Richard Cobden | Autograph letter signed, to Lord Lyttelton, on the Corn Laws, 1843

Richard Cobden

Autograph letter signed, to Lord Lyttelton

about the corn-laws, headed 'private', expressing his obligation for his letter which he will consider strictly private, but in return wishing to defend himself against the charge of attacking the landowners as a class ("...The "political landlords"—those who make farming a kind of Church & Queen affair—who canvass at ploughing matches for the next election, & deck prize cattle in true-blue ribbons—those landlords I have attacked..."), admitting that in his speech at Oxford he went further than he had ever gone before in acknowledging, even for the sake of argument, that landlords have any real interest in the Corn Laws—but stressing that this interest can only be a temporary one and that a class can only profit from an injustice for a limited time; pointing out that at his bidding, Gladstone revealed in Parliament that in Switzerland ("where there is not a custom-house") land returns, and thus the values of the land itself, are higher than in England; Cobden then turns his attention to the Bread Tax and his circular on the subject, disagreeing with Lyttelton's suggestion that bread ought to be taxed, even for revenue, and stating the aims of the Anti Corn-Law League in general, 8 pages, 8vo, Manchester, 19 September 1843

"...Our great objection to a corn law of any kind is that whilst protection is given to one interest others lay claim to compensation in kind, & thus the round of monopoly is maintained—Now the sole reason why the League attacks the Corn Law singly is that we believe ours is the most effectual plan for putting down all monopolies—Corn has been the greatest difficulty in the way of every enlightened minister . . . The key-stone however of the structure of monopoly once removed by the League, & coffee, sugar & the rest will fall of themselves...".

PROVENANCE:

The Lyttelton Papers: The Property of the Viscount Cobham, Sotheby's, London, 12 December 1978, lot 148