Abstract

SummaryThis article presents a transcription of three brief unpublished essays written by Richard Cobden on Spain, Russia and Venice, along with a critical introduction. These three essays were written during Cobden's European tour, between 1846–47. Excluded from Miles Taylor's edition of the European Diaries, published in 1994, they have escaped scholarly attention. In the introduction I argue that the three essays deserve further study, either by themselves or as part of the European Diaries. Going beyond an anecdotal record of Cobden's activities, the essays concerning Spain, Venice, and Russia examine different economic and political issues of each context. Particularly since Cobden planned to write a theoretical work about free trade as linked to other aspects of society and politics, they can help to revise some interpretations of Cobden's liberalism where his ideas on free trade are overpowering.