The Press.
London, England, 1855-04-14 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

upon the rights and curtailed the privileges of the
Crown, and in the reign of Casimir, the Jesuit, a
dissentient noble, by his single act in the exercise of
the " liberum veto," arrested a war with Sweden
that otherwise was decided upon. Nevertheless, the
war subsequently took place, and Charles Augustus
of Sweden made himself, for a short time, master of
Poland. During the reign of Michael Wisnowiecki
the Turks made a formidable invasion, and only re-
tired upon completing a special agreement for a
yearly tribute to the Sultan of 20,000 crowns. The
royal power had now become phantasmal, a violent
schism of parties prevailed, and the Magnates could
offer no barrier to the arbitrary jurisdiction of the
minor and more indigent nobles. A fresh invasion
of the Turks gave being to the last hero• King of
Poland, John Sobieski. He had already signalised
himself as a great general at the battle of Choozim,
in 1673, and he now gave fresh proofs of military
genius, and added prominent lustre to his name, by de-
feating the Turks beneath the walls of Vienna, under
disadvantages before which a less resolute soldier
would have quailed. From the effects of this victory
the Ottoman empire never recovered. History and
Christendom, for once devoid of party favour and
religious injustice, freely and with one consent have
given the Polish hero his just rank beside Charles
Martel. And let him in all honour, glory, and virtue
be called the last King of Poland. It were a charity
to drop a veil over the history of the succeeding
monarchs. . _

The battle-field of Northern Europe was occupied
by two women and a bluff soldier. They were more
or less brave and merciless,clever and unscrupulous,
powerful and faithless, handsome and unchaste.
Frederick 11., Catherine of Russia, and Maria
Theresa encompassed their victim. Let the last
page of Polish history be rapidly passed over : its
unhappy details have moved the compassion of the
sternest historians, and inspired the elegiac strains
of the poets of all educated nations. From self-
debasement the Poles had become incapable of good
government, and the wars consequent on the royal
elections were grievous to Europe. The project of
spoliation originated with Frederick of Prussia. He
was the sharpest of a sharp family whose present
representatives inherit the desires without the abili-
ties of the race. He determined to reacquire
Dantzic and the ancient ports of the Baltic formerly
possessed by the Teutonic knights; Catherine was
not less interested in retaking Red Russia, the prin-
cipality of Kiew, with White and Black Russia that
had at one time belonged to the old Russian Grand
Duchies; whilst Maria Theresa claimed Silesia as
an ancient heirloom of Bohemia. Were these claims
held to be just, and to constitute a precedent, Europe
would be made subject to a wholesale and territorial
disorganisation. Sobieski had been succeeded by
Leizinski, the latter by Frederick Augustus of
Saxony, whose son was elected after him, and, lastly,
a Russian army enthroned the unhappy Stanislaus
Poniatowski, i.n. 1764. Catherine found means to
foment religious discord betwixt Roman Catholic,
Lutheran, and Socinian; and, although belonging to
and being the head of the Greek Church, the Jesuits
consented to become instruments of oppression and
corruption in the service, not only of the Empress of
Russia, but also of that of the arch-infidel King of
Prussia. A civil and religious war commenced that
consumed the energies of the people and utterly de-
stroyed the country. The Turk had not been unob-
servant of passing events, and did not remain idle.
By the treaty of Pruth betwixt Russia and the Porte
the integrity of Poland had been solemnly guaran-
teed in an especial clause. The proviso of that
treaty is still in existence. But the stipulation and
the aid were vain. On the sth August, 1772, the
treaty of the first partition of Poland was signed at
St. Petersburg. Austria obtained Galicia and Lodo-
miria; Russia the provinces between the Dwina, the
Dneiper, and the Drutch ; and Frederick appropriated
Polish Prussia and the district of Netze. But a
remnant of patriot Magnates, headed by the powerful
family of Czartoryski, intent on saving the nation,
proposed and carried important reforms in the Diet.
The "liberum veto " was repealed, the crown made
hereditary in the royal house of Saxony, and serfdom
was for ever abolished. This was sufficient cause
for a fresh invasion by Russia. Frederick of Prus-
sia, in all Jahn and honour, had engaged to support
Poland. As usual, he played the part congenial to
the Hohenzollern nature, and in this second parti-
tion he received, as the reward of his perfidy, the
port of Dantzic, with the coast which he had so long
coveted ; Russia possessed herself of 85,000 square
miles of territory. Another and the dying struggle
of the brave people was inspirited by Kosciusko ; but
the battle of Maccejowiche, in which the hero,
covered with wounds, was taken prisoner, completed
the sad fate of Poland, and the last partition betwixt
Catharine. Maria Theresa, and Frederick effectually
blotted out the country from the map of nations.
The delusive hopes raised by Napoleon—the
mockery of a restoration at the Congress of Vienna,
with its anomalous constitution—the brutal enormi-

ties of the Viee-Roy and Grand Duke Constantine...

