The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-13 00:00:00

THE INDEPENDENCE OF POLAND,

Last evening a public meeting in connection with
the National League for the Independence of Poland
was held in the Cambridge Hall, Newman-street,
Oxford-street, Mr. Edmond Beales, barrister-et-
law, presiding. The Chairman, in opening the pro-
ceedings, expressed his pleasure at presiding oyer a
meeting sympathising with those gallant men who
were wonderfully and determinedly struggling in
Poland for all that is worth living for and worth
dying for. (Hear, hear.) He did not wish to de-
tain the meeting, but he could not help referring
to the important speech recently delivered
Earl Russell at Blairgowrie. There were two
points in that speech—first, it was admitted
that Russia had forfeited all the right,
if sh© ever had any, to the sovereignty
of Poland ; and the next point was the recognition
of the belligerent rights of the Poles. One decla-
ration of the noble lord he cordially concurred
with, but another declaration he was decidedly op-
posed to. The noble lord said it was not obliga-
tory on the country, nor was it to the honour or
interests of England, that we should go to war for
Poland. He was sorry to hear such a declaration
from the lips of any Englishman, especially a Rus-
sell. It was uncalled for, because the Poles had
never asked us to go to war for them ; they had de•
precated any armed intervention on their part,
being desirous to achieve their own freedom.
The Treaty of Vienna, by which Poland was par-
titioned, was a scandal and a reproach to all
those who had stood by passively and allowed
Poland to be swept out of the map of
Europe. (Hear, hear.) Earl Russell said
that those other nations who had stood
by were accessories after the fact. The partition of
Poland was one of the greatest of political crimes,
and therefore he thought that no man with common
sense could say that it was not obligatory on us to
see that the conditions of the treaty were .fulfilled,
and, if they were violated, to enforce them. Rus-
sia had deliberately and systematically violated all
those conditions, and therefore the belligerent rights
of the Poles should be recognised. Having con-
demned in strong language the conduct of Russia
towards the suffering Poles for her own aggrandise.
ment, he concluded by expressing a hope that
Lord Russell's words should be embodied in a de-
spatch, and sent to the Court of St. Peters-
burg. (Loud cheers.) Dr. P. W. Perfitt then
delivered a long address on the history, partitions,
and present condition of Poland, and moved the fol-
lowing resolution :—" That this meeting cordially
approves of the objects of the National League for
the Independence of Poland, and pledges itself to
support the 'Rogue by all the pecuniary and other
means in its power." Mr. Eglinton, a working man,
seconded the motion, which was put and carried
with acclamation. Mr. J. A. Nicolay then pro-
posed the next resolution, to the effect that
Russia, having far nearly fifty years delibe-
rately and systematically violated, !nd h av-
re.tous par-
tition the
ing now deliberately and finally
conditions upon which the iniquitous
tition and spoliation of Poland in the last
century were more or less condoned and sanctioned
by Great Britain and other European powers by the
Treaty of Vienna, has forfeited every semblance of
a legitimate title to sovereignty over Poland, and
that it vitally concerns the honour and good faith
of Great Britain as a party to that treaty to declare
such forfeiture openly and officially, and at once to
recognise the belligerent rights of the Poles. Mr.
Stainsby seconded the resolution, which was also
agreed to. A cordial vote of thanks to the chairman
closed the proceedings.

