The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-26 00:00:00

Tribune there. But Freedom of some sort there is,
beyond a moment's question—otherwise the Senate
would never have listened, as it did, not so very long
ago, to the bold and outspoken harangue delivered
there by an Imperial Highness, who for once could
apparently think and talk for himself! Prince
NAPOLEON doing so, there, it may be remembered,
in direct antagonism to the policy of the Imperial
Government ! Discussions there are even now, ses-
sion after session, among the Deputies and among
the Senators—speeches very courtly no doubt for the
part, and pronounced as one might say, in the main,
" with 'bated breath" or, at any rate, sotto voce.
Nevertheless discussions there are_(they will become
louder and bolder by usage)—discussions both
spoken from the Tribune and reported in the

Newspapers.
As to the restoration of anything like Freedom
to the Newspaper Press—though that too
thoughoohasbeen
talked of in the precincts of the Tuileries,
its coming was, a while since, trumpeted
sonorously enough by the Minister of State,
the Count DE PERSIGN Y, at the moment
of his returning from being Ambassador
in England to resume the administrative portfolio
of the Interior in Imperial France—so small, so in-
finitessimal is that to our Brobdignagian habits in
the way of Free Writing and Free Printing over
here in England, that it is all but absolutely invi-
sible and unrecognisable, upon the most careful
scrutiny, by the eyes of Englishmen. There it is
we are told, notwithstanding—though we cannot
see it. There it is we are still confidently assured;
and there, too, we are assured, it will gradually
grow up, imperceptibly expand, and eventually
flourish. Heaven grant: it, is our one prayer of
sympathy and good fellowship : and the sooner the
better, say we, under the circumstances.
However, all this may be, nevertheless, here, as
among the most significant signs of the times that
could possibly be brought to us from France, comes
the Speech delivered by the EMPEROR yesterday in
the Palace of the Louvre,upon the occasion of his MA-
JESTY'S distribution of the Prizes recently awarded
in London to the pick of the French Exhibitors in
the Industrial and Art Palace of 1862, at South
Kensington. For once in a Speech from those
usually grave and taciturn lips—for once there
comes audibly to us a sentence that has about
it a taste or flavour of the Humorous. A
strange blending there seems to us in the
particular words we are now alluding to, a strange
blending of the genial and ironical: but out
of the blending of those apparently incongruous
ingredients there comes as the result—this same
indication of the humorous. " That redoubtable
invasion of the British says his MAJESTY,
" has, then, been realised." He is alluding to the
Exhibition—he is addressing himself to he French
Exhibitors. "I am happy," he adds, "to have to
reward the bravest of the brave, In fact, we
have crossed the Channel and invaded English soil,
not with the arms which carry ruin, but with those
which confer prosperity and comfort." Later
on in the Imperial discourse, NAPOLEON 111.
observes in words that befit less the lips
of a military despot than those of an
autocratic ruler aspiring to assume his place
among the ranks of the Constitutional Sovereigns :
—"lf foreigners have to envy us many useful
things, France must have seen that she can borrow
many moral conquests from England. We have, in
fact, borrowed from England that spirit of liberty
which, being extended to all opinions, insures the
development of all interests." It is something,
surely, " to the good" that France should become
accustomed to hear language of this kind uttered by
her Imperial ruler. With the Passport System broken
down, with an intimate commercial intercourse
established by Treaty between the two countries
with voices again audible in the French Tribunes,
with reports of discussions again appearing in the
French newspapers, with words coming to us like
thoseyesterday pronounced by the Emperor NAPO-
LEON, in reference to the Free Institutions of
England, and in reference to the hopes inspired by
them among educated Frenchmen, it is impossible
not to cherish a belief that, with the advance of
I time, the Napoleonian Empire may yet develop
1 into a Constitutional Government.

