nt was more phlegmatic, was careful to avoid
any undue heat of speech, and hence often passed, erroneously, for a
more moderate thinker than Mr. Bright.

It is with pleasure that we turn for a moment to speak of Mr. Bright's
course towards America, and especially while we were suffering under the
plague of civil war. Ever since he entered public life, his admiration
of our institutions and history has been frequently the subject of his
discourse. He has not hesitated to declare that feeling when he must
have been aware how unwelcome it was to the greater part of his
countrymen. He has, indeed, recognized in our success the practical
attainment of those views to which he has so long been devoted, and
which his experience as a public man seems only to have confirmed. His
magnanimous mind has scornfully rejected that too prevalent English
characteristic,--envy at the growing power of a sister nation. He has
only seen in our progress a benefit and an example to mankind. As such
he has gloried in it, and not the less because we are a kindred race and
an offshoot from British civilization. The fact that we have been the
inheritors and partakers of the glories of the English nation, which
seems to increase the asperity with which many English statesmen now
regard us, is to Mr. Bright a greater reason why sympathy should be
extended to us. His speeches on America manifest a thorough knowledge of
our history and of the spirit of our Constitution. He has studied us in
the earnest desire to know and believe the truth, and faithfully to
present to others the results of his study. We do not think it
extravagant to say that few of our own public men evince a more
intelligent knowledge of our record than Mr. Bright: certainly in this
respect he is far in advance of the leading English statesmen. When in
1861 the Rebellion broke out, Mr. Bright raised his voice boldly against
the non-committal policy of England, in declaring herself neutral. He
seemed to comprehend at once the causes of the war. He correctly
regarded the North as really on the defensive,--defending the integrity
of the nation. He saw the cause of republican liberty trembling in the
balance. From that day to this,--at times when public indignation ran so
high in England that it was almost dangerous to justify the North,--at
times when to avow Northern sentiments was to be met with a howl from
Spithead to the Frith of Forth,--at times when his own supporters, the
manufac