The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-17 00:00:00

THE INSURRECTION IN POLAND.

A letter from Vienna, dated Feb. 12, says :—A
short time ago the Prussian General von Alvens-
leben was:sent to Warsaw to inquire into the state
of affairs in Poland, and it must be supposed that
the information he obtained was alarming, as a
convention for the suppression of the Polish insur-
rection has been concluded between Prussia and
Russia. It is probable that this Government will
be invited to assist in restoring " order" in Poland,
but there is in Austria such a strong feeling in
favour of the inhabitants of that unhappy country
that it would be bad policy should Count Rechberg
accede to the Russo-Prussian treaty. The ferment
in Galicia is great, but men in office feel convinced
that there will not be any revolutionary movements
in the province, and they are, therefore, at a loss
to understand why the Berlin Cabinet should be so
alarmed about the grand duchy of Posen. About
80,000 men will soon be concentrated in the eastern
part of ,Russia and it is here believed that they
are to serve a double purpose—to keep the Poles in
check on the one side, and the Prussian Liberals on
the other. It is evident that M. von Bismark is
trying to play off the German subjects of King
Frederick William of Prussia against the Poles in
Posen, but it is not very likely that the representa-
tives of the former will allow themselves to be
persuaded to grant extraordinary supplies for an
army which is to be employed in upholding abso-
lutism and tyranny. A few days ago the Russian
Cabinet forwarded to its diplomatic agents abroad
a circular, in which it was said that everything
most be done to induce the different foreign Go-
vernments to keep a strict watch over the Polish
emigrants. It is here stated that a copy of the
circular in question has been read by M. von
Balabine to Count Rechberg, but the General
Correspondence says the report is incorrect, and I
believe that it speaks the truth. Austria is bound
by a military convention to surrender deserters to
Russia, but the Holy Alliance has ceased to be, and
she is therefore no longer obliged to render material
assistance to her tyrannical and overbearing neigh-
bour. The Imperial Government has prorogued the
Galician Diet in order that it may not denounce the
policy of Russia in Poland, and it strenuously en-
deavours to prevent its Polish subjects from crossing
the frontier, but it is not inclined to render any ac-
tive assistance to a Power which has long treated it
with respect and contumely. The Russian accounts
of their doings in Poland obtain no credit here, as
the Austrians have not forgotten the lying bulletins
which the St. Petersburg Government published
during the war in the Crimea.
A few days ago the military authorities at War-
saw stated that the troops had killed 1,000 insur-
gents at Wousohock and had themselves lost no more
than 12 men, but at Lemberg and Cracow it is
positively asserted that there has been no action of
importance at the place in question. The insurgents
under Langiewicz retreated into the woods as soon
as they saw the Russians advancing, and they were
not pursued, as the Imperial troops were soon busily
employed in setting fire to the town and ill-treating
its unoffending inhabitants. At Wegrow the un-
disciplined Poles fought so bravely that even the
Russians are obliged to do them justice. They re-
peatedly made fierce attacks on the Russian bat-
teries, and although great gaps were made in their
ranks by the heavy fire of the artillery, they could
not be induced to retreat until they had been re-
peatedly charged by three squadrons of Smolensk
lancers. As the Poles had no artillery at Wegrow
it must be concluded that the report relative to their
using guns of oak bound with hoops of iron is in-
correct. Russian telegrams have repeatedly spoken
of the " taking" of Tomaszow, but we have positive
information that there has been no fighting in that
place, as the insurgents had sought shelter in the
woods before the Russian troops arrived. The
battle of Olexince, about which the Russians have
said so much, was neither more nor less than an in-
surrection of the peasants living on the estates of
Count Rzyszcenzki, in Volhynia. These peasants
kept the troops at bay for more than a day and
a-half, but it is not known how the matter ended.
From the Galician frontier we learn that the Rus-
sian troops put ten persons to death when they took
possession of Tomaszow, and that one of them was
ill in his bed. The
ewthrooowpsaswlyhionigs at the head of the
caoßmumsasinadneortfofcetrh,
artillery department in the fortress of Zamasch,
gave the soldiers permission to sack the place, and
it need hardly be said that they took every possible
advantage of such a favourable opportunity for en-
riching themselves at the expense of others. At
Cracow it is related that 80 Polish women have
been killed by the Russians at Kielce, but it is very
possible that the report is totally unfounded. Great
preparations are now being made at Kielce for an
attack on the insurgents who are collected on that
part of the Prussian frontier which is nearest
Cracow, but it is not unlikely that some time may
elapse before the blow is dealt. Several Russian
officers of rank have fallen into the hands of the
insurgents, but not one of them has been illused or
even treated with indignity. The insurgents have
paid flying vista to Balimov and Maczki, and carried
off considerable sums of money belonging to the
State. After having laid violent hands on the tele-
graphic apparatus the Poles, " who were well
clothed and shod, and tolerably -well armed," dis-
appeared in the direction of Dabowa (close to the
Prussian frontier), where there are coalmines and
ironworks belonging to the Russian Government.
A few days since a Russian cavalry officer, who had
just returned from Lapy to Warsaw, stated that
when he was engaged with an insurgent corps which
was stationed near the first-mentioned place, " he
suddenly found himself opposed to more than a com-
pany of Russian soldiers who fought desperately."
During the last three or four days the Lemberg
telegraph has sent much incorrect intelligence into
the world, and it is here suspected that some agent of
the Russian Government has established a paper
in the capital of Galicia. In the non-official part
of the Wiener Zeitung is a letter from St. Peters-
burg, in which it is said a little work by Herzen
(the editor of the Kolokol) entitled "Songs for
Soldiers," is now in circulation in the Russian bar-
racks. The author (says the writer of the letter)
has displayed a skill in the composition of the songs
which is " truly diabolical."
On the whole the public is well content that the
Galician Diet has been prorogued,but all the organs
of the press are of opinion that it must be allowed
to continue its sittings "as soon as the ferment in
Galicia has subsided." The phrase quoted means
but little, for it stands to reason that the political
ferment in Galicia will continue as long as the in-
surrection lasts in Russian Poland. In order to
prevent their emigrating to Poland the military
authorities have ordered all the Galician furlough
men to join their regiments immediately. The
Vienna Presse contains an able leader on the state
of affairs in Russian Poland, in which it is said that
the European Cabinets are morally bound to raise
their voices in behalf of a nation which has been so
grossly wronged.
The object of the Russian frigate which tried to
get into the Guif of Cattaro was to land " hell," or,
rather, gun metal for the Montenegrins.

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