The Sun.
London, England, 1831-03-10 00:00:00

oath of honour.—(Cheers.) All the warriors of Poland (and
their valour was not unknown to Europe) had gone forth to
battle with him ; and if they should unfortunately be conquered,
still there would remain to Poland her courage and her despair.
—,Cheers.) He had spoken—and it was a painful thing for a
atrict to speak—of the possible conquest of his country, but he
hoped for better things. He hail received intelligence that Li-
thuania was in insurrection, and that she had determined to
share the fate of the duchy of Warsaw.—( Hear.) Nor was such
in occurrence at all surprising • for the revolution of Poland was
not a revolution of the higher, of the lower classes. It had
been said, politically speaking, that Poland was obliterated for
ever from the map of Eiirope.. Politically' speaking, it might be
so, but the nation or Poland, by the grace of God, still survived,
a vital member of the European Community.—(Hear, hear.)
They had been told in their journals that Austria, Prussia, and
France, had Consuls in Poland, but that England had not.
Why that was so, he could not tell ; but this he could say,
that the people of Poland were any thing but indifferent to the
good-will of the people of England. It would, perhaps, not be
unpleasing to them if he explained in a few words the effect of
their revolution. The people of England had been accustomed
to talk of the anarchy of Poland—and unfortunately its anarchy
had almost become proverbial. Corrected by their misfortunes,
and by the two dismemberments which they had suffered, the
people of Poland had acquired a stable love of liberty and an
unanimity of purpose, which, if she had always possessed them,
would have rendered Poland impregnable against the attacks of
her enemies. The Poles have been guilty of many faults for On.
past, but they had corrected them nobly for their future destiny.
—Sheers.) As to the assertion that their revolution was a re-
volution of the nobility, and not of the peasantry and the people,
he had only to remark that such an assertion was not correct.
For many years past the nobles of Poland had emancipated their
peasantry, and placed them under the protection of the law. 'The
oppression which, under the Government of Alexander, had
fallen upon the lower classes of Poland, had ceased to exist.
It had ceased voluntarily ; for though the will of Russia had
hitherto been the law of Poland, it ought to be recollected
that the emancipation of the peasantry was the work, not of
Russia, but of the Polish nobility. In point of fact, the Russian
noble was no more to be compared to the noble Pole than the
Polish peasant was tobe compared to the Russian noble. It was
owing to the union of interests which had at last been effected
between the nobles and the peasantry of Poland that the late revo-
!ution had Leen effected, and that Poland had resumed its exiss
fence and station among the nations of Europe. He had re-
marked, that in the proclamations of General Diebitsch, it had
been averred that the polish nation had been seduced into in-
surrection by the frantic behaviour of a few young men. Ac-
cording to this statement, all the exploits of the three first days
'ulster the walls of Praga must have been performed by 300 young
men. He did not mean to deny that young and ardent spirits
had commenced that revolution; but it was by their having struck
on a chord which vibrated to the heart of every Pole, that they
had crowned the revolution with success and themselves with
glory. An attempt had been made to prove Poles a disunited
people. It had been said that Chlopieki was not true to the cause
which he had espoused ; it was said, that we had clubs amongst
us quarrelling as to the mode of administering our Government.
He thought that nobody would deny that under every Govern-
ment there were men, some of whom were young, others old ;
some of whom would go too far, and others not far enough. Still, ad-
mitting this, it did not prove the Poles were untrue to themselves.
The events which had recently occurred under the walls of
Warsaw proved, that if, from an error in judgment, Chlopieki
had not gone with the nation in her civic career, lie hail fought
for her as an individual, as if he had been fighting under the
walls of Saragossa.—'Cheers.) That was indeed satisfactory in-
telligence, for it tended to disperse the delusions spread abroad
by the enemies of Poland. After all that he had stated to the
meeting, he was sure that it would see that there were other
points on which it would be unbecoming in him, holding the si-
tuation which he did for his country, to speak out more plain'y.
