A correspondent of the Westminster Gazette quotes in fonday's issue
the exact words used by Cobden when he poke of spending £100,000,000 on the Navy. The passage ecnrs in Cobden's speech at Rochdale on June 26th, 1861 :— I have said it in the House of Commons, and I repeat it to on—if the French Government showed a sinister design to acrease their Navy to an equality with ours, then, after every 'planation to prevent such an absurd waste, I should vote 00 millions sterling rather than allow that Navy to be in- ceased to a level with ours—because I should say that any ttempt of that sort, without any legitimate grounds, would rgne some sinister designs upon this country.". Here is the (stripe of the naval balance of power in its most extreme arm. Needless to say, we agree most heartily with Cobden. Ire trust these words may help to make people understand sat Cobden was not a cosmopolitan bagman, but a patriotic as ell as a clear-sighted English statesman.
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