The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-20 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, APRIL 20, 1863.

THE INSURRECTION IN POLAND.

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)
NEAR CRACOW, April 8.

It is astonishing with what persistence the Aus-
trian Government denies that any Austrian officers
or soldiers have been killed by Russian troops.
Several Austrian officers and soldiers received Rus-
sian bullets in their bodies. Perhaps the Govern-
ment means to say that they died of grief at being
unable to extract them. It is quite certain that on
the occasion of an Austrian officer being buried a
few days ago in Cracow a great number of Poles
followed the funeral procession, on the ground that
he had fallen in fighting against the enemies of
Poland. I also know a person who saw wounded
Austrians brought to Bolechowice, a village near
the frontier, about ten days ago, after a sharp con-
flict with a party of Cossacks, who had followed a
few insurgents into Galicia. The Czas is pub-
lished, if not under the censorship strictly so called,
at least, under the supervision of the Austrian
Government (which confiscates it now and then
when it does not like its articles); but yet the Czas
day after day gives particulars of these encounters
on Austrian territory between Austrian and Rus-
sian troops. Nor, in the first instance, did the
Government officials think of denying their occur-
rence. The facts were too notorious. Even now it
is not probable that any formal denial will be pub-
lished in Cracow, where many of the wounded men
are lying. Such a publication, whatever effect it
may have in Vienna, St. Petersburg, or elsewhere,
could only excite contempt here.
Even if Austrian officers and soldiers had not
been killed, what has the Government to say to
the fact of peaceable subjects having been robbed,
insulted, and wounded while (nominally) under
Austrian protection P The Cossacks have plundered
Galician villages ; the marks of their bullets may be
seen on the walls of Galician country houses; and
a Galician lady, the wife of a proprietor who has an
estate close to the frontier, has been shot by one of
them in the foot. More than once, however, the
Russians have found themselves in every sense on
the wrong side of the country. Last week the pea-
sants of a little village in Galicia, close to the fron-
tier station of Michalowice, caught half a dozen
Russian soldiers intent on plunder, disarmed them,
beat them, and sent them back well corrected to
their " post " on the other side. As the Government
does nothing, these lessons froni time to time will
be very useful, for the farmyards of the Galician
peasant proprietors are well stocked with poultry,
which the Cossack fox would like to devour, and their
hillsides covered with flocks, from which the Cos-
sack would gladly carry off a few young lambs.
The frontier is now guarded with great strictness,
both on the Austrian and Russian side, but the Rus-
sian posts, though on the whole much stronger are
further apart than they were just after the break up
of Langiewicz's camp. It is easier now to pass the
frontier unperceived than it was a fortnight ago;
but if the insurgents meet with a Russian detach-
ment it is less easy than it used to be to overpower
it. Indeed the Russians are in such force opposite
Cracow and between Cracow and Tarnow that the
next expeditions from Galicia to the Kingdom will
probably cross the frontier much further to the east.
If the Russians draw their troops towards Eastern
Galicia I need hardly say that they will be attacked
in the West. For some time to come there will be
few points at which they will not be vulnerable.
Proprietors continue to arrive in Cracow from the
Kingdom. They have no choice but to leave their
estates for the present, or join the insurrection, and
run the chance of losing them altogether. If they
remain they know that a price has been set upon
their heads, and that the first band of peasants which
chooses to arrest them may sell them to the police at
the rate of five roubles a head. Even should they
escape the Russian soldiers, they would be tolerably
sure to fall victims to the denunciations of their
own peasants. This state of things at the first glance
seems but little creditable to the Polish proprietors,
but it must be remembered that the " peasant" in
Poland is neither a farmer nor a labourer. He holds
a certain portion of land from which he cannot be
ejected, and for which he is supposed (under exist-
ing arrangements not likely to last) to pay rent. He
believes—and is encouraged in this belief by the
Government—that the rent is extorted from him by
the " nobles," whom the Government at the same
time affects to regard, and for its own purposes does
regard, as the owners of the whole estate. Let the
British Government send officials into Ireland to in-
form the small tenant-farmers day after day and
year after year that their farms belong to them in-
alienably, and that it is a great shame to make them
pay rent, and the attitude of the peasant towards
the proprietor would be infinitely more hostile in
Ireland than it is at the present moment in the king-
dom of Poland.

