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

TEE POLISH INSURRECTION,

(From the Speck.? Correspondent of the Times.)
NEAR CRACOW, AUG. '24.
A German newspaper informs its readers that
Mieroslawski is in Podolia, at the head of 10,000
men. If Mieroslawski were in the Russian service
this would be impossible enough, but under actual
circumstances the possibility of such a thing is not
worth dhicnssing.
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 affeirs will be
pieced ie his hands. As I have before had occasion
to renierk, the supporters of Mieroslawski are by no
means numerous, but the moment of despair seems
to he 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 parties in Poland. On the one hand there
is every small clique of men who believein Mieroslaw-
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-
mooted 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 coefl3gration, 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 (Liven to madness, we
mu et look for madness in its actions, and perhaps,
coo sidering all things, the most ronderful 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 iu turning up the eoil, have been
solemnly and repeatedly warned off, 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 myself 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-
kill' 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 Langiewiez—will be at an end, and the
third, with the catastrophe, about to begin.
The men of extreme measures say that the true
insurrection has not yet commenced, and that we
have hitherto only witnessed the introduction. The
. " tree insurrection is to be simply a reign of terror.
1,
lieroslawski's avowed partisans, as well as these
menof extreme measures who, though they hate
e_
roslawski 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
will 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 foreign
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
prope" among the mass of large
and small landed
who constitute in
Poland what, to the confusion
rather give
is
called " the nobility")
would
times
t o theirp
t a money
nts t
h e
than fight, and would ten
rather fight and
sacrifice their lives than cede
land for which those peasants have ti
per-
formed task-work or paid rent." Yet,
until
lo
s
trace of task-work is abolished, end until
proprietor in Russian Poland, as
every
th
e
peasant becomes a
he is already in Galicia and in Posen, he will
always be the enemy of the nobility, and will
always refuse to fight for the independence of his
native land. If the peasantry, in a purely agricui.
tural country like Poland, refuse to take part in a
movement on behalf of national independence, then
ne such movment can by any possibility succeed.
Therefore, conclude the men of extreme measures,
d
" the support of the pcasantr7 must, an at all
11,-,zlrds, he obtained, nod if the rich propriOors
stand in the way of such an end, we must look- upon
them as obstacles to be removed, and treat them as
if they were Russians."

The reply one naturally makes to such an argu-
mentas this is, in the first place, that the peasant
question is at en end, having now been solved pre-
ws.ely in accordance with the views of the extreme
I,.3rty. As Sagnarelle, in one of Moliere's inter-
ludes, having to choose between receiving 12 blows
and paying 12 pieces of money, chooses the blows,
but when he has received 10 finds that he can stand
them no longer decides to pay the money—so the
Polish proprietors, after supporting the attacks of
the se-called "Democratic" partyandthe ill-will of
the peasants for 32 years, rather than make the
c mcession proposed to them in the Diet of 1831,
now, at the last moment, declare themselves ready
to make it. The question 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. Nevertheler,s, the
proprietors, under special and pressing circum-
stances, have admitted his claim, an one would
imagine 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 desired effect,
the aristocratic proprietors are accused of checking
the national ection, and are therefore called " reac-
tionists ;" and the men who aim above all at pro-
moting and extending the national action wish to
propose this alternative to them—that they shall
leave Cracow, Lemberg, the German baths, or
wherever they happen to be, come into Russian
Poland, explain matters to their peasants, and en-
deavour by generous dealing, by patriotic advice,
and also by setting a courageous 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 inzigres 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
L themselves in the position of the French revolt'-
, denary Generals.

Of course, the 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 mea, who do not believe that the feelings
end 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 teat this has been the case. Mutual con-
cessions have been made, mutual forbearance has
been shown, and if some of the measures of the es-
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 at: 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 all 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 happe❑ 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 dialikings, 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 thecommencemect of the insurrection they
formally, and by word of mouth, as well as by 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
even persuaded a good proportion of them to take up
arms on behalf of 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 ono cannot help thinking that they
would have done well to leave the insurrection
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
before. It is evident that they should either have
refused to make a cession which the great majority
of them regarded as unjust,, o r
t o should
the
persons
have dwehiot
iu a direct or special manner
have
sv ee good
profited.
e
proprietors Hungarian
o
who had just emancipated them
awnedrethte pwrhoofilte bcyouint trayn dmibgyh tw
race) Hungarianfoa gh t peasantsin 1848 9( aotn ebaesht a 1 fth oos.fe the of
and it is possible that the Polishwapheaalslatnhtesirmlaignhdt,
also have proved grateful for a gift freely and
frankly
Poland
havemade.
The
certainly
m ean of
basis tll
for their
ier
gn e partye
general
argument, and the proprietors admitted thtem
adopt to
be
mainly in the right when they consented
their favourite measure. 11, here they are wrong is

