The Sun.
London, England, 1837-01-30 00:00:00

part of secondary tyrants; The serf has no means of
dressing the injustice perpetrated by his master. The lat-
ter possesses no control over the monarch, save such as
is evidenced by the long list of emperors who have perished
by violent deaths. _
3: The imminent danger and distracted state of the
country about the middle of the last century, gave rise to
the idea of a general reform, and the admission of the peo-
ple to an equal share in the management of their country's
government. In obedience, however, to the common lawS
of human ambition and attachment to power and privilege,
our nobility. became divided by the agitation of, that reform
iato two hostile camps. The minority, composed of a great
part of the, wealthiest aristocrats, to whose contemptible
pride or sordid love of gain, Russia well knew how to
"mi-
nister, turned from the outset the balance of power in fa-
your of the enemies of liberty and reform. The majority,.
howeVer, confident in the sacredness of their cause, boldly
pursued their object. Their spirit faintly shadowed forth
in the gallant exploits of the Confederation of Barr in
1768, assumed the form of a well-digested scheme in the
celebrated code proposed at the Diet of 1780, but defeated
by the influence of Russian intrigue.. That spirit obtained,
however, a complete ascendancy at the Diet of 1791, when
the nobles by a spontaneous and voluntary act divested
themselves of their privileges, and sanctioned the civil li-
berty of, all the inhabitants of Poland. The fourth article
of the Constitution of the 3d of May, 1791, run thus :
" As it is from the laborious hands- of the cultivators
that the most fruitful national riches flow, and as their body
forms the greater part of the population of the State, and
as a necessary consequence, constitutes the principal
strength of the republic ; justice, humanity, as well as our
own particular interest properly understood, are sufficiently
powerful motives for dictating to us to receive this pre-
cious class of men into the immediate protection of the
law and government."
It is further added in the same article—

" Wishing to encourage in the most efficacious manner
the population. in all the dominions of the republic, we
hereby insurd 'entire liberty to all classes of individuals, as
well foreigners, who shall come and establish themselves
in Poland, as natives who, having formerly quitted their
country, would wish to return to it again. Thus, every
person, foreigner or native, the moment he shall set his foot
on Polish ground, shall be free, without any constraint what-
ever, to exercise his industry in the manner and in such
places as he may desire.."
The three • powerful neighbours of Poland. knew well,
that with this reform she would soon acquire, a new and
invincible strength, and therefore, calling it a Jacobine re-
volution,' they united :-their forces and invaded and diSraem-.
bored our territory. •
To the popular character of that revolution we must at-
tribute the appearance of Kosciusko in 1794, in the humble
garb of a peasant, and gaining victories at the head of the
labourers armed with scythes. He proclaimed again the
constitution of the 3d of May, thus beginning his .mani-
festo : Every peasant is free." After his fall the insur-
rectionary government added—" We shall 'guarantee 'for
ever to every citizen the fruit of his labour."
Since this period, till 1830, national spirit shared the
subdued fate of the dismembered country. It possessed no
organ for the expression of public opinion, no power of dis-
.senting, no authority to give its assent. Its silence ought
not, then, to be misconstrued into acquiescence. In 1.807
the Emperor of the French, in 1815 the treaty of Vienna,
raised.a portion of Poland to a mock independence. The
introduction of Napoleon's code in the first ease, and an
explicit article of the granted charter, as to the civil liberty
of all classes, in the second, were homages rendered to the
force of national feeling, and opinion. Alexander enhanced
that homage by holding out a hope, that in these respects-
he would assimilate the Russian incorporated provinces to
the kingdom of Poland, and thus restore in part the ancient
monarchy—a hope never fulfilled.
As, on the one. side, we are fir from denying that some
proprietors availed themselves of the ignorance of the pea-
sants to violate the protection which law afforded to the
latter, so, on the other, we challenge our bitterest enemy
to show one imprOvetnent in the condition of the lower
classes, which was not chic to the patriotic •and voluntary
exertions of the proprietors ; or to adduce one single op•
pressive measure which was not brought about by the Rus-
sian Government against the will of the nation at large.
If there is one proof of it more convincing than ano-
ther, it is, that in the provinces conquered by Russia, the
serfs are kept in most wretched and ignominious bondage,
that they have been bereft even of these concessions, which
the humanity of their nobles had bestowed upon them ;
that, finally, it is proclaimed by the Cz.tr as a crime to
dream even of the liberty of the peasants.
That liberty was fully acknowledged and granted from
the first in our late revolution. The wrong direction given
to'the current of that revolution at the outset, the tame
and diplomatic character of our subsequent government,.
ought alone to be blamed. for the procrastination which
occurred in granting and regulating the possession of pro-
perty, and in summoning a more energetic legislative body,
elected as it ought to have been by the whole body of the

