The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-10 00:00:00

POLAND.

(PROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
WARSAW, MARCH 31, 1862.
A sign of certain earnestness to settle the pre-
sent question has been made by the Government.
It will be remembered that the Agricultural Society,
dissolved so suddenly last year, had proposed a pro-
ject which rendered the peasants at once the owners
of the soil they cultivated, by securing an indem-
nity to the actual possessors. This project, though
subsequently modified by the Marquis Wielopolski,
was still favourably received. Both these systems
had in view one fundamental idea of doing away
with the distinction that prevails between the dif-
ferent classes of society, and of destroying every
vestige of jealousy and antagonism between them.

The return of the Marquis Wielopolski from St.
Petersburg has doubtless much to do with the re-
vival of this knotty question, which is at this mo-
ment occupying the attention of the Council of
State. The extraordinary session of this so-called
legislative body was opened by the Governor-
General Linden on the 26th instant, in a short
speech, explaining the delay in reassembling the
members of the Council, and stating that this pro-
ject had been in January last transmitted to the
Financial and Administrative Departments at St.
Petersburg, to which were added three other mem-
bers appointed by the Emperor, for the purpose of
deliberating upon it. He further informed the
members of the Council of State that they
were called upon to consider other projects
such as that concerning the advances to be made by
the Land Credit Society to those peasants who
would profit by the facility granted them to re-
deem the labour rent by a fixed payment. The
project affects only the municipal tribunals, and the
new project for levying of taxes and other dues of
the public treasury.
Divers complaints and petitions, addressed to the
Council of State, were also to form part of the
labours of the Council of State, a body chiefly com-
posed of the nominees of the Czar, having no right
of initiating any law, and entirely dependent upon
the final decision of the Governor-General, through
whom, and by whose will alone, Ell the proceedings
will be submitted to the Emperor. Even if the
Council of State were bold enough to speak their

minds upon any topic of the most vital impor-
tance to the country, it is well known how it
would be strained and distorted by those high in
office before it could reach the Czar, and whose
interest is to keep the monarch misinformed, that
they may exercise their tyrannical authority,
which is a calamity to Poland, and a scandal to
Europe. No one more than the Poles would re-
joice in any good reform for the benefit of the'
country ; but they must be bona fide reforms,
coming from whatever quarter they may, and
carried out by men possessing public confidence,
and acting for the good of the people, and the
honour of the Sovereign. This, I believe, is the
key to the possible reconciliation between the
Czar and the Poles, and unless it be conceded, I
see no prospect of any lasting tranquillity.
Some days ago, as if to show that the system
of extreme severity has been relaxed, an order was
issued to throw open the public gardens of this city
—a favour which does not seem to be much cared
for by the people. Scarcely any one is to be seen
in them, except little children with their nurses,
and a legion of police agents enjoying the freshness
of the spring. The state of siege still continuing,
one is as much as ever exposed to the insults and
vexations of every official and soldier, who can
stop you, question you, and frequently order you to
unbutton your great-coat, in suspicion that you are
wearing underneath it some prohibited garment.
It appears that the report of the torture of Alex-
ander Zamoyski, circulated in the foreign journals,
has attracted the notice of the Russian Government,
who are most desirous of effacing the painful im-
pression it caused in Europe. With a view to hush
up this atrocious proceeding, a commission was
appointed, which proceeded to the Citadel, where
Zamoyski is imprisoned, and, as the official docu-
ment, signed by the members, announces, convinced
themselves by his verbal assurance that he had not,
since his incarceration, received any corporal punish -
men t. Why the commission was not composed
of some citizens on whom the public can place re-
liance, instead of a Russian General and the Chief
of the Police, whose official looks were sufficient to
frighten the prisoner into any avowal, and thus
the document was drawn up and signed in the Cita-
del of Warsaw. This alone speaks volumes.
From the anarchy which prevails among the
Russian officials of every rank, it may be that the
horrible treatment never received the sanction of
the General Luders, the Governor of Poland, but
was an act of some of those brutal, and so well-
known for their ferocity, Generals Roznor and
Krzysanowski, worthy imitators of Platoner, whose
motto was to beat and ill-treat the Poles until peace
was restored.

The misery and political degradation to which
the inhabitants of Lithuania are reduced, deter-
mined Count Starzynski, Marshal of the Nobility,
to submit to the Emperor a letter couched in re-
spectful but energetic terms, in which he called the
attention of his Majesty to this deplorable state of
things, and submitted as a remedy the grant of the
following demands :-
1. The re-establishment of the ancient statutes of
Lithuania, with such modifications as are in har-
mony with the spirit of the age.

2. Abolition of all the laws contrary to the
liberty of conscience.

3. The restoration of the University of Wilna.
4. The election by the citizens of the adminis-
trative and judicial authorities, as is the case in
other Russian provinces.

5. The right for the citizens to found any com-
mercial, agricultural, industrial associations, with-
out requiring any sanction from the Government.
The Emperor has referred this letter to the
Council of the Empire, but no better success is
expected from this than from other applications of
the same nature.

MARKETS---THIS DAY.

CORN EXCHANGE.

IMPERIAL WEEKLY AVERAGES. Wheat, 58s 5d ;
barley, 36s Od ; oats, 21s 9d ; rye, 36s 5d ; beans, 38s 2d ;
and peas, 38s 7d.

THE SIX WEEKS' AVERAGES. Wheat, 59s id ;
barley, 35s 10d ; oats, 22s Od ; rye, 36s ld ; beans, 39s ld ;
peas, 39s 6d.
ENGLISH GRAIN SOLD LAST WEEK.—Wheat, 57,444 ;
barley, 37,845 ; oats, 14,218 ; rye, 48 ; beans, 4,412 ; peas,
710 quarters.