The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-06 00:00:00

RUSSIA AND POLAND.

The following is a translation of the Russian re-
ply to the English Note on the state of Poland :
" St. Petersburg, April 14, 1863.
" M le Baron,—On the morning of the sth (17th)
of April Lord Napier delivered to me a copy, here.
with enclosed, of a despatch from her Britannic
Majesty's Principal Secretary of State relative to
the present situation of the kingdom of Poland.
" The first part of this document is devoted to a
retrospective examination of the question of right.
The second expresses the wish that peace may be
restored to the kingdom of Poland, and established
on a lasting basis. I will reply to these two points
of Lord Russell's despatch.
" As regards the question of right her Britannic
Majesty's Principal Secretary of State reproduces
the arguments already recorded in his despatch of
the 2d March. I can, therefore, refer to the obser-
vations which I then made to the Ambassador of
England.
"The Government of her Britannic Majesty takes
a position on ground where the Imperial Cabinet
will never hesitate to meet it—that of treaties.

"Nevertheless, it is here a question less of the text
than of the interpretation of treaties. We have the
right not to admit without reservation every inter-
pretation which it might be wished to give them.
" Lord Russell says in his despatch that, by Art.
1 of the General Act signed at Vienna, the 28th of
May (9th of June), 1815, ' the Duchy of Warsaw
was erected into a kingdom of Poland, to be insepa-
rably attached to the Emperor of Russia under cer-
tain conditions.'

"Now, this is what the Act of Congress of Vienna
stipulates in respect to those conditions :
" Poles,subjects of Russia,Austria, and Prussia respec-
tively, shall enjoy representation and shall obtain national
institutions to be determined in conformity with the politi-
cal existence which each of the Governments to which they
belong shall consider it useful and expedient to grant to
them.'

" The Emperor Alexander I, developed these prin.
ciples in accordance with his personal views. He
granted to Poland the Constitution of the 12th (24th)
of December, 1815. It was a spontaneous act of his
sovereign will, and it did not constitute an irre-
vocable engagement towards foreign Powers, inas-
much as the Act of the Constitution, posterior to the
Treaty of Vienna, was not even communicated to
them.

" Lord Russell contests the principle according to
which the revolt of Poland in 1830, having resulted
in the declaration of the forfeiture of the sovereign
dynesty, should be held to annul the bases of politi-
cal existence granted in virtue of the Act of Vienna.
" Although history has more than once confirmed
this conclusion of natural right, theory may afford
matter for controversy. We think it may bs laid
down that if the revolt does not invalidate the na-
tional engagements, it any rate annuls the sponta-
neous development of them which had been gene-
rously added, and which have led to fatal results to
Poland and to Russia.

her
Br‘i'taßnuntictuhea
jePatryingciipvaeel
to
oecthree argument
of
State
a prom:-f
r eat place in his despatch, while I had only inc:-
dentally put it forward in the course of my conver-
sation with Lord Napier.
" The English Ambassador alludes to it in the
following terms in the despatch which he had the
goodness to communicate to me :
it Prince Gortschakoff also said to me that, desiring to
treat this question in a spirit of conciliation and humanity,
he had abstained from employing an argument which lay at
his disposal—that of the right of conquest..
vorce7cr, everything has been eaid on both

The design of our august master is to arrive at
a practical solution, We assume that such is
also the desire of the Government of her Britannic
Majesty. Since its aim is to see assured to the
kingdom of Poland the repose and welfare which
are the objects of the solicitude of his Majesty the
Emperor, it appears to us difficult not to arrive at
an understanding.

"The difference in our points of view lies in the
fact that the English Government appears to be-
lieve that the Constitution of 1815 is the sole panacea
calculated to calm the present agitation of Poland.

" But the English Government and nation, whose
practical good sense has founded the greatness of
England, can hardly assert that there is only one
form of government possible for all peoples, what-
ever map be their history and development. Before
arriving at the political maturity of which England
offers the example, there are many degrees to pass
through, and each nation must proceed in this path
according to its own instincts. It is just and na-
tural that a Sovereign, animated by the most bene-
volent intentions, should calculate the bearing and
extension of institutions i.estined to place his sub-
jects in the most favourable conditions of existence.
" The idea of our august master has been shown
ever since his accession to the throne, and cannot
be ignored by any one in Europe.
"His Majesty has resolutely entered upon the
path of reform. Relying upon the trust and devo-
tion of his people, he has undertaken and accom-
plished in a few years a social transformation which
other States have only been able to realise after a
long lapse of time and many efforts. His solicitude
has not ceased there. A system of gradual develop-
ment has been applied to all the branches of the
public service, and to existing institutions. It opens
to Russia the prospect of a regular progress. The
Emperor perseveres in it without precipitation or
impulse (entrainment), taking into account the
elements which it is the work of time to prepare
and mature, but without ever deviating from the
line he has traced for himself.