•
nation.
That ill-omened direction would have ceased with the
first relaxation, however momentary and faint, from breath-
less anxiety, and an unremitting struggle with the over-
whelming forces of the enemy, which bade every brave,
generous,. and devoted Pole repair to the field of battle ;
and consequently kept him away from the arena of politics.
The divert,;d tide of popular movement would, on the first
opportunity, have risen again to the flood-mark of social
reform.
4. We shrink not from the consequences incurred by
this manifest neglect and abandonment of the social and
popular exigencies of revolution. The avowal of error is
a proof of the sincerity of amendment. The impartial
world, however, has already pronounced which ought to be
made responsible for the calamitous issue of the revolution,
the 'soldier who fought for that revolution, or the statesman
who directed its course. •
What our future conduct will be, may be gathered from
the tenour of our explanation. The time of partial con-
cession is past. Obedhlicy to expediency would amount
now to an insult, to a bitter mockery of the Polish people.
The first article of our political creed declares and insists
upon the absolute necessity of the people's possessing on
the first change in Poland a just share in the property of
the soil, subject only to the regulations enacted by a legis-
lative body, chosen by the universal vote of the people, in
whom henceforth the exercise of political rights will unal-
terably reside. The Polish peasant will henceforth fight,
not only as a Pole, against the invader of his country, but
as a freeman and proprietor, against the oppressor despoil-
ing him of liberty and property., In proclaiming these prin-
ciples now, in enforcing them on the first change in Poland,
we pretend not to step forward in the character of donors.
We are but part of that people, whom we shall most stre-
nuously support ids reconqueriug their rights, and in whose
ranks we ardently desire to appear, renouncing all distinc-

tions, vindicating perfect equality.
Having thus fully, and, we trust, satisfactorily to the
most uncompromising friend of democracy, stated our views
as to .the internal policy of our country, we appeal to your
support, people of Great Britain arid Ireland, in your col-
lective capacity, as a nation which has often forgotten all
minor differences for the achievement of a great purpose,
and the vindication of justice and humanity.
We have been taught, by experience, to look up to Eng-
land as a country where the determination of the people
must be speedily followed by corresponding acts on the part
-of its Government. But the generous promptings of feel-

_ - - -
ing require to be matured and steeled into resolution by
knowledge. Poland's devotion and misfortunes have already
excited a vivid sympathy in Europe. It is the noblest pri-
vilege, the most sacred obligation of those whom the glory
of their fatherland has exalted in their exile to contribute
to the strength, refinement, and continuance of that sym-
pathy, by constantly urging the true nature of her cause,
and inducing a just appreciation of its value.
(Signed) • President, General DWERNICKI.
F. Ktakon. S. KOZIIIAN.
J. HACISKI, A. DLTNIN.
Secretary, S. SZAtKOSKI.
London, Jan. 22, 1837.

The north of Ireland does not appear to be insen-
sible to the affront which some say Mr. O'Connell put on
the electors in that part of .the country, when lie not only
gave up Mr. S. Crawford to the 'Furies, but along with
that gentleman, as the Belfast News Letter states, " he
threw overboard the whole north of Ireland itself ;". adding
afterwards, " it should, perhaps, be borne in mind, that in ,
addition to the political reasons which exist in favour of Mr.
O'Connell's procedure on the tithe question, the greater por-
tion of the ample fortune enjoyed by Maurice O'Connell in
right of his lady, is• generally understood to • consist of tithe
property ; and though the ' Law Church' Parsons might
be righteously enough left to their own resources, it would
not be a very comfortable reflection to have my son
Maurice' placed in a like predicament." The Northern
Whig is indignant at the attack made by Mr. O'Connell on
the lion. Member for Dundalk, and does not scruple to
give full expression to the disgust with which it is filled,
both as respects the personal and political points of the
controversy.