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BRIGHT, JOHN (1811-188g)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 570 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BRIGHT, See also:JOHN (1811-188g) , See also:British statesman, was See also:born at See also:Rochdale on the 16th of See also:November 1811. His See also:father, See also:Jacob Bright, was a much-respected Quaker, who had started a See also:cotton-See also:mill at Rochdale in 1809. The See also:family had reached See also:Lancashire by two migrations See also:Abraham Bright was a See also:Wiltshire See also:yeoman, who, See also:early in the 18th See also:century, removed to See also:Coventry, where his descendants remained, and where, in 1775, Jacob Bright was born. Jacob Bright was educated at the Ackworth school of the Society of See also:Friends, and was apprenticed to a See also:fustian manufacturer at New See also:Mills. He married his employer's daughter, and settled with his two See also:brothers-in-See also:law at Rochdale in 1802, going into business for himself seven years later. His first wife died without See also:children, and in 1809 he married Martha See also:Wood, daughter of a tradesman of See also:Bolton-le-See also:Moors. She had been educated at Ackworth school, and was a woman of See also:great strength of See also:character and refined See also:taste. There were eleven children of this See also:marriage, of whom John Bright was the second, but the See also:death of his See also:elder See also:brother in childhood made him the eldest son. He was a delicate See also:child, and was sent as a See also:day-See also:scholar to a boarding-school near his See also:home, kept by Mr See also:William Littlewood. A See also:year at the Ackworth school, two years at a school at See also:York, and a year and a See also:half at See also:Newton, near See also:Clitheroe, completed his See also:education. He learned, he himself said, but little Latin and See also:Greek, but acquired a great love of See also:English literature, which his See also:mother fostered, and a love of outdoor pursuits. In his sixteenth year he entered his father's mill, and in due See also:time became a partner in the business.

Two agitations were then going on in Rochdale--the first (in which Jacob Bright was a See also:

leader) in opposition to a See also:local See also:church-567 See also:rate, and the second for See also:parliamentary reform, by which Rochdale successfully claimed to have a member allotted to it under the Reform See also:Bill. In both these movements John Bright took See also:part. He was an ardent See also:Nonconformist, proud to number among his ancestors John Gratton, a friend of See also:George See also:Fox, and one of the persecuted and imprisoned preachers of the Society of Friends. His See also:political See also:interest was probably first kindled by the See also:Preston See also:election in 183o, in which See also:Lord See also:Stanley, after a See also:long struggle, was defeated by "Orator" See also:Hunt. But it was as a member of the Rochdale Juvenile See also:Temperance See also:Band that he first learned public speaking. These See also:young men went out into the villages, borrowed a See also:chair of a cottager, and spoke from it at open-See also:air meetings. In Mrs John Mills's See also:life of her See also:husband is an See also:account of John Bright's first extempore speech. It was at a temperance See also:meeting. Bright got his notes muddled, and See also:broke down. The chairman gave out a temperance See also:song, and during the singing told Bright to put his notes aside and say what came into his mind. Bright obeyed, began with much hesitancy, but found his See also:tongue and made an excellent address. On some early occasions, however, he committed his speech to memory.

In 1832 he called on the Rev. John Aldis, an eminent Baptist See also:

minister, to accompany him to a local See also:Bible meeting. Mr Aldis described him as a slender, modest young See also:gentleman, who surprised him by his intelligence and thoughtfulness, but who seemed See also:nervous as they walked to the meeting together. At the meeting he made a stimulating speech, and on the way home asked for See also:advice. Mr Aldis counselled him not to learn his speeches, but to write out and commit to memory certain passages and the peroration. Bright took the advice, and acted on it all his life. This " first See also:lesson in public speaking," as Bright called it, was given in his twenty-first year, but he had not then contemplated entering on a public career. He was a fairly prosperous See also:man of business, very happy in his home, and always ready to take part in the social, educational and political life of his native See also:town. He was one of the founders of the Rochdale See also:Literary and Philosophical Society, took a leading part in its debates, and on returning from a See also:holiday See also:journey in the See also:East, gave the society a lecture on his travels. He first met See also:Richard See also:Cobden in 1836 or 1837. Cobden was an See also:alderman of the newly formed See also:Manchester See also:corporation, and Bright went to ask him to speak at an education meeting in Rochdale. " I found him," said Bright, " in his See also:office in Mosley See also:Street, introduced myself to him, and told him what I wanted." Cobden consented, and at the meeting was much struck by Bright's See also:short speech, and urged him to speak against the See also:Corn See also:Laws.

