The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-28 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 1866.

Mr. BRIGHT yesterday attended a meeting at
Manchester ; it was not very complimentary to
Birmingham that he should not have gone there,
but it would be difficult for the hon. member to do
all that he seems inclined to do in the furtherance
of the Government Reform Bill. Were it as com-
plete as the most zealous could desire, it could
hardly be more praised than it is by Mr. BRIGHT.
Perhaps it is because the Ministry have partly fol-
lowed his advice, and perhaps it is still more because
the idea of opposition has raised his natural taste
for disunion and disputes. On the whole, the tone
of this speech was quieter than is usually the case
with the hon. member for Birmingham, but doubtless
he suited himself to his audience, and he showed his
discretion in so doing, for the fierce vituperations
and vehement objurgations that may pass muster at
miscellaneous gatherings would hardly have been
tolerated in Manchester. We differ from Mr.
BRIGIIT in thinking that, though we have before

this had numerous Reform Bills, " we have not had
one proposed since the great Reform Bill of 1832
under the same circumstances of distinctness, in
the measure itself, and of earnestness on the part
of the Government by which it has been pro-
posed." In the first place, there seems to be
a good deal of misunderstanding about the
working of the measure even in the frag-
mentary part introduced into the House,
and in the next, until they were driven on by force
of circumstances, the Ministers were strangely
apathetic about it. It was observed that Mr.
GLADSTONE did not exhibit the eagerness which
had been anticipated from his previous efforts in
that direction. Mr. BRIGHT thinks the Govern-
ment will stand or fall by the question, and there-
fore that it is likely to meet with more direct atten-
tion, which is very suitable in his opinion. It is not
always, however, that hon. members are the most
straightforward or disinterested in their actions
when it is made known that the Government are
resolved to abide by the issue of the division, and
sometime--we may take the result of the debate as
significant that there
is no particular desire for a
change more %%I, that the proposal, whatever it
be, is regarded vit,
o universal approbation.
The diversity
01opinion that exists upon the
Ministerial side of the house never
more pro-
minently displayed than upo,,t,
the occasion of the
recent debates, and Mr. BRIGHT
laid great stress
upon it in the course of his speeci, He said—
" You have read, I daresay, some o
you with
curiosity, some of you with amazement, and
some
of you with disgust, speeches that have been ,lade
from the benches of the Liberal side of the houtie.,
It is quite unusual for Mr. BRIGHT to do
justice to those opposed to him, and therefore
many will be surprised to find the terms in which
he speaks of Lord GROSVENOR. He stated very
truly that the noble lord had made a proposition
against the measure, • but he had not " ventured
upon any language which was contemptuous of the
people." Mr. Brawl' fell into his old style of
exaggeration when he said that some of those who
made speeches in the house against the bill con-
sidered that the great majority of the people "were
destined to be henceforth but hewers of wood and
drawers of water, for there were those in high position,
of high titles, and great wealth, who seem to think