The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-30 00:00:00

MB SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, JANUARY 30, 1864.

!r. John Bright, M,P„ on Political Changes.

BIRMINGHAM, Friday Evening.

T his evening Mr. Bright was present at a soiree at the
Royal Hotel. The large room of the hotel, in which the
proceedings took place, was crowded, and the chair was
occupied by Mr. Holliday, the mayor. After various
nldresses had been delivered by local celebrities,
Mr. W. Mono-AN proposed " Success to the patriotic
labours of the Members for this Borough," which was re-
ceived with great cheering,

Mr, Bneour, when the cheering had subsided, said—Mr.
Mayor—l am afraid that I cannot, in such graceful lan-
guage as would have been heard from the lips of my hon.
colleague, had he been present, express my pleasure at the
company of the ladies who have been kind enough to join
our party to. night. (Hear.) I can say, with the greatest
truth, that I rejoice on this, as I have rejoiced on many
other occasions, to see them exhibiting an interest in the
progress of political questions. It has not only been com-
mon to create the impression that what are called serious
people should not meddle with politics, but that these pub-
lic; questions were entirely out of the field in which women
should exercise themselves. I venture, not diffidently, but
confidently to differ from any such opinion, and to say that
politics, by which we understand the science of legislation,
h ive a very direct and constant influence upon the happiness
of every female in every country where there' is a govern-
ment; and that therefore what is done under the name of
political action can by no means be indifferent to the
mothers and wives and sisters and daughters of England.
(Cheers.) I have had the pleasure of meeting whilst I
have been in Birmingham a gentleman who I suppose—
but I have not been told so—does not generally act with
our political party; and after much conversation, and
after I had told him that some time when I came to Bir-
mingham :I would speak on a particular question, he
said he should be very glad if some time or other I
would make a speech on the bright side of England.
(Cheers and laughter.) You understand, I dare say,
the sort of sarcasm that was contained in that suggestion. I
suppose, as he does not agree with me on many subjects,
he thought I took too gloomy a view of the position and
prospects of this country. Now I will admit that there are
a great number of speakers, and a great number of writers,
whose business it seems to be always to persuade everybody
in England that everybody is well treated and perfectly
happy, and they advise them to avoid the errors of the
Trench on the one hand, and the mistakes of the people of
America on the other. If everybody was contented and
happy, and there was nothing that it was our business to
reform, I should stay at home. I have no fondness for poli-
tical meetings and platform work, and I should not for the
last 20 years have given the whole of my time to public
questions, if nothing had been necessary but to come before
audiences and to rejoice with each other at the glorious
position which we occupied. (Cheers.) It is the very exis-
tence of grievances which calls me from the quiet of my
home and from the pursuit of my business, and from atten-
tion to my own family; and whenever I find there is nothing
for me but to say what a happy people we are, and how de-
lightful it is to be under the government of Lord Palmer-
ston and his Whig colleagues, then I can assure you that I
will not trouble you with saying that. I shall leave you to
Al ad it out, and shall stay at home. (Cheers.) Eut still
there is a bright side in the prospect of England, and you
may see some of it probably looking forward, and you may
sae a good deal of it in looking backward. The bright side
of the history of this country, so long as I have been able
to take any part in it, is that side on which are delineated
the changes that have taken place—changes which I, at any
rate, have the satisfaction of knowing that I have supported,
and changes which no doubt many of those who would
wish me to speak in a different tone have to the utmost of
their power opposed. I have been thinking rinse 1 came
into this room what those changes were. I am rather what
I may call trapped into a speech to-night, because I thought
we were coming here merely to a conversational meeting, that
there would be ne tables and very few forms, and that we
should walk about the room and make ourselves acquainted
with each other, and have some tea and coffee, and conversa-
tion; but I find that the managers of the meeting have de-
signed otherwise, and I have been informed that I am ex-
pected to make a speech. Now, ;one cannot make speeches
without thinking of what should be said ; and I have been
looking over the great changes which have taken place in
the time many of you can recollect, and which form the
bright side of our history so far as it is to be found in our
li:etirce, Many of us can remember 30 or 35 years ago, and
it there be any gentleman who complains of the tone of
my speeches in general, I would ask him to bear in mind
what are the changes which have taken place, and if he can,
to measure their results on the prosperity, the peace, and
the happiness of this country. (Hear, hear,) The first
great measure:which suggests itself to my mind is a mea-
sure which gives a certain great right—the right of Parlia-
mentary representation—to which I may call almost the
whole nation of Ireland, being the Catholic population of
that country. (Cheers.) Up to the year 1829 no person
professing to hold the Christian religion as it is held by the
itoman Catholic Church was permitted to sit in the House
of Commons. There was at that time, I suppose, five mil-
lions, or near upon five millions, of Roman Catholics in
Ireland, but they were not allowed to send to the House of
Commons a'.iy man agreeing with them in religious opinion.
it is in V.ie recollection of many of us that it required an
agitat',in of a most formidable character, led by one of the
moat remarkable men that Ireland has ever produced, Mr.
