Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1888-12-01

nrm. he used to cay that N MS carry
years In parliament he declined to dino
out. except very rarely with intimate
friends, but he had 10 say no 30 often
that, rather than appear churlish, he at
length yielded to the many invitations
sent him, and found that, although his
evenings were made pleasant In that
way, he lost his time and some Of his cas
pacity for work. Mr.. Bright has been q
total abstainer during the greater part OF
his life, but on exceptional occasions he
down any claim to superior virtue OF
which he might be suspected. Unlike
Mr.. Gladstone, who never touches to-
bacco, Mr.. Bright is great smoker. The
smoking room Of the house Is a frequent
resort OF his during the sittings Of parlia-
ment, and when he saunters to the Re
form club In Pail Mall he is likely to he
found where the votaries of the fragrant
weed do congregate.
As to the relative importance of his
great speeches, the one which he delivered
In the house of commons in 1865, while
the Crimean war was in progress, Is the
best remembered in London, chiefly be-
cause of one beautiful image which he
employed to move the sympathiee Of the
house In favor of peace. Intelligence
udu JuSt CoIle Vi Vile lObS VI Iuu1ly Nulu-
able lives in the conflict, and 1t was
known that more than one family, hav-
ing a personal representative in the
house, was In mourning for a dead
father, or son, or brother. He referred
to their unavailing grief, and poured
upon them q flood of sweetest sympathy;
then, when the whole house was alb
sorbed, by his pathetic eloquence, in one
common feeling of solemnity and suffer-
ing, he added: "The angel of death is
abroad. We can almost hear the beating
of his wings" Old men who were pres
ent say the effect Of this speech was
almost tragic. When he concluded the
house looked like chamber Of death,
and there was hardly dry eye in tho
whole assembly.
Mr.. Bright has beenxthroughout his
whole career consistent advocate Of the
cause Of peace. His principles, as a
opposed to oil wars OF aggression, and
he holds that 1t is violation Of the
moral law to draw the sword except as
defensive weapon. Acting on these prin-
ciples he resigned Office in Mr.. Glad
stones government, in 1889, on account
of the bombardment Of the forts Of Alex
andria by the English fleet. AsI Ispoke and
voted In the house on his side of the
question, had some conversation with
him about 1t at the time, and he took
pains to explain to me, in extenuation of
Mr.. Gladstone's action on that occasion,
that Mr.. Gladstone supported him in the
cabinet as long as he could do so without
destroying tho government, and that he
yielded only when he had to choose be-
tween sanctioning some form Of military
operations in Egypt and the breaking up
Of his ministry, which would have meant
the return of the Tories to power and a
still more active prosecution Of hostilities,
by them, against the Egyptian National
party.
His attitude on the home rule ques-
ton marks rather the change which has
come over Mr.. Gladstone and tho bulk
of the Liberal party than any change in
Mr.. Bright, for since tho demand for
home rule was first made, In its modern
form, by the late Mr.. Butt, he has been
its avowed opponent. He was foremost
In pointing out the wrongs Of Ireland be-
fore even Mr.. Gladstone gave any atten-
ton to that country, and he was the
champion of Irish rights when Mr.. Par
nell and his colleagues were in swaddling
clothes; but he always held that those
wrongs might be redressed and those
rights vindicated in the parliament Of
the United Kingdom.
O'CoNNoR POWER.