The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-30 00:00:00

TUE POLISH INSURRECTION%

(From the Speaal Correspondent of the Times.)
St. PETERSBURG, Dec. 21.
The Abbe Mackiewicz has at last been taken by
the Russians, and from this it may be inferred that
the principal detachment of insurgents in Lithuania
has been broken up. Mackiewicz's band was fornied
out of the remains of the one commanded by Siera-
kowski, and had been mainly recruited in the Go-
vernment of Kovno. The Russian papers, after re-
peating day by day and week by week that the
Lithuanian insurrection was at an end, are now
making a great fuss about the capture of this well-
known Lithuanian chief. If some other chief suc-
ceeds in re-organising Mackiewicz's detachment we
shall still be told that there are no insurgents in
Lithuania, and the statement will be persisted in
until the Russians may happen to find it to their
advantage to admit once more that they have been
mistaken. In any ease, however, the capture of such
a chief as Mackiewicz must be a great blow to the
Lithuanian insurrection.

I do not know whether English readers have ever
asked themselves how it is that Wilna and Kovno
have shown themselves so much more Polish in feel-
ing than all other parts of Lithuania. In an ethno-
logical point of view neither of these provinces is
eminently:Polish and the number of Poles by race in
the Government of Kovno does not amount to three
per cent. on the entire population. Bat, on the other
hand, if we classify the inhabitants of this Go-
vernment by religion, we find that the enemies
of Poland—that is to say, the members of what
the Russians call the " orthodox " and the Poles
the " schismatic" Church—are scarcely more
than three per cent. strong (3.33, according :to
Busching's statistical tables) ; and when the
Russians ask, with real or affected indignation, how
a province in which less than the thirtieth part of
the population is Polish can be claimed as forming
part of Poland, the answer to make to them is—
because, with the exception of one thirtieth part of
the population, the whole province is Polish in feel-
ing. This calculation is perhaps unduly favourable
to the Russians ; for it is more than doubtful, as I
will afterwards show, whether the members of the
orthodox Church in Kovno, \Vilna, and, indeed, in
Lithuania generally, do not regret their forced se-
paration from the Latin Communion. Bat, admit-
ting even that the 30,000 Russo-Greeks of the
Kovno provinces, which contains altogether about
1,000,000 inhabitants, are mainly attached to the
Russian Church, the fact remains that in Kovno the
movement in favour of Polish independence has
been as general and as difficult to suppress as in
any of the provinces of the kingdom of Poland
where the Russians are wilting to admit that a Pole
is really a Pole.
As the inhabitants of England do not as a rule
knew whether they are of Celtic or Germanic race,
but feel all the same that they are Englishmen, so
the inhabitants of Poland and of Lithuania, wher-
ever they have not been brought under the influ-
ence of Russian priests, feel that they are Poles,
without knowing or caring under what ethnological
heading they may be classed in statistical tables.
But where the Russian Church and Russian teach-
ing predominate, and when hatred of Poles is in-
culcated as a primary virtue, then the cause of
Poland is hopeless ; and in accordance with this
incontrovertible theory we find that the Polish in-
surrection broke out first and in greatest force in
the Catholic kingdom of Poland; and that it broke
cut secondly and :in less force in Lithuania, where
the Russo-Greeks are slightly in the majority; and
that it broke out thirdly and was at once suppressed
by the inhabitants themselves in the Ruthenian
provinces (Volhynia, Podolia, and Kieff), where the
Russo-Greeks are to the Roman Catholics in the
proportion of ten to one.
