The Express.
London, England, 1861-10-23 00:00:00

TO OUR READERS.

--*-
SPORTLNO ENTELLIGENCE.

A late ellitiou of the Express ix published every
evening during the racing season, containing the
results of the day's races.

Ri-ssi.l is at this moment encountering in
Poland a kind of resistance it has never experienced
before, and with which it is evidently at a loss
bow to deal. In previous seasons of political excite-
ment the whole Polish nation rarely acted, the
movement having been confined almost entirely to
the nobles, and the tipper classes of the town popu-
lation. Thu plan of resistance was that of secret
organization, followed by an appeal to arms. When
their just rights were swept away, and their urgent
and reiterated claims for redress refused, the
Polish patriots took secret counsel together, and first
publicly announced the result of their deliberations
by appealing to the sword. That was an appeal
Russia knew well how to meet. The Polish
leaders might be the most gallant and skilful
soldiers in the world, and their patriotic forces
might fight, as they did, with the energy of
despair. But all was of no avail. The contest for
inertial supremacy between an enormous barbaric
empire like that of Russia and the divided and
almost defenceless kingdom of Poland was too un-
equal. The Polish patriots were always in the
end overwhelmed by numbers, and their noble
efforts for freedom and independence quenched in
blood. Armed revolt was but followed by the
harsh severity of hostile occupation and military
rule. In such conflicts Russia might rely with
certainty on eventual success.
All, however, is changed now. For tho first
time almost in its history the Polish nation is
united. All creeds and classes act not only
together, but with perfect unanimity of feeling
and purpose. The recent patriotic demonstrations
have afforded the most striking proofs of this un-
precedented union. At the funeral of the late
Archbishop FIJALKOWSKI, which took place at
Warsaw a fortnight ago, upwards of a hundred
thousand people joined in the procession, and in
this immense but most quiet and orderly crowd
were the representatives of every social rank and
every religious creed in the kingdom. Besides
members of the various protestant churches in
Poland, the Jews, who have hitherto kept aloof
from any movirnent of the kind, mnstered in great
numbers. It furnished an occasion, too, for illus-
trating the friendly feeling and hearty union of
purpose that exists between the nobles, the trades-
people, and the peasants. "The most curious
feature of the whole promotion," says our correspon-
dent, " was thepreseseisof great nu mbersof peasants,
" many of whom had arrived for the occasion from
" great dishiness. They were received in the
" most cordial manner by the nobles, who found
" them lodgings for the night at their own houses,
" and the nest day gave them a dinner at the
" European Hotel, to which several hundreds sat
" down." In the speeches that followed host.
and guests expressed their earnest hope that old
jealousies and antipathies would be forgotten,
and henceforth all dames unite in the effort to
were national freedom and independence. Then
the whole plan of action in the present move-
ment is changed. There is no secret organiza-
tion, no covert effort of any kind. The protest
against the existing arbitrary system of govern-
ment tales the form not only of a strictly passive,
but of a popular and orderly resistance. The
patriotic demonstrations are all made in opus
day, under the eyes of the authorities, and in the
most legal manner. This was illustrated at the great
national meeting the other day at Horodlo. The
Government was moat anxious to prevent the meet-
ing from taking place. AU the preparations, such
as triumphal arches and the like, were destroyed,
and eventually the Russian general in command
prohibited the people from coming into the town.
The result was, that instead of offering any resist-
ance to such au arbitrary and vexatious decree, the
people assembled in the adjacent fields, and held
the national celebration there instead of in the town.
Here, too, as at the Archbishop's funeral, and the
KOSCIUSKO anniversary, the maims assembled be-
haved with perfect order. Even under severe
provocation no act of violence was committed, and
no disturbance except that wantonly made by the
authorities occurred.
No doubt a national demonstration of this kind
is difficult to deal with. The Polish people de•
mend in this passive but most eloquent and em-
barrassing protest the restoration of their political
rights, which were illegally suppressed more than
thirty years ago. They ask for a share of the
political power, a measure of the local self-govern-
ment guaranteed to them by treaties, and which
for several years they enjoyed. A sagacious and,
intelligent government would no doubt meet this
movement by granting in some modified form
at least the popular iruititutiorui the king-
dom formerly possessed. And at first the
Russian Government seemed disposed to take
this wise and temperate course. But the plan
was no sooner announced than it was practically
abandoned, and for months past the conduct of
the Government towards the Poles has been
irresolute and vacillating indeed, but in the
main cruel, unjust, and most tyrannical as well.
The military authorities at Warsaw have striven in
every way to drive the people into open revolt,
and it was confidently anticipated that these tactics
would prove successful at Horodlo. But the
design was wen through, and frustrated by the
patience and self-restraint of the people. At the
Kum:mike anniversary, however, a more desperate