The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-09 00:00:00

THE INSURRECTION IN POLAND.

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)

CRACOW, May '3l.

You have heard that on May 15 Padlewski war
shot at Plock. A few days before his execution he
was taken before Gen. Semeka, and is said to have
received the most splendid offers of advancement in
the Russian army if he would return to the insur-
gents and prevail upon them to lay down their arms.
Padlewski replied that his previous life did not
justify the Russians in making such a proposal to
him, and moreover that the General made a great
mistake if he thought any one chief possessed the
power of staying the insurrection, which existed
in all parts of Poland, and would go o❑ increaaing
until the country was liberated. He added that it
he were set free he should feel it his duty to rejoin
his detachment at once, and asked Gen. Semeka
whether, if Moscow were in arms against the Tar-
tars he should not behave as he (Padlewski) had
behaved in Poland. The General's reply, of course,
is not given. After Padlewski had been condemneo
to death his sentence was kept a profound secret,
and a report was even spread that he was not to be
shot, it being feared (as is alleged) that the insur-
gents would attack the town of Plock and endeavour
to liberate hint. However, at 4 o'clock on the morn
ing of the 15th he was brought out for execution.
He had taken the Sacrament some days before, and
it had been arranged at his particulpr request the'
he should not have his eyes bandaged. He stood
facing the soldiers on the edge of his grave, and,
until the last moment, smoked a cigar. He said as
he took up his position that it was sad to die at
twenty-seven, but that his death would not be in
vain. The order to fire was given, and Padlewski
received 12 bullets in the legs and lower part of the
body. A soldier was sent forward to despatch him,
and almost before his convulsions were at an end he
was thrown into the grave and the earth shovelled
over him.

Padlewski, like Langiewicz, Bentkowski, and so
many of the chiefs who have distinguished them-
selves in the Polish insurrection, belonged to one of
the scientific branches of his profession, and besides
his commission in the Russian army, held a Pro-
fessorship at the Military Academy of St. Peters-
burg. He was at Warsaw the night of the forced
recruiting, followed the fugitives to the woods, and
took the command of the first regular band of in-
surgents that was formed.

A Russian officer, writing to the _Ruski Invalid
(popularly known as the Invalide .Russe—as if it
were likely that the organ of the Russian army
would be published in the French language) gives
an account, which does him infinite credit, of Nar
butt's last battle, and dwells with admiration on
the heroism shown by the Lithuanian insurgents
throughout the action. Narbutt was killed, and the
Russians, to prove they were not insensible to the
high qualities be had displayed, and as a mark of
sympathy for his followers, gave up his body, and
it is said were even represented at his funeral.

What wo'ild the Russians have done with Narbut
if he had lived? To give up a dead body is, after
all, not much, and to know what the sympathy of
the Russians is worth one would like to see them
show some mercy to the living. Another Lithuanian
chief as brave and as devoted as Narbutt has fallen,
wounded, but alive, into the hands of the Russians,
and as it is feared the injuries he has received may
not be mortal, his numerous friends are must anxi-
ous about his fate. An ordinary leader wounded as
Sierakowski was would have allowed himself to be
taken to the rear, but he insisted on being carried
forward, and ultimately, his detachment being com-
pletely overpowered, was taken prisoner. He is
now lying in a hospital, and when he gets better
will doubtless be brought befora a court martial and
accused as a deserrer from the Russian army.

