The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-14 00:00:00

EARL RUSSELL TO MR. MASON.

Foreign-office, Feb. 19, 1863.
Sir,—With reference to my letter of the 16th inst.
acknowledging the receipt of your letter of that day,
calling attention to the accounts which had reached
this country tending to show that the blockade of
the ports of Galveston and Charleston had been put
an end to by the action of the Confederate naval
forces, I have the honour now to state to you that
the information which her Majesty's Government
have derived from your letter and from the public
journals on this subject is not sufficiently accurate
to admit of their forming an opinion, and they will
accordingly by the first opportunity instruct Lord
Lyons to report fully on the matter.
When his lordship's report has been received and
considered, I shall have the honour of making a
farther oommunleation to you on the subject.—l
am, &c., (Signed) RUSSELL,

THE POLISH INSURRECTION.

(From the limes' Correspondent.)
POSEN, March 10.

The Grand Duke calls upon the peasantry to
catch, but. not to rob the insurgents. The decree is
hardly premature, and, with Russian officers to en-
force it, will not impair, to any serious extent, the
prospects of the Imperial cause. Yet the question
may be well asked whether, in the turmoil of mili-
tary events, his Royal Highness has been sufficiently
informed of the particular motives prompting the
action of his rustic allies. A survey of the various
classes of society, and their relation to the subject
in hand, will furnish the reader with the necessary
material to judge the question for himself.
The wealthier portion of the nobility as yet stand
aloof from the movement. They are not only warned
by the unfortunate issue of many a preceding re-
bellion, but having long resigned the idea of an
appeal to arms are but sparsely represented in the
secret organisation which prepared and assumed
the direction of the revolt. The Tories of revolu-
tion, they wish for independence without any very
lively desire to make the peasantry landed pro-
prietors; the habitues of the European Courts,
they yearn for the erection of a Polish throne,
without, however, deeming it a primary duty of
theirs to enforce the principles of liberty and tole-
ration in the kingdom of the future. I don't wish to
describe them as any very decided opponents of the
ideas of the age, yet from a recollection of their
sovereign past, and the position they have so long
enjoyed in European society, their concurrence in
the notions of the times is naturally not the most
prominent trait in their political character.
Mutually distrusting each other, they have been
excluded from the committees by the inferior and
more democratic part of the nobility ; and now that
rebellion has actually broken out find themselves
isolated amid the heartrending struggles of their
beloved compatriots. In the beginning of the move-
ment they furnished to the rebels neither money nor
men. As the rising progresses and assumes a more
serious character, their contributions have not been
withheld from the national exchequer; but it is
only in the persons of a very few counts and princes
that they are even at this moment bodily repre-
sented in the insurgents' ranks. The number of
families who may be comprehended in this category
are overrated rather than otherwise when estimating
them at 200. Perhaps the removal of Mieroslawski,
and the appointment of Wusocki in his stead, muy
lead to their active participation in th. struggle. Of
these two renowned generals, the former, a full-
btood democrat, is the declared enemy of this illus-
trious caste.

A far different spectacle is offered by the rest of
the nobility. This numerous class, which, accord-
ing to Sclavonian custom, includes every landed
proprietor in the country, is the real soul and origin
of the daring enterprise. Of this class, at any rate,
the teachings of '3l have not been thrown away.
Last time the standard of rebellion was unfurled
the Slachziz, siding with the magnates, objected to
oalling the peasantry to arms. Both sections of the
nobility agreed at that time that the practical
abolition of serfdom and the concession of liberty
and independence to the people would be the pro-
bable consequence of such a resolve. Averse from an
idea incompatible with every tradition of the land,
the half million Slachziz, together with the national
army Poland possessed at that time, confidently
entered the lists with the Russian giant. The de-
feat they then sustained, and the progressive en-
lightenment of the times have taught them another
course in the present venture. In striking contrast
to any previous affair of the kind the rebellion of
1863 has been inaugurated by the promise of land
to the serf, and an equality of rights to every class
in the kingdom. The leaders of the movement
cannot conceal from themselves in fact that in be-
stowing such a boon upon their former dependents
they are in reality serving their own interests, and
are, besides, giving away what they can hardly be
said to possess. In the long run, insurrection can-
not be carried through, except by the cordial sym-
pathy and energetic participation of the lowest
class; while, on the other hand, the Russian Go-
vernment is sure enough to waive its former com-
punction, and now at length, enforce the law by
which a portion of the soil is to be ceded to the tiller.

Although, according to the old institutions, every
landed proprietor must be a Slachziz, the sentence
must not by any means be reversed, and every
Slachziz mistaken for a landed proprietor. By far
the larger portion of the class are without landed or
any other property on this side the grave. In the
good old times of Polish independence they used to
live upon their political rights, and in times of war
formed that impetuous army which took many a
province from the Russian and the Turk. Since then
the ancient splendour of these military nobles has
sorely faded away. The common servitude of all
classes depreciated their votes and made it unne-
cessary for Government to buy their adhesion ; and
when the Emperor Nicholas at the close of the last
rebellion annulled the diplomas of all who could
not pay for their renewal, the last day of the Slach-
ziz's glory seemed to have arrived. The majority
then withdrew to the towns, devoting themselves
to all kinds of useful professions, and in many
cases changing the sword for the hammer and the
gun for the brush, What little gentry exists
in a Polish town is of Slachziz origin, and I am
morally sure that the secret papers of the National
Committee are the handiwork of noble compositors,
no less than the mental productions of writers of
gentle blood. To get out of the way and render in-
nocuous this part of the population and the other
artisans seduced by them was the object of this
year's conscription. They are chiefly residents of
the larger towns of 3,900 inhabitants and more,
which, it is ono of the characteristic features of the
latest movement, have furnished the main body of
the revolutionary force. Up to this moment, and
despite of Polish endeavours to obscure the fact,
three-fourths of the insurgents consist of Slachziz
settled in professional life, and the semi-urban, semi-
agricultural population inhabiting a Polish country
town. Gathered by this municipal nobility, and
headed by their wealthier brethren, in possession of
land and title, the rebellion of 1863 is as entirely
the work of the middle class, or what in Poland
must be taken for it, as the revolution of 1831 is to
be traced to the agency of the higher magnates.
The disposition of the peasantry, although vary.