The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-10 00:00:00

The Great leolish Trial at Berlin.

This monster tilt' 1, which has continued nearly
five months, was closed on the 2d instant. 127 of
the accused were actually tried by the Court, 11
had gone abroad, and 11 others were absent on tic•
count of illness, or from other causes. The Crown
Prosecutor has mcrved that those who went abroad
should be sentencted to death par contuniace, and
the others who w aro absent be given a new trial.
Of the 127 who were tried,, the prosecution has
proposed that four—Messrs, Kosinski, Niegole %add,
Rust( j ko, and Ca :tier—should be sentenced to death,
three to 15 years' imprisonment, 22 to 10 years, one
to eight years, and 35 to six years. The remaining
62 are recommended for liberation. The President
of the Court has filled the 231 instant for the pub-
lication of the Bente:ices, adding, however, that the
Court will perhaps not be able to complete the
heavy task -before it by that day. The following is
an account of some of the more remarkable inci-
dents of the trial since our last report
After the speech of Dr. Niegolewski's counsel, on
the motion of the prosecution that sentence of death
be passed upon him, the well-known Polish mem-
ber of the Prussian Chamber made some striking
remarks on the position of the Poles under Prus-
sian rule. He said that, although they were Prus-
sian subjects, they had the guaranteed right of
being Poles, end regarding themselves as mem-
bers of the whole Polish nation ; and that
they had therefore not ceased to be Poles—not
being so dead to all sense of honour:and dignity
as to renounce their nationality. The prosecu-
tion had stated that neither the peasants nor the
higher nobility had favoured the insurrection.
This statement was incorrect. The peasants did
take part in the insurrection, and if they did no
take part in it such numbers as they would have
done had there been sufficient arms, that was not
their fault. As regards the highest nobility of
Posen, it should not be forgotten that the Polish
nobility cannot be compared with any other, It had
its own historical mission, and if there is any nobi-
lity to which may be applied the words of Salluat :
—" Fortibus actibus atqne boz a fair a. neque divitis
neque superb* nobilis ignobilem prse:bat," it
was the Polish nobility of ell grades, from the
highest to the lowest. The Polish nobility did not
regard the defence of its privileges as its mis-
sion. It had always shown a disposition to sacri-
fice itself for its country, and had always
taken active part in the development of freedom
and education. Is a noble to be a representative
of reaction and of obscurantism -because he is of
noble blood P The Polish nobility rejected such a
principle ; it did not base its fame on its ancient
lineage, but on its own merits. He would quote
as examples of true Polish nobility two great famis
lies of Posen, distinguished for their efforts in the
cause of education—the Dzialynskis and the
Riczynskis. And yet these were the very men
who were the most violently attacked by the pro-
seution. The truth was that every man in the
Duchy of Posen helped the insurrection against
Russia to the best of his ability, and the wealthiest
and most influential, therefore, did the most.
Another important speech was that of Herr Elven,
regarding the so-called military and civil commis-
sioners of the Posen Committee, whom the prosecu-
tion bad recommended to be sentenced to imprison-
ment. He observed that if the system of the
prosecution was to be followed, 93 of the accused
ought to lose their heads. The tribunal must deliver
a just sentence, and therefore it cannot make any
distinction between Messrs Kosinski, Niegolewski,
and .Rustejko, and the rest of the accused. If both

the members of the committee, and its commis-
sioners, knowingly acted with a hostile intent
towards Prussia, they should all equally be cons
demned ; those who did not so act should be declared

innocent. Which was the more guilty, he who
conceived the treason, or he who knowingly exe-
cuted it ?

