COBDEN (Richard, 1804-1865, Statesman)

Exceptional Autograph Letter Signed to Joseph STURGE  (1793-1859, Quaker Philanthropist), regretting that he "cannot give any information respecting Mr Schwabe in the Manilla trade. My late friend Salis Schwabe made his own fortune. None of the family had anything to begin with. Is not the person about whom you inquire a brother of Mrs Schwabe who was a cousin of her husband ... I do not know anything about the circumstances of any of the family, excepting Salis Schwabe who left a large property to his wife and children. It is singular that I had almost added to my last note a suggestion that you should not go to St Petersburg, or see any of the Russian high officials if you would wish to create a sufficient sympathy to raise a Jubilee subscription for the poor Finns on your return home. I cannot help thinking that if you see the Emperor it will be misconstrued. That of course need not influence you unless you think it will interfere with the main object of your journey ..." and sending his best wishes for the trip, 4 sides sm. 8vo., Bognor, 7th

Joseph Sturge was active in many fields, not least the movement to give immediate freedom to the slaves. In 1838 he was instrumental in the abolition of unpaid apprenticeship, by which the Government had tried to implement 'gradual' emancipation. Later he bought an estate in Montserrat to show that free, humane labour was possible. In 1854 he famously travelled with other Quakers to Russia and saw Nicholas I in person, in the hope of averting the Crimean War. Now in 1856 he was planning to visit Alexander II about alleviating the famine in Finland, caused by the destruction of property there by the British Fleet during the same war, but Cobden counsels him to remain independent of officialdom.
Cobden had known Salis Schwabe, (1800-1853, German-born Calico Printer and Philanthropist), since the 1830s, when they had both been in the printed cottons business near Manchester. Schwabe's grew into the largest such in Britain, with works covering 31 acres. Both were prominent in the Anti-Corn Law League, and Schwabe accompanied Cobden on his tours of Europe during the 1848 agitation for reform in Prussia and elsewhere. Like Sturge he believed in free competition coupled with mutual respect between employee and employer.
Salis's wife Julie Schwabe, (1818-1896), was indefatigable, not only in England, but all over Europe, in the 1860s giving particular support to Garibaldi and looking after him personally. Her lasting memorial is her work for education in the slums of Naples.
'Mr Schwabe in the Manilla trade' was the enormously wealthy Gustav Christian Schwabe, (1813-1897, Shipowner & Financier, a relative though not her brother), In the 1840s he built up a business with Manila and Singapore, importing raw cotton and silk and exporting printed calico, and was also involved in shipping. He was one of the backers of Harland (a relation of his wife's) & Wolff (his nephew) and was responsible for their setting up in Belfast from its nearness to Liverpool.

Item Date:  1856

Stock No:  34202      £475

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