Cobden was appealed to, and assented to become the standard-bearer of the Peace Society; and to his intense gratification the resolution which he moved the following session was supported by no fewer than seventy-nine votes.
On the continent, likewise, the work went bravely forward. From 1848 to 1852 International Peace Congresses, promoted by Mr. Richard and Mr. Elihu Burritt, were held at Brussels, Paris, Frankfort, London, Manchester, and Edinburgh. The Paris Congress was presided over by Victor Hugo, while the London Conference was attended by Garrison, Phillips, Lucretia Mott, and other distinguished Americans. Bright, Lamartine, Arago, Humboldt, Liebig, Suringar, Coquerel, Brewster, Cormentin, Girardin, Beckwith, Garnier, and many other illustrious persons, were among the foremost advocates of the movement. But "Messieurs les Assassins" were not prepared to let slip their bloody pastime so easily. Louis Napoleon perpetrated his execrable coup d'état, and the war-spirit was again evoked with fourfold violence. The Crimean war followed, and the exertions of Mr. Richard and the Peace Society were perfectly paralyzed. The press ridiculed them: they became a byword.
At the close of the war in 1856, when the plenipotentiaries were sitting in congress at Paris, negotiating terms of peace, it occurred to Mr. Richard and his friends that an effort ought to be made to get the principle of arbitration recognized in the treaty. Lord Palmerston was seen by an influential deputation, but held out no hope. Still Mr. Richard persevered. No one, however, could be induced to accompany- him to Paris. At last he addressed himself to the guileless
