Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1889-05-01
THE LATE JOHN BRIGHT

THE LATE JOHN BRIGHT
One OF tho Most Remarkable Charsctsrs
In English Politics.
John Bright was born at Greenbank,
near Rochdale, November 16, 1911.
After receiving a substantial English
education he entered his fathers BUSH
ness, becoming member of the firm
of John Bright & Brothers, Gotten spin
ners and manufacturers. He was in 1889
one of the first members of the Anti
Corn Law League, and in 1843 was re.
turned to Parliament for the city of
Durham, for which he continued to sit
until 1917, when he was returned for
Manchester, He made numerous
speeches in Parliament, and became a
very active and prominent member.
In 1852 he participated in the welcome
given to Kossuth by the advanced Lib
erals of Lancashire, and in the Same
year was reelected for Manchester.
BY his vehement denunciation of the
policy which caused the Russian war
he alienated many of his former sup
porters. He was compelled by severe
illness to withdraw for time from
public affairs. He then passed some
months on the continent. He was in
August, 1857, elected to Parliament
from Birmingham, which borough he
has since continued to represent. He
accepted in 1868 the Office of President
of the Board of Trade under Mr.. Glad
stone, and in 1878 was appointed Chan
cellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Mr..
Bright was especially distinguished
as a speaker of remarkable eloquence
and power. He was during the civil
war in this country warm and avowed
friend of the Union cause. He re-
signed Office in 1882.
Mr.. Bright was never known as
great administrator, as a great legisla-
tor, or as a great master of parlia-
mentary detail. He was not even con-
sidered debater of the first order.
He was man. however, just as indis-
pensable, to the legislation which has
been accomplished during his career as
a minister who conducts bill through
Parliament. AS an orator he &C.
quired an equal renown in the House
of Commons and on popular platforms.
Such was the power and fervOr of his
eloquence that it has always constituted
a force with which responsible states
men have been compelled to reckon.
Disraeli once said of Golden that che
was the greatest politician that the
middle upper class of England had
produced, and that he was not only an
ornament to the House of Commons.
but an honor to his country" It may
be asserted of Mr.. Bright that he sur
passed all his contemporaries in the
art of giving simple and weighty
expressions to the views and
aspirations of the English multi
| tude. He has been called a
demagogue. As a matter of fact no
man wa9 ever less of demagogue.
Had he been capable of pandering to
the popular sentiment of the hour, he
would not have resisted the ten-hour
bill, nor would he have lost his seat
for Manchester twenty-seven years age
by denouncing the foreign policy OF
Lord Palmerston in China and in Rus
STA. 1t would be unjust to say of him
that he was ever the mere mouthpiece
| of public feeling. He acted as the
champion of the popular cause just so
far as he could identify that cause
with, and vindicate it by reference to,
what have seemed to him to be the
eternal laws of justice and right.
There were radicals before Mr.. John
Bright. There will continue to be
radicals after him. But as he had lit
tie in common with many of those who
we're spoken Of as his allies at the be-
| ginning of his public life, so he had
slight sympathy with the most power
full and representative radicals whom
| he saw around him as the shadows OF
| his life began to fade.-Century.