The Press.
London, England, 1855-09-08 00:00:00

MR. ROEBUCK'S CASE.

IT appears that the personal and political
friends of Mr. Rossucx have resolved on
appealing to the public to give the Honour-
able Gentlemen a testithonial, which is likely
to assume a pecuniary form. We cannot be
expected to sympathise with the case of a
politician whose principles are so adverse to
our own, and we confess to a strong prejudice
against " tributes " of the sort paid to the late
Mr. O'ComiEm. and some others. But we
admit that there are exceptions to all rules,
and, though not amongst the admirers or sup-
porters of Mr. ROEBUCK, we cheerfully acknow-
ledge that the Member for Sheffield's position
is peculiarly distinguished from that of other
public characters. As a matter of some per-
sonal interest his case is worth consideration.

Mr. ROEBUCI was gifted by nature with
Many of the qualities which gain notoriety in
free countries. Fearless in word and deed, he
had that boldness which rivets popular atten•
tion, and his fluent tongue, and trenchant
rhetoric, rapidly secured him prominence in
polemical encounters. Agile in intellect,
acute in detecting fallacies, and dexterous in
exposing them, his eloquence was logical in
form and bitter in expression ; and after the
prosing of a dull documentary economist, all
sides of the House used to relish his pun-
gency. Taken sandwich fashion between the
conventional twaddle of a Ministerial subordi-
nate, and the mouthing% of a provincial sena-
tor, the speeches of Mr. ROEBUCK were often
most agreeable, and in a tame debate he was
as welcome as pickles with cold meat. He
served up 13enthamisth a la sauce pigaante ;
and without a party; or without high Bonin' or

Tlit PRESS.

professional position, on many and important
occasions he was heard with attention, and
even pleasure, by the most impatient assem-
bly in the world.
But, though capable of being effective in
Parliament, Mr. ROEBUCK wanted that phy-
sical strength requisite for success at the Bar.
To aspire to the gains of a mere chamber lawyer
would have been torture to one of his active
temperament, while his weak frame forbad
that strenuous exertion which is required for
an advocate. Thus he had the gifts and the
defects which enable a man to signalise only
his name, but do not enable him to amass a
fortune. Three years of laborious work at the
Bar would probably have cut short his career.
It is possible that the consciousness of his
physical defects preyed upon a sensitive dis-
position, and that at times he was soured by
seeing men of parts inferior to his own gain
position rather by their muscles than their
minds. Crotchetty as a politician, he was
capricious in the freedom with which he used
to exercise his talents for etching public olia
racters in aqua fortis. He was a democrat in
theory, and yet he was not a demagogue in
habit. If he railed freely, he never disclaimed
personal responsibility, and against secret and
systematic abuse of any character, even of his
greatest foe, his manly nature would have
recoiled. Often severe and censorious on his
contemporaries, there was no one in public
life on whom he bore so hardly as on himself,
for the artistic acerbity of his speeches often
suggested a character the reverse of his own.
Caustic, tetchy, and irritable, he was certainly
neither mean nor treacherously vindictive. His
faults were chiefly those of the lip, and his
health, not his heart, was mostly to blame for
his escapades.
As his want of stamina prevented his suc-
cess at the Bar, so his exemption from all
party sympathies deprived him of all hope of
Ministerial reward. It was a real misfortune
to him that he should have commenced public
life under the auspices of the Benthamites,
whose main position was, " Whatever is is
wrong." He was equally the opponent of the
two great hereditary parties in Parliament;
and no one spoke with more contempt of the
ignorant multitude out of doors. But, though
he displayed in issimo all the faults of a Ben-
thamite of the closet, he never showed the
convenient oblivion of " first principles " ex-
hibited by some of his former coadjutors in
the Westminster Review. He has never sunk
into a recreant, or fled from his old flag, and
disappeared from the Radical ranks in the
form of a Cabinet Minister, or a new Baronet,
or a Privy Councillor. If trimmers like a
MOLEEWORTII, or a B. HALL, Or incomprehen-
sibles like Mr. ROBERT LOWE, are deemed
worthy of reward, it would be strange if no
compliment of any sort were paid to Mr.
ROEBUCK by those who were often glad to have
the aid of his abilities.

The propriety of giving a pecuniary tribute
to such a politician must bb decided on en-
tirely by the Member for Sheffield's friends.
Personally unknown to ourselves, we have no
concern in the Honourable Member's affairs ;
but we admit that he has often been a Manly
opponent, and his freedom from time-serving
we applaud. He Was not a slave to the plat-
form. He never qttailed before a parish
vestry, or kept up an illicit social intercourse
with beadles, or overseers, or subaltern re-
porters. He was not a Radical of the Brum-
magem school, and he never would have suited
the Marylebone " gents." There was some-
thing gallantly aspiring and intellectual in his
efforts, and in forcing on the Committee for
Inquiry into the Conduct of the War, in the
opinion of men of opposite connections, the
Member for Sheffield perfornied a great public
service.

