=Source.=--_The Times_, October 19, 1865, p. 8.
One of the most popular statesmen, one of the kindliest gentlemen, and
one of the truest Englishmen that ever filled the office of Premier is
to-day lost to the country. The news of Lord Palmerston’s death will
be received in every home throughout these islands, from the palace to
the cottage, with a feeling like that of personal bereavement. There is
not a province in our vast colonial empire, and there are few civilised
nations in the world, which will hear without an emotion of regret that
Lord Palmerston no longer guides the policy of England. Never again
will that familiar voice be heard in the councils of Europe, or in the
British Senate, of which he almost seemed a part, never again will that
native gaiety of spirits enliven the social circle in which he loved to
move. The death of no other subject could have left such a void in the
hearts of his countrymen, for no other has been identified so long or
so closely with our national life....
His name will not be remembered in connection with the triumph of a
grand cause, nor was his life devoted to the development of a single
idea, and yet he was a great man unless that title be confined by an
arbitrary limitation to a prescribed class of moral and intellectual
virtues.... In familiarity with the labyrinthine complications of
modern European diplomacy he excelled all living politicians, both at
home and abroad. In the art of distinguishing the prevailing current
of public opinion, in readiness of tact, in versatility of mind and
humour, in the masterly ease with which he handled the reins of
Government, and in the general felicity of his political temperament,
he had no rival in his own generation. To these gifts, however, he
added an unwearied application to duty, which would itself have earned
him a high position in the State.
The secret and source of his great popularity was his boundless
sympathy with all classes of his countrymen. He was a truly
large-hearted man, and moved among men and women of every rank as one
of themselves.
THE CAVE OF ADULLAM: SPEECH OF MR. BRIGHT ON THE FIRST READING OF THE
REFORM BILL OF 1866.
=Source.=--_The Times_, March 14, 1866.
Why, Sir, the right hon. gentleman below me (Mr. Horsman) who said a
little against the Government, and a little against this Bill, last
night made an attack upon so humble an individual as I am. He is
the first member of this new party who expressed by his actions his
great grief. He retired into what may be called his political Cave of
Adullam, to which he invited everyone who was in distress, and everyone
who was discontented. He has long been anxious to found a party in this
House, and there is scarcely a member at this end of the House who is
able to address us with effect, or to take much part in our debates
whom he has not tried to bring over to his party and his cabal. At last
he has succeeded in hooking the right hon. gentleman, the member for
Calne (Mr. Lowe). I know it was the opinion many years ago of a member
of the Cabinet that two men could make a party; and a party formed of
two men so amiable, so genial as both of those right hon. gentlemen,
we may hope to see for the first time in Parliament a party perfectly
harmonious and distinguished by a mutual and an unbroken trust. But
there is one great difficulty in the way. It is very much like the case
of the Scotch terrier which was so covered with hair that you could not
tell which was head and which was tail. Sir, the right hon. gentleman,
the member for Calne, told us that he had had some peculiar election
experiences....
Now, the constituency which the right hon. gentleman represents
nominally consists of 174 members, seven of whom are working men, but
his real constituency is a member of the other House of Parliament who
could have sent here his butler or his groom. Sir, I think that in one
sense, looking on the right hon. gentleman as an intellectual gladiator
in this House, we are much indebted to the Marquis of Lansdowne that he
did not do that. I have said that I wanted to explain the particulars
of this Bill, and to appeal to the good sense and the patriotism of the
gentlemen opposite not lightly to reject it. I ask them not to take the
disparaging description of their countrymen which has been offered to
the House by the member for Calne, and the hon. member for Salisbury,
who, I presume, from their association at the Antipodes, seem to take
only a Botany Bay view of this subject, and of the character of the
great bulk of their fellow-countrymen. Why, the right hon. gentleman
said on one night, when I was not here, that I, even in the matter
of the cattle plague, set class against class. I ask any man in this
House: Is it possible to do a thing that is more perilous than that
which is done by the right hon. gentleman and his Australian colleague,
the member for Salisbury, viz., to make it appear that there is a gulf
which shall not be passed by legislation, between the highest, the most
powerful and the most numerous portion of the middle class, and the
great body of the working people who are really the very heart of this
great country? Now, is it not inconceivably better to show trust in
the people, for of all the follies, all the crimes which individuals
commit, that of constant distrust of their fellow-subjects, of all the
citizens of their country, is about the wildest and the most foolish.