The Press. — London, England, 1854-12-02 00:00:00

DECEMBER 2, 1854. THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE POLISH INSURRECTION. Tim twenty-fourth anniversary of the Polish insur rection of 1830 occurring on Wednesday, the Polish exiles resident in London attended the funeral ser vice at the Roman Catholic chapel, Sutton-street, Soho-square, which was performed by the Rev. Emeritus Podolski, who also preached a sermon suitable to the occasion, and in which he deplored the recent loss sustained by Poland and her exiled sons in the death of their most generous friend and protector, Lord Dudley Stuart. After this ceremony a public meeting, composed of Poles, and convened by their committee, acting under the orders of his Highness Prince Czartoryski, was held at Sussex Chambers, Duke-street, St,. James's. Colonel Wiercinski occupied the chair, and the fol lowing resolutions were agreed to Moved by Mr. N. Zaba, seconded by Major Gietgerd That the Poles, faithful to the duty which twenty-four years ago called them to era's in defence of their inalienable rights to freedom and national iudependeuee, do most solewuly protest against the usurpation of their country by foreign oppressors, and whilst expressing their anxious interest in the issue of the struggle in which the Western powers are now engaged with the Czar, do await with euduring patience the moment they shall be called upon to take a part iu the war, with a view of restoring Pohlad to the rank of an independent state, the only etiectual and permanent means of arrestiug the aggressive policy of Russia; of guarding the civilioatiou of the West against the in cursions of Eastern barbarism; and of establishing a true and lasting peace of Europe, Moved by Mr. Gleinich, seconded by Major Jancewicz : That the Poles, deeply anxious to testify their gratitude to the people of England and France, amongst whom they have found, not merely au asylum, but a home, are palatally disappointed that no Polish Legion, to act iu conjuuctiou with the allied powers, has yet been formed; for they are persuaded that had such measure been adopted thousands of their fellow-country men, now ignominiously forced to serve in the Russian army, and to combat against the forces of the allied powers, would, as soon as the Polish national standard had been unfurled, have passed over to the racks of England and France, spared their blood, now so heroically and prodigiously shed, and in all proba bility have already decided the fate of Sebastopol and the issue of the present war. Another resolution expressed poignant regret at the loss sustained by the death of Lord Dudley Stuart. The meeting separated after paying a to bute of respect to their chief, Prince Adam Czarto ryski, and acknowledging the exertions of the Lite rary Association of the Friends of Poland. The "commemorative meeting " was held in the evening at St. Martin's-hall, under the presidency of Sir Joshua Walmesley, M.P. There was a crowded audience, attracted principally by the expectation of hearing a speech from Kossuth. The Hungarian patriot was welcomed on rising with universal enthu siasm. He commenced his oration by touching upon the question which now agitates all hearts : Since the thundering roar of cannon from around Se bastopol continues to rouse an echo of moaning grief from thousands of British homesteads, is there one British heart all along these isles, the recesses of which had not thrilled with the inquiry—whether the policy which presides over this war he a wise one ? Whether those glorious dead whom the world admires, and whom Great Britain bewails, have fallen a sanguinary tribute to dire necessity ; or have they fallen but a wanton sacrifice, immolated on the shrine of the errors of those who rule? Can the aged mother, proud in her maternal joy yesterday, and childless to-day— can the fatherless orphan, standing like a broken reed—can the widow, cast upon public charity (and eleven thousand already they are )—can the nation, maimed by the loss of the bravest and the best of her tons—can they comfort themselves with repeating the words Paulus Arruidius spoke, when from the funeral of both his sons he rode up in triumph to the Capitol? Can they say, " I feel the ruin of my homestead consoled by the good fortune of the com monwealth?" (Hear, hear.) Is there one man all along these isles, in the breast of whom the question had not risen, whether there be no better course for carrying on the war? A course sure to succeed, and richer in results, and not ao dreadful in sacrifices? Yes, that question has been asked by all, it has stirred, like the thrill of conscience, through the breast of all. M. Kossuth then divided his speech into two sec tions, addressing the first to the Poles, whom lie praised for much courage in not having yet despaired 9f their country's freedom, even atter eighty-one years eclipse. He assured them that the present aspect of European affairs afforded them just grounds for hope, and promised them also the aid and sym pathy of his own Hungarians, who were watching cinly their opportunity to begin the struggle against the common enemy. Passing on to the second division of his discourse, the speaker alluded in bold and lice terms to the conduct pursued by the English Government and military leaders while preparing for, or administering, the war. This he found to he filled with blunders, political and strategical. He began with the northern and Baltic campaign The English public have been told of late that there never was a position of more pressing necessity, demand big so imperiously a mind that can forestal instead of waiting on events, and can avert evils which it may be im possible to repair. (Applause ) That is perfectly just, though somewhat of an after-fact wisdom come out too late. But if it be just, then there is no good service to England in lulling public opinion to sleep by advising it THE PRESS. to let bygones be bygones. A forestalling mind must look to the past for instruction. And the great