" This measure has conciliated to him the grati-
tude and affection of his subjects. We think it
gives him a title to the sympathies of Europe.
"The same designs have not ceased to influence
his Majesty since his solicitude has been brought to
bear upon the kingdom of Poland.

" We shall not enter here into an enumeration of
the national institutions, for the most part elective,
with which this country has been endowed.

" They do not appear to have been sufficiently un-
derstood in Europe, either on account of remoteness,
or, rather, because chimerical passions and the inte-
rested labour of a hostile party have stood in the
way of an equitable and impartial judgment.
"The system inaugurated by our august master
contains a germ which time and experience must
develope. It is destined to lead to an administra-
tive autonomy on the basis of the provincial and
municipal institutions which in England have been
the starting point and the foundation of the great-
ness and prosperity of the country. But in the ex-
ecution of this idea the Emperor has encountered
obstacles, which are found principally in the agita-
tions of the party of disorder.
"This party has understood that if it allowed the
peaceable majority of the kingdom to enter upon this
path of regular progress, there would he an end to
their aspirations. Their intrigues have not allowed
the new institutions to be carried into effect. It
has been impassible to show how they work, or how
far they respond to the real necessities and to the
degree of maturity of the country.
" It is only when this experiment shall have been
made that it will be possible to pass a judgment
upon this work, and to complete it.

" The manifesto of the 31st March indicates the
wishes of our august master in this matter.
" By the side of an act of clemency, to which it
has been possible to give a large extension since the
dispersion of the most important armed bands, the
Emperor has maintained in force the institutions
already granted, and has declared that he reserved to
himself the power of giving to them the develop-
ments indicated by time and the requirements of
the country.

"His Mijesty can, then, refer to the past in the
rectitude of his conscience ; as to the future, it neces-
sarily depends on the confidence with which these
institutions will be met in the kingdom.

"In taking a stand upon this ground our august,
master considers that he acts as the best friend of
Poland, as the only
welfare by practical means.
one whose aim it is to secure her

" Lord Russell calls upon Russia to discharge
those duties which, as a member of European
society, she owes to foreign States.
"Russia is too directly interested in the tran-
quillity of Poland not to understand the duties of
her position towards other nations.
It would be difficult to assert that she has met,
in this respect, with scrupulous reciprocity. The
continual conspiracy which is being organized and
armed abroad to keep up disorder in the kingdom
is a fact of public notoriety, the inconvenience of
which principally consists in the moral effects which
the favourers of the insurrection deduce from it, in
order to lead astray the peaceable population, by
pining credit for the belief in direct assistance
from abroad.

ci In this manner we have seen produced two in-
fluences, both equally grievous—that exercised by
foreign agitation on the insurrection, and that
which the continuation of the insurrection itself
exercises, in its turn, upon public opinion in Europe.
"These two influences react one upon the other,
and have ended by bringing affairs to the situation
which the Powers at present point out to the vigi-
lance of the Imperial Cabinet.
"It is asked of it to restore the kingdom to the
conditions of a lasting peace.

" The Powers are inspired with this desire by the
conviction that the periodical troubles of Poland
cause to the States placed in the immediate vicinity
of its frontiers a shock, the reaction of which is felt
by the whole of Europe, that they excite the minds
of the people in a disquieting manner, and that they
might, if prolonged, bring about, under certain
circumstances, complications of the most serious
nature.

"The Government of her Britannic Majesty, in
expressing this desire, further relies upon the en-
gagements of 1815 which affect the condition of the
different parts of Poland. We do not hesitate to
declare that these wishes are entirely in accordance
with those of our august master.

" His Majesty admits that, in the peculiar position
of the kingdom, the troubles which agitate it may
affect the tranquillity of the adjoining States, be-
tween which were concluded on April 21—May 3,
1815, separate treaties intended to determine the
condition of the Duchy of Warsaw, and that they
interest the Powers who signed the general tranr-
aetio
the
nof MaylB—June 9, 1815, in which were
inserted principal stipulations of these separate
treaties.

" The Emperor believes that explanations on the
basis and in the spirit of the communications which
have just been addressed to ues may conduce to a
result conformable to the general interests.
" Our august master notices with satisfaction the
sentiments of confidence which the Government of
her Britannic Majesty testify towards him in rely-
ing upon him to bring back the kingdom of Poland
to conditions which would render possible the rea-
lisation of his benevolent views.

