People have been asking what has become of Mr. ROEBUCK
? That People have been asking what has become of Mr. ROEBUCK ? That gentleman has "turned up" at last ; and neither Whigs nor Tories have any reason to plume themselves on his reappearance. In the following address to his defeated friends at Bath, Mr. ROEBUCK tells some unpalatable truths to both parties- " Becton, 13th August. Gentlemen—Circumstances personal to myself, and to which I need not further allude, have compelled me to delay my address of thanks to you for your kind but unavailing efforts to continue me in the honourable position of your Representative. Believe me fully sensible of the honour which your con- fidence has conferred on me ; and also that at all times I shall be ready, by any services which I can render, to testify the sincerity of my gratitude. " One advantage has arisen from the delay of which I here speak, which I will take leave to appropriate to our present service. The general election is now nearly at an end, and the character of the coming Parliament may be easily ascertained from a reference to the event of the separate contests that have taken place. To the general result of these elections I appeal for the jus- tification of my past conduct as respects the Whig Ministry. By the event I desire to be judged ; and I boldly challenge denial to the assertion that the bitter but wholesome truths told by me during the last session of the late Parliament have received signal and instructive confirmation by the defeat of the Liberal party in this so- called appeal to the nation. " Of the defeat itself no one in his senses now doubts. It may be denied by party writers in party journals—the expectant friends of the Ministry may pub- licly affect to talk of victory ; but in private—to themselves and their friends— the painful truth is acknowledged the Tories have been victorious in the late ebntest.
" I will now proceed to explain why, at this moment, I insist upon this pain- ful and humiliating circumstance. "During the late contest for the representation of Bath, we had two sets of opponents--the one open and avowed, viz. the Tories; the other, under the guise ofpretended friendship, our most mischievous, because hidden, enemies, viz. the Whigs of Bath. The charges brought by these two parties against me varied in appearance, and it was supposed by some that they did so in reality : however, the expressions in which these charges were made had sometimes a wonderful similarity, and they may be briefly summed up in the oft•repeated phrase, Oh, Mr. Roebuck goes too far. Going too far for the Tories, every- body understands ; it meant in my case, that I was determined to root out irresponsible government, to put down religious intolerance, to destroy all ex• travagant expenditure of the people's money ; and also, as far as possible, to Improve the intelligence and morality of the people, thus making them worthy of self-government. For all this the Tories naturally hated me ; but all this the Whigs pretend also to desire. How did it happen that during the last session of Parliament they discovered that I went too far? During the last session of Parliament, I, as often as the opportunity offered, warned the present Government that their tenure of office was drawing to a close. I told them that, under the present defective system of representation, no Liberal Government could long continue. That with a people in a high state of enthusiasm—in an excitement bordering on revolution—a Liberal House of Commons, even by the present defective machinery, could be returned ; but that as such a state of enthusiasm was necessarily short-lived, and that as in the ordinary calm of life the Tory interest would predominate, they (the present Government) ought to feel that a few months would put an end to their Ministerial existence. I insisted then upon still further changes in our electoral system. Day by day I saw the enthusiasm raised by the Reform Act cooling down. Personal, and private, and sinister interests were hourly gaining strength, and to me it appeared the duty of every honest Representative of the People to press upon the consideration of those in power the necessity of framing such institutions as would in the ordinary states of public feeling provide for us a good and Liberal Government. It was because I thus warned the Government—because, I pressed upon them the consideration of the necessity for the ballot and an extension of the suffrage,—because I told them that defeat awaited them if they remained inflexible on these matters— because, while so doing, I called in question the honesty or intelligence of those who were blind to the coming consequences of our present condition—it was for this that I was accused of going too far ; it was for this that Whigs and Tories joined to raise a cry against me ; it was for this that they sought to ex- clude from Parliament him who could and would claim a hearing for disagree- able convictions. But what has the event proved? Is not the Tory influence daily increasing, as the enthusiasm of 1832 is disappearing ? Have not the late elections proved all my anticipations of evil but too well founded ? For once men make great sacrifices, but no man is a hero through a whole life. The feelings of the husband and the father necessarily blot out those 4 the citizen when they are constantly opposed ; and that they are so opposed in the case of the Liberal voter of every town or county in the kingdom, is but too well known. Ask yourselves if I am not correctly describing your own con- dition. What solicitations, what threats, what hidden, what open corruption and bribery, have you not experienced ? How many have you seen yield to fear or to temptation ? How often have you heard a tradesman say " my heart is with you, but I dare not vote for you ?" Three times within five years has every man in Bath been called upon to meet all the evils which are denoted by this significant phrase. In 1832, in 1834, they were able to withstand terror and temptation. In 1837 they bad no longer cou- rage to resist—and cart we wonder ? Ought not our wonder and our indig- nation be resented, not for the poor voter who succumbs, but for the foolish or dishonest statesman who so frames the law as to subject him to this ordeal? Because I did so—because I blamed Lord John Russell, and did not pour out the vials of my wrath upon the eternal topics of Whig declamation—corruption sms,, and intimidation—because I sought to cure the evil in its cause, the Whigs as serted me, and wisely added two stanch supporters to the rapidly-inereasio; party of the Tories, and took two steady friends from the as rapidly deerearini body of the Ministerialists. I had given, it seems, inexpiable offence by raisin; Tory, cheers in the House of Commons. Alas, if that were a crime, the mart offending might be found on the Treasury bench. Deafening have beep the Tory shouts that the Ministerial leader has raised when assailing the Ballot when in vague and inane generalities he has talked of preserving inviolate the constitution—when he blindly threw away his own chance of retaining power, and subjected the defenceless people to the cruelty of the rich oppressor. Theo; cheers, however, were not offensive. The applause the Whigs could not sto. •••-eh s that which was raised by the indignant description of their oieu shuffling and knavery. " And now, my friends, for the present I must say faireWell; begging you 4 remember that I am yours to command, whenever you have need or me.
" J. A. Roentriat."
Previous page