lesson of acoomplished facts is, that England's policy, in reference to the present war, has been wrong in its direction, and inefficient, unsuccessful, and disastrous in details. Let us analyse the situation. Your gigantic armada in the Baltic is nearly without a laurel to rest its head upon. To do something effective there, the co-operation of Sweden was a matter of prime necessity. England did not get it, be cause England's policy was wrong. I told England six months ago that the co-operation of Sweden is to be got only by calling Poland to arms. And that was the answer which, three months later, King Oscar gave to General Baraguay d'Hilliers. You have taken Bomarsund, a small matter forsooth, yet when the time comes that necessity will force you to remember Poland, and shall have to thank her for the advantage of getting Sweden over to your side. Then Bomarsund would have proved an acceptable offer to Sweden, but you blew it up, as if afraid of your own victory ; as if bent on the purpose not to have anything to offer to Sweden. What a gigantic blunder! (Applause.) England pretended to strike a blow at the commerce of Russia by blockading her coast, and England just sac ceeded in turning Russian commerce to Prussia. Of the Austrian diplomacy, he said : England has bent her mind on bringing Austria over to herself; she has sacrificed to this one sins everything: numerous millions spent in vain ; the life-blood of the flower of England spilt in vain ; principles, political repu tation, the liberal character of the war, and the very issue of the war—everything. And has your Government gained Austria ? ("No, no.") Has it gained that Austria to whom it has sacrificed everything—that Austria of whom even the Times is bound at last to acknowledge that " you are fighting her battle more than your own?" ("No, no.") What a proud sneering there was in official quarters when I, months ago, told the good people of England that they believe they pay and bleed for freedom, when in reality they are made to fight for Austria. Now it comes out at last. Truth will come out, like murder will. Well, has your Government gained Austria ? ("No.") Go and read the well-founded lamentations in the organs—even the minis terial organs of publicity—about the treacherous attitude and the overbearing insolence of that Austria which your Government persisted in courting with so much submis sion, and which, in return, facilitates the enterprises of Russia, insults your allies, and counteracts your combina tions. (Cheers.) It is not only that you have not gained over Austria, but you have the Turks arrested in the midst of their victorious course; and the fruit of their heroic struggle, poor Wallachia, played over into the treacherous hands of despotic Austria. There is the Turkish army paralysed on the one hand, and there is, on the other band, the Czar left free to throw overpowering numbers upon the flank and the rear of your gallant ranks in the Crimea. There you have the spirits of the Turkish army, high flow ing as they were by the victories at Silistria and Giurgevo, now depressed ; there you have the spirits of the Russian army, depressed as they were, now restored. And, oh ! I could tell you what it is to neglect the moment of spirited excitement in a victorious army, and what it is to give time to a demoralised enemy to resume its spirits and to take breath. One such moment's neglect in a war, and it is not battles, but empires that may be lost by it. The Sebastopol expedition, he went on to show, had brought us into a position of infinite peril and sacri fice without any promise of ultimate results cons mensurate with our efforts and losses. M. Kossuth then offered various criticisms upon the conduct of military operations, and sketched a plan of campaigning in which the English and French armies were to have co-operated on the line of the Danube with Omer Pschs and his Turks, so as to drive the Russians back entirely from the Black Sea and making the inva.sion of the Crimea, than perfectly isolated, a mere episode in the years' proceedings. Adverting again to the English share of the war risks and capabilities, he spoke of the avowed necessity for our furnishing a constant stream of reinforcements to our army, and inquired how we were to procure them : The question is, what have you to do in the situation you are placed ? Yon are told, for all answers, that reinforce ments shall be sent, and reinforcements will do. 1 went the length of England and the Highlands of Scotland, and, seeing the scantiness ofyour rural population, I wondered where England could find soldiers, once seriously engaged in a great war. Your cities absorb your nation, and it is to day true what Horace wrote 2,000 years ago ; it is not the cities but the rural population, " rusticorum musculor militum proles," which furnishes the stout arms for the war. Still to send the most possible of reinforcements is wise, and it is a duty and an obvious necessity besides. He concluded by returning to his starting point, the Austrian difficulty : To have a radical case you must penetrate to the root of the evil. The real source of all your difficulties is Aus tria. (Cheers.) Every child knows this. Either England fears Austria too much, or loves her more than she ought. There is the evil. Don't fear Austria; throw her over• board, and you are safe ; if not, not. To engage in a wrong direction may be an error—to persist in a wrong direction and sacrifice life may look like a crime, the retri bution of which may yet fall heavily on your heads. Shift the theatre of the war, insist peremptorily on Austria's evacuating the principalities, and on aiding with or against you; advise the Sultan to grant independence to the Ron mains and arm them. Enlist the Polish emigration—not in Turkey, but here. Mind where the weak point of Russia is, and strike there. And wherever a Government is playing false to you, call on the nations it oppresses. (Loud applause.) These are your radical remedies; but remember that