A SCENE AT " BELL'S LIFE" OFFICE.—The un-
mitigated sconndrelism of a certain class of the
Patrons of the noble art" seems to have reached its climax
on the occasion of the late fight between Gannon and
Baldock, for £lOO aside. The police twice put a stop to
the brutal exhibition, and the referee (editor of Bell's
Life) ordered the men to meet at his office on the next
day. The meeting is thus reported by the editor :—" On
Thursday the representatives of the men treated us to
one of the usual levees which our position compels us
to hold, in which loud voices and unabashed falsehood
were used as the instruments to blind our eyes to justice,
and it was not till our room was cleared of all save one
representative of each man that we could get on any-
thing like terms, or ascertain the point at issue, which
turned out to be that Gannon's friends accused Baldock of
wilfully giving himself up to the police; while Baldock's
backers as strenuously denied this fact, and declared the
man could not get away from the police. Evidence was
laid before us by Gannon's friends, which, coupled with
inquiries we caused to be made, convinced us that their
accusation was founded 'on fact, and the referee, on Friday
morning, when the parties again met at our office, awarded
the money to Gannon. Directly this decision was
given, our office was filled by a band of ruffians,
at the head of whom were Ward of the Ironfounders'
Arms, Greenwich, Young Billy Shaw, Tom Tyler,
and Baldock himself, who assailed us and our reporter with
the vilest abuse, and Baldock and another of his friends,
a pedestrian named Myers, we believe, with frightful oaths
declared that they would take the life of our ring reporter
the first time they caught him in the streets. Young Tyler;
and Ward were no way bchindhand in their threats, and
the scene altogether was of such a nature as we neverwlt
nessed before, and will take care shall not occur agfue
as-
our office. Finally we were compelled to 61101 tn
sistance of our whole staff of compositors
.t:rdicielpeaarrtutht:
room, but the company did not take their
pon
every
without threatening to wreak their vengeft
earliest op-
one who did not think with them,
at the
affair, we are
portunity. Before taking leave of .
oturnal to state that
requested by the proprietors of this J
only exercised by a
unless the present system of terrorism,
forteeasePbuyt an end to, Which
certain clique, is at once and the parties most
cqn be done with the greatesselves—Bell's Life in lonclogn
interested—the pugilists themselves—Bell's
ing, and every effort will
will cease to be the organ of
be used on our part to Pn
t. an end to a sport Which, as at
present carriel on, cannot be defended on any ground
whatever. Whether gentlemen will ever again be persuaded
to venture to the ring ride is a problem yet to be solved;'

SECOND EDITION.

SUN OFFICE, HALF-PAST 4 o'CLiocx.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.—This Day.

NEWMARKET RACES—Tins DAY.
BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.
CESAREWITCH STAKES.

LIONESS
LIMatiINA
Twenty-four ran.
JACK OF HEARTS .
Twenty-four ran. Won by three parts of a length
ROYAL STAKES.

Columba
Barter 2
HANDICAP SWEEPSTAKES.
Merry Maid 1
Gunner
Eight ran.
TOWN PLATE.
F prima .....
Peterbhata ...
• 2
Six ran.
SELLING HANDICAP.

- - -
Norroy ......
Prince le 800
Knave of Trumps ............
Twelve ran.
CLEARWELL STAKES.

Crisis .................................. . ......... 1
Planet
Eleven ran.

Al-ger at Warsaw.
The Execution of William

IVAttsAw, Friday.
The execution of Alger, one of the workmen employed in
the factory of Evans and Co., for manufacturing grenades,
took place in the court-yard of the building yesterday. Ali
the workmen of the factory were compelled by tho police to
be witnesses of the fate of their comrade. At half: past nine
the condemned man, under military escort, entered the fac-
tory yard, the gates of which were immediately Closed
against the crowd collected in the street. Only two or three
favoured persons were admttted—among others the Eng-
lish consul general, Col, Stanton, and Mr. Ran, the part-
ner of Messrs. Evans, Messrs. Evans Brothers having re-
turned to England two years ago. At ten o'clock precisely
firing was heard. Two rounds were fired subsequently at a
certain interval, the first probably not having taken effect.
The corpse was then carried away, and the persons col-
lected in the streets were very shortly dispersed. It is un-
derstood that Alger met his fate with determination, and
rejected an offer of pardon upon condition of denouncing his
accomplices made at the place of execution. He leaves a
wife and two children.

The proprietors of the factory were condemned by Gen.
Berg to pay a fine of 15,000 roubles, bat the English
consul protesting against the injustice of the order and
representing that, owing to Mr. Evans' absence in
England at the time the manufacture of the grenades
took place, it was impossible that he could have any com-
plicity in the affair, the decree was cancelled. To obviate
the belief of this unusual lenity being in any way owing to
foreign interference, the chief of the police published the
following order in the _Police Gazette :

