The Express.
London, England, 1868-08-17 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING,, AUGUST 17, 1868.-

At the expiration of three days the master of the
Fanny was brotglit before the pelt oeptain of
Curthagona, and his crew called upon to give
evidence. The English schooner's papers were, so
runs the story, unassailably correct, but the
authorities professed to be dissatiafied and to
believe her to be a pirate. 11cr sew were sent
to prison and kept in close confinement for 30
hours, and then set at liberty with the
remark that they had cause to be thankful
to the Queen of SPAIN for her lenity. The
vessel was detained in custody until the bap-
tismal certificates of the whole of her crew
were obtained from Gibraltar. Eventually she
was allowed to leave, and arrived at the latter
port, to lay thee° facts before our consul, who at
once made indignant protest to the authorities.
If this monstrous story be correct, it is clear
that the matter must not end without some
vigorous action from the Foreign-office. The
Saturday Review, in some recent comments on the
Tornado case, remarks that, " in a country where
" a batch of generals and field-marshals, or half a
" House of Parliament, are now and then trans-
" ported without trial, the sensitiveness
"of a few common sailors, who have
" merely been imprisoned for six months,
" must appear an unintelligible caprice."
This may be true enough, but, if so, it only makes
the task of teaching the Spanish Government its
plain duty the more imperative. Contempt for
national weakness and self-degradation may be
easily carried too far, and as neither raggedness,
evil character, nor bodily ailments are held to
justify petty larceny or abusive language, it is to
be hoped that Lord STANLEY will not permit his
natural disdain fora waning power and despicable
position to condone offences which would be
promptly resented in the strong.

ELNCTION intelligence is not only interesting to
the politician, but has its lessons also for the social
reformer. The representation of Wodnesbury is
just now vigorously contested. An objection
raised against Mr. BROODER, one of the Liberal
candidates, is that he is a " tommy master," or
in other words, a promoter of the iniquitous, truck
system. We think that Mr. Bnoonnzt has com-
pletely vindicated himself from the imputation:
but the feeling expressed against " tommy shops'
by the electors is one proof among many that the
men who would acquire seats in the Reformed
Parliament must be able to canvass with clean
hands. If Mr. Baoomit had not been able to
overturn by the most satisfactory evidence the as-
sertions of his opponents his chance as a candidate
for Wednesbury would be infinitely small.

THERE are no limits to the malignant ingenuity
of a certain order of chroniclers, who make a
merit of borrowing their facts from a most unscru-
pulous imagination. Here is a specimen of
this singular industry, which strikes us
as more remarkable for its silliness than
its malignity. Probably the perpetrator of the
original paragraph thought he had done a clever
thing enough in taking the names of two distin-
guished men in vain at one shot, without waiting
for the inevitable, though unnecessary, contra-
diction of his tale. We find the following corre-
spondence in the Manchester Examiner and TiMt•9:

LORD LEMON AND MR. LONGFELLOW.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE ZIAIIINER AND TIMER.

Sir,—Some time ago an account, clipped from an
American paper, was reproduced in some of the Dftglish
journals, of a snubbing which Mr. Longfellow
(who at that time had to gain his laurels) re-
ceived at the hands of Sir Edward Bulwer, now
Lord Lytton. Ae the story runs, the poet ar-
rived at Knebworth with a letter of introduction to Sir
Edward, who, at the moment of the poet's arrival, was on
the point of leaving home on horseback. If we were to
believe the American writer, the author of "Eugene
Aram" would not only not vouchsafe an interview, but
treated the author of " Hiawatha" with the utmost con-
tempt. Lord Lytton, on wham the story reflected so
discreditably, baa forwarded me the appended letter,
which I beg you to insert—Yours truly Townhead, Rochdale. Jame Homan%
" Knebwhrth, 27th July, 1868.
" Dear Sir,—Theparaph you were good enough to
send me relative to Mr. Longfellow and myself, is an im-
pudent falsehood from beginning to end.—l remain, dear
sir, yours truly, " LYrros.
"Mr. J. Holden, Rochdale."