MR. ROEBUCK & FUTURE REFORMS

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 440, 21 January 1857, Page 5

MR. ROEBUCK & FUTURE REFORMS

(From the "Times.")

. It is the" saying of the day that the right man sho aid ■. be ivth c right place,. the round man in the round place,, and the square man in the sqiuare place. But there: are men: with so many angles, and those angles so acute, that they fit no place. They cannot be rounded or squared, or fixed or/assimilated; but there they remain in spite of adyerse influences, and survive every, forrri. of dissolution.. Like strych- ';• nine, they' invigorate at the risk of tetanus, and operate, with unimpaired efficacy /.on': a dozen . successive formations; ; Such an angular, unassailable ■ crystal is Mr.; Roebuck. Mentally his true religion;is the wilderness ofJudea,..apd He testifies in VraiTrierit" of camel's .hair, eating 'locu^s-an'd.:wild-'Kpney!;^:Witii a true instinct he Repels party, place, and almost companion- ! ship, for his-mission is solitary, and he bears not.-even a/brother on the crag which he has chosen for his throne. In the midst of cultivation and modernriess; he crops out like a huge lump of granite, nobody knows how. or why," ..stratified by no creation, deposited by no deluge, not even flung up by any known volcano. There are in other countries .men of gaunt, rugged minds, of wholesome asperity, and uncouth : majesty; :But they waitftbr revolutions, or; are worshipped by armies of followers, or attach themselves to some European conspiracy, and fall into a fashion like other" people.; They .generally-spend--half their 'time in prison, or in banishment,; or nobody knows \ how or where. :"Biit Mr. Roebuck, for twenty; -years' has..been; : continually before the -.world preaching. and ; prophesying, and testifying to^ a;degenerate age, always, the same Mr. Roebuck, whether advO- ■ eating: oppressed colonists or denouncing corrupt ./Administratibns. He stands in a- category ;of ;■ hisiown^ and-it would be a surprise to find.him i. doing, anything like other people. So.;; while oiheV members of Parliament are wasting, not :■ onlytheir/-time,-sti-ehgth, and charactersj but; .half their tfortunes also, on their constituents,; ■arid/whilethey';' SvW visit their but ] to'distribute',.-favours^^andr shower .subscriptions, ; it excites 'no that Mr. Roebuck should down",to. Sheffield to- receive a purse -;df. a thousand ; and more ; guineas. That was „ the , pritnitiye way j. when the; House of Commons, •'noweyeiy' did little •,more; than /present lists of ! gTieyances-totne.Qrown ,and/■'■find money for a : Frencli-war. : In'Jliose 'days the burgesses had, /a regular;.aiipwanceViM.7\ih'e;'rpijres.entati\res'.:.pf i /their-^borpughs' of "Sti James's.. !Thisis;:the" primitive characterin which Mr,, t lipebuck now appearSj-pj-SGr. does it; suggest the i, least suspicion, of: his~;independence^ nV'the■ S contrary^;; -such; is^tEe grain of the V man that j people VwpulH" :"tfiinkT. it /rather than I-' otherwise; 'if :,this very. :next : : session, with his j detainer in his; ppeket^he Ayent right against I the deajne^ij/opihipris; -of his devoted constitu-V:;ents7-';;-;';H ;';Hi'-:'-^V'/'■./.'■:';;"'/:/ :'■'"."'/-./:■">■/

So, although there have been great men and patriots arid, reformers besides Mr. Roebuck during the last thirty years, there is a kind of subjective truth in his own account of his career, "as the single-handed witness against universal corruption. We shall not attempt to disabuse him of that mental insulation in which 1 lie has'brooded over the crimes of the age, and ' sallied out of his intellectual fastness to deal , vengeance on the foe. Some" people talk of j their party, or their friends, or their policy, till not only self, but independence, and even honesty, seems to merge in a game of political 'tactics. Mr. Eoebuck lias an inspiration and acts upon it. He is a law to himself, and consults no oracle but the good of his country. " A man's own mind," says the proverb, "'will '" often tell him more than ten watchmen ;" a lnd ;Mr. Eoebuck relies more on his own genius than ion the multitude of counsels, on which weaker 1 minds lean for guidance. He not only repudi--1 ates party, but he hardly even sees it. Like 'Sergeant Cut-aild-Thrust relating the bloody story of a battle, he only knows that he met ■ with a succession of antagonistsj of whom he ikilled some and wounded others, without being able to say much' of his comrades aiid their achievements. He certainly was the best man in the Parliamentary battle against Crimean mal-administration. He is the hero of a tale 'which will interest and distress for ages to come. Others might have felt as. much, la-

