New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-01-29
JOHN BRIGHT.
HIS LATE SPEECH.
lFRoM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT

and has been commented on. IL disappointed people
simply because it was not the speech they expected
Mr.. Bright to make, but cannot say there was any
real ground for the expectation. There is custom
in England-it is not wholly unknown in America
that representatives make speeches to their consttu
ents when the opportunity of making them in the
Legislature no longer exists. reader Of English
papers, from July to February, will find many
port of speeches. awkwardly designated extra
Parliamentary utterances" Cabinet Ministers being
also Members of Parliament conform to this custom,
and favor us often with freer expositons of their
minds, about things past and things to come, than in
Parliament itself. Observers watch these speeches.
especially for hints to the policy of Government
in the session that is to follow This has been
siugularly barren of ministerial addresses There
are but three members Of the Cabinet whose declara
tons would go for much, and neither Of The three
had met his constituents till Mr.. Bright spoke on
Tuesday night. Then it happens that the Cabinet
has really great secret to keep. and has kept 1t un
commonly well, for nobody really knows the charac
ter of the in respect to Irish land which it
is known has for some time been matured and re-
solved on by the Government. People who insist
that Mr.. Bright tells all he knows, were confident
they should learn this secret from him, and the Tory
journals had their leading articles all ready, de-
nouncing their old enemy for a scandalous breach of
some young ladies say-to learn. On other points
there has scarcely been curiosity Whether the Gov
eminent meant to deal broadly this session with Ed
ucaton. to bring in the Ballot, to make new Uni
versity Test Bill Government measure; and so on.
But now Mr.. Bright has made his speech. and no.
body is whit wiser than before. and those stereo-
typed Tory leaders about the indiscretion of Mr..
GladstOne's subordinate have to be put away for
another occasion.
Sharing the curiosity of the rest of the world,
went down to Birmingham to hear the speech. Three
years and a-haf ago, in August, 1866, had gone
down to the same place TO hear for the first time the
same speaker-and yet not the same. That speech
was memorable for its magnificent invectivo against
Mr. Lowe-the same Mr. Lowe Of whom Mr.. Bright
is to-day the colleague in aGOvernment brought into
power by that very Reform which Mr.. Lowe had re-
sisted as pregnant with all sorts of disaster Then
he was plain John Bright. To-day you must put
Right Honorable before his name if you wish to be
civil, in addressing him a letter AS he himself said
last night he then was one Of the teachers and now
he is one of a Cabinet imploring to be taught or at
least to be upheld and encouraged in the work Of
progress by the same visilant criticism which it had
been his function to address to Governments Of which
he was not a member For my part, don't applaud
the change. liked the John Bright of old who spoke
with unfettered lips better than like the President
of the Board of Trade who speaks with bated breath
and watches every sentence lest perchance Cabinet
secret slip through an unguarded phrase. For the
time his oratory has lost something of its old fire,
and don't see that it has gained anything to make
up for the loss. Vigorous and telling as was his
speech last night, it was by no means one of his
great speeches. and there was scarcely passage in
it which was kndlcd by the inspiration of old, or
which rose to that elevation of thought and of Ian
i. l.. vafk Mr. Drffrl ~
speeches the finest specimens or oratory that En-
gland of recent times has heard STILL il is only III
comparing Nr. Bright with himself that one finds
much ground for criticism nor do | mean at all to
say that he has made no speeches i'll his
old manner since he became Minister. In
the House he is less trammeled than on
such an occasion as this, and on many question
has tossed aside utterly forgotten his official char
acter And for last night with all its draw backs,
it was still n speech well worth going down to Br-
mingham to hear. was not the only American who
took that trouble Among others was well-known
Massachusetts, Republican, once Speaker of the
House of Representatives in that State familiar, Of
course with political meetings and saturated with
tbe great traditions of Faneuil Hail. was curious
TO hear his Judgment not so much on Mr.. Bright as
ON the meeting he addressed. He thought, as did,
that we had seen few more impressive assemblies OF
NEIL even in the State which thinks more OF pro-
ducng good men than good crops OF wheat, or good
pig iron. Mr.. Bright complimcnted his constituents
on being workers in metal with an industry and skill
scarcely equaled the face of the globe They look
rs if they deserved the compliment; that is, they
have shrewd often strong. and always good faces.
There was great good humor among them, and they
kept in rather trying circumstances since the hall
was densely packed, and, as there were no
seats on the floor the crowd surged about good
deal and there were great PUSHES occasionally from
the rear but at no time anything like violence or Ill
temper
If Won had any doubts about Mr.. Bright's personal
popularity in the town he represents, his reception
would have dispelled Them grand shout welcomed
the appearance of the well known sturdy figure and
massive face You have heard, dare say, that within
the last year or two Mr.. Brghts hair and whiskers
grew rather suddenly white. There was time when
thew might have been called snow-whlte. Now,
whether going into office has made him young again.
or for whatever other reason the color has changed
hack again TO gray The of Parliament gives him,
az il gives other oyerworked men, period OF rest.
and he certainly looked better than when L
last saw him. some three months ago. Ills
voice too, was stronger than 1t mas been
of late yet not strong enough 10 carry
him through the evening without his usual medl-
cine. which, being poured from decanter INTO
wine-glass and drank from time TO time rs be went
on looked very much like port-wine, as it probably
was There is no prudishness here about such things
and don't know why there should be, Mr.. Bright
takes what he needs for his throat and it would not
occur 10 any body to be surprised at it, as perhaps
some of you over the water may be. Mr. Dlsraeh
takes brandy and water in the House, suppose not
for his throat entirelyand neither do people trouble
themselves about that except when, as has once or
twice happened he takes little, q very little. too
much And when Mr. Bright had finished his speech.