The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-10 00:00:00

Mr. Roebuck at Sheffield.

Mr. J. A. Roebuck, M.P., and Mr. G. Hadfield,
M.P., addressed an open-air meeting of their con-
stituents yesterday in Paradise-square. The capa-
cious square was crowded, there being upwards of
10,000 persons present. The Mayor (Mr. Jessop)
presided. At present there are no opposition can-
didates in the field. Mr. John Brown, the cele-
brated armour-plate manufacturer, received a numer-
ously signed requisition to become a candidate, but
has declined on the ground of the unsatisfactory
state of his healtit. Mr. Roebuck has, however,
given offence to small sections of his constituents
by his opposition to the Permissive Bill, by refrain-
ing from opposition to the bill of the Sheffield
Water Company applying for power to increase
their charges by 25 per cent. in consequence of the
inundation, &c.
Mr. ROEBUCK, on coming forward, was received
with great and protracted cheering. He said,—
Gentlemen, very lately I wrote to a friend of mine
in this town that I knew how to deal with my fel-
low-countrymen in public meeting assembled. I
will tell you my secret, as I am going to employ the
means to-day. (Hear, hear.) The first thing is to
tell what you believe to be the truth—(hear,hear)—
to be bold, fearless, true. (Renewed cheers.) That
is my secret ; that is my way of dealing with my
fellow-countrymen in public meeting assembled.
(Cheers, cries of " No, no," and counter cries of
" Yes, yes," followed by more cheering.) I insist
upon order—(hear, hear, and cheers)—and if any-
body does not keep it I will have him turned out.
(Renewed cheers, and a voice, " Can't you stand a
fresh shot ?" addressed to the opposition party, with
another voice, " It's only a bellows mender," and
laughter.) Never mind, he will burst himself then.
(Renewed laughter.) Now, gentlemen, I have no-
thing to retract. (Cries of " Shame," and " More
shame for you.") Never mind, wait and hear me.
(Hear, hear.) I have much to explain. Now, in
the complex system under which we live, the
time comes for the people to exercise their
functions in the business of government. In a
country like England it would be totally
impossible to place the government of the
country in any but a very small number of hands,
but modern ingenuity has discovered a means of
exercising power over those who hold the power of
government, and that is by returning men to repre-
sent them, to watch over their interests. I have now
for 33 years been a representative of the people of
England ; for 15 of those I have served you. (A
Voice—" Sixteen.") Fifteen at least. For fifteen
years I have served you. It is now your turn to tell
me whether I have forfeited your confidence.
(" Yes, yes," followed by counter-cries of " No, no,"
and cheers.) Wait until I have done, and then you
will be called upon by your vote to say whether I
have forfeited your confidence. The mere talk of a
handful of men is not an answer to me. (Loud
cheers.) Now, gentlemen,when I began life I deter-
mined early, if I could, to be a representative of the
people, and as I had no means of wealth at my com-
mand, as I was not related to noble families, I had
to depend only on myself, and in that dependence I
rested. On this condition, then, I prepared myself
for the great duties that my ambition taught me to
seek. I studied carefully ; I learned to think, to
speak, to act, and having so learnt, by the favour
and affection, I may say, of an old friend of mine,
and a friend of the people of England too—l mean
Joseph Hume—l was introduced at Bath at the early
age (for a statesman) of 30. The people of Bath
carried me. (Hear, hear, and a voice, " They
turned you out, though.") They did, I know, and
they suffered for it. (That's the past.) Wait a
moment ; I'll come to that directly. I went into
Parliament with the Reformed Parliament, and in
every step of that Reformed Parliament taken in
' favour of the people I have been one of the foremost.
(No, no.) You cannot put your finger on a single
act of mine which has not been in the advance of
that great Parliament. (Some water was here offered
to Mr. Roebuck. He caused some laughter by re-
marking, " I can't drink water, I'm not a teetotal-
ler.") He resumed—Now what have I done—be-
cause I ask you to listen to me. You are about to
judge of me in my capacity as public servant, and I
ask you to judge me not by one single act, but by
my general character. (Cheers.) I knowthat a long
life of virtue may be at once dispelled by one great
act of iniquity. A man may murder another; he
may commit a theft ; and no matter how virtuous
his former life may have been he ceases to be a vir-
tuous man. But in the ordinary run of things the
way you have to judge of a man is by his general
character and by his general acts. I am going to
unroll my life, but rapidly, before you. My life is
in reality the life of the Reformed Parliament.
(Hear, hear.) I aided in the better goverment of
Ireland ; I aided in the better government of our
colonies ; I aided in giving municipal corporations
to towns like this ; I aided in obtaining free trade ;
I aided in taking away the corn law. (Cheers.)