Soared as tnucli,; and even achieved more. 'Many could easily have been more judicious. 'But there remains the .feet that to Mr. Roebuck

we are indebted for the Committee of Inquiry, and that we have to thank him for disclosures that will survive courts, and sentences, and distributions /of honours. There never was enterprise or energy of any kind, however noble and useful, without a look of : egotism. For our part, we feel that the country wants a few more egotists,, men who will set their faces "like flint" against social and political evils, and act more on their own noble instincts, It is everybody waiting for evei'ybody else, and wishing to do only what everybody else does, that; paralyzes many men of great powei*s and creates perpetual disappointment. Go into the House of Commons and look-round; look, at.that fine tall fellow with a noble; expression; admire that other beaming countenance; observe those eagle eyes; look down the benches till you are arrested by that lofty brow, or that stalwart form;, see there in succession-T—theveiy type of a gentleman, of a philosopherj of one born for command'; hear the rich tones of that voice, and permit yourself to fojlow the fascination of that smile. But all these -men are nobodies. ■.■;.-• T-Hey were once the .hope of families, of "countiesi of cities, of parties. :Bnt they lacked individuality. - They waited for others, and consulted partisans, till by doing nothing they got into the habit of doing nothing; and having once succumbed to too cautious counsels, ..-'were, never ablev ta rouse themselves. Mr. Roebuck; must have had suclt ! men in his eye when- he asked what was' it that enabled him to do what he has done. He says- , with genuine :modesty■ that it was not talent or /party, or anything external that placed him1 where he is, but the determination to be independent, and to do his duty to his country at all costs—just what most men want in these days. But for the future. -When it is confessed' that/the pastis not encouraging,: even/when it was drily one winter's military-mismanagement to be exposed,/ one may; reasonably look- with little, confidence to the reform of our whole administrative system. That, however, is ! the .work, arid Mr; Roebuck proposes to set' about itin his own way. With a dozen brave; Paladins • he is going/to attack a; whole army, occtipyirig 'all the strongholds :and fortified.lines of piir -political institutions// ;;^he three1- hundred- , Liberals may do as they:like, and-the two- or ■ three hundred Conservatives may do: as theylike, and. the neutrals may do as they like; /they may/;be off arid pn-; they may play; fastarid loose; they may ; take up schemes-; and lay them down; but Mr. Roebuck will pursue, th& even tenojir;of his; way against the evils of : aristocratic /influence; against ha^:;/_appomt^ /merits-; against that mode of dischaxguigpub-' /lie duties which isiccrtain to prevail when-;the : :misdoer;is; -sure/of;protection. ; But,' though- ;: small-bands baW^o^e.mucHj ■wh'at^cah^oze.ii' '; men do an army of functioriaries^ Three hundred men; once withstood; as many; ; thousands, buY it was in a narrow pass which; 'prevented the thousands from- deploying. i What is the-advantage/of position ihat is toT make a dozen^free-spoken- patridts- equal /to • whole factions and classes^ to hundreds, of legis-; i lators:and. /thousands of P Hithertotlie -Association for Administratiyerßeforin can, - i boast little success. It has attacked sinecures an 4 nibbled at salaries;' it;.has carped /at: 'pageants and ridiculed formalities. But white it was waging war with trifles there occurred ; the tremendous: disaster of; our:'army-in ■ the Crimea,; every: week of which swallowed all the v savings, ;aIV the reforms of any;kind _ the Asso-; ' ciation could/ever: have achieved. ,It is only th& : :w-ar that has given a more practical;turn;to.the- : crusade by showing ;that the. worst evil of all was ±he 'fact that the most important positions ' : in the- army, as in some other departments; are held by men;of no geriius,.energj% or even'experience. With little encouragement, then, bom , >the past, we cannot hope for much impresKion to be made by a dozen men acting independent [ ;of;party;;: :Mayi we/h^ -is :U case where numbers seem requisite, and we hope 'they will show themselves before long.