CHAPTER VIII.

ELECTION FOR MANCHESTER-PERSONAL DETAILS.

The General Election of 1847.-Mr. Bright returned for Manchester.-Scene at the Hustings.-Speech of the New Member.-Moral of his Election.Mr. Bright's Second Marriage.-His Family.-Death of his child Leonard. PARLIAMENT was dissolved in the year 1847 under circumstances devoid of any unusual political excitement. There was, it is true, considerable interest manifested in various individual contests, but as the old Parliament had died a natural death on the completion of its full constitutional term, and as there was no great party question demanding immediate settlement, the election generally was one of the quietest on record. Some well-known political characters voluntarily relinquished Parliamentary honours at this juncture; while a few others, including the brilliant orator and statesman Macaulay, were rejected by their former constituents.

With

About nine months before the dissolution, the Liberals of Manchester prepared for the eventuality of a contest. singular unanimity, they resolved upon securing Mr. John Bright, if possible, as their representative in the ensuing Parliament. The Manchester Reform Association met on the 14th of October, 1846, and resolved that a deputation should wait upon the hon. member for Durham, formally requesting him to offer himself as a candidate. Mr. Bright agreed to be put in nomination if the recommendation of the Association should be endorsed by the electors. He also wrote a letter from Rochdale on the 15th, in which he said: 'I am induced to consent to become a candidate for the suffrages of the electors of Manchester in the belief that to a large extent my sentiments accord with theirs, and because my sympathies are bound up in an especial manner with the advancement of the interests of that great and industrious population of which Manchester may be deemed the centre.'

The choice of the Association was a natural and reasonable one, Mr. Bright being closely identified with Manchester interests. An aggregate gathering of the electors was held in the Free Trade Hall, on the 18th of the same month, in order

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to indorse the selection. Mr. G. Wilson presided. Mr. Bright, having been formally nominated, addressed the meeting. may be thought I have no qualification,' he said, 'which should entitle me to ask for the suffrages of any of the electors of Manchester. I said before that accident had made me a public man; that I had no desire to leave the occupation in which I had been brought up; and I can say now that home and domestic claims have to me lost none of their relish. It would be to me personally no discomfort that not you alone, but every constituency in the kingdom, should think that I was not qualified from my opinions to represent them.'

It is curious to note how Mr. Bright still shrank from coming forward prominently as a public man, although opinion had now become universal that he was well qualified for such a position. Continuing his address, he remarked: 'I can assure this meeting that there is scarcely any occupation in life which is a more chequered one-which has more of trouble to balance its delights, more of suffering to compensate for its enjoyments, than that of an honest representative of the people. But if this meeting, and after this meeting the still larger body of the electors whom you may be supposed to represent, should think me a fit person to speak in your name in the British House of Commons, I will not shrink from the heavy, the onerous duties which that appointment would impose upon me. I cannot boast of blood and ancestry. My ancestry were people who followed an honourable industry-such as I myself should have preferred always to follow-such as you follow now, and such as your forefathers followed. My sympathies are naturally with the class with which I am connected, and I would infinitely prefer to raise the class of which I am one, than by any means whatever to creep above it or out of it. If I am elected, I can only promise you zeal which I think few can surpass me in for those great public questions with which I have been connected, and for those principles which I have espoused; and it will be to me ample compensation for any labour I may endure, for any obloquy I may meet with, for any suffering I may undergo, if in years to come-if years to come should be granted me-I may be able to look back and reflect that I have done something for the furtherance of those great principles and objects with which the name of Manchester is so gloriously identified.' This frank and outspoken statement was received with great favour, the whole audience rising en masse and cheering vigourously. Mr. Bright's candidature now became an actual fact, and meetings were frequently held in its support, many of which

the candidate himself attended. The Conservatives at first indulged a hope of contesting the representation, and an application was made to Lord Lincoln, son of the Duke of Newcastle, to come forward. His lordship made some inquiries, however, as to the result of the Conservative canvass, and finding that the support promised was not sufficient to justify him in coming forward, he wisely declined to put his friends to the expense of a useless contest.

The election took place on the 29th of July, in St. Ann's Square, and for the first time in the history of the borough it was not contested. Some ten thousand persons were present in front of the hustings. Although extremely popular with a large portion of the constituency, there were even some Liberals, or rather Whigs, who opposed Mr. Bright's candidature. Then there was a portion of the working classes who did not approve of his views on factory legislation. The presence of this element led to Mr. Bright being disturbed in his speech on the hustings; but the great majority of those present were with him. It is in the power of a hundred persons to spoil the enjoyment and comfort of ten thousand; and by one such small band of obstructionists-incited, it was understood, purposely to the work—the proceedings at the Manchester election were rather disagreeably diversified.