347

the rising of the nobles in resistance—and the na-
tional annihilation by Nicholas—are events too recent
to necessitate the pain of detail. But the question
forces itself into notice, upon again hearing the de-
mand for restoration,—What specific Poland, and
what specific Constitution, is to be restored—the
Piast elective or the Jagellon Tenu hereditary sove-
reign !
i The ancient form of election and represen-
tation n a powerful Diet, or the bill, the whole bill,
and nothing but the bill,of 1574—that titular reform,
but substantial evil, which opened the flood-gates of
a corrupt democracy, trading in the prostitution of
political virtue, and led to inevitable and over-
whelming ruin' Or, again, has experience, for
once, been the parent of wisdom, and are the advan-
tages of the last corrective measure of the enlightened
Czartoryski—which reformed the Belem Bill by
reversing the destructive and establishing a conserve.
Live spirit—enlarged the prerogatives of the Crown
and made it hereditary—reconferred the prescriptive
rights of the nobles, and made them truly indepen-
dent—and, last not least, remitted the bonds of the
slave forged by the Polish radical—are these consti-
tutional advantages at last made manifest and con-
fessed to be real ?—is it this ancient, this time-
honoured Constitution, old in venerable virtue and
longevity of freedom, with its territorial integrity,
that is now sought to be revivified ? Fiat justitia.
A severe but useful lesson is contained in the
downfal of the unhappy kingdom. A prodigal mea-
sure of popular privilege placed power in the hands
of irresponsible persons, whose narrow means made
them dependent upon others, and those others
strangers. Corruption was to them existence. A
senate of nobles not independent, because not heredi-
tary—exercising small control by reason of their
being merely the representative of kingly favour, and
not of high estate by prescriptive right—together
with an elective sovereign whose tenure of office,
always precarious, was often bought and oftener
held under foreign nomination—without interest for
the future, and devoid of influence unless supported
by faction and strengthened by illicit means from
without—these were among the many causes that
produced democratic innovation, turbulent govern-
ment, foreign interference, and national extinction.
Adverse factions excited by animosity are never un-
scrupulous in the wherewith of party exaltation ; and
the nicer the balance between them the weaker be-
comes the executive whose integral strength is the
salvation of all representative government. And
what security for freedom, what chance of stability,
could any nation possess amidst such a mass of
peril, if to that peril be superadded, in all its guile,
the deep, the blighting, the everlasting curse of
Jesuit home'

THa following pun, justimported from Paris, ap.
pears to have been made for use at SL Petersburg
" Comment vale siege de Sebastopol?" " dais it
va mieux—il commence 1 se lever."

AT WEIMAR, counterfeit autographs of Schiller
have been made use of in a most audacious manner.
The heirs of the poet are amongst the dupes. It
seems that the fraud has for its principal author a
bootmaker, whose crime is under investigation by the
authorities.

LETTERS FROM ATHENS contain deplorable accounts
of the progress of brigandage in various parts of
Greece. To such an extent has it proceeded that
some foreign influence of a detestable character is
suspected to be at work.
LORD DUNDONALD has altered his intention of
making known to the French Emperor his secret
plans—" capable speedily, certainly, and cheaply to
surmount obstacles which cur gallant, persevering,
and costly armies and fleets have failed to accom-
plish." The announcement of an intended disclosure
of his plans brought down upon his lordship nume-
rous unpleasant letters ; but these would not have
induced him to change his purpose had he not
learnt that the Emperor was not to proceed to the
East, and consequently could not personally avail
himself of the plan. " Feeling the greatest doubt
whether they would be triumphantly carried into
effect by any less expanded mind or subordinate
authority, I hesitated to risk an unfavorable result."
THE Government are fitting up every available
ship and steamer which has been lying in various
ports, so that in about six months time it will be, to
a considerable extent, independent of the merchant
and packet service for war transports. Already the
charge for tonnage for war purposes is reduced.
Large numbers of the present war transports will in
a few months be restored to the merchant and packet
service.
THE Governor-General of India has raised the
salary of Dr. O'Shaughnessy, the superintendent of
electric telegraphs in India, to 3,6001. per annum.
The doctor has been informed that the increase has
been given, not only in acknowledgment of his
valuable services, but because, had he remained at
the Mint, his salary would have been higher than
that which he has hitherto received as superinten•
dent of electric telegraphs.

