Cobden, Richard, a great political economist and the Apostle of Free Trade, born near Midhurst, Sussex; became partner in a cotton-trading firm in Manchester; made a tour on the Continent and America in the interest of political economy; on the formation of the Corn-Law League in 1838, gave himself heart and soul to the abolition of the Corn Laws; became Member of Parliament for Stockport in 1841; on the conversion of Sir Robert Peel to Free-Trade principles saw these laws abolished in 1846; for his services in this cause he received the homage of his country as well as of Continental nations, but refused all civic honours, and finished his political career by negotiating a commercial treaty with France (1804‒1865).
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
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