His first speech on the Corn Laws was made at Rochdale in 1838, and in the same year he joined the Manchester provisional See also:

committee which in 1839 founded the See also:Anti-Corn Law See also:League He was still only the local public man, taking part in all public movements, especially in opposition to John Feilden's proposed factory legislation, and to the Rochdale church-rate. In 1839 he built the See also:house which he called " One Ash," and married See also:Elizabeth, daughter of See also:Jonathan Priestman of See also:Newcastle-on-See also:Tyne. In November of the same year there was a See also:dinner at Bolton to Abraham Paulton, who had just returned from a successful Anti-Corn Law tour in See also:Scotland. Among the speakers were Cobden and Bright, and the dinner is memorable as the first occasion on which the two future leaders appeared together on a See also:Free See also:Trade See also:platform. Bright is described by the historian of the League as " a young man then appearing for the first time in any meeting out of his own town, and giving See also:evidence, by his See also:energy and by his grasp of the subject, of his capacity soon to take a leading part in the great agitation." But his See also:call had not yet come. In 184o he led a See also:movement against the Rochdale church-rate, speaking from a tombstone in the See also:churchyard, where it looks down on the town in the valley below. A very happy married life at home contented him, and at the opening of the Free Trade See also:hall in See also:January 184o he sat with the Rochdale deputation, undistinguished in the See also:body of the meeting. A daughter, See also:Helen, was born to him; but his young wife, after a long illness, died of See also:consumption in See also:September 1841. Three days after her death at See also:Leamington, Cobden called to see him. " I was in the depths of grief," said Bright, when unveiling the statue of his friend at See also:Bradford hi 1877, " I mignt almost say of despair, for the life and See also:sunshine of my house had been extinguished." Cobden spoke some words of condolence, but after a time he looked up and said, ` There are thousands of homes in See also:England at this moment where wives, mothers and children are dying of See also:hunger. Now, when the first See also:paroxysm of your grief is past, I would advise you to come with me, and we will never See also:rest till the Corn Laws are repealed.' I accepted his invitation," added Bright, " and from that time we never ceased to labour hard on behalf of the See also:resolution which we had made." At the See also:general election in 1841 Cobden was returned for Stock-See also:port, and in 1843 Bright was the Free Trade See also:candidate at a by-election at See also:Durham. He was defeated, but his successful competitor was unseated on See also:petition, and at the second contest Bright was returned.

He was already known in the See also:

