Mr. Roebuck seems very likely to lose his seat, and
if so good and sound a man as Mr. Mundella replaces him, both Parliament and Sheffield will be the gainer. No doubt, it is quite true that the secret of a great deal of the opposition to Mr. Roebuck is his pluck in so keenly and truly denouncing the terrorism of the Sheffield Trades' Unions. But even on this point the moderate working men, who are not in favour of terrorism of any kind, have fair grounds of complaint against Mr. Roebuck. On the (Jam- mission of Inquiry he acted a part much more like counsel for the prosecution than that of an impartial judge, and Mr. Mun- della is really impartial. On all other political grounds it would be impossible to find a worse representative than Mr. Roebuck,— a fierce, misjudging, intemperate thinker and speaker, with a good deal of cleverness and no sense, a violent temper, and an immense capacity for injuring every cause he adopts.
Previous page
