The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-16 00:00:00

MR. ROBB USTI:7I;IN' SPEECH .

fs,i Foreign travel is said to enlarge the experience
p?and widen the sympathies, and we have an exem-
tsplification of this in Mr. Roebuck, who has returned
~from his German tour brimful of sympathies for
Austria. We shall not join in the bitter invec-
tives which have been hurled at our representative
from so many quarters for his speech of last Thurs-
; day ; but, in common with the mass of his consti-
s tuents, we cannot help expressing our unfeigned
;;regret that from such a man such a speech
ishould have proceeded. Our regret is increased
by a consideration of the circumstances which
which have led to these new opinions and
7 these very deeided utterances. Some time ago
it was announced that Mr. Roebuck was negotiat-
,ing a steam-packet contract at Vienna. He was in
company with Mr. Lever, the chairman of the
Galway Steam Packet Company, whose offer to
convey the mails to North America was accepted by'
Lord Derby's Government under not very creditable
circumstances. As everybody knows, Mr. Roebuck
was a director of the same company, and defended
a contract which other people thought savoured
:• rather of a political job and was at the best an
$ extravagant and unnecessary expenditure of public
money. On this occasion there was an unmis-
takeable feeling in Sheffield, as elsewhere, that
-,
1' Mr. Roebuck's public usefulness was likely
to be impaired by a connexion with speculative
..undertakings pushed forward, as was shown, with-
out much regard for the instruments and the
..s means which were used. It was felt that his
Parliamentary advocacy of the Galway contract
'• could not but be tinged by personal considerations
. and private interests ; and there was a shrewd
suspicion that had he never known Mr. Lever, and
never been been feted in Galway, and never sat at
the Galway Board, there would have been in the
House of Commons no more unsparing opponent of
's she Galway contract than John Arthur Roebuck.
-1- We are afraid that in now standing up for Austrian
; rule in Venetia he lays himself open to the
ti same charges, or, at all events, to the same suspi-
„t cions. He went to Vienna to ask a favour. Whether
7 he has returned " with a lucrative contract in his
pocket" we don't know, but some commercial con-
t ''eession has been obtained from the Austrian Go-
svernment through his representa!ions. On their
side the Austrian Government have gained a con-
':‘ vert. Of course, they were glad enough to get
, hold of so promising a subject. They would
' have been thankful even of an ordinary mem-
ber of Parliament; but they must have jumped
at the chance of influencing a blunt outspoken
patriot, who till now has always been on the
people's side. How has this influence been ex-
erted P We need not go far for an answer to
- the question. Any coarser agency would have
signally failed. Bat we know how easily a man
. often yields his opinions to one from whom he
, ,expects or has received a favour. The advocate
opens his brief, reads his case, and convinces
' himself that his client has been ill-used. Smith,
• who is under obligations to Jones, hears with
favour the grievance of a friend in need,
; and in his behalf is prepared to back up even
( a doubtful quarrel. Brown, who gives good.
dinners and unexceptionable port, pours his sor-
rows into the ears of Robinson over their dessert,
and in turn receives comfort, counsel, and sup-
port. Who does not listen with a bias to the
statements and complaints of a hospitable host, a
firm friend, of the client whose fee clinks in his hand,
'of the man who has been or may become a good cus-
tomer ? It is human nature. We have no right
to censure Mr. Roebuck for being simply like
`other people. But, as his constituents, we have a
clear right to complain that he placed himself
voluntarily in a position where he became suscep-
tible of an illegitimate bias in favour of a bad cause.
'For a member of Parliament to travel in search of
information is laudable, but that NS as not the pri-
mary object of our representative. He was in
search of pecuniary gain on behalf of a private com-
pany, and it is understood that his mission has
proved successful. Incidentally he acquired from
partial sources information upon which certain
new and startling opinions are founded—opinions
which were sure to receive a colour from his sup-
. pliant attitude at Vienna, and which are diametri-
cally opposed to the convictions of his constituents.
If Mr. Roebuck has been just to himself in all this,
has he been just to Sheffield ? We think not. The
motives which guide a public man in his advocacy
of public measures should be not only pure, but
above suspicion. Is that the case here? It is not,
cannot be.—iSheffeld 7elegraph.
1

RECENT TVILLS AND BEQUESTS.

(From the Illustrated London News.)

