The Sun.
London, England, 1842-07-30 00:00:00

ZUMLIC OFIN Xo'27.

The Chronide has the following remarks, suggested
by Mr. Roebuck's late Election Committer:—'• When
Mr. Roebuck entered upon the very invidious duties of
Chairman or the Select CommiLtee on Election Proceed-
ings, he must have laid his account with incurring no in-
considerable share of odium ar.d 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 but
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 impartiality with which _Mr. Roe-
buck presided over an investigation, in the course of
which, had his motives been less just, he had not only
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
to very unfairly attributed to him."
The Herald thus speaks of the Hon. and Learned
Member for Bath :—" Notwithstanding the support
which Mr. Roebuck extorted from the Herald while pro-.
curing and conducting the Compromised Elections Com-
mittee, we do not regret the rejection of the resolutions
which he moved on 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. He 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
mention and respect by the Conservative leaders. The
Whig chiefs regard him as a pre-eminently disagreeable
man, and never support him 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.
It' 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
;abour, 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
.he demand for manual labour has suffered abridgment.
the lamentable condition of the labouring classes now,
when compared with their condition forty years ago, may
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 court:es were front the begin-
ling open to Mr. Roebuck. The one was that which the
House understood him to be pursuing. Ile might have
_:arried on his investigations with a real view to improve
he lax ; in which ease, without any reference to the
')orough or election in which this or that misdemeanour
was committed, without pursuing beyond the pages of
he blue-book the inquiry whether this Member was
ognizant, or that voter corrupt, he would have endea-
. oured to elicit, and to bring before tl.e House, not the
onfessed fact of bribery, but the methods by which it
yes now carried on, and the means by which it might
.onsequently be prevented. Without mentioning in his
peech a single miasmic, he might have submitted to the
louse a series of amendments on the now pending
;ribery BA calculated to frustrate those manceutres
mid evasions with which he has had the opportunity of
aking himself familiar. This would have been to
se the Committee for the purposes of legislation,
mid was what he professed to intend. I:oubtless it was
Aso open to him, when he first moved this matter, to
ttetupt chastisement instead of, or as well as, remedy—
make himself a prosecutor, his Committee (if the
louse would let him) a court of justice, the report a

and his consequent metionsa stntenee Of Ftinish-
nent. It was open to him to declare war at once—to
nit the Members accused on their dilenee,. to make no
ceret of his uncompromising purpose. and to carry it
,onestly fin ward through all the difficulties by which an
%owed impeachment must always be affected from the
,rms of law and the interests 'of the accused. Mr.
:oebuck took a middle—or rather took both courses,—