Oa the 23d nit. M. Komutski, one of the accused,
made a sts'ement which will probably have a great

influence on the ultimate decision of the court. The
Crown prosecutor had founded his motion, that sen-
tence of death should be passed on the alleged mem-

bers of the Posen Committee, chiefly on a passage in
an address from that committee, in which it is stated
that the committee "had its rise" in the National
Government at Warsaw, M. Ko=zutski proved that

this passage, which is in the official translation of
the address, is a misrepresentation of the original.
His statement was confirmed by the Polish trans..
lator appointed by the Court.
At the conclusion of the trial, M. Mittlestadt,
the counsel for the prosecution, said that,
while fully believing that the counsel for the

defence were convinced of the innocence of their
clients, he and the Crown Prosecutor saw no

reason for departing from the: charges they had
made against the accused from the beginning. High
treason consists not only in actions, but in thought
and intention.

Herr Lewald reminded the Court what were the
hopes and fears of the defence when the trial com-

menced, and what were their expectations now.
They could only expect from the nature of the ac-

ousation that the prosecution would make 102
motions recommending sentence of death to be

passed, and support them by showing what dangers
had threatened the Prussian monarchy. Yet of
the 128 persons tried, the prosecution had pro-
posed the liberation of 63, and the execution of
four only. These proposals for the liberation of the

accused were hardly less painrut than those recom-
mending the punishment of death. Under what

a system did they live, if there was so little security
for individual freedom P Sixty three persons had

been confined in prison for upwards of a year, and

now the prosecution itself recommended their
liberation.! He regarded this fact as ominous of
danger to all Prussians, and in the whole course of
the trial he could not refrain from thinking of the

old principle, " res tna agitur." He concluded as

bllows :—" We have now for six months been to-

gether with men of a different nationality from

,hat of the majority of the counsel who defended

hem. It may be that this entire devotion on

our part to their interests will help to bring to.
gether the two nationalities, The fault of what

has hero been disclosed does not entirely belong to
the authorities and the police—intra nzuros pee-
Cahnll est et extra. But it is a larger question—
whether the _whole body of each nationality will io
future be more friendly to the other. One g
I will venture to say in the name of my fellow
counsel. We have taken a sincere liking for the
accused who are here present. Many of them
man of lofty mind and feeling, we shall never
forget, and I trust they will remain our friends.

Gentlemen of the Coart,l believe you will draw
from this an opinion opposed to that advo-

cated by the prosecution. We are, all but two,
Prussian Germans. We would, no doubt,

th;Lier any circumstances do our duty; but wo could
never ba: sq defended these men with such deep and
ardent feeling Lad we felt the shadow of a suspicion
that they had design :d to attack our country. Yes,
gentlemen, we believe—wt; are convinced—that in
this case not one of the accused .thought of any hos-

tile design towards Prussia; and in utis belief, based
on the strongest conviction, I bring before you, in
the name of my fellow•counsel, the request—or
rather the hope and strong expectation—that yug
will liberate all the accused, there paying the debt
of justice. Otherwise you cannot do."

THE CAFTOR OF THE FLORIDA.--It seems that
Captain Collins, of the Waohusetts, has before per•
formed a similar exploit of making a capture in neutral
waters. This occurred on the 21st of December, 1862, while
in commend of the Octerora, when he seized the British
schooner Mont Blanc, a small craft of nine tons, while she
was lying at anchor within a mile cf Bahama Banks, and
took her to Key West. The Prize Court at that place soon
released her on the ground that she was clearly within
British wafers at the time of capture. Lord Lyons brought
the matter to the attention of the Government, and, after a
full examination, Mr Seward acknowledged the error of
Captain Collins, admitted the right of the owner of the
schooner to damages► and stated that Captain Collins 'would
be notified that he had incurred the disapprobation of the
Preeident..- Pottland Argus.

_
VALE OF NEATII RAILWAY.—The negotiktionE
which have for some time past been pending between the
directors of the Great Western and Vale of Neath Cora-
panies have terminated in an arrangement that the Vale of
Neath Company are to receive 5.0625 parts of 100 of the
net earnings of the united compauies, with a fixed mini-
mum of £84,000 per annum,