The Express.
London, England, 1861-07-04 00:00:00

SPORIIWO nnnuomccE.

A late edition d the IroyortllM is published every
evening aunts' the roam swan, containing the
results of the day's new.

Tura, was a time, and not very long ago,
when a debate cm Poland in the House of Coin-
mons was not deemed a waste of precious Parlia-
mentary eloquence and attention. There was a
time, perhaps, when political questions were not
entirely subordinated to " practical measures,"
and when at the beginning of July those " practical
measures" which so usefully supersede a political
programme were not a beggarly account of inter-
rupted failures. But we have the happiness to
live in an easy-going age, when between "prao-
" tical " measures which fall to pieces in their pas-
sage to the Lords, and political measures which are
by common consent tabooed, the notion of spend-
ing an hour or two in the first week of July in
discussing the grossest infraction of treaties ever
perpetrated by a great European Power is laughed
to scorn by the " Don't-matter" party which pre-
sides so pleasantly in these piping days over the
,4 councils of the realm. Judging from the expe-
rience of the last live months, and tho extraordinary
amount of public business got through by a
" practical " Government and an indulgent Oppo-
sition, in a House in which the programme of all
parties consists in agreeing to differ as long as a
dissolution can be staved off, it is difficult not to
regret that a topic so extraneous, so purely so-
matic and otiose as Poland should disturb the do-
mestic business of a quorum of severely "practical"
legislators. Poland is one of those lion d'aurres
which were permissible enough when the House was
filled with a set of sentimentalists and theories,
whose mode of transacting public business at home

was to occupy a session in debating Catholic
Emancipation, the repeal of the Corn Laws, or a
" comprehensive " Reform Bill. We have now
arrived at years of discretion and repose, and it is
only when we take our " forty winks, " in the
intervals of practical legislation and the Opera,
that we allow our ears to be tickled with a fan-
timia on the rights and wrongs of Poland.
And yet, for all the languid sneers of the
" Don't-matter" school, it is satisfactory to be
able to remark that the brief and animated die-
cusaion on the affairs of Poland in the House of
Commons on Tuesday, was ir. some respects more
remarkable and effective than almost any that
have been hoard on that distressing question
within the last thirty years. That the debate
was opened by a bitter enemy to the rights of
the nation beyond the Alps, and an ardent apolo-
gist for the policy of Austria towards Italy from
1815 to 1854, added zest and pungency to Mr.
Pore Ilesznisv's advocacy of Polish nationality.
There are isconaistentics of feeling and opinion in
ess lives of most public men of strong political pre-
judices and passions, which are too generous for
taunts. Sympathy for national rights from a fervent
Papal crusader and admirer of the BOVIUSONS of
Naples is all the more deserving of &cordial welcome
that it comes from so unexpected • quarter. The
cause of Poland, it is true, has the advantage in the
eyes of a Papal crusader of being less accessible to
indignant sympathy than the cause of Italy. M.
DE MONT►LLMBLLT If, we believe, to this day, as
devoted a nationalist, in behalf of Poland, as when
once a year he defied the armies of Russia from
the tribune of the Chamber of Peers. Yet an
unfortunate analogy is suggested by the temper
of the " old parties" in France towards Italy,
and the temper of the old Russian parties
towards Poland. The "old parties" in France
grudge to Italy the liberties they have failed
to keep, just as the " old parties" in Russia have
grudged to Poland the liberties they have not yet
gained for themselves. But this in passing : sym-
pathy with the rights of a nation, front whatever
quarter, is always welcome and always respectable.
At any rate, Mr. bIo)NOLTON Maxis, in seconding
Mr. Ha.vszsav's motion, restored it to its natural
sphere of opinion and principle, and did good ser-
vice to the cause that has always been so near his
own heart by the poignant force with which he asked
how the great treaty-breaking Powers could de-
mand the respect of France for the very
treaties they have broken, or the aid of
England in maintaining their treaty-rights.
Mr. 51ii.xni showed an intelligent and true ap-
preciation of that moral force which, in spite of
the sneers of political materialists, transcends the
operations of fleets and armies, when he appealed
with temperate earnestness, in the name of out-
raged public opinion and of the enlightened con-
science of civilized Europe, to the prudence and
foresight of the Russian Government, and to that
noble and memorable example of national feeling
and national sacrifice which the Russian nation
had displayed during the Crimean war, against
the flagitious attempt to disregard the moral
sense of Europe and to suppress the na-
tional spirit of the Polish people. It
is weU that the great Russian people should
understand, that to di fend the rights of one natio&
is to defend the rights of all. Mr. Mitzi/A speaks
with such unfeigned respect of the Russian people
that his words deserve acceptance even at St.
Petersburg as • faithful interpretation of English
feeling.
Nor can it be fairly objected that the FORNON
NIU'RVTAI:I. and the Fiesr Muslim:it did injustice
to English feeling, or betrayed any indifference to
the rights of Poland, in their way of speaking on
Tuesday night, while they had the courage and the
honesty to define and distinguish the reeponsi-
bilities of the English Government, and the possi-
bilities of its more than moral action in such •
cause. If, we say, moral force be not an idle
phrase, it is no small gain for any rightful cause
that the two leading ministers of England should
protest in Parliament against the wanton violation

of treaties by Powers who call themselves protectors
of treaties, and should assert their faith in the
better future of the Polish nation. The martyrs
of Warsaw have not died in vain, since their
massacre is avenged by such remonstrances, and
by such prophetic hopes as these of the responsible
rulers of free England. No doubt it is surprisingly
witty to observe that after all the British fleet
cannot even make a demonstration "off the coast
" of Poland"; a coast which—less fortunate than
Bohemia in that respect—was not even accessible
to the imagination of the greatest of English
poets. But the good sense of the most
illustrious leaders of Polish patriotism makes
any exhibition of geographical knowledge and
sarcasm quite superfluous. What Poland asks for
on the part of England is not the aid of armies,
but of that public voice of a free and mighty
nation in behalf of right and justice, which has
already been worth armies to Italy. And this is
why we believe these outspoken and sincere words
in the British Parliament will penetrate through
palaces and citadels inaccessible to fleets, "so as,"
in the words of an honoured correspondent of our
own, " to make the guilty grow pale, and inspire
" the wronged with hope."

THE VOLCHTLEK MRETING AT WINDLZDOX.—WO
are authorised to state, for the information of Vo-
lunteer Corps who have received permission to be
present at Wimbledon on the 13th inst., that the
several battalions are required to be upon the
ground at 5 p.m., and that the line will be formed
at 6 o'clock. Volunteers to be provided with ten
rounds of ammunition.