The Sun.
London, England, 1858-04-23 00:00:00

an assassin.

A very important motion will be submitted to
the House of Commons this evening by Mr.
KINGLAKE. It has reference to the question of
the Cagliari, and to the proceedings to be adopted
with respect thereto. It is truly a momentous
question, one that may lead to a European war,
in which Great Britain must inevitably take an
active, and we may add a leading part. Lis known
that the Government have already put forward a
claim for compensation, on behalf of WATT and
PARK, our fellow subjects, who were so cruel y
and it legally treated by King BOMBA. and his sub-
' ordinates. They have fully satisfied themselves
of the justice and propriety of that demand, and
having done so, cannot, and, we believe, will no t
shrink from following it up to its legitimate re-
sults.

If the Neapolitan Cabinet were not justified in
their treatment of the two English Engineers,
they must have been wrong in capturing the
Cagliari, and are therefore responsible to Piedmont
for its condemnation. We know the insolence of
tone, the contumelious indifference to just de-
mands, which delights the soul of BOMBA. He
has already exhibited that insolence towards
France and England which led to the suspension
of diplomatic intercourse. How much more wil-
lingly would he indulge in it towards a neighbour
who exhibited the strong contrast of a Constitu-
tional and Liberal Government, whose subjects
enjoyed the highest amount of liberty tolerated
on the Continent, and against which he might
enlist the sympathies of some of his despotic
neighbours! Any opportunity for injury and in-
sult was therefore eagerly seized on, and not the
less willingly because it was giving, at the same
time, a side blow to England.
It is manifest from what has already appmred,
that much could not have been expect )(.1 from L Ird
CLARENDON. He was manifestly disposed
to leave Piedmont in the lurch, and permit Victor
EMMANUEL to fight his own battle, or obtain the
assistance of an ally, who would only have been
too happy at obtaining so feasible an
exeuse for interfering in the affairs of Italy.
We hope and believe better things of
Lord MALMESBURY. It is only by very
energetic and decisive proceedings that the
peace and tranquillity of Europe can be main-
tained, and very dangerous complications averted.
In such points, the exp,:rieuce of the last two
months teaches us that confidence can be reposed
in the Government of Lord DERBY, and we shell
not withdraw it until some evidence be shown
that it is no longer worthy of support or fairplay.

Our political recollections of nearly a quarter of
a century ago are revived by the recent demise
in his eighty-second year of James, the first
BARON DUNFERMLINE, more popularly known ss
Mr. SPEAKER ABERCROMBY. It was by his
election to the chair of the House of Commons on
the 19th of February, 1835, that the effects of the
last Reform Bill were first clearly demonstrated.
Its effects, that is to say, as to the bearing of the
proportions of the national representation—in
other words, as to the nature of the relative
preponderance discernible among the various
sections of the constituencies. Remembering
that, however dubiously, we are really and
truly at this moment upon the eve of
witnessing the introduction of a new and still more
comprehensive measure of parliamentary reform
and rec, llecting that the probabilities are notori-
ously that sometime during the course of the very
next session, this
long
looked-fir revision of the
IN-Tutu branch of the legislature will b© seriously
adventured upon by her MAJESTY'S Government
—it may be well to recall more distinctly to mind
the facts brought vividly to light in reference to
the last Reform Bill on that 19,h of February,
1835, on the occasion of the division upon the
election to the Speakership.
And first of all the character of the "situatio?
should be borne in remembrance. The passing of the
Reform Bill, in 1832, had been followed, in 1834,
by the dismissal of the Reform Administration.
Sir ROBERT PEEL had been entrusted by WILLIAM
V. with the responsibility of constructing a new
Cabinet—the Cabinet cf four months' duration—
the Cabinet having
Mr. GOCLBURN as Home