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and the traders of the city was held in the Hall of Commerce, which was crowded. Mr. G. Wilson was again in the chair, Mr. Villiers was present this time and was the first speaker, Mr. Ward, M.P., followed, and then came Mr. Bright and Mr. Moore.

On the 19th of May, Mr. Bright and Mr. Cobden went through the " wide vale of Trent," and visited the quiet city of Lincoln, and a meeting was held in Shepherd Square. It was the annual hiring day of servants and agricultural labourers, and the assemblage was composed of about 300 persons, chiefly farmers, agricultural labourers, and the quiet citizens. Mr. Hitchen was the chairman. Mr. Bright was the first to speak, and Mr. Cobden followed. The audience at first seemed very reserved, but they warmed into enthusiasm as the speakers unravelled their views on the question, and at the conclusion. it was evident which way the judgment of the audience was leaning. A motion having been submitted in favour of abolishing the Corn Laws, an amendment was proposed by Mr. Moore, of Redburn, a farmer, in favour of Protection; the result was that five-sixths of those present voted for the original motion.

On the 17th of June a meeting was held on the common at Huntingdon, and about 3,000 persons were present, a large number of them being farmers and neighbouring squires. Mr. Cobden had promised to be present, but as he was unwell at the time, Mr. Bright took the train from Manchester to speak instead of his absent friend. Mr. Burt was the chairman, and it was well known by Mr. Bright that that district was the hotbed of Protectionists, but he spoke out in scathing terms, and was well supported by Mr. R. R. R. Moore. The show of hands was declared by the chairman to be in favour of protection, and so the meeting ended.

The city of Norwich, long famous for its woollen, worsted, and silk manufactures, and in more modern times for its iron and brass foundries, breweries, snuff mills, mustard mills, and corn mills, was reached on the 30th of June by Mr. Bright, and he stated to the audience that assembled in St. Andrew's Hall to listen to him, "that it was with shame that he stood forward—he would not say for how many times-perhaps for the five-hundredth time, to speak on this question. He was ashamed of his fellow-countrymen who, for twenty-eight years, had permitted on the statute book a law so unnatural and so inhuman as the Corn Law was described to be."

The day following Mr. Bright and Mr. Moore spoke to a number of farmers in the same hall, who listened with attention, and applauded.

CHAPTER XVI.

BRIGHT'S SECOND ELECTION CONTEST AT DURHAM.

Petitions Presented against the Return of Lord Dungannon-Bright Threatened at Alnwick-The Result of the Inquiry into the Durham Election-Bright's Address to the Electors, and Canvass of the Town-The Scene at the Nomination-The Election-Immense Meeting in the Market-Place-The Declaration of the Poll- Mr. Bright Chaired-Congratulatory Addresses from all parts of the Country.

SOON after the Durham election it was discovered that Mr. Bright's opponent had been returned by bribery, and petitions were presented against Lord Dungannon's return. On the 4th of July Mr. Bright issued an address to the electors of Durham, in which he stated :

"At the last election you had to choose between two candidates-the one representing monopoly in the shape of dear bread, dear sugar, dear coffee, and low wages for a great deal of work, with great difficulty in getting work at all; the other being the advocate of natural and fair prices for bread, sugar, and coffeefor free trade, by which the employment would be abundant, and for good wages for the multitude, which can only be had when employment is abundant. The freetrader promises no head money; he never said to you of himself, or through his agent, You may as well have your sovereign. Vote for me.' The monopolist had a majority of votes, and was declared your representative. He shows his respect for you by paying you for your support for him. You favour him with your votes; he repays the favour in gold. Will you wonder if he should regard the representation of Durham as for his benefit and exaltation rather than yours? He votes for monopoly in your name. Your voice in Parliament through him is given for refusing votes to your fellow-countrymen, who are complaining of being neglected and oppressed by the Government. Are they your friends who make laws which have well-nigh destroyed the once flourishing trade of the Tyne and the Wear; which have laid up your ships to rot, and have caused your ingenious and industrious operatives to be without employment, without wages, and even without food? Freemen of Durham, are you men? Have you the heads and hearts of men? Have you families, wives, and children, and will you labour for the insatiable monopolists? Have you suffered, have you seen the suffering of others? have you read of the starvation which monopoly, which the accursed Corn Law has inflicted upon multitudes of your countrymen? You have felt, you have seen, you have heard of this! I charge you, then, to raise your voice, and to give your votes in favour of justice and free trade, and to spurn from you the men who would ask you to barter your power to do good for yourselves, your families, and your countrymen, for the paltry sum of 5s. a year. You have the power now to save your borough; you can restore it to purity and usefulness to your country; you can prove that in all that has hitherto taken place, you have been 'more sinned against than sinning.' The rich may be base enough to tempt you. May you teach them that honour, virtue, and independence reside with the people."

