The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-02 00:00:00

THE POLISH INSURRECTION,

(From the Specie. Correspondent of the Times.)
NEAR. CRACOW, AUG. 24.
A German newspaper informs its readers that
Mierosla cvski is in Podolia, at the head of 10,000
men. If Mierosla,wski were in the Russian service
this would be impossible enough, but under actual
circumstances the possibility of such a thing is not

worth discussing.
It is said, however, that Mieroslawski is really
about to make his appearance again in Poland. This
is not mere gossip, for I know several officers who
served in his first detachment, and have remained
in the insurrection ever since, who are anxiously
expecting his arrival, and are convinced that before
long the whole military direction of affairs will be
placed in his hands. As I have before had occasion
to remark, the supporters of Mieroslawski are by no

means numerous, but the moment of despair seems
to be approaching for the unhappy Poles, and they
may soon have to choose between adopting despe-
rate measures, such as Mieroslawski is supposed to
be peculiarly fitted for, and laying down their arms.

It will be nothing new to see insurrection against a
foreign Power degenerate into domestic revolution,
and a change of this character may be expected in
Poland as soon as it is clearly understood that noth-

ing is to be hoped from foreign intervention. It is a
mistake to suppose that at the present moment there
are two active partiesin Poland. On the one hand there
is every small clique of men whe believein Microslaw-
ski, and who avow that their number is very limited,
and on the other, the great body of what the Poles
call " the nation," by which must be understood the
nation minus the inert dead mass of the peasantry,
intent only on cultivating its fields in peace, or, in
other words, about one third of the entire popula-
tion. I have met many insurgents who approved
the Mieroslawski mode of action, but were never-
theless bitterly hostile to him personally, for the
sufficient reason that it is he and he alone who led
Europe to believe that the Poles were still tor-
mented by their ancient sin at a time when the only
sinner in the way of factiousness was Mieroslawski
himself. It seems strange that the advent of
Mieroslawski to power should be possible when,with
very few exceptions, all the thinking and acting
portion of the nation is opposed to him. But if there
is to be no intervention by force of arms, what are
the insurgents to do? They have no thought of
giving in. They ought to continue the war as it has
been carried on hitherto---keeping up a slow fire
which consumes the forces of Poland without burn-
ing up those of Russia; or, ought they to aim at a
general cenflagration, of which the effect has not
yet been tried, and which, though it would cer-
tainly destroy a good many of the most highly
placed men in Poland, might ultimately clear the
country of foreign invaders ? Such a policy as this
latter has a touch of madness in it, but the distin-
guishing quality of the Polish insurrection from the
beginning has not been wisdom ; and the best and
bravest of the insurgents say with truth that if they
had stopped to calculate chances instead of listening
simply to the dictates of their own courage, they
could not, unarmed, undisciplined, and half frozen in
the woods, as they were, have commenced the insur-
rection at all, If a people is driven to madness, we
must look for madness in its actions, and perhaps,
considering all things, the most wonderful •
thing in the
Polish insurrection up to the present time has been the
moderation with which it has been conducted. The
members of what is called " the cosmopolite revolu-
tion," who are supposed to love revolution for its
own sake, and to take the same pleasure in revers-
ing the existing order of society that amateur gar-
deners take in turning up the soil, have been
solemnly and repeatedly warned eft'. A certain num-
ber of these resolutionists have, no doubt, penetrated
into Poland, and it is, of course, impossible, at the
last moment, for the Polish committees to say to a
brave Italian or Frenchman who comes to offer them
his sword, "You are a Democrat, a Socialist, and,
moreover, an enemy to the Pope ; and we will,
therefore, have nothing to do with you." But
foreigners, and especially foreign revolutionists,
have, as a rule, been discouraged from coming to
Poland; and, judging from the thousands of insur-
gents that I have myeell seen during the last five
months, bound from Galicia to the Kingdom or to
Volhynia, I can say positively that very few
foreigners of any kind have come.
