RICHARD COBDEN, EDUCATIONIST, ECONOMIST AND STATESMAN. BY PETER NELSON FARRAR M.A. (oxoN), M.A. (LVPL). THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD. Division of Education, June 1987. ii CONTENTS Page Ref. Summary iv Abbreviations vi Photographs vii Preface and Acknowledgements viii Part I. An Analysis of Cobden's Ideas and the Formative Influences. Chapter 1. An introductory analysis of Cobden's social philosophy and political activities. 1, 18 2. Cobden's character and formative years. 21, 39 3. Cobden's religious, moral and educa- tional philosophy. 41, 63 4. Cobden's approach to economics. 65, 81 Part II. Thought and Action 1835-1865. 5. The pen of "a Manchester manufacturer". 85, 98 6. Education for the people of Sabden and Chorley. 100, 120 7. Awakening Manchester 1835-1836 123, 147 8. The establishment of the Manchester Society for Promoting National Education. 152, 173 9. Educating the working class: schools and lyceums. 177, 195 10. "The education of 17 millions" the Anti-Corn Law League. 199, 231 11. Cobden and Frederic Bastiat: defining the economics of a consumer society. 238, 264 12. Amid contending ideals of national education 1843-1850. 269, 294 13. Guiding the National Public School Association 1850-1854. 298, 330 14. The Manchester Model Secular School. 336, 353 15. Cobden's last bid for a national education 1855-57. 355, 387 iii Page Ref. 16. The schooling of Richard Cobden junior. 391, 403 17. Newspapers for the millions. 404, 435 18. Investing in a future civilisation: the land development of the Illinois Central Railroad. 441, 460 19. Cobden and Chevalier: the Anglo- French Commercial Treaty and arms control. 464, 492 20. International education 498, 512 21 New explorations of the relations of government and economic affairs: (1) Louis Mallet and educating nations in free trade; (2) James E. Thorold Rogers and the reform of economic science. 516, 534 Part III. Lost Horizons. 22. Cobden's philosophy unfulfilled. 539, 555 Bibliography. List of sections. 55 9A Bibliography 559B iv Suinma ry RICHARD COBDEN, EDUCATIONIST, ECONOMIST AND STATESMAN. BY PETER NELSON FARRAR The aim of the thesis is to show that Richard Cobden (1804-1865) deserves to be given a significant place in the history of political, economic and social thought and also full credit for a range of statesmanship which went far beyond his well known part in the repeal of the Corn Laws and the Anglo-French Commercial Treaty of 1860. Historians have not sufficiently recognisedL that Cobden sought to make fundamental changes in British society and that he tried to initiate them by piecemeal constitutional methods. He also believed that the British example would have a powerful influence on other countries and thus contribute to a new world order. Cobden had a coherent, although unsystematised, philosophy, based on certain major assumptions. They were, firstly, that social progress depends on the interaction of economic, moral and religious and educational factors; secondly that progress towards a real political democracy depends on progress in the former areas. A special problem in explaining Cobden's philosophy is the fact that the ideas of two important thinkers with whom he was associated, George Combe (1788-1858), phrenologist (psychologist) and Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850), economist, have been belittled and neglected since Cobden's death. Therefore, the analy- sis of Cobden's thought necessitated an effort to "rehabili- tate't these two thinkers. Cobden's efforts to transform British politics and V society were only partially successful in Britain's adoption of free trade, a policy not properly understood by most statesmen and commercial men. His work for common schools, international schools, lyceums and educative popular newspapers was a failure and soon forgotten; his efforts to reform British foreign policy and implement arms control also failed. After his death, his followers failed to develop satisfactorily his ideas for application to social and international problems. These ideas still have considerable potential. vi Abbreviations C Richard Cobden Morley J. Morley: Life of Richard Cobden. One volume edition of 1906. Speeches J. Bright and J.E.T. Rogers (eds.) Speeches by Richard Cobden M.P. (2 volume edition, 1870). Political Writings The Political Writings of Richard Cobden. One volume edition of 1886. Pan. Debates Parliamentary Debates. Hansard. H. of C. House of Commons. H. of L. House of Lords. Ref. Reference. BFSS British and Foreign School Society. BL British Library (London). BLEPS British Library of Economic and Political Science (London). Cp Cobden Papers. ICST Imperial College of Science and Technology (London). JSSL Journal of the Statistical Society of London. ME Manchester Examiner. MET Manchester Examiner and Times. MG Manchester Guardian. MRL Manchester Reference Library. MS Morning Star. MT Manchester Times. NL S National Library of Scotland. TRC Thorold Rogers Correspondence. UCL University College London. UCLA University of California Los Angeles. vii o to graphs 1. George Combe. Between pages 40 and 41 2. Richard Cobden. 