country as Cobden's See also:chief ally, and was received in the House of See also:Commons with a suspicion and hostility even greater than had met Cobden himself. In the Anti-Corn Law movement the two speakers were the complements and- correlatives of each other. Cobden had the calmness and confidence of the political philosopher, Bright had the See also:passion and the fervour of the popular orator. Cobden did the reasoning, Bright supplied the declamation, but like See also:Demosthenes he mingled See also:argument with See also:appeal. No orator of See also:modern times See also:rose more rapidly to a foremost See also:place. He was not known beyond his own See also:borough when Cobden called him to his See also:side in 1841, and he entered See also:parliament towards the end of the session of 1843 with a formidable reputation as an agitator. He had been all over England and Scotland addressing vast meetings and, as a See also:rule, carrying them with him; he had taken a leading part in a See also:conference held by the Anti-Corn Law League in See also:London, had led deputations to the See also:duke of See also:Sussex, to See also:Sir See also:James See also:Graham, then home secretary, and to Lord See also:Ripon and Mr See also:Gladstone, the secretary and under secretary of the See also:Board of Trade; and he was universally recognized as the chief orator of the Free Trade movement. Wherever " John Bright of Rochdale " was announced to speak, vast crowds assembled. He had been so announced, for the last time, at the first great meeting in See also:Drury See also:Lane See also:theatre on 15th See also:March 1843; henceforth his name was enough. He took his seat in the House of Commons as one of the members for Durham on 28th See also:July 1843, and on 7th See also:August delivered his See also:maiden speech in support of a See also:motion by Mr See also:Ewart for reduction of import duties. He was there, he said, " not only as one of the representatives of the See also:city of Durham, but also as one of the representatives of that benevolent organization, the Anti-Corn Law League." A member who heard the speech described Bright as " about the See also:middle See also:size, rather firmly and squarely built, with a See also:fair, clear complexion, and an intelligent and pleasing expression of countenance. His See also:voice is See also:good, his enunciation distinct, and his delivery free from any unpleasant peculiarity or mannerism." He wore the usual Friend's coat, and was regarded with much interest and hostile curiosity on both sides of the House.

Mr Ewart's motion was defeated, but the movement of which Cobden and Bright were the leaders continued to spread. In the autumn the League resolved to raise £1oo,000; an appeal was made to the agricultural interest by great meetings in the farming counties, and in November The Time. startled the See also:

world by declaring, in a leading See also:article, " The League is a great fact. It would be foolish, See also:nay, rash, to deny its importance." In London great meetings were held in Covent See also:Garden theatre, at which William See also:Johnson Fox was the chief orator, but Bright and Cobden were the leaders of the movement. Bright publicly deprecated the popular tendency to regard Cobden and himself as the chief See also:movers in the agitation, and Cobden told a Rochdale See also:audience that he always stipulated that he should speak first, and Bright should follow. His " more stately See also:genius," as Mr John See also:Morley calls it, was already making him the undisputed See also:master of the feelings of his audiences. In the House of Commons his progress was slower. Cobden's argumentative speeches were regarded more sympathetically than Bright's more rhetorical appeals, and in a debate on See also:Villiers's See also:annual motion against the Corn Laws Bright was heard with so much impatience thathe was obliged to sit down. In the next session (1.845) he moved for an inquiry into the operation of the See also:Game Laws. At a meeting of See also:county members earlier in the day See also:Peel had advised them not to be led into discussion by a violent speech from the member for Durham, but to let the committee be granted without debate. Bright was not violent, and Cobden said that he did his See also:work admirably, and won See also:golden opinions from all men. The speech established his position in the House of Commons. In this session Bright and Cobden came into opposition, Cobden voting for the See also:Maynooth See also:Grant and Bright against it.

On only one other occasion—a See also:

vote for See also:South Kensington—did they go into opposite lobbies, during twenty-five years of parliamentary life. In the autumn of 1845 Bright retained Cobden in the public career to which Cobden had invited him four years before: Bright was in Scotland when a See also:letter came from Cobden announcing his determination, forced on him by business difficulties; to retire from public work. Bright replied that if Cobden retired the mainspring of the League was gone. " I can in no degree take your place," he wrote. " As a second I can fight, but there are incapacities about me, of which I am fully conscious, which prevent my being more than second in such a work as we have laboured in." A few days later he set off for Manchester, posting in that wettest of autumns through "the See also:rain that rained away the Corn Laws," and on his arrival got his friends together, and raised the See also:money which tided Cobden over the emergency. The crisis of the struggle had come. Peel's See also:budget in 1845 was a first step towards Free Trade. The See also:bad See also:harvest and the See also:potato disease drove him to the See also:repeal of the Corn Laws, and at a meeting in Manchester on 2nd July 1846 Cobden moved and Bright seconded a motion dissolving the league. A library of twelve See also:hundred volumes was presented to Bright as a memorial of the struggle. Bright married, in See also:June 1847, See also:Miss See also:Margaret Elizabeth Leatham, of See also:Wakefield, by whom he had seven children, Mr John See also:Albert Bright being the eldest. In the succeeding July he was elected for Manchester, with Mr See also:Milner See also:Gibson, without a contest. In the new parliament, as in the previous session, he opposed legislation restricting the See also:hours of labour, and, as a Nonconformist, spoke against clerical See also:control of See also:national education.