However, up to the present time the insurrection,
begun in sheer despair, has been systematically and
cautiously maintained, in the hope that the
Western Powers would either intervene forcibly
on behalf of Poland, or intervene diplomatically,
and by doing so involve themselves in a war with
Russia, if not precisely en Poland's behalf at least
on Poland's account. Although no one here has
any ground for supposing that Prince Gortscha-
koff will make concessions to the Poles before the
insurrection is suppressed, and although no one can
say what coarse the Western Powers will take in
case their demands should not be acceded to,
yet it is easy to see that the Poles are already
preparing for the worst, and are considering
what course they must take as soon as it shall
appear certain that they are to be abandoned to
themselves and to the Russians. Between now
and the first days of September we shall hear
of several expeditions entering the kingdom, and
perhaps of one very important one entering the
Ruthenian provinces. These, however, like most
previous expeditions that have left Galicia since the
defeat of Langiewicz, will be really little more than
armed manifestations destined to prove once more
to Europe before it decides to leave Poland to its
fate, that the Polish insurrection is still alive and
as vigorous as ever. Then if the six points (or any
greater or smaller number) be offered to Poland,
the first act of the drama—or rather the second, if
the first may be said to have terminated with the
fall of Langiewicz—will be at an end, and the
third, with the catastrophe, about to begin.
The men of extreme measures say that the true
insurrection hes not vet commenced, and that we
have hitherto only witnessed the introduction. The
" true insurrection is to be simply a reign of terror.
Mieros:awski's avowed partisans, as well as those
men of extreme measures who, though they hate
Mieroslawski for his factiousness, might approve of
his rule if he were once called to power—all the
extreme party, in short, say openly that terrorism
7111 soon be their only hope, and that as it saved
France from foreign invasion so it may save Poland
from foreign domination, " Poland," they say,
" can never be made to live again through roreign
aid, nor can it hope to regain its independence ex-
cept through an effort made by the whole popula-
tion. But the
aristocracy (that is to say, certain
members of rich families among the mass of large
and small landed proprietors who constitute in
thb Poland what, to
,confusion of Englishmen, is
called " the nobilite,l
than fight, and would ten times
rather give money
iemes rather fight and
sacrifice their lives than cede to
their peasants the
land for which those peasants have hitherto per-
formed task-work or paid rent.„
Yet, until every
trace of task-work is abolished,
and until the
peasant becomes a proprietor in
Russian, as
he is already in Galicia and in Posen, he Poland
always be the enemy of the
nobility, and will
will
always refuse to fight for the independence of his in a purely
native land. If the peasantry, agricul-
tural country like Poland, refuse to take part in a
movement en behalf of national independence, then
no such movement can by any possibility succeed.
Therefore, conclude the men of extreme measures,
" the support of the peasantry must,. and at all
hzerds, be obtained, and if the rich proprietors
stand in the way of such au end, we niust look upon
thew. as obstacles to be removed, and treat them as
if they were Russians."
The reply one naturally makes to such an argot
meet as this is, in the first place, that the pEassnt
question is at an end, having now been eclreci pre-
clsely in accordance with the viers of the extreme
party. As tiagnarelle, in one of Moliere'a inter-
having to choose between receiving 12 blows
ieg 12 Pieces of money, chooses the blows,
but when he has received 10 finds that he can stand
them DO longer decides to
pay the money—so the
Polish proprietors, after supporting the attacks of
the so-called "Democratic" party and the ill will of
the peasants for 32 years, rather than make the
concession proposed to them in the Diet of 1831,
now, at the last moment, declare themselves ready
to make it. The utstion of the peasant's right to

the soil is rather a difficult one, and, viewed by
itself, it would probably be decided by most Eng-

lishmen against the peasant. Nevertheless, the

proprietors, under special and pressing circum-
stances, have admitted his claim, and one world
imag'ne there ought now to be no difference; of
opinion on this most important point between them
and those whom six months ago they used to stig-
matize as " communists."

