BRIG H T O N word or act which could shake confidence in business. The debate lasted five days. On the fifth day a telegram from Mr Layard was published announcing that the Russians were nearing Constantinople. The day, said the Times, “was crowded with rumours, alarms, contradictions, fears, hopes, resolves, uncertainties.” In both Houses Mr Layard’s despatch was read, and in the excited Commons Mr Forster’s resolution opposing the Vote of Credit was withdrawn. Bright, however, distrusted the ambassador at the Porte, and gave reasons for doubting the alarming telegram. While he was speaking a note was put into the hands of Sir Stafford Northcote, and when Bright sat down he read it to the House. It was a confirmation from the Russian prime minister of Bright’s doubts: “There is not a word of truth in the rumours which have reached you.” At the general election in 1880 he was re-elected at Birmingham, and joined Mr Gladstone’s new government as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. For two sessions he spoke and voted with his colleagues, but after the bombardment of the Alexandria forts he left the ministry and never held office again. He felt most painfully the severance from his old and trusted leader, but it was forced on him by his conviction of the danger and impolicy of foreign entanglements. He, however, gave a general support to Mr Gladstone’s government. In 1883 he took the chair at a meeting of the Liberation Society in Mr Spurgeon’s chapel; and in June of that year was the object of an unparalleled demonstration at Birmingham to celebrate his twenty-five years of service as its representative. At this celebration he spoke strongly of “ the Irish rebel party,” and accused the Conservatives of “alliance” with them, but withdrew the imputation when Sir Stafford Northcote moved that such language was a breach of the privileges of the House of Commons. At a banquet to Lord Spencer he accused the Irish members of having “exhibited a boundless sympathy for criminals and murderers.” He refused in the House of Commons to apologize for these words, and was supported in his refusal by both sides in the House. At the Birmingham election in 1885 he stood for the Central Division of the redistributed constituency; he was opposed by Lord Randolph Churchill, but was elected by a large majority. In the new Parliament he voted against the Home Rule Bill, and it was generally felt that in the election of 1886 which followed its defeat, when he was re-elected without opposition, his letters told with fatal effect against the Home Rule Liberals. His contribution to the discussion was a suggestion that the Irish members should form a Grand Committee to which every Irish bill should go after first reading. The break-up of the Liberal party filled him with gloom. His last speech at Birmingham was on 29th March 1888 at a banquet to celebrate Mr Chamberlain’s return from his Peace Mission to the United States. He spoke of Imperial Federation as “a dream and an absurdity.” In May his illness returned, he took to his bed in October and died on 27th March 1889. He was buried in the graveyard of the meeting-house of the Society of Friends in Rochdale. Bright had much literary and social recognition in his later years. In 1882 he was elected Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow, and Dr Dale wrote of his Rectorial address, “It was not the old Bright.” “I am weary of public speaking,” he had told Dr Dale; “ my mind is almost a blank.” He was given an honorary degree of the University of Oxford in 1886, and in 1888 a statue of him was erected at Birmingham. Lord Salisbury said of him, and it sums up his character as a public man, “ He was the greatest master of English oratory that this generation ~7~I may say several generations—has seen. ... At a time when much speaking has depressed, has almost ex-
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terminated eloquence, he maintained that robust, powerful, and vigorous style in which he gave fitting expression to the burning and noble thoughts he desired to utter.” No full biography of Bright has been published since his death. The fullest is The Life and Speeches of the Right Hon. John Bright, M.P., by George Barnett Smith, 2 vols. 8vo., 1881. See also The Life of John Bright, M.P., by John M‘Gilchrist, in Cassell’s Representative Biographies, 1868.—John Bright, by C. A. Vince, 1898.—-Speeches on Parliamentary Reform hy John Bright, M.P., revised by himself, %m.—Speeches on Questions of Public Policy, by John Bright, M.P., edited by J. E. Thorold Rogers, 2 vols. 8vo., 1868.—Public Addresses, edited by J. E. Thorold Rogers, 8vo., IZlS.—Public Letters of the Right Hon. John Bright, M.P., collected by H. J. Leech, 1885. w. C.) Brighton, a municipal, county (1888), and parliamentary borough of England, on the English Channel, 50| miles by rail S. of London, 44 miles E. of Portsmouth, 34 miles W. of Hastings, in the county of Sussex, on the London, Brighton, and South Coast railway. The municipal borough of Hove, with which in 1893 was incorporated the parish of Aldrington, adjoins the county borough of Brighton. The parish of Hove forms part of the parliamentary borough of Brighton, but the parish of Aldrington is a part of the Mid or Lewes parliamentary division of Sussex. Preston to the north, formerly a distinct suburb, is now absorbed in the municipal and parliamentary borough of Brighton. Practically one town, Brighton and Hove extend 4 miles, east to west, along the coast, fronted, for a length of 3 miles, by a massive sea-wall, 60 feet high, 23 feet thick at the base, and 3 feet at the summit, and a fashionable promenade. Till 1894, when its boundaries were altered, Brighton was distributed into 7, but since then into 14 wards, under the government of a mayor, 14 aldermen, and 42 councillors. Incorporated by Royal Charter 1898, Hove is under a mayor, 10 aldermen, and 30 councillors. In continuous fast growth, Brighton now comprises more than 700 streets and squares. Recent improvements include the widening of King’s Road (1888) ; improvements effected on the Marine Parade (1890); an electric railway along the beach; a railway (opened 1887) from Brighton to Devil’s Dyke, 5|- miles distant; electric tramways (1901); “railway in the sea,” from Kemp Town to Rottingdean, &c. The Corporation are erecting at Portslade, at a total cost of about <£270,000, a large power station to enable them to meet the increasing demand for electricity in the borough. Extension works for augmenting the existing supply of water are being carried out at an estimated cost of over £100,000. There are 35 churches, and over 50 dissenting chapels. The more recent churches include St Paul’s, with elaborate decorations, completed 1885; Trinity church, restored and partly rebuilt 1887; St Andrew’s, St Nicholas’ (the old parish church, dating from the 12th century), restored 1884; All Saints’, the new parish church of Hove (1891), costing £19,400; St Augustine’s (1896); the church of St Philip in Aldrington parish, erected since 1893, but still incomplete. The Brighton municipal school of science and technology, costing about £33,000, was opened in 1898. The same year the municipal school of science and art, erected in 1876 at a cost of £11,000, was enlarged and re-adapted, and St Mary’s Hall (1836), for the education of daughters of poor clergymen, was also enlarged. Brighton grammar school now includes chemical and physical laboratories and a workshop, attended by between 300 and 400 boys. The Victoria lending library (1889) was rebuilt in 1901 at a cost of about £38,000, and the Hove free library was opened in 1892. Among the more recent erections are the terminus of the London, Brighton, and South Coast railway, covering 20 acres, entirely reconstructed in 1887; the west pier (1886), S. II. — 49
