The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-28 00:00:00

THE INSURRECTION IN POLAND,

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)
CRACOW, May 21.
Oa the 13th of May the " Central Committee of
Warsaw, acting as the Provisional Government for
Poland," instead of surrendering its power and call-
ing upon the insurgents to lay down their arms, and
profit while there was yet time by the Imperial am-
nesty, adopted formally the style and title of the
" Polish National Government." It has been gene-
rally known by that name for some weeks past, and
may be said to have accepted rather than to have
assumed it. All the mandates, all the passports, all
the receipts issued by the ruling body at Warsaw
bearth
and estamp of a government which really
governs, which,
enjoying as it does the confi-
dence of the nation, has a right to employ the
national insignia. Those who have not had the op-
portunity of witnessing the action of this Govern-
ment in the country itself can scarcely have a
notion of the exactness with which it is obeyed, or
of the wide range over which its functions extend.
I do not know whether it has virtually the direction
of the railway and telegraph lines, but its letters
are punctually delivered, and its orders have more
than once been known at Cracow only a few hours
after publication in the capital. This secret Govern-
ment is represented by no less than six secret jour-
nals, all secretly printed and almost publicly distri-
buted in Warsaw, and from Warsaw transmitted to
every part of the ancient republic_ The Movement
(Ruch) is the national official organ, and the edicts
and laws which it publishes are binding upon the
whole country. The Truth, Progress, &c.,
are either semi-official publications to which
the orders of the Government are from time to
time " communicated," or independent prints sup-
porting the Government, and containing news of
the insurrection and of the general position of
the Polish question at home and abroad. In the
meanwhile the Polish journals recognised by the
Rusiian authorities at Warsaw occupy themselves
exclusively with foreign intelligence, and, with the
exception of the official organ of the Russian Go-
vernment, avoid all mention of Polish affairs. In-
deed, the very name of Poland would seem to be
studiously avoided ; and in the Gazette Polska of
the 11th inst., I find a publication concerning that
country spoken of as " a work devoted to a portion
of central Europe particularly interesting to our
readers."

The National Government also issues proclama.
tions which are posted on the walls of Warsaw at
night, and remain there until they are torn off the
next morning by soldiers, the ordinary police being
afraid to touch them.
As for its passports, they may, or may not, be
found necessary. A few days ago a friend of mine
was travelling to Warsaw, when the train was
stopped by insurgents. A retired Russian officer
who was among the passengers was not allowed to
proceed until he exhibited a pass from the National
Government. Had he not been provided with this
document (which he did his best to avoid showing
and only produced at the very last moment) he
would have been arrested as an intending combatant
on the wrong side.
Poles who wish to leave their estates must now
have passports, above all if they are going abroad.
Those who are already absent from their usual
places of residence ought to be able to prove their
right to be away. A severe edict has been pub-
lished against absenteeism, and though it will pro-
bably be impossible to enforce its general observance,
most persons seem to think it just as well not to fly
in the face of it, and to obtain, if possible, a formal
permission to disobey it. The Government has
agents everywhere, and there is scarcely a city in
Europe in which a Pole may not be called upon to
give an account of himself and to explain on what
ground he sets at nought the orders of a body whose
authority is acknowledged by the nation at large.
I do not know whether a Pole living abroad need
fear the National Government ; but he Cannot help
fearing the opinion of his countrymen, on which the
National Government is gaining every day a
stronger hold.

The National Government has not only commit-
tees in correspondence with it and executing its
orders in all the districts and towns of ancient Po-
land; it has, also, its duly appointed civil and Mil-
itary officers, its gendarmerie and police, and its
secret agents of various kinds. If a number of ex-
peditions are sent against the enemy on such an
ill-
Combined plan that they are nearly sure to be beaten
in detail, an agent is despatched to inquire into the
froeralcause
preventingof thehe
their
disaster, e andn ce to prescribe means
. If, by mistake, a
proprietor has received rent from his peasants, an
agent calls upon him to point out the error he has
ted
money. If any
onem m
hasit miscalculated his backincoin e,and paid the re-
coan d to take the
re-
quired 10 per cent. for the expenses of the war on
antooa
smallgent. a sum, he, also, is likely to be visited by

The national police act, of course, in the districts
where the insurgents have established themselves;
but marauders are not safe from their interference
anywhere, except in the immediate vicinity of the
towns where the Russians have now, for the most
part, concentrated their forces. Of the performances
of the military officers—tbe Jaczanowskis, Chacow-
skis, and Jezioranskis, of the insurrection—nothing
need here be said. The principal civil officers are
the directors of the finances, and of the arms and
commissariat departments for the whole of Poland,
and the general governors, prefects of police, &c.,
in Warsaw, and a few other towns.
The most remarkable thing is not that the offices
I have mentioned exist, but that the men who fill
them are able to perform their duties so satisfacto-
rily that the whole civil government of the country
is now really in the hands of the Poles. The Russian
Government cannot get its taxes paid. The Polish
Government, as
thsaem. O
rule, gets sthe
m paid almost forebe. it asks for letter of remonstrance
from the Polish Government suffices to bring a
r
tardy, and, perhaps, really needy ratepayer to book.
The Russian Government, on the other band,
threaten as it may, cannot get its money in at all.
Its officials in tho kingdom, Poles, almost to a man,
receive on the same day orders from the Russian
Government to collect the taxes, and from the Polish