Q. Connell (cheers)—to obtain the concession of that right.
A,lld bear in mind that it was opposed by a very powerful
party in this country, and there is a Ivey in this country
even yet who regret that that concession was ever made,
(Hear.) Although it may be said that we are in a sense
a free country, yet thirty five years ago five millions of
Catholics in Ireland, and perhaps nearly one million in
England, were shut out altogether from representation in
Parliament from being able to return any man of their own
religious sentiments, and every one was prevented from be-
coming a candidate for a seat in Parliament; therefore, as
respects these men, this was not for them a free country.
the next great step that was made was one in which Bir-
mingham took so distinguished a part. On looking back, I
think we may doubt whether the Reform Bill could have
been carried at the time it was carried if it had not been for
the strenuous and protracted efforts of the inhabitants of
this great town. (Cheers.) The party which has always
opposed, and does apparently oppose every step in advance,
run the country to within 24 hours of a revolution before
they conceded that measure; and when it was conceded it
was so far mutilated, so much changed from the original
proposition, that, on the whole, although great, it was so
deficient that we look upon it as leaving the representation
of the country in a very unsatisfactory state. (Cheers.)
After that bill had passed, as was natural after so great an
agitation, there was a powerful swell of Liberal opinion
throughout the country, which did not satisfy itself by the
passing of the bill, but carried other measures of great im-
portance. One of these was a hill by which all the corpora-
tions of the towns and cities of the kingdom, with one or two
exceptions, were reformed. Up to that time there had been
no real representative government in any town in the king-
dom. About half a dozen or a dozen, or two dozen men,
self elected, or elected by some landed proprietors or some
lord of the manor, were the governors of your towns and
formed your corporations, and their corruption was of a
character so foul that the odour of it remains in the nostrils
even until this day. (Loud cheers and laughter.) New
although corporations are by no means centres of aLeolute
wisdom—(laughter)--I say that of course with great trepi-
dation in the presence of your worthy mayor and others who
surround him—(renewed laughter)—yet I think it must be
acknowledged that the passing of that bill and the reform
of these corporations has been to this country an enormous
advantage, and I only hope that corporations generally will
become much more expensive than they have been—not ex-
pensive in the sense of wasting, but that there will be more
nobleness and liberality amongst the people of our towns
and cities, giving our corporations leave to expend more
money in those things which, as public opinion advances,
are found to be essential to the health and improvement and
comfort of the inhabitants. (Cheers.) About the time
vine -
that celebrated measure was passed there passed ano-
teer still more celebrated, because it affected not England
alone, but the opinion of the world, and excited emotion in
the mind of every good man in every country, and stirred
in him, I believe, the lasting admiration of the world and
the magnanimity of the English people, I speak of that
measure v-hich emancipated 800,000 slaves in the colonies
and did even more than emancipate 800,000
of England,
slaves, for it set an example which the world could not help
Lot follow; and, you naa,„
rely upon it, that from that
great act is to be dated, , to a large extent, the creation of
that conscientious feelingin America, which has been grow-
ing from that day to this, and owing to the unteachable
epirit of the slaveholders of that country has finally ended
in
bringing a great nation into the throes of a fearful revo-
lution, out of which, I trust, not only will that nation itself
be purified, but the 4,000,000 of slaves will be free. (Loud
cheers.) And, sir, whilst that passes through /ay mind, I
cannot help, for a moment, touching upon the fact that one
of your citizens (Mr. Sturg,e) now no more, my personal
and intimate friend, was one of the most eminent of those
who endeavoured to stir the conscience to that great act of
justice, and I never pass, as 1 often do pass when I a m here,
that marble figure of him, which you have erected in one of
the most conspicuous places of your town, without hoping
that every citizen of Birmingham, when he comes to consi-
der public questions, whether regarding this country or that
other country to which reference has already been made—
where that great struggle is being carried on—that he will
endeavour to be animated by the disinterested and the noble
and the Christian spirit by which your late eminent towns- I
raan V 728 distinguished. (Cheers.) There is another law to
which I might refer, but it is not of the same character,
though no doubt it has been productive in some cases of
great advantage—l mean the law that was passed for the
reform of the laws fcr the administration of the poor through-
out the country. That law was subjected, I believe, to
greater assault than almost any other law, for long after it
was enacted it had features in it that seemed harsh, and
uafortunately its administration was entrusted to the hands
of men who appeared to make it as unpalatable as possible
to the people. Notwithstanding, I am
free
e to say that, look-
ing back to it as a measure, I believe it is one which did
credit to the Whig administration of that day—to their
courage, to their legislative and administrative capacity in
the carrying of it. I mention it, therefore, as one of those
changes which I believe leave been satisfactory to the coun-

try, and which have passed during the time I am sketch-
ing. (Cheers.) Well, then, after that we came to a very
quiet, and, I may say, an unsatisfactory time—the Whigs
had settled comfortably into their places—they hs ve, I be-
lieve, a motto which, however, they have not publicly an-
nounced, which is this, "A place for every man, and every
man in his place," (Great laughter and cheers.) That means
of course, every man of their respectable party. (Laughter,)
After this time they became very much indisposed to go
further, and the satisfaction of the country with them gra-
dually diminished, their majorities in Parliament were re-
duced, and finally, they came to a general election in the
year 1841; but nine years after the passing of that great
measure of reform, they were thrown out of office by the
constituencies, and a ;Parliament was returned with a ma-
jority against them little short of 100 votes. Now, at this
time there came another great change into sight, and an-
other new principle, though it has not been new within the
last generation or two. The 'principle of free trade was
brought before the public, very much in consequence of the
sufferings which arose from the bad harvests we had imme-
diately preceding the general election. It took from the year
1838 to the year 1846 to bring about that great change—
the abolition of the corn law. A Parliament was elected in
1841, with a majority of 90 pledged against the abolition
of that law. Sir Robert Peel was the great leader of that
great party, and having found themselves in Parliament
with this enormous majority, they looked down upon all of
us who Were moving in that question, and considered that
they were absolutely sure to maintain that law and to main-
tain their places. Well, the result shows how much is to be
done by continuous, disinterested labour on behalf of a great
cause by appealing to the sympathies of a whole nation.