Now then, such having been my life, what are the
charges brought against me ? (Hear, hear.) I told
you I would shirk nothing. The charges which I
shall specially deal with are these :—The first one
relating to the local interests of this town ; the next,
to the government of our country ; the third, to the
government of our colonies ; and fourth, to our
foreign policy. Now, the first is that relating to
the town, in which it is said I have:done so much
wrong. A great calamity happened. Dale Dyke
burst, 200 lives were lost, an immense quantity of
property was destroyed. What was Ito do ? The
first thing was to relieve the sufferers, the next to
provide a tribunal by which claims upon the com-
pany could be established, and the third was to pro-
vide for the due supply of the town with water.
Now, first I used my very humble endeavours, and
I got a number of great people to subscribe to your
fund. I went—or, at least, I respectfully wrote—
to her Majesty's secretary, I think I ought to call
him, and I got from her an immediate answer and
and immediate subscription for the town. (Hear,
hear.) I went myself to the Prince of Wales, and ,
he gave me an immediate answer and subscription.
(Hear, hear.) I called on Lord Palmerston, and he
did the same ; on the Earl de Grey and Ripon, and
he did the same. (Hear, hear.) That was the
way I acted as regards the relief of the suf-
ferers. But what did I next do ? I put my name
on the back of a bill—(a voice--" Yes, that's

yes, I know it is—that provided a tribunal to deter-
mine the claims that might be brought against the
company, and also provided the means of re-estab-
lishing that company. What was done with that bill?
Regularly it was read in that house, and then, as all
such bills are, delegated to a select committee, chosen
by a committee appointed for the purpose of choos-
ing. They heard the evidence ; these people (with
a gesture towards his opponents) came against them
—against the bill; everyman was heard; the greatest
impartiality was shown to everybody ; the commit-
tee passed that bill unanimously. (Hear, hear.) It
went back to the house ; and now comes the one
great misdeed of mine—l did not oppose the third
reading of that bill. Certainly not, and for this
reason, that a bill like that sent to a committee is
invariably passed by the house unless some glaring
defect of justice has been manifested by the commit-
tee, and I should have made myself a fool if I had
followed the advice of some very wise gentlemen—
(cheers and laughter)—and opposed the bill. (Re-
newed cheers.) But there the matter did not end.
That bill went to the House of Lords, perfect power
of opposition was given ; that bill was unanimously
carrieeby the committee of the House of Lords, and
by the House of Lords themselves. Now, what
have I done wrong inthe matter ? (" A good deal,"
" Nothing," " Twenty-five per cent," and other
cries.) What could I have done ? Some may say
the Town Council might have been the water sup-
pliers. The corporation went before the committee,
and the committee decided that the company was
the better of the two, and nobody ought to be more
grateful to me than the Council themselves. (Hear,
hear, and laughter.) They had no money ; they must
borrow money; borrowing money, they must pay in-
terest; paying interest, they must put on a rate; put-
ting on rates, they would have become unpopular.
(Cheers.) Now the unpopularity is on the head of
the Water Company; therefore, I say the Council
owe me a debt of gratitude rather than otherwise.
(Cheers.) Now I have done with the local ques-
tion, and I will answer any question on it that any
gentleman wishes to put to me. (Cheers.) Now I
am come to the great count in the indictment against
me—l opposed the Permissive Bill. (Cheers.) I did
oppose it, and if you return me to-morrow I will
oppose it again. (Renewed cheering.) Now my rea-
son for opposing it was this—first, that bill attempted
to deal with a matter that does not belong to legis-
lation. (No, no, and Question.) I am talking to the
question—rather too much I fancy. (Laughter.)
Again, it was an unequal bill. The rich man can
have his cellar stored with wine. He can get it a
hundred miles off. [A Voice—" Give him water."]
I can't drink water. (Loud laughter and cheering.)
I say it was an unequal bill. But, more than all, it
was a bill calculated to sow dissension and disquiet
and misery throughout the land. (Cheers.) It was a
bill asking the House of Commons to shirk respon-
sibility. If the law were good the house ought to have
passed it. They ought not to have said to every
parish, " Choose for yourself." What would have
been the consequence ? In every parish there would
have been a fight between these teetotal gentlemen
and the rest of the parish. They might have been
defeated they would have been. [Mr. Clegg—
" Sometimes."] Always. [Mr. Clegg--" Some-
times."] You cannot try it. (Cheers.) I say it
would have sown turmoil broadcast throughout the
country. One body of men would have been against
the other, and we should have had trouble enough
—more than the troubles that are cast upon you
from the electiolis to municipal offices and to Par-
liament. There would have been a constant fight
going on in every part of England ; kindness and
goodwill would have been put an end to. (Cheers.)
