Part 42

Cobden's efforts in furtherance of free trade were always subordinated to what he deemed the highest moral purposes--the promotion of peace on earth and goodwill among men. This was his desire and hope as respects the commercial treaty with France. He was therefore deeply disappointed and distressed to find the old feeling of distrust still actively fomented by the press and some of the leading politicians of the country. In 1862 he published his pamphlet entitled _The Three Panics_, the object of which was to trace the history and expose the folly of those periodical visitations of alarm as to French designs with which England had been afflicted for the preceding fifteen or sixteen years.

When the Civil War threatened to break out in the United States, Cobden was deeply distressed. But after the conflict became inevitable his sympathies were wholly with the North, because the South was fighting for slavery. His great anxiety, however, was that the British nation should not be committed to any unworthy course during the progress of that struggle. And when relations with America were becoming critical and menacing in consequence of the depredations committed on American commerce by vessels issuing from British ports, he brought the question before the House of Commons in a series of speeches of rare clearness and force.

For several years Cobden had been suffering severely at intervals from bronchial irritation and a difficulty of breathing. Owing to this he had spent the winter of 1860 in Algeria, and every subsequent winter he had to be very careful and confine himself to the house, especially in damp and foggy weather. In November 1864 he went down to Rochdale and delivered a speech to his constituents--the last he ever delivered. That effort was followed by great physical prostration, and he determined not to quit his retirement at Midhurst until spring had fairly set in. But in the month of March there were discussions in the House of Commons on the alleged necessity of constructing large defensive works in Canada. He was deeply impressed with the folly of such a project, and he was seized with a strong desire to go up to London and deliver his sentiments on the subject. He left home on the 21st of March, and caught a chill. He recovered a little for a few days after his arrival in London; but on the 29th there was a relapse, and on the 2nd of April 1865 he expired peacefully at his apartments in Suffolk Street.

On the following day there was a remarkable scene in the House of Commons. When the clerk read the orders of the day Lord Palmerston rose, and in impressive and solemn tones declared "it was not possible for the House to proceed to business without every member recalling to his mind the great loss which the House and country had sustained by the event which took place yesterday morning." He then paid a generous tribute to the virtues, the abilities and services of Cobden, and he was followed by Disraeli, who with great force and felicity of language delineated the character of the deceased statesman, who, he said, "was an ornament to the House of Commons and an honour to England." Bright also attempted to address the House, but, after a sentence or two delivered in a tremulous voice, he was overpowered with emotion, and declared he must leave to a calmer moment what he had to say on the life and character of the manliest and gentlest spirit that ever quitted or tenanted a human form.

In the French Corps Législatif, also, the vice-president, Forçade la Roquette, referred to his death, and warm expressions of esteem were repeated and applauded on every side. "The death of Richard Cobden," said M. la Roquette, "is not alone a misfortune for England, but a cause of mourning for France and humanity." Drouyn de Lhuys, the French minister of foreign affairs, made his death the subject of a special despatch, desiring the French ambassador to express to the government "the mournful sympathy and truly national regret which the death, as lamented as premature, of Richard Cobden had excited on that side of the Channel." "He is above all," he added, "in our eyes the representative of those sentiments and those cosmopolitan principles before which national frontiers and rivalries disappear; whilst essentially of his country, he was still more of his time; he knew what mutual relations could accomplish in our day for the prosperity of peoples. Cobden, if I may be permitted to say so, was an international man."

He was buried at West Lavington church, on the 7th of April. His grave was surrounded by a large crowd of mourners, among whom were Gladstone, Bright, Milner Gibson, Charles Villiers and a host besides from all parts of the country. In 1866 the Cobden Club was founded in London, to promote free-trade economics, and it became a centre for political propaganda on those lines; and prizes were instituted in his name at Oxford and Cambridge.

Cobden had married in 1840 Miss Catherine Anne Williams, a Welsh lady, and left five surviving daughters, of whom Mrs Cobden-Unwin (wife of the publisher Mr Fisher Unwin), Mrs Walter Sickert (wife of the painter) and Mrs Cobden-Sanderson (wife of the well-known artist in bookbinding), afterwards became prominent in various spheres, and inherited their father's political interest. His only son died, to Cobden's inexpressible grief, at the age of fifteen, in 1856.

