The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-30 00:00:00

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THE BIRMINGHAM BANQUET TO
MR. BRIGHT. -

Yesterday evening Mr. Bright was entertained
by hisiriends at Birmingham at a dinner in the
Town:hall. Covers were laid for 500, and every
seat was occupied. The side galleries were filled
exclusively- by ladies, and the great gallery at the
end Was crowded with working-men, who were
admitted 'by is : tickets.
Mr, .H. P. A.lnutz, the brother of the late mem-
ber, was in the chair. Arnong the gentlemen pre-
sent were J.B. Smith, M,P., Air. Bass, M.P. Mr.
Hadfield, M.P., Mr. (1. Forster, M.P., Mr. Pease,
M.P.,, Mr. W. Sharman Crawford, Mr. Bazley. (the
candidate for Ali). representa.tion of Manchester),
Mr. George Wilson, Mr. Duncan M'Laren, and a
considerable number of the leading inhabitants of

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Birmingham.
The following letters were read from gentlemen
who were not able to be present :
Lord John Russell says :
" I am very sorry that it is not in'my power to attend
the proposed dinner, for, although I have the misfortune
frequently to differ from Mr. Bright, I entertain a great
espect for the sincerity of his convictions and the upright-
ness of his character."
Th 9 following is Mr. Cobden's letter
" Midhurst, Oct. 26.
" Sir,—l lament that, being confined to the house by a
severe, cold, I am unableto accept the invitation with which
the committee have honoured me to be present at the dinner
to be given to my old friend and colleague on Friday next.
" The electors of Birmingham may justly feel proud of
their present position. _Their reversal of the sentence
passed upon Mr. Bright by his late constituents has been
ratified by the approving toice of the country and of the
civilised world. By that
_act they have done more than
restore an able public man to the House of Commons; they
have, at the Ennio time, rescued our large constituencies
from the reproach of inconsistency and ingratitude to
which the conduct of Manchester had subjected them.
" I shall always feel the highest respect and admiration
for the manly course which, under circumstances that tested
their self-relying independence of character, the people of
Birmingham pursued towards Mr. Bright, and I shall in-
dulge the hope of being allowed .a.future opportunity of
giving expression to those feelings at a public meeting in
yoar borough.—l remain, sir, your obedient servant,
"Robert 'Wright, Esch,!" "R.. C OBDEN.

Mr. Roebuck says :
"I am sorry to say that my engagements prevent my ac-
cepting your invitation to meet Mr. Bright. I should have
been glad of an opportunity of expressing my great respect
for him • and I heartily rejoice that his constituents duly
appreciate the worth of their distinguished representative ;
and I hope that they may be long able to retain his invalu-

able services." -
Mr. Locke King, who could not attend, says :
" I was truly glad to hear his voice, once so familiar to
us, in the House of Commons again this year. The electors
of Birmingham have done honour to themselves in selecting
a man for their representative of whom England is justly
proud. I feel they have in some measure removed the stain
which Manchester inflicted on the country, when it, acting
under the dictation, and urged by the prejudices of a Mini-
ster, forgot the claims Mr. Bright had, and ungraciously
rejected him at the very moment he was seeking to recover
that health which he had impaired in the service of the
people of Manchester and of the country."
Mr. W. J. Fox says :
" I Very much regret that my • state of health will not
allow me to attend the dinner on. the 29th. But. I cannot
refrain from expressing, my high gratification that the elec-
tors of Birmingham have replaced in the Legislature, among
the representatives of the people, so able and unflinching an
advocate of popular rights as hlr. John Bright; the selec-
tion is alikeonourable to both parties, and should be cele-
bratuiwith lively gratitude for past services and full confi-
dence in his future usefulness.'
After the cloth was drawn,
The CHAIRMAN gave the usual loyal and patrio-
tic toasts, which were received with great enthu-