The will and codicil of General the Hon. Sir
Henry Murray, K.C.8., who died at his residence,
Wimbledon Lodge, Surrey, at the advanced age of
seventy-seven, were proved in the London Court
of Probate on the 6th of this month. The executors
appointed are the Right Hon. Earl Cathcart, the
Hon. Lady Murray, the relict, and James Baskli
Stanhope, Esq., M.P., of Revesby Abbey, Lincoln-
shire. This gallant general, who passed a long life
in the military service, was another of those Water-
loo heroes whose numbers are now rapidly decreas-
ing. His will, which is exceedingly brief, bears
date the 18th of April, 1854, and the codicil the
16th of November, 1858. The dispositions are
simply confined to his wife and sons and daughters.
He leaves all his property of every kind and
description to his relict and daughter Gertrude,
with directions for the maintenance of his family.
A legacy of £l,OOO is bequeathed to his eldest son.
There are no other legacies or bequests whatsoever.
We must not omit to mention that Sir Henry was
made a C.B. for his services at Waterloo, and re-
ceived, in May, 1860, the distinction of K.C.8..
!and held the colonelcy of the 14th King's Light
Dragoons.

The will of Sir Richard Paul Jodrell, Bart., of
!Portland-place, London, and Sall Park, Norfolk, was
'proved in the principal registry on the 7th inst.
The personalty was sworn under £250,000, and
probate granted to the executors, the Rev, Sir
Edward Repps Jodrell, Bart., M.A., the son, and
Richard Jennings, Esq., and Major Edward Jodrell,
the nephews of the testator, who are also nomi-
nated trustees—to each of these two latter gentle-
men there is left a legacy of £l,OOO. The eldest
surviving son, the present baronet, inherits the
estates, which are situate in the counties of Nor-
folk, Oxford, Derby, and Middlesex, to which
the testator has added the estate of Sculpthorpe,
saace purchased by him, and has also bequeathed
to la!s son the furniture, &c., in his several man-
/
jaions, and has appointed him residuary legatee
for life, and on his decease it is to revert to
This male issue taking the title ; but on failure
qit is ultimately to devolve to his nephew, Captain
Edward Jodrell. Si;- Richard's only daughter is
provided for to the ex;ent of £16,000, who, being
a married lady, £10,006' will, upon her decease, be
divided amongst her children. There are legacies
lof £lOO to a godson, a goddaughter, and to his
medical attendant; and the following charitable
bequests :—To eight of the parishes on his estates
the sum of £lOO to each is bequeathed, the in-
terest to be paid at Christmas to the deserving
poor under certain peculiar conditions; a like sum
of £lOO to St. Marylebone Almshouses, St. John's-
wood; and £lOO to the Royal Literary Fund.
The will bears date the 17th of May last, and Sir
Richard died on the 14th of January this year,
having attained to the great age of 81. Sir Richard
was in the habit of keeping a kind of journal of
family occurrences since 1844, which he designates
,in his will as " Reminiscemncaetstearntdo
tAhl
ei s,eeexl Itaennite so,
f"
and so minute has he
pu beenyme ian,
with
an particularising
ind ex. themi,i
a
speciallyo°cve°l bequeathed collection
ho6iaifteoctl
tihiooe they
nhadec tivaaalslryt
to his son the
present baronet.
The will of William Leveson-Gower' Esq., of
Titsey Park, near Godstone, Surrey, and of Brook-
street, Grosvenor-square, was proved in the Lon-
don Court of Probate, on the 7th inst., by his relict,
l'lrs. Emily Eliza Josephine Leveson-Gower, and.
Granville William Gresham Leveson-Gower, Esq.,
the son, the joint executors. The personalty was
,sworn under £90,000. The trustees nominated are
'Commander G, orge Hope, R.N., and George Mor-
lrison, Esq., Reigate. The will, which is of consi-
derable length, reaching to 164 folios, bears date
the 27th May, 1859. The testatols died on the 15th
of December, 1860, aged 55. To his relict he leaves-
an annuity of 4:3,000, arising from the estates,
itogether with the enjoyment of his residences, fur-
niture, carriages, &c., and an immediate legacy of
£5OO. On his eldest son and heir is settled the
whole of his estates :in Surrey and Kent, with the
!manors, lordships, adsanwsons, &c., and to his issuc
male; but on failure to other sons or to females, in
!which latter event the ancestral name of Gresham,
with the armorial bearings, is to be applied for
from the Crown to be assumed by such
representative of the family estates. To his younger
children there is left £lO,OOO to each under settle-
latent. The testator's mother, Katharine Maria, was
the daughter of Sir John Gresham, Bart. ; and Mr.
ILeveson-Gower, the deceased, was the great-
!grandson of the first Earl Gower, and is a branch
'of the noble family of the Duke of Sutherland.

AN ALPINE AVALANCHE.—The liessager of
.:Nice mentions a melancholy catastrophe which had just
occurred in the commune of Liensola. An avalanche of
immense extent suddenly fell from the top of a mountain
called the Merlier, carrying everything before it. Four-
teen cottages were swept away, 400 head of cattle perished,
q and 20 famlies are reduced to misery. Three persons were
buried beneath the ruins ; when got out, one was still alive,
ithough dreadfully injured, and the other two were dead,