I hear Polish proprietors and Poles of all classes
congratulating themselves on the fact that, in spite
of the provocations and inducements held out by the
Russian Government, the Galician massacres of
1846 are not being imitated in the Kingdom. The
Polish peasant, being a degraded animal, seizes his
landlord and sells him for five roubles to the police,
who imprison as an insurgent everyone brought to
them and denounced as such. But the Polish pea-
sant is only degraded to a certain point. He knows
that his landlord wishes him no harm, and is not
prepared to take his life in order to curry favour
with the Russian officials. Robbery without, or, if
absolutely necessary, with violence, is more in his
line; he has gone so far as that, but has not hitherto
steeped his hands in blood. However, all persons
are agreed that it is dangerous, and even ridiculous
to venture across the frontier, inasmuch as every
one who wears a black coat is considered fair game
by the peasants, and looked upon as a good five
roubles' worth. Some sanguine-minded Poles still
endeavour to persuade themselves and others that
the peasants of the Kingdom are inclined to take
part with the insurrection, though they have given
up numbers of insurgents to the authorities, and
while volunteering to inform the Russians as to
the movements of the Polish troops have seldom
been prevailed upon to communicate any intelli-
gence whatever to their own countrymen as to the
position of the Russians.

On the other hand, the labourers, farm servants,
domestic servants of all kinds, and generally all
who have been brought under the personal influence
of the proprietors, sympathise with the insurrection,
and in numerous cases have joined it. 1 fancy there
has not been a single instance of a peasant-proprie-
tor taking part in the national movement. It is even
considered a grand thing for peasant of this class to
have made successful efforts to defend his landlord's
house from pillage, and an honest rustic named
Ukraini, who distinguished himself in this manner,
has become so popular that his photograph is to be
seen in all the print shops of Cracow.

A French correspondent informs the Spectator
that the Emperor really intends to be elected at
once to the Institute, and that M. Guizot will propose his
election by acclamation. This dispenses with the irksome
necessity of a canvass for individual votes. The ground of
claim will be the "Idees Napoleoniennes," and not the
" Life of Caesar," and the Emperor will be elected by about
35 votes out of 40. The claim in itself is not an unfair one,
the Emperor being, after all criticism, a very remarkable
thinker, and we question if learned bodies ate injured by
contact with the actual life of the nation. It is the intru-
sion of the Emperor by force, the smashing of locks with
the sceptre which the Academy should resist, and to which
yield. Eprnoeugtelldxishmen of the same calibre would certainly never
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of numbers, or by applying the law relative to asso-
ciations,

THE FATAL FIGHT AT HACKNEY MARSHES.—On
an official inquiry was gone into by the
Commissioners of Police, at the office in Great Scotland
Yard, Whitehall,
to investigate the circumstances con-
nected with the late prize fight Which took place en Easter
Monday last in Hackney Marshes, and the police-officer of
the district, where the contest Was carried on for an hour
and a half, has been suspended from duty.

AMERICA.

The Hamburg and American Company's steam-
ship Saxonia, Captain Ehers, arrived off Cowes on
Saturday. She left New York at 6 a.m. on the 6th
inst. She brings 12 passengers for Southampton,
28 for Havre, and 103 for Hamburg. O❑ freight
she has in specie 114,000 dols. for England, 13,000
for France. and 4,655 for Hamburg. Sha encoun-
tered severe weather the first three days of her pas-
sage ; in lat. 43.39 N., 'Org. 47.18 W., and saw
several large icebergs. The royal mail steamship
Asia, from New York on the Bth, has also arrived
with 75 passengers, 150,900 dols. and £530 in specie.
The following summary of news, under date New
York, April 5 evening, is brought by the Saxonia :

A severe gale and—snow storm prevailed on the
Rappahannock yesterday. There is nothing new
transpiring there. Generals Hampton and Fitz-
hugli Lee are said to be at Culpepper with a Confe-
derate force of 2,500 men.

The news from Vicksburg is not encouraging.
The movement on Haines Bluff proved a failure,
and the Federal fleet and transports had returned to
Young's Point. Gen. Grant had succeeded in plac-
ing,a battery of 84-pounder Parrotts beyond the
levee, in a position to easily reach Vicksburg, and
was about to open the bombardment on the 27th,
when it was postponed in consequence of a storm.

The attack on Fort Pemberton recommenced on
the 27th by the gunboats Baron de Klib and Chilli-
cothe. The result is not known.

Indications point to the abandonment of the
Yazoo Pass expedition. A fleet of 12 transports,
just out of the Pass, were ordered to return empty.
There are 300 boats now at Young's Point.
A despatch from Cairo, of the 4th, says the water
still continues to pour through the cut at Lake Pro-
vidence. Nearly all the town is submerged.
The troops have been compelled to move their
encampments further up the river.

The health of the troops is good ; but the " buf-
falo gnats" are said to be killing large numbers of
the Government horses.

It is now believed that all the expeditions, in-
cluding the one down the Yazoo Pass, have returned
to Young's Point.

The bulletin says that the Federal battery oppo-
site Vicksburg has silenced a rebel battery on the
opposite shore.

- A St. Louis despatch says that the Confederates
have withdrawn a large part of their force from the
front to the rear of Vicksburg, anticipating that
the Federals will attack them via Yazoo Pass or
Haine's Bluff.