siasm.
Mr. W. MATHEWS proposed " The Liberal Mem
bers of both Houses of Parliament," which was re
sponded to by Mr. Bass, ALP.
The CHAIRMAN then proposed " The Health of
Mr. Bright," which was received with loud cheer-
ing.
Mr. BRIGHT—The -frequent and far too compli.
itnentary manner in which my name has been men
tioned to-night, and the most kind way in which
you have received me, have placed me in a position
somewhat humiliating and really painful ; for to
receive laudation which one feels one cannot possibly
have merited is much more painful than to be passed
by in, a distribution of gratitude to which possibly
one might lay some claim. If one-twentieth part of
what has been said is true, if I am entitled to any
measure of your approbation, I maY.begin to think
that!my'publie career and my opinions are not so
un-English and so anti-national as the best of those
who presume to be the best of our public instruc-
tors have sometimes assumed. How, indeed, can I,
any more than one of you, be un-English and anti-
national ? Was I not born upon the same soil ? Do
I not come of the same English stock ?• Are not my
family committed irrevocably to the fortunes of this
country ?. Is- not whatever property I may have
depending as much as yours is depending upon the
good government of our common fatherlana? (Hear,
hear.) Then how shall any man dare to say to any
one of his countrymen, because he happens to hold
a different opinion on matters of great public policy
that therefore he is •isis-Englislr and is to be con-
demned as anti-national. (Cheers.) There are those
who would assume that between my countrymen
and-me, and between my constituents and me, there
has been and there is now a great gulf, and that if
I. cannot pass over to them and to you, they and
you can by no possibility pass over to me. Now, I
take the liberty here, in the presence of an audi-
ence as intelligent as can be collected within the
limits of this island, and of those who have the,
strongest claims to know what opinions I do enter-
tain. relative to certain great questions of public po-
licy, to assert that I. hold no views, that I ..have
never promulgated any views on those controverted
questions 'with respect to which I cannot. bring-as
witnesses in my favour, and as fellow -believers with
myself, some of the best and most 'revered names in
the history of English statesmanship_ (Hear, hear.)
About 120 years ago the. Government of this
.coun-
try 'was directed by- Sir 'Robert Walpole, a great
Minister; Who lot a: long period preserved the
country in peace,and whose pride it was that during
thoin years he -had done so. -Unfortunately, to-
wards the close, of his carcer he was driven by fac-
tion into a policy which was the ruin of his politi-
cal, prospects. Sir Robert Walpole declared,
speaking of the question of war as affecting this
country, that nothing could be so foolish, nothing
so mad as a policy of war for a trading nation—
(hear, hear)—and he went 'so far as to say that any.
peace _was better than. the . most successful war.
(Hear, hear.) IJo not give you the precise lan-
guage of the Minister, for I speak only from me-
mory, but I am satisfied I am not misrepresenting
him in what -I have now stated. Come down 50
years nearer to our own time, and you finda states-
man, not long in office, but still held in the affec-
tions of all persons of liberal 'principles in this
country, and in his time reprossenting fully the
sentiments of the Liberal party—Charles James
Fox.- ((heers.) Mr. Fox, referring to the policy
of the Government of his time, which was one of
constant interference in the affairs of Europe, and
by Which the country was continually involved in
the calamities of war, said that , although lie would
not assert or maintain the
_principle, that under no
ciretimslances.conld England have any cause of in-
terference with the. affairs of the continent of Europe,
yet he would prefer the positive policy of non-in-
terference and of perfect isolation rather than the
constant intermeddling to which our recent policy
had subjected us, and which brought so much
.trouble and suffering upon the country. (Hear,
hear.) In this case also lam not prepared to give
you his exact words, but I am sure that I fairly
describe the sentiments which he expressed.
Come down to 50-years later, and to a. time with-
in the recollection of most of us, • and you find
another statesman, once the most popular man in
England, and. still remembered in this town and
elsewhere with respect and affection. I allude to
Earl .Grey. (Cheers.) When Earl Grey came into
office for tly purpose of carrying the question of
Pailiainentary- Reform he unfurled the banner of
" peace, retrenchment, and reform," and that sen-
timent was received in every part of the United
Kingdom, by every man who was or had been. in
favour of Liberal principles, as the pronouncement
of the commencement of a new era which should
save his country from many of the calamities of the
past. (Hear.) Come down still nearer, and to a time
that seems but the other day, and you find another
Minister, second- to none of those whom I have
mentioned—the late Sir R. Peel. (Cheers.) I was
in the House of orani observing the conduct of
Sir R. Peel, from'thcons,
time when he took office in
1841 ; I watched his
the time
of his lamented death;
dings particularly from
the year 1843 up to J
and during the whole ofthat period, I venture to
say, his principles, if they were to be
discovered
hc
from his conduct and his speeches, were es, were precisely
those which I have held, and. which T have always
endeavoured to press upon the attention of my
countrymen. (Cheers.) If you have any doubt on
that point I would refer you to that last, that most
beautiful, that most solemn speech, which he de_
livered with an earnestness and a sense of respsn_
sibilitv as if he had known he was leaving a legacy
to his country. (Hear.) If you refer to that speech
delivered on the morning of the very day on which
occurred the accident which terminated his life, you
will find that its whole tenour is in conformity
will all the doctrines that I have urged upon my
countrymen for yearspast with respect to ourpolicy
in foreign affairs. When Sir R. Peel went home
just before the dawn of day, upon the last occa-
sion that he passed from the House of Commons,
the scene of so many of his triumphs, I have heard,
frosnwhat I think a good. authority, that after he
entered his own house he expressed the exceeding
relief which he experienced at having delivered
himself of a speech which he had been obliged re-'
luctantly to make against a Ministry which he was
anxious to -- •
strpport„ and he added, "If I am not
mistaken I have made
a speech of peace.',
(Hear.)
Well, if this be so, if I can give you four names