The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-02 00:00:00

MI. Bright and the "Fortnightly Review."

The f(

193, Piccadilly, Dec. 5.
Sir,—l have communicated With the writer of " Public
Affairs," and requested him to verify the phrases attributed
to Mr. Bright. He assures me he can do so. I shall hear
from him to-morrow, when I will acquaint you with what
he has to say. He is a Liberal member of the House of
Commons, and would not, I think, speak rashly. If, how-
ever, it should appear that he was wrong, you may rely
upon a public and adequate acknowledgment of the mis-
take.—Yours faithfully, Jew's MORLEY.
Jacob Bright, Esq.

Alderley Edge, Manchester, Dec. 8, 1866.
Sir,—l have your note of the sth inst. After what
occurred in the last session of Parliament I am not sur-
prised to find that "Public Affairs" was written by a
" Liberal member of the House of Commons." Ho states
that he can certify the phrases which he attributes to Mr.
Bright. I know that their verification is impossible, and on
that ground I account for his delay. You inform me that
if lam right there shall be an acknowledgment of the
"mistake." The offence seems to be very inadequately
characterised by the term "mistake." I call it a deliberate
falsification. The words on which the "Liberal member
of the House of Commons" founds the charge that in his
heart Mr. Bright has adopted the maxim, "La propriete
c'est le vol," are placed between inverted commas. Inverted
commas imply a literal quotation, and no honourable man
will make use of them, especially when about to draw in-
ferences intended to damage another's reputation, unless
he is sure of the truth of his quotation.

As you will not desire to take upon yourself the respon-
sibility of the "blemishes" and " wild inaccuracies" of this
discreditable article, may I request you to furnish me
with thesname of the writer ?—I am, yours truly,
John Morley, Esq. JACOB BRIGHT.

193. Piccadilly, Dec. 15, 1866.
Dear Sir,—l wish to state parenthetically that in no
case should I be responsible for the misstatements about
Mr. Bright, as they appeared before I succeeded to Mr.
Lewes as editor of the Review. It appears that the state-
ments to which you take exception are inaccurate. The
inaccuracy shall be acknowledged in the Review for the Ist
of January, which, as you will see, is all that I can do to
repair tho injustice. I do not think the writer would
object to my furnishing you with his name. Ile is out of
town at present, but I hope to see him on Tuesday, when
will write to you if you still think it worth while to
know the writer's name.—Believe me, yours very truly,
Jacob Bright, Esq. JOHN MOIU,EY.

Alderley Edge, Manchester, Dec. 19, 1866.
Dear Sir,—ln answer to yours of the 15th inst. I bog to
observe that when a writer is engaged in fair criticism, or
when he attacks, I do not care with how much severity
the views of an opponent, he has a right to the anonymous,
if he wish to assumo it ; but when he resorts to falsehood,
or is guilty of carelessness so extreme that it cannot be
distinguished from falsehood, then, in the interest of the
public and of anonymous writers themselves, he should no
longer be allowed to conceal himself. Such a writer re-
quires to be put under restraint, otherwise anonymous
slander might become general. I know of no mode of ap-
plying that restraint but by placing his name before the
public in connexion with his offence. With these views I
" still think it worth while to know the writer's name,"
and beg that you will give it me without further delay.
Yours very truly,

John Morley, Esq.

JACOB BRIGHT.

Alderley Edge, Manchester, Dec. 27, 1866.
My dear Sir,—l trust you will excuse me for reminding
you of my letter of the 19th inst., to which I have not yet
been favoured with a reply, , Yours very truly,
Juhn Morley, Esq. JAC JB BRIGHT.

Alderley Edge, Manchester, Dec. 30, 18G6.
My dear Sir,—As I do not hear from you I presume I
am not likely to be put in communication with the writer
of "Public Affairs." Being unable, therefore, to address
him through the post, I must ask you to give him the
enclosed letter, which I shall publish with this correspond-
ence. Yours very truly,

John Morley, Esq.

JACOB BRIGHT.

