The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-27 00:00:00

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now going in America. He hoped our Government
would not interfere, and he deprecated our having
sent 3,000 troops to Canada, since there was no
prospect of an attack being made upon it by the
Americans, and since the act might engender ill-
feeling in the breasts of the Americans towards
After briefly speaking of co-operative societies and
Parliamentary reform, the hon. gentleman resumed
his seat amidst great applause.
A resolution was moved, seconded, and carried, to
the effect that the meeting approve of Mr. Cobden's
address, of the principles of commercial polieyenun-
ciated by him, and declare its entire confidence in
him as their representative. It also declared that
Mr. Cobden deserved the thanks of the nation for
his having concluded the commercial treaty with
France, and thereby benefited Europe and the
world.

Mr. BRIGHT, nho was loudly cheered again and
again, then spoke in support of a resolution which.
had been moved and seconded, to the effect that the
present expenditure of this country was profligate,
and demanded the immediate attention of the Le-
gislature. With this object it was imperative there
should be granted a comprehensive measure of re-
form. He regretted that he had to say anything
after 'Mr. Cobden's speech, for he doubted whether
anything he could say would add to the public in-
terest that would be taken in the proceedings of
that meeting. He believed that by the treaty Mr.
Cobden had conferred lasting honour upon himself,
and immeasurable blessings on two of the greatest
nations of the earth. Mr. Cobden and he (Mr.
Bright) had been charged with taking the sordid
view only of every question which arose. But he
thought it was a great idea to save a nation money,
and a great idea was worth a host of small ones.
Taxes were money taken from the pockets of the
people. He remembered some years since seeing a
caricature of two or three overgrown footmen dis-
cussing the question of taxation. Thomas asked
John what taxation was, but he was unable to
answer the question, for the fact did not touch
him. Taxes were a levy made upon the
people by the Government, for the pur-
pose of preserving order; 'for the administration
of justice, and for the defence of the country 4 but if
the Government took more than was necessary
for all this, the people who paid it would not receive
any benefit from it. If the Government took five
minutes' worth of labour more than was necessary
the Government clearly gave no return for that
which they took, and it did not act in `a friendly
way towards the people, but quite the reverse, and
against their interests. Now, he could not help
thinking that a Government that took £70,000,00t)
sterling annually from the people took too much.
He remembered that same time ago a very distin
guished military man in this country wrote to him
to oppose the vote on the navy and army estimates,
and stated as his reason for so doing, that the more
money there was voted the greater would be its
waste, the greater would be the confusion in the
departments, and the less there would be of real de-
fence of the country in case of need. In two life-
times the national debt had grown from nothing to
£840,000,000, and our expenditure had grown in
the same period from £2,000,000 to £Y0,000,000.
Well, he would undertake to say that no one who
did not wear a straitwaistcoat, or who was outside
of an asylum, would express his belief that for all
this increased expenditure the masses of the country
had gained one farthing. He was told that the peo-
ple of Rochdale were greater readers of English his-
tory than those of any other town, for he had been
told that a book canvasser had sold upwards of 500
copies of a history of England in Rochdale the cost of
which would be £3 per copy, and he would venture to
say that after reading their history when they got it,
they would arrive at the conclusion he had said all
sane men must arrive at. He then went on to speak
of the late Russian war, and the result which it
had had on Turkey—a result which had contri-
buted more to its injury than any other thing since
it had been a nation. The Sultan he learnt was
now dead, and there were those who feared that
his death would be attended with disturbances in
that country. Now, if disturbances should take
place, then he hoped England would carry out her
policy of non-intervention, and that not one bit of
English treasure or a drop of English blood would
be spent or spilled in defence of a nation that was
doomed to decay as certainly as anything that was
written in the Book of Fate. Mr. Bright then re-
ferred, in passing, to the volunteer movement,
which he somewhat ridiculed. He alleged that
those who raised the cry which brought about the
movement were more to blame than the men who
had been induced to take part in it. Many old men,
however, although they had been misled by their
credulousness, had taken part in it from the best
and most laudable of motives. Mr. Bright con-
cluded his speech amid loud cheers, and the meet-
ing soon after separated.