On the 6th of July Mr. Bright was at a meeting in the Corn Exchange, Winchester, and 1,400 of the inhabitants were present. The day following an open-air meeting was held near the Corn Exchange, and about 2,000 residents listened to his speech,

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amongst whom were many farmers. Mr. Robert Owen, the founder of Socialism, interrupted the meeting by trying to graft on to the subject of Free-trade, his pet scheme a new state of society. The meeting, however, refused to receive his extraneous matter, and Mr. Bright and Mr. Cobden, who also spoke, were applauded. The indifference exhibited towards Bright and Cobden at first by the inhabitants of this district changed into the warmest affection, their distrust into confidence and assurance, and their timidity into courage and ardour.

Mr. Bright was accompanied by Mr. A. Prentice to the beautifully-situated town of Kelso, on the 7th of July, and they addressed the inhabitants in the Secession Church.

Early in July the Free-traders of Alnwick invited Mr. Bright to attend a meeting in their town, which they fixed for the 8th of that month. The Newcastle Journal, which had been established under the immediate auspices of the Duke of Northumberland and Mr. Matthew Bell, the Conservative member for South Northumberland, became wroth, and thus counselled its readers on the 1st of July :-"It is stated that Mr. Bright, the Anti-Corn-Law agitator, is expected to visit the wool fair, which will be held at Alnwick shortly, in order to scatter the seeds of disaffection in that quarter. Should he make his appearance, which is not improbable, it is to be hoped there may be found some stalwart yeomen to treat the disaffected vagabond as he deserves."

The meeting was held on the day appointed in Alnwick Town Hall, and so crowded was the building that a large number of persons could not gain admittance. The district farmers had turned up at the meeting in large numbers. Mr. Durling, of Helton, was the chairman. Mr. Bright, undaunted, appeared in their midst, and his speech produced a powerful effect on the audience, for their countenances indicated the working of their feelings. At his words a calm came over every face, and all was hushed. "The stalwart yeomen," instead of being wroth, were spell-bound, and at last, instead of giving vent to discordant sound, lustily cheered, for they found he was truly a man of the people. His origin tranquillised his auditors, his eloquence carried them away, and his honesty and moral earnestness won for him their sympathy and respect. The physical classes ever look with double confidence upon a leader who represents in his own person the qualities upon which they rely. In his face he has been equally fortunate; it is extremely comely. The features are at once soft and manly; the glow of health and sanguine temperament is diffused over the whole

countenance, which is national in the outline, and beaming with national emotion. The open expression is confiding and inviting, and the bright blue eyes the most kindly and honestlooking that can be conceived.

On the 10th of July a meeting was held in the lecture-room, Nelson Street, Newcastle, and 1,200 persons were present. Mr. T. M. Greenhow occupied the chair.

