The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-28 00:00:00

to negotiations for the purpose of re-establishing peace be-
tween the contending parties by some lasting arrangements,
sad it appears from Count Sebastiani's despatch that a pro-
Fosition to this effect has already been made to Russia by
rance, but hitherto without success. Can it, then, he expe-
dient to make a proposal which there is no ground to hope
would be accepted ? The effects and bearing of the contest
upon the security of other States have not hitherto been such
as to warrant measures of such a description; nor has the
conduct of Russia towards England been calculated to ex-
cite any unfriendly feeling ; she has, on the contrary, per-
formed towards this country all the offices of a good and
faithful ally, and, in the late difficult negotiations for the
purpose of effecting a settlement between Belgium and Hol-
land, she has acted with perfect fairnessin her co-operation
with the other four Powers. Under these circumstances,
his Majesty, deeply lamenting the calamities of a disastrous
and desolating contest, does not think the time has yet ar-
rived when he could be justified in adopting a proceeding
which, however conciliatory in form, could not fail to alarm
an independent Power, naturally jealous of its right, For
these reasons his Majesty feels himself under the necessity
of declining the proposal which the Prince de Talleyrand
has been instructed to convey."
The noble viscount spoke of the "rights" of Russia; but
the fact was Russia had long before lost any rights she pos-
sessed in Poland by her violation of her engagements. (Hear,
hear.) He did not presume to offer any opinion on the des-
patch of the noble viscount in 1831. He simply drew the at-
tention of the house to the possibility of a similar despatch
being written in 1863, and of the noble viscount again be-
coming the arbiter of the fate of Poland. Under these
circumstances he put it to the house whether they ought
not to press the Government to say what they were
going to do? (Hear, hear.) He held that if treaty ob-
ligations to which England was a party existed in regard
to Poland, then this was so far an English question. There
Were many other considerations which led to the same con-
clusion, but he would not go into these now. He did not
pretend to state the whole of the great Polish cause. He
was only, as it were, opening the diggings which he had no
doubt other hon. members would work more fully. He
would merely say a word or two on the practical aspect of
the question. It was significant that other Powers were no
longer indifferent to Poland. In France, for instance, there
was a diversity of opinion among public men on almost every
question save one, and that was Poland. On that subject
every man, woman, and child in France, from the Emperor
downwards, was unanimous in expressing sympathy for
Poland. He would not venture to predict what would be
the policy of France in regard to this matter, but there
could be no doubt that it would depend on that of England.
(Hear.) For a long time past men had been in the habit
of asking what would the Emperor do, but the question
now was, what would England do ? (Hear, hear.) He
believed he could say with truth that the feeling of this
country was as unanimous and as friendly to Poland as
that of France. (Cheers.) And what had been the con-
duct of Austria in this matter? She had complied with
the Treaty of Vienna, as far as Galicia was concerned, and
within the last few weeks the attitude she had assumed had
received the well-merited commendation of the highest
authorities in the other house. (Hear, hear.) It was the
traditional policy of Austria to be friendly to Poland,
True, she was a party to the great:crime of the partition ,
but when the Empress signed the deed she added these
memorable words to it :

" Placeat, because so many great and learned men will
have it so ; but long after I am dead and gone people will
see what will happen, breaking through everything holy
and just. MAEIA. THEREFA."
Again, during the insurrection of 1831 the Emperor Francis,
then on his death-bed, sent the following message through
Count Kolovratz, to the Envoy of the Polish Provisional
Government

" The Emperor feels that the time is drawing near when
he shall have to appear before the great Judge; the posses-
sion of Galicia weighs on his conscience as a crime, and he
would be ready to restore the province to Poland, provided
it were not annexed to Russia."