in attributing base motives to men more cautions,
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 be
conceived. The extreme patty may yet bring
greater ruin upon their country than all the Moura-
vitas and Belgs of Russia. They say plainly that
they wish the questian:of life or death for Poland
to be decided ut once, 4.11 that the result of their
terrible experiment would be something very like
national death can scarcely be doubted.

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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, ho 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, disagreemenr, or threat of
attack. As an instance, when I stayed with the old
Sultan of Ilkuni, 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
drove my porters away with his stick, and took forcible
possession 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 of
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, snaking
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 alow 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 TJzinza 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
Ptoropvai ds
se provided
thewith
e x clothscorti
oh earn,
sd
country,beads,
and a bwo led
considered front wa s made
adur
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. Thoy 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
our 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 T sea Arab 4, but
never white men.' He would say laughingly, Show me
that gun, the powder-flask, your hat,' Sec. 'Ten would he
look and wonder at our shoes. Did we think the lake big?'
treat
rHneuoaoswttwuht ivwedreeewe bean
le?a,nwere like the hills in his country?' How did we
s
Hepneeoorpsnilseioduh
enormously
ye ? ' D i
sfl fleeced
eidh id t
jokingly,
yy, the
himch.i
knowingf in U
Inft
ahcatzt:nwwz
we
formedb\vga7:irdetihasstb,mailtiettthayefe,
nests,oh armmn
hours
h stt
animals,t chwh
intelligence.ahi
or
mirrlneaiannlnygy anything
lying
sympathyspsg
irbccerkuso impression i
ihoobenurtr
josshwotagfhani harnddtigssemmogmni gentleness,
fit
might
showedoeiwn:
inte-
rest tnrsessg:,
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, our 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 ajumping-jack for his child, but
this ho 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 encr-
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 sleeves, During the five months I
was laid up at his palace we were on the most friendly
and intimate terms. If his 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 with 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 the
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 Wa!-
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 Kings 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 we had yet made—daily shot a few cows,
ufaphr2iocOatioo. miles,T shoo
the meat of which the men got—no human sacrifices made
inb honour of my arrival; slaves he had in immense num-
mbenlotsokwmerge
ers, and he sent a carrying party to bring me, an invalid,
thatfirst
timethe report
Speke
tookp roy
me de t o
theres om
toe
call extentup an
him he presided_. at an immense levee (the most theatrical
paupteornfevectithfoptheaud
affair),
dandy—albeitcar e
a n d
neatnesswith
overweening and contemptuous air. His clothes and head
not a hair was out of place, and greatestevidently
had spared no pains in his toilet. Two hoirs
three female
soothsayers, called Witchnesee, sat by his side to andmhai
his wine cup, or brush off a speck should it fall on the King;m
they appeared to exercise some sacred functions about the
Court, and were supposed to divine every event. They
dressed fantastically, and, like every individual present,
exquisitely clean and tidy, with natural wreaths of flowers,
stuffed lizards, shells, heads, or seeds, dresses of salmon-
tinted buck cloth reeching to their ancles, aprons, perhaps
two or three of the shining black, white, or red skins of a
, kid. For hours they would sit in this state patiently upon
the King, until he choose to terminate his leave by retiring.
Many curious barbarous customs prevail at Uganda.
One is that if a page does not convey properly the King's
poor boy has his intellect
orders, or mieconvoys them, the
sharpened by having 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 hind
it at once struck him that I had been a page, for he asked
me. He punishes by fire,torture, or death. The lives of
men and women ate taken for:the most trivial offences—a
bn
common saying being that he never looks bright or no
e.v-
einess can he done till the day has commenced with a
being led to execution. Not a day passed without our,
miserable
f
bear-
ing of or actually seeing some poor victim. A
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
otherspull 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