The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-05 00:00:00

April 28.
We hear to-day from Warsaw that Archbishop
Felinski is confined to his palace, and that 14
canons have been arrested. An Archbishop has
also been arrested in Samogitia, a part of Lithuania
which is said, since its comparatively recent
conversion to Christianity, a)ways has been Catho-
lic. This unceremonious treatment of the high
Catholic clergy in Poland is perhaps intended as a
reply to the Austrian Note. I cannot say that the
news has produced an unusually b4d effect. It has
excited more natural indignation; but the last mea-
sures of the Russian Government are also looked
upon as signs of a kind of madness which may lead
to a catastrophe_ The cause or pretext for the ar-
rest was the refusal of the clergy either to forbid or
to abstain from assisting in the procession in honour
of St. Mark (26th inst.). The Archbishop was not
present at the ceremony, but wrote to the Govern-
ment to say that he held himself responsible for its
having taken place. When the news of the arrest
of the canons and of the detention of the Arch-
bishop in his palace reached St. Petersburg orders
were sent back to liberate them at once; but
it has been proved that the Russian Government
at Warsawdoes impropriety in subject-
ing the the country any
to the orders of the
clergy of nott h see
police, and that fact of itself is important. The
Archbishop of Warsaw, from being one of the most
unpopular, is fast becoming one of the most popular
men of the day, so thoroughly does the Russian
Government understand the act of turning even its
fancied supporters into its open and declared
enemies.

There is a general expectation here that some
sort of Constitution will be proclaimed for the king-
dom of Poland, and it is even said for the Russian
Empire, including, of course, the Polish provinces,
on the 3d of May, the anniversary of the adoption
of the celebrated Polish Constitution of 1791. It
is not hoped, it is rather feared, that this step will
be taken. I do not say that the fear is altogether
reasonable, but it exists, and has its origin
in a very natural conviction that such a seem-
ing proof of an intention to govern Poland on equi-
table principles would at once put an end to all
chance of foreign intervention. It would undoubt-
edly conciliate the Polish nobility, who until the
Polish insurrection broke out were nearly unani-
mous in their pressing demands for a reformed go-
vernment, in which not only they, but all classes, in
proportion to their importance, should have a voice.
If it did not conciliate the Poles it would at least
deprive them of a great amount of sympathy, and
would weaken considerably the moral basis of their
insurrection. The object of this insurrection is, in
the words of one of the manifestoes issued by the
National Government, " not to obtain this or that
concession," but to free the country from the foreign
yoke"—a noble end, but one which the Poles un-
aided are by no means certain to attain. Neverthe-
less, in their present spirit they are not likely to
accept any offers which are not equally extended
to Lithuania and the Ruthenian provinces; that is
to say, Volhynia, Podolia, and the Ukraine. They
ask for the independence of the Poland of 1772 as
their maximum, and the union of the Russo-Polish
provinces to the kingdom of Poland under the
mauenhatdioiffnearlenacrem,yanada
Russian Crown, with a national Diet, a national
administration, and, above all,
mt haexi
mmui
mn i mt
huemr
e. B
is ueet
twve
very
the minimum and the
there is, of course, no chance of Russia granting
either unless compelled to do so
whylorrceeseorvfinagruits.o
The Poles are quite aware of this, but seem resolved
to let their fate be decided by ar,
themselves the right, if the result should be against
them, of endeavourtng to resume it in another 15
years, or whenever the opportunity may presen
its&

