The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-28 00:00:00

szprlNG—This Day.

tortox, Oct. 28.—Wind this day at
110011—South.
NVi
moderato breeze, and clouy weather, wit!
a
Oct. 27.—Wind N.W.—Sailed—Nicoline, for
rain.
• shanghai • Odin, for Calcutta ; Hercules, and Atalanta,
for St. Thomas.
OFF THE EDDYSTONE, Oct. 26—Coulmakyle, front
Shanghai.
FALMOUTa, Oct. 27.—Wind S.W.—Sailed—William
Stewart, for Alexandria.
SUNDERLAND, Oct. 27.--Wind S.W.—Sailed—Carl
Montague, for Ilavannah.
(EY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
SOUTHAMPTON, Wednesday Morning
Arrived—A,nihiden, from Soderimm ; Patrie, from Sun
5.-
wall; Collingwooi, from Plymouth; Wonder, steamer,
from St. Maio.
Sailed—Anu Morgan, for Port Ferry; Isabella Crol4
steamer, for Cardiff.

(BY MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH.)
GRAVESEND, Wednesday Morning.
Arrived, Oct. 27—Iris, from Killunbourg; Dart, froM
Arrived, Oct. 28—Minerua, from Palermo.
DEAL, Wed Desday Morro
ng.
Anchored—William Pennie, fur Cherbourg,
Or Demerar—both from London.
fcr Cardift 9;
Passed.—Nenco, for Lisbon • Ben ;f
oCrl ezo p:nttrea :
Dart of Liverpool, for Cardiff; 'Arthur ItLeat:r7
Elizabeth, for Bathurst—all froLLondon; li[4l.:s. Dee,
from Woolwich, for Pembroke; od Rolle of Llanel?y,.
from the westward, for the nor!hward.

POLISH INSURRECTION.

(A•oni ; the Special Correspondent of the Times.)
WARSAW, Oct. 20.
The g re A incident here of the last few days has
been the destvuction of the Town•hall by a fire,
which t" hoer, who saw it, as I did, from close by,
must kr ,ow; to have been the work of incendiaries.
1 cannc,t say who lighted the fire nor why it was
lighted, but the Russians made the greatest exer-
tions to put it out as quickly as possible, saved the
archi• yes, saved the furniture, and prevented the
flaw .ff; from reaching a part of the building in which
a number of political prisoners Were confined.
Twice during the last week the word has been
passed from mouth to mouth in Warsaw that " some-
thi.ng" would take place in the evening, and that
it would not be safe to be in the streets after seven
—the anti-curfew hour. Bnt everything passed
off quietly, except that a few nights since a man
named Dombrowski was attacked by "national
gendarmes" and left for dead (though he is still
alive) in ate street called "Long." On Sunday
morning, ''aowever, at twelve o'clock, the tramping
of infantry, the galloping backwards and forwards
cai,' Cossacks, and the rushing to and fro of crowds
of excited men and women gave the thoroughfares
in Which all this movement took place the sound
and aspect (so familiar to Continental travellers of
the last firtsJen years) of a coming disturbance.
Insurrection in Warsaw at the present moment
could only mean the exposure of a portion of the
inhabitants to massacre, and perhaps of the whole
city to b soabardment from the citadel, Neverthe-
less, a rasing, in the desperate position in which the
inhabit ants of Warsaw and the Poles generally now
find themselves, is just possible ; a rising has
certainly been meditated, and though, owing
to the precautions of all kinds taken by the
Russians, it becomes more difficult every day to
carry out the plan, whatever it may have been,
tLere was some reason on Sunday for supposing
that it was on the point of being put into execution.
Many persons here
imagine that a cruel measure of
repression, such as in the present temper of the
Russian soldiers would undoubtedly be the result