The Mayor, Mr. Elkanah Armitage, having opened the proceedings, Mr. Alderman Watkin nominated the Right Hon. T. Milner Gibson as a fit and proper person to represent the constituency in Parliament, and Mr. Alderman Walker seconded the motion. Mr. George Wilson then nominated Mr. Bright, observing that he should feel insulted if any man asked him whether Mr. Bright's votes had not always been in favour of popular rights and social progress. Civil and religious freedom was the motto of his party. Mr. Absalom Watkin, in seconding the nomination, said: 'In electing Mr. Bright you will return a member peculiarly fitted for the work he has to do; in electing him you will confer upon him the highest honour the people can bestow upon one of themselves, for there is no greater honour a man can desire than that of being the unbought representative of such a constituency as that of Manchester. You will elevate him to a degree of importance and influence in the House of Commons proportionate to the wealth and independence of this great constituency; you will give him a distinguished place among the representatives of the people, and he will enter the House of Commons unfettered by any pledges, but guided by known principles and strict integrity, prepared

to battle with the enemies of the people, and anxious to effect social and political improvements."

The Mayor declared Mr. Gibson and Mr. Bright duly elected, there being no other candidate. Mr. Gibson first addressed the vast audience, and then Mr. Bright came forward. He was warmly cheered by his supporters, but the small knot of operatives already mentioned had collected in front of the hustings, and they were evidently bent on creating a disturbance. When the hon. member could be heard above the uproar, his language was of that bold and fearless character it has ever been. I am not afraid,' he said, 'to meet any portion of the inhabitants of this town; I have never deceived you, I have never flattered you, and I owe you nothing but for the good opinion of me which you have manifested. You owe me nothing, but that I have endeavoured to do something in your service. I should be ashamed to stand here if I did not believe that I am the representative, not only of the electors of Manchester, but of the interests of the vast majority of the working population of this town.' The confusion now increased, but Mr. Bright could be heard to say, 'I differ from some of you in opinion, but I am not the less entitled to a fair and impartial hearing from you. I am willing to answer to every individual here for any political opinion I hold, for any vote I have ever given, for any speech I have ever made. If it be the will of a small part of this vast assembly to prevent any expression of opinion, their fellow-townsmen will know that they at least are not the friends of freedom, however much they may quarrel with me.'

At this point, according to the Manchester journals, a rather alarming incident occurred. The onward pressure of the multitude caused the crossbeam from the centre of the barrier rails to the central upright of the hustings to break away from its fastenings. The barrier was broken, in spite of the united force of the policemen to keep it in its position. For a moment there was a backward movement of the multitude, but again came the onward pressure, and the police, imagining that the peace was about to be broken, drew their staves before anything could be said to prevent them, and by a free use of them upon the heads of the foremost ranks of the crowd cleared a space in front of the hustings to the depth of twelve yards, in less time than it occupies to record it. Further violence was prevented by the interposition of the Mayor, the Town Clerk, and other gentlemen on the hustings. The people were subsequently allowed to approach the platform. The Mayor made a vain ap

peal for order, the animus of the noisy portion of the assemblage being but too evident.

Mr. Bright, resuming, said: 'Although there are here many of the operative classes who consider me to be their enemy, I would rather have their ill-will now, while defending their interests, than have their ill-will hereafter, because I have betrayed them. Whether in Parliament or out, whether receiving your hisses or your cheers, I shall still fight for those principles which I have already on many occasions explained to you; and you will find me in the House of Commons just as much your honest representative, and the defender of the rights of the working classes, as of the electors of this town. Gentlemen, I feel confident that of the ten thousand persons here assembled, there are not one hundred men who would not have listened to the arguments and statements which their candidates and members might have to utter. I am blamed here because I did not give my assent to a measure which I believed to be injurious to the operatives themselves. I am blamed because I opposed the Ten Hours' Bill-because I did not consent that Parliament should interfere to close the manufactories of this country for two hours per day. I may have been wrong, but if wrong I am wrong in ignorance, and not in intention. I boldly stated my intention to oppose that measure; I have fearlessly expressed my opinion; I have spoken and I have voted in accordance with that opinion, and I am now ready to maintain it. But hereafter we shall have an opportunity of seeing who was right-the advocates of that measure, or its opponents. If it proves a piece of successful legislation, I shall rejoice; if it be not, I shall be willing to help in its amendment.'

From this frank claim to independence of opinion upon a particular piece of legislation, Mr. Bright passed on to other topics. Alluding to the recent creation of a bishopric of Manchester, he said he regretted that it was not in his power to give a vote in opposition to that 'calamity' which had befallen. the town. My right hon. colleague, Mr. Gibson, says that he should sleep comfortably if no more bishops had been made; my slumbers would be unbroken if the bishops that are made were to be unmade. I never yet saw any good that the bishops did; I have seen the multitudinous mischiefs that the bishops have done. I believe that hierarchies, state-manufactured clergies, are in themselves evils, and that the time will come when they will be no more known on the face of the earth than some of those great creatures of which we have remnants