New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-08-03
MR. BRIGHTS RESIGNATION.
uow TT AFFECTS THE LIBERALS AND THE
CABINET.

soothing discomfort which prevails among the more
impracticable Radicals. 1t broke out IN the HOUSE
last Wednesday, with Sir Wilfrid Lawson ivi
,pontbpiece Ii shoulders in Birmingham ltseh'
and in many another constituency OF worknis,pes
I'm the large towns which of late years nave w.
TO Birmingham for political guidance. IL wac 20
couraged and all but silenced by the ,;a,
entbusiasm which greeted the SOUND oi Ins
Cuns at Alexandria. But the departure VI M
Rr;oht will mt new spirit into these maleonteh's'
Tho nsace marty is not perhaps very strong ono'
I,;s aorbtfnl whether il is stronger than IL was
thirty wears ago. But such as 1t U.s. mr. brign. mas
,orcelv contributed TO make IT, without MN IL
xould have been insignificant. so long as NC was
In the Cabinet he was restraint upon lts lh-con
sidered zeal. Now that he is out his name
will be flag and you will hear goou
deal of criticism which but for hun wouid hano
been dumb. Mr.. Bright will take no part III H. no
would discourage it if he could. Neither Oh 'nl0
nor any other question will you find him joining III
49,, oohal or in anv attack upon the Government.
Ca; uufrd lawson and fanatics of his kidney are
reckoning in VAN on cooperation from MI b1en''
rh.v will not get it, Still less will the Tories, VIM
are jubilant over the resignation, ana ou'ui"s
enormous castles in Spain on the strength Vi '
Their calculation is Of the usual astute COnserVa'e
rder The strong-lunged youths who SIT on the lelt
of Mr.. Sneaker had whole plan of campaign reauy
nv Saturday noon, and had sent briet abstracts Vi
il TO the evening press, hearo; "noso
conductors were in no great haste 10 PRINT cruuo
sketches of forthcoming battle. There was to be
motion of want of confidence IN Her Majesty 1oV-
erpment: Just general proposal, which Conserva-
t;ves would vote for Oh ground and Radicals on
or;te different grounds. The Conservatives, be-
cause they were Conservatives, and more particu-
Iariv because they thought the Government had
acted with too little energy. The RADICALS OF
course. because the Government bad acted with 100
,nncb energy. The Conservatives, because the Gov
. eminent had not sent troops The Radicals De-
cause the Government had sent ships. One OF those
ingenious pieces of political clockwork, very 0rig
nal and interesting and warranted never to go.
On the other hand, Mr.. Brghts retirement leaves
the Government freer than before This is not Mr.
Gladstone's view. Perhaps he does not want to be
freer: at any rate, he strenuously resisted Mr..
Bripbt's resignation. But Mr.. Bright has himself,
with his wonted precision of phrase, indicated the
nature of the friction that his presence has lately
occasioned "If / he'd remained In Office under
these circumstances. must have submitted silently
TO MANY measures which altogether condemn, or l
must have remained in state of constant conflict
with nv colleagues" Nobody who knows MT.
Bright will suppose he would have been
silent when in his Judgment a great error
and n great wrong was about TO be committed. No
doubt he has opposed nearly every step the Govern
ment has taken in Egypt. There comes time
when the limits of such opposition inside Cabinet
must be reached Cabinet. after all, needs to be
tolerably harmonious body. The country, which
is IN favor of resolute policy in Egypt, will have
more and not less confidence in the Government now
that Mr. Brights peace principles are out OF the
way
Mr.. Bright's speech on Monday was a disappoint-
ment-to the enemies of the Government. 1t was
hoped he would attack the Ministerial policy and
make damaging disclosures. But, like Mr. Forster
nm similar occasion, Mr.. Bright preserved an atti
tude of honorable friendship and loyalty to his late
colleagues. He did not mean TO say anything lie
had not il is said made the usual request for the
Oueens permission to state the causes of his resig
nation. Cries of Bright" proceeding mostly from
the Opposition side of the House. brought him up.
He had taken his old seat at the corner OF
the second bench below the gangway,
moi. like Mr. Forster and Mr.. Goschen, behind the
Treasury Bench. He spoke for less than five min
utes Mr. Forster's enemies accused hun most I'M
iustly of attacking the Government because he ex-
pained the grounds of his disagreement with them.
The same men consider that Mr.. Bright was IRE
nroachable But Mr. Bright SAID that in his judg
,nent the acts of the Ministry at Alexandria were a
manifest violation of international law (which raised
n laugh and Of the moral law. For his part, he
added ne held that the moral law is not intended
only for individual life but for the life and practice
of States Mr. Gladstone promptly said he agreed
with Mr. Bright in principle; that the difference
between them WASH the application of IL. After
which there was not much TO be added on the
merits of the case. Mr.. Gadstones assurance of
his unbroken esteem and war1nest wishes was
cordially uttered. But it was perfectly well known
that Mr.. Bright's retirement had left bitterness
on either SIDE
No, first perhaps, but certainly among the first
reasops which made Mr. Bright hesitate so long,
was his devoted attachment TO Mr. Gladstone. Not
much has been said about 1T In public; perhaps 1t
is still too soon to say much, but everybody who
knows anything about the inner political life of
England knows this The deep affection between
these two chiefs of great party has existed long
IL is honorable to both of them it is one of those
rare traits which relieve the hardness OF political
life Years ago heard an anccdote which may
Us well repeat now as later. 1t was during tue
reign of Lord Beaconsiied when the hatred of Lon
don society for Mr.. Gladstone was at its height.
There was smart dinner party, at which Mr..
Bright was presents the other guests including
Princess two or three Duchesses and others high in
that social range where Mr. Gladstone's name was
odious The talk turned on Mr.. Gladstone, and the
abuse of him was general. Said Mr.. Bright to
the DIT chess of -, next where he sat: May
ask you if you have any childrenG
Che admitted she had "Then let me beg of you to
take them some day where they may sec Mr.. Glad
stone and when they see him tell them they are IN
the presence OF almost the greatest Englishnan
who ever lived to whom God has permitted TO do
almost the greatest service ever done by an Eng
Eshrnan TO his country" dead silence fell upon
the company. Mr. Gladstone had not one other
friend among them. You may not think the story
proyes much, but if you had lived here in 1876
- 1T vnn would have known very well what sort