while in matters of- internal progress you way say—by and bye we shall souls to that; in a war 1137 everything depends on moments. Opportunity lost is a - Poland is • -surest would campaign lost—may be, even more. is your remedy even to-day, but how much surer and easier it have been six months ago. Ido not speak from even patriotic egotism. Come what may—in this war England stands more in need of Poland and of Hungary, than Poland and Hungary stand in need of England. With us, victory; without us defeat, or a disreputable insufficient armistice. You remember the tale about the nine sybilline books. Poland willbe your sybilline books. Three already are lost. Hasten to buy the remaining six, or else, like the Homan king of old, you shall have to pay the full price of all the nine for the last three. Mine is the advice, yours is the choice. M. Kossuth resumed his seat amid loud cheering, and the meeting terminated. MECHANICS' INSTITUTE AT PRESTON. A YEETINO to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Preston Institution for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge was held at the institute on the 22d ult. About five hundred persons were present, including Lord Stanley, Sir Robert Peel, Mr. Ford, High Sheriff of Lancashire, and Mr. Patten and Mr. Hey wood, members for the northern division of the county. Lord STANLEY, in addressing the assembly, said that he perhaps ought to apologise for calling atten tion to any other subject than the all abs orbing one of the war, but that practical proof that war interrupt the course of On the contrary, u we that it is the inevitable sorbing, almost monopolising, the progress of internal reform, necessarily and naturally the struggle in which we are unfavourable than those 1 tertain, I believe that the service which we can in which we can co•operati our battles abroad, is to - evidence that their exertions that social progress, that intellectual cultivation, poorer classes, are not existence d a most formidable cheers.) He then concisely noticed the present circumstances of the institution. It was free from debt; its mem bers amounted to 600; it had a clear yearly revenue exceeding 3001.; it had 180 students in its various educational classes ; and its library, for free circu lation among its members, amounted to 5,000 vo lumes. He feared, however, that the benefits of the institution were chiefly enjoyed by classes higher than that one—working men—for whom it was spe cially designed, and he urged the importance of getting workmen to join it as extensively as possible. The public benefits of such institutions might be considered tinder two points of view, social and educational : First, as to what I call the social point of view. Now we all know, we all perceive, that society in the present day is in many respects constituted very differently from what it was in former times. Various causes have operated upon it ; perhaps amongst those causes the principal and most apparent has been that increase of local communi cation which tends almost to destroy, within at least the area of this country, all separations produced by space. Now, on the whole, there is, of course, no doubt—the man would be insane who denied it—there is no doubt that that increased facility of communication has been productive of very great benefit to the community; bet, like every other benefit in this world, it has its seem pan)ing evils. And one of these evils, I think, is a ten dency, an increased tendency, which most people notice, and which has been very frequently a subject of discussion —a tendency to a disruption of local connections and ties. I think we shall find, it you compare the state of society now with what it was 50, or, still more, 100 years ago, that men in the same class, following the same occupation, though in different parts of the country, are in much closer and more intimate relation one with another than persons in different classes, following different occupations, who reside in the same immediate locality. The tie of class becomes stronger, the tie of local proximity becomes com paratively weaker. Now, no doubt other causes concur, though in a lesser degree, to increase that division be tween classes. There is among the wealthy, perhaps, greater luxury and refinement; there is among the wt rk• ing classes—and I for one don't regret to see it. more strongly-developed feeling of independence, which makes them reluctant to meet those who, perhaps, they think do hot meet them on equal terms ; and there is, no doubt, also the pressure of severer labour upon all classes consequent upon the increased activity of our age. lint, be the causes what they may, the result, 1 think, is certain. And what we want to do is, what it is important to do is, to find for this severance, for this disruption of local ties, a remedy which shall be efficacious and uni versal. The only remedy which I know is, so far as it is possible, to provide common pursuits, to provide common occupations and amusements, to induce different classes to meet one another more freely, so as to maim people think a little less of their individual place and station in society, and a little more of their duties to society. For myself, I consider that every pound and every shil ling ahich is subscribed to institutions of this kind, or to free libraries, or to public baths, or to museums, or parks and gardens, fur the use of the public—every shg it might be useful to give a rar ought not, and need not, more peaceful occupations 3 are told, and not untruly, e tendency of foreign war, by ab. icing, public attention, to check reform, and as that consideration ly induces many persons to regard ire now engaged with feelings more e which they might otherwise en. the best service—perhaps the only render—perhaps the only way erate with those who are fighting give to the country a practical ions do not tend to paralyse ours, that internal improvement, that that care for the wants of the not interrupted even by the .midable foreign contest. (Loud