In 1848 he voted for See also:

Hume's See also:household See also:suffrage motion, and introduced a bill for the repeal of the Game Laws. When Lord John See also:Russell brought forward his Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, Bright opposed it as " a little, paltry, miserable measure," and fbretold its failure. In this parliament he spoke much on Irish questions. In a speech in favour of the See also:government bill for a rate in aid in 1849, he won loud cheers from both sides, and was complimented by Disraeli for having sustained the reputation of that See also:assembly. From this time forward he had the See also:ear of the House, and took effective part in the debates. He spoke against See also:capital See also:punishment, against church-rates, against flogging in the See also:army, and against the Irish Established Church. He supported Cobden's motion for the reduction of public See also:expenditure, and in and out of parliament pleaded for See also:peace. In the election of 1852 he was again returned for Manchester on the principles of free trade, electoral reform and religious freedom. But See also:war was in the air, and the most impassioned speeches he ever delivered were addressed to this parliament in fruitless opposition to the See also:Crimean War. Neither the House nor the country would listen. I went to the House on See also:Monday," wrote See also:Macaulay in March 1854, " and heard Bright say every-thing I thought." His most memorable speech, the greatest he ever made, was delivered on the 23rd of See also:February 1855.. " The See also:angel of death has been abroad throughout the See also:land.

You may almost hear the beating of his wings," he said, and concluded with an appeal to the See also:

prime minister that moved the House as it had never been moved within living memory. There was a tremor in Bright's voice in the touching parts of his great speeches which stirred the feelings even of hostile listeners. It was noted for the first time in this February speech, but the most striking instance was in a speech on Mr See also:Osborne See also:Morgan's Burials Bill in See also:April 1875, in which he described a Quaker funeral, and protested against the " miserable superstition of the phrase `buried like a See also:dog.'" "In that sense," he said, " I.shall be buried like a dog, and all those with whom I am best acquainted, whom I best love and esteem, will be ` buried like a dog.' Nay mote, my own ancestors, who in past time suffered persecution for what is now held to be a righteous cause, have all been buried like See also:dogs, if that phrase is true." The See also:tender, half-broken tones in which these words were said, the inexpressible pathos of his voice and manner, were never forgotten by those who heard that Wednesday See also:morning speech. Bright was disqualified by illness during the whole of 1856 and 1857. In See also:Palmerston's penal See also:dissolution in the latter year, Bright was rejected by Manchester, but in August, while See also:ill and absent, See also:Birmingham elected him without a contest. He returned to parliament in 1858, and in February seconded the motion which threw out Lord Palmerston's government. Lord See also:Derby thereupon came into office for the second time, and Bright had the See also:satisfaction of assisting in the passing of two See also:measures which he had long advocated—the See also:admission of See also:Jews to parliament and the See also:transfer of the government of See also:India from the East India See also:Company to the See also:crown. He was now restored to full political activity, and in See also:October addressed his new constituents, and started a movement for parliamentary reform. He spoke at great gatherings at See also:Edinburgh, See also:Glasgow, Bradford and Manchester, and his speeches filled the papers. For the next nine years he was the protagonist of Reform. Towards the See also:close of the struggle he told the House of Commons that a thousand meetings had been held, that at every one the doors were open for any man to enter, yet that an almost unanimous vote for reform had been taken. In the debates on the Reform Bills submitted to the House of Commons from 185p to 1867, Bright's was the most influential voice He rebuked See also:Lowe's " See also:Botany See also:Bay view," and described See also:Horsman as retiring to his See also:cave of See also:Adullam," and hooking in Lowe.