The extreme men, however (the late " commu-
nists" maintain that numbers of the proprietors,

especially those belonging to the aristocracy, are

not sincere, and that though they have received no
rent for the last •two quarters, they have not yet

solemnly and in person sworn to their peasants that
the land for which, under previous arrangements,

rent or work could be claimed is now theirs in free-

hold. By not making his declaration in the only

manner in which it Could, have the desirea. effect,

the aristocratic proprietors are accused of checking
the national action, and are therefore crAlled " reac-
tionists ;" and the men who aim above all at pro-
moting and extending the national rAotion wish to
propose this alternative to them—',:hat they shall
leave Cracow, Lemberg, the Garman baths, or
wherever they happen to be, came into Russian
Poland, explain matters to their peasants, and en-
deavour by generous dealing, by patriotic advice,
and also by setting a conrage.tous example, to make
them fight the Russians, or that they shall be de-
clared traitors, dispossessed, outlawed, and, if pos-
sible, killed. There can be no mistake as to the
revolutionary character of this policy, and its advo-
cates would certainly not object to be aided in
carrying it out by the members of the " cosmopolite
revolution."
The position of those numerous proprietors who
have left the scene of actual strife in order to avoid
all risk of being massacred, and to escape the double
pressure sure to be exercised, on the one hand, by
the insurgents, on the other by the Russians, upon
all who remain, is compared by the extreme party
to that of the emigris at the commencement of the
French Revolution. The comparison is not at all
just, but it at least lets us into the views of those
who make it. If, however, " the true insurrection"
were once to begin, many Polish proprietors would
really be very much in the position of the emi-
grants from revolutionary France, though it may
be doubted whether the insurgent chiefs would find
themselves in the position of the French revolu-
tionary
ourcyrse,the
Generals.
o so-called democratic party is mis-
represented by, and in its turn misrepresents, the
so-called aristocratic party. The former is accused
of aiming at a social revolution, and of adopting a
national cry only as a pretext; while the latter is
charged with preferring large estates and foreign
domination to smaller estates and national inde-
pendence.

The extreme men not only declare that to look
abroad for assistance is useless and unbecoming,
and that if Poland was to be free it must conquer
its freedom for itself ; they also taunt the moderate
men, whose only hope is in foreign intervention,
with " want of confidence" in the Polish nation, and
deny their patriotism. On the other hand, the
moderate men, who do not believe that the feelings
and character of the peasantry can suddenly be
changed, and who are quite opposed to all that
savours of terrorism and revolution, will not allow
any merit whatever to the extreme men, and say
that all their talk about appeals to the peasantry
merely means that they want to get up a Jacquerie.
Probably the sad truth is that one party is right

in hoping nothing from foreign intervention, and
the other equally right in hoping nothing from the
Polish peasantry. Hitherto the difference of opi-
nion between these two parties has not prevented
them from acting in concert, and it is to the credit
of both that this has been the case. Mutual con-
cessions have been made, mutual forbearance has
been shown, and if some of the measures of the ex-
treme party have been adopted, the men who have
been appointed to carry them out seem, for some
time past, to have belonged to the moderate party.
Even ati this moment there is a common pro-
gramme, which consists in keeping up the insur-
rection and seeing what Europe will do. But, in the
absence of an intervention, a change must come over
the movement before long. Besides the insurgents
actually in the field, there are too many men com-
promised by their connexion with the National
Government to render it possible to stop the insur-
rection if the extreme party wish to carry it on, and
it is evident that when once al! hope of foreign aid
has ceased the plan of the moderate party, which
was built on that hope, must be at an end.
If the negotiations on behalf of Poland should lead
to a war, then undoubtedly every Pole capable of
bearing arms would be ready to fight. I do not speak
of the peasantry, who are Poles only in so far that
they happen to have been born in a country called
Poland; but at least the peasantry would do nothing
hostile to the cause of their patriotic countrymen if
the latter once had force on their side. Indeed, the
probabilities are that they would assist them as they
now assist the Russians, for they seem to be guided
in their actions not by likings and dislikings, but
simply by fear.
In the more probable event, however, of peace
being maintained, there is good reason for believing
that the energetic and unscrupulous men who first
commenced the Polish insurrection will make a
desperate attempt to get its direction once more into
their hands. Then, as a first step, they will call upon
all Poles to join the movement personally and execute
the orders of the National Government strictly, and
in spirit as well as in letter, or submit to be regarded
as traitors, and placed beyond the pale of the law.
I know members of the extreme party who assure
me that at thecommencement of the insurrection they
formally, and by word of mouth, as well asby writ-
ing, gave up the farm land on their estates to the
peasants, and that after much trouble they succeeded
in convincing them that the gift was genuine, and
evena r
son
persuaded
behalf
a good proportion of them to take up
mof Poland. How many men have
behaved in this laudable manner it would be hard
to say, but that some have done so is certain ; and
if the proprietors in general did not mean to
imitate them one cannot help
thinking
would have done well to leavethe that they
alone. The object in endowing the
peasant was not
to make him happy but to make him
fight. As it
is, the proprietors have given up
a third of their
income without bringing the peasant (as a general
rule) any nearer to their way of feeling than he was
it
before. It is evident that they should either have
refused to
make a cession which the great majority
of them regarded as unjust, or should
havemade
in a direct or special manner to the persona who
were to profit by it and by whose good will they
and the whole country might have profited. The
Hungarian peasants (at least those of Hungarian
race) fought in 18=489 on behalf of the proprietors
who had just emancipated them with all their land,
and it is possible that the Polish peasants might
also have proved grateful for a gift freely and
frankly made. The men of the extreme party in
Poland have certainly a basis for their general
argument, and the proprietors admitted them to be
mainly in the right when they consented to adopt
their favourite measure. IV here they are wrong is
in attributing base motives to mon more cautious,
and perhaps also better acquainted with the real
state of Poland, than themselves, and, above all, in
threatening to carry out their scheme by the
\
bloodiest and most revolutionary means that can he
conceived. The extreme party may yet bring
triueffatderatirduißneurgpsonoftihieui:sciao.untry than all the Mount-
tyh
for plainly
Poland that
to theybe dwisheeei Itcpbdeerkiluie) l': teie°,lli'L lifet hla' that retyhdeesaaresult of their
terrible experiment death c et would be something very like
an scarcely be doubted.