Yazoo City and Greenwood have been strength-
ened by the Confederates, who have moved their
guns from the river front to the rear of Vicksburg.
Daring a high wind the Confederate gunboat
Vicksburg broke from her moorings, floated down
the stream, and was captured by Farragut's vessel.
Despatches from General Curtis, St. Louis, state
that a band of Confederate guerillas captured the
boats Murdock and Sam Gatty, and that Colonel
King pursued the enemy, and after two engage-
ments completely routed them.
The Federal forces succeeded in breaking up a
Confederate camp, with 600 men, near Woodbury,
on the Ist inst. The Confederates were dispersed,
and fled over the hills. A number were killed and
wounded, 30 were captured, together with 50 horses,
a number of mules, four waggons, and the rebel
camp.

The enemy are gathering in large force on the
Tennessee river above Florence, and are building
floats to cross the river, with a view probably to
reinforce the army at Vicksburg.

It is understood that no further efforts will be
made to raise negro regiments in the free States.
A mass convention of the union leagues of New
Jersey will be held in Trenton on the 16th inst.
No business of importance was transacted in
either branch of the legislature yesterday; both
houses adjourned early in the day.
Gold was not very active yesterday, but was
firmer, selling up to 1552, and closing at 155, bid.
Stocks were generally better, with some irregularity
in the movement. Exchange was about 170 at the
close; money was extremely easy-5 to 6 per cent.
for call loans.

The following summary of news by the Asia is
dated New York, the evening of the 7th April:—
Considerable excitement has prevailed here since
Sunday, caused by reports contained in Southern
journals, that the Federals had landed in force at
Seabrooks, John's Island, near Charleston, and
driven in the Confederate pickets, and that the
attrck by the Federal naval and military forces
upon Charleston had commenced. The .nichmond
Examiner, of the 2d inst., however, states thst the
Federals had not landed in force, as reported, and
that nothing but skirmishing between scouting
parties had occurred on Seabrooks Island. The
Northern correspondents report that a Federal re-
giment occupied Cole's Island, nine miles from
Charleston, without opposition. A. general attack
was not expected before this week.

The reported evacuation of Richmond is now
denied.

The Confederates have marched a large force to
Washington, North Carolina, and it is supposed
they have engaged the Federals under General
Foster.

It is rumoured that General Lee is in the She-
nandoah Valley.

All the Federal expeditions intended to reach the
rear of Vicksburg, by way of Sunflower river and
Yazoo Pass, have been abandoned.

The military situation in Tennessee is unchanged.
The report of the committee on the conduct of
the war is considered by the democratic journals as
a partisan report to injure M'Clellan. The repub-
lican journals consider that the report shows con-
clusively M'Clellan's incapacity. The New York
Times thinks that M'Clellan did not favour a war
policy, but sympathised with the peace party, and
this was the key to his extraordinary procrastina-
tion and inefficiency.

The Secretary of the Treasury has issued strin-
gent orders regarding commercial intercourse with
the insurrectionary States.
The purchase of cotton with gold is forbidden,
and military officers are forbidden to trade.

The Southern journals say that the peace party
were about to introduce a peace resolution which
would probably pass one house of Congress before
the adjournment.
In Connecticut a republican governor and repub-
licaß state officers have been elected. Three out of
the four republican nominees for Congress have been
elected, and the legislature is also strongly repub-
lican. The democrats lose one member of Con-
gress.
The governor's majority is 3,000, being a repub-
lican loss of 6,000 since last year.
The British prize steamer Aries has arrived at
New York. She was captured 30 miles north of
Charleston. The schooner Sae has been captured
off Wilmington.
The British frigate Rinaldo sailed from Hampton
Road on the sth inst.

The following additional intelligence is to the
morning of the Bth :
It is officially announced from Washington that
the Federal fleet of gunboats and iron.clads left
Port Royal on Wednesday last, and would reach
the scene of operations at Charleston on Thursday
night.
A Federal officer returned from Richmond states
that he witnessed in that city a bread riot, in which
3,000 women were engaged. They broke open the
government stores and took what they wanted.
The military were unable to check the riot.
President Davis and others made conciliatory
speeches, and order was restored.
According to some reports the Federals are still
confronting the Confederates at Fort Pemberton,
but no attack has been made.

A report, considered unworthy of credence, has

reached New York limn New Orleans, that the
Confederates had commenced to evacuate Port
Hudson.

General Rosncrans officially reports that Mor-
gan's guerillas had been encountered at Snow Hill,
and defeated by General Stanley. Morgan's forces
escaped with their artillery.
The negro expedition has evacuated Jacksonville,
Florida, and, after burning the town, returned to
Port Royal.
The Federal gunboats on the Tennessee river
have been driven back by the Confederates. Un-
successful efforts were made by the Fedcrats to
land at Tuseumbra.

