Manchester has been the scene for various activities of the
pub- lic-meeting order : the Lancashire Public School Association has had a conference and meeting ; the Members for the Borough have had a special entertainment, of which Members for neigh- bouring boroughs obtained their share.
Manchester enjoys the services of two Members not to be despised—which is saying much as Members go. Under cor- rection of further observation, we should say that Mr. John Bright is somewhat misplaced among the Free-trade Radi- cal doctrinaires—that he is a man, not of intellectual refine- ment, but of far heartier disposition than the common run of Borough Members. He talks, because talking is the sub- stitute for action nowadays ; but he would probably shine more in action than in talk ; for he is a bold, ambitious man, of a masculine and energetic spirit. It is Mr. Milner Gib- son's peculiarity that his speech is more independent than his action—his mind than either. He has broken the fetters of early connexion and prejudice ; he will not rein his tongue to the Ministerial pace in Parliament; yet, possibly for want of zeal and industry, he will not strike out a path for himself, but falls into the stream; choosing the part, however, where it seems for the time to be running fastest. Hence the accomplished pococu- rante and the sturdy Quaker come to be Members for Whig- Radical Manchester, missionaries for Financial and Parliamentary Reform. Mr. Gibson opened some large questions; showing how offices utterly worthless are kept up, like that of Woods and Forests, and how patronage is the blood-sucking dragon that feeds on the taxpayer : yet as a missionary of the said " Reform " movement, he lends his hand in throwing- a tub to the whale. The Reform movement can effect no immediate or thorough change, because it does not alter that condition of manageable con- stituencies by favour of which a manageable Parliament subsists to shield Ministers against any peremptory pressure. The statesmen who foster the actual system are thus protected against public opinion by a double shield, which enables them to regulate "the pressure from without" at their own will. The talk of Financial, &c. Reform afforded a good opportunity for showing off the Borough Members; but it is only talk. Little was said of the Freehold Land movement, impropriated to political agitation by the Cobden party, except that Mr. Fox touted for it in that sense.
But the most genuine action in Manchester, this week, has been that of the Public School Association ; which seeks to free educa- tion from the hinderauces that obstruct it through sectarian dif- ferences. Broadly stated, the principle is, not to omit religion or
r'hristian records, but to take only such portions as command the ract.,
ition of all persuasions. The Association receives an ex-
tensive a'-' increasing support, not only from men who desire to see mere seem,- education advance, but also from those who de-
sire to see education advance in alliance with religion ; but it cannot advance at all until it be emancipated from the obstruc- tive disputes of sect. Lancashire is taking the lead in this move- ment—one more exalted and vitally influential than Corn-law Repeal and Free Trade.
