New-York tribune., 1879-04-29
BRIGHT AT BIRMINGHAM.

THE GOVERNMENT ARRAIGNED WITH GREAT
vfGOR.
FRoM THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE rRrBUNE.l
BTRMINGHAM April 7-Montalembert living in
| France under a prosecuting Empire. used to say
that he liked to go to England to take bath of lib
| erty. So dweller in London, which Of late has
been saturated with Imperialism. finds it whole
| some to go down from time to time into what the
cockpey calls the provinces to wash the Jingo taste
| out of his mouth. There is no place where tho
waters of Radicasm flow freer or purer than in Biz
mingham. 1t is the fountain and source OF much OF
| the best political thought in England to-day.
Speaking materially, the air is thick as in Lon
don, and nobody would visit it in search Of blue
skies. But it has a store of good medicine for the
mind, and when Mr. Bright is to speak, as he did yes
| terday. Birmingham becomes the most interesting
spot in all England The audience have something
to do with it. as we'll the speaker. This is the
fourth or fifth pilgrimage l have made there on
similar errand. know nothing lnspriting than
the sight of such concourse of people as assemble
| to hear the great orator of England in the town
which he represents in Parliament. The hall holds
| near 5000 persons. There Is no room in New-York
at all like it, but if Bostonians will be good enogh
| to imagine the Music Hall and fremont Temple
rolled into one they will have pretty clear idea of
| the vast chamber in which most Of the public meet
| ngs of Birmingham are held. 1t never was fuller
| than last night nor was Birmingham enthusiasm,
proverbial asi is greater. Mr. Brighs platform
appearances rare enough to keep interest, and
curiosity alive Once year, if in good health,
he comes to his borough for he does not live hero
but in Rochdale) to give account Of his steward
ship or rather to give an account of the condition
of public affairs. He is loyal to his constituents
as they are to him, but he and they would alike re-
pudiate the theory of Parliamentary representation
| which would make member of the House mere
delegate. That seems to me a much wiser state of
| things than the exacting and suspicious mood
which makes the French electorate, the Radicals
most Of all, impose on their representative what
! they call mandat imp6rdtG
| Mr.. Brght's health has improved of late, and he
spoke last night with vigor which many
younger man might envy. If he had been i'll, the
welcome he received would have put life into him.
Birmingham Liberals have not only level heads and
warm hearts, but that yigOr of muscle and play of
| lung which come from lifelong working in metals.
| rhey make themselves understood from one end of
England TO the other. They are eager friends and
| outspoken enemies. One moment they are cheering
Mr.. Bright the echo; the next they find means 10
express their sentiments toward Lord Beaconsteld
| with undimnshed and unmistakable vivacity.
| Mr., Bnght's face and figure must be well known
| to many Americans from photographs, OF which
several excellent, and from such descriptions as
many pens can give. see little no alteration in
him this year. Perhaps he is little stouter, but
as sturdy and erect az Gambetta is not unlike
him in fgure-the same ample shoulders and chest,
the same robustness, nearly the same stature. But
there the likeness ends. In manner they are wholly
unlike, and each might stand for type of his
In many sessions of the French Assembly, never
saw NJ Gambetta still for two seconds together.
His body is as restless his brain he is forever
turning to this and that, Resticnlating remon
strating passing in fash from persuasion to menace,
now sitting, standing on bis feet now cheering
friend, and next blazing out in wrath against
foe Mr. Bright is Quaker-I beg his pardon,
member of the Society of Friends-and his tranquil
demeanor seems the natural expression of his re-
llgous faith. He has marked sweetness of man
ner a cOmposure beneath which strong and pas
sonate nature makes itself felt without violence and
without much demonstratlyeness. He says the most
terrible things in the most placid tone standing the
while like Tennysons tower of strength, foursquare
to all the winds that blow. The fire glows in him
with the fierce still heat Of metal in the furnace.
In Gambetta it blazes out like prairie in flames.
The English tribune is almost twice the age of the
French Dictator but doubt whether age has much
TO do with the contrast between them. Mr.. Bright
can never have been anything but selfpossessed,
nor will another thirty Summers bring much repose
| to NJ Gambetta. The latter has been called before
| now the Mirabeau of the nineteenth century, but
| Mr. Bright is unique figure in English history He
had no predecessor, and long may it be before we
have to think who shall replace him. He is sixty
eight but there Is sign of decay in his wonderful
voice. The muscles OF the face are firm, the uplfed
finger is steady the gesture still energetic and COM
manding and the dark eyes, which are almost too
beautiful for man, are profound and softly full
TI,a, I, b,ir 10 nh,
than 1T was.
This was not one of his greatest speeches. say
critical friends, and perhaps they right. Every
speech cannot be the greatest ana the mpressveness
of a speech depends the circumstances of its de-
livery almost IA much as on the orator. Canning said
the audience was more than half the speech. But
take the truth TO be that Mr.. Bright had to fill an
hour on an occasion of a ceremonous kind at n
moment when it is somewhat incOnvenent for
Liberal leader to say anything at all. The one
topic which fills mems minds is the Zulu war. Eng
land was waiting breathless, hourly expecting news
of success or disaster at the Cape Whether Colonel
Pearson had been relieved, whether the relieving
column had been cut to pieces, ws were to have
known last night. Even in that hall, and among
those thousands of devoted admirers who sur
rounded Mr. Bright, the suspense was seen, and
when the chairman rose with piece OF pink paper
in his hand which everybody knew 10 pe n tele-
gram, great hush fell upon the people. Ii proved
TO be an announcement of a victory over the
.Jingoes not over the Zulus-a Liberal triumph in
q vacant borough, whereat men cheered and
laughed, and breathed free again. The same
thing happened later, but the second time it
was only a message from Liberal meeting in
Sheffield, where Sir William Harcourt was making
a speech and pouring broadsides into the Govern
ment. Now it is plain that with the fate of an
English army trembling IN the balance, criti-
cism on the policy which had brought it into
peril became a delicate matter. Furthermore,
there is fresh talk of early dissolution of Parlia