Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol I (1901).djvu/349

 ecclesiastical affairs he condemned the Public Worship Regulation Act of 1874 (Birmingham, 25 Jan. 1875). In the House of Commons he spoke in favour of Osborne Morgan's burial bill (21 April) [see ]. He presided as chairman of the meeting at the Reform Club, on 3 Feb. 1875, which elected Lord Hartington to the leadership of the liberal party. In parliament he demolished, in a speech of searching analysis. Dr. Kenealy's motion for a royal commission of inquiry into the trial of the Tichborne case (23 April). When the Bulgarian atrocities were thrilling the country, and the question of the maintenance of the Ottoman empire marked the cleavage between the two political parties, Bright delivered an impassioned address at the Manchester Reform Club against Lord Beaconsfield's policy (2 Oct. 1876). But he deprecated intervention, as well against as on behalf of Turkey, and headed a deputation to Lord Derby on 14 July, demanding an assurance that the government intended to preserve neutrality. At Birmingham on 4 Dec, upon the same topic, he described Lord Salisbury as a man of 'haughty unwisdom,' and Lord Beaconsfield as an actor who 'plays always for the galleries.' Meanwhile he pursued his advocacy of the extension of the franchise (Birmingham, 22 Jan. 1876; House of Commons, 30 May), though he spoke in parliament against Forsyth's women's disabilities removal bill (26 April). During this period Bright had retrieved much of his lost vigour, as was attested by his delivery of three speeches on one day at Bradford on 25 July 1877. The occasion was the unveiling of Cobden's statue, and his speech one of his finest efforts. At a subsequent lunch at the Bradford Chamber of Commerce he took as his theme free trade as a pacificator, and at a liberal meeting in the evening the Eastern question. There was a constant disposition at this time on the part of Lord Beaconsfield's government to intervene in the war between Russia and Turkey. During the whole of this period Bright exerted an important influence in favour of neutrality, which he advocated in a series of speeches in and out of parliament (Birmingham, 13 Jan. 1878; House of Commons, 31 Jan.; Manchester, 30 April). The prospect of a war with Russia recalled his attention to India, and at Manchester (13 Sept. and 11 Dec. 1877) and in the House of Commons (22 Jan. 1878) he spoke in favour of canals, irrigation, and public works in that country. This activity was abruptly checked by domestic bereavement. His second wife died at One Ash on 13 May 1878 very suddenly, her husband being absent in London. Bright did not resume his place in parliament till the following February. He supported Fawcett's [see ] motion for a committee to inquire into the government of India, again advocating decentralisation (18 Feb. 1879). The warlike policy of Lord Beaconsfield's government excited his gravest reprobation. He opposed intervention in Egypt, denounced the Afghan war, and was constant in pleading for friendly relations with Russia (Birmingham, 16 April). The tory government, sensible of the growing dissatisfaction with its foreign policy, delivered its apologia through the mouth of Lord Salisbury at a great meeting in Manchester on 18 Oct. To this a counter demonstration was organised by the Manchester liberals. Bright pronounced an indictment of the government which powerfully affected the public mind (25 Oct.) At the ensuing general election (March 1880) the government sustained a crushing defeat. Gladstone undertook to form a ministry (23 April), and Bright, who had been returned unopposed for Birmingham (2 April), accepted the chancellorship of the duchy of Lancaster, with a seat in the cabinet, being re-elected for Birmingham on 8 May. But the state of his health compelled him to stipulate that a minimum of departmental work should be expected of him, and that his share in the cabinet should be only consultative.

Parliament opened on 29 April, and its first business was the Bradlaugh controversy [see, Suppl.] A committee having disallowed Bradlaugh's request for permission to affirm, he next claimed to take the oath. Bright supported Gladstone's proposal for a committee to inquire as to the competence of the house to refuse this (21 May), and when that committee reported affirmatively, he charged them with setting 'up a new test of theism' (21 June). He appealed to the principle of toleration, and gave great offence by his expression of belief and regret that 'to a large extent the working people of the country do not care any more for the dogmas of Christianity than the upper classes care for the practice of that religion.'

On 15 Nov. Bright was elected lord rector of the university of Glasgow against Ruskin by 1,128 to 814 votes. His installation address was delivered on 21 March 1883. On 16 Nov. 1880 at Birmingham he delivered a defence of the government, condemning the rejection by the lords of the bill for 'compensation for disturbance' of tenants in Ireland, and reverting to his constant