The work of Cobden, and what is now called "Cobdenism," has in recent years been subjected to much criticism from the newer school of English economists who advocate a "national policy" (on the old lines of Alexander Hamilton and Friedrich List) as against his cosmopolitan ideals. But it remains the fact that his success with the free-trade movement was for years unchallenged, and, that the leaps and bounds with which English commercial prosperity advanced after the repeal of the corn-laws were naturally associated with the reformed fiscal policy, so that the very name of protectionism came to be identified with all that was not merely heterodox but hateful. The tariff reform movement in England started by Mr Chamberlain (_q.v._) had the result of giving new boldness to the opponents of Manchesterism, and the whole subject once more became controversial (see FREE TRADE; CORN LAWS; PROTECTION; TARIFF; ECONOMICS). Cobden has left a deep mark on English history, but he was not himself a "scientific economist," and many of his confident prophecies were completely falsified. As a manufacturer, and with the circumstances of his own day before him, he considered that it was "natural" for Great Britain to manufacture for the world in exchange for her free admission of the more "natural" agricultural products of other countries. He advocated the repeal of the corn-laws, not essentially in order to make food cheaper, but because it would develop industry and enable the manufacturers to get labour at low but sufficient wages; and he assumed that other countries would be unable to compete with England in manufactures under free trade, at the prices which would be possible for English manufactured products. "We advocate," he said, "nothing but what is agreeable to the highest behests of Christianity--to buy in the cheapest market, and sell in the dearest." He believed that the rest of the world must follow England's example: "if you abolish the corn-laws honestly, and adopt free trade in its simplicity, there will not be a tariff in Europe that will not be changed in less than five years" (January 1846). His cosmopolitanism--which makes him in the modern Imperialist's eyes a "Little Englander" of the straitest sect--led him to deplore any survival of the colonial system and to hail the removal of ties which bound the mother country to remote dependencies; but it was, in its day, a generous and sincere reaction against popular sentiment, and Cobden was at all events an outspoken advocate of an irresistible British navy. There were enough inconsistencies in his creed to enable both sides in the recent controversies to claim him as one who if he were still alive would have supported their case in the altered circumstances; but, from the biographical point of view, these issues are hardly relevant. Cobden inevitably stands for "Cobdenism," which is a creed largely developed by the modern free-trader in the course of subsequent years. It becomes equivalent to economic _laisser-faire_ and "Manchesterism," and as such it must fight its own corner with those who now take into consideration many national factors which had no place in the early utilitarian individualistic régime of Cobden's own day.

The standard biography is that by John Morley (1881). Cobden's speeches were collected and published in 1870. The centenary of his birth in 1904 was celebrated by a flood of articles in the newspapers and magazines, naturally coloured by the new controversy in England over the Tariff Reform movement.

COBET, CAREL GABRIEL (1813-1889), Dutch classical scholar, was born at Paris on the 28th of November 1813, and educated at the Hague Gymnasium and the university of Leiden. In 1836 he won a gold medal for an essay entitled _Prosopographia Xenophontea_, a brilliant characterization of all the persons introduced into the _Memorabilia_, _Symposium_ and _Oeconomicus_ of Xenophon. His _Observationes criticae in Platonis comici reliquias_ (1840) revealed his remarkable critical faculty. The university conferred on him an honorary degree, and recommended him to the government for a travelling pension. The ostensible purpose of his journey was to collate the texts of Simplicius, which, however, engaged but little of his time. He contrived, however, to make a careful study of almost every Greek manuscript in the Italian libraries, and returned after five years with an intimate knowledge of palaeography. In 1846 he married, and in the same year was appointed to an extraordinary professorship at Leiden. His inaugural address, _De Arte interpretandi Grammatices et Critices Fundamentis innixa_, has been called the most perfect piece of Latin prose written in the 19th century. The rest of his life was passed uneventfully at Leiden. In 1856 he became joint editor of _Mnemosyne_, a philological review, which he soon raised to a leading position among classical journals. He contributed to it many critical notes and emendations, which were afterwards collected in book form under the titles _Novae Lectiones_, _Variae Lectiones_ and _Miscellanea Critica_. In 1875 he took a prominent part at the Leiden Tercentenary, and impressed all his hearers by his wonderful facility in Latin improvisation. In 1884, when his health was failing, he retired as emeritus professor. He died on the 26th of October 1889. Cobet's special weapon as a critic was his consummate knowledge of palaeography, but he was no less distinguished for his rare acumen and wide knowledge of classical literature. He has been blamed for rashness in the emendation of difficult passages, and for neglecting the comments of other scholars. He had little sympathy for the German critics, and maintained that the best combination was English good sense with French taste. He always expressed his obligation to the English, saying that his masters were three Richards--Bentley, Porson and Dawes.

