The Sun.
London, England, 1849-03-21 00:00:00

tej, Lord LT'ouGH may not only have obliterated a

recollection of Chilklianwallah, but may have added
fresh laurels to those which are still green upon his
helmet.

The termination of the armistice between Sardinia
and Austria elicited yesterday an article from the
Times. We are sorry to perceive that the same bad
faith which induced Prince SCHWARTZENBERG to
state fa signal untruth in one of his notes
published by that journal on the Italian question,
is still exercising its influence (however uninten•
tional) over the columns of our Contemporary.
Prince SCHWARTZENBERG denied in the document
we alluded to that Austria had ever shown a
disposition to agree to the separation of Lombardy;
whereas it is a fact, known to all Europe, that his
predecessors in office had made an offer to that effect
to the Provisional Government of Milan. The Time:
repeats its accusation against Piedmont of having vi-
olated the armistice, just as if it was this power
which detained the battering train at Peschiera, and
occupied the duchies against the letter and spirit of
that convention.
It is matter of surprise that an oppressive Go vernment
—the misrule of which has kindled the flames of revolu-
tion in every portion of its dominions—should traduce
the Piedmontese Cabinet as ancillary to the outbreaks
in central Italy. Piedmont has refused to disperse
its forces, and reserved them for an impending
struggle. It accepts what aid weaker Governments
may give against a common enemy ; but it has at
the same time repressed anarchy within its own pro•
vinces, and thus disappointed the hopes, and baffled the
efforts of Austria. The Italian club in Genoa, where
the wildest doctrines were preached by the Austrian
agent PAGAmm,was shut by order of the Government,
and PAGANINI himself unable to deny the evidence of
his own intercepted letters to MONTECUCCULT, the
Austrian Commissioner at Milan, is now the inmate
of a prison. Exceptional powers have been asked by,
and will be granted to the executive at Turin.

It would be presumptuous to give an opinion about
the final result of the approaching campaign. It is,
however, difficult to believe that RADETZKY will be
immediately at liberty'to indulge in the promenades
militaires in Tuscany and elsewhere, so complacently
announced by our Contemporary. The defence of
Lombardy is likely to prove a sufficient task. An
exasperated population, backed by an army of a hun-
dred thousand men, cannot afford him much leisure.

We would invite the public attention to a letter
which appears in another part of our impression, from
" One of the many Lieutenants at the time Captain
Peel entered the Navy." The sentence is significant.
It tells a melancholy tale of blighted hopes,
of reasonable expectations bitterly and sadly disap-
pointed ; and yet our correspondent is but one of a
gallant body whose name is "legion." We believe
that Captain WILLIAM PEEL entered as a naval cadet
in the year 1837, and we find by a reference to the
navy list that no less than 1,547 of the 2,310
now on the books, or nearly two-thirds
of the entire number, had obtained their rank
in or previous to that year, while no less than 1,119
were lieutenants in the year 1822, previous to the
birth of that fortunate officer. There is, to say the
least of it, on the face of this statement, something
that calls for inquiry as to the mode in
which the patronage of the Admiralty has been
distributed. There must be something radically
wrong in the system under which such grievous in-
justice could be perpetrated on the older officers,
many of whom had se en ten times the
service, and had performed their duties,
while afloat, with equal merit and success.
There is unfortunately but too much truth in the
assertion of our ;correspondent, " that a man may be
a young,lieutenant or commander, but an old officer."
The best years of life have too frequently been spent •