The Sun.
London, England, 1858-04-12 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, APRIL 12, 1858.

The temporary truce between her MAJESTY'S
Government and her MaiesTY's Opposition termi-
nates this day, and the Parliamentary campaign
will commence in good earnest. Within a few
days it will be seen whether fair play will be
accorded to Ministers, or whether they are to be
assailed by every factious device that can bs re-
sorted to. The country generally desires that they
should be judged by their acts, that every reason-
able opportunity should be afforded of developing
their intentions respecting the great questions of
the day which must come under the consideration
of the Legislature. When they are proved to be
in the wrong, opposing the wishes of the
community, or promoting measures incompatible
with the safety, honour, and welfare of our
Severeign Lady the QUEEN and her dominions, it
will be time enough to deprive them of the power
they have abused, to evict them from the offices
for which they have shown themselves to be unfit.
Any improper proceeding on the part of their
opponents will enlist the sympathies of the great
body of the people on their side. Whatever may
be their prejudices or antipathies, Englishmen, as
a body, are lovers of fair pl iy. It is their great
characteristic, which is seldom, if ever, disre-
garded. That feeling pervades the entire com-
munity. It. is common to all ranks—from the
highest members of the aristocracy to those who
earn their daily bread by their daily labour.
lliif air odds, or what is properly designated
as " foul play" is never tolerated under any cir-
cumstances, more especially when the victim
have shown great forbearance, when they might
have damaged their adversaries by resorting to
similar tactics. No one can deny that Lord
DERBY and his followers acted fairly and aboNe
board, iu every instance, since the accession of
Lord PALMERSTON to office. They might have
availed themselves of many opportunities, but
they only sought the interests of the nation, and
scrupulously refrained from aiming blows, which
must necessarily have told severely on their
adversaries. Surely, then, they have a right to
demand that they should be dealt with in a
similar spirit, and if that demand be rejected
judge between the contending
the people will
parties, and see that such inequitable proceedings
shall not be rewarded or encouraged. They can
understand an attack on any tangible ground
they like to witness a fair fight and no favour,

THE SUN,.

and are always ready to join in the aspiration,
that " the best man may win," but they will be
disgusted and exasperated by any appearance of a
Parthian or Guerilla warfare.
The Times and its imitators are
severe on " this attempt to govern by a
pmaritiiicotryl.y„
ter the
Mit where, we ask, is the ntalffajaoirrsofwhZ
leaders can adminL`
nation ? Lord PA.LMERST
he Would not
not command such a majority, or
j..-kr certainly does
-,ld
be taking his
measures which are unquestionably
place on the opposition benct.Ps, a..
carping at nasas
that he either offered or was
better than alf.7
prepared to offer. Lord Josh RUSSELL has it
not or he might have had a chance of forming an
Administration ; nor does it rest with any of the
prominent members of the Liberal party. Perhaps
Lord DERBY has a larger following than any man
in either House of Parliament. This is easily
ascertained. The Whigs are divided into
PALUERSTONIANS and RuSSELLITES, either Of
whom would rather see Lord DERBY in office than
the chief, under whose banner they are not serving.
Even the Liberals are not united. Mr. ROEBUCK
and Mr. BRIGHT have each friends who will sup-
port their views, and who are disposed to exclaim,
with reference to Lords DERBY and PALMERSTON,
" a plague on both your houses," and that poli-
tical Ishmaelite, Mr. GLADSTONE—who inasmuch
as he has no followers, fights a la HARRY Gow,
" for his own hand," will turn that " hand
against every man," and assail each in turn,
whenever it suits his purpose to do so.
Where, then, we repeat, is the majority ? It
is nowhere, and it is fortunate for the people that
is so. A dictator may be very well during an
emergency, when everything must yield to an
overpowering necessity, and the nation must sub-
mit to one evil, in order to avoid another of still
greater magnitude. Should the nation pronounce
against Lord DERBY, merely because he is Lord
DERBY, although his measures were all that could
be desired, it would confer an absolute dictator-
ship on Lord PALMERSTON, for at present the
choice virtually lies between the two, inasmuch as
there is no reasonable chance of "the calm
JOHNNY who upset the coach" being able either
to form a Cabinet or to hold office for a single
month. Whatever he was pleased to offer should
be accepted " with bated breath and deep hu
mility," " the Conspiracy to Murder Bid"
should be swallowed, Lord CLARENDON
should be reinstated in the Foreign-
office, Sir G. C. LEWIS at the Exchequer, and
that talented and well-informed statesman (!) Mr.
VERNON SMITH at the India Board. There is
but one way of avoiding such calamities, viz., by
giving fair play to every man who may be selected
by her MAJESTY, or rather by Parliament—for
their choice virtually rests with Parliament—to
form an Administration, and to deal with him
according to his deserts. In other words, the old
party division should be forgotten, and " mea-
sures, not men," should be looked to by the chosen
representatives of the people. We shall soon
know whether this will be the case. If not, it
will afford another and a very powerful illustra-
tion of the gross ignorance of persons occupying
seats in the Legislature, of the real state of public
opinion, and of public feeling.