A large meeting has been held in N&w York in
aid of the distress in Ireland. General M'Clellan
and Archbishop Hughes addressed the meeting.

A large democratic meeting has also been held at
which resolutions were passed denouncing the ad-
ministration, declaring the war as now conducted a
failure and demanding peace. The administration
could not conquer the South if they would, and
would not if they could. Therefore the democracy
favoured peace and conciliation as the only means
to restore the Union. They demand a change of
measures not for separation but for restoration.

Fernando Wood declared that until the confer•
ences were opened it was impossible for anyone to
say whether, under such circumstances the South
would or would not listen to negotiations looking
to reunion.

Speeches were made declaring it to be insanity to
suppose that the South ever could be conquered.
President Lincoln is now visiting the army of the
Potomac.

The Washington correspondent of the New York
Tribune says :

Our Government has information that powerful
steam rams are now being built on the Thames and
the Mersey. The probabilities now are that
no action will be taken at present under the law
authorising the President to grant letters of marque
and reprisal, and that none will be granted
except in certain contingencies not now regarded as
likely to arise. The question of what diplomatic or
other proceedings may be necessary to prevent the
construction and sailing of vessels of war and
blockade runners for the rebels is still undetermined.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
NEW YORK, April 7, Evening.

Money easy. Gold, 501 per cent. prem. Ex-
change on London : Bankers' Bills, 167; stocks
dull; New York Centrals, 116; Illinois, 89; Erie,
76i ; United States Bonds, Five per Cents., 974 ;
do. Six per Cent., 1041. Cotton quiet. Middling
Uplands, 68c. to 71c. Flour dull and 10c. lower ;
wheat dull ; corn declining. Provisions dull ;
coffee, good inquiry; sugar and molasses quiet;
crude petroleum, 20.

ARRIVAL OF THE ASIA.
ROCHE'S POINT, April 18, 8.30 p.m.
The Asia has brought udvices from New York to
the 7th inst.

NEW YORK, April 7.

It was confidently announced yesterday morning
that the bombardment of Charleston had com-
menced, that Federal troops had landed in force on
John's Island, and that after a short struggle the
city had been captured. Gold declined 6 per cent.
on tt.e faith of this announcement. Its truth being
afterwards greatly doubted, gold rose again from
1491. to 154 This morning it was stated, on the
authority of telegraphic despatches from Charleston
of the 2d to the Richmond Examiner of the 3d, that
no landing of Federal troops had been effected on
John's Island, and that nothing had occurred but a
slight skirmish between the scouts of, a Federal
gunboat and the Confederate pickets. Gold in con-
sequence maintained itself at the higher rate.
There is no news from Vicksburg, Port Hudson,
or the Army of the Cumberland.
The President and Mrs. Lineoln visited General
Hooker, at his quarters on the Rappahannock, on
Saturday, but the weather was so severe and the
mud so deep that the grand review in honour of
the visit was countermanded, and Mr. and Mrs.
Lincoln returned to Washington.

The joint Committee of both HouEes of Congress
on the conduct of the war have presented their re-
port. It censures General M'Clellan's whole mili-
tary course since his appointment to the command
of the Army of the Potomac, and points to him as
the cause of the failure of the army to take Rich-
mond. General Burnside's plans for dislodging
the Confederates of Fredericksburg subsequently to
his defeat in December, are declared to have been
thwarted by the interference of the President, who
gave ear to prejudicial statements against General
Burnside from subordinate officers, and counter-
manded his orders for an advance. The report con-
cludes by stating the belief of the Committee that
the rebellion can be subdued only by fighting, and
their confidence that the present campaign will
produce decisive victories to the Federal arms,
The defeat of Langiewicz and the reported close
of the Polish insurrection are much regretted, not
for the sake of the Poles but for the supposed dan-
ger cf renewed offers of mediation or intervention
by France and Great Britain and the recognition of
the Southern Confederacy.
The President is still urged by a section of the
Cabinet to issue letters of marque, but persistenly
refuses, legit he should increase the difficulties of the
Republic and imperil its friendly relations with the
maritime Powers of Europe, _ _

The elections in Connecticut, as in Rhode Island,
have resulted in the triumph of the Republican
candidates.
The British steamer Aries, captured on the 28th
ult., while attempting to run into Bull Bay, South
Carolina, has arrived at this port, on her way to
Boston. She had on board a cargo of coffee, salt,
and lead.

A Federal prisoner released on parole reports that
a mob of 3,000 women, armed with clubs and stones,
assembled on Thursday, the 2d inst., and broke
open the Government stores, taking away bread
and clothing and whatever else they required. Mr.
Jefferson Davis and other high officials addressed
the crowd, and succeeded with some difficulty in
persuading it to disperse.