" It was announced in the Dziennik Powsz6chny of the
6th of October that a fine of 15,000 roubles had been im-
posed upon the proprietors of the iron foundry carried on by
Messrs Evans and Co., for having permitted the.prepara-
tion of hand grenades, despite the regulations of the state of
siege, and the factory would remain closed until the afore-
said fine was paid. Upon the representation, however, of
his excellency the chief of the third division of gendarmerie,
Major-General Trepow, that Mr. Evans and the other par-
ticipators in the foundry, as quiet citizens, were not aware
of the manufacture of the grenades (the number of which
was only small); that the workmen in the factory took nq
share whatever thorein ; and further, that the regulations of
the state of siege, rendering employers responsible for their
workpeople, had not at that time been published, his excel..
lency the ad interim governor, Gen. Berg, has been pleased
to order that Mr. Evans be relieved from the payment of
the fine of 15,000 roubles, and that his factory be again
opened for the transaction of business.
(Signed) "Major-General LEWSZU."

THE ( 3IVIL WAR IN AMERICA,

(1 tom the Correspondent of the Times.)

NEW YORK, Sept. 29.

Ten dreys ago General Rosencranz was the only
genu'ene Napoleon of the war. All others, includ-
ing General M'Cl.ellan, were fictitious, or, in Ameri-
can, parlance, " b ogus." Rosencranz was the man
of the hour; the non-political General who was to
win battles, pierce the heart :of the Confederacy,
and bring the southern leaders to their knees howl-
ing for mercy. But General Bragg has wrought a
change, and Rosencranz has been thrown from his
pedestal, and will, unless he gain a victory even now
—which no one expects,—be consigned to the lum-
ber-room where rest, more or less broken and
dilapidated, the once heroic statues ,labelled with
the names of M'Dowell, IVl‘Clellan,Fitzjob.n, Porter,
Pope, Stone, Butler, and others, who have served
thoeir turn, and are now considered neither useful
nor ornamental. Disheartened by one reverse, the
supporters of the administration are calling for the
dismissal of Rosencranz, and the appointment in his
place of General Thomas, whose division in the great
battle tel Chickamauga on Sunday, the 20th inst.,
saved the army of the Cumberland from total rout
and an nihilation. But the Administration, knowing
that it ordered Rosencranz to advance against his
better judgment, hesitates to adopt this course.
Knowing at the same time that a scapegoat of some
kind is necessary to appease the people, and help
to divert attention from its own mismanagement, it
has found the victim in the person of General
Burnside, who, whether as military satrap of Ohio
or a loader in the field, has been without exception
the most unfortunate person the Federal Government
has ever had in its employ. The General has had
a keener appreciation of his own demerits than the
Government. He has never willingly assumed high
command; he protested against his own nomination
to succeed General 111gCleltan ; he went reluctantly
to Cincinnati to play the part of a dictator, but
having once tasted the sweets of arbitrary power,
he appears to have become unfitted for a secondary
position, and to have yielded but a grudging obe-
dience to General Rosencranz, his junior in the ser-
vice. A fortnight ago he resigned his command,
but was persuaded by the Government to reconsider
his deterw.ination. He did so, and was ordered to
mar cli frc,m Knoxville to the support of Rosencranz.
This for some reason he failed to do. The battle of
Chickamauga was fought in his absence, and Rosen-
era= was defeated. Though the same fate might
have befallen the army of the Cumberland had Burn-
side been present with his 25,000 man, the Govern-
ment asuumes the reverse, and has marked its dis-
pleasure at his ill luck, or his inability, by relieving
him of his command, and appointing General Joseph
Hooker, the defeated of Chancellersville, in his place.
But General Burnside has not been allowed to fall
without a defender. Parson Brownlow, the most
profane "rowdy" that ever pretended to preach the
Gospel, or was dubbed " the reverend," a man who
-would not be tolerated as a clergyman in any part
of the world but in America, has publicly declared
in the columns of the Cincinnati Commercial that
Burnside has not been to blame, and that the Go-
vernment, in ordering him to advance, acted in the
profoundest ignorance of the topography of the
country to be traversed. The "Parson" states that
4, he has Down the country since 1829, when it was
possessed by the Cherokee Indians; that he has in
the interval travelled over it in every conceivable
way ;" and that a great deal more was expected of
Burnside than it was possible for Burnside to per-
form. The distance from Knoxville to Chattanooga
is, he says, 110 miles, and from Chattanooga to La-
fayette—in the immediate vicinity of which the
battles ol' the 19th and 20th were fought-45 miles
more. 'Throughout this district all the bridges had
been burnt by the Confederates ; the streams are
sluggish and deep, and the banks high ; and the
country thickly timbered with a heavy undergrowth,
making it rather impassable for the operations of
a large army." The "Parson" calls lustily for rein-
forcements for Rosencranz, and thinks, if he gets
them "in sufficient numbers," which is exceedingly
daub tful, that Rosencranz will " whip the whole
f;onfederacy." As for himself, he has no fears of
the result. Blood, murder, fire, and extermination
are the; weapons he recommends. " Greek fire for