See an appreciative obituary notice by W.G. Rutherford in the _Classical Review_, Dec. 1889; Hartman in Bursian's _Biographisches Jahrbuch_, 1890; Sandys, _Hist. Class. Schol._ (1908), iii. 282.

COBHAM, a village in the Medway parliamentary division of Kent, England, 4 m. W. of Rochester. The church (Early English and later, and restored by Sir G.G. Scott) is famous for its collection of ancient brasses, of which thirteen belonging to the years 1320-1529 commemorate members of the Brooke and Cobham families. There are some fine oak stalls and some tilting armour of the 14th century in the chancel. Cobham college, containing 20 almshouses, took the place, after the dissolution, of a college for priests founded by Sir John de Cobham in the 14th century. The present mansion of Cobham Hall is mainly Elizabethan. The picture gallery contains a fine collection of works by the great masters, Italian, Dutch and English.

The Cobham family was established here before the reign of King John. In 1313 Henry de Cobham was created Baron Cobham, but on the execution of Sir John Oldcastle (who had been summoned to parliament, _jure uxoris_, as Baron Cobham) in 1417, the barony lay dormant till revived in 1445 by Edward, son of Sir Thomas Brooke and Joan, grand-daughter of the 3rd Baron Cobham. In 1603 Henry Brooke, Lord Cobham, was arraigned for participation in the Raleigh conspiracy, and spent the remainder of his life in prison, where he died in 1618. With him the title expired, and Cobham Hall was granted to Lodowick Stewart, duke of Lennox, passing subsequently by descent and marriage to the earls of Darnley. The present Viscount Cobham (cr. 1718) belongs to the Lyttelton family (see Lyttelton, 1st Baron).

COBIJA, or PUERTO LA MAR (the official title given to it by the Bolivian government), a port and town of the Chilean province of Antofagasta, about 800 m. N. of Valparaiso. It is the oldest port on this part of the coast, and was for a time the principal outlet for a large mining district. It was formerly capital of the Bolivian department of Atacama and the only port possessed by Bolivia, but the seizure of that department in 1879 by Chile and the construction of the Antofagasta and Oruro railway deprived it of all importance, and its population, estimated at 6000 in 1858, has fallen to less than 500. Its harbour is comparatively safe but lacks landing facilities. Smelting for neighbouring mines is still carried on, and some of its former trade remains, but the greater part of it has gone to Tocopilla and Antofagasta. The town occupies a narrow beach between the sea and bluffs, and was greatly damaged by an earthquake and tidal wave in 1877.

COBLE (probably of Celtic origin, and connected with the root _ceu_ or _cau_, hollow; cf. Welsh _ceubol_, a ferry-boat), a flat-bottomed fishing-boat, with deep-lying rudder and lug-sail, used off the north-east coast of England.