Poland was in possession of resources into which discretion for-
bad him to enter. Though the people of England wished well
to his gallant countrymen, there were subjects which he could
not explain even to them. Every thing connected with his mis-
sion to England would, sooner or later, be developed in the Ca-
binet, and would undergo the ordeal of public opinion, that or-
deal to which the Ministers of England were also obliged to sub-
mit. He and his brave compatriots were acting in the face of
all Europe. Europe would enter into an examination of their
actions, and on the verdict which Europe must pass they must rest
their approval or condemnation. He did not doubt the friendly
disposition of England to his country. Why should he ? The
liberties of England and of Poland dated their origin at the I
same period. They were co-equal in point of duration, would
to God that they had been co-equal in their successful opera-
tion!—(Cheers.) He would not go farther back into the his-
tory of the causes which had annihilated the liberties of Po-
land than the Congress of Vienna. The meeting well knew who
was the Minister of England at that time. It was Lord Castle-
reagh. The Poles knew the disposition of the people of England
towards them. The Poles knew that the people of England
wished for the re-establishment of the kingdom of Poland. The
Poles knew that the people of England wished that justice—a
tardy justice, it was true—should be done to their sufferings ;
and they likewise knew that it was Lord Castlereagh and a
Noble Duke who was with him at the Congress, and another
Noble Lord whom, after the fashion of the British Parliament,
he would not name, that prevented that justice from being rens
dered to them.—(Hear, hear.)—lt was determined in that Con-
gress, that as the re-establishment of the kingdom of Poland
could not be effected without the probability of exciting a war
between the Allied Powers, it should remain partitioned among
them, but that the best part of it should be left, tinder certain
limitations, within the grasp of Russia. What, then, was the
difference between the past and the present condition of Poland ?
Poland had laboured under great oppression—against that op-
pression she had revolted, and appealed to the decision of the
God of battles. She had overthrown the great Colossus, which
so long bestrode her, and she was now struggling to prevent her-
self from being crushed from its fall —(Cheers.)—Owing to the
war in Turkey, and the policy of Russia against France, and he
might add against Belgium, the difficulties which Lord Castle-
reagh had found so insurmountable, in his endeavours to re.
establish the independence of Poland, had all disappeared. Al.
though he was not so much acquainted with the affairs of Eng
land as he wished to be, he believed that the opinion of the world
was not held matter of indifference by there as a people. The
people of Poland had now shed their blood for their country ;
her Nobles had sacrificed and were sacrificing their fortunes in
her behalf? and both had found assistance and sympathy in a
nation neighbouring on the shores of Britain.—(Hear.) The
Poles could not help entertaining hopes that something would
be done for them in England also, if she still were what she was
once represented—the friend of freedom and the last asylum of
libertv.—Sheers.) The Poles hoped that the people of England
would assist them by their subscriptions, not merely as a proof
that they sympathized with their sufferings, but also as a
token that they were ready to afford them all the assistance in
their power.—(Hear, hear.) As to the probable fortunes of
Poland, he had only a word to say. The Polish nation, in every
disaster which had yet befallen it, had shown itself greater than
the disaster which had crushed it for a time. From every
disaster they had yet risen, and they had now risen for the last
time and must conquer or, which Clod avert, be exterminated.—
(Hear, hear.) All the hordes of Russia were now hounded on
against them. The Poles trusted for their defence against them
on the justice of their cause—on the arm of every man who
remained in their country—on their local resources—on their
ancient valour—on the recollections of their past glory and
independence.—(Cheers.) They trusted also in the protection
of heaven, never denied to the innocent; for they had done no
other injustice to the Russians than express a determination not
to be their slaves.—(Loud cheers.) A word now as to himself.
England was a country with which he was connected by histori-
cal recollections. In the records of his family, he had found
that an ancestor of his had been Ambassador from Sigismond
111. of Poland, to James I. of England. Let him be permitted to
remind them of this ancient connexion between then—(Cheers)
—for their kindness on the present occasion was likely to render
the memory of it indestructible.—(Cheers.) He knew not what
fate might soon betide him, for every cannon-shot which now
sounded from the walls of Praga and Gruschotf—those walls,
which a Souwaroff had once deluged with blood, and which a
Diebitsch was now attempting to render memorable by a similar
atrocity,—might fall on his father, brothers, uncles, and friends,
whom he had embraced perhaps or the last time, and leave him
a lonely sojourner on the face of the world. But come what
might, he should not regret the part which he and they had
taken, but would, to the last moment of his existence, exclaim
that it was better to die a freeman than to live a slave to Rus-
sian barbarism and to Russian violence. The Noble Marquis
concluded by giving as a toast, " Prosperity to England, and a
recommencement of the ancient connexions between England
and Poland."—(Loud cheers.)