What holds good of the whole territory of the
ancient Polish republic holds good also of Lithuania
in particular ; and thus it happens that the rising in
favour of Polish independence has been most formi-
dable, and has lasted longest in the Government of
Kovno which is the most Catholic, but, in an ethno-
logical sense, the least Polish of all the Lithuanian
governments. The Russian Government has suffi-
ciently Russified the Ruthenian provinces for all
lighting purposes, and if it had any spare civilisation
to introduce there they might in time make the
peasanta Russian in the full cense of the word; but
it has no hold whatever on the inhabitants of Kovno
and Wilna or of any district:3 in the other Lithu-
anian Governments where the Russo-Greeks are not
greatly in the majority. In Lithuania, generally,
it is easy to stop any demonstration on the part of
the ,adncated, classes—who, with scarcely en excep-
tion, are Catholics—by raising up the Russo-Greek
peasantry against them ; but this creditable plan is
not found to answer in these regions, where all
classes are bound. together by a common religious
faith, and receive the same religious teaching.
It would be an error to suppose that only the
Catholic inhabitants of Poland feel as Poles; but
there is a positive anti-Polish feeling among all the
peasantry who belong, of their own free-will, to the
Rassian Church, and are under the influence of the
Russian clergy. In Lithuania, however, whatever
may have been the case in the Ruthenian provinces,
• it seems by no means certain that the peasants,
forced to quit the Greek-Uniate for the Russo-Greek
religion, have ever become sincerely attached to the
latter. Russian evidence on such a subject as this
,
tne highest vahne and in the secret report
drawn up by General Nazimeff, Governor-General
of U 4
pas43llll, in October, 1860, the following important
4(.,,he
ettocileur
by the recetZt.ox religion was re-establised in Lituania
faith. The :tile of the united Greeks h
to the orthodox
and even not weak in the principles of that faith,
religion of theirfe:gtanding that they were returning to the
sable and indefatilthers, required the guidance of Bea-
u.,
ortt pastors Their want of
education
elxural clergy of the orthodox faith)
develepes an inattenti
Thtand even carelessness in the execu-
tion of their duties.
do'hleh. ;their cupidity and the ex-
treme poverty of their
not rendered indepen-
dent by adequate salaries744tl.o life,
they are at the same time
placed in exclusive relation
ovient on then,; the .
the impoverished peasants,
necessarily dep
evrill3gde priests are thus
reduced to the level of the low"
dig-
nity which should appertain t? thZtxt
.La,on
e, losing. the digi
or religious influence over their pati:ilerxerAcisethnomora
to the outward condition of the aCut.he_s.. regard
oss.ible
not to perceive that they are at present, e 5 it
foir"mlp
especially
lemitaer y, in a
state of neglect and poverty',
districts. The contrast which the orthodox
.arlopulous
present in their exterior to the Churche thus
present
Catholic faith, to which all the nobility and it,414141 Roman
Western provinces (i e., Polish provinces incorporated
, with
are -I,,,tia,ttliatted
the Russian Empire) belong, and which
alike by their external grandeur and their in'ern,a,ll44l4.
licence, naturally suggests to the lower orders ine
rnacy of the Catholic religion. At the same time, it 14
impossible for the poor peasant to add to the splendour of
the orthodox Churches."
" During 30 years," says the Governor-General
of Wilna, in another part of the same report :--
" Notwithstanding the severe measures adopted towards
the local population, which were a constant inducement to-
wards reactionary movements—notwithstanding various
privileges granted to Russian nobles in the leasing of estates
and other advantages extended to them,—these measures
have, nevertheless, not had the effect of drawing Lithuania
closer to Russia, of eoufirming among the Greek uniates the
orthodoxy which has so feeble a hold on them, of spreading
a knowledge of the Russian language, or of increasing in the
country the number of native Russians. The latter con-
sideration is more especially important, because the chief
authorities of the province are reduced to the necessity of I
confiding the execution of all administrative measures, I
Whether otlieial or secret, to functionaries belonging to the
local population, and connected with it by their religion,
their fau,iliee, their language, and their relations generally."
