The Sun.
London, England, 1859-05-18 00:00:00

-,,
East India mail and passengers, had also bee_;n
boarded by tho boats of a French ship of the line.
We know not what explanation may be offer ed for
this glaring violation of the sanctity of the British
flag. That it will be required is Certain. Neither
Lords DERBY nor MALMESBURY can for a moment
tolerate anything so directly opposed to the power
and dignity of Great Britain.
Another difficulty has been raised in consequence
of the refusal of the Captain of the Conqueror to
salute the flag of the Provisional Government of Tus-
cany. In this respect, however, he was quite right,
inasmuch as he could not, without compromising
both the British Government and his own position,
have recognised a new authority, respecting which
he had no instructions from head-quarters. Our
business is to maintain strict neutrality, and it
must not be infringed on account of any such trivial
transactions.

Sir JAMES GRAHAM ought certainly to know
very well by this time the meaning of Knuckle-
duster—a popular racer that, if it only went well
in for it, would, we cannot but conjecture, have a
very fair chance of winning the Derby. If the
knuckles of Sir JAMES do not tingle smartly for
the nonce at the present moment, it is, assuredly,
no fault of either Major. General PEEL or Sir JOHN
PAKINGTON. Scarcely has the baronet of Netherby
had leisure to enjoy for a few hours his double
triumph down at Carlisle—where, in spite of his
being himself a heavy weight, he nevertheless con-
trived to clamber triumphantly to the top of the
poll, and, what was more, to drag his nephew up
immediately after liim—when he has found himself
called upon to illustrate anew what he is without
doubt by this time a perfect master in, namely, the
Amenities of Electioneering. It is the First Lord
of the Admiralty, in the first instance, who calls
the attention of 'Sir JAMES to certain libellous
allusions upon the hustings to that charming little
affair about Captain CARNEGIE. They told capi-
tally upon the hustings at the time. They were
just a few free-and-easy words quoted lightly from
memory out of another Imaginary Conversation
than can be anywhere found in thepages of SAVAGE
LANDOR. A conversation it was between Captain
C. and Sir J. P.—telling in the most damaging
way possible against the latter, and implying, as
plainly as words could imply anything, that the
former was really about the most ill•used and
high-minded personage in her MAJESTY'S domi-
nions. In several particulars the conversation, as
described by Sir JAMES GRAHAM to the electors of
Carlisle, was in the highest degree imaginative.
And, as a consequence of so being, it told, as we
have said, admirably—delightfully as for the ex-
Lord of the Admiralty—damagingly, as against
the First Lord of the Admiralty. The inaccuracy
' of the account of the proceedings given by Sir JAMES
to his constituents is specified by Sir JOHN
PAKINGTON, who is at once responded to most
courteously by the recently elected M.P. for Car-
lisle. " Dear Sir JOHN PAKINGTON "—who has
just before been described in the electioneering
speech as having done a very dirty action in his
last dealings with one of his naval colleagues at the
Admiralty, but who is Sir JAMES'S " Dear Sir JOHN
PAKINGTON" nevertheless—is assured by the newly
re-elected M.P. for Carlisle, "If I have erred in
any particular, or have in the least misrepresented
the purport of the conversation between you and
Captain CARNEGIE, I readily express my regret."
Adding what nobody, of course, would have required
to be added, " I can assure you I had no such in-
tention." Why, of course, no one ever imagined
Sir JAMES really intended to misrepresent. His
real intention was sufficiently obvious under the
circumstances. He designed simply to damage his
antagonists—to blur the lustre of their reputation
—in vulgar parlance, to " take the shine out of it."
In this he succeeded. What matters a little inac-
curacy ? The election is over—the dodge has
proved in every way most successful. Sir JAMES
and his nephew have both been returned. The
inaccuracy—never dreamt of before—is then pointed
out by Sir JOHN PAKINGTON. And " Dear Sir
JOHN PAKINGTON" is at once assured by Sir JAMES
GRAHAM that he readily expresses regret—and thus
affords cheaply every reasonable reparation.
Hardly has Sir JOHN PAKINGTON, however, been
satisfied with a few honeyed words, over-courteous
and super•apologetic, when there is Major-
General PEEL knocking, through the delegated
hand. of the postman, rap-rap, smartly upon the
already bruised knuckles of Sir JAMES GRAHAM—
asking for retractation, or, at the very least, for
explanation. Sir JAMES GRAHAM has been apply-
ing the meanest possible motives to the announce-
ment in the War-office circular of the rise of the
billeting charge upon publicans from lid. to 4d.
a day, as announced—observe ! says Sir JAMES,
ironically, upon the very eve of a general election !
Now, it matters not the least bit in the world that
the announcement of that intended change in the
charge of billeting had been avowed two or three
months back in the House of Commons by the
Secretary of State at the head of the War Depart-
ment. It signifies nothing, of course, that General
PEEL really made that announcement at the begin-
ning of the session in the House of Corrimons before
there was the faintest indication of the coming
dissolution—and that the change from lid. to 4d.
had actually been effectuated by the Mutiny Act
passed before the close of the existence of the last
Parliament. These things were nothing worthy
of consideration. What Sir JAMES GRAHAM here
again alone simply aimed at, was merely to damage
his opponents as much as possible. The effect in-
tended to be produced was produced by these
insidious imputations cast at the War Department
from the hustings at Carlisle. The end was accom-
plished. Sir JAMES and his nephew were both
returned to the new Parliament. And then—
in the first glow of his latest electioneering
triumph—but not till then, Sir JAMES is frankly
charged by General PEEL with ignorance upon a
matter that General PEEL is too courteous to imply
for one instant that Sir JAMES would distort wil-
fully simply with an ignoble view to catch the ears
of the groundlings. So that, rather than charge Sir
JAMES GRAHAM with wilful and perverse misrepre-
sentation, General PEEL merely taxes Sir JAMES
with ignorance. And Sir JAMES ?—well, Sir JAMES
(with his knuckles smarting and tingling from the
reiterated infliction from the Knuckle-duster)—
" owns the soft impeachment" as simperingly as
the fair DELIA herself, and, by so doing, of course
makes, to the fullest extent that could possibly be
required, the amende honorable. Is this fair play,
however—the fair play so peculiarly dear to the
hearts of Englishmen ? Is it honest ? Is it
manly ? Here is the First Lord of the Admiralty
accused of the dirtiest doings—before the election
of Carlisle is over : and directly the contest at
Carlisle is decided, Sir JAMES (" upon compulsion"
—from the Knuckle-duster) is expressing sincere
regret to " Dear Sir JOHN PAKINGTON." Here,
upon the hustings at Carlisle, is the right hon.
candidate for the suffrages of the constituency
applying the meanest motives to the head of the
War Department : and immediately the candidate
has been enabled by a majority of votes (no matter
how gained) to descend from those hustings re-
elected M.P. for Carlisle, here is the same wily
traducer acknowledging his ignorance (also "upon
compulsion"—from the Knuckle-duster) to "Dear