Full benefit of reduced duty o htain
ed by pnr-
chasing, Ilornimaz's pure T—..........
; 'very choice at 3s. 4d. and
48. " luigh Standard" at 4s, 4
(formerly 4s. Ed.), is the
strongest and most delicious id.
roportecl. Agents in every
town supply it in packets,
digestion and
taken in
[ADTETLTISEMENT.I—IIOIIOtafty's
A frequent cause of gout and rheumatism is the inflatmea-
d
Ointment and Pills,—
gouts,
tory state of the blood. attended w
general debility. A few doses of these pt
time, are an effectual preventative against
rheu-
matism, but anyone who has an attack of either sir fhe,u.:
Holloway's Ointment also, the powerful prope'rit'els—ei
which, combined with the effect of the Pills, must infallibly
effect a core. These Pills act directly on the blood, which
they purify and improve, they also regulate the secreti‘ms
and give tone to the stontitch, and tbto the whole system is
invigorated, and put into a condition which enables it to
tlrJw off disease or cheek its approach,

THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION.

NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, Sept. 1.
Yesterday's great excitement was Capt. Grant's
appearance in the Geographical Section to give some
account of his adventures on the Nile Expedition.

This section meet in the Assembly-room, a hand-
some room of large proportions, but long before the
hour it was filled to its utmost capacity, and every
avenue was choked by crowds who were unable to
make their way into the room. Some adventurous
ladies had climbed up to some vantage ground out-
side, from which they could command a view of the
platform through the windows. The gallant cap-
tain was most enthusiastically cheered, and, after a
few general geographical details indicating the
route taken, which by this time are familiar to all
who take an interest in this subject, he proceeded
to relate some amusing stories of the dealings of the
party with the various Royal personages whom
they encountered on their route. " Between the
coast and the lake district/ said the captain :
~ We had to traverse many little States governed by petty
sultans, who were most exacting in their demands for taxes
—detaining us for days palavering—never letting us get
away from them without a row, disagreement, or threat of
attack. As an instance, when I stayed with the old

