Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Bright, John
BRIGHT, The Right Hon. John, M.P., is the son of Jacob Bright, of Greenbank, near Rochdale, where he was born Nov. 16, 1811. Having received the rudiments of a substantial English education, he entered his father's business, and became a member of the firm of John Bright and Brothers, cotton-spinners and manufacturers, of Rochdale. At a comparatively early age he began to address local audiences on social and politico-economical topics, and he delivered, at a literary institution in his native town, a series of lectures embodying his reminiscences of a Tour to the Holy Land in 1835. Though he had taken part in the Reform agitation of 1831–2, Mr. Bright first distinguished himself in political life by becoming in 1839 one of the earliest members of the Anti-Corn-Law League, which grew out of an association formed in 1838 to obtain the repeal of the Corn Laws. In April, 1813, at a bye-election, he stood as a candidate for the representation of the city of Durham, but was defeated by Lord Dungannon, a Conservative and Protectionist. His Lordship was, however, unseated on petition, and at the election which thereupon ensued in July of the same year, Mr. Bright was returned by a majority of 78. He continued to sit for Durham till 1847, when he was returned for Manchester. He made his maiden speech in Parliament on Mr. Ewart's motion for extending the principles of free trade, Aug. 7, 1843. During the interval between his election for Manchester and the accession of the first Derby Ministry to power, Mr. Bright's activity in Parliament and on the platform was varied and continuous. In the House of Commons he proposed to apply the remedy of free trade in land to the state of things which produced the Irish famine. He appealed, unsuccessfully, for the despatch of a royal commission to investigate the condition of India; and in 1849 he was appointed one of the members of the celebrated select committee of the House of Commons on official salaries. In the legislature and in the provinces, especially at Manchester, he co-operated with Mr. Cobden in the movement which the latter sought to create in favour of financial reform, mainly with a view to the reduction of our naval and military establishments. In 1851 he voted with those who attempted to censure Lord Palmerston in the Pacifico affair; and in 1852 he took a prominent part in the welcome given to Kossuth by the advanced Liberals of Lancashire. On the formation of the first Derby Ministry, Mr. Bright aided in that temporary re-organization of the Anti-Corn-Law League which the acceptance of free trade by the new government afterwards rendered unnecessary. He was re-elected for Manchester, after a contest, at the general election of 1852. With the accession of Lord Aberdeen's ministry to power began the discussion of the Eastern question, his share in which alienated from Mr. Bright many of his former supporters. Mr. Bright denounced the policy of the Russian war with energy; but his protests against it were stopped by an attack of severe illness, and just as the war had been brought to a close, Mr. Bright was compelled to forego all public action. The news of the defeat of Lord Palmerston on the Canton question reached him while in Italy, in March, 1857. Although he had necessarily taken no personal part in the debate or division which produced Lord Palmerston's appeal to the country, yet he expressed his entire approval of the vote of censure which had been proposed by Mr. Cobden, and seconded by Mr. Milner Gibson. At the general election that ensued, Manchester rejected both Mr. Bright and Mr. Milner Gibson by large majorities. A few months afterwards, the death of Mr. Muntz caused a vacancy in the representation of Birmingham; the constituency invited Mr. Bright to become a candidate; he was elected in Aug., 1857, and has continued to represent that borough down to the present time. After 1857 his name was mainly identified with a scheme for the reform of the electoral representation, by a wide extension of the suffrage and a more equal distribution of the seats with reference to population, and alterations in the law of entail. He was an uncompromising advocate of the North during the civil war in America, and after the close of the struggle he renewed the agitation for reform. He visited Ireland, and he was entertained at a banquet in Dublin, Oct. 30, 1866; but his reception in the sister island was not so enthusiastic as its promoters anticipated. On Nov. 3, 1868, he was presented with the freedom of the city of Edinburgh, and in the following month he accepted office under Mr. Gladstone, as President of the Board of Trade. After being absent from the House of Commons for some time in consequence of severe illness, he was compelled to retire from office in Dec., 1870. His health having been partially restored, he was, in Aug., 1873, appointed to the Chancellorship of the Duchy of Lancaster in succession to Mr. Childers, and he held that post until the Liberals went out of office in Feb., 1874. When the Liberals returned to power in May, 1880, Mr. Bright was re-appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. On July 17, 1882, he announced in the House of Commons that he had resigned his office and retired from the Cabinet because he differed from his colleagues on their policy in Egypt which led to the bombardment of Alexandria. Mr. Bright was elected Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow, Nov. 15, 1880, A collection of his "Speeches on Questions of Public Policy" was published in 2 vols., 1868.