To enter the Russian army deliberately, and
afterwards desert and fight against Russian troops
would :no doubt be a most serious offence, but
Sierakowski has done nothing of the kind. He was
taken when a boy from his native Lithuania and
sentenced for some act of hostility to the Russian
Government to serve as a common soldier in a re-
giment stationed at Orenburgh. For eight years he
carried a musket. He was then made an officer,
and, thanks to his superior abilities, soon obtained
promotion, End became captain on the Staff and Pro-
fessor at one of the military collegesof St. Petersburg.
When the thousand-and-one commissions for re-
forming everything in the Russian Empire were
established, Captain Sierakowski was appointed to
the Commission for Military Affairs, and was sent
to England, France, Prussia, and Austria, to report
on the organization of the army and the institu-
tions connected with it in those countries. He
spent a long time in England, had frequent inter-
views with the late Lord (then Mr. Sidney) Her-
bert, and was a constant attendant at the House of
Commons whenever the subject of army reform
was brought forward. He also visited our
military academies, hospitals, reading-rooms, &c.,
and passed a week at the Staff College. At a cer-
tain international social scientific meeting, held in
London, Captain Sierakowski proposed as a subject
for discussion, " The moral effect on the soldier of
corporal punishment ;" when some surprise was
expressed at such a topic being brought forward
by an officer in the Russian army. Nevertheless,
this officer in the Russian army made the most
earnest endeavours to get corporal punishment
abolished in the service to which ho belonged,
and which he had been forced to enter; and it was
owing in a great measure to his recommendation
that the right of beating in an arbitrary manner,
and without the decision of a court-martial, was
abolished. I have heard some Poles, very natural
haters of the Russians, say in reference to the limi-
tation of stick law in the Russian army, " I am sorry
for it ; I only wish it had been extended to the
officers ;" but Sierakowski sought to do good to
those who had injured him, or rather did not con-
sider himself injured by the Russian army, and
least of all by those with whom he had been com-
pelled to serve eight years in the ranks. I believe
That when the insurrection in Lithuania broke out,
Captain Sierakowski was in Warsaw, and that he
was sent to Wilna on some mission by the Grand
Duke. The temptation was too great for him, He
was in his own country, saw his own people fight-
ing, and with the consent, if not by the express order
of the National Government, hastened to place him-
self at the head of an insurgent band, which had
just been formed on the borders of Livonia. The
rest is known. After gaining several brilliant vic-
tories he was at at last surrounded by an over-
whelming force, was himself badly wounded, and
fell, still fighting, into the power of the enemy, in
whose hands he now remains.

DESTRUCTIVE FlRES.—Shortly before 12 o'clock
last night a fire brake out in the premises of Mr.
Barnett, a glass manufacturer and picture-frame dealer, in
Houndsditch. The discovery was made simultaneously by
Sergeant Nurse and Police-constable No, 634, of the City
force. An alarm was raised, and in the course of a few
minutes the parish engines, with several of the London
Brigade under the direction of Captain Shaw and Foreman
Bridges, attended with a powerful body of engineers and
firemen, as well as two land steamers. A good supply of
the New River Company's water having been procured, the
enginds were at once set to work, and before 1 o'clock this
morning the flames were entirely extinguished, but the
premises of Mr. Barnett from the ground floor were
destroyed. The origin of the fire is at present unknown.
It is understood that the sufferers were insured. About
half-past 3 a destructive fire took place in the premises be-
longing to Mr. Wybone, beershop keeper, termed the Seven
Stars, situatnd in Duke-street, Lower Chapman-street, St.
George's-in-the-East. The flames were not extinguished
until the premises were burnt out and the whole of., thend
contents, consisting of wearing apparel, stock.i.n-traeuseerely
fixtures, were destroyed, and the adjoining premnisetshes
Union
damaged by fire, &c. The loss will fall upo
Fire-office.
PLAIN TRUTH.—Our pickets and the enemy's on
Morris Island (Charleston harbroanter,)thcoenulv,earnsed fmrieneilay-
across the narrow creek which
have been otten sent to
tura vessels freighted wittooLeciloa
Our side
with requests fork ecipro-al eargoes of coffee, the.
total want el which the rebels say is a source of great diz
lc Say, Yankee," was shouted acrosit the
comfort to them.
haint you tired of this war ?" No,
rsiivre.creth„e other day,
responded our p
the rebel ; " icket. " It's a--
insisted
you're just as sick of it as we are, and you
know it."—.New York Irtbune.
THE GREAT EASTERN.—The Great Eastern ar-
rived off New York on the morning cf the 27th ult., and
was safely anchored there on the afternoon of that day.
Tile Great Eastern sailed from Liverpool on the 16th of
MaY,