" The party of two," he said, " reminds me of the Scotch terrier, which was so covered with See also:

hair that you could not tell which was the See also:head and which was the tail." These and similar. phrases, such as the excuse for withdrawing the Reform Bill in the year of the great budget of 186o—" you cannot get twenty wagons at once through See also:Temple See also:Bar "—were in all men's mouths. It was one of the triumphs of Bright's See also:oratory that it constantly produced these popular cries. The phrase " a free breakfast table " was his; and on the rejection of See also:Forster's See also:Compensation for Dis= turbance Bill he used the phrase as to Irish discontent, " Force is not a remedy." During his great reform agitation Bright had vigorously supported Cobden in the negotiations for the treaty of See also:commerce with See also:France, and had taken, with his usual vehemence, the side of the See also:North in the discussions in England on the See also:American See also:Civil War. In March 1865 Cobden died, and Bright told the House of Commons he dared not even See also:attempt to See also:express the feelings which oppressed him, and sat down overwhelmed' with grief. Their friendship was one of the most characteristic features of the public life of their time. " After twenty years of intimate and almost brotherly friendship with him," said Bright, " I little knew how much I loved him till I had lost him." In June 1865 parliament was dissolved, and Bright was returned for Birmingham without opposition. Palmerston's death in the early autumn brought Lord John Russell into See also:power, and for the first time Bright gave his support to the government. Russell's See also:fourth Reform Bill 'was introduced, was defeated by the Adullamites, and the Derby-Disraeli See also:ministry was installed. Bright declared Lord Derby's See also:accession to be a. See also:declaration of war against the working classes, and roused the great towns in the demand for reform. Bright was the popular See also:hero of the time. As a political leader the See also:winter of 1866–1867 was the culminating point in his career. The Reform Bill was carried with a clause for minority See also:representation, and in the autumn of 1868 Bright, with two Liberal colleagues, was again returned for Birmingham.

Mr Gladstone came into power with a See also:

programme of Irish reform in church and land such as Bright had long urged, and he accepted the See also:post of See also:president of the Board of Trade. He thus became a member of the privy See also:council, with the See also:title of Right See also:Honourable, and from this time forth was a recognized leader of the Liberal party in parliament and in the country. He made a great speech569 on the second See also:reading of the Irish Church Bill, and wrote a letter on the House of Lords, in which he said, " In See also:harmony with the nation they may go on for a long time, but throwing themselves athwart its course they may meet with accidents not pleasant for them to think of." He also spoke strongly in the same session in favour of the bill permitting marriage with a deceased wife's See also:sister. The next session found him disqualified by a severe illness, which caused his retirement from office at the end of the year, and kept him out of public life for four years. In August 1873 Mr Gladstone reconstructed his See also:cabinet, and Bright returned to it as See also:chancellor of the duchy of See also:Lancaster. But his hair had become See also:white, and though he spoke again with much of his former vigour; he was now an old man. In the election in January 1874 Bright and his colleagues were returned for Birmingham without opposition. When Mr Gladstone resigned the leadership .of his party in 1875, Bright was chairman of the party meeting which See also:chose Lord Hartington as his successor. He took a less prominent part in political discussion,till the Eastern Question brought Great See also:Britain to the See also:verge of war with See also:Russia, and his old energy flamed up afresh. In the debate on the vote of See also:credit in February 1878, he made one of his impressive speeches, urging the government not to increase the difficulties manufacturers had in finding employment for their workpeople by any single word or See also:act which could shake confidence in business. The debate lasted five days. On the fifth day a telegram froth M; See also:Layard was published announcing that the Russians were nearing See also:Constantinople.

