"We shall almost be hooted down in the House, I expect, for the Tories are for war, partly because the Government has been supposed to be for peace. And if war begins, then nine-tenths of the men on our side will back the Government and shout even more vociferously than the Tories. Losing a Reform Bill and gaining a war. I don't see how we could be worse placed. Though the end may show that we are now right, yet the end is not yet, and in the meantime we shall have much to suffer and much to despond about. How men can prefer the certain and enormous evils of a war, to the dim and vague prospect of remote injury from Russian aggrandisement, is beyond my understanding. The nation seems little wiser than in 1793 and we may soon be as unpopular as Fox was, and yet be as much right as he was. I feel rather sick of public life, and indeed of the follies of my country."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Letter to Cobden (24 December 1853), quoted in G. M. Trevelyan, The Life of John Bright (1913), pp. 229-230
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…"
"I believe that the intelligence of the people in Scotland is superior to the intelligence of the people in England. I…"
"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,…"
"As to the Income Tax, my opinion is that the needful revenue would be fairly and most fairly raised if paid by proper…"