# Richard Cobden — Liberalism character guide

> Richard Cobden in Liberalism by L. T. Hobhouse.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Cobden

**First appearance:** 0003-ii-fiscal-liberty

## Snapshot

The free-trade agitator whose fiscal gospel Gladstone carried into office, and whose non-interventionism Gladstone quietly exceeded in the name of conscience.

## Who they are

Cobden is the quiet architect of the economic creed that Gladstone spent his middle years completing, the 'Cobdenite policy of financial emancipation' that reshaped British budgets and the supremacy of the Commons. Yet Hobhouse marks a divergence: Gladstone was not a non-interventionist, and his principle of statecraft — that reasons of State justify nothing not already justified by human conscience — goes beyond Cobden's. Cobden thus anchors the early liberal faith in free trade while setting up the moral internationalism that follows.

## In the story

### [II: The Elements of Liberalism](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/liberalism_se/chapters/ii-the-elements-of-liberalism)

Mentioned as a strong individualist who recognized that the case of children stood apart regarding freedom of contract.

### [Economic Liberty](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/liberalism_se/chapters/v-economic-liberty)

Mentioned as a strong individualist who recognized that the case of children stood apart from the principle of free contract.

### [IV: Laissez-Faire](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/liberalism_se/chapters/iv-laissez-faire)

Leader of the Manchester School; advocated for free trade, free trade in land, non-intervention, peace, and reduced armaments.

### [V: Gladstone and Mill](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/liberalism_se/chapters/v-gladstone-and-mill)

Cobden is referenced as the architect of the free trade policy that Gladstone completed, and as a non-interventionist whose principles Gladstone modified in international affairs.

### [The Future of Liberalism](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/liberalism_se/chapters/ix-the-future-of-liberalism)

Referenced in the context of the older Liberalism and the change in the colonial situation since his time.

### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/liberalism_se/chapters/endnotes)

Mentioned in relation to the school of Cobden and its distinction from the Benthamites, with reference to Lord Morley's Life of Cobden.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/liberalism_se/characters/cobden
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/liberalism_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/liberalism_se/characters