or of any organized resistance on the
of any attack,
part of the Poles, might lead to un expression of
indignation in France or England so decided as to
leave the Governments of these countries no option
bat to declare war against Russia. This appears to
me the saddest of all political speculations, for, even
if deliberately provoked, the Russians could scarcely
do worse in Warsaw than they have already done,
and are now doing daily, in the provinces. The
Western Powers have shown that they can tolerate
—not with complacency, Por without the strongest
condemnation—but that they can tolerate, never-
theless, such acts of barbarism in Poland as might
have calledfor their interference even if no distinct
right on their part to interfere had ever existed.
To be sure, oneoutrage in Warsaw does really cause
a greater outcry abroad than a hundred similar ones
committed in the country ; but, at the same time,
it is perfectly well-known that states are devastated
peasants raised against proprietors, and proprietors
imprisoned, maltreated, and their property confis-
cated, even when they are thought to have only
aided the insurrection, in which persons of all classes

are well known to have taken an active part. If
the indignation produced by the knowledge of such
facts as these is not efficacious, what advantage is to
be expected from a catastrophe in Warsaw, about
which the only thing certain is that it would show
um a defenceless city in the position of a city taken
by storm ?

No one not. in the confidence of the National Go-
vernment can say with what object the Town-hall
of Warsaw was set on fire. In the meanwhile it is
certain that it did not take fire by accident. The
official account of the aff.tir simply sets forth that
11;.tries were first seen issuing from a room on the
secend floor in which certain archives were stowed
away, and that some time afterwards they burst
forth trom another part of the building in which
the police records were kept. lam also told by an
eyewitness that after the fire had been partly sub-
dued it broke out again in quite a fresh place. The
general rumour in the town was that the fire had
begun in the roof and in several places at the same
time, and when I saw the building, the conflagra-
tion having then lasted about six hours, the whole
roof was in a blazo, though in many of the rooms
immediately beneath it there seemed to be no fire
except what proceeded from the embers that had
fallen from above. All the upper stories, however,
of the right and left wings, as seen from the front,
were in flames, and the left wing was also burning
at the back.

Let no one hasten to say that the Poles did not
set their own Town-hall on fire, for the National
Government may be preparing, at this moment,
some patriotic and sophistical justification of the
act. I heard ;numbers of respectable Poles deny
with indignation the accusation brought against the
National Government of having planned and di-
rected the attack against Gen. Berg, until at last
the National Government coolly assumed the re-
sponsibility of the crime.
Do not, above all, let it be said that the Russians
set the Town-hall on fire in order to have an excuse
for in
creasing their measures of 't seven y against the
inhabitants of 'W arsaw. A similar unfounded
and
ra wridiac:lous explanation of the attack on Gen.
_ ay, circulated for a few days—which, by
the
usual
effrontery,the Journal de St. Petersbourg, with its
has attributed to the limes.
But the fact is
the Russians rule Poland in so arbi-
trary amender
of their misdeedt.hat they want no excuses for any
taken to hern,n ' They have not, however, as yet
one portion 0111. doWn Polish citiu—as at least
on Sunday had there
might have been burnt down
Government fire engines at a little more wind and no
at hand.
The burning of
Warsawi Town-hall was not
the result of accidenet.
considering what may
have been the motive ot, thisilthink deliberate act of incen-
diarism, I can only
meant as a protest against thtell-ru at it may have been
position of the new
tax—if not with the more
directl motive of burning
the Hats of taxpayers. It was
the Town-hall that
the 8 per cent. income-tax was
to be
from those and I men-
tioned in a previous letter that fr Paid'
oa
nor pay before the end of the month
who do
on who already
this a, ,
will be required. Some 20 peemns 4 12 per
cent.
h
settled with the Government
b);civ warned 1,..5t week in a e score were
PI -• -.Proclainefi e
"Chief of the Town." Their name; 13n
issued by thewere
published, and they themselves summoned to appear
before one of the ``revolutionary tribunals:, lieat.r 1
on this question of the 8 per cent. income-tax for
war purposes that the great contest is now taking
place between the National Government and the
Government of Russia, and it will be curious to see
whether the inhabitants of Warsaw will positively
disobey the former or obey it, and by doing so ren.
der themselves liable to an extra payment of 50 per
cent. in favour of the latter. The only thing certain
about the matter is that, at least, no further pay-
ments will be made until the very last day, and that
for the next fewdays—as the Town-hell is destroyed
---no payments will be made at all.
It was evident that the fire of yesterday caused
the Russians considerable alarm, and if they
kept d a rising in Warsaw they need only have
really
desire
the troops in barracks for an hour and they
Would have had it. The fire might have -
been a
signal,ht
it
might
have apparently nothing of the kind; or
ing a
number been lighted with the view of draw-
the town 8' - as
to
troops to one particular quarter of
unoceuizaleave the other quarters compara-
tivelygular fight at all,; or, without any notion of a re-
would lead to cono.d simply in the hope that it
bloodshed as Would be disturbance, and such
In anyCZ sure to be talked about in
ttahkeinTestv.ery
pillio
precaution.
there.aution.
Ru3sians did right in
and
alltreete,
were brought out into All the fmtdiers
the public gardens ; the squares, and
tit the next morning, the thor day, ail Rig ht, and un-
leadi n g to
the large open space on one aidet%ovlfifitres
which the Town
Hall stands (its walls are standing still),
guarder:
were
closed to the public, and the approaches
by infantry and Cossacks.
It did not seem
to be necessary,
however that
the Cossacks should use their whips against
crowd, and even single oat quiet and Perfect:lle
inoff,onsive persons for their assaults, as semetimeYs
happened. A Warsaw crowd under existing cir-
cumstances would no dt)ubt try the petience even

