Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1889-04-05
JOHN BRIGHT DEAD.
England's Great Statesman Passes
Away March 81.

England's Great Statesman Passes
Away March 81.
Two generations of Englishmen have had
prominently before them two great figures
Each have had their enemies and each their
hosts of friends. But enemies and friends
alike have united in rendering to each the
merit of truthfulness and sincerity. Posterity
will write the names of Gladstone and
Bright beside that of Abou Ben Adhem ''as
one that loves his fellow-men." The first of
these is still the champion Of humanity; the
second has finished his work and his name
alone now remains, a fragrant memory.
In 1885, at ths age Of "a years. Mr.. Bright
began his public career. He had formed a
warm friendship with Mr.. Richard Golden,
who was just then greatly interested in the
movement, then in embryo, for the repeal of
the co laws. 1t is related that Mr.. Bright
lost his youthful wife, to whom he had been
married only two years, in the autumn of
1841, while they were at bennington, where
Mr.. Golden was staging at the same time.
The great anti-c IN law agitator called upon
his bereaved friend while yet his wife lay
unbUried in the house. and there and then
urged upon him career Of political reform,
saying: 'Come with me, and we will
never rest until we are rid of the accursed
corn law"
In the month Of February, the following
year, Mr.. Bright made his first speech in
London in favor of the repeal Of the law i'm
posing a tax upon breadstuffs The speech
arrested the attention of the country and at
once fixed Mr.. Brights place In the very
front rank Of popular orators. That first
speech in London was marked by the same
dignity of manner and elevation of form
which throughout his career character
lied his public utterancas. 1t was prin-
ted as handbill and was as message
given by the winds, scattered everywhere
throughout the length and breadth of the
kingdom. Thenceforward Mr. Bright's was
the most potential voice raised on behalf of
the repeal Of the corn laws. His powerful
advocacy continued, without abatement in
either personal devotion or popular indorss-
ment, until Sir Rob TT Peel brought in a bill
for the repeal Of the tax upon the bread of
the people, which finally became the law of
the land on the 26th Of June, 1916.
In 1860 he took a leading part in bringing
about the commercial treaty with France
From 1861 to 1865 during the years Of the
civil war in the United States, even in it
darkest hours, he was tie steadfast friend OF
the American Union. At time when Eng
lands most ilIustrious statesmen, scholar:
| and divincs were throwing the weight OF
| their splendid abilities and social influence il
favor of the cause Of secession, John Bright
had the grace of speech and the gift of cour
age to espouSe the cause of the Federal Unior
and to advocate that cause through evil anC
| good report.
A critical writer in London publication
has thus considered Mr.. BriQht as an orator
and q rhetorician: The first condition Of
his success was this-that business was the
| backbone Of his speeches. They were always
animated by purpose which was clear tc
himself, and which he never failed to make
clear to his hearers. No one could fail tc
know what he was driving at. Few things
| fiaer have ever been uttered by any
orator than Mr.. Brights appeal to the
i ival leaders 10 lay aside their animosities il
order TO seek remedy for the wrongs of Ire
land, than the passage in which he described
the angel Of death visiting the homes to be
desolated by the Crmean war, or than the
moral di nifty Of the sentences in which ht
vindicated his own career at Birmingham
Mr.. Bright, even in his boldest flights anC
most passionate ap eals, is always master o.
himself. He Is never carried away by any
! gusty impulses.