Whatever becomes of the insurrection, it is said
that the National Government, which is now stronger
than ever, owing to the new and influential members
that have recently joined it, is determined to render
the Russian rule impossible in Poland. The National
Government, which for some time past has been
obeyed by all classes, including the large landed
proprietors, who in the first instance were opposed
to the present movement on the ground that it was
premature, the country having neither arms nor am.
munition, has now all classes represented in its
working committee, and if on a given day it orders
all the civil functionaries in the kingdom to quit the
service, the civil functionaries will certainly give up
their places. It would be curious to see how the
, wore suddenly,
Russians would get on if all the posts in the
Russia would no
Ad-
ministration, central and local
thrown on their hands. The country would be re-
duced
of counterpart of the above
lainxded.
is not quite so clear.
Ownoutlbdeboetbbee How Poland
doubtdu c ed t
be
ea
a state
good o f
deal anarchy,
per p
project
is said to be actually under consideration,
rnebfieottde,da,
and is even believed by many persons who are ge•
nerally well informed as to the plans of the Russian
Government to have been already adopted. The
great scheme is to establish military government
throughout " Congress Poland ;" to divide the
kingdom into 200 districts, and in each district to
Place the minor polish officials under the direct
control of Russian officers.

TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION WITH ACURA-
LIA.—T wo projects
is in the field for connecting
Australia with Java. Iretproposed to lay the cable on
the north-west of Australia, on the shores of the Gulf of
Carpentaria, or to take it round to Brisbane, the capital of
Queensland. At this poist the cable would be in communica-
tion with the existing intercolonial lines, and New South
Wales, Victoria, and South Australia would thus be brought
into connection with the countries of the old world. The cost
of laying the line from Java to Queensland is estimated at
£1,100,000; but from Java to the north-west a cable could
be laid for £243,000. Considering the many risks to which
the submarine cables are expl osed, and the uncertainty of
their action, there can scarcely be a doubt as to the policy
of selecting the cheaper route. An accident might impair
the efficiency of the cable, but the shorter line could be
co be necessary to bring
intoit connectionland
existing of
repaired or renewed at so much less cost than the longer
one, that it appears like a wanton risk of money to select the
more expensive scheme. if the cable is laid on the north-
westcoast
system. The cost of such
a land line has been estimated at £l2O per mile, or for the
whole distance from the north. westcoast to Adelaide a sum
of £177,000, which would make together a sum of £420,000
course,
as the cost of the complete system from Java to Adelaide.
—Australian and .IVetv Zealand Gazstte.

for horses, carts, and corn, I must give them what
they want, or they will hang me. If, on the other
hand, I let them have anything more than I am ac.
tually forced to give, you will hang me. However
if they hang me my son will never find a wife in
Poland nor my daughter a husband, and 50 years
after my death people will turn their backs upon,
my children ; whereas if you hang me I shall have
monuments erected to my memory. On the whole,
then, as mere matter of calculation, I cannot refuse
assistance to the insurgents."
I believe that in this particular instance the Ge-
neral was satisfied with the explanation given by the
proprietor, who perhaps, might have added that
before long all his class will be drawn into active
co-operation with the national movement. Hitherto
they, the actual owners of the estates, have left
persons to represent them on the field, though
they have supported the insurrection indirectly in
a variety of ways, and directly by means of money
contributions.

It is notorious that the spirit of the Polish women
is more Polish even than that of the men. Occa-
sionally a man who for upwards of 30 years has
been conspiring and fighting for his country—now
in Poland, now in Hungary, now in Turkey, now in
Italy—and reflects that it is still quite as much at
the mercy of the partitioning Powers as ever, will
have moments of despondency and count the cost
of the insurrection, thinking bow many villages
will have been burnt, how many inoffensive per-
sons massacred, and, above all, how many of the
best young men in Poland will have given their
lives for the- lives of an equal number of the most
savage ruffians that the Russian empire can pre-
duce. All such reflections are looked upon by the
Polish ladies not as uncalled for and out of place
but simply as disgraceful in a moral point of view;
and any one who talks in such a strain is avoided as
though he had spoken against the Christian religion
or attempted to defend the Marquis Wielopolski.
It is not strange that they should not dance now,
and that they should all be in mourning, inasmuch
as there is Lot a family bore which has not lost a
relative, either in a battle or in a massacre or by
exile, for as many as 2,000 Poles have already been
sent into the interior of Russia.