Part III: Schoolmaster, 1846-1856 - Part IV: Diplomatist, 1856-1865 - Bibliography, Notes and Index

    Books Authored

    The Political Writings of Richard Cobden, Volume I, 1835
    Electronic text available at Online Library of Liberty; contents: England, Ireland, and America. 1835 - Russia. 1836 - 1793 and 1853, in three letters
    Speeches on Questions of Public Policy by Richard Cobden. M. P. - in Two Volumes, by John Bright (editor), Richard Cobden, 14 Apr 1870
    Electronic text available at Online Library of Liberty; contents: Volume I: Free Trade and Finance - Volume II: War, Peace, and Reform; also edited by James E. Thorold Rogers
    It was originally intended that all the Speeches contained in these volumes should have had the advantage of Mr. Bright's revision. Mr. Bright has done this service to those which are contained in the first volume. But, after he had given the same assistance to a few sheets in the second, he was unhappily seized with illness, and has been unable to give his further supervision to the work. It is hoped that this loss will not detract too much from the value of this publication.

    Videos


    Classics of Liberty, Ep. 5: Richard Cobden: On Free Trade, by Caleb Brown, 12 Sep 2015
    Short biographical introduction to Cobden followed by selections from his writings on free trade
    Related Topic: Free trade

    The introductory paragraph uses material from the Wikipedia article "Richard Cobden" as of 12 Jul 2018, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.