The Sun.
London, England, 1855-08-03 00:00:00

THE POSTPONED POLISH MEETING.

The subjoined Jotter, addressed by Sir De Lacy Evans to

poi

Ns that, 11.,

iS no

Wecfu&lay. The respectable f.qgijathrOS attache; i u tie
letter of tl2e Conucil of the Literary AssociatiOn of tile
Friends of Poland convinces us that no blame can attach
in that quarter beyond the very venial one of allowing
themselves to be taken by surprise. We learn with plea-
sure that the postponed meeting will certainly be held in
tho course of next week. We hope that Sir De Lacy
Dram's health may then be so larva-established as to enable
him to take the chair :

Sir,—lt was with extreme surprise that I found in your
journalof this morning that the meeting respecting Poland,
to have been held last night, and of which I was announced
as chairman, was suddenly put off, on the sole alleged
ground of my inability to attend. From the following
particulars I teust you will perceive thatl had no adequate
reason to anticipate such a result.
On the 18th of July I received a communication from a
gentleman representing the Council of the Friends of
Poland, requesting me, on their behalf, as follows :
" To take the chair at a public meeting, to be held on
the Ist or Bth of August in the locality of Westminster,
having for its object not only to express sympathy, but
also to advocate the necessity of the formation of the
Polish Legion as the best measure for crippling the power of
Russia. The Marquis of Breadalbano, the Earl of Shaftes-
bury, the Earl of Harrington, Lord Kinnaird, Lord Sandon,
and several members of Parliament, have already signified
their intention of taking part in the proceedings."
The writer of this letter did me the honour of calling
on me on the following clay for my reply, when I urged
the propriety of some one of these high and honoured per-
sonages being selected by the council, in preference to me,
for the post of chairman ; but being pressed to give my
assent I yielded, but at the same time suggested that my
health being still precarious, it would be necessary to no-
minate another gentleman to take my place, in the event
of my being compelled to retire during the proceedings.
Finding myself very unwell, however, early yesterday
morning, I despatched, between 9 and 10 o'clock, for the
information of the council, a letter of which the following
is, I believe, nearly a verbatim copy :
" A severe indisposition, which I have suffered from last
night, obliges me, with much regret, to solicit being ex-
cused attending the meeting of this evening, on the subject
of Poland. Since my return from the East I have been
subject to these attacks, which usually leave me, for two
or three days, unfit for any exertion.
"As, however, several noblemen and gentlemen of high
station are metteoned in the circular invitation by the
council as having promised to assist at this meeting, there
cannot be any difficulty in supplying my place as chairman.
I hear the meeting is likely to be a most numerous one,
which occasions me the more regret iu being prevented
sharing iu its proaeedings.
"I have understood that the principal object in view on
this occasion was to elicit an expression of public opinion on
the policy of embodying at the seat of war a military force
to consist of Poles, as one of the elements for contending
against the colossal semi-barbarous power which now me-
naces Europe with subjugation. And as I venture to think
no one, however wise, can foresee the eventualities of the
arduous war we are engaged in—a proposition so mode-
rate, distinct, and opportune as the formation of, such a
force cannot be liable to any sound objection, and will, I
feel assured, obtain the unanimous and enthusiastic affir-
mation of any great assemblage of Englishmen. Were I
able to be present, I should have submitted some few
statements in support of these opinions. Others I have no
doubt will do so, in better and more persuasive language ;
and I have only again to request you will be good enough
to convey this my expression of regret and apology to the
council, and to subscribe myself—Yours, &c.,

"11. L. EVANS."

Feeling by the comments in your journal of this morn.
ing that much disappointment was naturally caused by the
postponement of the meeting, I have troubled yod at this
length to show that I could have had no anticipation but
that another chairman would have been readily available
to conduct the business of the evening.—I am, &c.,
Bryanstone7sluare, August 2.

Dz LACY EVANS.

