The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-05 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, FEB. 5, 1868.

pire."

It was hardly to be expected that Mr. BRIGHT
would allow the House of Commons to meet with-
out again edifying the public with one of his pro-
vincial speeches. These occasions furnish im with

such delightful opportunities to say what he likes,
and to be independent of criticism and free from
responsibility, at least as be regards the matter.
Last evening, at Birmingham, the hon. member
delivered one of his thundering orations. It is to
be premised, however, that some opposition was
manifested at the outset of the affair, and that fur
about twenty minutes Mr. BRIGHT found it impos-
sible to begin. This is certainly something new,
and shows that all are not so eager to listen to these
inflammatory harangues as has been supposed. Mr.
BRlGHTplunged at once in nzediasres, and showed that
the object of bis speech was to answer the remarks
made by Lord SrANLEY a short time ago at Bristol.
He confessed that from the first moment when he
thought of coming to that meeting he felt that he
must direct his attention to the Irish question,
which he didactically explained as the question
which will be the cause of the fall of Ministries,
and the dissolution of Parliament. It is a matter of
regret that as Mr. BRIGHT persists in discussing
this question he cannot do so with some modera-
tion. But that is not his way at all, he abuses
everything right and left, and as good as says that
for all that has happened in Ireland the English
Government are to blame, and must take the con-
sequences. One part that specially calls for notice
in this speech is that while Mr. BRIGHT enters
fully into the history and recounts the
misdeeds of Feniauism, he scrupulously abstains
from speaking of the conspiracy in the manner it
deserves to be mentioned. In no place is it de-
nounced, but he mysteriously alludes to the violent
outrages such as this country has for a long period
been a stranger to. It is quite evident that the
sound sense which distinguished Lord STANLEY'S
speech has given great umbrage to Mr. BRIGHT,
and he actually goes so far as to say that Cabinet
Ministers who can offer no remedy have no right
to speak in a defiant manner, and that they are the
promoters of disaffection and separation. It ill
becomes one, so apt to use extravagant expressions
himself as the hon. member for Birmingham is, to
find fault with others for being decided iu giving
utterance to their opinions. We might search
in the speech of Lord STANLEY in order to find any-
thing that is put forward to mAke an effect that
cannot be substantiated by proof and stand the test
of experience. How different is it in the discourses of
the orator of Birmingham. He cannot speak of the
Church and land in Ireland without declaring that
these are much more than " questions of Parlia-
ment and controversy: they are questions on which
may depend the duration or the decay of the Em-

It is difficult to arrive at Mr. BRIGHT'S meaning,
but if he intends to convey any definition, it
must be that Feniansm is the result of a long course
of war and oppression in cur government of
Ireland, and that a change for the better must
speedily take place, or peace and order cannot
possibly be restored. We do not learn
by what right he does so, but Mr. BRIGHT assumes
to himself a perfect knowledge of the Irish cha-
racter, and informs his hearers that those who
think this or that must believe that Ireland is
nothing better than a huge lunatic asylum. He
has, however, in his zeal and excitement to perfect
his acquaintance with those on the other side of the
Irish Channel, forgotten some of the characteristics
of Englishmen ; they are not be threatened with
a change of policy, and no matter how expedient
or desirable a certain plan or scheme may be in it-

self, it is not the way to declare that it must be
speedily agreed to, or the consequences must be
taken. After quoting BURKE, and going over the
" sad story" of the land from the days of Queen
ELIZABETH to those Of WILLIAM 111., Mr. BRIGHT
falls back upon Prussia for a remedy. About a
year ago, as will be remembered, the hon. member
made a speech in Dublin, and be seeks to disarm
criticism by admitting that he is repeating, in some
measure, the remarks he then and there made, he
has found that " true things, and right things, in

this country require to be repeated a great many
times. At that banquet he made a proposition
or suggestion, which was misrepresented by
some, misunderstood by others, and was chaffed
at and ridiculed by many more." Mr. BRIGHT is
is not going to be put out of conceit by anything
like this, however, and he still recurs with pride
and interest to the notion of a Parliamentary Com-
mission being instituted for the purpose of acting as
the Rent Banks in Prussia.

It is really a relief to meet with a scrap of fact
amid all the fiction that pervades this discourse, and
Mr.BRIGH.T's description of the House of Common's
part of the subject is worthy of notice. There are,
he says, a hundred and fifty members there that
come from Ireland ; " they are divided like some
other people, but the Irish members never
act together, so far as I have seen, for the
benefit of Ireland, and as a united body I never saw

them act for the benefit of the United Kingdom•"
Lord STANLEY'S notion of compensating tenants

for
_improvements will not do, Mr. BRIGHT
asserts; and he enters into a long explanation
which seems to make the matter hopeless unless

they can have the compensation first and see
about the improvements afterwards. Towards

,he close of his long address, Mr. BRIGHT

indulges in a sort of prophetic strain of the good
days that may yet be in store for us if we are wise
enough to follow his advice, and sufficiently credu-
lous to put his theories into practice. When these
long embittered questions have been rescued from

what Lord STANLEY calls the field of Parliamentary
controversy, and Irish members have united to
work together for Ireland, and have also joined in
unison with the members of Great Britain for the
services of the United Kingdom, there will still re-
main this question, the national feelings of Ireland.
It has been declared by some that there exists iu
Ireland a craving, a positive hunger after the exis-
tence of a separate independent Irish Legis-
lature. Mr. BRIGHT does not agree with this
altogether, but believed that the adoption
of timely reforms would do away with all this idea
on the part of the majority, and that as justice was
seen and felt irritation and passion would depart,
and the " union which is now one of mere parch-
ment would become a union of interest and senti-
ment between the two nations." The Irish and

American press would also be with thflir sympathy

for those who made Ireland their own, and it is
worth while to look at the accuracy of their feel-.

ings just now. "At present they look upon insur-
rection and conspiracy with a feeling that there
is something or other a root of bitterness, which if
it be not the justification, is at least the cause of
it." If this be so they show themselves to be
totally oblivious of the fact that two wrongs do
not make one right.

During the whole of this speech an under cur-
rent of bitterness is discernible, and Lord STANLEY,
who is generally fortunate enough to find favour
with Mr. BRIGHT, came in for no end of taunts
and sarcasms. The reason of this appears at the
close of these remarks, when the hon. member in-
dignantly exclaims—" You have been advised by a
Cabinet Minister, the son of the Prime Minister,
not to call in quacks for consultation." This
Mr. BRIGHT has taken to himself, and resents ac-
cordingly. Orthodox Ministers before now have
sought to reap reputation by following his advice,