Edmund Burke told the House of Commons that the American colonies’ refusal
to be dictated to by Westminster was the very spirit that had made the Empire great.
John Bright told his Birmingham constituents that if Britain was indeed
a great nation, it was because her public was contented and not because her empire was wide.
John Bright asked the people of Birmingham to spread the word that a great
nation, like any good citizen and neighbour, does not meddle officiously in the affairs of others.