The Sun.
London, England, 1858-05-25 00:00:00

point ; let them say, plainly, "We have long
voted with the Whigs on this question, but we
see that it is making way every year ; we know
you wish to voto without fear or favour, you shall
do it. We mean honestly, and we will throw
ourselves upon you."

Suppose this course taken prior to a dissolution,
and who can doubt that the Derbyites would be
kept in power by a vote of acclamation. Lords
RUSSELL and PALMERSTON would have no chance.
They might promise the Ballot too ; but they
would, and deservedly, be mistrusted. Of course,
there would be abundant accusations of incon-
sistency, and all that. The people of England,
practical as they are, 'would turn a deaf ear to it
all. " Measures I measures I" would be the reply.
" We shall support the men who think it their
duty to carry the measures we want—we do not
want Happy families,' whose happiness seems to
depend on refusing every liberal measure we ask."
Mr. ROEBUCK, in his manly and telling speech in
the late debate, hit the truth exactly, when he
Raid, " I believe that more beneficial measures
are to be obtained from that weak Government
than from the strong insolence of those right
honourable gentlemen on the front Opposition
bench." Let Lord PALSIERSTON thoroughly
understand that ; for the country entirely concurs
with Mr. ROEBUCK. But let Lord DERBY and
Mr. DISRAELI understand it too. They took
office to govern by a minority ; this implied con-
cession and compromise. As statesmen they must
succeed by compromise. With whom, then,
should they make the compromise, but with the
party—the independent Liberals—which have
warded off the attacks of faction, and so kept
them in office If Lord DERBY be wise, he will
certainly deal fairly with the party which has
frustrated even the grand Sunday conspiracy- at
Cambridge House. -

We shall now see how conspirators and assassins
fare in France. We know what becomes of them
if they conspire against an Emperor, but We
have yet to learn whether the law is strong
enough to catch and punish them if they conspire
against and assassinate a private individual. We
have had such impudent denunciations of Eng-
land as a den of assassins, from the pens of French
colonels, bragging on the safe side of the Channel,
that we shall look with some interest for the
views of these same colonels on assassination of
civilians by French military men. The cowardly
murder of M. PENE, for murder it was, in purpose,
whether the victim recover or not, has indeed stirred
all Paris deeply ;—that might be expected. What-
ever the faults of the Parisians, they are not a
cowardly, not a mean-spirited race ; and a con-
spiracy of forty men, calling themselves soldiers,
and officers too, to kill a man of the pen for the
legitimate use of his own weapon, must rouse the
indignation and detestation of a body of citizens
who prize honour above almost everything.
But it is the colonels, not the citizens to
whom oar eyes are turned ; what will they de-
mand for the assassin HIENNE? What will
they demand for the forty—who, like a band of
very ancient conspirators—had determined not to
eat or drink till they had killed PENE? If French
Colonels can suffer such a wretch, and such
wretches to remain in their ranks, then, of course,
they must consent to be ranked with Austrian
bullies, and to share the contempt with which all
Europe regards the brutal cowards who stab civi-
lians in the streets of Italian cities.
M. WALEWSRI, too, and M. PERSIGNY, what
do these gentlemen think of the business ? ORSINI
and his colleagues were courage itself compared
with these forty savages. Oasuvr, too, had at least
a noble object ; whatever his error in regard to
the means, his end and aim were the liberation of
his fatherland from the yoke of foreign despotr.
ORSINI would have shed the blood of one of the
military oppressors of Italy ; M. HIENNE
demanded blood as the punishment of a squib !
and, because M. PENS was not killed by
his first antagonist, and after he had
apologised as a gentleman, and his challenger
had accepted his hand, the bloodthirsty
conspirator stabbed him in the most vital parts,
either twice, or once completely through his body !
We hope to hear in some farm what the Courts
who wanted us to alter our Conspiracy Laws will
say to this conspiracy. The facts are notorious,
and notoriety is one of the grounds on which they
demanded proceedings against refugees. The deed
is, between man and man, more worthy of the
guillotine for the chief offender, and the galleys for
all the rest, than ware the deeds of ORSINI,
PIERRI, RuDio, and GOMEZ. BERNARD and
ALLsor, if the charges against them were true,
were less guilty than these officers, because their
object, however chimerical, had nothing in it of
private and selfish revenge. Let the Count=, then,
look to it ; either the French laws are competent
to punish a most atrocious crime, or they are not.
If they are, then let the punishment be inflicted
on these Pretorian murderers ; if they are not,
then will all the States to whom WALEWSKI went
quaking and begging for new laws against refu-
gee conspirators expect that WALEWSKI will get
new laws made for assassins and conspirators at
home.

if LOUIS NAPOLEON dares not punish in a case
so utterly indefensible as that of M. HIENNE, it
will proclaim his position, in some respects, more
damagingly that that of M. MIGEON. It is, no
doubt, bad enough for the Government to attempt to
carry by dictation, threats, or bribery, every election
in every department ; but it is worse to proclaim
itself the slave of the army. The Emperor of
RUSSIA. governs through his army, but he
can order, and he has ordered, an officer
delinquent, in high command, to sweep the streets
of the city in which he was governor. The
CZAR is master of his soldiers, and is supported in
doing justice even upon officers. What if it ap-
pear that the Emperor of FRANCE is but the
puppet of his army, but the breath of its nostrils ?

and that he is afraid to punish the most dis-
graceful crime soldiers can commit ? In the in-
terests of humanity we hope it will prove other-
wise. In an Englishman's view it is misfortune
enough for a people to be at the mercy of an
absolute Ruler ; but for ruler and people to be
at the mercy of a band of ruthless Pretorians—
men who can insult the citizens, and sell the Em-
pire to the highest bidder, is the worst, and gene-
rally the last of misfortunes.

DEATEE OF MR. JOHN O'CONNELL.

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
DUBLIN, TUESDAY MORNING.
The Freeman's Journal of this (Tuesday) mom-
ing announces the death of John O'Connell, Esq.,
which took place somewhat unexpectedly on Mon-
day evening, at Kingstown ; the cause being a
severe attack of bronchitis, contracted by sitting
in a damp garden chair.

Visc3unt and Viscountes! Combermere have issued
cards for a dinner and evening party, on Friday, the
28t'i inst.
THo " MERRIE' MONTII OF MAY.—The New York
Times complains that the present month of May has been
moat " dismally damp, drizzly, and disagreeable" even
on that side of the Atlantic. It also says that in May,
1857, there were no less than 21 (out of the 31)
thoroughly wet days. So much for maypole and merry-
making.