COBLENZ (KOBLENZ), a city and fortress of Germany, capital of the Prussian Rhine Province, 57 m. S.E. from Cologne by rail, pleasantly situated on the left bank of the Rhine at its confluence with the Mosel, from which circumstance it derived its ancient name _Confluentes_, of which Coblenz is a corruption. Pop. (1885) 31,669; (1905) 53,902. Its defensive works are extensive, and consist of strong modern forts crowning the hills encircling the town on the west, and of the citadel of Ehrenbreitstein (q.v.) on the opposite bank of the Rhine. The old city was triangular in shape, two sides being bounded by the Rhine and Mosel and the third by a line of fortifications. The last were razed in 1890, and the town was permitted to expand in this direction. Immediately outside the former walls lies the new central railway station, in which is effected a junction of the Cologne-Mainz railway with the strategical line Metz-Berlin. The Rhine is crossed by a bridge of boats 485 yds. long, by an iron bridge built for railway purposes in 1864, and, a mile above the town, by a beautiful bridge of two wide and lofty spans carrying the Berlin railway referred to. The Mosel is spanned by a Gothic freestone bridge of 14 arches, erected in 1344, and also by a railway bridge.

The city, down to 1890, consisted of the Altstadt (old city) and the Neustadt (new city) or Klemenstadt. Of these, the Altstadt is closely built and has only a few fine streets and squares, while the Neustadt possesses numerous broad streets and a handsome frontage to the Rhine. In the more ancient part of Coblenz are several buildings which have an historical interest. Prominent among these, near the point of confluence of the rivers, is the church of St Castor, with four towers. The church was originally founded in 836 by Louis the Pious, but the present Romanesque building was completed in 1208, the Gothic vaulted roof dating from 1498. In front of the church of St Castor stands a fountain, erected by the French in 1812, with an inscription to commemorate Napoleon's invasion of Russia. Not long after, the Russian troops occupied Coblenz; and St Priest, their commander, added in irony these words--"_Vu et approuvé par nous, Commandant Russe de la Vitte de Coblence: Janvier 1er, 1814._" In this quarter of the town, too, is the Liebfrauenkirche, a fine church (nave 1250, choir 1404-1431) with lofty late Romanesque towers; the castle of the electors of Trier, erected in 1280, which now contains the municipal picture gallery; and the family house of the Metternichs, where Prince Metternich, the Austrian statesman, was born in 1773. In the modern part of the town lies the palace (Residenzschloss), with one front looking towards the Rhine, the other into the Neustadt. It was built in 1778-1786 by Clement Wenceslaus the last elector of Trier, and contains among other curiosities some fine Gobelin tapestries. From it some pretty gardens and promenades (_Kaiserin Augusta Anlagen_) stretch along the bank of the Rhine, and in them is a memorial to the poet Max von Schenkendorf. A fine statue to the empress Augusta, whose favourite residence was Coblenz, stands in the Luisen-platz. But of all public memorials the most striking is the colossal equestrian statue of the emperor William I., erected by the Rhine provinces in 1897, standing on a lofty and massive pedestal, at the point where the Rhine and Mosel meet. Coblenz has also handsome law courts, government buildings, a theatre, a museum of antiquities, a conservatory of music, two high grade schools, a hospital and numerous charitable institutions. Coblenz is a principal seat of the Mosel and Rhenish wine trade, and also does a large business in the export of mineral waters. Its manufactures include pianos, paper, cardboard, machinery, boats and barges. It is an important transit centre for the Rhine railways and for the Rhine navigation.