That is the reason I opposed that bill, and not be-
cause I have not the same horror of drunkenness
that the greatest teetotaller has. (" Hear, hear,"
" Oh, oh," from one of the Permissive Bill party.)
That teetotaller is a man of this sort—l will give
you a description of him. He believes himself to
be so good that he is almost a sacred character
(laughter and one hiss)'—and to oppose anything he
says is a high offence. (Cheers) Ihave been brought
up in a different school. I have learnt to bear with
my opponents, and do not cover them with every
abusive epithet the English language contains, and
I don't do it behind their backs. (Loud cheers.)
There are cowards who stab in the dark. (Cheers.)
Yes, the pen is as dangerous a weapon as the dagger,
only with this difference—that the dagger is used
only by those who have the courage to risk their own
lives, and as Mr. Canning said of a libeller, "If he
had the courage he would be an assassin." (Loud
cheers and laughter, and a voice, " That's a hot'un,
Clegg.") I venture to say this : Turn me out, get
in whom you will, the Permissive Bill will never
pass. (Cheers, and no no.) There may be turbulent,
talkative people. [lnterruption from teetotalers. Mr.
Roebuck, turning to Mr. Harrop, who was conspi-
cuous among them, said, " I wish you would be
quiet," and several voices in the crowd shouted,
" Turn him out:"] Now, I have done with the Per-
missive Bill, and I come to the third count of the
indictment. That is the opinions I have expressed
upon certain portions of our colonial policy. I have
said—and I believe it to be perfectly true—that
where the white man colonizes the brown man dis-
appears. (Hear, hear, and shame.) It is all very
well to cry " shame," but it is a fact. (Cheers.) I
don't make the brown man disappear, but he does
disappear. (A working man in the crowd shouted
something which we did not catch.) Now, my dear
friend, don'tbawl. (Laughter.) Look at his history.
Those whom sentimental historians call the " Pil-
grim Fathers " went out to America about 1620
or 1630: There were some people who went before.
They went to Virginia. The moment they went
there they dispossessed the savage. They fought
him back across one river, across another ; at last
they drove him beyond the Mississippi, and then
the Rocky Mountains stood in the way. And now
you may travel through Canada and the greater
part of the United States and not see a brown
man. The same thing has occurred in Australia
—the brown men disappeared. The same thing
will happen, is hourly happening, in New Zea-
land. The same thing will happen, is hourly
happening, in Southern Africa. I said, can any one
deny it ? (Yes.) A man who cares neither for his-
tory nor for truth can, but I who read history, and
believe it to be the truth, say that wherever the white
man colonises he dispossesses the brown man. You
cannot help it. It is a decree of Providence, and
you cannot put it down. (" Shame," and cheers.)
" Shame !" Now I cannot understand the wisdom—
the sanity of " shame," and you may as well call it a
shame a man's hand is burnt when he put it into the
fire. (No.) It is an inevitable law. But if Ibe wrong
in that, is that a reason for you to turn round and say
"You who have studied these things, whose whole life
has been passed in the consideration of them, hav-
ing views so different from ours"—these learned
pundits—(laughter)—say, "We will turn you out?"
(A Voice—" Very proper, too.") Ah ! but you
won't do it. (Laughter.) You won't do it. (Cheers,
and renewed laughter.) Now that is my defence.
(Interruption from the • opposition party, and a
voice from the crowd, "Show your face, you wi't
straw hat on," addressed to Mr. W. L. Humphrey,
and laughter.) Mr. Roebuck continued. Never
mind, never mind, let him bark, he can't bite, he
can't bite. (Renewed laughter.) And now—(dis-
order arising from the crowd's disapproval of Mr.
Humphrey's conduct.)
The MAYOR, addressing Mr. Humphrey, said you
had better stand with your back to the audience.
Mr. ROEBUCK—Stand with his back to them ?

TheMAYou—Yes, hell; making faces at the people.
Mr. ROEBUCK resumed—Now I come to the last
grand count in the indictment, and that is my opi-
nions about America. (" Yes, that's it.") The last
time I expressed my opinion in this town about Ame-
rica was in this very square. (" It was," and hear,
hear.) And the people of Sheffield upheld my
opinions. (Hear, hear, and no, no.) I say they did.
They out-voted you—(turning to the malcontents,
who retorted by again crying "No, no")—they out-
voted you. (" No.") Can you have the face to
look me in the face and deny it ? (The Mayor asked
for order.) There was a meeting like this, the
opinions of that meeting were taken, and the gentle-
man who opposed me said, " You have fairly won
the fight." (Hear, hear, cheers, and "So he did.")
But what then ? Was I wrong ? (" Yes," " No,"
and Mr. Clegg, " Certainly.") I say I am as op-
posed to slavery as you—(hear, hear)—but there
are many ways of getting rid of slavery. One is to