So Lord CLARENDON'S list victim is now free.
PARK, as well as WATT, is out of King BONIBI'S
clutches, and will doubtless soon be home. We
say advisedly Lord CLARENDON'S victim, for he
has been " aeeessory," as the phrase now is, and
though not " before," yet certainly during "the
fact." Had Lord MAradzsnr.nty instead of Lord
CLARENDON been Foreign Minister last July, and
Lord DERBY been his Premier, we believe that
both WATT and PARK would have been soon out
of durance, and something more than apology de-
manded for wrists blackened with bandcuffl, and
for imprisonment in a dungeon little better than
a cesspool. We hope Lord MALmEsnunx has not
done with the affair yet ; he has still to show, by
obtaining a becoming compensation, the contrast
between his own and the CLARENDON tactics. It
is for him to prove to Europe that the peasant and
the mechanic of England is iu the view of the
Peers of England as much an Englishman as any
Peer hift.self ; it is for him to reverse the impres-
sion produced by Lord CLARENDON'S complaisance
to depots, and to let the whole tribe know that it
is at their peril to insult England by persecutit'g
the humblest of her citizens.

Lord CLARENDON knew at the beginning that
the men were perfectly innocent. His correspon-
dence, now before us, proves that he knew yet
we find nothing but the most ignominious conces-
sion to the Neapolitan Government of their right
to retain these notoriously innocent men, and to
try them by their law. Everything is asked as a
matter of favour, not demanded. When part of
the Sardinian crew were liberated, Mr. BARBAR
was to ask the same gracious justice for Lord
CLARENDON'S two fellow countrymen. He was to
beg the favour of seeing the accused, as their ad-
viser ; everything on behalf of the innocent suf-
ferers was to be asked with the most maiden
modesty and bashfulness, from the brutal Neapo-
litans and their KING.

Brutal—we are not condescenditg to abuse ;
it were beneath us to waste our breath or paper
in abusing Neapolitan officials and their KING. If
Lord CLARENDON did not know from the pen of
Mr. GLADSTONE in the affair of the noble POERIO
that the term brutes as applied to them, is a libel
on the brute creation, he very soon know, for we
all knew it, that their treatment of his two follow-
citizens was of the most brutal kind. If he has
forgotten, let him take up PARK'S last re-state-
ment of the well known facts, and ask himself
what it became a British Foreign Minister to do '
when he knew that two innocent British subjects
were being treated thus. First, they were tricked
into a surrender of themselves, and under pro-
mise
that coals should be furnished to them to
depart immediately, consented to come ashore,
they were then handcuffed and carried off to the
Vicaria, a prison of which PARK says, that " it is '
beyond belief that, in a European country, such
an abominable den should exist." The cells so
small that their mattresses touched each other ;
no chairs, of course they sat on the beds, such as
they were ; no light but through a strongly
grated window, through which they must not
look under penalty of being shot by a Swiss na' rce-
nary ! The cell, too, was horribly damp, infested
with rats—PARK caught seven in a trap made
with one of his boots ; bad air, bad and dirty
water, no ventilation,anda
a large wooden
effiva
odentuvibfal
necessary wants, emitting
ostihettirdiff
sitting differences
and bet a- ee
c ee
inl
dLaoyr,dweeLrAeßaEmsponaNgs,st
otwhen
ofwi
with
his
in h
neglected victims.
hand
ili,7 b
y writing a
an En'lislnn;ell;
h the he power
'lnes, to liberate his countrymen from such a din
as this, could enjoy his own bed and mtals eve
m cannotust
bceTweeaisv e.
not WeLo
rbael
etiquette in dealing with such worse than savages
on behalf of our countrymen. Talk of the
" comity of nationa"—surely it ought to be re-
ciprocal comity, and evencieiLvflimEiNnpurionsNoonmednietpnilttlimtdhaettiioec
demand that it should be decent and healthy
impris
withonmen the
t ?Isfe Bportiots,
3itnAand his suLjecti are
satisfied
we may surelyde-

- LONDON, MONDAY CVENING,

invariable adjuncts, drunkenness, and too often
bloodshed, in almost every district in Ireland.
We hope and believe that Mr. DISRAELI will
legislate in a very different spirit. There are,
of course, many minor matters to which
he will direct his attention ; but it will be
rather to give relief where relief is re-
quired ratbor than to enhance the burdens
already too onerous, and almost intolerable.
He has unquestionably a difficult game to play,
considering the nature of the opposition that is
threatened. But we believe that he will be
equal to the emergency, and that the budget
whioli he will open will be exceedingly acceptable
to the Parliament and the People of the United
Kingdom.