The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-06-16 00:00:00

THE BRIGHT CELEBRATION AT
BIRMINGHAM.

On Monday, in weather which although dull and
cold was fine, the first of the series of celebrations of
the 25th anniversary of Mr. Bright's election as
member of Parliament for Birmingham, passed off
satisfactorily. Amid the flattering of flags and banners,
the blare of brass bands, the measured tramp of artisan
battalions, and the continuous roar of nearly a million
welcoming voices, extending over a route fully five
miles long, Mr. Bright made his triumphal entry into
the town which he has so long and so worthily repre-
sented in the councils of the nation. Mr. Bright, who
had passed the previous night at Stratford-on-Avon
with his son-in-law, Mr. Currie, arrived at Small-heath
Station, Birmingham, shortly :Mei half-past 12, and was
received by the Mayor (Alderman White), the members
of the Town Council, and the president (Mr. Dixon),
and officers of the Birmingham Liberal Association,
and other gentlemen. Mr. Bright, who was accom-
panied by Mr. and Mrs. Currie, Mr. and Mrs. Albert
Bright, and Mrs. Rothe, appeared to be in excellent
health and spirits, and exchanged hearty greetings
with his friends. After a few minutes' delay, during
which the little party grouped themselves for the pur-
pose of being photographed,
Mr. Dixon, as president of the Liberal Association,
formally requested Mr. Bright's acceptance of a gold
medal, which had been struck in commemoration of the
day. The medal, which is impressed on one aide with
a portrait of Mr. Bright, bears on the reverse the fol-
lowing inscription :—"The Birmingham Liberal Asso-
ciation, Bright Celebration, June, 1883. The Right
Hon. John Bright, elected M.P., August, 1857.
'Peace, retrenchment, and reform.'"

The Mayor, who wore his official chain and badge,
also addressed a few words of cordial welcome to Mr.
Bright on behalf of his colleagues in the Council and of
the inhabitants generally.

Mr. Bright, in response, said: Mr. Mayor and Mr.
Dixon,—l can understand how many of my friends
are looking forward to the events of the week with
groat interest. I have looked forward to them, and
do now with not a little apprehension. I see in the
commencement of a leading article this morning they
speak of my festivity at Birmingham, and I thought
that the scribe who commenced his leading article in
that frame of mind did not know much about the
state of feeling in which I was at the time. (Laugh-
ter.) However, everything that elan be done to miti-
gate my misfortune has been done by the kindness
of my friends, and I feel that kindness. In fact, all
the time I have been member for Birmingham I thick
I have been treated with a consideration, generosity,
sympathy, and assistance which perhaps no other re-
presentative in Parliament—l would say hardly any
one—has received from the constituency they repre-
sent. (Cheers.) Mr. Dixon has been kind enough to
hand me this medal, which is of a very valuable
metal—a metal which I suppose is perpetual in its
duration if not intentionally got rid of. (Laughter)
I hope it will remain with my son or my children,
and that they may bear in mind at some time
when I am not with them that it was presented to me
on a remarkable occasion, and by gentlemen and
friends of mine to whom I owe a debt of gratitude
which, however long I may live, I shall never be obis
to pay. Mr. Dixon and Mr. Mayor, I thank you very
much for your kind observations, and all those whom
you represent for the constant friendship with
which they have received me. Perhaps it is not
necessary at this point to go more into detail. If I
multiplied words I should only repeat how thankfu I
am to you for your kindness. (Cheers.)
Medals and bouquets were also presented to the
ladies of Mr. Bright's party. In the meantime, the
large procession which was to escort Mr. Bright
through the town to Aston had been slowly pouring
along the road, two-and-a-half miles in length, which
extends from the Small heath Station to the centre of
the town. All being declared ready for the start, Mr.
Bright took his seat in the Mayor's carriage, which
was drawn by four bays, with postilions, and fell
in at the rear of the procession. Other members
of Mr. Bright's party were accommodated with seats
in carriages, and the procession, which was closed by
an escort of mounted police, then began to move
forward. It had been organized in eight sections or
diviei-ns, each assembling under the care of its own
marshal in a different part of the town, and each
bringing its own band. At the head of the procession
came the corporation fire brigade, with brightly bur-
nished accoutrements and floral decorations, preceded
by a few mounted policemen ; then followed, on foot or
in carriages, the oommittee•men of the various trades
and temperance societies of the town and district, some
four and some eight abreast, with their banners and
devices, and representatives of various districts and
other Liberal associations.