The day, said The Times, " was crowded with rumours, alarms, contradictions, fears, hopes, resolves, uncertainties." In both Houses Mr Layard's despatch was read, and in the excited Commons Mr Forster's resolution opposing the vote of credit was withdrawn. Blight, however, distrusted the See also:

ambassador at the See also:Porte, and gave reasons for doubting the alarming telegram. While he was speaking a See also:note was put into the hands of Sir See also:Stafford Northeote, and when Bright sat down he read it to the House. It was a See also:confirmation from the See also:Russian prime minister of Bright's doubts: " There is not a word of truth in the rumours which have reached you." At the general election in 188o he was re-elected at Birmingham, and joined Mr Gladstone's new government as, chancellor of, the duchy of Lancaster. For two sessions he spoke and voted with his colleagues, but after the See also:bombardment, of the See also:Alexandria forts he See also:left the ministry and never held office again. He See also:felt most painfully the severance from his old and trusted leader, but it was forced on him by his conviction of the danger and impolicy of See also:foreign entanglements. He, however, gave a general support to Mr Gladstone's government. In 1883 he took the chair at a meeting of the Liberation Society in Mr See also:Spurgeon's See also:chapel; and in June of that year was the See also:object of an unparalleled demonstration at Birmingham to celebrate his twenty-five years of service as its representative. At this celebration he spoke strongly of " the Irish See also:rebel party," and accused the Conservatives of " See also:alliance " with them, but withdrew the imputation when Sir Stafford Nortlicote moved that such See also:language was a See also:breach of the privileges of the House of Commons. At a banquet to Lord" See also:Spencer he accused the Irish members of having " exhibited a boundless sympathy for criminals• and murderers." He refused in the House of Commons to apologize for these words, and was supported in his refusal by both sides of the House. At the Birmingham election in 1885 he stood for the central See also:division of the redistributed See also:constituency; he was opposed by Lord See also:Randolph See also:Churchill, but was elected by a large See also:majority. In the new parliament he voted against the Home Rule Bill, and it was generally felt that in the election of 1886 which followed its defeat, when he was re-elected without opposition, his letters told with fatal effect against the Home Rule Liberals.

His contribution to the discussion was a See also:

suggestion that the Irish members should See also:form a See also:grand committee to which every Irish bill should' go after first reading. The break-up of the Liberal 'party' filled him with gloom. His last speech at Birmingham was on agth March 1888, at a banquet to celebrate Mr See also:Chamberlain's return from his peace See also:mission to the See also:United States. He spoke. of imperial federation as a " See also:dream and an absurdity." In May his illness returned, he took to his See also:bed in October, and died on the 27th of March 1889. He was buried in the graveyard of the meeting-house of the Society of Friends in Rochdale. Bright had much literary and social recognition in his later years. In 1882 he was elected lord See also:rector of the university of Glasgow, and Dr See also:Dale wrote of his rectorial address: " It was not the old Bright." " I am weary of public speaking," he had told Dr Dale; " my mind is almost a See also:blank." He was given an honorary degree of the university of See also:Oxford in 1886, and in 1888 a statue of him was erected at Birmingham. The 3rd See also:marquess of See also:Salisbury said of him, and it sums up his character as a public man: " He was the greatest master of English oratory that this generation—I may say several generations—has seen. . . . At a time when much speaking has depressed, has almost exterminated eloquence, he maintained that robust, powerful and vigorous See also:style in which he gave fitting expression to the burning and See also:noble thoughts he desired to utter." See The Life and Speeches of the Right Hon. John Bright, M.P., by George See also:Barnett See also:Smith, 2 vols. 8vo (1881) ; The Life of John Bright, M.P., by John M'Gilchrist, in See also:Cassell's Representative See also:Biographies (1868) ; John Bright, by C.

A. Vince (1898) ; Speeches on Parliamentary Reform by John Bright, M.P., revised by Himself (i866); Speeches on Questions of Public Policy, by John Bright, M.P., edited by J. E. Thorold See also:

Rogers, 2 vols. 8vo (1868); Public Addresses, edited by J. E. Thorold Rogers, 8vo (1879); Public Letters of the Right Hon. John Bright, M.P., collected by H. J. See also:Leech (1885). (P. W.

End of Article: BRIGHT, JOHN (1811-188g)

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