the masses of the Southern people, and hell fire for
thei r leaders"—so shrieks this minister of the Gospel,
this man, who would be a shameless ruffian if he
w m.e not a lunatic, which for the credit of Chris-
tianity and humanity it is to be charitably hoped
ho must be.

Public expectation has for weeks been on the

stretch to hear of great events on the Rapidan and
in the harbour of Charleston. But the war languishes
in both places. General Meade has not the means
to advance against General Lee, and though sorely
pressed by the fools of Washington to run his head
against a wall, refuses to perform the J apanese
ceremony of Hari Kari. General Gilmore and
Admiral Dahlgren at Charleston are equally power-
less, or equally prudent, and find themselves so
effectually checkmated by General Beauregard and
the gallant defenders of the brave little city as to
be unable even to plant their banner upon the ruins
of Fort Sumter, or make a single move with their
monitors and ironclads against the formidable ob-
structions that might in one moment quench the
pride of Ericsson, and prove that great as the capa-
cities of science are for offensive warfare, they are
more than equalled by its capacities for defence.

But Charleston, the Rapidan, and Chickamauga—
all the phases of the war—have for the moment lost
their interest in comparison with that excited by the
Presence in New York harbour of a greater fleet of
for • sign war vessels than was ever seen in those
'waters since the discovery of America. Admiral
Milne, on board the Nile, arrived yesterday from
the West India station, accompanied by the gunboats
Immortalite and Nimble. The French frigate
Guerriere has suddenlyreturned from Halifax with
three others, and a Russian fleet of no less than seven
war ships has been here for nearly a week. No one
knows why this rendezvous has been appointed, or
ate
-what hostile or amicable
of it. Gen. -Hiram Wallbridge,purposes
a corn dealer and
at the bottom
one of those haters of England, who tossed con-
temptuously his grain bags to the People of Lanca-
shire a few months ago when George Griswold was
laden with ostentatious charity, to show how mise-
rable English operatives were and how generous and
forgiving
were the merchants of New York, has, it
is true, taken upon himself to declare in presence of
some of the Russian officers the
(who, although
spoke English, and had previously addressed theY
company in that language, did not p
e.
think it ex
client to contradict him), that the object of the Czar
in sending such a fleet to New York was to have it
at a place " where, at a given signal, it could sweep
the commerce of Great Britain and France from the
seas." But as Gen. Hiram Wallbridge is no autho-
rity upon that or any other matter, except the price
of breadstuffs, the gratification that might have been
excited in the American heart by his pompons an-
nouncement is qualified by the misgiving, largely
Prevalent, that the bloodless general spoke from the
exuberance of feeling excited by the flowing howl,
r
ather than from knowledge or from any official
Protnptin, either Russian or American. Neverthe-
less, thereg
is much wonderment to pierce
it, the mys-
tery 01 the _ n
gold is aitl_neets. As no one can solve and as
com-
modity harwl at the doubt, that tremulous nom-
per cent., lest up from 38/ to a premium of 44
should, after all, Great Britain, Frauce, and Russia
and conjointly
.8 in accord, and have severally
South for the commanding
to notify to North and
harbour, that the war bad
position of New York
had lasted a great deal too
long, and that it is
hightime for the North to ad-
mit the logic of facts
and
the independence of the South,
and consent to
h•
necessity,
Among minor affairs the election
e of Mr. Vallan-
digham for the Governorshiponfohio
takes prece-
dence. The event comes
off x
stra
gentleman, effort is and will be made by ti,„ Atweeutninik• Everyon to
defeat the candidature of that ilia suc-
cess would ba a blow so damaging to the reputation
of the Cabinet that no stone is left unturned
it. The State is "stumped" by every'nedto pre
kind of
speaker and orator in the interest of the Republican
party -ic'ho can be persuaded or paid to declaim
against the man who in his exile gives Mr. Lincoln
and bis friends almost as much uneasiness as Gen.
Le© or Gen. Beauregard. The services of the gentle
Anna Dickinson—gentle in anything but her tongue