" But the more the Emperor is disposed to take
into account the just prepossessions of the neigh-
bouring States, and the interest which the Powers
who signed the Treaty of 1815 show in a state of
things which is the cause of deep solicitude to his
Majesty himself, the more our august master con-
siders it a duty to request the serious attention,
urn lt,he true cfMtf_t Of this oituation; and upon the

" If the Government of her Britannic Majesty
lays stress upon (releve) the reaction which the
troubles of Poland exercise on the peace of Europe,
we must bo still more struck with the influence
which the agitations of Europe have in all times had
the power to exercise upon the tranquillity of Poland,
" Since 1815 this country has witnessed the de-
velopment of a material welfare unknown until then
in her annale, while other States have in the same
interval undergone many interior crises.
" This repose was only troubled in 1830 by the
consequences of commotions comipg from abroad ;
18 years later, in 1841, while almost the whole of
Europe was convulsed by the revolution, the king-
dom of Poland was able to preserve its tranquillity.
"We are persuaded that it would be the same at
present were it not for the continual instigations of
the party of cosmopolitan revolution. If this party,
everywhere devoted to the overthrow of order, at
present concentrates all its activity upon Poland, a
grave error would be committed in supposing that
its aspirations will stop short at that limit. What
it seeks there is a lever to overturn the rest of
Europe.
" Those Cabinets which attach importance to see-
ing the kingdom of Poland return a moment earlier
to the conditions of a durable peace cannot more
certainly ensure the realisation of this desire
than by labouring, on their side, to appease the
moral and material disorder which it is sought to
propagate in Europe, and thus to exhaust the main
source of the agitations at which their foresight is
alarmed.

" We entertain the firm hope that in strengthen-
ing in this respect the ties which bind them toge-
ther they will effectually serve the cause of peace
and of the general interests.
" I have the honour to request that you will corn-
municate a copy of this despatch to the Principal
Secretary of State of her Britannic Majesty.—
Receive, &c.,

" GORTSCIIAKOFF."

EARL RUSSELL TO LORD NAPIER.

"Foreign-office, May 2.

"My Lord—Baron Brunnow came to me this
morning, and, before giving me a copy of the de-
spatch of his Government in answer to mine to your
Excellency of the 10th of April, said to me in sub-
stance what follows :
" You have declared to me that the step which Lird
Napier was instructed to take was taken with a pacific in-
tention. The Imperial Cabinet has received your despatch
in a similar spirit of peace and of conciliation.
" ' You have told me that the representation you have
made is founded upon the basis of the stipulations of the
Treaty of Vienna of 1815.
" The Imperial Cabinet on its part accepts this basis.
" ' The Imperial Cabinet is ready to enter upon an ex-
change of ideas upon the ground and within the limits of
the Treaties of 1815.'

" I enclose a copy of the communication of Prince
Gortschakoff.

" I shall, in another and a later despatch, furnish
you with the views of her Majesty's Government
upon the contents of that communication.—l am,
Scc., "RUSSELL."

The Moniteur of yesterday publishes the text of
the Russian answer to the notes of the French and
English governments on the affairs of Poland pre-
ceded by the following remarks It is easy to
see in reading these documents that they pave the
way for conciliatory measures, and that a basis of
negotiation is to be found in them which may lead
to an understanding between the different courts
now seeking the means of protecting the legitimate
interests of Poland." Subjoined is a translation of
the reply to the French note :

PRINCE GORTSCIIAKOFF TO BARON DE BUDBER,

PARIS.

" St. Petersburg, April 14 (26).