(Cheers.) In 1546, particularly at that moment, owing, no
doubt, to the failure of the harvest and the difficulties which
threatened from an impending famine in Ireland, this vast ,
majority melted away. Men who had pledged themselves
in every form of language to their constituents in 1841—w ho
had attended meetings to abuse the Free-traders, who had
subscribed to newspapers to abuse them, found their whole
power melting away, and their leader himself converted to
the necessity of a change; and a change took place—a
change so great that all the members of the House of Com-
mons, and I think the majority of the House of Lords, be-
lieved that to them at least the world was pretty nearly at an
end. (Laughter and cheers,) I recollect a lady relative
of mine sitting below the bar of the House of Lords on the
night when the Corn-law Repeal Bill was read a second
time. It was very late, or rather early in the morning
when the division was approaching, and a lady sitting near
her, who was a connexion of some peer, spoke to the peer as
he came out from the house. She said, "How will it go?"
It was just before the division. He pointed to the clock in
an agony of excitement, and exclaimed, " In 20 minutes
we shall be no better than dead men." (Laughter and
oheers.) Now, then, the corn law was abolished, and if
they had told the farmers—those terrified farmers, and the
landlords, who were almost still more terrified—l am not
sure that any of them would have ever found it out; the
country would have found that it was much better off, and
the people would have discovered that by some power they
could not imagine loaves and provisions, to the amount of
twenty millions of pounds sterling per annum, had been
deposited in their houses for the sustenance and en-
joyment of their families; they would not have known
how it was all brought about, although we all know that it
was brought about by the repeal of a single act of Parlia-
ment. (Cheers.) It was not by a number of benevolent
ladies and gentlemen forming a society all over the country
and giving the people alms, but it was by the repealing of
an act of Parliament—by a simple act of justice—an act
which was so just that I scarcely ever heard a man deny its
justice except on something which they call political consi-
derations. (Hear, hear.) They say there were political rea-
sons why that great act of justice could not be done. I re-
collect meeting once with a very pious banker that I hap-
pened to travel with in the North of England, and he ad-
mitted it was very unjust that there should be a law to make
food scarce and dear, but he said " I accept it because I be-
lieve it necessary to maintain the hereditary aristocracy of
this country." (Laughter.) And, further, he said he
thought our greatness in the eye of the world dependedvery
much on the maintenance of the wealth, and the power, and
the display of the aristocracy;of England. (Laughter.) That
is exactly the sort of reasoning which people give ; weak-
minded men are attracted by reasons of that kind, and they
give you reasons now not a bit better for opposition to the
changes which many men wish to promote, and which doubt-
less, by-and..bye, will be effected ; and their results will
show that those who have opposed them were just as silly,
and just as little worth following as my traveller, the pious
banker. (Laughter and cheers.) But the qaestion of the
corn laws was not all—there was the question of sugar, in
1810. It is not very long ago the single article of sugar in
this country cost, by reason of the monopoly, not less than
six millions sterling more than it would have cost if you
could have bought it freely in the market of the world.