It Would appear, in short, from this report, as well
as
samrlatkia,c,) cue drawn up two years later on the
t horse it,,latet by the Minister of the Interior, that
mation
ope'llAns who have the best sources of infor-
with the Pait:t !'heni agree to a considerable extent
of Lithuania
as t,:arot regarding the forced converts
_vartl steadfast adherents to the Rus-
siol :Gila; and,
g rally that the rising in Lithu-
ania on behalf of the lA
ependence of all ancient
Poland Was a movement fopmust which the Russian Go-
vt.•rnmell.• een
reeogni'BYertepared. Russia's
title to Lithuania is
oy every State in
d is at least to
Europe, nn
w emu Res,- a.. of Austria
But to Venetia. as
writers,
the Russian Government, that. Russia holds
verninent, pretend -Is, and even
Lithuania in virluo of the will of the,
yority of its
tkOrl
inhabitants, that statement be
that
es:
tinned ; while any assertion
. ponsh dom. eht it is
supported in any part of its 1.
lation 1111" s boat be zrt y
any portion of the educated poph, "
teetineee
by a positive denial, bleed on of a

Lithuanian Governor-General, and of the Minister
of the Interior for the Russian Empire.
Nevertheless, the Lithuanian bands of insurgents
appear, at last, to have been destroyed, and with
them a considerable portion of Lithuania itself—its
social organization, its resources in capital, and here
and there its forests and its crops ; and addresses of
loyalty are still being signed by the nobility and
gentry of these provinces, though the Minister of
the Interior describes most justly the." Polish mino-
rity" of the population as " consisting of the most
educated classes of society—of the nobility, the
clergy and the Government officials, of the teachers
and the taught."
It is not astonishing that insurgents taken in
arms in a country on which Russia has so slight a
hold as on Lithuania should be very severely pun-
ished. I hear now that insurgents who surrender
under promise of pardon meet with but little better
treatment. They escape with their lives, but are
required to give evidence against their comrades,
and, refusing to do so, are told that their repent-
ance is not sincere, and thereupon are sent into

• ,at them both. Two days afterwards Fille de I•Air
and is..
"ainand this time the French filly was ex-
and Ely met ..Z'
,stake. But although she did beat Ely,
petted to malts no .
Coast Guard, first, and Prince
the pair were beaten both
manly third and fourth:
Arthur, second, so that they came
9 at Newmarket
The first of the great autumn handicak7 of
produced one of those results from which the oi_inm tientli!
t
this class of races derive arguments to prove their int:,Y:
The winner of the Cesarewitch, Mr. Merry's four-year-m,
Lioness, had performed once badly as a three-year-old, and
once very badly in the present season. The handicapper,
guided by these facts, admitted the mare into the Cesare-
witch at Est 81b, under which weight, as she was known be-
fore the race to be very good, it seemed scarcely possible she
could lose. She won the Cesarewitch in rattling style, hav-
ing next to her Limosina of the same year, carrying 7st 41b.
The performance of Limosina was thought good enough to
make her winning the Cambridgeshire a certainty, but the
mare either had some kind of illness or was used up by the
numerous false starts, for she never showed in the race. The
winner turned up in Catch'em-Alive, whose day, often pro-
mised, came at last. The disappointment of Lord Stamford
in regard to Limosina, joined to suspicion that she had been
unfairly dealt with before the Cambridgeshire, occasioned a
fit of disgust, in which Lord Stamford determined to sell off
his stud and quit the Turf. He announced a sale without
reserve, and afterwards caused some of the lots to be bought
in. It is to be lamented that the racing season of 1863
should have ended with a transaction which has necessarily
excited a great deal of adverse comment.
The First October fleeting at Newmarket saw a rase won
by Ely, who also won a race at the Houghton Meeting. Ihe
race for the Clearwell Stakes threw little light upon the
Derby. The Criterion Stakes were won by Fille de l'Air,
beating, among others, Coast Guard, Prince Arthur, and
Ely, who had all beaten her at Doncaster. Thus Fille de
l'Air stood, at the end of the season, at the same point which
she reached at Goodwood—namely, the highest of the year.