of the proverbially patient British policeman, for
the sympathy and applause of the public are re-
served here for those who break the law, nd the
transgressor of the most necessary polio? regulation
is a popular hero so long as he is =L ally trans-
gressing, and a popular martyr if h 4 transgression
entails punishment upon him. I can-int, as a cold-
blooded Englishman, see the slightest patriotic
merit in disregarding orders issued with the view
of saving a national building from destruction ; but
on the other hand, in the present state of the public
mind in Warsaw, it is not to be expected that in a
conflict or simple dispute between a Russian and a
Pole the former will, under any circumstances, be
allowed to be in the right. A light-heeled Pole
may dodge an infantry soldier, a light-headedres one
the
i
defy a Cossack ; in either case the Pole insures
ha
d
ofhidsirceoeutnietrn of
who,ymen,theirown
enevertheless,police,
could not fail to treat such offenders with
contempt. In short, everything is for the
worst in the worst-governed country passe.
ble. The Russians say that the Poles have
no notion of obedience even of the most in-
dispengable kind, and the Poles retort that the Rus-
sians have no conception of any rule except that of
brute force. The truth is that the Russians, for the
30 years which preceded the present movement, had
governed the Poles without any reference to their
national character, or to the institutions which for
centuries had formed part of their national life.
They put a ready-made Russian collar on the neck
of a nation not fitted to wear it, and never thought
for a moment that if the collar were rendered less
galling the nation condemned to support it might
prove more tractable. The notion of governing
either man or beast without considering the nature
of the man or beast to be governed is so preposter-
ous that if there were no despotisms in Europe, and
if it were not found necessary to keep up Societies
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, one might
imagine that it was no longer entertained. The
Poles, however, have, and will probably now have
for many a year, to take such government of the
true Russian pattern as Russia chooses to give them,
and if they only submit to it as long as they are
exhausted, and endeavour at the first favourable or
unfavourable opportunity to shake it off, that will
no doubt be looked upon by the Russians as a fresh
proof that the Poles are a naturally ungovernable
race.