The route of the procession was due north by the
Coventry-road and 13.ordesley, through the classic Bull
Ring to New-street and the Council-house, thence,
turning sharply in a north-easterly direction, to Aston,
where the evening festivities were to be held. The
object of this programme was evidently to gratify as
large a part of the constituency, as conveniently prac-
ticable, with a sight of the procession and of the
illustrious guest in whose honour it was formed.
The procession covered nearly two miles of road, in
ranks four and eight abreast, and numbered at a
moderate computation 50,000 individuals. A droll
spectacle was presented by the deputation of opera-
tive bakers, each man carrying a cottage loaf on the
top of a staff, but this symbolical tribute to the
virtues of free trade was outdone by the deputation
from the Agricultural Labourers' Union, 200 strong,
headed by Mr. Joseph Arch, who had brought with
them a Brobdingnagian loaf nearly 61t. high and pro.
portionately broad, accompanied by a crimson banner
bearing the inscription, "We demand the vote as our
right."

_
An interesting feature of the procession was the
number of relics of old political demonstrations which
have now become historical, among them being the
drum and Roman fasces used at the Attwood demon-
stra,tion in 1832, which were carried by a contingent
of some thirty veteran survivors of the old Political
Union, who took pazt also in the Kossuth demonstra-
tion in 1851.

Flags were displayed on most of the buildings in the
heart of the town, and here and there the streets were
spanned by gay strings of bannerets or festive mottoes,
but with the exception of the two Liberal Clubs, the
windows of which were tastefully draped, there was no
attempt at wall decoration. More impressive, how-
ever, than any devices of the decorator were the
serried ranks, six and seven deep, of artisans and tbeir
wives, who lined the route on either side for the entire
distance of five miles from Small-heath Station to
Aston Lower Grounds and wbo.e shouts of welcome
as Mr. Bright's carilage rolled past them bore
eloquent testimony to the esteem and veneration in
which the veteran statesman is held by his consti-
tuents. The windows, balconies, and roofs of the
.honses along the road and the various fixed and loco-
motive stands which occupied the street corners and
coigns of vantage were crowded with spectators whose
enthusiastic acclamations gave to Mr. Bright's visit
the character rather of a Royal progress than of a
political welcome.

Shortly after the procession had passed the open
space near the Town.hall, where the mass of spectators
was densest and the enthusiasm was correspondingly
intense, Mr. Bright's carriage diverged from the route
and moved by less frequented ways to the offices of the
Aston Local Board, at an open window of which he
took his place while the entire procession filed before
him on its way to the Lower Grounds. This cere.
mony, which was accompanied by loud cheering and
waving of hate, flags, and handkerchiefs, occupied
nearly an hour, after which Mr. Bright withdrew,
evidently much gratified by the cordiality of his
reception and the general success of the day's proceed-
ings.

In the evening many thousands of persons thronged
to the Aston Lower Grounds, where a grand fke and
garden party had been arranged in honour of the ocoa-
sion. The entertainments comprised a series of
popular concerts, a balloon ascent, Punch and Judy
marionette, shows for the children, and dancing for
their seniors to the music of six military bands s4a-
tioned in various parts of the grounds, the whole con-
cluding with a grand illumination of the ground and
buildings by the electric light and a magnificent dis-
play of fireworks, of which the crowning features
were a mammoth fire portrait of Mr. Bright and a
fire portrait of Mr. Gladstone, with the mottoes in
fiery characters, "Free Church, free land, and free
schools," and "Long life and happiness to John
Bright."

On Tuesday Mr. Bright, who was the guest of Mr.
George Dixon, remained secluded from all bat a few per.
sonal friends, who were invited to meet him at break-
fast and at dir !ler.