Literary Association of the Friends of Poland, Sussex-
chambers, Duke-st., St. James's, Aug. 2, 1835.
Sir,—We hasten to repudiate, most earnestly and posi-
tively, the imputation cast in some quarters upon that
gallant patriot, Sir De Lacy Evans, and the parties who
were instrumental in prop?sinc, to hold the meeting an-
nounced for Wednesday night at St. Martin's-hall, on the
subject of Poland, as if the illness of the former was pre-
tended, and the latter had been induced, through some
sinister transactions with the Government, to deceive the
public, and play false to the dause they have ever had most
warmly at heart.
It was not until late in the afternoon of yesterday that
we received a letter from Sir De Lacy Evans, stating his
deep regret that through an illness, to which he is occa-
sionally subject since his campaign in the Crimea, it was
utterly cut of hie power to preside at the meeting. Con-
sidering it of the highest consequence that the public should
hear from Sir Do Lacy Evans's own lips his sentiments
and ,statements, so important from his practical oxpe•
rience and services in the war, on the subject of the
formation of a Polish Legion and the Polish ques-
tion generally, and that the propose 1 meeting should, at
the present important crisis, be as influential and useful
as possible, we thought it advisable to adjourn the meet-
ing for a few days, to give time for Sir De Lacy Evans's
recovery. This is the simple fact, and no communication
whatever passed between this association and the Govern-
ment on the subject of the meeting. We immediately gave
public notice, by placards and otherwise, so far as was
practicable, and by communications with individuals, of
the adjournment of the meeting. Sir Do Lacy Evans is
in no degree responsible for this. If blame is attributable
to anybo.ly for doing what was, under the circumstances,
thought to be best for the cause, it is attributable to us
le.

We sincerey regret the great disappointment which
appears to have been felt; but we can only rejoice at the
feeling existed in favour of Poland, and trust that such
feeling will be still more clearly and strongly exhibited at
the postpone,l meeting, which will assuredly be held in the
course of next week.--We have the honour to be, sir,
your obedient servants, on behalf of the council,
EDMOND BEALE% Chairman.
WM. LLOYD BIRKBECK, lion. Sec.

(From the Morning Advertiser of this day.)
We understand that the indisposition of the gallant
officer, who was to have presided at the meeting ou Wed-
nesday for resolving ou the formation of a Polish Legion,
was not the only cause of the postponement of that meet-
ing. It would. appear that the announcement of that
meeting had occasioned some alarm to the Government, in
consequence of the representations of the Austrian and
Prussian Ambassadors, who also affected to communicate,
the views of the Ministers of Holland and Belgium, and of
some of the petty States of Germany. The result of such
a demonstration, the foreign diplomatists apprehended,
would be, not only the awakening of false hopes in the
breasts of the oppressed people of Poland and of other
States, but of a general revolution in Europe. One Minis-
ter in particular, it is alleged, threatened to apply for his
passports. The steps, therefore, were taken which, coin
cident with General Evans's illness, led to the dh.appoint-
ment of Wednesday.

That this little event should excite so much apprehen-
4ion among the satellite Sovereigns of the Czar is pre-
cisely the reason why the Government should have brut
its' encouragement—it is the reason above all others which
should stimulate the Allied Powers to avail themselves of
so direct and certain a mode of ensuring a speedy and tri-
umphant issue to their cause. The struggle now has
assumed such an aspect that we must no longer bear with
diplomatic trifling ; the States who hesitate to identify
their fortunes with the cause of freedom and civilisation
should at once be considered as the accomplice of the
enemy. Why should any Minister complain o a proposal
which may contemplate the iestoratiou of• Poland ? It is
the course oil which we should have entered long ago.
Had the other European Powers made a cams belli of that
monstrous infraction of the treaty of Vienira which anni-
hilated the independence of Poland, in honour, justice,
and humanity they were bound to do, they might have
escaped the troubles of 1813. England is now expiating
with her blood and treasure her complicity in that great
political crime. The rival despotisms of Austria and
Prussia might have been satisfied with fragments of plun-
dered territory, but how bitter must be their reflections
when th, y now find themselves in the grasp of the Musco-
vite, so far as to be obliged to submit as instruments to
the hazard of their own destruction.

They misrepresent the feeling of enlightened Germany
who pretend that it has no sympathy for the cause of
Poland. The first outbreak of revolutionary enthusiasm
in 1848, disclosed the feelings of the German people towards
the Czar. The first watchwords of that revolution were
a Free Press," and the "Restoration of Poland."
We are not surprised that Prussia should feel so COE*
•erned for the tranquillity of Posen,. and even of West-
phalia and the Rhenish Provinces, whore a French feeling
prevails, as to dread the effect of so small a movement in
London as the organisation of a Polish Legion. We are
not surprised that Austria, with her experience of 1818
and 1819, should tremble for the least manifestation of de-
cided sympathy in the cause of the oppressed nationalities
--a cause which has only to be seconded by the Western
Powers to. bring her at once to a stand•still in diplomatic
attitndi rising, as it will also quicken the determination of
the other truckling Power—whose vacillation has mainly
caused the war to develope to its present alarming mag-
t itude.