—and of the ungentle General Butler, are both
said to be engaged for the occasion—the one to
be rewarded by "greenbacks," the other by the pro-
mise of a high military appointment. Lectures,
pam
andphleappliancesnewspaperts,of articles—all the parapher-
naliapolitical warf ore—are in full
activity. The soldiers of Ohio, servin.e with Gen.
Meade or Gen. Rosencranz, or scattered in other
parts of the Union, are to be allowed to vote in
camp; and there can be little doubt that, under the
control of their officers, they will be persuaded that
to vote for Mr. Vallandigham will be treason,
coming under the category of aid and comfort to the
enemy. Should there be any ultra-democratic dis-
trict in the State likely to give Mr. Vallandigham
a majority, disturbances will be fomented before
the day of election, martial law will be proclaimed,
and the ballot prevented. As the Irishvotet in Ohio
is strong, and the Irish are Democrats in
pro-
portion of nine out of ten, thereforeandtheD at
Democratic
ytico
support Mr. Vallandigham and
ticket, it has been considered of extreme import-
ance that some eminent Irishman, having the ear
of his compatriots, should publicly address the
Irish in Ohio in favour of their Ministerial candi-
date. For this purpose General Francis Thomas
meagher, known in the cabbage garden rebellion as
Meagher of the Sword," has been selected. For-
getful that had he not been a rebel he would have
been nothing, not even a brigadier-general in the
service of the North, and that he not only owes his
present position but his life to the contemptuous
clemency of the generous Government against which
he took up arms, Gen. Meagher has written a long
letter to the Union Committee of Ohio in denuncia-
tion of the Southern " rebels" and of Mr. Vallandig-
ham. He speaks of" the brilliant and vast advan-
tages of national unity," advantages that he would
deny to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, and indulges in a vast amount of Hiber-
nian eloquence on the subject of the Southern
leaders and the Northern friends of peace. For the
Copperheade, whose principles are those of the Con-
stitution and the law as it existed prior to the
assumption of officeby Mr. Lincoln, he has no words
but those of hate and scorn. New York, he says,
abounds with them, which is true, and their venom,
he adds, "as well as the slime, the fangs and the
slippery skin of the reptiles, warn the country of
danger," which is a figure of speech somewhat stale
and overworn. He admits Mr. Vallandigham to be
no contemptible foe, but one who has been consis-
tent, intrepid,uncompromising, and implacable from
first to last, and as such calls on the people of Ohio
to deal with him, and keep him, if not in exile, in
obscurity until the war is over. If he be elected Go-
vernor, the imaginative brigadier without a brigade
is of opinion that "the drooping spirits of the South
will revive ; that the severe thin features of Mr.
Jefferson Davis will dilate and soften with the
news ; that the sweetest smiles will break out
and play in tropical radiance all over the neat
round chin, the dainty lips, and the plump and
cosy cheeks of Mr. Judah Benjamin ; that Mr.
Tombs will be induced in the enlivening sunshine
of the event to think better of Southern finances ;
that "the London Times will plunge into the
wildest raptures of rhetoric ;" that " Lord Palmer.
ston, spirited old rake that he is, will straighten
himself up and talk more jauntily and impudently
than ever ;" that " the shipwrights of Glasgow and
Birkenhead will be emboldened to lay the keels
of another couple of monstrous ironclads, to be
named respectively the Vallandigham and the Cop-
perhead;" and that "M. Michel Chevalier will be
inspired to write another pamphlet setting forth the
expediency and grandeur of recognising the South."
From these excerpts it will be seen that General
Meagher's longer residence in America has not de-
prived his phraseology of its native characteristics ;
that the fun of Donnybrook Fair, the persuasive-
ness of Blarney Castle, and the style of the Four
Courts, still linger in his words, and lend to his pen
those peculiar graces that flourish so luxuriantly in
the Green Isle, and that not even transplantation
to another hemisphere can deaden or eradicate. The
General has been rather shabbily used by the Fede-
ral Government. His brigade was reduced by the
casualties of war, by death, sickness, desertion, and
disgust, to less than the number of a regiment; and
