The Express.
London, England, 1868-07-16 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY

tulate I • on being no poorer. orticondole wO
him on being no richer, it is diffieuMe sanjoetutis.
If the statement is made in illustration of MA
ROEBUCK'S political virtue, it is made, we yentara
to suggest, a century and a half too late.
The boast would have had a meaning in rho
mouth of ANDERW MARVELS., or of a politician
of the time of WALPOLE, or even of a member of
the Irish Parliament at the time of the Union, for
money was going freely then. But no one sup-
poses that it is to be had now, or that if it were
Mr. ROEBUCK would hold out his hand for it.
To declare, as Mr. ROEBUCK seems to do,
that he has not trafficked in his parliamen-
tary influence is only to say what six-hun-
dred and fifty other gentlemen might protest with
wo doubt not, equal truth. In one respect wo are
glad to receive Mr. ROILBUCK'S assurance. No
one expected to hoar that ho was any richer
for his connexion with the Galway contract, or
with the Austrian bank, and the other financial
projects of Mr. ORREL LEVER, which have come
to so untimely an end. That ho is none the
poorer for them, we are glad to learn
upon his own authority. Questionable as the
schemes were, Mr. ROEBUCK was never, we are
convinced, otherwise than honourably associated
with them. Indeed, if we recollect rightly, he
satisfactorily proved as much when his conduct
was called in question by some of his constituents.
If Mr. ROEBUCK intends, by the vaunt that he is
neither richer nor poorer, to say that he
has not accepted office, ho may be fairly
asked whether ho has over refused it. It
is not Mr. ROEBUCK'S fault, if ho is not
now Chairman of the Metropolitan Board of
Works. When that office was first created, Mr.
ROEBUCK proposed to grow old, and to spend
time, strength, and health in the well-remunerated
service of that body. Ho wont down to a meet-
ing of the Board, and pleaded, in person, for the
place as for life and death. This was a perfectly
honourable course to take. Mr. ROEBUCK'S ambi-
tion was legitimate, though it was not successful,
the Board thinking that Sir Joint (then Mr.)
THWAITES was the better man. The representation
of Sheffield was a pis slier with Mr. ROEBUCK.
It may seem ungracious to examine minutely
Mr. ROEBUCK'S petition. But maudlin appeals,
such as he has been freely making of late, in the
characterof &faithful oldservant protesting against
the assumed ingratitude of a capricious master,
are degrading to the manliness and independence
of political life. They are Buncombe of the very
worst sort. They must be discountenanced and
discredited. Mr. ROEBUCK'S age and infirmities,
and failure to enrich himself in polities, at the bar,
or in commercial ventures, are not proper subjects
for confidences with his constituents. By his
public conduct he must stand or fall. He is, we
believe, at heart what he professes to be, an
Englishman proud of the Anglo-Saxon race. Yet
he did all that a bitter and insolent tongue could
do to bring about a war between the two
great branches of that race in England
and America. He assumes to be the
" Tear-'em," the faithful watch-dog of the British
householder, and his patriotism is undoubtedly
sincere ; yet he has been seen fawning in the
Imperial ante-rooms of Paris and Vienna. He
. affects a proper independence of Mr. 01..u)srrorrz
and Mr. GLYN ; but he does so in such
a manner to suggest, if not relations with
Mr. DISRAELI and Colonel TAYLOR, that personal
dislike and jealousy quite as much as
public feeling animate his conduct. When his
convictions or a deference for the feelings of his
constituents compel him to vote with his party,
he generally manages, as on the Irish Church
question, to undo the effect of his vote by his
speech. On the Trades' Union Commission he
did good service, but his tone, unfortunately,
was that of an advocate retained by the
masters rather than of an impartial and
judicial inquirer. He never speaks with-
out a mischievous bitterness of Ireland and
the Irish, which undoes the effect of his most
effective home-truths ; yet in the matter of the
Galway contract be did his best to minister to the
worst side of the Irish character, the
taste for public jobs, and the greed for
public money. It is for the people of Sheffield to
strike the balance of good and evil in Mr. RoE-
nrcx's political character, and to decide whether
or not he does truly represent them, and is likely to
help or hinder the men in whom they have confidence
and the measures which they desire. As one of
the notabilities of Parliament, we should be sorry
to see his place empty. The House of Commons
could better spare a better man.

THE UNPUBLISHED POEM 1:1" MILTON.

