"I believe that the intelligence of the people in Scotland is superior to the intelligence of the people in England. I take it from these facts. Before going to the meetings, we often asked the committee or the people with whom we came in contact, "Are there any fallacies which the working people hold on this question? Have they any crotchets about machinery, or wages, or anything else?" And the universal reply was, "No; you may make a speech about what you like; they understand the question thoroughly; and it is no use confining yourself to machinery or wages, for there are few men, probably no man here, who would be taken in by such raw jests as those." …I told them that they were the people who should have repeal of the Union; for that, if they are separate from England, they might have a government wholly popular and intelligent, to a degree which I believe does not exist in any other country on the face of the earth. However, I believe they will be disposed to press us on, and make us become more and more intelligent; and we may receive benefits from our contact with them, even though, for some ages to come, our connexion with them may be productive of evil to themselves."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Speech in Manchester (January 1843), quoted in G. M. Trevelyan, The Life of John Bright (1913), pp. 84-85
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Bright
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
John Bright
John Bright (November 16, 1811 – March 27, 1889) was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, one of the greatest orators of his generation and a promoter of free trade policies.
90 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by John Bright →
Related Quotes
"To the Working Men of Rochdale: A deep sympathy with you in your present circumstances induces me to address you. Lis…"
"I do not see that it is possible, nor can I discover that it would be right, for me now to withdraw from the cause in…"
"The Corn Law is as great a robbery of the man who follows the plough as it is of him who minds the loom...If there be…"
"Rich and great people can take care of themselves; but the poor and defenceless—the men with small cottages and large…"
"I am amused to find the fuss our Darlington friends and relatives are making about the Education Bill. Edward Pease, …"
"I am a working man as much as you. My father was as poor as any man in this crowd. He was of your own body, entirely.…"
"If a man have three or four children, he has just three or four times as much interest in having the Corn Laws abolis…"
"Going into the House last night, the caution lately given me by a poor but honest Scotchman struck me. He said to me,…"
"The preservation of game involves a list of evils to the farmer of which the loss of money is probably not the greate…"
"As to the Income Tax, my opinion is that the needful revenue would be fairly and most fairly raised if paid by proper…"