Well, the fall of the corn monopoly, being the key-stone
of the arch, let down everything else belonging to it and
supported by it, and the sugar monopoly fell, and I don't
know how many others, such as those connected with
the supply of timber from abroad, and one still more
important— the monopoly our shipowners had the
abolition of which has been found to be injurious, I be-
lieve, to nobody, but greatly advantageous to the whole
country. (Cheers.) Well, then, when this was done the
course was perfectly easy for your Chancellors of the Ex-
chequer. It has been all driving down hill with Mr. Glad-
stone since then. He began with a tariff which had 800 or
1,000 articles—l am not sure that there were not even 1,200
articles in it on which duties were raised in our ports. When
the names were read of those which were to be abolished
there was a general laugh in the House of Commons ; peo-
ple turned to each other and asked " What is that ?" "Did
you ever hear of it ?" They were things people had never
heard of, but still heavy duties were levied upon them. At
present there are only 12 or 15 articles on which duties are
levied ; all the things which were formerly taxed came freely
into the country, and we have made a very great clearance
in that matter, and a revolution in regard to it more com-
prehensive and more advantageous to the country than pro-
bably has ever been made by any other Government within
the same time in the world. I do not think that those who
were most active in promoting these changes could be re-
garded by certain people with much more confidence than
they were before, but still the changes were made, and they
had worked well for the nation. (Cheers.) Then we came
to the question of the treaty with France. I was born just
before the termination of that monstrous and wicked war
which was so long carried on with France; and the school
books of my time and of yours mostly, no doubt, were filled,
at least they contained insinuations against, the French that
were not flattering to that people—(laughter)—and there
were representations on the stage, as I am told by those
who frequented the theatres at the time, to the same effect.
There prevailed a general feeling that there was some risk
to Englishmen if they became too well acquainted with the
French, lest by any possibility they should learn to believe
that the French were not the natural enemies of England.
(Hear, hear.) Well, my friend, Mr. Cobden—who, as you
know, is occasionally favoured with very abusive language
from the great instructors of the press—(laughter)—thought
that the Emperor of the French, and some persons who
were occasionally consulted by him, would be very glad to
have more intimate relations with this country, and he went
over to Paris, he sought and obtained an interview with the
Emperor ; he discussed these questions with him, and found
the Emperor not only most willing, but most anxious that
the people of the two countries should be introduced to each
other by the medium of extended commerce, (Cheers.) His
object was, for I heard him say so, that the people be-
ing thus knit together, it would not be in the viewer of
rulers and statesmen hereafter to enter into those frightful
struggles which, now we looked backed upon them, we can
say have for centuries disfigured the history of the two
nations. (Cheers.) There is another question, which cer-
tainly must possess some interest ; but with regard to that
to which I have just adverted, I ought to say further, that
it was not, as was observed the other day by Mr. M. Gib-
son, at Ashton, one of our regular diplomatists, who effected
that treaty, it was done solely by my friend Mr. Cobden—
(cheers)—and as the cricketers would say, he got it en-
tirely off his own bat—(cheers and laughter)—and I venture
to say that as long as the history of France and England is
read, it will be read of him, that a simple statesman of this
country, interested in its welfare, interested in peace be-
tween France and England, interested in the spread of great
and enlightened principles of commerce throughout the
world, went over to Paris and there negotiated with the
Emperor of the French a treaty which I believe to be the
most important document of the kind that has ever been
signed by the rulers of any two nations of Europe. (Loud
cheers.) From that I pass, perhaps, to the last of those
topics that I shall touch upon, and that is, to another kind
of freedom in which no person in Parliament was more
actively engaged than Mr. M. Gibson, Mr, Cobden, and
myself, and that is the fredom of the Press. (Cheers.)
When you pay a penny for your admirable newspaper in this
town you are not conscious, perhaps, of what happened only
a very short time ago. The paper on which it was printed
say ten years ago, had a penny stamp upon it ; the paper
itself did not cost more, probably, than a halfpenny or three-
farthings, and therefore there was from 100 to 150 per cent
tea upon that paper, before my friend Mr. Jaffrey could
touch it. 1 am speaking now of the stamp, but there was at
that time a tax of threepence, and afterwards of three-half-
pu
ennf oc er
t enr a pt
aanadicolentathigebptahpaevrei tbs
ee
el
nf at th tehge r papert
nmf i
alll ;
ut this
sauces, it was made out of the vilest rags and rubbish, and
then the Chancellor of the Exchequer put upon it a tax of
threehalfpence per pound. The moment it was sent to the
newspaper office it was necessary to send it to a Govern-
ment office to be stamped, unless th
stamped it previously ; and when thise ma
awnductenfnateic,tui
frehre hadput
oi into t
ao
ltandeypaper
na ng aad v
nurse,e rt i s e n a
eonrtaefpaapielwooevkaanting nagtuatPorlecief
the advertisement consisted only of a line, or three
or even one word, it was liable to a tax of 1;
6d. Some people
at that time said we were a free country, and some said that
we had a free Press ; and in the House of Commons it re-
quired every kind of argument and every kind of fact, in
addition to ordinary facts and arguments, to induce the
house to make any change, and it required this argument
and this fact to convince the Chancellor of the Exchequer
that unless he would undertake to remove the duty there
was not a single thing he proposed to do that the house
would not oppose. (Cheeers.) By getting the Chancellor of
the Exchequer into a fix of that nature by absolutely wor-
rying him into this act of justice, and by the Wonderful drill

with which Mr, Gibson conducted the question through
Parliament, what have we now ? We have a gentleman so
eminent as the Speaker of the House of Commons the other
day at a meeting over which he presided, expressing him-
self in terms of very high commendation and admiration
of the penny newspaper press of this country. (Cheers.)
