cashire) Liberal Association, Wrexham and Denbigh (North Wales) Liberal Association, Ledbury Liberal Association Reform Club, Todmorden Reform Club, London Reform Club, Manchester Society for the Liberation of Religion from State Patronage and Control, Liberal Club (Coventry), Marsden Liberal Association (near Huddersfield), Huddersfield Liberal Association, Manchester and Burnley Liberal Club, Kendal Liberal Reform Association, National Agricultural Labourers' Union,

At twenty five minutes past seven Mr. Bright appeared, and every man rose and gave him a hearty welcome, for the cheering that burst forth made the roof of the hall ring again; the audience could scarcely be seen from the platform for the waving of hats and handkerchiefs. Mr. Bright's lips quivered, his cheek flushed, yet he did not, even by the slightest bow, acknowledge the enthusiastic greeting; but it could be plainly seen that he was overjoyed by the reception.

The Mayor presided, and Mr. J. S. Wright moved a resolution of congratulation to Mr. Bright on the recovery of his health, and his ability to resume the labours of statesmanship. Mr. J. Chamberlain seconded the resolution, which was carried unanimously. When Mr. Bright rose to speak, the hearty cheering was renewed and prolonged.

Silence being restored, every face was turned to the spot where Mr. Bright stood alone, and the vast crowd waited expectantly. There was some fear that he was about to be inaudible to all but those in the immediate neighbourhood of the platform; but as he proceeded he gained power, and ere long his voice had all its wonted volume and richness, and

'There was a melody in every tone.'

He spoke for one hour and a quarter. His allusion to his illness was received with the warmth of sympathy.

"Standing here, after these five years," remarked Mr. Bright, "it is impossible that one should not look back a little at what has happened-not with the view of reading or speaking of a catalogue of measures that have been passed, or with the view of entering into enthusiastic laudation of the Administration which has existed, but it is worth our while to observe what are the great principles that during the last five years have been adopted and fixed irrevocably in the policy and legislation of England by consent of Parliament and by the acknowledged consent of the country. I say that the five years are five memorable years; and if the Administration were to perish to-day the works of the Administration would live, and they would bear comparison with those of any Government which has ever preceded it. (Cheers.) The policy of the Liberal party is known. It is before the public; it is not concealed; it is no mystery. What is the policy of the opposition? (Laughter, and cries of None.') We were told the other day that the leader of the Opposition was in a state of strict seclusion,' and but for that strange and unfortunate epistolary outburst we should have had no idea of the desperate state of mind in which he has been. (Laughter and cheers.) But still, if we ask for the policy of the Oppo

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sition, all is impenetrably dark, and all that we know is that nothing can be known. (Laughter.) No, I beg pardon, I am wrong in that we know this, that, according to the Opposition, all the past twenty, and, if you like, all the past forty, years, are evil; but as to the future, you will see it when it comes. (Cheers.) But let me tell you this that the great statesmanship which consists in silence and secrecy is not original; it is a mere copy. Thirty or forty years ago-I recollect the time very well-there was a great fever and mania for speculation. Everybody went into everything, and they generally came out with nothing. I recollect quite well an advertisement of a Great Sunflower Company-(laughter)-and if anybody had proposed so unsubstantial a speculation as the equinoctial line, people would have taken shares in it. Now at that time there was a very ingenious fellow-if I could remember his name I would try to immortalise him. He put out a prospectus. He was what they call a 'promoter' of a great company. It was to have great capital, a great number of shares, and great profits. Everything was great about it. It was to work a great invention. It was a great secret-so profound a secret that, until all the money was paid in, nobody was to know what it was. (Laughter.) Now, that is the Conservative policy at this moment. (Cheers.) They have a policy which they offer for the coming elections. It is a profound secret. When you have all given your votes, and returned a Conservative majority, perhaps then they will tell you what it is. (Laughter and cheers.) Mr. Cobden had to try to per