Molly Carew, who was talked of in the early part of the
season as a match for her, met with an accident, which closed
her 2-yr-old career. The performances upon which the more
prominent Derby horses rest their claims to confidence have
been briefly stated in this and a former article. It remains for
those who feel sufficient interest in the subject to balance
those performances against one another, and to decide,
if they can, upon the relative merits of Scottish Chief,
Cambuscan, Paris, and the bearers of other names with
which the public will gradually grow familiar as the day
draws near which will make these names in the eyes of
Londoners a reality. There is one two-year old—namely,
Blair Athol—whose performances may be described with
extreme brevity, because he has never performed at all.
The son of Stockwell and Blink Bonny is thus surrounded
by a sort of mystery which is not likely to be dispelled by
any amount of discussion conducted in utter dearth of
'acts.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

TIMES.—If the centre of the secret Government
of Poland is really the city of Warsaw, the increased
vigilance of the Russian police has not yet pene-
trated the mystery of its organization. The mili-
tary authorities in the capital of the old Polish
Kingdom are still contending with an invisible
power. To the Russians it is a shadow that con-
tinually eludes their grasp, while to the Poles it is
something substantial enough to be obeyed. Whe-
ther it works through the affections and voluntary
allegiance of its subjects or governs by the influ-
ence of terror, it is equally perplexing to the Rus-
sian commanders. Though diplomacy has sus-
pended the discussion of Polish affairs, the revolt
still forces itself on the attention of Europe.
Though the insurgents are not very successful any-
where, and on many points have certainly failed, the
insurrection is not suppressed. The Russians ap-
pear to have calculated that the snows and frosts
of winter would render it impossible for the insur-
gent bands to keep the field, and would do the work
of the Russian troops in the most effective manner.
But of all military allies the weather is the most
capricious. Its aid cannot be commanded or bought,
and its hostility is always to be feared. The season
in Russia and the East of Europe has been unu-
sually mild. At St. Petersburg the winter is too
genial to give satisfaction to the extreme Russians,
who consider the delay in the setting in of hard
weather as a kind of disloyalty to the Emperor.
The Neva is not frozen, but runs in December ex-
actly as it did in the month of August. The winter
is " exceptional," and for Russian military purposes
treacherous. The open weather has rendered it
possible for scattered bands of insurgent to camp
out in the forests of Lithuania, and continue the
struggle several weeks later than the Russians an-
ticipated. But this accidental advantage is nearly
all the insurgents have gained. Notwithstanding
the reports of occasional defeats of Russian detach-
ments, the Poles have not, recently, obtained any
marked success ; and in Lithuania the insurrection
has just received a heavy blow by the capture
of one of its ablest leaders, the Abbe Mackiewicz,
and the dispersion of the force he commanded.
But this and similar reverses do not seem likely
to bring the struggle nearer an end. No defeat
weakens the belief of the Polish people in the ulti-
mate intervention of the European Powers in their
behalf, either to prevent war, or as a consequence
of it. The object of the Poles is now to gain time.
Their past disappointments and the present unpro-
mising aspect of their affairs have not abated any
of their demands. The National Government has
just issued a proclamation or address to the people
which urges the necessity of continuing the conflict,
and calls for still greater sacrifices to sustain it.
