The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-28 00:00:00

and Prince Gortschakoff to Count Zamoyski. The Emperor
said, "The only way to govern Poland I see now is by
terror." And on leaving the presence of the Emperor Prince
Gortschakoff said to him, " If you force us to it we will make
Poland a heap of ashes and corpses." (Hear, hear.) And,
again, Prince Gortschakoff said, " It has long been the con-
elusion of the Imperial Government, and remains so, that
the only course to be pursued in reference to Poland is a
policy of extermination." (Loud cries of " Hear, hear.")
Well, that policy the Russian Government had endeavoured
to carry out, and the means that had been adopted had been
described by their own organs. These means might be fairly
said to be the adoption of the device of converting barracks
and fortresses into political prisons, and of having a con-
scription by which according to their own showing, they
were enabled to seize and secure every person opposed to
their policy. (Hear, hear.) The conscription was directed
against the towns alone, against certain classes alone, and
its object was defined. And how had it been carried out ?
He had received letters describing it. They would not need
any documentary proof in the face of the statements made
in another place by an eminent authority (the Earl of Ellen-
borough) about the conscription, for those statements had
received the sanction of her Majesty's Ministers and had
not been contradicted. They might be briefly summed up
in this way—that the Russians at one o'clock in the night
—the order having been made on the previous evening—
surrounded the houses of the people in Warsaw, dragged
them from their beds and carried them off, and the official
journal in recording it thus described the manner and the
time. Tho Russian official journal of Warsaw on the 15th of
January said that between the hours of 1 and 8 o'clock in the
morning of that day the levy of recruits for the Russian
army had been accomplished for the town of Warsaw. The
official journal having stated that fact. went on to state what
was not fact, but what was intended to produce some effect.
It said that never in the course of the last 30 years had men
so taken shown so much readiness and goodwill, and when
lodged in the town-hall they actually became joyful at being
now freed from the influence of evil men. (Laughter.) That
official notification concluded by stating that it was likely
the same measures would meet with the same satisfactory
results all over the country. Under these circumstances, he
asked, what were the Poles to do ? Here was this conscrip-
tion, unprecedented in the history of Europe—(hear, hear)
—and here was the official journal of Warsaw telling the
people that it was to be carried out in the other parts of Po-
land. What were the Poles to do ? It had been truly said that
by uncalculating despair they were driven into insurrection.
But if so, he believed that was not uncalculated on the part
of the Russian Government. The civil Governor of Warsaw,
the Marquis Wielopolski, had openly boasted that he drove
the people into insurrection, cbserving that he had done his
duty, and that it would now rest with the military authorities
to discharge theirs. What was now witnessed? The whole
Polish nation was of one mind, and though without arms,
and without the slightest preparation, the insurgents had
day after day extended the area they had opened in. Poland.,
Day after day the Russian troops were defeated, and the in-
surrection became a more accomplished fact. This result
arose from two causes—first, because the whole nation co-
operated with the insurgents, and secondly—and this was
not an insignificant fact—because among the Russian troops
there existed a spirit of insubordination. One Rassian officee
leading on his men to attack a party of insurgents, when he
came in sight of them, called his officers around him and
said, " My conscience as a man points in one direction, and
my duty as an officer in an opposite," and that unfortunate
officer committed suicide. Accounts also were published
of Russian troops leaving towns in Poland to attack in-
surgents in the morning, and coming back in the evening,
unwounded and disarmed. What did that mean ? It
meant that the Russian soldiers and officers really en-
tertained a feeling for Poland, and were sensible of the
disgraceful position which Russia occupied in the face of
Europe. Though the Russian Government promoted the
rebellion in the first instance, they now saw that they had
played a hazardous gataae, and that they had gone
too far, while Europe was looking on, It might be asked,
should a member of the British Parliament presume to in-
terfere in this matter, and what had the House of Commons
to do with it ? He maintained that not only Poland was a
practical question now, but that it was an English question.
(Hear, hear.) It was an English question because Eng-
land was bound by a treaty entered into between this country
and Russia and the other Powers of Europe with regard to
Poland. If he could show that England was bound by the
treaty—that the treaty had never been abrogated with the
consent of Europe, and that it had been violated by Russia
—he must leave the house to draw its own conclusions as to
whet should be the policy of England. There had been a
great deal of misconception about the precise value to the
Poles of the Treaty of Vienna. That the treaty was of some
value to Poland might be inferred from the following facts.
Lord Castlereagh conducted the Vienna Conference on the
part of England, and in February, 1815, he laid down as the
basis on which he entered intothe negotiations of Vienna the
wish constantly manifested by the British Government to
see Poland an independent State, more or less of consider-
able extent, over which there should reign a distinct dynasty
and which should form an intermediate Power between the
three great monarchies. From that basis Lord Castlereagh
was driven, for he was not able to secure an independent
Poland under a distinct dynasty ; but he secured for Poland
that the first fourteen articles of the Treaty of Vienna should
be devoted to that country. That alone showed the house
the importance attached to Poland, and Talleyrand said
that Poland was the first, the greatest, and the most
eminent European question that could be brought before
the Congress of Vienna. He was not going to give his in-
terpretation of the articles of the Treaty of Vienna concern-
ing Poland ; but an interpretation of them had been given
by the Emperor of Russia himself, and also by the noble
viscount on the Treasury Bench, After the treaty was ne-
gotiated, the Emperor of Russia, addressing the Poles, stated
that they had received a constitution preserving in public
enactments the Polish language, restricting public appoint-
ments to the Poles, and establishing freedom of commerce
and a national army. More than a year afterwards the Em-
peror addressed the Poles again, and told them that their re.
storation was defined by solemn treaties and sanctioned by a
constitutional chart ; and that the inviolability of these ex-
ternal engagements and that constitutional law insured for
Poland henceforth her place among European nations. The
first address was delivered by the Emperor of Russia in
1815, and the second in 1816 or 1317. Soon after the negotia-
tion of the Treaty of Vienna, the noble viscount now at the
head of the Government got into the Foreign-office, and re-
mained there while some of the greatest events occurred
with regard to Poland. Ho appealed, then, to the noble
viscount to say whether that treaty was not violated by
Russia almost as soon as it was concluded. In 1861 the
noble lord used remarkable words, to the effect that the
course pursued by Russia constituted a complete and de-
cided violation of the Treaty of Vienna; that the stipula-
tions of the treaty were broken almost as soon as they were
concluded, and that perhaps the greatest violation of a
treaty that had ever taken place in the history of the world
was that which had taken place in the case of Poland. It
was very important to observe what was the language of the
British Government on the occasion of the Polish insurrec-
tion in 1831, and to ascertain whether or not they then
acknowledged that Russia had violated her treaty engage-
ments. For 30 years the despatches which defined the
policy of this country in 1831 were concealed from Parlia-
ment and the people. The gallant officer, who, he believed,
would second his motion, moved three times for those
papers. Motion after motion was made to the same effect
by other members, but the Government persistently refused
to produce the papers. Thanks, however, to Earl Russell,
they were laid upon the table in answer to a motion which
he (Mr. Henness)) made the session before last. The noble
earl, then a member of this house, in complying with the
application, said that so many years had elapsed that there
could now be no harm in allowing the despatches to be pub-
lished. These documents disclosed some very important
facts. It appeared that in 1831 the noble viscount now at
the head of the Government again and again told the Rus-
t elan Government that they had not carried out the provi-
sions of the Treaty of Vienna, and that they had violated
that treaty. Indeed in one despatch the noble viscount
protested against that violation. In writing to Lord Hey-
tesbury, on the 22d of March, 1831, the noble viscount ex-
pressed himself as follows :

