The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-07 00:00:00

TA T T
TEE SUN, LONDON, MOA DA E VE MA G, SEPTEMBER 7, 1863.

Polish Reply to the Russian Appeal.

WARSAW, Aug. 30.

The following reply to the " Appeal of the Rus-
sian Patriots to the Polish People" has been pub-
lished, and is now being sold by thousands :
THE REPLY OP POLISH PATRIOTS TO THE RUSSIAN

APPEAL TO THEIR POLISII BRETHREN.
For full seven months a murderous contest has raged in
ao
nu
dr ctoo uennt
arra
vbee, ttwheee
on t
ht we
re
fightingnati ons
in the hseel
fo. ndee
feeangeeer. t
yo
o u oppresshav have
drawn numerous armies fret` the remotest cornea of
empire of your Czar to vanquish our few but heroic defen-
ders, and yet you have not succeeded in breaking our
courage, our devotion, our endurance. Upon the contrary,
you have been able to convince yourselves, that, in spite of
the inhuman oppression you have perpetrated against us,
you can never hope to succeed in extinguishing our na-
tional spirit. After this recent experience we cannot re
frain from returning a word of truth in reply to the appeal
you have addressed to us heartlessly demanding our self-
annihilation. We desire to reject your cruel request, to
enlighten and bring you back from a false and injurious
policy to show you that the highest object of a noble nation
is not comprised in the oppression of a kindred race or in
destructive dreams of domination over two quarters of the
globe. You should not feel surprised, brothers in Moscow,
that when you—oblivious of the noble destination of a free
nation, and of the interests of civilisation—allowed your-
selves to be hurried on by a coarse, ambitious Czar to ab-
sorbing other countries, and subjugating other nations,
the same Czar and the successors who follow in his footsteps
ehould have laid upon you a yoke of iron. The Czars
persuade you to be the liberators of the Slavonic peoples,
that, flattering the more noble among you by the aid of this
idea, they may the more easily cast yourselves and all the
Slavonic tribes into fetters.

Three quarters of a century have not yet passed since
Europe began to rejuvenise, and since that period she ad-
vances constantly with giant steps towards freedom and the
happiness of nations. You alone have remained encrusted
by the rough barbarism of ancient times, and the Tartaric
wildness of the steppes. When the object of Slavonic
union is held up to you as the reason for your opposing
European and modern civilisation, you cannot wonder that
we, as well as entire Europe, reject an idea leading to such
an end.

It grieves us deeply that you compel us to fulfil-
sword in hand, the duty of self-preservation against you ;
yet we are ready to.forgive all the outrages we have suf-
fered for a century, because we recollect that you have been
led astray into an evil course by a Goveinnitnt unparelleled
for it ;despotism in modern history. We will willingly ex-
tend to you the hand of brotherhood as we ex-
tend it to every nation, while we hope that you will ulti-
rna'ely have sufficient political insight to p-rceive that two
people may easily exist in friendship side by side, but that
it can never be the part of the one to enslave nor of the
other to be brought into subjection.