The Address is so declamatory in its style that it is
almost impossible to derive from it any distinct idea,
either of the object to be gained or the means by
which it is to be secured. it seems to predict that
Poland will be a source of disquiet to Europe at
large till it intervenes as much in self-defence as to
assert the rights of humanity. There will be no
security for peace in Europe till " Poland has ac-
quired her rights." Progress and civilisation are
likely to be arrested till the Polish question finds
" a just solution." Till this is obtained, " per-
severance in the path of insurrection" is the only
course to pursue. The end to be attained is the
establishment of "a Poland wholly independent,
with Lithuania and Ruthenia." To effect this ob-
ject the National Government intimates that it may
have to call for great sacrifices on the part of the
people, certain, when they are required, that they
will not be refused. So supported, it has unshaken
confidence in the future, and is ready for a further
struggle. Considering how much ground the ins
Euur-
-
rection has lost and that the general feeling in
rope on the Polish question is not enthusiastic, it is
impossible to find in the Address any reasonable
calculation of the means by whieh all the terri-
tories that have ever been compren:ntled under the
name of Poland can be recovered and restored. We
can ascertain what provinces were under
the the Polish
dominion two centuries ago, but peeple of
these provinces now stoutly deny that they are
Poles. They repudiate the name, and, whether
originally Russian or gradually assimilated by
Russia, they would resist any incorporation with
Poland. In the Ruthenian provinces the insurrec-
tion found no support. The population rejected
the offer of a Polish nationality, and the attempted
movement furnished the singular spectacle of a
" national" revolt promptly suppressed by the in-
habitants of the country. Could any Western Power
have entered into official correspondence with the
secret Government at Warsaw, that influential
body would probably have brought its demands
within more practical limits. But it France, Eng-
land, and Austria could obtain from Russia the
slightest improvement in the political institutions
of the country, or even a more humane administra-
tion of the Government, how is the much greater
change demanded to be brought about ? It is a
misfortune for any Government to have to rely so
much as the Polish Government evidently does on
vague declamation. The great past and the glorious
future so continually alluded to furnish no clue of
deliverance from the difficulties of the present.
The power of the Russian Government seems to be
increasing in strength, and as it gains strength it
becomes more vindictively and wantonly cruel. The
condition of Poland is growing worse every day,
and if anything can rekindle all the old sympathy
in favour of the Poles it is the present policy of the
Russian authorities. Much would be gained both
for Poland and humanity if this savage and stupid
barbarity could be checked. If left uncontrolled
by any external influence till the ancient frontiers
of Poland are recovered, the Russians will have a
long term of impunity. The existing remnant of
the true Polish race is likely to be exterminated,
under the present order of things, long before the
" Ruthenian Provinces" again become part of an
independent Poland. Europe will more readily
respond to an appeal for assistance to procure for.
the Poles an endurable and intelligent Governrann.!,
for Jae
whatever the institutions, than to a demand
help in an undefined and impossiblettsat
tu lsdo :ene
Austrians thatosseafstrniPadt
ut:iohip,esfoerie.
nut'
he
itseoi
r csosnicai
o
llenere.—lt is now perfectly clear
ditional recognition by Austria a de
ofn aern"don was di
obligations under the Treaty
ocratie ae-
tated by the apprehensioni)vearutmiieeyn
feared that the attempt
signataries of the treatYdwemo.
fulfilment. The G
theagitators to
were quite as ready
could
them in war against
despoil Denmark, but
involve
at despoilment wouldh
u not hope to cope.
They feared .knew that she could
a foe with
iefliet enormous injuries
upon them, whilst they
knew they went to
war with her she
in
ne
the
touch uf h.
would soon have very formidable
her. 'They
'Rrhoesysiaand France.f' they had
not much
could
allies
apprehension.
The former is fully occu-
pied at home, and it is not the policy of France to
fight for the maintenance of British influence any-
where. They assumed, therefore, with considerable
entraing,,,An attitude which, whilst it did not directly
violate the treaty, reserved the pretext for taking
that step if it should be found that no great danger

attached to it. The language of Earl Russell, his
counsels and menaces at Copenhagen, have con-
vinced them that England will look on with folded
arms whilst Schleswig is wrested from Denmark,
and will only interfere after the crime has been
accomplished, to ask that the victim shall be sub-
jected to no further injury. The two Governments
are, therefore, adopting, as rapidly as they decently
can, the ordinary German doctrine in favour of the
of the Prince of Augustenburg to both D nchies,
and the duty of putting him in possession of them.
They have at. understanding with the minor states.
If Austria and Pi.:lssia had been in earnest the small
states would not ha's. and would
9 ventured to reply to their
identical note in such be2d language,
not have carried against them the Diet the pro-
position calling upon the committee to report upon
the secessional question—that is, to dec la
Frederic Sovereign of the Duchy in a week's
Frederic
time. But the proceedings in respectre Prince'
to ~Schleswig
Hesse
prove even more decisively their intention.