_Coblenz_ (Confluentes, Covelenz, Cobelenz) was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 9 b.c. Later it was frequently the residence of the Frankish kings, and in 860 and 922 was the scene of ecclesiastical synods. At the former of these, held in the Liebfrauenkirche, took place the reconciliation of Louis the German with his half-brother Charles the Bald. In 1018 the city, after receiving a charter, was given by the emperor Henry II. to the archbishop of Trier (Treves), and it remained in the possession of the archbishop-electors till the close of the 18th century. In 1249-1254 it was surrounded with new walls by Archbishop Arnold II. (of Isenburg); and it was partly to overawe the turbulent townsmen that successive archbishops built and strengthened the fortress of Ehrenbreitstein (q.v.) that dominates the city. As a member of the league of the Rhenish cities which took its rise in the 13th century, Coblenz attained to great prosperity; and it continued to advance till the disasters of the Thirty Years' War occasioned a rapid decline. After Philip Christopher, elector of Trier, had surrendered Ehrenbreitstein to the French the town received an imperial garrison (1632), which was soon, however, expelled by the Swedes. They in their turn handed the city over to the French, but the imperial forces succeeded in retaking it by storm (1636). In 1688 it was besieged by the French under Marshal de Boufflers, but they only succeeded in bombarding the Altstadt into ruins, destroying among other buildings the old merchants' hall (_Kaufhaus_), which was restored in its present form in 1725. In 1786 the elector of Trier, Clement Wenceslaus of Saxony, took up his residence in the town, and gave great assistance in its extension and improvement; a few years later it became, through the invitation of his minister, Ferdinand, Freiherr von Duminique, one of the principal rendezvous of the French _émigrés_. This drew down upon the archbishop-elector the wrath of the French republicans; in 1794 Coblenz was taken by the Revolutionary army under Marceau (who fell during the siege), and, after the peace of Lunéville, it was made the chief town of the Rhine and Mosel department (1798). In 1814 it was occupied by the Russians, by the congress of Vienna it was assigned to Prussia, and in 1822 it was made the seat of government of the Rhine province.

See Daniel, _Deutschland_ (Leipzig, 1895); W. A. Günther, _Geschichte der Stadt Koblenz_ (Cobl., 1815); and Bär, _Urkunden und Akten zur Geschichte der Verfassung und Verwaltung der Stadt Koblenz bis zum Jahre 1500_ (Bonn, 1898).

COBOURG, the capital of Northumberland county, Ontario, Canada, on Lake Ontario and the Grand Trunk railway; 70 m. E.N.E. of Toronto. Pop. (1901) 4239. It has a large, safe harbour, and steamboat communication with St Lawrence and Lake Ontario ports. It contains car-works, foundries, and carpet and woollen factories, and is a summer resort, especially for Americans. Victoria University, formerly situated here, was removed to Toronto in 1890.

COBRA (_Naja tripudians_), a poisonous Colubrine snake, belonging to the family _Elapidae_, known also as the hooded snake, cobra di capello or _naga_. In this genus the anterior ribs are elongated, and by raising and bringing forward these, the neck can be expanded at will into a broad disk or hood. It possesses two rows of palatine teeth in the upper jaw, while the maxillary bones bear the fangs, of which the anterior one only is in connexion with the poison gland, the others in various stages of growth remaining loose in the surrounding flesh until the destruction of the poison fang brings the one immediately behind to the front, which then gets anchylosed to the maxillary bone, and into connexion with the gland secreting the poison, which in the cobra is about the size of an almond. Behind the poison fangs there are usually one or two ordinary teeth. The cobra attains a length of nearly 6 ft. and a girth of about 6 in.

The typical cobra is yellowish to dark-brown, with a black and white spectacle-mark on the back of the hood, and with a pair of large black and white spots on the corresponding under-surface. There are, however, many varieties, in some of which the spectacle markings on the hood are wanting. The cobra may be regarded as nocturnal in its habits, being most active by night, although not unfrequently found in motion during the day. It usually conceals itself under logs of wood, in the roofs of huts and in holes in old walls and ruins, where it is often come upon inadvertently, inflicting a death wound before it has been observed. It feeds on small quadrupeds, frogs, lizards, insects and the eggs of birds, in search of which it sometimes ascends trees. When seeking its prey it glides slowly along the ground, holding the anterior third of its body aloft, with its hood distended, on the alert for anything that may come in its way. "This attitude," says Sir J. Fayrer, "is very striking, and few objects are more calculated to inspire awe than a large cobra when, with his hood erect, hissing loudly and his eyes glaring, he prepares to strike." It is said to drink large quantities of water, although like reptiles in general it will live for many months without food or drink. The cobra is oviparous; and its eggs, which are from 18 to 25 in number, are of a pure white colour, somewhat resembling in size and appearance the eggs of the pigeon, but sometimes larger. These it leaves to be hatched by the heat of the sun. It is widely distributed, from Transcaspia to China and to the Malay Islands, and is found in all parts of India, from Ceylon to the Himalayas up to about 8000 ft. above the level of the sea.