Mr. Roebuck has again been returned for Sheffield, after a
contest which has been most amusing to everybody except him- self and his opponent, Mr. Foster. At first Mr. Roebuck treated his rival with "supreme contempt ;" then finding that he could talk as abusively as himself, fell back on his age and wounded dignity. He had, he said, reached a great position, and did not scruple to acknowledge that his " dignity was hurt at the insolence he had experienced." " His character, and age, and weakness " ought, he thought, to have protected him from treat- ment which nevertheless everybody else has experienced at his hands. The hammer, one perceives, does not like being anvil, though it is an " educating experience." The electors, however, adhered to their old favourite, raising him to the top of the poll, and Mr. Roebuck, once more secure, rose to his old level, de- claring that he never attacked a good man, but "if I find a vile, vulgar fellow, and I want to stamp him with disapprobation and disapproval, the English language supplies me with apt words for that purpose," as indeed it also supplies bargees, and hodmen, and cabbies, and other persons distinguished for plainness of speech. We are not on the whole much disposed to congratulate the House of Commons on Mr. Roebuck's success. It takes vinegar to make salad, but then it should be made of wine, not beer.
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