pos

suade the Emperor Napoleon to follow the example of this country with regard to a reduction of import dutes, and to the establishment of something like freedom of trade. He told the Emperor how great the benefits had been of the policy of Sir Robert Peel-how great was the regard and reverence for the name of Sir Robert Peel. The Emperor said he should be charmed and flattered if he could think sible to do things of that kind so good for his country, but he added, 'It is very difficult in France to make reforms in France. In England you make reforms, in France we make revolutions.' Now observe, the Emperor was a man who had lived in this country for years; he had watched the workings of public opinion, and of our institutions from his retirement to his exile, and afterwards, for nearly twenty years, he observed them from the lofty stage of the Imperial throne, and that was his judgment, that was the statement which he made to one of the foremost Englishmen representing much of the English opinion, sent by the English Government to negotiate with him a great treaty of commerce; but I believe there is not a thoughtful statesman in any civilised country in the world who would not join with the Emperor in expressing his admiration of the manner in which the people of this country, for the last forty years, have worked out such beneficial reforms in legislation. Our own experience brings us to the same conclusion. These men are in error who tell you that nothing has been done, and that all remains to be done. These men are not less in error who tell you that what has been done is evil, and that it is evil to do any more. What you should do is, to act on the principles and the rule of the past years, still advancing in favour of questions which the public has thoroughly discussed, which it thoroughly comprehends, and which Parliament can honestly and conscientiously put into law. Looking back these forty years, I feel some sense of content, but it does not in the least lessen, it rather adds to and strengthens my hope for the future. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) The history of the last forty years in this country -judge it fairly, and speak of its legislation-is mainly the history of the conquest of freedom. It will be a grand volume that tells the story. Your name and mine, if I mistake not, will be found in some of its pages. (Hear, hear.) For me the final chapter is now writing. It may be already written. ('No.') But for you, this great constituency, you have a perpetual youth and a perpetual future. I pray Heaven that in the years to come, and when my voice is hushed, you may be granted strength and moderation, and wisdom to influence the councils of your country by righteous means to none other than noble and righteous ends." (Great cheering.)

CHAPTER XLII.

THE CONSERVATIVE POLICY.

Past Legislation-The Conservative Party in Power-The Clerical Title of Reverend -The Cause of the Defeat of the Liberals-The Eastern Question-Speeches on the Burials Bill-Women's Disabilities Removal Bill-His Condemnation of the Foreign Policy of the Government-The Legislation of the last Forty Years-At Bradford and Birmingham-The Opening of the Manchester Town Hall-Famines in India and the Remedy-A Sunday-School Conference.

ON the 26th of January, 1874, Parliament was dissolved, and the election proceeded without any delay. Messrs. Bright, Dixon, and Muntz, were elected without opposition on the 30th of January. Next day Mr. Bright addressed his constituents, remarking:

"As you stand by the grave of the dead Parliament, I am sure, whether you speak its funeral oration or you write its epitaph, you will be willing to say that it is one of the best and the noblest of the Parliaments whose doings have made the story of English history during many centuries past." This observation was received with loud applause; and the speaker, eliciting in turn the cheers and laughter of his audience, continued as follows: "But our opponents do not agree with us; they are an unhappy party. Whether in or out, they seem to me alike unfortunate. I have watched their agonies for thirty years. During that time, according to them, the constitution has received some scores of serious wounds, and several of those wounds, though it is curious to say so, have been pronounced fatal. They say that we-that is, the Liberal party-have disturbed classes and interests unnecessarily, that we have harassed almost all sorts of people, and have made ourselves very unpopular thereby. I doubt not that if they had been in the Wilderness, they would have condemned the Ten Commandments as a harassing piece of legislation, though it does happen that we have the evidence of more than thirty centuries to the wisdom and usefulness of those Commandments. Well, I plead guilty to the charge that we have disturbed a good many classes and a good many interests; but then, in pleading that, I offer as the justification that in no single case have we injured a class or interest, and in every case we have greatly benefited the country. It was my expectation within the last year that, when there came this dissolution-and it was not expected so soon-it was my expectation that I should have at that time to write, not an address offering myself as a candidate, but an address of farewell and final thanks. I did not think it was likely that I should ever again be able to take my place upon this platform to address you thus, or to speak in the House of Commons. But I could not at this moment-it was impossible at this juncture that I could take any other course than that which I have taken in offering myself again to you, if you choose to elect me. And though I am not strong to labour as I have been in the past years, yet still possibly I may do something to promote the great interests of our country and to guard the precious fruits of the many victories that we have won. (Cheers.)

