Richard Cobden quotes - page 3

Treaties of peace, made after war, are entrusted to individuals to negotiate and carry out. (Richard Cobden)
The landlords are not agriculturists; that is an abuse of terms which has been too long tolerated. View quote
Richard Cobden
This great oracle of the East India Company himself admits that, if there is no power vested in the Court of Directors but that of the patronage, there is really no government vested in them at all. View quote
Richard Cobden
Wars have ever been but another aristocratic mode of plundering and oppressing commerce. View quote
Richard Cobden
In Holland, they have come to precisely the same conclusion. There they have adopted a system of secular education, because they have found it impracticable to unite the religious bodies in any system of combined religious instruction. View quote
Richard Cobden
I am no party man in this matter in any degree; and if I have any objection to the motion it is this, that whereas it is a motion to inquire into the manufacturing distress of the country, it should have been a motion to inquire into manufacturing and agricultural distress. View quote
Richard Cobden
I therefore declare, that if you wish any remission of the taxation which falls upon the homes of the people of England and Wales, you can only find it by reducing the great military establishments, and diminishing the money paid to fighting men in time of peace. View quote
Richard Cobden
It has been one of my difficulties, in arguing this question out of doors with friends or strangers, that I rarely find any intelligible agreement as to the object of the war. View quote
Richard Cobden
I cannot separate the finances of India from those of England. If the finances of the Indian Government receive any severe and irreparable check, will not the resources of England be called upon to meet the emergency, and to supply the deficiency? View quote
Richard Cobden
I confess that for fifteen years my efforts in education, and my hopes of success in establishing a system of national education, have always been associated with the idea of coupling the education of this country with the religious communities which exist. View quote
Richard Cobden
I have been particularly struck with the overwhelming evidence which is given as to the fitness of the natives of India for high offices and employments. (Richard Cobden)
People who eat potatoes will never be able to perform their abilities in whatever job they choose to have. View quote
Richard Cobden
You may keep Turkey on the map of Europe, you may call the country by the name of Turkey if you like, but do not think you can keep up the Mahommedan rule in the country. View quote
Richard Cobden
I believe it has been said that one copy of The Times contains more useful information than the whole of the historical works of Thucydides. View quote
Richard Cobden
My estimate of American character has improved, contrary to my expectations, by this visit...I find myself in love with their intelligence, their sincerity, and the decorous self-respect that actuates all classes. The very genius of activity seems to have found its fit abode in the souls of this restless and energetic race. They have not, ‘tis true, the force of Englishmen in personal weight or strength, but they have compensated for this deficiency by quickening the momentum of their enterprises. All is in favour of celerity of action and the saving of time. Speed, speed, speed, is the motto that is stamped in the form of their ships and steamboats, in the breed of their horses, and the light construction of their wagons and carts: and in the ten thousand contrivances that are met with here, whether for the abridging of the labour of months or minutes, whether a high-pressure engine or a patent boot-jack. All is done in pursuit of one common object, the economy of time. View quote
Richard Cobden
If the right hon. Baronet [Peel] chooses to retire from office in consequence of this vote, he carries with him the esteem and gratitude of a larger number of the population of this Empire than ever followed any Minister that was ever hurled from power...I am not misinterpreting the opinion of the people, not only of the electors, but especially of the working classes, when I tender the right hon. Baronet, in my own name, as I might do in theirs, my heartfelt thanks for the unwearied perseverance, the unswerving firmness, and the great ability with which he has during the last six months conducted one of the most magnificent reforms ever carried in any country, through this House of Commons. View quote
Richard Cobden
At all events, arbitration is more rational, just, and humane than the resort to the sword. View quote
Richard Cobden
I am not accustomed to pay fulsome compliments to the English, by telling them that they are superior to all the world; but this I can say, that they do not deserve the name of cowards. View quote
Richard Cobden
I came here as a practical man, to talk, not simply on the question of peace and war, but to treat another question which is of hardly less importance - the enormous and burdensome standing armaments which it is the practice of modern Governments to sustain in time of peace. View quote
Richard Cobden
On the contrary, all the world would point to that nation as violating a treaty, by going to war with a country with whom they had engaged to enter into arbitration. View quote
Richard Cobden
From 1836, down to last year, there is no proof of the Government having any confidence in the duration of peace, or possessing increased security against war. (Richard Cobden)
For the progress of scientific knowledge will lead to a constant increase of expenditure. View quote
Richard Cobden
Let it never be forgotten that it is not by means of war that states are rendered fit for the enjoyment of constitutional freedom on the contrary, whilst terror and bloodshed reign in the land, involving men's minds in the extremities of hopes and fears, there can be no process of thought, no education going on, by which alone can a people be prepared for the enjoyment of rational liberty. View quote
Richard Cobden
Our only chance as a nation is in knowing in time what is sure to come from the United States. View quote
Richard Cobden