The news from Poland proves that the greatest
confusion reigns there, and many accounts of suffer-
ing and violence may be expected shortly to follow.
The result is only what might have been expectedfrom
the long endurance of that oppressed nation, and the
cruel tyranny of its oppressors. It needed but a
slight impetus to turn the murmurs of discontent
into the outbreaks of open 'warfare. There is no
doubt that the immediate cause which led to this
sad state of things was the cruel conscription that
ha 3 of late so irritated and distressed the Poles. The '
inhuman mode in which that procedure has been
carried on has increased tenfold the original horror
of its decree. A greater scandal to a civilised com- ,
munity can hardly be imagined than the records ,
which reach us of the doings at Warsaw. It is not
to be supposed that any material benefit will
result to Poland from this insurrection ; indeed, it
is only too probable that by the active and
stringent measures adoptel by the Russians, the
chains of that unhappy country will be more firmly
riveted than ever for the time, and that the suffer-
ings of her unhappy people will furnish another
long list to add to that catalogue of wrongs which
awakens the pity and arouses the indignation of all
independent men. The accounts furnished reveal
a concerted character that is rather surprising, 1
unless we consider it as the simultaneous expression
of an injured people, whose wrongs are beyond
endurance. There have been several encounters I
between the troops and the insurgents. These latter
had effected a junction of their several bands on the ,
' right bank of the Vistula. On the night of the 22d,
1 there were attacks made everywhere on the troops
that were detached, they killed all the soldiers they
found billeted in various houses. Of course this suc-
cess was but of a partial nature. The troops, in their
turn, united and repulsed the insurgents, not, how-
ever; without loss on their own side. A general
was wounded and a colonel killed, thirty Russians I
were killed,and three times that number wounded in I
the combat. It is a warning to the authorities of the
mistake that they have made in their recent, arrange-
ments, by their over haste and harshtnheasts itnhopltawno-
ning and pursuing their operations,
thousand conscripts lately enrolled have deserted
and assembled at different points. These men must
have been wound up by dreadful persecutions and
fired by the recollection of most maddening out-
rages to have taken so decisive a step, and dared
the dangers of so imminent a fate as that which
hangs over them now after that desertion. They
have been supplied by
place. The Journal of St. Pe
the conflicts that have taken
eharace.er. It also Siedlec,states werethat
hostages seized in their
tersburg states that
placeof m ot haeianst ta seriousullr g loe
cnkt
i Plonsk, Radzyn, and 1
had intended to enact a second massacre of St. Bar-
tholomew, and at midnight of the 22d they seized the
soldiers that were scattered about, not only in
Warsaw, but all the towns throughout the pro-
. vince, some of whom were strangled in their beds.
They also burnt several villages, but the soldiers
delended these vigorously, and finally repulsed the
[insurgeats every where with great loss. The Rus-

sians, on their side, seem to have adopted every
means of defiance and precaution. A general con-
centration of troop% has taken place, and Poland is
declared in a state of siege. A band of insurgents
have been surrounded by a military cordon which
has cut off their supplies, and domiciliaq visits and
arrests have been made at Kalisch. All these strenu-
ous efforts will doubtless gain their immediate
end of putting down the insurrection, and quelling
the national outbreak. When this has been done
we shall be tempted to exclaim, in the words of
Mr. COBDEN on some public question of the day,
" What next, and next ?" Is the same system of
tyranny carried to so crushing an extent that
human nature must revolt at it, however useless or
unavailing the outbreak may be, to be the ground-
work of the future policy of tke Russians ? Must
the generation that now exclaims against such bar-
barity, together with those that exercise it, alike
pass away to give place to others who will play the
same part on the stage of the world's history ?
The CZAR may exult in the triumph of
his arms in putting down rebellion and anarchy,
but he had better call to mind the remark of
PYRRHUS, " Another such victoryand I am undone."
The bright promise which ALEXANDER 11. gave at
the outset of his reign has already been overclouded,
and appears likely soon to give place to the
gloomiest forebodings. If he sanction and encourage
the repetition of such transactions as are recorded
in the recent telegram, he will undo all the good he
has already done, and cover himself with disgrace
in the eyes of the civilised world. [hose who may
not be willing from political motives, or able from
intrinsic strength, to aid the oppressed nation by
force of arms, will yet raise an indignant outcry
against such barbarity that may startle the proud
EMPEROR, and call down disgrace on his
doings. To find a parallel to the scenes
in Poland we must look at the blackest pages in the
world's history. The anomaly is that while many
nations have been under such strict surveillance for
a time, that Poland seems destined never to emerge
from a state of moral siege, to a brighter or happier
day. The very means which the usurpers adopt
to crush the incipient attempts of the trampled
down people to free themselves are of such a nature
that after a time these suppressing severities in
themselves occasion renewed outbreaks. It is high
time that this dark tragedy was played out,
and that reason and remonstrance shou,d induce
the Emperor of RUSSIA and his chief counsellors
to moderate their cruel conduct. If they persist much
longer they may create confusions that even their
armies can not quell, or if they do put down the
insurrection openly there will be a smouldering rage
within the heart of the country that will continu-
ally cause them annoyance and harass. It would be
worth their while for an experiment to adopt milder
measures towards Poland, since this constantly re-
curring violence cannot be ♦ery pleasant or profita-
ble even to them. One thing is certain, while human
nature is constituted as it is and men's passions are
aroused by fits of treachery and deeds of violence, so
long will the Pol_s rise up against their hard task-
masters who seem to have taken PHAROAIE of old as
their model of a ruler, and to harden their
hearts alike against the commandments of their
Maker, and the rights of their fellow creatures.
It is to be trusted that something is yet in store for
Poland that may allow that outraged land, at least,
a little breathing space, and that some check may
be given to her ruthless persecutors, who seem bent
upon scattering and devastating the population of a
country that they have done their utmost to blot
out from the nations of the world.