The election throughout the land resulted in favour of the Conservative party, for they had a majority of about fifty. Mr. Gladstone tendered his resignation on the 17th of February, and

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Mr. Disraeli became Premier, and an uneventful year followed, with the exception of the wane of trade.

Mr. Bright, in addressing his constituents on 25th of January, 1875, remarked :

"It has been said very often within the last year that the people-not the people of Birmingham, but the people of the United Kingdom-were a little tired of the legislature and of great measures, and that they preferred, at least for a time, to have rest and quiet. If too much has been done, and if nothing more was to be done, there has been a wonderful consistency in the action of the constituencies, because they have discovered twelve gentlemen whom they have placed on the Treasury Bench-whose special recommendation is that they never did anything-or at least if they attempted to do anything, it was merely to prevent their opponents from doing something. Last July I was spending some time in the extreme north, on the shores of the Pentland Frith. It was a much pleasanter atmosphere than that of the House of Commons. But I was obliged to pick up my information from the papers that came down twice, or at most three times, in the week. I pictured to myself what must be going on in Westminster, and it was a surprising picture. There was the Duke of Richmond-a solemn Scotch proprietor, though not a Scotchman-a man, I should say, incapable of recklessness and enthusiasm. There was the Lord Chancellor, with his wig on, and his wisdom under it, importing, as I thought, some Orange and North of Ireland notions into the affairs of the Established Church. I saw these two in one House, and the Prime Minister in another, engaged in applying a match to every bit of gunpowder they found in their way. (Laughter.) You recollect that a short time ago a bishop made an exhibition of himself, not favourable, as I should say, in connection with the question, whether a respectable and worthy Wesleyan minister should have his name on a tombstone with the word 'reverend' before it. I told you that I do not speak strongly, and I hope never speak evil of dignities; but my learned friend, Sir William Harcourt, in his public speech, alluding, I suppose, to this bishop, speaks of him as a learned simpleton. Now, I would not use such language; I think what the bishop did appears to me almost the natural outcome of his position and the pretensions of his order. He calls himself, or allows himself to be called, the right reverend father, and yet, as for this Wesleyan minister, though he assumes to be called so, he shall not have the word 'reverend' prefixed to his name on any tombstone in any churchyard over which he has control. You read now and then some of those beautiful epistles that are found in the New Testament. You will find that St. Peter in speaking of St. Paul speaks of him as our beloved brother Paul. He never once, to my knowledge, uses the term 'right reverend father.' Now, if the bishops-if this very bishop, who, being learned, must know something, we may hope, of the epistles, if he were moved by the same spirit by which Peter and Paul were moved, is it not reasonable to think that he would not, at least, object to give this Wesleyan minister any title which he thought it proper to assume for himself? But I take this to be the case-I believe no harm of the bishop, I know nothing of him-bishops are generally, so far as believe, excellent men, and are generally anxious to do their duty in the best way that is open to them-but it is an instance of that kind of arrogance which comes from the sacerdotal spirit within the Church. It is a form of presumption which is born of privilege, that which does not come from the pride of man, or from his dislike for his fellow-man, but from the unfortunate circumstances in which he is placed, and which breathe into him a mind and spirit, so far as I can judge, which is wholly contrary to the mind and spirit that was in the Apostle from whom I quoted. It is not to be wondered at, when, as one of your poets says, your priests assume to be 'sole vendors of the law that works salvation 'it is not to be wondered at that, with these privileges, with these endowments, these preferments, this constantly proclaimed superiority-it is not unreasonable to expect that such things as this should happen, and that they should despise men-humble and hard-working men-whose labours have been abundantly blessed by Heaven, but who seem to intrude into their privileged field.”