Reflect upon the results yourself-imposed task of Pan-
slavism and consequent efforts to enforce it upon us have
brought about. You have shed our noblest blood in vain
and have destroyed our prosperity. During the last cen-
tury hundreds of thousands of us have succumbed beneath
the knouts of your executioners; other hundreds of thou-
sands
Siberia
have perished in the mines of brta e; s
s es, hundreds
of
and the
thousands more have been slain in the battle-fields of the
Caucasus; still hundreds of thousands incessantly sigh in
the subterranean dungeons of your fortresses,
death-dealing damps of their casenrates ; tens of thousands
have been the victims of the frequent gibbet and the mur-
derous court-martial ; millions of our property have
become the prey of your greedy officials ; our religion
is suppressed, our sacred places are profaned, our nobles
waste away in poverty, and all that is great, dear, and
holy in our eyes is trodden under foot. Murder, there-
fore, robbery of freedom and property, suppression of the
belief of our fathers and our national holy places, are the
results for a century of such fraternity as you offer us.
Urged on by the lust for domination of your Czars, hopeless
of compelling us to adopt your civilisation, so far inferior to
our own, you have turned you; heathenish cruelties against
us. By such barbarities and our consequent annihilation you
hope to be able undisputed to call our native land your own.
Your Czarina, Catherine, set up to be the protectress of
our freedom, and selfishly and with cold calculation
turned the weaknesses of our ancestors to our misfortunes.
What are we to expect of you who now pretend to be con-
cerned for our welfare? We mark a satanic smile upon
the lips of our oppressors when they hail us " brothers."
We have learnt from bitter experience that hypocritical
brotherhood and the treacherous care of your Government
for the good of the slaves are not intended to realise the
artificial dream of Panslavism, but aro meant to ensure our
annhilation and extinguishment as a people.
You threaten us with extinction by German trade if de-
prived of your protection, and yet your absurd laws end
the proverleial dishonesty of your officials do not permit one
honest undertaking to prosper; your system of perpetual
Government contracts, with all the corruption they entail,
abstracts capital from legitimate trade ; the banks under
your administration are not open to fairly conducted com-
merce; the rate of interest in the countries under your rule
is as high as in Turkey—a circumstance in itself fatal to
the development of trade.
Your Czar Nicholas, whom you are not ashamed to
style the " magnanimous," encouraged and cherished the
German element in Poland, to set up a balance against the
Polish nationality. The plots of the tyrant have been frus-
trated. The Germans have acquired an affection for us and
for their new country, and now fight bravely in our ranks
against the foreign yoke.
We see that the endeavours of your Czars are to bring
about the hour when, striding across the fettered Slavonic
peoples, they can wave their blood-stained flag upon the
Bosphorus and the Baltic, and make the German people
also their serfs. But we desire only to be free ourselves,
and to leave the liberty of others undisturbed.
It was we who magnanimously freed Vienna and Aus-
tria from the Crescent, but that Nicholas is not to be thus
described who stifled Hungary in the selfish hope of pro-
curing a willing vassal in the House of Hapsburg. Ger-
many knows that in time of peril we have stormed her bul-
wark ; therefore she wishes our national existence secured.
When our forefathers supported Napoleon I. they were
attracted by his powerful genius. France of to-day is still
the country of the great nation that can feel for our heroic
struggle, and we may believe that her sympathy is sincere
daniffderwenarem. e
beTtwheeeEn nygoluisrh
cpzeoaprdleomalsaoufdulloyurunhdheerrsttya.nd
Fthore
this reason the sympathies of those nations are dear to us.
But we shall never debase ourselves to expect aid and
salvation from you, who have shown yourelves such bitter
enemies of our race. You have also deceived us, and we
shall never be decoyed again by the honey of your deceptive
words. Forget your dreams, and think not you can compel
us to ally ourselves with you, as Lithuania formerly volun-
tarily allied herself with us, our civilisation, and our free-
dom. We will not join with you to lead kindred races into
the clutch of the Czar. You call upon us to occupy the ad-
vanced posts. That will we, but for Europe against you,
so long as you lust after conquest. The nations of Europe
are our friends, and we have nothing to revenge on them.
The only way to blot out the disastrous consequences of
the partition of Poland is, not that we should not fraternise
with you, but that you should depart from our country—
that, undisturbed by you, we may enjoy the freedom we de-
sire, and which we heartily wish to you also. Not until
then will a liberal ruler succeed in calling forth nobler ideas
among you; and, freed from the incubus of an unfortunate
thirst for conquest, he will find himself able to raise your
intelligence, your civilisation, and your prosperity.
You say you have not desired we should be absorbed
by you, and yet for the last fifty years you have been ex-
tirpating everything Polish with the wildest barbarity in
Lithuania and the adjacent countries, you have banished
our language from the schools, have placed their other
teachings under the control of volunteering cheats of
roffioLlei is notisiathhls eu,laein the
t ? with
Is lie hnaivaeen forced us to celebrate your saints' day, have
devastated our churches, and destroyed our monuments.
And
in
the monster
avowedMn oo
tu casting
vsti
objectei
nffg
thousands
extinguishing
Polish brethren
the
families into wretchedness, because they have committed
thet
that
crime d
ofo
notin beingwishPoles
? our
national Do you
still
destruction dare t
when
name of that monster, that extirpator of Poles,oismaeinntathe
in
ht you
cheered
in your capital.

We must look upon it as nothing less than derision
when you hold out to us, in union with you, the prospect
of culture for the purpose you say of utilising our natural
advantages.

