The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-12 00:00:00

seen into an abounding river, While the diplomacy
of the great Powers is fumbling at its eternal Pe-
nelope's web, and playing at " points" which have
the double merit of being unacceptable and im-
practicable on both sides, testifying neither comha-
aant, and settling nothing, General Mouravieff i 8
supplying the fullest and completest interpretation
or Prince Gortschakoff's polite despatches bye suc-
cession of edicts, of which the deliberate and calea-
rating ferocity would search in vain for a parallel in
all the records of barbarous warfare. The
Scourgers of Mankind,
,who have in old times laid
waste the finest portions of the earth, swept nations
into outer darkness, and put whole peoples to
Leath, were humane asd merciful conquerors com-
pared with this practical modern commentator upon
the good intention of a Russian Emperor, who con-
fiscates the estates of all Polish patriots who will
not present themselves to be hanged, and murders
tee resident proprietors as suspects" in batches,
on the testimony of loyal informers, who are paid
in Bind. The attention of civilised Europe will do
well to fix itself upon General Mouravieff's method
of pacifying Poland and preparing it for an ally
nesty. The day on which the latest collective
but not joint, and similar but not identical notes
are communicated by the respective ambassadors
to the Vice-Chancellor of the Empire, and
the reception accorded to each, with the
rejoinders to follow, is an interesting topic
fur the serious conversation of Foreign-office
clerks in their vacation rambles. But for the great
public of France and England, who know nothing
of diplomacy but its impotent results, the question
is becoming one of mere humanity, like the.
" customs" of Dahomey. No one beyond official
circles and probably no one within them, can ever
have imagined that any help for Poland was to corn!,
from the joint or collective or separate action ot
France, Austria, and England—three Powers be-
tween whom there is nothing in common save the
conviction that nothing can be done, and the desire
.to appear to be doing something for Poland. The
radical incompatibilities of the three Powers the
moment they quit the safe ground of generalities
are only too obvious. One of them alone, and that
is England, can be perfectly disinterested in the
desire of peace, as it is only England who could go
to war on such a question without a motive of ambi-
tion or a fear of loss. England means peace,
because she knows that no good for Polish or any
nationality can come out of a French war ; and
because she knows that the Poles themselves or at
least the most intelligent of their leaders desire no
armed intervention of the Powers. What Poland
demands of free England, and what free England
should be the first to demand on behalf of Poland of
the Powers that signed the Treaty of Vienna is o
formal and emphatic repudiation of the treaty rights
which the Russian Government had so flagrantlY,
broken ; so that not a shadow of factitious " law
may continue to mask the hideous wrong which the
gibbet, the cord, the bayonet, and the axe are main'
taining in Poland. What Poland has a right to
look for from England is the most solelnn national
expression'of disapproval of the proceedings of Gen;
Mouravieff. The form which such an expression 0"
disapproval, or such an act of sympathy, should
take would be nothing more or less than the recog-
nition by the British Government of the Poles se
belligerents. Let the other Powers join with Enli
land in this recognition, and the consequence won'. not be a diplomatic settlement of the Polish ques-
tion, but something more immediate and urgent-4
restraint upon the infamous of executing prisoner's
of war.