The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-16 00:00:00

TE LE POLISH INSURRECTION.

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)
CRACOW, Sept. 10.
The it anrreetion has received a severe blow in the
Govern .went of Lublin, where it was known to exist
in greater force than in any other parts of Poland.
1 het' from a person who took part in an action
fought by Lelewel on the 6th against an overpow-
ering force of Russians, that the detachment was
beaten with great loss, and that the gallant chief,
who for months past had made " Lubelaki,, .or
Lublin country, such terribly unsafe ground for the
enemy, is now among the slain. Ido not think my
informant belongs to that class of insurgents who
mistake their own private fears for general danger,
and fancy that when they run those of their com-
rades who are fighting, not from passing enthu-
siasm, but from a profound sense of duty, are
likely to follow them. There were few, if any,
such men in the detachment of Lelewel, who seems
to have known how to choose his followers and lo
have caused it to be generally understood that
wlth him there would be no skirmishing on the
fi:ontier, but on the contrary, the hardest possible
-lighting in the heart of the contested country. No
chief, probably no two chiefs together, had met the
Russians so often as Lelewel, and he generally con-
trived to attack them with all the chances of success
in his favour. The rapidity with which he moved
and the certainty with which he took advantage of
the slightest imprudence or mistake committed by
the enemy, rendered him a more formidable oppo-
nent than other leaders who had forces thrice as
numerous under their command. He is said, more-
over, to have understood the art of conciliating
the peasantry otherwise than by hanging them.
Nevertheless, it was in all probability his great
and lasting success that made the peasantry in the
scene of his operations inclined to give him the
assistance which as a rule they avoid giving until
they are driven into fair dealing towards their fel-
low-countrymen, either by threats or by actual com-
pulsion.

Since the defeat of Taczanowski, the principal
commander in the west of the Kingdom, the great
object of the Russians has of course been to surround
and crush Lelewel, the principal commander in the
east. The Russians, with all their weaknesses, have
since the time of Langiewicz succeeded in encircling
and destroying every Polish detachment which has
once gained a particular reputation and become an
object of interest and attention in Europe. Lelewel
for some months fought without attracting much
attention, and without. risking any great battle. At
times his men, or a portion of them, were engaged
almost daily, but he never humiliated the Russians
by inflicting upon them such a defeat in regular
combat as 3,000 Russian troops sustained at
Kobylanka from Jezioranski, Smiechowski, and
Waligorski, with a force of only 700 insurgents—
insurgents, however, of the best quality, known to
one another, knowing their officers, and many of
them known. at least by name, throughout the
-whole country. But, although Lelewel fought no
great battles—at least not until his last action, of
eehich the details are not yet known in Cracow—he
found himself twice in such a position that he was
obliged to break up and disperse his detachment,
though not in such a position that he was unable to
save his men, as one would imagine they ought
always to be saved when an evidently irresistible
force is being brought against them. It is highly
probable that the military spirit of many of the
Polish chiefs may have done more harm than good
to the Polish insurrection. They sometimes refuse
to retreat when retreat is necessary, and save their
military honour at a cost which they cannot afford,
.the still greater expenditure of men to which the
Russians may at the same time be put being as
nothing compared to the inexhaustible numbers still
at, their disposal. Lelewel, however, seems to have
decided that it was his business to worry his enemy,
make his life intolerable, and only strike a blow at
him when he saw that, if aimed with proper force
and skill, it would do him an injury, while leaving
him unable to return it.
After breaking up his band for the second time,
Lelewel re-formed it in Galicia, principally from old
and well-tried materials, but partly also from new
ones. He took back with him in all 800 men, fight-
ing his way into the Kingdom at their head. These
entries from Galicia are seldom successful. Indeed
I do not now why I should say seldom, for oat of
the numerous detachments that have crossed from
Galicia into the Kingdom during the last six months
not one has established itself for more than a few i
days. lezioranski, after gaining a most brilliant
victory, remained in the Kingdom for about a week
—that is to say, long enough for the Russian gene-
rals—urged and threatened by an indignant officer
in the Imperial Guard and aide-de-camp of the
Emperor, who had witnessed the battle from the
Galician side—to bring overwhelming forces against
him. But out of upwards of 20 detachments, great
and small, which have left Galicia for the Kingdom
since Easter, very few have been able to exist, even
for a day, on the other side of the frontier. Gene-
rally they have retired without being pursued, after
fighting a drawn battle. Sometimes they have
beaten the Russians, but have found it impossible
to advance into the interior. More than once, and
always when they have entered in great force, they
have suffered great losses, and their retreat has been
most disastrous. It is true that the Polish papers
in [dealing with these affairs have mentioned the
entries without saying anything about the exits;
or :they have simply chronicled the return of " a
portion" of a detachment. Unfortunately the re-
turning '° portions" have included all who were able
to get back.
Lelewers successful entry the other day was looked
upon, until the news was received this evening of
his defeat and death, as a great triumph. I fancy
now that Lelewel was caught in a trap, and tha
this time the Russians fell back at his approach