" Monsieur le B Aron—On the morning of the sth
(17th) April the French ambassador communicated
to me a despatch from M. Drouyn de Lhuys respect-
ing the position of the kingdom of Poland. I for-
ward to your excellency a copy of this dispatch,
that I immediately brought under the notice of his
Majesty the Emperor. Our august master derived
the conviction from it that the views expressed in
the name of the Emperor Napoleon entirely har-
monise with those by whiJla he is animated. The
French government manifests sentiments respecting
the sad events of the kingdom of Poland which can-
not be foreign to any government with a regard for
humanity. It cannot for an instant doubt that this
state of things causes our august master the deepest
affliction, occasions him the utmost solicitude, and
fills him with an ardent desire to bring it to a con-
clusion. The French Government refers to the
effect of these agitations upon neighbouring
states, and the anxiety they give rise to in the
rest of Europe. Our august master recognises
the legitimate interest which the neighbouring
states, and those which have co-operated in regula-
ting the condition of Europe, must naturally feel
in all the complications which might have a ten-
dency to disturb it. But the interest Russia feels
in events which so closely concern her certainly is
not less profound, nor her desire to restore tranquil-
lity to the kingdom and security to Europe less
ardent or less sincere. The Government of the Em •
peror Napoleon manifests confidence in the liberal
dispositions of our august master, and is animated
by a sentiment of reserve, which his Majesty appre-
ciates, when it indicates, in conclusion, the oppor-
tuneness of devising some means of placing Poland
upon the conditions of a durable peace. Nothing
could coincide better with the desires of the Empe-
ror. But it is precisely upon the choice of means
which may lead to this result that it is desirable to
come to an understanding. The Foreign Minister
of France describes the extent of the evil, and the
impotency of the combinations hitherto devised for
reconciling Poland with the position accorded to
her. This is an additional reason for not recom-
mencing attempts which have been a source of mis-
fortune to Poland and Russia, a causa of trouble to
Europe, and which in all probability would only
lead to the same result. The evil the kingdom is
now suffering from is not an isolated fact. All Eu-
rope is affected by it. Revolutionary tendencies,
the scourge (fleau) of our times, concentrate them-
selves just now in this country, because they find
here enough combustible matter to inspire hopes of
making it the centre of a conflagration extending
all over the continent. The Governments whose
duty it is to remedy this evil cannot, therefore, be-
stow upon it too much attention, prudence, and care,
in order to discern the elements that ought to be set
aside as a common danger, and those which deve-
loped with perseverance and maturity may serve as
the basis of a durable future. Our august master
has devoted himself to this work, connected as it is
with that which ever since his accession to the
throne he has charged himself with the mission of
accomplishing, in order to introduce every part
of his kingdom into the paths of regular progress.
I have explained the views of our august master in
the accompanying despatch, that I have just acl•
i
dressed to his Majesty's ambassador in London, n
reply to a communication from the Government of
her. Brit3nnie Majesty similar to that from M
Drouyn de Lhuys. By the Emperor'sooprydeorfytohuisr
excellency is requested to forward a
document to the Foreign Minister of France. Ile
will see there what part the G -)ver nment of the
Emperor Napoleon may take in our opinion,in order
to hesten the realisation of the wishes he expresses
in the name of humanity and the permanent
tous
interests of Europe. He will assuredly recognise
that with the elements of cosmopolitan revolution
disseminated in nearly every country, and Becum, .
lating from every direction and on every spot afford-
ing a chance of disorder and commotion, the task of
restoring tranquillity and peace does not depend
upon the Efforts of a single Government, and that to
call upon us to extinguish a conflagration which is
fed by inexhaustible external sources would be to
confine the question in 4 circle without issue. The

value the French Government attaches to the
solution of that question, the solicitude it displays
for the general interests of Europe, the excellent
relations existing between us, the sentiment of con-
fidence in our august master of which the despatch
of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of France con-
tains the expression, induce us to hope that the
Emperor Napoleon, appreciating the question from
a lofty point of view, as well as the difficulties it
carries with it and the care it demands, will not
refuse the moral co•operation depending upon him
in order to facilitate for our august master the labour
traced out for him by the solicitude for the kingdom
of Poland, his duties towards Russia, and his inter
national relations with his neighbours and the great
powers of Europe. Pray express this hope to M.
Drouyn de Lhuys in remitting him a copy of this
despatch.

AMERICA.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)
(Per the City of Baltimore.)
NEW YORK, April 24, Morning.

Seven Federal gunboats, one ram, and three
transports have attempted to pass the Vicksburg
batteries. One transport was obliged to return,
another was burnt, and it is supposed that all on
board were lost. The remainder of the vessels
passed safely.

Eleven Federal gunboats, including three under
Admiral Farrel; ut, are now lielow Vicksburg. They
have destroyed the Confederate batteries at War-
renton, and are anchored off New Carthage, where
General Grant's headquarters are established, and
to which place a portion of General Grant's army
had proceeded overland.
The Southern journals think that the Federal
gunboats will attack Vicksburg from below and
from the opposite shore. But it is generally sup
posed that the gunboats will operate up the Red
River, and, in conjunction with General Banks, will
endeavour to force the evacuation of Vicksburg and
Port Hudson, by cutting off the supplies for those
strongholds.
The Southern journals have news of operations
in General Banks's department, stating that the
Confederate steamer Queen of the West has
grounded in the Grand Lake, and was blown up by
the Federal gunboats, her crew being captured.
The Confederate steamer Diana has also been
burnt in the Archafalaya River. _ .