At the present moment, however—a moment of
exasperation and madness—the less that is said of
the conduct of the Poles in Warsaw, if they are to
be judged by their National Government, which of
course claims to represent them, the better for them
it will be. I do not know what the National Go-
vernment will say to the burning of the Town-hall,
nor whether it is really responsible for its destruc-
tion. 1; may have been set on fire without orders,
bat it was certainly fired with intention. I have
mentioned one explanation ot this act of incendia-
rism which seems probable enough. It is also said,
however, that it was not intended as a " demonstra-
tion" against the 8 per cent. war-tax—far less as a
signal for a disturbance; but that the building was
burnt simply because there was no other way of
getting rid ot certain compromising papers which
were concealed among papers belonging to the
Russian Government, and could not with safety
have been carried past the sentries at the gates now
that every one is liable to be searched. The Rus-
sian official report merely states that the fire broke
out in more than one place, without accounting for
it. No Polish official report has yet appeared.
At 6 o'clock on Sunday afternoon, when the fire
was at its greatest height, hunger and an engage-
ment to dinner induced me to pass the Town-hall,
which, by placing myself under the protection of a
Russian officer, I was enabled todo without impe-
diment and without danger from the Cossack whip.
The contents of the building, including records,
portfolios, bundles of paperasses of all kinds, with
tables, chairs, sofas, and such furniture of a lighter
kind, were piled together in the middle of the square.
Several companies of infantry were looking on, and
the side streets were kept clear by Cossacks who
rode backwards and forwards, and hit a man now
and then when they had a good chance. At the
beginning of the day I saw many persons threatened
and several struck with the whip, and this, for the

most part, without the least necessity, and in mere
wadtonness. Certainly, I saw no severe blow given,
but the great objection of the Poles is to being
treated like dogs, and such is the treatment offered
to them on the smallest provocation, and sometimes
without any provocation at all. It being Sunday
the streets were:crowded, and I had an opportu-
nity of judging whether the population of Warsaw
generally had been terrified or not by the recent
measures of the Russians. If they haci beaten the
Russians in a dozen engagements they could not have
worn a more confident and independent air than
they presented in face of the troops. On the other
hand, all the troops, with the exception of the
Cossacks, were as quiet and well behaved as London
policemen, so that, as far as the proceedings of the
day were concerned, there was no occlsion for any
serious alarm. As for the Cossacks, their whipping
propensity seems to be a disease, but as it is a dis-

ease of a very malignant nature it ought to be checked.
Like boxers preparing to give a blow, these whip-
sters are perpetually practising the use of their long
leather thongs. Sometimes they strike in order to
drive back some one who has transgressed the
bounds beyond which he ought not to have passed,
but others, also, as if from mere habit, and from a
wish to keep their hand in. The Pole who is struck
grins with a contemptuous grin, and those around
him mutter execrations; and I saw no blow taken
except with an expression of disdain from the re-
ceiver, which, I must add, seemed entirely lost upon
the giver. The Cossacks rode along the pave-

went as well as down the middle of the dims,

and appeared to enjoy their wild liberty—with the
exception of one whose horse, to the astonishment
of no one, slipped beneath him and fell close to the
scene of the fire.

As I was leaving the neighbourhood of the Town-
hall, I noticed a gentleman wearing the " cylinder"
hat of a respectability engaged in an animated dia-
.

cussion with a Cossack, who wore the Circassian

cap of the Kooban.

"I was brought here by one of your own offi-
cers," said the proprietor of the cylinder hat.
Then," replied the Cossack, " it was his duty to
take you to the house you were going to, put you
inside, and shut the door atter you. Our orders are
. .