" By Article I. of the Treaty of Vienna it is stipulated
that the Poles, subjects respectively of Russia, Austria, and
Prussia, shall obtain a national representation and institu-
tions regulated according to the kind of political existence
which each of the Governments to which they belong shall
think it useful and fitting to grant them. It is understood
that, although this stipulation has been executed by Austria
and Prussia,
it has hithertoit3i‘r
Majesty
entirelyy,s
Government
unfulfilled
have by
beenthe
Russian Government. His
,informed by the French Ambassador at this Court that in-
structions have been sent to the Duke de Mortemart to draw
the attention of the Russian Government to this matter, and
the French Government have expressed a wish that your
lordship might be instructed to support the duke in his re-
presentations on this subject. Your lordship will, of
course, be careful not to take any step on this Lusiness which
could lead to any unfriendly discussions with the Russian
Government, with 'whom her Majesty's Government are,
under present circumstances, more than ever desirous of
keeping up the closest relations of friendship. But if the
question should be agitated, your lordship is instructed to
state that, as far as his Majesty's Government are informed
of the facts of the case, it does not appear to them that the
provisions of the Treaty of Vienna applicable to the Polish
provinces of Russia have been hitherto carried into execu-
tion.—l am, &0.,

" PALMERSTON."
That despatch, therefore, proved that at a critical moment
in 1831, when the insurrection was raging, the noble vis-
count stated that the treaty had not been faithfully car-
ried out by Russia. (Hear.) In the same year another
despatch was written by the noble viscount, of which the
people of England had heard but little, but to which it was
important that attention should be directed at the present
moment. In 1831 the Government of Louis Philippe, a
most cautious and peaceful Sovereign, addressed a despatch
to the British Government, asking them to co-operate in
endeavouring to secure for Poland first peace, and secondly,
those institutions which were guaranteed by the Treaty ei
Vienna. The French despatch closed with these words—
" The desire of his Majesty the King of France is that
you (Prince Talleyrand) should make immediate and press-
ioF overtues to the English. Government with reference to
this subject. We are awaiting their result with much im-
patience."
The noble viscount, in replying On. the 2d of July, 1831,
wrote as follows :

44 The object of the communication which it is now pro-
osed that France and England should jointly address to
Russia is an immediate cessation of hostilities, with a VW,