A portion of the forces under General Banks was
beyond Franklin, Louisiana, on the river Teche.
The object of General Banks's expedition was to
capture Franklin, where all the Confederates below
the Red River are supposed to be posted, and a
victory at this place would open the way for an
advance of the Federals to the Red River.
There was another movement making up the
Yazoo River. Five Federal transports are reported
to have reached a point above Haine's Bluff.
The Confederates have burnt immense quantities
of cotton along the Sunflower River.
Federal gunboats have been operating success-
fully against the Confederate cavalry along the
banks of the Tennessee River.

General Rosencranz is reported to have been re-
inforced by a portion of General Grant's army, and
a battle in Tennessee is impending.

A Federal expedition has destroyed Celina, Ken-
tucky, with immense quantities of Confederate
stores.

The Confederates are moving in Missouri, and
threatening Pilot Knob.
The Federals are advancing from two directions
to meet them.
The Confederates have abandoned the siege of
Washington, North Carolina.
General Halleck has visited Suffolk, Virginia,
where the military situation remains unchanged.
The Confederates are reported to be removing the
obstructions in the James River at Fort Darling.
The Charleston Mercury asserts that the guns
from the steamer Keokuk have been recovered.
The mail bag of the Peterhof' has been delivered
unopened to the British consul, by order of the
district court. The trial of the case has been post-
poned. The action of the British Government in
the case of the steamer Alexandra has created a
generally favourable impression here, and has
allayed much irritation.
The British prize steamer Gertrude, captured off
Harbour Island by the Vanderbilt, has arrived at
New York. She was returning to Nassau, after an
ineffectual attempt to enter Charleston harbour.
The Alabama is reported to have chased two
vessels ashore in Turk's Island Passage on the 26th
March.

NEW YORK, APRIL 24.

The New York Times correspondent says that a
Federal division has made an expedition from Green-
ville, Mississippi, up Deer Creek, and during six
days destroyed property on various plantations
estimated at three million dollars, consisting of
cotton-mills, cotton-gins, and 700,000 bushels corn.
They likewise brought away immense quantities of
stores,.
The Florida captured the barque Lapwing, from
Boston for Batavia, on the 37th March, in lat. 31,
long. 32. The Florida put two guns and 18 men
on board the Lapwing. The Florida has also cap-
tured the barque Concord of New York.
NEW YORK, APRIL 25, MORNING.
General Foster has returned to Newbern.
The pursuit of the Confederates who retired from
Washington, North Carolina, is abandoned.
The Fenerals operating in Tennessee against
Morgan's guerillas have occupied Mac-Minnville,
where they destroyed a cotton mill and large quan-
tities of Confederate stores.

In Missouri four militia regiments have been
called into service for 30 days.

The reported occupation of Cape Girardeau by
the Confederates was untrue.

Southern reports from Mississippi assert that the
Federals numbering 4,000 have been repulsed upon
Coldwater river, and that the Confederates were
pursuing them.
Mr. Chase is in New York, and is being urged to
take advantage of the present favourable condition
of the money market to effect a loan.
The New York legislature has passed a bill per-
mitting loans on gold at not over par ; a bill pre-
venting the banks from organising under the Bank
Act passed by Congress; and a bill approprilrtioy
ng
one million dollars for the defence of New
harbour.
n gThe
soldiers Governor
and sailors
o f Newbyal
liTowhe-
p veto, but
Senate passed the bill over the
to York v
° vetoertohor obi
Governor's t illy
it failed in the house.
on the 23d for Panama wlh
The steamer Sonora salled.t
800,000 do's. for from San Francisco
England.
The City of Baltimore takes out 11 bags of mails,
51 cabin and 53 steerage passengers, and 331,839
dollars in specie.
The Confederates under General Marmadukc are
invading the south-east of Missouri, and are re-
ported to be 20,000 strong.

Confederate Gencral Price is said to have 12.,000
conscripts at Pocahantas.

Federal General Blunt has issued an order of the
day, that guerillas in Missouri, found with arms in
their hands, are not to be considered as belligerents,
but, having organised within the Federal lines, are
to ho treated as insurgents, and to suffer death.
The order further states that such persons when
taken prisoners, which General Blunt recommends
should be avoided as much as possible, are to be
summarily tried and executed by hanging or shoot-
ing without delay.
COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

NEW YORK, April 24, Evening:
Money abundant. Gold, 511 per cent. prom, Ex-
change on London, bankers' bills, 166. Stocks firm
and advancing. New York Centrals, 1161; Erie,
801 ; Illinois Central, 92; Six per Cent. United
States Bonds, 104'4. Cotton quiet, middling Up-