The Express.
London, England, 1863-02-23 00:00:00

HIGH WATER AT LONDON MUDGE.,

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LONDON, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23.

THE King of PRUSSIA has succeeded to an un-
exampled extent in concentrating on himself the
hatred and contempt of all Europe. By his
flagrant violations of the constitution he had
sworn to support he sufficiently proved that he had
no practical regard to the rights and liberties of
the Prussian nation, and the incredible folly and
obstinacy of his home policy has fatally alienated
the devoted loyalty of his own people. By his
military intervention in Poland he has now shown
himself equally indifferent to the rights of other
nations, and this atrocious outrage against the
reason, 'the conscience, and the public law of
Europe has exposed him to the just scorn and
indignation of every civilized community. This
open and infamous violation of every sentiment of
humanity, every dictate of honour, and every re-
cognised principle of international justice, has com-
pleted the terrible isolation of Wailes( I.
He is at this moment by his own act a
moral and political outlaw in Europe.
The gratuitous and uncalled-for intervention of a
foreign power in the affairs of a neighbouring state
is • direct attack on the primary rights of every
other independent community, an attack involving
by necessity the forfeiture of international position
and respect. But, in this case, the breach of in-
ternational faith is a crime against humanity
that has most justly awakened the wrath and in-
dignation of Europe. By his eager violation of
a neutrality peculiarly sacred, the King of Pausaia
becomes a willing accomplice in those acts of brutal
.ynuany which drove a noble-hearted and long-
suffering people to despair. He openly identifies
himself with crimes which even their Muscovite
perpetrators dare not avow—with cruelties which
came on an offending people suddenly life a thief
in the night, and which but for the wild
cry of angnish and the simultaneous rush
to arms they provoked, would have swept
the pride and hope of every family in
Poland to exile, torture, and death. The reve-
lation of these atrocities has half paralyzed the
arm of the oppressor at home, the military, serfs,
and semi-barbarous populations on the Polish
frontier of the Madan Empire having instinctively
recoiled from the prospect of such horrors. Abroad
they have raised a universal cry of execration
against the ruthless despot who could attempt the
perpetration of such a crime. But at the very
moment when all Europe is w►tching the unequal
contest with intense sympathy for the weak and
almost helpless victims, the King of PRUSSIA steps
forward to congratulate the oppressor and fold him
red-handed in a closer and more friendly embrace.
While the sympathy and moral support of every
people outside the Russian frontier is with the
Poles, struggling for life and all that makes life
of any value, the nominal head of a constitutional
monarchy, the official representative of • free
people,eagerlyoffersconifort and aid to their oppres-
sors. It is a pitiable and revolting spectacle. A
monarch so dead to every sentiment of humanity
andustice, to every feeling of dignity and self-
respect, who does not shrink from outraging in so
flagrant • manner the public opinion of Europe,
must stand alone—must in the nature of things be
exposed to the scorn and contempt of mankind.
But the position taken by the King of Pscruirs,
however humiliating to himself, and however
isolated it may be in a moral point of view, isl
nevertheless attended with serious political results.
By his intervention on behalf of Russia WILL I.
makes the Polish question once more • European
one, and appeals indirectly to the action if not to I
the decision of the other neutral Powers. It will
be difficult, if not impossible, for the other
Governments of Europe to treat the Polish revolt
any longer as a merely domestic question. The
King of Panama virtually carries the Cabinets of
Europe back to the original partition of Poland, I
which is about the last thing any monarch in his
senses at all connected with that gigantic crime
could have been expected to do. There have never
been two opinions in Europe about that infamous
conspiracy against the life of an independent king-
dom, that cloak and dagger attempt to murder •
gallant nation. Such • crime was possible only
at a moment of unparalleled European confusion,
when every nation was too much distracted
by its own affairs to interfere for the de-
fence even of the most vital international
rights. The crime was accordingly perpetrated,
but its perpetration, though not forcibly resisted
at the isomer t, was followed by a loud wail of
mingled wrath, humiliation, and horror. The
first statesmen and jurists in every European
State described it as without a parallel in history.
It has never ceased to weigh as a burden of un-
expiated guilt on the heart and conscience of
Europe. Time, however, might have done much
to remove this burden. An enlightened policy of
wisdom and justice towards the Polish people in
their divided state world have done much to
palliate the original guilt of the partition.
But nothing short of this could have at all availed
to remove the worst results of the crime so far as
the Poles themselves were concerned, or to efface
the impression it produced on the other nations of
Europe. Had such a liberal and enlightened
policy been consistently pursued, Poland might
never have become a European question again.
But it is every day becoming clearer that this alter-
native cannot now be avoided, or much longer de-
layed. Russia has forfeited every vestige of moral
claim to the possession of Poland. Her policy
there has been a total, a calamitous, a barbarous
failure. Instead of fulfilling her repeated
engagements and attempting to conciliate the
Polish people by showing some respect for their