Note 185 — Chapter XXVI · THE INVINCIBLES.

The occasion was a banquet given to him in the Town Hall in celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his connection with Birmingham. Mr. Bright said:—“And, what is worse, at this moment, as you see—you do not so much see it here as it is seen in the House—they [the Conservatives] are found in alliance with an Irish rebel party (loud and long-continued cheers), the main portion of whose funds, for the purposes of agitation, comes directly from the avowed enemies of England, and whose oath of allegiance is broken by association with its enemies. Now, these are the men of whom I spoke, who are disregarding the wishes of the majority of the constituencies, and who, as far as possible, make it impossible to do any work for the country by debates and divisions in the House of Commons. I hope the constituencies will mark some of the men of this party, and that they will not permit Parliament to be dishonoured and Government enfeebled by Members who claim to be, but are not, Conservative and Constitutional. Our freedom is no longer subverted or threatened by the Crown or by a privileged aristocracy. Is the time come—I quote the words from history—is the time come to which the ancestor of Lord Salisbury referred three hundred years ago, when he said that ‘England could only be ruined by Parliament’?”