The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-24 00:00:00

Liverpool Cotton Market—This Day.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAM.)
Weekly sales, 56,300 bales. 11,310 speculation,
18,370 export. Quotations—fair Orleans, 25; Mo-
bile, 249 ; Upland, 24. Estimated—middling Or-
leans, 22 ; Mobile, 214 ; Upland, 21.
Stock, 365,100 bales. Imports, 50,654. Surat,
Bto 209. About 4,000 Quiet.

A curious circums, at,ce connected with the cottot)
trade is that large quantities of American cotton export. d
to France have been reimported into America through the
Vaited liiugdora,

VINDICATION OF LORD CARDIGAN.

(From the Times.)

The Battle of Balaklava has been fought over
again in the Court of Queen's Bench, and this time
Lord Cardigan remains master of the field. He
cannot be said, indeed, to have finally routed the
enemy, inasmuch as the rule obtained by Mr.
Bovill ex parte remains to be argued ; but he bee
certainly gained an advantageous position, from
which Colonel Calthorpe will find it very difficult
to dislodge him. As impartial spectators of the
conflict, we must, of course, suspend our judgment
till proofs have been adduced in support of the libel
in question ; but we cannot put the same restraint
on our wishes. We should be sorry to think that
an officer of Colonel Calthorpe's rank and posi'
Lion had been guilty of malicious slander against
the personal courage of a nobleman holding g
high command in the army ; but we should be
still more reluctant to believe that this nobleman
had sullied his own honour and the lustre of a bril-
liant feat of aims by deserting his followers in the
presence of the enemy. That such a charge should
be made on anonymous information, circulated in
successive editions of a popular work, and reiterated
after repeated protests by the injured piny, is el
scandal that can only be justified, if at all, by posy
live evidence of its unquatlA truth. Even then it
might be open to question whether a wise and
kindly reticence would not have been more public-
spirited than ostentatious publicity. We do not feel
bound to decide thin point of casuistry, but we are
quite sure that brave men, for the sake of their own
manhood, ought not to deal in these imputations
unless under a paramount sense of duty. No antis
pathy tolcaperialism and the Emperor Napoleon can
excuse Mr. Kinglake for having employed this
ignoble weapon against him, and no mere convic-
tion of Lord Cardigan's incompetence as a General
can excuse Colonel Calthorpe for such insinuations,
especially after he had ceased to command the Light
Brigade of Cavalry, Unless the accusation can be
made good to the letter, no course will be open t(
its author, as a gentleman, but to come forward and
retract it openly. Public opinion judges these
matters by other than legal rule. It may be that the
rule for a criminal information will be discharged
on the ground that the motion should have been
made immediately after the publication of the
but Colonel Calthorpe's character will remain on its
trial. He can only clear it by substantiating hie
assertions, or making ample apology.
The vague suggestions of misconduct on the pal
of Lord Cardigan that have been bruited about eve!
since the first report of his heroism was called it
question have now narrowed themselves to a single
issue. Colonel Calthorpe, who had been induced to
withdraw or modify other offensive expressionr
takes his stand upon his own version of the Balm
klava charge. According to that version, Lord
Cardigan was leading on his men to the attack 01
the Russian battery when the explosion of a gull
frightened his horse, which swerved and carried
his lordship back aE fast as he came. In the first
edition the story was told as though the horse had
run away with the rider,who was powerless to stop
riim. In the second and third a different complexion
,8 given to the incident, under cover of a oomph'
went to Lord Cardigan's horsemanship. It is there
admitted, as if by way of concession, that he seal
not likely to have lost control over his charger, and
the reader is led to infer that he fled of his owl]
accord precipitately to the rear while the Light
Brigade dashed into the battery. This most ircv
probable statement is made on the authority 01
" officers present on the occasion," whose names are
not given. Against it Lord Cardigan brings the
sworn testimony of four aficers at least, and
several privates actually engaged in the cherge,onl
and all of whom declare that they actually saw him
