Mr. Roebuck, in relation to this Eastern Question, is on
the side of Lord Beaconsfield, though Lord Beaconsfield appears in this case to be not so much "on the side of the angels" as on the side of the demons. At Fishmongers' Hall on Thursday Mr. Roebuck_ seizeck the opportunity of observing that "it is a shameful thhig that any body of Englishmen should attempt to thwart the Govern- ment" at this emergency. "At this moment," said Mr. Roebuck, "I believe the Ministry are fighting the battle for England as Englishmen ought to fight it." But that is just *at most other people do not believe, and what Lord Beaeo4eld has taken the greatest possible pains to convince us that wepauld not reasonably believe. Nor does it reassure us to find Mr. Roebuck on Lord Beaconsfield's side. It is not easy to trust in either of these public men as politicians, even when they differ from each other, but to feel confidence in a political opinion held in common by. Lord Beaconsfield and by Mr. Roebuck is almost a sheer im- possibility. What is common to the two men as politicians is a certain rowdy intellectual arrogance that is pretty well bound to go wrong.
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