Sultan of Ukuui, in the Land of the Moon, providing, of
course, My own food, showing him and his five wives many
kindnesses and civilities, I became so indispensable to his
amusement that for three months he would render me no

assistance to get away, and on the day of my leaving he
drone my porters away with his stick, and took forcible
pos2ession of one of my rifles, thinking to exact more pre-
sents from me, and defeat my plans of getting on. The

presents had to be paid, and the rifle I had to wrest out o

his grasp. Two days afterwards, while marching at the

head of a file of 200 laden men, enjoying the pretty, hilly

country all around, a mob sprang out of the bushes, their

skin coverings flying like wings on their backs, making

their spears quiver, threatening us with their bows and

arrows, howling and yelling. I smiled at their graceful
antics over the high grasses and bushes, thinking they were

merely showing their delight. However, bursting in the
centre of my followers they broke the line from centre to
flanks, seized and ransacked every load, while I was left
with but two or three followers. All the property was stolen
in an instant and had disappeared on their backs through
the cover. The only redress obtained from their Sultan was
the condescending permission to leave his Highness's do-

minions and rejoin my companion Speke. This was not ac-
complished till another unwarrantable exaction was made
by a drunken fellow, who frightened away some of my load
carriers by beating his war drums whenever I refused to
satisfy his greed for presents. Until a rifle and a case of
ammunition, with other presents were given to him, he
would not show us to move from his village, while he
brought my men into subjection by prohibiting his people
from selling us the ordinary necessaries of life. The Gover-
nor of Uzinza had next to be passed. Although he had
invited us to come quickly, by sending his Royal copper-rod
bearer, we did not feel confident that he also would not
fleece us, because the Arab traders had reputed him as a
man whose avariciousness knew no bounds. We were ill
provided with cloths and beads, but a bold front was made
to pass the extortioner's country, and we considered our-
selves fortunate in paying only half our stock-in-trade
without receiving any article in exchange. Crowds of his
retainers wildly welcomed us, the first white men, laughing
and ridiculing us as we walked along the path, generally
afraid to come near, and sometimes dogging us for miles,
Even in camp, under canvass, we were not safe from being
stared at. Pitching water over them was found to be most
efficacious, making them run away laughing. During the
night we had to fire at thieves. They became so bold and
daring, throwing stones into camp, stealing the clothes of
single individuals while outside, that two or three were
killed, which gave the inhabitants a wonderful idea of
oar power and watchfulness; also that we must be ma-
gicians to have killed notorious thieves, hitherto con-
sidered invulnerable. Nothing was ever said for having
killed them. Some instances may be given of the supersti-
tions of this country. The people, having seen me visit a
waterfall alone, reported it to the Prince, and the story went
about that we had come to flood the country. Milk could
not be supplied to us, as we ate fowls, neither could it be
supplied to those who ate the bean of the country. The
ruler feared our evil eye, and would not show us anything,
neither would he accept a revolver pistol, as he thought it had
been bewitched I Our camp was kept two or three miles away
from the miserable creature's abode. After ten days we had
the good fortune, one midnight, to be ordered forthwith out
of his dominions, when we proceeded towards the countries
ruled by the three great despotic kings near the Victoria
Nyanza. The first, Rumanika, proved aremarkable contrast
to the rude barbarians we had seen previously. He received
us with a ' Yambo' (How do you do ?) and a hearty shake
of the hand immediately on our arrival. While seated in a
tiny room among his sons and brothers, he politely invited
us to sit down on the matting facing him. Smiles, inquiries,
and welcomes at being so fortunate as to see white men con-
tinually burst from him. ' Every day do I see Arab+, but
never white men.' He would say laughingly, ' Show me
that gun, the powder-flask, your hat,' &c. Then would he
look and wonder at our shoes. ' Did we think the lake big?'
e been
' How did we like the hills in his country?' How did we
know there were people here ?" Did the chief in Uzinza
treat us
hvg well?'
thisjokingblyy,
him.knowingln f
teheat, tw e
moat we
Hesaid
enormously fleeced
formed the most charming impression of his gentleness,
amiability, and intelligence, His brothers and sons showed
great attachment to him and sympathy towards me, sitting
with me for hours while lying sick; bringing me flowers,
birds' nests, animals, or anything curious that might inte-
rest me. His people, also, living in the palace vicinity, had
imbibed the gentleness of their king, whose greatest de-