Mr. Bright was one of the invited guests to a conversazione which was got up by the Birmingham Liberal Association in their Town Hall on the 28th of January, 1875, and in com

menting on some of the causes of the defeat of the Liberals at the late general election, said :

Then

"Amongst the many thousands of publicans there are a great number of respectable and honourable men; and there are many more than are supposed to be by those who sometimes too fiercely assail them. But there is another and lower class of whom one can scarcely say this, and I am afraid that, as in many other things, so in this combination of the publicans against the public interest, the head of the great body is moved by the tail. (Laughter.). come to another cause of defeat, which is one of a wholly different character, and that is the divisions which existed- the absolutely childish policy that was pursued-in many parts of the country, in many constituencies, by sections or fragments of the Liberal party. If you look over the boroughs of the country at the last election, you will find that at least a dozen of them, possessing twenty-four or twenty-five votes, were lost by the mode of conduct which I have been exposing and condemning; and if you will suppose that the publicans, with a want of patriotism shocking to think of, were the cause of fosing an equal number of votes, you will find whence comes nearly the whole of the majority of the present Government. Then there is another great cause, as I think, of loss. În 1867 the election went with a great sweep all over the country in favour of a Liberal policy and of the Liberal party. The new franchise had come into operation for the first time, and the elections were so decided and so decisive that it was common to hear men say, 'The Tories are done for ever; here is a majority of a hundred or more. The matter is so much decided now that really after all we need have no apprehension again that the Liberal party will ever be in jeopardy.' They forgot then, and they forget now, what are the permanent conditions, at least for the present and for some time to come, of politics in this country. They forget the solid power that is always opposed to the Liberal party and to Liberal principles. They forget that almost all the land of the country is in the hands of persons whose interests are different from ours. They forget that the Church, which is established, as you know, in every parish, is nearly always on the side of the Tory party; and that wherever a new church is built, be it in town or be it in country, be it in any county in England or Wales, you will find that that Church is not a centre of political light, but of political darkness, and from it there comes no trace of anything that is found to be Liberal in representation or Parliamentary action, but entirely on the contrary; and the Church is now as certain to be the centre of the propagation of Tory principles as the public house itself. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) In addition to this, you have another cause (which I am not about to complain of, because I believe it is in the nature of things), that is, that some men become rich, and many become what is called very comfortably off, and generally the more wealthy a man is, with a balance at his banker's, and investments everywhere, the more timid he becomes in all his political actions. Well, then, with this timidity on high, and unhappily profound ignorance below, you may fancy, to a certain extent, what a vast amount of solid resistance there is to any proposition for any political progress; and then you should add to all this that which I must mention, though one does not like to treat of it, the enormous lying in which our opponents, from top to bottom of their organisation, throughout their political speeches, and throughout their press, indulged against Mr. Gladstone and his colleagues during the whole time they were in office."

Mr. Bright was again with his constituents in their Town Hall on the 22nd of January, 1876, and delivered his annual address. He was accompanied by his colleagues. In concluding a lengthy speech, Mr. Bright said :

"I think the Liberals and the Libera lparty, whether you take its history from the Revolution, or whether you take a shorter period within the memory of many of us— since the time of the passing of the first Reform Bill, have shown a sense of justice and unselfishness in their policy which has never been shown by what is called the Conservative party. I ask any man to show one measure that we, as a Liberal party, have ever advocated or have succeeded in carrying whose object or effect has been