The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-19 00:00:00

lican, not a Liberal, not a Radical, not even a Whig,
but ft mPlnb,r of " the gr'at crvfltivc
party," one who has worthily occupied a seat in a I

Conservative Cabinet, and who, whenever the Con •
servatives shall be restored to power, will in all
probability be again a Cabinet Minister—we will
quote the authority of my Lord ELLENI33ItOUGII. In
the course of a discussion on Sicilian affairs on the
21 March, 1821, in the House of Lords, Lord En-
LENDOROUGIT, speaking of our connexion with Sicily,

said, " He could not forget that connexion, nor the
circumstances under which a constitution hal

been establishel in that island; nor the pledge
which we had given to its inhabitant s

on leaving it. We had promised them that they

should not be left in a worse situation than that in
which we found them. And yet the King of
Naples, who had no more right to unite Naples
and Sicily than the King of England had to
unite England and Hanover, had annulled the: con
siltation we had guaranteed, and which he had himself
sworn to observe; had annulled the constitution
which bad existed previously to that, and which he
had sworn by his Viceroy to preserve inviolate ; had,
in violation of both constitutions, united Sicily to Na-
ples." His Lordship then goes on to state that " not
only the pledge which we had given, and which we
ought to have redeemed in 1816," but the interests
of England " called upon ius to declare, and to
support the declaration by ARMS IF NECESSARY,
that no constitution should be established in Sicily
to which the Sicilians had not consented in their
ancient Parliament."

It is evident, therefore, that Lord PALMERSTON was
not only justified in undertaking the mediation be-
tween
teSicily
and Naples, but was bound in honour
if necessary," (so says my,
Lord ELLENDOROUGII) in support of the Sicilian con-
stitution, and the only part of his conduct which, at
all exposes him to censure is, that at the commence-
ment of 1849 he n:ade the policy of England sub-
servient to that of the reactionary Government of
France, and retired from the mediation be-
cause France had done so. That mediation
had been commenced without France, and
the retirement of France was therefore no excuse for
our desertion of our faithful ally Sicily. But it is
not too late for him to retrace his steps ; Sicily still
holds out, and Palermo, in which for a moment
treason to the cause of Sicilian nationality was
triumphant (thanks to the suspicious presence of
Admiral BanDiN, the gold of FERDINAND, and the
culpable timidity of some National Guards), Pa-
lermo is again in arms for Sicilian freedom, and again
hurls defiance against FILANGIERI and his hosts.
We see there a repetition of the scenes of 1820, when
the people,
indignant at the weakness of the Pro-
visional Government, which had sent a deputation to
General FLORESTAN PEPE to treat for peace, at-
tacked and disarmed the National Guard, which it
treated with a chivalrous generosity, which seems
now to be found only in the people, and
defending the city against the Neapolitans, forced them
to grant an honourble capitulation, which was signed
on behalf of the people by the Prince of PATERNO,
the father in-law of General FILANGIERI, and on
behalf of the troops by FLORESTAN PEPE, the bravest
and most honourable of the Neapolitan Generals.
PEPE, however, made war like an honourable soldier,
and disdained to sully Lis fair fame by the perpetra-
tion of bombardments, of arson, gni of massacre.
In 1849, as in 1820, the timid of the National Guard
have been compelled to give way to the F tat iotic energy of
the people, headed by SCORDATO, no Pole, no French-
man, no foreigner, but a brave Sicilian peasant, one of
Nature's own nobility, who is entitled to take his place
by the side of a TELL or a HoFEn. There can be
no pretence for describing the present movement as
one got up by Poles and foreigners; the foreigners
and their General MIEROSLAWSKI have long since left
Sicily. RUGGIERO SETTIMO and the other members
of the Provisional Government have been exiled by
the reactionaries during their temporary a scendancy,
and the leader of the movement is a peasant, who has
had the good sense to induce his comrades to elect
as head of the new Government the Baron DE Riso,
a man of property, of standing, and who is used to
the administration of affairs. If ever there was a
national movement. this is one, and we trust that
Lord PALMERSTON, recollecting that the honour and
character of England are entrusted to his keeping,
will, as he is by the most solemn engagements bound
to do, put forth all the power of Great Britain for
the assistance of Sicily in this, her hour of need.
One firmly written note to FERDINAND would do it.
rVill his Lordship write that note ?