Darmstadt had proposed that the Confederation, to
ensure its right over Schleswig, should irnmeclia:elY
occupy that duchy. The German Confederation ht:a
no more rights over that duchy than it has over the
county of Kent. It has never formed a portion f
Germany, and the Diet itself has over and over agaoin
..dmitted this. Instead of meeting this proposition
with a direct negative, as they assuredly would have
done it they had the slightest intention of upholding
the Treaty of London, Austria and Prussia have
proposed an amendment, summoning Denmark to
suspend the November constitution, non• compliance
to be followed by occupation. With just as much
right they might occupy Zealand to enforce that
equal position of all portions of the Danish monarchy
which they contend they are entitled to claim, or
take possession of the whole of the Netherlands, t°
establish a position for Luxembourg more in accord-
ance with German interests. But Federal right and
international law have been thrown aside altogether
by the Diet as by the nation, and the Austrian and
Prussian Governments, believing that both laws can
be disregarded with impunity, are hastening to make
up for the delay which they made to repudiate tbeea
whilst they were sounding their way. The reply Of
the King of Prussia to the address of the House of
Deputies is another indication of the determination'
of the Prussian Government to repudiate the treaty-
The King, instead of condemning distinctly, as is his
wont, the opinions of the house, practically admits
that he shares them, but asks for a little delay'.
Prussia has reserved the question of succession, and
her withdrawal from the London Treaty would not
be feasible without further consideration. Ilia
Majesty does not care to proclaim his breach of
faith. Earl Russell may be used a little longer
to set the King of Denmark and his people 199.
the ears, and extract from them concessions which
will cripple the nation when the war does come.
The conduct of the English Government in this
matter must bring a blush of shame to the check
of every Englishman who is not ready to sacrifice
the national honour because it suits his party in
terest to do so. Assuredly, if ever a nation made a
promise, England has promised Denmark to stand
by her in this emergency. English statesman made
this treaty of succession, the English people have
encouraged the Danes to resist the aggression 01
Germany. Even Earl Russel, has declared that the
German Diet has not the slightest pretext for in'
terfering in the affairs of Schleswig ; and now
when the two nations have been drawn closer to-
gether by the present which Denmark has made
England of a Princess for whom the whole English
nation feels the most profound regard, Denmark, !,
Earl Russell's own acts, if the language of
organs can be taken as any guide, is to be aban:
doned—if indeed we are not to aid in enforcing be'
spoliation. The great principle that the weak have
no right against the strong is dinned into our eare,
and Denmark is told to give the world no trouble
and die without a struggle. Let us do the Foreign
Secretary no injustice. Ho has written to the Ger:
man Diet, telling it that if it is over hasty mite
serious complications may ensue, and that he is quiet
willing to join in a conference. The Diet knows 0011 a
conference will defeat its object, and will hale
none of it. It understands by Earl Russell's " eon-
plications" those Bogey threats of French interflt
r
rence, to which it attaches little importance.
believes that England will do nothing, and it will
treat this despatch of Earl Russell with the ear
contempt as his previous ones. The Diet is right.
The organs of the Liberal party declare plainly that
the Danes are to be left by England to shift folir
themselves,_ but they threaten Germany Wit
France. Germany laughs at the threat. France
will not draw the chestnuts out of the fire for Eng;
land. It is English interests which are threateneui
by the dismemberment of Denmark. It is Englan"
which has undertaken solemn eegagemetits to pre-
vent that dismemberment. The Emperor of the
French will not do England's work for her, and
Germany knows it. Napoleon 111. has good reasons
for looking with satisfaction at this great German
movement. He will one day make his account out
of it at the cost of Germany. But not yet ; and
Germany thinks only of the present. England
alone can prevent the spoliation of Denmark, and
English interests and English honour demand—as
it would seem vainly—that she shouid prevent it.