84 and 85 3. Frederic Bastiat. 237 and 238 4. Bastiat's monument. 237 and 238 5. Richard Cobden junior. 390 and 391 6. Bright, Cobden and Chevalier 463 and 464 7. Cobden, wife and eldest daughter 515 and 516 viii Preface and Acknowledgements This thesis has its origins in a long essay for the Department of Education at the University of Oxford in 1960. It concerned the influence of Horace Mann and the American common school system on British educational reformers in the mineteenth century. Afterwards, I developed the theme for a Master of Arts thesis of the University of Liverpool. During my research, I became very interested in Cobden and came to realise that his ideas for educational reform were part of a wider social philosophy which deserved to be fully investigated. Hence the present thesis for the University of Sheffield. This has taken many more years than I anticipated, due partly to the pressure of teaching commitments at Kingston upon Hull College of Education (later re-named) and partly to the complexity of the subject. During the entire period, I have been, at various times, helped and encouraged by many people: Mr. John Lello (Department of Education at Oxford University); Mr. Harry Pitt (Tutor in Modern History at Worcester College, Oxford University); Dr. James Murphy (my supervisor at the University of Liverpool); Professor J.C. Messerli (bio- grapher of Horace Mann); Mr. Charles H. Taquey (French biographer of Cobden); Professor J-B. Duroselle (Sorbonne); Mr. S.W. Alexander (who revived the Cobden Club in the 1960's) and Mr. Oliver Smedley; Dr. M.A.T. Rogers; Mr. P.L.V. Mallet; Professor W.H.G. Armytage (my supervisor, before his retirement, in the Division of Education, Sheffield University). Mr. Peter Lucas, my present super- ix visor in the Division of Education, appreciated my need for continuous encouragement, for which I am very grateful. Many libraries have been very helpful, especially those overseas or inconvenient to visit often, chiefly University of California Los Angeles, Newberry Library (Chicago), Duke University (Durham, North Carolina), National Library of Scotland, West Sussex Record Office (Chichester), Manchester Reference Library. The Reverend Peter G. Hayman, former Principal of Dunford House, Cobden's old home, was helpful in giving access to certain books and records in his keeping. Dunford has been managed by the National council of Y.M.C.A.'s since 1952. Mrs. Judith Blackmore typed the thesis cheerfully. My wife Barbro also helped with typing and correction. But, more important, she has been the rock on which everything rested. Hessle, North Humberside, May 1987. PART ONE AN ANALYSIS OF COBDEN'S IDEAS AND THE FORMATIVE INFLUENCES 1. CHAPTER 1 An introductory analysis of Cobden's social philosophy and political activity The unknown social philosopher Richard Cobden (1804-1865) is buried in a simple grave in a Sussex churchyard but his thought and achievement lie buried deep under layers of misconception, bias, ignorance and preconceived ideas. He is quite unknown as a great social philosopher and social reformer. His achievements as leader of the Anti-Corn Law League (1839-1846), the powerful pressure group for free trade, and as one of the chief negotiators of the Anglo French Commercial Treaty of 1860, are acknowledged. But there are contrary and usually superficial apprecia- tions of the ideas which lay behind his political actions. Sometimes he is depicted as the shrewd propa- gandist of the manufacturing class, fighting for cheaper food and lower wage costs, and wider markets overseas. At the other extreme, he is held to be an impracticable visionary who believed the widespread adoption of free trade would automatically ensure world peace. Cobden's true standing as a social philosopher was glimpsed but not investigated in John Morley's biography published in 1881. Morley had the advantage of speaking to Cobden's wife and family and to a wide range of friends and relatives, so forming a unique impression of him as a man and a thinker. Morley wrote that "he never ceased to be the preacher of a philosophy of civilisation; and his views on trade 2. were only another side of views on education and morality... In his intrepid faith in the perfectibility of man and society, Cobden was the only eminent practical statesman that this country has ever possessed, who constantly breathes the fine spirit of the French school in which the name of Turgot is the most illustrious". What Morley vaguely perceived was that in Cobden's thought, economics, moral philosophy, psychology, education and politics formed parts of a grand whole. Religion , which Morley underrated in Cobden's case, should also be added to it. Later writers - J.A. Hobson, W.H. Dawson, I Bowen, C.