Mr. Cobden has replied to a letter from Mr. Taylor
detailing the opera- tions of the Freehold Land Society in Birmingham, with a letter of encou-
ragement. He says- ' It was not until after the League had been for nearly five years agitating for the abolition of the Corn-laws that the idea of urging all Free-traders to pur- chase forty-shilling freeholds struck me. I don't know how it entered my head, but I remember afterwards feeling astonished at not having previously thought of so obvious a means of effecting our object. Up to that time, I could never satisfactorily answer the question which was constantly recurring in my own mind—' How can the Corn-laws be repealed ? ' But from the moment when we launched the county qualification project, I never felt the slightest doubt or diffi- culty in the matter." Five years have elapsed, and he is more than ever certain that this dis- covery presents" the only safe, certain, and legal means of effecting those farther political changes which are necessary to bring the Government into harmony with the wants and wishes of a majority of the people of this country." He upholds the plan as a safeguard against national disorders- " I observe a disposition in certain quarters to flatter us Englishmen with self- complacency and quiescence, by pointing to the revolutions of the Continent, and, like the Ph,..risee thanking Heaven that we are not as other nations are; but if we have escaped those convulsions which have shook the very foundations of social order amongst our neighbours, it is because, whilst they have been politically stagnant, we have been constantly reforming 5d changing; and I see no other guarantee against revolutions for the future but in the labours of earnest men, like Mr. Taylor and his coadjutors, who inspire their countrymen with confidence and hope that henceforth, as in times past, by moral means alone, all necessary reforms may be effected in the institutions and practical policy of this kingdom. Whatever may be the remedial changes desired by different classes of Reformers, whether they be of an organic kind, such as the extension of the suffrage, the ballot, shorter Parliaments, a fairer apportionment of the franchise—or of a prac- tical character, such as the reduction or equalization of taxation, the maintenance of peace, &c., the Freehold Land Society. points out the direct, and, I believe, the only path for reaching the objects they have in view. With such a ready means of arming themselves with political power, available to the majority of Englishmen. through the exercise of a moderate share of prudence and economy, they will betray a want of self-respect if they do not, by a general imitation of the example of your Society, obtain a sufficient control over the representation in the House of Commons to secure the triumph of those principles and that policy which shall fairly reflect the public opinion of this country."
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