What? Since you came to us you have arrested our
progress, crippled our education, suppressed our schools,
destroyed our archived and libraries, stolen our treasures
of art and science, and now dare to talk of our culture com-
bined with you ? Your Nowosilkows, Okimowaf and Mucha-
nows have paralysed our learning, crushed every soaring of
the spirit, debased our gifted boys to machines and puppets,
transformed our amiable girls into dolls, have appointed
men of the vilest character to be the teachers of our youth,
and have systematically laboured at the demoralisation of
our children by the aid of these creatures ; and you talk of
our displaying our culture.
Your barbarous censors have stifled the germ of all that
was noble, lofty, and good—have banished art and science
—have done all that in them lay to encourage a rank and
poisonous literary growth; among us ; and you prate of
culture.

Yes, we strive after fame and freedom, but our fame is
the libarty, not the subjection of others. Yes, unfortunate
Moscow brothers, we submit ourselves to the will of
Providence. Do you, too. bow to the same decree. Do
you know it? It says, " Victory to freedom over slavery,
to enlightenment over darkness, to the freedom and inde-
pendence of every nation,". In the Ram of this decree,

Europe has waged for the past century determined battle
against the Satanic powers of oppression and slavery, and
if she did forget herself for a moment whoa she allowed
the partition of Poland, if even now in 1863 she may not
be willing to upraise her voice for us is our struggle against
the Czar, the Czardom will yet be finally compelled to the
recognition of our inalienable rights, and the lot of entire
Europe will be improved.

Not unto us, then, but to your Czar, call loudly. Bow
to the unalterable course of history. Of ono thing let him
be assured—only he con obtain peace who is willing to leave
others unmolested; and only then will the Russian people
be happy when they permit us to enjoy our happiness un-
disturbed.

Long live Poland independent of Russia! Long live
Russia when she has learned to be just I Long live the
Sclavonic nations, each in its own limits ! and long live
glorious liberty I

part of: the turret's defence will extend to just
beneath the upper deck, but is strengthened and
protected by a massive iron rim, wrought in
sections and rivetted together in the strongest
possible manner; the armour-covered portion
of the turret projecting above the upper deck
and, with the rim, being together in shape
exactly like a broad-brimmed coachman's hat of the
olden times. The turret itself of course rests with
the guns and their carriages upon a massive circular
platform or turn-table, the outer rim of which is
fitted with a ring road of stout iron teeth, by apply-
ing to which a cogged wheel, worked by a winch
by either eight or less men at the handles, as may
be required, the turret is made to revolve upon the
machinery below. During the recent visit of the
Admiralty to Portsmouth, the foremost turret, com-
plete in all respects except its armour plating, which,
however, was represented in its weight by its equi-
valent in pigs of iron ballast, revolved in a complete
circle in 4 rain. 40 sec. with eight men at the winch
handles; and in the presence of Mr. Reed, Chief
Constructor of the Navy, a quarter circle was turned
and back again the same distance in ono minute.
Subsequently, however, with eight men at the
winch handles it has turned a quarter circle in 23
seconds, or a complete circle in 1 minute and 32
seconds, thus enabling the two guns in the turret to
be brought to bear from one broadside to the other
in 46 seconds.

