Autograph letter signed, to Rowland Hill. Midhurst, 17 November 1853, 3 pp. A letter about the Birmingham conference on reformatory schools held at Hill's instigation in 1853 (there had also been one on the same subject there in 1851). Cobden writes that although he takes "the utmost interest in the question of the treatment of criminal & destitute children," he is doubtful whether he will be able to be at the conference. However, he assures Hill and his brother (evidently Matthew Davenport Hill) that his co-operation "may be relied on in or out of Parliament for the promotion of an efficient scheme for meeting the crying evil which we all acknowledge & deplore." He asks Hill to forward the letter to his brother as the original letter from him was dated from Bristol but he is unsure if this is correct (very probably it should have been Birmingham). The recipient was of course Rowland Hill (1795-1879), postal reformer, kmghted in 1860.