But what did all the people say who opposed us? They
said first of all, "You will steal everything from the
Times," Well, I do not think that any thing could by
any possibility make the paper so bad as stealing
everything from the limes. (Cheers and laughter.) The
Globe newspaper, I believe, charges four or five pence,
whilst other papers, quite as good and quite as large, are
selling at a penny. The Globe newspaper declared that
these cheap papers would do nothing but crib paragraphs
and news from the respectable papers without acknowledg-
ment. 'Why the Globe newspaper itself is made up almost
entirely of scissors-work—(cheers and laughter)—and I have
seen in it, repeatedly, paragraphs which it has copied from
the penny press of the morning without the least acknow-
ledgment. (Cheers,) Now I venture to say that every pro-
phesy of the opponents of a free press so far have failed that,
whether it be in the quality of the writing, or its elevated
and moral tone, or the industry with which facts and news
are collected and offered to the people, the newspapers
which are sold at a penny will bear comparison with any of
their dearer neighbours ; and that there is but one opinion
throughout the whole kingdom, except it be in some par-
ticular man whonever could find out anything himself, and
never could be taught anything--(laughter)—there is but
one opinion as to the inestimable benefit which the freedom
of the Press has conferred upon the people of this country,
(Cheers.) Now is it not very:curious that every one of the
changes which I have mentioned is almost by universal
consent admitted to have been a beneficial change? (Cheers.)
You can hardly find a Tory now—it is a blessed thing that
somehow or other the Tories die off, or they change—
' (laughter and cheers)—you can hardly find any of them
now who will not admit that a great many of these changes
have been wise and beneficial changes for the country ; and
yet these very men set up to be authorities on such matters.
They have told you at every step that you weredestroying the
best interests of the country—they have rushed to the poll
with frantic gladness to support men who would oppose these
changes; and, having been wrong in every single thing for
the last 25 years, at this moment without a blush—with-
oat the slightest appearance of embarrassment—they will
come before your constituencies and ask them to believe
that they are the wise men, and that wisdom will die with
them—(cheers and laughter)—and if there had been no vio-
lent party spirit—and these men would have given them-
selves, if they were capable of it, some intelligent thought
on these questions, it is not likely that every one of these
changes might have been made at an earlier period, and
that the public might have possessed for 20 years the ad-
vantage of reforms which, owing to the obstinacy of their
opinions, they have only enjoyed for the last five or ten
years. (Cheers.) Well, I do not know, but I suppose there
are not many of their class of gentlemen here, or else I
might try to improve the occasion, and to see if I could not
reach, as I believe the preachers say, their intellects and
their consciences, (Laughter,) There are other questions,
now, to which these men might turn their minds if they
liked, unless they have been so long fixed that, like a wea-
ther vane become rusty, they cannot turn at all. (Laughter.)
There is a question that has been discussed of late years, and
will come on again for urgent discussion before long---the
question of Parliamentary reform. (Loud cheers.) It is 30
years and more since the Reform Bill passed. It was not a
gradual, though it was a great bill when it passed ; and to
show you how insufficient it was, I have already men-
tioned that in nine years after it passed, so entirely had the
old governing class recovered from its fall, that it entered
Parliament in 1841 with a majority of 90, and we know
very well that leaving an immense number of small boroughs
that are assailable and manageable, and leaving the county
constituencies as they now are, giving the counties into the
hands of three or half a dozen landed proprietors, and shut-
ting out the great bulk of the people from the franchise
everywhere, it is not to be wondered at that we should find
ourselves nine years after the passing of the Reform Bill in
a minority in the House of Commons, and at this moment
in a position in which nobody seems to know exactly whe-
ther there is a minority or a majority. What has taken
place since 1832 ? Why, nearly all the changes I have
mentioned have taken place, not changes in Birming-
ham alone, but similar changes all over the kingdom
almost. Have not your schools been extended to a great
degree? Have not the habits of frugality and industry of
the people become confirmed ? Is not the country more
peaceful, the law more generally observed ? Aro not your
magistrates and all men in authority held in better regard
than they were 30 or 40 years ago ? Do not we all feel that
there is a more just and generous spirit spread among the
people and animating the masses ? And unless we are pre-
pared to say that the English Constitution is not the Con-
stitution by which representative Government is formed,
and that we have no right to share in the administration of
the affairs of our country, then a small, and a powerful, and
a rich class, acting upon a portion of the middle class, di-
vided so that the influence of theirs becomes almost irre-
sistible, must have the government of the country handed
over to them for ever. Unless we are prepared to say this,
we have no right to call ourselves free men, living in a tree
country, and therefore we must determine, before long, that
there shall be another substantial measure of Reform.