Nor can we conclude without expressing our
surprise that, after a generous article in a
great leading organ, a literary supporter of the
Premier should have disparaged the claims of
Mr. ROEBUCK. Lord PALMERSTON iS, for the
time, a quasi chief amongst the Whig families,
and in that capacity we may remind his Lord-
ship that even the idol of Brookes's, " Mr
Fox," condescended to accept six and thirty
thousand pounds from his subscribing ful
lowers after he had lost five times that amount
at the gaming-table.

tikititbat

CONFLAGRATION AT HAVRE.

A DESTRUCTIVE FIRE broke GUI. OR the evening of the
29th ult., in a large spirit warehouse belonging to
Messrs. Bernachon and Levionneis, Rue Scudery, at
the cerner of the Place du Commerce, at Havre,
One of the cellarmen was drawing brandy from
a large cask, when unfortunately the cock fell out.
He placed one hand on the orifice to prevent the es.
cape of the liquid, and tried with the other to pick up
the cock, but the brandy spurted through his fingers
on to the flame of the lamp, which he had placed on
the ground. Flames immediately shot up, and in a
moment reached the large wooden vessel which was
nearly full of brandy. The liquor instantaneously
caught fire, and the man was so much burned that
he was obliged to withdraw his hand from the holey
The brandy then burst forth in large quantities, and
it was immediately caught by the flames. In an in-
credibly short time the conflagration reached the
other casks in the cellar, which were filled with
spirits, and caused them to explode successively will'
a loud report. Their contents materially increask d
the violence of the fire, and the flames not only
filled the cellar, but escaped by the different issuts;
and than, being fanned by the air, soon burst through
the roof, shooting up to a prodigious height, and ei_
tending even to the opposite side of the street and to
the trees in the Place du Commerce. Above the cel-
lars of Messrs. Bernachon and Levionnais were thb
premises of Messrs. Mortier and Marette, sailmakers,
which were also filled with inflammable materials ;
and these having caught fire added fury to the
flames. Very shortly after the conflagration had
commenced, a strong body of firemen, large detach-
ments from the garrison, and an immense number of
the inhabitants assembled; but it was soon evident
that the fire was too furious to be extinguished, and
that all that could bo attempted was to prevent it
from extending. In spite, however, of the Most ac-
tive efforts, it reached the premises of Messrs. Dus-
saquier and Co., in which were a vast quantity of
bottles of champagne, and eighty thousand boxes of
pilchards, and there destroyed everything. A ware-
house belonging to Messrs. Yrigoyen and Son was
with its contents likewise destroyed ; but, fortunately,
only a few hours before 900,0001. worth of cotton
goods had been shipped from it for the Havannah
and Mexico. The fire also extended to the premises
of Messrs. Pitray and Co., and destroyed them, to-
gether with four hundred bales of cotton ; but it
went no further. Although, however, the flames
were prevented from spreading, they did some
damage to the houses on the opposite side of the
street. At length, after raging for upwards of four
hours, the fire began to decline, ana was eventually
extinguished, partly by means of water, and partly
by means of vast quantities of sand being thrown on
it—the latter being the more efficacious method of
the two. At oue time it was feared that burning
fragments might be carried amongst the shipping in
the dock ; but, fortunately, the wind was not high,
and the vessels escaped. Shortly after the fire had
begun, a man named Thomas, who was formerly
fireman, but who had been for some time in the ser-
vice of M. Troteux, hastened into the cellar, thinking
that his practical experience might enable him to
suggest means for extinguishing the flames; but he
Was in an instant completely surrounded by them,
and was burned to death. Several other persons
were burned or otherwise injured in the course of the
conflagration, but none of them seriously. Prince
Jerome, attended by his aides-de-camp, arrived
shortly after the fire had commenced, and remained
on the spot until it had begun to decline. Several of
the Russian prisoners actively assisted in bringing up
water, or doing whatever was required. The total
amount of damage done is estimated at 500,000 f.

IT is stated that Sir John Villiers Shelley, Batt,
M.P., will be the chairman of the New Board of
Works, under Sir B. Hall's Act for the Local Managt-
ment of the Metropolis .
A WORKING ENGINEER, of the name of John Ross,
residing in Montreal, claims to have discovered anew
motive power which will waft a ship across the
Atlantic Ocean in three days.
IN pursuance of a notice issued by the Governor
and Directors of the Bank of England, the transfer
books for Bank Stock were closed on Thursday the
Bth inst. until the 18th of October neat.
A LARGE NUMBER OF ARMS has recently been for-
warded to Sir James Brooke, K.C.8., Rajah of Sa-
rawak. It may be inferred, therefore, that something
of importance will soon be heard from that quarter.
THE REV. CHRISTOPHER SMYTH, one of the curates
of St. Nicholas, Yarmouth, has lately ascended to
i
the highest point of Monte Rosa, hitherto deemed in
accessible ; and has since succeeded in reaching the
summit of the monarch of mountains, Mont Blanc,
by a new route, and without the aid of guides.
AT A RECENT SALE of the Marquis of Exeter's
stud, Lord Londesborough purchased Stockwell, the
winner of the St. Leger, for 3,100 guineas ; at the
same sale Nutwith was sold for 1,000 guineas, and
Ambrose fot 780 guineas.