A NEW poem by an old master is an an-
nouncement calculated to provoke determined
scepticisin. ell. rrEirroN, IRELAND, and the
ineiciless ction just performed by the
A th(h(luin on the modern emendations of Saila-
'EA LE'S text, all come to mind as the news is read.
Happily, however, in the instance which has set
(very man of letters talking to-day, the name
of the discoverer stands too high for
doubt ; and whatever may be the ultimate
value of the Miltonic poem published by
Professor MORLEY in this morning's Tines, it is at
least certain that it is no artfully devised trick
upon our literary virtuosi, but has been found,
transcribed, and published in complete good
faith. This admitted—and no one conversant
with Professor MonLEY's reputation will presume
to question it—how wonderful does the mode
and place of the discovery appear. Among
EDGAR ALLAN POE'S " Tales of Mystery,
" Imagination, and Humour," that of
" The Lost Letter" is a chief favourite. A
valuable document has been stolen, and a person
of high rank is known to be the thief. Ho cannot
be charged openly with the offence, so the most
astute detectives are employed to search his house
while he is away. Every conceivable piece of fur-
niture is tapped and guagod in secret for false
bottoms and hidden cells, and the pro-
fessional searchers eventually give up the task
in despair. Then a shrewder than they appears
upon the scene, and the missing letter is disco-
vered, half torn across and stuck prominently
in a paper-rack exposed to the observation of
every visitor to the house. The ease with which
it could have been found had been calculated on
to baffle professional sagacity, and with
entire success. We are reminded of this
story in reading Professor MORLEY' El let-
ter. In the " King's Library " of the
British Museum, on the blank leaf of an
edition of MILTON, open to any student, within
easy reach of thousands upon thousands of
literati, who, year after year, have explored the
Museum shelves, this poem, in MILTON'S hand-
writing, is found. A more unlikely place for it to
hive remained undiscovered than a national
Monty, which is the lased-quarters of profestional
1n of letterer it would be difficult to
But Proaseor Noway nasithes that
i‘ the poem speaks for itself," and * to be *arab
corgtutlif*ed TOMO* *
bail% 4111111114 " • *poi "if.,
• •-.

O. 1647," and tho handwriting closely corms-
Ponds wilt some ofe'tho fa esiipiisa *Oen •juk
Ownizwes "'iamblinsinlllpeillation of Go
, Autograph of ?dilton.t • flomeEifihd linos, midi we
Infant mein) cradled hers
In iss prlaelples swum
wnl doubtless give work to commentatoss, and we
may expect to have the genuineness of tho poem
severely tested in the next few days.

THE CORONATION OATII.

Jr HISTORICIIBV literary style were as sound
as his argument this morning, ho would be far more
valuable as an ally. But he offends his readers
at the outset by the air of clumsy condescension
and pompous self-confidence perceptible in his
writings. Mon ask who this god from Olym-
pus is, who belabours mere mortals with
so many adjectives indicative of contempt
for their judgment, and superiority to their
weaknesses. But these defects passed by, his
views upon the nature and obligation of the
Coronation Oath are statesmanlike and sound.
The ridiculous attitude the defenders of the Irish
Church have thought proper to assume has com-
pelled liberal politicians to raise points and enforce
principles which should never have been disputed,
and one of the first questions which the parliamen-
tary debates of the future will have to settle will
be the extent of the personal obligation conveyed in
the Coronation Oath. The theological prophecies
of men of Lord ItEDEBDALE'S turn of mind must
be stopped. We cannot have threats of eternal
punishment following upon the discharge of con-
stitutional duties, and " HISTORICII8" writes sen-
sibly when he says, " That the Sovereign has any
" right to oppose a personal sentiment to the
" deliberate will of the nation, is a doctrine
" which no constitutional statesman will dare
"to maintain. As well might it be said that
" because the right of peace and war by the Con-
" stitution is vested personally in the Sovereign
" that therefore the Qua could make war or
" conclude peace without the consent of the
" nation."

The plain moral of the question is that
what Parliament makes it can unmake, and
the more it is examined the truer it will
appear that "to assert that it is the
" duty of the Sovereign to oppose the obliga-
" tion of an oath imposed by Parliament and the
" nation as a personal obstacle to a modification
" of its stipulations demanded by the Parliament
" and the nation is a position which betrays an
" equal ignorance of the principles of ethics and
"of those of the Constitution." Conservative
candidates must find some other election cry than
this ; and " Iffgroxicus's" wordiness may be for-
given to-day in consideration of the common
sense it conveys.