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jortign 10 (Colonial 3nttlligtnce.

FRANCE.
The Assets, screw steam-corvette, is the vessel
selected to convey the Emperor and Empress from
Boulogne to England. Four line of-battle ships are
to serve as an escort to their Majesties in crossing
the Channel.
A most important state paper appears in the
Moniteur of Wednesday upon the subject of the
Eastern expedition. The military portion of the
undertaking is that first entered upon. The docu-
ment, which is strictly of an historical character, is
ably written, and consists in the general instructions
furnished by the Emperor to Marshal St. Arnaud,
which the latter appears not to have comprehended,
or else declined to carry out. In either case the
disasters of the Crimea are thrown upon the deceased
Commander-in-Chief for not adopting the recom-
mendations given to him by the Emperor at the out-
set of the expedition. The whole paper is highly
interesting, and finishes by claiming for the soldiers
all that is due to the most approved courage, and
for the chiefs all that is deserved by the highest
talent. The Moniteur promises a following article
in which shall be discussed, with impartiality, the
objects and purposes of the negotiations. The
appearance and contents of this paper caused some
little discouragement on the Bourse, and prices
declined.
Respecting the impression produced by this pike
justiftcatif on the French public, the Paris corre-
spondent of the Times remarks :
The article is generally attributed, and I have some
reason to suspect with truth, to M. A. de Laguerroniere,
but it bears evident marks of having been touched by the
hand of the Emperor, particularly in the scientific or
technical parts. That the tone of the article is warlike
cannot be doubted, but the impression produced in high
political quarters is, that the plan of military operations
hitherto followed is about to be modified, otherwise the
vastness of the undertaking, as against Sebastopol, and
the superio ity of the Russians in position and material,
would hardly be dwelt on so much. Altogether, the
article is considered as intended to prepare the army and
the nation for the transfer of the operations to some other
place, and opinion is merely divided as to the locality.
Some believe the theatre will be in another part of the
Crimea ; others that the troops will embark and proceed
towards Odessa, and that the war will be carried on in the
southern provinces of Russia, under the direction of the
Emperor himself.
The Exhibition will open on the Ist of May as
originally intended, no postponement having taken
place as erroneously reported.
GERMANY.
M. Drouyn de Lhuys arrived at Vienna on the
evening of the Bth. Baron de Bourqueney and all
the staff of the French Embassy received him at the
railway station. Next day (Saturday last) he
was received by the Emperor of Austria in a pri-
vate audience.
The ninth conference was held on Monday ; it was
very short, and not satisfactory.
It is uncertain when the next conference will take
place. The definitive answer of the Czar to the
points contained in Pnnce Gortschakon despatch is
not expected to arrive before the 20th.
Aali Pacha arrived at Trieste on Saturday en
route to Vienna, to take part in the conferences.
In consequence of counter orders received, en
route, General Wedell has returned to Berlin to pass
the Easter holidays. He is afterwards to proceed
directly to his post at Luxembourg. M. de Usedom
is also expected from London.
From Vienna we learn that the sickness among
the Austrian troops was unhappily making alarming
progress in the army of observation on the Polish
frontiers. The remnant of the Dragoon regiment
" Bavaria," which was reduced to a mere skeleton in
an incredibly short space of time by epidemic
diseases, is ordered to Biala for change of quarters ;
and the infantry regiment, " King of Belgium," which
has lost more than half its numbers from sickness,
is recalled from Galicia, and will exchange garrisons
with a regiment now in Hungary.
TURKEY.

News from Constantinople to the 31st of March
has been received.
The execution of the sentence of exile pronounced
against Mustapha Pacha has been for the moment
suspended on account of his illness. The Egyptian
troops, sent to the army of Omer Paeha, have
arrived at Eupatoria in good condition.
The Consuls-General of France and England, who
have returned to Bucharest after a prolonged
absence, hoisted their flags on the 25th ult., and
thus indicated in ofEcial style that the diplomatic
relations between those powers and the Government
of Wallachia were re-established.
RUSSIA.
Private letters from St. Petersburg received by im-
portant mercantile houses state confidently that the
fanatical war party has completely got the upper
hand, and that Alexander ll.'s throne would not be