Year: 1879

sadness Of the situation Of the country. They were
Obliged to meet without any one cause for reIolc-
ing; with no measure of progress to be thankful
for since this Government came into power Min
listers have been five years in office and in power
"and what they have been doing is just this-noth
ing whatsoever that is useful at home, and every
thing you can imagine that is mischieyous abroad"
On this theme he discoursed throughout, touching
on the various weak points so often criticised. the
Treaty of Berlin, the Afghan war, Egypt Asia
Minor, ,Cyprus-everything but South Africa.


On the intellectual side the speech left nothing
to be desired 1t had that power of lucid statement
that capacity for making statement do the work
of argument that wide sweep over various topics
all strung on one thread and made to enforce the
same text, that nervous and sober force of dicuon
which NAV be found in nearly every address of Mr..
Bright The touch of the masters hand was every
where What people missed, if they missed any
thing was perhaps the imaginative splendor which
is equally characteristic of Mr.. Brights best
orations. There was passage in which he rose
to his greatest height. They may have missed also
the passionate energy which distinguishes Mr.
Bright above all other English orators. He did not
choose to give us much invectve. Here and there
came sentences that L dare say the Tories Will ac-
cept as such as when he said Of the Afghan war
that none in the history of India was more de-
formed by falseness and dishonor; or in this
peroraton;


You will observe that have not assalled the Govern
ment. | leave them to the retributiOn which awaits
them. loud cheers.l They have played IN my view,
falsely both with Parliament aud with tne country
Hear heaFl They have wasted and are now wasting,
the blood and the treasure OF our people Hear, ear
They have tarnlshed the mild reign OF the ueennear
hearlby needless and slaughter two continents
and by the menace or needless war IN Europe. 1nsy
sOiled the fair OF England by subecng the
population OF province which had Deeh tieed Dy
Russia through war and treaty by handing IL over 70
Hear hear And beyond this they have shown in my
view, during an interval OF five years through wnlch
that tSey are imbecie at home ana turbulent aud
wicked abroad Great cheerlnSl M Say tnis "a eqat a
United Kingdom, to which they must speedily appeal,
and the heavy condemnation which Impartial history
Will pronounce upon them.


His colleagues, Mr.. Muntz and Mr.. Chamberlain,
spoke after Mr.. Bright. Mr.. Chamberlain is known
as man of brilliant ability, with gift for organi-
zation in politics. man also Of much self-culture
and refinement. The fault of his speech as a plat
form speech was too much refinement. 1t was ex-
cellent, but almost scholastic in parts At the end
of the meeting Mr.. Bright rose again, and in ten
minutes contrived to impress on his hearers that If
his previous address had been little colder than
usual, it was of his own free choice and not for
want of power to make it hot. Nobody who heard
1t will ever forget the tone in which he warned
England of the danger that might come from
House of Commons too submissive to Ministers.
81 Think he said, 1T was an ancestor of the
present Lord Salisbury-the Minister of Queen
Elizabeth-who, speaking of the condition and of
the prospects and of the fate of England, said that
England could never be ruined except it were by
Parliament The Crown cannot ruin England.
There are plenty of means of controlling the Crown.
The House of Lords cannot ruin England. We
have controlled the House of Lords before, aud can
do it again."


I he audience answered with cheers, but the
cheers added nothing to the force of such declara-
tion from such man. He spoke as one having
authority; as one who had confronted greater
peril than the country is likely to again and
who had himself borne high part in averting the
danger. g. W. s.