he was not allowed to replenish its attenuated
ranks, and march, as he wished to do, to new fields
of glory, with " the green flag fluttering o'er him,"
in loving companionship with the stars and stripes.
But he has not been discouraged, and if, after his
letter to the people of Ohio, he be not again ap-
pointed to a command, Mr. Lincoln will be as un-
grateful as ail Princes are supposed to he, and as he,
having more than the power and authority of a
Prince, ought certainly to be, if he would duly
qualify himself to take his proper moral rank
among the despots of the world.
Want of sympathy with the effort of the Federal
Republicans to overrun the South with fire and
sword, and with a policy of emancipation that
would only free the slave in order to expatriate him,
has long been considered so flagrant an offence on
the part of the British people and their rulers as
almost sufficient to justify a declaration of war. But
weary of declaiming against Englishmen in the ag-
gregate, the Abolitionist fanatics who think the
Union of all the States preferable to liberty and the
law in any of them, have taken to abusing English-
men and English institutions in detail. The clergy
of the Church of England, as a rule, sympathise
with the South. For this reason, the Church of
England is a wicked institution, and ought to be
abolished. The titled aristocracy of England consider
that Mr. Jefferson Davis has as good a case against
the North as Gee. Washington had against George
111. ; therefore the aristocracy of England ought no
longer to be suffered to exist. The commercial classes
rejoice at the prospect of Southern independence,
for commercial, not for sentimental reasons; and
therefore these classes are base and sordid, and ought
in due time to be made to suffer for their heresy by
feeling the full weight of a war that shall sweep
their commerce from the seas. Any one who does
not side with the North is "no gentleman." And
as for the poets, novelists, essayists, and historians
of England, they have not the slightest spark of
manly feeling in their bosoms, not because they
exalt the cause of the South, but because they have
not a word to say in favour of the North. "We have
yet," says a New York Abolition journal of Satur-
day last, "to encounter among the idealists of
England the first great, generous, far-reaching
phrase, respecting the nature, aim, and result of our
mighty contest. Dickens has not a word of cheer,
nor Thackeray, nor Tennyson, nor Bulwer, nor
the lesser lights." A Bostonian Abolitionist is
equally scandalised at the apathy of British men
of letters. " Let us not," he says, " reprint the
works of or even make quotations from the pages
of these English enemies. There is no good time
cdoematihngstirnugthgilse ci,ountry for the poets and novelists
who have no symlptatnheyvertoseeemxsprteossstfroikreussucinh
cri-
tics tics as tehneusseethwa.hti, ahfter all, there may be something
irnntghleiehman,
withc
ghtfrtokerls sympathy, and that an
prefer the strai a his dislike of slavery, may
the h
with Southernkindness, planter, who treats
the negroes
enforced labour, to yppohc!itical Northern Abo-
litionist, who has made u
is over that every black shall
smind when the war
man be extruded from
the country, or hunted down as remorselessly as the
Red Indians. They do not see, too, that the sturdy
Englishman, whenever he is witness of a fight be-
tween a big man and a little one, always takes the
little one's part. The heathen philosopher declared
that a brave man struggling with adversity was a
spectacle that was pleasing to the gods. A gallant
nation fighting for its independence against tearful
odds, and never losing heart or hope in the darkest
day of its fortunes, desiring only to be left alone,
encouraging no dream of conquest or dominionover
others, and turning defeat itself with matchless skill
and courage in to a fulcrum of future victory, is, in
like manner, a spectacle that
the idealist, the poet,
and every generous-minded man, must look upon
with favour. That they should withhold their
sympathy because these brave men possess slaves is
simply impassible; for,
if the question of slave-
holding were to determine either in the past or the
present, the degree of favour with which the heroic
strugglese for independence
of individuals or a people
and their liberty were to be regarded, such havoc
would be
made e in the pages of history that there
would scarcely
be a great name left in the wide