The Sun.
London, England, 1831-05-18 00:00:00

POLAND.

A CIRCULAR, ADDRESSED BY THE SECRETARY OF
STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS AT WARSAW TO
THE AGENPS OF THE POLISH GOVERNMENT IN
FOREIGN COUNTRIES.
Recent military events having freed the capital, and the
whole of the right bank of the Vistula, from the attacks
of the enemy, I
deem it a duty to request you to use every
possible effort to convey to the Government to which you
are accredited the wishes of the P.-fish nation. It is a
received principle in Europe that the independent exist-
ence of every country is founded on those rights which
have once been recognized, as well as in the formation of a
domestic force capable of protecting and maintaining it.
When the question of right is co-existent with that of
fact, both yield to each other reciprocal support. The
former existence of Foland, her relations with other states,
are sufficiently known, nor can the three partitioning
Powers question their historical accuracy, for they must
retain a recollection of the intimae relations which Poland
fermtrly maintained with them, or of the services that she
rendered them, or of the reverses which she forced them
to endure. If, then, we consult the history of our
country, or that of Europe, it will he seen that the right
of the Poles to a national and independent existence is in-
contestable. It is true that at the close of the last century
the three partitioning Powers, after having confederated
for our ruin, destroyed that independence ; but that act
has been designated throughout the world as spoliation and
political crime ; that act could neither annihilate ancient
rights nor create new ones. Thus, even after the success
of the conspiracy of the three Courts, the voice of Europe,
in raising itself in favour of the rights of. Poland, pro-
claimed them to be inaperacriptible ; but although they
preserved their full vigour, they could no longer be exer-
cised in the political world, invested with their external
attributes.

Recent events have changed the state of things. An
insurrection, distinguished for its energy and exemption
from every excess, has severed the bonds which connected
Poland with Russia. The kingdom is now subj,.ict only
to a national Government, unanimously chosen by a Diet,
the members of which, it is worthy of remark, were all
elected under the Russian Government. The Diet has
entrusted the public affiirs to persons the most eminent
both for birth and popularity, and whose political career
affoi do the best guarantee to Europe. The Diet has thus
secured in the strongest way possible those monarchical in-
s itutions which the two Chambers have declared as best
suited to the wishes and the wants of the nation. The
National Government of the kingdom encounters no op-
position in the exercise of its authority : its orders are
executed with the utmost zeal, in every part of the king-
dom unoccupied by the enemy. The Polish troops, the
armed rspresentation of the opinions, of the desires, and
of the power of the nation, after three glorious but deadly
conflicts, after having sustained dreadful losses, have again
completed their full numbers. Their confidence in their
own resources has increased them, and that heroic
army responds to the hopes that tke national Government
reposes in them. We ate now independent, in the
strongest sense of the term, and the question of fact is
no longer m opposition to the question of right. The
dangers which may hereafter threaten us, and which to-
morrow may threaten the liberty and the glory of other
Powers in Europe, cannot in any respect alter our real
position, nor can they prevent us from proclaiming at
this moment that we are independent. It is, therefore,
admissible for us to claim from other Governments the
recognition of our independence—to claim it in the name
of the most sacred rights, which Europe has unanimously
declared to be imperishable.
If Belgium, which never ranked among states,—if
Greece, whose political existence has been annihilated for
ages,—have obtained, among all the uncertainty of war,
the recognition of their independence, I ask if Poland
have not the stronger grounds for her pretensions,—that
Poland, whose national existence, extinguished for a mo-
ment, revives with so much vigour, sustains itself with so
much energy, and at the price of so many sacrifices,—
that Poland, which, alone and without aid, has dared to
combat with the giant of the north, and has already over-
thrown the illusion of her power. It would be vain, in
discussing the question of Polish independence, to refer
to the acts of the Congress of Vienna. The treaty of
Vienna, when uniting the kingdom of Pol ind to Russia,
assured to us a national individuality, and a Constitutional
Government ; it also aimed at extending this nationality
to the Polish provinces incorporated in the Russian em-
pire ; and this for the purpose of consolidating the tran-
quilldy of Europe.
Such was the spirit of the treaty of Vienna. The
Emperor of Russia has been the first to violate that treaty
by overthrowing in the kingdom the principal constitu-
tioital securities, in smothering all national spirit in their
Polish provinces, in prohibiting even the use of our
language. All our sufferings have been sufficiently ex-
posed in the manifesto of the Die'. The treaty of Vienna
has then been, both in its arrangements and their results,
inadequate to the maintenance of peace. The violence
of the Russian Government has provoked an insurrection,
which has been followed by decisive events. A new
order of things has arisen. The chain which attached
Poland to Russia has been broken, and the bond which
united Belgium with Holland has been severed, hut a
short time previously, although the treaty of Vienna had
guaranteed their perpetuity. The European Powers have,
notwithstanding,„recognized the independence of Belgium,
adopting a noble and elevates! policy. Why, then, ani-
mated by the same spirit, do they not interfere in our fa-
vour ?
" The union of Belgium with Holland," says the Pro-
tocol of London, of the 19th of February, "is broken.
Official communications have convinced the five Courts
that the means originally destined for its preservation can
neither re-establish it at present, nor preserve it hereafter,
and that henceforth, instead of confounding the affections
and the welfare of the two People, it could only excite pas-
sions and hatred which, from their collision could only
produce war and all its disasters. It does nut devolve on
the Powers to judge of the causes which have destroyed the
ancient ties, but when they see these ties severed, it belongs
to them to aim once more at the object which was proposed
in their formation. It belongs to them to secure, in favour
of the new combinations, that tranquillity to Europe, of
which the union of Belgium with Holland formed an essen-
tial basis."

