The Press.
London, England, 1858-11-06 00:00:00

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example. Well, then, the one thing that Mr.
BRIGHT most vehemently (and, as we think, most
justly) denounces, is forcibly intermeddling in
the internal affairs of inoffensive, independent
States. This interference, since the Parliament
was reformed, has, it cannot be denied, been one
of the worst characteristics of our foreign policy.
Mr. BRIGHT gives a sort of list of the cases in
which it has taken place, and one that figures in
his list he thus describes We have blockaded
" Athens, or the port of Athens, for a claim
" which was known to he false." So let it be.
But how did Parliament deal with this affair ? It
was brought under discussion in the House of
Lords by Lord DERRY, and at his suggestion a vote
of censure was passed by that House on the pro-
ceedings of the British forces at Athens. The Whig
Government were accordingly in a dilemma—re-
signation seemed inevitable—when, behold, Mr.
ROEBUCK, the member for Sheffield (one of the
gentlemen who write letters complimenting
Mr. BRIGHT, and regretting his inability to attend
at his dinner), rushes to the rescue. The repre-
sentative of the numerous constituency of Sheffield
is the man, par excellence, to move a counter
resolution in the Commons, in order to save the
Ministry; and, accordingly, Mr. ROEBUCK'S reso-
lution, approving the proceedings at Athens, was
passed by the House of Commons. Can Mr.
BRIGHT show that the non-electors of Sheffield,
or the non-electors of any other populous borough
in the kingdom, stepped forward to support the
House of Lords, and to condemn those members
who represented the electors, the ten-pound
householders, for supporting Mr. ROEBUCK'S
resolution ? The resolution involved the con-
demnation of the all-important principle against
forcible interference with the internal affairs of
other States, to which Mr. BRIGHT wisely, as we
think, attributes such immense importance ; and
yet the House of Lords, which affirmed this
principle of non-interference, is made by Mr.
BRIGHT the object of his sneering vituperation,
whilst, with marvellous inconsistency, all his
eulogies are bestowed on those parties in the
State who were opposed to the principle for which
Mr. BRIGHT contends.

The great fallacy which pervades the whole of
Mr. BRIGHT'S speech is, as we have said, the
assumption that a particular class in the com-
munity is sure to judge more wisely on political
questions than all the others ; but the assump-
tion partakes of absurdity when we find that the
selected class is the one which possesses the fewest
opportunities for forming a sound opinion. For
ourselves, we should be very unwilling to predicate
anything of the kind separately, either of the
aristocracy, the clergy, the landed gentry, the
merchants, the shopkeepers, or the ten-pound
householders. So long as human nature is fal-
lible, so long we are well convinced that all these
classes, separately and collectively, will, at times,
form erroneous judgments on passing events;
but, if we are to believe Mr. BRIGHT, the work-
ing class, on which the elective franchise has not
been conferred, is the class which never would
go wrong. Such a belief seems hardly the belief
of a rational man, for it is well known that the
besetting vice of men of all classes, when they
are congregated into masses, is to be guided by
impulse, rather than by reason and reflection ;
and the more numerous the class, the more easily
can they be AO congregated. Applause and dis-
approbation are notoriously infectious; and men
who, in their calmer moments, or in the retire-
ment of their own homes, would be able to dis-

Why did he leave unanswered the second
question which we put to him—viz., " How
" do you mean to avoid handing_ over to the
" populace the representation in Parliament so
" as to exclude all other classes in the commu-
" nity, if in each and every constituency the
',i'ijpopulace are to be a preponderating majority r
e ask the gentlemen of Birmingham, who ap-
plauded so loudly Mr. BRIGHT'S second oration,
whether they mean to be excluded from all share
in political power? assured that
that would be the
mous majority of
of the realization
presenting numbers.
were none then present
political influence.
who, skilled in mob
that they may attain
tical power than -

cern the mischievous tendency of particular
suggestions, will be betrayed into sanctioning
and approving them, simply from the influence
which the minds of many men, in a body, irre-
sistibly exercise over the minds of others with
whom they may be assembled. If Mr. BRIGHT
himself had not been conscious of this, he would
hardly have ventured on many of the statements
with which he interspersed bis speech. Had he
been in an assembly where there were men who
would have been free to criticize and reply to
what he advanced, is there a sensible man alive
who can think that Mr. BRIGHT would not have
been ashamed of much of the trumpery that he
safely talked, because he was addressing a body of
men whom he knew would not allow any single
man amongst them to express his disapprobation ?
Would he have ever ventured on putting forth
that strange jumble of history and anecdote and
inference, with respect to Sir ROBERT WAI.POLE,
Mr. Fox, and Lord GREY, at the commencement
of his speech on Friday night, with which be in-
sulted the understandings of his hearers, had any
of those hearers been an opponent, ready to deal
with and to expose his statements? The Hon.
Gentleman practised on the credulity of " the men
of Birmingham ;" and, bye and bye, when they
awake to a consciousness that he so treated them,
we question whether they will again give him so
cordial a reception as the one which they hays
lately accorded to him.
Be, however, that as it may, we hail the speech
as one of good omen, and likely to be productive
of very beneficial results. No impartial person
can read it without the conviction that, the
speaker, from his inmost soul, detests the whole
fabric of the British Constitution. The Crown
is evidently as distasteful to him as the Peerage ;
and the landed gentry—and the merchant
princes—and the clergy, as a body—and the
hierarchy especially—are all alike an abomination
in his eyes. A member of the most insignificant
of sectarian societies, a Quaker in profession, and
a Republican on principle, his desire is to pull
down every class of society above him to the
same level with his own. He would inflame the
people (if he could) to be his instruments in the
work; and, when it was accomplished, we ash,
would he deal, if he had power, with greater
consideration for his instruments than other de-
magogues have dealt with their deluded fol-
lowers after they have become their masters ?
We can only give a conjectural answer to this
question, but assuredly Mr. BRIGHT'S language
and recommendations are well calculated to
arouse the worst suspicions.

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