To THE " LIBERAL MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS"
WHO CONTRIBUTES TO THE " FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW."
Alderley Edge, Manchester, Dec. 30, 1833.
Sir,--In your article, "Public Affairs," of last Novem-
ber, when criticising Mr. Bright's Glasgow speech, you say
—"The absurd inaccuracy of some of his statements, as,
for instance, that all the land of Scotland is in the hands of
12, and of England in the hands of 150, proprietors, are
serious blemishes in his oratory." Mr. Bright's own state-
ment, taken from the Glasgow Weekly Mail, is as follows :
" Are you aware of a fact, which I saw stated the other day
in an essay on this subject, that half the land of England
is in the possession of fewer than 150 men? Are you
aware of the fact that half the land in Scotland is in the
possession of riot more than 10 or 12 men ?"
In another part of your article you write :—" Mr. Bright
says that the poor aro the only people fit to legislate for
rich.' Again you say, "Mr. Bright, if left unchecked,
would speedily bring on the war between those who have
and those who have not. His tone too much indicates that
in his heart he has adopted the French maxim, 'La pro-
pridti c'est le vol.' What other interpretation can be placed
on his saying that 'the poor only aro fit to legislate for
the rich ?' Such a course as this would bring us to the
bloody days of June, which is a curious climax for a mem-
ber of the Society of Friends to wish fol."
The passage from Mr. Bright's Glasgow speech on which
you have dared to found this disgraceful attack is as fol-
lows ;—" But I deny altogether that the rich alone are
qualified to legislate for the poor, any more than that the
poor alone would be qualified to legislate for the rich. My
honest belief is, that if we could be all called upon to legis-
late for all, that all would bo more justly treated, and would
be more happy than we are now. We should have then an
average ; we should have the influence of wealth and of
high culture, and of those qualities that come from leisure,
and the influence of those robuster qualities that come from
industry and from labour."
Now, sir, I shall not seek for epithets wherewith to
characterise your conduct in this matter. It is enough
that your silence and secrecy show that you regard it as I
do. I observe that you go out of your way to make an at-
tack upon Mr. Cobden. I believe your statement is false,
but as it appears to refer to unreported conversations I am
unable to convict you as I have done in the case of my
brother. You are a "Liberal member of the House of Com-
mons." lam at present ignorant whether you represent
a free constituency (of which there aro some in England),
or whether you sit for a place where the electors have wily
the appearance of choice. If the latter, you may be less
afraid of giving the publicyour name, as you might thereby
establish an additional claim to the support of your
patrons. If the former, the case would be different. Those
who elected you might put inconvenient questions. in the
course of Sour article you say the people at Glasgow
"knew they had no real grievances." If tkat be your view
should you not take your seat on the other side of the
house, among those who think that think things are perfect
as they are, and that change is an evil ? You speak of Mr.
Gladstone's reform Bill as "a double dose of concession in
granting the voting privilege " in order to compensate for
its author's illiberality in other directions. And yet you
know that if that bill has passed millions of your country-
men would still have been excluded from the franchise—a
state of things now hardly to be found in any civilised
country.
You have done one service to the cause of Reform, and
for tliat I thank you. By attacking Mr. Bright through
miserable inventions of your own, you have given the
strongest testimony which it is possible to obtain that the
speeches, whose influences you would fain undermine, aro
themselves unanswerable.—l am, &c.,

JACOB BRIGHT.

EXETER HALL.—The performance of the "Crea-
tion" to-morrow night will commence at 8 o'clock, instead
of half-past 7, as previously announced. Mr. Santley will
sing on this occasion for the last time in oratorio, prior to
his leaving London for a throe months' tour. Conductor,
Mr. G. W. Martin.

EXTENSIVE ROBBERIES.—At the Sheffield Town-
hall yesterday William Stones, of Verdon-streot, a private
watchman in the employ of the Manchester, Sheffield, and
Lincolnshire Railway Company, was charged with having
committed a series of robberies from tho goods department
at the Victoria station. The prisonerentered the company's
service three months ago with a four years' excellent cha-
racter from the Lincolnshire Constabulary. As soon as he
began his watching robberies began, and at the end of three
months he was suspected, watched, and detected in the act
of abstracting articles from a parcel. Among the property
afterwards found at his house, all new, were an iron bed -
stead, a pistol, a revolver, blankets, calico, rugs, smocks,
bed-ticks, brushes of all kinds, boots and slippers, shawls
embroidered wrappers, lard, cheese, cutlery, crockery, pipes,
a hare, a duck, &c. Three cases only against the prisoner
were gone into. To these he pleaclsd "Guilty," and was
committed for trial.

'ollowing correspondence has been published :
Alderley Edge, Manchester, Nov. 29, 1866.
Sir—ln an article in the Fortnightly Review of November
1, entitled "Public Affairs," criticising the speeches of
Mr. Bright, M.P., you say, " The absurd inaccuracy of
some of his statements—as, for instance, that all the land
of Scotland is in the hands of 12, and of England in the
hands of 150, proprietors, are serious blemishes in his
oratory."

Again you say, "Ills tone too mush indicates that in his
heart he has adopted the French maxim La propriete
c'est le vol.' What other interpretation can be placed on his
saying that the poor onlyare fit to legislate for the rich?"'
As these things never were spoken by Mr. Bright, and as
I cannot suppose the editor of a respectable publication has
invented them fur the purpose of misrepresentation, you
will not be surprised that I should ask you what report of
Mr. Bright's speeches you had before you when you wrote
the article iu question.— I am, &c., JAcoB BRIGHT.
To the Editor of the Fortnightly Review.