Page:The Galaxy, Volume 6.djvu/133

1868.] for once with John Bright, all England joined in a roar of satisfaction at his admirable retort.

Howsoever the nobility of England may disapprove of John Bright's sentiments, let him but raise his sonorous voice and the whole sleepy House of Commons starts from its forty winks and listens intently to the noble and inspiring words of its greatest orator. They may have dozed through Disraeli's remarks, or even Lord John's, but no one nods when the magnificent Quaker reformer bids them hearken.

He is the friend of the American in England. If a struggling author craves a kind word for his first work, or an incipient painter half an hour for finishing touches, he will cheerfully and without solicitation through the circumlocution office bestow the word of praise, and steal a few moments from his over-crowded time, for the much-desired sitting.

To our countrymen he is very approachable. They are not obliged to have letters of introduction to obtain audience, for the name of American is a key to open his doors, on account of the admiration he feels for a free country, and which he shows by the respect he pays her offspring. Let any American address a note to John Bright and he will promptly receive a most courteous, plain, and unpretending reply, written in a small hand, but as legible as it is elegant.

He once said in the hearing of the writer, that the written laws of California were as nearly perfect as it was possible for man to frame them: a remark surprising in more senses than one, for who would suppose, that overwhelmed by a multitude of duties of the most important character from the beginning until the end of the year, John Bright could find time and inclination to master the voluminous laws of that remote State? How many Americans would think it worth while to expend time on such apparently profitless reading?

John Bright is a member of the firm of "Bright Bros.," carpet manufacturers, of Rochdale; besides his connection with the above business he has extensive mines in Wales, and is reputed very rich.

He sat for many years in the House of Commons as member for Manchester, and was always returned free of expense—that borough and Salford being the only two that return their members free. After Cobden had carried the vote of censure of the Palmerston administration on account of the Chinese War, and after Palmerston had appealed to the country, both Bright and Cobden were thrown out for Manchester, and for a time the former was without a seat, but eventually he was returned for Birmingham, for which place he is still member.

Happy in the domestic circle as well as honored in his public relations, John Bright would seem an especial favorite of nature and of fortune, since both have been lavish of gifts to him.

On one occasion in expressing his extreme admiration of our country, he laughingly remarked that he was once on the eve of starting for the United States, but changed his mind and went to the United State instead; that Oliver Cromwell had also undergone a similar revolution of sentiment in regard to America, though not from a like cause. Cromwell having actually embarked with the Pilgrim Fathers was brought back by a peremptory government. He indulged in some curious speculations as to what might have been the history of England from that day to this had Cromwell carried out his original intention of going to America.

If John Bright should one day visit us, may his reception by Americans be