The Royal Sovereign's turret "machinery," with
the bed upon which it rests, we will now endeavour
to describe, premising that the diameter of the turret
is less than that of the turn-table or the machinery
upon which the turn-table revolves. Level with the
ship's lower deck, or, as it must now be, her main
and lower deck both, upon upright timbers from the
ship's keelson, are laid logs of teak about 20 inches
square, and extending over a space of nearly 80 feet
in circumference. On these square timbers has been
constructed the bed proper which supports the turret
turn-table, and machinery. It is in appearance a
gigantic cartwheel, 26ft. in diameter, the nave and
periphery being constructed of English and Ameri-
can oak, the periphery entirely of banded strips of
American, and the spokes of English oak. The
periphery of the wheel measures 24in. by 12in., and
the spokes each 18in. by 12in., all fitted with the
nicest accuracy and bolted down immovably to the
square logs of timber resting on the uprights under-
neath. The axle to this monster wheel exists in the
iron cylinder, which will give entrance to the maga-
zine below from the turn-table, and which, 26in. in
diameter, 7ft. Gin. in length, and 3 tons each in
weight, are fixed upright through the centre of the
wheel's nave ; two cast-iron collars, each 6ft. in
outer diameter, and each some hundredweight, being
fixed, one on the upper and the other on the under
s:'cle of the deck, and securing the axle or cylinder
thus in its position immovable as a rock. The upper
part of this cylinder, therefore, projects upwards of
2ft. from the wheel's nave, and becomes the pivot
upon and round which the turn-table and turret
revolve. From a brass collar which encircles this
cylinder, next the nave of the wheel, radiate
outward 24 iron rods, on the outer side of which
are fixed 24 bevilled iron wheels, 18in. in dia •
meter and 19in. broad, and which, set in a double
circular iron framing, work round a metal
roadway laid on the periphery of the wheel, a
second brass collar round the cylinder being fitted
with a set of small brass bevilled wheels, the turn-
table thus fitting over and round the cylinder or
axis, and resting with its inner circumference on the
small brass rollers, which encircle the cylinder, and
its outer circumference, upon the 24 bevilled wheels,
which work upon the iron roadway laid upon the
periphery of the wheel. Every part connected with
the iron work of the turret, and which is being
executed under the superintendence of Mr. A.
Murray, Chief Engineer to the Admiralty at Ports-
mouth, is very massive in its character, and beauti-
fully finished, and so far as any judgment may be
formed at present there is nothing to suggest the
slightest fear of the Royal Sovereign's turrets re-
volving freely under the heaviest storm of shot that
can be brought to bear upon them, or under circum-
stances of the greatest possible inclination which
may be given to the ship's deck in the roll and tumble
of a channel sea. Revolving on an immovable
central axis as does a steamship's paddlewheel, it
certainly appears that even 15 or 20 degs. of inclina-
tion should not interfere with the turret's working.
The side armour of the ship, 51in. plates, from the
Atlas Works, Sheffield, are supported behind by 3ft.
of solid timber, which is strengthened and supported
in its turn by alternate wood and rolled iron beams,
placed at one-half the usual distance apart, to each
of which iron knees of great weight are attached,
and by the crossed diagonal iron banding over the
inner skin of the ship.
The alternate wood and iron beams are covered
with lin. iron plates, all of which at their butts and
edges are rivetted together with 4in. straps of lin.
iron. Stringer plates also run fore and aft this iron
deck. Over all this iron is now being fixed the upper
deck proper of the ship, which consists of 6in. oak
plank, and over a certain circumference of this
oak planking, in the immediate vicinity of each
turret, will be fixed the ring of tapered armour
plating which will form the glacis of each turret at
its base. The ship, owing to the fact of her having
been converted from a Symondite three-decker, will
necessarily draw too much water to manceavre close
in with the shore in shallow water, but she will
doubtless be, when completed (if armed with guns
equivalent in their power to the American Moni-
tors) the most formidable ship of war in the British
navy, whether for purposes of offence or defence.
Such is the Royal Sovereign, the first of England's
turret ships, a vessel that if armed with weapons of
offence equal to her defensive powers may stand a
favourable comparison with the best of the American
Monitors. When completed and ready for service,
however, it might be a wise act to take her outside
the Wight, and give each of her turrets a concen-
trated broadside of 68-pounders from a steam fri-
gate going past at full speed. Such an experiment,
startling as it may seem at first sight, would most
probably save the country some millions sterling
during the next few years, whether the Royal Sove-
reign proves to be a successful or unsuccessful expe-
riment as our first turret ship. We, however, believe
she will prove the former.

There are many of the details in so novel a work
as our first attempt at a turret ship which would
most certainly be carried out in a very improved
form in any second conversion or construction, and
it is a question deserving serious consideration whe•
ther in any future originally designed turret or
broadside gun ironclad ships the adoption of " twin
screws," each screw worked by its independent en-
gine, may not be preferable to revolving turrets with
their somewhat costly and complicated machinery
below. A fixed turret possesses the same deflective
surface as does the revolving one, and must be
equally effective if the ship's hull pc2sesses the power
of turning in lieu of the turret, It is a significant
fact that the most successful blockade runner of
Charleston is a twin Germ vessel, carrying a large
t
cargo in proportion to her tonnage at alight drauth
of water, and possessing, by means of her iudepn.
)08..
dent screws, such a facility for changing her
tion that the Federal men-of-war have not asy
et
once hit her, although she has often been within
shelling distance.
The Royal Sovereign is destined to be an experi-
ment ship in more ways than one, as in her will
be tested for the first time the merits of.,ation a
in-
vented by Dr. Edmonds,
newly
patented system of self-acting ship ventil
staff surgeon on board
her Majesty's ship
Victory, which professes not
only to furnish
an ample supply of pure fresh air
to the crew, but also to effect the very important
object of preserving the ship's timbers from decay
or
dry rot, by creating a constant circulation of
air throughout the framework of the ship. This is
effected by converting the timber spaces from the
keel upward, between tho "ribs," so to speak, of
the ship into draught channels leading into a. tuuncl