564 NOTES OF THE MONTH. 



Mr. Hume, of whose integrity and independence, no less than of 

 whose indefatigable industry, the public have had unequivocal proofs, 

 obeyed a requisition very numerously and respectably signed, and 

 introduced to the electors of Bath, Mr. Roebuck, a gentleman whom, to 

 our own knowledge, some of the most exalted men in this country place 

 in the foremost rank, both as regards intellect and character ; to whose 

 qualifications the Examiner and the True Sun bear honest testimony, and 

 of whom the editor of the Chronicle thus delivers his opinion. 



" We know that his most intimate friends are among the most honoured men 

 of the community ; that among these men he is held in high esteem and that 

 his name and writings must have been familiar to the very persons who 

 declared that they knew nothing about him. The friends of Mr. Roebuck are 

 well known, as forming a body of the most remarkable political writers of any 

 age or country. They certainly, more than any others, have produced the 

 greatest revolutions that have taken place within the last fifteen years in the 

 public mind of England ; and by those even who most fear and hate them, they 

 are invariably allowed to be men of a peculiarly bold and original character of 

 mind searching, and closely logical reasoners patient in investigation, pos- 

 sessed of commanding knowledge, and of intellects, in the most extensive sense 

 of the phrase, philosophic and masterly." 



This gentleman, thus known, thus recommended, thus qualified, is 

 eagerly and enthusiastically welcomed by a majority of the electors, 

 and his success may be considered all but certain. 



All this is rather pleasant to reformers, than remarkable to any body ; 

 but the affair has been made a subject of discussion from one end of the 

 kingdom to the other, by the false light which has been shed upon it 

 by that political ignis fatuus the Times, and by sundry little twinkling 

 journals in the Whig interest. By these Mr. Hume has been branded 

 as a traitor to the popular cause and an enemy to his country," a 

 " pushing, interloping gentleman," a creator of divisions among the 

 Reform interests, an entertainer of insane crotchets, and a notorious 

 committer of blunders. Mr. Roebuck, of whom it was found incon- 

 venient to say more than could be helped, is coolly and contemptuously 

 designated as "" his apprentice." Such is Whig folly and Whig fury. 

 Surely, the annals of insolence, ignorance, and meanness, contain no 

 record of anything more preposterous and contemptible than the 

 conduct of the falsely styled " leading journal" upon this occasion. 

 Its attack upon Mr. Hume marks it out as a paper destitute alike of 

 patriotic and gentlemanly feeling as corrupt and subservient in prin- 

 ciple, as it is vulgar and arrogant in temper. The miserable spite of 

 the allusion to the Greek loan and Dr. Bowring, is only equalled by the 

 affectation of not knowing any thing at all about Mr. Roebuck. The 

 affair altogether, degrading as it is to one portion of the press, is instruc- 

 tive and encouraging to the rest and not less so to the people at large ; 

 as it shews not only what certain ex-radicals, now high- Whigs, are 

 driving at, but how weak and powerless they are in the midst of their 

 audacious and ignorant effrontery . 



STATE OF THE CONTINENT. During the past month many im- 

 portant changes have occurred in the affairs of the various European 

 nations. 



The long protocoled affair of the free navigation of the Scheldt by 

 the people of Belgium is now about to be settled by an appeal to arms, 



