Modern Leaders: Being a Series of Biographical SketchesMcCarthy, Justin
History
Modern Leaders: Being a Series of Biographical Sketches
McCarthy, Justin
Biography
Finally, let me remark, that the extent of Mr. Bright's democratic
tendencies would probably disappoint some Americans. I may say now what
I should probably have been laughed at for saying two or three years
ago, that there is a good deal of the conservative about John Bright;
that he is by nature disposed to shrink from innovation; that change for
the mere sake of change is quite abhorrent to him; and that he is about
the last man in England who would care to make political war for an
idea. He seems to me to be the only one Englishman I have lately spoken
with who retains any genuine feeling of personal loyalty toward the
sovereign of England. But for his eloquence and his power, I fancy Mr.
Bright would seem rather a slow sort of politician to many of the
younger Radicals. The "Times" lately attributed Mr. Bright's
conservatism to his advancing years. This was merely absurd. Mr. Bright
is little older now than O'Connell was when he began his Parliamentary
career. He is considerably younger than Disraeli, or Gladstone, or Mill.
What Bright now is he always was. A dozen years ago he was defending the
Queen and Prince Albert against the attacks of Tories and of some
Radicals. He never was a Democrat in the French or Italian sense. He has
always been wanting even, in sympathy, with popular revolution abroad.
He never showed the slightest interest in speculative politics. I doubt
if he ever talked of the "brotherhood of peoples." He has been driven
into political agitation only because, like Schiller's Wilhelm Tell, he
saw positive, practical, and pressing grievances bearing down upon his
neighbors, which he felt called by duty to make war against. I have many
times heard Mr. Bright say that he detests the House of Commons, and
would be glad if it were permitted him never to mount a platform again.
But if Mr. Bright had little natural inclination for a Parliamentary
career, what is one to say of Mr. John Stuart Mill's natural
disinclination for such a path of life?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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