light was in examining pictures of his peasantry, oar sol-
diery, or English men and women as they dressed at
home. Strangely enough, notwithstanding these superior
qualities, like most Africans, any toy would amuse his un-
educated mind, I made a jumping-jack for his child, but
this he at once appropriated to himself, and sent me a car-
penter to cut down a tree, so that a life-size one might be
made him. His queens and female relatives fed upon milk,
and the consequence was that they became fattened to enor-
mous sizes, and when seen in motion their excessive obesity
obliged them to be supported on either side by a friend, the
flesh of their arms hanging down in a flabby mass like the
widest of fashionable sleev,es. During the five months I
was laid up at his palace we were on the most friendly
and intimate terms. If hie gun was to be cleaned, or his
clock to be mended, or his coat to be washed, or if he wanted
a particular colour of fowl or goat for rain-making purposes,
or a picture to be drawn, he always applied to me. Ordinary
criminals he was never harsh with—his brother dealt with
them. Thefts were punished by imprisonment (the stocks)
for two or three months; for beating witk a stick a fine of
10 goats was sufficient ; for wounding with a spear all pro-
perty was confiscated, half going to the King and half to
the injured party; if there was no property he was sent to
the stocks. The murderer was variously treated, according
to the evidence ; some had their eyes gouged, while th
generality were thrown over a precipice, and the body
dashed to pieces, the property going to the family of the
murdered person. Their dead—that is, those of this Wal-
ruma race—are deposited in the cow fold, sown up in the
skin of a cow, or, as in the case of a young prince while I was
there, put among the rocks on an island in the lake. Burial
grounds are never seen in the country; the bodies of the
peasantry are thrown into Little Windermere. The next
Equator king was named M'tessa, a fine young fellow, pas-
sionately fond of all field sports. Very exaggerated reports
had come of him—i.e., that he would take no presents,
that Speke had to shoot 100 cows daily for the King s plea-
sure, that my arrival there would be celebrated by the
massacre of a great number of people, that he abhorred
slavery, that no sick person could enter his territory, &c. I
was consequently very anxious to reach Uganda to test these
wonderful reports, and soon found that he took the most
enormous presents wo had yet made—daily shot a few cows,
the meat of which the men got—no human sacrifices made
in honour of my arrival; slaves he had in immense num-
bers, and he sent a carrying party to bring me, an invalid,
up 200 miles, so that the report proved to some extent a
fabrication. The first time Speke took me there to call upon
him he presided at an immense levee (the most theatrical
affair), looking a perfect fop and dandy—albeit with en
Oraoverweening and contemptuous air. His clothes and head
not
a ments were put on with the greatest care and neatness ;
had hair was out of place, and evidently his lady's-maids
spared no pains in his t •
soothsayers, called • Witchnesee, sat by his side to hand him
,
his wine oup, or brush off a speck should it fall on the King;
they appeared to exercise
sotuoie sacred functions about the
Court, and were supposed divine every event. They
dressed fantastically, and,
like
vindividual present,
exquisitely clean and tidy, with
naturalea
wreaths of flowers,
stuffed lizards, shells, heads, or seeds, dresses of salmon-
tinted buck cloth reaching to their anCies aprons,
two or three of the shining black, white, orred
skinspet Perhaps
p es
kid. For hours they would sit in this state patiently upon
the King, until he choose to terminate his levee by retirig.
many curious barbarous customs prevail at Uganda.
One is that if a page does not convey properly the King's
orders, or misconvoys them, the poor buy has his intellee-.
sharpened by ha sing one or both his ears cut off. Maimed
boys and handless men, not seemingly disgraced, were
therefore not at all uncommon; and on his seeing my hand
it at once struck hint that I had been a page, for he asked
me. He punishes by fire, torture, or death. The lives of
men and women are taken for:the most trivial offences—a
common saying
being that he never looks bright or no bu-
siness can be done till the day has commenced with a few
being led to execution. Not a day passed without our hear-
ing of or actually seeing some poor victim. A miserable
young girl or handsome woman from the palace gates might
be seen walking down the road, perfectly alone and unheeded
by passers .by, wailing in the most bitter, agonizing tones,
perhaps bleeding from a spear wound, and mournfully fol-
lowing a single palace guard,walking 50 yards in front of her,
to the place of execution. Others would have a whip-cord
round the wrist, and follow the man along like a dog, while
others pull most reluctantly against the cord by which they
are being led to death, screaming most cruelly. Princesses
by birth had several privileges ; they could not be executed