The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-07 00:00:00

THE INSURRECTION IN POLAND.

(From the limes' Correspondent.)

POSEN, March 3.
I have to record another complete change in the
Russian tactics. The cautious policy of the Grand
Duke Constantine has not been sanctioned by the
Government. Orders have issued fortL from St.

Petersburg to reassume the offensive on every point
and crush insurrection at one and the sage time in
all the provinces of the kingdom. The Czar, it
appears, finding his Prussian treaty of lit:le avail,
is growing uneasy at the tardy progress cs 7 opera-
tions in the South; and with the Ides of March
staring him in the face, has determined upon% game
higher, it would seem, than his means allow 'aim to
play. With this view Russian strategy relapses
into the mistake which marred the beginninh of the,
campaign. The more formidable bodies, bb ing op-
posed by insufficient forces, are allowkl t&; ?rve as
a nucleus of rebellion, creating fresh corps by the
opportunities they afford, and serving as a point
d' appui in case of attack. The fight has been gene-
ralised once more, but the chances of victory, it is
obvious, have been deferred rather than otherwise

by the change.
The consequences of this vacillating course have
already become appa,ent iu the south. Langiewicz
is not to be crushed by the 15,000 men that had
been concentrated in the triangle between Staszow,
Kielce, and Czenstochow. Ail it was possible to
effect with this considerable force may be related in

very few words. One of the smaller bands in the
immediate neighbourhood of the Vistula has been
routed; the outposs of the insurgents along the
Austrian frontier lave been pushed back towards
the north, and obiged to effect a junction with

Lanjewicz, or the Dombrowa corp;; and, as the
principal result of the entire movement, Galician
sympathisers will find it a little more difficult to
import their revoker chests, or betake themselves
bodily to Poland. Bat all this partial success, it is
evident, can be regarded as important only in the
light of a preparatory step. Tile bands in the south-
western cDrner 0:" the kingdom having been forced

together, the tine had clearly arrived for dealing a
decisive blow at the body, created by the combined
movement of three operating columns. Acting upon
this intention, and trusting in the speedy arrival of
fresh auxiliaries, the Russian commanders allowed
10 precious days to elapse before proceeding to the
attack of Langiewicz. At the expiration of this
costly period, instead of the reinforcements they
had been led to expect, an apodictic refusal was all
they received from Warsaw. The tactics had been
changed again by superior authority, the com-
manders of the individual corps being ordered to
rely upon their present strength, and to proceed,
under all circumstances, to precipitate attack. In
the case )f the three colonels directing operations
in the south-east the execution of this order was
beset with greater difficulties than anywhere else.
Though disposing of a formidable power they had
to deal with an enemy dangerous by military skill
and the mountainous nature of the country ; and,
which added considerably to the toughness of the
task, Langiewicz, foreseeing the attack, and fear-
ing a combined shock of the colonels, reinforce-
ments and all, gradually advanced his troops to-
' wards the west, taking up a position whie'a allowed
him to fall back upon the support of his Dohabrowa
friends. On the eve of the battle his corps formed
a tactical unit with the troops of MM. Jeziontanski
and Zielinski, who had been despatched from Dom-
browa to meet him halfway on the road to Kielce.
But the orders of be Russian colonel were peremp-
tory. Battle being offered and accepted, the result
was a serious encounter, in which victory is claimed
by either party. The engagement, which by the
Russians is called the battle of Wloszow, while the
Poles name it from the neighbouring place of Malo-
goszcz, after raging for several hours, was broken off
by the formerovno retired north wards. The latest ad-
vices represent them as engaged with another Polish
corps, under Czieskowski, which, proceeding from
Dombrowa, came across the exhausted Muscovites
as they retreated towards Czenstochow, falling upon
them with the vigour which is the result of military
confidence, and desirous of imitating the glorious
example of the day before. The fresh and impetuous
force may be expected to complete the handiwork of
their brethren iu arms.
I do not stay to
consider the probability or other-
wise of the bulletins issued on either side. Russian
reports are long since condemned by the grossness
of their self-contradiction. It is not a fortnight ago
that they announced the province of Ranom, the
scene of these sanguinary encounters, to have been
cleared by their victorious columns; while, as re-
rards the insurgents, and the news they propagate,
I nave never been able to fall in wish a bulletin in
time to use its laconic contents. Tens much, how-
ever, may be set down as positive from the private
news I have received, and the statements of the
Cracow Czas, that the Warsaw telegram an-
nouncing the defeat of Langiewicz is no better than
a myth, if, indeed, it is not something worse. Leav-
ing alone, then, the number of killed and wounded,
a grand fact emerges from an ocean of confused in-
telligence. Tae great blow has been dealt against
General Langiewicz. The concluding step of a fort-
night's operations, a move in support of which the
defensive had been originally adopted all over the
kingdom, has been taken at length. And with what
result? The revolutionary army of the South exists
now as before. A body of rebels, hardly weaker than
the Russians they oppose, has been able to hold
its ground against the concentrated action of 10,000
men, supported by garrisons in the rear, and fight-
ing under the protection of a numerous artillery.
At the end of the provincial campaign the Russians,
instead of having at length confirmed their victo-
rious telegram, are falling back upon the 5,000
comrades they left at Kielce and Czenstochow
on
sallying forth to the battle-field.
If small things may be mentioned at the side of
great, a passing allusion ought to be made to a vic-
tory General Langiewicz obtained over a Russian
column two days before the fight of Malogoszcz.
Not that the engagement was in any way remark-
able from others that have recently abounded in
the district ; but as the Russian column proceeded
from Miechow, of fatal memory, the defeat they
sustained on this occasion seems to be particularly
calculated to prove the value of their preceding vic-
tories. Five hundred men strong, the detachment
had been ordered to convey to Kielce the noblemen
and other prisoners arrested at Miechow and along
the Cracow frontier. They had not proceeded far on
their way when, finding themselves in the defile of
Ksionz, they were suddenly surrounded by a supe-
rior force, under the command of the active parti-
san. The rest need not be told. After a few mo-
ments' fight there was a change of characters be-
tween the prisoners and the escort. So little were
the Russians informed of the movements of Gen.
Langiewicz, and so trifling is the advantage they
derive from the restoration of their ascendancy
along the frontier. What, indeed,
holding Miechow, if a detachment.ce ao
f distance of 50
issoothmeeunsceano-f
can-
not be safely transferred to Kieolf
'any importance ?
miles, and the next garrison
The prisoners thus re eased are the same whom
Kurowski made tin unsuccessful attempt to liberate
at Miechow.
Apart from the Austrian frontier, Russian autho-
rity in the south-eastern corner remains undis •
t
urhed in the narrow strip right to the south of
Czenstochow. The Russian movements reported
from that quarter may be reduced, more or less, to
the sporadic appearance of some sotnias of Corsacks
between Czencochow and the Prussian frontier.
For the better understanding of imminent opera-
tions it may be also useful to remark that the camp
of Dronabowa, about 20 isailes to the east of Czens
tochow, seems to have been partly abandoned by
theinsurgents. Of the three Russian detachments
' engaged at Maiogoszcz, that. of Colonel Ciengieri
seems to have drawn off in the direction of Kielce,
its original head-quarters. Of Prince Bagration and
Col. Dobrowolski, the leaders respectively of the
Nliechow and Staszow detachments, little can be
ascertained beyond the fact of their having retreated
to the north. Col. Alenicz, who had been ordered
to proceed from Czenstochow and join the other
columns on the eve of battle, finding Jezioranaki
in
his way, was prevented making his appearance in
time.
And what is the compensation for this mishap
the Russians have secured in the rest of the coun-