they who had so often fallen back before him for
more direct reasons—that they might draw him into
the country and surround him.
The Poles in losing Lelewel have lost their best
guerilla leader, the man who was always pointed
out as the model chief for carrying on the Polish war
as it was long since determined it ought to be carried
on. But no system has yet been devised by which
1,000 ill-armed and undisciplined, or imperfectly
disciplined, Poles, fighting as if in a foreign land,
van be made to beat 10,000 well-armed, well-dis- 1
‘,,,Plined Russians, fighting as if on their own soil.
It's ,re
17
formed easy to say that the Poles ought to avoid
views
of
encounters with the Russians ; but the
thet Russians on this subject must also
be taken into account. The Russians, of course,
00
desire as ,11°
battles as possible, knowing the
fighting povij of
Poland to be limited, while theirs
is, comparativl speaking, unlimited. The Polish
chiefs, whatever their own particular intentions
may be, are sure to find themselves compelled,
some day or other, to
hitherto
superior numbers in
regular battle, and hit
of telebrit
gain a certain amount a chief has only had to
to bear down upon him at _ 3' for the Russians
and
alere. in overwhelming
numbers. Another
aar_ fsre in Poland
keeping up the guerilla mode otimwitrY difficulty in
is found in the contemptible, 0,
_l.e.aat pitiable,
character of the peasants. Delout
they have long ceased to peel
vhi. that
%g as they are
by foreign rule,
healthy (hatred for foreign intruders
mates the peasantry of other civilised sod: ani-
lised lands, and by their notorious attitudeehei:i.
caused the Poles to invent the perhaps comminve ,
but certainly untrue saying that the peasant in
countries sides with the strong. "Le PaY san est

toujours du cote pouvoir," "Le pay san partout
n'obeit qte a la force," are sayings that every one
who has been in Poland during the present insurrec-
tion must have heard over and over again. This
fallacy of these pretended truisms can be proved
without going out of Poland, for in Posen, where the
peasant has long been hia own master, and has more-
over received a certain measure of education, ho has
the feelings of a true Pole; and in the districts of the
Kingdom bordering upon Posen the peasants have
joined the insurrection in comparatively large num-
bers, whereas in the districts bordering upon Ga-
licia it has been necessary to treat them with great
severity in order to deter them from rendering un-
due assistance to the Russians and from betraying
the insurgents into their hands. On the whole, the
Russians, if it suited them to do so from a military
point of view, could carry on a guerilla war in
Poland more advantageously than the Poles. A.,

it is, their object, of course, is not to worry, but to
destroy the Poles, in order to avoid being worried
themselves, and the death of the brave L9lewel and
the dispersion of his gallant band will undoubtedly
be a great relief to the Russian troops acting in the
palatinate of Lublin.
Once more, now that they have struck down Tac-
zanowski on their right and Lelewel on the left,
the Russians may be expected to announce that the
insurrection is suppressed, and that they have at
present nothing to do but to give out the constitu-
tion. Humanity would seem to demand that if the
document in question is to be published at all it
should be produced at once. But the fact is it
wou
ldhaven o more effect in stopping the insur-
rection—which,as the Russians know, still exists,
and may soon have a fresh impetus given to it—
than the amnesty had two months ago. Poles and
Russians seem quite agreed on one point—that, as
long as the insurrection lasts, no concessions need
be offered to Poland. The Russian Government is,
no doubt, influenced by a false and pedantic notion
of quite modern origin, that it is impossible for a
Sovereign to treat and make terms with revolted
subjects. The Poles, on their side, are not fighting
for a constitution—they have not asked for a con-
stitution—and they will attach no value to the one
which it is proposed to give them as soon as the
massacres and execution are quite finished.
As to the course which the insurrection will now
take, I may mention that a general levy
is expected
to be proclaimed in the course of the month. It is
easier, however, to call all the population to arms
than to make them come, and it would be easier to
make them come than to find arms for them after
their arrival. It is said that the National Govern-
ment will issue no more permissions to leave the
kingdom, and it is a fact that absentee proprietors
are ordered back, and are commanded to bring their
families back with them. Why the wives and
children are to be exposed to danger is not very
clear; but the husbands, fathers, and
in brothers
,aforer
wanted, if not for immediate service
the transmission of Government orders and news,
for receiving insurgents, for guiding detachments
through their particular districts, for hiding them
in the woods, and arranging to supply them with
food; finally, for giving confidence to the people in
the neighbourhood, especially those in their employ;
The National Government still enjoins all Poles
to refuse payment of taxes to the Russians, and the
Russians are beginning to levy for the two quarters
now due. The insurrectionary or revolutionary edict
on this subject seems to have been framed for the
express purpose of ruining the proprietors: It
would have been condemned throughout Europe
bad it been the work of Berg or Mouravieff, whereas
coming as it does from the mysterious power which
the Poles recognise, and willingly or unwillingly
obey, it is generally looked upon as a model of
cleverness. The National Government, it may be
remembered, ordered some four months ago that no
one should pay taxes, and that if the property of
defaulters were seized and offered for sale no one,
under the severest penalties, should bid for it. I
suggested at the time that it would be difficult to
prevent the Cossacks from making bids, and that as
there would be no other competitors the lots would
be knocked down to them very cheap. I hear now
of cows being sold at a few Polish florins (sixpences)
a head, and there is no reason why cavalry regi-
ments should not be mounted at the rate of a penny
a horse if the auctioneer and the purchasers so
arrange it between them. It may be inconvenient
to the Russians to have to take cattle and agricul-
tural produce in lieu of money, but this inconve-
nience is compensated for by the privilege which
the National Government virtually allows them, of
taking as much of everything as they please. I
heard a "mixed subject"—a Pole who has the ad-
vantage of living under two foreign Governments,
instead of only one—complain bitterly the other
day that he was not permitted to pay his taxes in
the kingdom of Poland. " I pay more than a third
of my income in Galicia in taxes to the Austrian
Government," ho said :
"I pay 50 per cent. on the Austrian tax to the National
Government of Poland. I have subscribed the sum appor-
tioned to me as my contribution towards the forced loan,
and all I want now is to be suffered to pay the taxes due for
the last two quarters to the Government of Russia."
This unpatriotic and wicked wish proceeded from a
conviction that if the Russians proceeded to execn-
tion they would sell property to the extent of fifty
times the amount claimed. In some instances the
Russians, when the taxes demanded by them have
not been forthcoming, have quartered soldiers on
the defaulter without proceeding at once to a sale.
But on the great majority of estates the proprietors
are ruined, and cannot possibly pay, however much
time may be allowed to them.

