The Sun.
London, England, 1842-08-01 00:00:00

PITISLIC OPINION.

Ihe Chronicle has the following remarks, suggested
by Mr. Roebuck's late Election Committee:—`• When
Mr. Roebuck entered upon the very invidious duties of
Chairman of the Select Committee on Election Proceed-
ings, he must have laid his account with incurring uo in-
considerable share of odium and personal hostility from
parties whose characters or interests might be affected in
the course of the investigation. Our surprise, therefore,
is not that Mr. Roebuck should be an object of attack
from certain quarters; that, having been bold enough to
thrust his hand into a hornet's nest, he should be stung;
but that he should have passed through such a trial so
triumphantly as he has. The credit of this, it is bin
justice to say, is due to the admirable address with which
the Honourable and Learned Gentleman conducted the
very delicate task he had undertaken. All parties bear
testimony, not always willing testimony, we apprehend,
to the courtesy and impaitiality with which Mr. Roe
buck presided over an investigation, in the course of
which, had his ,Motives been less just, he had not onl3
ample opportunity, but the. very strongest temptation to
indulge •in that spirit of personal rancour and spite,
which even his enemies must be now convinced they had
so very unfairly attributed to him."
The Herald thus speaks of the Hon. and Learned
Member for Bath :—" Notwithstanding the support
which Mr. Boebuck extorted from the Herald while pro-
curing and conducting the Compromised Elections Com-
tnittee, we do not regret the rejection of the resolution.,
which he moved ou Thursday evening. But, before
saying a word thereon, we have a few remarks to make
on Mr. Roebuck himself, in reply to some Conservative
remonstrances against the support we have given to a
politician so generally opposed to the views expressed in
this journal. Mr. Roebuck is an able, and, as far as we
know, an honest, but he is also, a dangerous man—more
dangerous to no one than himself. His judgment is net
equal to his ability; his impetuosity, intolerance, and
self-reliance render his talents of little more than specu-
lative utility; his capacity. is -frittered away by his im-
practicability ; and his vast superiority over the crowd,
in the midst of which he is solitary, is neutralised by an
inordinate and unlawful vanity for distinction. Mr.
Roebuck is ambitious of a high Parliamentary reputation,
is not without the means of attaining it, yet is► he wholly
ignorant.of the way to reach the goal which he feels to
be within his race. Ho has grasped at reputation, and
obtained notoriety. No man is more unpopular with the
Whig party and with a large proportion of the Radicals
than Mr. Roebuck ; few men are listened to with more
attention and respect by the Conservative leaders. The
Whig chiefs regard him as a pre-eminently disagreeable
man, and never support hiria in the House either by word
or deed; . out of doors they abuse and revile him. Sir
Robert Peel, on the contrary, almost invariably rises
shortly after Mr. Roebuck has spoken, and is rarely
heard to make greater exertion, or to better advantage,
than in replying to the bitter fallacies or occasionally
provoking and untimely truths which Mr. Roebuck
shrieks out."
The Post says :—" The use of machinery calls into
existence a class of machine-makers. The use of ma-
chinery supersedes the necessity for employing certain la-
bourers previously employed in the business of production.
If the number of labourers called into action as makers of
machinery should exactly balance the number of la-
bourers thrown out of employment—then it would seem
to follow that the market value of labour, and of all the
products of labour, would continue undisturbed. If the
number of labourers called into action as machine-
makers should exceed the number of labourers thrown
out of employment—then the market value of labour,. and
of all the products of labour, would rise. If, again, the
number of labourers called into action as machine-
makers should fall short of the number thrown out of
other kinds of employment—then the market value of
labour, and of all the products of labour, would fall; and
the extent of the fall in the value of labour—in other
words, in prices—would represent the extent to which
the demand for manual labour has suffered abridgment.
The lamentable condition of the labouring classes now,
when compared with their condition forty years ago, ma)
suffice to prove whether the use of machinery has added
to the value of labour !" • _ _ _ _ _

The Times comments as follows on Mr. Roebuck's
late proceedings in the House of Commons, as regards
election matters : --"Two, courses were from the begin-
ning open to Mr. Roebuck. The one was that which the
House understood him to be pursuing. He might have
carried on his investigations with a real view to improve
the lay ; in which case, without any reference to tin
borough or election in hich this or that misdemeanour
was committed, without pursuing beyond the pages 01
the blue-book • the inquiry whether this Member was
cognizant, or that voter corrupt, he would have endea-
voured to elicit, and to bring before the House, not the
confessed fact of bribery, but the methods by which it
was now carried on, and the means by which it might
consequently be prevented. 'Without mentioning in hi,
speech a single name, he might have submitted to tht
House a series of amendments on the now pending
Bribery Bill, calculated to frustrate those manoeuvres
and evasions with which he has had the opportunity of
making himself familiar. This would have been to
o hisr a s
Committee wella s
use the Committee for the purposes of legislation,
as,
(if the
and was what he professed to intend. Doubtless it was
also open to him, when he first moved this matter, t(
atotteininapkteelhiaismtisseelmf cant
piremedy—
House would let him) a court of justice, the report a
verdict, and his consequent motions a sentence of punish-
ment. It was open to him to declare war at once—to
put the Members accused on their defence, to make no
rnossteecaudtoorf„
secret of his uncompromising purpose. and to carry it
honestly forward through all the difficulties by which an
avowed impeachment must always be affected from the
forms of law and the interests of the accused. Mr.
Roebuck took a middle--or rather took both courses,—
he partially disarmed opposition; he secured tolerance
from the House, and assistance from the accused, by
professing the one, but he has shown by his acts that he
meant the other. He has failed, indeed, in doing any-
body much damage, but he has done all, and tried more
than all, that his own Committee and the House of Com-
mons would let him." •
MONEY—TRADE—'COMMERCE.
A fresh turn-out has taken place among the colliers at
Bilston, near Birmingham, and several pits have been
visited by them, and the men stopped from workin,,.
Bread and meat, in many instances, have been forcibly
taken from liuxsters' shops, and the property of carts on
the road appropriated. A leader of one of the gangs
was on Friday taken into custody, and committed in fault
of sureties.
The sale at the Wesleyan Centenary Hall, of three
days' duration, commenced on Friday,. and continues to-
day and Monday, It contains collections made by Mis-
sionaries, of weapons, utensils. and specimens of natural
history, made among the rude nations visited by those
individuals.
ECCLESIASTICAL.
A Church-rate, proposed at Chatham on the 28th inst.
was rejected by a majority of 150 votes.
NAVAL AND MILITARY.
Admiral Sir Edward Codrington retires from his com-
mend as Port Admiral, in a few weeks; and either