The Sun.
London, England, 1867-07-06 00:00:00

clauses afterwards, Mr. LowE was the most for-
midable among the antagonists who led the charge,
declaring that nothing should induce him to give
up his proposition of the Cumulative Vote. This
obstacle, then, has been surmounted, and this for-
midable adversary has had his opportunity, and is
not therefore likely again to disturb the course of
the Committee very materially. A good finish was
made to the week's work by the debate of yester-
day, and another proof has been added to the many
that went before, showing that the Committee have
spared neither time nor trouble in the investigation
of the subjects submitted to their notice. The vote
which decided the fate of Mr. LOWE'S proposition
was not taken until after the question had been put
before the House in every point of view, and Mr.
GLADSTONE certainly had his wish fulfilled as to
having the point argued, for it was done so fully
and fairly. Mr. BRIGHT'S remarks were greatly to
the point, and the hon. member showed how com-
pletely those were mistaken who expected so much
from the proposed scheme, and there was much
force in his observation, that, as Mr. LOWE ex-
pected so many evils to ensue from the passing of
the measure before the House, the remedy he pro-
posed was a very small one ; and, indeed, it was
much as if a man were to try to abstract a snowball
from an avalanche. Following up this ar-
gument, Mr. BRIGHT said that the best
way to meet the views of some individuals
would be to have a clause put into the Acts of
Parliament, to the effect that the Liberals should
return one member and the Tories another. The
consequence would be that the Speaker would have
to decide the course of things as the numbers would
be equal. As the hon. member for Birmingham
said, in conclusion, the effect of this proposal would
be to destroy what was living and energetic in the
constituencies, and it would thus be fatal to the
principle of our representation where it was
applied. Lord CRANBORNE spoke with his
usual ability, but took a very sombre view of
public and political matters, and besought the
Committee to take heed to their ways before it
was too late, and to pause before they offended a
class entirely in the " unknown future" to which
we are hastening. The noble lord made some
amusing remarks upon the state of affairs, and
the "glamour" which, he said, the Chancellor of
the Exchequer had cast over his followers, declar-
ing that the system of the distribution of electo-
ral power arranged between some hon. members
on the Opposition side of the house and the occu-
pants of the Treasury bench could not last, and we
did not for a moment think that the "keen and
prescient mind" of the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer believed that it would either. Mr. DISRAELI
replied to the various speeches addressed to the
house in his usual successful manner ; but, if any-
thing, his speech of yesterday was distinguished for
eminent force and clearness. As for the noble lord
the member for Stamford, he showed that his argu-
ments upon the Constitution were quite uncalled
for, and, having put his objections into a
collected form, he soon disposed of them.
The noble lord had eventually said that
" monarchy is dead, the aristocracy doomed,
and democracy triumphant." As for the former,
as the right hon. gentleman remarked, Lord CRAN-
BORNE had been a Minister of the Crown, and
knew to the contrary ; to the second, he showed
himself that the aristocracy were active enough ;
and upon this point the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer gave good advice to the upper classes. If, he
said, the " aristocracy fell it would be from no ex-
ternal assault, but from internal decrepitude." As
for democracy being triumphant, we agree with the
right lion. gentleman that it would be well
if some of these great lights, these shining powers
of the State, would candescend to tell us what they
mean by this democracy which they now intro-
duce with such facility into our debates.
A better argument could not be found to these
extraordinary assertions than that which we find
in this speech, that these people to whom the fran-
chise is being offered are Englishmen who have
been born and bred under the influence of the
laws and traditions of the country. It does
indeed seem remarkable that well-informed
individuals should so confuse things or to make
statements like this, but, as Mr. DISRAELI said, it

is just as well not to pass over the consideration
of such things, but to introduce them into debate,
because then they can be answered, whereas in
private life they do a great deal of harm without
being contradicted. We hope that the result of the
discussion of yesterday will be of service, as a very
mistaken notion on the subject has prevailed
in some quarters, and, as Mr. DISRAELI aptly
observed in the conclusion of his speech yesterday,
it is most important to avoid the " allowing such
bugbears to be the foundation of new legislation
which is to change the constitution of the country."
As for cumulative voting, the right hon. gentleman
said that he thought it an admirable device for
bringing " crotchetty men" into the House, and
there was no need to legislate to increase the
number of the specimens, which no doubt is a very
true definition of the race.

It has generally been thought, and not without
reason, that if there was any town in England that
had a right to be proud of its representative, it was
the town of Sheffield. Mr. ROEBUCK is not, in-
deed, one of those brilliant political chieftains who
divide the allegiance of the House ; he does not
aspire to the oratorical celebrity of some members,
or the philosophical distinction of others. He is not
always on the popular side ; he has sometimes, in-
deed, been betrayed into extravagances of language
that few could approve, and he has often showed a
degree of irritability and acerbity of temper. But
he has always been a consistent, uncompromising,
and straightforward politician. He has been a
Liberal when Liberalism was out of fashion ; a
Reformer not only when popularity was to be gained
on the hustings, but when the nominal Reformers
sat at ease on the Treasury benches. He has never
shrunk from telling what he believes to be the truth,
however unwelcome to the ears of the powers that
be, however unflattering to his own constituents
and supporters. Eloquence israre,
are administrative
a
capacity is perhaps rarer, but fearless sincerity and
straightforwardnesa iu a politician
estofall,
r
and it is in this sense that Sheffield has good reason
to be proud of returning such a representative to
Parliament.

There are some persons, however, to whom Mr.
ROEBUCK'S outspoken ways are not very acceptable.
The Liberal party in the House of Commons, when
a few weeks ago his trenchant sentences denounced
their vacillation and their want of earnestness in
the cause of Reform, no doubt wished the member
for Sheffield any where but where he was.
We know that some time since some Sheffield men,
of whom Mr. BROADHEAD might well have been
one, strongly resented Mr. ROEBUCK'S denuncia-
tion of trades' unions, though we apprehend the
world has come round to his way of thinking. Men
who are carrying out one line of policy under the
mask of profession of another naturally dislike the
member for Sheffield, whose keen insight and cut-
ting sarcasm do not inaptly represent the glittering
and incisive wares for which his constituency is
famous. It is not very often, however,
that political opposition, in w .t.tever rank,