(Cheers.) The other night;l referred shortly to the ques •
tion of emigration from this country. lam told, though I
have not seen it in print, that a newspaper which does not
require to sustain its character to be at all fair to those
whom it judges, has declared that I put myself up as an
advertising agent for the American Government. The ad-
vertising agent, the practical advertising agent for the
American Government, are those who refuse to do jus-
tice to the English people. (Hear.) Why, Mr. Bancroft,
the best historian of his country, has declared that Europe
should never forget that the history of the colonies of
America is the history of the crimes of Europe. (Cheers.)
We know perfectly well how it was that those noble men
who colonised New England, and whose spirit yet lives on
the continent—(cheers)—and is now, I will venture to say,
directing the energies of that Government in the preserva-
tion of the nation, and in the establishment of freedom from ,
the Pole to the Gulf, quitted there shores. We know
perfectly well that they were driven from this country
by the oppressions of despotic monarchs, and what
shall I say ?—a despotic and, in that day, an insolent Church
—(cheers)—and we know that from that time to this there
have landed in the United States hundreds of thousands—.
I think three or four millions—of persons who have emi-
grated from the United Kingdom, the largest portion of
them from Ireland. I have said before, and it is well to say
it on every suitable occasion, that such has been the con-
duct of the Government of England to the people of Ireland,
that wherever an Irishman plants his foot on any foreign
land, having quitted his native soil for ever, there he stands
as an enemy of England, that I suspect nothing can recon-
cile to his native country. (Loud cheers.) Well, but if
the government of Ireland by England had been a just
government—only going back as far as the time of the
union, now little more than sixty years ago—all that would
have been wiped away long since, and Irishmen would have
been as loyal and as contented as any class in England. If
they had found it necessary from any cause, much fewer of
them would have found it necessary to transport themselves
to the United States ; and you would have found in the
United States a feeling that they had not been driven by
injustice from their native land, which would have induced
them to say on revisiting these shores—
" Breathes there a man with soul so dead,
Who never to himself has said,
' This is my own, my native land l' "

(Loud cheers.) But now, under the feelings created by a
long course of misgovernment, continued from father to son,
and directed against them in their social, their political, and
their religious feelings, there is scarcely an Irishman in the
United States who is not the victim of any man who chooses
to make political capital out of his hostility to England.
(Hear, hear.) There can be no just government of Ire-
land until you abolish the Irish Protestant Church. (Loud
and continued cheering.) There have been no feelings
in the history of the world that have so stirred men's
love and so stirred their hate as the feelings connected with
their religious belief; and I say, if there was ever an act at
once unjust and idiotic on the part of the English Govern-
ment, it was to continue in Ireland a Church assuming their
own national religious profession, but which was a Church
that never could call within its fold probably more than
about one-tenth of the whole people, and which from that
day to this has never been able to convert—l was going to
say a single real Catholic to Protestantism, but has made
Catholicism not only a belief of the people but a patriotism.
(Cheers.) For every Catholic has not only had the ordinary
reasons for adhering to his Church which every man has
who learned the doctrines and the teachings of the Church
from his mother, but he has this further reason, that the
Church which is sought to be imposed upon him is imposed
by another nation, and to him an alien Government ; and
therefore every reverence for God and every feeling of re-
spect for a free man make him resolved that he will never
come within the pale of such a Church as that. (Hear and
cheers) I have but one more question to touch upon---for it
would be wrong to pass it by at this moment—and that is
the question of foreign affairs and the doctrine of non-inter-
vention. Now, the people of England will, nay must, be-
fore long make up their mind on the great question whether
they will receive the doctrine of non-intervention in its in-
tegrity, entirety, and completeness, or whether they will re-
ceive it when convenient, and repudiate it when their pas-
sions are a little stirred. Two eminent Ministers of the pre-
sent Government are men—one of them certainly is a man
who was in office so long ago as some years before 1 was
born. He cornea down, then, from a generation that has
almost passed away. Lord Palmerston, the Prime Minister,
is that man, and Lord Russell, although not so old, still goes
back into that earlier time, They are both naturally—l am
not imputing it to them as a wrong, because possibly it was
what they could not help ; but they naturally have been
saturated with the theories and doctrines which prevailed
upon the question of intervention in foreign affairs at
the beginning of this century. They may fancy now, in
their old age, that that which was taught them and which
was practised in their youth was right. Now, during the
time of the Italian war, the war which was lately carried on
between the Emperor of the French and the Emperor of
Austria, which resulted in great changes in Italy, I went
one day during that session of Parliament to spend an hour
with Lord Aberdeen. He had been Prime Minister and
Secretary for Foreign Affairs for many years; he was a man

of sound judgment, of great moderation, and many good
qualities which I believe his political opponents did not
think it advantageous to give him credit for. He spoke
about the war that was then beginning between the French
and the Austrians, and he said that when he was young
there would not have been a statesman in England of any
party who would have hesitated for a single moment to go
into that war on the side of Austria against France, with
the view of preventing the increase of French influence in
Italy ; but he said he hoped, and he thought it was proba-
bly true, that statesmen had grown wiser since that time.
