John Morrison Davidson

“ God hath wrought great glory by them through His great power from the beginning; men renowned for their power giving counsel by their understanding, and declaring prophecies; leaders of the people by their counsels and by their knowledge meet for the people, wise and eloquent in their instructions; rich men furnished with ability, living peaceably in their habitations." "All these," it is added, "were honored in their generations, and were the glory of their times." And, assuredly, if characteristics such as these appertain to any man of our day and generation, it is to John Bright. ”

“ Bright does one thing of which so many members are oblivious: he never in any of his speeches in Parliament forgets that he is in the great council of the nation; and, however violent may be the supposition, he always assumes that his opponents are there to be convinced, if only the matter at issue is put in a proper light. ”

“ Not a bad example, assuredly, for a youthful people's tribune! Bright the elder had started life as a poor but honest weaver, working, as his right honorable son has told all the world, for six shillings a week! ”

“ Bright, like his father before him, declines to blow a trumpet when he does a good deed. He acts on the principle of not letting his right hand know what his left hand doeth in such matters; and, as a consequence, his benefactions are better known to the beneficiaries than to the public. ”

“ It was curious to observe how the occupants of the Conservative benches, the majority of whom in the late Parliament looked for all the world like a band of horse-jockeys and prize-fighters, were affected. Mr. Bright talked to them with all the simplicity and confidence of a good paterfamilias addressing his family circle with his back to his own mantel-piece. ”

“ He has large faith, and believes in the inevitable progress of humanity and the ultimate invincibility of truth. As he once said, "There is much shower and sunshine between the sowing of the seed and the reaping of the harvest ”

“ His rising in the House is always an event. I remember by chance being in the Speaker's Gallery on a Wednesday afternoon when he made his now celebrated speech on the Burials Bill. He had seldom spoken since his severe illness, and was not expected to address the House. The debate had been of the poorest select vestry stamp, without ability and without human interest of any kind, when suddenly a movement of expectation was visible on both sides of the House ”