The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-21 00:00:00

Poland.

Europe. I do not pretend to entertain any peculiar views re-
specting the causes which may have given rise to the great
events now transpiring in Poland. But I have an enduring
reliance upon the general beneficence of that Providence
from whom all these great events must spring, and looking
at the inscrutable manner in which Providence effects its

purposes, bringing good out of evil—dreadful as the view is
which we now have of the state of things in Poland, and of
this horrible war in which both parties destroy, and both
are believed to massacre—whatever may be the miseries now
inflicted upon Poland—l will endeavour to hope that this is
the commencement of a brighter era, and that even we may

live to see that which has been the object of all statesmen

for the last 80 years—the re-establishment, if not in its in-

tegrity, at least in strength, under a constitutional Govern-
ment, of the noble nation of the Poles. (Loud cheers.)

Earl RUSSELL—In answer to the noble earl I shall con-
fine myself as far as possible to the facts of the case as far
as they are known to me, and shall abstain as much as pos-
sible, with the exception of one part of the observations
which he has made from the expression of opinions respect-
ing what is now going on in Poland. In the first place I will
say that I cannot consistently with my duty give the report
from our Consul at Warsaw, because I consider that while
these events are transpiring the production of these reports
would make the position of the Consul one of extreme diffi-
culty, and would render it almost impossible for him to give
information and t i describe the course of things in Poland
without encountering violent opposition from one or other
of the parties. (Hear, hear.) With regard to the present
outbreak I must say I do not think it was so sudden and so
unexpected an event as the noble earl seems to suppose—at
least to those who were in the habit of receiving accounts of
what was going on in Poland. Your lordships will recollect
that last year there were in Warsaw great demonstrations,
the churches being filled at times with men and women sing-
ing patriotic hymns, these demonstrations, however, b&ng
unaccompanied by any breach of the peace. But it was im-
possible that they could have continued for a long time.
They must either have produced, on the part of the Govern-
ment and the Emperor of Russia, an inclination to accede
to the wishes of the Poles at Warsaw, or they must have
led to violent measures from those who took part in these
demonstrations. Now, in considering the affairs of Poland,
we may divide the population of the country into three
different classes. One portion, consisting of the landed
aristocracy, the great owners of the soil, many of them en-
lightened men, engaged in the cultivation and improvement
of their estates and in improving the condition of the people
living on those estates, were but little disposed to favour
any act of revolution. Another portion of the people of
Poland consists of the middle classes in the towns, bath
those belonging to the upper part of the middle classes and
the shopkeepers and others who belong to the lower part of
the middle classes. The other portion of the population of
Poland consists of the peasantry. When the demonstrations
to which I have alluded ceased there was a great difference
in the course taken by these different classes of the popu-
lation. The great landowners were determined, if possible,
to bring their grievances to the foot of the throne, but they
were determined at the same time not to break out into any
act of violence, and not to use force for the accomplishment
of their objects. Those objects were, according to my in-
formation, the right of constitutional Government, the right
to have representatives, and to have a Polish Administra-
tion, or an enlightened Administration, consisting chiefly
of Poles, favourable to the religion of their country and to
the study of the language of their country. With regard
to the last of these objects they were in agreement with the
intentions of the Emperor. Heretofore in the history of
Poland it has been the object of the Russian Government
to root out the language of the country and to deter the
Poles from the exercise of the Roman Catholic religion.
The present Emperor, on the contrary, was understood to
favour the national development of Poland, and his
wishes and views with regard to the Government of
Poland were described as to a great extent most en •
lightened. These persons, then, belonging to the landed
aristocracy of Poland, met together, and in con-
formity, as they believed, with the wishes of the Emperor
and the Grand Duke Constantine, they prepared an address
in which they, in the first place, stated their wish that Po-
and should be enlarged by the addition of certain provinces

now under the Russian rule, which, since the first partition
in 1772, had been separated altogether from Poland ; and

in the second place they asked for constitutional Govern -
meat. Their wishes in these respects were not different
from those entertained by Alexander I. of Russia, and were

not inconsistent with the general provisions of the treaty of