The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-07 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, SEPT. 7, 1866.

It must have been with great satisfaction that the
Sheffield Cutlers welcomed their member as a guest
at their " Forfeit Feast" last evening. The state
of Mr. ROEBUCK'S health has, unfortunately, pre-
vented him from taking that active part in the
political events of the year which is congenial to his
taste and his talents. The house of Commons
missed his fitting and straightforward addresses,
and the public at large had reason to regret his
silence. In the midst of the confusion of parties
and contradictions of professions by practice it
would have been satisfactory to have heard the
opinions of one who, whatever his mistakes or
indiscretions, never condescends to modify his views
to suit the clamour of the moment, or to profess
what lie does not think for the sake of being on the
popular side. Mr. ROEBUCK is an old Reformer,
and it was not likely that he would pass over the
exciting events of the session in silence. He re-
minded his hearers that, since he had met them last,
great changes had occurred. The first remarkable
event was the life and death of Lord RUSSELL'S
Administration ; the second, the Fenian con-
spiracy; the third, the Continental war. It
may- be questioned whether Mr. ROEBUCK did
not do the Hibernian heroes too much honour by
mentioning them in such company, but he did not
trouble himself to take further notice of them.
Neither did he enter upon the broad area of Con-
tinental politics, though it is not difficult to guess
from his antecedents upon which side his sympa-
thies would have ranged themselves. Upon home
affairs, however, he was less reticent, though Earl
RUSSELL for one might regret that he broke silence.
Mr. ROEBUCK did not spare the late Government
his satirical comments on their collapse. " I have
no doubt," he said, " that every gentleman in this
room has seen a ship start from her port with all
her sails full, with her rigging all complete, with
her hull shining with paint, and her streamers
flying ; and they have seen, I have no doubt,
that same ship seeking a harbour of refuge,
with her tackle torn, her sails split, her hull shat-
tered, her cargo thrown overboard. That is a typo
of the RUSSELL - GLADSTONE administration." Mr.
ROEBUCK'S picture of the late Government's
inauguration was, however, rather too favour-
able, since a good deal of uncertainty was
felt at the outset as to their tenure of office. They
were not carried into power by any particular merit
of their own, or by their advocacy of any popular
principle. Lord PAL3IERSToN's popularity kept
the old Cabinet in office until his death,
and after that it was natural that there
would be some attempt to remodel it so that the
Same party should retain office. But even without
the stumbling-block of Reform it may be doubted
whether the RUSSELL Ministry would have weathered
r
the Session. Mr. GLADSTONE, the most v
member of the Government, was indispensable to
his colleagues, but at the same time it was no
secret that he differed from them on many points.
The very Reform Bill on which he staked
the existence of the Cabinet was clearly not
entirely to Lis mind. It was a matter of
common remark in political circles that it
was only after he had fought on its behalf for
some time that he showed any warmth in his advo-
cacy. When he was at last roused from cool indif-
ference it was always on behalf of the principles of Re-
form, not on the merits of the particular measure. It
is quite as well for Mr. GLADSTONE'S reputation
that the Bill should have failed; seeing that he
would have been inseparably identified with it, and
it was not worthy of his talents or consistent with
his principles. Mr. ROEBUCK politely said that
" Earl RUSSELL, on looking back upon the events of
the past, saw one remarkable event with which he
was connected, but only as the fiy upon the wheel.
He believed that the Reform Bill was carried by
himself. such. thing ;it wag not carried by
him, nor by his Administration, it was carried by
the people of England." But Lord RUSSELL be-
lieved that, having done so much in the past, he
could do more in the present, and did not fear that
Le would be able to carry another Reform Bill in his
old age. But everything was changed. It was no
Maultin the present House of Commons, said Mr.
ROE B UCK, which rendered a new Reform Bill neees-
fary. " This House of Commons, the produce of
the Reform Bill of 1832, has run a race of legisla-
tion unexampled in the annals of the world." One
of its first acts was to wipe out the stain of
slavery. Another was to reform and popularise the
municipal administration, another to amend the
laws ; and one of their latest but not least valuable
reforms was to free the commerce of the country.