The Sun.
London, England, 1858-02-11 00:00:00

no dynastic alliances ; it does not maintain a
large standing army, and yet no affroats are
offered, nor is any attempt made to interfere with
its internal legislation or Government. We should
like to hear the answer which Mr. BVCILLNIN Wollid
return to such an application as that recently made by
Count WALEIVSICI, and which was the cause of the
present attempt to increase the stringency of our
penal code. -
We are not the advocates of war with any
nation. It is at best a fearful alternative to be
compelled to hazard the lives of our gallant
soldiers and sailors, and to incur enormous ex-
-1 penses that sooner or later must fall heavily on the
• pockets of the taxpayers. Least of all would we
desire war or misunderstanding with France. Our
soldiers have stood side by side in the cause of
s
) • ,tics and civilisation ; have witnessed each
pg. , prowess ou fields of stricken fight ; and

others C-
the despei:ate courage with which they rushed
onward to •`‘ the imminent deadly breach."
-quid slight or despise the
Neither Power t,
v on what might prove
other, or enter
oury nerve would
a desperate conflict, when,
,But a war
be strained on either side.
between them or even a coldn:"3 of feeling'
would be greatly to be deprec.Ate d from
wit to
the consequences that must inevitably re,
*-ed
the welfare of Europe, and of the whole
world. As a morning contemporary justly remarkS,
it " would only be not so unnatural as a civil
war." But even that risk we should be prepared
to brave rather than succumb to foreign pressure,
or legislate under a direct threat of invasion,
more especially when that was accompanied by
insulting and mendacious allusions to our country
as " a den of assassins." _ .

There has been a sort of apology tendered at
the eleventh hour, for the intemperate and abusive
language of military ruffians, which, by insertion
in the Moniteur, was approved and adopted by
the Ehrmoz. But that apology was withheld
until the vigorous truths enunciated by Mr.
ROEBUCK were ringing in the Ministerial ears, and
probably until a telegram had announced the
danger to the Government of bringing forward
any measure in the present state of public opinion
unless armed with some such document. But no
apology was made for the inflammatory harangue
of Count DE MOBSY, who, occupies so important
and influential a position in the Legislative Body,
and who has, since the delivery of that incendiary
speecb,been nominated one of the Council of regency.
It was not through "inadvertency and accident"
that it was inserted in the Moniteur. It there
remains on record as one of the menaces which
compelled England to truckle to a foreign Power,
and legislate under the threat pf grave ulterior

consequences.
By yielding at present and recognising the
propriety and justice of such interference, we
expose ourselves to similar and even more stringent
applications in future, and as there must be a
limit beyond which we cannot go, the danger for
the future in place of being averted is greatly
enhanced. We have earned for ourselves the
contempt of other nations, and may be obliged at
last to show even at serious cost, how greatly mis-
taken they are who have imputed cowardice or
timidity to the English people, er think that they
can be insulted, and their feelings outraged with
impunity—or that simple expression of regret will
at any time compensate for a wanton and deli-
berate affront.

A gallant Irishman has recently—or, we are
very much mistaken—by means of one heroic
exploit, seized at once upon Fame and Fortune.
We cannot for an instant believe that the bauble
grasped at by this dauntless man will be the only
tribute offered to him for this act of almost match-
less hardihood. The Victoria Cross will hence-

f )rth (!litter, of course, upon the valiant breast of
JAMES CAVANA OR, but the splendour of his late
achievement demands some yet more substantial
evidence of the national admiration. CAVANAGH
should at once be presented with a commission.
Ha has earned this, and nothing less than this, by
the value of the glorious feat he has just accom-
plished—by its actual intrinsic value to us as a
means of saving us, beyond all doubt, much
bloodshed, and the many noble lives that must
otherwise, in all human probability, have been
sacrificed.

Remember precisely what the service was upon
which this daring Irishman voluntarily adven-
tured. It was an enterprise so bold, even be it

said, so foolhardy, that Sir JAMES OIITRAM him-
self—Ounum the Prelim Chevalier of our Indian
A.rmy—when it was proposed to him by
CANANAGII2 that be, as General, should permit
him, as a simple civilian, to enter upon it,
objected that he thought it so dangerous that he
would not have asked any officer to attempt it !
Yet, of his own free will, and by his own sugges-
tion, JAMES CAVANAGH not only attempted but
successfully and heroically accomplished this most
perillous achievement.

The Residency of Lucknow, remember, was
surrounded by swarms of those bloodthirsty fiends
—the Sepoy mutineers. Lucknow, in truth, was
fairly beleagured. It had been relieved for a time
by the arrival of HAVELOCK and his little band of
warriors, but that heroic band was, in
,point of
numbers, so inadequate for the emergency, that it
was really in fact more of a Forlorn Hope than
an army. Lucknow, therefore, though saved
from its former desperate straits by the advent
of HAVELOCK and OUTRA.3( with their dauntless
followers, was still, nevertheless—after their
entrance into it—in fearful peril from the fury and
the multiplicity of their besiegers. The Defenders
•f Lucknow were therefore eagerly awaiting their
deliverance by the forces under Sir COLIN
CAMPBELL. It was exactly at this criti-
cal juncture that JAMES CAVANAGH volun-
teered to penetrate through the ranks of the
besiegers, and thus convey from the beleagured
garrison authentic tidings of their position t•
the Commander-in-Chief. Those tidings, in spite
of every obstacle, he actually did convey. And
they came to Sir COLIN so opportunely, in the
midst of his memorable advance, that in conse-
quence of the information thus acquired the Com-
mander-in-Chief was enabled prudentially to
advance upon Lucknow by a longer and more
circuitous route, thereby rendering the relief of
the place less sanguinary in its accomplish-
ment. Finding, from the accounts fur-
nished to him thus expectedly by CAVANAGH that
OUTRAX'S men were not actually in straits im-
mediately desperate, Sir COLIN prudently deter..
mined to make a detour, and by so doing spared
many a life that must otherwise inevitably have
been sacrificed.

The adventure thus happily carried to
successful issue by the heroic messenger,
was effected by him under the shelter of a
very slight disguise. Re had with him but
a single companion—a. native spy, one KTJNOUJEE
LALL. The costume adopted by CA.VAXAGII,
before starting, was simply that of a budraash, or
irregular soldier of the city. Re carried a sword \
and shield. He wore native shoes, and tight
yellow silk koortah, over a
tnirouv:lsinerssh,
shirt--white,
had on A
yellow
anda closely fitting.
chintz shawl was thrown around his shoulders.
coloured
.His head was crowned with a cream..