The cause of Belgium is identified with ours ; and if
there be any dissimilarity between the two, it is in our
favour. Poland was fprmerly independent and powerful.
The Congress of Vienna even contemplated the re-establish-
ment of that independence, and of the integrity of the
Polish territory ; but as these views were counteracted by
imperious citcumstances, a new kingdom was created, the
limits of which were small, and which was united to
Russia. On every occasion the best intentions with regard
to us were testified, by guaranteeing also the nationality of
the other Polish provinces : the inadequacy of these dis-
positions towards Poland in general was clearly demon-
strate.l,—dispositions which may be considered as pro-
visional. The kingdom to which the Congress of Vienna
had guaranteed a Constitution was united to the most pow-
erful despotic state. This alliance was difficult to form;
its duration was impossible, for it carried in itself the seeds
of dissolution. It may be urged in opposition to this, that
Russia, that power so redoubtable to all Europe, can, even
after a desperate contest, reduce us to submission, and
pacify, by exterminating us. The peacc of slavery—the
peace of the tomb—a peace of such a nature as to excite a
terriale war on the first favourable opportunity—can such
a peace meet the noble and dignified intentions of the
European Powers?
I repeat it, every treaty is the consequence either of
certain events, or of certain political combinations. If
other events displace those that preceded them,—if the
combination be altered,—the contracting parties must
modify their engagements in accordance with the new
combinations, for the purpose of upholding the principles
which they had adopted, and fur insuring the object which
they had at first proposed. The Congress of Vienna could
dispose of Belgium conquered by the Allied Powers, and
of Poland occupied by the Russian armies. But Poland
delivered—Poland which repels the numerous hordes of
the aggressors—has a just right to claim admission into
the great family:of the independent nations of Europe, as
Belgium has been there received, after having thrown off
the yoke of Holland.
Such are the principles that you will advance,—such
are the arguments you will employ to strengthe❑ the de-
mand you are authorized to make on the Government to
which you are accredited,—the demand of the formal and
positive recognition of the National Government in the
kingdom of Poland, and of the independence of that
kingdom. THE SECRETARY OF STATE
For Foreign Affairs, for the National Government of
April 30. the Kingdom of Poland.

The mother of NAPOLEON is very ill, and
the news of her death is every morneut expected.—
French Paper.

DEATH OF SIR JENISON GORDON•—This
aged Baronet died last week at his seat, Haverholnie
Priory, near Newark. He was in his 84th year, and
served the office of High Sheriff of Lincolnshire so far
hack as 1783, nearly half a century since. He died with-
out issue, and the title becomes extinct. The Earl of
WIFCHELSEA succeeds to his extensive estates.