We did net go into the war in Italy. Our Government did
not take sides with Austria, nor yet with France. The
people generally, I think, were rather in favour of France,
because they thought France was in favour of freedom in
Italy. But supposing the country had gone into that war,
it is difficult to conceive that things would have been better
than they are now. Possibly they would have been worse ;
thousands of our countrymen might have found graves on
the continent; great sea fights might have taken place;
the French Treaty would not have existed, and the growing
harmony between the two countries would have been mise-
rably interrupted. (Hear, hear.) I will not go back to
the Russian war. You know the part I took on that ques-
tion. I believe it is owing to the part I took on that occa-
sion that I lave the honour of now being your representa-
tive. (Cheers.) How were you dragged or beguiled, or
excited into that war by the statements of two aged Minis-
ters. They could have kept you out of it. I will not
impute to them motives other than perfectly honourable
motives ; but saturated as I say—saturated, mind, with
the doctrines of a bygone time, a time, I hope, never to re-
turn, they fancied that it was the duty of this small island
to take care of a rotten Government, and of a country de-
vastated by the rottenness and corruption of that Govern-
ment, at the extremity of Europe ; and the result was that
among the various contending nations at least 400,000 men's
lives were sacrificed, and probably as many millions of trea-
sure ; and instead of settling Europe on a permanent basis
—for they always tell you that they fight for the purpose of
obtaining a permanent peace—you find that Europe has
double the number of armed men, and has doubled the mili-
tary expenditure; (Hear.) I now come to another question,
the dispute between Denmark and Germany. I am one of
those who are not indisposed to sympathise with these who
wear crowns when they ate in troubles and difficulties. We
know that the difficulty which has overtaken the King of
Denmark is not of his own creation. There has been a diffi-
culty many years with regard to the duchies. It has not
been settled. Perhaps now it may be settled ; but 1 doubt
extremely whether anything that England could do by
sending 25,000 men into Schleswig, and by sending fleets
into the North Sea, into the Baltic, and into the Adriatic,
would tend to the permanent settlement of the question.
Questions of that nature are only permanently settled when
they are brought to a conclusion by those who are deeply
interested in them. We are not deeply interested. I do not
see that we are interested because the Prince of Wales has
married the daughter of the King of Denmark. I think
nothing would be more unfortunate, and that nothing could
be more intolerable, than that whilst the members of the
Royal family of England are not allowed to marry from
English citizenship, that marrying abroad they should,
therefore, embroil Englishmen with the quarrels of foreign
countries. I can imagine nothing more likely to make an
Englishman doubt whether Royal alliances can have any
pleasant interest in them than that any such course should
be taken. We see statements in the papers that the Guards
have received certain orders, and that the fleet is to
come to some place or other. These, I fancy, are
mostly mere feelers, it may be, or bluster intended to
operate upon Austria and Prussia. I cannot understand the
object of Austria and Prussia, unless it be that they are
afraid of a revolution in Germany, and are therefore appa-
rently taking the lead in great operations which may save
them from that unpleasant change which they think may be
impending. But if I were speaking to the members of her
Majesty's Government I should remind them of this, that
in 1853-4 there were members of that Government who talked
about peace. Mr. Gladstoae, in his speech in Manchester,
and Lord Aberdeen were heartily wishing for peace; so,
doubtless, were the Queen and the Prince ; and yet they
went into war. Governments take steps which they fancy
do not mean war, but they are gradually brought nearer to
the verge, and then, on pretence that they have gone so far
that they cannot retract, cannot honourably retract, they
plunge over into the abyss. On that occasion there were
members of the Cabinet who had not the slightest idea of
going into war. There is a curious custom in the English
Cabinet on which the public ear is not well informed, but
which I will explain. When a Government is formed, you
see a list of 13 members, so-called the Cabinet. They are
summoned to Cabinet meetings under the name of her Ma-
jesty's servants ; but there is an inner Cabinet, and it is
merely composed of the Prime Minister and the Foe
reign Secretary, and occasionally one other Minister. Lord
Derby was a member of Sir Robert Peel's Cabinet, and yet
he knew nothing whatever of a most important memoran-
dum or understanding which had been drawn up, and an
agreement which had been come to between Sir Robert
Peel, the Duke of Wellington, Lord Aberdeen, and the
Emperor Nicholas of Russia. Lord Derby stated in the
House of Lords that until he became Prima Minister he
had never seen the memorandum or known of its existence.
I have been told that there was an attempt made when Lord
Derby's Government was formed to keep the whole of the
interior Cabinet in the hands of himself and Lord Malmes-
bury, who was the Foreign Minister; but that a certain
other Minister, who knew the responsibility attaching to
his great position, resolved that he would have nothing to
do with the responsibility of the decisions come to unless he
were made acquainted with all the facts, and with everything
belonging to them; and therefore the secret Cabinet of Lord
Derby was composed of three and not of two members, But
take the present Cabinet. I will undertake to say, from what
I know of what has been done on past occasions, that of the
direct foreign negotiations the transactions of foreign affairs
is conducted almost entirely by Lord Palmerston and Lord
Russell, Now don't let me be supposed to insinuate that
Lord Palmerston—for that would be foolish—has not had a
most lengthened experience in all matters 'connected with
foreign affairs ; and don't let me be understood as saying
that Lord Russell is not as anxious as I am that our foreign
affairs should be transacted with honour, and that the Ca-
binet should do what is best for the interests of the nation.
