We have had a great depression in agriculture, caused mainly by several seasons of bad harvests, and some of our traders have suffered much from a too rapid extension in prosperous years.

Bright was re-elected by his Birmingham constituents and it turned out to be his last Parliament. Bright replied that if Cobden retired the mainspring of the League was gone. Why not go to the help of other interests in Belfast and Dublin? As to Dublin Parliament I argued that he was making a surrender all along the line—a Dublin Parliament would work with constant friction and would press against any barrier he might create to keep up the unity of the three Kingdoms.

He sat in the House of Commons from 1843 to 1889. He was one of the greatest orators of his generation and a strong critic of British foreign policy.