We have now before us, en extenso, the address
which the majority of the Prussian Chambers have
decided upon presenting to the Throne. It is yet
to be seen whether, should it be presented, his MA-
JESTY will receive it, since his evil genius, Herr
VON BISMARK, has already informed the Opposi-
tion that " there are limits to what the King of
PRUSSIA can listen to," and that he cannot advise
his MAJESTY to accept the address in question. Herr
VON BISMARK is, probably, indignant at the inge-
nious and strictly constitutional distinction which
is drawn in the address between the KING and his ,
Ministers. He is very unwilling to accept the blame
which under a constitutional Monarchy attaches to
the Minister for his Sovereign's acts, and which in
this case at least it is very fair that the Minister
should be made to participate in. He is too ob-
stinate or too shortsighted to persuade WILLIAM
I. to abate his pretensions and govern on moderate
and equitable principles, and consequently he per-
sists in the course which is leading both himself
and his master into very serious difficulties. The
Chamber, on the other hand, after distinctly stat-
ing their grievances and the support given them
by the country at large, throw the onus of the late
unconstitutional proceedings directly upon the Mi-
nisters, thereby giving the King, if he choose to
avail himself of it, an easy and dignified mode of
concession by the dismissal of his present unpopu-
lar administration. Nowithstanding the loyal ex-
pressions of the address, it is evident that the
Opposition is assuming a more decided attitude.
Their language is firmer, their statement of
grievances mole plain and uncompromising than
of old. They commence by reminding the King
that the last session was closed prior to the coin
pletion of the Budget Law for 1863; the budget
drafts for 1863, which according to the charter
should have been agreed upon the previous year,
ware withdrawn, and notwithstanding the re-
quest of the Chambers that the Govern-
ment would re-submit them in time, the Cham-
bers were closed without receiving them. " Since
then," says the Address, "the Ministers appointed
by your Mojesty have, contrary to law and the
charter, carried on the public administration with-
out a budget voted by the House. Defying an ex- i
press resolution of the House of Dsputins, they have i
even gone so far as to authorise such expenditures as
had been definitively refused by the decisions of the
House." What would be the feeling in England if
such proceedings were adopted P We are not sur-
prised to find the next paragraph asserting, in in-
dignant terms, that the supreme right of the Legis-
lature has been invaded—a right which forms the
very basis of constitutional government, and the full
concession of which to the Prussian Parliament
has never been hitherto so much as doubted.
It is this right that has always proved the great
check upon Monarchs and Ministers inclined to
overstep due bounds. It is a right which all parties '
must admit is incontestably one of the first privi-
leges of a Legislature; and if the Chambers take
their stand upon it, we do not see how the KING
can silence them, unless he resorts to the expedient
Of CHARLES 1., and endeavours to rule without them.
The Address then proceeds to denounce in strong
terms the presentation of the addresses by the
reactionary party, which, it states, consists
onlj of a "small minority estranged to
1 the nation, hut supported by your MAJESTY'S
Ministers;''
beinger s ;
Session, it is said, has opened without any real over-
^i s thepress,
and bf power towards civil ollie a 1..,
and goes on to compare the present
and the non-embodied militia, to the oppression prac-
ticed years in the preceding the Regency. The new
made by the Government, and, in truth,
' the tone of the Speech was anything but concilia--
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