A meeting was held in the Free-Trade Hall, on the 23rd of February, to repudiate the charges made in the Legislature against the League, and more particularly against Mr. Cobden. It was calculated that 10,000 persons were present. Mr. G. Wilson was the chairman, and he informed those present that the meeting had been called for the purpose of repelling the unmanly attacks that had been made upon the character of its members, and especially upon that distinguished, most able, and unequalled champion of their cause, Mr. Cobden. The audience here cheered lustily, and waved their hats and handkerchiefs for several minutes. Mr. Henry Ashworth, Mr. Thomas Bazley, junr., Sir Thomas Potter, Mr. Benjamin Pearson, and Mr. Alderman Callender addressed the meeting.

"What are we to think of the majority of the representatives of the people, as they style themselves?" said Mr. Bright, who was the next speaker. "I confess that I feel sensations of deepest humility when I sit in the gallery of the House of Commons and look upon them. (Hear, hear.) I see them all conscience-stricken, and acknowledging, both in their looks and conduct, that they are guilty of supporting a law which they feel to be unjust. (Hear, hear.) But what shall we say of him who is the leader of that band of men, who shrinks from the just responsibility which has been laid upon him? Did he not for ten years boast that he was building up a great party? Did he not cry Register, register, register,' and did not his followers follow out that advice? and did they not at last force themselves into the councils of the Queen? (Cheers, and cries: They did.') ... I believe Mr. Cobden to be a very intelligent and honest man; I believe that he will act with a single eye to the good of his country; I believe that he is firmly convinced of the truth of the great principle of which he is so distinguished an advocate, and surrounded as he is by men as enthusiastic as himself, and as anxious that these measures should be carried out, and seconded by the thousands which I see in this hall-and the seven or eight thousand here are but the representatives of the millions without these walls—I cannot suppose that the triumph of those principles is far distant; and when it is accomplished, for whatever we may have done, for whatever sacrifices we may have made, I believe we shall be amply repaid in the marvellous change which, in a few years, will take place in the moral aspect of the country." (Cheers.)

Mr. Bright concluded by moving an address to Mr. Cobden. Mr. William Rawson seconded the motion. The Rev. C. Baker, of Stockport, Mr. Alderman Brooks, and Mr. Morris, spoke in its favour, and the meeting carried the motion unanimously.

On the 16th of March, Mr. Bright and Colonel Thompson visited the ancient city of Bristol, "the mistress of the Severn sea," with its streets of masts, "and pennants from all nations of the earth." On the evening of that date a soirée was held in the Public Rooms, Broadmead. The

gathering was large and enthusiastic.

Two years previous to that date

Mr. Bright had addressed the inhabitants on the same subject.

The members of the League, finding they could not obtain a room in London sufficiently large to accommodate their meetings, rented Drury Lane Theatre in which to hold their weekly meetings for a time. On the 20th of March the first weekly meeting was held in this Theatre. Mr. G. Wilson occupied the chair. Mr. Ewart, Mr. Cobden, and Mr. Bright were the speakers. In the course of a lengthy speech, Mr. Bright said:

"What was the state of the population of this country? It was so bad that when he had been abroad he had been ashamed to acknowledge that he was an Englishman. It was said of the celebrated writer Mr. Dickens, that he had described low life so well that he must have lived in a workhouse. The reply was that he had lived in England, which was one great workhouse. (Hear, hear.) The country was filled with paupers, and we were now devouring each other. In Leeds there were 40,000 persons subsisting on charity. A friend of his was then in the room who told him that in Sheffield there were no less than 12,000 paupers, and that there were as many more who were as badly off as paupers. (A voice: 'Worse.') These towns were desolated, and did they think that when the manufacturing districts were involved in ruin that London could be safe? Are the labouring population of Dorsetshire any better than others? Why, every man was a pauper, and the number was not diminishing. The return from which he had quoted was made two years ago, and since then the number of paupers had increased.”

Mr. Bright and Colonel Thompson next day went down to the pleasantly-situated town of Tiverton. They spoke at a meeting in the Theatre. Amongst the large audience there was a number of farmers, who responded most heartily to the sentiments of the speakers. Mr. Tatley, the Mayor, a landed proprietor, officiated as chairman. From Tiverton they went to Barnstaple, which is situated in a broad and fertile vale on the eastern bank of the river Taw, and on the 22nd of March they addressed a meeting in the Guildhall, which was crowded. The day after, they presented themselves at Exeter, a city which "takes homage from the gazing hills around." A meeting was held at the Royal Subscription Rooms, and the large audience applauded the sentiments expressed by both speakers.

On the 24th of March they were in the city of Gloucester, where George Whitfield and Raikes the establisher of Sunday-schools first saw the light. The Shire-hall was the place of meeting, and the workpeople present were chiefly those employed in the manufacture of shawls,

pins, bells, and edge tools, and there were also a few farmers and agricultural labourers, who cultivated the fertile plain surrounding the city.

Cheltenham, with its fine fruitful vale, sheltered by the immense amphitheatre formed by the Cotswold hills, was next visited by Mr. Bright, on the 25th of March, and he delivered a speech to the inhabitants.

CHAPTER XV.

HIS FIRST ELECTION CONTEST.

Bright at Taunton-Discussing with a Clergyman at Davenport-Journies to Liskeard, Manchester, and Plymouth-Suggested as a Candidate for Sheffield-On Phonography-The old Reporting System-At the Weekly London Meeting, and a gathering of London Merchants and Bankers-Visits to Macclesfield, High Wycombe, Dorset, Lincoln, Huntingdon, and Norwich.

ARLY in April (1843), when spring had “put a spirit of youth in everything," Mr. Bright took a run down to Nottingham, to give friendly assistance to a Free Trader who had offered himself as a candidate for a vacant seat in Parliament for that town; and while there he received intelligence that an election was about to take place at Durham, and that if a Free-Trade candidate was brought forward, the probability was that the majority of the electors would record their votes in his favour. Mr. Bright thus described the event at a public meeting in London afterwards :

:

"He (Mr. Bright) went to Durham, not with the remotest intention of becoming a candidate himself, but for the purpose of supporting any person as a candidate who might be in the field, and who was favourable to the views held by the members of the League. However, from some indecision amongst the Liberals and Free-Trade electors, there was no one in the neighbourhood who seemed likely to unite the suffrages of all the friends of Free Trade so as to insure success. There were many excellent friends in the League who strongly advised him to stand; some very intelligent, sober-minded, well-informed men believed there was a good chance of success, and all of them were of opinion that they could fight a very respectable battle. He was in a difficulty, and did not know how to proceed. It was impossible that he could have any advice from those with whom he usually acted, the election being fixed for so early a day. He proceeded therefore to issue an address to the electors, which was posted on the walls of the city of Durham early on the Monday morning, and at eight o'clock the same morning he and his friends began to canvass, and they canvassed until eleven, when the nomination took place. It was said that nearly every elector in the city was present at the nomination, and at the conclusion, when the show of hands was taken, there were about fifteen hands, certainly not more than twenty, held up for his opponent (Lord Dungannon), and apparently every other hand in that vast assembly was held up in his (Bright's) favour. Now that was a fair election for the city of Durham. It was an election as good as they would have had if they had had the ballot. These men held up their hands in the crowd, and none could tell whose they were. Had they voted as they had held up their