not to allow civil people to walk about here."
"But," pursued the cylinder-wearer, " I have a
big hat •
, yon ought not to mind me."
"There are very big hats worn by very big func-
tionaries," continued the disciplinarian of the Bon-
ban;
should - " but I
the
same
it
I flog them as civil persons just
caught them here now."
"Fell, what are you going to do with me ?"
inquired the
Russian offieer:or
nViinder iuttgentleman finally, to whom neither the
the recent companionship of a
shalinall
il°l3 any guarantee of safety.
but not precisely
you, that's all," said the stern
intervention of
se
4784ge Cossack, when sudderl
have reason to beliv the
4 second y
cylinder hat, to whom I
ae..tuhe hero of the Kouban was
under some alight p
the discussion to a a„tiefuelarY obligations, brought
One feels almost Rahn:it:lY conclusion.
in anything that takes Plane
iantt finding.'l'Var s w amusementdaring the
present deplorable position of
lishmen have always been accusatot city; but Eng-
nation of tragic with comic Been:ed to an alter-
grim humonr about the Cossack as w elt
and there is a
ferocity. Nor are the Cossacks, whipa° absolute
more ferocious than the other troops in tPihneltapart,
service, nor the Russian troops generally woresfsian
cious tLaa the saldiers of other military despotie:-
in all of which the army is looked upon, not as the
protector, but as the enemy, of civil society and le
all of which DO truly legal discipline does or eat,

exist.
o
To complete my budget of Warsaw news I must
add the cf.mrnon-p!ace intelligence that since I lust
wrote two men on the national side have been
banged, and three on the Russian side murdered, or
stabbed almost to death. The hanging was done on
Monday. One of the men was a " national gen-
darme," in other words, an assassin at the e)mmand
of f th© secret Government, which if it does not mend
ts ways, the honest men of Poland will have to
disavow, as one of the noblest among them dis-
avowed it, almost publicly, some months ago. Like

the pirates who went to sea with a Decalogue in
which the eighth commandment had been marked
out, the National Government thinks to get on
without observing the sixth. The experiment,
however, has been triedbefore, and it, has never yet
been found to answer.

The second man hanged Was a clerk in the Post-
office, and had been found guilty of having trans-
mitted correspondence for the National Government
—which nearly every man who has ever got a friend
to take charge of a letter from Warsaw to Cracow,
or from Cracow to Warsaw, has done. The offence
of the Post-office clerk executed last Monday was
of course greatly aggravated by the fact that he was
in the Government service, but at the same time his
execution is a fresh proof that if the Russian Go-
vernment cannot catch the men who have been
found guilty of heinous crimes, it is determined, in
lieu of them, to put to death such comparatively
innocent ones already in its hands as it may think
fit to make an example of.
The Russian Government in its notices of punish-
ments to be inflicted does not go lower than capital
ones. It must draw the line somewhere, and in
announcing the coming execution of the said Post-
office clerk publishes the following description of
his crime :

" Stanislas Swiezynski, clerk in the Post-office, has been
found guilty of high treason by court-martial, and by his
own confession, of having been connected with the revolu-
tionary organisation known as the National Government,
and of having accepted an appointment as agent to the said
organisation ; and of having made use of his position in the
Post-office to forward parcels and messages to the insur-
gents, and even warlike implements ; and for his activity in
furthering the views and objects of the insurrection."

Two nights before the execution of Swiezynsk
and the "national gendarme" a man, named Dom-
browski, was stabbed in the street, and followed and
arrested instead of his would-be murderer. Dom-
browski still lives, and the assassin has escaped
altogether.

The day after the execution, towards dusk, a
policeman was stabbed by another "national gen-
darme," and a soldier who ran to his assistance was
badly cut in the neck. This " national gendarme"
also got away. I have heard it said that for every
Polish life taken at the citadel or elsewhere, a Rus-
sian life is to be exacted. But this may be only a
foolish rumour, on a par with M. Bullier's story of
Generals Berg and Korff having fought a duel, and
of General Berg having adopted infamous means
for getting possession of the Hotel de l'Europf.—
which, by the way,though it is in actual possession
of the military, has hitherto not been confiscated.
In any case, hanging and shooting on the part of
the Russians and stabbing on the part of the Poles
continue as before.