"He had been lately at Kelso," said Mr. Bright in the course of his speech on this occasion, "and there also he learnt there were many who could not obtain employment, by means of which to gain subsistence, and the same state of things was to be seen almost in every place they could turn to; and all this was effected by the spirit of monopoly falling upon them, not like the dew of heaven, but operating as the means of preventing them obtaining food and clothing for themselves and their families, and education for their children; and all this fearfully increasing for the last five years. He had no idea of the maintenance of Kings, Lords, and Commons unless they were of some use to the country, and rendered some return for the expense they cost the country; but people had themselves to blame for what the aristocracy had become. They had spoiled them by the vilest, the meanest worship. They had praised them for their fine, small, white hands, their finely-formed ears, their noble, intellectual foreheads, and spoke of them otherwise as if they were altogether above the common run of God's creatures. They had poured this incense upon them until the aristocracy almost believed themselves what they were called. The people had knelt to them as spaniels, and as spaniels had been treated in return."

Nearly all of the electors of the seaport town of North Shields crowded the assembly rooms of that borough on the 11th of July to listen to Mr. Bright, and a number of the inhabitants of Tynemouth were also present.

On the 12th of July a meeting was held in the Polytechnic Hall, in the Athenæum, Sunderland. Mr. Andrew White, the mayor, presided. Mr. Bright's speech was lengthy, and he said

:

"I lately met four Irishmen between Rochdale and Manchester, and they are the only four Irish harvesters I have seen this year, although our roads used to be crowded with them in former years. I almost shuddered to look at them-men so habited never were seen before; our ancestors who covered themselves with skins or painted their bodies were little worse off than these men. Their countenances bespoke the extent of starvation they endured; their limbs were shrunk they were not men, but skeletons walking abroad, exciting the pity of the people. It is a notorious fact that these men are old at thirty and thirty-five, and such a population is not to be found in any country in Europe." (Hear, hear.)

The committee appointed to inquire into the merits of the Durham election petition commenced their inquiry in the House of Commons on the 12th day of July. Lord Ashley was the chairman. The counsel for the petitioners were Mr. Cockburn, Mr. Serjeant Wrangham, and Mr. Wordsworth; and for the sitting member, Mr. Austin and Mr. Kingslake. Mr. Cockburn informed the committee that there were two petitions; one containing, in the usual form, a general allegation of bribery, and the other setting forth in addition to the general

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allegation, that Lord Dungannon was by himself and his agents guilty of bribery and corrupt practices. That the bribery took place on the 8th and 9th of May, in consequence of corrupt arrangements entered into previous to the election. The constituency consisted of 1,100 persons, and making allowance for seven double entries, and forty-five persons who were either dead or had become disqualified, the actual constituency amounted to 1,054. Of this number 600 were freemen, and 454 householders. The freemen were persons of humble condition, and were peculiarly open to the species of corruption which was practised upon them on this and former occasions. A practice prevailed in Durham of paying head-money. This was the kind of bribery adopted in the present instance. The committee, after two days' inquiry, declared that the election of Lord Dungannon to serve in Parliament was void; that he had been guilty of bribery through his agents, by payment of sums of money to a large number of electors, but that Lord Dungannon had not been cognisant of the acts of his agents.

Mr. Bright was prevailed upon to offer himself again as a candidate, for it had become a general conclusion that as he belonged to the commercial class, and had a clear head and ready tongue, he would be a most valuable acquisition to the Freetrade ranks in the House of Commons.

Mr. Villiers states in a letter to the author of this work, that he was consulted by Mr. Cobden as to the advisability of Mr. Bright at that time becoming a member of Parliament, and that Mr. Cobden expressed himself as strongly of opinion that Mr. Bright would," from his peculiar and effective style of speaking at public meetings, do the cause more good by remaining out than by entering Parliament. This, however, was not my (Mr. Villiers's) own opinion, for I thought that Mr. Bright's plain and hard hitting way of speaking was as much required there as elsewhere-an opinion, I need not say, that was fully confirmed, for I believe nobody can realise in these days the amount of feeling and animosity that was excited by the Anti-Corn-Law agitation, and the ferocity-of this spirit-in the House in which the change was opposed, not only by the proprietary classes, but by all those who socially and politically were in sympathy with them. I am afraid it must be admitted that but for the enormous funds contributed to support the agitation, and the famine in Ireland, some years would have elapsed before our object would have been attained."

Mr. Bright issued his Address to the Durham electors on the 15th of July, 1843, and arrived at Durham on the 17th of July