But there may be members of the Cabinet at this moment
who are not aware of the steps which are taken from day to
day, and of the despatche3 which are written, of the sugges-
tions which are thrown out, and the resolutions partly come
to; which being once arrived at and determined by the
Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary, the other members
of the Cabinet find themselves unable to resist. If there be
any members of the Cabinet who has not that secret know-
ledge, and finds that matters are advancing to a fatal catas-
trophe—the catastrophe of war—let me beseech him, as he
values the peace of his conscience during his lifetime, and
his reputation with his fellowmen, which is of much less
real value—let me beseech him to insist upon knowing every
single thing that is done, and determine that he will not be
made a partner in transactions—it may be in great error, it
may be in great crimes—which he and his country for all
time to come may have occasion to regret. (Cheers.) At
present there is no excitement on the question between Den-
mark and Germany, So far as I can understand I have not
seen a paper written out of London which argues in favour
of war. I do not think the London papers generally, so far
as I have heard, have stimulated the country to violent ac-
tion. But let us here, let the people everywhere have their
eyes wide open at this moment, and by every means in their
power let them understand that while wo are willing to
sympathise with any monarch, or it may be with any State,
under difficulties of any kind, we consider it our duty to
guard the permanent and future interests of the population
of this island ; and show, also, that looking over our past
history for the last 200 years we have come to the fixed
determination that the Power of England shall not be
exerted, the blood of England shall not be spilled, the
wealth erected by the sweat of Englishmen shall not be
squandered, except it be in some great cause in which the
solid and permanent interests of this country are engaged.
I fear you will think I have been preaching you a long
political sermon. I want this to be a free country—not to
be afraid of anything that's good because they say it's
French, or of something good because they say it's Ameri-
can, or to stand by anything that is clearly evil because
they say it's old, A very eminent writer not long ago said
that England to a large extent was still, as it were, fettered
in the grave clothes of the middle ages. We have a com-
petition to run with other nations, and most closely of all
with that nation now distracted and in the throes of a great
revolution. But we have within our shores, and within
tho limits of these islands, a great and a noble people—
(cheers)—we have within us the elements of a nation far
greater in the future than anything we have been in
the past, even in the most glorious pages of history, We
can set ourselves free from prejudices, and, as it were, from
the darkness of the past. We can give to our people
education. We can open up to them new sources of in-
dustry. We can reduce the expenditure of our Govern-
ment, We can invite another million or two within the
pale of the Constitution, and, taking them by the hand,
ask counsel of them that we may assist each other in the
wise Government of this great nation. (Cheers.) All
this we can do, and all that it wants is, that in work-
ing out our political problems we should take for our
foundation that which recommends itself to our con-
sciences as just and moral. I have not the slightest
regard for your statesmanship that is divorced from the
morality which we said ought to guide us in our private
life, and which we should gather for a nation as for indivi-
duals, from the religion which we profess. Time, persistent
labour, and fidelity to the great principles which we hold
and believe in—(cheers)—this will certainly give us the
victory over existing evils, as similar qualities and similar
conduct have given the victories I have described to you
in the sketch which I have made. And for myself, and I
may add for my hon. colleague, who is not here to-night,
I am sure that every time we come to Birmingham, I say
it most distinctly for myself, I feel afresh how much there
is in the people of this country to respect and to admire.
(Cheers.) I feel that the more any man connected with
public affairs, as I have been for 20 years, mingles
with those who take an interest in public questions, the
more he feels himself strengthened, not only in his
faith in what is good, but in the power which
i he has to co-
operate with those through whom hereafter t is to be at.
tained. I can say, too, descending from the political to the
personal, that every time I have come to Birmingham I have
had additional reason—if I ens to remain in public and par-

liamentary life—to feel grateful for the confidence whieh
you reposed in me fire or six years ago ; for every time
come I receive additional proofs of kindness and of confi-
dence ; and I may say more, that I have received numerous
acts of courtesy from those who cl:d not feel that they were
able to give me political support. (Cheers.) In looking to
Birmingham, and to my duty to it, I shall take a broader
view than merely to look to those who give me their votes
—I shall look to its whole population, whether rich or poor,
and to its whole industry and interests ; and as far as I am
able to affect them advantageously, hoping for your co-
operation and assistance, you may rely upon my doing
everything that lies in my power. (The hon. gentleman
resumed his seat amid loud cheering.)
The proceedings were shortly afterwards brought to a
termination by a vote of thanks to the mayor for presiding.