 In 1834, Ellice recommended Cockburn as member of the commission to enquire into the state of the corporations of England and Wales.Through his parliamentary work Cockburn met Joseph Parkes and himself became interested in politics as a profession in itself, not simply as a pretext for legal argument.Cockburn had become ambitious and in 1838 he turned down the offer of a judicial appointment in India with the sentiment "I am going in for something better than that".