needing the troops as they penetrated the line 01
guns, while some affirm that they saw him ride
through the battery, end that they saw him in
rear of the battery defending himself against the
Cossacks. One man's eyes may deceive ilia
but it is simply incredible that several soldier°
should have fancied that they saw their chief cote
spicuous in front, and have marked his conduct ill
different points of time after the guns were reached'
if he was all the while galloping to the rear. Mau'
over, one witness at least observed Lord Cardigan:
horse take fright, and admired the coolness Wit'
which he managed it, as he maintained his position
in advance of his own line, then ou the point oi
i
closing with the Russian gunners. Another Went,
to his rescue when he was surrounded by Cosseo
horsemen behind the battery. There is no room f°l
imagination here. It is truth or perjury; and
until credible persons are produced who will sweat
that they saw the same Lord Cardigan turn to tie
rear when his horse swerved, and make his vol,
back somehow through his own advanced " egtzfa4
drons," we " firmly believe," with General Scarlet
hat he was the first into the battery, that be passe'
through it, and that he was one of the last to retire;
We are not insensible to the inconvenience
.u...
bringing a question which partly turns upon inlullo
tary details before a civil court. But we really
.de
not see what Lord Cardigan could have done. 0
could not allow such a stain to remain upon 111
memory. The charge was made by a man of Ile
mean social influence, of high station in the arl
and known to be related to Lord Raglan. It 111i0.
come to be more than half believed in many circle
and the interest of it had been revived by the gra
pearance of Mr. Kinglake's book. Unless refuted
in Lord Cardigan's lifetime, and while survivorght
the 25th of October were still to be found, it inigo,
have passed into history in connexion with a re°3oj
rable day. He could not resort to what Mr. 13°°o,
calls the "old method" of settling disputes of perso
nal veracity, and we think his advocate would 13%,
done better to abstain from allusion, in a legal old
went, to that disgraceful relic of the old avager.ge
battle, as though it were a venial alternative.
failed to get a court-martial upon Colonel Calthotro
on the obvious ground that no military offence 110
been committed. He tried in vain to obtain tOO
suppression of the pdssage through the interventity
of common friends, and to the representation of.
solicitors Colonel Calthorpe replied by a downrigto
refusal to alter a single word. He might, of collo,
have appealed to a jury, but for every purpobe
cept that of obtaining damages en applicatiat ji
the Queen's Bench was preferable. No doutid
would have been more proper to take this °° r!
earlier, but it was not until the sth of Ft brute
that the lest defiance of '2olonel Calthorpe Wsf9ore,
ceived. Moreover, it was urged with some 400
that a libellous narrative in a book, as distinct '
a libellous article in a newspaper, is a contintlr
injury, and may acquire an increased poWerolo
damaging a reputation long after it first aPlie2-4,
print. Such were the reasons which led 0/
Queen's Bench to strain their usual princiPo 0
limitation, and to grant a rule eubj'et
deter
technical objection on the score of undue of
For the sake of the public we are glad tbat 011
0
came to this decision. No doubt should
00
lowed to rest upon any part of 03°t°1
0 lie
occurrence as the Balaklava charge. WhiltiotO
criticise minutely the annals of extinct 0%40
and dogmatise upon the strategy of carol:
which can scarcely be traced in obscure chr°o3o
it is scarcely creditable that we should hub tor°
uncertainty about facts of the greatest 'ilia oil:
passing in our own times, and almost un°,eatiee
own eyes. What wee the numbers of our e:tiotpv
force in the Crimea at various dates, what trier
French loss at the Alma, whether a scursloo.l
was played upon the British fleet by ciu.rroaitlei
what credit was due to the tales of Sepoy 6:05,,c/17,
during the Indian mutiny, what is the e.
working of the relief system in Lane-shlr eige:o
are topics which we are fain to treat as or ii 00 o'4
tions, though we pronounce confident*:
_eriocl,°,
events of remote and even of prehistoriceylie.ii,l:l
If we cannot get at the truth from living
seeptiaio
nesses, we may learn to appreciate the ad
sarcasm of Sir Robert Walpole, " I)°,n t re
history, for that I know must be false.

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