The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-24 00:00:00

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-xvi 43,1 tr,

LONDON, FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 1863.

Mr. ROEBUCK has yet once again nobly vindi-
cated his right to the title of—A Tribune of the
English People. As such, distinctly, he spoke last
evening from the floor of the House of Commons.
The occasion, though one wholly different in its
character, was, to all intents and purposes, quite as
memorable and quite as important, of its kind, as
that other, upon which the hon. and learned gentle-
man, in the midst of the many frightful disasters at-
tendant upon the first outbreak of the Russian war,
" won golden opinions from all sorts of men" by his
chivalrous interposition in behalf of our gallant
but neglected soldiery. What yesterday excited,
—reasonably enough we will say at once—the
patriotic ire of this ardent Englishman, was
the long since all too flagrant fact of those
unprovoked insults and gratuitous outrages which
the Federal Government collectively, and one of the
Federal Admirals (the notorious W ILKES) indivi-
dually, have now during many months past been
offering repeatedly to the banner of England
upon the high seas. Language expressive of scorn
and indignation could not have been stronger than
that used by the hon. and learned gentleman last
evening when referring to these same facts as facts
perfectly well known to all those who heard him.
As could alone have been expected from that great
assembly of Englishmen, the words uttered by Mr.
ROEBUCK raterday in the House of Commons,
were received there with no merely ordinary ex-
pressions of approval, they were welcomed, sentence
after sentence, with reiterated bursts of acclamation.
What the words were that thus elicited the ringing
cheers of the British House of Commons, it is worth
while examining into very carefully. Like a wily
old master of fence, as he is, the " Veteran Viscount"
tried more than once to hush up this inconveniently
outspoken Hotspur of Debate. Lord PALMER-
STON, in fact, strove to prevent what to him-
self, as Premier, doubtless appeared excessively
rash, and what might prove, according to his view,
diplomatically embarrassing —by answering Mr.
ROEBUCK'S Question actually before it was Asked !
Whereupon Mr. ROEBUCK—wilier even in his blunt
ontspeaking than the arch diplomatist who was
striving thus to twist the foil out of his grasp at the
first instant of its being crossed with his own—Mr.
ROEBUCK, we say, interposing—with a whimsically
opportune remembrance evidently of the familiar
adage asserting that " old birds are not to be caught
with chaff"—exclaimed "No, no. I know the
noble lord is an older man than I am. Still, old as
he is, he won't take me in in that way." At which
—naturally—there came an explosion of laughter
from the House.

Peeling strongly, as a loyal subject, as a patriotic
citizen, as a member of the House of Commons, as
an Englishman, Mr. ROEBUCK not only spoke, but
spoke right out. In one sufficient phrase, be it
said, that—feeling strongly, he spoke as he felt.
Alluding, in the first place, to the hopes he himself,
in common with so many others, had long cherished
in regard to the future, the social and political
future, opening up before the American people, he
said :—" I thought that they entered into that
experiment [of self-government] in a way which
mankind had never before seen, and that, if fortune
should prevail, it would be shown that men had proved
Worthy of governing themselves. When, there-
fore," continued the hon. and learned member for
Sheffield, " the news came that that great experi-
ment was at an end—for it is at an end—l say at
once my heart failed me, for then I was compelled
to acknowledge that men, under the most favour-
able circumstances, had proved themselves un-
worthy of government by themselves. That," added
Mr. ROEBUCK, " was my feeling, and then my feel-
ings were in favour of the North. But, as time went
on, their conduct was such—their whole conduct
proved them not only unfit for the government of
themselves, but unfit for the courtesies and for the
community of the civilised world ! " Tolerably
plain language that, we should say ! Language
uttered, no longer since than last evening, and in no
obscurer arena than within the walls of the Commons
House of Parliament ! Ard how received ?it may
be asked, in Europe and in America: how received
(when uttered) by the English House of Commons ?
How ? Mark this ! One or two cries of "Oh,
oh," are heard (we know whence!)—answered im-
mediately—in what way ?—" by Cheers !" Listen-
ing only to those feeble interruptions, "Oh, yes, sh.,),
cried out Mr. Rote:llPN( upon the instant, " I know
that there are degenerate Englishmen who do take
the part Of the North again.it their own
country ; and whenever a matter comes
into collisiiin between America and England
their voices are raised on the side of America."
The stinging truthfulness of which scornful allu-
'''Ut"l to Somebody—don't we all wonder very much
who is the name of fortune that Somebody could
/3`4"313` 11'19—called forth front a sympathising
Somebody alit,, set evtning, a bistelicd,l cry of