Mr. WILES rose to propose the next toast; in doing so he
could not but congratulate them upon the enthusiasm with
which the glorious cause of Poland had been hailed by that as-
sembly. He was sorry that we in England were far behind, in
our effbrts to affbrd succour to the Poles, those great men in
France who had taken the lead in that course, and to whom the
civilized world were indebted for the example. He alluded to
Lafayette, Casimir Perrier, and those other great men in
France, who had more than three months ago formed them-
selves into a committee, not to give the Poles encouragement by
festive banquets, but to combine all men in their cause, and to
send substantial succours and funds to that noble and suffering
race. The mere mention of the name of the patriarch of liberty,
Lafayette, was in itself calculated to call up the most pleasing
and extraordinary associations. He concluded by proposing the
following toast, which was drunk with great enthusiasm :—" La.
fayette, and the friends of Poland in France. Tile French na-
tion. May the triumphs of freedom so nobly won, be perfected
in peace, and perpetuated in prosperity."
Count LABORDE returned thanks in the French language.
He complained that the Government of France had been much
too timid in affording assistance and encouragement to the brave
Poles, who had risen to rescue themselves from a detestable and
degrading slavery.
Another French Gentleman also returned thanks in French.

a • ••••••...1 SAGII.1,4•••••• 11" ISA l••..l• •••••••••.. •
Mr. HUME said there was no friend to liberty in England who
would not wish to assist the brave Poles; but while they reflected
upon the wrongs of Poland, they should not forget what they had
endured at home. While Poland had been suffering under an
odious domination, could it be said that England had been free?
They had seen a war waged by the Government of this country
for 25 years against liberty in Europe, anti they had suffered se-
verely from the effects of it. He (Mr. Hume) dreaded the word
interference, seeing theevils which hadarisen from it. Hewould

not at present divert the attention of Englishmen from their own
afiliirs at home. They were now engaged in a contest for their
rights and liberties, which had been filched from them by an
garchy, which had ruled and domineered over them for years.
He trusted that the brave Poles would come out of the present
struggle completely triumphant, for victory to them would be
victory to us ; and he had no hesitation in saying, that the glorious
and never-to-be-forgotten revolution in Paris—(Cheers)—the
struggle in Poland, and the struggle in Italy, would all con-
tribute to enable England to free itself from the thraldom of
ages, and to put an end to that system of misrule which had laid
this country prostrate in the face of Europe. But they could do
nothing in the way of interfering for the cause of freedom abroad,
until they had asserted their own rights at home, and when they
had achieved success in the glorious cause in which they were at
present engaged, then they would be ready and able to afford that
assistance which was demanded from them abroad. He should
conclude by proposing the following toast—.. Belgium. Her in.
dependence and her happiness."—(Cheers.)
9lr. BEHR, Secretary to the Belgic Legation, returned thanks
in French.
Mr. O'CONNELL said, that a toast had been put into his
hands which was eloquent itself—that toast was Italy,"--
Italy, which reminded us of the earliest recollections of our
boyhood, and recollections too of so high a nature, that they
could not be tarnished or diminished by the familiarity into
which education brought our minds with the great events of
that country. Was it necessary to say any thing to recommend
the toast of Italy—the guardian of literature, the nursing
mother of liberty, and the cradle of religion ? Rome had given
to the world a splendid andlpractical instance of the benefits de.
rivable from the establishment of the democratic principle. That
princip e was e.tablislied in Rome for centuries ; and while it
existed, Borne was always successful against its real foes. In
modern times, too, the commercial city of Venice had given an
instance of the beneficial effects of that principle; and they
should not forget that in the middle ages little republics
were spread throughout Italy, exhibiting the beam of liberty
throughout her hills and mountains. Revolution was now
,preading in Italy, and that beautiful country was it length