At the annual dinner of the members of the Institution
of Civil Engineers, on Wednesday, Mr. Roebuck, who was called upon to answer for the House of Commons, said that he could not answer for any particular House of Commons, but he would answer for "the House of Commons in the abstract." And he claimed for this " House of Commons in the abstract " that it had led England to her present glory, by approving the invasion of savage nations all the world over, the taking of uncivilised or half-civilised countries like India with the strong hand, and "extending our dominion over every strange people within our control." He thought the House of Commons in the concrete,—the present House,— ought to follow the example of this " House of Commons in the abstract," ought to go and do likewise. This is very dark language of Mr. Roebuck's. We suppose he means by "the House of Commons in the abstract," a House of Commons full of Mr. Roebucks, or ready to be guided by Mr. Roebuck,—and whatever may be said to the prejudice of the present House of Commons, we hardly think that could be said even of it. But so far as any House of Commons has come near Mr. Roebuck's ideal of "the House of Commons in the abstract," it is the existing House, eo that we wonder he did. not speak up for it at once. The conception of any House of Commons nearer to Mr. Roebuck's ideal than the present House, is almost too frightful to contemplate steadily. The barks of a House of " Tear-'ems " would be so much worse than their bites, that the human ear could hardly survive it.
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