He would, therefore, urge the present Emperor of Austria
to maintain the attitude he had assumed, for it was not only
in accordance with the public opinion of Europe, but was
consistent with the traditions of his own house. (Hear,
hear.) There wax another Power in Europe—some spoke
of it as a weak Power, but it was not so—which could ex-
ercise great influence on this subject. He meant the. Su-
blime Porte. The present Sultan was a man of determina-
tion and ability, and he could tell the house, what the noble
lord at the head of the Government probably knew, that of
all the Powers in Europe none would be more anxious at
this great crisis to assist Poland than the Sublime Porte.
There were many reasons why the influence of Turkey
upon Russia would not be without its effect, The policy
of England was a policy to vindicate her own public faith
and solemn engagements ; the policy of the Turks would
be a policy to save themselves and preserve the integrity of
their empire. Again, in the North of Europe, there were
Powers whieh had ever been and were at this moment
friendly to Poland. On the other hand stood Russia her-
self and the Government of Prussia. To a certain extent
Prussia had fulfilled the obligations of the Treaty
of Vienna. Nevertheless she was on the very edge of a
precipice, and it was to be hoped the King would not per-
sist in that policy with respect to Poland which he seemed
to have adopted. He had seen with pleasure in the morn-
ing papers that the Prussian Ministers had announced that
the Convention concluded with Russia had been'misunder-
stood and its purport exaggerated. He could not be-
lieve that Prussia had gone so far as the house had
been led to suppose on a former occasion. She might
have committed a fault—a fault which might, perhaps,
be repaired—but he hoped they would hear from the
Government some satisfactory statement as to the actual
attitude taken by Prussia. (Hear, hear.) What were the
sentiments of the people of Russia themselves ? Even in
Russia we saw a ray of hope. Among the people of Russia
there was a strong opinion in favour of Poland. The Rus-
sian Government was not a Government which sprangfrom
the people or had any direct communication with the
people ; on the contrary, it had many of the characteristics
of a foreign Government. Whereas, then, the Russian Go-
vernment was no doubt resolved, if it could, to crush the
Poles, the people of Russia were not at all of that opinion.
He would not weary the house by reading passages from
the Russian newspapers. It was enough to mention that a
journal printed in St. Petersburg recently published an
argument in favour of an independent Poland, and urged
the Government to act upon that view. That paper had
since been suppressed, but the fact that it ventured when in
existence to publish such an article was very significant•
(Hear, hear.) But his chief dependence was on Poland her-
self. He believed she was able, if we would only show her
our sympathy, to restore her independence. (Hear, hear.)
He did not ask for intervention; he did not wish that a
single foreign soldier should be sent to Poland. One Queen's
messenger despatched from the Foreign-office to Paris,
Vienna, or Constantinople would be worth 100,000 foreign
bayonets to the Poles. It was not armaments they wanted,
but if the Powers of Europe, parties to the treaty of Vienna,
and the sublime Porte, chose to act, then the fate of Poland
was secure. (Hear, hear.) The house to-night presented
a very different appearance from that which it exhibited
when he called attention to the state of Poland on former
occasions. He believed the reason was that a great change
had taken place both in the opinion of the country and in
the tone of the house. Wby should there be such a change ?
It was because a long absent visitor had returned. Many
years, indeed, had passed since

"dope for aseason bade the world farewell ;"

a long season and a sad season for Poland, but he believed
it was passed. Hope had returned, and he was anxious to
welcome her to that house, and to mark her presence there
to-night by moving this address to the Crown. The hon.
and learned gentleman concluded, amid loud and general
cheering, by moving an address humbly to represent to her
Majesty "That certain treaty obligations have been in-
curred by England and other Powers with Russia in respect
to Poland ; that these treaty obligations have not been ful-
filled by Russia; that for years past the Poles have borne
with exemplary patience this deliberate violation of their
national rights ; that while their endurance has attracted
the admiration of Europe it seems to have aroused the worst
passions of the Russian authorities; that the patriotic self-
restraint of the unanimous people of Poland has at length
given way under an accumulation of outrages unparalleled
in these times ; that the Kingdom of Poland is now the
scone of a desolating conflict between the troops of Russia
and the people thus driven to desperation; and humbly to
submit to her Majesty that these facts demand the inter-
position of England in vindication of her own public faith
and solemn engagement."
Sir DE L. EVANS seconded the motion.
Mr. NEWDEGATE was unwilling to urge the noble
lord at the head of the Government to interfere on behalf
of Poland beyond what his sense of discretion would justify.
The eonduct and language of the noble lord were a suffi-
cient guarantee to the people of England that his efforts
would not be wanting to mitigate the evils by which Po-
land was oppressed. He had never stood aloof from any
movement in any part of the world ; but he doubted and
feared whether, if the Poles succeeded, they would not find
that they had substituted one tyranny for another, because
he
tdoubtsd whether the condition of that country was such
as
to vethat the people were qualified for freedom. The
Emperor Alexander the First had attempted to carry out
the dictates of the treaty of 1815, which established consti-
tutional freedom in portions of ; but he had been
immediately met by a no
stirring up dissension
and
strife, the
afJesuith.agency,
establishi,ar
theopsrtoaoto
of things
which was,
which
England in anticipation of
thwin
England desired, he had been forced to expel theg Jesuits
from the country. This happy state of things lasted until
1820, when the mischiefs. which had been fomented broke
out. Russia had a right to plead that she had been forced
to crush the freedom she had created. (Cries of "Oh.")
Let not the houso be deceived. There were agencies at work
in Poland which were not in favour of true freedom. With
whom had the Emperor remonstrated ? With Rome, and
Rome had refused all aid to the pacification of Poland. He
had only risen to protest against th
e house being deceived,
and to object against any hasty action in the case of Poland,
which by hurrying the Government into that which might
become a most serious complication, was not likely to ad-
vance in Poland the cause of true freedom.
Mr. BUXTON said that every one who took an interest
in the welfare of Poland would feel obliged to the he n.
member opposite (Mr. Hennessy) for bringing the question
forward. He had heard with pleasure that part of his
speech in which he had stated that he did not mean to
advocate intervention by war, but only by diplomatic
means. Every man of sense and humanity in the coun-
try would deprecate war in behalf of Poland ; but there
seemed strong ground why our Govarnment should