The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-05 00:00:00

The Great Polish Trial at Berlin.

The examination of the accused Poles was commenced at
the sitting of the 22d August. The tedious preliminaries
which have so long occupied the Court, and which—as was
well shown by Dr. Gneist in his speech at the previous
sitting—only established the inability of the prosecution to
produce direct evidence of the criminality of the accused, by
their attempts to draw inferences from a variety of uncon-
nected documents published at various periods and in
foreign countries—have now been brought to a close, and
the real business of the Court appears to have at length be-
gun, The sitting of the 22d was occupied by the examina-
tion of M. Kosinski, one of the accused. This gentleman,
in reply to inquiries made by the president, said that, so far
as he knew, there was no committee in Posen connected
with the Polish National Government, He admitted that
some persons in Posen had united in order to assist the
insurrection in Russian Poland ; but he was not one of
them. He denied that he bad taken any part in any
treasonable undertaking, and quoted several of his writings
as a proof of his anti-revolutionary opinions. He added
that, in 1848, the people of Posen had hopes of being backed
by the whole of Germany in a war with Russia, and that
the insurrection which afterwards took place was the work
of Mieroslawksi, who is regarded in Posen as a self seek-
ing adventurer, and obtained very little support in the pro-
vince at the time. Ho belonged, he said, to no party, and
was strongly opposed to the insurrection—but, when the
insurrection broke out, he thought it his duty to render
assistance to his fellow-countrymen. It was but natural
that the insurrection should produce a certain excitement
in Posen. Most of those who inhabit that province
havo relations in Russian Poland, so that every one
in Posen was more or less personally interested in what
took place in that country, and many of the more en-
thusiastic crossed the frontier to join their insurgent
brethren. In his opinion it was quite incorrect to attribute
the insurrection to foreign agitation; it was caused solely by
internal grievances. M. Guttry, whenever he came in contact
with him, showed great discouragement as to the prospects
of the insurrection, and great ill will to Mieroslawaki. He
declared that he was not in the Dzialynskie committee, and
pointed out that the only ground for the allegation of the
prosecution that ho belonged to the committee was, that
the syllable "Kos" was written in the count's pocket-book,
although that syllable was the beginning of many other
Polish names besides his own, He added that ho had, at
the request of the count, volunteered to proceed to the
frontier for the purpose of giving information as to the
movements of Russian and Prussian troops, &c. While he
acted in this capacity ho saw only volunteers joining the
insurgents ; there was no enlistment. He also allowed
some insurgents to reside at his house; but he had neither
commanded a detachment nor occupied any position
of authority. lie further admitted that he had assisted
insurgents to cross the frontier, and allowed them to
drill without arms in his garden. M. Kosinski concluded
his examination by declaring his conviction that the in-
surrection was directed against Russia alone, and that no
sensible Pole would countenance its extending any further.
A confidential letter, addressed by the prisoner to his aunt,
and stopped by the prison authorities, was then read by
order of the Court, notwithstanding a protest from
Janecki : after which the sitting was closed.
On the 23d the cross-examination of another of the pri-
soners, the well-known member of the Prussian Chamber,
Dr W. Niegolewski, commenced. Dr Ni, golewski said
that the present proceedings were strangely inconsistent
with the principle laid down by the Crown prosecutor
at the Polish trial in 1846—vii,, that the wishes of the
Poles for the restoration of Poland could not ho regarded
as criminal, and that in Prussia deeds only could form the
subject of a judicial prosecution. The present trial was only
to prove and punish thoughts, not deeds, Both in the last in-
surrection and in that of 1846 the Poles had endeavour to ob-
tain the sympathies of G ermany, and were hostile to Russia.
No opposition was ever offered by the Poles to the capture of
arms, &c., for the insurrection by Prussian employes and
Prussian troops. He declared it to be his conviction that
the present trial was the fruit of the machinations of Messrs.
Baerensprung and Post. Ile was not intimate, he added,
with 11, Guttry, as they did not agree in their political
opinions. As regards his being named in Count Dzialynski's
memoranda, he said these memoranda ,vere like an unac-
cepted bill. He thought the note relating to him was a
forgery, No one could have written it that knew the Po-

lish language. M. Elven here confirmed the witness, and
pointed out that M. Baerensprung had nevertheless declared.
that every word in the memoranda was written by Count
Dzialynski. The President here closed the sitting.
Next day (the 24th) the examination of Dr Niegolowsk
was continued. A long discussion took place as to the
authenticity of the signature of the prisoner affixed to a
.ecree of the National Polish Government, which Dr
Niegolewski denied to be his, as also the authorship of
some other documents ascribed to him by the prosecution.
Both the prisoner and Herr Elven made some sharp
remarks on this occasion on the unscrupulous conduct of
the police in mlnufacturing evidence to procure the
condemnation of the Poles. The President then examined
the prisoner as to his participation in the insurrection
The prisoner said he arrived at Taczanowski's camp on the
26th April, without arms, and volunteered as a private
soldier; that there were no courts-martial in camp while
he was there; and that he purchased arms, but only for
the purpose of using them in the struggle against Russia.
On the 25th, Herr Elven, referring to the statement of the
prosecution, that they had witnesses to prove that in Tao-
zanoweki's camp the intention was expressed of fighting
with the Prussians, moved that the defence might be
allowed to produce witnesses who would give evidence of a
totally opposite character. He also begged to be allowed
to read an article, by a police officer, in the Tosener Zei-
lung, from which it appeared that the Posen police con-
tinues its action against the accused even while they were
under examination. The court agreed to loth of these pro-
positions, but rejected some other motionalif Herr Elven
relating to the personal bias of the police against Dr. Niego-
lewski, and permitted the experts to refer to written notes
of opinions given by them on previous occasions, notwith-
standing the protests of the defence. The court then, ad-
journed to the 25th August.