Before seizing property it appears that the

" sequestrator," who travels about accompanied by a
guard of soldiers, inquires what rent is due from the
peasants. The peasants are then ordered to pay up
. _ _

within a certain time, and thus the Government
gets its taxes in money, while the peasants receive
a practical proof that, whatever the intentions of the
proprietors may be, they cannot even give away
their own property without the permission and
sanction of the Government. When the insurrec-
tion is at an end, the farm land will doubtless be
given back to the peasant. But the Government
wishes him to understand that he can only receive
it as a gift from the Russian Emperor, and some
day we shall perhaps be told (as the peasant most
assuredly will) that the Polish nobility wished to
maintain serfdom in Poland, and that it was only
through the unexampled generosity of the Czar that
they were set free and endowed with land.
Sanguine persons think that the demands now
made upon the peasant by the Russian Government
may cause him to turn towards his fellow-country-
men and join the insurrection in earnest. Despon-
dent persons, on the other hand, are of opinion that
the Russian Government understands very well what
it is about; that its attitude towards the peasantry
is a proof that it does not fear them in the least,
and that this attitude is indeed calculated to inspire
them with respect, though not of course with love,
which, however, is a sentiment not particularly
valued by the Government in question. If the Polish
peasant can only be persuaded that the Polish pro-
prietor is his enemy, and has always wished to keep
him a slave, it matters very little whether he likes
the Government or hates it. The one great object
is to divide the country against itself.

According to the Czas, Warsaw is about to be
shut up for ten days, no one under any pretext being
allowed to enter, and no one under any pretext
allowed to go out. If this unhappy city could be
closed, like the caves of Dahra, and the inhabitants
stifled, one great step towards the pacification of
Poland would have been taken. There is nothing
which forbids such a measure in the Treaty of
Vienna, and the destruction of Warsaw—but by
fire, not by smoke—was ono of the Emperor
Nicholas's favourite threats. The present object in
shutting up the capital of Poland is probably, how-
ever, to discover whether the Secret Government

resides there or not, and what the effect on the in.

surrection will be of cutting off all communication
between it and the country outside.
The paragraph in the Constitutionnel stating that
for some months past Prince Czartoryski has not
been received by the Emperor has caused much sur-
prise here. The Poles have been under the impres-
sion that Napoleon 111. was constantly giving as-
surances to some member or members of the Polish

emigration in Paris that—first, when Puebla was
taken, then when Mexico was taken, then when the
Mexican question was settled, then in the autumn,
now in the spring—France, supported or unsup-
ported, would positively intervene on behalf of
Poland. Probably the Poles of Poland have been
misinformed as to the chances of an intervention, as
the Polesorm ofd
Landonmisi
and Paris have certainly been
as to the magnitude and general cha-
racter of the insurrect.
1011tity war.

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