The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-11 00:00:00

THE .POLISH INSURRECTION.

(From the Special Correspondent of the limes.)
WARSAW, Nov. 4.
The Russians have lately gained various advan-
tr gee, more or less important, over the National
Government. For several months after the begin-
ning of the insurrection the National Government
was obeyed on some points, the Russian Government
on others; but the two did not come into collision
so much as was generally supposed. The National
taxes were, to be su'ce, paid up with great regularity,
while the Russian taxes were not paid at all; and
thus the Russiez Government was set doubly at de-
fiance, for its s objects in the Kingdom of Poland not
only left and ane what it ordered them to do, but also
did precisely what it ordered them not to do. How-

ever, the Russian Government managed to get its
taxes in when it at last proceeded to distrain for
them, and, the mere threat of execution suffices now
to screw money out of the Warsaw householders. I
believe the first direct trial of strength betw-3eu the
two rival powers in Poland took place some three
months ago; when the National Government com-
manded all persons employed on the Wareaw Rail-
-way to quit their occupations, they were afraid t,)
obey the order, and remained. A second challenge

was offered to the Russian Government at the be-

ginning of September, when all writers, compositors,
and printers engaged on the Official Journal were
called upon to abandon their posts, on or before the
Ist of October, so as to render the
Government
existenceaollvei
troosnaufsmrs the
-let
paper after that date impossible. TheOfficiaa.
still appears, though it has lost nearly
scribers, and leads a miserable life in
bureaux, and in such places of public resort
chiefly frequented by Russian officers:
The Russians, finding that the. Nationalin Poland,
that Govern.
ment was, after all, not omnipotent
and having already received proof at taxes would
be paid everywhere if they were only sufficiently
pressed for, determined now in its turn to attack
the National Government, and in the very centre of
the secret organisation called for the immediate
payment of an 8 per cent. tax, levied with the
openly avowed object of providing fresh funds for
the suppression of the insurrection. The National
Government, as had been expected, forbade payment
of the tax under the severest penalties. It publishes
the names of the first house proprietors who, never-
theless, did pay, and summoned them before one
of the revolutionary tribunals to answer for their
offence. In spite of these precautions and warnings,
however, the war contribution has been paid by the
great majority of the 3,000 house proprietors of
Warsaw, the only class from which it was required ;
and it seems to be the general opinion that if a
few days' grace be given there will be no defaulters
except those who are absolutely unable to pay.
The chief arguments among the Poles for paying
and for n of paying this tax were, on the one hand,
that if it were not forthcoming at the appointed
time, tho Russian Government would, according to
its proi.ilaimed intention, levy, not for 8 but 12 per
cent., by which the taxpayers and, indirectly, the
NatiOnal Government also, would lose, and the Rus-
sian Government alone gain. On the other hand, it
Was maintained that the citizens of Warsaw should
not, while their fellow countrymen were exposing
their lives in the field, supply the Russian Govern-
merit with means for suppressing the insurrection,
'Tho anomaly pointed out by those who maintained
the latter argument was just what the Russians
wished to render as evident as possible.
In Litlinaui it forces proprietors to sign ad-
gdresses disavo w ruing the insurrection ; in the Kin-

dom of Poland it Qompels one portion of the popu-
lation to pay a special tax for making war upon
another p,irtion. There is not less unanimity than
there was before among the educated and all but the
utterly uneducated classes of Poland ; but the Rus-
siaui are now determined to resort to all possible

measures for bringing the present state of things to
an end. They cannot, in spite of innumerable arrests,
discover the directing members of the National Go-
vernment, but, by inventing new, curious, and,
from their point of view, appropriate meaeures,
they can prove that it is powerless when brought
into direct and open collision with the Russian Go-
vernment ; and they can so drain the country of
money and resources that for the National Govern-
ment there will soon be nothing left.
Of the officers and agents of the National Govern-
ment several have fallen into the hands of the Rus-
sians and hive been hanged. Others are now under
arrest, and their fate probably depends less upon
'what can be proved against them than upon the ne•
cessity that may be thought to exist for making
fresh reprisals for acts of violence and bloodshed
committed in the streets of Warsaw. It was gene-
rally reported the other day that a young lady who
had been proved to have taken a most active part
in circulating newspapers, addresses, and official
correspondence for the National Government, was
about to be beheaded, but it is said now that the
sentence has been commuted into exile to Siberia,

and it may be hoped that the atrocious intention

generally attributed to the Government in respect
to this unhappy young girl was never seriously en-

tertained.

In the meanwhile, however, young ladies are
continually being arrested. Fifty, for the most
part girls of from 17 to 19 years of age—some of
them even younger—were taken one night last
week, and are now shut up in prison. Old and
young, men and women, are all treated alike
in the matter of arrest, and are invariably
seized in the middle of the night. These
nocturnal visits may cause some unnecessary alarm,
but it is not the Russians who feel it ; and, on the
other hand, the scandal that would be caused by
tale
thei streets
number of innocent young girls through
is
wizets in the daytime in the custody of soldiers
int ar:7l.• From 10 at night till 4 the next morn-
not beatns4Bussian official hours for deeds that will
lati t• ei light of day. Though 9is the irae fee
regn-
voured with it getting home, a few stragglers fa-
be seen he
atlermits" for stopping out later may
do not save 70ufthere until 10. These "permits"
the nearest Post
by being arrested and marched to
read, nor from I:: patrol of soldiers unable to
not keep sufficientlyg, knocked down if you do
who, however, is not oZillarge in passing a sentinel,
to know that you do
not mean to assassinate i!,1"4
But after making all
fair allowances the facts:ell
not safeguards, and aecordin maces that " permits" are
one who has not
besides the " permit" the far ig 174"
stays
out
substantial pro-
tection of a private carriage
after 9, or 10
at the very latest. Then the erreatZ
one bears the next day from the friends of which
tions of those taken. Then, too, beg"'lds and rela-
the march-
ing off into exile, of which, Perhspsine
' °De does
hear at all, though it may be reported 133 t
d such persons et e
'lread ew days
afterwards that such an
y
on their way Siberia.
Towards 9 o'clock at night a ring at the 13,a,
will
produce in a private house a
visitor, and oel
at Warsaw a most.' arm.
ing effect. It is too late for Y
little early for the police. No one is safe, and it
is easy to see that every one feels the dan.
ger, though without shrinking from it. Thou-
sands of men and women—some of them almost
children—are not only in continual danger of being
er-
arrested, for lately some of the most unlikely P
sons in all Poland to take part in a conspiracy have
been seized, but are daily exposing their lives by the
hazardous duties they undertake in the service of
their country. One would think it sufficient for
the Russians to confine their pursuit to the men.
This would give them more occupation than enough
for many a long month to come, and they surely

cannot pretend that if they once defeated the con-
spiracy of men, the women of Poland alone could
keep up the insurrection. But as long as they make
their blows felt it is all the same to them where and
Nvh°nlthey strike. They are not afraid of disgrac-
ing themselves ; all they fear is the continuance of
the insurrection throughout the winter. They utter
an obvious truth when they state that every other
Government would endeavour to put down an in-
surrection in its provinces ; but they deceive them-
selves grossly if they really believe for a moment
that any civilised Government would resort to such
means as Russia is now employing against Poles of
bosh sexes and of every class, condition, and age.
The Russians arrest their victims in the dead of
• 'hi., on the denunciation of spies; question and
,e' them before secret tribunals; and do not
convict
even nubiish htences, unless the sentence be
the se